Marvin Roger Woods ~ I Remember

Marvin Roger Woods

Retired US Navy, Chief Radio Man and Civilian Pentagon Employee

January 6, 1944 - September 11, 2001 - The Pentagon

Marvin Roger Woods was devoted to the Navy and his country throughout his life.  He retired from the US Navy after 22 years on active duty, took a six week vacation, went back to work for next 18 years as a civilian communications manager for the Navy.  He had been stationed at the Pentagon since the mid-1990's and had an office in the newly renovated section of the building - the section hit by Flight 77.  He is buried in Section 64 in the shadow of the Pentagon with many others who were killed that day.

He liked to hunt and fish and to work in his woodshop behind his home.

He was married to Betty Woods for 30 years.  Woods -- known as "Roger" to friends and family -- grew up in Owendale, Michigan. He served a tour in Vietnam, then met his wife in October 1971 while on leave. Three months later, they were married, and together they went off to his next assignment, in Puerto Rico. Like many military families, Woods, his wife and their three children traveled from city to city, port to port.

The post is part of Project 2996.

Major Ronald Dutrell Milam ~ I Remember

Major Ronald Dutrell Milam

August 11, 1968 - September 11, 2001 - The Pentagon

Major Ronald Dutrell Milam, son of Tommie and Effie Milam of Muskogee, Oklahoma, husband of Jacqueline Link Milam, who is Captain in the Air Force, and father of daughter Myejoi Olivia Link and his son Ronald Dutrell Milam, Jr, who was born after his death, was killed in the attack on the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. He rests in Section 64 of Arlington National Cemetery, in the shadow of the Pentagon and with those who perished with him that day.

Ronald graduated from Muskogee High School and Eastern New Mexico University. He earned his Bachelors degree and was a member of the Greyhound basketball team. He also participated in ROTC and was commissioned through that program. His alma mater has set up a scholarship in his name.


Later in life, he became passionate about golf. His father told the Washington Post, "He really did love golf. That was his true passion—after his wife, Jacqueline, and daughter, Myejoi. [A son, Ron Jr., was born posthumously.] He came home to Tulsa on leave at one point, and he purchased this custom set of clubs. He just couldn’t put them down. Even when he went on business trips, he’d always have his clubs with him.”




Ronald was the military assistant to one of the deputy assistant secretaries of the Army. A meeting that morning took him to the area of the Pentagon hit by Flight 77.



Jacqueline and Ronald met while on deployment in Korea - she with the Air Force and he with the Army. Their assignments kept them apart, but they stayed in touch and were married January 15, 2000. They had started their family with a daughter, Myejoi, and had just learned that the new baby was going to be a boy - the son who will never meet his father.

This post is part of Project 2996

 

SPC Craig Scott Amundson ~ I Remember

SPC Craig Scott Amundson

United States Army

August 21, 1973 - September 11, 2001 - The Pentagon

Craig is listed second on this side of the Arlington Cemetery Memorial

- near where the Pentagon casualties are buried in Section 64, in the shadow of the Pentagon.

SPC Craig Scott Amundson, United States Army, was killed in the attack on the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.  Craig is buried in Arlington National Cemetery in the shadow of the Pentagon and with the others who gave their lives there.

On a beautiful late summer morning, Scott went to work at his job in the Pentagon.  He was a Graphic Artist assigned to the Army's Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel.   Scott said good-bye that morning at his Fort Belvoir, Virginia home to his wife, Amber Flury Amundson and their children, Charlotte and Elliot.

Craig was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and raised in Anamosa, Iowa.  He graduated fro Anamosa High School in 1992.  He played on the football team and was active in the film/media department.  He attended the University of Iowa in Iowa City and received his Bachelor in Arts in Film Studies.  He had his own graphics design company called SockoDesign.  He had just joined the Military Career Transition Program at Old Dominion University and had begun work towards becoming an elementary school teacher.

His parents, Orland and Karen Amundson, own a pharmacy in Hartville, Missouri - a town of 700.  Craig designed a web site for Star Pharmacy.  

He came from a close knit family.  His easy smile made him at home in many places.

Craig's Arlington Page is here:  http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/csamundson.htm

This post is part of  Project 2996

Christian Bagge - Going Home At Last

You may remember this great picture of Christian Bagge running with President Bush. Christian lost both legs in and IED attack in Iraq on June 3, 2005. At the time, he had been married to Melissa for three months. Finally, they are coming back home to Oregon with their two children. They are coming home to a new adaptive home built by Homes for Our Troops.

Read about Christian and Melissa's journey here

And, read about what Homes For Our Troops are doing for the Bagge's here

Thank you to a great organization Homes For Our Troops

Stephen Hopkins ~ Founder and Patriot

Stephen Hopkins
1707 - 1785

Representative of Rhode Island to the Continental Congress
Signer of the Declaration of Independence

Stephen Hopkins, like so many of the founders, was a self-educated man who served his community and his nation in any way possible. He served in many positions locally, in the Rhode Island Colonial Assemby, was elected as the Governor of Rhode Island nine times, was the first Chancellor of the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (now known as Brown University), a member of the Continental Congress and the person who put together the first American Navy.

He was a early critic of Britian and advocate for Independence. He freed his slaves and tried to prohibit slavery from the colonies. In 1774, he introduced a bill that prohibited the importation of slaves into the colony of Rhode Island, and this became one of the first anti-slavery laws in the new United States.

A sufferer of cerebral palsey, his signature appeared trembling when he signed the Declaration of Independence. "My hand trembles, my heart does not," he said at the signing.

Stephen Hopkins House

His home in Providence, Rhode Island still stands and is on the National Register of Historic Places and is owned by the The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America.

Signers of the Declaration of Independence

The Signers of the Declaration of Independence

Massachusetts:

John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas M'Kean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carrol

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Thomas Lynch, Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Click on the links to read their stories.

The Changing of the Guard ~ The Final Walk

The Final Walk of the Sergeant of the Guard
at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Sgt. 1st Class Alfred Lanier, Sergeant of the Guard, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier,
lays a rose at the Tomb in remembrance of his final walk on June 25.
Sentinels lay roses signifying leaving the Tomb,
and the love they have for the job and the Unknown

Thank you for your service.

Hat Tip to MD Conservative for sharing this story --- http://ci-report.blogspot.com/

June 14 ~ Flag Day

Flag Day ~ June 14

O'er the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave

Fort McHenry

The sight that inspired Francis Scott Key

to write the poem

The Star-Spangled Banner

Iwo Jima - Marine Memorial





The Flag at Arlington House
Arlington National Cemetery





The Flag at the National Archives

The 50 Flags of the States

Washinton Monument

Fredricksburg National Cemetery

The Flag at the Stonewall Jackson Shrine

The site where he died.

Flag at Petersen Gardens in Oregon

Mr. Petersen scoured the desert for rocks and glass and built some incredible stuctures from them. This flag has 48 stars.

World War II Memorial

Flag at Fort Meade Parade Grounds

Flag at Vietnam War Memorial

Pueblo, Colorado

Flag at the Painted Hills

John Day National Monument

Flag at Home

Summer and Winter


Photos from my personal collection and travels

Arlington National Cemetery ~ Chaos and Sorrow

For anyone who has ever been to Arlington National Cemetery, there is a majesty and a sense of walking through legend that you can not capture with a camera.

Most people hop the bus, ride to the 'key points', reflect a bit on those neat guys at the Tomb of the Unknowns, the big house on the hill - the Lee House, and the eternal flame on the Kennedy shrine. A few of us actually walk the roads. We see areas of the Cemetery that are rarely seen. We see the numerous plaques and monuments that are constructed through out the Cemetery - like this POW plaque - that commemorate so many aspects of our history.

We start to feel the numbers of graves... the numbers of men and women who have served our country honorably. And, it doesn't take long before you realize that most who are buried here lived long and productive lives. Those who have fallen in battle are a smaller number, but a number that strikes your heart with profound sorrow and pride, and, for this American, deep gratitude. Wisely, they are buried together.

The last time I was there, they pointed out the section that held the fallen from Vietnam. That was new - the mentioning that is. As the years have faded the remembrances of Vietnam, we can now speak of it. I never stopped thinking about or remembering Vietnam and I knew where the section was. It is a section that I visit each time I go there, for I have someone there. I have been the weepy person standing there.

Now it has been discovered that Arlington National Cemetery has been stricken with shame caused by careless errors. A shame that occurs at every cemetery - whether it is military, public or private. It is caused by carelessness, illiteracy and an attitude of disdain towards both the living and the dead. It happens all of the time and it happens everywhere. It should NEVER happen anywhere. But, it does. The worst part is, short of disinterring each casket and testing the DNA, when do you call it resolved? For cremains, there is no testing. The only path to resolution is to trust those who have proven themselves unworthy.

While Arlington was burying people in the wrong places and tossing urns of cremains into the fill dirt, people were trusting that care was being given to each casket and urn. Lovely people were comforting the family and securing the trust. I believe that they were as naive as the rest of us. I believe that nothing nefarious was going on behind the scenes. I believe that lax attitudes create chaos and it merged into the perfect storm in Arlington.

Arlington National Cemetery is not the largest of our military cemeteries, but it is the best known. It is the shining star. It is the home of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers and the Old Guard - what can be more honorable that that? It is the place we think of when a military burial occurs. It is a place we all believed in.

I have been subjected to a 'misplaced' burial and a 'misplaced' headstone of a family member. To this day, I have no way of knowing if it was correctly resolved --- I had to trust the untrustworthy. As families are worrying and calling to get an answer, knowing that each call brings yet another answer, often conflicting with the last, the pain that sets in is overwhelming. I felt it again, all these years later, just reading about this. My thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends who are trying so hard to find resolution. I pray that they get the resolution they are entitled to.



For the people who are annoyed that I pointed out that it happens everywhere - the day you think that a fallen soldier or old vet is ranked by which cemetery he is buried in, we have truly lost our ethos - our fundamental values and concerns for one another. You can find military headstones in every cemetery in this country and in many foreign countries. I will never try to judge the young widow standing over a grave in Spokane or a mother standing over a grave in Idaho as being less in pain than those standing in Arlington. I am grateful to each of them - those who fell while serving and those who lived a long life after serving - where ever they are buried.

My concern is that we consistently bury them with the honor they deserve.

Memorial Day 2010

Memorial Day
commemorates U.S. soldiers who died while in military service.

No, it isn't about putting flowers on Aunt Sarah's grave --- though people do it. Our local cemeteries look like they got smacked by the plastic flower fairy.

No, it isn't about thanking living members of our military, though you will see feeble and mostly insincere attempts at that.

No, it isn't about remembering veterans, living and dead, though this is what normally happens. That, friends, is called Veteran's Day.

No, it isn't about the National Guard NASCAR, as their PAO keeps telling people.

And, NO, there should never be a greeting of "Happy Memorial Day"

Across the country today, cemeteries are covered in plastic flowers on graves of people who may never have known someone who served. The Boy Scouts, VFW and other organizations have placed flags on the graves of the people who were veterans. The local cemeteries are full of flags.

In most cemeteries, the graves that Memorial Day are about are just a few in the many.

Over the years I have written much about Memorial Day. Some day, I may even tell my most significant Memorial Day story, but this is not the year.

I have written about FLAGS IN at Arlington

I have written about Punchbowl National Cemetery where I spent every Memorial Day of my youth.

I have written about the Gold Star and the Blue Star

I have written about the Poppies

I have written about the American Cemeteries Abroad

I have shared Ben Stein's amazing speech "They Did God's Work"

I have written much about Rolling Thunder - you'll have to search for that one - or you can click on the tag Memorial Day and see all of my posts.

I have written about the fallen - told their stories.

We have lost friends and neighbors over the years. People who stepped forward and said, "Send Me" --- they are missed everyday, but especially today we think of them.... those we knew and those we did not.

On this solemn day - think of those who gave their lives for us, for this idea of America - think of those they left behind who hurt everyday, but especially today.

May They Walk with God - May We Ever Remember

Forty-five-year-old; Sgt. Maj. Robert J. Cottle, 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 4th Marine Division, pays tribute to one of his fallen Marines on March 8, 2010 at South Station, Helmand province, Afghanistan.

A little more than two weeks later, Cottle, a seven-year active-duty veteran and high-ranking SWAT officer for the Los Angeles Police Department, was struck by a roadside bomb killing him and 19 year old Marine Lance Cpl. Rick Centanni.

Photo by Marine Corps 1st Lt. Joshua Diddams
I Marine Expeditionary Force (Fwd)
Date: 03.08.2010
Location: South Station, AF

As we approach Memorial Day,
we must never forget that good men and women
are still giving their lives in defense of our nation.

If you didn't read the caption of this photo, you missed the point....

Dogs of War

Military Spouse Appreciation Day

Military Spouse

Appreciation

Day

Ben Stein, a television personality and writer, wrote this for an Army newsletter, The Strykers, out of Ft. Lewis, Washington. It was addressed to one of the wives of the soldiers. I wrote to him and asked for permission to share it, and he told me to share it as often as I can. On, Military Spouse Appreciation Day, I share it with all of the military spouses - thank you all.

Dear Karen,

I have a great life. I have a wife I adore, a son who is a lazy teenager but I adore him, too. We live in a house with two dogs and four cats. We live in peace. We can worship as we please. We can say what we want. We can walk the streets in safety. We can vote. We can work wherever we want and buy whatever we want. When we sleep, we sleep in peace. When we wake up, it is to the sounds of birds.

All of this, every bit of it, is thanks to your husband, his brave fellow soldiers, and to the wives who keep the home fires burning while the soldiers are away protecting my family and 140 million other families. They protect Republicans and Democrats, Christians, Jews, Muslims and atheists. They protect white, black, yellow, brown and everyone in between. They protect gays and straights, rich and poor.

And none of it could happen with the Army wives, Marine wives, Navy wives, Air Force wives – or husbands – who go to sleep tired and lonely, wake up tired and lonely, and go through the day with a smile on their faces. They feed the kids, put up with the teenagers’ surliness, the bills that never stop piling up, the desperate hours when the plumbing breaks and there is no husband to fix it, and the even more desperate hours after the kids have gone to bed, the dishes have been done, the bills have been paid, and the wives realize that they will be sleeping alone – again, for the 300th night in a row.

The wives keep up the fight even when they have to move every couple of years, even when their checks are late, even when they have to make a whole new set of friends every time they move.

And they keep up the fight to keep the family whole even when they feel a lump of dread every time they turn on the news, every time they switch on the computer, every time the phone rings and every time – worst of all – the doorbell rings. Every one of these events – which might mean a baseball score or a weather forecast or a FedEx man to me and my wife – might mean the news that the man they love, the man they have married for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, is now parted from them forever.

These women will never be on the cover of People. They will never be on the tabloid shows on TV about movie stars. But they are the power and the strength that keep America going. Without them, we are nothing at all. With them, we can do everything.

They are the glue that holds the nations together, stronger than politicians, stronger than talking heads, stronger than al Qaeda.

They deserve all the honor and love a nation can give. They have my prayers, and my wife’s, every morning and every night.


Love, and I do mean love, Ben.

Bad Day to be a Pirate!

03/31/2010 - Members of a U.S. Coast Guard law enforcement detachment and a visit, board, search and seizure team head back to the guided missile destroyer USS Farragut (DDG 99) after disabling a suspected pirate skiff in the Indian Ocean on March 31, 2010. The Farragut is deployed as part of Combined Task Force 151, a multinational task force established to conduct anti-piracy operations in and around the Gulf of Aden. DoD photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Cassandra Thompson, U.S. Navy. (Released)

Wreckage of WWII Helldiver Plane Found in Oregon

The Curtiss Helldiver, despite a reputation for being difficult to handle at low speeds, was responsible for the destruction of more Japanese targets than any other aircraft. It was primarily used to attack Japanese submarines/ The Curtiss SB2C single-engine dive-bomber joined the fleet late in 1943, joining the Douglas Dauntless as the primary attack/bombing planes for the US Navy. The two-man Helldiver had a top speed of 295 mph and good range, making it an essential tool in the far reaches of the Pacific war.

Loggers along the Oregon Coast (between Wheeler and Rockaway) have found the remains of a Helldiver in the forest. Three planes were known to have gone down in the area - 2 in 1945 and 1 in 1948. Logging crews saw a wing, tail section, landing gear and other debris in a heavily wooded area. The debris field was strewn over a 200 yard area.

Munitions experts have searched for any live weapons and JPAC (Joint Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Command) are looking for any possible human remains in the area, as the Helldivers carried a crew of two.

Exercise Puts Oregon's Civil Support Team to the Test for Certification

Oregon Air National Guard Staff Sgt. Ryan Siggins, a survey team member with the 102 Civil Support Team, removes his protective suit after going through the decontamination process at Silverton High School, Silverton, Ore., March 10. Siggins was decontaminated after he entered the high school to search for any potential chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear contaminants as part of a joint external evaluation by U.S. Army North, between local authorities and the 102 Civil Support Team, Oregon National Guard, to certify the CST as an operational unit.

Staff Sgt. Jason Tarpley, Bravo Team survey chief, helps Oregon Air National Guard Staff Sgt. Ryan Siggins into his protective suit.

Lt. Col. Lance Englet, 102 Civil Support Team commander, receives a report from incident commander Rick Lewis, Silverton Chief of Police, and Capt. Ed Grambusch, Training Coordinator for Silverton Fire Department.

Sgt. Joseph Plueard and Oregon Air National Guard Staff Sgt. Ryan Siggins, search a dummy to detect potential chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear contaminants at the scene of a mock school shooting.

A Silverton police officer guards a doorway while other officers talk to a \"victim\" during a 102 Civil Support Team evaluation.

Lt. Col. Lance Englet, 102 Civil Support Team Commander, discusses the unit\'s capabilities with incident commander Rick Lewis, Silverton Chief of Police, and Capt. Ed Grambusch, Training Coordinator for Silverton Fire Department.

High school students flee a simulated "attack" during a 102 Civil Support Team evaluation at the Silverton High School auditorium in Silverton, Ore., March 10. The students are members of the Silverton High drama club who portrayed victims as part of a joint external evaluation by U.S. Army North, between local first responders and the 102 Civil Support Team, Oregon National Guard, to certify the CST as an operational unit.
Photos by SGT Eric Rutherford - Oregon National Guard Public Affairs Office

Exercise Puts Oregon's Civil Support Team to the Test for Certification

Oregon National Guard Public Affairs Office

Story by SGT Eric Rutherford

SILVERTON, Ore. – Gunshots rang out and screams echoed through the halls of the local high school.

One student lay bleeding on the floor, while others cower behind seats in the auditorium where moments earlier, several high school seniors had been preparing for an assembly on the morning of March 10.

The seniors unknowingly stumbled upon "Cory," a drop-out plotting revenge on his classmates. When confronted, Cory became enraged and opened fire before hurling a glass jar filled with liquid at the students, filling the room with an overwhelming vapor.

This nightmarish scenario might conjure up memories of other violent real-world incidents, but for the Silverton High School drama department, local responders, and the Oregon National Guard's 102 Civil Support Team, it was a day to work together on a joint exercise aimed at certifying Oregon's CST to be fully functional and operational.

"We evaluate the team every 18 months," said Todd Chance, an exercise specialist with U.S. Army North. "It is required by National Guard Bureau and Congress. During the evaluation we do all of our military training protocols to ensure that they can perform whenever they go into an environment that requires a technically correct response."

As part of the evaluation, students from Silverton High School drama club acted as the "victims." Silverton Police officers, Silverton Fire Department, Woodburn Ambulance, Oregon State Police, North Marion County Communications 9-1-1 Dispatch Center, and Silverton Hospital Network all participated in the training evaluation, to make the scenario more realistic.

"We are called the civil support team because that is exactly what we do," said Capt. Gregory Ramirez, medical operations officer for the CST. "We work with civil authorities to help support the intent of the incident commander."

The incident commander has a set of objectives to meet and we have the resources to help meet those needs, he added.

Some of those needs might be to indentify a substance or use their reach-back capabilities to bring on additional resources, should the team need them, said Ramirez.

In the scenario the group of seniors, injured and suffering from respiratory problems, fled the building to find Silverton police officers who sized up the situation and realized they needed additional assistance. This is when the 102 Civil Support Team was requested.

"They never go in cold," said Conrad Striegl, team chief and evaluator from U.S. Army North. "We do pre-training leading up to this. It should be like another day at the office for them if we do our job right."

Rick Lewis, Silverton chief of police, acted as incident commander during the exercise. He coordinated with Lt. Col. Lance Englet, commander of the 102 Civil Support Team to determine what actions they should take and how best to work with responders and the teams assets.

"As soon as they got on site, they interfaced with Incident Command and let them know what their capabilities are," said Chance, who traveled from Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, to evaluate the team.

The advance party arrived and staged their vehicles in the incident command site and began unloading and inventorying their equipment. Team members conducted a perimeter survey using detection equipment to determine the area affected by Cory's attack. Once the initial survey was complete, the rest of the CST arrived, bringing their mobile laboratory, communications equipment, and decontamination gear.

Chance said the teams can train in sterile environments only so much. The CST needs to be able to train in actual environments to get the most out of the scenario.

"Now we have put it into a realistic scenario where the taxpayer gets their money," Chance said. "They can see these guys responding to an 'if-this-were-to-happen-for-real' event."

The team set up the medical tent, decontamination site, communications equipment and survey gear as though it was a real scenario.

"We train for this," said Englet. "The training reflects different environments that we already respond to ... a school, a house, a garage, an unknown chemical or device that is explosive. This isn't a scenario that is made up. This is something that is based on [other Civil Support Teams'] real-world responses and real world responses that this team has been on."

Once the site was set up and briefings had taken place, the survey team suited up and went into the site to take samples and evaluate the scene. With detection devices loaded onto the small all-terrain utility vehicle, two team members wearing large protective suits went in.

"Ultimately the fire department and the police are going to be the first on scene and its good to have that training and interoperability so they know if there is something that they want more investigation on," said Oregon Air National Guard Staff Sgt. Ryan Siggins, a survey team member.

Siggins meticulously scanned windows and doors outside the building. He and fellow survey team member Sgt. Joseph Plueard, determined if any chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear contaminants were in the "hot-zone."

After the survey was complete, Siggins and Plueard moved to the decontamination site through large shower tents, scrubbing down to ensure they brought nothing hazardous back into the "cold-zone."

Throughout the training, ARNORTH evaluators took notes to ensure the team was meeting the standards.

From the decontamination tent, the survey team moved to the medical evaluation tent where they were examined by the unit's medical officer to ensure they were physically stable after being in the suits for extended periods of time.

After the team finished the survey and briefed the responders, determinations were made on how to go about cleaning the area to restore it for use and allow the community access to the facility again.

"I think we are doing great," said Englet. "The team is fantastic. They are focused, dedicated soldiers and airmen. The real benefit is the fact that we have genuine first responders as part of the exercise."

Englet said many soldiers and airmen may work with these agencies full-time, and be part time citizen soldiers, giving back to their communities at the same time they help it.

"The National Guard is about the community first," said Englet. "We live in these communities ... it is our own back yard."

After the evaluation was complete, the evaluation team was unanimous in recognizing the 102 CST as a well prepared, professional organization, and proficient in all areas evaluated. The evaluation team spoke highly of the 102 Civil Support Team and complimented each section.

"They are doing well," said Striegl, who also provides training support for eight other Civil Support Teams on the West Coast. "The 102 has always been a strong team. The citizens of Oregon are lucky."

With the exercise behind them, the 102 Civil Support Team is ready to respond to real world call-outs. The next big event planned for the team is the scheduled move from their existing location to the new Army Aviation Support Facility in Salem.

U S Navy

SOUTH CHINA SEA (Mar. 02, 2010) - The fleet replenishment oiler USNS Tippecanoe (T-AO 199), center, transfers fuel to the amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD 2), left, and the transport dock ship USS Denver (LPD 9) during underway replenishment. Essex and Denver are part of the forward-deployed Essex Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and are conducting spring patrol to the Western Pacific Ocean. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Geronimo Aquino)