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Archive for May 2nd, 2008|Daily archive page

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Bamiyan Buddha Afghan Commemerative Stamps

In Afghanistan, culture, Travel on May 2, 2008 at 10:04 pm

When I was a kid, I collected stamps. So when I came across this little gem, I had to pick it up. These stamps are from the time before the Soviet invasion. The time of King Zahir Shah. The last King of Afghanistan. They’re a link to a time when Afghanistan was at peace with itself. When it’s peoples were mostly just neighbors to one another. Before bin Laden and Mullah Omar. A time before sucide bombers and taliban and ruined cities and foreign occupations. This was a time when Afghans looked on their Western visitors as merely strange figures on whom they visited warm hospitality. It was a time when visitors were considered guests and were treated as such. ‘The pushtoon code meant something and the mehmet was indeed a welcomed and honoured guest whether they were Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist or Jew. Westerners weren’t peace keepers. We weren’t soldiers or policemen or civlian contractors for America or ISAF or NATO soldiers. Westerners were merely visitors with strange behaviors. Strangers who seemed to have an even stranger affinity for opium and hashish. Merchants from the West in search of carpets and tapestries, emeralds and rubies and lapis to sell in their homelands.

Back then, the hippy trail ran through Iran to Herat and on to Kabul. Lone travelers came and left unmolested. The Mustafa Hotel in Kabul gave some respite and a chance to shake off the dust of the road. It still stands and the occasional brave traveler stops there for a night or two until he moves on into Pakistan, Tibet, Nepal and India. I have read that some of the hippy communities still exist in Goa. I’m sure that there are others. Guys who dropped out of the West and traveled to Asia in search of peace or freedom or a final escape.

Afghanistan actually knew peace back in those days. Before the communists came and ruined everything. The King was attempting to make reforms. Give women rights. Construct a constitution. Educate his people and move them into the 20th Century.

What might have been.

So this is a “peace” of that time. A memento as the Afghans like to say. A small reminder that Afghanistan was not always as it finds itself now.

Interesting PDF on the Bamian Buddha Destruction

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Arlington National Cemetery Burial Honors (Enlisted vs. Officer)

In culture, Politics on May 2, 2008 at 4:31 am

SFC Durbin is currently serving a tour of duty in Iraq. He makes a few excellent points about the rendering of honors for our fallen soldiers at our Nations most prestigious National Military Cemetery.

While serving in The Army Honor Guard (The Old Guard) as a Full Honor Casket Team Squad Leader, I was responsible for carrying the Remains of deceased Army Officers on a regular basis, which included Former President Ronald Reagan. While there, I wondered why only Officers received Full Honor Funerals in Arlington National Cemetery (ANC), regardless of what they did or didn’t do in their careers. The difference between a Full and Standard Honor Funeral is dramatic. However, if one has not served in the Old Guard , one would never know the difference. In fact, the only way an Enlisted Service Member can receive a Full Honor Funeral is to be a Medal of Honor Recipient. The Medal of Honor is more often than not awarded posthumously. Well after burial.   Therefore, an Enlisted Medal of Honor Recipient would not receive Full Honors at time of burial.

Basically, a Full Honors at Arlington consists of the following:

  • Horse Drawn Caisson
  • Transfer from Chapel to gravesite
  • 8 pallbearers
  • Army Band
  • 1-2 escort marching Platoons
  • Cannon Salutes for General Officers
  • “Cap” Rider-less Horse(0-6 and above)
  • Firing Party
  • Bugler
  • Chaplain

A Standard Honors Funeral consists of the following:

  • Hearse Transfer
  • 6 Pallbearers
  • Firing Party
  • Bugler
  • Chaplain

Another common misconception is that CSM/SGMs receive Full Honors. In fact, they do not. In addition to the Standard Honors rendered above, a CSM/SGM is authorized a Caisson, 1 escort marching platoon and a drummer to keep escort platoon in-step while marching.

I would add that the above Special Officer Honors rendered at Arlington National Cemetery are not offered at any other National Cemetery in the United States. Why the discrimination. Is it simply a coincidence that Arlington National Cemetery is across the street from the Pentagon? Honors at Arlington should mirror those of our other National Cemeteries.

For the past year, I have been addressing this issue with various Veterans Organizations of which I am a member. As well, I have addressed them with Army Offices in Washington D.C. I have received little or no response. I’m currently addressing this with my Congressman’s Military Liaison. The ANC Superintendent sent me a response stating that he agreed with my position. However, he believed changes would be difficult to implement. I have talked to numerous Senior Officers and Senior Non-Commissioned Officers as well who support this and are addressing this in ways which they feel appropriate for them.

The bottom line is that a 2nd Lieutenant can die in a car accident 2 days after graduating Officer Candidate School. He will receive a Full Honor Funeral. Conversely, a Senior Enlisted member of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines or Coast Guard with 22 years of Service can die in Combat in Afghanistan or Iraq and be awarded a Silver Star for Valor. He or she receives a Standard Honor Funeral. In the most hallowed ground on American soil. A place which commands the respect of our nation. The burial ground of several Presidents. Audie Murphy. SGT York. Oliver Wendell Holmes, JR.

This issue deserves our attention. Honors rendered should be equal. Action based rather than rank. A panel should decide official criteria for Honors rendered based upon career, circumstances of death, combat record and the like. Not Rank. Funerals should be reminiscent of the Tombstones in Arlington. All the same.

At a minimum, all Service Members killed in Combat should receive a Full Honor Funeral. All other Service Members should have a simple funeral matching the eloquent simplicity of the white tombstones of Arlington National Cemetery themselves.

[This is from an email from SFC Durbin. I paraphrased and re-organized the email a bit before I posted it here.]

I served in The Old Guard from 1994-1997. I was in Alpha Company “CinC Guard” on Fort McNair. I understand what SFC Durbin is saying here. I have always felt that it is disgraceful the manner in which the US Military treats it’s Enlisted soldiers. Not only in death but in retirement as well as on active duty. Enlisted Retirees and Vets are discarded as if they are but so much waste in a dumpster. Such is my opinion.

I agree wholeheartedly with the above. Full Honors should be given to all of the Nations soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines who fall in combat. These men and women have laid down their lives in the greatest sacrifice that our Nation could ask of anyone. They should be honored as if such were the case. What does rank matter at such a time. It should not.

Anyone who wishes to assist, can contact SFC Durbin at allen.durbin@us.army.mil or contact your Congressman or Senator.

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Senator Mitch McConnell honors William “Mr. Wildcat” Keightley on the Senate Floor

In UK Basketball on May 2, 2008 at 3:08 am

Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to a man who was a fixture of Kentucky basketball, with a fervent passion for competition and a fast loyalty to his country, his State, and his beloved University of Kentucky Wildcats.

Bill Keightley, affectionately known as “Mr. Wildcat,” passed away recently at the age of 81. He embodied the spirit and tradition that is Kentucky basketball. Born William Bond Keightley in 1926, Mr. Keightley was an All-State center for the Kavanaugh High School basketball team in his hometown of Lawrenceburg, KY.

He later enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and bravely served his country during World War II. After the war, Mr. Keightley spent much of his young adulthood working as a mail carrier.

Then in 1962, his friend and fellow postman George Hukle asked him to help out washing jerseys and towels for the University of Kentucky men’s basketball team. Over the next 4 1/2 decades, he proved himself indispensable as the school’s top cheerleader, ambassador of goodwill and confidante to players and coaches alike.

“Mr. Bill,” as he was called by friends and family, witnessed three national championships, befriended six head coaches, and cared for hundreds of players over his long career.

Loved by fans and respected by opponents, he earned a permanent seat on the Kentucky bench at every game. In fact, Mr. Keightley attended more than 1,400 UK basketball games, nearly 60 percent of all games ever recorded. And former UK basketball coach Orlando “Tubby” Smith points out that “it has been . . . us [coaches] sitting next to him,
not him sitting next to us.”

Mr. Keightley often served as a father-like figure to the players, and many recall his talks with “his boys” on anything from Kentucky sports to lessons of integrity and pride. “Players, coaches, and athletic directors come and go, but Bill Keightley was constant,” says Kenny Walker, a friend and former UK player.

John Pelphrey, member of the “Unforgettable” 1992 Wildcats team and now head coach at Arkansas University, says: For 48 years, Mr. Bill looked over coaches and student-athletes with love and care that only a father could give…every time we had an encounter, there was a hearty hello,a hug, and a laugh, every single time, just like the first time.

In 1997, Mr. Bill’s jersey was elevated into the rafters of Rupp Arena, making him one of only two people to receive this honor without having taken to the court to play the game.

In 2005, he was entered with the charter class into the UK Athletics Hall of Fame. The equipment room in Lexington’s Memorial Coliseum was named in his honor, and he humbly presided over it until his unfortunate passing this past March 31.

Noted Lexington sportscaster and friend Dave Baker says of Mr. Keightley:

He knew just when to lend a hand to the young man from Appalachia who was adjusting to the big city, or a young man who had been recruited from out-of-state and was getting accustomed to a brand new life in Kentucky. Mr. Keightley lived his life as a celebration.

Perhaps the most lasting tribute to Bill began in 2002, when the University of Kentucky athletic department presented its first Bill Keightley Award to the individual “who exemplifies the pride, respect, and positive attributes” associated with the University of Kentucky basketball program. They still present this award annually, to honor Mr. Bill.

UK followers and basketball lovers across the Commonwealth have lost the sport’s No. 1 fan. And I know I speak for all of them when I say our prayers and best wishes of support go out to his family, including his wife, Hazel; and his daughter and son-in-law, Karen and Alden Marlowe.

UK President Lee Todd, Jr., best expressed what many Kentuckians are feeling when he said that we have “lost someone who was not only the face of Kentucky Wildcat basketball, but the University itself.” I second his words, and add to them my own: We will not soon forget the loyalty, passion, and dedication to excellence that Bill Keightley
exemplified.

I yield the floor.

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