It’s been an exciting 13 days. Lots of interesting blogs discovered, many interesting comments read, but…most importantly the overwhelming support fo the people to show that character trait of comapssion, just because it’s for someone they don’t even know, that stood up for them, not even knowing all of us.

All I’d say if take it to the International Date Line! Beth didn’t say which time zone’s 2359 would determine the final bell…

Thank each and every one, whether your name/blog showed up on a Valour-IT team list, or if yu just took up for the cause and pointed people to the donate buttons…

A commenter on VC’s “get out the fund rasing effort” post (heh! she figured out the “viral” tactic) had this to say:

Cass, it isn’t the fundraiser that bugs me. It is the reason, the necessity for it. We should be at peace with these kids home and making lives for themselves and their families. But the call came and they answered. We can do no less than embrace them and help them to have a life. It is a small thing we do, but having been a bedridden grouch myself, and having needed a laptop with Dragon Naturally Speaking, I know how much this means to them.

It wasn’t until two years ago that I was able to get more function in my left arm, and begin to type again, and that was a year after I was injured.

The first thing the Engineer [husband] did was get me a laptop with the software. I didn’t feel so isolated, hurt or angry. And you will never know how much it meant to me to be able to travel beyond my four walls and the terrible pain.

I have since given the laptop back to DELL, and they sent me a replacement, but they did tell me that they would rehab it for resell. I hope it went to one of ours and it gives him or her the
ability and hope to carry on and know that life is good and sweet.

Cricket knows the value. That’s a testimony to the capablity of technology to lend normalcy to a broken body, and more importantly, an almost broken spirit.

In the future, if you meet/learn of someone who has suffered such injuries in life off any battle field, you know are aware of a method to restore some hope, so, spread the word around!

Maybe I should have known better. The Navy Team puts up Marine donation buttons all over the place and tells people to send money their way, and then the marines act like they just boarded USS GATOR and take over the place. They stand in the passagewas, clogging up traffic, eat all the steak and ice cream and then sit around playing cards all day, when they aren’t doing PT, and all the while thinking the sailors owe them something more.

Seriously: Congrats Marines for getting a second wind and stroking past the Army in fine fashion! I’m sure the Powerline Blog listing yesterday (just which pictures did VC email to them?) didn’t hurt at all…..

Hmmmm…maybe it’s time for a “No Zoomie Left Behind” push thru tomorrow…..

If you haven’t hit the auctions, don’t let that stuff get away. After all, it may be Team Navy’s only hope of coming out on top when all the money is counted!

Great job, to the team and to the many, US and other citizens who have helped out!

Now, let’s shift the focus to getting the other teams over the top!

Best donating link for all services here.

New orders: QUIT GIVING TO THE NAVY!

News Flash: I “dislike” minimums….I like straining to the last moment available. Let’s keep going for only the trrops at the other end of this program win. Word to the wise (meaning the non-Sea Services): The throttle is at Flank III at sea and full military in the high flying go fasts. Next you will fall to the MARINES!

I sure wish I could have lined up the Tampa Bay Lightening Team radio announcer for this moment….

“They shoot , THEY SCORE!”

Oh, yeah the new Army motto for recruiting “Army Strong” went public last night. Does this mean we can roll out the new Navy ad “Navy Stronger” campaign?

Just saying….:)

Good question, however, the correct day to wonder where an Air Force guy went.

Some would call it “AWOL,” but the real term is “UA” for “unathorized absense.”

Last time this happened (Scott O’Grady), it was the MARINES who saved his grounded tail.

How appropriate, on the very day we honor the 231th birthday of the CORPS, that we have to ponder this question. The good news is: We already know how to fix it: Send for the MARINES!

If you’ve seen John, tell him to get back on task and let VC know the MARINES aren’t required to leave the bar and interupt their celebrations!

You’d think he would have come up on distress by now, hollering for th PJs to get him back to the O Club…..

Today, In honor of the 231st Birthday, I’m posting the donation button for Team Marines.

We Navy guys have been hauling them all over the world to get to “the office,” all the while as they are eating all the ice cream and bitching complaining that they’ve seen all the movies.

Once more, it looks like the Marines could use a lift to get to where they can then be successful, and here it is:

Warning to you Grunts: I have no ice cream, the weight room is the pay for gym down the street and where I live and sleep won’t rock you to sleep, but I can offer “support” for your cause.

VC, how about spread the word: Donation Button for TEAM USMC, no waiting line!

Yessiree, Ladies and Gentlemen! The Valour-IT fund drive is not over!

In addition to the two books from Richard Lowry Team USAF posted on eBay, the shopping option of many, now you can bid on Thunderbird Memorbilia!

John of Castle Arrggghhh! put up two copies of “Blood Brothers,” which will be signed by the author, at the mini-auction site of NZ Bear.

Please don’t forget the Navy items, only of the highest quality, for the discerning auctionee, are still listed here. I discussed thes Navy items in an earlier post, if you’d like a few details.

William has grciously showcased Valour-IT on a web site he works, The Carrier Page. To clarify, this is a site about aircraft carriers. For your aviation buffs….try a click!

Thanks, William!

Yesterday was a banner day for the program. I started the day glum, having not slept well the night before, as the numbers were going flat (and the Navy Team was having our “parts” handed to us). By lunch time, I will admit, safe from the public’s eye, I engaged in some snarking via “backchannel” comms to the other teams.

Then the evening settled in, and I saw the meteoric rise of the flag of those who go down to the sea in ships had done something aviators generall cringe at, because, we al know from the good Captain, “speed is life.” The only good part of our journey, is when we have stalled, nose high, hearing the wind nosie silencing itself, we don’t get overcome by the law of gravity that has ended, prematurely, the lives of many good men and women who has tried to slip the surly bonds of earth. We at least hang there.

In any environment, being a stationary target is never good, for it takes the delicate computations of relative motion out of the mix and makes it much easier for the targeter to snipe at the targetee.

This morning’s numbers show us all, stalled short of the goal, just inching past the wonderful preformance of last year.

Let’s redouble our efforts, bolstered by one more tall cup of extra caffinated Starbucks and work the phones and keyboards.

In the meantime, enjoy what “Gazing at the Flag” blog writer sends to us, a story of a sacrifice, small as it is to some, it’s a statement worth considering., Read it here and consider: What’s IT (not an intended pun, but a reference to Valour-“IT”) worth to you?

Can you trade a the date dinner before the movie this Friday or Saturday night (in the $25-45 range for lots of the middle class incomes) to propel someone from a hospital bed, wondering through the phantom pain of a missing limb, just how they will support their spouse and later send their children to a better life than they had, to help this person, whom you will most likely never know their name?

How about a day’s wages? Maybe we could all grab a calculator, do some reasonably quick math, and figure out what we make for a day and pledge (well, pledge via a click on the donation button) that value (gross or net, depending on how you are feeling at the moment) to this nation’s future, because, when you peel this onion apart, layer by layer, it’s about helping people be productive now, and to be there to launch the next generations.

How about it? If not putting it directly into the kitty, maybe figure that much to one of the auction items? And… I would further challenge everyone who bids on any items, that if you are not the winner, no matter if you bid a $1 or $500, that you figure you would have paid that much to get a Challenge Coin, wine goblets, or a hard copy “blogvel,” it’s money you considered putting towards Valour-IT, so when the final gavel drop is heard and “SOLD! TO THE (fill in not you description) WITH THE FUNNY CAMOFLAUGED HAT!” resounds, log in and donate it via the service team you love most (psst! The Navy is ahead…spread the love elsewhere! (I don’t want them feeling left out and Waaaayyyy behind!)).

Can I count on you? Ok, forget me, can they, our wounded and their families and families to be, count on you for one day?

Think about it…

VALOUR-IT NEWS FLASH!

Whoda thunk it? From “Tail End Charlie” (man, the view was UGLY back there!) to “Leader of the Pack” (how’s it looking now?) in a few hours….

Oh, and that’s Capt Lex in the chase F/A-18…

This stunt was brought to you by the cold, calculating, strategic thinking idea people of Team NAVY (lay back and let them wear themselves out, then smoke by them like you hair’s on fire!) …$5500+ in the lead and accelerating towards the finish line!

Grab an auction to bid on and see if you ground pounding, movie watching, golf and bowling “experts” can catch us!

Trackbacked to: Mudville Gazette