Operation Denali

Saturday night my hubby and I attended the annual banquet for the Society of American Military Engineers.  It was a good evening out.  Hubby and I were all dressed up and had an evening out together.  The key note speaker at the banquet was the best speaker we have ever heard at one of these events.  I want to share a bit with you.

The speaker was Marc Hoffmeister. Marc is an US Army officer and 1992 West Point graduate currently stationed at Elmendorf AFB, AK.  Marc was wounded by a roadside bomb while serving on a Military Transition Team as an embedded trainer with the Iraqi Army.   He shared with us a bit about trying to deal with the devastation of his injuries and how his wife Gayle challenged him to overcome.  He told us that she announced one day that she was going to climb Denali!  Realizing that she was determined and he could not let her go alone, he determined to take up the challenge and Operation Denali was born.

Operation Denali Mission Statement:

Enable four Warriors wounded in the Global War on Terrorism to overcome devastating combat injuries and successfully summit 20,320 ft Denali, the highest mountain in North America, symbolizing the strength of our Nation and those who defend it.

He shared with us a very inspiring story. He spoke of not only the challenges of the climb in which only 40-60% of those who attempt actually summit. Denali is a dangerous mountain in which people loose their lives each year attempting to summit.  Imagining the challenges of attempting such a big climb is intimidating but image doing so without all of your limbs.  Yes, these wounded warriors climbed and summitted the mountain with prosthetic limbs.  He told stories of how they even passed other teams on the mountain.  That was rather encouraging for them, not so much so for the other fully bodied teams.  Why even try to attempt such a feat?  Reaching the summit was the goal but more importantly than actually reaching the summit were the following objectives.  Even for the few who did not actually summit, their objectives were reached.

1.  To raise awareness for the needs of severely injured service men and women
2.  To  work together to overcome our physical limitations and achieve a common goal made to seem insurmountable by the impact of our injuries on our lives.
3.  To demonstrate by performance and example that no obstacle is so great that the human spirit cannot overcome it

Let me give you a little bit of perspective on this challenge.  A little lesson on Denali.  Denali meaning the High One or the Great One is the Native word for the mountain that outsiders refer to as Mount McKinley. Denali, being North America’s highest peak, rises to an elevation of 20,320 feet amidst a sea of glaciers and other peaks that compose the Alaska Range.  Here is a photo I took from Anchorage, several hundred miles away.

For a closer look and updated photos check out the webcam from Denali National Park & Preserve. Their view is from Wonder Lake.

Please make sure to do your part in supporting our veterans.  They give up so much for the freedoms we all enjoy!  I ask that you share this story and encourage others!

To read more on this inspiring story visit Operation Denali! You can also see a slide show of the expedition. You can read their expedition journal too!

Take some time to learn more about Operation Denali and be sure to leave me a comment too!

Obama Visit

Image via Wikipedia

My hubby had the opportunity to be working when President Obama came through the base last week.  He didn’t actually meet him and speak to him like he did when President Bush came through and he wasn’t seated on the stage behind him like he was when Vice President Dick Cheney came through but he was in the same hanger and heard the speech.  Other than the fact that they made them switch out the planes in the hanger so the one he cut from the budget wouldn’t be there and that he couldn’t read the rank of someone correctly off the teleprompter, here are Hubby’s comments about the whole thing…..

“Stood around for 6 hours at the base just to hear Pres O speak for about 20 min. Lots of promises that made me think my taxes are going up.”

Money, Money, Money,Money…..Money!

Bob Hope on Zombies and Democrats

Why Are We Surprised!?

When you decide to only deal in the grey, why are we surprized that things like this happen, it was only a matter of time!  Now it isn’t just the desire of the mother but what those around think was her desire! The question of life is now totally irrelevant apparently!  I wish that the world cared as much for life as they do for death.

So, What’s the difference?

 That’s certainly what was on the mind of the nurse that decided when a mother birthed her child in the waiting room of an abortion clinic.  She figured—the mother didn’t want the child before, so now it’s easier to kill the baby now that it’s out.  So, she cut the umbilical cord, put the baby in a red biohazard bag, and threw the breathing baby in the trash.

Excerpt from MInTheGap: Read More

The lawsuit article is HERE.

Um, Yep, That Says It All.

I saw this on Lisa’s blog this week and wanted to share it with my readers here as well. This about sums up my conservative views concerning the direction our government is taking concerning the economic state of the nation.

“You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom.. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.”

~~~~~ The late Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931 – 2005