Posted: Saturday, February 20, 2010

Posted: Saturday, February 20, 2010

Private 1st Class Eric D. Currier, a Londonderry High School graduate with a life-long goal of serving his country as a Marine, was killed Wednesday during combat operations in Afghanistan.

Currier, 21, was part of an offensive in the Helmand province in Afghanistan conducted by the 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, according to a news release yesterday from the U.S. Department of Defense.

Currier's brother, Brent Currier, was stationed with the Army in Hawaii.

Eric Currier enlisted in March 2009 and was deployed to Afghanistan last month. He had received the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the National Defense Service Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.

He leaves his wife, Kayla Currier, 21. According to an announcement in the Londonderry Times, they were married last September.

The news sent shock waves through the community. By the end of the day yesterday, more than 700 people, including friends and family members, had linked to a tribute page in Eric Currier's honor on Facebook open to the general public. The site listed Currier as a "Brother, Son, Nephew, Husband, Grandson, Friend, Family, a MARINE."

"Eric, you will always be remembered as the hero and special person that you were," grandmother Rita Hileman posted on the site. "You will always be in all our hearts. You were such a great young man who was always respectful and kind to everyone and me. You were so proud to be a Marine and serve our country."

Similar comments from community members appeared on unionleader.com.

"Very sad news," Town Councilor Paul DiMarco posted. "My deepest condolences to the family and friends of this young Marine. God bless you and RIP."

Cars belonging to friends and family could be seen lining the front driveway of the 13 Peabody Row home of Currier's parents, Kevin and Helen Boudreau. Saying he wanted to ensure family privacy during a difficult time, Brent Currier met members of the media and strangers outside in the driveway to ask all to keep a respectful distance. Brent Currier declined to discuss any specifics about what happened, but said he was extremely proud his brother had the opportunity to serve as a Marine.

"He was a Marine. I don't want anyone to confuse that with anything else," Brent Currier said. "I'm in the Army, and even I admit it is different. Better."

Eric Currier was a 2006 graduate of Londonderry High School's Adult Education Program, a night-school program designed to help students complete their high school education. Londonderry High School Principal Jason Parent was head of the program when Eric was a student.

Special bonds form between teachers and parents in the after-school program, Parent said, because often the students who are enrolled put in extra effort and study time to attain their diploma.

Parent said he continued to follow Eric's progress after he had graduated.

"Our teachers got to know Eric very well through the program," Parent said. "He wanted to be a U.S. Marine even then, and we were all very proud of what he had accomplished."

Gov. John Lynch and Congressmen Paul Hodes and Carol Shea-Porter all released statements regarding the loss, saying their prayers were with the family.

"My thoughts and prayers and those of my wife, Susan, are with the family of Marine Pfc. Eric Currier," Lynch said. "Pfc. Currier served our nation with courage and honor, and he sacrificed protecting all of us. On behalf of the citizens of New Hampshire, our deepest sympathies go out to the Currier family."

Brent Currier said his family was planning to keep funeral services closed to the public and although the sympathies offered were appreciated, the greatest gift state residents could give the family now was privacy.

"We are going through a lot right now," Brent Currier said. "I don't want anything else out there."

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News

VTN/ Website
Posted: Sunday, March 7, 2010

Posted: Sunday, March 7, 2010

Restore The Republic Presents: 

REALITY REPORT #34 – FOX the Gateway Drug, Greater Depression, Local Currency, Mouse-Pig Hybrids, Inside CPAC, The New Mag

Watch the show?

http://RestoreTheRepublic.com | In this edition of the Reality Report Gary lets off some steam with a brief history of how Fox has manipulated the Ron Paul Revolution and covers a story on Greenspan’s recent admissions about the economic crisis and reports on the recent Grecian National Strike. Publisher George Shepherd drops in to discuss Operation Sovereign Guardian and the latest issue of Republic Magazine. Brooke Kelley takes us inside CPAC while they take her out, Mouse-Pig hybrids are almost ready to eat and new off the grid tech may soon be in your home! The mail bag is sifted, an Enemy of the State is branded and more in #34.

Posted: Saturday, February 20, 2010

Posted: Saturday, February 20, 2010

Purple Heart Riders share common bond
By: Dean Shalhoup

Not long after Al Grow was named commander of a new, Nashua-based chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart in late 2007, he began thinking of ways to reach out to area recipients of the award, especially the younger ones.

One day, about a year later, Grow and fellow Vietnam veteran Jerry Dumont – both Marines, both combat-wounded veterans – were tossing around ideas after a chapter meeting. At some point, motorcycles entered the conversation; both are riders.

They talked with some other guys who had joined Chapter 804, which is the second in New Hampshire – Manchester was first – and is named after World War II veteran Byron Buckingham, a longtime Nashua veterans advocate.

The next thing they knew, Dumont and Grow were running back and forth from the phone to the computer to the mailbox, fielding inquiries from Purple Heart recipients down the street and across the nation.

Their idea – to form an association of military veterans who have in common a Purple Heart and a love of motorcycle riding – had caught on like a California wildfire.

Indeed, within weeks, Purple Heart recipients from noncommissioned officers to high-ranking Vietnam-era Special Forces brass were joining the Purple Heart Riders, in which camaraderie and brotherhood outrank membership numbers every day of the week.

Their back patch – the logos you see on the back of riders’ jackets – is the blue-and-gold Purple Heart medal, a handsome and solemn symbol that, Grow says, has drawn more than one thumbs-up from even the Hells Angels.

“We thought we’d give it a shot,” Grow said this week. “It just took off.”

A lot of that success can be credited to what corporate types would call marketing – in this case, the Web site (www.purpleheartriders.us) that Dumont created early in the game.

“I wanted to do it fast and make it easy and neat, keep it simple,” Dumont said. “Some of these (sites) I go on are overwhelming; there’s too much. I don’t like all those bells and whistles. You don’t have to have dancing doodads all over the place.”

That’s especially so now, as every day, he spends a good chunk of time on not only the Purple Heart Riders site, but also on Chapter 804’s www.moph804.org site, which he also developed and maintains.

As they progressed, the men focused on making the Purple Heart Riders a manageable, tightly knit fellowship of kindred spirits rather than a huge, all-inclusive throng of paramilitary people sometimes twice or thrice removed from an actual Purple Heart recipient.

To that end, one of their first rules states that only Purple Heart recipients are eligible for membership.

“We found that many organizations are having issues by (including) too many types of associate members,” Dumont said. “We agreed at the start that only Purple Heart recipients – combat-wounded veterans – can be members. It’s much easier for everyone.”

Age and gender aren’t factors, nor is a wounded veteran’s ability to ride a motorcycle.

“As long as they received the Purple Heart, that’s all that matters,” Grow added, saying he has received a substantial number of inquires from amputees and recipients who were otherwise disabled at war.

Grow said one kid who wants to join lost a leg in Iraq, but still rides, thanks to his prosthesis and a rare, but nevertheless attainable, automatic-transmission bike.

Still, Purple Heart recipients whose riding days are over can still find plenty of ways to contribute to the association, Grow said.

“I’ve had double amputees (call) who want to be part of this,” he said. “I tell them, ‘Of course you can (join), you could be on the board, a representative, be an officer.’

“The main thing is that they’ve been there,” he said of being wounded in battle. “… They understand.”

Just in time for this past Veterans Day, Purple Heart Riders was accepted for membership into the National Coalition of Viet Nam and Gulf War Veterans (www.veterans-coalition.org), a process that Dumont called “very long, but very worthwhile.”

“We’re one of the few veterans motorcycle associations that are members of this coalition,” he added.

These days, Grow still mounts his 8-year-old Harley Heritage as often as possible, although he has lost some riding time to a series of surgeries.

Recurring issues with his legs, meanwhile, have pretty much sidelined Dumont.

But with weeks to go until the (legitimate) riding season and the time spent in building the association, bikes are on the back burner anyway.

Grow says founders of other organizations have asked him if members, as many clubs require, need a sponsor or have to serve a probation period.

“I tell them no way,” he said. “They did all that when they got wounded.’”

Dean Shalhoup’s column appears Saturdays in The Telegraph. He can be reached at 673-3100, ext. 31, or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.

Posted: Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Posted: Wednesday, February 17, 2010

So, who told the White House?


Bush was Asked to Leave Ft. Hood
I sent my cousin in Fayetteville, N.C. (retired from Special Forces) that picture of George W. visiting the wounded at Ft. Hood. I got this reply:

What is even better is the fact George W. Bush heard about Fort Hood, got in his car without any escort, apparently they did not have time to react, and drove to Fort Hood. He was stopped at the gate and the guard could not believe who he had just stopped.  Bush only ask for directions to the hospital then drove on. The gate guard called that "The president Is on Fort Hood and driving to the hospital."

The base went bananas looking for Obama.  When they found it was Bush they immediately offered escort and Bush simply told them to shut up and let him visit the wounded and the dependents of the dead.  He stayed at  Fort Hood  for over six hours and was finally asked to leave Fort Hood by a message from the White House.
 
Obama flew in days later and held a "photo opt" session in a gym and did not even go to the hospital.  All this I picked up from two soldiers here who happened to be at Fort Hood when it happened. 

This Bush/Obama/Ft.Hood story is something that should be sent to every voter in the U.S. but as usual it wasn't reported by the major US media.
Class shows up...

The doctor had his TV on in his office when the news of the military base shootings came on. The husband of one of his employees was stationed there. He called her into his office and as he told her what had happened, she got a text message from her husband saying, "I am okay."  Her cell phone rang right after she read the message.. It was an ER nurse,"I'm the one who just sent you a text, not your husband. I thought it would be comforting but I was mistaken in doing so. I am sorry to tell you this, but your husband has been shot 4 times and he is in surgery."

The soldier's wife left Southern Clinic in Dothan and drove all night to Ft.Hood. When she arrived, she found out her husband was out of surgery and would be OK. She rushed to his room and found that he already had visitors there to comfort him. He was just waking up and found his wife and the visitors by his side The nurse took this picture.
What? No news crews and cameras? This is how people with class respond and pay respect to those in uniform.
President: PHR National Association-Al "Scout" Grow

President: PHR National Association-Al "Scout" Grow

PHR National President, Al 'Scout' Grow

National Liaison Officers to the Military, and for Motorcycle Clubs, Rider Groups and Associations, have been added.

As you know the PurpleHeartRiders is growing faster than anticipated so it has been decided to make a few changes. As we continue to grow the officers will have to become more active so to make it easier on everyone. Some new positions have been created and when possible those holding duel positions will hold only 1 office at any one time. The New positions are National Liaison to the Military and National Liaison to MC and Riding Groups and Associations.

As a State membership grows the State Rep of that State and if he or she is also holding a Regional or National Office he or she will be asked to hold the higher Office. By doing this it will lessen the burden on everyone . Over the next week there will be some movements  within the ranks. Thanks to you all for a great year and all the work you do. From your National President, Al 'Scout' Grow.

Also:

I am writing to inform you all that as on November 9Th, 2009 the Purple Heart Riders where voted in as Full Members of the "National Coalition of Viet Nam and Gulf War Veterans". The application process for membership was a long one but very worth while. The Purple Heart Riders are one of the few Veterans Motorcycle Association that are members of the Coalition.  Please check out their website

( http://www.veterans-coalition.org/).

Compensation Statistics 
The Raw Truth!
Greetings!
 
Did you know?
 
As much as it angers veterans from other war eras, the reality is that veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan have priority status in the VA system.  Medical VA staff members are under immense pressure to treat those veterans immediately.  Rating Board specialists have a tacit understanding that veterans from the current wars are to be given some kind of a rating that equates to a monthly compensation, and to eliminate the "red tape" that often accompanies veterans from other war eras 
Iraqi VeteransThe statistics below tell the story:
 
 
 
 
 
War                           Time It Takes To Get Benefits
 
Afghanistan                 3 - 4 months
Iraq                           6 - 7 months
Persian Gulf                 24 - 36 months
Vietnam                      24 - 48 months
Korean War                 26 - 52 months
World War II                28 - 60 months



PSP Questions
 
A new set of veterans have questions for you that need to be answered.  Please visit the PSP and help out a fellow veteran.  Use the new USERID & PASSWORD below to access the secure section of our website:
 
USERID:  vietnam@vet.com
PASSWORD:  LZ1965
 
 
Beth Ann McGruder
Internet Manager
U.S. Veteran Compensation Programs
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