I first wrote about Sgt. Matt Maupin in December of 2005, and concluded with this line.

For we must never forget Matt Maupin, a typical American young man, who fell into the hands of the enemy while fighting for this country and the freedom of the Iraqi people.

And we must make sure that Sgt. Matt Maupin returns home with honor -- an American hero.

Maupin will be returning home soon -- for burial by his family. After nearly four years, his family has been notified that his remains have been identified.

Sgt. Matt Maupin is dead, the parents of the missing Clermont County soldier said today.

MaupinÂ’s remain were found in Iraq, nearly four years after he was captured by insurgents, his parents said. An Army general visited them today and gave them the news, they said.

“Matt is coming home. He’s completed his mission,” his father, Keith Maupin, said.

Maupin was a 20-year-old private first class when he was captured on April 9, 2004, after his fuel convoy was ambushed west of Baghdad. He had been driving a supply truck.

Arab television network Al-Jazeera aired a videotape a week later showing Maupin sitting on the floor surrounded by five masked men holding automatic rifles. That June, Al-Jazeera aired another tape purporting to show a U.S. soldier being shot. But the dark and grainy tape showed only the back of the victimÂ’s head and not the actual shooting.

The Glen Este High School graduate was the only U.S. military member still listed as missing-captured in Iraq. Military officials identified the remains through DNA, Keith Maupin said. He said he wasnÂ’t told where the remains had been found.

“We don’t know where, just somewhere in Iraq.They found a shirt similar to what he (Matt) was wearing,” Keith Maupin said. “They had DNA and confirmed it was Matt.”

Given the video evidence that the jihadi cowards who had captured him committed a war crime by murdering their prisoner, this is not a surprising outcome.

To learn more about Sgt. Maupin, American hero, feel free to read this post from a year ago, which I had already been preparing to update for net week.

Michelle Malkin offers this information as well.

The Maupin family website is here. And please support their Yellow Ribbon Support Center.

I join with her in directing my readers to those two sites.

My deepest condolences to the Maupin family --you are in my prayers at this difficult time, as you have been for some time. I thank you for your family's sacrifice.

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Posted by: Greg at 10:56 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Set aside the fact that we are (inconveniently, from a liberal Democrat perspective) winning in Iraq. We've been hearing from the Left that the US military is broken and defeated, and that's why we need to cut-and-run from Iraq.

One year ago, as President Bush decided to send more troops to Iraq, the conventional wisdom in Washington among opponents of the war was that the U.S. Army was on the verge of breaking.

In December 2006 former Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell warned, "The active Army is about broken."

Ret. Gen. Barry McCaffrey, in a much-cited memo to West Point colleagues, wrote: "My bottom line is that the Army is unraveling, and if we donÂ’t expend significant national energy to reverse that trend, sometime in the next two years we will break the Army just like we did during Vietnam."

Army Maj. Gen. Bob Scales, the former head of the Army War College, agreed. He wrote in an editorial in the Washington Times on March 30:

"If you haven't heard the news, I'm afraid your Army is broken, a victim of too many missions for too few soldiers for too long. ... Today, anecdotal evidence of collapse is all around."

But interestingly enough, Scales now admits that his assessment was dead wrong.

But now, one year later, Scales has done an about-face. He says that he was wrong. Despite all the predictions of imminent collapse, the U.S. Army and the combat brigades have proven to be surprisingly resilient.

According to Army statistics obtained exclusively by FOX News, 70 percent of soldiers eligible to re-enlist in 2006 did so — a re-enlistment rate higher than before Sept. 11, 2001. For the past 10 years, the enlisted retention rates of the Army have exceeded 100 percent. As of last Nov. 13, Army re-enlistment was 137 percent of its stated goal.

Scales, a FOX News contributor, said he based his assessment last year "on the statistics that showed a high attrition among enlisted soldiers, officers who were leaving the service early, and a decline in the quality of enlistments," a reference to the rising number of waivers given for "moral defects" such as drug use and lowered educational requirements.

"In fact, what we've seen over the last year is that the Army retention rates are pretty high, that re-enlistments, for instance, particularly re-enlistments in Iraq and Afghanistan, remain very high," Scales said. He noted that re-enlistments were high even among troops who have served multiple tours.

Not only that, but the predicted loss of those often considered to be the backbone of the military just hasn't happened.

But Scales says the desertion by mid-grade officers — captains and majors — just hasn’t occurred as predicted.

"The Army's collapse after Vietnam was presaged by a desertion of mid-grade officers (captains) and non-commissioned officers," Scales wrote a year ago. "Many were killed or wounded. Most left because they and their families were tired and didn't want to serve in units unprepared for war....

"If we lose our sergeants and captains, the Army breaks again. It's just that simple. That's why these soldiers are still the canaries in the readiness coal-mine. And, again, if you look closely, you will see that these canaries are fleeing their cages in frightening numbers."

But an internal Army document prepared at the request of Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey and obtained by FOX News suggests that the comparison to the "hollow Army" of 1972 near the end of the Vietnam War is inappropriate.

The main reason: Today's Army is an all-volunteer force, and the Army in Vietnam largely was composed of draftees.

Captain losses have remained steady at about 11 percent since 1990, and the loss of majors has been unchanged at about 6 percent.

"To date, the data do not show heightened levels of junior officer departures that can be tied directly to multiple rotations in Afghanistan or Iraq," the internal Army memo concludes.

In other words, the phenomena that were supposed to be indicative of the weakening of the US military just are not happening. And while that may be disturbing to those whose political goals require the defeat of the American armed forces, it is ample reason for Americans to reject the defeatism which would have been appropriately labeled as defeatism and sedition in an earlier generation, back when patriotism and support of the military were still strongly held values among Democrats, not just Republicans.

Posted by: Greg at 06:35 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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I'm sorry I didn't get to this story sooner, but I only found out about it today. An American hero has been honored for his bravery in combat, and has been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pride in presenting the Medal of Honor to Master Sergeant Woodrow W. Keeble, United States Army, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity, at the risk of his life, above and beyond the call of duty:

In action with an armed enemy near Sangsan-ni, Korea, on 20 October, 1951. On that day, Master Sergeant Keeble was an acting platoon leader for the support platoon in Company G, 19th Infantry, in the attack on Hill 765, a steep and rugged position that was well defended by the enemy. Leading the support platoon, Master Sergeant Keeble saw that the attacking elements had become pinned down on the slope by heavy enemy fire from three well-fortified and strategically placed enemy positions. With complete disregard for his personal safety, Master Sergeant Keeble dashed forward and joined the pinned-down platoon. Then, hugging the ground, Master Sergeant Keeble crawled forward alone until he was in close proximity to one of the hostile machine-gun emplacements. Ignoring the heavy fire that the crew trained on him, Master Sergeant Keeble activated a grenade and threw it with great accuracy, successfully destroying the position. Continuing his one-man assault, he moved to the second enemy position and destroyed it with another grenade. Despite the fact that the enemy troops were now directing their firepower against him and unleashing a shower of grenades in a frantic attempt to stop his advance, he moved forward against the third hostile emplacement, and skillfully neutralized the remaining enemy position. As his comrades moved forward to join him, Master Sergeant Keeble continued to direct accurate fire against nearby trenches, inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy. Inspired by his courage, Company G successfully moved forward and seized its important objective. The extraordinary courage, selfless service, and devotion to duty displayed that day by Master Sergeant Keeble was an inspiration to all around him and reflected great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.

The delay in this award is, depending upon whose side you accept, based upon either lost paperwork or racial animus towards Woody Keeble, a member of the Sioux tribe. And yet regardless of the reason, it is important that all of us note the award and honor his memory.

H/T Pink Flamingo

Posted by: Greg at 07:49 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Because, after all, she has the power to impose her views on him.

Shawn Sage long dreamed of joining the military, and watching "Full Metal Jacket" last year really sold him on becoming a Marine.

But last fall, a Los Angeles Superior Court commissioner dashed the foster teen's hopes of early enlistment for Marine sniper duty, plus a potential $10,000 signing bonus.

In denying the Royal High School student delayed entry into the Marine Corps, Children's Court Commissioner Marilyn Mackel reportedly told Sage and a recruiter that she didn't approve of the Iraq war, didn't trust recruiters and didn't support the military.

"The judge said she didn't support the Iraq war for any reason why we're over there," said Marine recruiter Sgt. Guillermo Medrano of the Simi Valley USMC recruiting office.

"She just said all recruiters were the same - that they `all tap dance and tell me what I want to hear.' She said she didn't want him to fight in it."

Sage, 17, said he begged for Mackel's permission.

"Foster children shouldn't be denied (an) ability to enlist in the service just because they're foster kids," he said. "Foster kids shouldn't have to go to court to gain approval to serve one's country."

Mackel, a juvenile dependency commissioner at the Children's Court in Monterey Park, declined through a clerk to speak about any court case or comments she may have made in court.

Now let's be honest. Some recruiters are over-zealous. But here is a kid who has dreamed of joining the military since he was 7 years old, and who has chosen which branch he wants to join. On what legitimate basis does she impose her own views upon him? And upon what basis does she allow her bailiff to harangue the young man -- and another foster child, who was denied permission to enter the Delayed Entry Program for the Navy -- over a decision made out of love of country?

Interestingly enough, the judge and the bailiff, neither of whom know Shawn Sage, were the only two people in the courtroom who objected to his plans. His foster parents and social worker, who know him well, supported the decision. But that didn't stop Mackel from acting on her anti-military (and, may I say, anti-American) bias to deny the young man his freedom of choice.

What is particularly galling here is that if Shawn were a female foster child seeking an abortion, there would probably be no need for permission and it would almost certainly not be denied by Mackel if it were needed. But a patriotic desire to serve one's country doesn't merit such consideration in her eyes.

Posted by: Greg at 09:11 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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They are saying the explosion may come from a man-made device. If so, the word "TERRORISM" applies -- whether the attackers are jihadis out to hit symbolic targets or Berkeley-style lefties who view America a s a bigger threat to the world than the Islamists.

New York City police officers and firefighters cordoned off much of Times Square after an explosion — possibly set off by a human-made device — rocked the front of the Armed Forces Recruiting Station on the traffic island bounded by 43rd and 44th Streets, Seventh Avenue and Broadway around 4 a.m.

No injuries were immediately reported. A city official confirmed that the explosion occurred and that police had cordoned off the area as a precaution to ensure that there was no secondary device; the official emphasized that there was no reason to believe that any additional devices had been planted.

I just heard a TV report that someone was spotted riding away on a bicycle after throwing a device at the recruiting station. No arrests yet, but it will be interesting to see if there is a claim of responsibility. My personal thought is that this probably makes the perps "Code Pink types", since any self-respecting jihadi would have blown himself up during daylight hours to take out as many innocents as possible. The fact you have a coward fleeing the scene on an environmentally-friendly means of transportation when there was no one around makes it appear to be the tactics of the Left -- though still treasonous terrorism.

Posted by: Greg at 11:12 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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OneÂ’s country is one of them, at least for this soldier.

After completing two tours in Iraq, Sgt. Wayne Leyde won $1 million from a scratch-and-win lotto ticket on Tuesday.

Now that he's won, Leyde, a 26-year-old member of the Washington National Guard, says he's still going to volunteer to go back to Iraq for a third tour and won't spend any of the money in the meantime.

* * *

Leyde couldn't believe it when he scratched a winning ticket, but he still plans to return to Iraq.

"It was a commitment I made about three months ago. I'm going to stick to it," Leyde said about his decision.

The sergeant says rents have gone sky high where he and his parents live in the Mount Spokane area of Washington and that, for now, he's not going to spend any of the money.

"For right now, I'm going to hold off [spending] and let reality sink back to earth. This is a true blessing. I'm going to turn it around and see if I can bless other people with this," Leyde said.

This soldier could possibly get out of the military at this point. He could almost certainly defer his deployment to a war zone. He is doing neither, as he views the mission in Iraq as important to our nation and to the Iraqi people. My hat is off to Sgt. Wayne Leyde.

Posted by: Greg at 04:00 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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