I don't know about you, but this impresses me.

For two years British troops staked out a presence in this small district center in southern Afghanistan and fended off attacks from the Taliban. The constant firefights left it a ghost town, its bazaar broken and empty but for one baker, its houses and orchards reduced to rubble and weeds.

But it took the Marines, specifically the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, about 96 hours to clear out the Taliban in a fierce battle in the past month and push them back about 6 miles.

Most importantly, civilians are returning to the areas that have been cleared of the Islamist scum -- hopeful that their lives can return to normal due to the work of these American military heroes.

Hurrah for the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit!

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1. The 30th day of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet church-yard in the land. In this observance no form of ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.

We are organized, comrades, as our regulations tell us, for the purpose among other things, "of preserving and strengthening those kind and fraternal feelings which have bound together the soldiers, sailors, and marines who united to suppress the late rebellion." What can aid more to assure this result than cherishing tenderly the memory of our heroic dead, who made their breasts a barricade between our country and its foes? Their soldier lives were the reveille of freedom to a race in chains, and their deaths the tattoo of rebellious tyranny in arms. We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the nation can add to their adornment and security is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders. Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.

If other eyes grow dull, other hands slack, and other hearts cold in the solemn trust, ours shall keep it well as long as the light and warmth of life remain to us.

Let us, then, at the time appointed gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with the choicest flowers of spring-time; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from hishonor; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us a sacred charge upon a nation's gratitude, the soldier's and sailor's widow and orphan.

2. It is the purpose of the Commander-in-Chief to inaugurate this observance with the hope that it will be kept up from year to year, while a survivor of the war remains to honor the memory of his departed comrades. He earnestly desires the public press to lend its friendly aid in bringing to the notice of comrades in all parts of the country in time for simultaneous compliance therewith.

3. Department commanders will use efforts to make this order effective.

By order of

JOHN A. LOGAN,
Commander-in-Chief

N.P. CHIPMAN,
Adjutant General

Official:
WM. T. COLLINS, A.A.G.

Major General John A. Logan

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Get this legislation out of conference committee and sent on to the President for his signature immediately. After all, it is the least we can do to help foreign-born US troops receive the American citizenship they have earned.

Ms. Mikulski also introduced the Kendell Frederick Citizenship Assistance Act, which was sponsored in the House by Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.). The bill allows the DHS to use fingerprints taken by the Defense Department of every new service member in the citizenship process; previously, service members were not allowed to use their military fingerprints for that purpose. Ms. Mikulski's bill, among other things, also requires that the necessary background check for citizenship be completed within 180 days after an application is filed by a service member. An application must be filed within two years after a non-U.S. citizen enters military service.

The House passed the Citizenship Assistance Act last fall, and it sailed through the Senate in March; the bill is now tied up in conference. Lawmakers should quickly sign off on the bill and send it along to President Bush, who should sign it. It would be a fitting tribute to Kendell Frederick and a well-deserved reward to the thousands of others like him who don the uniform of their adopted country.

These soldiers are men and women who have served America proudly -- we should show our pride in them by making the process to citizenship as smooth as possible for them.

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Michelle Malkin and others note this act of treasonous sabotage on two military aircraft.

Two military helicopters were vandalized on the production line at a Boeing factory near Philadelphia, the Defense Department said Thursday as it offered a reward.

Federal officials handed out fliers to workers at the Boeing Rotorcraft Systems plant listing a $5,000 reward for information leading to whomever damaged the two H-47 Chinook helicopters.

"We have determined that this was a deliberate act and not an accident," said Ken Maupin, an agent with the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, at a news conference outside the plant.

He said 10 agents were investigating, but he would not comment on specifics or what led to the determination that it was vandalism.

The Chinook is the Army's workhorse aircraft and is used to move troops and supplies. Boeing is producing new Chinooks for the Army, as well as updating older models. The military has not grounded any helicopters now in use.

A production line at the plant has not been fully functional since Tuesday, when two workers found what the company called irregularities in the helicopters.

There are no surveillance cameras on the production line, said Jack Satterfield, a company spokesman.

U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak has said he was told that broken or severed wires were found in one helicopter and that a suspicious washer was found in a second. Maupin described the washer as being in a place it shouldn't.

"You have a large number of workers here at this point and one or more that was the problem," Maupin said. "The majority of the people here are hardworking, loyal Americans, and many of them are veterans. They want to find (those responsible) as much as we do."

U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan said he was comfortable with the conclusion the damage was done deliberately.

These are things that could kill our men and women in uniform -- and which impair their readiness for combat by delaying the arrival no needed weapons into combat zones. I'm sure that this is one of the folks who thinks they are "supporting the troops" by interfering with their getting what they need to kill the enemy -- and I hope that the bastard(s) involved find themselves spending a great deal of time in prison when they are caught.

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And the Marines beat theirs to a bloody pulp!

The Marine Corps far surpassed its recruiting goal last month and could eventually be more than a year ahead of schedule in its plan to grow the force to 202,000 members.

All military services met or exceeded their monthly recruiting goals in April, with the Marine Corps signing 142 percent of the number it was looking for, the Pentagon said.

The Army signed 101 percent of its goal, recruiting 5,681 against a goal of 5,650. The Navy and Air Force met their goals — 2,905 sailors and 2,435 airmen.

The Marine Corps enlisted 2,233 recruits against a goal of 1,577.

"The Marine Corps, if they continue to achieve the kind of success they have had, could meet their growth figures more than a year early," Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman told Pentagon reporters. That would mean by around the end of 2009.

This should chap the behinds of your average anti-war leftist. Patriotic Americans in service to their country acting. Maybe they can try blockading a few more recruiting stations -- or try to blow some more up.

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Admiral James Bond Stockdale made a lifetime of serving his country honorably -- first int he military and then in academia. Following his passing, the decision was made to honor him by naming one of our nation's warships after him -- and yesterday the USS Stockdale was christened by his widow.

The Navy's newest guided missile destroyer was christened Saturday with the name of a fighter pilot who spent 7 1/2 years in captivity in North Vietnam, received the Medal of Honor and served as presidential candidate Ross Perot's running mate.

Four Medal of Honor recipients and seven former prisoners of war attended the ceremony at Bath Iron Works that marked a milestone in construction of the 9,200-ton ship named for Vice Adm. James Stockdale.

Stockdale's widow, Sybil, who suffers from Parkinson's disease and uses a wheelchair, let loose a champagne bottle propelled by rope that swung across the Stockdale's bow. On the second try, the bottle exploded, the band broke into "Anchors Aweigh" and red, white and blue streamers filled the air.

Stockdale, who died nearly three years ago at age 81, flew 201 carrier-based missions before being shot down in 1965, becoming the highest-ranking naval officer captured during the war.

His endurance under torture and years of solitary confinement during his captivity in Hanoi became the stuff of legend. After his release in 1973, he received 26 combat decorations, including the Medal of Honor.

Sybil Stockdale, who founded an organization to draw the public's attention to the plight of American POWs in Southeast Asia, was accompanied at the ceremony by the couple's four sons.

He was, by all accounts, an exemplary human being. And while he is so often remembered for one of the great lines of political debate history, it is his service to this nation for which he ought to be remembered.

And on a side note, I cannot help but note that USS Stockdale is an Arleigh Burke class destroyer, named for Admiral Arleigh Burke, one of America's greatest naval officers of the twentieth century. It was my great privilege to meet the admiral when I was a boy, when he walked over to talk to a young Navy wife and her two sons while they were all waiting to be seen at Bethesda Naval Hospital in the during the Vietnam War. As I look back, remain struck by the man's kindness and gentleness -- and the strength of personality in a man already into his 70s. He told my brother and I to be proud of our father who was, like him, a destroyer officer, because our father was doing some of the most important work there was -- defending our country. I am therefore touched to see two men who I have always held in high esteem connected through this ship.

UPDATE: I missed this story of another Arleigh Burke class destroyer being named for another American hero -- the USS Michael Murphy.

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No remains of our honored military dead were mishandled, but there is an issue of respect and appearances that needs to be considered. As such, the decision in this particular situation is correct.

The U.S. military has, since 2001, cremated some of the remains of American service members killed in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere at a Delaware facility that also cremates pets, a practice that ended yesterday when the Pentagon banned the arrangement.

The facility, located in an industrial park near Dover Air Force Base, has cremated about 200 service members, manager David A. Bose estimated last night. It uses separate crematories a few feet apart to cremate humans and animals, he added, insisting that there had "not been any people gone through the pet crematory."

Pentagon officials said they do not think that human remains and animal remains were ever commingled at the facility. "We have absolutely no evidence whatsoever at this point that any human remains were at all ever mistreated," Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said at a news conference hastily convened last night.

Regardless, the Pentagon will no longer permit crematories not located with funeral homes to handle the remains of U.S. troops, defense officials said.

According to the report, the facility at the heart of the dispute has crematories for both pets and humans, and the former are not of a proper size to cremate human beings. But the two types of crematories are physically located in the same room, and the facility itself has signage identifying itself as Friends Forever Pet Cremation Service. I'd therefore have to agree that the decision in this case is an appropriate one.

But there is a problem with the promulgated regulation that requires that all military cremations take place in funeral homes. After all, not every funeral home has a cremation facility, and so this could have the impact of limiting the funeral options available to the families of military personnel -- especially in situations where a crematorium might be located separately and operated independently from the funeral home, such as at a cemetery. In addition, the change could cause delays in cremations.

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I can only imagine the surprise of these military parents.

An Oregon couple received a frightening phone call from their son in Afghanistan when he inadvertently called home during battle.

Stephen Phillips and other soldiers in his Army MP company were battling insurgents when his phone was pressed against his Humvee. It redialed and called his parents in the small Oregon town of Otis.

And what did they get?

They heard shooting, swearing and shouted pleas for more ammunition on the phone call from their son.

"They were pinned down and apparently his barrel was overheating," said Jeff Petee. "It's something a parent really doesn't want to hear. It's a heck of a message to get from your son in Afghanistan."

The three-minute call ended abruptly.

"You could hear him saying stuff like, he needs more ammo, or he needs another barrel," said John Petee, Phillips' brother. "At the end, you could hear a guy saying 'Incoming! RPG!' And then it cut off."

Fortunately, Phillips and his fellow soldiers appear to have come out of the engagement without serious harm – and he will be home in about a month, following the end of his tour in Afghanistan.

Personally, I used this story to remind my students of an important point – that redial function can put you in an embarrassing predicament if you aren’t careful.

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