Blue Star Chronicles

Kentucky Fried Chicken - Iraq

You know there’s real progress being made in the Battle of Iraq when American fast food restaurants start opening there.

Only a short time ago the city of Fallujah served as stronghold for insurgents. Daily skirmishes, improvised explosive device detonations and public unease made operating a business in the city very difficult.

Today, with improved security throughout the region, the low price of 4,000 dinar, or $3.50, will purchase a full meal at the recently established Kentucky Fried Chicken in the Hey Al Dubat area of the city.

The KFC is the first to open for business in the city. Before improved conditions in the city, insurgents threatened business owners, demanding money to support acts of terrorism.

You read that right. Kentucky Fried Chicken has opened up in Fallujah. Capitalism and crispy fried chicken are winning the hearts and minds of the people.

Citizens of the area can now work steady jobs, where as prior conditions kept many from even coming to work on a daily basis.

“I love the work here, because we have the opportunity to go to work every day,” said a KFC employee.

1st. Lt. Thomas M. Martin
27 years old from Ward, Arkansas
C Troop, 1st Squadron, 40th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division
October 14, 2007

An Eagle Scout, Thomas M. Martin took on cleaning up an old red train caboose as a service project. “He remodeled it to make it where people could go inside. If you saw it before and looked in it after he was through - it was daylight and dark”, said his former principal, Robert Martin, who is no relation. “Tom was involved in Key Club, German Club and band, making All-Region Band his sophomore year”, said Robert Martin. “He was a wonderful young man. Those that knew him knew he was funny and outgoing.”

Lt. Martin died in Al Busayifi, Iraq of wounds sustained from small-arms fire when insurgents attacked his unit during combat operations. He enlisted in the Army in 1998 after graduating high school and served in Korea before accepting an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, graduating in 2005.

“He was very polite and respectful. I can’t think of him ever overreacting; he had a wonderful, good-natured personality”, said Pat Hagge, a family friend. “It’s a terrible tragedy; he was a great young man.”

Lt. Thomas Martin is survived by his parents, Edmund and Candis.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

This Weeks Hero Was Suggested By Toni

1st LT. Frank B. Walkup, IV
23 years old from Woodbury, Tennessee
2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division
June 16, 2007

Toni already has a great post up on her site, so I’ll just link to it.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

One of the best campaign videos EVAH!

I do believe that Jib Jab has outdone itself with their latest video. View it here and enjoy ….

JibJab’s Time for Some Campaignin’ video is everything you want it to be and more. The 2008 election is upon us and JibJab is jabbing all the main actors, Bush, Obama, McCain, Hill and Bill. They’re all part of the fun.

Give it a look-see cause its Time for Some Campaignin’!

Spc. Kisha Makerney
23 years old from Fort Towson, Oklahoma
120th Engineers, Oklahoma Army National Guard

Spc. Kisha Mackerney isn’t being profiled today because of something she did on the battlefield. She’s being profiled because her spirit and determination. In 2002, Makerney joined the Oklahoma Army National Guard out of a sense of patriotism, because, as she put it, “I love our country and our people.” Between 2004 and 2005, she served in Iraq as a gunner and helped provide battalion security. She returned home in early 2005 and was in a terrible motorcycle accident on June 25, 2005. The front wheel of her brand new bike had blown out and sent her flying into a highway sign. She looked up at her now mangled bike and was angry. That’s when she noticed that her left leg below the knee was missing. The first thing she thought of when she saw her leg was that her military career was over.

Makerney pulled herself out of the ditch that she had landed in and was able to flag down a passing motorist. She was taken a hospital in Hugo, Oklahoma before being flown to Dallas, Texas.

As soon as word spread about her accident, her fellow soldiers, her second family, rallied and rushed to her bedside. “Even before I was out of surgery they were waiting in the halls,” she said.

Continue reading Spc. Kisha Makerney’s story here. There are some despicable comments by a few readers on the story. Just ignore them.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Lance Corporal Martyn Compton of the Household Cavalry is someone well worth knowing. His service to his country and his fight to recover from injuries he sustained in Afghanistan have been acts of true heroism. Read more about him and see photos below.

Martyn Compton

Lance Corporal Martyn Compton got married over the weekend, on July 12th. He married Michelle Clifford in Kent, England. The couple met and became engaged in 2006. They were engaged only two weeks before he was deployed to Afghanistan.

Their marriage was beautiful on a whole lot of levels. Primarily, it was beautiful because it represented his long struggle to regain his life following catastrophic injuries while serving his country in Afghanistan.

On August 1, 2006, five weeks into his deployment, his convoy was ambushed. The vehicle he was driving hit a roadside bomb, killing the other passengers and engulfing him in flames. He was burned over 70 percent of his body. He broke his arm as he jumped out of his vehicle. He contracted flesh eating bugs as he rolled in the sand attempting to put out the fire that was covering his body. As he tried to pull himself to cover, a Taliban sniper shot him in the leg. When his comrades found him, he was close to death. He died and was revived three times en route to the hospital. He was in a coma for three months. Michelle sat by him everyday that he was unconscious. She decorated his room with pictures of loved ones. She talked to him and let him know she was there.

He credits her with giving him the strength to live through his ordeal.

Even though the doctors had told Michelle that he might never be able to walk, on Saturday he walked down the aisle to marry his bride. That was a victory in and of itself. There is still a long way to go. He has undergone over 60 hours of surgeries and is facing more. The doctors are working to reconstruct his face that was burned off.

But with a remarkable lack of self-pity and a strength that surpasses all understanding, he has begun the long walk to recovery. Best of all, he walked down the aisle to marry his bride.

He is definitely a hero and someone worth knowing.

Martyn Compton - Photos

The video below was produced by the Vets For Freedom. The message is one I’ve heard from many Soldiers who are fighting in the Global War on Terrorism. Very simply, Finish the Job!

The video’s message is ‘no matter who is president’. I agree. Unfortunately, it does matter who is president especially in an election year in which the differences between the two candidates are as stark as night and day. One will honor our military and the other will decimate our military. One is clear about winning the war on terrorism and the other is building his campaign on loss, surrender and appeasement.

We must finish the job.

Sgt. Kenneth J. Schall
22 years old from Peoria, Arizona
2nd Battalion, 70th Armor Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division
May 22, 2005

“It was very tough not to be touched by him in some way,” said Terri Schall, Sgt. Kenneth Schall’s mother.

Kenneth Schall was enrolled at Glendale Community College and was studying to become a history teacher when the country was attacked on September 11, 2001. The event spurred him to join the Army. He served a four and a half month tour in Iraq in 2004 and returned in February of 2005.

Terri Schall last spoke to her son on Mother’s Day in 2005. “He sounded great — tired — but he said he was doing OK”, she said. Sgt. Kenneth Schall died when the Humvee he was riding in was involved in an accident in Yusafiyah, Iraq.

Along with his mother, Sgt. Schall is survived by his father and two younger siblings.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.

We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

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Disclaimer: trackbacks to this post do not necessarily represent the opinions or standards of the Blue Star Chronicles.

More great posts trackbacked below …

We watch the Boston Pops every 4th of July and this year was no exception. Actually, I didn’t watch it this year because I was at a party, but we usually do. It really is magnificent. If this doesn’t make you feel a swell of pride for our great country then you have something seriously wrong with your swell of pride genes.

Enjoy the 2005 video of the Boston Pops Symphony Orchestra. The video includes the National Anthem and the Boston Pops rendition of the 1812 Overture, bells, fireworks and firing of Civil War era cannons ….