Beautiful Opening, Soft All The Way Down

The holiday season is upon us once again and down at Ft. Benning, GA they are busy trying to fill up Santa's Castle with toys and gifts for the children of the soldiers stationed there that may not otherwise get something for Christmas.

I am very familiar with Santa's Castle having been stationed at Ft. Benning on two different occasions. In the past they operated a rehab shop so even used toys or items like bicycles that are donated that require repairs can be fixed that is manned by soldiers, but apparently now they request that toys be new.

This year as part of their toy drive they offered airborne soldiers a chance to get some Chilean Airborne Wings. The price of admission was a toy for which the paratrooper would once again be given a chance to fling himself out of an aircraft.

Operation Sleigh Ride, held annually on post, garners hundreds of gifts for the children of cash-strapped Fort Benning soldiers while also making it possible for sky soldiers such as Young to earn foreign jump wings.

This year’s event attracted close to 240 paratroopers to Fryar Drop Zone, said Col. Jon Ring, commander of the 1st Battalion, 507th Infantry Regiment, 11th Infantry Regiment, 199th Infantry Brigade, which sponsored the jump.

There is a video at the link of the jump along with more information concerning Santa's Castle.

National Heroes Tour at Ft Bragg, NC

The National Heroes Tour made one of its' last stops last night at Ft Bragg, NC, home of the 82nd Airborne and the Special Forces Command, and a very appropriate stop for these heroes. Monday and Tuesday they will in Washington DC to show their support of Gen Petraeus along with members of the Gathering of Eagles, Move America Forward, Vets For Freedom and Vets for Victory.
Here courtesy of Jim Hanson, Uncle Jimbo from Blackfive is the video of that stop.


I know this is a rather lengthy video, 50 minutes in duration, so if you don't want to watch the whole thing fine, it is your loss. You absolutely must set aside time to watch these folks and listen to their stories, but at a very minimum go to the 45 minute mark and listen to LTC Steven Russell sum it up.
I heard one comment about the low turnout again! To me that has been the big national disgrace associated with this tour. Why they are not talking to filled stadiums is beyond me and it is causing me to reconsider where our country is when these heroes can not draw larger crowds then they do and the total lack of any sort of national press coverage this tour has garnered. Maybe David Bellavia has it right, if only somebody on the tour had won 5 golf tournaments in a row like Tiger Woods they would be getting more attention.