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Jacksonville, North Carolina. (February 28, 2024): Very few Americans can claim credit for serving in two wars in one lifetime but there are always the few. In this photo by Lance Corporal Loriann Dauscher, 92-year-old retired Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Ismael Gonzalez-Ramos, a former infantry unit leader and decorated combat veteran, receives his certificate of retirement after twenty years’ service.
Originally from Cidra, Puerto Rico, SSgt. Gonzalez-Ramos enlisted in the Marines in 1951 and served in both the Korean and Vietnam Wars. He was decorated with the Bronze Star Medal with a Combat V device, the fourth highest military award for valor, while serving in jungles of Vietnam. During his time on active duty, he was stationed in Hawaii, California, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, and Naples, Italy.
He recently celebrated his 65th wedding anniversary with his wife Ada and they have four children, eight grandchildren, and fifteen great grandchildren. Support Our Troops wishes SSgt. Gonzalez-Ramos a happy retirement after his long and faithful service to our nation.
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Mount Olympus Mountain Training Center, Greece. (February 21, 2024 ): In this photo by Sergeant Nayelly Nieves-Nieves, Marines with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) hike alongside their Greek partners from the 32nd Marine Brigade during cold weather training. During Greek Bilateral Exercise 2.0., the Marines exchanged tactics and strategies for coping with cold weather and mountainous conditions. This is the first allied partner to train on the mythological “Home of the Gods” in Greek history. Led by the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group, the exercise included the USS Bataan, the dock landing ship USS Carter Hall, and the amphibious transport ship USS Mesa Verde.
The exercise began with classroom instruction on cold weather topics such as the proper use of protective clothing, treating cold weather injuries, and how to care for weapons in freezing temperatures. In the field, the Marines practiced maneuvering in arctic conditions using sleds to negotiate rough terrain and to evacuate casualties.
Mount Olympus is an ideal location for Marines to hone their warfighting skills at altitude and in a tough operating environment. Mount Olympus has fifty-two peaks and deep gorges that challenge even the most experienced mountaineers. Rising to nearly 10,000 feet, the mountain is the mythical home of Zeus and the twelve gods of ancient Greek history.
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Castries, St. Lucia. (February 26, 2024): The U.S. Air Force is lending its medical expertise to the tiny Caribbean island of St. Lucia as part of Southern Command’s humanitarian assistance campaign. In this photo by Staff Sergeant Madeline Herzog, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Devin Watson performs arteriovenous graft surgery at St. Lucia’s Owen King European Union Hospital. Officially called the Lesser Antilles Medical Team mission, the Air Force dispatched seventeen professionals including surgeons, nurses, and surgical technicians to work alongside St. Lucia’s overstretched medical staff. From February through March, the Southern Command will hold these events in the islands of Suriname, St. Kitts, and St. Vincent to build partnerships and to improve the regions ability to respond to medical emergencies.
Southern Command (Southcom) sponsors these medical readiness exercises involving teams consisting of doctors, nurses, and dentists to host nation citizens requiring care. This is part of Southcom’s annual humanitarian and civic assistance exercises that include building schools, establishing medical clinics, and digging water wells in countries throughout the region.
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Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia. (February 26, 2024): “I don’t want them here or there.” These lines by Dr. Seuss have entertained a generation of children. In this photo by Lance Corporal Kayla LeClaire, Marine Colonel Michael L. Brooks reads to second grade students to celebrate Read Across America Day, an annual event to celebrate Dr. Suess’ birthday. Launched in 1998 by the National Education Association, Read Across America focuses on motivating children and teens to read “anywhere they are” through civic events, school partnerships, and by providing reading resources.
Getting the children of America’s armed forces interested in reading is pretty easy as they perform at levels that are the envy of public schools. With roughly 66,000 students, military kids outscored every U.S. jurisdiction in math and reading last year on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, considered the gold standard for comparing school districts. Military schools also had the highest outcomes for Black and Hispanic students whose eighth grade reading scores outpaced the national average for White students. Even low performing military students have improved their scores in fourth grade math and eighth grade reading. Education experts attribute these gains in part to the tight knit nature of military communities.
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Camp Shelby, Mississippi. (February 21, 2024): In the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster, law and order breaks down and authorities must contain large, unruly crowds of sometimes desperate citizens. This duty falls to America’s National Guard and their civilian counterparts in police, firefighting, and medical services. In this photo by Airman 1st Class Shardae McAfee, an Air National Guard Security Forces Defender uses his shield during a simulated protest during PATRIOT 24, a domestic operations disaster-response training exercise held here.
Working with federal, state, and local emergency management agencies, military police units trained in the type of scenarios they will encounter when responding to a humanitarian crisis. National Guard troops practiced using a variety of non-lethal techniques and movement strategies to control or quell large crowds.
This year’s Patriot 24 exercise involved more than three hundred civilians, volunteers, and National Guard troops from twenty states who responded to a mock natural disaster featuring high winds, storm surges, collapsed buildings, and mass casualties. The training also addressed protest types and actions, legal considerations, and the responsibilities of mobile field force teams when using crowd-control methods.
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Pacific Ocean. (February 23, 2024): It is said that militaries “travel on their stomachs” and this is especially true for American Sailors at sea. What is also true is the enormous impact chow has on troop morale. In this photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Evan Diaz, Culinary Specialist 2nd Class Nathan Bradley cuts jalapenos in the galley aboard the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS Somerset.
Navy Culinary Specialists are responsible for preparing menus, operating shipboard dining facilities, and ordering supplies. Most importantly, they are the unofficial hosts for Sailors who congregate at dining facility to play games and enjoy social interaction. Exhaustive studies by the armed forces have concluded that the quality of chow is among the most important factors in boosting morale of the crew. That is why the Navy takes extra steps to provide quality and variety for its forces serving aboard warships around the world.
To become a Navy Culinary Specialist, candidates must pass Basic Training and a five-week technical school at Fort Lee, Virginia. Here Sailors learn how to operate a Navy mess afloat, estimate quantities and types of foods needed, and the cooking skills to provide high quality meals on a massive scale.
Upon graduation, these Culinary Specialists are a vital asset to a Navy that “sails on its stomach.”