Remember

Thank you to all those who have served and all those who have waited at home.

• Some Gave All (video)

Remember

As we celebrate Memorial Day with our friends and our family, let us remember...

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Thank You For Your Service

I saw this video this morning. I dare you to watch it without just a few tears.



Let's not forget to thank our Veterans - and not just on Veterans' Day.

Moments.org

Act of Valor

I got free passes to a pre-screening of this movie tonight.  It was really good and really intense and definitely worth seeing.  These guys are my heroes!  I knew I'd cry.  And be on the edge of my seat throughout most of it.  Seriously - see this when it comes out.

Act of Valor - in theaters 2/24/12

Thank You!

Thank you to all that have served our country so that we may have the freedoms we have today!!

What is a Veteran?
A "Veteran" - whether active duty, discharged, retired, or reserve - is someone who, at one point in his (or her) life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America," for an amount of "up to, and including my life."

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Credit Score and Mortgage Rates

I was watching the news the other day, and something came on about real estate and mortgage rates.  They mentioned the importance of having a good credit score and how people with better credit scores could get a better interest rate on their loans.  If the credit score wasn't as good, the banks might still give someone a loan, but they'd charge a higher interest rate, because that person was a greater risk.

It just seemed kind of wrong to me.  A bank feels that someone is at a greater risk for defaulting on a loan, so they charge a higher rate, making their monthly payments higher, and making it harder for that person to pay - and therefore increasing the risk.  At least in my mind.  I realize the banks have to protect themselves and their money, but it just seems wrong to me.

Not everyone can qualify for veteran home loans, but it's a good option for those who do, those who've so unselfishly served our country.  VA loans are guaranteed by the federal government, so the banks don't have to take on the risk, allowing qualified veterans to get the lowest possible rates.  One of the benefits of VA home loans is that a veteran or an active military borrower can be approved for rates not much higher than someone who has a large down payment and great credit.  And that means they're more likely to be able to pay the mortgage and stay in their homes, and that's good for everybody.

Affordable Online Education

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Ashworth College for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
 
This seems to be a recurring theme these days - the high cost of a college education.  Room, board, tuition, text books, loans, grants, scholarships... If only all those things would balance out and it was possible to graduate from college without a huge debt!

There is an option that just might make that possible for military personnel and their families using their Post 9/11 GI Bill education benefits.  Ashworth College is  a 100% online, affordable, accredited and a great choice for obtaining a quality education.  Tuition is 50% less than the average accredited online university so the up to $13,500/36 months of education benefits military personnel can receive will go further.  That means it can be possible to graduate without debt.
 
It is kind of tempting to be jealous of that, but considering the sacrifices and service our military personnel give our country, I'm just glad there are options like this to help them.  They should get benefits for the service they are doing.
 
It looks like the flexibility of studying online would be great for anyone with an active life.  You can access courses, interact with instructors and complete assignments completely online anytime, anywhere.  Set your own pace of study, schedule and deadlines.  So it's good for military personnel who may move around a lot or be deployed and have to put their studies on hold, but it's also good for someone who's busy working or raising a family and would like to change careers or advance in his current career.  Or for a mom like me who's looking for her next direction in life now that the kids are grown and out of the house.
 
Ashworth College offers over 100 accredited online education programs that give you the skills you need for a rewarding career.  Military personnel and spouses may be able to get degrees for little to no out-of-pocket cost.  Anyone else can get started with a down payment of $100 or less and very affordable interest-free monthly payments as low as $29.

Time to Refinance?

I'm not sure how I got on their list, but I periodically get emails about VA Benefits and VA Home Loan Refinancing.  I've never served in the military, so I don't qualify for any of the benefits, but I'm really glad that there are special programs like this for our active duty and service veterans.  They, and their families, give so much to our country, and I think our country ought to give them everything it can.

With interest rates at an all-time low, one of those benefits is the Streamline Refinance program.  It gives service members a fast, simple and hassle-free way to refinance an existing VA loan and take advantage of the lower interest rates.  If the current loan rate is above 5% there can be some serious benefits to refinancing.  We've been thinking about refinancing our home loan but just haven't gotten around to it, and we really should.  It doesn't take much of a drop in interest rates to save quite a bit on monthly payments - or to be able to pay off the loan that much faster. We're thinking we can reduce our loan to a 15-year loan, get an even lower interest rate, and pay the house off even faster.

It's definitely worth checking into.  Veterans can request a free Streamline refinance quote, and the rest of us can get more refinancing information by contacting our banks or mortgage holders.

God is Busy Right Now

This has been around before, but I just got it in an email again today and thought it was worth passing on:

If you don't know GOD, don't make stupid remarks!

A United States Marine was taking some college courses between assignments. He had completed 20 missions in Iraq and Afghanistan . One of the courses had a professor who was an avowed atheist, and a member of the ACLU.

One day the professor shocked the class when he came in. He looked to the ceiling and flatly stated, "GOD, if you are real, then I want you to knock me off this platform... I'll give you exactly 15 min." 

The lecture room fell silent. You could hear a pin drop. Ten minutes went by and the professor proclaimed, "Here I am GOD, I'm still waiting."

It got down to the last couple of minutes when the Marine got out of his chair, went up to the professor, and cold-cocked him knocking him off the platform. The professor was out cold.

The Marine went back to his seat and sat there, silently.

The other students were shocked and stunned, and sat there looking on in silence. The professor eventually came to, noticeably shaken, looked at the Marine and asked, "What in the world is the matter with you?  Why did you do that?" 

The Marine calmly replied, "GOD was too busy today protecting America 's soldiers who are protecting your right to say stupid stuff and act like an idiot. So He sent me."

The classroom erupted in cheers!

Send Cookies to Our Troops

I just found out about this today, and I think it's an awesome idea.

Kenmore and The Food Network’s Sunny Anderson have launched Kenmore “Baking for the Troops” to send up to 250,000 cookies to deployed troops along with messages of support from Americans. Kenmore recognizes the holidays are a time loved ones gather, share meals and make memories. With that in mind, the company has created a means for Americans to share warm thoughts and delicious treats with troops away from home. Americans can participate by visiting the Kenmore Facebook page and asking Kenmore to bake and ship a dozen cookies on their behalf. Even sweeter – when the 250,000 cookies are sent to the troops, the company will donate $50,000 to Heroes at Home Wish Registry*  to assist military families in need stateside.

The program kicked off last Friday Dec. 2 in Chicago. Chicagoans and local tourists were given the opportunity to be among the first to send their thanks and support to the troops by creating personalized messages in the Kenmore Live Studio at 678 N. Wells Street, where they also got to sample cookies fresh from the new, onsite Kenmore Elite ovens.
 

“Kenmore is proud of our continued commitment to the troops and this program serves as a means to show a small token of our gratitude,” said Guenther Trieb, president, Sears Brands. “Our ‘Baking for the Troops’ program ships cookies and messages of thanks throughout the holiday and into January, for a post-holiday pick-me-up to let them know we think of them year round.”

With the help of Operation Support Our Troops Illinois (OSOTIL) and the USO, all of the cookies will be shipped to individual members of our overseas troops throughout the holiday season. To learn more about the program or to send your own message with a dozen cookies, visit Kenmore on Facebook.

*Donations made to the Heroes at Home Wish Registry are not tax deductible and will be used to purchase Sears gift cards for registered families.

A Reminder

I'm reminding myself as much as I'm reminding you.

A while back I wrote about the Sears heroes at home wish registry. It's a great program. Members of the military and their families can register, tell their stories, and create wish lists. Many of these military members have to be away from their families for months, some of them more than a year. While they are doing their job serving our country, their families are left at home, doing their best to have a normal life while they wait for the family to be reunited. Their greatest wish is to be together again.

We can't make that particular wish come true, but we can help make some of their other wishes come true by making a donation to the Sears Heroes at Home program. I was reading some of the stories today and came across one about a father who was deployed when his baby girl was 3 months old. He'll be gone over a year and miss so many of her firsts. One of the items on his wish list is a video camera. It won't be the same as being there, but a video camera will let him enjoy some of those precious moments he's missing. Donations won't go to any particular family but are distributed equally, in the form of Sears gift cards, among all the registered families, but I'd like to think my donation will help this man's family get that video camera.

When I found out about this Heroes at Home wish registry and read some of the stories, I had every intention of making a donation, but I didn't do it right then. I even posted the badge in my sidebar, and then, I hate to admit it, I didn't go back until today. So, today I'm making that donation, and I'd like to encourage you to give a little something, too. Let your dollar be a hero:



Donations are not tax deductible, but that's not really why you're giving anyway, is it?

Let's Say Thanks

I keep forgetting about this site. It's a great way to let our troops overseas know we're thinking of them and appreciate what they do. Visit Let's Say Thanks and:

1. Select a postcard - designed by children across the country.
2. Enter your name and hometown and select a message. There are several to choose from, or you can write your own.
3. Hit 'Send'

And that's it. Xerox prints the postcards and sends them on to deployed servicemen and women. While you're there, take some time to read the messages from some of those service members and see how much your greetings can mean to them.

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Thank Our Heroes

I should probably be more appreciative of the fact that I got to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with my family, in spite of the hassle of getting there and back. Some people don't get to spend holidays with their families, and it's not just because of a little traffic. OK, a lot of traffic and I don't plan to do that again soon, but something tells me that if our military men and women had the chance to sit in traffic so they could be with their families, they'd take it.

Since they can't do that and many of them are away from home, not just for the holidays but for months at a time, Sears has set up the Sears Heroes at Home Wish Registry. It's a great way to thank our heroes and do something slightly heroic ourselves.

Military families can register, tell their stories, and create wishlists for their families. Then the rest of us can read their stories, see what they wish for their families, and help fulfill their wishes. I've read a few of the stories and looked at the wishlists, a family of 6 from Tennessee, a family of 5 from New York. Please visit the Sears site, read some of the stories yourself and consider helping to fulfill some of those holiday wishes. All donations will be used to purchase Sears gift cards, which will be distributed equally to all registered families.

Whether or not you want to make a donation, you can still post a message of support to let our military men and women, and their families, know we are thinking of them and appreciate their service and sacrifice.

Army vs. Navy

The 108th annual Army-Navy game will be played in Baltimore on December 1. No, I really don't care about football, but I do have a few good memories of the 1983 Army-Navy game. That year it was held at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. I was in college in Pasadena, and we sold programs at the game as a fund raiser. I remember roaming the stands throughout the game, selling or at least trying to sell programs to the cadets and midshipmen. I don't remember who won that year. I do remember that I was cheering for Navy just because the Navy midshipmen were nicer to those of us who were selling the programs. They were so well-behaved and polite. Now, of course, I have a cousin in the Navy, so I guess it would only be right to cheer for Navy!

This weekend's USA Weekend featured some memories of the Army-Navy game from men and women who attended the service academies. Here's one of those stories:

Friends Never Forgotten
Pat Mangin
Annville, Pa.
Army Class of 1990

I played on the Army teams from 1986 to 1989. My best memory? During my last game, CBS caught me on camera butting helmets with my best friend. My other close friend, Ken Nadermann, didn't play football, but he was in the same F4 Fighting Frogs Company with me. We got through all four years together, and it wasn't easy. We started with 35 Frogs. In the end, about 20 graduated.

Ken served in Desert Storm, and by 1994, we found out that he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS, or Lou Gehrigs disease. Today, a number of the Frogs and I make it a tradition to watch the Army-Navy game with him at his home in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He can't talk to us anymore. His nurses read his lips for us. But he starts preparing for the game about eight weeks in advance, and you should see his house when hes done, all decked out with Army paraphernalia and chow, sodas and beer.

Last year, I got back from Iraq in November and went directly to Cedar Rapids so I could watch with Ken and the guys. My wife and 7-year-old son, Clay, actually got tickets to the game, so they were sending us cellphone images live from there. Thats right: I went to Cedar Rapids before I saw my family, after being gone for 16 months. Thats how important this tradition is.

I'm now stationed in Pennsylvania, and I'll be close to the stadium in Baltimore. So Ken had his nurse call me a while back, and he mouthed these words: "Tell Pat that I want him at the game this year with his wife and son." He knows my son loves Army football. But I wouldn't hear of it.

I said to him, "No way, dude. Not until you're gone. Then I'll get a sideline pass, look up at the sky during the flyover and think of you."

I read this one with tears in my eyes. Read more at USA Weekend and at Military Times.

Military Uniforms at the Lowest Price

Until the sons of our friends joined the U.S. Marines, I didn't realize that they had to pay for their own uniforms. One, they don't really get paid that much in the military. Two, they are required to wear the uniforms. And then they have to pay for them? Do the people who work at McDonald's have to pay for their own uniforms?

I am going to have to mention BDU.COM - they carry a complete line of Propper military uniforms (Propper is the largest supplier of military uniforms to the U.S. Department of Defense) at the lowest possible prices. It would at least be worth a look to see if they can get a better deal on the uniforms than wherever else they've been getting them.

Sempre Fi

We have a couple of friends who are U.S. Marines. Actually they are the sons of our friends, and I get many emails from their mom, who is so proud of them - as well she should be. There is also the stress involved and the worry when they are deployed. Both of them have spent time in Iraq, as well as other deployments, and, even though they are not my own sons, it hurts almost as much when people disrespect the military. These are young men who are doing what they believe in. If someone does not come forward, stand up, and defend this country, where will we be? Does this mean I ever want my son to join the military? Not necessarily - like I said, I've seen the stress and the worry - but, if he chooses to do so, I will be extremely proud of him and support him all the way. I might even start collecting Military coins or some kind of military collectible. I'd at least need a bumper sticker!

Remember, each one of those military members is someone's son or daughter, brother or sister, husband or wife. They are doing what they believe in to give everyone else the right to do whatever they believe in. A little support wouldn't hurt.