“And Then They Came Home” relays the story of 12 men who fought together in one of the worst battles of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Watch the full video of this documentary-in-the-making for actual footage, and please support this project so the full story can be told.
Colorado Springs, Colorado – December 6, 2011
Bob Calvert and his Talking With Heroes team spent July and August of 2011 with troops in Iraq and Afghanistan gathering their personal stories to share with Americans at large. Americans can now WATCH free, unedited footage of interviews at www.youtube.com/bobc9246 and www.facebook.com/talkingwithheroesprogram.
www.TalkingWithHeroes.com announces the release of Four DVD’s in the new 2011 Talking With Heroes in Iraq and Afghanistan. This edition includes unedited footage from Iraq and Kuwait with our Troops. TalkingWithHeroes.Com is offering these DVD Books all across America.
Proceeds from the DVD sales can be used as fundraisers by Organizations, Companies, Ministries and Individuals to help get the word out about America’s Troops and their stories!
DVD Books from Afghanistan will be released before the end of December 2011.
This is a guest post from my friend, Bob Calvert.
www.TALKINGWITHHEROES.com Sept 2011 Newsletter
1.) Back To Iraq and Afghanistan with our Troops
In July and August of 2011 I (with a videographer in each country) went back to Iraq and Afghanistan. This was my fifth trip to Iraq since 2006 and my third to Afghanistan in the past year.
Unedited Footage of Interviews with our troops, Missions we went on, inside an Aid Station, Inside a Soldier run DFAC (dining facility), inside Enduring Faith Chapel in Afghanistan are just some of what you and the American people will be able to watch on our Youtube and Facebook pages. Some of the videos from Iraq are already online and the rest will follow over the weeks ahead:
www.youtube.com/bobc9246 and www.facebook.com/talkingwithheroesprogram
2.) Sept 1, 2011 www.ThankYouforYourService.US Now LIVE
In this latest issue of our Online News Site you will read the latest news from troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, news from and about our troops and veterans and families and much more. In this issue you will read the final Text Updates written while I was in both Iraq and Afghanistan. This will give you an idea of what everybody is about to be able to watch on video.
3.) Sept 15, 2011 LIVE Interview in front of an Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Audience, on Radio and the Internet
Talk Show Host Marc Bernier will interview me LIVE Sept 15th beginning at 7pm (EST) in front of an audience at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. This Interview/event will also broadcast live on 1150AM WNDB in Florida and stream live at www.marcberniershow.com Everybody with access to the internet will be able to listen. Go to the Sept 1st issue of www.thankyouforyourservice.us for more details.
4.) Sept 24th I have been invited to attend a Welcome Home BALL for Ft Hoods 3rd Squadron 3ACR who Ron Links (a 20 year retired Army Ranger) and I were with in Iraq. The videos on our Youtube and Facebook pages are some of the footage from our time with these amazing Ft Hood Soldiers. This event will be in Texas. I am hoping to be able to hold a public event the day before near Ft Hood to announce the videos being online with the Ft Hood soldiers. I am looking for groups in that area to partner with on this public event.
5.) Sept 29th, 30th and October 1st at the 2011 Military Writers Society of America Annual Conference
I have been invited again to participate in the www.militarywriters.com Annual Conference. At this years event I will be conducting a seminar about our recent 2011 trip over with the troops. These Military Writers annual conferences bring together incredible veterans going all the way back to WWII from all across America as well as amazing civilians. To find out more info about this conference email Joyce Faulkner at MWSAPresident@gmail.com
6.) As Troops from Ft Riley, Kansas National Guard, Maryland National Guard, Ft Bragg and other bases come home I am planning on teaming up with some of their Public Affairs Officers to do what we can to get news of their videos out to the local people around these bases.
7.) We are encouraging everybody who is on Facebook to Connect with us on our LIKE page which has no limits of how many people can connect with us there. www.facebook.com/talkingwithheroesprogram
We are asking everybody to watch our troops videos and to help us get news of these videos out to others. For those of you watching on Youtube you can click FAVORITES under each video which will in seconds put the videos on your Youtube page. You can then quicly send them out to your Youtube Friends. You can then also in seconds put them on your Facebook, Twitter, Google+, My Space and other social networking pages. You can also let people know what you think of these troops videos through newsletters, on your websites and more. You can let Veterans and Military Families around where you live know about these videos.
Our Troops will be very excited to see the number counter on each of their videos go up and up and up. We hear a lot about videos going “viral” where hundreds of thousands and even millions of people get to watch them. I believe we can do the same for our Troops videos. Most of the American people have never seen what we have brought back on video with our troops.
Please Help Us get their stories out!!! 
Thank you
Bob Calvert, Host
www.talkingwithheroes.com
www.thankyouforyourservice.us
Email: bob@talkingwithheroes.com
American Veterans and members of the VFW Honor Guard speak out, and we should all listen….
Liberty Institute Drops “Truth Bombs,” Releasing New Facts Through Video Statements from Those Affected by the VA’s Ban on “God” at Military Funerals. Please watch THIS VIDEO of VFW Honor Guard Members:
History of the 21-gun salute: The practice of firing three rifle volleys over the grave originated in the old custom of halting the fighting to remove the dead from the battlefield. Once each army had cleared their dead, it would fire three volleys to indicate that the dead had been cared for and that they were ready to fight again. The fact that the firing party consists of seven riflemen, firing these volleys does not constitute a 21-gun-salute. It is the three volleys that are significant, not the number of rifles. Three volleys fired over the casket have become a tradition to mean the dead have been cared for. It has evolved into a military salute for the deceased serving their country.
Firing the three volleys over the casket is one of the highest honors to give a deceased military veteran. Our nation’s highest honor is a flag draped over the casket, folded and presented. Tradition is to place three spent shell casings inside the folded flag to prove now and forevermore that the deceased and his flag have had proper military honors. Nothing else is to be placed inside the flag.
The national salute of 21 guns is fired in honor of a national flag, the sovereign or chief of state of a foreign nation, a member of a reigning royal family, and the President, ex-President, and President-elect of the United States. It is also fired at noon of the day of the funeral of a President, ex-President, or President-elect, on Washington’s Birthday, Presidents Day, and the Fourth of July. On Memorial Day, a salute of 21 minute guns is fired at noon while the flag is flown at half mast.
The American Fallen Warrior Memorial Foundation has received a letter of intent from the City of Emporia, Kansas. Emporia is the first city to officially express a desire to become the home of the American Fallen Warrior Memorial.
Emporia is nationally recognized as the founding city of Veterans Day. The city has offered a site location near the Jones Aquatic center and an additional private land offer from the DeBauge family was also submitted.
Kansas City, Kansas Unified Government of Wyandotte County has also submitted a letter of intent for land donation to the AFWMF with 4 possible site locations in the KC area along the 1-70 corridor. The AFWMF contacted 6 Kansas cities in March 2011 with a request for land donation of 20 acres to build the largest memorial in US history. Kansas City Kansas, Leavenworth, Lawrence, Topeka, Manhattan/Junction City and Emporia were given the opportunity to become the home of the American Fallen Warrior Memorial.
Emporia and KCK have met the requirements and August 1, 2011 AFWMF deadline with a letter of intent and land proposal. The scoring process will now begin with the foundations project manager, Mr. Christopher Gartner and the board of directors. The AFWMF will make a decision based on the criteria given to all of the cities that have been approached to become the home of the memorial in addition to the most suitable city for this sacred place of honor.
A National press release is scheduled for 9/11/11 announcing the city of choice with an expected sign placement ceremony scheduled on 11/11/11. (Veterans Day)
AFWMF CEO/Founder, Tonya Evans states, “There couldn’t be a more exciting time for us and for Kansas! We have worked very hard to see this dream come one step closer to reality in honoring our Fallen Warriors and providing hope and healing to their families and our Nation. We are so thankful for the cities that we have worked with in the last 5 months and their desire to participate in this project and see the state of Kansas recognized as a National landmark for the American Fallen Warrior Memorial.”
The mission of the American Fallen Warrior Memorial Foundation is to honor, preserve and protect the legacies of all Fallen Warriors who have given their lives in the Gulf War, Operations Desert Storm, Operation Desert Shield, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom and all peripheral operations in the War on Terror. They intend to do this by building a memorial that will contain photo plaques displaying the faces of every serviceman or woman who has given his or her life in the service of defending and protecting our country, including PTSD/Suicides from the Gulf War to the present.
The AFWMF’s secondary mission is to educate the children of a Grateful Nation about the sacrifices being made to protect our freedoms. Educating our youth is essential to ensuring that their sacrifice will not be forgotten. We believe that we must preserve the legacies of these brave men and women and teach the value of remembering their sacrifices.
The AFWMF is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization formed in 2011 and is dedicated to honoring our Fallen Warriors and to educating the students of a Grateful Nation about the sacrifices being made for our freedoms. www.facebook.com/GoldStarWall
The Gold Star Mothers National Monument Act of 2011, HR 1980, was introduced on 5/25/2011. The bill authorizes the Gold Star Mothers National Monument Foundation to establish a monument in the District of Columbia area, as a unit of the National Park System, to be known as the Gold Star Mothers National Monument.
H. R. 1980 Read Text
Learn about the Gold Star Wives Agent Orange Legacy. They are widows whose husbands died while on active duty or as the result of a service connected cause..They represent all branches of service. read more>>
For a limited time, the AFWMF is offering the opportunity to be a part of history by giving everyone a chance to purchase a personalized paver to be placed on the circular pathway surrounding the American Fallen Warrior Memorial. Pavers can be purchased from ThankYouBricks.com to commemorate your fallen warrior as well as a gift for a family member or a friend*.
Don’t miss out on the opportunity to become a permanent piece of American history!
*With each paver purchase, you will have the option to purchase an identical replica paver to proudly display in your home or office. All bricks purchased will be placed on the American Fallen Warriors Memorial grounds.
Update: June 1st, 2011:
“The AFWMF is thrilled to announce and welcome Mr. Chris Gartner, PE, President of Christopher Gartner and Associates. Chris will be the project manager for the Memorial. His impressive career of over 3 billion in construction and management speaks for itself. His slogan says it best…”CELEBRATING 26 YEARS OF MAKING DREAMS REALITY” Welcome Chris, we look forward to working with you and making the AFWM a reality.”
Read more about the new project manager: www.christophergartner.com
Read related article about the proposed site in Leavenworth, KS
Read related article about other proposed sites in Kansas
Original Post: May 6, 2011
“Never Forget” is a well-known phrase among veterans supporters in various organizations. The American Fallen Warrior Memorial Foundation is doing their part to assure that no soldier is ever forgotten. Organizers of the AFWMF have managed to create the concept of a modern-day memorial for modern-day war veterans, that even include plans for solar and wind power.
Read their mission:
“The mission of the American Fallen Warrior Memorial Foundation is to honor, preserve and protect the legacies of all Fallen Warriors who have given their lives in the Gulf War, Operations Desert Storm, Operation Desert Shield, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom and all peripheral operations in the war on Terror. We will do this by building a memorial that will contain bronze plaques displaying the faces of every serviceman or woman who has given his or her life in the service of defending and protecting our country, including PTSD/Suicides from the Gulf War to the present.
Our secondary mission is to educate the children of a Grateful Nation about the sacrifices being made to protect our freedoms. Educating our youth is essential to ensuring that their sacrifice will not be forgotten. We believe that we must preserve the legacies of these brave men and women and teach the value of remembering their sacrifices.”
To view plans for the Memorial, visit their website: http://afwmf.org/
