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073005
The Commandant of the Coast Guard announces with regret the death of CAPT Dorothy Stratton, the first female Coast Guard Officer and leader of the Coast Guard Women’s Reserve, on Sunday, September 17, 2006, in West Lafayette, Indiana. She was 107 years old. Born March 24, 1899, in Brookfield, Missouri, she grew up in Missouri and Kansas. She later earned a bachelor’s degree from Ottawa University, a master’s degree in psychology from The University of Chicago, and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Student Personnel Administration from Columbia University. She served as Dean of Women and Associate Professor of Psychology at Purdue University. In June 1942, during World War II, she took a leave of absence from Purdue and joined the Women Appointed Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES). She received her commission in the Navy as a Lieutenant after completing the first WAVE Indoctrination class at the U.S. Naval Training Station in Northhampton, Massachusetts. Six months later, while serving as assistant to the commanding officer of the radio school for WAVES, she was called to serve as the first director of the new Coast Guard Women’s Reserve. She coined the term SPARS from our services motto “Semper Paratus, Always Ready.” Under her strong leadership, the SPARS grew to 11,000 during World War II. Upon retirement in 1946, she was awarded the Legion of Merit. After leaving active duty, she continued in public service as the first director of personnel at the International Monetary Fund, and, later, as executive director of the Girl Scouts of America. She also served as the United Nations Representative to the International Federation of University Women, and chaired the Women’s Committee of the Presidents Commission on Employment of the Handicapped. Throughout her lifetime, she used her leadership, intellect, and compassion to help society and improve peoples’ lives. CAPT Stratton was ahead of her time. Her pioneering spirit and dedication to duty continue to serve as a model for all Coast Guard men and women. She was an inspirational leader and public servant long after her wartime obligations had ended. Her contributions to the Coast Guard and the Nation have already marked her place in our history. We honor her legacy, and our thoughts and prayers are with her family at this time.
073005
Received the following for information. You could probley get information from Jack, e-mail follows.
Barker, John [Jack]
E-mail Address: jd3462@webtv.net
Fellow golfers,
The Site Selection Committee has been looking at places all over the East coast for next year's (2006) USCG Golf Invitational. We've looked at places in Charleston, SC, York, PA, Jekyll Island, GA, the Homestead Resort in western VA, and will look at places in Hershey, PA and Pinehurst, NC shortly.
This past month as you know, we had our tournament at Barton Creek Resort in Austin. It was a fabulous site, had a great deal, the courses and accommodations were first class, but we had only 75 participants, probably primarily due to the cost of the tourney ($650), plus the related transportation costs. Over the past 30+ years, we've had the tournament in a variety of locations with a variety of costs. Obviously, everything is getting more expensive, particularly if we try to include the hotel/resort accommodations into the price, along with 4 rounds of golf w/carts, prizes, give aways, and a couple of meals.
This year as noted, we visited The Homestead and received a tremendous package deal from them and wanted some input from you regarding it. The package will be the usual 4 rounds of golf/carts, 3 overnights, 2 meals, prizes, etc for $640, about the same deal we had at Barton Creek, but without the obvious need for airfare for most of the folks. The Homestead is 3-4 hours from Washington DC, hosts 3 magificent courses, and has probably the finest accommodations & amenities available anywhere. Please take a look at the attached info and check out their website at www.thehomestead.com.
We ask that you after you read over the attached file and visit their website that you let us know your thoughts and your feelings. If the Invitational were held at the Homestead, would you come? Would you rather it be in the local DC area so as to have no need for overnight accommodations?. Would you rather it be held in the Myrtle Beach area or whereever we could reduce the costs to about $500?
Respectfully
Mike Parnarouskis
Site Selection Committee
ps Ten years ago, when I last stayed at the Homestead, I paid more than $600 for 3 rounds of golf and 2 nights lodging! The price they are quoting us is very reasonable.
070505
BY HANNAH SAMPSON hsampson@herald.com
Under a blazing sun, a 41foot Coast Guard utility, boat idled in the New River. A bugler played taps as two color guards marched.
And Boatswain's Mate 2nd Class Joseph Ruggiero knelt to place a brick that bore his friend's name at a memorial honoring Broward County's war dead.
Petty Officer Nathan Bruckenthal, who lived in Dania Beach, died on April 24, 2004, in a suicide attack in the northern Arabian GWf in Iraq, becoming the. first member of the U.S. Coast Guard killed in action since the Vietnam War.
Ruggiero was with Bruckenthal when they wer.e attacked. Ruggiero's right arm was injured, shrapnel hit his face, and his eardrums burst.
Bruckenthal was a member of the Tactical Law Enforcement Team South at Opalocka Airport. He was on his second tour of duty in Iraq.
Shortly before he died, Bruckenthal learned his wife was pregnant. Ruggiero said Patricia Bruckenthal gave birth to a baby girl last year and now lives in Seattle.
Richard Winer, who organized the event at the statue of World War II hero Lt. Alexander-"Sandy" Nininger, said the ceremony would, unfortunately, not be the last.
Two more Broward men - d Army Sgt. Kip A. Jacoby, 21, of Pompano Beach, and Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Jammes.Suh, 28, of Deerfield Beach - were among 16 killed when a helicopter was shot down last week in Afghanistan.
"We're going to have to in two more bricks for them," Winer said. He said a ceremony would likely be held Veterans Day.
070505
From: skipdale@aol.com [mailto:skipdale@aol.com]What I Saw at Gitmo
By Lt. Col. Gordon Cucullu
FrontPageMagazine.com June 27, 2005
Last week, I was privileged to be part of a Department of Defense trip to the Joint Task Force - Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. I got to see the operations of this "controversial" facility up-close something particularly important after Sen. Richard Durbin¹s comparison of its guard to Nazi stormtroopers and calls of leftists to shut the center down. Our group went to GITMO to check out tales that the military was being too tough on these terrorist detainees. We left convinced that America is being extraordinarily lenient far too lenient.
After speaking with soldiers, sailors, and civilians who collectively staff Gitmo, I left convinced that abuse definitely exists at the detention facilities, and it typically fails to receive the press attention it deserves: it¹s the relentless, merciless attacks on American servicemen and women by these terrorist thugs. Many of the orange jumpsuit-clad detainees fight their captors at every opportunity, openly bragging of their desire to kill Americans. One has promised that, if released, he would find MPs in their homes through the internet, break into their houses at night, and cut the throats of them and their families like sheep. Others claim authority and vindication to kill women, children, and other innocents who oppose their jihadist mission authorized by the Koran (the same one that hangs in every cell from a specially-designed holder intended to protect it from a touching the cell floor all provided at U.S. taxpayer expense). One detainee was heard to tell another: "One day I will enjoy sucking American blood, although their blood is bitter, undrinkable." These recalcitrant detainees are known euphemistically as being non-compliant. They attack guards whenever the soldiers enter their cells, trying to reach up under protective facemasks to gouge eyes and tear mouths. They make weapons and try to stab the guards or grab and break limbs as the guards pass them food.
We dined with the soldiers, toured several of the individual holding camps, observed interrogations, and inspected cells. We were impressed by the universally high quality of the cadre and the facilities. While it may not be exactly "Club GITMO," as Rush Limbaugh uses to tweak the hard-Left critics who haven¹t a clue about reality here, GITMO is a far cry from the harshness experienced even by maximum security prisoners in the U.S.
Meals for detainees are ample: we lunched on what several thought was an accumulated single day¹s ration for detainees. "No," the contract food service manager said with a laugh, "what you¹re looking at there is today's lunch. A single meal. They get three a day like that." The vegetables, pita bread, and other well-prepared food filled two of the large Styrofoam take-home containers we see in restaurants. Several prisoners have special meal orders like "no tomatoes" or "no peanut products" depending on taste or allergies. "One prisoner," General Hood said, "throws back his food tray if it contains things he has specifically said he doesn't want." How is he punished for this outrageous behavior? His tray is numbered, the food he requested is put on it, and the corrected "order" is delivered to his cell.
The detainees are similarly catered to medically. Almost every one arrived at GITMO with some sort of battlefield trauma. After all, the majority were captured in combat. Today they are healthy, immunized, and well cared for. At a visit to the modern hospital facility dedicated solely to the detainees and comparable to a well-equipped and staffed small-town hospital with operating, dental, routine facilities the doctor in charge confirmed that the caloric count for the detainees was so high that while "most detainees arrived undernourished," medics now watch for issues stemming from high cholesterol and being overweight. Each of approximately 520 terrorists currently held in confinement averages about four medical visits monthly, something one would expect from only a dedicated American hypochondriac. Welcome to the rigors of detention under American supervision.
Of the estimated 70,000 battlefield captures that were made in Afghanistan, only a tiny percentage, something on the order of 800-plus, were eventually evacuated to GITMO. These were the worst of the worst. More than 200 have been released back to their home country if the U.S. is assured that the detainees would not be tortured by local authorities upon return. These men were freed because they were deemed by ongoing official military review processes to no longer pose a threat, or to possess no useful intelligence. And this process has proven too generous at times: more than 10 released GITMO detainees have been killed or recaptured fighting Americans or have been identified as resuming terrorist activities. Still, the process is up and running for review of cases, and if a Washington DC circuit court approves a government appeal, the system for military tribunals will get started. All mechanisms are in place and ready to go as soon as DoD gets a green light.
There is a good reason these unlawful combatants are being confined. They are evil and dangerous individuals. Yet these thugs are treated with an amazing degree of compassion: They are given ice cream treats and recreational time. They live in clean facilities, and receive a full Muslim religious package of Koran, prayer rug, beads, and prayer oils. An arrow in every cell points to Mecca. The call to prayer is played five times daily. They are not abused, hanged, tortured, beheaded, raped, mutilated, or in any way treated the way that they once treated their own captives or now treat their guards.
Some questioned whether it were wise to give these radical Islamic fundamentalists the religious supplies that ended up landing them in Gitmo in the first place. "Giving them the Koran is simply something that we think we ought to do as a humane gesture," said second-in-command Brigadier General Gong. "We're Americans. That¹s how we operate."
When we challenged military authorities about the seemingly plush environs these would-be murderers receive, the commanding officers stated this was the most productive course. JTF-GITMO commanding officer Brigadier General Jay Hood radiated confidence and determination when fielding challenges from our group about his overly lenient treatment. "It works," he says simply. "We do not allow torture or mistreatment, period." How to they guarantee this? By rigorous, on-going training and constant oversight up and down the supervisory chain. As proof that "establishing rapport" with the detainees is far more effective than coercive techniques, General Hood refers skeptics to the massive amount of usable intelligence information JTF-GITMO continues to produce even three years into the program.
You are right to worry about inhumane treatment taking place at GITMO. But your concern should be for the dedicated, well-trained, highly professional American men and women who are subjected to a daily barrage of feces, urine, semen, and spit hurled at them along with vile invective as they implement a humane, enlightened system of confinement on men who want nothing more than to kill Americans. These quiet professional Americans, who live under the motto ³Honor Bound for Defense of Freedom,² deserve our utmost respect and concern. Shame on anyone who slanders or disrespects them for short-term and short-sighted political advantage.
Lt. Col. Gordon Cucullu has been an Army Green Beret lieutenant colonel, as well as a writer, popular speaker, business executive and farmer. His most recent book is Separated at Birth, about North and South Korea.
070505
DC CPOA BOD et al and other family/shipmates of Hank Rogers:
Sad news – our shipmate Hank Rogers, WWII USCG veteran, has crossed the bar. Thanks to Mr. Paul Cora and INF2 Ed Kruska for passing the word in time for some of us to honor Hank during his 02 JUL 05 full military honors. DC CPOA was able to express to family our appreciation of Hank’s contributions, and we posted American flag and USCG Standard on Hank’s grave.
Semper Par! BMCM
BMCM Mark AllenHenry H. Rogers Jr.
ROGERS JR., Henry H. On June 29, 2005, HENRY HANK ROGERS JR., beloved husband of Thelma Marie Rogers; devoted father of Donna M. Rogers, Colleen Kelly Dilly and her husband Steve; loving grandfather of Ryan Dilly; dear brother of Harry Rogers and Paul Rogers. Friends may call at the family owned Bruzdzinski Funeral Home, P.A., 1407 Old Eastern Ave., Essex, at Route 702, (Beltway exit 36) on Friday from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M. Funeral Services on Saturday at 12 noon. Interment Sacred Heart of Jesus Cemetery. Published in the Baltimore Sun from 6/30/2005 - 7/1/2005.
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From: Kruska, Edward CWO (HQ)Henry 'Hank' Rogers Jr., 78, machinist, veteran
Originally published July 1, 2005
Henry "Hank" Rogers Jr., a retired machinist and a Coast Guard veteran and historian, died Wednesday at the Eastpoint Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center of complications from surgery. The Chase resident was 78.
Born in Fort Monroe, Va., and raised in Bartow, Fla., he joined the Coast Guard at age 17 and was stationed in the Pacific during World War II. He remained in the service for 16 years and had been assigned to Coast Guard cutter Androscoggin and ice breakers in the North Atlantic.
He moved to Baltimore about 55 years ago and became a Crown Cork and Seal machinist in Highlandtown until retiring in 1990.
In retirement, he got involved in Coast Guard history and reunions.
He was a former president of the Spencer Association, a group of Coast Guard veterans who served aboard the Spencer, a World War II-era cutter that was scrapped in 1980.
"The guy was a walking goodwill ambassador for the Coast Guard," said Paul B. Cora, curator of the Baltimore Maritime Museum, which includes the submarine Torsk, lightship Chesapeake and the cutter Taney.
"He was of great help to a number of researchers and writers on subjects related to the Battle of the Atlantic in World War II," Mr. Cora said.
Mr. Rogers also arranged for the donation of artifacts related to the Spencer, which are now displayed on the Taney. Family members said he also donated materials to the "Spencer Wall" at the Coast Guard Training Center at Cape May, N.J.
A military honors funeral will be held at noon tomorrow at Bruzdzinski Funeral Home, 1407 Old Eastern Ave., Essex.
Survivors include his wife of 53 years, the former Thelma Marie Sauter; two daughters, Donna Marie Rogers of Chase and Colleen Kelly Dilly of Eldersburg; two brothers, Harry Rogers of Baltimore and Paul Rogers of Knoxville, Tenn.; and a grandson.
CWO2 Edward J. Kruska, USCGR
Editor, The Coast Guard Reservist