When my alarm buzzed at 3:30 a.m., I was surprised at
how quickly this ol’ fortysomething got moving.
Despite the early hour and challenges ahead, I was
excited to join America’s finest for a small part of
an epic walk from the NC/SC border up to Washington
D.C. After a quick shower and an accelerated morning
routine, I departed at 4:02 for the 160 mile or so
drive to Emporia. There I met up with Bob Miller, a
friend and Marine Corps Vietnam veteran. We grabbed
some coffee and Mountain Dew and intended to welcome
the walkers to Virginia by escorting them across the
state line.

Who were these walkers? Three retired veterans who
had recently been voluntarily recalled and served over
in Iraq. They determined to do something significant
and difficult to show America that many of us want our
troops to come home as winners, having accomplished a
very challenging mission. That’s how Resolve to Win
was born. They also hope to build excitement and
momentum along the way, resulting in a large following
in northern Virginia next weekend. Route and schedule
here:

http://www.vfwwebcom.org/ResolveToWin/10113/March Route and Schedule.html

Bob and I staged his vehicle at the VA/NC state line,
then drove south on Hwy 301 and soon (by pure
coincidence) found ourselves behind the Resolve to Win
recreational vehicle. We knew from photos this was
the walkers’ main support vehicle, so we followed
behind it all the way to this morning’s starting point
in Halifax County. There, in a light drizzle, we met
up with walkers Dennis McCool, Carl Heerup and Marc
Breslow, plus their support crew (Ada, Don, Carl,
Pearl – my apologies if I missed anyone). We learned
the unfortunate news that Marc, after walking seven
consecutive days, was going to depart for much-needed
medical attention on his feet. So the core group of
four was down to two (Dennis and Carl). The fourth
member, an Army major or lieutenant colonel and
Dennis’ son Gerry McCool, walked for several days in
the beginning before needing to return to work.
However, he will rejoin the group for the last few
days. The group wished Marc a fond farewell, a speedy
recovery, and plans to see him in D.C. on March 16th.

We stepped off at 7:30 in a light rain, which over the
next couple of hours faded on and off, with one
stretch of 10-15 minutes of fairly heavy rain that
unfortunately soaked our footwear. In addition to
Dennis, Carl, Bob and I, we were joined by two active
duty Army recruiters (Darrick and Trey, who were
determined to escort these amazing veterans through
their area of operations) and another old Marine Corps
friend, Larry Hoffa (whom we did not realize until
just then would be walking with us). Each walking
segment was 6-7 miles, taking about two hours.
There’s a half-hour morning break, a 45-minute lunch,
a half-hour afternoon break, with each day completed
about 6:00 p.m.

http://www.vfwwebcom.org/ResolveToWin/10184/Battle Rhythm.html

During the first leg Bob called in to a Richmond radio
station, and the DJs interviewed Bob and Carl. Dennis
normally receives a daily morning call from a Fox
affiliate in Orlando FL that has been tracking their
progress. However, this morning for some reason there
was no call. People took turns carrying the American
flag and the guidon (a long wooden stick with a metal
pike on top, holding a small banner usually denoting a
particular unit. This blue banner with fringe says
Resolve to Win.) Since the recruiters and Larry were
only planning to walk until lunch, I held off carrying
the guidon until the later legs. We walked along the
right edge of Hwy 301 and were blessed to have NC
sheriff and police escorts all the way to the lunch
break. I was disappointed that Virginia did not have
anyone (police or otherwise) greeting us at the state
line. But the support crew and walkers all have
Nextel phones, so they managed traffic very
professionally with no significant problems all day.

During the second leg we heard a disturbance behind
us, and saw an elderly veteran with an American flag
double timing (running) to catch up to us. We slowed
down, and he walked with Dennis McCool up to a bridge
(where his wife picked him up) just to show us his
support. Very motivating! And during this leg
another gentleman pulled his southbound vehicle over,
jumped out, snapped a couple of photos and thanked us
for walking.

The rain cleared up after the first leg, and by
lunchtime the sun was coming out. A reporter from
Littleton NC took pictures and interviewed some of the
folks. We ate and then bid a fond farewell to our
Army recruiter friends, Darrick and Trey, as they had
to prepare for an ROTC ball that evening. Both were
fun to have around, sharing knowledge of the local
area, trail mix and Hershey’s kisses! And Darrick
kindly gave me a pair of hiking socks. I had
neglected to bring a back-up pair, and the wet shoes &
socks resulted in a couple of blisters on my right
foot by lunch. So those socks did considerably cut
down on my discomfort. Larry was feeling pretty good,
so he wanted to walk the third leg with us. His wife
Lori, following in a support vehicle, good naturedly
agreed to go to work a little later so Larry could
have some more fun with us (in a masochistic sort of
way).

As Carl, Dennis, Bob, Larry and I set off on Leg 3
after a lunch of sandwiches, pickles and potato chips
(and lots of fluids!), a white SUV pulled over in
front of us. It was a NC family of four who had heard
about us on the radio and wanted to say “Hello” and
cheer us on. They chatted briefly with Bob, then
drove ahead of us. They pulled out a large unit flag
for the 173rd Airborne, in which they have two sons
(Sean and Chase, I believe) currently serving in Iraq.
9-year old Gavin was waving the flag, which was twice
as big as him, in a strong wind, while 3-year old
Raven was on the SUV’s hood waving to us as we walked
by. At Dennis’ urging I ran back to a trail vehicle
and retrieved some small American flags for the kids,
Mom and Dad. Bob and I went over to chat and snapped
some photos. They wanted to purchase some Resolve to
Win t-shirts and hats, which were in the RV. They
decided to meet us at the state line (our third break
area) to buy those, and then handed me a nice donation
for RTW. Raven had a picture of soldier brother Sean
on her t-shirt. If you can’t tell, those cute kids
were the highlight of my day.  Bob and I
then ran to catch up to the core group, and the
running actually felt good to use some different
muscles for a while. True to their word, they were
waiting for us at the state line. They bought a load
of shirts and hats and spoke for a while with Dennis.
He cut short his rest and foot maintenance just to
speak with them. During the third break I needed to
lance a couple of huge blisters on my right foot, and
Dennis gave me some moleskin which helped
considerably.

After the break we all – walkers and support crew -
posed for photos at the “Welcome to Virginia” sign.
We said goodbye to Lori and Larry Hoffa, who were
gracious enough to run Bob back to retrieve my vehicle
at the starting point. That enabled me to walk the
final leg with Dennis and Carl, who otherwise would
have been alone. Most of our route paralleled
railroad tracks, and the trains were all honking, so
we surmised they were talking about our march on the
radio. I started carrying the guidon early in Leg 3,
and never gave it up after that. Leg 4 was extremely
windy, and the fairly comfortable temperatures from
the morning had dropped a good 15-20 degrees. My
hands were cold, but not enough to retrieve my gloves
from the trail vehicle. We heard via radio there were
gale warnings in the area. We weren’t surprised!
Early in Leg 4 we heard a snap, looked ahead about
40-50 yards as the crown of an old tree plummeted into
the roadway. Fortunately it was on the other side of
the highway and no cars were coming. I quickly
cleared the debris and we continued. We saw homes
with shingles missing and at least two sheds with the
roofs peeled back like tin can tops. Needless to say,
managing the guidon and American flag in those
conditions was challenging. Twice (during Legs 2 and
4) the American flag separated from the pole and was
retired to the support vehicles.

As we approached the day’s final destination (a church
parking lot 25-26 miles from the morning’s starting
point), I could see Concrete Bob waiting with his
vehicle. He’s never looked so beautiful (he was my
ride back to MY vehicle!). Dennis and Carl decided to
skip going out for dinner and instead focus on warm
baths and caring for their feet. So we posed for more
pictures, including one for a nice veterans group in
Missouri that sent a check for Resolve To Win. It’s
nice to see the donations, because Dennis, Carl and
the others have put a lot of their own money into this
effort of love, with some wonderful support from
American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts.
We then said our goodbyes and everyone departed. Don,
one of the support crew, said Day 8 was the most
challenging with the rain and wind, so I was
especially glad to have joined these fine folks on
this day and hopefully provided some good company and
encouragement.

As Bob drove me back to retrieve my vehicle, the first
song coming from the radio was Alan Jackson’s “Where
We You (When the World Stop Turning,” a moving
reminder of the horrible slaughter of 9/11/01 and its
impact on our lives. A very fitting ending to an
amazing day dedicated to our troops.

I am sore, with a few blisters, but have no regrets.
However, it’s absolutely incredible to me that two
gentlemen (one ten years and the other 19 years my
senior) have done this eight consecutive days, with
another eight still to come. These guys are
first-class studs! What keeps them going is not only
the knowledge they’re walking for everyone in uniform
defending our freedom, but also the support of
everyone who walks with them or simply stands along
the route to clap, cheer on and thank them. I urge
everyone reading this to:
• tell a friend and local/national media organizations
about this epic journey
• visit the below website to post a short note of
encouragement and/or buy a t-shirt or hat
• consider meeting them somewhere between Emporia and
D.C. through March 16th.

Maybe YOU could be one of the thousands they hope to
have escorting them over the Memorial Bridge from
Arlington National Cemetery to the Lincoln Memorial on
March 16th. God willing, I’ll be there.

http://www.vfwwebcom.org/ResolveToWin/

Semper Fi,
Coop
P.S. I have digital photos if you’d like to post some

London Times and N.Y. Times.
Where is the press when they’re needed. Oh that’s right …. they have the freedom to only print their left-wing point of view. All the news that’s fit to print is on the bottom of the bird cage.
The GRAY LADY is dying. R.I.P. N.Y. TIMES.
this is from Portfolio:
Perilous Times
by Jeff Bercovici Mar 3 2008
Internal rifts widen at the New York Times as the nation’s leading news organization faces a re-energized rival.
New York Times Co. chairman Arthur Sulzberger faces declining revenue, rising costs, impatient investors, and now internal dissention.
Photograph by: Ruby Washington/The New York Times
New York Times Company, The (NYT)

Industry:
Media and Publishing
Summary:
The Company is a diversified media company that currently includes newspapers, internet businesses, television and radio …
Primary executive:
Janet L. Robinson,
View Full Profile K. Rupert Murdoch

Industry:
Media and Publishing
Biography:
Mr. Murdoch has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors since December 22, 2003 and has been Chairman of the Board of …
View Full Profile It’s safe to say that no one at The New York Times Co. is happy about the need to compromise the company’s greatest asset—the peerless news-gathering operation of its namesake newspaper—in the face of growing costs and shrinking revenues.

But that’s not to say there aren’t those who regarded last month’s announcement of plans to downsize the newsroom by 100 positions as a victory of sorts.

According to a number of current and former New York Times employees, that decision marked the culmination of a period of heightened hostility between the paper’s business side, which felt that it had made more than its share of sacrifices in previous round of cost-cutting, and the editorial leadership, which favored doing everything possible to protect the paper’s competitiveness.

“It’s been an ongoing tension for awhile,” says one source close to the business management. “The business side believes they’ve taken the majority of the hits so far while the newsroom has stayed untouched.”

Even the present round of cuts, notes the source, will do no more than restore the newsroom’s staffing level to where it was three years ago, around 1,200—and that’s not even counting journalists on the digital side.

“They just went too long without significant newsroom cuts,” agrees a former editor. “And every time there were cuts, the business side got increasingly perturbed because the news department was so protected.”

Of course, a tug-of-war between editorial and business interests is a fixture of every newspaper (and magazine, and TV network, and blog network…)—a point one source in Times management was quick to make.

“This is something that’s persisted for years and years now,” says the source, who like other employees agreed to speak candidly only if not identified. “Everybody in the newsroom, reporters as well as top management, understands the business environment. This isn’t some marital dispute that’s led to the baby being put up for adoption.”
But a former executive insists the sense of aggrievement had, in fact, become acute. “There’s always a natural tension” between the business side and the newsroom, he says. “This goes well beyond that. It had become more than just a normal debate.”

In this source’s view, the cuts under way now are as much about mending this rift as they are about improving the bottom line.

“It’s symbolism,” he says. “It’s not like the $5 million or $10 million or whatever the number is is going to get them into significantly better business performance. I don’t think the problem with the Times is that the newsroom is inefficient by 2 or 3 percent.

“The real issue is, what is the business side doing to monetize the content? Are they doing all that they can to operate in such a way that the business could be profitable enough to pay for all that great journalism?”

Of course, it’s not as though the Times is alone in turning to head-count reduction to get through the present economic crunch. The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and Newsday on Long Island have all recently announced workforce cuts including newsroom positions.

But the Times has never been just another newspaper, says Ben Bagdikian, emeritus professor at University of California at Berkeley’s School of Journalism. Rather, it’s the newspaper all other papers take their cues from. “Given the importance of the Times, any cutback is significant,” he says.

And the Times faces some unique pressures. First, there are the two hedge funds that are aggressively pushing actions they consider necessary to improve profits—selling the Boston Globe and focusing more on digital growth. As of Friday, when the funds formally proposed four directors to the Times Co. board, it was unclear whether the company would have a proxy fight on its hands.

Then, of course, there’s the hugely increased threat the Times faces from the Wall Street Journal, whose new owner, Rupert Murdoch, has made clear his intention to challenge the Times’s dominance in political news, cultural coverage, and other areas.

“Having a big fat debate between the business side and the newsroom side while Murdoch’s saying ‘I’m going to take you out’—tell me how that’s supposed to make sense,” says the former executive. “They ought to be looking outward, at how they can work together.”

And then there’s also the added strain of covering a presidential election, two foreign wars and the Beijing Olympics all simultaneously.

“Since they’re doing it in this context, they’re obviously feeling a lot of pressure—or they’ve realized that they’re overstaffed,” says Charles Kaiser, a former Times reporter and Newsweek press critic.

In short, it’s hardly a convenient time for the Times to be losing people like Linda Greenhouse, the longtime Supreme Court correspondent who accepted a $300,000 buyout. “A lot of people were shocked by that,” says a veteran Times man.

Not as shocked as they may be in the near future, however. The deadline for accepting buyouts is tomorrow; if enough people don’t step forward, Times management will resort to layoffs to make up the difference.

“It will be very shocking if they have to resort to layoffs,” says long-tenured writer. “People here are used to the idea that that doesn’t happen here.”

============================================
The N.Y. Times diatribe of slandering the U.S. Military is over. NY TIMES is failing because the American public is God-damned tired of her LIES !
Who reads the N.Y. Times anyway? Who pays hard earned money for this RAG? I gave up reading it years ago. The day that NY TIMES starts writing respectfully about the U.S. Armed Forces is the day I”ll read it.
till then, Tom Folan