The world’s largest 10-K running event is Saturday morning in Atlanta. But the reach of Georgia’s famous Peachtree Road Race also extends to overseas war zones.
In Atlanta, it’s now 40 years that Independence Day morning again will bring a stampede of 55,000 runners sweating down Atlanta’s famed Peachtree St. And it’s been the past few years that troops who’ve run the race and now serving overseas have carried the Peachtree spirit with them.
More than 3,000 military members are competing in specially-organized Peachtree races in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait. Groups involved include the 108th Calvary Division of the Georgia National Guard out of Macon.
Retired Colonel Tom McKenzie has run the race in Atlanta and overseas. He says the camaraderie for the so-called 'military-Peachtree’ is unmatched:
"There are some folks that have run the race in Iraq, and now they’re running in Afghanistan. It’s a testament to the folks who have continuous deployments, and the families who have to sacrifice. Those folks have the tough job."
McKenzie is the official ‘starter’ for the military Peachtree races. He will give the ‘go’ via phone at the Atlanta starting line for the bulk of the races Friday night (July 4th morning for military races).
Children whose parents are in the military will have an easier time changing Georgia schools under a bill signed into law by Gov. Sonny Perdue. In a visit to Fort Benning on Thursday, Perdue also signed a separate bill that allows children of soldiers stationed in Georgia to qualify for Georgia's HOPE scholarship. The new law waives the one-year HOPE residency requirement for children of active-duty military personnel. The school transfer law is designed to make the transition easier for military children sometimes caught in conflicting mandates as they shuffle from school to school.
A Georgia company may not win a contract to oversee public works jobs at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY. New York Congressman Maurice Hinchey is trying to amend a federal Defense Appropriations bill that allows the military to privatize the jobs. The Ginn Group of Peachtree City had been chosen to take over carpentry, plumbing, grounds maintenance and other operations.
The children of military families in Georgia would be eligible for the state's popular HOPE scholarship under legislation that sailed through the Senate. Currently, students in Georgia must have lived in the state for a year to be eligible for HOPE. The bill that passed unanimously on Wednesday would waive that residency requirement for the children of active-duty military personnel. The HOPE scholarship guarantees free in-state public college tuition to any Georgia high school student who graduates high school with a B average or better.
In this 2008 photo provided by Samuel Goldwyn Films, brothers, from left, Isaac, Jake and Joe Rademacher pose in Decatur, Ill. Jake followed his two younger brothers to Iraq, filming them and their comrades for a film "Brothers at War," that will open in military towns in North Carolina and Georgia. (AP Photo/Samuel Goldwyn Films, Amy Denney) - AP
Jake Rademacher finally got to go to war.
It wasn't the way he had hoped – his childhood dream to attend West Point was dashed when poor eyesight kept him out. Instead, he followed two younger brothers to Iraq, filming them and their comrades for a film "Brothers at War," that opens this weekend in military towns in North Carolina and Georgia.
"My curiosity was more than intellectual," Jake said. "I had a personal reason to know what my brothers were going through..." Another filmmaker who hadn't wanted to go to West Point might not have been as interested in going to a war zone.
"Wanting to be a soldier played into my willingness to go to the edge of the fight and be there when the bullets were flying by my camera. ... and bring the audience with me."
The movie intertwines the story of the three brothers and other family members, along with soldiers at war and families at home. The film's inside, personal look at the battlefield and the homefront attracted the attention of actor Gary Sinise, who helped find distribution for the movie and eventually became its executive producer.
"This is a brother who wants to know about his own brothers. That gives it a heart," said Sinise, who last year received the Presidential Citizens Medal. The medal recognizes U.S. citizens who have performed exemplary deeds of service for the nation. He was recognized for his work with the USO and with a group he co-founded, Operation Iraqi Children.
"You watch this young filmmaker go from somebody who doesn't know what he's getting himself into into someone who learns a helluva lot about his brothers, who gets to know them better than he did before and by doing that, gets to know a lot about himself."
Jake, 33, is the oldest of five brothers and two sisters who grew up in Decatur, Ill. He went to Iraq in 2005 and 2006, before the surge and, over time, embedded with four combat units.
One revealing scene occurs between U.S. snipers as they wait for insurgents to emerge. The two men talk about whether flowers are an appropriate Christmas gift for a girlfriend – one says yes, one says no – and a teddy bear that one bought for his girl, with her name on the front and soccer number on the back.
On his first visit, he was stationed with his brother, now-Maj. Isaac Rademacher. But that assignment, which consisted of hanging out for days with reconnaissance troops near the Syrian border, drew the disdain of his other brother, Staff Sgt. Joe Rademacher, a sniper who didn't think Jake had experienced the realities of war.
Joe so repudiated Jake's experience that he declined to hug Jake when Jake returned from his first trip to Iraq. It's one of the more excruciating scenes in "Brothers at War," when Jake jumps on Joe, and Joe backs away.
So Jake took up his brother's challenge and returned to Iraq, this time to the Sunni Triangle, at one point being shot at as he filmed and narrowly avoiding a roadside bomb that injured two Iraqi officers.
Joe, 23, "felt like I hadn't gone deep enough into the experience," Jake said. "I hadn't been in a sniper hide site ... things so important to his experience. It was a surprise to me that my little brother rejected my experience when I came home."
Isaac supported his brother's endeavor from the start, knowing how badly Jake had wanted to be a soldier.
"It did hurt his ego when I got in" West Point, said Isaac, 32, who recently was promoted to major and now is the operations officer for an armored cavalry squadron at Fort Bragg. "At the same time, he was happy for me. It's got to be hard to watch your younger brother succeed at something you tried to and it just didn't happen."
While he made the movie to teach civilians about war, Jake said soldiers and their families tell him it's helped them as well because it's allowed the troops to open up about their experiences.
The movie "illustrates and captures what it's like to be a soldier in Iraq," Isaac said. "A guy can sit there with his family and point at the screen and say there, that's almost exactly what I did over there. It gives you a start point to open that conversation."
A North Carolina mother who reported for Army duty at Fort Benning, Ga., with her two young children because she said she has no one to care for them was scheduled to meet Monday with her commanders.
"Right now, we're just in a holding pattern," Lisa Pagan's attorney, Mark Waple said, adding that Pagan took her children with her to the meeting.
Pagan was recalled to the Army four years after being honorably discharged, which is allowed under the military's "individual ready reserve" program.
Soldiers can appeal, and some have won permission to remain in civilian life. Pagan filed several appeals, arguing that because her husband travels for business, no one else can take care of her kids. Her appeals were rejected.
Waple said he didn't know if Pagan's case would be resolved Monday, but said the meeting "will be the next step toward some kind of resolution."
Fort Benning spokesman Bob Purtiman said Pagan reported to the Army post's mobilization center that prepares individual soldiers to plug into Army units already overseas or those training to deploy. He did not know how long she was scheduled to stay at Fort Benning.
"She's just passing through on her way to be deployed," Purtiman said. "She's here and she's going to process in. The command's looking at a range of options available to have resolution of her situation."
Purtiman said he didn't yet know what range of options commanders were considering. He said Fort Benning has day care services available for Pagan's children while she's there.
"There will be some resolution over the next couple of days about some temporary arrangements to help care for the kids while this affair is ironed out," Waple said.
Pagan is among thousands of former service members recalled after leaving duty since the Sept. 11 attacks because they're on "individual ready reserve" status, meaning they have time left on their original enlistment contracts and can be recalled at any time.
Master Sgt. Keith O'Donnell, an Army spokesman in St. Louis, has said that of the 25,000 individual ready reserve troops recalled since September 2001, more than 7,500 have been granted deferments or exemptions.
About 1,000 have failed to report, and most of those cases are still under investigation, he said. Another 360 soldiers have been separated from the Army either through "other than honorable" discharges or general discharges.
O'Donnell said Pagan isn't likely to face charges, since none of the individual ready reserve soldiers who have failed to report faced a court-martial.
(AP)
Click here for previous GPB coverage of this story.
A 30-year-old Columbus woman accused of setting fire to the Judge Advocate General’s office at nearby Fort Benning two weeks ago, has been indicted and linked to the arson by DNA evidence.
If convicted, Shawana Topekia Pierce, a former employee at the JAG office, could face five to 20 years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine.
Officials say Pierce is a suspect in a theft case, and that files about her were in the office, which was totally destroyed, according to the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer newspaper. Fort Benning: Firefighter walking in front of the inferno which had been JAG headquarters on Feb. 6. (Photo: The Bayonet)
Click here for previous GPB News coverage of this story.
Dr. John Burson speaks during an interview at Fort Benning in Columbus, Ga., Wednesday, Feb 11, 2009. Burson, 74, a retired ear nose and throat specialist from Carrolton, Ga., was at Fort Benning finishing a week-long training course before being deployed for a 90-day rotation with the 101st Airborne Division. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Dr. John Burson balked when a skeptical Army staffer asked him to undergo a three-day physical exam to make sure he was fit to deploy as a field surgeon to Afghanistan.
"Look, I'm training to run a half-marathon," replied Burson, 74, a retired lieutenant colonel. "You come down and check to see if I can make it."
Burson won the debate and was declared fit for duty. The ear, nose and throat specialist from Carrolton wrapped up a weeklong training course this week at Fort Benning before his scheduled deployment Friday for a 90-day rotation with a unit of the 101st Airborne Division.
The first of two stints in Iraq proved unforgettable back in 2005, he said. Burson was among several doctors assigned to keep watch over an imprisoned Saddam Hussein.
The fallen dictator, who was three years younger than Burson, told him: "I'm glad they sent me one with gray hair this time."
"He likes to say, 'Where else can a 74-year-old go and have fun?'"said Barbara Burson, his wife of 53 years. "I don't know if I see it as fun, but he enjoys doing it. And anyone would feel good about being able to contribute."
In Afghanistan, Burson will oversee a medical staff treating about 1,000 soldiers. He'll likely spend much of his time working in a base clinic, but could be called to treat soldiers wounded during combat patrols. When he served in Iraq, it wasn't unusual for him to work through mortar rounds being fired at his base camp.
"There's an element of risk,"Burson said."But statistically it's probably not any more hazardous than driving to work."
Lt. Col. Twanda Young said about 400 soldiers, reservists and civilian contractors go through the Fort Benning training center she commands each week, preparing to join units already overseas. Burson isn't the only gray-haired volunteer she's seen — but she said his abilities make his age irrelevant. Click here for more GPB News coverage about Fort Benning and military affairs.
Entrance road to the museum, December, 2008. (Dave Bender)
The National Infantry Foundation on Thursday unveiled a sample of 50 life size sculptures of military personnel that will be included in the National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center at Fort Benning, near Columbus, Ga.
Thirty-eight of the sculptures are of infantry troops, and the remaining 12 represent other historic figures.
The sculptures are modeled after live U.S. Army soldiers who each had to go through a three-hour-long casting process, according to a statement.
The museum is scheduled to open in March, 2009. A crane hoists a Bradley Fighting Vehicle into place at the museum, June, 2007. Due to its size and weight, the vehicle was installed early on, in order to fit into the facility before the walls went up. (Dave Bender)
(PRNewswire)
Click here for more about the National Infantry Museum.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates is praising the Navy's ballistic missile-armed submarines as an important deterrent against nuclear war.
Gates took a quick tour of the submarine USS Rhode Island during a stop Friday at Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in southern Georgia.
Gates said the Trident nuclear submarines, which hide undetected beneath the ocean armed with ballistic missiles, discourage potential enemies from attacking the U.S. because they would face "a heavy price to pay."
Kings Bay in St. Marys is the Navy's only East Coast base for nuclear-armed submarines.
The U.S. Air Force is wanting to expand its military operating area in eastern Georgia.
But there's concern on how that expansion will affect civil aviation.
Georgia's U.S. senators, Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, say in a letter to Air Force and FAA officials that they're particularly concerned that the expansion would cause air traffic delays and communications problems at the airport in Swainsboro. They're also worried about how the new airspace needs will affect the airport in Millen.
The Air Force uses the operating area's airspace for training. It's current airspace level is set at 11,000 feet, but the proposed expansion would lower that to 500 feet.
Proposed expansion has run into opposition in past years due to concerns over interference with civilian airspace.
Members of the public can comment on the proposal at a meeting in Augusta tonight.
The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the Augusta Regional Airport.
Dr. James Peake, the U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs, says he’s talked with officials at hospitals here about the possibility of expanding medical care for wounded veterans returning home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Peake toured the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center and the Eisenhower Army Medical Center in Augusta today.
He praised community efforts on the expansion, but stopped short of giving specifics on what role his agency would play, suggesting there may be other priorities to consider.
"We’re always re-assessing what we have as a mission requirement," Peake told reporters. "We’re talking about space issues today…about how to expand our primary care space to provide a separate portal for women. We’ve brought a gynecologist on board in the VA hospital, so that’s shifting and adjusting our mission to meet the need of our veterans."
Peake has previously pledged to improve health care for women veterans. The focus on women's care comes as a congressional report earlier this year said women don't get the same quality of outpatient care as men in several VA medical centers in the U.S. About 14 percent of veterans are women.
The Eisenhower and Charlie Norwood centers already treat many wounded troops. Medical personnel and community leaders want to build on that by increasing efforts in medical care and rehabilitation and subsequently bringing more wounded active duty troops here, making Augusta a hub for treating them.
They say coordinating medical services among all facilities here and getting federal dollars could potentially help relieve the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. That’s where many active duty troops go to recover from war injuries.
The Medical College of Georgia and the Joseph M. Still Burn Center are also among medical care facilities located in Augusta.
The retired chairman and CEO of United Technologies has pledged $2.5 million towards the National Infantry Museum, now under construction at Fort Benning near Columbus.
The pledge by Harry Jack Gray, and his wife, Helen is the project's largest individual donation to date, according to an NIF statement.
Gray received a silver and bronze medal for bravery in two battles in Europe during World War II, including the Battle of the Bulge. The museum's mezzanine area will be named for the 2nd Infantry Regiment, Gray's unit in the war.
Conglomerate United Technologies, among its other industries builds weapons systems for the military, including
the Black Hawk helicopter, and Pratt &Whitney aircraft engines.
Click here for more GPB News coverage about the museum, which is scheduled to open in March, 2009.
American flags dot the site of a planned memorial to the 173rd Airborne Brigade, July 2008. The National Infantry Museum is visible in the background. (Dave Bender)
The National Infantry Museum in Columbus in western Georgia, set to open next year today got some added financial firepower aimed towards that goal.
Carl Gregory, who owns a local Chrysler dealership is donating $250,000 to the project. Gregory says it’s a show of support for American troops.
Retired major general Jerry White directs the NIF, who are building and will operate the new museum:
“We’ve raised 82 million dollars… but we’re going to have to raise a total of a 100 million to cover all the costs.”
The federal government is funding 27 million dollars towards the center, with the state adding in another five million. A crane hoists a Bradley Fighting Vehicle into place at the museum, June, 2007. (Dave Bender)
The presentation of the check was held before a World War II Chrysler M-3 tank, one of 25,000 the automaker built for the army during that period:
“In fact, General Patton, when he went to north Africa at the beginning of World War II, departed from Fort Benning and he deployed in an M-3 tank made by the Chrysler corporation.”
The 200 acre center is taking shape alongside Fort Benning, the home of the infantry, paratroopers, and the Army Rangers, among other ground and mechanized units.
The 185,000 square-foot museum replaces an older facility, which was closed earlier this year.
But, White says, the battle for adequate funding isn’t over yet:
“The fundraising is at a critical place, now, and we need all the help we can get to complete the project so we can honor soldiers for what they have done for us.”
The new museum is set to open in 2009. It will include a 3-D IMAX Theatre and interactive displays of the Army infantry’s history, a seven-acre parade field, and a memorial walk of honor. Ceremonial infantry soldier's shovel with Army Airborne infantry patch, and construction helmet at the 173rd Brigade memorial groundbreaking, July, 2008. The National Infantry Museum is visible in the background. (Dave Bender)
Click here for more GPB News coverage of events at the National Infantry Museum and Fort Benning.
A life insurance company has had its license revoked by Georgia's insurance commissioner. Trans World Assurance is banned from selling any new policies in the state. The company was also fined $214,000, and ordered to refund money collected from active military personnel. The state's insurance office says the company targeted American military personnel with a deceptive sales program, and committed multiple state insurance code violations. The president of the California-based company says he plans to appeal the ruling.
Fort Benning's aging Martin Army Community Hospital will be rebuilt to the tune of $350 million, if a vote approved by the House last week passes a Senate vote and is signed into law by President George Bush.
Army officials say the facility suffers from significant infrastructure problems, among them a corroded plumbing system, an overtaxed electrical system and a decaying roof.
A hospital spokesperson says they want to build a traumatic brain injury clinic, for troops wounded in battle.
Officials say a new facility would serve some 100,000 soldiers and dependents in coming years, as part of the national Base Realignment and Closure program.
The bill also includes funding for medical facilities at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, and Fort Riley, Kansas.
The bill now faces a Senate vote.
Click here for more GPB News coverage of events at Fort Benning, and here for more on the BRAC plan.
Several thousand American troops now in Iraq are due back in Georgia next month, and they're sending an advance party to prepare.
Some 250 soldiers of the US Army's Third Brigade are expected to arrive at Fort Benning early this week. They're working with rearguard units, spouses and families preparing for the over 3,000 troops due here early next month.
The army says it's planning a much bigger reception than just flags and bands. Army chaplains will host a three-day pre-arrival retreat to prepare spouses and families. Soldiers will take a series of classes on issues of domestic violence and suicide prevention before they can take a month-long leave.
Click here for more GPB News coverage of Fort Benning and Georgia military affairs.
An Iraq War veteran from Winder, Georgia, has been convicted of aggravated assault in the killing of an Iraqi man last year. A military court martial in Hawaii issued its ruling Wednesday. Army Specialist Christopher Shore was sentenced to 120 days in prison and a two-grade reduction in rank. He will remain in military service.
