Elizabeth Agnes Spina’s Neighborhood

Happy 4th of July

First off I would like to apologize to everyone. I feel like I have just left you all hanging. I left for the week thinking I was going to have much more access to the Internet then I have had, and sadly that was not the case. Today I was finally able to hop online and respond to some comments, tell you about an upcoming post when I get back Sunday, and wish all of you a Happy 4th of July.

Jerjes made a very intelligent comment to my last post about Pakistan, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the Northwest Frontier Province. Theres much to say about it, and I don't want it only in the comments section so I am going to write about that when I return, and can get back on a dedicated computer.

I also was able to watch a little news last night, and Code Pink had some very interesting and insulting comments about war, John McCain, and veterans in general on the O'Reilly Factor. I am going to be addressing that also.

To get back to what tomorrow is though, I would like to first wish all of you a very happy 4th of July. The 4th of July symbolizes for us as Americans the day that we stood with one voice and declared to the British Empire that we would not stand for tyranny anymore and would be our own country. (On a side note, I absolutely have the utmost respect and pride for our British Allies, but times were different then) As citizens of the world though it meant something much more. This was the first time that a colony had successfully risen up against its old world rulers. It also symbolized a people being oppressed that rose up and said no more. For people the world over, the rights of speech, religion, and general freedom to live as they choose were now entering the realm of possibility. The 4th of July is an American Holiday but all that it represents is not just American. The foundations of it are something that anyone can look to and hold dear. As I have said before America has been a beacon of hope to generations the world over, and tomorrow more then ever that hope is realized.

I hope that all of you enjoy your time tomorrow. Have a great picnic, enjoy the fireworks, but just remember how many of our early citizens gave their lives for us to live in freedom and how those same fireworks represent a beacon of hope to many oppressed people the world over.

God Bless America

Bryan

Story by Cpl. Chris T. Mann

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FALLUJAH, Iraq (July 1, 2008) – Sounds of joy and laughter resonate through a police station’s narrow hallways. A young boy slowly enters through a doorway at the end to greet the boisterous group of Marines, but the sounds of excitement quickly diminish as they see him gasping for air after walking just a short distance.

         The boy, five-year-old Ahmed, is the son of Warrant Officer Othman Mallouki, an Iraqi policeman with Fallujah Headquarters District. Since his birth, Ahmed has suffered from a rare but fatal heart condition that if left untreated, will eventually kill him at an unthinkable, young age.

Ahmed’s parents first noticed there was something wrong with their son when he was a year old. The medical condition present in Ahmed’s cardiac system keeps needed oxygen from reaching organs like a normal person’s circulatory system would, causing a bluish coloring around the eyes and on the face.

Tasks such as walking up a set of stairs are very tedious for the young boy because of his medical condition. Ahmed runs completely out of breath performing the simplest of daily activities.

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“I was extremely worried all these years, that I might not be able to get the help my son needs,” said Mallouki. “In our culture, the first born is very important and this is our first son.”

Only recently did the light begin to peak through at the end of a dark tunnel for Ahmed and his family when Marines from Company B, Police Transition Team 8, Regimental Combat Team 1, and a charitable organization called “Gift of Life,” based in Tampa, Fla. intervened.

Ahmed’s condition was diagnosed at Fallujah Surgical when Marines took him in for an examination, said Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Craig W. Pasanen, a corpsmen with the team. Doctors discovered a hole in the septum of his heart that causes oxygen and deoxygenated blood to pass through the heart and not the lungs.

Mallouki and his son have been working with Coalition forces for the past year in attempts to get the money and medical attention that they so desperately need to help Ahmed.

The operation to mend Ahmed’s heart will be extensive and will require a specialist to stitch the hole inside his heart that is causing his condition.

But medical expenses for the family soon became too much. The nearest qualified specialist who can perform the surgery locates at a surgical clinic in Jordan. The family had no way of earning the money they need to travel and pay for Ahmed’s medical expenses.

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Several months ago, members of the team contacted representatives at “Gift of Life,” who began sponsoring Mallouki and Ahmed. In June, Mallouki was able to apply for Visas that would allow the father and son access into Jordan. Their travel expenses were also covered by the charitable organization, and Transition Team members organized several convoys to Baghdad, Iraq, to assist.

Ahmed will finally undergo the surgery he’s needed sometime this month.

“Before I could not hope for anything at all and I was depressed all the time,” said Mallouki. “Now I feel in my heart a sense of hope that my son will grow up normal. I would not have this hope in my life if it weren’t for the Marines here.”

Motort

By Cpl. Erik Villagran, RCT-5     

HIT, Iraq (July 1, 2008) – Motor Transport Marines drive long hours and great distances to supply 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 5 with everything they need.

The battalion is spread over 2,600 square miles in the western Al Anbar province. Motor T is responsible for supporting Marines within the battalions’ area of operations.

“We conduct resupply missions for India and Lima Company throughout the (western) Al Anbar province,” Sgt. Greg G. Mosher, 24, motor transport chief for Task Force Hit, 3^rd Bn. 4^th Marines. “We push out fuel, so they don’t have to come back to refuel. We also (supply) them with ice and water.”

Marines with Motor T enjoy the responsibility of helping to ensure the companies complete their missions.

“It makes us feel good,” said Mosher, who is from Ocala, Fla. “It gives the Marines motivation to get the mission accomplished whether they’re tired or hot because the (infantry’s) missions won’t be accomplished if we don’t accomplish ours.”

Although their recent missions have been to resupply infantry units during operations, Motor T was also responsible for resupplying the battalion’s combat outposts earlier in the deployment.

“It was pretty cool when we showed up,” said Lance Cpl. Jaime Lara, 21, a motor transport operator with TF Hit from Plainview, Calif. “They’d be happy to see us because we had their supplies. It made us feel like we did our mission.”

When the battalion began to turn the COPs over to the Iraqi Security Forces, Motor T supported the COPs.

“We stripped the COPs of all military gear,” Mosher said. “We assisted by pulling out all the gear.”

Marines have welcomed the various missions they’ve had throughout the deployment. It has allowed the younger Marines to learn how to handle different situations.

“Whenever you go on the road, you never know what you’ll run into,” Mosher said. “This is the first deployment for a lot of the Marines. They’ve learned a lot and progressed.”

The junior Marines have excelled during the deployment in part because of the experienced Marines’ mentorship. Marines who have previously deployed have helped the new Marines with the transition of working in Iraq.

“All the noncommissioned officers have been great with helping us out,” Lara said. “They’ve been there to keep our mood up when we’ve felt down.”

Mosher has been impressed with how well his Marines have performed. They’ve been undaunted by the multiple missions or the different scenarios they’ve come across.

“The deployment has gone very well for us,” Mosher said. “We proved that we could handle the large (area of operations).”

They told me to go to rehab and I said no no no.
But hold on do you have lots of drugs there ?
and they said yeah yeah yeah
Are the drugs all free there ?
and they said yeah yeah yeah
They told me to go to rehab and I said yeah yeah yeah
Can all my mates come with me ?
and they said no no no
Well I don't care if the trips are free so hell, Yeah Yeah Yeah

[Cross-posted] If you follow my ramblings, even when they don’t make sense, you know I had my knives out for the ANZ National Bank here in New Zealand for what I think is questionable practice. So it was interesting to meet a few people tonight who are employees of the bank, one of whom was very staunch about defending her workplace against my charges about, well, bank charges.
   Humble pie time first: Sir John Anderson left the bank as a director 18 months ago, so the criticisms I put at him were unfair. I apologize to Sir John.
   Tonight, I don’t know whether I should be applauding the ANZ for brainwashing its younger staff so effectively or whether I should be congratulating myself for closing the overwhelming majority of accounts held there, given that there are people who do not give a damn about the customer.
   While people should defend their positions, they should also be open to hearing others’ viewpoints. Respectfully. The customer is right. Not so, it seems, at the ANZ.
   ‘The bank must make a profit, so it should make it from the mass customer base,’ I was told. ‘How would you do it?’
   I answered, ‘Through investing, as you did years ago before charging us.’
   She argued the usual points of the bank providing a service, before I confronted her with some basic logic that I have stated here before.
   A deposit to the bank is, after all, my loan to the bank. When the bank loans to me, can I charge it a “Jack privilege fee”?
   Around this point I was asked if we could change the subject.
   There are several conclusions we can draw. First, an executive at the ANZ bank, a fairly high-up one, is not open to hearing from her customers. She has her own world, where she has been conveniently conned into thinking the monetarist solution is the only one, when history tell us it isn’t—and that the bank’s cutting of costs over the last 20 years should actually make it more efficient.
   Another member of the staff, a little older but I understand a little more junior, put forward her theory which made a bit more sense, about how mortgages no longer funded the bank’s costs as effectively. She did not know for sure.
   But this shows just how bad the ANZ brand is. Different answers from different people—but the higher up you go, the less they care.
   Front-line staff, as I discussed earlier, cannot offer a credible explanation about bank fees that any customer who has been there for 20 or more years can fathom. Fact: people do have memories.
   And it seems that it is accepted as gospel that customers are to be taken from even at a higher level, no questions asked.
   How well ANZ has managed to blind its staff.
   A good brand is one that listens to consumers about their concerns—and actually levels with internal and external audiences about its policies.
   This experience confirms that the ANZ cannot level to either executives or front-line branch personnel, which means consumers are too far down the food chain for it to reach.
   This Australian-owned bank has been profiting very well from everyday New Zealanders over the last few years, too.
   But I cannot see that continue.
   Any brand expert will tell you that for all the financial analyses that a client shrouds itself in, the minute the brand falters, the effects on the bottom line will be felt.
   One of the symptoms is what I describe above: one based around the hope that people simply do not remember how they behaved before they began cutting their services and putting up charges.
   It is a failure to be transparent and to tell the truth to those consumers—and it only takes one who is aged over 30 to be able to remember the good ol’ days versus what I consider to be the unethical treatment that is metered out today.
   Just as I said a few months ago, the TSB Bank seems to be the only choice New Zealanders have, and at least the profits don’t make their way over to Sydney.
   It was my ‘prerogative’, said the executive, for me to do as I wished with my money, if I had gone to the TSB.
   No attempt to get it back—no promises to look into things. Even others have offered that to keep me on as a customer. Higher up, I guess, no one really cares. A lost customer isn’t important.
   Even if the lost customer is a stubborn bastard with a big mouth.
   If the ANZ wishes, I am happy to run a seminar for them to inform them of the niceties of listening to their customers. Unsurprisingly, I understand tonight that its profits are heading south this year.
   This problem won’t be fixed with advertising, rebranding or PR.
   It might be fixed by giving customers what they want and pursuing something other than short-term profit, which is exactly the message the ANZ has been sending me year after year.
   Because if banks aren’t looking at the long term, then what heck are we entrusting a penny to them?