Dann Todd's 'Dain Bramage'^**

HI-POD

Have you been to Ireland? I almost have.

Courtesy of Sherwood Harrington and his wife Diane, I've been taking a virtual tour of the Emerald Isle. It is an interesting and well illustrated story. Not only did they get to see a great deal of the Irish countryside, they stayed in a historic castle. Sherwood got to prowl around what at one time was the world's largest telescope that was originally constructed in the 19th century. The Leviathan maintained that prestigious position in the world of astronomy for almost 70 years.

Also located on the castle grounds were a number of other oddities both natural and those made by human hands. Flora, fauna, works of science, works of art, and impressive history. It is an impressive trip even if only a vicarious one.

It will take some time to get through everything if you are on dial-up. Trust me.

Their trip to Ireland is presented in 6 parts. Since blogs always show things in reverse order, I thought I'd rearrange things here to facilitate an easier visit there.

Here are the links to the Harrington's Ireland Picture Of the Day:

• Part I

• Part II

• Part III

• Part IV

• Part V

• Part VI

Enjoy.

by Dann 

|

Specialist Alison K.

UPDATED BELOW

Wes Morgan is a sophomore studying at Princeton. He writes for the campus newspaper. He is also in the ROTC program there.

He is spending his summer in Iraq writing dispatches on our military serving in Iraq. He has met Gen. David Patraeus and attended some very high level briefings. This sort of access came in part as a result of one of his former ROTC instructors is being on Gen. Patraeus' staff.

Wes recently told the story of meeting a young woman in Iraq; Specialist Alison K.

Excerpts don't do this post justice. Just go read it.

And then ask yourself why you don't find more profiles of that type of serviceman or woman in the major media.

Erg. Here we go again. It turns out that the Alison K., her honorable military service notwithstanding, stretches the truth just a bit. I was disappointed to find that Wes has taken down that entry as it included some comments that mirrored some of my own thoughts.

Suffice to say that the number of trials and tribulations that Spec. Alison K. had claimed to have undergone/was undergoing was just a bit mind boggling. Given the number of times I've been taken in by such things recently, I was a bit skeptical. One person had asked in the comments section if everything in the entry was true. Wes had responded that he had checked out her story with one of the sergeants in her platoon.

Something in that "checking it out" process didn't work quite correctly.

So it appears that the answer to my question above...why don't we read more stories about soldiers like Specialist Alison K....is that there aren't any soldiers like her. That doesn't mean that there aren't any great stories about the heroism and valor of our military. Those exist in great quantity and some are awe inspiring. And they still don't make the cover of any newspapers or magazines.

This one just was not one of them.

by Dann 

|