Tunes 4 the Troops

tunes4thetoops Tunes 4 the Troops

CNN is highlighting the amazing work of Kaylee Radzyminski:

At 14, while attending the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet camp in Florida, Kaylee Marie Radzyminski asked one question to troops returning from overseas military service. Their simple answer spurred the small-town teen into action.

Kaylee Marie Radzyminski, center in black shirt, spends her Saturdays sorting CDs and DVDs for troops overseas.

“I asked, ‘What was the number one thing they missed?’ ” recalls Radzyminski. “The first thing was, of course, their families. But second to that was entertainment.”

They described limited access to Internet and satellite service, with some soldiers sharing just a few DVDs or CDs with an entire unit. So Radzyminski returned home and gathered her CDs and DVDs to send to the troops.

What started as an individual project at home is now 16-year-old Radzyminski’s nationwide nonprofit, Tunes 4 the Troops. Since 2005, she and volunteers have organized the collection and delivery of more than 200,000 CDs and DVDs to deployed service members around the world.

“My mission is not about supporting or opposing the war, it’s about supporting the troops,” says Radzyminski, whose own family has a military background. “They sacrifice so much for us, why can’t I do a little bit to give back to them?”

Here’s how you can get involved:

1. Send your new and used CDs and DVDs
To: Tunes 4 the Troops P.O. Box 2008 Cleveland TN 37320

2. Send a check.
You can send a check to help out with shipping costs to
Tunes 4 the Troops P.O. Box 2008 Cleveland TN 37320.
The checks can be made out to
Cleveland High School – Attn: Tunes 4 the Troops.

3. Become a satellite location.
If you commit to become a satellite location you are committing to
collect at least 100-150 or more CDs and DVDs. I will send you a kit. A kit
consists of stickers to stick on the CDs and DVDs, return address labels,
and a form to fill out and mail back to me for my records. You put a
sticker on each CD and box them up. You pay for the shipping of the box overseas this way shipping only has to be paid once. (media mail is the cheapest!) If you know someone in your area that is overseas and would like to send a box to them, you are more than welcome. Although if you don’t, please let me know with an email and I will send you one.

Blogging the Invasion of Iraq – The First 24 Hours

bowday1 Blogging the Invasion of Iraq The First 24 Hours

Parts of the older Blogs of War archives have been offline for over a year. This weekend I started republishing material from the earliest days of the war.

Thousands of updates were posted in the initial weeks of the war. The online mainstream media was still moving at a snail’s pace in those days and Twitter didn’t exist. The constant stream of updates earned Blogs of War global media attention. Here are the first 24 hours:

The War: Hour 1
The War: Hour 2
The War: Hour 3
The War: Hour 4
The War: Hour 5
The War: Hour 6
The War: Hour 7
The War: Hour 8
The War: Hour 9
The War: Hour 13
The War: Hour 14
The War: Hour 16
The War: Hour 17
The War: Hour 18
The War: Hour 19
The War: Hour 22
The War: Hour 23
The War: Hour 24

The War: Hour 15

10:00am CST
Rick Leventhal interviewed a Marine and mentioned that they were under order to be ready to roll in 15 minutes. The Marine replied “Marines are always ready to roll”. Iraqi troops near the border are being engaged by ground forces and helicopter gunships. From the sound of it we are giving them hell and taking little or nothing from them in return. – Fox News broadcast

10:05am CST
Donald Rumsfeld is briefing reporters at the Pentagon. “The days of the Saddam Hussein regime are numbered”. “To the Iraqi people let me say that the day of your liberation will soon be at hand.”

10:18am CST

Now that was really unexpected. When the sirens went on we thought we will get bombs by the tom load dropped on us but nothing happened, at least in the part of the city where I lived. Air-craft guns could be heard for a while but they stopped too after a while and then the all clear siren came.

Today in the morning I went with my father for a ride around Baghdad and there was nothing different from yesterday. There is no curfew and cars can be seen speeding to places here and there. Shops are closed. Only some bakeries are open and of course the Ba’ath Party Centers. There are more Ba’ath people in the streets and they have more weapons. No army in the streets. We obviously still have electricity, phones are still working and we got to phone calls from abroad so the international lines are still working. water is still running.

- Where is Raed? (Iraqi Blogger)

10:23am CST
More oil field fires reported in Southern Iraq. First reported as 2 now 3 or 4. – Sky News broadcast

10:27am CST
“There is considerable belief in this government that they may, in fact, have gotten Saddam.” – Drudge Report

10:32am CST
Coalition forces moving into Iraq and heading for a “specific target” – Sky News broadcast

10:54am CST
Reporters in Kuwait ordered into bunkers due to expected “barrage of missles” – MSNBC broadcast

10:56am CST
MSNBC sums up the events of the last 15 hours pretty well in this article

The War: Hours 25-29

11:36pm CST
This war is unfolding in a truly historic and unprecedented manner.

11:34pm CST
The Coalition of the Willing is large and growing. View the list here.

11:29pm CST
Black smoke floating over Kuwait City from burning oil fields in Southern Iraq. Live footage on Sky News broadcast

11:27pm CST
Latest CH-46 crash casualty numbers are 12 Brit commandos and 4 member U.S. crew lost.

11:14pm CST
Amazing surrender numbers confirmed. British military official says 20% of Iraqi Republican Guard has surrendered or will soon – Fox News broadcast

11:01pm CST
7th Cav. charging north at 30-40mph. Only minimal opposition met. – CNN broadcast

10:53pm CST
Live video of Iraqi troops at edge of Kurdish territory on CNN broadcast.

10:39pm CST

U.S. intelligence officials believe Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, possibly accompanied by one or both of his powerful sons, was still inside a compound in southern Baghdad early yesterday when it was struck by a barrage of U.S. bombs and cruise missiles.

- Washington Post

10:36pm CST
Duane Apling writes that “CNN is showing the advance of three troops of the 7th Cavalry unit out ahead of the 3rd ID. I’m guessing they are 10-20 miles further into Iraq. Their guy’s lens is clean.”

10:14pm CST
Iraqi troops still hold Umm Qasr but coalition forces will take control shortly. – Sky News broadcast

10:10pm CST
The Fox News broadcast footage of the rush to Baghdad is amazing but it would be so much better if they would occasionally clean the lens.

10:09pm CST
Added Christopher Blosser to the Blogs of War Wall of Honor. Thanks Chris.

9:55pm CST
Blackhawk down? Kerry Sanders is reporting live and siad that a Blackhawk heli is reported down but he can’t confirm. – MSNBC broadcast

9:19pm CST
Day of the Warblogs.

9:12pm CST
Live footage of U.S. tanks and troops hauling serious ass through the desert towards Baghdad on Fox News broadcast.

8:55pm CST
Sad news turns worse. 12 Americans and 4 Brits feared dead in chopper crash. – Sky News broadcast

8:51pm CST
Slight format change. I will now create and update a single post for each day. Most recent events will be “above the fold” or at the top of the page for those of you unfamiliar with print lingo.

8:44pm CST
Crews searching for downed U.S. Marine CH-46 helicopter. 8 Brits and 4 Americans feared lost due to mechanical failure. – Fox News broadcast

8:42pm CST
“The march to Baghdad has begun.” Troops on the ground in the “North, South, and the West” – Breaking on Fox News broadcast

8:36pm CST
Rick Leventhal is reporting live on Fox. This guy has been been with the Marines 3rd LAR and they’ve been pounding the Iraqis with artillery all day. – Fox News broadcast

8:25pm CST
Sad news developing. U.S. Marine helicopter down in Kuwait. All aboard feared lost. Mechanical problems suspected. – Fox News broadcast.

8:11pm CST
Iraqi command and control is in jeopardy. A large percentage of the Iraqi military is expressing an interest in surrender – Fox News broadcast

8:09pm CST
The Washington Post has more information on the Al-Qaeda suspect wanted by the FBI.

8:02pm CST
30 fireballs seen in direction of Basra – Sky News broadcast

8:01pm CST
Donald Rumsfeld is telling reporters that there is still hope of regime change without the full force of war being applied – Fox News broadcast

8:00pm CST
A reader has posted a link to some of the antiwar rhetoric found on the net. This is particularly disturbing:

People everywhere must attack US troops with words and disgust. Spray paint or use blood and write USA Troops=War Criminal Scum, Death to USA Imperialist Armed Forces One and ALL!Everyone in the USA whop is not fighting against the USA are criminal scum who desreve death too. Prepare…

- Chicago Indymedia

The War: Hour 24

bowday1 The War: Hour 24

7:00pm CST

I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, hereby determine that the United States and Iraq are engaged in armed hostilities, that it is in the interest of the United States to confiscate certain property of the Government of Iraq and its agencies, instrumentalities, or controlled entities, and that all right, title, and interest in any property so confiscated should vest in the Department of the Treasury. I intend that such vested property should be used to assist the Iraqi people and to assist in the reconstruction of Iraq, and determine that such use would be in the interest of and for the benefit of the United States.

I hereby order:

Section 1. All blocked funds held in the United States in accounts in the name of the Government of Iraq, the Central Bank of Iraq, Rafidain Bank, Rasheed Bank, or the State Organization for Marketing Oil are hereby confiscated and vested in the Department of the Treasury, except for the following:

- Whitehouse.gov

7:12pm CST
The antiwar movement is going to destroy what little goodwill it has with the American people. MSNBC broadcast is showing video of protesters blocking Lakeshore Drive in Chicago. Chicago is preparing to deploy “bus loads” of riot gear clad police. And at the Leftist site sf.indymedia.org you get updates like this:

1:30PM: Crowd is getting rowdy at 7th & Market. One cop down.

7AM: Dozens of actions are planned in SF’s Financial District which vow to shut down the city. Thousands will plan to “call in sick” when the war starts to help disrupt capitalism from steamrolling on.

Disrupt capitalism from steamrolling on? I think they’re showing their true colors.

7:20pm CST
According to the Air Force the B-2 has has “joined the team” at a forward deployed location:

“Our primary job is ‘kicking the door down,’ as we like to say,” said 1st Lt. Matthew Hasson, a 509th Bomb Wing public affairs officer from Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., the home station of all the B-2s. “We clear out the integrated air defenses that pose a threat to the other, less-stealthy airframes.”

- Air Force

7:21pm CST
Huge explosions and fireballs are being reported near Basra. Visible from 30 miles away. Speculation that the MOAB (RealVideo) is being used. – Sky News broadcast

7:49pm CST
More reports of explosions. This time in Mosul. – Fox News broadcast