New Hampshire waitress picks up tab for furloughed National Guard soldiers

A New Hampshire waitress picked up the tab for two service members she overheard say were furloughed due to the government slimdown.

Sarah Hoildahl was waiting tables at a Ruby Tuesday in Concord, New Hampshire, when two National Guard members sat in her section for lunch, FoxCarolina.com reported.

Holidahl, a 21-year-old single mother who reportedly has friends in the military and is dating a Marine, heard the women discussing the furlough and mention that they weren’t getting paid.

After they had finished their meal instead of delivering the soldiers a check, she sent them a note.

“Thanks to the government shutdown the people like you that protect this country are not getting paid, however I still am. Lunch is on me thank you for serving ladies! Have a good day!” the note read.

Holidahl said the members waited out front for her and hugged her. “Just seeing the reaction on their face was totally worth it,” she told NECN.

News of her gesture quickly spread and the New Hampshire National Guard posted a picture of Sarah and the copy of her note on their Facebook page. Holidahl said the response she has received is overwhelming.

“I mean, they protect this country and the citizens like me,” Holidahl told FoxCarolina.com. “It’s a nice thing to do,” she said.

Via: Fox News

Continue Reading....

National Guard Feels Shutdown Pain

Nearly 50,000 full-time National Guard employees have been furloughed as a result of the federal government shutdown. The standoff in Washington also has resulted in the cancellation of most of this weekend’s training exercises, depriving even non-furloughed guardsmen of the salaries they receive for drilling. 

The furloughed guardsmen are paid by the federal government, even though they are under the command of their states’ adjutant generals and governors. The guardsmen who have been affected generally work as full-time computer programmers, or are engaged in cybersecurity or administrative work. Guardsmen whose salaries come from state funds will not be furloughed.  In some states, that is about half of the total.

Most National Guard members are part-time, and hold regular civilian jobs. However, they are paid to train one weekend each month and two weeks each year, in case they are ever called for domestic emergencies or active duty military service.  Those whose training exercises have been canceled will not get paid, even though they have not been furloughed.

Many of the troops who have received furlough notices because of the shutdown were already taking furlough days because ofsequestration, the across-the-board federal budget cuts which took effect in March 2013.

Overall, there are 385,000 members of the Army National Guard and 114,000 members of the Air National Guard, according to the National Guard Bureau.

Several governors were furious about having to issue furlough notices to guardsmen in their states. “Some of these men and women have been deployed multiple times,” Maine Republican Gov. Paul LePage said in a statement. “This is a shameful tactic to use against Mainers who have put their life on the line to protect our freedoms.”

Via: Pew States

Continue Reading.....

Illinois Governor Considers National Guard To Combat Chicago Crime

(CBS) – Gov. Pat Quinn says he would consider using state resources to help combat Chicago street violence, but only if city officials want the assistance.

Speaking on this week’s mass shooting in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, Quinn was asked whether there have been discussions about sending in the state police or Illinois National Guard to assist Chicago police.

The governor said he’s had no specific conversations but noted state police are helping patrol in East St. Louis, another city that has its challenges with violent crime.

“It has to be done in a coordinated fashion with the local law enforcement, with their full cooperation,” Quinn told reporters Saturday.

Quinn did not specifically veto the idea of deploying Guard members in Chicago. A press aide later told CBS 2 the governor was speaking only about the possibility of using state police to help out.

Discussions about using state manpower to fight Chicago crime isn’t unprecedented. In 2008, then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich suggested using the state police and National Guard to help Chicago police with “out of control” violence. The comment was widely interpreted as an insult to then-Mayor Richard Daley, with whom Blagojevich was feuding.

Via: CBS Chicago

Continue Reading.....

Report: 500 Generals, Admirals To Endorse Romney

Nearly 500 former military admirals and generals are poised to endorse Mitt Romney, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.

The group will post a full page ad in the Washington Times on Monday. The advertisement will have the headline, “We, the undersigned, proudly support Governor Mitt Romney as our nation’s next President and Commander-in-Chief,” followed by the names of the former military commanders.

A spokesman for the group emphasized its independence from the official campaign. The Romney campaign has not sanctioned this ad buy, a spokesman said, and the members of the group are paying the fee themselves.

The spokesman added that 389 of the individuals on the list are on the Romney Military Advisory Council, too. The Romney campaign has already announced these individuals’ endorsement.

“They have 389 on their list,” the spokesman said, while “we have almost 500.”

The list comes as a Military Times survey revealed that active duty, National Guard, and military reserve members support Romney over Obama by a two to one margin.

VIA: WFB

Nearly 500 former military admirals and generals are poised to endorse Mitt Romney, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.

The group will post a full page ad in the Washington Times on Monday. The advertisement will have the headline, “We, the undersigned, proudly support Governor Mitt Romney as our nation’s next President and Commander-in-Chief,” followed by the names of the former military commanders.

A spokesman for the group emphasized its independence from the official campaign. The Romney campaign has not sanctioned this ad buy, a spokesman said, and the members of the group are paying the fee themselves.

The spokesman added that 389 of the individuals on the list are on the Romney Military Advisory Council, too. The Romney campaign has already announced these individuals’ endorsement.

“They have 389 on their list,” the spokesman said, while “we have almost 500.”

The list comes as a Military Times survey revealed that active duty, National Guard, and military reserve members support Romney over Obama by a two to one margin.

Via: WFB

Continue Reading...

Report: NYC Mayor Bloomberg Wouldn’t Let National Guard Into Brooklyn Over Their Possession Of Guns…

Mayor Bloomberg has snubbed Borough President Markowitz’s impassioned plea to bring the National Guard to Hurricane Sandy-scarred Brooklyn — arguing that approving the Beep’s request would be a waste of federal manpower and turn the borough into a police state.

“We don’t need it,” Mayor Bloomberg said on Wednesday during a press update on the city’s ongoing Hurricane Sandy cleanup. “The NYPD is the only people we want on the street with guns.”

Markowitz demanded the National Guard’s help just an hour before Bloomberg’s press conference, claiming that the NYPD and FDNY are “brave — but overwhelmed” by all the challenges Sandy brought when it visited the borough on Monday night: flooding, power outages, and looting.

“All of our resources have been stretched to the limit,” Markowitz said. “In the name of public safety we need to send more National Guard personnel into Coney Island, Manhattan Beach, Gerritsen Beach, Red Hook, and any other locations.”

Markowitz hopes that the sight of an armed soldier would deter criminal activity in the still-unaccessible evacuation zones — such as the rash of break-ins that took place in Coney Island hours after Sandy kissed the borough goodbye — but the Mayor said the NYPD was more than capable of handling the job.

“There are plenty of locations upstate and in surrounding states where they don’t have a police department the size of New York and they can use help [from the National Guard],” said Bloomberg.

Markowitz said he was surprised by the Mayor’s response, but was sticking to his guns.

“We stand by our statement 100 percent,” said Markowitz spokesman John Hill. “We hope the governor will listen to our request.”

Via: The Brooklyn Paper

Continue Reading...

Military Times Poll: Romney Bests Obama, 2-1

The professional core of the U.S. military overwhelmingly favors Mitt Romney over President Obama in the upcoming election — but not because of any particular military issues, according to a new poll of more than 3,100 active and reserve troops.

Respondents rated the economy and the candidates’ character as their most important considerations and all but ignored the war in Afghanistan as an issue of concern.

The Military Times Poll is a secure email survey of active-duty, National Guard and reserve members who are subscribers to the Military Times newspapers (see How We Did It, below).

This population is older and more senior than the military population at large, but it is representative of the professional core of the all-volunteer force.

The 3,100 respondents — roughly two-thirds active-duty and one-third reserve component members — are about 80 percent white and 91 percent male. Forty percent are in paygrades E-5 through E-8, while more than 35 percent are in paygrades O-3 through O-5.

Almost 80 percent of respondents have a college degree — including 27 percent with a graduate degree and more than 11 percent with a post-graduate degree — while an additional 18.5 percent have some college under their belts.

And they are battle-hardened; almost 29 percent have spent more than two cumulative years deployed since 9/11, while a similar percentage has spent one to two cumulative years deployed.

The Military Times poll shows that Republicans continue to enjoy overwhelming support among the military’s professional ranks.

“There is really an affinity for Republican candidates, even though [troops] say that what counts is character and handling the economy,” said Richard Kohn, who teaches military history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Via: Army Times

Continue Reading...