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sheshe2's JournalThese Soldiers Did the Boston Marathon Wearing 40-Pound Packs.
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These Soldiers Did the Boston Marathon Wearing 40-Pound Packs. Then They Helped Save Lives.
When the bombs went off, the Tough Ruck 2013 crew sprang into action.
—By Tasneem Raja
| Tue Apr. 16, 2013 12:49 PM PDT
“Forced marches” or “humps” are a regular part of military training, brisk walking over tough terrain while carrying gear that could help a soldier survive if stranded alone. These soldiers, participating in “Tough Ruck 2013,” were doing the 26 miles of the Boston Marathon to honor comrades killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, or lost to suicide and PTSD-related accidents after coming home.
It took about eight hours for all of the soldiers to cross the finish line, some cruising nearly at a 13-minute mile, others coming in at a little slower pace. They were gathered near the medical tent behind the finish line, waiting for the elite runners to come in. That was the contingency plan in case anything went wrong—meet by the medical tent.
“You never think you’re gonna need it, but you always have to have a contingency plan,” says Lieutenant Stephen Fiola of the 1060th Transportation Company, who worked with the Military Friends Foundation to organize the march. Two soldiers stationed in Afghanistan also participated in the ruck from afar, according to Fiola, marching in circles around their base for 26 miles in remembrance of fallen comrades.
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More:
http://3chicspolitico.com/2013/04/17/one-of-those-stories-that-hits-the-gut-from-the-attack-in-boston/
http://3chicspolitico.com/
Boston
Such a sad day for Boston.
I found out when I went to work today, friends that work on Boylston Street, were close to one of the blasts the windows on the second and third floor were blown out. It was pure luck that no one was near the windows at the time, they always watch the marathon. They all escaped out the back, without keys, phones or money. They were lucky to get shelter at a co worker's home.
So many at work had a loved one there. One of my co workers. Her son worked with one of the victims. He was the one that had to tell his co workers that she had died. Wherever you go, there are people with a story to be told.
Everyone is walking around shell shocked, just like after 9/11.
As for Boston MedFlight, the only ones allowed in the air yesterday, they are a critical care transport. A while back they were the ones that airlifted a beloved member of my family to an area hospital. Their team saved his life, he was unresponsive when they picked him up, their skills and quick thinking saved him. As I know they did for many yesterday. Kudos to them and all the trained and untrained souls that rushed to aid of those that had fallen.
A sweet celebration for Boston turned deadly. We celebrate the athletes for their strength, stamina and heart, just like we celebrate Patriots Day. People from all over the world come here to celebrate. It has always been a proud day for us.
I'll tell you one thing, Boston won't stop running. They will continue to run to celebrate life. They will also continue to run towards danger when need be, to put themselves in harms way, without a second thought.
That's the spirit of Boston, we are strong and we are resilient.
Boston I love you.
Be not Afraid
Judith U @Autismville
To the stranger who took me into her home, gave me soup and tea to stop my shaking and a phone to call home, thank you. #BostonMarathon2013
We don’t know who did it.
We don’t know if he was a Christian, a Muslim, or a Jew.
We don’t know if he was left wing or right wing.
We don’t know if it was done with a political purpose in mind, or if his mind merely snapped, lashing out at a society of which he wasn’t a part.
At this point, we know nothing about the bomber at today’s Boston Marathon.
But I will not cower in fear.
I will not listen to the ones with the megaphones who are already using this as an excuse to settle political scores.
I will not hide in my room, or acquiesce to give up a bit of freedom for safety. Giving up one rarely secures you the other.
I will not pound my chest and say that the answer is more guns on the street, so that we’re all deputized, armed, dangerous.
I will not let hatred blind me.
I will run towards the danger, like hundreds of citizens did in Boston.
I will open my home to those who suffered and lost.
I will stay resolute that fear will not prevail.
I will trust that this country will feel its way towards doing the right thing. It always, eventually, does.
Our instinct is to give up on our fellow humans. One of my first reactions was to root for global warming to do its worst.
But that hopelessness is the one thing which will condemn us to extinction.
Hope is what keeps humanity going; it’s the only thing keeping us from falling into the abyss. Once we’ve lost hope, we’ve lost what makes us human.
I will not lose hope.
We don’t know what prompted the bomber to commit his act. But one thing we can assume with a clear certainty is that hope was lost in him.
I will not be that man.
I will not succumb to the thought that humanity is a cesspit, doomed to fall. One man bombed a race. Hundreds raced towards the explosions, to help out their fellow human beings. I’m with them.
I will not be afraid. That’s when I lose.
****
Chips: Follow Liberal Librarian on Twitter and read him at The People’s View
http://theobamadiary.com/2013/04/15/be-not-afraid/
Please, let us bring our friends and family home,
Safe and sound, before we are flooded with conspiracy theories.
One poster mentioned Drones! Dear god! Others teabaggers and muslims!
I live in Massachusetts, west of Boston. The race comes through the center of town. This is Patriots Day here, a great day for us.
We celebrate the Boston Marathon:
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-boston-marathon-held
The Boston Marathon was the brainchild of Boston Athletic Association member and inaugural U.S. Olympic team manager John Graham, who was inspired by the marathon at the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896. With the assistance of Boston businessman Herbert H. Holton, various routes were considered, before a measured distance of 24.5 miles from the Irvington Oval in Boston to Metcalf's Mill in Ashland was eventually selected.
Fifteen runners started the race but only 10 made it to the finish line. John J. McDermott, representing the Pastime Athletic Club of New York City, took the lead from Harvard athlete Dick Grant over the hills in Newton. Although he walked several times during the final miles, McDermott still won by a comfortable six-minute, fifty-two-seconds. McDermott had won the only other marathon on U.S. soil the previous October in New York.
The marathon's distance was changed in 1908 in accordance with Olympic standards to its current length of 26 miles 385 yards.
One of my friends checked in, she left after the first runners came through. I have other friends that work on Boylston Street.
This is a sad day for us, yet as the President said, Boston is strong, we are resilient.
We in Massachusetts thank you for your support!
I want to tell you about my mom.
She is eighty six years old and she is a force to be reckoned with. She loves her family fiercely, her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Since her divorce she has been on her own for 35 years. She worked past retirement age, trying to save enough money, so that she would not be a burden to her children. Yes, she now lives off social security.
She has suffered a couple of falls, and is still strong. She buried her only son seven years ago. He committed suicide and yes, it almost broke her, it almost broke us all. Yet she survived it, with the help of the family and the community that she lives in, she survived.
She maintains two gardens every year, both 7 foot square. One for vegetables one for herbs, they are beautiful to behold. The bounty is great. Oh sure a neighbor does come over to till the garden so that she can plant, however she does a lot of back breaking work.
She is an active member of the church, helps raise money for Outreach, and cooks for the local women's shelters. She also works at the local food pantry, that's a lot of hard work for an 86 year old. She does it without complaint. My mom is an amazing woman.
So proud of my mom, she also works at the polls during elections. Spirit!
Did I forget to mention, my mom is a Democrat. She is an Obama supporter. Was then and is now. Will always be.
Remember what I said, my mom is not a socialite, nor well to do. She lives off of social security.
God bless my mom, she fights for what she believes in, doing what needs to be done to make this world a safer more secure nation. Helping those in need.
She supports this President to make this happen.
Mom, I love you.
We're here and we are staying!
Omg!
According to one Op,
We are teen idols.
They question what news we watch, they ask themselves how well informed we are.
One poster got the impression that we were genuflecting when we posted on the BOG!
All this because we support our President on Democratic Underground!
Damn, the Gall of us!
A Repost, because~
SNIP
I'd like to once again repeat something Alice Walkerhttp://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2010/11/it-is-soul-that-must-be-preserved.html wrote to President Obama shortly after he was elected.
I would advise you to remember that you did not create the disaster that the world is experiencing, and you alone are not responsible for bringing the world back to balance. A primary responsibility that you do have, however, is to cultivate happiness in your own life. To make a schedule that permits sufficient time of rest and play with your gorgeous wife and lovely daughters. And so on. One gathers that your family is large. We are used to seeing men in the White House soon become juiceless and as white-haired as the building; we notice their wives and children looking strained and stressed. They soon have smiles so lacking in joy that they remind us of scissors. This is no way to lead. Nor does your family deserve this fate. One way of thinking about all this is: It is so bad now that there is no excuse not to relax. From your happy, relaxed state, you can model real success, which is all that so many people in the world really want. They may buy endless cars and houses and furs and gobble up all the attention and space they can manage, or barely manage, but this is because it is not yet clear to them that success is truly an inside job. That it is within the reach of almost everyone...
Because, finally, it is the soul that must be preserved, if one is to remain a credible leader. All else might be lost; but when the soul dies, the connection to earth, to peoples, to animals, to rivers, to mountain ranges, purple and majestic, also dies. And your smile, with which we watch you do gracious battle with unjust characterizations, distortions and lies, is that expression of healthy self-worth, spirit and soul, that, kept happy and free and relaxed, can find an answering smile in all of us, lighting our way, and brightening the world.
http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2012/12/mele-kalikimaka-mr-president.html
Reposted from:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101788268
Thank you Mr. President!
Aloha, Mele Kalikimaka...
Out of the Mouth's of Babes.
Aamira Fetuga! 
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It was a Woman damn it! Thank you Lawrence O'Donnell
Watch It Here!
http://3chicspolitico.com/2013/04/11/video-the-last-word-democrats-the-history-of-social-security-frances-perkins/
Wiki: Frances Perkins (born Fannie Coralie Perkins; April 10, 1880[1][2] – May 14, 1965) was the U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945, and the first woman appointed to the U.S. Cabinet. As a loyal supporter of her friend, Franklin D. Roosevelt, she helped pull the labor movement into the New Deal coalition. She and Interior Secretary Harold L. Ickes were the only original members of the Roosevelt cabinet to remain in office for his entire presidency.
During her term as Secretary of Labor, Perkins championed many aspects of the New Deal, including the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Public Works Administration and its successor the Federal Works Agency, and the labor portion of the National Industrial Recovery Act. With the Social Security Act she established unemployment benefits, pensions for the many uncovered elderly Americans, and welfare for the poorest Americans. She pushed to reduce workplace accidents and helped craft laws against child labor. Through the Fair Labor Standards Act, she established the first minimum wage and overtime laws for American workers, and defined the standard forty-hour work week. She formed governmental policy for working with labor unions and helped to alleviate strikes by way of the United States Conciliation Service, Perkins resisted having American women be drafted to serve the military in World War II so that they could enter the civilian workforce in greatly expanded numbers.[3]
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