Fort Rosecrans military cemetery overlooking the Pacific ocean in California. Mom to Madre photo
"Happy" seems a little bit of a stretch in light of developments at the VA earlier this year, but some veterans can take heart in the fact that more amd more veterans are getting elected to office after last week's historic midterms, including Senators-elect Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Joni Earnst of Iowa who will become the first Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans to be elected to the US Senate. In fact, Ernst was reportedly incommunicado for a few days after the election to serve the required weekend muster with the Iowa National Guard.
For veterans who have been unhappy with the way things have been going in Washington, it is important that they join a veteran's group such as the American Legion or Veteran's of Foreign Wars to make their voices heard. Feel free to visit them online to enquire about membership or find the nearest Hall.
The bus was carrying more than 50 children ages four to six when it was hit near al-Mandara village in Manfaloot district in the province of Assiut, a security official said. He said it appeared that the railroad crossing was not closed as the train sped toward it.
Books, school bags and children's socks were strewn along the tracks near the blood-stained, mangled bus. Parents of the missing wailed as they looked for signs of their children. An Associated Press reporter at the scene said many of the remains were unrecognizable.
All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Residents in Assiut complained that there were not enough ambulances in the area that could respond quickly enough and that the ambulances themselves were ill-equipped to deal with the emergency.
At al-Mandara village, angry families and locals gathered near the tracks, shouting at officials. Some chanted: "Down with Morsi!"
This is the biggest disaster in Egypt since the Muslim Brotherhood-backed Mohammed Morsi took power in the wake of last year's 'Arab Spring' popular uprising. With frequent accidents and outdated equipment, Egypt's rail network has long been considered unsafe and accident-prone.
A pair of New Jersey Transit GP40s seen delivering 21 new Bombardier multilevel commuter cars at Dunellen, NJ on November 17, 2012. The cars are sorely needed after Superstorm Sandy damaged or detroyed 25% of NJ Transit's passenger cars after they were sent to a low-lying rail yard before Superstorm Sandy made landfall in late October. Robert Pisani photo
At least $385 million in equipment- including nine dual-mode locomotives, 84 multi-level commuter cars and NJT's computer equipment for dispatching- were damaged in a tidal surge at the Meadowlands facility while more equipment was damaged at the agency's Hoboken terminal and rail yard.
"If there's a predicted 13-foot or 10-foot storm surge, you don't leave your equipment in a low-lying area," said David Schanoes, a railroad consultant and former deputy chief of field operations for Metro North Railroad, a sister railway serving New York State. "It's just basic railroading. You don't leave your equipment where it can be damaged."
Most of the avoidable damage came at NJ Transit's Meadows Maintenance Complex, a sprawling 78-acre network of tracks and buildings in an industrial area of Kearny that is surrounded by wetlands. The complex is the primary maintenance center for the agency's locomotives and rail cars, with both outdoor and indoor equipment storage; repair, servicing, cleaning, inspection and training facilities; and the agency's rail operations center, which houses computers involved in the movement of trains and communication with passengers.
The yard sits in the swampy crook where the Passaic and Hackensack rivers come together. Elevation maps show that it lies between 0 and 19 feet above sea level. The National Hurricane Center was predicting a storm surge of 6 to 11 feet along the New Jersey and New York coast on top of an unusual tide that already had the rivers running high.
Forecasts were that the storm would make landfall on Monday, October 29, somewhere along the New Jersey or New York coast. On Friday, October 26, executives from the New York City subway system and all of the region's commuter rail systems - NJ Transit, Long Island Rail Road and Metro North Railroad - decided they would halt all service Sunday night.
NJ Transit's last trains left their originating stations at 11 p.m. on Sunday, and workers spent the next 12 hours securing equipment, said Weinstein.
At NJ Transit's emergency command center, reports streamed in from the governor's command center in Trenton, county emergency management officials and the National Weather Service, which provided frequent updates on the storm's progress. Monitoring those reports and advising the agency on what to expect from the storm was NJ Transit Police Capt. Robert Noble, who is well-versed and trained in monitoring storms, Weinstein said.
On any given weekday, New Jersey Transit carries an estimated 136,000 people between New Jersey and New York's Penn Station. NJT got some relief in the form of 21 new bilevel Bombardier commuter cars assembled in Plattsburgh, NY that arrived on Nov 17th.
Shortline operator Morristown and Erie has reportedly been contracted by the agency to repair at least ten of the damaged NJT locomotives at their Morristown, NJ shops.
Mass Coastal GP9M #2008 seen trundling down the Falmouth line past the cove at Bourne, MA with a trash train enroute to the Otis transfer station in August 2008. Ryan Parent photo
Iowa Pacific announced the acquisiton of Cape Rail, Inc- the parent company of Mass Coastal and Cape Cod Central- last month. Cape Cod Central hauls seasonal excursion trains on Cape Cod while Mass Coastal handles freight on the former New Haven Falmouth Line in addition to a pair of lines that serve New Bedford, MA and Fall River, MA from a CSX interchange in Taunton, MA. Both the Fall River and New Bedford lines are reportedly prime candidates for a proposed expansion of MBTA commuter rail service to Boston's South station. Mass Coastal has operated those lines for the last two years.
Other railroads in the Iowa Pacific fold include the Permian Basin Railways in New Mexico, San Luis & Rio Grande in Colorado, the Mount Hood Railroad in Oregon and the Saratoga & North Creek in upstate New York.
Norfolk Southern SD60 #6920 seen at Brea, OH with intermodal train 21G. Dan Davidson photo.
Photographers got a glimpse of red white and blue (not to mention copious amounts of black) SD60M #6920 at the railroad's Altoona, PA facility before it headed south for a Veteran's Day event in Norfolk, VA. According to a press release, the special paint scheme required 26 employees (two of whom were veterans) and 66 gallons of paint. The railroad also stated that military veterans currently make up about 14% of their current workforce and they were ranked #32 by GI Jobs in their list of top 100 military and veteran-friendly employers.
After the Veteran's Day weekend ceremonies, the #6920 resumed regular service and was spotted leading intermodal freight 21G through Ohio.
United States Medal of Honor Memorial at the Riverside National Cemetary in California
I have to be honest, even though I try and keep some of the big holiday posts apolitical, I'm still dour and pessemistic after Tuesday's election results.
I suppose I could go off on what would probably come across as some sort of Grumpy Old Man 'get off of my lawn' rant [despite the fact that I'm actually younger than...say...Cameron Diaz or Grace Park- NANESB!] but as a veteran myself, I think that would be inappropriate on today of all days. First and foremost, today is about those who have served and continue to serve- the second it becomes a blunt insturment to bash politicians people don't particularly like with and nothing else, Veteran's Day or Memorial Day would become meaningless.
For those that despair about the future of the nation, I urge you to step into the wayback machine and head back to late October 2012.
The above image got alot of circulation amongst conservatives and milbloggers at the time. It depcits the Honor Guard for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetary in Virginia standing guard in the driving rain and went viral on social networks as Hurricane Sandy bore down on the East Coast.
However, this image was reportedly taken the day the storm hit- the US Army's 3rd Infantry Regiment has guarded the Tomb continuously since 1948. Should the cemetary close due to bad weather, the Old Guard can keep watch either from under an awning or a nearby enclosed area. The Old Guard's Tomb Sentinels reportedly declined to do either that day.
So even though image of the trio of Old Guard sentries on duty in the driving rain wasn't actually taken during Hurricane Sandy [remember that Sandy was still classified as a hurricane until making landfall in further north in New Jersey- NANESB!] I thought it was still a striking and appropriate visual for Veteran's Day.
I'm in between church, some football watching and attending a Veteran's Day ceremony this afternoon, but I wanted to also take this opportunity to thank both veterans and active-duty military for their service to this country.
It's also worth pointing out that restaurant chains like Applebee's,Friendly's,Golden Corral or TGI Friday's among others will be serving complimentary lunches to veterans and active duty servicemen with valid ID or a DD-214. A more comprehensive list can be seen here.
Perhaps its just me, but there seems to be a much more profound and marked sense of loss between Veteran's Day (or Rememberance Day for those of you in Canada) last year and this year's fairly easy to remember 11/11/11.
Aside from the fairly recent loss of a WWII veteran in our own family, it seems as though we aren't aware of figures such as America's last WWI veteran or one of the remaining Navajo code talkers until they've left us. Even though more famous individuals such as Family Circus cartoonist Bill Keane and Baseball Hall of Famer Bob Feller served honorably in our nation's armed forces, that only seems to be highlighted in their obituaries.
And that's not even including the veterans of more recent conflicts such as Iraq or Afghanistan, who are currently facing an inexplicably higher unemployment rate than the civilian population. I'm not quite sure what to make of that either, since you'd assume that recently discharged veterans would have a certain amount of training, experience in much more stressful situations and leadership skills that potential employers would find desirable.
While this humble blogger did serve in the United States Army, this was in the epoch before pixellated camouflage, velcro nametags or unit patches and Stryker brigades. In fact, since my honorable discharge, my former division has moved on the bigger and much more audacious things.
For those of you that have served, I can only offer my sincere gratitude and appreciation.
MLB: Seattle Mariners hall-of-fame Broadcaster Dave Niehaus passed away in his Bellvue, WA home after suffering a fatal heart attack. The 75 year old play by play announcer had intended to return to the booth for Seattle's 2011 season.
After graduating Indiana University and entering the military in 1957, Niehaus spent time as a broadcaster for Armed Forces Radio. In the late 1960s, he was a broadcast partner with Dick Enberg while calling games for the California Angels. After also doing some radio work with the UCLA Bruins and Los Angeles Rams, Niehaus was in the broadcast booth for the Mariners for their inaugural season in 1977 and has called games for Seattle ever since, making him one of the few broadcasters in any sport who has been calling games since their team's inception.
In 2008, Niehaus entered the Baseball Hall of Fame as a broadcaster by being named the winner of the Ford C Frick Award.
In the Pacific Northwest, he's probably best known for calling Edgar Martinez's walk-off hit in the deciding Game 5 of the 1995 ALDS.
NHL: Wow...the intra-conference matchups giveth, but they sure as hell taketh away, too. Figures I'd miss the game where Boston scores 5 unanswered goals (in one period, no less) but be able to tune in to the one where they get stonewalled in a 3-1 loss.
After the Penguins took a pretty formidable 4-2 lead into the 3rd period on Wednesday at the brand-spanking new Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, the Bruins came right back with goals from Nathan Horton and Zdeno Chara less than 30 seconds apart to tie the contest up 4-4 early in the 3rd. This was followed by what would be Shawn Thronton's game-winner and insurance from Blake Wheeler and an empty netter from Milan Lucic. Tim Thomas would stop 42 of 46 shots faced that night.
Thursday night's game at TD Banknorth Garden was a different story, with Montreal netminder Carey Price turning away all but one of the 35 shots he faced from the Bruins in Montreal's 3-1 win. Although Montreal got on the board quick in the first before Zdeno Chara tied it up at 1-1 with 4 minutes to go in the opening period. Montreal appeared poised to take a 2-1 lead in the second, but a review of the goal indicated that Canadiens C Jeff Halpern redirected the puck with his skate, so the goal was disallowed.
Tukka Rask was in net for Boston, giving Thomas the night off - Rask is still looking for his first win of the 2010-2011 season as Boston comes up short in their first game against the Habs (who were the only team in the Northeast division with a record better than Boston's). Instead, the Habs would make it a 2-1 game on a power play goal by Brian Gionta not even a minute into the 3rd and then get some insurance from a Scott Gomez tally.
The loss puts the Bruins in a virtual tie for 2nd place with their next opponent, the Ottawa Senators (also with 17 points, but with a worse intra-divisional record). The two teams will drop the puck Saturday night at the Garden at 7 PM Eastern, 4 Pacific.
NBA: Hmmm....so much for handing the Miami Heat the Eastern Conference title before the ink on LeBron James' new contract had dried.
Ray Allen, on the other hand, had 35 points including going to 7 for 9 in three point attempts in Boston's 112-107 win in Miami on Thursday night- and even then it wasn't quite as close as the scoreboard indicated. Throughout the game, every time the Heat threatened to close the gap, the C's would start to pour it on and increase their lead.
Despite the late surge by Miami, it was all Boston pretty much all night, with the Celtics never trailing in the contest. Although LeBron James matched Ray Allen's production with 35 points of his own, the C's held Dwayne Wade to just 8 points (more than half of them coming from the free throw line).
The C's will next travel to Memphis to take on the Grizzlies on Saturday night at 8PM Eastern, 7 Central.
NCAA FOOTBALL: The Pitt Panthers appeared to be in control of Thursday night's game with a 21-13 lead against the UConn Huskies well into the 3rd quarter.
However, the Huskies responded right away with a kickoff returned 95 yards for a UConn touchdown thanks to Nick Williams to make it a 1 point game before another UConn drive was capped off with a 25 yard Dave Teggart FG to make it 23-20 UConn lead.
Pitt gave UConn another opening when the ensuing kickoff was fumbled at the Pitt 25 yard line and the Huskies were again able to find the end zone, extending their lead to 21-30. The Panthers were able to put together a quick drive and make it a 28-30 game on a 20 yard pass to Pitt WR Jon Baldwin, but once UConn got the ball back, they were able to bleed out the clock thanks to some key 4th down conversions by RB Jordan Toddman (who already had 200+ yards on the night.
The Huskies run out the clock and come away with the 30-28 win over Pitt- their 1st lost to a conference opponent this season.
UConn's next game will be on November 20th against the Syracuse Orangemen at the Carrier Dome.
NFL Are you ready for some Football? Some Thursday night football?
Thursday night was the debut of NFL's Thursday night games for the 2010 season. OK- a couple of things to start off with; I remember the Thursday Night games
A) Starting a few weeks later in the season- like after Thanksgiving
B) Usually being a lopsided contest between two cellar dwellers (like Buffalo versus Carolina)
In years past, Thursday night's contest between the Atlanta Falcons and Baltimore Ravens might've matched that description, but not last night.
In the interest of full disclosure, last night I mostly spent the night after work doing some errands and taking Applebee's up on their Veteran's Day promo, so I was almost constantly flipping between the Bruins/Habs, Celtics/Heat and UConn/Pitt game on the satellite radio. I did however, tune into the the final couple of minutes of regulation in the Falcons/Ravens game. Turns out that was a very pivotal final few minutes....I snuck in on the game earlier and figured with the score being 20-7 Atlanta, it was more or less over for Baltimore.
Flash forward to the 4th quarter where after starting on their own 25, Ravens QB Joe Flacco engineered a five and a half minute, 75-yard drive to the Falcons end zone to make it 14-20 and a 1-score game.
After the ensuing Atlanta drive sputtered mid-field Baltimore got the ball back on their own 28 yard line with just under three minutes in regulation. This time Flacco and the Ravens offense put together a much quicker drive, including a 22 yard gain from WR Derrick Mason and 25 yards from RB Ray Rice to put them on top 21-20.
But with just a minute left in regulation, Boston College alumni Matt Ryan would put together a drive (aided by some Baltimore penalties) from the Atlanta 20 to put the Falcons up for good. The 2-point conversion attempt failed, but Atlanta hangs on to win by a final of 26-21.
Hope all the Thursday night games will be this interesting.
While I'd like to think that my Army service wasn't that long ago, it predated the advent of the Stryker APC, pixelated BDUs or widespread implementation of the berets as part of the uniform (they were previously only issued to airborne and special ops units). In other words, it might as well have been a lifetime ago.
For those of you wishing to show your support beyond the occasional words of encouragement, I highly reccomend getting involved with groups like anysoldier or Soldier's Angels where you can 'adopt' a soldier, sailor, airman or Marine....or even a whole platoon for that matter.
For those of you who have served or are presently serving, you have my sincerest thanks and I hope that you are able to enjoy this day with your loved ones.
Just like 2009, the casual-dining restaurant chain Applebee's is offering a free entree to all Veterans and active-duty military. I took advantage last year and had one of their pasta dishes, which was pretty good with fairly generous portions [I actually had to pay for the beer, but who am I to complain about that? NANESB!].
Odds are, Applebee's and their parent company DinEquity are taking a bath on this, but I imagine that is offset by a fair amount of good publicity.
No updates today. As far as I'm concerned, November 11 is sacrosanct. No sports scores, no trains, no politics, no dysfunctional beauty pageant winners. Today is not the day....
To all the other Veterans of our armed forces, past and present and their loved ones- thank you for your service and sacrifice. To those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, may you at last find peace on the other side.
