Spc. Jonnie L Stiles
38 years old from Highlands Ranch, Colorado
769th Engineer Battalion, Louisiana Army National Guard
November 13, 2008
Louisiana National Guard spokesman Maj. Michael Kazmierzak said Spc. Jonnie L. Stiles had been serving as a gunner on a Humvee doing route clearance when and IED detonated near his vehicle in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. He said the job typically involves checking roads for bombs and insurgents.
Stiles’ wife, Launa, said that he was nearly killed last month when a suicide bomber blew up a military vehicle in front of his. She said he was still able to rescue three other soldiers and returned to duty before his 30-day recovery period was finished.
“He was strong and really cared for his men,” she said.
Stiles was born in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and graduated from Littleton High School in Colorado. He served in the military for 17 years, first joining the Marines and then switching to the Army in 1999. He served three years at Fort Carson, left the Army and then returned as a member of the Colorado Air National Guard in the Summer of 2007.
These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero. We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived
This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.
I wish I had some great Thanksgiving stories. However, we normally end up going to somebody elses house for Thanksgiving, so I dont’ have to cook. Ever. Honestly, it is nice. However, this year my parents are coming here for Thanksgiving, so I have to cook my own dinner (with some help from my mom I hope! Though she won’t be coming up till Thanksgiving day itself, so I may not have as much help as I’d like! They are coming here so I have some company doing some Black Friday shopping (though my mom is refusing to go stand outside at Best Buy at 3 am. Yes, I am that dedicated. LOL)
I have a feeling this Thanksgiving I will have a ton of material to post about regarding my experience. I don’t think Bill and I have ever made a real turkey by ourselves. That is why its nice to know that Butterball has a Turkey Talk-Line. You can call 1-800-BUTTERBALL and talk to their meal preparation experts (writing that phone number down myself), or you can visit Butterball.com for Web chats with a few bloggers – Chris Jordan (Notes from the Trenches), Susan Wagner (Friday Playdate), and Roxanna (Miguelina) on November 11, 18 and 25 from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. CST. They will answer all your turkey related questions. Now, if any of you have any advice for me, I’ll gladly take it. We just won’t tell anyone.
Ever have one of those days? I did today. Instead of my normal Tuesday routine, I got stuck doing other things I didn’t really feel like doing. If you read my last update from when we went to the doctor’s office, Madison needs to get a hearing test done. I finally got around to calling the school district today, and what a mess. Instead of being able just to schedule her for hearing test, they are making her go through an entire preschool screening again. Unfortunately, this means I had to prove residency once again. This is no easy task. To prove residency in my district, you have to bring in your tax bill, two utility bills, an original birth certificate, and your drivers license. Unfortunately, that isn’t always so easy to find. I spent the entire time while Madison was a preschool looking for these items. My other problem was that the school closed at 4 PM.This normally wouldn’t be an issue except Madison had preschool until 3:30 PM. It takes me around 15 minutes to get from my house to her preschool. In theory, I should have made a back In plenty of time. However, I got stuck by two trains. I then turned on the wrong street to go to the school and got a bit turned around. What a mess! Luckily, I got there with five minutes to spare. I literally ran into the building with the kids. Thank goodness the woman was nice, because it actually took me till five after four for me to finish all the paperwork. Seriously, there was so much paperwork it was like signing mortgage papers. Now, I have to sit and wait for school to call me back and schedule a screening for preschool. I seriously don’t understand why they just can’t do the hearing screening like I asked. I think the lady said that testing would start November 7, so at least we don’t have to wait that long. It’s just frustrating because Madison won’t qualify for free preschool, so this is just a waste of my time.
Did you November is National Novel Writing Month (hence, NaNoWrimo). NaNoWrimo is an interesting approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1 and end November 30. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word). This requires you to write a minimum of 1,667 words a day which can be very daunting. This is why using Dragon NaturallySpeaking for NaNoWrimo would take some of the pressure off. I know my sister would love to write a novel one day. It is honestly her lifelong dream. She went to college and majored in English, so she could do it. However, she is super busy (and this is before she even has kids!). When I learned about Dragon Naturally Speaking, I knew this would be a perfect fit for her. This can definitely help her blogging (of course, she is a blogger too!). However, I personally don’t think she thinks she has the time for something of this magnitude.
If you want to see how this would help you, you have to take the Dragon’s typing speed test! I tried it with Will (my 16 month old) hanging on me (so I really do type faster, but this is what my life is like normally. That is why blogging usually takes me all day. LOL Here’s my test results:
Let me tell you, I couldn’t believe how fast the speaker was compared to my typing. Granted, I could have typed faster without Will, but I still couldn’t have kept up with the speaker. There is no way. I think I know what I am buying my sister for Christmas. She has some big changes coming her way and this would allow her to both continue blogging and to write her novel.
I may not be writing a novel, but man, I can see so many uses for myself with this software. Since I have five blogs and two little kids, I could definitely get more work done with this versus me typing out my blog posts (see score up above – lol). This would make it much easier to write posts for my travel blog when we are on the road, and I could write my posts for my cooking blog while I am cooking the recipe I am going to write about. I could take the time I save and spend it with my family instead of working. It would be nice to be able to go to bed before midnight. Do you want to see how easy this is to use?
As you can see, anyone can use this software. It is that easy. Don’t believe me? Read some of these Dragon Reviews. I actually know people who have this and they absolutely love it. I am still working on getting my hands on one of these, so I can save some of my precious time.
Cpl. Lance M. Thompson
21 years old from Upland, Indiana
2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force
November 15, 2004
The father of Cpl. Lance Thompson said his son would be proud knowing he fought and died to help Iraqis vote in an election.
Cpl. Lance Thompson died in during fighting in Ramadi by a truck bomb. His father, Greg Thompson, said his son sent him a letter in September of ‘04 which said, “Freedom is not free. It requires sacrifice.”
Greg Thompson said the millions turning out to vote in Iraq was “fantastic” and said it was a “momentous day in the Middle East.”
“Are you asking me was it worth Lance losing his life?” he asked a reporter. “Being the gung-ho Marine that he was, he would say yes. So I’ll say yes. That is a tough, bitter pill to swallow. It hurts. God, I didn’t want to give up my son.”
These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived
This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.
Spc. Jonnie L Stiles
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Ever have one of those days? I did today. Instead of my normal Tuesday routine, I got stuck doing other things I didn’t really feel like doing. If you read my last update from when we went to the doctor’s office, Madison needs to get a hearing test done. I finally got around to calling the school district today, and what a mess. Instead of being able just to schedule her for hearing test, they are making her go through an entire preschool screening again. Unfortunately, this means I had to prove residency once again. This is no easy task. To prove residency in my district, you have to bring in your tax bill, two utility bills, an original birth certificate, and your drivers license. Unfortunately, that isn’t always so easy to find. I spent the entire time while Madison was a preschool looking for these items. My other problem was that the school closed at 4 PM.This normally wouldn’t be an issue except Madison had preschool until 3:30 PM. It takes me around 15 minutes to get from my house to her preschool. In theory, I should have made a back In plenty of time. However, I got stuck by two trains. I then turned on the wrong street to go to the school and got a bit turned around. What a mess! Luckily, I got there with five minutes to spare. I literally ran into the building with the kids. Thank goodness the woman was nice, because it actually took me till five after four for me to finish all the paperwork. Seriously, there was so much paperwork it was like signing mortgage papers. Now, I have to sit and wait for school to call me back and schedule a screening for preschool. I seriously don’t understand why they just can’t do the hearing screening like I asked. I think the lady said that testing would start November 7, so at least we don’t have to wait that long. It’s just frustrating because Madison won’t qualify for free preschool, so this is just a waste of my time.
