SJPR has adopted some soldiers who are serving our country in "Iraqi Freedom".  Please meet our soldiers who are serving alongside all those other brave troops.  Click here to meet our guys and discover how SJPR is lending our support!  We ask for your help!

While loading this page, "our" sailor, Joe M.'s son Anthony tells us why his dad is serving our country!

           "Our" marine, Joe L., is on the top right
The Average Soldier

• The average age of an American infantry soldier is 19 years.
• He is a short haired, tight-muscled kid who, under normal circumstances is considered by society as half man, half boy.  Not yet dry behind  the ears, not old enough to buy a beer, but old enough to die for his country.
• He never really cared much for work and he would rather wax his own car than wash his father's; but he has never collected unemployment either.
• He's a recent High School graduate; he was probably an average student, pursued some form of sport activities, drives a ten year old jalopy, and has a steady girlfriend that either broke up with him when he left, or swears to be waiting when he returns from half a world away.
• He listens to rock and roll or hip hop or rap or jazz or swing and 155mm Howitzers.
• He is 10 or 15 pounds lighter now than when he was at  home because he is working or fighting from before dawn to well after dusk.
• He has trouble spelling, thus letter writing is a pain for him, but he can field strip a rifle in 30 seconds and reassemble it in less-in the dark.  He can recite to you the nomenclature of a machine gun or grenade launcher and use either one effectively if he must.
• He digs foxholes and latrines and can apply first aid like a professional.
• He can march until he is told to stop or stop until he is told to march.  He obeys orders instantly and without hesitation, but he is not without spirit or individual dignity.
• He is self-sufficient.  He has two sets of fatigues: he washes one and
  wears the other.  He keeps his canteens full and his feet dry.
• He sometimes forgets to brush his teeth, but never to clean his rifle.
• He can cook his own meals, mend his own clothes, and fix his own hurts.  If you're thirsty, he'll share his water with you; if you are hungry, his food.  He'll even split his ammunition with you in the midst of battle when you run low.
• He has learned to use his hands like weapons and weapons like they were
  his hands.  He can save your life - or take it, because that is his job.
• He will often do twice the work of a civilian, draw half the pay and still  find ironic humor in it all.
• He has seen more suffering and death than he should have in his short lifetime.  He has stood atop mountains of dead bodies, and helped to create them.  He has wept in public and in private, for friends who have fallen in combat and is unashamed.
• He feels every note of the National Anthem vibrate through his body while at rigid attention, while tempering the burning desire to 'square-away' those around him who haven't bothered to stand, remove their hat, or even stop talking.  In an odd twist, day in and day out, far from home, he defends their right to be disrespectful.  Just as did  his Father, Grandfather, and Great-grandfather, he is paying the price for our freedom.
• Beardless or not, he is not a boy.   He is the American Fighting Man that has kept this country free for over 200 years.  He has asked nothing in return, except our friendship and understanding.
• Remember him, always, for he has earned our respect and admiration with his blood.

Colin Powell

When in England at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked
 by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of empire building by George Bush.

He answered by saying that, "Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return."

It became very quiet in the room.

Click here for a presentation "I Kissed My Son Goodbye"

A Solution - author unknown

I see a lot of people on the television yelling for peace, but I have not heard of one plan for peace.  "Books, not Bombs" won't work. The head mullahs won't let anyone read them. If they do, they poke their eyes out.

Here's the plan:

1. The US will apologize to the world for our "interference" in their affairs, past & present. You know, Hitler, Mussolini,Tojo, Marshal Petain and the rest of them good old boys. We will never "interfere" again.
2. We will withdraw our troops from all over the world, starting with Germany, France, South Korea and the Philippines. They don't want us there. We would station troops at our borders. No more sneaking through holes in the fence.
3. All illegal aliens have 90 days to get their affairs together and leave. We'll give them a free  trip home. After 90 days the remainder will be gathered up and deported immediately, regardless of  who or where they are. France would welcome them.
4. All future visitors will be thoroughly checked and limited to 90 days in America unless given a special permit. No one from a terrorist nation would be allowed in. If you don't like it there, change it yourself, don't hide here. Asylum would not ever be available to anyone. We don't need any more cab drivers.
5. No "students" over age 21. The older ones are the bombers. If they don't attend classes, they get a "F" and it's back home, baby.
6. The US will make a strong effort to become self sufficient energy wise. This will include developing non polluting sources of energy but will require a temporary drilling for oil in the Alaskan wilderness. The caribou will have to cope for a while.
7. Offer Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries $10 a barrel for their oil. If they don't like it, we go someplace else.
8. If there is a famine or other natural catastrophe in the world, we will not "interfere". They can pray to Allah or whomever, for seeds, rain, cement or whatever they need. Besides, most of what we give them is stolen or given to the army. The people who need it  most get very little, if any, anyway.
9. Ship the UN Headquarters to an island some place. We don't need the spies and fair weather friends here.  Besides, it would make a good homeless shelter or lockup for illegal aliens.
10. All Americans must go to charm and beauty school. That way, no one can call us "Ugly Americans" any  longer.

 Now, ain't that a winner of a plan?