82 near Sadr City

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Iraq Pictures

Iraq Pictures: "Soldiers from Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, attached to 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, prepare to fire a 120 mm mortar to ensure their proper distance and accuracy at Forward Operating Base Loyalty in East Baghdad, Iraq. Pic: SSG Bronco Suzuki"

CSM Klaus J. Meckenstock, of Bad Kreuznach, Germany, the senior noncommissioned officer with 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, hangs a mortar round during the platoon’s registration at Forward Operating Base Loyalty. Pic: SPC Courtney Marulli

In Our Store

Support our Troops


Keepsake collectors photo plaque honoring your military hero! Show them you care. A portion of sale goes to military charity.

Holds any 4 x 6 vertical photo. Mounting instructions supplied as well as 2 sided adhesive for challenge coins/ medalions, the acrylic photo cover plate and the 4 brass tacks. If you would prefer to email your photo we will print it out on good quality photo paper and mount it before shipping.

The poem or inscription can be any that you desire. The Soldiers Creed is shown. This can be personalized for any branch of the military with any text you choose.

For every plaque we sell we will send $10 to Blue Star Mothers
or other organization registered with America Supports You*

*Canadian orders may specify a Canadian military organization to receive donations on approval.
*10% currently earmarked for Fisher House -- remainder to your choice of above.

Checking in

Soldier survives sniper scare, still serving

"CAMP LIBERTY — The life of one paratrooper was forever changed Sept. 2, 2006. A 7.62mm round from a sniper’s rifle found its mark and struck the 20 year-old.

Unlike other stories of fallen heroes, the story of Pfc. Andrew Woods continues to unfold. Today the saw gunner carries on despite the life-threatening wound he received just over six months ago – he has made a full recovery.

Now on his second tour of duty in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Woods is assigned to 1st Platoon, Company A, 1st Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, attached to 2nd BCT, 1st Inf. Div., which is securing the city streets of Baghdad." More...

Paratroopers in Hurriyah

"Paratroopers Stand up Joint Security Station in Hurriyah
Feb 12, 2007
BY Spc. L.B. Edgar
Sgt. John Pruitt, a squad leader with 2nd Platoon, Company A, 1st Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, which is attached to 2nd BCT, 1st Infantry Division, patrols the Hurriyah neighborhood of the Kadhimiya district of Baghdad Feb. 8. The Joint Security Station encourages transition by allowing Iraqi Security Forces to train with paratroopers on a one-on-one basis. Photo by Spc. L.B. Edgar

KADAMIYAH, Baghdad (Army News Service, Feb. 12, 2007) - The sudden clap of a firearm's discharge prompts the split-second reaction of paratroopers patrolling the volatile streets of Iraq's capital on foot. From behind urban cover - a car, a corner or even a light post - they meticulously scan their interlocking sectors of fire to ensure 360-degree security for the platoon conducting a presence patrol.

Thanks to a revamped strategy to quell sectarian violence throughout Baghdad, the paratroopers of Company A, 1st Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, attached to 2nd BCT, 1st Inf. Div., are spending more time on the streets of the Hurriyah neighborhood, within the Baghdad's Kadamiyah district."

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Troops laugh it up with visiting comics

Stars & Stripes: "Troops laugh it up with visiting comics


By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Monday, February 12, 2007

Comedian David Alan Grier delights nearly 300 troops at Forward Operating Base Loyalty in Baghdad on Saturday night.

BAGHDAD — David Alan Grier of the 1990s TV series “In Living Color” and two fellow comedians kicked off a three-day visit to the Baghdad area with a show Saturday night for nearly 300 delighted troops.
With routines lasting almost a half an hour each, Grier, Kevin Avery and Kristopher Tinkle offered their audience at Forward Operating Base Loyalty little on the war, the military or Iraq.

Instead the men focused on such universal topics as jobs, relationships and, of course, sex.
Avery, a comic who often opens for comedian Dave Chappelle, moaned about his latest blind date. "

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Crackdown in Baghdad

"Associated Press February 08, 2007
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Baghdad's streets were electric with tension Wednesday as U.S. officials confirmed the new security operation was under way. U.S. armor rushed through streets, and Iraqi armored personnel carriers guarded bridges and major intersections. "More...:

Soldier recovering from war injuries returns home

"Soldier recovering from war injuries returns home
Dorothy Nobis The Daily Times
Article Launched: 02/08/2007 12:00:00 AM MST

Sgt. Kenneth Gibson gives a thumbs up in this photo, taken in Baghdad .


FARMINGTON, NM — It was not the kind of homecoming 26-year-old Army Sgt. Kenneth Gibson expected.
A quiet and modest young man, Gibson requested his Feb. 3 arrival at the Four Corners Regional Airport be met with family.
When his plane touched down around 3:45. p.m. and he appeared at the door of the plane, approximately 50 people waited inside the terminal. As the Iraq War veteran met the awaiting crowd, they burst into cheers.
Gibson's father and stepmother, Larry and Rita Gibson, embraced him was he walked through the door. Also waiting where his grandparents, Frank and Alice Gibson, other family members, the Blue Star Mothers and Farmington Mayor Bill Standley. Despite his request for only a family welcome, Gibson smiled broadly when he saw the small assembly and visited with those gathered.
The reunion was not one of normal circumstances, however.
Gibson was injured Jan. 11 when the Humvee he and his team were in was hit by a bomb in Iraq. He sustained shrapnel injuries and was sent to a hospital in Germany,
where he remained for three weeks. Two other soldiers in the Humvee suffered minor injuries, Gibson said, and remained in the war-torn country." more...

82nd Airborne Sets Up Shop in Adhamiyah

82nd Airborne Sets Up Shop in Adhamiyah
Feb 09, 2007BY Sgt. Mike Pryor

A paratrooper from B Company, 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, pulls security during a patrol in Baghdad's Adhamiya District Feb. 7. Photo by Sgt. Mike Pryor

BAGHDAD (Army News Service, Feb. 9, 2007) - The 82nd Airborne Division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team established a combat outpost in the heart of Baghdad this week in an effort to reduce sectarian violence in the Iraqi capital and assist the Iraqi security forces to take control of the city.

Paratroopers from the 2nd BCT's 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, will be living, working and conducting operations out of the newly-established Combat Outpost Callahan, located in Baghdad's Adhamiyah district.

"Living in this neighborhood means we can maintain a constant presence. We're not going home at night. We're here 24/7," said 1st Lt. David Bopp, platoon leader with Company C, 2nd Bn., 325th AIR.

Until recently, COP Callahan was nothing more than the skeletal remains of what had once been a busy shopping mall. But in the early morning hours of Feb. 7, following dozens of precision-targeted raids in the area by the 2nd Infantry Division's 3rd Stryker BCT, the 2nd Bn. "White Falcons" moved in and occupied the building.

Since then, COP Callahan has been a whirlwind of activity. At any given hour, paratroopers are busy stringing concertina wire, sawing and hammering lumber, and stacking sandbags to ensure maximum force protection. Outside, cranes and forklifts move heavy concrete barriers into place along the perimeter, mindful of the occasional sniper fire. As all of this happens, patrols constantly move in and out to meet the local population. (more)