As many times as I have been to Arlington National Cemetery, every visit except the first has felt like an abstraction, one with no strong personal connection. That first visit, back in the mid-1980s, was to the grave of President John F. Kennedy. The profound power of this place, however, came home last weekend. I […]
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“I saw in his eyes what I had anticipated in the eyes of the people who captured me, the hatred. What I saw was his non-verbal communication with me, it being, ‘If I can get you away from the people here in the farmhouse, you’re dead.'” – Retired Air Force Lt. Col. John Yuill, former North Vietnamese prisoner of war
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I’ve been thinking a lot about our “men in blue” — San Antonio police officers — since Sept. 11, the six-year anniversary of 9-11. I was driving to what I knew would be a grim ceremony that morning at San Antonio’s 9-11 Memorial, held in memory of the victims of the terror attacks on the […]
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‘I noticed there were about a dozen people coming around the building towards me. They helped me out of my parachute harness and got my helmet off. In fact, they helped me so much that they were taking my flight suit.’

The president may or may not know this, but some of Petraeus’ staff members years ago reportedly called him “General Betrayus.” I’m learned that from a source who is in a position to know, a source I trust implicitly.
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‘Willis was a fearless and confident warrior who epitomized the highest forms of courage, heroism and selfless service on a daily basis.’ — Capt. Carlos Morales, company commander, in praise of Army Cpl. Tracy C. Willis
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If the surge is working as some people think, guys like Pfc. Sonny Weldon are the reason. He’s a working-class kid from Tomball, north of Houston, hurt when a roadside bomb blasted his armored Humvee in Baghdad. That was March 14. He’s still being treated at Brooke Army Medical Center. The Purple Heart he got […]
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