Arkansas Blog: Enough to say grace over

Who said John Brummett was grumpy? He gives a warm-spirited list of things to be thankful for. (I think I'd have put Shalah at the top, John. Not that she's the type to notice such a thing.)

By the way: If you haven't seen this week's paper, Bob Lancaster's column is another masterpiece of the thanks genre.

My embarrassment of riches begins with Ellen, Martha and Fritz, then moves pretty quickly to covering the news and the technology that has put us back in that game -- at all hours, as last night, with video even. Blogging wouldn't be nearly so much fun without my co-conspirators, the 2,500 or so who are registered commenters on the Arkansas Blog and the thousands (130,000 unique visitors in October) who are just drive-by participants. Thanks. Let's eat.

ALSO: On the jump, the National Guard (and all of us) began welcoming home the 39th Infantry Brigade from its long and difficult duty in Iraq.

CAMP SHELBY JOINT FORCES TRAINING CENTER, Miss. - Shedding tears of joy on
the eve of Thanksgiving, a number of Arkansas Families gave thanks here one
day early as they welcomed their Soldiers home from Iraq.

Approximately 160 members of the Arkansas Army National Guard's Crossett and
El Dorado based Troop A, 1st Squadron, 151st Cavalry Regiment, arrived here
late Wednesday night, leading the way home for the 39th Infantry Brigade
Combat Team. The remainder of the brigade's 3,200 Soldiers is scheduled to
return throughout the month of December.

The brigade has conducted a security mission throughout various locations in
Iraq since it initially deployed in late March 2008. Based in the
International Zone of Baghdad, Troop A alone conducted well over 1,000
personal security detail missions during their eight months on the ground in
Iraq.

"My guys executed personal security detail missions for the U.S. Department
of State, the United Nations, and the Baghdad Provincial Reconstruction
Team," said Troop A's commander, Capt. Jeffery Westbrook, of Benton, Ark.
"We were actually tasked with escorting the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, the
special representative to the secretary general of the U.N., as well as other
reps from the U.S. Department of Justice."

Although the return home came with multiple delays and timeline shifts,
seeing their Families in time for the holidays left the Soldiers and their
Families with a common emotion.

"It feels great. Glad to be home," said Spc. Curtis Aiken, of Hamburg, Ark.,
who was holding his daughter Kirsten in his arms with wife Stephanie by his
side. "I'm very thankful I made it back."

Aiken's was one of roughly 75 Family members who made the long drive from
Arkansas to Camp Shelby in hopes of spending Thanksgiving with their
returning Soldier. Due to arriving so close to the holiday, the Soldiers
were released for the evening and allowed to spend the holiday with their
Families who made the trip.

Although these Soldiers have made it back to the states, their mobilization
is not yet over. The troops begin the four-to-five-day demobilization
process at Camp Shelby Friday morning - a process the adjutant general asked
them not to take lightly.

"We ask that our Soldiers take the demobilization process seriously and
discuss any issues they have as a result of the deployment, whether it is
something as simple as back pain or something as complex as post traumatic
stress," Maj. Gen. William Wofford wrote in a letter to the Soldiers and
their Families. "We ask that the Families of these Soldiers encourage them
to be candid during the demobilization process in order to help us help them.
The only thing better than having your loved one home for the holidays is
having them home and healthy during the holidays for years to come."

As the general addressed the Soldiers and their Families at the welcome home
ceremony he thanked them for their service and their sacrifice. He also
asked them to remember the words of former President Ronald Reagan when
reflecting on that sacrifice.

"You need to remember that freedom is never more than one generation away
from extinction," quoted the general. "It's not something that's passed down
in the bloodstream. It's a responsibly of each generation to protect that
freedom, to preserve it, and sometimes to have to fight for it - just as you
have done. Because if we don't do that, one of these days in our sunset
years, we'll be telling our children and our children's children, what it was
like to live in a country when men were free."

The 39th Brigade was the first National Guard brigade combat team to deploy
for a second tour in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. About half of the
brigade had deployed on the first mobilization which ran from October 2003 to
April 2005.

Comprised of Soldiers from all four corners of the state, the 39th Brigade
was initially called to active duty for training in preparation for this
second deployment on October 1, 2007, and was federally mobilized the
following January.

Since September 11, 2001, the Arkansas National Guard as a whole has
mobilized over 11,200 Soldiers and Airmen in support of the global war on
terrorism.

Comments

Raising a cup of herbal tea to you Max, our news cycle man and friend of reality community.

What's for breakfast on Thanksgiving morning?

Here, two eggs with cayenne, sprouted whole grain toast-almond butter, applesauce, Hebrew National Kosher franks 97% lean . Weird but delicious.

Pippin the Dog gets fresh beef liver.

Posted by: eLwood | November 27, 2008 07:46 AM

So much to be thankful for! Of course, I'm most thankful for my family--nuclear and extended--our health, home, and life. Though current economic crisis continues to do a number on my quite modest 401ks, we are still wealthy beyond the imagination of the average person on Earth. And we mostly take that for granted.

This is the first Thanksgiving since I started coming to the AT blog that I have not had a sense of hopelessness and dread regarding our country and its future. A common thought or declaration amidst the fog of the miserable, all but gone Cheney reign was, "Well, at least we've got each other." For the restoration of pride and hope that this month's election brought, I am truly grateful.

And, yes, I am thankful for this forum...where I get the biggest part of my news, and where I feel a sense of community with other participants. It was so much fun to celebrate election night among some friends whose faces I don't get to see very often, or whose faces I got to see for the first time. I hope we have other opportunities to gather, but in the meantime we can meet here among the pixels.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted by: hugh mann | November 27, 2008 08:28 AM

I'm thankful for family, friends, and faith as well as for this forum and those who make it possible. Thanks, Max for maintaining this table of talk where all are welcome! May everyone have a safe, happy, and hopeful Thanksgiving!

Posted by: Perplexed | November 27, 2008 09:09 AM

It is a more special Thanksgiving morning this morning. But my thankfulness isn't backed by cock-surety because we've got an awful long way to go before we're out of the woods. The first step towards getting out of the woods has been made though. For that I am thankful. Next year we'll find out if Frank Capra was full of shit or not. We'll find out if there is a good human left in politics. We'll find out if Barack Obama can feel the spirit of millions and millions of dead people who came before him, ever since the first black person landed in the pre-US in 1619. How can he let them down?

I'm thankful that us white people are going to finally have to learn how to share. For over 2 centuries we were the top dogs, we mattered, we counted, and no one else did. I grew up in neighborhoods made safe from the menacing black man....keep em at the edge of town and damn the first person to sell their house to a Negro! And damn they did for many years and it kept the black folks on the poor side of town and out of our view and away from our treasure.

As liberal as I am, I'm still shocked some days when I noticed everyone around me, everyone that drives past my house, everyone at the store are so.....so......non-white. Now I know what those 8 little black kids who were pushed into the door of my 4th grade class....I now know how they felt all their lives. And it's a little scary and at times doesn't feel too safe. But tough luck.....it's the way it is and if they could live like that for centuries....I'll manage somehow.

Because it's the right thing.....ack....not like the right thing that is outlined in Huck's book, but the real right thing. The world will never be a better place as long as we keep someone pushed off in a corner. No one wants to be a 2nd class citizen, not black people, not brown people, not gay people. Hey...not even atheists! But it seems far too many Americans have to push others down in order to feel up about themselves. A better example of this could never be found than Flannery O'Connor's Revelation. Find it....read it, digest it.

And white people, for Christ's sake figure out that violent crime comes from people who are ignorant and poor.....and mad. So for the sake of your own skin, every human who escapes from the bad side of town is one human less you have to fear at night while you sleep. Every kid who gets an education is one less kid you have to fear in a dark alley. We'll never be able to cure crime or hate, but we can make a big dent in it by doing our best to include everyone in the good things of life.

I am thankful for my family, I never expected to marry so well or birth such amazing children that seem to get better with every passing day. I'm thankful for Arkansas, my home, the place my ashes will eventually be found in an abandoned rent house...no wait....let's make it better than that. I'm thankful for the AT and the blog in hopes that with open communication and meaningful discussion, we might someday help lift my state from 48th and realize our potential and figure out how the state that has birthed the largest corporations in the world can also lift itself up to where every citizen of Arkansas gets a piece of the pie. You know we sometimes like to bash the Waltons cause their so damn rich, but I really am expecting Alice's Crystal Bridges to inject some appreciation of culture into our state. If it is half as successful as the Clinton Library and school.....won't the next decade be great! We need more of these things so we can attract more industry that relies less on grunt labor. This is a hopeful day! This is the key that makes this symbol @....wow...I didn't know! So Happy Thanksgiving and may we be even more thankful next year.

Posted by: DeathbyInchesII | November 27, 2008 11:26 AM

As always I am thankful for my wonderful husband and son, my extended family, our herd of dogs and cats, the fact that even though my husband has lost his over-time he still has a job and we still have a roof over our heads and (as of yet) we are still fairly healthy.

But what swells my heart this year is our President Elect.
Our 8 year nightmare will soon be over....
Obama goodness that will melt the most cynical of hearts, click the name.

Posted by: Any*Mouse | November 27, 2008 12:11 PM

And open letter to all American citizens and any other person in the world:

Please do not shoot or otherwise harm our President-Elect nor when he takes office. Thanks in advance, DBI

Posted by: DeathbyInchesII | November 27, 2008 12:57 PM

Thank goodness for the Arkansas Times and for keeping the spirit of freedom and free expression uppermost in our minds. If a people like ours can have such diverse opinions and disagreements, then no one can conquer us.

And thanks for 2008 which gave us another chance and a better choice. Our strength is simple: when the going gets tough, we reach out to help each other. The world will long remember us for that -- let's not forget it in the days ahead.

Posted by: Jake da Snake | November 27, 2008 05:10 PM

A Thanksgiving Card for All! Click

P.S. In case Typepad doesn't allow it.

Happy Thanksgiving ArkTimes Bloggers!

DocHolliday

Posted by: docholliday | November 27, 2008 06:26 PM

I am thankful for the men and women of the armed forces and law enforcement that allow me to gather with family and friends for a peaceful turkey dinner. Unlike those poor souls in Mumbai.

I am thankful that terror has not visited our homeland since 2001.

We take way too much for granted.

Posted by: JayFrame | November 27, 2008 10:35 PM

Arkansas Blog

Enough to say grace over

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