An urgent call for solidarity with the people of Pakistan

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Dear friends, As you are probably aware, Pakistan has been hit over the past weeks with rains and flooding of an enormous and unprecedented scale. The Communist Party of Pakistan has issued an appeal to fraternal parties, including the CPUSA, to help their country’s stricken people. This help is of the highest urgency. There are reliable reports of more than 2,500 dead, 2.5 million acres of cropland inundated, 400,000 domestic animals drowned or starved, and almost 25 million people displaced or otherwise affected—representing 15 percent of the country’s population of 170 million. Latest reports are that nearly a million people have been cut off from all help by the rampaging floodwaters. There is a danger of epidemics of cholera and other water borne diseases. The damage to property, public and private, is huge and will take years to overcome. The CPUSA asks its members and friends to extend a hand in solidarity to the Pakistani people. We urge everybody to contribute to helping Pakistan through MADRE, a progressive U.S. based organization that has worked in Pakistan before and that has a long history of help in overseas disaster operations. It’s simple: Just click here to go to the MADRE website and they will walk you through the steps to take to send help to the Pakistani people.

Discussion with Detroit business and community leaders

U.S. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, conducts a round table discussion with Detroit business and community leaders in Detroit, Aug. 26, 2010. Mullen is on three-day Conversation with the Country tour to the midwest discussing needs of returning troops, their families, and how community leaders can support them. DoD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley.


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Face of Defense: Soldier Overcomes Spinal Injury

By Army Sgt. Erica N. Cain
479th Field Artillery Brigade, 1st Army Division West

FORT HOOD, Texas, Aug. 25, 2010 – Her physical training may look ordinary, but for Army Staff Sgt. Dani Ventre of the 479th Field Artillery Brigade’s Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, it represents her extraordinary resilience in overcoming a spinal injury.

“I have been on and off a ‘dead man’s’ profile for six years, which doesn’t allow me to participate in any organized physical fitness training,” Ventre said. But when her temporary profile ended, Ventre set goals for herself and began participating in the battery’s organized fitness training at her own pace.

Army Staff Sgt. Dani Ventre pulls a weighted sled during physical fitness training for the 479th Field Artillery Brigade’s Headquarters and Headquarters Battery at Fort Hood, Texas, Aug. 19, 2010. A spinal injury prevented Ventre from participating in unit physical fitness training until recently. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Sebastian Bankston   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.

“During her recovery time, she would go over on run days and walk the quad, pushing herself to get the most she could until the unit finished physical fitness training, and come back for cool-down,” said Army 1st Sgt. James B. Hopkins, the battery’s first sergeant. “She worked very hard to set her own goals and stuck to them.”

Ventre said she took it upon herself to participate because she knew it would help her. “The physical fitness looked fun and would help me improve my physical ability, so I wanted to push myself to participate,” she explained. “My motivation to recover is not to hurt any more. I used to be a PT ‘stud muffin.’ Not so much anymore.”

Hopkins said Ventre’s motivation has been impressive. “What really stood out was the day the unit went on a battery run and Ventre lined up in the fourth rank with the pacesetters,” he said. “The lead soldier fell out of the group run, and Ventre was there to close the gap; she had never quit.”

Ventre said she’s been taking it slowly. “But I realize that the physical fitness sessions will help me recover and not be on profile any longer,” she added, “making me a better soldier, physically and mentally.”

Meanwhile, Hopkins said, Ventre’s resilience and determination set a good example. “At the end of the day,” he said, “that’s what it’s all about: a soldier never giving up and fighting until the end.”

The daughter of a South Korean sailor

From left, U.S. Navy Culinary Specialist 2nd Class Wiellard Guillermo and Culinary Specialist Seaman Billyartjoel Mateo present a cake to Jeon Ye Een, the daughter of a South Korean sailor, as USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19) arrives in Busan, South Korea, Aug. 13, 2010. Blue Ridge is in Busan for the second time this year to conduct community service projects. (DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Daniel Viramontes, U.S. Navy/Released)

Practices English phrases with Vietnamese children

U.S. Navy Cryptologic Technician 3rd Class Manuel Dominguez, right, assigned to the guided missile destroyer USS John S. McCain (DDG 56), practices English phrases with Vietnamese children during a community service project at a primary school in Da Nang, Vietnam, Aug. 12, 2010. McCain is on a port visit to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the United States. (DoD photo by Lt. Mike Morley, U.S. Navy/Released)

Unloading bags of flour

Pakistani men unload bags of flour from a U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter in Swat Valley in Pakistan, Aug. 11, 2010. Humanitarian relief and evacuation missions are being conducted as part of the disaster relief efforts to assist Pakistanis in flood-stricken regions of the nation. (DoD photo by Sgt. Monica K. Smith, U.S. Army/Released)

Celebrating the 91st anniversary of the country’s independence

Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Afghan Minister of Defense Abdul Rahim Wardak attend a ceremony in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 19, 2010, to celebrate the 91st anniversary of the country’s independence. The ceremony commemorates the signing of the Treaty of Rawalpindi, which granted Afghanistan its independence from British rule in 1919. During the ceremony, Karzai also laid a wreath on the independence monument in memory of the fallen soldiers who gave their lives for the country’s freedom. (DoD photo by Staff Sgt. Bradley Lail, U.S. Air Force/Released)