Thank You Aaron Tipton

I received an email from my youngest son who is currently stationed over in Iraq. He told me that he and his soldiers had turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, macaroni and even egg nog for lunch. Then for dinner the Mason lodge there invited all his Soldiers over for a cookout and they grilled a turkey and some steaks it was really nice of them.

After dinner he got to meet Aaron Tipton who took time from his own friends and family this holiday season to give to our troops. He sang his big songs like "Where the Stars and Stripes and the Eagles Fly" and "Kiss This" but he told everyone he used to be a truck driver and he wanted to sing some good truck driver music. This was youngest son's favorite part of the show because youngest son and his brother have always loved the movie Smokey and the Bandit and they LOVED the song "East Bound and Down". Well I can't tell you how much it meant to my son to hear his favorite song.

Thank you Mr. Tipton from the bottom of my heart for making this holiday special for our men and women who are serving our country in Iraq.

Update-Gunman Was Taken Alive

Although originally it was reported that the gunman responsible for the carnage yesterday at Ft. Hood was dead, however, Gen. Robert W. Cone, commanding general of the Army’s III Corps, said at a press conference late Thursday that the gunman was actually captured alive.

Eleven of the victims died at the scene, military officials said. A 12th died later at a hospital, NBC station KCEN-TV of Waco reported. Cone said that most of those who were shot were military but two were civilians. The gunman, identified as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, was wounded at the scene but was captured alive and was in stable condition.

Col. Ben Danner said the suspect was shot at least four times. "I would say his death is not imminent," Cone said, adding that Hasan was in custody at a hospital.

Noting the Arabic nature of the gunman’s name, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington interest group, condemned “this cowardly attack in the strongest terms possible and ask that the perpetrators be punished to the full extent of the law.”

”No political or religious ideology could ever justify or excuse such wanton and indiscriminate violence,” the council said in a statement. “The attack was particularly heinous in that it targeted the all-volunteer army that protects our nation. American Muslims stand with our fellow citizens in offering both prayers for the victims and sincere condolences to the families of those killed or injured.”

I also learned this morning that the death toll rose to thirteen. Another update is that the female police officer that took down the gunman is also alive. She was originally identified as being among the dead but this is not true either. Finally one other person was taken into custody in regards to this incident.

What I find interesting is that yesterday I went on the DU and one of the posters had mentioned that her son was a soldier stationed there. She said her son told her not to believe what was in the news about this incident. One of the people that responded made a snarky remark about how one should always disount those kinds or remarks.

Well perhaps what that soldier knew wsa that this gunman really wasn't dead. Perhaps the military wanted to keep that under wraps because of the sensitive nature of the whole incident. Imagine, here you have someone shooting fellow soldiers, and he survives. For his own protection I imagine, they didn't make the announcement right away. As a matter of fact it seemed awhile before they even announced his name because it was a "Muslim Sounding name".

Today I learned that News Channel 25's (KXXV) Natasha Chen has learned the suspected shooter Maj. Malik Hasan had "Allah" keyed into his car last week. He reported it as a hate crime.

Please send your prayers to those soldiers and their families at this Facebook site that was set up for that purpose.