Wisconsin's women soldiers: 'Watch your back'

She was a small-town girl who joined the Wisconsin National Guard to escape a life of repeated sexual abuse, but she found more of the same among her new band of brothers.

A fellow Wisconsin soldier raped her at Fort Bliss, Texas, where 3,200 members of the state Guard's 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team soldiers trained for weeks in 2009 before deploying to Iraq, she said.

"I do get nightmares and I do have really bad flashbacks," the woman said.

The Wisconsin native asked not to be identified in this article because she fears harassment from other soldiers.

"I don't want people to say ‘the girl is a whiner,'" she said.

While the experience has tormented her, reawakening painful memories of childhood assaults by family friends and boyfriends, the woman remains a loyal soldier because the military lifted her out of what she called a dead-end, small-town existence.

Read the full story in the Wisconsin State Journal.

Last chance to see Wisconsin exhibit on Iraq and Afghanistan fallen

Here's the word from the Wisconsin Veterans Museum:

The Wisconsin Veterans Museum will be closing “Faces in the Sand” and “The Rise of the Fallen” exhibits which honor the men and women who fought and fell in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, on Saturday, October 30, 2010.

The Museum needs to make room for the upcoming Civil War Sesquicentennial in 2011. Exhibits featuring some of the Museum’s rarest and most historically significant Civil War artifacts will replace “Faces in the Sand” and “The Rise of the Fallen.” A portion of “Faces in the Sand” will relocate permanently to the Museum’s 20^th Century Gallery and “The Rise of the Fallen” will travel the state in 2011.

For more information, contact Jeff Kollath, Curator of Programs and Exhibitions, at (608) 261-0541. The Wisconsin Veterans Museum is a free public educational activity of the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs and is located at 30 W. Mifflin St., across the street from the State Capitol. For more information go to www.museum.dva.state.wi.us.

Sal Giunta will be awarded MOH on Nov. 16

The White House today announced the date for Sal Giunta's medal of honor ceremony.

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 18, 2010



President Obama to Award Medal of Honor

On November 16, President Barack Obama will award Staff Sergeant Salvatore Giunta, U.S. Army, the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry. Staff Sergeant Giunta will receive the Medal of Honor for his courageous actions during combat operations against an armed enemy in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan in October, 2007. Staff Sergeant Giunta's wife, Jennifer, and his parents, Steven and Rosemary Giunta will join the President at the White House to commemorate his example of selfless service.



Further information about the media logistics for this ceremony will be released at a later date.



PERSONAL BACKGROUND:



Salvatore Augustine Giunta was born on January 21, 1985. He is a native of Hiawatha, Iowa. He enlisted in the United States Army in November 2003. He attended Basic Training and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Benning, Georgia. Staff Sergeant Giunta is currently assigned to 2-503rd Infantry Battalion, Rear Detachment, Camp Ederle, Italy.

Staff Sergeant Giunta has completed two combat tours to Afghanistan totaling 27 months of deployment.

His military decorations include: the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Army Commendation Medal w/oak leaf cluster, Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, two Army Good Conduct Medals, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, to name a few.



He is married to Jennifer Lynn Mueller. His parents are Steven and Rosemary Giunta of Hiawatha, Iowa



ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

THE MEDAL OF HONOR:

The Medal of Honor is awarded to a member of the Armed Forces who distinguishes themselves conspicuously by gallantry above and beyond the call of duty while:



engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States;
engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force; or
serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in an armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party.


The meritorious conduct must involve great personal bravery or self-sacrifice so conspicuous as to clearly distinguish the individual above his or her comrades and must have involved risk of life. There must be incontestable proof of the performance of the meritorious conduct, and each recommendation for the award must be considered on the standard of extraordinary merit.

Hero talks of Wisconsin ties

Army Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta, the first living recipient of the Medal of Honor since Vietnam, has some strong ties to Wisconsin.

In the battle that led to President Barack Obama designating him for the medal, Giunta prevented Afghan attackers from carrying off a wounded Wisconsin soldier, Sgt. Josh Brennan.

Brennan's father, Mike Brennan, is a McFarland resident and a Madison police officer.

Josh Brennan's cousin Joseph Brennan of Mequon is serving in the same unit in Afghanistan. You can read about the Brennan family here.

In a Sept. 11 interview, Giunta told the Wisconsin State Journal that he hopes the medal will increase awareness of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

He doesn't know how his life will change as the first living Medal of Honor recipient from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, but he hopes to be able raise awareness about what his fellow soldiers are experiencing.

"Nobody is over here is trick or treating, no one's handing out candy to us," he said.

Many in the military and elsewhere see life going on as usual in the United States while the wars continue to extract heavy sacrifices from those on the battlefields.

"We're sitting here in an air conditioned office in a reclining chair living this life, and we're able to live this life because there are people out there who are not living this life," Giunta said. "We'll spread the word. Sooner or later, they'll get tired of hearing it and they'll start listening."

In a press conference on Sept. 15, here's what Giunta told representatives of national media organizations:

And if other people don’t know, well, hopefully they’ll listen to this and they’ll remember that there’s out -- there’s men and women out there every single day giving everything for their country.

For more, read the State Journal's coverage on the day Giunta's medal was announced by the White House, and a preview article on July 4, 2010.

Emotional Wisconsin ties to Medal of Honor nominee

Family members of a Wisconsin soldier killed in Afghanistan believe that a member of his platoon may be on the verge of becoming the first living soldier to be awarded the Medal of Honor since the Vietnam War.

Army Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta, 24, (left) is credited with saving the lives of several fellow soldiers in a 2007 ambush that killed two, including Sgt. Joshua Brennan of McFarland.

Giunta charged the ambushers and prevented them from dragging the mortally wounded Brennan away, according to newspaper accounts and Brennan’s father, Michael Brennan of McFarland.

“Not only did he save Josh, so that we were able to have him back and have an open coffin at the funeral, he really saved half of the platoon,” said Brennan, a Madison police officer who has thanked Giunta and stayed in touch with other members of his son’s unit.

Read the story here.

In the photo at left, Mike Brennan of McFarland with a photo of his son, Sgt. Joshua Brennan, who was killed in a 2007 ambush in Afghanistan.

Celebration will provide overdue recognition

Laura Gilbert is a volunteer leader for Operation Celebrate Freedom, a fun event scheduled for Saturday, May 15, at the Jefferson County Fair Park Activity Center and grounds.

I got started with Operation Celebrate Freedom because I felt that when my husband was deployed that not only did my community not only not know that he was gone, there was no recognition for his return home. Although we don't look for that recognition, it sure doesn't hurt to get it, so I felt with the 3,200+ troops that were deployed last year the time to give them ALL appreciation was NOW. So I approached a local business owner Randy Schopen of Capn's Catering in Jefferson and asked for his help getting people together to get the ball rolling. So in September we had our first meeting. We are a completely volunteer committee comprised of Military and non Military members who just believe that our troops deserve to be welcomed home in a special manner.


We started making plans to have music, food, beverages, as well as educational booths for the veterans returning home about thier benefits post deployment. It turns out that we are also having a motorcycle ride into the event from the five counties surrounding Jefferson County that will meet at the Jefferson VFW and stage there then ride to the fairgrounds down Hwy 26 to Puerner St into the fairgrounds, the final leg of the ride will have the support of the SE WI Patriot Guards flags, citizens will hold flags as the motorcycles ride through to the fairgrounds. Basically we will have bands, food, beverages, kids activities informational booths, and hopefully a day of fun for our Veterans and families and an opprotunity for the general public to show appreciation to our recently returning Veterans.I can only tell you that this whole thing just started for me because I could not let the troops from WI be treated in a negative way on their return home, they deserve to be shown that we appreciate what they do for us no matter what our views on the war are, they are still fighting for our Country, they are still volunteering to do what they do they deserve to be shown a little appreciation for what they do. And ,we must not also forget the sacrifices of the families and what they go through during deployment it is a rough road for them too, they go from two parent families to one parent families. The children are often times too young to understand when mom or dad are leaving and even when they are old enough they still don't always understand the reason behind why their parent must leave.
Deployment is a difficult thing to have to go through and not every family makes it through sucessfully but for the ones that do, it changes your life forever! Your life becomes "before deployment and after deployment" references. That is why this event is so important to me, for those who made it they desereve to be recognized! I am proud to be an American Military family now more than ever, and I hope that all Military families feel the same way, we really go through more than civilians can imagine!

Wisconsin military family program honored at Pentagon

Sun Prairie's Janell Kellett, the Family Readiness Group leader for the 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the Wisconsin National Guard, was presented with a plaque during the 2009 Department of Defense Reserve Family Readiness Awards at the Pentagon on Friday. Awards went to the top program from each of the seven Guard and Reserve branches. Kellett - who recently told us about her visit with First Lady Michelle Obama -- and more than 100 other volunteers supported family readiness and morale during the 32nd IBCT's 12-month deployment. (American Forces Press Service photo)

Update: After I posted this, Janell was quick to email me the group photo -- you can't spell Family Readiness Group without the "group" -- showing other honorees: Top row: Karin Texidor, Becky Hynes, Catrina Bennett, Andrea Simonis and Pam Kletzien

Bottom Row: Janell Kellett and Tim Benz