EDITORS NOTE: The following is an article submitted by Neil Block (Capt USN Ret), the Navy-half of the incredible Army-Navy lay leader team at Fort Benning, Georgia.  The story of the team is an amazing one and they are performing a truly valuable service to the Jewish men and women who serve and train at the base.

Each year the single most recognized college football classic is acknowledged to be the Army-Navy game.  In polls by sports television channels and magazines, that on-the-field event consistently is voted to be the most enduring sports rivalry in our country.  It is a classic event, once witnessed, never forgotten as to grit of competition, high level of sportsmanship by players as well as fans, and the enduring respect and admiration of the teams and their adherents on the field and off. The depth of emotion and passion of the play and the respect and comradery of the participants--cheering and playing--is unique in sports annals.  John Feinstein, the reputed national sports columnist, devoted an entire book, “The Civil Wars,” to the history and color of this event.

The annual Army-Navy football game, as well as other head-to-head sports confrontations, are the only events when one team and their supporters or the other actually roots against the other.  In all other competitions between either Army or Navy and other opponents, supporters always include adherents of the other non-participant.  Such is the comradery of the Cadets and Midshipmen, each to each other, as is that of their respective alumni.

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Editors Note: The following is an excerpt from Howard Leavtt’s Semper Chai , an amazing book that profiles numerous Jewish Marines through many generations.  This is the first of many features to come from Mr. Leavitt.

Sheldon Gross landed on Iwo Jima on D-Day with the fifth wave on February 19, 1945 and participated in combat action there as a private with the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines.  He remained there till relieved on March 16.

Gross was eighteen years of age at the time of induction.  He came through the draft board and volunteered for the Marine Corps.  Not only was he a college freshman at the time, but was an only child and entitled to a number of postponements, all of which he waived.

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It has often been said that there is no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole (or fighting hole for my fellow jarheads).  The main idea being that when the going gets tough, real tough, we all reach out for God.

So July’s question of the month asks:

How has the military affected your ties to Judaism?

You can vote in the monthly poll HERE.

* you can post comments as a guest, but you have to sign in on the forums to cast a vote

WBIR, in Tennessee reports that a local man who distributes commemorative medals for fallen service members will no longer receive support from the U.S. Army.

Bob Parker, founder of Fallen Friend used to receive the names and ranks of servicemen and women directly from the Army so he could distribute his medals.  The reason the Army has discontinued its support for the program is because the medals are engraved with “John 15:13”, a reference to a Christian bible verse.

You can imagine the controversy surrounding this issue.  While I personally wouldn’t want one sent to my family (because of the Christian reference), Mr. Parker is plainly doing this out of respect for the troops and I can respect that.  The other services still distribute the medals, but offer the families the choice of whether to receive one or not.

Since we would be a prime group that the Army is trying to respect in a decision like this, what’s your opinion on the matter?  Leave a comment below.

The DOD has recently established Military One Source, a “one stop” place to go whenever service members or family members need assistance with any kind of problem.

According to DefenseLINK , One Source is a hotline for active duty members and their families available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.  The services available range from common, everyday difficulties that might face a family to “life’s most complicated situations.”

The operators staffing the call center have at least a master’s degree in social work or some kind of counseling service trained specifically to deal with military issues.

For more information on One Source, check out the original DefenseLINK article, or log on to the Military One Source Website

The toll-free numbers for Military One Source are:

• From the United States: (800) 342-9647
• From outside the United States (where available): (800) 3429-6477
• International collect: (484) 530-5747

The New Jersey Star Ledger has a touching article honoring Sgt Alan David Sherman, a Jewish marine who was killed last week in Iraq when a roadside bomb tore through his convoy.

Donations to the Sgt. Alan Sherman Memorial Education Fund can be made in care of the Jewish Community Foundation of Monmouth County, 100 Grant Ave., Deal, N.J. 07723. 

The Washington Post recently posted an article on Doris Rubenfeld Lewis, who passed away at age 83 in May of this year.  She was a “teacher and artist, a wife and mother, a draftsman—she’d never call herself a “draftsperson”—and a Coast Guard veteran of World War II.” Although she lived most of her years in the Maryland/D.C. area, Lewis was born and raised in Bronx, N.Y. and graduated from the Cooper Union School of Art in New York.

In 1943, at age 22, Lewis signed up for the newly formed Coast Guard Women’s Reserve “better known by its nickname of SPARs, which combined the original Latin and the English translation of the Coast Guard motto: Semper Paratus, Always Ready.”

As an artist in the Coast Guard, she drafted designs of weapons, navigational tools and ship’s plans.  She was also a platoon leader and a member of the SPARs band.

To read more about Doris Rubenfeld Lewis, read the full Washington Post article. 

The Desert Dispatch recently wrote about Gene Selig, a Holocaust survivor who escaped from Sachsenhausen to the United States and later joined the Navy.

In the article, Mr. Selig reflects on the freedom he enjoys in the U.S. on July 4th.  However, he doesn’t hold anything back as he discusses his concern with the lack of many Americans’ appreciation of freedom, or other problems he sees with American society.

Nate Bloom of the Jewish World Review has written a follow-up article to his original about honoring Jewish service members who dies in Iraq.

Evidently, Mr. Bloom received a large response from readers (both good and bad).  In the new article he responds to some of the feedback he received.  Just as his previous article, it is an interesting read.  I also want to thank him for his mention of Jews in Green as a useful resource for Jewish military folks.

--> original JIG article

DefenseLINK reports that more than 30,000 troops are eligible for retroactive reimbursement of out-of-pocket air travel costs paid as part of R&R leave taken last year.

It affects service members who took R&R leave between Sept. 25, 2003, and Dec. 18, 2003, from duty in Afghanistan or Iraq and covers your airline ticket costs for to-and-from travel between R&R leave destinations and stateside aerial points of debarkation.

Instructions on how to file a reimbursement claim can be found HERE on CENTCOM’s R&R website.