A few nice Weight loss images I found:
Shepherd Takes Knee 8479
Image by familymwr
All-Army boxer Staff Sgt. Andrew Shepherd of Fort Carson, Colo., takes a knee while his right forearm throbs during a 15-9 loss to Lenroy Thompson of Lenexa, Kan., in the super heavyweight division of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Men’s Boxing on Aug. 3 at the Mobile Civic Center in Mobile, Ala. U.S. Army photo by Tim Hipps, IMCOM Public Affairs
Vasquez leads Soldiers at U.S. Olympic Boxing Trials
By Tim Hipps
IMCOM Public Affairs
MOBILE, Ala. – U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program boxer Sgt. Samuel Vasquez was the last Soldier standing when he climbed into the ring at the U.S. Olympic Boxing Team Trials on Aug. 3 at the Mobile Civic Center.
Vasquez was leading after one round and tied after two, but Amir Imam of Albany, N.Y., unleashed a flurry of combinations midway through the third and final round for a 31-23 victory, eliminating Vasquez from the double-elimination tournament.
“I was doing well until the last round,” said Vasquez, 25, a two-time Armed Forces champion stationed at Fort Carson, Colo. “In that last round, I let my hands down. And when I let my hands down, I get clocked by shots I shouldn’t be taking.
“Once that happened, he broke me a little bit and I kind of fell apart. None of the shots hurt me, but I was counting his points in my mind and that discouraged me. I wanted to keep my hands up and still go forward to catch up, but he just kept scoring.”
Vasquez threw “bunches of punches” and led 9-7 after one round of the 152-pound bout. He stuck to his game plan in the second round and the score was tied going into the third. Then Vasquez reverted to his bulldog style and stepped into several of Imam’s scoring blows.
“In hindsight, I would have been smarter and boxed him more; maybe not allowed him to come in so much and countered his shots,” Vasquez said. “He was careful. He did it perfectly. He watched what I did and waited for me to engage him, and then came right at me. … He was the smarter boxer today. I let my ego get to me, but I’ll be back.”
Army WCAP boxing coach Basheer Abdullah, a three-time U.S. Olympic coach and technical advisor, agreed with Vasquez’s assessment.
“I know he left it in the ring and I know that he can beat any of these guys when he’s performing up to his best,” Abdullah said. “When he performs up to his ability and stays focused and executes the fight plans, then he gives himself a great chance of winning. I think he’s going to learn a lot from this.”
On Wednesday, Vasquez was in complete control during his 18-10 victory over Bryant Perella of Lehigh Acres, Fla.
“He’s in all the national tournaments at the end, like top four, so I knew he was pretty decent,” Vasquez said. “I kept staying in and just boxed.”
Vasquez was encouraged by his 19-10 victory over Golden Gloves reigning national champion Arturo Trujillo of Easton, Pa., on Tuesday.
“I knew he was an aggressive fighter,” Vasquez said. “I was coming forward, but he was slower than me. Every time he came in, it would be boom, boom, boom, and I would move out of the way. He couldn’t touch me. He kept on missing.”
Vasquez started rolling with a 26-10 victory over Houston’s Regis Prograis on Monday night.
“I just boxed him,” Vasquez said. “He wasn’t any problem. I just kept my distance. He was a shorter guy, and I just out-boxed him.”
Vasquez lost a 24-17 decision to eventual tournament champion Errol Spence of Desoto, Texas, in their opening bout on Sunday.
“I didn’t box him,” Vasquez said. “I went in for the knockout all three rounds, and I wore him down. After the fight, I told him, ‘I’m coming for you. I’ll see you in the finals.’
“Errol told me, ‘To be honest with you, I hope you lose because I don’t want to fight you again.’ Those were his exact words. So I knew I had him.”
Vasquez, however, did not advance to the finals against Spence, but the Soldier’s chances of competing in London at the 2012 Olympic Games did not necessarily end in Mobile.
Boxers who prevailed at the U.S. Olympic Trials must qualify their respective weight classes to compete in the Olympics. The boxers from light flyweight through light heavyweight will have to place in the top 10 while the heavyweight and super heavyweights will have to place in the top six at the 2011 International Boxing Association World Championships this autumn in Baku, Azerbaijan. If they falter in Azerbaijan, USA Boxing will re-open those weight classes to competitors at the 2012 U.S. National Championships. Winners there will then attempt to qualify their weight classes for the Olympics at a last-chance America’s Qualifier in Mexico.
Vasquez is already talking about becoming a professional fighter, but he has not given up on boxing in London just yet.
“I need to turn pro, that’s my whole goal through this thing,” Vasquez said. “To make the Olympic team, of course, was my first goal. I still have a chance because if [Spence] does not qualify my weight class we’re going to have another tournament, and I’m in it, so it’s not over yet.”
Abdullah agreed.
“If we don’t qualify this weight class at the World Championships and he goes back to the reload tournament, I think he’s got a great chance of pulling it out,” he said. “The road to London does not stop in Mobile. There’s still a very slim chance of getting some Army boxers back in there to have the opportunity to try to qualify.”
Six other Soldiers competed at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Men’s Boxing, contested July 31 through Aug. 6 in Mobile.
Staff Sgt. Andrew Shepherd, 30, a former WCAP boxer stationed at Fort Carson, won his first two bouts of the tournament before dropping a 15-9 decision to eventual super heavyweight champion Lenroy Thompson of Lenexa, Kan., on Wednesday.
“I wasn’t able to get the big guy off of me,” Shepherd said. “I wasn’t able to physically move him. I wasn’t sure if he hit me or I was throwing a shot, but I felt something shoot up my arm and I took a knee.
“With the pain and the lack of strength that I had in my arm, I didn’t feel like I could effectively keep him off of me. I was up by two points after the first round and my arm wasn’t responding. It went downhill from there.”
Shepherd withdrew from his scheduled Thursday bout against San Francisco’s Laron Mitchell because of a suspected stress fracture in his right forearm sustained Monday during his 25-15 victory over Brett Rather of Las Vegas.
“It caused a problem [against Thompson on Wednesday night],” Shepherd said. “I didn’t feel like I could put any power on my right hand to slow him down or deter him from coming in.
“I went to the hospital and they didn’t see a broken bone, which is good,” Shepherd said. “The doctor thinks it’s a stress fracture. It’s disappointing, especially when [Thompson] was a guy who I beat at the last Olympic Trials.”
Shepherd opened the tourney Sunday with an 18-8 victory over O’Jayland Brown of Sacramento.
“I was feeling real good about my bracket and I was feeling real good about the way I competed on the first night,” Shepherd said. “On the second night, when the pain got more severe, I still felt good about that but I just wasn’t able to carry forward, unfortunately.”
Spc. Jeffrey Spencer of the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program at Fort Carson was eliminated by Sijou Shabazz of Las Cruces, N.M., who prevailed 12-10 in their light heavyweight bout on Wednesday.
“I felt this week that Spencer gave two bouts away by poor execution and a lack of will for going forward,” Abdullah said. “On the other nights, he was very entertaining. I think he defeated one of the most talented boxers in his division. He executed and he listened. I was impressed.”
That was Abdullah’s take on Spencer’s 12-11 victory over Shaborn Ryals of Capitol Heights, Md., on Tuesday.
“He was off and on,” Abdullah said. “He has the talent to win that weight class.”
Abdullah thinks the light-heavyweight class is one of Team USA’s weakest for the international style of boxing, therefore Spencer may get another opportunity next year to make the Olympic squad.
“If Spencer gets another chance, I’m very optimistic of his chances if we get back to the reload,” Abdullah said.
WCAP boxer Staff Sgt. John Franklin of Fort Carson lost 22-13 to three-time U.S. Olympic Team member Rau’shee Warren of Cincinnati at 114 pounds on Sunday.
Franklin bounced back to score a 28-14 victory over Gabriel Montoya of Rock Springs, Wyo., on Monday before being eliminated Tuesday by Oscar Cantu of Kingsville, Texas. Cantu prevailed 78-73 on a tiebreaker after battling Franklin to a 15-15 deadlock.
WCAP Capt. Michael Benedosso of Fort Carson and All-Army boxers Sgts. Charles Blackwell of Tucson, Ariz., and Toribio Ramirez of Fort Stewart, Ga., lost both of their bouts in Mobile.
Memorial Day 30 May 2011, flag raising ceremony in Queen Elizabeth Park Paekakariki.
Image by US Embassy New Zealand
Memorial Day Service at Old St Paul’s, Wellington – May 30, 2011.
Related:
Remarks by the President at a Memorial Day Service
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington, Virginia
11:25 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you so much. Please be seated.
Thank you, Secretary Gates, and thank you for your extraordinary service to our nation. I think that Bob Gates will go down as one of our finest Secretaries of Defense in our history, and it’s been an honor to serve with him. (Applause.)
I also want to say a word about Admiral Mullen. On a day when we are announcing his successor as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and as he looks forward to a well-deserved retirement later this year, Admiral Mullen, on behalf of all Americans, we want to say thank you for your four decades of service to this great country. (Applause.) We want to thank Deborah Mullen as well for her extraordinary service. To Major General Karl Horst, the commanding general of our Military District of Washington; Mrs. Nancy Horst; Mr. Patrick Hallinan, the superintendent of Arlington National Cemetery, as well as his lovely wife Doreen. And to Chaplain Steve Berry, thank you for your extraordinary service. (Applause.)
It is a great privilege to return here to our national sanctuary, this most hallowed ground, to commemorate Memorial Day with all of you. With Americans who’ve come to pay their respects. With members of our military and their families. With veterans whose service we will never forget and always honor. And with Gold Star families whose loved ones rest all around us in eternal peace.
To those of you who mourn the loss of a loved one today, my heart breaks goes out to you. I love my daughters more than anything in the world, and I cannot imagine losing them. I can’t imagine losing a sister or brother or parent at war. The grief so many of you carry in your hearts is a grief I cannot fully know.
This day is about you, and the fallen heroes that you loved. And it’s a day that has meaning for all Americans, including me. It’s one of my highest honors, it is my most solemn responsibility as President, to serve as Commander-in-Chief of one of the finest fighting forces the world has ever known. (Applause.) And it’s a responsibility that carries a special weight on this day; that carries a special weight each time I meet with our Gold Star families and I see the pride in their eyes, but also the tears of pain that will never fully go away; each time I sit down at my desk and sign a condolence letter to the family of the fallen.
Sometimes a family will write me back and tell me about their daughter or son that they’ve lost, or a friend will write me a letter about what their battle buddy meant to them. I received one such letter from an Army veteran named Paul Tarbox after I visited Arlington a couple of years ago. Paul saw a photograph of me walking through Section 60, where the heroes who fell in Iraq and Afghanistan lay, by a headstone marking the final resting place of Staff Sergeant Joe Phaneuf.
Joe, he told me, was a friend of his, one of the best men he’d ever known, the kind of guy who could have the entire barracks in laughter, who was always there to lend a hand, from being a volunteer coach to helping build a playground. It was a moving letter, and Paul closed it with a few words about the hallowed cemetery where we are gathered here today.
He wrote, “The venerable warriors that slumber there knew full well the risks that are associated with military service, and felt pride in defending our democracy. The true lesson of Arlington,” he continued, “is that each headstone is that of a patriot. Each headstone shares a story. Thank you for letting me share with you [the story] about my friend Joe.”
Staff Sergeant Joe Phaneuf was a patriot, like all the venerable warriors who lay here, and across this country, and around the globe. Each of them adds honor to what it means to be a soldier, sailor, airman, Marine, and Coast Guardsman. Each is a link in an unbroken chain that stretches back to the earliest days of our Republic — and on this day, we memorialize them all.
We memorialize our first patriots — blacksmiths and farmers, slaves and freedmen — who never knew the independence they won with their lives. We memorialize the armies of men, and women disguised as men, black and white, who fell in apple orchards and cornfields in a war that saved our union. We memorialize those who gave their lives on the battlefields of our times — from Normandy to Manila, Inchon to Khe Sanh, Baghdad to Helmand, and in jungles, deserts, and city streets around the world.
What bonds this chain together across the generations, this chain of honor and sacrifice, is not only a common cause — our country’s cause — but also a spirit captured in a Book of Isaiah, a familiar verse, mailed to me by the Gold Star parents of 2nd Lieutenant Mike McGahan. “When I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here I am. Send me!”
That’s what we memorialize today. That spirit that says, send me, no matter the mission. Send me, no matter the risk. Send me, no matter how great the sacrifice I am called to make. The patriots we memorialize today sacrificed not only all they had but all they would ever know. They gave of themselves until they had nothing more to give. It’s natural, when we lose someone we care about, to ask why it had to be them. Why my son, why my sister, why my friend, why not me?
These are questions that cannot be answered by us. But on this day we remember that it is on our behalf that they gave our lives — they gave their lives. We remember that it is their courage, their unselfishness, their devotion to duty that has sustained this country through all its trials and will sustain us through all the trials to come. We remember that the blessings we enjoy as Americans came at a dear cost; that our very presence here today, as free people in a free society, bears testimony to their enduring legacy.
Our nation owes a debt to its fallen heroes that we can never fully repay. But we can honor their sacrifice, and we must. We must honor it in our own lives by holding their memories close to our hearts, and heeding the example they set. And we must honor it as a nation by keeping our sacred trust with all who wear America’s uniform, and the families who love them; by never giving up the search for those who’ve gone missing under our country’s flag or are held as prisoners of war; by serving our patriots as well as they serve us — from the moment they enter the military, to the moment they leave it, to the moment they are laid to rest.
That is how we can honor the sacrifice of those we’ve lost. That is our obligation to America’s guardians — guardians like Travis Manion. The son of a Marine, Travis aspired to follow in his father’s footsteps and was accepted by the USS [sic] Naval Academy. His roommate at the Academy was Brendan Looney, a star athlete and born leader from a military family, just like Travis. The two quickly became best friends — like brothers, Brendan said.
After graduation, they deployed — Travis to Iraq, and Brendan to Korea. On April 29, 2007, while fighting to rescue his fellow Marines from danger, Travis was killed by a sniper. Brendan did what he had to do — he kept going. He poured himself into his SEAL training, and dedicated it to the friend that he missed. He married the woman he loved. And, his tour in Korea behind him, he deployed to Afghanistan. On September 21st of last year, Brendan gave his own life, along with eight others, in a helicopter crash.
Heartbroken, yet filled with pride, the Manions and the Looneys knew only one way to honor their sons’ friendship — they moved Travis from his cemetery in Pennsylvania and buried them side by side here at Arlington. “Warriors for freedom,” reads the epitaph written by Travis’s father, “brothers forever.”
The friendship between 1st Lieutenant Travis Manion and Lieutenant Brendan Looney reflects the meaning of Memorial Day. Brotherhood. Sacrifice. Love of country. And it is my fervent prayer that we may honor the memory of the fallen by living out those ideals every day of our lives, in the military and beyond. May God bless the souls of the venerable warriors we’ve lost, and the country for which they died. (Applause.)
END 11:37 A.M. EDT
Republic P-47D Thunderbolt
Image by ksr8s
Five by Five, 362nd Fighter Group, 9th Air Force, Commander Col. Joseph Laughlin 1945
Renowned for its ruggedness, firepower and speed, the massive Republic P-47 was one of the most famous and important USAAF fighters during World War II. Produced in larger numbers than any other U.S. fighter, the Thunderbolt — affectionately nicknamed the "Jug" — served as a bomber escort and as a very effective ground attack fighter.
Origin
The Thunderbolt was the end result of a series of radial-engine fighters developed in the 1930s by Russian émigrés Alexander de Seversky and Alexander Kartveli. Although the P-47 design originated as a small, inline-engine lightweight interceptor, changing requirements drastically altered the project. The considerably larger prototype XP-47B weighed over twice as much as the original concept.
Into Service
The first production version, the P-47B, entered service in the spring of 1942. Production and development problems limited the 171 built to training use only. The follow-on P-47C corrected some of the vices of the P-47B, and it started coming off the production line in September 1942.
Hitting Its Stride — The P-47D
With over 12,500 built, the P-47D became the most-produced and widely-used model of the Thunderbolt. The early P-47Ds were similar to the P-47C, with the most important change being additional armor around the pilot. Although they were fast and had an excellent roll rate, early P-47s suffered from poor climbing performance and short range.
Over the course of its production, the P-47D was greatly improved. A more efficient propeller significantly increased the climb rate. Internal fuel tank capacity became larger and new wing mounts carried droppable fuel tanks or bombs in addition to those on the underside fuselage mount. Late-model P-47Ds received more wing mounts to carry a total of 10 air-to-ground rockets. The Thunderbolt became even faster with engine water injection, which allowed higher emergency horsepower. The most visible change during the P-47D production run was the new "bubble-top" canopy, which provided much better all-around vision for the pilot.
The Thunderbolt in Combat
The USAAF and several Allied nations used the P-47 in nearly every combat theater. Through 1943 in Europe, the P-47C and P-47D equipped the majority of 8th Air Force fighter groups in England (and one in the 15th Air Force in Italy) as a long-range escort fighter. But since they couldn’t escort USAAF heavy bombers all the way to some targets, longer-ranged P-51 Mustangs gradually replaced them in the escort role (with the sole exception of the 56th Fighter Group). The rugged and heavily-armed P-47D proved to be ideal for ground attack, though, and it became the backbone of the fighter-bomber force in the 9th Air Force in western Europe and the 12th Air Force in southern Europe.
In the Pacific, several 5th Air Force fighter groups flew the P-47D against Japanese air and ground forces in New Guinea and the Philippines in 1943-1944. Later, five groups in the 7th Air Force (and, in the closing weeks of the war, the 20th Air Force) flew the much longer-ranged P-47N as an escort fighter for B-29s against the Japanese homeland.
The P-47D did not arrive in the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater until late spring 1944, but it flew as an effective fighter-bomber in several units there, including the famous 1st Air Commando Group.
Many Allied countries also flew the P-47D in combat in WWII, including Brazil, Free France, Great Britain, Mexico and the Soviet Union.
The Long-Legged P-47N
Range continued to be a problem for the Thunderbolt until the introduction of the P-47N, which breathed new life into the P-47 design. The P-47N had a more powerful engine and introduced a new wing which, unlike the P-47D’s, carried two 96-gallon internal fuel tanks. The P-47N was 40 mph faster and could fly over 800 miles farther than the P-47D. The first production models appeared in September 1944, and over 1,800 were built. During the war, the P-47N was only used in the Pacific Theater.
Post-War Use
P-47Ds and P-47Ns continued to serve in the USAAF (after 1947, the U.S. Air Force) as initial equipment for SAC, TAC and ADC squadrons. In 1948 the Thunderbolt was redesignated the F-47. As more jet fighters came into the inventory, the USAF phased out the F-47 in 1949, but the Air National Guard continued to use it into the mid-1950s.
During the Korean War, the USAF theater commander, Lt. Gen. George Stratemeyer, requested that F-47s be sent. But, due to the shortage of spare parts and logistical complications, his request was denied. Many countries in Latin America, along with Iran, Italy, Nationalist China, Turkey and Yugoslavia continued to operate the Thunderbolt, some into the 1960s.
Of the grand total of 15,683 P-47s built, approximately two-thirds reached operational commands overseas and 5,222 were lost in action, including 1,722 non-combat losses. In 1.35 million combat hours flown, the combat loss was less than 0.7 percent, an exceptionally low figure attesting to the strength of the aircraft.
The Museum’s Aircraft
The aircraft on display is a P-47D-40 (S/N 45-49167), and it was built at the Republic plant in Evansville, Ind. In the late 1940s, it was transferred to the Peruvian air force. The aircraft later came to the museum in 1981. It is painted as the P-47D-30 Five by Five flown by Col. Joseph Laughlin, commander of the 362nd Fighter Group, 9th Air Force, in early 1945.
TECHNICAL NOTES:
Armament: Eight .50-cal machine guns and 2,500 lbs. of bombs or rockets
Engine: One Pratt & Whitney R-2800 radial of 2,430 hp
Maximum speed: 433 mph
Cruising speed: 350 mph
Range: Approx. 1,100 miles with drop tanks
Ceiling: 42,000 ft.
Span: 40 ft. 9 in.
Length: 36 ft. 2 in.
Height: 14 ft. 8 in.
Weight: 17,500 lbs. maximum
