May Newsletter from the 1/501 in Afghanistan

UNCLASSIFIED
Dear Geronimo Supporters,

Here is the latest edition of our Newsletter coming at you from Afghanistan. I hope it finds all of you healthy and in good spirits. As always, the men and women of the 1-501st and all of our attachments are doing great. It has been a busy month with lots of things happening in our area of operation.
Thank you for your continued support, encouragement and prayers.
Respectfully,
CSM Kirk Johnson 1-501st IN (Airborne) 4th BDE 25th IN DIV FOB Salerno

CLICK HERE to view or download the latest from A-stan

The 1/501 in Afghanistan Update

I'm happy to report that Command Sergeant Major Johnson has sent me another newsletter from Afghanistan. I have the new pdf file linked at our A /1/501 website homepage and I'm putting a link here also.
The 1/501 in Afghanistan April 2012
It has quickly become apparent that many visitors here are definately interested in what the Geronimo's of today are doing. While the march newsletter was posted only a few days before the end of the month it got 142 hits making it the 5th most popular link for the month. So far in April the link has already been hit 276 times making it solidly in 1st place by over a hundred hits. I hope everyone will equally enjoy the new April newsletter.

Gary

Vietnam Service List

Recently Barry and I were able to add three more names to the verification list taking the total up to 755 vets.
Barry located John Podlaski and Bill Gaerke from the 71 era and Bobby Bagley sent me a copy of his Purple Heart award while serving with A co in the fall of 69. Bobby returned to duty with 1/501 HHC.
Just a reminder: The A 1/501 Vietnam Service List does include attached personnel such as Medics, FO's, Scout Dogs etc. If your name isn't on this list but should be then send me an email (joynt101@yahoo.com). We are going to require some solid proof before your name will be added. Service List

A letter from the 501st in Afghanistan

Dear Sir's, My name is Command Sergeant Major Kirk Johnson and I am the current sitting CSM for the 1-501st IN (Airborne).
As most or all of you know we are now part of the 4th BDE (Airborne) 25th Infantry DIV. Our BDE is located in Anchorage, Alaska at a base now called Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson (JBER).
I am sending this note to you for two reasons. First I was actually looking for something else unit related and came across your reunion pictures. I want to say Thank You to all of you who were part of our unit back in Vietnam. You carried a torch of responsibility that not many wanted to bear.
Second I wanted to let you know that the high standards of this great Airborne unit still live on. 1-501st IN is strong, and even though it is not in the same location or tied to the same higher headquarters as it once was we are taking the fight to the enemy. We are currently deployed to Eastern Afghanistan. We arrived in mid December of last year and will be here late into the fall of this year. This is the third time that our unit has deployed to Afghanistan since September of 2001. We also conducted a tour to Iraq, (I didn't want you to think we were getting soft). I have attached last month's news letter for you to see what your unit is continuing to do for you, and the rest of the United States.
Thank you again for your service and thank you for paving the way for my generations freedom. We hope that we can now pay it forward to the next generation. If you look at the signature block it says Task Force Blue Geronimo and that is because within our AO we also have the 509th Geronimo's as well. That was a way for people to delineate. They are gold and we are blue after the colors of the Alaskan Flag.

Respectfully,

CSM Kirk Johnson
1-501st IN (Airborne)
Task Force Blue Geronimo


Here is a link to the newsletter http://geronimo-vietnam.com/1A/BN%20Newsletter%20Mar%202012.pdf

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

and here I am again renewing the geronimo-vietnam.com domain for another year. Obviously the blog has been neglected somewhat but after my last post I had other stuff to attend to. As the old saying goes "sh*t happens".
I'm looking for volunteers :) to be contributors to this blog and pull slack for me and Barry. I also need some help testing out a new php forum I hope to add to the mix. If interested email me. joynt101@yahoo.com

Remembering Lt. Holton

Last year I bought a 101st Airborne Division flag and an official Alpha Company guidon to display at the annual namvets reunion in Kokomo Indiana. Recently I got to thinking about how I could put those items to good use more than once a year. I don't really know how the idea came to me but I decided I would display the flag and guidon for twentyfour hours on the dates that Alpha Company vets gave thier all in Vietnam. In trying to keep with flag etiquette for this sort of thing I attached a black ribbon to the top of the pole. My personal tribute starts today, July 7th 2011 by honoring 1st. Lt. John Thomas Holton Jr. KIA July 7th 1968 in Thua Thien province.
After all these years Lt. Holton has become the focal point of a book written by Jean Neidert that was inspired by the journals, letters and poems of Phil Woodall who was Holton's RTO in the summer of '68. The book is titled "RESURGAM" - Standing On The Ground Of Remembrance. If you would like to learn more about the book please visit  http://www.groundofremembrance.com/

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Recently I got an email reminding me of a memorable event.

Dear Gary,

Your "geronimo-vietnam.com" domain name has been successfully renewed!
The new expiration date for this domain is now 3/17/2012.
As a reminder, you can review the status of your domain name
at any time by logging into DomainCentral.
We wish you continued success. If you have any questions or
concerns about your domain name or your hosting account,
please let us know:

Sincerely,

The BlueDomino Team
http://www.bluedomino.com/


For the record http://www.geronimo-vietnam.com/ was born on March 17th, 2001 and has now been on the internet non-stop for a full decade. As you see in the above email I intend to keep the streak going another year. A sincere thank you to everyone that has visited 'The Online Home Of Alpha Company".

Gary