Quadsville

DES MOINES — Just a few months ago, Maj. Gen. Ron Dardis described the Iowa National Guard as stretched and stressed from its deployments overseas but stronger than it had been in generations.

No one knew then that more than 4,000 Guard members would be called into action to help the state fight back floodwaters and provide security to flood-ravaged communities.

In the days since widespread flooding hit Iowa, Guard members have helped sandbag threatened cities and performed a number of essential missions as the state responded to the natural disaster. In Illinois, close to 1,400 members of the Illinois National Guard have been activated to battle floodwaters along the Mississippi River.

Russell Bierl, retired colonel with the Iowa Army National Guard and the director of the Iowa Gold Star Military Museum, said the floods of 2008 will go down as one of the largest activations in the Iowa Guard’s history.

If you are visiting  for the first time, I would ask that you also  go to this web site and watch this video about the drug trade in Afghanistan. Our soldiers are dying today as we watch this video that was filmed last July.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXX9Y0bfirY&playnext=1&playnext_from=QL

Imagine for a minute a twelve year old boy that wishes to grow up and sell poppies to support his family. This is the mind-set that our Armed Forces are fighting through-out the world. Do we turn tail and run to our houses and slam the door shut................tight?