Project Valour IT

Using TypoGenerator.net I created the image above.

Please help provide
Voice Activated Laptops for our Injured Troops
Click on the donation link on the starboard sidebar.

Iraq Service

World Net Daily:

Responding to reports that State Department officials are refusing
to serve in Iraq because it’s too dangerous, Rep. Duncan Hunter,
R-Calif., has proposed a novel plan to President Bush – to bypass the
agency and recruit from among U.S. military troops discharged after
suffering injury.

Hunter, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, told
talk-radio host Glenn Beck today he met with Bush just 30 minutes prior
to the interview and gave him a letter outlining the plan.

“I said, ‘Let’s go over to Bethesda and Walter Reed (hospitals) and
as we get these new – these soldiers and Marines who are embarking on
new careers,” Hunter said, “let’s recruit them for the State
Department; and let’s fire these guys that refuse to go, and we’ll give
the State Department careers to these military guys.”

I disagree somewhat with Duncan Hunter, I would recruit amongst all veterans to find new Foreign Service Officers for the State Department. Targeting the wounded vets is unfair to those who have truly given for their country.

Duncan Hunter needs to donate to Project Valour-IT.
Hillary Clinton needs to donate to Project Valour-IT.
Fred Thompson needs to donate to Project Valour-IT.
Barack Obama needs to donate to Project Valour-IT.
Mitt Rommey needs to donate to Project Valour-IT.
Dennis, Ron, Rudy, John, all need to donate to Project Valour-IT.

I am willing to serve in Iraq, as a Foreign Service Officer.

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Project Valour-IT

The ground pounders have taken the lead in fundraising for
Project Valour-IT,

The combined fleet (USN/USCG) needs to get going.

Lex has sailed, and please help save the dog.

Project Valour-IT (Voice Activated Laptops for Our Injured Troops) fundraising drive goes till Veterans Day.

Over 1500 injured soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen have benefited from this program. Soldiers Angels provides laptops, with voice recognition software to troops who have suffered hand injuries, this allows these troops the ability to use computers.

This is a registered charity, all donations are tax-deductable.

Project Valour-IT

Project Valour-IT helps all injured soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen.

In 2005, USS Frank CableS suffered a major steam leak, eight sailors badly burned.

Soldiers Angels stepped up to help those injured sailors, for the story click here

The Real Heros

Ben Stein is right, our troops are the true heros and they deserve much more than they receive.

One way to help is to support Project Valour-It and help provide a Voice Activated Laptop for Our Injured Troops.

Just a click, for a soldier, sailor, marine or airmen who has been wounded and cannot type on a keyboard.

“Support our Troops”

"Support our Troops"

So says the ubiquitous magnetic sticker on yet another non-descript vehicle on the road up ahead – but one wonders if the driver/occupant knows of a program that directly, materially supports our troops in a life-changing way? That program would be Valour-IT (Voice Activated Laptops for OUR Injured Troops). 

The short story is Valour-IT, an IRS-certified non-profit, non-political, volunteer organization provides laptops with voice activated software to wounded Soldiers, Marines, Sailors and Airmen in military and (thanks to coordination with the Military Order of the Purple Heart) VA hospitals. These laptops enable severely injured servicemen and women to remain in contact with family and friends in spite of those injuries. Since the program began in late 2005, over 1500 laptops have been issued to these wounded heroes.

The story of this project's development is compelling and typically American. Then-CPT (now MAJ) Charles "Chuck" Ziegenfuss, son of the late SFC William Ziegenfuss, a seventeen-year Army and Vietnam Vet who succumbed to Agent Orange-related cancer, as deployed to Iraq in 2005 as commander of a tank company. He also was a "milblogger," keeping an online commentary of his experiences in combat as part of the military blogging community. 

In June 2005 he was severely wounded by an IED, suffering grievous injuries to his hands. Having gained a large and loyal following via his blog, he wanted to return to writing during his recovery in Walter Reed, but found he was significantly hampered by his injuries. Upon learning of these difficulties via the blog (which his wife had kept up for him), one of his readers donated a laptop with voice-activated software to bypass the handicap of his wounded hands. Soon it became apparent to him and his readership that this was a capability that could, and should be made available to the many other similarly or worse injured heroes. Following contact with another milblogger who writes under the pseudonym FbL, and subsequent contact with the Soldiers' Angels service organization, Project Valour-IT was up and running. 

As initially set up, libraries at Walter Reed and Bethesda were established using refurbished computers and Dragon Naturally Speaking software for issue to patients who requested them. It was soon apparent that the demand for these laptops was such that fundraising efforts would have to take place to even begin to put a dent in that demand. 

One of the fundraisers created is an online competition between teams of bloggers, aligned by service, using auctions, information and other methods to generate interest and funds for the project. Running from Halloween to Veteran's Day, last year's online event raised over $230,000 dollars during that two-week period. This year's event, with teams Army, Marine, Navy/Coast Guard and Air Force, will run from 28 October through 13 November. The direct effect of these efforts — in combination with partnerships from corporate and public donors like Dell, Toshiba, the San Antonio Area foundation and Newman's Own Foundation; has led to new and more powerful laptops and software being issued to a larger population that now includes Balboa Naval Hospital, Brooke Army Medical Center, Madigan Regional Medical Center, Naval Hospital, Camp Pendleton, and Robert E. Bush Naval Hospital (29 Palms) (as well as the aforementioned VA hospitals and individual locations across the country).

That said, how can you help? Read the tributes from those who have benefited from this program. In Chuck's own words:

"I know how humbling it is, how humiliating it feels, and I know how much better I felt, how amazingly more functional I felt, after Soldiers' Angels provided me with a laptop." And when he started to use the voice-controlled Laptop? "It was the first time I'd felt whole since I woke up in Landstuhl." 

Contribute during the upcoming 2007 fund drive via your preferred team – every single penny donated goes directly to the purchase and delivery of laptops; all overhead is funded from other sources. Spread the word – survey the websites located at the end of the article for more information about contributing time or funds. (See the contribution button over there to starboard…)

The need is great: over 22,000 service members have returned wounded from combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.  Imagine what a boost it would be to that young Marine, an Army officer who is a husband and father, or a Sailor in a burn unit with third degree burns on her hands to be able to reach out from their hospital beds and contact distant friends and families, and how much that can help in the recovery process.

So here is how you can directly, materially support our troops and help those most in need of it in the process – and it won't scratch your paint like a magnetic sticker can…

Project Valour IT

October 28, 2007

Project Valour It was started by Soldiers Angels - This project provides voice operated laptops for wounded veterans.
From now till Veterans Day, there is a fund raising competition between the services to which team can raise the most money.

Army (ugh),

NAVY (OH YEAH!),

Air Farce (Force),

Grunts (Marines).

To donate click on the link on the starboardsidebar.

Laptops are provided based on need, not branch of service.
for more information - Soldiers Angels

THANK YOU