Editor:
In 2011, Leavenworth County was one of more than 5,100 communities across the United States to hold an American Cancer Society Relay For Life. In fact, 3.5 million participants nationwide raised $385 million for the fight against cancer last year.
The annual Relay For Life has become the signature event and primary fund raiser for the American Cancer Society.

To the incoming Intermediate Level Education class 2012-02 — let me start by congratulating you on your career thus far and welcoming you to ILE.
Next, let me dispel any rumors you may have heard that Army ILE is a two-month course taught over a 10-month period.
The best year of your life is what you make of it.

On Oct. 1, the 35th Infantry Division World War II veterans met for their annual reunion in Kansas City, Mo. Veteran Army majors from the Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, met with these distinguished World War II veterans and shared experiences both old and new.
One such discussion was with Robert Holmes and his daughter Eileen Schneider. I sat with Robert and his daughter for the majority of my time with these distinguished men and their families. Robert, at 96 years of age, reminded me of my own father who served in World War II as he shared with me his and his family’s experiences.
Robert was drafted during World War II and was offered a promotion from private  to first sergeant to stay in the service after the bombs were dropped in Japan. Robert, in spite of such a large promotion — unheard of in today’s Army — left the service.

The Fort Leavenworth Lamp welcomes letters and comments from readers.
Letters should be typed or legibly printed using capital and lowercase letters. Writers should try to keep letters less than 500 words, but exceptions to this limit will be considered.
All letters selected for publication will be edited for style, brevity and clarity. Form letters, political letters, personal attacks, and other letters deemed inappropriate will not be published.
All letters must include an address plus a daytime phone number. The Lamp will withhold the writer’s name upon request, but all letters must be signed. Unsigned letters will be rejected.
Send them to: Letters to the Editor, Fort Leavenworth Lamp, Command Information, Public Affairs Office, 290 Grant Ave. Unit 6, Fort Leavenworth, KS 66027-1417, fax to (913) 684-3624 or e-mail to editor@ftleavenworthlamp.com.

For those who like to thank or be around members of the Greatest Generation, your chance is coming soon. For the 15th year, the Mid-Continent Public Library in Platte City, Mo., will host its Veterans Salute, a full day to honor veterans of all wars.
The event is from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 22 at 2702 Prairie View Road, Platte City. This year’s theme is “Pearl Harbor Remembered,” a fitting tribute 70 years after “The Day of Infamy.”

The Fort Leavenworth Lamp welcomes letters and comments from readers.
Letters should be typed and double-spaced or legibly printed using capital and lowercase letters.
Writers should try to keep letters to under 500 words, but exceptions to this limit will be considered.
All letters selected for publication will be edited for style, brevity and clarity.
Form letters, political letters, personal attacks, and other letters deemed inappropriate will not be published.

The Fort Leavenworth Lamp is one of the primary methods for getting information to the Fort Leavenworth community.
Clubs, organizations, units and activities all know this and submit items to be published in the Lamp.
Publicity representatives are sometimes puzzled when the “notice,” “announcement,” “ad,” “article” or “news release” they sent in is either changed drastically or not published at all. There are several reasons this may happen.

On behalf of the Board of Managers of Army Emergency Relief, thank you very much for the outstanding contribution of $102,169, which we have received from Fort Leavenworth for the 2011 campaign. The annual campaign not only provides the opportunity for Soldiers to contribute to their fellow Soldiers, but it also creates a greater awareness of  the many ways Army Emergency Relief can provide financial assistance to Soldiers and families.

The Leavenworth Bass Club is hosting its third annual Fishing For Freedom event Oct. 8 and 9 at Truman Lake in Missouri.
Fishing For Freedom is modeled after other bass tournaments — anglers are paired, there is a blast off at a designated start time, competitors fish for a certain amount of time, and at the end of the day a weigh-in is conducted to decide the winners.
But that is where Fishing For Freedom and any other bass tournament similarities end. Fishing For Freedom is an all-volunteer event that pairs local and regional bass angling boat owners with Global War on Terrorism veterans and wounded warriors from all over the region. Volunteers from Nebraska, Illinois, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas will be represented at this year’s event.

We love the outdoor pools in summer — they’re a real treat after surviving the Kansas winter. It’s too bad I had to witness an ugly interaction between a very rude family and a nice lifeguard during my pool outing this week. Here’s what happened:
Mom, Dad and two little boys came to swim. One of the boys needed a “little swimmer change,” which Mom started to do right on the side of the pool. Yuck! The attentive lifeguard beeped his whistle and told her that she had to do the change in the locker room. Dad came to get the boy, but instead of going into the locker room, he laid the child on a table on the pool deck and proceeded with the swim diaper change. Yes, on a deck table where people eat! Disgusting.

Editor:
On Saturday, May 28, the daughters of 40th Military Police Battalion Soldiers became princesses. They put on their finest dresses and were escorted by their dads to a dance in their honor. Once there, they were greeted with a wonderland of balloons in red, pink and white, hearts and tea lights upon the tables and music made perfect for dancing the night away thanks to Staff Sgt. Nick Rios Rodriguez and his DJ company, T&R Productions.
The 256th Military Police Company Family Readiness Group hosted the event at the Frontier Chapel. Debra Calkins, FRG leader, said that this event “was something just for them.”
“They miss out on a lot working shift behind the walls. I wanted something that the bulk of them could attend without worrying about their schedule.”
The girls munched on cupcakes and snow cones as they ran between their seats and the dance floor so they didn’t miss a song. And the dads didn’t miss a beat either — they taught their daughters to dance and learned a few new dances in return.
Events such as this one are put on with the help of fundraisers. The next 256th FRG fundraiser is at 11 a.m. today in the 40th MP Battalion parking lot on Sabalu Road. The FRG will be selling sub sandwiches with chips and a drink for a suggested donation of $5.

256th Military Police Company Family Readiness Group

The Directorate of Emergency Services is joining local and national law enforcement officers and highway safety advocates all across the country for the 2011 national Click It or Ticket seat belt enforcement mobilization May 23 through June 5.

During the mobilization, installation law enforcement officers will establish checkpoints across the installation to detect motorists who fail to wear their seat belts.

Serving and protecting the Soldiers and families of our Army is a core mission of our military police. For one Soldier stationed at Fort Leavenworth, this mission is just as important when serving our veterans and wounded warriors. Maj. Drew Deaton, an active-duty U.S. Army military police officer and member of American Legion Post 23 in Leavenworth, set a new standard for service and personal sacrifice when he planned, resourced and executed the “Honor the Sacrifice Ride” in mid-April.

Deaton, himself a combat veteran who continuously participates in veteran events with the American Legion Riders, saw this ride as a chance to give back to our service members who have made such incredible sacrifices for their country. In accordance with the rules set by the Iron Butt Association, a national organization that formally certifies long-distance motorcycle rides, Deaton set out to complete the “Bun Burner 1,500” ride, with a goal of actually completing 1,600 miles in 36 hours or less. Joining Deaton on the ride were Sgt. Lee Balling and retired Sgt. 1st Class John Witt, both on staff at the Military Correctional Complex.

Whatever happened to courtesy on the roads? Every evening when I leave for work, I see people pulling out of their parking spaces and rushing toward the gates.
Persons pulling out of a parking space are at a disadvantage because you can’t see cars coming until you’re out in the street.

Some students do not know what constitutes plagiarism. The purpose of this article is to identify plagiarism and explain how students can avoid committing this serious academic integrity transgression.
When writing academic papers, writers must avoid using too many quotations within their papers. Doing so may lead instructors to conclude you are simply packaging the ideas of others and not applying your own analysis and thought to what you are stating within your paper. In a short paper, having more than two or three quotations may be too many. How well you express what you quote will really become a determining factor on what type of grade you might receive. Certainly, this can vary by academic institution and from instructor to instructor.

In March 2011, Soldiers from Fort Leavenworth participated in the Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers program. The researchers picked the unit to survey randomly, not because of any particular issues here at Fort Leavenworth.
The research is being conducted throughout the Army both stateside and overseas. More than 175 Soldiers from the 15th Military Police Brigade completed the anonymous questionnaire for the team from the University of Michigan who is facilitating the study here.

I would like to express my most sincere appreciation for the condolences and assistance Japan has received from the Fort Leavenworth community and the United States in response to the Tohoku-Pacific Ocean earthquake. The U.S., along with dozens of other countries, international organizations, and people around the world have all been profoundly uplifting to the Japanese people, who have come to realize acutely that “a friend in need is a friend indeed.”
I am very fortunate — all my family in Japan is fine. However, more than 27,000 people passed away and are missing with more than 300,000 citizens living in evacuation sites. Many of my comrades, approximately 100,000 Japanese Soldiers, are in the disaster area along with U.S forces and other international partner’s teams.
Japan faces an unprecedented crisis, in which incidents at several nuclear power plants have transpired in addition to the enormous earthquake and tsunamis wreckage. I firmly believe that, receiving such cooperation from the members of the international community, the Japanese people will mobilize their wisdom to recover from these challenging circumstances through their collective efforts and thereby successfully overcome this trying time. 

In today’s sports, we sometimes mislabel athletes, whose personal conduct is questionable, as “heroes” who bask in the limelight while bright lights blind them to where they act with impunity off the field. Too often, we forgive transgressions if our team is winning. Recently, I explained to my son why I threw out his Ben Roethlisberger jersey.
Thankfully, heroes still exist for children, but their names aren’t splashed across the front pages. One of my 6-year-old son’s role models is Joel Bailey.

The Fort Leavenworth Lamp enters its 40th year of publication April 8.
But the Lamp is not Fort Leavenworth’s first newspaper. The Fort Leavenworth News published its first weekly edition Jan. 5, 1940 as a two-page mimeograph. On Nov. 14, 1942, it became a true newspaper with publication of a four-page letterpress edition. During the World War II years, the four-page Fort Leavenworth News became the eight-page Fort Leavenworth RECEPTION CENTER News, reflecting a shift in the post’s mission and the induction of almost 400,000 Soldiers at the tiny frontier post.

Last Saturday, March 26, was one heck of a day for people who love canine athletes and watching them do what they were born to do.
On behalf of the Fort Leavenworth Rod and Gun Club, all the dog handlers and gunners, our heartfelt thanks goes to the support staff and judges who faced the cold weather, got up early and stayed late, put up and took down the tents, planted birds, filled the wading pools, put out and took in the cones and barriers, manned the command post, posted the scoreboard and took pictures of happy dogs and tired hunters coming out of the field during the Spring 2011 Hunting Dog Competition conducted in Area F.