Greetings!

Curt said I should introduce myself here, on my first post. Some of his readers, I recognize, and will already be familiar with me. For the rest of you, I run a modest blog at Sparks from the Anvil.

I’ve been a “fan” of Curt’s blog for sometime now. It’s one of the places I go to for his perspective on the news; and also for his sourcing of information out there, that I might have missed. He’s been a great resource for me.

So it was quite a shock and honor when he invited me to guest-post at his fine blog.

I will occasionally cross-post here, from my blog, when I feel like I have something worthwhile and worthy to share at Flopping Aces. I haven’t used WordPress before, so please bear with me, while I acquire my “sea legs”.

Thank you Curt!

U.S. Army Spc. Sam Rogers, with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 48th Brigade Combat Team, receives a hug from a young Iraqi girl who is overjoyed with her new shoes. Rogers helped deliver donated shoes to the Abu Tubar School near An Nasiriyah in southern Iraq. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Britt Smith

Here are more positives to counterbalance the negatives coming out of Iraq : Troops and Nike Deliver New Shoes to Children

School children cannot attend school unless they are dressed properly and that means shoes on their feet. Shoes represent the difference between a child in a classroom, learning and a child outside watching as other children study their daily lessons. In a country where a little bit of money goes a long way, some parents simply do not have a spare dinar to put shoes on their children?s feet, opting instead to feed them. An education comes in second or third on the priority list of parents who must have their children work the fields and tend the herds of sheep that is often their sole source of income.

U.S. Troops Deliver Donated English Soccer Jerseys

U.S. Army Col. Vic Grace, assigned to the Office of Security Cooperation-Afghanistan’s Defense Reform Directorate, hands out pens to children at the Bagrami Village refugee camp in Kabul, Afghanistan, Dec. 16, 2005. Personnel from Camp Eggers in Kabul visited the camp to provide toys, snacks, clothing and other supplies to needy Afghans there. Office of Security Cooperation-Afghanistan photo by U.S. Air Force Capt. David B. Huxsoll

U.S. Air Force Maj. Jeffrey Greenwood passes out candy to children at the Bagrami Village refugee camp in Kabul, Afghanistan, Dec. 16, 2005. Greenwood, a counternarcotics future operations planner with Combined Forces Command ? Afghanistan, visited the camp with other personnel from Camp Eggers in Kabul to provide toys, snacks, clothing and other supplies to needy Afghans there. Office of Security Cooperation-Afghanistan photo by U.S. Air Force Capt. David B. Huxsoll

U.S. Air Force Maj. Jeffrey Greenwood takes a donkey cart ride with some children at the Bagrami Village refugee camp in Kabul, Afghanistan, Dec. 16, 2005. Greenwood, a counternarcotics future operations planner with Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan, visited the camp with other personnel from Camp Eggers in Kabul to provide toys, snacks, clothing and other supplies to needy Afghans there. Office of Security Cooperation-Afghanistan photo by U.S. Air Force Capt. David B. Huxsoll

Jim Norman, a Defense Department contractor, and U.S. Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Jim Thomson provide first aid to an Afghan girl at the Bagrami Village refugee camp in Kabul, Afghanistan, Dec. 16, 2005. Personnel from Camp Eggers in Kabul visited the camp to provide toys, snacks, clothing and other supplies to needy Afghans there. Norman serves with the Office of Security Cooperation-Afghanistan as the personnel program’s mentor to the Afghan Ministry of Defense and General Staff. Thomson serves as Office of Security Cooperation-Afghanistan first sergeant. Office of Security Cooperation-Afghanistan photo by U.S. Air Force Capt. David B. Huxsoll