Military refused to acknowledge spouse of fallen soldier

When This Woman Was Killed In Combat It Exposed How The Government Really Treats Same-Sex Spouses
Business Insider
Robert Johnson
Oct. 15, 2012

When the first of October rolled in a couple of weeks ago it reminded many of us that summer was really over. Forget Labor Day and September 21, the first day of fall; October is changing leaves, pumpkins, and Halloween.

Unfortunately that routine awareness was lost to three members of the North Carolina National Guard who were killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan, at about 9 a.m. that morning, as they made their way through an open air market.

The deaths passed largely unnoticed by Americans outside the military, but what caught global attention is Sgt. Donna R. Johnson's wife and the fact that the Army refuses to acknowledge her very much at all.

Gannett-owned Army Times is taking the brunt of the protest, but the Times only followed the AP's lead, when it mentioned the other two male soldiers killed were survived by wives, while failing to mention Johnson's wife Tracy Dice.
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Westboro hate group held off by huge crowd

Town fights fears as guardsmen deploy again

Town fights fears as guardsmen deploy again


By Kevin Maurer and Mitch Weiss - The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Dec 21, 2008 15:36:36 EST

HAMLET, N.C. — Christian Tyler knew exactly how to get ready for her first day of school: She slipped into her uniform, poured a bowl of Apple Jacks and plopped down on the living room couch to watch cartoons and wait for her dad.

The 9-year-old knew nothing about what was to come next.

Because her dad is a part-time soldier in the National Guard, the house, the school and the town — they were new.

All of it came together in the past few weeks as Christian’s father, Jobel Barbosa, prepared to leave home this month to train for a yearlong deployment to Iraq. She wound up with her grandmother with plans to spend her days at Ashley Chapel Elementary, where she starts with no friends and wonders during class whether her father will be safe.

“I’m scared,” she said softly. “I don’t want him to go.”

It has been nearly six years since the United States invaded Iraq, and while the war is not forgotten, the singular sacrifices of America’s all-volunteer military and their families sometimes slip the minds of civilians focused on their own pain amid the deepening economic crisis.

There are roughly 100,000 members of the National Guard and Reserve on active duty, weekend warriors who leave home to fight on battlefields half a world away. In 2009, they will include the 76 soldiers of E Company, 120th Combined Arms Battalion, 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team, North Carolina National Guard.

Each deployment shrouds the soldiers, their loved ones — and especially in places such as Hamlet, their communities — in uncertainty.

Christian, a nervous honor student with long black hair facing days without dad, joins suddenly single mothers struggling to take care of the kids, rookie soldiers with nervous dreams of battle and newlyweds with nightmares their spouses won’t return.

“When you pull all of them out of here, it’s not like this community will become a ghost town. But it has a ripple effect in a small town,” said longtime Hamlet Police Chief John Haywood, who grew up with many of the company’s men. “Every soldier has family and friends. And this will be on their minds until their loved ones come home.”
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North Carolina Army National Guard completes humanitarian mission in Africa

N.C. Guard unit returns from year in Africa

The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Dec 6, 2008 13:46:23 EST

MOORESVILLE, N.C. — One of the most productive well-drilling units that ever deployed to the Horn of Africa is returning to North Carolina.

The 1133rd Engineer Detachment of the North Carolina Army National Guard will hold a welcome home ceremony Saturday at Southside Baptist Church in Mooresville. The ceremony will honor the ten-man unit that deployed last year to Djibouti in the Horn of Africa.

The 1133rd completed five wells, repaired four, and installed two solar panel upgrades during its yearlong deployment. It also assisted with other humanitarian projects.