Received by Soldiers' Angels via email, March 3rd:

Hi, Patti,
As you may or may not know, my son has submitted a proposal, through the Biomedical Engineering program at UC Irvine, to design and develop an advanced prosthetic hand. The inspiration for the project came from our experience with Joey Bozik and our observation that the prosthetic hands our wounded soldiers receive are not good enough (to say the least). The proposal is a success at UCI and is moving ahead thanks to the leadership of my son's mentor, Prof. William Tang.

We have been blessed to get to know Alice in the process, and we have asked her to help us establish a relationship with the staff and soldiers at Walter Reed so that they may participate in the project at a level that works for them. In addition, we have established contacts at the three major manufacturers of artificial limbs -- Otto Bock, Motion Control, and Alatheia Prosthetics -- so that one or more of them may help in the actual development of the advanced hand.

Like anything else, the project will be more successful and the prosthetic hands will be better if we can attract funding to the project. For example, we want to put tactile sensors in the fingertips of the hands so that amputees can actually feel things. We have been told that can be done, but will be too expensive. It always seems to come down to money, doesn't it? While we're sending $ billions to the Far East for tsunami relief, our soldiers are not getting better prosthetic hands to help them put their lives back together.

Why do I write this to you, Patti? Because I appreciate the work you do, and I want to invite Soldiers Angels (I've been authorized to do so by Prof. Tang) to participate in the project to help raise awareness.

Thanks, and God bless you,
Tom Langan

Be sure to check out this project at http://advancedhand.blogspot.com

My Fellow Man

You never saw me dodging bullets
or starving in lush green jungles
tortured or raped,
yet I’ve seen grown men cry.

My only self defense was aspirin
my hunger minor
no one killed before my eyes,
shaded by your courage.

I only understand freedom
as I’ve been told and read
never really felt that I helped in anyway
yet you’ve given it to me.

With blistered tongues swollen
and tears so full of emotion
they moistened your lips
and I hear.

So many struggles in this world
centuries of fallen souls
men, women and children
paved themselves for me.

You’ve done what you’ve had to do
my awe is nothing to your inspiration
nor will I ever forget
my fellow man.


j alex flores…010905
www.jalexflores.com

MAINTENANCE TASK — U.S. Navy personnel, assigned to the "Swordsmen" of Fighter Squadron 32, perform regularly scheduled maintenance on a squadron F-14B Tomcat in the hangar bay aboard the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman in the Persian Gulf, Feb. 24, 2005. The Truman Carrier Strike Group is on a regularly scheduled deployment in support of the global war on terrorism. U.S. Navy photo by Airman Gregory A. Pierot

JuneauEmpire.com: Associated Press
Syrian, Lebanese leaders discuss pullback
16 Iraqis killed in insurgent attacks
Italian intelligence officer to be buried
Bolivian president offers resignation


Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Iraqis set opening for new parliament
Hezbollah mobilizes supporters for Syria
Israel to turn over West Bank town
Group nominates Shiite cleric for Nobel
Iraqis set opening for new parliament
Iraqi Air Force training on U.S. plane
Kurdish Towns Benefit From Iraq Insurgency
Iraqi National Assembly to Meet March 16, Top Jobs to Go to Kurd and Shiite
I'm no Saddam, says Assad


Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Insurgent Launch Attacks in Iraq; 12 Dead
Guerrillas Attack Iraqi Security Forces, Kill 7
Okinawa-based marines back from Iraq
Bulgaria to decide before end of March on keeping troops in Iraq
Operations stepped up in Iraq's Samarra to find Zarqawi
Iraqi army takes 1st step toward relieving GIs


The US News: Iraq News
Iraq parliament to convene
Kidnapping becomes Iraq's boom industry
Iraqi and US Forces Organize Operations in Samarra
Iraqi National Assembly to meet March 16
A century of dominance in Lebanon
Stark choice for militant Hizbullah
A speeding sedan and a close call for one marine unit
Donors light up the lives of soldiers in Iraq
Syrian troops to begin pullback Monday


From CNN.com
Leaders meet on Syria pullback
Baquba violence leaves 11 dead


From Fox News
Terrorists Kill 16 in Iraq
Gunfire at West Bank Shrine
N. Korean Kids Still Need Aid
Israel to Hand Over Town
Rabbis Plan Protest
Clinton Deferred to Bush '41' on Tsunami Tour
Leaders Mull Syrian Pullout From Lebanon
Minister: Pullout Begins Monday
Hezbollah Rallies to Back Syria
Israel to Encourage Withdrawal
France Expects Speedy Withdrawal
Bush Rejects Partial Pullout


From the Department of Defense
IN IRAQ
New Post Office to Serve Deployed Troops
Nurses Battle Time, Gunfire to Save Lives
Joint Supply, Logistics Program Yields Results

TOP NEWS
IN IRAQ
Soldiers Capture Bomb Maker
Iraq Daily Update
Iraq Reconstruction
Maps
Weekly Progress Report (pdf)

IN AFGHANISTAN
Afghanistan Daily Update
Maps

WAR ON TERRORISM
Waging and Winning the War on Terror
Terrorism Timeline
Terrorism Knowledge Base

MILITARY NEWS
Care, Gear Help Wounded Survive
National Guard, Reserve Update

CASUALTIES
Officials Identify Casualties — Story


Weather
Weather information from The Weather Channel

Iraq
Al Azamiyah Al Basrah Al Hillah Al Karkh Al Kazimiyah Al Kut An Nasiriyah Baghdad Baqubah Mosul Najaf Nineveh Tall Kayf

Afghanistan
Bost/Laskar Ghurian Herat Kabul Qandahar

Kuwait
Al Jahrah As Sulaybiyah Kuwait City


Today in History
161 - Marcus Aurelius becomes emperor.

1774 - British forces close the port of Boston to commerce.

1799 - Napoleon captures Jaffa, in Palestine. He and his troops are responsible for the massacre of more than two thousand Albanian prisoners.

1847 - U.S. General Winfield Scott controls Vera Cruz, Mexico.

1849 - The Austrian Reichstag is dissolved.

1862 - At the Battle of Pea Ridge in Arkansas, Confederate forces surprise the Union army. It will go down as a Union victory.

1904 - The Japanese bomb Vladivostok, in Russia.

1906 - Finland decrees universal suffrage for all of its citizens 24 years of age and older, save for those supported by the government. It is the third country to give women the right to vote.

1918 - Finland signs a treaty with Germany.

1925 - The Soviet Red Army controls Outer Mongolia.

1927 - The Supreme Court rules that it is unconstitutional for a Texas law to deny Negroes the right to vote.

1936 - Hitler violates the Locarno Pact by sending German troops into the Rhineland.

1941 - British forces arrive in Greece.

1942 - Japanese forces land on New Guinea.

1950 - The Soviet Union denies Klaus Fuchs was working as its spy.

1951 - General Matthew Ridgeway leads U.N. forces in Korea in Operation Ripper, in order to straighten out the front lines against the Chinese.

1968 - In Vietnam, the Battle of Saigon ends.

1971 - U.S. planes (a thousand of them) conduct bombing raids on Laos and Cambodia.

1973 - Sheikh Mujib Rahman becomes Bangladesh's first democratic prime minister, winning in a landslide.

Birthdays
1707 - Stephen Hopkins of Rhode Island; justice, chief magistrate, and signer of the Declaration of Independence.

1904 - Reinhard Heydrich, the German SS leader who drafted Hitler's "Final Solution."