The Boot Campaign -- Service and Sacrifice -- Dolly Parton Interlude

Country icon Dolly Parton is trading in her sequin gowns and high heels to pose in a pair of sequin cargo pants and combat boots to support America’s troops with grassroots organization The Boot Campaign.

“So many people, regular folks and celebrities, send out love and sincere thanks to you for keeping us safe and fighting for our freedom. Let me add to that loving list. Thank you from the bottom of my country heart. I will always love you,” Parton said in a statement on the organization’s site.

The Boot Girls want Americans to put the boots on to “symbolically walk in the shoes of our military men and women to remember their service and sacrifice.”

Read the story at Fox News.

Matthew G. Axelson, Navy Seal -- Rest In Peace

Matthew G. Axelson, 29

Navy, Petty Officer 2nd Class
Based: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team ONE
Supporting: Operation Enduring Freedom
Died: July 10, 2005
Hindu Kush mountains, Afghanistan
Married
Gender: Male
Hometown: Cupertino
High School: Monta Vista High

Axelson, a 29-year-old petty officer 2nd class, was part of a four-man SEAL unit ambushed June 28 in the Kunar province of Afghanistan while searching for Taliban and Al Qaeda forces.

Read more about Navy Seal Matthew G. Axelson here, visit the Axelson web site here, the Axelson Navy Seal page here and information about the Cupertino Axelson/Navy Seal memorial here.

Previous Boom3 picture and Boom3 post mentioning Matthew G. Axelson here.

Don't miss:
Marcus Luttrell's
Lone Survivor
The Eyewitness Account
of Operation Redwing and
the Lost Heroes of
Seal Team 16

Navy SEALs / Navy JAG -- Two Pictures -- You Be The Judge

Look.
Who's protecting us?
Rough men or soft lawyers?

Updatery
September 23, 2010:

Okay. The comparison picture of the JAG officers has been removed from this post. You no longer get to do the visual comparison of the legal minds to the warrior minds. Not on this post. For several reasons.

Tho it was stated clearly that the pic we removed was of Minnesota lawyers, and it was stated clearly that it was used merely for the purpose of illustration, and it was stated clearly that the picture was used with due respect, that said, it may be true that comparing JAGS to SEALS is questionable.

Is it ever appropriate to compare lawyers to warriors? Nope. Not an apt comparison.

Navy SEALS may be compared to Navy SEALS, perhaps to Army Rangers, but not to lawyers.

Those JAG lawyers we had a picture of  looked like good folk, looked a whole lot like us and our friends -- just saying -- and we never should have belittled them on here Boom3 -- or even appeared to belittle them -- in an attempt to express our awe for SEALS or our distain for the prosecution of SEALS that was occurring when this was posted last November.

An observant and annoyed reader (see comments) took us to task for several things in this post.

He questioned our ability to read, noting that the lawyers in the post about Navy JAG lawyers were really Army JAG lawyers. Not a big deal in our book, given the caveats of the post, and we gotta take his word on that.

But, his larger point was the more important point. JAG officers, no matter the branch of service, wear the uniform of the United States.
They serve our country.
They do so often at some sacrifice in their personal lives, they do so at some sacrifice to themselves and their loved ones.
That service must be honored.
That sacrifice must be respected.
At all times.

One ought not let one's distain for legalities or creeping political correctness or wrong-headed prosecutions of warriors -- who also have a job to do -- make one forget the service and sacrifice of these men and women in uniform. That was forgotten for a moment in this post.

However he got to this old post, thanks to our annoyed reader for calling it out in the middle of the night.

And as for the sitting on the couch part of his accusation, I don't even own a couch. But if I did, and if I were sitting on it in safety, I'd attribute that safety to the men and women in uniform, yes even JAG officers, and I'd continue to thank them daily in my actions, in my thoughts and in my prayers.

End of updatery.

The picture of the lawyers [Now removed]  is from Minnesota Lawyer Blog and its inclusion here is merely illustrative. It is used without permission and it is used with all due -- due -- respect. Pictured in this photo provided by Beck-Brown are members of the military justice team. From left, they are paralegal [Names respectfully removed].

On the other hand, the picture of the real men is a United States Navy file photo of Navy SEALs operating in Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. From left to right, Sonar Technician (Surface) 2nd Class Matthew G. Axelson, of Cupertino, Calif; Senior Chief Information Systems Technician Daniel R. Healy, of Exeter, N.H.; Quartermaster 2nd Class James Suh, of Deerfield Beach, Fla.; Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Marcus Luttrell; Machinist’s Mate 2nd Class Eric S. Patton, of Boulder City, Nev.; and Lt. Michael P. Murphy, of Patchogue, N.Y. With the exception of Luttrell, all were killed June 28, 2005, by enemy forces while supporting Operation Red Wing

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Hmmmm. Navy Jag on FaceBook