Small Wars Journal

Spirit of America Update

Wed, 05/25/2011 - 5:20am
Spirit of America Update

By Jim Hake

An excellent story on Spirit of America and last month's American and Afghan student videoconference was shown on ChannelOne in 8,000 schools yesterday morning. ChannelOne is the in-school TV network of CBS. You can watch it here (click on "Video: Afghan School Skype Chat").

Also see a column on SoA by Dr. James Carafano in the Washington Examiner: "Winning Afghanistan, in War and Peace". Dr. Carafano writes, "Spirit for America pursues its mission with 'zero' government funds. Yet their partnership with the Marines in Helmand is helping win the war in Afghanistan, one village at a time. It's the kind of ingenious problem solving that has always enabled America to win wars ... and to win peace."

We invite you to participate in a teleconference with Marines who just returned from Helmand Province this Thursday (26 May 2011) from 3:00pm-4:00pm (ET). Details are below. The Marines will talk about their experience in Afghanistan and what they accomplished. They'll also answer your questions about Spirit of America or anything else. LtCol Matt Reid, Commanding Officer of 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, will be on the call.

Call-in Details

1. Thursday, 26 May, we encourage you to call in starting at 2:45pm (ET)

2. Dial 877-348-3414

3. Enter the conference ID number when prompted: 70-412-815

4. You will be greeted by the conference call operator (this is not a Spirit of America rep) and they will ask you for your name and current location.

5. The Marines on the call will be at Camp Pendleton.

Your Questions

After the Marines have given a brief overview of their deployment in Helmand province, the operator will open up the call for questions. The operator will ask that those callers who want to ask a question will key in *1 on their phones. This will be a "first come, first served" format, and the conference call operator will moderate this section.

You may address your questions to the Marines, the Spirit of America team, or the entire group.

We hope you can join us,

Jim Hake and the team at Spirit of America

No endorsement of Spirit of America by the US Department of Defense or its personnel is intended or implied.