Greetings Gold Star Dads and honored visitors. I am now a proud Grandpa! My lovely daughter-in-law has given birth to a healthy little girl. Her name is London Eevie Klasno and she was born this after noon at 12:04 July 29th, 2007. London weighed 7# 15 1/2 oz. and is 19″ tall.

Grandma Lynn and myself would like to thank everyone for their continued prayers for Stephanie and London. We know our son Rhys is looking down from heaven with a big grin.

We are truly honored that you care enough about someone you never meet, you have no idea how good that makes us feel.

Michael & Lynn Klasno

WASHINGTON, July 26, 2007 – A television special that looks closely at challenges military families face when a parent is deployed has been nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Children’s Program.

“We were delighted to hear of the Emmy nomination of Sesame Workshop’s ‘When Parents Are Deployed,’” said Leslye A. Arsht, deputy undersecretary of defense for military community and family policy. “For those who are not part of the military family, the impact of deployments and how families cope may be difficult to understand.

“The program … helps bridge that gap in powerful ways and — to borrow a phrase from ‘Sesame Street’ — it shows that a servicemember and his or her family are ‘people in your neighborhood,’” she added.

Of course, the program’s creators were ecstatic about the recognition, as well. “It was really very exciting just to hear about it and the fact that it was nominated,” said Jeanette Betancourt, the vice president for outreach and educational practices at Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind “Sesame Street.” (continue reading…)

WASHINGTON, July 26, 2007 – Afghan and coalition forces repelled three insurgent ambushes, killing scores of enemy fighters in Afghanistan over the past two days. Coalition forces delivered a blow to Taliban fighters after insurgents attempted to ambush troops north of the city of Keshay, in Oruzgan province, this morning.

Combined forces led by an element of 1st Brigade, 205th Afghan National Army Unit, were on a combat patrol north of the city when an unknown number of insurgents attacked using small arms, machine guns, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.

Afghan soldiers repelled the attempted ambush with small-arms fire and requested coalition close-air support to destroy the enemy positions. Coalition aircraft performed precision air strikes on three compounds confirmed as enemy positions.

Coalition forces immediately moved into the compounds to assess damage. Several insurgents died, and two were captured during the fighting. Troops collected hundreds of machine gun rounds, an AK47 assault rifle, a pistol, and eight grenades in a subsequent search.

“The Afghan National Army is becoming increasingly capable of sustaining security and force development,” said Army Maj. Chris Belcher, a Combined Joint Task Force 82 spokesman. “Results such as today’s show why we are handing increasing responsibility over to them as they continue to transition to the long-term security force for Afghanistan.” (continue reading…)