Here is a headline you won't see on the evening news....

..... or on the front page of your paper today! From CNS News:

Reenlisting Reservists Will Help Fight 'War on Terror'

By Penny Starr CNSNews.com

One hundred men and women gathered on the West Lawn of the Capitol last week to reenlist in the Army Reserve, a patriotic action that represents the changing face of the U.S. military, according to Reservists."Today's Army Reserve soldiers play a vital role in the Global War on Terror by applying specialized civilian capabilities to a wide range of missions in Afghanistan and Iraq," a statement issued by the Reserve before the ceremony said.

The Army Reserve grew out of the Medical Reserve Corps, which was created by an act of Congress in 1908, and was first composed of 160 civilian physicians who served during times of war. "Throughout the 100 years, as the Army has changed, the Army Reserve has changed," Lt. Gen. Jack C. Stutlz, chief of the Reserve, said on April 22. "Most significantly, I would say, is after Sept. 11, after we've gotten into an extended conflict in the war on terror, the Army Reserve is in the midst of the biggest transformation we've ever had."

Stutlz described the 100 reenlisting troops - and the 100 who enlisted in a ceremony in Baghdad in January - as "I know what I'm getting into" soldiers. Sgt. Melleny Cotton, 28, had been in the Army Reserve for eight years. On Wednesday, she signed up for three more years."I think all of us who reenlisted today share the common belief that anything that defends our freedom we are willing to do," Cotton told Cybercast News Service ."I'm glad that I will get the chance to actually participate in defending my country," Specialist Anecio Muniz, who signed up for six more years, told Cybercast News Service.

The Army Reserve press office said approximately 190,000 Army Reserve soldiers have been mobilized in support of the "War on Terror" since Sept. 11, 2001, with 26,000 currently on active duty, 19,000 deployed overseas and 7,000 supporting homeland security missions in the United States."

When I first entered the Army Reserve (after) leaving active duty in 1979, our mantra was 'one weekend a month, two weeks in the summer - that's all we ask,'" Stultz said. "Our mantra right now is 'When called upon, you're expected to mobilize, deploy and defend your nation.' And if you're a member of the Army Reserve, then it will occur during your career, and it will occur in multiple locations."

Stultz's senior enlisted advisor, Command Sgt. Maj. Leon Caffie, said that the "summer camp" era for reservists is over and that today's soldiers have been deployed up to four times."The combat experience of the Army Reserve soldiers is phenomenal," Caffie said. "Today's Army Reserve force is by far the best-led, skilled, and equipped Army Reserve I have ever been associated with."

In January of this year the federal government-appointed Commission on the National Guard and Reserves released its third and final 448-page report, which included six major conclusions and 95 recommendations. But the gist of the report can be surmised from its brief subtitle: "Transforming the National Guard and Reserves into a 21st-Century Operational Force.""Now (the Army Reserve's) combat support, service support has to be mobilized on an extended or persistent basis," Stultz said. "That means the Army Reserve is no longer strategic; it's operational."

God Bless them -- every one!!!