The North County Times has a good story (via the Associated Press) on the website Together We Served, an online military network that enables veterans and active duty personnel to re-connect with lost brothers and sisters.

Although closed to non-members of the military community, the story discusses one of the site's latest initiatives that allows the public to access the previously-private profiles of more than 100,000 people who have died in modern American wars.

“Called the "Roll of Honor," the site uses public military records to create basic profiles of the fallen. Family members can contact site administrators to claim and customize the information about their loved one for free.”

In the article, Bernie and Anita Laguna discuss how the site has helped them. Anita's brother Raymond Bernal Jr., died while serving in the Army in 1966.

The Roll of Honor can be viewed online here.

Full story here.

If you haven’t checked it out yet, you can read U.S. Marine veteran and Medal of Honor recipient, Dakota Meyer’s blog called Action Not Words @ http://dakotalmeyer.blogspot.com/.

Meyer has been actively tweeting since last year using the handle @Dakota_Meyer and has been blogging for a few months since announcing the launch of the website back in March.

I wrote about his Twitter account and blog at the time they went online and he shares a lot of things including his struggles.

In his latest blog post entitled Struggle, Meyer writes, “So, I have to say this week was by far one of the hardest weeks of my life...They say time heals all wounds, but for me, it seems that the longer I wait and the more time that has passed, the harder it gets.  Marines are supposed to be the toughest men on Earth, but I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm struggling.  This week was especially hard because Tuesday was the 8th of the month.  My guys were killed on the 8th of September, 2009.  I'll admit that this week was filled with lots of tears, bad days and bad thoughts.”

To follow Dakota Meyer on Twitter go here.

To keep up with his story through his blog, go here.

Image Source: Defense.gov

People across the nation and the world are rallying support for the family of Spc. Benjamin Neal who was killed in Afghanistan after his unit was attacked with an improvised explosive device.

The effort, which started on Facebook, is called "Lighting The Way To Bring Ben Home".

Leaving the porch light on until Ben is brought home. Just a silent way to show we're thinking of him, his family and his wife. Day and Night. Not to be turned off until he is able to come home to his family. Anyone that wants to participate is welcome.  Ben was a Orfordville native and a soldier in Afghanistan that was taken from us Wednesday.

The picture above is a map of locations of many of the supporters who have their lights on for Ben.  According to the Facebook page, over 5,000 people so far are participating.

I learned about the Porch Light Support after reading an article on The Janesville Gazette earlier today.

Gina Duwe writes, "Neal's wife and parents have returned from receiving Neal's remains on the East Coast, but it could be several days before his body is flown home, Eggleston said.  Local American Legion members stand ready to do whatever the family requests. The legion, the Orfordville Fire Department and villages of Orfordville and Footville have offered their support and services, Eggleston said.  "The major player in this is the family and the United States Army," he said. "We're just there for support to do whatever we can, whatever we're asked to do in addition to the military."

You can read more of the news story here.

To learn more about the Facebook effort go here.

To add yourself to the map go here.