I can’t believe it’s already been another year and here we are with the annual wrap-up. 2008 was a banner year for us here at ASP. We had more unique visits this year than any other year in our history! We also had more successes on the military front than the previous year thanks to the previous year’s surge. But, if you weren’t around for all of 2008, keep reading and find out what you missed. The following is a list of the posts that elicited the most responses throughout the year. Enjoy!!

The year started off with a veto of the Defense Spending Bill by President Bush, lowering the annual payroll increase from 3.5% to 3.0% for troops. I was frustrated by this, but it turned out there was a reason. Also at the beginning of the year, Troy’s son deployed to Afghanistan – following in his father’s footsteps.

While everyone was fighting in Congress and Washington, I posed a question about “what are we paying these numbskulls for?” Many of you weighed in. After all, we didn’t have an approved budget and a repeat of how the Repugnicans shut down the Defense Department during the Clinton years seemed inevitable.

As is always the case when I rail against the Iraq Veterans Against the War (a Vietnam Veterans Against the War rehash), response was overwhelming and heated. I had a field day when the group openly encouraged troops to subversively refuse to deploy and withdraw support for the war. Their Winter Soldier II fiasco was a resounding…flop! True stories tend to be more credible guys. I followed the event into March, exposing more of their stupidity and dishonesty. Their efforts were a resounding failure.

Marcus kept us updated about murdered Marine Maria Lauterbach and her killer, CPL Cesar Laurean. Having met the accused, Marcus provided an indepth analysis and play by play as the case unfolded. When news coverage seemed to be waning, Marcus brought the case back into focus.

For some odd reason, I became a finalist in the VA Mortgage Center’s “American Hero Award”. While I didn’t win the title – fittingly – ASP played a big role in nominating the deserving winner. Congratulations again to the real American Hero, Brian Horn of anysoldier.com.

The New York Slimes started out the year proving why they’d be suffering by the end of it. Their smear piece on all the evil military killers in this country drew a lot of interest.

In January, I suffered from my annual sickness. I’ve got a first rate immune system, so when I get sick, I GET SICK!! And I’m a wimp about it.

A huge draw this year was my post about celebrating my 13th year in the military. For those that missed it, I provided a photo timeline of my service. Looking forward to the next 13 (well, 12 now) years of service. Just take it easy on the hair jokes.

The extreme left wing clearly wasn’t happy with my ability to tell the truth – which just so happens to make them look bad. I dissected what makes a statement false in explaining the logic behind ALL the reasoning for going to war with Iraq. Seems to be a common explanation I have to give to the short sighted, ignorant trolls among us this year. So, if you missed the first link in this paragraph, here’s another chance to learn. I think CF was on the toilet through most of this post as he wasn’t lurking anywhere in the comments. It’s hard to argue with fact, though, I guess.

In February, the moonbats in Bezerkely reared their ugly, greased and grime infested nappy heads in an attempt to kick out the Marine Recruiters. The same groups that complain about free speech did everything possible to ensure the Marines didn’t get those same freedoms. The city council labeled them “unwelcome intruders” and things just went downhill from there. Thank goodness for Move America Forward for standing up to the SoCal hippies!! And Marcus provided a sterling example by way of Kennesaw, GA that they could use to truly show support to the troops.

Milbloggers were treated to perhaps the first vocal and public support from an Army General in February. LTG William Caldwell provided a 4-step plan for the services to actively and openly accept milbloggers.

After waking up from their troll slumber, Ken Hoop, CF and others weren’t impressed by my reproduction of LTC Dave Grossman’s piece titled “Sheep, Wolves, & Sheepdogs“. Sheep are never easily amused.

White Rose posted a personal plea on behalf of her son who is suffering from extreme depression as a result of PTSD. You answered the call. Later, she provided more details into her situation.

Inexplicably, my left leg went numb then awoke in searing pain. I went to the hospital and was issued a cane and had MRI scans done on it. After about a week, the pain was gone and the episode was attributed to the problem associated with my back injury from my time in Iraq. Thankfully, that pain hasn’t returned since. I still have the cane just in case!

I still get comments on our post about things NOT to say to military wife. It’s a crowd favorite.

The hot air coming from the facial orifices of Senators Hagel, Kerry and Biden forced the helicopter they were riding in to make an emergency landing in Afghanistan. John Kerry’s Purple Heart is still pending the red tape.

My “application” to the Special Forces school was rejected in February. I found out the culpit of this hilarious prank and got them back. Unfortunately, my response is classified. Check all the links to that one.

Remember Obama’s made up story about the Captain in Afghanistan who didn’t have enough ammo or troops to fulfill his mission? Don’t worry, the rest of America conveniently forgot all his fibs and fabrications and elected him anyway.

To close out February, Hollywood showed it’s contempt for our troops during the Oscars; I showed my contempt for Hollywood. I taught my kids how to deal with bullies (much like I do here!). White Rose told us Tracy Barker’s sexual assault in Iraq story.

In March, a purported video of a Soldier chucking a puppy over a cliff hit the web. The backlash was justified. I provided some photos and stories of the dog we befriended and railed against these troops if the story was true. It was never conclusively resolved. My story was eventually shared on the Mark Levin Show stemming from an email I titled “My Combat Puppy”.

Moonbats in New York bombed the recruiting station there. In typical military fashion, they didn’t drive us away! Will New York or Berkley ever learn?

An anti-war judge prevented a foster teen from joining the military. Would you believe the incident happened in a California court room? Later, Assemblyman Cameron Smyth introduced and passed legislation that allows foster teens to enlist in the service without express permission from a judge.

Soldiers continued to prove the MSM wrong by enlisting and reenlisting into the military, despite what the media was calling “tough recruiting” hurdles.

March 2008 saw the 4000th fallen hero from the war in Iraq. While mourning this loss, we sought to thank them for their sacrifice.

The end of March brought demands from some nonexistent office in the Pentagon for me to shut down the site. I followed up this demand with some “proof” that I was in a lot of trouble. Marcus assisted me with the plot by adding to the story. Many of you fell for it!! Not all of you liked us for it.

April 1st provided the fruits of all our deceptive efforts!! I’m still chuckling thinking about it. But, some of you needed to relax a bit.

After reeling from my April Fool’s prank, I got back to the business of highlighting the hypocrisy found within the ranks of the left. General Petraeus was gearing up for his report to Congress and before he could even open his mouth, the Dumbocrats were discrediting what he hadn’t said yet.

In classic foot in mouth style, Dumbocrat Henry Wexler told us that “the surge had failed.” Did you hear that? I just chuckled. Is this guy still in office by the way? Some people didn’t find my Wexler post amusing and suggested I wasn’t a very good example as a First Sergeant. My response was a bit wordy!

In the middle of April, Marcus began working on the new site design template and I created the current banner for the site. Most of you liked it.

As a sign that things never change, people just get dumber, I posted a rant about the right time and place for the standard, misguided Bush rants. Morton is still a moron. How many of you actually looked up the word “fugacious” after reading that post?

In April, the DOD announced campaign stars for Iraq and Afghanistan to recognize multiple deployments to the combat zone.

Also in April, a boy was suspended for talking to his deployed father while at school and some pro-troop supporters were assaulted by moonbats. And things just kept going downhill. The moonbats were even required to attend anger management classes.

You know how people like Steven and CF like to present their leftist links as proof behind their arguments? Well, they didn’t like my links to facts about the war as written by Frederick W. Kagan, a writer for the Weekly Standard.

Toby Keith visited troops in Afghanistan…again… while the barracks at Fort Bragg were falling apart for those returning. A public relations nightmare was born and the Department of the Army hosted a bloggers roundtable.

In May, Marcus was promoted to Sergeant of the Marine Corps! Well, he should have been. Instead, he was just promoted to Sergeant! Congrats again, bro! Word is he’s already squandered his promotion money on some AIG investments. Though May was a proud month for Marcus, it was also a very sad one. Marcus’ memaw died later in the month and many of you posted respect for his loss.

Suggestions were made at the highest levels about awarded the Purple Heart for PTSD. I still receive emails about this post and asked what you thought about it. The responses varied widely.

The brilliant genius Matthis Chiroux of IVAW fame publicly declared he would not be deploying. However did we manage without his photographic skills on the battlefield?! I’ve openly challenged him to a cage fight, but he hasn’t taken me up on it yet.

May got us to nearly 100 Patriotic Songs in what I think is the most comprehensive link of Patriotic Songs on the net! The post is still open to any suggestions that may be missing (no hippie crap accepted).

“When A Soldier Comes Home” was a moving and touching post for many. Most chose to email me on this one rather than post comments.

General Caldwell wrote a guest post for us on Memorial Day this year. We’re privileged to have him collaborate here.

The next day a video surfaced showing how the Dumbocrats lied about Iraq to get elected.

White Rose wrote a great post titled “My Flag, My Country, My Son & Me” that got good response at the end of the month.

Perhaps my proudest moment this year was sending two JROTC cadets to Drill Camp this year. You helped me single-handedly send these kids to a very intensive and rewarding experience and I thank you. By way of follow up, the kids presented me with a drill camp t-shirt at the start of the school year as thanks!

June brought us another suspension when a 4th grader brought a souvenir rifle shell to school that he got from a Memorial Day celebration.

The elections were in full swing in June. And both parties were eager to impress the country. I switched allegiances to the Dumbocrat version of the G.I. Bill and threw my support behind it. Take that for bi-partisanship, Steve!

The Marines were acquitted in the Haditha case in June and we’re still waiting on the apology from Murthafocker in 2009!

Another post I get a lot of emails about from Soldiers is my piece on “Awards Bias“. Being a 1SG, I continue to fight this attitude, but have yet to win one when it’s deserved by a lesser ranking Soldier. It’s sad really.

A brief spell of depression hit me at a moment I was feeling quite useless. You helped boost my spirits.

In June, we received the recruiting numbers for the previous month. Again, and since, each service met or exceeded their goals. Naturally, the defeatist trolls here weren’t impressed.

In what many thought was another joke, I found out that we had made the banned list of military computers. No joke, I promise you.

People are still commenting on Marcus’ post about supporting your Marines and Soldiers.

The Bonehead Veteran Of the Year award this year goes to Wesley Clark for questioning John McCain’s service experience.

July was a slow news month, I think. Winning WASN’T news, but the need to report on the 4,113th American death in Iraq apparently WAS!

In July, we highlighted a former Iraqi who joined the US Army. Thank you for your service!

As would be a frequent occurrence, I got fed up with Obama’s denial about the surge success after publicly stating it wouldn’t work. That opened a can of worms from the Kool-aid drinkers. He then only invited a group of Anti-War Veterans to sit on stage with him during an event in Colorado. The media ignored this little tidbit, but I didn’t.

Proof of success just kept coming at us in July. I provided some imagery of that proof and started recommending we call it a day over there. Victory is ours!

July also seemed to be Obama-bashing month here at ASP. He’s just the wrong choice for Commander In Chief. But, I only oppose him on things he’s wrong about. I support him when others are wrong about him, though (unlike some people here with respect to Bush – did I just let my bi-partisanship show again, Steve?).

But then, he went and pulled the “let’s visit the troops” stunt during a campaign, which I think completely backfired and disingenuous. His media slanted trip to Afghanistan wasn’t any better.

July brought on “Battle Captain-gate”, the supposed scandalous email written by a battle captain in Afghanistan. The media (and Snopes) completely decided to slip into bed naked with Obama rather do some real journalistic work. I did it for them.

Iraq started getting its act together by airing commercials of reconciliation and togetherness. In another sign of togetherness, Marcus announced that he and Anna were expecting!! Great way to close out the month.

In August, the polls showed that the military supported McCain by a WIDE margin. We must not know what’s good for us, I guess.

As of today, we’re STILL talking about the Tyson Foods union deal where they sought to replace an American holiday with a Muslim one. This got heated. I never did get my tour of the facility.

We brought on Roman General (RG) this month to write about PTSD and other issues. I’m thankful he’s still around and doing well!! I get many emails of appreciation for his posts. He is also proof that I respect opinions that don’t agree with mine.

I met Marcus and his family in person for the first time in August. We’ve been working on ASP together for how long?

RG asked some tough questions about suicide in the military. It awakened many to this sad fact.

Kid Rock’s new National Guard video was a very polarizing issue. Many don’t think he is a good enough role model to represent the troops. I don’t think he represents the troops. He just supports them to the best of his ability. And I don’t care whether you like him or not. He’s got my support.

Al Qaeda’s utter defeat in Iraq forced them to resort to drastic measures. They’re starting to rub off on the Taliban (or vice versa).

I posted Part I of Obama/Biden’s New World Order aspirations for this country as told from Biden’s own lips. I never did get around to Part II. But, at least I provided a link where you can read the report for yourself. Soon after January 20th, I anticipate the inclusion of armbands as part of our uniforms. I’m just sayin….

To close out August, I asked what war crimes Bush should be charged with. No one could really provide any proof that I couldn’t dispute with fact. It was a fun exercise though.

We started out September with a plea for support to resolution 636. Who would have thought that a resolution designed to recognize the accomplishments of General Petraeus and the success of the surge would be so contentious? Oh, because it also gave some of the credit to President Bush, that’s why.

People like Steve and CF would do well to reread my post “Why I Despise Liberals” to understand why I have no respect for them. However, I don’t really despise liberals. I despise the extreme left. After all, I’d like to think that I can consider people like NY-David and Bob the Liberal, who disagree with me on a great deal of my opinions, friend. I just have no patience for someone who thinks their side is right 100% of the time and my side is wrong 100% of the time. That is the real reason why I screw with SOME of your comments, Steve. I just don’t like you. Unfair? Maybe, but I just don’t care. Biased? Absolutely!

One of my friends died this month in a motorcycle accident. SFC Tyree was hit by a car that failed to pay attention to its surroundings. I was privileged to attend his funeral and present his Dress Blue uniform to his daughter. He will be missed.

September is always a great month because I get to celebrate the anniversary of when I married the hottest woman on the planet! I got lucky and she got the short end of the stick. No pun intended.

Trying to infuse a little humor into the website since we tend to be so serious all the time, I posted about some new terrorist organizations anti-war groups that are popping.

Because it’s ASP policy to link to the most popular posts of the year, I’m required by ASP tradition to link to this one - but I’m not saying another word about it.

The milblog conference was a popular topic, but we handled most of the writing about it on the You Served blog, since they sent us. However, Marcus told the great story behind THIS picture. It was definitely fun had by all. Oh, HERE is Marcus’s explanantion.

After much debate and long thinking about the new Class A uniform that the Army is moving to soon. I happen to think the new uniform is a great change, unlike the ACUs and beret. It’s still not perfect, but it’s better than what we’re wearing now. I get Soldiers telling me I’m out of my mind (I also get some that agree with me) sending me emails.

My Combat Puppy got me a call from Mark Levin during his radio show. It was also profiled on his website.

People are still up in arms about te DOD’s decision to have CONUS-based units permanently assigned to NorthCom. In October, I laid out the truth here and will probably end up having to rehash this soon, based on the decision to certify two more units that will rotate through the responsibility and up the number of troops “deployed” (misnomer) to this unit to 20,000. RG published his dissenting opinion on this as well. How many times do I need to prove my bi-partisan support for the opposing opinion?

As I’ve alluded to pretty much throughout this entire post, the left wasn’t too impressed with calling out Joe Biden on his bold-faced lies during the Vice-Presidential debates. As proof of his lies, I even posted Gen. McKiernan’s EXACT words. The trolls still weren’t convinced. Remember that line in the Jim Carey movie, “Liar, Liar”: “I object…because it’s devestating to my case!”

An America Carol was released in October and did much better than anyone wanted to admit. The DVD is coming out soon, so stay tuned to this site for more. There’s nothing like satire that lambasts the left’s absurdity.

RG was on a roll this month. He wrote some very inspiring posts about dealing with combat-related stresses. A Soldier’s Heart was one of those. His Welcome Home post was a popular draw as well.

For the past three months, I felt like I’ve been forced to write about all of the absurd crap coming out of Washington that wasn’t military related. We need to just fire every branch of government and start fresh! It’s enough to make me want to just stop trying. The government will take care of me and my laziness.

SGT Freedom is always a great draw and his admonition to John McCain to wake up and do something really hit home.

Another firestorm I created was my report on why nation building is so vital to a military mission. I even posted pictures of me in Iraq winning hearts and minds. The trolls weren’t impressed.

General Powell perfectly timed his support of Obama to pretty much clinched Obama’s stranglehold on the election. As a result, he also lifted his shroud of deceit that he was ever a Republican to begin with. Let’s face it: this was a racist choice, not one based on reality or experience. Powell would make a 500% better president than Obama any day.

Thanks to this site and others, Virginia was forced to count military absentee ballots that at first it was refusing to recognize. Thank you again for your phone calls and emails.

October saw the addition of Gold Star Mom Amy Galvez as one of our bloggers, mother of one of the first profiles i did on They Have Names.

Not everyone found the humor in my halloween costume this year. I still thinks it’s funny. That’s okay. Those of you who disagreed with me will start laughing soon.

The California capital refused to recognize our veterans in any way but giving their employees a day off. No parades. No recognition. No respect.

In November, we sent out the call for the first ever Virtual Veterans Day in November this year. The first ever parade brought in about $400 for Soldier’s Angels Project Valour-IT. The parade route was laid out on the You Served blog and featured all the great military blogs (except the ones that “forgot” to get back to me).

When Obama won the general election, my congratulatory post drew a lot of comments. Come January 20th, I will cease my disapproval of your choice for president and support my commander in chief. However, he won’t get a free ride in 2009 – just as Bush hasn’t had a free ride when he was wrong. Speaking of which, his treatment the past eight years was dispicable and unwarranted. Naturally, the trolls were all over that post. I set em up…they take the bait.

As a sort of closure – and further suck the trolls into showing their ignorant colors – I began my “Thank You, President Bush” series. Boy, was that a freak magnet.

Businesses offered a number of different discounts this year for Veterans Day. Many of you informed me of others in your area. This became a HUGE search engine draw from across the country.

I thought it was interesting to be labeled a racist because I didn’t vote for Obama. Even more interesting is that I’m a racist in spite of NOT voting for McCain either.

The number of fallen heroes in the Iraq War rose to 4,200 in November. I sought to balance that out with real milestones that I think should be a far greater news story.

Touching the Face of Grace was a touching and memorable post that elicited a wide range of emotions in our readers.

RG posted a great post about the government FINALLY recognizing Gulf War Syndrome as a legitimate issue. It only took, what, 16 years!?

Amy wrote a post about closing Gitmo. I think the conversations are still ongoing with this topic. The problem is that – as we’ll see in December – the public is completely misinformed about the prison.

December was a busy month for me. Since Marcus hasn’t been carrying his weight much lately, there wasn’t a huge QUANTITY of posts this month. There was a high level of QUALITY however. My “Thank You, President Bush” series continued to dominate the conversations. Not everyone appreciates being educated… Here’s the roll-up link to the entire series.

Seamus got ill and Marcus put out a call for prayers. Did Muslims help with this, Steve? Just asking. Seamus is doing much better, by the way.

My favorite MSM target, the New York Slimes, was at it again and I deemed them worthy of another beatdown. The good news here is that they’re slowly killing themselves. I anticipate the bankruptcy headline any day now.

The cutest video of the year was posted this month. I almost tear up just thinking about it. God bless our military brats.

People like CF are always great muses for posts that need to be written. I hesitate to think about all those poor individuals out there who think just like them and feel compelled to perform my public service help them out of their dark clouds and horse blinders. When the shoe was thrown at Bush, I presented some other perspectives.

I love it when Code Pink gets handled. This rose-color outfitted bizeetches really do deserve a nice Saudi-style stoning. What made this one so much better was that it was the Iraqi Ambassador doing the handling. They clearly were irritated and I was clearly elated.

You may still notice the stickied post up about the web design contest. I urge to remember to vote AT LEAST daily and from as many computers as possible. As of this writing, I am exactly 120 votes away from taking the 4th place spot! Spread the word and if you want the code to add your support on your blog, let me know.

Remember when I spoke earlier about closing Gitmo. Well, Move America Forward, the pro-troop, pro-victory patriots, traveled to the prison complex to see firsthand what accomodations were like there. The trolls are on the loose!!

My frustration about the bailout brought on more blinder happy partisanship! Isn’t it interesting how through this entire rollup that the trolls are at least consistent? Even when confronted with what is right in front of their face, they just HAVE to open their flaps.

And there you have this year’s A Soldier’s Perspective year end rollup. On behalf of Marcus, Amy, RG and the rest of the ASP staff, I truly hope you all have a wonderful New Year and that the next 12 months bring you prosperity and growth in everything you seek – ALL of you! Thank you for spending another year with us here.