http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/homefront/ On the Homefront is a point of connection for military families, veterans and others in a time of war. Margo Rutledge Kissell is a reporter for the Dayton Daily News who frequently writes about military personnel serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Quick news updates by e-mail Start your workday informed by signing up for our e-mail local news headlines and breaking news alerts. Sign up en-us mkissell@daytondailynews.com 2008-05-01T14:30:28-05:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/homefront/entries/2008/05/01/what_do_you_wan.html Five years ago today, President Bush stood aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln and declared “major combat operations in Iraq have ended.” U.S. Rep. John Murtha, chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, spoke at the Center for American Progress... 3544403@http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/homefront/ 2008-05-01T14:30:28-05:00 mkissell@daytondailynews.com http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/homefront/entries/2008/04/24/alleged_coverup.html Two Democratic senators are calling for the chief mental health official of the Veterans Affairs Department to resign, saying he tried to cover up the rising number of veteran suicides. The Associated Press reports: A number of Democratic senators said... 3361803@http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/homefront/ 2008-04-24T10:42:49-05:00 mkissell@daytondailynews.com http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/homefront/entries/2008/04/21/is_air_force_do.html Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday the Air Force is not doing enough to help in the Iraq and Afghanistan war effort, complaining that some military leaders are “stuck in old ways of doing business,” the Associated Press is reporting.... 3271903@http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/homefront/ 2008-04-21T13:55:00-05:00 mkissell@daytondailynews.com http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/homefront/entries/2008/04/18/dayton_va_base.html By Margo Rutledge Kissell Staff Writer Thursday, April 17, 2008 DAYTON — The Dayton VA Medical Center and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base signed an agreement Thursday, April 17, to create a new Veterans Affairs/Department of Defense Transition Center that officials... 3214103@http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/homefront/ 2008-04-18T10:18:52-05:00 mkissell@daytondailynews.com http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/homefront/entries/2008/04/16/httpwwwdaytonda_5.html Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter wants to meet Friday with Hamas supreme leader Khaled Mashaal — a move that has drawn criticism from the United States and Israel, who consider Hamas a terror group. Carter, who brokered the historic 1979... 3151303@http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/homefront/ 2008-04-16T09:46:49-05:00 mkissell@daytondailynews.com http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/homefront/entries/2008/04/15/httpwwwdaytonda_4.html We ran a story in today’s paper headlined, Iraq’s free budget ride may be nearing end. The AP story tells of how both Republicans and Democrats are looking at Iraq’s surging oil income and belief that “Baghdad should start picking... 3121403@http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/homefront/ 2008-04-15T10:38:54-05:00 mkissell@daytondailynews.com http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/homefront/entries/2008/04/08/the_associated_2.html The Associated Press is reporting Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. general commanding the Iraq war, is calling for an open-ended suspension of U.S. troop withdrawals this summer, saying a quick withdrawal would hurt recent security gains made during the troops... 2957203@http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/homefront/ 2008-04-08T11:50:22-05:00 mkissell@daytondailynews.com http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/homefront/entries/2008/04/01/iraqis_tip_lead.html By Margo Rutledge Kissell Staff Writer A tip from a local Iraqi led to the discovery of the remains of missing Army reservist Matt Maupin of Batavia, an Army official in Iraq said Monday, March 31. Maj. Mark Cheadle with... 2787303@http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/homefront/ 2008-04-01T10:39:25-05:00 mkissell@daytondailynews.com http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/homefront/entries/2008/03/31/sunday_march_30.html Keith Maupin told me after a visit to Washington last May that he had met with President Bush for the eighth time about finding his son, Army reservist Keith M. “Matt” Maupin. He also met with Defense Secretary Robert Gates... 2755503@http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/homefront/ 2008-03-31T09:43:32-05:00 mkissell@daytondailynews.com http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/homefront/entries/2008/03/28/fallen_soldier.html By Margo Rutledge Kissell Staff Writer CENTERVILLE — A bugler played the somber tones of taps inside Church of the Incarnation Friday, March 28, as family and friends paid tribute to fallen Army Spc. David S. Stelmat Jr. The 27-year-old... 2707003@http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/homefront/ 2008-03-28T12:53:36-05:00 mkissell@daytondailynews.com http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/homefront/entries/2008/03/26/what_would_you_2.html President Bush will be in the Miami Valley Thursday speaking at the National Museum of the Air Force. The president will address the “global war on terror” before a group of community leaders and members of the military, a White... 2655303@http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/homefront/ 2008-03-26T11:34:04-05:00 mkissell@daytondailynews.com http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/homefront/entries/2008/03/24/with_4000_dead.html The nation has reached a somber milestone — 4,000 American troops have been killed in Iraq. U.S. Army Spc. David Stelmat, 27, the son of a Centerville man, was killed Saturday in Iraq with two other soldiers traveling in a... 2593903@http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/homefront/ 2008-03-24T09:36:50-05:00 mkissell@daytondailynews.com http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/homefront/entries/2008/03/21/old_cell_phones.html Here’s an update on this story from Beverly Peyton, president of Blue Star Mothers of America, Miami Valley Chapter 3: “I just knew if you did something about the cell phones that the public would respond and boy, oh boy,... 2550003@http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/homefront/ 2008-03-21T10:51:40-05:00 mkissell@daytondailynews.com http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/homefront/entries/2008/03/19/remembering_the_1.html Five years ago today, the war in Iraq began. I was in the newsroom that night when President Bush declared in a four-minute speech the early stages of “disarming Iraq” had begun. I spoke by phone to the parents of... 2494403@http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/homefront/ 2008-03-19T10:14:54-05:00 mkissell@daytondailynews.com http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/homefront/entries/2008/02/27/how_important_i_1.html The Associated Press moved a story about Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama trading barbs over a comment Obama made about al-Qaida during Tuesday’s Democratic debate in Cleveland. With Ohio’s primary election Tuesday, tell us: How important to YOU... 1934702@http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/homefront/ 2008-02-27T14:57:44-05:00 mkissell@daytondailynews.com