2006.11.06: November 6, 2006: Headlines: COS - Kenya: COS - Afghanistan: Obituaries: Military: Civil Affairs: KGW: The Dalles remembers Kenya RPCV Robert Paul killed in Afghanistan
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2006.09.12: September 12, 2006: Headlines: COS - Kenya: COS - Afghanistan: Obituaries: Military: Oregon Live: Staff Sgt. Robert J. Paul (RPCV Kenya) killed in car bombing in Kabul :
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2006.11.06: November 6, 2006: Headlines: COS - Kenya: COS - Afghanistan: Obituaries: Military: Civil Affairs: KGW: The Dalles remembers Kenya RPCV Robert Paul killed in Afghanistan
| He served with honor One year ago, Staff Sgt. Robert J. Paul (RPCV Kenya) carried on an ongoing dialog on this website on the military and the peace corps and his role as a member of a Civil Affairs Team in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have just received a report that Sargeant Paul has been killed by a car bomb in Kabul. Words cannot express our feeling of loss for this tremendous injury to the entire RPCV community. Most of us didn't know him personally but we knew him from his words. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends. He was one of ours and he served with honor. |
The Dalles remembers Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Robert Paul killed in Afghanistan
Paul said her son never stopped charting his own path, whether it was taking German when French and Spanish were the only languages offered, or announcing over dinner that he had joined the Peace Corps. "His first year there, he learned Swahili, and that's a very hard language, I understand," she said. "Then when that year was up, he called and said he was staying another year." Kenya RPCV Robert Paul worked in a Civil Affairs unit in Afghanistan. He was killed in a car bombing in 2006.
The Dalles remembers Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Robert Paul killed in Afghanistan
The Dalles remembers planner killed in Afghanistan
11/06/2006
Associated Press
An Army reservist killed in Afghanistan was remembered Sunday as a strong-willed boy who grew into a man that sought to make a difference.
Staff Sgt. Robert Paul, 43, died Sept. 8 when a car bomber struck near the Humvee that was carrying him. Paul, a former Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya, had come to Oregon from Chicago and worked in land-use planning, starting with the city of The Dalles and then with Wasco County.
At a memorial service at The Dalles Wahtonka High School, Gov. Ted Kulongoski, U.S. Rep. Greg Walden and Major Gen. Raymond Rees spoke about the man who served his country. His mother, meanwhile, told the audience about a boy who watched movies with a box of hats.
"If it was a cowboy movie, he put on a cowboy hat; if it was an Indian movie, he put on an Indian headdress," said Esther Paul of Chicago.
"He was an unusual kid," she said to laughter.
Paul said her son never stopped charting his own path, whether it was taking German when French and Spanish were the only languages offered, or announcing over dinner that he had joined the Peace Corps. "His first year there, he learned Swahili, and that's a very hard language, I understand," she said. "Then when that year was up, he called and said he was staying another year."
She also spoke of her son's decision to leave the Chicago area for another windy city — The Dalles. "He called one day and said, 'Mom, I'm in the greatest city in the world. This is God's country.' He said he was never ever going to leave Oregon."
But he did leave for the Middle East.
"I asked, 'Is there anybody I can call to get you out,'" his mother recalled tearfully. "He said, 'You don't understand; I want to go.' "So he went and he's not coming back. His family misses Bobby very much, but we realize Bobby had a job to do; Bobby was where he wanted to be and doing what he wanted to do."
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Headlines: November, 2006; RPCV Robert Paul (Kenya); Peace Corps Kenya; Directory of Kenya RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Kenya RPCVs; Peace Corps Afghanistan; Directory of Afghanistan RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Afghanistan RPCVs; Obituaries; Military; Civil Affairs
When this story was posted in November 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:
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| Harris Wofford to speak at "PC History" series Senator Harris Wofford will be the speaker at the 4th Annual "Peace Corps History" series on November 16 sponsored by the University of Maryland at Baltimore County (UMBC) and the Maryland Returned Volunteers. Previous speakers in the series have included Jack Vaughn (Second Director of the Peace Corps), Scott Stossel (Biographer of Sargent Shriver), and C. Payne Lucas (President Emeritus of Africare). Details on the time and location of the event are available here. |
| Chris Dodd's Vision for the Peace Corps Senator Chris Dodd (RPCV Dominican Republic) spoke at the ceremony for this year's Shriver Award and elaborated on issues he raised at Ron Tschetter's hearings. Dodd plans to introduce legislation that may include: setting aside a portion of Peace Corps' budget as seed money for demonstration projects and third goal activities (after adjusting the annual budget upward to accommodate the added expense), more volunteer input into Peace Corps operations, removing medical, healthcare and tax impediments that discourage older volunteers, providing more transparency in the medical screening and appeals process, a more comprehensive health safety net for recently-returned volunteers, and authorizing volunteers to accept, under certain circumstances, private donations to support their development projects. He plans to circulate draft legislation for review to members of the Peace Corps community and welcomes RPCV comments. |
| He served with honor One year ago, Staff Sgt. Robert J. Paul (RPCV Kenya) carried on an ongoing dialog on this website on the military and the peace corps and his role as a member of a Civil Affairs Team in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have just received a report that Sargeant Paul has been killed by a car bomb in Kabul. Words cannot express our feeling of loss for this tremendous injury to the entire RPCV community. Most of us didn't know him personally but we knew him from his words. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends. He was one of ours and he served with honor. |
| Chris Shays Shifts to Favor an Iraq Timetable In a policy shift, RPCV Congressman Chris Shays, long a staunch advocate of the Bush administration's position in Iraq, is now proposing a timetable for a withdrawal of American troops. How Mr. Shays came to this change of heart is, he says, a matter of a newfound substantive belief that Iraqis need to be prodded into taking greater control of their own destiny under the country’s newly formed government. As Chairman of the House Government Reform subcommittee on national security, he plans to draft a timetable for a phased withdrawal and then push for its adoption. A conscientious objector during the Vietnam War who said that if drafted he would not serve, Chris Shays has made 14 trips to Iraq and was the first Congressman to enter the country after the war - against the wishes of the Department of Defense. |
| Peace Corps' Screening and Medical Clearance The purpose of Peace Corps' screening and medical clearance process is to ensure safe accommodation for applicants and minimize undue risk exposure for volunteers to allow PCVS to complete their service without compromising their entry health status. To further these goals, PCOL has obtained a copy of the Peace Corps Screening Guidelines Manual through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and has posted it in the "Peace Corps Library." Applicants and Medical Professionals (especially those who have already served as volunteers) are urged to review the guidelines and leave their comments and suggestions. Then read the story of one RPCV's journey through medical screening and his suggestions for changes to the process. |
| The Peace Corps is "fashionable" again The LA Times says that "the Peace Corps is booming again and "It's hard to know exactly what's behind the resurgence." PCOL Comment: Since the founding of the Peace Corps 45 years ago, Americans have answered Kennedy's call: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man." Over 182,000 have served. Another 200,000 have applied and been unable to serve because of lack of Congressional funding. The Peace Corps has never gone out of fashion. It's Congress that hasn't been keeping pace. |
| PCOL readership increases 100% Monthly readership on "Peace Corps Online" has increased in the past twelve months to 350,000 visitors - over eleven thousand every day - a 100% increase since this time last year. Thanks again, RPCVs and Friends of the Peace Corps, for making PCOL your source of information for the Peace Corps community. And thanks for supporting the Peace Corps Library and History of the Peace Corps. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come. |
| History of the Peace Corps PCOL is proud to announce that Phase One of the "History of the Peace Corps" is now available online. This installment includes over 5,000 pages of primary source documents from the archives of the Peace Corps including every issue of "Peace Corps News," "Peace Corps Times," "Peace Corps Volunteer," "Action Update," and every annual report of the Peace Corps to Congress since 1961. "Ask Not" is an ongoing project. Read how you can help. |
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Story Source: KGW
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Kenya; COS - Afghanistan; Obituaries; Military; Civil Affairs
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