Troop

May 23 marked a big day for the boys of Boy Scout Troop 007 . During a spring Court of Honor ceremony led by Senior Patrol Leader Louis Colangelo and Scoutmaster John Alden, the boys were recognized for their advancements. Mike Bishop, Robert Daniel, Will Connor, Eric Saulsbury, Aaron Brent, Nick Condron, Ryan Condron, Tom Condron, Alex Hanon, Austen Rhomann, A.J. Tribaldi, and Luke Barragan were among those honored. Many other scouts were recognized for earning merit badges.

At long last, Osama bin Laden is gone. I'll never forget the horror of September 11th, and I am relieved this monster of terrorism has been dispatched. It was about time. Now that our mission has been accomplished, it's time to bring our troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan, and get the Maryland National Guard out of Egypt. America's Middle East adventures should be scaled back and ended. After nearly a decade of war, the loss of thousands of lives and trillions of American tax dollars, I say enough.

The killing of Osama bin Laden forced lawmakers to grapple with the future of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, but most members of Maryland's congressional delegation said Monday that the nation should continue on its current course. Maryland's largely Democratic delegation said the death of the al-Qaida leader should not change the timeline President Barack Obama set out in 2009 when he proposed the 30,000-troop surge for Afghanistan. The White House plans to start withdrawing some of the roughly 100,000 troops in July.

As members of Boy Scout Troop 117 gathered to discuss their trip to see the Baltimore County Council in action, a troop leader leaned in, trying to coax details from the easily distracted boys. Finally, they discussed their favorite part of the council meeting. "'The meeting is now adjourned,'" one joked to a chorus of laughter from the group. The scene could play out in a Scout troop anywhere. But the members of Troop 117 aren't your typical Scouts. The troop is one of 13 in the Baltimore area geared to boys and young men with special physical, mental and emotional challenges.

She was on her way to the food court, still deciding between a sandwich and a slice of pizza for dinner, when Sabaheta Alek-Finkelman spotted the men and women in uniform. "Would you like to record a shout-out to the troops overseas?" asked Army Spc. Nicholas Lomison, 19, in his friendliest salesman's voice. "It's free, you know. " Alek-Finkelman didn't hesitate. "Hello, military," she said into a camera and microphone set up near the Chili's Too at the Arundel Mills mall.

Bryant Bennett's article, "U.S. strikes at Mexican cartels in wide raids" (Feb. 25), was indeed welcome news, following the unfortunate death of the American special agent Jaime Zapata and the wounding of another agent. In my opinion, this would never have happened if our government had sealed the Mexican border years ago and eliminated the distribution and utilization of these drugs and weapons by so many Americans, young and old, which is basically far more damaging to the safety and welfare of our country than some of our overseas military conflicts when you consider they are actually destroying the hearts and minds of so many of our young people, who no doubt, will be the future foundation and salvation of our United States.

Sometime in the next few days, Gunnery Sgt. Blaine Scott will arrive in Afghanistan for a three-month stint. Around the same time, his two young children, Isabella and Blaine Jr., will get a package addressed especially to them in the mail at their home in California. Before the 18-year veteran of the Marine Corps boarded a plane at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport headed to the Middle Eastern war zone late Tuesday, a cheerful and smiling Scott pored over a selection of brand-new donated books, selecting a mystery for his 7-year-old daughter and a book about trucks for his 4-year-old son. "I haven't seen my kids in forever," Scott said.

It's perfectly reasonable that officials at the Community College of Baltimore County were concerned when they read Iraq War veteran Charles Whittington's essay in the school newspaper. What Mr. Whittington wrote, including an admission that he had become addicted to the violence of war, is truly disturbing. And ultimately, what the college is asking of him — a psychological evaluation to make sure the zeal for killing he describes acquiring in combat doesn't translate to civilian life — is not so onerous.

Those of us who read Khaled Hosseini's novel, "A Thousand Splendid Suns" were certain that the unendurable trials of the women at the center of that book were more fact than fiction. The writing of the author, an Afghan-born American doctor, had the unmistakable ring of truth. As if to confirm the dark suspicion that Afghan women did indeed live lives of terrible abuse at the hands of their own parents as well as at the hands of the husbands chosen for them, Alissa Rubin of The New York Times wrote last week that Afghan women are setting themselves on fire in a desperate attempt to escape their fates.

On a cold November day in 1865, hundreds of United States Colored Troops who had served during the Civil War marched proudly in uniform through the streets of Harrisburg, Pa. The procession formed downtown near the state Capitol, winding its way to the mansion of a local abolitionist. There, the war heroes were praised for their service to the nation. The Pennsylvania Grand Review, the only event of its kind, attracted black soldiers from more than two dozen states, including Maryland, to celebrate the end of the Civil War. Next weekend, tourism officials hope to draw descendants of the troops, history buffs and travelers to a four-day celebration in Harrisburg.