Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46By YM/MSgt Lauren Loria Col Wesley Fox (VA) When the founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence, they were setting the basic rights for every American. Along with every American right comes the values of individualism, equality, unity, liberty, and diversity. In this day and age some of those values have been lost to many, but those who still have them fight every day for them. Helen Abdulla is a Kurdish fighter against the Islamic state, but not in the sense of using weapons or violence. She uses her voice to rally the people to stand for equality and unity, both values that Americans share. Ms. Abdulla was born in Iran in 1988. She grew up in Iraq under the ruthless reign of Saddam Hus- sein. Her grandfather was a member of the Peshmerga, a Kurdish fighting force. Her family decided the conditions were so bad that they left their homeland and moved to Finland. When she turned 18, Helen moved to Los Angeles, CA to start her musical career. Living in the city on her own, she promoted her- self through her Myspace page and struggled to get a break, and was eventually picked up by a record label just as she was planning to return home. Her debut single made it all the way to number three in Finland, and an album followed shortly afterwards. But it is her latest track and its video for which she has received the most at- tention,and caught the interest of Kurd- ish fighters in the Middle East. Entitled “Revolution”, it was filmed in an aban- doned town near Mosul in Iraq, just a mile from where ISIS fight- ers were clashing with Kurdish forces. In the song, she talks about winning the war against the fun- damentalist terrorists in order to bring peace to the Middle East.She made the latest video to highlight the struggle of the Kurdish Pesh- merga, who have been fighting ISIS for more than a year along the porous border that separates Iraq’s Kurdish region from the rest of Iraq. A Peshmerga officer, Nawazed Saleh, has said that Kurdish artists have begun singing for the Peshmerga, and this is a beautiful step and will result in the world knowing more about who the Peshmerga are. Even though Helen Ab- dulla was not born in the United States she exemplifies American values, work- ing toward the unity of her country and the equality for the people. A Kurdish Singer Who Exemplifies American Values By YM/GySgt Tyler Smith Chino Valley (CA) Last May, Chino Valley Young Marines had the opportunity to embark on an exciting experience.We all met at March Air Force Base in Riverside, CA. At first, I thought we were only going to take a tour of the many aircraft at the base, not re- alizing that our unit was going to fly along the coast to San Francisco and back aboard C-17 and C-135 aircraft. On board the C-17 were a few members of our unit; the majority were on the KC-135 aircraft, and were San Marcos High School Air Force JROTC members, and the Aviation Explorers from Fal- con Field in Meza,AZ. I have been on an airplane before, but not on a military transport aircraft. I was not nervous, but after 20 min- utes into the ride, I started feeling sick. The flight was 4 hours (and it seemed like forever). The pi- lot had made many ascents and descents and during the flight a KC-135, which most of my unit was on, refuelled us while in the air. The pilot let us into the cockpit to get a view of everything because on cargo aircraft, there aren’t any windows to look through except the emergency exit windows. During the flight, they had turned off all the lights and showed us how the military is hidden during the night. I had gotten the chance to sit in the cockpit to see us land which was pret- ty cool. The C-17 military aircraft is a high-wing, four-engine, T-tailed military transport airplane. It has an interna- tional range and the ability to land on small airfields. A propulsive lift system allows the C-17 to achieve safe takeoffs on short runways.The C-17 is capable of landing a full payload in less than 3,000 ft. The flight deck accommodates pilot, co-pilot and two observer positions. Our flight crew on the C-17 aircraft was SSgt. Loren Tetzlaff, SSgt. Steve Rojas, SMSgt. Michael Giles as well as the pilot and the co-pilot. The crew was very friendly and helpful. They shared with us what a tactical descent would feel like by dropping to 5,000 ft. while deploying reverse thrusters in flight, and also a tactical landing; this was pretty awe- some to experience. A huge thank you to each of flight crew and March AFB for al- lowing us this opportunity. This was a great something not many Young Marines or civilians get to experience. Chino Valley: Adventure Off in the Wild Blue Yonder YOUNG MARINES ESPRIT ONLINE 41