Murdoc has been drafted! And to make it worse, it’s the Air Force! I asked only one thing…could I please be assigned to an A-10 unit. John at OpFor, my squadron CO, said “No problem, Airman Murodc!” so I reported for duty.

Getting drafted isn’t any fun, but it’s for a very worthy cause: Project VALOUR-IT (Voice-Activated Laptops for OUR Injured Troops). Here’s the scoop on this very cool campaign:

Project Valour-IT, in memory of SFC William V. Ziegenfuss, provides voice-controlled laptop computers to wounded Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines recovering from hand and arm injuries or amputations at home or in military hospitals. Operating laptops by speaking into a microphone, our wounded heroes are able to send and receive messages from friends and loved ones, surf the ‘Net, and communicate with buddies still in the field without having to press a key or move a mouse. The experience of CPT Charles “Chuck” Ziegenfuss, a partner in the project who suffered severe hand wounds while serving in Iraq, illustrates how important this voice-controlled software can be to a wounded servicemember’s recovery.

Tell me that isn’t cool.

To make things way more cool yet, there’s a friendly little competition going on right now to raise money for the effort. The four military services each have a team of bloggers (with some activated reserves and civilian draftees to fill out the ranks) working to help raise a bit of cash. We want to collect $180,000.

Yes, you read that right. $180,000.

So go ahead and hit the donation button. A buck or two (or ten or twenty) via PayPal can help change things for our seriously injured troops. You can also mail donations. They are tax-deductible.

Regardless of the team you donate through, all proceeds will be used wherever they’re needed. So donate to the Air Force team.

If you blog or run a web site, please consider joining a team and posting the donation badge. The competition runs through November 10th.

Picture of Murdoc’s plum assignment below.

Sure, it looks dangerous, but John assures me that the A-10 is equipped with a “titanium bathtub” of armor, so I should be just fine. BRING ‘EM ON!

UPDATE: No, that’s not me in the pic. Even if I was in the Air Force, I doubt they’d give me a loaded weapon.

I originally posted this pic way back in MO’s early days.

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