President Bush calls to members of the Armed Forces

President George W. Bush makes Christmas Eve telephone calls to members of the Armed Forces at Camp David, Monday, Dec. 24, 2007. White House photo by Eric Draper In Focus: Holiday in the National Parks

BACKGROUND

The President made telephone calls to members of the Armed Forces who are stationed overseas to wish them a Merry Christmas, and to thank them for their service to our Nation.

INFORMATION ON CALL RECIPIENTS

Staff Sergeant Anthony R. "Tony" Lewis, U.S. Army

Staff Sergeant Anthony R. "Tony" Lewis, deployed to Kabul, Afghanistan, with the 428th Field Artillery Brigade, Fort Sill, Oklahoma, is a veteran of Operation Desert Storm on his first tour of Afghanistan. Staff Sergeant Lewis has trained over 40 personnel on Defensive Driving Skills as the Assistant Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge of Convoy Operations in Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan (CSTC-A). He revised the Convoy Operations & Procedures for CSTC-A, which became the Standard Operating Procedure for the whole command.

Sergeant Cleveland W. "Cleve" Upton, U.S. Army

Sergeant Cleveland W. "Cleve" Upton, deployed to Baghdad, Iraq, with the Attack Company, 1-28 Infantry, 4th Brigade, Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, is responsible for the training, health, welfare, and combat readiness of a four man fire team.

Specialist Joseph E. "Joe" Sizemore, U.S. Army

Specialist Joseph E. "Joe" Sizemore, deployed to Baghdad, Iraq, with Multi-National Corps, C-3 Tactical Operations, joined the Army at age 33 and was deployed immediately after Advance Individual Training. He provides security services for the Joint Operations Center in Baghdad. Specialist Sizemore's daughter and son reside in Snowshoe, West Virginia.

Sergeant Joseph K. "Joe" Jenkins, U.S. Marine Corps

Sergeant Joseph K. "Joe" Jenkins, deployed to Al Anbar, Iraq, with Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 29, was meritoriously selected and promoted to Lance Corporal, Corporal, and Sergeant within a three-year period. Sergeant Jenkins was also selected as the Squadron Noncommissioned Officer of the Quarter in October 2007. He is responsible for the repair of dynamic components for six type model tilt rotor aircraft, including the V22 Osprey. Sergeant Jenkins' wife, Melissa, resides in Grand Prairie, Texas.

Corporal Orlando P. Anaya, U.S. Marine Corps

Corporal Orlando P. Anaya, deployed to Al Asad Airbase, Iraq, with the Marine Wing Headquarters Squadron 2, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing Forward, was the recent winner of the Noncommissioned Officer of the Quarter Board for Marine Wing Headquarters Squadron 2. He is responsible for the receipt and processing of all signals intelligence for elements of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing Forward. Corporal Anaya's wife, Carrie Martinez, resides in Roswell, New Mexico.

Personnel Specialist First Class Claudine A. "Toni" Gayle, U.S. Navy

Personnel Specialist First Class Claudine A. "Toni" Gayle, deployed aboard the USS Harry S. Truman in the Persian Gulf with Carrier Air Wing Three Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia Beach, Virginia. Petty Officer Gayle is the Air Wing's #1 First Class Petty Officer and Carrier Air Wing Three's Sailor of the Year. Her husband, Telly Spruill, and daughter reside in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Construction Electrician First Class Kelly Mumm, U.S. Navy

Petty Officer Kelly Mumm, deployed to Fallujah, Iraq, with Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Fifteen, Belton, Missouri, is on his second deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He has been awarded the Navy Achievement Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Medal for Operation Iraqi Freedom, and he was instrumental in his Unit receiving the Presidential Unit Citation and the Battle Efficiency Award. Petty Officer Mumm's wife, daughter and son, reside in Neola, Iowa.

Senior Airman LaTishia B. "Tishia" Hall, U.S. Air Force

Senior Airman LaTishia B. "Tishia" Hall is currently deployed to Balad Air Base, Iraq. Senior Airman Hall is a Certified Border Control Agent and is assigned to Operation Iraqi Freedom's sole aerovac hub to Germany, where she cares for and prepares wounded, injured, and ill U.S. and coalition forces, civilian contract employees, and foreign dignitaries for onward movement to higher levels of care. She performs customs and anti-hijack screenings of travelers and baggage, ensuring aircraft, aircrew, and passenger safety.

Airman First Class Rachael R. Whitlow, U.S. Air Force

Airman First Class Rachael R. Whitlow, deployed to Balad Air Base, Iraq, with 22nd Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, performs aviation and parachutist resource management functions; monitors flight physicals, physiological training, aircrew qualifications, and other aircrew and parachutist-related programs; schedules aircrew training and aircraft sorties and maintains mission information; and monitors individual flight requirements, unit flying hours, and aviation requirement changes. Her husband, AC1 Gregory Whitlow, is currently stationed at Kadena Air Force Base in Japan.

Boatswain Mate First Class Michael W. Tapp, U.S. Coast Guard

Boatswain Mate First Class Michael W. Tapp is currently deployed with the USCGC RUSH (WHEC-723) on patrol in the Bering Sea. Petty Officer Tapp reorganized deck division's chain of command to provide leadership opportunities for junior Petty Officers that enhanced accountability of non-rated personnel and improved communications through the division. In addition, Petty Officer Tapp recently received a Coast Guard Commendation Medal for his efforts while working with the TSA to improve airport security in the Grand Rapids, Michigan, area. His wife, Anne, and daughters reside in Grand Haven, Michigan. # # #

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New Years Eve party tip

Cornell Professor Brian Wansink's study showed that people overpour into tall, thin glasses by 20 to 30 percent, compared with short, wide glasses, probably because of the vertical-horizontal optical illusion that people consistently perceive vertical lines as longer than horizontal ones of the same length. Photo credit: Jason Koski, Cornell University Photo High Resolution Image

Watching your alcohol intake? Use a taller glass. When pouring liquor this New Years Eve, people – even professional bartenders – will unintentionally pour 20 to 30 percent more into short, squat glasses than into tall, thin ones, according to a new Cornell University study. "Yet, people who pour into short, wide glasses consistently believe that they pour less than those who pour into tall, narrow glasses," said Brian Wansink, author of Marketing Nutrition and the John S. Dyson Professor of Marketing, Applied Economics and of Nutritional Science at Cornell. "And education, practice, concentration and experience don't correct the overpouring."

The reason for the difference, Wansink speculates, is the classic vertical-horizontal optical illusion: People consistently perceive vertical lines as longer than horizontal ones, even when the lines are the same length.

""People generally estimate tall glasses as holding more liquid than wide ones of the same volume," Wansink said. "They also focus their pouring attention on the height of the liquid they are pouring and insufficiently compensate for its width."

The study, by Wansink and Koert van Ittersum, assistant professor of marketing at Georgia Institute of Technology, is published in the current issue of the British Medical Journal.

In separate studies, the researchers asked 198 college students (43 percent female) of legal drinking age and 86 professional bartenders (with average six years experience on-the-job; 38 percent female) to pour "a shot" (1.5 oz.) of spirits into either short, wide tumblers or tall, thin highball glasses.

The college students consistently poured 30 percent more alcohol into short, wide glasses than into tall, slender glasses, and the bartenders poured 20 percent more.

When the researchers asked one group of the college students to practice 10 times before the actual experiment, those students still poured 26 percent more into short than into tall glasses. When the researchers asked one group of bartenders to "please take your time," those bartenders took twice as long to pour the drink, but still poured 20 percent more into short, wide glasses than into tall, slender glasses.

Advice for New Years party hosts and for partiers who don't want to unintentionally overdrink? "Use tall glasses or glasses with alcohol-level marks etched on them," Wansink suggested. For parents? Use tall, thin glasses when pouring soda but short, wide glasses for milk and other healthful drinks. ###

Writer: Susan S. Lang, Cornell University. Contact: Brian Wansink Wansink@Cornell.edu 607-254-6302 Cornell Food & Brand Lab

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