Free Republic

My wife's friend (who I served with) just wrote: "One of Mike's friends from his company lost his life on Saturday fighting for our freedom :( Along with 4 others who got injured. He has an 18 month old daughter and wife he left behind. How sad." Please pray for my friend Mike and his battles as well as all of the families involved.

PHILADELPHIA -- John "Jack" Agnew, one of the original members of a U.S. Army unit that operated behind enemy lines in World War II and is often credited with having loosely inspired the movie "The Dirty Dozen," has died at age 88.

Joe Repya is one old soldier who won't fade away. Repya, a 63-year-old retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel from Eagan who served in three wars, today will join a political battle by launching a campaign for the Independence Party endorsement for governor. He's a political newcomer but the veteran of 10 years of combat duty in Vietnam and of the Persian Gulf War and one of the oldest U.S. soldiers to volunteer for Operation Iraqi Freedom said Tuesday, "No other candidate is as battle-tested as I am." He planned to file paperwork with the state campaign finance board today to...

Lt. Brian Brennan was severely wounded in Iraq and faced unbeatable odds but, as David Martin reports, he made a remarkable recovery with a little help from a special Cherokee word. (and a visit from Gen. Patraeus)

Lest We Forget: Screaming Eagles Know Freedom’s Cost The men of the 101st Airborne Division, or Screaming Eagles, train. (Courtesy of US Army) By MICHAEL P. TREMOGLIE, The Bulletin Friday, May 22, 2009 It is said that freedom is not free. The wise person knows this to be true. However, it takes more than wisdom to know the exact value. If anyone knows the price, it is the men of the 101st Airborne Division. They know it all too well because they have paid it many times. They are known as the Screaming Eagles, the men of the 101st Airborne. They are...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 6, 2008 – About 3,000 soldiers assigned to the 101st Airborne Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team will leave Iraq nearly two months earlier than planned, military officials said. Improved security and decreased violence across the unit’s area of operations in northwestern Baghdad is enabling the early redeployment of the soldiers back to Fort Campbell, Ky., Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters today. The unit is commencing pack-up operations, Whitman said, and its return window is around the Thanksgiving-Christmas holiday season. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, U.S. Central Command chief, and Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, commander of Multinational...

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — It’s a few minutes before 5 a.m. The sun isn’t up yet, but Chris Weir is. A few years ago, the Cleveland, Tenn., native might still have been in bed at this hour. He might have been dreaming about his chances of winning the Bradley County mayoral race before getting up and putting on the suit and tie that had become his uniform in the business world. But today the 28-year-old already is dressed, and he’s wearing a different kind of uniform. It’s the same kind his little brother died in. Though the fabric is fairly...

Sen. Bob Corker on Saturday voted for passage of H.R. 2638, the continuing resolution, which passed the Senate by a vote of 78 to 12. Sen. Lamar Alexander voted against the bill. The resolution funds the ongoing operations of the federal government, including Tennessee defense and military construction projects, and lifts the 25 year-old federal ban on oil exploration along the Outer Continental Shelf. The legislation must now be signed into law by the President. “This was a tough vote for me,” said Sen. Corker. “We should have considered each of the appropriations bills independently - with full debate and...

BALAD, Iraq, June 11, 2008 – Since May 22, more than 500 former insurgents in the Balad area have reconciled with the Iraqi government, choosing a different path for their lives. Operation Balad Musalahah is a combined effort between the qada-level government of Iraq -- a qada is roughly equivalent to a U.S. county -- and the leadership of the Iraqi police, 4th Iraqi Army Division, and the 101st Airborne Division’s 1st Squadron, 32nd Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team. The ongoing effort has encouraged tribal leaders and local people with significant influence to promote unity within the once-beleaguered area,...

WASHINGTON, June 3, 2008 – Coalition and Iraqi forces killed four enemy fighters, captured 13 suspects and seized scores of weapons in Iraq in recent days, military officials said. Troops captured seven suspects today, including two wanted men believed to be tied to al-Qaida in Iraq bombing networks. One wanted man, captured with four associates in Mosul, allegedly is a security leader for al-Qaida in Iraq and is suspected of coordinating bombings against Iraqi police. Forces seized the other wanted man, who reportedly facilitates suicide bombings and foreign-terrorist movement in Tikrit for al-Qaida in Iraq, along with an additional suspect....

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq – A local sheik, informed by a Sons of Iraq member, gave a tip to Coalition forces, leading them to a huge munitions cache approximately 13 kilometers south of Baghdad May 21.Soldiers from 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), retrieved the cache containing 268, 57 mm mortar rounds; two, 82 mm mortars and four, 107 mm rocket casings.None of the rounds were serviceable, but they could have been alternately used as improvised explosive devices.The munitions were turned over to Iraqi Army personnel at a nearby compound.                                                                          -30-

FORWARD OPERATING BASE FALCON — A Military Transition Team stationed at FOB Falcon, about eight kilometers south of Baghdad, plays a rigorous and important role in rebuilding the capacity of Iraq. The MiTT helps the Iraqi Army to operate in an optimal manner, said Sgt. Chad Highland, Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 1st Squadron, 33rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). Soldiers from the MiTT, assigned to 1-33rd Cav. Regt., teaches a five-day Iraqi basic training course using U.S. Army knowledge converted into something Iraqi Army Soldiers can execute. “It’s basically a course to teach basic...

PATROL BASE YATES — As part of their commitment to keeping insurgents away, members of the Sons of Iraq built a checkpoint on a narrow stretch of road through Fuhail Mujeer Village, 25 kilometers southwest of Baghdad, April 25. As recently as December, Rakkasan Soldiers of 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), established a presence in the area, which was previously an insurgent safe haven. Now Soldiers from 2nd Platoon, Company C, 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, assigned to their battalion’s Company D, are living at the newly built Patrol Base Yates and working with the SoI...

With the ball, Spc. Cortez Cox, a water purification specialist, and Staff Sgt. Howard Benjamin, a section leader, both with Company B, 2nd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), teach Radwaniyah children how to defend and take the ball away during day two of a three-day basketball camp at Patrol Base Lion’s Den. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Tony M. Lindback, 3rd BCT, 101st Abn. Div. (AASLT). BR>PATROL BASE LION’S DEN — Radwaniyah area children were treated to something a little out of the ordinary when U.S. Soldiers at Patrol Base Lion’s...

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, April 10, 2008 – On the 101st day of 2008, the headquarters of the 101st Airborne Division officially became Combined Joint Task Force 101 and took command of NATO’s Regional Command East sector of Afghanistan from the 82nd Airborne Division. Army Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Schloesser and Division Command Sgt. Maj. Vincent Camacho of 101st Airborne Division uncase the division colors during a transfer-of-authority ceremony at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, April 10, 2008. The 101st Airborne Division assumed command of Combined Joint Task Force 101 from 82nd Airborne Division in Regional Command East of NATO’s International...

BAGHDAD – Multi-National Division – Baghdad soldiers engaged and killed 23 criminals in separate engagements in Baghdad March 28. Soldiers from 2nd BCT, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), killed one criminal in northeastern Baghdad after seeing the individual with a rocket propelled grenade launcher in an alleyway during a patrol. At approximately 4 p.m., a 3rd BCT, 4th Infantry Division vehicle struck an improvised explosive device in northeastern Baghdad. A number of criminals then fired on the soldiers while they attempted to recover the vehicle. Soldiers spotted and engaged two of the attackers, killing them both. Iraqi security forces and...

BAGHDAD – Multi-National Division – Baghdad soldiers engaged and killed 23 criminals in separate engagements in Baghdad March 28. Soldiers from 2nd BCT, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), killed one criminal in northeastern Baghdad after seeing the individual with a rocket propelled grenade launcher in an alleyway during a patrol. At approximately 4 p.m., a 3rd BCT, 4th Infantry Division vehicle struck an improvised explosive device in northeastern Baghdad. A number of criminals then fired on the soldiers while they attempted to recover the vehicle. Soldiers spotted and engaged two of the attackers, killing them both. Iraqi security forces and...

BAGHDAD: Iraqi soldiers uncovered a cache of Iranian-made rockets and armor-piercing roadside bombs Saturday in an apartment building occupied by Shiite militia members south of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. The cache was found in one apartment and contained 17 bombs known as explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, three Iranian-made 107 mm rockets and an assortment of rifles and Iraqi security force uniforms. Col. Dominic Caraccilo, commander of the 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, said the rockets were marked with manufacture dates as recent as 2007, and were believed to have been brought into the country from Iran during a...

Bravo By Day, Bravo By Night January 17, 2008 It’s hard to remember when the day went from routine, almost boring, to unpredictable, even exciting. It’s hard to remember when we went from chatting up the locals in town to staring at piles of dirt in the desert. I know we got back to the base at about 11:00 pm. I know I hadn’t peed since 8:30 am. I had eaten an Otis Spunkmeyer muffin around lunchtime, figuring that would hold me until dinner. But then dinner turned out to be goldfish crackers and the hard candy that is kept...

Tribute video for Congressman Duncan Hunter, who ended his candidacy for president today.