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<p>Dedicated in memory of all those who landed in Normandy June 6, 1944.</p> <p>In loving memory and with eternal gratitude. Thanks, Dad. Thanks, Uncle Ralph. At ease, fellas. Bravo Zulu.</p>

So my friend 1st Lt. Brett is coming back from Iraq after a tour with the {OPSEC] Division. What do we do and where do we take him in So. Cal. to let him know how happy we are that he's back in the world and safe. And that we appreciate his time in the sandbox. It's got to be legal and fun.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 9, 2008 – U.S. troops found a diary belonging to an al Qaeda in Iraq leader that has Coalition forces believing the terrorist organization is “on its heels,” a senior military official in Baghdad said this morning. Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team on Nov. 3, 2007, captured a diary belonging to Abu Tariq, an al Qaeda emir in control of five battalions within two sectors, U.S. Air Force Col. Donald J. Bacon, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman, told online journalists and “bloggers” during a conference call. The soldiers found the diary during...

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky., Feb. 1, 2008 – Cold drizzle and hot metal rained upon the ground here yesterday as a group of 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) soldiers honed their mortar- and howitzer-targeting skills in preparation for deployment to Afghanistan in April. Forward observer Army Spc. Daniel L. Howes watches 81 mm and 120 mm mortar shells and 105 mm howitzer rounds explode down range during a training exercise at Fort Campbell, Ky., Jan. 31, 2008. Howes is among about 3,800 4th Brigade Combat Team soldiers with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) that will deploy to Afghanistan in...

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. - Before they leave for Iraq, thousands of troops with the 101st Airborne Division line up at laptop computers to take a test: basic math, matching numbers and symbols, and identifying patterns. They press a button quickly to measure response time. It's all part of a fledgling Army program that records how soldiers' brains work when healthy, giving doctors baseline data to help diagnose and treat the soldiers if they suffer a traumatic brain injury — the signature injury of the Iraq war. "This allows the Army to be much more proactive," said Lt. Col. Mark McGrail,...

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. - A commander of three U.S. Soldiers killed in Iraq in an ambush-kidnapping disputes military investigators' findings that the troops had been told to guard a bridge for up to 36 hours straight. In his first public comments on the gruesome attack last June, Lt. Col. Thomas Kunk told The Associated Press that Soldiers were asked to come back to base often for rest. But he also said checkpoints were undermanned, and that his commanders rejected his requests for more troops in the particularly dangerous part of Iraq where the Soldiers were attacked. "I don't believe that...

FORT CAMPBELL, Kentucky (AP) -- A U.S. soldier was sentenced to 100 years in prison Thursday for the gang rape and murder of an Iraqi girl and the killing of her family last year. Sgt. Paul E. Cortez, 24, also was given a dishonorable discharge. He will be eligible for parole in 10 years under the terms of his plea agreement. Cortez, of Barstow, California, pleaded guilty this week to four counts of felony murder, rape and conspiracy to rape in a case considered among the worst atrocities by U.S. military personnel in Iraq.

Tonight the History Channel Shootout does D-day stories. The first segment is on Bracourt Manner and Winters attack. It is well done. Other segments are the church and other D-day battles.

I just read about this petition to get Major Winters a Medal of Honor, for his action on 6 June 1944 at Brecourt Manor, to disable a battery of German 105mm guns, that were shelling Utah beach. The award was passed by Congress in 2002(HR2790) To award the MOH. It has been stalled by an under secretary of Defence, and has not been sent to Rumsfeld's desk. Major Winters is 87 years old and in ill health with Parkinson's Disease, and a weak heart.

Statement by Maj. Dick Winters Former Commander of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne Division(title edited for length) WASHINGTON, DC - Maj. Dick Winters (U.S. Army Ret.) issued the following statement regarding the President's support of men and women serving in the armed forces: "The President's actions on behalf of our servicemen and women show his deep respect for all who wear the uniforms of our armed forces. President Bush has overseen a 21 percent increase in military pay since taking office and has ensured that our troops in the field have what they need to win the...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Richard Winters received the Distinguished Service Cross for his heroism on D-Day, along with accolades in the book, "Band of Brothers." Now, 61 years later, Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., is pushing for the retired Army major from Hershey, Pa., to receive the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest medal for valor in combat. Weldon announced Monday during a D-Day observation service in Folsom, Pa., he plans to file legislation that would upgrade Winters' Distinguished Service Cross — the second highest honor — to the Medal of Honor. This is the second attempt to obtain the medal for...

Mike Fumento was a guest on the Mike Rosen show on 850am KOA here in Denver Wednesday (Nov. 23rd) to talk about his recent October 2006 trip to Ramadi, Iraq. Mike talks about the REAL story from the one of the most dangerous places in the country. Rosen Replay 11/22/06 10-11AM (about 45 minutes, MP3) Guest: Mike Fumento, journalist for "The Weekly Standard" talks about his latest article, "Return to Ramadi."Click here for part one of the interview Rosen Replay 11/22/06 11-11:45AM (about 30 minutes, MP3) Mike Fumento continued. Click here for part two of the interview --- Mike Fumento's...

Photos by Plea Deal and [Mrs] Trooprally WASHINGTON, DC, 9/08/06-- Two officers in full camo uniforms waved enthusiastically as their vehicle exited Walter Reed Army Medical Center to be greeted by our troop-support rally spread over the four corners of the gates. We had arrived and had set up our displays while they were inside the hospital visiting wounded members of their unit. Seeing the DC Chapter's huge banners and dozens of U.S. flags, they wheeled their vehicle back around and stopped at the northwest corner to talk with the young people who were gathered there to hold signs, wave...

Milblogger BlackFive has just released a new book that contains dispatches from our outstanding men and women of the US military who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. If it weren't for the milbloggers much of the good news from Iraq and Afghanistan would never become widely known by the American people. --- It is the work of over 50 Americans who tell their stories about the experiences around the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In it you will meet: * The Warriors. Snipers, tankers, grunts. Readers who have never heard a shot fired in anger will come closer to...

On Aug. 6, Sgt. Paul Cortez will face the first steps in the military trial process. Cortez will undergo an Article 32 hearing in Iraq for the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the killing of her family while serving in Mahmudiya.

(watch closely and you'll see a soccer ball dropped to an Iraqi child from an American helicopter) --- From Steffan Tubbs at 850 KOA --- This is just amazing... sent to me from a soldier in Iraq on Monday. Take a look... this is why it was worth doing our soccer ball drive! Please, tell a friend... and just when you think you're having a tough day, imagine being the little boy in this video. Look at his "yard" and his environment. Man, we're lucky. Video -http://www.850koa.com/pages/blog/Soccer_Ball_Drop.wmv(windows media player, 31 seconds) Comments: Steffan - I'm glad the file worked and...

Ramadi, Iraq Terrorist-infested Ramadi in the wild west of Iraq is for U.S. troops the meanest place in the country, "the graveyard of the Americans" as graffiti around town boast. There is no better place to observe American troops and the fledgling Iraqi army in combat. That's why I came. When military public affairs asked where I wanted to be embedded, I told them, "the redder, the better" (red means hostile). So they packed me off to Camp Corregidor in eastern Ramadi with the 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). The 506th's official motto is "Currahee,"...

KIRKUK, Iraq – Bastogne Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division saved the life of an insurgent near Kirkuk, Iraq , May 23 after the grenade the insurgent threw exploded on him, causing severe injuries to his lower extremities. Iraqi soldiers were manning their post in Hawijah, a city just west of Kirkuk , when a man approached and tossed a grenade at their position. The grenade bounced off the roof of the structure the soldiers were in, falling back to the ground and exploding, severely cutting and burning the man. Soldiers from the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 101st...

Father of 2 believed his sacrifice was making a difference ELK GROVE, SACRAMENTO COUNTY Like so many young soldiers, Army Spc. Ty John Johnson joined the military for the benefits -- money for college, a steady paycheck for his family. But he stayed to make a difference. In fact, Johnson, 28, felt so strongly about the work he was doing in Iraq that a few weeks ago he re-enlisted for six years -- right around the time he left for his second tour in the war zone, said his twin brother, Blake Johnson. Ty Johnson died Tuesday when an improvised...

Soldiers Build Trust with Local People Bastogne soldiers from the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne have a mission with the dualityof destroying the insurgency and rebuilding the nation by garnering trust from the local populace. By U.S. Army Spc. Michael Pfaff 133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment Kirkuk, Iraq, March 23, 2006 — Bastogne soldiers from the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne have a mission with the duality of destroying the insurgency and rebuilding the nation by garnering trust from the local populace. Many times, these missions go hand-in-hand, but can be reflective of each other. Destroying the...

March 23, 2006 Good News & Bad From Iraq's Front Lines by Joe Katzman at March 23, 2006 02:58 PM Tony writes in with a tip from the Peoples' Republic of Boulder, CO. This guy is a hero: "I ran back to the lead vehicle and told the major what was up. He agreed with me that we didn't have time to try and get them to retrieve their own. He asked me what I wanted to do. I said I want to get them sir. So the plan was to take the lead vehicle with the .50 cal...

US Iraq campaign 'to last days' The US military says some 1,500 US and Iraqi troops are involved The US military says a major operation targeting suspected Iraqi insurgents and foreign fighters near Samarra could continue for several days. The biggest airborne operation in Iraq since the US invasion in 2003, it involves more than 50 aircraft and 1,500 Iraqi and US troops. They are said to have detained about 40 suspects so far, and seized weapons. The Iraqi foreign minister said the aim was to stop insurgents from turning the town into a stronghold. A bomb attack on...

WASHINGTON - The remains of four U.S. servicemen missing in action since the Vietnam War have been identified and will be returned to their families for burial, the Pentagon said Tuesday. All from the Army's 101st Airborne Division, they are Maj. Jack L. Barker of Waycross, Ga.; Capt. John F. Dugan of Roselle, N.J.; Sgt. William E. Dillender of Naples, Fla.; and Pfc. John J. Chubb of Gardena, Calif. Chubb will be buried in Inglewood, Calif., this week. Barker, Dugan and Dillender will be buried in April in Arlington National Cemetery, said the Defense Department POW/Missing Personnel Office. Their helicopter...

KIRKUK, Iraq (Army News Service, Feb. 14, 2006) – Married Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division gathered at the Bastogne Chapel on Forward Operating Base Warrior on Valentines Day to rededicate their love for their spouses back home. “The ceremony was informal,” said Capt. Jerry Sherbourne, the 426th Brigade Support Battalion chaplain, 2nd Brigade Combat Team. “But it was an opportunity for us who are deployed and separated and far away to show we meant our vows and we still do.” More than 30 BSB Soldiers found time between missions to remember their spouses and rededicate their marriage vows in...

Telegram to President Eisenhower, 1957.Little Rock Ark Sep 30 The President The White House We the parents of nine Negro children enrolled at Little Rock Central High School want you to know that your action in safe guarding their rights have strengthened our faith in democracy. Now as never before we have an abiding felling of belonging and purposefulness. We believe that freedom and equality with which all men are endowed at birth can be maintained only through freedom and equality of opportunity for self development growth and purposeful citizenship. We believe that the degree to which people everywhere realize...

BAGHDAD, Dec. 26, 2005 – It was 11 p.m. on Christmas Eve, and it was raining at an air base in Kuwait. The "moon dust" that overlays everything in the country was now a gooey mire that stuck to everything. Contrary to popular belief, it does get cold in the Middle East, and it was wet and cold. About 60 soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division waited in a tent for a flight to Baghdad. They had been there a while, as previously scheduled flights were diverted or cancelled. They sat or stretched out on aluminum Army cots, and slept...

December 24, 2005 Release A051224a Large cache destroyed near Bayji TIKRIT, Iraq – Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team thought they had discovered a single cache of weapons near Bayji Dec. 20 after a tip from a local resident. On Dec. 23, the Soldiers finished unearthing the last of the weapons from the eleventh cache at the site. “This place is basically an ammo supply point for the enemy,” said Capt. Matt Bartlett, commander of Company B, 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment. “Any attack they wanted to do, whether an IED or small-arms, they could get...

The plane carrying peacekeepers home from Sinai went down on takeoff at Gander. By FREE PRESS NEWS SERVICES GANDER, NFLD. -- Joe McGuire was at home asleep on the morning of Dec. 12, 1985, when the ring of his telephone jarred him awake with news that an airplane went down after takeoff from Gander International Airport. The Arrow Air charter flight carried 248 U.S. soldiers and eight civilian crew. McGuire, then assistant commander for the RCMP in Gander, rushed to the scene. "When I got down there, it was still burning and everything was black," McGuire says in Gander, where...

The words still turn stomachs 20 years later: "No survivors." Malinda Parris was preparing to welcome her husband home for the holidays from a mission in Egypt when she first heard them. She had decorated the house, baked wildly to fill the kitchen with his favorite foods and was dressing to go to a homecoming ceremony at Fort Campbell. All that stopped when the television flashed with news that would change her life. A plane carrying her husband, Rudy, an Army pilot, and 247 other soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division home from a peacekeeping mission in the Sinai had...

Ceremonies mark ’85 Gander crash 248 U.S. soldiers killed instantly The Chronicle Herals From Our Wire Services December 12, 2005 GANDER, N.L. — Twenty years later, Joe McGuire vividly remembers getting the call. He was at home, asleep the morning of Dec. 12, 1985, when the ring of his telephone jarred him awake with news that an airplane went down after takeoff from the Gander International Airport. There were 248 U.S. soldiers on board the Arrow Air charter flight and eight civilian crew. McGuire, then the assistant commander for the RCMP in Gander, rushed to the scene. "When I got...

EDITORS NOTE: AP writer Ryan Lenz is embedded with the 3rd Brigade of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division in Iraq and will be filing periodic reports on life in that unit. --- SUNDAY, Dec. 11, 5:15 p.m. local. BEIJI, Iraq. Going outside the wire. It's a slang expression for leaving the security of a military base in Iraq to travel on highways pocked with holes from roadside explosions. Silence runs deep during that moment soldiers cross the barrier lined with concertina wire and guard posts. At first their silence struck me as boredom, which sometimes it surely is if...

(AP) An unidentified soldier from the 101st Airborne Division, left, guards an Iraqi man temporarily... Full Image Google sponsored links Study Abroad Programs - Full degree and short term courses Over 40 detailed country profiles www.learnoverseas.com Support our troops - Draft the Twins - ribbon ribbons bumper stickers shirts etc. dontblamemeivoted4kerry.com SHARQA, Iraq (AP) - With a masked translator at their side, soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division have spent weeks on dusty village streets ahead of next week's Iraqi election. Patrols have collected information on polling sites in case an emergency arises and ensured safekeeping of the nation's ballots....

Task Force Baghdad soldiers rescued two kidnapping victims during a routine vehicle search at a checkpoint in western Baghdad on Dec. 1, military officials in Iraq said today. Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 71st Cavalry, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, found two Iraqi civilians bound and gagged in the trunk of a white sedan. The two individuals, employed by an American contractor, claimed they had been taken hostage and were to be murdered. The car's driver and a passenger had false Iraqi police badges and were carrying pistols. They were detained. In the north-central region of Iraq, Iraqi and...

FOB WARRIOR, Iraq — Soldiers stationed in north-central Iraq celebrated a cheerful but contemplative Thanksgiving, thousands of miles and a war zone apart from their families. Soldiers from the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division of Ft. Campbell, Ky., kicked off the day with a real American tradition: football. In the cool and surprisingly autumn-like morning, Air Force and Army teams cheerfully tossed the pigskin on a dusty, makeshift football field. Despite the lack of family, real alcohol and home cooking, soldiers cheerfully tucked into their meals. Brigade officers dished out turkey, prime rib, Cornish hen, smoked ham, lobster,...

Taste of Freedom: A Soldier's Letter to America USA/SGT Walter J. Rausch & 1st Platoon 101st Airborne Division November 21, 2005 - The following is a letter sent to the Mother of an American soldier currently serving with the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq. Per his request - via his Mother - we offer it to you. Special thanks to Jack and Carol Ott for getting this to us: Mom, Be my voice. I want this message heard. It is mine and my platoon’s to the country. A man I know lost his legs the other night. He is in...

I received an email from a mother whose son is currently fighting in Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division. He and his platoon have penned a message to the American public that is a little different from the message we are getting via the MSM. He asked his mom to help get this message out and she asked me. Here it is from the soldiers on the ground… Mom, Be my voice. I want this message heard. It is mine and my platoon’s to the country. A man I know lost his legs the other night. He is in another...

Peter Springer lost an eye to an Iraqi suicide bomber -- and then joined the Army Rangers On the morning of December 9, 2003, Peter Sprenger was 2 weeks from the end of an eventful tour in Iraq. He'd been at the "tip of the spear," in army parlance, spending the preceding 10 months roaring through the invasion of Iraq, occupying Baghdad, securing other restive towns. As a member of the 101st Airborne Division, he had a clear mission: to probe for trouble and take care of it. But on that particular morning, the trouble found him. Corporal Sprenger drew...

(AP) GREELEY, Colo. The funeral for a soldier from Evans killed while serving in Iraq was held on Friday, Veterans' Day. Pvt. 1st Class Tyler Ryan MacKenzie, 20, died Nov. 2 when a roadside bomb blew up south of Baghdad near the Humvee he and his fellow soldiers were riding in. MacKenzie was assigned to the First Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, Second Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He was the first Weld County resident killed in the Iraq war.

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — The 101st Airborne Division (search) on Thursday reactivated a historic unit whose actions during World War II and Vietnam were the subject of the book "Band of Brothers." (search) The 506th Regimental Combat Team — also known as the "Currahees," a Cherokee Indian word meaning "stands alone" — returned to the division just as its soldiers were completing final preparations to return to Iraq.

Baghdad, Iraq – Major General Joseph Taluto, commanding general, 42nd Infantry Division, participated in a ribbon cutting of the 101st Airborne Division’s future headquarters last weekend at Forward Operating Base Speicher in Tikrit, Iraq. The 101st Airborne Division will be relieving the 42nd Infantry Division before the end of the year. The new facility, known as the ‘D Main’ will be a fully functional division headquarters consisting of 51,000 square feet when elements of the ‘Screaming Eagles’ arrive in the fall. The facility is the largest single structure built to date in Iraq for coalition forces. The U.S. Army Corps...

(FORT BRAGG) - The commander of the 101st Airborne Division brigade hit by a grenade and rifle attack two years ago says he never thought there was danger within the camp where the assault occurred. Colonel Ben Hodges opened testimony Monday morning in the sentencing phase of Sergeant Hasan Akbar's trial. Akbar was convicted last week of killing two officers and wounding 14 more, including Hodges. Akbar, 34, also could be sentenced to life in prison. Hodges, who commanded the First Brigade Combat Team as it prepared to invade Iraq, said he never thought the first casualties his five-thousand-person unit...

HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. (AP) - With studies showing divorce rates as high as 21 percent among couples where one spouse has been sent off to war, the Army is spending $2 million on a variety of marriage programs, including vouchers for romantic getaways to places like the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tenn. When Sgt. Jose Bermudez returned from Iraq early this year, he came home to a new baby and a troubled marriage. "We were on the brink of divorce," Mandy Bermudez acknowledged as the couple ate lunch recently with their three children, all under age 3. The Bermudezes were among...

NOTE: I phoned this morning to the Public Affairs office at Ft. Campbell, KY, home of the 101st Airborne. The following was sent to me via email after my discussion with Lt. Col. Wellman in the afternoon. =============================================== US Department of Defense Talking Points – Oct. 27, 2004 – Al-Qaqaa Weapons Facility Following are talking points on the 2003 timeline regarding U.S. and Iraqi military activities in the vicinity of the former Al-Qaqaa military facility. According to the Duelfer report, as of mid-September 2004 Coalition forces have reviewed and cleared more than 10,000 caches of weapons. - This includes 240,000...

HEARING OF THE MILITARY PERSONNEL SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COMMITTEE -- L/N | SEPTEMBER 17, 1996 | Bob Dornan REP. DORNAN: For example, there was the yachtsman, remember, when Senator Kerry was taken to the cleaners over there down in the Forcor (ph) area of Canto (ph). They moved him briefly -- I think he just sat in a car. Kerry came in and examined the prison, Kerry left, they moved the prisoner right back in the prison. MR. BELL: He was an American citizen who was arrested in a boat and we were checking the access to...

NO SEARCH: Army unit reported looters on arrival By KIMBERLY HEFLING Associated Press One of the first U.S. military units to reach the Al-Qaqaa military installation south of Baghdad after the invasion of Iraq did not have orders to search for the nearly 400 tons of explosives that are missing from the site, the unit spokesman said Tuesday. When troops from the 101st Airborne Division's 2nd Brigade arrived at the Al-Qaqaa base a day or so after other coalition troops seized Baghdad on April 9, 2003, there were already looters throughout the facility, Lt. Col. Fred Wellman, deputy public affairs...

CALLING ANY 101st Airborne troops: New York Talk Show Host Kevin McCullough will give airtime to any from the 101st who will step forward. Anyone who was in the 101st when you secured the AlQaQaa facility on April4-10, 2003. He wants to hear from you. Please contact via kmc@wmca.com. KMC will give you air-time on Wednesday in New York City and around the world to tell us the truth about what you did in the securing of the munitions dump that is now the subject of controversy and false representation by John Kerry. PLEASE PASS THIS ON to anyone you...

Dana Lewis was embedded with 101st airborne division in Iraq. He will be on Brit Humes program on Fox News tonight. He is said to tell Brit those explosives in question WERE NOT THERE and they did search the sight.

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...

Rumsfeld Lauds 'Screaming Eagles' at Kentucky Base By Kathleen T. RhemAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Sept. 14, 2004 – Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld thanked the "Screaming Eagles" of the Army's storied 101st Airborne Division today during a visit to the unit's home at Fort Campbell, Ky. The unit had served a year in Iraq before returning to the Fort Campbell this spring. "Last year, you helped bring down a regime of a brutal dictator and then put your compassion and your creativity to work in Mosul, training new Iraqi security forces, completing literally thousands of reconstruction projects of...