Free Republic

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (Mar. 8, 2006) -- Families and friends gathered with their Marines, helping them with their packs and giving them that one last hug for the seven months they’ll be apart. Hugs and kisses from families to Marines seemed synchronized as if there was a cue card letting them know when to do it. And for Lance Cpl. Ron G. Kramer, a Marine with 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, this was an all too familiar scene having been deployed three times in the last two years. The Pittsburgh, Penn. native deployed to Haiti from March...

Would you care to guess who said this: "To the courageous men and women of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, who have changed the city of Tall Afar (Iraq) from a ghost town, in which terrorists spread death and destruction, to a secure city flourishing with life"? Give up? That is a letter from...

CAMP SCHWAB, OKINAWA, Japan (Oct. 25, 2005) -- Family and friends gathered to welcome more than 100 service members home from Iraq in the early morning Oct. 18. The Marines and sailors of 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, returned to Camp Schwab after completing an eight month tour of duty in the Al Anbar province of Iraq. The 3rd Reconnaissance Bn. Key Volunteers coordinated the welcome home party with signs and banners for the returning Marines. “We had all the families come out and make signs and decorate the Marines’ homes, barracks and offices with signs and balloons,” said...

3rd century Buddhist relic discovered Statesman News Service BHUBANESWAR, Aug. 3. — The state cultural department today claimed to have discovered 3 Asokan stupas dating back to the 3rd century BC in Dharmasala area of Jajpur district. The discovery is likely to provide further archaeological evidences on the visit of Lord Buddha to Kalinga, site of the historic Kalinga war and the location of Kalinga’s capital. Talking to reporters here today, culture minister Dr Damodar Rout said that the Orissa Institute of Maritime and South-East Asian Studies, under the state culture department, had taken up the excavation work at Tarapur,...

Greetings, fellow South Park Conservatives. I have been seriously considering our options as a legitimate and viable political party. The other parties, well, we just don't fit in with them. Dems: Self explanatory. Socialist weasels that go against the very grain of everything we believe in. Repubs: Ever-moving to the left. Currently outspending the most liberal of Democrats on everything except defending our borders, which is what their (the Federal Government's) job is supposed to be. They also want to legislate morality and tell us what we can and can't do/watch/say here in this "free" country. They are also just...

Jewelry from 3rd millennium B.C. discovered in southwest Iran Tehran Times Culture Desk TEHRAN (MNA) –- Ancient Iranians were fond of jewelry almost 4300 years ago and were highly skilled in producing jewelry and ornaments, Iranian archaeologists have concluded based on discoveries they made during their recent excavations at the ancient site of Shahdad in Kerman Province. According to the head of the archaeological team, Mir-Abedin Kaboli, archaeologists discovered the ruins of a developed city with industrial and residential areas and a graveyard after fourteen stages of excavations. “Many artifacts including rare stones, jewelry, engraved stones, and jeweler’s tools were...

Candidate's Stage Fright Ends Debate Parra: 'I Just Can't Do This' October 22, 2004 FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- A northeastern Indiana congressional candidate said she abruptly ended a debate because she got stage fright. Democrat Maria Parra walked off a television stage Thursday, ending what would have been her only debate with incumbent Republican Mark Souder in the 3rd District congressional race. "I'm not used to being in front of the camera. ... I couldn't get my words out. I was just overwhelmed," she said after the aborted debate, which was being filmed at WPTA and would have been aired...

WASHINGTON, March 18, 2004 – The "Thunder Runs" of the war in Iraq seemed to come from nowhere. One day the fighting was far to the south, and seemingly the next, soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division were liberating Baghdad. The Thunder Runs were the audacious answer to charges that American forces were stuck in a quagmire in Iraq. Army Col. David Perkins commanded the 2nd Brigade of the "Rock of the Marne" Division. There were two armor battalions – the 1st Battalion, 64th Armor and 4th Battalion, 64th Armor – and an infantry battalion – the 3rd Battalion, 15th...

SAVANNAH -- President Bush is planning a trip to Fort Stewart this month to congratulate the soldiers who led the assault on Baghdad, The Associated Press has learned. Sources with advance knowledge of the president's schedule said Wednesday that no final date has been set for the visit, although one source said it could be as early as Sept. 12. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity.The White House does not disclose Bush's schedule until 48 hours in advance.The presidential visit, first reported by the Savannah Morning News, has been widely expected. Residents of neighboring Hinesville have speculated since the...

[ The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 8/28/03 ] GUEST COLUMNNo time to waffle on IraqSteady progress makes case for reconstruction By DANIEL CORMIER Daniel Cormier is an Army major with the Third Infantry Division at Fort Stewart. He recently returned from duty in Iraq. SAURABH DAS / Associated PressU.S. soldiers are learning to be sensitive to a foreign culture, while striving to make Iraq safe. Forum: • Is America too impatient with progress in Iraq? Perceptions make reality, so the saying goes. Sitting in Iraq, trying to bring stability to a nation that has mostly known fear and violence, I was struck...

WASHINGTON - The Army is considering whether to punish soldiers in Iraq who griped about conditions there to a television reporter, a Pentagon spokeswoman said Friday. Some soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division complained to ABC-TV this week after their units were told they would be leaving Iraq soon, then had their homecoming postponed. One called for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. Criticism of superior officers is a breach of military rules. The Army will determine whether any soldier will be charged with breaking those rules, said Pentagon spokeswoman Chief Petty Officer Diane Perry. On Wednesday, the...

SAYREVILLE, N.J. — The Sayreville school district did not violate the rights of a kindergartner it suspended three years ago for threatening to shoot his friends as they played a game during recess, a federal appeals court ruled. The June 19 ruling by a three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a federal judge’s decision last year that dismissed a lawsuit filed by the boy’s parents. Scot and Cassandra Garrick sued the Middlesex County school district after their son and three other students were suspended following the March 15, 2000, incident in which their child told...

BAGHDAD -- Two Army sergeants searching for saws to clear branches blocking their Humvees stumbled across a sealed-up cottage Friday. It led to their discovery of an estimated $650 million in cash.The sergeants tore down a cinder block and concrete barricade blocking the cottage door and found 40 sealed metal boxes lined up on the stone floor. Breaking open one box, they were stunned to discover 40 sealed stacks of uncirculated $100 bills -- $100,000 per stack, or $4 million in the box. In all, the 40 boxes were assumed to contain $160 million.But there was more.