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Two soldiers died Sunday in a roadside bombing in Paktia, Afghanistan. They were 1st Lt. Jonathan P. Walsh, 28, of Cobb, Ga., and Pfc. Michael J. Metcalf, 22, of Boynton Beach, Fla. Both were assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 504th Infantry, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Just finished packing for my deployment to Afganistan. My orders start tomorrow and we will be at home station until the 4th. Going to Ft. Bliss for mobility training, then to the sandbox. I know we have internet access there but has anyone heard if any Freepers posting form there? I sure hope this site is not blocked so I can keep-up with whats going on back here.

U.S. soldiers from the 2nd Brigade, 87th Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division, secure the area after existing a Chinoonk helicopter, Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan, in this Sunday, June 18, 2006 file photo. Insurgents apparently shot down a U.S. military helicopter Saturday Aug. 6, 2011 similar to this one shown during fighting in eastern Afghanistan, killing 30 Americans, most of them belonging to the same elite Navy SEALs unit that killed Usama bin Laden, as well as seven Afghan commandos, U.S. officials said. An Afghan official says there is fighting in the area where a U.S. Army Chinook helicopter was apparently...

KABUL, Afghanistan — In the deadliest day for American forces in the nearly decade-long war in Afghanistan, insurgents shot down a Chinook transport helicopter on Saturday, killing 30 Americans, including some Navy Seal commandos from the unit that killed Osama bin Laden, as well as 8 Afghans, American and Afghan officials said.

President Obama praised the sacrifice of 31 U.S. troops who died early Saturday morning in helicopter crash in Wardak Province, Afghanistan. The Taliban has claimed it shot down the aircraft with a rocket-propelled grenade. Seven Afghan soldiers on board the helicopter also died. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families and loved ones of the Americans who were lost earlier today in Afghanistan,” Obama said in a statement. “Their deaths are a reminder of the extraordinary sacrifices made by the men and women of our military and their families, including all who have served in Afghanistan.” Obama said...

Twenty-five U.S. special forces killed early Saturday in Afghanistan were on a mission to rescue another team of military personnel pinned down by insurgents, a U.S. military official told CNN. The helicopter that went down in eastern Afghanistan carried 30 U.S. military members, including 22 Navy SEALs and three other special forces. They were part of a "quick reaction force" sent in to pick up others engaged in a fierce firefight, the official said. In the single deadliest incident since the start of the decade-long Afghan war, the Army Chinook carrying a team of U.S. special forces and U.S. and...

WASHINGTON -- The Associated Press has learned that more than 20 Navy SEALs from the unit that killed Osama bin Laden were among those lost in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan. Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/08/06/afghan-president-31-americans-killed-in-helicopter-crash/#ixzz1UGZcWiEh

KABUL, Afghanistan — Insurgents shot down a NATO Chinook helicopter during an overnight operation in eastern Afghanistan, killing 37 people on board, a military official said on Saturday.

The images are repulsive. A group of rogue US Army soldiers in Afghanistan killed innocent civilians and then posed with their bodies. On Monday, SPIEGEL published some of the photos -- and the US military responded promptly with an apology. Still, NATO fears that reactions in Afghanistan could be violent.

A lesbian Army captain sent home from Afghanistan after she was accused of an 'inappropriate relationship' with a sergeant was behaving like a 'love struck teenager' and undermining operations, a tribunal heard today. Karen Tait, 29, who is claiming sexual discrimination against the Ministry of Defence and her commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Deborah Poneskis, upset the chain of command with her 'sly and underhand' behaviour, the employment tribunal in central London heard. ... The openly gay soldier, who started a sexual relationship with Sgt Caroline Graham before deployment with 4 Royal Military Police's 160 Provost Company, denies having any intimacy...

The XM-25, Counter Defilade Target Engagement System with 25mm rounds, is semi-automatic, and includes fully integrated day/night, full-solution target acquisition/fire control. Soldiers in the field have given it the nickname “The Punisher.” ... In one engagement, an enemy machine gunner was “so badly wounded or so freaking scared that he dropped [his] weapon” and ran, said Lt. Col. Christopher Lehner, Program Manager Individual WeaponsThere were no casualties among units carrying the XM25 in those nine engagements, Lehner said. “No longer can the enemy shoot at American forces, then hide behind something,” said Brig. Gen. Peter Fuller of Program Executive Office...

The same argument has been used to benefit defense by bringing the RAF imagery analysts from [39 Sqdn., operators of the Reaper, and 5 AC (Army Cooperation) Sqdn., which flies the Sentinel R1 Airborne Stand-Off Radar system] into TIW,” Stewart says. “So we have that umbrella organization that can provide far better output and support to operations and the development of capabilities.” The RAF’s operations go beyond fighters and are part of a service-wide focus on combat intelligence, surveillance, targeting and reconnaissance (Combat IStar). Since his appointment in July 2009, Air Chief Marshall Sir Stephen Dalton has made refocusing the...

ISLAMABAD – At a time when British and American soldiers are dying in Afghanistan at an alarming rate, the US is unlikely to start withdrawal of troops in 2011. Infact, 2015 would be the year set for this process, diplomatic sources told TheNation, Tuesday. A spokesperson of the US Embassy in Islamabad, Richard Snelsire, was not available for comments, whilst a lady official (using the Spokesperson’s cell phone) advised this correspondent to contact the US Defence department in Washington for answers to queries relating to military activities. She was responding to a question when asked by this correspondent if the...

WASHINGTON -- A military contractor says he'll fight Pentagon accusations that his people went too far in gathering intelligence in Afghanistan that ended up being used to target militants. A high-level Defense Department inquiry concluded that defense contractor Michael Furlong, a retired Army officer, ran what amounted to an illegal spying ring of private military contractors. The 15-page classified report into the matter, obtained by The Associated Press, says Furlong's human intelligence collection program, known as "Information Operations Capstone," amounted to a "violation of executive orders" and Defense Department policy.

The U.S. Army has ordered 3,600 upgrade kits for its M24 bolt-action sniper rifles, which will convert them to the M24E1. This will turn the existing 7.62mm M24 rifles into ones capable of firing the .300 Winchester magnum (7.62x67) round. This is a more powerful round than the NATO 7.62x51 round currently used in the M24. The conversion kit includes a new receiver and barrel, a new scope, a new flash suppressor and a folding buttstock. The conversion will take five years and will cost about $7,800 per rifle. Last year, the army ordered 38.4 million rounds of .300 Winchester...

SCIO, N.Y.—Gunner, a bomb-sniffing dog mustered out of the Marines for canine post-traumatic stress disorder, has found a new home with Deb and Dan Dunham, whose Marine son died in Iraq protecting the men beside him.

What is most disturbing about the coverage of Bob Woodward's "Obama's Wars" is not the juicy bits of conflict and infighting; it is the fact that the White House seems pleased with the image of President Obama that emerges. "I think the president comes across pretty well in the book," says one official, "even if it looks crazy around him." What comes across is a president deeply skeptical about the Afghan war, suspicious of the advice of military leaders and obsessed with finding exits and setting withdrawal deadlines. To a press or political aide in the administration, this must seem...

On October 6, President Barack Obama will award Staff Sergeant Robert J. Miller, U.S. Army, the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry. Staff Sergeant Miller will receive the Medal of Honor posthumously for his heroic actions in Afghanistan on January 25, 2008. He displayed immeasurable courage and uncommon valor - eventually sacrificing his own life to save the lives of his teammates and 15 Afghanistan National Army soldiers. Staff Sergeant Miller’s parents, Phil and Maureen Miller will join the President at the White House to commemorate their son’s selfless service and sacrifice. PERSONAL BACKGROUND: Robert Miller was born on October...

Link only. MASH HERE FR War News

SANGIN, Afghanistan—Somewhere in this dusty town, concealed among the cornfields, irrigation canals and mud-walled compounds, is a man the Marines particularly want to kill. They don't know what he looks like. But they know he is a very good shot with a long rifle, and, every day he remains alive, he is drawing Marine blood. In the seven days since the men of Lima Company, Third Battalion, Seventh Marine Regiment arrived in town, the Sangin sniper has persecuted them with methodical, well-aimed shots, fired one at a time. His toll so far: two men killed—one American and one British—and one...

Like on so many things, Obama parses. He lies. And now he is trying to explain away the 50,000 troops that he is leaving in Iraq as advisors. Kiplinger understands this: "the 50,000 troops who will remain after Aug. 31 will be advisors in name only. In practice, they’ll be a strong enough force for combat if called to do so." Obama misled America during the elections. And now he is parsing words the way a lawyer does. He cannot be trusted.

My family and I would like to thank everyone for their condolences in this extremely difficult time. Our hearts are broken and we are just trying to cope day to day until Paul can be laid to rest. We know that he gave his life for the freedom that we all enjoy. As some of you may be aware, Paul had worn many hats within Apria as he worked at the Florida Regional Distribution Center at the age of 18 and later the Tampa Billing Center. By the time he turned 21, he worked at the Lakeland, FL branch as...

One of two U.S. Sailors missing in Afghanistan since last week has been confirmed dead and his body recovered, a NATO spokesman said Tuesday. The search continues for the other missing Sailor, said Lt. Col. Todd Breasseale, a spokesman for NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The two Navy personnel went missing Friday in the eastern province of Logar, after an armored sport utility vehicle was seen driving into a Taliban-held area. NATO officials were unable to say what they were doing in such a dangerous part of eastern Afghanistan. The Taliban have said previously that they killed one of...

The outpouring of tens of thousands of classified military documents by WikiLeaks is not precisely comparable to the publication of the Pentagon Papers-but in at least one crucial respect, it may be more valuable. While the Pentagon Papers revealed the duplicity of American policy makers in the senseless Vietnam War, their release came too late to save many lives or change the course of that conflict. The WikiLeaks disclosures may have arrived in time to influence policy and prevent disaster. * * * The ultimate issue raised by the relationship between Islamabad and the insurgency, as well as the parallel...

7/8/2010 - KABUL, Afghanistan (AFNS) -- In the sky over Kalat, Afghanistan, a C-27 Spartan crew member opened the bay door and two men stepped forward. They surveyed the target zone and with a well-practiced motion pushed the cargo out the back of the plane. Two seconds later the chute opened and the cargo descended under control to the ground. The mission was a success. "This will be our first, full on, no playing around airdrop," said Lt. Col. James Piel, the 538th Air Expeditionary Advisory Squadron commander, prior to the mission. "We've spent awhile working up to this and...

"As the Karzai administration continues to press ahead with preliminary outreach to insurgents, Pakistan has quietly stepped in to offer their assistance. The Pakistanis have reportedly offered to help reach out to the murderous Haqqani organization in the hopes of bringing the movement’s leader, Siraj Haqqani, to the negotiating table; however, any proposed deal with the Haqqanis is directly at odds with President Obama’s reaffirmed commitment to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Haqqanis rely on Al Qaeda for mass appeal, funding, resources and training, and in return provide Al Qaeda with shelter, protection and...

Considering how much criticism Obama has received concerning his leadership in almost every aspect of his Presidency, you knew he would have to fire Gen Stanley McChrystal in hopes of turning that image around. And after serving 26 years in the US Navy I understand the importance of establishing respect amongst military personnel for our country’s elected civilian leadership. I don’t believe, however that McChrystal needed to be fired from his position at this critical time in the War in Afganistan unless there was evidence he did not support the Presidents policy, and aside from some grumbling at the beginning...

General McChrystal voted for Obama? Holy crap! WASHINGTON – The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan has been summoned to Washington to explain derogatory comments about President Barack Obama and his colleagues, administration officials said Tuesday. (Yahoo)Obama gets his Truman-MacArthur moment* I know his advisors think he needs it to increase his stature, but to those who know history, it diminishes him further. Harry Truman was no effete metrosexual unfamiliar with basic military terms.  He was a combat veteran of WW I, serving as an artillary Captain in France. But Obama is the president, as he so often reminds us. McChrystal Earned It He...

The top U.S. war commander in Afghanistan is being called to the White House for a face-to-face meeting with President Obama after issuing an apology Tuesday for an interview in which he described the president as unprepared for their first meeting. In the article in this week's issue of Rolling Stone, Gen. Stanley McChrystal also said he felt betrayed and blind-sided by his diplomatic partner, Ambassador Karl Eikenberry. McChrystal's comments are reverberating through Washington and the Pentagon after the magazine depicted him as a lone wolf on the outs with many important figures in the Obama administration. It characterized him...

Since last summer, President Obama has publicly doubted whether Afghan President Hamid Karzai's corruption and incompetence make him a fit partner for our policy goals in Afghanistan. Now, according to Saturday's New York Times: "Mr. Karzai (has) lost faith in the Americans and NATO to prevail in Afghanistan." Regretfully, both presidents are correct. Neither of them has a national partner in whom he can place any reasonable confidence. The two governments cannot agree on a common fighting strategy. Nor can those facts be materially changed in time to make a difference, given President Obama's firm commitment to start withdrawing troops...

Despite the ages-old rifles in Taliban hands, reports suggest our soldiers may be outgunned in Afghanistan's hills. To counter, the Army plans a slew of upgrades to curtain weapons -- and several entirely new guns. Taliban fighters in Afghanistan are attacking U.S. Army soldiers with AK-47s, while the army relies upon the M4 Assault rifle. The AK-47 uses a larger bullet, which leads to more kickback upon firing. Some reports indicate that the U.S. Army is looking to upgrade the weapons being used in Afghanistan to larger caliber guns.

APRIL 30--In what may be the most entertaining music video homage ever shot in a war zone, a group of American soldiers stationed at a military base in southwest Afghanistan star in a lip-synced version of Lady Gaga's hit "Telephone." The video, which yesterday began to spread online, was filmed recently inside what appears to be a garage at the Forward Operating Base in Farah Province. Posted to YouTube a week ago, the 3:45 production--complete with props, signs, and costumes--features an all-male cast from the 82nd Airborne Division. The video, which can be viewed above, was the brainchild of Aaron...

The US Army is pushing to get precision mortars developed and deployed to the field in Afghanistan as soon as possible. Mortars are lighter and can be towed by a HMMWV or MRAP, or carried and fired from inside M113 or Stryker APCs, making them easier to deploy than heavier cannon artillery. When indirect fire support is needed against enemies who are dug in along mountain ridgelines and other high positions, or in an urban area where which building you hit matters a great deal, getting the job done requires precision artillery. That capability has already come to MLRS rockets...

Military officials on Tuesday acknowledged a helicopter shortfall plaguing Special Operations Forces, but said the Defense Department has a long-term plan to fill gaps in the in-demand force's aviation inventory. The unpredictable security environment, with heavy deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan over the last several years, have strained special operators' helicopter assets, Gary Reid, deputy assistant Defense secretary for special operations and combating terrorism, told the House Armed Services Terrorism and Unconventional Threats Subcommittee. The shortfall was exacerbated by early delays in fielding the Bell-Boeing CV-22 Osprey tilt rotor aircraft, as well as delays in modifying some of the special...

Known to US soldiers as the Valley of Death, it's been the scene of the some of the most intense fighting in the war in Afghanistan. After years of intense fighting, the US has left its remote outpost in the Korengal Valley, in the country's east. Al Jazeera's James Bays has more on the move, which the US calls a re-positioning of forces, but which the Taliban has declared a US defeat.

Kyrgyzstan's interim government said it will extend the U.S. lease of a key air base by another year. "Kyrgyzstan is extending by one year the validity of the agreement with the United States over the Manas transit center," Omurbek Tekebayev, the deputy leader of the opposition, was quoted as saying by BBC News. Washington is using the air base in Manas to fly troops and equipment in and out of Afghanistan. After the bloody unrest that ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev last week, the U.S. government had been worried that the opposition would throw the Americans out. The move to keep...

Kyrgyzstan may be a landlocked country with a population of less than 5.5 million, but it still looms large in the regional calculations of China, Russia and the United States. The Kyrgyz Republic is the only country to host both a Russian and a US military base. The Russian base at Kant symbolises Moscow’s preeminent security role in the region, while the US base at Manas plays a vital role in sustaining NATO military operations in Afghanistan. And Kyrgyzstan also borders Xinjiang, prompting concerns among Chinese policymakers over infiltration by terrorists and narcotics smuggling into this sensitive province as well...

India is seeking to acquire Israeli killer drones for use against insurgents but possibly against terrorist groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan as well. The proposition gained momentum after the November 2008 carnage in Mumbai, India's financial capital, when Pakistani infiltrators killed 166 people in three days of bloodshed. Now New Delhi wants to muster at least 25-30 of the armed unmanned aerial vehicles from Israel, one of its key arms suppliers and a global leader in unmanned aerial vehicle technology. Asia Times Online reported that official sources in New Delhi say that India, which is the midst of a massive...

Kazakhstan has decided to open its airspace to U.S. military aircraft ferrying supplies to American troops serving in Afghanistan, it was decided on Sunday at a meeting between President Barack Obama and his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev in Washington. The permission granted by Kazakstan means that U.S. planes en route to Afghanistan can now use the polar route instead of flying along the indirect route through Europe, which would save precious time and fuel for moving supplies to forward locations in the war-ravaged country. The meeting, the first between the two leaders, took place on the eve of the Nuclear...

Last February, in a speech at the annual Munich Security Conference, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen argued that the Alliance should turn into a consultation forum for global security issues. Such a role, he argued, would require the transatlantic security alliance to develop closer relations with all major global players, including India and China. Only a few years ago, any mentioning of India and China as potential NATO partners would have led to raised eyebrows not only in Delhi and Beijing, but also in many NATO member countries. Not this time. In the days just after the Munich conference,...

The Pentagon was on the verge of retiring the U-2 spy plane four years ago, but Congress blocked the mothballing, saying the plane still had plenty of life and utility. The plane, which was designed to detect nuclear missiles during the Cold War, is now playing a greater role in spotting roadside bombs in the war in Afghanistan, according to an article in The New York Times. The plane can fly at twice the height of commercial jets to evade anti-aircraft missiles, but its sensors can detect spots where dirt has been disturbed to plant roadside bombs. This capability, which...

Poland has 48 F-16 jet fighter planes. Most of them rarely take to the skies outside of routine training. But in two years, the planes could be heading to Afghanistan, reports Rzeczpospolita. The paper cites an unnamed soldier as a source that says the matter is already settled, just has not yet been announced publicly by Polish army authorities. Pilots at a large Polish Air Force base admit they have already started rigorous training and preparation for the 2012 departure to the war-torn middle-eastern nation, but Polish Air Force officials have yet to confirm this.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates raised the possibility Wednesday that some of the U.S. forces involved in the Afghanistan surge could leave the country before President Barack Obama's announced July 2011 date to begin withdrawal. Without giving specifics, Gates said, "It would have to be conditions-based." Gates made the remarks during a visit to a dust-blown training ground in Kabul province where Afghan soldiers come for weeks of training under U.S. and British instruction. British Brigadier Simon Levy told Gates that if NATO countries contribute more trainers, the project to expand the Afghan army will keep pace. In a press...

EXCLUSIVE: in a remarkable close-up account from behind enemy lines in Afghanistan, Channel 4 News video journalist Vaughan Smith joins the Grenadier Guards to reveal how British forces are using ambush strategies to beat the Taliban. A clandestine operation carried out by the Reconnaisance Platoon of the Grenadier Guards battle group took place in northern Helmand province during the initial stages of Operation Moshtarak.

Northrop Grumman radar that can track individuals on foot over a wide area is to be deployed operationally by U.S. forces in Afghanistan to aid the fight against improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The Vehicle and Dismount Exploitation Radar (Vader) is a podded active electronically scanned array designed to be carried by unmanned aircraft and smaller manned surveillance platforms (Aerospace DAILY, Feb. 9). The Army recently completed evaluation testing of the radar installed on the centerline of a manned Twin Otter, following initial flights in 2009 on Northrop’s Islander test bed. Vader is designed to help intercept teams planting IEDs by...

KABUL, Afghanistan (Feb. 17) - The military phase of Operation Moshtarak remains on track. The insurgents are tactically adept, have resilience and are cunning, so continued tactical patience on the part of the combined force is important. Mining is significant in areas, and the combined force must be very deliberate in its movement in order to minimize local Afghan and combined force casualties. On the ground, the conduct of Operation Moshtarak is visibly demonstrating that the force has changed the way it operates and that it is working with and for the people of Afghanistan. ISAF is operating in support...

Taliban fighters are increasingly using civilians as human shields in the assault on the southern town of Marjah, an Afghan official said Wednesday as military squads resumed painstaking house-to-house searches in the Taliban stronghold. About 15,000 NATO and Afghan troops are taking part in the offensive around Marjah, which has an estimated 80,000 inhabitants and was the largest town in southern Helmand province under Taliban control. NATO hopes to rush in aid and public services as soon as the town is secured to try to win the loyalty of the population. With the assault in its fifth day, insurgents are...

The first stage of the onslaught against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan has "gone according to plan", the Ministry of Defence said Sunday. More than 1,000 British troops are taking part in Operation Mushtarak in Helmand province, a major assault designed to return the Taliban-held town of Marjah and surrounding areas to the control of the Afghan government. British forces supported by Afghan troops are holding the Nad Ali area north of Marjah, Major General Gordon Messenger told journalists in London, while thousands of US troops are focusing on Marjah itself. A total of 15,000 US, NATO and Afghan forces...

.S. Marines and Afghan forces airlifted over the Taliban -laid minefields into the center of Marjah town Saturday, apparently surprising the insurgents and taking strategic positions from them, according to military officials. Although billed as a major confrontation between the international coalition and Afghan forces and the Taliban , the first day of the offensive in the southern Helmand province saw only sporadic fighting. Two coalition soldiers were killed, along with about 20 insurgents. It was the biggest assault since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001. The helicopter airlift into the heart of the city of 80,000 started...

The Army is working on a new and improved version of its Stryker wheeled vehicle, given the designation Stryker A1, intended to boost its performance with a more powerful engine, beefier transmission and suspension, better brakes as well as adding a new sensor suite, high tech shot detection and location system, an upgraded communications network and an improved remotely operated weapons turret. The Army plans to spend $134 million on the upgraded eight-wheeled vehicle in 2011, according to service budget documents, and nearly $880 million over the next five years. The designation A1 is typically added to Army vehicle names...