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WASHINGTON, April 11, 2007 – “Walter Reed is one of the pivotal academic medical centers and casualty receiving hospitals for the joint medical force,” Army Maj. Gen. Eric B. Schoomaker told members of the Defense Health Board assembled at the medical center here for a meeting today. Schoomaker recently became Walter Reed’s chief and commander of North Atlantic Regional Medical Command as part of reorganizations that followed publicized accounts of problems within the facility’s outpatient system. He is the brother of former Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker. The Defense Health Board was established Oct. 1, 2006. It...

WASHINGTON, April 11, 2007 – Coalition and Iraqi forces continued to engage suspected terrorists in multiple operations throughout Iraq using ground forces and aircraft over the past several days, military officials reported. Coalition forces captured five suspected terrorists, including the suspected al-Qaeda in Iraq security emir of the Arab Jabour area, during an operation this morning in Baghdad, military officials said. Intelligence reports indicate that the security emir is suspected of involvement in planning attacks against Iraqi and coalition forces in the Arab Jabour area. Officials said forces found several small arms at the targeted area, and these weapons...

WASHINGTON, April 11, 2007 – The United States military is fully committed to its mission of providing the Iraqi people the opportunity for stability and security at home, no matter how long it takes, the top enlisted U.S. servicemember in Iraq said today. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Jeffrey Mellinger, senior enlisted advisor to Army Gen. David Petraeus, commander of Multinational Force Iraq, told online journalists that even troops redeploying to Iraq for the second and third time “understand the importance of what we’re doing” and accept repeat or extended deployments as a necessary and vitally important function of the...

WASHINGTON, April 11, 2007 – The National Guard force is second to none in terms of the quality of its people, but severe equipment shortfalls are keeping it from being fully ready, the chief of the National Guard Bureau told Congress today. Army Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum urged the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee to support the fiscal 2008 National Guard budget requests to ensure the Guard can continue serving as the country’s “21st century Minutemen and -women.” Guard forces deployed overseas are “superbly equipped and superbly trained, … and we want for nothing,” Blum told the subcommittee. But...

Hollywood A-lister Bruce Willis is set to buck the Hollywood trend of running from the heroics of the American troops in Iraq and is set to make a pro-war film about the American soldier. In the film, American soldiers will be accurately depicted as the brave fighters for freedom and democracy that they are, according to a report in the Sunday Times UK. The patriotic actor recently put his money where his mouth is - offering up a million dollar bounty on the heads of Islamofascists Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri or Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

"I WANT TO FIGHT FOR SOMETHING" By Michelle Malkin   ·   May 23, 2005 01:01 PM Must-read of the day is at the WSJ Online: "An American Soldier." It's an essay from Michael C. Carson of St. Paul, Minnesota, a fallen American soldier, written five years ago when he was a high school senior. Laura Ingraham read it on her show this morning. You won't get through it with dry eyes. Excerpt: I want my life to account for something more than just a game. In life there are no winners, everyone eventually loses their life. I only have so much...

An Australian soldier and an American soldier who crossed into Turkey from neighbouring Iraq could face up to three years in prison after a gun was allegedly found in the American's luggage as the two tried to board a flight in Turkey. A court in the city of Diyarbakir, in south-eastern Turkey, charged the US soldier Christopher Franz Pipes and Australian Ross Milosevic with carrying firearms without a licence. The gun, which was in several pieces, was found in the American's luggage at the city's airport, the Anatolia news agency reported yesterday. The two had crossed into Turkey from Iraq...

Stay tuned. Live coverage of press conference from White House soon. Just announced on FOX. "Possibly to discuss earth-shattering news about events in Lebanon."

ABU GHRAIB, Iraq — When Pfc. Jimmy Giron of Company B, 27th Engineer Battalion, found a weapons cache in the front of a house recently, his buddies said it seemed as if he’d witnessed the birth of his child. “You should have seen the look on his face when he pulled those mortars out of the bag,” said 1st Lt. Daniel Hurd, 1st Platoon leader with Company A, 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment. “It was priceless.” The platoon, along with their assigned soldier from the Fort Bragg, N.C.-based engineer battalion, is on a nearly constant hunt for weapons caches in...

Army Spec. David Mahlenbrock had a special request should he die in the line of duty. In a letter to his fellow soldiers in July, the young combat engineer asked that Toby Keith's song "American Soldier" be played at his funeral. It was a wish no one ever wanted to contemplate. SHARON GEKOSKI-KIMMEL / Inquirer Army Spec. David Mahlenbrock’s brother Christopher, a 21-year-old reservist in Willow Grove, comforts Pennsauken friend Renee Skotnicki, 21, at Mahlenbrock’s funeral in Maple Shade. Yesterday his family tearfully granted it. Keith's song echoed through Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Mahlenbrock's native Maple Shade, a...

Please help with this one.Damn, just damn. Specialist David Mahlenbrock was killed by an IED on December 3rd in Kirkuk, Iraq.I received this email via Soldier's Angels. It's from David's Squad in Bravo, 65th Engineers and they are forwarding a request from David. It appears that David had a special letter sent to his squad in the event of his death. Hold on to your seats, folks:

ARLINGTON, VA – Gen. Tommy Franks (Ret.) today issued the following statement on Senator Kerry's speech today on Iraq: "Senator Kerry's contradictions on Iraq are the wrong signal to send to our troops on the ground, to our coalition partners, to the Iraqi people and to the terrorists seeking our destruction. On the eve of Prime Minister Allawi's visit to the United States, Senator Kerry today said that America and the world are 'less secure' now that Saddam Hussein is out of power. "The American people disagree and last December, so did Senator Kerry. At the time he said that...

On List 1 UNFIT FOR COMMAND, by John E. O'Neill and Jerome R. Corsi. (Regnery, $27.95.) A negative appraisal of John Kerry's conduct in Vietnam. 2 AMERICAN SOLDIER, by Tommy Franks with Malcolm McConnell. (ReganBooks/HarperCollins, $27.95.) A memoir by the former head of the United States Central Command.

Tommy Franks coming up on 2nd hour of Rush

As usual, our day started early this morning. Instead of going for donuts, as we usually do, Rays_Mom and I decided to make pancakes for breakfast. What a great decision! In-between providing emotional support to Rays_Mom while she cooked and chasing Ray around the house, I caught a 15 second news snippet that stated Gen. Franks would be signing copies of his book at the Northwest Expressway Borders location. I quickly dropped my plans to do “something” in favor of driving to OKC for the third day in a row. Rays_Mom was not too high on the idea at first....

The New York Times, email notification to email subscribers only, reads for the Sunday Best-Seller List: "NEW ON THE BEST-SELLER LIST Hardcover Nonfiction #3) Unfit for Command By John E. O'Neill and Jerome R. Corsi A negative appraisal of John Kerry's conduct in Vietnam." ACTUAL PUBLISHED SUNDAY BEST-SELLER LIST LIST READS (see NYT link): "Hardcover Nonfiction #1) AMERICAN SOLDIER, by Tommy Franks with Malcolm McConnell. (ReganBooks/HarperCollins, $27.95.) A memoir by the former head of the United States Central Command. #2) MY LIFE, by Bill Clinton. (Knopf, $35.) From Hope, Ark., to the White House: the autobiography of the 42nd president....

http://www.booksamillion.com/ncom/order?id=2929732890377 $16.77 plus S&H. In stock! No, I dont work there.

I just finished "American Soldier" by Gen. Tommy Franks, and thought I'd share what I noticed. Overall, this is one of the better memoirs I've read. His ghostwriter, Malcolm McConnell, did an excellent job of letting Franks "talk" through the narrative. I forgot I wasn't reading Franks' own writing, which is the greatest compliment you can pay a ghostwriter. The book is well balanced, with about 1/3 going to the Gulf War, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Even so, you don't hurry through his boot camp or Vietnam experiences. Although Franks doesn't toot his own horn too loudly, he makes it clear...

Heads up, FReepers! Gen. Tommy Franks will be signing copies of his new book in Pennsylvania, Virginia, D.C., Maryland, North Carolina and Kentucky the next two weeks.Click the link above for more dates covering the south and west later this month. Friday, August 06, 2004 06:00 PM Tommy Franks, will be promoting American Soldier Appears on/at: COSTCO/Signing 201 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, PA 19406 Tel: 610-337-6601 Saturday, August 07, 2004 01:00 PM Tommy Franks, will be promoting American Soldier Appears on/at: BORDERS #29/Booksigning 8027 Leesburg Pike, Vienna, VA 22182 Tel: 703-556-7766 Monday, August 09, 2004 12:30 PM - 02:30...

General Franks is on now talking about terrorism and the military.