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To better understand the Quranic basis of jihad as practiced by extremists without sifting through a library of interpretations, you should read one book above all others, says Lt. Col. Joseph Myers. “The Quranic Concept of War,” by Pakistani Brig. Gen. S.K. Malik in the late 1970s, isn’t much studied in the West. But it should be, Myers said, if America, and more specifically, the U.S. military, wants to gain a better understanding of the enemy in the war on terrorism... ..."I think the significant strategic shortcoming or failing in the war on terror is that we have not gone...

An Army board headed by Gen. David H. Petraeus has selected several combat-tested counterinsurgency experts for promotion to the rank of brigadier general, sifting through more than 1,000 colonels to identify a handful of innovative leaders who will shape the future Army, according to current and former senior Army officers. The choices suggest that the unusual decision to put the top U.S. officer in Iraq in charge of the promotions board has generated new thinking on the qualities of a successful Army officer -- and also deepened Petraeus's imprint on the Army. Petraeus, who spent nearly four of the past...

Millions of allied soldiers returned home after the defeat of the Hitler regime. Many were unable to speak about the horrors they experienced in Germany. One of those soldiers was Technical Sergeant Harold Bruce Welch – the father of First Lady of the United States, Laura Bush. It was during the "National Days of Remembrance 2005,” that Laura Bush, First Lady of the United States, first spoke publicly about her father’s experiences in the war. That he served in the 104th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army and participated in the liberation of the notorious concentration camp "Dora" in Nordhausen....

Britain has been in charge of four provinces in southern Iraq since Saddam Hussein's downfall. While the divisional command will continue to operate under British leadership at Basra airbase, the orders of the US units will be to "get out front" and resume patrols and combat missions. US hopes of making the whole of Iraq secure before its eventual withdrawal have been raised by what commanders see as a potential southern version of the Sahwa, or tribal awakening, which turned locals against al-Qa'eda. Troops have been shifted from Anbar province to the Tallil airbase, Nasiriya, to assume responsibility from 550...

WASHINGTON, May 12, 2008 – A key leader in the effort to build Afghanistan’s national army and police force explained the process and marked progress in a conference call with online journalists and “bloggers” May 9. Army Col. Michael J. McMahon, director of force integration and training for Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan, said coalition trainers have been building infantry battalions from the ground up since 2002. “It was taking about 12 weeks to produce one battalion,” McMahon said. “Almost immediately, they had a very, very good impact on the public’s confidence and the public’s perception of what was in...

McGinnis was no stranger to combat. The Middle East edition of Stars and Stripes for Nov. 30, 2006, has a picture of McGinnis on its cover. His unit had been involved in a fierce firefight on Nov. 5 and had killed 38 attackers. His superiors were quick to recognize the special nature of McGinnis’ actions. He was awarded a posthumous Silver Star, America’s third-highest award for valor in combat, and nominated for the Medal of Honor. Eighteen months later, McGinnis will receive his medal. Speaking anonymously, sources at the Department of Defense have confirmed this with reporters from the Army...

An epochal shift in the immemorial cycle of war is under way, writes retired major general Robert H. Scales, the former commandant of the Army War College. The infantry is back. America’s enemies have learned that they can’t win blitzkrieg- age wars, so they no longer fight them. They have moved the battlefields to cities, jungles, and mountains, where the U.S. military’s techno log­ically superior ma chines are ineffective. “The enemy chooses to fight as infantry because he can win the infantry fight,” Scales says, and America’s experience in Iraq and Afghanistan shows that the nation has no choice but...

The latest outrage is a father's video of a U.S. Army barracks at Fort Bragg, N.C., the home of the 82nd Airborne Division. It shows the quarters where his soldier son and other soldier sons were sent to live upon their return from combat. Mold and mildew and peeling paint are bad enough, but what about a big barracks bathroom ankle-deep in raw sewage? Scandals like this latest one and an earlier eruption of public outrage over the miserably maintained quarters where wounded soldiers were warehoused at Walter Reed Army Hospital are an indictment of the core competency of our...

p>FORT RILEY, Kan. (AP) — As a boy, Michael Conner Humphreys made a splash on the silver screen as "Young Forrest Gump." As an adult, he somewhat mirrored the life of his movie character: He joined the Army and fought in an unpopular war.Humphreys' enlistment ends June 4 and Hollywood is already calling. He's landed a role in an independent film, playing, of course, a soldier.It's a route similar to that of Tom Hanks, who won the Oscar for playing adult Forrest Gump.Hanks later starred in "Saving Private Ryan" and produced "Band of Brothers," a series about the men of...

The U.S. Army said Friday it will immediately repair barracks at eight facilities in the wake of inspection at bases worldwide. The inspections were done the last week of April and covered nearly 150,000 barracks rooms. They found that 45 repairs needed priority attention, including new heating and cooling equipment, repainting, mold removal and other work. Army Secretary Pete Geren has said that $248 million in emergency funds has been appropriated to fix problems found during the inspections. The Army on Friday identified eight installations that will get priority attention: Fort Polk, La.; Fort Gordon, Ga.; Fort Bragg, N.C.; Fort...

CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C., May 9, 2008 – They didn’t have any lines, and if it weren’t for their bright colors against the spartan background of a C-17 Globemaster’s cargo bay, quilts produced by the South Carolina Quilts of Valor troop-support organization might have gone unnoticed. Extras portray wounded soldiers for a scene in an upcoming episode of Lifetime Network’s “Army Wives.” The scene, featuring quilts made by members of South Carolina Quilts of Valor, was filmed on Charleston Air Force Base, S.C., on May 5, 2008. Defense Department photo by Samantha L. Quigley  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution...

Who knew that promoting literacy could cause such a firestorm?

CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C., May 6, 2008 – Drama can occasionally creep into the lives of military families, but since last season, it’s been a sure thing for the military families portrayed on Lifetime Network’s top-rated show. Natalie McQueen and her daughter, MacKenzie, 5, holding a "Welcome Home" sign, were extras during filming for "Army Wives" on May 5, 2008, at Charleston Air Force Base, S.C. The Lifetime Network show, which normally films on a former military installation in the area, was filming the fourth episode of its second season on the base. Defense Department photo by Samantha...

My 17 year old son has announced that he wants to join the Army right out of high school and become a Ranger. Today a friend of his took him to the National Guard to talk to a recruiter who told him it would be no problem becoming a Ranger through the Guard. Based on the conversation he relayed to me, the recruiter also made it sound like an MP is a great MOS. I have a brother in Iraq right now with Black Water, he is too emotionally involved to get a straight answer out of. Everyone has an...

The war in Iraq has spawned a violent Shiite-Sunni showdown there and a rift between Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill — and now it’s heating up the long-simmering rivalry between the Army and the Air Force and their powerful patrons in Congress. A showdown is brewing, as the Senate Armed Services Committee kicks off the annual defense appropriations cycle this week. The issue is money and the control of production and basing for the unmanned aerial vehicles that are becoming central to U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and the subject of an increasingly heated tug of war between...

In October 2004, the U.S. Army issued an urgent bulletin to commanders across Iraq, warning them of a deadly new threat to American soldiers. Because of flawed electrical work by contractors, the bulletin stated, soldiers at U.S. bases in Iraq had received severe electrical shocks, and some had even been electrocuted.

The new schedule for provincial control has been announced; the Iraqi military is forming quick reaction forces; the Iraqi Army is incoporating new equipment; and Kurdish Peshmerga forces will be integrated into the Army.

Hillary Rodham Clinton said in an interview today that she will call for a congressional hearing in response to an online video showing poor living conditions at barracks on Fort Bragg. The Fayetteville Observer first reported last Friday that the father of a soldier uploaded a video to YouTube showing peeling paint, exposed pipes, mildewed ceilings and showers, a broken toilet seat and a bathroom floor covered in sewage because of a clogged drain. Since last week, the video has logged more than 91,000 views on YouTube. In a phone interview this afternoon with the Observer, Clinton said from Indiana...

Army widens probe after finding bad conditions at Fort Bragg By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer 31 minutes ago WASHINGTON - Army officials said Tuesday they are inspecting every barracks building worldwide to see whether plumbing and other problems revealed at Fort Bragg, N.C., last week are widespread. ADVERTISEMENT Brig. Gen. Dennis Rogers, who is responsible for maintaining barracks throughout the Army, told reporters at the Pentagon that most inspections were done last weekend but he had not seen final results. While not providing specifics about problems discovered during the weekend inspections, Rogers indicated some deficiencies were corrected. In cases...

(WASHINGTON) — Soldiers who need special waivers to get into the Army because of bad behavior go AWOL more often and face more courts-martial. But they also get promoted faster and re-enlist at a higher rate, according to an internal military study obtained by The Associated Press.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS RECENTLY reported that several congressmen and senators are looking into the renewal of Colt Defense's sole-source contract for the manufacture of the M4 Carbine, the most widely-used personal weapon in the U.S. Army. Derived from the M16 assault rife, the M4 retains the same firing mechanism and uses the same 5.56 x 45mm cartridge as the M16, but has a much shorter barrel, making it lighter and easier to carry inside a Humvee or armored personnel carrier. On the other hand, the shorter barrel reduces the muzzle velocity, hence the range and lethality of the weapon. As...

FORT RILEY, Kan. — When Specialist Jeremy Hall held a meeting last July for atheists and freethinkers at Camp Speicher in Iraq, he was excited, he said, to see an officer attending. But minutes into the talk, the officer, Maj. Freddy J. Welborn, began to berate Specialist Hall and another soldier about atheism, Specialist Hall wrote in a sworn statement. “People like you are not holding up the Constitution and are going against what the founding fathers, who were Christians, wanted for America!” Major Welborn said, according to the statement. Major Welborn told the soldiers he might bar them from...

QUIBLA, Iraq - As dawn broke over the town of Quibla, Iraq, soldiers from Quick Reaction Force 1 of the 1st Iraqi Army Quick Reaction force fanned out and began searching the city house-by-house for illegal weapons. QRF 1, deployed from al-Anbar province on April 1 had been setting the stage for Operation Charge of the Knight since their arrival. In the previous two weeks they, along with elements of the 14th Iraqi Army Division and local police cordoned off the city and established basis at strategic points on the perimeter. Operation Charge of the Knight represented the first large-scale...

SHAIBA AIRBASE, Iraq – The 1st Iraqi Army Quick Reaction Force has come a long way. Literally and figuratively. As the first Iraqi division formed in 2004, the 1st Iraqi Army Division, renamed the 1st IA (QRF) in February, has developed, with the help of dedicated military transition team advisors, into the one of the premier units in the young Iraqi Army. Within the last year, the al-Anbar based 1st IA (QRF) has deployed brigades to Baghdad and Diyala to fight terrorist groups like al-Qaeda in Iraq and anti-government militias, while still providing security for the citizens of al-Anbar. Most...

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, April 14, 2008) - Every Monday night at 8 p.m. a group of Army wives gathers to hear news, relationship advice, parenting tips and deployment support, but this isn't your traditional readiness or support group. Most of the women haven't met and don't even know each other's names. But over the Internet radio waves and blogs, "Army Wife Talk Radio" founder and host Tara Crooks tries to help Army Families and empower Army spouses. "I just wanted to mention how much fun I had yesterday rocking out to last month's AWTR shows on my Ipod! It...

For a glimpse into the future of Special Forces, read the Capstone Concept for Special Operations on the USSOCOM web site. Read through it carefully. Can you find the words "Special Forces" anywhere? Or "Special Forces group?" Can you find "ODA" (operational detachment - alpha)? Or "ODB" (operational detachment - bravo)? Or "Special Forces battalion?" You can't find these words. We can read that as a strong signal that you won't be able to find Special Forces anywhere before very long. Many other signals suggest that the senior leadership in both United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) and Department of...

The Iraqi Army will not stand up additional divisions this year as it is focusing efforts on building independent formations, and establishing support formations and corps headquarters.

When the dust finally settled, Army officials sought to put the best face on a sandstorm test that humbled Colt Defense's vaunted M4 carbine. The tests were conducted at an Army laboratory in Maryland last fall. Ten M4s and 10 copies each of three other carbines - the SCAR from Belgium's FN Herstal, and the HK416 and the XM8 from Germany's Heckler & Koch - were coated in heavy layers of talcum-fine dust to simulate a sandstorm. Tens of thousands of rounds were fired through the rifles. The M4s malfunctioned 882 times. Bullets that didn't feed through the rifles properly...

6th Annual Rally for the Troops will be held on Sunday April 20, 2008 at 11:00 PM in downtown Cleveland’s Public Square. Free Parking at Tower City Parking lots. Last year an estimated 5000 motorcyclist attended the Rally. Bikes will stage at 8:30 AM from Cleveland Harley Davidson Sales Company (W145 and Lorain), Lake Erie Harley Davidson (Avon Ohio); South East Harley Davidson (Bedford Hts. Ohio) and Western Reserve Harley Davidson (Mentor Ohio). Bikes will depart for downtown Cleveland at 9:30 AM. Jim Mantel of WGAR will MC the Rally and Monica Robins of WKYC will sing the National Anthem....

  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: “…most politicians never met a dollar they didn’t like.” SUBJECT: US Congressional Candidate Katherine Jenerette On the Issues Part I DATE: April 17, 2008          FOR MORE INFORMATION: www.jenerette.orgOn Thursday, Jenerette outlined some of her basic positions on the issues with the following release:KATHERINE JENERETTE on the ISSUES: A Brief Overview of my Agenda and Issues Part One     “Washington is a far different place today than it was with a Republican majority in both Houses and our district here in South Carolina has changed tremendously over the years,” Katherine Jenerette said. “Our times call...

Via Corporal Seamus, I received this email: Gentlemen I am an Australian and my son is an Australian - as far as we are concerned there is no place on God's earth better than Australia , and there are no people better than Australians. That was until the past week or so. My son is in the Australian Army and he is currently on deployment in Iraq . I can not go into his duties in great depth, but shall we say that he and his fellow army buddies are on a glorified guard duty looking after the Australian Embassy....

WASHINGTON, April 17, 2008 – Since April 23, 1908, the men and women of the U.S. Army Reserve have answered the nation's call to service at home and around the globe. Next week, the reserve will mark its 100th birthday with ceremonies in and around the nation’s capital. The U.S. Army Reserve will celebrate a century of service on April 23, 2008. The reserve will mark the historic 100-year anniversary with a mass re-enlistment and rememrance ceremonies in and around Washington, DC.  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. To celebrate a century of service, the Army Reserve will hold...

On the big screen, films like Robocop, Universal Soldier and forthcoming release Iron Man show humanoid robots with superhuman powers. But in Utah they are turning science fiction into reality. We are at a research facility on the outskirts of Salt Lake City, ringed by beautiful snow-capped mountains. Once they held the Winter Olympics here; now they are testing endurance in other ways. The aluminium limbs gleam in the brilliant sunshine, as the strange metal skeleton hangs from a safety harness at the outdoor testing site. It seems to be treading water; actually its programme is telling it to keep...

Army fights STDs with free condoms 04/15/08 – By Steve Mraz, Stars and Stripes European Edition KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — Two thousand free condoms are being placed in Army gyms and clubs around Kaiserslautern in an effort to combat sexually transmitted diseases. Clear plastic bins began showing up late Friday afternoon with stickers that read: “Readiness doesn’t end when the uniform comes off.” The bins were placed in the bathrooms of eight Army gyms and clubs that fall under U.S. Army Garrison Kaiserslautern, including the Landstuhl Combined Club, Armstrong’s on Vogelweh Housing and The Oasis on Kleber Kaserne. The condom give-away...

The genius of the American experiment is the clear line our Constitution draws between public and private lives. The government should be limited in its power and reach, especially when it comes to raising our families. As the old saying goes, a man’s home is his castle. That’s why it is so surprising to learn that a group of family advocates feels differently. Some so-called social conservatives, like Tony Perkins, actually think that the federal government needs to get more involved in our family life. In recent weeks, Perkins, the top man at the Family Research Council, a large political...

The parents of a soldier listed as missing-captured in Iraq for nearly four years will continue their work at an organization that has sent thousands of goody packages to soldiers, even though the reality is beginning to sink in that the Army has declared him dead. Keith and Carolyn Maupin and numerous volunteers have sent more than 9,600 boxes of donated toiletries, magazines and treats to soldiers in Iraq through the Yellow Ribbon Support Center, along with photos of Staff Sgt. Matt Maupin and a plea to help find him.

McCain was a POW when U.S. began to use laser-guided bombs TRIBUNE-REVIEW By Salena Zito Sen. Rockefeller got down and dirty today with colleague John McCain in an interview with the Charleston Gazette in West Virginia when he said: "McCain was a fighter pilot, who dropped laser-guided missiles from 35,000 feet. He was long gone when they hit. What happened when they [the missiles] get to the ground? He doesn't know. You have to care about the lives of people. McCain never gets into those issues." Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki had this to say about the Rockefeller smack down: "Senator...

<p>The Army has stripped the Asymmetric Warfare Group of its weapon of choice — the Heckler & Koch 416 — saying that its mission requires the unique outfit to carry the standard issue M4 carbine.</p> <p>The decision reverses a policy that allowed the AWG to buy 416s instead of carrying M4s when it was established three years ago to help senior Army leaders find new tactics and technologies to make soldiers more lethal in combat.</p>

The April 2008 updates to the Iraqi Security Forces Order of Battle are now available at the ISF OOB homepage. The significant changes to the Order of Battle that occurred in March are summarized below.

My tribute to the US cavalry than and now. God bless the US army - America's heroes then and now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwwMF6biCJU&feature=related A great YouTube video to get ones blood to a boil: Enjoy your weekend. LOL

The 14th division of the Iraqi army, which led the fight in Basra, was supposed to be one of their best — and also one of the most loyal to Prime Minister Maliki — and yet they took heavy casualties, had to be bailed out of firefights, and according to Browne, showed "fragility" under fire. (Nice euphemism, that.) If that's how the 14th performed, what does that say about the rest of the Iraqi army?

Three days after Muqtada al Sadr ordered the Mahdi Army to withdraw from the fighting in Baghdad and the Shia South, the fighting has dropped dramatically. The Iraqi government has denied that it has agreed to Sadr's terms, but has softened its rhetoric against Mahdi Army, instead shifting its focus on the "criminal elements" just as the US military has done over the past year. Meanwhile, the Iraqi security forces are continuing operations in Basrah. The Iraqi military has continued to target Mahdi Army elements in Basrah and in Baghdad and southern Iraq, but the government is now referring to...

Brazil army aids Rio dengue fight The military clinics are aiming to take the pressure off public hospitals The Brazilian military has opened three new field clinics in Rio de Janeiro to help officials tackle a surge in dengue fever that has overwhelmed hospitals. Officials say 13 people have died since Friday, bringing the number of deaths this year in Rio de Janeiro state to 67, with some 45,000 people infected. The mosquito-borne disease causes high temperature, headaches and muscle pain and, in extreme cases, can be fatal. President Lula has said all levels of government have mishandled the crisis....

One day after Muqtada al Sadr, the leader of the Mahdi Army, called for his fighters to abandon combat, the fighting in Basrah has come to a near-halt and the Iraqi security forces are patrolling the streets. While Sadr spokesman said the Iraqi government agreed to Sadr's terms for the ceasefire, Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki has said the security forces will continue operations in Basrah in the south. Meanwhile, the Mahdi Army took heavy casualties in Basrah, Nasiriyah, Babil, and Baghdad over the weekend, despite Sadr's call for the end of fighting. Maliki was clear that operations would continue...

With the fifth day of fighting in Baghdad, Basrah and the South completed, the Mahdi Army has suffered major losses over the past 36 hours. The Mahdi Army has not faired well over the past five days of fighting, losing an estimated two percent of its combat power, using the best case estimate for the size of the militia. A look at the open source press reports from the US and Iraqi military and the established newspapers indicates 134 Mahdi Army fighters were killed, 81 were wounded, 98 were captured, and 30 surrendered during the past 36 hours. Since the...

Like pensions and insurance, defence is one of those subjects to which too many people only pay attention when things go wrong. You might think, in the light of the past decade, that this would have changed. But you would be sadly mistaken. Even today, even after Iraq, few mainstream MPs without an immediate personal or constituency interest in the subject turn up in the Commons for defence debates. Many politicians who are thoughtful about a range of domestic issues still pass by on the other side when the conversation gravitates to the military. In this they reflect the British...

Rift between UK diplomats and Army in Basra By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent Last Updated: 1:13am GMT 29/03/2008 British forces are facing increasing pressure to intervene in fighting in southern Iraq after government efforts to defeat Shi'ite militias in Basra ground to a halt. Signs of a rift were growing among British officials as diplomats said that UK forces "stand ready to support" Iraqi soldiers as and when requested, contradicting military statements that UK forces would be confined to "niche" roles. Fighting in Basra, Baghdad and the central town of Kut has claimed at least 100 lives this week...

Soldiers become American citizens in Africa DJIBOUTI (March 16, 2008) — Seven Soldiers supporting the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa mission became U.S. citizens during a Military Naturalization Ceremony at the U.S. Embassy March 13. After enlisting in the Army and serving the United States, Four Soldiers assigned to 1st Battalion, 294th Infantry (Light), Delta Company, and three Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, Delta Company, raised their right hands and said the Oath of Allegiance. During the ceremony, Ambassador W. Stuart Symington, U.S. Ambassador to Djibouti and keynote speaker, addressed the candidates reminding them about the oath...

Henry Brown Gets a Second GOP Opponent The circling of the wolves continues as Henry Brown gets a second GOP challenger. Desert Storm veteran and former Brown aid Katherine Jenerette of Horry County has filed to unseat her old boss. Charleston businessman Paul Norris filed for the seat last week along with Brown. This three way race could mean good things for Democrat Linda Ketner, as Brown is forced to invest money in the primary race. Side note: Jenerette’s website still has a picture of her and Henry together (as well as a link to Brown’s Congressional website). The site...