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While serving as a military linguist in Baghdad this year, 21-year-old Ikram Mansori bolted from her sleep one night in September. She knew her little brother was in trouble. Back in San Francisco, Hatim Mansori, 11, had just finished baseball practice and was riding a Muni bus home - the first time he'd ever ridden public transit alone. "The bus stopped at 19th and Mission, and this guy got up from the back of the bus, came up and stabbed me and flew out the door," Hatim said. "For no reason." Ikram Mansori was able to get a phone call...

Each year at Christmas, we remember our troops, far from home, standing be tween us and the latest Herods out to slaughter the innocents. As a former soldier, my thoughts are with the "ground pounders" out there, whether in Iraq, Afghanistan or Fort Hood, Texas. The challenges they face are immeasurably greater than those we faced in the black-boot, Cold War Army. But we all have our special memories. I recall Christmases in the 1st Battalion of the 46th Infantry, in Germany, three decades ago. Our Army was far poorer then, without the lavish support we provide today.

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (Dec. 24, 2009) — Many family members have already gathered at Nutter Field House awaiting the Christmas Eve return of more that 150 soldiers from the 50th Multirole Bridge Company, which deployed to Iraq last December. The unit’s military mission was “full spectrum bridging operations in support of the 555th Engineer Brigade and Central Command Forces,” according to Fort Leonard Wood spokesmen. The company is part of the 5th Engineer Battalion, most of which returned from a 15-month Iraq deployment earlier this summer. Military personnel do not routinely announce the precise arrival time of returning units...

Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Robert L. Howard, the only American soldier ever nominated for the award three times for three separate actions, died today in Waco, Texas, at the age of 70.

Early last month, Army Maj. Gen. Tony Cucolo (left) issued General Order #1 as a means of informing those assigned to his Multi-National Division North (a.k.a., "Task Force Marne") that becoming pregnant -- or assisting in the effort -- is one of several types of conduct deemed "prejudicial to the maintenance of good order and discipline" among members of the 22,000-strong task force headquartered in Tikrit, Iraq. In fact, it ranks alongside alcohol, drugs, guns and similar vices on the general's list of prohibited activities.

An Army general in Iraq backed away from his threat today to court martial female soldiers who get pregnant. "I see absolutely no circumstance where I would punish a female soldier by court martial for a violation ... none," Maj. Gen. Anthony Cucolo III wrote to ABC News in an exclusive statement. " I fully intend to handle these cases through lesser disciplinary action." Cucolo triggered debate, some of it angry, when his Nov. 4 policy forbidding pregnancy among his soldiers became public recently. His policy statement said violation of the rule could be punishable by court martial, and that...

Readers may not have noticed that there was news this week from Fort Hood, the scene of an evil attack in which 13 Americans were killed and 30 wounded by a U.S. Army officer turned traitor less than two months ago. It would be easy not to notice, since there seems to have been no national press reaction so far, but local news outlets are reporting new regulations. According to a story by Amanda Kim Stairrett of the Killeen Daily Herald, the new policy tightens gun regulations in three main areas. Military personnel who live on the installation and own...

Ostensibly the story of the elegant Lipizzaner stallions in Vienna, this 1963 Disney film is blatantly pro-America with some authentic history thrown in. The director of Vienna’s legendary Spanish Riding School, Alois Podhajsky was desperate to protect his extraordinary horses from the vicious Nazi commanders. Hopes were dim until the arrival of horseman General George S. Patton who crafted a bold mission to rescue the splendid animals and keep the breed alive. In 1945, by sheer serendipity, the U.S. Third Army moved into Upper Austria at the time Colonel Podhajsky had hidden the horses on a private estate. Podhajsky showed...

Allen West to be a guest on Laura Ingraham Radio Show When: Thursday, Dec. 17th 2009 at 10:00am Allen's guest appearance will be aired on Thursday's edition of the Laura Ingraham Radio Show. Please forward this to your friends and colleagues Hope you are able to tune in!

North quotes one brave Marine: "That's what we do, we're Americans!" A must see video clip from Ollie North.

On a chilly Saturday morning this month, the future soldiers of the U.S. Army huffed and puffed through push-ups, sit-ups and stretches in Whittier Narrows Regional Park in South El Monte. There was the gangly white kid with the blond buzz cut and the buffed-out Latino dude, head draped in a black bandanna. And then there was Jennifer Ren, small, slight and bespectacled, an immigrant from China who gamely kept up with the guys and sees the Army as a ticket to U.S. citizenship and a job in accounting and finance. Down the training line was Christopher Ly, the son...

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (Dec. 14, 2009) — The post commander of Fort Leonard Wood helped wish the National Guard a happy 373rd birthday Friday during a cake-cutting ceremony at the Engineer Hall of Flags in the Maneuver Support Center of Excellence. Maj. Gen. Gregg Martin called the Guard a national treasure. “It’s the foundation of our nation’s defense,” Martin said. “The thing that really strikes me about the Guard is that it’s all about great people who are excellent citizens of our country. There’s the tradition of citizen-soldier embedded all the way from the top of the government down...

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (Dec. 10, 2009) — More than 300 pillows were donated by the residents and businesses in the Eagle 93.9 FM listening area and delivered by the Missouri National Guard on Wednesday to the Warrior Transition Unit on post. The Columbia radio station received the donations after their program, “The Drive,” hosted by Gary Nolan, spoke live with a Missouri National Guardsmen from Afghanistan on Veterans’ Day. On Nov. 11, Veterans’ Day, Nolan had Staff Sgt. Norman Robert Proctor of the 1140th Military Police Company as a call-in guest from Afghanistan on his program, which runs from...

I been catching Army-Navy and I have not noticed any TV shots of Zero. I guess he already used the Cadets for his photo opportunity during his Afghan speech so he has no need for them anymore. Also I suppose he does not want to go back into "enemy territory".

On December 12, 1985, 248 members of the 3/502 Infantry of the 101st Airborne Division perished on an Air Arrow crash near Gander, Newfoundland. They were on their way home to spend the holidays with their families and friends after completing a peacekeeping mission in the Sinai Desert.On the morning of 12 December 1985, at 0645 local time (0515 EST), Arrow Airlines flight 1285, a DC-8-63 charter carrying 248 passengers and a crew of eight, crashed just after takeoff from Gander International Airport, Gander, Newfoundland. All on board perished. The postcrash fire, fed by the contents of the stricken aircraft's...

Today at 17:24 | Ukrainian News Ukraine and Iraq have concluded a $550 million contract on supplies of Ukrainian military equipment to Iraq. Oleksandr Kovalenko, the first deputy director general of the Ukrspetseksport state special export company,said this at a news briefing. According to him, Ukrspetseksport concluded the contract with Iraqi companies some two months ago. Oleksandr Kovalenko said the contract envisages supplies of over 400 units of armored vehicles within 3-3.5 years, some ten aircraft An-32, and provision of services to the Iraqi side on repair and upgrade of aircraft. "To date, a contract has been signed on supplies...

Just thought with the game tomorrow and the Cadets/Midshipmen making their way to Phili today I'd create a thread for old grads from each side to root for their team.

Army Ranger 1st Lt. Michael Behenna finds himself in a cell at Fort Leavenworth. Join the effort to help him obtain justice -- and freedom -- by sharing the information below with bloggers, journalists, talk show hosts, elected officials and anyone with a forum to help the American people find out about his case.

Army Ranger 1st Lt. Michael Behenna was convicted of unpremeditated murder in the death of Ali Mansur, a known Al-Qaeda operative, in an area north of Baghdad. This is part three of his story.

The Department of Defense announced today the alert for mobilization of a replacement unit scheduled to deploy in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Approximately 2,600 soldiers from the 29th Combat Aviation Brigade, headquartered at Edgewood, Md., will begin deploying in the summer of 2011.

EDITOR'S NOTE: On July 31, 2008, Army Ranger 1st Lt. Michael Behenna was charged with the premeditated murder of Ali Mansur, a known Al-Qaeda agent operating near Albu Toma, an area north of Baghdad. Seven months later, the leader of the 18-member Delta Company, 5th platoon of the Army 101st Airborne Infantry Division was convicted of unpremeditated murder and sentenced to 25 years confinement at Fort Leavenworth. Below is the second installment of a multi-part investigative series detailing the spurious case against Lieutenant Behenna, now 26, adapted from "The Michael Behenna Story (pdf)” (26 pgs., PDF) by new BMW contributor...

EDITOR’S NOTE: On July 31, 2008, Army Ranger 1st Lt. Michael Behenna was charged with the premeditated murder of Ali Mansur, a known Al-Qaeda agent operating near Albu Toma, an area north of Baghdad. Seven months later, the leader of the 18-member Delta Company, 5th platoon of the Army 101st Airborne Infantry Division was convicted of unpremeditated murder and sentenced to 25 years confinement at Fort Leavenworth. Below is the first installment of a multi-part investigative series detailing the spurious case against Lieutenant Behenna, now 26, adapted from "The Michael Behenna Story (pdf)” (26 pgs., PDF) by new BMW contributor...

A common misperception about reported plans to increase the strength of the Iraqi Army, Federal Police, and Emergency Response Force [Ministry of Interior Special Forces] is that Iraq cannot afford the extra personnel and that it is not going to happen. The reality is that the personnel are already on the Iraqi Government’s pay-role. These increases are a transfer, retraining and re-designation of paramilitary personnel currently serving in provincial security forces and the Peshmerga. In the Iraqi Ministry of Interior, this program is called “Nationalization”. Nationalization started in 2007 when the Provincial Police Departments were ordered to separate the trained...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama's order to surge 30,000 troops into Afghanistan presents the US military with a giant logistical challenge as it faces some of the most forbidding terrain in the world. With few paved roads and a vast, rugged landscape, moving soldiers and equipment into Afghanistan "is a bigger challenge than certainly was the case in Iraq," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said last month. Fulfilling Obama's vow to send troops at the "fastest pace possible," the first units of the buildup are due to arrive within two to three weeks, and the military plans to have all...

It's not uncommon for people convicted of crimes to proclaim their innocence. Most deserve to be ignored, but not Army Ranger 1st Lt. Michael Behenna. On July 31, 2008, Lieutenant Behenna was charged with the premeditated murder of Ali Mansur, a known Al-Qaeda operative operating in the area of Albu Toma, north of Baghdad. Seven months later, the 26 -year-old leader of the 18-member Delta Company, 5th platoon of the Army 101st Airborne Infantry Division, was sentenced to 25 years confinement at Fort Leavenworth after being convicted by a military court-martial panel of unpremeditated murder in violation of Article 118...

"One thing Commander Quitter-in-Chief, Barack Obama, left out of his little West Point talk is that his new Afghan strategy has forced him to break a promise he made to the Army his first week on the job!... ...the...promise to soldiers that the Army would be moving to 2-for-1 Dwell Time — that is, each soldier would get twice the time at home as deployed. That move,...was aimed at combating record-high rates of suicide, divorce, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder..."

This Iraqi Security Force (ISF) update provides a summary of changes to the ISF during November 2009. The Iraqi Security Force Order of Battle is updated as of 30 November 2009. The September 2009 Quarterly Report to Congress was released on 13 November and key items concerning the ISF were addressed in a separate post on 17 November 2009. It will not be addressed in this update. Highlights in this update include: Indications that Iraq is about to receive its first M1126 Stryker armored personnel carriers and is starting to redistribute the Russian APCs that the Strykers are to replace....

Be Seated. Men, this stuff we hear about America wanting to stay out of the war, not wanting to fight, is a lot of bullshit. Americans love to fight - traditionally. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle. When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble player; the fastest runner; the big league ball players; the toughest boxers. Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans despise cowards. Americans play to win - all the time. I wouldn't give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. That's why...

Since at least the time of Abraham Lincoln, presidents have sent letters of condolence to the families of service members killed in action, whether the deaths came by hostile fire or in an accident. So after his son killed himself in Iraq in June, Gregg Keesling expected that his family would receive a letter from President Obama. What it got instead was a call from an Army official telling family members that they were not eligible because their son had committed suicide. “We were shocked,” said Mr. Keesling, 52, of Indianapolis. Under an unwritten policy that has existed at least...

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Aug. 10, 2009) — House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) sent a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates expressing serious concerns regarding the consideration of Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, as a potential site for detainees transferred from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Skelton, a long-time advocate for Professional Military Education, raised concerns that a number of Muslim countries would stop sending students to the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth if Guantanamo detainees were transferred there. Skelton also noted that the United States Code precludes the proximate detention of American and foreign individuals, so any plan to...

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Aug. 2, 2009) — I consider myself blessed to serve as chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, which from my perspective is the best committee in Congress. The committee’s 62 members come from every corner of the country and reflect diverse political philosophies, but together we find common purpose in our efforts to do our very best to provide the necessary resources to keep Americans safe and protect U.S. national security interests. Each year, the House Armed Services Committee plays its constitutional role by preparing a defense authorization bill. While many people may immediately think of the...

WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 24, 2009) — House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) sent a letter to the Chief of the National Guard Bureau to request information on the National Guard’s current state of readiness to respond to natural disasters in the United States. Skelton also strongly urged the Department of Defense to consider U.S. domestic needs when planning for the redeployment of U.S. forces and equipment from Iraq. “When floods, tornadoes, or hurricanes strike, Americans depend on their neighbors in the National Guard to keep them safe and help with disaster response. In virtually any type of national...

Thanksgiving Day for soldiers in this valley ringed by towering snowy peaks began with a 6-mile (10-kilometer) slog to aid village schools without desks and windows, and promises to end with five, once scrawny local turkeys soldiers have been fattening up for the past month. "Just another day, another mission," several soldiers said as a 25-man patrol from Able Troop, 3-71 Cavalry Squadron, 10th Mountain Division, set out on a cold morning under brilliantly blue skies. Others let sentiment seep through their matter-of-fact, stoic shells. "We're with our family just like we would be at Thanksgiving back home," said Staff...

WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 29, 2009) — As I have examined the economic crisis and the legislative solutions to it, I have paid particular attention to its effect on U.S. national security. According to recent Congressional testimony delivered by the Director of National Intelligence, Admiral Dennis Blair, the global economic crisis and the political and social instability associated with it have become the greatest threat to American security. As the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, this concerns me a great deal. Throughout history, we have witnessed how economic crises can have consequences on national security. Hyper-inflation in Germany was...

Western Baghdad is the location of nomenclature and force composition oddities that indicate further Iraqi Army expansion. Only two of the nine Iraqi Army brigades in western Baghdad are numbered and assigned in accordance with the standard brigade numbering system. Those seven brigades are the only seven non-standard designations in the entire Iraqi Army.

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (Nov. 20, 2009) — The 7th Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team completed two days of internal training that focused on mission essential tasks this week at Fort Leonard Wood. The Missouri National Guard team responded to an “incident” at Abrams Theater and another at the training tunnels at the 1st Lt. Joseph Terry Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear Responder Training Facility. The first exercise was coordinated by 1st Lt. Richard Sambolin, the unit’s reconnaissance section officer in charge. In this scenario, the theater was set in Anywhere, USA. A chief of a fire department requested...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (Nov. 20, 2009) — Michelle Hartmann, of Jefferson City, has been named the Missouri National Guard's first-ever director of psychological health. Hartmann oversees the Missouri Guard's psychological health program. The program, which is funded through the National Guard Bureau, is designed to promote readiness through psychological fitness. Hartmann said the program's guidelines are intentionally vague, which allows each state's director to tailor it to the specific needs of each state. Hartmann said one of her goals is to make mental health a more normal part of conversation. To some extent, Hartmann said, the stigma associated with psychological...

Fort Hood soldier currently deployed in Iraq calls for giving guns to American soldiers and families on base One of the readers of this column, even before I began writing about the November 5th Fort Hood massacre the day after it occurred, is Sgt. Brian Singer, a U.S. army soldier currently deployed to Iraq, but whose home station is Fort Hood. A few days after the Fort Hood shootings Sgt. Singer wrote a letter-to-the-editor to Stars and Stripes. An edited version of that letter was published in Stars and Stripes on Thursday, November 19th. You can read Sgt. Singer’s letter...

<p>FORT BRAGG, N.C. — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin promises to limit her enthusiasm during her visit to North Carolina's Fort Bragg.</p> <p>The former Republican vice presidential candidate planned to sign copies of her new memoir at a post store Monday. Army officials say Palin will not make a speech, pose for photos, or personalize notes in the books she signs.</p>

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (Nov. 20, 2009) — A Missouri National Guardsman in training to become a military truck driver faces charges of making a terrorist threat in a school near Whiteman Air Force Base. According to court records, the trainee, Pfc. Michael John Frederick, 19, went into a Sedalia high school during a Saturday evening event and told the superintendent that the Army had told him to warn area schools that escaped prisoners might be trying to kidnap students. Frederick was wearing his military uniform when he made his warning about escaped inmates. However, there were no escaped inmates...

What's more imortant to the US Army than the lives of 13 soldiers? Apparently, the commitment by the US Army not to offend Muslims. Obama and his merry band of hangers-on, led by the US Army and General Casey, continue to hem and haw about the Ft Hood attacks and simply refuse to call it terrorism, but any reasonable look at the pre-slaughter work of psychia-terrorist Major Nidal Hasan shows us what he really is. The amazing thing is that he was so public and obvious about it... and that 13 soldiers are dead because of the US Army's fear...

Nov. 20 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army recently funded a five-year, $50 million study by the National Institute of Mental Health to examine the factors possibly associated with suicide, including combat-related trauma, personal and economic stress, family history, childhood abuse, a military unit's cohesion and general mental health. With all due respect to the eminent scientists at NIMH, I wonder if much of that information is available already from civilian sources, both online and in paper-bound publications. I would doubt that surveying hundreds of thousands of recruits and interviewing soldiers will, in the end, provide that eureka moment they seem...

We shut the aircraft down and what we saw was 350 plus people ranging in ages from 6 months to old and gray standing silently at a fence watching our every movement. I walked around the nose of my aircraft a mere 150 feet away from this crowd, I gave a simple smile and raised my arm up over my head and was greeted with the most substantial roar of levity that I have ever heard in my life. 350 plus people were cheering. Not because I play an instrument in some notable band, acted in a big Hollywood movie,...

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - The U.S. Army plans to prevent media from covering Sarah Palin's appearance at Fort Bragg, fearing the event will turn into political grandstanding against President Barack Obama, officials said Thursday. Fort Bragg spokesman Tom McCollum told The Associated Press that Bragg's garrison commander and other Army officials had decided to keep media away from Palin's book promotion. He said the Army did not want the Monday event to become a platform to express political opinions "directed against the commander in chief." "The main reason is to stop this from turning into a political platform," he said....

The U.S. Army now says it will allow media limited access to Sarah Palin's appearance at Fort Bragg. The Associated Press and The Fayetteville Observer objected and the military changed its position slightly on Thursday night. It will grant a pool of reporters restricted access to Monday's appearance. Buckner said the setup will allow reporters their right to access .

The U.S. Army plans to prevent media from covering Sarah Palin's appearance at Fort Bragg, fearing the event will turn into political grandstanding against President Barack Obama, officials said Thursday

Daring soldier was awarded Medal of HonorBy Adam Bernstein Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, November 18, 2009 Lewis L. Millett, 88, a career Army officer who was briefly and somewhat misleadingly court-martialed for desertion during World War II and went on to receive the Medal of Honor for leading a bayonet charge during the Korean War, died Nov. 14 at a veterans hospital in Loma Linda, Calif. He had congestive heart failure. Col. Millett, who sported a red handlebar mustache, cut an audacious and unconventional path during his 35 years of military service. He led daring attacks in two wars...

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (Nov. 12, 2009) — Tammy Duckworth is now a major in the Army National Guard, a former Democratic Party congressional candidate, and an assistant secretary in the Department of Veterans Affairs. But on Nov. 12, 2004, Duckworth’s life was likely saved by the quick action of other National Guardsmen when she was piloting a helicopter that insurgents shot down in Iraq. Those Missouri National Guardsmen assigned to helicopter duty at Fort Leonard Wood attended Duckworth’s fifth “Alive Day” Thursday in Washington, D.C. Staff Sgt. Christopher Fierce, a Dixon resident who was also wounded that day, has...

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (Nov. 9, 2009) — Even for a combat medic like Spc. Erin Raymond, knowing how to clear a room is a fundamental soldier task. “I have to be a soldier before I’m a medic,” said Raymond, who lives in Saint Robert. “It’s important because, even though I am a medic, if I’m put in a situation where one of our members is wounded and I have to help clear a building, I need to know my basic soldiering skills before being a medic. Also, if by chance I ever need to go into a building to...

Bipartisan Effort to Enforce Reforms They Enacted in Wake of Hurricane Katrina. Washington, D.C. ­– Two years after enacting critical reforms of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and John McCain (R-AZ) are asking the Administration why little progress has been made to implement them. Those reforms, passed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, made key changes to strengthen the Corps and ensure that it uses its limited resources wisely. One of those reforms was a requirement that the Corps’ planning guidelines, Planning Principles & Guidelines (P&G), be modernized. In a letter sent today to...