Free Republic

UPDATE: Army recruiting shooter declines name changeLast Update: 6/30 7:20 pm The man charged with shooting two Army recruiters, killing one of them, says in court Tuesday he no longer wants to change his name. It was part of a civil hearing for Abdulhakim Muhammad, 23, who also faces a capital murder charge for his accused act of domestic terrorism. FOX16 News was the only station at the hearing. Pulaski County prosecutors are still working on filing formal criminal charges against Abdulhakim Muhammad. Muhammad didn't appear to know which way to go stepping into the hallway on the fourth floor...

Rep. John McHugh (R-N.Y.), President Obama’s choice to be Secretary of the Army, has secured more than $44 million in earmarks for New York-based companies and a large Army base in his district. McHugh, formerly the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, gave up his post in early June when Obama picked him to be the Army’s civilian leader. McHugh, who has yet to be confirmed, is still a member of Congress.

As many people across the nation enjoy a day off for July 4th, the grills will be fired up and the fireworks will light up the night sky. It is a time for celebrating our nation’s freedom from the British government’s tyranny and control over a group of independent patriots, determined to build a nation based upon individual freedoms and rights. While the current trend in Washington is to move toward the oppressive, suffocating monstrosity of big government (which is spawning TEA Parties across the nation), it is a time for my family and me to reflect, not only on...

The pullback of U.S. troops from Iraqi cities this week, right on schedule, was a near-miraculous milestone. It was met with nods and faint smiles across America; outright fanfare should have been more like it. All who helped make this a reality - American troops and military leaders, the Iraqi police and government, and, yes, former President George Bush and Defense Secretary Robert Gates - have earned our thanks. President Obama gets credit, too, for keeping what worked in America's counterinsurgency strategy rather than shredding it just because it had his predecessor's fingerprints on it. Three years ago, no one...

Can anyone recommend some websites where I can download free patriotic music for the 4th? I'm guessing Susa, military marches, themes of the armed forces, that kind of thing?

A man was arrested Saturday afternoon after police said he threatened to “blow up” the U.S. Army recruiting tent set up in Riverfront Park for Hoopfest. Keith M. Stroupe, 40, was booked into Spokane County Jail on suspicion of felony harassment, said Senior Patrolman Timothy Moses of the Spokane Police Department. The original call came in just before noon, Moses said. Stroupe also made threats at a second Army recruiting station at Spokane Falls Boulevard and Washington Street, Moses said. Though Stroupe disappeared into the crowd, one of the recruiters had filmed him with his cell phone, enabling police to...

FORT SILL, Okla. — Pfc. Shane Dixon is known as Old Dix. Specialist Jason Ness goes by Gramps. Pfc. Christopher Batson’s nom de boot camp is Pops. None of them are over 40, but to the 18-year-old soldiers in basic training here, they are as ancient as a first generation Xbox. Yet in the three years since the Army raised its age limit for enlisting to 42, from 35, a steady stream of older recruits has joined the ranks, pushing creaky muscles through road training, learning to appreciate — or at least endure — Army chow and in some cases...

New Game in Hit Series Features New Missions, Training and Gameplay The U.S. Army today launched America's Army 3, the only action game that delivers an authentic and entertaining Army experience by reflecting the training, technology, actions, and career advancement of a Soldier within an exciting, free game experience. Players can download the teen-rated game from Steam (http://www.americasarmy.com/steam/), /> as well as from partners listed at the America's Army website (http://www.americasarmy.com). /> As with previous versions of America’s Army, AA3 will be constantly updated to include new features and missions and to highlight new technologies being incorporated in today's Army....

NEW YORK — Military service is in Capt. Kamaljit Singh Kalsi's blood. His father and grandfather were part of India's Air Force. His great-grandfather served in the army in India under the British. So when U.S. Army recruiters talked to him during his first year of medical school, he readily signed up. But his plans to go on active duty in July are now on hold. An Army policy from the 1980s that regulates the wearing of religious items would mean he would need to shave his beard and remove the turban he wears in accordance with his religious precepts.

World’s leading countries spend too much of their war preparations. A new arms race has been gathering pace in the world recently, and even the global economic setback does not seem to be a reason to stop the race. Russia takes an active participation in the new arms race, just like other countries of the world do, scientists of politics say. A research from Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said that the total defense spending of all countries of the world reached the unexampled level - $1.464 trillion in 2008. The international spending on the defense industry has thus...

In this deeply disturbing interview, the trailer trash torturer who appalled the world by appearing in shocking 'souvenir' photographs remains utterly unrepentant and says she has 800 MORE torture photos that could rock the White House Normally, not much happens in Keyser, West Virginia, but today the folks in this quaint little railroad town, nestling in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, are spoilt for choice. Either they can whoop and holler along to fiddle music at the annual Strawberry Festival or head down to the bookshop, where a local 'celebrity' - as her agent-cum-lawyer describes her - is signing...

FORT HUACHUCA — On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress established the country’s Army consisting of 10 companies totaling 810 soldiers. “Two hundred and thirty-four years ago, the United States Army was established to defend our nation,” and from the Revolutionary War to the Global War on Terrorism it has, Maj. Gen. John Custer said Friday morning. Standing before him on Brown Parade Field was a representative group of soldiers from the different units on the post who can trace their direct lineage back to the small group of soldiers from Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia who took up arms and...

FORT HUACHUCA — It wasn’t until nearly 181 years after the U.S Army was formed that the organization had an official flag, although Army units had their own colors. And, for the past 234 years 178 campaign streamers have become an integral part of the Army flying symbol. Each streamer is a visual reminder that throughout the nation’s history, ensuring life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness has required the sacrifices of soldiers. On June 12, 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorized the official flag. Ike previously had became a General of the Army in World War II and led...

President Obama's choice to be general counsel of the Army, Donald M. Remy, withdrew his nomination late Friday. In a June 12 letter to the president, obtained by Congressional Quarterly, Remy gave no specific reason for his withdrawal but thanked Obama for the opportunity to serve the public and the military. "I am honored by your confidence in my ability to deal with the critical issues that face our soldiers and their families and I was looking forward to serving in this time of great national crisis," Remy wrote. "Regretfully, I have decided to remove my name from consideration for...

A good article in Newsweek regarding the mindset of some of the Army's newest officers.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A judge has issued a gag order in the capital murder case against the man accused of killing one soldier and wounding another at a military recruiting office in Arkansas. Judge Alice Lightle issued the order Monday after prosecutors requested it to block court officials and police from discussing the case

<p>Little Rock - Army Private William Long was to have been on his way to his first posting today when, instead, he was being eulogized in his hometown.</p> <p>Long, from Conway, was killed June 1 outside the Army-Navy Career Center in west Little Rock where he had volunteered to tell others about his military experience. A Muslim convert once imprisoned in Yemen has pleaded not guilty to capital murder in Long's death. He allegedly told police he targeted Army personnel "because of what they had done to Muslims in the past."</p>

CONWAY, Ark. — A Muslim convert accused of fatally shooting an Army private and wounding another had previously been arrested on a weapons charge in Tennessee, but that charge eventually was dropped. Police say Abdulhakim Muhammad, then known as Carlos Bledsoe, was arrested in February 2004 after a traffic stop in Nashville. He was found with an SKS rifle inside in the car, with five rounds in a clip and one round in the rifle's chamber. Officers also found a sawed-off shotgun and another shotgun inside the car, as well as an ounce of marijuana, a switchblade knife and two...

In conjuntion with www.freerepublic.com, The American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), Patriot Guard (AR), and Alerts Secure Arkansas is planning a huge rally to support our military. It will be held on Thursday, June 4th, at 4 p.m., in front of the Army-Navy Recruiting Station at Ashley Square, corner of Reservoir Road and Rodney Parham in Little Rock (. This is an emergency rally to show respect for our troops and let them know we mourn the loss of soldier William Long and the wounding of soldier Quinton Ezeagwula. Please bring your Flags, yellow ribbons, and signs. For more...

Several state lawmakers said today they are considering a run for Rep. John McHugh’s seat after he was tapped Tuesday by President Obama as secretary to the Army. On the Democratic side, Sen. Darrel Aubertine, D-Cape Vincent, Jefferson County, appears to the party’s top potential candidate, and he said he will consider it. “We haven’t ruled anything out,” Aubertine said, adding he will have to talk to his family. Asked if he’s concerned that a move to Congress would leave the Democratic majority in the Senate vulnerable since he represents a heavily Republican district, he said, “I’m concerned about my...

Striking again at the already beleaguered Republican Party, President Barack Obama today will announce the appointment of Rep. John McHugh (R-N.Y.) as secretary of the Army. In tapping McHugh, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, Obama sidelines yet another senior GOP lawmaker. The veteran congressman from upstate New York joins his former colleague from Illinois, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, and Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, the ambassador-designate to China, among the ranks of Republicans in the Obama administration, a list that nearly included New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg as Commerce Secretary. And McHugh’s appointment comes just over a month...

Freepers: After sleeping on it, I have decided to call you to action! A great injustice is being perpetrated by our main stream media (MSM) and our Commander In Chief (CINC), President Barrack Hussein Obama. The time now is 10:04 CST, 02 JUNE 09, exactly 24 hours after Privates William Long, 23 of Conway, AR, and Private Second Class Quinton Ezeagwula, 18, of Jacksonville, AR became the first victims of terrorism on American soil since 11 SEP 01 and we have heard no statement from their Commander in Chief, President Barrack Hussein Obama. Almost as egregious as Obama’s silence, we...

President Obama will name Republican Rep. John McHugh as Army secretary, FOX News has learned. McHugh, of New York, is the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee. First elected in 1980, he represents a large rural area of upstate New York that borders Canada. The district includes Ft. Drum. The selection of McHugh is significant as the president has again picked a leading Republican with impeccable national security credentials for a key military post. McHugh would be tapped to succeed Pete Geren, who has held the post since July 2007.

<p>A man with "political and religious motives" killed a soldier just out of basic training and wounded another Monday in a targeted attack on a military recruiting center, police said. The shootings were not believed to be part of a broader scheme.</p>

Last week’s assault by the U.S.-trained Palestinian Authority army on Hamas terrorists was aimed at foiling a deadly attack on PA and not against Israel, according to the Bethlehem-based Ma'an news agency. The United States has touted the army, which it terms special forces in order not to imply that the PA has a military, as proof that the PA can maintain security and tear down the terrorist infrastructure that has caused the deaths of more than 1,000 Jews and has wounded thousands of others.

A Korean Invasion Blindsides the U.S. Army -- but in a Good Way Immigrants From Peninsula Swamp Program Offering Citizenship; Other Groups Squeezed By MIRIAM JORDAN LOS ANGELES -- Suk Joon Lee, a South Korean immigrant, feared his days in the U.S. were numbered. His ice-cream shop wasn't doing well, and if it failed, his investor visa could be revoked. Then Mr. Lee stumbled upon a Korean-language Web site that described a way out: a program that the Army was about to launch that offered a shortcut to getting U.S. citizenship. The site was created by another Korean immigrant, James...

Gen. Casey: Army would be ready for N. Korea action By Roxana Tiron Posted: 05/28/09 05:22 PM [ET] The Army’s top military officer on Thursday said that his service would be well-prepared to fight in a conventional war against North Korea, should it ever get to that. “We have a combat-seasoned force,” said Gen. George Casey, the Army’s chief of staff, in a discussion hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Casey, however, offered a caveat: It would take the Army longer to shift gears from the wars it is already fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Casey offered...

WASHIGTON – It would take the Army time to "shift gears" if it needed to fight against North Korea, Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey said Thursday. Right now, the Army is focused on the counterinsurgency efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, but North Korea’s recent saber rattling has raised the prospect that the Army might be called upon to fight a conventional war. "I have said publicly for some time that if we had to shift gears, it would probably take us about 90 days or so to shift our gears and to train the folks up that were...

May 27, 2009 The XM25 Individual Air Burst Weapon is looking likely to be the shoulder-fired weapon of choice for the US military to kill or neutralize hidden targets. Due for field test this summer, the lightweight XM-25 "smart weapon" uses High Explosive Air-Burst (HEAB) munitions that can be programmed to detonate at a precise point in the air without the need to impact, spelling trouble for elusive targets, be they behind a wall, inside a building or in a foxhole. The XM25 Developed jointly by the German arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch and the US company Alliant Techsystems (ATK...

I'm reading D-Day (Stephen Ambrose, 1994, Simon & Shuster), a book that's been around a while, but which I hadn't read before. Two questions, possibly stupid ones, pop up. In a description of getting men ashore on Omaha Beach, apparently the toughest nut to crack, there's a story about how some boat pilots (coxswains, skippers, captains, whatever) refused to proceed because they were afraid of the heavy enemy fire. Apparently at Normandy, the Navy transported the Army. The writer fails to explain what happened next; only that the boats withdrew, or headed to the beaches held by the British (in...

ABOARD A TROOP PLANE — Flight attendant John Bechtold keys the public address mike just moments after this wide-body jet swooshes into the humid Texas sky. His message is not the usual seatbelts-fastened advisory. He lectures on chew. Smokeless tobacco is banned. But Bechtold's been flying with soldiers since America invaded the Middle East after 9/11. He knows dip is on board. Don't spit into the seat back pockets, he warns. Don't leave it in the seats. Above all, don't spit in the lavatories. "If you clog it, you will have to hold it ALL the way to Bangor (Maine)...

By a coincidence of the calendar, our military academies hold their annual graduation ceremonies on or about Memorial Day weekend. The juxtaposition is especially poignant if you visit a service academy on graduation weekend. Hundreds of our young, all of them models of American youth, count down the few remaining hours of four years of prodigious effort. They are fit, intelligent, polite, highly motivated and full of life. They are embarking on careers of service to the nation. All voluntarily chose this path, fully realizing the dangers involved in pursuing a military vocation. It is sobering to see them in...

What was once sci-fi is becoming reality on the battlefield. Still got a few kinks to work out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1czBcnX1Ww

PATERSON, N.J. -- A New Jersey man who military authorities say was among five soldiers gunned down in Iraq by a distraught comrade has been laid to rest.

But they are not taken alone. They are taken together — 148,000 names, representing the entire veteran population of Riverside National Cemetery, a roll call of the dead read aloud over 10 days by more than 300 volunteers.

PADUCAH, Ky. - A federal jury spared a former soldier Thursday of the death penalty for his conviction on raping and fatally shooting a 14-year-old girl after killing her parents and younger sister while he was serving in Iraq. Pfc. Steven Dale Green will be sentenced to life, capping an unusual case of a crime in a war zone being prosecuted in civilian court. Green, 24, of Midland, Texas, was being tried in federal court because he had been discharged from the Army for a personality disorder before he was charged with the Iraq crimes. Green's defense team had asked...

K-9 Andy"An U.S. Army military working dog, Andy, searches among rubble and trash outside a target building, during a joint operation with the Iraqi army and U.S. Soldiers of 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, in Rusafa, eastern Baghdad, Iraq, on Feb. 28. The Soldiers are searching for weapons caches and targeted insurgents." More on site

The firing of General David McKiernan and increasing failure of the Obama Afghanistan-Pakistan plan should be disquieting to the American public. Obama wrongly thought we could deal with the Taliban but instead now we find ourselves in the middle of a growing civil war in both countries.Today the announcement of the relief of Gen. David D. McKiernan, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, comes as the latest news in the flawed Obama strategy or perhaps best described as absence of strategy for Afghanistan-Pakistan. There has been growing controversy about whether U.S. military operations in the region have been...

"You probably think I'm a monster." Former U.S. soldier Steven Green has been convicted of raping and killing a 14-year-old Iraqi girl. That's what FBI agents said former U.S. soldier Steven Green told them nearly three years ago about accusations that he had raped a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and killed her and her family. Green was found guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in Paducah of the crimes and could face the death penalty. Green spoke as the agents and he drove from his grandmother's home in Nebo, North Carolina, where he'd been arrested, to a detention center 45 minutes...

A man wearing an Iraqi army uniform has shot dead two US soldiers and injured three others in a military base south of the northern city of Mosul. The US army said the man was also killed in the incident but gave little information about the attack. But Iraqi military reports said he was a soldier also working as an Imam for at a mosque on the base. No motive was given for the attack but Mosul is seen as the last remaining urban stronghold of al-Qaeda in Iraq. The US army said it had received reports of "small arms...

NEWPORT NEWS — Jim Kennedy slogged onto Utah Beach in 1944 and saw the bloated bodies of American servicemen in the water. The tide washed them out. The tide washed them back in. It was three weeks after D-Day, June 6, 1944. The drama of the landing had passed, and the grim work of cleaning up the beach had begun. The Allies were pushing inward. And Kennedy's own story was just about to start. He belonged to a unit of U.S. Army deep sea divers who were dispatched to the port city of Cherbourg. The Allies had captured it after...

Palestinian Authority special forces were praised by an American general this week for becoming the founders of a new Arab country within Israel's current borders. "As I look at you, I couldn't be more proud of the fact that you stepped up to be the founders of a Palestinian state," U.S. Lt.-Gen. Keith Dayton told a battalion in his speech to the troops Monday in Tulkarm.

Army criminal investigators are looking into the possibility that disease samples are missing from biolabs at Fort Detrick. As first reported in today's edition of The Frederick News-Post by columnist Katherine Heerbrandt, the investigators are from the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division unit at Fort Meade. Chad Jones, spokesman for Fort Meade, said CID is investigating the possibility of missing virus samples from the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. He said the only other detail he could provide is that the investigation is ongoing. Fort Detrick does not have its own CID office, Jones said, which is...

America's generals love to brag about their all-volunteer Army. That's because they tend to overlook Jeffrey Mellinger. He donned his Army uniform for the first time on April 18, 1972, about the time the Nixon Administration was seeking "peace with honor" in Vietnam and The Godfather was opening on the silver screen. Nearly 37 years later, he's still wearing Army green. Mellinger is, by all accounts, the last active-duty draftee serving in the U.S. Army. "I'm a relic," Mellinger concedes with a self-deprecating laugh. But the last of the nearly 2 million men ordered to serve in the Vietnam-era military...

....[T]here are three major changes [Robert] Gates should add to his agenda, and they deserve President Obama’s support. First, the Air Force should be eliminated, and its personnel and equipment integrated into the Army, Navy and Marine Corps. Second, the archaic “up or out” military promotion system should be scrapped in favor of a plan that treats service members as real assets. Third, the United States needs a national service program for all young men and women, without any deferments, to increase the quality and size of the pool from which troops are drawn. SNIP ....While Army, Marine and Navy...

April 20, 2009: U.S. Army troops are becoming more energetic and vocal in efforts to get rid of the black beret they have been forced to wear for the past eight years. Back in 2000, the U.S. Army commander (Chief Of Staff) general Eric Shinseki ordered that the black beret replace the traditional billed cap (which had been used for nearly a century). Shinseki believed the black beret would be a symbol of excellence, reflecting the overall professionalism of the entire Army. He believed the black beret would repair the (largely nonexistent) divisions created by the use of different color...

A veteran soldier who became trapped in a ravine for two days after a 250ft fall has survived, thanks to skills learnt 65 years ago during World War II. Great-grandfather Daniel Currie broke his elbow and shoulder after slipping during a walk at Fiddler's Elbow, near Abercynonon in Wales on Good Friday.Unable to move, and without food or water, Mr Currie protected himself using survival skills learnt while serving in the Army 65 years ago.The 87-year-old covered himself with leaves as temperatures plummeted to 3C overnight, and cleared surrounding undergrowth in order to make himself more visible to rescuers.Speaking...

Sikh organisations in America have launched a campaign to end a ban on Sikhs joining the US Army without removing their turbans and cutting off their hair. Two Sikh military trainees who have been asked to remove their turbans and cut their hair to become eligible for active duty in the US Army launched the campaign with a protest in front of the historic Marine Corps War Memorial near Pentagon here Tuesday. Captain Kamaljit Singh Kalsi, a doctor, and Second-Lieutenant Tejdeep Singh Rattan, a dentist, who have just completed an army programme that pays for medical education in return for...

In his farewell address in January 1961, President Dwight Eisenhower warned against the military-industrial complex, the cozy relationship between the Pentagon, Congress and defense contractors. In April 2009, Defense Secretary Robert Gates proposes to do something significant about it. He wants Congress to cut big-ticket items from all the major services: the Air Force's F-22 fighter, the Army's family of Future Combat Systems and the Navy's DDG 1000 destroyer.