Free Republic

An organization representing more than 2,000 of the nation’s 5,000 military chaplains announced Wednesday they would join forces with Catholic Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese for Military Service, saying they will not perform same-sex ceremonies. The 2,000 members of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, a group of evangelical clergy, are concerned about the Pentagon’s memorandum – issued 10 days after the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal took effect – that authorizes chaplains to officiate “any private ceremony.” A Sept. 20 order lifted the military’s long-standing DADT policy, allowing homosexuals to openly serve in the armed forces. While the...

Foreign firefighting crews have begun to arrive in Israel to help battle a massive forest fire out of control in the north of the country.Further global assistance is due to arrive later on Friday, as fire crews battled high winds driving the blaze towards the city of Haifa. > Aircraft from Bulgaria, Jordan, Greece and the UK have arrived, after Israel issued a rare request for foreign assistance. Planes from Cyprus, Turkey and Russia were on their way, while flame-retardant materials were being flown in from France, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said. "The Russians are sending and we are waiting...

WASHINGTON, May 12, 2010 – A Navy task force is relying on the service’s experience with similar milestones as it works to implement the lifting of a long-standing ban on women serving on submarine crews. In a “DoD Live” bloggers roundtable yesterday, Navy Rear Adm. Barry L. Bruner, commander of Submarine Group 10 and leader of the integration task force, noted that the first female sailors were assigned to noncombat ships in 1978, and the 1994 repeal of the Combat Exclusion Law allowed women to serve on Navy combat ships. “As we go back and look at the lessons we...

Standing on the bridge of her warship with the ocean before her and a crew of men awaiting her command, the future looked fantastic for Captain Holly Graf, the first American to take charge of a US Navy cruiser. She came from a respected naval family - her father was also a captain and her brother-in-law an Admiral - and she raced up through the ranks. Capt Graf seemed to have the toughness and qualities needed to take her to the very top - brilliant at seamanship, fiercely determined, and a thinker with an outstanding academic record who was at...

Want to know why pirates are hijacking and holding people for ransom? Because it works. The truth is that in places around the world where criminality is a profitable business, piracy is a pretty wise investment with nice returns and little risk. The only thing standing between you and the prize are unarmed crewmembers prepared to combat your guns with axes and hoses. The pirates are acting entirely out of economic interest. They don’t suicide bomb their targets. They don’t say it’s part of a grand jihad, even if al-Qaeda roots them on and does business with them. They don’t...

When is a gang not a gang? When it's based in the District. D.C. officials insist on describing groups of young males as "crews," rather than gangs, even when they are held responsible for violent acts such as the wave of killings in the city last weekend. But police officials in other cities say the distinction is counterproductive. "The very first step in dealing with gangs is denial," said Capt. Charles Bloom of the Philadelphia Police Department. "Then you get to the point that you can't deny it any more." D.C. police, lawmakers and community activists say the groups are...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 19, 2007 – Air cavalry helicopter pilots have had to change their tactics to adapt to newer and higher-tech surface-to-air missile systems that officials believe are coming in from Iran, a senior official in Iraq said today. Crews from 1st Air Cavalry Brigade out of Camp Taji, Iraq, have flown support for operations in and around Baghdad for more than a year. Since their arrival, there has been an increase in the sophistication of attacks and types of weapons, Army Col. Daniel J. Shanahan said in a conference call with military analysts. “In the last several months,...

RENO, Nev. - Rescue crews were headed to another potential sighting of Steve Fossett's plane Sunday afternoon near where the famous aviator took off on Labor Day. The sighting occurred within a 50-mile radius of the airstrip about 80 miles southeast of Reno, said Kim Toulouse, a spokesman for the Nevada Department of Wildlife assisting in the search operation. "We have aircraft and ground forces en route to that location," Toulouse told reporters, refusing to take any questions. At least six times during the past week search and rescue crews have spotted airplane wreckage they thought might be Fossett's only...

When a 73-year-old Londoner collapsed at a betting shop on New Year's Eve afternoon, his luck had run out – thanks to European Union rules that required two nearby ambulance crews to be kept on their 30-minute breaks. A paramedic arrived by rapid-response car in a matter of minutes to the shopping center where the unnamed senior was stricken and began caring for the man. Witnesses say he made desperate calls on his cell phone in an attempt to have an ambulance dispatched. The London Ambulance Service, which has launched an investigation of the incident, confirmed that two crews were...

WASHINGTON, May 9, 2006 – Thirty-three days after pedaling out of Los Angeles, a group of cyclists arrived at the Pentagon today as part of the Airline Ride Across America to honor the 33 airline crewmembers who died during the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. A group of cyclists arrives at the Pentagon May 9 as part of the Airline Ride Across America to honor the 33 airline crewmembers who died during the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The riders left Los Angeles on April 2. Along the way they raised about $100,000 for 9/11 memorials in...

WASHINGTON, April 2, 2006 – Military officials in Iraq today confirmed the death of two helicopter pilots from Multinational Division Baghdad whose AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter crashed southwest of Baghdad yesterday, and provided details on recent operations. The Apache crew's remains were recovered following aircraft recovery operations at the crash site, officials said. The crew was conducting a combat air patrol when the helicopter went down "due to possible hostile fire" west of Yousifiyah, officials reported. The names of the soldiers are being withheld pending notification of next of kin. In other news, Iraqi and U.S. soldiers killed four terrorists,...

U.S., Iraqi Copter Crews Share Airspace, Mission The U.S. Army's 101st Combat Aviation Brigade and Iraqi Air Force's 3rd Squadron are tasked to protect a northern Iraqi oil pipeline, as well as ensure electrical power systems are not destroyed by insurgents. By U.S. Army Spc. Lee Elder 133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment TIKRIT, Iraq, Jan. 5, 2006 — The 101st Combat Aviation Brigade hosted members of the fledgling Iraqi Air Force's 3rd Squadron on Dec. 21. The purpose of the meeting was to share information and view each unit's aircraft. "We can leverage both the capabilities of my brigade...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5, 2005 – Two Air Force combat search and rescue crews are being awarded the MacKay Trophy today for a rescue mission in Iraq in April 2004. Members of the 41st Rescue Squadron and the 38th Rescue Squadron who made up the crews of Jolly 11 and 12, out of Moody Air Force Base, Ga., are being awarded the trophy for rescuing the five-person crew of an Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter that crashed in a sandstorm near Kharbut, Iraq, Apr. 16, 2004. The airmen will receive the trophy this evening at a banquet. The MacKay Trophy is awarded...

MARSHALL, Calif. (AP) - One of California's rarest plants was nearly wiped out of existence when Marin County workers used a backhoe to clear a plugged roadside drain in the species' sole habitat. The Baker's larkspur, a purplish plant that blooms April through May and grows up to 2-feet tall, is found in only one place in the world: near a a drain along the Marshall-Petaluma Road in western Marin County. Last October, heavy rain pushed debris down a hillside into the culvert, backing it up and flooding the road. When county crews came out to clear the roadside drain...

BIG BEAR LAKE, Calif. (AP) - In the mountains of Southern California, it's the new sound of summer: the whine of a chain saw followed by the whoosh and thud of a falling tree. Logging crews are moving through neighborhoods and across densely forested hillsides, racing to cut as many dead and dying trees as they can before the area erupts in flames. It's a battle no one expects to win this year - and perhaps not anytime soon. "We have an extremely hazardous situation out there even though we've made a lot of progress," said San Bernardino County Fire...

Ronald A. Crews, the former Georgia state lawmaker who has spearheaded the push to ban gay marriage in Massachusetts, has taken initial steps to run as a Republican for the congressional seat now held by US Representative James P. McGovern, a four-term Democrat, state officials said yesterday. On Thursday, Crews, who moved to Ashland roughly three years ago to head the Massachusetts Family Institute, pulled paperwork to gather signatures required to seek the GOP nomination, said a spokesman for Secretary of State William F. Galvin

WEST GLACIER, Mont. (AP) -- Firefighters set trees on fire Tuesday in efforts to prevent a major blaze from reaching the largely evacuated West Glacier and a nearby village in Glacier National Park. The work was aimed at creating a backfire that would remove 2,000 acres of fuel from the path of the approaching forest fire. "Tonight, right now what you see as green, will be gone," said Clinton Northway, the burnout supervisor. Even though small backfires the night before had turned the fire, officials were concerned that the blaze could make another run because humidity was extremely low and...