Free Republic

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley fought back tears Tuesday when talking about her husband’s military deployment overseas, during a campaign speech in which she pledged to keep up her battle against former President Trump for the 2024 presidential nomination. Haley urged a crowd in South Carolina, ahead of Saturday’s primary in the state, to share in her vision of a country where “we can still unite and move forward together — not with anger, not with fear, but with faith and hope, like we’ve done before. She said this same vision motivated both her and her husband Michael to serve...

Deployed U.S. Army soldiers will no longer be able to store their belongings free of charge while they are away from home, the Army Sustainment Command announced Wednesday. A spokesman for the command, which is the primary provider of logistics support to Army units, told Military.com that it was discontinuing the use of funds to store soldiers’ vehicles and other goods while they are away for prolonged periods of time. It was not specified whether the announcement applies to all deployment types or just to soldiers on temporary duty. The storage policy ended in October, but the order was not...

The U.S. military deployed B-52 bombers to the Middle East Saturday, just days after the Trump administration announced a partial withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan and Iraq. U.S. Central Command said the U.S. Air Force B-52H “Stratofortress” aircrews conducted the mission on "short notice" to "deter aggression and reassure U.S. partners and allies."“The ability to quickly move forces into, out of and around the theater to seize, retain and exploit the initiative is key to deterring potential aggression," said Lt. Gen. Greg Guillot, 9th Air Force commander."These missions help bomber aircrews gain familiarity with the region’s airspace and command,...

The Bataan Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) is now deployed after picking up Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) on Thursday, a defense official confirmed to USNI News. Made up of amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD-5), amphibious transport dock USS New York (LPD-21) and dock landing ship USS Oak Hill (LSD-51), the Bataan ARG took aboard the Marines from Camp Lejeune, N.C., ahead of the expected deployment six-month deployment. Ordinarily, ARG/MEU deployments are announced by the Navy and Marines. However, in this instance there was no public notification of the departure. A U.S. 2nd Fleet spokesperson told USNI...

The United States has started to deploy attack drones to South Korea, a U.S. military spokesman said on Monday, days after it began to deploy an advanced anti-missile system to counter "continued provocative actions" by isolated North Korea. The drones, Gray Eagle Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) coming to South Korea are part of a broader plan to deploy a company of the attack drones with every division in the U.S. Army, the spokesman said. "The UAS adds significant intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability to U.S. Forces Korea and our ROK partners," United States Forces Korea spokesman Christopher Bush said in...

As U.S. and Iraqi forces prepare to launch an offensive to retake Mosul, we found out this week that 615 more troops will be deployed to assist in intelligence gathering for the Iraqi government forces that will be spearheading the attack. The number of U.S personnel already in Iraq is estimated between 4,900-6,400 men (via NBC News): The Department of Defense is preparing to dispatch 615 more U.S. troops to Iraq to help government forces oust ISIS from the city of Mosul, the White House announced Wednesday. The soldiers will provide logistics support for the Iraqi forces and not spearhead...

More than 400 additional US troops have arrived in Iraq in recent days as the battle for Mosul is expected to begin soon, a US defense official said Thursday. Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman Colonel John Dorrian stated that there are 4,460 US troops in Iraq, compared to 4,000 a week ago, and that Iraqi security forces are preparing to reclaim Mosul. Dorrian did not specify what the US troops would be doing, but mentioned that they were setting up a logistics hub at the recaptured Qayyarah airbase to the south of Mosul, which will serve as a staging area for...

The U.S. will send a small number of U.S. special operations forces into Syria as part of a shift in its strategy against ISIS, officials said Friday. A senior administration official confirmed that President Barack Obama has authorized a contingent of less than 50 special operations forces to deploy into northern Syria. "We have been focused on intensifying elements of our strategy that have been working, while also moving away from elements of our approach that have proven less effective," the official explained. The White House was expected to announce the decision later Friday.

Paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division will deploy to Iraq in support of Operation Inherent Resolve this summer. About 500 paratroopers from the division headquarters will leave in June for a nine-month deployment, Fort Bragg said in a news release. Paratroopers will have a contingent in Iraq. Other paratroopers will be based outside Iraq in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. The division will serve as the Combined Joint Forces Land Component Command-Iraq and provide command and control of coalition troops who are training, advising and assisting Iraqi Security Forces. The 1st Infantry Division of Fort Riley, Kansas, is...

A Squadron from Shaw Air Force base will be deployed next week to the Middle East, Lt. Keavy Rake with Shaw Air Force Base said Friday. Rake said Shaw will be sending F-16's to "join the airstrike fight" in the Middle East. Rake could not confirm what day the team would be leaving or how many personnel would be going. Shaw is the home to three F-16 squadrons: the 55th Fighter Squadron, 77th Fighter Squadron and the 79th Fighter Squadron.

Paul Wight is better known as “Big Show”, who is a 7-foot tall and 440 pound wrestler with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), America’s ubiquitous wrestling organization based in Stamford, Conn. When he takes trips overseas to visit soldiers with the USO in Iraq and Afghanistan, it boosts his personal morale. Seeing young men and women in uniform – “heroes”, he said – is an inspiration. He goes overseas to bring joy to service members, and when he comes back he arrives with a glint in his eye. That’s his vacation time.

In a letter just sent Speaker of the House John Boehner, President Obama notifies Congress that U.S. forces were "recently deployed to Jordan." "Certain U.S. forces recently deployed to Jordan solely to participate in a training exercise. This exercise ended on June 20, 2013. At the request of the Government of Jordan, a combat-equipped detachment of approximately 700 of these forces remained in Jordan after the conclusion of the exercise to join other U.S. forces already in Jordan," Obama writes. This detachment that participated in the exercise and remained in Jordan includes Patriot missile systems, fighter aircraft, and related support,

Egypt has deployed U.S.-made surface-to-air missiles and tanks near the border with Israel, in a breach of the 1979 peace treaty, reports the World Tribune. Western defense sources said the Egyptian Army has deployed "a range of assets supplied by the United States." They cited main battle tanks (MBTs) and surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), particularly in the northeastern Sinai area, between the coastal city of El Arish and the border with Israel and Gaza. “Right now, all of the [Egyptian] heavy weapons have been deployed along the Israeli border,” a defense source said. The U.S.-made MBTs were identified as the M-60A3,...

Somewhere around West Bend, several people have pieces of U.S. Navy Commander Wilma Roberts' life - her furniture, her china, her clothes, financial records, the family Bible, even the ceremonial sword from her son's graduation from a military academy. Nearly all Roberts' worldly possessions were auctioned off by a storage business last summer after a classic military snafu: Though Roberts, 48, was on active duty in Japan and Kuwait from July 2008 to July 2011, Navy officials stopped paying for her storage in 2010 and told the West Bend company it could sell off the goods - though the Navy...

COMBAT OUTPOST HANSON, Afghanistan — A turkey trot it was not. The U.S. Marines’ top general, James Amos, sprinted up and down the Helmand River Valley in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, visiting frontline Marines at nine remote outposts to share Thanksgiving and applaud their gains against the Taliban in a region where al-Qaida hatched the 9/11 plot a decade ago. Traveling mostly in an MV-22 Osprey, the hybrid that flies like an airplane and takes off and lands like a helicopter, Amos began shortly after daylight and finished 14 hours later — and, improbably, managed to confront just one turkey...

Despite a federal law requiring military ballots to mail by 9/18, military ballots across New York have not mailed as of today. The Justice Department has done nothing but talk about it. The 2010 debacle involving military ballots just became surreal. New York City and Westchester Country are but two of the several New York jurisdictions which admitted that they failed to mail military ballots. This fact should have been known on October 2, when the Justice Department should have marched into court seeking an immediate order that the ballots be sent — preferably by rapid express mail.Instead, a Justice...

WASHINGTON, June 18, 2010 – Army Sgt. 1st Class Roland Lueras left for a year-long deployment to Iraq on Father’s Day last year, missing his family’s usual gift-giving celebrations. Army Master Sgt. Donald Towers poses for a picture with his grandchildren, Jamie and Waylon, shortly before his deployment to Iraq in June 2009. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. But this weekend, it will be his 8-year-old son, Austin, who will receive the special gift: his father. Lueras is one of about 80 Army National Guard soldiers with the 203rd Military Police Battalion based in Athens, Ala., returning...

WASHINGTON, June 4, 2010 – Deployed servicemembers with children graduating from Department of Defense Education Activity-managed schools in Europe this month will be able to view a live broadcast of the ceremonies. An estimated 125 servicemembers deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and other locations have children taking part in 14 graduation ceremonies, DoDEA officials in Wiesbaden, Germany, said. For the seventh consecutive year, DoDEA will provide a webcast of the graduation ceremonies to include congratulations videos from the U.S. European Command commander and each service component commander, as well as student messages and graduation announcements. The webcast will feature the graduation...

JOINT BASE MYER-HENDERSON HALL, Va., April 20, 2010 – The Klein household was fairly typical: mom and dad worked, and their two rambunctious boys kept them busy the rest of the time. Mom was the snuggler, the reader of bedtime stories, the primary source of emotional support for the kids. Jim Klein, left, and his 9-year-old son, Joshua, type a message on Hallmark Channel's "Meet My Mom” virtual wall Facebook page. Hallmark Channel is celebrating Mother's Day on Facebook by creating an interactive page where viewers and deployed servicemembers can keep in touch with families by submitting photos, testimonials and...

FARGO, N.D., March 22, 2010 – A visit by North Dakota’s adjutant general to the emergency operations center yesterday set up for flood response at the North Dakota Air National Guard base here came with a surprise for one Guardsman. Army Master Sgt. Traver Silbernagel, left, and North Dakota Adjutant General Army Maj. Gen. David Sprynczynatyk listen to Air Force Capt. Jennifer Silbernagel, on screen, a deployed North Dakota Air National Guard officer. The captain, based in the United Arab Emirates, witnessed her husband's surprise promotion via Skype. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Master Sgt. David H. Lipp  (Click photo...