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SIERRA VISTA — Friday was a special day for any member of the U.S. Army, but Spc. Shinece Canady’s experience likely takes the cake. “It’s a great day. Not only is it the Army’s birthday but it’s the day that I re-enlisted,” Canady said. She also made the birthday cake served to her fellow members of the 40th Expeditionary Signal Battalion (ESB) at the Thunderbird Dining Facility, a duty that required several early mornings of meticulous decorating for the novice cake-maker. “I really love the Army,” she said. “I get to do two of my passions at the same time,...

The presiding judge in United States vs. Maj. Nidal Hasan announced several pending rulings following a pretrial hearing at Fort Hood, March 20 Col. Tara Osborn denied defense requests to move the court martial away from Fort Hood and to order a change of potential panel members. **SNIP** Osborn set the next hearing in the case for April 16.

A judge ordered Thursday that Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist charged in a 2009 deadly shooting rampage at Fort Hood, must shave or be forcibly shaved before his trial. Judge Col. Gregory Gross had said he would deliver a definitive order this week after a hearing to determine whether Hasan would be allowed to keep his beard, which he started growing while in jail earlier this summer. Gross barred him from appearing in military court, citing the Army’s strict regulations regarding grooming standards. Hasan's attorney, Lt. Col. Kris Poppe, said his client grew the beard as a “deeply sincere”

An Army psychiatrist charged with killing 13 people in a shooting rampage at Fort Hood will be forcibly shaved if he doesn't remove his beard himself, a judge said Wednesday. Maj. Nidal Hasan appeared in court Wednesday sporting a beard as he did during a court appearance last month. The beard violates Army regulations, but Hasan said it is an expression of his Muslim faith. The judge, Col. Gregory Gross, held Hasan in contempt of court for keeping the beard and fined him $1,000. Fort Hood spokesman Chris Haug said Gross gave Hasan the choice to shave on his own...

Irene’s flood waters tore up the parking lot at the Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site, uncovering remnants of an 18th century fort.“For the first time we now know where one block house of Fort Hunter was,” said Archeologist Michael Roets with the State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.Roets talked to reporters Tuesday while standing in middle of a block house, built by the British to accommodate about 20 soldiers.“We never would have had this exposed without the flood,” Roets said.During Irene, raging flood waters ripped up the parking lot and unearthed the foundation of a 24-by-24 foot block...

Fort Hood defense has few optionsBy ANGELA K. BROWN Associated Press Published Sunday, July 10, 2011 12:15 AM FORT WORTH -- More than two dozen soldiers have testified about the day they were shot in a crowded Fort Hood building in November 2009. Some told of looking the gunman in the eye as he fired. A Senate investigation has announced its findings about the suspect: Before the rampage, the Army psychiatrist had become an Islamic extremist and a "ticking time bomb." Now the defense team for Maj. Nidal Hasan, who is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32...

Gold has given up much of yesterday’s modest gains and is marginally lower in all currencies except the Swiss franc. The euro has stabilized despite continuing contagion concerns and an existential threat to the euro currency itself. Gold remains close to record nominal highs in all major currencies but media coverage in the UK, Ireland and Europe remains minimal and skeptical. Focus continues to be almost exclusively on bond, equity and currency markets – with little or no coverage of gold. The ramifications of contagion and a euro currency crisis which would lead to the price of gold in euros...

According to televised reports from Fox News, a man with an AK-47 attempted to storm the entrance gate to Fort Leonard Wood, two hours from St. Louis Missouri, police and guardsmen responded and chased the suspect who is in custody. Missouri police identified the gunman as Cody Wilcoxson. According to a spokesman from the military base, where a large number of new recruits complete their Basic Combat Training, Wilcoxson attempted to gain entry to the base earlier this morning at the West Gate and handed over a form of identification, which the guard declined for security purposes. When prompted for...

A new Senate report on the 2009 Fort Hood shooting blames the FBI and Department of Defense for failing to recognize or act on alleged shooter Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan’s extremist views. The report, released today by Senate Homeland Security Committee chairman Joe Lieberman and ranking Republican Susan Collins, says the FBI and DOD could have prevented the shooting if they had identified Hasan’s radical Islamist views and disciplined or discharged him before the attack occurred. “Our report’s painful conclusion is that the Fort Hood massacre could have and should have been prevented,” Lieberman said at a press conference...

Defense: Exam won't stop Fort Hood suspect's trialBy ANGELA K. BROWN Associated Press Updated: Jan 25, 2011 11:50 PM EST FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - A military panel's mental evaluation of the Army psychiatrist charged in the deadly shooting rampage at Fort Hood will not prevent the military from pursuing a court-martial, his lead defense attorney said Tuesday. The report submitted to Army officials and defense attorneys last week offers an assessment of Maj. Nidal Hasan's mental state during the November 2009 shootings that killed 13 and wounded more than two dozen others, and whether he is competent to stand...

Defense Won’t Present Evidence In Hasan Hearing At Fort Hood FORT WORTH (November 9, 2010)--The defense doesn't plan to present evidence when a military hearing resumes next week at Fort Hood that will determine whether Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Hasan will stand trial for the deadly Nov. 5, 2009 shooting rampage at the post’s Soldier Readiness Center. Defense attorney John Galligan said Tuesday that the government had offered "no surprises" in presenting its case over two weeks in October before Hasan's Article 32 hearing was recessed as the post prepared to observe the anniversary of the shooting. An Article 32...

Fort Hood commemorates the first anniversary of the deadly post shooting rampage Friday by paying tribute to the 13 who died and honoring more than 50 who went beyond the call of duty in the chaos and confusion that followed. FORT HOOD (November 5, 2010)—Few physical reminders remain of the shooting rampage a year ago at Fort Hood’s Soldier Readiness Center that left 12 soldiers and a civilian dead and dozens of others injured, but separate ceremonies Friday on post will pay tribute to the victims and will honor 54 soldiers and civilians whose actions went beyond the call of...

Claims by Republi can Carl Paladino's campaign that he commanded 250 men at Fort Bliss, Texas, during six months of active Army service in 1971 are false, The Post has found. Paladino's campaign manager, Michael Caputo, admitted the contentions were wrong after The Post obtained military records showing the Buffalo builder was on active duty for only three months, and was at Fort Bliss for training as a newly commissioned officer in the late summer of 1971, while the Vietnam War was raging.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, April 16, 2010 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates today disputed claims that the Defense Department was withholding information from the Senate Homeland Security Committee about the Nov. 5 Fort Hood, Texas, shooting incident. “We have no interest in hiding anything,” said Gates, who earlier this week had traveled to Peru, Colombia and then Barbados to discuss regional security issues.“But what [is] most important,” Gates told reporters here, “is this prosecution, and we will cooperate with the committee in every way with that single caveat -- that whatever we provide does not impact the prosecution. That is the...

(CNSNews.com) - Sen. Kit Bond (R.-Mo.), the vice chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, told bloggers on a conference call on Wednesday, Feb. 3, that the Obama administration still had not provided his committee with all the information it had requested on the November terrorist attack at Fort Hood in Texas. “They still haven’t come through with all the information that we need,” Sen. Bond said. Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R.-Mich.), the ranking Republican on the House intelligence committee, issued two statements in January complaining that the administration had not been forthcoming on information about the Fort Hood attack. Hoekstra also...

Exclusive: FBI and Pentagon Missed Red Flag that Hasan Was E-mailing Qaeda Cleric, Who's also Linked to Abdulmutallab CBS) Less than a month after major Nidal Hasan allegedly killed 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, the Pentagon's top intelligence officer sent the White House a report detailing an earlier failure to connect the dots. It reads like a dress rehearsal for the Detroit bomber case, reports CBS News chief national security correspondent David Martin. According to that still-classified report, the terrorism task force responsible for determining whether Hasan posed a threat never saw all 18 e-mails he exchanged with that...

WASHINGTON — Sen. Joe Lieberman, who chairs a Senate oversight committee, chided the Obama administration Tuesday for not providing information to lawmakers probing the Fort Hood killings. The Connecticut independent said his Homeland Security panel still has not received the personnel file of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist charged in the Nov. 5 shooting spree that left 13 people dead.

Thirteen TFP volunteers traveled fourteen hours from Pennsylvania to Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia, to show their support and gratitude to our brave troops on November 19 through 22, 2009. They also made the trip to counter-protest leftist pacifists at the gates of the military base. The thirteen young men were treated to some glaring contrasts that made the long trip a memorable one. Rally for the Troops Gathered at the intersection of 13th Street and Broadway, the volunteers unfurled two large banners reading: “The American soldier guarantees the peace, not socialist protesters,” and “We are proud of our military...

Freedom of speech no longer exists. That is, for conservatives. The definition of freedom of speech according to Wikipedia: “Is the freedom to speak without censorship and/or limitation.” But I like the definition I found on Answers.com better: “Liberty to express opinions and ideas without hindrance, and especially without fear of punishment.” Keyword “fear.”

I hate violence. So much that I can barely tolerate the evening news, where crime is given a spotlight. Yes, I know it exists, but why should I dwell on it? It only serves to depress me because I feel so helpless against it. Why would people ever commit such acts? It is mind boggling. The Fort Hood killings were heartbreaking, terrible, and should never have happened. Innocent soldiers were hurt, and the lives of their families will change forever. No one should die the way they did. When I first heard about them, I was upset, of course. I...