Free Republic

McClintock Retains Veteran Campaign Team State Senator Tom McClintock has retained a team of political veterans to direct his campaign for Lt. Governor, including the core of his 2003 recall campaign staff. "I am delighted to have the aid and expertise of this proven and effective group of professionals," McClintock said. "These are individuals, who have many, many decades of experience in California politics." The Team John Feliz is campaign director and chief political strategist for the campaign. Feliz served in a similar capacity for McClintock during the Recall election and most recently was lead consultant in the Eric Roach...

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. John Borders (left to right), Sgt. Derek Drew, and Capt. Rob Taber stand on the field at RFK Stadium during the national anthem before the July 21 Washington Nationals-Chicago Cubs game. The three soldiers threw out ceremonial first pitches before the game. Next to the men are Taber's and Borders' wives - Shannon Taber (left) and Mollie Borders. Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England is at right. Defense Dept. photo by U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Gary Hilliard WASHINGTON, July 23, 2006 - Three severely wounded soldiers recovering in the Washington area got “a dream come true,” as Washington’s...

WASHINGTON, July 21, 2006 – Large-scale sectarian violence as displayed by Sunnis and Shiites in Baghdad has seemingly bypassed Nineveh province in northern Iraq, a U.S. military commander told Pentagon reporters today. "We have been fortunate in that we've not seen that level of sectarian violence in Nineveh province," said Col. Michael Shields, commander of the U.S. Army's 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. Shields gives credit for this positive state of affairs to the efforts of Gov. Duraid Mohammed Daud Abbodi Kashmoula and the senior Iraqi military and police officials serving in the province. "They have great outreach to...

WASHINGTON, July 16, 2006 – A U.S. military team is now in Lebanon evaluating the possibility of evacuating thousands of American citizens there, a Defense Department spokesman said here today. "There was an operation this morning involving some U.S. servicemembers to evacuate a small number of people from Lebanon at the request of the U.S. Embassy there," Army Lt. Col. Mark Ballesteros, a Pentagon spokesman, said. A survey and assessment team from U.S. Central Command is now in Lebanon, Ballesteros said. The team is "planning with the (U.S.) Department of State there for the way ahead," he said. News...

QALAT, Afghanistan, July 11, 2006 – U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld today called the provincial reconstruction team here a shining example of how the teams develop relationships with the local Afghan government. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld (right) meets with Del Bar Jan Arman (left), governor of Afghanisan's Zabul province, during a visit to the Qalat Provincial Reconstruction Team July 11. Photo by Staff Sgt. Gary Hilliard, USA  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. When the coalition began using provincial reconstruction teams in Afghanistan, officials were constantly evaluating their work to see if they were worth the time...

The rape of an 11-year-old girl may have involved as many as 10 men, most of whom are football players at local community colleges, police said Sunday. Police arrested two men in connection with the rape Saturday night, and officials said they identified eight others as persons of interest in the case. Most or all are students at either Fresno City College or Reedley College, police said. The victim, a runaway from a group home, went to the Villa Hermosa apartments in southwest Fresno on Saturday night to visit an acquaintance who lived there, said police spokesman Jeff Cardinale. While...

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. James Shelton, (back, right) Police Training and Assistance Team instructor, guides two Afghan National Police officers as they conduct a vehicle search during training sponsored by the Mehtar Lam Provincial Reconstruction Team at Forward Operating Base Mehtar Lam, Afghanistan, June 22, 2006. U.S. Air Force photo by Capt. Gerardo Gonzalez Reconstruction Team Molds Afghan Police Airmen train local police in ethics, riot control, vehicle and personal searches. By Capt. Gerardo Gonzalez Mehtar Lam Provincial Reconstruction Team FORWARD OPERATING BASE MEHTAR LAM, Afghanistan, July 7, 2006 -- The Mehtar Lam Provincial Reconstruction Team is helping to...

Capt. Ann Adcook, assistant officer in charge of Forward Deployed Preventive Medicine Unit 7, conducts training on the Chemical Volitile Organic Compound Unit, which is used to screen soil, water, and air for the detection of toxic materials such as chemical, biological, and radiological agents. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Steven P. Smith Preventive Medicine Team Prepares for Iraq Deployment Members of Forward Deployable Preventive Medicine Unit East Team 7 trained on the HAPSITE, a man-portable, gas chromatograph/mass spectrometers that can detect chemical and environmental hazards. By U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Jim Bane Fleet...

U.S. Army Capt. Frank Cerfogli (right) and Spc. Heather Kikulski treat Afghan villagersÂ’ sheep and goats with deworming medicine in Ander Key Bay, Afghanistan, June 13, 2006. Cerfogli and Kikulski, assigned to the 7/19 Medical Detachment, were part of a Cooperative Medical Assistance team, that provided much needed medical assistance to the remote villages of Hazarbez and Ander Key, June 9 to 13, 2006. Cerfogli, from Boone, Iowa, is a field veterinary officer. Kikulski, from Lake Geneva, Wis., is an animal specialist. U.S. Army photo by Army Sgt Nina J. Ramon Medical Assistance Team Visits Afghan Villages Despite the...

U.S. Army Spc. Jason Klimesh, a small-arms repairman with Company E, 526th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, works on an M119 howitzer flywheel in order to bring one of Forward Operating Base Mahmudiyah North’s guns back to full mission capability. U.S. Army photo by Capt. Mark Whiteman Logistics Team Supports ‘First Strike’ Troops The mechanics, cooks, fuelers and transport vehicle operators of Company E perform a variety of support missions and, true to the company’s motto, make it look “easy.” By U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Matt Horstman FORWARD OPERATING BASE MAHMUDIYAH, Iraq, June 16,...

6/13/2006 - PANJSHIR PROVINCE, Afghanistan (AFPN) -- A multi-service supply convoy slowly crawled along a dusty, rock-strewn road winding up and around mountains, through tiny, remote villages, scenic wheat fields and pastures en route to a relief mission June 12. At approximately 8,000 feet above sea level, at the village of Dara, the Panjshir Provincial Reconstruction Team and volunteers from the 405th Civil Affairs Battalion offloaded beans, rice, cooking oil, salt, powdered milk and tea. “It was slow-going in a fully loaded five-ton truck that is as wide as the road in places,” said Army Reserve Sgt. 1st Class Brian...

29 indicted in trash hauling scamPhil Helsel, Register Staff 06/10/2006 NEW HAVEN — A federal grand jury Friday indicted 29 people — including Danbury garbage magnate James Galante and former Waterbury Mayor Joseph Santopietro — who prosecutors allege participated in a mob-backed scheme to divide up Connecticut’s trash-hauling industry. Operators of refuse firms in Cheshire and North Branford were among those named in the indictment. Galante, 53, allegedly ordered his trash carting companies to pay a "mob tax" to Genovese crime family boss Matthew "Matty the Horse" Ianniello to enforce the scheme, in which trash haulers divvied up customers among...

HANOI, Vietnam, June 6, 2006 – Aging witnesses and more urban areas are making it harder to find remains or evidence of missing American servicemembers in Vietnam, but a select group of experts here works year-round to fulfill the U.S. military's pledge to leave no man behind. A team from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command along with several locally hired Vietnamese workers clean up a recovery site to prepare it to be photographed in 2004. The site is located in Quang Nam province, Vietnam. Photo by Sgt. Douglas Stubblefield, USMC    The seven-member team -- four servicemembers and three...

CAMP TAJI, Iraq, May 12, 2006 – As the Iraqi army takes over more and more battle space, there will be less need for American combat power in the country, U.S. officials said. Iraq's second armored brigade will assume battle space here soon and the Iraqi 9th Division, the country's only tank division, will assume the battle space in this area north of Baghdad in June. American military transition teams are working with the Iraqis to build and sustain the division. Army Col. John Hort is the senior Military Transition Team chief for the Iraqi division. He leads a group...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., May 7, 2006 – Hitting the mark as they always do, members of the U.S. Army Golden Knights parachute team jumped into the middle of the 2006 McDonald's Air and Sea Show here yesterday. Preparations for a jump into the 2006 McDonald's Air and Sea Show at Fort Lauderdale Beach continue as the Army's Golden Knights parachute team waits to reach the jump zone. Sgt. 1st Class Paul Sach, left, the Black Demonstration Team leader, prepares the streamers that will help determine wind direction. Cpl. Joshua Coleman, center, puts his gloves on while Sgt. Hector Ceja,...

A Norwegian team that includes the Thor Heyerdahl's grandson paddled Friday into the Pacific Ocean to repeat the famed adventurer's journey aboard the balsa raft Kon-Tiki. "My personal motivation is to have a great adventure," 28-year-old Olav Heyerdahl told The Associated Press before he and five shipmates embarked for the trip across the Pacific on the balsa raft Tangaroa _ named for the Polynesian god of the ocean. In 1947, Thor Heyerdahl and his team sailed their primitive raft 5,000 miles from Peru to Polynesia in 101 days to support Heyerdahl's theory that the South Sea Islands were settled by...

4/27/2006 - EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFPN) -- Airmen from several Air Force bases spent two months preparing, disassembling, rebuilding and testing an Iraqi Air Force Comp Air 7SLX, which had its first test flight here April 25. The aircraft is considered experimental, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. It is designed to be an unarmed aircraft used to patrol oil pipelines and other infrastructure targeted by insurgents. "This six-seater aircraft, which is a kit-built plane, was developed by a company in Merritt Island, Fla., called AeroComp which sold the aircraft to the United Arab Emirates," said Lt. Col....

WASHINGTON, April 24, 2006 – Community members welcomed a new playground for the children of the Al Shrooq primary and secondary school in Taji, Iraq, April 19. Iraqi children from the Al Shrooq primary and secondary school, in Taji, Iraq, help disperse gravel April 19 at the new playground donated by Iraqi and U.S. companies. Iraqi army and Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers, along with children at the school, pitched in to help make the school a better place. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Brent Hunt, USA   The playground was a result of hard work and determination by a combined...

4/18/2006 - EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFPN) -- Three Air Force units have started accelerated testing of a LITENING-AT targeting pod. The 416th Flight Test Squadron here is working with the 85th Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., and the 422nd OTES at Nellis AFB, Nev., to update the existing LITENING pod with several new capabilities for warfighters, including a video downlink transmitter currently used in the Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. "The transmitter, called the ROVER Module, was pulled out of the Predator and allows the video the pilot is looking at to be...

RASHIDIYAH, Iraq, April 14, 2006 – Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers worked with residents and farmers here to create a farming co-op that held its grand opening April 6. The tractors shown were provided as part of the building of a local farming co-op that opened its doors in Rashidiyah, Iraq, April 6. The co-op will provide support to about 3,000 acres in the Rashidiyah region. Photo by Spc. C. Terrell Turner, USA   The co-op is a major step in stabilizing and strengthening the agricultural output in the region. Local farmers joined together and created a business plan that will...