Free Republic

NEW YORK - Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton took the stage Sunday with her husband, the former president, at a major fundraiser that brought in over $1 million for her presidential campaign. In a Manhattan hotel ballroom filled with New York elected officials and wealthy Democratic donors, Bill Clinton introduced his wife by describing her long career in public service beginning at Yale Law School where the couple met 35 years ago. He said he had encouraged her then to pursue a career in New York or Chicago and is still amazed she followed him back to Arkansas, where he...

CAMP TAJI, Iraq, March 14, 2007 — More and more soldiers spend their deployments in Iraq serving alongside their spouses. Sgt. Erick McCormick, the warehouse non-commissioned officer in charge for Headquarters Company, 15th Brigade Troops Battalion, 15th Sustainment Brigade from Ketchikan, Alaska and Spc. t Michelle McCormick, a supply specialist also with the Sustainment Brigade, from Houston, Texas, are on their second deployment together, but first deployment as a married couple. Michelle joined the Army in 2004. Right after graduation from high school she packed her bags and headed to Fort Jackson, S.C. "My dad is a military policeman and...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6, 2007 – Cooperation among government agencies is crucial for success in the war on terrorism, the top U.S. general told members of Congress today. Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, asked members of the Senate Armed Services Committee to look at ways to help the military work more closely with other U.S. government agencies. The general said “impediments” are standing in the way of smooth operations among U.S. government agencies. Pace has often said the military cannot win the war on terror alone. The war on terror requires contributions from civilian...

11/10/2006 - LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) -- Three brothers from Fort Worth, Texas, will be "doing something amazing" for the Air Force in the coming years after graduation from Basic Military Training Nov. 10. Twins Chaz and Logan Hatcher, 22, and their younger brother, Derek, 19, completed the 6.5-week course while assigned to three different training squadrons and will be training in three different career fields. Chaz, from the 331st Training Squadron, will train to become an aircraft loadmaster. Brother Logan in the 324th Training Squadron is going into the avionics field; and Derek, from the 326th Training...

FORT HUACHUCA — It was a father and son affair. On Thursday, Thomas Eisenmann and his son, Justin, were promoted at a simple ceremony on the post. Thomas became a sergeant major. Justin entered the noncommissioned officers rank as a sergeant. As for the new sergeant major, Col. Timothy Quinn said he was one of 34 soldiers holding that rank out of 5,500 in his intelligence field. “That’s less than 1 percent,” said Quinn, the Intelligence Center’s chief of staff. With an occasional comic’s touch, the colonel joked about the 305th Military Intelligence Battalion senior NCO, remarking on his tours...

WORCESTER, Mass., Oct. 17, 2006 -- Paul Brunell of Oxford, Mass., was a Marine lance corporal when he served under then-Marine 2nd Lt. Peter Pace during the Vietnam War. Paul Brunell, and his wife, Valerie, (left) meet with Gen. Peter Pace and his wife, Lynne, before an Oct. 15 tribute to servicemembers in Worcester, Mass. Brunell served as a Marine lance corporal under then-Lt. Pace during the Vietnam War. Photo by Staff Sgt. D. Myles Cullen, USAF  '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “I met him in a firefight,” Brunell said. “He just ended up being the next officer...

DNA Ties Together Scattered PeoplesData on descendants of the Chumash spur new ideas about the first settlers of the Americas. By Steve Chawkins, Times Staff Writer September 11, 2006 Over the years, a couple of dozen descendants of the Chumash Indians have complied with the odd requests of their old friend John Johnson, a leading scholar of the tribe's culture and head of the anthropology department at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. After all, what harm could come from parting with a few of their hairs or letting him swab the inside of their cheeks for a saliva...

SUNNYVALE Saying they can't wait for Washington to act on global warming, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Thursday they will collaborate on efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Appearing together at a fuel cell facility in the Silicon Valley, Bloomberg detailed a five-point plan to incorporate sustainable energy into long-term planning in his city. The mayor said city officials have begun the largest study ever conducted to catalog greenhouse gas emissions, creating a base for New York City to set goals and measure its progress on reducing emissions. He also announced the appointment of...

Combined military operations and a variety of civil service projects serve to deter terrorist attacks in Ameriyah. BAGHDAD, Sept. 18, 2006 — Since the beginning of Operation Together Forward, Baghdad’s Ameriyah neighborhood has seen several social and economic improvements as the Iraqi army and Multi-National Division – Baghdad (MND-B) forces work to rid the area of terrorist violence. The combined military operations in the area includes a variety of civil service projects, such as a large-scale trash cleanup, medical services, and establishing a generally close working relationship with local residents – all of which serve to deter further terrorist attacks....

A resident of Jiff Jaffa casts his vote during the Agricultural Union elections on Sunday. Department of Defense photo by Army Cpl. Michael Molinaro, 2nd BCT, 4th Inf. Div. FOB KALSU -- Mimicking other recent success stories in Babil province, on Sunday farmers from the city of Jiff Jaffa held elections for their Agricultural Union board at a primary school in town. The election comes as a further demonstration of the concepts of democratic governance taking root around the country, this time with a commercial twist. Seven members were elected to lead the union into the future and help farmers...

Gulf Region Division U.S. Army Corps of Engineers GULF REGION, Iraq, Sept. 1, 2006 -- “When Debra -- the love of my life - and I met, she didn’t know Semper Fi from apple pie,” jokes the brawny bear of a Marine colonel, “and now both her husband and son are ‘jarheads’ and to top it off, we’re now both here in Iraq!” The big and burly officer, Oliver (Ollie) Grant, is the quintessential Marine - he looks one firmly in the eye and barks with authority. He brooks no nonsense with those who equivocate, waffle or make excuses. And,...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 27, 2006 – Iraqi security forces, supported by Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers, expanded their combined security effort into the Adhamiyah neighborhood of northeast Baghdad today in support of “Operation Together Forward.” The combined operations are being led by the soldiers of 1st Brigade, 9th Iraqi Army Division and 2nd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, officials in Iraq said. They are supported by Iraqi National Police from 1st Brigade, 1st National Police Division and soldiers from 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. The operations are designed to reduce the level of murders, kidnappings, assassinations, terrorism and sectarian violence in northern...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (Army News Service, Aug. 21, 2006) – Brig. Gen. Abdul Jaleel Kahlaiaf, commander, 1st Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, along with Col. Robert Scurlock Jr., commander of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad, discussed operations in support of Operation Together Forward in the southwestern Baghdad neighborhood of Ameriyah last Wednesday. Operation Together Forward began yesterday for the brigade and hopes to continue to improve the lives of Iraqis in the Baghdad area. Jaleel said he was optimistic of the recent successes of the Iraqi army in Baghdad resulting in the reduction of...

<p>'Today we march," the banners read, "tomorrow we vote." Seventeen-year-old Paulo V., an undocumented Brazilian student who marched at an immigrant rally in Boston three months ago, was among the Latinos who saw hope in those words. "This was the determining point," says Paulo. Before the marches, "I didn't know anything about the topic. But after, I understood how much I could be a part of it."</p>

WASHINGTON, Aug. 8, 2006 – Iraqi security forces and U.S. soldiers of Multinational Division Baghdad yesterday launched the second phase of Operation Together Forward to increase security and reduce violence in Baghdad. The operation is a combined effort between Iraqi police, the Iraqi army, and Multinational Division Baghdad to reduce murders, kidnappings, assassinations, terrorism and sectarian violence in the city and to reinforce the Iraqi government’s control of Baghdad, U.S. officials said. Phase 2, which is supported by the government of Iraq, began with the combined forces of the Iraqi National Police and the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry...

FOB KALSU – The southern portion of Iraq is reaping the long overdue benefits of infrastructure rebuilding and trained security forces. Although the areas in the Karbala, Najaf and Babil provinces still have their share of turbulence, some of the success the provinces are enjoying stems from the willingness of local tribes to work together to put their part of Iraq back together, said Capt. Dave Zaino, commander, Company A, 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. “We are going into areas in the northern sector of our area of operations, finding a large population...

/6/2006 - KANDAHAR AIR FIELD, Afghanistan (AFPN) -- Airmen deployed all over the world overcome obstacles every day in order to get the mission done. In southwestern Afghanistan, two of those Airmen collaborated to build radio-communication antennas. When the Washington Air National Guard's 215th Engineering Installation Squadron arrived here in May, its task was to install new UHF and VHF radio antennas. After taking inventory of the parts that were delivered and what they needed to do, the engineers found they had no way to mount the antennas to the poles. That's when Master Sgt. Curtis Conner, the 215th EIS...

WASHINGTON, May 7, 2006 – U.S. and Iraqi forces captured and arrested terrorist suspects, destroyed illicit weapons caches, and launched a series of military offensives against insurgents over the past three days, military officials in Iraq reported. A joint U.S. and Iraqi force of about 1,300 troops launched Operation United Front yesterday. Their aim, officials said, is to capture terrorists and seize illicit weapons caches in Ameriya, a western Baghdad neighborhood that has been a hotbed of sectarian violence. Iraqi police cordoned off the neighborhood of 150,000 people under the cover of darkness in the early morning hours while combat...

MANAMA, Bahrain, April 25, 2006 – Making a coalition work is not an easy job. But the Friendly Forces Coordination Cell at U.S. Naval Forces Central Command here builds on more than 60 years of working with allies. The cell has 15 liaison officers from coalition partners whose job it is to coordinate and integrate their countries' naval forces contributions to the maritime element of the war on terror, U.S. Navy Capt. Steve Gabriele, the director of the office, said. Based here, the office serves as a focal point for queries, answers and coordination among many different aspects of the...

JALALABAD AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, April 8, 2006 – Afghan and coalition forces participated in platoon-level training missions near here April 5, improving their readiness for joint combat operations. Afghan and coalition forces regularly such operations, to kill and capture insurgents, deny them freedom of movement and hinder their ability to resupply. About 20 soldiers of the U.S. Army's 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, joined 30 soldiers from the Afghan National Army's 2nd Kandak, 3rd Brigade, 1st Corps, for the joint training session. The training marks the early stages of an important long-term relationship, said Capt. James M....