Free Republic

i think we could form a more perfect union if we could find peace in the nation and abroad.we should not be dictators.dictatorship ended in the early 1960's.some say cummnuism is where you share your countrys' wealth.i'm more in favor sharing wealth with the united and free world.

CAMP STRIKER, Iraq, May 5, 2009 – Some soldiers turn to friends within their unit for the support they need during a deployment. Others are lucky enough to have a family member serving with them. Army Staff Sgt. Melodie A. Hunt, left, and her sister, Army Pfc. Mallorie A. Hunt share a moment during their lunch time. The Hunt sisters are deployed to Baghdad. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Jasmine N. Walthall   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Army Staff Sgt. Melodie A. Hunt and Army Pfc. Mallorie A. Hunt, Lumberton N.C. natives, are sisters who are currently...

BAGHDAD, April 14, 2009 – June 6, 1998, the 54th anniversary of D-Day, probably was a day like any other that summer. There’s a good chance it was sunny in a small town in New York state outside of Fort Drum, where two young Army captains met for their own rendezvous with destiny. Army Lt. Col. Hailey Clancy, left, and her husband, Army Maj. Michael Clancy, share a laugh while flying to Camp Striker, Iraq, Aug. 8, 2008. The couple has served two deployments to Iraq together. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. A month later, they...

CAMP TAJI, Iraq, April 10, 2009 – As boys growing up together in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, Air Force Staff Sgt. Jeremy Moersch and Army Spc. Brandon Kosky played cops and robbers, fighting "bad guys" and putting them behind bars in an imaginary world. Air Force Staff Sgt. Jeremy Moersch and Army Spc. Brandon Kosky, who grew up as childhood friends in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, are deployed together in support of the Iraqi justice system at Camp Taji, Iraq. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Lionel Castellano  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Now, more than 15...

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C., April 9, 2009 – The Marine Corps is relatively small compared to the other branches of service. But for a former high school principal here, it couldn’t get any smaller. Left to right, 2nd Lt. Michael J. Bradley, Pfc. William M. Chester, and Col. Brian T. Oliver show off the emblem of Freedom High School in Morganton, N.C., at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., April 7, 2009. Oliver was the principal at Freedom from July 2004 until he was activated from the reserves in January 2009. Bradley and Chester are both Freedom...

AL ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq, Dec. 16, 2008 – Two deployed soldiers share a lot more in common than just their jobs as mechanics. Army Sgt. Abbi Erisman, left, from Mountain Home, Ark., and Army Sgt. Shandy Erisman from Little Rock, Ark., are mechanics with 2nd Battalion, 153rd Infantry Regiment, at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Kiyoshi Freeman  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Army Sgt. Shandy Erisman, of Little Rock, Ark., and Army Sgt. Abbi Erisman, of Mountain Home, Ark., are siblings and Arkansas National Guardsmen serving together in Iraq with 2nd Battalion,...

Here's how you can tell the campaign is over and the transition has begun: Barack Obama's aides now wear suits and ties, their desks are in the Federal Building on 6th Street in Washington — and Clintonites are everywhere. Obama's victory in the general election produced what his primary campaign couldn't: A swift merger of the Clinton Wing of the Democratic Party with the Illinois Senator's self-styled insurgency. The merger began, during the campaign, in the policy apparatus — which is now rapidly becoming the governing apparatus. The absorption of the Clinton government in waiting represents Obama's choice not to...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will campaign today with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg for Proposition 11, an initiative to change how California draws its district boundaries. The two will appear publicly at the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce offices, joined by representatives from AARP, California Common Cause and other organizations. --snip-- Schwarzenegger and Bloomberg have worked together to promote federal infrastructure investment. And the Republican governor once called Bloomberg his "soul mate," a reference to their shared moderate political views.

Members of the Iraqi Army practice how to enter and exit the Riverine Patrol Boat on Lake Qadisiyah, Iraq, Friday. The soldiers were given classes prior to entering the boats on the boats themselves and how to successfully complete an operation on water. 3rd Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 5, and Riverines with Riverine Squadron 2, Detachment 3, are working extensively with the IA and transferring more control of the area. Riverines with Riverine Squadron 2, Detachment 3, perform an unexpected emergency stop while traveling 30 knots on Lake Qadisiyah, Iraq, Friday. Coalition forces are training units...

CAMP TAJI — Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers recently conducted a consequence management mission, visiting local leaders of Fourteenth Ramadan, northwest of Baghdad. The Company C, 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team “Warrior”, 25th Infantry Division, Soldiers conducted the mission in response to the recent assassination of one of the town’s local leaders. “We visited to show our condolences for the loss of their local leader,” said 1st Lt. Marc Dudek, a native of Midlothian, Texas, platoon leader, 2nd Platoon, Company B, 1st Bn. “We did this to let them know we care and want to...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14, 2008 – Coalition forces, Iraqi troops, and “Sons of Iraq” security volunteers are working together to rebuild areas south of Arab Jabour, Iraq, a senior military official in Baghdad said this morning. Coalition forces recently completed Operation Marne Thunderbolt, which focused on the disruption of al Qaeda activities in Iraq, Army Colonel Terry R. Ferrell, commander of 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, in Multinational Division Center, said in a conference call with online journalists and “bloggers.” “We’ve focused on moving to places we haven’t been before,” said Ferrell, who has been in the Arab Jabour...

Iraqi citizens march together while playing music during a Peace March in the Karkh District of Baghdad, Dec. 19. Approximately 1,000 Iraqi citizens, both of Shia and Sunni religions, gathered to march with one another to bring the two sects together as one. Photo by Sgt. James Hunter, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (AA) Public Affairs. BAGHDAD — Approximately 1,000 Iraqi citizens, of both Shia and Sunni religions, joined together on the sectarian fault line in Rawaniyah, the Karkh District of Baghdad, to march with one another in what they called a “Peace March”, Dec. 19. It was...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU — Since May security in Hawr Rajab and Arab Jabour has improved to the point where Coalition Force missions are no longer solely “kill or capture” missions. Now, many missions focus on developing the infrastructure, which means there are more civilians on the battlefield helping to rebuild Iraq. To be prepared for battlefield operations, Soldiers of the 2-3rd Brigade Troops Battalion (BTB), 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division took time to train American civilians on the basics of first aid and combat patrol operations, Nov. 26. The 2-3rd BTB combat patrols that consisted solely of...

CAMP STRIKER, Iraq, Nov. 27, 2007 – Army Pvt. Imani Tumbling and Pfc. Angelo Tumbling will celebrate their first major holiday as a married couple and their first anniversary here in a combat zone. Army Pvt. Imani Tumbling and Pfc. Angelo Tumbling, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), share a laugh. The Tumblings are spending their first holiday season as husband and wife at Camp Striker, Iraq. After a whirlwind courtship that lasted four months, the two were married the month before they deployed. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Kerensa Hardy, USA  (Click...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 16, 2007 – Few U.S. troops have the opportunity to deploy with their loved ones, but soldiers of 325th Combat Support Hospital, a unit from Independence, Mo., currently at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, have two such family relationships within their unit. Maj. David Clark and his son, Sgt. Michael Clark, both natives of Manchester, Conn., deployed to Iraq together with the 325th CSH. The Clark family has a long tradition of military service stretching over three generations. This deployment will mark their second tour together, the first being a 10-month deployment to Kuwait with the 405th...

ARLINGTON, Va. , Oct. 12, 2007 – Hundreds of soldiers, family members and friends gathered at Arlington National Cemetery today to honor 12 soldiers killed in a helicopter crash Iraq earlier this year. Army honor guard soldiers hold 12 folded American flags during an interment ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on Oct. 12 for 12 soldiers killed in Iraq 10 months ago. The soldiers, 10 from the Army National Guard and two from the active duty Army, were killed northeast of Baghdad when their UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter was shot down. Photo by Sgt. Mary Flynn, USA   (Click photo...

8/23/2007 - ALI BASE, Iraq (AFPN) -- Approximately 80 Iraqis from the city of An Nasiriyah interacted for the first time with Airmen and Soldiers at the Ziggurat historical monument Aug. 21 at Ali Base. It has been more than 10 years since any Iraqi native has been allowed to visit the Ziggurat of Ur, which is the most dominant landmark on Ali Base, because during the reign of Suddam Hussein the installation was used by the Iraqi army. The Ziggurat was constructed more than 4,000 years ago by worshipers of the moon god Nanna living near the ancient city...

Identical twins Capt. Jordan Burfield (left), Company C, 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division and Capt. Jonah Burfield, 47th Ordnance Company, 79th Ordnance Battalion, are reunited at the Al Faw Palace on Camp Victory in western Baghdad for their promotions to captain, July 1, 2007. This deployment has been the longest period of time the Lacrosse, Wis., natives have been separated. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Shea Butler U.S. Army Capt. Jordan Burfield U.S. Army Capt. Jonah Burfield Identical Twins Pin on Captain’s Bars Together By Spc. Shea Butler 7th Mobile Public Affairs...

FORT DRUM, N.Y., June 25, 2007 – Imagine being married for almost 18 months, but spending only one of those months together. That is exactly what Scott and Katie Horrigan experienced when Scott -- an Army captain who commands the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment’s Alpha Company -- deployed with the 10th Mountain Division in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Army Capt. Scott Horrigan, a company commander with the 10th Mountain Division’s 87th Infantry Regiment, is reunited with his wife, Katie, and son, Mitchell, upon returning from a deployment to Afghanistan. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available....

WASHINGTON, March 31, 2007 – Coalition and Iraqi forces are working with city leaders to secure the Iraqi city of Tal Afar after a bombing at a market killed more than 80 people earlier this week, a military official said today in a briefing from the city. “It’s been a tremendously busy four days, tremendously stressful four days,” Army Lt. Col. Malcom Frost, commander of 3rd Squadron, 4th U.S. Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, told journalists from Forward Operating Base Sykes in Tal Afar. “But … the city is now secure and going back to...