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The U.S. Military Academy pressured a retired U.S. lieutenant general to withdraw from speaking at a West Point prayer breakfast after Muslims and atheists complained, Fox News & Commentary has learned. Retired Lt. Gen. William Boykin was scheduled to deliver a speech at West Point on Feb. 8. But late Monday, the military academy released a statement saying he had decided to withdraw from speaking and would be replaced with another speaker. However, a source close to the controversy told Fox News & Commentary that Boykin was pressured to withdraw. “It was very clear they wanted General Boykin to withdraw,”...

It is the little-known battle that claimed the lives of thousands of Americans during World War II. But now black-and-white photographs, captured by Life magazine photographer W. Eugene Smith, show the everyday horrors for the U.S. soldiers fighting against Japanese forces on the Mariana Island of Saipan between June 15 and July 9, 1944. Faces etched with the pain of their experiences, war-weary men are captured transporting their wounded comrades or forcing Japanese civilians from their hiding places. The photographs were taken during a battle that claimed the lives of 22,000 Japanese civilians - many by suicide - and nearly...

Last week, former Army chief of staff Gen. Gordon Sullivan editorialized that the Army is repeating the mistakes of the post-Vietnam era, when it turned away from a decade’s experience fighting a counterinsurgency war, in favor of building a more capable conventional force. This, according to General Sullivan, forced the Army to improvise its way through conflicts in Panama, Somalia, and the Balkans. General Sullivan went on to say that, despite these three experiences, we still possessed the wrong Army when we invaded Iraq in 2003.One wonders how an Army optimized to fight insurgents would have dealt with the...

Fox News is the latest news organization to pick up on the revelation, first reported by AIM, that Ron Paul had praised WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning as a hero and patriot. Directly referring to WikiLeaks and Army soldier Bradley Manning being held in detention, Paul said, “Should he be locked up in prison or should we see him as a political hero? Maybe he is a true patriot—who reveals what’s going on in government.” The comment drew strong applause from Paul supporters. Video of the event, officially posted by Ron Paul’s Campaign for Liberty organization, also shows the Republican presidential...

Four Army aviators were killed when two helicopters crashed in the aviation training area southwest of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, said base spokesman Lt. Col. Gary Dangerfield...

A U.S. Army specialist has been arrested at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska on suspicion of espionage, an Army spokesman said on Tuesday. Specialist William Colton Millay, a 22-year-old military policeman, was taken into custody on October 28, Army spokesman Lt. Col. Bill Coppernoll told Reuters. Coppernoll said Millay, of Owensboro, Kentucky, was arrested following a joint espionage investigation conducted by the FBI and Army Counterintelligence special agents.

I just came home from work to a phone call from my folks who informed me of the passing of my aunt Anne, otherwise known as Colonel Anne C. Jablunovsky, US Army (Ret). As an Army Nurse, she had served in both Korea and Vietnam, retiring after 26 years of active duty. Here's a photo of her from the Pacific Stars & Stripes with General Matt Ridgeway Over Memorial Day in 2007, our hometown newspaper did a front page article on our family's military service, In this family, service to country runs deep, which captured some of her reflections and...

A group of American military officers and Afghan officials had just finished a five-hour meeting with their Pakistani hosts in a village schoolhouse settling a border dispute when they were ambushed — by the Pakistanis. An American major was killed and three American officers were wounded, along with their Afghan interpreter, in what fresh accounts from the Afghan and American officers who were there reveal was a complex, calculated assault by a nominal ally. The Pakistanis opened fire on the Americans, who returned fire before escaping in a blood-soaked Black Hawk helicopter. The attack, in Teri Mangal on May 14,...

It seems their pants—which are completely new and supposed to be more durable than previous models—can't survive the rigors of the desert. They're ripping apart seemingly at random. The new pants seemed perfectly fine. They use tightly stitched flame-resistant Defender M fabrics and Christian at Kit Up! says their "crotch design" is fine! But they can't survive up to the daily life of Army soldiers, and they get ripped right, left and center. The problem is so bad that the Army had to get back to select a new fabric, 40% stronger than the current material.

There were 32 Army suicides in July, the highest monthly toll ever recorded. The grim figure underscores the military’s continuing inability to find ways of preventing troubled soldiers from taking their own lives. Military officials said 22 active-duty soldiers were thought to have taken their own lives last month, along with 10 reservists. The incidents are under investigation, and it'll be several weeks before the Army definitively rules on each case. If the numbers hold up, July will be the worst month for Army suicide in two years, since the Army first began releasing monthly suicide data. The previous record...

WASHINGTON – Maj. Walter Reed's sword was symbolically handed over to the Navy at a ceremony Wednesday marking the closure of the Army hospital bearing his name, where hundreds of thousands of the nation's war wounded have been treated for more than a century. The tone was somber at times, but mostly celebratory, as more than a thousand former and current staff members and patients — some of them wounded troops from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in wheelchairs who have lost limbs —gathered under a white tent to say goodbye to the Army's flagship hospital. The Army band played,...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama has formally repealed the ban on gays serving openly in the military. Administration officials say Obama on Friday signed a certification ending the 17-year-old "don't ask don't tell" policy.

SAN BRUNO -- Edward L. O'Toole, an infantry soldier from San Francisco, is returning at last from World War II. He was to be buried at 10 a.m. Friday at the Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, more than 66 years after he was killed in combat while serving in the U.S. Army in Germany. There will be full military honors: an honor guard, a rifle salute, a bugler playing taps. It is a rare occasion when a soldier is brought to his last resting place so long after his death. "He is the first to be returned from...

No this isn't a joke. It really happened. An Army captain has been caught "having sex" with a blow-up doll in an adult video store in Virginia. The incident took place in the early hours of July 5th, Prince William County Police told MilitaryCorruption.com POLICE DOG SNIFFED OUT SEX-CRAZED CAPTAIN Investigators say alarms went off at the MVC Late Nite Adult Store in Woodbridge, Va. around 2:30 A.M. Police officers responded and a K-9 dog was sent in the X-rated facility to ferret out any burglars. Cops found the front door to the store smashed and glass on the floor....

A shocking decision made by the secretary of the Army last month — in the case of an U.S. Army soldier with the 101st Airborne at Fort Campbell who refused to deploy to Afghanistan claiming that Islamic law prevented him from killing other Muslims — vindicates Fort Hood killer Major Nidal Hasan. He made identical claims and threatened that “adverse events” would occur if military officials didn’t accede to shariah principles.The subject of the Fort Campbell case is PFC Nasser Abdo, who was granted conscientious objector status last month, only to be brought up on charges last week —...

When the American Revolution broke out, the rebellious colonies did not possess an army in the modern sense. Rather, the revolutionaries fielded an amateur force of colonial troops, cobbled together from various New England militia companies. They had no unified chain of command, and although Artemas Ward of Massachusetts exercised authority by informal agreement, officers from other colonies were not obligated to obey his orders. The American volunteers were led, equipped, armed, paid for, and supported by the colonies from which they were raised. In the spring of 1775, this “army” was about to confront British troops near Boston, Massachusetts....

The U.S. Army said Monday that it was abandoning the beret, after a failed 10-year experiment. The black beret, which proved deeply unpopular with American soldiers, will be replaced by a patrol cap for everyday wear, U.S. Army spokesman Col. Tom Collins said. The move came after outgoing Army chief of staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, asked the Army's sergeant major "to go out and talk to soldiers across the force and see what was on their minds," Collins told AFP. "One of the things that soldiers consistently brought up was the desire to wear the patrol cap as part of...

(Army.mil) — Two hundred and thirty-six years ago, the United States Army was established to defend our Nation. From the Revolutionary War to the current operations taking place around the world, our Soldiers remain Army Strong with a deep commitment to our core values and beliefs. This 236th birthday commemorates America’s Army – Soldiers, Families and Civilians – who are achieving a level of excellence that is truly Army Strong. Being Army Strong goes beyond physical endurance and mental preparedness. It encompasses an indomitable spirit, and high ethical and moral values. These are not only desirable traits in a person,...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US Army is abandoning the beret, after a failed 10-year experiment. The black beret, which proved deeply unpopular with American soldiers, will be replaced by a patrol cap for everyday wear, US Army spokesman Colonel Tom Collins said Monday. The move came after outgoing Army chief of staff, General Martin Dempsey, asked the army's sergeant major "to go out and talk to soldiers across the force and see what was on their minds," Collins told AFP. "One of the things that soldiers consistently brought up was the desire to wear the patrol cap as part of...

AL ANBAR, Iraq – Soldiers of the 4th Advise and Assist Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, are packing their bags and preparing to return to Fort Stewart, Ga., as they near the completion of their yearlong deployment to Iraq. The team of roughly 3,000 soldiers supported the Iraqi security forces and local Anbar government during the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom and into Operation New Dawn. Although the 4th AAB, 3rd Inf. Div., deployment is coming to a close, their mission to advise, train, and assist the ISF in the Al Anbar province will remain, and will be carried out by...

It was a sad day yesterday when Pfc. Anthony Nunn was laid to rest. I’ve told y’all about Anthony and how great a kid, now a man and hero, he was and how his huge smile would light up any room. A Brigadier General presented the Bronze Star to his family and the Congressional Medal of Honor is “in the works.” In attendance, along with his fellow soldiers locally and from Ft. Campbell, was a most personable Navy Captain from San Antonio. The reason for this post is to tell of the amazing warmth and emotions of the wonderful patriotic...

The Army Times reports on this inter-service squabble: “The Army in coming weeks will select its top camouflage contenders to cover your next combat uniform. A leading choice is the Marine Corps’ MARPAT. But although the outgoing top enlisted Marine says you can’t use it, the Army general who launched the effort begs to differ.

Need help in the restoration if a WWII CIB (Combat Infantryman Badge

5 US Soldiers, At Least 13 Iraqis Killed in Separate Attacks VOA News June 06, 2011 Five U.S. soldiers and and at least 13 Iraqis were killed on Monday in separate attacks in Iraq. It was the deadliest day for American troops in Iraq in more than two years and comes months before most U.S. soldiers are scheduled to withdraw. American authorities did not release details of the U.S. deaths. But Iraqi officials told Western media that the incident happened in Baghdad when rockets hit a U.S. installation. Iraqi officials also said a suicide attacker detonated a bomb-laden car in...

FRUIT HEIGHTS — Utah's Chad Hawkins is well known for his paintings of Latter-day Saint temples. But he recently won a major commission to create a scene from Afghanistan. In 2007, Hawkins traveled to Afghanistan to work on a project. "When I got there it was horrible," he said. "To me, it wasn't third-world conditions. It was Stone Age." Chad Hawkins Despite those conditions, little did Hawkins know that visit would eventually turn into one of the most significant works of his career. With that experience, along with his extensive background, Hawkins won the commission from the U.S. Army War...

The experimental four-legged, pack-hauling robots aren’t gonna be ready for duty at the front anytime soon. So the Army is considering a big step backward in front-line logistics. In place of the ultra-sophisticated BigDog cargo ‘bots that have been slowly trudging their way through the development process, the ground-combat branch wants more flesh-and-blood mules and donkeys. The Army is even considering the revival of a long-defunct headquarters, the “Animal Corps,” to oversee the four-legged recruits. The goal is to take some of the weight off soldiers’ backs during long war-zone foot patrols. In Afghanistan, it’s not uncommon for soldiers to...

SALT LAKE CITY - As Hans Borbonus walked into the sculptor's studio, he got his first glimpse of his son's smile crafted in clay. "It does something to you," he said, visibly moved by the moment. When it is cast in bronze, the statue of the young American soldier killed in Baghdad will stand as a lasting memorial near his hometown of Boise.

The Department of Defense announced today the deployment of units as part of an upcoming rotation of forces supporting Operation New Dawn in Iraq. This rotation involves one division headquarters totaling 775 personnel and two brigade combat teams totaling 6,400 personnel. The scheduled rotation for the forces begins in mid-summer and continues through the fall of 2011. In accordance with the security agreement between the United States and Iraq signed in 2008, all U.S. forces will depart Iraq by Dec. 31, 2011. Headquarters unit: 3rd Infantry Division Headquarters,Fort Stewart, Ga. Brigade Combat Teams: 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division,...

American forces are facing an increasingly dangerous environment in southern Iraq, where Shiite militias trying to claim they are driving out the U.S. occupiers have stepped up attacks against bases and troops. The uptick in violence serves as a warning about what American forces could face if U.S. and Iraqi officials come to an agreement about keeping more U.S. troops in the country past Dec. 31. "We're very concerned about it," said Col. Reginald Allen, who commands the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment that operates in five, predominantly Shiite provinces. "This environment is very fluid, but in general our planning assumptions...

TOP NCO AT FORT BRAGG SPECIAL FORCES COMMAND UNDER INVESTIGATION - CSM MARIO VIGIL ACCUSED OF ADULTERY WITH CIVILIAN WOMAN - SHE CLAIMS PREGNANT WITH GREEN BERET'S "LOVE CHILD" - SOURCES SAY CASH SETTLEMENT WITH VIGIL MAY BE IN WORKS FEMALE COMPLAINANT HAS TWO OTHER CHILDREN - EACH BY DIFFERENT DADDIES The top-ranking NCO at the Army Special Forces Command at Fort Bragg is under investigation for adultery. CSM Mario Garcia Vigil is accused by a civilian female of fathering her "love child." The little bambino is expected to be born in August. MilitaryCorruption.com has learned it will be the...

ALBANY, N.Y. – A lesbian former cadet who left West Point saying she couldn't live a lie was rejected for re-admission Wednesday because of the lingering military ban on gays and said she is giving up on her dream of graduating from the academy. Katherine Miller said in a statement that she plans to graduate from Yale University, which she's now attending, and join the military through officer candidate school. "Although I am deeply saddened that I will not be readmitted to West Point, I understand and respect the decision," said the 21-year-old from Findlay, Ohio. She said that although...

Copyright © 2011 MilitaryCorruption.com Once again, MilitaryCorruption.com has gotten the scoop on a story the Army wants suppressed. We can tell you, dear reader, what Army TIMES cannot - that four Army CID agents were suspended recently at Fort Bragg because of criminal behavior. All the Army would reveal at press time was the agents were from the drug-crime unit of the Criminal Investigative Division. No details emerged on just what they had done to have to turn in their guns and badges. The terse press release given out to the mainstream media was very short on specifics. "KIDNAPPING" AND...

FIRED COLONEL FILES FOR DIVORCE - ACCUSES WIFE OF KIDNAPPING TEENAGE SON AND TEACHING MILITARY SPOUSES ABOUT "MASTURBATION" - SHE COUNTERS WITH ACCUSATION HE SPENT $27,000 ON IRAQI "MISTRESS" - WIFE KICKED OFF BASE IN ITALY - WEST POINT GRAD COL JAMES JOHNSON RELIEVED AS COMMANDER OF 173RD AIRBORNE BRIGADE COMBAT TEAM FOR "ADULTERY" AND "FOSTERING A POOR COMMAND CLIMATE" - ARMY TRIED TO KEEP A LID ON WHAT HAPPENED BUT MILITARYCORRUPTION.COM SEES COURT PAPERS Copyright © 2011 MilitaryCorruption.com In what has to be a huge black eye for the Army, yet another West Point graduate (Class of 1986) finds...

Six U.S. soldiers were killed in action and at least 15 others wounded in Afghanistan earlier this week when they came under fire while on patrol in a remote and dangerous region close to the Pakistan border. ABC News' Mike Boettcher was accompanying the soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division when the attack occurred in Kunar Province on March 29. They were patrolling close to the border when they were fired upon from three sides by Taliban fighters. The troops were on a mission to show force in an area where the U.S. largely has abandoned small bases. The heavy...

He's 10 feet tall. When he walks through the valleys, he makes bombs fall from the sky and controls helicopters. After a failed attempt to recruit him, the Taliban put a reward on his head: $25,000 dead or alive. Some of this is true, some of it exaggerated by hyper-imaginative insurgents. One thing is sure - U.S. Army 1st Lt. Benjamin A. Amsler is rattling Taliban leaders in Chowkay district in eastern Afghanistan's Kunar province. "They fear our platoon basically. They've created this character, I represent it, but it's my guys. It's not me. It's this Lt. Ben guy," explained...

The U.S. Army has officially threatened military chaplains they must either embrace the new openly homosexual military, resign from service, or face court-martial for their "religious, conscience" objections. The Pray In Jesus Name Project has obtained leaked copies (unintended for media disclosure) of a private briefing given to chaplains, threatening them with court-martial unless they compromise their Christian message. Christian Chaplains who speak out against homosexual sin can be accused of "harassment" by homosexuals and face disciplinary action simply for voicing their religious views outside the "context" of their religious ministry. [Chaps' interpretation: The phrase "vocational reflection" is not-so-subtle code...

It will go down in history as one of the U.S. military's worst battles in Afghanistan. And according to the families of the soldiers who died there, the history written by the U.S. Army is biased and inaccurate. Relatives of those killed in Wanat, at a combat outpost in the rugged mountains of northeastern Afghanistan, say the Army is covering up mistakes made by the dead mens' commanders and placing blame on a junior officer who was simply following orders. A military investigation that followed, led by Marine Lt. General Richard Natonski, blamed the deaths in part on dereliction of...

The Army said Wednesday it has filed 22 additional charges against Pvt. 1st Class Bradley E. Manning, the soldier suspected of providing classified government documents published by the WikiLeaks anti-secrecy group. Army officials said the charges accuse Manning of using unauthorized software on government computers to extract classified information, illegally download it and transmit the data for public release by what the Army termed "the enemy."

U.S. Reportedly Repositioning Forces Around Libya EOM

The headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Fleet is in Bahrain. Iran does not need to employ its air force against the U.S. naval facility, but only to topple the pro-American regime of the al-Khalifa family and replace it with a new Bahraini regime backed by the Shi’a majority which seeks the immediate withdrawal of the fleet. Even more worrisome for the U.S. is the fact that the Shi’a protest could easily expand to the neighboring eastern Saudi shore of Al-Ahsaa where most of the population is also Shi'a.

Three months after the first five XM-25 grenade launchers arrived in Afghanistan, and after only 55 25mm rounds were fired in combat, the troops don't want to give these new weapons up. The XM-25s work as advertised, firing "smart rounds" that explode over the heads of Taliban hiding behind rocks or walls, or hiding in a cave or room. Enemy machine-guns have been quickly knocked out of action and ambushes quickly disrupted with a few 25mm shells. Encounters that might go on for 15 minutes or longer, as U.S. troops exchange fire with hidden Taliban, end in minutes after a...

Northrop Grumman Corporation will field the first systems in the upgraded RC-12X Guardrail fleet, providing the U.S. Army with unparalleled signals intelligence (SIGINT) capability, under a recent task order awarded by the U.S. Army. This is a critical step toward making this mission-critical capability operational, scheduled for second quarter of this year. The RC-12X Guardrail is the Army's premier airborne SIGINT sensor and ground processing system, providing instantaneous precision geo-location and identification of threats to enable the Brigade Combat Team's Find, Fix, Finish, Exploit, Analyze and Disseminate (F3EAD) battle command process. The RC-12X Guardrail Modernization program extends the life of...

The Army is looking at an improved combat helmet that surpasses the capabilities of what Soldiers are currently wearing in the field, and it may be available in the fall. The new Enhanced Combat Helmet doesn't look much different than the Advanced Combat Helmet it's designed to replace, but the performance difference is huge, said Col. William Cole, project manager, Soldier Protection and Individual Equipment. "If you hold them in your hand, you'd have a tough time telling the difference, other than the relative thickness," Cole said during a media roundtable Feb. 2 in the Pentagon. "The ECH is a...

Modified Puma, Hybrid Armored Vehicle up for U.S. Army GCV Selection January 21, 2011 tamir_eshel SAIC led team is proposing a vehicle based on the German Puma, developed by KMW and Rheinmetall Defence for the German Army. "It is the only production-ready IFV designed from the ground up since Sept. 11, 2001, and incorporates the lessons of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan." the team said. Photo: KMW Three teams, led by General Dynamics, SAIC and BAE Systems are competing for U.S. Army $450 million technology demonstration contracts to demonstrate vehicle platforms that could evolve in 7 years into the...

By almost any standard, US Army aviation has never looked in better shape. With an annual budget of $7 billion, three active production lines for manned helicopters and the Afghanistan war emphasising the value of vertical lift, the army's pocket of aviators enjoy unprecedented support. The long-term outlook for the army's aviation branch, however, is not ideal. No new combat helicopter has entered service in nearly 30 years. All three active production lines are scheduled to shut-down within the next 15 years. Fielding a new vertical lift technology could take billions of dollars and more than a decade, but the...

Behind every battle-winning Apache in Afghanistan is a team of unsung heroes working tirelessly to ensure the British Army's gunship is fully serviced, fuelled and fitted with the fire power to take on the Taliban. While specialist support crews in theatre conduct the day-to-day maintenance on the hi-tech helicopter, the aircraft also has a legion of engineering experts poised for action in the UK. Based at Attack Helicopter HQ in Wattisham, a highly-skilled group of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) craftsmen work alongside civilian contractors to run a Depth Support Unit (DSU) - an organisation charged with keeping the...

Sgt. Justin Griffith was furious last month when a mandatory Army test asked him questions about his spirituality and found him lacking. As an atheist, the Fort Bragg soldier didn't see any way he could honestly answer the questions and receive a passing score. Immediately after finishing the test, Griffith wrote a blog about his frustrations. Griffith's complaints soon caught the attention of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which is demanding that the Army stop making soldiers take the test because they say it's unconstitutional.

A jury on Friday acquitted a former military translator of secretly working as an Iraqi agent in the US but convicted him of making false statements when he sought a security clearance. The split verdict offered some relief to Issam "Sam" Hamama, who claimed he was only passing along basic information about Iraqis in the US when he reached out to Iraqi officials in the 1990s during the regime of Saddam Hussein. "We've been vindicated. They were accusing him of voluntarily working as a spy," defense lawyer Haytham Faraj said. Hamama, 60, of El Cajon, California, was found not guilty...

... A rabbi from Brooklyn, N.Y., is suing the Army over its “no-beard” policy, claiming the service violated his religious freedoms when it rejected him because he refuses to shave...lawsuit argues the Army is discriminating against him because it has waived the “no-beard” rule for several Sikhs and a Muslim, but not for him. ...