Free Republic

For the first time in 70 years, no World War II veteran will be sitting in the House of Representatives or in the Senate when 114th Congress convenes Jan. 3, according to the Association of Mature American Citizens. Michigan’s John Dingell, 88, and 91-year-old Ralph Hall, of Texas, were the last of what’s known as the Greatest Generation to serve. Dingell, a Democrat, enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1944, when he turned 18, and rose to the rank of second lieutenant. He was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1955 and holds the distinction of being the...

In A recent conversation with a friend, I confessed that a phrase had been stuck in my mind for days. The words sounded like a question, but it was purely rhetorical since I knew the answer. “Where’s the majesty?” I had been thinking after surveying the wreckage of America’s political culture. Each time I considered the words, my gut response was the same. Gone to hell, that’s where. Smashed to pieces by a cynical public and buried by a political class too craven to care. The majesty I long for is ­behavior that tries to match the nation’s ideals. It...

On Dec. 25, the unforgettable story about Louis Zamperini, an Olympian turned World War II prisoner of war hero, opens in theaters nationwide. As astoundingly resilient as Zamperini was, however, his real power was found in a fact underplayed in the movie; namely, he whose birth we celebrate Dec. 25 is the one responsible for restoring and transforming Zamperini's heart and life. First, let me say, few lives can compare with Zamperini's. He lived hard from a young age. He smoked cigarettes by the time he was 5, and his favorite pastime as a youth was stealing beer from bootleggers.Cops...

Homeless American veterans shiver in the bitter cold while illegal immigrants receive subsidized four-year degrees. At midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold, Christ was born in a stable after his parents were turned away by every innkeeper. Joseph and Mary did not respond with entitlement: “If you don’t shelter us, then you’re racist.” Rather, they used their ingenuity to find an alternative birthplace for their son among friends—farm animals, shepherds, kings, and angels—beneath the light of an extraordinary star. “And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him up in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because...

What follows is an account from a French ISAF soldier that was stationed with American Warfighters in Afghanistan sometime in the past 4 years. This was copied and translated from an editorial French newspaper. A NOS FRERES D’ARMES AMERICAINS "We have shared our daily life with two US units for quite a while - they are the first and fourth companies of a prestigious infantry battalion whose name I will withhold for the sake of military secrecy. To the common man it is a unit just like any other. But we live with them and got to know them, and...

This effort is in response to the recent reports in The New York Times, most notably an Oct. 14 article, “The Secret Casualties of Iraq’s Abandoned Chemical Weapons,” which detailed its investigation and the Pentagon’s acknowledgement that as many as 600 U.S. troops had reported chemical exposure, but it failed to realize the scope of the exposure or offer adequate treatment. In the video above posted on YouTube from Taji, Iraq, in 2008, this is the description of the video (a similar video was used by the Times): “A cache of mustard rounds found buried in a peninsula near Taji,...

The Department of Defense says an Army sergeant from New York City has been killed in Afghanistan. A soldier from Arizona was also killed. Military officials say Sgt. Ramon Morris, 37, and Spc. Wyatt Martin, 22, died Dec. 12 in Parwan province. The men died from wounds suffered when their vehicle was attacked with an improvised explosive device.

Belgium’s King Philippe, right, and Queen Mathilde throw nuts to the public, during the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge, in Bastogne, Belgium, on Saturday. The tradition dates from when the Germans asked for the US surrender in Bastogne, to which General Anthony McAuliffe answered: ‘Nuts!’ Photograph: Yves Logghe/AP Braving snowy weather, Americans and Belgians gathered in the Ardennes on Saturday to mark the 70th anniversary of one of the biggest and bloodiest US battles of the second world war, the Battle of the Bulge. Jean-Claude Klepper, 62, of Virton, Belgium, said “we must never forget what...

December 7th is a day that most Americans take a moment to reflect on the sacrifices made by our men and women in uniform as they look back on the Japanese surprise attack on the naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on that date in 1941. Not the Boston Globe which published an anti-military screed by columnist Stephen Kinzer on the 73rd anniversary of the attack entitled, Joining the Military Doesn’t Make You a Hero Kinzer decries American society in 2014 treating troopers and veterans as heroes. While Kinzer gives a perfunctory nod to soldiers who perform above and beyond...

The Greatest Generation With each passing year, the reunion number is dwindling. The Pearl Harbor survivors are over 90 years old, and the members of that group that got together today in Hawaii numbered a little more than a dozen. Today marks the 73rd Anniversary of the attack against Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, during which 2,400 sailors, Marines, and soldiers were killed. Some have called the reunion of the USS Arizona Reunion Association the last gathering of USS Arizona survivors, but the gathering doesn’t see this meeting as the last one, just yet. The USS Arizona was a battleship that was...

http://thehill.com/opinion/op-ed/226014-oversight-needed-on-new-va-law “The average person would expect better customer service and professionalism from the local Department of Motor Vehicles. Whether it’s incompetence or indifference, why should we tolerate such behavior in VISN 16 when we’re dealing with veterans’ life-saving medical care?” “By tolerating inappropriate denials, his organization needlessly forces thousands of Louisiana veterans into a lengthy appeals process that can last more than two years.”

The very first action taken by the lame duck Congress in the House will be a betrayal of the military and the voters who just gave them a larger majority and their colleagues in the Senate control. The lame duck House is scheduled to pass --perhaps as early as today-- a National Defense Authorization Act ("NDAA") which cuts the scheduled pay hike for the military from 1.8 percent to 1 percent, which slaps a co-pay on all their prescriptions --real dollars every time every military kid gets an ear infection, and a huge hit for any military family with a...

The U.S. Army has agreed to “fully recognize” the new legal names of two transgender military veterans, the American Civil Liberties Union said Tuesday. The group’s New Jersey chapter announced that the Army Board for Correction of Military Records recently notified the two veterans about its decision. The board initially recommended that the request be rejected, but the Army Review Boards’ deputy assistant secretary overrode the decision. …

WASHINGTON, Dec. 1, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- On Tuesday, December 2, Concerned Veterans for America (CVA) and The Weekly Standard will host a national security policy forum, "What Should Modern American Foreign Policy Look Like?" at the historic Willard Hotel in downtown Washington. With turmoil and ISIS on the rise in the Middle East, the specter of a new Cold War between Russia and the West, and an increasingly adversarial relationship with China, this symposium will explore and debate the proper orientation of U.S. national security and foreign policy priorities in the 21st Century. The event, part of CVA's Strength and...

Every day CHQ readers email us all manner of material – comments, news tips, rumors, conspiracy theories, jokes you cannot tell your Sunday school teacher – it all arrives and gets reviewed even though a lot of it doesn’t really fit our “news and commentary from the Tea Party or limited government constitutional conservative perspective” USP. But every so often something comes in over the transom that’s so incisive (and in this case funny in a sad sort of way) that we just have to share it, and such was the case with “American Conundrums” an email forwarded to us...

Veterans Day has come and gone, but the Media Research Center’s Dan Joseph had just one question to ask the Iraq War veterans: How do they feel about the Obama administration’s decision to pull all combat troops out of Iraq. In short, they weren’t pleased at all. One veteran called the president a “moron,” and that his friends who died over there would be rolling in their graves over Obama’s decision to withdraw from Iraq and end combat operations. Others also voiced their opposition to the decision, noting that there’s a reason why civilian control of the military comes with...

Calling all skilled veterans and patriots! We need your help in Ferguson, Missouri. Oath Keepers has a Security Team on the ground right now, in Ferguson, guarding businesses. That team is lead by local Oath Keepers, including retired Missouri police. last night, that team secured four local businesses after the riots erupted, and will do so again tonight, and as long as it takes, but they need your help! (See below for list of skills needed, and how to connect with the team).Little Caesars Pizza on Fire in Ferguson Last Night. More Arson ExpectedThe Oath Keepers Ferguson Security Team needs...

A Heart warming story you may have seen before, but it's well worth seeing again. https://www.youtube.com/embed/agwnwqCdwl8

Off-the-shelf fix for veteran hospital waiting lines “To care for him who shall have borne the battle and his widow and orphan”. This Abraham Lincoln quote on a plaque in front of the Veterans Administration building is a succinct mission for the VA. Our veterans have earned our best efforts toward this end. Congress recently acted in a rare bi-partisan fashion to ease the scandalous backlog. Nine million “Veterans Choice” cards allow access to care outside the VA for veterans living at least 40 miles from a VA facility or on very long wait lists. I applaud the efforts of...

The documents, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, included allegations that the staff at WTUs in Texas mistreated soldiers under their supervision through disrespect, unfair treatment, harassment, intimidation and even, at times, disregard for their medical conditions and treatment plans.