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Saturday on C-SPAN’s Book TV, CIA Benghazi annex security team members Kris Paronto and Mark Geist answered questions about a report released Friday by the House Intelligence Committee on the 9/11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi in 2012. The two former CIA contractors pushed back forcefully against parts of the the committee’s conclusions about the night that Ambassador Chris Stevens, U.S. Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith, and CIA contractors Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty were killed in Benghazi. The report by the U.S. House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), chaired by Republican Rep....

WASHINGTON, April 21, 2008 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates established a new task force last week to ensure the Defense Department is doing everything possible to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) assets to support warfighters, he announced today. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, at podium, speaks to students of the Air War College and the Air Command and Staff College in Polifka Auditorium, Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., April 21, 2008. Defense Dept. photo by Cherie Cullen   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Gates told officers at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., he created  the task force...

Program Molds Elite Iraqi Warfighters An Iraqi operator training course modeled after the U.S. Army Special Forces course has turned out its 10th graduating class. By Master Sgt. Melissa Phillips Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force- Arabian Peninsula BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 9, 2007 — For one Iraqi general, the key to building a united, non-sectarian army lies in fostering a mindset of religious and cultural tolerance among soldiers. "I will never forget the American and coalition men and women … who provided the first stepping stones for us to make our country better." Iraqi Brig. Gen. Fadhil Jameel Jameel Barwari...

U.S. Navy Seabee Jeremy Edwards of Corpus Christi, Texas, saws a two-by-four for a modular protected billeting facility in support of a Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 28 project in the Al Anbar province of Iraq, April 10, 2007. U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Cmdr. Christa Ford Seabees Build Modular Protected Billeting for Warfighters Hardened roofs offer better protection from mortar impacts. By Lt. Cmdr. Christa Ford Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 28 Public Affairs AL ASAD, Iraq, April 18, 2007 — The word of the day for Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 28 is "prefabrication," and they're putting their words into...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20, 2006 -- Whether it’s an infantryman in Iraq needing a new firing pin for his rifle or a fighter pilot on a carrier in the Persian Gulf who needs to replace a cracked landing strut, the Defense Logistics Agency stands ready to support warfighters worldwide, the organization’s director said in a recent interview. Soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines deployed around the world supporting the global war against terrorism routinely make requests from their units for critically needed supplies, Army Lt. Gen. Robert T. Dail told the Pentagon Channel. “It may be a part that keeps an...

Warfighters to Get Hot Traditional Holiday Meals More than 6,000 meals are on their way to troops serving in remote areas of Iraq and Afghanistan. By U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center-Natick NATICK, Mass., Nov. 17, 2006 -- The holidays are going to be a little bit tastier for warfighters serving in Iraq and Afghanistan thanks to a team of scientists at Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center. More than 6,000 meals, consisting of turkey with gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, vegetables, cranberry jelly, snacks, desserts and beverage mixes, are on their way to provide a Thanksgiving meal for forces...

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, July 13, 2006 – Bombs, bullets and explosives are hazardous to friend and foe alike but are handled with care by the men and women who work in the 455th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron's Munitions Flight. Air Force Master Sgt. Robert Jackson inspects a 30 mm round for an A-10 Thunderbolt II in the munitions storage area for Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan. Jackson is a member of the Air Force Reserve deployed to Bagram as a munitions specialist. He and other munitions airmen receive, inspect, store, assemble and deliver ordnance used on aircraft and small arms....

7/10/2006 - SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- Supporting warfighters on the ground is the overarching mission of everyone deployed to the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. Carrying out this earthly mission from thousands of miles above the ground, though, is a responsibility coordinated by the Combined Air Operations Center here. "We're focused on providing space support to any operation throughout the theater," said Col. John Hyten, director of space forces for the CAOC. "We have deployed Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines with space expertise to ensure that the power of space is brought to bear in line with the timing...

FORT BELVOIR, Va., June 13, 2006 – A system initially adopted to help the Army Corps of Engineers detect invasive vegetation growing in coastal waterways is giving warfighters an edge in the global war on terror. "Buckeye," a digital imaging system that's installed on an aircraft, gives ground commanders a bird's-eye view of the area in which they're operating, Army Capt. Jed Richards, research and development coordinator for the Army's Topographic Engineering Center here, told American Forces Press Service. Featuring a high-quality digital camera with an extra-large focal frame, Buckeye "looks" nearly straight down from an aircraft and captures images...

5/17/2006 - Fort Sam Houston, Texas (AFPN) -- Brooke Army Medical Center hosted a military amputee advance skills training workshop for Veterans Affairs’ prosthetists and therapists. Nearly 100 VA rehabilitation team members from 15 medical centers attended the workshop May 10 through 12 to learn the patient care methods used at Department of Defense facilities to help injured servicemembers recover, adjust to using prosthetics, and return to duty or to a full civilian life. “We are learning what the military is doing so that when a Soldier comes to their local VA it is a seamless transition,” said Bob Gailey,...

SOUTHWEST ASIA, April 30, 2006 – Participants in the Joint Civilian Orientation Course began the last leg of their whirlwind trip through the U.S. Central Command area of operations yesterday by learning about the vast mission the Air Force carries out in support of troops on the ground. JCOC participants armed with paintball rounds practice a drill with Air Force security force members. Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Larry Chambers, USGC  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Military officials asked that the visit's exact location not be released. Air Force Lt. Gen. Gary North, commander of U.S. Central...

3/17/2006 - EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AFPN) -- To call yourself the Airman warfighter's weapon of choice is one thing, but it's quite another to go out and back it up. Since its debut in 1999, the Joint Direct Attack Munition, or JDAM, has been called upon more than 15,000 times and continues to be used in the global war on terror. JDAM is a tail kit that turns an unguided dumb bomb, already in the warfighter's arsenal, into an accurate smart munition. These new smart weapons are available to the warfighter in four variants: the 2,000-pound MK-84, the...

Next Generation Cruise Missile Meets Warfighters' Needs One of the newest weapons in the Air Force's arsenal, the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile is truly an incredible piece of technology that gives the warfighter an affordable standoff cruise missile capable of taking out the enemy's air defenses early on in a conflict. By Staff Sgt. Ryan Hansen / Air Armament Center Public Affairs EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla., March 9, 2006 – Since the late 1970s the Department of Defense has tried and failed numerous times to give the warfighter an affordable standoff cruise missile capable of taking out the...

3/2/2006 - LOS ANGELES AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFPN) -- When U.S. forces get to Iraq and Afghanistan, they’re finding dry, featureless terrain with no real landmarks or points of reference to use when they travel across these wide-open and often dangerous landscapes. In the past, maps and a compass were the decisive tools used by servicemembers to track down the enemy and find their exact location in theater. That’s no longer the case. Warfighters are now turning to a 12-channel device known as the Defense Advanced Global Positioning System Receiver, or DAGR, to get vital information. A screen about...

11/28/2005 - INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey (AFPN) -- Giving and receiving are the hallmarks of the holiday season. If you don't believe it, ask the aerial porters here who receive an average of 600,000 pounds of cargo every day and give the warfighters in Iraq "gifts" they can use. "When airlift operations at Frankfurt (Germany) closed, Incirlik ops ramped up significantly," said 1st Lt. Jim Burnham of the 728th Air Mobility Squadron. "We rely on the Reserve force to come in and augment us." Of the 250-person team, 100 of the aerial porters are Reservists deployed for 30 to 120...