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Pentagon officials said Tuesday a fierce sandstorm in Kuwait might have caused the fatal crash of an Army helicopter. The UH60 Black Hawk went down about 1 a.m. Tuesday Kuwait time some 30 miles northwest of Kuwait City, where night training exercises were under way. The Army says the cause of the crash is under investigation, but strong winds and blinding sand were reported in the area overnight. The Pentagon identified those killed Tuesday as Spc. Rodrigo Gonzalez-Garza, 26, of Texas; Chief Warrant Officer Timothy Moehling, 35, of Florida; Chief Warrant Officer John Smith, 32, of Nevada; and Spec. William...

KUWAIT (Reuters) - Four U.S. soldiers were killed in Kuwait on Tuesday when their helicopter crashed during desert training in what U.S. officials said was an apparent accident. The UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter went down near Camp New Jersey, a temporary U.S. military base 30 miles north of Kuwait City, while conducting night training, a U.S. military statement said. The four were the only people aboard. "There is no indication that hostile fire might have caused the crash, which was apparently an accident," Marine Corps Lt. Col. Dave Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman, told Reuters in Washington. The cause of the...

<p>OAK GROVE, Ky. &emdash; Four members of an elite Special Operations aviation unit stationed at Fort Campbell were killed when an Army helicopter crashed Thursday in Afghanistan, their unit's deputy commander said yesterday.</p> <p>''We suffered the tragic loss of four soldiers,'' said Lt. Col. Emmett Shaffer, deputy commander of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. ''They were husbands, fathers and sons.''</p>

BAGRAM, Afghanistan Jan. 31 The twisted wreckage of a U.S. helicopter lay on an Afghan plain Friday as troops searched for clues to a crash that killed four members of an elite unit that slips special forces commandos behind enemy lines. The hulk of helicopter lay near Bagram Air Base, with snow-covered mountains far in the distance. The military said it was unsure what caused Thursday's crash. There was no indication of enemy fire. The four soldiers killed were all members of an elite aviation regiment based at Fort Campbell, Ky., military officials said Friday. The 160th Special Operations Aviation...

KOLR10 News has confirmed one of the Army soldiers killed in the Black Hawk helicopter crash in Afghanistan this week, is a native of Neosho, Missouri. Daniel Kisling Jr, 32, was a Staff Sergeant with the Army's Special Forces, based with the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. His family was notified Thursday, that he was one of four soldiers killed in the crash. Kisling's mother-in-law, Heidi McNeil of Neosho, tells KOLR10 Kisling had been in the Army about 8 years. He was serving as Crew Chief for the Blackhawk crew. Kisling was married to his high school sweetheart,...

North Pole - Citing concerns about security and licensing costs, Santa Claus is considering migrating his computer systems from Microsoft Windows to Linux. With several thousand computers and the largest database in the world, Santa's Workshop is one of the largest and most important clients for Microsoft. It is expected that the software maker will do whatever it takes to keep Claus in their corner. "If some naughty kid was able to break into my systems and change his status to nice then the whole integrity of the Claus empire would be called into question," said Kringle. "I also have...

28 indicted in alleged Social Security card fraud case By BILL RANKIN Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer A Social Security Administration claims adjuster is among 28 people indicted in an alleged widespread fraud ring in which 1,900 Social Security cards were issued to illegal immigrants. Celestine Huger, 43, a claims clerk with the Social Security office in Atlanta, was charged with conspiracy to commit fraud and accepting bribes. According to the federal indictment unsealed today, Huger received about $70,000 in payoffs for approving the Social Security card numbers. "This is a disturbing and important case," U.S. Attorney Bill Duffey said today....

I knew I had this cartoon somewhere and really wanted to find it when Carter’s Nobel Peace Prize was announced, but I only happened across it today in a photo album. This reminds me of what it was like during the Carter/Mondale administration. It was a joke. I can remember starting a business with little cash reserve and all of a sudden having to spend one whole day of every week lined up to get gas so that business could be conducted. I also remember the high inflation and high interest rates. Walter Mondale has no credibility as a politician...

Tune in fast! Talking about the protest this weekend.

U.S. Sen. Max Cleland won the Silver Star for gallantry in Vietnam but lost the political support Wednesday of one of the nation's most powerful veterans groups. The 1.8 million-member Veterans of Foreign Wars on Wednesday passed over Cleland and endorsed Republican challenger U.S. Rep. Saxby Chambliss --- who did not serve in the military. The endorsement highlights a bitter split among the state's veterans over the race. One side touts Cleland's immense sacrifice in war: he lost three limbs in a grenade explosion, and was decorated for helping wounded comrades during a 1968 rocket attack. Other veterans point to...

It's my job to have something to say. They pay me to provide words that help make sense of that which troubles the American soul. But in this moment of airless shock when hot tears sting disbelieving eyes, the only thing I can find to say, the only words that seem to fit, must be addressed to the unknown author of this suffering. You monster. You beast. You unspeakable bastard. What lesson did you hope to teach us by your coward's attack on our World Trade Center, our Pentagon, us? What was it you hoped we would learn? Whatever it...

<p>At the start of a two-week family trip to Paris, Gerry Zinna found herself face-to-face with a Continental Airlines ticket agent armed with a yellow measuring tape. The family's three suitcases were "oversize" -- bigger than Continental allows for checked bags.</p>

History: hindsight into the future "History, a record of things left behind by past generations, started in 1815. We should thus try to view historical times as the behind of the present. This gives incite into the anals of the past." "History, as we know, is always bias, because human beings have to be studied by other human beings, not by independent observers of another species." "From the secondary sources we are given hindsight into the future. Hindsight, after all, is caused by a lack of foresight." Dawn of time: the stoned age "Bible legend states that the trouble started ...

This is an excerpt from the February 2002 Soldier of Fortune magazine. The author, Jim Morris is talking to the Military Technical Advisor and Associate Producer for Blackhawk Down, Harry Humphries. Jim Morris served three tours with Special Forces in Vietnam and covered eight wars for SOF mag. Harry was a SEAL in Vietnam, first with the Teams, then with the Phoenix Program as a PRU advisor. Here is Harry’s assessment of what went wrong in Somalia. "So give me a little background. How did we get into this worst-case scenario?" "Somalia went to sh_t during UNISOM I when Bush ...

We have shared many triumphs and tragedies with the friends we have made here. We have mourned with many over the loss of loved ones, and have lost some of our own. I would like to pay tribute to all FReepers who have come here and become a part of our lives who have gone through the holidays without someone precious to them, and who face new challenges in the year to come. I just wanted those of you who lost a loved one in the past year or more to know that your friends are thinking about you at ...

TARIN KOT, Afghanistan -- What may have been the decisive battle in the Afghan war could also qualify as the most obscure. It was fought here, in the remote high-desert outpost that senior Taliban commanders regarded as home. After an opposition force had taken Tarin Kot in the first days of Ramadan without firing a shot, Taliban troops rushed to recapture the town -- and ran into a hail of fire that finished them as a fighting force. In the early morning hours of Nov. 18, the first of perhaps 1,000 Taliban fighters in about 100 double-cab pickups were approaching ...

It's time to take another look at the FReeper Photo Album and send new pics or make changes. Since the banner ads no longer appear on latest posts, many of you don't know about the album. Thanks to Nick Danger for providing the site and the method to upload pics as they come in and change or remove existing ones. If you want to be added to the album, send a URL for your pics to me via FReep mail or email attachments to LBGA@usa.com. Be sure to tell me your screen name.

This was sent to me via email and I posted it to another thread, but it was suggested it have a thread all its own. Enjoy. Day-O

&nbsp; SKYSCRAPERS.COM is the world's largest database on tall buildings. &nbsp; Homepage This website is dedicated to the memory of the tremendous loss of life from the NYC bombings. All our files will remain unavailable until Wednesday September 19, 2001. &nbsp; On September 11 WTC in New York City collapsed due to terrorist attacks. ONLINE TOMORROW! Interview with Professor Graubner on Construction and Safety of World Trade Center. Technical note: Our server is experiencing historically high access numbers. We will be back online with all our 300,000 files before Wednesday&nbsp;19, 2001. News Coverage: For detailed coverage of the terror ...

A beautiful tribute to America was put together by an Italian living in Paris. This was sent to me by a friend who says her friend knows the person who created it. I hope many people see it because it helps us know that people all over the world are with us today. A Tribute