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Ayman Taha, a Berkeley graduate who was described as athletic, a speaker of many languages, and a friend to all who met him, had only to write his dissertation to earn his PhD, his father said. But three years ago, Taha, a budding economist and the son of a Northern Virginia couple, Abdel-Rahman and Amal Taha, joined the Army to serve in the Special Forces. About a year ago, he was sent to Iraq. On Friday, as Staff Sgt. Ayman Taha, 31, was preparing a cache of munitions for demolition in the town of Balad, the explosives detonated and he...

CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. - Phil Ward, who was part of a Marine patrol that raised an American flag on Iwo Jima hours before the famous World War II flag-raising photograph was taken, has died. Ward, who was 79, died Dec. 28 at his winter home in McAllen, Texas. His funeral was Tuesday in Crawfordsville and his ashes will be interred Jan. 19 at Arlington National Cemetery. Ward was two weeks shy of his 19th birthday when he and other members of E Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines, landed on Iwo Jima, a Japanese-occupied Pacific island. The battle was the deadliest in...

Dear Soldier, For some time now, we have sought to underplay the strife in Washington to reassure you that despite our differences we are all united behind your mission. It is no longer possible to do so. Sadly, there are some among us whose worldview is so skewed that in their minds you are worse than the murderous terrorists intent on our destruction. To them you are the bad one while they are freedom fighters. These people think we cannot and deserve not to win this war.

<p>RALEIGH, North Carolina (AP) -- Home for Christmas after nearly a year in the Middle East, Navy Reservist Paul Berkley was making up for lost time with his family.</p> <p>He arrived Wednesday, in time to hear his 18-year-old son, Zeke, sing the national anthem with his high school chorus. On Friday, he and 16-year-old stepdaughter Becky ate pizza, watched movies and danced.</p>

FORT JACKSON, S.C. (Army News Service, Dec 20, 2005) – Despite several injuries acquired during combat, to include an above-the-knee leg amputation, Staff Sgt. Roy Mitchell is not willing to let go of his 12 years in the Army without a fight. “People came into my hospital room two weeks after my injury and wanted to process me for medical retirement, and they presented it to me as if I didn’t have an option,” said Mitchell. “I told them no.” For him, there was no decision to make, because the Army is his career. “And this injury didn’t change that...

If Brandon Erickson could magically go back to July 14, 1999, and change his decision that day to enlist with the North Dakota National Guard, he wouldn't. And he isn't just being a good soldier when he says that. That's because the events of the past six-plus years - even the rocket attack in Iraq that cost him his right arm - have improved his life. One of those improvements was realized Friday when the 24-year-old graduated from UND with a degree in political science. Today, he heads to California for graduate school and what he anticipates will be a...

They Sign Up Knowing They'll Go to War BY DAVID WOOD FORT JACKSON, S.C. -- Deep in the dank woods of December, young Americans are gritting through another long day of basic combat training, new soldiers in their first weeks of military service. Straight off the bus from civilian life they get a haircut, fatigues and a rifle and learn to shoot wearing body armor. They struggle through days in cold and rain, learning to work in teams, mastering combat first aid and compass navigation at night, and pushing past limits of exhaustion and fear: They throw live hand grenades,...

Letter to an American SoldierDecember 14th, 2005 Dear Soldier, For some time now, we have sought to underplay the strife in Washington to reassure you that despite our differences we are all united behind your mission. It is no longer possible to do so. Sadly, there are some among us whose worldview is so skewed that in their minds you are worse than the murderous terrorists intent on our destruction. To them you are the bad one while they are freedom fighters. These people think we cannot and deserve not to win this war. Such notions almost invariably come from...

Marco Benz Descendant of First Gas Automobile Inventor Karl Benz of Mercedes-Benz Joins the U.S. Army Marco Allen Benz a descendant of Karl Benz (inventor of automobile Mercedes Benz) joins the United States Army to defend the United States against terrorism and to assist in a democratic Iraq and Afghanistan for the people of their nation. (PRWEB) December 11, 2005 -- Marco Allen Benz is a descendant of Karl Benz, the German automobile engineer that is regarded as the inventor of the gasoline-powered automobile. Marco Allen Benz was born in St. Louis, Missouri on August 20th 1986, to Douglas Benz...

I have an idea- why not send some digital cameras over to our guys and gals in Iraq and ask them to send back some photos for us. I will compile a list of people with servers, who will post the photos here at FR- perhaps we could use this thread for a meeting place. My hope is that blogs and friendly media can pick up the photos and spread them around a bit. What we need are: 1)People and organizations who are willing to donate cameras and get them to our troops. 2)Names of people who can receive the...

HERNDON, VA –Warren Community College English professor, John Daly, said that “Real freedom will come when soldiers in Iraq turn their guns on their superiors.” Rebecca Beach, a freshman at Warren Community College in Washington, New Jersey, received this unexpected reply to a recent email she sent the faculty at her school announcing the appearance of decorated Iraq war hero, Lt. Col. Scott Rutter, on Thursday, November 17 to discuss America’s accomplishments in Iraq. In the email, Daly told Rebecca that he will ask students in his English and writing classes to boycott the event and also vowed “to expose...

A jury on Tuesday convicted an Orange County deputy sheriff of six theft counts in connection with $23,000 she received by mistake when she was called for National Guard duty before the Iraq invasion in 2003. Orange County Deputy Sheriff Tawanda McNeil, indicted on federal embezzlement charges in September, sat in silence in Orlando's federal courthouse while listening to the verdict. Jurors took nearly three hours after a two-day trial to find McNeil guilty of pocketing $8,291. McNeil, a four-year deputy suspended without pay two months ago, was acquitted of 12 other identical counts. "This case is about an Army...

Army Capt. David Rozelle's right foot was blown off when his Humvee rolled over a land mine in Iraq, in June 2003. The next morning, resting in a hospital bed in a tent outside Baghdad, Rozelle woke up, pressed his palms against the sheets and started doing pushups, then situps. He had been a four-sport high school varsity athlete in Austin, Texas, played international rugby in the Army and didn't want to lose his athletic identity. "I wanted to stay fit," said Rozelle, who would become the first amputee soldier to return to combat in Iraq. Since being wounded, Rozelle...

Tucker man in the right place at the right time for Friday heroics Cpl. Kevin Doncaster, a 29-year-old Marine reservist from Tucker, Ga., was in the right place at the right time Friday night when he stopped a man who attacked a woman in a Wal-Mart bathroom, holding him at gunpoint until police arrived. What was Doncaster doing in Statesboro's Wal-Mart? What was he doing with a gun? And why did he chase Stephen Mark Hall into the parking lot after Hall sprayed him and a store manager with pepper spray? On his way to Savannah for a weekend getaway...

The White House found itself at the centre of another public relations disaster yesterday after a Pentagon official was seen coaching a group of handpicked US troops before a live teleconference with President George Bush. In a cringingly wooden exchange the group of soldiers stationed in Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit told the president exactly what he wanted to hear - that Iraqis were eager to vote on a new constitution this weekend and the country's fledgling security forces were ready to meet the challenge. But before Mr Bush entered the room Alison Barber, a senior defence department official,...

Rifle ready, Cpl. Joe Johnson nimbly stepped around mounds of trash and pools of raw sewage, handing out strawberry Twizzlers to scabby, barefoot children. Cpl. Joseph Johnson on patrol near Husseiniya, Iraq.photo by Louie Favorite/AJCIt saddens Johnson to think this desperate poverty and filth were the last things his son saw before he was killed last year. For more than a year, Johnson fought to follow in his son’s footsteps to Iraq. There was a sense of soldierly duty, but what most drew him here was his desire for vengeance. “I can shoot an insurgent and not lose a bit...

FARGO - A ninth-grader here has been banned from his school's assemblies after asking a sensitive question to a U.S. Army pilot. Phil Sannes also had to apologize to speaker Michael Durant after he asked the "Black Hawk Down" helicopter pilot on Thursday whether he had been raped during his capture by hostile forces in Somalia. "He asked a fair, hard-balled question," said Phil's dad, Jon Sannes. "I don't know why he's being punished." "I felt the question posed was inappropriate at that time and that place," said Peggy Stibbe, assistant principal. In 1993, Durant flew a Blackhawk in Mogadishu,...

of six counts in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse case, The Associated Press reports.

Patrick Dowdell lost his father four years ago in the World Trade Center, but he keeps him close by. He wears a steel bracelet stamped with "Lt. Kevin Dowdell 9-11-01" with his cadet grays. Pictures of his father in his firefighter uniform are taped to the wall in his quarters. He still tries to live by his father's standards. "I think about him," Patrick said. "If he was here right now, `What would he think about this? Or about that?' I think he'd be pretty excited about what's happening." "I'm going to go into the infantry and I want to...

COMPTON, Calif. (AP) A Navy sailor on leave from the war in Iraq was killed in a suspected gang shooting that also wounded his brother, pregnant wife, and the couple's unborn baby. Osiel Hipolito, 20, was shopping at a strip mall near Compton with his wife and brother when he was assaulted by two men believed to be gang members, Sheriff's Deputy Scott Gage said. ``He goes to defend himself and one of the gang members draws a gun and begins shooting at the group,'' Gage said. Hipolito was pronounced dead at a local hospital. The baby, a girl, was...

To the Many Brave American Soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, As you look out your window or walk by them on the street there may be a few dozen people standing around wearing pink from an organization that calls itself Code Pink. I know the participants look like they are holdovers from the Vietnam era and are unkempt and dirty, but they decided that protesting you instead of protesting American policy is the right thing to do. You have to excuse them because they are Baby Boomers and represent the selfish wing of that generation. It is amazing...

SHREVEPORT, La. - William Lawson looked every bit the retired Marine general this summer as he stood before a crowd of 200 people, demanding that a cemetery properly dispose of the American flags placed at the graves of veterans. He had on khakis, the Marines’ summer service uniform, complete with a general’s stars and row after row of medals, including the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Good Conduct Medal. He even wore an eyepatch. It turns out, however, that Lawson wasn’t a general at all — or even a World War II combat veteran. His 19 months in...

The Tohono O'odham Nation is grieving the death of a 20-year-old tribal member killed in action in Iraq. Pfc. Seferino Reyna, an Army combat engineer and father of two, died Sunday when his vehicle was hit by a homemade bomb near Taji, about 20 miles northwest of Baghdad. "This is a tragic loss for the Reyna family, and the entire Tohono O'odham Nation mourns," said Vivian Juan-Saunders, chairwoman of the nation. Reyna was the first O'odham member killed in Iraq. He is the 21st service member of American Indian or native Alaskan descent to die in Iraq or Afghanistan, according...

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. - Inside an Afghan village, her unit was conducting random searches for Taliban fighters and weapons caches - then they heard what sounded like a cell phone. That didn't sound right to Marine Sgt. Christine Griego. "It's a poor country, and, if someone has a cell phone, it means they're doing something they probably shouldn't be," said Griego, an aviations mechanic with Marine Aircraft Group 26, 2nd Marine Air Wing. That was the first deployment for Griego, 22, who's now stationed at New River Air Station. The Afghan people had become accustomed to Army and Marine troops conducting...

In battle, one of the hardest challenges is saving the wounded. Medical professionals encounter injuries not normally seen in peacetime, and many times see multiple life-threatening injures requiring immediate treatment on the battlefield. Another problem is moving patients across hot desert sands on bumpy roads in Iraq, which can be logistically challenging and uncomfortable for the patient. And there is always the danger of roadside bombs. To solve these problems, military aeromedical planners developed what is now an efficient medical evacuation system that moves patients from where they were injured to definitive care quickly and safely. Along the way, patients...

BALAD, Iraq, July 29, 2005 – Bernd and Virginia Zoller are two full-time Army Reserve officers with a lot in common, pulling military duty in an uncommon place. First off, the Zollers share the same rank -- lieutenant colonel -- and both are public affairs officers. "We were promoted together here on Dec. 24 in this room," Lt. Col. Virginia Zoller said during a July 27 interview with American Forces Press Service here. And the pair has the same last name, because they're a couple. The Zollers will celebrate their first year of marriage Aug. 29. Virginia, 42, acknowledged she...

Servicemembers and veterans were among those who got a sneak peek of the film that promotional materials say tells the story of the "most spectacular rescue missions ever to take place in American history: 'the great raid on Cabanatuan.'" The raid was conducted to rescue the more than 500 U.S. prisoners of war who had survived the Bataan Death March through the jungles of the Philippines. Lt. Col. Henry A. Mucci, working from 6th Army Headquarters in Luzon in the Philippines, was charged with figuring out how to free the POWs before the Japanese army's "Kill All" policy was enforced....

An Independence Day Thank You To The American Soldier Thank you hardly seems enough. It never has been or ever will be enough. But, it is all that I have to offer to you men and women who willingly place yourselves out of country and in harm’s way so that the rest of us can move about in safety at home. You who volunteer to protect the USA, your family, friends and those you’ve never met with your lives, are a breed apart from the rest of us. You always have been so. From the days prior to the...

TAHOUA, Niger — Heat exhaustion, dehydration, diarrhea. “Stuff” happens when soldiers spend days in 120-degree desert heat in Third World conditions. That’s one reason soldiers from the 160th Forward Surgical Team were brought to Niger for Flintlock 05. There might still be dust from Iraq on their medical tent, one said, because that stuff is hard to get out. But inside it’s nearly as clean as a hospital. One week into their mission in Niger, the doctors and medics of the 160th FST had treated three cases of heat- or food-related misfortune. Flintlock 05 is a monthlong training exercise for...

Sergeant, 23, Is First Woman Awarded Silver Star Since World War IIBy John J. Lumpkin Associated Press Writer Published: Jun 16, 2005 WASHINGTON (AP) - A 23-year-old sergeant with the Kentucky National Guard on Thursday became the first female soldier to receive the Silver Star - the nation's third-highest medal for valor - since World War II. Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester, who is from Nashville, Tenn., but serves in a Kentucky unit, received the award for gallantry during a March 20 insurgent ambush on a convoy in Iraq. Two men from her unit, the 617th Military Police Company of Richmond,...

BAGHDAD , Iraq – Task Force Baghdad Soldiers provided medical treatment for two Iraqi children injured when a roadside improvised explosive device exploded in northwest Baghdad May 27. The children were hurt when a bomb targeting the Soldiers' patrol detonated prematurely near an Iraqi vehicle. The Soldiers tended to the children's injuries and sent them on their way. While the medics were helping the children, an Iraqi man brought his 4-year-old daughter to Soldiers providing security at the site. The little girl was bleeding from shrapnel wounds. The girl's father told the Soldiers his daughter had been playing with some...

“Memory n. 1. The mental faculty of retaining and recalling past experience; the ability to remember. 2. An act or instance of remembrance; a recollection… see smer in Appendix.” “smer – to remember. In Germanic murnon, to remember sorrowfully, in Old English murnan, to mourn.” I remember Chuck Meerholz and the day I was supposed to drive. After four months with B Company, 1st Battalion, 69th Armor; four months of on-the-job-training for a guy trained as an infantrymen, I was being taught to drive our tank. B Company was to participate in a big operation centered on the village of...

Steve Rasmussen stood earnestly, his voice cracking with emotion describing his father’s love for the U. S. Military Academy and his privilege to witness something that meant so much to his father with the hope it will mean the same to its new owner. His father, James Asa Rasmussen, USMA class of 1945, who died October 26, had a last wish of contributing his class ring to the Class Ring Memorial Program. His ring was included among the 12 present at the ring ceremony conducted at the Pease & Curren Refinery in Warwick , R.I. , March 8. In four...

MOSUL , Iraq – Soldiers from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) killed several terrorists and captured four people suspected of anti-Iraqi activities in northern Iraq Sunday in combined operations with Iraqi Security Forces. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment were attacked by terrorists while conducting a raid in a village in northern Al Anbar Province. Iraqi Army and U.S. 2-14th Soldiers quickly overwhelmed the enemy. Following the attack, the units also discovered a weapons cache inside the building the terrorists had used. The suspects are in custody with no MNF or ISF injuries reported.

 EAST BRIDGEWATER — For several weeks, resident Marjorie Winsor could not get Gordon M. Craig off her mind.Neither could American Legion Post 91 Commander Charles Gilbert.Winsor wanted to revive the memory of the hometown hero who sacrificed his life to save four other soldiers during the Korean War. Gilbert was thinking about him while researching his Memorial Day speech.Independently, they both contacted the veterans service office for help.As a result, the town is forming a committee to petition the state to have a bridge near Craig's childhood home named after him.There are only a few people left in town who...

A tribute to fallen HEROES  from the staff and visitors at FreeRepublic.com, FreedomUSA.org and Veterans for Constitutional Restoration (VetsCoR)  During the course of this country's history brave men and women have stepped forward from time to time, answering the country's call to fight against would-be tyrants, dictators and despots,  and to defend the individual freedom that is our birthright.  Many of these brave men and women have paid the ultimate price. It is to these brave men and women of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marine that we dedicate this page, and to...

Perched on a tree stump stool, Sam Ross grinned and cocked his head in the direction of the concrete slab dangling from the enormous crane parked in his newly laid gravel driveway. Andy Starnes, Post-Gazette Sam Ross sits in front of the handicap-accessible home being built for him near Dunbar, Fayette County, by Homes For Our Troops. Click photo for larger image. Moments later, the rectangle of prefabricated concrete swung past Ross' face, then slipped into place in the muddy pit in front of him. "What's happening?'' Ross asked yesterday, anxious for assurance that work truly had begun on the...

WEST POINT, N.Y. - Graduating U.S. Military Academy cadets - who came here just weeks before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks - were told Saturday they were a special group forged by historic events. Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called the class "one of the few since the early days of the Vietnam War who came to West Point in peace time, saw the nation transition to war and chose to stay, knowing you would raise your right hand and take an oath and swear to defend the constitution of a nation that was still...

ALTAMONT, New York (AP) -- A soldier held in Japanese prison camps in World War II secretly painted stars and stripes on pilfered paper hidden from his captors, then held the flag up high to greet American planes flying overhead when his camp was liberated. After returning home, Cpl. Millard Orsini consigned the object of his secret work to a closet. He rarely mentioned the war or the moldering flag, and died in 1978 from a heart attack. "He was really a hometown hero who got lost in the cracks," said Tony Ferraioli, who led the effort to restore the...

FRAMINGHAM -- When Collin Kelly arrived at Edgell Grove Cemetery to place flowers on soldiers' graves yesterday, he discovered a crowd of people and decades of emotions buried deep. The cemetery visit by the young boy, whose effort to honor dead veterans has made him a national media celebrity this past week, attracted a large group of onlookers: veterans, reporters, patriotic well-wishers and people grieving the loss of loved ones laid to rest at Edgell Grove.

HADITHA, Iraq - More than 1,000 Marines, sailors and soldiers are taking part in a counterinsurgency operation in Haditha, a Sunni-dominated trouble spot 140 miles north of Baghdad, the military said Friday. Two Marines have been killed in the operation, which began Wednesday. U.S. forces returned to Haditha less than two months after they thought they cleaned up the Euphrates River town. But insurgents assassinated the police chief and devastated his force more than a month ago, leaving Haditha without a security force. Iraqi troops also stayed clear of Haditha. Until Iraqi forces can handle security in places like Haditha,...

ST. PAUL - The son of a Minnesota state senator was killed in Iraq when his helicopter was shot down, officials said. It was the second tour in Iraq for Chief Warrant Officer Matt Lourey, 41, who flew helicopters with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division — though his mother, Sen. Becky Lourey, and other relatives opposed the war and had tried to talk him out of it. ADVERTISEMENT "He didn't want to die, but nonetheless he signed up for military service and he understood what that meant," said his brother, Tony Lourey. Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson, a brigadier general...

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — Everyone agrees that Ligaya Lagman (search) is a Gold Star mother, part of the long line of mournful women whose sons or daughters gave their lives for their country. Her 27-year-old son, Army Staff Sgt. Anthony Lagman (search), was killed last year in Afghanistan, but American Gold Star Mothers Inc., has rejected Lagman, a Filipino, for membership because — though a permanent resident and a taxpayer — she is not a U.S. citizen. http://www.goldstarmoms.com/

HEREFORD - Earlier this month, Mark Bieger was on patrol with soldiers of a Stryker unit in Iraq. Suddenly there was an explosion near the lead vehicle. Insurgents had attacked. But what horrified the soldiers was that the bomb was set off in the streets of Mosul, crammed with children waving at them. Bieger then faced a heart-wrenching attempt to save the life of Farah, a 2-year-old child whose body had been hit by shrapnel and other debris from the bomb blast. For Dan and Shelley Bieger, seeing the photo of their son running with the child in his arms...

...I admire my Father more than any other person on this planet, not for being a mechanic, not for being a tough guy. I admire my father for his ambition.... My dad hasn't taught me everything though, a lot of it I have learned on my own too. I still got a lot to learn still, but I have figured out things like how to deal with people you don't like or those that don't like you.... I love sports. I love football, wrestling, weight lifting, skiing and hockey. I love the thrill of competition.... I want to be remembered...

Jose M. Lopez, a World War II veteran who won the Medal of Honor for single-handedly killing more than 100 German soldiers in a single skirmish, died Monday at age 94. Lopez won the nation's highest military honor for his heroics during the Battle of the Bulge in 1944. He was the oldest living Hispanic Medal of Honor recipient and among a dwindling group of such winners from World War II. Lopez had been hospitalized for several weeks while being treated for cancer. This month he returned to the home of his daughter, Maggie Wickwire, where he died. His health...

Emotional Picture Of War May 6, 2005   By Joe Furia PIERCE COUNTY - There have been a few famous war pictures over the years. From the raising of the flag in Iwo Jima, to the picture of a South Vietnamese police chief executing a North Vietnamese prisoner of war. Now, there is a new picture from Iraq. The picture shows a U.S. soldier cradling a dying Iraqi child. He is rushing her to the hospital, trying desperately to save her life. That soldier is Major Mark Bieger, a member of the Fort Lewis Stryker Brigade, with three young children...

(snip, snip) "Do you ever take a half step back and say, 'Was this war really necessary?' Or you don't even go there?" asks Safer. "No, on a daily basis. Because it's a responsibility I have to my soldiers, because they're gonna ask me those questions," says Blickhan. "And no reporter can put it as blunt as an American paratrooper. 'Why are we here? Why are we doing this?' And I've gotta be able to answer that. In my heart, I've found an answer that it's worth it. And I've lost soldiers, and Americans are dying over there, and Iraqis...

The recent photo of U.S. Army Major Mark Bieger cradling a wounded Iraqi girl in his arms is one of those indelible images that puncture the often impenetrable fog of the war at the geo-strategic level. (For the story of the photo click here http://komotv.com/news/story.asp?ID=36687). This powerful photo contrasts with the negative media portrayals riveted into our minds about the Viet Nam War. One memorable Viet Nam war photo is the picture of children fleeing down a road from where a napalm bomb was dropped by the South Vietnamese Air Force on the village of Trang Bang where Viet Cong...