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Spray Gun Shoots Adult Stem Cells Onto Wound One goal of the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine is a way to quickly seal battlefield wounds and promote more rapid healing. One method already being tested is a skin spray gun; it sprays skin stem cells onto a wound. The technique also utilizes an innovative wound dressing that acts as a bioreactor, nurturing the sprayed-on cells. The method, which uses the patient's own cells, has already been successfully tested on 16 burn patients at the Berlin Burn Center, providing faster and more efficient healing than typical skin grafts. The patient's...

SEATTLE, Wash-- A Seattle man started a trend that pays respect to soldiers in uniform when they are in public places like airports. Since launching a website in September he's received millions of web hits. The trend is called the Gratitude Campaign and it all starts with a hand signal that you can do anytime you see a soldier in uniform. The signal is a new way to thank soldiers for their service without having to interrupt them or make them feel uncomfortable. Soldiers in the 81st Heavy Brigade Combat team are preparing to leave for Iraq in August. They...

He rose through the ranks and paid his dues. He beat the odds to become not only the top Canadian military man, but a key cog for NATO in Bosnia-Herzegovina and subsequently became the point-man in the Free World’s War on Terror with his successful tenure as Commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. Not only did he work tirelessly to rebuild the Canadian Armed Forces to a level of respectability, he instilled a long-lost pride in our military by spearheading the change from ‘peacekeeping force’ to actual ‘military’. In some nations, they would give him...

Last year 44 states, the District of Columbia and cities across the nation joined with the Silver Star Families of America to remember and honor our wounded and ill on May 1st. This year the organization is hoping all 50 states will join with them but they are taking a more grass root approach to this May 1st to kick off Military Appreciation Month.

Like pensions and insurance, defence is one of those subjects to which too many people only pay attention when things go wrong. You might think, in the light of the past decade, that this would have changed. But you would be sadly mistaken. Even today, even after Iraq, few mainstream MPs without an immediate personal or constituency interest in the subject turn up in the Commons for defence debates. Many politicians who are thoughtful about a range of domestic issues still pass by on the other side when the conversation gravitates to the military. In this they reflect the British...

You'll recall Hillary Clinton's recent speech in which she attempted to play up her foreign policy experience by recounting her "harrowing" 1996 trip to Bosnia. "I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base." Well, mainstream media has discounted that account, and such luminaries as comedian Sinbad have chimed in as well. It appears, however, that Clinton caved in too soon when she admitted overstating the dangers, as Barely Political...

Cindy Sheehan barely fits into her "campaign limo," her sister's blue Hyundai Tiburon. She ducks low to avoid hitting her head on the way in, and her knees are nearly at her chest when she sits, even with the seat rolled all the way back. Traveling over the Oakland Bay Bridge, her campaign manager at the wheel--steering with one hand and scrolling through e-mails with the other--the 6-foot-tall antiwar activist turned congressional hopeful tries in vain to stretch out in the passenger seat. It's raining when they pull into a parking spot near Berkeley City College, where Sheehan is about...

A few months ago, a day before one of the occasional marches the Capital sees demanding an end to the Iraq War, I began the descent into the Metro stop near my office, looked up, and saw a number of representatives of Code Pink standing at the railing overlooking the escalator. Or rather, I heard them first. They were screaming at the parade of commuters, at the top of their lungs and in a tone somewhere between simple frustration and righteous anger, "End the war!!!" Well, I thought, that ought to take care of things. Good work, hippies! I kid...

The recent Hillary Clinton campaign advertisement asking who Americans want answering the phone in the White House when a crisis erupts at 3 a.m. has sparked a national debate about which candidate would best handle such a phone call. But while the ad was designed to boost the Clinton candidacy, likely voters nationwide say they would feel more secure having Republican John McCain answering the call of a crisis, a new Zogby International telephone poll shows. Given the choice between Clinton and McCain, 55% preferred McCain while 37% would want Clinton to answer the phone, while 9% said they were...

The worst moment in Gary Stokes' life was not the day a couple of Marines in dress uniform showed up at his door to tell him his son had been killed in Iraq. That was bad, no doubt. He had spent two years wondering whether he would receive those unwelcome visitors. The worst moment came later, after the tears and the grief. The worst moment came slowly. It was the horrible realization that Sean was gone forever. He would never see his son again. Never again go fishing or camping, or watch him get married and have children of his...

WASHINGTON - Borrowing a theme from the presidential contest, Vice President Dick Cheney said Tuesday that the possibility of a 3 a.m. emergency call to the White House is all the more reason for the next commander in chief to follow through on President Bush's plans for a national missile defense. "It's plain to see that the world around us gives ample reason to continue working on missile defense," Cheney told the conservative Heritage Foundation at a dinner recognizing the 25th anniversary of President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, a proposed network of rockets capable of shooting down incoming intercontinental ballistic...

While hundreds of Mexican soldiers are deserting the army to join drug trafficking gangs, California is facing the opposite problem: A growing number of gang members here have infiltrated the U.S. Armed Forces in order to receive military training. The numbers speak for themselves: In 2003 there were just 16 incidents of gang members in the U.S. Armed Forces, while in 2006 the total was 10,309, according to the study, "Gang-Related Activity in the U.S. Armed Forces Increasing," released in 2007 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Twenty-two official entities, including the Los Angeles Police Department, participated in the...

SAN FRANCISCO, Actor Sean Penn and Peace Activist Cindy Sheehan will headline "Iraq: 5 Years Too Many", an event marking the fifth anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq. Also featured will be Reverend Gregory Stewart, Senior Minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church; Matt Gonzalez, former President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors; and Justin Raimondo, Editorial Director of Antiwar.com. The program will begin at 5pm on Sunday, March 16th, 2008 at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 1187 Franklin Street (near Geary) in San Francisco. After the speakers finish, attendees will march to the War Memorial Auditorium on Van Ness...

One expert said some productions made by the terror group were 'good enough to put on the Discovery Channel' PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN In an Internet age, al-Qaeda prizes geek jihadis as much as would-be suicide bombers and gunmen. The terror network is recruiting computer-savvy technicians to produce sophisticated Web documentaries and multimedia products aimed at Muslim audiences in the US, Britain and other Western countries. Already, the terror movement's al-Sahab production company is turning out high quality material, some of which rivals productions by Western media companies. The documentaries appear regularly on Islamist Web sites, which al-Qaeda uses to recruit followers...

SELDOM has the sacrifice of so many been so sneered at by such a worthless few. Barely a week goes by without one or more brave members of our Armed Forces giving their lives in Iraq or Afghanistan. We at The Sun SALUTE our heroic Boys and Girls – and today declare the ban on them wearing their proud uniforms in public an INSULT. Last night PM Gordon Brown slammed a barmy order that 2,000 RAF personnel must don civvies on a city’s streets to avoid confrontations with “antiwar” thugs. The same cowardly minority of hooligans have spat at and...

The improvised explosive device went off at approximately 3:45 a.m., shattering glass and twisting the building's metal frame. Some will dismiss this as just another attack on our troops in Iraq or Afghanistan. But, the attack didn't take place in the Middle East – the attack against our troops took place here on American soil. The bombing of the military recruiting center located at Times Square in New York City is still under investigation. Police report a hooded individual leaving the scene on a bike just prior to the bomb's explosion. Eight Democratic politicians received letters providing a warning of...

<p>Please visit http://www.rtmrwdc.org/upevents.html and view Rolling Thunder Washington DC support.</p> <p>As I’ve suggested on many occasions, the only way to support our nation, our troops, our fallen, and make our point, send our message, convince people of what we stand for, is putting our ”boots on the ground”, or should I say “rubber on the target”?</p>

The Marines are getting a boost from one of the country's largest pro-troop organizations. MoveAmericaForward.org has launched a new ad criticizing the city.

WASHINGTON - During the final allied offensive of the Korean War, Master Sgt. Woodrow Wilson Keeble risked his life to save his fellow Soldiers. Almost six decades after his gallant actions and 26 years after his death, Keeble will be the first full-blooded Sioux Indian to receive the Medal of Honor. The White House announced this morning that Keeble will receive the Medal of Honor posthumously in a ceremony scheduled for 2:30 p.m. March 3. Keeble is one of the most decorated Soldiers in North Dakota history. A veteran of World War II and the Korean War, he was born...

Secret evidence. Denial of habeas corpus. Evidence obtained by waterboarding. Indefinite detention. The litany of complaints about the treatment of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay is long, disturbing and by now familiar. Nonetheless, a new wave of shock and criticism greeted the Pentagon's announcement on February 11 that it was charging six Guantánamo detainees, including alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, with war crimes--and seeking the death penalty for all of them. Now, as the murky, quasi-legal staging of the Bush Administration's military commissions unfolds, a key official has told The Nation that the trials have been rigged from the start....

Some columns write themselves. Some are a struggle and leave me confused, conflicted and a little angry. This is one of those. It started out as a tongue-in-cheek look at the recent action by the city council in Berkeley, Calif., to oust the U.S. Marine Corps recruiting office and brand the Marines “uninvited and unwelcome intruders.” I planned to compare the situation in that strange city with our fairly-liberal-but-not-ridiculously-so approach here in Corvallis. Then I started doing research. I learned that an anti-military organization has access to our high school students equal to that of the U.S. Armed Forces. The...

he brouhaha sparked by the Berkeley City Council these past couple of weeks demonstrates again that you can be within shouting distance of one of the world's great educational institutions and still be terminally stupid. The council, as almost everybody not in a deep trance must know, voted to send a letter telling the U.S. Marine Corps to, in effect, get the hell out of town. The particular target was a Marine recruiting office on Shattuck Square. Predictably, that got the right-wing bloggers knee-jerking right back, sending them into paroxysms of righteous indignation. It also – and justifiably – upset...

Contact: Lindsey M. Brothers (202) 547-4713 Armed Forces Foundation -PRESS RELEASE- Armed Forces Foundation Unveils Commemorative Military Bass Boat Boat To Be Auctioned Off At Armed Forces Foundation’s Congressional Gala In March Washington, DC (February 11, 2008) – The Armed Forces Foundation (AFF), a national nonprofit benevolent foundation under the Department of Defense’s America Supports You program, is proud to unveil its Ranger 188VX tournament-ready bass boat at ESPN’s 2008 Bassmaster Classic. The tournament will be held from February 22nd-24th on Lake Hartwell in Greenville, S.C. The boat will be auctioned March 5th, at the 4th Annual Armed Forces Foundation’s...

In late January, the Berkeley city council voted 8-1 to declare the Marines working at a local recruiting office “uninvited and unwelcome intruders,” proceeding to express wishes to have said office removed from the city. The resolution further stated that the City of Berkeley applauded residents and organizations that “volunteer to impede, passively or actively, by nonviolent means, the work of any military recruiting office located in the City of Berkeley.” This action is disrespectful and inappropriate. The United States Marine Corps includes some our bravest and most dedicated service men and women. Regardless of whether or not one agrees...

The recent attack on the Marine Corps as "unwelcome intruders" is just the latest example of Berkeley politicians behaving badly. Showered with ridicule, confronted with the loss of federal and state money, the City Council was obliged to withdraw its misbegotten resolution, though it wasn't prepared to apologize for its blunder. "To err is human, but to really screw up it takes the Berkeley City Council," one councilmember ruefully acknowledged. But ask Standard & Poor's, the financial services company, what it thinks about Berkeley and you'll get a very different response. Last month, the firm upgraded the city's bonds to...

Berkeley, Calif., has always been considered a Mecca for hippies. Their staunch anti-war views and liberalism have been allowed to flourish there, and when the Marines opened up a recruiting station in the heart of Berkeley, the women who belonged to CODEPINK began choking on their vanilla lattes and vegan muffins. According to its Web site, CODEPINK "is a women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end the war in Iraq, stop new wars and redirect our resources into health care, education and other life-affirming activities." While I may believe in some of their viewpoints, the insanity they...

BERKELEY, Calif. (KCBS) -- Protesters have returned to the Berkeley Marines recruiting center just a day after a showdown between anti-war and pro-military demonstrators before the Berkeley City Council. This time, several dozen members of the peace group CodePink urged people to make love, not war. The Berkeley demonstration is one of 20 “Kiss Don’t Enlist” protests across the country. ”Polls show that the majority of Americans are opposed to the war, and this has given people a chance to really come out and show that. And it’s kind of fun to make out, instead of making war, right?” said...

ORLANDO, FL -- A small Florida company has turned one of the world's most popular high tech gadgets into a tool for American troops that can help save lives. "They speak with their hands -- a lot," US Army Sergeant Darren Williams said, remembering the times he worked to communicate with the local people during his year as a soldier in Iraq. "If you grab something, or if you say, 'Hold it.' Or, 'Pick it up. Pick it up.' You use that a lot, too," the Jacksonville-based Army recruiter said, waving his hands through a series of gestures. For Williams,...

VALDOSTA, Ga., Jan. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Little Caesar Enterprises, Inc. today celebrates the grand opening of the fifth store to open under the Little Caesars Veterans Program as U.S. military veteran and Little Caesars franchisee Patricia Evans opens her doors for business at 1650 F Baytree Road in Valdosta, Georgia. "The Little Caesars Veterans Program has provided me the opportunity to transition to a new career as my family and I begin the next chapter in our lives," said Evans. "I am proud to be the first woman to open a store under this program, and I'm excited to be...

For the past several years as I've been traveling around the country, I've been approaching soldiers in the airports and thanking them for serving for us. On several occasions I have noticed that it felt a little awkward for both of us. There are several reasons, some of which I am even just now learning as I produce this film and talk to more soldiers. But they have always appreciated being thanked, and I have always felt better having expressed my gratitude.I started to think that it would be nice if civilians had a gesture or sign that they could...

Mark Steyn’s review of the candidate’s Christmas campaign messages is a must-read today because it’s likely to be the funniest thing you’ll see all day. Here’s a taste: John Edwards’s message is the usual Dickensian affair about the two Americas. I forget the details, but the upshot is that one America is a land of spindly emaciated Tiny Tims with barely three farthings to rub together for their next cup of gruel, while the other’s a marshmallow world where Dick Cheney, high on wassail, shoots a brace of turducken out of season, and then chows down as the Radio City...

For the first time since the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, a chief rabbinical chaplain is servicing the spiritual and religious needs of Jewish soldiers in Russia's armed forces and various security services. Rabbi Gurevich and three Russian Jewish soldiers. Photo: Courtesy Rabbi Aharon Gurevich, 34, was appointed after being asked to fill the role by the chief rabbi of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement in Russia, Rabbi Berel Lazar, who had received official permission from the Russian government to establish a military rabbinate. Upon accepting the post, Gurevich was granted the rank of colonel by Russian authorities and was given permission to visit...

I had to look up the word "conniption." I wasn't sure how to spell it, but I'm sure that the likes of Code Pink, MoveOn, and other far left anti-war groups had a collective conniption fit last week. One of their poster boys, John Murtha, quit toeing their line. Surely what followed were the same fits of rage I've seen them have before. In September at a Washington D.C. rally as Senator Joe Lieberman began to address a group of pro-mission vets and Gold Star Families, several members of the anti-war groups charged toward the stage with seemingly unrestricted fury,...

As I noted here, Fred Thompson’s supporters and campaign are missing golden opportunity after golden opportunity while they focus on tearing down other candidates instead of building Fred up. Fred continues to put forth a very conservative agenda and no one is hearing about it because Fredheads aren’t telling them. I’ll try to help them again, gratis. Take, for instance, Fred’s skepticism of the latest National Intelligence Estimate, the one that contradicts the idea that Iran is working on nuclear weapons. Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson said Tuesday he’s skeptical of a new report that Iran halted its nuclear weapons...

As we've discussed before, everything that happens, anywhere in the world is now being described a "a defeat for George Bush." Two such "defeats for George Bush" came to light this past week - and I'm not even counting West Virginia's loss to Pittsburgh which helped vault LSU and Ohio State into the BCS title game in January. First came the news that John Murtha (D-Pa) who has been mentor to, and ally of, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca) had changed his mind on Iraq. For years Murtha has been among the most outspoken critics of the war in Iraq. According...

This inspiring tribute to our armed forces, created by a 15-year-old girl, should be required viewing for all Americans. -click source link above- (might want to have kleenex nearby)

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 29 (OneWorld) - U.S. war veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan have announced they're planning to descend on Washington, DC this March to testify about war crimes they committed or personally witnessed in Iraq. "The war in Iraq is not covered to its potential because of how dangerous it is for reporters to cover it," said Liam Madden, a former Marine and member of the group Iraq Veterans Against the War. "That's left a lot of misconceptions in the minds of the American public about what the true nature of military occupation looks like." Iraq Veterans Against the...

Living conditions for the armed forces will remain substandard for 20 years unless improvement work is given a higher priority, MPs have said. The Commons public accounts committee said half of the Ministry of Defence's housing for single soldiers was poor, as well as 40% of its family homes. Committee chairman Edward Leigh said the government should "get its priorities straight". But Defence minister Derek Twigg said improvement work was "making progress". 'Tennis courts' The committee noted that the MoD had cut £15m from its estates management budget in 2006/07 after "unforeseen rises in the cost of fuel and other...

Presidential Race: The war for the soul of the Republican Party was won in 1980 by Ronald Reagan. Presidential candidates who want to re-wage the conflict in 2008 will only weaken the GOP against the Democrats' nominee. In the aftermath of Vietnam, Watergate and a Jimmy Carter presidency that rendered America an economic and foreign policy basket case, Republicans discovered a tried-and-true recipe for electoral success. They would stand for three sets of principles: • Lowering high taxes and stemming the growth of government in order to revive the private economy, lower inflation and interest rates, and generate jobs. •...

The Editors on Fred Thompson & 2008 on National Review Online It’s obvious why conservatives see something to like in Thompson. He has offered clear, conservative ideas on fixing Social Security, policing immigration, and expanding the military. We encourage the other candidates to follow his lead. Read the whole thing. Really. Read it all.

Pinups for Vets Supporting the Troops: Part 1 By Daniel Muniz Gina Elise wanted to show her appreciation to the people who has served their country in our armed forces and especially to our troops deployed overseas and to all of our injured vets in VA hospitals. So she decided to create the "Pin-Ups For Vets" project which consists of calendars and posters featuring herself as the model for all of the photographs. Gina Elise chose the pin-up art that was popular back in the forties as the central theme of all her modeling. Since the pin-up girls of that...

Roger L. Simon, last seen cavorting with Pajama clad babes on the floor of the BlogWorld convention like a latter day Hugh Hefner, sat down with Fred Thompson to discuss the Global War on Terror. Bob Owens, proprietor of the excellent Confederate Yankee blog, joined Roger in conducting the interview. I linked to this yesterday in my Republican race Q&A, but the interview itself merits a little post of its own. In no particular order, a few observations: 1) The long form interview allowed Fred to express his knowledge and thoughts on the war on terror. He was impressive. Believe...

There is quite a lot of interesting, but wild, speculation running around the blog-o-sphere, progressive circles and just plain dinner conversation these days about whether BushCo will allow a peaceful and constitutional transfer of Executive power in the ’08 elections. Unless or until George Bush appears on our TV boxes one night, wearing a dark blue suit, white shirt and red tie with his hands sweatily clasped in a desperate death grip on top of his desk in the Oval Office, telling us that some catastrophic event, whether man-made or natural, has just occurred somewhere, and he must, for the...

American foreign policy has been nothing like as interventionist as its critics like to think. Critics of George W. Bush's Middle East policy are hoping for a change in direction once America's 43rd President has left the White House. The foreign offices of Europe all hope for more multilateralism. More realpolitik. Less sabre-rattling. The critics have a problem, however. In reality, Team Bush has largely been following European approaches to foreign policy for most of the world's troublespot nations. Take Pakistan. The “realist school” couldn't honestly disapprove of any aspect of Bush's dealings with Islamabad. American taxpayers have financed a...

Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson said Wednesday the United States needs to increase military spending to better finance its troops and intelligence, calling national security the top obligation of a U.S. president. "There are a lot of people in need, there are a lot of things that need funding, there are a lot of government programs and so forth, but preserving the security and safety of the American people is the No. 1 obligation of any government and the No. 1 obligation of any people," he said during a stop at Café Diem in downtown Ames. Thompson portrayed himself as...

Twenty-five years ago this week, in his Thanksgiving Proclamation, Ronald Reagan wrote that America was set apart from other nations in an uncommon way. He said that it was his belief that ‘a divine plan placed this great continent here between the oceans to be found by people from every corner of the Earth, who had a special love of faith and freedom.’ America’s love of faith and freedom is as strong today as it was 25 years ago, or indeed 225 years ago. We are in a political season now, and sometimes it might feel that there is much...

Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson brought his message of beefing up the military and securing the nation's borders to the conservative Florida Panhandle on Friday as he worked to bolster his poll numbers. Thompson, who trails the four top Republican presidential candidates in Florida, told about 100 supporters that the average 20-year-old soldier in Iraq has a better understanding of national security than the average 20-year-veteran of Capitol Hill. And the U.S. should not pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan with "our tail between our legs. We will regret it," said Thompson, who held a private meeting earlier with about...

Defense: Fred Thompson wants a million-man ground force and more modern equipment on the ground, in the air and on the water. The arsenal of democracy needs some retooling. After the Vietnam conflict, the U.S. military was depleted and exhausted. Then came Jimmy Carter and by the time Ronald Reagan came along we had planes that couldn't fly and ships that couldn't sail for lack of maintenance. The Gipper rolled up his sleeves and built his 600-ship navy, gave the Air Force the latest fighters and bombers and an Army capable of deploying half a million troops for Desert Storm...

Would anyone like a free dinner at Golden Corral? Well, there is an easy way if you are an American military veteran. Golden Corral just announced this year’s Military Appreciation Monday will be November 12, 2007, from 5 to 9 pm. For the past 6 years, Golden Corral has been honoring the US Military with a free “thank you” dinner and beverage at any Golden Corral restaurant on Military Appreciation Monday (first Monday after Veteran’s Day), to honor any person who has ever served in the United States Military. In the past the only requirement to receive the free meal...

Many active duty military are praising Fred Thompson, as the conservative leader they want as the next Commander in Chief. Typical of these comments is this one from a soldier in Ohio: "As a soldier, I know there is some pressure to not get involved in anything political, but as a current member of the finest Army to have ever existed, and a Combat Veteran of the crucial Iraq campaign, I feel it is my duty as a patriotic American to see a good conservative succeed our current commander and chief. Every Soldier wants a leader that they can proudly...