Free Republic

Donald Trump made a promise and he delivered. In October, the Republican presidential candidate made a commitment to U.S. Army First Sgt. Todd Landen (Ret.) very, very personal. In front of a large crowd at a Sioux City, Iowa, event, he promised the wounded veteran and his family that he would get action to end the runaround Landen was getting from the Veterans Administration. "I am going to put pressure on the VA like you won't believe," Trump said then. "As president, I can guarantee it. As Trump I can say, 'I'll probably be able to pull it off anyway.'"...

Maj. Christian “Kit” Martin is an Army Ranger and master Army aviator with some 1,000 hours of combat flying time, including 500 while using night-vision gear. Though he’s been to war and back three times, fighting both on the ground and in the air, nothing prepared the 47-year-old for the battle he’s fighting now, trying to avoid becoming another victim of the Pentagon’s sexual assault witch hunt that could send him to prison for 58 years* for something he did not do.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter is expected to announce Thursday that women in the U.S. military – including the Army and Marines – can now serve in combat posts. It's the most emphatic step taken in a process to open combat jobs to women that began in January of 2013. Carter is making an announcement at noon Thursday; we'll update this post with news from the event. Women are being cleared to play a greater role in combat — and vie for thousands of jobs — after the military conducted an internal review of how they might perform in artillery, armor,...

A military helicopter crashed outside Fort Campbell Ky. Wednesday night near the Tennessee border, officials said. Maj. Allen Hill, a spokesman for the 101st Airborne Division, said in a statement that crew members were flying an AH-64D Apache during a routine training mission. The aircraft went down about 12 miles south of Fort Campbell. The Tennessean reports the aircraft was found in a rural area of Montgomery County, Tenn. Montgomery County Emergency Management Agency Director Jerry Buchanan told the newspaper the helicopter was found crashed in a river bottom and was on fire when emergency personnel arrived.

Our own heritage is considered to be “incredibly offensive” by the leftist ruling class: A religious-freedom advocacy group has filed its second grievance in as many weeks with the Army, again demanding that imagery featuring a red crucifix be removed from Army signage — and this time, insisting the aviation unit involved change its logo and its nickname. We truly are living in George Orwell World. By “religious-freedom advocacy,” they mean “devoted to the eradication of Christianity.”

What started as a lighthearted tradition meant to build camaraderie, transformed into chaos on Aug. 20 when the United States Military Academy at West Point’s annual pillow fight turned bloody, leaving 30 freshmen injured, investigators said Wednesday. Nicknamed “plebes,” first-year students are responsible for organizing the pillow fight, held almost every year since 2001.

80 soldiers from China’s People’s Liberation Army are visiting Joint Base Lewis-McChord It’s the first time Chinese troops have been invited to train in the continental United States Troops are all smiles, but mindful of revealing too much

In my latest In Depth Analysis (The Question of Government Size and Scope), I discussed four issues that should be kept very much in mind before we reflexively turn to government, especially the highest level of government, to solve our problems. But one thing I deliberately avoided in that essay was a consideration of the purpose of government in the first place. I’d like to address that briefly here. .... But in the midst of all these attitudes, predispositions, and mood swings, we really ought to stop to ask ourselves: What, in the abstract, is the actual purpose of government?...

WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) - Police are searching for a man after an FBI spokeswoman said weapons have gone missing following a break-in at an Army Reserve center in Worcester on Sunday. The man is wanted in connection with the theft of 16 weapons from the Lincoln Stoddard United States Army Reserve Center. The break-in and thefts occurred between 6 p.m. on Saturday and 1 a.m. on Sunday, according to Worcester City Manager Edward Augustus, Jr. The Army Reserve said 10 9mm pistols were recovered, along with six high-powered rifles....

The Army football team on Saturday made a winning play for solidarity with France following the attacks in Paris the night before. One player carried the French flag onto the field before the team's game against Tulane, according to USA Today's For The Win blog. Defensive back Caleb McNeill did the honors at West Point's Michie Stadium. The United States Military Academy tweeted that it "stands with the French people following the #ParisAttacks - liberté, égalité, fraternity. #DutyHonorCountry."

Last month the Pentagon sent a tough signal to its fastest-growing rival in Asia when a U.S. Navy warship sailed close by an artificial Chinese island in the contested waters of the South China Sea. The message: The U.S. will stand by its allies as they confront China's increasingly muscular military. This month, the Defense Department picked Joint Base Lewis-McChord for a friendlier exchange between the two world powers. The Army is opening up the South Sound base for a weeklong exercise with its Chinese counterpart, the People's Liberation Army. It's fairly small compared with some of the standard engagements...

The Army deployed 65 infantry divisions for the Second World War. Each was a small town with its own equivalents for community services plus eight categories of combat arms. Units such as artillery, engineering, and heavy weapons engaged the enemy directly. Yet of all categories, the foot soldier faced the greatest hazard with the least chance of reward. Except for the Purple Heart and the coveted Combat Infantryman’s Badge, recognition often eluded them because so few came through to testify to the valor of the many. The infantryman confronted the most dismal fate of all whose duty was uninterrupted by...

The Army deployed 65 infantry divisions for the Second World War. Each was a small town with its own equivalents for community services plus eight categories of combat arms. Units such as artillery, engineering, and heavy weapons engaged the enemy directly. Yet of all categories, the foot soldier faced the greatest hazard with the least chance of reward. Except for the Purple Heart and the coveted Combat Infantryman’s Badge, recognition often eluded them because so few came through to testify to the valor of the many. The infantryman confronted the most dismal fate of all whose duty was uninterrupted by...

* Manning has been fighting for two years to be able to grow her hair to fit her female identity * Military has agreed to allow her hormone treatments and speech therapy but draws a hard line on her hair * Lawyer says Chelsea is caused 'significant anxiety' by having to wear her hair short * Manning says being forced to keep her hair a 2 inches makes her feel like a 'freak and a weirdo' * The former intelligence analyst is now planning to sue the army over the decision * Manning was sentenced to 35 years in jail...

As the Republican candidates life story comes under increasing scrutiny, it has become clear that Carson is missing an essential value I learned in the army. As a private in basic training, I learned the Army Values. We were issued a plastic card, on which they were listed: loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage. For any inspection, until I left the military as a sergeant, that card was a required item. The US army still teaches the Army Values to every soldier. Its a cheesy, motivational speaker esque acronym that spells 'LDRSHIP'. But it is also...

Hillary Clinton Tried to Join the Army (Or was it the Marines?) James Joyner April 3, 2008 Bill Clinton says his wife, Hillary, tried to join the Army in the mid-1970s but was turned down. “I remember when we were young, right out of law school, she went down and tried to join the Army and they said ‘Your eyes are so bad, nobody will take you,'” he said, after heralding her record on issues of concern to the military, such as body armor and access to health care. I assume this is a version of the “Hillary Clinton tried...

The true story of Garlin Murl Conner’s heroism in the face of a Nazi onslaught might have gone to the grave with the soft-spoken Kentucky farmer if not for a chance phone call from another military man trying to piece together the last days of his uncle’s life. ***snip*** The bravery of Conner, who died in 1998 at the age of 79, is well-documented. The first lieutenant, who was wounded seven times, earned an incredible four Silver Stars, four Bronze Stars, seven Purple Hearts and the Distinguished Service Cross for his World War II heroism. But it was what he...

For those villagers eagerly snapping pictures on the side of a road in the Czech Republic in late September, the appearance of the line of U.S. “Stryker” armored fighting vehicles must have seemed more like a parade than a large-scale military operation. “We are demonstrating operational freedom of maneuver across Eastern Europe,” Col. John V. Meyer III told a reporter. But not everyone is convinced. “This Stryker parade won’t fool anyone in Moscow,” says retired Army Colonel Douglas Macgregor. “The Russians don’t do many things well, but they have been subverting, destabilizing, invading and conquering their neighbors since Peter the...

NEW DELHI, OCT.29, 2015: The Indian Air Force (IAF) is staging its biggest exercise, codenamed 'Live Wire', to test its preparedness to fight a two-front war in case of a simultaneous armed conflict with China and Pakistan. This exercise, which begins on Oct 31, involves the simultaneous activation of all airbases across the country from Leh in Jammu and Kashmir to Car Nicobar in Andaman and Nicobar Islands for about 15 days. "The most important part of Exercise Live Wire is to rehearse quick movement of air assets from one theatre to another," a top IAF officer explained to Arming...

A high-tech U.S. military blimp designed to detect a missile attack came loose on Wednesday and wreaked havoc as it floated from Maryland into Pennsylvania while dragging more than a mile of cable and knocking out power to thousands.