Free Republic

Retired Admiral William McRaven has published an op-ed in Friday’s New York Times titled, “Our Republic Is Under Attack From the President,” urging that Trump be removed from office — “the sooner, the better.” McRaven’s op-ed gives a military imprimatur to what President Donald Trump has already likened to a “coup,” as Democrats attempt to impeach him with barely a year to go before the next presidential election. The admiral, well-respected for his role in overseeing the operation to kill Al Qaeda terrorist Osama bin Laden in 2011, argues that senior military leaders have lost confidence in the president and...

Former Vice President Joe Biden’s “intellectual acuity” in potentially leading the nation seemed a cause of concern for a former Obama administration official. Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates did not exactly give the 2020 Democratic contender a glowing reference as he simply said he “didn’t know” if Biden would make an effective commander-in-chief, telling CBS News’ Margaret Brennan on “Face The Nation” that he stood by his view that Biden has “been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue” in the last 40 years. Brennan read from Gates’ comments on Biden in his 2015 memoir:...

SAN DIEGO – U.S. Navy Captain (Retired) David Williams Haas was indicted by a federal grand jury yesterday on charges that he received at least $145,000 in bribes from foreign defense contractor Leonard Francis, who plied him with parties at luxurious hotels, prostitutes, top-shelf booze and food. In separate indictments, Master Chief Petty Officer (Retired) Ricarte Icmat David and Chief Petty Officer (Retired) Brooks Alonzo Parks were charged with honest services fraud for receiving cash, luxury travel, lavish hotel suites, dining and the services of prostitutes from Francis, owner and chief executive of Glenn Defense Marine Asia. The company provided...

Obama Pentagon Official Says Anti-Trump Military Coup Now Possible Says Trump ‘as crazy as everyone feared’; claims military overthrow and ‘an insane order’ both ‘frightening’ By Carlo Muñoz - February 2, 2017. A former Defense Department official under the Obama administration has raised the specter of a military coup to remove President Donald Trump from power. In an editorial penned for Foreign Policy, senior Pentagon policy official Rosa Brooks publicly suggested a military insurrection against the Trump administration may be the only option to oust one of the most divisive presidents in American history. “Donald Trump’s first week as president...

“Turns out I’m really good at killing people,” President Obama reportedly said in 2011. “Didn’t know that was gonna be a strong suit of mine.” As much as his White House attempted to downplay that aspect of his presidency, it was a strong suit — if that rather glib term can be fairly applied to such a macabre achievement. Nowhere was Obama’s grim talent so evident as in his drone strike program, and now that his time in office has officially come to a close, we have his final drone kill count. Well, sort of. By the Obama administration’s own...

(Washington Examiner) At any given time the United States has an aircraft carrier deployed somewhere around the world, usually in a hot spot such as the Persian Gulf or the Western Pacific. But for the first week of this year, for the first time since World War II, no U.S. aircraft carriers were deployed, anywhere, a Navy spokesman confirmed. The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower had been in the Persian Gulf, contributing airpower to the counter-Islamic State campaign in Iraq and Syria. But it returned to its homeport of Norfolk, Va., on Dec. 30, after a seven-month deployment. And none of...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama called for a smooth handover of control of the U.S. military to incoming commander in chief Donald Trump, as the outgoing president met Wednesday with military leaders for the last time."We've got to make sure that during this transition period that there is a seamless passing of the baton, that there's continuity," Obama said. He said it was critical to ensure that "we are doing everything we can to make sure that the next president will benefit from the same kinds of outstanding advice and service that these people around the table have provided...

Why the sudden turn-around on the Navy's new rating names? What triggered that retreat? Sudden reversal after much celebrations and congratulations? Things like that - sudden reversal - just don't happen in the military without something happening to the military. Is there a reason why the Democrats are griping about the retired military personnel in Trumps incoming administration? History is full of military commanders retiring into politics. It's not anything new.

A naval program that has become a target for critics is preparing to commission a new vessel named after a well-known shooting survivor. Constructed by Austal USA in Mobile, Alabama, the USS Gabrielle Giffords has completed testing in the Gulf of Mexico and is scheduled to be commissioned in mid-2017. The company handed over the $475 million ship to the Navy on Friday.

In late September, Richardson announced that the Navy would be getting rid of all of their enlisted ratings and that the service would be headed in a new direction. Military officials said that the purpose for the change is so that service members can more easily adjust to civilian life and no longer be defined by their job titles by broadening their career fields. The decision received a great deal of backlash from sailors since Navy ratings have been around for centuries. The ratings system was also scrapped because of Navy Secretary Ray Mabus’s order to make ratings “gender neutral”...

The goal of the job title review Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus initiated back in January is to make women feel more included now that they have access to all combat roles, but the reason midshipman will remain in its current state is because the name is a rank stipulated by the law, Capital Gazette reports. . . . In late September, the Navy announced that it was ditching historic job titles and revamping the entire system, in effect removing an element that made the Navy unique from other services in the military. . . . Sailors have reacted...

Naval Academy Hosting ‘Transgender 101’ Training for Midshipmen Academy says 'safe space' training is in demand for 'millennial' midshipmen BY: Elizabeth Harrington December 7, 2016 1:45 pm The U.S. Naval Academy is bringing in Google employees to provide voluntary “Transgender 101” training to midshipmen this week as part of an ongoing “safe space” training series. The academy’s Center for Teaching and Learning is holding two events on Friday, one for faculty and staff and another for midshipmen. The hour and a half-long workshops will be hosted by Marnie Florin and Kevin Perry, who are “transgender trainers” for Google. Midshipmen and...

Summary - Ash Carter, Frank Kendall and Robert Work bury a Defense Business Board / McKinsey report that $125 B is wasted on bloated bureaucracy in particular supported by hordes of overpaid contractors. Frank Kendall was“very disappointed” by the board’s work, which he criticized as “shallow” and “very low on content.” He said the study had ignored efforts by his agencies to become more efficient." Kendall said he needs 1000 more people working directly under him. Peter Cook, a spokesman for Carter, said the Pentagon chief was busy dealing with “a long list of national security challenges.” He added that...

On November 3, a Jordanian soldier opened fire on three CIA vehicles carrying over a dozen US soldiers, many of whom helped train Jordanian soldiers. In the senseless attack, three Americans were killed, and to this day, no one knows why. Jim Moriarty, the father of one of murdered Americans, asks the King of Jordan and the President of the United States: "Who was it that murdered my son and why?" As leader of Jordan’s Opposition Coalition, I feel obligated to answer to Mr. Moriarity directly, because none of the families of the fallen soldiers have received acceptable answers. To...

A US serviceman has been killed by an improvised explosive device while fighting against so-called Islamic State (IS) in Syria, officials say. The soldier, who has not been named, died after the device detonated in Ayn Issa, north of the IS stronghold Raqqa. It is the first such death since US special forces deployed in Syria in October 2015.

Future Independence-class littoral combat ship USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10) successfully completed its acceptance trials Nov. 18. The trials consisted of a series of in-port and underway demonstrations for the Navy's Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV). Acceptance trials are the last significant milestone before delivery of the ship to the Navy. During the trials, the Navy conducted comprehensive tests of the LCS intended to demonstrate the performance of the propulsion plant, ship handling, and auxiliary systems.~SNIP~ Following delivery and commissioning in Galveston, Texas, LCS 10 will sail to California to be homeported in San Diego with sister ships USS...

On November 18, the Pentagon issued a Defense Department directive that will “allow Department of Defense (D0D) personnel to carry firearms and employ deadly force while performing official duties.”

Todd Starnes penned an article for Fox News saying he asked an Army band to play as a part of his annual Fox Radio Christmas showStarnes said he asked U.S. Army’s Six-String Soldiers to perform at eventThe band turned him down because the show is a 'religious event' Starnes said the Army should be able to play his show regardless of religious affiliation and blamed the Obama administration Others said they believe a Trump presidency will be less politically correct  A Fox News Corner of the World host has expressed outrage after an Army band said it would be unable to play at his Fox Radio...

It'll be "very hard" for President-elect Trump to undo many of the social changes President Obama implemented in the military should he decide to do so, the Army secretary said on Thursday. Eric Fanning acknowledged that the path to social change over the course of history "has never been purely linear." "But I do think it's very hard to roll things back completely," Fanning said at the Defense One Summit in Washington. "Society is changing very quickly." He also said the decisions the military has already made will make it more difficult to kick people out of the service who...

A key congressional supporter of Donald Trump says the president-elect’s defense secretary should move quickly to reverse a number of social engineering policies adopted in the Obama years that “have cut down on the warrior mentality.”Rep. Duncan Hunter, California Republican, told The Washington Times that the armed forces need a counterrevolution. It should reverse at least three policies: women in the infantry, open transgender troops and the near-banishment of the word “man” from Navy and Marine Corps titles.