Free Republic

SEOUL, South Korea — Dressed in borrowed camouflage fatigues, they fumbled with their ammunition belts and K2 assault rifles. Some had white hair and a slow, shuffling gait; their average age was 63, the oldest 75. It was the most unconventional batch of trainees that the 52nd Infantry Division's Seocho Reserve Forces Training Center had ever seen, and Lt. Col. Hwang Hyeon-seok received them with a strained smile, desperately hoping that none of them would get hurt.

Curators at the Cincinnati Art Museum made a surprising discovery when they shined a flashlight onto a mirror in their collection, revealing a hidden image. Last spring, Hou-mei Sung, a curator in the museum's East Asian art collection, was rummaging through one of the archives while conducting research on "magic mirrors." When these rare mirrors, typically from Japan or China, are viewed in a certain light, they reveal images on their reflective surfaces, according to CNN. Sung noticed that the mirror, which measures less than 9 inches (23 centimeters) in diameter and is affixed with a strand of bright-red rope,...

A battalion commander is forbidding soldiers under his command from wearing their Army-issued fleece jackets while on a rotation in South Korea, where local average temperatures during the winter frequently dip below freezing. "The fleece cold weather jacket is not authorized for wear as an outer garment," Lt. Col. Geoffrey Lynch, commander of 1st Battalion, 36th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division, said in an August memo reviewed by Military.com.

A first sergeant at Fort Hood, Texas, is making soldiers take the stairs after banning the use of elevators in the morning in a bid to keep the troops fit. "In order to promote physical training and fitness, the elevator will not be used before 0900 Monday through Friday," First Sgt. Avery Peoples said in a memo reviewed by Military.com dated Oct. 26. "This policy applies to personnel assigned to Dragon Troop and visitors." When reached by Military.com, Peoples only replied, "Don't call me again," and hung up.

General Dynamics Land Systems has officially unveiled its AbramsX future main battle tank concept in the flesh — or should we say in the steel. Earlier this week we wrote up the latest on the feature-packed M1 Abrams evolution, but now we get to see the actual hardware ahead of the Association of the U.S. Army's big conference in Washington, D.C., this week

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A half-century American fixation on the whereabouts of the remains of International Brotherhood of Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa has finally led investigators to a landfill in New Jersey. The area of suspicion is on a Little League diamond on the landfill beneath the General Pulaski Skyway, a three-mile bridge that arches over a cinematically criminal evocative expanse of industrial wasteland and marshes west of Manhattan – one that once featured in marketing for the Sopranos TV show.

A mysterious aircraft caught flying over the Philippines could be the United State's ultra-secret new RQ-180 stealth drone, aviation experts believe.

Air Force Special Operations will have to adapt to major changes in mission and organization while coping with tighter budgets in the new era of great power competition, Lt. Gen. James Slife said Monday. "One thing that's clear to us is that the future doesn't look a lot like the present to us," Slife, head of Air Force Special Operations Command, said in a virtual discussion with the Center for Strategic and international Studies.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. ­­­– A small group of rioters took to the streets of Albuquerque Sunday night after a mostly peaceful Black Lives Matter protest. The rioters smashed out windows, started fires in streets and shot at police. Organizers of the Sunday march said those who turned to violence and vandalism were not part of their group. "I think we want to move away from black and brown folks being violent or aggressors. Like, that's not our thing. We just want to be heard, we just want to start a movement and open up a conversation,” said Hossanna Scott, an organizer.

SANTA FE, N.M.- Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced a new Public Emergency Order Wednesday that calls for the closing of various establishments in an attempt to stop the spread of COVID-19. The order requires all restaurants in New Mexico to be limited to take-out and food delivery, starting Thursday. The governor is requiring shopping malls, recreational facilities, movie theaters, spas and athletic clubs to close.

There were bound to be plenty of unpredictable consequences as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, but a gang war between rival packs of monkeys in the streets of Thailand? Sasaluk Rattanachai, a local shopkeeper who was credited by the Daily Mail for capturing the footage, claimed that this is the first time she's ever seen such a clash between the temple monkeys and the city monkeys, two different groups separated by a train track. Of course, you'll recall that the original novel of THE PLANET OF THE APES begins with a pandemic virus.

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A newly married 26-year-old woman has been arrested on charges alleging she tried to cash almost $1 million in checks from her 77-year-old husband's account. Lin Helena Halfon was arrested earlier this month at Tampa International Airport. She is facing charges of money laundering, organized fraud and exploitation of an elderly person.

A Chicago teenager said her survival instincts took over when she and her younger siblings fought off a carjacker who stole their family's vehicle and allegedly threatened to shoot them if they refused to get out.

An ordinary commute took an entirely unexpected turn for a Canadian man after he hit a 30-pound coyote. While most people would keep going, the unnamed driver stopped, picked up the unconscious animal, and kindly placed it on his car's passenger seat in a bid to save its life. The Manitoba man didn't take it to the nearest animal shelter, though. He was likely a little bit panicked, and the coyote still hadn't regained consciousness, so he drove to work and left the animal in the car for several hours while he tried to figure out where to take it,...

It blended in well with grandma's couch, but had its drawbacks in the combat zone. After an extended wear-out period, the Army's pixelated Universal Camouflage Pattern uniform, or UCP, is officially a thing of the past. As of Oct. 1, all soldiers are required to possess and wear the green-and-brown Operational Camouflage Pattern uniform, or OCP.

U.S. Army equipment experts plan to test lighter-weight, individual body armor plates by this summer, according to a recently released Defense Department test and evaluation report. The Army's multi-component Soldier Protection System body armor features hard-armor plates designed to stop rifle rounds. They’re known as the Vital Torso Protection component of the system.

Grab your winter coat, some hot cocoa and your kid's telescope on Sunday and head outside because the next super blood wolf moon won’t be showing its face for another 18 years. While the celestial phenomenon sounds like something you’d read in a teenage werewolf novel, its actual meaning is derived from multiple sources. The term "super" refers to the placement of the moon. This month, the moon will be at its closest point to Earth’s orbit, making it appear larger than normal. The term "wolf" derives from the Native American nickname for January's full moon and the wolves who...

A woman survived a mauling by a bear by repeatedly punching the animal and crawling into a bush as her Chihuahua-mix distracted the attacker. Melinda LeBarron has broken bones, cuts and bruises and multiple bites after the attack outside her home in rural Pennsylvania on Wednesday evening, her son said. She remained hospitalized in critical condition Friday. Her dog — fittingly named Bear — was also bitten several times and has a broken sternum and separated ribs. "I'll just put it this way — she's very, very lucky to be alive," said her son, Trent LeBarron, who described her as...

Don't shoot anyone on post, don't sleep with your squad mate's spouse, don't snort unknown substances and don't live in your car while collecting rent money from the Army.