Free Republic

CAMP PENDLETON ---- A fast-moving fire on Camp Pendleton was forcing evacuations of homes, schools and businesses in the San Luis Rey "back gate" area in northeastern Oceanside. Residents in the area of Papagallo Drive and Vandegrift Boulevard were being evacuated at about 3:30 p.m., a North County emergency dispatcher said. Evacuees were being directed to El Camino High School on Mission Avenue in Oceanside, according to early reports. There were no early reports of injuries or structure losses, though several emergency officials said homes on the base and immediately outside the gates were under substantial threat. The nearly 100-acre...

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- A forensic anthropologist is seeking clues to the identity of human remains discovered at a Marine base in California. A spokesman said Friday that the anthropologist determined the remains found at Camp Pendleton were those of a white male dead for a few months. Maj. Kristen Lasica (LAH'-seek-uh) says a groundskeeper discovered the body Thursday. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is also investigating. Lasica says there are no active investigations of missing people at the Southern California base.

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — Being an actor is nothing like being a Marine. For an actor, even a 30-minute helicopter ride from Burbank to Camp Pendleton, just north of San Diego, can seem daunting.Before boarding a chopper for a special screening of Tropic Thunder at the base, star Robert Downey Jr. confessed: "I'm hoping the fact that I might puke right now is actually going to have the reverse effect, and that I'll suddenly be steady and calm by being in a helicopter."Downey, along with co-stars Ben Stiller and Jack Black, landed safely. "It was pretty tame, actually," Stiller said...

A shadow legal body was set up by the Defense Department to manipulate the prosecutions of U.S. Marines accused of massacring Iraqi civilians in Haditha in 2005. That’s the bombshell disclosure from the Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm that is representing one of the accused Marines, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani. And it could prove to be the most damning piece of evidence showing the political motivations behind the ongoing prosecutions of the Haditha Marines. “The hysteria and media firestorm over Abu Ghraib and the Pat Tillman investigations led to fear of a similar media reaction...

Nubs, a wiry German-shepherd-border collie mix named for nubby ears that were sliced off as a puppy, will stay in Chicago with the family of one of his Marine colleagues until a final hop to San Diego, where a Marine fighter pilot stationed at Camp Pendleton has been given permission to care for the dog until Maj. Brian Dennis arrives home from his second combat tour. More Photos "Touchdown" was the first celebratory word in an e-mail Marsha Cargo received from her son Maj. Brian Dennis, after a dog who survived a 70-mile Hail Mary trek through war-torn Iraqi...

Maj. Gen. Dennis J. Hejlik, commanding general, U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Special Operations Command, welcomes home the Marines and Sailors of 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion, at Assault Craft Unit 5 here, Nov. 17. MARSOC’s silent warriors conducted special operations in the Philippines and Afghanistan in the first ever deployment of a company from 1st MSOB. California Congressman Darrell Issa congratulates the Marines and Sailors of 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion, U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Special Operations Command, on a job well done and welcomes them home at Assault Craft Unit 5 here, Nov. 17. MARSOC’s silent warriors conducted...

One in a series of articles about three teenagers and their wartime enlistment in the Marines. CAMP PENDLETON - A Marine recruit stumbled from the ranks and collapsed on a dirt trail. A corpsman, her medical bag bouncing in the dust, hustled over to the fallen man. The recruit was bathed in sweat, his face clammy and sickly green. As the troop column marched on, the drill instructor cried out, "Here comes the silver bullet!" The recruit was about to receive the ultimate indignity -- a shiny rectal thermometer to check his body temperature. It happened on the trail for...

CNN) -- While the military is lending assistance to battle wildfires in Southern California, it's also keeping an eye on the horizon in case it has to evacuate bases there. According to the Pentagon: About 800 Camp Pendleton Marines, some of them recently back from Iraq, have been volunteered to fight the massive fires. About 1,500 California National Guardsmen already are fighting fires. Aircraft from the Navy, Marine Corps and Air National Guard and Air Force Reserves are dropping water and flame retardants on the flames and providing logistical support. Six C-130 Modular Airborne FireFighting Systems from Air National Guard...

By Rick Rogers UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER August 15, 2007 CAMP PENDLETON – Tens of thousands of American and Iraqi troops serve together daily, but last December a dispute while on duty led to a Marine reservist stabbing an Iraqi soldier to death as the two stood watch in Anbar province. Now Lance Cpl. Delano V. Holmes, 21, is accused of killing Mutather Jasem Muhammed Hassin inside a tiny observation post in Fallujah, according to charges filed by the Marine Corps. Holmes, an Indianapolis resident who was on his first deployment, was arraigned July 31 and is scheduled for court-martial at...

Well, perhaps the headline is slightly misleading. Actually, only six Marines will be invading Corona. And perhaps invasion isn't quite the right term. After the nightmare of the back stabbing John Murtha, we needed some good news about Camp Pendleton. We have some. At my Kiwanis club annual charity golf tournament on Monday, August 13, will be welcoming six Marines from Camp Pendleton. We got sponsors for them and will be honored to have them join us. When I called Camp Pendleton to make the invite, they shuffled me to a few people as always happens in a large organization....

Marines To Conduct Gregory Canyon Exercise; Environmentalists Criticize Plan To Conduct Training At Old Dairy By: DAVE DOWNEY - Staff Writer Thursday, June 21, 2007 NORTH COUNTY (San Diego)-- An old dairy at the planned Gregory Canyon landfill will become an anti-terror training ground next month for 40 to 60 Marines from Camp Pendleton, a military official said Wednesday. Local environmentalists said they are worried the exercise could damage the fragile environment near the San Luis Rey River or ignite a wildfire in a tinder-dry area at one of the driest times of the year. Marine officials said care will...

San Juan, Puerto Rico (AP) -- A Marine paralegal who reported that she overheard guards at Guantanamo Bay brag about beating detainees was accused by a military investigator of filing a false report, the paralegal's boss, a Marine officer, said Friday. Army Col. Richard Basset, who was ordered by the U.S. Southern Command to investigate the allegations into guards' actions, met the paralegal, Marine Sgt. Heather Cerveny, late last year at Camp Pendleton, Calif., where she is based, according to Marine Lt. Col. Colby Vokey. Basset told Cerveny the guards denied her account of their conversation in a Guantanamo bar...

<p>SAN DIEGO -- A search is under way about 60 miles south of San Diego out in the sea for what is believed to be a Navy jet that went down.</p> <p>Coast Guard officials told NBC 7/39 that they have sent a helicopter to the area. They also said that three Navy helicopters are also searching that area.</p>

CAMP PENDLETON -- This December, for the third year in a row, the nonprofit Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund will provide a grant to every injured or hospitalized Marine or sailor throughout the country as part of its annual Christmas Project. "We'd just like to spread a little holiday cheer," said Wendy Lethin, director of business operations for the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund. While the Christmas Project would be a major undertaking for most nonprofit organizations, it is just one of the ways the Semper Fi Fund has helped Marines and other service members attached to Marine units who...

Edith Walsh of San Diego, left, marches in a group calling themselves The Pendleton 8 Rally Battalion, from the front gate of Camp Pendleton to The Flying Bridge Restaurant in Oceanside on Saturday. The group rallies outside the front gate of Camp Pendleton every Saturday in support of the eight Marines in the base brig accused of killing a civilian man in Iraq.

Alleged confessions appear to form the crux of the government's case against seven Marines and a Navy corpsman charged with murder, kidnapping and other crimes in an Iraqi man's slaying last April. Defense attorneys challenge the validity of the statements and say without them the government's case is baseless. Details about the prosecution's case emerged Wednesday during preliminary hearings for two of eight men accused in the shooting death of 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad in the village of Hamdania. At Marine Cpl. Marshall L. Magincalda's hearing, prosecutors submitted a thick packet of evidence and pointed to three documents they say...

The opening pair of hearings into charges that Camp Pendleton troops executed an Iraqi man produced a united defense, tantalizing evidence and a surprise announcement yesterday. The unexpected development involved Marine Pfc. John Jodka III, 20, of Encinitas. Near the close of Jodka's hearing, prosecutor Lt. Col. John Baker said the government would not seek the death penalty against him. “It's our position that a capital referral is inappropriate,” Baker said during the session, which was held on the base. “When we heard that, I looked over at Jodka and could tell a huge weight was taken off his shoulders,”...

SAN DIEGO – Hashim Ibrahim Awad was shot to death in a hole by a dusty road west of Baghdad. How the 52-year-old Iraqi came to be there is the focus of an inquiry with possible life and death consequences for seven Marines and a Navy corpsman. Pretrial hearings for the eight soldiers charged with Awad's murder are set to start Wednesday, four months after his death. It will be the first time the facts have been explored in public. Prosecutors claim the troops went into the rural Iraqi town of Hamdania, took Awad from his home, tied him up,...

CAMP PENDLETON The Marine Corps has postponed a hearing for a Marine charged with kidnapping and murdering an Iraqi civilian. The Article 32 hearing for Lance Cpl. Jerry Shumate was rescheduled for Sept. 12 after the defense requested a delay, said his military attorney Capt. Patrick Callahan. It had initially been scheduled for Aug. 28. Shumate, along with six other Marines and a sailor, was charged with the April 26 kidnap and murder of a 52-year-old man in the rural Iraqi town of Hamdania. The men were being held in the brig at Camp Pendleton. Earlier this month, Shumate of...

The Marine Corps on Thursday unveiled the first West Coast barracks for Marines and sailors who are wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, an alternative to the often-empty quarters that house many injured troops while their units remain overseas. The Wounded Warrior Center is the second Marine barracks for the wartime wounded. The first opened last year at Camp Lejeune, N.C., and is run by a Marine colonel who was himself injured in Iraq. The newest barracks at Camp Pendleton, north of San Diego, look like a moderate hotel, with TVs, carpeted hallways, separate bedrooms and sitting areas. Donated handmade quilts...

At Camp Pendleton, Lt. Col. Sean Gibson would only say that no additional charges have been filed against anyone and declined further comment. The attorneys who said that more charges are looming have close dealings with Marine Corps officials and have been involved in the case for months. Victor Kelley, an attorney for one of the men, said Friday that he had been led to believe the additional troops, one of whom is an officer, may face a charge of conspiracy to commit murder. Such a charge would suggest that the men were not directly involved in the alleged attack,...

A former Marine sergeant credited with saving five fellow Marines in Iraq was presented the Navy Cross for heroism in combat Friday. Robert J. Mitchell of Iowa was awarded the medal for his actions as a squad leader for Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, during an assault in the city of Fallujah in November 2004. While engaged in an intense gunfight in what then was an insurgent stronghold, five Marines were wounded and became pinned down in a house. Mitchell, 26, charged through enemy AK-47 fire and hand grenade explosions to reach the building. As he approached the house,...

CAMP PENDLETON ---- For seven Marines and a Navy corpsman accused of premeditated murder in the death of an Iraqi man in April, conditions inside the Camp Pendleton brig are improving. The men are no longer shackled, as they were when they were first incarcerated in mid-May. They are no longer forced to take their meals by themselves in their individual, isolation cells, and they now have regular access to the brig's exercise and recreation facility. As they await hearings that will determine whether each moves on to face trial, they are experiencing a daily routine familiar to the brig's...

WASHINGTON – President Bush has nominated Lt. Gen. John Sattler, the commanding general of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton, to a key job on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Pentagon announced Thursday. Pentagon and Marine Corps sources have suggested that Sattler's selection as the new director for strategic plans and policy for the Joint Chiefs would position him to replace Army Gen. John Abizaid as the commander of the U.S. Central Command, which is responsible for conducting the conflicts in Irag and Afghanistan. Abizaid's normal three-year tour at Central Command would have ended this month, but...

Washington, Jun 28 (EFE).- U.S. immigration authorities on Wednesday detained 22 undocumented Mexicans who were working at a company that provided services to the U.S. Marine Corps' giant base at Camp Pendleton, California. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, announced in a communique that the immigrants were taken into custody in their own homes and had been hired by the firm Burtech Pipeline, but that none of them worked at Camp Pendleton itself. ICE added that it was determined that the Mexicans were working illegally in the United States during an exhaustive review of the backgrounds of more than...

ABC News has learned that charges will be filed against 7 Marines and One Navy Corpsmen. The charges are expected to include murder, conspiracy and obstruction of justice in relation to the killing of an unarmed Iraqi civilian in the town of Hamdania.

For the second Saturday in a row, protesters gathered outside the main gate of Camp Pendleton to decry the treatment of seven Marines and a Navy corpsman accused of a war crime. The eight military prisoners being held in the base brig are accused of killing an Iraqi man prior to their return home. As of 12:30 p.m., there were an estimated 50 protesters outside the gates, a Marine spokesman said. There were no incidents. The people were protesting how the eight men, who have not been charged, have been treated. Family members have complained that the men were being...

CAMP PENDLETON ---- The Marine Corps on Thursday defended the treatment of seven Marines and a Navy corpsman being held in the base brig as investigators probe the alleged killing of an Iraqi civilian on April 26. The men from the Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment's Kilo Company are being investigated by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service for the alleged kidnapping and slaying of 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad al-Zobaie. Family members of the servicemen have told the media that they are being held in solitary confinement. A base spokesman disputed that characterization Thursday, saying none of the eight...

RFFM.org posted a commentary on June 11th titled "Eight Marines Languish In Brig, While Haditha Investigation Proceeds" http://www.politicsislocal.com/artman/publish/article_446.shtml In actuality, the seven Marines and one Navy Corpsman being held in Camp Pendleton, California are under confinement related to the alleged kidnapping and murder of an Iraqi civilian in Hamdania, Iraq. See "Marine Custody Protest" FOX 6 San Diego http://www.fox6.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=F7E4650F-5905-4120-85B4-2519CEF09299. RFFM.org incorrectly reported that eight Marines being held in the brig at Camp Pendleton were involved in the alleged killing of Iraqi civilians in Haditha, Iraq. However, the seven Marines and one Navy Corpsman being held in the Hamdania case also...

San Diego attorney representing a Navy corpsman being held in the Camp Pendleton brig in connection with the alleged killing of an Iraqi civilian in April has issued a written statement calling for the news media and public to avoid a rush to judgment. He also announced a Web site defense fund has been established for his client. Jeremiah Sullivan III also complained in the statement that the unnamed corpsman is under more restrictions than "known terrorists in military facilities around the world." "During the one brief period per day he is allowed to utilize the recreational yard, my client...

DAVID STERRETT and MARK WALKER - Staff Writers CAMP PENDLETON -- A Carlsbad attorney blasted military officials Monday for leaking information about an ongoing investigation of 11 Camp Pendleton Marines and a Navy Corpsman for the alleged April 26 kidnapping and killing of an Iraq man. David Brahms, who said he is representing one of the Marines under investigation, said the men from Kilo Company of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment are being charged, sentenced and executed in the media because of reports from unnamed military sources. "The bastards who leaked the information should be hung in a public...

SAN DIEGO ---- Immigration agents arrested 29 foreign nationals today who are employed by a Lakeside business that provides construction workers to the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base, authorities said. The arrests of 28 Mexicans and one Honduran stemmed from a continuing illegal immigration audit of the Oceanside military base, but authorities said it wasn't known whether any of them had ever worked at Camp Pendleton. "What we have been able to piece together is that none of these 29 have been working recently on the base," said Michael Unzueta, special agent in charge of the San Diego regional U.S....

CAMP PENDLETON ---- Sgt. Maj. William Skiles, 44, was awarded a Bronze Star with a "V" for Valor Friday for his actions during combat in Fallujah in April 2004. Skiles, a 26-year-veteran, was the senior noncommissioned officer for Echo Company of the Pendleton-based 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment during a battle with insurgents on April 26 of that year. On Friday, he was commended for showing leadership that "strengthened the resolve" of the Marines even though they were pinned down and outnumbered by insurgents. Skiles braved enemy fire to deliver additional ammunition to the Marines and to evacuate wounded Marines...

MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO, Calif. (August 19, 2005) -- Marines swapped nurses and hospital food for Hooters girls and hot wings Saturday during a trip that got 29 recovering warriors out of their hospital rooms and back to sampling normal life. Patients from Navy hospitals in San Diego and Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., caravanned to Pasadena, Calif., where they were the guests of honor at a Hooters restaurant and the nearby Ice House Comedy Club. America's Heroes of Freedom, a private veterans support organization, bought the comedy tickets and the pre-show feast for the Marines and...

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (Aug. 11, 2005) -- People join the Marine Corps for many different reasons. Some join for money, some for freedom, and some even join for a place to live. Others, like Cpl. Mediya A. Abakar, joined the Marine Corps to reunite with their family. “Family is precious. Everything comes and goes except family,” Abakar said. So Abakar left Chad, Africa, for the United States to be closer to her two brothers in the Marines and two sisters in the Navy. Living with her aunt, Abakar found she could be closer to her family and...

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (Aug. 11, 2005) -- More than 200 Marines with Combat Logistics Company, 119 Combat Logistics Battalion 1, 1st Force Service Support Group, spent the week enduring constant, extreme temperatures while conducting convoy operations training July 24-29 at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz. The exercises were the last evolution in the unit’s training before deploying once more in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The deployment is expected to occur in the next month. “The overall aim of the training exercise is to make sure all the Marines are qualified over there in Iraq,” said...

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (Aug. 4, 2005) -- They drill, they build, and if need be, they fight — with rounds ready in their M-16A2 rifles. They’re Seabees – Naval construction battalions trained in combat skills to support Leathernecks overseas. “(Our) mobile construction battalions provide aid for Marines in theater (via) the forward operating base,” said Navy Lt. Dude L. Underwood, referring to Marines’ constant presence in Iraq. These hard-hat-wearing sailors not only build bunkers, they also rebuild structures while providing their own security. When they’re not overseas, they’re seen working on home-front projects in various places —...

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (Aug. 4, 2005) -- Imagine dangling from a helicopter, zipping along at more than 80 miles an hour, with a crystal clear view of the coast and Marines on the ground looking like ants. That’s how Marines with 1st Force Reconnaissance Company spent their day July 28 — literally hanging by a thread to brush up on SPIE-rigging (special purpose insertion extraction) and “fast-roping” techniques. The training was held to requalify those who train Marines in such skills. Fast roping is the “main means” of inserting Marines quickly when a helicopter can’t land, said...

SAN DIEGO, July 29, 2005 – More than 500 Marines from Camp Pendleton, Calif., Naval Medical Center San Diego and Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego occupied the stands at Angels Stadium to watch the L.A. Angels play the Oakland Athletics July 19. The Marines received free tickets to the game from a few military associations and the Taco Bell Corporation. Civilians as well as Marines benefited from these organizations. The 9/11 Foundation gave tickets to Marine families as well. According to Marvin Winters, the 9/11 Foundation gives aid to spouses who lose their loved ones in the military. "More...

TAMPA - A young Marine who died while being treated at Tampa's James A. Haley VA Medical Center did not receive adequate care from staff who failed to recognize the severity of his condition, the U.S. Veterans Affairs Department concluded in a report released Thursday. An investigation by VA's inspector general acknowledged that Lance Cpl. Jonathan Gadsden arrived at Haley ``highly compromised'' by blast injuries suffered in Iraq. (snip) Before Gadsden's admission at Haley in late September, ``there had been insufficient staff training to deal with the multifaceted issues'' exclusive to patients wounded by roadside bombs and other crude weapons,...

Today is a special day. It’s the 75-year anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s famous “salt march.” On March 12, 1930, Gandhi began a 240-mile march to nonviolently resist the British tax on salt and move India closer to independence from British rule. Gandhi changed India and the world, with his relentless, nonviolent struggle for peace and justice. (For more on Gandhi’s life, click here.)Today is also important because it begins our 7-day countdown to the March 19 worldwide day of protest against the Iraq war. Next Saturday, people throughout the world will raise our voices on the two-year anniversary of the US...

CAMP PENDLETON – The trial began yesterday for a 26-year-old Marine charged with attempted murder of an infant and could go to prison for the rest of his life if convicted. Marine authorities say Lance Cpl. John Aguilar tried to kill the 3½-month-old daughter of a woman he was having an affair with while he took care of the baby and several other children on July 1, 2003.

CAMP PENDLETON – Rise Bourland ran toward more than 200 Marines and sailors as they came marching down a road in "boonie" hats and digital desert camouflage. "They all look the same," said Bourland, of Seal Beach, after she found her son, James Bourland, a Navy medic. "I was so scared I wouldn't find him," she said, crying and holding her son. The reunion was at Camp Pendleton yesterday, when families and friends welcomed the last batch of Marines and sailors of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which just completed a nine-month deployment to Iraq. Shrapnel wounds on James Bourland's...

Generations Their facial expressions were an odd mix of happiness, sadness, and envy. They were losing me, a squad leader who had taken care of them as an older brother watches over his kid siblings. But these really weren’t kids. They – and I – were U.S. Marine infantrymen. With only hours remaining in my four-year hitch, I was packed and saying last “goodbyes” in the barracks where we lived. Soon I would shoulder my seabag and cross one of many Camp Pendleton, California parade-decks toward a waiting taxi that would take me to the airport. There, I would board...

NAJAF, IRAQ ---- For the 2,000-some Marines of Camp Pendleton's 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, the time is drawing near to return home from war. But not before they complete perhaps their most critical mission. Just two weeks before they go home after more than seven months in Iraq, the unit's final mission is to maintain order during Iraq's first post-invasion election in Najaf and Karbala ---- two cities destined to become the center of power in Iraq if the Shiite majority wins big at the polls. For weeks now, the Marines of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit ---- or 11th...

Military officials on Sunday decorated a Marine reserve sergeant who braved a hail of bullets during a street battle in Baghdad and helped four Marines and a civilian to safety. Sgt. Scott C. Montoya, 35, a reservist and scout-sniper with 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment, received the Marine Corps' second-highest award for valor, the Navy Cross, from Lt. Gen. Dennis McCarthy, who commands Marine Forces Reserve, during a short ceremony in the courtyard at the Marine Corps Reserve Center, Encino, California. The Orange County sheriff's deputy received the award in front of 200 friends, family members and several officials, including...

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (Dec. 7, 2004) -- He didn't flinch at mess hall food - though he seasoned it liberally. And he didn't shy away from photo opportunities - even for a Marine who horned his way in for several snapshots with the commander in chief. Those were among observations from Marines who spent time with President George W. Bush Dec. 7. Their impressions, and those of others who saw and heard his speech, indicated the president was at ease and happy to be among them. "You can really tell that he cares about the Marines and...

Below is a link to one of many stories about the President's recent visit to Camp Pendleton on Tuesday to speak to the Marines and their families. San Diego Union Tribune In all of the stories about the President's visit, there are many soundbites and a lot of quotes of the President praising Marines for a job well done in Iraq. But what you may not know from the MSM is that he was at Camp Pendleton for another reason.  Some of the articles touch briefly on that reason, but they don't (or won't) do it justice.  This is...

In Cabinet news, John Snow agreed to continue serving as Secretary of the Treasury. Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi submitted his resignation to President Bush, who said, "As a valuable member of my Cabinet, Tony Principi has served as a tireless advocate for 25 million veterans." It's a short trip to Sanity Island today / tonight, as there aren't many photos.

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - Standing before thousands of Marines, President Bush asked other Americans yesterday to help battle-weary U.S. military personnel and their families. "The time of war is a time of sacrifice, especially for our military families," said Bush, wearing a tan military jacket with epaulets. "I urge every American to find some way to thank our military and to help out the military family down the street." In October 2001, shortly after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Bush ordered the invasion of Afghanistan to rout the Taliban government. In March 2003, the military...