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Colonel Martha McSally was a pilot in the United States Air Force. She was the first American woman to fly in combat since the 1991 lifting of the prohibition of women in combat. McSally is also the first woman to command a USAF fighter squadron, the 354th Fighter Squadron (354 FS) based at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. in 2001 Martha McSally successfully challenged the military policy that required US and UK servicewomen stationed in Saudi Arabia to wear the body-covering abaya when traveling off base in the country. .....

Washington— The U.S. commander in Afghanistan has prepared a request for more troops to serve as advisors for Afghan military units, a sign that Washington and its allies are trying to speed up the hand-over of combat operations to the Afghans as they prepare to withdraw, U.S. and NATO officials said. The stronger emphasis on training may keep more U.S. troops on bases next year and help reduce U.S. military casualties before presidential elections next November. President Obama's Afghan policy is already an issue. Marine Gen. John R. Allen, who took command in Afghanistan last summer, wants 1,700

The Navy has fired another commanding officer, the 18th this year, surpassing last year’s mark of 17 with slightly less than four months left to go. Cmdr. Mark Olson of USS The Sullivans was relieved of his command due to a loss of confidence in his abilities following an Admiral’s Mast on Wednesday, according to a Navy news release. Vice Adm. Daniel Holloway, commander of U.S. 2nd Fleet, made the decision after close examination of an incident that occurred Aug. 17 during a gunnery exercise in the Cherry Point Operating Area range, the release said. Navy officials said inert rounds...

US President Barack Obama warned the US east coast was in for a "long 72 hours" as he led his government's response to Hurricane Irene at a disaster command center in Washington. Obama on Saturday chaired a meeting at the National Response Coordination Center (NRCC) set up at the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) headquarters in Washington, which is marshaling federal and local hurricane-relief efforts. "This is going to be a tough slog getting through this thing," Obama said during a video teleconference including senior federal officials and local government agencies in the east coast path of Irene. "It's going...

CBS News has learned that a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan in June killed senior al Qaeda commander Ilyas Kashmiri. Kashmiri was believed to be a key planner of the Mumbai Terror attacks in 2008 and, according to sources, was involved in planning terror strikes in Europe last fall, which led to alerts across the continent. Most recently, Kashmiri was al Qaeda's military operations chief in Pakistan, and was suspected of plotting attacks against U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The U.S. had offered a $5 million reward for information leading to Kashmiri.

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (AP) — The Defense Department is grooming a new type of commander to coordinate the military response to domestic disasters, hoping to save lives by avoiding some of the chaos that plagued the Hurricane Katrina rescue effort. The officers, called dual-status commanders, would be able to lead both active-duty and National Guard troops — a power that requires special training and authority because of legal restrictions on the use of the armed forces on U.S. soil. No one commander had that authority in the aftermath of Katrina, and military and civilian experts say the lack...

Adm. Eliezer Marom says only purpose of Gaza flotilla is to clash with IDF soldiers, create media provocation, and delegitimize Israel. Published 21:00 19.06.11 Latest update 21:00 19.06.11 Israel Navy commander: 'Hate flotilla' to Gaza must be stopped Adm. Eliezer Marom says only purpose of Gaza flotilla is to clash with IDF soldiers, create media provocation, and delegitimize Israel. By Anshel Pfeffer Tags: Gaza flotilla Israel Navy commander Adm. Eliezer Marom issued a stark warning on Sunday for the organizers of the Gaza flotilla intended to set sail at the end of the month. "The Navy has prevented and will...

Commander Etta Jones, officer in charge of the Norfolk, Virginia-based Ponce, was sacked for not properly investigating sailors involved in the humiliating rituals, the Navy said. Commander Jones also failed to properly handle a 9mm handgun during a security alert, which endangered some of her crew, the Navy said. Lieutenant Commander Kurt Boenisch, the ship's executive officer, was also sacked, after he failed to provide support to the command and commanding officer, according to the Navy. The sackings come as the the amphibious transport dock Ponce - pronounced 'ponsay' - is deployed in the Mediterranean, after recently taking part in...

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/143396 and http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/143381

Friends of the colonel, who cannot be named for security reasons, said he had grown increasingly despondent with service life following the cuts imposed on the military by the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR). It is understood that two highly respected Brigadiers, one of whom also served with the Special Forces, are considering their positions. Senior officers have warned that many more high calibre officers are expected to resign in the coming months especially if the Continuity of Education Allowance--which pays for a proportion of boarding school fees for service families--is cut.

Col. Williams earns place among worst criminalsBy Maria Babbage, The Canadian Press 1 hour, 49 minutes ago BELLEVILLE, Ont. - The unprecedented, sadistic crimes of convicted sex killer Col. Russell Williams have earned him a place among the worst criminals Canada has ever seen, court heard Thursday as the final chapter in the shocking case drew to a close. "The depths of the depravity demonstrated by Russell Williams had no equal," Ontario Superior Court Justice Robert Scott said as he sentenced the once decorated officer to two concurrent life sentences with no possibility of parole for 25 years. "One suspects...

For the second time in less than a month, security forces hunting for Taliban commanders found one hiding inside an oven, officials said Thursday. In the latest incident Tuesday, a sub-commander allegedly responsible for attacks in three districts was found hiding in a floor oven of a compound when Afghan and coalition forces raided the location in Logar province in eastern Afghanistan. On August 31, NATO-led troops found another sub-commander hiding in an oven, breathing through a tube,(Snip) The militant had allegedly returned from Pakistan recently where he trained new recruits to make bombs.

"President Barack Obama passed a sad milestone early this week as the military announced the death of the 750th solider to die since he took over as Commander in Chief. Army First Lt. Robert Bennedsen, 25, of Vashon Island, Wash. became the 750th soldier to die since Obama took office. Bennedsen died July 18th at Qalat, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 2nd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Vilseck, Germany...." Video and more info at link

We didn’t need this. By “we,” I mean the large majority of citizens who want America to succeed in Afghanistan. By “this,” I mean the Rolling Stone article that quoted Gen. Stanley McChrystal and his aides saying uncomplimentary things about Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and other civilian officials. It’s true that most of the negative remarks were attributed to staffers rather than to McChrystal himself. And it’s true that none of them amounts to insubordination or refusal to carry out orders, the offense for which Gens. George McClellan and Douglas MacArthur were appropriately fired. But a commander has the responsibility...

FORT HOOD, Texas, April 1, 2010 – After four years of preparing thousands of Army National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers for deployment at the Division West mobilization training center here, Army Capt. Brent Middleton soon will be preparing for his own deployment at the Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., center. Army Capt. Brent Middleton, left accepts his unit's flag from his battalion commander in a change-of-command ceremony at Camp Mabry, Texas, March 20, 2010. U.S. Army photo by Capt. Marvin J. Baker  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Middleton, a member of the Texas National Guard’s 36th Infantry Division who...

KABUL – A heavily armed Taliban commander was killed during an pre-dawn shootout at a mosque in eastern Afghanistan, NATO said as it reported an American service member died in a separate attack.

KABUL, Dec. 15, 2009 – A combined Afghan-international security force detained a Taliban commander and other militants in Afghanistan today, and militants caught planting a roadside bomb were killed yesterday, military officials reported. The Taliban commander is linked to a bombing network in Zabul province and is believed to be responsible for several attacks in the area. The combined force searched a compound in the provincial capital of Qalat where intelligence sources reported the commander to be located and detained a few militants, one of whom identified himself as the man targeted in the operation. No shots were fired, and...

DA NANG, Vietnam, Nov. 17, 2009 – Nearly 35 years ago, Navy Cmdr. H.B. Le left Vietnam aboard a fishing trawler. He returned at the helm of a U.S. Navy warship when the guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen arrived here Nov. 7 for a scheduled port visit. Navy Cmdr. H.B. Le, commanding officer of the guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen, speaks to reporters in front of the U.S. 7th Fleet command ship USS Blue Ridge in Da Nang, Vietnam, Nov. 7, 2009. It was Le's first visit to Vietnam after leaving the country with his family in 1975. U.S. Navy photo by...

General George Casey Jr., the Army chief of staff, said on Sunday that he was concerned that speculation about the religious beliefs of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, accused of killing 12 fellow soldiers and one civilian and wounding dozens of others in a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, could “cause a backlash against some of our Muslim soldiers.” “I’ve asked our Army leaders to be on the lookout for that,” General Casey said in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union. “It would be a shame — as great a tragedy as this was — it would be a...

President Obama does not have the one-on-one relationship with Gen. McChrystal that President Bush did with Gen. Petraeus, but rather a more traditional one along the chain of command. Reporting from Washington - President Obama and his predecessor differ significantly in their approach to America's wars. They differ at least as much in their relationship with their top battlefield commander. During the Bush administration, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the then-ground commander in Iraq, assumed the role of a trusted advisor who frequently visited the White House or talked to the president by phone.