Free Republic

An explosion at a military ammunition storage facility in Nevada during a Marine Corps training exercise killed seven U.S. Marines and wounded several others, military officials said. The North Carolina-based Marines with the 2nd Marine Division were killed late Monday when a 60-millimeter mortar exploded during a live-fire training exercise at Hawthorne Army Depot as they were preparing to fire it. One official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was not immediately clear whether the mortar exploded prematurely inside its firing tube or whether more than a single round exploded. The official was not authorized to speak about the...

<p>HARRY REID: "As I indicated, it was quite a big explosion. We'll follow this news very closely. I will do whatever I can going forward to support the United States military and the families of the fallen Marines.</p> <p>Mr. President, it's very important we continue training our military, so important. But one of the things in sequester is we cut back in training and maintenance. ....</p>

A fifth French soldier was killed in the nine-week-old military campaign against Islamist rebels in Mali, the French government said on Sunday. The corporal from the 1st Marine infantry regiment of Angouleme was killed in action, President Francois Hollande's office said in a statement, without giving details. Dozens of Islamist fighters linked to al-Qaida have been killed as French and African forces have fought to drive them out of the northern region of Mali they have controlled since last April. France launched a ground and air operation in January to break the Islamist rebels' hold on the region, saying militants...

FULL TITLE: My hero brother: Heartbreaking moment soldier's grieving sister collapses in front of his grave at Arlington National Cemetery This is the heart-wrenching moment a sister was so overcome with grief that she lay down and sobbed on the grave of her brother, who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Lesleigh Coyer, 26, traveled to Washington’s Arlington National Cemetery with her parents on Monday to pay respects to her brother, Army Ranger Staff Sgt. Ryan Coyer, on the first anniversary of his death. Her only sibling served two tours of duty during the war

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — An American soldier arrived home Wednesday more than 60 years after he disappeared in North Korea. Police, fire officials, the USO Greater Los Angeles and family greeted the remains of Private First Class Roosevelt “Jack” Clark around 5:40 a.m. at Los Angeles International Airport. Clark was reported missing in action on Nov. 28, 1950 while fighting with the 35th Regiment in North Korea. The 20-year-old Bakersfield resident was never found and few details about his death were available. Clark’s remains were recently located overseas and positively identified through DNA. Following the arrival of Clark’s remains, a...

REST IN PEACE, FALLEN BROTHER! SWOC Christopher Scott Kyle, USN, Died 2Feb2013 U.S. NAVY SEALS"People Sleep Peaceably In their Beds At Night Only Because Rough Men Stand Ready To Do Violence On Their Behalf. " I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. 2 Timothy 4:7 (KJV) "Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valour, and be in readiness for the conflict; for it is better for us to perish in battle than to look upon the outrage of our nation and our altar. As the Will of God is in...

A French commando raid in Somalia to free a captive intelligence agent ended in the deaths of 17 Islamists and a French soldier. France said the hostage also died in the failed rescue, but the man's captors denied he had been killed and claimed Saturday to have seized a second soldier. Confusion surrounded early reports of the botched rescue of the French agent, known by his code-name Denis Allex. He was captured in the east African country on July 14, 2009, and last seen in a video released in October pleading for the French president to help him. But it...

"So, you know, I think that, have we achieved everything that some might have imagined us achieving in the best of scenarios? Probably not. You know, there's a human enterprise, and you know, you fall short of the ideal," said Obama. The president went on to say that America has achieved some measure of success in Afghanistan, however. "Did we achieve our central goal? And have we been able, I think, to shape a strong relationship with a responsible Afghan government that is willing to cooperate with us to make sure that it is not a launching pad for future...

A local soldier killed in Afghanistan on Saturday died in a suicide bomb attack, U.S. Rep. C.W. Bill Young told the Tampa Bay Times on Monday night. Earlier Monday evening, the U.S. Department of Defense issued a news release saying that Army Spc. Brittany B. Gordon died from injuries caused by an improvised explosive device in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The military provided no other details. Contacted by phone later that night, Young, R-Indian Shores, told the Times that military officials had advised him that the IED came from a suicide bomber. "It is not one that was planted as a mine....

After Romney's remarks, Barbara Doherty told Boston's WHDH 7News that the GOP nominee shouldn't invoke her son that way again. "I don't trust Romney," she said. "He shouldn't make my son's death part of his political agenda. It's wrong to use these brave young men, who wanted freedom for all, to degrade Obama." Romney has amplified his criticisms of Obama's foreign policy and defense record with a speech on Monday that fact-checkers and the Obama campaign said was rife with errors and policy reversals

http://video.foxnews.com/v/embed.js?id=1889169871001&w=466&h=263

NACO, Ariz. — Nearly 100 people gathered Thursday evening for a candlelight vigil at St. Michael’s Catholic Parish in Naco, Ariz., to remember U.S. Border Patrol Agent Nicholas Ivie and his sacrifice. Family members, law enforcement officials, local residents and members of the media attended the event in honor of Ivie, who was fatally shot around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, after he and two other agents responded to a ground sensor hit near mile marker 352 on Highway 80, in a remote area of the desert, about seven miles east of Bisbee. Rev. Seth Polley, vicar of St. John’s Episcopal Church...

Former Navy SEALs are speaking out after President Barack Obama referred to recent events in the Middle East, including the deaths of two former Navy SEALs, as "bumps in the road." Tyrone S. Woods and Glen A. Doherty were providing security at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya when it was attacked on 9/11. They were both hailed in the aftermath of the attacks by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Both had gone into private security after retiring from the Navy after distinguished careers. Former SEAL and current Montana State Senator Ryan Zinke issued the following statement: The President refuses...

Four American service members were killed by an Afghan policeman early today, the third attack on coalition forces in three days, bringing the death toll in the recent violence to eight. The attacks -- two "green on blue" incidents and an assault on a coalition base by 15 Taliban fighters -- come as tensions flared across the Muslim world over an anti-Islam film that was produced in the United States. In the latest attack, an Afghan police officer turned his gun on NATO troops at a remote checkpoint in southern Afghanistan before dawn. Four U.S. soldiers were killed before the...

Militants armed with rockets have attacked the main Allied military base in Afghanistan, leaving at least two people dead and a number of others hurt. The perimeter of Camp Bastion was breached as it was hit by small arms fire and there was major damage to buildings, an aircraft hangar and several military jets. The two soldiers killed are thought to have been US Marines. This facility is often subject to indirect fire, but officials in Afghanistan say the damage that has resulted is far more severe than normal. The attack was launched in the US area of the base.

<p>KABUL—The Taliban's weekend assault on a major coalition base was one of the most determined and effective ever seen in Afghanistan, according to details released Sunday, destroying six U.S. combat jets and damaging two others.</p> <p>In addition to the Taliban strike, which killed two U.S. Marines Friday night, two separate insider attacks by Afghan service members claimed the lives of six coalition troops. A lethal coalition airstrike, meanwhile, threatened to raise additional tensions in the country, amid reports of civilian casualties.</p>

WASHINGTON — It was another week at war in Afghanistan, another string of American casualties, and another collective shrug by a nation weary of a faraway conflict whose hallmark is its grinding inconclusiveness. After nearly 11 years, many by now have grown numb to the sting of losing soldiers like Pfc. Shane W. Cantu of Corunna, Mich. He died of shrapnel wounds in the remoteness of eastern Afghanistan, not far from the getaway route that Osama bin Laden took when U.S. forces invaded after Sept. 11, 2001, and began America's longest war. Cantu was 10 back then. Nearly every day...

On August 6, 2011, 30 US service members killed when a CH-47 Chinook helicopter they were being transported in crashed in Wardak province, Afghanistan. It was the deadliest single loss for U.S. forces in the decade-long war in Afghanistan. 17 members of the elite Navy SEALs were killed in the crash. Yesterday, Karen and Billy Vaughn, parents of Aaron Carson Vaughn, spoke at the Defending the Defenders forum sponsored by the Tea Party Patriots outside the RNC Convention in Tampa. Karen brought a copy of the form letter they were sent following their son’s death. It’s a form letter. It...

August 16, 2012: Seven American soldiers were killed Thursday when their helicopter crashed in Kandahar Province in southern Afghanistan, U.S. officials said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for shooting down the helicopter, although the insurgency often exaggerates its victories and is quick to claim responsibility for any incident involving foreign troop deaths. The area where the helicopter went down is an insurgent hotbed and supply route, lying north of Kandahar city near volatile Zabul and Uruzgan provinces. This story is still developing. R.I.P.

Pendleton captain killed by Afghan police SAN DIEGO - A captain based at Pendleton was one of three Marines killed Friday in Helmand province by an Afghan police officer with whom he had just shared a meal, it was reported Saturday. Matt Manoukian, 29, of Los Altos Hills, was killed after being invited by an Afghan police commander to a meeting in Sangin district, long a Taliban stronghold, to discuss security issues, The U-T San Diego reported. Before the meeting, Manoukian and the other two Marines killed shared a meal with their killer. The attack was the third of its...