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Sarah Palin drew a crowd of over 4,000 on Monday to her book signing at Fort Bragg, though the former Alaska governor kept her appearance from turning into the kind of "political platform" that some military officials were concerned about. Palin did not give a speech during her three-hour stop at the North Carolina Army base, apparently living up to her pledge to tone down the event after Fort Bragg officials expressed concern that the visit could prompt grandstanding against the Obama administration. "It was just a peaceful crowd -- orderly, no one making any strange comments that I know...

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — Thousands of people braved a cold, drizzly Monday for a chance to meet former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who was signing copies of her memoir at a Fort Bragg store. Some people camped out overnight, and the line snaked around the North Post-Exchange by the time Palin arrived at 11:15 a.m. The crowd chanted Palin's name when her "Going Rogue" tour bus pulled up outside the PX. "We love Sarah because she's a woman and she's smart," Sandra Harvath said. "She loves this country. I voted for her last time, and I'd vote for...

Sarah Palin arrived at Fort Bragg this morning to a media mob and cheers from more than 1,000 people lined up for her book-signing event. About a dozen people had been waiting since Sunday. Palin's bus pulled up to the North Post Exchange just after 11:15 a.m. and the former Alaska governor and vice-presidential candidate emerged in a black suit to cheers and whistles. As she passed the collected media, Palin was asked what she was thankful for this holiday season. "I'm thankful for the U.S. military, the best in the world," she said. The line to see Palin extended...

Sarah Palin comes to Asheville NC to have Dinner with Billy Graham & Family from richard bernier on Vimeo. Sarah Palin arrives in Asheville NC to have Dinner with Billy Graham & Family. 22 Nov 2009 - On a very short notice, Space Mountain Productions was advised that Mrs.Palin would be coming to Asheville to have dinner with Billy Graham & Familly. Mrs. Palin is on her book tour & will be in Fayetteville the next day to promote her book. Mrs.Palin arrived at 3:10pm & took a few questions & meet some supporters who had time to come to...

Sarah Palin, who will sign books Monday at Fort Bragg, plans a stopover in Montreat today to have dinner with 91-year-old Billy Graham and his son, Franklin Graham, who issued the invitation. "He just saw that she was going to be in the area and he said to come by," said Jeremy Blume, a spokesman for Franklin Graham. Former Alaska Gov. Palin, who was the Republican vice presidential nominee in 2008, will fly into Asheville this afternoon, Blume said, and then go to Billy Graham's mountaintop home in Montreat for dinner. The Charlotte-born evangelist has never met Palin, who is...

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - The U.S. Army has reversed its position and now says it will open Sarah Palin's appearance on Fort Bragg to media despite fears the event will turn into political grandstanding against President Barack Obama. Fort Bragg officials said Friday in a news advisory that any interested media will be able to attend. A day earlier, a spokesman said media would be prevented from attending so the Palin book signing would not become a political platform to express opinions "directed against the commander in chief."

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - The U.S. Army plans to prevent media from covering Sarah Palin's appearance at Fort Bragg, fearing the event will turn into political grandstanding against President Barack Obama, officials said Thursday. Fort Bragg spokesman Tom McCollum told The Associated Press that Bragg's garrison commander and other Army officials had decided to keep media away from Palin's book promotion. He said the Army did not want the Monday event to become a platform to express political opinions "directed against the commander in chief." "The main reason is to stop this from turning into a political platform," he said....

The U.S. Army now says it will allow media limited access to Sarah Palin's appearance at Fort Bragg. The Associated Press and The Fayetteville Observer objected and the military changed its position slightly on Thursday night. It will grant a pool of reporters restricted access to Monday's appearance. Buckner said the setup will allow reporters their right to access .

Army officials plan to prevent media from covering Sarah Palin's appearance at Fort Bragg on Monday, saying they fear the event will turn into political grandstanding against President Barack Obama. Fort Bragg spokesman Tom McCollum told The Associated Press on Thursday that Army officials had decided to keep media away from Palin's book promotion at the North Carolina base. SNIP McCollum said the Army did not want the event to become a platform for Palin supporters to express political opinions "directed against the commander in chief."

Not long ago at Fort Bragg, N.C., the country's largest military base, seven soldiers sat in a semi-circle, lights dimmed, eyes closed, two fingertips lightly pressed beneath their belly buttons to activate their "core." Electronic music thumped as the soldiers tried to silence their thoughts, the key to Warrior Mind Training, a form of meditation slowly making inroads on military bases across the country. Think military and you think macho, not meditation, but that's about to change now that the Army intends to train its 1.1 million soldiers in the art of mental toughness.

The general in charge of the Army's more than 9,000 wounded soldiers said Wednesday he is ordering a review of how the ones at Fort Bragg are being punished for minor violations. Brig. Gen. Gary Cheek said he is asking the Army Surgeon General to look at all discipline that has been taken against soldiers in the base's Warrior Transition unit to make sure each case was fair.

Eight months later, in August, the heavily pregnant Rebekah began to notice that the military base at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where her husband is based, and the neighbouring town of Fayetteville were overrun with new and expectant mothers. Nature had taken its course when the legendary 82nd Airborne Division began returning home from Iraq, along with special operations forces also based at Fort Bragg, and the result is a baby boom, which has left hospitals straining to cope not with combat casualties but bouncing newborn infants. Last weekend Rebekah Sandelin, 32, was one of 1,000 mothers from Fort Bragg...

FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. — A former Army cook convicted of multiple rapes and murders is set to die next month in what would be the U.S. military's first execution in nearly 50 years. The military said Thursday that former North Carolina soldier Ronald A. Gray is to be executed Dec. 10 at the federal prison complex in Terre Haute, Ind. Gray was arrested in connection with four slayings and eight rapes in the Fayetteville, N.C., area between April 1986 and January 1987, while he was stationed at Fort Bragg. He was convicted of murdering two women.

Army Base Teems With Babies as Stork Lands With Airborne By JULIE SCELFO FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Joanne Chavonne saw pregnant women everywhere in town, shopping at Target for diapers or dining at a Mexican restaurant. Then she heard that so many families were calling the medical clinic at nearby Fort Bragg for the results of pregnancy tests that the Army had to install an extra telephone line. And finally, over the summer, an administrator told her that the hospital on base was overrun with women in labor, and was delivering nearly 300 babies a month. “I was shocked,” said Ms....

FORT BRAGG (AP) — The Army says a Special Forces trainee found dead this summer during a land navigation exercise in North Carolina was bitten by a poisonous water moccasin, also known as a cottonmouth. The military said Wednesday the autopsy of 20-year-old Pfc. Norman M. Murburg of Dade City, Fla., ruled out heat or dehydration as a cause of death. Murburg was bitten multiple times while training at the Hoffman training area near Fort Bragg's Camp Mackall. Soldiers began searching for Murburg when he didn't return from the exercise. His body was found June 10. Authorities met with Murburg's...

Retired Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Lambert is scheduled to campaign in Fayetteville today on behalf of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. Lambert is the former commanding general of the Army Special Forces Command (Airborne) and the school for Green Berets at Fort Bragg.

Today the President visited soldiers at Ft. Bragg, N.C., home of the 82nd Airborne Division. Pray for President Bush -- Day 2807 Today Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband talked to employees at the Google Inc. headquarters in Mountain View, California Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island

WASHINGTON, May 22, 2008 – President Bush saluted thousands of soldiers of the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division during his visit to Fort Bragg, N.C., today. The president cited the soldiers’ distinguished service in Afghanistan and Iraq. “This is the first time since 2006 that five brigades from your division have assembled together,” Bush remarked to troops after performing an in-ranks review of the division. Many of the paratroopers Bush addressed had recently completed 15-month deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq. “We’ve asked a lot of you,” Bush told the soldiers, noting they’ve “achieved difficult objectives in a new kind...

The U.S. Army said Friday it will immediately repair barracks at eight facilities in the wake of inspection at bases worldwide. The inspections were done the last week of April and covered nearly 150,000 barracks rooms. They found that 45 repairs needed priority attention, including new heating and cooling equipment, repainting, mold removal and other work. Army Secretary Pete Geren has said that $248 million in emergency funds has been appropriated to fix problems found during the inspections. The Army on Friday identified eight installations that will get priority attention: Fort Polk, La.; Fort Gordon, Ga.; Fort Bragg, N.C.; Fort...

Watch the YouTube clip in this post... http://mkfreeberg.webloggin.com/barracks/ ...and then take what you think would be the appropriate action.

A Fort Bragg soldier who crawled 200 feet while being fired upon to save a wounded colleague and then led a group of besieged soldiers to safety has received the Distinguished Service Cross. Master Sgt. Brendan O'Connor received the cross in a ceremony Wednesday at Fort Bragg for his actions in Afghanistan. The cross is the Army's second-highest award for combat valor, behind only the Medal of Honor. O'Connor was honored for his actions during a battle in 2006 in southern Afghanistan. He is assigned to the 7th Special Forces Group. The unit is based at Fort Bragg, a massive...

Hillary Rodham Clinton said in an interview today that she will call for a congressional hearing in response to an online video showing poor living conditions at barracks on Fort Bragg. The Fayetteville Observer first reported last Friday that the father of a soldier uploaded a video to YouTube showing peeling paint, exposed pipes, mildewed ceilings and showers, a broken toilet seat and a bathroom floor covered in sewage because of a clogged drain. Since last week, the video has logged more than 91,000 views on YouTube. In a phone interview this afternoon with the Observer, Clinton said from Indiana...

Army widens probe after finding bad conditions at Fort Bragg By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer 31 minutes ago WASHINGTON - Army officials said Tuesday they are inspecting every barracks building worldwide to see whether plumbing and other problems revealed at Fort Bragg, N.C., last week are widespread. ADVERTISEMENT Brig. Gen. Dennis Rogers, who is responsible for maintaining barracks throughout the Army, told reporters at the Pentagon that most inspections were done last weekend but he had not seen final results. While not providing specifics about problems discovered during the weekend inspections, Rogers indicated some deficiencies were corrected. In cases...

Ed Frawley Posted Video on YouTube to Expose Conditions at Fort Bragg When Edward Frawley went to welcome home his 22-year-old son, who was returning from a tour of duty with the 82nd Airborne Division in the mountains of Afghanistan, he was in for a shock. Not to hear the stories about Jeff's battles with insurgents, but to witness his son's current living conditions at Fort Bragg, N.C. So, Frawley did what any concerned citizen does — he posted a video on YouTube two weeks ago, containing still photos of moldy ceiling panels, broken toilet seats, backed up sewage water...

Authorities now have three people under arrest as they conduct an investigation into unspent anti-tank shells found in a Raleigh metal scrap yard. A federal agent says three Hispanic men were being held on immigration violations, but declined to elaborate about the case. Disposal operations ended Friday at the plant. Raleigh police said Army experts detonated 34 explosive devices. Sanford police say they found similar shells at one man's home and were told it came from the Fort Bragg area. Two workers at Raleigh Metals Processors were injured Tuesday when one of the munitions exploded as they sorted through the...

<p>Fort Bragg — Southwest Airlines picked up the tab to fly 180 soldiers temporarily stationed at Fort Bragg home to Texas for the holidays.</p> <p>The members of the Texas National Guard were stationed at Fort Bragg and expected to be deployed to Afghanistan before the holidays, said John Lucy, assistant director of the United Service Organization's center at Raleigh-Durham International Airport.</p>

FORT BRAGG, N.C., Sept. 17 — From his position about 100 yards away, Master Sgt. Troy Anderson had a clear shot at the Afghan man standing outside a residential compound in a village near the Pakistan border last October. When Capt. Dave Staffel, the Special Forces officer in charge, gave the order to shoot, Sergeant Anderson fired a bullet into the man’s head, killing him. In June, Captain Staffel and Sergeant Anderson were charged with premeditated murder. On Tuesday, in a rare public examination of the rules that govern the actions of Special Operations troops in Afghanistan, a military hearing...

FORT BRAGG, N.C., Sept. 17 — From his position about 100 yards away, Master Sgt. Troy Anderson had a clear shot at the Afghan man standing outside a residential compound in a village near the Pakistan border last October. When Capt. Dave Staffel, the Special Forces officer in charge, gave the order to shoot, Sergeant Anderson fired a bullet into the man’s head, killing him. In June, Captain Staffel and Sergeant Anderson were charged with premeditated murder. On Tuesday, in a rare public examination of the rules that govern the actions of Special Operations troops in Afghanistan, a military hearing...

The Delta Force has a recruiting video? Interesting for a unit that the Military will not even say exists. The local on Bragg appears to be real. Some of the techniques are common in all SF operations. The faces being shown I question. Have fun watching. I have never seen the "emblem" in the video anywhere. The only one I have seen for Delta looks close to the one in the video but not exactly. It is common knowledge that the Delta force shows up 2 or 3 times a year in Ranger units for recruiting purposes. It is even...

SGT Ricky Clousing at RDU on Friday. MORRISVILLE, N.C. -- A Fort Bragg soldier is in military custody after being AWOL for more than a year.Sergeant Ricky Clousing went absent without official leave from Fort Bragg in 2005. Last week he turned himself into military authorities at Fort Lewis in Tacoma, Washington after attending a “Veterans for Peace” convention.Instead of wearing his military uniform, Clousing wore a T-shirt that said “Free Speech” and said it’s with a clear conscience that he turned himself into military custody."Because it was always my intention of turning myself in I decided that now...

Shortly after returning from Iraq last year, Army Sgt. Ricky Clousing gathered a few belongings and sneaked out of Fort Bragg, leaving only a note quoting Martin Luther King. After six months spent seeing the "daily physical, psychological and emotional harassment of civilians," the 24-year-old said he was confused and disenchanted with the United States' role in the war.

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — Three Fort Bragg soldiers were honored Tuesday with the Silver Star — the Army’s third-highest award for valor in combat — for their actions in Afghanistan. Sgt. 1st Class Bruce Holmes and his team sergeant, Master Sgt. Keith Logsdon, received the medal for a 14-hour battle in a village in southern Afghanistan last year. Staff Sgt. Matthew Keefe received the medal for a separate battle. “I went in and did my job. No one expects to go and get a Silver Star,” Holmes said.

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (Army News Service, Aug. 10, 2006) – Thirty-one Soldiers from the 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) were decorated with honors to include three Silver Star Medals for valorous actions in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom in a ceremony here, Aug. 8. The three Silver Star Medal recipients were Master Sgt. Keith Logsdon, Sgt. 1st Class Bruce Holmes and Staff Sgt. Matthew Keefe. The Silver Star Medal, the Army’s third highest award for combat valor is awarded to Soldiers for distinguished gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States during military operations. Maj. Gen. Thomas R....

FORT BRAGG, N.C. - Federal agents conducting a sweep aimed at illegal immigrants detained 58 civilian workers Tuesday as they tried to enter Fort Bragg with suspected false or fraudulently obtained identification, officials said. Almost all of them were construction workers, officials said. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, U.S. marshals and FBI agents worked with the military on the sweep, which was conducted between 6 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. when most of the thousands of soldiers and civilian workers who live off the post enter the gates. "Today's operation was part of our ongoing force protection measures," said post...

A diversion of dollars to help fight the war in Iraq has helped create a $530 million shortfall for Army posts at home and abroad, leaving some unable to pay utility bills or even cut the grass. In San Antonio, Fort Sam Houston hasn't been able to pay its $1.4 million monthly utility bill since March, prompting workers in many of the post's administrative buildings to get automated disconnection notices. Fort Bragg in North Carolina can't afford to buy pens, paper or other office supplies until the new fiscal year starts in October. And in Kentucky, Fort Knox had to...

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. Thanks for the warm welcome. (Laughter.) It's a pleasure to be back here at Fort Bragg -- "Home of our Airborne and Special Forces." (Applause.) I flew down on Air Force One, and our pilot, Colonel Tillman, he said, "I can open the hatch and drop you out by parachute." (Laughter.) I said he had the wrong President Bush. (Laughter.) Old '41, I call him -- happens to be my dad -- has jumped five times with the Golden Knights of Fort Bragg. (Applause.) Mother appreciates you helping him down safely. (Laughter.) He's the only...

As we celebrate the 230th birthday of the United States of America, our president joined the ideological, and perhaps biological, descendants of those who fought to give us our freedom by creating this new nation. The president went to Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, to speak to and eat with the troops and their families (who gave him a birthday cake). He will return to the White House for a July 4th celebration with family and friends. That will also serve as a birthday party for the President.

WASHINGTON, July 4, 2006 – President Bush today promised the nation's men and women in uniform he would not allow "the sacrifice of 2,527 troops who have died in Iraq to be in vain by pulling out before the job is done." Speaking at Fort Bragg, N.C., the president said the U.S. strategy in Iraq is clear: to help the Iraqi people build a country that can govern itself, sustain itself and defend itself as a free nation, "Our troops will help the Iraqi people succeed because it's in our national interests," he said. "A free Iraq in the heart...

WASHINGTON, July 4, 2006 – President Bush today called on the American public to do their part in supporting the nation's men and women in uniform. "Across our country, Americans are coming together to help our deployed forces and their families -- and we can do more," Bush said during an Independence Day speech at Fort Bragg, N.C. "I ask every citizen to consider making a contribution to the men and women who defend us, because every one of us owes our freedom to these courageous Americans." "On this 4th of July, I ask all Americans to take a...

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MARTHA Raye, the big mouth of comedy with the big heart for the Army’s special forces, would have turned 79 this month. "Colonel Maggie of the Boondocks," as she was called by her friends in the armed forces, died last October. A special exception to policy was obtained for Raye to be buried in the military cemetery at Fort Bragg, N.C., a request she made two years before her death. Raye accumulated numerous honors and distinctions as an actress, humanitarian and armed forces supporter. They ranged from the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award Oscar for entertaining troops in Vietnam to the...

1st COSCOM conducts last airborne operation By Capt. Sonise Lumbaca April 13, 2006 FORT BRAGG, N.C.(Army News Service, April 13, 2006) — More than 250 Soldiers of the 1st Corps Support Command took to the skies April 12 to conduct their last airborne operation as COSCOM members. As a unit that is undergoing transformation, the 1st COSCOM will not only lose its airborne status, but will also change its designation to the 1st Theater Sustainment Command after April 18. “There is a little sadness in as much as this is our last official airborne operation,” said Brig. Gen. Kevin A....

FORT BRAGG, N.C. -- An Army captain from Indiana died after being injured in a routine training jump, the military said Tuesday. Capt. Nathaniel L. King, 31, of Fishers, Ind., jumped Friday and died of his injuries the next day at Duke University Medical Center, said 18th Airborne Corps spokesman Maj. Rich Patterson. King's parachute didn't malfunction, and it's not yet clear what led to the injuries, said Patterson, who declined to describe the injuries. King was among about 140 jumpers Friday and the only one who suffered serious injury, Patterson said. The Fort Bragg Safety Office and the Army...

Preparing to greet the commies - Early Saturday Morning DStarr chooses a sign from her arsenal as she prepares to confront the leftist march. This past Saturday, March 18, 2006 we conducted our third annual FReep in commemoration of the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom. As in past years, leftists marched through the streets of Fayetteville, NC (home of Fort Bragg and Pope Airforce Base) and congregated in Rowan Park for their day of music and speeches, coordinated by NC Peace and Justice Coalition. The support the troops rally was conducted on the hillside overlooking Rowan Park. Wolfpat's sound...

Marchers chanted anti-war slogans and carried "Get Out of Iraq" signs Saturday in the city next door to the Army's Fort Bragg installation, but even the most ardent protester was disappointed by the small turnout. No more than 1,000 people came to a rally at a city park this year on the anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Last year, more than 4,000 jammed the same space, said Police Chief T.D. McCarthy. "This is pitiful," Raleigh lawyer Brian Upchurch said as he waited at a staging point with about 300 people before the march.

Live thread from Fayetteville, NC. About 50 early arrivals in support of the troops have gathered ahead of the leftist "anti-war" rally in Rowan Park. This is the third year that FreeRepublic, in conjunction with Rolling Thunder, the veteran's motor cycle club, has organized a Support the Troops Rally to counter the Leftist Demonstrations here in the home town of Fort Bragg and Pope Airforce Base. This is the home of 82nd airborne division and 18 airborne corps, and we are proud and grateful for all they do to defend freedom! I am posting from a handheld, so those of...

Pentagon identifies four soldiers killed by bomb in Afghanistan Stars and Stripes European edition, Saturday, February 18, 2006 Three of the four soldiers killed Feb. 13 by a roadside bomb were assigned to the 7th Special Forces Group, while the fourth soldier belonged to a civil affairs unit, the Pentagon confirmed Friday. The soldiers were identified as: Sgt. 1st Class Chad A. Gonsalves and Staff Sgt. Edwin H. Dazachacon of 3rd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group; Staff Sgt. Clinton T. Newman of the 321st Civil Affairs Brigade; and Sgt. Alberto D. Montrond of Group Support Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group....

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A group of paratroopers from the elite 82nd Airborne Division have been moved from their regular barracks while military officials investigate allegations that they appeared on a gay pornography Web site, a spokeswoman said Tuesday. The investigation is still at an early stage, division spokeswoman Maj. Amy Hannah said in a statement. The move was prompted by concerns for the soldiers' privacy and rights, not for fears about their safety, she said.

BAGHDAD, Jan. 19, 2006 – Army Lt. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli accepted authority as the commander of Multinational Corps Iraq from Army Lt. Gen. John R. Vines in a transfer-of-authority ceremony at Camp Victory here today. Vines served as the commanding general of the 18th Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg, N.C., before replacing Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz as the MNCI commander in 2005. From Iraq, Vines will return to his previous position as commander of the 18th Airborne Corps, at Fort Bragg. Chiarelli comes to MNCI from his position as the commander of Task Force Victory, from Heidelberg, Germany. During...

RICHMOND, Va. - Lawyers for a former Green Beret convicted in the 1970 slayings of his wife and daughters, a crime dramatized in the best seller and miniseries "Fatal Vision," say a new witness has come forward and the court should throw out his murder convictions. A former deputy U.S. marshal now says he heard a defense witness tell a prosecutor she was inside Jeffrey MacDonald's home the night of the killings, according to a motion filed with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Jimmy B. Britt, who was part of the security detail for MacDonald's 1979 trial, says...