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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a big turnaround from a year ago, the U.S. Army will achieve its 2006 goal of 80,000 new soldiers despite lingering reluctance by some potential recruits to join amid the Iraq war, officials said on Friday. ADVERTISEMENT Adding recruiters, sweetening enlistment bonuses, accepting older volunteers and even tolerating more tattoos helped the active-duty Army rebound from fiscal-year 2005 when it fell almost 7,000 recruits short of 80,000, officials said. "We will make our 80,000 mission (for new recruits) for the fiscal year," said Maj. Gen. Sean Byrne, the Army's director of personnel management. Fiscal 2006 ends...

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (Army News Service, Aug. 31, 2006) – The active Army reached its fiscal 2006 retention goal one month early today when a Fort Campbell Soldier reenlisted. Staff Sgt. Michael Obleton, a truck driver assigned to the 101st Airborne Division, became the 64,200th reenlistment since Oct. 1, 2005. Vice Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Richard Cody presided over the ceremony. “What a commitment. Our Army has been at war longer than we fought in World War II. Soldiers still reenlist knowing full well the dangers, knowing full well the sacrifice,” said Cody. Obleton, of Columbus, Ga.,...

8/17/2006 - RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) -- The Air Force is on track to make its recruiting goal this year, marking the seventh consecutive year the service has brought in the right number and mix of new Airmen. To date, 25,645 people have enlisted in the Air Force and entered active duty in fiscal 2006. That puts the Air Force on pace to send 30,750 men and women to basic training and technical schools to fill jobs in more than 150 areas. In response to the Air Force's force shaping, fiscal 2007 recruiting goals have been reduced by...

WASHINGTON, July 25, 2006 – The Army National Guard will meet its goal of having 6,000 soldiers along the Southwest border by Aug. 1 to assist the U.S. Border Patrol in stemming the flow of illegal immigrants, the head of the National Guard Bureau told reporters here today. "They will be in the border states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas come the first of August," Army Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum said. "We will meet the president's commitment to do that." In May, President Bush requested the Guard be used to help strengthen the border. The following month...

U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Brett Bartels hands out toys to children in a market in Barwana, in western Iraq, June 15, 2006. Multinational Force-Iraq photo by Sgt. Roe F. Seigle Marines’ Goal: Gain Trust, Improve Community The Marines' "gifts for grades" incentive encourages Iraqi schoolchildren to earn good grades. By U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Roe F. Seigle 1st Marine Division BARWANA, Iraq, June 28, 2006 -- As U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Brett Bartels stood in front of a military vehicle handing out hundreds of stuffed animals and soccer balls on a road in Barwana, his goal was simple -...

The assistant to Al Qaida's new network chief has been killed in a foiled insurgency strike. Iraqi security sources said a lieutenant of Al Qaida network chief Abu Ayoub Al Masri was found killed in a car on its way to an insurgency strike. The sources said a bomb inside the car blew up prematurely and killed the lieutenant and three other Al Qaida operatives. Officials identified the Al Masri aide as Mansour Sulayman Mansour Khalifi Al Mashhadani. The U.S. military confirmed the killing, reported to have taken place in Yusufiyah, west of Baghdad on June 19. U.S.-led coalition spokesman...

The wait finally comes to an end Monday for 11 of the 15 MLS players at the 2006 World Cup as the U.S. national team opens Group E play against Czech Republic in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. The Los Angeles Galaxy's Landon Donovan will lead the U.S. team into action starting at 11:55 a.m. ET on ESPN2. In other action, Australia meets Japan in Kaiserslautern at 8:55 a.m. (ESPN2) for a Group F match. Italy and Ghana clash in the third match of the day, a Group E affair in Hanover at 2:55 p.m. (ESPN2).

One of the most fancied teams in Germany, England will open their FIFA World Cup™ campaign against Group B rivals Paraguay today -- LIVE NOW on ABC: England v Paraguay

Germany, the hosts of the 18th FIFA World Cup™, kick off the tournament on Friday against Costa Rica in Munich (LIVE on ABC at 11:00AM ET). This represents a change to a tradition established back in 1974 which saw the defending world champions having the honour of getting the proceedings under way. The other two teams in Group A, Poland and Ecuador, will fight it out later in the evening.

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's hard-line president said Tuesday that the country has joined the club of nuclear countries by successfully enriching uranium for the first time — a key process in what Iran maintains is a peaceful energy program. The announcement from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was certain to heighten international tensions surrounding Iran's nuclear program. The U.N. Security Council has demanded that Iran stop all enrichment by April 28 because of suspicions the program is designed to make nuclear weapons. Ahmadinejad warned the West that trying to force it to abandon uranium enrichment would "cause an everlasting hatred in the...

U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Daisi Eyerly pumps fuel into a B-52. She is deployed to a forward operating location and hopes to pump 1 million gallons of fuel in just 60 days. U.S Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Doug Nicodemus U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Daisi Eyerly Airman Sets Refueling Goal By Master Sgt. Scott King 40th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM, Feb. 10, 2006 — She’s well on her way, 160,000 and counting every day. Senior Airman Daisi Eyerly, a national guardsman arrived here with a lofty goal – to pump 1 million...

Fourteen-year-old Kaylee Marie Radzyminski peers into a music CD Saturday in her grandparentsÕ Sierra Vista home. Radzyminski is visiting for the holidays from Cleveland, Tenn. She has started a program were CDs and DVDs can be donated to U.S. troops. The program is called Tunes 4 the Troops. (Mark Levy-Herald/Review)SIERRA VISTA — U.S. Navy Sea Cadet Kaylee Marie Radzyminski, 14, wants your movies, video games and music compact discs for shipment to troops overseas. Any game, album or book in a compact disc format will work for Radzyminski’s Tunes 4 the Troops program, based out of Cleveland, Tenn. For the...

A Palestinian militant was killed on Sunday when a grenade he tried to throw at Israel Defense Forces troops exploded prematurely in the Balata refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus, witnesses and the IDF said. They said 18-year-old Ayad Hashash, member of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed wing of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction, attempted to attack soldiers scouring Balata refugee camp in Nablus for militants. Later on Sunday afternoon, soldiers in Nablus shot and wounded a Palestinian who tried to throw a concrete block at them. Another Palestinian sustained burns also in the Nablus...

Argentine football hero Diego Maradona has said he is unrepentant about using his fist in a controversial goal against England in the 1986 World Cup. Speaking on his TV show, Maradona said the intervention, which he nicknamed "The Hand of God", was justified. "The truth is that I don't for a second regret scoring that goal with my hand," he said on the programme. The footballer apparently defended his goal as his response to Britain's claim to the Falkland islands. He said he wanted to let Argentines and the whole world know the truth about a key moment in football...

Army comes up short of recruiting goals for second consecutive month Service adds incentives in effort to reverse downward trend By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes European edition, Wednesday, April 6, 2005 ARLINGTON, Va. — With all three Army components once again missing their recruiting goals, service leaders quickly added another series of incentives in an effort to boost enlistments. The active Army missed its recruiting goal in March by 32 percent, marking the second month in a row the component has not brought enough new soldiers into the fold, according to statistics from the U.S. Army’s Recruiting Command at...

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February 18, 2004, 8:35 a.m. John Kerry’s Perfect Running MateKerry-Specter 2004. Now that John Kerry is the slam-dunk Democratic presidential nominee, all of the political speculation turns to the selection of his running mate. He needs to pick someone who is an ideological soul mate and agrees with him on most big issues. Someone with an unimpeachable record of successfully and consistently arguing the case for left-of-center policies: liberal judicial appointees, smaller tax cuts, bigger investment in social-welfare programs. Someone from a large and competitive state. Someone who will further energize the left-wing base of the Democratic party. Someone...

The Clinton-Kerry-Clinton “Connection” by Col. Bob Pappas, USMC, Ret. The Clintons are on the Kerry bandwagon, or so it seems, after all, they and their former team are full swing on the Kerry campaign team or in support of it; there are Paul Begala, Joe Lockhart, and James Carville to name a few. Additionally, Ms. Clinton makes periodic statements supporting the erstwhile Senator; and, it is widely known that Mr. Clinton has had a number of lengthy conversations with Kerry in regards to his “campaign.” But, why? It is widely assumed, if not known, that Ms. Clinton has Presidential aspirations...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 6 - The idea of a United States independent of Middle East oil is a touchstone of Senator John Kerry's campaign and a huge crowd pleaser, but has divided and exasperated many of his most experienced energy advisers. Some advisers say they worry that Mr. Kerry's focus on freeing the United States from reliance on oil from the Persian Gulf, the linchpin of the energy plan he released on Thursday, is unrealistic and misleading and that hammering away at it would erode Mr. Kerry's credibility with business, the news media and other countries. The advisers, who include independent...

U.S. Reaches All-Time High Seventh in FIFA World Rankings CHICAGO (July 7, 2004) - Two months after climbing back into the Top 10 in the FIFA World Rankings, the U.S. Men’s National Team continued its climb up the ladder, by moving up two notches to their highest ranking ever at seventh, ahead of such powerhouses as England, Italy, Argentina and Germany. This is the 16th time the U.S. has been ranked in the Top 10 since breaking in for the first time in August of 2002 after their remarkable quarterfinal run in the 2002 World Cup. The U.S. dropped out...