Free Republic

...[I]t's immediately apparent that Senate Republicans did an outstanding job of recruiting this cycle. Capito ran one of the best campaigns in a non-competitive race in the country. McConnell was, as usual, outstanding. Gillespie came from nowhere to almost upset the single most popular politician in Virginia. And Ernst is a rising national star. But, when you look at the totality of the campaign, it's clear that Cory Gardner was the single best candidate of the 2014 election.

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq, Dec. 11, 2008 – Some servicemembers’ careers are defined by a single deployment. For Army Sgt. 1st Class Thomas Matthews, frequent deployments have become a way of life. Army Sgt. 1st Class Thomas Matthews stretches before a morning run on Camp Victory, Iraq, Dec. 4, 2008. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Josh LeCappelain  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Matthews’ most recent deployment landed him here, where he now enjoys sharing what he’s learned about deployments, as well as some empathy, with others. “I have a ton of Army experience and deployments under my belt,” he...

My friends, If John McCain wins this election (and I pray he does), do you think he will have learned any lasting lessons about, oh, say the media, campaign finance regulations, reaching across the aisle....?Just wondering.

The Lessons of 11 September 2001 A.D. Many will write over the next few days regarding the events of 3 years ago. Most such writings, no matter how good they are, will fall into a fairly predictable set of bounds and few will be truly challenging or discomforting. Well, so much for that. I will launch straight into what I believe to be the most critical lessons learned from the events of 11 September 2001 as well as their precursors and their aftermath. Lesson 1: Silence the Utopians As early as 1943, Western liberal intellectual utopians were hard at work...

Elusive report Ever since The Washington Times disclosed a secret Pentagon "lessons learned" report Sept. 3, House Democrats have tried to get a copy. But they keep being blocked by the Defense Department and the Republicans. ... One part of the report says, "Late formation of DoD [Phase 4] organizations, limited time available for the development of detailed plans and pre-deployment coordination. Command relationships (and communication requirements) and responsibilities were not clearly defined for DoD organizations until shortly before [the war] commenced." ... The Pentagon initially responded to The Times story by saying the report reflected the military's tradition of...

10th Mountain Division Observations (The number is the observation, D--the dilemma, LL--the lesson learned.) 1: Many Soldiers had problems due to altitude. D: Soldiers deployed about 6,000' to 8500' by CH-47. Eventually moved up to about 10,500'. Almost everyone had some problems with the altitude at first. Most felt better after a few days. "Bunch of guys" had Acute Mountain Sickness. No pre-treatment with Diamox because of the fear of side effects. Symptoms included shortness of breath, vomiting, headaches, dizziness, collapsing. Moved worst cases down for evacuation. Some were treated with O2, Diamox, and Dexamethazone. LL: Rapid deployment of Soldiers...