Free Republic

Federal panel narrows list of recommended names to 87; report due to Congress by Oct. 1 Dwight D. Eisenhower, George C. Marshall, Colin Powell and Harriet Tubman are among 87 candidates who have made the cut for the renaming of nine military installations that honor Confederate figures, including Fort Benning and Fort Gordon in Georgia. The federal Naming Commission announced this week it had narrowed its list of recommendations from the more than 34,000 it had received from the public. It stopped soliciting ideas online Dec. 1 and is preparing to submit its final recommendations to Congress by Oct. 1....

The U.S. Navy has promoted Vice Adm. Michelle Howard to admiral, making her the first female four-star officer in the Navy's 236-year-history, the White House said Tuesday. Howard, who was the first African-American woman to command a Navy ship, will become vice chief of naval operations, according to her online Navy biography. "Her historic career is taking a next step today," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

The ceremony included a bit of comedy, but there was no denying the significance: For the first time in its history, the Navy promoted a woman on Tuesday to become a four-star admiral. Surrounded by friends, family and peers, Adm. Michelle J. Howard was promoted to her new rank at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. She’ll take over as the vice chief of naval operations, the No. 2 officer in the service. She is not only the first woman to hold the job, but the first African-American.

The United States named a new Full Admiral in Washington, D.C. Friday--and it's an African American woman. She's will be the first ever female in Naval history to win a fourth star assuming the Senate approves President Obama's nomination. The Navy announced her nomination in an official release. Vice admiral Michelle Howard,53, is currently the deputy chief of naval operations, plans, and strategy.She will serve as the Navy's second ranking officer, vice chief of naval operations, just a single step below the Navy's top officer, the chief of naval operations.

The Bahrain-based U.S. Fifth Fleet announced April 24 that the U.S. Navy will transfer command of U.S.-dominated counter-piracy operation known as Combined Task Force (CTF) 151 to the Turkish navy in a ceremony attended by U.S. Rear Adm. Michelle Howard and Turkish Rear Adm. Caner Bener at Naval Support Activity Bahrain on May 3. {snip!} The U.S. transfer of command of the CTF 151 to the Turkish navy thus carries a great deal of symbolic weight. This is about the United States sharing responsibility with a strategic ally and putting that cooperation on display for U.S. allies and adversaries to...

MANAMA, Bahrain, July 21, 2009 – Navy Rear Adm. Carol M. Pottenger and Navy Rear Adm. Michelle Howard have plenty on their respective plates – Pottenger as commander of Naval Expeditionary Combat Command and Howard as commander of Expeditionary Strike Group 2. But that doesn’t stop the two flag officers from taking on the additional role of mentoring female sailors. Navy Rear Adm. Carol Pottenger, right, and Navy Rear Adm. Michelle Howard met with women surface warfare officers at U.S. Naval Forces Central Command headquarters in Manama, Bahrain, to encourage them in their careers and lives. U.S. Navy photo by...