Free Republic

The Army, to quote that age old sage of wisdom, 173rd Airborne Brigade Vietnam combat vet, Master Sergeant Jimmy Busby, is in Deep Kimchee. A correlation of forces are converging to create an Army that has severe personnel problems, limited knowledge of armored warfare, low morale, while also being eaten alive by severe social changes that are unprecedented in the history of the lean green machine. Under the Fiscal Year 2017 President’s Budget Proposal, recently released by the DoD, the active duty Army will be reduced from 475,000 to 460,000 in the next year. Army Reserve levels will drop from...

The former head of an influential pro-gun lobbying group said over the weekend that losing the White House could mean pro-gun activists “have to resort to the bullet box” to protect the Second Amendment. In a conversation on his “Gun Owners News Hour,” Larry Pratt, executive director emeritus of Gun Owners of America, interviewed Robert Knight, a fellow at the conservative American Civil Rights Union, who said a Democrat taking the White House and replacing the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia would pose “great peril” to gun rights. “At that point, we would have to come to an understanding,...

Christian Jacobs hugs the headstone of his father U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Christopher Jacobs as mother Brittany, wipes away a tear in Arlington National Cemetery A friend recently posted this iconic 2007 photo of Christian Golczynski:   His father, Marine Staff Sgt. Marc Golczynski, was shot and killed while on patrol during his second tour in Iraq. This photo is all over the internet and is heartbreaking because of the 8 year old's strength in holding back tears during a formal ceremony honoring his father who is no longer with him. This is Christian a year ago:   Bookworm writes:...

Slide show with tribute song to the Marines htt htps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkNwFVxQpRI&feature=youtu.be

O God, we implore Thee, watch over those exposed to the horrors of war and to the spiritual dangers of a Soldier’s, a Sailor’s, a Marine’s or an Airman’s life. Give them such a strong faith that no human respect may ever lead them to deny it, or fear to practice it. Do Thou by Thy grace fortify them against the contagion of bad example, that, being preserved from vice, and serving Thee faithfully, they may be ready to meet death whenever it may happen. Through Christ our Lord.O Sacred Heart. Inspire them with sorrow for sin, and grant...

Let us never forget those who gave their life for our freedoms. Remembering the brave men and women who gave their “last full measure of devotion” for our freedoms, requires us to take a moment on this Memorial Day to focus on the individuals behind the numbers and remember they are not just names on a wall. One of those individuals who gave everything he had for us was Marine Captain John J. McKenna IV who was killed on August 16, 2006 during an operation in Fallujah, Iraq. The story of John McKenna’s life and death is the story of...

This is a totally personal thread meant to honor those who served. If there's already something like this out there, please have Jim Rob delete it.

American Flag and the Flag of Serbia image courtesy of the Studenica Foundation. REMEMBERING SERBIA'S GREAT GENERAL DRAZA MIHAILOVICH ON AMERICA'S MEMORIAL DAY Taking to the Ravna Gora hills of Serbia 75 years ago in May of 1941 with only a handful of men to mount the first real resistance to Hitler's occupying forces in Europe was impressive. The guts it took and the resolve necessary for these men and their leader to initiate such a courageous act against the Nazi war machine that in 1941 appeared to be invincible seems almost inconceivable now. But it was real, and the...

A warning siren bellowed through the concrete bunker of a top-secret Naval facility where U.S. military engineers prepared to demonstrate a weapon for which there is little defense. Officials huddled at a video screen for a first look at a deadly new supergun that can fire a 25-pound projectile through seven steel plates and leave a 5-inch hole. The weapon is called a railgun and requires neither gunpowder nor explosive. It is powered by electromagnetic rails that accelerate a hardened projectile to staggering velocity—a battlefield meteorite with the power to one day transform military strategy, say supporters, and keep the...

Illegal immigrants in the US often get better care than the nation's military veterans, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said. "We're not going to allow that to happen any longer," he told a bikers' rally in Washington DC. Mr Trump did not provide any evidence for his assertion. Last year, the billionaire sparked anger by attacking the military record of Senator John McCain, a former prisoner of war. Mr Trump said Sen McCain was only considered a hero because he was a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. He then added: "I like people who weren't captured." Since...

This week, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert McDonald rebuffed critics of the agency’s long queues for medical treatment of ailing veterans, comparing them to the long lines to get on rides at Disneyland. “No one is on the Disney Corporation’s case for the lengthy wait-times at their theme parks,” McDonald asserted. “Why should we get worked up over wait-times at VA hospitals?” “You know, if people can tolerate waiting an hour for something as frivolous as a roller coaster ride shouldn’t they be willing to wait a reasonable amount of time for something as crucial as medical care?” the Secretary...

Memorial Day is a day of honor and reverence; it is a solemn day. We must recognize an unfortunate fact of life; that our beloved country was formed and is protected by the blood of its warriors. Yet as unfortunate as this is we can be thankful, because over the years Americans have answered the call every time our way of life has been threatened. None understand this better than those who put everything on the line by signing a contract to serve in America’s Armed Forces. Many honorable men and women paid the price with their limbs and lives....

MSNBC breaking news host and ex-NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams was allowed out on MSNBC’s airwaves early Friday afternoon to discuss President Obama’s visit to Hiroshima so he could resurrect a taped report that aired in 2005 on the 60th anniversary of the nuclear bomb’s dropping on the Japanese city. In the course of discussing the event afterward, though, Williams threw some shade in the direction of the U.S. military and then-President Harry Truman by complaining that “we’re the only nation to have used them in anger” against the horrifying Axis Powers member.

All these threads about Hiroshima got me to do some thinking. What would have happened had by some miracle we didn't drop the nukes on Japan and they had surrendered after a the equivalent amount of firebombing but right before an invasion. Some libs would think this would have been the "best Case Scenario" but I think it would have been a disaster! This is why: After the two nukes hit Japan many news reels in the months and years after it showed off to the whole world the absolute horrors of what Nuclear Weapons could do. We saw images...

HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) - With an unflinching look back at a painful history, President Barack Obama stood on the hallowed ground of Hiroshima on Friday and declared it a fitting place to summon people everywhere to embrace the vision of a world without nuclear weapons. As the first American president to visit the city where the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb, Obama came to acknowledge - but not apologize for - an act many Americans see as a justified end to a brutal war that Japan started with a sneak attack at Pearl Harbor. Some 140,000 people died after...

In Alabama, Governor Robert Bentley signed HB98, which provides for retired veterans who qualify, to obtain free pistol permits.  The bill was popular with the legislature, passing nearly unanimously. HB98 passed the House 93 to 4 with 3 abstentions. It passed the Senate 30 to 2 with no abstentions on 3 May, 2016, and was signed into law by Governor Bently on 13 May, 2016. The bill applies to retired military veterans who are non-disability retirees from the Army, Navy, Coast Guard or Marines, or any reserve component thereof. From the HB98(pdf): 24  (b) Any retired military veteran who...

The news on Donald Trump and veterans hasn’t been very flattering this week, but recent Morning Consult surveys show that members of the military and their families largely back the presumptive GOP nominee in the race for the White House. Almost half of veterans and voters who belong to veteran households (47 percent) picked Donald Trump as their presidential nominee in surveys taken from May 13 through May 24. Of the 1,668 military voters polled, only 38 percent support former Secretary of State and first lady Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee. Fourteen percent of military voters remain undecided....

...The troops will be dropping with about 10 of their MRZR all-terrain vehicles made by Minnesota-based Polaris Defense. (MRZR is not an acronym but simply a designator, said a Polaris spokeswoman.) The four-seat MRZRs were still a "pilot program" for the 82nd but were intended to give the paratroopers more mobility once they hit the ground. "It's a little more robust" than commercial ATVs, Tuley said. "These vehicles significantly enhance what would otherwise be foot mobility," Brig. Gen. Brian Winski, deputy commander of the 82nd Airborne, told Bloomberg News. "They change the dynamic and turn what would have been a...

Like a lot of other Americans these days I’m spending too much time pissed off about way too many things in this great nation of ours. I’m not perceptive enough to fully understand how we got ourselves into such a mess but I do know it’s gotten me to thinking about Memorial Day this year. And that’s another thing that pisses me off. As a veteran, I’m angry that this day will be passed by most of my countrymen with not one thought about the millions of Americans who lost their lives in our nation’s wars or undeclared conflicts. As...

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has introduced an amendment to the Senate's fiscal 2017 defense policy bill that would do away with the draft entirely. The draft has played a major role in debate of this year's National Defense Authorization Act, the first considered by Congress since the ban on women serving in combat was lifted late last year. The House Armed Services Committee voted to add all women ages 18-26 to the Selective Service, but the provision was later stripped out in the full House. The House version of the bill still includes a requirement from Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas,...