Free Republic

An extraordinary collection of patriotic First World War recruitment posters have been unearthed after 100 years stashed under the stairs of a pensioner's Brighton home. In total, 10 morale-boosting posters were found - all of which belonged to an elderly former airport worker now in her 90s. The haul was discovered as part of a house clearance. The colourful posters had been stashed under the stairs of the woman's house for many decades One carries a powerful image of a soldier stood in France reaching out his hand to a fellow Brit in civilian costume, urging him to 'come lad,...

Lost my dearest step-dad last week. Funeral was on Saturday. He was buried Sunday. Please pray for our family. Please be kind. Been very hard and emotional. Patriot Guard, bag piper, and Air Force Honor Guard were present. They m

In order to test potential A-10 Warthog replacements in rugged conditions, the US Air Force has flown Sierra Nevada A-29 Super Tucano and Hawker Beechcraft AT-6 Wolverine light attack planes from a dirt runway. The planes took off and landed on the uneven dirt airstrip located in the Melrose Air Force Range training area, a part of Cannon Air Force Base, in New Mexico. The whole event, the takeoff as well as the dusty landing, was captured and shared on YouTube by AiirSource on Wednesday, 3 January.

Dereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam by H.R. McMaster An intriguing analysis that challenges the view that Cold War anticommunism was primarily responsible for American military intervention in Vietnam. In his first book, McMaster, a US Army major and Persian Gulf war veteran, and a historian who has taught at West Point, zeroes in on the actions of Lyndon Johnson and his top advisers from the time LBJ became president in November 1963 to the July 1965 decision to escalate the war drastically. The author makes a convincing case...

For those who like this sort of thing, impressive drill routine. (video)

American bravery, why we fight and God Bless these souls forever especially in this cold.

he U.S. Navy has located a transport aircraft deep on the Pacific Ocean floor where it crashed in November, killing three sailors on board. The C-2A "Greyhound" aircraft, which was traveling to the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan when it crashed the day before Thanksgiving in the Philippine Sea, rests at a depth of about 18,500 feet (5,640 meters), the Japan-based 7th Fleet said in a statement Saturday. Salvaging it will be the deepest recovery attempt of an aircraft to date, the Navy said. The plane was located last week by a contracted salvage vessel that deployed a pinger locator...

Like Hannibal, I wanted to rank powerful leaders in the history of warfare. Unlike Hannibal, I sought to use data to determine a general’s abilities, rather than specific accounts of generals’ achievements. The result is a system for ranking every prominent commander in military history.

[By Self] Surgical operations with these little guys! Fascinating!

The United States was the first major power to adopt a semi-automatic service rifle during World War II, the M1 Garand. While most World War II infantrymen had to pull back a heavy bolt after each shot of their bolt-action rifles, a G.I. could expend a Garand’s clip as fast as he could pull the trigger. However, the Soviet Union attempted to upgrade its riflemen to SVT semi-automatic (or “Self-Loading”) rifles before the United States. The plan fell through due to two intersecting problems — the first was a massive Nazi invasion. The second was that the SVT was expensive...

North Korea is one of the most closed-off counties on the planet, with little access to the outside world. Four North Koreans who managed to escape explain what life was like back home and what they miss the most.

Under Obama, America has been at war for longer than under any other U.S. president

On this day in 1775, the Battle of Quebec is fought. American General Richard Montgomery is killed. Benedict Arnold is wounded. Daniel Morgan and more than 400 others are captured. I guess you could say that it didn’t go too well. Readers of this page may recall that Benedict Arnold undertook a daring mission during the fall of 1775. Remember, Arnold was a hero and a Patriot for many years before he turned traitor! He was dying to undertake the mission, however dangerous it might be. With George Washington’s blessing, Arnold led a force of about 1,000 men through the...

The U.S. killed an Afghan Taliban leader in a drone strike in Pakistan’s tribal agency of Kurram today, according to reports from the region. The commander, Jamiuddin, was a “trusted man” within the Haqqani Network, a subgroup of the Afghan Taliban, who helped fighters move from Pakistan to Afghanistan. An unmanned aerial vehicle, likely a Reaper operated by the CIA, fired two missiles at a vehicle as it stopped in the Mata Sanghar area of Kurram, sources told Reuters. A Pakistani official also said an unnamed “associate” was also killed in the attack. A Haqqani Network leader told Reuters that...

Full title: Bob Hope was determined to entertain American troops and give back to the country he loved, says daughter From vaudeville to Hollywood, Bob Hope conquered it all as a beloved showman — but his greatest achievement was entertaining the troops. At the time of his death in 2003 at age 100, the New York Times reported the film, TV and stage star performed nearly all of his 400 radio programs at military bases and embarked on annual tours where he delighted American servicemen with his sidesplitting monologues. Hope even took time to befriend weary soldiers and, as his...

A Willcox man, who knows the frustration of not having certain military medals in his family, has made sure that the Bedolla family does. Thanks to the efforts of Carl Schachel Sr., a Purple Heart medal, awarded to PFC Epifanio Mendoza Bedolla during World War II, is now in the hands of his oldest living brother. Bedolla was born in Willcox on Feb. 5, 1922, to Marcos R. and Librada M. Mendoza Bedolla. He later enlisted in the U. S. Army on Sept. 28, 1944, according to Zachariah L. Fike, founder of “Purple Hearts Reunited.” Assigned to the 383rd Infantry...

America’s fleet of B-52H Stratofortress nuclear bombers are on track to outlast their engines, and the planes need new ones to remain viable past 2030. The U.S. Air Force, which received its first B-52H during the Kennedy administration, wants to replace existing engines with cheaper, more power ones to keep the lumbering jets flying into all the way into the 2040s.

So much here, so many beautiful pictures and poignant moments captured. Pride, dignity, heartbreak, loss....

On this day in 1776, General George Washington wins the Battle of Trenton. 1776 had been a difficult year! The victory provided a much-needed morale boost. As discussed in yesterday’s post, the first weeks in December found Washington and British General William Howe on opposite sides of the Delaware River. As the weather deteriorated, Howe had decided to go into winter quarters. Washington, instead, decided to make a difficult crossing across the Delaware. His plan was to arrive at Trenton at 5 a.m., well before sunrise, so he could launch a surprise attack. Instead, Washington’s men arrived at Trenton at...

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) released a statement on Friday as members of Congress were leaving Washington for Christmas which attacked what she called the “Trump Administration’s cruel attacks” on transgenders in the military. “The Trump Administration’s cruel attacks against our brave transgender servicemembers is a misguided decision fueled by prejudice, not the interests of national security,” Pelosi said. “The White House’s hateful agenda serves only to weaken our military and the nation it defends.” …