Free Republic

While Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., is on the ropes in his bid for re-election, his cousin, Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., is now trying to fend off the momentum of retired U.S. Marine Corps Col. Allen Weh, who is near or within the margin of error in the latest polls. Just a week ago, Udall led Weh by 16 points. Since then, an Albuquerque Journal survey shows a seven-point race (50-43) while a Vox Populi poll released Monday suggests a 47-43 Udall lead. Weh said another poll has the margin down to two percentage points, and there are good reasons for...

Little was recognisable of 22-year-old Lieutenant Alexis Helmer after he took a direct hit from a German shell at Ypres on the Western Front one May morning in 1915. His pals gathered what they could find of his remains into sandbags and then arranged them in the shape of a human inside an army blanket. At sunset he was buried — just another of the hundreds of thousands of men of the British Empire to die in World War I. The officer who spoke over his grave as the battle raged around them was his close friend Lt-Col John McCrae,...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — Shocked and offended by explicit questions, some U.S. servicemen and women are complaining about a new sexual-assault survey that hundreds of thousands have been asked to complete.</p> <p>The survey is conducted every two years. But this year's version, developed by the Rand Corp., is unusually detailed, including graphically personal questions on sexual acts.</p>

I was supposed to have surgery on one of my ankles to reduce chronic pain. Eventually, I will need flatfoot corrective surgery on the right foot too. I've been ready for quite some time, and miss being able to walk without limping like an old man. The procedure would be a Sub-Talar Fusion. I have Veterans' Health Insurance only. I was less than 3 days away from the surgery date when I got a call from one of the Resident Surgeons. Apparently, he had been told that I use e-cigs and sometime actual cigarettes. My actual cig use is very...

Force Academy because it had a culture that tolerated rape. Alexis Jones-Hardy told Channel 2 Action News that she quit the academy in 2012 after an attack on her and on other students. She said women who reported the attacks were treated harshly by classmates. “I kept saying, ‘Stop, stop, I’m not having sex with you,’” Jones-Hardy told the news station. “I must have said no at least 30 times.”

2014 Veterans Day Free Meals, Discounts, Sales and Deals Read more: http://militarybenefits.info/veterans-day-discounts-sales-deals-free-meals/#ixzz3HfEEMUVw

We all have an idea of what soldiers do for their day job, but what about the rest of the time? You don’t usually read or see much about how our men and women overseas spend their free time. It turns out that they get up to the same mischief as the rest of us, except their toys are way cooler. Here are some of their shenanigans with assault rifles, broomsticks, and baby tees, and a small look at some of the good times soldiers have while fighting for their country.

Hang around aircraft restorers and you’ll inevitably hear tales of priceless historical relics hidden in barns, buried in shrink wrap, or otherwise stuck in time awaiting discovery. These stories are almost always wild exaggerations or outright fiction. But if you’ve ever heard of the cache of iconic warbirds at Wilson Connell “Connie” Edwards’ west Texas ranch, it’s absolutely real. The irascible former movie pilot who made a fortune in the oil business has added to his vast inventory of mostly World War II-era fighters, seaplanes, and surplus parts for more than a half century. Now, he’s decided to sell many...

During World War II, American G.I.s called the German MG42 machine gun “Hitler’s buzz saw” because of the way it cut down troops in swaths. The Soviet Red Army called it “the linoleum ripper” because of the unique tearing sound it made—a result of its extremely high rate of fire. The Germans called the MG42 Hitlersäge or “Hitler’s bone saw”—and built infantry tactics around squads of men armed with the weapon. Many military historians argue that the Maschinengewehr 42 was the best general-purpose machine gun ever. It fired up to 1,800 rounds per minute in some versions. That’s nearly twice...

In the final moments of his life, Edwin Gehlert was surrounded by his family and loved ones. But as he took his last breaths, a somewhat unfamiliar face was curled up right next to Gehlert on his hospital bed. That face belonged to Tom, the tabby cat. "We had seen Tom in and out of daddy's room on a few of our visits," Gehlert's daughter Pam Thompson said. “But on that day it’s like he knew something was different.” Tom sat with Gehlert and comforted him and his family, placing his paw in Gehlert's hand immediately after his passing. “I...

The balance of power in the Middle East is in disarray: A three-year civil war has torn apart Syria and opened up a vacuum for the rise of the Islamic State group; Sunni powers led by Saudi Arabia continue to face off against Shi'ite powers led by Iran; other countries are reeling from uprisings in the Arab Spring; and foreign powers are all taking sides. Faced with this tense paradigm, every country in the region is building up its own military. Indeed, four of the five fastest-growing defense markets in 2013 were in the Middle East, led by Oman —...

The U.S. Air Force is taking a serious look at overhauling the nearly 60 year-old B-52 bomber—including a new engine for the ancient plane. The question is not whether it makes sense, but why it hasn’t been done before. The answers include poor planning, budgetary procedures that defied economic logic, and at least one bone-headed accounting error. The B-52 first entered service in the mid-1950s. Putting new engines on the “Buff,” or Big Ugly Fat (cough) Fella, became a possibility after 1978, when the commercial airplane business launched two modern engines, the Rolls-Royce RB.211-535 and the PW2000. Unlike the first...

Between July and November of 1917, one of the greatest disasters of the Great War unfolded near the Belgian town of Ypres, where the British and their allies fought the Germans for control of some ridges running through Flanders. Better known as the Battle of Passchendaele, hundreds of thousands of men occupied trenches, dugouts and underground tunnels on the front lines. Among the British forces there were many seasoned infantrymen who could claim to have seen all the technological terrors so far gathered together on World War I battlefields—machine gun fire, poison gas, strafing and bombing by aircraft. But for...

It was more than six years ago when a tank force from the Georgian army’s 42nd Mechanized Infantry Battalion fought its way overnight through Tskhinvali, South Ossetia. The tanks were in trouble. They were moving too fast, outrunning their infantry support and taking losses to South Ossetian irregulars scattered throughout the city. Only hours into a war which would last five days, they had to keep moving before Russian reinforcements could arrive to bolster the pro-Russian, breakway Georgian province.

I am staying in Aschaffenburg, Germany on business with a car and a 3-day weekend coming up. I am looking for suggestions on interesting things to do within a 60-90 minute driving range in any direction. Last time we had enough time off we planned on Heidelberg one day then Strausborg, France the next. Both were 2.5-3 hour drives. We were so burnt out after Heidelberg that we never made the trip to France the next day. So this time I'm trying to keep it a bit closer. I know Aschaffenburg had a large military presence for many years so...

I noticed that the US Navy commissioned the USS North Dakota, but that it was "SSN" and not an SSBN, meaning it doesn't carry ballistic missiles. When did they start applying STATE names to. SSNs, which used to have city names, since only ballistic missile subs carried state names?

So my company had a downsize / RIF / layoff and my group got hit. Sad news but hey, it happens. Now I am looking at being an independent IT consultant. Since I have always been an employee, I was wondering if there were any words of wisdom from the Freeper community.

A 67 year old Vietnam Vet gets harrassed by a punk on the bus younger generation should really learn to respect the elders.. or else its the learning process..

One of the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angel pilots recently flew right over the Golden Gate Bridge during rush hour, and the moment was perfectly caught on camera by a fan. Tiburon, California, resident Rich Shelton captured Lt. Cmdr. David Tickle fly his F/A-18 right above San Francisco traffic Oct. 9 during Fleet Week. “They don’t always make many passes between the towers, so I was very lucky to catch this shot with my relatively slow camera!” Mr. Shelton told Navy Times. Navy Times reached out to Blue Angels for comment and was assured that all necessary safety precautions were taken...

OTTAWA — Police motorcycles will escort the body of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo down the the Highway of Heroes on Friday afternoon. The motorcade will travel to his hometown of Hamilton, Ont., about an hour southwest of Toronto. Route: -Depart McEvoy-Shields Funeral Home and Chapel at Hunt Club Rd and Albion St S in Ottawa -Down Hunt Club Rd west to south on Hwy 416 to W on Hwy 401 -Exit Brock Rd to Hwy 407 -Follow Hwy 407 to Highway 403 to the Main St. exit. From Main St. E. continue to King St E to the Markey-Dermody Funeral Home,1774...