Free Republic

<p>BOSTON – Charla Nash never served in the military. She was horribly disfigured, not in combat, but in a 2009 attack by a rampaging chimpanzee. The Pentagon, though, is watching her recovery closely.</p> <p>The U.S. military paid for Nash's full face transplant in 2011 and is underwriting her follow-up treatment at a combined cost estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, in the hope that some of the things it learns can help young, seriously disfigured soldiers returning from war.</p>

The Germans are a polarizing people, and so are their products. Sort of like when journalists review a BMW — people either love ‘em or hate ‘em. This is because Germany’s engineering prowess is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it enables Volkswagen, BMW, Porsche, etc., to lead the pack when it comes to performance. On the other hand, the Germans are notorious for letting their reach exceed their grasp. They rush new and innovative products to market without giving them a proper shake-down first. Not only does this odd duality explain Germany’s mixed record in building fine automobiles, it...

During the middle of the Iran-Iraq War—one of the 20th century’s deadliest conflicts—Baghdad acquired state-of-the-art weapons from East and West. In terms of modern firepower, Iraq had a clear advantage. To make up for this difference, Iran relied on huge amounts of older heavy weapons—and counted on loyal generals to deploy wave after wave of infantry in frontal assaults. Tehran’s commanders also parroted state-religious propaganda that emphasized spiritual reasons for their victories. Ghassem Soleymani—today the head of the Quds Force and Iran’s top agent in Syria and Iraq—was one of those commanders.

With a range of almost two miles and four tubes attached to a loader, these are the homemade cannon being built by rebel fighters in Syria. The ‘Borkan’ ('Volcano') weapons are built from gas canisters before being placed inside the loader, which can fire four shells at a time. Photos revealed al-Shamiyah Front fighters in Aleppo launching the missiles towards forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad yesterday. The Front was formed more than two months ago after rebel groups fighting in Syria's northern Aleppo province agreed to form an alliance. The images emerged as a group monitoring the war reported...

The US Army Still Trains For Trench Warfare Even in an era of combat aircraft, tanks, and an endless array of technological advances, the US Army still trains troops in the tactics of trench warfare. And sometimes they go to Poland to do it. It may sound archaic, but the truth is that while trench warfare – and the horrors that go along with it – are more closely identified with World War I, the practice has continued throughout the last century. During WWII, Russia was well known for its use of trench warfare as a defensive measure. The outcome...

The Tueller drill principles has been taught to Cadettes and seasoned Officers/Agents throughout law enforcement nation wide, includes agencies such as the FBI and DEA. The objective is sound for teaching to a wide variety of skill level and to retain it quickly. You can view some of our past article on Tueller drill here. But, what if the gun fighter was at an elite level in terms of competency and skills that’s off the chart like G.I. Joe. (no pun intended) The video below highlights two extremely skilled in respective arts. (knife, gun) See the rest of elite gun...

This Veteran's Home is just up the road from me here in Aurora. It's a quality facility.

Today we honor an intrepid Marine who distinguished himself in combat in the struggle for Iwo Jima this day in 1945 and a Soldier from the 24th Infantry Division who, in Korea on this day in 1951, threw himself again and again into the face of certain death, sacrificing his own life for that of his Brothers and for the success of the Mission. "I am an American fighting man. I serve in the forces which guard my country and our way of life.I am prepared to give my life in their defense."

Audio interview 39:32

The ancient Romans had a saying. Si vis pacem, para bellum—“If you want peace, prepare for war.” George Luger took that statement seriously. The result was a pistol known for its accuracy, the ammunition it introduced to the militaries of the world and the evil reputation it later gained. The P08 nine-millimeter Parabellum—or Luger—pistol was the brainchild of its namesake inventor, and it served Germany faithfully during both world wars. Often associated with the Nazi regime, it was the handgun of the Kaiser’s Soldaten before Hitler took power. Yet it’s more closely associated with the latter. If you watch a...

This is possibly a dumb suggestion, but why can't the Ukrainians use small drones flying at night to drop thermite grenades on Russian tanks? Would the thermite be able to burn through the armor and into the engine or fuel compartment?

Buckybomb shows potential power of nanoscale explosives Mar 05, 2015 by Lisa Zyga Enlarge Molecular configuration of an exploding buckybomb. Credit: ACS (Phys.org)—Scientists have simulated the explosion of a modified buckminsterfullerene molecule (C60), better known as a buckyball, and shown that the reaction produces a tremendous increase in temperature and pressure within a fraction of a second. The nanoscale explosive, which the scientists nickname a "buckybomb," belongs to the emerging field of high-energy nanomaterials that could have a variety of military and industrial applications. The researchers, Vitaly V. Chaban, Eudes Eterno Fileti, and Oleg V. Prezhdo at the University of...

In this episode, Uncommon Knowledge is honored to have retired four-star General James Mattis. General Mattis retired from the Marine Corps as a full general in 2013, where he served as the eleventh commander of the United States Central Command. He also served as the commander for NATO supreme allied transformation, and as commander of the United States Joint Forces Command. Mattis is now an Annenberg Distinguished Visiting Fellow fellow at the Hoover Institution.

I was driving and listening to the radio when I heard it, so any misstatements are unintentional. A caller, identifying himself as "Commander Fred," told Rush a story about Brian Williams under fire in the Middle east. According to Commander Fred, he was a C-130 pilot in the Middle East, with Brian Williams on board one day, when his aircraft came under fire. The first problem is that Commander is a Navy and Coast Guard rank, not one of the Army or Air Force, which would be what would have been flying Williams anywhere. Well, Commander Fred told a scary...

Dozens of soldiers from a battalion famous for using the emblem of a vicious comic book avenger to strike fear into the enemy in Afghanistan are heading to Iraq with ISIS in their sights. The Telemark Battalion is an elite mechanised infantry unit of the Norwegian Army which has been involved in the fight against the Taliban as part of the NATO-led security mission since 2003. Around 50 soldiers from Telemark will be heading to the city of Irbil in northern Iraq to train Kurdish forces to help them in their fight against Islamic State, the Norwegian ministry of defence...

The story of one of the truly epic events in the history of naval warfare. The survival of Malta was the vital hinge upon which turned the whole Allied strategy in the Mediterranean Theatre of war. This film describes how a vital convoy was forced through to relieve the valiant island of Malta, despite appalling losses.

Subject: Why the Marine Hymn Contain Shores of Tripoli"... Interesting bit of history. This may be one of the more informative history lessons you ever read. Why the Marine Hymn Contains the Verse "To the Shores of Tripoli" Most Americans are unaware of the fact that over two hundred years ago the United States had declared war on Islam and Thomas Jefferson led the charge! At the height of the eighteenth century, Muslim pirates were the terror of the Mediterranean and a large area of the North Atlantic. They attacked every ship in sight, and held the crews for exorbitant...

When the Cold War escalated in the 1950s, the United States and its European allies knew that the Warsaw Pact far outnumbered the alliance’s own tanks, artillery and infantry. Should the Soviets launch an invasion of Western Europe, the NATO armies expected — and planned—to use tactical nuclear weapons to make up for their inferior numbers.

BREMERTON, Wash. -- Naval Sea Systems Command says the mothballed aircraft carrier USS Ranger will be towed out of Puget Sound on Thursday on its way to be scrapped in Texas. Robert Johnson sees more than a relic of gray steel and worn rivets when he looks across the Sinclair Inlet. He sees home. "It gave me a piece of my soul I think," the Navy Vietnam veteran said. It is the same ship that is on his hat, the USS Ranger, a massive aircraft carrier. "A lot of people served on it. A lot of people worked on it,...

Sunk without trace in what some historians consider the greatest naval battle ever fought, the mightiest battleship ever built has been found off the Philippines by one of the world’s wealthiest men. Paul Allen, the multibillionaire Microsoft co-founder, on Tuesday posted photographs of the wreck of the Musashi, a second world war Japanese battleship that, with its sister-ship the Yamato, was the largest and most heavily-armed warship ever launched. “WW2 Battleship Musashi sank 1944 is FOUND,” Allen announced on Twitter, beneath a ghostly underwater photograph of the mammoth vessel’s rusting, coral-encrusted bow clearly bearing the chrysanthemum crest of the Japanese...