Free Republic

Submission, American~StyleMatthew Bracken sends this graphic as a commentary on yesterday's news from the Persian Gulf: image "I could not be and I know the president could not be prouder of our men and women in uniform," Kerry said. "I also want to thank the Iranian authorities for their cooperation and quick response."Additional commentary by Mr. Bracken was posted yesterday at WRSA: "I rarely pull out my dusty old trident, but in this case, here goes. I was a Navy SEAL officer in the 1980s, and this kind of operation (transiting small boats in foreign waters) was our bread and...

Iran state television released images of the 10 U.S. sailors that the Iranian military held in custody overnight Tuesday. ABC News first reported the photos, which appeared after the sailors were released by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps Wednesday morning. Photos at the link.

Metropolitan areas can change in an instant with a major catastrophe. Hundreds of thousands of people could be gone just as quickly. Society could be unraveled by any number of scenarios, and it could leave you stranded, without loved ones and desperate to secure food, water and shelter. Escape to the countryside or a remote location may not be feasible. Could you survive in an urban environment if the SHTF and everything you knew was gone? Rudy Reyes, a veteran Recon Marine, lends his expertise and shows how to survive an urban environment, find resources inside a broken city, all...

Please pray for the very sick handmaiden of God, Maxine. She is the wife of my oldest friend from the Army. We were stationed together in Weisbaden back in the 80's. My oldest daughter would crawl up the stairwell to her door to see her at 1 year old. Maxine had a heart attack last Friday and my friend told me today they will take her off the ventilator today. Maxine is a dedicated wife and mother.

Simon Menner contacted the German army in 2010 to see whether it would be interested in helping him create images in which members of the army are hidden, or, "Camouflage," like the title of his series. Turns out they were, and the images ended up going viral. Menner arranged two separate shoots, one in a "boring" forest in northern Germany with soldiers who were young and inexperienced. The second shoot, in the German Alps, was done with a group of elite soldiers. "I found it quite interesting to work with soldiers who had been ordered to follow my instructions," Menner...

A stunning new Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) report circulating in the Kremlin today states that one of the United States Navy’s top commanders was relieved of his command a few hours ago after he sent out an “email/posting” revealing that President Barack Obama was in the process of purchasing a multi-million dollar seaside luxury villa in the United Arab Emirates city (UAE) of Dubai. According to this report, the Commander of the US Navy’s Carrier Strike Group 15, Rear Admiral Rick Williams, posted a “pointed” query on 8 January [since deleted] to the US Naval Institute’s “Readiness Kill Chain” “recipients/responders”...

One of our active duty servicemen had a run in with a liberal, and taught her what “privilege” really means. According to a Facebook post shared by Hrtwarming.com: The soldier (name obscured here) posted his story on Facebook so that people would know that there are still people who honor those who don the uniform: "As a military vet who has served two tours in Afghanistan, and I'm still on active duty now (though I'm now stationed locally in the US) I don't expect special treatment from civilians for my service, but I do know that many stores offer discounts...

TRUE HISTORY OF THE WAR FOR SOUTHERN INDEPENDENCE IN THIS AGE OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESS there has never been a greater need and greater opportunity to refresh our understanding of what happened in America in the years 1861-1865 and start defending our Southern forebears as strongly as they ought to be defended. There is plenty of true history available to us. It is our job to make it known. All the institutions of American society, including nearly all Southern institutions and leaders, are now doing their best to separate the Confederacy off from the rest of American history and push it...

U.S. Rep Ryan Zinke, R-Montana, a retired Navy SEAL commander, knows about the Special Forces.

Very cool afternoon. Low, fast and loud!

In December 2015 the American military was ordered to accept women in all jobs, including infantry and special operations. This decision involves about 220,000 jobs and about 20,000 of these are for special operations personnel, commonly known as commandos. While the politicians who pushed for this policy now consider the issue settled and done with, the officers and troops in infantry and special operations units are not pleased and concerned about how to deal with it. Senior officers are bracing for more retirements or troops simply walking away when their current term of service is done. Recruiting for these strenuous...

The Hickok45 YouTube channel has been restored and having been "terminated" today by Google.

Last night, following reports of unusual seismic activity in the region, the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea announced it detonated its first hydrogen bomb in an underground test. (...) North Korea Says It Has Detonated Its First Hydrogen Bomb (...) The country’s state-run Korean Central News Agency released a statement on the alleged detonation last night and it is everything we’ve come to expect from North Korea: surreal, full of patriotic bravado, rife with allusions to their “Juche” political philosophy of extreme self-reliance, and in bad need of copy editing. (...) A few highlights: “Eye-catching miracles” “H-bomb of justice”...

The group of 17 detainees expected to be transferred out of Guantanamo Bay as early as this week includes “multiple bad guys” and “Al Qaeda followers,” a source who has reviewed the list told Fox News. Little is known publicly about which prisoners are being prepared for transfer, but the Obama administration has notified Congress it plans to ship out 17 detainees – some of whom could be transferred within days. While the identities of the men are closely held, the source who spoke with Fox News said it includes “multiple bad guys … not taxi drivers and cooks.” This...

President Barack Obama on Friday honored the four Americans killed in an attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya, recalling their lives in deeply personal terms and declaring the United States will never pull back on its principles or 'retreat from the world.' The coffins of the four men were brought back to the United States on a military transport plane this afternoon and carried by serving officers to waiting hearses parked under a giant hanging Stars and Stripes. 'Their sacrifice will never be forgotten. We will bring to justice those who took them from us,' said President Barack Obama...

The Art Lacey Story is one of brilliant marketing -- placing a retired WWII B-17 fighter plane as a gas station roof. Lacey knew this structure would attract and draw in drive-by customers,

You may have heard of 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, the new film from blow-'em-up-real-good director Michael Bay of Armageddon and Transformers fame. ... ... ... It's going to make its debut at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 12 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington as part of a promotional push, Paramount Studios confirmed Wednesday. 13 Hours... revolves around the six-man security team that defended the American diplomatic compound at Benghazi, Libya, during an attack by terrorists in 2012 that killed U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens. ... ... ... Tickets are free through ticketmaster.com and thirteenhoursmovie.com as long as supplies last....

The U.S. Army Institute of Environmental Medicine is looking for volunteers (PDF) to eat military food rations for 21 consecutive days for a study of the impact of Meals, Ready-to-Eat, or MREs, on gut health. Researchers want to learn how MREs influence the millions of bacteria in troops' digestive systems. "Interactions between the millions of bacteria living in our gut and what we eat is a very important factor in gut health, but we don't know how MRE foods interact with those bacteria to impact gut health," Holly McClung, a research dietitian working on the project, said on the Army's...

Amongst Elton John's best.