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WALTER REED ARMY MEDICAL CENTER, WASHINGTON - Members of the NFL's Denver Broncos football team and the team's cheerleader squad came to visit recovering war wounded at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C. and National Navel Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. on April 7. "We came to show our support for our heroes," said one player. He was speaking of the same group of "heroes" that former NFL football player Pat Tillman belonged to before he was killed while serving in the Global War o Terrorism in Afghanistan — the United States military. "This has been a very...

Johnny finally came marching home again on a rainy day in late March in the town of Quincy, Mass. The town turned out to pay its respects to Edward Alan Brudno and to 47 other hometown sons who made the ultimate sacrifice in a war no one wanted. Al Brudno was one of the longest-held American prisoners of war during Vietnam: He endured nearly eight years of torture and solitary confinement that began when he was shot down over North Vietnam in October 1965. He was 25 then. He survived to come home with the other POWs who were freed...

April 10, 2005 Hiram Lewis Announces Candidacy for U.S. Senate Against Byrd   by HNN Staff Charleston (HNN) — On the second anniversary of the fall of Baghdad to American forces, Hiram Lewis IV, an Army National Guard Captain, Iraq War Veteran, lawyer and 2004 Attorney General candidate announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate from the base of the Robert C. Byrd statute inside the State Capitol rotunda Saturday afternoon, April 9, 2005.   Stated Lewis: "My candidacy is not a personal vendetta against the senior Senator; rather it is simply time for a change. I am offering up...

Wounded in Fierce House-to-House Fighting, a Marine Tries to Recover. By NICK WATT TAOS, N.M., April 10, 2005 — Huddled in an abandoned house last November, Sgt. Jason Arellano gave his platoon a pep talk as they prepared to push deeper into insurgent-occupied Fallujah. "So they're right here in this area. There are going to be more and more as we push further down," he said. Arellano gave the speech after a Marine on an adjacent street had both his legs blown off by insurgents' grenades. "You don't want other squads giving speeches to their men about one of us,...

Michael Paterson was 45 years old when his Navy Reserve unit arrived in Iraq. He was virtually at the end of his Navy career. Paterson was more than a little surprised when he discovered he wouldn't be based at some rear area hospital where he could practice his advanced skills. He was headed to the front lines. His brothers in arms were the same age as his children. The other hospital corpsmen called him "Grandpa," and it was true. He had young grandchildren at home. When Paterson deployed into Iraq in 2003 with "follow-on" forces just behind the main invasion...

Story Number: NNS050405-13 Release Date: 4/5/2005 2:49:00 PM WASHINGTON (NNS) -- Upon review of an intelligence community report regarding the case of Capt. Michael Scott Speicher, Secretary of the Navy Gordon England directed the Chief of Naval Personnel to convene a board to review the classification of Speicher’s status as Missing/Captured. Speicher’s, aircraft was shot down Jan. 17, 1991, the first day of the Gulf War. In October 2002, England changed Speicher’s status from Missing in Action to Missing/Captured. The report provides an update for the Offices of the secretaries of Defense and Navy concerning intelligence community actions between November...

BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 5 - Iraq's major political parties agreed this evening to appoint a president and two vice presidents at a meeting of the national assembly on Wednesday, according to a senior assembly leader, breaking a two-month deadlock in negotiations to form a new government. The main Shiite and Kurdish political blocs have agreed to name Jalal Talabani, a Kurdish leader, as president; Adel Abdul Mahdi, a prominent Shiite Arab politician, as vice president; and Sheik Ghazi al-Yawar, the Sunni Arab president of the interim government, as the other vice president, said Hussein al-Shahristani, a vice speaker of the...

Iraqi combat capability on the upswing Written by W. Thomas Smith Jr. Friday April 1, 2005 "It's going to be tougher than anything you've ever experienced," a U.S. Marine recruiter warns a young leatherneck hopeful. "You'll face down your fears, overcome terrifying obstacles, and at times function on little food and no sleep." Sounds severe, but everything is relative. Recruits hoping to earn the title, "Marine," expect training to be demanding. They also take for granted the enormous efforts made to ensure their safety during dangerous training, and – despite accidents and the occasional "bad seed" drill-instructor – no one...

WASHINGTON, March 29, 2005 – For the Maine Troop Greeters, it’s all about expressing appreciation. Since thousands of people welcomed the first Gulf War veterans who arrived at Bangor International Airport just over 14 years ago, the greeters have met nearly 1,000 flights bringing troops to or from war zones. As of March 22, 968 flights with a total of 177,457 troops and two military working dogs have been welcomed by the Maine Troop Greeters, said group member Evelyn Bradman. The core of about 75-80 greeters began to solidify about two years ago, according to Dee Winthrop-Denning, designer and maintainer...

WASHINGTON, March 28, 2005 – A 3-ton cache of TNT and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition are off the streets of Iraq following an Iraqi army raid near Jurf al-Sakher on March 25, Iraqi military officials reported. A press statement from Iraq’s Defense Ministry said 121 suspects were detained in the raid, conducted by the Iraqi army’s 8th Division, based in Karbala. Besides the TNT, Iraqi soldiers seized 624 rifles, 250,000 light ammunition rounds, 22,000 medium rounds, 193 rocket-propelled-grenade launchers, 300 RPG rockets, 27 82 mm mortar tubes, and 155 82 mm mortar rounds. Today, Task Force Liberty...

Here is an e-mail that I received last night from Captain Mike [US Army, Special Forces] -- who is reporting in, from the front lines in IRAQ: Well, it's early morning here and we are headed east. We have taken some light casualties but for the most part we are combat effective. The young boy was waiting at the airport when we got back and took myself and my senior staff to his folks house for dinner. I am seeing signs of a stabilizing electric grid and consumer goods are starting to come in. Of course I am certain that...

Soldiers that were severely wounded, lost limbs, but are going back to Iraq

A YOUNG British soldier who dragged his wounded platoon commander to safety and rescued 29 other soldiers under enemy fire in Iraq has been awarded the Victoria Cross, finally relieving Queenslander Keith Payne of his 36-year title as the most recent living recipient of the honour. Private Johnson Gideon Beharry, 25, is now one of just 14 living recipients of the award for exceptional bravery after pushing through an ambush in an armoured vehicle while the turret was on fire, in the town of al-Amarah, north of Basra, on May 1 last year. Far from being upset at losing his...

   Please welcome home Marine Captain Shannon Arnwine from his tour of duty in Iraq.He just arrived homeand met his baby girl for the first time. This thread will be printed outand delivered to his Nana. Please post your wordsof thanks here andlet this hero know he is greatly appreciated.   

ASHINGTON, March 29 - Sgt. First Class Paul R. Smith, killed nearly two years ago defending his vastly outnumbered Army unit in a fierce battle with elite Iraqi troops for control of Baghdad's airport, will receive the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military award, administration officials said Tuesday.No soldier who served in Afghanistan or Iraq after the Sept. 11 attacks has yet received the medal. The last conflict to produce a Medal of Honor recipient was in Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1993; two soldiers were awarded the medal posthumously for actions there, later depicted in the movie "Black Hawk Down."Sergeant...

WASHINGTON (AP)-U.S. military guards discovered a 600-foot tunnel-dug with makeshift tools-leading out of the main prison facility for detainees in Iraq before anyone had the opportunity to escape, officials said Friday.

Many of Iraq's predominantly Sunni Arab insurgents would lay down their arms and join the political process in exchange for guarantees of their safety and that of their co-religionists, according to a prominent Sunni politician. Sharif Ali Bin al-Hussein, who heads Iraq's main monarchist movement and is in contact with guerrilla leaders, said many insurgents including former officials of the ruling Ba'ath party, army officers, and Islamists have been searching for a way to end their campaign against US troops and Iraqi government forces since the January 30 election.

U.S. Army Capt. Chris Owen (far right) and Col. Terry Sellers (center), 2nd Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, meet with United Nations field representatives on the east bank of the Helmand River to discuss the needs of residents displaced by four days of flooding, March 22, 2005. The United Nations and the U.S. Army are providing short term emergency relief to the refugees until they are able to rebuild. Local Afghan government officials are leading the effort by assessing needs and distributing aid while the Afghan National Army, local police and Coalition soldiers are providing security and manpower for the delivery...

WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, N.M. - One generation of war heroes paid tribute to another March 20 at the 16th annual Bataan Memorial Death March. After 26 miles through gravel, sand and wind-blown dust, Sgt. 1st Class Michael McNaughton sprinted toward the finish line. He was one of five men, all amputees, sponsored by Walter Reed Army Medical Center, who participated in this year's march. "I wanted to do this for the Bataan survivors," McNaughton said. "The sacrifices they made were incredible." McNaughton knows first-hand about the sacrifices Soldiers are called to make during wartime. He was wounded while deployed...

Say the word mujahid — or holy warrior — these days and many inhabitants of Baghdad are likely to snigger. An appellation once worn as a badge of pride by anti-American insurgents has now become street slang for homosexuals, after men claiming to be captured Islamist guerrillas confessed that they were holding gay orgies in the popular Iraqi TV programme Terror in the Hands of Justice. For Iraqis opposed to the predominantly Sunni Islamist insurgency, Terror in the Hands of Justice, which airs twice daily on Iraqi public television, has broken the mystique of a force that used to strike...

The Kentucky National Guardsmen were outnumbered and under heavy gunfire when they counterattacked Iraqi insurgents who ambushed a coalition convoy southeast of Baghdad. A 30-minute firefight ensued on a Sunday morning, pitting 10 guardsmen against dozens of insurgents. When the shooting ended, 26 guerrillas lay dead and another was mortally wounded, while six others were wounded and another was captured unharmed. The guardsmen didn't go unscathed. Three members of the military police unit were wounded and later transported for medical treatment in Germany, where they are recovering. "It was crazy," recalled Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester. "Adrenaline pumping, you didn't have...

IRAQ: Al Qaeda Losses Up, American Losses Down March 24, 2005: More Iraqis are losing their fear of terrorists. In the last three days, tips from Iraqis have led Iraqi police and troops to several terrorist hideouts. This has resulted in some spectacular gun battles, and the deaths of over 130 terrorists (and about a dozen police and soldiers.) The Iraqis have been using their growing force of SWAT teams to carry out the raids, with American forces providing backup and air cover. One raid, north of Baghdad, left 85 terrorists dead, and revealed a suicide car bomb workshop, as...

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BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 23 - Iraqi and American forces killed at least 80 insurgents during a Tuesday morning raid on what appeared to be the biggest guerrilla training camp yet discovered, Iraqi officials said today. Seven Iraqi police officers were also killed and six were wounded in what American and Iraqi officials characterized as an especially fierce battle. "It was one of the largest such engagements that I'm aware of," said Col. Robert Potter, a spokesman for the American command in Baghdad. The number of anti-government fighters killed was the most reported in a single conflict since the American offensive...

BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 22, 2005 — National Guard soldiers from the Richmond, Ky.-based 617th Military Police Company were still reminiscing today about the extraordinary battle they fought on Sunday, when dozens of Iraqi insurgents ambushed a U.S. patrol — touching off one of the fiercest battles in Iraq since the fight for Fallujah last fall. But what is more extraordinary is who the U.S. soldiers are — a shoe store manager, hotel worker, printing press operator and several students. The firefight serves as a reminder of how citizen-soldiers are shouldering much of the burden in Iraq. Of the U.S. forces...

A Black Hawk helicopter pilot had a surprise visit four days before Christmas, receiving an Army Commendation Medal, Air Medal and promotion to major. Maj. Ladda “Tammy” Duckworth, of the Illinois National Guard’s 1-106th Aviation, is recuperating from injuries at Walter Reed Army Medical Center after a rocket-propelled grenade hit the helicopter she was piloting in Iraq Nov. 12. “I hope this is the worst thing that happens to anyone in the 106th during this deployment,” said Duckworth. “This is not so bad, there is always somebody worse off than you are. I’m just glad it was me and not...

Iraq Forces Capture Two Saddam Relatives Mon Mar 14,11:55 AM ET Add to My Yahoo! Middle East - AP BAGHDAD, Iraq - Security forces in Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s hometown captured two of the ousted dictator's relatives, who allegedly were helping insurgents launch attacks in Iraq (news - web sites), the government said Monday. The two were identified as one-time Saddam bodyguard Marwan Taher Abdul Rashid and his cousin, Abdullah Maher Abdul Rashid — who also was the brother-in-law of Saddam's son, Qusai, state-run Iraqiya television reported. The two were captured March 8 in Tikrit, Saddam's hometown north...

CAMP AL QAIM, Iraq (March 13, 2005) -- Deployed Marines are a band of brothers. They train together, live together, eat together and fight together. But do they pray for each other? Lance Cpl. Lesley T. Raulerson, an infantryman with Company K, 3rd Battalion, 2d Marine Regiment definitely does. The Jacksonville, Fla., native prays at the Camp Al Qaim Chapel every time his fellow Marines travel off the base. "I pray for the troops going out. I pray for the convoys to be successful. But, mainly I pray that the Marine leaders will have sound minds and will teach their...

More pictures at the link CAMP TAQADDUM, Iraq (March 7, 2005) -- In the dusty little lakeside village of Al Kabani, Iraq, the children rush to the streets as a U.S. convoy pulls into town. The convoy, comprised of Marines from the 1st and 2nd Force Service Support Groups (Forward), of Camp Pendleton, Calif., and Camp Lejeune, N.C., respectively, and the Army’s 2nd Battalion, 112th Armor, 36th Infantry of Austin, Texas, have come to continue civil affairs operations in the village. The March 5 mission included distribution of humanitarian aid supplies to the more than 60 homes in the town,...

Healing hands welcomed home(staff photo by Steven Georges) LOS ALAMITOS — As a rifleman in Somalia and a sniper protecting former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Army Spc. Salvador Romo had empathy for the wounded soldiers he helped treat at a U.S. Army hospital in Germany. ***************************************************** Healing hands welcomed homeMembers of 349th General Hospital cared for service members hurt in Iraq.By David RogersStaff writerLOS ALAMITOS — As a rifleman in Somalia and a sniper protecting former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Army Spc. Salvador Romo had empathy for the wounded soldiers he helped treat at a U.S. Army hospital in Germany....

The link to the story is below. You've heard the wall-to-wall coverage about the Italian intelligence agent killed in Iraq. But when U.S. forces make heroic efforts to save someone like this little Afghan boy, don't look for any credit in the press at all -- it's not their way.

Maj. Gen. William G. Webster Jr. listens as Maj. Gen. Mudhir Al Mawlla discusses the significance of the 41st Brigade during a ceremony honoring the activation of the unit March 3. Sgt. Andrew Miller Iraqi Army 41st Brigade activates By Sgt. Andrew Miller March 7, 2005 BAGHDAD (Army News Service, March 7, 2005) – The 41st Brigade of the Iraqi Army was activated March 3 during a ceremony at an Iraqi Army training facility here. More than 200 Iraqi Soldiers, who make up the headquarters element of the brigade, participated in the ceremony. Members of the brigade – who...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (Army News Service, March 4, 2005) --Operation Happy Feet brought smiles to children of Sadr City as Soldiers of B Company, 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry distributed sneakers at Marakah al-Taf Elementary School Feb. 28. Working in conjunction with Civil Affairs, Soldiers purchased 500 pairs of shoes from a local vendor to give out at the northeastern Baghdad school, according to Capt. Timothy Terese, B Co. commander. “We go around to lots of schools in the area, basically every day, to make sure they have the proper equipment to function,” said 1st Lt. Jason Rocks, B Co. fire support...

More than 100 Army Reserve soldiers came home to the waiting arms of family members in Tucson Thursday night, thrilled to be back after a year in Iraq but sad that one colleague hadn't survived. The late Sgt. Tina S. Time's picture was posted above a sign saying "Welcome Home Soldiers from the 208th" that hung on a wall inside the assembly hall of the Army Reserve Center on the South Side. There, three busloads of reserves rolled in shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday, just as the sun dipped beneath the horizon. Time, who died in a vehicle crash near...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - As more people lose loved ones to the relentless violence, Iraqis are becoming increasingly angry at insurgents, even staging public demonstrations condemning militants. While it is impossible to precisely gauge public opinion, it is clear many Iraqis have grown tired of two years of insecurity, and some are directing their wrath at those behind the bombings and attacks. "I demand that they be put in the zoo along with the other scavengers, because that is where they belong," said Bassam Yassin, who lost his brother to an insurgent attack in Mosul. He spoke Wednesday after relatives of...

Rick Rescorla may be remembered forever as a hero who led hundreds of people to safety from the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, but he will be immortalized at Fort Benning as a young soldier in Vietnam. A portrait of the former Army colonel was unveiled Thursday in a special ceremony honoring Rescorla, a decorated Vietnam veteran who died in the terrorist attack after helping evacuate 2,700 employees from the World Trade Center. The 62-year-old Rescorla, a Fort Benning Officer Candidate School Hall of Famer, was security chief for Morgan Stanley working in the south tower. After the...

At least 10 people were killed and 11 kidnapped in Iraq as the interim government claimed on Saturday that the noose was tightening on Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the man blamed for much of the violence. Three Iraqis died and 15 were wounded in clashes between gunmen and US marines in the rebel bastion of Ramadi, west of Baghdad. ... A pamphlet handed out north of Baghdad, signed by the Omar al-Hadid Brigade, said: "Tarmiya was the tomb of dozens of their soldiers who were given a lesson that they will never forget." It pledged yet more "painful strikes" against the...

SAN DIEGO — Sgt. Rafael Peralta is dead, but the story of his sacrifice to save fellow Marines will live long in Marine Corps lore. In the fierce battle for the Iraqi town of Fallujah, Peralta, with gunshot wounds to his head and body, reached out and grabbed a grenade hurled by an insurgent, cradling it to his body to save others from the blast. The explosion in the back room of a house injured one Marine, but four others managed to scramble to safety. Peralta, 25, an immigrant from Mexico who enlisted the day he got his green-card work...

Iowa Marine may be candidate for Medal of Honor Associated Press Saturday, February 26, 2005, 2:59:02 PM DES MOINES -- An Iowa Marine is receiving widespread praise for his bravery after leading a daring rescue mission in Iraq last fall. Sgt. Brad Kasal, of Afton, said he learned three fellow Marines were wounded inside an enemy-controlled house during house-to-house battles with insurgents in Fallujah on Nov. 13. "The insurgents would kill them, or worse -- torture them and then kill them, so time was essential," Kasal said. "So I gathered up a bunch of young Marines and tried to enter...

SCHWEINFURT, Germany — First Sergeant kept his word. One month after a rocket-propelled grenade blew off his leg, mangled his arm and tore a gash in his head while his convoy patrolled in Iraq, 1st Sgt. Brent Jurgersen fulfilled a pledge he made to troops of the 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment when they left for the Middle East a year ago. He vowed he would personally lead them home. Kristen Chandler Toth / U.S. Army First Sgt. Brent Jurgersen, twice badly injured in Iraq, is reunited with Capt. Jeff Paine, commander of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, during a...

A British soldier surveys the scene from the top of an armoured vehicle after insurgents detonated a bomb in the west of Baghdad, killing two civilians who were passing by in a vehicle, in Iraq Saturday, Feb. 26, 2005. It was not clear what the target was although a U.S. tank was nearby at the time but was not damaged in the blast. (AP Photo/Mohammed Uraibi)

February 27, 2005 On the Home Front, a Source of Support By KATE ZERNIKE MONG the promises to help firm your thighs or give you a more lustrous head of hair that shout out from covers of women's magazines, "7 Things to Expect From A Man Who's Been Living in the Desert" strikes a somewhat discordant note. It was one of the teasers gracing the cover of the first issue of Military Spouse, a new magazine published every other month that was founded in the run-up to the Iraq war by two Navy wives frustrated by what they perceived as...

Generally: You start to think "its not so bad here". You say "this place sort of grows on you". You say, "it feels cooler today" and find out that the temperature is 110. You call your tent (trailer if you're lucky) "Home". You get excited at the idea of "ICE". Apaches excite you much more than Blackhawk's or Kiowa's. Armaments: You don't jump when a door slams or someone drops something. You aren't alarmed when every second person you see has a gun or two or three. You kick the M-16 on the floor aside without a second thought when...

BAGHDAD, Feb. 26 -- U.S. forces have arrested an Iraqi father and son accused of participating in a 1982 massacre in the predominantly Shiite Muslim village of Dujail in retaliation for an assassination attempt on then-President Saddam Hussein. Senior U.S. officials said in interviews that Abdulla Rwayid and Muzhir Abdulla Rwayid were arrested Monday and charged with crimes against humanity for their alleged role in the killing of hundreds of people associated with the Dawa party, a Shiite group that carried out the attempt on Hussein's life on July 8, 1982. Charges against the two detained men were referred to...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE DANGER, Iraq, Feb. 20 - The old pilot was recalling a different war in a different place. "Every time we went in, we went in hot," he remembered. "You were fighting your way in and fighting your way out." The pilot, Chief Warrant Officer James G. Freeman, was 23 when he began flying Huey helicopters in the Vietnam War in 1970. His missions with the 116th Assault Helicopter Company often involved dropping into a battleground to unload soldiers after helicopter gunships had "prepped" the zone with a torrent of rockets and machine-gun fire. "There were a lot...

Meet Corporal John Quinones, whose family I brought out to L.A. for a little vacation a few weeks ago. He was home on leave from nineteen months in Iraq after six months in Afghanistan. He's 25 years old. He was in the reserves, but he signed up for the Regular Army after 9/11. "I wanted to go to war against those people," he said. With him came his wife, Yenncy, holding their one-year daughter Samantha. She doesn't really know her father because he's been away fighting in Iraq for the whole time she has been alive except for one week...

Standing Guard

FALLUJAH, Iraq (Feb. 14, 2005) -- The Marines of Civil Affairs Detachment 4-4, Regimental Combat Team 1, 1st Marine Division, visited several facilities during a civil military operation in the city of Fallujah, Iraq, Feb. 14, passing out Valentine's card and candy. The Marines were able to speak to several contractors to assess the damage and the necessary steps to rebuild and reopen several needed structures. The CMO is part of an ongoing operation to evaluate the progress of the city’s schools, medical clinics, fire stations and other major installations. Rahma Katheer, 8, a native of Fallujah, Iraq, gives Cpl....

AL MADINAH, Iraq (Feb.11, 2005) -- Local residents and Marines of 2nd Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment celebrated the completion of a village improvement project here with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Feb. 10, 2005. Throughout the past seven months, 2/10 Marines worked with village leaders here to build working relationships and identify ways to improve the village's living conditions. The battalion invested more than $360,000 for the refurbishment of 32 homes, which provided residents with new septic and electrical systems. The projects improved the quality of life for the Iraqi people, and strengthened their local economy - many of them were hired...

weapons training Pushups the Gorkha way Celebrating the end of training the Gorkha way by cutting the neck of a goat in one stroke Soldier paying tribute to his comrades killed in battle in Kashmir insurgency Soldier going through the punishment drill for failing to meet the exacting standards set by the Gorkhas during training Soldier sharpning his khukri, Gorkha knife Gorkha commandoes fighting no holds barred full contact karate Soldier singing cadence going through the drill Giving the Gorkha war shout Soldier being trained in rappelling for mountain warfare Soldier training on the obstacle course come rain or shine...