Free Republic

080828-N-2420K-001 SAN DIEGO (Aug. 28, 2008) The conventional-powered aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) departs San Diego Harbor as she makes the voyage to her new homeport of Bremerton, Wash. At 47 years old, Kitty Hawk is the Navy's second oldest active-duty warship and was replaced this summer by the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) as the Navy's only permanently forward-deployed aircraft carrier. Kitty Hawk is expected to arrive at Bremerton's Puget Sound Naval Shipyard Sept. 2 for decommissioning in early 2009. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jonathan Kulp /Released) 080828-N-2757S-005...

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, Aug. 29, 2008 – In a perfect world, military personnel on deployment always would be assigned to jobs within their specialties. But it’s not a perfect world, and some sailors assigned to provincial reconstruction teams are serving in general service positions, meaning prior military training is not required. Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Shawn Simmons, a ship’s serviceman from Sherman, Texas, stationed onboard the USS Kauffman in Norfolk, Va., installs a new cable on a satellite dish at Camp Wright, Afghanistan, Aug. 26, 2008. Courtesy photo   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. With the robust...

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, Aug. 4, 2008 – Landlocked sailors of the provincial reconstruction team in Afghanistan’s Konar province keep the wheels of coalition forces’ vehicles rolling to accomplish the mission of security, reconstruction and development in the country’s easternmost province. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Edward Jimenez, a reserve construction mechanic from San Diego, tightens a bolt under the hood of a Humvee in the motor pool where Jimenez and two other sailors keep the engines running for coalition forces in Afghanistan’s Konar province. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The task of keeping the engines running...

Chief Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell confirmed to Politico that Department of Defense officials cautioned Barack Obama's campaign that his planned visit to wounded American troops in Germany could not be political in nature and that he would be barred from bringing along campaign staff and reporters. He also said that Cindy McCain recently requested to visit sailors aboard the U.S.N.S. Comfort and was denied. "Sen. Obama is welcome to visit Landstuhl or any military hospital in his official capacity as a United States senator," Morrell said in a brief interview. "But there is a DoD policy which governs campaigning and...

For some sailors on the USS North Carolina, Wilmington's red-carpet treatment stopped at the doors of downtown's bars. In April, crew members from the Navy's newest nuclear attack submarine visited Wilmington on a goodwill trip ahead of the vessel's historic commissioning at the state port. But when Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo talked with them about their stay, he winced at what he heard. Sailors told him they'd been turned away from downtown bars for being in the military. "It was upsetting to me," Saffo said. "I never knew we had that type of issue with military personnel." But a broader...

The Messiah of Nations (1914) jpstmon.midIn the need that bows us thus, America! Shape a mighty song for us, America! Song to whelm a hundred years' Roar of wars and rain of tears 'Neath a world's triumphant cheers, America! America! Lift the trumpet to thy mouth, America! East and West and North and South, America! Call us round the dazzling shrine Of the starry old ensign, Holier yet through blood of thine, America! America! High o'er looking sea and land, America! Trustfully with outheld hand, America! Thou dost welcome all in quest Of thy freedom, peace and rest, Ev'ry...

This blood libel of Israel, Jews, and John McCain’s father is sanctioned by Barack Obama’s official campaign It has been established [http://husaria.wordpress.com/2008/06/29/obama-campaign-sanctioned-anti-semitic-and-other-hate-speech/] that Barack Obama’s official campaign site exercises editorial control over the content of my.barackobama.com, and is capable of finding and removing “offensive” and “disrespectful” material within two days. The following has been online for almost three weeks. It accuses Israel of deliberatly murdering the crew of the U.S.S. Liberty, American Jews with divided loyalties of complicity, and John McCain’s father of complicity in a cover up. The following entry is sanctioned (tolerated) by Barack Obama’s official campaign... Now,...

NEW YORK (NNS) -- Two leaders who embodied the spirit of USS The Sullivans (DDG 68) and the five fallen brothers the U.S. Navy warship honors were memorialized at a Fleet Week New York 2008 ceremony May 24, aboard the vessel. The gathering celebrated the lives of Capt. Stephen F. Davis Jr., a former executive officer of the ship who died of cancer at age 47, in February; and Maurice "Mo" Shaw, a Navy advocate who founded USS The Sullivans Foundation and died at age 68, in October. The U.S. Coast Guard veteran was key in bringing the vessel's commissioning...

Here are the enlistment records of Charles W. Payne, brother of Madelyn Payne, great uncle of Obama: Charles W. Payne, born 1924, enlisted 10 Nov '42, Navy, 6293977 REgistered, order #12019, Kansas City, Wyandotte Co., Board #4 So, Obama's great uncle liberated Buchenwald from his ship somewhere in the Pacific?

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- One sailor was treated for first-degree burns and 23 others for heat stress after a fire on a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier burned for hours, the Navy said Friday. The U.S. Navy described a fire as "serious" aboard the USS George Washington. There were no fatalities on the ship.

WASHINGTON, May 6, 2008 – The U.S. Navy is using NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s star appeal to attract future sailors. In August, the Navy and Dale Earnhardt Jr. will form the “Dale Jr.” Division, an 88-person boot camp division at Recruit Training Command Great Lakes, Ill. Earnhardt drives the 88 car for Hendrick Motorsports on the NASCAR circuit. Navy Capt. Jack Hanzlik, spokesman for the chief of naval personnel, told online journalists and “bloggers” in a teleconference yesterday that during a national advertising and marketing campaign, Navy officials will assess the impact that NASCAR and Earnhardt have on young...

KABUL (AFP) — More than 2,000 US marines recently deployed in Afghanistan to support a NATO-led military campaign against Islamic rebels have began operations in the country's restive south, the unit said Thursday. The 2,300-strong US Marine Expeditionary Unit was part of Washington's recent contribution to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) efforts to quell a resurgent Taliban insurgency. "The last of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit's Marines and Sailors are arriving and the unit is beginning operations after weeks of flowing personnel and equipment here," the unit said in a statement. "The Marines have begun their operations in...

HAQLANIYAH, Iraq, March 27, 2008 – Marines and sailors delivered the first batch of personal protection equipment, valued at $118,000, to employees of the Northern Petroleum Co. at the K3 Oil refinery here March 25. Navy Lt. j.g. Eric Palmer, team leader of Civil Affairs Group Detachment 1, Team 6 of the Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based Regimental Combat Team 5, delivers the first batch of personal protection gear to Iraqi employees of the Northern Petroleum Oil Company at the K3 Oil Refinery in Haqlaniyah, Iraq, March 25, 2008. Included were hearing protection, facial shields, goggles, gloves, coveralls, and steel-toed boots....

They called themselves "sand sailors," and they did their job well by reducing IED fatalities at their bases. Monthly U.S. troop deaths from IEDs have dropped since reaching a high of 90 in May to 17 last month, in part because of their efforts, the military said in awarding Bronze Stars to Dye and others.

WASHINGTON, March 20, 2008 – To recognize his continuous support and recognition of sailors, Marines and their families throughout his 17 years on television, the Navy presented its Superior Public Service Award to Montel Williams yesterday in New York during the taping of his long-running program’s final show. The Department of the Navy Superior Public Service Award is presented to Montel Williams March 19, 2008, in New York for his continuous support and recognition of servicemembers and their families throughout his 17 years on television. Capt. Kenneth J. Braithwaite, Director, Joint Public Affairs Support Element Reserve, presented the award...

WASHINGTON - Borrowing a theme from the presidential contest, Vice President Dick Cheney said Tuesday that the possibility of a 3 a.m. emergency call to the White House is all the more reason for the next commander in chief to follow through on President Bush's plans for a national missile defense. "It's plain to see that the world around us gives ample reason to continue working on missile defense," Cheney told the conservative Heritage Foundation at a dinner recognizing the 25th anniversary of President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, a proposed network of rockets capable of shooting down incoming intercontinental ballistic...

WASHINGTON, March 7, 2008 – Vice President Richard B. Cheney thanked recruits and sailors at Naval Station Great Lakes, Ill., today for choosing to serve a cause greater than themselves in the struggle against terrorism. Cheney talked with about 4,000 recruits and sailors at the center outside Chicago, where his own father trained for his Navy service during World War II. The vice president compared today’s military members who, like their World War II predecessors, put their own interests aside to serve “when the country needed you most.” “Your presence at Great Lakes proves that you understand the core Navy...

AL QA’IM — Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 3rd Brigade, along with Marines and Sailors of Company I, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 5, recently arrived at a school here carrying an abundance of tools and supplies. The joint effort had one goal: to provide the children with a school they could be proud of. The school needs a lot of work, but the children deserve it, said an Iraqi Army Soldier who wished to be not named. The school clean-up kicked off with Iraqi Army Soldiers and Marines working side by side, clearing broken windows...

Tribute to Fallen Men CORPUS CHRISTI — Hundreds of sailors and members of the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi community gathered on base Friday to honor three helicopter crewmen killed in a Jan. 16 crash near Petronila. Petty Officer 2nd Class Alexander "Kip" LeMarr, 25, of Parker, Colo.; Lt. Joshua Gross, 30, of Johnson City, N.Y.; and 22-year-old Petty Officer 2nd Class David Davison, of Guthrie, Okla., died when their MH-53E Sea Dragon anti-mine helicopter was reported down about 8:15 p.m. The crew was assigned to the HM-15 Blackhawk squadron at NAS Corpus Christi. "It is the greatest of honors...

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (Jan. 10, 2008) -- Saving a woman's life was not on the menu for three corpsman from Camp Pendleton while dining at a local sushi bar in Vista, Calif., Dec. 14. They planned to have a casual dinner out in town. The sudden sound of crashing dishes brought something else to the table. "All we heard was dishes colliding and a little girl screaming," said Petty Officer 3rd Class Margaret R. Reusi, a corpsman with Company B, 1st Medical Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group. "The little girl was trying to pick her mother up...