Free Republic

Army PFC Kham Xiong, 23, came from a St. Paul, Minn., family with ties to military life that spanned hemispheres. His father, Chor Xiong, battled Communist insurgents in Laos during the Vietnam War, according to Minnesota Public Radio, and his younger brother Nelson is enlisted in the Marines. In a phone interview, his 8th grade teacher, Tim McGowan, recalled Xiong's positive energy and his commitment to supporting his family. "Kham was just a person of sound character, and his greatest attribute was his ability to make everybody smile," said McGowan, now a principal at Community of Peace Academy, a St....

An Army private first class from southwest suburban Bolingbrook was one of the 13 people killed in the rampage at Fort Hood, his family said. Michael Pearson, 21, joined the Army slightly more than a year ago and was training to deactivate bombs, said his mother, Sheryll.

Man charged in soldier's death seeks trial delayPosted: October 27, 2009 - 12:40pm LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Attorneys for the man charged with capital murder of an Army soldier at a Little Rock recruiting station are asking for a delay in the start of his trial. Lawyers for 24-year-old Abdulhakim Muhammad say in a motion filed last week that they need more time to go through evidence in the case. The current trial date is Feb. 15. Muhammad was born Carlos Bledsoe. He's charged in the June shooting death of 23-year-old Pvt. William Long of Conway and in the wounding...

U.S. SOLIDIER

TAMPA - The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office will lead a full escort on Thursday for the procession carrying the casket of U.S. Army Spec. Eric Lembke, who died last month while serving in Afghanistan. Lembke was raised in Plant City and graduated from Plant City High School. He was 25. The casket will arrive at MacDill Air Force Base at around 2:30 p.m. Thursday.

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) – Gunmen with automatic weapons burst into a Mexican strip club on the U.S. border, opened fire on patrons and killed six people including an American soldier, the army said on Wednesday. The hooded gunmen stormed into the bar in Ciudad Juarez as strippers were dancing for customers, sought out the six men and shot them each several times. A 26-year-old off-duty U.S. soldier who had crossed over from El Paso, Texas, was among the dead, army spokesman Enrique Torres said. "It appears drugs were being sold at the place," Torres said of the strip joint....

For 64 years, Norton Anenberg guarded a present. He kept it in the attic. Or tucked in his desk. But one day in 1990, acting on a longtime desire, the then-vice president of an oil company pulled open his office's file cabinet and declared it was time to act. "You know something," the now-76-year-old Covina resident remembered saying. "I'm gonna find this family." The present was the war flag of a World World II Japanese soldier, given to Anenberg by a family friend returning from fighting in the South Pacific in 1945. And it wasn't until August, after nearly twenty...

A civil judge in Dallas ruled late Wednesday that the real estate arm of the Subway sandwich chain violated the rights of an Army reservist when it stripped him of his two restaurants while the reservist was serving in Afghanistan. Grant Walsh, an attorney for Leon Batie Jr., said the ruling settles the biggest legal issue in a case that has dragged on for more than two years – that the chain's real estate affiliate broke the law when it terminated leases at two central city Subway franchises without a court order.

I've geard tons of patriotic Country music, But never rock And this guy ROCKS...and it is exceptional Best of All---he smacks the "crown of thorns" off Maobama's inflated head. Kinda like Mark Levin with a guitar... This video is call MR NOBEL - Can U Hear Us Now He also has one called SOLDIER.... a very powerful tribute to our Military Heroes Meet Joe Dan..the Patriot Rocker.  We need to push this guy.

They became good buddies during the war, the young American soldier and his invaluable Iraqi translator, an easygoing guy who could spot dangers in the shadows and calm jittery nerves in the streets. When it was time to go home, Joey Coon, then an Army National Guard sergeant, set up an e-mail account for Bandar Hasan. He gave his friend a quick lesson on how to use it so they could stay in touch. Joey didn't expect much; Bandar wasn't familiar with computers. But he did call on occasion, and the two joked about him coming to America one day,...

CORNWALL — Thirteen-year-old Megan Gagnon is killing time outside her middle school on Thursday afternoon, waiting for police and federal agents to finish a sweep of the building. This is a big deal. Gen. David H. Petraeus is about to arrive. He grew up here, she says, graduated from Cornwall High, then West Point. “Now he runs Iraq and Afghanistan.” Gagnon's dad is in the Army too, deployed to Iraq for the past nine months. She told him, over a webcam, that Petraeus was visiting on Thursday so the town could name a street after him. The band was going...

JOINT FORCES HEADQUARTERS, LATHAM, N.Y. (10/07/09) - Members of the New York National Guard welcomed a new "recruit" to the Army National Guard Oct. 6 when the National Guard helped fulfill the dream of a local area boy battling Leukemia. Nine-year old Jacob Kaminski was surprised by his family with a day-long visit with the New York National Guard as the state's "Soldier for a Day." The event was arranged, in part, by New York Army National Guard Sgt. Mathew Starr, assigned to the Joint Forces Headquarters staff and a long-time fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Starr, a...

Before soldiers leave on missions in Iraq or Afghanistan, they often are ordered to do everything in their power to bring their buddies back. "Leave no man behind" is the motto. But does that military ethos apply to soldiers heading out for a rowdy weekend in the United States? That question is being raised at an unusual court-martial on this massive Army base, where a young paratrooper who struggled to bring a combative, drunk soldier back to the barracks has been accused of causing his death. Pfc. Luke Brown died after a night of drinking at the Ugly Stick Saloon...

Yes, The Ticker is formally calling for a national bank boycott on Bank of America. I'm serious. And this has nothing to do with the fact that I believe they're hiding losses, that they're under investigation 7 ways from Sunday regarding the Merrill merger, or that BofA likes to bang you in the backside with usurious "overdraft fees", even though any of those standing alone is more than enough reason to run this bank into the ground. Nope. It is about this: A South Carolina Bank of America branch is drawing criticism Thursday after an employee reportedly ordered the removal...

Freepers check this out and let me know what you think. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvALDJu9yDU

The best friend of a fallen Black Watch soldier has mourned his death wearing a dress and stockings, to honour a pact made with his mate. Barry Delaney kneels weeping as mourners gather at Barnhill Cenetery for the funeral of Black Watch soldier Kevin Elliot.

A Moore High School graduate who attended the University of Oklahoma on a track scholarship before joining the military has died in Afghanistan. Featured Gallery Advertisement Army 1st Lt. David Timothy Wright II, 26, died Monday. Details of his death were not available from the Department of Defense. His parents, Tim and Michele Wright, issued a statement through Primrose Funeral Service. "We want to say how much we appreciate the prayers and support that has been shown to our family during this very difficult time. David was a true soldier, who cherished the opportunity to fight for his country. "We...

Forward Operating Base Shank, Afghanistan - The soldiers in his New York-based combat unit call Staff Sgt. Brandon Camacho the "Bullet Magnet." Camacho - either the luckiest or unluckiest soldier in Afghanistan - is on his second tour here with the Fort Drum-based 10th Mountain Division's 3rd Brigade Combat Team. The reason for the nickname: He's just earned his fifth Purple Heart after being shot in the left knee in a firefight 100 miles south of Kabul, military officials said. "One of my friends said, 'You're the luckiest unlucky person I know,'" said Camacho, 24, who grew up in Saipan...

Here is a video report from CBS News on the death of an American soldier in Afghanistan, and also saying August has become the deadliest month of the war in Afghanistan. Harry Smith also reported that CBS News Correspondent Cami McCormick was seriously injured in the same attack that killed the U.S. Soldier. She underwent surgery and is now in stable condition. . . . . (Watch Video)

(CNSNews.com) - A terror suspect charged with the attempted murder of two U.S. soldiers -- before a judge ruled that his confession was coerced and inadmissible -- returned home to Afghanistan on Monday, the same day news broke of a policy change in interrogations. After many Democrats and some Republican lawmakers called the Central Intelligence Agency’s interrogation techniques such as playing loud music and waterboarding “torture,” President Barack Obama reassigned interrogation responsibilities from the CIA to the National Security Council – which is run out of the White House, the Washington Post first reported.

Here is video of Anti-ObamaCare protesters in Crystal City, Missouri outside the office of Democrat Rep. Russ Carnahan holding a "Recess Rally" yesterday. "Recess Rally" refers to rallying against socialized medicine through ObamaCare during the August Congressional recess. Rallies were held all across the country yesterday by those against ObamaCare and Tea Party participants. The interesting thing here is that the brief clip shows the reaction of the crowed to a U.S. Soldier who happened to walking along the other side of the street. Spontaneous applause breaks out and calls of "Thank you" from the crowd. That's the way it...

BÖBLINGEN, Germany — Police have located the rental vehicle used by a Special Forces soldier to flee custody after he was convicted in a court-martial of kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault of a German woman. The soldier remains at large. The black Audi Q5 was parked on Waldburgstrasse, which runs parallel to the northern perimeter of Panzer Kaserne’s family housing. A manhunt for Sgt. 1st Class Kelly A. Stewart, 36, began Thursday morning after he failed to show for the sentencing phase of his trial. Late on Wednesday, a court-martial panel in Vilseck found him guilty of several charges in...

VILSECK, Germany — A manhunt is under way for a U.S. Special Forces soldier who fled after being convicted of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a German woman. Sgt. 1st Class Kelly A. Stewart — who was found guilty of multiple charges including kidnapping, forcible sodomy and aggravated sexual assault of a woman in an August 2008 incident — was last seen early Thursday morning by his escort at an on-post hotel. Stewart, 36, is an Iraq war veteran who trains fellow Special Forces soldiers at the International Special Training Center in Pfullendorf. “He’s an angry animal and not a human,”...

CARTHAGE — Forming a fortress of American flags, members of the Patriot Guard encircled St. William of Vercelli Catholic Church of Carthage on Monday afternoon to pay tribute to a fallen soldier. "I never met Alex," said Army Staff Sgt. Miguel Fabbiani of his brother in arms while taking shade under a cedar tree. "But that's beside the point; he's one of us, he's our brother. We're here to pay respect for his service and to his family." Army Staff Sgt. 1st Class Alejandro "Alex" Granado III was among three people killed Aug. 2 during an ambush in eastern Afghanistan....

Man could face death penalty for slaying of soldier in ArkansasBy The Associated Press Story Updated: Aug 1, 2009 at 3:30 PM CDT LITTLE ROCK, Ark., -- Prosecutors say they'll seek a death penalty against a man accused of killing a soldier outside an Army recruiting center. Abdulhakim Muhammad pleaded not guilty on Friday at a Pulaski County court hearing to charges that he shot and killed Pvt. William Andrew Long. The judge set a trial date of Feb. 15. Muhammad's lawyer says his client is in good spirits but wouldn't say whether his client's calls to reporters to claim...

A young Iranian soldier, arrested late last week for allegedly stealing weapons for opposition groups, was killed in custody and his body returned to his family on Saturday, sources in Teheran said. The sources said the bodies of several dissidents, arrested in the course of anti-regime protests in Iran in recent weeks and evidently killed in detention, had also been returned to their families in the past few days. Several of the bodies bore signs of beatings, the sources said.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y98HxYbsdBM A US Soldier demands an apology from Claire McCaskill. He absolutely NAILS her with very respectful and educated questions. Its BRILLIANT!

Savannah, NY (--The parents of a Central New York soldier who recently finished training at Fort Leonard Wood are seeking to block her overseas deployment, alleging that an Army recruiter misled the family. the parents of Hillary J. Poole of Savannah, filed a federal lawsuit Friday in Springfield, Mo. Poole is scheduled to be shipped Thursday to St. Louis. From there, she is slated to go to Germany before arriving in Afghanistan in October. The suit says Poole's mother signed her name and her husband's name to enlistment papers in February after being told that the paperwork simply allowed the...

The U.S. soldier kidnapped by Taliban forces in Afghanistan may have been taken across the border to Pakistan, complicating efforts to obtain his release, according to two people involved in U.S. and Afghan military efforts to locate him, and three Afghan soldiers captured with him.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Pentagon has identified the American soldier who went missing June 30 from his base in eastern Afghanistan and was later confirmed to have been captured. The Defense Department said in a statement Sunday that the soldier is Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, 23, of Ketchum, Idaho. The statement also says his status is now classified as missing-captured, rather than whereabouts unknown. In a video posted online by the Taliban on Saturday, he's heard saying he's "scared I won't be able to go home." Before the Pentagon released Bergdahl's identity, two U.S. defense officials confirmed to The Associated...

Please keep this young man and his family in your prayers every day. Dear Lord grant him strength and mercy. May your divine light reside in his his soul and please keep him free from harm.

KABUL (Reuters) – The U.S. military denounced on Sunday the release of a video showing a soldier captured in Afghanistan, calling the images Taliban propaganda that violated international law. The video shows the soldier in traditional Afghan dress, being prompted in English by his captors to call for U.S. forces to be withdrawn from Afghanistan.

A Taliban commander in southeastern Afghanistan today said that a captured U.S. soldier was being held unharmed by insurgents, but warned he would be killed if efforts were made to find him. The soldier has been missing in Paktika province since late June, just before thousands of U.S. Marines began a major new offensive. The U.S. military has said he was presumed captured. Taliban commander Mawlavi Sangin said the group's leadership would decide the soldier's fate, but accused U.S. soldiers of harassing and arresting Afghans in Paktika and neighbouring Ghazni province. 'They have put pressure on the people in these...

U.S. Army Maj. Stefan Frederick Cook, set to deploy to Afghanistan, says he shouldn’t have to go. His reason? Barack Obama was never eligible to be president because he wasn’t born in the United States. Actually, Obama was born in Hawaii in 1961, two years after it became a state. Cook’s lawyer, Orly Taitz, who has also challenged the legitimacy of Obama’s presidency in other courts, filed a request last week in federal court seeking a temporary restraining order and status as a conscientious objector for his client. In the 20-page document — filed July 8 with the U.S. District...

If you want a dose of inspiration as well as confidence in America, watch this 12 minute film clip. It is moving and beautiful. It shows a 30 mile car procession from the small airport at Peachtree City, Georgia to a funeral home in McDonough, Georgia. Killed in action the week before, the body of Staff Sergeant First Class John C. Beale was returned to Falcon Field in Peachtree City, Georgia, just south of Atlanta, on June 11, 2009. The Henry County Police Department escorted the procession to the funeral home in McDonough, Georgia. A simple notice in local papers...

A day before New York Rep. Peter King called Michael Jackson a “pervert” unworthy of nonstop media coverage, the aunt of a U.S. soldier killed in Afghanistan on the same day Jackson died asked why her nephew's death went virtually unnoticed while the King of Pop got memorial shrines across the country. "Mr. Jackson received days of wall-to-wall coverage in the media," Martha Gillis wrote to the Washington Post. "Where was the coverage of my nephew or the other soldiers who died that week?" Gillis' nephew, Lt. Brian Bradshaw, 24, died in Kheyl, Afganistan, of wounds suffered when an improvised...

Does this this video make you say: A. Sigh, women in the military.... B. Where do I sign up?!!! C. Leave her alone, she's fighting for you!

An American soldier who went missing from a U.S. base in eastern Afghanistan was "sold" to a local militant group - which claims it will soon release a video of the captive and a list of demands, a U.S. military official said. "Our leaders have not decided on the fate of this soldier," said a commander with the Taliban's hard-line Haqqani faction, according to Agence-France Press. "They will decide on his fate and soon we will present video tapes of the coalition soldier and our demand to media."

KABUL — A young American soldier who walked off his remote combat outpost in a volatile region of eastern Afghanistan has been captured and is believed to be in the hands of the Taliban network headed by Sirajuddin Haqqani, American military officials said Thursday. Large numbers of American and Afghan forces fanned out in eastern Afghanistan to shut down routes the kidnappers could use to transport the soldier, officials said. A senior American defense official said there had been no direct negotiations with the kidnappers but that American forces were reaching out to tribal leaders and local Afghan government officials...

WASHINGTON -- Insurgents captured an American soldier in eastern Afghanistan, according to a U.S. military spokeswoman. Capt. Elizabeth Mathias said the soldier has been missing since Tuesday and that the military was using "all our resources to find him and provide for his safe return." The soldier wasn't taking part in the major military operation launched in the southern Taliban stronghold of the Helmand River Valley. The new operation is an early test of the Obama administration's new strategy for beating back the resurgent Taliban and stabilizing the country in advance of this summer's presidential elections. Operation Khanjar, or "strike...

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The U.S. military said today that insurgents have capture an American soldier in eastern Afghanistan. Spokeswoman Capt. Elizabeth Mathias said the soldier went missing Tuesday.

The Obama Administration has betrayed this nation’s servicemen and women. They have sold our soldiers lives for a pittance for short term political expediency. Sold so cheaply in fact, that the heinous crimes of kidnapping, torture and murder, are forgotten, its perpetrators set free to appease terrorists and their masters. By their actions the Obama administration has set the stage for the killing of more brave young Americans and countless innocents. A recent article on the National Review Online, by Andrew C. McCarthy entitled “Negotiating with Terrorists” outlines the outrageous actions of this President and his cabinet. It should bring...

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, Iraq, June 5, 2009 – Army Spc. Cleon Shack stood in the shadows near the stage, waiting on his second chance. Army Spc. Cleon Shack performs in Round 2 of “Basra Idol,” a music contest at Contingency Operating Base Basra, Iraq, May 23, 2009. Shack was one of three finalists to make it to the final round. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. J.P. Lawrence  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. A week before, Shack and eight others had entered “Basra Idol,” a music competition for servicemembers here. Shack had sung “Midnight Lover,” a song he...

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, June 2, 2009) -- The Army wants Soldier-dads to know there is a new paternity leave policy available to them and spread the word to military bloggers at the Pentagon today. The policy, which was signed into law by President George W. Bush Oct. 14, 2008, allows new dads up to 10 consecutive days of administrative leave after the birth of a child. Leading the roundtable was Col. Larry Locke, chief of compensation and entitlements for the Army G-1. He said the policy is one way of showing appreciation for Soldier-dads, because leave time can take...

James Kirchick, Assistant Editor of the "New Republic," argues that "in the coming days, we will hear more about how mainstream conservative organizations and media personalities created an 'environment' in which the murder of an abortion doctor became an inevitability. Just as talk radio was blamed for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, an attempt will be made to extend the guilt for this crime from the individual who pulled the trigger to the conservative movement writ large. But the Christian right's responsible reaction to the death of George Tiller should put to rest the lie that Judeo-Christian extremists are anywhere...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A Muslim convert who already was under federal investigation pleaded not guilty Tuesday in what police called a likely "political and religious" attack that killed a young soldier at a military recruiting center. Abdulhakim Muhammad, 23, of Little Rock, was charged in Monday's death of Pvt. William Long, 23, of Conway outside an Army-Navy Career Center in a west Little Rock shopping center. He pleaded not guilty to a capital murder charge and was ordered held without bail. A prosecutor said Muhammad admitted shooting Long and another soldier "because of what they had done to Muslims...

<p>Latest Video:Little Rock - One person is in custody, and two others have been transported to a local hospital in serious condition following a double-shooting in west Little Rock Monday morning.</p> <p>Authorities say the incident occurred around 10:00 a.m. at the U.S. Army Navy Career Center inside the Ashley Square Shopping Center at 9112 North Rodney Parham Road. According to Lt. Terry Hastings with the Little Rock Police Department, two recruiting officers standing outside the office were hit when the unidentified suspect drove up in a black SUV and began shooting.</p>

Widow of Douglas Zembiec 3 years ago, I made a Veterans Day post transcribing a letter Michael Medved read on his radio program, The Three Big Lies About Vietnam. Here is that segment of the show; it requires 3-and-a-half minutes of your time, and I'll be very much surprised if they are 3 minutes you'll want back, after listening. (Excerpt) Read more at Flopping Aces ...

Ariz. man was Vietnam vet who decided to re-enlist after 9/11 attacks PHOENIX - A 60-year-old Vietnam War veteran who was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq has become the oldest Army soldier to die in that conflict, the military said Thursday.

SHERMAN, Texas -- The father of a U.S. soldier accused of killing five fellow troops in Iraq said his son "forfeited his life" but the military bears some responsibility for the rampage. Wilburn Russell said Tuesday that 44-year-old Army Sgt. John M. Russell wasn't typically a violent person, but counselors "broke" him before gunfire erupted in a military stress center Monday in Baghdad. "John has forfeited his life. Apparently, he said (to his wife), 'My life is over. To hell with it. I'm going to get even with 'em,'" said the elder Russell, 73. His father said the younger Russell,...