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CAMP TAJI, Iraq, May 13, 2006 – Serving on a military transition team may be the most important job in Iraq today, with members working with Iraqi units to realize President Bush's promise: "As the Iraqis stand up. We'll stand down." Military Transition Team 0911, the "Mohawks," is where the rubber meets the road. The team works with the 1st Battalion, 1st Brigade of the Iraqi 9th Division, the "Desert Lions." The Iraqi unit is a mechanized outfit and patrols the area north of this sprawling base. The Iraqis secure the three water points that supply 70 percent of the...

4/18/2006 - VIEUX FORT, Saint Lucia (AFPN) -- A C-17 Globemaster III aircrew flew civil engineers to this tropical isle as part of ongoing support for the war on drugs. The mission also provided an opportunity for the aircrew to maintain their proficiency. The transport started its circuitous mission April 7 at Charleston Air Force Base, S.C., with a mixed Reserve and active-duty aircrew. “We go everywhere to support the Air Force mission,” said Maj. Mike Phillips, a Reserve pilot with the 300th Airlift Squadron. “We like to support as many active-duty and Reserve units as possible.” The squadron aircrew...

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, March 14, 2006) – A brigade of the 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley, Kan., will temporarily reorganize to train teams to serve alongside and mentor Iraqi Security Forces and the Afghan National Army. The size of each deployed Transition Team will vary based on its specific mission, officials said; however, they said the teams will generally have 10-15 troops. About 3,500 to 4,000 Soldiers will be trained over the course of a year to serve on these Transition Teams, Army G3 officials said. They said the first rotation at Fort Riley is expected to begin...

3/7/2006 - FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AFPN) -- More than 1,000 Airmen, Soldiers and Sailors joined ranks to activate Afghanistan Provincial Reconstruction Teams in a ceremony here March 3. The purpose of the teams is to help rebuild Afghanistan, ensuring a secure and self-sufficient nation. The teams have a three-part mission: stabilize the economy, promote security of the nation and legitimize the central Afghan government. Twelve teams, each consisting of about 80 members, are currently training here before heading to Afghanistan in April to relieve Army teams. Six teams are led by the Air Force, six by the Navy, and each...

The coalition and NATO face the complex challenge of establishing a legitimate functioning government in Afghanistan that can withstand the withdrawal of Western forces. To meet this challenge, they might look to earlier British efforts to manage the northwest Frontier along Afghanistan's eastern border.1 Proven methods the British used in the frontier districts could generate a coherent four-step plan for Afghanistan's reconstruction. Indeed, as resources shrink, new, imaginative measures-plus tried and true ones-will be needed to control Afghanistan's geographically dispersed tribes to prevent the reemergence of terrorists or armed insurrection. The northwest Frontier linking central and South central Asia, an...

These two ball teams really support Scouting March 4 Scout Day at Tucson Electric Park (TEP)Sidewinder Home and Spring traiining location for the Diamond Backs it's Diamondbacks vs. White Sox May 5-6 at TEP The Scout Show/Youth Expo and we get the stadium. This will be the Pinewood Derby Compitition to find the Council winners and for the Scouts to Show off their skills and crafts. June 23 Scout Day and Sleepover in the TEP Ball stadium. Game, Scouts Parade on the field after the game, fireworks, midnight pizza madness, the movie "Follow Me Boys," Sidewinder/Scout patch, and sleepover on...

MAHMUDIYAH, Iraq, Feb. 3, 2006 — One of the coalition missions with the highest expectations, the greatest visibility and the most responsibility is that of the Military Transition Teams. The teams' task is to prepare the young Iraqi Army to take over the job of securing its own country. In Mahmudiyah, a city south of Baghdad, training is taking shape. "It's a very challenging mission, but the more we stay with the Iraqi Army, the better they become." U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Arturo Delagarza "It's a very challenging mission, but the more we stay with the Iraqi Army, the better...

MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. (Jan. 31, 2006) -- Iraq's security forces must be prepared to handle any situation as Iraq grows more independent. That's why a select group of Marines are chosen to train and mentor Iraqi Security Forces as Iraq moves forward. 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment’s Military Transition Team practiced its marksmanship skills at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms as part of their pre-deployment training to assist the Iraqi Security Forces. “Living with, training, and mentoring the Iraqi military is our mission,” said Maj. William F. Wahle, MTT...

12/1/2005 - PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (AFPN) -- Two 21st Security Forces Squadron teams placed near the top in the tactical obedience and top agency areas at a national competition for working dogs. This is the sixth consecutive year squadron’s military working dogs and their handlers from here competed at the Tucson Area Police K-9 Trials in Tucson, Ariz. “Peterson teams have always done well at the trials. This year was no different,” said Master Sgt. Mark Dedrick, the squadron kennel master. He said Staff Sgt. Jesse Frank and Staff Sgt. Jesse Tames lead the way. After qualifying at...

AR RAMADI, Iraq (Nov. 2, 2005) -- Over 200,000 Iraqi people in Al Anbar Province recently made their way to polling sites for Iraq’s Constitutional Referendum. The voters safely made their voices heard without even seeing the forces that were instrumental in making it possible. In response to a request from the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq and the Ministry of Interior, the 2nd Marine Division deployed several election support elements comprised of Marines, Sailors and Soldiers throughout the province. These teams provided behind-the-scenes logistics support and ensured poll workers and material moved unimpeded between polling sites. According to the...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 21, 2005 – The provincial reconstruction teams in Afghanistan have been pivotal in the resurgence of society there, NATO's supreme allied commander for Europe said here Oct. 20. Jones, who also serves as commander of U.S. European Command, spoke about the PRTs and the key role they are playing. NATO will take over the security mission in Afghanistan sometime in the future. "If I could take off these stars and do anything in life, I think I'd want to be a PRT commander," Jones said. The United States created the first PRT in Gardez in 2002. The team,...

ANSBACH, Germany -- Soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division’s 4th Brigade held a departure ceremony Sept. 30 at Katterbach Kaserne for 22 Soldiers from the Special Police Training Teams. The SPTTs are a group of officers and noncommissioned officers from 4th Brigade handpicked to deploy to Iraq in order to strengthen the Iraqi Security Forces by organizing, training, equipping and mentoring the Iraqi forces.

GULFPORT, Miss., Sept. 15, 2005 – Units formed to counter the effects of a terrorist incident have proven their worth during natural disasters. Civil support teams working in response to Hurricane Katrina's widespread destruction have given commanders here needed capabilities. Katrina wiped out the infrastructure throughout the Gulf Coast. The storm surge, wind, rain and subsequent flooding killed the communications net. "The land lines were blown down, and cell phones didn't work," said Sgt. 1st Class Peter Eargle, the communications specialist with the Mississippi National Guard's 47th Civil Support Team. "We were able to come in and establish communications between...

GULFPORT, Miss., Sept. 14, 2005 – Hurricane Katrina has emphasized the word "national" in National Guard. A case in point is the firefighters at the Mississippi Air Guard's Combat Arms Training Center here. The flight line fire station is manned by members of the Guard from Mississippi, of course, but also from Michigan, New York, Florida, Georgia and North Dakota. "It was important for us to be here," said Air Force Staff Sgt. Gary DePoyster, a firefighter with Mississippi's 172nd Airlift Wing. "We all wanted to help our neighbors. But we couldn't have done all we have without our brothers...

What is behind this invention of offense to Native American team names primarily by non-Native Americans. You won't here an Irishman or a Greek complaining about the Fighting Irish or the Spartans. Conversely, it is considered an honor. This use of feigned victimization in order to cause change in someone else’s behavior reminds me of the experiment with monkeys who have to push a lever to get a banana flavored pellet. The result being that the monkeys learned to use the lever increasingly more often to increase their gratification. It seems that those who can't master their own lives find...

A controversial NCAA decision restricting Florida State University's use of an American Indian mascot was based on incomplete information and will be reconsidered, a top NCAA official said Thursday. Walter Harrison, who chairs the committee that approved a policy directed at 18 schools with "hostile and abusive" American Indian mascots, said FSU has "good grounds" to appeal. Among the reasons, he said, are that the NCAA Executive Committee thought the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma opposed FSU's use of the Seminole image as a mascot. That was based partly on letters the committee received from David Narcomey, a member of the...

Up until a couple weeks ago, I assumed the adminstraters of the NCAA consisted of a bunch of beer-guzzling former jocks who sat around pondering earth-shattering issues such as the 25 second shot clock, the infield fly rule and the diameter of Astroturf. I should have known better. Being merely an adjunct of academia, and academia currently leaning further to the left than a two-legged dog, it only makes sense that the NCAA would include a Minority Opportunities and Interest Committee, not to mention an Executive Subcommittee on Gender and Diversity Issues. I’m sure if we search the nooks and...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

There was a time in America when the state of patriotism was such that the sponsors of sporting events could stop brawls by playing the National Anthem, upon hearing which the combatants would stop fighting and stand at attention. That technique was not tried in the Palace at Auburn Hills Friday night, for the simple reason that no one could imagine it would work in these days of unbridled irreverence. You can take the boyz out of the 'hood, but you can't take the 'hood out of the boyz, so to speak. And by the way, I don't mean only...

Disaster Teams Said Ready for Terrorism December 25, 2003 05:16 PM EST WASHINGTON - Disaster teams are ready to respond to any strike by the al-Qaida terrorist network and special equipment is monitoring the air for biological agents in some 30 cities, the Bush administration said Thursday. Four days after the nation went to a high Code Orange status and turned up its vigilance against terrorism, the threat had not diminished. "Credible reporting suggests al-Qaida continues to desire to attack American interests," said Brian Roehrkasse, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security. "People have their antennas up," he said. President...