Free Republic

... On the morning of the attack Swenson and his team moved on foot into the rural community of Ganjgal for a meeting with village elders. He and his team were ambushed there by more than 50 well-armed, well-positioned insurgent fighters. As the enemy unleashed a barrage of rocket-propelled grenades, mortar and machine gun fire, Swenson returned fire, coordinated and directed the response of his Afghan Border Police soldiers, and simultaneously tried to call in suppressive artillery fire and aviation support. ... With complete disregard for his own safety, Swenson voluntarily led a team into the kill zone, exposing himself...

Pendleton died in 1944 in Bardenburg, Germany, sacrificing himself to help knock out enemy machine guns that had pinned down his unit. The council first considered the petition — which was backed by two veterans groups — in August, but it hesitated when a resident objected, saying the city hadn’t fairly considered his group’s 2006 proposal to rename the street after civil rights and labor leader Cesar Chavez. Having determined that the city duly considered the earlier petition, the City Council passed the current proposal. But the resident who objected, Alonzo Marquez, accused the council of “race discrimination,” and threatened...

FORT HOOD – U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Hasan will be executed for the 2009 shooting rampage on post that left 13 people dead and more than 30 wounded. The jury panel of 13 U.S. Army officers delivered the verdict on post moments before 2 p.m. Wednesday. They deliberated for less than three hours. Last Friday, the same panel unanimously found Hasan guilty of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder for the 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood. This sentencing verdict ends the court martial after 17 days. In it, Hasan, who defended himself, never...

(CNSNews.com) – “Hiding behind ‘workplace violence’ and excluding evidence on [Army Major Nidal] Hasan’s pursuit of jihad will not make terrorism go away or properly honor the American heroes who were slain at Fort Hood,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) as he lambasted the Obama administration’s decision to classify the 2009 mass shooting as “workplace violence.” “If we ever hope to defeat the ongoing threat from radical Islamism, we need to start by calling this terrorist attack on our armed forces by its name,” Cruz said in a statement Friday shortly after Hasan was found guilty on 13 counts of...

On the same day he stood up and told a packed Fort Hood court room that the “evidence will clearly show that I am the shooter, ” Major Nidal Hasan, who is acting as his own attorney, exclusively turned over to Fox News another page of the “Full Report of Sanity Board, US v. MAJ Nidal M. Hasan” that reveals how the accused gunman initially considered killing soldiers at Ft. Benning, Ga. Fox News has now reviewed three pages of the 49-page document, which details the findings of an examination of Hasan to determine whether he was mentally fit to...

On the eve of his military trial, accused Fort Hood shooter Major Nidal Hasan has released to Fox News two pages of the “Full Report of Sanity Board, US v. MAJ Nidal M. Hasan.” The military “Sanity Board” determines whether an individual is mentally responsible for his actions. Described as a “forensic evaluation,” the exam was conducted by a three-member panel. It took place at Bell County Jail in Belton, Texas on December 7-9, 2010, more than a year after the massacre at the military base. Based on the excerpt, a full report dated January 13, 2011, was released to...

There was the cry of "Allahu Akbar," a gun fired, mayhem all around, with the end result of thirteen dead and thirty wounded at an Army base in Fort Hood, Texas on November 5th, 2009. The culprit is not just any terrorist but a major in the U.S. Army, Nidal Malik Hassan. He was an officer sworn to protect, a psychiatrist sworn to help, and an American, sworn to the Constitution. American Thinker interviewed victims, their families, and someone who was a college classmate of Hassan. David Wellington in his latest book, Chimera, wrote that those serving in the military...

Here is a crazy story involving the U.S. government’s $89.5 billion Afghanistan reconstruction effort; the United States Army refuses to suspend contracts with dozens of companies tied to al Qaeda and the Taliban out of fear that it could violate their “due process rights.” It doesn’t get more outrageous than this! American tax dollars are going to the Middle Eastern terrorists that are trying to kill them. The best part, of course, is that the U.S. government has known about this for years yet won’t terminate the deals. It’s pure insanity, to put it quite mildly. A conservative online newspaper...

US ARMY PFC BRADLEY MANNING ACQUITTED OF AIDING THE ENEMY: AP

The U.S. Army is taking the expression “get the lead out” quite literally and switching to lead-free, environmentally-friendly bullets. The Army’s Picatinny Arsenal is working on a “green” version of the M80A1 7.62 mm bullet, which troops are supposed to start being issued in 2014, according to an Army press release. The Army has been looking to “green” small caliber ammo for some time now. In 2010, the Army switched to the greener 5.56 mm M855A1 Enhanced Performance Round. “The EPR replaces the lead slug with a copper slug,” said Lt. Col. Phil Clark, product manager for small caliber ammunition...

Commanders thought anti-Semitism kept him from Medal of Honor Did the American government refuse to honor a World War II veteran who was regarded as a war hero by the British Empire, because he was Jewish? The question apparently still lingered in David Rubitsky’s mind when he died, penniless, June 28 at a nursing home in East Moline, Ill., the local Quad-City Times reported. Rubitsky’s commanders claim he single-handedly killed 500 to 600 Japanese soldiers while guarding a military outpost in Papua New Guinea during the Battle of Buna in December 1942. According to Rubitsky’s account, he defended the bunker...

“With some of New York’s skyscrapers looming through clouds of gas, some U.S. Army nurses from the hospital post at Fort Jay, Governors Island, New York, wear gas masks as they drill on defense precautions”

The U.S. Army is slashing the number of combat brigades from 45 to 33, and shifting thousands of soldiers out of bases around the county as it moves forward with the long-planned move to cut the size of the service by 80,000... at 10 Army bases in the U.S. by 2017, including in Texas, Kentucky, Colorado, North Carolina, New York, Kansas and Washington.

A DEA agent has died in an apparent robbery attempt in Colombia, U.S. Ambassador Michael McKinley said Friday. Colombian authorities said the American agent was stabbed four times.

A group of soldiers are preparing for their deployment to Egypt with riot training on post. They're planning ahead for violent protests or riots and the possibility of protecting the country's border with Israel. Soldiers encountered Molotov cocktails and other dangerous items in the training. Lt. Matthew Wilkinson says, "Just what I've seen over the course of the past week than we were a week ago." PFC Perez Alexander says, "We want to be as professional as possible... Know what we're doing." They wrap up training today before preparing to ship out in the near future.

Judicial Watch has obtained new information indicating that the U.S. government is likely covering up a scandal involving an Army sergeant who apparently took a controversial anti-malaria drug—in contradiction to guidelines—before going on a rampage in Afghanistan. The 39-year-old married father of two, Sergeant Robert Bales, was on his fourth deployment in a decade when he attacked and murdered 16 Afghan civilians (initial reports said it was 17) on March 11, 2012. Judicial Watch immediately launched an investigation and obtained documents from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that raised huge suspicions that Bales may have been given the anti-malaria...

The United States Army was established - as the Continental Army - on June 14, 1775.The Army Goes Rolling AlongThe 238th United States Army Birthday

“Soldier in black and white uniform to conceal him while climbing trees. He stands in front of a house camouflaged to represent a fence and trees. Company F, 24th Engineers. American University, D.C. Army Engineer Corps..”

A soldier who served Chick-fil-A sandwiches at a party he threw to honor the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and his promotion to Master Sergeant has received a letter of reprimand. The soldier received his promotion last summer, and since "it coincided with national controversy surrounding Chick-fil-A's support of traditional marriage," he decided to serve their sandwiches and celebrate DOMA while he was at it. According to a Fox News report, the invitation to the soldier's party read: "In honor of my promotion and in honor of the Defense of Marriage Act, I'm serving Chick-fil-A sandwiches at my promotion party."...

The US Special Operations Command is looking for revolutionary new gear assisting troops in exceeding human performance in combat. The idea sounds similar to a science fiction tale, but if the command will be successful in its quest – this time it may be real. The command has posted a Request For Information (RFI) to government research centers, academy and industry, to provide information that could contribute to the evolution of the Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit, or TALOS. Defense-Update reports.