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By now, Daniel had been in Afghanistan two months. It was July 2012, his third tour of duty and his first with Oogie, his military working dog. They were leading their platoon on yet another patrol, clearing a no-name village with maybe 15 houses and one mosque, when they began taking fire.

ARLINGTON: New threats from Russia and China mean the Army must take on new missions — but it’s got almost no new money so the Army is looking at ways to modify existing systems to do some radically new things. So imagine howitzers firing precision-guided cannon shells to shoot cruise missiles out of the sky or to sink ships on the South China Sea. Imagine networking existing sensors in new ways to counter Russian heavy jamming. Imagine eight-wheel-drive Stryker armored vehicles acting as mobile anti-aircraft guns. “One of the highlights that I was trying to emphasize is repurposing existing capability,”...

Remains of Illinois soldier, missing since 1969, coming home By Len Wells Evansville Courier & Press, Ind. (Tribune News Service) Published: January 9, 2016 ALBION, Ill. The remains of an airman listed as "missing in action" during the Vietnam War have been recovered. Officials with the U.S. Department of Defense confirmed the remains of Pfc. Kenneth Leroy Cunningham of Ellery, Illinois. He had been missing since Oct. 3, 1969. He was 21 at the time. Cunningham's remains will be flown back to the United States later this month, arriving at the airport in Louisville, Kentucky on Jan 19. His remains...

Army Lt. Gen. John Mulholland was apoplectic. Seated at the head of a table in a staff meeting, the veteran Special Operations general was furious that a briefing for him at U.S. Special Operations Command did not follow the directions that he and the top officer in the command, Adm. William McRaven, had provided. In a profanity-laced tirade, Mulhulland told the staff members they had "all failed me" as a commander, and they should all go "shoot themselves right now," according to later accounts of the meeting. He promised that if they tried to brief their work to McRaven he...

On his first day at the United States Military Academy at West Point, Simratpal Singh sat in a barber chair where new cadets get their hair buzzed short, forced to choose between showing his faith and living it. Cadet Singh had grown up a Sikh. As part of his faith, he had never cut his hair or beard. But his faith also encouraged protection of the oppressed, which inspired him to join the Army. The Army would not allow a soldier with long hair or a beard, so that day he watched his locks drop to the floor. “Your self-image,...

What started as a lighthearted tradition meant to build camaraderie, transformed into chaos on Aug. 20 when the United States Military Academy at West Point’s annual pillow fight turned bloody, leaving 30 freshmen injured, investigators said Wednesday. Nicknamed “plebes,” first-year students are responsible for organizing the pillow fight, held almost every year since 2001.

Word is starting to seep out, like water slowly exiting a crack in a dam that the US Army’s armored warfare capabilities, capacity and readiness are in big trouble. Coming out of nearly a dozen years of infantry combat in the Middle East against insurgent forces, the Army is still heavily focused on infantry tactics operations, peacekeeping and special warfare. The knowledge and skills needed to fight traditional US Army battles, with armor and mechanized infantry backed up by superior air support, in what used to be called Air Land Battle seem about as ancient as the Dead Sea Scrolls....

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Yeah, well, we were just poking along here about 10 minutes ago. It looked like it was actually gonna be kind of a slow day. And then everything blew up here, and then we -- JOHNNY DONOVAN: And now, from sunny south Florida, it's Open Line Friday! RUSH: Yeah. And I still don't know what to make of this. There's something that smells about this still, and I can't put my fingers on it. But we're gonna have to get into it. Anyway, welcome to Open Line Friday. Whatever you want to talk about is fine and...

The Ranger School records story refuses to die, as the Army continues to obstruct Congressman Steve Russell’s investigation into whether three female graduates have been given special treatment at Ranger School. Key points in the story: Congressman Russell contacted the Secretary of the Army on September 15, 2015, and requested the Ranger School records for Captain Kristen Griest and First Lieutenant Shaye Haver. The Secretary of the Army stalled Russell for nine days and then asked for an extension to obtain documents readily available. The Army waited another two weeks to tell Russell the documents had been shredded. The Army...

The massive Army blimp that broke free from its mooring and drifted from Maryland to Pennsylvania is "actually still deflating," a Pentagon spokesman said Thursday. "I am not able to give you the mechanics of exactly how they're deflating it," said Navy Capt. Jeff Davis. The blimp traveled almost 200 miles north at 30 miles per hour, reaching an altitude of 16,000 feet before it lost altitude and speed, landing in northeastern Pennsylvania. Another Pentagon spokesman confirmed reports that the 240-foot blimp was shot down, but did not know how close to the ground the blimp was when it happened....

The US Army is sick; sick in body, mind and spirit. No matter how many times Pentagon perfumed princes and feather merchants bedazzle us with light shows, veterans know the truth. We always know. We know that the Army is suffering from a number of ailments, that unless stemmed will destroy the institution that has been around since the Massachusetts boys went live in 1775. The first problem lies with the people at the helm of the US Army Titanic. From Secretary of the Army John McHugh down to the joint chiefs to corps and division and brigade and battalion...

Master Sgt. Joshua Wheeler died leading his Delta Force team on the primary assault into an Islamic State compound in Iraq -- a stark contrast from the Pentagon's account that American commandos were there only to support Kurdish forces during the rescue mission, according to a U.S. military source. The body of the 39-year-old native of Roland, Oklahoma, was flown to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Saturday as more details began to emerge of the Oct. 22 night raid on a prison run by militants affiliated with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. (snip) Defense...

The Army is in serious trouble. Besieged with a myriad of readiness and morale issues, it is under siege by radical feminists and leftists who are determined to reshape the Army, even if they have to destroy it. You would think that the Army generals, men who are supposed to be tough guys and seasoned combat veterans would stand up and speak out against the feminist fire engulfing the lean green machine. But, they haven’t and they won’t, in order to protect their careers and retirement benefits. Don’t the Army’s leaders have a moral obligation to disobey orders that are...

New video purports to show Thursday's raid in Iraq, which freed dozens of ISIS hostages and resulted in the death of an American commando, NBC News reports. NBC News obtained the video exclusively from Arab24, a news outlet based in Jordan that said Kurdish military officials provided the footage. The video appears to have been taken on helmet cameras at a prison near the town of Hawija, which U.S. and Kurdish commandos stormed early Thursday after receving a tip hostages would soon be executed, NBC News reports. Delta Force commando Master Sgt. Joshua Wheeler, an Oklahoma native, was killed in...

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter tried to explain Friday how a U.S. soldier could die heroically in a combat raid he personally authorized in Iraq while the nation was still not involved in "boots on the ground" combat. Carter hailed 39-year-old Delta Force Master Sgt. Joshua Wheeler as an exemplary hero who "ran to the sound of the guns" in the helicopter assault Thursday with Kurdish Peshmerga fighters that freed 70 ISIS hostages. He was the first U.S. combat fatality of the campaign against ISIS. "This is combat," Carter said of the raid on an ISIS prison compound east of the...

Now, that you’re gone Joe, I just wanted to say thanks for everything you’ve done for the country. You were around a long time, all the way back to 1775. You waged a lot of battles, fought plenty of bad guys and helped bring down evil empires. You crossed the Delaware with Washington, trudged endlessly through the steaming jungles of the South Pacific, climbed Pointe du Hoc to save the world and battled sandstorms and Jihadis from the 73 Easting to Tal Afar. As General MacArthur said so eloquently, “From one end of the world to another, you drained deep...

In 1971, Colonel David Hackworth was interviewed on ABC’s, “Issues and Answers.” During the interview, Hackworth, a career Army officer, stated in no uncertain terms that the Vietnam War was a disaster and unwinnable. Furthermore, he chastised his fellow Army officers for poor leadership and ineptness. Hackworth was a decorated combat veteran of the Korean and Vietnam Wars, who had earned enough medals for a whole battalion. He was instantly ostracized by the defense establishment and forced to retire. Hackworth, who later went on to a distinguished career as a journalist was a polarizing figure who was hated by the...

The US Army continues to deny that any special treatment was given to the first two female graduates of Ranger School, Captain Kristen Griest and First Lieutenant Shaye Haver, and Friday’s female graduate, Major Lisa Jaster, a 37 year old mother of two. Congressman Steve Russell of Oklahoma requested the school records for Griest and Haver on September 15th and was stalled by the Army for three weeks until they informed Russell that some of the records had been destroyed. Meanwhile, the Army refuses to comment on the Ranger School policy for the storage and destruction of student records. They...

During the last two weeks, US Defense Watch has been reporting on Representative Steve Russell’s request on September 15th for the Ranger School records of the first two female graduates, Captain Kristen Griest and First Lieutenant Shaye Haver. It is not known whether or not Congressman Russell has asked for the records for Major Lisa Jaster, who graduated today from Ranger School. Russell’s request to Secretary of the Army, John McHugh, was at first delayed on September 24th, when McHugh asked for an extension, noting “privacy concerns” and time to compile the records together. Nearly two weeks passed without Russell...

Dakota Meyer is a Medal of Honor receipent and an American hero. He went above and beyond the call of duty while serving our nation. So when the Islamic State (ISIS) released a “warning” to Meyer and threatened his life, Meyer responded in an EPIC way! Watch (below) as Meyer pulls over his truck and records this video message for ISIS. He’s ready for Islamic terrorist thugs and knows how to fight. Incredible! Thank you Dakota Meyer for your service.