Free Republic

<p>The power was restored Friday at a key Turkish base used by U.S. strike aircraft, defense officials said, nearly a week after an attempted overthrow of the Turkish government by a faction of its military spun the country into chaos.</p>

Ah, I remember my own days in the military fondly, but one of the biggest adjustments we had to make was learning that there was a set of instructions for doing everything from operating heavy machinery to washing your socks. Hey… that’s just military life for you. There’s always a manual to be referred to and if you get confused, there’s a manual listing all of the manuals. Take for example the rules about getting a sex change operation. You’ll want to make sure that you’ve checked in with the correct sources and… Wait a minute. What was that again?...

Missions by American warplanes flown from the Incirlik air base in Turkey against Islamic State targets will resume following a temporary shutdown in the hours after the failed coup, Defense Department officials announced Sunday.

At a time when threats against America are growing, the U.S. military is facing a combat readiness crisis that jeopardizes its ability to protect the country. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, discussed this problem recently at The Heritage Foundation. Thornberry explained that this readiness shortfall has occurred as a result of “budget cuts coupled with deployments, at a pace and a number that have not really declined very much.” Thornberry outlined five alarming facts caused by the readiness crisis:

Greg Nash The Pentagon is planning to announce the repeal of its ban on transgender service members on July 1, the Friday before the Fourth of July weekend, according to defense officials. Top defense officials are planning to meet as early as Monday to finalize details of the plan on how to allow transgender troops to serve openly, according to a report by USA Today. Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work could sign off on the plan by Wednesday, an official told the paper. Final approval would come from Defense Secretary Ash Carter. The plan will direct each branch of...

Since the end of World War II, only 10 U.S tank crew members have been killed in warfare. This is an amazing testament to fighting vehicle technology and the money spent to develop and sustain that tactical edge over our enemies. In that same period, the United States has lost some 60,000 soldiers in small arms engagements, an approximate one for one exchange. Few foes on the planet could hope to dominate America in a tank, air or naval battle. Yet every bad actor with an AK-47 takes on U.S. and NATO ground forces in a small arms fight. We...

The third offset strategy hopes to accomplish two objectives. First, by investing in groundbreaking technologies in such areas as undersea systems, hypersonics, electronic warfare, big data analytics, advanced materials, 3D printing, energy and propulsion, robotics, autonomy, man-machine interfaces and advanced sensing and computing, the Pentagon hopes to create new military capabilities that will counter competitors’ advances in precision weapons, long-range missiles and electronic warfare. Second, by relying more heavily on technologies developed in commercial industry and, even more important, on the practices of cutting-edge IT companies in the areas of innovation, experimentation and rapid development and deployment, DoD believes it...

FORT HUACHUCA — “We will never forget,” Maj. Gen. John B. Morrison, Jr., told an audience of soldiers and civilians attending the annual Signal Cove of Remembrance observance Thursday morning at the Network Enterprise Technology Command on Fort Huachuca. It was the first time in the eight years since the cove was established that the annual ceremony did not add the name of another fallen soldier to the memorial, which is located just inside Greely Hall at the entrance to NETCOM. “Today’s ceremony is a time for all of us to remember the 101 signal soldiers and civilians who sacrificed...

Most Americans have never spent a day in uniform in America of 2016 and that is a problem. The White House social engineers have been able to manipulate the Congress and the American people and have led them to believe that women can serve successfully in the combat arms and special operations because most Americans don’t understand anything about the military. Combine the ignorance of a nation, with the political correctness of Congress and the moral cowardice of the Joint Chiefs and it’s open season to destroy the military if your Valerie Jarrett, Ray Mabus, Ash Carter or Barack Hussein...

WEST POINT, N.Y. (AP) -- Vice President Joe Biden told the U.S. Military Academy's class of 2016 on Saturday that greater diversity, including more women and openly gay soldiers, will strengthen the country's armed forces. "Having men and women together in the battlefield is an incredible asset, particularly when they're asked to lead teams in parts of the world with fundamentally different expectations and norms," Biden said in his speech at a graduation ceremony at Michie Stadium on the West Point grounds along the Hudson River.

At least two Chinese J-11 tactical aircraft carried out an "unsafe" intercept of a United States EP-3 reconnaissance aircraft that was conducting a routine mission in international airspace over the South China Sea, a U.S. defense official told CNN Wednesday. The Chinese jets came within 50 feet of the American aircraft at one point, the official said.

Months before Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said the Pentagon would take steps toward allowing transgender people to serve openly in the military, Army Staff Sgt. Patricia King last year became what she believes is the first openly transgender member of the infantry. While official Pentagon policy still forbids openly transgender personnel, her commanders have been supportive, she said. King even purchased a female dress Army service uniform, anticipating that she would be able to wear it soon. “I made a decision that owning that uniform was important to me, and I believe that our leadership is going to do...

Truncated title. Full title: Former SEAL Carl Higbie: ‘If Hillary Clinton Is the Commander-in-chief, Half the Military Is Gonna Get Out’ Friday morning’s guests on Breitbart News Daily included former Navy SEAL Carl Higbie, author of Battle on the Home Front: A Navy SEAL’s Mission to Save the American Dream, and the new book Enemies, Foreign and Domestic: A SEAL’s Story. SiriusXM host Stephen K. Bannon asked Higbie if the major problem faced by the American military through the Obama years was a shortage of logistics, weapons, and equipment, or “a problem of will, of taking the fight to the...

Ash Carter’s announcement December of 2015 demonstrated the Obama’s Administration attachment to a political ideology fueled by arrogance and premeditated ignorance. His direction of any long period of study and vigorous debate has been among those mutually supportive creatures that have metastasized throughout the military to serve a social agenda bringing future needless devastation. Most of the points I highlight about women in combat arose first when the decision was made to do away with DADT. A lot of good men are going to have to die in years to come to cover up this disaster. This tragedy of women...

The number of U.S. Army soldiers on active duty has been reduced to its lowest since 1940, according to a published report. The Army Times reported this weekend that the Army's endstrength for March was 479,172. That's 154 fewer soldiers than the service's previous post-World War II low, which was reached during the Army's post-Cold War drawdown in 1999. The current number is still well above the 269,023 soldiers on duty in 1940, the year before America entered World War II. However, the report says the active force has been reduced by more than 16,500 troops over the past year...

Inspired by the profound wisdom of Nancy Pelosi Navy Secretary Ray Mabus stated this week that Navy ships no longer need be named after dead old White geezers with medals of honor or politicians who have helped the Navy. Naming them after politicians favored by our dear leader Obama is now Navy policy. Sharpton may never have won a medal of honor, served in the U.S. Military or helped the Navy. However, he is a fighter for social justice and has destroyed lots of racist stuff. Once the Navy names a destroyer in his honor, he will have much more...

When did Omerta become the motto of the US military? Omerta is the Italian word for code of silence, an oath that all members of the Mafia take. Is the US military the Mafia? When did Tony Soprano become the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff? When did Tony Soprano become the capo de capo of the US military? For the last seven years while Obama’s Great Leap Backwards has been grinding up the US military with the speed of a Fargo wood chipper, the amount of comments and OPED’S and media appearances by military people denouncing the social...

For years the Obama administration has been accused of micromanaging the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan from inside the White House. Now in an astonishing report from Fox News anchor Bret Baier, three former Obama Defense Secretaries are openly slamming him for his distrust of the military, his failure to lead and they're exposing his inexperienced and closest advisors for second guessing senior field commanders with phone calls to the battlefield. "President Obama, he's one of the youngest presidents we've ever had. One of the most inexperienced presidents we've ever had. He has a staff around him that is very...

In a decision by the U.S. Army Thursday, Capt. Simratpal Singh, a decorated Sikh-American officer and combat veteran, has received a long-term religious accommodation to serve with long hair, a beard, and turban in accordance with his Sikh faith. In December, Singh — a West Point graduate, Army Ranger, and Bronze Star recipient — received a temporary accommodation to serve in the military with his articles of faith intact. In March, a U.S. district judge issues a temporary restraining order against additional non-standard, discriminatory testing. According to The Sikh Coalition, which is representing Singh with The Becket Fund for Religious...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three Sikh American soldiers filed a lawsuit Mar. 29 asking the Defense Department to allow them to serve in the U.S. Army with their religiously-mandated turbans and beards intact. The plaintiffs are Army Specialists Kanwar Singh and Harpal Singh and Army Private Arjan Singh Ghotra. The lawsuit, filed by the Sikh Coalition, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, and McDermott Will & Emery, demands that the Army accommodate their religious articles of faith, including turbans, unshorn hair and beards, so that each can begin Basic Combat Training with their various units in May. The lawsuit was filed...