Free Republic

US Navy Admiral William H. McRaven, one of the most decorated US commanders, delivers one of the best motivational speeches you will ever hear.

With Bob Woodward’s anti-Trump book about to be published, the media is focusing entirely on the easily debunked claim that Trump mishandled the Wuhan virus by “lying” to the American people. What the media is ignoring, however, is a much more serious claim, which is that former Secretary of Defense General James Mattis plotted to overthrow Trump and his administration. This fact, if true, supports my long-time fear about the damage Obama inflicted on the upper echelons of the Pentagon. *snip* It began to be clear last October that the Obama administration (with some help from Bill Clinton’s presidency) had...

Defense Secretary Mark Esper fired Navy Secretary Richard Spencer Sunday over his handling of the case of a Navy SEAL who posed for a photo next to an Islamic State terrorist's corpse in Iraq, and the SEAL will be able to keep his Trident pin, a Pentagon spokesman said Sunday. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/navy-seal-eddie-gallagher-review-board-trump-interference  

An attorney for a Navy SEAL convicted of posing with a dead Islamic State militant contended Wednesday that Navy leaders are trying to remove him from the elite force in retaliation for President Donald Trump’s decision last week to restore his rank. Rear Adm. Collin Green made his intentions clear at a staff meeting Monday that he wants to remove Special Warfare Operations Chief Edward Gallagher’s Trident pin, which designates him as a SEAL, attorney Timothy Parlatore said. Green is the Naval Special Warfare commander. “What I’m hearing is that the rear admiral said very disparaging comments about the president...

FULL TITLE: Top Obama Military Officer Bashes President Trump For “Piling on” Humiliation of Baghdadi and ISIS (VIDEO) The United States military conducted a special operations raid targeting one of its most high-value targets, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State militant group (ISIS), Newsweek reported late Saturday night. Army Delta Force and Army Rangers led the way and closed in on Baghdadi’s lair in an overnight firefight and the ISIS leader died “crying, whimpering and screaming.” President Trump made a statement and took questions on Sunday morning. President Trump: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead… He died after...

The nation’s highest military court has thrown out the 2012 rape conviction of a Coast Guard enlisted man because admirals and prosecutors packed the seven-member jury with five women, four of whom held jobs as advocates for victims of sexual assault. In a 5-0 ruling that could change how the military conducts sex abuse trials, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces unleashed caustic criticism of all involved. From the Coast Guard commandant down to an appellate court to the original trial judge, the high court said all contributed to a “stain on the military justice system.” The...

TAMPA — The emails were anguished, pleading and sent straight to the mayor. "Bob, hope all is well," Jill Kelley wrote at 5:57 a.m. Tuesday to Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, whom she knows socially. What came next offers a glimpse into Kelley's state of mind as a national scandal blew up in her front yard. "My kids are scared, and need their 'home' back," she wrote, asking for help with "paparazzi" at her Bayshore Boulevard mansion. At 6:18 a.m. Wednesday, she emailed again. "Dear Mayor Bob," she wrote, saying that her name, along with those of former CIA director David...

This case is unusual as it is rare for an Admiral to even face criminal proceedings Source: http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/San-Diego-Navy-Admiral-Guilty-Plea-Navy-Bribery-Scheme-382400401.html#ixzz4B8MhpHYZ Follow us: @nbcsandiego on Twitter | NBCSanDiego on Facebook A rear admiral in the U.S. Navy plead guilty to one felony charge in connection with a multi-million dollar bribery scheme that has led to the arrest or imprisonment of more than a dozen U.S. Navy officers and Pentagon employees. Rear Admiral Robert J. Gilbeau appeared in court Thursday in the downtown San Diego federal courthouse. Gilbeau entered a change of plea to one count of providing false statements to federal investigators and...

Internal Military Emails Reveal Details On bin Laden's Burial November 21, 2012 WASHINGTON – Internal emails among senior U.S. military officers indicate that no sailors watched Usama bin Laden's burial at sea from the USS Carl Vinson and traditional Islamic procedures were followed during the ceremony. The emails, obtained by The Associated Press through the Freedom of Information Act, are heavily blacked out, but are the first public disclosure of government information about the Al Qaeda leader's death. The emails were released Wednesday by the Defense Department. Bin Laden was killed on May 1, 2011, by a Navy SEAL team...

A reader, relying on publicly available information, has reconstructed what we know and can infer about what happened in Benghazi. I haven’t tried to verify all of his facts nor do I necessarily vouch for his inferences, although in general they seem reasonable. But his analysis is, I think, a valuable contribution to our understanding, and I reproduce it here in slightly edited form:

The Navy is poised to promote the admiral in charge of its elite SEAL teams and other commando units even though Pentagon investigators determined that he illegally retaliated against staff members whom he mistakenly suspected were whistleblowers. Rear Adm. Brian Losey was investigated five times by the Defense Department's inspector general after subordinates complained that he had wrongly fired, demoted or punished them during a vengeful but fruitless hunt for the person who had anonymously reported him for a minor travel-policy infraction, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post. After conducting separate, years-long investigations that involved more than 100...

WASHINGTON — A rare gap in the presence of a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf this fall could hinder military capabilities in the war against the Islamic State, the Obama administration’s nominee to lead the Navy told the Senate Thursday. Adm. John Richardson conceded the effects of a two-month gap in carrier presence — the first since 2007 — under intense questioning from Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., as the Senate Armed Services Committee weighs whether approve the admiral’s nomination as chief of naval operations. “Without that carrier, that will be a detriment to our capability, yes, sir,” Richardson...

The Navy has suspended two admirals in a broadening bribery scandal that already has ensnared three senior naval officials. Involving charges of prostitution and payoffs, the scandal is the U.S. military’s highest-profile case of officer misconduct this year — part of a trend that has caused deep concern among Pentagon officials. The number of substantiated cases of misconduct has increased steadily since 2008, according to statistics by the Defense Department’s inspector general. The Navy is investigating Vice Adm. Ted Branch, director of naval intelligence, and Rear Adm. Bruce Loveless, director of intelligence operations, on accusations of “illegal and improper relations”...

Here we go again. Obama is taking down the leadership of Americas military.(my words) According to a senior U.S. defense official, the FBI has uncovered between 20,000 and 30,000 pages of “potentially inappropriate” emails between Allen and Jill Kelley, a 37-year-old Tampa woman whose close friendship with Petraeus ultimately led to his downfall. Allen, a Marine, succeeded Petraeus as the top allied commander in Afghanistan in July 2011.

Bless these brave soldiers for standing up for our country and what it's actually all about,  regardless of threats emanating from the failing, flailing Obama Administration.  _____________________________ h/t Mitt Romney for President

500 Admirals, Generals to Endorse Romney Nearly 500 former military admirals and generals are poised to endorse Mitt Romney, the Washington Free Beacon has learned. The group will post a full page ad in the Washington Times on Monday. The advertisement will have the headline, “We, the undersigned, proudly support Governor Mitt Romney as our nation’s next President and Commander-in-Chief,” followed by the names of the former military commanders. A spokesman for the group emphasized its independence from the official campaign. The Romney campaign has not sanctioned this ad buy, a spokesman said, and the members of the group are...

Recent discourse concerning the Chinese People’s Liberation Army's (PLA) modernization has principally focused on technological advances and less on the human dimension of PLA force transformation. In particular, a review of these discussions revealed the absence of a publicly available database of Chinese military leaders with the rank of full general (shangjiang). Against the backdrop of the PLA’s stated intention to reorient the armed forces as part of its modernization efforts, an analysis of promotion patterns of the 118 PLA generals (1981 - 2009) may yield important insights into the foci of PLA force transformation. PLA to Build Up Navy...

The governments decades old diplomatic campaign against Taiwan, whose independence is protected by American armed forces, has escalated into dangerous territory. Diplomatic pressure, and economic threats, have forced every country on the planet, except the United States, to stop selling weapons to Taiwan. Now, the popular enthusiasm for this approach, cultivated by decades of nationalist propaganda inside China, is putting pressure on the government to make some real threats to the U.S., to halt American arms sales to Taiwan. If the U.S. continues refusing (usually) to be intimidated, this escalation of threats could lead to war. The government believes that...

MANAMA, Bahrain, July 21, 2009 – Navy Rear Adm. Carol M. Pottenger and Navy Rear Adm. Michelle Howard have plenty on their respective plates – Pottenger as commander of Naval Expeditionary Combat Command and Howard as commander of Expeditionary Strike Group 2. But that doesn’t stop the two flag officers from taking on the additional role of mentoring female sailors. Navy Rear Adm. Carol Pottenger, right, and Navy Rear Adm. Michelle Howard met with women surface warfare officers at U.S. Naval Forces Central Command headquarters in Manama, Bahrain, to encourage them in their careers and lives. U.S. Navy photo by...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A Navy admiral engaged in sexual relations in the White House in 1990 with a federal employee whom he falsely told he was a widower, according to a report released Friday by the Defense Department. In March, when the report was submitted to Pentagon officials, Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem was demoted and fired from his post as director of the Navy staff. Stufflebeem told investigators he couldn't remember the name of the woman he had an affair with. He also lied when he told investigators he did not engage in sexual relations with the woman, identified as...