Free Republic

Obama is outclassed and outsmarted by retiring Gen. PetraeusGen. David H. Petraeus closed his phenomenal 37-year Army career this week with a joint review at Fort Myer in Arlington. Service members from every branch were present, and flags of all 50 states fluttered in the breeze. A substantial crowd had come to hear the general’s farewell address. Many were classmates from the West Point Class of 1974, smartly attired but enthusiastic and occasionally whooping like they were cadets. Others were people with whom he had served over his storied career, whom he recognized from the dais during his speech. The...

BAGHDAD – The U.S. Army's 1st Advise and Assist Brigade recently joined forces with Iraqi Commandos of the 7th Iraqi Army Division for an air assault operation in search of a possible IED production facility outside the town of Rawah. Soldiers assigned to 2nd Platoon, Company B, 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Advise and Assist Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, keep watch as Iraqi Army Soldiers conduct a search of an area outside the town of Rawah, Iraq, June 26. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. P. Valentine. “Five minutes!” Aboard four different aircraft, the U.S. and Iraqi Soldiers, following...

CAMP TAJI – A 1st Air Cavalry Brigade-instructed Iraqi Strike Force culminated weeks of training with a joint demonstration of capabilities here, March 29. The 1st ACB spent several weeks training the Iraqis on how to plan and execute air assault missions and the importance of air to ground integration.Attending the demonstration, conducted by Soldiers of 3rd Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st ACB, U.S. Division - Center, was Lt. Gen. Ali Hammadi Tahir, the Karkh Area commander for western Baghdad, and Brig. Gen. Kevin Mangum, deputy commanding general of USD - C, who were able to see the already-strong abilities...

Iraqi Commando Battalion Soldiers exit a U.S. Marine CH-53E Super Stallion transport helicopter during recent helicopter and air assault familiarization training aboard Al Asad Air Base. Photo by Cpl. Meg Murray, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Fwd). AL ASAD AIR BASE — Different types of military operations call for specific methods of insertion. Since the advent of helicopter-borne insertion during the Korean War nearly 60 years ago, air assault has become an extremely viable method of troop insertion. To refine their air assault skills, Iraqi Soldiers with 1st Company, Commando Battalion, 7th Iraqi Army Division, took to the skies in the...

Iraqi Policemen from the Dhi Qar province pull security during an air assault training event with U.S. Soldiers at Camp Cedar, March 2. Photo by Staff Sgt. Brendan Stephens, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs. COB ADDER — Seven Iraqi Police (IP) jumped out of UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters and hit the dirt at Camp Cedar’s landing zone during an air assault training exercise, March 2. "I am very happy," said Maj. Gen. Sabah, Dhi Qar’s Iraqi provincial chief of Police. "With this training from the Coalition forces, my men are going to be able to use the air as well as...

A new monument under construction at Fort Campbell, Ky., will honor soldiers who have served in the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) throughout its history, including those who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq in support of the war on terror. The monument, directly in front of the division headquarters building, is a large, jet-black granite obelisk with panels that depict the division's storied history: in World War II, the Vietnam conflict, Operation Desert Storm and recent operations including Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. Unlike traditional monuments, however, the obelisk is inverted, with the wider base toward the top....

Home along with his soldiers after a one- year deployment in Iraq, the commander of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) called the division's experiences in Operation Iraqi Freedom "a roller coaster" of highs and lows. Since the first elements of the division began leaving their sprawling post that straddles the Kentucky-Tennessee border north of Nashville in February 2003, Army Maj. Gen. David H. Petraeus said they experienced amazing high points in Iraq. Division troops engaged and killed Saddam Hussein's two sons, Uday and Qusay, in Mosul, and also captured Asa Hawleri, third in the terrorist group Ansar al- Islam's...

The 1st Brigade, 327th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) handed over control of the Tigris River Valley area of northern Iraq today to the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade (Stryker) 2nd Infantry Division in a ceremony at the Qayarrah West Airfield. The 1st Brigade Combat Team has worked in the area since May, and military officials detailed various contributions the team made. The unit's soldiers spent their time trying to improve the quality of life for Iraqis, officials said, and they captured people who threatened the lives of Iraqis and coalition forces. They destroyed hundreds of...

<p>FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. ; Standing in formation with his fellow soldiers who had just arrived from Iraq, Staff Sgt. Ronnie Silverhorn kept his jaw straight and his rifle steady ; but his eyes gave him away.</p> <p>Silverhorn, an Army Ranger, couldn't help the tear that formed, and the broad smile that crept over his face, as he saw his wife, children and parents in the hangar, just before his Alpha Company of the 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment was dismissed.</p>

The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), which landed in Kuwait in February 2003 to support Operation Iraqi Freedom, is beginning its 10,500-mile, three-month odyssey back home to Fort Campbell, Ky., with a massive transfer of troops and equipment by air and land. Brig. Gen. Jeffery Schloesser, 101st Airborne Division assistant division commander for support, has overseen the division's redeployment operations in Kuwait, which serves as the primary staging area for all equipment and personnel returning to the United States. The division's first redeployment convoys arrived shortly after the beginning of the new year, and the soldiers are washing their equipment,...

On a remote mountaintop in northern Iraq, 10 miles east of the town of Tallafar, soldiers are getting ready to leave their outpost and join fellow soldiers here, and they're doing it the way soldiers in the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) have been doing it for years: by air. Soldiers from the division's 501st Signal Battalion set up a retransmission site eight months ago on a mountain close to Highway 1 to boost communications between convoys and units' headquarters, said Sgt. Lyle Follmer, radio team chief. The soldiers had to find the area with the best reception, and that...

U.S. planes pound Baghdad, loud blasts By Hassan Hafidh BAGHDAD, April 3 (Reuters) - U.S. planes pounded targets in the centre and outskirts of Baghdad early on Thursday, triggering relentless explosions with American troops just 30 km (19 miles) south of the Iraqi capital. U.S. war headquarters in Qatar said planes dropped almost 40 "smart bombs" overnight on just one military storage facility in the Karkh district of Baghdad. This correspondent heard a huge explosion in the city centre which shook buildings at about 2 a.m. (2300 GMT Wednesday). The explosion was followed by several loud blasts on the outskirts...

March 29, 2003 Airstrikes Continue as Allies Consider Timing of a ThrustBy PATRICK E. TYLER UWAIT, Saturday, March 29 — On a day of punishing air assaults against the Iraqi capital, an unexplained blast tore through a Baghdad market on Friday killing or wounding 100 civilians, and the Iraqi authorities blamed allied forces. American officials said they were not responsible. The blast came as skirmishes with irregular forces loyal to Saddam Hussein continued to plague American and British armies in the midst of large-scale resupply operations in preparation for attacks on Republican Guard divisions outside Baghdad. Marine columns headed northward...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A barrage of mighty explosives crashed down Friday on Baghdad, sending enormous fireballs and clouds of smoke billowing high into the night sky above the Iraqi capital. Some two hours later, the distinct sound of aircraft could be heard over Baghdad for the first time since the start of the U.S.-led attack on Iraq (news - web sites). A huge fire raged to the south of the city; the red glow of the flames illuminated the horizon. The presidential compound at the Old Palace was struck anew by missiles after a lull in the heaviest attack on...