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Taliban Swap: The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says the report on the possible desertion of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl will be produced "fairly soon." Does it expose his trade for terrorists as another administration disaster? bfrrIt's bad enough that the Obama administration is conducting a clearance sale of al-Qaida detainees at Guantanamo, releasing the worst of the worst like a candy dispenser. But as the Islamic State spawns terror cells in Europe, and al-Qaida, the demise of which was greatly exaggerated, is linked to the terrorist attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris as revenge for...

A SOLDIER serving in the British Army has become the first and only transgender officer. Saying she was “living an act” Captain Hannah Winterbourne, 27, decided to become a woman while on tour in Afghanistan reported The Mirror. Winterbourne, an officer in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, began her transition in 2013 and is now the highest ranking trans soldier in the British Army.

Army commanders Order Removal Of 'God and Country' Recruiting Sign January 18, 2015 An Army recruiting station has been ordered by higher ups to shelve a sidewalk sandwich board with the wording "On a mission for both God and country.” The order went out Friday to a recruiting station in Phoenix that had been displaying the outdoor sign since at least October. The sign board also shows an image of a Special Forces patch and Ranger, Airborne and Special Forces tabs. An inquiry from Army Times to the U.S. Army Recruiting Command prompted the sandwich board’s immediate removal.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Last Sunday, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, indicated that he expected a decision “fairly soon” on whether the Army will court martial Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl for allegedly deserting his post in Afghanistan, or has cleared him, paving the way for separation from the service and back pay in excess of $200,000. Moreover, a decision to clear Bergdahl may well open the door for him to be designated a former prisoner of war, ensuring him substantial monthly pay, medical and educational benefits for the rest of his life. To those who have followed all angles...

Some German police say they will not recognize military-issued driver’s licenses if the bearer doesn’t also possess a valid stateside license, a situation that raises concerns about whether many U.S. troops and civilians could face penalties for driving illegally. U.S. Army Europe said Wednesday that the issue was “in dispute” and cautioned that there was misinformation circulating through the U.S. military community in Germany. However, German police officials said that the regulations were clear, that anyone driving without a valid stateside license would be violating the law, and that the USAREUR license alone was not valid. Across the U.S. military...

Authorities are investigating and hazmat crews are on scene after the body of a soldier who just returned from deployment in West Africa was found Tuesday morning in Killeen. The body was found in a home in the 3300 block of Cantabrian Dr. A Fort Hood official on scene confirmed the body found was a soldier who had just returned from deployment in West Africa.

THE PENTAGON — A new gender integration study set to be released this week found that nearly 96 percent of infantrymen in the Army and Marine Corps would be “very excited” to have women integrated into their units, especially during combat deployments, Duffel Blog has learned. “Naturally there were some patterns we saw after issuing the surveys,” Maj. Rodrick Hamill, a spokesman for the Pentagon, told reporters. “Almost all soldiers who described themselves as ‘pro female’ insisted that the women inducted be in top physical condition, and disease-free.”

There’s 35,000 of them, but they’re not an army. So, it’s a new year, and we’re already hip-deep in horrors. I can’t even begin to write about the Charlie Hebdo massacre; I’m not an expert on terrorism or on France, and in general I agree with Dan Murphy of the Christian Science Monitor, who’s made a good point recently on Twitter that there are too many of these “what’s it all mean” pieces and all far too soon. Instead, I want to go back to one of the stories we were all arguing about before the Paris massacre: the tension...

A former Fort Bragg Army officer will remain in prison on murder charges for the slayings of two Afghan nationals in the Afghanistan war, Maj. Gen. Richard D. Clarke of the 82nd Airborne Division has decided. Clarke, the division's commander, was considering a clemency request from former 1st Lt. Clint Lorance. Lorance was court-martialed at Fort Bragg, N.C., in summer 2013 for ordering his soldiers to shoot at three Afghans while on patrol in summer 2012. Two of the men were killed, and the third ran away. Clarke cut a year off Lorance's 20-year sentence but otherwise upheld his convictions...

Will the case of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl — who was captured by the Taliban in 2009 and released in a prisoner exchange last summer — go to court-martial on a charge of desertion? That was the subject of this column last week, and I’ve heard some interesting comments since. Most notably, I spoke with Greg Rinckey, a former Army captain and judge advocate general officer. “It would surprise me if it was referred to a court-martial,” Rinckey said of Bergdahl’s case. First off, Rinckey pointed out, the White House and the military have put forth a lot of effort...

In the January issue of The Atlantic, retired Maj. Gen. Robert Scales slammed the United States Army’s M-4 carbine, and called for an entirely new weapon in the hands of the modern American soldier. Scales describes the 2008 Battle of Wanat—when the Taliban attacked a forward outpost defended by American troops—and his own experiences in Vietnam with faulty M-16 rifles.

In an appearance on Monday’s “The ED Show” on MSNBC, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) discussed the decision by officers of the New York Police Department to turn the backs on New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio at the funerals of the two slain officers, Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, in recent weeks.

Food researchers in the US Army are looking into ways to 3D print food for soldiers. According to a press release, Army food technologists say that 3D printed food could produce meals on demand for soldiers in the battlefield. With 3D technology, food can be tailored to a soldier’s nutritional needs. Because the Army’s Meal Ready-to-Eat (MRE) standard for food has a shelf life of three years, 3D printing creates new options that could make meals have longer and more stable shelf lives according to Lauren Oleksyk, Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center (NSRDEC). Earlier this month in December...

A veteran of the Cold War–era draft argues that once again sharing the burden of defending the country would produce better foreign policy—and better Americans. The author doing his draft-time duty at a recruiting station in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1960.As the struggle with the Islamic State, or ISIS, grows more intense and the Obama administration’s air-attack strategy—if the experts turn out to be correct—proves unavailing, the calls for boots on the ground in Syria and Iraq are likely to become more insistent. Despite the coalition of nations aligned against ISIS and other terrorist groups, no one doubts that any...

Liberal novelist Stephen King regrets asserting that if you don't learn how to read, you'll end up in "the Army, Iraq." The comment, widely seen as a shot at the military, was first publicized six years ago on NewsBusters. In an interview with the Huffington Post, King was asked if he stood by the remarks. The author lamented, "No. That was just a case of misspeaking and also having one of those brain cramps that you realize that you're no longer living in the world that you grew up in...If I could take one remark back, that would be the...

he propaganda unit of Hamas's "military wing", the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, kicked into overdrive recently with a new film, which attempted to portray the terrorist organization's Gazan fighting force as a modern Islamic army, exhibiting advanced weaponry training for a wide range of scenarios - and with its sights on Jerusalem. Video In the video a large unit of terrorists are shown with all the equipment of a modern army, from combat vests to advanced assault rifles. Several are seen bearing a flag reading "the army of Al-Quds (Jerusalem)." The Hamas "army" is seen conducting an array of operations modeled...

The Army has forwarded the results of its investigation of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl's disappearance to a four-star general who will decide if any disciplinary action is warranted. The general could decide on a number of possible outcomes, ranging from no further action to a possible court martial for the soldier held by the Taliban for five years after he left his post eastern Afghanistan. "After a thorough investigation and a comprehensive legal review, the investigation concerning Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has been forwarded to a General Courts Martial Convening Authority, Gen. Mark Milley, commanding general of Forces Command," the Army said...

wo senior Islamic State group leaders were killed in U.S. and coalition airstrikes in northern Iraq over the last week, U.S. officials said Thursday, as Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel approved new orders for several hundred troops to deploy to Iraq to train Iraqi forces. (snip) There are currently about 1,700 U.S. troops in Iraq, and President Barack Obama has authorized up to 3,000. More than 1,000 U.S. troops are expected to be deployed in the coming weeks to increase the effort to advise and assist Iraq units at the higher headquarters levels and also to conduct training at several sites...

One of the U.S. Army’s giant surveillance blimps will rise to 10,000 feet above Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland on Friday for a three-year test. A second aircraft will begin testing in January. The Army’s Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System (JLENS), which is built by Raytheon, will be tested for its ability to identify incoming enemy aircraft. “This will enable senior defense officials to support a determination whether to transition JLENS capabilities to an enduring mission at the conclusion of the three-year operational exercise,” the North American Aerospace Defense Command said in a statement on...

Karl Eikenberry couldn't understand why the staff sergeant insisted that he take a loaded pistol to patrol the barracks. The West Point cadet was in Hawaii for the summer, serving as a staff duty officer with the 25th Infantry Division, which had recently returned from Vietnam. It was his job on weekend nights to ensure good order. "Why would I take a sidearm?" Eikenberry asked. "In case you need it, that's why," replied the sergeant. As soon as he entered a darkened barracks building, Eikenberry says, he understood why his staff sergeant was so nervous. Soldiers were gathered in small...