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Weaponized pillows. That's a new one. I’m not much for “spirit events” - and I’ve never been in the Armed Forces - so don’t take my lack of familiarity as disdain for the idea in general. I suppose a bunch of soldiers-in-training standing around a courtyard whamming each other with pillows could be fun. It’s probably not the sort of thing that makes the Russians cower in fear, but then again maybe they watch it with envy because they only “spirit” in their army is the one of fear over being sent to the gulag if they screw something up....

Jim Bryan III, 75, of Longboat Key, FL, died Sep. 1, 2015 at Arkansas Hospice from complications of pancreatic cancer. He was born in Harrison, AR in 1940 to the late J.W. and Jane Bryan of Bellefonte, AR. He was preceded in death by his son Joey (who died of a brain tumor in 1981 at age ten) and grandparents Witt and Zula Burns Bryan and Noah and Myrtle Eoff Dearing. He is survived by his beloved wife of 52 years, Ann, son Jim, IV and his wife Ann, son Chris and his wife Jennifer, grandchildren Laura and her newlywed...

OVERCOMING CYNICISM AND GIVING A FAIR SHOT AT SUCCESS AND FAILURE Since the August 21st graduation of two women from the Army’s Ranger School there has been an out pouring of commentary on the notoriety of the moment. Writing this article through the lens of a graduate of the Ranger Course (Class 10-87), I want to join those who are congratulating Capt. Kristen Griest and 1st Lt. Shaye Haver on their achievements. What is particularly notable, is the lengths the Army and the Airborne Ranger Training Brigade (ARTB) went through to ensure the women were treated fairly and that the...

In a FOXNEWS exclusive the U.S. Army is planning to kick out Sgt. 1st Class Charles Martland for shoving an Afghan pedophile who just happened to be an Afghan police commander. The alleged pedophile rapist, identified as Abdul Rahman, has not yet been charged with a crime. The American trained Rahman was said to be practicing the ancient Afghan act of “Bacha Bazi” and beating up the mother of the victim after she reported the rape. In Afghanistan, “Bacha Bazi” is a term attached to any activity that involves an adult sexually preying on a child. It includes child pornography,...

The Army and Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems have test-fired the latest version of the company’s venerable Sidewinder air-to-air missile from a ground launcher to down an unmanned aircraft target, the company said Wednesday. WHAT HAPPENED Raytheon said that an AIM-9X Block II Sidewinder missile was launched from a prototype Multi-Mission Launcher, a new ground-based launch system under development by the Army. The test was performed in March at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, and details were announced by the company Wednesday. The AIM-9X missile locked onto an unmanned aircraft before launch and then intercepted and destroyed the drone,...

(CNN)—The Army this week selected the company to build its much-anticipated new vehicle to replace the Humvee -- a multibillion dollar contract. Oshkosh Corporation, located in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, won the $6.7 billion contract to produce the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, which will also be used by the Marine Corps. The initial order will be for 17,000 vehicles, with production set to begin next year. The Army expects to have its first JLTV unit ready to go in fiscal year 2018, according to a release from the Army. Oshkosh beat out two competitors for the final contract: defense giant Lockheed...

Three Americans received France’s highest honor from its President this morning after risking their lives to stop a terror attack on a train before it could get in motion. The three quick-thinking Americans, joined by a British businessman who helped in rendering the terrorist immobile, received high praise from Francois Hollande. “We are giving you the highest distinction of the country to show you how much we appreciate what you did,” declared François Hollande:CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO Three Americans who helped thwart an attack by an AK-47-toting gunman on a high-speed train received France’s highest honor on...

The Facts US troops have been mobilized in South Korea after Kim Jong-un ordered his military generals to ready for a state of war. US troops' vehicles were mobilized in the South Korean town of Paju, bordering North Korea. North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un ordered military generals to ready for a state of war from 5:00 p.m. local time Friday. By 4:30 PM local time, the North Korean leader said preparations were complete, declaring a "quasi-state of war." South Korean news agency Yonhap says satellite imagery shows North Korea moving missiles in preparation for possible launch. South Korea's defense ministry...

One of the first women to graduate from the Army's notoriously grueling Ranger School says she hopes her success will go toward proving that women in the military are capable of doing what men do. Capt. Kristen Griest of Orange, Connecticut said her successful completion of the elite, two-month program show that women "can deal with the same stresses and training that men can." Griest and First Lt. Shaye Haver of Copperas Cove, Texas, will graduate at Fort Benning, Georgia, along with 94 men on Friday. Out of 19 women who began the program, Haver and Griest are the only...

...Sadly, the Army that stayed cohesive in Iraq and Afghanistan even after losing 5,000 dead is now being broken again by an ungrateful, ahistorical and strategically tone-deaf leadership in Washington. The Obama administration just announced a 40,000 reduction in the Army’s ranks. But the numbers don’t begin to tell the tale. Soldiers stay in the Army because they love to go into the field and train; Defense Secretary Ashton Carter recently said that the Army will not have enough money for most soldiers to train above the squad level this year. Soldiers need to fight with new weapons; in the...

CHICAGO – Two parachutists were seriously injured Saturday during the Chicago Air & Water Show after colliding midair while performing a stunt, a parachute team spokeswoman said. Witnesses say at least one of the men clipped the top of a high-rise apartment building before falling to the ground in the city's Gold Coast neighborhood. The two men were taken in serious-to-critical condition to Northwestern Memorial Hospital on Saturday morning, Fire Department spokesman Juan Hernandez said. The Army Golden Knights and Navy Leap Frogs parachute teams were performing a stunt known as a "bomb burst," Golden Knights spokeswoman Donna Dixon told...

Forty students and four Ranger instructors in the swamp phase of Ranger School were struck by lightning Wednesday afternoon. All 44 were evacuated to a local hospital, but many were discharged, according to a press release from Fort Benning, Georgia, home of the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade. Eleven soldiers remained hospitalized Thursday evening, according to a news report. “At the time of the incident, they were conducting lightning-protection protocols when lightning struck nearby,” the release states.

Initially seen as the Army's answer to how to settle the frontier, the camels eventually became a literal beast of burden, with no home on the range. In the 1880s, a wild menace haunted the Arizona territory. It was known as the Red Ghost, and its legend grew as it roamed the high country. It trampled a woman to death in 1883. It was rumored to stand 30 feet tall. A cowboy once tried to rope the Ghost, but it turned and charged his mount, nearly killing them both. One man chased it, then claimed it disappeared right before his...

Defense officials appear ready to ask Congress to repeal a law that commissaries must sell products at cost plus 5 percent, a formula that for decades has ensured commissary shoppers everywhere pay the same prices. Officials have drafted a replacement formula that would allow prices to vary from store to store to meet a new twin goal: reducing taxpayer support for commissaries while maintaining still attractive savings for patrons. Variable pricing would seek to keep savings consistent across the commissary system by pegging local commissary prices for a market basket of goods at some target percentage level below prices of...

The Obama administration is violating a judge’s order to turn over documents in the Aug. 6, 2011, shootdown of a U.S. helicopter — call sign Extortion 17 — that killed members of SEAL Team 6 in Afghanistan, a watchdog group is charging. On the fourth anniversary of the worst one-day loss of military life in the war on terror, families of the dead say they are aghast that the government will not honor basic requests under the Freedom of Information Act. “It has now been four years since Extortion 17 was shot down,” said Doug Hamburger, whose Army air crew...

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) -- Authorities are searching for two men who fired gunshots from a vehicle at soldiers at a military facility in Mississippi, although no one was reported wounded, a sheriff said Tuesday. Perry County Sheriff Jimmy Dale Smith told WDAM-TV ( http://bit.ly/1UlrHi6 ) that the soldiers were training at Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center near Hattiesburg.

It happened after World War II and it happened after Vietnam. Now, after years of repeated deployments, the Army, as Robert H. Scales writes the U.S. Army is breaking down. The Obama administration just announced a 40,000 reduction in the Army’s ranks. But the numbers don’t begin to tell the tale. Soldiers stay in the Army because they love to go into the field and train; Defense Secretary Ash Carter recently said that the Army will not have enough money for most soldiers to train above the squad level this year. Soldiers need to fight with new weapons; in the...

Last month, Gen. Ray Odierno, outgoing Army chief of staff, and Gen. Mark Milley, his successor, testified to the difficulties faced by the Army. I’d like to make the same points by telling a story. **********snip************ The Obama administration just announced a 40,000 reduction in the Army’s ranks. But the numbers don’t begin to tell the tale. Soldiers stay in the Army because they love to go into the field and train; Defense Secretary Ash Carter recently said that the Army will not have enough money for most soldiers to train above the squad level this year. Soldiers need to...

He was charged March 25 with one count of desertion with intent to shirk important or hazardous duty, and one count of misbehavior before the enemy by endangering the safety of a command, unit or place. The Sheriff said "Bergdahl was "above politeness" as several people from the home where Bergdahl was visiting were taken into custody". Bowe Bergdahl, the Army soldier-turned-prisoner who was released by the Taliban after President Barack Obama released five terrorists from the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, was unexpectedly spotted at a California marijuana farm this week. Bergdahl, who is awaiting military court martial,...

On July 20, a policy letter from the U.S. Army Recruiting Command (USAREC) instructed recruiters to avoid contact and/or conversation with armed “law-abiding” civilians who volunteer to guard recruitment centers and to report said volunteers to law enforcement “if the recruiter feels threatened.” Stars and Stripes responded to the letter with a July 22 headline that read, “Army To Recruiters: Treat Armed Citizens As Security Threat.”