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A division of the Department of Veterans Affairs tasked with fixing up the VA's broken veteran suicide hotline has dropped roughly 1.4 million phone calls from veterans since fiscal year 2015, a VA whistleblower told the Washington Examiner. That high number of abandoned calls is raising questions about whether the VA is doing all it can to fix up the suicide hotline, which has been criticized as the latest part of the VA that is failing veterans. Scott Davis, a whistleblower and program specialist at the VA's Health Eligibility Center in Atlanta, noted that the VA's Health Resource Center is...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE BILL!

After spate of cheating scandals in Bihar, army reportedly takes radical step to ‘save time on frisking so many people’Candidates at an Indian army recruitment day in Bihar were made to take a written exam in their underwear to prevent them from cheating, according to reports, after a spate of exam cheating scandals in the eastern state. Images in the Indian Express showed dozens of men sitting cross-legged in a field wearing only underpants, with many resting their test papers on their thighs, while a uniformed supervisor stood guard. The paper quoted an army source as saying they took the...

WASHINGTON — A Green Beret selected last year for involuntary separation from the Army because he hit an admitted child rapist in Afghanistan will remain with the service at least two more months. However, some lawmakers in Congress have said the Army’s decision this week to postpone a verdict on Sgt. 1st Class Charles Martland’s future with the service is not enough. “It is unfathomable that the Pentagon has yet to reinstate Sgt. Martland,” Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., said in a statement released Tuesday, when the Army’s decision on the soldier’s future had been due. “The Defense Department has had...

The US Army is planning to deploy the first laser weapons in 2023, it has been revealed. Mary J. Miller, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for Research and Technology, told the House Armed Services Committee's Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities 'I believe we're very close,' when asked how close the Army is to developing offensive and defensive directed-energy weapons. She said the programmes would be extensively tested as the Army wants to understand the lasers' full capabilities 'before we offer it to a Soldier.' 'It's being done in a 'step-wise demonstration of capability,' she said. 'We have to...

WEST POINT – A West Point instructor was found dead in Atlantic City Sunday afternoon. Atlantic City police are investigating, but there is no indication of foul play at this time, West Point’s public affairs office said in a news release Monday afternoon. Maj. Benjamin Recla, 34, was an instructor in the Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, and was an officer representative for the West Point Flying Team. He was a member of the West Point class of 2004 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the aviation branch of the Army. “I wish to extend to his...

SFC Martland was set to be expelled from the United States Army today because he was willing to defend a child from horrific sexual abuse and torture. The Army’s announced extension today is most certainly welcome news. ... the Army says it is extending the deadline in SFC Martland’s case until May 1st saying the “extension was granted to allow consideration of his application to correct his records by the Army Board for Correction of Military Records.” .. SFC Martland, a Green Beret Bronze Star recipient, faces expulsion from the Army because he intervened to protect a child from an...

The internet has no shortage of basement-dwelling commandos beating at their keyboards like chimpanzees as they forcefully insist upon one incorrect factoid or another regarding Special Operations units. All SEALs are considered Tier One, right?No. Rangers pull security for Delta, correct? Time to throw away that scratched-up "Black Hawk Down" DVD, hero.Since the Internet stupidity goes on and on, two of the SOFREP staff decided to team up and write a definitive article about the differences between SEALs and Rangers. This article was co-written by Brandon Webb, who served in SEAL Team Three, and Jack Murphy, who served in 3rd Ranger Battalion.

A bipartisan group of four congressmen introduced a bill Thursday that would abolish the Selective Service System, more commonly known as the draft. "Maintaining the Selective Service simply makes no sense," Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.), a former Marine, said in a written statement. "In 1973, the last draftee entered the Army and since then, despite the first Gulf War and subsequent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon has never considered reinstituting the draft. Our all-volunteer military has given us the most elite fighting force in the history of this country." Coffman introduced the bill with Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.),...

For the first time since combat operations were declared over at the end of 2014, a battalion of 500 U.S. Army infantrymen is being sent to southern Afghanistan's volatile Helmand Province where the Taliban have made a comeback, Fox News has learned. The decision, confirmed by defense officials, is a sign of military escalation in the country even as the Obama administration tries to draw down. The battalion is meant to relieve a company of 150 soldiers, giving the U.S. Army nearly 350 more soldiers to prevent the Taliban from taking over volatile Helmand province. The Army's 2-87 infantry battalion,...

Nationwide Air Force & Army COMEX communication GRID down exercise Friday 02/12/2016 http://blog.pwcares.org/?p=182 Amateur Radio Emergency Service, Events, PWCARES Air Force & Army MARS COMEX 2016/01/19 David Lane Air Force & Army MARS COMEX By: Clarence, K4CNM – (AAA3R3, Army MARS Region Three Operations Officer) The Air Force and Army MARS (Military Auxiliary Radio System) will conduct their first 2016 communications exercise (COMEX) from 7:00 am until 6:59 pm EST on Friday, 12 February. The scenario will be: there is no power, no phones (cell or landline), and no internet. Also, internet linked radio repeaters (such as D-Star) should not...

WASHINGTON -- Two House Republicans introduced a bill Thursday requiring eligible women in the United States to sign up for the military draft, just days after it was recommended by the Marine Corps and Army. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., a Marine veteran, and Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Minn., a retired Navy SEAL, filed the Draft American's Daughters Act to stoke debate over the military's historic move to fully integrate female troops into all combat roles. If passed, women from 18-26 years old would for the first time have to join men in registering with the Selective Service program and potentially be...

A 21-year-old man has pleaded guilty in federal court to two counts in connection with a plot to plant a bomb outside an Army post in northeast Kansas. John T. Booker Jr., of Topeka, aka Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, changed his pleas to guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court to charges of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to use an explosive device to damage government property.

Decorated soldier being kicked out of Army after shoving Afghan police commander accused of raping boy Army axing Green Beret who stood up for Afghan rape victim EXCLUSIVE: Even as the U.S. military denies reports that American troops were told to ignore Afghan child abusers, an 11-year Green Beret who was ordered discharged after he confronted an alleged rapist was informed Tuesday that the Army has denied his appeal. Sgt. 1st Class Charles Martland earlier this year was ordered discharged by Nov. 1. He has been fighting to stay in, but in an initial decision, the U.S. Army Human Resources...

Army Human Resources Command has recommended that the Green Beret who confronted an Afghan police commander for raping a young boy be kicked out of the service. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R., Calif.), who has pushed back against the Army’s decision to punish Sgt. 1st Class Charles Martland, revealed the development in a letter to Sen. Pat Roberts (R., Kansas) Wednesday. “Recently, a decision within Army Human Resources Command recommended that the Army uphold the judgment that Martland be removed from service, although a final decision has yet to be made about his future,” Hunter wrote. While serving in Afghanistan in...

According to an internal military document, the Swedish army is preparing for war. Per a Breitbart report, "the chief of the Swedish army General Anders Brannstrom told men under his command they could expect to be fighting a war in Europe against skilled opponents 'within a few years'." The 28-page document was directed to soldiers, civil servants, politicians, and guests who will be attending next week's military demonstrations that will focus on the army's ability to fight and survive a winter war.

Hawar News Agency (ANHA) has reported that Turkish troops have entered Syrian territory through Jarablus border crossing Tuesday evening. Hawar News Agency (ANHA) has reported that Turkish troops have entered Syrian territory through Jarablus border crossing Tuesday evening. According to the ANHA report which is grounded on local sources, the Turkish force of military vehicles and heavy equipment accompanied a mine detection and removal device. After crossing the border, Turkish soldiers moved westwards within the Syrian territory. Sources reported that ISIS gangs in the area were all unresponsive to the activity of Turkish soldiers, and just watched them as they...

WASHINGTON -- Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) finally set a confirmation hearing for Eric Fanning, who President Barack Obama nominated months ago to be the secretary of the Army. Fanning will appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee, which McCain chairs, on Thursday. If confirmed by the full Senate, he will make history as the first openly gay person to fill the post. Fanning has served in a number of senior positions at the Defense Department, and he had been filling in as acting Army secretary since he was nominated in September. But last week, the Pentagon announced Fanning was pulling...

The world's most interesting paratrooper known exclusivly as "HURD BLACK" performs an emergency tree landing and then climbs down his reserve to continue the mission. AIRBORNE!!!

In August, U.S. Army veteran Spence Rogers sold his house in Tampa, Florida and bought an RV, and set off with his wife and three children for a cross-country adventure. "We wanted to go to the mountains, wanted to go maybe check out Montana, wanted to check out different states -- just enjoy ourselves," Rogers explained. Instead, they found themselves parking semi-permanently on flatter land. Rogers, his family and the RV ended up in Iowa -- a state he had never before visited -- and instead of sightseeing, he signed on to be Cruz's deputy director for Iowa. Rogers, who...