Free Republic

For the troops serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, interacting with forces from other nations is a workaday event, even in heavy combat situations. It’s not as common, however, for foreign governments to bestow awards on Americans – except for extraordinary bravery, such as that displayed by Maj. Chesarek on June 10, 2006. On that day, Chesarek and his crew were preparing to support approximately 100 British marines on a weapons-cache search in the city of Amarah, Iraq. Chesarek, a seasoned pilot, was no stranger to the Brits: He had served as an exchange officer with U.K. forces in Somerset, England,...

Defence ministers are under pressure to scrap the troubled SA-80 rifle after an inspection team sent to Afghanistan found that, even after a refit, major faults still needed rectifying if it was to be used in combat again. The modified SA-80 has to be cleaned five times a day, according to Royal Marines officers The original SA-80, produced by Royal Ordnance, jammed repeatedly under fire in Sierra Leone and the Balkans. As a result, Heckler and Koch was paid £92 million to modify the weapon. But defence sources said the modifications had made the weapon virtually unusable in many combat...