Free Republic

WASHINGTON, March 14, 2008 – Marine Capt. John Sand knows what it takes to be a good college student: go to class, read the book, and take good notes. And, for him, first spend four years in the Marine Corps. Marine Capt. John Sand is telling his story to audiences around the country as part of the Defense Department’s “Why We Serve” public-outreach program. Defense Department photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. This realization came after Sand spent a few years as a not-so-good college student after high school, he said. “I had a 0.8 grade point average...

WASHINGTON, March 7, 2008 – Air Force Capt. Edward V. Szczepanik thinks his experiences -- both good and bad -- can help the American people understand the challenges servicemembers face in the war on terror. Air Force Capt. Edward V. Szczepanik is one of 12 servicemembers who have deployed in the war on terror who are part of the Defense Department’s “Why We Serve” public-outreach program.  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The captain, a C-17 Globemaster III transport jet pilot based at McChord Air Force Base, Wash., is one of 12 servicemembers who have deployed in the war...

ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska, March 4, 2008 – An Air Force fighter pilot assigned to 3rd Wing here will be among the contestants on the March 6 episode of “Jeopardy!” “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek and Air Force Capt. Timothy Bobinski, 19th Fighter Squadron chief of safety, pose on the set of “America's Favorite Quiz Show.” Bobinski was a contestant on an episode of the show taped in November. The episode is due to air March 6, 2008. Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Television  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Capt. Timothy Bobinski, 19th Fighter Squadron chief of safety,...

BAGHDAD - There were no cheering crowds or ticker tape parade Friday along the dangerous airport road to greet Iraq's Asian Cup soccer champs. And the team's captain, a Sunni who scored the winning goal, didn't even return because he feared for his life. But several hundred fans waved Iraqi flags and scuffled with police as they pushed through airport security to greet the country's soccer heroes as they stepped off a charter plane about 7 p.m. Police wielded truncheons against some in the crowd who were trying to touch goalkeeper Nour Sabri. He was hoisted onto the teammates' shoulders...

The captain of Iraq's victorious football teams has said he will not return to his home country because he fears being killed. Younis Mahmoud scored the only goal of the game with a header in the 71st-minute to give win the Asia Cup for Iraq. But afterwards, the 24-year-old said he would not be returning to Iraq as he feared for his life if he went home to celebrate the victory.

The costume party caper in which police said a Melbourne doctor dressed as comic book superhero Captain America groped a woman at a city bar and battered her boyfriend has cost him his job, Local 6 News partner Florida Today reported.Raymond Douglas Adamcik, 54, was charged with misdemeanor battery, disorderly conduct, resisting an officer without violence and marijuana possession in connection with the April 21 incident at On Tap Sports Cafe and Lounge in Melbourne.Deborah Young, director of physician services for Melbourne Internal Medicine Associates, or MIMA, the group that oversaw Adamcik's practice in their Palm Bay facility since October...

West Point — A 2004 West Point graduate who found God after graduation has turned to the courts to win approval for a conscientious objector discharge. Capt. Peter D. Brown, currently stationed at Camp Stryker in Iraq, has retained the help of the New York Civil Liberties Union to battle Uncle Sam. "Jesus taught that I should bless those who curse me and not fight back against evil with force," Brown wrote in court papers filed last week in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. "So instead of paying back others with force, I am supposed to love...

Identical twins Capt. Jordan Burfield (left), Company C, 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division and Capt. Jonah Burfield, 47th Ordnance Company, 79th Ordnance Battalion, are reunited at the Al Faw Palace on Camp Victory in western Baghdad for their promotions to captain, July 1, 2007. This deployment has been the longest period of time the Lacrosse, Wis., natives have been separated. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Shea Butler U.S. Army Capt. Jordan Burfield U.S. Army Capt. Jonah Burfield Identical Twins Pin on Captain’s Bars Together By Spc. Shea Butler 7th Mobile Public Affairs...

WASHINGTON, April 11, 2007 – Much to her parent’s chagrin, when Jessica Murphy was in fourth grade she joined the boy’s flag football team. “I was a little 4-foot, 50-pound string bean,” she said. “I loved playing, but once I got to the age where the team started tackling, my mom made me quit.” The Milwaukee native said her can-do attitude and tendency to buck stereotypes carried through to her college years when, unbeknownst to her parents, she applied for and was awarded an ROTC scholarship. After earning a degree in political science from the University of Minnesota, Twin...

Captain Cook is scuppered by book By Nick Squires in Sydney Last Updated: 9:02am GMT 20/03/2007 The image of Captain Cook stepping onto the shores of Botany Bay has been a staple of British history books for generations but now it seems the explorer may have been beaten to Australia by the Portuguese, who arrived 250 years earlier. A new appraisal of 16th century maps offers evidence that a small Portuguese fleet charted much of Australia's coast as early as 1522. It has long been known that Cook was preceded by Dutch navigators, whose ships were wrecked on the coast...

11/12/2006 - LONDON (AFPN) -- The Royal Air Force Habbaniya Association honored Air Force Capt. Jutta Cortes by obtaining "exceptional permission" for her to march in the annual Remembrance Day Parade near the Cenotaph in London. Captain Cortes earned the honor after she responded to a special request from the association's honorary secretary, Dr. Christopher Morris. Last year, Dr. Morris read an article in an American military publication about Captain Cortes' unit training Iraqi police forces at what used to be RAF Habbaniya. After a few weeks of research, Dr. Morris contacted Captain Cortes requesting that she perform a traditional...

The captain of the USS Cole, who saved his ship from sinking after an al-Qa'eda suicide attack by speedboat, has lashed out at senior Pentagon staff blocking his promotion because of allegations that he could have done more to protect the ship. Commander Kirk Lippold, who now serves behind a desk at the Pentagon, accused the head of the navy, Admiral Mike Mullen, and the navy secretary of "over-riding the judgment" of officers who had recommended his promotion. He complained he was the only officer being held to account for the attack in Aden harbour six years ago. The Cole...

As far as the Mass. Turnpike goes, it’s “Fat Matt Who?” When it comes to turning someone into a non-person, the old Soviet Union had nothing on the modern Pike. All up and down the hack highway, Fat Matt’s name (and it was everywhere) has been either painted over or covered up with a piece of adhesive plastic. You’ll find more Pilgrim hats with Indian arrows through them on the Pike than signs with Fat Matt’s name. When you’re out, you’re out. Unfortunately, it’s going to be a lot more difficult to pry Fat Matt’s hacks out of the public...

(PRWEB) July 8, 2006 -- As Independence weekend celebrations spread throughout the United States, V.I.P. Promotions Founder/CEO Tommy Nero interviewed U.S. Army Captain James Van Thach while he was spending his July 4th, weekend deployed to Baghdad, Iraq on his first overseas tour of duty. "It's so unusual these days, Captain Thach, to find young people even thinking about devoting their lives to something greater than themselves May I ask why you volunteered to join the Infantry after finishing Touro Law School?" "Mr. Nero, there are higher callings in life than just focusing on building a very comfortable lifestyle for...

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (Feb. 8, 2006) -- While fencing in high school and college, every elegant move made by Capt. Brain R. von Kraus was well thought out, even in the most heated duels. These same swift, but calculated decisions were made on Jan. 25, 2004 during an ambush where then 1st Lt. Von Kraus displayed exceptional bravery as he dismounted his vehicle and entered the enemy kill zone to aid his stricken Marines. For these actions, von Kraus was awarded the Silver Star here Feb. 8 by Maj. Gen. Richard F. Natonski, commanding general of the...

MANAMA, Bahrain (NNS) -- England’s Prince Andrew awarded Capt. John Peterson the Honorary Order of the British Empire (OBE) during an investiture ceremony Jan. 25 at the British Embassy in Manama, Bahrain. Peterson, chief of staff for Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, was given the prestigious award for his leadership of coalition forces, which included a large number of Royal Navy sailors and marines, in the campaign to secure Iraqi oil assets during the onset of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. Prince Andrew, who is the Duke of York, knight commander and aide-de-camp to Queen Elizabeth II, congratulated Peterson...

Like Temple, Lou, Murph, others, I too have my own memories of Christmas in uniform. My recollections go back to a time close to when Lou was a captain aboard a carrier in the Indian Ocean. I was a Marine corporal on Okinawa, sitting on my rack in a dingy squad bay, listening over-and-over to a cassette tape of Christmas wishes from family and friends, eating some chocolate-chip cookies Mom had made for me, looking at family pictures, and doing what all American soldiers and sailors have been doing during the month of December since 1775 – dreaming of home.

Meet Brian Chontosh. Churchville-Chili Central School class of 1991. Proud graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology. Husband and about-to-be father. First lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps. And a genuine hero. The secretary of the Navy said so yesterday. At 29 Palms in California Brian Chontosh was presented with the Navy Cross, the second highest award for combat bravery the United States can bestow. That's a big deal. But you won't see it on the network news tonight, and all you read in Brian's hometown newspaper was two paragraphs of nothing. Instead, it was more blather about some...

Like the exploits of 21st-century special operators – including U.S. Navy SEALs, Army Delta soldiers, Force Recon Marines, Air Force commandos, and CIA paramilitary operatives – stories of men like Ortiz are rarely gleaned from books, newspapers, and magazines. Their incredibly dangerous work often goes unseen and is thankless.

Recruit Daniel Murphy, who in college was a 325-pound offensive lineman protecting quarterbacks and opening holes for running backs, lost 100 pounds to join the U.S. Marines, the military's swift-moving, expeditionary shock troops.