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WASHINGTON, Feb. 1, 2006 – The Iraqi army's 5th Brigade, 6th Division, assumed control of a base in central Baghdad from the U.S. 4th Infantry Division's 4th Brigade Combat Team during a transfer-of-authority ceremony yesterday. "The ceremony marked the increasing role Iraqi security forces are undertaking in Baghdad and throughout their country in enforcing the sovereign government's rule of law," U.S. officials said in a statement. "This brigade is responsible for protecting Iraq's new government here in the International Zone," said Iraqi Col. Mohammad Wasif, commander of 5th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division. "The brigade consists of three battalions. We...

NORFOLK, Va. (NNS) -- The recovery and salvage ship USS Grasp (ARS 51) was decommissioned after 20 years of service and transferred to Military Sealift Command (MSC) in a ceremony at Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek Jan. 19. Past and present crew members attended the 11 a.m. ceremony to say farewell to the ship. “There’s always a little bit of sadness at the end of a career,” said Grasp’s executive officer Lt. Cmdr. Andrew Chicoine, “at the same time, people are looking forward to the next part of their life.” As a U.S. Navy ship, Grasp had a crew of...

NORFOLK, Va., Jan. 6, 2006 – As the Defense Department continues to transform to meet the threats and challenges of the 21st century, U.S. Joint Forces Command has the pivotal role of determining which forces will do which jobs, whether it's disaster relief, homeland defense or the global war on terrorism. As joint force provider, JFCOM's role is to identify and nominate the most ready and able forces to support the combatant commander, according to Army Brig. Gen. Michael Ferriter, the command's director for operations, plans, logistics and engineering. The supported commander identifies the needs, and JFCOM makes the force...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 30, 2005 – Coalition forces today transferred command of northwest Iraq, and U.S. troops killed two terrorists Dec. 28, Multinational Force Iraq officials reported today. Command of northwest Iraq transferred from Task Force Freedom to Task Force Band of Brothers during a ceremony in Mosul. The transfer consolidates operational areas into a single multinational division under the command of Task Force Band of Brothers, military officials said. With its new command responsibilities, Task Force Band of Brothers includes the 1st and 3rd Brigade Combat Teams from the 101st Airborne Division, 1st and 3rd Brigade Combat Teams from the...

FORWARD LOGISTICS AREA ANACONDA, Iraq, Dec. 26, 2005 – It doesn't matter how many troops you have or how well trained they are if you can't sustain them. Coalition logisticians are working with the nascent Iraqi army to build a logistics capability for the force. Army Lt. Col. Steven Shapiro, chief of operations for 3rd Corps Support Command and selected for promotion to colonel, said the command's soldiers are training Iraqis through schools and, mostly, through on-the-job experience. "We're training the Iraqis to follow up and provide support to their forces as they engage the enemy," Shapiro said during an...

Insurgencies are not put down in a fortnight. But considering the successes in the recent counter-insurgency sweep in Iraq's Al Anbar Province, one fact becomes obvious to anyone with so much as a sliver of an understanding of ground combat operations: Eliminating the insurgency in Iraq is best left to those who best know how to do it.

More than just a branch of America’s armed forces, the modern U.S. Marine Corps serves as a model that other military forces worldwide have attempted to emulate, with varying degrees of success. Marines are aware of this, and justifiably proud. But that pride has not always been conducive to working and playing well with others.

TIKRIT, Iraq, Nov. 2, 2005 – Task Force Band of Brothers and the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) officially took command of military operations in north-central Iraq in a ceremony at Forward Operating Base Danger here Nov. 1. The ceremony marked the transfer of authority from Task Force Liberty and the 42nd Infantry Division, a National Guard unit from New York that has been deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom for a year, to TF Band of Brothers. TF Band of Brothers is composed of two brigade combat teams and a combat aviation brigade of the 101st Airborne Division,...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 1, 2005 – The Marine Corps will soon officially join the special operations community with a new Marine Special Operations Command to become a component of U.S. Special Operations Command, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld announced here today. Rumsfeld announced his approval of the plan, part of a sweeping range of transformations under way to strengthen the U.S. military and its special operations forces, during a Pentagon news briefing. The new command "will increase the number of special operations forces available for missions worldwide while expanding their capabilities in some key areas," Rumsfeld told reporters. The new command...

Command: Category 4 Lt Col Randy Coats, 333d Training Squadron/CC Command. There's no better job in the world. After seven years in jobs with “command authority” and two squadron commands, I figured I had a good idea what command was all about. I was wrong. What changed my mind? Four words--"Shelter Commander" and "Hurricane Katrina." From 28 Aug - 2 Sep, I lived with 730 of my "closest friends" in 50-year old Bryan Hall at Keesler AFB, MS. It was my third stint as a shelter commander, but it was unlike anything I had experienced before. As life slowly returns...

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss., Sept. 6, 2005 – A private airport here has been converted into a forward operating base from which more than 1,500 soldiers and airmen from the Alabama National Guard are supporting disaster-relief operations for Jackson, George and Greene counties in Mississippi as part of Task Force Alabama. "We are providing humanitarian assistance, zone recons, and we're providing a presence," the task force's chief of staff, Army National Guard Lt. Col. Nicky Medley, said. Like many storm victims, task force soldiers are living in austere conditions. Most soldiers are sleeping outdoors, a few in vehicles. Some soldiers also...

/begin my translation N. Korean Underground Tunnels, Impregnable Fortresses against Nuclear Attack Eludes U.S. spy satellites by painting radar-absorbing materials(on the entrance)Enough food to last for 3 years -- even equipped with oxygen generators  We set up the new section called 'N. Korean File' to provide you with vivid picture of N. Korean society. (Articles in) this section would be based on internal documents from N. Korea or testimony from N. Korean defectors. As its first article, we investigate underground tunnels in N. Korea, based on content from monthly magazine 'N. Korea.' It is first revealed in S. Korea that N. Korea kept U.S. spy satellites from tracking...

Joint Systems Integration Command's new C2 on the Move operational prototype gives joint task force commanders mobility without losing connectivity, allowing them to stay connected as they move around the battlefield. (SUFFOLK, Va. - May 18, 2005) -- Joint Systems Integration Command's (JSIC) C2 on the Move (C2OTM) project recently rolled out its operational prototype, mounted in a HMMWV, giving joint task force (JTF) commanders the ability to stay connected as they move around the battlefield. C2OTM is one of several programs under development at JSIC which address different aspects of battle management command and control. JSIC, a U. S....

"Jimmy Stewart, Bomber Pilot" by Starr Smith Sixty-some years ago, when President Franklin Roosevelt declared war on Germany and Japan, almost every American who was able became involved. Some left their children at home in the effort to make planes and ships in factories. Some left their families and traveled across the country and across the world. One left an Academy Award-winning career to do something that he felt he needed to do, and in "Jimmy Stewart, Bomber Pilot" by Starr Smith (c.2005, Zenith Press), you'll read about that man and his heroism. James Maitland Stewart was born on May...

It started about a week ago - CNN opened the firing shot against Venezuela's brutal dictator in an expose on his manipulation of oil prices on the Lou Dobbs show. That was enough to upset Hugo Chavez's press acolytes, who whined about it here, upset in particular about CNN's straightforward reference to Chavez as a 'strongman.' Fox News returned fire last Friday, with Brit Hume's Grapevine show reporting Hugo Chavez's filthy televised talk show about having sex with distinguished US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Last night, CNN had another detailed item on Chavez's efforts to ship oil via Iran...

The new arms chief of the European Union has issued a blunt warning that the days of governments favouring domestic companies when buying tanks or other major military hardware are over. Nick Witney, the chief executive of the European Defence Agency, the EU's fledgling arms procurement group, said there must be more "collective" decision-making over what goes into Europe's armouries now that military units under EU command are a reality on the ground. "There is a broad consensus that we can't have all procurement programs formulated on a solely national basis anymore," Mr Witney told Euractiv, a pan-European internet news...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

I used to enjoy watching Bill O'Reilly on his primetime news/opinion program 'The O'Reilly Factor'. In spite of his somewhat pompous demeanor (now that I think about it, I actually like that in a person) he seemed to be genuinely concerned with being fair to his guests and the subjects of his commentary. Sure, he's been known to cut off more than a few babbling nitwits who've refused to answer his questions directly, but for the most part, he's always tried to give everyone their say, and for that I've admired him... or at least I did before last summer....

Our troops are embattled in Iraq, and every day that conflict seems to get uglier. We are in the midst of a global war on terrorism whose front lines can be anywhere and which appears to have no end. And the goal of security for Americans in their homes is far away and not certain. In the midst of all this, a Texas lawyer, John O'Neill, decides to refight the Vietnam War, which ended nearly 30 years ago, and by taking on Kerry's proud claims of heroic service, attempts to make them the defining issue of the 2004 presidential election....

Monday, October 11, 2004. -- New York-based ReganBooks today unveiled an anti-Bush book, Unfit Commander, in an apparent effort to capitalize on the hyper-successful anti-Kerry book by Regnery Publishing, Unfit for Command. Surprisingly, ReganBooks, a generally highly regarded publisher, lifted virtually every aspect of the Regnery book's appearance -- the title, colors, layout, font, even the finger-pointing style of the picture used on the jacket all mimic Regnery's effective cover. Perhaps the imitation should come as no surprise, given the success of Unfit for Command. Sources at Regnery (a HUMAN EVENTS sister company) say that almost 500,000 copies of Unfit...