Free Republic

As with any news coming out of Russia, there’s almost no telling what is true and what is not. What we do know for certain is that a former Naval officer and sub commander who Ukraine had accused of war crimes was killed this week while running through a park in Russia.A Russian naval captain who appeared on a Ukrainian blacklist of suspected war criminals was ambushed and executed by an assassin on his morning run.Stanislav Rzhitsky, 42, was shot four times in the back and chest with a Makarov pistol around 6 a.m. Monday in a park in the...

General Trevor Cadieu (Trevor John Cadieu), captured by Russian troops while trying to escape from the cellars of Azovstal, was the commander of the Canadian Ground Forces, APA reports citing Mailbd. Seven months ago, he was appointed to the post of commander of the Canadian Army, but before the inauguration, he was involved in a sex scandal. In the harassment that occurred back in 1994, he was accused by a former colleague.

An Army flight surgeon testified in federal court that she was ordered by high-level command not to discuss the controversy over Department of Defense data indicating a massive spike in serious injuries and illnesses among military personnel when the vaccines were rolled out in 2021.Dr. Theresa Long was testifying March 10 in the case of a Navy SEAL commander who refused to receive a COVID shot. She told Judge Steven Merryday of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Tampa that she was observing cases of the demyelination of the central nervous system in military personnel.As...

I previously covered how Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller was relieved of duty after he demanded military leadership show some accountability when it came to the grievously bad decisions made in Afghanistan. He spoke out, knowing it might have that consequence of him being relieved. He particularly pointed out the bad decision of not retaining Bagram Air Base to help with the evacuation.As we reported earlier today, he said that “The baby boomers’ turn is over. I demand accountability, at all levels. If we don’t get it, I’m bringing it.”He clearly doesn’t think the military leadership is owning up yet,...

No use of Quick Reaction Force without Nanshy's approval

Hundreds of Navy officers gathered on board the coronavirus-stricken USS Theodore Roosevelt's hangar deck to cheer for and applaud their commander, hours after he was dismissed. Capt. Brett Crozier was relieved of duty on Thursday due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command and for not following the chain of command to voice his concerns about coronavirus on the ship to service leaders. A video was posted to Michael Washington’s Facebook page, that has since been reposted on several platforms, along with the hastags #MYCO and #WEARETRSTRONG. “That’s how you send out one of the greatest captains...

US Navy Rear Adm. John Ring, the commander at Joint Task Force - Guantanamo, has been relieved of duty "due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command," a press release from the Department of Defense said. US Army Brig. Gen. John Hussey has been designated acting commander, according to the release. Hussey was currently serving as the deputy commander. "This change in leadership will not interrupt the safe, human, legal care and custody provided to the detainee population," the press release said.

A US Navy submarine commander has been fired after he hired ten prostitutes to party in his hotel room. Captain Travis Zettel, of the USS Bremerton, paid for the women while his submarine was on a “farewell” tour of the Philippines last March. The commander is said to have bragged to two sailors at a hotel pool that he’d “ordered ten girls to arrive at the hotel,” according to the Kitsap Sun. At the time the sub was docked at Subic Bay in the country. One of the sailors then saw around ten “provocatively dressed” women outside the hotel entrance...

A former commander of the USS John S. McCain pleaded guilty Friday to dereliction of duty when the destroyer collided with a commercial tanker, killing 10 sailors and injuring five in the Straits of Singapore last August. Cmdr. Alfredo Sanchez, who has served in the Navy for more than 20 years, testified during a special court-martial at the Washington Navy Yard, Stars and Stripes reported. “I am ultimately responsible and stand accountable,” Sanchez said. “I will forever question my decisions that contributed to this tragic event.” Per disciplinary proceedings, Sanchez agreed to retire from service, forfeit $6,000 in wages, and...

Rojda Felat, the commander of a US-backed operation by Kurdish and Arab fighters to capture the Syrian city of Raqqa, uses a walkie-talkie near the Tabqa Dam, west of Raqqa, Syria, March 30, 2017. TABQA, Syria — Since the beginning of the Syrian revolution in March 2011, when the peaceful conflict turned into a military one, Kurdish factions have been working for change in Syria. A large number of the fighters in the Kurdish factions have been female, and they have gained considerable experience in leading battles against the Islamic State (IS). Rojda Felat, one of the top commanders...

Commander Rojda Felat (Reuters) - A U.S.-backed offensive to capture the Syrian city of Raqqa from Islamic State will last a number of months, the operation's commander said, a longer timeframe than previously signalled by the Kurdish YPG militia that is at the heart of the campaign. Rojda Felat spoke to Reuters near the Taqba Dam some 40 km (25 miles) west of Raqqa, a major focus of the "Euphrates Wrath" campaign by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that groups the YPG and allied Arab militia fighters. A member of the YPG, Felat is one of around 1,000 women taking...

Major General Rupert Jones, UK deputy commander of the Coalition forces against ISIS, said that most likely the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) will take Raqqa, and not the Turkey-led groups that are currently fighting in al-Bab.“The force that looks most likely capable to conduct the liberation of Raqqa remains the SDF. Are we confident in the SDF? Absolutely we are. We’ve seen their fighting spirit, we’ve seen what they’re capable of doing. They re-took Manbij, a very tough fight, and they prevailed in the face of a tough opposition,” Jones said.“We’ve also always said that we would discuss with our partners...

In a striking interview with German journalist Jürgen Todenhöfer published today the German press including the prominent newspaper Focus, a militant jihadist commander said that US weapons are being delivered to Jabhat Al-Nusra by governments that Washington supports, adding that American instructors were in Syria to teach how to use the new equipment. “Yes, the US supports the opposition [in Syria], but not directly. They support the countries that support us. But we are not yet satisfied with this support,” Jabhat al-Nusra unit commander Abu Al Ezz said in an interview with Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper from the city of Aleppo....

The URL listed above is not this post. Instead, this is pulled from internal DoD correspondence to all hands at a military site. From the base commander. Here's a screen shot of the email:

The man at the helm of the USS Cole when it was attacked by an Al Qaeda cell in 2000 said last month's release of a Guantanamo Bay detainee linked to the bombers denies justice to the 17 people killed aboard the ship. Kirk Lippold, who was commanding officer of the U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer when suicide bombers aboard a small fishing boat blew a hole in the side of the ship, told FoxNews.com Mashur Abdallah Ahmed al Sabri's release was a mistake. "I would have liked to have seen him receive a military commission where he was tried,...

An Iraqi volunteer forces commander has revealed US plans to evacuate Daesh (ISIL/ISIS) leaders from the central Iraqi city of Ramadi, according to the Iranian Fars Iranian News Agency. Fars reported: A commander of volunteer forces (Hashd al-Shaabi) disclosed the US plots to evacuate ISIL leaders from the city of Ramadi as Iraqi army and popular troops are completing victory over the terrorist group. “The delay in operations to liberate Ramadi and Fallujah cities in al-Anbar province is the result of the US interference,” Commander of Imam Khamenei Battalion Haidar al-Hosseini al-Ardavi told FNA on Thursday.

Tarkhan Batirashvili was a natural military star when he joined Georgia’s military Fought the Russians during 2008 war, but left Georgia for Turkey in 2012 In Syria, he’s known as Abu Omar al Shishani, commander in several major victories "n 2012, everyone was coming to Syria and we had too much work leading all kinds of people across the border,” he explained over lunch in Killis, a Turkish town just a few miles from the rebel-held Syrian city of Azzaz. “A lot were Muslims who had come to support the revolution against Bashar Assad from every country. So many from...

The commanding officer of the Navy base at Guantanamo Bay was relieved of duty Wednesday due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command, the Navy said. Officials reportedly said he’s under investigation in connection with an alleged affair with a woman on the base and the recent death of her husband. Capt. John R. Nettleton has been temporarily reassigned to the staff of Commander, Navy Region Southeast in Jacksonville, and replaced on an acting basis by Capt. Scott Gray, the chief of staff of that installation, the Navy said in a statement. …

The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan says he could recommend extending the mission and maintaining U.S. troops in the country, Army Times reports. “I’m taking a look and assessing every day based on the enemy situation, based on how much we’re getting done with the Afghans, how they’re progressing on their lines of effort, how the [Train, Advise and Assist mission] is going, how the government’s coming along, [and] if we can really get after the objectives that we set,” said Gen. John Campbell, commander of the Resolute Support mission, during an interview Jan. 15 with Army Times. There are...

A German Army brigadier general who recently served with NATO forces in Afghanistan is assuming duties as the chief of staff of U. S. Army Europe, the first time a non-American officer has held that position.