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President Barack Obama hit the golf course Saturday with Vice President Joe Biden. The White House pool report noted that Obama left at about 1 p.m. for the course at Andrews Air Force base, and his golfing parters included White House Trip Director Marvin Nicholson and photographer David Katz. Nicholson and Katz, along with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, joined Obama for four hours of golf last weekend. The Republican National Committee released an ad soon afterward taking aim at Obama's golfing during the ongoing BP oil spill crisis in the Gulf of Mexico.

Regional Command-EastLocal Afghan doctors who participated in a two week training program that focused on the treatment of trauma patients were recognized during a ceremony held at the SSG Heath N. Craig Joint Theater Hospital, Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, Feb. 13. The doctors participating in the Afghan Trauma Mentor Program worked with coalition forces medical personnel learning how to deal with trauma patients. “The Afghan’s don’t have medical courses here that are geared towards trauma,” said U.S. Army Capt. Mark Ebeling, a U.S. Army nurse and the director of the Afghan Trauma Mentor Program, Task Force Med-East. “We have that...

8/14/2009 - SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNS) -- Thirty-three days of technical instruction in petroleum, oil and lubricants doesn't seem like a daunting task. Throw in a language barrier, limited training aids and an incomplete curriculum and anyone might start to question whether or not it will get finished. However, despite the obstacles, Kabul, Afghanistan's first Petroleum, Oils and Lubricants class graduated Aug. 6. The course's instructor, Master Sgt. Tracey Wolfe, a fuels complex instructor assigned to the 364th Training Squadron here, taught his seven Afghan students various subjects including information safety, vehicle inspection, facility inspection, forms and fueling...

Air Force Lt. Col. Jeffrey Coggin (left) explains the concepts of the Defense Decision Support Course to Iraqi officers with the help of Mathus Remaden, a linguistic and cultural adviser, at Iraqi Ground Forces Command, Baghdad, July 19. Photo by Master Sgt. Michael Daigle, 114th Public Affairs Detachment. BAGHDAD — A course was held at the Iraqi Ground Forces Command Headquarters here, July 18 – 21, for staff officers to focus on pre-decision making and critical thinking. "Effective decision making is critical to Iraq's future," said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Jeffrey Coggin, currently deployed as the MNC-I deputy comptroller.The...

FORT KNOX, Ky., May 4, 2009 – A drill sergeant with two Iraq tours under his belt continued to show his mettle in the Senior Leaders Course at Fort Gordon, Ga. Army Staff Sgt. Mark Gomez shows soldiers in training at Fort Knox, Ky., how to improve their holds during a combatives exercise. U.S. Army photo by Maureen Rose   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Staff Sgt. Mark Gomez finished as the honor graduate by maintaining a grade-point average of 97 percent, in addition to passing his physical training and field training exercise with flying colors. On top...

KIRKUK — More than 600 Iraqi Army (IA) Soldiers completed an intense, month-long Warfighter Training Course at the K1 Regional Training Center here, March 12. According to IA Staff Lt. Gen. Husayn Jasim Dohi, deputy chief of staff for training, the Soldiers were instructed on small and intermediate weapons, IED awareness and prevention, and checkpoint procedures. The battalion also practiced patrolling in a MOUT (Military Operations on Urban Terrain), that simulated a village with homes and a hospital. Ethics were also covered during the training. “Good training without values is not good. You become an Army of criminals and the...

FOB WARRIOR — The sound of sirens and revving engines pierce the ears as Iraqis with simulated injuries are carried out of a large, inconspicuous-looking dining facility. Several Iraqi Firemen, Police (IP) and Army (IA) emergency services personnel swarm with stretchers holding the “wounded” during a mass casualty training exercise held on Kirkuk Military Base, also known as K-1, Feb. 24. The exercise was the culminating training event after a 17-day Combat Life Saver (CLS) course that took place on K-1. It was designed by both Iraqi and U.S. medical staff and was intended to replicate several mortar and bomb...

SACRAMENTO — Liberal activists are worried that Democratic legislators are considering a deal to institute permanent curbs on government spending in order to win Republican support for tax increases as the Legislature seeks solutions to a $42 billion deficit facing the state over the next 18 months. They are imploring Democrats to rethink any deal that they say will effectively cripple government, leaving future generations unable to respond to the more complex needs of a growing state with Draconian cuts required at every level of government. "I'm very concerned from the conversations I've had that Democrats may agree to something...

CAMP EGGERS, Afghanistan, Sept. 16, 2008 – NATO’s International Security Assistance Force, U.S. troops and Afghan security forces are in a tough fight in Afghanistan, but Army Gen. David D. McKiernan is convinced the people of the country do not want extremists back in power. McKiernan, commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan and nominee to be commander of U.S. Forces Afghanistan, said the people do not want the Taliban ruling. “They don’t want a radical form of government in power, but it’s still going to take a while to defeat this insurgency,” he said during an interview with reporters traveling...

(IsraelNN.com) A brief Chabad-sponsored course on the Temple, to be held in Israel this week and the next, has angered Islamic organizations, who call it a threat to the Al-Aksa Mosque compound. "We view this as a serious and drastic move toward the fruition of extremist organizations to establish a temple in place of al-Aksa Mosque," said Zahi Nujidat of the Islamic Movement. "This represents a real danger to al-Aksa." The Aksa Foundation issued a similar statement. The course, offered at roughly 200 locations throughout Israel, comes during the two weeks leading up to Tisha B'Av, the fast day that...

For thousands of troops who have seen the war in Iraq first hand, the mission is a personal one even after they take off the uniform. Concerns about where that war may be heading is putting some local veterans face to face with lawmakers, fighting a different side of Operation Iraqi freedom. For retired Navy Veteran Chris Chilson, time with family is a luxury he's still getting used to. Afternoons spent together were few and far between during his 20 years on board aircraft carriers, some of them spent in the searing heat of the Iraqi desert. Chilson says, "It...

CAMP ATTERBURY, Ind., Sept. 6, 2007 – When soldiers are wounded in combat, the most immediate medical care available generally is given by other soldiers on the battlefield, most of whom are not combat medics. Army Sgt. Clint Higgins, a Combat Lifesaver instructor with 205th Infantry Brigade, helps students taking the Combat Lifesaver Course practice lifesaving skills Aug. 23 at Camp Atterbury, Ind. During the final exercise, students are required to practice many of their newly learned skills including inserting IVs, applying tourniquets and pressure dressings, treating mental trauma, and moving wounded soldiers to a safe area. U.S. Army...

An Iraqi soldiers shakes hands with a fellow soldier during the graduation ceremony. Seventy soldiers from the 8th Iraqi Army Division graduated Friday from a course on maintaining accurate and reliable personnel and security records. The soldiers who graduated from the two-week Unit Transition Point course were all assigned to the either brigade or battalion personnel departments. The training was conducted by instructors from Iraqi Ground Forces Command in Baghdad and monitored and supervised by Multi-National Division Central-South military transition team officers. The first week of the course was devoted to training on high-technology devices for fingerprinting as well...

Where can women find real men? In a book, of course… By Boris Johnson (Filed: 15/06/2006) Look at her in the Tube opposite. No, you fool. Look at what she's reading. You've made it through to the middle of the Telegraph and, if you are anything like me, you have scaled your personal intellectual Everest for the day. But look at the girl over there, and that damn thick square book on her lap. She must be on page 181, and when she turns the page she's going to be on 183, then 185, 187. It's unbelievable. Where does she...

Nature, it should be pointed out, always bats last. This is true even in Florida, where, as novelist Carl Hiaasen makes clear, life is more than a little surreal, and where three people were recently attacked and killed by alligators in less than a week. Previously, 17 people had died from alligator attacks in Florida since 1948. There is no record in the United States of three fatal alligator attacks in one year, much less in one week in one state. So something clearly is going on in Florida. Yesterday, as if to emphasize Hiaasen's point, an alligator walked through...

AL ASAD, Iraq (May 19, 2006) -- Since Cpl. Haider Mohammed Jender joined the Iraqi Army a year ago, he has learned how to combat insurgents and provide security to his people. Now, the 34-year-old Iraqi soldier has completed what he says is the most important training he’ll ever receive – how to save lives. Jender was one of 20 Iraqi soldiers who recently graduated from an Iraqi Army’s Basic Medical Course here – the first in western Al Anbar Province – five weeks of lectures, written examinations and practical application on what U.S. medical personnel deem as crucial life-saving...

WASHINGTON, May 9, 2006 – Diplomacy is the best way to confront Iran's nuclear program, but President Bush said today in Sun City Center, Fla., he won't rule out other options if that falls through. "We will continue to work through diplomatic channels to make it clear that we mean what we say," Bush said in response to a question posed during his visit to the sprawling retirement community to discuss the Medicare prescription drug benefit. "And obviously, part of making the diplomacy work is what will be the consequences if the Iranians decide not to listen to the rational...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SWORD, Kuwait, April 26, 2006 – Participants in the Joint Civilian Orientation Conference got a taste of what U.S. forces running convoys through Iraq experience every day as they took positions on Humvees and navigated the hazards of a counter-improvised explosive device training course here. The participants, civilian business, civic and academic leaders from around the United States, donned flak vests and Kevlar helmets before maneuvering with Marines from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit through the notional Al Bassayab province of Iraq. Their 13-vehicle convoy's mission was to deliver materials from Forward Operating Base Dagger to Forward...

I have refrained from commenting on California’s budget because it is still uncertain exactly what is going to happen in this year’s budget debate. This, however, is what we know up to this point in time. Last year, the Legislature approved, and the Governor signed, a budget that increased state spending by $11 billion. The government employee unions complained that it wasn’t enough. This year, the Governor proposed a budget that increased spending by an additional $7 billion. The government employee unions are complaining that it is not enough. The Governor’s budget spends $6 billion more than projected revenue. The...

CAMP AL ASAD, Iraq (March 21, 2006) -- Iraqi soldiers from the 2nd Brigade, 7th Iraqi Army Division received 24 High Mobility, Multi-wheeled Vehicles (Humvees) March 20, 2006, after graduating from a three-week Humvee licensing and preventive maintenance course. More than 20 enlisted soldiers were recognized in a formal graduation ceremony, where they received certificates of completion from the commanding general of the 2nd Brigade and the commanding officer of Regimental Combat Team 7, Col. W. Blake Crowe. The ceremony marked another milestone in the 2nd Brigade’s progress toward eventually relieving Coalition Forces in western Al Anbar Province of all...