Free Republic

CAMP TAJI, Iraq, Feb. 20, 2008 – Army Pvt. William Gentry was nervous and anxious to see what Iraq was like when he received his deployment notice. Until he deployed, the Austin, Texas, native had never been outside the United States. Army Pvt. William Gentry, a native of Austin, Texas, stands watch during a patrol with Company B, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Multinational Division Baghdad. Photo by Sgt. Brad Willeford, USA  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “My heart was beating so fast that I thought it was going to...

BASRA, Iraq, Dec. 3, 2007 – Army Maj. Rick Smith’s job includes coordinating and building relationships between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the British army. Army Maj. Rick Smith (left) poses at the Basrah, Iraq, area office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with coworker Tia Chandler and visiting Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Dorko, commander of the Gulf Region Division. Photo by A. Al Bharani  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “Relationships are key in my position,” he said. “Each day is always busy." Smith is executive officer and operations officer of the Basra Area Office of...

LONDON (AFP) - Multi-national troops in Iraq are "making a difference" towards building a secure and successful country despite the enormous challenges, Britain's top military officer there said Friday. "This is difficult, it is damned dangerous, but I have no question in my mind that we are making a difference," Lieutenant General Graham Lamb, deputy commander of the multi-national force, told BBC radio from Baghdad. He denied the US-led troops were engaged in a lost cause. "Are we moving towards a better life for Iraq and an opportunity for this nation to succeed? I believe so and have never doubted...

National Guardsmen Make The Difference at Al Rasul School U.S. soldiers work to make a lasting impact on Iraqi communities. By Spc. L.B. Edgar, 7th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment Multi-National Division - Baghdad Public Affairs Office MAKASIB, Iraq, April 23, 2007 — A warm welcome met the soldiers upon their arrival. Smiles have replaced once contemptuous stares. The typical silence gave way to a friendly dialogue. A customary hand to the heart followed every handshake. The soldiers were greeted, not as outsiders of the community, but the heroes of the now joyous school. "As the insurgents are pushed out...

CAMP VICTORY — There is a small group of Australian Defence Force people working in and around Baghdad who are currently making a big difference to the progress of the coalition in the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Iraq. They are an unusual group in that they are embedded into elements of the multi national force headquarters run by our major coalition partner, the United States, and work not only with Americans but also people from a number of other nationalities. Based predominantly out of the Camp Victory's Al Faw Palace - with a number within the International Zone in Baghdad...

Women talk three times as much as men, says study By FIONA MACRAE Last updated at 13:39pm on 28th November 2006 Women talk almost three times as much as men, according to the research. It is something one half of the population has long suspected - and the other half always vocally denied. Women really do talk more than men. In fact, women talk almost three times as much as men, with the average woman chalking up 20,000 words in a day - 13,000 more than the average man. Women also speak more quickly, devote more brainpower to chit-chat -...

BASRAH, Iraq, Oct. 3, 2006 — A group of California National Guardsmen from the 40th Engineer Brigade are making a difference in Iraq serving with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the Basrah Area Office of the Gulf Region South District. “There are three of us serving down here in Basrah,” said Maj. Zac Delwiche, a liaison officer with the Oil Area Office. “We all have different jobs, but the Corps is making good use of all of our skills.” Delwiche is joined in Basrah by fellow 40th Engineer Brigade soldiers: Master Sgt. Bob Lamoureux and Sgt 1st Class...

Integral ingredients in Iraq’s long term success are the Provincial reconstruction teams. They help rebuild the war-torn country. Specifically they help provincial governments develop a transparent and sustained governing capability and to promote security, stability and rule of law. “There are a lot of hospitals and schools that have opened. A lot of roads have been fixed. There are a lot of positive things happening. The quality of people’s lives has improved,” said Rashid of the Ninewa PRT. Rashid, who chooses to use only his first name for safety purposes, has been a bi-lingual, bi-cultural PRT advisor for nearly a...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 28, 2006 – Coalition training teams with Iraqi military units, police battalions and border guard units are making a tremendous difference in the performance and professionalism of the Iraqi security forces, said the commander of the Iraq Assistance Group today. Army Brig. Gen. Dana Pittard told the Pentagon press corps in a video teleconference from Iraq that Iraqi forces are well-equipped, but they do need help in sustainment. Pittard confirmed that 100 members of an Iraqi battalion had refused to redeploy to Baghdad. The soldiers were part of the 2nd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 10th Iraqi Army Division, in...

[snip] We saw striking and measurable differences in more than half of the genes' expression patterns between males and females," said Dr. Thomas Drake, a professor of pathology. "We didn't expect that. No one has previously demonstrated this genetic gender gap at such high levels."

There is clear evidence that men perform better at spatial tasks and women outpace men on tests of verbal usage and perceptual speed, according to research conducted by Wendy Johnson, postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Minnesota, and Thomas Bouchard, director of the Minnesota Center for Twin and Adoption Research. The findings, which will be published in the journal Intelligence, indicate that there is little difference in how the genders fare as far as general intelligence, however. But since engineering positions are overwhelmingly filled by men, this further supports the theory that spatial abilities are key to success in...

AL ASAD, Iraq (June 14, 2006) -- The two parties stare at each other from across a table that is filled with bottled water, sports drinks and soda cans. One side filled with local Iraqis from the neighboring area dressed in jeans, T-shirts and baseball hats. The other side is wearing the digital camouflaged uniforms with the eagle, globe and anchor embroidered on the chest over their hearts. Brief remarks from both sides are translated for the other to understand, turning the entire room into an eruption of laugher, as they continue to discuss the rebuilding of Iraq. Town Council...

As their month-long border deployment draws to an end, leaders of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps say their efforts have brought more attention to the illegal immigration issue and more supporters to their border security movement. Critics are less generous in their assessment, and the U.S. Border Patrol is maintaining its neutral position ----

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq (Jan. 18, 2006) -- Marines assigned to the 6th Civil Affairs Group, 2nd Marine Division, prove there is another side of the story to tell as they continue to carry out their missions to provide guidance within Al Anbar province, the largest province in Iraq. “The stories that we don’t hear enough about – the good news stories about making lives better and a nation stronger – that’s what the civil affairs Marines do every day in Iraq,” said Col. Paul Brier, commanding officer, 6th CAG. The group arrived in September to help rebuild the infrastructure and...

Attention, Dr. Frankenstein, and maybe Gloria Steinem: There are girl brains, then there are boy brains. But there's not one generic human brain, no matter what hand-wringing feminists may insist in their quest for sexual equality. Some stark new clinical evidence shows that men and women are just not the same upstairs. "The comedians are right. The science proves it. A man's brain and a woman's brain really do work differently," a research team from the University of Alberta in Canada announced yesterday. After analyzing magnetic resonance imaging (MRIs) of 23 men and 10 women, the team found that the...

BAGHDAD (Army News Service, Nov. 14, 2005) — Operation National Unity, an ongoing mission which began Sept. 29, continues to produce results in rooting out terrorist activity in and around Baghdad, said military officials. The statistics from Task Force Baghdad include: 25,401 patrols, 14,895 traffic control points, and 1,082 raids and cordon-and-searches by Iraqi and U.S. forces. Add to those figures the rates of success: 36 percent fewer detonated car bombs, a 50 percent increase in improvised explosive devices found before they could explode, and a 67 percent increase in weapons caches discovered and, in most cases, destroyed. Amid the...

War-Hawk Republicans and Anti-War Democrats: What's the Difference? by Cindy Sheehan http://www.opednews.com Tuesday 04 October 2005 The past week in DC found me in many offices of our elected officials: Senators, Congresspersons, pro-war, "anti-war," Democrat, Republican. With a few notable exceptions, all of our employees toed party lines. **MONSTER SNIP** The War-Hawk Dems I met with were equally, if not more, disheartening. Although my meeting with Senator Clinton (D-NY) went well, I don't believe she will do anything to alleviate the suffering of the Americans in Iraq or the Iraqi people. **ANOTHER MONSTER SNIP** In my meeting with Howard Dean,...

ABU GHRAIB, Iraq (Army News Service, Aug. 18, 2005) – Soldiers in Abu Ghraib district clean up a local soccer field for the children in their sector July 29. Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 130th Infantry Regiment, attached to the 256th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, conducted the humanitarian effort. “It’s really sad when you see kids walk around barefoot playing soccer in a trash-filled lot,” said Spc. Jake Butler of 2/130th Infantry. Armed with two trailers, shovels, rakes, and trash bags, the Solders of 2/130th Infantry began the task of clearing years of neglect from the small lot. Many...

CAMP KOREAN VILLAGE, Iraq (August 2, 2005) -- The Marine, who plans to pursue an education degree, seems far from the classroom being deployed to Iraq, but he still gets the chance to work with children. Corporal Jeffrey H. Meighen, civil affairs non-commissioned officer, 5th Civil Affairs Group, 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, goes out into the local communities and makes a difference in Iraqi children’s lives during Operation Iraqi Freedom. “I love being around kids, these kids are good kids,” said Meighen. “They smile and seem comfortable with us.” Meighen sometimes participates in sporting events with the local children....

MADISON, N.J. - Former President Bill Clinton urged a standing-room crowd at Drew University Wednesday night to take advantage of unprecedented opportunities to help create a world of integrated communities and fewer adversaries. His hourlong remarks touched frequently on the theme of shared responsibilities and benefits, both in domestic policy and on the world stage. Clinton pinpointed the explosion of citizen-run, non-governmental organizations as offering a unique opportunity at the dawn of the new century. "You can make a difference whether you agree with your government or not," he said. "You can do something, and you have hundreds of choices....