Free Republic

Ten-year-old Ke'aundre James was on the bus headed to school when he "heard yelling and cussing in the front" -- and spotted a man with a rifle. The gunman "was telling the bus driver, 'Close the doors, take me to the next town over. Go, go, go.' And stuff like that," Ke'aundre told ABC News. So Ke'aundre called his parents... ...The suspect, a 23-year-old Fort Jackson trainee, Jovan Collazo, was taken into custody. Collazo's Army-issued rifle did not have ammunition...

An Army basic training recruit escaped from Fort Jackson and, brandishing his M4 training rifle, hijacked a school bus full of elementary schoolchildren in nearby Columbia, South Carolina, Thursday morning. “He told the bus driver he didn’t want to hurt him, but wanted him to drive him to the next town,” Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said during a Thursday press conference.

Jonathan Pentland, 42, on Monday aggressively confronted a young black man named only as Deandre. Deandre is mentally ill and has been committed to a facility following the incident in a quiet gated community, DailyMail.com can reveal. Pentland has been charged with third degree assault and battery. Deandre had been facing charges of trespass and animal cruelty from different incidents, but he has now been determined mentally incapable of standing trial. ...The father of two has been suspended from his drill instructor role until the outcome of the Department of Justice assault charge. Brigadier General Milford Beagle Jnr, commander of...

An elderly congregation has lost its battle with the U.S. Army to save Fort Jackson’s landmark Memorial Chapel. The chapel, built in 1941 and dedicated in 1958 to all the soldiers who trained at Fort Jackson for World War II, is slated for demolition in October. The congregation, which has been worshiping there for decades, will hold its last service in the chapel July 30. The 30 or so members, led by 92-year-old Kathryn Woodward, whose husband, Arthur, was a World War II veteran, had argued that the chapel was an historic landmark Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/news/local/article163191063.html#storylink=cpy

"...The conspirators were in the Army’s 902nd Military Intelligence Group’s MOS 09L program (“Lima Nine”), E Company, 187th Ordnance Battalion. Lima Nine was started because of the Army’s desperate lack of linguists speaking Pashto, Dari or Arabic. To attract such recruits, military intelligence promises foreigners that if they join the Army as a translator they will get U.S. citizenship and a top security clearance. Candidates from Afghanistan and Iraq, including the Jackson Five, speak such poor English the Army puts them in Lima Nine and gives them English lessons, so they will have some hope of passing basic training. Clayton...

A South Carolina congressman said Friday that five Muslim soldiers at Fort Jackson, S.C., had been removed from active duty, and four of them discharged from the Army, in connection with an ongoing probe into alleged threats to poison food at the large South Carolina base. Republican Rep. Joe Wilson, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, said the soldiers' laptops had been seized and were being analyzed. Congressional officials with knowledge of the case said cell phones and Arabic writings had been confiscated as well. Wilson also disclosed for the first time that four of the Muslim soldiers...

If there was nothing to the allegations, then why were four of the five Muslim soldiers discharged? It seems to me that the earliest reports were wrong that the five Muslims were plotting to poison Fort Jackson's food supply. But later reports that there were nothing to the allegations were also clarified when we learned that the investigation was not into a plot but over comments about poisoning the food.

U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., said Sunday information he received as a member of the House Armed Services Committee showed there was no plot. The five Muslim soldiers who were connected to a translator training program had been detained in December while the Army investigated. "The investigation revealed that there was not an effort to poison food," Wilson said. The probe also showed the men had not been disloyal. Four of the soldiers were discharged from the Army for petty crimes, Wilson said, and the fifth was returned to his National Guard unit in Virginia.

ive soldiers at Fort Jackson, S.C., have been investigated on suspicion of making threats against fellow servicemembers, but officials have found no substantive evidence of misconduct, U.S. military spokesmen said early Friday. The Christian Broadcasting Network, founded by evangelist Pat Robertson, has reported that soldiers were suspected of plotting to poison the food supply at the Army base. The report said the soldiers were part of an Army translation program that includes Arabic speakers. Army investigators have been conducting a probe since December, but "we have not found any credible information to substantiate the allegations," said Christopher Grey, a spokesman...

<p>No info at link yet, just came across the TV. Investigators believe that the poisoners where Arabic translators! ROP strikes again???</p>

CBN Exclusive: Five Muslim Soldiers Arrested at Fort Jackson in South Carolina CBN News has learned exclusively that five Muslim soldiers at Fort Jackson in South Carolina were arrested just before Christmas and are in custody. The five men were part of the Arabic Translation program at the base. The men are suspected of trying to poison the food supply at Fort Jackson. A source with intimate knowledge of the investigation, which is ongoing, told CBN News investigators suspect the "Fort Jackson Five" may have been in contact with the group of five Washington, DC area Muslims that traveled to...

Basic Combat Training is getting ready for some major changes to reflect the modern battlefield, said Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, deputy commanding general for Initial Military Training. Hertling, who is responsible for managing the training of Soldiers from the day they enter the Army until they report to their first duty assignments, made his remarks last week during a visit to Fort Jackson, the largest of the Army's five basic training centers. "We really took a look at the relevancy of what we're doing," Hertling said. "We're teaching Soldiers too much stuff." One of the changes Hertling wants to implement...

JUST A REMINDER FOR FREEPERS IN THE SC AREA. WE WILL HAVE OUR MONTHLY COUNTER PROTEST AT THE CAPITOL IN COLUMBIA. FREEPMAIL ME IF YOU NEED DETAILS.

This Wed. Oct. 4th in Columbia, SC interested parties are invited to join a freep at the state capitol building. Every Wed two pinko groups hold what they call a "silent vigil" against the war in Iraq. I have included links to the sites for these groups. http://www.womeninblack.net/ http://www.carolinapeace.org/ Sickening.....isn't it? For over a year I have been counter protesting in support of our troops AND their mission. Fort Jackson, the largest initial entry training center for the Army is in Columbia with Shaw Air Force Base in nearby Sumter. I cannot tolerate servicemen or family members driving or walking...

Thanks for the memories! I was a young recruit from Minnesota sent to Ft. Jackson for basic training twenty-some years ago. I was proud to serve then and I am very proud of the current batch of recruits there now that you highlighted. The level of patriotism displayed by some of America's youth is almost miraculous considering the dregs of society who would seem to have the most influence over the 12-25 year old demographic: Professional athletes demonstrate selfishness, self-aggrandizement and a complete lack of manners. If not now extinct, then certainly maturity, courage and self-sacrifice are at least endangered...