Free Republic

The National Guardsman who put Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on the spot about having to scavenge metal to boost the armor on military vehicles says he has no regrets. In speaking out for the first time, Thomas Wilson declared: "If this is my 15 minutes of fame, I hope it saves a life." "Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills?" he asked Rumsfeld in a Q&A nearly two weeks ago. The secretary's response, that "You go to war with the Army you have," spawned a storm of criticism. "Personally, I didn't like that answer," Wilson told Time...

Guardsman killed Iraqi after sex By JAY PRICE, Staff Writer A North Carolina National Guard member thought to be the first U.S. soldier convicted of murdering an Iraqi said he "snapped" and shot the 17-year-old boy after they had consensual sex, according to court-martial records released this week. Pvt. Federico Daniel Merida, 21, of Biscoe, a tiny town south of Asheboro, pleaded guilty during a court-martial in Iraq to shooting the Iraqi national guard private, whose name the Army withheld. Merida was sentenced Sept. 25 to 25 years in prison and reduced in rank. He will be dishonorably discharged. Army...

FORT LEWIS, Wash. -- A National Guardsman accused of trying to help the al-Qaida terrorist network suffers from bipolar disorder and other mental-health conditions, a civilian psychologist from Madigan Army Medical Center testified Wednesday. "He has been an outsider, a social misfit, most of his life," psychologist Jack Norris said of defendant Spc. Ryan G. Anderson. Norris said he began evaluating Anderson in mid-July, eventually diagnosing him with bipolar disorder, the condition formerly called manic depression. Anderson also had features of two other disorders, narcissism, or egocentrism, and schizotypal, symptoms of which include social discomfort and eccentric behavior, Norris said....

Overseas deployments are always tough on families. Naturally, the initial focus falls upon the emotional cost of separation. But, for Guardsmen and reservists who own small businesses, the cost involved in a deployment takes on a whole new meaning. For the past two years, the U.S. Small Business Administration's Military Reservist Economic Injury Disaster Loan program has provided loans to eligible small businesses to cover operating costs that can't be met after a key employee is called to active duty in the reserves or National Guard. Often the "key employee" is the business owner, whose family left behind depends on...