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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- The bodies of the four Canadian soldiers killed in fierce fighting with insurgents Thursday began the long journey home Saturday morning during a sombre ramp ceremony here attended by more than 3,000 troops from several NATO countries when they were carried by 36 pallbearers into the belly of waiting Hercules aircraft #130325. Three of the 10 soldiers injured alongside them, also members of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, watched the ceremony from wheelchairs beneath the hot morning sun and were wheeled onto the plane to pay their final respects. The combat deaths of...

ABOARD USS NASSAU (April 24, 2006) -- As the Marines and sailors of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) prepare for the long journey home crossing the Atlantic, one Marine was able to get his homecoming a little early. Cpl. Phillip Ramirez, of Jacksonville, Fla., a squad leader with Weapon’s Co., Battalion Landing Team, 1st Bn., 2nd Marines, got the chance to meet his father during an underway replenishment at sea (unrep). Ramirez’s father, Leonardo, is the chief cook for USNS Patuxent, the Fleet Replenishment Oiler assigned to refuel the Nassau. “I was told a half hour ago...

Big Brother Is Watching WHO?? TSA "Terrorist" Turns Out To Be A Homeward-Bound Marine by ANN Senior Correspondent Kevin R.C. "Hognose" O'Brien The Transportation Security Administration bagged a terrorist in Los Angeles International Airport Tuesday, or so they thought. Daniel Brown's name came up on their no-fly watchlist, so they dragged him into interrogation and grilled him, despite the protestations of Brown and his fellow travelers, who swore they could vouch for him. The others in Brown's party went on their Northwest Airlines flight to Minneapolis-St. Paul, where they waited on a bus at the airport. You see, the detained...

The first wave of the 48th Brigade Combat Team will return from Iraq and into the arms of their loved ones during a huge celebration at Fort Stewart Wednesday night. Gov. Sonny Perdue will be among the Georgians welcoming the soldiers home to the southeast Georgia town of Hinesville after they served more than a year in the war in Iraq. The north Georgia community of Dawson County is also preparing for a big homecoming celebration because so many soldiers are from there. One mother, Julie Nix, read from what she hopes will be one of the last emails her...

Ships, planes of Theodore Roosevelt strike group return next week The ships and aircraft of the USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group will return home next week from six months supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. The more than 7,500 sailors left September 1. 060303-N-9362D-001 Mediterranean Sea (March 3, 2006) – The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) pass the Rock of Gibraltar as it makes the transit from the Mediterranean Sea to Atlantic Ocean. Roosevelt and embarked Carrier Air Wing Eight (CVW-8) are underway on a regularly scheduled deployment conducting maritime security operations. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate...

<p>I would like to start off by saying thank you to everyone for your outpour of support for me during my time of suffering. Your prayers, concerns, and well wishes meant a lot to me, and I hold them in my heart. Unfortunately, as is with all letters of mine, they are written date by date. This will keep you reading and not jump into the climax portion. Sorry but boredom is mandatory, and there is no cheating allowed.</p>

OPERATION HERO ALERT: Funeral Services for Seargent Evan Seam ParkerCounter-Protest of WBCWednesday, 11/2/2005*South Haven Public School - South Haven, KS OPERATION HERO is spreading word of a planned picket by Westboro Baptist Church during the memorial service of Seargent Evan Seam Parker. Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church will be picketing during the funeral service for Sgt. Evan Seam Parker on Wednesday, November 2 in South Haven, KS. This anti-Troops/anti-war "liberal" hate group will be protesting from 1pm - 2pm outside the High School where services are being held. The funeral service is scheduled to begin at 2pm, so...

When Delta Flight 1880 landed late Saturday at Logan International Airport in Boston, the pilot went on the intercom to make a request of the passengers preparing to grab their carry-on bags: Sit for a moment and honor a fallen soldier. "The pilot said, 'We have a hero on this flight and sadly, he isn't with us, but his mother is escorting his remains,' " said Barbara Bell, sister of Sgt. Pierre A. Raymond, 28, an Army reservist from Lawrence, Mass., who died Tuesday in Germany after being wounded in Iraq. The normal bustle of an emptying airplane immediately ceased,...

FALLUJAH, Iraq (Sept. 21, 2005) -- Seven months ago, the city’s crumbling buildings and nearly empty streets greeted the Marines of 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment. Major combat operations had ceased in Fallujah, but the ruins and desolation all around spoke of a conflict not long past. It was up to Marines like Elizabeth City, N.C. native, Cpl. Mychal McVicker, and his team to help restore order and stability to the war-torn city’s people. A task they eagerly set out to tackle. McVicker, who had served a combat tour in Afghanistan in 2004, was once again overseas to fight terrorism....

AL ASAD, Iraq (Aug. 19, 2005) -- The Gunrunners of Marine Light/Attack Helicopter Squadron 269 have transferred their mission to the Warriors of HML/A-167. The squadron will soon return to Marine Corps Air Station, New River, N.C., after six months deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. “It’s an honor to be part of the history of Iraq,” said Cpl. Chris J. Henderson, HML/A-269 administrative clerk and Baton Rouge, La., native. “We had a mission set out for us before coming out here and we accomplished it in a way that makes our unit proud.” With only half of their...

SPACE CENTER, Houston (AP) -- Astronauts completed flight control checks aboard space shuttle Discovery and practiced landing on a computer simulator as they made final preparations Sunday for their return to Earth. Flight director LeRoy Cain said the weather forecast looked good for Monday's predawn landing at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Cain said he and everyone else on the entry team at Mission Control were both excited and anxious about Discovery's return, and were not dwelling on Columbia's catastrophic descent 2 1/2 years ago. "We're looking forward, we're not looking back," he said with less than 24 hours to go before...

Seahawks conclude Iraqi tour, make mark in history Submitted by: 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing Story Identification #: 200572224315 Story by Gunnery Sgt. Shannon Arledge AL ASAD, Iraq (July 22, 2005) -- Marine Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 4 started its journey home today. After seven months in a deployed combat environment, the 190 Marines are ending their deployment that began in mid January. “All the Marines were very eager to support [Operation Iraqi Freedom],” said Sgt. Joseph A. Esala, electronics section, a native of Statesboro, Ga. “It is a challenging and worthy effort. I’m honored to have been involved in it.”...

Could somebody please post the links to the Soldiers tributes (any of them).... I think I'm thinking of the one with the "Homeward Bound" soundtrack. I know its early but I won't be near a keybord this weekend and I want to see them.

My fellow FREEPers, I know it's been a while. Well i forgot to duck. By the time most of you see this I will be on my way to Germany for treatment. The war for me is done. My men continue to do the job. This last rash of bombings and attacks are being under reported and I don't know why. Al Queada is getting desparate. I don't know when I'm will RTS. But I do imagine that it will be soon. God I love wireless. LOL! Please keep praying for us. Socomofficer

Editor's Note: This is a recent letter from 1st Lt. Brian Donlon USMC to a group of friends and supporters with whom he had stayed in contact during his deployment to Iraq. It was provided to DefenseWatch by a mutual friend. To All, This will be my final letter from Iraq. I will be leaving the country in the next week and should be home in the United State soon after. Spring is now here in Iraq. The weather is pleasantly warm with the occasional sunny day. On a recent trip, I flew in a helicopter north of Baghdad over...

To All, This will be my final letter from Iraq.  I will be leaving the country in the next week and should be home in the United State soon after. Spring is now here in Iraq.  The weather is pleasantly warm with the occasional sunny day.  On a recent trip, I flew in a helicopter North of Baghdad over miles of small farms, criss-crossed by irrigation canals, each surrounded by bright green fields.  It all gave an impression of timelessness, life unchanging but for the season.  In the days since the elections it has been very quiet here and all...

Marine Reserve unit prepares for return home; welcomes replacements HIT, Iraq, March 20, 2005 — Charlie Company no longer occupies one of the most mortared outposts in Iraq. Our days at Forward Operations Base (FOB) Hit — pronounced “fob heat” — are over. The last of the company reached Al Asad airbase, our staging area for our flight out early on Tuesday. Later Tuesday we turned in all but 60 of our 210-round combat load of bullets and it was a good feeling. During Operation River Blitz I had more than 800 rounds for my rifle, though a mostly cowed...

The Crawford family is crossing its fingers and holding its collective breath. Thirty-six-year-old Cpl. Curtis Crawford is scheduled to fly out of Baghdad tomorrow on the first leg of a 12-day journey home to his St. Helena family -- wife Priscilla and children, Jennifer, Cassy, Jordon, Cyler, Jagger and Dakota. "The kids are really excited," Priscilla Crawford said last week as she was working on homecoming details. "The older ones are kind of apprehensive. They're not sure if a good thing or bad thing. It's been a long time." Crawford, who had been in the Army for seven years until...

At Abu Ghraib, Armin Cruz handcuffed defenseless Iraqi men together in a sexually humiliating embrace. He put his foot on their backsides and pushed, to simulate homosexual thrusting. He forced them to low-crawl across a cement floor, scraping their genitals until it hurt. In Plano, he was an after-school counselor at Christie Elementary School. He was known to sprawl on the floor with kids for hours, helping with homework, coloring pictures, playing cards. He was gentle, his co-workers say, and patient. Mr. Cruz, a military intelligence analyst and 24-year-old college student from Plano, was sentenced in September to eight months...

Marines and sailors of the Okinawa-based 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit boarded three ships of the Sasebo, Japan- based USS Essex Amphibious Readiness Group and began their voyage home from the Middle East on Monday. The trip back to Okinawa will take about four weeks, according to a 31st MEU news release. The MEU’s 2,200 members served in Iraq from last September to February, when the unit was assigned to the 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force. It was responsible primarily for conducting security and stabilization operations in the 33,000-square-mile U.S. area of operation in the Al Anbar province. It...