Free Republic

President Donald Trump has told his national security team that he would want any U.S. military action in Iran to deliver a swift and decisive blow to the regime and not spark a sustained war that dragged on for weeks or months, according to a U.S. official, two people familiar with the discussions and a person close to the White House. “If he does something, he wants it to be definitive,” one of the people familiar with the discussions said. But Trump’s advisers have so far not been able to guarantee to him that the regime would quickly collapse after...

Dear AIR FORCE Veterans,I would like to create a table of military service for those who served in the AIR FORCE and would like to add your service. I have already started the MARINE Table of Honor, the NAVY Table of Honor, and the ARMY Table of Honor. I would like to create a master table of all military willing to share their service, so that all user names would appear in alphabetical order and be easier to reference regardless of branch of military service. But for now, I'm working on one branch at a time.If you would like to...

Dear ARMY Veterans,My first attempt at create a table of military service for those who served in the ARMY was saddled with an incorrect thread title. I still want to complete a table of honor for the ARMY.If you are willing to be added to the table, have a look at the format I've created and repy on this thread to have your name added. Once I get the names, I can post the completed table in a comment at the bottom of this thread, which you can link for later reference.place holder for usernameU.S. ARMY1972 - 1978, optional details...

Hamas gathered sensitive information on IDF movements, bases and weaponry from IDF soldiers’ social media accounts—and used that information to train for and execute the October 7 massacre. That’s according to a disturbing scoop by @Doron_Kadosh . I’ll break down his main findings. During the October 7 massacre, Hamas terrorists “managed to disable [IDF] tanks in the Gaza border area and render them unusable.” How? “The terrorists knew about a secret button in the tank which, when pressed, disables the tank for a certain period.” This left Israeli officials wondering: how on earth did Hamas have such sensitive information on...

In a meeting with Ukrainian officials in Kyiv last week, U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll delivered a grim assessment. Driscoll told his counterparts their troops faced a dire situation on the battlefield and would suffer an imminent defeat against Russian forces, two sources with knowledge of the matter told NBC News. The Russians were ramping up the scale and pace of their aerial attacks, and they had the ability to fight on indefinitely, Driscoll told them, according to the sources. The situation for Ukraine would only get worse over time, he continued, and it was better to negotiate a peace...

Summary U.S. hopes to ramp up pressure on Maduro government Covert operations expected to be first step, sources say U.S. options include overthrowing Maduro Human rights groups condemn U.S. strikes as illegal extrajudicial killings WASHINGTON, Nov 22 (Reuters) - The United States is poised to launch a new phase of Venezuela-related operations in the coming days, four U.S. officials told Reuters, as the Trump administration escalates pressure on President Nicolas Maduro's government. Reuters was not able to establish the exact timing or scope of the new operations, nor whether U.S. President Donald Trump had made a final decision to act....

The U.S. Army reportedly fired over 150 Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-ballistic missile interceptors to help defend Israel during its 12-day war with Iran earlier this year. If accurate, this would represent roughly a quarter of all THAAD interceptors ordered and/or set to be ordered by the U.S. military to date, according to Pentagon budget documents. Questions about the effectiveness of ship-launched Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) interceptors have also emerged from the U.S. Navy’s employment of around 80 of them during the recent Israel-Iran conflict.The Wall Street Journal first reported on the U.S. military expenditures of THAAD and SM-3...

In Short Nearly 40 US military aircraft vanished from Qatar's Al Udeid Air Base US embassy limits base access citing regional hostilities US troops in Middle East on high alert Nearly 40 US military aircraft have disappeared from the tarmac at a major American airbase in Qatar over the past two weeks, in what appears to be a preemptive move to shield assets from potential Iranian strikes, according to news agency AFP. Between June 5 and June 19, satellite photos from Planet Labs PBC show the once-packed Al Udeid Air Base -- America’s largest military installation in the Middle East...

A significant force of B-2 Spirit stealth bombers looks to be currently wending its way to the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia. Satellite imagery shows at least three C-17 cargo planes and 10 aerial refueling tankers forward-deployed in the last 48 hours to the highly strategic British territory, which has been used as a staging point for U.S. strikes in the Middle East on multiple occasions in the past. The build-up comes amid a new surge in U.S. strikes targeting the Houthis and growing warnings to Iran from the Trump administration over support for the Yemeni militants and Tehran’s...

This graphic, via Visual Capitalist's Pallavia Rao, locates the known overseas bases of the American military, categorized by who controls the base.In red are the ones controlled by the U.S., and blue are ones controlled by the host country.ℹ️ This map does not include several hundred temporary sites for military exercises or contingency operations.Data is sourced from a Congressional report published in 2024. Troop data is from the Defense Manpower Data Center, current to March 2024.Ranked: Countries with the Most U.S. Bases and TroopsBased on unclassified data, the U.S. has at least 128 bases across 49 countries.Of them, Japan (14),...

...The power that the Government has to look into people's emails, their phones, their texts, their signal, their everything -- the idea that they're not doing that if they're not in the middle of a trillion dollar fraud investigation is ridiculous. They also have to worry about people taking deals. There'll be some people that squeal. So you don't know who's your enemy and who's your friend and you go to lunch with someone and they're wearing some button camera and now you're f**ked. So they're not united right now. This is why it's working and they're able to release...

British PM Rishi Sunak has briefed his cabinet on the imminent military intervention, the report adds The leader of the Yemeni rebels has threatened a ‘big’ response to the US and its allies if they proceed with such action against his group Britain is expected to join the United States in conducting air strikes on military positions belonging to the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen “within hours”, the political editor for the Times newspaper reported on Thursday. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Downing Street office did not respond to a request for comment, while the US typically does not comment on...

The White House confirmed that it had accidentally revealed the identities of several U.S. special forces members for the sake of posting a photograph on Instagram with President Joe Biden. “As soon as this was brought to our attention, we immediately deleted the photo," read a statement from the White House. "We regret the error and any issues this may have caused.” The photograph was posted Thursday as Biden visited Israel while the country conducted a military operation to root out terrorist Hamas forces in the Gaza Strip. "In Israel, President Biden met with first responders to thank them for...

TOKYO -- An analysis of satellite images has revealed that around 400 vehicles have gathered within Israel that touches northern Gaza, which is Palestinian territory. This points to the possibility that Israel is rushing to deploy forces within 10 kilometers of the border in preparation for a ground invasion. Nikkei analyzed images taken on Sunday by Planet Labs, a U.S.-based satellite operator. Around six km from the northern Gaza border there appears to be a large number of vehicles deployed. "Around 200 vehicles thought to be Israeli are gathered. The possibility that the Israeli military is preparing for a ground...

Interested in knowing which Army air bases in Germany fly AH-64 Apache. SIL is transferring there.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Thursday approved the deployment of the USS Bataan amphibious readiness group and the 26th Marine Expeditional Unit to the Gulf region, according to US officials. The readiness group consists of three ships, including the Bataan, an amphibious assault ship. An expeditional unit usually consists of about 2,500 Marines. In an announcement, US Central Command said the deployment will provide "even greater flexibility and maritime capability in the region.” The announcement did not name the ships, but US officials detailed the units involved in the deployment on condition of anonymity to discuss troop movements. Along with...

Britain is considering supplying a handful of Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, the first time a western country has indicated it may supply its homemade heavy armour to Kyiv in the war against Russia. No final decision by Downing Street has been made, British sources added, but Ukraine is hoping a positive move by the UK could help persuade Germany to follow suit later this month with its Leopard 2 battle tanks. Ukraine has been asking for British tanks “since summer”, a second source said. But the reality is that the UK, with a total fleet of 227, has a...

KYIV — A group of 10 special operations forces veterans are staging in Poland and preparing to cross into Ukraine, where they plan to take up President Volodymyr Zelensky on his offer to “join the defense of Ukraine, Europe, and the world,” according to a US Army veteran arranging their passage. The group, composed of six US citizens, three Brits, and a German, are NATO-trained and experienced in close combat and counterterrorism. They want to be among the first to officially join the new International Legion of the Territorial Defense of Ukraine that Zelensky announced Sunday, according to text messages...

I just got a cryptic message from my nephew. He and his pals are getting ready to take a trip overseas. A big group, lots of packing. No other details available. I believe that uncle Joe is really going to do this thing. Please Pray for my nephew and his friends.

The three sniper teams positioned themselves 600 to 900 yards away from the “kill zone,” the access road from the airfield, setting up to triangulate their target as he left the airport. One of the snipers had a spotting scope with a camera attached that livestreamed back to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, where the Delta Ground Force commander was based with support staff. Long-range marksmanship involves contesting with a variety of environmental factors, including wind, but the Delta teams didn't rely on guesswork. A member of the Counter Terrorism Group (CTG), an elite Kurdish unit in northern Iraq with...