Free Republic

Hillsborough County, Florida TAMPA - A 'suspicious' truck has closed a cargo gate at MacDill Air Force Base, along with several roads close to the base. MacDill spokesman Lt. Omar Villarreal told FOX 13 that the vehicle inspection system at the Port Tampa gate detected something unusual from a truck parked there. The Tampa Police Department reports that they are blocking traffic on Interbay Boulevard between WestShore Boulevard and Dale Mabry Highway while base security personnel investigate the truck.

8/18/2006 - MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AFPN) -- The Tampa Bay Buccaneers broke training camp Thursday and in an unprecedented move for the team, held its day-before-game walk-through at MacDill AFB, Fla. The Buccaneers, who play their second pre-season game against the Miami Dolphins Saturday, have a long-standing relationship and community partnership with the military here. "You guys have no idea what a great morale booster it is for you to come out and do this," said Col. Maggie Woodward, 6th Air Mobility Wing commander. "It means a lot that you think enough of us to do this." Friday's...

TAMPA - -- Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Dennis Hejlik is no stranger to tough assignments. In Iraq a year ago, Hejlik was preparing his troops for an assault on Fallujah, an insurgent stronghold about 40 miles west of Baghdad. "If we're told to go, … we're going to go in there, and we're going to whack 'em," Hejlik, then deputy commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, told reporters during an impromptu news conference. That direct, homespun approach to combat will serve him well in his new post. A self-described "farm kid from Iowa," Hejlik has been picked to lead...

Shoplifting Charge Dogs Iraq General Military Sources: Gen. Karpinski Caught Stealing Perfume In 2002 Jun 3, 2004 5:45 am US/Central NEW YORK (CBS) An American general caught up in the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal is now at the center of a new controversy involving allegations about her past, but she's calling it a smear campaign. Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, who claims she has been made a scapegoat for the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, is the subject of an investigation by the Army Inspector General involving an alleged shoplifting incident in October of 2002, one year before the abuses began, reports...

TAMPA, Fla. - It's not home, but international members of the coalition helping in the Iraq war say MacDill Air Force Base isn't such a bad place to spend the holidays. "America is always a nice country," said Army Lt. Col. Mohamed Robleh from the East African nation of Djibouti. "Even though we're away from our home countries, we're OK here." Nearly 300 troops from 68 countries act as liaisons between their armed forces and U.S. Central Command, which controls ongoing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and is headquartered at MacDill. Robleh misses his family and talks to his...

<p>WASHINGTON — An experimental computer program designed to analyze intelligence gave U.S. Special Forces a mission recommendation in 2000 that some say could have prevented the Sept. 11 attacks.</p> <p>The U.S. Military Special Forces Command at McDill Airforce Base came up with a chart of Al Qaeda's entire international network in the period prior to the November 2000 election, but the recommendation, which reached the desk of Clinton Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Hugh Shelton was never implemented, according to eight-term Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., a member of the House Armed Services Committee.</p>

MacDILL AIR FORCE BASE - Two laptop computers are missing and may have been stolen from the closely guarded headquarters of Gen. Tommy Franks here, federal authorities confirmed Tuesday. Maj. Mike Richmond at the Air Force Office of Special Investigations said his agency is one of those investigating the possible theft of the laptops. A spokeswoman for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Lt. Cdr. Barbara Burfeind, said late Tuesday that she would not comment ``on any ongoing investigation.'' Franks directs the U.S. and coalition forces searching for remaining al-Qaida and Taliban fighters in Afghanistan from the headquarters here of U.S. Central...