Free Republic

VAIL, Colo., March 11, 2007 – As the Vail Veterans Program wrapped up the last day of its fourth annual winter sports clinic here yesterday, the veterans and their guests expressed their appreciation for what they’d gained at the four-day event. All 25 military participants in the Vail Veterans Program, their guests, and instructors gathered for a group photo March 11, in Vail, Colo., before their last day of fun in the snow. The veterans received three days of private lessons in skiing or snowboarding from adaptive ski and snowboard instructors trained to work with disabled athletes. Photo by...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 12, 2007 – Beginning Feb. 19, three America Supports You members a week will get the chance to shine when the spotlight swings their way. Three groups per week will be featured on the Internet at AmericaSupportsYou.mil on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Additionally, the America Supports You E-newsletter will highlight those groups beginning the week of Feb. 26. “By featuring three of our nearly 250 home front organizations in-depth each week, America Supports You will provide a closer look at the dedicated Americans who are there sustaining our troops, veterans and their families every day,” Allison Barber,...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 12, 2007 – The Armed Services Blood Program Web site has been redesigned, offering updated content as well as a new look, officials said. The new Web site, www.militaryblood.dod.mil, features information on how to join a “Life Force” team of donors, volunteers and supporters. Topics include blood facts, donor eligibility criteria, donor center locations, and more. Other information offered involves the ASBP “Specialist in Blood Banking” program, its curriculum and how to apply. Convenient links direct users to online blood donation appointment scheduling via the “Click to Save Lives” blood drop button on the ASBP home page....

We propose that Germany, France, and Britain form a holding company with Iran that leases Western centrifuges for a new facility in Iran. (Leasing keeps Iran from claiming that it might "own" the centrifuges and avoids legal problems that might result from such a claim.) Other important countries, such as Russia, could also join the company, though Russia might only join if it could contribute in kind rather than in hard cash. As in URENCO, the European enrichment consortium, Iran would sign a treaty not to enrich uranium anywhere else. By leasing Iran's existing centrifuges, the corporation's Western technicians could...

The WWI Diary Of Stephen McBride: Presented by His Grandson Michael McBride. Portland, Indiana native, military historian, and grandson of WWI soldier Stephen Curtis McBride, will present a program at the Jay County Library about his new book based on the diaries kept during WWI by Sgt McBride. The program will be held at 7:00 PM on Saturday evening December 9th in the meeting room of the Jay County Library, 315 North Ship Street in Portland, Indiana. During his service in 1917-1919, Sgt McBride kept detailed daily entries in his journal. He also took many pictures, which he noted picture...

FORT HUACHUCA — Soldiers are called upon to protect the country, and sometimes that means giving their lives. But during the upcoming Christmas holiday, people are being asked to help soldiers’ families by giving to their children. About 400 children need presents, said Jo Moore, who heads the fort chaplains’ outreach ministries. Holding up a three-ringed binder, Moore showed 3 inches of requests so far this year. That does not include the needs of families who are scheduled to arrive on the fort before Christmas and stay in temporary quarters, Moore said. “I’ve gone down on Christmas Eve to deliver...

TUCSON — Soldiers deploy to Iraq as part of the nation’s war on terrorism. But the war front isn’t thousands of miles away. A big part of a soldiers defensive arsenal is at home, where the family remains. And like their soldier husbands and wives, stress is an everyday reality for spouses and children. It’s not the sounds of roadside bombs exploding, mortars rushing overhead or bullets whizzing by that creates stress on the home front. They have other obstacles. The wives and husbands who stay worry about the safety of their uniformed loved ones In Iraq and elsewhere overseas....

WASHINGTON, Nov. 13, 2006 -- After decades of secrecy, the Air Force today acknowledged that it flew Communist-built fighters at the Tonopah Test Range northwest of Las Vegas. From 1977 through 1988, the program, known as Constant Peg, saw U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine aircrews flying against Soviet-designed MiG fighters as part of a training program where American pilots could better learn how to defeat or evade the communist bloc's fighters of the day. Brig. Gen. Hawk Carlisle, commander of the 3rd Wing at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, is a former member of the 4477th Test and...

SIERRA VISTA — Many wounded soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan know what it is to be disabled, Col. Greg Rose told an audience attending a Sierra Vista Commission on Disability Issues. The Intelligence Center’s deputy commander for training had an audience who knew about being disabled, as some at the Wednesday luncheon suffered from a variety of maladies. But, like returning wounded GIs, who Rose called “Wounded Warriors,” those sitting in wheelchairs or who were sight-impaired, know that the spirit of overcoming a personal problem will be done by the soldiers. The horrific wounds soldiers and other members of...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 10, 2006 -- Thanks to a new program, children of deployed servicemembers will know they are heroes, too. “IMA Hero” has entered into a joint effort with the Armed Services YMCA at Naval Medical Center San Diego to form the “Heroes for Heroes” program. The program will distribute 15,000 IMA Hero Teddy Bears, created by StarRise Creations. The bears will go to children of military families who are enduring the deployment of family members or the return of an injured loved one from the war zone, Diane Malowney, owner of IMA Hero, said. The stuffed toys are...

Until a couple of days ago, like many others, I was looking forward to the long awaited release of Windows Vista. Then the news broke about Microsoft's intention to crack down on software piracy by putting what amounts to spyware on users' computers. Now I'm thinking twice about whether I really need or want this new operating system. Microsoft's so-called Software Protection Program (SPP) has been presented to intending users as a fait accompli just a month ahead of Vista's scheduled release. It will mean that those who use Vista and other Microsoft products will have to put up with...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 7, 2006 -- Two Army combat veterans who both lost something dear in the war against terrorism say they are determined to keep on battling, and proving it as they prepare to run the Army 10-Miler race tomorrow. Left to right: Army Spc. James Stuck, Capt. Matthew Scherer and Spc. Joseph Keck meet the press at a Washington, D.C., suburban hotel Oct. 6. Stuck and Keck are Army combat veterans who both lost limbs in the war against terrorism. They will compete in the Missing Parts in Action team that’s competing in the Army-10-Miler race held here...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 11, 2006 -- Amid the thousands of walkers at the Pentagon yesterday commemorating the lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001, and the nation’s past and present veterans, was a group that looks to help those veterans in a very tangible way. The American Legion’s “Heroes to Hometown” program, which was represented at the end of yesterday’s America Supports You Freedom Walk, is a group that works to provide a seamless transfer for severely injured veterans from the hospital to their hometowns. “We wanted to be a part of this, of course,” David L. Marsh, assistant director of...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 8, 2006 -- Troops appreciate a congressionally legislated insurance program that provides financial aid to badly wounded servicemembers, a senior DoD official told a Senate committee here yesterday. Congress established the Traumatic Servicemembers Group Life Insurance program in 2005 in response to the experiences of some former and current military members who found themselves financially strapped after they suffered severe injuries during the war against terrorism. Coverage applies to active-duty and reserve-component members. “The program is working very well, and the Department of Defense is a satisfied customer,” Michael Dominguez, principal deputy undersecretary of defense for personnel and...

Iran Snubs Annan Over Nuclear Program Sunday September 3, 2006 9:46 PM By NASSER KARIMI Associated Press Writer TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - The U.N. chief got little satisfaction Sunday at the close of his trip to Tehran, snubbed by Iran's leader over international demands to stop enriching uranium and ignored in warnings not to incite hatred by questioning the Holocaust. In a provocative move on the final day of Kofi Annan's two-day visit, Iran announced it would host a conference to examine what it called exaggerations about the Holocaust, during which more than 6 million Jews were killed by the...

‘Why We Serve’ Program to Connect Servicemembers, American PublicBy Donna MilesAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Aug. 31, 2006 – Thirteen servicemembers recently returned from deployments in the Middle East will fan out across the country beginning today to share their experiences and motivation for serving in uniform as they launch the Defense Department’s new “Why We Serve” program. The program has one simple goal: to help connect returning military members with the general public and give them an opportunity to tell their personal stories, explained Allison Barber, deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs. The servicemembers, representing the...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 28, 2006 – Severely injured servicemembers and their spouses are seeing doors open to meaningful civilian careers, thanks to a partnership between the Defense Department and the private sector. The Office of the Secretary of Defense, DoD’s Military Severely Injured Center and Military.com -- a private organization that provides information and serves as a networking hub for current and former military people, defense workers and their families – are co-sponsors of “Hiring Heroes.” Hiring Heroes helps connect servicemembers with DoD and other federal agencies, as well as civilian companies, with significant positions to fill. But it’s not...

CAMP DAVID, Md. - President Bush on Friday criticized a federal court ruling that said his warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional, declaring that opponents "do not understand the nature of the world in which we live." "I strongly disagree with that decision, strongly disagree," Bush said, striking his finger on a podium to underscore his point. "That's why I instructed the Justice Department to appeal immediately, and I believe our appeals will be upheld." U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit on Thursday was the first to find the National Security Agency surveillance program unconstitutional. The program involves monitoring...

8/16/2006 - SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- The faces on posters that call attention to a number of worthwhile volunteer causes are often lost in the hustle of accomplishing the daily mission. However, the association of one poster to a deployed Airman at a recent drive in Southwest Asia put a face on the critical need for all to register as bone marrow donors. The base-wide campaign drew 685 new registrants to the C.W. Bill Young Department of Defense Marrow Donor Program. It was held in memory of Cavion Holloway, the son of Staff Sgt. Danielle and Billy Holloway, who passed...

KENT ISLAND, Md. (Army News Service, Aug. 14, 2006) – About a dozen wounded warriors paddled outrigger canoes with military precision Aug. 13 on the Chesapeake Bay at Kent Island, Md., as a supplement to the ongoing medical care they receive at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The outing was sponsored by the Wounded Warrior Disabled Sports Project and the Kent Island Outrigger Canoe Club. “Outrigger canoeing sets itself apart as a therapeutic sport because it lends itself particularly to those who are physically challenged and it’s easily adaptable,” said Julia Ray, Wounded Warrior Disabled Sports Project manager. Volunteers from...