Free Republic

The story of Sgt. Chuck Bartles' injury in Iraq begins like many others. The 26-year-old Army reservist was riding down a highway in a Humvee when a roadside bomb rocked his vehicle, spraying shrapnel everywhere. One soldier died. Two were injured. Bartles lost a limb. His right arm was shattered and had to be removed above the elbow. What happened next, however, has not happened in decades, according to the commander of Bartles' unit, the Belton, Mo.-based 418th Civil Affairs Battalion. Bartles was allowed to stay in his job and re-enlist in the Army. Civil affairs soldiers are helping rebuild...

WASHINGTON - Ever since Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Kelly lost his right leg to a roadside bomb near Baghdad more than a year ago, he has been on a mission. It was more than just learning how to walk again on a prosthetic limb or figuring out what to do with his life after 13 months at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. Kelly, 24, of Prescott, Ariz., saw a need to help other wounded soldiers and their families cope with the financial struggles that come with months of rehabilitation. In the past month, Kelly and an advocacy group...

Meet some of the brave young volunteers whose lives changed irrevocably at war. "I really wanted to bring my new leg out tonight," said a wounded warrior (who'd had two legs blown off by an IED in Iraq) over dinner Saturday. "Man, that's something I never thought I'd say — but I have," said the Marine next to him, who is so proficient on his prosthetic leg he was dancing earlier that day. Every American should have the privilege of knowing the caliber of Americans who go off to war to protect us. He's a Marine who nonchalantly gets up...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 11/9/04 - Fallujah - Railroad Station to City Center BREAKING: Fallujah - Capture of the Railroad Station BREAKING: Fallujah - Entry to the City Center QFN ==== QUAGMIRE-FREE NEWS Exclusive to FReerepublic PICTURES YOU MIGHT NEVER SEE IN THE CENSORED MAINSTREAM MEDIA =========== Fallujah =========== AMERICA CLEANING THE TERRORIST SCUM FROM THE EARTH In Fallujah, US bombardment of the terrorist-filled city. In Fallujah, weapons hot as American and Iraqi heroes clean up terrorist scum. At last, the center of Fallujah. =========== FLASHBACK TO YESTERDAY ============= In Fallujah, the night-sky just before U.S....

Editor’s note: They rolled in on eight untracked wheels a year ago, one year after being introduced to the Army. Here’s a look at how the Army’s Stryker vehicle has fared. MOSUL, Iraq — Ask nearly anyone in a Stryker unit and they’ll say they weren’t too crazy about the eight-wheeled vehicles at first. Something about rubber tires seemed unlikely to withstand the same beating as a tracked vehicle. The Strykers looked slow and lumbering. But the naysayers have been converted. After the Strykers’ introduction to the Army two years ago, and after a year of combat experience in Iraq,...

The flimsy metal door was ripped off its hinges as a hefty boot from a Legion platoon soldier made decisive contact. Inside the small room lay an AK-47 rifle, alarm clock parts and a handwritten notebook in Farsi. Moments earlier, the gunman, thought to be Iranian, had fled as Legion, Hunter and Outlaw platoons of the US army's Task Force 2-2 undertook one of the more dangerous tasks of the battle for Fallujah. Clearing buildings door to door in a guerrilla stronghold is risky at any time. Into the bargain this time, the platoons from Phantom troop had been ordered...