Free Republic

Ray Odierno, the retired Army general who led U.S. troops through the Iraq War and later served as the Army’s chief of staff, has died of cancer at the age of 67. Odierno’s death Friday was announced in a statement by his family, according to The Associated Press. “The general died after a brave battle with cancer; his death was not related to COVID,” the family said. Odierno, a West Point graduate, served in the military for nearly 40 years, a decorated career that included three tours of duty in Iraq. He began the war in command of the 4th...

Will the Joint Chiefs ever make a stand against the Obama Administration? Will the Joint Chiefs ever stand up against the insane social engineering policies which are eviscerating the military like a late night Ginsu chef? Last September, General Martin Dempsey retired as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and escaped in a rowboat down the Potomac as the Pentagon began to sink into the cold depths of the wide, grey river. Dempsey’s reign of cowardice and political correctness was a genuine disaster for the US military. Under Dempsey and his sidekick, Army Chief of Staff, General Ray Odierno,...

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno is on his way out the door and heading for retirement after a long, highly decorated career. We certainly wish him all the best and thank him for the service he has provided. Before leaving, though, he sat down for a wide ranging “exit interview” with Fox News and it sounds like he wasn’t pulling any punches. (While still maintaining the requisite levels of professionalism.) Odierno is widely viewed as being instrumental in the success of “the surge” in Iraq back in the day and spent more time on the ground there...

(CNSNews.com) - Ebola is "a very concerning matter," Secretary of the Army John McHugh told reporters on Wednesday. "I certainly would not suggest to any family, don't be worried, don't be concerned. Every time a solider goes forward on any mission, there's concern. And -- and this is a very concerning matter." Hundreds of U.S. military personnel are now in Liberia to help that country deal with its raging Ebola epidemic. Thousands more are expected to arrive in the coming weeks and months. McHugh said the U.S. military has been working "very, very closely" with its own medical experts as...

The top U.S. commander in Iraq said he expected the United States to meet a long-standing Iraqi request for new Lockheed Martin Corp F-16 multi-role fighter aircraft, although not as soon as Baghdad had sought. "We're still working our way through that, but I think they will be new ones" rather than refurbished F-16s, another option that has been under review, Army General Ray Odierno told reporters at the Pentagon on Friday. The U.S. Air Force has been quiet for months on the status of an assessment it carried out last year on Iraq's air defense needs and whether it...

LT. Gen. Ray Odierno looks like he could snap an NFL linebacker in half. Yet his voice is so quiet you strain to hear him across the table in an empty pub. And the general's worth listening to. Just back from commanding our day-to-day military operations in Iraq, he's been nominated as the Army's next vice chief of staff. He'll take the battlefield's lessons along to that post. What did Iraq teach Odierno as a soldier? What professional tenets were reinforced by his multiple combat tours? "First, you have to empower your subordinates. That means you have to underwrite the...