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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Kentucky Derby week is off to a grim start at Churchill Downs. Three horses have died in the first two racing days of a meet that already began on a tragic note with the death of a Kentucky Derby qualifier, Wild on Ice, who was euthanized following an injury sustained in training last Thursday. Parents Pride, a 4-year-old filly trained by Saffie Joseph Jr. and owned by Ken Ramsey, collapsed and died after Race No. 8 on the Churchill Downs turf course on Opening Night. Another horse trained by Joseph and owned by Ramsey, Chasing Artie,...

100 Percent Fed Up Exclusive – Yesterday, 100 Percent Fed Up shared a disturbing development related to the so-called “security” in the upcoming election on Tuesday in Detroit. On Thursday, MI GOP SoS candidate Kristina Karamo, who is one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey, held a press conference where she explained why she joined the lawsuit that addresses the lack of seriousness and security surrounding signature verification of absentee ballots: [The] “State was required to use the Michigan Administrative Procedures Act to promulgate rules for signature verification and that the SOS guidance informing...

WASHINGTON, March 25, 2010 – Though the number of trainers for Afghan security forces has increased significantly, the process is a work in progress and the American people must have patience, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said here today. Gates and Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also addressed the effects of the Palestinian-Israeli peace process and the progress of United Nations sanctions on Iran. The United States, NATO allies and international partners have added significant numbers of trainers for Afghan security forces, but more are needed, the secretary said. After Afghan units undergo...

WASHINGTON, March 17, 2010 – The NATO training mission in Afghanistan needs more trainers to build a high-quality Afghan military institution, the deputy commander of the training effort said yesterday. Army Maj. Gen. David Hogg said U.S., NATO and Afghan partners have established military academies, officer candidate schools and specialty programs, but hundreds more trainers are needed. During a March 16 “DoDLive” bloggers roundtable, Hogg said more than 800 of 2,325 trainer positions requested from NATO remain vacant. The U.S. Defense Department considers the training mission so important that it may bridge the gap for the short term, he said....

WASHINGTON, March 9, 2010 – Getting more NATO military trainers into Afghanistan is a top priority, the commander of the alliance’s military forces told a Senate panel today. “We need to focus like a laser on trainers from NATO forces,” Navy Adm. James G. Stavridis said during a hearing with the Senate Armed Services Committee. Afghan leaders are doing well in recruiting soldiers and police, but retention is a concern, and the country’s forces are stalled by a lack of trainers, Stavridis said. U.S. military leaders have requested 1,278 NATO trainers for Afghan forces, but only 541 were pledged at...

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, Iraq, Oct. 23, 2009 – Aided by U.S. forces, Iraqi soldiers with the 14th Provisional Transport Regiment gained valuable skills ranging from first aid to Humvee maintenance during a three-week course at Camp Mirra, Iraq. An Iraqi captain shows his knowledge of the M-16 rifle by teaching a class of his peers Oct. 15, 2009, on Camp Mirra, Iraq. Army Maj. Scott Virgil organized a three-week program in which his soldiers taught their Army counterparts to teach others. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. J. Princeville Lawrence  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Members of the Military...

BAGHDAD — The room was dark and quiet as the insurgents were planning their next attack, surrounded by weapons and explosives, when the door is kicked open and members of the Iraqi Police flood into the room, “Get down on the ground,” the insurgents were caught red-handed. The date is July 24, 2008, and it is graduation day, for the members of this Iraqi Police attack force, and the scenario was their final exam in the Iraqi Police Master Trainer Program. The “insurgents,” were played by their instructors from the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division...

BAGHDAD — The Iraqi Police continue to make positive steps toward becoming self-sufficient through the vigorus training of the ‘Police Train-the-Trainer Academy Program’ in the Karkh District of Baghdad. Currently being ran by the 4th Battalion, 42nd Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne, Multi-National Division – Baghdad, the training program focuses on training Karkh Security District policemen on rifle marksmanship, dismounted patrolling, tactical checkpoint operations, first aid, Iraqi law, crime scene management, improvised explosive device identification and reaction, and building clearing and searching procedures. A few months ago, the field artillery troops trained five policemen to become...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 8, 2008 – Leaders training security forces in Afghanistan’s western region need about 300 more trainers, a U.S. Army colonel involved in the effort said today. Afghan Regional Security Integration Command West, with headquarters in Herat, expanded its mission to train police forces last year, Col. Jim Klingaman, the organization’s commander, said in a briefing via satellite with Pentagon reporters. The colonel said he had to move some Afghan army trainers to the police training mission to accommodate the expanded mission, and that left some gaps. He said he needs about 300 more troops to continue training the...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 19, 2007 – The number of internationally supplied trainers for Afghanistan’s soldiers and police is slated to quadruple, as the number and capabilities of those security forces continues to grow, a senior U.S. military officer told Pentagon reporters here yesterday. Afghan Defense Minister Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak speaks during a Pentagon news conference on the ongoing security and training operations in Afghanistan, Oct. 18, 2007. Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Molly A. Burgess, USN  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Plans are to augment the 22 training teams already operating across Afghanistan with another 80 teams,...

Expensive trainers 'a waste of cash' By Stewart Payne Last Updated: 6:31am BST 11/10/2007 Expensive trainers do not give more protection to runners' feet than cheaper ones and are not worth the money, according to research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. The study will come as unwelcome news to the 1.5 million runners in the UK who deliberate long and hard over their choice of footwear, believing that the more they pay the better protection they will get. Worth their weight in gold? Researchers examined nine commonly available trainers, ranging in price from £40 to £75, and...

FORT HOOD, Texas - Army Sgt. Lawrence Sprader set out under the searing Texas sun on a map-reading exercise, carrying a cell phone in case he got hopelessly lost or fell ill in the hills and ravines of Fort Hood. And still he didn't make it out alive. For more than an hour, a disoriented and dehydrated Sprader used his phone to repeatedly call superiors and tell them of his plight before the 24-year-old Iraq war veteran finally collapsed in the thick underbrush, where his decomposing body was discovered four days later. How could that have happened? A 1,700-page Army...

BAGHDAD, Dec. 22, 2006 -- Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates today learned from a U.S. Army officer working closely with Iraqi forces that Iraqi units are gaining confidence in their abilities and are doing more to empower noncommissioned officers. U.S. Army Lt. Col. Bob Morschauser, commander of Task Force 2-15 in the Mahmudiyah area, along with a half dozen soldiers in his unit, ate breakfast with Gates and U.S. Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, here this morning. In a news conference a few hours later, Gates told reporters he was impressed and encouraged by what...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 1, 2006 -- The U.S. military is increasing the number of embedded trainers assisting Iraqi army and police units to become more proficient and independent, the senior U.S. military officer overseeing operations in northern Iraq said today. “We intend to enlarge the size of our mobile (Iraqi army) training teams and also our police training teams, and also the teams that we have working with the border security forces along the Syria and Iranian border,” Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon said during a briefing via satellite with Pentagon reporters. He said the Iraqi forces are allies....

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17, 2006 -- More U.S. officers and noncommissioned officers are being assigned to mentoring and training duties with Iraqi army and police units in the country’s Anbar province, a senior U.S. Marine officer deployed in Iraq said today. “We’ve taken Marines and soldiers out of our combat formations so that they can work more closely with Iraqi security forces,” Marine Col. Larry D. Nicholson told Pentagon reporters from his headquarters in Fallujah during a satellite-televised news conference. Nicholson is the commander of Regimental Combat Team 5, a contingent of nearly 5,000 U.S. Marines, soldiers and sailors that...

FORT GILLEM, Ga. (Army News Service, June 14, 2006) – First Army trainers charged with preparing National Guard and Reserve Soldiers for deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan updated their knowledge on IEDs last week. Eighty-five trainers met via video-teleconference with a unit currently serving in Iraq to learn about the latest tactics insurgents are using in IED attacks. The information will be used to update IED instruction Soldiers receive during theater immersion training. “We have to create awareness in our Soldiers,” said First Army Command Sgt. Maj. Marvin Hill. “We are sinking everything into this training to make it tough...

U.S. Army Maj. Donnie Kelly, embedded training team chief for the Afghan National Army's 2nd Kandak, 1st Brigade, 203rd Corps, trains soldiers on procedures for entering and searching buildings. Office of Security Cooperation-Afghanistan photo by U.S. Air Force Capt. Dave Huxsoll More Photos U.S. Army Embedded Trainers Mentor Afghan Soldiers Afghan soldiers of the 2nd Kandak regularly join members of the U.S. Army’s 1st Brigade, as well as military police stationed at Orgun-E, on missions in the area. By U.S. Air Force Capt. Dave HuxsollOffice of Security Cooperation-Afghanistan FORWARD OPERATING BASE ORGUN-E, Afghanistan, Feb. 10, 2006 — The professional...

AN NUMANIYAH, Iraq (Aug. 12, 2005) -- On June 9, 2005, the forward deployed 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing sent an 11-man Military Transition Team (MiTT), to An Numaniyah, Iraq, a training base in southeastern Iraq. The team’s mission is to stand up the 2nd Brigade of the 7th Iraqi Army Division and serve as advisory staff in the training of the 1st Battalion. The MiTT concept is modeled after the combined arms platoons that were employed in Vietnam from 1967 to 1974. Using this model, Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq formed three specialized teams to embed with the New Iraqi Army...

The Associated Press PRETORIA, South Africa July 9 — President Bush suggested Wednesday that any U.S. military help in ending brutal civil unrest in Liberia might consist mostly of advisers and trainers to avoid stretching American forces too thinly around the globe."We won't overextend our troops, period," Bush said at a joint news conference with South African President Thabo Mbeki, who had pressed him on what role the United States would play in the crisis. African nations want the United States to do more to end the bloodshed in the western Africa nation. But U.S. lawmakers, including some leading...

PRETORIA, South Africa - President Bush (news - web sites) suggested Wednesday that any U.S. military help in ending brutal civil unrest in Liberia might consist mostly of advisers and trainers to avoid stretching American forces too thinly around the globe. "We won't overextend our troops, period," Bush said at a joint news conference with South African President Thabo Mbeki, who had pressed him on what role the United States would play in the crisis. African nations want the United States to do more to end the bloodshed in the western Africa nation. But U.S. lawmakers, including some leading Republicans,...