Free Republic

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Remembering Our Troops!! ~ MEDITERRANEAN DRILLS An air-cushion landing craft debarks the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp for drills in the Mediterranean Sea, Aug. 25, 2016. The Wasp is supporting maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Nathan Wilkes Canteen Mission Statement Showing support and boosting the morale ofour military and our allies' militaryand family members of the above.Honoring those who have served before. SLINGLOAD HOOKUP Soldiers attach a slingload hook onto a UH-60 Black Hawk...

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Remembering Our Troops!! ~ TAKE THE NIGHT Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Login Loftis fires an M240 medium machine gun as Lance Cpl. Krikland Harrington looks through a night-vision device during Integrated Training Exercise 5-16 at Marine Air-Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms CA, Aug. 18, 2016. The exercise brings together the ground, air and logistics combat elements of the Marine Corps into one unit ready to respond to global uncertainty. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Timothy Valero Canteen Mission Statement Showing support and boosting the morale ofour military and our allies' militaryand...

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Remembering Our Troops!! ~ PARACHUTE CHORE Army Warrant Officer Greg Suchanek drags his parachute toward a rally point during Leapfest 2016, an international parachute training event, in West Kingston, RI, Aug. 4, 2016. Suchanek is a paratrooper assigned to Special Operations Detachment (NATO). The Rhode Island Army National Guard's 56th Troop Command hosted the event to promote high-level technical training and esprit de corps within the international airborne community. Army photo by Sgt. Brady Pritchett Canteen Mission Statement Showing support and boosting the morale ofour military and our allies' militaryand family members...

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Remembering Our Troops!! ~ RAPTOR REFUELING Four F-22 Raptors await refueling from a KC-135R Stratotanker aircraft during Rim of the Pacific 2016 over the Pacific Ocean, July 26, 2016. The Raptor pilots are assigned to the 199th and 19th Fighter squadrons. The Stratotanker crew is assigned to the 465th Air Refueling Squadron. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Gregory A. Harden II Canteen Mission Statement Showing support and boosting the morale ofour military and our allies' militaryand family members of the above.Honoring those who have served before. SEAHAWK DEPARTURE An MH-60S...

Shannon Airport Shannon, Ireland 1:32 P.M. GMT THE VICE PRESIDENT: Morning, everybody. We’re the Pences. TROOPS: Morning, sir! THE VICE PRESIDENT: Great to see you all. And thank you for your service. This is — now, is this your unit out of Fort Worth and National Guard? Is this where — LIEUTENANT COLONEL KELLEY: Fort Bliss. But it’s a combination. This is mostly the National Guard guys and (inaudible). THE VICE PRESIDENT: Okay, so this is National Guard? LIEUTENANT COLONEL KELLEY: Some of my guys are over there, sir. THE VICE PRESIDENT: Okay, well, Fort Bliss and National Guard. Great....

Iran was dealt a severe blow with the strike that killed Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani. Yet because of Iran’s core interests, the danger to U.S. servicemembers in Iraq is far from over. Instead of playing politics, Washington must realize that risking the lives of American forces in a gamble to reduce Iranian influence in Iraq isn’t worth it and may be self-defeating. Just look at the history of America and Iran.Many Americans view this history as starting in 1979 when, during the Iranian Revolution that overthrew the shah, Islamic radicals stormed the U.S. embassy in Iran and held...

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Remembering Our Troops!! ~ FIRING ADJUSTMENT Army Staff Sgt. Geriff Polanco looks toward the target as Army Sgt. Erik Paredes looks through the sight of an M119 howitzer during live-fire training at Fort Polk, LA, July 26, 2016. Paredes and Polanco are assigned to the New York Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 258th Field Artillery. Army National Guard photo by Sgt. Maj. Corine Lombardo Canteen Mission Statement Showing support and boosting the morale ofour military and our allies' militaryand family members of the above.Honoring those who have served before. PRE-FLIGHT CHECKS A...

With the death of General Soleimani and Iran's subsequent "saving face" retaliation, many pundits and commentators have expressed fear of an escalation of violence between the U.S. and Iran, something that could even mount into a third world war. Considering that those pushing this narrative also happen to push the narrative that Trump is a fascist dictator, Obama's foreign policy was beyond reproach, and the current impeachment is completely legitimate, it's safe to assume that these critics are mistaken. Trump is unlikely to start a war with Iran; he has no reason to do so, nor does anyone want this...

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi has told the U.S. secretary of state to send a delegation to Iraq tasked with formulating the mechanism for the withdrawal of U.S troops from Iraq, according to a statement released Friday. The statement, from the office of the Iraqi caretaker prime minister, said the request came in a telephone call between Abdul-Mahdi and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday night. It says Pompeo called the Iraqi premier. The prime minister said Iraq rejects all violations against its sovereignty including the attacks carried out by Iranian forces against U.S. troops in Iraq and...

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Remembering Our Troops!! ~ PATRIOTIC TRIBUTE Members of the Oregon Army National Guard display the American flag on stage while the band Kiss performs the national anthem during the “Freedom to Rock” concert in Eugene, OR, July 9, 2016. The soldiers provided a color guard for the band’s patriotic tribute to U.S. military and veterans at the concert. Oregon National Guard photo by Maj. W. Chris Clyne Canteen Mission Statement Showing support and boosting the morale ofour military and our allies' militaryand family members of the above.Honoring those who have served before....

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) — Being a U.S. soldier in a fast-response force sometimes means being sent halfway across the world within a day, leaving no time to say goodbye to those staying behind. That’s what happened to April Shumard when her husband, a member of the 82 Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, got the call. He was at home, minding the couple’s five children while Shumard was at work at Healing Hands day spa, when he sent her a text. He had to rush to base. He wasn’t sure if it was a drill or a deployment. Then she...

First, the explanation from former CIA Director, current U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo: Video at link Does this “escalation” have a familiar feel about it? Let’s review the timeline: A joint U.S. DoD, CIA and State Department effort initiated the background for an impeachment effort against U.S. President Donald Trump.♦ A DoD Lt. Colonel named Alexander Vindman (Defense Dept.) sends false information to CIA operative Eric Ciaramella (CIA)…. that kick-starts a manipulated anonymous whistle-blower complaint through congress and the intelligence inspector general… which precedes a litany of U.S. foreign service operatives (State Dept.) testifying against President Trump.Despite the known...

Al Villanueva was 12 when the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center prompted the U.S. to invade Afghanistan in 2001. Eighteen years, three tours of duty and five NFL seasons later, the war continues. Mr. Villanueva, the Steelers’ left tackle and locally perhaps the most well-known veteran of the war in Afghanistan, belongs to a large Pittsburgh community of post-9/11 veterans, a portion of the nearly 800,000 who have deployed to Afghanistan with the initial mission of hunting down Osama bin Laden and the Taliban who protected him. Bin Laden is dead, but the Taliban, once nearly vanquished,...

South Korea and the United States failed on Wednesday to agree on Seoul’s contribution toward hosting some 28,500 U.S. troops, but the U.S. side hinted after the two days of talks ended that it will no longer stick to its $5 billion demand. No deal by Dec. 31, when the current agreement expires, may result in a repeat of last year when the two countries missed a year-end deadline but reached a retroactive deal in the new year. The two sides next meet in January in the United States. U.S. President Donald Trump has accused South Korea of being a...

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Remembering Our Troops!! ~ DAWN PREPARATIONS Marines prepare for a possible simulated attack at dawn during Exercise Hamel at the Cultana Training Area in Australia, July 9, 2016. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Osvaldo L. Ortega III Canteen Mission Statement Showing support and boosting the morale ofour military and our allies' militaryand family members of the above.Honoring those who have served before. PALS 16: AMPHIBIOUS ASSAULT DEMONSTRATION A Navy air-cushion landing craft comes ashore during an amphibious landing demonstration for the U.S. Pacific Command's amphibious leaders symposium on Camp Pendleton, CA,...

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Remembering Our Troops!! ~ NATIONAL STRIPES Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Scott Farrell folds the U.S. flag aboard the guided-missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville in the South China Sea, July 9, 2016. The Chancellorsville is patrolling in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility supporting security and stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Andrew Schneider Canteen Mission Statement Showing support and boosting the morale ofour military and our allies' militaryand family members of the above.Honoring those who have served before. NIGHT-VISION VIEW Soldiers look through their night-vision...

The Pentagon on Wednesday denied a report that the United States was weighing sending up to 14,000 more troops to the Middle East in the face of a perceived threat from Iran. The Wall Street Journal reported that the possible deployment would include "dozens" more ships and double the number of troops added to the US force in the region since the beginning of this year, citing unnamed US officials. The paper said President Donald Trump could make a decision on the troop boost as early as this month. But the Pentagon disputed the accuracy of the report. "To be...

WASHINGTON—The Trump administration is considering a significant expansion of the U.S. military footprint in the Middle East, including dozens more ships, other military hardware and as many as 14,000 additional troops to counter Iran, U.S. officials said. The deployment could double the number of U.S. military personnel who have been sent to the region since the start of a troop buildup in May. President Trump is expected to make a decision on the new deployments as soon as this month, those officials said.

President Donald Trump arrived in Afghanistan on Thanksgiving to rally U.S. troops involved in the nearly two-decade-old war effort. Trump secretly left his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida Wednesday night and set out across the globe to offer holiday greetings to the service members stationed overseas. It marks Trump’s second trip to a combat zone, following last year’s Christmas trip to Iraq.

..."I understand that the U.S. is preparing to withdraw one brigade in case negotiations with South Korea do not go as well as President Trump wants," a diplomatic source in Washington with knowledge of the negotiations was cited as saying by South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo. There are about 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea. A brigade is about 3,000-4,000 troops, Chosun said, and a potential reduction would be within the bounds of the National Defence Authorization Act for fiscal year 2019, passed by the U.S. Congress. None of the funds authorized by the act may be used to reduce...