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The Army says it is recalling 44,000 advanced combat helmets that have been issued to soldiers worldwide because they do not meet military specifications. The Army said in a statement Friday that the risk to soldiers wearing the helmets is still being determined. New helmets are being issued to anyone who has a defective one. The recall amounts to 4 percent of all advanced combat helmets issued by the Army. The helmets are made by ArmorSource LLC. The company, based in Hebron, Ohio, is a leading maker of combat headgear for the military and police. The army said tests showed...

BAGHDAD - U.S. soldiers from the 571st Military Police Company and the Joint Area Support Group-Central security directorate have been working round the clock since May 2 on request from the Iraqi government to augment the security surrounding the partial recount of the Baghdad parliamentary election ballots. Several weeks ago, an Iraqi review panel decided to unseal the roughly 11,300 ballot boxes and recount more than two million ballots after a complaint from Maliki's bloc alleged fraud in the initial tally of ballots in Baghdad, which holds more than a fifth of the seats in parliament. Officials had expected the...

The first-ever battery of US Patriot missiles to be deployed in Poland will arrive in late May, defence ministry spokesman Janusz Sejmej told AFP on Wednesday. "Following preparations and consultations, the first deployment of a battery of anti-missile Patriots will start around May 24 in Morag," Sejmej said. The Polish military base at Morag, in the Mazurian Lakes region, is some 250 kilometres (150 miles) north of Warsaw and just 60 kilometres (40 kilometres) from the border with Russia's Kaliningrad territory. Sejmej refused to say how long the deployment would last, but said it was "temporary". In February, Poland ratified...

In the current controversy over the 80,000-troop 'Consequence Management Response Force' that is charged in part with 'helping with civil unrest,' the hypocrisy of the Leftwing has become abundantly clear when it comes to standing armies being used against American citizens. The program was planned and the first stage was implemented under the administration of George W. Bush. At that time the program involved only one brigade of the 3rd infantry at Fort Stewart. Since 2008 the program has been expanded to include personnel from all branches of the military, far beyond Fort Stewart, and far beyond the meager 6000...

Kazakhstan has decided to open its airspace to U.S. military aircraft ferrying supplies to American troops serving in Afghanistan, it was decided on Sunday at a meeting between President Barack Obama and his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev in Washington. The permission granted by Kazakstan means that U.S. planes en route to Afghanistan can now use the polar route instead of flying along the indirect route through Europe, which would save precious time and fuel for moving supplies to forward locations in the war-ravaged country. The meeting, the first between the two leaders, took place on the eve of the Nuclear...

Kyrgyzstan's interim government Sunday promised continued U.S. access to an airbase outside Bishkek critical to supporting military operations in Afghanistan. Roza Otunbayeva, the head of the interim government formed in last week's violent uprising, said her administration would follow all previous U.S.-Kyrgyzstan agreements on use of the airbase, which some 50,000 coalition troops bound for Afghanistan passed through in March, The Financial Times reported Sunday.

Defense budgets are not declining and will remain stable through 2015. Defense spending will remain at about 21 percent of total federal outlays, or around 4.7 percent of GDP, according to an analysis of the 2011 defense budget by business consulting firm Frost & Sullivan. However, in a big change to business as usual, the defense budget will no longer be evenly divided between the three services as it has for around the past forty years. The ground forces will be the big winners in future years; the Army’s slice of the budget pie will grow as mountains of equipment...

The US military has suspended troop flights out of its base in Kyrgyzstan and will instead transport forces to and from Afghanistan via Kuwait, military officials said Friday. Amid political upheaval in the strategic Central Asian nation, US commanders at the Manas air base decided late Friday "to temporarily divert military passenger transport flights," Major John Redfield, a spokesman for US Central Command, said in an email. Decisions on continuing other military flights "will be made on a case-by-case basis," he said. The suspension came after the Americans spotted armored vehicles on the civilian side of the airport, a defense...

Last week the British Embassy announced that British, French and American troops would march with Russian soldiers on Red Square to mark the 65th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany. The Brits said in a statement that the parade may mark the first time British troops have marched in Red Square. The AP helpfully explains that Victory Day is Russia's most important secular holiday. It adds that the Kremlin plans a larger parade than usual this year, with good reason. The Kremlin will be celebrating the addition of the British, French and American troops.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates raised the possibility Wednesday that some of the U.S. forces involved in the Afghanistan surge could leave the country before President Barack Obama's announced July 2011 date to begin withdrawal. Without giving specifics, Gates said, "It would have to be conditions-based." Gates made the remarks during a visit to a dust-blown training ground in Kabul province where Afghan soldiers come for weeks of training under U.S. and British instruction. British Brigadier Simon Levy told Gates that if NATO countries contribute more trainers, the project to expand the Afghan army will keep pace. In a press...

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – The U.S. military is testing samples of soil, water and air from hundreds of sites in Haiti to determine if troops could have been exposed to hazardous substances during earthquake relief efforts. Preventive medicine teams from the Army, Air Force and Navy have collected the samples, which include rubble from collapsed buildings and dust churned up by rubble removal, from sites where military personnel have worked over the past two months, according to Maj. Rebecca Carter, 43, an Air Force environmental engineer working in Port-au-Prince. U.S. personnel in the Haitian capital have been working in the middle...

Four Muslim fanatics dreamed of "mounting a second September 11" with a series of bomb attacks on a US military base in Germany as well as nightclubs and restaurants used by American servicemen. The gang, two of whom were German-born but converted to Islam, plotted to detonate explosives 100 times more powerful than those used in the attacks on the London Underground in July 2005, in a "monstrous bloodbath", a court heard. Had the plot not been foiled the gang, a cell of a terrorist group linked to al-Qaeda, would have killed 150 soldiers, along with women and children in...

WASHINGTON, March 2, 2010 – As more U.S. and coalition troops arrive in Afghanistan, their top commander there has some requests for them: Recognize the impact of every action you take, and serve as role models for Afghan security forces as they build leaders and weed out corruption from their ranks. Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal urged troops to keep a clear-eyed focus on the mission – and to be cognizant that it’s not about conventional warfare. “This is not that. This is a war for the people,” McChrystal said during an interview with Soldiers Radio and Television reporter Gail...

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- U.S. Adm. Mike Mullen met Friday with Haitian President Rene Preval and Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive in Mullen's first trip to the earthquake-devastated country. Mullen, who is chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he wanted to visit American troops and assess conditions there. He said that he hasn't toured the rubble in the nearly seven weeks since the 7.0 magnitude quake struck because he wanted to give international relief efforts a chance to get under way. At the beginning of the meeting, Preval interrupted Mullen to address two U.S. reporters. He said allegations...

The United States and South Korea will go ahead next month with a major annual military exercise set to anger North Korea but fewer US troops than last year will take part, officials said Thursday. North Korea denounces the exercise and other annual military drills in the South as a rehearsal for invasion, a claim denied by Seoul and Washington. The Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercise, slated for March 8-18, will draw 18,000 US troops including 10,000 stationed in South Korea and 8,000 from abroad, said Combined Forces Command spokesman Kim Yong-Kyu. Some 26,000 US troops took part in...

It is time to start bringing our troops home from Haiti. The earthquake is over; order is restored; the star-studded benefit songs have been recorded. When the emergency ends and reconstruction begins, the mission should be handed off to other government departments, and the fighting forces should depart.

America is to send 2,200 extra troops to Haiti to help with security and the distribution of food and water to earthquake survivors. Massive amounts of aid have been promised. Massive amounts have arrived at Port au Prince airport. But nearly a week after the tremor, desperately needed supplies are only just beginning to reach those who need it most. (Video at link)

Ten thousand U.S. troops were deployed to secure distribution centers, protect aid shipments and - most importantly - get the airport up and working. Some Haitians reportedly said the presence of U.S. troops made them "fear for their sovereignty," but in one case where food aid was air-dropped, a mob-scene resulted and people were killed. Haitian sovereignty cannot be left to the care of machete-wielding gangs. Tales of a U.S. "invasion" to seize Haiti began to spread as soon as American boots were on the ground. Bolivia's socialist President Evo Morales called the U.S. relief effort "unjust, inhuman and opportunistic"...

US troops land at Haiti presidential palace By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU and MIKE MELIA, Associated Press Writers 13 mins ago PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Six U.S. Navy helicopters touched down on the grounds of Haiti's damaged presidential palace on Tuesday bringing reinforcements in the struggle for security and earthquake disaster relief — more than 100 U.S. troops. Haitians jammed the fence of the palace grounds to gawk, some cheering as the soldiers emerged. "We are happy that they are coming, because we have so many problems," said Fede Felissaint, a hairdresser. Given the circumstances, he did not even mind the troops...

The once seemingly immovable white pillars of Haiti's presidential palace are strewn across the streets. The central towers of what locals nicknamed the "Little White House" have crumbled like a kicked-in sandcastle, one of the more dramatic casualties in the wake of the Jan. 12 earthquake. It is symbolic of the power of the Haitian state, which is itself in ruins. The absence of any effective authority in the five days since the tremor has led hungry and desperate residents to loot and fight over the crumbs to survive. On Monday, the U.S. is sending troops in to help restore...