Free Republic

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SHARANA, Afghanistan, April 15, 2008 – The personal security detachment here does far more than escort their commander and command sergeant major around the battlefield. “They are my go-to guys,” Task Force Rugged Command Sgt. Maj. Frank C. Busch said of the 10-soldier element of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 36th Engineer Brigade, deployed here from Fort Hood, Texas. The personal security detachment soldiers are on the road quite a bit. They have conducted more than 40 convoy patrols throughout NATO’s Regional Command East, from Jaji in northern Afghanistan to Forward Operating Base Warrior, in the southern part...

PARIS (AFP) - Robots of the future may able to climb up and down walls and zigzag across ceilings -- and the cockroach will be the one we should thank. One of the most reviled species in the book of life, the cockroach is also one of the most successful. Its design, honed by 300 million years of evolution, enables it to exploit a huge range of habitat niches, and its locomotion is notoriously fast and versatile. In a study published on Wednesday, University of Cambridge zoologists Walter Federle and Christofer Clemente say they can explain how the roach (Nauphoeta...

RAMADI, Iraq (Jan. 9, 2008) -- It’s not their normal everyday mission. It’s not even what the Marine Corps infantry has historically trained to do. But the job Company E, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, is doing in the Anbar province is important nonetheless. Their job is to prepare the Iraqi Police to become the sole protectors of what was once Iraq’s most vicious city, all while making sure the absence of insurgency remains. Instead of conducting normal combat missions, the Marines of Echo Company spend their days training and patrolling with the Iraqi police, looking forward to the day...

WASHINGTON, May 4, 2006 – Over the past year, the National Guard has demonstrated not only its ability to be the nation's "minutemen" and respond to calls immediately, but also its ability to sustain several different missions at once, the chief of the National Guard Bureau said here yesterday. "It is a different National Guard than existed five or six years ago," Army Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum said at the second hearing of the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves. "It is not only not your grandfather's National Guard, it's not your older brother's National Guard. It's not...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 31, 2006 – Speed and flexibility make a new military high-speed vessel especially valuable for shallow-water operations, a Defense Department official said. The experimental "Stiletto" is a shallow-water transport boat. More than 80 feet in length, the carbon-composite hull can move at more than 50 knots on the cushion of air its "M-hull" creates. Photo by Samantha L. Quigley  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The "Stiletto," a shallow-water craft made of a tough, lightweight carbon composite material, offers a safer, more comfortable ride and is easily reconfigured to accommodate technological advances and the military's needs, said...

GULFPORT, Miss., Sept. 15, 2005 – Units formed to counter the effects of a terrorist incident have proven their worth during natural disasters. Civil support teams working in response to Hurricane Katrina's widespread destruction have given commanders here needed capabilities. Katrina wiped out the infrastructure throughout the Gulf Coast. The storm surge, wind, rain and subsequent flooding killed the communications net. "The land lines were blown down, and cell phones didn't work," said Sgt. 1st Class Peter Eargle, the communications specialist with the Mississippi National Guard's 47th Civil Support Team. "We were able to come in and establish communications between...