Army Specialist and blogger Stephen Fortunato was killed earlier this week in Afghanistan when the vehicle he was riding in was s truck by a roadside bomb. His mother shared a blog entry with the Boston Globe, which Stephen had written in August. According to BostonHerald.com : " He was killed on his first day back on patrol after a 19-day leave in Massachusetts. Fortunato was in the 26th Infantry Regiment and served as a gunner in back of a Humvee. He had served i...
I am inviting everyone to check out my new Mil-Blog of videos from Iraq and Afghanistan. The videos are up to date and updated weekly. Want to see the good side of the news on the War on Terror? Want to see the good things our troops do every day? Then this is for you! Video Reporter for Iraq and Afghanistan War. Videos from the DOD and other military sources. http://3rdid8487.livejournal.com/ Feel free to post comments, make suggestions for improvements and so on. &n...
It was a damn fine day in Iraq today. During operations today: -- An air weapons team fired a Hellfire missile at four criminals as they attempted to emplace an improvised explosive device in northeastern Baghdad around 1 a.m. The missile killed all four and destroyed the IED. -- A separate AWT witnessed two criminals setting up a firing position in northeastern Baghdad at about 1:30 a.m. The AWT engaged with one Hellfire missile and killed one criminal; the other fled...
By Maj. Enrique Vasquez Combat Aviation Brigade 1st Infantry Division MOSUL, Iraq – Two OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter pilots assigned to the Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, received the Army’s highest aviation award, the Distinguished Flying Cross, for their actions during combat operations while flying over Mosul, Iraq, on Dec. 30, 2007. Pilots, Capt. Peter Di Giorgio and 1st Lt. Robert I. Sickler both of Troop A, 4th Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regim...
Born an Aussie and raised an Englishman, Scott Grimshaw is an officer in the Maine Air National Guard . In November we had a chance to catch up with the exceptionally bright and dedicated young man who is balancing his role in the reserves with the demands of the teaching profession. You hear the tales of those born as Generation X , the generation of young men and women who are self-absorbed and interested only in what life has to offer them. Then you meet someone like high school te...
I am sure by now you have heard that the US Army had an 80% increase in the desertion rate since 2003. Or did you hear how the desertion rates are the highest rate since 1980?? If not simply look at all the news reports, CBS, ABC, AP and many many others. But like many things the media and others have tried to do, they have forgotten about the power of the internet and the availability of information because of it. Here is what they are saying: Soldiers strained by six years at war are...
The US Military Digital Video and Imagery Distribution System just put up a fantastic resource and tool for those families that have loved ones in Iraq or Afghanistan. They created a web page they call "News From The Field" and it list all the units that are deployed, and even those that are not. It links each unit to all the videos and photos that have been taken about and by that unit and put it in a very easy to follow and understand format. For people like me that search for ...
While many families in the US and around the world were getting ready for Halloween, another family was getting ready to welcome home a family member that had been gone for 15 very long months. They gathered along with hundreds of other family members of soldiers to welcome home their soldier in an airplane hangar, to wait for that glimpse of their loved one when he marched in the doors along with all the other soldiers. It was 9:15am and Holly, her two daughters (17 and 20) and her son (24) w...
While writing my article on the military's use of the UAV in combat, I remembered a news release a few years ago about a program that was starting to look at development of a new weapons, technology, communications system called the "Land Warrior" program. The funding for this program was dropped back in Febuary but is being brought back and funded again. SO I reearched it again and was amazed by what I had found, and how far the program has come. The Land Warrior program was designed to...
The US military has fielded a series of UAV's (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) that makes one think of futuristic wars and years in the future. But they are here and now. The Army is training with and beginning to use a new UAV called the "Raven". You have to love the high tech launch system !! The Raven is a small lightweight UAV. While the Raven looks deceptively like a remote-controlled hobby plane it is actually a high-tech device that can provide real-time footage or still images...
I bet you can ask almost anyone on the street or in your immediate friends group "How many soldiers have we lost in Iraq?" and they will probably be able to tell you at least 3000 or 4000 soldiers. Why because you are told the number every day in papers and on the news and radio repeatedly throughout the day. Ask them "How many terrorist have we killed in Iraq?" and they will not be able to tell you. Why? Because of the lopsided reporting on this war. For the first time the numbers ar...
Well on the news last night I heard that the US Military might have had Bin Idiot in their sights and missed him. He was supposedly spotted in the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan and Pakistan and the US Military sent in Special Forces to try and find him and capture or kill him, they did not find him of course, or you would have seen it plastered all over the news. What you did not hear on the nightly news was that the Afghanistan Army advised and supported by coalition forces,...
With all the negative comments about the surge working or not working in Iraq and the childish, and hate filled comments and ads about the Commander of the Troops in Iraq or "progress" in Iraq beng not made I wondered, what would be acceptable by most people as progress? What would have to happen in order for most people to say that things are "better" in Iraq than they have been? Not withstanding a retreat or why we went in the first place. I think most people would sa...
HUSSEINIYAH, Iraq – A noticeable change has taken place on the streets of Husseiniyah that benefits Soldiers and civilians. Civil service impact projects are changing the city’s appearance, smell and attitude. Formerly an extremely hostile area, Husseiniyah is an ever-changing front, where Soldiers now meet with Iraqi leaders in the street. The violence in and around Husseiniyah made world news earlier this summer. What was once a relatively safe and secure area of operations had turne...
This is an interview of Cpt. Tilman about the changes in the Baqubah area of Iraq he has seen and his daily duites: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgOQ76yDvqQ