An Internet rumor that American troops in Afghanistan no longer get breakfast has prompted a response from the Pentagon via Twitter. A chain email says the last-minute deal Congress passed to avoid the so-called “fiscal cliff” also denies breakfast to troops in Afghanistan. The email garnered enough attention that rumor-debunking site Snopes.com picked up on it and rated the email “partly true” since some bases stopped serving hot breakfasts as they get ready for the drawdown. From Snopes: It isn’t true that, due to fiscal cliff-related budget cuts, breakfast has been completely eliminated for all U.S. troops stationed outside the…
Author Steve Weigand
A video taken by a U.S. soldier’s helmet-mounted camera in Afghanistan is making the rounds on the Internet. The video, posted Sept. 26 on YouTube by FUNKER530, shows the soldier drawing fire away from his squad as he makes his way downhill in Kunar province. According to the video description, the soldier was hit four times but none of the rounds penetrated his body armor. Watch the footage below: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLHU-_OhT8g[/youtube]
The first female four-star general in the United States military retired Aug. 15. Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody joined the Army in 1974 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Woman’s Army Corps the following year, according to the Army News Service. She most recently served as commander of Army Materiel Command, which has a staff of more than 69,000 spread out over 50 states and 145 countries. Gen. Ray Odierno hosted the retirement at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Va. The Army News Service quoted the Army chief of staff as saying, “Ann is a leader who lived our Army…
We asked earlier if the veteran vote is up for grabs (and nearly two dozen people chimed in), and it appears that military vets are decisively in the corner of Mitt Romney. We’re a bit late on this, but the folks at Gallup released a poll on Memorial Day showing the GOP presidential candidate with a sizable lead among veterans over President Obama. The former Massachusetts governor enjoyed a 58 percent to 34 percent edge, despite the commander in chief’s efforts to woo the 13 percent of the nation’s population who served in the military. Maybe it shouldn’t be too…
There’s the U.S. Army and there’s the KISS Army. One is a branch of the United States military while the other is the fan club of the legendary rock band that first rose to prominence in the 1970s. A veteran of both armies, Paul Jordan can look forward to spending time with the band as a roadie on its 44-city tour with Mötley Crüe. A lifelong fan, Jordan beat out more than 1,900 other hopefuls who applied for the job as part of the Hiring Our Heroes program. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and NBC News kicked off the initiative…
Two stories appeared May 14 that look at how military veterans, particularly those of the two most recent wars, might vote in the upcoming presidential election. A Reuters piece, “Weary warriors favor Obama,” suggests that vets are reluctant to check the box for a hawk after a decade of war. “Only 32 percent [of veterans who served in the last decade] think the war in Iraq ended successfully, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. And far more of them would pull out of Afghanistan than continue military operations there. … If the election were held today, Obama would win the…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcTDwJcO_os&feature=player_embedded[/youtube] A YouTube video showing an AH-64 Apache attack helicopter crashing is of a real incident that happened Feb. 6 in Paktika province, Afghanistan, the Stars and Stripes confirmed. The video shows the Apache fly low over the outpost, do a 180 and then slam its belly into the ground before losing control. A description with the video says the helicopter pilot was performing a “return to target” maneuver. ISAF officials are investigating the crash, and who captured and posted the video, the Stripes reported. As of this posting, the video had been viewed on YouTube more than 893,00 times.…
Modern science and state-of-the-art packaging have made it easier to feed deployed troops. Science has also made the food last longer and taste better. As the Army Times’ John Ryan reported, a new crop of super food could be rolled out in spring. The rations developed by the Natick Soldier Systems Center in Massachusetts can deliver caffeine in gum or relieve inflammation through meat sticks infused with herbal substances that reduce swelling. Maybe these über-rations will be delivered with another military culinary marvel: a sandwich that can last up to two years. The pocket sandwich stays fresh without the need…
How does that saying go about figuring out a way to do something if you really need to do it? Something about necessity? After a two-and-a-half-hour firefight in Afghanistan earlier this year in which three-man teams serving weapons struggled to stay together, the members of an Iowa National Guard division found a way to efficiently carry and feed ammo for their Mk 48 machine guns. The soldiers with 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division tell Bob Reinert of the Army’s Soldiers magazine how they came up with an ammo pack similar to the one…
