After more than 100 tense minutes, German troops in Kabul hit the roof when their team scored the winning goal in Sunday’s World Cup game against Argentina. “The reaction from the troops was unbelievable,” said Col. Achim Ruetzel, chief of the Civil Aviation Transition Branch. “Everyone was jumping around with his arms in the air and everybody was – almost kissing each other, I would say.” A few U.S. troops were also watching the game at the German troops’ invitation, Ruetzel told Outside the Wire on Tuesday. “Obviously, they were all cheering for the German team, not for Argentina,” he…
It’s something the Army has known for years but the entertainment community is just finding out: It’s tough to close a base. Even a fictional one. When Fox officially shut down Fort McGee, Florida — home to the freshman comedy “Enlisted” — this spring, fans mounted a push to convince the network the show was worth saving. They pointed to an awful time slot, a lack of promotion and an underappreciation for a growing social media following, which led to the show trending on Twitter frequently — sometimes when it wasn’t even on. Mainstream media — give or take –…
There were no head-shavings, no laughing about early career missteps, not even any celebrity sing-offs with 80s-era rockers: Gen. Frank Grass, chief of the National Guard Bureau, was light on laughs during his Monday appearance on “The Late Show,” but he did field some tough questions … and make one heroic airman’s night. Grass, who is in charge of 760,000 Army and Air National Guard members, met host David Letterman at the Indianapolis 500 in May — the guard sponsors the race team co-owned by the talk-show legend. Grass thanked Letterman for speaking to recruiters and potential enlistees at the…
The British army, like its U.S. counterpart, is drawing down. The waistlines of its soldiers, however, are not. Multiple British media outlets have reported that more than 32,000 soldiers have chalked up at least one fitness-test failure in the past three years . More than 22,000 British army members are considered overweight by the Ministry of Defence, which one unnamed U.K. defense official (make that “defence official”) blamed on their “appalling diet.” Despite the eye-popping statistics — current British army end strength rests at 150,000 or so — the Daily Mail reported only 50 U.K. soldiers had been kicked out…
The Hollywood forces behind “The Hurt Locker” and “Zero Dark Thirty” could tell Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s story on the big screen, according to a report from a well-known industry news site. Deadline.com said earlier this week that Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal are “in the early planning stage” of a project on the recently returned prisoner of war. Bigelow became the first woman to win the Oscar for best director with “The Hurt Locker” in 2008, and she and Boal both produced that movie as well as “Zero Dark Thirty,” a version of the Osama bin Laden raid that benefited…
Although U.S. troops have gone to war many times since 1776, Congress has only declared war 11 times. Tuesday is the anniversary of the first resolution, which declared war on Great Britain on June 17, 1812, just a couple of decades after the American Revolution. Unlike subsequent declarations, which were passed unanimously or nearly so, going to war against Great Britain was by no means assured. The Senate passed the resolution by a vote of 19-13 and the House passed it by a vote of 79-49, drawing much of the opposition from northeastern states, according to the House of Representatives…
John Brooks grew up in Germany. His father served in the U.S. Army and now reportedly lives in Switzerland. And Monday, in Brazil, his goal beat Ghana. They don’t call it the World Cup for nothing. Brooks became the first U.S. player to come off the bench and score a goal in World Cup play, using his head in the 86th minute to give the Americans a 2-1 victory. Or, as his German club team’s website put it, thanks to Google translate: ” Four minutes after the equalizer, the 21-year-old screwed after a corner highest to head the highly acclaimed winner of…
Video-game conference-goers got a sneak peek Tuesday at “Fury” — a tank-based World War II drama starring Brad Pitt that hits theaters in November. The Wargaming.net panel at the E3 megaconference in Los Angeles debuted the short clip, which was posted on YouTube by IGN and reported on by Vanity Fair. And now that the attribution’s out of the way, take a look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahFWvk1NgfY What we learn in 95 or so seconds: Fans of CGI and “Transformers”-level battle sequences probably should stay home come November: Fury was shot on film, with traditional special effects. This would explain why the production…
Since the first military burial on May 13, 1864, Arlington National Cemetery has become the final resting place for more than 400,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and their families. Those who on Sept. 11, 2001, died only a few hundred yards away at the Pentagon are buried here, as are the Challenger astronauts. Fifteen thousand soldiers from the Civil War — Union and Confederate — rest in Section 27 and Section 13, known as the Field of the Dead. Four thousand freed slaves, many identified only as “Citizen,” and two presidents also are buried at Arlington. Section 60 is the…
Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate – especially when you’re preparing for a division review. More than 15,000 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division will be practicing for the big division pass and review Thursday at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, as part of All-American Week, and the folks from U.S. Army W.T.F.! Moments are trying to make sure they stay on their feet. “We would like to provide hydration to these soldiers during one of their practice days, which falls on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the division review happening on Thursday,” they wrote on their GoFundMe site. Donations will buy Gatorade – at…
