US military

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Senate Grounds F-22 Money
 Senate Grounds F-22 Money 
UPDATED
Jul 21, 2009 12:06 PM CDT

Senate Grounds F-22 Money

(Newser) - The Senate has sided with the Obama administration in agreeing to cut off new spending for the F-22 jet fighter program. The 58-40 vote today removes $1.75 billion set aside in a defense policy bill to build seven more F-22 Raptors, adding to the 187 stealth fighters already in...

US Army to Add 22K Soldiers
 US Army to Add 22K Soldiers 
Jul 21, 2009 2:16 AM CDT

US Army to Add 22K Soldiers

(Newser) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates is temporarily boosting the Army's ranks with 22,000 new soldiers, reports the Army Times. The increase, which follows a permanent increase of 65,000, will reduce the strain on the forces over the next three years, according to Gates. The hike "will be used...

Captured US Soldier May Be in Pakistan

Fox News 'expert' suggests that Taliban execute Bergdahl

(Newser) - The American soldier captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan may be in Pakistan, a potentially huge stumbling block in the quest to free the 23-year-old, ABC News reports. If the insurgent group that apparently kidnapped him has indeed moved Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl over the border to South Waziristan, the American...

Taliban Hostage's Hometown Stayed Quiet on Kidnapping

(Newser) - The Taliban's capture of an American soldier in Afghanistan is old news for some residents of his hometown, but they kept quiet out of concern for his safety, the AP reports. The family of Bowe R. Bergdahl asked neighbors and other community members in Hailey, Idaho, not to discuss his...

US Commanders Chafe at Iraq's Tight New Restrictions

(Newser) - The Iraq government has tightly restricted the movements and activities of American troops remaining in cities, and some commanders blame the restrictions for a rise in attacks, the Washington Post. The day after Iraqis celebrated the pullback of US troops to outside cities, Iraq ordered the US military to cease...

Hill Aide Threatens Pesky War Widow With Jail

(Newser) - An apparently harried congressional aide picked the wrong woman to threaten with police action, Fox News reports. Marianne Stringer, widow of a Vietnam veteran, was petitioning congressmen to oppose a decrease in benefits for veterans’ spouses. When she politely emailed the office of a reticent lawmaker, the aide shot back...

Taliban Threatens to Kill Captured American Soldier

(Newser) - The Taliban says it will execute a captured American soldier if the US does not withdraw from two districts in southeastern Afghanistan, the Voice of America reports. A Taliban rep said today the soldier is healthy but will be killed if operations in Paktika and Ghazni continue. The fate of...

A Baptist and a Mullah Team Up to Fight Taliban

US captain urges Afghan colonel to show faith to locals

(Newser) - A Baptist Army officer has teamed up with an Afghan mullah to fight Taliban propaganda that calls the Afghan army godless. “The only way we can keep people from becoming Taliban is by promoting the Muslim nature of the Afghan National Army,” says the mullah, Lt. Col. Abdul...

Gates Refuses to Ban Smoking in War Zones

Defense secretary rejects Pentagon study's recommendation

(Newser) - American troops in war zones won't have to battle the enemy while suffering nicotine withdrawal, CNN reports. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is willing to consider some of the recommendations in a Pentagon-commissioned report calling for a totally tobacco-free military, but he has no intention of ordering stressed-out troops in combat...

Afghanistan Troops Face Smarter, Fiercer IEDs

(Newser) - The war in Afghanistan is getting deadlier for both coalition troops and Afghan forces, reports James Dao in the New York Times, mostly because of an increase in homemade bomb attacks—465  in May alone. The IEDs—improvised explosive devices—are getting more sophisticated as well as more common, and...

Military Seeks Much Bigger Boost for Afghan Forces

(Newser) - America's new top commander in Afghanistan believes the country's security forces will need a much bigger upgrade than planned if President Obama's strategy is going to work, officials tell the Washington Post. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, still doing a 60-day assessment, is said to have concluded that the expansion of Afghan...

Service Members Join 'Neo-Nazi Facebook'

Activist group urges Congress to take a stand

(Newser) - White supremacists have their own social networking site—and dozens of military personnel are members, reports Stars and Stripes. “I love and will do anything to keep our master race marching,” says the newsaxon.org profile of one user who says he’s served in Iraq and Kuwait....

New GI Bill Pays Out Big in Some States, Zilch in Others

(Newser) - The new GI bill going into effect Aug. 1 is the biggest expansion of the program since World War II, but the benefits are far from uniform, the AP reports. The new system determines the money a vet gets for college on a state-by-state basis. Full tuition is guaranteed at...

Taliban Claim to Have 'Drunk' US Captive; 7 Soldiers Killed

Taliban also confirms capture of missing US soldier

(Newser) - Seven American troops lost their lives in the stepped-up battle against the Taliban today, the deadliest day for US forces in Afghanistan in nearly a year. The Taliban also confirmed on its website that it is holding an American soldier thought to be in enemy hands. “Five days ago,...

2 US Troops Killed in Attack on Afghan Base

30 Taliban killed in gun battle at base near Pakistan border

(Newser) - Two American troops were killed when militants attacked a base in eastern Afghanistan today, exploding a truck loaded with gravel outside the gates and sparking a 2-hour gunbattle, the AP reports. US forces called in airstrikes to end the clash, killing over 30 insurgents, the governor of Paktika province says....

Russia Agrees to Let US Use Airspace for Afghan War

Deal on supply lines forged ahead of Obama's Russian visit

(Newser) - Russia has agreed to let American planes transporting troops and equipment to Afghanistan fly over its airspace, the BBC reports. The deal will be officially announced next week when President Obama visits Moscow. Volatility affecting supply lines through Pakistan and Central Asia made securing such an agreement one of Obama's...

Taliban Captures Missing US Soldier

(Newser) - Military officials believe that a US soldier who’s been missing since Tuesday has been captured by the Taliban, the Washington Post reports. The soldier appears to have walked off base into an unsecured area for reasons that remain unclear. Today, the Taliban’s Haqqani faction claimed to have captured...

Iraq Vet to Spearhead Reversal of 'Don't Ask'

Rep. Murphy steps in as bill's sponsor

(Newser) - The battle to ditch the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays is being led by the first Iraq veteran to serve in Congress, the Los Angeles Times reports. Democratic Rep. Patrick Murphy has taken over as sponsor of a bill that would allow gays to openly serve...

Marines Launch New Afghan Strategy

(Newser) - US Marines today launched a major offensive against the Taliban in Afghanistan that will serve as the first big test of a new American strategy, reports the Washington Post. About 4,000 Marines descended on villages and towns in the remote Helmand province. Their goal, however, isn't to wage war...

Gates Seeks to Make 'Don't Ask' More Humane

Military may not boot gays outed by jilted lovers, blackmailers

(Newser) - The Obama administration is looking for ways to get around the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law that forbids gays from serving openly in the military, CNN reports. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he is investigating ways to make the policy “more humane,” such as not...

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