US military

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No Motive Yet in Killing of US Airmen in Germany

Suspect is a 21-year-old Kosovo citizen

(Newser) - Hours after a gunman killed two US airmen on a bus outside the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, more questions than answers are in play. Some wire highlights:
  • The suspect: He's identified as 21-year-old Arif (or Arid) Uka, a Kosovo citizen who worked at the airport. His relatives tell AP that
...

In 6-Hour Battle, Libya Rebels Hold City

Pro-Gadhafi forces reportedly attacked Zawiyah from six directions

(Newser) - In a long night of fighting, Libyan rebels armed with tanks, machine guns, and anti-aircraft guns have managed to hold on to Zawiyah, the city they seized on Sunday that happens to be nearest to Tripoli. Residents passed out sweets and cold drinks to fighters today and celebrated with a...

US, S. Korea Begin Drills Despite Threats

No sign of North Korean retaliation

(Newser) - South Korean and American troops began annual military drills Monday that North Korea warned could trigger a nuclear war on the divided peninsula. Despite the North Korean threats to retaliate, South Korea and the United States went ahead with their first major combined military exercises since the North shelled a...

US Withdraws from Once-Key Afghan Valley

Some troops see wasted effort in Pech Valley

(Newser) - The US is withdrawing from the Pech Valley, the mountainous region of eastern Afghanistan that for years was central to its strategy—and the site of much bloodshed. The move is a controversial one, notes the New York Times : 103 US troops were killed there, and many more wounded, leading...

Pentagon Investigates Psy-Ops Allegations

Two senators say it didn't work on them

(Newser) - The Pentagon has begun investigating claims that one of its generals used psychological trickery to try to convince US lawmakers to support the Afghan war effort. (Read the earlier summary of the Rolling Stone expose here .) "The facts will take them where they lead," said a Pentagon...

Army Ordered Psych Team to Manipulate Senators
Army Ordered Psych Team
to Manipulate Senators
rolling stone expose
Feb 24, 2011 7:25 AM CST

Army Ordered Psych Team to Manipulate Senators

Sought to gain war support through propaganda techniques: Rolling Stone

(Newser) - In an illegal effort to build support for the war, a top US general in Afghanistan ordered troops trained in "psychological operations" to manipulate visiting lawmakers, reports Michael Hastings for Rolling Stone . Over a four-month period last year, Gen. William Caldwell reportedly pushed the psy-ops team to focus their...

Petraeus Suggests Afghans Burned Own Children

Participants at a recent meeting say comments offended Karzai

(Newser) - US officials were already skeptical of claims that a military operation last week killed 65 Afghan civilians , but now Gen. David Petraeus has apparently taken things a step further: During a Sunday meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Petraeus reportedly suggested Afghans burned their own children in an effort to...

US Operation Killed 65 Civilians: Afghan Officials

NATO, US officials cast doubt on claim

(Newser) - A US military operation in the desolate, mountainous lands of northeastern Afghanistan last week killed 65 civilians, among them 22 women and 30 children, Afghan officials tell the Washington Post . US officials have launched an emergency probe into the situation, seeking to minimize damage to American-Afghan relations—while some cast...

Female Vets Sue Pentagon Over Sex Abuse

Lawsuit says rape is rampant, but ignored by commanders

(Newser) - Seventeen current and former service members, all but two of them female, have filed a class-action lawsuit against the military alleging that systemic sexual abuse is rampant among the troops but ignored by commanders. "There are three types of women in the Army,” one of the female victims...

US to Train Terrorist Hunters in Yemen

First time US has worked with the country's counterterror unit

(Newser) - Faced with an increasingly alarming threat from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the US military will begin a new training program with Yemen's counterterrorism unit so it can move against militants believed to be plotting attacks on America from safe havens there. The effort will mark the first time the...

US Military Awash in Deadly Prescription Drugs

Powerful drug cocktails for stress, depression can be deadly

(Newser) - When Senior Airman Anthony Mena was found dead in his apartment, he had eight prescription medications in his blood, including three antidepressants, a sleeping pill, a sedative, and two powerful painkillers—but it was the combination of those drugs that killed him, not his own hand. The US military's medical...

To Collect Full Benefits, War Widows Must Remarry

Confusing rules result in weird set of complications

(Newser) - Thanks to a confusing system of federal regulations, tens of thousands of war widows can’t fully collect on insurance bought by their late husbands—unless they marry someone else. There’s more: that remarriage must occur when the widows are 57 or older to count, the AP reports . The...

Navy's New Stealth Drone Makes Maiden Flight

X-47B can take off and land from aircraft carrier

(Newser) - The US Navy says the next big leap forward in unmanned aerial warfare has successfully made its first flight. The robotic, bat-winger X-47B drone is designed to take off and land from aircraft carriers, a feat described as one of the most difficult in aviation. The military hopes the technology...

20K Troops, Vets Lost Their Homes Last Year

But VA says that number could have been much worse

(Newser) - Last year saw the most military foreclosures since 2003, despite efforts from Veterans Affairs to counsel and assist floundering servicemen. More than 20,000 active-duty troops, reservists, and veterans who’d taken out special government-backed mortgages lost their homes last year, the USA Today reports, and foreclosure filings in the...

Amnesty to UK: Manning Is British —So Help Him

Jailed private inherited British citizenship from mother

(Newser) - The US Army private accused of providing WikiLeaks with a vast trove of classified information is a British citizen and the UK should be doing more to look out for his interests, say rights groups. Bradley Manning, who has been held in a military prison since last July, is an...

US Should Treat Pirates Like Terrorists: Vice Admiral

To stop piracy, follow the money and bust the network

(Newser) - The problem of piracy in the Gulf of Aden might be receiving less attention in the media these days, but it has not gone away. In fact, hostage-taking is up, from 350 people in captivity in September to 750 today. Ransoms are a million-dollar business for pirates, who are also...

Air Force Official Pleads Guilty to Sexual Misconduct

Senior airman says he was 'caught up in a cycle of sin'

(Newser) - A senior official at an Ohio Air Force base who says he was "caught up in a cycle of sin" faces a dishonorable discharge and a long sentence in a military prison. Chief Master Sgt. William Gurney pleaded guilty yesterday to 13 charges of adultery and sexual misconduct stemming...

Troops Suicides Increase
 Military Suicides Jump 
Jan 24, 2011 4:15 PM CST

Military Suicides Jump

As many, if not more lost to suicide than combat

(Newser) - Admiral Mike Mullen's ominous prediction of a continuing rash of military suicides looks to be spot on—though suicides in 2010 didn't surpass combat deaths as they did in 2009, they did significantly jump, from 381 to 434, Congress.org reports. But that combined tally of 434 is also a...

Discharging Gays Cost Pentagon $193M

Each discharged service member cost $53K to replace

(Newser) - Recruiting and training replacements for gay service members discharged under the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy cost the Pentagon a whopping $193 million from 2004 to 2009, according to the Government Accountability Office. The analysis found that 1,442 of the 3,664 service members dismissed for being...

Air Force Sentences HIV 'Swinger' to 8 Years

Airman David Gutierrez guilty of exposing partners to virus

(Newser) - A US Air Force sergeant who exposed partners to HIV at swingers' parties has been sentenced to 8 years in a military prison. David Gutierrez was convicted on charges including aggravated assault and failure to obey orders to use a condom and inform partners of his HIV-positive status, the BBC...

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