US Army

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Army Seeks New Home for Desert Tortoises

(Newser) - The Army plans to evict more than 1,000 endangered desert tortoises to expand a tank training ground in the Mojave Desert, the Los Angeles Times reports. Conservationists warn that the last effort to shift the tortoises proved disastrous: Many were wiped out by predators, and others traveled up...

Army Probes Charges That Worker Spied on Protesters

Members say employee used alias to get names, email addresses

(Newser) - Officials are investigating charges by two anti-war groups that a civilian employee for the Army spent more than 2 years infiltrating their organizations under an assumed name, reports the New York Times. The groups, active near one of the nation’s largest military bases close to Tacoma, Wash., say criminal...

US Army to Add 22K Soldiers
 US Army to Add 22K Soldiers 

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...

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...

Reservist: Obama's Not a Citizen, Can't Send Me to War

Reservist says he shouldn't have to serve since Obama isn't a citizen

(Newser) - An Army reservist has devised a creative way to try to avoid going to Afghanistan: He says he isn’t obligated to follow the commander-in-chief’s orders because Barack Obama isn’t a citizen and therefore can’t legally be president, reports the Ledger-Enquirer of Columbus, Ga. His attorney, who...

'We Were Just Pawns:' Lynndie England

(Newser) - Lynndie England is trying to rebuild some semblance of a normal life, but her past continues to haunt her, she tells the AP. “It’s my face that's always recognized,” the former Army Reservist and poster child for Abu Ghraib abuse said of trying to get a job—...

Colo. Ranchers Battle Army Land Grab

Coloradans balk at plans to expand training base onto vast tract of rangeland

(Newser) - Ranchers in southeast Colorado have fought the US Army to a standstill over plans to expand a training site onto their land, the Wall Street Journal reports. An Army analysis found that the grasslands were ideal for combat training, and recommended the military acquire 7 million acres, but the ranchers...

Older Recruits Grapple With Army Life

Unemployment pushes steady stream of 'Pops' and 'Gramps' into the military

(Newser) - A steady stream of over-35s have been joining the Army since the age limit was raised to 42, and both sides have had plenty of adjusting to do, the New York Times reports in a look at the 3,800 older recruits, whose numbers, though small, have surged this year...

Army Lifts Ban on Social Media
 Army Lifts Ban on Social Media 

Army Lifts Ban on Social Media

Soldiers can use Twitter, Facebook from bases

(Newser) - The US Army has lifted a years-long ban on online social networks, commanding bases to let soldiers access sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr so they can “tell the Army story,” Wired reports. The change doesn’t apply to all overseas bases or other armed forces, and it...

West Pointers Eager to Hit War Running

A look into the heads of Army class of '09

(Newser) - There's a group quietly hoping that the war in Iraq doesn't end just yet, and they're hardly insurgents. They're the class of 2009 at West Point, reports Newsweek, in a look at graduates of the military academy and their eagerness to serve their country. The storied institution has proven remarkably...

Little Left for Fiancée of Fallen Soldier

Unmarried loved ones have no standing, get nothing from Army

(Newser) - To the US Army bureaucracy, love means little without a marriage certificate—so the fiancée of a man killed in Iraq was left with nothing other than what his family was willing to part with. Now, the Washington Post reports, Kyle Harper, 27, is trying to forge a path...

The Death of the 'Old Army Buddy'
The Death
of the 'Old
Army Buddy'
OPINION

The Death of the 'Old Army Buddy'

Draft's end means a generation sans sense of service, camaraderie

(Newser) - On Memorial Day, former soldiers of all ages will be touching base with their brothers in arms, but as Michael Auslin writes in the Washington Post, real Old Army Buddies are on the verge of extinction. The men who willingly served during the drafts of the '50s and '60s came...

US Army Burned Bibles in Afghanistan

(Newser) - The US military burned bibles sent to Afghanistan by an American church, reports CNN. Officials feared the bibles, sent last year, would cause problems if they were used in a campaign to convert Muslims to Christianity. The unsolicited bibles were printed in the two most popular Afghani languages. Ironically, Taliban...

Soldier Charged With 5 Murder Counts in Iraq Clinic Shooting

Sgt. John Russell was asked to seek help

(Newser) - The US Army today identified Sgt. John Russell as the man being held in the shooting deaths of five soldier at a stress clinic on a US base in Baghdad yesterday, CNN reports, as details of the assault emerged. Commanders had asked Russell, a 44-year-old Texan on his third tour...

Gates Pressure Speeds New Armor to Afghan Soldiers

(Newser) - With a little push from Defense Secretary Robert Gates, the Army says it has completed its assessment of $3 million worth of high-tech, lightweight body armor and will send it immediately to soldiers in Afghanistan, the New York Times reports. The Army was dragging out testing on the new armor,...

Army Introduces New Measures to Stem Suicides

Officials to hire more therapists, boost drug and health screening

(Newser) - The army has begun a new effort to stem the rising toll of soldier suicides, hiring more mental health workers and instituting new rules for drug testing and health screening, reports AP. The number of suicides in the first three months of 2009 reached 56—after a record 140 last...

Army May Not Want You So Bad After All

Jobless rate drives surge in applicants

(Newser) - Rising unemployment and safer conditions in Iraq have boosted interest in joining the Army, allowing recruiters to raise acceptance standards. The Washington Post reports that felons and recent drug users need not apply, and the pool of applicants also is better educated. For the first time since 2004, the Army...

Army Holds Up Lighter Armor for Soldiers in Afghanistan

(Newser) - In a sign of the Army’s careful—some say plodding—procurement process, $3 million in lightweight body armor destined for Afghanistan is still stateside pending a widened assessment, the New York Times reports. The armor would shave 20 pounds off the punishing load—up to 130 pounds—some soldiers...

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