~  “We train in the same conditions we fight”  ~

NAVARRE BEACH, Fla. — Seven Marines and four crewmembers are missing and presumed dead Wednesday after an Army helicopter crashed during a training exercise off the Florida Panhandle.

The area was under a fog advisory when the crash occurred Tuesday night near Eglin Air Force Base about 50 miles east of Pensacola. The extreme fog still present Wednesday morning impeded the search, preventing a Coast Guard helicopter from going airborne until about 1 p.m. CT. (more…)

We have shared Jon McNaughton’s work before and his latest is right on target.

Interactive version HERE and Video Below (more…)

Apparently the Pentagon forgot to check with the White House for permission before they coordinated an offensive against ISIS…  This is what happens when the Pentagon doesn’t defer to the White House, and General John Allen remembers the blackmail files being maintained on him.  

(Via Daily Beast) Just days ago, the generals were trumpeting plans to knock ISIS out of its most important stronghold in Iraq. Now, those plans are on indefinite hold.

The U.S. military’s goal to retake Iraq’s second largest city from the self-proclaimed Islamic State has been pushed back several months at least, defense officials told The Daily Beast. That’s a major shift for the Pentagon, which recently announced that the first major ground offensive in the war against ISIS could come in the next few weeks.

Defense officials once hoped that Iraqi troops could move into Mosul by the Spring and reclaim the city from ISIS. Now, those officials say, Fall is more realistic. And even that date was tenuous. (more…)

The jury in the Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield capital murder trial has reached a verdict. Lawyers for defendant Eddie Routh have argued for a not guilty verdict by reason of insanity. The options are • Guilty • Not Guilty or • Not Guilty by reason for insanity.

UPDATE: The Verdict Is GUILTY

All of the attorneys and participants have been recalled back to the courtroom. We are awaiting the decision.

 UPDATE: – TEXAS A Texas jury has found a former Marine guilty of murdering famed Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle and Kyle’s friend Chad Littlefield.

. (more…)

Weird story and even more weird explanation/apology. Ego, I guess.

(Via The Hill) Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert McDonald falsely claimed that he served in a military special forces unit, he admitted to the Huffington Post.

When a homeless veteran told McDonald in a conversation captured by CBS that he had served in special forces, the head of the VA replied that he had, too. The conversation aired during a CBS News story chronicling how the agency is working to house homeless veterans.

“I have no excuse,” McDonald told The Huffington Post. “I was not in special forces.”

He added that he “reacted spontaneously” and “wrongly [with] no intent in any way to describe my record as any different than it is.” (more…)

This argument was made by all reasonable people back when the White House decided it was more politically opportune to trade GITMO detainees for Bowe Bergdahl. The newsworthy aspect is the confirmation from the other hostage’s family.

WASHINGTON DC – The brother of an American woman who was killed after spending months as a hostage of Islamic State militants says Kayla Mueller’s situation worsened after the government [Obama] traded five Taliban commanders for a captive U.S. soldier.

The militants increased their demands after the May swap for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, Eric Mueller told NBC’s “Today” in an interview that aired Monday.

“That made the whole situation worse because that’s when the demands got greater,” he said. “They got larger. They realized that they had something.”

Mueller’s death was confirmed Feb. 10 by her family and U.S. officials. The Islamic State group claimed she died in a Jordanian airstrike, but U.S. officials have not confirmed that. The Pentagon said it didn’t know how she was killed. (more…)

The Associated Press is outlining the construct of the final negotiations between the U.S. and Iran. In essence, the short version is that Iran is going to be able to produce nuclear weapons, period.

GENEVA (AP) – The United States and Iran are shaping the contours of a deal that would initially freeze Tehran’s nuclear program but would allow it to slowly ramp up activities that could be used to make nuclear arms over the last years of the agreement’s duration. (read more)

Despite the incredible ramifications, and the very predictable arms race now virtually certain in the region, this should not come as a surprise.

Iran had to work swiftly, while President Obama was still in office and the U.S. is in a weakened state, due to the specifically intentional policies of the Obama administration. There have been many indicators of this outcome over the past several months and years.

Last August the reality of Iran gaining a nuclear weapon became assured when President Obama told the New York Times oh well, “we tried“. (more…)

Senator Cotton is really making a name for himself as an individual thinker, strong conservative, and articulate voice amid the chaos that is Obama’s ‘Hoax and Chains’. Well done sir, well done.

“It’s very mystifying why this administration would reveal potential plans to retake Mosul.”
[…] “If a private in Iraq had revealed this kind of planning inadvertently by leaving a plan in the channel hall of the gym, he might have faced a court-martial, but now it’s now become a matter of policy this administration is going to announce war plans in advance, it only increases risks.”

(more…)

On first review this makes no sense. Why would any military officials give so much detailed and advanced notice of the intents to attack ISIS in Mosul Iraq?
WASHINGTON (AP) — The operation to retake Iraq’s second largest city from Islamic State militants will likely begin in April or May and will involve about 12 Iraqi brigades, or between 20,000 and 25,000 troops, a senior U.S. military official said Thursday.

Laying out details of the expected Mosul operation for the first time, the official from U.S. Central Command said five Iraqi Army brigades will soon go through coalition training in Iraq to prepare for the mission. Those five would make up the core fighting force that would launch the attack, but they would be supplemented by three smaller brigades serving as reserve forces, along with three Peshmerga brigades who would contain the Islamic State fighters from the north and west. (more…)