Mullen to Troops: Stay Out of Politics - JCS Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen is warning troops to stay out of politics as the U.S. approaches a presidential election in which the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will be a central, and certainly divisive, issue. “The U.S. military must remain apolitical at all times,” Mullen writes in the official journal Joint Force Quarterly.
Full Story

More Stories at Military.com

• Conscientious Objector Ruling Disputed
• Soldier Drowns Trying to Save Children
• UN Says Russians Downed Georgian Drone
• GAO Faults Port Security Program
• ‘Taps’ Remains a Cape May Ritual
• Biker Group Presses Bush to Aid Vets
• Army, Critics Debate Choice of Bullets
• US Reportedly Bombs Somalia
• New Afghan Protest Over Quran Shooting
• 40 Wounded Vets Given Vegas Holiday
• Psychiatrists Offer Troops Free Help

 All Military Headlines

About 3,500 American soldiers are scheduled to leave Iraq in the coming weeks, announced the U.S. military, as part of the Pentagon’s overall reduction in troop strength following last year’s “surge.” Washington plans to trim its forces in Iraq to about 140,000 Soldiers by the summer — from about 170,000 in October at the height of the troop buildup in Baghdad and surrounding areas….More

Over the last two years, thousands of National Guard troops have assisted U.S. Border Patrol agents along the Mexican border, and most of Arizona’s congressional delegation wants to keep it that way. A proposed amendment by Rep. Harry Mitchell, a Democrat who represents much of Maricopa County in Arizona’s 5th Congressional District, would extend the National Guard presence indefinitely until the Border Patrol is fully staffed along the border….More

The funeral has taken place of a Czech soldier who died in Afghanistan last week.  The soldier was killed in a road-side bomb attack in the province of Logar, where he was serving with a Czech provincial reconstruction team.  The Czech defence minister, Vlasta Parkanova, army chief of staff Vlastimil Picek and Chamber of Deputies chairman Miloslav Vlcek were among around 500 people who attended the funeral in Uherske Hradiste.  The soldier who died was the second Czech soldier to be killed in action in Afghanistan: a Czech military policeman died in a suicide bombing in Helmand province in March. 

The Defense Department will change a question on its long-standing security clearance form referencing an applicant’s mental health history because officials believe it is needlessly preventing some people from seeking counseling, according…read more

Lt. Gen. James Thurman, the Army G-3, predicts that the Army could end Stop-Loss by Fall of 2009, according to the Army Times. Under the current stop-loss policies, active-duty soldiers within 90 days of retirement or obligated service are barred from leaving the Army if they are in units alerted for deployment. Reservists and National Guard members are barred from leaving if their…read more

Prague, May 4 (CTK) - The three Czech soldiers who were wounded in a bomb explosion in Afghanistan on Wednesday were released from hospital on Saturday night, but the condition of the fourth one is still very serious, general staff spokeswoman Jana Ruzickova told CTK Sunday.The injured soldiers and the body of their dead colleague returned to Prague aboard a military special plane on Saturday and they were immediately transported to the Central Military Hospital.

A mourning ceremony in honour of the dead soldier was then held at the Kbely military airport, with Defence Minister Vlasta Parkanova and other top ministry and military representatives as well as the soldier’s family attending.

All the wounded soldiers underwent a comprehensive medical check-up on Saturday evening, Ruzickova said, adding that the three soldiers will be treated without hospitalisation in an outpatient ward.

Chief of staff Vlastimil Picek, who accompanied the troops from Kabul, said previously that the soldiers suffered bruises and lacerated wounds. Their colleague is still fighting for his life, Picek added.

Parkanova promoted the dead soldier from the Prostejov, south Moravia, reconnaissance unit, to the rank of warrant officer in memoriam and decorated him with a cross of merit, 1st degree.

The five soldiers, members of the Czech Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), were wounded in an explosion of a roadside bomb that hit their Humwee vehicle in the eastern Afghan province of Logar on Wednesday. The 28-year-old driver succumbed to serious injuries in hospital.

He is the third Czech soldier to die in Afghanistan. In March, a Czech military policeman was killed in a suicide attack in Helmand province.

The PRT has operated in eastern Afghanistan since March and it is to stay in the country for three years at least.

This story is from the Czech News Agency (?TK).

Prague, April 24 (CTK) - The Czech Senate Thursday approved the government’s plan to send another one hundred soldiers to Afghanistan where they might take part in the Enduring Freedom operation.The soldiers from the Prostejov, south Moravia, special unit are to operate in Afghanistan from May to the end of the year, fulfilling combat task under the U.S. command, Defence Minister Vlasta Parkanova told the Senate.

Supporting the plan in the debate today, Senate deputy chairman Jiri Liska (Civic Democrats, ODS) praised the operation of Czech soldiers in foreign missions, which he said is often dangerous.

He recalled the late Milan Sterba, a Czech soldier who died in a suicide attack in Afghanistan a few weeks ago.

However, the fight against the evil must not be stopped, Liska said.

The mission will cost some 213 million crowns from the Defence Ministry budget.

Transport costs will be paid by the USA at whose request the Czech government has proposed the mission.

Members of the 601st special forces unit from Prostejov had served in Afghanistan in 2004 and 2006.

Parkanova (Christian Democrats, KDU-CSL) said earlier the soldiers would serve within the Enduring Freedom operation in very dangerous areas of the country and would not be part of NATO units.

Separately from the newly planned mission, a Czech contingent works in the Kabul hospital and about 200 Czech soldiers operate in the province of Logar as part of the Czech provincial reconstruction team (PRT).

This story is from the Czech News Agency (?TK).

The US military says a roadside bomb hit one of its convoys in the southern city of Basra, causing casualties. The military gave no further details. AP Television News footage from Basra on Monday showed smoke rising from a vehicle burning on a highway overpass. US troops and Humvees blocked access to the scene. (AP)

Friend, Foe Shoot at GIs in Sadr City

Three weeks after American troops were ordered into the sprawling Shiite Muslim slum of Sadr City to stop rockets from raining down on the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad’s Green Zone, they are now caught in crossfire between Shiite militiamen and the mostly Shiite Iraqi.
Full Story

More Stories at Military.com

• Paper: Analysts’ War Spin Spun by DoD
• Colt’s Grip on Army Rifle Under Fire
• Benning’s Best are Rangers’ ‘Best’
• DoD to Congress: Hands Off Tanker Deal
• Sailor Found Dead in Bahrain
• Al-Sadr Threatens New Uprising
• A Navy Lieutenant No More
• Time Cover Riles Iwo Jima Veterans
• Twelve Killed in Baghdad Clashes
• US May Post Marines in Taiwan
• MDA Looks to Double Missile Production

 All Military Headlines