4 US Marines killed in Osprey crash during NATO exercise

4 US Marines killed in Osprey crash during NATO exercise in northern Norway

STARS AND STRIPES
BY PHILLIP WALTER WELLMAN
MARCH 19, 2022

U.S. Marines prepare to take off in a MV-22B Osprey at Norwegian Air Force Base Bodø during Exercise Cold Response 22, Norway, Wednesday, March 16, 2022. Four Marines were killed when their Osprey aircraft crashed Fricay in a Norwegian town in the Arctic Circle, authorities said Saturday. (Elias Pimentel III/U.S. Marine Corps)

BJERKVIK, Norway — Four U.S. Marines were killed when their MV-22B Osprey crashed in northern Norway on Friday during a NATO training exercise, Norway's prime minister and Norwegian police said Saturday.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere posted on Twitter at about 4 a.m. Saturday that the Marines died in the crash, following initial reports of them being missing. The Marines were participating in the multinational Cold Response exercise when the Osprey crashed in Beiarn, a remote coastal area about 725 miles north of Oslo.

The four Marines were assigned to 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, II Marine Expeditionary Force, and continue to be listed officially as missing, according to a IIMEF statement Saturday.
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Guardian Angels Fly Over Ukraine. Why Isn't NATO?

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
March 5, 2022

We have all heard the leaders of NATO nations say they will not enforce a "no-fly zone" over Ukraine. They say they don't want to start WWIII. The problem with that is, it already started. It started when Putin decided to invade Ukraine and didn't care what came with that choice for war.

Why aren't they explaining at what point do they plan to actually do something to stop him? What is risk of stopping him now? Do they actually think that prolonging the end result will be better than minimizing the slaughter of the Ukrainian people?

Putin hates many things. Democracy is bad for him. NATO is bad for him. His own people don't matter to him so what makes anyone think he will stop after Ukraine? He already started WWIII. The other thing they're missing is the simple fact that angels are already flying over Ukriane and could really use some help.

(WESH) "Kyiv needs you and your drone at this moment of fury!" read a Facebook post late last week from the Ukrainian military, calling for citizens to donate hobby drones and to volunteer as experienced pilots to operate them.

One entrepreneur who runs a retail store selling consumer drones in the capital said its entire stock of some 300 drones made by Chinese company DJI has been dispersed for the cause. Others are working to get more drones across the border from friends and colleagues in Poland and elsewhere in Europe.

"Why are we doing this? We have no other choice. This is our land, our home," said Denys Sushko, head of operations at Kyiv-based industrial drone technology company DroneUA, which before the war was helping to provide drone services to farmers and energy companies.

Putin has targeted civilian populations, hospitals, schools and power plants without ever once considering how that will expose the entire world to poisonous clouds. How many more civilians deaths are acceptable? 

The Times UK

Kurilo, from Chuhuiv in the eastern Kharkiv region, narrowly escaped after a Russian missile struck her home on Thursday and she thanked a “guardian angel” for saving her life. “I never thought such a thing could happen. I never thought this would truly happen in this lifetime,” she said as she emerged in shock from the town hospital after treatment. Her comments were reported by Euronews and AFP.

Ukrainian Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception angels

Some say we should mind our own business because their eyes are closed to the simple fact that the entire world can in fact become another target of Putin's hatred. He started WWIII and it is up to the rest of the world to stop him.

I believe in God. I believe that we will all have to answer for what we have done while on this earth. We will all die one day and it will be too late to do the right thing when we had the chance to. Will the leaders of NATO have to explain whey they did do everything in their power to prevent more death?

I am praying for all of them to open their eyes and see what evil and lies are. Praying they see what truth and goodness are. Praying they open their hearts and minds so that God will give them the courage and strength to do the right thing. Praying God shows them the way to do the right thing before it is too late.

Putin already had his prayers answered when Satan began to deliver death at his hands.

It is time for better angels to fly over Ukraine!

Russia Attacked Ukraine

 

CNN Live Updates

Readers of Wounded Times are around the world, including Russia and Ukraine. The people of Ukraine are in my prayers and so are the people of Russia that they open their eyes and see evil for what it is. This is an evil act committed against people who only wanted to determine their own futures peacefully. Most of the world are not blaming you for what your leader decided to do because we know you live in fear of his wrath. The question is, what will stop him when he wants more?

Is Mindfulness still more hype than help for PTSD?

What is the DOD filling their heads with now?

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
April 6, 2019

Last year the BBC reported that many were thinking that "Mindfulness" was actually more hype than help.


Mindfulness meditation has been practiced for millennia – and today is a billion-dollar business. But how much does the practice really change our health?

“There is a common misperception in public and government domains that compelling clinical evidence exists for the broad and strong efficacy of mindfulness as a therapeutic intervention,” a group of 15 scholars wrote in a recent article entitled Mind the Hype. The reality is that mindfulness-based therapies have shown “a mixture of only moderate, low or no efficacy, depending on the disorder being treated,” the scholars wrote, citing a 2014 meta-analysis commissioned by the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

So how it is that now members of NATO, including Maj. Gen. Piatt of the 10th Mountain Division thinks it works great?

The British Royal Navy has given mindfulness training to officers, and military leaders are rolling it out in the Army and Royal Air Force for some officers and enlisted soldiers. The New Zealand Defence Force recently adopted the technique, and military forces of the Netherlands are considering the idea, too. This week, NATO plans to hold a two-day symposium in Berlin to discuss the evidence behind the use of mindfulness in the military.

Well that was from the following article reported yesterday on the New York Times. What is your head full of right now?

The Latest in Military Strategy:

The New York Times
By Matt Richtel
April 5, 2019

“I was asked recently if my soldiers call me General Moonbeam,” said Maj. Gen. Piatt, who was director of operations for the Army and now commands its 10th Mountain Division. “There’s a stereotype this makes you soft. No, it brings you on point.”

As commander of the coalition forces in Iraq, Maj. Gen. Walter Piatt juggled ruthless pursuit of enemies and delicate diplomacy with tribal leaders, using a trove of modern weaponry and streams of tech-generated data.

But his best decisions, he said, relied on a tool as ancient as it is powerful. Maj. Gen. Piatt often began daily operations by breathing deliberately, slack-jawed, staring steadily at a palm tree.
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UK Veteran Dumped After Duty Died

Why are NATO Defense leaders making our jobs impossible? After decades of endless hours working to get them to overcome the stigma of PTSD, advocates have been showing them how much hope there is in healing, veterans continue to be dumped after duty!

We tell them to ask for help in this battle the same way they asked for help to do their duties in combat. We tell them the same people who would have died for them in combat, will listen to them now.

We tell them everything they need to hear but cannot say their government will be there for them too!

Mum who found dead body of soldier son who served in Afghanistan says Army “can’t be bothered” to help men like him
The Mirror UK
Sean Rayment
August 11, 2108

Kevin Holt, a former member of the 2nd Battalion, was discovered dead by his mother Shirley – who said the Army “can’t be bothered” to help men like him

Shirley Parker Holt with the shrine to the son she buried last Friday (Image: John Gladwin/Sunday Mirror)

The regiment with the highest Afghan war casualty toll is still suffering losses as its heroes battle demons in civilian life.

The Rifles lost 55 dead and 252 wounded serving on the front line but its mentally traumatised veterans continue to die young.

A fortnight ago Kevin Holt, a former member of the 2nd Battalion who had always dreamed of being a soldier, was discovered dead at 29 by his mum Shirley – who said the Army “can’t be bothered” to help men like him.

Kevin’s death a fortnight ago, after nearly a decade of struggling with post traumatic stress disorder, remains a mystery.

But this year alone at least six men who served in the Rifles have taken their own lives, including one in the past week.

Cleaner Shirley, who found Kevin’s body in the caravan he used as his home, said he never got over what he had witnessed in Afghanistan.

Shirley insisted aftercare had been totally lacking, saying: “It was like the Army couldn’t wait to get rid of him. As soon as he was diagnosed everything stopped and he was told he was going to be discharged.

“That was it – no help, no counseling, nothing. He even had to wait four years for a pension.
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US Troops in Afghanistan Help Sisters of Charity

US troops, civilians volunteer to help Afghan needy
STARS AND STRIPES
By PHILLIP WALTER WELLMAN Published: November 5, 2016

About a dozen volunteers help with the sorting and packing of the nuns’ car. The volunteers tend to rotate from week to week, but Army Capt. Rachel Campion, 27, with the 82nd Airborne Division, participates regularly.

National Guard Capt. Carl Crawford holds a device used to make fuel bricks out of paper waste, Oct. 21, 2016. On the table are circular bricks formed with ordinary food containers. Every Friday, civilian and military volunteers at Resolute Support headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan, donate their time to make the bricks for an orphanage in the Afghan capital.
Andrew Yurkovsky/Stars and Stripes

KABUL, Afghanistan — Twice a month, Jerry Farkas, a retired Air Force flight chief from Utah, greets two Catholic nuns who come to the NATO headquarters here to collect donations for orphans at their Sisters of Charity home and needy families the nuns help support.

The nuns’ visits coincide with a weekly meeting of volunteers, primarily American troops, who organize the donation drive — one of several initiatives the volunteers are engaged in to help underprivileged families and orphans in the Afghan capital.

“Many people want to try to help,” said Farkas, 54, who works for Combined Security Transition Command — Afghanistan’s contracting enabler cell. “They’re here in Afghanistan and they’re trying to figure out: what can I do?”

Appeals for donations have resulted in a steady stream of clothes, school supplies and other items arriving at the NATO base from companies and citizens in the United States. People living on the Resolute Support base also make some donations.

Volunteers sort through the donated items in a shipping container used as a storage unit, preparing them for collection.
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Canada Military Suicides "In a sense, these are our forgotten casualties"

National Defence Minister Orders Suicide Prevention As A Priority For Soldiers And Veterans
“In a sense, these are our forgotten casualties.”
The Argus Lakehead University Canada
By Olivia Levesque , Staff Writer
November 26, 2015

“The military will spend a fortune to train a soldier to go to war. They need to spend that same amount of money to repair that soldier when they come back.” says military veteran Darrell McMullin to the Globe and Mail in an interview after the investigation was released.

On the day before Remembrance Day, Globe and Mail released an investigation that had been in the works for months with the Canadian Armed Forces. The investigation known as “The Unremembered” released disturbing statistics of the number of soldiers and veterans who had taken their own lives after serving in Afghanistan.

The numbers show that Canada isn’t just losing troops overseas, but losing them here at home too. Since the beginning of the 13-year NATO-led Afghan mission, 54 military personnel and veterans have committed suicide, according to the statistics released by the Globe and Mail. The number suicides since the beginning of our mission in Afghanistan number more than one third of the number of Canadian troops who killed in action during the conflict itself. It’s a sad reality but it seems those returning from deployment face a war on Canadian soil almost as deadly as the one they faced overseas.

National Defence Minister, Harjit Singh Sajjan, has responded to the investigation by issuing an order to Canada’s top military leader to make suicide prevention a major priority within the Armed Forces. The investigation has also shown that the number of suicides have increased over the past year amongst returning veterans as well. Fourteen suicides were recorded since the beginning of 2014 according to the investigation.
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US and UK Lost Soldiers in Afghanistan Helicopter Crash

2 U.S. troops die in Afghanistan copter crash
USA TODAY
Alan Gomez and Gregg Zoroya
October 12, 2015

Two U.S. servicemembers were among five killed Sunday when a British helicopter crashed in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, the third mass-casualty event involving transport aircraft in the war-torn country in three months, coalition forces in Afghanistan said Monday.

The other dead were two British servicemembers and a French civilian contractor in what the NATO-led military mission described as a "non-hostile incident." The crash involving a British Puma Mk 2 helicopter happened at 4:15 p.m. local time at Camp Resolute Support in Kabul, and an investigation is underway.

"We're deeply saddened by the loss of our teammates," said U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Wilson Shoffner, military communications chief in Afghanistan. "Our heartfelt condolences go out to the families and friends of those affected in this tragic incident and we pray for the full recovery of the injured."
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Ministry of Defence names RAF personnel killed in helicopter crash in Kabul as Flight Lieutenant Geraint Roberts and Flight Lieutenant Alan Scott

2 US troops killed by gunmen wearing Afghan military uniforms

UPDATE

A Pensacola staff sergeant was one of two U.S airmen killed Wednesday in Afghanistan.
The Pentagon announced Staff Sgt. Forrest B. Sibley, 31, of Pensacola, Florida and Capt. Matthew D. Roland, 27, of Lexington, Kentucky died after the vehicle they were traveling in was attacked near Camp Antonik, Afghanistan.

2 US troops killed by gunmen wearing Afghan military uniforms
Stars and Stripes
By Carlo Munoz and Zubair Babakarkhail
Published: August 26, 2015

KABUL, Afghanistan — Two U.S. servicemembers were shot and killed by two gunmen wearing Afghan security forces uniforms who opened fire on their vehicle in southern Afghanistan early Wednesday, U.S. and coalition officials said.

The attack occurred on an Afghan military compound in Helmand province. It coincided with reports that Taliban insurgents had overrun the center of Musa Qala, a strategically important district center in Helmand.

“Resolute Support servicemembers returned fire and killed the shooters,” a coalition statement said.

“We are deeply saddened by the reports out of Afghanistan overnight,” said Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, Pentagon spokesman. “Two U.S. servicemembers operating in support of the Resolute Support Mission were killed yesterday when two individuals wearing Afghan National Defense and Security Force uniforms opened fire on their vehicle.”

DOD is withholding their identifications 24 hours, as families are notified. Their service branches were not identified.
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Georgia SWAT Team Veteran Killed in Afghanistan

Former sheriff's deputy killed in Afghanistan
WTCO News
By La-Keya Stinchcomb, Digital Producer
Posted: Aug 22, 2015

FLOYD COUNTY, GA (CBS46)
A former Floyd County law enforcement officer was killed in Afghanistan Saturday.

Barry Sutton was a civilian contractor, working with DynCorp International. He was helping to train police officers in Afghanistan as part of NATO's resolute Support Mission, according to the Floyd County Sheriff's Office.

Sutton was one of 12 people who died after a suicide bomber attacked a NATO convoy traveling through a crowded neighborhood.

"Barry was a solid career officer, Floyd County Police Department SWAT veteran and deputy," said Floyd County Sheriff Burkhalter. "I am proud to have associated with him and I mourn with his family and extended law enforcement family."
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US and NATO End Afghanistan Mission

U.S., NATO mark end of mission to Afghanistan 
Associated Press
Lynne O'Donnell
December 28, 2014

It ends with 2,224 American soldiers killed, according to an AP tally, out of a total of some 3,500 foreign troop deaths.

Commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), Gen. John Campbell, center,

cases the ISAF flag during a ceremony at ISAF headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sunday.

(Photo: Massoud Hossaini, AP)

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The United States and NATO formally ended their war in Afghanistan on Sunday with a ceremony at their military headquarters in Kabul as the insurgency they fought for 13 years remains as ferocious and deadly as at any time since the 2001 invasion that unseated the Taliban regime following the Sept. 11 attacks.

The symbolic ceremony marked the end of the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force, which will transition to a supporting role with 13,500 soldiers, most of them American, starting Jan. 1.

Gen. John Campbell, commander of ISAF, rolled up and sheathed the green and white ISAF flag and unfurled the flag of the new international mission, called Resolute Support.

"Resolute Support will serve as the bedrock of an enduring partnership" between NATO and Afghanistan, Campbell told an audience of Afghan and international military officers and officials, as well as diplomats and journalists.

He paid tribute to the international and Afghan troops who have died fighting the insurgency, saying: "The road before us remains challenging but we will triumph."

From Jan. 1, the new mission will provide training and support for Afghanistan's military, with the U.S. accounting for almost 11,000 members of the residual force.
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Two American soldiers were killed overnight

Two American Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan Attack: Official
NBC News

KABUL, Afghanistan — Two American soldiers were killed overnight when their convoy came under enemy attack near Bagram Airbase near Kabul in Afghanistan, a U.S. official told NBC News on Saturday. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Earlier, NATO coalition spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Justin Hadley said a roadside bomb had killed two foreign soldiers traveling in convoy near the largest U.S. military base in that country late on Friday. "It is coalition policy to defer the identity and nationality of the service members to the national authorities," Hadley said.

The bomb detonated while vehicles passed a road leading up to Bagram Airfield, local police chief Gen. Zaman Mamozai. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in a Twitter message.
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UPDATE Department of Defense

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Release No: NR-617-14
December 14, 2014
DoD Identifies Army Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

They died Dec. 12, in Parwan Province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when the enemy attacked their vehicle with an improvised explosive device. These soldiers were assigned to 3rd Engineer Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.

Killed were:
Sgt. 1st Class Ramon S. Morris, 37, of New York, New York; and
Spc. Wyatt J. Martin, 22, of Mesa, Arizona.

Maj. Gen. Harold Greene's death "could not have been foreseen"

Military report: No negligence in death of U.S. General in Afghanistan
CNN
By Jamie Crawford, CNN National Security Producer
December 4, 2014

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Maj. Gen. Harold was killed by a member of the Afghan National Army in August
A report said there was no way the death could have been "foreseen"
The International Security Assistance Force authored the report

Washington (CNN) -- An investigation into the killing of the most senior U.S. military officer since 9/11 found the incident could not have been "foreseen" or "prevented," according to a military report out Thursday.

Maj. Gen. Harold Greene, who was leading efforts to train soldiers in Afghanistan, was killed by a member of the Afghan National Army on Aug. 5 during a visit to a military training facility in Kabul.

The report was from the International Security Assistance Force, which serves as NATO's command over allied military operations in Afghanistan.

Greene, along with more than 90 other US and Coalition personnel, visited the Marshal Fahim National Defense University to take a look at the construction of a site at the school that would serve officers in the Afghan Army.

According to the report, overall security at the site was provided by Danish forces, but there were protection forces from the United States, United Kingdom and Germany also present. But despite "extensive security planning" for the event, the report said "there was no comprehensive plan that incorporated all participating security elements," as each individual security detachment did their own preparation.

"The threat level that day was assessed as low, with no indicators of unusual activity or concern," the report said.
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Soldier’s Heart: Remembering Jacob George,

Please keep in mind that there are many other veterans with the same feelings and were against being sent into Iraq and Afghanistan. We cannot dismiss their pain simply because we do not agree with any of them. If we ignore them, then we will insure what happened when Vietnam veterans came home shall be repeated. As with them, regret now does little good to erase the pain we inflicted on them.

Soldier’s Heart: Remembering Jacob George, Afghan War Vet Turned Peace Activist Who Took Own Life
Democracy Now
September 29, 2014

We air a remembrance of Jacob George, an Afghanistan War veteran and peace activist who took his own life on September 17. He was 32 years old. George co-founded the Afghan Veterans Against the War Committee, part of Iraq Veterans Against the War.

George was also a musician who biked around the country playing music for peace, a campaign he called "A Ride Till the End." In 2012, at the NATO summit in Chicago, he was among the veterans who hurled their military medals toward the summit gates in an act of protest against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

George spoke openly about his struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder and with getting Veterans Affairs counselors to understand what he saw as a "moral injury" from his time in Afghanistan.

In a storybook that accompanied his musical album "Soldier’s Heart," George wrote: "A wise medicine woman from Arkansas once told me that grief is pain trying to leave the body. If you don’t allow yourself to grieve, it gets stuck. But once you grieve, the body can heal itself. I won’t lie, some of this stuff is heavy. But telling my story is a part of my healing process. And it’s not just veterans who need to heal: all of us need to heal from war and the roster of ailments produced by a nation at war." Hear George playing the banjo and singing his song, "Soldier’s Heart."
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NATO plans for early Afghan exit

13 minutes ago
NATO plans for early Afghan exit
Stars and Stripes
By John Vandiver
Published: February 26, 2014

STUTTGART, Germany — NATO defense ministers will discuss plans for a complete withdrawal from Afghanistan by the end of 2014 should Afghanistan and the U.S. fail to reach agreement on a key long-term security deal, the alliance’s top official said Wednesday.

“This is not our preferred outcome. But these are the facts — facts that we need to take into account in our planning,” NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said at the start of a two-day ministerial meeting in Brussels.

Rasmussen’s comments echoed those of President Barack Obama, who on Tuesday informed Afghan President Hamid Karzai by phone about U.S. plans for a possible exit at the end of the year.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the Pentagon would “move ahead with additional contingency planning to ensure adequate plans are in place to accomplish an orderly withdrawal by the end of the year should the United States not keep any troops in Afghanistan after 2014.”
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This has been a deadly week for America’s military

UPDATE
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Release No: NR-033-14
January 16, 2014
DoD Identifies Army Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

They died Jan. 10, at Bagram Airfield, in Parwan Province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when the aircraft they were aboard crashed. The incident is under investigation.

Killed were:

Chief Warrant Officer Andrew L. McAdams, 27, of Cheyenne, Wyo., assigned to Detachment 53, Operational Support Airlift Command, Joint Force Headquarters, Wyoming Army National Guard, Cheyenne, Wyo.

Sgt. Drew M. Scobie, 25, of Kailua, Hawaii, assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1st Battalion, 487th Field Artillery, Wahiawa, Hawaii Army National Guard, Oahu, Hawaii.

3 Americans dead as military plane crashes in Afghanistan
The Washington Times
By Cheryl K. Chumley
Friday, January 10, 2014

This has been a deadly week for America’s military.

Three Americans aboard a U.S. military MC-12 plane were killed Friday morning following a crash in the eastern portion of Afghanistan.

The cause of the crash is not yet known, but a defense officer told ABC News that investigators have ruled out enemy fire.

The New York Daily News reported the statement from a NATO spokesman: “Two International Security Assistance Force service members and one ISAF civilian died following an aircraft mishap in eastern Afghanistan today. It is ISAF policy to defer casualty identification procedures to the relevant national authorities.”
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Blackhawk crash in Afghanistan leaves 6 troops dead and 1 survivor

6 U.S. troops die in Afghanistan helicopter crash
CBS/AP
December 17, 2013

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Six U.S. troops were killed Tuesday when their Blackhawk helicopter made a hard landing in southern Afghanistan and then came under attack by insurgents, American officials tell CBS News.

It was not immediately clear whether the six died in the hard landing or in the subsequent attack on their position.

One person on board the aircraft was injured and survived, two U.S. defense officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record.

A statement issued by the NATO international military coalition said the crash was under investigation and that there was no insurgent activity in the area. In Washington, an official originally said the helicopter had experienced engine failure before the crash, but later said that it was unclear whether that was the case.

The deputy governor of southern Zabul province, Mohammad Jan Rasoolyar, said a NATO helicopter crashed in the remote district of Shajau and U.S. officials later confirmed that Zabul was the location of the U.S. crash.
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Military brass living lifestyles of rich and famous

UPDATE
Admiral's housing problems cause ruckus in Naples

Report questions costs of villas and mansions for military’s top brass
Tribune Washington Bureau
David S. Cloud
Published: July 21, 2013

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Marine Gen. John F. Kelly works in a fortress-like headquarters near the Miami airport. Starting this fall, he will live in Casa Sur, an elegant home with a pool and gardens on one of the area’s swankiest streets.

The five-bedroom residence, across the street from the famed Biltmore Golf Course, is provided rent free to Kelly as head of U.S. Southern Command, which oversees military operations in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The cost to the government? $160,000 a year, plus $402,000 for renovations and security improvements now underway.

Casa Sur is one of hundreds of high-end homes, villas and mansions where senior generals and admirals are billeted, according to a Pentagon report prepared for Congress last month but not publicly released.

Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, the Air Force four-star who commands NATO, gets a 15,000-square-foot, 19th century chateau in Belgium. Lt. Gen. Steven A. Hummer, head of Marine Forces Reserve, enjoys a 19th century plantation house in New Orleans listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Joint Chiefs of Staff and their deputies inhabit historic quarters in and around Washington — all staffed with chefs, drivers, gardeners and security teams.

The perks for top military brass, a Pentagon tradition, are under increasing scrutiny in Congress at a time when budget reductions and the mandatory spending cuts known as the sequester have forced the Pentagon to cut services, close facilities, cancel training and missions, and furlough 680,000 civilian workers.
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Hours-long gunbattle with NATO security forces at Kabul Airport

Kabul Airport Attack: Gunfire, Explosions Reported
Huffington Post
Posted: 06/09/2013

(From AP)KABUL, Afghanistan — At least five heavily armed insurgents were engaged in an hours-long gunbattle with security forces on the perimeter of Afghanistan's main airport Monday after they tried to attack NATO's airport headquarters with rocket-propelled grenades, assault rifles and at least one large bomb, the army and police said.

The airport was closed to all civilian air traffic because of the attack, an airport official said. It was unclear if the attack had damaged facilities inside the airport itself.

Kabul police chief Gen. Mohammad Ayub Salangi said at least two insurgents had been killed so far. There were no casualties among police or civilians, he added.
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Three US soldiers killed in Afghanistan Green on Blue attack

Taliban kill four Nato soldiers in Afghanistan
Three US troops shot dead while Italian dies in bomb attack on armoured convoy
Staff and agencies
The Guardian
Saturday 8 June 2013

Four Nato soldiers have been killed in two separate Taliban attacks in Afghanistan.

Three US soldiers were killed in Paktika when a man in an Afghan army uniform turned his weapon on them, according to a spokeswoman for Afghanistan's Nato-led force.

In western Afghanistan, an attacker threw explosives into an armoured vehicle, killing an Italian soldier and wounding three others.

The Italian defence ministry said the attack in Farah province came as the soldiers were returning to their base from training Afghan security forces.
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