A combined Afghan and coalition security force discovered an anti-personnel mine inside a mosque during a security operation in Zharay District, Kandahar province, yesterday.

The combined security force initiated a search for a Taliban facilitator, which led them to a mosque. Afghan members of the force entered the mosque to search for the facilitator and, while searching the area, discovered the anti-personnel mine which Taliban insurgents had emplaced on a shelf.

U.K. soldiers with A Company, 1 Rifles, and a section from 39 Engineer Squadron, 24 Commando Royal Engineer Regiment, participated in Operation Kapcha Afsana 9, July 24 through Aug. 6, to establish a new command post north of Narh Khil, Helmand province.

The establishment of the new command post, dubbed Kahmanan, increased the area of responsibility secured by the battlegroup and freedom of movement for International Security Assistance Forces and locals.

Soldiers from the 1st Advise and Assist Task Force, 1st Infantry Division, transferred base operations and training responsibilities at the Manila Training Center near Chamchamal, Iraq, to the Kurdish Regional Guard, Aug. 4.

Lt. Col. Tom McCardell and Lt. Col. Phil Royce of the Stability Transition Team, 1st AATF, met with Brig. Gen. Sardar Rasol Qader Baban, MTC commander, to facilitate the transition of what Sardar called one of the Kurdish Regional Guard’s, or KRG's, best training locations.

President Barack Obama traveled to Dover Air Force Base, Del., for the return of 30 U.S. servicemembers killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan on Saturday.

Thirty International Security Assistance Force members, one civilian interpreter, and seven Afghan commandos were killed when a coalition CH-47 Chinook crashed in Afghanistan early Aug. 6.

All of the ISAF servicemembers on board were from the United States, officials said. They added that the incident represents the highest number of U.S. forces killed during a single event in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

When you think of the U.S. Army Expert Field Medical Badge (EFMB) you may imagine battle-hardened medics just off deployment being tested on combat casualty tasks, trudging through dense forest on a land navigation course or gutting out the final steps of a 12-mile, forced road march for the right to wear the EFMB on their uniforms.

If so, you would be only half right.

Drought, famine, IEDs, MEDEVACs, angry mobs, corrupt contractors and wily, demanding village elders: Soldiers from the 418th Civil Affairs Battalion faced them all today in suburban Kansas City.

The product of over four months of intensive planning, the battalion-level Field Training Exercise (FTX) allowed Soldiers to practice Civil Affairs operations in realistic, demanding scenarios. About 40 Soldiers conducted the missions, while 30 more played roles such as local contractors, the mayor, chief of police, their wives "and rioting citizens.

Sailors assigned to the Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 41 "Seahawks" recognized a milestone of 160,000 operational hours without a Class A mishap Aug. 8.

A Class A mishap is defined as an incident with a total cost of more than $1 million, destroyed aircraft, fatal injury or total disability. HSM-41, which began service as Helicopter Anti-Submarine Light 41 in 1983, has accumulated the hours over the course of the fleet replacement squadron's lifetime.

Severe weather on July 29 flooded a hiking path on Mount Whitney near Lone Pine, Calif., leaving 60 hikers stranded.

Officials with the California Emergency Management Agency reached out to the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center here for assistance.

"Although there was a large number of individuals in danger, this mission was just like any other for us," said the AFRCC's Capt. Roy Porter. "We followed the same checklists and procedures we always do for crises like this."

Embattled Brits buy bats, Gottlieb touts 2A, Skyway Samaritan speaks

As London descends into anarchy and British citizens are reportedly buying American-made aluminum baseball bats by the bushel, Bellevue’s Alan Gottlieb says the situation shows a need in civilized society for the right to keep and bear arms.

http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-seattle/embattled-brits-buy-bats-g...

Article by Dave Workman