Land of the Free. Home of the Brave.

03/03/2019

March 3, 2019
US-backed forces in Syria advance on last IS-held territory
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.

U.S.-backed forces battling Islamic State (IS) in eastern Syria are reported to have advanced into the last area the extremist militants control.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said on March 2 that they were advancing on two fronts at Baghuz in the province of Deir al-Zor.

Zana Amedi, an SDF commander, told the AP that “an active ground force” is advancing into IS-held territories as the extremists resort to sniper fire and b***y traps.

AP reports that two helicopters for the U.S.-led coalition were seen circling the area of fighting around noon on March 2. A loud explosion later was heard from a distance and thick black smoke billowed into the sky, apparently a coalition air strike.

The SDF on March 1 resumed military operations to liberate the last piece of territory held by IS in Deir al-Zor after evacuating thousands of civilians and hostages who had been besieged inside.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on February 28 that the IS has lost “100 percent” of the territory it once controlled in Syria, but officials estimate there are hundreds of militants left in the small patch of territory in Baghuz, and that they will likely fight till the end.

In a separate development on March 2, a Syrian war monitor and a news agency of an Al-Qaida-linked group say militants have shot dead eight men suspected of being IS fighters in Syria’s Idlib Province.

Ebaa news agency, which is linked to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, said the executions were in response to an IS su***de bomb attack at a restaurant in Idlib a day earlier. Ebaa said the men were shot dead in front of the restaurant where the attack occurred.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported the shootings outside the restaurant.

Although IS and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham subscribe to hard-line jihadist ideology, they have opposed each other for years.

02/26/2019

February 26, 2019
Air Force 'unclaimed vet' to be buried alone Wednesday in AZ – public asked to attend
Laura Widener
Veterans groups are asking the public to help honor the life of a late veteran who will be buried alone on Wednesday in Phoenix, Arizona.

Air Force veteran Will Melvin Shegog passed away Feb. 15 and has been declared an “unclaimed veteran” ahead of his funeral service with full military honors this week, according to Dignity Memorial, who is sponsoring the service.

Service for Shegog will be held at the National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona in Phoenix at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 27.

“The public and members of the media are invited to attend the burial in support of Mr. Shegog’s service to the nation,” Dignity Memorial stated.

Shegog, an Illinois native, served in the U.S. Air Force between June 1978 and September 1979, and later relocated to the Phoenix area.

A funeral procession is planned from A.L. Moore-Grimshaw Mortuary to the National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona, which will include the Patriot Guard Riders, a nonprofit group of motorcycle enthusiasts who attend veteran funerals to pay their respects and shield the service from potential disruptions.

Shegog’s services are sponsored by a program dedicated to ensuring full military honors for veterans who wouldn’t be recognized otherwise.

“The Dignity Memorial Homeless Veterans Burial Program is a cooperative effort designed to ensure that veterans who are homeless, indigent, and have no family receive the honors in death that their service in life merited,” said David Hinton of Dignity Memorial. “We’re honored to assist in giving Mr. Shegog the dignified military services he deserves.”

Unclaimed veteran services are all too frequent, yet statistics are nearly impossible to find.

Another unaccompanied veteran will be also be laid to rest on Wednesday in Killeen, Texas.

Authorities did not discover any next of kin to notify in the death of U.S. Army Spc. Hugh Gary Bryan. Services for Bryan will be held Wednesday, Feb. 27, at 11:00 a.m. at the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery in Killeen, Texas.

Marine Corps veteran Jerry Gray, 67, was an unclaimed veteran who was laid to rest on Monday at the Mountain Home National Cemetery in Tennessee, according to Johnson City Press.

Air Force veteran Joseph Walker was another unaccompanied veteran who passed away in January at age 72.

When word got around of Gray and Walker’s unaccompanied status – with no one expected to attend their funerals – the public showed up in the hundreds to pay their respects.

Veteran groups are hopeful that a similar response can be garnered to pay respects for Shegog and Bryan this week.

02/20/2019

February 16, 2019
1917 revolver was a 'family heirloom.' Then Erie County tried to destroy it.
Patrick Lakamp - The Buffalo News
He’s a veteran with a pistol permit, so Andrew Ciepiela said he was just trying to follow the rules when he went to Old County Hall last summer to register a century-old Iver Johnson revolver that had been passed down through three generations of his family.

He sees the 1917 firearm as a family heirloom.

But that’s not how the Erie County Pistol Permit Department saw it. The department classified the firearm as a “nuisance weapon” after a check revealed that someone else decades ago had registered the gun. Not only did the department refuse Ciepiela’s request to add the firearm to his permit, it cleared the way for the West Seneca Police Department to destroy the gun.

“I wasn’t expecting any issue. It took me by great surprise,” recalled Ciepiela, 46, a retired staff sergeant with four deployments during his 22 years in the Army. The West Seneca resident left the county office in July determined to fight what he saw as “big government stomping on the little guy.”

An official in the pistol permit department brusquely told him to get an attorney and go to court if he wanted to contest the decision, he said. Instead, Ciepiela filed a legal petition on his own and argued the case in court himself. And chances look good that Ciepiela will be able to get back and register the .38 caliber revolver. The gun has been at the West Seneca Police Department during Ciepiela’s legal proceedings.

“If this firearm had been legally owned and missing from a registered owner for well over 30-plus years, why is there no record of the theft or letter of lost firearm?” Ciepiela asked in his court paperwork.

Assistant County Attorney Thomas Navarro told State Supreme Court Justice Emilio Colaiacovo last week that authorities traced the gun’s ownership to an Orleans County doctor who registered it in 1951 when he was 65 years old.

“How it got into petitioner’s hands, we don’t know,” Navarro said.

The county’s permit office didn’t have the authority to register the gun for Ciepiela given the previous registration, Navarro said.

The county asked the state police to investigate to make sure the weapon wasn’t in the wrong hands, he said.

“We don’t want guns out on the streets unlawfully possessed,” he said.

When Colaiacovo asked Navarro if the county had any objections to Ciepiela keeping the weapon, the county lawyer replied, “none at all.”

Navarro said a judge’s order is required for Ciepiela to be considered the weapon’s lawful owner. Navarro offered to prepare the order, show it to Ciepiela and then submit it to the judge, who signaled a willingness to sign it.

Once the judge signs the order, Ciepiela will be allowed to retrieve the revolver and add it to his permit.

Navarro said he didn’t see a reason to destroy the gun but legal steps had to be followed.

“Why destroy it?” Navarro asked. “It was going to be saved. We just had to go through the process.”

Eileen Ciepiela, who is Andrew’s mother, said the weapon belonged to her father.

“I don’t know how my dad came to get it,” she said.

After her father died, her husband took the gun, and then he died several years ago, she said.

“The firearm went from my grandfather to my father to me though simple passage of time,” Andrew Ciepiela said in court papers.

He said he has no intention of firing the antique revolver. He doesn’t even know if cartridges are made any longer for the gun. He told the court he wants the gun back “for heirloom purposes and its historical value only.”

02/19/2019

February 19, 2019
Military dog with 3 deployments and NYPD service dies from cancer
Cheryl Hinneburg
Nine-year-old Caesar, a German shepherd K-9 officer with the New York Police Department, was laid to rest last Thursday following a battle with cancer.

Before Caesar was euthanized, he received a hero’s salute from NYPD K-9 handlers and their dogs for his courageous service, which included three tours of duty in Afghanistan with the U.S. Army, The Daily Mail reported.

Officer Juan Rodriguez, Caesar’s long-time handler and Army veteran, was with him every step of the way.

Caesar joined NYPD’s Transit K-9 Unit in 2014 as the first military service dog when he was just four-years-old. His duty was to keep the subway safe, but he surpassed that objective in many ways.

Caesar used his expertise once to sniff out explosives which resulted in saving an entire Navy Seals squad.

Caesar went through training and also became part of NYPD’s Transit K-9 Unit, working routine patrols and counterterrorism duties, NY Daily News reported.

He was a FEMA-certified dog who worked in earthquake disaster relief in Haiti.

Just outside of the animal hospital, Caesar was bid a righteous farewell by his peers.

Rodriguez walked Caesar down the street which was lined with NYPD Police, many with their fellow K-9 officers.

Rodriguez let Caesar have a final glimpse of the East River before entering the animal hospital for the final time.

“It is an honor to work with him. It sounds funny to say that I’m honored to work with a dog, but I know I can trust him, and I feel comfortable knowing that if I go out there, he’ll find anything and help save lives,” Rodriguez said.

Blue Lives Matter

Heartbreaking moment NYPD K-9 dog named Caesar who served in Afghanistan receives a hero's salute before being euthanized after battle with cancerhttps://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6710457/Hero-NYPD-K-9-dog-named-Caesar-served-Afghanistan-euthanized-battle-cancer.html …

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5:01 PM - Feb 15, 2019
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NYPD K-9 dog named Caesar euthanized after battle with cancer
Caesar was treated to a hero's salute by NYPD K-9 handlers and their dogs before being put down on Thursday, five years after he joined the Transit K-9 unit as a battle-tested four-year-old.

Caesar was treated to a hero's salute by NYPD K-9 handlers and their dogs before being put down on Thursday, five years after he joined the Transit K-9 unit as a battle-tested four-year-old.

02/19/2019

2019 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) Change of Command Ceremony
FORT CAMPBELL, KY, UNITED STATES
02.14.2019
Video by Pfc. Andrew Jo
40th Public Affairs Detachment
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Major General Andrew Poppas relinquished command of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) to Major General Brian Winski Feb. 14, 2019 on Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

02/19/2019

February 19, 2019
16 states sue Trump over 'unconstitutional' national emergency order
Laura Widener
Attorney Generals from 16 states are have filed lawsuits against President Donald Trump and are fighting his national emergency declaration last week to build the southern border wall.

The lawsuits were filed Monday in response to Trump’s national emergency order, which uses powers afforded by the National Emergencies Act to determine what issues to declare an emergency, and tap into unused funds for a response, CNN reported Monday.

“We’re going to try to halt the President from violating the Constitution, the separation of powers, from stealing money from Americans and states that has been allocated by Congress, lawfully,” said Xavier Becerra, the California Attorney General who is leading the lawsuit efforts.

02/19/2019

February 18, 2019
VA official to serve 11 years in prison for misusing $2M, accepting bribes
Cheryl Hinneburg
A former U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) official was sentenced Friday to 132 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, and restitution to the VA in the sum of $155,000.

James King, 63, of Baltimore, Md. previously pleaded guilty to one count of honest services and money/property wire fraud, one count of bribery of a public official, and one count of falsifying records to obstruct an investigation, according to the Justice Department.

King admitted to demanding and receiving bribes from three for-profit schools in exchange for enrolling disabled military veterans in those schools and facilitating over $2 million in payments from the VA using the veterans’ federal benefits.

02/19/2019

"I, Perry Byrd, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."

10/11/2018