U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Aslan Altan, the Iraqi Army School of Infantry head instructor and founder, speaks to the Iraqi Army School of Infantry instructors during a scheduled break at Camp Yassir, Al Asad, Iraq, April 4, 2007. The 10-day course, which is fashioned after the Marine Corps' version, is designed to train new Iraqi soldiers in a variety of advanced infantry tactics. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Adam Johnston


Pvt. Mohammed Hamid, a student at the Iraqi Army School of Infantry, inspects his target for accuracy, April 4, 2007. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Adam Johnston


Sgt. Emad Maard, an instructor at the Iraqi Army School of Infantry, carefully monitors one of the Iraqi Army soldiers during a recent PKC machine gun range, April 4, 2007. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Adam Johnston


Iraqi Army soldiers spend a day at the range, firing the PKC machine gun as part of the School of Infantry, April 4, 2007. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Adam Johnston


Directly following a class on the PKC machine gun, students in the Iraqi Army School of Infantry race to break down and re-assemble the weapon, April 4, 2007. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Adam Johnston


More photo essays at DefenseLink

Labels: Al Asad, Camp Yassir, Iraq, Iraqi Army, Iraqi Army School of Infantry, USMC

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SR# 040607-01
April 6, 2007

By Pfc. Ben Fox
3rd Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs

Spc. Kimberly Smith, attached to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, prays at the Good Friday Prayer Breakfast at Forward Operating Base Warhorse in Baqubah, Iraq, April 6. (U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Ben Fox, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs)


Bowing his head, Spc. Hosie Richard, Company C, 215th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, prays at the Good Friday Prayer Breakfast at Forward Operating Base Warhorse in Baqubah, Iraq, April 6. (U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Ben Fox, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs)


Capt. Marolyn Pearson, Medical Company C, 215th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, prays over her bible at the Good Friday Prayer Breakfast at Forward Operating Base Warhorse in Baqubah, Iraq, April 6. (U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Ben Fox, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs)


A gospel choir sings praise and worship during the Good Friday Prayer Breakfast at Forward Operating Base Warhorse in Baqubah, Iraq, April 6. (U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Ben Fox, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs)


At the front of the room, Maj. John Sinclair, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, leads a prayer during the Good Friday Prayer Breakfast at Forward Operating Base Warhorse in Baqubah, Iraq, April 6. (U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Ben Fox, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs)

Labels: 1st Cavalry Division, 3BCT, Baqubah, FOB Warhorse, holidays, Iraq, photos

News of Note
Easter / Passover
Pilgrims Head to Jerusalem - VIDEO - PHOTOS
Pope presides at Good Friday Way of Cross procession
Christians worldwide mark Good Friday

Operation Iraqi Freedom
Bomb Full of Chlorine Gas Kills 27 in Iraq
McCain says he misspoke in upbeat Baghdad comments
Iraqi, U.S. forces sweep through volatile Iraqi city
Cheney reasserts Saddam link to al-Qaida

Operation Enduring Freedom
Afghan president says spoken with Taliban - Video

Homeland Security / War on Terror
Israel and Palestinians clash in Gaza - Video

Fallen Heroes
U.S. Changes How War Dead Come Home

Other Military News
Military.com Advisors: A Widow's Journey
Use Your GI Bill Right
Def Tech: iPod Stops a Bullet
Army Reluctant to Replace M4 (Heaven knows why...)

Worldwide Wackos
Captured Troops: Iran Psyched Us Out - Did Iraq Find Iranian 'Smoking Bomb?'
British Navy Crew Says Iran Imposed Constant Psychological Pressure
Iran calls on Britain for goodwill after releases
Freed Britons say 'confessions' coerced
Officials deny deal to free Britons

Homegrown Moonbats
Iraq war protester marches to Bush's ranch

Politics / Government
Top Gonzales Aide Quits
Monica Goodling resigns; had refused to testify
Dems Look to Make Attorney Firings Documents Public
Nancy Pelosi's Syria Visit Sparks Criticism For Bungled Shuttle Diplomacy
Democrats Fight Sam Fox Nomination, Charge He Cannot Serve Without Pay
Bush fighting to stay relevant
Military.com Op-ed: Pelosi's Trip

In the Courts / Crime and Punishment / Law and Order
Serial Slayer?
Lawsuit: Rat Died in Elderly Patient's Mouth
'Girls Gone Wild' Founder Won't Surrender
Missing Missouri Kids Found in Honduras
Third N.J. Bank Heist Suspect Nabbed - VIDEO
Ex-IRS Employee Charged With Swindling $330,000 From Home Depot for Returning Stolen Goods
Miami sex offenders live under a bridge (Maybe they should have thought of that before sexually assaulting children...)
3 U.S. attorney's lawyers resign posts
'Just shoot me,' begs FBI fugitive in NJ
N.J. court examines breath test machines

Media in the Media / Bloggers in the News / Watching the Web
Agence France-Presse, Google settle suit

Science / Medicine / Technology
Self-sample kit may boost cervical screening
China to take part in post-Kyoto talks: report
Hundreds sick in Mexico religious school mystery

Mother Nature
Report: Warming to Slam the Poor - TEXT (pdf)
Fisherman Pulls in 90-Year-Old Rockfish Off Alaska Coast
Warming not behind hurricane activity: forecaster
Forecaster blasts Gore on global warming
Rachael Ray serves up prom after tornado

News from My Neck of the Woods
Thousands in dark after New England snow

Other News of Note
Students Pay as Officials Play
2 Missing After Greek Cruise Ship Sinks
Daddy Wants Daughter's Wild Wreck Covered
China probing tainted wheat gluten claim

Fox News
U.S. Job Growth Better Than Expected
Tiger Woods Stays Alive at Masters - PHOTOS
NEWS IN PICTURES: Five-Alarm Fire
Pranksters Glue High School's Doors Shut
Pop Tarts: Halle Berry to Become Next Bald Beauty
Britney Spears Locked Into Deal With Manager She 'Hates'

Reuters: Top News
Students fear for job prospects in U.S. visa crunch
Acapulco journalist killed on violent Good Friday
Early wakeup call no problem for Wetterich
Bursting magnets may delay CERN collider project
Porn could be the key to next-generation DVD war
Google tests directory assistance for phones
Cheap Masters tickets provide priceless memories
Campaign revives France's lost love: politics
Sopranos cast in sad farewell to show
Dollar advances on strong jobs data
Wall Street rises with bid for Chrysler
Nikkei ends flat before U.S. job data
Oil falls after Iran releases Britons
WD-40 shares rise 4.4 pct after results
Job market blues just starting
Caution could stall economic growth
March job growth strong, jobless rate falls
Vonage wins temporary reprieve in Verizon case
AOL launches search ad service with Google
U.S. firms turn abroad as visa caps bite
Wal-Mart makes two executive appointments in U.S
House panel to hold subprime hearing

AP World News
Best Buy service trumps Circuit City
Martha Stewart picks space pal's menu
So much for 2-man show at the Masters
Tori Spelling says feud with mom is over
Education dept. places official on leave
Marathons embrace fan-friendly tech
Injunction to bar new Vonage customers
Hefner recalls Anna Nicole Playboy days
Kentucky lures Gillispie away from A&M
Consumer confidence at 6-month low

Military.com
Spy: The Alger Hiss Debate Continues
The New Warfighter's Forum
The Battlestar Galactica Story - LISTEN NOW

CENTCOM: News Releases
OPERATION NETS 27 INSURGENTS IN AD DIWANIYAH
NATIONAL POLICE DELIVER SUPPLIES, HOPE TO IRAQI SCHOOLCHILDREN
IRAQI SECURITY FORCES ENFORCE "RULE OF LAW"
SUICIDE VEHICLE DETONATES OUTSIDE POLICE CHECKPOINT IN RAMADI
FLOOD RELIEF CONTINUES FOR CHAMKANI RESIDENTS
U.S. HELICOPTER DOWN SOUTH OF BAGHDAD
17 SUSPECTED TERRORISTS CAPTURED IN RAIDS BAGHDAD
HUMANITARIAN AIR BRINGS SMILES TO BAGHDAD NEIGHBORHOOD
SOLDIERS PROVIDE MEDICAL ATTENTION TO RESIDENTS IN RADWINIYAH

USJFCOM
USJFCOM supports intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance conference - podcast
USJFCOM seeks to pass Joint Force Projection ACTD's final exam - podcast
More about the Joint Force Projection ACTD
More about ACTDs USJFCOM gears up for Noble Resolve - podcast

DefenseLink
Guardsmen to Receive Alert for Iraq Deployment - Story
Partnership Proves Potent For Insurgents - Story
Soldiers Receive Purple Hearts at Walter Reed - Story
Wounded Warrior Earns Purple Heart, Heads Home
Clinic Pushes Wounded Troops to New Heights - Story
Web Links Guard, Reserve to Employer Support - Story

More Headline News
Gates, Pace Discuss Iraq and Afghanistan
DoD Works to Improve Acquisition Process
USS Cleveland Hosts Naturalization Ceremony
Forces Discover Weapons Caches in Afghanistan

Military News
Officials Stress Zero Tolerance of Sexual Assault
USS Nimitz Deploys to Persian Gulf
Troops Embark on ‘Why We Serve’ Mission

War on Terror
Two U.S. Soldiers Killed in Iraq - Story
Afghan Police Repel Taliban Attack
Suspected Terrorists Captured
Five Soldiers Killed in Iraq
13 Terrorists Killed In Iraq
Soldier, Marine Die in Iraq

America Supports You
Ohio Group Supports Marines - Story
Military Families Enjoy Circus
Elmo Helps Military Kids Deal With Parents' Deployments
Group Puts Flags in Troops’ Pockets

Transformation
Program Connects Troops to Public
Walter Reed Using 3-D
Soldiers Test New Vehicles

Face of Defense
Hard Work, Dedication Pays off - Story
Captain Relates Experience
Engineer's Idea Saves Money
Air Force Surgeon Honored

DefendAmerica
Iraqi Forces' Efforts Improve Security in Baghdad, Official Says - Story
Bloggers' Roundtable Web Site

ON THE GROUND
Air Force Captain Teaches Classes, Experiences - Story
Troops Help Repair, Secure Baghdad Roadways - Story
Airmen Help Djiboutians Learn English - Story
Barriers Expected to Strengthen Checkpoints - Story
Transition Team Celebrates Iraqi Graduation - Story

IN IRAQ
Inspection Team Reduces Truck Breakdowns
Civilian Carpenters Lend Soldiers a Helping Hand
Security, Reconstruction Efforts Improving
General Petraeus Visits Revitalized Dora Market
Two-Man Team Helps Troops Communicate

IN AFGHANISTAN
Female Medics Take Forward Mission to Heart
Afghan Government, Coalition Aid Flood Victims
U.S., Coalition Servicemembers Climb 'The Ghar'
Female Aviators Pilot into Strong Career

IN DJIBOUTI
Soldiers Keep Promise, Check on Injured Girl
Postal Specialists Deal With Limited Space
Security Company Stands Watch in Djibouti

BACKGROUND
IRAQ
Renewal In Iraq
Iraq: Security, Stability
Fact Sheet: Progress and Work Ahead
Report: Strategy for Victory in Iraq
Iraq Daily Update
This Week in Iraq
Multinational Force Iraq
State Dept. Weekly Iraq Report
'Boots on the Ground' Audio Archive
Weekly Reconstruction Report (PDF)
Iraq Reconstruction
Maps

AFGHANISTAN
Afghanistan Update
Maps

WAR ON TERRORISM
Fact Sheet: Budget Request
Fact Sheet: Terror Plots Disrupted
Waging and Winning the War on Terror
Terrorism Timeline
Terrorism Knowledge Base

Weather
Afghanistan
Bost/Laskar Ghurian Herat Kabul Qandahar

Germany
Ansbach Aschaffenburg Berlin Berlin-Tempelhof Berlin/Schonefeld Bremerhaven
Darmstadt Frankfurt Frankfurt/Main Freiburg/Breisgau Garmisch
Garmisch-Partenkirchen Geilenkirchen Gelnhausen Giessen Kitzingen
Hanau Am Main Heidelberg Mainz Mannheim Nurnberg Stuttgart Trier
Wiesbaden Wurzburg

Gitmo

Guam
Agana Agana Heights Agat Andersen AFB Asan Barrigada

Iraq
Al Azamiyah Al Basrah Al Hillah Al Karkh Al Kazimiyah Al Kut
An Nasiriyah Baghdad Baqubah Mosul Najaf Nineveh Tall Kayf

Japan
Kadena Air Base Okinawa Tokyo Yokohama

Today in History
0451 - Attila's Huns plunder Metz
1118 - Pope Gelasius II excommunicates Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor
1348 - Prague U, 1st university in central Europe, formed by Charles IV
1456 - Louis van Burbon becomes prince-bishop of Luik
1509 - France declares war on Venice
1521 - Magelhaes' fleet reaches Cebu
1584 - Ieper surrenders to duke Van Parma
1625 - Albrecht von Wallenstein appointed German supreme commander
1652 - Dutch establish settlement at Cape Town, South Africa
1655 - Fabio Chigi replaces Pope Innocent X as Alexander VII
1712 - Slave revolt (New York, NY)
1788 - 1st settlement in Ohio, at Marietta
1798 - Territory of Mississippi is organized
1818 - General Andrew Jackson conquers St. Marks, FL from Seminole Indians
1827 - English chemist John Walker invents wooden matches
1831 - Dom Pedro abdicates to son, Dom Pedro II crowned emperor of Brazil
1860 - Grand duke Frederik I liberalizes laws in Bathe
1862 - Grant defeats Confederates at Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee; Island #10 falls
1863 - Battle of Charleston, SC - failed Federal fleet attack on Fort Sumter
1865 - Battle of Farmville, VA
1891 - Nebraska introduces the 8 hour work day
1901 - SDAP demands General voting right/abolishing First Chamber
1902 - Texas Oil Company (Texaco) forms
1926 - Forest fire burns 900 acres & kills 2 (San Luis Obispo, CA); Mussolini's Irish wife breaks his nose
1927 - Using phone lines, TV is sent from Washington, DC to New York, NY
1933 - Prohibition ends, Utah becomes 38th state to ratify 21st Amendment; 1st 2 Nazi anti-Jewish laws, bar Jews from legal & public service
1934 - In India, Mahatma Gandhi suspends his campaign of civil disobedience
1939 - Italy annexes Albania
1940 - 1st black to appear on US stamp (Booker T Washington)
1941 - British Generals O'Connor & Neame captured in North Africa
1942 - Heavy German assault on Malta
1943 - Adolf Hitler & Benito Mussolini meet for an Axis conference in Salzburg; British/US troops make contact at Wadi Akarit, South-Tunisia; Lieutenant Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg seriously wounded in allied air raid
1944 - General Montgomery speaks to Generals about invasion plan
1945 - 1st & last assault of German Rammkommando on US bombers; US B-17's bombs range at Lüneburg; US planes intercept Japanese fleet heading for Okinawa on a suicide mission; superbattleship Yamato & four destroyers are sunk
1946 - Part of East Prussia incorporated into Russian SFSR
1948 - World Health Organization established by UN
1953 - 1st west-to-east jet transatlantic nonstop flight; Dag Hammarskjöld of Sweden elected 2nd UN General-Secretary
1954 - German government refuses to recognize DDR; President Dwight Eisenhower fears "domino-effect" in Indo-China
1956 - Spain relinquishes her protectorate in Morocco
1959 - Radar 1st bounced off sun, Stanford, CA; Oklahoma ends prohibition, after 51 years
1962 - Yugoslav ex-president Milovan Djilas returns to jail
1963 - Yugoslavia proclaimed a Socialistic republic
1966 - US recovers lost H-bomb from Mediterranean floor (whoops!)
1967 - Israeli/Syrian border fights
1969 - Supreme Court strikes down laws prohibiting private possession of obscene material
1971 - President Richard Nixon orders Lieutenant Calley (My Lai) free
1976 - Chinese Politburo fires vice-premier Deng Xiaoping
1977 - Consumer Product Safety Commission bans the flame-retardant chemical "TRIS"
1978 - President Jimmy Carter defers production of the neutron bomb
1978 - Guttenberg bible sold for $2,000,000 in NYC
1980 - Jimmy Carter breaks relations with Iran during hostage crisis
1981 - Belgium Eyskens government forms
1982 - Iran minister of Foreign affairs Ghotbzadeh arrested
1983 - STS-6 specialist Story Musgrave & Don Peterson 1st STS spacewalk
1983 - Oldest human skeleton, aged 80,000 years, discovered in Egypt
1985 - 1st live telecast of Easter Parade
1988 - Russia announces it will withdraw its troops from Afghánistán
1989 - Soviet sub sinks in Norwegian Sea, with about a dozen deaths
1990 - Fire kills 110 on a ferry in Norway, in an unrelated event, 30 die in a ferry flip over in Burma; John Poindexter (National Security Advisor) found guilty on Iran-Contra scandal
1991 - Compton Gamma Ray Observatory orbits Earth
1994 - Vatican acknowledges Holocaust (Nazi's killing Jews) for 1st time

Birthdays
1629 - Juan José of Austria, Spanish General/Governor of Netherlands
1756 - Charles Felix, King of Sardina (1821-31)
1772 - F. M. Charles Fourier, French socialist
1775 - Francis C. Lowell, founded 1st raw cotton-to-cloth textile mill
1786 - William Rufus DeVane King, 13th US Vice President (1853)
1801 - Henry Eagle, Commander (Union Navy), died in 1882
1805 - Francis Wilkinson Pickens (Governor-SC, Confederacy)
1820 - György Klapka, Hungarian General/MP (Komárom-castle)
1822 - Gershom Mott, Union Major General
1858 - Adrien H. Gerhard, Dutch socialist politician (SDAP)
1859 - Walter Camp, father of American football (Yale)
1860 - W. K. Kellogg, cereal magnate
1869 - David Grandison, botanist/explorer, brought plants to US
1870 - Gustav Landauer, German socialist
1882 - Kurt von Schleiger, German chancellor (12/2/32-1/28/33)
1884 - Louis H. N. Bosch van Rosenthal, Dutch politician/resistance fighter
1893 - Allan W. Dulles, US diplomat/CIA head 1953-61 (Germany's Underground)
1895 - Lewis B. Combs, naval commander/civil engineer
1897 - Walter Winchell, newscaster/columnist (Untouchables)
1908 - Le Duan, Vietnamese politician
1912 - John Adrian Hope politician/businessman
1915 - Billie Holiday [Eleanora Fagan], singer (Ain't Nobody's Business)
1920 - Terence Edward Armstrong, polar geographer
1931 - Daniel Ellsberg, whistleblower (Pentagon Papers)/patriot
1933 - Wayne Rogers, actor (MASH)
1935 - Hodding Carter III, press secretary (Jimmy Carter)
1938 - [Edmund G] Jerry Brown, Jr., (Governor-CA, 1975-83)
1939 - Donald L. Holmquest, astronaut; Francis Ford Coppola, film maker (Godfather, Apocalypse Now, American Graffiti)

Passings
0030 - Jesus crucified by Roman troops in Jerusalem (scholars' estimate, according to astronomer Schaefer)
0924 - Berengarius I, Emperor of Italy, murdered
1498 - Charles VIII, King of France (1483-98), dies at 27
1719 - Jean-Baptiste de la Salle, French priest/theory/saint, dies at 67
1789 - Abdül-Hamid I, 27th sultan of Turkey (1774-89), dies at 64
1803 - [François Dominique] Toussaint L'Ouverture, Haitian revolutionary
1810 - Pieter L. van de Kasteele, Dutch politician/patriot, dies at 61
1871 - Wilhelm Freiherr von Tegetthoff, Austrian Admiral (Helgoland/Lissa), dies at 43
1881 - Pierre Napoleon Bonaparte, Corsican MP, dies at 65
1932 - Erv A. Kelley, US policeman, shot to death by Pretty Boy Floyd
1934 - William Monroe Trotter, civil rights activist/journalist, dies on 62nd birthday in Boston
1972 - Abeid Karume, Tanzanian sheik/President, murdered
1977 - Siegfried Buback, German Federal Republic procureur-General, murdered Attorney-General
1984 - Frank Church (Senator-OH), dies at 59
1989 - Tikhon Toropets patriarch of Russian Orthodox/saint, dies at 123(?)
1994 - Agathe Uwilingiyimana, PM of Rwanda, assassinated; François de Grossouvre, President Mitterrand advisor, suicide at 76

Reported Missing in Action
1965
Baker, Arthur D., USAF (TX); B57-B disappeared while on mission (w/Lewis)

Lewis, James W., USAF (TX); B57B disappeared while on mission (w/Baker)

Roark, William Marshall, USN (NE); presumed Killed in the loss of his A4C

1966
Barnett, Robert Russell, USAF (TX); B57B shot down (pilot, w/Walker), KIA / BNR

Walker, Thomas Taylor, USAF (OR); B57B shot down (w/Barnett), KIA / BNR

1968
McMurray, Fred H., Jr., US Army (SC); OH13S shot down (pilot)

1972
The following US Army personnel reported MIA when their position was overrun:
Carlson, Albert E. (CA); released by PRG February, 1973 - retired as a Captain - alive as of 1998

Lull, Howard B., Jr. (TX); evaded to XT7297, then killed

Smith, Mark A. (OH); released by PRG February, 1973 - retired as a Major - alive and well as of 1998

Schott, Richard S. (VI); KIA in bunker

Wallingford, Kenenth (TX); released by PRG February, 1973 - discharged after release - alive and well as of 1998

Also reported MIA this day in 1972:
Potts, Larry F., USMC (DE); OV10A shot down (w/Walker), captured, DIC

Walker, Bruce C., USAF (CO); OV10A shot down (w/Potts), evaded capture 11 days, presumed captured after he radioed to advise SAR not to approach, enemy was closing in

Labels: Headlines, History