Ground combat element

In the United States Marine Corps, the ground combat element (GCE) is the land force of a Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF). It provides power projection and force for the MAGTF.
Role within the MAGTF.
The ground combat element (GCE), composed primarily of infantry units (infantry battalions organized into battalion landing teams, regimental combat teams, and Marine divisions). These organizations contain a headquarters unit that provides command and control (management and planning for manpower, intelligence, operations and training, and logistics functions) as well as scout/sniper, aviation liaison/forward air controller, NBC defense, communications, service (supply, motor transport, weapons maintenance, and dining facility), and Navy combat medical and chaplain's corps personnel. The GCE also contains combat support units, including artillery, armor (tank, assault amphibian, and light armored reconnaissance), combat engineer, and reconnaissance units. At the division level, the GCE also contains limited organic combat service support, including a truck company, a military police/law enforcement company, and the division band.
U.S. Marine Corps Infantry.
Marine Infantry Battalions
As the largest component of the GCE, Marine infantry is essentially multi-purpose, heavily manned and equipped, light infantry (e.g., a Marine rifle squad having 13 Marines, vs. nine soldiers in an U.S. Army rifle squad). With three rifle companies that are over 40% larger, plus a weapons company, and an additional 100 members in its Headquarters and Service Company (as compared to the TO&E of an Army light infantry battalion), the Marine infantry battalion contains approximately 970 members as compared to approximately 560 in an Army light infantry battalion.
Marine infantry battalions that are reinforced to form a Battalion Landing Team (BLT) are also very heavily supported (as compared to Army light infantry) with additional organic assets. This combat support includes: a field artillery howitzer battery containing a firing platoon of six 155mm howitzers, plus three reinforced armored vehicle platoons (including one each of amphibious assault vehicles, main battle tanks, and light armored reconnaissance vehicles), and one platoon each of infantry reconnaissance and combat engineers.
While primarily trained, organized and equipped to be foot-mobile, Marine infantry is of course, prepared to execute amphibious operations, either by Amphibious Assault Vehicle (AAV-P7-A1), Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC), Rigid-Hulled Inflatable Boat (RHIB/RIB), Rigid buoyant boat (RBB), or conventional landing craft such as the Landing Craft Utility (LCU 1466/1610/1627) and Landing Craft Mechanized (LCM-8), etc. In addition, all Marine infantry units are prepared, and regularly train, to perform heliborne, or "vertical envelopment" (i.e., air assault) operations when supported by MV-22 medium tiltrotor and/or CH-53 heavy helicopters and mechanized operations (when supported by attached amphibious assault vehicle units). Additionally, some Marine infantrymen (usually only those assigned to reconnaissance or special operations units) attend U.S. Army Airborne or Ranger training. However, since the USMC does not maintain either airborne or Ranger infantry units, only a relatively small number of Marines ever attend these two schools.
Furthermore, while not designated as special operations forces, deployed Marine Expeditionary Units (containing a heavily reinforced Marine infantry battalion, consisting of approximately 1,200 Marines and Navy personnel, designated as a BLT) are certified as capable of performing some "special operations" type missions. In addition to significant differences between Marine infantry and their US Army counterparts in training and organization, there are some differences in individual weapons, equipment, and vehicles, as well.
The Marine Corps conducts infantry training at three locations:
Current Marine Infantry Organization
Organization.
The size of the GCE varies in proportion to the size of the MAGTF. A Marine Expeditionary Force has a division (MARDIV). A Marine Expeditionary Brigade holds an infantry regiment, reinforced with equipment and personnel from various divisional combat support regiments (i.e., artillery) and battalions (e.g., armor). The various Marine Expeditionary Units command a reinforced infantry battalion, which includes various combat support unit attachments. Generally, MEF postings are permanent, while MEBs and MEUs rotate their GCE, ACE, and LCE twice annually.
Hierarchy of Marine ground units.
1st Marine Division.
GCE of I Marine Expeditionary Force
2nd Marine Division.
GCE of II Marine Expeditionary Force
3rd Marine Division.
GCE of III Marine Expeditionary Force
4th Marine Division.
GCE of Marine Forces Reserve


Palestine Brigade RAF

The Palestine Brigade of the Royal Flying Corps, and later Royal Air Force, was formed 5 October 1917 in response to General Allenby's request for an air formation for his planned offensive against the Ottoman Empire in Palestine.
Background.
Prior to Allenby's appointment as commander of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, the German and Ottoman air services had enjoyed air superiority in the Levant. This was because of the superior quantity and quality of German Rumpler and Fokker aircraft in comparison to the British aircraft. Allenby was an air power enthusiast and he requested that the British War Office increase the number and quality of Flying Corps aircraft at his disposal.
Formation and composition.
With an increased number of British aircraft in the Middle East, the Palestine Brigade was formed on 5 October 1917. It consisted of all Royal Flying Corps operational units based in the Middle East which were east of Suez. Forming part of Royal Flying Corps Middle East and it was initially commanded by Brigadier-General W G H Salmond who retained command of RFC Middle East. In December 1917, command of the Palestine Brigade ceased to be held by the commander of RFC Middle East. Brigadier-General A E Borton was appointed Brigade Commander and Salmond, who had been promoted to Major-General, was GOC RFC Middle East. Although Borton answered directly to Allenby for operational matters, Salmond maintained a keen interest in the activities of the Palestine Brigade.
The Palestine Brigade consisted of the following two wings:
In addition, by the summer of 1918 the Brigade also had a balloon company, an aircraft park, an aircraft depot and an engine repair depot. In August, the Brigade was strengthened by the addition of a single Handley Page 0/400 biplane bomber which had been flown from England.
Actions.
The Palestine Brigade saw action throughout the Palestine Campaign, most notably at the Battle of Megiddo when the retreating Ottoman Seventh Army was destroyed on Nablus-Beisan road by aerial attack.
Commanders.
The following officers commanded the Palestine Brigade:


National Committee for the Liberation of Yugoslavia

The National Committee for the Liberation of Yugoslavia or NKOJ (, , NKOJ), was the World War II provisional executive body of the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia. The NKOJ was elected by the AVNOJ during its Second Session in Jajce in late November 1943. During the Session, the AVNOJ also appointed Josip Broz Tito the Prime Minister in the NKOJ.
Established by the decision AVNOJ based on the Declaration of the Second Session. National Committee consisting of the President, three Vice-Presidents and the required number of Trustees, and for his work fit the AVNOJ and the Presidency AVNOJ, which is appointed by its members.
At the first session of the Presidency of AVNOJ (30 November 1943). Appointed National Committee - the first revolutionary government of the Marshal of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito at the helm. The National Committee seat was in Drvar until May 1944, in Vis from May to October 1944 and then in Belgrade until 7 March 1945, when on the basis of the Tito-Subasic agreement, it was lifted and a provisional government of the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia was formed, with Tito as Prime Minister.
Active NKOJ held in difficult conditions Liberation as the different sectors of the inner life (supplying the armies on battlefields and population renewal destroyed the economy in the liberated areas, traffic, etc.) And the broad foreign policy activities related to international recognition new Yugoslavia.
Cabinet.
http://www.marxists.org/archive/fast/1944/tito-people/ch21.htm
As the war situation all members NKOJ were not in session, the Presidency AVNOJ appointed:


USCGC Cedar (WAGL-207)


USCGC Spar

USCGC "Spar" is the name of two United States Coast Guard buoy tenders:


Band of the Royal Air Force Regiment

The Band of the Royal Air Force Regiment is based at RAF Northolt, and is one of three established bands in the Royal Air Force and the music ensemble of the Royal Air Force Regiment.
History.
Originally formed from the Coastal Command Band in 1942 at RAF Belton Park, the band is now administered by RAF Music Services. The Band takes part in major events such as The Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace and the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, as well as a busy schedule of services and charity engagements.
In the past, the band was based at RAF Catterick from 1946 until 1994. It then moved four times, until 1999 it moved to RAF Cranwell where it worked alongside The Band of the Royal Air Force College. In 2015, as part of the rebrigade of Royal Air Force Music Services, it moved to RAF Northolt.
In October 2007 it featured on Radio 2's Friday Night is Music Night with the BBC Concert Orchestra.


List of equipment of the Ukrainian Ground Forces

The list of equipment of the Ukrainian Ground Forces can be subdivided into: infantry weapons, vehicles, aircraft, watercraft, and clothing.
Vehicles.
Anti-aircraft.
Long and medium air defense is under the authority of the Air Defense Forces of the Ukrainian Air Force. See their equipment.
Radars.
Radar for long and medium air defense are under Radiolocation Forces authority of the Ukrainian Air Force. See their equipment.


La Penca bombing

The La Penca bombing was a bomb attack carried out in May 30, 1984 at the remote outpost of La Penca, on the Nicaraguan side of the border with Costa Rica, along the San Juan River. It occurred during a press conference convened and conducted by Edén Pastora, who at the time was the leader of a Contra guerrilla group fighting against the ruling Sandinista regime in Nicaragua. Pastora, the presumed target of the attack, survived the bombing, but seven other people were killed, including three journalists, and several others were severely injured. The bombing was carried out by an operative posing as a news photographer and is considered a serious violation of journalistic neutrality during an armed conflict, like the assassination in 2001 of Afghan leader Ahmad Shah Massoud by Al-Qaeda agents posing as international journalists.
In the years after the event, some journalists and activists, as well as the Costa Rican judiciary, pointed to the United States government's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which was seeking to direct the Contra insurgency against the leftist Sandinista regime in Nicaragua, as responsible for the bombing. However, in 1993 the man who had placed the bomb, and who had attended the press conference under a false identity as a Danish photographer named Per Anker Hansen, was revealed to have been an Argentine leftist whose real name was Vital Roberto Gaguine and who had died in 1989 during a guerrilla attack on a military base in Argentina.
In 2009, Swedish journalist and filmmaker Peter Torbiörnsson revealed that he had been asked by Renán Montero, a Cuban military counter-intelligence officer working with the Sandinista Ministry of the Interior, to meet in Costa Rica with the man posing as Hansen and to escort him to the press conference at La Penca. Torbiörnsson then attempted unsuccessfully to press charges in Nicaragua against Renán Montero, Lenín Cerna, and Tomás Borge (the Sandinista Minister of he Interior at the time of the bombing) for murder and crimes against humanity. In 2011 Torbiörnsson released a documentary film, "Last Chapter, Goodbye Nicaragua", which includes footage of him personally confronting Borge over his role in the bombing.
Attack.
A press conference had been arranged in the guerrilla outpost of La Penca by Edén Pastora, a former Sandinista military commander who had switched allegiance to the Contras. The press conference took place in an enclosed hut on stilts, on the northern bank of the San Juan River that separates Costa Rica from Nicaragua. The event had been convened by Contra officials in the Costa Rican capital of San José. The journalists arrived at La Penca past nightfall, after traveling all day over land and by canoe from San José. Because of the late hour, Pastora initially asked that the press conference start on the following morning, but as the reporters began peppering the guerrilla leader with questions, an impromptu conference began and the reporters and television news crews gathered with Pastora around a chest-high table in the main room of the hut.
The bomb is believed to have been hidden in an aluminum camera case, planted by an individual carrying a stolen Danish passport issued under the name "Per Anker Hansen". Afterwards, survivors commented that they found it odd that "Hansen" had so zealously guarded his "camera equipment" by wrapping the unwieldy aluminum box in plastic. "Hansen" is believed to have deposited the camera case containing the bomb under the table. News footage showed the suspected bomber gesturing to his camera as if to indicate an equipment malfunction and then leaving the room. The bomber may have detonated the bomb remotely using a walkie-talkie signal. Seconds after "Hansen" left the room, an explosion ripped through the hut, leaving the injured and dying crying out in pain and calling for help the darkness.
Those killed in the bombing were an American journalist, Linda Frazier; a Costa Rican cameraman, Jorge Quirós; his assistant, Evelio Sequeira; and four of Pastora's men. Pastora was seriously injured in both legs. About a dozen other people were seriously wounded. "Hansen", who was unhurt by the bombing, was taken to San José together with the other victims and soon disappeared.
Investigations.
The bombing led to an investigation by Tony Avirgan, an American journalist injured in the bombing, and his wife, Martha Honey. Both concluded that the CIA was responsible. In 1986, the Christic Institute filed a US$24-million lawsuit on their behalf against several individuals all associated with Oliver North, including Rob Owen, John Hull, Richard Secord, Albert Hakim, and Thomas Clines. However, the case was thrown out in June 1988, and the Christic Institute was ordered to pay approximately $1 million in costs to the defendants.
In 1990, a Costa Rican examining magistrate accused the CIA of orchestrating the bombing by two intermediaries. Charges of murder were laid against Felipe Vidal, a Cuban-American CIA asset, and John Hull, an American farmer who lived in Costa Rica at the time and had been previously named in the Christic Institute lawsuit.
In 1993, "Miami Herald" reporter Juan Tamayo received a tip that a former member of Argentina's People's Revolutionary Army (ERP), who had defected and was living in Europe, had recognized news photographs of the suspected bomber as being of an ERP militant whom he had known by the codename "Martín el inglés" ("Martin the Englishman"). Freelance journalist Doug Vaughn, who was working for the Christic Institute, then established that the stolen Danish passport issued to Per Anker Hansen had been used to apply for a Panamanian visa, and he obtained the corresponding file from the Panamanian government, including a photograph and a right thumbprint. Argentine journalists then obtained Gaguine's fingerprints from the police, and Vaughn and Tamayo took the two sets of prints to a fingerprint expert in Miami, who found a perfect match. Vaughn showed newsphotos of Gaguine to the alleged bomber's brother and father, who confirmed the identification. According to Argentine journalists cited by Tamayo, Gaguine was among a group of guerrillas who were killed in the 1989 attack on La Tablada barracks.
In 2009, Swedish journalist, filmmaker, and La Penca survivor Peter Torbiörnsson broke 25 years of silence to reveal that he had known of "Hansen"'s ties with the Sandinistas before the bombing. Torbiörnsson admitted that, in spite of his work as an ostensibly objetive international journalist, at the time he sympathized strongly with the Sandinista cause, and that he was introduced to "Hansen" in Managua by the chief of Sandinista counter-intelligence, a Cuban military officer named Renán Montero. At Montero's request, Torbiörnsson took "Hansen" under his wing and provided journalistic cover as the two traveled through northern Costa Rica to attend Pastora's press conference. Torbiörnsson explained that, at the time, he realized that his travel companion was a Sandinista spy, but did not suspect that he was an assassin.
Even as journalists and judicial investigators spent years trying to crack the La Penca mystery, Torbiörnsson kept silent about his knowledge of the bomber's Sandinista connection. However, tormented by the idea that he had been used as an unwitting accomplice to a terrorist attack and disillusioned with the Sandinistas, Torbiörnsson finally broke his silence. He traveled to Managua in January 2009 and submitted a declaration to Nicaraguan police in which he pointed to Montero, to former Sandinista Minister of Interior Comandante Tomás Borge, and to former chief of Nicaraguan state security Lenín Cerna as the masterminds of the bombing.
Torbiörnsson also made a documentary film, "Last Chapter, Goodbye Nicaragua", which premiered in the 2011 DocsBarcelona International Film Festival and in which he renewed his accusation that Sandinista leaders Borge, Cerna, and Montero had planned and ordered the bombing. The film includes an interview with Luis Carrión, who was Borge's deputy at the Nicaraguan Ministry of the Interior at the time of the bombing, in which Carrión states that he learned shortly after the events of La Penca that the bombing had been an operation carried out by that Ministry's intelligence directorate. Torbiörnsson also claimed that Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega admitted to him five years after the attack that the bombing had been orchestrated by his government, but that Ortega later chose to cover it up and buy Pastora's silence and co-operation with a position in the second Sandinista administration.


Marine Science Technician

Marine Science Technician (MST) is an enlisted rate in the United States Coast Guard. They are specialists in enforcing Federal Maritime Laws for Marine Safety, Marine Security, and Environmental Protection .
History.
Around 1962, Coast Guard enlisted members began being assigned to carry out routine oceanographic observations on ocean stations, ice breakers, and oceanographic ships. These billets were filled by Aerographers Mates (AG) and Sonarmen (SO) until in November 1968, when the decision was made to create a new rating. The new rating absorbed the AG rating and functions and SOs were given the option of converting. The rating supported the Coast Guard's Ocean Weather Station Programs, Aviation Support Programs, International Ice Patrol, and Polar Ice Operations Program, among others. The official name of Marine Science Technician was adopted in 1970.
Training and qualification.
The MST rate requires high ASVAB scores. Prospective MSTs must meet Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) score requirements of 114 in Verbal Ability plus Arithmetic Reasoning (VE+AR), and a minimum Mathematics Knowledge (MK) score of 56. Training for the rating is accomplished through a 12-week course at USCG Training Center Yorktown, VA. Upon graduation, MSTs may go on to pursue qualifications such as Pollution Responder, Federal On-Scene Coordinator's Representative, Facility Inspector, Container Inspector, Port State Control Examiner, Port State Control Officer (with vessel type classification) and other specialized qualifications.
References.
http://www.uscg.mil/epm/AO/Non-Rate/Rate%20Requirements.asp


White Tiger (Ava Ayala)

White Tiger (Ava Ayala) is a fictional superheroine appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by Christos Gage and Tom Raney, first appearing in "Avengers Academy" issue #20 (December 2011). The fifth character to assume the White Tiger mantle, she is the younger sister of Hector Ayala as well as the aunt of Angela del Toro.
Publication history.
Ava Ayala first appeared in "Avengers Academy" issue #20 (December 2011) and was created by Christos Gage. She appeared as a regular character in the series through its final issue, #39 (January 2013). She appeared as a main character in "Mighty Avengers" starting with issue #1 (September 2013), and then in "New Avengers" starting with issue #1 (December 2015).
Fictional character biography.
Ava, the fifth White Tiger, is the sister of Hector Ayala and a student enrolled in the Avengers Academy. She inherited the White Tiger amulet from her brother, following the death of her family members at the hands of Gideon Mace. Upon her introduction, Ava states the White Tiger is a family legacy that she intends to honor. She also criticizes classmate Reptil for not being more active in the Hispanic community. She has been living with her sister Awilda's family since the death of her parents.
White Tiger joined the Avengers Academy students into fighting the Purifiers.
During the "Infinity" storyline, White Tiger was seen with Heroes for Hire when they were seen preventing Plunderer's men from stealing robot parts. When the Superior Spider-Man (Doctor Octopus' mind in Spider-Man's body) stops Plunderer and considers the Heroes for Hire team as mercenaries, White Tiger ends up quitting the team. She later joined up with the Mighty Avengers.
During the "Inhumanity" storyline, White Tiger bonded with Power Man where they discovered that they can combine their abilities to form a White Tiger Chi. This combination was enough to destroy Shuma-Gorath. White Tiger later repaid Power Man by transferring some of her chi into him. This combination event took out Cerberus where Power Man and White Tiger called it their "New York Tiger-Style Kung Fu." Power Man helped White Tiger when she tried to avenge her parents by killing Gideon Mace. The rest of the Mighty Avengers showed up to prevent White Tiger from crossing the line.
During the "Last Days" part of the "Secret Wars" storyline, White Tiger goes to reconcile with her surviving family members. They are mad that White Tiger has chosen a life that has led to so much death and threaten to kill her if she does not leave.
As part of the "All-New, All-Different Marvel" event, White Tiger appears as a member of Sunspot's incarnation of the "New Avengers.
Ava Ayala later fought with her niece Angela del Toro in Rome. During the fight, the Tiger God from Ava's amulet merged with the Tiger God from Angela's amulet, which was absorbed into it.
During the New Revengers' attack on the New Avengers at Avengers Base Two, Ava fought Angela again. As the two White Tigers fought, Ava managed to snatch the White Tiger amulet that Maker gave to Angela and destroys it to free Angela from the controls of the merged Tiger Gods and the Hand. They later help the New Avengers defeat the New Revengers and a rogue S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who was hunting A.I.M.
After defeating a rogue A.I.M. group, Ava and Angela discuss about their future, with Ava wondering who the Tiger God will choose to be the next White Tiger.
Powers and abilities.
Ava Ayala wears the mystical tiger amulets formerly worn by her father. When wearing them, her physical strength, speed, stamina, agility, dexterity, reflexes and reactions, coordination, balance, and endurance are enhanced to slightly superhuman levels. She also has razor sharp claws and superhuman martial arts skills.
Other versions.
Marvel Universe vs. The Avengers.
In the limited series, "Marvel Universe vs. The Avengers", Ava Ayala was this version's White Tiger and was one of the remaining four survivors of the Avengers Academy, along with Mettle, Veil, and Striker. While each of them are infected, Ava, along with the remaining Avengers and students wear a Doomstone collar that prevents the virus from taking hold of them fully, while discussing Doctor Doom's motives. After it was revealed that the Doomstones allows the wearer to maintain their humanity while still remain as cannibals, Doom activates the Doomstone, turning it red and allowing the virus to take over. Ava was among those killed while in a fight with the infected Red Hulk and the remaining infected students.


Houston Volunteers

The Houston Volunteers were a group of 1,000 men who volunteered for U.S. Navy service to avenge the loss of heavy cruiser after the ship was sunk by the Imperial Japanese Navy on 1 March 1942 in the Battle of Sunda Strait.
A drive in May 1942 for volunteers to replace the men lost on "Houston" culminated in the acceptance of 1,650 men for service in the Navy. A limit of 1,000 was set for the "Houston Volunteers" group. At the same time, war bond subscriptions totaling $85m were raised to completely pay for another ship named for the city, the light cruiser , with enough left over to pay for the light aircraft carrier .
At 6 pm on Memorial Day, 30 May 1942, a mass rally and induction ceremony took place in downtown Houston, the namesake city for the lost ship. The 1,000-man "Houston Volunteers" paraded with several hundred Navy officers and men through downtown Houston, and were accompanied by four bands. Forty-eight bombers based at nearby Ellington Field overflew the festivities.
After the parade, the volunteers lined up on Main Street in rows 16 abreast and were administered the Navy Oath by Rear Admiral William A. Glassford, who then gave a speech describing "Houston"s final battle. A message from President Franklin Roosevelt, who had taken several pre-war cruises on the ship, was read by Mayor of Houston Neal Pickett.
A crowd estimated at 150,000 to 200,000 witnessed the ceremony. After a 60-foot model of "Houston" was dedicated, the crowd saw off the departing inductees, who immediately marched to Union Station to travel to training in San Diego on five special trains.
One young man, Robert E. Bradley, was 16 and too young to enlist, but was nonetheless still allowed to participate because his older brother Leonard was lost when "Houston" (CA-30) went down. He was sworn in on the train three days later when he turned 17 by Lt. Cmdr. Simon L. Shade, the same officer who had sworn in his older brother two years before.
With a 19-month period between the May 1942 enlistment into service of the 1,000 Houston Volunteer sailors and the final December 1943 commissioning into service of the new "Houston" (CL-81), only one Houston Volunteer went on to specifically serve aboard the new "Houston".
On 3 August 1942 the keel for Liberty ship SS "Houston Volunteers" (MC Hull #110), named in honor of the group of volunteers, was laid at the Todd Houston Shipyard. "Houston Volunteers" was delivered on 28 October 1942 and served in the Mediterranean during World War II.
On 11 November 1995, a memorial to "Houston" (CA-30) was dedicated near the spot where the "Houston Volunteers" were inducted. The monument design features the ship’s bell, which was recovered by divers after the end of the war.


Continuity Irish Republican Army

The Continuity Irish Republican Army (Continuity IRA or CIRA), styling itself as the Irish Republican Army (), is an Irish republican paramilitary group that aims to bring about a united Ireland. It claims to a direct continuation of the original Irish Republican Army and the national army of the Irish Republic that was proclaimed in 1916. It emerged from a split in the Provisional IRA in 1986 but did not become active until the Provisional IRA ceasefire of 1994. It is an illegal organisation in the Republic of Ireland and is designated a terrorist organisation in the United Kingdom, New Zealand and the United States. It has links with the political party Republican Sinn Féin (RSF).
Since 1994, the CIRA has waged a campaign in Northern Ireland against the British Army and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), formerly the Royal Ulster Constabulary. This is part of a wider campaign against the British security forces by dissident republican paramilitaries. It has targeted the security forces in gun attacks and bombings, as well as with grenades, mortars and rockets. The CIRA has also carried out bombings with the goal of causing economic harm and/or disruption, as well as many punishment attacks on alleged criminals.
To date, it has been responsible for the death of one PSNI officer. The CIRA is smaller and less active than the Real IRA, and there have been a number of splits within the organisation since the mid-2000s.
Origins.
The Continuity IRA has its origins in a split in the Provisional IRA. In September 1986, the Provisional IRA held a General Army Convention (GAC), the organisation's supreme decision-making body. It was the first GAC in 16 years. The meeting, which like all such meetings was secret, was convened to discuss among other resolutions, the articles of the Provisional IRA constitution which dealt with abstentionism, specifically its opposition to the taking of seats in Dáil Éireann (the parliament of the Republic of Ireland). The GAC passed motions (by the necessary two-thirds majority) allowing members of the Provisional IRA to discuss and debate the taking of parliamentary seats, and the removal of the ban on members of the organisation from supporting any successful republican candidate who took their seat in Dáil Éireann.
The Provisional IRA convention delegates opposed to the change in the constitution claimed that the convention was gerrymandered "by the creation of new IRA organisational structures for the convention, including the combinations of Sligo-Roscommon-Longford and Wicklow-Wexford-Waterford." The only IRA body that supported this viewpoint was the outgoing IRA Executive. Those members of the outgoing Executive who opposed the change comprised a quorum. They met, dismissed those in favour of the change, and set up a new Executive. They contacted Tom Maguire, who was a commander in the old IRA and had supported the Provisionals against the Official IRA (see Irish republican legitimatism), and asked him for support. Maguire had also been contacted by supporters of Gerry Adams, then president of Sinn Féin, and a supporter of the change in the Provisional IRA constitution.
Maguire rejected Adams' supporters, supported the IRA Executive members opposed to the change, and named the new organisers the Continuity Army Council. In a 1986 statement, he rejected "the legitimacy of an Army Council styling itself the Council of the Irish Republican Army which lends support to any person or organisation styling itself as Sinn Féin and prepared to enter the partition parliament of Leinster House." In 1987, Maguire described the "Continuity Executive" as the "lawful Executive of the Irish Republican Army."
Campaign.
Initially, the Continuity IRA did not reveal its existence, either in the form of press statements or paramilitary activity. Although the Garda Síochána had suspicions that the organisation existed, they were unsure of its name, labelling it the "Irish National Republican Army". On 3 January 1991, a man in paramilitary uniform fired a single shot at the funeral of Dáithí Ó Conaill (later alleged to be the Continuity IRA's chief of staff). On 21 January 1994, on the 75th anniversary of the First Dáil Éireann, Continuity IRA volunteers offered a "final salute" to Tom Maguire by firing over his grave, and a public statement and a photo were published in "Saoirse Irish Freedom". In February 1994 it was reported that in previous months Gardaí had found arms dumps along the Cooley Peninsula in County Louth that did not belong to the Provisional IRA, and forensics tests determined had been used for firing practice recently.
It was only after the Provisional IRA declared a ceasefire in 1994 that the Continuity IRA became active, announcing its intention to continue the campaign against British rule. The CIRA continues to oppose the Good Friday Agreement and, unlike the Provisional IRA (and the Real IRA in 1998), the CIRA has not announced a ceasefire or agreed to participate in weapons decommissioning—nor is there any evidence that it will. In the 18th Independent Monitoring Commission's report, the RIRA, the CIRA and the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) were deemed a potential future threat. The CIRA was labelled "active, dangerous and committed and... capable of a greater level of violent and other crime". Like the RIRA and RIRA splinter group Óglaigh na hÉireann, it too sought funds for expansion. It is also known to have worked with the INLA.
The CIRA has been involved in a number of bombing and shooting incidents. Targets of the CIRA have included the British military, the Northern Ireland police (both the Royal Ulster Constabulary and its successor the Police Service of Northern Ireland) and Ulster loyalist paramilitaries. Since the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 the CIRA, along with other paramilitaries opposing the ceasefire, have been involved with a countless number of punishment shootings and beatings. By 2005 the CIRA was believed to be an established presence on the island of Great Britain with the capability of launching attacks. A bomb defused in Dublin in December 2005 was believed to have been the work of the CIRA. In February 2006, the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) blamed the CIRA for planting four bombs in Northern Ireland during the final quarter of 2005, as well as several hoax bomb warnings. The IMC also blamed the CIRA for the killings of two former CIRA members in Belfast, who had stolen CIRA weapons and established a rival organisation.
The CIRA continued to be active in both planning and undertaking attacks on the PSNI. The IMC said they tried to lure police into ambushes, while they have also taken to stoning and using petrol bombs. In addition, other assaults, robbery, tiger kidnapping, extortion, fuel laundering and smuggling were undertaken by the group. The CIRA also actively took part in recruiting and training members, including disgruntled former Provisional IRA members. As a result of this continued activity the IMC said the group remained "a very serious threat".
On 10 March 2009 the CIRA claimed responsibility for the fatal shooting of a PSNI officer in Craigavon, County Armagh—the first police fatality in Northern Ireland since 1998. The officer was fatally shot by a sniper as he and a colleague investigated "suspicious activity" at a house nearby when a window was smashed by youths causing the occupant to phone the police. The PSNI officers responded to the emergency call, giving a CIRA sniper the chance to shoot and kill officer Stephen Carroll. Carroll was killed two days after the Real IRA's 2009 Massereene Barracks shooting at Massereene Barracks in Antrim. In a press interview with Republican Sinn Féin some days later, regarded by some to be the political wing of the Continuity IRA, Richard Walsh described the attacks as "acts of war".
In 2013, the Continuity IRA's 'South Down Brigade' threatened a Traveller family in Newry and published a statement in the local newspaper. There were negotiations with community representatives and the CIRA announced the threat was lifted. It was believed the threat was issued after a Traveller feud which resulted in a pipe bomb attack in Bessbrook, near Newry. The Continuity IRA is believed to be strongest in the County Fermanagh – North County Armagh area (Craigavon, Armagh and Lurgan). It is believed to be behind a number of attacks such as pipe bombings, rocket attacks, gun attacks, and the PSNI claimed it orchestrated riots a number of times to lure police officers into areas such as Kilwilkie in Lurgan and Drumbeg in Craigavon in order to attack them. It also claimed the group orchestrated a riot during a security alert in Lurgan. The alert turned out to be a hoax.
On Easter 2016, the Continuity IRA marched in paramilitary uniforms through North Lurgan, Co Armagh, without any hindrance from the PSNI who monitored the parade from a police helicopter.
In July and August 2019 the CIRA carried out attempted bomb attacks on the PSNI in Craigavon, County Armagh and Wattlebridge, County Fermanagh.
On 5 February 2020, a bomb planted by the CIRA was found by the PSNI in a lorry in Lurgan. The CIRA believed the lorry was going to be put on a North Channel ferry to Scotland in January 2020.
Claim to legitimacy.
 Similar to the claim put forward by the Provisional IRA after its split from the Official IRA in 1969, the Continuity IRA claims to be the legitimate continuation of the original Irish Republican Army or "Óglaigh na hÉireann". This argument is based on the view that the surviving anti-Treaty members of the Second Dáil delegated their "authority" to the IRA Army Council in 1938. As further justification for this claim, Tom Maguire, one of those anti-Treaty members of the Second Dáil, issued a statement in favour of the Continuity IRA, just as he had done in 1969 in favour of the Provisionals. J. Bowyer Bell, in his "The Irish Troubles", describes Maguire's opinion in 1986: "abstentionism was a basic tenet of republicanism, a moral issue of principle. Abstentionism gave the movement legitimacy, the right to wage war, to speak for a Republic all but established in the hearts of the people". Maguire's stature was such that a delegation from Gerry Adams sought his support in 1986, but was rejected.
Relationship to other organisations.
These changes within the IRA were accompanied by changes on the political side and at the 1986 Sinn Féin Ard Fheis (party conference), which followed the IRA Convention, the party's policy of abstentionism, which forbade Sinn Féin elected representatives from taking seats in the Oireachtas, the parliament of the Republic, was dropped. On 2 November, the 628 delegates present cast their votes, the result being 429 to 161. The traditionalists, having lost at both conventions, walked out of the Mansion House, met that evening at the West County Hotel, and reformed as Republican Sinn Féin (RSF).
According to a report in the "Cork Examiner", the Continuity IRA's first chief of staff was Dáithí Ó Conaill, who also served as the first chairman of RSF from 1986 to 1987. The Continuity IRA and RSF perceive themselves as forming a "true" Republican Movement.
Structure and status.
The leadership of the Continuity IRA is believed to be based in the provinces of Munster and Ulster. It was alleged that its chief of staff was a Limerick man and that a number of other key members were from that county, until their expulsion. Dáithí Ó Conaill was the first chief of staff until 1991. In 2004 the United States (US) government believed the Continuity IRA consisted of fewer than fifty hardcore activists. In 2005, Irish Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform Michael McDowell told Dáil Éireann that the organisation had a maximum of 150 members.
The CIRA is an illegal organisation under UK (section 11(1) of the Terrorism Act 2000) and ROI law due to the use of 'IRA' in the group's name, in a situation analogous to that of the Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA). Membership of the organisation is punishable by a sentence of up to ten years imprisonment under UK law. On 31 May 2001 Dermot Gannon became the first person to be convicted of membership of the CIRA solely on the word of a Garda Síochána chief superintendent. On 13 July 2004, the US government designated the CIRA as a 'Foreign Terrorist Organization'. This made it illegal for Americans to provide material support to the CIRA, requires US financial institutions to block the group's assets and denies alleged CIRA members visas into the US.
External aid and arsenal.
The US government suspects the Continuity IRA of having received funds and arms from supporters in the United States. Security sources in Ireland have expressed the suspicion that, in co-operation with the RIRA, the Continuity IRA may have acquired arms and materiel from the Balkans. They also suspect that the Continuity IRA arsenal contains some weapons that were taken from Provisional IRA arms dumps, including a few dozen rifles, machine guns, and pistols; a small amount of the explosive Semtex; and a few dozen detonators.
Internal tension and splits.
In 2005, several members of the CIRA, who were serving prison sentences in Portlaoise Prison for paramilitary activity, left the organisation. Some transferred to the INLA landing of the prison, but the majority of those who left are now independent and on E4 landing. The remaining CIRA prisoners have moved to D Wing. Supporters of the Continuity IRA leadership claim that this resulted from an internal disagreement, which although brought to a conclusion, was followed by some people leaving the organisation anyway. Supporters of the disaffected members established the Concerned Group for Republican Prisoners. Most of those who had left went back to the CIRA, or dissociated themselves from the CGRP, which is now defunct.
In February 2006, the Independent Monitoring Commission claimed in a report on paramilitary activity that two groups, styling themselves as "Óglaigh na hÉireann" and "Saoirse na hÉireann", had been formed after a split in the Continuity IRA either in early 2006 or late 2005. The Óglaigh na hÉireann group was responsible for a number of pipe bomb attacks on the PSNI, bomb hoaxes, and robberies, the IMC also claimed the organisation was responsible for the killing of Andrew Burns on 12 February 2008 and was seeking to recruit former members of the RIRA. The Saoirse na hÉireann (SNH) group was composed of "disaffected and largely young republicans" and was responsible for a number of bomb hoaxes, two of which took place in September 2006. It was thought to have operated largely in republican areas of Belfast . The groups had apparently ceased operations by early 2009.
In 2007, the Continuity IRA was responsible for shooting dead two of its members who had left and attempted to create their own organisation. Upon leaving the CIRA, they had allegedly taken a number of guns with them. The Continuity IRA is believed by Gardaí to have been involved in a number of gangland killings in Dublin and Limerick.
In July 2010, members of a "militant Northern-based faction within the CIRA" led by a well-known member from south Londonderry claimed to have overthrown the leadership of the organisation. They also claimed that an Army Convention representing "95 per cent of volunteers" had unanimously elected a new 12-member Army Executive, which in turn appointed a new seven-member Army Council. The moves came as a result of dissatisfication with the southern-based leadership and the apparent winding-down of military operations. A senior source from RSF said: "We would see them [the purported new leadership] as just another splinter group that has broken away." This organisation is referred to as the Real CIRA.
In June 2011 CIRA member Liam Kenny was murdered, allegedly by drug dealers, at his home in Clondalkin, West Dublin. On 28 November 2011 an innocent man was mistakenly shot dead in retaliation for the murder of Liam Kenny. Limerick Real IRA volunteer Rose Lynch pleaded guilty to this murder at the Special Criminal Court and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
In July 2012 the CIRA announced it had a new leadership after expelling members who had been working against the organisation.
In April 2014 a former leading member of the Belfast Continuity IRA who had been expelled from the organisation, Tommy Crossan, was shot dead.
In popular culture.
The CIRA are depicted in RTÉ's TV series crime drama "Love/Hate".


Lohatla

Lohatla is a training area of the South African National Defence Force. It is located in the Northern Cape province of South Africa and is home to the SA Army Combat Training Centre, which is part of the South African Army Training Formation.
Capability.
The SA Army Combat Training Centre is unique in the sense that it is one of only ten such institutions in the world that provide exclusive and permanent facilities for landward warfare training. Only two of these institutions are located in the Southern hemisphere, of which the SA Army Combat Training Centre is the largest, 158 000 hectares in total.<ref>


USCGC Elm (WLB-204)

USCGC "Elm" (WLB-204) is a U.S. Coast Guard Juniper-class seagoing buoy tender home-ported in Astoria, Oregon. She is responsible for maintaining aids to navigation on the coasts of Oregon and Washington, including the Columbia River.
Construction.
"Elm" was built by the Marinette Marine Corporation on the Menominee River in Wisconsin. "Elm" was launched on January 24, 1998. She was the fourth of the fourteen Juniper-class ships launched. Her original cost was approximately $26 million.
Her hull is constructed of welded steel plates. She is long and has a beam of . She is capable of maintaining a sustained speed of 15 knots. The ship has thirteen diesel fuel tanks capable of holding 74,498 gallons. "Elm" has an unrefueled range of 6,000 miles at 12 knots.
"Elm" has a single variable-pitch propeller that is powered by two Caterpillar 3608 Diesel engines, each with an indicated 3,100 shp. There are two electric maneuvering thrusters, the bow thruster producing 460 hp and the stern thruster producing 550 hp. The thrusters act as part of a dynamic positioning system that is capable of maintaining the ship within five meters of a fixed position on the sea in winds up to 30 knots and seas up to . This allows the crew to work on buoys in difficult weather conditions.
The ship's crane extends to and can lift onto her buoy deck, which is 2,875 square feet in area.
"Elm" is capable of light icebreaking. She can sail through ice thick at three knots.
"Elm" is armed with two 50-caliber machine guns and a variety of small arms for boarding operations.
"Elm" and all but one of the Juniper-class buoy tenders are named after trees. She is the third Coast Guard ship of this name. The first "Elm" was a derrick barge launched in 1919 to maintain aids to navigation in the Hudson River. The second USCGC "Elm" (WAGL-260/WLI-72260) was a buoy tender launched in 1938.
Operational history.
After launch and sea trials, "Elm" sailed down the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence Seaway to reach her new homeport of Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. She was based at Coast Guard Station Fort Macon. Her primary mission was to maintain 250 buoys between Shark River Inlet, New Jersey and the border between North and South Carolina, including Chesapeake Bay. She supported other Coast Guard missions as well, including search and rescue, law enforcement, oil spill response, and light icebreaking.
In her search and rescue role, she extinguished a fire aboard the scallop-fishing vessel "Captain O. J. Riggs" in 2009. "Elm" was dispatched to search for survivors of the replica HMS "Bounty" which was sunk by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
In her law enforcement role, Elm participated in repatriating Cubans attempting to reach the United States in 2007.
"Elm" served as an icebreaker in the Hudson River and Chesapeake Bay.
The Deepwater Horizon drilling platform exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010. In May "Elm" was deployed to assist in the oil spill response, using her Spilled Oil Recovery System. She succeed in skimming more than 500,000 gallons of oil during her six-month deployment, more than any other Coast Guard cutter.
"Elm" was one of the ships that participated in Fleet Week celebrations at Port Everglades in 2006.
In January 2018 "Elm" went into drydock at the Coast Guard Yard in Baltimore for a mid-life major overhaul. She left the yard on June 13, 2019. On July 15, 2019 "Elm" reached her new homeport, Astoria, Oregon, replacing "Fir," which sailed for Baltimore for her own mid-life overhaul in June of 2018. "Fir's" crew, already familiar with the operating area, took over "Elm".
In her new role, "Elm" is responsible for maintaining 114 floating buoys on the coasts of Oregon and Washington from the California border north to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and in the Columbia River east to Longview, Washington. She is stationed at Coast Guard Base Tongue Point.
"Elm" has cooperated with NOAA to maintain weather buoys on several occasions in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Pacific.


Kumaravelu Vignarajah

An ethnic Tamil, Kumaravelu Vignarajah (also "Nishanthan" to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE or Tamil Tigers), "Chandran" to Sri Lankan military intelligence) was arrested on eight charges while living in Canada, accused of infiltrating the Royal Canadian Mounted Police while fundraising for the Tamil Tigers. It was discovered he was passing Sri Lankan military secrets to the Canadians, and classified information from both Canada and Sri Lanka to the militant group.
Life.
A native of Avrankal Sri Lanka, where his "very rich" father ran a coconut plantation, He was recruited as a spy for the Sri Lankan military intelligence as early as 1982, and worked for the government forces as a spy under Lt. Col. Sunil Tennakoon. He also maintained a job at the Bank of Ceylon.
On January 9 1985, Sri Lankan forces conducted a raid in Vignarajah's hometown, killing a deputy leader of the Tigers, ostensibly after he confirmed information from a captured Tiger that suggested the deputy's presence.
By 1986, he was a trusted friend of Gopalaswamy Mahendraraja, a commander of Tiger forces. In the autumn of 1987, Vignarajah was photographed during an assault against an Indian Peace Keeping Force platoon, and his photograph was published on the cover of the November edition of "India Today". He later took a journalist from the magazine to meet Thenmuli Rajaratnam, a militant who later made headlines for assassinating Rajiv Gandhi.
In 1988 he left his job at the bank, and the following year told his government handlers that Velupillai Prabhakaran had begun to suspect he might be a spy, and thus requested their assistance fleeing the country, immigrating to Canada.
In Canada.
When Vignarajah sought to immigrate to Canada in 1994, Tennakoon wrote a series of reference letters vouching for his military and intelligence service to Canadian authorities, and he was subsequently hired as a wiretap translator for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Tenakoon kept in touch with Vignarajah after he moved, writing letters to his Ottawa address.
He applied for, and was granted, landed immigrant status in Canada under his real name after he told immigration authorities he faced persecutions from both the government and the Tigers, stating that he wanted to pursue "the peaceful life" in Canada; and though the Canadian Security Intelligence Service is alleged to have known about his history with the Tamil Tigers, it is believed they didn't inform the RCMP as they wanted to capitalise on his information. He settled in Toronto, where the vast majority of Canada's Tamil population had settled following the 1980s flood of refugees from Sinhalese violence.
Vignarajah worked at the Bank of Nova Scotia in Canada, while also employed by the RCMP; allegedly giving Canadians inside information on the Tigers, while also giving the Tigers information on the Canadians.
Tennakoon sent Vignarajah a series of letters, reminding him of the notes he had written to Canadian officials on his behalf and seeking assurance that the favours would be returned. He also asked Vignarajah whether he could bring back gifts for his family, including a washing machine, and a doll for his daughter, and a pair of "cheap" Timex watches and some CDs of Michael Jackson for his two sons.
Arrest.
Photos were soon shown to Canadian officials, showing Vignarajah posing with the bodies of dead Indian troops, implicating him with the Tigers.
On May 9 1996, police surrounded the bank where Vignarajah had been nominated as top employee, and arrested him on the basis he was a commander of the Tamil Tigers. A search of his house yielded a 1986 edition of the Shooter's Bible, recordings and transcripts of RCMP wiretaps into local Tamil residents, equipment believed to have been taken from the RCMP, and a copy of his resume on which he claimed to be an employee of "the RCMP Central Government Secret Intelligence Service".


Vice Admiral James Bond Stockdale Award for Inspirational Leadership

The Vice Admiral James Bond Stockdale Award for Inspirational Leadership is a United States Navy award established in 1980 by United States Secretary of the Navy Edward Hidalgo to honor the inspirational leadership of James Stockdale, a Medal of Honor recipient in the Vietnam War, who exhibited exemplary leadership while a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for nearly eight years. The award were first made in 1981.
Award criteria.
Each year two commanding officers below the grade of captain are selected, one for the United States Atlantic Fleet and one from the United States Pacific Fleet. A board of peer-nominated officers, one from the Atlantic, and one for the Pacific, select the winners, based on the five criteria of inspirational leadership that Vice Admiral Stockdale identified in his writing and teaching on leadership.
These criteria are:


USS Arlington (LPD-24)

USS "Arlington" (LPD-24), a , is the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for Arlington, Virginia, the location of the Pentagon and the crash site of American Airlines Flight 77 during the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001. Like her sister ships, and , she is named in commemoration of the attacks. Steel taken from the Pentagon after the attacks is displayed aboard in the ship's museum.
Construction.
"Arlington"s keel was laid down on 26 May 2008, at Northrop Grumman's Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi. Builder's Trials of the ship started on 21 August 2012. These were completed on 30 August 2012. She completed Navy acceptance sea trials on 2 November 2012. The US Navy formally accepted the ship on 7 December 2012. "Arlington" arrived at her homeport of Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia on 22 March 2013 in preparation for commissioning. Officially, she was commissioned on 8 February 2013, but her ceremonial commissioning occurred on 6 April 2013 at Naval Station Norfolk. Originally scheduled as the third ship of the "San Antonio" class, she was the eighth to be commissioned. Mrs. Joyce Rumsfeld, wife of former United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, is the ship's sponsor.
Operational history.
In August 2013, "Arlington" conducted trials with NASA's Orion spacecraft. In May 2019 she was deployed to the Persian Gulf due to reported concerns about Iranian activities.


Leonidas I. Robinson

Third Lieutenant Leonidas I. Robinson (unknown–June 6, 1891) was the first graduate of the School of Instruction of the Revenue Cutter Service to die in the line of duty. He drowned during small-boat operations June 6, 1891 at Icy Bay near Sitka, Alaska while assigned to the USRC "Bear". He was a member of the graduating class of 1889 and is honored on the Wall of Remembrance at the United States Coast Guard Academy. The Wall of Remembrance honors those graduates who perished during an operational mission.


NavyArmy Community Credit Union

Navy Army Community Credit Union (formerly known as Navy Army Federal Credit Union) is a credit union headquartered in Corpus Christi, Texas, chartered and regulated under the authority of the Texas Credit Union Department of the U.S. federal government. NavyArmy is the largest credit union in the coastal bend. As of September 2020, NavyArmy has over $3.5 billion USD in assets, and over 196,000 members.
History.
NavyArmy was chartered on January 28, 1955 as Naval Employees Corpus Christi Federal Credit Union. Only employees from the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi were eligible to join. In 2003, the credit union changed its charter to open membership to all residents of the Coastal Bend. Over the years, through careful management, outstanding customer service and supportive membership, NavyArmy has grown to become the largest credit union in the Corpus Christi area. In 2012 NavyArmy opened two locations in the Rio Grande Valley, the first in McAllen Texas and the second in Brownsville Texas.
Membership.
NavyArmy's field of membership is set by the Texas Credit Union Department. As with all credit unions, membership in NavyArmy is limited to individuals sharing the common bond defined in its credit union charter. Membership in NavyArmy is limited to all people, businesses and/or legal entities who live, work, worship and/or go to school in Aransas, Bee, Cameron, Hidalgo, Jim Wells, Kleberg, Nueces, and San Patricio counties.
Organization.
NavyArmy is chartered with Texas Credit Union Department as a community credit union. Like all credit unions, NavyArmy is governed by a board of volunteers, elected by and from its membership.
In the summer of 2011 the board of NavyArmy proposed changing from a federal charter to a State of Texas charter. This change would provide NavyArmy the opportunity to expand into additional geographic areas of Texas.
Services.
NavyArmy offers a suite of account services offered by most financial institutions, including savings accounts, checking accounts, IRA accounts, and CDs. The savings product is named "Share Savings" to reflect the fact that a member's initial savings deposit ($15) literally represents their share of ownership in the credit union. NavyArmy also offers members consumer loans, mortgages and home equity lines of credit, as well as small business services.
NavyArmy has 17 branches and over 500 ATMs, located in its Coastal Bend and Rio Grande Valley service area and in hundreds of Stripes convenience stores in Texas and Oklahoma. NavyArmy offers extensive online services via its corporate website.


Johannesburg Regiment

The Johannesburg Regiment is an infantry regiment of the South African Army. As a reserve unit, it has a status roughly equivalent to that of a British Army Reserve or United States Army National Guard unit.
History.
Origins as Artillery.
Johannesburg Regiment has been in existence since 1 July 1951. At the time it was an Artillery unit known as 8 Field Regiment South African Artillery. Colonel J. S. K. Brink was the Regiment's first commanding officer and following his retirement he became its honorary colonel. The Regiment's Headquarters were originally based at Auckland Park, where the current SABC offices are situated.
Re-mustered to Infantry.
In February 1960, 8 Field Regiment disbanded and the unit officially became known as Johannesburg Regiment and was re mustered as an Infantry Regiment.
Regiment colours.
In May 1962 the Johannesburg Municipality agreed that the Regiment could use the Municipal Coat of Arms as their Unit Emblem. Some minor changes were however done to the coat of arms, namely, the two sable antelope that acted as the supporters being replaced with two F.N. Rifles to give it a military touch. With this, the Regiment made history by being the first unit that used an F.N. Rifle in its armorial bearings. A badge that consists only of the shield, was also included.
The motto is on a braid in Latin wording “Fortiter Et Recte” which means “With Valour and Justice”.
The official Colour presentation parade was held at the Milnerpark Showgrounds stadium on 26 February 1966.
Operations.
The Regiment mobilised for the first time in 1960 and saw initial service in Bloemfontein, Vereeniging and Sasolburg.
The Johannesburg Regiment has been actively involved in continuous and operational service since its founding in 1960.
Converted to Mechanised Infantry.
The Regiment achieved a pinnacle in its history, becoming one of the first then citizen force units to be converted from a motorized to a mechanized unit in 1980 – the achievement occurred as the Regiment was voted the best unit in 72 Brigade on various evaluations during the year.
Subsequent successes include amongst others the following operations/ exercises:
Madimbo, Savannah, Caterpillar, Protea, Thunder Chariot, Ops Eardrum, Ops Paal, Excalibur 1&2, Eagle Hill, Kwiksilwer, Vincity and Southern Cross.
Peace keeping.
The Regiment has also successfully participated in peace operations in Africa.
In 2005 Johannesburg Regiment again made history when it provided troops for the first Reserve Company to be deployed in Peace Support Operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Freedom of the City.
In November 1964 the City Council presented the Regiment with their Colours and six years later bestowed on it the honour of Freedom of Entrance to the city of Johannesburg. This was largely due to the efforts of Councillor J. D. Opperman who became the unit's Honorary Colonel in 1979 until he died on 20 April 2000. The Unit Colours were officially handed over on 26 February 1966. National Colours were awarded to the Unit on 5 October 1991, and laid up in April 1994.
The Regiment today.
Unit strengths.
The Regiment is an active Regiment, with strong ties between the Unit, Sister Regiments and Higher HQ. The current senior structure is a well drilled, competent unit, and all incumbents have committed to staying on until proper succession planning can kick in. Currently the unit is actively recruiting and training. The unit is supported by a strong, active Association and a widespread network of old boys. The Unit is also settled in proper Headquarters, and has the services of a permanent clerical assistant.
General activities.
The unit hosts a parade annually on the first Sunday in March. Traditionally this takes place in Johannesburg, as the Regiment has Freedom of Entry to the City. This parade also serves to commemorate the birthday of the Regiment, and is dedicated to the memory of all members of the regiment that has paid the highest price in defence of our country. A medal parade is also planned for annually, but is only held when applicable. The Regiment also participates in the annual "Poppy Day" parade in November. This event is always well supported by the regiment, as well as the Association.
The Association hosts a Semi Formal dinner annually. An annual golf day fund raiser rounds off the ongoing activities.
The Association also supports the Military Associations of Gauteng, and one of the highlights every year is the MAG picnic at the War Museum. the Associations meets once a months and the main purpose is still to support the Regiment.
Regimental symbols.
In May 1962 the Johannesburg City Council gave permission to the unit to use the Johannesburg City Coat of Arms as the Regimental badge. The cap badge shows minor differences to the original, as the antelope supporting the shield was substituted with 2 F. N. Rifles. The lapel badge consists of the shield portion of the cap badge. The motto is in Latin: "FORTITER ET RECTE" loosely translated this means: "With Valour and Justice".
Battle Honours.
Although the Regiment saw active duty both inside and outside the borders of South Africa, it never participated in a battle worthy of Battle Honors as a Regiment. Many of its members though were part of other formations that did earn Battle Honours.


Rob Morrison (politician)

Rob Morrison (born May 3 1956) is a Canadian politician who was elected to represent the riding of Kootenay—Columbia in the House of Commons of Canada in the 2019 Canadian federal election. He is a retired RCMP officer and diplomat.


Satellite Control Network

The Satellite Control Network (SCN), operated by the United States Space Force's Space Delta 6, provides support for the operation, control, and maintenance of a variety of United States Department of Defense and some non-DoD satellites. This involves continual execution of Telemetry, Tracking, and Commanding (TT&C) operations. In addition, the SCN provides prelaunch checkout and simulation, launch support, and early orbit support while satellites are in initial or transfer orbits and require maneuvering to their final orbit. The SCN provides tracking data to help maintain the catalog of space objects and distributes various data such as satellite ephemeris, almanacs, and other information. It was previously known as the Air Force Satellite Control Network (AFSCN) while under Air Force Space Command's 50th Network Operations Group.
Overview.
The Satellite Control Network consists of satellite control centers, tracking stations, and test facilities located around the world. Satellite Operations Centers (SOCs) are located at Schriever Air Force Base near Colorado Springs, Colorado, and various other locations throughout the continental United States. These SOCs are manned around the clock and are responsible for the command and control of their assigned satellite systems. The SOCs are linked to remote tracking stations (RTSs) around the world. Space vehicle checkout facilities are used to test launch vehicles and satellite platforms to ensure that the onboard systems operate within specifications. The RTSs provide the link between the satellites and the SOCs. A similar relationship exists for dedicated networks, which are outside the purview of the Satellite Control Network. RTSs around the world are needed to maintain frequent communications with the satellite. Without RTSs, the SOCs would only be able to contact a satellite when it came into the control center's view. Some satellites, especially those in geostationary orbit, never come within view of their control center. Each antenna at an RTS is referred to as a "side". Previously, Side A typically included a dish antenna. Side B typically included a antenna. At some sites, the B side included a antenna. Over time, however, as the network upgraded and/or replaced the antennas, the old conventions no longer apply.
History.
The Satellite Control Network was originally activated to support the CORONA (Discoverer) program in 1959. An interim satellite control center was initially established in Palo Alto, California, and by June 1960, a permanent control center had been established Sunnyvale AFS, later renamed Onizuka AFS, Sunnyvale, California. The main operations control center, now at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado Springs, CO, functions as a central command and control node for the remote tracking stations established at several different locations.
Locations.
The Satellite Control Network maintains a number of tracking stations, which are used to track (primarily) US government agency & military satellites, as well as receive and process telemetry and send commands to these satellites. Said facilities are intended to support all Department of Defense satellites. Most tracking stations are operated by operational detachments of the 21st Space Operations Squadron (21 SOPS) and 23d Space Operations Squadron. Many scientific and research satellites are supported as well.
Automated Remote Tracking Stations.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the RTSs were modernized with the addition of the Automated Remote Tracking Station (ARTS) systems. The ARTS systems provided more responsive support and reduced the manpower required at each site through semi-automation. In addition to upgrading all the existing sites, the ARTS Phase I program added the following sites to the Satellite Control Network:
RTS Block Change (RBC) Systems.
Beginning in 2004, an upgrade effort was started to replace the ARTS sites, which were already beyond their planned design life. While the project has been hampered by a number of technical issues and funding problems, the effort is well underway. As of 1 October 2014, the following sites have been upgraded to the RBC configuration, which includes a 13-meter 3-axis antenna:


USCGC Charles Moulthrope

USCGC "Charles Moulthrope" (WPC-1141) is the United States Coast Guard's 41st cutter, and the first of six to be homeported in Manama, Bahrain.
Like her sister ships she was built in the Bollinger Shipyards, in Lockport, Louisiana.
Design.
Like her sister ships, "Charles Moulthrope" is designed to perform search and rescue missions, port security, and the interception of smugglers. She is armed with a remotely-controlled, gyro-stabilized 25 mm autocannon, four crew served M2 Browning machine guns, and light arms. She is equipped with a stern launching ramp, that allows her to launch or retrieve a water-jet propelled high-speed auxiliary boat, without first coming to a stop. Her high-speed boat has over-the-horizon capability, and is useful for inspecting other vessels, and deploying boarding parties.
The crew's drinking water needs are met through a desalination unit. The crew mess is equipped with a television with satellite reception.
Operational career.
The vessel was delivered to the Coast Guard base in Key West for her acceptance trials on October 22, 2020.
Namesake.
In 2010, Charles "Skip" W. Bowen, who was then the United States Coast Guard's most senior non-commissioned officer, proposed that all 58 cutters in the Sentinel class should be named after enlisted sailors in the Coast Guard, or one of its precursor services, who were recognized for their heroism. The Coast Guard chose Charles Moulthrope as the namesake of the 41st cutter. Moulthorpe was serving on the Revenue Service cutter USRC "Commodore Perry", exploring Alaska, in 1896, when he died after a fall to its deck. Not long before, he had saved four of his shipmates after their small boat capsized while unsuccessfully trying to rescue a fifth shipmate.


Tactical Automated Security System

The Tactical Automated Security System (TASS) is a U.S. Air Force intrusion detection and surveillance system used for security monitoring around fixed site airbases, semi-permanent Forward Operating Bases (FOBs), and other mobile tactical deployments.
The system consists of thermal imagers, sensors, communications, power and annunciation components. The system provides for wide-area and perimeter intrusion detection, assessment, and surveillance via both hardwire and UHF/VHF communications.
Sensor technologies within TASS include wide-area and short range radar, microwave, thermal, active and passive infrared, seismic, magnetic, and trip-wire. New sensor types are always being evaluated for future introduction. For fixed and semi-permanent site installations, delay/denial capabilities may also be used within TASS such as fence sensors and various barrier technologies. TASS users can receiver sensor alerts via hand-held (roving patrol) devices and/or map based PC annunciators known as Sector Command Posts (SCPs), which can also communicate events to a centralized Base defense operations center (BDOC).
TASS operators can employ a variety of camera systems such as CCTV and high tech military cameras such as Wide-Area Surveillance Thermal Imagers (WSTI) and Long Range Thermal Imagers (LRTIs) which detect enemy movement by tracking body heat or other heat resonances. Such thermal devices can operate in total darkness while still displaying a daylight like image to the operator. Camera devices can be programmatically linked to automatically slew to a target's location upon sensor activation which provides for near real-time assessment.
TASS communications is via RF and/or hardwire, depending on the TASS element being considered. Microwave links are also used for long distance communications with outlying devices such as the WSTI, LRTI and RADAR equipment.
For tactical deployments, the system is designed to be packed into specialized containers of varying sizes that support differing levels of capability. This allows for efficient movement of equipment by aircraft to designated locations while delivering just the right amount of equipment required. Once arrived, containers are unpacked quickly providing for fast system set up. For a pure tactical footprint, the entire system can be set up without any specialized tools (a hard requirement for TASS).
Prior to introduction into the current baseline, new TASS components are rigorously tested by specially trained test squadrons operating from Eglin AFB, FL. Inclusion of new equipment undergoes a lengthy and involved process to determine requirements compliance, mission suitability, and interoperability/interchangeability with current baseline elements. Equipment must meet rigid military environmental requirements, including extreme temperatures, EMI/EMR, drop/shock, and Mean Time Before Failure (MTBF) minimums. Many devices fail to meet one or more TASS standards and thus do not get employed which is a constant frustration for vendors attempting to gain access to the TASS market.
TASS has evolved and has been refined for more than a decade allowing for major additions and improvements in equipment functionality, reliability, and operational availability. TASS has been and continues to be used very effectively in Iraq and Afghanistan where early detection of insurgents is critical to personnel and material survivability.


Serbian Army

The Serbian Army (, lit. "Serbian Land Army") is the land-based component of the Serbian Armed Forces, responsible for defending the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia from foreign hostiles; participating in peacekeeping operations; and providing humanitarian aid and disaster relief. Originally established in 1830, the Serbian army was incorporated into the newly established state of Yugoslavia in 1918. The current Serbian army has been active since 2006 when Serbia restored its independence.
Current status.
The Serbian Army is the largest component of the Serbian Armed Forces. There are approximately 17,850 active members and additional 50,000 in reserves. The army is composed entirely of professionals and volunteers following the suspension of mandatory military service on January 1, 2011.
The 2nd, 3rd and 4th army brigades are tasked with securing the 5 km (2.5 mi) wide Ground Safety Zone (GSZ) along the administrative line between Central Serbia and the disputed territory of Kosovo. The Ground Safety Zone extends 384 kilometres long and covers a total area of about 1,920 square kilometres. There are over 20 camps and security checkpoints in the zone.
There are plans to increase the Serbian army's involvement in humanitarian and peacekeeping operations abroad.
Formations and structure.
Following the 2019 reorganization, the Serbian Army consists of six primary brigades. The four army brigades are larger than a conventional modern brigade, their size is more akin to a division.That follows from the fact that each army brigade consists of ten battalions, unlike conventional modern brigade which consist of 3–6 battalions. Those 10 battalions are: one command battalion, one armored battalion, two mechanized battalions, two infantry battalions, one self-propelled artillery battalion, one self-propelled multiple rocket launcher artillery battalion, one air defense battalion, one engineering battalion and one logistic battalion.
Equipment.
Unmanned ground vehicles.
Miloš (unmanned ground vehicle) 5 delivered in 2020 more on order.
Armoured fighting vehicles.
At the end of 2018 Serbian army had 414 tanks, this number will be increased by 30 T-72 tanks which are to be donated by Russia.


Royal Canadian Air Force Pipes and Drums

The Royal Canadian Air Force Pipes and Drums (RCAFPD) is a military pipe band unit composed of current members of the Royal Canadian Air Force. The unit was formally established in October 1949 and is the longest continuous serving Air Force Pipe Band in the Canadian Forces. All of its 40 members are volunteers who are drawn from both the military and civilian sphere. At the time of its foundation, it was known as the RCAF Station Rockcliffe Pipe Band.
Operations.
The band usually performs for RCAF change of command ceremonies, military funerals, and other major occasions in the National Capital Region. Each year, band leads the Remembrance Day parade in Ottawa near the National War Memorial, and even provides a lone piper to play "Lament" during the honors ceremony. It has participated in all RCAF Presentation of Colours ceremonies, whether it be official such as the ceremony in 2017 in Toronto, as well as a symbolic presentation of the old RCAF colours at Air Canada Centre to the Toronto Maple Leafs. During the latter, the two pipers from the band took part in the ceremony while the band was in full composition during the former. The band took part in a 75th anniversary ceremony on Parliament Hill in recognition of the Battle of Britain in September 2015. In 2018, the band took part in the Virginia International Tattoo. It celebrated its platinum jubilee in the fall of 2019.
Uniforms.
The Pipe Band wear a modified highland dress that features Scottish uniforms augmented with a kilt patterned in the RCAF Tartan. The tartan was created in 1942 by Captain Elmer Fullerton from the No. 9 Service Flying Training School RCAF. He wanted the tartan to reflect his Scottish heritage for his station band. It was approved by the Air Council and was subsequently sent to the Lord Lyon King of Arms on 13 July 1942 to request it become the official RCAF tartan.


Terry David Mulligan

Terry David Mulligan (born June 30, 1942) is a Canadian actor and radio and television personality based in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Life and career.
Born in New Westminster, British Columbia, Mulligan worked as a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officer in Olds, Alberta, and Red Deer, Alberta, from 1960 through 1964. After leaving the Mounties, Mulligan worked as a radio disc jockey for 20 years, he hosted a TV show on Global TV called "The New Quiz Kids", and then joined CBC Television as host of the music video series "Good Rockin' Tonite" (simultaneously, he was also a regular on the children's TV series "Zig Zag", produced by BCTV). He left the CBC in 1985 to become a VJ and producer for MuchMusic West – a show he created, covering primarily the West Coast music scene as host of the long-running "Much West" series. At the same time he also hosted "Movie Television" for CityTV. His stories and "MT" provided years of support for the Canadian TV and film industry.
He was a program host and producer for the Canadian entertainment channel Star!. He also hosts two weekly radio programs on Alberta public radio station CKUA: "Mulligan Stew", a long-running two-hour music program, and "Tasting Room Radio", a one-hour weekly food and wine radio program about food, wine and winemakers, and with a rock and roll attitude. "Tasting Room Radio" is also broadcast on CKFR AM 1150 in Kelowna, British Columbia, and CKST AM 1040 in Vancouver.
Mulligan is a prolific character actor who has been featured in supporting and small roles in many movies and television series including, notably, "The Accused", "The X-Files", "Millennium", "Robson Arms", "Hard Core Logo", and the 2005 "Fantastic Four" movie. Most films and TV shows in which he appears are filmed in the Vancouver area.
For his work in arts and entertainment broadcasting Mulligan has been awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from the West Coast Awards show The Leos. He's also been inducted into the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame. Mulligan was named "Broadcaster of the Year" for 2011 by the British Columbia Association of Broadcasters.
He has four children, Mindy, Sean, Fynn, and Kate; and three grandchildren, Kyle, Taleigha, and Avelyn. He has been married since 1977 to Meg Mulligan. Their children sometimes appear on "Mulligan Stew". In an August 2007 radio interview on "Sounds like Canada", Kate and her father discussed an article by Kate, published in The Tyee, called "Growing up Mulligan", an humorous account of life with Mulligan.
Mulligan also co-hosts a show about wine called "Hollywood & Vines" with fellow actor Jason Priestley which is filmed at wine vineyards around the world. The show is seen in 180 countries via Travel Channel UK (London) and Super Channel in Canada. The third year of the series is now in production.
Mulligan has published his autobiography (co-written by Vancouverite Glen Schaefer) called "Mulligan's Stew". The book covers his life from growing up in North Vancouver to the present day.


Casco Cove Coast Guard Station

Casco Cove Coast Guard Station was a military facility and private use airfield on Attu Island, one of the Aleutian Islands in the U.S. state of Alaska. Owned by the United States Coast Guard, Casco Cove CGS is located west of Anchorage, Alaska. Also known as LORAN Station Attu, the facility was closed on August 27, 2010, but the airfield remains available for emergency use.
History.
Established as Naval Air Facility Attu on June 7, 1943, just seven days after Attu Island was declared secured. The base was built by Seabees of the Naval Construction Battalion 4.
Overview.
The Casco Cove Airport was a LORAN navigation station operated by the United States Coast Guard. The USCG personnel lived in a group quarters facility. There were no families stationed at Attu. All services needed for staff in this facility were available. Electricity was provided by USCG Generator. Auxiliary health care was provided by USCG emergency medical staff.
Casco Cove is one of the most isolated and remote airports in the United States. Flying into and taking off from the airport was hazardous, as the weather is characterized by persistently overcast skies, high winds, and frequent cyclonic storms. Winter squalls produce wind gusts in excess of 100 knots (115 mph). During the summer, extensive fog forms over the Bering Sea and North Pacific.
The island is protected as part of the National Parks Trust territory and few people visit the island or area, as it is restricted. Gun emplacements for over twenty guns are still present around the airfield.
Facilities.
Casco Cove CGS resides at elevation of 88 feet (27 m) above mean sea level. It has one runway designated 2/20 with an asphalt surface measuring 5,998 by 150 feet (1,828 x 46 m).


3rd Army (Yugoslav Partisans)

The 3rd Army of the Yugoslav Partisans was a Partisan army that operated in Yugoslavia during the last months of the Second World War.
The Army was created on 1 January 1945, when Chief Commander Marshal Josip Broz Tito converted the guerilla National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia in a more regular "Yugoslav Army".
History.
As commander was named General lieutenant Kosta Nađ, as Political Commissioner Branko Petričević, and as Chief of staff, Vukašin Subotić.

The Army was formed from the units of the General Staff Vojvodina and the 12th Corps (16th, 36th and 51st Vojvodina divisions). Later the 12th Slavonian, 17th Eastern Bosnian, 32nd Zagorje, 33rd Croatian and 40th Slavonian divisions were added.
Until April 1945, the 3rd Army held positions on the Syrmian Front from Drava to Vukovar and fought on the Virovitica bridgehead, on the left bank of the Drava River, in the vicinity of Slavonski Požega, near Daruvar and on other places.

In the final offensive for the liberation of Yugoslavia in April-May 1945, it liberated a large part of Slavonia, Croatia, Hrvatsko Zagorje and Slovenia.
By the end of the war, it was operating in the northeastern part of Slovenia (Ptuj, Maribor). Its units, together with forces from the 4th Army, surrounded a 30,000 strong mixed Axis column containing Germans, Ustashi, Home Guard and Montenegrin Chetniks, and forced it to capitulate after fierce fighting in the Battle of Poljana on May 14-15, a week after the armistice.


USS LST-23

USS "LST-23" was a United States Navy used exclusively in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater during World War II and staffed by a United States Coast Guard crew. Like many of her class, she was not named and is properly referred to by her hull designation.
Construction.
"LST-23" was laid down on 27 October 1942, at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, by the Dravo Corporation; launched on 29 March 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Mary H. Miller. She was floated down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to the Naval Section Base, Algiers, Louisiana, in March 1943. She was commissioned on 22 May 1943 with Lieutenant John B. Swann Jr., USCGR, in command.
Service history.
On 10 June 1943, she departed Algiers, in convoy for San Francisco, via the Panama Canal. She arrived at San Diego on 1 July 1943, and at Mare Island
Navy Yard on 3 July 1943. She left San Francisco, on 17 July 1943, with the destroyer escorting her and five other LSTs for Alaskan waters. They arrived safely at the Naval Air Station, Woman's Bay, Kodiak, Alaska on 25 July 1943. The convoy and escort departed on 27 July, with an additional LST and two more escorts for Kuluk Harbor, Adak, Aleutian Islands, arriving there on 1 August 1943. Here she disembarked troops and equipment and beached to unload Army equipment. With two escorts and three other LSTs and a Navy tug she departed Kiska, on 27 August 1943, for Kuluk Harbor, Adak. On 31 August, "LST-23" and five other LSTs departed Adak for San Francisco with two escorts, one of which left the group to escort "LST-19", which was suffering engine trouble, back to Adak Island.
"LST-23" participated in the Gilbert Islands operation from the end of November until the beginning of December 1943 and the occupation of Kwajalein and Majuro Atolls at the beginning of February 1944.
On 4 April 1944, she was in the Marshall Islands en route to Pearl Harbor which she reached on 24 April, remaining there until 15 June 1944. On 23 May 1944, the
officers and men were recommended for consideration for awards for bravery and meritorious performance of duty. "LST-23" moved to the Marianas next so she could take part in the Battle of Saipan from mid June until the end of July 1944, along with the Battle of Tinian at the end of July 1944. She proceeding to Eniwetok on 3 July 1944. From around the middle of September until the middle of October she participated in the Battle of Peleliu. On 12 October 1944, she was at Espiritu Santo.
On 16 October 1944, her medical officer, Lieutenant junior grade A. R. M. Sears, USNR, wrote to the Force Surgeon of the South Pacific Area regarding the morale on board "LST-23" and it provides a unique insight into life aboard a Coast Guard-staffed LST in the Pacific during this point in the war:
1. The morale of the personnel of this vessel is suffering considerable hardship and measures to remedy the situation have failed thus far. The men most affected are those aboard who have been on constant duty on this vessel since before it went into commission in May 1943. However, there are other men aboard who have been overseas up to twenty seven months and they likewise are suffering.
2. The present medical officer has been aboard in excess of four months and has been able to observe the various officers and members of the crew and to evaluate their mental condition. Some of these men have grown so irritable that they are easily excited and often are called before Captain's Mast for acts committed because of the irritability acquired from their prolonged service aboard this ship. One signalman in particular had his rate taken away from him for an act against a senior petty officer, the whole of which, it is believed, arose from the irritability and mental fatigue from their long tour of duty.
3. These men do not have opportunity for liberty for long periods of time and seeing the same faces month after month, being unable to move in more than the small confines of the ship, has made many of them tired of each other, even suspicious and afraid of one another.
4. The ship has participated in action with the enemy and has been in extreme danger on numerous occasions. Some of its personnel have been wounded by enemy action. Many of the original members of the crew as well as some of those more recently assigned have developed extreme nervousness under danger due to their repeated subjection to shellfire and nearness to explosions of bombs with no means of protection other than the projectiles from their own guns.
5. This vessel is a U.S. Navy ship staffed by U.S. Coast Guard personnel which seems to make it difficult to obtain replacement personnel. The morale of the ship falls even lower when in port for the men find that Navy ships of the same class are sending men back to the states for leave and reassignment after eighteen months, twelve months, and even shorter periods.
6. We are hopeful that the Force Surgeon may be able to take some action which will result in the relief of the immediate situation and also establish some means by which personnel may be replaced after the specified eighteen months of sea duty in order to prevent any more permanent damage to the minds and morale of these men.
LT Sears letter did indeed stimulate some action. A 26 October 1944, memo to the Commandant (P), noted that 29 enlisted men were sent to "LST-23" to relieve an equal number of her crew. Three officers were also sent as relief.
On 5 December 1944, while returning from a supply trip, "LST-23", while in North Surigao Straits, was hit a glancing blow by a plane causing a fire and extensive damage. After being repaired "LST-23" moved to the Philippines to finish out her combat career participating in General Douglas MacArthur's promised liberation of the islands from the Japanese occupation in the Battle of Luzon Lingayen Gulf landings on 9 January 1945, after which she returned to San Diego, California. Departing San Diego on 17 February 1945, she proceeded to Guam via Pearl Harbor, arriving there on 2 April 1945, and returning to San Francisco on 6 May 1945.
Postwar career.
Her next trip took her to Sasebo, Japan. Leaving Pearl Harbor on 3 September 1945, after the end of the war, she arrived in Sasebo. On 15 September 1945, she was redesignated "Landing Ship, Tank (Hospital)", LST(H). She departed Sasebo on 28 September for Lingayen and Manila. She left Manila on 10 October for Wakayama, Japan, via Lingayen, arriving there on 22 October. She returned to San Francisco on 2 February 1946, via Okinawa, Sasebo, Saipan, and Pearl Harbor. When she returned to the United States and was decommissioned on 24 May 1946. She was struck from the Navy list on 3 July 1946 and was sold to the Kaiser Company, Inc., Seattle, Washington, on 6 April 1948 for scrapping.
Awards.
"LST-23" earned six battle stars for her World War II service.


Cottbus-Drewitz Airport

Cottbus-Drewitz Airport was a former civilian airport located in Drewitz, an Ortsteil of Jänschwalde, approximately north-east of Cottbus in Brandenburg, Germany.
History.
During World War II Cottbus-Drewitz Airport was used by the Luftwaffe and from 1956 by the National People's Army. Upon German reunification in 1990, the Luftwaffe officially took over the airport once again but after 1993, the airport's new owners, Flughafen Süd-Brandenburg-Cottbus GmbH, had opened it up for civilian use. In April 2000 a new control tower was opened.
The airport is most often used for charter flights for the football team FC Energie Cottbus, but is also used for training flights by TUIfly, Lufthansa and Germania.
In late May 2012, a grass strip at the airport was used to conduct unpaved runway trials of the Airbus A400M military airlifter. Although Airbus Military had examined the grass strip and believed it suitable, testing was cut short when the test aircraft penetrated the runway surface during a rejected takeoff test. The test aircraft departed undamaged.
Aside from a bistro serving the terminal, there is also a small aviation museum and flying school. The runway 07's centerline latitude is 51.885409 degrees and the longitude is 14.515136. Runway 25's centerline latitude is 51.893514 while the longitude is 14.549012 degrees.
The airport closed to all air traffic for the final time on 31 January 2020. Due to investors pulling out, there has been several failed attempts to turn the civilian airport into a freight hub with a runway, similar in concept to Frankfurt-Hahn.


USS PGM-9

USS "PGM-9" was a in service with the United States Navy during World War II.
Ship history.
Laid down by Consolidated Ship Building Corp. on 19 December 1943, as "PC-1548", she was launched on 13 February 1944. On 1 July 1944, she was commissioned into naval service. She underwent a conversion to a Motor Gunboat on 4 February 1944, and was renamed "PGM-9", re-entering service shortly thereafter.
Ships fate.
On 9 October 1945, at Buckner Bay, Okinawa, in Typhoon Louise "PGM-9" ran aground on Hira Sone Reef at 15:11. At 15:45, all personnel safely crossed to which had grounded alongside.
Effectively put out of commission due to damage from running aground, she remained grounded on the reef and was decommissioned on 10 December 1945. "PGM-9" was demolished 17 days later on 27 December 1945, and finally struck from the Naval Register on 3 January 1946.


Army Motor Reserve

The Army Motor Reserve was a British Army corps created in 1906 and disbanded in 1913. The Reserve dated back to 1900, when a Mechanical Transport Committee was set up under the jurisdiction of the Royal Engineers. The Committee was replaced by the Motor Volunteer Corps, which consisted of 31 motorcycles and 43 automobiles. In 1906 the Volunteer Corps were disbanded and replaced by the Motor Reserve. At the time, there were 45 officers, and 150 privates in the Corps. By 1909, the reserve consisted of 134 officers. In November 1913, the Reserve was disbanded. Charles Rolls was a member of the Reserve.


Corps Warrant

The 'Corps Warrant' is the official list of those British military units (not to be confused with "naval" forces) that are considered part of the British Army (as not all British military units have been, or are, considered to be). The Corps Warrant is updated periodically to reflect changes in the make-up of the army.
Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom and its Overseas Territories is "empowered to declare by Royal Warrant, what bodies of the Military Forces are Corps for the purposes of the Army Act (enlistment, etc.) the Reserve Forces Act, 1882, and the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act, 1907." Corps and Regiments are not listed on the Corps Warrant according to their order in the British Army order-of-precedence.


2nd Law Enforcement Battalion

The 2nd Law Enforcement Battalion is a military police battalion based at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. It was activated on 2 July 2012, after reactivated the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Military Police Battalions (now designated as Law Enforcement Battalions) in September 2011.
Mission.
Conduct law and order operations in order to enhance the security environment and promote the rule of law in support of Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF) operations.
Conduct law and order functions to include law enforcement, policing, police advising/training, and limited detention/correction, patrol/incident response operations, route regulation/enforcement, investigations, Joint Prosecution and Exploitation Center operations, Tactical Site Exploitation, identity operations/biometrics support, protective services operations, military working dog operations, police intelligence, physical security and crime prevention expertise/assessments, accident investigations, customs/border clearance support operations, and Military Police support to civil authorities.


Center for Surface Combat Systems

Center for Surface Combat Systems (CSCS) is one of eleven learning centers of Naval Education and Training Command, headquartered on Naval Support Facility Dahlgren operated learning centers for the education and training of United States Navy personnel on the operation and use of shipboard combat systems, including the Aegis Combat System, SSDS, tactical data links and other systems that can be used in the ship's combat information center (CIC). Through 70,000 hours' worth of curriculum in 700 courses, CSCS provides the fleet with highly trained surface warfare officers and enlisted personnel in the ratings of fire controlmen, electronic technicians, interior communications electricians, sonar technicians (surface), gunner's mates, minemen, operations specialists, and boatswain's mates.
Learning Sites.
CSCS operates 14 learning sites across the United States, mostly in large Fleet concentration areas:
International Sites.
Instructors from CSCS also train allied foreign military personnel using the Aegis Combat System on their ships, including the ROK Navy at the Aegis Operation and Maintenance Training Center, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force's Missile System Training Command, the Royal Norwegian Navy, at the Frigate Training Center, the Spanish Navy at the Antonio Escaño Specialist School, and with the Royal Australian Navy at HMAS "Watson".
In addition, CSCS personnel are also overseas assisting and training the personnel who will be a part of the Aegis Ashore Missile Defense Program at Naval Support Facility Deveselu, Romania.