Congress designated May as National Military Appreciation Month in 1999 to ensure the nation was given the opportunity to publically demonstrate their appreciation for the sacrifices and successes made by our servicemembers - past and present. Each year the president makes a proclamation, reminding Americans of the important role the U.S. Armed Forces have played in the history and development of our country.May was selected because it has most days set aside for celebrating and commemorating our military's achievements. These days include Loyalty Day, which was established in 1921, Victory in Europe (VE) Day commemorating the end of WWII in Europe on May 8, 1945, Armed Forces Day created in 1949, Military Spouse Appreciation Dayestablished in 1984, and of course the best known of the May holidays,Memorial Day.

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CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

• (1) supports the designation of a National Military Appreciation Month;

• (2) urges the President to issue a proclamation calling on the people of the United States, all Federal departments and agencies, States, localities, organizations and media to annually observe a National Military Appreciation Month with appropriate ceremonies and activities; and

• (3) urges the White House Commission on Remembrance, established by Congress to honor those who died in service to the United States and those who continue to serve the Nation, to work to support the goals and objectives of a National Military Appreciation Month.

NAPLES, Italy -- The Navy fired its 10th commanding officer of the calendar year Tuesday.
Vice Adm. Frank Pandolfe relieved Cmdr. Derick Armstrong, commanding officer of the guided missile destroyer USS The Sullivans, "as result of an unprofessional command climate that was contrary to good order and discipline," according to a Navy news release.
Armstrong took command of The Sullivans on Nov. 7, and has been administratively reassigned to the staff of Destroyer Squadron 14, the released stated.
Capt. John Esposito, now the deputy commander of Destroyer Squadron 60, temporarily has assumed command of The Sullivans until a permanent replacement is assigned.

5/3/2012 By Cpl. Timothy Lenzo , 1st Marine Division
TREK NAWA, Afghanistan — The people in Trek Nawa, an area between the Marjah and Nawa district, were witnesses to an unusual sight April 23-26. The Afghan National Army dispatched about 190 soldiers from various tolais within 1st Kandak, 1st Brigade, 215th Corps, to areas throughout the expanding landscape. During this maneuver, Marines with 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment partnered with the kandak to clear the area during the Afghan-led Operation High Noon 15.
To reach their objectives, Afghan soldiers with their Marine counterparts often hiked through a range of open, dry, dusty ground to lush green fields in knee-high plants.

During the operation, three Afghan tolais patrolled from north to south, clearing the area, while searching for weapon caches and improvised explosive devices.

A fourth tolai supported the operation by blocking the escape routes of possible insurgents.

“The Marines’ role in the operation was a supporting one,” said ANA 1st Sgt. Mubarak, the operations first sergeant with the kandak.

A Marine platoon accompanied each tolai during the operation, providing extra firepower, and logistical support.

“Our mission was to follow and support,” said 1st. Lt. Joseph Hoeksema, a platoon commander with Weapons Co. “I helped if they needed it, but it was an ANA-led operation.”

Hoeksema’s platoon accompanied the Weapons tolai during the operation.

“(The ANA) planned the patrols, searched the houses and talked to the local people,” said 1st Lt. Qeyashkhan, the executive officer with Weapons tolai.

After several hours of clearing the northern part of the area, Qeyashkhan decided to establish a temporary patrol base in a local compound. Marines and Afghan soldiers soaked in sweat, from the intense heat of an unfiltered Afghan sun, as they set up their command center, security posts and radios. They had hiked about eight miles before they reached their resting point.

“It was really hot and we were running low on water,” said Qeyashkhan. The first priority was getting resupplied with water and food for the next couple days.

The ANA established their patrol base near a major road that provided Afghan resupply trucks easy access to the soldiers. They chose roads that their route clearing patrols could drive through. Route clearing vehicles are specially equipped trucks designed to find and clear IEDs so others can drive safely on the road.

“Some routes are too narrow to get our trucks through so we worked with the Embedded Training Team to find the routes we could go through,” said Mubarak.

The logistics of getting supplies to the patrol bases and the communication between different tolais was a focus prior to the operation.

“Operationally, they are ready to fight, ready to go out there, and I think they do a pretty good job,” said Capt. Stephen Walker, the operations advisor with the ETT.

Walker added that they also did a great job getting supplies to the troops and coordinating with each other.

On day two of the operation the tolais conducted partnered patrols with the Marines. Afghan squads, intermixed with Marines, went through the surrounding areas, talking to locals and clearing houses.

“This is an (insurgent) hotspot and we’ve been engaged by as many as 10 insurgents, found IEDs, weapons caches, you name it,” said Hoeksema, a native of Davenport, Iowa.

Marines and ANA soldiers could be seen traversing the terrain throughout the day, jumping over wadeis, an irrigation system for the field, and going from compound to compound under the blistering sun.

The patrols walked through fields, some blooming with poppy, others dried up from the heat.

Some tolais didn’t find much; however, their presence in the area was enough to scare off any insurgents.

“We didn’t find any caches or IEDs, but we talked to locals and let them know we are here for them,” said Qeyashkhan.

The cracked earth was pounded by both Marine and Afghan boots as they continued to patrol throughout the day. Other tolais had more success finding caches, IEDs and detaining a suspected insurgent leader.

“We tried to flood the area with ANA presence,” said Walker, a native of Morganton, N.C. “The patrols allowed the (ANA) to get a better feel for the area and talk to more locals.”

On the third day the tolais continued south, while still clearing the area, before returning to Patrol Base Jersey.

The landscape around PB Jersey is sparse with fields lined of cracks that go on for several miles. With the clouds providing some relief from the glowing sun, one by one the different tolais arrived at base camp along with their supporting Marines.

The kandak planned for this operation for nearly two weeks.
After three days, about 190 troops returned without a single casualty and captured a suspected insurgent leader.

As the last of the patrols arrived at PB Jersey, sweat dripping from their chin, smiles were on both Afghan and Marine faces. The operation, planned by the kandak with minimal Marine influence had run smoothly and one of the most active insurgent areas had been successfully neutralized without any losses.

“They did well,” said Hoeksema. “They planned it all and executed it accordingly.”

Editor’s note: Second Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, is part of Regimental Combat Team 5, 1st Marine Division (Forward), which works in partnership with the Afghan National Security Forces and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to conduct counterinsurgency operations. The unit is dedicated to securing the Afghan people, defeating insurgent forces and enabling ANSF assumption of security responsibilities within its area of operations in order to support the expansion of stability, development and legitimate governance.

Just in time for the one-year anniversary of the death of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, American officials are saying members of the terrorist group have been busy designing bombs that can be surgically implanted in a human body and that can bypass current security measures.

Known as "body bombs," the devices have been classified as "aspirational." The devices have no moving parts that can be detected by traditional scanners, according to MSA, a security consulting firm based in New York City.

MSA cited unidentified American officials as saying the bombs would be used on board passenger airplanes. However, there has been no credible threat to aircraft, and the warning is "precautionary."

Airports across the U.S., Europe and the Middle East have stepped up security, with a focus on U.S. carriers, MSA said. Federal marshals have been sent overseas to provide security on incoming flights to the U.S.

"We are treating the information seriously," John Pistole, administrator of the Transportation Security Administration, told ABC News in 2011.

The report goes on to say that al Qaeda's "affiliate" in Yemen, called al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, has been busy designing weapons that can be placed inside a living body.

"Given the degradation of al Qaeda's core membership capabilities, the group is continuously seeking ways to carry out smaller scale, successful attacks with fewer resources," said a statement released by MSA. "They have become more creative in their targeting preferences."

Some of those creative plans – uncovered when German investigators apparently discovered decrypting hardware in the possession of a terror suspect in Berlin – include a plot to hijack a cruise ship, dress passengers like Guantanamo Bay prisoners, and execute them.

MSA analysis says the AQAP has been the mastermind of some of the "more prominent" displays of terror since 9/11, including the 2009 Christmas Day plot in which one of the terrorists was killed when a bomb he inserted in his body detonated prematurely.

Iran has made no secret of its hopes for the next round of nuclear negotiations with world powers: Pledges by the West to ease sanctions as a step toward deal making by Tehran.
Iran's pitch is certain to smack head-on into resistance and counter proposals by the West. But it reflects a harder-edged atmosphere before the next talks that suggests envoys will face pressure to stake out at least some tangible bargaining positions, as opposed to the last round where just getting to the negotiating table was considered positive.
Iran has been careful about avoiding ultimatums in a possible sign that it sees the meeting scheduled for later this month in Baghdad as a stepping stone, not a showdown.
No official, for example, has suggested that talks would hit an impasse if the U.S. and European partners balk at immediately rolling back some sanctions, which have targeted Iran's critical oil sector and left the country effectively blackballed from international banking networks.
Instead, Iran has cultivated a sunny approach — with officials repeatedly saying they are "optimistic" about the May 23 session and their hopes for goodwill gestures from the other side: the five permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany.
"We continue to be optimistic about upcoming negotiations," said Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister, Mohammad Mahdi Akhondzadeh, at a conference in Vienna on Wednesday.
From the Western corner, the mood is much tougher.
U.S. officials have rejected the idea that they could ease sanctions against Iran as a confidence-building measure. They have said sanctions will only be pulled back if Iran eases world concern over its nuclear program and complies with demands that include suspending uranium enrichment.
"No one's talking about any sanctions being reversed or canceled at all," said State Department spokesman Mark Toner on April 16, just after the Baghdad meeting was announced.
Two days later, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the question of removing sanctions was "hypothetical."
"We have to see what the Iranians are willing to do, then we have to make sure they do it, and then we have to reciprocate. That's what a negotiation is all about," she told CNN.
Any progress in the talks also further dampens support for possible military strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities.
Israel, which has been the most aggressive in discussing the military option, has been confronted with growing questions over the risks versus rewards of an attack. Some former Israeli security officials, including the ex-chief of internal security Yuval Diskin, have speculated that bombs would only set back Iran's nuclear development by a few years, but could touch off a region-wide war and bring direct retaliation from Tehran proxies such as Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The Obama administration has been trying to convince Israel to give more time for sanctions and negotiations to yield results — even as Netanyahu branded last month's talks in Istanbul a "freebie" that allowed Iran to continue enriching uranium until the next round.
Istanbul's meeting ended with little more than the plan to meet again. Yet that was portrayed as a success after the swift collapse of negotiations in early 2011.
Iran's uranium enrichment remains the central issue.
Tehran says its enrichment labs are only making nuclear fuel for energy and research reactors, and insists it has no intention of producing weapons. Washington and allies worry the enrichment sites could eventually churn out weapons-grade material.
Now looms the greater challenges of actually hashing out proposals that bridge very different agendas: The West and its allies seeking to rein in Iran's nuclear enrichment, and Tehran strongly refusing to accept any significant reverses in its atomic program.
This is where negotiators may begin to parse the enrichment capabilities.
Iranian officials have indicated they could consider suspending production of 20 percent enriched uranium, which is used for Iran's medical research reactor but is a far higher grade than needed for the country's lone electricity-generating reactor. The 20 percent uranium is a significant concern for the West because it can be converted into weapons-grade material — at over 90 percent enrichment — in a matter of months.
Iran also has agreed to answer questions about its alleged attempt to develop nuclear weapons. In the past, Iran refused to even enter into discussions, simply rejecting them as CIA fabrications.
Iranian officials plan to meet May 13-14 in Vienna with experts from the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency. Among the discussions could be efforts to work out guidelines for an IAEA inspection of Iran's Parchin military complex, where the agency suspects secret atomic work has been carried out.
Iranian lawmaker Hossein Nejabat suggested a move by the West to lift some sanctions could bring an Iranian pledge not to exceed 5 percent enriched uranium. But Iranian officials — as high as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — flatly reject any calls to halt uranium enrichment entirely.
"Lifting sanctions is our least expectation," added hardline parliament member Gholam Ali Haddad Adel.
It appears unlikely that U.S. or European governments would offer any rollback in sanctions without considerable concessions from Iran in return.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Monday that Washington wants "to see Iran live up to its international obligations including the suspension of uranium enrichment as required by multiple UN Security Council resolutions."
A full boycott of Iranian oil goes into effect July 1 across the European Union, which once accounted for about 18 percent of Iran's crude exports. Iran threatened to block Gulf tankers in retaliation for tougher sanctions, at one point shooting oil prices above $120 a barrel.
A prominent Iranian political analyst, Sadeq Zibakalam, said sanctions may become the linchpin on whether talks stall in Baghdad or move forward.
"Sanctions have harmed Iran. They also harmed Europeans," he said. "Sanctions also have caused a hike in the oil price, worsening the global economic downturn ... Neither Iran nor the West benefit."

Libya left open the door Wednesday for Islamist political parties to run for control of the government, as the interim rulers passed several new laws in advance of June elections.
The country had a ban on all political parties for decades under dictator Muammar Qaddafi, whose rule was so dominant that his ouster and death last year left Libya with little in the way of a functioning political system.
Libya's interim National Transitional Council had announced last month that it intended to ban political parties based on religion, tribe or ethnicity from participating in elections, an announcement that AFP reports was intended to gauge public reaction -- and the reaction from Islamists was decidedly negative.
Islamists have fared well in other post-revolution elections in North Africa, including in Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco, and similar parties are expected to do well in Libya's elections, Reuters reports.
Reuters also cites political analysts predicting that the Muslim Brotherhood, already a political force in Egypt, could emerge as a key player in Libya.
The proposal to ban religion-based parties "has been dropped, and so any party or political organization will follow the law as it is now," Salwa Al-Dgheily, a judicial council member, told Reuters.
Libya's interim rulers also passed new laws aimed at punishing Qaddafi loyalists.
One law imposes a life sentence on anyone convicted of taking part in Qaddafi's propaganda machine.
Another allows for confiscation of property and possessions of 200 of Qaddafi's supporters, relatives, Cabinet ministers and military commanders.
Anger still boils against Qaddafi's four-decade dictatorship, seen responsible for current problems like squabbling tribes and lack of government institutions.
The National Transitional Council, enacted the laws ahead of elections for an assembly to form a permanent government and write a constitution.

Amid mapping out daily battles against insurgents from his headquarters in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Col. Richard Kim has found himself considering a completely different campaign of the not-too-distant future: how to keep the brigade he commands together when it returns home.
Ten years of war have taken their toll in lives lost and soldiers taxed by repeated deployments. But they have also made US Army troops and officers more schooled in the complexities of warfare than perhaps any fighting generation in American history. Indeed, the counterinsurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan have made soldiers not only leaders in battle but also de facto diplomats.
For that reason, today's soldiers represent an irreplaceable resource for the Pentagon. The emerging question, then, is how to keep the profession of arms interesting to soldiers who may feel they have lived in real life the training exercises that characterize life at home.
Afghanistan: 5 areas of concern after the US leaves
First, of course, soldiers will rest. But after that, US military officials hope, they will begin new peacetime routines designed to keep them enthusiastic and in the force – from relearning how to operate tanks to using their knowledge to shape new cadets.
"I'm always amazed at the talent we have in our Army, especially our junior leaders across the board. The challenge for us now is to continue to engage them in such a way that they're committed to staying in the Army," says Kim, commander of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 25th Infantry Division. "I know that the Army as a whole is very mindful of that – everyone gets it. It is not something we cannot look at and wish away."

Under intense security and the cover of night, President Barack Obama slipped into Afghanistan on Tuesday to sign an agreement cementing a U.S. commitment to the nation after the long and unpopular war comes to an end.
Obama was to be on the ground for about seven hours in Afghanistan, where the United States has been engaged in war for more than a decade following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The trip carries major symbolic significance for a president seeking a second term and allows him to showcase what the White House considers the fruit of Obama's refocused war effort: the killing a year ago of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden. Air Force One touched down late at night local time at Bagram Air Field, the main U.S. base here. Media traveling with Obama on the 13-hour flight had to agree to keep it secret until Obama had safely finished a helicopter flight to the nation's capital, Kabul, where Taliban insurgents still launch lethal attacks. Obama is joining Afghan President Hamid Karzai to sign the agreement that will broadly govern the U.S. role in Afghanistan after the American combat mission stops at the end of 2014 -- 13 years after it began.
Obama will also give a speech designed to reach Americans in the U.S. dinnertime hour of 7:30 p.m. ET. It will be 4 a.m. here when Obama speaks.
His war address will come exactly one year after special forces, on his order, began the raid that led to the killing of bin Laden in Pakistan.
Since then, ties between the United States and Afghanistan have been tested anew by the burning of Muslim holy books at a U.S. base and the massacre of 17 civilians, including children, allegedly by an American soldier.
Obama's overarching message will be that the war is ending on his watch but the U.S. commitment to its ally is not.
Politics, too, set the tone for what the White House hoped would be a positive message and image for Obama: the commander in chief setting a framework to end the war while reassuring Afghanistan, on its soil, it will not be abandoned.
At home, Obama's Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, has retorted to the Obama campaign's suggestion that Romney might not have gone after bin Laden as Obama did.
Bin Laden in hiding: Hatching horrific plots despite crippling attacks on al-Qaida
"Even Jimmy Carter would have given that order," Romney said of the Democratic president ousted after one term. Obama has tried to portray inconsistency in Romney's position on the merits of targeting bin Laden. Without mentioning Romney by name, Obama has said he has been consistent and if others have not, "let them explain it." Obama aides said the anniversary of bin Laden's killing is not a focus of the trip. But they do not mind that Obama's mission will serve as a reminder, six months before Election Day.
More than 1,800 U.S. forces have been killed and 15,700 more have been wounded in Afghanistan.
The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq combined have cost almost $1.3 trillion. And public support for keeping troops in Afghanistan seems lower than ever.
Obama has gone twice before to Afghanistan as president, most recently in December 2010, and once to Iraq in 2009. All such trips, no matter how carefully planned, carry the weight and the risks of considerable security challenges. Just last month, the Taliban began near-simultaneous assaults on embassies, government buildings and NATO bases in Kabul.
Still, it would have been unusual for Obama to sign the "strategic partnership" agreement without Karzai at his side.
The deal is essential for locking in America's commitment and Afghan's sovereignty when the post-war period comes. Negotiations have dragged as Afghan officials have demanded specific assurances, financial and otherwise. He was then to give his speech in a straight-to-camera delivery reminiscent of an Oval Office address, before flying back to the U.S. He is expected back in Washington on Wednesday afternoon.
The United States has 88,000 troops in Afghanistan. An additional 40,000 in coalition forces remain from other nations.
Obama has already declared that NATO forces will hand over the lead combat role to Afghanistan in 2013 as the U.S. and its allies work to get out by the end of 2014.
One important unsettled issue, however, is how many U.S. troops may remain after that.
U.S. officials are eying a residual force of perhaps 20,000, many in support roles for the Afghan armed forces, and some U.S. special forces for counterterror missions. The size and scope of that U.S. force -- if one can be agreed upon on at all, given the public moods and political factors in both nations -- will probably have to be worked out later in a separate agreement.
Support for keeping American troops in Afghanistan is dropping all along the political spectrum, a new Pew Research poll says. And just 38 percent of people say the military effort is going well, down from 51 percent only a month ago.
Overall, polling shows, Obama gets favorable marks compared to Romney in handling terrorism, and the president's public approval for his handling of the Afghan war has hovered around 50 percent of late.
The trip allows Obama to hold forth as commander in chief in the same week he plans to launch his official campaign travel with rallies in Virginia and Ohio.
"We've spent the last three-and-a-half years cleaning up after other folks' messes," Obama said at a fundraiser last weekend. "The war in Iraq is over. We're transitioning in Afghanistan. Al-Qaida is on the ropes. We've done what we said we'd do."