Military Photo Thread [READ FIRST POST BEFORE POSTING]

whydave

SAN DIEGO (Nov. 30, 2011) The son of Electrician's Mate (Nuclear) 1st Class Randall White, assigned to the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), waves to his father's ship as it transits San Diego Bay after departing Naval Air Station North Island on a scheduled deployment to the western Pacific region.

whydave

whydave

Soldiers from Bravo Battery, FIRES Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment launch a round downrange, Tuesday, Nov. 30 during a M777 Howitzer live fire exercise on the Grafenwoehr Training Area.

U.S. Army 1st Lt. Emille Prosko, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, talks to a role-playing civilian on the "Squad Attack" testing lane of the United States Army Europe’s Best Junior Officer Competition in Grafenwoehr, Germany, Nov. 15, 2011. The competition is the first of its kind in Europe and gives company-grade officers the chance to compete in multiple tasks and be named “Best Officer” for U.S. Army Europe. The goal of the competition is to help leaders keep their skills up-to-date and their minds sharp.

U.S. Army Sgt. Barry Dilley from the Oklahoma National Guard, walks down a path at a combat outpost in Afghanistan Nov. 28.

HMAS Dechaineux sails into Sydney Harbour heading for Garden Island.

whydave

more info here
HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- "Have Blue," shown here, is the predecessor of the Air Force's famed F-117A Nighthawk -- the first "stealth fighter" in the Air Force's inventory. On Dec. 1, 1977, HB1001 made its maiden flight, and history, as Lockheed Test Pilot Bill Park took it through its flight.

(Right) Senior Airman Ken Choate and Tech. Sgt. James Foster, 107th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron weapons load crew members, unload a Guided Bomb Unit, GBU-38 from an A-10 Thunderbolt at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, Dec. 2, 2011. The load crew is unloading weapons on an A-10 to conduct a rack inspection and cleaning.

whydave

A plume of black smoke builds in the distance and cars speed by as military policemen assigned to Headquarters Company, 2nd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, take a knee along a road outside Camp Taji, Iraq, during a dismounted patrol on Dec. 2.

Senior Airman John Johnson, explosive ordnance disposal technician with the 466th Air Expeditionary Squadron, rests while on a foot patrol in southern Kandahar province, Afghanistan, Nov. 26, 2011. Johnson was selected to receive a phone call from President Barack Obama based on his contributions to the safety of U.S., coalition and Afghan forces and civilians.

whydave

Navy Combat Camera’s standard-issue Nikon D700 and Nightstalker II night vision system by Tactical Solutions LLC.

U.S. Navy’s twice-yearly Combat Camera field training. In this photo, combat camera photographers watch another unit maneuver during a reconnaissance exercise.


Combat Camera photographers from all branches of the U.S. military participate in Quick Shot field exercises designed to train them in small-unit combat operations.

whydave

Troopers from the Poland's Elite Special Forces Unit (GROM) in conjunction with Poland's Antiterrorist Police Force and Railroad Defence Guard take part in an exercise involving a hostage rescue situation on a train at an undisclosed location in northern Poland prior to the Euro 2012 soccer championships, December 1, 2011. Poland is investing heavily in security for next year's European football championship despite downgrading the number of visitors it expects. Commandoes have been simulating a multiple hostage situation in case criminals target the world's second largest football tournament, which is being co-hosted with Ukraine next June. Picture taken December 1, 2011.

An Indian Army sniper from Exercise Sudarshan Shakti.

whydave

U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Cody Wiggins with 2nd Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team out of Norfolk, Va., maintains security in a compound during advanced urban combat training at Robertson Barracks, Darwin, Australia, Dec. 1, 2011.

U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Joseph Abadiotakis,Darwin, Australia, Dec. 1, 2011.

U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Kittrell.Darwin,Australia, Dec. 1, 2011.

U.S. Marine Cpl. Matthew Reis , Darwin, Australia, Dec. 1, 2011.


Members from No.322 Expeditionary Combat Support Squadron RAAF Base Tindal, practice for different scenarios (using blank ammunition), to defend the airfield during enemy attack at Benning Field during ‘’Exercise Precision support 11-2’’

Cpl. Jonathan P. Garcia changes magazines while shooting at silhouette targets aboard USS Makin Island here Dec. 6. Garcia.


Poland's Elite Special Forces Unit GROM in conjunction with Poland's Antiterrorist Police Force and Railroad Defence Guard take part in an exercise involving a hostage rescue situation on a train at undisclosed location in northern Poland prior to Euro 2012 soccer championships December 2, 2011.

whydave

HONOLULU, HAWAII (7 December 2011) - Lee Soucy, who lived to be 90 after surviving the attack on Pearl Harbor, is finally back with his shipmates 70 years later.
more here

whydave

high-res

whydave

St.-Petersburg, Russia.

EMA / armée de l'AirLes commandos de l'Air au combat - Ministère de la Défense et des anciens combattants .


Iran Shows Alleged U.S. Stealth Drone on TV.An aircraft that appears to be the highly sensitive American stealth drone lost in Iran looks intact and with little visible damage in new video broadcast on Iranian television today. The cream-colored RQ-170 Sentinel is shown sitting on display in front of a patriotic Iranian poster as two uniformed military men examine the drone's radar-eluding batwing frame. The Iranian military claims it downed the drone through a cyber attack as it was flying through Iranian airspace last week. U.S. military officials said the drone was not flying over Iran, but rather in western Afghanistan, and suffered an innocent malfunction before gliding into Iranian airspace.

whydave

PACIFIC OCEAN (Dec. 5, 2011) Cpl. Jeremy Gonzalez, a scout sniper with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (11 MEU), practices weapons handling in the hangar bay aboard the multi-purpose amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island (LHD 8).

Marines with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit's Force Reconnaissance Platoon and Security Element, Headquarters and Service Company, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment provide security while a CH-53E Super Stallion lands on the USNS Arctic during a simulated Expanded, Visit, Board, Search and Seizure, Dec. 7, 2011 The 24th MEU is currently taking part in Composite Training Unit Exercise (COMPTUEX), scheduled to take place Nov. 28 to Dec. 21.



Pictured at the site of a powerful bomb that struck a United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon patrol in the Lebanese coastal town of Tyre on December 9, 2011 wounding five French soldiers and two civilians.

An Iraq Police officer searches a car at a checkpoint on December 8, 2011 in Baghdad, Iraq. American forces are now in the midst of the final stage of withdrawal from the war-torn country with all troops scheduled to depart by December 31. At least 4,485 U.S. military personnel have died in service in Iraq. According to the Iraq Body Count more than 100,000 Iraqi civilians have died from war-related violence.

whydave

PACIFIC OCEAN (Dec. 8, 2011) Lt. Cmdr. Michael Bornstein fires the M-16 A1 rifle with M-203 grenade launcher mounted while participating in a familiarization fire exercise on the fantail of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70). Carl Vinson and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 17 are underway on a western Pacific deployment.

whydave

U.S. Air Force service members from the 161st Security Forces Squadron participate in weapons qualification training at the National Guard training range in Florence, Ariz., Dec. 5, 2011. Beginning Dec. 1, 2011, all Airmen are required to qualify in a new rifle course. Security forces is one of the career fields in which members must undergo night firing qualification.

whydave

U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter aircraft from both the 8th and 419th Fighter Wings demonstrate an “elephant walk” formation as they taxi down a runway during an exercise Dec. 2, 2011, at Kunsan Air Base, South Korea. The exercise showcased the capability of Kunsan's Airmen to quickly and safely prepare aircraft for a wartime mission.

whydave

U.S. Army Specialist Kyle Gauthier from Kailua, Haiwaii (L) and Ryan Lehmkuhle from Detroit, Michigan of the 2-82 Field Artillery, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, model their new robes as they continue to wait to leave Kuwait and head home after exiting from Iraq, on December 10, 2011 at Camp Virginia, near Kuwait City, Kuwait. America's military continues it's pullout of Iraq which is scheduled to be by the end of this year, after eight years of war and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

A team of competitors move down a ladder to get to the next firing position during the United States Army Special Operations Command Sniper Competition on Dec. 9. The 3rd annual competition was held by the cadre of D Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Special Warfare Training Group (Airborne) Dec. 5-9 on Fort Bragg, N.C. Challenged in every aspect of sniper operations during both daytime and nighttime, 32 teams of military and civilian law enforcement snipers were pit against time, distance and realistic combat environments to determine the best special-operations sniper team.


Sniper teams take out targets from behind obstacles during the U.S. Army Special Operations Command Sniper Competition on Dec. 9.



USASOC Sniper Competition.

Captive U.S. Sgt Bergdahl, 'recaptured by the Taliban after three days on the run following daring escape'
More here

whydave

Marines and an infantry detection dog hold security in an isolated village in the Now Zad District that has never seen coalition forces, Nov. 27. The Marines were engaged in several firefights with insurgent forces during their movement through the area.






Polish Soldiers serving in Afghanistan - One of the important tasks of the Polish Military Contingent (PMC) in Afghanistan is to monitor the main Kabul-Kandahar road running through the province of Ghazni, and ensuring security in its area.12th December 2012

whydave

Section 1, Battery A, 2nd Battalion, 320th Field Artillery, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, conduct direct fire missions with a M119 Howitzer Dec. 6 in Fort Knox, Ky. The battalion trained here in order to complete their artillery tables.

Pvt. 1st Class Collin R. Hoffmeyer, a gunner with Troop A, 1st Squadron, 32nd Cavalry, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, fires a Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire Command Data Link Missile from the turret of a Humvee Dec. 6 at Observation Point-12 in Fort Knox, Ky.

A U.S. Army Soldier scans the area in the back of a CH-47 Chinook helicopter during a flight to Nesh District Dec. 7. Members of the Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team attended a Governance, Reconstruction, and Development meeting held at the Nesh District Center.

whydave

USMC

Indonesian special forces soldiers with sniffer dogs rappel down from a helicopter as they storm a hotel in a mock hostage situation during an anti-terror drill in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011. The world's most populous Muslim nation has been hit by a string of terror attacks by Islamist militants since 2001.

A U.S. Marine plays with a puppy at Camp Reilly, a newly built army base in in southern Afghanistan on February 16, 2010.

Pfc. Legend curiously eye balls his M16A4 service rifle he was issued at the depot Armory.

whydave

The unmanned GM A-1 Bug, which was launched from a wheeled dolly on a track laid out on the lakebed near what is now North Base and made its first successful flight on December 5, 1941.




A picture shows a Dassault Rafale jet fighter on December 12, 2011 at Air Force Base 113 in Saint-Dizier western France, during a ceremony to recognise the work done by units engaged in overseas operations in Afghanistan and Libya.

whydave

A vendor sells U.S. army items on a cart at the Bab al-Sharji market in central Baghdad December 14, 2011. Vendors selling items such as detergents, wallets, glasses, bags and meals are worried about losing their jobs when the U.S. military pull out at the end of the year.


Raul Fernandez (R) alias "El Lucky" (The Lucky One), a suspected leader of the Zetas drug cartel, is presented to the media in Mexico City December 13, 2011. Fernandez had a bounty of 15 million pesos ($1.09 million) on his head and operated in the Gulf state of Veracruz as well as the central state of Puebla and Oaxaca state in the south, Mexico's President Felipe Calderon said via his Twitter account. The Zetas, formed at the end of the 1990s by deserters from elite army forces, are believed to have been behind some of the bloodiest crimes against civilians in recent years.

whydave

A German soldier of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) places a miniature Christmas tree on top of an armored vehicle parked in an outpost in Chahar Dara district near the northern city of Kunduz December 13, 2011.

A German soldier of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) guards recruits for the Critical Infrastructure Protection program (CIP) at the Afghan National Police headquarters in the Chahar Dara district near the northern city of Kunduz December 13, 2011.

KUCHINEY DARVISHAN, Helmand province, Afghanistan-U.S. Marines from 2nd Platoon, Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment stand atop Patrol Base Barcha following a security patrol here, Dec. 12. The Marines pictured (left to right) are Lance Cpl. James Blomstran and his improvised explosive device detection dog Sage, Sgt. Matt Garst and Lance Cpls. Ryan Gerrity and Nicholas Dumke. The four Marines saved nine Afghans from a canal during a Dec. 2 night patrol. Near the end of their patrol, a vehicle carrying an Afghan family struck an Afghan National Army soldier and sent both plunging into the frigid canal. The ANA soldiers provided security while the 2nd Platoon Marines braved the swiftly moving current to recover the accident victims. Blomstran, 22, is from Cortland, Ohio; Garst, 23, is from Charlotte, N.C.; Gerrity, 21, is from Cranford, N.J.; and Dumke, 20, is from Huron, S.D., Cpl. Reece Lodder, 12/14/2011 9:20 AM.

whydave

A security contractor* begins her journey home during ceremonies marking the end of US military mission in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011. After nearly nine years, 4,500 American dead, 32,000 wounded and more than $800 billion, U.S. officials formally shut down the war in Iraq a conflict that U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said was worth the price in blood and money, as it set Iraq on a path to democracy.

German soldiers of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) take a break during a patrol outside the settlement of Nawabad in the Chahar Dara district December 14, 2011.

A German solider with the NATO- led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) stands guard during the graduation ceremony of Afghan soldiers at a Turkish run military training center called "Ghazi" in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011.


The Chinese aircraft carrier Varyag is pictured during its second sea trial in the Yellow Sea, approximately 100 km (62 miles) south-southeast of the port of Dalian, in this DigitalGlobe photograph released on December 14, 2011.

*not to sure about this one !

whydave

Sergeants Jessica Lugo (left) and Autumn Sekely (right), of Female Engagement Team 6, walk into a village leader’s compound in Sangin district, Helmand province. Sekely, of Pittsburgh, and Lugo, of San Pedro, Calif.

Sergeant Jessica Lugo, the team leader with Female Engagement Team 6, is a Marine reserve military policewoman from San Pedro, Calif.

whydave

Children look at a German soldier of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) smoke as he rests during a patrol in the village of Isa Khel in Chahar Dara district December 16, 2011.

Colombian Model Maria Clara Rodriguez
Pictures and Photo Credits: Rey Tuk y Ace Amir
Full story and pictures

Lance Cpl. Eli Gutierrez, loader with 1st platoon, Company A, 1st Tank Battalion, looks out the main hatch of his team’s tank during a patrol exercise in the combat center’s training area, Dec. 1, 2011.

During flight no. 62 Yesterday.

The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II meets its namesake, the P-38 Lockheed Lightning at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The first service model P-38s were delivered to the Army Air corps in June, 1941.

F-35B test aircraft BF-5 flies in STOVL mode for the first time on Dec. 5, 2011, on its 21st flight.

An F-15E Strike Eagle from Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, fires a missile while participating in a training exercise during Combat Archer at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., Dec. 6, 2011. Throughout the exercise, the 389th Fighter Squadron fired 23 missiles with zero range-safety violations and the 389th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron was evaluated 218 separate times and also had zero discrepancies

whydave

Dangerous and difficult road conditions in Faryab. The norwegian OMLT mentoring the 3rd Kandak of the Afghan Army in Faryab province, Afghanistan.




Commander of the Norwegian Army, general Per Sverre Opedal visiting the norwegian soldiers in Faryab.

OzCam

MAYPORT, Fla. (Dec. 14, 2011) Engineman 2nd Class Stuardo Juarez sees his newborn daughter for the first time during a homecoming celebration for the guided-missile destroyer USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG 58) at Naval Station Mayport. Samuel B. Roberts successfully completed a six-month deployment supporting operations in the Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Horn of Africa and Indian Ocean.

(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jacob Sippel/Released)

whydave

whydave

GROTON, Conn. (Dec. 15, 2011) The Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Miami (SSN 755) returns home to Submarine Base New London following a five-month deployment conducting operations in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of responsibility.

An 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade (Task Force Poseidon) OH-58 Kiowa takes off to secure a main supply route in Ghazni province, Afghanistan Dec. 5.

Troopers from 1-227th Aviation, Task Force Attack, depart a CH-47 Chinook during the unit's winter Spur Ride. The Spur Ride is a tradition which dates back to the beginning of the U.S. Cavalry, where cavalry Troopers prove their tactical and technical skills, leadership, and teamwork over several days to earn the right to wear silver cavalry spurs.

whydave

Corporal Shane Brown of RTF 4 providing security on exercise at Wide Bay Training Area.

Jesse Mead son of U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Korey Mead holds a welcome home sign for his dad during the 25th Infantry Division Headquarters redeployment ceremony at Wheeler Army Airfield in Wahiawa, Hawaii Dec. 18, 2011. The 25th ID Headquarters was the last division headquarters under U.S. forces to leave Iraq.