“Military affairs” on The Daily Caller

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal appeals court has frozen a judge’s order halting the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, even as the Pentagon has announced it will accept openly gay recruits. (more)

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Beyond the courtroom arguments about “disrupting the troops” and “unit cohesion” are the nitty gritty details behind the Pentagon’s fight to go slow on allowing openly gay troops. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday that abruptly ending the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy as a federal judge has ordered would have enormous consequences. (more)

NEW YORK (AP) — President Barack Obama got heckled at a fundraiser Wednesday night by protesters pushing for more funding for AIDS programs and quicker action to allow gays to serve openly in the military. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats desperately need other Democrats — to vote. (more)

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The U.S. Embassy in Turkey says six U.S. army post office personnel have been quarantined after handling a package containing a powdery substance at Istanbul’s main airport. (more)

McGREGOR, Texas (AP) — Rep. Chet Edwards, an imperiled Democrat deep in the heart of Republican territory, finds exiting American Legion Post No. 273 slow going. Supporters and well-wishers keep stopping him. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Andrew White returned from a nine-month tour in Iraq beset with signs of post-traumatic stress disorder: insomnia, nightmares, constant restlessness. Doctors tried to ease his symptoms using three psychiatric drugs, including a potent anti-psychotic called Seroquel. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan on Tuesday defended her policy of barring military recruiters from the Harvard Law School career counseling office, saying the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell” policy violated its anti-discrimination policy. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A lukewarm endorsement from Defense Secretary Robert Gates and opposition among some lawmakers cast doubt Tuesday on whether Congress this week would lift a 17-year-old ban on gays serving openly in the military. (more)

SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii (AP) — Army Secretary John McHugh said Friday the military is considering a system for soldiers to anonymously express their opinions about its “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gay troops. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senior Pentagon leaders on Friday warned Congress not to tamper with the ban on gays serving openly in the military until they can come up with a plan for dealing with potential opposition in the ranks. (more)

BENTON, Ill. (AP) — An Army veteran who threatened a shooting rampage last year at a southern Illinois Veterans Affairs hospital has been ordered to spend a year and a day in federal prison. (more)

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The Turkish man who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981 was released from prison on Monday after completing his sentence for crimes committed in Turkey, television stations reported. (more)

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The gunman who wounded Pope John Paul II will be forcibly taken to a military facility to assess his fitness for military service when he is released after nearly 30 years in prison, his lawyer said Sunday. (more)

BENTON, Ill. (AP) — An Army veteran has pleaded guilty to threatening a shooting rampage at a Veterans Affairs hospital in the southern Illinois community of Marion. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawyers for the nation’s senior military officer are recommending a delay of at least a year in beginning the process to repeal the ban on openly gay military service, which could push a decision by Congress to the middle of the next presidential election. (more)

CHICAGO (AP) — Raise a glass of diet soda: The nation’s obesity rate appears to have stalled. But the latest numbers still show that more than two-thirds of adults and almost a third of kids are overweight, with no sign of improvement. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has filled key government jobs about as fast as the Bush administration, but too many top positions — about 40 percent — remain vacant nearly one year after Obama took office, says a report being released Wednesday. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The suicide rate among 18- to 29-year-old men who’ve left the military has gone up significantly, the government said Monday. (more)