Special forces, commandos are Tampa trade show's target market

TAMPA

This is not your typical, run-of-the-mill convention.

Start with the mockup of something called a Viper-E at the Tampa Convention Center. It looks vaguely like a space fighter from Star Wars. A television screen sitting next to it shows the missile blowing apart a series of vehicles in an endless loop.

Not far away, several guys in military fatigues look at a display of miniature cameras that can be easily hidden just about anywhere....

Air Force Escape & Evasion Society holds reunion in Tampa

TAMPA — U.S. fliers who survive a crash in Afghanistan today are rescued in an average of 12 minutes. John Nelson can only marvel at such speed.

Shot down by German gunners in World War II, Nelson spent almost a month behind enemy lines before he was rescued.

"I fully understood that I was alone on the other side of the world from my home," said Nelson, 91, a Tampa resident and former fighter pilot....

Video shows chase that Clearwater police say didn't happen

TAMPA — Clearwater police officials insist one of their officers ended a high-speed chase of Keith Williamson before the motorcyclist was killed in a Feb. 20 crash on the Courtney Campbell Parkway.

"When it was evident that the vehicle was not going to stop, (the officer) called it off," Clearwater police spokeswoman Elizabeth Watts told the Tampa Bay Times in a Feb. 22 story....

Covert camera at Haley VA Medical Center only one used in system

TAMPA — The tiny camera was housed in a plastic casing that made the device look like a smoke detector. Its manufacturer sold it as a "covert camera."

Leaders of the James A. Haley VA Medical Center said they decided to install it in a brain-damaged veteran's room to monitor his health. They said it wasn't hidden from anybody.

"It's in plain view," Roy Hawkins Jr., Haley's deputy director, told the Tampa Bay Times last year, noting the use of such cameras was routine at hospitals across the nation....

Still no sign of kidnapped Hakken boys or parents

TAMPA — Authorities spent another fruitless day Sunday searching for the man accused of kidnapping his two young sons and fleeing on a sailboat into the unpredictable waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Joshua Hakken, 35, along with his wife, Sharyn Hakken, 34, and their two boys — Cole, 4, and Chase, 2 — are thought to be on a 25-foot sailboat that launched Wednesday from Madeira Beach, just hours after the kidnapping....

Authorities hope boaters aid search for kidnapped Hakken kids

TAMPA — It's a 25-foot sailboat in 600,000 square miles of the Gulf of Mexico traveling in a body of water with more than 3,500 miles of coastline — 16,000 miles in the U.S. alone if bays and inland waterways are included.

Authorities say it's a remarkably good place to hide.

With calm waters and ideal weather drawing more boaters to the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday, authorities hoped the extra sets of eyes would help as they continue their search for the man they say kidnapped his two young sons and took off in a sailboat....

Decades later, Parrish man gets Silver Star for Vietnam valor

TAMPA — Sgt. Ralph A. Morgan was one of 33 troops defending a featureless piece of earth in Vietnam that the U.S. Army called Hickory Hill. The men faced 1,200 attacking North Vietnamese Army troops.

It was June 4, 1971. Morgan helped save his platoon that day. He repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire to allow his comrades to retreat to safety. He called in airstrikes.

Morgan earned a Silver Star, the military's third-highest decoration. On Tuesday, it was finally pinned to his chest....

Two Medal of Honor recipients recognized at MacDill

TAMPA — Both put their lives on the line in Afghanistan to save comrades during battles in 2008.

Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Petry picked up a live grenade during a firefight with the Taliban. It exploded in his hand as he threw it back toward the enemy. Petry saved two fellow Rangers. He lived but lost his right hand.

Four months later, Staff Sgt. Robert Miller ordered his men back to cover during a Taliban ambush. Miller charged the enemy but was cut down and killed....