For more than a decade, we’ve been getting somber Pentagon emails telling us the name, hometown and age of every U.S. troop …
Afghanistan
Déjà View
A U.S. soldier’s viewfinder shows an old Russian observation post in Kunar province, Feb. 7.
Testing the High-Test
Petroleum products are slippery fluids – in more ways than one – and it’s tough always to know if you’re getting what you’re paying for. They’re prime targets for smuggling, diluting and/or doctoring.
We recently …
Knight Patrol
A soldier protects his buddies as they move to set up a remote outpost near Herat Feb. 17.
Vetting the 34,000
With General John Allen’s announcement Tuesday that he is hanging up his Marine uniform after 35 years, there’s a dwindling number of senior U.S. officials who know the logic behind President Obama’s decision to pull out …
General John Allen Salutes…His Wife
Marine General John Allen – caught up and cleared in the email scandal that brought down CIA director David Petraeus – told President Obama on Tuesday he would rather retire from the U.S. military than become Supreme Allied …
“Three Minutes Out”
Army Major Nathan Strohm, a logistician, has deployed four times in support of the global war on terror: to Uzbekistan for most of 2003, to Iraq for most of 2005, and twice to Afghanistan – first from February 2007 to April …
With War Ending, When Should We Look for a Peace Dividend?
The defense budget has become such a pampered darling of the American political system that the most stringent budget scenario that most Republicans and Democrats are currently contemplating — the so-called “Doomsday” …
Soldiers Write…About War, and a Woman
Every once in awhile a war book – actually written by a soldier – grabs you and won’t let go. The latest is The Yellow Birds, by Iraq war vet Kevin Powers. Nate Rawlings interviewed him here on Battleland more than a month …
Converting the Taliban
Air Force Major Matthew Brown served in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, as part of the Afghanistan-Pakistan (AFPAK) Hands counter-insurgency program during the final eight months of 2011. A one-time B-1 pilot, his main mission was …
Undercard Debate: Not Much Difference When It Comes to U.S. Interventions
There was a lot of smoke in Thursday night’s vice presidential debate. It felt hotter when watched. Reading a transcript Friday morning shows much more consensus between Vice President Joe Biden and GOP challenger Rep. Raul Ryan.
On Austin Tice, And the Tug of War
About a month ago, a friend posted an article — a Facebook post, rather — that Austin Tice wrote before he went missing. Austin is a freelance journalist, fellow Marine, and fellow Georgetown student apparently captured by …
Afghan Police Kill a U.S. Special Operations Captain “To Make a Statement”
Army Major Greg Escobar served as an operations officer in Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011, training Afghan police in Kunar province for the first half of his deployment, and Afghan troops in Paktika province for the second …
