It’s hard for most Americans to realize, as we noted in our cover story this week, that there is a major war involving U.S. troops underway in Afghanistan. It’s a splotchy kind of war, with no well-defined front. That makes it a difficult war to cover. Sometimes we have to rely on the folks wearing military uniforms to give us a …
Air Force
Is This Any Way To Deconstruct the Triad?
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta writes Congress that the “doomsday” cuts that will befall the Defense Department if sequestration occurs will force the military to eliminate one of the legs of its strategic nuclear triad – as if this is a bad thing.
The triad – that collection of land-based missiles, bombers and …
Photo Op: Welcome Home, Warthog Daddy!
Two Scandals, Two Outcomes
They say war and football are alike in a lot of ways, but deep down we know that’s not true. Perhaps it’s those fundamental differences that explain why two scandals that came to light this week have been handled so differently by their respective overseers.
About 140 miles north of the Pentagon, in the pleasant little college …
TIME Veterans Day Twitter Chat–2:30 pm (1430) under #TIMEVets
In honor of Veterans Day, we will be holding a special Twitter discussion about the disconnect between the U.S. military, veterans returning home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the rest of American society under the hashtag #TIMEVets.
Photo Op: F-15E (Lightning) Strike Eagle
What’s Going On? The Joint Chiefs Should Be Partying Like It’s 2007…
The spectacle now infecting the Pentagon would be humorous, if it weren’t so serious. The notion that the military can cut $450 billion out of its next-decade budget of something like $7 trillion – but not a penny more – suggests an (artillery) shell game’s afoot.
The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction – the …
Military Mystery: World’s Most Capable Fighter Jet Struggles to Stay Airborne
America’s Air Force has again grounded portions of its stealthy fleet of F-22 Raptor tactical fighter jets. This comes on the heels of a recent four-month grounding of the fleet earlier this year.
While the call for accountability is certainly warranted, Air Force leaders appear to be doing everything possible to keep the pilots …
F-22 Raptors Grounded, Again, Due to Thin Air
It was only a month ago that the Air Force let its F-22 warplanes — the most costly fighters in world history — back into the skies after more than four months confined to the tarmac.
As we noted September 21:
The Air Force has decided to let its fleet of F-22 fighters back into the air beginning Wednesday without fixing the
…
Libya: After-Action Report
Now that Moammar Gaddafi has been consigned to history, it’s time to figure out who — other than the Libyan people, hopefully — wins from the seven-month fight that toppled his 42-year regime.
As we noted Thursday — and was echoed Friday in the New York Times and Washington Post, among other foghorns — President Obama gets …
The Party
Only a month ago I was unable to disclose my status as a gay man in the military. Fast forward to Tuesday of last week, when I stood as a guest to a party celebrating the launch of the anthology “Our Time“, a collection of stories from other gay, lesbian, and straight servicemembers, negatively affected by the “Don’t Ask” ban on open …
The Story So Far
As of Thursday of this week, “Don’t Ask” has been dead for a month. To this point, the outreach I’ve received from peers and coworkers has been extremely positive, which appears to be the trend across all branches of the services. Contrary to all of the hullabaloo raised by those against the repeal, to my knowledge there hasn’t …
Nuclear (Triad) Warfare
As the nation grapples with its need to cut hundreds of billions of dollars from its future defense budgets every year, one category seems MIA: the nuclear triad. But it’s worth noting that those who embrace it tend to be those running it, while the nation’s top military officers — who have to juggle competing demands, and not just …