TOKYO – It’s probably just a coincidence; no need to worry yet. But the U.S. has quietly assembled a powerful air, land and sea armada not far from where Japan and China are squaring off over disputed islands in the East China Sea.
Marines
A Modest Proposal…
If someone had told Battleland when he was a whippersnapper on the defense beat that this pair of statements would be issued on the same day by the nation’s two ground forces, we wouldn’t have believed it:
– The Army announces that Major Nidal Hasan, the psychiatrist who faces trial for allegedly killing 13 people at Fort Hood
…
What Crisis? U.S. Marines and Japanese Troops Train For War
APRA HARBOR, GUAM – Slipping off a warship in small raiding boats, some 60 Japanese soldiers and U.S. Marines came quietly ashore on an isolated beach here this weekend, looking to catch an unnamed enemy unawares. It was part …
“The worst I’ve ever seen.”
The Downer Side of War
War is hell, and one way to deal with it is to drink your troubles away – even if U.S. troops are barred from consuming alcohol in war zones.
But nothing apparently stops many of them once the troops are back home. A new …
Japan Frets over U.S. Support in China Dispute
TOKYO – When the U.S. Defense Secretary arrives in Asia this weekend, his biggest challenge may not be convincing China that America will give its full support to longtime ally Japan in the escalating dispute over islands …
Dust in the Wind
Turns Out the Marines Had Ammo…
The report Thursday that Marines in Cairo lacked ammo as their embassy came under attack was not accurate.
An overnight dispatch from longtime DIA analyst John McCreary on his NightWatch blog cited unidentified Marine blogs as the source for the claims.
The report quickly went viral. But based on reporting all day Thursday, it’s …
What’s Worse: No Marines, or (Possibly) Unarmed Marines?
UPDATE II: The Marines said late Thursday that any reports “of Marines not being able to have their weapons loaded per direction from the ambassador are not accurate.”
UPDATE: “With or without a weapon, Marines are always armed,” Pentagon spokesman George Little said Thursday afternoon. “I’ve heard nothing to suggest …
Night Patrol
Graduating Into War
The U.S. Naval Academy’s Class of 2002 was just beginning its senior year on September 11, 2001. Thirty-three of its 965 members this week will be publishing In the Shadow of Greatness: Voices of Leadership, Sacrifice, and …
Still No Luck for the V-22 in Japan
TOKYO – If it wasn’t for bad luck, the Marines’ V-22 would have no luck at all – at least not in Japan.
More than 100,000 people turned out on Okinawa on Sunday to protest the planned deployment of the Marines’ new …
Pentagon Brass
Battleland has known the thrill of listening to enough military bands to recreate Fort Leonard Woodstock. In fact, he used to know his way around both a trumpet and a tuba. There is something bracing, and affirming, in martial …
