Have some members of the Obama Administration been quaffing a 10-year-old jug of Kool-Aid left in a White House basement fridge by Bush Administration officials? That’s certainly an impression conveyed by one unnamed source …
Military
Exploding Budgets
The government is set to spend $640 billion on nuclear weapons and related programs over the next ten years.
If you didn’t know that, you are not alone. No one has put together a reliable estimate of these future budgets – …
Nation Building: The Fine Print
Sometimes it tough to understand the scope of what the U.S. and its allies are trying to do in Afghanistan. Then the latest batch of contract solicitations in Federal Business Opportunities rolls in and makes it tough to …
“The Threats We Face Have Grown Worse”
Combat, Up Close
Two things are striking about this just-posted three-and-a-half minute video of a firefight in Afghanistan’s Kunar province last April:
– Just how unseen the enemy is.
– Just how unconnected Private 1st Class Red Daniels of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division is.
Clad in body armor, he’s hit four times and falls to the …
Ain’t No Mountain High Enough
Subway
Eleven Years On
Sunday marks the beginning of the U.S. military‘s 12th year in Afghanistan.
It ain’t quite the Hundred Years’ War, but 12 years is 20% of this particular Battleland correspondent’s life.
Eleven years ago today – October …
“We are literally at an evolutionary low in violence. State-on-state conflict is far less likely than it has been in the past. The problem is that other kinds of conflict, other kinds of violence, are exponentially more likely as technology spreads, as the information age allows organizations and individuals -- middleweight nations, if you will -- to have capabilities that heretofore were the purview of major nation-states.”
Branded.
With land wars wrapping up, the Army is doing what comes naturally – setting up a new office to ensure it’s not ignored as the Pentagon pivots toward the Pacific and begins pumping money into globe-girdling air and naval …
“The results of an American or Israeli military strike on Iran could, in my view, prove catastrophic, haunting us for generations in that part of the world.”
Minus 0.86%
“In the last year -- year to date compared with last year -- our casualty rate is down by nearly 40%. And this reflects the fact that across the force as a whole, the risk to our people is reducing as we hand over responsibility for the combat operations to our Afghan partners.”
