The Pentagon announced Tuesday that there will be more training for commanders and senior leaders to help prevent sexual assault in the ranks. “The men and women of the U.S. military deserve an environment that is free from the …
Veterans
Uniform Matters: If it Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It
I’ve noticed quite a few comments both in Navy Times and on Facebook’s Female Navy Officers page about uniform changes. As usual, many are complaining about them.
I do recall when I was in the Navy, uniform changes came …
The Military’s Anti-Suicide Push: Old Wine, New Bottles
September is suicide prevention month. The military has focused again on reducing suicide, which is absolutely appropriate. But I am troubled by the use of old, already tried/tired (failed?) methods for reducing suicide.
Soldiers and other service members do not need more suicide awareness-type campaigns. They are smart, and well …
“I predict that traumatic brain injury is going to be the Agent Orange of this conflict.”
Substance Abuse in Uniform: Some Good Outside Advice
Man in the Sea Memorial Monument?
There is a movement afloat for a monument to honor “all military divers” to be constructed at the Washington Navy Yard, in the District of Columbia.
That’s great! But if this monument is for “all military divers” why …
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 …
The Yellow Birds: An Iraq Veteran’s Novel Gives a View from the Inside
War has always been a strange and distant endeavor, brought home from the battlefields in letters, photographs and stories after the guns fell silent. Then beginning with the war in Vietnam, images of battlefield violence were …
A (Former) SEAL Speaks Out…About (Former) SEALs Speaking Out
No Easy Day is different.
SEAL Team Six operators have, until now, always been very tight-lipped about current operations. Yes, there have been revealing books about SEAL Team Six — Rogue Warrior and Inside SEAL Team Six are …
Military Mental Health: An Outsider Takes a Peek Inside
Marjorie Morrison is a San Diego psychologist who took time out of her busy private practice to provide “pro-active” mental-health counseling to more than 500 Marines at the recruit depot there. Such counseling removes stigma …
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 …
“Tonight we pay tribute to the Americans who still serve in harm's way. We are forever in debt to a generation whose sacrifice has made this country safer and more respected. We will never forget you, and so long as I'm commander-in-chief, we will sustain the strongest military the world has ever known.”
On the Jobs Front, Reservists Fight to Take the Lead
During my first summer as an Army officer I took a Combat Lifesaver course at Fort Dix, New Jersey. Other than a fellow new lieutenant–like me, a recent ROTC graduate–the class consisted of a company of artillerymen from the …