The tactical operations center is, as most ground-pounders like me know, the brains of a battalion or a brigade.
Information flows in from a million sources, and decisions resulting in actions flow outward. As a young …
Why the Argument for Austerity Took a Big Hit Yesterday
In the years following the financial crisis, America has been obsessed with debt. Hurting from the crisis, consumers and businesses have been busy paying off debt, while the federal …
BattlelandMilitary Mental Health
Moral Injury: “A Profound Sense of Alienation and Abject Shame”
After more than a decade of war, post-traumatic stress disorder – PTSD — is unfortunately a too-familiar term. It is recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of mental disorders – the Bible of mental-health …
Gun Bill’s Prospects Dim as Senate Struggles with Background Checks
A bipartisan deal to expand background checks is struggling to muster the 60 votes required to clear the Senate.
BattlelandAsia-Pacific
An Earlier North Korea Provocation Remembered
TOKYO – With North Korea still issuing threats and invective, it’s worth turning attention to the U.S. air base in Misawa, Japan. That’s where a memorial service was held Tuesday marking the 44th anniversary of the downing …
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The Special Agent In Charge
FBI Special Agent Richard DesLauriers has rounded up Russian spies and traded them for American agents. It’s an experience …
We Gotta Get Outta This Place…
U.S. Marines, along with British and Afghan troops, board a CH-53E Super Stallion in Helmand province April 10.
BattlelandMilitary Medicine
The Boston Bombings: Peculiar Benefits of the 9/11 Wars
Within hours of the Boston Marathon bombing Monday, the Navy dispatched a three-member team from Newport, R.I., to try to help to track down the perpetrators. As word spread of multiple amputations among the victims, military …
Boston After the Bombs: The Struggle to Return to Normal
Some marathoners and residents remain homeless. The National Guard has sealed off a large swath of the Back Bay. Some damage done may never be healed
The Boston Blasts and Terrorism: A Historian’s Take on What It Means
In the aftermath of the deadly explosions in Boston, one word quickly became attached to the tragedy: terrorism. The major media honed in on the presence of the term in President Barack Obama’s speeches, and as the …
The Slow Shock Wave: A Marathon Finisher Remembers How It All Sank In
For those not in the immediate vicinity of the bombs, the realization that something bad had happened was a slow motion horror
“We [must] confront growing uncertainty in Afghanistan and in the region. Many Afghans have told me they no longer fear the Taliban as much as they fear what will happen after 2014.”
— Marine General Joseph Dunford Jr., the top U.S. and allied commander in Afghanistan, testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.