When I heard Leon Panetta’s announcement about lifting the combat restrictions on women in the military, I immediately thought of former Army National Guard Sergeant Paigh Bumgarner.
Bumgarner had deployed to Iraq, where she …
“Duck!”
A B-52H Stratofortess comes in for a landing at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., Jan. 7.
Home Prices Jump 5.5% as Spring Season Nears
A spike in home prices shows that the housing market is continuing its slow path to recovery.
BattlelandProcurement
Well, If Superman Can Use a Phone Booth…
…why can’t U.S. soldiers change on the fly, depending on their changing mission?
Apparently, they soon will be able to, according to this recently-updated solicitation, which begins:
The Soldier Protection System
…
Last Round-Ups: The Decline and Fall of the Texas Family Rancher
With corporations (and dilettante millionaires) taking over cattleraising, the family-owned ranch may soon ride into the sunset
Boy Scouts Consider Ending Policy Banning Gay Members and Troop Leaders
After years of resisting calls for it to drop its opposition to gay members and troop leaders, the Boy Scouts of America may finally — slowly — be changing its tune.
BattlelandMilitary Families
Living-Room War: Stressed-Out Marines
We noted a couple of weeks ago the Navy’s efforts to try to reduce sexual assaults in the ranks by getting rid of the so-called “bystander mentality.” That’s where people – in the instant case, sailors – look the other way …
Viewpoint: The GOP Searches for a New Strategy — in All the Wrong Places
The Republican Party’s post-election reckoning is not going well.
Infernal Eternal Devices
U.S. Marines and Afghan National Army troops check out a suspected improvised explosive device in Kajaki, Jan. 17.
BattlelandMilitary Spending
Navy Hat Trick
Over breakfast the other day, a four-star general said the budget crunch means that any contract he issued for more than $5 million now needs a higher-up’s OK. He joked that he’d probably be issuing a lot more $4.9 million contracts soon.
At least Battleland thought he was joking.
The first three items listed in Friday’s roster of …
What (If Anything) Can Fix the SEC?
Is a new leader with a bit of prosecutorial zeal all that’s needed at the SEC?
BattlelandMilitary Women
American Amazons: Hiding in Plain-Jane Sight
Until last Thursday, the Pentagon barred women from roughly a quarter-million jobs involving combat. Coincidentally – but, interestingly — that’s about the same number of women who have gone to war in Afghanistan and Iraq …
New Strain of Norovirus Is Circulating in the U.S.
Piggybacking off this year’s influenza epidemic, a new strain of the highly contagious norovirus has reached the U.S. from Australia.