“We have agreed with Iran to launch a new round of talks in Istanbul on 14 April. We are very pleased that these talks, which will address the international community´s concerns on the Iranian nuclear programme, are going ahead after more than one year since we last met.”
BattlelandMilitary Mental Health
America’s Medicated Army, 2.0
The Los Angeles Times does a good job of refilling the prescription we first filled nearly four years ago:
The Times, over the weekend:
After two long-running wars with escalating levels of combat stress, more than 110,000 active-duty Army troops last year were taking prescribed antidepressants, narcotics, sedatives, antipsychotics
…
BattlelandIran
Meanwhile, Back in Iraq: I Came. I Saw. I Conquered. Iran.
Pair of disquieting stories in Easter Sunday’s papers, at home and abroad:
– The Pentagon’s official newspaper, Stars and Stripes, warns in a front-page analysis that Iraq is sliding backwards:
Iraq experts say that recent developments in Iraq and a growing Iranian influence are signs that America’s hopes are dimming for Iraq to
…
BattlelandMilitary Families
Deployment Wavers
Some Army families think their soldiers deploy too much. Some Army families have it tougher, in some ways: their soldier has never deployed. Army spouse Jenny Williams writes about it in Sunday’s New York Times’ “Modern Love” …
BattlelandProcurement
Lies, Damned Lies, and The Pentagon’s Latest Budget Numbers
There’s a pair of must-reads just out for anyone paying attention to the Pentagon’s acquisition nightmare: one is a routinely scheduled, but important, report from the Defense Department; the other comes from one of the very …
BattlelandKorea
This Week: North Korean Fireworks?
As Kim Jong-un’s minions ready a rocket for takeoff – likely within this week – his neighbors are marshalling their missile-defense shields in the East Asia Sea and around cities that might be hit by an errant booster or …
BattlelandClose-up
Battleland Diary, March 31-April 6
TIME’s photo editors bring you the best pictures from the front lines and home.
BattlelandSnafus
Collateral Damage: F-18 Crash Could Hurt Base’s Future
The crash of a Navy F-18D Hornet into an apartment complex in Virginia Beach, Virginia, could seal the fate of the Oceana Naval Air Station there. The Navy has been trying for more than a decade to build a practice jet airfield in North Carolina or Virginia to practice simulated carrier landings with Oceana-based aircraft. But local …
BattlelandMilitary Personnel
Remember When Soldiers Did This?
BattlelandMilitary Spending
Axis of Excess
There are two ways to delay the dilemma highlighted in this chart from Republican members of the Senate Budget Committee: cut the debt or increase defense spending. Either seems unlikely to happen, in any significant way, any time soon — absent world war or economic cataclysm. The country lacks the will to change the status quo. …
BattlelandMilitary
“Disruptive Thinkers”
The military embraces the status quo. That may increasingly become an unaffordable luxury, which means new ways of thinking about defense are needed. Marine Lieutenant Benjamin Kohlmann, an F-18 flight instructor in San Diego, thinks it’s time to shake things up:
…the one thing a vertically integrated organization like the military
…
BattlelandMilitary Women
21st Century Fragging: Sexual Assault
Navy Times reports this week that “Navy leaders are calling for educational standdowns in April to communicate the service’s policy of zero tolerance for sexual assault while encouraging sailors to work harder to prevent attacks.” It’s part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, an effort to raise awareness of the issue and what can be …
