Army General Martin Dempsey (right), chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, watches a bottlenose dolphin in San Diego on Monday. He was touring the Navy’s Marine Mammal Program with sailors from Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile …
BattlelandMilitary Mental Health
Afghan Massacre: Rush To Judgment
For the past few days, Washington’s, America’s, probably much of the world’s airways have been filled with commentary about the horrific killings in Afghanistan allegedly committed by an American soldier. Radio, TV and the blogosphere have been inundated with reports, predictions, and speculation—why he did it, what it means for …
BattlelandPeople
Final Dive
Christian Lambertsen, a World War II combat diver from the Office of Strategic Services, the precursor to the CIA, conducted his final mission March 10 when his ashes were committed to the Atlantic Ocean. There was a small …
BattlelandDefense Contractors
F-22 Crash: The Widow Sues
Jeff Haney’s widow has sued the builders of the Air Force’s hottest warplane, contending its defective oxygen-breathing system killed her husband in November 2010. Anna Haney has filed suit against Lockheed Martin, Boeing, …
BattlelandMilitary Mental Health
Afghan Massacre: Army Docs Say Brain Injury Could Have Sparked Attack
So the still-unnamed U.S. Army perpetrator of the Sunday slaughter in Afghanistan apparently suffered a traumatic brain injury two years ago. Could this have triggered what by all accounts was an irrational act? You better …
Bravo Zulu, Big E: Final Sail Ends 50 Years’ Service
The USS Enterprise left Norfolk Sunday on its 22nd – and final – deployment. The Navy’s first nuclear-powered flattop has been cruising the world’s oceans since her commissioning in 1961, playing a role in major U.S. …
BattlelandDrones
Global Hawk: “Thar She Blow$!”
In a recent Battleland post, Mark Thompson noted the cost of a crashed Global Hawk: $72.8 million according to the Air Force. Some will automatically think that price equates to the unit cost for the drone. As they say, that’s …
BattlelandMilitary Mental Health
What We Need to Learn From The Afghan Massacre
Our nation is struggling to understand the horrific act of violence by one U.S. soldier last Sunday that left 16 Afghan civilians dead – many of whom were children.
Though apparently planned, this was an irrational act—one …
BattlelandAfghanistan
Post-Massacre: Whither Afghanistan?
After decades of writing stories dubbed “whither NATO?” – what’s going to happen to the alliance following the collapse of the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies? – reporters were amazed as NATO continued to push …
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BattlelandTroops
The Afghan Massacre
A 38-year old U.S. Army staff sergeant allegedly left his forward operating base, by himself, in southern Afghanistan near Kandahar early Sunday. He reportedly knocked on several doors and entered at least two houses, where he …
BattlelandArms sales
War’s Strange Bedfellows
The Pentagon is buying helicopters for its Afghan allies from the same Russian-based company that’s also selling weapons to Syria that Damascus is using against its own people.
Rosoboronexport, Moscow’s official arms …
BattlelandMilitary Health
Wars’ Amputees: 4 of 5 Say “Life Is Full”
Nine of 10 have mental disorders. Two of every three suffer from PTSD, and 40% suffer from traumatic brain injury. Nine of 10 are on 100% disability. Four of five also suffer from diseases of the nervous system, and diseases of …
