BattlelandMilitary Spending
Monday is Budget Day. This is not a drill: head for a soundproof, locked, windowless, Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility to avoid the howls and screams as the Pentagon releases its proposed 2013 spending plan. Here’s the hardware slice already giving some Crystal City defense-contractor types the vapors.
But we already …
BattlelandProcurement
There’s a lot of talk these days about reducing the cost of military technology projects. The most intelligent conversations on this topic inevitably converge on the idea of building the proverbial “70% solution.” These …
BattlelandMilitary Women
I just found out that President Obama has nominated Air Force Lieut. General Janet Wolfenbarger for her fourth star, making her the first woman in the Air Force to earn that rank, and only the second woman in the history of the …
BattlelandArmy
Daniel Houten is in basic training to become an infantryman in the U.S. Army at Fort Benning, Ga. Nothing unusual about another 11 Bravo – except that he recently finished an 18-month tour with the Israeli Defence Forces. The heck with generals and colonels weighing each army’s pluses and minuses – let’s talk to someone who …
BattlelandClose-up
TIME’s photo editors bring you the best pictures from the front lines and home.
BattlelandNavy
BattlelandAfghanistan
…you ever wanted to know about how the U.S. and NATO are structured to train Afghan security forces. Wonder if part of the training involves enabling the locals to produce charts like this after we’ve left? h/t Public Intelligence
BattlelandIntelligence
Battleland pal Jeff Stein offers a noirish, first-person look into the world of military intelligence, and what makes spies tick:
I remember [the instructor] saying something like: “This is the only thing in the Army that you can volunteer for and then get out of if you change your mind.” That’s because we had signed up for …
BattlelandTroops
That’s why the Army is beginning to recycle water that troops use for showers in Afghanistan. Shower water accounts for 75% of the potable water used at Forward Operating Bases in Afghanistan, and it costs between $5 and $30 a gallon to get it there. So the Army has developed the Shower Water Reuse System, which takes “used” …
BattlelandMilitary Families
The other day I was sitting in my office when my 3-year-old daughter came running in. She was sobbing, unable to catch her breath or tell me what was wrong. Her face flush, with red circles emanating from her swollen eyes, she was inconsolable. In tow came my wife, somber-faced and also on the verge of tears. “What’s wrong?” …
BattlelandMilitary Personnel
So what happens to a military officer who speaks out against the grain? It’s an apt question, given Army Lieut. Colonel Daniel Davis’ recent treatise (or was it a screed?) in Armed Forces Journal on what he perceives as the …
BattlelandMilitary Women
The Pentagon made official what already has been happening by default: women in uniform are moving closer to the front lines. “Women are contributing in unprecedented ways to the military’s mission,” Defense Secretary Leon …
“Those involved acknowledged that the symbol could be misinterpreted and is not in keeping with our Marine Corps ethos and values.”
