BattlelandTerrorism
Last Stand in Abbottabad: The Untold Story of Osama bin Laden’s Hideout
This week’s TIME cover story is an exclusive, detailed feature by Peter Bergen about the final days of Osama bin Laden, who was killed by Navy SEALs in a raid nearly one year ago. In the following excerpt, Bergen, who spent much …
BattlelandProcurement
Why To Cancel A Pentagon Procurement Program
There are basically three reasons to cancel an acquisition program. In no particular order, the reasons are:
We can’t afford it.
We don’t need it.
It doesn’t work.
This means Defense Department leaders have to continually ask three important questions throughout the development of a new military system:
BattlelandCongress
Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition
Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., has started beginning his meetings of the House Armed Services Committee’s seapower and projection forces subcommittee with a prayer, Congressional Quarterly reports.
Sure enough, a quick check of the …
BattlelandPiracy
Whither NATO, Indeed
This just in from RIA Novosti, the Moscow-based, state-owned news agency:
Russian warships will be equipped with NATO navigation and communications systems to improve coordination in anti-piracy missions around the world, Chief of the Russian General Staff Nikolai Makarov said on Wednesday…“We decided to install standard NATO
…
“I promise you, the President has a big stick.”
BattlelandPacific
Kiwis to Yanks: Welcome Back!
TOKYO – For the first time in almost three decades, Americans are training for combat in New Zealand – and even the Kiwis are happy about it.
U.S. Marines and soldiers began a joint-training exercise Thursday with the New Zealand Army in the rugged mountains of the North Island. The 10-day exercise is the first combat-related …
BattlelandMissile Defense
Sky’s The Limit…
Now that we have West Coast missile defenses to protect us from ICBMs North Korea doesn’t have, the House Armed Services Committee’s strategic forces subcommittee wants the Pentagon to consider building an East Coast shield to protect us from ICBMs Iran doesn’t have.
Here’s the language from its slice of the proposed 2013 …
BattlelandTroops
Gomer Pyle 2.0
The Marines have decided to boot Sergeant Gary Stein from the corps with an other-than-honorable discharge for declaring on Facebook that he would refuse to obey unlawful orders issued by President Obama.
It’s surprising it took this long. When the nation’s troops get to decide when, or when not, to obey their …
BattlelandNavy
The USS Harvey Milk?
You could see this coming. As Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has colored outside the lines when naming new naval vessels, special pleadings were bound to follow. His decision to christen Navy ships for Rep. John Murtha, labor leader Cesar Chavez, civil rights leader Medgar Evers, former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, and President …
BattlelandMilitary Mental Health
The New Rules on PTSD
Wow. The new 17-page policy from the Army’s Office of the Surgeon General (OTSG ) on screening and treating PTSD is exciting and comprehensive. And will absolutely be controversial.
Although it is playing out in the news as related to the Fort Lewis controversy – were its reversals of PTSD diagnoses there fair? — this …
Joint Op
BattlelandVeterans
“Why I Quit the VA”
Nicholas Tolentino spelled out the reasons he resigned from New Hampshire’s main Department of Veterans Affairs health center Wednesday before the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs.
While his prepared remarks also detail just how flexible the VA’s data are when it comes to showing that vets are getting adequate mental-health …