BattlelandState Department
Rocky Road from Air Force to Ambassador
The latest issue of the Air Force’s Air & Space Power Journal complains that the service’s promotion system leaves a lot to be desired, and quotes from its own officer’s training guide to prove it:
“Throughout the
…
BattlelandMilitary Mental Health
The PTSD Merry-Go-Round Continues to Spin
Colonel Dallas Homas has been reinstated as commander at Madigan Army Medical Center at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state. That is great news.
What troubles me is that there remains a widespread belief that there …
BattlelandNavy
Navy Skippers: The Gift that Keeps on Giving
Ernest Borgnine, God bless him, may have passed on, but real Navy skippers can fill the void left by Lieut. Commander Quinton McHale’s passing. Check out the latest from the New London Day:
Navy Cmdr. Michael P. Ward II, who
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BattlelandVeterans
Stop Complaining About How Long It’s Taking to Get Your VA Benefits
Nearly a century after her late husband served in the World War I U.S. cavalry, Alda Collins is finally getting the VA benefits his service entitled her to receive. Her son, 73, tells the local Daily American: “I’ve been trying …
BattlelandAuthor Q&A
A Congressional Insider on Why the U.S. Political System Is Broke
Mike Lofgren came to Washington to work on Capitol Hill 30 years ago, when Ronald Reagan was rebuilding America’s “hollow military” after its Vietnam hangover, and the Cold War was in its final throes – although we didn’t know it yet. He spent 28 years working for Congress, the last 16 as a senior analyst on the House and …
Why Are Some Undocumenteds Nervous About Obama’s Immigration Reform?
As deferred action program launches, confusion and anxiety reign over who is covered — and whose status might be put at risk
BattlelandWeapons
Betting Against a Drone Arms Race
Bold predictions of a coming drones arms race are all the rage since the uptake in their deployment under the Obama Administration. Noel Sharkey, for example, argues in an August 3 op-ed for the Guardian that rapidly developing …
BattlelandMilitary Women
Female Generals: The Pentagon’s First Pair of Four-Star Women
Things certainly have changed since Janet Wolfenbarger walked up the long ramp at the Air Force Academy in 1976, under a sign declaring in two-foot high brushed aluminum letters: BRING …
BattlelandRussia
The Bomber Exchange Program
Remember in high school how there’d always be these exchange students from exotic locales from around the world who’d attend classes with you for a year? How it was supposed to nurture international understanding and good will? …
BattlelandPolitics
Ryan’s Hope: Don’t Cut Military Spending So Deeply
Somehow it seemed fitting – for the final member of the first pair of major-party tickets in nearly a century lacking anyone with military experience – for Mitt Romney to introduce his vice presidential pick, Paul Ryan, …
“Don't Ask Don't Tell: Gay soldier and fellow (straight) soldier who served together in Iraq or Afghanistan (ideally the straight soldier was helped by the gay soldier, i.e., medic, in fire fight).”
“I know the American people are tired of paying the cost, in blood and treasure, of these wars that we get into that sometimes do not represent a direct national security threat to the United States.”