Air Force 2nd Lt. Jennifer Szatkowski has an amazing story. Click on the photo to see it.
BattlelandMilitary Spending
A Trillion Here…
It was only two short years ago that Battleland published a major piece in the pages of Time detailing how the Pentagon could cut spending by about 15% over the coming decade.
How to Save a Trillion Dollars
…was the …
Kinks in the Chain of Command
In the wake of a seemingly endless parade of scandals, the Pentagon’s leaders assembled last week in full force before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
They alternately lamented the scourge of military sexual violence, …
An Interactive Guide to Life After Cremation
Choose your own urn
When You Can Kill in Texas
On Christmas Eve in 2009, Ezekiel Gilbert paid an escort he found on Craigslist $150 for what he thought would be sex. Instead, according to the San Antonio Express-News, 23-year-old Lenora Frago left his apartment after about 20 …
Major Wildfires Scorch Colorado’s Black Forest
Record heat and high winds have fueled fast-moving wildfires that have damaged or destroyed up to 100 homes near Colorado Springs
White House Clashes with House on Weapons Cancellations
It’s an old battle: executive branch expertise on how it thinks taxpayer dollars should be spent versus the congressional power of the purse.
This story plays out often in the yearly authorization and appropriations bills for …
BattlelandAsia-Pacific
Japan Sends Its Troops Into Uncharted Waters
TOKYO – A major amphibious warfare exercise off the California coast is not intended as a dress rehearsal for combat in the Japanese islands — but it could work out that way.
For the first time, troops from all three …
“Our lead combat role is now extinguished.”
— Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel discussing the war in Afghanistan Tuesday before the Senate Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee.
BattlelandMilitary Spending
Cause and Effect?
From a Tuesday hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee’s defense subcommittee:
Senator Dick Durbin, D-Ill.: Do you dispute this finding that the average contract employee costs two to three times as much as the …
“We want to prevent as much damage as possible to the main landing gear by applying the tape.”
— Air Force Senior Master Sgt. William Harris, explaining why the maintenance shop at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., is applying a polyurethane tape to its C-130s’ landing-gear struts, and bellies. Frequent operations off rudimentary runways in places like Afghanistan are kicking up rocks and other debris that has cut the four-year lifespan of C-130 struts in half, the service notes, here. The goal is to see if the $100 piece of tape can extend the $100,000 strut's life. Next C-130 improvement: baling wire.
BattlelandSexual Assault in the Ranks
The Navy’s Mission to Search and Destroy Smut
Childhood Cancer Survivors Have Significant Chronic Disease
A study of over 1,700 childhood cancer survivors found that 98% of the participants had at least one chronic disease such as new cancers, heart disease or abnormal lung function.