A Marine trains for night-time fighting at Camp Leatherneck in Helmand province, July 10.
BattlelandMilitary Spending
George Orwell, Call Your Office!
The military sometimes has a way with words that brings a smile to even the most skeptical taxpayer.
Check out this language from a Wednesday contract announcement by U.S. Special Operations command. It’s a $13 million deal …
Too Many Secrets? On Sneakers, and the NSA
George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four is the most famous fictional work about omnipresent government surveillance and its myriad risks. Yet, an often-overlooked movie from 1992 provides even more prescient insights into …
BattlelandSexual Assault in the Ranks
Gillibrand Gaining?
The battle to remove the military’s chain of command from investigating sexual assaults has intensified as a pair of Tea Party senators has allied with 33 of their more liberal colleagues in the effort.
Sens. Ted Cruz, …
“We now have a brand new state-of-the-art building that cost the taxpayers $34 million to build. The worst part is that all indications are we're going to tear it down. We can't even give it away to the Afghanistan government for free because they don't want a building that they will have to spend a million to re-wire because it was built to U.S. electrical code.”
— Senator Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., speaking Tuesday on the never-needed U.S. military headquarters building in Helmand province disclosed last week, here.
Reading the Brain: FDA Approves First Scan for Diagnosing ADHD
It’s the first test to diagnose the behavioral disorder using brain wave patterns, but it won’t be the last
BattlelandAuthor Q&A
How America Got Where It Is
Canadian newspaperman, financier and author Conrad Black wrote most of his new book, Flight of the Eagle: The Grand Strategies that Brought America from Colonial Dependence to World Leadership, inside a Florida prison cell, where …
GOP Claims High Ground in 2014 Battle for the Senate
It’s shaping up to be an unpleasant 2014 for Democrats in the U.S. Senate
“Do I regret doing it? Hell no…Do you want the Marine Corps to be a group of Boy Scout pretty boys, or do you want guys that will go out and kill the people trying to take advantage of your country and kill Americans? Which do you want? Because you can't have both.”
— Marine Sergeant Joseph Chamblin, when asked, here, if he regretted urinating on dead Taliban fighters. After a video surfaced of several Marines, including him, doing so in 2011, the corps fined him $500 and demoted him for the act and dereliction of duty. He leaves the Marines in September after 15 years.
The Costs of Climate Change and Extreme Weather Are Passing the High-Water Mark
Hurricane Sandy made it clear: as the climate warms, population grows and sea level rises, extreme weather will hurt more. That’s why we need to fix flood insurance
BattlelandMilitary Spending
Cutting One-Fifth. Twice.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Tuesday that he has ordered a 20% cut in the ranks of the Pentagon’s top military officers and senior civilians.
Beginning in 2015, and completed by 2019.
Well, as we used to say: speed …
Gordon Gekko Lives: New Evidence That Greed Is Rampant on Wall Street
One in four bankers would cheat to make $10 million. This is one of many unsettling findings in a new survey of Wall Streeters. As always, you’re on your own out there
Warship…Or Disco?
The USS Preble, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, readies for a night fueling in the Pacific July 7.