BattlelandCongress
How the Global Hawg Keeps Flying
Battleland has long been interested in how it was that an unmanned drone – the RQ-4 Global Hawk – ended up costing more money than the U-2 spy plane the Pentagon wanted it to replace for some missions.
After all, Gary …
“I've got civilians that are out taking a 20 percent pay cut for the remainder of the year…That is horrific. I stood in front of my civilians the other day and I apologized to them, and I said, `Your government has let you down.’ And that's how I feel about it. We have let them down. We have broken faith with our civilian workforce.”
— General William Shelton, chief of Air Force Space Command, speaking Tuesday in Washington on the civilians he has had to furlough because of sequester-mandated budget cuts.
Maya Angelou Reacts To Zimmerman Trial, Evokes Civil Rights Era
“What is really injured, bruised, if you will, is the psyche of our national population.”
BattlelandAfghanistan
Privatizing War (cont.)
From Tuesday’s list of Pentagon contract announcements:
Jorge Scientific Corp., Arlington, Va., was awarded an $11,810,908 modification (P00006) to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee, option-filled, multi-year contract …
Israel’s Iron Dome
With the increased threats of attack from Hezbollah, Palestinian militants in Gaza — and spillover from the Syrian civil war — Israel stands ready to intercept and destroy incoming artillery, mortars, and missiles with its …
Growing Up, Base to Base
Where are you from?
For a military brat, that can be a complicated question.
The website Blog Critics highlighted an episode at the U.S. Army post at Stuttgart-Vaihingen, Germany. A visiting magician brought a …
BattlelandWar Story
Looking Into Iraq’s Rear-View Mirror
Funny how different things can look as a war winds down.
In this February interview with the Combat Studies Institute at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., Major Amanda Warren, an Army logistician, talks of her 2011 deployment to …
Viewpoint: The Dichotomy Between Skilled and Unskilled Immigrants Is False
Republicans and Democrats in Washington don’t agree on much, but they do seem to agree on this: America’s immigration policy should prioritize the admission of “skilled” immigrants
BattlelandMilitary Spending
Correcting the Pentagon’s Distorted Budget History
The Defense Budget Is Even Larger Than You Think: part two of two
Given the warped measures that high-spending advocates and the Defense Department use to calibrate past, present and future defense spending (described here …
10%
— The percentage of U.S. government civilians in Afghanistan dedicated to ensuring that the other 90% are spending tens of billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars wisely. “About 10% of our total civilian strength in Afghanistan,” James Dobbins, the State Department’s point man on Afghanistan and Pakistan, told Congress July 11, “is dedicated to oversight and accountability of our own programs.”
A.K.A. “Target”
The USNS Montford Point, the Navy’s first “mobile landing platform,” leaves San Diego last week.
BattlelandVeterans
Your Mileage (Reimbursement) May Vary
Over the past five years, the cost of reimbursing eligible veterans for travel expenses associated with getting medical care at Department of Veterans Affairs facilities has more than doubled, to nearly $1 billion annually, the …