It’s always heartbreaking when a young American in uniform dies in a combat zone. Violent accidental death is always tragic, and almost always preventable. But it’s criminal the way Jimmy Hansen died. The Pentagon issued a terse statement the day after it happened. “Senior Airman James A. Hansen, 25, of Athens, Mich., died Sept. 15 of …
No-drama Obama’s dithering over — or is it carefully pondering? — the wisdom of imposing a no-fly zone atop Libya has dragged on so long that mischief is creeping into the arguments over its merit or lack thereof.
Objections to the U.S. establishing a no-fly zone over Libya are based on erroneous suppositions made by leaders in the
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Lawmakers are always pushing the Pentagon to buy weapons it doesn’t need to save jobs back home. Lawbreakers too, apparently. Neat piece here on how federal prison inmates are helping to build Patriot air-defense missiles — and other arms — starting at 23 cents an hour. The disconnect between 23 cents and the $700 billion we’re …
Sure we know that building a missile-defense shield is expensive, buying all those interceptors to shoot down incoming missiles from Iran and North Korea aimed at our troops or our allies (Unofficial motto: “It’s just like an umbrella — if you take it with you, it won’t rain.”) But today’s contract awarded by the Pentagon is a real …
In the newsmag biz, you don’t call something a trend until you have three examples. Well, here are three heavyweights who in the last day or so have called on the Obama Administration to get off the dime and do something — militarily — about Libya. It’s looming as a moment of truth for the White House.
Certain national-security circles are buzzing at the prospect of imposing a no-fly zone over Libya. But they’re putting the airplanes before the authorization, and no doubt setting the Libyan rebels calling for such action up for disappointment. NATO defense ministers are meeting in Brussels on Thursday to debate the wisdom of keeping …
Should the U.S. military allow women to serve in ground combat — largely in infantry and armor units — to help their careers? A new report from the Military Leadership Diversity Commission says yes. It argues that the battle lines in Afghanistan and Iraq have been so blurry that women basically are in combat, but don’t get the …
Soldiers aren’t the only thing surging in Afghanistan. There are now 18,919 hired guns — aka “private security contractor personnel” — working for the U.S. military in that country, according to a new report from the Congressional Research Service. “The number of PSC personnel in Afghanistan has more than tripled since June 2009,” …
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has left the capital on a week-long trip — he’s in Afghanistan today — leaving subordinates back in the Pentagon to figure out what, if anything, to do about Libya. There’s a pervasive sense of dutifulness — and unease — inside the Defense Department over doing anything beyond humanitarian ops.
The …
No matter how tough your week has been, it couldn’t have been as bad as the so-called instructor pilot whose shortcomings have just been detailed in an Air Force report into the crash of a T-6A training aircraft last fall. Because it’s late Friday afternoon and I’m in a pretty good mood, I’m not going to include his name.
Traumatic brain injuries are the most insidious wounds being suffered by U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Our armored vehicles, body armor and helmets have gotten so good, the only thing left to damage in many cases when IEDs blow up are soldiers’ brains rattling around inside their skulls. Haven’t figured out how to stop that from …
The Government Accountability Office reports the nation could save $5.5 billion over 30 years by replacing the $1 bill with a $1 coin.
Good news that Harvard is set to recognize ROTC today after nearly 40 years. Originally booted off campus because of opposition to the Vietnam War, Harvard University and many other elite colleges kept the Reserve Officer Training Corps away following the U.S. withdrawal from South Vietnam in 1973, and Saigon’s fall to the North …