During U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ visit to China in January, Beijing heralded his arrival with the first public flight of its J-20 stealth fighter. Tonight, in honor of the arrival of General Chen Bingde, chief of staff of China’s People’s Liberation Army, the U.S. will return the favor: with a joint concert featuring the …
Army
Kiddie Boot Camp
The U.S. Army recently held a boot camp for soldiers’ kids, some still in kindergarten, at a German post. “It’s a little tough being a soldier,” a 10-year old said following his three-hour stint. “But it’s worth it.” The tykes were led by real soldiers, who enjoyed the experience, too. “The idea of bringing the kids out and doing a …
Counter-terrorism beats nation-building? Are we going to bury COIN all over again?
My old classmate Fareed Zakaria recently made the argument that counterterrorism beats nation-building when it comes to winning the war on terror. Taking Osama Bin Laden’s killing as a point of American pride, he says that sort of military/intelligence operation is what we’re good at, and so we should stick with it versus pursue the …
Meanwhile, Back In The Real World…
After all the SEAL glory this week, the Army’s contribution to special-ops news is grim: the top soldier in the Army Special Forces Command has been removed from his post as commanders investigate charges apparently linked to an extra-marital affair, according to a story Friday in the Fayetteville Observer.
President Thanks SEAL-Drivers of Task Force 160 Today
President Obama is going to thank some of those involved in Monday’s mission against Osama bin Laden during his visit to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, on Friday. Whether or not the SEALs will be there isn’t known: they’re based 500 miles away, at Fort Bragg, N.C. But some key enablers live at the Kentucky base: the Night Stalkers of Task …
Bin Laden: A Tale Of Two Mornings, Three Decades Apart
Just over 31 years ago, a much bleaker dawn greeted Americans awakening and getting ready to go to work than was the case Monday morning. Back in 1980, the U.S. military had just been humiliated at Desert One, deep inside Iran, trying to rescue the 52 hostages that had been held by Iran for six months. The U.S. military was forced to …
Panetta’s Challenge
When the President announced his new national security team last week most of the attention focused on David Petraeus at CIA and the problem of winding down the war in Afghanistan. Leon Panetta’s nomination as Secretary of Defense went almost unnoticed, by comparison.
But Panetta has the bigger challenge: how to manage a build down in …
Fancy Underwear Urgently Incoming for U.S. Troops in Afghanistan
We’ve reported on the problems IEDs can cause troops’ private parts when they detonate underneath them. Things have gotten so dire that the Pentagon is now skipping normal procurement rules mandating competition, to speed up the purchase and deployment of so-called “ballistic undergarments.” The justification for the no-competition …
Sgt. Castro Comes Home Today
Insurgents killed Army Sgt. John Paul Castro April 22 in Afghanistan’s Paktika province. He was on his third combat tour — one to Iraq, two to Afghanistan — in his less-than-seven-year career. Castro’s last mission was “a fight that occurred at distances measured in hand-grenade range, within a complex environment of walled mazes …
Chilling Tale from Afghanistan…
…will be on the cover of this Sunday’s New York Times Magazine:
“Ask them, ‘Do they understand why we shot this dude?’ ” the lieutenant told his interpreter. During their last patrol to Qualaday, soldiers in the platoon had attacked Mullah Allah Dad with rifles and a fragmentation grenade that blew off the lower halves of his
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Misery on the Home Front…
From an Army wife’s blog comes the downside of a decade of war. And no, contrary to her lede (as we spell it in the ink-stained wretch trade) she hasn’t killed herself. Not yet anyway.
Army Accessions Command, 2002-2011
The Army created its Accessions Command in 2002. On Wednesday, with encouragement from the Pentagon, it killed it. The U.S. Army Accessions Command was 9. The Army says it will shut down the command, based at Fort Monroe, Va., over the next 18 months. That will lead to the elimination of two general’s slots, 65 other military …
“And Don’t Let It Hit You On The Way Out!”
Colleague and columnist Joe Klein, over on Swampland, doesn’t like the way LTG Dave Rodriguez is being shown the door after his long service in Afghanistan.