A new batch of grisly and disgusting battlefield-trophy photographs surfaced in the Los Angeles Times Wednesday morning, showing. They show, among other things, U.S. troops and their Afghan allies posing with the remains of a suicide bomber. The Pentagon has tried to get out in front of this by issuing a – surprise! – statement …
Two of the Time 100…
…announced Wednesday morning are familiar to Battleland readers: Time has former defense secretary Robert Gates writing about his ex-colleague, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. And retired Admiral Mike Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, tells us about military mental-health mobilizer Barbara van Dahlen, …
They Better Be 100% Silk
Five of the first six contract awards announced Tuesday were for parachutes costing nearly $1 billion. All five contracts were for “low-cost, low velocity parachutes.” Alas, as is becoming increasingly common, the contract …
A Soldier’s Best Friend…
The Army’s Medical Department just published a journal devoted to the use of dogs in Army medicine. I wanted to highlight the publication here on Time’s Battleland. Both dog- and soldier-lovers can read it for free.
Army …
Marines: Willpower = Wallpower
The Army’s More Deadly Bullet: Stateside Only
The Army has just ordered its first batch of 9mm Jacketed Hollow Point bullets. But it’s limiting the rounds to its law-enforcement personnel based only in the U.S. and its territories.
So how’s that for a paradox: the Army is buying deadlier bullets for use on American soil, most likely for use against Americans, than it …
Panetta’s Trips Home
Why Are Military Marriages So Strong?
There’s a head-turning article in the latest edition of the Journal of Family Issues (admittedly something rarely found on Battleland’s nightstand) about how well military marriages are faring after 10 years of war.
After …
George W. Bush and the Texas Air National Guard
Speaking (as we just did awhile back about LBJ’s past) of presidential recollections, it’s hard to believe this was the hottest story going for several weeks eight years ago. In the May issue of Texas Monthly, Joe Hagan does a masterful job of cutting through the fog of war, and politics, to offer the most complete examination yet on …
Hardware v. People
For a good example of the Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex’s (MICC’s) value system — which is hardware before ideas and people — read this New York Times column by Nicholas Kristof.
Note his opening paragraph:
Here’s a window into a tragedy within the American military: For every soldier killed on the battlefield this
…
Beautifying the Garden of Eden
The Garden of Eden, some say, was located somewhere inside modern-day Iraq. So it’s no surprise that the U.S. is trying to improve on God’s work, seeking “gardening services” at the U.S. Consulate in Erbil.
The overview of the contract solicitation, posted Monday, notes:
Maintenance and appearance of the grass, shrubbery,
…
Rhetoric Gone MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction)
Part of the reason that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta fears that sequestration – the budget axe slated to chop another $500 billion or so out of the military over the coming decade if Congress can’t get its act together – is how each side is welded to its will-not-budge goals.
Of course, he was speaking of his former comrades …
