Having flown on the C-17 many times, Battleland knows it’s a good airplane. Production of the cargo aircraft for the U.S. Air Force is all but done; the Pentagon stopped listing it in its regular cost reports back in 2009. That …
Military
“Brazen Showboating”
Beijing is reacting to the Pentagon’s so-called “pivot to Asia,” and not in a friendly way. Amid several recent naval exercises — including the 22-nation RIMPAC now underway around Hawaii – China doesn’t like what it …
Growing Up Too Fast
Broken-Windows Theory
In sociology, the “broken-windows theory” holds that if a neighborhood or city doesn’t fix its broken windows and graffiti, the environment will continue to descend into crime, chaos and violence.
In Brazil, apparently, it means something quite different. Check out this pair of Brazilian air force Mirage 2000 fighters flying too …
Kiwis Ask: Hey, Where Is Everybody?
TOKYO – In a gesture of friendship and goodwill toward an obscure former ally, warships from New Zealand have been granted special, private berthing privileges for a major naval exercise now underway in Hawaii. And wouldn’t …
Thanks, Dad
There can be no winners when a U.S. soldier comes home in a transfer case, draped with the U.S. flag. But one father refused to accept the official story of his son’s death in Iraq, and fought the U.S. Army to force it to acknowledge that perhaps his son didn’t need to die.
Battleland knows how tough it can be to fight the U.S. …
Magic Words Re-Open Pakistan Supply Routes: “We’re Sorry”
The good news is Pakistan has finally re-opened its overland supply routes to U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The bad news is that it took eight months – and $2.1 billion – to get Islamabad to agree. Plus, a U.S. apology. The two …
A Better Use For Booze
Persian Gulf Fireworks?
Lede story in Wednesday’s New York Times has the U.S. military as a confident boxer, warily eyeing Iran tucked into the far corner of the ring:
The United States has quietly moved significant military reinforcements into the
…
Staying Inside Iraq and Outside the Wire
Army Major Michael Bugaj, a field artilleryman, had two striking experiences during his first tour in Iraq in 2005-2006: the gloom that permeated his unit when it learned its tour had been extended without notice, and what it’s like to come under fire for the first time.
Bugai, who has since pulled a tour in Afghanistan, spoke of …
“Look Ma — No Helmet!”
The “Second Apology” Tour
Rajiv Chanrasekaran’s new book, Little America, is making a splash with a pair of lengthy excerpts in the Washington Post (first one here, second here), ForeignPolicy.com, and Slate.
Several reviewers, bloggers and tweets …
Hot Shots
The Pentagon’s only wildfire-fighting team has been dispatched to help fight the Colorado wildfires. Well, one Colorado wildfire. After all, it’s only a team of 18.
And since the Vandenberg Hot Shot squad belongs to the …