Two things have happened since Monday worth noting. Both involve the deaths of Air Force personnel at the hands of radical Muslims. In one case – in which nine Americans died – the killer used a handgun apparently paid for by …
Military
Pilots Downed in Libya Tell Their Tale
The crew members of that F-15E that went down in Libya nearly a year ago have finally surfaced to tell their story. Over at CNN’s Security Clearance blog, one of them tells Barbara Starr what it felt like:
Very much like if
…
How to Re-Open the Strait of Hormuz After Iran Shuts It
While the Pentagon is trying to cool down the rhetoric with Tehran (“We seek to lower the temperature on tensions with Iran,” Pentagon spokesman George Little said last week), not everyone has gotten the message, apparently. Perhaps that accounts for the independent Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments’ release Tuesday of …
Everydad…
Over at the VA’s blog, VAntage Point, an old salt who once served in the Navy writes about what it’s like to have his Army son fighting far from home – and then coming home.
“Every night when I went to bed, I prayed …
“Loyalty ends when the money runs out.”
Afghanistan’s Helmand Province: Both Sides Now
Over the weekend, GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry and the conservative, pro-military Moving American Forward advocacy group defended the Marines who allegedly urinated on Taliban corpses. This is what happens when politics …
“Aye-Aye Skipper!” There Should Be More Stories Like This…
Hoo Yah!!! (that’s Navy diver-speak for “this is good”). In the January 16th edition of Navy Times, there’s finally a good news story about “Amazing Skippers” …Commanding officers who are considered to be the best in …
Taking the ‘D’ Out of P.T.S.D.
Ever since Battleland raised this issue with then-top-Army doc Lieut. General Peter Schoomaker four years ago, there’s been a whirring debate over changing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder to Post-Traumatic Stress, or some other less-stigmatizing label. The logic is pretty simple: in the nooks and crannies of our brains where bad …
“Quiet Heroes”
They’re somewhere on the warfare spectrum between hard-charging infantrymen who live to kill, and combat medics, who live to save lives. They’re the explosive ordnance disposal techs, the guys who risk life and limb to find and …
The Perfect Headline on the Silent Sino-American Limited Liability Partnership
Comes from Bloomberg:
China Gets Cheaper Iran Oil as U.S. Picks Up Tab for Hormuz Straits Patrols
Brilliant huh?
But a wonderful capture of the illogic of Obama’s “strategic pivot” to East Asia: the more we try to hem in …
Great Moments in Military Aviation: Death of a Blimp
How can the Air Force lose a blimp two-thirds the size of a football field? When the winds are wrong, alas, anything can happen.
Battleland readers of a certain vintage may recall, with wonder and delight, the goofy …
We Mean It This Time
Sunday, January 8, on CBS’s Face the Nation:
We have made very clear that the United States will not tolerate blocking of the Straits of Hormuz. That’s another red line for us — and that we will respond to that.
— Defense Secretary Leon Panetta
Friday, January 13, on the front page of the New York Times:
WASHINGTON — The
…
Marines on Okinawa: Time to Leave?
TOKYO – More than six decades after U.S. Marines stormed ashore on Okinawa, it may finally be time for them to go home. Japan Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Friday fired his defense minister, in part for missteps and verbal …