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Marines are tough, but they know what isn’t. That’s why they’re now getting two layers of protection to shield their southern zones from improvised explosive devices (h/t TPM.)
Hard to believe, but the final 12 Marines have left Iraq. It’s funny how much attention we pay when they arrive, and how little we note when they leave. War tends to begin with a bang, and end with a whimper.
All U.S. troops are now slated to be out by December 31, except for embassy Marine guards, and any additional forces yet to …
Soldiers, like all of us, want recognition. Sure, the mission comes first, and then your buddies, and maybe, eventually, you. But such recognition is hard-earned, and outsiders tinker with it at their peril.
That’s why two recent events are worth noting. One involves — of all things — jewelry worn by Marines to honor those lost …
As the nation grapples with its need to cut hundreds of billions of dollars from its future defense budgets every year, one category seems MIA: the nuclear triad. But it’s worth noting that those who embrace it tend to be those running it, while the nation’s top military officers — who have to juggle competing demands, and not just …
Or is it about time? That all depends, of course, on what you think the U.S. mission in Afghanistan — now a decade old — actually is. We have booted the Taliban from power, and recently killed Osama bin Laden, who orchestrated the 9/11 attacks from inside Afghanistan in a sanctuary the Taliban provided. Now President Obama has …
There has been a flurry of conflicting stories over the weekend on the future of U.S. troops in Iraq. The U.S. plainly, desperately, wants to keep some troops on Iraqi soil, for several reasons: preserve the gains won there since 2003 in U.S. blood and treasure (along with Iraq’s), keep an eye on neighboring Iran, try to get more …
The share of post-9/11 veterans receiving mental-health care from the Department of Veterans Affairs — as part of the total number of veterans — is slowly but steadily rising. According to this chart (click to enlarge) from a Government Accountability Office report released Friday, U.S. vets from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq …
Army leaders have been telling us for years that the post-9/11 wars have been chewing up their armor and other weapons. This week, the service’s top docs made clear the same thing is happening to the troops, although much of it isn’t combat-related.
Some 15% of active-duty troops – that’s one out of seven – is undeployable for …
Testifying before the House Armed Services Committee today, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta directly challenged the Congressional “Super Committee” to “do the right thing.” In Panetta’s view, the “right thing” is to solve the debt crisis by going after the drivers of America’s bulging debt. That would be the Big 3 …
I know I’ve been radio silent for the past few weeks. I’ve been getting my ducks in a row for the post-DADT era. Here’s a look into an interview I had with National Public Radio’s Terry Gross on ‘Fresh Air’ which aired this Wednesday. In the interview, OutServe’s Josh Seefried and I discuss what it’s been like living under “Don’t …
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Even if you accept the arguments being put forward by the Republican majority on the House Armed Services Committee in this just-released video, can we agree that the ominous music percolating throughout really doesn’t belong in a serious debate on such a fundamental topic? Then …
Rich Hill is a San Francisco teacher who last week penned a column in the San Francisco Chronicle griping about the annual Blue Angels’ air show over his fair city:
I have strong feelings about the Blue Angels’ annual visit. I do not like it…The Boeing F/A-18 Hornet is a fierce fighter and agile attacker…Are we so distant from
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Old-timers recall with dread the so-called “hollow Army” the U.S. had following the Vietnam War, which crystallized in 1980’s failed rescue mission of the U.S. hostages held by Iran. Budget cuts are coming, so how can the U.S. avoid hollowing out its military forces once again? John Nagl, of the Center for a New American …
