The Pentagon is institutionalizing resiliency, referring to a soldier’s ability to shake off the horrors of war and go back and experience them again (it has become such a buzzword that the Army has changed the name of its once-heralded Battlemind program to Resilience Training). Over at the Time Ideas blog, learning scholar Annie …
National Security
Brass Ceiling Cracking?
The Marine Corps is planning to let women enroll in its school that trains infantry combat officers. It’s not the same as letting women serve in front-line combat units, but it’s definitely a step in that direction.
A top …
Two Unrelated Wednesday Afternoon Events
1. The Army announced that there were a total of 28 suspected suicides in its active and reserve ranks, nearly double February’s suspected toll of 15 suicides.
2. The San Francisco VA Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco, released a study showing that Vietnam-era vets who did more killing during their …
Betting on the Come
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta declared Wednesday that “our strategy is right, our strategy is working, and if we stick to it, we can achieve the mission of establishing an Afghanistan that can secure and govern itself, and …
21st Century War Trophies
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 …
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
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