Sure it’s a coincidence: the same day the U.S. military formally ends its military mission in Iraq, the Army releases the lowest monthly suicide number in recent memory. But there it was, late Thursday, in the standard suicide …
National Security
“Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., Sunnyvale, Calif., is being awarded modification P00001 under previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee, fixed-price-incentive contract (N00030-12-C-0100) which is a combined definitized deployed systems support (DSS) contract and an undefinitized contract action award for TRIDENT II (D5) production.”
Bleak House
There are so many complicated, infuriating things that make smart Pentagon purchasing nearly impossible. Take this Government Accountability Office investigation, released Wednesday, into charges that a former (unnamed) Pentagon …
So Long, Iraq: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
The good happened Thursday morning, as Defense Secretary Leon Panetta presided over the end of the U.S. military mission in Iraq, from a concrete courtyard at the Baghdad International Airport:
The cost was high — in blood and
…
Why Is the U.S. So Good at Nation-Breaking And So Poor at Nation-Building?
As the colors are cased in Baghdad on Thursday, and U.S. military says its goodbyes, Iraq remains a nation with large, gaping wounds nearly a decade after the U.S. invaded. While the U.S. military remains the world’s best at …
PTSD: Writer’s Un-Block
Battleland’s own Ron Capps has just been tapped to create a writing program to help troops wrestling with post-traumatic stress. The program will be part of the research and therapy at the National Intrepid Center of …
Afghan Education: Both Sides Now
In good news on the Afghan education front, the U.S. Air Force is hailing the first undergraduate pilot training held exclusively inside Afghanistan in more than 30 years. “Members of this first Afghan air force pilot training …
Political Squabbling Over Iraq: Can’t We Shut Up, Just for a Bit?
So President Obama visited Fort Bragg in North Carolina on Wednesday and thanked the troops there for a job well done as the nation wraps up its military presence in Iraq:
Tomorrow the colors of United States Forces-Iraq, the
…
Iran Drone Drama Collapses into China-NoKo Christmas Comedy
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The wild and crazy guys over at Next Media Animation are poking fun at pretty much everything associated with the fumble of the U.S. RQ-170 Sentinel drone into Iranian hands last week. They suggest it might end up in Chinese hands, and under North Korea’s …
The Final Raptor…
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F-22 tail number 4195 rolled off Lockheed Martin’s Marietta, Ga., assembly line on Tuesday. It was the 187th, and last, of the fifth-generation super-stealth fighters to be built. When the program began – the first F-22 rolled off the line in 1997 – the Air Force said it …
Pakistan: Words v. Action
As Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was flying toward Afghanistan earlier this week, he told the reporters flying with him that Pakistan is a critical element in ultimately winning the war in Afghanistan. “Ultimately,” he said, “we …
$128 million
WARNING: Danger! Western Europe! Scotland!
Steven Metz, one of the Army War College’s best brains, has scrapped a trip to the British International Studies Association conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, because the U.S. Army’s European Command told him he couldn’t …