Part 3 of 3
I could not believe my good luck when I discovered an opinion editorial written by my grandfather during the height of the Vietnam War. His arguments, informed by years of hardship, outline a practical guide for …
National
Fighting Men, Then and Now: Part 2
Part 2 of 3
Editor’s note: Captain Donald Hansen served in Army Air Corps and later the Air Force as a B-24 bomber pilot during World War II and Korea, flying more than 150 combat missions. He wrote this piece sometime in 1968 …
Fighting Men, Then and Now: Part 1
First of three parts
Battleland has a pair of interesting posts going up here shortly.
The first was written in 1968 – at the height of the Vietnam war — by Captain Donald Hansen, who flew more than 150 combat missions …
Hey America: Don’t Do Like the French
CLERMONT-FERRAND, France — Discussions about defense budgets are often shrouded in esoteric and far-fetched considerations about the future of warfare, none of which ever seems to fit into a broader, clear and cogent picture of …
A Woman Scorned: The Navy Responds
LandSea Battle
Army paratroopers fire artillery during the commissioning of the Navy’s newest ship, the USS Anchorage, May 4.
A Woman S(CO)rned by an Officer and a Gentleman
There’s a fascinating letter in the latest issue of the Naval War College Review from a woman who alleges she was treated abominably by an unnamed, still-serving commanding officer in the U.S. Navy. This is an official …
The U.S. Army: “A Learning Organization”
While some folks maintain that armies are always busy fighting the last war, Major Geraldo Pulido argues that the U.S. Army, from his vantage point, did a pretty good job of adapting to changing circumstances during his four …
“Interceptor production for three of Missile Defense Agency’s systems has been significantly disrupted during the past few years due to high-risk acquisition strategies which have resulted in delaying planned deliveries to the warfighter, raising costs, and disrupting the industrial base. Further, MDA continues to follow high-risk acquisition strategies for other programs. For example, its Targets and Countermeasures program is adding risk to an upcoming complex, costly operational flight test involving multiple MDA systems because it plans to use unproven targets.”
— From a Government Accountability Office assessment, here, released Thursday into the nation’s missile-defense efforts. While it may sound critical at first glance, some might argue that, in some cases, using “unproven targets” to help develop defenses against unproven threats makes sense.
So Why Do They Call It the “Accountability” Office?
Government bidders who lose a contract get the right to appeal to the Government Accountability Office, which regularly issues rulings that generally say the agency got it right and the losing bidder is basically asserting sour …
Cyber Insecurity: The 21st Century’s Version of Air Pollution
— Then-defense secretary Leon Panetta referred to the threat of cyber attacks as a “cyber Pearl Harbor.”
— A senior Cyber Command official has declared that we are in the middle of a “cyber arms race.”
— Other …
Sleight of Mouth
Sometimes it’s tough to tell when you’re being misled.
Take this (barely) edited exchange Tuesday between Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., and Navy Secretary Ray Mabus at a hearing into the Navy’s proposed 2014 budget before …
“This Is Where Daddy Works…”
Fort Hood families check out Dad’s office at a 1st Cavalry Division’s family day May 5 on the Texas post.