Beijing is reacting to the Pentagon’s so-called “pivot to Asia,” and not in a friendly way. Amid several recent naval exercises — including the 22-nation RIMPAC now underway around Hawaii – China doesn’t like what it …
Pentagon
Solar Systemic Failure
It was just over a year ago that a senior U.S. military officer in Afghanistan was raving about the solar-powered streetlights popping up in Kabul:
There is no reliable electric grid here in this city of 5 million people, and so
…
“Yesterday morning we had a large video conference with Afghanistan to discusses our ongoing efforts to develop a natural gas and power project in the north of Afghanistan, which we almost had to cancel because of lack of power in Washington, D.C.”
Make That Airman a General!
The Schriever Sentinel reports that an (unfortunately unidentified) airman at Colorado’s Buckley Air Force Base wondered earlier this year how come the reverse sides of signs on post needed to be painted brown. After all, he reasoned, the base could save money if they were left in their original galvanized state.
Bingo! His …
A Quarter-Billion Dollars?
What does the Pentagon get for that kind of money these days? Well, according to a Navy contract announced Tuesday, it gets five years of
…leadership teams, providing expertise in change management, barrier identification and
…
Thanks, Dad
There can be no winners when a U.S. soldier comes home in a transfer case, draped with the U.S. flag. But one father refused to accept the official story of his son’s death in Iraq, and fought the U.S. Army to force it to acknowledge that perhaps his son didn’t need to die.
Battleland knows how tough it can be to fight the U.S. …
“I think we ought to have a draft. I think if a nation goes to war, it shouldn't be solely be represented by a professional force, because it gets to be unrepresentative of the population.”
Magic Words Re-Open Pakistan Supply Routes: “We’re Sorry”
The good news is Pakistan has finally re-opened its overland supply routes to U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The bad news is that it took eight months – and $2.1 billion – to get Islamabad to agree. Plus, a U.S. apology. The two …
A Better Use For Booze
Persian Gulf Fireworks?
Lede story in Wednesday’s New York Times has the U.S. military as a confident boxer, warily eyeing Iran tucked into the far corner of the ring:
The United States has quietly moved significant military reinforcements into the
…
Staying Inside Iraq and Outside the Wire
Army Major Michael Bugaj, a field artilleryman, had two striking experiences during his first tour in Iraq in 2005-2006: the gloom that permeated his unit when it learned its tour had been extended without notice, and what it’s like to come under fire for the first time.
Bugai, who has since pulled a tour in Afghanistan, spoke of …
Yet Another Military Sex Scandal
Rape allegations. Drill sergeants having sex with multiple trainees. Threats by the drill sergeants to discharge trainees for failing the physical fitness tests if they told anybody what was going on. An old-boy network among the …
Courage Services, Inv. (as in, Invisible)
The outsourcing of what used to be thought of as vital governmental functions continues. Public Intelligence posted this last week on its website. It’s basically a 2009 intelligence report done for the Marine Corps Intelligence Activity by an outfit calling itself Courage Services, Inc. Its nifty corporate logo appears on the …
