One of the reasons Battleland thinks there might be some fat yet to carve from the U.S. military’s budget are charts like this, buried in reports like this. It’s a final draft of Army Field Manual 3-13, Inform and Influence Activities. It’s a 67-page document explaining how the Army can make people think differently. Can you …
Troops
State of the Union: How the Vets Scored It
When President Obama took to the podium to deliver the State of the Union address, Paul Rieckhoff, the founder and executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America was in the gallery. While he enjoyed the pageantry …
Talk is Cheap in Washington When It Comes to Politicians and the U.S. Military
Last night, President Obama opened his State of the Union address by referencing the sacrifices and courage of America’s military personnel as they return home from combat. The President’s rhetoric was moving, but unfortunately, words are simply words and have not been fully backed up with action that supports America’s heroes.
Rescue in Somalia: SEALs Strike Again
Even as President Obama publicly praised the Navy’s SEALs Tuesday night for killing Osama bin Laden, a team of the elite war-fighters was wrapping up the daring rescue of a pair of international mine-clearers, including an American woman, who had been held for three months by Somali thugs.
U.S. troops rescued Jessica Buchanan …
Ticking Time Bomb
Here’s a chart from a new report by Anthony Cordesman at the Center for Strategic and International Studies showing how future personnel costs will eat the military budget alive unless changes are made.
Better Late Than Never
Improvised explosive devices have been the single biggest killer of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq – some 3,000 KIA — which is why the Pentagon has spent more than $20 billion trying to defeat them. Now the Pentagon’s …
The Junior Officers’ Book Club
This is the second time in six months I’ve written about military reading lists. In August, we looked at the books then Army Chief of Staff, now Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Martin Dempsey asked his soldiers and officers …
Take That, Jack Murtha…
The Marine Corps reports (but the corps buried the lede — be sure to read the second graf):
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (January 24, 2012) – The military judge in the SSgt Frank G. Wuterich Haditha court-martial, Lt.Col. David Jones, gave his sentence ruling as the case concluded today. Wuterich is sentenced to 90 days of confinement and
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Haditha’s Denouement
The Marines’ 2005 “massacre” of 24 civilians in the Iraqi town of Haditha began with a bang but ended with a whimper Monday. Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich pled guilty to a single count of negligent dereliction of duty in …
The Afghan War: Cause and Effect
More than half of Americans want the U.S. to pull its remaining 90,000 troops out of Afghanistan “as soon as possible,” according to a Pew survey released Monday. That continues a sharp reversal that has existed since last summer. It’s interesting to compare the two lines in the Pew chart with the U.S. casualty toll detailed in …
Sexual Assault and the Military: Old Remedies Don’t Work
The news reports on the high rate of suicide in the military are subsiding, as the rate seems to be flattening. New reports focus instead on the high rates of sexual assault. Unfortunately, the proposed solutions recycle the same old solutions: education for female Soldiers and prosecuting males.
But I fear that such proposals …
The Army Venn Diagram from Hell
Buried on page 43 of the Army’s 196-page mental health study released last week is this striking illustration, about which the Army notes:
“Numerous co‐occurring physical and behavioral health issues can share common manifestations and symptoms, which further complicate diagnosis and treatment of any one health issue, let …
“Army Brig. Gen. Herbert R. McMaster Jr., has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general. McMaster is currently serving as commander, Combined Joint Interagency Task Force - Shafafiyat, International Security Assistance Force, Operation Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan.”