Moving piece by a daughter whose brother just made his last flight home, and the fellow Marines who helped.
Troops
The “Yellow Parallel, um Peril” (With That Red One)
Make no mistake about it: China remains the U.S.’s No. 1 foe — with a bullet. In its annual kabuki dance Wednesday, the Pentagon issued its latest version of its assessment of China’s military might, mandated by Congress. The 84-page report focused like a laser on what the Pentagon sees as China’s push for naval and air power in the …
Women are Heroes, Too
Let the generations know that women in uniform also guaranteed their freedom. That our resolve was just as great as the brave men who stood among us. And with victory our hearts were just as full and beat just as fast – that the tears fell just as hard for those we left behind.
— World War II Army Nurse.
Those …
Meeting Tomorrow’s Recruits Today
This past weekend, something astonishing happened that made me see repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy in a new light. I was out shopping with my boyfriend, and as he went to buy a smart looking button-down shirt he asked the store clerk about their military discount. The clerk responded with delight and said he couldn’t …
The Pentagon’s Foreign-Language Frustrations
As Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told 2,500 troops Tuesday about the foreign-language skills he championed as a congressman, an active-duty Army officer was complaining about the paucity of military personnel who can speak anything other than English.
The current push to train soldiers to speak the local languages in Afghanistan …
How Gaddafi Lost His Grip on Libya
Muammar Gaddafi is falling as Libya’s leader after 42 years because of sharpening NATO air strikes, allied intelligence shared with the rebels, the rebels’ own improved military tactics, and the simple passage of time. Additional allied assistance — consisting of training and equipping the rebel forces – also has helped speed up …
Pullin’ Gs with the Blue Angels
[youtube+http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tO_Sw3P5Bs]
Always fun to watch the Navy’s Blue Angels fly — especially when their exploits are as skillfully edited as in the above video. WARNING: Do not watch on a large-screen monitor right after eating.
Walter Reed, In Transit
There was a pretty big movement of U.S. troops this weekend, and here’s betting you didn’t even hear about it. Some 200 wounded military personnel traveled five miles from the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., to Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland. That’s because, on September 15, after 102 years in operation, …
Beginner’s Pluck
Military pilots fly for decades without winning a Distinguished Flying Cross, reserved for “heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight.” So it’s something worth noting when Captain Aaron Palan lands one after only a week in Afghanistan while on his fourth combat sortie inside the “titanium bathtub” …
Return of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”?
Buzz from articles like this have started to make people nervous about the possibility of the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy coming back, even after it has been rescinded. I’ve heard talk like this from some members of Congress on Capitol Hill for a while, and have been both curious and concerned about the logistics of …
Pentagon Reportedly Planning for “Doomsday” Spending Scenario
Is the White House assuming massive defense cuts next year–much bigger than the cuts already made? Even bigger than the additional reductions contained in the recently passed debt-ceiling legislation?
It sure seems so.
Rumor has it that the Administration’s accounting arm, the Office of Management and Budget, has issued fresh …
The New Greatest Generation
Colleague Joe Klein has a great cover story this week on the flip side of veterans’ joblessness, PTSD and suicide: the exemplary examples being set in fields far removed from the battlefields by vets of our post-9/11 wars. As he notes, it’s currently behind the Time paywall, which means you won’t be able to read it online for awhile. …
$1 Trillion in Cuts Looming
It hardly seemed possible when we first broached the possibility in April that defense spending could be cut by $1 trillion over the coming decade. But there it was Wednesday in the latest issue of National Journal, one of those heavy-duty – and costly – magazines read by all of Washington’s policy wonks:
The Pentagon is
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