A recent vote in Congress continues to allow easy access to private correspondence
BattlelandNational Security
The Real Challenges for the New SecDef
One of the most pressing problems facing the incoming secretary of defense, no matter who it ends up being, is posed by our denouement in Afghanistan.
For reasons explained by Paul Sperry in an excellent 30 December op-ed in …
BattlelandNational Security
Risk Assessment
Welcome back!
Spent the downtime trying to figure out what the military slice of national security is supposed to look like. It’s pretty simple, actually: ensuring there are enough troops, transport and tanks to defend the …
Being Overweight Is Linked to Lower Risk of Mortality
According to new research this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), researchers say that being overweight may lead to a longer life
The Past Comes Alive: History in High-Definition
There’s always something interesting about history—it’s often just a matter of knowing where to find it. Shorpy.com highlights the negatives of the Library of Congress in high-definition.
$247,000
— The cost to the Pentagon for a float honoring veterans of the Korean War in Tuesday's Rose Bowl parade in Pasedena, Calif. The float, a replica of the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., was the Defense Department's first in the parade's 123-year history. More than 33,000 U.S. troops died in the conflict.
BattlelandMilitary Spending
Countdown to Sequestration: (Never Mind)
January 2 – that’s today – was supposed to be the day Congress and President Obama either got their act together to come up with $1.2 trillion in spending cuts – including half from Pentagon accounts – or it would happen …
The Emancipation Proclamation, 150 Years Later: Hear the Many Voices That Cried Freedom
One hundred and fifty years ago today, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, an Executive decree that freed slaves then still subjugated in the rebellious South. The proclamation, enacted by a President wielding war powers, is seen as the defining act that ended the scourge of slavery and is forever pinned to …
BattlelandPeople
‘Stormin’ Norman,’ 1934–2012
For those who came of age during World War II, or post-9/11, the death Thursday of retired Army general H. Norman Schwarzkopf may not be of great moment. But for those of us who came of age during Vietnam, when that war veered …
The Winter Storm That Ruined Christmas (Travel): New Photos of the Fallout
Tornadoes. Snow. Ice. Downpours. Only hours after opening Christmas presents, Americans were confronting, and coping with, severe weather across a wide swath of the country.
Sandy Hook: After the Shooting, a Stricken Town Struggles On
The last of the burials are over, but memorials to the 20 children and 7 adults killed in the Dec. 14 rampage are still growing as Newtown, Conn. ponders how to move past a senseless tragedy
Sandy Hook Victim Dylan Hockley: A ‘Beautiful Butterfly’ Whose Life Was Cut Short
Hundreds of people gathered to remember the life of Dylan Hockley, a young boy with autistic spectrum disorder struck down in the mass shootings in Newtown, Conn.
BattlelandMilitary
Happy Holidays! (and Battleland Hiatus)
Like most of you, Battleland is headed off to Santa’s SCIF (sensitive compartmented information facility, pronounced “skiff”) for a bit. Absent breaking news, we don’t plan on returning until Wednesday, January 2, which just …