The U.S. is sending a pair of Patriot anti-missile batteries, and some 400 troops to operate them, to protect NATO ally Turkey from any stray missiles from Syria. German and the Netherlands are slated to do the same.
This is …
BattlelandSyria
BattlelandSyria
Farewell, Loud and Annoying TV Ads: The CALM Act Becomes the Law of the Land
Just when you thought Congress was utterly useless, here comes one of the great bipartisan legislative victories of our time: They turned down the volume on commercials.
BattlelandCongress
The New, Improved Earmarks
Good-government groups and others without financial stakes involved have long criticized lawmakers for adding “earmarks” to defense bills – boosting certain accounts, or at least ordering the Pentagon to spend money on this …
Why Your 401(k) Match Will Get Cut
Employee benefits are constantly evolving, and the trend line isn’t great for most workers.
“The most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since Vietnam, if it's carried out.”
— Then-Senator Chuck Hagel, R-Neb, responding in January, 2007, to President George W. Bush’s plan to send a “surge” of 30,000 U.S. troops to Iraq. Nonetheless, the troops went. Under the command of General David Petraeus, they would help reverse the chaos bordering on civil war then enveloping the country, following the U.S. invasion three years before. Hagel is among the top candidates to succeed Leon Panetta at the Pentagon.
The Lesson of the Boy in the Pink Ballet Flats
Amazingly enough, the big parenting story this week concerns a pair of pink zebra-patterned shoes.
BattlelandMilitary Benefits
Of Shipmates, On and Off the Water, Pens, and Holidays
I got my Christmas cards out early this year. I had some time after Thanksgiving to write short notes, and I mailed them the end of November. A little early, but I still think it is fun to send and receive, and heaven knows, the …
Red-Winged Greybirds Heading for Home…
The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower steams across the Atlantic Ocean headed for its homeport in Norfolk, Va., Dec. 10, after supporting missions in Afghanistan.
BattlelandWar Story
OK in Iraq, But Wounded at Home
Army National Guard Major Selina Herndon recently did an interview with the Combat Studies Institute at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where she was asked how well her unit did once back home following a year-long deployment to Iraq …
BattlelandIEDs
Pakistan: Ally or Killer?
Sometimes, like blind men feeling the elephant, you can get a markedly different sense of a situation depending on who is speaking, Check out these two statements, made within hours of one another on opposite sides of the world …
BattlelandMilitary Personnel
P4: Pulling No Punches on Petraeus and Paula
Sarah Chayes served as a special adviser to then-Army General David Petraeus as he settled into his final Army assignment: running the war in Afghanistan. Over at Foreign Policy, she pens her recollection on how the relationship …
Good News: Young Americans On the Move Again
Since the recession, American mobility — the rate at which we move between states, counties, and even neighborhoods — has fallen to record lows, which is both a reflection of economic troubles and a hindrance to recovery.
BattlelandIsrael
Dedicated Link
The Pentagon’s Cable Guy – you know, the Defense Information Systems Agency – is seeking someone to install a “10 MB fast Ethernet circuit between Tel Aviv, Israel, and Patch Barracks, Germany.”
That’s pretty much …