People aren’t being allowed back into Seaside Heights yet and the task of rebuilding the community is daunting – and expensive
9.3%
— The number of troops discharged from active duty, or demobilized from reserve forces, last year who were on psychiatric or pain medications when mustered out. In 2011, a new Government Accountability Office report says, 35,068 of the 378,277 discharged were taking such meds. That’s a 26% jump from the 7.4% rate experienced in 2009.
BattlelandNational Security
Let’s Not Overreact. Too Late!
The last 100 hours have been a John Le Carré novel starring the Marx brothers. The Pavlovian response by the press – fueled by, it must be conceded, a public appetite for more — has sent the David Petraeus story into the …
Overwatching
Afghan soldiers from 4th Toli, 2nd Kandak of the Afghan National Army, provide security for the Kona Kumar valley in Wardak Province.
Stephen Colbert Shuts Down His Super PAC
Mocking the byzantine campaign finance regulations that govern U.S. elections would have been easy. Instead of pushing for solutions, satirist Stephen Colbert — who won a Peabody award for his efforts — decided to become part …
BattlelandPeople
The Rise and Fall of `General Peaches’
The call, from one retired four-star general to another, was somber. Just-departed CIA chief Dave Petraeus’ voice – usually assertive, buffed by optimism — was lower, slower and more subdued than his former comrade had ever …
Investigative Report Reveals Some Religious Reform Schools Are Havens for Child Abuse
An investigation reveals extensive child abuse in youth programs in Florida.
BattlelandDefense Contractors
Drones `R’ Cheap
First item in Tuesday’s Pentagon’s contract announcements is a big one: $950 million to Battlespace Flight Services of Arlington, Va., for “organizational level maintenance support of remotely piloted aircraft…to sustain …
Who’s Who in the David Petraeus ‘Love Pentagon’ Scandal
Who knew? How soon? And just how did they send so many pages of emails? The details continue get more complex — and sordid — in the adultery saga that started with former CIA director General David Petraeus
BattlelandSnafus
When It Rains, It Pours
News just keeps pouring in on the military malfeasance front:
— Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who lately seems to be spending much of his time like a high-school chaperone, has decided to demote the former head of U.S. …
"41.67"
— Official at U.S. Central Command, calculating how many “potentially inappropriate” emails Marine General John Allen and Tampa socialite Jill Kelley exchanged each day, if there really are 30,000 pages of emails and each page is one email. “Based on 720 days," he adds. "We can’t believe it."
Senate Intelligence Committee to Probe Petraeus Affair
Ask Saxby Chambliss, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, if his panel is going to investigate former CIA Director David Petraeus’s affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, and he sounds downright regretful.
BattlelandWar Story
Conjugal Warfare
Army Major Ryan Guthrie is an OH-58 Kiowa helicopter pilot who spent her second tour in Afghanistan, in 2010-2011, commanding a 270-person aviation support company. She had lots of trouble with contractors who were supposed to be …