BattlelandAfghanistan
Goldilocking the “Insider Threat”
Make no mistake about it: when Afghan “insiders” turn their weapons on their U.S. and coalition allies and kill them, most either escape or are killed in the act. So gleaning intelligence about motivation can be tough. Forty …
The Big Dry-Up: Where the Missouri and the Mississippi Meet
Two of America’s great rivers meet up in the Saint Louis area – but there’s much less water to go around nowadays because of a “flash drought”
BattlelandMilitary Justice
Of Blowouts and Beards…
Probably makes sense that the military judge overseeing the court proceedings against five alleged terrorists – including purported 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed – put them on hold Thursday as tropical storm – and …
BattlelandLeon Panetta
The Country Whose Name Dare Not Be Spoken
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta spoke to the sailors of the carrier USS John C. Stennis on Wednesday in Bremerton, Wash. He lauded their their service, but warned of the threats still out there:
We have threats of nuclear
…
BattlelandMilitary Mental Health
The Hidden (High) Cost of War
It’s always surprising to discover the costs of war that you incur…after the war.
It seems Fort Drum, the Army post just outside Watertown, N.Y., has an “urgent requirement” for extra mental-health care.
That should …
The Convention Draws Near: The Romney-Ryan Road Trip to Tampa
By the Dawn’s Early Smite
BattlelandPolitics
Mitt-Picking
Jim Kitfield, the intrepid military correspondent at National Journal for many years, turns his eyes on Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, for a keen but nuanced look at his national-security chops. The …
BattlelandAfghanistan
An Iraq Vet Commanding In Afghanistan?
A new general’s name emerges in the Afghanistan context. Julian Barnes of the Wall Street Journal reports (sub. req.) that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has forwarded Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford’s name to the White …
BattlelandSpecial Operations
Navy SEAL Reportedly Set To Tell All About bin Laden Raid In New Book
We’ve been hearing rumbles for months that a SEAL involved in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden was working on a book. The New York Times is now reporting it’s coming out September 11 and will be called No Easy Day: The …
BattlelandCongress
Two Peas In a Pod
Battleland recently noted that Rep. Roscoe Bartlett – chairman of the House Armed Services Committee’s tactical air and land forces subcommittee – has a strange fascination with survivalship (a word we just made up). We …
“One of the things that marks us as a profession in a democracy is it's most important we remain apolitical. That's how we maintain our trust with the American people. The American people don't want us to become another special interest group. In fact, I think that confuses them.”