BattlelandPacific
Japan Takes Command — But Don’t Tell Anyone
BattlelandPTSD
The War After the War
The Capitol was shining it its full glory Wednesday, under a beautiful sunny sky, as a crowd gathered in Senate Park to grapple with the vexing problem of PTSD and suicide among the nation’s troops.
The Army, Navy and Air …
The Real Alfalfa Club
BattlelandAfghanistan
Afdanistan: After Action Report #1
“Watch this,” said my Irish Army friend “Seamus” as a stream of Afghan government officials left the International Security Assistance Force Headquarters building and walked through the Kabul night towards their armored Toyota Land Cruisers. They had just concluded a dinner meeting with International Security Assistance Force …
BattlelandChina
The Perfectly Ironic Chinese Foreign Direct Investment
Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal story of how Chinese state bank (China Development Bank) is pumping $1.7 billion into two long-stalled redevelopment projects in the San Francisco Bay area – namely, Hunter’s Point (a Navy base until …
“I actually got the telegram from West Point on June 29th, 1970 that said simply: Congratulations, you are appointed to the West Point class of 1974. Be here at 08:00 on the 1st of July. Now frankly, I didn't really want to go, but I decided to give it a try for the summer anyway at the request of my mother.”
BattlelandMilitary Spending
Cop Shop
You hang around the Pentagon long enough, you stop seeing things in isolation. For example, take the military program that gives surplus gear — everything from armored vehicles to M-16s – to local police forces. Danger Room reported Tuesday that the Fairmount Police Department of Georgia, charged with protecting 7,000 folks, has …
The Hole-in-the-Wall Gang
BattlelandWar Story
Building Bridges in Afghanistan
Major James Palmer liked to think of himself as a bridge builder when he was in Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011…most likely because, as an Army engineer, he is a bridge builder. Anyone who has had to live without a bridge in his …
BattlelandCool Military Acronyms
CREW
It’s a Marine program designed to protect leathernecks from IEDS. It stands for the corps’ Counter Radio Controlled Improvised Explosive Device Electronic Warfare – CREW. OK, so they cheated a little bit. This CREW contract just got bumped up to a half-billion dollars: 16.8% of it to be spent in Charleston, S.C., 5.5% to be …
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BattlelandMilitary Spending
Mongers
Sequestration continues to loom. That’s the law Congress passed last year, duly signed by the President, that requires $1.2 trillion in automatic deficit-reduction cuts over the coming decade. They’d come from discretionary spending if lawmakers and the President can’t come up with a better idea by Jan. 2.
Half of those cuts …