BattlelandMilitary Mental Health
Suicides Eclipse Car Crashes as Top Non-Combat Cause of U.S. Troop Deaths
For years, motor-vehicle accidents have killed more U.S. troops than any other non-combat cause. There have been safe-driving campaigns on military posts since troops and transportation first got together. “Many military members are young, single, male, and high-school educated,” the Pentagon’s Medical Surveillance Monthly Report …
“It is clear that sequestration would risk hollowing out our force and reducing its military options available to the nation. We would go from being unquestionably powerful everywhere, to being less visible globally, and presenting less of an overmatch to our adversaries. And that would translate into a different deterrent calculus and potentially therefore increase the likelihood of conflict.”
BattlelandSyria
The Double-Edged Blades of Russian Helicopters
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s in for a strafing on Capitol Hill today. He’s appearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee’s defense subcommittee, but he’s likely to face tough questions on the Defense Department’s …
BattlelandMissile Defense
Golden Oldie: The Day the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty Died
OK, so it lacks Don McLean’s songcraft, but it was a decade ago Wednesday that the U.S. walked away from 1972’s ABM treaty with the Soviets. Despite predictions from arms controllers that the sky would fall, not much has happened.
Sure, the Treasury is lighter by $100 billion or so, but we did that to ourselves by building a …
“As a military force today, if you're in Afghanistan, you get up in the morning, you get in an armored vehicle, you go on patrol, and then you come back. You're heavily armored; you're heavily defensive; it's called an occupation force. Is that what we want for our military?”
BattlelandPentagon
Graphic Proof…That You’re Right!
Here at Battleland, we take pride in airing both sides of the issue, from Mackenzie “F-15 Strike” Eaglen on one side of the military-might debate to Winslow Wheeler-Dealer on the other.
Amid all the doom about looming sequestration, we’d like to arm you with an important chart – no matter what side of the debate you’re on.
Devil Dogs — And A Real One — Hunt for Drugs
BattlelandMilitary Spending
Think-Tanked: Old Wine in Dark Bottles
Two of Washington D.C.’s most prestigious and well-funded think tanks recently published reports advising Congress and the Defense Department on how — and how much — to cut from the Pentagon’s coffers after November’s …
BattlelandDumb Pentagon Headline of the Day
Great Moments in Military Planning…
Hard to believe, we know. Full story here.
“There is a chance that [killing sequestration and its $600 billion in Pentagon spending cuts] could happen, particularly during a lame-duck session, that we would once again kick the can down the road, modify the law that now is in place…I don't think it's the right way to go. But to say that [there’s]…no chance that Congress would kick the can down the road would be kind of inconsistent with a hell of a lot of evidence. Not only can we kick the can down the road, but I think we have special gym shoes…”
BattlelandSpecial Operations
PsyWar of Words
The Army’s psychological operations manual spells out – literally – how psyops soldiers are supposed to help the guys with the guns win. Toward that end, they’re supposed to draft psyop plans with “strong verbs” instead of those dreaded “weak verbs.”
For those of you who weren’t paying attention in English class, the …
