BattlelandAir Force
Size Matters
Now that the Air Force has decided to keep its manned U-2 Dragon Lady aircraft flying well into the future – after earlier talk that the half-century old spy plane might be grounded for keeps – Air Force officials were busy …
1960s-Era Choppers Guarding 1970s-Era Missiles
BattlelandPeople
WIA
Earlier this month, Taylor Morris became a member of perhaps the most elite group among the 2.5 million U.S. men and women who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq. Ten troops have won the Medal of Honor. Only five have lost pieces of all four of their limbs.
BattlelandKorea
Hypothetically Speaking…
Asked by ABC over the weekend if he’d stay on as defense secretary if Mitt Romney wins the presidential election in November, Leon Panetta had a simple answer: “I don’t engage in hypotheticals.”
The wisdom of such an …
“You experienced some defining moments together as a class. You celebrated as plebes, when a few of you pulled off a daring spirit mission, building an unmanned aerial vehicle, flying it over the superintendent's house at night, and using it to place a hat on top of the chapel dome. Hell, I could have used you at the CIA.”
BattlelandPolitics
Naval Battle Brewing
It’s the biggest sea battle since Midway – or at least the Falklands. There’s gonna be a lot of garbage flung around about military matters in the presidential campaign. That’s what happens when you end up with a pair of …
BattlelandNational Security
Death to “Resource Wars”!
Nice Washington Post piece on Saturday about how the “center of gravity” in global oil exploration and production is shifting to the Western hemisphere. No, the bulk of global conventional oil reserves still sits in the Persian …
BattlelandMilitary History
Remembering Vietnam
In case you missed it, we began commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam war Monday.
Don’t fret if you missed it, because you’ll have plenty of time to catch up: according to the proclamation issued by President Obama, the remembrance will last as long as the war itself did: until November 11, 2025.
Thirteen years? …
BattlelandNational Security
Building a True 21st Century U.S. Military
When it comes to reform of the U.S. military establishment, we’ve tinkered on the margins far too long. We are currently in the ninth version of the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS) in ten years; …
There’s a Ford in Your Future
BattlelandMilitary Spending
A Peek at Pentagon Pork: A Taxpayers’ Guide
The House Armed Services Committee (HASC) and the Defense Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee (sometimes called the HAC-D) have reported their separate defense bills to the House of Representatives (both bills purport to address both spending and policy). The House has already debated and passed the HASC’s …
BattlelandVeterans
Surprising Numbers…
Couple of stunning numbers involving veterans — 24 and 45, specifically — surfaced over the holiday weekend. Both are worth noting, and pondering:
— A new Gallup poll shows that veterans favor Mitt Romney over President Obama in November’s election by a striking 24-percentage-point margin. What’s more remarkable is that the two …