BattlelandMilitary Mental Health
Nearly half of the Army’s suicides may have been caused by the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, a new Army assessment of the problem says. Tracing the roots of suicide is always an inexact science, but the authors conclude:
Rates
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BattlelandMilitary
There has been a flurry of red flags and cautions from senior Pentagon officials against the U.S. launching any military action against Syria. Given that we spear-headed a similar effort against Libya a year ago this month, …
BattlelandMilitary History
Once government officials leave the stage, they often write memoirs in hopes of shaping how history will remember their tenure. Over at Small Wars Journal, Caleb S. Cage, a veteran of the Iraq war, helpfully reviews the recent books by George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice and Donald Rumsfeld.
The 2002 West Point graduate …
BattlelandMilitary
Daniel Patrick Moynihan triggered some controversy a generation ago when he noted the nation was “defining deviancy down” and that destructive habits that the public would have denounced at one time had become commonplace and accepted.
The late senator came to mind earlier this week over breakfast with Air Force General …
BattlelandCongress
Nothing raises lawmakers’ hackles like Pentagon officials saying they need international support before going to war, as Chris Lawrence explains over at CNN’s Security Clearance blog.
Their gripes would have more grip if they stepped up to the plate and declared war when the nation sends its troops into harm’s way, instead of …
BattlelandSyria
Two of the most virulently anti-U.S. regimes in the world – Iran and Syria – are painting bulls-eyes on their backs by their deeds. But the Obama Administration is seeking non-military solutions in both cases. It’s driving …
BattlelandWeapons
It has always been amazing to hang out at the rear of an Air Force refueling tanker as the boom extends to provide fuel to thirsty jet fighters below. Flying at hundreds of knots in close formation is a delicate, and dangerous, …
BattlelandSnafus
Remember Mom or Dad telling you not to fiddle with the car radio while driving? They didn’t want you running off the road.
It can get far more serious when you’re flying an Air Force fighter and you’re distracted …
BattlelandPeople
It was with great sadness Wednesday that I learned of the death of retired TOPGUN pilot Navy Captain Carroll LeFon, killed Tuesday morning when his jet crashed at Naval Air Station Fallon in Nevada.
LeFon was better known
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BattlelandMilitary Spending
If nearly doubling the Pentagon budget over the past decade (not counting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq) isn’t sufficient, GOP front-runner Mitt Romney has a solution: lock in defense spending at 4% of gross domestic product. That way, within a decade, we’ll have our first $1 trillion annual defense budget as we spend 42% more …
BattlelandAfghanistan
Bored sitting around your desk? Want some action for a change? Well, the Agency for International Development has just the gig for you: AID is seeking a “senior press liaison” for its Afghanistan outpost to “ensure the production of clear, powerful news advisories and releases.” You’ll be expected to “tell the USAID story …
BattlelandAuthor Q&A
A pair of intrepid reporters has just published No Way Out: A Story of Valor in the Mountains of Afghanistan. Veteran journalists Mitch Weiss, now at the AP — who won a Pulitzer Prize while at the Toledo Blade in 2004 — and Kevin Maurer, who has traveled frequently with U.S. troops in Afghanistan, tell the tale of a Special Forces team …
