Funny four-star generals are rare. Dave Petraeus got in a pickle several years ago when he picked on the Air Force, but now that he’s out of uniform and running the CIA, he zinged a safer target in remarks to the Reserve …
BattlelandPeople
BattlelandPeople
BattlelandMilitary Benefits
Top Brass’s Pensions Can Be Higher Than Their Pay
File under: Doesn’t make a lick of sense. Thanks to a change stemming from the 2007 defense authorization law, retired generals and admirals can, under the right circumstances, make more in retirement than they can while actually working for the military. USA Today’s Tom Vanden Brook has the scoop:
The highest pension, $272,892, is
…
BattlelandMilitary Spending
A Battle For the GOP’s Soul
It’s kind of funny to watch the Republicans on Capitol Hill come up with repeated schemes to protect defense spending from next year’s budget cuts ($500 billion over a decade, mandated by the sequestration law) without raising taxes. The House Armed Services Committee chairman, Rep. Howard McKeon of California, has detailed one, …
BattlelandProcurement
The Costly F-35 Fighter: Positive Angle of Attack
The F-35 Lightning II fighter program has struggled recently: then-defense secretary Robert Gates put the Marine version on “probation” for two years, before new defense chief Leon Panetta let it off a year early – apparently something to do with good flying behavior. Such positive news has led to this video, complete with the …
BattlelandMilitary Benefits
“Sightseer Pay” Cut
Imminent Danger Pay has been a good deal for troops. They receive a tax-free $225 for every month – or part of every month – they are in war zones like Afghanistan or Iraq. Troops from headquarters outside such zones have been known to fly in for change of command ceremonies – which normally happen on the first of the month – …
BattlelandTaliban
Blowback
U.S. drone strikes may keep U.S. troops out of harm’s way. But they can generate their own deadly blowback.
Here’s what Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported last fall:
Here’s the blowback from that apparently successful strike, over at Long War Journal (not for the faint-hearted). Think of it as egamad laretalloc – reverse …
BattlelandPakistan
Q&A With the Pakistan Foreign Minister
Over on Time’s Global Spin blog, Aryn Baker speaks with Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar:
TIME: Many are saying that America has already lost the war in Afghanistan.
HRK: I wouldn’t want to comment on that
…
BattlelandIran
Panetta Believes “Strong Likelihood” Israel Will Strike Iran Soon
The mind games that telegraph any military strike are simmering along and on the verge of a full boil. David Ignatius, columnist for the Washington Post, is reporting that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta believes there is a …
“December 17, 2011, marked the first time in 20 years that the Air Force had not flown a sortie over Iraq.”
BattlelandMilitary
Reduced U.S. Role in Afghanistan: Politics, By Other Means
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s statement Wednesday that the U.S. plans to hand off all combat missions in Afghanistan sometime in 2013 has triggered howls from hawks who maintain it’s a step down a slippery slope headed to …
BattlelandProcurement
Look Out, 4-Star General Coming Through…the Revolving Door
On Friday last week, Raytheon, a major defense contractor, announced it scored a four-star general! Marine Corps Gen. (Ret.) James E. Cartwright, the recently departed vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, joined the …
BattlelandMilitary Spending
Stake This (Defense) Job and Love It
Patriotism may be the last refuge of a scoundrel, as Samuel Johnson famously declared in 1775, but it beats banging the drums for defense spending because of the jobs it creates. Yes, jobs are critical in these tough economic …
BattlelandIraq
Watching the Cracks Widen in Iraq
“Al-Maliki is pushing my country to reach a turning point with deeply sectarian dimension.”
— Tariq al Hashimi, Iraqi vice president, January 29
Is Tariq Hashimi’s statements to Nuri Al Maliki a thinly veiled threat or a …