Archives for the 'military' Category
Meet Michael Bhatia
Published on 11 May 2008 at 11:27 am.
1 Comment.
Filed under military, Afghanistan, academia.
The late Michael Bhatia’s work, photos and some interesting vid interview segments at this tribute site. Comes across about as academically wonkish as they come, all the more interesting that he would take so direct a role, that would lead to his death in combat in the company of American soldiers.
Fallen American
Published on 9 May 2008 at 10:34 pm.
4 Comments.
Filed under GWOT, military, Afghanistan, academia.
Doesn’t really look like the kind of guy who would be killed in the lead Humvee of a four-vehicle combat patrol, riding with the 101st Airborne’s Task Force Currahee in Khowst Province, does he? A little bookish, maybe. But it maybe there’s something there in the eyes. Hard to tell from a snapshot. Easy to read it in, […]
Suicidal GI Meme
Published on 6 May 2008 at 1:11 am.
7 Comments.
Filed under Iraq, military, Afghanistan, PTSD.
Keeps marching on. U.S. government shrink reports that Iraq/Afghan war vets’ suicides may outstrip the death rate. Bloomberg:
How the GOP “Lost” the Military Vote
Published on 4 May 2008 at 1:25 pm.
No Comments.
Filed under pols, military.
Whether they actually have and whether they will: Greyhawk, multiply deployed, posits they haven’t but could and here’s why, spinning off Blackfive’s related discussion.
In other milblog business, Badger Six is on his way home. You’ll remember that this National Guard engineer company commander extended for another 10 months when his unit went home, in order to pass on […]
Read ‘How the GOP “Lost” the Military Vote’
Non-Lethal COIN
Published on 30 Apr 2008 at 8:22 pm.
No Comments.
Filed under Iraq, military.
Examined by Capt. Gorkowski, operations officer for 25th ID’s 3BCT special troops battalion at Small Wars Journal:
Counterinsurgency Cliff Notes
Published on 29 Apr 2008 at 8:43 pm.
1 Comment.
Filed under Iraq, military.
For rifle platoons in Iraq. Another must-read from Small Wars Journal:
Read ‘Counterinsurgency Cliff Notes’
Band of Sisters
Published on 28 Apr 2008 at 7:34 am.
No Comments.
Filed under Iraq, military, women.
Castle Argghhh!!! with some people you should know.
God bless you, Mr. Brounwater
Published on 24 Apr 2008 at 8:08 pm.
4 Comments.
Filed under anthronerdism, al qaeda, military, law & order, sex, nerds, pervs, moronocy, human organs, punishment, porn, boobs, Neanderthals, BS, Bums, Taliban, incompetence, Jihad, filthy Crusader pigs, Nazis, dummkopf!, opportunity, western civilization, transsexuals, nude, mockery.
Representative Paul Broun, R-Ga, wants to define nudity and ban government employees (specifically, military members) from spending their money on it. His Bill has 16 co-sponsors.
Up in heaven, Kurt Vonnegut laughs.
Read ‘God bless you, Mr. Brounwater’
Sign of the Apocalypse
Published on 22 Apr 2008 at 5:10 pm.
No Comments.
Filed under military.
This is an excerpt from a post I just put up at Small Wars Journal, related items can be found here and here.
Lieutenant Colonel Paul Yingling is deploying to Iraq again this afternoon. We wish him, his family and his soldiers God speed, fair winds and following seas.
In light of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’ address […]
How Not to Dress Like an Army Colonel
Published on 21 Apr 2008 at 5:01 pm.
1 Comment.
Filed under military.
One of my ”rogue cousins“ over at Abu Muqawama has some good advice on civilian fashion sense for all the men in uniform.
Basics (you wear a uniform to work)
1) No pleated pants. Ever. Same goes for shorts.
2) No polo shirts with unit insignia. Save them for the reunion. (Yes, you can wear the t-shirts as PT gear.)
3) […]
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Monday Morning Food for Thought
Published on 21 Apr 2008 at 5:00 am.
4 Comments.
Filed under military.
A debate on “generalship”, the obligations of senior officers and retired military “talking heads” was raging on an e-mail discussion group I belong to.
A retired US Army brigadier general chimed in with what I thought as very wise words to reflect on. Here they are:
Upon assuming brigade command my heretofore quiet command sergeant major followed […]
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All the News that’s…
Published on 20 Apr 2008 at 5:18 pm.
4 Comments.
Filed under media, military.
Dave, from Small Wars Journal, here. It’s quite an honor to be Jules guest and I am humbled. A hot topic of discussion over at SWJ is today’s NYT item Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand that makes the claim that a “Pentagon information apparatus” has used a group of retired military officers in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance. So, in my first post as a guest blogger, I give you SWJ guest blogger LTC Robert Bateman…
A Dutch Patriot’s Day
Published on 19 Apr 2008 at 12:35 pm.
1 Comment.
Filed under military, Europe, Afghanistan.
Lt. Dennis van Uhm, son of the Netherlands’ defense chief, killed in Afghanistan. Thank you, Holland, for unselfishly giving him and his comrades to the world.
Van der Galien at the link addresses the issue of whether it was a targeted hit or not. In response to a couple of issues he raises, no, I don’t believe […]
About Those Recruitment Issues
Published on 18 Apr 2008 at 8:11 am.
7 Comments.
Filed under Russia, military, America, mockery.
They want a draft? OK, let’s have a draft. No problem. A couple of things, though. The last thing we want to do is screw with the world’s greatest professional volunteer Army. And there has to be an alternative for principled peaceniks. The Work Corps. Sounds harsh, I know. The W-word. Just wait till you hear about the Punishment […]
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Recruiting Trends, Ours
Published on 17 Apr 2008 at 9:37 am.
7 Comments.
Filed under military, America.
Army of dolts and criminals, or army of opportunity? Some media and DoD articles on the expanding wartime military. We’ll start with NPR’s report on waivers for substandard recruits:
Read ‘Recruiting Trends, Ours’
Thoughtful Question
Published on 13 Apr 2008 at 10:20 am.
7 Comments.
Filed under Iraq, guns, military, free speech.
From the forward-deployed Badger Six: “Is it too much to ask that newspapers such as the New York and Los Angeles Times publish OPED pieces by people that actually know what they are talking about?”
Frippery Decried
Published on 13 Apr 2008 at 8:11 am.
6 Comments.
Filed under media, military, moronocy.
Dick Cavett uses up valuable bits of Internet space making fun of “fripperies” (military awards) and dickering over semantics in an anti-Petraeus, anti-Crocker, anti-war rant that contributes exactly zip to the debate. Wasn’t that guy the host of a somewhat intellectual kind of lefty talk show about 100 years ago? It’s pathetic when the opposition is this lame. Here’s […]
Tactical Jenga
Published on 12 Apr 2008 at 8:28 am.
No Comments.
Filed under Iraq, military.
Former Australian Army LTC/US counterinsurgency advisor David Kilcullen was playing it at Joint Urban Warrior 08:
Arms for Grunts
Published on 10 Apr 2008 at 11:42 pm.
2 Comments.
Filed under military.
This is better than Segway. Which hasn’t changed the world, at last check. Nice try. Now Dean Kamen puts his mind to something useful. Arms for grunts. This came out last August but I missed it then.
Reality Checks
Published on 10 Apr 2008 at 9:31 am.
8 Comments.
Filed under Iraq, Iran, media, military.
Lots of talk out there about what’s real, what’s not. Big reality roundup below, but first, this week’s Irony Cross with oakleaf clusters to repeat honoree Harry Reid.
“We are stuck in a twilight zone in Iraq,” Reid said.
He hasn’t been in the news much lately. You’ll remember him as part of the war-ending Democratic mandate. No cruel Twilight […]
Here Is Your War
Published on 4 Apr 2008 at 1:04 pm.
2 Comments.
Filed under Iraq, media, military.
Title borrowed from the collected columns of another great dead war correspondent. As long as we’re on war correspondent tributes. Kelly was a literary big-picture guy. Bloom was a gritty this-is-what-it’s-like TV guy. But nowadays GIs can tell their own stories in real time every bit as well as Ernie Pyle, as the great Gordon Alanko […]
G.I. Hill
Published on 3 Apr 2008 at 10:39 am.
5 Comments.
Filed under military, Clintons, BS.
Here’s that weird one about Hillary wanting to join the Marines or the Army or some uniformed branch of the military-industrial complex in 1975, at age 27, possibly as an alternative with marriage to Bill. Did she have him figured out yet or was it life in Arkansas that looked bleaker? Maybe just testing the jarheads’ commitment […]
Perspective on Whinage
Published on 3 Apr 2008 at 8:25 am.
6 Comments.
Filed under Iraq, military.
Grumpy old officers re whiny young ones:
Earning Honors the Old Fashioned Way
Published on 1 Apr 2008 at 12:02 pm.
3 Comments.
Filed under military, Britain.
By rolling on a grenade for his friends. Royal Marine Lance Cpl. Matt Croucher saved them and got to live, too. He may now be a candidate for the Victoria Cross. He ought to be.
Read ‘Earning Honors the Old Fashioned Way’
Medal of Honor
Published on 31 Mar 2008 at 8:29 pm.
5 Comments.
Filed under Iraq, military, courage.
Announced for Petty Officer 2nd Class Mike Mansoor, who threw himself on a grenade in Ramadi two years ago to save his SEAL team members.
Coming Home
Published on 31 Mar 2008 at 8:26 am.
3 Comments.
Filed under Iraq, military.
Sgt. Matthew Maupin’s remains found. Cincinnati Enquirer:
Moore Vineyards
Published on 27 Mar 2008 at 10:31 pm.
3 Comments.
Filed under Iraq, military, law & order, free speech.
Produces a fine whine:
Grim Milestone
Published on 24 Mar 2008 at 11:19 am.
3 Comments.
Filed under Iraq, media, military.
Grim milestone headline, grim milestone lede, grim milestone 2nd graph in this AP article at MSNBC. It can’t get much grimmer. AP posits hopefully:
Interview with a Paratrooper
Published on 22 Mar 2008 at 8:00 am.
No Comments.
Filed under military.
Combat medic Sgt. Rebecca Hobson in Iraq, via Chuck Simmins.
Read ‘Interview with a Paratrooper’
Iraq Vet Earns His Stripes
Published on 20 Mar 2008 at 8:24 am.
2 Comments.
Filed under Iraq, military.
Advanced cancer took this National Guardsman out of the war zone. Boston Herald.
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The Sound and the Fury
Published on 18 Mar 2008 at 7:25 am.
1 Comment.
Filed under Iraq, military.
Acute Politics has got your war noise.
St. Pat’s Parade
Published on 17 Mar 2008 at 9:41 am.
3 Comments.
Filed under Iraq, military, Boston.
LCpl Walter “Gator” O’Haire’s pals from Golf Co., 2/6 Marines, march through his hometown, South Boston, in yesterday’s St. Pat’s parade. O’Haire was killed in action in Anbar May 9, 2007, shot in the head while on patrol, six days short of his 21st birthday. Boston Herald on the parade here, on O’Haire’s mom hosting […]
“Ever Been A Pallbearer Before?”
Published on 16 Mar 2008 at 9:02 am.
No Comments.
Filed under Iraq, media, military.
“No, what do I need to do?”
“Just carry him.”
AP’s Todd Pitman, who has done good work as a grunt-level newsman, on the death of a friend last year in Diyala.
Read ‘“Ever Been A Pallbearer Before?”’
Platoon Mom
Published on 13 Mar 2008 at 10:53 am.
4 Comments.
Filed under Iraq, military, Boston.
Gelzo at Boston Herald:
When you have brought five children into this world, adopted four more and nurtured some 50 foster kids, opening your heart to another 25 boys is no problem - especially when they formed the circle of brothers who were with Lance Cpl. Walter “Gator” O’Haire at the moment of his death in […]
Fresh-Faced Honesty
Published on 13 Mar 2008 at 9:24 am.
13 Comments.
Filed under military, moronocy, America, peaceniks.
From Berkeley’s own Jimmy Olson. Kenneth Thiesen at the Daily Planet on why he doesn’t support the troops.
Yeah, But
Published on 13 Mar 2008 at 8:08 am.
7 Comments.
Filed under Iraq, media, military.
Kuhn at Politico thinks last month’s Pew poll showing growing confidence in the Iraq war effort will remake the presidential debate. With Dems still pushing unconditional withdrawal, independents will swing McCainward. What Kuhn fails to note, however, is the return of the “Yeah, But” narrative in war reportage.
Anti-War Loonacy
Published on 12 Mar 2008 at 9:58 am.
6 Comments.
Filed under military, moronocy.
Plans to storm the office, cage recruiters in Pittsburgh. LGF.
The War on Recruiters: Bombs, Threats and Cages. Malkin.
I dunno whatever happened to supporting the troops, though that was always a little thin at best.
On the other side of the ledger, Blackfive on Resolve to Win. (No need to apologize about anything, Grim. Free country, you […]
Rallying for Recruiters
Published on 9 Mar 2008 at 11:34 am.
1 Comment.
Filed under military, America.
Rally art and vid via Malkin.
Washington Post: FBI says Times Square bomb, congressional letters not linked. They think he’s an independent wackjob.
CNN: Suspect photo released.
NYT: Recruiters soldier on.
Fox: NYC anarchists eyed.
With a nod to Blackfive, this WSJ story on 1/503 commander’s letters to families.
Read ‘Rallying for Recruiters’
CAT-Kill
Published on 8 Mar 2008 at 5:38 pm.
No Comments.
Filed under Iraq, military.
Acute Politics on a brief news item, and what it was about:
The shock wave flattened out across the ground, kicking dust into the air. Out of the cloud came the stuff of nightmare for every man who goes to war: scraps of vehicle and worse- the crew. Soldiers consider such massive bombs to be mercifully […]
Battling Soldiers Duke It Out Re War
Published on 8 Mar 2008 at 3:41 pm.
No Comments.
Filed under Iraq, military.
Strategy fight over at Small Wars Journal! Last one to make a salient point’s a rotten egg. Peter Mansoor wacks Gian Gentile, says his own experience colors his view: It wasn’t the soldiers failing, it was the strategy. It’s a version of Kilcullen’s where/when you served tends to color your view observation. Current prior re same, and […]
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Sad Commentary
Published on 7 Mar 2008 at 7:31 am.
12 Comments.
Filed under military, Britain, Germans.
Diss this uniform, would you? UPDATED below.
Brits compelled to have a policy debate over whether soldiers and airmen should be encouraged to wear their uniforms in public.
The Good German
Published on 6 Mar 2008 at 10:26 am.
7 Comments.
Filed under Iraq, military, Germans.
Mocking Germans is like shooting sausage in a butcher’s shop. As dear old Auntie Helen used to say, if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.
So let’s praise one German who stepped up. Der Spiegel with a fascinating portrait. If only there were more like him. Say, 82 million.
Schnitzel Korps
Published on 6 Mar 2008 at 12:29 am.
10 Comments.
Filed under military, dummkopf!, Germans, schnitzel.
They’re calling it a wurst-case scenario. Das Bundeswehr über alles. Bei Kilos. via Boston Herald:
Patton of the Counter Insurgency
Published on 5 Mar 2008 at 10:18 am.
4 Comments.
Filed under Iraq, military, deep thot.
The Kagans at Weekly Standard and other counter-insurgency thot:
Read ‘Patton of the Counter Insurgency’
Last Harrah
Published on 1 Mar 2008 at 9:50 am.
4 Comments.
Filed under media, military, Britain, Afghanistan.
The best part about a combat deployment in Afghanistan? No paparazzi. A chance to be normal. via Boston Herald:
Wowaditaka
Published on 29 Feb 2008 at 1:34 pm.
5 Comments.
Filed under military, courage.
Another great American to be recognized six decades after the fact. The late Master Sgt. Woodrow Wilson Keeble will be awarded the Medal of Honor next week. Medal of Woyuonihan, if you prefer. He’s full-blooded Sioux. Wowaditaka is the Sioux word for what he embodied, from Guadalcanal to Korea. “It means don’t be afraid of […]
Royal Shame
Published on 29 Feb 2008 at 10:34 am.
3 Comments.
Filed under military, Britain, Afghanistan, moronocy.
As the Poms yank Harry. Donkeys. I’ll let the colonials do the honors. Sydney Morning Herald, Back to Blighty for Prince Harry:
Tally Ho!
Published on 28 Feb 2008 at 11:59 am.
4 Comments.
Filed under military, Britain, Afghanistan.
Lighthorse Harry “exemplary” vs. the Taliban. Frontline combat tour in Helmand. That’s the great news. The crappy news is that, now that its news, the brass are mulling bringing him back. Times:
Milbots
Published on 27 Feb 2008 at 10:22 am.
9 Comments.
Filed under military, robots.
Kill people, don’t they? Threat to humanity, says Brit prof.
GOP Iraq Vets
Published on 26 Feb 2008 at 8:56 pm.
5 Comments.
Filed under Iraq, pols, military.
Want to tip the balance in a wartime Congress that isn’t interested in fighting.
You’ll recall a couple years ago the story was how Iraq vets were running as Democrats against the war. I don’t know if that means the ones who support the mission were still supporting the mission, but here they are.
The story mentions the lone […]
