Archives for the 'military' Category
Big Guns Make Bad Neighbors
Published on 7 Nov 2009 at 8:26 am.
No Comments.
Filed under America, Boston, guns, history, military.
I say, Muffy, that deuced gunnery is flattening the bubbly! Old Ironsides’ la-di-da waterfront condo neighbors want to muffle the guns … a.m. and p.m. salutes to the flag, unsettling. Boston Herald:
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Combat Wounded, Combat Dead
Published on 6 Nov 2009 at 9:13 pm.
1 Comment.
Filed under al qaeda, military.
… deserve Purple Hearts. Their killer probably deserves desertion, treason and terrorism charges if, as all indicators seem to very strongly suggest, he was engaged in jihad, from his violence-inciting, hateful rants about the Koran, his denunciation of the United States as “the aggressor” in arguments with fellow soldiers, to his shouts of “Allahu Akhbar,” to what [...]
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Dots, Not Connected
Published on 6 Nov 2009 at 1:10 am.
7 Comments.
Filed under Afghanistan, America, Iraq, Islam, Jihad, Palestinians, military.
Not in time, anyway. The murders of 12 people and wounding of 31 others by one man with two handguns probably made a lot of things painfully obvious, and probably helped cut through a lot of clutter and red tape pretty quickly.
But when, within a matter of hours, the following facts and suspicions are widely reported, [...]
Thanks To You
Published on 2 Nov 2009 at 1:14 pm.
2 Comments.
Filed under courage, dogs, military.
Team Marines was still out front, leading the pack by $1,300 at $14,561 as of 1 p.m. today:
“We Enjoyed It”
Published on 31 Oct 2009 at 11:09 am.
6 Comments.
Filed under Afghanistan, Iraq, military.
The smallest of the four combat branches leads the Valour IT push as of 10 a.m. this morning. It was Marines, $13,486; Army, $11,910; Air Force $5,060; and Navy, $4,790.
Advanced Baby Splittage
Published on 31 Oct 2009 at 10:00 am.
2 Comments.
Filed under Afghanistan, Obama, military.
President Barack Obama, half-pregnant with Bush’s Afghan war, apparently is leaning toward splitting the baby … surgically. Washington Post:
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The Fourth Star
Published on 28 Oct 2009 at 9:34 pm.
No Comments.
Filed under Afghanistan, Iraq, military.
The Fourth Star: Four Generals and the Epic Struggle for the Future of the United States Army by Washington Post Pentagon reporter Greg Jaffe. Judging by an interview on NPR’s Fresh Air today, it sounds interesting. The focus is on four generals, their backgrounds, how they were influenced by the military’s Vietnam and Gulf War experiences as they [...]
Standing Tall
Published on 28 Oct 2009 at 6:00 am.
3 Comments.
Filed under Iraq, military.
I met USMC Lance Cpl. James Crosby in June 2004. He was 19. He was a kid from a blue-collar background in Winthrop, Mass., and his body was a mess. But I could tell within minutes of meeting him that he was no ordinary kid, and I was pretty sure I’d hear his name again. From [...]
Resignation
Published on 27 Oct 2009 at 11:08 am.
4 Comments.
Filed under Afghanistan, military.
A disappointment. Former Marine Capt. Matthew Hoh, with intense and traumatic duty in Iraq, who became a PRT team member in Zabul, Afghanistan, has resigned from the Foreign Service and refused high-level offers to stay onboard. Washington Post:
Fallen Marine
Published on 27 Oct 2009 at 9:28 am.
3 Comments.
Filed under Afghanistan, military.
Local boy made good, had it all, gave it all. One of 14 Americans to die in Afghanistan yesterday. Another 12 were injured. Boston Herald:
WWII In HD
Published on 24 Oct 2009 at 11:55 am.
3 Comments.
Filed under TV, history, military.
Big History Channel event, two hours a night, Nov. 15-19, “WWII in HD” promises to ”change the way the world sees this defining conflict.” Previews* and details at History.com, where they say they combed the archives for a lot of largely unseen footage and digitally cranked it up to HD standards.
McChrystal’s Afghanistan
Published on 15 Oct 2009 at 11:13 am.
5 Comments.
Filed under Afghanistan, media, military.
NYT’s Dexter Filkins goes deep with a profile of McChrystal in action that includes an intimate look at what he wants to do in Afghanistan, the difficulties he faces, some reasons for hope, a lot of ugly truths, and for a refreshing change in current American reporting trends, some comparison and contrast on the fact that these guys have [...]
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Chaos-istan
Published on 5 Oct 2009 at 9:51 am.
18 Comments.
Filed under Afghanistan, Obama, military.
On the Potomac. It’s the kind of thing political and military debacles are made of. UK Telegraph reports the president is PO’d at Gen. Stanley McChrystal over the London speech:
Afghan Tet
Published on 4 Oct 2009 at 11:03 am.
2 Comments.
Filed under Afghanistan, military.
While their president mulls the question, to fight or not to fight, Americans are fighting and dying in Afghanistan. Eight dead in a major, organized Taliban assault Saturday. Washington Post:
McClellan On The Hindu Kush
Published on 27 Sep 2009 at 11:15 am.
1 Comment.
Filed under Afghanistan, Obama, military.
They were almost right about the Obama-Lincoln analogies. Turns out he’s not Lincolnescque. Just Lincoln proximate.*
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A Modern War Reader
Published on 27 Sep 2009 at 10:45 am.
1 Comment.
Filed under Afghanistan, Iraq, history, military.
JH Stuart, who you’ll know from his periodic comments here, is a Norwich- and UVM-trained civil engineering consultant in Vermont and former Army engineer in Italy and Vietnam who has attacked our current wars with a engineer’s thoroughness, taking them apart to see how they work with the following course of study. Stuart called it “The [...]
Dismount!
Published on 25 Sep 2009 at 9:51 am.
4 Comments.
Filed under Afghanistan, Iraq, history, military.
Treadheads no more. The unit I rode into Baghdad with, 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, is now reflagged as 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry, 4th Brigade, 3rd ID. Hasta la vista, Bradley! Arrivederci, Abrams. Until we mech again. They’re running around in the dirt in Georgia and getting ready to go to Afghanistan, with about [...]
Hidden Gem
Published on 25 Sep 2009 at 8:59 am.
No Comments.
Filed under history, military.
Reportedly one of the world’s best WWII collections has been salted away in a private museum in Natick, Mass., for the past decade. Now slightly less private. Viewing by appointment only. Includes a purported sawed-off bit of the couch Hitler did himself and the Mrs. in on, a draft of the Munich agreement, a Sherman tank and other [...]
In Which Obama Has A General Problem, Just Like A Real President*
Published on 22 Sep 2009 at 9:17 am.
6 Comments.
Filed under Afghanistan, Obama, history, military.
Roggio at Long War points to and discusses a McClatchy report that McChrystal is ready to resign if not given the resources to prosecute the war in Afghanistan.
I’m going to guess Obama and Emanuel are not going to take kindly to being pressured, but it puts them in a spot.
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To Look Good Or To Feel Good?
Published on 21 Sep 2009 at 8:05 am.
3 Comments.
Filed under Afghanistan, Obama, military.
It’s a Lamasian dilemma* for Obama. Washington Post reports the top general in Afghanistan is sticking it to him. More troops or mission failure:
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Hard, Hard All The Time, But Doable
Published on 18 Sep 2009 at 8:00 am.
2 Comments.
Filed under Afghanistan, military.
In an open letter to the Brits, apparently designed to encourage and reassure, Gen. David Petraeus weighs in on Afghanistan. Times of London:
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Honor
Published on 17 Sep 2009 at 9:36 pm.
2 Comments.
Filed under Afghanistan, courage, military.
Sergeant First Class Jared Monti of Raynham, Massachusetts, was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor today at the White House. His parents were there to accept it for him.
Monti, a forward observer with 3rd squadron, 71st Cav, 10th Mountain Division, was on a recon mission on June 21, 2006, in Gowardesh on the Afghan-Pak border, when his [...]
Medic Murdered
Published on 10 Sep 2009 at 10:35 pm.
5 Comments.
Filed under Afghanistan, military.
Navy Corpsman James Layton was shot dead in a hail of Taliban gunfire, along with the wounded Marine he was working on. McClatchy:
Aftermath Anger
Published on 10 Sep 2009 at 11:46 am.
2 Comments.
Filed under Afghanistan, media, military.
UK Telegraph reports senior British Army sources voice anger that a soldier was killed rescuing a New York Times reporter who ignored security warnings and went into a Taliban-controlled area. An Afghan translator was also killed, unclear by which side. The military believed that the situation might be about to deteriorate.
Caught a few moments of what sounded [...]
Lessons And Rules
Published on 9 Sep 2009 at 9:49 am.
No Comments.
Filed under Afghanistan, military.
Bitter ones. Herschel Smith at Captain’s Journal looks at the death of four Marines, seven Afghan soldiers and an interpreter in an ambush in Kunar province and considers the force projection aspect of counterinsurgency and the arm-tied-behind-the-back part … when rules of engagement are followed over a cliff.
Small Wars Journal points to some relevant discussion: NYT with a [...]
Professional Issues
Published on 5 Sep 2009 at 9:58 am.
6 Comments.
Filed under media, military.
AP’s dead Marine photo violates its own embed agreement and the wishes of a dead Marine’s family. Gates objects. NYT.
The journal entries of AP Photog Julie Jacobson regarding the incident in which Lance Cpl. Joshua Bernard was killed are compelling reading. via Miami Herald. Real deal, descriptions of heavy combat. She says the Marines tried to ice her [...]
Afghan Woes
Published on 3 Sep 2009 at 8:44 am.
2 Comments.
Filed under Afghanistan, Obama, military.
Daniel Dravot: “Ask him who his enemies are, Billy Fish.”
Billy Fish: “Uttar say, ‘Enemies all around. The worst are the Bashkai. Always raiding and stealing our womens. And when we go to bathe, they are pissing in the river!”
Daniel Dravot: “Shocking state of affairs! You tell Uttar, we will help him defeat his enemies. He [...]
Blitzkrieg
Published on 1 Sep 2009 at 10:30 pm.
2 Comments.
Filed under Europe, history, military.
Born on this day, 70 years ago, in the invasion of Poland: The coordinated use of armor, infantry and air power to penetrate opposing lines with lightning speed to encircle and destroy targeted units. As significant as the tactics were, the strategic maneuvering was that much more so. Possibly the single most cynical, murderous act of modern history, when [...]
Be All You Can Be
Published on 24 Aug 2009 at 8:36 am.
2 Comments.
Filed under Afghanistan, Obama, military.
You can do it, as the commander in chief of the Army!
Bad news: NYT reports the military in Afghanistan, not strong enough. Apparently a few more good men would help. It isn’t exactly news. There’s a war on, the one the lefty peaceniks always said was the one that needed to be fought. But now that it’s theirs to fight, [...]
Case In Point
Published on 13 Aug 2009 at 1:49 pm.
1 Comment.
Filed under Afghanistan, Boston, cops, media, military.
While the Boston Globe waxes hysterical about the dangers letting veterans be cops, the New York Times weighs in with some news on what the presumed babykillers have been up to while earning their veterans’ civil service preference. It’s an informative article on the military’s adaption to Taliban tactics and finetuning of the counterinsurgency. Sounds like the Army expects a pretty high degree of sophistication [...]
Lefty Rag Opposes Minority Preferences
Published on 12 Aug 2009 at 11:22 pm.
6 Comments.
Filed under Boston, bigotry, cops, media, military.
No, not race, gender or sexual-orientation preferences. Don’t be ridiculous. It’s the Boston Globe, slamming civil service police preferences for that other much-abused minority, Military-Americans, in a bigoted, ill-informed editorial that plays on some of the worst stereotypes about veterans, and has the Boston police commissioner singing in tune:
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Marines Go To Town
Published on 12 Aug 2009 at 10:47 am.
No Comments.
Filed under Afghanistan, military.
Heavy fighting as Marines assault a Taliban stronghold in Helmand. AP, which reports the goal is to open the town for voting in the upcoming election, and isolate the Taliban from population centers.
A discussion of the importance of securing population centers … big ones, like Kandahar, at Small Wars Journal, where a frustrated Dave Dilegge wants [...]
A Great Wringing Of Hands
Published on 11 Aug 2009 at 8:45 am.
No Comments.
Filed under Afghanistan, Obama, military.
It’s begun in earnest. NYT’s Opinionator does a great job rounding up the rending of garments, gnashing of teeth, the wailing, lamentations of woe and destruction in the rush to lose a war. NYT’s O seems to particularly like Andrew Bacevich, the great strategic thinker who was determined to see us abandon Iraq, and having lost that [...]
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Good Start
Published on 10 Aug 2009 at 10:57 am.
1 Comment.
Filed under Iraq, media, military.
Falls apart. Walter Rodgers, formerly of CNN, embedded with 3/7 Cav in the invasion of Iraq, on the latest evolution in the Spanish persecution of Gibson, Wolford and deCamp, spanks the Euro-righteousness that has prompted several Iraq-related political prosecutions. Unfortunately, that’s pretty much where we part ways. CSM via Yahoo:
The Spanish case seems to be a [...]
Think You Can Write?
Published on 10 Aug 2009 at 9:54 am.
1 Comment.
Filed under military.
Wonder why no one’s ever noticed? Here’s your big chance. Small Wars Journal is staging an $8000 writing competition, and they aren’t effing around:
Papers should be 3,000 to 5,000 words in length. Papers will be blind reviewed and judged primarily for clarity of presentation, relevant insights to the question asked, and overall significance of the key [...]
Acute Defense Fund
Published on 10 Aug 2009 at 9:26 am.
No Comments.
Filed under Iraq, military.
Teflon Don reports a defense fund has been established for his Army buddy, SSG George Nickel, who brought the war home with him. More from their copmpany commander, Badger Six, who is blogging again at The Long Walk Home.
Shadows Of War
Published on 8 Aug 2009 at 10:39 am.
No Comments.
Filed under Iraq, PTSD, military.
Acute Politics on a friend back from the war who ran into some trouble there and more back here.
Propaganda Management 101
Published on 6 Aug 2009 at 12:59 am.
No Comments.
Filed under America, Clintons, Kim, North Korea, courage, dummkopf!, military.
I was trying to figure out what it was that bothered me about this picture. Bill and all the other hostages look suitably glum, as anyone forced to pose for propaganda shots should. Then I realized what was missing.
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University Of Combat
Published on 31 Jul 2009 at 10:24 am.
4 Comments.
Filed under Iraq, academia, media, military.
The University of Alaska J-school is embedding student journalists with an Alaska-based Stryker battalion in Diyala province, one of those parts of Iraq where al-Qaeda remains a problem, posing a reasonable likelihood that the three students and their professor could be exposed to fire. Chronicle of Higher Education:
Enemy Capabilities
Published on 28 Jul 2009 at 8:58 am.
No Comments.
Filed under Afghanistan, military.
As the Taliban gears up for an extended guerrilla war, and indications emerge suggesting they have their act together tactically in ways the Iraqi insurgents didn’t, here’s Captain’s Journal explaining how he, Michael Yon, Glenn Reynolds and I are complicit in telling the Taliban what they already know. CJ’s Herschel Smith links to this NYT report:
Medal Of Honor
Published on 24 Jul 2009 at 11:43 am.
2 Comments.
Filed under Afghanistan, courage, military.
Sgt. Jared Monti, 30, of Raynham, Massachusetts. Congressional Medal of Honor, posthumous, for his actions on June 21, 2006, in Gowardesh, Afghanistan. He didn’t just give his life trying to drag badly wounded soldiers to safety under heavy fire. He gave in life. Boston Herald:
“Stay Strong”
Published on 20 Jul 2009 at 9:17 am.
2 Comments.
Filed under Afghanistan, military.
Boston Herald, with the father of slain al Qaeda captive S/Sgt Alex Jimenez to the family of Taliban captive PFC Bowe Bergdahl:
Prop Op
Published on 19 Jul 2009 at 10:03 am.
2 Comments.
Filed under Afghanistan, military.
Propaganda opportunity seized by the Taliban, as the strange case of a soldier who reportedly wandered away takes its next turn with a video release. BBC:
Glory
Published on 18 Jul 2009 at 12:16 pm.
2 Comments.
Filed under history, military.
146 years ago today, the 54th Massachusetts led the assault on Fort Wagner in South Carolina. The all-black regiment and its white officers were decimated, the dead including Col. Robert Gould Shaw, depicted with his soldiers above in the Shaw Memorial on Boston Common and in the 1989 film Glory.
Quick reading list:
Where Death and Glory [...]
Army Gives Money To Harvard
Published on 16 Jul 2009 at 10:11 pm.
3 Comments.
Filed under academia, military.
Even though Harvard barely gives the Army the time of day.*
The University of Michigan, Columbia and Harvard are splitting a $50 million grant to study military suicides. Chicago Tribune. The University of Michigan apparently has on-campus ROTC. But it looks like Columbia’s ROTC students, like those who rub shoulders with the privileged elites at Harvard, have to [...]
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Spanish Judicial Misconduct Thwarted
Published on 14 Jul 2009 at 10:35 pm.
2 Comments.
Filed under Iraq, Spain, justice, military.
Spain’s National Court finds an investigative judge presented one-sided evidence in an effort to railroad three American soldiers, and tosses the murder case against Shawn Gibson, Philip Wolford and Philip deCamp in the April 8, 2003, killing of Spanish newsman Jose Couso in the Hotel Palestine. Again. Reuters:
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Nanny State Goes To War
Published on 12 Jul 2009 at 1:11 pm.
2 Comments.
Filed under America, military, moronocy, tobacco.
“War is redneck as hell,” as Sgt. Howison observed one hot morning in Baghdad a few years back. He was talking about all the big vehicles, all the blowing shit up, and with all that lead and high explosive flying around the place, all the smoking and dipping and nobody much giving a damn about potential future health threats.
Yeah, [...]
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Countdown to 12:34:56 7/8/9
Published on 8 Jul 2009 at 10:38 am.
11 Comments.
Filed under impending doom!, military.
Shortly after half-past noon today. Be there. I predict the end of the world, with gnashing of teeth, rending of garments, gnawing of tongues for pain, emergence of many-headed beasts, horsemen, plus final determinations on wickedness vs. righteousness, etc. Either that, or 12:34:57 7/8/9. Watch for updates.
UPDATE: Well, it’s 12:34:56 7/8/9 plus, EDT. World not visibly ended yet. [...]
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Rule Of Law By Military Coup*
Published on 3 Jul 2009 at 8:54 am.
4 Comments.
Filed under America, law & order, military.
That’s different. Here’s a Honduran lawyer who says the old Latin American standby is a step forward. Octavio Sanchez lays out the constitutional case for the ouster of the president by the military in Honduras, with consent of several elected and appointed authorities, heralds a bright new day. Christian Science Monitor:
Tegucigalpa, Honduras - Sometimes, the whole world prefers a lie [...]
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Missing
Published on 2 Jul 2009 at 11:06 am.
6 Comments.
Filed under Afghanistan, military.
Believed captured in Afghanistan. An American soldier apparently wandered off his base. Washington Post:
