Labels: Afghanistan, Military, Obama, Pentagon, Veterans
Labels: Afghanistan, Darpa, FCC, Iraq, Korea, Marines, Military, Pentagon, warfare
Labels: Afghanistan, Army, iran, Iraq, Korea, Military, Pentagon, PTSD, Russia, warfare
Labels: Afghanistan, Air Force, Iraq, Military, Pentagon
Labels: Afghanistan, Army, Iraq, Military, Pentagon, Taliban
Defeating the enemies of tomorrow — from rogue nations to terror networks — will require a balanced and nimble military that can coax or confound an adversary as well as it can crush one. . . Gates said the Pentagon must have a broad range of capabilities, but should not try to buy its way out of every problem.Among the things that need to be done:
Labels: Afghanistan, Army, Pentagon, VA
Labels: Afghanistan, Military, Pakistan, Pentagon
The AP reports that overhauling the U.S. Army National Guard training program, allowing for soldiers to spend more time at home, will cost $128 million this year and nearly double that next year to equip and train their troops, say officials.The boost in funding will pay for the roughly 2,000 Guard trainers to ensure Guard members will receive as much training as possible while at home for much of the year before deploying to one of the 10 mobilization centers for their final, prewar training.Until early 2007, Guard combat brigades were training for up to six months — much of it away from home — and then would spend 12 months to 15 months in the war zone. The average time has been slashed to a bit more than 13 months, including about a month of training at home, another 40 to 70 days at the formal Army training center and roughly 10 months on the battlefront.
Spurred on by the Pentagon's promise that Guard deployments would be limited to one year, military leaders pledged to spread some of the required pre-deployment war preparation into the soldiers' routine weekend and week-long training exercises each year.
Labels: Army, Military, money, National Guard, Pentagon
The Associated Press comes today with the story of Jack Alderson (pictured above), a retired Navy Reserve lieutenant commander who claims his allergies, skin cancers and chronic fatigue -- as well as the sicknesses of his comrades -- are directly linked to the secret weapons tests he helped conduct in the Pacific during the 1960s.
The Associated Press is reporting that the Pentagon is actually the biggest obstacle between soldiers and expanded G.I. Bill aid for college.
The AP ran an article yesterday questioning the reliability and cost of the military's primary rifle, the Colt M4. While the piece delves into the intricate mechanics and operation of the M4 -- and how the weapon is prone to jamming and requires more maintenance than similar models -- there is also an interesting judical and political side:And then there is the cost:In 1996, a Navy office improperly released Colt's M4 blueprints, giving nearly two dozen contractors a look at the carbine's inner workings. Colt was ready to sue the U.S. government for the breach. The company wanted between $50 million and $70 million in damages.
Cooler heads prevailed. The Defense Department didn't want to lose its only source for the M4, and Colt didn't want to stop selling to its best customer.
The result was an agreement that made Colt the sole player in the U.S. military carbine market. FNMI challenged the deal in federal court but lost.
More than $300 million has been spent on 221,000 of the carbines over the past two years alone. And the Defense Department is asking Congress to provide another $230 million for 136,000 more.And now, as Congress considers whether to approve this request, critics are saying Colt's exclusive deal is bad for soldiers and tax payers.
Given the situation, why not have them all? Just standardize on the caliber so that ammo can be used by all the guns and let “the market” (soldiers in the field) decide which they want. I’d rather see them decide than an Oklahoma senator anyway."Fits" writes on the blog Shooting the Messenger:
Not wishing to get into a platform war, hey, who the hell has time to answer hate mail, $1500 is ridiculous for a mass produced jam-a-matic poodle shooter. The article does provide some interesting history of the battle to keep the M4 in service, however, and worth a look.-Dippold
The so called "gay bomb" has been the source of many a bad jokes lately. I'd like to share some of them with you (or at least some blogger commentary), but before I do, I may as well give a quick explanation in case you haven't heard about this. . . . I always get a kick out of people who think that we all just “magically turn gay” and can turn it on and off. But also because of the idea that 7.5 million, thats right, million dollars would be invested into such a project. And not for anything, but I love how the government would qualify turning enemy soldiers into fudge packers as a means of keeping our country safe.
I can only imagine that we will also be hearing reports in the near future about the Air Force's ill-fated attempt to develop "Gaydar."
My question about all this is, "what about the don't ask, don't tell policy?" A bomb of this nature would be devastating to our troops, who, when struck with 4 kilotons of fag, would immediately have to turn in their fatigues and march home, skipping, in retreat, having been "exposed.". . . I guess this would give a new meaning to men getting "dirty in the trenches."
So, it's just offensive that they think by turning people gay that the other military would be incapable of doing their job. And it's absurd because there's so much medical data that shows that sexual orientation is immutable and cannot be changed.
The Pentagon and CIA have been using national security letters to observe the credit and banking records of Americans and others suspected of terrorism or espionage within the United States. The problem with this story like so many others, is that although it feels reasonable to not stop the government from doing reasonable things to facilitate an ongoing investigation, there's a big element of trust here to not require any checks and balances or oversight on the government throughout the process. IMHO, the best government is one who is being watched, while they watch over us. By that standard, this is a less-than-perfect government.-Dippold
