Military

What is amazing here is that this story was the lead story for the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Santa Cruz is famous for its extremely liberal politics. I usually refer to Santa Cruz as the second most liberal city in America. While I was on my last deployment, my wife stopped telling people why I was … Read more

…but only if it’s paid for by politically neutral entities. From the Associated Press: WASHINGTON (AP)–NBC reversed course Saturday and decided to run a conservative group’s television ad thanking U.S. troops. The ad, by the group

This is a terribly sad story that should have never happened. Sgt. Lawrence Sprader died in the course of normal training. The report found that at least 12 other soldiers required medical attention. Warrior Leadership Course is intended to develop the leadership skills of new Sergeants. This is not a combat skills course. All sergeants … Read more

This decision by the Pentagon is absolutely going to translate into dead soldiers. MRAP vehicles are the only general transport vehicles that provide any kind of real protection against explosively formed projectiles. This is all about money. Getting the vehicles to Iraq can happen overnight if we just spend a more money. read more | … Read more

KUWAIT CITY, Aug. 1 — U.S. commanders in Kuwait said Wednesday that they have enormous capability to handle the tens of thousands of troops and their equipment that would stream out of Iraq during a U.S. withdrawal. I’m not sure I believe the “enormous capability” part. At least not in the inference offered here. I … Read more

Another long, hard road for the American military. However, it seems that we have to revisit this particular issue every time there’s a war. The stories of society’s miserable handling of the war wounded and disabled date back to the Napoleonic wars and before. The issue is made worse during unpopular wars when there are … Read more

Here in the second most liberal city in the nation there is a bumper sticker that I see fairly often. It says, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if schools had all the money they need and the Army had to have bake sales to buy bombs?” For the last two Army training courses I’ve been to, … Read more

Get a box of kleenex before you read this. World War II veterans couldn’t talk about it. Neither could those who served in Korea. The guys who served in Vietnam did a little better but not much. Those are the words or the thoughts (or something very similar) of every soldier who has lost a … Read more

I have finished week one at 38B Reclass. So far, the course has been good. Teaching is, what I would call, a modified death by PowerPoint. All of the classes are taught from a PowerPoint presentation as is the Army Standard these days. However, the instructors assigned to our class are interesting and animated. They … Read more