In a rare insight into the front lines of America’s ten-year war in Afghanistan, an article in Armed Forces Journal by a career officer and three-war veteran says that official reports that conditions in Afghanistan are improving are false, hopes to establish proficient local governments and a self-sufficient Afghan military are fleeting, and the United States’ war effort can be characterized by “the absence of success on virtually every level.” (more)
It seems the United States Army will be reverting to the condition it is usually in when a Democrat is President and Commander-in-Chief. I remember those days well. Back then the Army didn’t have enough repair parts to keep its motor vehicles running and its helicopters flying so combat units were instructed to selectively cannibalize non-running vehicles and helicopters to keep as much of the fleet operational as possible. (more)
President Barack Obama is urging Americans citizens to act like soldiers on a a domestic economic battlefield, presumably under his generalship. (more)
The first two articles in our Leadership 101 series (here and here) briefly address three of the “five mountains” of the whole-man (whole-woman) foundation we must master if we are truly committed to personal leadership development. The first three are the body, the mind (brain), and emotion. These will be examined in greater detail going forward. (more)
A father who has lost two sons to war told The Daily Caller that the U.S. Central Command’s policy of allowing troops to deploy with a 180-day supply of the antipsychotic Seroquel has contributed to the deaths of troops and veterans. Seroquel, he said, has tragic side effects that military leaders have ignored in their quest to combat insomnia and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among fighting men and women. (more)
WASHINGTON — It’s an unwritten law of modern America that a political campaign speech should last no more than 30 minutes. The lecture candidate Barack Obama delivered on the evening of Jan. 24 in the House chamber of the U.S. Capitol came in at just longer than one hour and six minutes. It was full of rhetoric we should expect to hear reiterated from now until Nov. 6. The president’s supporters declared his economic message to be “populist.” That’s liberal-speak for class warfare. (more)
The White House is hoping to end its ten year old war with the Taliban in Afghanistan through a political settlement. Let us all pray that the negotiations will be successful. It is past time to get our soldiers out of there. But as with most things in the Middle East, there is a little “catch” that complicates things and makes pulling out our troops hard to do. It is hard because the war didn’t start with political maneuvering. It started with the blowing up of the twin World Trade Center Towers in Manhattan. The war came in with a loud bang; it is unlikely to go out with a whimper. (more)
On Tuesday evening, U.S. Special Operations Forces freed two aid workers — one American and one Dane — held hostage in Somalia. The hostages and their rescuers were unharmed in the operation, the Department of Defense reported. According to the Washington Post, nine of the suspected pirates were killed, with three unaccounted for and possibly captured. (more)
Making the rounds is a short video showing four Marines urinating on Afghan terrorist corpses in northern Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Evidently the Marines were letting off steam after a firefight and washing the bodies with urine instead of following the Muslim tradition of washing the bodies with water and burying them within 24 hours. Without doubt this was an aberration and such conduct should not and cannot be tolerated by our armed forces under any circumstances. It would be interesting to know the combat circumstances that led up to this incident. (more)
The first article in our series – Leadership 101 – describes the series going forward, then touches on the five elements of the foundation upon which we build the leader from the ground-up (before getting into the fundamentals of leadership). If you’ve not read Leadership 101: Body, Mind, and Soul Required, I urge you to do so now at http://dailycaller.com/2012/01/09/leadership-101-body-mind-and-soul-required/. (more)
In an attempt to bring closure to military families, North Carolina Republican Rep. Walter Jones is pushing for the declassification of information related to missing and unaccounted-for military members from modern conflicts through the Cold War. (more)
South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham is offended “as hell” over automatic cuts to the defense budget, suggesting that the American people “fire” Congress and “keep the soldiers.” (more)
Unless the bastards come after me again, this is my last column on a national disgrace. (more)
The Royal Navy’s men and women aboard the HMS Ocean may have caught Mariah Carey’s attention with their recent Christmas love song, but they aren’t the first to pass the hours and hours and hours — and hours — of military boredom by making hysterical and downright creepy music videos. Here for your enjoyment, and in no particular order, are The Daily Caller’s top five combat-zone morale boosters. (more)
The Chapman University of Military Law and its associated AMVETS Legal Clinic are blowing the whistle on what they say is an injustice set to be perpetrated on 157 Air Force majors on the last day of November. (more)
Associate Editor Ed Friedman, a man with no combat experience whatsoever, tries to argue for the bullpup-style rifle against grizzled SOF veteran and Rifles Editor Steve Adelmann. You pick the winner… (more)
Just over a week after ending its “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, the Pentagon has released new guidelines permitting military chaplains to perform same-sex marriages in states where gay marriage is legal. (more)
So, some members of the audience at last night’s Republican presidential debate booed after a gay soldier asked the GOP candidates whether they would reinstate “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” (more)
On September 11, 2001, our homeland was brutally attacked by al Qaeda terrorists. As we remember and honor those who died in the attacks, we also send our greatest sympathy to the families of the victims. Despite these horrific attacks, our country is stronger and we continue to cling to the American dream. (more)
While the American public is concerned about its 9-percent unemployment rate, a certain subset of the population is especially worried: our veterans. (more)
