George Carlin said best: “The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I’m just not close enough […]

A Soldier’s Perspective:

The Army went to a sleeves down policy when we changed uniforms citing something along the lines of “We are an Army at War…” and, much like the uniform itself, most of us hated it. I […]

IMHO, Discipline standards for the Army have been slipping for a very long time and the war (and need for warm bodies, rather than well disciplined ones) has only made it more difficult to enforce Army […]

Fred is right and if you want to see the 7-8 come to life Afghanistan is the place to be. As we have a surge there and more troops deploy it is becoming more evident that the training and experience gained in […]

I am a firm believer that one of the ways to prevent unprepared Soldiers is to stick to the basics. When I attended BNCOC in 2008, out of a little over 30 of us in the class (all with combat experience), only 5 […]

Great job spelling out the ranks and acronyms that we find so common in our field. I, for one, thought they should have kept M-ANCOC as it made for great conversation and still refer to all “LC”s as their […]

Great article and welcome to the site, I agree that some of the schools listed above have made a tremendous amount of money preying on veterans and encourage everyone I know to go ahead and find a local […]

When will we learn to stop arming our future enemies…
Does anyone remember arming and training Afghan Mujahideen or Afghan Arabs in the early 1980s?

I cannot believe that this “hazing” was the cause of this Marine’s suicide. I agree that the corrective action given prior to the incident was excessive but don’t feel that one smoke session could be cause to end anyone’s life. The Marine was new to the unit, he most likely had problems in at his [...]

Information every American should know. For those who know me well, this will be old news but the only way to put a stop to this type of frivolous spending is to stay informed and keep after your local congressmen. After all, somebody had to approve the spending in the first place. “The penalty for [...]

Great article; my thoughts on the subject is be wary of every dating site. Though they may be a convenient way to connect to the opposite sex, as stated above, they are also chalked full of predators. If a person wants you because you are a servicemember, a red flag must be raised no matter [...]

An excellent option for service members that do not retire. One of the biggest complaints I hear from non-retired veterans is that they miss having the ID Card as it does come in quite handy when shopping at one of the many places that offers a military discount.

As a vet myself, I am touched by this story and feel the same as others above. We cannot take back the wrongs done in years past but I feel it is our duty to move forward ensuring that they never happen again. Welcome home Randy, Tom, and all other Vets who may read this. [...]