I should clarify right away that the title is a bit misleading, since it implies that women haven’t already been in combat, but hopefully you can forgive that inaccuracy since headlines aren’t the best forum for […]

Little remarked, the 70th anniversary of the Doolittle Raid on Japan passed in mid-April. Not many of these men are left; a ceremony in Alameda, California aboard the aircraft carrier Hornet was attended by three […]

In a move that can only be adequately described as irresponsible, asinine, unnecessarily belligerent, and a throwback to the Cold War, the Russians have threatened military action if the U.S. proceeds with its […]

Now that we’ve just passed the one-year anniversary of Osama bin Laden’s death, the U.S. Army’s Combating Terrorism Center has placed online some of the documents seized in the raid that killed him. Perhaps […]

Traveling in South America this week, SECDEF Leon Panetta took the opportunity to decry Iranian activities around the continent. “We always have a concern about in particular the [Iranian Revolutionary Guard […]

One ironic consequence of global warming (by which I refer to recent increased average temperatures, without getting embroiled in any debates over causality) is that the thawing of the Arctic regions has the […]

Apparently 11 members of the Secret Service advance team sent to Cartagena, Colombia to prepare for President Obama’s attendance at the Summit of the Americas there had a little too much extracurricular fun. And […]

On 2 April the Army released the Army Profession Campaign report, based on a year of surveys and discussions within the service that involved over 40,000 soldiers and DA civilians. Plenty of recommendations were […]

North Korea would seem to be at it again. It has announced plans to put a satellite into orbit sometime between 12 and 16 April, and as this represents as much a test of long-range ballistic missile technology as […]

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. ‒John 15:13 (King James Version)

On 22 March SGT Dennis Weichel, Jr., an Army National Guardsman from Rhode Island, died in […]

Today a business associate of mine who is aware of my military background pulled me aside to ask my opinion. His son, who is an officer in a Texas Army National Guard unit, will soon be heading to Afghanistan to […]

As my author bio makes clear, I’m an Army guy, and I’m certainly not above a little good-natured interservice rivalry. Moreover, I’m an infantry soldier in a cavalry unit, and both groups are known for mercilessly […]

I have previously discussed Iran’s options in responding to any overt attack against its nuclear weapons program, with the most dangerous being a move to close the Strait of Hormuz to oil tanker traffic. Of the […]

The 1968 Tet Offensive by the Viet Cong was a turning point in the Vietnam War—not because it was a stunning military victory, but because of its effect on the American public’s perception of the war. From a […]

I’m sure there are plenty of smartass answers to the implicit question this article poses, but please keep them to yourselves. I have a nice, fat old-school National Geographic atlas at home (yes, I know about […]

I was doing a little research on Russian weapon systems a couple of nights ago when I ended up on the English-language version of the Pravda website. As someone who grew up during the 1970s and 1980s, and had a […]

Please forgive my sarcasm, but Putin’s win in last week’s Russian presidential election was predicted (and predictable) back when he left the presidency in 2008 after his second term, handpicking Dmitry Medvedev […]

The postwar cost-cutting goes on—even though we’re not quite “postwar” yet, thanks to the small matter of that little conflict in Afghanistan against the Taliban, other militant groups, and—apparently—some of the […]

OK, folks, I know things are bad. While they’ve certainly been worse, there’s always the possibility that they could go downhill from here. After all, taken together the looming national debt, the European crisis […]

I have mentioned previously in this forum the quandary posed by the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the toppling of Saddam Hussein. Specifically, the destruction of one of the region’s most powerful militaries removed […]