This is the second of a three-part series looking at how the ... Read More
America in the Hands of a Professional Military
April 15, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
This is the first of a three-part series looking at how the professionalization of the military has led to the privatization of warfare and an era of persistent conflict. Americans observe two anniversaries this year, neither one of them wanted. March marked eight years of combat in Iraq, and October, 10 years of fighting in Afghanistan. These are America's "long wars," a seemingly endless grind of combat. These long wars invite comparison, and some recall the eight years of U.S. war in Vietnam, but there is a more compelling distinction. It was a conscript Army that flew its Hueys over ... Read More
Military Gender Roles Still Thorny Problem
April 11, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Gray skies covered the cluster of gray stone buildings and perfectly manicured fields at the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. last Friday as a group of about 50 students — cadets and midshipmen from all the U.S. service academies, as well as some students from other universities — gathered inside the brightly lit main library for an earnest discussion on gender issues in the U.S. armed forces. Speakers at the two-day Gender Justice conference — hosted by the West Point Center for the Rule of Law — tackled a tight range of sober topics, and the Friday morning ... Read More
Report: Europe Competed to Sell Libya Weapons
March 23, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
European nations that are busily destroying Libyan weapon systems on the ground these days were lining up to sell the authoritarian state major weapons systems a few months earlier, notes the latest survey on international arms sales from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Four European nations — France, Italy, Russia and the United Kingdom — had been competing for expected orders from Libya for combat aircraft, tanks, air defense systems and other weapons before the United Nations imposed an embargo on arms sales to Libya last month, SIPRI said. The report was ... Read More
Military Questions Mount in Wake of DADT
March 23, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
The military's training materials on the upcoming repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" have been trickling out to the public over the last couple of weeks. The PowerPoint slides, frequently asked questions and fictional vignettes — aimed primarily at preparing straight troops and not those who will be most affected by the new policy — offer a window into the myriad hypothetical anxieties repeal has touched. "Is consensual sodomy still a punishable offense under the Uniform Code of Military Justice?" poses one question from the Navy's FAQ sheet. "Will the Department of Defense build ... Read More
Deploying to a Different Kind of Theater
February 11, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Derek Blumke stumbled upon an odd souvenir in an Afghan bazaar when he was serving in the country with the Air Force during the first years of the U.S. war there. “It’s a British 1842 bayonet, and I’m buying it from a local in Afghanistan,” he recalled. “Why wouldn’t you buy that?” On novelty alone, the find was priceless. Blumke had no sense at the time, though, of its context — what the thing was even doing there. He went into Afghanistan, like most soldiers in America’s nine-year conflict, with little sense of the local culture and language, let alone its ... Read More
Among Vets, Higher Rank Predicts Better Health
December 8, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
As anyone who has served in the military can tell you, there are many advantages to earning a higher rank. Better pay. More autonomy. Greater respect. And then there’s that most important long-term benefit: better health. Research recently published in the journal Armed Forces and Society finds “a persistent association between rank in the U.S. armed forces and self-rated health” among veterans. “Officers are less likely than are enlisted men to report fair or poor health, even after controlling for a variety of socioeconomic characteristics,” according to the study, ... Read More
How Military Campaigns Get Their Names
December 7, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
Military campaigns have traditionally been named after geographical locations: The Battle of Gettysburg, the Siege of Troy. But that was the pre-Mad Men era, before national leaders realized the value of branding extends to armed incursions. In recent years, we’ve had Operation Iraqi Freedom (which ascribed an idealistic motivation to our actions) and Operation Desert Storm (which suggested our force was ferocious). Such names are clearly chosen to influence public opinion back home; they pre-emptively frame how the campaign will be perceived by the public. How do military marketing ... Read More
For Some, Might Torture Be Its Own Reward?
November 19, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
Torture. It's an ugly word. Its mere mention conjures images of sadistic villains in dark dungeons or shadowy terrorists in sparse rooms, illuminated by a single light bulb overhead. But regardless of what mental image, it is usually the evil side that tortures the side of good. In recent years, such thinking has shifted as "enhanced interrogation" has been touted as acceptable for getting answers so that good people won't be hurt. But that still assumed that the purpose of torture is to derive vital information. For example, Jack Bauer, the counterterrorism agent in the television show ... Read More
Rude Awakening for the DREAM Act
September 24, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
Arizona became the political epicenter of the immigration debate this year after passing the country’s toughest crackdown on illegal aliens. Amid the fallout, national and international politicians denounced local officials. Sports leagues, whole cities and civil rights groups threatened boycotts. And the U.S. Department of Justice settled in to sue. Less well known is that one bastion of the now infamous Southwestern state — its largest public university — has been leading the call for a new national policy in favor of some undocumented immigrants: children, brought here unwittingly ... Read More
