Talk of a draft has come and gone — probably largely thanks to Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), who keeps introducing legislation that would establish conscription for 18-year olds — since the beginning of the Iraq war. I’ve never taken it seriously, and still don’t. But it does become a little more interesting when some official […]

Great column by John Noonan at The Daily Standard:
FOR NEARLY 200 years, cadets at the United States Military Academy have been guided by the “Thayer System,” a rigid structure of unyielding regulation, austere discipline, fierce loyalty, and strong emphasis on math, science, and engineering. The method is calculated to produce Army officers of the highest […]

The Los Angeles Times:
The number of U.S.-paid private contractors in Iraq now exceeds that of American combat troops, newly released figures show, raising fresh questions about the privatization of the war effort and the government’s capacity to carry out military and rebuilding campaigns.
More than 180,000 civilians — including Americans, foreigners and Iraqis — are working […]

Let’s get something out of the way here first. I love The Tank. It’s right up there with OP-FOR and Danger Room to me. So I’m happy just to have been noticed and referred to by W. Thomas Smith Jr. — even if it is only to take me to task for this post.
I want […]

Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Buzz Patterson has a ridiculous “column” at National Review Online today. I put column in scare-quotes because the majority of it is a listing of blurbs from American soldiers blasting the anti-war left. Where do the quotes come from? Patterson’s new book, War Crimes: The Left’s Campaign to Destroy Our […]

I’m just going to lift John’s entire post on OP-FOR regarding a piece posted today by Gen. David Kilcullen, Senior Counterinsurgency Adviser, Multi-National Force–Iraq, on the Small Wars Journal Blog:

Via Small Wars Journal:
I’ve spent much of the last six weeks out on the ground, working with Iraqi and U.S. combat units, civilian reconstruction teams, Iraqi […]

The inimitable Noah Shachtman has been collecting the best military recruiting ads (scroll down) from around the world on Wired’s national security blog, Danger Room.
The ads, of course, focus on what the military can do for you — money, guns and babes — and what you can do for them — dance, sing and throw […]

The major offensives (Phantom Thunder, Arrowhead Ripper, et cetera) in Iraq continue today. The Washington Post has a story here that’s okay. I’m assuming it’s rather hard to find and report “both sides” of the story when the subject is changing so quickly — that is to say, I’m not certain that all the “naysaying” […]

Thank God for PBS. I watched FRONTLINE’s “Endgame” last night on their Web site. If you want to know how we ended up where we are in Iraq, and the new strategy that’s being employed by Gen. Petraeus and American forces in-country, you have to watch this. In fact, it should be required viewing for […]

After only just recently extending combat tours from 12 months to 15 months, the Army is again looking at extending tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.
According to The Associated Press (via Military.com):
The Army is considering whether it will have to extend the combat tours of troops in Iraq if President Bush opts to maintain […]