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 […]

Michael Yon, reporting from Iraq on his blog, notes that a large American offensive has started in Iraq — an offensive that has yet to to be reported by the American media. Further, he agrees with me that Gen. Petraeus is the man for the job.
Using the analogy of Iraq as a patient, Michael writes:
We […]

The Ultimate Differential Theory of US Armed Forces (Snake Model)
Upon encountering a snake in the Area of Operations (AO)
Airborne: Lands on and kills the snake.
Air Force, O-6 and above: “Get that damned snake off the fairway!”
Armor: Runs over snake. Never knows it,as well as where the tank and the snake is on the battlefield. Continues […]

Top Air Force brass, the House Armed Services Committee and The Army Times have come out against continued “in lieu of” taskings of airmen and sailors to perform the duties of soldiers and Marines.
“The committee is very concerned about the creep of nontraditional missions, such as ground combat skills, into the Navy and Air Force […]