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 […]

I have to pass this along from The Torch:
“They look at us like dimwits,” he said. “I don’t want to be looked at like that. … I’ve once had a woman tell me, ‘If there weren’t people like you, there wouldn’t be any wars.’ That’s angering.” - Private Francis Archambault
It may be angering, but it’s […]

The Tank has posted an editorial photograph from The New York Post making fun of Barack Obama’s discussion of sending troops to rout al-Qaeda in Pakistan:

I suppose no one remembers Bush’s inability to name Pakistan’s president before he was elected:
Andy Hiller, a political reporter for WHDH-TV in Boston . . . asked Bush to name […]

First off this morning, I’d like to point you to abu muqawama’s comments on a critique of Gen. Petraeus, our current commander in Iraq, by Andrew Bacevich in The New Republic.
A couple of his comments that I completely agree with (and many of which I’ve posted here about before):

[T]he big problem, as Bacevich sees […]

FYI:

(Source: The Gallup Poll)
[Hotel Tango: Air Force Magazine Daily Report]

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 […]

Samantha Power, of “A Problem from Hell:” America and the Age of Genocide fame, an insightful book studying America’s indifference to various genocides throughout the 20th Century, had a great book review in last Sunday’s The New York Times.
While I started reading her review just because I respected her and wanted to read her thoughts […]

Bad News: Lindsay broke it off yesterday. I’m crying like a little bitch at work, which is just perfect considering I’m filling in for the receptionist. Nothing like coming into an office where the receptionist is crying. People must think, “What do they do? Beat their employees?”
The problem with breaking up, of course, is envisioning […]

U.S. counterterror officials are warning of an increased risk of an attack this summer, given al-Qaida’s apparent interest in summertime strikes and increased al-Qaida training in the Afghan-Pakistani border region.On Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told the editorial board of The Chicago Tribune that he had a “gut feeling” about a new period of […]

Now this is what I’m talkin’ ’bout.
Great guest post over at The Gunner’s World by Col. Michael Visconage explaining the role of field historians. He then goes into the current situation in Iraq, from his unique perspective.
My job as the Multi-National Corps Iraq Historian is to collect as much data for the military archives as […]