September 2014 - Argghhh!

The future is now... Of course, it has the same drawback as Patriot - it's a point-defense system. The kill of the target means that the intended target of the "kill" isn't hit - but that armed-and-still-full-of-explosive warhead is going to head to earth ballistically, where it will detonate or become an UXO hazard. It's not going to hit what it was aimed at - but it will hit something. Like a warehouse, full of troops, perhaps, for those who remember Gulf War I. Not an argument...

Read it, and note the author, before reflexively typing. I know, this is the Intertubz! How dare I make silly requests like that. Regardless, there it is. Why Women Do Not Belong in the U.S. Infantry. Not that I don't actually expect a whole lot of argument from this crowd of about 20 greybeards. Of course, had this article been written by someone plumbed differently, it would never have seen the light of day.

For those of you who buy into the revisionist historian's view that Truman didn't order use of The Bomb because of projected casualties, but rather that that reasoning was a postwar fiction developed to hide the truth and cover the guilt, I offer this rather dry read: D. M. Giangreco, “Casualty Projections for the U.S. Invasions of Japan, 1945-1946: Planning and Policy Implications” in Journal of Military History, 61 (July 1997): 521-82, online at: http://theamericanpresident...

The Medal opens on this day during the Civil War:FOUT, FREDERICK W.Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, 15th Battery, Indiana Light ArtilleryPlace and date: Near Harpers Ferry, W. Va., 15 September 1862Entered service at: Indianapolis, Ind.Date of issue: 2 November 1896Citation: Voluntarily gathered the men of the battery together, remanned the guns, which had been ordered abandoned by an officer, opened fire, and kept up the same on the enemy until after the surrender.Next it shows up during...

The Medal first appears during the Indian Campaigns, followed by WWI, WWII, and Korea.

On this death-shrouded day in our history, the Medal only appears once during the Civil War, and then 8 soldiers from the Army of the Plains earned the Medal. One at Fort Apache, Arizona in 1881, and the others at Upper Washita, Texas, in 1874. The citations are the typical sparse ones from this era, and today would most likely be Bronze or Silver Stars. But the Medal of Honor was the only option back in the day.

We may not have much of a strategy, but we do have books full of tactics. Throw enough at it, and you get an effect. This, however, is engaging the 25m targets. A strategy is what sets the guidance for the targets ten years down the road - to focus on where we want to be, which guides how we get there, and gives order to the FLAILEX we find ourselves in. As Clausewitz observed, "In war, everything is simple. It is also difficult." So is it true of strategy. Too easy to fight the alligators...

Liberal Christians Call On Obama To Stop ISIS Using “Community-Based Nonviolent Resistance”… As someone who has studied and lived conflict my entire adult life, I don't find this as stupid as some do. Especially in terms of the article linked in the article. Which could serve as a rebuke for the approach we took in Iraq, and aptly so. While you should read the pablum above, this is the one I'm more interested in, which most commentators on the right just ignored or didn't...