March 2010 - Argghhh!

This is a student monograph written by Major Thomas Ehrhart, who is a student in the School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS) here at Fort Leavenworth. This is the "second year" program by which select students stay an extra year at the Command and General Staff College and earn a Masters, and are the cadre of the Army's strategic planners. Not surprisingly, they have to write papers, and this is one such on the weaknesses of our current infantry weapons and training in the context...

Awhile back, John was asked by a publicist at the Penguin Group in New York if he’d be interested in reviewing a book chronicling the lives of the two highest-scoring American aces in WWII: Richard Bong (the top scorer and US “Ace of Aces” in that conflict, with 40 kills) and Tommy McGuire, who barely missed being #1 (with 38 victories) when he died in the Southwestern Pacific theater near the end of the war.

This weekend I let my bizziness get the better of me - and we missed Bad Cat Robot's Natal Day! I became aware of this because there is a space-based Death Ray burn in the lawn that sez, "You missed my Natal Day! Prepare to Die!" Here's hoping this works... well, that and the special delivery of Bureaucrats-on-a-Stick I ordered for her.Today is also the anniversary of the adoption of the venerable M1911. Oddly enough, this occured in... 1911. This is the exemplar of the breed (well...

News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front.

There are two Medals awarded for actions on this day, one posthumous.Philippine InsurrectionFITZ, JOSEPHRank and organization: Ordinary Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 24 May 1886, Austria. Accredited to: Iowa. G.O. No.: 19, 1 May 1906. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Pampanga, Mount Dajo Jolo, Philippine Islands, 8 March 1906. Serving in the presence of the enemy on this date, Fitz displayed bravery and extraordinary heroism.World War II. Sometimes, there is no justice in the cosmos.*WATSON, GEORGE Citation...

Beck at least apologized for the lost hour of your life: "America, I have to shoot straight with you, I think I have wasted your time." Jonah Goldberg - the Blogfather: Just wondering if any of the Navy vets and career Navy men out there are starting to get peeved with Massa's explanation that his inappropriate tickle-fights and other gay(ish) hijinks stemmed from his inability to transition from Navy to civilian life. Tickle fights? I think even most gay men become a helicopter of...

Most TRICARE, CHAMPVA beneficiaries and certain veterans’ children with spina bifida are not covered.Again, rather than pass this mess and then spend years trying to fix it - why not use the critiques of this bill as the starting point for changing the landscape incrementally? I know from my own use of TRICARE just how twisted the system is - get billed $8K for a procedure which TRICARE pays $600 for, then get billed by the provider - because the provider needs to show they billed you (even...