Archive for October, 2009

Professional military education (PME) has played a major role in preparing military institutions for war. Solid basic, intermediate and senior-level PME combined with combat training is an indispensable element for success in …

TO CNN for its upside-down coverage of an IED explosion event in Afghanistan that killed a soldier and seriously wounded a journalist. CNN reported the event this way: “A CBS News reporter …

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he didn’t want to see a repeat of the corporate food fights that prevailed in the 2006 KC-X tanker competition. For a man who is serving his …

Thanks, Mr. Secretary, but don’t stop now!

There’s a Bill Mauldin cartoon from World War II that shows two exhausted, bearded infantrymen slouched over on their feet along a road while one …

As the Defense Department and Quadrennial Defense Review planners try to figure out what threats lie beyond Iraq and Afghanistan, the term “hybrid warfare” increasingly surfaces to satisfy those who believe we …

Afghanistan requires our greater effort and will, not less

Gen. George Marshall said it during World War II, but it has been true for over two centuries: “A democracy cannot fight a …

TO THE ASSOCIATED PRESS for its ham-fisted handling of a picture of a dying Marine in Afghanistan. Lance Cpl. Joshua Bernard was mortally injured in an ambush Aug. 14. AP waited almost …

TO THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT for its order to rescue a war journalist, a decision that resulted in the deaths of a British soldier and three Afghan civilians. U.K. Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth …

QDR must recognize need for two-war construct

As Defense Secretary Robert Gates completes the Pentagon’s Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), senior officials have indicated he will officially abandon the force planning construct used …

It’s that time again. About once a decade, the military services attempt to reform how they educate officers. This time, the catalyst is a series of Senate and House hearings on how …