Features

It’s time to improve the service’s foreign-language programs

When I was an Air Force ROTC cadet, we were graced with a guest speaker and alumnus who had been lucky enough to find …

TO NAVY SECRETARY RAY MABUS for ignoring policy and tradition by naming a U.S. warship for former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz. The Navy’s one-time taboo against naming ships for living people, generally …

Rules of engagement are only a small part of battlefield discipline

In January, during the final court-martial arising from the 2005 killings of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha, a Los Angeles Times …

Students of military affairs have for centuries pondered whether there exist universal principles of war, or whether the uniqueness of each conflict renders such lists irrelevant. Clausewitz, who early in his career …

Light attack planes can reduce the heavy toll of supplying fuel for fighter jets

he Air Force has been continuously at war for more than 20 years. From the opening minutes of …

As budgets shrink, let’s rethink how we organize, train and equip the Army

In 1950, there were 563,000 soldiers on active duty in the U.S. Army — yet, as General of the …

‘Understanding’ must take its rightful place atop the pantheon

Reflecting revered assumptions and long-standing paradigms, The Principles of War are a list of tenets enshrined since 1949 in the Army’s Field Manual …

Europe’s biggest military deficit is a lack of citizen-soldiers

Like the active components of many European militaries, the size and capabilities of reserve forces have plummeted in the past two decades. Many …

How to inject the enemy’s view into the planning process

The past decade has seen the concept of the red team gain acceptance as a commander’s tool to anticipate actions by nonblue …

How military leaders have let us down

By Daniel L. Davis

I spent last year in Afghanistan, visiting and talking with U.S. troops and their Afghan partners. My duties with the Army’s …