By Kevin Baron
Published: September 30, 2011
WASHINGTON – Adm. Mike Mullen retired as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Friday and gave some parting advice for the new guy, Gen. Martin Dempsey. Make friends with the world’s military leaders. Thank your family. Look out for the troops. Laugh at the president’s jokes.
And don’t give up on Pakistan or the Afghanistan war strategy.
By Chris Carroll
Published: September 29, 2011
WASHINGTON – Inter-ethnic security cooperation between Arabs and Kurds is up in northern Iraq as the U.S. drawdown continues toward its Dec. 31 deadline, the commander of U.S. troops in the area said Thursday.
U.S. troop presence in the region has dropped from about 10,000 when the 4th Infantry Division assumed command of headquarters there nearly a year ago, Maj. Gen. David Perkins, speaking to reporters at the Pentagon via a video uplink from Iraq. The number is 5,000 now, and will drop to a much smaller – but still unspecified – troop presence when the division leaves Iraq by the end of October.
By Kevin Baron
Published: September 28, 2011
WASHINGTON – The top U.S. military leaders are meeting at the Pentagon on Wednesday and Thursday to learn where the Pentagon stands on its budget-cutting plans and give their ideas on what can be thrown overboard and what is essential to national security.
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta is hosting the meeting of the service chiefs, combatant commanders and senior civilian leaders. The Pentagon has dubbed it the “Large Group-Plus.”
By Leo Shane III
Published: September 28, 2011
WASHINGTON — Student veterans attending online classes under the post-9/11 GI Bill will start receiving housing stipend checks next month for the first time, part of another slate of changes to the education benefit.
Late last year, Congress approved numerous reforms to the 2-year-old education benefit, including changes in the amount paid to students attending private schools and fixes to how certain National Guard members receive tuition money. Most of the changes went into effect Aug. 1, but a handful of less heralded but significant updates will take effect Oct. 1.
By Kevin Baron
Published: September 27, 2011
WASHINGTON – Attempting to salvage one of the White House’s foreign policy goals toward China, Pentagon officials urged the People’s Liberation Army on Tuesday not to cancel or suspend military relations in protest over Washington’s decision to upgrade Taiwan’s F-16s.
“Our expectation, clearly, is that they will continue to maintain communication and cooperation,” said Pentagon press secretary George Little. “It’s essential for us to continue the dialogue with our Chinese military counterparts and transparency is the touchstone of that.”
By Leo Shane III
Published: September 27, 2011
WASHINGTON — In a letter to Treasury and Housing and Urban Development officials sent today, a group of 12 Democrats – including Oversight and Government Reform Committee Ranking Member Elijah Cummings and House Armed Services Ranking Member Adam Smith – are asking for new protections for military families hit hardest by the ongoing housing slump.
The lawmakers note that troops who receive permanent change of station orders and can’t sell their homes are often faced with an unacceptable dilemma: Default on the mortgage and jeopardizing their security clearance, or keep the home and desperately try to make ends meet.
By Bill Murphy Jr.
Published: September 26, 2011
If you’re a servicemember or veteran in the Washington, D.C., area and you’re looking for a civilian job, you might want to clear your calendar Tuesday.
The Military Officers Association of America is holding what it bills as “D.C.’s largest free military-focused career fair” at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.
By Kevin Baron
Published: September 26, 2011
WASHINGTON – The military loves its spy blimps so much it needs as many bulk helium gas containers as it can get its hands on to adequately supply the coming armada.
Look up. Tethered Aerostat blimps are ubiquitous over warzone bases. Last year, the U.S. contracted out for bulk containers to supply a surge of blimps to Afghanistan. Since that award, the U.S. announced two more surges are coming, including much larger blimps needing much more helium. Now the Pentagon’s Defense Logistics Agency is “developing an industrial base of bulk helium container manufacturers” to keep the gas flowing for years to come.
By Chris Carroll
Published: September 22, 2011
It was a little like winning the lottery – but only a million dollars.
Money poured into the Pentagon as the defense budget nearly doubled over the past 10 years, and the building bought Camaros, dirt bikes and vacations to Cancun like the money would never run out.
By Chris Carroll
Published: September 22, 2011
What inspires you?
Chicken soup for the soul? Or colorful images of long-extinct galaxies?
By Kevin Baron
Published: September 21, 2011
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama, in his annual speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, said the era of big wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that have dominated the last decade is closing and the world should come together in support of the remarkable democracy movements of the past year that have swept across the Middle East and North Africa.
What he didn’t say: the U.S. is in the middle of a significant counterterrorism buildup surrounding that region, offering the muscle to back the peace.
By Geoff Ziezulewicz
Published: September 21, 2011
NAPLES, Italy - A Europe-based servicemember has been making waves in the past day with a video he posted on Youtube, hours after the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell on Tuesday, in which he calls his father and tells him he's gay.
"Can I tell you something?" the man asks his father.
By Geoff Ziezulewicz
Published: September 21, 2011
NAPLES, Italy — U.S. troops are moving out of Iraq en masse ahead of the end-of-December withdrawal deadline.
To help move all those people and materiel, the Air Force announced earlier this month that it had reopened a base in the region. But where in the region?
By Kevin Baron
Published: September 20, 2011
WASHINGTON – Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen has warned General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani many times over the years that he must do something to stop attacks on Afghanistan from terrorists coming from inside Pakistani safe havens.
And once again, amid the recent spike in high-profile violence across Afghanistan, Mullen sat in likely his final Pentagon press conference Tuesday before retiring this month and said that he “very strongly” pressed Kayani when they met Friday evening in Spain.
By Kevin Baron
Published: September 20, 2011
WASHINGTON – The U.S. will have about 40,000 troops in Iraq by the end of September, it turns out, not the much lower total of 30,000 that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen had first said on Tuesday.
Mullen cited the lower figure unexpectedly on Tuesday in an appearance at Washington’s Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, sparking urgent news reports and questions for further explanation at a Pentagon press conference later in the day.
By Leo Shane III
Published: September 20, 2011
From the White House this morning:
Today, the discriminatory law known as ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ is finally and formally repealed. As of today, patriotic Americans in uniform will no longer have to lie about who they are in order to serve the country they love. As of today, our armed forces will no longer lose the extraordinary skills and combat experience of so many gay and lesbian service members. And today, as Commander in Chief, I want those who were discharged under this law to know that your country deeply values your service.
By Megan McCloskey
Published: September 19, 2011
A group of celebrities wants to bring transcendental meditation to veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.
It's the pet cause of filmmaker David Lynch, known best for "Blue Velvet," "The Elephant Man" and the TV show "Twin Peaks." He runs Operation Warrior Wellness and has recruited Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese, Paul McCartney, Jerry Seinfeld and George Lucas to help him raise money to teach the meditation technique to 10,000 veterans. Lynch promises $500,000 in a matching grant for donations made by Veterans' Day, Nov. 11.
By Kevin Baron
Published: September 19, 2011
WASHINGTON – What a buzzkill.
Air Force Secretary Michael Donley faced a huge ballroom on Monday morning ready to kick off the biggest Air Force conference of the year. But instead of giving them the old Rick Perry red meat and whipping the crowd into a frenzied, spontaneous singing of “Into the wild blue yonder,” Donley delivered a dose of Jimmy Carter malaise.
By Kevin Baron
Published: September 16, 2011
WASHINGTON – Can Twitter predict insurgent attacks?
The Pentagon wants to know, but one group of university researchers already has an inkling of the answer: Doubtful.
By Bill Murphy Jr.
Published: September 15, 2011
A “Biblical” dust storm kicked up just before Lt. Col. Timothy Karcher’s MRAP was set to leave his base in Iraq in June 2009. Visibility was down to almost nothing.
“Sir, do we really want to go out today?” asked the lieutenant in charge of Karcher’s personal security detail. Despite his misgivings, Karcher recalls trying to reassure everyone with a gallows humor reply.
By Kevin Baron
Published: September 15, 2011
WASHINGTON – One day after Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the U.S. would respond to recent insurgent attacks in Afghanistan carried out by the Haqqani network from Pakistan, a top NATO commander stoically said their jurisdiction ends at Afghanistan’s border. Instead, the coalition is focused holding the year’s gains across the country, as the war plods on into the fall and next year.
“We can only fire across the border in self-defense,” said Maj. Gen. Tim Evans, International Security Assistance Force Joint Command chief of staff, briefing Pentagon reporters from Kabul.
By Leo Shane III
Published: September 15, 2011
WASHINGTON — Receiving a Medal of Honor comes with many additional benefits – a higher pension, lifetime access to military facilities, invites to White House events – but one that most of the heroes don’t take advantage of is the unofficial “drink beer with the president” perk.
Dakota Meyer didn’t let that opportunity pass by.
By Jeff Schogol
Published: September 14, 2011
WASHINGTON -- NATO's International Security Assistance Force finally found a useful purpose for Twitter by getting into a tit-for-tat duel with the Taliban in the Twitterverse.
The spat started after Tuesday's attack on the U.S. Embassy and ISAF headquarters in Kabul when ISAF sent out a tweet asking how long the Taliban would continue to put innocent civilians in harm's way, The Guardian reported.
By Chris Carroll
Published: September 13, 2011
WASHINGTON -- Cyber intrusions against the U.S. government and private companies have multiplied in recent years, but truly destructive attacks are now on the horizon, America’s top cyber warrior said Tuesday.
“It is a question of time,” said Army Gen. Keith Alexander, according to a story by the Defense Department’s American Forces Press Service. “What we don’t know is how far out it is.”
By Kevin Baron
Published: September 13, 2011
WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told a group of aerospace defense industry executives on Tuesday he supported their calls to ease federal rules on exporting weapons and defense technology.
“The goal is … to look at ways of making it easier to sell weapons to other countries,” said Pentagon press secretary George Little. “The secretary believes it’s important to take a hard look at this.”
By Kevin Baron
Published: September 12, 2011
WASHINGTON – House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard “Buck” McKeon, R-Calif., is relishing his role as the leading GOP guard dog against defense spending cuts heading into this fall’s debt supercommittee negotiations.
In a strategically timed keynote speech at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, one day after the Sept. 11 anniversary, McKeon repeatedly blasted President Barack Obama as another a soft-on-defense, spending cut-happy liberal eager to scale back American forces around the world and gut the military. Obama, he said, “resigns us to national decline.”
By Kevin Baron
Published: September 12, 2011
WASHINGTON – A Pentagon official condemned the Monday truck bombing of a combat outpost as the work of the Pakistan-based Haqqani Network.
“We condemn it in the strongest possible terms. We believe the perpetrators of the attack were from the Haqqani Network. Once again this is totally unacceptable behavior and we call on these kinds of attacks to cease,” Pentagon press secretary George Little said Monday.
By Kevin Baron
Published: September 12, 2011
WASHINGTON – There are U.S. boots on the ground in Libya.
After pledging for months no American “boots on the ground” would be in Libya, a small military team arrived in Tripoli this weekend to help the State Department reestablish the U.S. embassy.
By Kevin Baron
Published: September 9, 2011
WASHINGTON – On most sunny days, the beautiful Pentagon courtyard is teeming with coworkers eating lunch at the picnic tables, sneaking smoke breaks or escaping from the freezing air conditioning on a nice park bench. People inevitably tilt their faces toward the warm sun and pause for it to bake in.
Then nearly everyone flinches as a commercial airplane roars overhead, unbelievably close to the river side of the building, directly above the offices of Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen.
By Kevin Baron
Published: September 9, 2011
WASHINGTON – Pentagon workers don’t need ceremonies to remember Sept. 11. They’re reminded of it every day when they walk in the door.
But ceremonies are what the military does, and since the Pentagon Memorial is off limits Sunday to everyone but the 9/11 victims’ families and officials, in the center courtyard on Friday a few hundred of the building’s 23,000 workers braved a light rain to hear Defense Secretary Leon Panetta deliver commemorative remarks and a bit of a pep talk.
By Kevin Baron
Published: September 9, 2011
WASHINGTON – Just in time for the 9/11 anniversary weekend, Fort America, the Pentagon’s gift shop, has stocked up with paraphernalia to help visitors and workers honor the memories of those who died here. And it’s all on sale, cheap.
To be fair, there’s always plenty of junk and schlock for sale at Fort America. It’s a gift shop, after all. But there’s a new level of tchotchke being reached this week, as thousands of workers in the building pause to commemorate the tragedy, and the lives lost, on that day 10 years ago.
By Kevin Baron
Published: September 8, 2011
WASHINGTON – House Republicans have returned from the August recess with an aggressive campaign led by the Armed Services Committee to get ahead of this fall’s budget-cutting talks and protect defense spending. But a video released this week by Chairman Rep. Buck McKeon that uses Sept. 11 as a backdrop reveals what type of military -- what capabilities -- Congress is fighting for, exactly.
With touching violin music amid sounds and images of the dramatic 9/11 attacks, McKeon asks, “What if we’re attacked in some other area? What is our military going to be able to do if we keep cutting ‘em?”
By Leo Shane III
Published: September 8, 2011
WASHINGTON – Mixed among the high-profile politicians and business leaders who will be in attendance at the president’s Capitol Hill speech on jobs tonight are a pair of veterans whose stories provide a look at the struggles and opportunities military members face in the civilian job market.
Here are their bios, courtesy of the White House:
By Bill Murphy Jr.
Published: September 8, 2011
A bill to honor federal civilian workers who die on duty is facing opposition from a veterans organization that contends presenting employees' families with an American flag at funerals would blur the line between civilian and servicemember.
Sponsored by Rep. Richard Hanna, R-N.Y., the legislation would authorize the recognition for those who “are killed while performing official duties or because of their status as a Federal employee.”
By Kevin Baron
Published: September 8, 2011
WASHINGTON – U.S. and Afghan national security leaders are meeting at the State Department on Thursday and Friday, crafting a long-term security cooperation on some fairly vague topics like security, governance and development.
But one thing is being made clear up front: “The United States does not seek any permanent American military bases in Afghanistan,” said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.
By Bill Murphy Jr.
Published: September 7, 2011
A quirk in the calendar combined with a change in federal law means that roughly 2.3 million U.S. military retirees will receive what amounts to an additional or early monthly payment this year.
The reason, explained Defense Finance and Accounting Service spokesperson Steve Burghardt, is that Congress changed the law this year to require that DFAS pay retirees on the first of each month, unless that day happens to fall on a weekend or a holiday.
By Chris Carroll and Seth Robbins
Published: September 7, 2011
WASHINGTON - Effective Wednesday, force-protection levels at military bases in the continental United States are being raised in advance of the 9/11 anniversary, the Pentagon announced.
“This is not in response to any specific or credible threat surrounding the 10th anniversary of 9-11, but we believe it is prudent and precautionary to take such a step,” said DOD spokesman George Little.
By Megan McCloskey
Published: September 7, 2011
WARNING: THESE SONGS HAVE LYRICS THAT COULD BE OFFENSIVE
The rapper’s name — Soulja Boy — was one thing. But a song that flat out dissed the troops? Not being taken to kindly by real soldiers.
By Kevin Baron
Published: September 6, 2011
WASHINGTON – Kicking off a week of 10-year anniversary remembrances on Monday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is visiting New York City and Shanksville, Pa., with troops who joined the military after the attacks on September 11, 2001.
While NYC undoubtedly will receive the bulk of attention this week, there are several 9/11 events planned at the Pentagon, which some feel has become nearly forgotten in the wall-to-wall media blitz already underway.
By Jeff Schogol
Published: September 2, 2011
WASHINGTON – The long Labor Day weekend is a perfect time to hit the links for a good cause.
During the fifth annual Patriot Golf Day – which actually spans three days, today through Monday – golfers at select courses are encouraged to donate at least $1 per round to the Folds of Honor Foundation, which helps children of wounded and fallen troops attend college. Non-golfers can make donations directly to the Folds of Honor Foundation.
By Kevin Baron
Published: September 2, 2011
WASHINGTON – In a major security gain for the Obama administration’s wishes for European missile defense, Turkey has agreed to emplace U.S. early warning radar on its land, facing Iran and linked into the U.S. Aegis ship-borne system.
Though the agreement has some further required approvals to clear, a Pentagon spokesman said the radar system is in the process of being integrated with the Aegis system.
By Jeff Schogol
Published: September 2, 2011
WASHINGTON -- For close to 50 years, visitors to President John F. Kennedy's grave at Arlington National Cemetery have found shade under a massive oak tree at the gravesite.
Sadly, the oak tree, which had stood for more than 200 years, was one of five large trees that fell when Hurricane Irene hit the East Coast on Aug. 27, according to Arlington National Cemetery.
By Kevin Baron
Published: September 2, 2011
WASHINGTON – Where’s Panetta? Since Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s first weekend on the job, that is a phrase that has become common in the Pentagon.
The Californian quickly has made it a regular habit to fly home to Monterey on weekends and holidays. Now, The Los Angeles Times looks into why he does it, who’s paying for it.
By Leo Shane III
Published: September 2, 2011
WASHINGTON – The last of the major annual veterans conventions wrapped up this week, with many of the traditional service organizations holding their officer elections as part of the closing activities. The change in leadership won’t mean dramatic shifts in priorities for any of the groups – defending veteran programs against looming budget cuts was the main topic at all of the events – but it will mean some new faces and voices lobbying lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
Here’s a closer look at some of the men who will be leading those veterans groups in the coming year:
By Chris Carroll
Published: September 1, 2011
WASHINGTON – Deployed troops, and particularly those who’ve been in combat, are at increased risk for sleep problems and associated health risks, according to an Army medical study released Thursday.
More than 70 percent of deployed soldiers have trouble getting more than 6 hours of shut-eye, according to the study, which tracked the sleep habits of more than 3,000 soldiers returning from war. This kind of short sleep duration may increase the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and substance abuse, as well as more severe traumatic brain injury symptoms, the researchers said.
By Leo Shane III
Published: September 1, 2011
WASHINGTON – Defense Department officials late Wednesday acknowledged “serious issues” behind a new report to Congress detailing up to $60 billion in wasted contracting funds, and said efforts have already begun to address those problems.
The 240-page report from the Commission on Wartime Contracting estimates that U.S. taxpayers have lost as much as $12 million a day since the start of the war in Afghanistan, and chronicles dozens of contracts where millions were lost to fraud or incompetence.
