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Oh, my. One night in the squadron bar, another lieutenant colonel and I had a long, beer-fueled discussion about fellow F-15 pilots who’d died in crashes. The guys who didn’t eject in time. The guys who flew into the ground or water, or who were instantly killed in mid-air collisions. And we concluded that there […]
Boy, does this make me feel old: In early November 2007, the nose and cockpit section of a Missouri Air National Guard F-15C broke away from the rest of the aircraft during a training flight. The pilot ejected and survived. Here’s a simulation of what happened: Following the mishap, the USAF grounded its entire fleet […]
Gwen, one of my regular readers, alerted me to this story about Pentagon and pharmaceutical industry efforts to create a drug to suppress soldiers’ moral qualms over killing. Psychological Kevlar, in other words, to reduce or eliminate growing mental health problems in troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. That’s the trouble with traditional methods of overcoming our aversion […]
Is air power the new face of successful war-fighting? Much to the dismay of the boots-on-the-ground zealots … the answer for today’s democracies may well be “yes.” During the summer, while U.S. ground forces in Iraq were distracted investigating potential war criminals in their midst, air power delivered a major success. … When thousands of troops […]
Donna and I went to a party today. At one point our host put on a DVD his son sent from Iraq, where he’s serving with the US Army. We’ve known our friend’s son since he was in junior high, and we’ve seen him grow up into a fine young man. The DVD he sent […]
Up to the rank of colonel, the military grows and promotes its own officers, independent of political influence. This is sacred. Is there a military man or woman anywhere, active or retired, alive or dead, who would not be outraged to learn that President Bush wants to take control of the promotion of military lawyers? […]
Another letter from my father, describing some of his experiences at the end of WWII in the Pacific, when he was a crewman on the USS Bolster, an auxiliary repair ship: At the end of WWII the USS Bolster was on its way to Ulithi Atoll to join the assembled fleet poised for the invasion […]
I feel like kvetching. How about you? Is National Public Radio going corporate? Ever since NPR started airing commercials (although they call them “sponsor notices”), their talk shows have become noticably Fair & Balanced™. I’m thinking specifically about the Diane Rehm Show, where, whenever she discusses politics or national policy, her guest list now invariably includes […]