COLUMBUS, Ohio — U.S. veterans of the war in Afghanistan are telling a commission reviewing decisions on the 20-year conflict that their experience was not only hell, but also confounding, demoralizing and at times humiliating.The bipartisan Afghanistan War Commission aims to reflect such veterans’ experiences in a report due to Congress next year, which will analyze key strategic, diplomatic, military and operational decisions made between June 2001 and the chaotic withdrawal in August 2021.The group released its second interim report on Tuesday, drawing no conclusions yet but identifying themes emerging from thousands of pages of government documents; some 160 interviews…
Author: Tommy Grant
The United States is deploying three Aegis guided-missile destroyers to the waters off Venezuela as part of President Donald Trump’s effort to combat threats from Latin American drug cartels, according to a U.S. official briefed on the planning.The Gravely, the Jason Dunham and the Sampson are expected to arrive soon, said the official, who was not authorized to comment and spoke Tuesday on the condition of anonymity.A Defense Department official confirmed that the military assets have been assigned to the region in support of counter narcotics efforts. The official, who was not authorized to comment about military planning, said the…
During the early days of the Covid pandemic, we all saw how fast store shelves could go bare. Overnight, it seemed like the most basic medical supplies disappeared and didn’t return for months. While the pandemic may have been the trigger, the reality is that there are all sorts of potential disasters that could cause the same kind of panic buying and supply chain breakdowns.With four kids in our family, we go through our fair share of scrapes, fevers, and colds. And while I’m not worried about a specific threat right now, I am determined not to get caught off…
A task force of 500 U.S. Marines and sailors is working to construct new fortifications at Arizona’s southern border with Mexico, including adding barbed and concertina wire.The new task force, called Task Force Forge, comprises personnel assigned to Combat Logistics Battalion 15, 1st Marine Logistics Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force. The task force is currently at work within U.S. Border Patrol’s Yuma Sector in Arizona. This sector is monitored by Border Patrol agents tasked with securing 126 miles of the border from Arizona to California.The force assumed its mission last month, taking over the efforts of the outgoing 1st Combat…
This article was originally published by Cassie B. at Natural News. The U.S. is pushing Ukraine toward painful concessions as Secretary of State Marco Rubio warns the war will only worsen after three and a half years of brutal fighting. President Trump and Putin’s rare Alaska summit signaled neither side will achieve total victory, with Trump urging Ukraine to cede territory or risk losing even more land. Russia’s wartime economy and relentless manpower advantage have turned the conflict into an unsustainable “meat grinder” for Ukraine, while U.S. funding faces growing public backlash. Putin demands Ukraine surrender all of Donetsk in…
The Pentagon announced a new military decoration that will recognize service members stationed at the U.S.-Mexico border as part of the Trump administration’s effort to bolster border security.A U.S. defense official confirmed to Military Times the veracity of a memorandum regarding the medal that began circulating online several days ago.“Effective immediately, the Mexican Border Defense Medal (MBDM), is hereby established to recognize Service members deployed to the U.S. international border with Mexico for DoD support to United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP),” a memo uploaded to the Navy subreddit reads.Previously, service members collaborating with CBP were awarded the Armed…
This article was originally published by George Ford Smith at The Mises Institute. Most people accept the moral prohibitions on lying, murdering, and stealing in their personal lives as well as in their business affairs. Why, then, does government—which is run by people—get a pass? Is ethics irrelevant in government affairs? The answer is yes, because there is no one to hold the government accountable. By its nature as a state, it is above accountability. As Rothbard elaborately explained, the state is a criminal gang writ large, an organization not subject to its laws because of its monopoly of violence. Jefferson’s…
“We cannot have free government without elections,” President Abraham Lincoln reflected outside the White House on Nov. 10, 1864. “And if the rebellion could force us to forego or postpone a national election it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us.”By the fall of 1864, the United States had been engulfed in a civil war for nearly 44 months, with “the bones of thousands of Northern boys [lying] in Southern graves or decayed unburied in the thickets and swamps of Dixie,” writes historian Gerald Swick.For Lincoln — and for the Union — the outcome of the 1864…
My AR experience started in the Marine Corps. My first rifle was an M16A2 and eventually an M16A4. I had an M4 for about the blink of an eye, and I remember my first impression of the carbine as that it was much rougher shooting. I’ve since learned an in-depth difference between AR gas systems. As a fan of rifle-length gas systems and short barrels, the Dissipator idea seemed so cool. The idea of Dissipator dates back to Colt and Vietnam. Troops wanted a shorter rifle for jungle combat. Colt took an M-16 and cut the barrel at the gas…
In the shifting landscape of warfare, Fort Rucker, Alabama, is working to adapt, and quickly — with the Army’s Aviation Center of Excellence recently launching its first Unmanned Advanced Lethality Course.“This is the first time the Army has done this in a TRADOC setting, coordinating between three difference COEs,” Maj. Wolf Amacker, the chief of the AVCOE Directorate of Training and Doctrine UAS and Tactics Branch, said in an Army release. “We’re helping to train the most people, the quickest, on FPV systems that are having a real impact on the battlefield.The first of its kind for the center, the…