Military « Ed's Blog

February 12, 2012 • 12:21 PM 39

THE USS GABRIELLE GIFFORDS

The U.S. Navy announced last week that it will name its newest Littoral Combat Ship (LCS 10) after former Representative Gabrielle Giffords. I admire Giffords, and I believe she has handled her situation with grace and courage; and if Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus wants to name a ship after her, that’s his prerogative. Nevertheless, is it a good idea to name Navy ships after young, living former politicians, no matter how much we may empathize with them? (Read the full column at EWRosss.com)

Filed under: Military, 2011 Tucson shooting, aircraft carrier, Amelia Earhart, American Revolution, Arizona, Bethesda, CVN-77, DDG-112, deranged lunatic, distinguished USN USMC officers, Ed Ross, Eleanor Roosevelt, enlisted men, ewross, Florence Nightingale, French Revolution, Littoral Combat Ship, Marie Antoinette, Maryland, Medal of Honor recipients, Member of Congress, military veterans, nuclear submarine officer, Queen of France, Ray Mabus, RDML Grace Hopper, Representative Gabrielle Giffords, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, SSN-23, Susan B. Anthony, Tucson Arizona, U.S. Navy SEAL, US Navy, USS Gabrielle Giffords, USS George H. W. Bush, USS Jimmy Carter, USS Michael Murphy, Vietnam War combat veteran, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Washington D.C., world war II

January 15, 2012 • 12:00 PM 8

WHY SOME AMERICAN WARRIORS BEHAVE BADLY

In every American war there have been those few that will urinate on enemy corpses or degrade and abuse enemy detainees. War is hell and it can bring out the worst in people. But do those who behave badly do so because of the stresses of combat or because of a propensity for such behavior before they entered the military? As a Vietnam War combat veteran, I can testify that both are true; but instances of the latter, in my opinion, outnumber the former as American men and women in uniform bring with them their personal moral and ethical bearings. (Read the full column at EWRoss.com)

Filed under: Military, 9th Infantry Division, Abu Ghraib, Afghanistan, alcohol and drug abuse, American warriors, behave badly, cell-phone video, Conflicts and Wars, cut ears of corpses, desecration of corpses, digital photography, Ed Ross, ewross, firebombing, General William Westmorland, geopolitical environment, Germans, Germany, highly decorated combat veterans, History, Hollywood propaganda, Internet, Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans, Japan, Japanese, Japanese fishing boats, Japanese Navy, laws of war, Mai Lai Massacre, Marines, Medal of Honor recipients, mental stability, Military, moral and ethical choices of tomorrow, moral fabric of American society, moral relativism, mores of war, posttraumatic stress disorder, psychiatrists, psychology of war, PTSD, search-and-destroy strategy, sub-human, suicide, U.S. Armed Forces, U.S. government, U.S. submarines, Uniform Code of Military Justice, United States, urinating on Taliban corpses, VC, Veteran, vietcong, Vietcong villages, Vietnam War, Vietnam War combat veteran, war crimes, warriors, world war II

January 30, 2011 • 11:13 AM 3

U.S. LEVERS OF INFLUENCE IN EGYPT: Military Ties are Critical

Image by Wild_atHeart via Flickr

Whatever the eventual outcomes of popular uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia, and other Islamic countries in the region, historians likely will mark January 2011 as the month the political tectonic plates suddenly shifted in the Islamic world. Will they note also that it was when Islamic fundamentalism began wresting power from pro-Western, secular, albeit autocratic, governments; or will they record it as the indigenous birth of freedom and democracy? (More)

Filed under: Military, National Security, access and influence, Camp David Accords, Chief of Staff, Ed Ross, Egypt, Egyptian Armed Forces, Egyptian Army, ewross, Foreign Military Financing, Gamal Mubarak, Green Revolution, Hosni Mubarak, IAEA, International Atomic Energy Agency, Islamic countries, Islamic fundamentalism, islamic world, levers of influence, Middle East experts, Muslim Brotherhood, Omar Soliman, President Jimmie Carter, President Obama's Cairo Speech, Robert Gibbs, Sami Hafez Anan, Shah of Iran, Stratfor, Tunisia, White House press conference, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali

January 23, 2011 • 10:45 AM 13

WOMAN IN COMBAT: The Long-term Implications

The U.S. Armed Forces are on the verge of allowing women to serve in ground combat units beneath the brigade level. Women already are serving and dying (over 110 in Iraq and Afghanistan) in many hazardous military jobs. They serve as fighter, bomber and helicopters pilots; and they serve in ground combat-support units that put them in harm’s way. Why shouldn’t they serve in front-line combat units? (More)

Filed under: Military, Afghanistan, all-volunteer force, all-volunteer military, bastion of male dominance, cold war, combat units, Congress, Ed Ross, ewross, female POWs, First Gulf War, hand-to-hand combat, hazardous military jobs, Iran, Iraq, Korean Peninsula, long-term implications, middle east, Military Leadership Diversity Commission, milllion-man army, National Defense Authorization Act, north korea, physical combat, Richard Nixon, Taiwan, taiwan strait, the draft, U.S. Armed Forces, U.S. Army, warrior women, women in combat, Women in the military, women of child-bearing age

December 19, 2010 • 12:34 PM 6

CHRISTMAS PRESENTS FOR AMERICA: What Are You Giving Her This Year?

Image via Wikipedia

At Christmas time we give presents to those we love. So, if you love America, what are you giving her this year?

Men and women in U.S. armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan are giving her their blood, sweat and tears. Some are giving their lives and limbs for her. Their mothers, fathers, spouses and children are giving her their sons and daughters, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers. Every family in service to America at home and abroad this Christmas, at the very least, is giving her their time. (More)

Filed under: Military, Afghanistan, American history, Christmas card, Christmas presents for America, Ed Ross, entitlement checks, ewross, Family, from the heart, gift, Happy New Year, Internal Revenue Service, Iraq, Merry Christmas, motion pictures, national debt, news stories, spin, taxpayer, universities, US armed forces, US government, USO, wounded warrior

October 2, 2010 • 10:00 PM 0

BEARING THE BURDENS OF WAR: Something Other People Do

Robert Gates

Speaking at Duke University last week, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates expressed his concerns about the cost of maintaining an all-volunteer force and too few Americans bearing the burdens of war. But is he sending Americans a mixed message that, coming as it does in the midst of the growing U.S. fiscal crisis and two prolonged and controversial wars, risks adopting solutions to one problem that only make the other problem worse? (More)

Filed under: Military, National Security, 401K plans, admirals, airmen, all-volunteer military, burdens of war, compulsory service, Congress, Department of Defense, DoD bureaucracy, Duke University, Ed Ross, ewross, freedom, generals, Joint Forces Command, maines, military compensation, military healthcare, Norfolk Virginia, retirement pay, Richard Nixon, Robert Gates, ROTC, sailors, soldiers, something other people do, United States Secretary of Defense, US defense budget

August 15, 2010 • 5:18 PM 5

REDUCING THE DOD BUREAUCRACY: Less is More

Secretary Robert Gates wants to make sweeping budget cuts in overhead at the Department of Defense (DoD). For starters, he has proposed eliminating Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) in Norfolk, Virginia, a 10 percent cut in contractors, the reduction of at least 50 generals and admirals, and the elimination of 150 Senior Executive Service (SES) civilians. I applaud Gates for his initiative. Not only will it save money for the needed modernization of weapons and equipment necessary to maintain our military capabilities, but it will make DoD more efficient and effective. (More)

Officials: Belt-tightening will cut major command (sfgate.com)
Scrapping the Defense Department CIO (informationweek.com)
Secretary Of Defense Gates Announces Plan To Disestablish Joint Forces Command, Cut Civilian And Military Personnel (minx.cc)
Gates Says Defense Bureaucracy Swollen, Declares Cuts (businessweek.com)
Pentagon Cuts Come Under Fire (online.wsj.com)

Filed under: Healthcare, Military, National Security, Africa Command, bureaucratic politics, CIA, defense acuisition reform, defense budget, Defense Department, deficits, Department of Defense, DoD bureaucracy, DoD civilians, efficient and effective, fighting wars and deterring aggression, Government, grade creep, GS-14, GS-15, Horn of Africa, Joint Forces Command, less is more, Military, military capability, national defense, National Security Council, Norfolk Virginia, Parkinson's Law, personnel costs, precision guided munitions, Reagan administration, reorginization, Robert Gates, Senior Executive Service, stealthy bomber, United States, United States Department of Defense, United States government, United States Joint Forces Command

August 1, 2010 • 1:52 PM 5

AFGHAN WAR DIARY – Anti-War Activism at its Worst

As soon as Wikileaks posted the 91,000 reports they call the “Afghan War Diary” online, some people immediately compared them to the “Pentagon Papers.” Daniel Elsberg’s 1971 leak of a top-secret Defense Department Vietnam War study revealed 20 years of presidential-administration deception about American involvement in Southeast Asia. The Afghan War Diary is a reprehensible and damaging revelation of secret intelligence sources and methods that places the lives of U.S. warriors and Afghani informants at greater risk, but the Afghanistan war’s “Pentagon Papers” it’s not. (more)

Filed under: Military, National Security, Afghan War Diary, Afghani informants, anti-war activism, Army Field Manual, Bradley Manning, collateral damage, Daniel Elsberg, droness, First Amendment rights, intelligence officer, intelligence sources and methods, Inter-Services Intelligence, NATA forces, New York Times, north vietnamese army, Pakistan, Pentagon Papers, special forces, Stanley McChrystal, top secret, Viet Cong, Vietnam, Wikileaks

June 27, 2010 • 11:03 AM 5

RETHINKING AFGHANISTAN – Petraeus and America’s Longest War

General Stanley McChrystal’s resignation following his strategic blunder—granting an interview to Rolling Stone magazine—comes two weeks after the war in Afghanistan became America’s longest war, exceeding the 104 months of the Vietnam War. These two events, along with President Obama selecting General David Petraeus to succeed McChrystal, should give us pause to rethink U.S. strategy in Afghanistan. (More)

Filed under: Military, National Security, al-Qaeda, America's longest war, David Petraeus, exit strategy, George W. Bush, Government of Pakistan, Inter-service Intelligence, Iraq, ISI, Islamist-Jihadist, Karl Eikenberry, North Waziristan, nuclear terrorist, Pakistan's nuclear weapons, Peggy Noonan, rethinking Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, Rolling Stone Magazine, Ryan Crocker, Stanley McChrystal, strategic blunder, surge, Taliban, Vietnam War, Wall Street Journal

June 22, 2010 • 10:10 AM 9

SHOULD McCHRYSTAL GO?

When General Douglas MacArthur, commanding United Nations forces in Korea, was “insubordinate” with President Harry Truman, Truman fired him. In that instance, MacArthur clearly crossed the line. Does General Stanley McChrystal’s statements in an interview to Rolling Stone Magazine rise to that level. Should President Barack Obama fire him? Should McChrystal resign? Or should he continue to command forces in Afghanistan?

Filed under: Military, Douglas MacArthur, General McChrystal, Korea, Presideent Barack Obama, Rolling Stone Magazine, United Nations forces

June 13, 2010 • 10:39 AM 6

U.S.-CHINA MILITARY INTERACTION – A Dysfunctional Relationship

China’s on-again-off-again approach to U.S-China military interaction and Beijing’s refusal to allow Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to visit China during his recent Asian trip reveals a dysfunctional military relationship that’s the result of much more than Beijing’s displeasure over U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. It reflects fundamentally different national strategic objectives and the changing locus of leverage that result from China’s growing power and influence relative to the U.S. (More)

Filed under: Military, National Security, Beijing, Caspar Weinberger, china, Chinese Commmunist Party, cold war, defense authorization act, Deng Xiaoping, dysfunctional relationship, high-level dialogue, locus of leverage, Mao Zedong, on again off again, People's Liberation Army, PLA, Robert Gates, Ronald Reagan, Secretary of Defense, Silkworm anti-ship missiles, state of the art, Tiananmen Square protests, US arms sales to China, US arms sales to Taiwan, US forces in the Pacific, US-China military interaction, US-China military relationship, Zhongnanhai

May 27, 2010 • 10:41 AM 8

A SOLDIER’S JOURNEY TO AN UNKNOWN DESTINATION – Memorial Day 2010

Forty-three Memorial Days ago—four wars ago now—I was a second lieutenant artillery observer with the 9th Infantry Division’s Mobile Riverine Force in the Mekong Delta of South Vietnam. The day I set out for that incredible combat zone five months earlier, I began a journey to an unknown destination, a place inside myself I had not yet discovered.

Read the full column

Filed under: Military, 9th division, a soldier's journey, artillery, cold war, combat zone, disfigured, Ed Naylor, hall of fame, heat of battle, Korean War, Larry Bonnell, maimed, Mekong Delta, mobile riverine force, OCS, officer candidate school, posttraumatic stress disorder, second lieutenant, sense of immortality, South Vietnam, unknown destination, Vietnam War, world war II

May 18, 2010 • 8:07 AM 8

PHONY VIETNAM WAR VETERANS

Approximately 3.4 million Americans, overwhelmingly men, served “in theater” during the Vietnam War. That includes Navy personnel serving on ships at sea and Air Force people who flew missions over Vietnam from bases in Thailand. Approximately 8.7 million people served in the U.S. Armed Forces during those years. Research, based on Veterans Administration claims and other documentation indicates that approximately 13 million Americans claim to have served “in theater” during the war. Now we learn in the Monday, May 17 edition of the New York Times that Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who is running to replace Senator Chris Dodd has repeatedly falsified his service in Vietnam. You would think a politician would be smarter than that. Those kind of facts are easy to verify. Nevertheless, isn’t it odd that so many people claim service in a war that was so unpopular.

Candidate’s Words on Vietnam Service Differ From History

Filed under: Military, Americans, Attorney General, Chris Dodd, Connecticut, Navy personnel, New York Times, Richard Blumenthal, Senator, Thailand, U.S. Armed Forces, Veterans Administration, Vietnam War

May 9, 2010 • 2:27 PM 1

DEFEATING ISLAMIST-JIHADISM – A Lesson From the Cold War

Every war requires a unique grand strategy, but certain strategic principles never change. They apply to all wars and are essential to victory. So why is the Obama administration deliberately avoiding the one most essential to winning the war with Islamist-Jihadism?

In the sixth century BC, Chinese general and military strategist Sun Tzu wrote in The Art of War (孫子兵法: Sūn Zǐ Bīng Fǎ), “Know thy self, know thy enemy; a thousand battles, a thousand victories.” (More)

Filed under: Military, Terrorism, Afghanistan, American victory in war, china, Chinese general, cold war, Cuba, Engels, evil empire, Fisal Shahzad, grand strategy, international communism, Iraq, islam, Islamist-Jihadism, know thy enemy, know thy self, Lenin, Mao, Marx, Nidal Hasan, north korea, obama administration, Pakistan, Ronald Reagan, Saudi Arabia, soviet union, strategic principles, Sun Tzu, The Art of War, UmarAbdulmutallab, Vietnam, Yemen

May 2, 2010 • 2:15 PM 9

VIETNAM TO ARIZONA – The Strategy of Moral Misdirection

A Vietnam veteran, on April 30, the 35th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, I reflected on my two tours of duty there. On May 1, “Immigration-Day,” I watched protesters on television march in opposition to Arizona’s new law on illegal immigration and the failure of the federal government to enact “comprehensive” immigration reform. They reminded me of anti-Vietnam-War protests and got me thinking about what they have in common. (More)

Filed under: Military, American political debate, Arizona, Arizona immigration law, border security, concerned citizens, green card, illegal immigrants, immigration reform, liberal activists, moral, moral high ground, moral misdirection, political activists, racial profiling, religious morality, secular, secular morality, self interested, Tea Party goers, Tea Party movement, Vietnam, Vietnam veteran, Vietnam War, Vietnam War protests, Vietnamese and Cambodian Communists, Wikipedia

Ed's Blog

THE USS GABRIELLE GIFFORDS

WHY SOME AMERICAN WARRIORS BEHAVE BADLY

U.S. LEVERS OF INFLUENCE IN EGYPT: Military Ties are Critical

WOMAN IN COMBAT: The Long-term Implications

CHRISTMAS PRESENTS FOR AMERICA: What Are You Giving Her This Year?

BEARING THE BURDENS OF WAR: Something Other People Do

REDUCING THE DOD BUREAUCRACY: Less is More

AFGHAN WAR DIARY – Anti-War Activism at its Worst

RETHINKING AFGHANISTAN – Petraeus and America’s Longest War

SHOULD McCHRYSTAL GO?

U.S.-CHINA MILITARY INTERACTION – A Dysfunctional Relationship

A SOLDIER’S JOURNEY TO AN UNKNOWN DESTINATION – Memorial Day 2010

PHONY VIETNAM WAR VETERANS

Candidate’s Words on Vietnam Service Differ From History

DEFEATING ISLAMIST-JIHADISM – A Lesson From the Cold War

VIETNAM TO ARIZONA – The Strategy of Moral Misdirection

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