SFTT Military News: Week Ending Apr 28, 2017

Found below are a few military news items that caught my attention this past week. I am hopeful that the titles and short commentary will encourage SFTT readers to click on the embedded links to read more on subjects that may be of interest to them.

If you have subjects of topical interest, please do not hesitate to reach out. Contact SFTT.

Israeli Airstrike at Syrian Airport Confirmed
An Israeli missile strike has caused a large explosion and ...

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SFTT Military News: Week of April 7, 2017

Found below are a few military news items that caught my attention this past week. I am hopeful that the titles and short commentary will encourage SFTT readers to click on the embedded links to read more on subjects that may be of interest to them.

If you have subjects of topical interest, please do not hesitate to reach out. Contact SFTT.

US Military Options in Syria
Trump said that Tuesday’s attack “crossed a lot of lines” for ...

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Military News Highlights: February 8, 2011

Military tries one-stop shop for treatment of concussions

One hundred and sixty thousand troopers have been diagnosed with concussions since 2000.  I bet that is a conservative estimate/data point, given the fact that the stigma of reporting a head-injury and the evolving science of diagnosis.

Nevertheless, there has been three-hundred and ten concussions diagnosed in the past five months at lovely Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan.  And for in-camp/intra-theater treatment, naval medical officers have established a “one-stop shop” where you can ...

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Military News Highlights: January 18, 2011

In Afghanistan, uptick in violence this winter coincides with less snow

No brainer, lack of snow in “the passes” means mobility and infiltration, right?  Not so fast.  Actually to claim that sustained Taliban combat operations has extended into the “traditional non-fighting winter months” because of a lack of snow in “the passes” is a bit of stretch.  Maybe the mild weather isn’t a factor because US/NATO has not be effective in degrading threat capabilities.  That is probably the ...

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Military News Highlights: January 14, 2011

Vantage Point: The Challenges of Small-Unit Patrolling in Afghanistan

C.J. Cheevers from the New York Times has been a go-to 24/7 resource for the SFTT news project; CJ also recently published the definitive history of the Avtomat Kalashnikov this past year in “The Gun.”  his NYT blog is a new entry that he will update periodically that the SFTT news team directs your attention to.

The first video blog provides an upfront and personal look at an aero-medevac of ...

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Military News Highlights: January 11, 2011

Is the tide turning in southern Afghanistan ?

Back in the fall of 2006, the Kagans, Frederick and Kimberly, from the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), peddled the “surge” on a set of Power Point slides via General (Ret.) Jack Keane.  First to the Office of the Vice President, then to the President, then to the Pentagon, and then to CENTCOM, and finally to Congress – standard operating procedure back then.  The result?  The “surge” into Iraq and the “reversal ...

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Military News Highlights: January 5, 2011

Reintegrated Taliban Join Afghan Police

While reintegrating former Taliban members into the general Afghan community and allowing them to join the Afghan Police may be well intentioned.  Prudence is required considering the increased Afghan security force blue-on-blue incidents resulting in numerous US/NATO murders.  Unfortunately provincial, district, and tribal elders vouching for Taliban reintegration will not be intended targets if these former members reconsider their newfound allegiance. It is a risk, plain and simple, like throwing caution to the wind.

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Military News Highlights: January 4, 2011

U.S.-funded infrastructure deteriorates once under Afghan control, report says

Since 2001, the Commanders Emergency Relief Program (CERP) in Afghanistan has provided commanders quick and readily available resources to fund projects – to build schools, to build local government facilities, purchase generators, pave roads, etc.  And because Afghanistan is a target rich environment for CERP related projects given the effects of over 30 years of war and the lack of government capacity to provide services, CERP is sometimes the only ...

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Military News Highlights: December 30, 2010

Busy With Afghanistan, the U.S. Military Has No Time to Train for Big Wars

Clearly the US military, and especially our infantry-centric units, are on the “margins” when only one brigade combat team has been able to break away from COIN focused training this past decade and conduct full-spectrum operations type training necessary to maintain current and future US strategic interests.  Further, the capability to conduct forcible entry operations has atrophied and “takes practice, and we don’t get a ...

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Military News Highlights: December 28, 2010

Iraq Wants the U.S. Out: Prime Minister, in Interview, Says Troops Must Leave Next Year as Planned

Lest we forget that close to 50,000 US troops remain in Iraq supporting Operation New Dawn.  At least the Iraqi Prime Minister made it abundantly clear that all US troops must leave at the end of 2011 as planned.  Maliki put the issue to rest for Pentagon planners and some Iraqi officials that are hoping to extend the deadline.  In the meantime ...

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