For Brain-Injured Soldiers, Top Quality Care From a Philanthropist, not the Pentagon The primary health care plan for our active duty force, called TRICARE will not provide “cognitive rehabilitation therapy” (CRT) for treatment of traumatic brain injuries (TBI) because the treatment is “still unproven.”  Project Share, a charity based out ...

Life and Death Decisions Weigh on Junior Officers To command soldiers in combat is a privilege, one that this young infantry company commander relishes.  To be clear, life and death decisions weigh more heavily on rifle company commanders than any other combat line officer because of the nature of command ...

Uncertainty marks White House review on Afghanistan, Pakistan In regards to the highly touted release of the administrations review of Afghanistan, one-step up and two-steps back.   One-step up, “strategy is showing progress”; two-steps back, no new information on how soon Afghan Security Forces will be able to assume responsibility for ...

U.S. intelligence reports cast doubt on war progress in Afghanistan National Intelligence Estimates (NIE) are authoritative assessments by the Director of National Intelligence related to a particular national security issue.  NIE’s are not written in a vacuum and express coordinated judgments of the entire US intelligence community.  Although these assessments ...

Richard Holbrooke Dead: Diplomat Dies At 69 Reportedly, Richard Holbrooke’s last words before sedation to his Pakistani surgeon: “You’ve got to stop this war in Afghanistan.” Rest in peace Mr. Holbrooke.  No Decisive Victory One Year Into Afghan Surge Actually there have been no decisive victories 9 years into the ...

6 Americans Killed by Bomb at a New U.S.-Afghan Outpost Six American soldiers were killed and more than a dozen American and Afghan troops were wounded on Sunday morning when a van packed with explosives was detonated at a new jointly operated outpost in southern Afghanistan. The soldiers were inside ...

Report: Growing mental health problems in military Never knew that the Department of Defense publishes a Medical Surveillance report , but even without the findings everyone knows that mental health problems are the number one health issue facing our troops.  That’s a no-brainer. The November report highlighted in this story ...

Gates declares Afghan war strategy is working  Now it’s all good in Afghanistan.  The strategy is working.  The  goal to hand over the keys to the Afghans in 2014 can be met.  The security climate is improving while Regional Command-East, South, and South-west remain in a constant kinetic posture.  And ...

Petraeus' negative tone at odds with Obama's optimism The overall commander on the ground in Afghanistan is saying one thing on the lack of overall progress of the war, while the commander-in-chief and Pentagon officials trumpet a “more optimistic message”.  But the tactical and operational commanders on the ground are ...

War's Progress Measured By Commanders In Afghanistan Two points of interest in this interview with Major General John Campbell, Commander of the 101st Airborne Division and Regional Command East – Afghanistan: [The interview is timed at 7 minutes, 48 seconds; the points of interest are at 5:38 and 6:15 respectively] ...

Try this one on for size if you find yourself in an airport terminal during this holiday season – introduce yourself to a servicemember in uniform, thank them their service, and ask if there is anything you can do for them.  Most will be surprised, nod humbly, and refuse.  And ...

Proposed 1.4% pay raise for military draws fire Sergeant Ellis is spot on, it is “absolute garbage” that troops in 2011 will earn the lowest pay raise in almost 50 years. True, we are entering an era of austerity and deficit-reduction economic policies, but streamlining pay for the troops at ...