Author Archives: Craig Swain
Reporting or Opportunism?
Sometime in December 1943, Navy photographer Charles Kerlee took this photo of a scene on Tarawa. Tarawa, as you probably know, had just been captured in a bloody battle only a few weeks earlier. There are many scholarly works I … Continue reading
Filed under history
DoD to encourage beards
Interesting to say the least…. Pentagon Study Finds Beards Directly Related To Combat Effectiveness Tampa, FL– Forget new gear, weapons, or sophisticated targeting systems. The newest tool coming to combat troops is low-tech: beards. In a report released yesterday, research … Continue reading
Filed under army, ARMY TRAINING, Humor
B-52 Bomber Milestones
h/t to Doctrine Man!!: B-52 Bomber Marks Major Milestones in 2012 They’ve been part of the landscape of Northwest Louisiana since the late 1950s, and this year the big B-52s at Barksdale Air Force base will mark a number of … Continue reading
The F-35 and implications for allies
We tend to see the F-35 through the lens of the US military requirements. Earlier this week, Jeffrey W. Hornung offered an interesting take on the F-35: While the Defense Ministry is responsible for choosing the F-35, officials are concerned about … Continue reading
Navy just 4 years away from laser cannon
From Wired: The dream of sailors, nerds and sailor-nerds everywhere is on the verge of coming true, senior Navy technologists swear. Within four years, they claim they’ll have a working prototype of a laser cannon, ready to place aboard a … Continue reading
Filed under navy
Army to revive “General of the Army” rank
I guess it could work…. The Army announced last week that it is reinstating the General of the Army rank to oversee the transformation of the service into a smaller, more agile force. During a press conference at the Pentagon, … Continue reading
Filed under army
Mission Brief
Caption: Members of the Nagarhar Agri-business Development Team listen to a pre-mission brief, March 17, 2012. The mission of the ADT is to support initiatives that will ensure the sustainability of Afghan agricultural productivity. Yes, what one of my old … Continue reading
Filed under Afghanistan
F-35 Overruns Top $1 Billion… with a “B”
Almost a “dog bites man” <yawn> story at this point. From Business Week: Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)’s first 63 F-35 fighter jets are exceeding their combined target cost by $1 billion, showing the Pentagon’s costliest program lacks a reliable design … Continue reading
Artillery Evolutions: Anti-Tank Guns and their German Origins
From World War I until the end of World War II, from the standpoint of doctrine, the preferred way to deal with enemy tanks was an anti-tank gun. During World War I, only one of the belligerents developed a significant … Continue reading
Manus, Afghanistan, and the Long Game
From UPI: BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, March 14 (UPI) — The Manas Air Base in Kyrgyzstan will be used as a civilian transit center after international forces wind down their mission in Afghanistan, Bishkek said. U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta met with … Continue reading
Filed under Afghanistan
UN Torture Chief rules Bradley Manning’s treatment inhumane
From the Guardian: The UN special rapporteur on torture has formally accused the US government of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment towards Bradley Manning, the US soldier who was held in solitary confinement for almost a year on suspicion of … Continue reading
Filed under Uncategorized
Army’s Top NCO Talking Radical Reforms to Uniforms, Grooming
From Carl Prine’s Line of Departure: Radical reforms to the way soldiers dress, greet superior officers and wear tattoos are coming your way if Sergeant Major of the Army Raymond F. Chandler III has his way. That seems to be … Continue reading
Filed under army
Dustbowl stories anyone?
Tank Maintenance U.S. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment perform maintenance on their tank on Fort Irwin, Calif., Feb. 20. Photo by U.S. Army Sgt. Zachary A. Gardner, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment Public Affairs Office Although the crew … Continue reading
Filed under ARMY TRAINING
Kiowa Warriors over A’stan
Kiowa Warriors flight Two Task Force Saber, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade OH-58D Kiowa Warriors fly toward a training range near Jalalabad, Afghanistan March 2, 2012. Saber’s Kiowas lead the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade in OH-58 hours, helping the brigade set … Continue reading
Filed under Afghanistan, army, ARMY TRAINING, helicopters
Leadership Lesson from 150 years ago today: The Battle of Pea Ridge
On March 7, 1862, Federal and Confederate troops clashed, in one of the few major battles west of the Mississippi River, on the rolling ground of Pea Ridge, Arkansas. The battle itself lasted two days, resulting in both a tactical … Continue reading
Filed under history
Ray Harris’s World War II Podcasts
I posted this earlier on my blog, but XBrad elbowed me to cross-post over here too: Recently I discovered Ray Harris’ The History of World War II Podcasts. Thought I’d mention his excellent work as there are a few readers … Continue reading
Filed under ARMY TRAINING
Harbor Dredging? Yes the Army handles that too…. But should it?
From the Corps of Engineers Flickr collection: Caption: Dredging the Baltimore Harbor U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Norfolk District contractor Weeks Marine uses their dredge, B. E. Lindholm, to keep the Cape Henry portion of the Baltimore Harbor Channel at … Continue reading
Filed under army
Eye Candy for Roamy
Today we are on a father-son day trip to the Udvar-Hazy Museum, a.k.a. the Air and Space Museum Annex at Washington-Dulles Airport. One of the featured exhibits there is going away: The space shuttle Enterprise is being prepared for a … Continue reading
Picture of the Day: CH-47 Snow Landing
Caption: A CH-47 Chinook helicopter raises a white out of blowing snow as it lands at a remote landing zone in Shah Joy district, Zabul province, Afghanistan, Feb. 8. Helicopters provide an efficient and reliable means of transporting personnel and … Continue reading
Filed under Afghanistan
Little Round Top: 20th Maine
Here’s one for XBrad, because I know this is his favorite Civil War story. I’m stomping around Gettysburg today and made the required stop at this monument: Yes the monument for the 20th Maine Infantry Regiment. Most visitors would stop … Continue reading
Filed under history
Howitzer Fire: M777
Caption: Soldiers from 3rd Howitzer Section, Alpha Battery, 2-8th Field Artillery fire the M777 at COP Wolverine in Zabul Province, Afghanistan. Poetry in motion…
Filed under Afghanistan, Artillery
Army Leaders Defend Plan to Shutdown M1 Tank Production | Military.com
Army Leaders Defend Plan to Shutdown M1 Tank Production | Military.com. The Army’s top two leaders defended the service’s strategy to cut spending before lawmakers on Capitol Hill today, including a plan to shutdown M1 tank production. Members of the … Continue reading
Vanguard of Valor: Small Unit Actions in Afghanistan
From the Combat Studies Institute: Vanguard of Valor: Small Unit Actions in Afghanistan. In 2010, General (Ret.) David Petraeus directed the Combat Studies Institute to research and write a collection of accounts that showed the face of battle in Afghanistan. … Continue reading
Filed under Afghanistan
Military History Blog Carnival Submission Open
First off, what the heck is a Military History Blog Carnival? Well the folks over at History News Network host a listing of recommended military history blog posts. So it’s sort of like a nudge to other blog readers about … Continue reading
Filed under Uncategorized
Artillery Evolutions: More French – Grande Puissance Filloux
Can we say that without getting a mature rating? Sure! Grande Puissance Filloux is the “friendly” name given by the French to the “Canon de 155mm mle 1917 G.P.F.” In the last Artillery Evolutions post, I mentioned the French 155mm … Continue reading
Filed under Artillery
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Craig Swain
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