Opinion Forum

Military Culture and Suicide

August 4th, 2012

By Jan Barry One of America’s biggest hidden tragedies is suicide. When I was growing up in the 1950s, it was a virtually forbidden topic. When I began working as a news reporter in the 1970s, I bumped into a tradition in journalism that suicides were not reported. When a Vietnam veteran in a small […]

Articles written by Jan Barry
Tags: Afghanistan, culture, Iraq, PTSD, soldiers, statistics, suicide, veterans
Categories: Life, Military, News | Comments (3) | Home

Further Thoughts on Koran Burning in Afghanistan

March 2nd, 2012

By Dan Miller There have been a few developments and some of them are good. In this article, I wrote about recent Koran burnings and the military justice implications. Little if any reliable further information emerged until today: PUL-E-ALAM, Afghanistan — Military investigators have concluded that five soldiers were involved in the incineration of a […]

Articles written by Dan Miller
Tags: Afghanistan, burning, Islam, Koran, Muslims, punishment, Quran, soldiers
Categories: Law, News, Politics | Comments (2) | Home

“We” Got Osama bin Laden?

May 4th, 2011

By Tom Carter Lots of Americans are happily shouting, “We got Osama bin Laden!” When I first heard it, I couldn’t help but ask myself, “What do you mean, ‘we’?” The fact is, the U.S. military and intelligence officers got him, under the leadership of their chains of command, including the Secretary of Defense, the […]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: Afghanistan, bin Laden, burden, Iraq, Marines, society, soldiers, veterans
Categories: Military, News, Politics | Comments (11) | Home

North Koreans Are Starving

March 26th, 2011

By Dan Miller According to this article, more than six million people there “urgently need food aid because of substantial falls in domestic production, food imports and international aid, the United Nations said on Friday.” Sixteen million (58.27%) of the 27,457,492 people there rely on the state-run distribution system. There is no mention in the […]

Articles written by Dan Miller
Tags: DPRK, food aid, North Korea, nuclear weapons, soldiers, starvation, UN
Categories: Military, News, Politics | Comments (6) | Home

On Memorial Day We Might Pause to Remember General Robert E. Lee

May 31st, 2010

By Dan Miller There are and have been few like him. It occurred to me as I watched this video, sent by a friend as appropriate for Memorial Day, that General Lee is well worth remembering on that day. It is said here that “Between battles, Union and Confederate troops showed little animosity toward one […]

Articles written by Dan Miller
Tags: Civil War, honor, integrity, Memorial Day, Robert E. Lee, soldiers
Categories: History, Military | Comments (3) | Home