Afghanistan

Saddam Hussein, Bin Laden still kings in war chess set

By Joe Gould on June 22, 2011 Outside the wire

The U.S. has already check-mated and removed Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, but they are still in play as part of a Canadian toy company’s war-themed chess set. The company, Hegwig & Sergeant Major, offers Taliban, Iraqi, Canadian, British and American pieces. The chess sets go for $250 a pop. George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Hussein and bin Laden are kings. The World Trade Center is a rook, a bomb-vest wearing Taliban suicide bomber is a knight, American soldiers and Mahdi Army soldiers are pawns. There are informative descriptions of pieces, like the Taliban rook, a bearded dude wielding…

Is this the new face of Army modernization?

By Lance Bacon on March 18, 2011 Afghanistan, Army, Congress, Product Announcement

Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., at a Thursday hearing on Soldier and Marine Equipment for Dismounted Operations, voiced his concern about the amount of weight soldiers are required to carry. And his concern certainly is justified. Nearing the end of the meeting, Bartlett warned military leaders against “getting in a rut.” His warning started with a very strong example of supplies in the South Pole, then took an somewhat unexpected turn … “As a senior member of the Science Committee I’ve now been twice to the South Pole,” Bartlett said. “I just want to use this as an example of how…

Meow military: Soldiers rescue war zone pets

By Joe Gould on March 7, 2011 Outside the wire

Unleash the kitties of war! Scott Vanneman, a Vermont guardsman, rescued Rocky, a stray kitten he found picking through the garbage on his post in Mata Khan, Afghanistan, the Courier Post reports. The 40-year-old from New Jersey said soldiers routinely skirted Army regulations banning pets. (Not to mention warnings about strays and rabies.) “It’s kind of a good mental health thing to have something, in a bad situation, to take care of,” Vanneman said of his fluffy white cat. A year ago, a Kansas Army wife transported a puppy named Bella through Kabul animal rescue group Tigger House, though her…

Afghan defense minister: Taliban has "suffered heavily"

By Joe Gould on March 4, 2011 Outside the wire

[HTML1] Afghanistan’s defense minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said that the Taliban has been losing ground in the last year, and that recent “sensational” attacks are acts of desperation. “The Taliban have really suffered heavily in the past year because of the tempo of ISAF and Afghan national security forces’ operations,” Wardak said. “Right now, to compensate for all of their failures, they are coming up with these sensational attacks and causing all these civilian casualties.”

Bad day for Buddha smashers

By Joe Gould on March 1, 2011 Outside the wire

One-eyed Taliban leader Mohammed Omar has to be one sad mullah. German scientists reported today they have a way to reconstruct the two giant Bamiyan Buddha statues he ordered dynamited in 2001. Hundreds of fragments from the 1500-year-old wonders could be put back together, AFP reports. The team sifting through the fragments said that with Japanese funding, a small factory could be built at Bamiyan valley or the 1,400 rocks and boulders could be hauled to Germany. The ancient Buddhist center fell victim to radical clerics who at the height of the Taliban’s power ordered the destruction of all “un-Islamic”…

New probe would look at friendly fire death where 1st LT fled

By Joe Gould on January 24, 2011 Outside the wire

The New York Daily News is reporting that the Army is considering a new investigation into a firefight in which a first lieutenant mistakenly shot one of his troops and left him to die in an Iraqi field–later covered up by commanders. This marks the Army’s third investigation into the death of Pfc. David Sharrett II, 27, of 1st Squadron, 32nd Cavalry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. Sharrett had not activated his infrared “bud light” before he was shot in an intense pre-dawn firefight by 1st Lt. Timothy Hanson, of Janesville, Wis. Hanson left Sharrett, “bleeding to death for 80 minutes.”…

CJTF commander and blogger debate merits of razing Afghan village

By Mike Hoffman on January 21, 2011 Afghanistan

The Army is so often criticized for not responding quick enough and then questioning why no one is paying attention when they issue a response well after everyone stopping talking about it. Not this time. Lt. Col. David Flynn, the commander of the Combined Joint Task Force 1-320th in Kandahar Province, responded immediately to critiques of his tactics in his AO. The critic is Joshua Foust, who blogs on Registan.net. He ripped the Army lieutenant colonel for arming a militia in southern Afghanistan and his decision to destroy the town of Tarok Kolache, which the Army says was empty and riddled with…

AWOL soldier avoids return to Afghanistan

By Lance Bacon on January 11, 2011 Afghanistan, Army, Iraq, Veteran issues

The Associated Press is reporting that an AWOL Fort Campbell soldier scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan has entered a mental health treatment program instead. Spc. Jeff Hanks went AWOL last year while on mid-tour leave from Afghanistan. He turned himself in on Veterans Day. Iraq Veterans Against the War took up his cause. In a press release, the group described Hanks as an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran “suffering from symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and likely Traumatic Brain Injury. He sought and was denied treatment on two military bases before refusing to redeploy and going Absent Without Official Leave…

Military construction dollars: A snapshot

By Lance Bacon on January 4, 2011 Afghanistan, Army, Congress

Army Times will publish a complete breakdown of the 2011 National Defense Authorization Act in the Jan. 17 edition, which hits newsstands Monday. In the meantime, here are some facts and figures from the stateside and Afghanistan military construction budgets we found interesting: Only five of the 165 stateside requests were shot down. They include a $30-million request for a Aviation Task Force Complex at Fort Wainwright, Ala., and a $19-million commissary for the garrison in Miami, Fla. It also was a bad year for museum operations support buildings, which got the thumbs-down for a combined $74.8 million requested for…

UAVs gaining momentum

By Lance Bacon on November 30, 2010 Afghanistan, Army, Iraq, UAVs

Air Force Army Unmanned Aerial Vehicles are taking significant strides, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Army logged more than 1 million flight hours earlier this year, and is growing more comfortable – and capable – with an ever-increasing inventory. The service is flying the MQ-1C Gray Eagle over Iraqi skies from Camp Taji. Only two deployed Army units fly the Gray Eagle, according to this story. The plan is to field up to 132 Gray Eagles in 11 units at the division level. Operators in Iraq are attached to the Enhanced Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, from Fort…

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