The Week: Most Recent us-military

Republicans and the military: No longer BFFs?

The Week — Fri, 25 May 2012 16:40:00 -0400

The GOP has long had a reputation as the national-security party. But there's a growing "rift between the U.S. military and the leadership of American conservatism," says Heather Hurlburt at Democracy Arsenal. Hardline politicians "who ritually stand up in front of the public and say they want to 'listen to the commanders,' [actually] ignore the commanders on issue after issue." Congressional Republicans, Hurlburt says, are arguing against Pentagon officials on everything from the threat of war with Iran, to military detention of terror suspects, to green energy initiatives designed to cut...

The military's new weapon: Mini spy robots you throw like grenades

The Week — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 15:02:00 -0400

If all goes as planned, a pint-sized robot that can spot enemy fighters hiding inside buildings and detect booby traps on rooftops will soon join U.S. soldiers on the battlefield. How does the Recon Scout XT robot work? Here, a brief guide:

How small are these robots?
The devices — two small spiky wheels connected by a camera-equipped handle — weigh just 1.2 pounds. They're compact enough that fighters can throw them, like grenades, up to 120 feet, over a wall, into a room, onto a roof, or anywhere else they suspect danger might lurk. "You can throw it as hard as you want," says...

Ready for action: The U.S. military's 'pain ray'

The Week — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 16:45:00 -0400

Say hello to the U.S. military's "pain ray," a crowd control device that zaps targets with an invisible electromagnetic wave that incapacitates without leaving permanent damage. After 15 years of development and testing, the weapon is finally ready to be deployed. Here's what you should know:

How exactly does it work?
Although the Pain Ray has been described as a "microwave" weapon, "that's not really correct," says Spencer Ackerman at Wired. Instead, it uses a different wavelength called the millimeter wave to generate heat. Millimeter waves don't go as deeply as microwaves; they...

Railguns: The Navy's 'ultimate superweapon'

The Week — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 16:30:00 -0500

The video: After six years of development and at least $240 million, the U.S. Navy's futuristic electromagnetic railgun is one big step closer to reality. The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is now test-firing a working prototype of the weapon that's small enough to fit on a warship. Using electric pulses, not chemical explosives, the cannon can shoot a 40-pound metal slug from New York to Philadelphia at up to 5,600 miles per hour — more than seven times the speed of sound — with 32 times the force of a car traveling at 100 miles per hour. (Watch a video...

How did 9/11 victims' remains end up in a landfill?

The Week — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 13:01:00 -0500

The Pentagon reopened a decade-old wound on Tuesday, admitting that unidentified partial remains of some victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were incinerated and dumped in a landfill. "Not only am I broken-hearted, but I am outraged," Diane Horning, whose son died at the World Trade Center, tells The Wall Street Journal. How could such a thing happen? Here's what you should know:

Who is responsible for this?
The blame, according to a government report, falls on the mortuary at Dover Air Force Base. Dover is best known as the place that receives the nation's war dead, but it also handled remains...

The 51-year-old mom who graduated from Army boot camp

The Week — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 15:23:00 -0500

Last week, Army Sgt. Sandra Coast graduated from Basic Combat Training at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri, notching some of the highest physical fitness scores in her company. What makes this particularly remarkable: At age 51, Coast is 222 percent older than the average newly minted Army grunt. Nicknamed "Grambo," Coast enlisted because she has a special place in her heart for troops — her son is Marine Corps Pfc. Jeff Coast — and a strong desire to serve. Still, "everybody in the world thinks I am a total nutcase," she tells the Armed Forces Press Service. A look at Coast's inspirational...

The military's 'magic plan' to make enemies hallucinate

The Week — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 06:30:00 -0500

As the military's technology arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is charged with ushering in the future of field combat, developing everything from hypersonic planes to robotic allies. But a new project hinted at in the Pentagon's defense budget is piquing outsider interest thanks to some seemingly bewitching connotations: The agency is being granted $4 million for a project known simply as "Battlefield Illusion." Here's what we know about the military's "magic plan":

What does the project call for?
The goal is to develop a way to confuse the enemy with "auditory and...

Robo-mule: The military's rugged new wilderness beast

The Week — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:52:00 -0500

The video: Move over, Petman. The military has a new walking robot: The LS3 (Legged Squad Support System), a big, fast, "rugged" machine that can carry more than 400 pounds of supplies (without refueling) over 20 miles of tough terrain where wheels wouldn't cut it. The robo-mule, designed by the government's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), is equipped with sensors that allow it to auto-correct its balance. (Watch a video below.) The machine's creators say they'll soon teach their robotic pack animal how to understand spoken commands like "stop," "sit," and "come here" &mdash...

The problem with outsourcing the military

The Week — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:25:00 -0500

It's not every day that a senator gets "god-damn mad," at least in public. But that's exactly what happened a few months ago, when a federal commission released a report that was so alarming, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight, dropped a "god-damn" in a congressional hearing. What worried her? The final findings of the Commission on Wartime Contracting, a bipartisan coalition formed in the spirit of the legendary Truman Committee, which exposed massive waste in World War II-era defense contracting. The modern commission found that these problems...

The 'smart bullets' that steer themselves

The Week — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:06:00 -0500

Researchers from Sandia National Laboratories are designing a self-guided bullet capable of homing in on targets up to a mile away. The Albuquerque-based security firm says the technology could prove useful for military and law enforcement officials, especially in sniper or hostage situations. Here, a brief guide to the innovation:

How does it work?
The bullet is designed to follow the point of a laser beam, adjusting its trajectory using a sophisticated array of tiny fins. The four-inch-long bullet has an optical sensor on its nose, which sends data to a series of electromagnetic actuators that...

A tough homecoming for war veterans

The Week — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:22:00 -0500

What challenges do new veterans face?
More than 2.3 million soldiers have served in Afghanistan and Iraq over the past decade, and official fatality and casualty numbers — 6,179 dead, 47,000 wounded — fail to capture the extensive physical and psychological injuries many of them have suffered. The Veterans Administration has treated more than 210,000 veterans of those wars for post-traumatic stress disorder, but acknowledges a much larger epidemic, since the stigma of mental-health problems prevents many of them from seeking help. Vets are also returning to marriages and families strained...

The military's growing reliance on robot airplanes: By the numbers

The Week — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 12:29:00 -0500

When the Obama administration unveiled its plan last week to cut roughly half a trillion dollars from future Pentagon budgets, many analysts seized on Obama's call for more unmanned military drones and fewer ground forces. Some critics are skeptical that a "leaner," technology-reliant military can really keep the country safe. But Obama's latest move is part of a much larger trend: As computerized warplanes become safer, more advanced, and cheaper to produce, the military relies on them more and more. Here, a look at America's growing fleet of robotic aircraft, by the numbers...

Obama's defense cuts: Can drones really keep us safe?

The Week — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 10:24:00 -0500

President Obama outlined a new defense strategy on Thursday that aims to cut at least $487 billion from the Pentagon's 10-year budget by downsizing the Army and Marine Corps. Meanwhile, Obama wants to bulk up the Navy and Air Force in the Asia-Pacific region, and increase the military's supply of unmanned drone fleets, special operations forces, and cyber-weaponry. "Our military will be leaner," Obama said, "but the world must know — the United States is going to maintain our military superiority with armed forces that are agile, flexible, and ready for the full range of contingencies...

Will the Pentagon's $450 billion budget cut 'decimate' the military?

The Week — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 18:05:00 -0500

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta this week is expected to unveil his plan to cut $450 billion from the Pentagon's budget over the next decade, an effort that will shape the U.S. military's fighting capabilities after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. With a tighter budget, the Pentagon will lose its ability to fight two sustained ground wars at once, but remain big enough to fight a major war and "spoil" another enemy's aggression somewhere else. Given Washington's debt crisis, Panetta has no choice but to cut back. Is he going too far, or not far enough?

This could "decimate" our military: Panetta...

The Navy's 'precedent-shattering' lesbian kiss

The Week — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 09:40:00 -0500

In the U.S. Navy, there's a tradition in which one sailor leaves the ship first to kiss his loved one on the dock. The homecoming kiss from the just-docked USS Oak Hill on Wednesday was a little less traditional, when two female sailors — Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta, 23, and Petty Officer 3rd Class Citlalic Snell, 22 — briefly locked lips in front of cameras, in the first same-sex "first kiss" of the post-"don't ask, don't tell" era. (See the image at right and below.) "It's something new, that's for sure," said Gaeta, who had just spent 80 days aboard the USS Oak Hill...

The 'bleak' glut of unemployed veterans: By the numbers

The Week — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:50:00 -0500

Young veterans who have served in combat are having less luck finding work than other people their age. The White House expects the problem to just grow worse as the last U.S. soldiers return from Iraq. Here, a by-the-numbers look at the "bleak" jobs outlook for young Americans coming home from war:

30
Percentage of combat veterans between ages 20 and 24 who are unemployed, according to The New York Times

21
Percentage of veterans in the same demographic who were unemployed in July 2010

14
Percentage of men aged 20 to 24 in the general population who are out of work. That's up from 12 percent in July...