Armed Forces

Selling a Newly Out Armed Forces

The Pentagon makes sure the public supports 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' repeal

Is New York on Iran's Missile Hit List? The GOP Seems To Think So

Oh boy. Some Congressional Republicans really want to set up an East Coast missile defense shield to protect the Atlantic Seaboard from Iranian rockets, Mother Jones reports. If this sounds familiar -- like a throwback to Reagan-era Star Wars shenanigans -- that's because the plan is just like ... More >>

Iraq and Afghanistan War Vets Facer Higher Unemployment: Survey

Members of the armed services who have come home face substantially higher unemployment rates than the government claims, an Iraq and Afghanistan advocacy group claims. And 37 percent of veterans surveyed say they know a fellow vet who committed suicide following deployment. The report comes from I ... More >>

Tea Party Audience Boos Gay Soldier at GOP Debate

Last night was the night of the Fox-Google GOP debate, notable for the just-like-getting-a-gchat beep that went off whenever anyone talked too long, as well as a moment in which Stephen Hill, a gay soldier serving in Iraq, asked Rick Santorum whether he'd circumvent the progress that's been made for ... More >>

Don't Ask, Don't Tell Bites the Dust Today (For Real This Time)

​It's had a long, zombie-like death, but Don't Ask, Don't Tell, the military's policy of barring homosexuals from serving openly, is finally over for real. If you're confused and thought that this happened already, you've got good reason to be. The judicial, legislative and executive branche ... More >>

Barack Obama Tries to Reinstate Don't Ask, Don't Tell Yet Again Before Ending It

​Although the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the United States government to immediately halt Don't Ask, Don't Tell, military recruiters across the nation seem to be dragging their feet, and Obama's Justice Department has asked the court for a stay on their order "by the close of busin ... More >>

Court Orders Immediate Halt to Don't Ask, Don't Tell

​ The military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy barring gay and lesbian soldiers from serving openly seems to have been dealt a mortal blow yet again. Legally, it was substantially wounded last year when U.S. Judge Virginia Philips issued an injunction and refused to grant a stay during its ap ... More >>

Awesome Giant Drug Catapult Busted

A giant catapult used to launch pot into Arizona from Mexico has been discovered and seized, which is a major bummer. Because...it's a giant drug catapult! The Mexican Army located it after U.S. National Guard troops noticed it on surveillance video. It's apparently 9 feet tall and can launch 4 1/2 ... More >>

Sarah Palin Supports "Homos" in the Military, Or Accidentally Retweeted Tammy Bruce

​Sarah Palin's largely indecipherable Twitter account was again shrouded in mystery last night when a cryptic RT of a message from conservative gay comedienne Tammy Bruce showed up in the former governor's feed. "But this hypocrisy is just truly too much. Enuf already--the more someone complai ... More >>

Rightbloggers on DADT: A Slow March Toward Tolerance, With Side Trips to Insanity

This weekend the Senate repealed Don't Ask Don't Tell -- the 17-year-old policy that allowed gays to serve in the U.S. military only if they could conceal their sexual orientation. The bill awaits Obama's signature. You might expect rightbloggers to be angry about it, and some of them are -- hila ... More >>

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is Dead After 65-31 Vote to Repeal Policy

via​As expected, the repeal of the Clinton-era "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy banning gays in the military has passed the Senate by a vote of 65-31. President Obama must now sign the bill into law, which he is expected to do. On Wednesday, the House of Representatives voted to overturn the ban ... More >>

Don't Ask Don't Tell Opponents Pick Up Some Unlikely Support

While John McCain gets crankier and crankier about repealing Don't Ask, Don't tell, opponents of the policy have picked up a couple of unlikely allies on the right. After much lobbying, Sen. Scott Brown has finally come around and said he will consider voting to end Don't Ask (along with the usua ... More >>

Justin Crockett Elzie, Fresh Off Being Arrested at the White House

​New Yorker Justin Crockett Elzie was a U.S. Marine who served around the globe. In 1993, he came out on the ABC Evening News shortly before "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was enacted. He'd eventually become the first Marine discharged under that law. Runnin' Scared spoke to him a week after he lock ... More >>

Defense Secretary Robert Gates Probing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Leaks to the Washington Post

​This week's Friday evening news dump included the announcement that Defense Secretary Robert Gates is investigating who in the Defense Department leaked the results of a forthcoming "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" report to the Washington Post. Based on two anonymous sources, one of which has "read t ... More >>

DO ASK

Cianni did, and they told

Bad Lieutenant, Dan Choi

What the networks don't ask the poster boy of the movement against "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," he's happy to tell.

Jury Convicts Four Men in Bronx Synagogue Bomb Plot

​A federal jury has convicted four Newburgh, New York, men for conspiring to bomb two synagogues in the Riverdale section of the Bronx and planning to fire missiles at military planes.

Barack Obama: Twisting Words in the Wind on 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'

President Obama covered a lot of ground on gay and lesbian rights in the middle of the four o'clock hour on Thursday. In the end, he wound up saying one thing and doing another. In a cleverly worded statement, he vowed that "don't ask, don't tell" will end on his watch. He did not mean that he wil ... More >>

'Don't Ask Don't Tell, DREAM Act in the Senate

It's a big day in the U.S. Senate for two issues we watch, but it's kind of a win-win for conservatives on both of them, regardless of how the pending votes on 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' and the 'Dream Act' go down. The bigger of the day is a cloture vote on the military spending bill, which has a kin ... More >>

'Don't Ask Don't Tell' Ruled Unconstitutional -- the Takeaway

It's been quite a summer for the Federal Courts as they've stepped in yet again on behalf of equal rights for gay Americans. After a Federal District Court in San Francisco ruled Proposition 8 was unconstitutional last month, a Federal District Court in Riverside, CA ruled last night that the U.S. m ... More >>

Nathaniel Frank

Busting the Merchant of War

The Bush administration finally nails a notorious supplier to terrorists—after he spent 30 years hiding in plain sight

Raising Roberto (Again)

A devastating brain injury in Iraq leaves soldier Roberto Reyes with a support system of one—his mother

Waiting for Reinforcements

The fighting won't end: Gearing up for another wave of homeless vets

To Gays: Don't Mourn, Organize!

8 to 0 Supreme Court decision doesn't end the fight against 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'

Pursuing Terrorists in the Great Desert

The U.S. Military's $500 Million Gamble to Prevent the Next Afghanistan

U.S. Army Stretched Thin in Iraq

Flashback: 2002 War College report predicted it all

Marines: Looking for a Few Good Aliens?

Recruiter on trial for selling IDs to enlist illegals

New China Much More Sturdy

'No Women in Combat'? Tell It to the Kids

It's a Ball of Fallujah

The Doctrine of Atrocity

U.S. against "them"—a tradition of institutionalized brutality

Iraq's Children of the Bomblet

A year later, remembering the deadliest weapon

Day by Day, Death by Death

A Chronology of U.S. Military Fatalities Since 'Mission Accomplished,' Part II

Day by Day, Death by Death

A Chronology of U.S. Military Fatalities Since 'Mission Accomplished,' Part I

Rumsfeld Watch

Secretary of Defense Aims to Privatize the U.S. Military

Rumsfeld Watch

Star Wars Makes Defense Secretary Space Out

U.S. Military Stretched Dangerously Thin

Armed Forces Shortage Could Be 'Problematic' in Future Conflicts

The U.S. Often Flouts Geneva Treaties

A Brief History of the U.S.'s Convention Warfare

The War After the War

U.S. Army Documents Warn of Occupation Hazards

The Electromagnetic Pulse Bomb

U.S. Troops in the Philippines

War on Terrorism or Retaking a Choice Outpost?

October 13: A Day of Protest

Al Sharpton and Others Rally for Peace

Relying on Blind Faith

Media Assembles Fractured Picture of War

Global Terror

Russian Paper Cites Fear of "Uncontrollable Escalation"

Unfriendly Fire

How Israel Uses U.S. Weapons to Threaten Our Troops

Rocks Versus Rifles

The Soldier's Music

Chemical Reactions

While U.S. officials bicker, weapons of mass destruction sit as easy pickings for international terrorists