Author’s and publishers will go to great lengths to publicize their books, even to the point of shipping a box of them to soldiers in Afghanistan it seems, the problem is that sometimes those books aren’t exactly what the soldiers need.

Such is the case recently when someone decided it would be a great idea to send some American soldiers stationed in some remote outpost of Afghanistan a box of Bill O’Reilly’s new book Pinheads and Patriots instead of something that they might actually need.

As one soldier said on their blog “some jerk sent us two boxes of this awful book instead of anything soldiers at a remote outpost might need, say, like, foo or soap”.

It turns out that their commanding officer figured that the books would be better served by warming up the soldiers and order them to burn the books, which apparently they gladly did.

No word on who was the thoughtful person who sent the books in the first place but just an idea for those of you thinking of doing something similar .. maybe include a chocolate bar or two instead.

via Gawker

Bill O’Reilly’s book makes better kindling than reading in Afghanistan is a post from: The Inquisitr

Emmitt Thunderpaws is a special dog, not only did he miss his human dad, when the soldier returned from nine months overseas he smelled him from inside the house and could barely contain his excitement, greeting him in the backyard with all the excitement the huge dog could muster.

According to the Welcome Home Blog‘s Jon Bershad:

“Seriously, I don’t think there’s ever going to be a better video out there for patriotic Americans and dog-lovers alike.”

The unidentified family posted the following message on YouTube:

“After a long 9 months apart, our dog, Emmitt Thunderpaws, is REALLY HAPPY to see his favorite person again! He smelled him in the house and then ran outside to greet him. Dogs are awesome ”

Here’s the video which is just about to pass 250,000 pageviews at the time of this posting:

Giant Dog Welcomes Soldier Home After 9 Months Overseas [Viral Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

While most of us that are old enough to remember the original meaning of Iron Curtain being that of the dividing line between the old USSR and the rest of Europe the term has taken on a new meaning and could soon be headed to Afghanistan to help save soldiers lives.

This modern day Iron Curtain is in fact a new for of armor that instead of waiting for explosive ordinance, like RPGs, to hit and hopefully protect soldiers is what they refer to as the new Active Protection System. This type of protection system doesn’t wait for incoming threats to hit but instead waits until those threats are just inches away and then fires downward facing explosives to intercept and shred the incoming threats.

Iron Curtain differs from Trophy in that instead of firing outwards to intercept projectiles, it firesdownwards from the top of the vehicle it’s protecting straight towards the ground. The system uses racks of downward firing explosives coupled with sensor arrays that track incoming projectiles, and when Iron Curtain spots something, it waits until the projectile is just inches from the side of the vehicle, and then triggers the proper explosive to explode downward, shredding the projectile into bits that bounce harmlessly off the vehicle’s armor. Iron Curtain can deal with multiple incoming projectiles at the same time, and the downward blast helps to keep anyone around the vehicle from getting hit:

via DVICE

Apparently the testing is going so well and the results better than expect which means we could see the Iron Curtain being deployed in Afghanistan by the end of the year.

Dropping the Iron Curtain on RPGs and other explosive soldier killers [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

A security checkpoint in the Ladha town fo South Wazieristan was attacked on Saturday and the resulting gunfight left one soldier and three militants dead.

Taliban fighters in the earlier hours of the day attacked the security post with automatic weapons and rocket launchers according to sources in the area. Two soldiers also received non-life-threatening injuries from the attack.

Speaking to the AFP a security official in Peshawar said:

“One soldier was killed and two were injured in the attack, three militants were also killed in the retaliatory fire.”

The town of Ladha has been turned mostly into a bunch of destroyed building and a ruined paramilitary fort after military operations in 2009 left the area as little more than a pile of rubble.

SWA Clash Leaves One Soldier, Three Militants Dead is a post from: The Inquisitr

In Canada it was Remembrance Day and in the US it was Veteran’s Day but in either case it was a time where we could pause and remember all that was, and continues to be given so that we can enjoy the world we live in.

The folks from Post Secret have put together a wonderful video of thoughts from military families and soldiers currently on deployment to Iraq and Iran.

Take a moment. Watch. And remember what is being given in blood so we can feel safe.

via Neatorama

A wonderful video of soldier secrets is a post from: The Inquisitr

What can I say … even a cranky old fart can have his weak moments.

Back story: three US Marines, Brian Chambers, Chris Berry and Aaron Shaw, stationed in Afghanistan started a mission called Nowzad whose object is to find homes for stray cats and dogs that they find while serving in the war torn country.

The picture above is of Berry and Keykey who Berry found injured by c-wire and managed to nurse back to health.

source: LOLcats

In the midst of war even a kitty can find love is a post from: The Inquisitr

Bullets whizzing by your head are one thing. IEDs just waiting to blowup passing troops is a daily occurrence. Such are the hazards of trying to survive in a war-zone. What isn’t expected though is to die because of toxin laden water.

However such is the case of Indiana National Guardsman Lt. Col. Jim Gentry who when he passed away this past Tuesday was classified as the first American soldier to die from exposure to a cancer-causing toxin while serving in Iraq.

The guilty agent in the matter was a hexavalent chromium which the Iraqis use to prevent corrosion in the pipes used to pump water into the ground at oil-pumping sites. The chemical has been linked to leukemia and several other kinds of cancer, as well as leading to damage of the liver and kidneys. It is also the same chemical poison that was blown onto the clothes and into the faces of hundreds of unknown soldiers in one of Iraq’s wind swept deserts.

Hexavalent Chromium is the same compound that lead to the famous “Erin Brockovich” trial in California and what Max Costa, chairman of New York University’s Department of Environmental Medicine calls the one of the most potent carcinogens know to man.

“I’m dying now because of it,” Gentry said 11 months ago while answering questions from lawyers embroiled in a legal battle over who is to blame for hundreds of soldiers’ exposure to the chemical.

Gentry, of the 1st Battalion, 152nd Infantry of the Indiana National Guard, commanded more than 600 soldiers in Iraq, including about 140 from Indiana.

He is included among a growing group of those soldiers who are suing Houston-based defense contractor KBR Inc., which the soldiers blame for not properly protecting them.

Source: Courier Press

The area in Iraq where this was supposed to happen was the Qarmat Ali facility which KBR took over control of after it had been looted and abandoned. Part of that looting was the slashing open of the containers holding the chemical. Then during many of the high wind storms that are found in the area the rust-colored chemical was spread into the air and ground around the facility.

KBR has denied any responsibility or wrong doing that might have led to any soldiers becoming ill or dying. However in light of a recent lawsuit filed against KBR by soldiers a whistle-blower has come forward with some pretty damning documents and information.

Former KBR employee Edward Blacke — who worked for the company as its health, safety and environmental coordinator in Iraq — described in a written report to the Senate Democratic Policy Committee what he said were criminally negligent actions that led to illnesses such as Gentry’s.

A trained emergency medical technician, Blacke said soldiers and contractors alike were showing similar symptoms when he arrived at the Qarmat Ali facility. They were coughing up blood, dealing with severe eye, nose and throat irritation and struggling to breathe.

Along with an Iraqi interpreter, Blacke checked the slashed-open bags and discovered that they contained sodium dichromate, which contains hexavalent chromium.

“He (the interpreter) was reluctant to say more, and when pressed, he said he knew it was poisonous and that he was aware of many workers from the plant who were made ill by it,” Blacke told the committee.

After digging in, Blacke said he was “totally taken aback” to find that KBR knew as early as May 2003 of the toxin’s presence, but it ignored both a United Nations report and an internal report and failed to notify its workers there and the soldiers who were guarding the plant.

Source: Courier Press

Besides the on-going lawsuit U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) has been following any developments relating to the soldiers exposure and has introduced legislation that would ensure the affected soldiers get the proper medical treatment.

First American soldier to die by toxin laden water is a post from: The Inquisitr

An interesting study is underway, funded by the Department of Defense, looking into whether or not dogs help sooth soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. This is only one of the many medical research projects that they are pouring millions into.

The study will be conducted by research psychologist Craig Love through the Walter Reed Army Medical Center along with Joan Esnayra the founder of Psychiatric Service Dog Society. Dogs used by the Society have been assisting people with a variety of mental illnesses since the late 1990′s with about 10,000 dogs in use at this point.

Love and Esnayra surveyed 39 people with PTSD who were teamed with psychiatric service dogs.

Eighty-two percent have reported fewer PTSD symptoms since they have had the dogs, and 40 percent said they were using fewer medications.

“The longer the team had been together, the more likely they were reducing symptoms and medications,” Esnayra said.

But the researchers said they had often faced skepticism from the scientific community about the value of the dogs.

“It’s too touchy-feely,” Esnayra said.

That didn’t deter the Defense Department.

“Sometimes the scientific community is conservative,” said Capt. E. Melissa Kaime, director of the Defense Department’s Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs.

“Where there’s a good idea but not much data, we’re willing to take a risk.”

Source: KansasCity.com – Defense Department finances study that pairs dogs with troops suffering PTSD

picture courtesy of Garvey Scott

Could dogs help soldiers suffering from PTSD? is a post from: The Inquisitr

With the G.I. Joe movie hitting the theaters this weekend we will probably be treated to all kinds of really cool weaponry that might seem more sci-fi than real but you would be wrong. Even though the U.S. military might have some of the coolest toys around they aren’t resting on their laurels as they are working hard to turn what might be science fiction into hard core reality.

Here’s just a few items that are either in the testing phase or on the drawing board.

The XM-25 Rifle – designed to replace the standard issue Colt M4 rifles the XM-25 is designed to use smart bullets that would let soldiers fire around corners or into trenches. The new rifles are expected to be deployed by 2012.

Aurora Excalibur – the next generation drones are planned to take over for the current flock of Predator drones that are seeing extensive action around the world. The Aurora is supposed to have a top speed of 460 mph, be able to take off and land vertically and carry 4 hellfire missiles – all by remote control.

100kW Laser Cannon – obviously meant to replace tradition guns on battleships this free electron laser uses a superconducting electron accelerator to focus its beam in order to take down cruise missiles, planes or ships.

F-35 Lightening II – meant to replace much of the current line-up of the military’s aging air fleet. At only $83 million per plane this is consider the cheaper alternative but also the most versatile. The F-35 is three designs rolled into one: takes off normally, short runway take-off with vertical landing, and finally launchable from aircraft carriers.

Battlesuits – this is probably one of the most sought after battle tech items but Lockheed-Martin is already hard at work on the Human Universal Load Carrier (HULC) which is basically a wearable computer that senses the direction the wearer wants to go and then accelerating that movement using its battery powered titanium frame.

hat tip to DVICE

All those G.I. Joe cool weapons aren’t so futuristic is a post from: The Inquisitr

To say the the American armed forces use of social media and blogging has been schizophrenic is at least a bit of an understatement. While the Generals are encourage to take up the blogging mantle for the Armed Forces the men and women in the trenches have been muffled at the best of times. This could change though if a suggestion from former Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne gains any traction.

Wynne thinks its time to let military bloggers have a freer hand. “This thing of letting the Taliban, letting Al Jazeera, letting the enemy public affairs unit get a hold of 24 to 48 hours of news cycle and then you announce that you’re forming an investigative team — what is that?” he adds.  “The sad part is, that when [the military] forms an investigative team, it looks like it’s only for one reason: to cover it up.”

“I mean, it’s not like a soldier blog,” Wynne continues. “If [that soldier] walked into a hut and blogged that there were 20 bad guys, they had 15 computers, 20 AK-47s — if he blogged that right away, even if it went to a command center — you’d be far better off that what we’re doing now.”

Source: Wired: Danger Room

The idea the Taliban and other insurgents in the areas of conflict have been quick to get their side of the story out as quickly as possible using things like video and blogging. For the Americans to do the same means trying to fight their way through miles of read tape by which time their message is of no use.

But if the Taliban are manipulating the information environment to make American attacks looks worse than they actually are, then the bloggers and photographers might be able to help.

“If you take down a place in Afghanistan, you’ve got to be in there with your cameras before the bad guys unload the truck of bodies (if that’s what they’re doing). Or, if they’ve put a bunch of women and children in there so you can blow them up — you need to be in there first to know that,” Wynne says.

“We’re saddened when… the President has to go on the record and say, ‘we hate it when any casualties occur.’” Wynne adds. But the President “might not know — because nobody blogged it.”

I have never really understood the over all reluctance of the Armed Forces to put as many roadblocks in the way of getting their message out as quickly as possible and there is no denying that blogging would be one of the quickest. It would also carry the weight of the soldier’s own words rather than regurgitate propaganda from field headquarters. I understand the need to make sure that no secrets or battle plans are given away but I think we can give our soldiers enough credit to make sure that doesn’t happen. After all they are over there willing to give up their lives.

Could blogging soldiers be the military’s secret weapon is a post from: The Inquisitr

One of the areas where this is easily abused is in the ability of government agencies to spy on our daily lives and our communication with others. Whether it be making deals with telecommunication companies like AT&T or place people with opposing political beliefs on watch lists we will find abuses. One such case has come to light and as usual it involves a government agency operating outside of its mandate.

According  to a report coming out of ABC the NSA has been routinely listening in on Americans’ phone calls in Iraq as they call back to the US. The people being targeted include government officials, journalists, aid workers and the soldiers who are putting their lives on the line every day to supposedly keep their country safe. The problem with this is twofold with the first being that the NSA isn’t suppose to listen in on any American in any fashion unless they get clearance from high ranking officials. The second problem is that Congress has continually been reassured that the NSA was not spying on Americans when the opposite seems to be the rule of thumb.

As bad as this is what is even more disgusting is that according the ABC it is a regular thing for NSA monitors to share the more private moments between the Americans they are spying on

 

Faulk says he and others in his section of the NSA facility at Fort Gordon routinely shared salacious or tantalizing phone calls that had been intercepted, alerting office mates to certain time codes of “cuts” that were available on each operator’s computer.

 

“Hey, check this out,” Faulk says he would be told, “there’s good phone sex or there’s some pillow talk, pull up this call, it’s really funny, go check it out. It would be some colonel making pillow talk and we would say, ‘Wow, this was crazy’,” Faulk told ABC News.

 

I find this kind of thing totally repugnant and as Ryan Singel from the Threat Level blog says in a post about this

If the allegations are true, they show that when the government secretly tossed aside the decades-old credo that the NSA doesn’t spy on Americans, it did not simply make one or two exceptions — it shredded the it.

Yup that good ol’ Patriot Act has done a lot good eh.

Soldier’s Pillow Talk Getting NSA Hot is a post from: The Inquisitr