"War can take a serious toll, both physical and emotional, and it is shameful when our wounded warriors return home and are left to live on our streets," said former Adjutant General of the California National Guard, Maj. General Paul Monroe. "California has an incredible campus that was given to...

Apparently missing the key role played by social media like Facebook and Twitter in the continuing Arab Spring, Republican Congressmen Barletta and Marino are adopting the tactics of former Egyptian President Mubarak. In an edict imposed by...

At a roundtable discussion on Friday in Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee (JEC) unveiled a new JEC report; "The Republican Medicare Plan: Health Care Expenditures Would Double for Elderly in Every State". According to this joint economic committee report, Medicare...

An Army hospital in Thailand provided my first encounter with military medicine and surgery. Air Force flight surgeons treated my family and me. I saw Navy medicine firsthand in Lebanon. Military medicine remains my primary source of health care. If anyone can combine two major medical centers in the national...

Last week, I viewed Walter Reed Army Medical Center from the inpatient perspective. The amazing dedication and commitment of all the staff reaffirms my belief in military health care. Even as this medical center is being resurrected at a new facility, the current staff concentrate on patient care. Apprehensions and...

As Congresswoman Gabby Giffords lay bleeding, with what was a fatal wound not long ago, she was about to benefit from the interaction of civilian and military medicine. Her survival to this day is vivid testimony to the effectiveness of our Department of Defense and civilian medical communities not just...

As the Department of Defense squanders over 1.5 Billion dollars on the less than average New Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Admiral Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recommends more costly privatization. In a 16 November memorandum to the Undersecretary for...

"...Violence across Afghanistan is at its worst since the Taliban were overthrown by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in 2001. Civilian and military casualties are at record levels despite the presence of about 150,000 foreign troops...." Reuters By Ian Simpson, KABUL | Mon Nov 15, 2010 7:58am EST

Escalating Violence

No circular firing squads please; it is too late to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic. Let's prepare for the future.

1. Repair Our Base

Where do we go from here? First, let's reopen the Democratic Party and this administration. We should realize after this election that...

Listening to certain segments of American society from the rapidly becoming notorious US Chamber of Commerce to the most local political advertising, one could be excused for the mistaken belief that this nation was built by "capitalists" rather than patriots. This myth is harming the nation.

This week, Senate Republicans held the US Military and their families hostage to appease their extremist, reactionary fringe. Yet, on Thursday in DC, all the buzz was about Conservative Republicans standing in front of a Virginia hardware store. Many of these congress members sported new flannel shirts pretending to be...

Before the average person is willing to actually kill someone, they will dehumanize them. As one very extreme example, the Nazis demonized Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals and Slavs before starting their killing machine. But it happens in every war to some degree. In our own history, Americans called American Indians "savages"...

Political slogans are effective. They're short, catchy, easy to remember, and make good chants at rallies. There's just one problem; political slogans tend to make horrible public policy. In the last presidential election, Sarah Palin made famous the phrase, "Drill, Baby, Drill" promoting domestic drilling as the solution to meeting...

DoD Photo
McChrystal is a symptom and not a cause of the problems within the Department of Defense (DoD). For far too long, the folks at the Pentagon behaved as if they were a separate branch of government. The pooh bahs...

The Department of Defense (DoD) continues to resist Congressional concerns for military healthcare at Walter Reed and the transformation of military healthcare in the entire capital region. On April 21 before the House Committee on Appropriations Sub Committee on Defense (HASC), DoD representatives denied that problems with BRAC are negatively...

The Department of Defense (DoD) is denying our troops the best medical treatment.

"From: Perry, Cyndi I Ms CIV USA MEDCOM HQ Sent: Thursday, April 01, 2010 5:47 PM To: ... Subject: FW: WTU Patient load in the NCA (UNCLASSIFIED)

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: FOUO

Consultants,

The attached adheres...

The United States is built on cheap energy. Today energy is no longer cheap and our consumption is out of control. Operation Free rolled into town on their bus doing the Veterans for American Power tour. These soldiers know the true value of energy. These soldiers...

The U.S. Navy continues to stoke the fires of failure at the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland. The joint task force charged with overall responsibility for the new Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC) at Bethesda and indeed military health care in the entire D.C. capital region still...

Taken along a busy NE PA Highway at rush hour 11 March 2010
Hal Donahue

Pennsylvania Congressman Chris Carney is a special case. He is a Democrat in a district gerrymandered to be a safe Republican seat. In...

Jack Murtha is a personal hero of mine. An indefatigable supporter of the military and the military family, this conservative Democrat was the presidential "go-to man" on defense issues from as early as President Reagan right through President George W. Bush until Mr. Murtha's extraordinarily courageous act calling...