army

Army Ditches Berets

Max Read · 06/14/11 06:21PM

After ten years of widespread bitching, the U.S. Army has changed its official combat uniform, replacing the black beret—which is hot and difficult to put on, not to mention very early-2000s—with the rather more fetching patrol cap, which was standard until 2001. The beret will still be a component of the service uniform, and units that wore berets before the change—Rangers (black or tan), Special Forces (green), Airborne (maroon) and Joni Mitchell (raspberry)—will continue to rock theirs. [Army Times; images via AP]

'Mess of a Child' Bradley Manning Should Never Have Gone to Iraq

Max Read · 05/28/11 02:45PM

Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning has been accused of leaking thousands of classified documents obtained during his tour in Iraq. But according to an officer, and a confidential military report, Manning was so psychologically unstable he should never have been sent to Iraq in the first place.

The U.S. Army Will Tweet Its Way to Global Dominance

Adrian Chen · 05/25/11 05:38PM

Although they have super-advanced stealth helicopters that make your eyes automatically burst into flames if you even look at them, the U.S. Army is always years behind when it comes to the technology the rest of us use. They've just discovered social media!

Soldier Sentenced to 24 Years for Murder of Afghan Civilians

Max Read · 03/23/11 08:01PM

Remember Specialist Jeremy Morlock, the 22-year-old Alaskan who took horrifying photos of his own war crimes? He's now pleaded guilty to three counts of murder and has been sentenced to 24 years in jail; in exchange, essentially, for not getting a life sentence, he'll testify against the four other soldiers also accused of murdering Afghan civilians "for sport." He apologized in court to his victims' families and "the people of Afghanistan themselves." [NYT]

The Army Is Sorry if You Saw Those Photos of War Crimes

Max Read · 03/20/11 11:51PM

The German newspaper Der Spiegel somehow got its hands on photographs of U.S. soldiers posing with a corpse, and published them, and the Army wants you to know it feels really terrible. "Today Der Spiegel published photographs depicting actions repugnant to us as human beings and contrary to the standards and values of the United States Army," spokesman Col. Thomas Collins said in a statement. "We apologize for the distress these photos cause." The photos apparently depict Cpl. Jeremy Morlock and PFC Andrew Holmes—both charged, along with three others, with killing Afghan civilians—posing with the corpse of an Afghan man named Gul Mudin (Morlock, in his photo, is apparently "smiling as he lifts the head of a corpse by the hair"). Well, no hard feelings, Army! Let's maybe just keep the war crimes to a minimum in the future, okay? [NYDN]

The Absurdly Racist Fax a Congresswoman Got for Bashing NASCAR

Adrian Chen · 02/17/11 11:34PM

If you get a fax these days, you know nothing good will come from it. Oh, a fax came for me? Please send it right through the shredder then light it on fire and throw the ashes into a volcano. Because who sends faxes anymore? Racist NASCAR fans, that's who!

What's Next for Egypt?

Jim Newell · 02/11/11 04:25PM

Egypt has finally dumped its arrogant, paternalistic dictator of three decades in the largest country in the Arab world. That's quite an achievement for a suppressive police state after only two to three weeks of protests that weren't very organized to begin with. But what comes next? Will pure democracy just kind of "appear"? Or does an impossible process of constitutional negotiations between the people, the army, the Muslim Brotherhood, business leaders, and foreign powers need to take place over the next year before anything even approaching a stable and responsive political system emerges? Unfortunately it's that second scenario, the "impossible process of constitutional negotiation" one, that's realistic.

Are Our Soldiers Using the Proper Crash Diets?

Hamilton Nolan · 12/08/10 04:25PM

Discount drugs! Energy drinks! Capitol Hill junk food! Cancer moneymakers! Meditation depression! Food allergies! Youth sports fat! Baby thumb fat! Soldier fat! It's your Wednesday Health Watch, where we watch your health—dipped in Icy Hot, furiously skipping rope!

Horny Old Man Solves 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Forever

Richard Lawson · 11/23/10 01:33PM

Sick of all this gays in the military jibber-jabber? Well, rest easy, because the whole controversy has been settled on The Daily Caller. The solution? Lesbians are totally fine in the military, but gay men (hereafter "gays") are absolutely not.

Your Problems Are All In Your Head (But Still Fatal)

Hamilton Nolan · 10/27/10 02:49PM

Breast taxes! Cortisone effects! Toxic prisons! Glaxo whistleblowers! Manhattan noise! Personalized therapies! HuffPo quackery! And the Army vs. suicide! It's your Wednesday Health Watch, where we watch your health—with pharmacologically-inspired positive mental attitude!

Meet the Cartoon Character the Army is Using to Combat Wikileaks

John Cook · 10/21/10 03:49PM

Wikileaks has the Army totally freaked out, and it's stepping up its efforts to keep sensitive information out of unauthorized hands. This lame cartoon character it uses to train soldiers not to leak stuff doesn't seem up to the challenge.