Wing Walker - U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Rodney Hall walks the wing of a C-130 Hercules aircraft equipped with a firefighting system during a preflight inspection in Charlotte, N.C., Aug. 13, 2012. The 145th Airlift Wing, North Carolina Air National Guard, sent two C-130 Hercules cargo planes to California, where they fought fires at the direction of the U.S. Forest Service. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Brian Christiansen
Conflicts That Matter, That You Hardly Ever Hear About -- Strategy Page
December 31, 2012: Many critical military conflicts never get much publicity. Sometimes it's because they involve espionage; often it's because, well, the media never really gets interested. Here are ten (in alphabetical order) you should at least be aware of. They are all more important than you realize:
1. Bureaucrats vs. the Troops. Increasing government regulation, which long avoided the military, now goes after the troops as well. Environmental regulations limit training and how weapons are built. Equal opportunity rules have brought calls to allow the disabled to join the military. Lawyers strive for the right to sue the armed forces for real or imagined injuries. Some armed forces have been allowed to unionize. The bureaucrats know little of how the military operates, so they charge ahead with the best of intentions, and often disastrous results. In many countries, the military is little more than a bunch of poorly trained civil servants with guns. That becomes painfully apparent only on those rare occasions when the troops are called out to fight. Some politicians know this and that at least makes them more reluctant to get into a fight.
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My Comment: If you follow this blog, these are the military stories that are always posted.