"Well, if they'd send us more guys and maybe bomb the hell out of the North, they might, uh, they might give up."
Ian TB@iantb.bsky.social · 3d agoWell, crowdsourcing a war plan is certainly a first: www.cnn.com/2026/08/03/p...
David Alman
@davidalman.bsky.social
Airman + consultant + aero engineer interested in national strategy, domestic policy, environmentalism, good food, and all things aviation. Views = mine alone and not representative of anyone I work for. #airpower
Ian TB@iantb.bsky.social · 3d ago
Part of me dies inside everytime I see a service academy alum (it’s always a service academy alum) post on LinkedIn about their “9 years of military service” when they in fact graduated 5 years ago.
Sigh, I’m sure Afghanistan won’t have a similarly distorting effect on US policy.
Zach Dorfman@zachsdorfman.bsky.social · 3d agoOne thing that Halberstam does brilliantly in “The Coldest Winter” is linking red-baiting (“who ‘lost’ China?”) and the growing political power the pro-Nationalist China Lobby to the decimation of the State Deor’s East Asianists, causing decades of distorted foreign policy through the Vietnam War.
"Immigrants helped end one of the most evil regimes in human history," this guy says with the hardest r he can muster
Nied@nied.bsky.social · 4d agoThat's right!
I analyzed dozens of reports from Russian municipalities and found a lot of fascinating insights about how Russian recruitment actually works. At the core, the recruitment machine is a multilayered system of quotas, going all the way from the Kremlin down to the smallest village.
When CBS hired Morley Safer to 60 minutes, he was a few years younger than ross douthat, but had already covered 9 wars, including Vietnam, where he’d been shot down in combat, broke the infamous village torching story, & got an Emmy for the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. That’s a journalist.
I wrote about the Nolan Odyssey for the LRB. I'll summarize some of my main points below, in case you don't feel like reading all that. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Emily Wilson · An Uncomplicated Man
As they say at the awards shows, I was humbled to learn that Christopher Nolan has read at least the first line of my...
lrb.co.uk
There is a lot to say about the Nolan Odyssey movie. But one point that I think has not been emphasized enough is: this is a film about living in LA, as Nolan, my erstwhile British compatriot and age mate, has done for years. I gather it’s a strange place.
This is insane. apple.news/Ak1wdHOqyQH6...
Measles Is Becoming So Common That Treatments May Soon Be Needed — WIRED
As the US sees its highest number of measles cases in decades and vaccination rates fall, researchers are developing drugs to help those who contract the virus or who are particularly vulnerable.
apple.news
USVs as weapons make very little sense to me. “What if we made it a torpedo, but slower and more visible?” Especially in a world where we have all of these FPV quadcopters - very easy to envision a world where defense is on the better part of the cost curve for countering these.
Absolutely criminally incompetent planning that there is no way to practically use public transit in DC to get to Andrews
at least I understand why many republicans oppose statehood (they don’t want what will very likely be left-leaning senators and representatives), but anti-statehood lefties just crack me up
Humble Novice@humblenovice.bsky.social · last wk.Is Darializa Avila Chevalier even aware that the majority of Puerto Ricans aren't interested in independence for a variety of reasons?
this is the same problem the PLA faces in terms of counter-intervention strike effectiveness btw (rebuilding non-sophisticated infrastructure is pretty easy actually)
Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 2w ago“.. Iran repaired a bridge that Israel had struck with three bombs within days, surprising Israeli officials and prompting them to question the effectiveness of their targeting.” @wsj.com www.wsj.com/world/middle...
Zero sympathy. Still a terrible person. If he actually felt bad he’d donate shares / money to USAID.
The Guardian@theguardian.com · 2w ago‘I got carried away’: Elon Musk expresses regret about Doge and wading into Trump’s orbit
I feel like if you’re a brigade operations officer and you use ChatGPT to write a script for your combined arms rehearsal, or an OC/T who feeds observations into ChatGPT to write your AAR, you should get relegated to JROTC (both happened here).
1. The new Trump / Kratsios plan for US science appears explicitly designed to destroy US universities. Diverting money to tech donors is probably just a bonus. Gift link.
Trump’s Plan for Science: More Money for A.I., Less for Universities (Gift Article)
Michael Kratsios, President Trump’s science adviser, proposed overhauling how the government funds research. Democrats said Mr. Trump’s actions had weakened science.
nytimes.com
I guess I’m kind of a hater, which makes me sad as a lover of technology, but it’s astounding how much hype Hermeus gets for making a plane go supersonic. Congrats, welcome back to 1947. Yes digital manufacturing and speed, etc. but at some point we’re just paying people to learn things again?
Dropping a new one of the stories my grandfather typed out when he first got a computer in the 90's (USMC, Pacific):
We need to eliminate the word “warfighter” from our national dictionary. We don’t deliver products to “warfighters,” we deliver them to “Americans,” and, “soldiers.” We’re not spartans.
Rest in peace to our air defense soldiers, killed in action doing the noble work of trying to protect friends and strangers. Breaks my heart.
Jim LaPorta@jimlaporta.bsky.social · 2w agoThe Defense Department identified the two active duty service members who were killed on July 17 and July 18.
Archer announcing their collaboration with Anduril to reach new levels of snake oil production. It is insane how every startup and fail company eventually shifts to trying to collect those sweet government dollars. Incredible skepticism is required. www.investors.archer.com/news/news-de...
Anduril and Archer Unveil Jointly-Developed Autonomous VTOL Platform For Commercial and Defense Applications
Anduril and Archer today unveiled a jointly-developed series hybrid-electric VTOL platform built to serve both defense and commercial applications. Anduril showcased the defense variant, Thunder, a Gr...
investors.archer.com
This weekend is the 90th anniversary of the fascist military coup that eventually overthrew the Second Spanish Republic. International volunteers filled the gap when western democracies refused to aid the Republic. The 3000-strong Abraham Lincoln Brigade was the first integrated U.S. armed unit.
Someone needs to lock Matt Damon in his fucking house. You know how much money we've spent bringing his ass back home???
Very excited to embark on this project! Without getting too far into the weeds just yet, it's going to be a history of American naval aviation in the Pacific (hence all the posting lately) during World War II from 1943 to 1945, told through the pilots and squadrons who flew off the carriers!
I'm Writing a Book!
What that means for the newsletter going forward and how you can help!
secretaryrofdefenserock.substack.com
I’ll never, ever, ever forgive these people.
Brandon Friedman@brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 3w agoTwo dead service members. One missing.
