Michael Hayden is the former director of the CIA and the NSA, as well as the author of "Playing to the Edge." He reveals what CIA operatives are actually like after visiting more than 50 CIA stations and bases throughout the world.
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Army veteran Oscar Vazquez delivered a powerful testimony against Donald Trump's attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions on Wednesday, arguing the Republican senator would not protect immigrants in the United States.
The testimony came as Democrats and civil-rights advocates wage a confirmation battle to block Sessions from the nation's top law-enforcement post.
Vazquez was born in Mexico, and immigrated to the US with his mother at age 12 when they crossed the border into Arizona.
During his testimony, he made indirect criticism of Sessions' hardline stance against immigration reform, particularly his opposition to the DREAM Act, a proposal that would open a path to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants.
"Our country's top law-enforcement officer must be someone who understands that immigrants make our country stronger," Vazquez said.
"We need an attorney general who will protect the American people from those who will do us harm, but who would also show mercy to those who deserve it."
Vazquez said his undocumented status initially prevented him from joining the military, and only became a citizen following a lengthy legal battle that involved leaving his American wife for a year to re-immigrate to the US. After gaining citizenship, he joined the Army as a paratrooper and served two tours in Afghanistan.
"I was following in the footsteps of countless other immigrants who have proudly served the United States," Vazquez said.
He continued: "In Afghanistan, I fought side by side with my Army brothers. We wore the same uniform, wore the US flag on the same shoulder. It mattered more that we were willing to die for each other and our country than where we came from."
Vazquez, now living with his family in Texas, said he plans to join the US Army Reserve, and said he felt he was "living the American dream." He insisted to the Senate Judiciary Committee that other undocumented immigrants must be shown similar leniency.
"Having legal status changed my life," Vazquez said. "I can't imagine what it would be like to have that taken away from me."
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The Army’s “live-fire” combat exercises involve large-scale battalion-on-battalion war scenarios wherein mechanized forces often clash with make-shift, “near-peer” enemies using new technologies, drones, tanks, artillery, missiles and armored vehicles.
The Army is expanding its training and “live-fire” weapons focus to include a renewed ability to fight a massive, enemy force in an effort to transition from its decade-and-a-half of tested combat experience with dismounted infantry and counterinsurgency.
Recent ground wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have created an experienced and combat-tested force able to track, attack and kill small groups of enemies -- often blended into civilian populations, speeding in pick-up trucks or hiding within different types of terrain to stage ambushes.
“The Army has a tremendous amount of experience right now. It has depth but needs more breadth. We’re good at counterinsurgency and operations employing wide area security. Now, we may have to focus on 'Mounted Maneuver' operations over larger distances,” Rickey Smith, Deputy Chief of Staff, Training and Doctrine Command, told Scout Warrior in an interview.
While senior Army leaders are quick to emphasize that counterinsurgency is of course still important and the service plans to be ready for the widest possible range of conflict scenarios, there is nonetheless a marked and visible shift toward being ready to fight and win against a large-scale modernized enemy such as Russia or China.
The Army, naturally, does not single out these countries as enemies, train specifically to fight them or necessarily expect to go to war with them. However, recognizing the current and fast-changing threat environment, which includes existing tensions and rivalries with the aforementioned great powers, Army training is increasingly focused on ensuring they are ready for a mechanized force-on-force type engagement.
At the same time, while large-scale mechanized warfare is quite different than counterinsurgency, there are some areas of potential overlap between recent warfare and potential future great power conflict in a few key respects. The ground wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, over a period of more than a decade, involved the combat debut of various precision-guided land attack weapons such as GPS guided artillery and rocket weapons.
Weapons such as Excalibur, a GPS-guided 155m artillery round able to precisely destroy enemy targets at ranges greater than 30-kilometers, gave ground commanders an ability to pinpoint insurgent targets such as small gatherings of fighters, buildings and bomb-making locations. Guided Multiple-Launch Rocket System, or GLMRS, is another example; this precision guided long-range rocket, which can hit ranges up to 70-kilometers, was successful in killing Taliban targets in Afghanistan from great distances, among other things.
These kinds of precision munitions, first used in Iraq and Afghanistan, are the kind of weapon which would greatly assist land attack efforts in a massive force-on-force land war as well. They could target key locations behind enemy lines such as supplies, forces and mechanized vehicles.
Drones are another area of potential overlap. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan featured a veritable explosion in drone technology and drone use. For example, the Army had merely a handful of drones at the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Now, the service operates thousands and has repeatedly relied upon them to find enemy locations, spot upcoming ambushes and save lives in combat. These are the kinds of platforms which would also be of great utility in a major land war. However, they would likely be used differently incorporating new tactics, techniques and procedures in a great power engagement.
“This is not back to the future…this is moving towards the future where Army forces will face adaptive enemies with greater lethality. This generation of Army leaders will orchestrate simultaneous Combined ArmsManeuver and Wide Area Security” Smith said.
Nevertheless, many Army leaders now experienced with counterinsurgency tactics will need to reexamine tactics needed for major conventional warfare.
“You have a generation of leaders who have to expand learning to conduct simultaneous ‘Combined Arms’ and 'Wide Area Security” Smith said.
“The Army has to be prepared across the entire range of military operations. One of these would be ‘near-peer’ operations, which is what we have not been fighting in recent years,” Smith explained.
The new approach to this emerging integrated training is called “Decisive Action,” Senior Army leaders explained.
Live-fire combat at Fort Riley, Kan., for instance, affords an opportunity to put these new strategies into effect.
“Every morning I could put a battalion on the north side and a battalion on the south side - and just joust working "Combined Arms Maneuver." I can do battalion-on-battalion and it does involve “Combined Arms” live fire,” a senior Army official said.. “Because of the airspace that we have here - and use the UAS - I can synchronize from 0-to-18,000 feet and do maneuver indirect fire.”
This includes the use of drones, Air Force air assets, Army attack aviation along with armored vehicles, artillery, tanks and infantry units equipped for small arms fire, he explained.
Some of the main tactics and techniques explored during “Decisive Action” live fire exercises include things like “kill what you shoot at,” “move to contact,” “synchronize indirect fire,” and “call-in 9-line,” (providing aircraft with attack coordinates from the ground), the senior Army official said.
Grigsby explained that “live-fire” combat exercises now work to incorporate a wide range of emerging technologies so as to better anticipate the tactics, weapons and systems a future enemy is likely to employ; this includes the greater use of drones or unmanned systems, swarms of mini-drones in the future, emerging computing technology, tank-on-tank warfare tactics, electronic warfare, enemy aircraft and longer-range precision weaponry including anti-tank missiles, guided artillery and missiles.
In order to execute this kind of combat approach, the Army is adapting to more “Combined Arms Maneuver.” This warfare competency seeks to synchronize a wide range of weapons, technologies and war assets in order to overwhelm, confuse and destroy an enemy force.
Smith likened “Combined Arms” to being almost like a symphony orchestra where each instrument is geared toward blending and contributing to an integrated overall musical effect.
In warfare, this would mean using tank-on-tank attacks, indirect fire or artillery, air defenses, air assets, networking technologies, drones, rockets, missiles and mortar all together to create a singular effect able to dominate the battlespace, Smith explained.
The new "decisive action" approach, is also in effect at the Army's National Training Center, Ft. Erwin, Calif. NTC training is also firmly centered upon Combined Arms Maneuver, or CAM, and Wide Area Cecurity, also known as WAS.
While each of these concepts comprise elements of a broader, full-spectrum operations approach, CAM encompasses the entire spectrum of conventional threats, from near-peer potential adversaries engaged in fully mechanized tank-on-tank engagements, missiles and air defense, to guerrilla-style forces armed with advanced conventional weapons such as anti-tank guided missiles.
Wide Area Security also incorporates guerrilla and insurgent-type attacks.
The NTC uses mock-combat scenarios to precisely replicate both insurgency combat scenarios such as Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as preparation for mechanized force-on-force warfare. In recent years, the NTC has been shifting its focus to emphasize more force-on-force training in preparation for the prospect of major power war.
This includes drones, air support, heavy armored vehicle maneuver tactics as well as artillery, missiles and infantry designed to capture the challenges, nuances and details expected in a massive ground war.
The thrust of "Decisive Action" is to accurately and with painstaking authenticity and detail, replicate the threats, tactics, techniques and procedures, or TTPs and combat scenarios currently being experienced in the Afghan theater - while also preparing forces for the possible contingency of facing future, hybrid-type adversaries, officials said.
This hybrid-type threat, represented at the NTC as a fictional "Donovian" force, encompasses a range of potential scenarios involving conventional forces often blended with or fortified by insurgent, guerrilla and even criminal elements.
In total, the NTC consists of more than 1,000 buildings, 1,800 "role-players," seven forward operating bases, or FOBs, and seven to nine towns, some of them complete with Afghan-style provincial governments and reconstruction teams. Various role players in the mock-combat villages dress, look, eat, live and cook just like people in actual Afghan villages.
The villages, constructed in the years following the start of the Afghan and Iraq wars, are designed to replicate the Afghan theater in great detail, complete with street markets, villagers, insurgents and host-nation security forces.
The OPFOR, or mock "enemy" force or "opposing" force used in NTC combat training is called the Black Horse 11th Armored Calvary Regiment. It made up of role players embracing key roles designed to replicate, for instance, a Taliban member trying to implant IEDs, a local police chief, a town mayor and even insurgents from the Haqanni network. The OPFOR is equipped with the most recent weapons and tactics, techniques and procedures currently being encountered by Soldiers in Afghanistan.
Many of the village inhabitants, who speak multiple languages including Pashto, Dari and Arabic, are part of what NTC calls the Contemporary Operating Environment Force, or COEFOR. In fact, one current NTC employee is a role player who formerly served as a member of the Iraqi Army during Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom, Senior Army leaders explained.
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As you well know, bullets are designed to kill people. So far, so bad, but the metallic compounds in them also tend to leach into the environment and kill off plants and wildlife too.
At training facilities the world over, the US Army uses live ammunition to gear up their soldiers for combat. These bullets just remain in the wild, and do their damage. Deciding that enough is enough, officials are now asking for proposals to design biodegradable bullets that shall harm the environment no more.
Not only that, but they are hoping that the bullets will contain seeds, specialized for each local environment, so that they will ultimately “grow environmentally beneficial plants that eliminate ammunition debris and contaminants.”
That’s right – not only will new plants sprout from these seed bullets, but they will help suck out dangerous chemicals from their surrounding environment. It’s certainly an ambitious concept, but not one outside of the realms of possibility. According to the official request, this type of bullet “shell” has already been tested.
“The US Army Corps of Engineers' Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) has demonstrated bioengineered seeds that can be embedded into the biodegradable composites and that will not germinate until they have been in the ground for several months,” it states.
Now they just need to be made into bullets that can be fired from a real weapon.
Proposals are being considered until February 8, whereupon a winner will be asked to produce their biodegradable bullets for testing. As has been pointed out, these bullets are actually quite large, ranging from 40 mm varieties (essentially grenades) to 120 mm mortar and tank rounds, and even 155 mm artillery rounds.
If this idea takes off, then expect to be seeing people use assault rifles to plant crops across the States. It’s a better idea than using them to cook bacon, that’s for sure.
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The Army is now performing concept modeling and early design work for a new mobile, lethal, high-tech future lightweight tank platform able to detect and destroy a wider range of targets from farther distances, cross bridges, incinerate drones with lasers and destroy incoming enemy artillery fire – all for the 2030s and beyond.
The new vehicle, now emerging purely in the concept phase, is based upon the reality that the current M1A2 SEP Abrams main battle tank can only be upgraded to a certain limited extent, senior Army officials explained.
The Army’s Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, or TARDEC, is now immersed in the development of design concepts for various super high-tech tank platforms, Maj. Gen. David Bassett, Program Executive Officer, Ground Combat Systems, told Scout Warrior in an exclusive interview.
Bassett emphasized the extensive conceptual work, simulation and design modeling will be needed before there is any opportunity to “bend metal” and produce a new tank.
“We’ve used concept modeling. What are the limits of what you can do? What does a built from the ground up vehicle look like? We are assuming, if we are going to evolve it, it is because there is something we can't do in the current vehicle,” Basset explained.
The new tank will emerge after the Army first fields its M1A2 SEP v4 upgraded Abrams tank in the 2020s, a more lethal Abrams variant with 3rd Generation Forward Looking Infrared Sensors for greater targeting range and resolution and more lethal Advanced Multi-Purpose, or AMP ammunition combining many rounds into a single 120mm round.
The AMP round will replace four tank rounds now in use. The first two are the M830, High Explosive Anti-Tank, or HEAT, round and the M830A1, Multi-Purpose Anti -Tank, or MPAT, round.
The SEP v4 variant, slated to being testing in 2021, will also include new laser rangefinder technology, color cameras, integrated on-board networks, new slip-rings, advanced meteorological sensors, ammunition data links and laser warning receivers.
However, although Army developers often maintain that while the latest, upgraded high-tech v4 Abrams is much more advanced than the first Abrams tanks produced decades ago, there are limits to how much the existing Abrams platform can be upgraded.
A lighter weight, more high-tech tank will allow for greater mobility in the future, including an ability to deploy more quickly, handle extremely rigorous terrain, integrate new weapons, cross bridges inaccessible to current Abrams tanks and maximize on-board networking along with new size-weight-and-power configurations.
Although initial requirements for the future tank have yet to emerge, Bassett explained that the next-generation platform will use advanced sensors and light-weight composite armor materials able to achieve equal or greater protection at much lighter weights.
“We will build in side and underbody protection from the ground up,” Bassett said.
Bassett said certain immediate changes and manufacturing techniques could easily save at least 20-percent of the weight of a current 72-ton Abrams.
The idea is to engineer a tank that is not only much more advanced than the Abrams in terms of sensors, networking technology, force tracking systems, an ability to control nearby drones and vastly increased fire-power – but to build a vehicle with open-architecture such that it can quickly accommodate new technologies as they emerge.
For instance, Bassett pointed out that the Abrams was first fielded with a 105mm cannon – yet built with a mind to potential future upgrades such that it could be configured to fire a 120mm gun.
“The vehicle needs to have physical adaptability and change and growth ability for alterations as one of its premises - so it can learn things about energy and power and armor. The Army really needs to think about growth as an operational need,” Rickey Smith, Deputy Chief of Staff, G-9, Training and Doctrine Command, told Scout Warrior in an interview.
Smith explained how, for example, Humvees were not built for the growth necessary to respond to the fast-emerging and deadly threat of roadside bombs in Iraq.
The new tank will be specifically engineered with additional space for automotive systems, people and ammunition. As computer algorithms rapidly advance to allow for greater levels of autonomy, the Abrams tank will be able to control nearby drones using its own on-board command and control networking, service developers said.
Unmanned “wing-man” type drones could fortify attacking ground forces by firing weapons, testing enemy defenses, carrying suppliers or performing forward reconnaissance and reconnaissance missions while manned-crews remained back at safer distances.
Bassett, and developers with General Dynamics Land Systems, specifically said that this kind of autonomy was already being worked on for current and future tanks.
Active protection systems are another instance of emerging technologies which will go on the latest state-of-the-art Abrams tanks and also quite likely be used for the new tank. Using computer algorithms, fire control technology, sensors and an interceptor of some kind, Active Protection Systems are engineered to detect, track and destroy incoming enemy fire in a matter of milliseconds.
The Army is currently fast-tracking an effort to explore a number of different APS systems for the Abrams. General Dynamics Land Systems is, as part of the effort, using its own innovation to engineer an APS system which is not a “bolt-on” type of applique but something integrated more fully into the tank itself, company developers have told Scout Warrior.
The use of space in the new vehicle, drawing upon a better allocation of size-weight-and-electrical power will enable the new tank to accommodate better weapons, be more fuel efficient and provide greater protection to the crew.
“If you have less volume in the power train, you can get down to something with less transportability challenges,” he said. “If you add additional space to the vehicle, you can take out target sets at greater distances.”
While advanced Abrams tanks will be using a mobile Auxiliary Power Unit to bring more on-board electrical power to the platform for increased targeting, command-and-control technologies and weapons support, mobile power is needed to sustain future systems such as laser weapons.
The Army cancelled its plans for a future Ground Combat Vehicle, largely for budget reasons, some of the innovations, technologies and weapons systems are informing this effort to engineer a new tank for the future.
Design specs, engineering, weapons and other innovations envisioned for the GCV are now being analyzed for the new tank. In particular, the new tank may use an emerging 30mm cannon weapon planned for the GCV – the ATK-built XM813.
The XM813, according to Army developmental papers, is able to fire both armor-piercing rounds and air-burst rounds which detonate in the air in proximity to an enemy in defilade, hiding behind a rock or tree, for example.
The computer-controlled and electronically driven weapon can fire up to 200 rounds per minute, uses a dual-recoil firing system and a semi-closed bolt firing mode, Army information says.
The new tank may quite likely use a futuristic, lightweight 120mm cannon first developed years ago for the Army’s now-cancelled Future Combat Systems, or FCS; FCS worked on a series of “leap-ahead” technologies which, in many instances, continue to inform current Army modernization efforts.
The FCS program developed next-generation sensors, networking, robots and a series of mobile, high-tech 27-ton Manned-Ground Vehicles, or MGVs.
The MGVs included a Non-Line-of-Sight artillery variant, Reconnaissance and Surveillance, Infantry, Medical and Command-and-Control variants, among others. One of the key vehicles in this planned future fleet was the Mounted Combat System, or MCS.
The overall MGV effort was cancelled by former Defense Secretary Robert Gates in 2009 because Gates felt that the 27-ton common chassis was not sufficiently survivable enough in a modern IED-filled threat environment.
Although the MGVs were engineered with a so-called “survivability onion” of networked sensors and active protection systems to identify and destroy approaching enemy fire at great distances, many critics of FCS felt that the vehicles were not sufficient to withstand a wide range of enemy attacks should incoming fire penetrate sensors or hit targets in the event that the sensor malfunctioned or were jammed.
The Army’s MCS program developed and test-fired a super lightweight 120mm cannon, called the XM360, able to fire existing and emerging next-generation tank rounds. The lightweight weapon being developed for the MCS was two-tons, roughly one-half the weight of the existing Abrams 120mm cannon.
The MCS was to have had a crew of two, a .50 caliber machine gun, and a 40mm automatic grenade launcher.
In fact, the Army’s recent Combat Vehicle Modernization Strategy specifically mentions the value of adapting the XM360 for future use.
"Next-Generation Large Caliber Cannon Technology. The XM360 next-generation 120mm tank cannon integrated with the AAHS will provide the M1 Abrams a capability to fire the next generation of high-energy and smart-tank ammunition at beyond line-of-sight (LOS) ranges. The XM360 could also incorporate remote control operation technologies to allow its integration on autonomous vehicles and vehicles with reduced crew size. For lighter weight vehicles, recoil limitations are overcome by incorporating the larger caliber rarefaction wave gun technology while providing guided, stabilized LOS, course-corrected LOS, and beyond LOS accuracy"
Bassett said the potential re-emergence of the XM360 is indicative of the value of prototyping and building subsystem technologies.
The MCS was test-fired at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Md., in 2009. The platform used an aluminum turret and three-man crew using an automatic loading system. Also, the MCS was engineered to fire 120mm rounds up to 10 kilometers, what’s called Beyond-Line-of-Sight using advanced fire control and targeting sensors, General Dynamics developers explained at the time.
Special new technology was needed for the XM360 in order to allow a lighter-weight cannon and muzzle to accommodate the blast from a powerful 120mm tank round.
Elements of the XM360 include a combined thermal and environmental shroud, blast deflector, a composite-built overwrapped gun, tube-modular gun-mount, independent recoil brakes, gas-charged recuperators, and a multi-slug slide block breech with an electric actuator, Army MCS developmental documents describe.
Smith added that a lighter-weight, more mobile and lethal tank platform will be necessary to adjust to a fast-changing modern threat environment including attacking RPGs, Anti-Tank-Guided Missiles and armor-piercing enemy tank rounds. He explained that increased speed can be used as a survivability combat-enhancing tactic, adding that there are likely to be continued urban threats in the future as more populations migrates into cities.
“Never forget what it is you are trying to use it for,” Smith said.
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For over 30 years, the M1 Abrams tank has been a staple of the US military's arsenal. It continues to be an unstoppable force on the battlefield.
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LAS VEGAS -- The U.S. Army on Thursday awarded Sig Sauer a contract worth $580 million to make the next service pistol based on the company's P320 handgun.
Sig Sauer beat out Glock Inc., FN America and Beretta USA, the maker of the current M9 9mm service pistol, in the competition for the Modular Handgun System, or MHS, program.
"We are both humbled and proud that the P320 was selected by the U.S. Army as its weapon of choice," Ron Cohen, chief executive officer of Sig Sauer, said in a statement to Military.com here at SHOT Show, the world's largest gun show, taking place this week in the city.
"Securing this contract is a testimony to Sig Sauer employees, their commitment to innovation, quality and manufacturing the most reliable firearms in the world," Cohen added.
The 10-year agreement calls for Sig to supply the Army with full-size and compact versions of the gun. The pistols can be outfitted with silencers and accommodate standard and extended capacity magazines. The firearms will be manufactured at the company's facilities in New Hampshire.
The Army launched its long-awaited XM17 MHS competition in late August 2015 to replace its Cold War-era M9 9mm pistol.
"By maximizing full and open competition across our industry partners, we have optimized private sector advancements in handguns, ammunition and magazines, and the end result will ensure a decidedly superior weapon system for our warfighters," Army Acquisition Executive Steffanie Easter said said in a press release.
One of the major goals of the effort was to adopt a pistol chambered for a more potent round than the current 9mm. The U.S. military replaced the .45 caliber 1911 pistol with the M9 in 1985 and began using the 9mm NATO round at that time.
In their statements, Army and Sig officials didn't specify what caliber the new Sig Sauer pistol will be.
Sig touts the P320 model product as "modular" and "adaptable," with interchangeable grips, multiple sizes and calibers that can be converted between 9mm, .357SIG and .40SGW. "From calibers, to pistol size, to the grip fit best suited for the shooter, the P320 is the most adaptable pistol available today," the company says in promotional materials.
Two sources confirmed to Military.com that Sig submitted to the Army .40-caliber and 9mm pistols for consideration. One source said the Army ultimately selected the 9mm version.
Shortly after the contract announcement, Sig officials celebrated here at the show. Staff at the Sig Sauer booth set out champagne flutes for a celebratory toast.
The Army in December down-selected to two finalists for the competition: Sig and Glock, which had submitted its Glock 17 and Glock 19 models for consideration. Given the size of the contract, Glock is widely expected to protest the decision.
Brandie Collins, communications manager for Glock, said she had not been briefed on the contract award but wished the winners well.
Army officials informed Beretta USA and FN America at the show that they had been dropped from the competition in the recent down-select decision, according to a service source who is not authorized to speak to the press. But confusion reigned as reporters informed company officials of the Army's announcement.
The decision formally ends the Beretta's 30-year hold on the Army's sidearm market.
Gabrielle de Plano, vice president of Beretta Defense Technologies marketing and operations, said staff were still reading through the contract announcement to fully understand it.
"It's going to have to be a no comment from us for now," he said.
Beretta has fought hard to remain to remain the Army's pistol maker. In December 2014, Beretta USA submitted its modernized M9A3 as a possible alternative to the Army's Modular Handgun System program.
But the Army rejected the improved M9A3, which featured new sights, a rail for mounting lights and accessories, better ergonomics and improved reliability. The company, however, wasn't finished yet. It developed a new striker-fired pistol, the APX, and entered it into the competition.
Kristina DeMilt, public relations for FN, said officials at the show hadn't been informed of the award and were not immediately prepared to comment.
The Army began working with the small arms industry on Modular Handgun System in early 2013, but the joint effort has been in the works for more than five years. It could result in the Defense Department buying nearly 500,000 new pistols.
Current plans call for the Army to purchase more than 280,000 handguns, according to Program Executive Office Soldier officials. The Army also plans to buy approximately 7,000 sub-compact versions of the handgun.
The other military services participating in the program may order an additional 212,000 systems above the Army quantity.
"As MHS moves forward into operational testing, the due diligence taken by all of the stakeholders will ensure a program that remains on-budget and on-schedule," Easter said.
Lawmakers may be eager to hear such an assessment.
During last week's confirmation hearing for retired Marine Gen. James Mattis to become defense secretary in the Trump administration, Republican Sens. Joni Ernst of Iowa and Thom Tillis of North Carolina took turns criticizing what they described as an overly bureaucratic effort, with technical requirements totaling several hundred pages.
-- Brendan McGarry contributed to this report.
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The oldest living veteran in the United States is asking for America's help.
Army veteran Richard Overton is now in need of 24-hour home care that the Department of Veterans Affairs doesn't provide. So his family started a GoFundMe campaign late last month to cover the cost of in-home care, which is being provided by Senior Helpers.
“Though my cousin is still sharp as a tack at 110-years-old, it’s been getting harder and harder for him to care for himself,” Volma Overton said in a statement. "It eases my mind to know he will have 24/7 care while living in the home he built for himself over 70 years ago.”
Overton gained notoriety back in 2013 after he told a reporter about his key to staying active and remaining in good health: Whiskey and cigars.
"He drives and walks without a cane. During a television interview in March, he told a reporter that he doesn't take medicine, smokes cigars every day and takes whiskey in his morning coffee," The Houston Chronicle wrote. "The key to living to his age, he said, is simply 'staying out of trouble.'"
"I may drink a little in the evening too with some soda water, but that's it," Overton told Fox News. "Whiskey's a good medicine. It keeps your muscles tender."
In addition to his somewhat unorthodox habits, Overton said he stayed busy throughout the day by trimming trees and helping with horses, while noting that he never watches television, according to Fox.
Born May 11, 1906, he is believed to be the oldest living veteran in the US. He served in the South Pacific during World War II before selling furniture in Austin after discharge, and later worked in the state Treasurer's Office.
As the campaign page notes, Overton has earned a number of accolades since he first hit the headlines. He met with President Obama in 2013, and in the years since, has appeared as the guest of honor at sporting events and been featured as "America's Oldest Cigar Smoker" in Cigar Aficionado magazine.
You can check out the GoFundMe campaign page here.
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They’re the units that everyone wants to beat, that every commander wants to squash under their heel, and that most average Joes accuse of cheating at least once — the “Opposing Forces” units at military training centers.
The OPFOR units are comprised of active duty soldiers stationed at major training centers and are tasked with playing enemy combatants in training exercises for the units that rotate into their center. They spend years acting as the adversary in every modern training exercise their base can come up with.
So while most units do a rotation at a major training center every couple of years, soldiers assigned to OPFOR units often conduct major training rotations every month. This results in their practicing the deployed lifestyle for weeks at a time about a dozen times per year.
Through all this training, they get good. Really good.
And since they typically conduct their missions at a single installation or, in rare cases, at a few training areas in a single region, they’re experts in their assigned battlespace.
All this adds up to units with lots of experience against the best units the military has to deploy — units that are at the cutting edge of new tactics, techniques, and procedures; units that have the home field advantage.
“The first time you fight against the OpFor is a daunting experience,” Maj. Jared Nichols, a battalion executive officer that rotated through the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, said during a 2016 training iteration. “You’re fighting an enemy that knows the terrain and knows how American forces fight, so they know how to fight against us and they do it very well.”
So yeah, despite typically fighting at a 2-to-1 or even a 3-to-1 disadvantage, OPFOR units often decimate their opponents.
For the military, this arrangement is a win-win. First, rotational units cut their teeth against realistic, experienced, and determined opponents before they deploy. This tests and stresses deploying units — usually brigades — and allows them to see where their weak points are. Do their soldiers need a tool they don’t have? Are there leaders being over or under utilized? Does all the equipment work together as expected?
But the training units aren’t expected to get everything right.
“One of the largest challenges I face as the OPFOR battalion commander is conveying the message to the other nations that it’s OK to make a mistake,” Lt. Col. Mathew Archambault said during a 2016 training rotation. “When they come here it’s a training exercise, and I want them to take risks and try new things. I want them to maximize their training experience; it helps them learn and grow.”
But the military also gets a group of soldiers that, over a two or three-year tour of duty at a training center as opposing forces, have seen dozens of ways to conduct different missions. They’ve seen different tactics for resupplying maneuver forces in the field, different ways of hiding communications, different ways of feinting attacks. And, they know which tactics are successful and which don’t work in the field.
When it’s time for these soldiers to rotate to another unit, they take these lessons with them and share them with their new units.
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The acting secretary of the Army has ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to allow construction of the Dakota Access pipeline under a Missouri River reservoir, a North Dakota senator said, the latest twist in the months-long legal battle over the $3.8 billion project.
The Standing Rock Sioux, whose opposition to the project attracted the support of thousands of protesters from around the country to North Dakota, immediately vowed to return to court to stop it.
Sen. John Hoeven, a Republican, announced late Tuesday that Robert Speer directed the Army Corps of Engineers to "proceed" with an easement necessary to complete the pipeline. President Donald Trump signed an executive order signaling his support for the project a week ago.
On Wednesday, Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Malcolm Frost said the Army has begun its review.
"These initial steps do not mean the easement has been approved," Frost said.
Hoeven spokesman Don Canton said Speer's move means the easement "isn't quite issued yet, but they plan to approve it" within days.
The crossing under Lake Oahe, a wide section of the Missouri River in southern North Dakota, is the final big chunk of work on the pipeline designed to carry North Dakota oil through South Dakota and Iowa to a shipping point in Illinois.
The pipeline has been the target of months of protests led by the Standing Rock Sioux, whose reservation lies near the pipeline's route and who have argued that it's a threat to water and tribal artifacts.
The tribe has vowed to challenge any granting of the easement in court, and Chairman Dave Archambault renewed that vow Tuesday night.
"If it does become a done deal in the next few days, we'll take it to the judicial system," Archambault said. He added: "This is a good indicator of what this country is going to be up against in the next four years. So America has to brace itself."
The developer, Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners, said the pipeline would be safe.
An environmental assessment conducted last year determined the crossing would not have a significant impact on the environment. However, then-Assistant Army Secretary for Civil Works Jo-Ellen Darcy on Dec. 4 declined to issue an easement, saying a broader environmental study was warranted.
Energy Transfer Partners called Darcy's decision politically motivated and accused then-President Barack Obama's administration of delaying the matter until he left office. Two days before he left the White House, the Corps launched an environmental impact study of the crossing that could take up to two years to complete.
On Jan. 24, just four days after he took office, Trump signed an executive action telling the Corps to quickly reconsider the Dec. 4 decision.
The company appears poised to begin drilling under the lake immediately. Workers have already drilled entry and exit holes for the Oahe crossing, and the company has put oil in the pipeline leading up to the lake in anticipation of finishing the project, its executive vice president Joey Mahmoud said in court documents filed earlier this month.
Hundreds and at times thousands of pipeline opponents calling themselves "water protectors" have camped on federal land near the crossing site since August, often clashing with police and prompting more than 625 arrests. The camp's population has thinned to fewer than 300 due to harsh winter weather and a plea by Archambault for the camp to disband before the spring flooding season.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vincent Viola, an Army veteran and founder of a high-speed trading firm nominated by U.S. President Donald Trump to be secretary of the Army, withdrew his name from consideration on Friday, citing his inability to get around Defense Department rules concerning his family businesses, the Military Times reported.
It quoted Viola as saying in a statement that he would not be able to successfully navigate the confirmation process.
Viola is a former chairman of the New York Mercantile Exchange and is a leader in electronic trading. Along with Virtu CEO Douglas Cifu, he bought the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League in 2013.
Reuters was not immediately able to confirm the report.
(Reporting by Washington Newsroom; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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The British Army posted this remarkable photo of 12 soldiers hiding in vegetation in a Brunei jungle on Facebook.
Hidden among the foliage are members of the Household Cavalry, one of the British Army's most elite units, who are stationed in Brunei while it carries out its Close Target Reconnaissance training.
"This is what the Household Cavalry Regiment does best," the British Army wrote alongside the image.
"The intelligence gathered by this complex, deadly art will determine the British Army’s success in battle.
"The Cavalry are honing vital skills in the Brunei Jungle that could ultimately save lives on future operations."
The Household Cavalry dates back to 1660 and is the oldest regiment in Britain's armed forces — it's also the public face of Britain's armed forces and marches in ceremonies including the Changing of the Guard and Remembrance Sunday.
Prince Harry, Prince William, and singer James Blunt have all been members of the regiment in the past.
If you struggled to spot all 12 soldiers, you can see where they're hidden below:
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Former Navy SEAL Clint Emerson, author of 100 Deadly Skills: The SEAL Operative's Guide to Eluding Pursuers, Evading Capture, and Surviving Any Dangerous Situation, explains what to do if you're ever attacked by a dog.
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Former Navy SEAL Clint Emerson, author of 100 Deadly Skills: The SEAL Operative's Guide to Eluding Pursuers, Evading Capture, and Surviving Any Dangerous Situation, explains why it's so important to test your will and challenge yourself at least once a year.
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WASHINGTON, March 1 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump and his top advisors have often scoffed at government support of green energy. His chief strategist called it "madness."
But the largest U.S. government agency — the Department of Defense — plans to forge ahead under the new administration with a decade-long effort to convert its fuel-hungry operations to renewable power, senior military officials told Reuters.
The reasons have nothing to do with the white-hot debate over climate change.
In combat zones, green energy saves lives by, for instance, reducing the need for easily attacked convoys to deliver diesel fuel to generators at U.S. bases. Mobile solar-power units allow soldiers to prowl silently through enemy territory.
At sea, gas-electric hybrid battleships save fuel and allow for fewer stops — making them less vulnerable to attacks like the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000, when al-Qaeda militants killed 17 U.S. soldiers during a refueling stop in Yemen.
The military’s zeal for renewable power has already had broad impacts on energy contractors, generating hundreds of millions in contracts for solar companies and helping to reduce fuel consumption by the world's largest single petroleum buyer.
The armed forces nearly doubled renewable power generation between 2011 and 2015, to 10,534 billion British thermal units, or enough to power about 286,000 average U.S. homes, according to a Department of Defense report.
The number of military renewable energy projects nearly tripled to 1,390 between 2011 and 2015, department data showed, with a number of utilities and solar companies benefiting. Many of those projects are at U.S. bases, where renewable energy allows the military to maintain its own independent source of power in case of a natural disaster or an attack — or cyber attack — that disables the public grid.
The White House did not respond to Reuters requests for comment on the military’s use of green energy. Although Trump has blasted solar subsidies, vowed to boost fossil fuel development and questioned the science behind climate change, military leaders remain confident that the president won’t halt their march toward renewable power.
"We expect that it's going to continue during the Trump administration," said Lt. Col. Wayne Kinsel, head of the infrastructure unit of the Air Force Asset Management Division for Logistics, Engineering and Force Protection. "It's really not political."
Other senior officials in the Navy, Air Force and Army also told Reuters that they expected their renewable energy programs to continue.
Lt. Col. J.B. Brindle, a Defense Department spokesman, said the agency "spends very little appropriated funding" on renewable energy projects, but declined to give any figures or to answer additional questions about such efforts.
Trump's Secretary of Defense, Jim Mattis, has long supported efforts to reduce troop dependence on petroleum. He saw first-hand the vulnerability of diesel convoys to attacks by militants while serving as Commander of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command in Afghanistan and Iraq in the early 2000s. As far back as 2003, he urged Navy researchers to find innovative ways to unleash the military from the "tether of fuel."
The military's push into alternative energy started under Republican President George W. Bush in 2007, when he signed a law requiring the Pentagon to get 25 percent of the electricity for its buildings from renewable energy by 2025.
The effort accelerated under President Barack Obama, who required the Army, Air Force and Navy to each deploy 1 gigawatt of renewable power and directed the Army to open a lab developing energy technologies for combat vehicles.
In an apparent nod to Obama's efforts to curb global warming, the Pentagon also reported to Congress in 2015 that the droughts and floods caused by climate change pose a security threat — contributing to foreign political and economic instability that could require substantial troop deployments.
Former Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in his parting memo in January that the Navy has already met its goal, producing 1 gigawatt of electricity — while the other forces are on track to meet their targets.
The programs have their opponents. The conservative Heritage Foundation, for example, has railed against the military's support of renewable power and biofuels.
"The administration right now needs to focus specifically on combat power," said Rachel Zissimos, a Heritage researcher. "Investing money on optional initiatives right now I think is problematic."
Solar companies such as SunPower Corp and utilities including Sempra Energy and Southern have won utility-scale renewable energy contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years, according to the companies and Department of Defense documents reviewed by Reuters.
Southern, for example, has 11 solar projects totaling 310 megawatts on bases in states including Georgia and Alabama. In December, Sempra completed the 150-megawatt Mesquite Solar 3 in Arizona to provide about a third of the power needed at 14 Navy and Marine bases in California for 25 years.
SunPower has already landed a major deal under the Trump administration — a $96 million contract finalized on Feb. 3 to provide power to Vandenberg Air Force base in California until 2043, according to a Pentagon database.
Sempra and Southern said they were committed to serving their customers but declined to comment on whether they were discussing new contracts with the military. SunPower did not comment.
Last year, the Navy began outfitting Arleigh Burke destroyers with gas-electric hybrid engines developed by L3, which won a $119 million contract in 2013.
Tesla, which produces electric cars and batteries, is another company that analysts say could benefit from military contracts. A Tesla spokesman said the company is "supportive” of the military's interest in clean energy but declined comment on whether it was pursuing Defense Department contracts.
The U.S. military's use of oil, meanwhile, fell by more than 20 percent between 2007 and 2015. The bulk of the decline likely stems from declining combat operations rather than rising efficiency and use of renewable energy. But traditional military fuel suppliers — such as Exxon Mobil, BP, and Shell — nonetheless have a lot at stake if the military accelerates its move away from fossil fuels.
The military’s average annual oil bill was about $14.28 billion between 2007 and 2015.
BP is constantly reviewing its marketing strategies to ensure growth, a spokesman said.
"As fuel slates change, we will adapt, and continue to provide our customers with the products they demand," he said in response to questions about the potential impact of the military’s increased use of renewable fuels.
Hauling fuel to the battlefield has been a hazard for militaries since at least World War I and continues to take a grim toll. One in nearly 40 fuel convoys in Iraq in 2007 resulted in a death or serious injury, according to a study commissioned by the Defense Department. In Afghanistan the same year, one in 24 fuel convoys suffered casualties.
Marines in Afghanistan began carrying solar panels in 2009 to forward bases in battles with Taliban fighters. They used them to power batteries for communications, GPS and night-vision goggles. The panels not only reduced the need for convoys, they allowed marines to shut off generators, hushing operations and making them harder for enemies to detect.
Arotech subsidiary UEC has sold $25 million worth of the solar arrays and expects a bigger business in systems working with batteries and solar to slash dependence on generators, said business manager Nancy Straight.
Col. Brian Magnuson, the head of the Marines' expeditionary energy office, established in 2009, said his office aims to replace diesel-powered generators on the battlefield with solar power, and to reduce energy use with efficiency measures such as insulated tents and the deployment of advanced batteries.
"These technologies are a way to become more effective in combat," Magnuson said. "This is about war-fighting capability.”
(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; editing by Richard Valdmanis and Brian Thevenot)
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The United States Military Academy, also known as West Point, is one of the most prestigious colleges in the nation.
In addition to its top-20 ranking by the US News and World Report, it enjoys an esteemed reputation for educating and preparing for service top-ranking members of the US military and intelligence communities, not to mention former US presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Dwight D. Eisenhower.
It's also incredibly difficult to gain access into. Its 10% admissions rate rivals some Ivy League colleges — and acceptance is based on both academic and physical requirements.
West Point also has a far more restrictions for applicants than the traditional college.
For instance, applicants cannot be be married, pregnant, or have any children that they have legal responsibility for. They cannot be older that 22 when they apply, and must be at least 17.
The admissions process also starts much sooner than at traditional schools. Beginning in candidates junior year, they must fill out a questionnaire and begin applying for official nominations. These nominations come from members of Congress, US senators, the vice president, as well as other military personnel.
Next, applicants undergo a medical assessment that examines both their physical and mental health, as evaluated by The Department of Defense Medical Examination Review Board.
Then it's on to the Candidate Fitness Assessment (CFA), a six event exam aimed at judging the applicants' physical fitness level.
There is a basketball throw, pull-ups (women can do an arm hang), a shuttle run, sit-ups, push-ups, and a 1-mile run, and a set amount of rest time in between each event.
The West Point admissions team has an explainer online for the six events:
The CFA may seem brutal, but it's nothing compared to what freshman students face during their Cadet Basic Training, which is also referred to as "Beast Barracks."
They start their day every morning at 5 a.m. with physical conditioning.
For those accepted into West Point, tuition is fully paid by the US Army. In return, West Point graduates have an active-duty service obligation.
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The US Army has opened an investigation into allegations that some active-duty soldiers may be involved in the online sharing of nude photos of their colleagues, Business Insider has learned.
The inquiry by the US Army's computer crime investigative unit comes one day after Business Insider reported that the scandal initially believed to be limited to the Marine Corps actually impacts every branch of service.
The report revealed a public message board where purported male service members from all military branches, including service academies, were allegedly cyber-stalking and sharing nude photos of their female colleagues.
Special agents from US Army's criminal investigation command "are currently assessing information and photographs on a civilian website that appear to include US Army personnel," Col. Patrick Seiber, a spokesman for the Army, told Business Insider. "They are currently assisting to determine if a criminal offense has occurred."
Seiber said there was no evidence at this point suggesting the site was related to the "Marines United" Facebook page. That page, which was reported on by journalist Thomas Brennan, had some 30,000 members that were found to be sharing nude photos of female Marines.
"Army CID is speaking with [the Naval Criminal Investigative Service] and US Air Force Office of Special Investigation to ensure all investigative efforts are fully coordinated," Seiber said.
According to the Business Insider report, members on a website called AnonIB often posted photos — seemingly stolen from female service members' Instagram accounts — before asking others if they had nude pictures of the victim.
The site features a dedicated board for military personnel with dozens of threaded conversations among men, many of whom asked for "wins"— naked photographs — of specific female service members, often identifying the women by name or where they are stationed.
In a thread dedicated to the US Military Academy at West Point, some users who appeared to be Army cadets shared photos and graduation years of their female classmates.
"What about the basketball locker room pics, I know someone has those," one user said, apparently referring to photos taken surreptitiously in a women's locker room. "I always wondered whether those made it out of the academy computer system," another user responded.
In 2012, an Army sergeant who helped train and mentor cadets was discovered to have secretly filmed more than a dozen women in the bathroom and shower areas at West Point. The soldier pleaded guilty in the case and was sentenced in 2014 to 33 months in prison.
A Pentagon spokesman condemned such behavior as "inconsistent with our values" on Thursday, and Defense Secretary issued a statement Friday calling it"unacceptable and counter to unit cohesion."
The existence of a site dedicated solely to sharing nude photographs of female service members is another black mark for the Pentagon, which has been criticized in the past for failing to deal with rampant sexual harassment and abuse within the ranks.
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Former Navy SEAL Clint Emerson, author of "100 Deadly Skills: The SEAL Operative's Guide to Eluding Pursuers, Evading Capture, and Surviving Any Dangerous Situation," explains how you can make your home more secure. Following is a transcript of the video.
We tend to look at home security as just our home, the locks, and the alarm system. But the reality is there’s more layers than that that start well outside your front yard. So first is communicating with your neighbors and becoming friends again. That way if you see an odd car or a person that doesn’t belong there someone can make a phone call to either 911 or to you while you’re at work and let you know “Hey, there’s something going on in your driveway.”
It’s not so much about the bolt that goes in the door as it is the door frame. Reinforce your door frames with two and a half inch to three-inch wood screws. That’ll basically turn the door into a one kick and open to a five kick and open. Your illumination on your house, you want to light it up. Anytime I was operating against bad guys and the target was lit up. It makes you feel almost naked and it’s the last thing a bad guy wants to feel when he’s approaching your home.
Burglars can not stand animals or kids, both are unpredictable. So if you can litter your yard with toys, that’ll keep a lot of daytime burglars away or if you can put up some hint that you have a dog, whether you do or not, will also keep them away.
Former CIA and NSA director Michael Hayden, author of "Playing to the Edge: American Intelligence in the Age of Terror," explains what the Central Intelligence Agency looks for in a candidate. Following is a transcript of the video.
Why should we pay more attention to you then to the other 159,999 things I got stacked over here? And so what’s the hook? Second language, life experience, success in whatever it is you’re doing. Foreign travel, living in a foreign country, mastering a foreign language, showing a comfort level, living in a foreign culture. All those kinds of things kinda make you percolate to the top. We got to college fairs. We go to Arab American week up in Dearborn, Michigan. Have a big tent up there where we talk to Americans of Arab descent. We recruit just like any other enterprise. In addition, we’ve got a lot of people who self-identify. Who say that they want to be part of the Central Intelligence Agency. My last full year as director, which would have been 2008, we had 160,000 Americans make genuine applications to CIA. And I’m not talking about clicking on the website. I mean going through all that very intrusive paperwork to make themselves eligible for employment with us.
