Blog – News

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The Warrior Caste

America increasingly relies on a small group of multigenerational military families to fight its wars. That’s a problem.

When the new White House chief of staff, then a Marine general, John Kelly received a knock on the door in November 2010, he became the highest-ranking military officer to lose a child in combat. In addition to his son Robert, killed by a landmine in Afghanistan in 2010, his other son is also an active-duty Marine. The Kellys’ legacy of service is not unusual among military families. This type of lineage has led to generations of flag officers, fathers and sons who reunite while deployed, and families who bear the loss of a war America has forgotten we are fighting.

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Gun Trouble

The rifle that today’s infantry uses is little changed since the 1960s—and it is badly flawed. Military lives depend on these cheap composites of metal and plastic. So why can’t the richest country in the world give its soldiers better ones? 

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‘We are at war and people don’t even know’: Inside the divide between the military and the rest of America that’s wider than it’s ever been

A little more than a year after she married, Tiffany Smiley walked into a hospital room to tell her husband he was blind.

A car bomb in Mosul, Iraq, had sent shrapnel into Army Maj. Scott Smiley’s eyes as he was serving as an infantry platoon leader and ultimately led him to this bed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He had been deployed six months — six months that Tiffany endured catching glimpses of him in reports from an embedded Fox News journalist. She’d watch and wonder what reality she’d fallen into as explosions boomed in the background of the shots.

When she wasn’t watching the news, Tiffany was working as a nurse. But as she went about life in the US, it felt like no one else was paying attention.

“At the time, I was shocked,” she told Business Insider. “We are at war — and people don’t even know or care.”

Full Story CLICK HERE

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Vietnam Veteran Welcome Home Ceremony

All Vietnam Veterans are encouraged and welcomed to attend the Vietnam Veterans Welcome Home Ceremony. They can RSVP up to the day before the event. 

 
Brochure CLICK HERE
 
On behalf of Maj. Gen. Joseph Martin, commanding general of the 1st Infantry
Division and Fort Riley, I’d like to inquire about the possibility of your
support to help promote the upcoming Vietnam Veterans Welcome Home Ceremony at Fort Riley, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2017. 
 
As we celebrate the 100th anniversary of our division, the service and sacrifice of those who fought in Vietnam continues to weigh heavily on our minds. We know these veterans did not receive the welcome home they deserved and many were never thanked for their service. We want to provide that opportunity to them with this event.  I have attached a flyer that contains all the information, including an RSVP email address. As part of the ceremony, the Big Red One has plans to provide each veteran with a token of appreciation. 

 

We understand many individuals may be unable to travel due to health reasons or distance, and in some cases, many of those veterans are no longer with us. In lieu of those individuals who cannot be here, this event is open to
family, friends and supporters as well. 

Finally, if any Vietnam veterans have previously attended one of these
events, they are more than welcome to attend again – we encourage it. And it
doesn’t matter if their branch of service or if they served with the Big Red
One. All are welcome.

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Military Cyber Operations to Be Revamped After Long Delay

After months of delay, the Trump administration is finalizing plans to revamp the nation’s military command for defensive and offensive cyber operations, in hopes of intensifying America’s ability to wage cyberwar against the Islamic State group and other foes, according to U.S. officials.

Under the plans, the U.S. Cyber Command would eventually be split off from the intelligence-focused National Security Agency.

Full Story CLICK HERE

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Let’s Turn America’s Military-Industrial Complex Into A Science-Industrial Complex

Many Americans subscribe to the annoying belief that our nation’s military-industrial complex is the surest way to remain the wealthiest and leading superpower in the world. After all, it’s worked for the last century, pro-military supporters love to point out.

However, America’s dependence on warmongering may soon become a liability that is impossible to maintain. Transhumanism, globalization, and outright replacement of human soldiers with robots are redefining the country’s military requirements, and they may eventually render defense budgets far smaller than those now. To compensate and keep America spending approximately 20 percent of the federal budget on defense (as we have for most of the last few years), we’ll either have to manufacture wars to use all our newly-made bombs, or find another way to keep the American economy afloat.

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Wings of Freedom 2017 Nationwide Tour visiting  Nebraska.

A living history display of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, Consolidated B-24 Liberator, B25 Light Bomber, and P 51 fighter… America’s backbone bomber aircraft of World War II. Please contact the Collings Foundation at 978-562-9182 for additional information.

Seventy Two years after their use over the skies of enemy territory, they embark on a new mission over the skies of America to honor our veterans of World War II, promote education of our future generations about the role of the aircraft and the flight crews of World War II, and to preserve these treasures of American aviation history where they belong: the sky. Below are the dates and cities the Freedom Tour 2017 will be visiting starting July 17th, 2017 thru July 23 rd 2017. More Information click on city below:

Kearney, NE

July 17 @ 12:00 pm – July 19 @ 12:00 pm

Kearney, NE, 

4985 Airport Rd 
Kearney, NE 68847 United States 

+ Google Map

Find out more »

$5 – $15

 

Columbus, NE

July 19 @ 2:00 pm – July 21 @ 12:00 pm

Columbus, NE, 

1334 Bill Babka Dr 
Columbus, NE 68601 United States
Find out more »
$5 – $15

 

Omaha, NE

July 21 @ 2:00 pm – July 23 @ 5:00 pm

Omaha, 

3737 Orville Plaza 
Omaha, NE 68110 United States 

+ Google Map

Find out more »
$5 – $15

  

PRESS CONTACT
If you have any questions, please contact Collings Foundation, 978-562-9182 (MA)

Please also feel free to refer to the Collings Foundation Website at:
http://www.collingsfoundation.org

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Military modernization essential to national security

In America, we are the land of the free because of the brave. Yet for too long, inadequate defense spending has failed our military, impeding their ability to deter, defend and preserve our way of life.

After eight long years of shortsighted defense spending policies, I’m glad that President Trump and Congress are working to reinvigorate support of our men and women in uniform.

Full Story CLICK HERE

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‘We Own the Night’: The Rise And Fall Of The US Military’s Night-Vision Dominance

The sky was moonless on the night of May 1, 2011, as two MH-60 Black Hawk helicopters flew toward a walled compound in an upscale enclave of Abbottabad, Pakistan. A power outage further drenched the city in blackness.

To the 23 Navy SEALs fast-roping to the ground, the conditions could not have been better. Under the cover of darkness, they crept toward the home of the world’s most wanted man and stormed inside.

Full Story CLICK HERE

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Emergency funding for a veterans health care program

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., introduced legislation Tuesday to provide emergency funding for a veterans health care program that is expected to run out of money in early August.

Tester, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, and Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., the committee chairman, called the funding shortfall a crisis during a hearing on veterans health and Tester introduced the “Veterans Access to Care Act of 2017,” which would provide $4.3 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs to fund the Veterans Choice Program through Sept. 30, 2018, the end of the next fiscal year.

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