Marcus Aurelius: ‘Frayed’ from war: Spec ops reports alcohol abuse, stress, sleeplessness

‘Frayed’ from war: Spec ops reports alcohol abuse, stress, sleeplessness After 12 years of war, the military’s most elite forces are ‘frayed’ and reporting struggles with alcohol, sleeplessness and emotional numbness. In a survey of active-duty special operations forces, nearly 10 percent of respondents reported potential alcohol abuse or dependence, 8 percent said they were …

Marcus Aurelius: Al Qaeda is Back! and The Future of Al Qaeda — Shared Bottom Line? Everything the USG Does Enhances Al Qaeda Appeal!

Al Qaeda Is Back Jailbreaks in Iraq. A surge in Syria. A growing presence in Lebanon. The terrorist group’s influence is on the rise, says Bruce Riedel. TheDailyBeast.com, July 26, 2013 Two spectacular al Qaeda prison breaks in Iraq, freeing over 500 of its members in two separate prisons simultaneously this week, demonstrate the group …

Marcus Aurelius: Eric Holder Says Snowden Will Not Face the Death Penalty

IMHO, bad call by the AG.  What Snowden did could very easily cause US deaths if not immediately then sometime down the road.  I see no fundamental difference between him and Julius and Ethel Rosenburg, the two WWII traitors who compromised the atomic bomb to the Soviets and were later tried, convicted, and executed.  How would the AG conceivably …

Marcus Aurelius: Anyone Can Hijack a Ship or Airplace Via GPS —

This is on the governments that failed to be responsible about cyber-security from day one. EXCLUSIVE: GPS flaw could let terrorists hijack ships, planes The world’s GPS system is vulnerable to hackers or terrorists who could use it to hijack ships — even commercial airliners, according to a frightening new study that exposes a huge …

Marcus Aurelius: Pipe Dreams and the Lack of Integrity — How to Lose Two Wars at Great Expense

For those who have not seen from one of the Army’s premier thinkers.  Opposition rebuttal follows from a consistent defense naysayer.The issues can also be framed in a couple of other ways, from the conventional and special operations perspectives: CONVENTIONAL:  “Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men.  It is the …

Marcus Aurelius: Democratic Defense Play-Book — Truman Security Briefing Book Edition 5 — Idiocy Lite

From Politico Morning Defense: FIRST LOOK – THE STRONG-ON-DEFENSE PLAYBOOK: A leading national-security think tank is releasing the latest edition of its annual briefing book, which has become a kind of playbook for strong-on-defense Democrats. The Truman National Security Project, which spent more than $90,000 during the 2012 presidential campaign to help defeat Republican Mitt …