By Elaine Donnelly
Extending sexual misconduct to combat units
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
California got its man while weary passengers aboard the crippled Carnival Triumph finally made it back to port. In Washington, the White House revealed that President Obama made no phone calls on the night of the Benghazi terror attack, while Sen. Marco Rubio stole the spotlight on State of the Union night. Here's a recap, or wrap, on the week that was from The Washington Times.
Some warriors inside the Pentagon are reacting with amusement and anger over outgoing Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta's decision to create a prestigious heroism medal for cyber and drone combatants who sit inside stations outside a war zone.
With Republicans lacking the votes to reinstitute the ban on women in combat as federal law, conservatives are focusing on how to make sure the Pentagon does not lower the standards — and with them, combat readiness — to ensure that female service members graduate.
As Navy SEALs bask in the limelight for daring missions, some in the Army are wondering whether the other half of the nation's counter-terrorism covert warriors — Delta Force — is being upstaged and left in the shadows.
A decorated Green Beret who returned from his fifth deployment to Afghanistan last summer died Tuesday trying to rescue his two young daughters from their burning home near Fort Bragg. The girls were also killed in the blaze.
President Obama on Wednesday honored the sacrifice of an Army Green Beret who died in Afghanistan, awarding him the nation's highest military honor — the Medal of Honor — in a solemn East Room ceremony on the eve of the war's ninth anniversary.
"I suppose now they will award Purple Hearts for carpal tunnel syndrome," said a retired Green Beret who does contract work for the Pentagon.
Obama pressured to drop new hero medal for drone and cyber warriors below rank of Bronze Star →
"I'd ask the civilian leadership, if you're are on the third floor of a burning building and aren't ambulatory, do you want to look out the window to see Bruno or Mindy coming up the ladder to carry you down?" he said. "I have personally witnessed women in the military in riot situations where rocks are being thrown at them. They put their hands to their faces because they didn't want scars. The men in the same riot got hit in the face and got mad."
