While rescinding Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, fits comfortably into the thematic vision of “America First” that resonates so well with President Donald Trump’s voter base, in reality the far-reaching ramifications of this anti-immigration decision are devastating and deeply undermine American values.… continue »
West Point, my alma mater, is a source of great personal pride. It always has been, and it always will be. The institution has recently taken several steps worthy of particularly high praise. Just this month, West Point announced that it has for the first time chosen an African-American woman, Simone Askew, to hold the highest-ranking position in the cadet chain of command—First Captain.… continue »
It’s been over two weeks since President Donald Trump tweeted his decision to ban transgender people from serving from the military. On the Wednesday it happened, the White House was caught flat-footed and could not provide basic information about how the ban would be implemented and what it would mean for the thousands of transgender service members serving in the military today, many of them deployed overseas.… continue »
An Army staff sergeant with multiple combat deployments, in charge of an infantry squad.
A West Point grad innovating forward-based personnel support in a combat zone.
A Lieutenant Commander in charge of the supply chain for all of the Navy’s nukes.… continue »
My friend Phil Carter has written an excellent piece for Slate, pointing out the institutional dangers of disregarding President Trump’s recent series of tweets that announced an unjustified retrograde policy barring transgender personnel from service in the armed forces.… continue »
On the anniversary of the day President Harry Truman desegregated the military, President Donald Trump announced, via Twitter, that the United States military would no longer welcome or support the service of transgender American citizens. As a nation, we have been here before.… continue »
Early in the summer of 2003, as we made our initial push from the Kuwaiti border up through central Iraq and then on into Anbar Province, our armored cavalry unit was not meeting the resistance we’d expected and so we were able to move much more quickly.… continue »
Amidst all of the confusion, the lies, and the damaged norms of the Trump administration, one of the best hopes for good governance has been tied to a handful of respected, trusted senior officials with military backgrounds. Indeed, National Security Adviser H.R.… continue »
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As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump voiced his support for deliberately targeting the families of terrorists. Fortunately, he has not adopted this policy as president. But he has nonetheless demonstrated a proclivity for eased rules of engagement on the battlefield and intensified military strikes.… continue »
Human Rights Watch saw Shia armed forces allied with the Iraqi government commit horrific abuses against the Sunni civilian population during the operation to retake Fallujah back in May. We didn’t want it to happen again in Mosul.
As a result, Human Rights Watch pressed the Iraqi government to keep the abusive units within the Popular Mobilization Forces, also known as Hashd al-Sha’abi, out of the Mosul operation.… continue »
