Search Results for: military

From 1948: Pearl Harbor in Retrospect

From 1948: Pearl Harbor in Retrospect

Pearl Harbor in Retrospect

Longreads Pick

From 1948: Maj. Gen. Sherman Miles, Assistant Chief of Staff for Military Intelligence at the time of the attack, reflects on what went wrong. “The last twenty-four hours in Washington before the bombs fell have come in for much scrutiny. Why did the President, with most of the Japanese final answer before him, conclude that it meant war and then, after a fitful attempt to reach Admiral Stark by telephone, quietly go to bed? Why was he in seclusion the following morning? Why was no action taken on the Japanese reply by the Secretaries of State, War, and Navy when they met on that Sunday morning? Why did they not consult the President, or he send for them? Where was everybody, including my humble self? Why, in short, didn’t someone stage a last-minute rescue, in good Western style?”

Source: The Atlantic
Published: Jul 1, 1948
Length: 28 minutes (7,118 words)

Do Ask, Must Tell

Longreads Pick

Turkey’s military doesn’t just discriminate against gays — it humiliates them. “K., a gay man in his mid 20s who works at an NGO, was called up to the military this year. ‘The first time I went for a medical examination,’ he recalls, ‘I told the psychiatrist in charge I was gay, but he claimed that I was pretending.’ K. was forced to spend a night in a military psychiatric hospital where, he says, another doctor asked him to provide pictures documenting his homosexuality.”

Source: Foreign Policy
Published: Dec 4, 2010
Length: 7 minutes (1,770 words)

The Pentagon Papers Trial

The Pentagon Papers Trial

Bad Lieutenant, Dan Choi

Longreads Pick

Choi, 29, became the face of the movement against “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” But it isn’t just getting kicked out of the military that irks him. He’s also not happy about being kicked off Grindr — four times.

Source: Village Voice
Published: Oct 27, 2010
Length: 19 minutes (4,855 words)

Private Manning and the Making of Wikileaks

Longreads Pick

The Inside Story of the Oklahoman Behind the Biggest Military Intelligence Leak Ever

Source: This Land Press
Published: Sep 23, 2010
Length: 18 minutes (4,728 words)

View Is Bleaker Than Official Portrayal of War in Afghanistan

Longreads Pick

As the new American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David H. Petraeus, tries to reverse the lagging war effort, the WikiLeaks documents sketch a war hamstrung by an Afghan government, police force and army of questionable loyalty and competence, and by a Pakistani military that appears at best uncooperative and at worst to work from the shadows as an unspoken ally of the very insurgent forces the American-led coalition is trying to defeat.

Published: Jul 25, 2010
Length: 8 minutes (2,132 words)

What Happened to Valor?

Longreads Pick

Peralta was summoned to the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, where Lieut. Gen. Richard F. Natonski informed her of the Pentagon’s decision: Rafael Peralta would not be awarded the Medal of Honor after all. Instead he would receive the Navy Cross, the second-highest American military decoration that can be awarded to a Marine.

Published: May 27, 2010
Length: 11 minutes (2,774 words)

Searching for Saddam

Longreads Pick

A five-part series on how the U.S. military used social networking to capture the Iraqi dictator.

Source: Slate
Published: Feb 22, 2010
Length: 13 minutes (3,285 words)

Cyber Warriors

Longreads Pick

When will China emerge as a military threat to the U.S.? In most respects the answer is: not anytime soon—China doesn’t even contemplate a time it might challenge America directly. But one significant threat already exists: cyberwar.

Source: The Atlantic
Published: Mar 1, 2010
Length: 8 minutes (2,177 words)