National Defense Briefs – 05/12/16
May 12, 2016
By W. Thomas Smith Jr.
NATIONAL DEFENSE BRIEFS is a series produced by National Defense Consultants, LLC, aimed at informing readers with timely military and homeland security news updates, trends, definitions, and short commentaries. Defense issues are inextricably connected to business. In that, MidlandsBiz.com and National Defense Consultants presents the “National Defense Briefs” that matter.
• The Citadel – officially, the Military College of South Carolina – is standing its ground (at least for the time being) on standards and tradition as any military unit, organization, or academy worth its proverbial salt will do. Though that standing is increasingly becoming problematic for all military institutions in the 21st century where political correctness regularly trumps tradition, even set-regulations. The issue for The Citadel is its refusal to permit a female Muslim cadet to wear a hijab (Muslim headscarf). The school’s pres., U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. (Ret.) John W. Rosa, “explained that the [cadet] uniform is central to the leadership training at the college, as cadets give up their individuality to learn teamwork and allegiance to the corps, and its leaders concluded that they could not grant an exception to the required dress,” according the Washington Post.
• In “Army Strong or Army Wrong? Six things the Army could learn from the Marines,” a retired Army staff NCO states in terms of its basic training, the Army might benefit by taking a page from the Marines’ boot camp. The philosophies of the two service branches are different to be sure, but the article argues that a Marine-like approach would enhance the Army’s indoctrination process: “We must find a way to raise the bar in the Army. We must find a way to make the Army an elite concept. It must become more than a catchy slogan ‘Army Strong’ and a way to make money for college. We must return to the spartan roots that made us great. Because right now, we are not great.” [Read http://havokjournal.com/culture/army-strong-army-wrong-army-learn-marines/]
• The death toll is rising from a series of bombing attacks in Baghdad, yesterday [As of this writing, Thur, May 12, 9:00 Eastern, the dead are said to number 93]. In what has been reported as “the worst day of violence in the city” in 2016, the attacks began in the primarily-Shia area of Sadr City, killing 64 people and wounding another 87. Later, suicide bombers struck police checkpoints in the Kadhimiya district and in Jamia, killing 29. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attacks. The Iraqi capital has been plagued with suicide bombings this year.
• Meanwhile, a suicide bomber struck a Yemeni army convoy near al-Qatan in eastern Yemen, yesterday, killing eight and wounding at least 17 others. Among the dead were two civilians and six members of a security detail for Gen. Abdul-Rahman al-Halili, a senior Yemeni commander who was wounded in the blast. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the bombing, but the attack reportedly “resembled recent assaults by ISIS and Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).”
• As we have reported, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham (also ISIS), the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and the Islamic State (IS). Many Arab-speaking people refer to ISIS as Daesh, an acronym for Al Dawla al-Islamiya al-Iraq al-Sham (the Arabic translation of the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham). ISIS originated with Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) in 2006. But AQI formally severed ties with ISIS in 2013-2014. AQI is also known as Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia or AQM.
• AQAP is the Al Qaeda affiliate group operating in Yemen.
– W. Thomas Smith Jr. – a former U.S. Marine rifleman – is a military analyst and partner with NATIONAL DEFENSE CONSULTANTS, LLC. Visit him at http://uswriter.com.
