Outside the Beltway

Amazon warehouse workers want to be paid for time going through security checks to leave work.

Politics, the law, culture, and a very old language collide.

It would appear that someone needs to introduce the Air Force to Article VI of the Constitution.

My latest for War on the Rocks: “Don’t Believe Everything You Read in the Papers.”

Retired Marine lawyer Butch Bracknell and I tackle the subject for The Hill.

There’s essentially no analogue in the civilian justice system. Here’s why.

The President’s well-intentioned campaign against military sex crimes has backfired.

Barring shocking developments, General Joe Dunford will be the 36th Commandant of the Marine Corps.

The DOD says Walmart was violating its trademarks.

The Pentagon wants to continue receiving special war funding well into peacetime.

Rolling up your sleeves is hard if you’re a Marine.

Snow days are no longer automatic vacation days for federal workers.

The IDF has finally put a woman in command of a battalion. They’re decades behind American forces.

The Marine Corps’ plan to make women take the same fitness test as men has hit a wee snag.

Michelle Howard has become the highest ranking woman in the history of the US Navy–and the US military, period.

The defense authorization law requires the Defense Department to go back to a single camouflage pattern.

The juxtaposition of two stories in the Marine Times strikes me as odd.

For some same-sex couples with a military spouse, living together on base is proving difficult to implement quickly.

Few subjects rile members and veterans of military service more than changes to the uniform.

The American taxpayer spent a lot of money today paying their employees not to work.

My latest for The National Interest has posted.

Bradley Manning will be spending a long time at Leavenworth.

The military is cracking down on sexual assault. The pendulum may be swinging too far.

Your humble host is making a career move.

The Pentagon is considering doing away with two combatant commands—and no longer calling them combatant commands.

The Air Force will now allow pregnant women and single parents to join.

President Obama is rightly outraged by a wave of sexual assaults in the military. He unwittingly made them harder to prosecute.

The Pentagon has canceled a popular air show even though it operates at a profit and takes place next fiscal year.

The US Navy is moving transport ships near Egypt. Just in case.

Denied her chance at being Secretary of State, Susan Rice will be moving to a position that is arguably just as important in shaping American foreign policy.

If there’s one thing that our generals and admirals agree on it’s that generals and admirals should retain their power.

You can either have a career in a white shoe law firm or marry a military officer. Pick one.

Conveying military experience to civilian human resources departments is hard.

Bill McClellan calls for ending military funeral honors for most veterans.

American troops may now earn the fourth highest combat medal from the comfort of their desk chair.

Tim Kane continues his campaign against the US military’s antiquated personnel system.

A retired Marine gunny argues that women should not be in the infantry since they’re not in the National Football League.

We really don’t need to be treating Inauguration Day like it’s the coronation of a new King.

Congress is trying to re-write a law that the Supreme Court found unconstitutional in June. Have they succeeded?