Things to Gnaw on this Weekend

Light blogging this weekend from me. Here are a few things for your consideration.

1. A good friend of mine– and a figure known to John and Charlie– is back from Iraq. He penned a good account of one convoy, and it’s especially interesting for VMI alumni.

2. I am an avid reader of John Farnam’s Quips. (You shoud be too.) Here’s one (in which the villain is a Marine and the protagonist is a sailor) with a much larger lesson on how to handle Hezbollah.

3. The nation’s capital continues its decline. Three cheers for gun control! What a success!

4. My recent post on peacekeeping reminded me of a subject I’d been meaning to address, that is, the use of private military corporations in smaller-scale “peace operations.” I’d say Darfur is one place that PMCs could be deftly used to protect NGO relief operations and rid the land of pesky militias. If anyone has read An Unorthodox Soldier you’ll get my point. I don’t think every hot spot in the world can or should be addressed this way, but there are some. (BTW, if anyone has read Jim Hooper’s Bloodsong about Executive Outcomes in Angola, please post a mini-review. I’ve read Spicer’s book but not Hooper’s, although I read Hooper’s book on Koevoet and loved it.)

Enjoy your weekend.