U.S. Armed Forces Activities

Latest Articles

US Marine graffiti crew tags Hyde Park

Props-aganda Dept.
This past week, the United States Marine Corps invaded Boston. Or, more accurately, they were invited into the community by Mayor Tom Menino to “showcase military equipment displays, perform community outreach projects, and honor local Marines during Marine Week Boston.”
By CHRIS FARAONE | May 13, 2010

BU offers the class of 1970 a second chance at complacency

After School Special
Boston University’s class of 2010 celebrates its commencement this weekend, and BU has invited the class of 1970 to tag along.
By CLIF GARBODEN | May 12, 2010

Stars, bars, and open arms

Flags + Guns Dept.
The first thing I noticed when pulling into the Preble Street parking lot on Back Cove for last Sunday’s open-carry firearm event, which had been organized to encourage Mainers to legally wear their guns in public, was the Confederate flag.
By RICK WORMWOOD | April 28, 2010

In the land of the stoner cops

On the front lines of Obama's campaign in Afghanistan
Major Jim Contreras was awaiting his marching orders. Literally.
By NIR ROSEN | March 01, 2010

Going for Gold Glossary

Jump Starts
The Summer Olympics are fairly easy to comprehend for the average couch tuber: people running, hoisting, swimming in synch — all fairly quotidian activities.
By LANCE GOULD | February 17, 2010

Collateral damage?

Was Hasan suffering from PTSD?
Was Hasan suffering from PTSD?
By ADAM REILLY | November 11, 2009

Afghanistan: Just say no!

Plus, Obama and the Nobel
The idea that the war in Afghanistan has reached a critical junction, a “now-or-never” moment that requires an additional 40,000 troops to win, is rubbish.
By EDITORIAL | October 14, 2009

Debating the Middle East muddle

Global Politics
US military aid to Pakistan and Afghanistan is being wasted and should be redirected to the police and moderate non-violent groups working for education and the rule of law, according to two Middle East experts who spoke Sunday at the Community Church of Providence.
By STEVEN STYCOS | June 17, 2009

Hemp — the law, the musical

Dept. of Really Strange Bedfellows
When liberal congressmen like Barney Frank begin co-sponsoring bills with libertarians like Ron Paul, there must be something funny in the air.
By CHRIS FARAONE | April 29, 2009

By | January 01, 0001

49. Kid Rock

TRAILER RASH
Damn near every time we went to the movies last year, we got stuck watching Kid Rock’s god-awful propaganda flick. Let’s leave aside for a moment that Kid Rock looks ridiculous. It takes a special kind of white-trash moron to equate — as his shitty little commercial does — NASCAR drivers with National Guard members serving in Iraq. Let us point out the obvious: one of these groups risks its lives for the glory of fat rednecks and money, while the other fights for freedom. Comparing these two is just silly — almost as silly as someone from Detroit wearing cowboy boots.
By Boston Phoenix Staff | March 25, 2009

Culture wars

The Army's controversial anthropology program
American anthropologist Paula Loyd was in Afghanistan, discussing living costs with a local man when suddenly he doused her with fuel from a jug he was carrying and set her on fire.
By PETER PIATETSKY | March 16, 2009

Soldiers committing suicide

US troops are killing themselves in record numbers
On July 22, 2004, unable to handle the intensity anymore — the daily vomiting, the feeling that he was a murderer — Lucey wrapped a garden hose around his neck and hanged himself.
By JASON NOTTE | March 17, 2009

Examining the state of Iraq's democracy

Only eight candidates for office were murdered during this year's campaigning, down from 200 in 2005
Why don't people laugh out loud, or at least guffaw, when they hear about US troops overseas assisting elections? Too many US states and municipalities have dysfunctional voting systems for us to be proudly tutoring anyone else.
By ANDISHEH NOURAEE | February 23, 2009

Review: Lark and Termite

Total immersion
"Language Immersion" is the name of a program set up by the US Army in Korea just prior to the North's invasion of the South.
By PETER KEOUGH | January 29, 2009

In harm's way

The tragedy of Rakan Hassan and the impossibility of a Hippocratic Oath for journalists
Most of the job-related fears that keep journalists up at night are relatively mundane, but on rare occasions, a more ominous scenario presents itself.
By ADAM REILLY | August 06, 2008

Is RI making the most from its tourism appeal?

Critics call a variety of agencies a wasteful approach in this small state
If you were going to promote Rhode Island's plate of idiosyncratic attractions to potential visitors in other states, what would be the best way to do it?
By IAN DONNIS | July 24, 2008

Trying out an anti-demonstration ‘sonic cannon’

Non-lethal weapons
The Maine Marine Patrol is considering purchasing a “sonic cannon” capable of broadcasting earsplitting, “disorienting” sounds, like those that have been used to break up peaceful demonstrations in public spaces in Iraq and the country of Georgia.
By JEFF INGLIS | July 16, 2008

Reality bites

Will Obama make good on his plan to exit Iraq by 2010? Don’t bet on it.
The war in Iraq has been on the back burner of the American political scene for some time.
By EDITORIAL | July 09, 2008

Criminal intent

Ed Burns on writing Iraq
Ed Burns — former Baltimore homicide detective, Vietnam vet, and long-time writing partner with David Simon, both on the The Wire and on Generation Kill , spoke with the Phoenix about the new series.
By ADAM REILLY | July 07, 2008

The wages of war

The creators of The Wire take on Iraq in Generation Kill
The Iraq War poses a strange problem for the American public.
By ADAM REILLY | July 07, 2008

A night in Guantánamo

Staying in a replica cell, with no waterboarding included
I’d volunteered to spend the night in the replica cell (which is modeled on the ones at Gitmo) because we’ve all heard stories about unlivable conditions at Gitmo but can’t come close to imagining what it must be like.
By JEFF INGLIS | June 18, 2008

March to war

Why isn’t the press paying more attention to a possible attack on Iran?
During the course of two weeks in May, America’s top-ranking military officer went from warning that war with Iran could cripple the US military to rattling his saber at Tehran.
By ADAM REILLY | June 04, 2008

Constantine's Sword

At once depressing and exhilarating
Scarier than Jesus Camp (and infinitely smarter), Oren Jacoby’s documentary film of Boston Globe columnist James Carroll’s 2001 book Constantine’s Sword casts Christianity as a lost ark raided by the worst bullies of history.
By ROB NELSON | May 28, 2008

Twenty years pass, RI stays the same

Acclaim for dubious deeds is an Ocean State mainstay
Phillipe + Jorge were graciously asked to recall Rhode Island’s Monthly’s first dubious achievement-style Rhode Island Red Awards, as chosen in 1988 by your superior correspondents, during the mag’s 20th anniversary gala last week.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | May 07, 2008

Body of War

Poetic Americana
Tomas Young volunteered for the US Army right after 9/11, hoping to be sent to Afghanistan and chase down Osama bin Laden.
By GERALD PEARY | April 09, 2008

Trapped in Iraq

After suffering through the Petraeus hearings, it’s time for Congress to take responsibility for our sinkhole war.
Watching the Senate Armed Services and the Foreign Relations Committees question Iraq proconsul General David Petraeus about the status of the war was a disturbing experience.
By EDITORIAL | April 09, 2008