As time and sources permit, I will be regularly posting a summary of important and/or interesting developments within the Department of Defense and our military Services. They will be narratives, compelling images, or a combination of the two.
To get us started here are some interesting images from the past few days during which there were several military anniversaries, the Asia-Pacific trip by SecDef Panetta and, of course, our continuing involvement in Afghanistan
All images and commentary are from DoD/military sources and in the public domain.
A Coast Guard boat crew from Station New York enforces a safety zone around a barge carrying the retired Space Shuttle Enterprise while it transits through New York Harbor to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, June 6, 2012.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta enters a room to speak with troops assigned to the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul, Afghanistan, June 7, 2012.
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Jeffrey A. Jacobs, commanding general of the U.S. Army Civil Affiars & Psychological Operations Command, shakes hands with John Perozzi, a World War II and D-Day veteran who served with the 82nd Airborne Division, after a ceremony honoring him and other WWII veterans in Sainte-Mere-Eglise, France, June 3, 2012.
Sailors and Marines attend a wreath laying ceremony at the Navy Memorial to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Midway. The Battle of Midway was the turning point in the Pacific War and set the stage for the United States to win the Second World War. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kiona Miller
American World War II veterans at the Battle of Midway National Memorial are honored during a ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Midway. The Battle of Midway, fought over and near the Midway atoll, approximately 1,500 nautical miles northwest of Hawaii, represents the strategic high water mark and turning point of the Pacific war. U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Tiarra Fulgham
A U.S. paratrooper uses a handheld identity detection device to scan an Afghan’s iris while on patrol in a village near Forward Operating Base Arian in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province, May 29, 2012. The soldier is assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division’s 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team.
A U.S. paratrooper gives a high five to an Afghan boy while on patrol in a village near Forward Operating Base Arian in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province, May 29, 2012.
Ellen Levitsky Orkin, 92, left, and Dorothy Levitsky-Sinner, 95, sisters who served as nurses during World War II, attend a plaque dedication ceremony in their honor in Bolleville, France, June 4, 2012. Bolleville officials made the sisters honorary citizens for their work at a local hospital during the war. “We were just doing what we were told to do – our jobs,” said Orkin, a former Army 1st lieutenant. Her sister was an Army 2nd lieutenant.
A Navy and Marine Corps color guard display the colors on the USS Arizona Memorial as participants sing the national anthem during a wreath-laying ceremony to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of Midway in Honolulu, June 4, 2012. World War II veterans, civilian guests and service members assigned to military bases on Hawaii gathered at the memorial for the event.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta accepts letters from Vietnamese Defense Secretary Phung Quang Thanh, in Hanoi, Vietnam, June 4, 2012. The letters were written by American service members from the Vietnam War
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.