Younger vets still struggle as jobs scene improves
Written by KEVIN FREKING,Associated Press TIM TALLEY,Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two months after completing his five-plus years as an Army medic, Dan Huber is still looking for a job. And while he's had some promising interviews, he has no assurances the search will end soon.
Colo. House Dems lead passage of gun control bills
Written by IVAN MORENO,Associated Press
DENVER (AP) — Colorado's Democratic-controlled House has narrowly passed a handful of gun control bills, signaling a political shift in the wake of recent mass shootings and pressure from the White House.
Coast Guard: Cause of cruise ship fire was a leak
Written by KATE BRUMBACK,Associated Press
ATLANTA (AP) — Now that investigators have determined the origins of the engine-room fire that paralyzed a Carnival cruise ship at sea for five days, they will try to learn more about the cause, the crew's response, and why the ship was disabled for so long.
Army may have to extend deployments in Afghanistan
Written by LOLITA C. BALDOR,Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Soldiers deployed to Afghanistan next year may see their war tours extended because budget cuts will drastically limit training for brigades to replace them, the top Army general said last week.
Gen. Raymond Odierno, the Army chief of staff, said the military will be able to fund training and operations for combat units in Afghanistan now and for those deploying in the summer and fall. But he says there will be delays in training for those deploying in 2014.
If those training delays can't be made up, Odierno said he would have to send forces to war that aren't ready or extend deployments of units already there. A number of combat brigades will be deploying later this year and next year, even as the U.S. winds down the war.
"We will try to divert money so we do not have to extend people in Afghanistan," Odierno told a conference at the Brookings Institution in Washington. "That's a very big concern of mine."
He said that right now the Army is facing a shortfall of as much as $8 billion in operating funds for Afghanistan, and there could be an additional $5.4 billion in cuts if Congress can't resolve a budget standoff and automatic reductions — called sequester — go into effect.
Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon, the Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said Friday that he expects the sequester to go into effect March 1, triggering $46 billion in automatic cuts to the overall Pentagon budget through September. "I think it's going to happen," McKeon told reporters. "We have just not been able to get past the politics of it to really focus in on the devastating effects."
President Barack Obama announced this week that he will cut the size of the U.S. force roughly in half by a year from now. There are currently about 66,000 U.S. troops at the warfront, and he said he will withdraw about 34,000 by this time next year.
Longer deployments have been a difficult issue for the Army.
In 2007, the Army extended the yearlong deployments to 15 months in order to meet the demands of the Iraq war, including the surge of troops ordered by then-President George W. Bush. In many cases, combat brigades returned home and were ordered to deploy again 12 months later, leading top military leaders to worry that the force was being strained almost to the breaking point.
Over time, as the Iraq war ended, the Army deployment times were scaled back to a year, and most are now about nine months long.
Among the units scheduled to deploy later this spring is the 4th Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, based at Fort Stewart, Ga., but the Army has not announced what units will go to Afghanistan later in the summer in fall.
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Associated Press writer Richard Lardner contributed to this report.
Last Updated on Tuesday, 19 February 2013
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Multimillion-dollar diamond heist in Brussels
Written by RAF CASERT,Associated Press
BRUSSELS (AP) — Eight armed and masked men made a hole in a security fence at Brussels' international airport, drove onto the tarmac and snatched millions of dollars' worth of diamonds from the hold of a Swiss-bound plane without firing a shot, authorities said Tuesday.
US security firm alleges massive Chinese hacking
Written by CHRISTOPHER BODEEN,Associated Press
BEIJING (AP) — Cyberattacks that stole massive amounts of information from military contractors, energy companies and other key industries in the U.S. and elsewhere have been traced to the doorstep of a Chinese military unit, a U.S. security firm alleged Tuesday. China dismissed the report as "groundless."
Climate contradiction: Less snow, more blizzards
Written by SETH BORENSTEIN,AP Science Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — Scientists point to both scant recent snowfall in parts of the country and this month's whopper of a Northeast blizzard as potential global warming signs.
Ill. woman killed same day sister sat behind Obama
Written by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHICAGO (AP) — An 18-year-old Chicago woman was killed the same day her sister had sat on the stage behind President Barack Obama, listening to him push for gun control legislation.