And so, it’s come to this. The top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Allen, is now firmly ensnared in retired Gen. David Petraeus’ sex scandal. It’s widely reported this morning that Allen’s career is in jeopardy for “inappropriate communications” to Jill Kelley, the Tampa socialite whose complaints to an FBI agent about anonymous harassing email led to the revelation that Petraeus had an affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell. Already, that’s a lot to process. Allen’s involvement in the scandal, however hazy, led to the decision to table his Senate confirmation hearing Thursday for what had been his presumed next…
Browsing: David Petraeus
First Lt. Josh Waddell ordered his men to take out an insurgent last fall in Afghanistan, and that decision has come back to bite him pretty badly. Now, the 25-year-old finds himself at the center of a contentious debate over the rules of engagement and the potentially disastrous career implications for those deemed to have violated them. When the incident occurred, Waddell was the executive officer for his company with 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, which oversaw security in the Sangin district of Helmand province. He was subsequently fired from that job, given a lousy fitness report and told he would…
Last night’s breaking news about the death of Osama bin Laden occurred well after this week’s Marine Corps Times was put to bed. Still, this week’s issue offers plenty of new perspective on someone you’ll hear a lot about in coming months: Lt. Gen. John Allen, President Obama’s nominee to become the next commander of the International Security Assistance Force and all U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Obviously, Marine Corps Times was part of the chorus initially reporting Allen’s selection last week, when Obama made his announcement. However, this week’s cover story offers a wide variety of details about Allen that…
