Army Private Chen and Marines Lance Corporal Lew

The story of the October 11 suicide of Chinatown NYC Army infantryman Danny Chen in Afghanistan concerns me in several ways, as a Taiwanese American and an enlisted Army veteran. Chen's suicide came in the wake of the April 2011 suicide in Afghanistan of Californian Marines Lance Corporal Harry Lew. The angry reactions to both suicides in the Chinese American community has been expected and understandable. Read this insightful reaction by West Point graduate and former Army infantry captain Tim Hsia.

More personal reaction later.

Eric

New: Sustaining U.S. Global Leadership: Priorities for 21st Century Defense

President Obama and the Defense Department have released their latest strategic vision, which takes budget cuts and future contingencies into account. The paper should be useful for Ivy ROTC advocates in that a smaller force with fewer resources and a broader range of possible missions will have to rely more on the intellectual agility of its leaders. However, the argument only works if Ivy ROTC can be differentiated programmatically from other ROTC programs via an innovative outlay of advanced Ivy League resources for ROTC+ programming. The argument that the new strategy raises the value of Ivy ROTC doesn't work if it's based on a claim of an intrinsic difference between Ivy League students and non-Ivy students. The distinguishing trait should be the quality of the Ivy League ROTC program.

See the DoD press release with link to the defense strategic guidance paper. One news analysis.

Eric