Odierno speaks in a full sentence...

A svelte Ray modeling the new Army Service Uniform. He is still a leg...

...and requests more combat forces in Iraq past the deadline. As you can tell from previous posts, I'm not a huge fan of GEN Odierno. However, at least he is speaking up. I do question the timing of this though...

On another note, I love how after GEN Casey recommended to take it slowly on the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," GEN Odierno immediately piped up and said, "Oh, I favor repealing it." GEN Odierno is undoubtedly positioning himself to replace GEN Casey as Army Chief of Staff, which he most likely will get when GEN Casey finally retires. My crystal ball also predicts a GEN Petraeus nomination for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, once Admiral Mullen finally retires.

F-22 Showdown; National Guard Officer on Joint Chiefs of Staff?

Secretary Gates (pbuh) said at the Economic Club of Chicago on July 16, “If we can’t get this right, what on earth can we get right? It is time to draw the line on doing defense business as usual.”

Hopefully, President Obama will back him up with a veto if need be, like he says he will.

On another note, why on earth should the National Guard Bureau get a seat on the Joint Chiefs of Staff? Are we permanently federalizing the entire National Guard? Who will they represent; the Soldiers and Airmen that are currently federalized (there isn't a such thing as a Navy National Guard... wouldn't that allow for more influence of the Army and Air Force on the president?) Here is what CQ wrote:

Give the National Guard more clout inside the Pentagon by giving the National Guard chief a seat on the Joint Chiefs of Staff and budgetary power to buy equipment for domestic missions. The measure, by Christopher S. Bond , R-Mo., would also hand to governors tactical control of federal troops responding to an emergency inside their state or territory

Now if the government could scrap the Joint Strike Fighter like the article alludes to and prosecute Sen. Dodd for his scandalous actions so he shuts up about defense industrial complex jobs, we could be in business...