Tagged: Military

Without question, drones have become the U.S. weapon of choice in the fight against terrorism. Counterterrorism officials say they've come to rely on the pilotless aircraft for their surveillance capability and what officials say is precision targeting. That reliance has led to greater use in the past couple of years, especially in Pakistan and Yemen.

John Bellinger, a State Department legal adviser during the George W. Bush administration, says there are increasing concerns about the frequency of drone attacks.

A RQ-4A Global Hawk, an unmanned aerial vehicle, has crashed near Salisbury, Maryland.

NPR's Larry Abramson reports the Navy says the drone was on a test flight out of Patuxtent Naval Air Station, when it crashed in a remote, swampy area. No injuries nor property damage have been reported.

The drone was one of five acquired "by the Navy for surveillance and intelligence use," Larry tells our Newscast unit.

The senior allied commander in Afghanistan says airstrikes to residential homes in Afghanistan will be used only in cases of "last resort to rescue soldiers," the AP reports.

The new rules, issed by Gen. John R. Allen and announced by alliance spokespeople, come in response to a NATO attack last week that Afghans said killed 18 civilians.

The AP reports:

The United States is pulling a team of negotiators from Pakistan and they will be leaving without securing a deal to reopen an important military supply line into Afghanistan.

Reuters reports:

"'I believe that some of the team left over the weekend and the remainder of the team will leave shortly,' George Little, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters. 'This was a U.S. decision.'"

The 182nd Infantry Regiment of the Army National Guard landed back in the U.S. last March after a yearlong deployment to Afghanistan.

After two months of leave, however, their official transition time is over and the deployment paychecks have stopped. It's now time to get back to regular life, and for the members from Massachusetts, that means a mandatory check-in with the unit's leadership.

From Soldier To Civilian