Posts Tagged ‘Afghanistan’
Afghanistan War May End By 2024 … Maybe
Monday, 20 May 2013 01:00
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Hamid Karzai has let the Pentagon’s cat out of the bag — to the displeasure of the Obama Administration. The Afghan president revealed inside information about President Obama’s war plans after all U.S. “combat troops” completely withdraw in 17 months at the end of 2014. As was known in recent years, the Obama Administration actually [... (Read more...)]

 
Unravelling the Propaganda of Impending Civil War in Afghanistan
Friday, 17 May 2013 01:00
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Western fears of a civil war in Afghanistan are growing ahead of the scheduled pullout of international troops in 2014. However, experts here say the situation on the ground is not comparable to either 1988, when the Soviets withdrew from the country, or the mujahideen’s rise to power in 1992, which plunged the country into [...]

 
Spock and Awe: How 4 Lucky Post-9/11 War Vets Landed Roles in “Star Trek Into Darkness”
Thursday, 16 May 2013 18:05
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On April 24, 2005, US Marine Corps lance corporal Adam McCann was on patrol with his fire team, as he had been on many other occasions. His team was inspecting a weapons cache discovered in the city of HÄ«t in Iraq’s Al-Anbar province. As they prepared to head back to base, they were met with a hail of mortar fire launched from the other side of street. The entire team was injured, and McCann sustained shrapnel wounds to his neck and both legs. But all escaped with their lives. (Read more…)

Eight years later, on May 14, McCann, who is now 27, attended the star-studded Los Angeles premiere of Star Trek Into Darkness—in which he plays a minor role. “Seeing my name in the movie credits was pretty nice,” McCann told me. “And the after-party was pretty amazing as well.”

McCann is one of four post-9/11 American war veterans featured in the new film as the “Starfleet Ceremonial Guard.” (The others are Melissa Steinman of the Coast Guard, Eric Greitens of the Navy, and Jon Orvrasky of the Marine Corps.) All have been involved with The Mission Continues, a nonprofit that awards community service fellowships to vets, and helps them apply the skills they learned in the armed forces to work and life at home. Greitens—an ex-Navy SEAL and Rhodes Scholar—founded the group in 2007, and was included in the 2013 Time 100, where he was praised by former Joint Chiefs chairman Mike Mullen as “one of the most remarkable young men I have ever encountered.”

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