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The 13 funniest military memes for the week of July 20th
Female sailors seem to be getting the hair regulations loosened to allow a more natural look. This (obviously) caused a gigantic backlash among male soldiers demanding the permitting of beards. Honestly, it doesn't really make sense to disallow sailors to grow beards in the first place. After all, naval history tied to glorious beards, in both the U.S. Navy and around the world. As long as they keep their beards groomed, it'd be a boost to morale and it'd cut out the crappy rush to shave each morning.
But we'll see. 7th Fleet will probably crash another ship into a civilian fishing vessel and blame it on sailors having beards instead of actually taking responsibility for it.
Anyways. Have some memes, you glorious bastards.
That time some guy seized power in Montenegro and won a full-scale war
There's been a lot of attention on the tiny Balkan country of Montenegro in recent days — are they an aggressive people? Are they any more or less aggressive than any other people? What's the metric to use for aggression? That equation changes when you combine Serbia with Montenegro, like the rest of the world did until 2006.
In that case, you can measure aggression by the number of World Wars started.
But there is one story in Montenegro's military history that stands out above all others. In 1767, a man dressed in the rags of the monastery in which he lived arrived in the country's capital of Cetinje, claiming to be the long-thought-dead Tsar Peter III of Russia. And everyone believed it.
He became Šćepan Mali — known in the West as Stephen the Small.
A World War I legionnaire wrote this 'Rendezvous with Death'
In 1916, an American poet, Harvard graduate, and soldier of the French Foreign Legion was killed while attacking in the first wave at Belloy-en-Santerre, part of the opening of the Battle of the Somme. Alan Seeger had written a prophetic poem that would be published a year later titled, I Have a Rendezvous with Death.
How a sax solo became a heart-wrenching tribute to the Challenger crew
Ronald McNair was an accomplished guy. NASA's second-ever African-American astronaut was a physicist, a world-renowned expert in lasers, 5th-degree black belt in Karate, and jazz saxophonist. Amazingly, he was also dedicated to making sure most of those accomplishments lined up — in space.
The multi-talented astronaut was then working with French composer Jean-Michel Jarre, whose work in the electronic music and synthpop was unparalleled. The two were collaborating on a piece for one of the composer's upcoming albums that would include a saxophone solo recorded in orbit above the Earth.
McNair was also set to perform a live concert with Jarre's band — a specially-written solo just for him — during one of their performances through a live feed from his second mission aboard the Challenger space shuttle. Of course, none of this happened. On this mission, Challenger never made it to orbit, disintegrating 73 seconds into its launch from Cape Canaveral on January 28, 1986.
Why we're pumped about the new 'Overlord' film
There's a special place in our hearts for zombie films. It's a fun little escape to the smokepit conversations every troop has while deployed, like, "who would your zombie apocalypse team be?" And, "where would you go looting first?" Obviously, the only correct answers are your squadmates and the nearest gunshop, respectively, but I digress.
Zombie films have a strange place in the cinematic landscape. The ones that embrace the campiness of the genre tend to be more successful financially and the lower the budget of a zombie film, the more fun (or funny) it'll probably be. This is part of what made the veteran-made Range 15 so enjoyable to other veterans who enjoy that special, corny magic typical of zombie films.
It was recently announced that J.J. Abrams is set to produce the upcoming film Overlord. From the looks of things, it's going to be a zombie film set during the events of the Battle of Normandy — also known as Operation Overlord.
The 9 best Civil War movies
It's been more than 150 years since Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union Army Commander Ulysses S. Grant at Wilmer McLean's Appomattox home, but the legacy of the Civil War still lingers.
From the recent controversies over Confederate memorials to the tens of thousands of hobbyists who dress in grey and blue every summer to reenact key battles, Americans continue to wrestle with the causes and ramifications of the War Between the States.
These nine films, which cover the conflict from the hallways of Congress to the scorched earth of Bleeding Kansas, are packed with insights and (usually) authentic historical details. Just as importantly, they're guaranteed to entertain.
6 surprising targets of Chinese espionage
From corn to wind farms to self-driving cars, Chinese spies are after all sorts of things you wouldn't expect.
For America, there's a pretty clear idea of what our intelligence agencies should do, and it's mostly about keeping tabs on new enemy weapons, terrorists plots, and counterespionage. But, American technology and innovations are also a coveted target for other countries, especially ones like China that are developing rapidly.
And China has the money and the culture to do something about it. They have proven capable of stealing secrets, partially to support military programs and partially to support the state-run companies that are in charge of keeping the people happy so President Xi Jinping can keep concentrating on wandering the Hundred Acre Wood.
9 expert tips for negotiating an alimony settlement
Second only to child custody, alimony is one of the most contentious and difficult-to-navigate processes in any divorce. When two people are splitting up, particularly when that split is acrimonious, the last thing either of them wants to discuss is the prospect of giving money to each other.
But, the topic has to be dealt with and the only way to do it successfully is to go in armed with as much knowledge as possible.
There will be no major strategy changes in Afghanistan
U.S. Central Command chief General Joseph Votel says he does not expect major changes in military strategy as a result of an updated assessment of the war effort in Afghanistan currently being conducted.
"I don't envision something...that would likely lead to a major change in the overall strategy, which I believe is showing progress," Votel told a news briefing in Washington on July 19.
Votel said his review work was more designed to consider adjustments that might be required to help Kabul reach its goal of bringing Taliban militants to the negotiating table.
