Militarily Speaking

• One of the biggest problems with the Beretta M9 pistol used by the services has always been the magazines. They are terrible, but I don't think supplying everybody with high quality, expensive mags solves all it's problems. It is just too under powered. If it was a .40 or a .45 with a quality mag. the recoil would be more likely to power the slide back through any grit resulting in fewer malfunctions. Also, it would be more likely than the 9 to make the bad people stop doing bad things when you shoot them.
• The biggest innovation to hit the military- any military in the past 70 years will be when the US Army inevitably fields a helicopter that will fly autonomously while carrying troops. It will happen sooner rather than later.
• I may be wrong on this, but my impression is until materials improvement allows for a serious weight reduction of body armor it would be better for guys to have a vest that has the plates to protect against front, back and side strikes from bullets forgoing some shrapnel protection to the upper body provided by some of today's vests. Weight savings from the upper body could be transferred to improved and expanded protection of the groin and hips.
• To be so very good at war- as a nation we don't really have the stomach for long, costly ones.
• It is interesting (if not perplexing) that the US government, after spending a gazillion dollars and having the stated goal of developing a radio that does everything all the services and arms want it to do while allowing them all to talk to each other while doing it, we're not that much closer to that goal then we were 25 years ago.
• USMC Scout Sniper Team in Garmsir Afghanistan.
• The TOW missile is 40 years old and still a great weapon and at a fraction the cost of a Javelin- dirt cheap for situations where it will work just as well.