US Navy – Toilet troubles add to sailors' deployment stress on carrier

Virginian Pilot – It may seem like a trivial inconvenience in the scheme of things, but it’s become routine enough that some sailors aboard the Norfolk-based aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush say it’s affecting their morale, their health and their job performance: Since the ship left for its maiden combat deployment in May, its toilet system has suffered outages so frequently that crew members sometimes can’t find a single working commode.

Afghanistan – Echoes from a Distant Battlefield

Vanity Fair – When First Lieutenant Jonathan Brostrom was killed by Taliban fighters in 2008, while attempting a heroic rescue in a perilously isolated outpost, his war was over. His father’s war, to hold the U.S. Army accountable for Brostrom’s death, had just begun. And Lieutenant Colonel William Ostlund’s war—to defend his own record as commander—was yet to come. With three perspectives on the most scrutinized engagement of the Afghanistan conflict, one that shook the military to its foundations, Mark Bowden learns the true tragedy of the Battle of Wanat.

US Navy – General Atomics to help Navy create 'super gun'

San Diego Union Tribune – The award is part of a long term effort to create a ship-borne gun that uses electricity instead of chemicals to fire high impact projectiles. The railgun being developed through the Office of Naval Research was designed to fire projectiles up to 200 miles. The projectiles would travel up to 5,600 mph, allowing for rapid attack against targets on land and at sea. The “super gun” also could reduce the need to store expensive and dangerous explosives aboard ships.