The Army Times is a great resource for the professional Army soldier. At any given time around the world you will find soldiers reading an issue of the Army Times. I have seen a copies of the Army Times in some very isolated places during Operation Iraqi Freedom among other missions. Unlike the television media, the Army Times gives the soldier the essentials straight up with no slants left or right. The only slant that you will find in the Army Times is an Army slant. The Army Times is chalked full of very practical information for the soldier. So I’ll get into the content so you can see why the soldier finds this publication so handy.

Content

The Army Time will always have several cover stories along with their main story. As you can imagine the stories over the last couple of years have had to do with Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom and homeland security missions such as Noble Eagle. There are hundreds of thousands of Army soldiers serving on these missions. The stories concerning these missions are definitely an eye catcher. Soldiers are always famished for information. In some cases the media is his or her main source of information. The military has always had a quandary with sending information down the chain of command to the soldiers doing the work / fighting. Here are some of the cover stories in the July 5th issue of the Army Times.

• If Kerry wins, Exclusive Interview
• Pay & Benefits, What the Senate wants you to have in 2005
• Reserve Pay, The push to protect federal workers income
• Prison Abuse, Soldiers’ lawyers can grill top generals
• More troops to Iraq? You may go sooner than planned
• Medical screening, The plan to track your health when you deploy
• Light it up, Breaking in crew chiefs on the fly in Iraq

Weekly Columns
• Frontlines
• Around The Army
• The Human Toll
• Back Talk
• Beetle Bailey
• Fast Track
• Cross Word
• Pvt. Murphy’s Law
• Opinions
• Transitions
• Officer Promotions


The Army Times has one issue per week. The content always has something for the soldier whether he is an officer or enlisted serving stateside or in a combat zone. The content is extensive and some of the information is bound to have be something you can draw on. The Frontlines are stories and reports from around the world. These stories are usually associated with a combat zone . The FastTrack deals with issues such as pay, policy, veterans, benefits or any hot topic in the Army at any given time. FastTracks are hot topics that get analyzed and debated. Around The World is a large map of the world. It shows where US forces are currently deployed in very precise detail. For instance, here are the units currently serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom according to the Army Times Around The World column;

• 1st Cavalry Division • 1st Armored Division • 1st Infantry Division • 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment • 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division • 2nd Brigade 25th Infantry Division • 30th Brigade Combat Team • 39th Brigade Combat Team • 81st Infantry Brigade (About 141,000 Soldiers)

This map shows this kind of detail for every country that US soldiers are serving in. The Human Toll is a hard-hitting column to read but may perhaps be the most read part of the paper. The Human Toll lists the killed in action as well as wounded in action for that week. They also give total casualties for the entire war. After the families have been notified the paper will list their name, rank , branch of service, a picture, when and where the soldier , marine or sailor was killed. Here is an example of their weekly post;

Operation Iraqi Freedom Casualty totals as reported by the Department Of Defense.

March 2003 - June 2004
Killed: 842
Wounded in action: 5,271

June 18 -24
Killed: 11
Wounded in action: 133

The Army Times also has its share of advertisements. It has a few more ads than your average paper but it is also a fairly large paper at approximately 45 pages per issue. Most of the ads are military related from footwear to life insurance. The crosswords and cartoons are decent and help deployed troops burn time. The opinions column is just that. Typically they are comments on stories previously ran . The transition section is a list of soldiers and their MOS (specialty). These soldiers list where they are currently stationed and where they would prefer to be stationed. With some luck you can find someone with the same MOS and rank that would like to trade stations with you. Lastly, the Army Times has a classified section with a military theme. Most of the things listed here are military related. While military related there is still a broad section of items for sale. Everything from real estate to University classes.

Conclusion

I have been reading the Army Times for 17 years. I find it a very solid and trustworthy source of valuable information. After buying it over the counter for years I finally decided to purchase yearly subscriptions, it’s quite a bit cheaper. While serving in Iraq, I had a hard time finding a copy of the Army Times, so I had my wife mail them to me. After I had read them I would give them to the other soldiers in my platoon. These papers are always read many times! The stories are always good and the information solid and unbiased. I would suggest the Army Times to every soldier serving in the United States Army! The information you get in the paper is good and plentiful.

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Stand Cost: $2.50 per paper
Subscription Cost: $52.00 per year for 52 news papers

Official Web Site: www.armytimes.com

Thank for the read,
~Mac

©2004 Joe McMaster

Recommended: Yes

Describe the newspaper's political views: No political views are evident