Last Saturday, I was privileged to spend some time in downtown Raleigh and participate in an absolutely incredible event. The entire day, spearheaded by the N.C. Bankers Association, was dedicated to the simple theme of demonstrating North Carolina’s support for our military members and their families.

The hour-long parade was spectacular with about 70 entries. Military members, military equipment , Medal of Honor winners, family members, Rolling Thunder and high school bands all moved smartly along the parade route. They were all warmly and enthusiastically applauded by the estimated 50,000 citizens that chose to spend part of their weekend as a family showing their support for the military “family.”

To many in the crowd, it was a great thrill to witness the flight of four F-15 Strike Eagles from Seymour Johnson AFB flying low and fairly slow up the parade route at precisely their designated time to kick off the parade. As David Crabtree noted, the sight

Last month marked the five-year point in our nation’s long struggle in Iraq. It has not been easy, cheap or without the loss of life and treasure. But you already knew that.

In the past year, however, we have seen some remarkable successes. The failures and setbacks have been diminished. In spite of the isolated suicide attacks, reluctance of the Iraqi army and police force to aggressively pursue the extremists in their midst, and the Iraqi national government to move more swiftly, there have been many positives.

In fact, the prevailing assessment is that we have now, finally, turned the corner, and the potential for a favorable outcome (read: winning) is certainly achievable. But the naysayers, the anti-war crowd, are still not willing to stay the course. Since it is difficult to not recognize the successes, their mantra now is the “cost” of this war is too great. But what about those dollar costs that cover a wide range of estimates, depending

Imagine flying an Air Force bomber faster than the speed of sound – and doing it while testing a 50/50 blend of synthetic petroleum fuel. Well, that flight did take place last week, as a B-1 bomber launched from its home station of Dyess Air Force Base, near Abilene, Texas, and flew to New Mexico, crossing the White Sands Missile Range at 680 mph.

While this was not the first Air Force aircraft and crew to test synthetic fuels in flight, it was the first supersonic flight, and like the other test flights, it came off without a hitch. In late 2006, an eight-engine B-52 bomber made the first synthetic fuel flight, and more recently, a four-engine C-17 transport aircraft flew across the country on synthetic fuel.

This is a big deal. The goal is to have all U.S. Air Force aircraft certified to use a synthetic blend fuel within the next three to four years. Synthetic fuel is cheaper, will reduce dependence on foreign oil, and burns cleaner. That is significant.

The “Fox” is out of the chicken house. Or maybe we should say that the outspoken commander of Central Command, Adm. William “Fox” Fallon, is out of the Navy. Fallon has submitted his resignation and will retire from the U.S. Navy later this month.

As most readers of this column would know, Central Command oversees all of our military activities over a very broad stretch of geography, which includes Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet, many will not recognize the name Fallon when thinking of key commanders in Iraq or Afghanistan. Gen. David Petraeus, commander of all U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq, is the guy most visible in media reporting of the Iraq conflict.

While serving as the top U.S military leader in the Pacific, Fallon was highly regarded for his strategic vision for the future of this vast and increasingly important part of the globe. Yet, his trips to China to have informational and strategy discussions with senior Chinese military

The Army is looking to reduce the combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan back to 12 months from the current 15-month rotation. The longer tours, with little time at home stations, have taken a toll. And the toll is not only on the members and their families’ personal well-being. It also affects the training, readiness and equipment so vital to our soldiers. While our military is heavily engaged in two war zones, they must be prepared to fight other contingencies anywhere in the world. That takes training and equipment.

Prior to the much-noted “surge” of a year ago, we had about 132,000 military members in Iraq. That number jumped to about 160,000 as the surge troops were fully deployed to the theater. And despite the pundits, politicians and the anti-war crowd, the surge has worked extremely well. The surge has been especially successful at the local village and province level. Iraqi volunteer groups have aligned with the U.S. and other coalition forces to bring