Troops in Afghanistan honor fallen SEALs 
By N.C. Aizenman 
The Washington Post 

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan - They took their places on the parade ground at sunset, waiting for the ceremony to begin in total silence as the color of the mountains in the distance dropped slowly from pale violet to deep indigo. 

There were the Army Special Operations aviators - ''Night Stalkers'' - in crew cuts and jumpsuits, members of an elite helicopter crew who fly commandos behind enemy lines. There were Special Operations ground forces from the United States, Britain, France and Germany, all sporting the shaggy beards they grow to blend in among Afghans. 

And, at the very front, beside the flags flying at half-staff, were nearly 100 SEALs - shorthand for the Navy's Sea, Air, and Land units - who had come to bid farewell to 11 of their own, killed June 28.  For this tightly knit fraternity - the smallest of the military's Special Operations units - the loss of even one seaman would have reverberated like a death in the family.   read more...

Military's Energy-Beam Weapons Delayed 
By BRIAN BERGSTEIN, AP Technology Writer
Sat Jul 9, 8:31 PM ET 

For years, the U.S. military has explored a new kind of firepower that is instantaneous, precise and virtually inexhaustible: beams of electromagnetic energy. "Directed-energy" pulses can be throttled up or down depending on the situation, much like the phasers on "Star Trek" could be set to kill or merely stun.

Such weapons are now nearing fruition. But logistical issues have delayed their battlefield debut — even as soldiers in Iraq encounter tense urban situations in which the nonlethal capabilities of directed energy could be put to the test.    read more...