Monday Morning Joe: New VA leader, Tikrit turmoil, Blackwater threat, Army armored anger, Army blimp, Seinfeld turns 25 ...

By Northwest Military News Team on June 30, 2014

GRAB A CUP AND READ THE MORNING REPORT FOR 6.30.14 >>>

President Obama has picked an Army veteran and retired chief executive of Proctor & Gamble to head the embattled VA.

Iraqi troops battled to dislodge an al Qaeda splinter group from the city of Tikrit after its leader was declared caliph of a new Islamic state in lands seized this month across a swathe of Iraq and Syria. 

North Korea fired two short-range Scud missiles into its eastern waters Sunday.

The US Army is threatening to slash modernization funding for Stryker, Abrams and Bradley vehicles if the service is forced to halt a $10 billion program to replace thousands of M113 infantry carriers.

Magic Money: DoD's overseas contingency budget might dry up.

A State Department investigation of Blackwater's activities in Iraq was abandoned after the company's top manager there threatened "that he could kill" the chief U.S. investigator.

Sneak peak into Marines' quiet mission in Central America.

Marine corporal who disappeared nearly a decade ago and faces a desertion charge has turned himself in to the military.

Army's Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System blimp has been placed in a "strategic reserve."

The Navy is implementing specific design and engineering improvements to its Littoral Combat Ship.

Tactile belts let soldiers feel their way through the field.

The nearest Earth-like planet is only 16 light-years away from us.

A machine that can disintegrate any tree in seconds.

Disco Game of Thrones.

Chef Gordon Ramsay scares us.

New York magazine has a story about the 25th anniversary of Seinfeld.

Could Phil Collins be mulling a comeback?

Here's a great piece about one writer's cinematic road trip.

See Jack White cover Metallica's Enter Sandman.

Good News: What Sharknado 2 looks like ...

Finally: Weird things you can buy on Amazon.

RIP Bobby Womack ...

LINK: Original photo by Spc. Kimberly Trumbull