"Well, I've been in (law enforcement) for over 20 years, and it seems like within the last five to 10 years they have gotten really, really creative in how they bring their drugs across, " said Andy Adame, special operations supervisor for the Joint Field Command Arizona of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

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Commanders in the field like the top officers in Central Command and Iraq, Generals John Abizaid and George Casey, respectively, have consistently argued in public against further expanding the American footprint in the theater.

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The incentive packages, Fenley says, give special operations command some assurance that it will have experienced personnel in the field for the immediate future.

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This month's more significant news, he argues, was the announcement that the U.S. military's Cyber Command (founded in 2009) would for the first time develop and field 13 offensive cyber-warfare teams.

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"The RSEP program is a key initiative in the Marine Corps' expeditionary power systems portfolio for advanced power sources that embrace renewable energy systems as a means to reduce fossil fuel requirements, " said Mike Gallagher, program manager for expeditionary power systems at Marine Corps Systems Command, which will work with ONR to transition the technology to the field.

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The soldier was taken to a field hospital, but the wounds were not considered life-threatening, according to Central Command.

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