army

TWC Is Surprisingly Cool About Cutting Monthly Cable Bill
Reader Wonder_Kat is amazed at how TWC went out of its way to stop her from canceling cable service by letting her get it for only $15/month. More »

Delta Charging Returning U.S. Troops $2800 In Extra Baggage Fees Not Really A Big Deal
A video is burning up the interwebs where a couple of Army soldiers tell how Delta charged 14 guys in their unit $200 a pop for checking a fourth bag, running up $2800 in fees. The soldiers are upset because even though standard Delta policy is to allow the military up to three bags for free, their orders said they were allowed four bags. Now they have to submit receipts to get their fees waived. At first it sounds like a slap in the face but other soldiers have chimed to say it's really not the drama it's been made out to be and it happens all the time. More »

Fannie Mae Gives Wounded Soldiers A Break On Mortgages
Fannie Mae yesterday announced that military families with a member who was injured or killed while on active duty can apply for a forbearance of up to six months if they're having trouble making their mortgage payments. More »

Microsoft Wouldn't Sell Xboxes To U.S. Army
Wired reports that the U.S. Army was interested in purchasing a bunch of Xbox 360s to aid in training, but it was turned down flat by Microsoft. More »

At Ease, Facebook, Twitter: Soldiers Can Access You On Base Now — MySpace? Not So Much

—>The Army's network administrators have stopped blocking base access to social networking sites including Facebook, Twitter and Flickr, as well as personal e-mail accounts, Wired reports.  More »

Sallie Mae Has No Idea Where Your $1500 Is
Then I finished my enlistment, was honorably discharged, and waited for the last payment to come in. It was 4 months late and when it got there (mid-December), it looked like it was $1500 MORE than what was left owed on my account. I called the Army and they confirmed that they had payed the correct amount they owed me, taking interest into account. The overpayment belongs to me. Yay, more free money!  More »

Sprint Cancels Army Unit's Cellphones For Roaming Too Much

—>Sprint canceled the service of 200 Army men and women who had just come back from Iraq. For roaming too much. Because Sprint hadn't installed a tower close enough to their base. A little ol' backwoods place called West Point.  More »

So You've Decided To Join The Army Just To Cancel Your Cellphone

We've noted that one "tactic" to leave your cellphone is joining the armed services, and Davros, a former cellphone call rep sent in some rockets red glare to illuminate the particulars.  More »

Pith & Vinegar; Irony Available in 26 New Colors
• Digg users rush to fill AOL's Digg ripoff with stories about AOL's Digg ripoff, inadvertently swelling the member list AOL can tout to advertisers in the process. [Valleywag]  More »

Army Knowledge Online Addresses Veteran ID Theft

—>In addition to mass mailing a percentile point of rain forest to every veteran in America, the US Military's intranet site Army Knowledge Online posted a letter today warning all active soldiers that their identities were already threading through the Internet like tapeworms, just looking for a Russian hacker to attach themselves parasitically to. Or maybe it's vice versa.  More »

Why Doesn't the Military Sell Official Issue Clothing?

—>It is the season, or a little past, to purchase warm, blandly-designed cold weather gear. As we've shop for long underwear, pea coats, and arctic camo, we wondered: Why doesn't the U.S. Military have its own brand of clothing?  More »