Skip to content
DUFFEL BLOG

Free military brief. No CAC required.

For more than a decade, we've deployed pitch perfect satire to service members around the world.

Join thousands of troops, veterans, and defense insiders who read Duffel Blog before breakfast.

“A must-read for national security nerds.”

—The Daily Beast
Subscribe form

Free. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

14years publishing
4,200+dispatches filed
17,000+readers briefed

The Duffel Brief · the free edition, Monday, Wednesday and Friday

Vol. 15 · No. 132 · Wednesday, 4 November 2026

Pentagon

Pentagon confident U.S. will be ready for 2027 war with China by 2035

Officials cite historically proven American strategy of entering wars completely unprepared

Hegseth wears Eisenhower's globe as Halloween costume

Spirit Halloween store to become pop-up ICE detention center

Three editions a week, paid for by our subscribers

Vol. 15 · No. 132

Worldwide edition

Reader supported

Delivered 3× weekly

America's most trusted military news source

Duffel Blog

Established 2012 · Deployed worldwide

Vol. 15 · No. 132 · Deployed worldwide

Wednesday

4 November 2026

0105 Zulu

Next edition Friday

← Front page
Army · Page 4

Army investigating claims battalion fought war with deflated morale

Filed · 1539

FORT LEWIS, Wash. — The Army’s Inspector General is continuing to search for evidence surrounding allegations that the Second Battalion, Third Infantry Regiment, also known as the Patriots, was fighting with deflated morale, giving the unit an unfair disadvantage in combat.

The Patriots’ commander, Lt. Col. William Welichick, defended his team’s performance, claiming that they have fought this badly long before the accusations of low morale began. “We have always been the worst fighting force in the USA, but you know what they say: when you’re on bottom, everyone’s out to get you,” he said.

Nobel laureate Dr. Edgar Herbert has publicly called into question the science behind the investigation’s premise that low morale presents an unfair disadvantage at all. “The claim that fighting with deflated morale is a disadvantage is as illogical as playing with a flattened football. The science just doesn’t support either one,” Herbert argued.

Also on this page

Your Cart

Your cart is empty

Browse the shop to find something you like.

Continue Shopping →
Subtotal

Add more for free shipping.

✓ You qualify for free shipping!