Welcome to Our Brothers Across the Pond

Just a heads up to all out international readers here at Defense Tech...Monster.com (Military.com's parent company) just launched its new operation that givesmilitary folks in the United Kingdom a place to go along the lines of Military.com.

Monster is proud to announce the creation of HMForces.co.uk, a new online space designed exclusively for the UK military community to connect and develop their careers.

Do you need advice on landing a great civilian job once you leave the Forces? Curious if you’re claiming all the benefits you’re entitled to receive?

Or, just want to banter about which Service really works the hardest?

Check out our discussion forums, videos, benefits overview, plus much more, it’s clear – HMForces is going to be at ground zero for the military community to meet up and share.

However, since the site will always be a work in progress and as it is entirely about and for members of the Armed Forces – your feedback is crucial.

Please drop us a line if you have an idea for a new feature, want us to investigate something, or even if you’ve found a broken link.

We're proud to extend our services, news and member resources to a military community that has recently participated in a lot of U.S. operations and shares a close alliance with American forces.

I hope you all will take some time to check out the new site and feel free to throw some feedback our way on things you think could be improved.

-- Christian

I'm Buzzin'...Are You?

I know you all must have been wondering "who is this Colin Clark guy and what's he doing here?"

"Catch the Buzz?" what the heck does that mean. And on and on...

Well, folks, the day has come. Colin is a crack defense business reporter and editor who's been hired on by our parent site Military.com to lead a new online publication we've dubbed "DoD Buzz." The goal of the online defense and acquisition journal is to provide timely, need-to-know business intelligence for defense industry decision makers and experts. Colin's going to be tracking the defense industry, weapons contracts and the shifting sands of procurement policy to a degree seen only in the pricey "Insides" and "Defense News" broadsheet landscape.

But what Colin can bring to the space that the others can't is an editorial independence and enthusiasm lost with print pubs. You've already probably noticed the wry wit he brings to the copy he's posted on Defense Tech and Military.com. Well, now we're unleashing him on DoD Buzz to take it to the next level.

Since many of you are industry players and need the kind of intel Colin can bring to the table to help make better decisions in your world, I hope you'll make DoD Buzz a daily stop alongside Defense Tech. So put it in your favorites and "catch the buzz" of breaking news, cutting edge coverage and a good-hearted chuckle at this crazy world we call Pentagon procurement with Colin Clark and the kick-butt new site, "DoD Buzz."

-- Christian

Welcome Christian Lowe

While it's been a pleasure holding down the fort over the last few weeks, I'm very pleased to announce the arrival of Defense Tech's permanent editor, Christian Lowe. If you've followed military news over the last five years or so, Christian's name should be familiar.

Before joining us at Defense Tech, Christian was a senior writer for The Politico covering defense and national security issues after spending five years with the Military Times newspapers. Always running to the sound of gunfire, he has covered military operations worldwide, embedding with Army and Marine units in both Iraq and Afghanistan, observing detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay, covering humanitarian missions in Lebanon and New Orleans, participating in training exercises at military bases from California to Florida and reporting on military policy and budgets in the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill.

Christian traveled to Afghanistan in 2002 and 2004, spending time in Kabul, Khost and Kandahar chasing the bin Laden trail and scouring the countryside with U.S. forces for Taliban holdouts. He went to Iraq in June of 2003, living in downtown Baghdad and traveling throughout the south of the country for six weeks. Christian returned to Iraq in late 2005, spending a month in Ramadi during the December parliamentary elections and patrolling the streets of Hit in al Anbar province with the U.S. Marines during the new year.

In 2005, Christian was awarded the Associated Press Managing Editor's Association award for investigative journalism after exposing that the Marine Corps had fielded tens of thousands of body armor vests to troops in Iraq that had not passed quality assurance testing by government auditors. He was also part of an Emmy-nominated documentary team that followed a group of Marine Corps officers from their first days of officer training to the battlefields of Iraq.

Raised in Charlottesville, Va., and a graduate of the University of Virginia, Christian lives on Capitol Hill with his wife Catherine and his Jack Russell terriers Noor Whali and Banjo. When he's not sniffing around for the latest defense and military news, he likes to take advantage of any opportunity to slip out of town to go hunting, fishing or surfing.

Welcome, Christian. We're psyched to have you onboard.

-- Ward