Armed Forces Journal

File:Army-Navy-Journal-Vol-1-No-1.jpg

The publication was founded as The Army and Navy Journal and Gazette of the Regular and Volunteer Forces, a weekly newspaper printed in New York City. Its founders were brothers Francis Pharcellus Church and William Conant Church. William was a newspaperman and American Civil War veteran. In his youth, he had helped his father edit and publish the New York Chronicle; in 1860, aged 24, he became publisher of the New York Sun, and the following year, took a job as the Washington correspondent of The New York Times. In 1862, he was appointed a captain in the United States Volunteers; he served for one year, receiving brevets of major and lieutenant colonel.

Francis, who had covered the Civil War as a reporter for The New York Times, would go on to write for the Sun, where he penned one of the most famous editorials in American journalism: Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

The first issue was published on August 29, 1863,{{cite book|title=A History of American Magazines, 1850–1865 |volume=2 |last=Mott |first=Frank Luther |author-link= Frank Luther Mott |year=1938 |publisher=Harvard University Press |pages=39–40 |isbn=9780674395510 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lm7rSZ2BoK8C&pg=PA547 |access-date=September 4, 2011}} with this motto: "Established in obedience to an insistent demand for an official organ for members of the American Defense and those concerned with it." The paper included news of the Civil War, then in its third year, along with "important official reports, lists of promotions, discussions upon the various appliances and methods of war, editorial comments upon the various naval and military questions of the day, and a great mass of information for the use of professional and non-professional readers."{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1865/10/16/news/united-states-army-and-navy-journal-vol-2.html |title=UNITED STATES ARMY AND NAVY JOURNAL. Vol. 2 |date=October 16, 1865 |access-date=September 4, 2011 |newspaper=The New York Times |archive-date=May 30, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130530091535/http://www.nytimes.com/1865/10/16/news/united-states-army-and-navy-journal-vol-2.html |url-status=live }} A single copy cost 10 cents; an annual subscription was five dollars.

Two years later, The New York Times noted the publication of the second annual bound volume of the newspaper's issues. "The proprietors of the Army and Navy Journal, in commencing the publication of their paper two years ago, sought to supply what hitherto we had been without – an organ devoted to the military and naval history and organizations of the United States. That they have fully succeeded, the great mass of material in the volume before us amply proves."

In the decade after the war, the Army and Navy Journal played a role in the increasing professionalization of the U.S. military. It was not a professional journal like several others that appeared after the war, but "...along with its social and other items about service personnel it carried articles, correspondence, and news of interest to military people that helped bind its readers together in a common professional fraternity."{{cite book |title=American Military History, Vol. 1: The United States Army and the Forging of a Nation, 1775–1917 |editor-last=Stewart |editor-first=Richard W. |year=2005 |publisher=Center of Military History |location=Washington, D.C. |page=311 |url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/AMH-V1/ch13.htm |access-date=September 4, 2011 |archive-date=November 12, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111112043553/http://www.history.army.mil/books/amh-v1/ch13.htm |url-status=dead }}

William Church would go on to help found the National Rifle Association of America in 1871;{{cite magazine |author1=Lily Rothman |title=The Original Reason the NRA Was Founded |url=https://time.com/4106381/nra-1871-history/ |magazine=Time |publisher=Time USA |access-date=9 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151118201655/https://time.com/4106381/nra-1871-history/ |archive-date=November 18, 2015 |language=English |date=November 17, 2015 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |author1=Mark A. Keefe |title=The Birth of the NRA: Wingate, Church & The Leech Cup |url=https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/the-birth-of-the-nra-wingate-church-the-leech-cup/ |website=American Rifleman |publisher=National Rifle Association of America |access-date=9 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210725230001/https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/the-birth-of-the-nra-wingate-church-the-leech-cup/ |archive-date=July 25, 2021 |language=English |date=February 25, 2021 |url-status=live}} he and his newspaper remained fixtures in the political firmament for decades.

From 1894–95, the newspaper's naval editor was Winston Churchill — not the future British prime minister, but rather a recent graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy who had organized the first 8-man rowing squad there and who would go on to a celebrated career as a novelist.{{Cite EB1922|wstitle=Churchill, Winston}}

On January 19, 1903, William Church was the guest of honor at a dinner at Delmonico's restaurant in New York. Speakers at the dinner included Gen. Adna Chaffee, soon to become Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, and New York mayor Seth Low; letters of regret were read from President Theodore Roosevelt, Navy Secretary William Henry Moody, Secretary of State John Hay, and financier J. Pierpont Morgan.{{cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1903/01/20/101966888.pdf |title=Dinner to Col. Church |date=January 20, 1903 |access-date=September 4, 2011 |newspaper=The New York Times |archive-date=January 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220122010013/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1903/01/20/101966888.pdf |url-status=live }}

After William Church died in 1917, the editorship was taken up for a few years by Willard Church.Willard was apparently William's son, and the namesake of William's father: {{cite web |url=http://www.marktwainproject.org/xtf/view?docId=letters/UCCL00422.xml&brand=mtp&style=letter |title=Letter: Samuel L. Clemens to Francis P. Church |date=9 Feb 1870 |last=Clemens |first=Samuel L. |website=Mark Twain Papers |access-date=25 April 2019 |via=California Digital Library |archive-date=13 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313032645/http://www.marktwainproject.org/xtf/view?brand=mtp&docid=letters/uccl00422.xml&style=letter |url-status=live }}

1921 brought a new publisher, Franklin Coe, and a new editor, retired Brig. Gen. Henry J. Reilly. Reilly was a West Point graduate who had commanded an artillery regiment in France during World War I,{{cite book |title= Under Siege: Portraits Of Civilian Life In France During World War I|last= Young|first=Robert J. |year=2000 |publisher=Berghahn Books |page= 179 |isbn= 9781571811325|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=620pDL19VrIC&pg=PA179 |access-date=September 9, 2011}} and who would go on to co-found and lead the Reserve Officers Association. The name of the newspaper changed as well, achieving its all-time longest length as The American Army and Navy Journal, and Gazette of the Regular, National Guard and Reserve Forces.{{cite web |title=Bon Secours Community Hospital collection |publisher=Southeastern NY Library Resources Council |url=http://bsch.koha.senylrc.org/cgi-bin/koha/opac-ISBDdetail.pl?biblionumber=135865 |access-date=Sep 10, 2011 }}{{Dead link|date=May 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

In 1922, a year's subscription was still $6, unchanged in more than half a century. Circulation was 20,293 and the home office was located at 20 Vesey Street in New York.{{cite web |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc9266/m1/42/ |title=N. W. Ayer & Son's American Newspaper Annual and Directory: A Catalogue of American Newspapers |volume=2 |publisher=University of North Texas |work=UNT Digital Library |year=1922 |access-date=September 5, 2012 |pages=674 |archive-date=December 19, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219183404/http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc9266/m1/42/ |url-status=live }} That same year, the paper absorbed National Service, the official publication of the Military Training Camps Association.{{cite news |url=http://fultonhistory.com/newspaper%202/Clyde%20NY%20Herald/Clyde%20NY%20Herald%201922-1924.pdf/Clyde%20NY%20Herald%201922-1924%20-%200255.pdf |title=Plans for the "Next War" |access-date=September 10, 2011 |year=1922 |newspaper=Clyde (N.Y.) Herald |archive-date=April 30, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120430095752/http://fultonhistory.com/newspaper%202/Clyde%20NY%20Herald/Clyde%20NY%20Herald%201922-1924.pdf/Clyde%20NY%20Herald%201922-1924%20-%200255.pdf |url-status=live }}

Through the years, the newspaper and its parent company published several books. Perhaps the earliest was "The Eclipse of American Sea Power" by Captain Dudley W. Knox, then the newspaper's naval correspondent (1920–23) and ultimately one of the most influential historians to wear a U.S. Navy uniform.{{cite web |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/bios/knox_d.htm |title=Commodore Dudley Wright Knox, U.S. Navy 21 January 1877 - 11 June 1960 |publisher=Naval History & Heritage Command |work=Biographies in Naval History |date=11 May 2011 |access-date=September 5, 2012 |archive-date=12 December 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121212213726/http://www.history.navy.mil/bios/knox_d.htm |url-status=dead }} The book, Knox's first, was published in 1922 by J.J. Little & Ives Co. under the copyright of The American Army & Navy Journal Inc.{{cite book|title=The Eclipse of American Sea Power |publisher=J.J. Little & Ives Co. |last=Knox |first=Dudley |author-link=Dudley Wright Knox |year=1922 |location=New York City |pages=170 |isbn=978-1148983004 |url=https://archive.org/details/eclipseamerican00knoxgoog}}

In 1924, the newspaper's name was truncated to simply The Army and Navy Journal.

In 1925, the newspaper was purchased by John Callan O'Laughlin, a former Associated Press reporter who served during World War I as a major in the U.S. Army's Quartermaster Corps. He was an intimate of Roosevelt's, having worked as a go-between with the Russians in arranging the Russo-Japanese peaces, and later serving briefly as the president's first assistant secretary of state.{{cite news|title=The Press: Unofficial but Authoritative |newspaper=Time |date=January 22, 1945 |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,791956,00.html#ixzz1X2yeF9At |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100706090612/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,791956,00.html#ixzz1X2yeF9At |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 6, 2010 |access-date=September 4, 2011}}

O'Laughlin installed himself as editor and publisher, and changed the newspaper's name to the Army and Navy Journal; The Gazette of the Land, Sea, and Air. Five years later, O'Laughlin appointed LeRoy Whitman as editor.

In 1933, the newspaper changed format, from a broadsheet to a smaller tabloid.{{cite web |title=Journal Titles at CARL |publisher=U.S. Army Combined Arms Research Library |date=June 4, 2008 |url=http://www.carl.army.mil/resources/periodical/SERIALSRPT.pdf |access-date=September 11, 2011 }}{{dead link|date=April 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} Its offices were then located at 1701 Connecticut Avenue NW in Washington, D.C.{{cite book |title=Gold Medal CCC Company 1538: A Documentary |last=Smith |first=Kathy Mays |year=2001 |publisher=Turner Publishing Company |pages=127–129 |isbn=9781563116421 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zztYxd5DT1gC&dq=john%20callan%20o'laughlin%20army%20navy%20journal&pg=PA127 |access-date=September 4, 2011}}

O'Laughlin wrote to Gen. Douglas MacArthur, then the Army chief of staff and acting Secretary of War, offering to have his newspaper make and award medals for the best-run camps of the Civilian Conservation Corps. MacArthur accepted the offer, writing back, "In accepting your generous offer permit me to express my appreciation of the cooperative attitude that has always characterized your contacts with the War Department."

By 1938, when the magazine celebrated its 75th anniversary, it had added a motto: "Spokesman of the Services Since 1863".{{cite web|author=reillyc |title=History Office Digitizes Army and Navy Journal |publisher=U.S. Army CECOM | date=June 11, 2010 |url=http://cecomhistorian.armylive.dodlive.mil/2010/06/11/army-navy-journal/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150920103950/http://cecomhistorian.armylive.dodlive.mil/2010/06/11/army-navy-journal/ |archive-date=20 September 2015}}

In January 1945, Time magazine decided to take the "jovial, rosy-cheeked" O'Laughlin and his newspaper down a peg. Soviet state-controlled press had recently decried the Journal's call for Moscow to establish a second front against Nazi Germany in Poland. "All this attention from Russia was due not to the Army & Navy Journal's circulation (27,568 weekly) but to its reputation as an 'unofficial but authoritative' spokesman for the U.S. Army & Navy. The Journal itself likes to foster this impression... Actually, the Journal is not in the least official. Nor is it always authoritative." O'Laughlin, the newsweekly sniffed, "still does much of its leg work. He has five assistants, only one of whom (a former chaplain) has a military background."

In March 1949, O'Laughlin died with no immediate survivors. A member of the Gridiron Club, he bequeathed the Journal to the organization, a club for journalists in Washington, D.C.{{cite news|title=Army and Navy Journal Bequeathed By Col. O'Laughlin to Gridiron Club; Correspondents' Organization Will Vote on Accepting Trust – Proceeds Would Go to Charity, Journalistic Education|newspaper=The New York Times|date=March 19, 1949|url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00817F73B5A157B93CBA81788D85F4D8485F9|access-date=June 18, 2012|archive-date=May 30, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130530091732/http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00817F73B5A157B93CBA81788D85F4D8485F9|url-status=live}} News reports valued the publication, "regarded almost as an official organ of the armed forces", at $500,000 (${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|.5|1949|r=1}}}} million today{{Inflation-fn|US}}).{{cite news |title=Military Paper Willed to Club |newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=March 19, 1949 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19490319&id=t3gbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Y00EAAAAIBAJ&pg=3532,1542148 |agency=Chicago Daily News Service |access-date=25 April 2019 |archive-date=28 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221128182408/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19490319&id=t3gbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Y00EAAAAIBAJ&pg=3532,1542148 |url-status=live }} But the bequest, made in the form of a trust to be administered by the club, created a conundrum for the social organization. As one newspaper reported, "Publishing magazines is completely out of the club's line."{{cite news |title=When Public Officials Sizzle |first=Lawrence |last=Eklund |newspaper=Milwaukee Journal |date=April 8, 1949 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19490408&id=V_UZAAAAIBAJ&sjid=sCMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4586,5533161 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130124184532/http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19490408&id=V_UZAAAAIBAJ&sjid=sCMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4586,5533161 |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 24, 2013 |access-date=June 18, 2012 }}

On May 13, 1950, the name changed to The Army, Navy, Air Force Journal.

In March 1958, the trustees of O'Laughlin's Gridiron Club trust sold the Journal to its long-time editor, LeRoy Whitman, and its general manager, Dorothy Cone Brown.{{cite news |title= MILITARY JOURNAL SOLD; Editor and General Manager Buy It From Trustees |newspaper= The New York Times |date= March 29, 1958 |url= http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0614FB3D59107B93CBAB1788D85F4C8585F9 |access-date= June 18, 2012 |archive-date= May 30, 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130530093801/http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0614FB3D59107B93CBAB1788D85F4C8585F9 |url-status= live }}

On January 4, 1962, the publication was sold to the Military Service Publishing Company of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.{{cite news |title=SERVICE JOURNAL SOLD; Weekly Dating to Civil War to Keep Top Officials |newspaper=The New York Times |date=January 5, 1962 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1962/01/05/archives/service-journal-sold-weekly-dating-to-civil-war-to-keep-top.html |access-date=June 18, 2012 |archive-date=July 23, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180723182640/https://www.nytimes.com/1962/01/05/archives/service-journal-sold-weekly-dating-to-civil-war-to-keep-top.html |url-status=live }}

In 1962, the Journal absorbed The Army-Navy-Air Force Register. One of the oldest military-themed publications, the Register was first published December 13, 1879, as The Army and Navy Register.{{cite web |url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/17112041?q=subject%3A%22united+states.+army.+reserve+officers%27+training+corps%22&c=article&versionId=20073780 |title=ROTC Journal |website=National Library of Australia |access-date=25 April 2019 |archive-date=15 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170915023903/http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/17112041?q=subject%3A%22united+states.+army.+reserve+officers%27+training+corps%22&c=article&versionId=20073780 |url-status=live }} In October 1956, the Register had absorbed The ROTC Journal, a 10-issue-per-year magazine founded in 1949 and published in Brookhaven, Georgia. On March 17, the merged publication was renamed The Army-Navy-Air Force Journal & Register.

That name lasted two years. Starting with the issue of July 8, 1964, the magazine was renamed The Journal of the Armed Forces.

In January 1965, LeRoy Whitman stepped down after 35 years as editor. His successor was Daniel Z. Henkin, who had joined the staff in 1948 as assistant editor. Henkin left after just nine months to become the director of operations for the Pentagon's press office.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/04/09/obituaries/daniel-z-henkin-top-press-aide-for-pentagon-in-the-vietnam-era.html |title=DANIEL Z. HENKIN, TOP PRESS AIDE FOR PENTAGON IN THE VIETNAM ERA |date=April 9, 1987 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=September 3, 2013 |last=Halloran |first=Richard |archive-date=May 19, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150519030033/http://www.nytimes.com/1987/04/09/obituaries/daniel-z-henkin-top-press-aide-for-pentagon-in-the-vietnam-era.html |url-status=live }}

From 1963 to 1967, the publisher was James A. Donovan, a retired Marine Corps colonel.

By the late 1960s, the newspaper was known and read mostly for its social news of the U.S. officer corps. That changed in 1968, when it was purchased by Benjamin F. Schemmer. A 1954 graduate of West Point, Schemmer had served five years as an infantry officer, worked for Boeing until 1965, then become the director of land force weapon systems in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Systems Analysis).{{cite news|title= Profiles in Influence; A Pentagon Chronicler Who Won't Cheerlead |first=David C. |last=Morrison |newspaper=National Journal |date=June 14, 1986}} On July 6, 1968, Schemmer renamed the publication Armed Forces Journal and turned it into a weekly magazine with a new focus: in-depth analytical coverage of defense issues. It also received a new subhead: "Defense Weekly" replaced "Spokesman of the Services Since 1863". In August 1971, the weekly became a monthly.{{cite book|editor1-first= Jerold E. |editor1-last= Brown |title= Historical Dictionary of the U.S. Army |year= 2001 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ygqNt3ra-vYC&pg=PA30 |access-date=25 April 2019 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |page=30|isbn= 9780313293221 }} In February 1974, Schemmer added a word to the title, dubbing the publication Armed Forces Journal International.{{cite web |title=United States Naval History: Periodicals |publisher=The Patriot Files |url=http://www.patriotfiles.com/index.php?name=Sections&req=viewarticle&artid=902&page=1 |access-date=25 April 2019 |archive-date=22 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210922060537/http://www.patriotfiles.com/index.php?name=Sections&req=viewarticle&artid=902&page=1 |url-status=live }}

LuAnne K. Levens, Schemmer's second wife, became publisher in 1977.{{cite news|title=Style: Magazine: Inflation, Even In the 'Big House' |first=Kenneth |last=Turan |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=December 1, 1977}}

Noted defense expert Anthony Cordesman served as AFJ's international editor until about April 1984.The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, May 22, 1984. Transcript accessed July 17, 2012, via Lexis/Nexis.

In March 1988, Schemmer and Levens sold AFJI to Pergamon-Brassey's Defense Publishers of Greenwich, Connecticut,{{cite news|title=Armed Forces Publication Is Purchased |newspaper=The Washington Post |date= April 11, 1988}} a U.S. subsidiary of Britain's Maxwell Communications.{{cite news|title=Washington's Movers and Shakers |first=David L. |last=Wilson |newspaper=National Journal |date=December 10, 1988}} Various newspapers reported the magazine's circulation at that time as about 42,500{{cite news|title=Military Magazine Bought |newspaper= Chicago Tribune |date=April 2, 1988}} or 45,000, with about half paid and half sent free to key leaders. "The publication covers the international defense arena, weapons and research, electronics, the Soviet military and military issues in Congress, the Pentagon and the White House," The Washington Post said. Schemmer, who stayed on as editor, said the larger company had first approached him about five years previously, and that he and Levens had finally sold because they believed Maxwell offered "enormous possibilities for international expansion."

Schemmer resigned in 1992, citing health reasons.{{cite news|title=Obituary: Benjamin F. Schemmer, military editor, 71 |newspaper=The Washington Times |date=October 23, 2003}}

Next to occupy the editor's chair was John Roos, a retired major with 21 years of service in the U.S. Army.{{cite news|title=Washington's Movers and Shakers|first=Eliza Newlin |last=Carley |newspaper=National Journal |date=October 3, 1992}}

In 1993, the magazine was purchased by Donald Fruehling, who had run the U.S. division of Maxwell Communications when it acquired AFJI, and his wife Gudrun. Maxwell Communications had gone bankrupt and was broken up.{{cite news|title=For The Record: Ex-AFJ Editor Schemmer Dies |newspaper=Defense News |date=October 20, 2003}}

In September 2002, Armed Forces Journal International Publishing Co. was purchased by Army Times Publishing Company, a division of Gannett. An Associated Press report described AFJ as a magazine that "gives military officers analysis, insight and commentary on the latest technological and strategic developments."{{cite news |title= Army Times Publishing Co. buys McLean company|newspaper= Associated Press |date= September 16, 2002}}

In November 2005, Thomas Donnelly became editor.{{cite news|url=http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2005/11/1164796/|title=Echoes of 1863|last=Thomas|first=Donnelly|date=November 2005|newspaper=Armed Forces Journal|access-date=September 5, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325055558/http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2005/11/1164796/|archive-date=March 25, 2012|author-link=Thomas Donnelly (writer)}}

Eleven months later, Karen Walker, formerly managing editor, replaced Donnelly as editor.{{cite news|url=http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2006/10/2096424/|title=In This Issue|last=Walker|first=Karen|date=October 2006|newspaper=Armed Forces Journal|access-date=September 14, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325055606/http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2006/10/2096424/|archive-date=March 25, 2012}} In April 2007, AFJ published "A Failure in Generalship" by Army Col. Paul Yingling.{{cite journal |last=Yingling |first=Paul |date=27 April 2007 |title=A Failure of Generalship |url=http://armedforcesjournal.com/a-failure-in-generalship/ |journal=Armed Forces Journal |access-date=21 February 2024 |archive-date=21 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240221152940/http://armedforcesjournal.com/a-failure-in-generalship/ |url-status=live }} The Washington Post described it as "a blistering attack on U.S. generals" and a signal of the "public emergence of a split inside the military between younger, mid-career officers and the top brass".{{cite news |last=Ricks |first=Thomas E. |date=27 April 2007 |title=Army Officer Accuses Generals of 'Intellectual and Moral Failures' |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042602230.html |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=21 February 2024 |archive-date=22 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622125321/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042602230.html |url-status=live }} In the article, Yingling argues that the U.S. general corps needs to be overhauled because it failed to anticipate the post-invasion insurgency in Iraq, and because of its reluctance to admit the onset of such an insurgency in 2004.[http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-04-27-voa26.cfm "US Military Says 3 Marines Killed in Anbar Province"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211122154035/https://www.voanews.com/english/2007-04-27-voa26.cfm |date=2021-11-22 }}, Voice of America News, 27 April 2007. The article drew national media coverage{{Cite news |last=Kaplan |first=Fred |date=2007-08-26 |title=Challenging the Generals |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/26/magazine/26military-t.html |access-date=2024-02-21 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=2021-03-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210314150709/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/26/magazine/26military-t.html |url-status=live }} and would go on to be widely cited in military and academic writing.{{Cite web |date=2017-06-07 |title=Generals Need Checks and Balances Too |url=https://www.ausa.org/articles/generals-need-checks-and-balances-too |access-date=2024-02-21 |website=AUSA |language=en |archive-date=2024-02-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240221152419/https://www.ausa.org/articles/generals-need-checks-and-balances-too |url-status=live }} Journalist Peter Maass called Yingling "perhaps the most respected military dissenter of his generation".{{Cite web |last=Maass |first=Peter |date=November 1, 2018 |title=Tweet |url=https://twitter.com/maassp/status/1058131301998489600 |website=Twitter}}

In 2011, Bradley Peniston took over as editor.{{cite news|url=http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2011/10/7701429/|title=In This Issue|last=Peniston|first=Bradley|date=October 2011|newspaper=Armed Forces Journal|access-date=June 26, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120407013808/http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2011/10/7701429/|archive-date=April 7, 2012}} The following year, the publication was named one of the country's top-10 magazines with under $2 million in annual revenue by the American Society of Business Publication Editors.{{cite web|url=http://www.asbpe.org/blog/2012/09/18/asbpe-announces-northeast-region-award-winners/ |title=ASBPE announces national, regional Azbee Award winners |publisher=American Society of Business Publication Editors |date=September 18, 2012 |access-date=April 10, 2016 |author=ASBPE Staff}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.asbpe.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/2012-ASBPE-National-Awards-Final.pdf|title=2012 ASBPE Awards of Excellence Azbee Awards – National|access-date=2019-04-01|archive-date=2012-09-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120907034429/http://www.asbpe.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/2012-ASBPE-National-Awards-Final.pdf|url-status=live}} In February 2012, it published "Truth, Lies, and Afghanistan: How Military Leaders Have Let Us Down”{{Cite web |last=Davis |first=Daniel L. |date=2013-06-15 |title=Truth, Lies and Afghanistan: How Military Leaders Have Let Us Down. |url=http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2012/02/8904030/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615104153/http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2012/02/8904030/ |archive-date=June 15, 2013 |access-date=2024-02-21 |website=Armed Forces Journal}} by Army Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis, one of the first public criticisms of the War in Afghanistan by a serving military officer. The article drew praise from several U.S. lawmakers{{Cite news |last=Shane |first=Scott |date=2012-02-05 |title=In Afghan War, Officer Becomes a Whistle-Blower |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/06/world/asia/army-colonel-challenges-pentagons-afghanistan-claims.html |access-date=2024-02-21 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=2024-01-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240127172143/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/06/world/asia/army-colonel-challenges-pentagons-afghanistan-claims.html |url-status=live }} and won Davis the 2012 Ridenhour Prize for Truth-Telling.{{Cite web |date=2019-09-10 |title=2012 Ridenhour Prize for Truth-Telling |url=http://www.ridenhour.org/prizes_truth-telling_2012a.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190910033825/http://www.ridenhour.org/prizes_truth-telling_2012a.html |archive-date=September 10, 2019 |access-date=2024-02-21 |website=The Ridenhour Prizes}} It drew national press coverage, including by the New York Times, Time,{{Cite magazine |last=Thompson |first=Mark |date=2012-02-06 |title="Truth, Lies and Afghanistan" |url=https://nation.time.com/2012/02/06/truth-lies-and-afghanistan/ |access-date=2024-02-21 |magazine=Time |language=en-US |issn=0040-781X |archive-date=2024-02-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240221150931/https://nation.time.com/2012/02/06/truth-lies-and-afghanistan/ |url-status=live }} and NPR.{{Cite news |date=February 9, 2012 |title=What's The Truth About The War In Afghanistan? |url=https://www.npr.org/2012/02/09/146649881/whats-the-truth-about-the-war-in-afghanistan |work=NPR |access-date=February 21, 2024 |archive-date=February 21, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240221150957/https://www.npr.org/2012/02/09/146649881/whats-the-truth-about-the-war-in-afghanistan |url-status=live }}

In 2013, Armed Forces Journal marked its 150th birthday. It also announced plans to cease print publication and become an online-only title.{{Cite news |last=Peniston |first=Bradley |title=Editor's note: The next 150 years |work=Armed Forces Journal |access-date=2014-08-11 |date=2013-08-01 |url=http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/editors-note-the-next-150-years-3/ |archive-date=2015-05-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518091100/http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/editors-note-the-next-150-years-3/ |url-status=live }}

AFJ last published on April 29, 2014, under publisher Elaine Donnelly.{{cite web|url=http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/book-excerpt-f-i-r-e/ |title=Book excerpt: "F.I.R.E." |publisher=Armed Forces Journal |date=April 29, 2014 |access-date=March 22, 2016 |last=Ward |first=Dan |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141130095110/http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/book-excerpt-f-i-r-e/ |archive-date=November 30, 2014}} The website disappeared in mid-2015{{citation needed|date=March 2025}} but was restored, without update, in January 2016.{{cite web|url=http://armedforcesjournal.com/ |title=1930: In case you missed it |publisher=Internet Archive |work=Armed Forces Journal |date=August 9, 2014 |access-date=July 22, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160125041608/http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/ |archive-date=January 25, 2016}}

In 2015, Gannett spun off AFJ and the other former Army Times Publishing Company publications to Tegna. In March 2016, Tegna sold the renamed Sightline Media Group to Regent, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm controlled by investor Michael Reinstein.{{cite web |date=January 8, 2019 |title=Global Private Equity Firm Regent Announces Launch of ARCHETYPE – Multi-Platform Media Accelerator Aimed to Transform Legacy Publication Brands |url=https://www.prweb.com/releases/global-private-equity-firm-regent-announces-launch-of-archetype-multi-platform-media-accelerator-aimed-to-transform-legacy-publication-brands--822320565.html |website=Cision PR Web |access-date=July 8, 2023 |archive-date=February 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205042157/https://www.prweb.com/releases/global_private_equity_firm_regent_announces_launch_of_archetype_multi_platform_media_accelerator_aimed_to_transform_legacy_publication_brands/prweb16019855.htm |url-status=live }}

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/ Official website]
• [http://armedforcesjournal.com/from-the-archives/ Official archives]
• [https://books.google.com/books?id=3x4_AQAAMAAJ&dq=Army+and+Navy+Journal+Volume+1&pg=PA8 The Army and Navy Journal and gazette of the Regular and Volunteer Forces, Vol. 1: 1864-65]
• [https://books.google.com/books?id=7KNMAAAAYAAJ&dq=army%20navy%20journal&pg=PA3 The Army and Navy Journal and Gazette of the Regular and Volunteer Forces, Vol. 3: 1865–66]
• [https://books.google.com/books?id=yPI-AQAAMAAJ&dq=army+navy+journal+Vol+II&pg=PA912 The Army and Navy Journal and gazette of the Regular and Volunteer Forces, Vol. XXXIII: 1895-1896]

{{GannettGovernment}}

Category:Gannett publications

Category:Newspapers established in 1863

Category:Defunct newspapers published in Virginia

Category:Magazines disestablished in 2014

Category:Military magazines published in the United States