One skeptical soldier from the Big Red One told a reporter that he didn't expect the new approach to work.

NPR: 'Gamble' Author: Iraq War Only Halfway Over

In "The Big Red One, " a film about the 1st Infantry Division in which he served, Mr. Fuller recreated a scene that he captured during his unit's counteroffensive in Germany in the spring of in 1945.

WSJ: Filmmakers Went to War and Showed the World

That year the firm suffered big bond-trading losses that landed it in the red for one quarter.

FORBES: Merrill Lynch's Mysterious Connection To Lehman's Cooked Books

Yet the binds of red tape are one big reason these businesses, from furniture makers in Kalimantan to food producers in Java, fail to live up to their potential.

CNN: Big Little Problems

All in all, a surprising set of announcements for Big Red -- in one fell swoop, it's gone from the most locked-down carrier being at least on par with the GSM networks, and potentially even more flexible if these pricing plans actually pan out.

ENGADGET: Verizon opens up about "Any Apps, Any Device" Mobile

Some Big Ten veterans say the mass slowdown coincided with one seminal event: the arrival of a certain red-sweatered fellow in Bloomington, Ind.

WSJ: Big Ten Basketball: Grueling Display of Bumping, Bashing