Soldiers who shoot, move, and communicate in their everyday jobs may soon have to run, throw and jump farther than soldiers who don’t. Congress approved rules this week that may soon require the Army to hold soldiers in combat arms positions to ...
Marine Corps Mom Among Those Killed in Texas School Shooting
Marines around the country have reacted to the death of a Marine's parents in Uvalde, Texas, with shock and generosity. Fourth-grade teacher and Marine mom Irma Garcia was killed on Tuesday, May 24, at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, leaving ...
In Buffalo, an Activist Promotes Community and Gun Safety: ‘We Have To Protect Ourselves’
Within hours of a white gunman killing 10 Black people at a Tops grocery store just a few minutes' walk from Alexander Wright’s Buffalo home, Wright posted on his Facebook page that he would pay the entrance fee for 10 people to attend a gun safety ...
Pararescueman Awarded Silver Star 5 Years After Yemen Battle
Ambushed on a secret 2017 night raid, an Air Force pararescueman dragged a grievously injured teammate down a mountain and, realizing the man had suffered facial trauma severe enough to close his airway, sliced his teammate’s neck open to allow him ...
Lawsuit Alleges Secretary of the Air Force Told Commanders To Reject Religious Exemptions
A federal lawsuit alleges that the secretary of the Air Force ordered junior personnel out of a conference room last October in order to tell the service's senior leaders — including many of the top generals in the Air Force and Space Force — that ...
Naval Special Warfare Sailor Dies After Helicopter Landing Incident
A Naval Special Warfare sailor died Monday, May 9, from injuries sustained several days earlier during training at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story in Virginia. The sailor, whose name is being withheld from the public for 24 hours ...
After Deployment, Fort Calhoun Welcomes Principal and 1st Sergeant Home
Drew Wagner has two jobs. In one of them, he has to keep a lot of young Midwestern kids focused on daily work routines, good eating habits, and not getting in fights. The other job is being principal of a Nebraska elementary school. As first ...
Marine Veteran Jailed in Russian ‘Gulag’ Free After Prisoner Swap
In a surprise deal, a Marine who had spent nearly 1,000 days as prisoner in a Russian jail on charges US officials have called “laughable” was released Wednesday, April 27, in a swap for a Russian citizen. Trevor Reed, who is now 30, served as a ...
New Army Pregnancy Rules Cover Miscarriages, Other Maternity Issues
After a grassroots push, the Army announced major changes to its pregnancy and paternity rules Thursday, April 21. The changes were inspired by grassroots advocates, officials said, as women discussed the difficulties of sharing military duties with ...
Supreme Court Denies Request of Air Force Officer Who Told His Commander ‘Nuts’
The Supreme Court handed a second straight defeat to a military member seeking relief from the Pentagon’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, turning away an appeal by an Air Force Reserve lieutenant colonel who, when ordered to get vaccinated, sent a memo to ...
TRICARE Autism Post Raises Ire of Military Parents
On April 8, the Facebook page for TRICARE, the government health care program that provides medical insurance for military service members and retirees, posted a message regarding April’s status as a month for awareness and acceptance of autistic ...
Possible War Crimes Surface in Bucha as Russia Withdraws From Kyiv Area
In the town of Bucha, Ukraine, approximately 150 corpses lie in a mass grave near the Church of St. Andrew and Pyervozvannoho All Saints. "There were too many dead people, and there was no way to properly bury them because getting to the cemetery ...
Did Ukrainian Helicopters Strike Inside Russia? Ukraine Says No
Did Ukrainian forces pull off a daring aerial strike deep in Russian territory, a strike that at least some analysts have compared to the United States’ Doolittle Raid in World War II? Russian authorities say yes, reporting that a pre-dawn raid by ...
Did Someone Try To Poison Ukrainian Peace Negotiators and a Russian Oligarch?
Three people who attended the peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in early March fell ill with symptoms consistent with poisoning in the hours after a meeting in Kyiv. Among them was Russian billionaire oligarch Roman Abramovich, who lost his ...
Supreme Court Rules Against Navy SEALs on Vaccine Mandate Affecting Duty Status
The Supreme Court ruled Friday, March 25, that the Navy had the right to refuse to deploy a group of 26 Navy SEALs and nine other special operators who had not received a COVID-19 vaccine. The ruling reverses a court order the SEALs won in January in ...
Back to the Office, Pentagon Tells Remote Workers
After two years of telework in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of civilian employees at the Department of Defense could be heading back to the office within the next few months. Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks released ...
A Navy Destroyer Is Stuck in Port While Its CO Sues Over COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate
With the deployment of a Navy destroyer hanging in the balance, lawyers representing a number of religious objectors to the military’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates returned to federal court Thursday, March 10, to determine whether a Navy commander and a ...
Meet the New Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy
The Navy named a career boatswain’s mate as the service’s most senior chief. Fleet Master Chief James Honea will become the 16th master chief petty officer of the Navy on Sept. 8. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday announced Honea’s ...
Here’s What We Know About All the US and NATO Weapons Headed to Ukraine
Ukraine won’t be getting any replacement MiGs any time soon, but the list of other weapons headed to the besieged nation continues to grow. Western nations, including the US and much of NATO, have pledged more than 20,000 anti-tank missiles and ...
DOD To Close Hawaii’s Red Hill Fuel Facility After Contaminated Water Crisis
The Department of Defense will permanently close the Red Hill fuel storage facility that leaked petroleum into Pearl Harbor’s drinking water in Hawaii, but the process might not be done until the spring of 2023. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ...
F-35 From Fiery Carrier Crash Recovered in South China Sea
The Navy has recovered an F-35 that crashed off the deck of the USS Carl Vinson into the South China Sea after a fiery missed landing in January. According to a Thursday, March 3, statement from the US 7th Fleet, the commercial deep-diving and ...
Seize the Yachts: 5 of Putin’s Oligarchs’ Gaudiest, Glitziest Superyachts
When Taras Ostapchuk, a Ukrainian sailor, partially sunk Russian oligarch Alexander Mikheev’s huge superyacht Saturday, Feb. 26, he had no regrets. “I said to myself: why do I need a job if I don't have my country?” he told Ultima Hora after a ...
Navy Must Review Thousands of Bad Paper Discharges for Sailors and Marines
Thousands of US Navy and Marine Corps veterans will have their general and other-than-honorable discharges reviewed following a settlement agreement announced Tuesday, Feb. 15, in a class-action lawsuit. The suit, Manker v. Del Toro, stemmed from ...
Military Medical Malpractice Claims Hang in Limbo Despite New Law
Master Sgt. Richard Stayskal has spent 20 years in the military, much of that time as a Green Beret, fighting for his country. For the past five years, he has been fighting for the military to finally pay him for the alleged medical malpractice he ...
Sightless in Seattle: Pilots Report Almost 30 Laser Attacks in 3 Days
More than two dozen flights landing at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Seattle since Monday, Feb. 7, have reported being “hit” by lasers flashed from the ground into the cockpits and, possibly, the eyes of pilots trying to ...
With Less Than 1% of Religious Exemptions OK’d, Submarine Captain Sues Pentagon
After a senior Navy chaplain interviewed a submarine commander, he wrote to his superiors that the commanding officer was “an active and devoted participant in his Christian faith.” The Navy still denied Capt. James Lembo a religious exemption to ...
Medical Exemptions but None for Religion? Judge Calls Out COVID-19 Vaccine Double Standard
A US district judge appears to have noticed what advocates for religious accommodation have been saying for weeks: Since the military has shown a willingness to grant medical exemptions to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, why have only three religious ...
Pentagon: 3,000 Troops Deploying in Europe (But Probably Not Parachuting In)
About 3,000 US troops, including a brigade combat team from Fort Bragg, will deploy to Germany, Romania, and Poland in response to the increasing threat of war between Ukraine and Russia. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby announced Wednesday ...
Hawaii Lawyer: Pentagon Would ‘Rather Play Legal Games Than Clean Up Its Mess’
After Navy officials in Hawaii previously said they would empty the giant Red Hill fuel tanks that authorities there believe are contaminating drinking water, the Pentagon said Monday, Jan. 31, that it would appeal an order from local officials to do ...
Pentagon Names 10 Bases for Potential Deployment for Ukraine
Approximately 8,500 troops from at least 10 US military bases are now in a heightened readiness posture in anticipation of war between Russia and Ukraine. Defense Department press secretary John Kirby said in a press conference Thursday, Jan. 27, ...