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15 hours, 6 minutes ago
Just one in three Americans back Iran war, most unsure of Trump’s goals, poll finds
A Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 69% of Americans think President Donald Trump has not “clearly explained the goals of U.S. military involvement in Iran.”
Just one in three Americans support the war on Iran, the lowest reading in a Reuters/Ipsos poll since the five-month-old conflict’s early days, with most respondents saying that President Donald Trump has failed to explain his goals.
The poll, conducted Friday through Sunday, also showed the Republican president’s approval rating ticking higher to 37%, up 3 points from last month when his rating tied the lowest of his presidency.
Trump has offered shifting objectives for the conflict such as aiding Iranians to topple their leaders, taking out Iran’s ballistic-missile capabilities and preventing it from obtaining a nuclear weapon. The poll found that 69% of Americans — including four in 10 Republicans — think Trump has not “clearly explained the goals of U.S. military involvement in Iran.”
White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said Trump will not make decisions based on “fluid opinion polls” and reiterated the president’s resolve to prevent Iran from ever acquiring a nuclear weapon.
“What matters most to the American people is having a commander in chief who takes bold action to keep them safe,” Wales said.
Approval of the conflict has been below 40% since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on February 28 — a stark contrast to the opening months of other recent conflicts.
While each had different context, the Iraq War from 2003 to 2011 had the support of about 70% of Americans in its early months. During the early days of the Afghanistan War, which lasted from 2001 to 2021, about 90% of the country backed the war, according to polling by Gallup.
‘No idea’ why US at war
Public disapproval of the war is weighing on Trump and his Republican Party ahead of the November midterm elections when the president’s allies will defend slim majorities in the U.S. Congress.
“It’s not clear why we started a war with them. I have no idea,” said Alex Womack, a retired turbine repair specialist from Stockbridge, Georgia, who became a Republican in part because he liked how Republican President George H.W. Bush handled the Gulf War in 1991.
Womack, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps during that conflict, said his support for Trump has ebbed because of the war. “I don’t think he’s doing very well, personally,” he said.
To date, 18 American soldiers have died in the conflict while thousands have died in Iran and in Lebanon, where Iran-allied fighters have battled Israeli forces.
The war has pushed gasoline prices sharply higher, a blow to the finances of many Americans. Gasoline prices are averaging just over $4 a gallon nationwide, up from about $3 a gallon just before the war started on February 28.
“This puts pressure on the party in a myriad of ways, all of them bad,” said Alex Conant, a Republican political strategist and a White House spokesman during the presidency of George W. Bush. “The White House officials have been saying since January that they need to win economic arguments. It’s hard to win the economic arguments when you’re clearly focused on foreign policy.”
Independent registered voters in the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll said they were favoring the Democratic congressional candidate over the Republican by 36% to 20%. Independent voters also favored Democrats over Republicans on economic policy, the poll found.
Trump vowed to stay out of wars
In campaigning for the 2024 presidential election, Trump said he would keep the U.S. out of enduring conflicts. He initially estimated the Iran war would last four to five weeks. He has bristled over comparisons to other wars, including the Vietnam War, which lasted two decades and claimed the lives of more than 58,000 U.S. soldiers.
Rhyan Anderson, an independent from Fairburn, Georgia, who voted for Trump in 2024, said he thinks Trump should focus on domestic problems rather than on helping Israel or other allies.
“My biggest thing is just focus on the people who are actually in the country,” said Anderson, who works two jobs in security and data collection and said he voted for Democrat Joe Biden in 2020. “I know we have allies and things like that, but there’s a lot of people here that really need help.”
Since mid-March, the Reuters/Ipsos survey has asked respondents whether they support or oppose military strikes on Iran. At that time, 37% said they supported the war.
That compared to 27% approval on the day the war began, when the Reuters/Ipsos survey also gave respondents the option to choose unsure, which 29% did.
The latest Reuters/Ipsos survey, which was conducted online and nationwide, gathered responses from 1,246 U.S. adults and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points in either direction.
18 hours, 43 minutes ago
MARSOC wants to automate armory recordkeeping
Marine Forces Special Operations Command is partnering with SOFWERX to develop ways to replace manual steps for documenting serialized inventory.
Marine Forces Special Operations Command is partnering with SOFWERX, the public-private technology hub for companies wanting to work with military special operations, to modernize armory recordkeeping.
SOFWERX, in collaboration the Marine Forces Special Operations Command, or MARSOC, is hosting an event in mid-September to develop ways to replace manual steps for documenting serialized inventory with digital and automated tools.
The July 27 announcement said the event’s purpose is “to design a secure, zero-signature automated armory that relies exclusively on optical recognition and computer vision.”
But here’s the catch: the tools cannot use RFID — the most common technology for tracking inventory — or active Bluetooth or radiating digital transmitters.
“Instead, this event challenges industry partners to develop a passive, image-based inventory system where weapons, gear, and serial numbers are automatically tracked, verified, and logged simply by taking a digital photo or scanning an optical image as items enter or exit the facility,” the invitation said.
It explained that the current process requires a person to manually inventory weapons using handwritten forms, resulting in repetitive data entry and multiple independent records.
“These processes are labor intensive, susceptible to human error, and consume significant man-hours while increasing accountability risk,” it said.
While eliminating “slow, legacy paper-based workflows and human-error bottlenecks,” the desired application would guarantee “absolute property accountability without exposing our facilities to electronic detection.”
Around 2010, the U.S. military began using RFID tags as a practical and simple way to keep track of weapons, but later discovered the technology can pose a major security concern.
An RFID tag, like the ones used by the military, consists of a microchip and a small antenna and does not require a battery. It is programmed with a unique ID signal that can only be activated by a reader.
Once a tag is read by a reader, that reader can be used to continue to track the weapon or clone the ID signal, creating a security risk.
Companies interested in attending the event must submit a request by Aug. 16. While the initial meeting will begins Sept. 17, additional events are planned throughout the year and and will conclude in December.
1 day, 10 hours ago
See what it’s like to be on a ship getting hit by US missiles
The Navy offered a unique perspective from its latest SINKEX event, placing cameras inside and around the USS Peleliu as it was struck by U.S. missiles.
The Navy offered a unique perspective in its latest SINKEX event.
Two former U.S. warships, the amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu and the cruiser USS Mobile Bay, were sent below the seas off the coast of Hawaii during a live sinking exercise, or SINKEX, event on July 17.
On July 24, the Navy released footage of the sinking, including video of the Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft uncrewed surface vessel targeting the USS Peleliu. On July 29, however, it released b-roll from inside the ship as it was pummeled by two UGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship cruise missiles, fired from Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS Columbia.
Cameras placed inside and around the vessel show the warship shudder as the powerful blasts rip at its innards.
The sinking of the Peleliu and Mobile Bay was the third SINKEX event in recent weeks. The former USS Juneau was sent to the ocean floor during the June 22-July 1 Valiant Shield exercise off the coast of the Mariana Islands Range Complex.
Commissioned in May 1980, the USS Peleliu was the first ship to deploy Marines to Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks, with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit commanded by then-Marine Brig. Gen. James Mattis under Task Force 58.
That same task force went on to capture John Walker Lindh in November 2001. Lindh, an American citizen-turned-enemy-combatant, later confessed to being a member of Al-Qaeda while aboard Peleliu.
During 35 years of service, the ship, dubbed the “Iron Nickel,” steamed more than a million miles before its decommissioning in March 2015.
1 day, 14 hours ago
Average VA disability payments rose nearly 40% in past 14 years, study finds
Average VA disability payments climbed nearly 40% in the past 14 years, a study found, with the authors acknowledging high deployment rates over that span.
An analysis of Department of Veterans Affairs disability compensation since 2010 found that the average annual payments to veterans climbed by nearly 40% while the percentage of veterans who receive payments almost doubled.
Researchers at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System and Stanford University School of Medicine in California looked at VA disability benefits and Social Security Disability payments to veterans across 14 years.
They found that the average yearly payment rose from $17,286 in 2010 to $24,057 in 2024, while the percentage of U.S. veterans receiving compensation rose from 9% in 2010 to 22% in 2024.
The increases are likely attributable to a number of causes, the authors said. They noted the high rate of deployments and increased possibility of serious service-connected illness and injury for post 9/11 veterans, improved medical care that resulted in increased survivorship of combat injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan and VA policies that have made more veterans eligible and made it easier to receive benefits.
Over the same time period, meanwhile, annual Social Security Disability Insurance payments to veterans remained steady, averaging around $19,550. Veterans may be eligible for SSDI payments if they have a condition that affects their ability to work.
According to the study published Thursday in JAMA Network Open, college educated, married and younger veterans were more likely to receive VA compensation while older veterans with non-service-connected disabilities were more likely to receive SSDI.
The authors theorized that the challenges associated with filing VA claims — “administrative hurdles,” as they described them — and the draw of VA education benefits may favor those who can navigate the system.
The increase in the percentage of veterans receiving VA disability benefits as well as the rise in amounts paid comes at a time when the population of U.S. veterans is declining: In 2010, the country had 22 million veterans; by 2024, that figure had declined to 15.8 million.
The researchers described their study as “descriptive” and drew few conclusions.
“These findings can inform policy discussions about optimal fiscal payments and program structures needed to achieve and streamline federal programmatic goals, while underscoring the need to reduce growing disability burden among veterans and to ensure ease of benefits navigation,” they wrote.
The authors did not respond to a request for an interview by publication.
1 day, 18 hours ago
Space food for soldiers: Advanced military rations promoted in NDAA
The House defense budget bill calls on the Pentagon to create MREs of the future.
The House version of next year’s defense budget bill revives a push to use emerging technology to make military rations lighter and more portable.
While the standard Meal, Ready-to-Eat, or MRE, delivers nutritionally complete chow in a package weighing 1.5 pounds or less, that adds up for troops on the move: more than 30 pounds of supply per service member for a week-long patrol. And amid efforts across the services to prepare to operate independently in austere environments far from resupply, cutting down the weight and volume of food is a known need.
The fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act calls on the secretary of defense to boost these efforts with new partnerships to create the MREs of the future.
“It is the sense of Congress that requirements for the future battlefield include dealing with contested logistics that cannot be achieved with the size and weight of currently fielded rations; and could be mitigated by incorporating within rations, components produced with emerging and innovative technologies developed in partnership with the Department of Defense Combat Feeding Research and Engineering Program,” language in the House version of the bill, passed July 22, states.
It requires the secretary of defense to seek opportunities to enter contracts to procure rations, naming two specific space-saving food technologies: sonic agglomeration and vacuum microwave drying.
Sonic agglomeration uses sound wave vibrations to compress food ingredients and stick them together without the use of fillers and binders. The Army’s Combat Feeding Directorate has been working with this technology since at least 2016, even using the method to help NASA develop a more compact breakfast bar for astronauts on future Mars missions.
Vacuum microwave drying quickly dehydrates food at low temperatures, locking in fresh flavors and colors that more conventional drying techniques can’t capture, making lightweight, water-removed rations that are more palatable for troops on the go.
In 2018, the Combat Feeding Directorate released information about work being done to develop a “salad bar” — a vacuum-compressed pack of shelf-stable fresh greens with the dressing already mixed in.
And work is happening to field at least early versions of some of these rations to the fighting forces.
Last year, the Combat Feeding Directorate announced that a new Close Combat Assault Ration, specially designed for the sustainment of units on their own for 7-10 days, could now be purchased through the Defense Logistics Agency. The CCAR saw a 39% reduction in volume and 17% production in weight compared to the eat-on-the-move First Strike Ration — which contains about 24 hours’ worth of calories — and allowed troops to “carry five days’ worth of nutrition in a 3-day footprint,” officials said.
But efforts to conduct more robust testing around sonic agglomeration and vacuum microwave drying were limited by COVID-19 pandemic delays, officials said, leaving more work to be done.
“These and other novel technologies were evaluated during the CCAR’s development and CFD will continue to work with industry partners to identify new technologies and evolve existing ones,” a 2025 release stated.
The NDAA provision directs the secretary of defense to maximize the use of the two new technologies for ration components to help bridge the gap between research and evaluation and fielding.
“As operational needs allow, the Secretary shall prioritize clean-label, nutrient-dense components that do not contain unhealthy fats or artificial preservatives,” it adds.
The provision also calls for a report to Congress no later than 120 days after the NDAA passes that includes a description of any “emerging and innovative” food processing technologies being developed for use by the Department of Defense; the total amount the Pentagon has invested in sonic agglomeration and vacuum microwave drying tech; the results of warfighter field testing of proposed ration components using these technologies; and a breakdown of benefits and barriers to using them, along with a summary of what’s being done to advance their adoption.
The House NDAA must still undergo reconciliation with the yet-to-be-passed Senate version of the bill before it can become law.
2 days, 14 hours ago
Pentagon has ‘kicked off’ review of US force posture in Europe
The review follows repeated calls by Trump administration officials for European allies to assume greater responsibility for NATO’s conventional defense.
The Pentagon has formally launched the Europe force posture review Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced last month, beginning a process to examine U.S. military troop presence, force posture and basing across Europe.
Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby announced on X Tuesday that the Defense Department had “kicked off” the review Hegseth unveiled during the NATO defense ministerial in Brussels on June 18. Hegseth described the effort at the time as “a real review” of America’s force posture and basing in Europe.
Neither Hegseth’s announcement nor Colby’s statement announced troop reductions, unit movements or installation changes as part of the review. The Pentagon also has not said when the review’s recommendations will be released.
The review follows repeated calls by Trump administration officials for European allies to assume greater responsibility for NATO’s conventional defense as the administration reassesses U.S. force posture worldwide.
Hegseth said the review is expected to take up to six months, but it “could be less.” He shared that the review will include input from U.S. European Command as well as consultations with Congress and U.S. allies.
Colby said the review is designed to ensure NATO is “moving fast and irreversibly toward Europe taking primary responsibility for its conventional defense.” He explained the outcome of the review is intended to accelerate NATO’s transition to what he described as “a stronger, more equitable, and sustainable alliance.”
The Pentagon review aims to ensure U.S. force posture in Europe reflects the 2025 National Security Strategy and the 2026 National Defense Strategy. Colby said the department will develop a range of options based on “strategic rigor, a strong empirical baseline, and a clear sense of the geopolitical and military realities.”
Colby also said he looks forward to working closely with Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, on the review. He noted that the Defense Department plans to have “extensive consultations” with European allies, Congress and other parts of the U.S. government throughout the process.
2 days, 16 hours ago
US Marine Corps welcomes delivery of final MV-22B Osprey
The MV-22 Osprey began its last chapter in the Marine Corps on Tuesday with the delivery of the 359th — and final — model.
A staple of the skies during the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Marine Corps’ MV-22B Osprey began its final chapter in service on Tuesday with the delivery of the last model.
With the acceptance of the 359th — and final — tiltrotor aircraft, the Marine Corps marked the end of the MV-22B Osprey program of record, a milestone that will now shift efforts towards “sustaining and modernizing the fleet for decades to come,” the V-22 Joint Program Office, which manages the Osprey program, said in a statement.
“The MV-22B ... fundamentally changed the way the Marine Air-Ground Task Force generates combat power,” Lt. Gen. William Swan, the Marine Corps’ deputy commandant for aviation, said in the statement. “It provides commanders with decision space that only speed and reach can provide, connecting ships, bases and distributed forces in ways previous generations could only imagine. Today, Marine commanders build operations around the assumption that the MV-22B will be there.”
Though the Navy and Air Force also use variants of the Osprey, the Marine Corps maintains the majority of the fleet.
The Corps intends to keep the Osprey operational through 2055 with efforts that include improving wiring, working towards pro-rotor gear boxes, standardizing the fleet and redesigning parts of the aircraft for better safety.
The aircraft has a history of safety issues and accidents that have led to the deaths of over 60 service members since 2000, according to prior Military Times reporting, and in 2023, the Defense Department grounded the aircraft after eight service members were killed when an Air Force Osprey crashed.
A 2025 government watchdog report found that the services had not appropriately shared information about Osprey issues amongst each other.
The Osprey was developed to reduce the gap between rotary-wing and fixed-wing aircraft. Since going operational in 2007, the platform has been involved in 114 deployments and flown more than 683,300 hours, according to the program’s office, which also said the Osprey represents three quarters of all Marine Corps rotary wing support.
The Osprey is produced jointly by Bell and Boeing and according to a Wednesday release from the companies, has been involved in various high-profile missions, including the ongoing Venezuela earthquake response, the 2022 earthquake response in Haiti, operations to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria, and the rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips in 2009 after his ship was hijacked by Somali pirates.
2 days, 18 hours ago
US military may require some troops in Mideast to surrender cell phones, sources say
The top U.S. commander for the Middle East has warned troops that cellphone videos shared online can help Iran target American bases.
The top U.S. commander for the Middle East has warned troops that cellphone videos shared online can help Iran target American bases, and sources told Reuters some deployed personnel could soon be ordered to surrender their phones.
Any crackdown on mobile communications would add a new dimension to the conflict for the thousands of U.S. troops in the region, many of whom still rely on phones to periodically message loved ones and assure them they are well.
Adm. Brad Cooper, in a previously unreported letter, said Iran was benefiting from being able to see the success or failure of its strikes in near real-time by searching news reports or online posts by journalists referencing “reactions, photos, and footage from the cellphones of our troops.”
“The direct, unavoidable cost of this open-source intelligence could be measured in the lives of American service members and civilian residents in targeted Gulf countries,” Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, wrote in his July 28 letter, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.
He called on troops to “redouble our focus on operational security,” without prescribing specific steps in the memo.
The warning underscored the mounting tensions between real-time news reporting on the war, often aided by satellite imagery and first-person accounts, and the desire by the U.S. military to restrict any information that could aid Iran as it tries to kill and wound U.S. troops.
In Jordan, which has been a frequent target of Iranian strikes, some troops have been told their phones will be confiscated in the coming days, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
A third source said such a move was being considered in the region due to operational security concerns but did not present the confiscation as a certainty.
Asked for comment, U.S. Central Command spokesperson Captain Timothy Hawkins said: “The message is a general reminder to our service members on the importance of maintaining operational security. This is one of many opportunities Admiral Cooper has used to convey operational priorities.”
Running for shelter during Iran attack
In a video posted online this month, a U.S. service member recorded a video as soldiers ran for shelter during a deadly Iranian attack on the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan on July 17.
Cooper appeared to reference the footage in his letter, saying it had been recorded on Meta smart glasses with a built-in camera.
“Video captured from a service member’s Meta glasses was posted on Instagram showing where and how the individual had evacuated to a bunker during an Iranian missile and drone attack,” Cooper wrote.
Iran would normally have a tough time determining the success or failure of its strikes, were it not for such accounts, Cooper said, thanks to the U.S. military’s electronic jamming or other tactics used in war zones.
“Iran knows the weapons were fired; however, their forces do not know if they missed by 50 meters, hit an empty tarmac, or successfully struck a crowded facility,” he wrote. “Detailed lists, descriptions, and analyses of what was hit, openly published by news outlets are essentially performing Iran’s Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) for them, free of charge,” Cooper said.
Some 18 U.S. troops have died in the conflict with Iran that started on Feb. 28 and more than 600 have been wounded in the fighting, casualties that have deepened Americans’ concerns about a war that just one in three Americans support.
Democratic lawmakers have called for more information about the war, including details about damage to U.S. infrastructure on bases including radar towers, barracks and aircraft hangars. They have also called for the release of a U.S. military investigation into a likely U.S. strike on a girls’ school in Iran, first reported by Reuters, on the opening day of the war on Feb. 28.
Cell phones being taken?
Rules surrounding cell phone use for deployed troops can vary widely across the military, officials say. Many troops have to lock them away and cell phones can be banned on particularly sensitive missions by special operations forces, for example.
But the possible seizure of phones has stoked anxiety among some family members, already on edge in recent months as they read Iranian claims of deadly strikes on bases throughout the Middle East, two of the sources said.
U.S. officials have cautioned for years that certain applications on mobile devices, like fitness applications, can be exploited by adversaries to aid adversary targeting because of location data. Reuters reported in May that commercially available location data harvested from smartphones or other devices has been used to target or surveil U.S. forces.
At the same time, the Pentagon has sought to carefully control the release of information due to what it says are operational security concerns, often declining to comment on Iran’s attack claims or detail individual incidents that led to injuries of U.S. troops.
Cooper said details on strikes can help Iran mount follow-up attacks.
“Detailed public disclosures can become an immediate green light for Iranian forces to launch a secondary, much more devastating wave of attacks,” he said.
2 days, 18 hours ago
Military heatstroke cases still on the rise as units push tech, awareness
For a second year, cases of military heatstroke increased in 2025, according to new data published by the Defense Health Agency.
For a second year, cases of military heatstroke increased in 2025, according to new data published by the Defense Health Agency. That’s despite nearly a decade of intensive efforts to address and prevent heat injuries through awareness, training and deployment of body-worn devices that can flag symptoms of heat risk before they turn deadly.
But that may not be a bad thing, according to an epidemiologist who coauthored the latest report.
The survey data, published in June in the Pentagon’s Medical Surveillance Monthly Report, shows that heatstroke cases are up from 471 to 518 from 2024 to 2025. It’s a significant climb from 2023, which had 407 heatstroke cases. While cases dropped slightly in 2022 and 2023 from 2021’s total of 459 cases, 2025 was the worst year for heatstroke since 2018. That year, which saw 578 heatstroke cases — an alarming peak for documented data — helped prompt the founding of the Army Heat Center and other structural changes to protect troops.
Last year’s reported heatstroke cases were also notable in that there was a steep increase in hospitalizations, both those reported by the Defense Department health system and those only reported at a later point by troops. Reported hospitalizations were up from 132 to 173; while those initially unreported were up from 198 to 228. The cases that received ambulatory care at the scene were down, from 141 to 117.
Dr. Alexis Maule, who works at the Defense Health Agency-Public Health Disease Epidemiology branch in Aberdeen, Maryland, said that the rise in hospitalizations might be interpreted as a positive trend. While the increase in heatstroke could be a sign, she said, that early signs of heat exhaustion are being missed in the field, it could also mean that dangerous symptoms are being flagged and diagnosed more consistently.
“There are two hallmark symptoms that distinguish heat stroke from heat exhaustion. Those are a core temperature equal to or above 104 degrees Fahrenheit, and a change in mental status, whether that be extreme confusion, delirium, and in some cases, loss of consciousness,” Maule told Military Times.
“So it’s possible that the increase in heat stroke identification is related to an increase in field medics or other medical providers in the field acquiring core temperatures prior to service members being seen by medical providers in a healthcare facility, or accurately assessing individuals’ changes in mental status and noting that prior to their transport to medical care,” she continued.
Total heat illness diagnoses saw a slight decline in 2025, with 2,751, down from 2,859 in 2024. The Marine Corps and Air Force saw steep reductions in heat exhaustion cases that appear to account for the difference. What’s less clear is whether any of the interventions the military has taken in recent years are having their desired effect.
The Army and Marine Corps in 2024 debuted the wearable Heat Illness Protection System, or HIPS, using the devices at specific training events and locations such as Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina, to monitor troops’ vitals and flag “wobbles” that could predict danger.
Earlier this year, Army Heat Center Director Lt. Col. Dave DeGroot said at a forum focused on heat injury prevention that the devices could detect heatstroke as much as 12 minutes sooner than conventional observation methods. But not every unit and formation is using the devices. It’s also likely that more years of data are needed to discern the impact of new prevention efforts.
To that end, the Marine Corps earlier this month released new interim guidance on heat and cold injury prevention that stressed data collection and rigorous reporting.
“We do see fluctuations in data every year, so that’s why it’s important to not only look at the current year that you’re reporting on,” Maule said.
“The reality is that the military has to continue to train warfighters in all environmental conditions, you know, 365 days a year, and the surveillance data tries to provide commanders with an objective and highly specific picture of the magnitude and severity of the threat of heat illness. And then we hope that leaders can deploy evidence-based prevention and mitigation strategies where they’re needed to preserve readiness, but without compromising training rigor,” she concluded.
2 days, 19 hours ago
Marines offering early separations for select jobs
Eligible Marines from a wide range of fields will have the option of leaving the service 90 days early because of budget constraints.
The U.S. Marine Corps is offering early separation to enlisted Marines in two dozen military occupational specialties as part of a force-shaping effort tied to budget constraints.
According to the July 1 policy message, the service announced the Voluntary Enlisted Early Release Program as “a deliberate force-shaping initiative” that allows eligible Marines to apply for separation before the end of the fiscal year.
Yvonne Carlock, a spokeswoman for the service’s Manpower and Reserve Affairs, told USNI News that the program was “designed to balance the Marine Corps’ end strength and ensure long-term fiscal health and operational readiness.”
The program allows certain enlisted Marines to leave active duty early if they meet eligibility requirements. According to the message, eligible Marines must serve in one of 24 military occupational specialties and have an end-of-active-service date on or before Sept. 30, 2026.
The eligible fields range from infantry jobs and amphibious vehicle crews to Marine Corps band members and other specialties.
The move comes despite the Marine Corps meeting both its recruiting and retention goals ahead of schedule last year. Earlier this year, the service also offered reenlistment bonuses of up to $50,000 for select enlisted jobs.
The early-release program appears aimed at reshaping specific career fields rather than reducing the force broadly. The Marine Corps has not publicly identified how many Marines it expects to separate through the program or explained why the 24 military occupational specialties were selected.
A review of Marine Administrative Messages shows the Marine Corps has announced at least four voluntary separation programs since 2020.
In 2025, the service offered two early separation programs for enlisted Marines but did not specify which military occupational specialties were eligible.
In 2021, the Marine Corps allowed enlisted Marines and officers serving on tank crews to apply for voluntary separation as the service moved away from its tank battalions.
3 days, 12 hours ago
South Carolina military base to be renamed after Lindsey Graham
Joint Base Charleston is slated to be renamed Joint Base Lindsey Graham, after the late senator.
The Pentagon is moving to rename a joint military base in South Carolina after Lindsey Graham, a Republican U.S. senator from the state who died July 11.
Joint Base Charleston, housed in North Charleston, South Carolina, is slated to be renamed after Graham, a U.S. Air Force official told Military Times.
Graham spent 33 years in the Air Force as an active-duty staff judge advocate, a South Carolina Air National Guard officer and a senior lawyer in the Air Force Reserve.
He died unexpectedly from an aortic dissection at the age of 71.
Graham was born in Central, South Carolina, and was elected to the House of Representatives in 1994 and the Senate in 2002.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted Monday on social media about the base’s renaming. She did not provide further details, only linking a story by The Post and Courier, which first reported on the news.
The South Carolina newspaper reported that a Monday memo, signed by Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink, directed staff to begin working with Air Mobility Command and Joint Base Charleston to rename the base to Joint Base Lindsey Graham, citing his “decades of distinguished service to the United States Congress and the United States Air Force.”
The Air Force official who spoke to Military Times confirmed that Meink signed a memo initiating steps to rename the base.
“Today’s announcement to rename Joint Base Charleston in honor of Senator Lindsey Graham is a fitting tribute to a man who dedicated his life to serving our nation and state,” Alan Wilson, South Carolina’s attorney general and Republican nominee for governor, said on social media.
Graham, who was chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, spearheaded efforts to support military funding. In particular, for the Charleston base, he assisted in securing $212 million in funding given to the Coast Guard for enhanced readiness.
Prior to his death, he commemorated the funding, calling it “welcome news.” The Coast Guard is set to use the funds to improve the installation’s pier infrastructure and construct a new medical and dental facility, in addition to other projects.
The news of the base’s renaming comes as lawmakers gathered on Capitol Hill on Tuesday for a memorial service for Graham. Afterward, his casket was moved to the Washington National Cathedral, where President Donald Trump gave remarks at a larger service Tuesday afternoon.
JB Charleston primarily houses the 628th Air Base Wing, 437th Airlift Wing and the reserve 315th Airlift Wing. It has a total force of over 90,000 airmen, sailors, soldiers, marines, coast guardsmen, civilians and retirees across four installations. The flying units are tasked with managing the base’s C-17 cargo fleet.
3 days, 18 hours ago
Shrapnel, broken bones and head trauma: New records show how US troops were wounded in Iran war
New details reveal the extent of service members’ injuries.
Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on The War Horse, an award-winning nonprofit news organization educating the public on military service. Subscribe to their newsletter.
The United States recorded at least 17 life-threatening casualties during the first phase of the war with Iran, according to newly obtained Defense Department records that provide the most detailed accounting yet of troops wounded in the conflict. More than 400 casualties were recorded between Feb. 28 and April 8, with Army personnel accounting for most of the casualties.
The data obtained by The War Horse details the specifics of troop injuries from the beginning of the war until the second week of April, when the United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire. Although U.S. military operations continued in the region and several more troops were wounded, hostilities remained subdued until earlier this month, when President Donald Trump declared the truce over on July 8.
The records, obtained by The War Horse through a Freedom of Information Act request, include service members’ branch, rank, injury type, and the date they were wounded. Each record accounts for an individual casualty incident, not a person, according to the DoD FOIA Analyst who processed the request, meaning that one person may have been injured multiple times.
More than 270 of the roughly 400 casualties were Army soldiers, and about one-third of those were reservists. Enlisted soldiers accounted for most Army casualties, including 57 sergeants and 53 specialists. But also wounded were 64 Army officers, including 20 captains, and 13 lieutenant colonels or colonels.
Head trauma, shrapnel, smoke: wounds of the Iran war
The U.S. military logged more than 400 casualties from the beginning of the conflict in late February through early April.
That level of detail is absent from public reporting in the Defense Casualty Analysis System, which provides monthly totals for the conflict with limited demographic data. Until now, those sparse updates were the only public statistical accounting of the war’s toll on U.S. troops.
“When you look at most of our wars, the Army does the vast majority of the fighting and dying,” said John McManus, a professor and military historian at Missouri University of Science and Technology.
While McManus said it is typical for more troops to be wounded than killed in modern warfare, the ratio in this conflict is particularly high.
The Navy reported 64 casualties, none of whom were classified as seriously injured. The Air Force recorded 51 casualties, and the Marine Corps recorded 19. Unlike the Army, the other branches did not list the type or cause of injury.
U.S. Central Command, which oversees forces in the Middle East region, did not respond to multiple phone calls and emails from The War Horse requesting comment.
‘We broke all the tactical level rules’
The data obtained by The War Horse provides new details about the aftermath of several Iranian attacks, including some that had not been previously reported.
U.S. troops suffered shrapnel wounds, broken bones, smoke inhalation, and other injuries. But one category appeared far more often than any other: head trauma.
At least 170 troops sustained head trauma between the start of the war to early April, according to the data.
One of them was an Army colonel who was sitting at a desk in an operations center in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, on March 1 when an Iranian drone slammed into the building. The strike killed six U.S. service members in what remains the deadliest attack of the war.
“Everybody inside the building was in a concussive blast,” said the colonel. The officer requested anonymity since they did not want members of their unit to face reprisal.
Two generals — later identified as Brig. Gen. Clint Barnes and Maj. Gen. Brad Hinson — also sustained head trauma that day, according to the data. General officers are rarely wounded in modern combat. The two senior officers have been criticized since then for ignoring intelligence warnings and abandoning their troops during the attack.
“We broke all the tactical-level rules,” the colonel said.
Days after the deadly attack in Kuwait, on March 3, as many news outlets were focused on drones striking the U.S. consulate in Dubai, 29 casualties were recorded in what the Pentagon classified as “enemy attack,” including one who was seriously injured. The military classifies an injury as serious when medical attention is required and death is “possible but not likely to occur within 72 hours.”
Central Command did not issue a press release or announce a large number of troops wounded in a single day. The next day, however, Central Command assured the public that the Iranian regime’s ballistic missile capabilities were “decimated.” Yet in the following weeks, roughly 200 more casualties occurred, some of them severe.
Two weeks later, on March 18, a total of 70 casualties occurred, according to the data. This large number of casualties for a single day was never reported by the Pentagon, which currently only provides public statistics of casualties by month. While more than two dozen were classified as “enemy attack,” the data on the rest of the injuries is missing. This occurred about 24 hours after a U.S.-Israeli air strike killed Ali Larijani, one of the most powerful figures in Iranian politics.
Hundreds of troops suffering from head trauma
A large portion of the wounded suffering from head trauma has led some military health experts to worry that traumatic brain injuries — caused by damage to the brain that can impact thinking, movement and emotion — could become the signature injury of this war, as in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Most traumatic brain injuries sustained in the military can be classified as mild, said Michael McCrea, a neuropsychologist who studies traumatic brain injury at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
“That means there was no evidence of structural brain damage on brain imaging studies,” he said. “And the overwhelming majority of those individuals go on to have a complete recovery over a relatively short period of time.”
But even “mild” injuries can have long-term consequences, since the effects of a traumatic brain injury may not become apparent for weeks or even months.
“Many times when we think that there’s a relatively minor event, it turns out to be much more catastrophic than we ever thought it would be,” said retired Army Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker, an expert on military traumatic brain injury who served as Army surgeon general prior to his retirement in 2012. “Down the road, there may be decrements in cognition and memory and balance.”
Schoomaker described possible long-term issues with headaches, speech, language, and more.
“Remember, this thing that is lying between our ears is the most complex computer anyone has ever seen or studied,” he said.
The army colonel wounded at Port Shuaiba knows that firsthand. Since the attack, the colonel has experienced persistent headaches, vision problems, and other symptoms. Now, as a new wave of U.S. strikes against Tehran exposes additional American troops to Iranian counterattacks, the officer is watching closely.
“The Iran War’s kicking off again,” the colonel said in mid-July. “There’s gonna be more.”
By the end of July, more than 200 additional casualties had been added to a new table in the DoD casualties database, classified only as “Overseas Operations,” and four more had been killed.
4 days, 15 hours ago
Pentagon moves recent KIA numbers from Iran war into ‘Overseas Operations’ category
The Pentagon has altered its casualty reports related to the Iran war, dropping the KIA number from 18 to 14 and moving four into a new conflict category.
The Pentagon on Sunday altered the way it has reported casualties since Operation Epic Fury began on Feb. 28, when the U.S. and Israel first launched military strikes against Iran.
In its updated accounting method, the Defense Casualty Analysis System’s category labeled “Overseas Operations (OO) Casualty Summary” lists U.S. casualties suffered in the conflict since July 7 — effectively removing the totals from those associated with Operation Epic Fury.
The new page comes in the wake of criticism that the Pentagon had dropped the number of U.S. troops killed and wounded in the war with Iran.
On July 17 three U.S. service members were killed when an Iranian missile hit their sleeping barracks at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan. The fourth death occurred two days later in a separate incident in Erbil, Iraq, during a controlled detonation of an attack drone.
The Pentagon initially updated its system to 18 killed before lowering that number to 14 once again.
On July 23, Sean Parnell, the chief Pentagon spokesman, refuted a New York Times article on the lowering of the KIA number, writing on X that “Our Pentagon Press Office gave the New York Times a courtesy off-the-record phone call explaining in detail that the site errors on the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) were due to a temporary data disruption. Our team explained we are working on it being resolved in coordination with the Military Services.”
Under the “overseas operations” system, the Pentagon reports that 207 U.S. service members have been wounded in action. It lists 417 wounded during Operation Epic Fury. Combined, the two categories account for 624 wounded service members. The total number listed as killed is 18.
The post-July 7 tally comes one day prior to the collapse of the tenuous June ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Iran, resulting in U.S. Central Command delivering 13 continuous nightly strikes against the Middle East nation.
The collapse of the ceasefire, the Trump administration argued, restarted the 60-day clock that allows the president to use military force without congressional approval.
The new accounting system is in line with President Donald Trump’s assertion that the latest escalation between the U.S. and Iran is part of a new conflict with the Islamic Republic, not a continuation of the one that began in February.
On July 10, the president formally notified Congress that hostilities with Iran had resumed, a position that administration officials contend allows them to bypass the War Powers Resolution and restart the clock again on the war.
In April, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth controversially claimed that the ceasefire with Iran meant that Trump did not yet have to seek congressional consent to extend the war.
Hegseth argued that the pause in hostilities froze the ticking clock that would otherwise require the president either to get agreement from lawmakers or to end military operations after 60 days.
“We are in a ceasefire right now, which [in] our understanding means the 60-day clock pauses, or stops,” Hegseth told Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
“I do not believe the statute would support that,” Kaine said, adding that he has “serious constitutional concerns and we don’t want to layer those with additional statutory concerns.”
The Marine Corps this month tested a new way to give regiments long-range reconnaissance and strike capabilities.
The U.S. Marine Corps this month tested a new way to give ground commanders long-range reconnaissance and strike capabilities by experimenting with a medium-sized drone that can launch a separate, one-way attack drone in what the service said was its first regimental-level assessment.
During a training exercise in Twentynine Palms, California, 2nd Marine Regiment paired AeroViroment’s JUMP 20-X with the company’s Switchblade 300 Block 20 loitering munition, a move that could eventually give regiments capabilities beyond the short-range drones currently fielded by the formations.
The JUMP 20-X is a medium-sized unmanned aircraft that is classified as a Group 3 drone. It is capable of remaining airborne for up to 12 hours and carrying a payload of 30 pounds. During the experiment, it launched the Switchblade, which the Marine Corps said struck a target more than 15 miles away.
“[The Marine Corps has] the Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadrons 1, 2, and 3 that fly the MQ-9s in the Group 5 level of assets, but it would be great for the Regiment because we’re outside of the [air] wings,” said Chief Warrant Officer Two Christopher Leone in the service’s release. “We’re supporting the Ground Combat Element that doesn’t have an asset that can fly as far as the Group 5, so this is something that hasn’t been tested before.”
Currently, the regiment only has Group 1 drones, which stay airborne for far less time — typically between 30 and 90 minutes — and operate over much shorter distances. The July tests evaluated whether a larger drone could lengthen the regiment’s reach.
AeroVironment personnel flew the JUMP 20-X while Marines observed because the unit does not have Marines trained to fly Group 3 drones.
The experiment comes as the Marine Corps this month also announced the creation of a new small drone training unit, a move that underscored the integral role drones are now playing in modern warfare.
4 days, 19 hours ago
Private bedrooms won’t be available to all enlisted Marines
The service has no plans to build similar barracks for corporals and below at its U.S. bases.
Earlier this year, the Marine Corps unveiled new barracks in Okinawa, Japan, where junior enlisted Marines will have private bedrooms, a departure from the service’s traditional shared-room model.
The announcement sparked speculation that similar barracks could be built elsewhere, but the service said the Okinawa complex is a unique case rather than a blueprint for installations in the United States.
A Marine Corps official told Task & Purpose this week that the service has no plans to build similar barracks for corporals and below at its U.S. bases.
The official said the Okinawa project differs from typical Marine Corps barracks because the Japanese government funded the $320 million complex as part of an agreement between the United States and Japan.
The official defended the service’s existing shared-room model, saying it “promotes camaraderie and small-unit leadership, which are foundational to the Marine Corps ethos.”
The official added that shared rooms also make more efficient use of available space and resources, “maximizing our ability to provide quality housing for all personnel.”
News of the private rooms was first reported by Stars and Stripes, which attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the facility in June. About 1,100 Marines are expected to move into the new barracks complex in August.
Joseph Scala, director of Camp Hansen, where the barracks are located on Okinawa, described the facility as “just phenomenal.”
“If I was Joe Scala, lance corporal, way back when ... I would love to live here,” he told the outlet.
According to the Marine Corps, construction of the three new barracks was completed in May. In addition to private bedrooms, each unit includes a kitchenette, washer and dryer.
In announcing the project, the service called the facilities “a major step forward in the Marine Corps’ initiative to enhance the quality of life for enlisted Marines and Sailors.”
1 week ago
Pentagon nominates Lt. Gen. Admiral to command US Army Europe and Africa
Lt. Gen. Kevin D. Admiral, who currently serves as the commander of III Corps and Fort Hood, Texas, was nominated to take over the top job on Thursday.
The Pentagon on Thursday nominated Lt. Gen. Kevin D. Admiral to serve as the next commander of the U.S. Army Europe and Africa theater.
Admiral, who currently serves as the commander of III Corps and Fort Hood, Texas, could take over the top job from Gen. Christopher Donahue, who unexpectedly relinquished command earlier this month after only 18 months in the role. Since Donahue’s exit, Maj. Gen. Christopher Norrie has been serving as acting commander.
If confirmed, Admiral would also serve as commander of NATO’s Allied Land Command, coordinating with 104 countries in USAREUR-AF’s area of responsibility. He would remain a three-star, despite the role previously being a four-star position.
Prior to leading III Corps and Fort Hood, Admiral served as the commanding general for the 1st Cavalry Division out of Fort Hood, Texas, and in Poland, and director of force management in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-3/5/7, according to his official Army bio.
Donahue’s early July departure came amid the Pentagon’s broad senior leadership changes under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who in April asked U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George to step down and retire ahead of the typical four-year term.
Since taking office, Hegseth has removed more than a dozen senior military leaders, including former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. C.Q. Brown and former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti.
Eve Sampson contributed to this report.
1 week ago
Selective Service System wants to wargame the draft
The government is looking to run a simulation on its new process to automatically register eligible men for the US military draft before national rollout.
Fearing that its new plans for the U.S. military draft pool won’t work, the Selective Service System wants to create a computer simulation to test scenarios for its national mobilization.
The “Readiness Simulation” project comes as the U.S. government is about to change its draft registration system.
Since 1940, men within a designated age range have been required to register with the Selective Service. But under a proposed rule, men aged 18 to 26 will be automatically registered starting Dec. 19, 2026. The Selective Service System will work off data contained in other federal databases.
Questions remain about how prepared the Selective Service System is to handle the change.
“SSS currently relies on manual analysis, legacy modeling approaches, outdated assumptions, and historical datasets that do not fully reflect modern demographics, communications channels, throughput constraints, or operational readiness conditions,” warned the agency in a Request for Quote for the Readiness Simulation tool.
The deadline for vendors to propose their simulation models is Aug. 14.
The computer simulation will explore multiple areas. These include evaluating staffing and resource requirements, comparing mobilization and police scenarios and assessing the operational impact of surge conditions. In addition, the system will “identify throughput risks, delays, and bottlenecks” and support executive planning and reporting obligations.
The goal is a simulation system that “models the full end-to-end SSS mobilization pipeline, supports configurable scenarios, and provides decision-support analytics necessary for leadership, planners, and operators.”
Scenarios will encompass draft registration, selection, notification, delivery and classification. They will also cover the Alternative Service Program, which includes various forms of community service as well as conscientious objectors.
Computer models will “represent MEPS [Military Entrance Processing Stations] throughput, no-shows, medical disqualification rates, claims processing, and ASP diversion,” according to the Request for Quote.
Contractors must be prepared to run the Readiness Simulation while “recognizing that legacy SSS draft data may be outdated or unreliable,” the agency said.
A draft registration system based on data compiled by — and accessed from — other federal agencies is likely to raise privacy concerns.
The computer simulation “shall operate within an SSS-designated cloud environment, use anonymized aggregate data, and support complete Government ownership and sustainment,” the agency said.
The simulation must also comply with multiple privacy regulations.
1 week, 1 day ago
Parris Island drill instructor found dead in apartment
Sgt. Darilyn C. Duong, 25, is the second drill instructor assigned to Parris Island to be found dead in as many months.
A drill instructor assigned to Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island was found dead in her apartment on July 17, the service confirmed.
Sgt. Darilyn C. Duong, a DI with the 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, was found in her apartment in Port Royal, just north of the installation. She was 25 years old.
The cause of death is currently under investigation, Marine spokesperson 2nd Lt. Joshua Hartley said in a statement.
“The Marine Corps extends its deepest condolences to the family, friends and fellow Marines affected by this loss,” Hartley said. “At this time, it would be premature to speculate on the circumstances or results of the investigation. ... Out of respect for the Marine’s family and loved ones, no additional details will be released at this time.”
A native of Winnebago, Nebraska, Duong is the second drill instructor assigned to Parris Island to be found dead in as many months.
On May 30, Sgt. Albert Haynes II, 24, was found dead in a hotel room in Starke, Florida, where he was staying while attending a poolee function with U.S. Marine Corps Recruiting Station-Jacksonville.
Duong, who was single with no dependents, enlisted in the Marine Corps as aFood Service Specialist before becoming a drill instructor.
Her awards include the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation, two Sea Service Deployment Ribbons, two Good Conduct Medals and the National Defense Service Medal.
1 week, 1 day ago
In a suicide crisis, eligible veterans can go to any ER for free. Nearly 50,000 already have.
The COMPACT Act allows veterans to receive emergency suicide crisis care for free, but many eligible remain in the dark about its existence.
Editor’s note: This report contains discussion of suicide. Troops, veterans and family members experiencing suicidal thoughts can call the 24-hour Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 and dial 1, text 838255 or visit VeteransCrisisLine.net.
The COMPACT Act allows eligible veterans and certain former service members to receive Veterans Affairs-funded emergency suicide crisis care at VA and community hospitals, even if they aren’t enrolled in VA healthcare. New data obtained by Military Times show 49,341 veterans have used the benefit since 2023, but veteran advocates and suicide prevention professionals say many eligible veterans still don’t realize it exists until they experience a crisis.
In 2025, retired Navy Master Chief David Hull’s life unraveled after he lost his job during the government shutdown.
The transition from military service had been difficult, but he had rebuilt his life. Then when his paycheck disappeared, so did his ability to provide for his three children.
“I didn’t always consider taking my own life,” Hull said. “It wasn’t until I felt like I had no one and nowhere to go.”
“It’s easy to sink into feeling nothingness when you can’t see your value anymore or you become disconnected from your purpose,” he said.
After putting his children to bed one night, Hull searched online for combinations of pills that promised an easier way to end his life. As he poured medication into a single bottle, he accidentally knocked the empty container onto the floor.
His 6-year-old daughter picked it up.
“She looked up at me with her big brown eyes,” Hull recalled, his voice breaking. “It cracked me wide open.”
Hull left his children with a neighbor and drove to Garrett Regional Medical Center, a community hospital in Oakland, Maryland.
He wasn’t enrolled in VA healthcare. He didn’t have health insurance. Until that night, he had never heard of the COMPACT Act or that eligible veterans could receive VA-funded emergency suicide crisis care at a community hospital.
“I just needed someone to help clear my head and get me straight again,” Hull said. “I was circling the drain. On the precipice of having no home, no food, no money and no job with a promise of a better tomorrow. Nothing.”
About 40 minutes after arriving, Hull was evaluated by an emergency physician, who assured him he would be taken care of. A hospital social worker then explained that the Department of Veterans Affairs would cover the cost of his emergency treatment and follow-up care.
“I was shocked to find out that I could be seen for free after they identified me as a veteran,” Hull said.
In 2020, Congress signed the COMPACT Act Emergent Suicide Crisis Benefit into law to remove financial and administrative barriers to emergency suicide crisis care. Three years later, it was implemented by the VA, but many eligible veterans remain unaware of the benefit until they need it, veteran advocates and suicide prevention professionals told Military Times.
A lifeline beyond VA’s doors
The Emergency Suicide Crisis Benefit was established under the Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act, or COMPACT Act. Coverage includes emergency evaluation, treatment, inpatient or crisis residential care when clinically appropriate, and up to 90 days of outpatient follow-up care.
According to data provided by VA, nearly 50,000 veterans have received the Emergency Suicide Crisis Benefit since fiscal 2023, including just over 10,000 in fiscal 2023. 14,666 receieved the benefit in fiscal 2024; 15,218 in fiscal 2025; and 9,434 during the first half of fiscal 2026.
“The number of Veterans receiving the COMPACT Act’s Emergent Suicide Crisis Benefit has grown steadily since its inception in FY23,” VA Press Secretary Quinn Slaven said.
VA spent a record of nearly $110 million on acute suicide crisis care during fiscal 2025.
Slaven said VA reviews eligible cases to ensure veterans receive the benefit, educates veterans and community emergency department staff about its availability and works with providers so eligible veterans do not receive unexpected medical bills after crisis care.
According to VA, 72% of veterans who have used the benefit have since enrolled in VA healthcare.
Misconceptions persist
Despite growing use of the benefit, the Disabled American Veterans, or DAV, organization says many eligible veterans still misunderstand who qualifies for emergency suicide crisis care.
“DAV believes awareness of the safety net created by the COMPACT Act remains lower than it should be,” Jon Retzer, DAV’s national legislative director, said.
Retzer said DAV service officers routinely meet veterans who believe they must already be enrolled in VA healthcare, have a service-connected disability rating or seek treatment at a VA medical center before the benefit applies.
“Many veterans remain uncertain whether an emergency room visit will generate medical debt or whether VA will ultimately cover the care,” Retzer said. “That uncertainty can discourage veterans from seeking treatment during a crisis when immediate intervention is critical.”
Retzer urged veterans experiencing a suicidal crisis to seek emergency care first and allow VA to determine eligibility afterward.
Army Reserve Prevention Integrator David Arthur said those same misconceptions continue to surface in his work, particularly among older veterans.
He said distance from a VA medical center can create uncertainty because many rural veterans live an hour or more away, while nearby outpatient clinics do not provide emergency services.
“When they are in a crisis, in my experience with suicidal soldiers and vets, they are not even thinking about that,” Arthur said. “But those thoughts are huge barriers, especially the cost.”
“I want every vet to know they can go to any ER or hospital,” Arthur continued.
Returning to care
Hull completed the full 90 days of follow-up care available through the benefit before enrolling in VA healthcare.
“I don’t know if I could have afforded the treatment I received after that night without the VA,” Hull said. “And I don’t know that I’d be enrolled with the VA now without the care I experienced.”
“I wish so many of my brothers and sisters knew that this was an option,” Hull said. “It doesn’t matter if you have insurance. It doesn’t matter if you’re a patient in the VA system. None of that matters. There are no strings attached. No barriers to being seen. This is a gift that every veteran needs to know they’re eligible for.”
1 week, 1 day ago
Navy announces recipients of 2026 Expeditionary Warfare Excellence Awards
The Expeditionary Warfare Excellence Awards recognize the top performing sailors and Marines from the 2025 calendar year.
The U.S. Navy on Wednesday announced the 2026 recipients of the Expeditionary Warfare Excellence Awards, recognizing the top performing sailors and Marines from the 2025 calendar year.
The awards, according to a NavAdmin, recognize those who have “significantly influenced the future of naval expeditionary warfare and amphibious capabilities” through innovation, leadership and teamwork. As part of the process, each service recognizes one enlisted and one officer from each branch.
On the Navy side, Lt. Cmdr. Tyler Biggs, Amphibious Squadron Eight, has been named the Expeditionary Warfare Officer of the Year.
Petty Officer 1st Class Bryant Campos, Joint Communications Unit, has been named the service’s Expeditionary Warfare Enlisted Sailor of the Year.
Marine Corps Maj. Nicholas Leeds, 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit/Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group, has earned the service’s Expeditionary Warfare Officer of the Year award.
And the winner of the Marine Corps Expeditionary Warfare Staff Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year is Master Sgt. Patrick Keeling, 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit/Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group.
Amphibious Squadron Eight, one of three tactical amphibious squadrons in the Naval Surface Force, was commanded until June by Capt. Christopher Farricker, who also helmed the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group during its recent 10-month deployment within the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility.
The 22nd MEU, embarked with the Iwo Jima ARG, deployed from Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, last August and headed for the Caribbean, where personnel took part in Operation Southern Spear, the Pentagon’s campaign to combat what it has labeled as narcoterrorist operations to push illicit drugs into the United States.
25 years later, ‘Band of Brothers’ still resonates
The seminal HBO miniseries about World War II paratroopers is remembered by actors, who will participate in a symposium at the National WWII Museum.
As an actor, Ross McCall is used to being recognized on the street. However, the Scottish film and TV star is amazed at the amount of attention he still receives for a character he portrayed a quarter of a century ago in the acclaimed “Band of Brothers” miniseries on HBO.
“I’ve been acting for 39 years and made many movies and TV shows,” he says. “I have a deep connection to all of them, but I certainly don’t have one I talk about 25 years later like this one.”
Based on the 1992 bestselling nonfiction book by Stephen Ambrose, the monumental miniseries tracked the service of soldiers in Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division from Normandy to Berchtesgaden in World War II. The show’s gritty authenticity and immersive storytelling made it an instant hit with critics and viewers alike.
Premiering on Sept. 9, 2001, “Band of Brothers was created by director Steven Spielberg and actor Tom Hanks, who were both involved in the 1998 film “Saving Private Ryan.” Two days after the first episode aired, the United States was rocked by the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The series served as rallying point for a grieving country by showing how Americans responded to a similar challenge decades earlier.
“I remember 9/11 and ‘Band of Brothers’ very vividly,” says historian Adam Coste of the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, which is sponsoring a “Band of Brothers” 25th Anniversary Symposium July 31 and Aug. 1. “Those seminal moments confirmed for me the path I was going to take into the military, where I served 11 years as an Army officer. Watching the series at the time influenced me and my generation of veterans because it emphasized brotherhood over combat.”
“Band of Brothers” also set the bar higher for films and series depicting the bloody reality of war and is now considered the gold standard for all such productions. The actors portrayed real citizen soldiers from across the United States who signed up as paratroopers in the “Screaming Eagles” division to fight fascism. The series shows these young men as determined and ordinary individuals who strove to do their duty with bravery.
“‘Band of Brothers’ was never about celebrity, it was about legacy,” says McCall, who portrayed PFC Joseph Liebgott. “It was a legacy about a particular company of men. Somehow, we managed to follow in their footsteps and tell their stories. We knew what was on the line and what we had to do.”
James Madio, who played T-4 Frank J. Perconte, realized early what they were doing was special. The entire group of actors had to participate in a grueling 10-day “basic training” before filming started so they could get a sense of what soldiers in Easy Company experienced.
“We were up every morning at 5:30 to do PT,” he recalls. “We wore dog tags and marched to the set singing each day. We went through weapons training and learned the manual of arms. We went on long marches with heavy backpacks and bivouacked outdoors. It was an incredible experience and all the actors bonded together during it.”
Since Perconte was still alive when the series went into production, Madio was able to query his “soldier” about his wartime service and get insight into his character. He also developed a close personal relationship with the elderly Army veteran that endured long after filming was completed. Perconte asked Madio to accompany him to Europe on a tour of the battle sites of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment during World War II.
“The friendship was number one for me,” Madio says. “I wanted his trust and I wanted his friendship. I looked up to him and that generation.”
Tim Matthews didn’t have the opportunity to meet his character, Alex M. Penkala Jr. The Army private was killed in action Jan. 10, 1945, in Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge. The actor-turned-acting-teacher admits to not having much dialog but points out the death of his soldier — as well as others in episode 7 — had a important impact on the show.
“The series is very much a wider story about a whole company,” Matthews says. “This episode shows how the morale of the company is affected when they are killed, which was done very effectively. In a real way, it demonstrates the emotional connection these men had to each other.”
For these actors, being in “Band of Brothers” was a pivotal moment in their careers. Knowing what was at stake, they banded together as a group in much the same way as the soldiers in Easy Company during World War II. They forged lasting relationships with others in the cast that remain intact today.
“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t have some form of communication with one of the other actors,” Madio says. “We have reunions and we talk to each other all the time. We are all brothers and friends.”
All three actors plan to attend the 25th Anniversary Symposium in New Orleans. Their goal is to renew their bonds while honoring the real men who helped liberate Europe from fascism more than 80 years ago. They also look forward to engaging with fans of the miniseries — especially new viewers who weren’t even born when it first aired 25 years ago.
“I’m stopped today by 16-year-olds in the airport who recognize me,” McCall says. “We’re speaking to the generation we need to speak to now. They need to realize what these men did for us.”
The “Band of Brothers” 25th Anniversary Symposium will be shown live online Friday and Saturday, July 31 and Aug. 1. The public can watch free by registering here.
1 week, 1 day ago
Trump promised redemption for troops who refused COVID shots. A year later, many are still waiting.
They were kicked out of the military for refusing to get the COVID vaccine. Now reinstatement is taking longer than they ever expected.
Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on The War Horse, an award-winning nonprofit news organization educating the public on military service. Subscribe to their newsletter.
When the COVID-19 vaccine was released in 2020, Daniel Pendergast was intrigued.
“I honestly thought it sounded kind of ingenious at first,” he said.
But then he learned there was a very small chance of heart inflammation that could occur after vaccination in healthy men like himself: around eight cases per million, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. For Pendergast, 44, whose family has a history of heart disease, even that low risk felt too high. He decided against taking the shot.
That was a problem for Pendergast. As a master sergeant in the Air National Guard, he was required to follow Pentagon orders mandating vaccination.
Ultimately, he decided to forgo vaccination and leave the military once his contract was up in June 2022. It was a hard decision. He had been in the military for 16 years, served in the Honor Guard, and sang the national anthem at sporting events.
“Lots of tears were shed over it,” he said. “It’s not something that I ever wanted to do.”
Now after four years as a civilian, Pendergast hopes to rejoin the military under a January 2025 executive order signed by President Donald Trump in his first month back in office. It promised to reinstate all service members who were discharged, or voluntarily left, for refusing the COVID vaccine. Not only does Pendergast want to continue to serve until his active duty retirement or beyond, but, he said, “I feel that we’re needed back in the force because we are the ones who held our integrity.”
The path to reinstatement hasn’t been easy. Pendergast submitted for reinstatement less than a week after Trump’s executive order. But that was almost a year and a half ago, and Pendergast still hasn’t put his uniform back on. Recently, the Board of Correction for Military Records offered him reinstatement and recommended he return to Active Guard Reserve status—though there’s no guarantee the Guard will honor that recommendation. He still hasn’t been offered a new contract.
Pendergast isn’t alone. The War Horse spoke with four military service members also vying for reinstatement after rejecting the COVID vaccine, and all complained about having to wade through bureaucratic red tape for months, despite being told by the White House they would be prioritized.
“A lot of people that are in the Pentagon or on the board, they didn’t live the abuse and the coercion that we did,” said Jordan Karr, a former Air Force intelligence officer who was involuntarily separated in 2022 for refusing the COVID vaccine. “We just want fairness.”
Thousands left the military during the COVID mandate
Nearly 8,000 active-duty and reserve troops were involuntarily separated after refusing to get the COVID vaccine, according to the Department of Defense. Of those, more than 4,000 did not receive honorable discharges. Many others, Pendergast included, left voluntarily when their contracts ended rather than take the shot. Just days before the January 2021 deadline, roughly 40,000 service members still hadn’t complied with the vaccine mandate, according to The Washington Post.
The effects of the vaccine mandate are still felt years later.
“I still have clients that are leaving today,” said Davis Younts, a lawyer and former Air Force judge advocate representing service members discharged after refusing the COVID vaccine. Younts said he represented three Navy SEALs who left as soon as their contracts were up.
“They spent two years on the sidelines, not able to train, not able to do anything, given horrible jobs,” he said.
Younts himself left the Air Force Reserve when his contract ended in 2022, opting to refuse the vaccine for religious reasons. He claims that vaccine deniers in the military generally fall into two camps: those opposed for religious reasons, and those who, like Pendergast, worried about the vaccine being experimental (according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, COVID vaccines were rigorously tested before receiving an emergency use authorization).
When Congress rescinded the military’s vaccine mandate in 2023, it should have been welcome news for the thousands of service members who had refused the shot. But only about 200 troops and 85 coast guardsmen have been reinstated so far, although nearly 900 have had their discharges upgraded. More than 800 of those discharged have expressed interest in returning to service, according to the Pentagon.
Since Trump’s return to office, the administration has made a concerted effort to win back more COVID vaccine deniers. Aside from the president’s executive order, which promised former service members a return to their prior rank and “full back pay,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in early May created a COVID-19 Reinstatement and Reconciliation Task Force.
“We must continue to ensure there is a clear path for these service members to return to service,” Hegseth wrote in a memo announcing the initiative. “We will continue to make this right.”
Waiting months for reinstatement
Karr, the former Air Force intelligence officer, shared Pendergrast’s concerns about the COVID vaccine. She worried it could affect her ability to get pregnant, though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there is currently no scientific evidence that COVID vaccines cause fertility problems. Karr asked for a medical exemption for a fertility disorder, but was denied. So she declined the vaccine and was involuntarily separated in 2022 with an honorable discharge. She also joined a lawsuit against the military, which was later dismissed.
Now she’s ready to rejoin, albeit this time in the reserves, since she now has a young infant. Karr submitted for reinstatement before Trump was inaugurated and was offered reinstatement 10 months later, but she has not yet accepted since she felt the terms were unfair.
“One of the things a lot of us have contention with is that we’re being offered to come back in the same position, which is actually a career negative for us,” Karr said.
Accepting the reinstatement offer meant she’d be four years behind peers who were vaccinated.
“People that sit behind a desk don’t understand the hardships that a lot of members went through,” she said. The Board of Correction for Military Records is still considering her appeal.
A former coast guardsman, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear speaking to the media might jeopardize their chances of reinstatement, said that after their vaccine refusal, the Coast Guard threatened a court-martial and nonjudicial punishment before settling on restricted leave, and eventually, an honorable discharge.
A year later, the Coast Guard came calling.
“I asked them, what were they offering?” said the guardsman, who declined their first offer as inadequate. “When you are being forced to get out, and a brand-new recruit is more incentivized to join than it is for you to be reinstated, it’s like a huge slap in the face.”
But after four years out of uniform, reinstatement is more appealing, though a lack of trust persists. The guardsman has been waiting about five months to rejoin the military.
“There’s still no accountability,” the service member said. “So the question is, if there’s nothing that says this won’t happen again, how do I know upon reinstatement that they won’t ruin my career again?”
A former Air Force service member, who also asked not to be named, said they have spent more than a year trying to return to the military. But the reinstatement process laid out by the Department of Defense and individual military branches seems to change by the day.
“It’s really been an onus on us to reach out, to pursue and advocate very heavily for ourselves,” the airman said.
Still, Hegseth’s COVID task force seems to be helping, they said. According to the airman, the officer in charge of the task force “is sincerely interested in fixing systemic issues with the current reinforcement process.” They have spoken several times about sticking points in the current process and brainstormed possible workarounds, the service member said.
Karr agrees. She thinks that Pentagon bureaucrats, rather than top leaders like Hegseth, have held up her case.
“He doesn’t have to keep putting out these messages saying that they want us back, but he’s doing it,” she said. “So I do believe that his heart is good.”
Back pay and missing bonuses
After Pendergast left the military in 2022, he was suddenly jobless for the first time in a decade. He took a job at a TSA help desk. Leaving the military came with a $34,000 pay cut.
“There were some lean years,” he said.
Daniel Pendergast had to quickly find a new job after leaving the military due to refusing the COVID vaccine (photo courtesy of Daniel Pendergast)
Some of the service members who spoke to The War Horse said they depleted their savings to stay afloat or relied on their spouses’ incomes.
So perhaps it’s no surprise the announcement of back pay in Trump’s executive order sparked excitement and controversy. But there was some fine print: Service members who are reinstated are subject to “offsets” that deduct any money made from civilian jobs or self-employment after their discharge, as well as payments from the Department of Veterans Affairs. It’s become a major deterrent for some people considering reinstatement.
“There are many military members who have side jobs, secondary jobs, second sources of income while they’re active duty, and none of that gets deducted from your paycheck,” said the former coast guardsman. The offsets, they said, are “something outdated that needs to be revised.”
The former airman described offsets as “a heck of a reality slap.” For people going through the full reinstatement process, some were “making zero money back for back pay,” they said.
Reinstated service members are also excluded from Trump’s tax-free “warrior dividend” of $1,776 paid to nearly 1.5 million troops last year, The War Horse has learned, despite language in the executive order saying reinstated troops receive their “full back pay, benefits, bonus payments, or compensation.”
When asked about delays in the reinstatement process and missing bonuses, Pentagon officials declined to answer The War Horse’s questions. Instead, they sent a July 14 statement from Anthony Tata, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness.
“The Department is fully committed to restoring honor and rebuilding trust with the warfighters impacted by the COVID-19 vaccine mandate,” the statement said, pointing to two recently released memos announcing a review into how the military planned and carried out the vaccine mandate between January 2020 and January 2023, and a directive to declassify that review. The review is expected to be made public by February 2027.
The military quietly releases a COVID vaccine study
At the same time the Trump administration is working hard to regain the trust of service members who didn’t get the vaccine, the Military Health System, which is operated by the Department of Defense, quietly released one of its largest reports to date about the safety of the COVID vaccine. The March 9 report, which was requested by Congress, found that service members who were vaccinated had a short-term risk of heart disease compared to those who were unvaccinated—though it was less than the heart disease risk of troops that were infected with the COVID virus.
The findings, according to Peter Chin-Hong, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, who specializes in treating infectious diseases, are “similar to other studies where you know the risk is really in a short window period, and the risk is concentrated amongst young males in particular, and it’s not sustained.”
The study also found that some health conditions, such as acute kidney failure and hemorrhagic stroke, were less likely after service members were vaccinated. Those at risk for most of the health conditions studied were service members who contracted COVID and were not vaccinated, researchers said. In other words, the military study found the COVID vaccine protected most people from severe health conditions.
That wasn’t a surprise for Chin-Hong.
“Getting the real deal virus is much more detrimental to the body in multiple organs than the vaccine itself,” he said, noting that the virus and the vaccine activate the immune system in different ways.
When asked about the study, Pendergast said he hadn’t seen it and didn’t expect it to change his view.
“It doesn’t change the calculus for me,” he said. “This sounds a little bit like CYA.”
So why spend more than a year trying to rejoin the military whose explanation he doesn’t trust?
“We’re getting in either to restore our careers,” he said, “or a good percentage of us are getting in to try and restore the force itself.”
1 week, 1 day ago
Widespread hormone replacement could yield long-term detriments that outweigh benefits
Widespread hormone replacement among troops could yield health and operational risks that outweigh benefits, former VA Secretary David Shulkin argues here.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth recently announced a new policy to screen service members over 30 for low testosterone and offer replacement therapy to those who qualify.
The intent — a stronger, more capable force — is a good one. Policies built on good intentions, however, can still go wrong, and this one deserves careful scrutiny before it is implemented at scale.
The goal of having a more effective military is understandable, but the question remains whether the science supports the strategy.
Testosterone replacement therapy is an important treatment for men with true hypogonadism, a carefully diagnosed medical condition. But expanding hormone screening across hundreds of thousands of healthy service members represents a significant shift in military medicine — one that deserves far more public discussion than it has received.
The military has always embraced innovation, but medicine is different. Good intentions are not enough. Before introducing any intervention on a broad scale, policymakers should be confident that the benefits outweigh the risks for the entire force.
So, does the evidence actually show testosterone makes troops more lethal or better fighters? Not clearly.
The Army’s own research is instructive. In the service’s first Optimizing Performance for Soldiers study, men given weekly testosterone injections during a simulated combat energy deficit preserved more lean muscle than men on placebo, but their physical performance declined at about the same rate as the untreated group.
The hormone helped the body hold onto muscle, but did not translate into better fighting performance. Put simply: the case that testosterone will make service members deadlier hasn’t been made.
It’s also worth considering what a low testosterone reading often actually represents. A low laboratory value may reflect the normal physiological demands of military service rather than a chronic hormonal disorder.
Sleep deprivation, combat deployments, chronic stress, obesity, alcohol use and intensive physical training can all temporarily suppress testosterone levels. Low testosterone is often a symptom rather than the underlying problem.
If the Department of Defense wants to build a stronger military, investments in sleep, nutrition, physical conditioning, behavioral health and recovery science are likely to produce broader and more lasting benefits than widespread hormone replacement.
Without careful evaluation, including repeat testing and assessment for reversible causes, many healthy service members could be labeled as testosterone deficient and begin long-term treatment they may never have needed. That decision carries consequences.
Once testosterone therapy begins, the body’s own production is suppressed. Fertility may decline. Testicular atrophy can occur. Some men become dependent on continued treatment because normal hormone production does not fully recover.
Ongoing monitoring is required to watch for elevated red blood cell counts, prostate-related concerns, sleep apnea and other potential complications. Researchers continue to study the long-term cardiovascular effects, particularly in younger, healthier populations.
Behavioral effects deserve equal attention. Testosterone influences mood, confidence, motivation and aggression. When appropriately prescribed, these effects may improve quality of life in men with genuine deficiency. But unnecessary treatment, or excessive hormone levels, may increase irritability, impulsivity, emotional volatility or impaired judgment in susceptible individuals.
In a military that depends on discipline, restraint and sound decision-making under extreme pressure, even uncommon adverse effects warrant careful consideration.
Testosterone therapy has an important place in modern medicine. That is indisputable. The key issue, though, is whether routine screening and expanded hormone treatment across one of America’s healthiest working populations will strengthen military readiness or create long-term health challenges that outweigh the expected benefits.
Many of these issues will need to be addressed by the Department of Veterans Affairs after the service member transitions to civilian life.
America’s military superiority has never depended on a laboratory value. It is built on leadership, training, discipline, resilience and the judgment of the men and women who serve. Those remain the greatest sources of our strategic advantage.
David Shulkin, MD, was secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs during the first Trump Administration and served as VA’s under secretary of health during the Obama Administration.
1 week, 2 days ago
House passes $1.15 trillion defense bill in near party-line vote
The U.S. House passed a $1.15 trillion defense bill Wednesday in a 216-212 vote.
The U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed its version of a sweeping defense policy bill Wednesday, approving a historic $1.15 trillion budget for the Pentagon amid uncertainty on the future of the Iran war.
The increased budget, up from the $900.6 billion authorized last year, raised concerns among lawmakers who felt they should cease funding the war in Iran, especially as the U.S. faces mounting debt.
The House passed its fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act in a vote of 216-212, with three representatives sustaining from voting. A large majority of Republicans, 209, voted in favor of the bill, and 205 Democrats voted against it. Seven Republicans and six Democrats strayed from party lines.
The bill would have the Department of Defense officially adopt a name change to Department of War. The massive bill also includes a 5% to 7% pay raise for military service members, an increase in active-duty force size and a mandate to revert the names of nine southern military bases to those recommended in 2023 to replace Confederate honorifics.
In the Wednesday session, House lawmakers took to the floor to debate the bill, with some alleging its necessity to safeguard America both domestically and abroad. Policymakers on either sides of the aisle placed the blame on the other.
“The Democrats have gone on time and time again with this unprecedented obstruction,” House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, said in the session. “Recently, they blocked the National Defense Authorization Act to protest President Trump and our troops’ efforts to stop this radical terrorist regime from having nuclear weapons,” Arrington said, referring to Senate Democrats blocking that chamber’s version of the 2027 NDAA last week.
Other lawmakers said the bill’s high price tag would cost American taxpayers too much during a time when citizens are already struggling, and as the country is in the midst of a widely unpopular war in Iran.
“Most of that [new deficit] spending is for President Trump’s Iran war, a reckless decision with absolutely no plan on how to achieve victory and how it would end,” House Budget Committee Ranking Member Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., said during the session.
“There’s nothing in [the reconciliation bill] whatsoever to bring down costs,” Boyle continued. “Just more spending on the most unpopular war in American history.”
The Iran war has cost the Defense Department $37.5 billion to date, Secretary Pete Hegseth told senators Tuesday. Hegseth testified during a hearing to request $67.1 billion in supplemental money for the war and other DoD expenses.
Historically seen by both parties as “must-pass legislation,” the NDAA is one of the few major bills that always gets through Congress, having become law for 65 straight years.
This year’s bill faces major challenges, given deep partisan divisions within Congress on issues ranging from the massive size of the military budget, to the Iran war and aid to Israel and Ukraine.
It is early in the NDAA process.
Each year, the House and Senate pass their own versions of the NDAA, before Armed Services committee negotiators agree on compromise version that then comes up for a vote in each chamber.
If the compromise version passes, it would be sent to the White House for Trump to sign into law or veto.
Reuters contributed to this report.
1 week, 2 days ago
Pentagon to roll out new test to assess troops’ cognitive performance
The Pentagon will transition from ANAM to an "improved capability" to further protect service members' brain health and test for TBIs.
The Defense Department is updating its Cognitive Monitoring Program to include a next-generation capability to meet increased operational demands and reflect matured science.
The department will transition from the current Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics, or ANAM, to an “improved capability” through a phased implementation effective immediately, according to a June 9 Pentagon memorandum.
A Pentagon official told Military Times that the effort will replace legacy tools with a next-generation, enterprise-wide capability that can detect cognitive changes early.
The new capability will provide timely, actionable data that can allow commanders to make informed operational decisions, while empowering medical providers to analyze cognitive trends for rapid clinical follow up and the department to sustain the overall readiness of the U.S. military, the official said.
“While ANAM provided an early foundation for cognitive baseline collection, the operational requirements, and technological landscape have advanced significantly,” the memo reads.
“The Department’s sustained research investments, combined with emerging clinical insights and the evolution of neurocognitive and neurobiological assessment capabilities, now support a transition from ANAM to a more modern, scalable, and operationally aligned solution,” the memo continues.
The memo first circulated on the unofficial Air Force Facebook page Air Force amn/nco/snco last week. A Pentagon official confirmed its authenticity to Military Times on Wednesday.
The rise of ANAM
ANAM is a computerized test that takes around 20 to 30 minutes with a combination of reaction and memorization activities to evaluate a service member’s neurocognitive baseline and can evaluate for traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs.
The tool was first developed in 1984, and it was mandated by Congress in 2008 for all Defense Department personnel as a pre-deployment baseline testing and post-injury assessment. At the time, the number of TBIs in the military grew substantially following deployments to the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.
TBI is the disruption of brain function or structure caused by an external force, like a blow to the head or shockwave from a blast, that can cause brain bleeds or swelling. Symptoms can range from dizziness and trouble sleeping to memory loss or seizures.
While most cases are mild and allow service members affected to return to duty rather quickly, the more severe cases can last years or be permanent.
More than 500,000 service members sustained a TBI from 2000 to 2025, according to government data, from day-to-day activities, military deployment or training. The majority of TBI cases suffered by service members are classified as mild, or concussion, and they can return to full duty within 10 to 14 days of sustaining the injury.
Service officials have considered TBI to be the “signature injury” of modern warfare as it was seen widely in post-9/11 conflicts due to an increase in the use of explosive devices.
More recently, in the Iran war, nearly 500 service members have been injured, with the majority of injuries being TBIs.
A new approach
The June memo, signed by Under Secretary of War for Personnel and Readiness Anthony Tata, says that the DoD is granting a one-year exception to the previous policy to allow for the phased implementation to replace ANAM as the Pentagon’s cognitive monitoring tool.
When indicated, the new tool will incrementally replace ANAM for cognitive baselining, periodic monitoring, pre-deployment screening, clinical evaluations and post-deployment assessment, per the memo.
“The Department’s commitment to brain health is unwavering and enduring,” Tata wrote in the memo. “This modernization ensures that our cognitive monitoring enterprise reflects evolving science, operational needs, and our responsibility to protect those who defend our great nation.”
During the phased implementation, ANAM will continue to be used to meet the department’s cognitive monitoring requirements until the new capability is tested across the military.
Firstly, the rollout will prioritize deployed service members, followed by those preparing to deploy, the Pentagon official said, and will reach all remaining service members eventually. The memo also states that high-risk civilian personnel will be included in the early implementation.
TBI interventions
The change continues the broader efforts across the DoD to strengthen early identification and management of brain-health impacts for the total force. Services have been fielding new capabilities to assess TBI on the battlefield.
The Defense Health Agency’s Warfighter Readiness, Performance and Brain Health team hosted a medical training camp recently to evaluate TBI assessment technology prototypes being developed for use, according to a mid-July release.
Last week, the Army announced that a handheld blood-testing device, called i-STAT Alinity — which can detect TBI in 15 minutes — is being fielded to units under the 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command because of the disproportionately high rates of TBIs in air defense.
The move to update the Defense Department’s cognitive monitoring program comes as funding for medical research into TBI has dropped significantly in the last three fiscal years.
In fiscal 2024, TBI under the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs was allocated $175 million, which dropped completely the following fiscal year to zero.
Funding jumped to $40.5 million in fiscal 2026, still a 23% decrease from fiscal 2024, with fiscal 2027’s budget request maintaining that amount.
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