WASHINGTON, March 17 (Reuters) — The U.S. aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, deployed in operations against Iran, is expected to temporarily pull into port after a fire on board, U.S. officials said on Tuesday, the 18th day of the war with Tehran.

The carrier, America’s newest and the world’s largest, is currently located in the Red Sea. It is expected to temporarily go to Souda Bay on the Greek island of Crete, the two officials said.

The warship has been deployed for nine months, including taking part in operations against Venezuela in the Caribbean prior to arriving in the Middle East. The length of the deployment has raised questions about morale of the sailors on board and the readiness of the warship.

The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, did not say how long the Ford was expected to remain in Crete.

One of the officials said nearly 200 sailors were treated for smoke-related injuries when the fire broke out in the ship’s main laundry area. The fire took hours to bring under control and had an impact on roughly 100 sleeping berths.

One service member was flown off the ship for injuries, the official said.

The New York Times first reported the extent of the damage on board the warship. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

After the fire initially broke out, the U.S. military had said that there was no damage to the ship’s propulsion plant and the aircraft carrier was fully operational.

The United States has carried out strikes against more than 7,000 targets since it started operations against Iran on Feb. 28.

The Ford, with more than 5,000 sailors aboard, has more than ​75 military aircraft, including fighter aircraft like the F-18 Super Hornets. The Ford has sophisticated radar that can help control air traffic and navigation.

The supporting ships, such as the Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser USS Normandy, Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers USS Thomas Hudner, USS Ramage, USS Carney and USS Roosevelt, include surface-to-air, surface-to-surface and anti-submarine warfare capabilities.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart; Editing by Howard Goller)

The U.S. Marine Corps is hosting celebrations to honor the Harrier aircraft and its service members as it reaches its end of service life.

The Harrier Sundown celebration will “honor the legacy of the aircraft and the Marines who served with it,” according to a Tuesday Marine Administrative message. The sundown celebration will be hosted by the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing at the Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, from June 1 to 4, the memo states.

The AV-8B Harrier II+ will reach the end of its planned service life in fiscal year 2026, per the message. The last flight was flown by Marine Attack Squadron VMA 231 and its official deactivation is set for September.

The message says that the Corps will continue the Tactical Aircraft Transition Plan, which means switching to an all-fifth generation tactical air fleet to modernize their aviation capabilities. The plan increases fleet squadrons to 12 primary aircrafts.

The squadron is transitioning to a F-35B Lightning II aircraft, and the Corps is expecting to have a full fifth generation fleet in their tactical aircraft by 2030.

The sundown week will include events hosted by the 2nd MAW units, local governments and businesses and the Marine Corps Aviation Association, the release states. Many of the events are free to attend, but some, like the gala and the gold tournaments, will require payment, per the message.

Other events currently set for the celebration are a social, a picnic, a squadron and simulator open house, and the sundown ceremony, according to the release.

Additional information on registration and details will be made available on the website as the event approaches.

Read the full MarAdmin here.

The U.S. Navy is taking steps toward remedying ongoing maintenance delays by enlisting the help of artificial intelligence and robotic systems, the service announced.

The sea service reached an agreement with the Pittsburgh-based Gecko Robotics, the company confirmed Tuesday, to deploy tech capable of streamlining repairs and reducing maintenance delays for a surface fleet that continues to be stretched thin.

The contract will begin as a 5-year, $54 million indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity deal that will soon see Gecko begin work on 18 ships assigned to the Navy’s U.S. Pacific Fleet.

To expedite what has in recent years become a headache for naval readiness, Gecko uses drones, wall-climbing robots and fixed sensors to gather data on components, decks, welds and hulls.

That information, paired with AI tools, is used to identify current and potential structural issues that may remain hidden to the naked eye.

“A single robotic evaluation and digital rendering of a flight deck eliminated over three months of potential maintenance delay days,” the company release stated about one such procedure.

These measures have expedited maintenance “up to 50 times faster and more accurately than manual methods,” the company added.

“Readiness isn’t just a metric, it’s all that matters,” Jake Loosararian, co-founder and CEO of Gecko, said in the release. “This growing partnership is about unfair advantages Gecko is deploying to our Navy; and how prediction, through our robotics and AI products, ensure our brave men and women are the most advantaged in the world in their fight to defend freedom.”

In fall 2024, then-Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti unveiled a goal of having 80% of the Navy’s fleet ready to deploy at any given time by 2027.

Obstacles to reaching that goal materialized quickly, however, with a Government Accountability Office report in December 2024 highlighting a readiness rate among the Navy’s amphibious warfare ships of just 46% between 2011 and 2020. This rate, in turn, significantly hindered Marine Corps deployment and training plans.

In August 2025, that rate reportedly dipped to just 41%, resulting in a more than five-month gap in Marine Expeditionary Unit deployments that year and further straining resources amid the Trump administration’s push to counter the illicit drug trade in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The 80% plan, meanwhile, was picked up by Franchetti’s successor, Adm. Daryl Caudle, who called the rate “an ambitious but essential readiness goal.”

“Achieving this requires shorter maintenance cycles, increased spare-parts availability, improved training pipelines and targeted upgrades across the fleet,” Caudle wrote for Military Times in December.

“Readiness is not a budget line — it is a promise to the American people that their Navy will never arrive late to a fight."

The Department of Veterans Affairs is developing a tool that will analyze veterans’ disability claims applications for fraud — a program VA officials say could identify providers or companies that abuse the system.

The tool will not, however, be used to pursue potentially fraudulent past claims, a concern that arose recently among veterans following a congressional hearing that divulged the program’s development.

Using a Microsoft data analytics program, the VA program will use information gleaned from forms known as Disability Benefits Questionnaires to identify patterns in language or omissions that could indicate fraud.

VA Press Secretary Pete Kasperowicz said the effort, expected to be rolled out sometime this year, is designed to detect filings from companies that pose as legitimate medical providers or file claims on behalf of veterans and charge them excessive fees.

The number of for-profit companies that assist veterans with disability claims has skyrocketed since 2006, when criminal penalties were removed for those who charge veterans for the service. The PACT Act — the landmark legislation that expanded disability benefits to millions of veterans exposed to burn pits and other pollutants — also has presented these companies with business expansion opportunities.

While these companies market themselves as helping veterans navigate the challenging VA claims process and get appropriate disability ratings, veterans’ advocates say the businesses, which they refer to as “claim sharks,” prey on veterans and charge them exorbitant fees.

While veterans are permitted to hire companies or attorneys to appeal claims decisions, the law prohibits anyone from charging for assistance with initial filings.

But that hasn’t stopped for-profit companies from stepping in. And while some may offer legitimate services, others have been targeted by the VA as bad actors. In December, the department sent “cease and desist letters” to 40 companies, and it will use the Power Business Intelligence program to look for fraud.

“[The program] relies on manual data entry and analysis to help identify patterns that may help VA identify when organized fraud rings are posing as legitimate medical providers and preying on Veterans (for example, by excessively charging them),” Kasperowicz said in an email to Military Times.

In 2024, the VA Office of Inspector General said of nearly 32,000 claims completed in 2022, 69% contained “one or more indicators” of potential fraud risk, with an estimated monetary value of $390 million.

Given the amount of money, it’s no wonder the VA is being proactive in investigating disability compensation claims, said David Pineda, a Marine Corps veteran who runs a company that helps veterans with claims.

“In education, there were diploma mills where people were using GI Benefits to go to schools — these mills were unethical and illegal and [the VA] cracked down on it. In this space here, it’s a similar thing happening. Some organizations are DBQ mills,” Pineda said in an interview.

During the traditional claims application process, a VA Compensation and Pension examiner completes a veteran’s DBQ and assesses a veteran’s medical records, physical abilities, medications and daily activities. The review determines a veteran’s disability rating which sets the level of benefits and disability compensation.

This claims process can be navigated without cost to the veteran; with assistance provided by accredited veterans service officers at veteran organizations like the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars; through veterans service officers at state and county governments; and at the VA.

For-profit companies can assist veterans for appeals, but some companies unlawfully are charging for initial assistance and in other cases, are charging enormous fees on backdated benefits awards.

One Army veteran who spoke to Military Times said Trajector Medical, one of the companies on the VA’s cease and desist list, provided little assistance and after he canceled his contract, charged him thousands.

The new program is designed to look at discrepancies in DBQs identified by the VA inspector general, such signs of alterations, incorrect contact information, information from a medical examiner more than 100 miles from a veteran’s address or contradicting findings that may indicate fraud.

James Smith, deputy executive director of the VA’s Policy and Procedures for Compensation Service office, said in a February congressional hearing that to develop the program, the VA would scan DBQs back to 2010, which would give it the data and patterns needed to identify future problems.

But a story on Smith’s disclosure in Stars and Stripes generated concerns among veterans that the tool would be used to identify fraudulent claims filed in the past 16 years.

“When veterans hear that the VA is scanning private DBQs for fraud, the community at large interprets this as ‘they’re coming after me,’ whether they have committed fraud or not,” said Clayton Simms, a Marine Corps veteran who created a YouTube channel, The CivDiv, to discuss veterans issues.

VA Press Secretary Peter Kasperowicz said Monday that this is not the case. The VA is only using older claims “to analyze patterns that could indicate fraud and are using that analysis to look at new claims,” he said.

“Those older claims won’t be reopened or reprocessed,” Kasperowicz said. “No veteran’s claim or benefit will be reduced or denied because of this effort.”

In its January 2024 report, the inspector general made five recommendations to the department for improved training and reporting processes and authenticating DBQs, including developing a system for identifying inauthentic or potentially fraudulent questionnaires.

A bill is under consideration in Congress that would require the VA to identify and report instances of fraud in DBQs. The legislation would require the VA to establish a process for veterans and claims processors to report suspected fraud.

VA officials said in the February hearing that the legislation would be a duplication of efforts.

“VA’s been proactive in this space,” Smith said. “We recognize that there are some problem players out there, but we’ve developed training that the claims processors are required to take so that they can understand their responsibility to potentially identify fraudulent DBQs, as well as a defined process for them to report suspected fraudulent DBQs up.”

Joe Kent, one of the United States’ top counterterrorism officials, announced his immediate resignation on Tuesday, arguing that President Donald Trump had been led into an unnecessary war with Iran — in part by undue influence from Israel.

In a letter addressed to the president and posted to social media, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center claimed that the Islamic Republic “posed no imminent threat to our nation.”

“It is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby,” Kent said.

Kent described what he characterized as a “misinformation campaign” driven by high-ranking Israeli officials and echoed by the American media — a campaign that he said undermined Trump’s “America First platform and sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran.”

“This echo chamber was used to deceive you [Trump] into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States,” he continued, adding, “This was a lie and is the same tactic the Israelis used to draw us into the disastrous Iraq war.”

Kent — a retired U.S. Army Green Beret — also invoked a deep personal loss. His wife, Senior Chief Petty Officer Shannon Kent, a military cryptologist, was killed in 2019 by a suicide bomber in Manbij, Syria, along with three other Americans.

“As a veteran who deployed to combat 11 times and as a Gold Star husband who lost my beloved wife Shannon in a war manufactured by Israel, I cannot support sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people nor justifies the cost of the American lives,” he wrote.

At least 13 U.S. service members have been killed in the current conflict with Iran, and more than 200 have been wounded, according to the Pentagon.

Asked about Kent’s resignation, Trump replied, “I always thought he was a nice guy, but I always thought he was weak on security.”

“When I read his statement, I realized that it’s a good thing that he’s out because he said that Iran was not a threat,” the president told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday, insisting that “Iran was a threat.”

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not immediately respond to request for comment on Kent’s resignation.

Marines can now complete their handgun qualification using a pistol equipped with a red dot optic, according to a policy change announced in a Marine Administrative Message last week. However, there is a caveat: the optic — an M17 Romeo red dot — must be purchased and issued by the Marine’s unit.

Exactly how many Marines will receive the optics remains unclear. Military Times requested comment from the Marine Corps’ Marksmanship Program Management team and Training and Education Command but did not receive a response in time for publication.

Over the past decade, pistol-mounted red dot optics have surged in popularity among civilian shooters and police. Today, most major handgun models offer optics-ready variants.

Experts say the system provides a clear advantage over traditional iron sights. Rather than aligning the front and rear sights, shooters can focus on the target while placing a projected aiming point over it — a literal red dot. It not only simplifies the shooting process, especially under stress, but affords quicker target acquisition.

The Marine Corps update follows a broader set of changes developed through the service’s Marksmanship Campaign Plan, an initiative launched in 2024 to overhaul training and improve combat lethality.

Additional changes announced in the March 12 message include:

• A shift from annual qualification to deployment-focused training cycles;
• Replacing “destroy” targets with “drill” targets during annual rifle qualification;
• Adoption of updated Lethality Factor scoring metrics at combat schools.

Similar to the red dot policy, a limited number of Marines will also be authorized to qualify with Glock pistols instead of the standard M17 or M18. That exception applies only to Marines assigned to Marine Forces Special Operations Command and embassy security duty, the only units in the Corps currently issued Glock handguns.

As the “M17” designation implies, the optic is designed for use with the military’s M17 and M18 handguns, both of which — along with the optic itself — are manufactured by SIG Sauer.

In October 2024, SIG announced that the Army officially endorsed the Romeo red dot by adding it to the Approved Accessory List for the M17. And a year before that marked another milestone, when the optic received a NATO Stock Number, or NSN.

As the company explained in a press release, an NSN identifies the product as a “standardized material,” which in turn “streamlines the procurement process for all NATO members and partner countries.”

HOUSTON — An Afghan immigrant whose family said he had been evacuated from his home country after working for years with U.S. forces died at a Texas hospital after immigration authorities detained him, according to authorities.

Federal immigration officials called Mohommad Nazeer Paktyawal a “criminal” who had been arrested for alleged fraudulent use of food stamps and for theft. Officials also said Paktyawal had not provided any record of his military service.

#AfghanEvac, a San Diego-based group that helps resettle Afghans who assisted the U.S. during the two-decade war, pushed back against the federal government’s claims about Paktyawal, one of several people who have died in recent months after being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

“Calling a man a criminal without a conviction while claiming there is ‘no record’ of service without checking interagency systems looks less like fact-finding and more like damage control,” said Shawn VanDiver, president of #AfghanEvac. “The government should be explaining how a 41-year-old father of six died less than 24 hours after entering ICE custody.”

A cause of death is still pending from the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office. But Paktyawal’s family said he was not ill.

“We still cannot understand how this happened. He was only 41 years old and was a strong and healthy man. His children keep asking when their father will come home,” the family said in a statement.

Paktyawal was arrested by ICE on Friday and during his medical intake exam at a Dallas ICE field office, he complained of shortness of breath and chest pain, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Lauren Bis said in a statement Monday.

Paktyawal was taken to Parkland Hospital in Dallas and on Saturday, his tongue became swollen and he received treatment. But later in the morning, medical staff had to perform CPR on him. He was pronounced dead at 9:10 a.m. CDT.

“No one in ICE custody is denied access to proper medical care,” Bis said.

His death was still under investigation, ICE said.

U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson, who on Monday had visited the Dallas ICE field office where Paktyawal was held, said the Department of Homeland Security and ICE have had a history “lying and misrepresenting” the background of people they arrest or encounter.

“He was not a violent criminal, as President Trump likes to say when he’s rounding up these folks. He was working as a baker,” said Johnson, a Democrat who represents parts of Dallas County. “He was providing for his family and contributing to our economy. And so we have a lot of questions of why was this gentleman targeted? Why was he picked up? And why did he die in their custody?”

ICE said Paktyawal had been arrested for committing fraud against SNAP, the government’s biggest food aid program, on Sept. 16. ICE said he had also been arrested for theft by Garland police on Nov. 1.

A Dallas County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson said there is an active case regarding SNAP benefits fraud of $200 or more, a third-degree felony, against Paktyawal that had not been resolved.

Police in the Dallas suburb of Garland said Paktyawal was arrested on Nov. 1 after being accused of not paying for groceries and merchandise from a Walmart.

The case in Garland, a misdemeanor, had not yet been filed with the district attorney’s office, according to the spokesperson.

Paktyawal had previously served alongside U.S. military special forces in Afghanistan for a decade and came to the United States following the withdrawal by U.S. troops and the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban in August 2021.

“The U.S. brought him here because of the role Afghans like him played in supporting the American mission,” VanDiver said.

Paktyawal, who was married, had been living in Richardson, a suburb of Dallas.

Johnson said she had been told by his family that he had applied for asylum and his case was pending. But Johnson said ICE agents are claiming that Paktyawal had missed his asylum appointments.

Deaths in ICE custody have soared during Trump’s second term.

The agency reported 14 custody deaths from the start of the government’s fiscal year Oct. 1 through Jan. 6, well on pace to surpass the previous 12-month count of 24. ICE reported 12 custody deaths in the 2024 fiscal year and 12 in the previous three years combined.

ICE has increased the number of people in its detention centers to more than 70,000 from about 40,000 at the start of Trump’s second term. It plans to spend $38.3 billion to boost capacity to 92,600 beds by the end of November, including converted warehouses that house up to 10,000 each.

Associated Press writers Elliot Spagat in San Diego, Jamie Stengle in Dallas and Rebecca Santana in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON, March 16 (Reuters) — The number of U.S. troops wounded in the war against Iran has risen to about 200, the U.S. military said on Monday, as the conflict entered its third week.

The U.S. military’s Central Command said the vast majority of those wounded had suffered minor injuries and 180 troops had already returned to duty. Ten of the injuries are serious, it said.

Troops had been injured in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain, Iraq, and Israel, Central Command added.

Thirteen U.S. troops have been killed since Iran launched strikes against U.S. military bases following ⁠the start of the conflict on Feb. 28.

Iranian attacks have also struck diplomatic missions, hotels and airports, and damaged energy infrastructure in Arab Gulf states.

Last week, Reuters reported that as many as 150 U.S. troops had been wounded in the conflict, highlighting the danger from Iranian strikes.

The United States, meanwhile, has carried out strikes against more than 7,000 targets in Iran.

About a dozen MQ-9 drones have been destroyed in the war, said a U.S. official on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle can loiter at altitudes of around 50,000 feet for more than 27 hours, gathering intelligence with sophisticated cameras, sensors and radars.

The Reaper, which entered service with the U.S. Air Force 16 years ago, can be equipped with weapons such as air-to-ground missiles.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Rosalba O’Brien)

A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction Friday that temporarily reinstates a collective bargaining agreement between the Department of Veterans Affairs and its largest employee union.

Rhode Island U.S. District Court Judge Melissa DuBose ruled in favor of the American Federation of Government Employees National Veterans Affairs Council, ordering the VA to recognize the bargaining contract that represents roughly 300,000 VA employees.

In her decision, DuBose noted that an executive order issued in March, 2025 by President Donald Trump allowed federal agencies that are involved in national security to terminate union contracts, including the VA, which may provide medical care to the general public during national health crises.

But the VA did not cite national security concerns in ending the AFGE contract, DuBose said.

Instead, the VA cited cost and an inability to terminate employees for performance issues or bad conduct as reasons for terminating AFGE’s agreement.

“Other than the one, vague, post hoc statement about national security that appears in [a] declaration, there is zero indication from the [VA] that the termination decision would have been made or implemented without the retaliatory motive,” DuBose wrote.

She also said some unions clearly were favored over others in the VA’s decision process since the department did not terminate all agreements, and the termination did not follow the executive order, which allowed decisions on an “agency or subdivision basis and not union by union.”

The VA ended most of its collective bargaining contracts with federal unions last August, affecting thousands of employees represented by AFGE, the AFL-CIO, the National Association of Government Employees, the National Federation of Federal Employees, the National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United and the Service Employees International Union.

VA officials said the move would make it easier to “promote high-performing employees” and “hold poor performers accountable.”

“Too often, unions that represent VA employees fight against the best interests of veterans while protecting and rewarding bad workers,” VA Secretary Doug Collins said at the time. “We’re making sure VA resources and employees are singularly focused on the job we were sent here to do: providing top-notch care and service to those who wore the uniform.”

AFGE filed a lawsuit in November over the termination, which included the VA stopping the withholding of union dues from employees’ paychecks.

In their suit, AFGE officials said the move was harming employees and the union, with employees seeing a decline in benefits, such as a decrease in parental leave from 16 weeks to 12 weeks, and loss of safeguards, while the union has been losing members.

AFGE National President Everett Kelley said Friday that DuBose’ ruling holds the VA accountable. He added that AFGE will monitor the VA to make sure it complies with the decision.

“Secretary Collins singled out AFGE and our members for retaliation because we refused to stay silent about cuts and changes at the VA that would harm veterans. His decision to exempt other unions from the President’s executive order and then terminate AFGE/NVAC’s collective bargaining agreement made the retaliation impossible to deny,” Kelley said in a statement.

It’s not clear how long the reinstatement will last. The VA did not respond by publication to a request for comment.

But the department is likely to appeal the decision, and the outcome is uncertain. In a separate lawsuit filed by AFGE on behalf of all government employees, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last month that the administration’s termination of collective bargaining agreements was not retaliatory, and it overturned a preliminary injunction put in place by a different federal judge.

Before the start of the second Trump administration, the VA had about 450,000 employees, nearly 80% of whom were represented by a union.

VA employee unions that were allowed to keep operating following the executive order included those representing 4,000 VA police officers, firefighters and security guards.

The two-star head of the command responsible for coordinating support for Ukraine left a tube of classified maps behind on a train in Europe, losing control of the sensitive material for 24 hours, a new report from the Department of Defense Inspector General’s office has found.

Then-Army Maj. Gen. Antonio Aguto, now retired, was also found to have sustained a concussion following a night of drinking to intoxication at a social event in Kyiv, leading to incoherence and confusion in a briefing the next day.

The report, released March 12, covers a period in April and May 2024 in which Aguto was commander of the Wiesbaden, Germany-based Security Assistance Group-Ukraine. Aguto relinquished command of the group in August 2024, having presided over its activation in 2022. He retired the same month.

Established with about 300 personnel, SAG-U was formed as a headquarters element “to build on the work of the 18th Airborne Corps, who originally deployed to Europe to reinforce NATO’s eastern flank and whose mission latter evolved to include coordinating the training and equipping of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” according to an announcement at its founding.

The investigation, which was based on anonymous whistleblower reports and also included allegations of a “toxic” environment at SAG-U headquarters, provided a rare inside perspective on working conditions and morale at the small logistics support element. The investigation did not find Aguto personally responsible for the unit’s problems, though.

According to the investigation, which was based on interviews with Aguto and 33 other witnesses, along with extensive document reviews, the classified materials breach happened April 4, 2024, on a return trip from Ukraine to Germany on a chartered train with a Ukrainian crew.

Aguto had brought with him to Ukraine a set of maps classified Secret, hand-carried in a cylindrical tube due to their size. While a witness reported seeing a noncommissioned officer in the travel party carry the map tube onto the train, nobody saw it being taken off. Aguto would only be notified by his executive officer that the map tube was missing after he had returned to headquarters in Wiesbaden, according to the investigation; it was found on the train the next day and returned, apparently untouched, via staff with U.S. Embassy Ukraine.

While classified information is supposed to be transported by courier on trips such as this, no courier order was issued, the investigation found.

Aguto told investigators he took responsibility for the temporary loss of the maps as the “senior guy,” despite not being the one designated to physically carry materials on and off the train.

In the military, mishandling of classified information can carry with it severe penalties, particularly when the violations are intentional.

The subject was pushed into the national spotlight last May, when a signal group chat including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and then-National Security Council Director Michael Waltz unintentionally shared sensitive attack plans with journalist Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic.

While Hegseth said the disclosures included “no classified information,” a DoD IG report found some of the information matched that previously classified as Secret.

The IG recommended that the Secretary of the Army refer the matter of the documents’ improper transport by Aguto to the U.S. European Command Special Security Office.

The night of drinking addressed in the report took place May 13, 2024, during a nine-day trip to Ukraine. During a six-hour dinner in Kyiv described as a military engagement, a witness reported that Aguto drank approximately two 500 ml bottles of chacha, a Georgian brandy containing 40-50% alcohol.

Witnesses reported Aguto as drunk, and he told investigators he was “some level of intoxicated” following the dinner.

During a meeting in Aguto’s room following the dinner, two witnesses reported seeing him fall backward and strike the back of his head against a wall. In the morning, according to the report, he also had a noticeable mark on his forehead.

As he met staff in the hotel lobby ahead of a morning meeting with then-Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, witnesses reported Aguto acting lethargic and “not himself,” and staff said they suggested he cancel the meeting.

En route to the U.S. Embassy and running late, Aguto fell again, hitting his jaw on the concrete and tearing his jacket.

Aguto showed up to the meeting looking “completely disheveled” and “out of it,” according to the regional security officer. The U.S. ambassador to Ukraine reported worrying that Aguto had been drugged, according to the IG, and others reported him slurring words and acting “cognitively diminished.” He was later taken to a local hospital and diagnosed with a concussion.

Investigators found Aguto’s falls had been a result of “overindulgence” in alcohol, saying he should have considered the effects before drinking so much and did not receive a proper waiver to consume more than the two authorized alcoholic beverages.

Aguto disagreed, saying he “acted in good faith” and had received verbal permission from Gen. Darryl Williams, commander of U.S. Army Europe, to drink at the dinner in light of the “cultural significance” of drinking at such events.

While the IG did not substantiate further allegations that Aguto “belittled” staff and created a toxic work environment, witnesses responding to a climate survey reported grim work conditions that tanked morale. Living spaces, containerized units or cubicle-like spaces in an open warehouse, had little privacy and no Wi-Fi, unit members reported.

“The living spaces were described as prison-like, with living conditions and food ‘[w]orse than Iraq and Afghanistan and even Syria,’” the investigation stated. “The base dining facility had limited food choices and did not operate in the evenings or on weekends when many SAG-U members worked, and the quality was substandard and unhealthy.”

Brutal operational tempo and long work hours also contributed to burnout, surveys found.

“The nature of SAG-U’s work in an active war, plus specific higher echelon briefing requirements, coupled with the Ukrainian partner’s demands for rapid and detailed information output, contributed to MG Aguto’s demanding leadership style,” investigators determined. “MG Aguto’s direct and stern communication style was not well received by some subordinates subject to his critiques, especially members from other Military Services.”

Attempts by Military Times to reach Aguto for comment were not immediately successful.

SAG-U, now commanded by Lt. Gen. Curtis Buzzard, continues to coordinate security force assistance to Ukraine.

The Pentagon has identified six service members who were killed on March 12 when a U.S. Air Force KC-135 refueling aircraft crashed during combat operations against Iran.

Maj. John “Alex” Klinner, 33, of Auburn, Alabama; Capt. Ariana G. Savino, 31, of Covington, Washington; and Tech. Sgt. Ashley B. Pruitt, 34, of Bardstown, Kentucky, were killed in the crash, the Pentagon announced. They were assigned to the 6th Air Refueling Wing, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida.

Also deceased are Capt. Seth R. Koval, 38, of Mooresville, Indiana; Capt. Curtis J. Angst, 30, of Wilmington, Ohio; and Tech. Sgt. Tyler H. Simmons, 28, of Columbus, Ohio, each of whom were assigned to the 121st Air Refueling Wing out of Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base in Columbus, Ohio.

“Our hearts are heavy as we mourn the loss of Alex, Ariana and Ashley,” U.S. Air Force Col. Ed Szczepanik, 6th Air Refueling Wing commander, said in a release Saturday. “To lose a member of the Air Force family is excruciatingly painful, especially to those who know them as son, daughter, brother, sister, spouse, mom, or dad. To lose them at the same time is unimaginable. Our hearts and minds are with the family, friends and loved ones of our fallen Airmen.”

The incident is under investigation.

Klinner was the chief of Squadron Standardizations and Evaluations at the 99th Air Refueling Squadron, the Air Force announced. He entered the Air Force in 2017 through the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps at Auburn University and would go on to deploy in 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2026.

Klinner’s awards include the Air Medal with oak leaf cluster, Aerial Achievement Medal, and Air and Space Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster.

Savino was the chief of Current Operations Pilot at the 99th Air Refueling Squadron. She earned her active duty commission in 2017 through the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps at Central Washington University and deployed in 2020 and 2026.

Savino’s awards include the Air Medal and the Air and Space Commendation Medal.

Pruitt was an assistant flight chief of Operations and KC-135 instructor boom operator at the 99th Air Refueling Squadron, the service announced. She joined the Air Force in May 2017 and completed Career Enlisted Aviator training the following February.

Pruitt deployed in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2026, according to her service record. Her awards include the Air Medal with silver oak leaf cluster, the Air and Space Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters, and the Air and Space Achievement Medal.

Koval was a KC-135R Stratotanker instructor pilot who enlisted in the Air Force in 2006 as a machinist and would later earn his commission in 2018. He was promoted to captain in November 2022.

Koval deployed in 2014, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2026. His awards include the Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Medal, the Air and Space Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster, and the Air and Space Achievement Medal.

A KC-135R pilot, Angst enlisted in the Ohio Air National Guard in May 2015 as a vehicle maintenance technician and would earn his commission in 2021, the service announced. He deployed in 2015 and 2026.

Angst’s awards include the Air and Space Commendation Medal, the Air and Space Achievement Medal, the Meritorious Unit Award, and the Air and Space Outstanding Unit Award.

Simmons was a KC-135R boom operator, according to the service. He joined the Air Force in 2017 and completed security forces technical training school in May 2018. He would deploy in 2018, 2023 and 2026.

Simmons became an inflight refueling specialist in April 2022, then a mobility force aviator in 2023. He was promoted to the rank of technical sergeant in May 2023. Simmons’ awards include the Air Force Commendation Medal.

“Today we mourn the loss of three remarkable Airmen whose service and commitment embodied the very best of our Ohio National Guard,” Maj. Gen. Matthew S. Woodruff, Ohio adjutant general, said of Koval, Angst and Simmons. “Their impact on their teammates and our mission will not be forgotten. Our thoughts and prayers are with their families, friends and fellow service members, and our entire Guard family stands with them as we grieve together during this difficult time.”

Numerous KC-135s are currently deployed to the U.S. Central Command area of operations, where crews have provided aerial refueling for other aircraft as a part of Operation Epic Fury.

The downed KC-135 is the fourth manned U.S. aircraft to be lost this month amid combat operations against the Islamic Republic.

A total of 13 U.S. service members have been killed during combat actions and roughly 140 more wounded — eight severely — across the opening two weeks of Operation Epic Fury.

Another service member, an Army National Guard officer who also served as a New York City policeman, died on March 6 following a non-combat incident.

“Our service members make an incredible sacrifice to go forward and do the things that the nation asks of them,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine said Friday while speaking about the crash. “It’s a reminder of the true cost of the dedication and commitment of the joint force.”

A fundraising email distributed Thursday by a political action committee linked to President Donald Trump included a photo of a March 7 dignified transfer of a U.S. soldier killed by an Iranian drone strike in Kuwait.

The email, which was signed “President Donald J. Trump“ and paid for by Never Surrender Inc., promises to make donors part of a ”National Security Briefing Membership.” It was first pointed out on X by Patriot Takes.

The embedded photo of the dignified transfer, taken by White House photographer Daniel Torok, is included in the email and bracketed by icons featuring the text, “CLAIM YOUR SPOT,” which can be clicked on to donate.

In the photo, Trump, wearing a white USA baseball hat, salutes as a flag-draped casket of a fallen soldier is transferred by an Army carry team. The casket included the remains of one of six soldiers returned to U.S. soil that day, the first American casualties of Operation Epic Fury.

Less than one week later, the photo was used in the fundraising email.

“I’m the strong commander who stares down tyrants, obliterates terrorists, and never backs down,” Trump states in the email. “This is for patriots ready to stand with that kind of unbreakable strength. Not for the weak or the wavering.”

The email promises donors a series of private national security briefings and updates on “threats facing America ... border invasions, foreign adversaries, deep state sabotage, and every danger the fake news hides.”

“You’ll get the inside scoop DIRECT from me, President Trump,” the email continues, “the leader who’s rebuilt the greatest military in history, and put America First like no one else.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The six service members transferred on March 7 were killed when an Iranian drone evaded American air defenses and struck a makeshift operations center in Port Shuabia, Kuwait. The attack was among the opening salvos of the war between a U.S.-Israel alliance and the Islamic Republic.

The slain soldiers who were killed in the strike were identified as Sgt. Declan Coady, 20, of West Des Moines, Iowa; Capt. Cody Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, Florida; Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, 39, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota; Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Nebraska; Maj. Jeffrey O’Brien, 45, of Indianola, Iowa; and Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzan, 54, of Spotsylvania, Virginia.

A total of 13 U.S. service members have been killed during combat actions and roughly 140 more wounded — eight severely — across the opening two weeks of Operation Epic Fury.

Sgt. Benjamin N. Pennington, 26, of Glendale, Kentucky, died from wounds sustained during a March 1 enemy attack at Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia.

Six U.S. airmen were killed on Thursday when a U.S. Air Force KC-135 refueling aircraft crashed during ongoing combat operations.

Another service member, an Army National Guard officer who also served as a New York City policeman, died on March 6 following a non-combat incident.

The U.S. is sending more reinforcements to the Middle East in support of the Iran war.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly approved a request from U.S. Central Command for an element of an amphibious ready group and attached Marine Expeditionary Unit to help combat Iran’s regional attacks, the Wall Street Journal first reported Friday.

The supplemental forces would include up to 5,000 personnel and several warships, including the USS Tripoli, which is on its way to the Middle East from its homeport in Sasebo, Japan, the report said.

The Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group includes the America-class amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli, the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ships USS New Orleans and USS San Diego and the embarked 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit.

The 31st MEU, meanwhile, includes a ground combat element, which features a battalion landing team — an infantry battalion and combat support elements — of around 1,100 Marines and sailors.

Also included is the aviation combat element, which features tiltrotor and fixed-wing aircraft, transport and attack helicopters, ground support assets and air defense teams.

A combat logistics battalion with equipment and personnel capable of sustaining a MEU in austere environments for up to 15 days will also join the effort. This group includes medical, supply and explosive ordnance personnel, among others.

Requests for comment from the Pentagon and CENTCOM were not returned as of press time. The Navy told Military Times it would not be commenting.

The deployment of the Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group comes less than a year after a Military Times report found the readiness rate of the Navy’s amphibious assault ships had dropped to just 41% amid the Trump administration’s ramped-up effort to combat drug cartels in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The readiness issue at the time resulted in a more than five-month gap in MEU deployments.

Despite any strain, the U.S. continues to ramp up attacks on the Islamic Republic.

CENTCOM on Thursday said that American forces have struck roughly 6,000 targets inside Iran since the war began. More than 60 Iranian ships and over 30 minelayers have also been eliminated, CENTCOM announced.

Pentagon officials told senators in a classified briefing this week that the first six days of Operation Epic Fury cost American taxpayers an estimated $11.3 billion, according to a person familiar with the session.

The figure, however, omitted a range of war-related expenses, indicating the overall total is likely to rise.

An incident Thursday saw U.S. deaths in the Iran war nearly double after a U.S. Air Force KC-135 refueling aircraft crashed during ongoing combat operations.

All six crew members were killed in the crash, which was not caused by hostile or friendly fire, CENTCOM confirmed Friday. Two aircraft were reportedly involved in the incident, officials said, with the second aircraft landing safely.

A total of 13 U.S. service members have been killed during combat actions and roughly 140 more wounded — eight severely — across the opening two weeks of Operation Epic Fury.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced on March 4 that Marine Raider Pfc. Norton Retzsch, 25, had been accounted for on April 1, 2025 — thanks, in part, to 20-year-old DNA submitted to the military in 2006.

Kim Opitz, Retzsch’s great-niece, a freelance writer who lives in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, told Kare 11 News that her “mother never, never let us forget about him.”

Retzsch, a member of Company C, 1st Marine Raider Battalion, 1st Marine Raider Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Amphibious Corps, was first reported missing in action on July 9, 1943, during the Battle of Enogai on New Georgia in the Solomon Islands.

The New Georgia campaign, dubbed Operation Toenails, was led by Rear Adm. Richmond Turner, with amphibious forces landing at various points on New Georgia on June 30, 1943, beginning a campaign that lasted until the Japanese evacuated Vella Lavella on Oct. 7.

On July 9, Company C came under intense Japanese fire as they rushed toward enemy positions. In his post-war account, “Bloody Ridge and Beyond,” Marine Corps veteran Marlin Groft wrote, “All hell broke loose up front. C Company had blundered into a prepared killing field of Nambu machine gun nests, aided by snipers cleverly concealed in the surrounding trees.”

Retzsch was one of three Marines reported missing after the battle.

According to DPAA, from November to December 1947, units from the 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company searched for Retzsch, but after conducting an unsuccessful search of the Bairoko Harbor and Enogai Inlet, the case was closed.

Interred as an unknown at the Enogai Cemetery in 1943, Retzsch was then exhumed twice before final burial in Manila. The Marine’s remains were subsequently designated X-182, while Retzsch’s name was recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines.

In 2019, however, “after researching losses on New Georgia,” according to DPAA, they “recommended disinterment of several Unknowns potentially associated with losses in the Bairoko-Enogai area.”

That’s where Opitz’s DNA, submitted to the military in 2006, came into play.

In 2025, DPAA, using dental and other DNA analysis, identified Retzsch’s remains and contacted his great-niece.

“It was like elation, like I’ve never felt so spiritually high,” Opitz told Kare 11 News. “He’s going to be brought home with honors.”

Retzsch will be buried on April 13, 2026, in Marana, Arizona.

In a United States War Department-issued “Line of Position” notebook, Capt. Robert A. Lewis begins like many service member letters, with a “Dear Mom + Dad.” But this log, dated Aug. 6, 1945, is unlike any other entry from World War II.

Lewis, the co-pilot of the B-29 Enola Gay, was en route to Japan from the Pacific island of Tinian when he began recording. Now, his account, written during and in the immediate aftermath of dropping the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, is for sale.

His “blow by blow description,” which includes his famous reaction: “My God what have we done,” has just been put up for sale by Dan Whitmore, a rare book dealer in Pasadena, California, the Washington Post was first to report.

The price: $950,000.

This will be the fifth time that Lewis’ record has appeared at auction: the first being sold for $37,000 by Sotheby’s in 1971. Lewis, present for the auction, reportedly said that he believed that the account was of great historical importance, adding that he “didn’t know what else to do with it.”

It sold once again for $85,000 at Sotheby’s in 1978; $391,000 at Christie’s in 2002 (as part of the Malcolm Forbes sale); and $543,000 at Heritage in 2022, according to Whitmore.

The eight-page account was made at the behest of William L. Laurence, a science writer for the New York Times, who received a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on what he coined as the “Atomic Age.”

As the official historian of the Manhattan Project, Laurence was the only journalist to witness the Trinity test and the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. He was supposed to journey alongside Enola Gay’s crew but arrived too late at the bomber’s base on Tinian.

Over the course of the 12-hour flight from Tinian to Hiroshima and back again, Lewis “recorded both what he saw — including a sketch of the mushroom cloud over the city — and what he felt — apprehension, confusion, shock, awe — as he and his crew entered history,” according to the rare book dealer.

Much of Lewis’ writing occurred in near-total darkness, and as he notes, halfway through, he ran out of ink and finished his account in pencil.

Leaving the Pacific island at 2:25 a.m., Lewis recorded at 7:30 a.m. that “we are loaded, the bomb is now alive and it’s a funny feeling knowing its right in back of you. Knock wood. We started out climb to 30,000ft…well folks its not long now.”

As the B-29 approached the city, Lewis wrote: “There will be a short intermission while we bomb our target.”

At 8:15 a.m., the Enola Gay dropped the bomb.

“Little Boy” fell harmlessly for roughly 45 seconds before detonating, instantly killing 70,000 people in the initial blast. At least 100,000 deaths directly resulted from the attacks. A minimum of another 100,000 people also died from illnesses caused by radiation exposure in the weeks, months and decades that followed, according to the National Archives.

In that moment, Lewis wrote:

“We [Bob Caron our tail gunner] got excellent pictures and everyone on the shop is actually crossed out dumbstruck even though we had expected something fierce, it was the actual sight that we saw that caused the crew to feel that they were a part of Buck Rogers 25 century warriors. This essay on the bombing results could go on indefinitely by telling how huge it grew, even after an hour [and half.] [400] miles from the target, then the billow of smoke reached [5500] ft and contained very weird colors. But perhaps the Japs that are left can save me the trouble and let us know. We then headed ho[m]e on 150° and [our ship] sure had a happy [but puzzled crew]. Mission home was as briefed weather the same everyone got a few cat naps.”

Lewis, perhaps more reflective, later recorded in the days after the attack, “I am certain the entire crew felt this experience was more than anyone human had ever thought possible. It just seems impossible to comprehend. Just how many did we kill? I honestly have the feeling of groping for words to explain this … My God what have we done. If I live a hundred years I’ll never quite get these few minutes out of my mind.”

That later recollection was taped into place by Lewis shortly after the bombing. The yellowed tape, according to Whitmore, is still there.

In August 1945, Lewis was a confident, rambunctious 27-year-old with a reputation as a skilled pilot and determined ladies’ man. But the events of that summer day left him haunted.

In his later years, Lewis took to sculpture as a form of healing.

His piece — a mushroom cloud with streams of blood flowing down the side — was later given to Dr. Glenn Van Warrebey, an American psychiatrist who treated Lewis, seemingly for post-traumatic stress disorder.

According to the Washington Post, Whitmore has plans to exhibit the notebook at the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair, which begins April 30.

While there are two firsthand accounts of the Hiroshima bombing by the Enola Gay crew — the other being Theodore “Dutch” Van Kirk’s navigator’s log — only Lewis’ contains a uniquely emotional commentary of the day’s historic events.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Friday that Iran’s newly appointed Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, had been “wounded and likely disfigured” in recent American-Israeli attacks. Hegseth also warned that the United States is undertaking the most intense day of bombing yet in Operation Epic Fury.

“We know the new so-called, not-so-supreme leader, is wounded and likely disfigured,” Hegseth told reporters during a press briefing. He described Khamenei’s first public statement since his elevation — delivered as a written message read aloud on Iranian state television — as “a weak one,” underscoring that the supreme leader did not appear on video or release an audio recording.

Khamenei has remained out of view since his selection on Sunday by Iran’s clerical establishment. In his missive, he vowed to “avenge the blood” of Iranians killed in the strikes.

Hegseth asserted American and Israeli forces have hit more than 15,000 targets since the war with Iran began, and he pledged the U.S. would escalate its bombing campaign even further on Friday.

“Today will be, yet again, the highest volume of strikes that America has put over the skies of Iran,” he said. ”The number of sorties, the number of bomber pulses. Ramping up, and only up."

Hegseth said that just one percent of the weapons expected to be used in the ongoing campaign will be the costly long-range standoff munitions which are among the most expensive armaments in the U.S. arsenal.

The rest, he said, will be conventional weapons, of which the U.S. has “a plethora.” The comment appeared aimed at quelling concerns that the war has rapidly depleted critical American munitions stockpiles.

“We are on plan to defeat, destroy, disable all of their meaningful military capabilities,” Hegseth continued. “They also don’t have the ability to build more.”

Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, echoed Hegseth’s promise that the U.S. was in the process of conducting its heaviest day of kinetic fires. But he cautioned, “This mission remains complex, dangerous and difficult — and every service member has a family waiting for them to return home."

Soon after the briefing, Central Command confirmed that all six U.S. service members aboard an Air Force KC-135 refueling aircraft were killed after it crashed in Iraq on Thursday while supporting operations in Iran.

“The circumstances of the incident are under investigation,” CENTCOM wrote in a post on X. “However, the loss of the aircraft was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire.”

The deaths bring the number of U.S. service members killed in operations related to Epic Fury to at least 13.

Six U.S. airmen were killed on Thursday when a U.S. Air Force KC-135 refueling aircraft crashed during ongoing combat operations against Iran, U.S. Central Command confirmed.

“All six crew members aboard a U.S. KC-135 refueling aircraft that went down in western Iraq are now confirmed deceased,” CENTCOM announced. “The aircraft was lost while flying over friendly airspace March 12 during Operation Epic Fury.”

In a press briefing Friday alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine stated the crash occurred “while the crew was on a combat mission.”

Two aircraft were reportedly involved in the incident, officials said Thursday, with the second aircraft landing safely.

“[It] was not the result of hostile or friendly fire,” Caine added.

The circumstances of the crash are under investigation.

“We are devastated by the loss of our airmen supporting Operation Epic Fury and extend our condolences to their families and communities affected,” U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ken Wilsbach said. “Our warfighters answered the nation’s call — we will honor their sacrifice as we continue to fight until the job is done.”

Numerous KC-135s are currently deployed to the U.S. Central Command area of operations, where crews have provided aerial refueling for other aircraft as a part of Operation Epic Fury.

The downed KC-135 is the fourth manned U.S. aircraft to be lost this month amid combat operations against the Islamic Republic.

On March 1, three U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jets were shot down by a Kuwaiti F/A-18 in a friendly fire incident, U.S. Central Command announced at the time. All six F-15 crew members ejected and were safely recovered.

A total of 13 U.S. service members have been killed during combat actions and roughly 140 more wounded — eight severely — across the opening two weeks of Operation Epic Fury.

Another service member, an Army National Guard officer who also served as a New York City policeman, died on March 6 following a non-combat incident.

Identities of the deceased KC-135 crew members are being withheld until 24 hours after next of kin notification.

“Our service members make an incredible sacrifice to go forward and do the things that the nation asks of them,” Caine said. “It’s a reminder of the true cost of the dedication and commitment of the joint force.”

A U.S. Air Force KC-135 refueling aircraft crashed in friendly airspace in western Iraq on Thursday during ongoing combat operations against Iran, U.S. Central Command announced.

All six crew members were killed, according to the statement.

Two aircraft were reportedly involved in the incident, the statement read, and “one of the aircraft went down.” The second aircraft landed safely, it added.

“The incident was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire,” the release said.

The initial CENTCOM statement did not clarify whether the aircraft had crashed, noting only that “U.S. Central Command is aware of the loss a U.S. KC-135.”

Numerous KC-135s are currently deployed to the U.S. Central Command area of operations, where crews have provided aerial refueling for other aircraft as a part of Operation Epic Fury.

The downed KC-135 is the fourth manned U.S. aircraft to be lost this month amid combat operations against the Islamic Republic.

On March 1, three U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jets were shot down by a Kuwaiti F/A-18 in a friendly fire incident, U.S. Central Command announced at the time.

All six F-15 crew members ejected and were safely recovered.

A total of 13 U.S. service members have been killed during combat actions and roughly 140 more wounded — eight severely — across the opening two weeks of Operation Epic Fury.

Another service member, an Army National Guard officer who also served as a New York City policeman, died on March 6 following a non-combat incident.

Additional information regarding the incident Thursday was not yet available as of press time.

“We ask for continued patience to gather additional details and provide clarity for the families of service members,” the CENTCOM statement read.

U.S. Marines were recently recognized for a non-combat rescue on Jan. 15, 2026, when a vehicle lost control and rolled off of a ridge at Camp Pendleton, California.

Cpl. Malakai Obed and Cpl. Caden Perez were driving toward the base’s main gate when a nearby car suddenly became involved in a serious accident, according to a release.

A metal trailer hitch from a truck ahead of the family’s vehicle came loose and flew into the car’s windshield, the release said, striking the driver in the head.

The woman behind the wheel lost consciousness and swerved violently off the road and over the ridge wall, the vehicle coming to a rest upside down.

“When I looked up, I saw the car go off the side of the road and into a ditch,” Obed said in the release.

The Marines, who are both assigned to Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron (HMLA) 169, Marine Aircraft Group 39, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, immediately rushed to the scene.

Upon reaching the ditch, the pair noticed an unconscious mother in the driver’s seat and her three terrified children stuck in the back of the car.

With the doors jammed, Obed ran back to the Marines’ truck and grabbed a hitch. He then shattered the car window open, unlocked the doors and pulled each child from the vehicle before moving them away from the wreck, according to the release.

With the mother still unconscious, the Marines flagged down corpsmen, who happened to be passing by the wreck, for medical aid while staying on the scene to assist.

“I was just helping them out with whatever I could, grabbing a first aid kit from someone’s car and running back and forth trying to help without getting in their way,” Obed mentioned.

The corpsmen worked quickly to tend to the woman’s head injury and stabilize her as they waited for additional emergency response.

“[Obed and Perez] have a great work ethic,” said Capt. John Pietrucha, an officer in charge with HMLA-169, MAG-39, 3rd MAW. “It’s no surprise they did what they did.”

Both Obed and Perez were awarded Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals for their heroism and quick action during the emergency.

Pentagon officials told senators in a classified briefing this week that the first six days of Operation Epic Fury cost American taxpayers an estimated $11.3 billion, according to a person familiar with the session.

The figure, however, omitted a range of war-related expenses, indicating the overall total is likely to rise.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., in brief remarks to reporters on Wednesday, said that he believes the $11.3 billion figure was “roughly accurate,” adding that the war’s current operation total is “significantly above that.”

A Defense Department spokesperson declined to discuss details of the closed-door meeting, but emphasized to Military Times that the exact price tag will remain unknown until the mission is complete. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday, speaking at a campaign-style event in Kentucky, declared that “we’ve won” the war. But the commander in chief continued: “We don’t want to leave early, do we? We’ve got to finish the job, right?”

Trump has been criticized in some quarters for shifting statements about the war, although the White House insists he has been consistent on four objectives: putting a nuclear weapon beyond reach, degrading Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities, inflicting severe damage on its navy and stopping it from supporting militant proxy groups in the region.

Meanwhile, Democrats in Congress have introduced a series of new war power resolutions aimed at forcing the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the operation against Iran unless it is formally authorized by lawmakers. Similar efforts have previously failed to pass in the Republican-controlled House and Senate, where GOP leaders argue that Trump acted within his constitutional authority when the U.S. and Israel launched a joint assault on Iran on Feb. 28.

U.S. Central Command said that American forces have struck roughly 6,000 targets inside Iran since the war began.

The Islamic Republic’s retaliation has largely focused either on Israel or on America’s Gulf allies – including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar – all of which host U.S. troops. Iranian strikes have killed seven American service members, and wounded approximately 140 – with eight remaining in serious condition.

Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s new supreme leader, vowed in his first public statement on Thursday that Tehran would not waver in “avenging the blood of its martyrs.” He succeeded his slain father, Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an airstrike on the first day of the U.S.-Israeli offensive.

Next month, the U.S. Navy will commission the USS Harvey C. Barnum Jr., the first vessel to ever bear the name of the Vietnam War Medal of Honor recipient.

On April 11, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer 124 will officially become a U.S. warship and enter the fleet, honoring Marine Corps Col. Harvey Curtiss “Barney” Barnum Jr. for his “gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life beyond the call of duty during the Vietnam War,” according to a Wednesday release.

While out on patrol on Dec. 18, 1965, near the village of Ky Phu, Barnum, a forward observer for Company H, 2nd Battalion of the 9th Marines Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, was suddenly pinned down by enemy fire from a large North Vietnamese force. The ambush, according to the DOD, separated his company from the rest of the battalion.

“It was the first time I’d been shot at,” Barnum recalled in an oral history for the Library of Congress. “So, I hit the deck.”

Then-1st Lt. Barnum took command of his company after its commander was mortally wounded.

“When I … looked around, I could see all these young Marines’ eyes looking at me, and they’re saying, ‘OK, lieutenant, what the hell are we going to do?’” Barnum remembered. “At that point, I started doing what lieutenants do, and that’s giving direction.”

After reorganizing and rallying his men, Barnum “moved fearlessly through enemy fire to lead air attacks against the enemy’s well-entrenched positions while directing one platoon in a successful counterattack on the key enemy positions,” according to the release.

Due to poor weather, fixed-wing aircraft was unable to provide fire support nor evacuation but eventually two gunships arrived on the scene to help the besieged Americans.

According to the DOD, “Barnum moved through intense enemy fire to get to a knoll where he could call in the air attacks, repeatedly exposing himself so he could physically point out the targets.”

Eventually making contact with the battalion commander, Barnum was told that his company would have to fight its way out or be stuck by themselves overnight, according to the DOD account.

“I knew that was a nonstarter,” Barnum told the Library of Congress. “Casualties were mounting rapidly. Ammunition was getting low, and the ceiling was closing in on us. I didn’t think our chances were going to be very good if we stayed.”

The young lieutenant subsequently cleared a small landing zone for helicopters to evacuate the wounded and the dead and then ordered his fellow Marines to leave behind their packs and all broken equipment “to make ourselves light,” Barnum recalled.

Roughly 1,600 feet of open rice patties stood in the way of Barnum’s Marines and the relative safety of the village.

“Squad by squad, when I said ‘go,’ I said, ‘Run as fast as you can. Don’t even stop. The only time you stop is if someone gets shot and you pick them up,’” Barnum remembered.

One by one Barnum’s squads sprinted — without cover — to the village. It took about 45 minutes but every Marine made it.

Barnum was recommended for the Medal of Honor just days after the battle, and received it on Feb. 27, 1967, from Navy Secretary Paul H. Nitze during a ceremony at Marine Barracks Washington.

Barnum is one of the few living namesakes to view his ship’s commissioning, according to the release.

DDG 124’s sponsor, Martha Hill, is Barnum’s wife, and since the 2021 keel laying ceremony, Hill and Barnum have kept a close relationship with the ship’s crew.

During the commission, Hill will maintain tradition by giving the order as the vessel’s sponsor to “man our ship and bring her to life!”

The crew will then hoist the commissioning pennant, and USS Harvey C. Barnum Jr. will officially become a warship and enter the fleet.

Following the commission, the ship will be located at Naval Station Norfolk.

In March 1915, the Great War was spreading like a plague across Europe, Asia and Africa, but the United States of America was still uninvolved and desperately striving to keep out of it.

While the menace of German submarines were becoming a growing threat in the Atlantic Ocean, nothing could be farther away from the U.S. Navy submarine F-4 (SS-23) as it performed maneuvers off Honolulu, Hawaii.

On March 25, however, the Navy was reminded that one didn’t need a war to be imperiled by the sea, as F-4 sank with Lt. Alfred L. Ede and all 20 of its crewmen.

This was the first American submarine lost at sea and the Navy aimed to raise it and find out what went wrong. But the very act of doing so put two more lives in the balance, in a peacetime drama that would eventually be judged worthy of awarding Frank Crilley the nation’s highest award for valor.

In March 1900, Crilley followed his brother into the Navy at the young age of 16 and soon focused his interest in deep sea diving. By March 1915 he had risen to Chief Gunner’s Mate in the Navy’s experimental diving team — a unit as prestigious as it was hazardous.

In mid-April, five of the divers, G.D. Stillson, Frederick Neilson, Stephen Drellinshak, William K. Loughman and Crilley, arrived at Honolulu with hard hat diving equipment, a recompression chamber and a physician, to seek the lost sub.

Making the first dive on April 16, Crilley located F-4 a mile and a half off Fort Armstrong, 304 feet below the surface — thereby setting a depth record that would stand for 25 years.

At that time the sub was upright, but Crilley determined that more cables would be needed to raise it. This would be no easy task. In order to get 20 minutes of dive time at 300 feet, about three hours were required for the descent and ascent due to the underwater pressures.

“Deep water divers need to descend slowly to allow air spaces, such as in the ears and mask, time to equalize to the pressure changes,” according to the DOD. “Slow ascents are required, too, because divers can build up nitrogen in their tissue due to breathing pressurized air. A slow return to the surface gives the body time to eliminate that nitrogen and reacclimate without risking decompression sickness.”

On April 17, Chief Gunner’s Mate William K. Loughman descended on the submersible and examined one of the wire hawsers attached to it. He then began his ascent, but at that point, things again began to go wrong. A ground swell caused the cable to jerk, fracturing his hip and causing the sub to turn over. Worse, at a depth of 275 feet his lifeline and air hose became so badly fouled by the hawser that he could neither ascend nor descend nor, for that matter, free himself.

What followed was described in Crilley’s citation:

“On account of the length of time that Loughman had already been subjected to the great danger due to the depth of water, and the uncertainly of the additional time he would have to be subjected to the pressure before he could be brought to the surface, it was imperative that steps be taken at once to clear him. Instantly recognizing the desperate case of his comrade, Crilley volunteered to go to his aid, immediately donned a diving suit and descended, after a lapse of time of two hours and 11 minutes, Crilley was brought to the surface, having by superb exhibition of skill, coolness, endurance and fortitude, untangled the snarl of lines and cleared his entangled comrade so that he was brought, still alive, to the surface.”

On Aug. 29, in a diving and engineering precedent, the Navy finally managed to raise F-4, which was found upside down. The fatal flaw turned out to be corrosion of the lead lining of the battery tank, which had let seepage of seawater into the compartment, causing the captain to lose depth control of his ship.

Although the drama off Fort Armstrong made Crilley a legend in deep diving circles, his career had just begun.

He rose to ensign in the Naval Reserve and later a chief warrant officer in the U.S. Coast Guard. With the latter, he was awarded the Silver Lifesaving Medal in April 1916. In 1917 he held command of the derrick salvage barge Salvor.

Returning to active duty, Crilley assisted in the repair or raising of a variety of ships. This included the submarine S-51, and after submarine S-4 was sunk in a collision with Coast Guard destroyer Paulding in December 1927, his role in raising it on March 17, 1928, earned him the Navy Cross.

Amid all that, on February 15, 1929, he was finally called to the White House to receive the Medal of Honor — 14 years late — from President Calvin H. Coolidge.

In 1931, Crilley served as second in command of the submarine Nautilus on its ultimately abortive 3,000-mile voyage to the North Pole, as well as salvaging the presidential yacht USS Mayflower. In 1939 he helped raise the submarine Squalus.

The pioneering naval diver died on Nov. 23, 1947 at the Brooklyn Naval Hospital. He was buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery.

As the Ukraine war has shown, drones equipped with thermal sensors have made the battlefield so hazardous that the best defense is not to be spotted at all.

Thus, the U.S. Marine Corps is looking for camouflage cloaks that shield wearers from prying eyes and infrared cameras, according to a Marine Corps Systems Command Sources Sought notice.

The Multispectral Camouflage Overgarment, or MCO, “is intended to provide individual signature management for Marines by mitigating detection across the visual (VIS), near infrared (NIR), and short-wave infrared (SWIR) spectrums as well as suppress thermal signatures in the mid-wave infrared (MWIR) and long wave infrared (LWIR) to reduce the likelihood of detection by thermal sensors,” the notice notes. The deadline is April 22.

The Marines want 13,000 cloaks by 2027, and 61,000 by 2030.

“MCO will serve as the individual signature management solution for all Marines in training and on deployment,” according to the notice. “The system is not intended for routine garrison wear.”

The notice includes a table that lists various nondetection thresholds depending on the wearer’s distance from the sensor, the type of sensor and whether the sensor is on the ground or in the air. For example, the cloak should preclude daytime visual detection from a ground-based sensor at a minimum of 600 meters, and ideally at 50 meters. For an aerial sensor, such as on a drone, the minimum is 1,000 meters, with an eventual goal of 10 meters.

For mid-wave infrared sensors, the cloak should mask wearers at a minimum of 2,000 meters, and ideally at 600 meters. Against aerial MWIR sensors, the MCO should provide camouflage at a minimum of 5,000 meters — more than 3 miles — and ideally at 2,000 meters.

The notice describes the MCO as “a single-piece, generously-sized draped design constructed to provide full-body coverage, including individual gear and equipment. It shall be donned and doffed over existing uniforms and gear within 15 seconds.”

The garment should be sturdy enough to last 90 days to one year of use, and withstand laundering up to 50 times. It should weigh no more than 3.5 pounds, and preferably less than 2 pounds.

Britain’s Royal Marines are already using the Barracuda cloak from Swedish manufacturer Saab. Meanwhile, Russian troops have frequently used thermal cloaks to camouflage themselves against omnipresent Ukrainian drones equipped with heat sensors.

However, the Russian experience also illustrates the danger of using cheap, poorly designed cloaks. In some cases, the garments have actually made the wearers more conspicuous, by contrasting them as cold spots against a warmer background.

A former Air Force engineer who was charged with making false statements and obstructing justice during a criminal investigation into a 2017 military plane crash in Mississippi that killed 16 service members was acquitted Thursday.

James Michael Fisher, a former Robins Air Force base employee, was found not guilty on all charges at trial last week, according to court records. The 2017 Marine Corps Reserve plane crash killed 15 Marines and one Navy corpsman.

Fisher, a C-130 propulsion engineer at the Georgia base’s Warner Robins Logistic Center at the time of the crash, was arrested in July 2024 for allegedly knowingly concealing documents from criminal investigators and making false statements about his past engineering decisions, according to a 2024 Department of Justice statement.

Fisher was charged with two false statements and two obstruction of justice charges, and if convicted, he would have faced up to 20 years in prison, according to the department’s release.

On July 10, 2017, the KC-130 transport plane with the call sign “Yanky 72” crashed near Itta Bena, Mississippi. The investigation into the crash revealed that it was caused by a deteriorating propeller blade that was corroded when it went to an Air Force maintenance depot in 2011, but workers neglected to fix the propeller and instead sent it back unrepaired.

The Air Force maintains C-130 propeller blades for the Navy, and the service’s neglect let the corrosion turn into a crack that caused the propeller to shoot into the aircraft’s side and break the plane into three pieces, the investigation discovered, killing all on board.

The investigation, conducted by the Marine Corps, also found that the Navy did not ensure that the work conducted by the Air Force was properly completed. The report said that insufficient blades were sent to aircraft for the Navy and Marine Corps for many years.

The crash resulted in the grounding of the aging Marine Corps Forces Reserve KC-130 aircraft and the Navy’s C-130 aircraft.

DOJ claimed that Fisher “engaged in a pattern of conduct intended to avoid scrutiny for his past engineering decisions related to why the crash may have occurred.”

Fisher was the C-130 lead propulsion engineer at Robins Air Force Base from 2011 to 2022, so he was tasked with assisting federal agents during the investigation with information on the inspection procedures during 2011, when the propeller blade was sent to the depot, according to the indictment.

The indictment claimed that Fisher withheld documents that showed he removed a critical inspection procedure. The indictment claimed that in August 2011, a maintenance technician supervisor emailed Fisher requesting the penetrant requirement for C-130 propellor blade taper bores be removed, and Fisher responded approving the request.

After that date, the penetrant inspections for Air Force and Navy propeller taper bores were no longer used, per the indictment, until December 2013.

These inspections required a technician to apply fluorescent within the taper bore and let it stay for a period of time. The penetrant would then be removed and a light would be shined in the taper bore to identify any cracking.

Penetrant inspections were the most time consuming of the inspections, and the technician cited that as the reasoning for requesting its removal.

The investigation into the crash found that the propeller had cracking and corrosion in the taper bore before heading to inspection at Robins in 2011. The indictment says that the Navy and the Air Force were not told about the removal of the penetrant inspections.

“The culture at [Robins] from 2011 to 2017 resulted in gross negligence of depot level maintenance personnel and practices that are the direct causal factor for the mishap,” the investigation report states.

Steve Farese, one of Fisher’s attorney’s, said that the jury saw through the “false premise” that Fisher waived the procedure to check the blade.

“We were able to show that he did not sign that form. Someone had cut and pasted an email that he had sent to someone else and used that as their validation for removing the process,” Farese said in an interview Tuesday with 13WMAZ, a television station in Georgia.

After the verdict, Fisher told 13WMAZ that the case showed broader issues within the maintenance process at Robins and everyone collectively let the service members down.

“To have the entirety of the DOJ working against you to try to make you a scapegoat for that horrible tragedy, it was awful,” Fisher told the outlet. “And to get to the point where it was over, it was amazing.”

QUITO, Ecuador — Ecuador will launch a major offensive against criminal organizations in three western provinces this weekend with logistical support from the United States, the interior minister said Wednesday.

Speaking to a local radio station, Interior Minister John Reimberg urged citizens to observe an 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew from March 15-30 in the provinces of Guayas, Los Ríos and Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas — three of the most violent in the South American country.

Residents under curfew need to stay in their homes and keep the roads clear to facilitate the movement of troops and equipment, he said.

“We do not want collateral victims from the attacks we are about to launch,” Reimberg said. “We have significant support from U.S. forces for the operations we are about to carry out.”

The U.S. Embassy in Ecuador didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment from The Associated Press. Neither the U.S. Defense Department nor the U.S. Southern Command immediately commented on the Ecuadorian offensive set for the weekend.

The announcement came days after Ecuador and the U.S. began joint military operations against organized crime groups in the South American country, although at the time neither government gave details of the location and scope of the operation.

US and Ecuador launch military operation against organized crime groups

The attacks against violent criminal groups are aimed at “destroying what they have built in various parts of the country,” Reimberg said, although he declined to provide specific details, citing security concerns.

Since early 2021, Ecuador has faced a relentless offensive by organized crime groups which, according to police, maintain close ties with drug trafficking cartels in Colombia and Mexico.

Ecuador is considered a logistical hub for drug trafficking, serving as a staging and distribution point for narcotics entering the country — primarily from Colombia, though shipments also arrive from Peru. According to authorities, these illicit shipments are transported from Ecuadorian seaports to Central America, the United States and Europe, among other destinations.