Naval aviator Capt. Royce Williams, 100, is set to be awarded the Medal of Honor for his 1952 actions during the Korean War, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., announced on Wednesday.

Issa has played a significant role in Williams’ recognition, introducing the “Valor Has No Expiration Act” in 2025 to extend and expand upon the 1996 National Defense Authorization Act. Introduced last June, the act was instrumental in highlighting Williams’ Korean War record.

According to Issa’s press release, the NDAA waived the five-year limitation for Medal of Honor consideration — but only for actions occurring between 1940 and 1990 and only for classified “intelligence activities.”

The Valor Has No Expiration Act seeks to remove such arbitrary timelines and expand the criteria to include classified acts or those withheld from the public record.

In 2023, Williams received the Navy Cross — an upgrade from the Silver Star Medal he previously received on May 7, 1953.

In 1952, flying a F9F-5 Panther fighter, Williams found himself alone, outmanned and piloting what was considered an inferior aircraft, when he was swarmed by seven MiG-15 aircraft. Despite initially flying with two other VF-781 pilots, Williams soon found himself unaccompanied.

“In the moment I was a fighter pilot doing my job. … I was only shooting what I had,” Williams said in a previous account of the fight. “They had me cold on maneuverability and acceleration. … The only thing I could do was out-turn them.”

For 35 minutes, Williams engaged with the enemy, shooting down four of the planes in what is considered the longest dogfight in U.S. military history.

According to the U.S. Naval Institute, no other American fighter pilot has ever shot down four MiG-15s in one fight. Williams’ action, however, was kept classified for more than 50 years, making the pilot ineligible for the Medal of Honor.

That all changed on Wednesday, however, when President Donald Trump called the 100-year-old to notify him that he was to receive the nation’s highest award for valor.

“What Royce did is — still to this day — the most unique U.S.-Soviet aerial combat dogfight in the history of the Cold War, and one in which Royce Williams demonstrated indomitable courage of the highest skill under incalculable duress,” Issa said in a press release.

“It is my honor to have fought all these years for Royce to gain a recognition that he has not sought, but so richly deserves.”

Two Russian women that were arrested at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton last month are currently detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement pending removal and immigration proceedings.

Natalia Dudina and Krystina Malyshko were detained by Marines at the California base’s main gate Jan. 17, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement to Military Times on Wednesday.

DHS said immigration officials previously “encountered” Dudina and Malyshko in mid-December 2021 in California at the San Ysidro Port of Entry but were released.

In the statement, DHS blamed the Biden administration for releasing the women but did not say if the women had valid visas at the time of their entrance into the country.

Dudina was previously arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department for domestic violence and assault in July 2023 but was later released by local law enforcement without notifying ICE, according to DHS.

Both women are set to remain in ICE custody, according to DHS, with Dudina to face removal proceedings and Malyshko to face immigration proceedings.

DHS did not comment on where the women are being held.

A post on SHOT, a channel commonly used by Russians on the social media app Telegram, claimed the two women were driving to San Diego, California, when they allegedly decided to find the nearest McDonald’s restaurant.

They ended up at Camp Pendleton’s main gate by taking a wrong turn, the post and other Russian media outlets allege.

In a statement to Military Times on Wednesday, the Russian Embassy said ICE notified the embassy that two Russian female citizens were handed over to them following their “unauthorized entry” onto Camp Pendleton’s grounds.

“Staff from the Consular Section of the Russian Embassy in Washington are in contact with U.S. Immigration Authorities to clarify the circumstances of the incident and to demand full respect for their rights,” the statement said.

A Camp Pendleton spokesperson did not comment on remarks made by the Russian Embassy or Russian media outlets.

“For operational and security purposes, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton does not discuss individual enforcement matters or force protection measures,” 2nd Lt. Natalia Rhodes, engagements officer at Marine Corps Installations West, said in a statement to Military Times.

Those seeking access to Camp Pendleton are required to present valid credentials at all entry points on base, Rhodes said.

Rhodes said Camp Pendleton coordinates with federal law enforcement partners, including ICE, as “appropriate” in line with their installation security procedures.

The U.S. military has unleashed a new round of strikes against Islamic State members in Syria following the deadly December ambush that killed two U.S. soldiers and one American civilian interpreter.

U.S. Central Command said in a statement Wednesday that U.S. aircraft conducted the attacks between Jan. 27 and Monday, destroying targets that included a communication site and weapons storage facilities.

“Striking these targets demonstrates our continued focus and resolve for preventing an ISIS resurgence in Syria,” said Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM’s commander.

The U.S. military said its multiple rounds of strikes since December have killed or captured more than 50 Islamic State members, including “an experienced terrorist leader who plotted attacks and was directly connected” to the ambush.

Service members, veterans and their families will have free access to more than 2,500 hours of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics through a partnership with the Army and Air Force Exchange Service and NBCUniversal, AAFES officials announced.

The Winter Olympics will begin with the opening ceremony on Feb. 6 through Feb. 22, with more than 2,900 athletes from 92 countries and territories competing across 116 events.

Those eligible can stream the full coverage if they have an active ShopMyExchange.com account. Live streams of some practice and warm-up sessions and additional video content including event recaps, highlights, viral moments, interviews and more are included, officials stated in their announcement.

For those who don’t use the free service verified through ShopMyExchange.com, the streaming service through Peacock costs $10.99 per month, with advertising, or $16.99 per month, without advertising, according to the Peacock website.

To access the free streaming from computers or personal devices, viewers can visit NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports App, in the U.S., and choose the Exchange as their service provider. The ShopMyExchange.com site will verify those with an active account.

Content rights restrictions will apply to overseas locations where on-base residents must subscribe to internet service through an authorized provider, officials stated.

For more information on the free viewing, visit the Exchange’s Olympic Hub page, and the NBCOlympics information page.

This partnership between AAFES and NBCUniversal began in 2016, and has alternated between the summer and winter games every two years, with the exception of the Tokyo Games, which were delayed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, said AAFES spokesman Chris Ward.

In the announcement, AAFES director and CEO Tom Shull described the free offering as a “quality-of-life multiplier so the games can be viewed wherever service members and their families are called to serve.”

“We believe moments like the Olympic Games have a unique power to connect people across the world,” Gary Zenkel, president of NBC Olympics, added.

The last act of Army Staff Sgt. Michael Ollis, 24, was to step between an Afghan suicide bomber and a Polish army officer — taking the force of the blast and sacrificing his own life to save another. Now, 13 years later, he’ll receive the military’s highest award for his valor, according to his parents.

Robert Ollis, Michael’s father, confirmed to Military Times via phone that he and Michael’s mother Linda had received a call from President Donald Trump Tuesday night confirming Ollis was approved for the award. The infantryman from Staten Island had previously been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the Army’s second-highest combat honor, for his actions.

Robert Ollis said the call with the president was “bittersweet.”

“We wanted this for Michael, but being his father, I want my son back,” he said. Beyond that, though, he added, “This is the best.”

“Our prayers have been answered,” Ollis continued. “There is a God, and if you keep annoying him, He’ll come through.”

The White House did not respond to a query seeking confirmation of the award.

Robert Ollis said he’d heard from the Pentagon on Wednesday morning that the news had not been intended for announcement yet. No date has been confirmed for the award ceremony, Ollis said.

Ollis has become something of a symbol of the power of military alliances. In Camp Kościuszko in Poznan, Poland, a mess hall named after Ollis — the “SSG Michael H. Ollis Warrior Grill” — honors his memory and sacrifice, according to a 2024 Army news release.

In an even more meaningful tribute, the Polish soldier Ollis saved, Lt. Karol Cierpica, would name his son Michael in honor of the fallen soldier.

According to previous Military Times reporting, Ollis, assigned to the 10th Mountain Division’s 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, had been posted at Forward Operating Base Ghazni in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province on Aug. 28, 2013, when the base was breached by a car bomb. The breach allowed for 10 enemy fighters wearing suicide vests to make their way inside the outer wall. More insurgents pelted the base with mortars and grenades from outside.

According to Ollis’s medal citation, he accounted for his soldiers and checked for casualties before running toward the enemy assault. He linked up with Cierpica and they moved toward the attackers and began to engage them “without their personal protection equipment and armed only with their rifles.”

“While fighting along the perimeter of the forward operating base, an insurgent came around a corner and immediately engaged them with small arms fire,” Ollis’s citation reads. “With complete disregard for his own safety, Staff Sergeant Ollis positioned himself between the insurgent and [Cierpica] who had been wounded in both legs and was unable to walk. Staff Sergeant Ollis fired on the insurgent and incapacitated him, but as he approached the insurgent, the insurgent’s suicide vest detonated, mortally wounding him.”

Tom Sileo, whose 2024 book “I Have Your Back” documented Ollis’ story and heroism, told Military Times in a Wednesday interview that he’d initially connected with the Ollis family in 2014 and stayed in touch with them over the years.

“From the first moment I heard about the story and read about it, the fact that he had saved a foreign soldier’s life and lost his own life in the process … that really jumped out at me,” Sileo said. “I thought it said a lot about our alliances and and about the heroism, of course, of these brave men and women of our military, that they’d be willing to lay their lives down for someone from a different country, and in this case, somebody that that I came to learn through research that Michael really had only encountered a few minutes before he saved his life.”

The Ollis family, Sileo said, had been contacting officials for years about upgrading Michael’s award to the Medal of Honor. Sileo said he had corresponded for years about the matter with now-Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, beginning when he was a Fox News host. He credited Eric Geressy, senior adviser to the Secretary of Defense for Strategy and a retired Army infantryman from Staten Island, for throwing his weight behind the effort as well.

“Michael earned this by what he did on Aug. 28, 2013, but Eric Geressy in particular deserves a ton of credit for making this happen,” Sileo said.

Ollis’s award news comes shortly after the release of the 2026 National Defense Strategy, which emphasized burden-sharing with European allies and chastised some for “irresponsible choices” in protecting their own security. Sileo emphasized that Ollis’s 2013 actions far preceded the current administration and cautioned against making political inferences. But, he said, the story was still significant for today’s climate.

“Maybe this can remind those in charge of how important those alliances are, and what a beautiful way for Michael’s legacy to live on,” Sileo said. “And that’s my hope that the medal... can become something even greater that reminds those in charge of how important these alliances are.”

Marines, whose primary, universal purpose is to kill, reserve an ungrudging respect for “Doc,” eschewing weapons but ever ready to sacrifice his own life to save those around him.

On some occasions, however, a corpsman breaks the Hippocratic Oath by entering to combat. On one of those rare occasions the medic in question was compelled by extenuating circumstances and the weapons to which he resorted were supplied by the enemy.

Edward Clyde Benfold was born in Staten Island on Jan. 15, 1931. His father had been a First Engineer in the U.S. Merchant Marine during World War II. He was serving aboard the Honduran freighter Castilla on June 7, 1942, when it was torpedoed by the German submarine U-107 near Cuba. Benfold’s father was among the crewmen lost.

While Benfold was a child his family moved to Haddon Heights and Audubon, both in New Jersey. After graduating from high school, the boyish-looking 18-year-old enlisted at the U.S. Navy Recruiting Station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and began basic training on Aug. 15, 1950, in the Hospital Corpsman Training Center at Great Lakes, Illinois.

From there he returned to Philadelphia to train as a neuropsychiatric technician, then attended the Field Medical Service School at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. In April 1951 he worked at the Naval Hospital at Newport, Rhode Island, and upon rating as a qualified medical field technician in July 1951, he was deployed to the Fleet Marine Force, Pacific (FMFPAC) in Korea.

On Sept. 5, he was given a front-line assignment, operating alongside Company E, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, on a stretch of hilly frontage north of Panmunjom that the United Nations called “Bunker Hill.”

Typifying the limited objectives over which the two sides grappled with earnest ferocity, the high ground of Bunker Hill was pinpointed for occupation by the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army from Aug. 9 to Sept. 30, 1952. On Sept. 5, the Chinese launched their third and final attempt, only to be stopped dead by American firepower.

No less than three Americans who fought there were cited for the Medal of Honor: PFC Alford Lee Mclaughlin, using two machine guns and whatever other firearm was handy, held his outpost, killed an estimated 150 enemy soldiers and went on to retire in 1977; nearby, PFC Fernando L. Garcia, from Puerto Rico, leapt on an enemy grenade, giving his life to save his platoon sergeant; the third recipient was Benfold.

The corpsman was aiding comrades from an adjacent unit, Company I, 3rd Battalion and 5th Battalion, 1st Marines, when he came upon a crater near Outpost Bruce, and found two Marines there, badly wounded.

As he went to attend them, however, two grenades landed in his path, followed by the two charging Chinese who threw them. With seconds to make a life-or-death decision, Benfold snatched up both grenades, counter-charged the enemy and shoved the weapons into their jackets. The result was technically a violation of the corpsman credo, but Benfold’s act saved two wounded Marines at the sacrifice of his own life — and that of the enemy who would otherwise have killed them all.

Another corpsman, according to the Marine Corps Museum, was watching the events of the moment and rushed to aid Benfold. The damage from the explosions was too extensive, however, and Benfold died where he lay.

By Sept. 30, the battles for control of Outpost Bruce and Bunker Hill petered out with the contested ground in Marine hands.

On July 16, 1953, Rear Adm. John H. Brown, commandant of the 4th Naval District, presented the Medal of Honor to Benfold’s infant son. In addition, the corpsman received the Purple Heart, the Korean Service Medal and the United Nations Service Medal.

On Nov. 12, 1994, the newest guided missile frigate DDG-65 was christened USS Benfold. The remains of Benfold, Navy corpsman and honorary Marine, reside in Beverly National Cemetery, New Jersey.

Kenneth Daniel Williams was falling from the sky.

His B-17, “Aristrocrap,” had just been shot over Bremen, Germany. A bombardier in the 351st Bomb Group, Williams was one of the few lucky ones of his crew — both the pilot and copilot of the Aristrocrap died in the Nov. 26, 1943, melee.

“The escape hatch was on the floor of the tunnel,” Williams would later write. “I crawled back to see if I could help the pilot open the escape hatch. As I crawled toward him the pilot put his foot on the hatch and forced it open. This took tremendous pressure since the slipstream was trying to force it closed. The pilot grabbed me by the waist and forced me head-first out the escape hatch.”

The crew was never supposed to be in the Aristrocrap. Rather, upon arriving in England in October 1943, they had been assigned the B-17 “Murder, Inc.,” an older plane that had seen continuous active combat. Williams related that it was customary to have the name of the plane painted on the back of one’s flight jacket.

But “as it turned out,” Williams wrote, “I was the only member of the crew whose jacket was painted before we were shot down in, ironically, another plane.”

When Williams landed, he was captured immediately and transferred to the POW camp Stalag Luft I. It took the Germans little time to take stock of their prisoner, with Joseph Goebbels, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, seeing an opportunity to exploit the unique name inscribed on Williams’ flight jacket.

During a time when the pace of American strategic bombing of Germany was ramping up, the Germans leaped at the propagandic opportunity to label American pilots lawless “gangsters from Chicago” bent on killing all German women and children.

However, the stereotype that humor is lost on Germans actually rang true this time.

https://www.americanairmuseum.com/person/139168 that the flight jacket was “photo evidence for the underworld nature of [Allied] air terror” and that the American “air gangster identifies himself as part of a murder racket.”

But on the Allied side, the propaganda effort had the opposite effect. Pilots were seemingly delighted with the moniker, happy to be known to by their enemies as “gangsters of the sky” — a formidably cool moniker that somehow got lost in translation to the Germans.

Williams himself was born and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina, writing, “Contrary to some of the German propaganda, I was not a Chicago gangster,” adding that he had “attended local schools and went to Belmont Abbey College, an institution run by Benedictine Monks, many of whom came from Germany.”

After more than a year and a half in captivity, Williams and his fellow POWs were liberated on May 1, 1945, by the Red Army. Upon arriving home, the bombardier was greeted by hundreds of letters from all over the world wishing the “air gangster” well. According to Williams, “they all contained newspaper clippings of ‘Murder Inc.’ that they thought I might like to have as a souvenir.”

As for the jacket that caused all the trouble? Williams managed to bring it stateside and, as he put it, had “Murder, Inc. painted on [it] again exactly as it had been before I spent one night removing it. The jacket is old and stiff now and the lettering has faded, but I am wearing it as I write this.”

In 1986, the Murder Inc. jacket was donated, and it now hangs in the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.

Originally published on HistoryNet, our sister publication.

LAGOS, Nigeria — The U.S. has dispatched a small team of military officers to Nigeria, the general in charge of U.S. Africa Command told reporters in a briefing on Tuesday.

Gen. Dagvin R.M. Anderson said the move followed his meeting with Nigeria’s president, Bola Tinubu, in Rome late last year.

“That has led to increased collaboration between our nations, to include a small U.S. team that brings some unique capabilities from the United States in order to augment what Nigeria has been doing for several years,” Anderson said.

It is unclear when the team arrived in Nigeria.

The military officers are the latest step since the U.S launched airstrikes against a group affiliated with the Islamic State last year on Dec. 25.

Nigeria has been in the diplomatic crosshairs of the U.S. following threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to attack the country, alleging the West African nation is not doing enough to protect its Christian citizens. Following the allegations, the West African country was designated as a Country of Particular Concern, a congressional designation in the U.S. for countries responsible for religious oppression.

The Nigerian government firmly rejected the claim of Christian genocide, saying the armed groups target people regardless of their faith.

The diplomatic dispute has led to increased military cooperation between the two countries. The terms of the cooperation have been unclear. The U.S has supplied Nigeria with military equipment and carried out reconnaissance missions across Nigeria.

Nigeria has been battling several armed groups across the country. The groups include Islamist sects like Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province.

Last month, an armed group launched simultaneous attacks on three churches in northwestern Kaduna state abducting 168 people.

A former Parris Island Marine drill instructor that was sentenced to prison in 2017 for hazing recruits and released early on good behavior has recently been arrested and charged with a separate crime in South Carolina.

During his time as a former gunnery sergeant at Marine Corps Recruit Depot on Parris Island, South Carolina, Joseph Anthony Felix was accused and subsequently found guilty of abusing recruits, leading to the death of one in 2017.

On Jan. 25, Felix was arrested by the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office under the charge of cruelty to children, according to a redacted copy of the incident report shared with Military Times by the office.

According to the incident report, the officer that responded to the scene found the victim to have severe abrasions on his neck area, like “something had scraped it with extensive force.”

Felix was booked into the Beaufort County Detention center but was released on bond the next day, Lt. Daniel Allen, a spokesperson for the office, said in a statement to Military Times.

The court date is currently scheduled for March 12 in Beaufort Magistrate Court, but that can change, according to Allen.

Felix served in the Marine Corps for 15 years and is an Afghanistan and Iraq War veteran.

‘The more you hate them, the better you train them’

In November 2017, Felix was sentenced to 10 years in prison after the abuse came to light a year prior in March 2016 after the death of Raheel Siddiqui, a recruit that plunged to his death after Felix slapped him.

Felix was accused of targeting Muslim recruits, like Siddiqui, during his time as drill instructor and witnesses in the 2017 trial testified that he would often call them “terrorists.”

In mid-March 2016, Siddiqui gave a note to his drill instructors saying he had a swollen sore throat and therefore could not speak the greeting of the day.

Felix forced Siddiqui to run from one end of the squad bay and back, and eventually, he collapsed while holding his throat.

Felix slapped Siddiqui across the face while he was on the floor and Siddiqui then ran to a nearby stairwell and leapt to his death.

The subsequent investigation could not determine if he was trying to kill himself or just trying to get away from Felix.

“You have to hate recruits to train them,” Felix told the investigator after Siddiqui’s death, claiming he intentionally treated Marines badly, according to Marine prosecutor Capt. Corey Wielert.

“They get three meals a day, sleep eight hours. The more you hate them, the better you train them,” he said.

Felix was also accused of targeting two other Muslim recruits, with witnesses saying they saw Felix kick one in the face and telling him, “Hey ISIS, get in the dryer.”

He then told the recruit, Rekan Hawaz, to climb inside the commercial dryer without turning it on.

Another Muslim recruit, Lance Cpl. Ameer Bourmeche, testified that Felix and another drill instructor, whose separate trial was in September 2017, ordered him to also climb inside a dryer and turned it on three times.

The drill instructors only let Bourmeche out after he said he was no longer a Muslim, Bourmeche said.

‘He wasn’t making Marines, he was breaking Marines’

A former Democratic representative from Michigan, whose congressional district included Siddiqui’s hometown, released a statement in 2017, saying she has been working with the Marine Corps since his death that previous March.

“This young man was a son, brother, a class valedictorian and a patriot whose dream was to serve the country he loved and defend the freedoms many of us take for granted,” Rep. Debbie Dingell said in the statement.

“Instead, Raheel and other recruits were targeted, degraded and mistreated by the individual charged. As the prosecution stated in closing arguments, Sergeant Felix ‘wasn’t making Marines, he was breaking Marines,’” she continued.

After the court-martial sentenced Felix to 10 years in prison in November 2017, his rank was also reduced to E1, forfeiting pay and allowances, and was handed a dishonorable discharge.

Marine Corps officials said at the time that he was found guilty of maltreatment; violation of a lawful general order and dereliction of duty; making a false official statement; and drunk and disorderly conduct.

Felix was acquitted of obstruction of justice and one specification of violation of a general order.

He was held at the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, until he was released three years early on Dec. 23, 2024 after the Naval Clemency and Parole Board approved Felix for Mandatory Supervised Release from prison on March 25, 2024.

Felix was released under the provision that he be supervised by the U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services District of South Carolina for the remainder of his original 10-year sentence, meaning for the following three years, according to Task & Purpose reporting.

“The [United States Disciplinary Barracks] may not release the specific conditions of supervision,” a spokesperson told Task & Purpose. “However, as a matter of process, any potential violations are reviewed by the [U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services] and may result in the inmate’s return to confinement.”

The United States Disciplinary Barracks did not immediately return a request for comment.

The Pentagon on Tuesday announced 25 small technology and drone companies that will compete for a chance to quickly field thousands of low-cost one-way attack drones for the military.

Kratos SRE Inc., a subsidiary of Kratos Defense, and Halo Aeronautics are among the more than two dozen vendors taking part in the first phase of the Defense Department’s Drone Dominance Program, the department said in a statement.

“Drone dominance is a process race as much as a technological race,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a July 2025 memo that the department highlighted. “We are buying what works — fast, at scale, and without bureaucratic delay. Lethality will not be hindered by self-imposed restrictions.”

Hegseth’s memo followed a June 2025 executive order signed by President Donald Trump that spelled out ways for the U.S. to improve its military and commercial drone capabilities, focusing on inexpensive, American-made combat drones.

The evaluation for the first phase, which the DOD dubbed the Gauntlet, will start Feb. 18 at Fort Benning, Georgia, and finish in early March. After military operators fly and evaluate the proposed vendors’ systems, the department will place about $150 million in orders for prototype drones.

Those prototypes will be delivered over the following five months, per the DOD. The department said in an early December release that it planned to have 12 vendors produce a total of 30,000 drones, at $5,000 per unit.

Hegseth’s Drone Dominance Program, which was rolled out in early December with a request for information, aims to quickly and inexpensively acquire hundreds of thousands of one-way attack drones by 2027.

Ukraine has used such “kamikaze” drones extensively in its fight against Russia’s invasion over the last four years, and it has drawn attention to their effectiveness in a modern war.

Hegseth said in December that the military can’t afford to continue to use costly munitions worth millions of dollars apiece to take out inexpensive enemy drones, and that a cheaper arsenal of attack drones is critical.

The Pentagon expects to spend $1.1 billion on the program over its four phases and wants to have “warfighters” be the ones evaluating how well potential drones work.

The department intends to buy large amounts of drones on a regular schedule, which will create a stable demand signal allowing industry to build out its own capacity.

The following three phases will see the number of vendors decline from 12 to 5, the DOD said in December, as the number of drones ordered will grow to 150,000 and the price will drop to $2,300.

The competitive cycles for improving these drones will be “measured in months, not years,” the Pentagon said.

The companies competing in “Gauntlet I” are:

• Anno.Ai Inc.
• Ascent Aerosystems Inc.
• Auterion Government Solutions Inc.
• DZYNE Technologies
• Ewing Aerospace
• Farage Precision
• Firestorm Labs
• General Cherry Corp.
• Greensight Inc.
• Griffon Aerospace Inc.
• Halo Aeronautics
• Kratos SRE
• Modalai Inc.
• Napatree Technology
• Neros Inc.
• Oksi Ventures Inc.
• Paladin Defense Services
• Performance Drone Works
• Responsibly LTD
• Swarm Defense Technologies
• Teal Drones Inc.
• Ukrainian Defense Drones Tech Corp.
• Vector Defense Inc.
• W.S. Darley & Co.
• XTEND Reality Inc.

A U.S. Navy fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone that was approaching the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea, U.S. Central Command said Tuesday, threatening to ramp up tensions as the Trump administration warns of possible military action to get Iran to the negotiating table.

The drone “aggressively approached” the aircraft carrier with “unclear intent” and “continued to fly toward the ship despite de-escalatory measures taken by U.S. forces operating in international waters,” Central Command spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins said in a statement Tuesday.

The shootdown occurred within hours of Iranian forces harassing a U.S.-flagged and U.S.-crewed merchant vessel that was sailing in the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. military said.

The Shahed-139 drone was shot down by an F-35C fighter jet from the Lincoln, which, according to Hawkins, was sailing about 500 miles from Iran’s southern coast. The military’s statement noted that no American troops were harmed and no U.S. equipment was damaged.

Then, hours later, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces harassed the merchant vessel Stena Imperative, the military said.

According to Hawkins’ statement, two boats and an Iranian Mohajer drone approached the ship “at high speeds and threatened to board and seize the tanker.”

The destroyer USS McFaul responded to the scene and escorted the Stena Imperative “with defensive air support from the U.S. Air Force,” the statement said, adding that the merchant vessel was now sailing safely.

The actions come as tensions are high between the longtime adversaries. They began to rise again as Iran’s government spent weeks quelling protests that began in late December against growing economic instability before broadening into a challenge to the Islamic Republic.

President Donald Trump had promised in early January to “rescue” Iranians from their government’s bloody crackdown on protesters, which later morphed into a pressure campaign to get Tehran to make a deal over its nuclear program. That is even as the Republican president insists Iranian nuclear sites were “obliterated” in U.S. strikes in June.

“We have talks going on with Iran. We’ll see how it all works out,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday. Asked what his threshold was for military action against Iran, he declined to elaborate.

“I’d like to see a deal negotiated,” Trump said. “Right now, we’re talking to them, we’re talking to Iran, and if we could work something out, that’d be great. And if we can’t, probably bad things would happen.”

The U.S. shot down the drone hours after Iran’s president said Tuesday that he instructed the country’s foreign minister to “pursue fair and equitable negotiations” with the U.S., marking one of the first clear signs from Tehran it wants to try to negotiate with Washington despite a breakdown of talks last summer.

Turkey had been working behind the scenes to make the talks happen there later this week as U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff is traveling in the region. A Turkish official later said that the location of talks was uncertain but that Turkey was ready to support the process.

Amiri reported from New York.

The anonymous Englishman who managed to lodge a 2-inch-wide World War II anti-tank shell inside his rectum back in 2021 has been unseated.

The phrase “shell shocked” took on new meaning over the weekend when a 24-year-old Frenchman hobbled into Rangueil Hospital in Toulouse, France, complaining of unspecified pain.

Rushed into surgery, the doctors soon discovered that the source of the “unspecified pain” turned out to be an 8-inch long 37mm brass-and copper shell used by the Imperial German Army in the late stages of the Great War.

According to the French newspaper La Dépêche, the medical staff in Toulouse are “accustomed to treating victims injured during sexual games,” but are understandably unused to dislodging centuries-old munitions from rectums.

“He was in a state of extreme discomfort, having inserted a large object up his rectum,” said an investigating source, stating the obvious.

The artillery shell, unexploded at the time of the removal, resulted in the evacuation of the hospital, with an explosive ordnance disposal squad called to the hospital to ensure the munition was not in danger of detonating within the individual’s personal hurt locker.

France is currently edging the British in its centuries-old rivalry, as this is not the first time a Frenchman has married munition with derrière.

In 2022, an 88-year-old patient visited Hospital Sainte Musse in Toulon stunning doctors when they removed what turned out to be a WWI-era French munition measuring 8 inches long and more than 2 inches wide — from the man’s rectum. Surgeons were forced to cut open his abdomen in order to remove the hefty relic due to the shell’s considerably above-average size.

“An apple, a mango, or even a can of shaving foam, we are used to finding unusual objects inserted where they shouldn’t be,” one doctor reported. “But a shell? Never!”

While the echoes of the Great War are now more than a century old, the vestiges of the deadly conflict remain.

Along the Western Front, namely France and Belgium, the remnants of the First World War are still coming to the surface.

About 1.5 billion shells were fired during the war, and unexploded ammunition continues to plague Western Europe, particularly France.

An annual collection of the ordnances called “récolte de fer,” or “iron harvest” work to rid the land — and now rectums — of the explosives.

On Saturday, firefighters confirmed that they had defused the bomb and that there was no further risk to the patient or those in proximity to the hospital.

While the patient is expected to make a full physical recovery, the mental scars of his very own trench warfare is another story.

Still recuperating, the French national is set to be interviewed by police this week and prosecutors are considering legal action against the 24-year-old for handling “category A munitions,” according to an officer.

A manufacturing defect in the U.S. Marine Corps’ all-weather coat is causing the service to restrict its sale and wear among personnel.

The defect, which causes the clothing item to shed an orange substance, was identified by Marine Corps officials in a specific production lot of the all-weather coat, according to a recent MarAdmin.

When exposed to water or rain, the defect causes the coat to “bleed” a noticeable, orange-colored substance from its fabric, per the notice.

In the Marine Corps Uniform Regulations guide, it says the coat is made of a polyester/cotton poplin fabric that’s treated to be water-repellent/resistant.

The standard all-weather coat is in the shade pewter grey and is full-length, double-breasted with a belt and detachable liner.

The all-weather coat is typically worn by Marines over their service or dress uniform in inclement weather.

The statement says the bled substance creates a “stained, unserviceable, and unprofessional appearance.”

The uniform regulations guide lists an Extended Cold Weather Clothing System parka as an optional item for an outer coat during cold or inclement weather.

As of the Jan. 26 MarAdmin’s issue, all sales and initial issue of the all-weather coat have been suspended until the Corps cancels the MarAdmin.

Marine Corps Recruit Depots are tasked with issuing local guidance on the de-issuing, according to the release.

The memo says that all Marines impacted by the coat’s defect will be issued reimbursement by the Marine Corps Recruit Depots, who are required to record the action in impacted Marines’ service records.

The Defense Logistics Agency-Troop Support will identify the defected all-weather coats contracts and lot numbers and notify the Marine Corps, the memo states.

The Marine Corps Total Force should look out for guidance announced through SEPCOR on surveying and replacing the defective coat, the statement says, as it will list responsibilities, timelines and reporting requirements.

The Headquarters Marine Corps Installations and Logistics will release the guidance to ensure “consistent execution” across all commands, the memo continues.

Read the full MarAdmin here.

Tucked inside the more than 3,000 pages of the recently passed defense budget for Fiscal Year 2026 is a mandate that the secretary of defense carry out a study focused on the mental health impacts of piloting unmanned aircraft systems in combat.

The rise of military drone pilots as a profession has brought with it a fair share of jeers and suspicion. In 2013, when the Pentagon rolled out a “Distinguished Warfare Medal” to honor drone operators, troops dubbed it the “Nintendo Medal.”

It was canceled soon after and replaced with an “R” device — for “remote warfare” — in 2016. But research shows that the impacts of combat trauma on drone operators are real, and could be even more profound than those on pilots of manned aircraft.

A 2023 literature review published in the Journal of Mental Health & Clinical Psychology found that crews of remotely piloted aircraft “exhibit greater psychiatric symptoms, in general, as compared to crews that work with crewed military aircraft.”

Seth Norrholm, an associate professor of Psychiatry at Wayne State University in Michigan and the lead author on the study, told Military Times that, perhaps counterintuitively, remote warfare requires a level of intimacy with a prospective strike target that conventional air warfare may not.

“A lot of these pilots and crews are tracking targets for a period of weeks, months and sometimes years. They get to know the daily lives of the people that they’re tracking,” Norrholm said. “They may be playing soccer, football, you know, outside, eating meals together. So, you really see this person’s life. And you get to know this person from afar, and then potentially you’re given the order to take them out, you know, the next day. So there’s unique intimacy that can develop between the targets and the RPA crews, because they really have gotten to know this person at a really personal level, even though they’ve never met.“

Then there’s the potentially jarring juxtaposition of conducting strikes with lethal effects from a U.S.-based operations center and being able to re-enter the comforts of everyday American life following a work shift.

Norrholm noted that the services have made changes to create clearer lines between combat operations and home life, to prevent what has been called “psychological whiplash.”

“The long-term effects of these types of ‘whiplash’ are still being investigated and not yet well understood,” the paper notes.

According to the language in the recently enacted National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 2026, the Pentagon study must include an “assessment of the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, burnout, moral injury and other mental health conditions” among not only the pilots who fly combat drones but also those who analyze combat imagery or conduct targeting assessments.

These rates will be compared against those of aircrew who engage in conventional combat flight operations and troops deployed in non-combat flying roles.

It also must evaluate unique operational stressors for RPA pilots, including “shift work and sleep disruption; remote witnessing of lethal operations; emotional disengagement and isolation; and exposure to civilian casualties or traumatic visual content.”

Included in the study will also be an assessment of available mental health support services and an evaluation if those services are “adequate, accessible, and appropriately tailored” for RPA pilots, along with recommendations for improving screenings, treatment and prevention.

The report will be due to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees no later than this December.

It’s not the first time Congress is expressing concern over the wellbeing of military drone pilots. In 2023, lawmakers called on the Air Force to work with U.S. Special Operations Command to adopt a program that would support RPA pilots’ holistic wellbeing.

As far back as 2014, an Air Force study of 1,000 drone pilots documented the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder in the community.

For Norrholm, the new study mandate is significant because the data it produces will drive resource allocation and development of policy.

“The military tends to work slowly in terms of affecting change,” he said. “But if there’s data out there that suggests that you can improve operator readiness by taking some of these steps, you know, they’re receptive to it.”

While the rise of increasingly capable autonomous platforms is once again recasting the role of human operators in combat, Norrholm said the presence of a human in the loop means the question of psychological impacts and how to treat them will remain relevant.

“It’s not going to be a reliance on technology alone. It’s not going to be an AI-driven decision to carry out these missions, or at least it shouldn’t be,” he said.

“Anytime there’s a human element, there’s always the possibility for psychological consequences, which affects operational readiness and national security,” he added. “So, as long as humans are engaged in warfare, whether it’s conventional or remote warfare, there’s always the potential for psychological consequences. ... That needs to be addressed, and will continue to need to be addressed.”

Ahead of the 101st Airborne Division’s receipt of the Bell MV-75, its personnel tested the tiltrotor waters in a training exercise with the Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey.

On Jan. 23, the Army’s 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, used aircraft from the North Carolina-based Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 744 for Operation Lethal Eagle, according to a video release.

The operation, a 21-day exercise featuring mock-up Army initiatives, aims to cultivate large-scale and long-range air assault capabilities throughout the division, per the video’s description.

The exercise continues the 101st Airborne Division’s experimentation on tiltrotor aircraft as the service prepares to receive its own delivery, the Bell MV-75, in the near future.

The division planners wanted to utilize the Osprey in training to mitigate any possible learning curve prior to receiving the MV-75, according a report from Stars and Stripes.

The MV-75 will be slightly smaller than the Osprey, but will be able to carry 14 troops. It was built completely from scratch to fulfill the Army’s unique needs, Stripes reported. The aircraft’s design includes an all-digital platform that allows the Army to adapt to enemy capabilities courtesy of software and hardware that can be quickly modified.

The 101st Airborne Division was selected in March 2025 as the first unit to receive the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft, meant to replace the Black Hawk utility helicopters, because of the division’s “mission profile and theater demands.”

“The 101st flies into real world contested environments, across wide terrain, often without the luxury of fixed support infrastructure,” Army Gen. James Mingus said previously of the decision. “They need speed, endurance and reliability.”

The MV-75 has a cruise speed of 320 miles per hour, compared to the Black Hawk’s speed of around 183 miles per hour, with an unfueled range of 920 miles. The Black Hawk’s range is approximately 367 miles.

Army Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George announced earlier this month that the service will begin training on MV-75 prototypes as early as this year.

The aircraft was previously slated for delivery between 2031 and 2032, but George announced during the town hall that production has been accelerated.

“We said, ‘No, we need it very quickly,’” George said at a townhall meeting. “At the end of this year, we will actually have those flying.”

Zita Ballinger Fletcher contributed to this report.

Some landlords of privatized military housing are resuming the utilities billing process for military families.

The resumption varies across the service branches, and by installation, and starts with mock billing before actual billing begins.

The Air Force appears to be further along in restarting its billing program, based on responses from the other services to Military Times’ questions. The Navy and Marine Corps expect to resume their billing at some locations at some point later this year, with the Marine Corps beginning with housing in Hawaii.

At least two privatized housing communities — Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, and Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas— have informed residents about mock billing from February through April. Actual billing begins in May.

Like the old utilities program, which went by the same name name, the new Resident Energy Conservation Program establishes a baseline amount of utility usage for a housing unit, and rewards residents with rebates if they use less energy than the baseline. Residents who use more than the baseline range are charged for excess consumption.

The previous utilities program was discontinued in 2021 following complaints by residents about the fairness of the program, particularly the accuracy of the meters measuring gas and electricity usage and the billing.

For the new utilities program, Defense Department guidance requires installations to conduct a three-month mock billing period before the actual billing begins, but Marine Corps families will have a six-month period.

Mock billing gives residents clear information about their usage and gives them time to adjust before actual billing starts, said Carolyn Baker, spokeswoman for Hunt Military Communities, which operates the privatized housing at Maxwell and Little Rock. Hunt is the largest military housing owner, with about 190,000 residents in nearly 60,000 homes on U.S. installations of all service branches.

Utility bills for base housing are returning; few details offered

Hunt is implementing the utilities billing program across its housing communities, Baker said, but all policy decisions, including whether and when to restart at each installation, are made by DOD and the military services.

Five out of the 10 Air Force privatized housing partners have taken steps to implement the program, said Air Force spokeswoman Laurel Falls.

The plans for implementing the billing vary by installation, Falls said, but landlords who elect to start the program must follow Air Force and DOD guidance.

DOD sets the methodology for establishing the baseline usage and requirements for meter accuracy, and similar homes are grouped together for a fair comparison. DOD guidelines also set a monthly payment and rebate threshold, typically $50 above or below the baseline average, Baker said, “so that only significant outliers would see a charge or rebate in a given month.”

The calculations for determining the Basic Allowance for Housing each year include the median cost of rent for various types of homes in a given area, plus the average cost of utilities. Service members living in privatized housing pay their BAH directly to their landlord.

“Mission Accomplished” — the banner behind President George W. Bush while aboard the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln — grandly declared that invasion of Iraq, launched just 26 days prior, on March 20, 2003, was over.

“Major combat operations in Iraq have ended,” Bush said at the time. “The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on Sept. 11, 2001, and still goes on.” The White House eventually shifted what it said the banner’s intent was, claiming instead that the phrase was noting the carrier’s completion of its deployment.

The invasion, meanwhile, consisting of the armed forces of the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Poland, had overrun the country in a little over three weeks and would soon climax with the overthrow of the Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein. As of that moment, President Bush had achieved a stunning victory, more so even than that of his father in 1990-1991.

Few would have conceived that this seeming end to what President Bush called the “Axis of Evil” was, in fact, only beginning. Some clue, however, might have been derived from the act of self-sacrifice late in the campaign that produced its sole Medal of Honor recipient, Paul Ray Smith.

Born in El Paso, Texas, on June 24, 1969, Paul Ray Smith was nine when his parents, Ivan Smith and Janice Pvirre, moved to Tampa Bay, Florida. There, Smith took a shine to carpentry, even serving as a carpenter’s assistant, and automobiles, rebuilding a friend’s dune buggy. In 1988 he graduated from the Tampa Bay Vocational Technical School, then enlisted in the United States Army in October 1989.

As early as then, Smith told his family he had settled on his life’s ambition: “I want to be a soldier, get married and have kids.”

After training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, in 1996 Smith was assigned to the 9th Engineer Battalion in Germany, where he met his wife, Birgit and went on to have a son and a daughter.

He then transferred to Company B, 11th Engineer Battalion to participate in Operation Joint Endeavor, upholding stability in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1996, and the similar Operation Joint Guardian, patrolling the streets of Gnjilane, Kosovo, from 1999 to May 2001.

In the spring of 2002, he attained the rank to Sergeant First Class and in August he completed the Advanced Non-Commissioned Officer Course.

In January 2003 Smith’s combat engineer unit moved to Kuwait, where it was attached to the 2nd Battalion, 7th Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division. There he trained his troops intensely in preparation for Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Once launched, Operation Iraqi Freedom’s progress was marked by inconsistency on the enemy’s part. Some Iraqis fought ferociously; others crumbled under the weight of corrupt leadership, faulty training and unreliable weaponry. The Americans could not be sure of what they were up against until first contact.

As of April 3, B Company, 2nd Battalion had advanced roughly 185 miles in 48 hours with the 3rd Infantry Division. On April 4, it was part of a 100-man blocking force taking up positions on the highway a little over a mile east of Baghdad International Airport.

There, the Americans had constructed an impromptu aid station in a walled enclosure and a tower for about 100 casualties. Smith, leading a 16-man detail and with combat earth mover, was constructing an EPW (enemy prisoner of war) holding area when some of his men reported 50 to 100 Iraqis had occupied the tower — commandeering the courtyard and by all appearances, determined to make a fight of it.

Besides his two platoons, Smith was backed up by a Bradley fighting vehicle and three M113 armored personnel carriers. Hastily organizing a defense, he moved up under fire to personally engage the enemy. Nearby, the Bradley was damaged and as its ammunition ran low, it withdrew to replenish. One of the APCs was disabled by a rocket-propelled grenade and a 60mm mortar round. Smith rushed over to evacuate its three wounded crewmen.

Judging it possible that the enemy might overrun the aid station and that the wounded troops were in jeopardy, Smith then returned to the M113 and, disregarding his own safety under withering fire, he manned its exposed .50-caliber machine gun. Nearby a fellow SFC Timothy S. Campbell, led a team into the tower and killed all the Iraqi combatants they found there.

The fight ended with as many as 50 Iraqis dead. SFC Smith was found where he fell, with 13 holes in his armor jacket and bullets in his neck and brain. After the American advance resumed, Baghdad fell on April 9, followed by Kirkuk on the 10th and Tikrit on the 15th. On May 1, the President announced the “end of major combat operations.”

For his role in defending the wounded, Campbell was awarded the Silver Star. After being honored by his comrades and shipped home, Smith received the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, and Army Commendation Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters. In accordance with his expressed wishes — he loved to fish — his remains were cremated and scattered in the Gulf of Mexico. He also has a marker in Arlington National Cemetery.

On April 4, 2005, two years after his death, Smith’s 11-year-old son, David, came to Washington, D.C. and received the Medal of Honor from President Bush. Smith had done all he could to accomplish his mission, but affairs in Iraq were not quite over. The years from 2004 to 2007 would see six more American servicemen receive the Medal of Honor — five of them posthumously.

Major military installations in the United States are unprotected from drone attacks, despite policies that mandate otherwise, a Pentagon watchdog report warns.

The problem appears to be bureaucratic confusion over which bases should be covered, according to a Jan. 20 Department of Defense Inspector General report. The result is some startling lapses in counter-unmanned aerial system defenses, even at installations that have experienced multiple drone incursions.

For example, Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, “where F-35 training takes place for 75 percent of the world’s F-35 pilots, is not designated as a covered facility or asset,” according to the report.

US base commanders to have more say in defeating drone intrusions

Under Section 130i, Title 10, of the U.S. Code, counter-drone defense is mandated for installations that fall under one of nine categories that range from nuclear missiles to weapons testing facilities. But training bases are not on the list.

“DOD officials told us that training is not covered,” the report said. “Therefore, the installation officials cannot use C-UAS capabilities to prevent [unmanned aerial system] activity while training on the F-35s.”

Officials investigated 10 Defense Department sites that have suffered drone incursions, including the Air Force’s Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, a government-owned, contractor-operated facility that produces spare parts for the Global Hawk and other drones. The plant, which suffered several drone incidents in 2024, is included on the Air Force’s list of covered sites. But “Air Force officials told us that Plant 42 is not covered, while “DOD officials could not tell us whether or not it is covered,” the report noted.

The report also cited the Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair, USN, Newport News facility, where contractors perform construction and maintenance of aircraft carriers and submarines. The report — which was heavily redacted — blocked out details on any incidents there. But unidentified drones flew for weeks over military installations in Virginia in 2024, generating fears that it could be a prelude to something more sinister.

A 2020 DOD memo requires C-UAS packages to be tested in an operational setting before being submitted for Section 130i approval. But the various armed services have different policies for submitting those packages, such as different requirements for organizational and leadership approvals.

“Therefore, a large percentage of installations do not have operational approval to use C-UAS capabilities,” the report noted.

DOD has also issued more than 20 policies that failed to offer clear guidance regarding C-UAS deployment on U.S.-based installations, according to the report.

In 2025, DOD established the Joint Interagency Task Force 401 to coordinate C-UAS efforts. The DOD IG recommended that the new task force review existing policies and issue a “consolidated DoD policy that defines: (1) clear roles, responsibilities, and authorities; (2) requirements for covered designation for facilities and assets; and (3) a standardized and streamlined process for section 130i packages.”

The findings of the IG report match those from a series of wargames conducted by the U.S. Army’s Joint Counter-Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office and the RAND Corp. think tank. The exercises studied the drone threat to military bases in the U.S.

Researchers found a hodgepodge of varying policies, such as rules of engagement for disabling drones, between the 500 or so military bases in the U.S. Under Section 130i, some base commanders had authority to shoot down marauding drones, while others could face criminal prosecution.

The JCO/RAND study also found confusion over who has responsibility for protecting bases. The wargames “emphasized the need for a framework to integrate, enable, and synchronize state, local, tribal, and territorial authorities into counter-drone operations at or near military bases,” researchers said.

The vulnerability of bases in the U.S. has become a concern after last year’s Operation Spiderweb, in which Ukrainian drones attacked airbases and destroyed parked aircraft deep inside Russia. Experts worry that if Ukraine could smuggle drones into Russia aboard trucks and launch a surprise attack, terrorists and other adversaries could do the same in the U.S.

Just days before the New England Patriots secured a spot in the 2026 Super Bowl and moved within reach of a record seventh championship title, U.S. Marines were passengers aboard the team’s private jet en route to Norway.

The Marines deployed to Bardufoss on a combination of military and commercially chartered aircraft – including a Patriots-branded Boeing 767 – to begin preparations for a Norwegian-led winter exercise scheduled for March, the Marine Corps told Military Times.

Roughly 3,000 Marines are expected to join other U.S. forces and some 25,000 personnel from a dozen nations for Cold Response 26. A significant portion of the American contingent hails from the 2nd Marine Division, based at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. The drills are designed to test collective defense capabilities, U.S. readiness and interoperability with NATO allies under the harsh conditions of the Arctic.

The aircraft the Marines traveled on are part of a fleet operated by Omni Air International, which is under contract with the U.S. Transportation Command to provide chartered flights for military personnel. Omni Air operates two Patriots-owned 767s that are used for team travel as well as a range of other flights, including humanitarian missions and military charter services, according to the company.

Nicknamed “AirKraft” after team owner Robert Kraft, the planes are painted in the Patriots’ red, white and blue, and emblazoned with the franchise’s six Lombardi Trophies on their tails. Inside, the cabins have been retrofitted with all first-class seats and features a state-of-the-art in-flight entertainment system.

“The 767 we have typically carries 260 people, but since we didn’t have a need to travel 260 people, we wanted to utilize the space on the plane to give more space for people,” Jim Nolan, the chief operating officer of Kraft Sports + Entertainment, said.

The Patriots are set to face the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl.

The families of two Trinidadian men killed in an American military strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in October filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the United States government on Tuesday. The case marks the first legal challenge of its kind to President Donald Trump’s policy targeting vessels along narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean.

The lawsuit, filed in Massachusetts in conjunction with the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights, names the U.S. government as a defendant and seeks damages for the deaths of Chad Joseph, 26, and Rishi Samaroo, 41, both from Las Cuevas in Trinidad and Tobago.

According to the complaint, Joseph and Samaroo “had been fishing in waters off the Venezuelan coast and working on farms in Venezuela,” and were returning home to Trinidad when their boat was struck by a missile. The suit claims neither men had ties to drug cartels, and describes the military operation as unlawful and extrajudicial.

“These premeditated and intentional killings lack any plausible legal justification,” the complaint asserts. “Thus, they were simply murders, ordered by individuals at the highest levels of government and obeyed by military officers in the chain of command.”

Trump, in a post on Truth Social on Oct. 14, announced American forces carried out a “lethal kinetic strike” that killed six men aboard a vessel “affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO) conducting narcotrafficking” in international waters off the coast of Venezuela. The president included a 33-second surveillance video showing a small boat being struck and exploding. It was the fifth such strike conducted by the U.S. military.

Between Sept. 2 and Jan. 26, the military blew up 36 vessels, purportedly as part of its counternarcotics efforts in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean. The strikes have killed at least 116 people, according to data compiled by Military Times.

The White House on Tuesday characterized the Oct. 14 attack as a lawful military operation carried out to protect Americans.

“The October 14th strike was conducted against designated narcoterrorists bringing deadly poison to our shores,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told Military Times. “President Trump used his lawful authority to take decisive action against the scourge of illicit narcotics that has resulted in the needless deaths of innocent Americans.”

The lawsuit invokes the Death on the High Seas Act, which enables the relatives of people who die in international waters to sue for wrongful death; and the Alien Tort Statute, a 1789 law allowing foreign nationals to bring civil claims in U.S. courts for violations of international law, including human rights abuses.

The plaintiffs contend, “even if the United States’ lethal strike against Mr. Joseph and Mr. Samaroo occurred during an armed conflict — which it did not — their killings violated customary international law.”

“They constituted an intentional killing of civilians who were not members of an organized armed group engaged in an armed conflict with the United States and were not directly participating in military hostilities against the United States,” the plaintiffs added.

The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Pentagon declined to comment on ongoing litigation.

The personal watercraft dips into the water. The sun glints off its fiberglass deck.

There’s no Kenny Powers, but “The Sound of Silence” rings out. From where? That’s between the Coastie and his maker.

In its ever-evolving fight on the U.S.-Mexico border, the U.S. Coast Guard has unveiled its latest tool: the Jet Ski.

First utilized in 2024 for Rescue Swimmer Stan Team members as well as the Coast Guard Auxiliary, Coasties have begun Jet Ski training off the shores of San Diego, California, as a component of a newly implemented effort to shore up America’s southwest border.

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At the time of publication the service did not get back to Military Times regarding the deployment of the humble Jet Ski, but a Jan. 14 Coast Guard video finds Coasties riding the waves around San Diego in sleek, powerful all-black Jet Skis.

The Coast Guard is in the midst of an overall facelift as part of Force Design 2028, a plan introduced by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem last May to transform the service into a “stronger, more ready, and capable fighting force,” Military Times previously reported.

In fiscal 2025, the Coast Guard recruited the most new, active-duty enlisted service members since 1991, according to a service release.

However, no word as to whether the Jet Ski — and the Coast Guard’s slogan of “They say money can’t buy happiness, but have you ever seen a sad person on a Jet Ski?” — has played a role in hitting those recruiting numbers.

The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and three accompanying warships have arrived in the Middle East, bringing a renewed potential that President Donald Trump could opt to order airstrikes on Iran over its crackdown on protesters.

The carrier, along with three destroyers, “is currently deployed to the Middle East to promote regional security and stability,” U.S. Central Command said Monday on social media.

The strike group was in the Indian Ocean, Central Command said, and not in the Arabian Sea, which borders Iran. It will bring thousands of additional service members to the region, which has not had a U.S. aircraft carrier since the USS Gerald R. Ford was ordered in October to sail to the Caribbean as part of a pressure campaign on then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Trump told reporters last week that the ships were sent to the region “just in case.” “We have a massive fleet heading in that direction, and maybe we won’t have to use it,” he said.

Trump earlier had threatened military action if Iran carried out mass executions of prisoners or killed peaceful demonstrators during a crackdown on protests that began in late December. At least 5,973 people have been killed and more than 41,800 detained, according to activists. The official Iranian death toll is far lower, at 3,117 dead.

More recently, Trump appeared to have backed away from possible action, claiming Iran halted the hangings of 800 detained protesters. He has not elaborated on the source of the claim, which Iran’s top prosecutor called “completely false.”

However, Trump appears to be keeping his options open. On Thursday aboard Air Force One, he said his threatened military action would make last year’s U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites “look like peanuts” if the government proceeded with planned executions of some protesters.

In addition to the aircraft carrier, the U.S. military said the Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet now has a presence in the region.

Analysts who follow flight-tracking data have noticed dozens of U.S. military cargo planes also heading to the region.

The activity is similar to last year when the U.S. moved in air defense hardware, like a Patriot missile system, in anticipation of an Iranian counterattack following the bombing of three key nuclear sites. Iran launched over a dozen missiles at Al Udeid Air Base days after the strikes.

Anyone who’s ever sat under a special daylight lamp to combat the winter blues knows that strategically applied light can have a dramatic impact on exhaustion levels and overall mood. But can that effect also work for sailors standing watches at all hours in dark ship corridors and compartments?

That’s what researcher Eliza Van Reen is on a mission to prove. Van Reen, whose company Circadian Positioning Systems has worked on fatigue mitigation with NASA and sailboat racing crews, is now working with the Navy to show that her system could solve the thorny issue of establishing healthy circadian rhythms at sea.

A custom lighting “installation” that controls how and when sailors are exposed to light over the course of their ships is now underway on a Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, Van Reen said in an interview with Navy Times.

“[There’s] a small device that you can bring around that’s a little bit bigger than a cell phone, a little bit smaller than an iPad, that has custom LED chips in it that we’ve kind of hand-selected that can generate the intensity, spectral characteristics and so forth that are required to facilitate circadian rhythm alignment, alertness, or facilitate the transition from wake to sleep,” Van Reen said. “We have controllers … that allow for light recipes to be automatically delivered to kind of accommodate the operational schedule. So it allows us to deliver circadian targeted lighting that facilitates circadian alignment with the operational schedule.”

That “light recipe” is determined in part by data from a wearable patch that affixes to a sailor’s tricep, under the uniform, and can collect sleep cycle data for weeks without needing a recharge, staying stuck on through showers and everyday wear.

With other wearables, “you always have adherence and compliance issues, sometimes with people taking watches off and forgetting to put them back on,” Van Reen said. “So the patch seemed like a form factor where continuous data was allowed to be collected with more reliability.”

The “vetted and tested” algorithms that Van Reen’s company employs use that data to determine when to provide light to sailors, and in what combinations of brightness and quantity.

Crucially, it’s not enough to just replicate daylight for sailors, or to keep the lights bright from the start of their watch to the end. Rather, Van Reen said, there are specific times in a sailor’s own circadian pattern where light has optimum value. And that’s also where the concept of curated “light recipes” comes in.

“There’s certain information we can collect that will allow us to estimate circadian phase reliably,” she said. “You want to be delivering a specific type of light, so think intensity, spectral characteristics, either including certain things or pulling out certain things, to kind of control the type of light that’s being delivered at the right time — which is not necessarily clock time … Circadian phase is the important component here.”

To prove the administered light is making a difference to fatigue levels, Van Reen, in partnership with the National Atmospheric and Oceanographic Administration, is collecting saliva samples from sailors during parts of the experiment. The samples are used to measure melatonin levels every half-hour across a multi-hour stretch within a three-day test period. Brown University, in another collaboration, will help to process the samples and assess the data, she said.

“So we’re really trying to collect gold standard data that we’re able to map back on to the physiological regulation of sleep and wake,” she said.

While the current experiment involves a deployed destroyer, the first light installation experiment on an active ship began last summer and the end date has not been determined. For Van Reen, however, her work with the Navy on circadian rhythms dates back to 2018.

Following the pair of deadly ship collisions in summer 2017 involving the destroyers John S. McCain and Fitzgerald, the Naval Postgraduate School awarded her a small contract to develop the circadian light technology. Follow-on funding came from the Small Business Innovation Research program.

“We’ve been kind of jumping around within the Navy, who we work with,” Van Reen said.

Nearly a decade after the collisions — in which watchstander fatigue was explicitly cited as a factor — this remains a common contention. Another fatigue prevention experiment on the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group began last year, with some 1,600 sailors equipped with Oura rings to track their sleep data and allowing commanders access to that information so they can make timely decisions about force employment.

John Cordle, a Navy human factors engineer who has since retired, lamented that the initiative, known as the Command Readiness, Endurance and Watchstanding program, or CREW, had yet to become a program of record after years of small and medium-scale experiments.

“It’s an example of a fleet initiative that needs to find a home up in Washington, but has yet to become interesting enough for that to happen,” he said.

Meanwhile, the problem of sailor fatigue continues to be a costly one for the Navy. Fatigue was cited as a contributor in the 2024 collision of two inflatable landing craft that injured three dozen sailors and caused $48 million in damage; and in the carrier USS Harry S. Truman’s collision with a merchant vessel last February.

Van Reen said her goal is to move past the research phase and reach a system that the Navy can deploy broadly and with consistent results. She declined to get specific about how much the light installation cost, but said it wasn’t comparable to “missiles, or anything like that.”

“In the grand scheme of things, it is affordable,” she said.

Brown water issues are reportedly burdening residents of military housing on certain bases as the military continues its campaign to improve service member quality of life.

Personnel who live in base housing have long cited struggles with lackluster living conditions, but recent photos from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst show a alarming trend of water discoloration.

At least four pictures of murky water from residents at Joint Base MDL circulated on the popular Air Force amn/nco/snco page this past month, prompting United Communities, which operates privatized military housing on the base, to address the issue in a statement.

“We are working in close coordination with Joint Base leadership and their water team to resolve water discoloration issues as they arise,” the Jan. 9 statement reads.

United Communities pointed at the installation as the water provider and stated that the base is responsible for the water plant and overall quality of water. The organization added that they only own and maintain the water mains within the housing areas.

A Joint Base MDL official confirmed the authenticity of the memo to Military Times on Friday and shared a copy.

“Access to safe, reliable water is a basic expectation, and when issues arise our top priority is to respond quickly and in coordination with our United Communities housing partners,” base officials said in a statement provided by the spokesperson. “We are actively engaged to ensure both immediate and long-term solutions are in place.”

United Communities noted in the memo that they recently contracted with Paetzold Construction to run an additional water line within certain neighborhoods. That project is set to begin within the next month, with completion slated for late winter, the memo stated.

“This new line will improve the water loop and ensure a continuous flow of water in and out of the neighborhood,” the statement says.

The base spokesperson, meanwhile, told Military Times the discoloration is believed to be from sediment in portions of the water distribution system.

The upgrades, like the new main water line designed to create a “better loop,” are meant to improve the continuous flow of water and prevent sediment from settling in the pipes, the spokesperson added.

The United Communities statement claims that residents can run cold water until the discoloration clears, and adds that those impacted should avoid running hot water to prevent sediment from entering the water heater. The housing manager also noted that a maintenance team can flush the resident’s water heater if hot water continues to be discolored.

In response to how long water discoloration issues have been reported at the base, the spokesperson said isolated reports can occur at any installation, but the base is focused on a permanent solution.

“The infrastructure upgrades currently underway are the result of a deliberate engineering and planning process designed to address the root cause of the issue and ensure the long-term reliability of the system for our families,” the spokesperson said.

The McGuire Drinking Water System obtains water from the Potomac-Raritan-Magothy aquifer, a groundwater source, according to the base’s latest water consumer confidence report.

The latest water consumer confidence report for Joint Base MDL, which was published in June 2025, monitored the water from Jan. 1, 2024 to Dec. 31, 2024. It found that the tap water met the drinking health standards for the Environmental Protection Agency and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

The base spokesperson said the McGuire Drinking Water system is regularly tested in accordance with the EPA in the Safe Drinking Water Act and the NJDEP Safe Drinking Water Act Rules.

But in an independent water quality testing conducted by TapWaterData, it found that even though Joint Base MDL’s water meets all federal standards, it still contains four contaminants above EPA’s health-based guidance.

That test recommended that a certified water filter be used to reduce exposure. The platform’s data was last updated at the end of March 2024.

Issues with base housing are not new to service members, as others have recently claimed to face similar challenges.

On other bases around the country, there have been reports of black mold, contaminated water and asbestos in the ceilings and walls, resulting in health and readiness issues for residents as well as out-of-pocket costs.

In October 2025, Change the Air Foundation conducted a survey of 3,401 service members and families from 57 military installations across 30 states and Washington, D.C. to determine the effectiveness of the current systems and policies in place for military housing.

The survey found that at least 97% of those surveyed had at least one significant or dangerous issue in their military housing, with over 50% reporting water damage and 35% reporting water contamination, discoloration and unusual taste or odor.

“After my son went to the ER twice in a week for very elevated heart rate, we emergency evacuated out of our house,” an active Marine service member in Florida said of their housing in the survey.

Congress is aware of this issue, with a proposed law introduced on Jan. 15 coined the Military Occupancy Living Defense Act, or MOLD ACT.

The act would require privatized military housing companies to bear all financial responsibility for mandated mold inspections and refund military families’ payments made through their Basic Allowance for Housing when their previous homes were uninhabitable.

It would also require the Defense Department to establish standards for acceptable levels of humidity, ventilation, dampness and water intrusion.

But certain topics in the legislation, like reimbursement, have faced questions from legal experts and military families on proper enforcement.

Marines who choose to reenlist in fiscal year 2027 could be eligible for up to $50,000 in selective retention bonus kickers, the service announced.

Those with a current contract expiration between Oct. 1, 2026 and Sept. 30, 2027 could be eligible for the Selective Retention Bonus Program and the Broken Service SRB Program, according to a recent MarAdmin.

The statement highlights the service’s priority in retention goals for the Marine Corps’ enlisted force.

“It is imperative the Marine Corps builds upon past successes and continues to prioritize retaining the best and most talented Marines,” the memo reads.

Marines who reenlist on the day of or following the release of the message are eligible for the SRB for FY27, per the message. The service is offering seven SRB kickers in that fiscal year.

Some of the kickers are meant as incentives for Marines to make lateral moves into the cyber, special operations and drone technician fields, among other specialties.

“Marines who execute a LM with reenlistment into one of these PMOSs for 84 months of additional obligated service will rate a $50,000 incentive in addition to the PMOS bonus,” the message states.

The Corps is offering other kickers for lateral moves into certain jobs listed in the program.

The release lists the full eligibility requirements, kicker amounts for each program and MOS bonus eligibility.

The move echoes a similar one made by the Marine Corps Reserve in November 2025 in which select personnel were eligible for one-time pay bumps for extending their service.

Read the full MarAdmin here.