In 1994, U.S. Air Force’s Wright Laboratory in Ohio were pressing the bounds to the question: Fellas, is it gay to fight for your country?

In the early aughts of the 1990s, the Pentagon was working on developing a whole host of non-lethal chemical weapons that would render an enemy force incapable of being anything other than ... amorous or annoyed.

Within a three-page declassified document came a blink-and-you-miss-it line positing using “Chemicals that effect human behavior so that morale and discipline in enemy units is adversely affected.”

“One distasteful but completely non-lethal example,” it continued, “would be strong aphrodisiacs, especially if the chemical also caused homosexual behavior.”

In a word, a chemical weapon that would make enemy soldiers sexually irresistible to one another — striking a blow to morale.

The randy chemical, later dubbed “gay bomb,” was just one of the many that the Wright Laboratory explored in its proposal dubbed “Project Sunshine.”

Among others, Project Sunshine contained a litany of ideas ranging from the absurd to impractical, including: making a “chemical that made personnel very sensitive to sunlight”; making a weapon that would attract swarms of enraged wasps or rats to an enemy position; and the development of a chemical that caused “severe and lasting halitosis.”

The lab requested $7.5 millions dollars over a five-year period to make their hair-brained ideas reality. The funding was not forthcoming. It did, however, eventually make its way to the mind of Tina Fey and 30 Rock.

As the saying goes, there are no bad ideas — only great ideas that go horribly wrong — but perhaps the Wright Laboratory is an exception that that rule.

U.S. President Donald Trump, upset at NATO allies’ failure to help secure the Strait of Hormuz and angry that his plans to acquire Greenland have not advanced, has discussed with advisers the option of removing some U.S. troops from Europe, a senior White House official told Reuters on Thursday.

No decision has been made, and the White House has not directed the Pentagon to draw up concrete plans for a troop reduction on the continent, said the official, who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

But the discussions alone underscore how sharply relations between Washington and its European NATO allies have deteriorated in recent months. They also suggest that a visit to the White House on Wednesday by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte failed to significantly improve transatlantic relations, which are arguably at their lowest point since NATO’s 1949 founding.

The White House has publicly said that Trump has considered withdrawing from the alliance altogether. Removing troops from Europe would allow Trump to dramatically lessen Washington’s security commitments on the continent, without formally withdrawing, a move that would test constitutional law.

The U.S. currently has more than 80,000 troops in Europe and has played a central role in Europe’s security architecture since World War Two. More than 30,000 of those troops are located in Germany, with sizeable numbers also stationed in Italy, the United Kingdom and Spain.

The official did not say which countries could be affected or how many troops might ultimately be withdrawn if Trump decides to move forward with the idea.

Asked for comment, a NATO spokesperson referred Reuters to Rutte’s interview with CNN on Wednesday.

In that interview, Rutte said that he understood Trump’s frustrations with the alliance, but that the “large majority of European nations” had been helpful to Washington’s war effort in Iran.

Following Rutte’s meeting with Trump, the secretary general told European governments that Trump wants concrete commitments to help secure the Strait of Hormuz within days, Reuters reported earlier on Thursday.

Alliance in crisis

While Trump has long had a tumultuous relationship with NATO — for years accusing European capitals of skimping on defense spending — the last three months have been particularly rocky.

In January, Trump provoked a transatlantic crisis when he renewed longstanding threats to annex Greenland, an overseas territory of Denmark. Since the war with Iran broke out on Feb. 28, he has expressed deep frustration that NATO allies have not offered to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for global energy supplies that has remained largely closed despite a fragile ceasefire announced this week.

NATO diplomats have previously said the U.S. has not made clear if it expects any mission in the Strait of Hormuz to start during or after the conflict, and they have also said the U.S. has not specified what particular capabilities it expects of each NATO country.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that senior administration officials were discussing moving troops stationed in Europe out of countries whose leaders had been critical of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and into European countries whose leaders had been more supportive.

The White House official told Reuters that Trump was specifically discussing bringing troops back to the U.S., rather than moving them to different foreign countries.

The official said Trump was particularly irked about what he perceives as Europe’s attempts to brush off his attempts to acquire Greenland.

After meeting with Rutte in Switzerland in January, Trump had suggested a deal was in sight to end the dispute over the Danish territory. No such agreement has come to fruition.

“He asked NATO specifically to come up with a plan when we were in Davos, and they’re sort of not taking it seriously,” the official said.

Editor’s note: This article first appeared on The War Horse, an award-winning nonprofit news organization educating the public on military service. Subscribe to their newsletter.

On a serene Saturday afternoon, thousands of miles from conflict, soldiers with the California Air National Guard are scattered among stations, hunched over a buddy. Some apply tourniquets. Others practice life-saving skills, checking for breathing, tilting chins to clear airways, searching for blood loss and hidden wounds.

This is how they learn to keep a soldier alive.

“They’re getting ready to deploy,” said Dr. Dean Winslow, a professor of medicine at Stanford University and an instructor at the Tactical Combat Casualty Care classes.

“This is very real.”

Drone warfare requires new age of battlefield medicine

To help them prepare for what they may encounter in the war with Iran, an update was added to the standard curriculum. Its title: Modern Warfare Concepts, POV Unmanned Aircraft System Explosives. Its focus: the risk of air attack and the importance of high-quality burn care.

As the U.S. confronts a changed character of combat, the trauma training for the 50 airmen at Moffett Federal Airfield, about 35 miles south of San Francisco, is urgent and essential. But is it enough?

Several new trends are driving concerns that military medical care needs to adapt to drone warfare, a defining feature of 21st-century conflicts.

“With injuries, it’s a new world now,” Winslow told The War Horse.

Wars have been inflicting explosive wounds ever since China’s early Ming Dynasty used “fire-weapons,” including a cast-iron grade bomb with gunpowder, in the 14th century. Sky-borne casualties are nothing new — Nazi Germany inflicted V-1 flying bombs on London residents during World War II. Improvised explosive devices were responsible for a surge of explosive injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan, causing 74.4% of casualties; only 19.9% of casualties were caused by gunshot wounds.

But an analysis of injuries in Ukraine shows that drone-delivered explosives are more destructive and lead to a wider range and higher severity of traumatic injury, according to research by a team led by the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. The drones Russia has been launching on Ukraine are similar to the weapons used by Iran.

Ukrainian soldiers are suffering from a far higher range and severity of devastating wounds than U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, researchers found. The high-energy explosives, deployed in swarms, have the potential to create large clusters of casualties in relatively short periods of time.

The signature wound of the Russian drones is limb amputation, followed by multiple-limb injuries and severe burns. Detonating at close range, a drone can inflict a complicated constellation of upper-body, neck and head injuries, according to a report by the aid group MedGlobal.

“Drone warfare has drastically changed the complexity of the traumatized patient that we see,” said Dr. Michael Samotowka, a volunteer trauma surgeon with MedGlobal who frequently travels to Ukraine to treat soldiers injured by Russian drones.

“It has drastically changed the volume of injuries that require surgical intervention,” he told The War Horse. “It’s changed our whole mentality.”

Mounting medical challenges

Drones also mean that we can no longer rely on an old axiom of combat: Distance from the front is protective, and the place for life-saving care. Small and cheap, drones can fly for miles, linger in the air for hours and descend in swarms, evading air defenses.

If the skies aren’t safe to evacuate injured soldiers, prolonged casualty care will become the collective effort by close combat forces at the brigade-and-below levels, according to research led by Army trauma surgeon Col. Jennifer Gurney, chief of the Joint Trauma System at the Department of Defense’s Center of Excellence for Trauma.

The new threat also comes at a precarious time: The U.S. Department of Defense has downsized its hospitals, so military physicians aren’t getting enough experience with trauma patients to be ready for major casualties.

“Because Army and Navy medical personnel are not consistently assigned where they can sustain their wartime readiness skills, they may not provide high-quality, point-of-injury care to service members during deployments,” concluded a 2025 Department of Defense Inspector General report.

Iran most commonly uses a drone called the Shahed 136, according to the munitions tracking project Open Source Munitions Portal. Preprogrammed to fly up to 1,200 miles and carry warheads guided by a satellite navigation system, it can target embassies, hotels and other places where American troops are dispersed.

Shortly after the U.S. and Israel launched their surprise air assault to start the war, an Iranian drone strike on March 1 triggered an explosion in Kuwait at a U.S supply and logistics unit that killed six U.S. service members, injured about 30 others and set off a fire and frantic search for survivors in the rubble.

The unit had relocated to the civilian Port of Shuaiba from U.S. Army base Camp Arifjan in an effort to evade incoming strikes from Tehran. “They were dispersing because they were in fear that the base they were on was going to get attacked, and they felt it was safer in smaller groups in separated places,” Joey Amor — the husband of Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, who died in the attack — told The Associated Press.

It wasn’t the only drone attack to injure U.S. forces. About 29 drones and six ballistic missiles were blamed for a March 27 assault at Saudi Arabia’s Prince Sultan air base that injured at least 15 U.S. troops, including five seriously, according to The Associated Press.

That was one of the most significant breaches of U.S. air defenses since the conflict started. With President Trump threatening a major escalation of attacks, Iran and the U.S. on Tuesday agreed to a two-week ceasefire. As of March 31, at least 348 U.S. military personnel had been wounded, reported U.S. Central Command’s spokesperson Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins, but reports are surfacing about whether this is an undercount.

Iraq and Afghanistan vs. Ukraine

Military combat care evolved to meet the needs of the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters. But this support — an agile and efficient network that quickly stabilized, treated and evacuated wounded service members — was based on relatively light patient loads in places where U.S. forces could safely evacuate injured service members to higher echelons of care.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, wounded soldiers and Marines could be evacuated from the field to an operating room within an hour, said Dan Elinoff, a combat medic in Iraq and Afghanistan and a former senior defense analyst at the RAND Corporation. That helped reduce the case fatality rate from 36% in Vietnam to 10% in Iraq and Afghanistan — a saving of an estimated 1,000 lives.

But when drones are overhead, evacuation can be delayed. Surgical treatment within “the golden hour” — the critical 60-minute window when most lives are saved or lost — will become a goal, not an expectation.

“The main issue that I can see for drone warfare, compared to IEDs, is a real compromise of ‘the golden hour,’” Elinoff told The War Horse. In previous wars, “your main threat was on the front line. The rear area is a lot more secure. You can get people back there, and you can probably keep them a lot safer.

“With the abundance of drones, it’s much easier to hit those rear areas,” said Elinoff. “Your evacuation routes are a lot more compromised.”

In Ukraine, drone warfare has demanded a dramatic shift toward a more decentralized model of care, bringing more advanced care closer to hard-to-reach people on the front lines.

This decentralized model echoes patterns of treatment created in Syria and Yemen, where air bombardment and targeting of health sites forced medical care to move underground, onto mobile platforms or across dispersed community sites, according to the MedGlobal report.

Anticipating that it may take two to three days to evacuate an injured soldier in future conflicts, Fort Benning launched in 2022 a pilot Delayed Evacuation Casualty Management Course to train medics how to provide advanced care on the front lines.

The type of injuries may shift. In Iraq and Afghanistan between 50% and 60% of deaths and injuries were caused by roadside improvised explosive devices, according to the Pentagon’s Defense Manpower Data Center. Because these devices often exploded under vehicles, the lower torso and abdomen were common sites of wounds, particularly by blasts that forced damage upward.

Drones, by contrast, cause significant damage both on the ground and overhead. Data from Ukraine shows that they frequently attack from above, targeting the top of buildings, tanks and trucks. Or they explode in the air, showering metal fragments. Some precision-guided drones enter buildings. As a result, the most frequent injuries in Ukrainian soldiers occur in the head and neck, followed by lower extremities, upper extremities and chest and upper back.

Drone injuries also are typically more complex. One study found that nearly half of Ukrainian casualties involved “multisite trauma,” involving more than two regions of the body from blasts, high-temperature burns from thermobaric and incendiary munitions and traumatic brain injuries. About one in five had injuries in three or more body regions.

A drone “either showers down at a high energy, in small fragments, head down to toes, or it drops in front of the soldier and it blows up,” said Samotowka.

“If there’s 100 drones flying around you, looking for you, you can’t be evacuated.”

Too few trauma experts, too little practice

In future U.S. conflicts, even if evacuation is successful, there is an insufficient supply of highly skilled military surgeons and other experts to meet the demand.

That’s because after every war, the military loses resources and expertise, said Rear Adm. Dr. David Lane, a former commanding officer of Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune and former director of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

“Budget wonks in both Republican and Democratic administrations always look for a so-called peace dividend whenever we scale back from major combat operations,” he told The War Horse.

“During peacetime, there is a ying and a yang between the efficiency needed to run military hospitals and clinics on par with the best of the best civilian health care organizations,” he said. “Staying ready for combat trauma and diseases and nonbattle injuries requires time away [from military treatment facilities], disrupts continuity, and adds to the cost of care.”

In recent years, the Army Medical Corps’ rate of recruitment has not been able to keep up with the pace of separations, according to a RAND Corporation report. And retention is down. So positions at military treatment facilities and other units go empty.

At military hospitals, there is less exposure to complex trauma, said Elinoff. On bases, “people are pretty young and healthy. … It’s really hard to keep those skill sets up when you’re not seeing a lot.”

Opportunities for hands-on work are limited. The Army and Navy do not effectively assign medical personnel to locations where they could maintain their required wartime medical readiness skills, the Department of Defense Inspector General found.

It’s too hard and time-consuming to get military health care providers credentialed and integrated into community settings, Elinoff said. While several of the nation’s top trauma hospitals — including the University of Maryland and the University of Cincinnati — have partnered with the military to share their trauma cases, the rotations at trauma centers tend to be too brief.

Even at a busy civilian hospital, there are relatively few trauma patients. That’s because seat belts, air bags, smoke alarms and flame-retardant children’s sleepwear have reduced the number of severe injuries that require complex life-saving surgery. Gunshot injuries are increasing, but they typically involve one part of the body, not general trauma, said doctors.

And trauma patients are increasingly unlikely to be rushed to the operating table. Due to high-tech innovations in interventional radiology, for example, damaged blood vessels can be sealed to stop internal bleeding.

Many young surgeons may graduate after operating on only one or two liver injuries, said Samotowka.

Practice is essential in medicine, said Stefani Diedrich, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel who served as an anesthesiologist for 24 years with deployments to Afghanistan and Niger.

“Any procedural skill needs to be practiced regularly or else it is lost,” she said. “Doing knee arthroscopy does not prepare you for a traumatic amputation. Doing a robotic hernia repair does not prepare you for an exploratory laparotomy for trauma.”

“You can’t ‘refresh’ trauma surgery skills. … You need to do it on a regular basis to not suck,” she said.

Stanford’s Winslow agreed. As the White House considers its next steps in the ongoing tensions with Iran, with thousands of additional U.S. troops heading to the Middle East theater, the challenge is no longer theoretical. There are now 50,000 American troops in the Middle East.

If there is a huge operation, Winslow said, “there’s no way that the active duty surgeons, or at least the majority of them, will have the recency of experience with handling major trauma.”

This War Horse story was edited by Mike Frankel, fact-checked by Jess Rohan and copy-edited by Mitchell Hansen-Dewar. Hrisanthi Pickett wrote the headlines.

This article first appeared on The War Horse and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Editor’s note: This report has been updated to reflect the number of U.S. troops wounded in Operation Epic Fury as of April 8, according to U.S. Central Command.

In the 40 days since the start of Operation Epic Fury against Iran, 13 U.S. service members have been killed and 381 have been wounded, according to data provided Wednesday by U.S. Central Command.

The Defense Department has added the war on Iran to its Defense Casualty Analysis System, a database that catalogues combat casualties dating to World War I.

As of Tuesday, the department listed seven service members as having been killed by enemy fire during the operation, presumably the Army soldiers who died March 1 in Saudi Arabia during an Iranian airstrike.

It also classified six Air Force deaths as “non-hostile,” the crew of a KC-135 refueling aircraft who died while supporting air operations.

And it said that 346 were wounded in action: 231 soldiers, 63 sailors, 33 airmen and 19 Marines.

But U.S. Central Command told Military Times Wednesday that the number of wounded now stands at 381. They did not provide any details on the extent or types of injuries.

In mid-March, CBS News reported that roughly 25 troops were being treated at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, a dozen were evacuated to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, and one had been transported to Brooke Army Medical Center, DOD’s only Level I trauma center and home to the department’s top burn unit.

The United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire late Tuesday. Under the terms, the U.S. agreed to stop military strikes while Iran said it would immediately open the Strait of Hormuz, the key body of water through which a fifth of the world’s oil and gas ships.

Iran has offered a 10-point proposal for ending the conflict, which President Donald Trump described as a “workable basis on which to negotiate.”

Attacks continued in the early hours of the temporary truce in Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. During a press conference Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Iran would be wise to “find a way to get the carrier pigeon” to their troops to stop shooting.

“We’ll be hanging around. We’re not going anywhere. We will make sure that Iran complies with the ceasefire and ultimately comes to the table and makes a deal. … Our troops are prepared to restart at a moment’s notice,” Hegseth said.

As of midday Wednesday, just a handful of cargo vessels had traversed the strait and several oil tankers were heading to the passage, according to apps that track the maritime shipping industry.

“We have seen an uptick in the traffic in the strait today and I will reiterate the president’s expectation and demand that the Strait of Hormuz is reopened immediately and quickly and safely,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a press conference Wednesday.

The U.S. military has more than 50,000 personnel in the region. According to U.S. Central Command, they have supported more than 13,000 strikes on targets and destroyed at least 155 Iranian vessels.

Iran’s health ministry has reported that more than 2,000 people have been killed and 20,000 wounded since the operation began.

A CENTCOM official declined to discuss the number of troops evacuated from theater, saying that the unit will not discuss locations or movements “to protect privacy and security of our service members.”

According to the official, 344 of the injured personnel have returned to duty. The official declined to describe the nature of the injuries, including wounds or head injuries.

“We have no additional information to provide,” the official said.

Walter Reed issued a press release Wednesday detailing how its medical evacuation team supports the transport of injured personnel from the battlefield to the facility, but it included no details on the number of personnel that have been evacuated from Operation Epic Fury.

According to the release, Walter Reed supports a 14-member team of Army, Navy and Air Force personnel who coordinate transport across U.S. Transportation Command, U.S. European Command, the Deployed Warrior Medical Management Center at Landstuhl and Air Force aeromedical staging facilities.

During the press conference Wednesday, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine acknowledged the sacrifices U.S. military personnel have made during the operation.

“I’m humbled by the service and sacrifice each and every day that I am lucky enough to see,” Caine said. “I ask that we never forget our fallen and their families — especially the 13 fallen from Operation Epic Fury. May we always be worthy of their sacrifice and honor their legacy,” Caine said.

Automatic registration into the U.S. military draft pool for eligible men is slated to begin in December, following efforts from lawmakers and the selective service agency to streamline the previous self-registration process.

The Selective Service System, the federal agency that maintains a database of registered U.S. males who are considered draft-eligible in the event of a national emergency, submitted a proposed rule to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on March 30, according to the office’s dashboard.

Automatic registration into Selective Service was mandated in December 2025, when President Donald Trump signed into law the fiscal year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, the agency’s website says.

“This statutory change transfers responsibility for registration from individual men to SSS through integration with federal data sources,” the website reads.

Putting the effort in motion by this December is a move to simplify the registration process and the equivalent “workforce realignment,” according to the website.

The proposed rule is currently under review by the regulatory affairs office, awaiting finalization, per the dashboard.

The SSS coordinated with Congress throughout the 2026 NDAA process, the agency’s website says. In May 2024, lawmakers worked to incorporate language about the automatic registration into the annual defense authorization bill, citing money and legal challenges. The SSS costs around $30,000 a year.

“This will also allow us to rededicate resources — basically that means money — towards [readiness] and towards mobilization … rather than towards education and advertising campaigns driven to register people,” Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., who sponsored the language, said at the time.

Currently, almost all male U.S. citizens and immigrants aged 18 through 25 are required to self-register within 30 days of their 18th birthday, with late registration available until an individual turns 26.

Men who fail to register are considered to be in violation of the Military Selective Service Act and can face penalties, such as ineligibility for federal programs, a fine up to $250,000 or five years imprisonment.

Registration for the draft has dwindled in recent years, partly because the option to register was removed from federal student loan forms in 2022, which accounted for nearly a quarter of all previous registrations.

Meanwhile, after some attempts from lawmakers, women are still exempt from registration.

The SSS was established in 1917 by President Woodrow Wilson after the U.S. entered World War I. President Gerald Ford suspended the draft in 1975, but it was reinstated just five years later in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.

The U.S. hasn’t activated the draft since 1973 during the Vietnam War and has relied on volunteers ever since.

Born in Newgulf, near Corpus Christi, Texas, on Nov. 6, 1924, Michael Castaneda Pena chose his calling as a man of action early in life. He didn’t complete the sixth grade, but in 1940, after lying about his age, he persuaded his mother to sign a release allowing him to enlist at the young age of 16.

Mike, as his comrades-in-arms universally called him, spent World War II fighting in the Pacific and helping to liberate the Philippines. He was wounded twice over the course of the conflict and after the Japanese surrender, he served in the occupation of Japan.

He had indeed taken to his profession, albeit on his own terms, as explained to the local press by his brother, Alfredo: “One time they offered to make him a lieutenant, but he didn’t want it. He liked the action, the excitement, being with his men.”

As it was, by 1950 he had married and had risen among the non-commissioned ranks to master sergeant in Company F, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division.

With a world war behind him, Pena got a new, thoroughly unexpected helping of excitement on June 25, 1950, when the North Korean People’s Army (KPA) surged across the borders of South Korea, seized Seoul and threatened to unite the peninsula under the regime of Kim Il-Sung.

Taken by surprise, the United Nations gathered what armed forces it could muster to back up its Republic of Korea army allies, but by mid-August 1950 the communists had all but overrun the country, save for those UN forces holding onto the port of Pusan. Among them was the 5th Cavalry.

By late August 1950, American aircraft had driven the North Korean air force from sky and the KPA was starting to run out of its most vital advantage: the initiative.

While its senior officers did all they could to win a breakthrough in the Pusan Perimeter, the UN troops did all they could to counter each enemy move.

On Sept. 1, the KPA committed four divisions to face Maj. Gen. Hobart R. Gay’s 1st Cavalry Division and the 1st ROK Division over a 35-mile front from Tabu-dong to the Naktong River.

On the evening of Sept. 4, elements of the “5th Cav” moved up on the town of Waegwan and right into a meeting engagement in which Mike Pena established his place in 1st Cavalry Division annals:

“That evening, under cover of darkness and a dreary mist, an enemy battalion moved to within a few yards of Master Sergeant Pena’s platoon. Recognizing the enemy’s approach, Master Sergeant Pena and his men opened fire, but the enemy’s sudden emergence and accurate point blank fire forced the friendly troops to withdraw. Master Sergeant Pena rapidly reorganized his men and led them in a counterattack which succeeded in regaining the positions they had lost. He and his men quickly established a defensive perimeter and laid down devastating fire, but enemy troops continued to hurl themselves in overwhelming numbers. Realizing that their scarce supply of ammunition would soon make their positions untenable, Master Sgt. Pena ordered his men to fall back and manned a machine gun to cover their withdrawal, he singlehandedly held back the enemy until the early hours of the following morning when his position was overrun and he was killed.”

Pena’s body was recovered the next day, but the North Koreans gradually but slowly forced the 5th Cavalry and the 1st ROK back. On Sept. 15, however, Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s landing at Inchon caught the weary North Koreans from their right flank and on the 16th the UN forces broke out of the Pusan Perimeter, driving the KPA into a full rout.

The Korean War had only begun, but the North Koreans would never have another chance like the one they had in September 1950. Saving South Korea and recovering Seoul did not come without sacrifice, however.

By the time the British 27th Commonwealth Brigade arrived to relieve its stretch of front, the 1st Cavalry Division suffered the death of 770 men killed, 2,616 wounded and 62 taken prisoner.

Pena was posthumously awarded Distinguished Service Cross, and a retroactive Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster as well as a Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster.

On March 18, 2014, in accordance with the Defense Authorization Act, Pena was among 14 service personnel judged unfairly honored due to their race, and his DSC was upgraded with President Barack Obama presenting the Medal of Honor to his son, Michael David Pena, in the White House.

DUBAI/WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he had agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran, less than two hours before his deadline for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face widespread attacks on its civilian infrastructure.

Iranian state TV flashed an announcement claiming that Trump had accepted Iran’s terms for ending the war, describing it as a “humiliating retreat” by the U.S. president.

Iran said talks between the U.S. and Iran would begin on Friday in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Trump’s announcement on social media represented an abrupt turnaround from earlier in the day, when Trump issued an extraordinary warning that “a whole civilization will die tonight” if his demands were not met.

Trump said the last-minute deal, negotiated with Pakistan serving as a mediator, was subject to Iran’s agreement to pause its blockade of oil and gas supplies through the strait, which typically handles about one-fifth of global oil shipments.

“This will be a double sided CEASEFIRE!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “The reason for doing so is that we have already met and exceeded all Military objectives, and are very far along with a definitive Agreement concerning Longterm PEACE with Iran, and PEACE in the Middle East.”

Two White House officials confirmed that Israel has also agreed to the two-week ceasefire and to suspend its bombing campaign on Iran. A few minutes after Trump’s announcement, the Israeli military said that it identified missiles launched from Iran towards Israel.

Trump, who has issued a series of threats in recent weeks only to back away, claimed progress between the two sides. He said Iran had presented a 10-point proposal that was a “workable basis” for negotiations and that he expected an agreement to be “finalized and consummated” during the two-week ceasefire.

Abrupt turnaround

The abrupt turnaround capped a whirlwind day that was dominated by Trump’s threat to destroy every bridge and power plant in Iran unless Tehran reopened the strait, which unnerved world leaders, rattled global financial and energy markets and drew widespread condemnation, including criticism from the head of the United Nations and Pope Leo.

As the clock ticked down to Trump’s 8 p.m. EDT deadline, U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran intensified, hitting railway and road bridges, an airport and a petrochemical plant. U.S. forces attacked targets on Kharg Island, home to Iran’s main oil export terminal.

In response, Iran declared it would no longer hold back from hitting its Gulf neighbors’ infrastructure and said it had carried out fresh strikes on a ship in the Gulf and a huge Saudi petrochemical complex. Booms were heard in Doha late on Tuesday night, according to a Reuters witness in the Qatari capital.

The war, now in its sixth week, has claimed more than 5,000 lives in nearly a dozen countries, including more than 1,600 civilians in Iran, according to tallies from government sources and human rights groups.

The closure of the strait, through which almost a fifth of the world’s oil supply typically travels, has sharply increased oil prices, escalating the chances of a global economic downturn or even recession.

With the U.S. midterm election campaign ramping up, Trump’s approval ratings have hit their lowest level ever, leaving his Republican Party at risk of losing its grip on Congress. Polls show sizable majorities of Americans opposed to the war and frustrated by the rising cost of gasoline.

B-2 stealth bombers from Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, flew a 36-hour nonstop mission over the weekend to drop bunker-buster bombs on an underground compound where commanders from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had gathered, a U.S. official told Military Times.

Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. Central Command, gave the order after intelligence indicated a nexus of senior IRGC leaders was meeting at the location, the official said.

The B-2s are equipped to drop 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs, also known as GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators, to destroy deeply fortified structures. Their immense payload allows them to strike targets at a depth beyond the reach of conventional munitions, while their flying-wing design enables them to penetrate sophisticated defenses with minimal detection.

US special forces rescue second F-15 airman from Iran

That weapon was key to last June’s Operation Midnight Hammer, when bunker busters battered three of Iran’s nuclear installations. The B-2s made roughly the same 7,000-mile journey this time.

At the six-week mark of the assault against Iran, CENTCOM reported that U.S. forces had struck over 13,000 sites across the country. Other bombers in America’s squadrons, such as the B-1 and the B-52, have played prominent roles in the current campaign, Pentagon officials say.

Cooper’s directive coincided with a high-stakes search-and-rescue effort focused on two American airmen who ejected from a fighter jet over Iranian territory on Friday. President Donald Trump would later liken that operation to a Hollywood scene during a press conference at the White House.

“You would call it central casting if you were doing a movie for location,” he said Monday, revealing that hundreds of personnel were involved in the extraction. “Those pilots came in so fast and so quick and got out of there.”

Moments after extolling U.S. forces from the lectern, the president declared that when it came to the reach of the American military, nothing was off-limits. He warned he could destroy Iran’s critical infrastructure, including bridges and power plants.

The following day, in a post on Truth Social, Trump escalated the rhetoric even further, threatening to eradicate Iranian civilization if Tehran did not capitulate to his demands by 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday.

“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” Trump wrote. “I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Military Times that “only the president knows where things stand and what he will do.”

A new rotation of U.S. Marines in the Philippines suggest the force may be maintaining a more continuous presence in the country.

A command element from I Marine Expeditionary Force replaced the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit on March 31, the Marine Corps said in a statement, continuing the Marine Rotational Force-Southeast Asia, or MRF-SEA, mission in the Philippines.

This rotation “places greater emphasis on persistent integration with the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine Marine Corps than previous rotations,” according to Capt. MacKenzie Margroum, a communications officer for the mission. She added that “the current command element will remain for a standard rotation, with follow-on forces continuing this effort alongside their Philippine counterparts.”

The MRF-SEA has traditionally deployed across different countries in the region for joint exercises and training. The increased focus on the Philippines comes as the United States deepens defense ties with the country.

The United States and the Philippines last year stood up a joint task force aimed at improving coordination and helping the allies respond more quickly to Chinese activity in the South China Sea. The move, according to the U.S. Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, represents an effort to shore up deterrence in the region.

The Army in 2025 quietly established a small rotational force in the Philippines, designed to maintain a more sustained presence and improve coordination with local forces. The United States and the Philippines have also moved to increase deployments of advanced missile systems in the country.

The Marine Corps said the current rotation is focused on training alongside Philippine forces to improve coordination between U.S. forces and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, or AFP, and strengthen the country’s defenses.

“This iteration of MRF-SEA reflects a deliberate shift from presence to presence with purpose,” Col. Robert S. Bunn, the new rotation’s commander said, adding, “We are integrating with the AFP to strengthen combined capabilities, enable faster response in crisis, and contribute to a credible, forward posture in the Indo-Pacific.”

The White House is requesting a pay raise for lower-ranked enlisted service members in its fiscal 2027 budget.

In the proposed budget for the Department of Defense, released this week, all troops ranked E-5 and below would receive a pay raise of 7%. The budget also allots 6% pay bumps for military personnel ranked E-6 to O-3, as well as 5% raises for those O-4 and above.

“The Administration recognizes the importance of America’s warfighters and their families,” the budget request reads.

Junior enlisted service members typically serve in pay grades E-1 to E-4 for their first enlistment term, which usually lasts four years. Mid-level noncommissioned officers include those E-5 to E-7, but the officers would receive different raise increases based on their rank. The proposed budget lists those ranked E-5 and below to receive a 7% boost, while E-6 and E-7 ranks would receive a 6% raise.

Across the military, troops received a 3.8% pay increase in fiscal 2026. Traditionally, the annual pay raise for troops ranges from roughly 3% to 5%. But in 2025, junior enlisted service members saw a large 14.5% pay hike, adding between $3,000 to $6,000 to their basic pay.

Prior to that increase, the annual base pay for junior enlisted service members could be less than $30,000, but with the raise, it brings the base pay to around that figure before housing stipends and other pay incentives.

As of September 2025, there are around 540,000 active-duty junior enlisted service members E-4 and below across the branches, making up 50% of the enlisted military, according to a 2026 Congress Defense Primer.

There were approximately 378,000 personnel ranked E-5 and E-6 across the military in September 2025, per Congress’ report.

“This enduring investment, far above the standard annual military pay raise, builds on the President’s recruiting and retention success, by doubling down on the Administration’s goal to restore America’s fighting force,” the proposal says.

The White House proposed the fiscal 2027 budget on April 3, outlining the Trump administration’s requests to Congress for federal spending beginning on Oct. 1, 2026.

President Donald Trump is requesting $1.5 trillion for the Defense Department in fiscal 2027, a 44% increase from the already historic amount of nearly $1 trillion requested in fiscal 2026, per the proposal. The budget allocates $1.1 trillion in “base discretionary budget authority” for the DOD, the proposal says.

Before the upcoming fiscal year, presidents are required to submit their budget recommendations no later than the first Monday in February, but usually that deadline is missed. Congress then works to pass its own budget resolution after hearings. That can prove to be a challenge, as past stalemates in federal funding negotiations have led to government shutdowns.

If approved, the new budget, including the pay raises for lower-ranked service members, would begin Jan. 1, 2027.

U.S. strikes on Iran’s Kharg Island do not represent a change in American strategy, Vice President JD Vance said on Tuesday, as a U.S. official separately told Reuters the additional strikes on military targets did not impact oil infrastructure.

The official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, described at least some of the strikes as targeting sites that had been previously struck before and said the attack occurred in the early morning hours of Tuesday.

Vance, speaking separately in Budapest, said the strikes were not a change in U.S. strategy, with the Trump administration confident that it can get a response from Iran by 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time in negotiations to end the conflict.

President Donald Trump is demanding Iran forswear nuclear weapons and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a critical oil transit waterway.

“We were going to strike some military targets on Kharg Island, and I believe we have done so,” Vance said.

“We’re not going to strike energy and infrastructure targets until the Iranians either make a proposal that we can get behind or don’t make a proposal,” he added. “I don’t think the news in Kharg Island ... represents a change in strategy, or represents any change from the President of the United States.”

On March 27, an Iranian missile scored a high-value hit on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, reducing an Air Force E-3 (AWACS) command center aircraft worth up to $500 million to splinters and shards.

While the strike underscored Iran’s capabilities, it also reignited a longstanding conversation about the need for the U.S. to protect its aircraft and other high-value equipment with underground bunkers and hardened shelters — an area in which analysts say adversaries like China have invested far more extensively.

“People are asking the valid question: What on earth was this half-billion dollar airplane doing sitting right out in the open, where commercial satellite imagery can see exactly where it was and target a weapon onto that, which apparently they did,” said Tom Shugart, a retired Navy submarine officer and adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security’s Defense Program. “I think there’s really good questions being asked about, what are we doing here? And the bigger question is, why wasn’t it already done?”

As missiles continue to hit U.S. bases in the Middle East, the Pentagon is moving to ramp up investment in base hardening. As reported by The War Zone, which has been writing about gaps in infrastructure hardening and aircraft protection for years, March saw the publication of multiple contracting solicitations seeking near-term and long-term solutions, including a Space Force call for “prefabricated transportable bunkers” and a seven-year task order for infrastructure work at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has called for “more and more bunkers,” saying during a trip to the Middle East that their rapid fielding was a “theater priority,” as also reported by TWZ.

While the emphasis thus far has been on bunkers, Shugart said the protection gap can be seen more clearly in hardened aircraft shelters, which are visible and countable via commercial imagery. A paper, “Concrete Sky,” that he coauthored last year with Timothy Walton of the Hudson Institute found that in the Indo-Pacific, China had more than doubled its number of hardened aircraft shelters between 2010 and 2020, reaching a total of about 800, while the U.S. and its allies had built just two in the same timeframe.

The paper particularly highlights as “foolish” the decision not to build hardened aircraft shelters for the coming fleet of B-21 bombers — describing the shelters as a $30 million investment to protect aircraft worth $600 million apiece.

In recent years, the Army Corps of Engineers has worked to make modest improvements to existing bunkers. Military Times reported in 2024 on reinforcement work including better blast doors intended to protect troops inside from traumatic brain injuries caused by overpressure.

But calls to protect aircraft have been dampened in the past by concerns from leaders about the value of doing so. Shugart noted that Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, then commander of Pacific Air Forces and now chief of staff of the Air Force, said in 2023 that he wasn’t “a big fan of hardening infrastructure.”

“You saw what we did to the Iraqi Air Force and their hardened aircraft shelters,” he said, referring to U.S. strikes during the Gulf War. “They’re not so hard when you put a 2,000-pound bomb right through the roof.”

If that was true at the time, Shugart said, it might not be as true anymore.

While one missile with submunitions may be able to wipe out multiple aircraft on the ground, it would take one missile to destroy a single hardened aircraft shelter, he said. In that scenario, he estimates the missile would cost $20 million; the shelter, $5 million.

“At that point, you’re at least on the right side of the cost curve,” he said.

Moreover, he added, the Air Force’s own think tanks have also pushed for better air base protection. A paper published in 2024 by J. Michael Dahm, a fellow at the Air Force’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, posited that air base defenses had “atrophied” over the last three decades and budgeting for resilient basing had actually declined.

“To date, neither Congress nor the Department of Defense (DOD) have adequately funded air base defense requirements. Without an immediate reversal of this trend, the Air Force may be unable to generate operationally relevant combat airpower in a near peer conflict, which would likely have devastating impacts on joint and combined campaigns,” Dahm wrote. “Inadequate air base defense also strains alliances, incentivizes potential aggressors, and may ultimately result in a strategic loss that has existential consequences for the United States and its allies.”

The Air Force does have a five-year contract for new Expedient Small Asset Protection shelters as part of its Agile Combat Employment strategy — “hangars in a box” for small aircraft or vehicles. It’s not clear, though, how many have been purchased and deployed since the first one was unveiled at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, in 2023.

Walton, at the Hudson Institute, said past assumptions about hardened shelter space constraints — that they’re mainly for fighters and wouldn’t fit a large plane like the AWACS to begin with — may not hold true. He pointed to the large shelters at Andersen that have been constructed for typhoon protection, saying that could be a starting point design for sheltering the biggest and most costly warfighting assets.

“This would give you an ability to put it in the large aircraft shelter, close the doors and have it not be vulnerable to drones or submission or weapons that are coming up top,” he said. “It could still be probably penetrated by certain classes of unitary warheads, but it helps.”

Both Walton and Shugart emphasized that the threat to U.S. aircraft on the tarmac shouldn’t be considered limited to the Indo-Pacific or the Middle East. With the rise of unmanned aircraft crossing onto military installations, the threat is domestic, too, they said.

“There’s been a slate over the past years of incursions of U.S. airfields and other critical infrastructure, even within the contiguous United States; incursions by drones,” Walton said. “And it exposes how vulnerable U.S. aircraft are to attack at airfields.”

Another Hudson Institute analysis called for 12 small hardened aircraft shelters and three large ones per airfield in the Pacific, where it focused, estimating between $9 billion and $10.5 billion to shore up resilient structures and passive defenses.

President Donald Trump on Monday told reporters that Iran could be taken out in one night, “and that night might be tomorrow night,” warning Tehran it had to make a deal by Tuesday night or face wider bombing raids.

Trump had earlier vowed to enforce a Tuesday night deadline for Iran to agree to a ceasefire deal or face broad attacks on power plants and other critical infrastructure. Trump is demanding Iran forswear nuclear weapons and reopen the Strait of Hormuz oil transit waterway.

“The entire country can be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night,” Trump said during a White House press conference.

“I hope I don’t have to do it,” Trump said.

Critics have said Trump would be committing war crimes if the U.S. attacked civilian power plants, a point that Trump dismissed on Monday.

“I’m not worried about it. You know what’s a war crime? Having a nuclear weapon,” Trump said earlier on Monday during an Easter egg event for children on the White House South Lawn.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told the briefing that the largest volume of strikes since day one of the operation against Iran would take place on Monday and warned Tuesday would have even more.

Rescue operation

Trump, joined by Hegseth and other top national security advisers, described in detail the weekend U.S. operation to recover a downed American airman who hid in mountainous Iranian terrain and eluded capture by Iranian forces.

He said the airman, identified only by “Dude 44 Bravo,” kept climbing higher in order to improve the chances for recovery. He said the airman was seen moving via an unidentified U.S. camera link. “It was like finding a needle in a haystack,” Trump said.

Hundreds of American forces were involved in the search and recovery mission and to prevent the Iranians from finding him first, he said.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who joined Trump at the event, said the agency had engaged in a “deception campaign” to convince the Iranians the airman was somewhere else.

Ratcliffe said that on Saturday morning the CIA got confirmation “one of America’s best and bravest was alive and concealed in a mountain crevice, still invisible to the enemy, but not to the CIA.”

The pilot, shot down on Friday, was recovered on Sunday morning.

US special forces rescue second F-15 airman from Iran

“In a breathtaking show of skill and precision, lethality and force, America’s military descended on the area, the real area, engaged the enemy, rescued the stranded officer, destroyed all threats and exited Iranian territory while taking no casualties of any kind,” Trump said.

Hegseth said the lost airman used an emergency transponder to show where he was and his first message was: “God is good.”

General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the recovered airman had been the “back seater” on the downed aircraft.

“In this case, the back seater’s absolute commitment to surviving made much of our efforts possible,” Caine said.

‘Willing to suffer’

Trump said, without providing evidence, that the United States has “numerous intercepts” from Iranian civilians urging the U.S. not to let up in trying to dislodge the Iranian government from power.

“They would be willing to suffer that in order to have freedom,” Trump said.

Speaking to reporters earlier at a White House Easter event, Trump said a proposal offered by Iran was inadequate.

“They made a proposal, and it’s a significant proposal. It’s a significant step. It’s not good enough,” Trump told reporters during the event.

Trump said the five-week conflict could end quickly if Iran does “what they have to do.”

“They have to do certain things. They know that, they’ve been negotiating I think in good faith,” he said.

The second-youngest living Medal of Honor recipient, who served as an active-duty Marine during the war in Afghanistan, graduated from the service’s Basic Reconnaissance Course on Friday at Camp Pendleton, according to a Facebook post from Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Carlos A. Ruiz.

Dakota Meyer, 37, was presented the Medal of Honor in 2011 by President Barack Obama for heroism in Afghanistan. Meyer reenlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve in April 2025 because he believed he “had more to give,” he stated previously.

On Friday, Meyer earned the 0321 Military Occupational Specialty, the MOS designation for Reconnaissance Marine.

The Basic Reconnaissance Course is a demanding 12-week program “designed to train Marines in the tactics, techniques, and procedures of amphibious reconnaissance operations,” according to the service.

Meyer’s BRC graduation comes over 15 years after actions in Afghanistan that would earn him the nation’s highest award for combat valor.

On Sept. 8, 2009, Meyer, a 21-year-old infantryman at the time, repeatedly entered an enemy ambush zone during the Battle of Ganjgal to rescue wounded comrades and recover the bodies of fallen service members, according to a Pentagon release. His actions were credited with saving 13 Americans and 23 Afghan personnel.

Meyer left the service in 2010 and worked briefly in construction before becoming a volunteer firefighter and a veterans advocate.

He later became a vocal critic of the Biden administration for its disordered withdrawal from Afghanistan. During his reenlistment ceremony hosted by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, he told reporters he would stay out of politics while in uniform.

“The great part about being in the reserves is I’m still a citizen when I’m not on orders,” he said. “When I’m on orders I’ll comply obviously with whatever the standard is.”

During the ceremony, Hegseth, who is reportedly close with Meyer, said his reenlistment will inspire young people across the country.

“[We’re doing] this as big as we can because I want the American people, I want your fellow Marines [and] I want other service members to look at [your] example and [know] you’re never too old, you’re never too experienced [and] you’ve never done too much to contribute, and I salute you,” Hegseth said.

Sgt. Maj. Ruiz noted in the Friday post that this graduating class is one of the final before a transition in the reconnaissance training progression aligning with the 2030 Force Design objectives.

Monumental battles between Allied and German forces in Holland, Belgium, eastern France, northern Italy and along Germany’s western frontier were still being waged when two American men — Frederick Ayer Jr. and Donald L. Daughters — stepped foot upon the pavement of the newly liberated Paris in August 1944.

“The reality of the men’s identities and their reason for traveling to newly liberated Paris would likely have surprised even the most observant and intuitive onlooker,” writes author and historian Stephen Harding in his latest, “G.I. G-Men.”

The men were not military intelligence officers, nor from the vaunted Office of Strategic Services helmed by William Joseph “Wild Bill” Donovan. They were, in fact, special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation tasked with rooting out American citizens who had collaborated with the Nazis or Italian Fascists.

Harding spoke with Military Times regarding his impeccably researched, superbly paced, stranger-than-fiction book, “G.I. G-Men,” and how and why “there have always been Americans willing to sell out America for money, power or a combination of all of those things.”

Military Times: For most Americans, the war ends on May 8 and Sept. 2, 1945, respectively. There’s a decided lack of awareness or understanding about the days, weeks, months — even years following the end of World War II. Can you talk about the work of the Army Liaison Unit in 1944 and in the immediate aftermath of the war?

Stephen Harding: The Army Liaison Unit was set up by the FBI specifically to track down and interrogate American citizens who had remained in Axis territory or Axis-controlled territory during the war and were suspected of collaborating with either the Italian fascists or the Nazis — either through radio or print propaganda or by, in some cases, providing money to them or simply sleeping with Germans or Italian fascists.

The program was an outgrowth of the FBI called the special intelligence service, the SIS, which [J. Edgar] Hoover had started as a way for FBI agents to operate in Central and South America in a counterintelligence role. Unfortunately, when they first started the program, he was sending agents down there who didn’t speak Portuguese or Spanish, so they kind of stood out.

Pretty quickly after America got into the war, [Hoover] sent an agent named Art Thurston to London. Thurston worked very closely with MI6, Britain’s Foreign Intelligence Service, which was already formulating plans to do the same thing for British subjects. Hoover thought this was a great idea, and he especially wanted to edge out Donovan because Hoover thought the OSS was a bunch of amateurs who were going to not do the job well.

All of these agents who were going to go to Europe needed to speak at least one European language fluently, not out of a Berlitz school or anything else. They had to be almost native speakers, and a couple of them were in the sense that of the roughly 20 guys who ended up going to Europe before the program ended, several of them had grown up in Europe or had been born in the United States of immigrant parents and spoke the language in the in the house.

The first agent sent overseas was a guy named Frank Amprim, who was the son of Italian immigrants. He had been a lawyer in Michigan and after Pearl Harbor he joined the FBI. He had no military background at all, however, and Hoover’s idea was that, because the war in Europe was ongoing, he wanted these guys to work under Army cover — meaning they were going to wear Army uniforms, have Army ranks. To do that, they needed to know something about the Army. So Amprim was the guinea pig.

In the meantime, as Amprim’s crossing North Africa, Hoover wants to put together a team that will operate in continental Europe after the Allied invasion of occupied Europe. The person he chooses to lead this effort is a gentleman named Frederick Ayer and his second in command, Don Daughters.

MT: When one thinks of collaborators, you think of Lord Haw Haw, Tokyo Rose, Coco Chanel. Never the Americans. What did you discover in “G.I. G-Men” that contradicts this notion?

Harding: I think what people have to remember is — and this is something we sort of very conveniently forgot — in the years leading up to the outbreak of the Second World War there were thousands of Americans who were pro-Nazi or pro Italian Fascist. It was a huge movement in the United States, and it was supported by the German government. There were huge rallies at Madison Square Garden that attracted 10-12,000 people, many of them wearing Nazi style uniforms the swastikas. There were huge banners flying from the upper galleries with pictures of [Adolf] Hitler and George Washington. Fascism was a popular idea in the United States in the mid to late 30s.

A lot of Americans who ended up in the U.S. military during the war very conveniently forgot that they had been fascists before the war. And so you might have been a person of German heritage who had been a pro-fascist right up until you ended up going to shore on D-Day.

The interesting thing was, a lot of these files I had to do FOIA requests, both with the National Archives and with the FBI. The FBI was saying, “Well, all this stuff has been sent to the National Archives.” Not true. And unfortunately, when the first Trump administration existed, it started making a lot of stuff in the National Archives harder to get to. I was finding files on people that the FBI had investigated with the ALU that were still classified — and that was all still 75 years after the fact. I started wondering why these files are classified, and some of them were newly classified, meaning within months, in some cases, before I got to them.

These files weren’t redacted in 1945. Interestingly enough, a lot of the stuff that got newly classified at the National Archives was not classified at the U.K. National Archives. It wasn’t classified in the French archives either. I would have a document that I got from the U.S. National Archives that was redacted to the point that the only thing that wasn’t redacted was the heading. I found the same document in the U.K. with absolutely no redaction.

MT: From your research, how many American collaborators were there?

Harding: I had a list that I put together of about 135 people that the ALU either intensely investigated or looked at in a documentary sort of way. Now, they weren’t all German collaborators. There were a lot of French communists and French socialists, and remember, the French Communist Party played a huge role in the French Resistance against the Germans. There was a lot of politics involved.

MT: You write in the acknowledgements that you went into something you call “research rapture.” What was your favorite tidbit while working on “G.I. G-Men”?

Harding: I found out a lot of interesting little things, but there was this German spy who actually operated in the United States. He was one of the more successful. A successful spy should be invisible, both in looks and actions. And Ignatz T. Griebl, who was a doctor and ran a practice in the German parts of New York City. He was one of the most effective spies the Germans had until he split because he was under suspicion.

But it’s interesting, because he was successful despite the fact that he was a serial womanizer. This gentleman was prolific in his affairs, and he was married. He was having affairs with everybody and their sister and yet he was the mousiest looking guy you could ever imagine, in terms of the being invisible. Physically, you’d walk right by this guy and not notice him.

He had several sub-agents working for him, and I found that interesting. He eventually escaped from the United States, and he kept his head down in Austria for all of the war before he got popped by the ALU. He was brought into be interrogated but then he disappeared. He was never charged. He was interrogated, but never charged, and he was never found.

They did look for him because there was some thought that he’d gone over the Soviets. A lot of the files that I found in the U.S. National Archives on Griebl were hugely redacted. Why? What’s the story on that? That’s the kind of thing that catches my attention.

U.S. special forces rescued a downed airman in Iran in a complex operation that averted a potential crisis for President Donald Trump, as the war entered its sixth week with little sign of progress in diplomatic efforts for a resolution.

Trump announced the rescue in the early hours of Sunday in a social media post that described the operation, in a mountainous area of Iran, as “one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in U.S. History.”

The airman, the weapons officer of an F-15 jet shot down on Friday, was wounded but “will be just fine,” Trump said in a message on X posted by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. The pilot of the aircraft was rescued on Friday.

A U.S. official said the operation, which Israel said it had assisted, involved dozens of military aircraft and encountered fierce resistance from Iranian forces.

Iran’s military said several U.S. aircraft were destroyed during the operation, including two military transport planes and two Black Hawk helicopters. Footage posted on social media showed burned out aircraft wreckage, which Reuters verified was in the area.

RESCUE INVOLVED ‘DECEPTION CAMPAIGN’

A U.S. official told Reuters U.S. forces had to destroy at least one of the aircraft used in the rescue mission because it had malfunctioned.

The Wall Street Journal reported that two specially equipped MC-130Js aircraft used to carry out covert infiltrations and to remove troops from beyond enemy lines were blown up by U.S. forces after malfunctioning.

A senior administration official in Washington said the rescue had involved a CIA deception campaign spreading word inside Iran that U.S. forces had already found the missing airman and were moving him on the ground for exfiltration out of the country.

While the Iranians were confused and uncertain of what was happening, the missing weapons officer was located inside a mountain crevice and rescued, the official said in a statement.

The rescue of the airman offered some good news for Trump, who has faced mounting pressure over a war that has sparked a global energy crisis and threatens lasting damage to the world economy.

On Saturday, he renewed a threat to intensify attacks on Iran’s energy infrastructure, saying it had 48 hours to open up shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz, the vital conduit for around a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas supply, which has been largely shut down.

In an expletive-laden social media post on Sunday, Trump said Iran must open the Strait “or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH!”

Adding to the pressure, a senior Israeli defense official said Israel, which attacked a major petrochemicals facility on Saturday, was preparing to attack Iranian energy facilities within the next week, and was awaiting approval from Washington.

But despite the heavy damage to its military and civilian infrastructure by weeks of U.S. and Israeli attacks, Iran’s chokehold over Hormuz has given it a powerful weapon and Tehran showed no sign of complying with Trump’s demand.

It has continued to launch missile and drone attacks against Israel and on Sunday, it underlined its ability to hit U.S. allies in the Gulf by launching a drone attack on petrochemicals plants in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi.

The Revolutionary Guards warned that more attacks would follow if civilian targets in Iran were hit.

PEACE EFFORTS PROVE FRUITLESS

Opinion polls show the war is viewed with skepticism by a majority of Americans, with the risks to U.S. service personnel among their major concerns, along with regional stability and the impact on their own finances.

The war, which has spread into Lebanon, where Israel has resumed its campaign against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, has killed thousands, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, where a Lebanese soldier was killed on Sunday.

But efforts brokered by Pakistan to bring the two sides to an agreement have so far been fruitless. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Tehran demanded a permanent halt to the U.S. and Israeli campaign launched on Feb. 28.

“What we care about are the terms of a conclusive and lasting END to the illegal war that is imposed on us,” he said in a message on X.

As the war has continued, the damage to vital economic infrastructure in Iran and neighboring Gulf countries has mounted and the impact is set to be felt months and even years after the fighting ends.

With oil coming through Hormuz down to a trickle, ministers from OPEC oil-producing countries were due to meet on Sunday. But the blockade of the Strait and the damage to infrastructure meant an immediate boost to oil production was not considered possible.

Israel and the U.S. have hit military and civilian infrastructure across Iran, including areas near its Bushehr nuclear plant, which Iran said posed a serious risk of radioactive contamination.

But they have not managed to suppress Iran’s ability to strike back and Iranian drone attacks have continued against industrial infrastructure in the Gulf including oil facilities, a major aluminum plant and petrochemical sites in recent days.

Earlier Iran also attacked an Israel-affiliated vessel with a drone in the Strait, setting the ship on fire, state media said, citing the commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ navy.

A U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II reportedly crashed Friday near the Strait of Hormuz at around the same time an F-15E fighter jet was shot down in Iran.

The A-10 pilot was subsequently rescued, two U.S. officials told The New York Times.

Iranian state media stated the A-10 was targeted in southern waters near the strait.

Reports of the A-10 going down Friday followed confirmation that a U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle had been shot down by enemy fire.

One of two F-15E crew members had reportedly been rescued as of Friday afternoon. A search for the second crew member was ongoing.

Search-and-rescue efforts were launched in the immediate aftermath of the fighter jet crash, with videos circulating on social media appearing to show a low-flying U.S. Air Force HC-130 refueling a pair of HH-60G Pave Hawks over Iran.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Friday told Military Times “the president has been briefed” on the downed U.S. F-15E fighter jet.

The Pentagon and U.S. Central Command have not yet responded to requests for comment.

Iranian state media on Friday shared images of aircraft debris alongside claims that Iran had downed a U.S. F-35 fighter jet.

However, images of the aircraft’s tailfin, specifically the red stripe on its vertical stabilizer, are consistent with markings used by the 494th Fighter Squadron, 48th Fighter Wing, based at RAF Lakenheath.

Iran also shared an image of an Advanced Concept Ejection Seat allegedly from the shot down F-15E.

The shoot-down of the F-15E marks the first time during Operation Epic Fury that a manned U.S. aircraft has been brought down by enemy fire.

A U.S. F-35 fighter jet was reportedly hit by enemy fire during a combat mission over Iran on March 19, but was able to make an emergency landing at a U.S. air base in the region.

Six U.S. airmen were killed on March 12 when their KC-135 refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq during combat operations.

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

The A-10, meanwhile, has seen an increased role since the start of the Iran war. The attack aircraft has joined maritime interdiction operations, among other missions, along the southern edges of the conflict, targeting Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fast-attack watercraft in the Strait of Hormuz, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine said last month.

Military Times reporter Michael Scanlon contributed to this report.

This is a developing story.

One of two U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle crew members shot down by enemy fire in Iran has been rescued, Israeli media first reported. U.S. officials confirmed the reports in statements to CBS News, Axios and Reuters.

A search for the second crew member is ongoing.

A multi-aircraft search-and-rescue effort for survivors was launched on Friday in the immediate aftermath of the engagement, with videos circulating on social media appearing to show a low-flying U.S. Air Force HC-130 refueling a pair of HH-60G Pave Hawks over Iran.

Israel’s N12 News first reported the rescue of the one crew member.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Friday told Military Times “the president has been briefed” on the downed U.S. F-15E fighter jet.

The Pentagon and U.S. Central Command did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Iranian state media on Friday shared images of aircraft debris alongside claims that Iran had downed a U.S. F-35 fighter jet.

However, images of the aircraft’s tailfin, specifically the red stripe on its vertical stabilizer, are consistent with markings used by the 494th Fighter Squadron, 48th Fighter Wing, based at RAF Lakenheath.

Iran also shared an image of an Advanced Concept Ejection Seat allegedly from the shot down F-15E.

The shoot-down of the F-15E marks the first time during Operation Epic Fury that a manned U.S. aircraft has been brought down by enemy fire.

A U.S. F-35 fighter jet was reportedly hit by enemy fire during a combat mission over Iran on March 19, but was able to make an emergency landing at a U.S. air base in the region.

Six U.S. airmen were killed on March 12 when their KC-135 refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq during combat operations.

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. 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 against Iran.

President Donald Trump on Friday requested a 10% cut in non-defense discretionary spending for fiscal 2027 and a massive $500 billion increase in defense spending, as the United States continues its war against Iran.

The 2027 budget request comes as the president faces risky choices abroad, with the administration sending U.S. service members to the Middle East, and a public at home feeling the economic crunch of skyrocketing gas prices due to the conflict.

The request ultimately requires approval by Congress, where disagreement over Trump’s spending decisions recently led to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

The president’s budget also reflects the administration’s political priorities ahead of the 2026 midterm elections in November, when Trump’s Republicans hope to maintain their small majorities in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

The huge proposed surge in defense spending to $1.5 trillion, up from about $1 trillion in 2026, includes a 5-7% pay raise for military personnel at a time when thousands of service members are actively deployed.

The defense request will please defense hawks on Capitol Hill, but also highlights how Trump is trying to pay for his doubling-down on military pursuits, even after Republicans boosted defense spending last year in party-line legislation.

The Pentagon already requested $200 billion in extra funding to pay for the Iran war, but the White House has not yet officially made that request to Congress, where it is also likely to face scrutiny from lawmakers in both parties.

Other specific funding increases proposed by Trump include his controversial Golden Dome missile defense shield, money to build up critical mineral supplies for the defense industry and $65.8 billion to build 34 new combat and support ships.

Funds for shipbuilding, a priority for Trump since his first term, include initial funding for the so-called Trump-class battleship as well as submarines.

It is unclear how this new spending would impact the U.S. budget deficit because the projections were not included by the White House. The deficit is expected to grow slightly in fiscal 2026 to $1.853 trillion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill often treat White House budget requests as suggestive, as appropriators try to negotiate behind the scenes to maintain their own legislative priorities. But Trump’s latest budget will likely add to the ongoing tension with congressional Democrats over funding federal programs that they see as important — and plan to campaign to protect — as the president seeks to cut federal programs.

“Savings are achieved by reducing or eliminating woke, weaponized, and wasteful programs, and by returning state and local responsibilities to their respective governments,” the White House said in a budget fact sheet.

This is a developing story.

A United States F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet has been shot down by enemy fire over Iran, U.S. officials confirmed.

One of the aircraft’s two crew members has been rescued, Israeli media first reported. U.S. officials confirmed the reports in statements to CBS News and Axios.

A search for the second crew member is ongoing.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Military Times “the president has been briefed” on the downed fighter jet.

The Pentagon and U.S. Central Command did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Officials in Iran, meanwhile, called for the search and capture of any surviving crew members of the jet, according to reports by the semi-official ISNA news agency and the Young Journalists Club.

The governor of one of the Islamic Republic’s provinces stated that anyone who captures or kills the crew would receive a special commendation.

Video circulating on social media appeared to show a low-flying U.S. Air Force HC-130 refueling a pair of HH-60G Pave Hawks over Iran while conducting a search for the downed crew.

Iranian state media on Friday shared images of aircraft debris alongside claims that Iran had downed a U.S. F-35 fighter jet.

However, images of the aircraft’s tailfin, specifically the red stripe on its vertical stabilizer, are consistent with markings used by the 494th Fighter Squadron, 48th Fighter Wing, based at RAF Lakenheath.

Iran also shared an image of an Advanced Concept Ejection Seat allegedly from the shot down F-15E.

The search-and-rescue effort inside Iran during an ongoing conflict greatly raises the stakes for the United States.

U.S. Central Command on Tuesday issued a statement denying claims that “Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps downed an ‘enemy’ fighter jet over Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.”

“All U.S. fighter aircraft are accounted for,” the CENTCOM statement read. “Iran’s IRGC has made the same false claim at least half a dozen times.”

The location of the downed jet has not yet been confirmed.

The shoot-down marks the first time during Operation Epic Fury that a manned U.S. aircraft has been brought down by enemy fire.

A U.S. F-35 fighter jet was reportedly hit by enemy fire during a combat mission over Iran on March 19, but was able to make an emergency landing at a U.S. air base in the region.

Six U.S. airmen were killed on March 12 when their KC-135 refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq during combat operations.

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. 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 against Iran.

As of March 31, 348 U.S. personnel have been wounded, Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins, U.S. Central Command spokesperson, told DefenseScoop. Of those injured, the majority have since returned to duty. Six remain seriously wounded.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday signed a directive allowing service members to request permission to carry privately owned firearms on military installations while off duty, the Pentagon said in a statement.

“The War Department’s uniformed service members are trained at the highest and unwavering standards. These warfighters — entrusted with the safety of our nation — are no less entitled to exercise their God-given right to keep and bear arms than any other American,” Hegseth announced in a video posted to social media.

The memorandum instructed installation commanders to consider requests with a “presumption of approval,” reversing what Hegseth described as a system that made it “virtually impossible for troops to carry or store personal firearms in accordance with state laws, the Pentagon said in a statement on Thursday.

The policy builds on existing authority under the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, the Pentagon said, and the new guidance directs Pentagon officials to update regulations to formalize the process for approvals.

Hegseth framed the move as a constitutional issue and in response to recent active-shooter situations on military installations. He specifically cited a 2019 attack at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida, where three people were killed and eight others injured; a 2025 shooting that wounded five soldiers at Fort Stewart in Georgia; and a 2026 shooting at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico that killed one person and injured another.

In emergencies like those, he said, “minutes are a lifetime, and our service members have the courage and training to make those precious, short minutes count.”

The directive also applies to personnel working at the Pentagon, where the Pentagon Force Protection Agency must adopt the same presumption of approval. However, the policy does not allow personal to carry inside the building itself, instead permitting storage of the firearms in vehicles on Pentagon grounds.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday asked U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George to step down and retire effective immediately, a Pentagon official told Military Times.

The abrupt move, one of three significant changes made by Hegseth the same day, cuts short George’s tenure, which began in September 2023, well before the end of the typical four-year term.

The Pentagon intends to replace him with a leader aligned with Hegseth and President Donald Trump’s vision for the Army, the official added. They did not specify what this vision entails.

George has more than four decades of military service, according to the Army. He was commissioned as an infantry officer from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1988 and served in the Gulf War, with subsequent deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said that the current vice chief of staff of the Army, Gen. Christopher LaNeve, will replace George on an interim basis.

Parnell asserted that LaNeve is “a battle-tested leader with decades of operational experience and is completely trusted by Secretary Hegseth to carry out the vision of this administration without fault.”

The Department of Defense said it “has nothing further to provide at the moment.”

Hegseth on Thursday also removed Gen. David Horne, a former Army Ranger who had been overseeing the Army’s Transformation and Training Command, and Maj. Gen. William Green, the Army chief of chaplains, a Pentagon official confirmed to Military Times.

Since taking office, Hegseth has fired over a dozen generals and admirals, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. C.Q. Brown and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti.

The latest shakeup coincides with the Pentagon’s deployment of thousands of troops from the Army’s elite 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East, as the war with Iran enters its fifth week.

The ouster was first reported by CBS News.

The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford returned to sea Thursday after a five-day port call in Split, Croatia, the service announced.

The stop, which followed a brief visit to Naval Support Activity Souda Bay in Crete, comes as the Navy’s largest carrier has been plagued by maintenance issues that interrupted the ship’s participation in combat operations against Iran.

A non-combat fire in the ship’s laundry room on March 12 injured multiple sailors, caused smoke-related issues among hundreds of personnel and damaged 100 sleeping berths.

The Ford has also experienced well-documented issues with its plumbing system, with the carrier’s water transport and disposal vacuum causing repeated clogs among the ship’s 650 toilets.

The release did not specify whether the Ford would be returning to combat operations as part of Operation Epic Fury.

“Gerald R. Ford remains poised for full mission tasking in support of national objectives in any area of operation,” the release stated.

The ship has now been deployed for more than nine months, having departed from its homeport of Norfolk, Virginia, on June 24, 2025. It has conducted operations in the Arctic Circle, Caribbean, the Mediterranean and the Red Sea during that span.

Speaking Tuesday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle said the carrier is likely to reach 11 months deployed by the time it returns home, potentially eclipsing the recent at-sea high of 341 days set by the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush and its strike group departed from Naval Station Norfolk on Tuesday, meanwhile, for a regularly scheduled deployment.

Whether the carrier Bush will relieve the Ford or act as an additional force amid ongoing combat operations has not been announced.

As the Ford underwent maintenance in port, sailors were able to disembark and enjoy local attractions, the release stated. Rear Adm. Paul Lanzilotta, commander of Carrier Strike Group 12, was joined by other group commanders in meeting with the U.S. Ambassador to Croatia, Nicole McGraw, the release stated.

The carrier Ford is the flagship of Carrier Strike Group 12, which includes the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill, Destroyer Squadron 2 and the embarked Carrier Air Wing 8.

President Donald Trump is set to unveil a $1.5 trillion defense budget request for the next fiscal year on Friday, by far the largest year-over-year increase in defense spending in the post-World War Two era.

Funding for Trump’s marquee but controversial $185 billion “Golden Dome” missile defense shield is expected to be included in the budget request as well as Lockheed Martin F-35 jets and warships.

Procurement of Virginia-class submarines made by General Dynamics, and Huntington Ingalls Industries as well as other top shipbuilding priorities is expected.

Last year, Trump asked Congress for a national defense budget of $892.6 billion then added $150 billion through a supplemental budget request, sending the total price tag over $1 trillion for the first time in history.

While the budget request framework for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2027 is set to be unveiled on Friday, a Pentagon official said more details on the defense budget will be announced on April 21.

Earlier this year, the administration was contemplating whether the $1.5 trillion budget request could be in the form of a $900 billion national security budget, with a $400 billion to $600 billion additional request, similar to the structure used in 2026.

The administration plans to use funds for more weapons production in the hopes of deterring Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific region and to rebuild weapons stocks depleted by conflicts in Israel, Iran and Ukraine.

The budget request will be debated in Congress in the coming weeks and months.

In a weekend address to his troops as news headlines trumpeted the possibility of upcoming combat deployments, the three-star head of Marine Corps Reserve command had a message: Get your cammies ready.

In a March 26 message on his official letterhead, Lt. Gen. Leonard F. Anderson IV asked his troops to consider whether they were ready for the possibility of being called up in the Iran war.

“I ask you directly: Are you truly ready to deploy, fight, and win? Are your skills sharp, your standards high, and your gear prepared for immediate movement?” he wrote. “Is your desert MARPAT readily available, is your gear packed and ready to pick up and move, or is it stored away in a corner of your home? Are your family’s affairs in order?”

These questions, he continued, were about readiness.

“When the call comes, readiness will be assumed, not questioned,” he wrote. “Your readiness is not a declaration; it is a daily commitment.”

The letter made a stir as it circulated on social media channels, with some posters speculating that it was a fake and others questioning its meaning.

“Sounds like a warning order,” one user wrote on LinkedIn.

In an exclusive interview with Military Times on Thursday, Anderson said he hadn’t become aware until a few days prior that his letter, which he confirmed authentic, was creating a stir.

His handwritten postscript — “Fight’s On!” — was, he said, the slogan of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 312, his old squadron where he flew the F/A-18C Hornet.

“I just felt at a time on the planet and where we are as a force in the Marine Corps, it was just time for a reminder to the reserve force to be ready. And I wanted to get that message out as widely as possible,” he said. “I owe it to not only the Marines to make sure that they’re ready, but to their families, their parents, their wives, whatever it might be, if a reservist is activated and going forward.

“It’s my responsibility as the commander of Marine Forces Reserve to make sure that they are trained, equipped and prepared, and their families are prepared to put them forward. If I didn’t do that, if I wasn’t reminding the force to be ready, I’d be failing as a commander.”

Since the U.S. began strikes on Iran Feb. 28, the prospect of a longer fight involving ground troops has been the subject of intense speculation.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth refused to rule out a boots-on-the-ground scenario early in the assault, saying he did not want to limit military options. The Pentagon has reportedly begun planning for ground operations lasting weeks, and U.S. troops on ships and aircraft continue to pour into the region, at the ready for a major operation.

Anderson said the response he’s seen to his letter has been “overwhelmingly positive.”

“I have not … dived down into the long Reddit chains to dwell on some of the negative comments there,” he said, adding, “I don’t think there was a question out there from the majority of the reserve force that, yes, we should be ready.”

While most of the roughly 33,600 Marine reservists are typically in a drilling status, holding down civilian jobs while maintaining readiness in a contingency, recent conflicts have seen the rapid activation of Reserve forces.

Reserve forces responded immediately in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and piloted the first fixed-wing aircraft into Afghan airspace, according to Air Force Reserve Command. Likewise, Reserve units were on the ground in the Middle East for months leading up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Formally, full mobilization of the Reserves required a declaration of war or a national emergency by Congress. Partial mobilization of up to one million reservists for up to two years can be triggered by a presidential national emergency declaration.

An additional authority enables the president to call up 200,000 members of the Selected Reserve and up to 30,000 members of the Individual Ready Reserve — those who have recently left active duty — for up to a year.

The Iran conflict has also prompted speculation about the return to military conscription, a process that would require an act of Congress and, in ideal conditions, take the better part of a year to set in motion.

Anderson’s message emphasizes that readiness for drilling troops “is not a theoretical exercise.”

“Our forces are currently engaged in operations connected to Iran and are positioned to preserve stability in the Western Hemisphere,” he wrote. “Our enemies get a vote, and mass mobilization could become reality. We are operating in this environment now. History demands our readiness today, tomorrow, and every day.”

Anderson, who also commands Marine Forces South, is a career Hornet pilot and graduate of the Navy Fighter Weapons School, or TOPGUN, who served as a member of the Blue Angels demonstration team from 2002-2004.

He deployed twice to Iraq and Qatar in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, the coalition fight against ISIS. He has said the release of the original Top Gun film in 1986 influenced his decision to join the Marine Corps.

“Check your readiness,” Anderson wrote in the conclusion to his message. “Tighten your standards. Prepare your family.”