In stationary concentration, a soldier moved only his fingers as he steered a small device through plastic pipes arranged into a makeshift obstacle course built to qualify soldiers on a tool that has quickly changed the course of modern warfare: drones.

Unmanned aircraft shape nearly every part of the battlefields today, from reconnaissance and artillery spotting to precision strikes and surveillance.

As the U.S. Army moves to integrate drones into each formation, units across the force are figuring out how to teach, train and test soldiers on rapidly evolving technology.

At Fort Stewart, that effort has morphed into a homegrown schoolhouse that is designed to push drone operators beyond their comfort zone and into a stressful state of sweaty palms and elevated heart rates.

The Marne Unmanned Center of Excellence, which became operational in March, moves soldiers through academic instruction, virtual simulators and increasingly challenging flight tests.

The classroom

The center starts with classroom instruction on airspace rules and flight controls. Before soldiers can send a drone into the air, they spend time at a desk, fiddling with controllers hooked up to laptops. For weeks, instead of shooting rifles, soldiers become engrossed in virtual reality scenes reminiscent of video games.

They learn to toggle the controllers to send their virtual drones through windows and under sallyports. They learn to navigate when the line of sight is lost or video quality diminished. They learn to attack.

Soldiers spend 40 to 50 hours operating virtual drones before touching a real unmanned aircraft.

Fort Stewart also hosts a 60-seat collective trainer, where each individual operates their own laptop while a battlefield view is plastered across a massive screen at the front of the room.

Drones then become a part of the fight and operators must interact with other capabilities, such as artillery and armored vehicles.

The flight line

Once soldiers can send a virtual drone through a gauntlet of obstacles, they go outside to try the real thing under the watchful eyes of an expert.

In a parking lot near the building, one student stood next to his instructor as she looked on.

Spc. Tyler Lee stared at his controller in deep concentration, periodically looking up to check his drone’s location as he maneuvered it down from the sky. A satisfied smile danced on his face after a successful landing.

Lee grew up playing video games, listing first-person games, like Call of Duty, among his favorites. Those games, he said, helping him pick up operating first-person view, or FPV, drones like the one he was flying. He even bought a commercial drone to improve his skills.

Despite completing the academic training and simulators, Lee was modest about his abilities.

“I’m nowhere near proficient,” he said. “I would still consider myself a beginner even though I’ve flown a lot and I’ve got my own [drone].”

Staff Sgt. Nway Nway Lwin, Lee’s instructor, said maneuvering a drone around was just the beginning of becoming an expert.

For individual qualification training, Lwin said she would have a student focus on basic maneuvers: moving right, left, up, down and through, gathering basic information about the surroundings as they go.

Once they master that, Lwin makes things complicated with real-word scenarios.

“You are doing the recon mission,” she’ll tell students. “This is your [Named Area of Interest] and this is where you are setting up — show me the flight plan.”

The sky

Drone operators who have learned basic maneuvering can advance to complicated obstacle courses that are graded on time standards.

They also go into the woods, pushing their skills by flying without being able to see the drone in the sky.

Because of that, Fort Stewart’s drone center has a unique relationship with its air traffic controllers and range control officials. Many drones can reach heights that intersect with crewed aircraft, requiring constant monitoring.

Other drones are built to explode. Some units use Fort Stewart ranges to practice with one-way attack drones designed to carry explosive payloads that detonate when they crash into a target.

One-way drones are already in use in theaters across the world, according to the base’s range control, and are just another unmanned aircraft skill to master.

Chief Warrant Officer 5 Jonathan Morrison, who helped spearhead the base’s drone training program, said his goal is not just to qualify operators.

“You can be qualified, but can you be well qualified?” he asked.

“Can you be super confident with your system? And can you be confident enough to go out there and perform any mission at any time, anywhere at a moment’s notice?” Morrison speculated.

The U.S. fired at Iranian missile- and drone-launch sites, command-and-control locations, and intelligence and surveillance hubs after “unprovoked” Iranian attacks against Arleigh Burke-class destroyers USS Truxtun, USS Rafael Peralta and USS Mason.

“CENTCOM does not seek escalation but remains positioned and ready to protect American forces,” CENTCOM said.

No U.S. vessels were struck as a result of the attacks.

Pentagon says Iran ceasefire holds despite exchanges in Strait of Hormuz

Despite the uptick in military activity, President Donald Trump told ABC News on Thursday that U.S. strikes against Iranian targets were just a “love tap” and that the ceasefire was still in effect.

On Monday, the U.S. destroyed six Iranian small boats, as well as cruise missiles and drones, that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched against ships the U.S. was escorting through the strait as part of Project Freedom, which has since been paused.

On Wednesday, Trump said the war would “be over quickly” at an event for Georgia Republican gubernatorial candidate Burt Jones.

The U.S. and Iran are reportedly deliberating over a peace memorandum that would end the war and halt Iran’s nuclear program.

In late April, the U.S. Senate, led by sponsor Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., unanimously approved the “Maverick Act,” introduced by freshman U.S. Rep. Abraham Hamadeh, an Illinois Republican and Army Reserve officer. The bill, which has yet to become law, authorizes the secretary of the Navy to hand over the service’s three remaining F-14D Tomcats to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center Commission in Huntsville, Alabama.

It allows the commission to put the aircraft on display, but also permits them to be operated in “an airshow … or a commemorative event to preserve United States naval aviation heritage.”

In other words, U.S. F-14s could take to the sky once more.

This is all significant because of the aircraft’s complex and high-stakes national security history. When the Grumman-made aircraft was retired in 2006 after 32 years of service, Congress acted quickly to mitigate the threat of foreign theft or security breach, specifically from Iran, which has operated variants of the Tomcat since 1979 and is the only remaining country to fly them.

(Notably, in 2022’s “Top Gun: Maverick,” Cruise gets back into the cockpit of an old F-14 found in the hangar of an unnamed adversary nation. While there are some conflicting details mixed in to keep the identity of that rogue nation vague, that still-operational Tomcat is a definite tip-off.)

The Fiscal Year 2008 National Defense Authorization Act specifically prohibited the Department of Defense from selling any F-14 fighters or parts, or granting an export license to allow any to leave the country. While it did carve out a narrow exception to allow sales to museums for historic preservation, the legislation led DoD to take radical measures to ensure none of the retired aircraft fell into the wrong hands.

Retired F-14s that had been sent to the “Boneyard” at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona — a common resting place for retired aircraft that might have some future military use as parts or spares — were ordered shredded into two-foot-by-two-foot “bits” by a contractor paid nearly $1 million to carry out the work.

The move came after the Associated Press found foreign buyers had been able to get their hands on F-14 parts, despite the caution and prohibitions.

“Investigators also found some sensitive items accidentally slipping into surplus auctions rather than being destroyed as they were supposed to be,” CBS reported at the time. “In an unusual move when dealing with retired aircraft, the Pentagon is trying to shut off all avenues for Iran’s parts purchasers by demolishing the F-14s, then combing through the scraps to make sure nothing useful remains.”

In a fascinating coda to the F-14 saga, NPR reported in March that Iran’s last 10 operational Tomcats may have been destroyed in strikes executed since the start of the current war on Feb. 28.

The Maverick Act names three specific F-14D aircraft by tail number, requiring that they be demilitarized and “do not possess any capability for use as a platform for launching or releasing munitions or any other combat capability, as determined by the Secretary,” according to the legislation.

The transfer to Huntsville for education and display must take place at no cost to the U.S., and the legislation specifically prohibits restoration of combat capability or foreign transfer.

“I want to thank Senator Sheehy and his colleagues for passing this legislation aimed at preserving for history one of the most iconic aircraft ever flown,” Hamadeh said in a statement. “As a former U.S. Army officer, I know that many of the men and women I served with felt the same way. That is why I proudly introduced this legislation.”

Hamadeh also noted that he had moved to save five retiring T-37 jet trainer aircraft from the Boneyard in a separate bill.

During a White House ceremony marking the return of the Presidential Fitness Test awards, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday the test will be mandatory in the DoD’s 161 K-12 schools across 30 military installations.

Recalling his childhood striving to earn the top award level, Hegseth said he hoped the requirement would serve as a “pilot for all of American education.”

“I remember it because it was something my country clearly elevated as important. We should be in shape; we should compete,” Hegseth said.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order last July reinstating the test in public schools. On Tuesday, Trump signed a proclamation that reestablished the awards for those who meet age-level standards for three out of six exercises in the test.

“My administration is working very hard to defend Americas cherished athletic traditions and pass our values of excellence and competitiveness to the next generation,” Trump said during the signing.

Hegseth did not say when the test requirement will go into effect; the 2025-2026 school year is coming to a close this month, and school will restart later this summer.

The Presidential Fitness Test got its start under President Dwight Eisenhower in 1956 with the creation of a President’s Council on Youth Fitness. Gen Xers and Millennials may remember various iterations of the test, which included pull-ups, pushups, a run, rope climb and other challenges.

Beginning in the 1990s, the presidential sports councils began expanding recognition to engage all children, emphasizing wellness, nutrition and fitness.

In 2010, first lady Michelle Obama introduced the “Let’s Move!” campaign that promoted healthy eating and fitness to combat childhood obesity. The fitness test was retired two years later in favor of assessments that emphasized individual progress rather than competition with peers.

The new test includes three categories with two options within each category. Youngsters must complete either curl-ups (crunches) or planks; a one-mile run or 20-meter “beep” test; and “right angle” pushups, in which the athlete lowers themselves into a pushup until their elbows form a 90-degree angle, or pullups.

A beep test requires a runner to dash 20 meters back and forth on a track while keeping time with beeps.

To meet the standards, a 10-year-old boy must do 45 curl-ups, run a mile in 7 minutes, 57 seconds, and do 22 pushups; a 10-year-old girl must do 40 curl-ups, run a 9:19 mile and do 20 pushups.

Students who meet the targets, which differ for boys and girls, can receive a certificate.

A 2022 Pentagon study found that 77% of young Americans would not qualify for military service without a waiver, with 11% of those disqualified for being overweight. The issue has long been considered a threat to recruitment and national security.

Noting the return of the Presidential Fitness Test, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who served in Trump’s cabinet during the president’s first term, said in a X social media that it was “great to see this test come back!”

“Could really benefit the fitness and future habits of today’s youth. Especially important for the US Armed Forces given that 78% of young people today don’t qualify for military service, with obesity being a major reason. Get fit!” Esper wrote.

During the event Tuesday, Hegseth said it was important for young people to strive for excellence.

“The idea that competition is bad is the beginning of the decline of a nation,” Hegseth said. “Competition is critical to who we are and ensuring that America stays on top.”

For military spouses, that service involved a lifetime of sacrifices: frequent moves that reset careers, years of underemployment and the inability to vest in their own retirement.

When a tragedy occurs, the benefits provided to the surviving spouse are not a gift; they are an earned benefit and recognition of that collective sacrifice.

This isn’t abstract to me — it’s the life I was raised in.

Both of my parents served — my father in the Army, my mother in the Air Force. My mom made the difficult decision to leave her military career because she understood what it would take to hold our family together while my father continued to serve.

She tried to keep a foothold in the workforce, taking part-time jobs where she could. But my dad’s deployment schedule of six months gone, three months home, made stability impossible.

Childcare costs outweighed any income she could earn, and when my middle brother was diagnosed with severe disabilities requiring constant care, the choice became even clearer. She stepped away from work to raise us and be there every time the Army needed my dad.

For nearly a decade, she poured everything into raising us, into being present for every move, every absence, every demand the Army placed on our lives. Then, at 38, with all three of us finally in school, she began again. Starting over.

She found work on base, running the Exceptional Family Member Program – the very program our family had relied on. It wasn’t just a job; it was a calling. She was determined to improve the system for families like ours, to make it easier for others walking the same difficult path.

And then, just months later, everything changed.

I came home from fifth grade to find two service members at our door. In an instant, my childhood split in two — before and after. My mother became a widow, left to raise three children ages 10, 8 and 5.

Just days after my father died, my mother sat through the briefing every military widow receives: Here is your flag, here are your benefits — and a quiet but unmistakable warning to not remarry.

Remarrying was the furthest thing from her mind, from any widow’s mind. She wasn’t thinking about a future without him; she was trying to survive the present without her soulmate. He died just 13 days shy of their 10th wedding anniversary — the man she had built her life around, the man she believed she would grow old with.

Two weeks later, I came home from school with a “contract” I had written, asking her to promise she would never date again. That’s how deeply I believed in their love. They were the kind of couple that made you roll your eyes and smile at the same time. They danced in the kitchen while dinner burned and laughed constantly, only “arguing” over who would get to dress the other when they were old.

She didn’t sign it. Instead, she told me something I didn’t understand then: She didn’t know what the future would hold, but she hoped that someday, love could be part of it again.

But for my mother, that future never came.

Maybe she would have tried, if the cost of love hadn’t been so high. If choosing companionship didn’t mean risking the financial security that kept our family afloat. If she hadn’t been forced to weigh her own happiness against our stability.

She chose us every time.

And in the end, the weight of that choice — the grief, the pressure, the isolation — became too much to carry alone.

She died by suicide at 47 years old, on what would have been her 19th wedding anniversary.

Under current federal law, the government imposes an arbitrary “remarriage penalty.” If a surviving spouse under the age of 55 chooses to find love again and remarry, they lose access to their survivor benefits.

My mom did not divorce my dad; she dedicated her life to being the perfect mom and Army wife. She made every sacrifice the Army threw at her, including sacrificing her soulmate. She put her career on hold to support the mission.

The benefits our family earned were not given out of pity or to offset the loss of my dad’s income, but to offset the decade my mom was out of the workforce.

There is a persistent and damaging misunderstanding that survivor benefits are a form of government-funded alimony intended to support a spouse until a new “provider” comes along. This could not be further from the truth.

These benefits are intended to offset the lost earning potential of the survivor. Because of the military lifestyle, most military spouses never have the opportunity to vest in their own retirement. Their “retirement” was the promise of the survivor benefit.

My mom’s story is not uncommon. It is the story of military spouses, caregiver spouses and surviving spouses across the country. While military spouse employment may be on the rise, most military spouses are still massively underemployed.

The current law also creates a bizarre and often heartbreaking waiting game.

The law says if survivors wait until the age of 55, they can remarry and maintain their benefits. Many survivors simply wait out the clock to remarry, living in a state of financial and legal limbo just to retain the benefits they earned. For those who remarry earlier — often for religious reasons — the loss of benefits can be devastating.

The current law does not acknowledge the true service and sacrifices our surviving spouses have made. They are not property. They are not divorced. They are people who had their futures taken from them, people who would give anything to have their loved ones back.

What they are doing is not “moving on.” It is surviving. It is rebuilding from the worst day of their lives.

At TAPS, we serve more than 120,000 surviving families. We see the daily reality of these policies, which is why our legislative team is working on Capitol Hill, meeting with lawmakers to explain that this is a matter of equity and honor.

The Love Lives On Act is about more than just a check in the mail; it is about respecting the sanctity of the military family. It recognizes that while a service member’s life may have ended, the nation’s debt to their family does not. We owe it to our survivors to ensure that their love can live on without the threat of financial insecurity.

Ten-year-old Ashlynne did not want to think about her mother moving forward after her dad died, but as an adult, I see it differently.

I wish my mom had been free to open her heart again to someone who could have respected the amazing man my father was while teaching my brother how to tie a tie. To someone who could have loved my mom and given her a chance at happiness.

While it is something my brothers and I will never have, it is something I hope other surviving families have in the future: The chance to move forward and find happiness without having to fear for the financial consequences of doing so.

It is time for Congress to pass the bipartisan Love Lives On Act and ensure that these benefits remain with surviving spouses, regardless of their marital status.

Ashlynne Haycock-Lohmann is the Director for Government & Legislative Affairs for the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) and the Surviving Daughter of Army SFC Jeffrey Haycock and Air Force Veteran Nichole Haycock.

U.S. Military Entrance Processing Command, also known as USMEPCOM, announced this week that it will prescreen prospective recruits for 28 medical conditions that have been deemed highly unlikely to receive enlistment waivers.

The change does not alter the current eligibility standards so much as it recalibrates the timing of judgement. Determinations that once emerged later in the process will now be flagged at the very first point of contact.

“This is a shift order,” Army Col. Megan McKinnon, USMEPCOM command surgeon, said in a statement. “Instead of doing complete processing and then handing it to the waiver authority, we’ve created a trigger on the front end for these specific conditions that requires additional Service sign off, because all Services agreed that they are unlikely to be waived on the back end.”

Officials say the goal is to conserve resources and reduce unnecessary medical evaluations, particularly in cases not expected to be approved. The list features ailments such as heart valve disease and narcolepsy.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also issued a memo in March directing a comprehensive review of military standards — including those pertaining to physical fitness, body composition and grooming — across all branches.

The new policy comes as President Donald Trump, speaking at an early Mother’s Day event at the White House honoring military moms, touted a recent uptick in enlistment. Fiscal 2025 marked the highest level of recruiting in more than 15 years, according to the Pentagon.

“Every branch is setting records in recruitment,” the president said on Wednesday. “I can say very confidently, at this moment, we have the highest recruitment, the most successful recruitment for the military — Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Space Force, all of it."

“We have lines of people waiting to get in. We’re taking people based on their fitness and their quality,” he added.

The Military Spouse Small Business Recognition Act was influenced by the high unemployment rate for military spouses and the rate of spouses that are self-employed small business owners or are interested in entrepreneurship, according to a Thursday media round table.

“Spousal employment and financial stability are among the top factors for service member retention, and when military spouses can’t build businesses, that retention suffers and our war fighters suffer, and our national security posture suffers,” Eliza Levy, ELPR’s founder and CEO, said to reporters.

If passed, the act would waive Small Business Association loan fees up to $1 million; reduce equity injection requirements; designate military spouse-owned businesses as an 8(a) Disadvantages Category; and require the SBA to track military spouse participation in loan programs.

Patricia M. Barron, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for Military Community and Family Policy, said to reporters that the biggest link between military spouse employment and military readiness is retention.

She highlighted how aspects of military life, such as frequent moving or career gaps, make it difficult to retain employment as a spouse.

Barron noted that after constant moves and unemployment, spouses and their military counterparts begin to think about leaving the force, especially if it makes more sense financially.

“If we want to keep this volunteer force, that retention piece is incredibly important,” said Barron. “And the Department of War and the Congress, they have made military spouse employment a mission readiness issue.”

“It is no longer just a quality of life issue, and that’s why it’s so important,” Barron continued.

Military spouses have an unemployment rate of around 22% according to a 2024 Department of Labor fact sheet — approximately five times higher than the national average, which sits at roughly 4.3% as of March.

In addition, 48% of military spouses are either self-employed or are interested in being, but a lack of access to capital is a barrier that this act hopes to remedy.

The act has not yet been introduced to Congress as the coalition is still gathering support from members. Stephanie Brown, CEO of the Military Spouse Chamber of Commerce that is leading the charge for the act, said they are hoping to announce the two co-sponsors of the bill by late Thursday.

If deemed the best way to propel this bill forward, the coalition intends to attach it to the fiscal year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act.

Naval Support Activity Naples conducted a year-long analysis of radon levels at non-residential facilities from August 2024 to September 2025 but announced on Feb. 9 that the results it received in January were not reliable, as they did not meet the Navy Radon Assessment and Mitigation Program’s quality assurance standards.

NSA Naples has since reversed course, however, announcing May 4 that the results were in fact “valid and reliable.”

“Between August 2024 and October 2025, alpha track detectors were installed for long-term radon monitoring across 1,536 testable locations/rooms in 123 non-residential buildings at NSA Naples,” the Navy said. “Results were obtained from 1,449 of these locations, revealing 37 instances of elevated radon average concentrations.”

The Navy did not test residential buildings because those facilities were last tested in 2022 and 2023, and the Navy Radon Assessment and Mitigation Program requires testing every 5 years.

Guam barracks conditions spur Navy-wide housing inspection

The service began an error analysis process after the initial rejection of data occurred in February and found that the results met accuracy standards after all, NSA Naples said.

Radon exposure higher than four pCi/L, a unit of measurement that tracks radioactive decay, requires mitigation, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. All of the 37 rooms flagged for heightened radon exposure had pCi/L levels that exceeded four, with some as high as 12.

Elementary school and high school facilities affiliated with the installation, as well as a golf shop, were among those listed as containing a hazardous amount of radon.

The Navy said it will work to reduce those levels so that they fall below four pCi/L within the next two years, but it did not provide specifics as to what those mitigation strategies might entail.

Radon is a gas undetectable by the human eye or nose that results from the natural decay of uranium and thorium in rocks, water and soil. Individuals who are exposed to the gas over a long period of time have an increased risk of lung cancer.

The Department of Defense Office of Inspector General released a report on Aug. 19, 2024, raising concerns about the Navy’s handling of elevated radon levels at NSA Naples.

The report urged Navy officials to communicate better with individuals after finding that NSA Naples Housing and Public Affairs Offices “did not inform the 3,997 DOD personnel and dependents living in non-GO-GC off-base housing of the known potential for elevated radon levels.”

NSA Naples launched a radon detection assessment the same month.

The 16-page blueprint — the first issued since President Donald Trump’s return to office — describes the triad as “significant and pervasive” dangers to the homeland, to be addressed in phases.

During a conference call with reporters, Sebastian Gorka, Trump’s senior director for counterterrorism, declined to discuss classified details of the initiative but outlined its central objective as systemically eroding each group’s infrastructure. The plan includes identifying their networks; severing their access to weapons, financing and recruitment capabilities; and dismantling their operational capacity.

“We see a threat, we will respond to it, and we will crush it, whether it is the cartels, the jihadists, or violent left-wing extremists like antifa and like the transgender killers, the non-binary, the left-wing radicals,” he said. “We will take them on, head on.”

Gorka asserted that the administration sees a renewed wave of politically-motivated violence targeting Christians and conservatives, driven by what he characterized as “violent left-wing extremists” who have “espoused extremist transgender ideologies.” He cited the assassination of activist Charlie Kirk, as well as the mass shootings at Covenant School in Tennessee and Annunciation Catholic School in Minnesota, as evidence of the trend.

The attackers in the latter two shootings, each of whom died at the scene, were transgender. The person charged with Kirk’s killing, Tyler Robinson, reportedly had a transgender partner. LGBTQ advocates, however, warn against collectivizing blame for such events to the trans community at large.

“We will not permit politically motivated violence in the United States from either side of the aisle,” Gorka said. “But the sad truth is, the left has far more politically motivated assassinations or attempted assassinations to its credit in recent years, not the right.”

‘Toxic’ politics increase terrorism, extremism risk, DHS official says

A 2024 report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that right-wing attacks had killed 112 people over the past decade, compared to 13 people killed in left-wing attacks and 82 killed in jihadist attacks.

The report predated the killing of Kirk, which occurred in September 2025, but also of Democratic State Rep. Melissa Hortman of Minnesota, who was shot dead at her home along with her husband Mark in June 2025.

The Trump framework marks a sharp departure from the Biden-era counterterrorism strategy, which classified white supremacists and militia movements among the most consequential threats to U.S. national security.

“Our new U.S. Counterterrorism Strategy is a return to common sense and Peace through Strength,” the president wrote in the document. “As I said after our first successful counterterrorism mission, just days after I was sworn back in office — if you hurt Americans, or are planning to hurt Americans, ‘We Will Find You and We Will Kill You.’”

U.S. counterterrorism officials are set to meet with foreign counterparts on Friday to urge allies to take on a greater share of responsibility in confronting terrorist threats, including those in the Strait of Hormuz.

“We reject the concept of global police officer,” Gorka said. “We will measure your seriousness as a partner and ally by how much you bring to the table.”

Warrant Officer Dawson Van Manen, 27, was convicted April 29 on charges including rape and abusive sexual contact involving two women, according to the Army Office of Special Trial Counsel. He was formerly assigned to the 1st Aviation Brigade at Fort Rucker, Alabama.

Prosecutors said Van Manen in August 2024 used the alias “2nd Lt. David Johnson” on the dating app Bumble before meeting one of the women at a hotel where Army prosecutors said he raped her.

After the assault, the woman underwent a rape kit at a local hospital. The nurse later testified that the victim’s swelling and injuries were the worst she had seen professionally.

The perpetrator’s estranged wife came forward shortly after the first victim’s report and told the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division that Van Manen had abused her for years. In December 2023, he violently raped her, she said, after she rejected his request for sex.

After the rebuff, Van Manen told his wife he wanted to cut her up and have sex with her corpse before he tied her up and covered her mouth with duct tape.

He then videotaped himself raping her.

Van Manen was apprehended by military law enforcement on Aug. 29, 2024. In 2025, he left Fort Rucker to meet with a woman who was not his spouse, disobeying his commander’s orders to remain on post at Fort Rucker while under investigation. Van Manen was also caught possessing and using anabolic steroids, a charge on which he was later convicted.

He will serve his sentence in the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and upon release, will be required to register as a sex offender.

Maj. Morghan Beaudoin, a prosecutor for the Army Office of Special Trial Counsel, praised the victims for their bravery in coming forward.

“As a prosecutor, I am continually inspired by the bravery of every victim who comes forward to identify their abusers, especially these two women who exemplified remarkable fortitude throughout this process,” Beaudoin said.

Investigators are looking for other women Van Manen may have met and assaulted under his alias. Army authorities ask that anyone with additional information can reach out using the criminal investigation tipline.

Although details of the units affected by the order have not been confirmed, the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment — the only permanent brigade combat team in Germany — based at Rose Barracks in Vilseck is expected to go.

“The consequences would be dramatic,” said the town’s new mayor, Thorsten Graedler, who took office this week facing the prospect of thousands of job losses in a rural area where the base is one of the biggest employers for miles around.

Over the years, he said, the presence of the base, with its thousands of well‑paying jobs for local people and steady stream of customers for local businesses, had produced a situation of dependence whose risks were now being felt.

“Our entire town of Vilseck relies largely on the military training area for its livelihood — pubs, restaurants, garages, supermarkets,” he said.

U.S. wants Europe to spend more on defense

The decision to withdraw troops came amid increasing pressure from Washington on European countries to raise defense spending, and accusations that reliance on U.S. forces had allowed them to neglect their own militaries.

During Trump’s first term there was already talk of withdrawing the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, a brigade‑sized combat formation built around Stryker wheeled armored vehicles, but the plans were reversed under former President Joe Biden.

“It’s important to say that it hasn’t been officially confirmed yet that the Strykers will actually be withdrawn. So I haven’t given up hope yet,” Graedler said.

The government in Berlin, which has sharply increased spending to rebuild the German military after years of underinvestment, said the announcement of a troop withdrawal came as little surprise.

But beyond the economic effects, the cultural shock from the news would be profound for a town whose 6,500 inhabitants are outnumbered by U.S. personnel and their families.

Although numbers have declined since the height of the Cold War — when as many as 250,000 U.S. troops, as well as tens of thousands of civilian staff, were deployed to face off against the Soviet Union — their presence was an enduring reality for generations of West Germans.

By the time the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, 60% of all U.S. overseas bases were in Germany, with hundreds of other sites, most in southwestern towns like Vilseck. Many were ‘little Americas’ with their own on‑base housing, stores and facilities, but their presence left a deep mark on local communities.

“I’ve never known Vilseck any other way than living side by side with the Americans,” Graedler said.

Many U.S. soldiers enjoy life in Germany

Only around 35,000 American troops now remain in Germany, the largest U.S. contingent in Europe. But even today, soldiers and their families leave a visible mark on Vilseck and nearby areas, eating at steak restaurants, shopping in local supermarkets and joining local sports and car clubs.

“I’ve been here since 2022, so about four years now. And there’s nothing to dislike about Germany,” said 31‑year‑old culinary sergeant Robert Moore, who lives about 20km north of Vilseck. He said people were friendly and respectful and “it’s very, very safe”.

Many in Vilseck said there would be an emotional sense of loss if the Americans left.

“When the Strykers arrived, we were worried they’d be a bunch of roughnecks, but they’re actually really nice,” said 66‑year‑old Albin Merkl, a pensioner who rents apartments to U.S. personnel.

“We’ve always done good business with the Americans,” he said, adding that trains to nearby Nuremberg were filled in the evenings with younger soldiers heading out for off‑duty entertainment.

Vilseck resident Judith Georgiadis, 63, who worked in base administration for 17 years, said life grew quieter following the drawdown of U.S. forces after the Cold War.

“Back in the eighties, life here was brilliant. There was a lively nightlife, with bars and pubs,” she said. With the latest news, many were apprehensive. “People who work for the Americans are afraid. There is a lot of worry.”

“The city government should have taken action long ago to address our dependence on the Americans. When you’re young, you either work for the Americans or leave,” she said.

Local businesses that provide services to the base are also exposed.

“A lot of us here — business people, I mean — built our businesses around 100% American clients,” said 64‑year‑old Robert Grassick, whose company, Vilseck Military Auto Sales, sells cars to troops and their families.

For some older residents, however, the worry that the U.S. presence would eventually end is nothing new.

“Having grown up here, I can say it’s always been a talking point: ‘They’re leaving and closing down,’” said 61‑year‑old Brenda Hutchinson, whose parents were among the many mixed couples produced by decades of close contact.

“It was already a talking point back when my father was in the army,” she said.

The C-UAS Close-In Kinetic Defeat Enhancement project focuses on aided target recognition, or AiTR. This uses concepts such as AI, machine learning and computer vision to create a system that can detect threats — and distinguish them from non-threats such as birds — faster than a human operator can.

The first phase of the project is aimed at remote weapons stations, and specifically the ubiquitous Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station, or CROWS, turrets fitted to a variety of military vehicles.

“The primary objective is to accelerate the engagement timeline, initially focusing on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), with a secondary focus on other threats like vehicular and man-sized targets,” explained the Defense Innovation Unit solicitation. The deadline is May 15.

Prototypes must “demonstrably improve” the ability of current remote weapons stations to detect, track and engage Groups 1 and 2 — targets with a weight of 55 pounds and under.

Detection should be at ranges greater than 600 meters, and engagement at a minimum of 100 meters. The system should be effective against drones moving at speeds of at least 30 meters per second, or 67 miles per hour, per the solicitation.

The second phase of the project seeks to boost C-UAS capabilities on “both moving and stationary platforms, including ground and maritime environments,” the solicitation said.

Specifications include the ability to hit a Group 1 drone — under 20 pounds — moving at 7 meters per second, or 16 miles per hour, at a range of 50 to 200 meters. Weapons should be able to engage targets while depressed to minus 10 degrees or elevated directly overhead to 90 degrees, the document stated.

This requires contractors to provide a prototype that can “be fired in land and maritime environments,” the solicitation says, “rather than just a laboratory setting at time of pitch.”

Most noteworthy, meanwhile, is the third phase of the project: adding aided target recognition to small arms carried by dismounted troops.

“Desired solutions include systems capable of deflecting or self-aiming standard-issue rounds to increase hit probability against manually selected, transient targets, while integrating networked sensor and small arms fire control systems,” DIU said.

The system must be capable of engaging drones moving at least 7 meters per second, and “must be adaptable to dismounted legacy small arms, scalable across calibers and configurations, and maintain baseline weapon performance in the event of system degradation or failure,” the document states. “A semi-automatic, live-fire capable prototype is required.”

The final phase of the project seeks to improve integration between sensors and weapons.

“A commercial wireless edge network architecture that bridges to military systems and the reverse is essential across all stages of this effort to manage data transfer from sensors and weapon/fire control systems,” the DIU wrote.

The U.S. military is beginning to embrace aided target recognition. The Army is already testing small UAVs equipped with AiTR to help infantry squads control drones.

But the Pentagon is also aware that AI and targeting is controversial.

The DIU project specifies that there must be a human in the loop. Solutions must strictly adhere to DOD’s AI Ethical Principles. Non-compliance “will result in immediate disqualification,” DIU warned.

Reps. Eugene Vindman, D-Va., and Pat Ryan, D-N.Y., both retired U.S. Army veterans and members of the House Armed Services Committee, are advancing a bill they dubbed the MISSION RX Act.

Their proposal is designed to allow Tricare beneficiaries and Department of Veterans Affairs patients to pay for prescription drugs at whichever is the lower of two prices: the rate negotiated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, or the cost offered through their existing coverage.

The bottom line, the congressmen say, is that anyone covered by Tricare or the VA would pay the lowest government-negotiated price.

Right now, only people enrolled in Medicare get to pay the rate for certain drugs set by the CMS.

This option does not automatically extend to those who are part of other federal health programs. The basic framework to lower drug costs for Medicare recipients was part of the Inflation Reduction Act, passed in 2022 under then-President Joe Biden.

“After serving 25 years in uniform, I know firsthand the sacrifices our service members, veterans and military families make every single day,” Vindman said in an exclusive statement to Military Times. “The last thing any of them should have to worry about is whether they can afford the prescription drugs they need.”

“The veterans and service members I represent in Virginia’s Seventh District have earned every benefit this nation can give them. That’s why I’m leading this commonsense effort to reduce the crushing cost of prescription drugs for those who have served and sacrificed,” he added.

Vindman and Ryan’s push faces an uncertain future in the House, where Republicans hold a slim majority. The bill has four co-sponsors so far, all of whom are Democrats: Reps. Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania, Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire, Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania and Bill Keating of Massachusetts.

It also has the support of a number of key organizations, including the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Marine Corps League, the Fleet Reserve Association, Air Force Sergeants Association and Commissioned Officers Association Public Health Service.

Before they entered Congress, Vindman and Ryan built their careers in the Army during the post-9/11 wars, each deploying to Iraq. Vindman began as a paratrooper and infantry officer, before going on to serve as a Judge Advocate General’s Corps attorney. Ryan, for his part, worked as an intelligence officer, earning two Bronze Star Medals.

“Military families have sacrificed so much for our country — it’s absolutely unacceptable that they’re being forced to pay more than other Americans for the same medication,” Ryan said in a statement.

“Our bill corrects this egregious oversight by ensuring that military families have access to the same lower drug prices that others do. Especially amid rising healthcare costs nationwide, leaving military families to bear the burden is simply un-American,” he continued. “They’ve stepped up and sacrificed for us — now we need to do right by them.”

The legislation, if enacted, would boost the savings for American taxpayers from lower drug costs. CMS already estimates that the original Biden-era measures could save $6 billion annually.

All but one of Maryland’s senators and representatives asked for more information about the extent of the damage caused by the leak and the measures taken to mitigate the contamination in a Tuesday letter to Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink.

“It is of the utmost importance that Joint Base Andrews fully assess and remediate any damage caused by this leak and take protective measures to prevent an incident like this from happening again in the future,” the letter states.

Lawmakers allege that the initial containment measures were insufficient and did not prevent contamination from spreading to Piscataway Creek during moderate rainfall.

Joint Base Andrews is roughly 8.6 miles from the creek, which flows into the Potomac River.

The letter alleges that there was a delay between when the base discovered the leak and when the state of Maryland was notified.

The Maryland Department of the Environment said the leak occurred between January and March 2026.

According to the letter, the base did not inform the state about the discharge until March 23, after fuel odors and a visible fuel sheen were observed in Piscataway Creek.

Of the 32,000 gallons leaked, only 10,000 gallons from January and February were contained, leaving 22,000 gallons of fuel released into the environment.

“The base failed to promptly disclose leaks as required by its state oil permit and did not report the full extent of the discharge until April 8, 2026,” the department said.

Former pollution from the base had already affected the surrounding environment, the lawmakers’ letter claims, adding that the leak could cause further ecological harm to the creek.

“Legacy pollution from Joint Base Andrews has already resulted in PFAS contamination in Piscataway Creek and the surrounding area, and this fuel spill adds to existing environmental stressors affecting the watershed,” the letter claims.

Lawmakers requested details such as when the leak was first detected, how the base measured the fuel loss amount, remediation strategies and how future updates will be communicated to the public and regulatory agencies.

The base said officials are responding to the leak and mitigation efforts are in place to contain the leak’s migration. The spill is still under investigation, according to a Wednesday release.

The base said it alerted federal and state agencies, deployed absorbent devices and environmental teams and installed protective measures, like harbor booms and underflow dams.

“Joint Base Andrews is committed to working closely with environmental authorities to ensure full compliance with federal regulations and to ensure all necessary actions are taken to achieve a timely and effective spill response and cleanup to protect human health and the environment,” the release said.

In a short statement, the Defense Commissary Agency said only that the change took effect Wednesday and applied to commissaries worldwide. Commissaries in states or localities that mandate bags fees would still have to comply with those laws.

“The policy, introduced on April 6, which required commissary patrons to pay for single-use plastic and paper bags, has been rescinded,” the statement reads.

In a separate statement, Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., a former Navy helicopter pilot, took credit for the reversal, saying the commissary agency’s decision followed months of advocacy.

Kiggans penned a letter to Anthony Tata, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, and she spoke about the issue directly with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after his testimony before the House Armed Services Committee last week, she said.

“I was deeply frustrated when DeCA announced it would impose a charge for paper and plastic bags — an added cost that complicates a benefit intended to support our service members, retirees and their families," Kiggans said in a statement. “I appreciate Secretary Hegseth for listening to my concerns and taking swift action to eliminate this fee.”

The policy required commissary customers to pay 5 cents each for plastic bags and 10 cents for paper bags.

Providing the single-use bags costs the commissary agency $17 million per year, spokesperson Keith Desbois said when the agency announced the policy in March.

The commissary agency receives about $1.5 billion per year in taxpayer dollars to operate these discounted grocery stores as a benefit for the military community.

The Defense Department’s goal is an overall savings of 25% compared to commercial stores outside the gate.

Military Times reporter Karen Jowers contributed to this story.

The April 24 directive, seen on Reddit and confirmed by the U.S. Navy, cites issues with amphibious ship readiness and operational availability as catalysts for removing naval aviators from their previous positions as commanding officers of specialized vessels that transport Marine Expeditionary Units.

“Given the challenges that reside with the amphibious fleet, the current major command construct underutilizes and fails to properly leverage the depth of mariner expertise resident in the SWO community,” the memo reads.

Starting in fiscal 2028, surface warfare officers will become the only officers authorized to command America-class and Wasp-class amphibious assault ships, San-Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ships, and Harpers Ferry-class and Whidbey Island-class dock landing ships.

The service said it has spent two years assessing the root causes of a dip in readiness for amphibious ships and that among the many improvements needed is time. The memo noted that it typically takes at least two years for an officer to begin to possesses the “exquisite knowledge” of an amphibious ship’s operational and maintenance procedures.

A defense official told Military Times in August 2025 that the readiness rate of amphibious ships had dropped to 41% despite the Marine Corps previously stating that the amphibious readiness rate needed to remain at 80% or higher to complete missions.

Corps overhauls reconnaissance pipeline to better prepare Marines

The vice chief of naval operations, chief of naval personnel and naval reactors and lead surface type commander will help restructure amphibious major command by developing a timeline for the process to be completed and assessing any necessary changes to surface warfare officer billet structure.

The lead aviation type command will create a plan to shift command to SWOs and produce a review of how the change might affect the aviation community, providing potential solutions to any problems that may arise.

The Navy will leverage surface warfare officers’ career-long technical knowledge of amphibious operations and maintenance nuances to improve amphibious ship availability, according to Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle, who provided an emailed statement to Military Times.

“This change enables commanding officers to stay in place longer in order to provide more command stability, focused oversight, and solution ownership required to drive measurable performance,” Caudle said.

Importantly, the Navy aviation community will experience no loss in major command opportunities, the CNO stressed, with the service reviewing the community’s “career pipelines to improve major command quality of assignment.”

Naval aviators will still be allowed to command aircraft carriers and submarine tenders, if nuclear trained, as well as expeditionary sea bases and amphibious command ships, the memo said.

The Navy holds an inventory of 32 amphibious warfare ships, but half of the fleet is in substandard condition and poorly maintained, according to a 2024 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

Amphibious ships were at the forefront of discussion last week at the Modern Day Marine exposition in Washington.

Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith both exalted the capabilities of the amphibious fleet while decrying the readiness issue that has plagued the ships.

Smith said the Marine Corps was attempting to mitigate the problem by optimizing maintenance schedules, buying new ships and investing in service life extensions, especially as U.S. combatant chiefs were requesting the support of more amphibious ready groups.

U.S. Central Command military forces observed the M/T Hasna transiting in the direction of the Gulf of Oman and issued multiple warnings before taking action, according to a U.S. Central Command post.

“After Hasna’s crew failed to comply with repeated warnings, U.S. forces disabled the tanker’s rudder by firing several rounds from the 20mm cannon gun of a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet launched from USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72),” the post read.

The U.S. Navy instituted a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz on April 12 after President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that the U.S. would intercept vessels attempting to enter or exit Iranian ports.

U.S. Central Command began supporting Project Freedom on Monday, a military operation aimed at defending commercial shipping vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

On Monday, the U.S. destroyed six Iranian small boats, as well as cruise missiles and drones, that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched against ships the U.S. was escorting through the strait.

Despite the attack, the four-week-old ceasefire remains intact, according to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, who spoke to reporters on Tuesday in Washington.

Project Freedom, however, was short-lived.

President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social Tuesday that the operation was paused for a “short period of time” as the U.S. worked toward an agreement with Iran.

The U.S. and Iran are reportedly in talks to sign a memorandum that will end the war, as of Wednesday.

There is currently an armada of Navy warships, Army attack helicopters, Air Force fighter jets and 15,000 service members stationed around the Strait of Hormuz.

Fresh exchanges of fire on Monday underscored the stakes as the U.S. and Iran struggle for control of the narrow waterway, a vital artery for global energy and trade, shaking a fragile four-week-old truce and reinforcing rival maritime blockades.

“The reason why we must make a renewed effort today is simply that the blockade of Hormuz continues, the damage to the world’s economy is therefore becoming more and more pronounced, and the risk of a prolongation of hostilities is too serious for us to accept it,” a French presidency official told reporters in a briefing after the army announced the strike group’s deployment.

Franco-British proposal in planning

France and Britain have been working on a proposal for several weeks that aims to lay the groundwork for safe transit through the Strait once the situation stabilises or the conflict is resolved. It would need coordination with Iran and a dozen countries have indicated a willingness to take part in the mission following several preparatory meetings.

The French army said in a statement that the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier group, which is accompanied by an Italian and Dutch warship, was en route to the southern Red Sea.

The deployment aims to assess the regional operational environment, expand crisis‑management options to strengthen security, enable the integration of partner countries’ assets within a defensive framework consistent with international law, and help reassure maritime trade stakeholders, the military said.

“What we are proposing is that Iran gains passage for its ships through the Strait and in return commits to negotiating with the Americans on issues of nuclear materials, missiles, and the region, and we propose that the Americans, for their part, lift their blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and, in return, obtain Iran’s commitment to negotiations,” the French presidency official said.

“Under these conditions we could deploy the multinational force to secure the convoys crossing the Strait of Hormuz and this obviously requires that the Iranians not fire on the ships.”

Hormuz is Iranian leverage

It was not clear why Iran would consider such a proposal given its control over the Strait has been a key element of leverage in its discussions with Washington to end the war.

“We collectively want to send the signal that not only are we ready to secure the Strait of Hormuz, but that we are also capable of doing so,” the French official said.

“The question now will be to obtain Iranian consent, American consent.”

European states have been largely onlookers in the conflict between the U.S., Israel and Iran, but with shipping lanes in the Middle East impacted and the price of oil fluctuating around $100 a barrel, ​European powers are grappling with the issue of how to defend their interests.

Their refusal to support U.S. President Donald Trump’s blockade has drawn sharp criticism from Trump against countries he accused of failing to align with U.S.-led efforts and the move to send assets to the region may be a way to assuage those concerns.

The Commercial Engine Replacement Program will swap the bomber’s eight Pratt & Whitney TF33 turbofans for Rolls-Royce F130 engines on each of the 76 B-52Hs in the active fleet.

As the original TF33s from the early 1960s continue to wear down and spare parts become increasingly scarce, the Air Force says the engines will be “unsustainable” beyond 2030. The new engines offer better fuel efficiency, longer range, lower sustainment costs and additional electrical power for modern weapons and sensors.

The Air Force launched CERP in 2018 and selected the F130 in 2021 after a three-way competition that also included GE Aviation and Pratt & Whitney.

The F130, built in Indianapolis, is derived from Rolls-Royce’s BR725, the engine that powers the Gulfstream G650 business jet and has accumulated more than one million flying hours since entering service in 2012.

The upgrade underpins the Air Force’s plan to shrink its bomber force to two types, the B-52J and the B-21 Raider, with the B-1B Lancer and B-2 Spirit retiring as B-21 deliveries ramp up.

The B-52, a key part of the U.S. nuclear triad’s air leg, is expected to fly into the 2050s, which would push some individual airframes toward 100 years of service.

“This CERP critical design review is the culmination of an enormous amount of engineering and integration work from Boeing, Rolls Royce, and the Air Force that will enable the B-52J to remain in the fight for future generations,” Lt. Col. Tim Cleaver, the program manager within the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s Bombers Directorate, said in the release. “It’s that point that you go from having a concept turned into a design, to then turning that design into something physical.”

Boeing, the integration prime contractor, will perform the modification work at its San Antonio facility, the release said.

“CDR is a milestone that showcases the kinds of complex systems engineering, propulsion integration, structural analysis and electrical architecture challenges our teams get to dive into every day,” Jamie Burgess, vice president and general manager of Boeing Mobility, Surveillance & Bombers, said in a statement. The work, he said, “puts us one step closer to modifying the first two B-52H aircraft into the B-52J configuration in San Antonio later this year.”

The milestone arrives years behind the original schedule.

The CDR was originally scheduled to occur three years earlier, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center confirmed to The War Zone. Integration work on the first aircraft is now set to begin in fiscal 2027, with modification of the second aircraft starting in fiscal 2028. Ground and flight testing follow in fiscal 2029. The Air Force is targeting fiscal 2033 for initial operational capability, three years later than originally planned.

The Pentagon awarded Boeing a contract worth more than $2 billion in December 2025 to finish integration work and to modify and test the first two aircraft. The total program is now expected to cost roughly $15 billion, and the Defense Department inspector general estimates that a dozen B-52 modernization programs combined will run $48.6 billion.

A 2023 Director of Operational Test and Evaluation report warned that the program’s buying strategy carries significant risk.

Two of the 76 B-52s will serve as test aircraft. The Air Force plans to award low-rate production contracts for 51 of the remaining 74 before operational testing finishes in fiscal 2032. That concurrency could make problems discovered late in testing considerably more expensive to fix.

The engine swap is only part of the B-52’s enduring story. The BUFF also gets new generators, modernized subsystems and a new radar under a separate program already in testing at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

Fleet readiness has slipped in recent years: the B-52’s mission capable rate fell from 59% in 2021 to 54% in fiscal 2024, according to Air Force data analyzed by Defense News. The engine swap and broader B-52J upgrades are expected to reverse that trend.

Born on Aug. 5, 1895, William Sawelson was a Jewish resident of Newark, New Jersey, when the United States declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917. He enlisted in Harrison, New Jersey, and after training he was assigned to Company M, 312th Infantry Regiment, 78th Division, serving as the company’s supply sergeant.

A Reserve unit made up of Jerseyans filled out with New Yorkers and Pennsylvanians, the 78th was initially dubbed the “President’s Own” because President Woodrow Wilson had been New Jersey’s governor, but the unit was later renamed the “Lightning Division” and adopted a red shoulder patch with a white lightning bolt as its insignia.

Landing in France in June 1918, the 78th Division initially lent its engineer units to support operations, in particular the 303rd Engineer Regiment. While it prepared for its turn at the front, the American Expeditionary Forces crushed the German Armee-Abteilung C around St. Mihiel between Sept. 12 and 18 with relative ease.

On Sept. 26, a reinforced AEF set off confidently to deal with Gen. Georg von der Marwitz’s V. Armee in the Meuse-Argonne sector — and ran into one brick wall after another.

In contrast to their defenses at St. Mihiel — caught in the midst of their retreat — the Germans in the Argonne had dug in behind three lines of fortifications. What followed was the largest and bloodiest campaign fought by the U.S. Armed Forces, as one division after another suffered high casualties until a newly arrived replacement took its place along the Western Front. It was in this crucible that Supply Sgt. Sawelson had his moment of truth.

In late October, the 78th phased its infantry units into the front lines to relieve the battered 77th Division. In so doing, it took up where its predecessor left off, advancing on the rail head and logistical hub at Grandpré. Thus far the AEF had conducted its agonizing advance in phases: from Sept. 26 to Oct. 4 and Oct. 4 to the 28th.

On Oct. 26, however, Sawelson and fellow 78th Division troops came into premature contact with the enemy, who were hardly about to follow the Americans’ agenda. Driven to ground under a hail of machine gun fire, they could do little until extra support came up. Sawelson’s actions were cited afterward:

“Hearing a wounded man in a shell hole, some distance away calling for water, Sgt. Sawelson, upon his own initiative, left shelter and crawled through heavy machine gun fire to where the man lay, giving him what water he had in his canteen. He then went back to his own shell hole, obtained more water and was returning to the wounded man when he was killed by a machine gun bullet.”

Sawelson’s sacrifice made an impression on the 78th. At a time when the AEF was reluctant to recognize the deeds of Jewish soldiers, Sawelson’s officers and comrades-in-arms were startlingly swift in recommending him for the highest American honor and on Jan. 22, 1919, his father, Jacob L. Sawelson, was awarded his posthumous Medal of Honor.

Buried at Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial east of the village of Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, Sawelson was one of nine Americans slain in the battle for Grandpré.

The command, expected to be formally established in October 2026, will oversee units involved in high-risk operations like counterterrorism missions, drug interdictions and port security, the Coast Guard announced on Wednesday.

The service said the move is intended to better coordinate the service’s special response forces, which include teams that board ships, respond to national disasters and deploy alongside military and law enforcement partners.

It will include maritime security response teams, tactical law enforcement teams, maritime safety and security teams, port security teams, regional dive lockers and the national strike force, which helps the joint force and other agencies prepare for and respond to complicated crises.

The command, which will be headquartered in Kearneysville, West Virginia, may incorporate other units in the future.

“The geo-political landscape is evolving and the demand for Coast Guard Deployable Specialized Forces is at an all-time high,” said Capt. Robert Berry, the lead officer for the Special Missions Command transition.

“These forces are instrumental to the Coast Guard’s readiness and its role as a global leader in maritime contingency response,” he said. “The service has always turned to its specialized forces to respond to national threats and disasters, and establishing this command is the natural next step to enabling our forces to lead the way at the tip of the spear.”

The uncrewed vessels, built by Saildrone, are being deployed as part of a contract with the Coast Guard aimed at improving maritime domain awareness in a region that spans over 90,000 square miles of water and connects to international shipping routes.

Saildrone designs and operates long-endurance unmanned surface vehicles that use wind propulsion and solar energy to sail for months at a time while collecting real-time data.

Each drone is furnished with radar and optical sensors, along with collision-avoidance technology. The USVs use a hybrid-electric propulsion system as their primary power source, with wind propulsion provided by the Saildrone Wing and solar energy that powers batteries.

The systems are also monitored by human operators, who can intervene in situations if needed.

Saildrone’s USVs are designed to support missions ranging from detecting illegal activity and gathering environmental data to preparing for emergency response and protecting maritime borders.

The deployment reflects a broader Coast Guard effort to integrate autonomous systems into maritime domain awareness.

The service’s Robotics and Autonomous Systems Program Executive Office effort is a relatively new acquisition initiative, as of summer 2025, created to accelerate the fielding of unmanned and autonomous capabilities across the service.

The RAS PEO is meant to shift robotics and autonomous systems from one-off demonstrations into everyday use across all Coast Guard missions. The Great Lakes Saildrone deployment reflects that shift in practice, pairing commercially developed USVs with Coast Guard mission requirements.

According to the Coast Guard’s Unmanned Systems Strategic Plan, autonomous systems are intended to supplement, not replace, crewed vessels.

“UxS cannot perform missions alone,” the plan states, “but they can help preserve our personnel readiness until exactly the moment when a Coast Guardsman is needed.”

While officials say that extra $2.1 billion will allow the Army to “keep a technological advantage,” congressional leaders have expressed concern that it could come at the expense of accountability.

During the Army’s congressional budget hearing, Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., the ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, noted that while R&D spending is increasing, funding for financial management and audit readiness is declining.

McCollum said that although much of the budget is aimed at “applications, infrastructure, data and transport,” it provides less detail on how those investments will be tracked. She added that the number of budget lines dedicated to auditing has been reduced from 41 to four.

“It has an unintended consequence when you compress these activities to make it easier for the Army to move funds without keeping Congress involved,” she said. “We might have a discussion about what you’re going to do, but without the lines, we don’t have the accountability for both of us.”

While the accountability concerns are clear, they also raise a practical question: where will the R&D money go?

According to the Army’s budget highlights, R&D spending will increase from $16.6 billion in 2026 to $18.7 billion in 2027. Of that, $2.9 billion will be set aside for a general science and technology fund, which officials say will be “dedicated to developing the next-generation systems and platforms that will support the Army of 2040 and beyond.”

The budget highlights also include a variety of procurement items, such as loitering munitions, Infantry Squad Vehicles, Next Generation Squad Weapons (with ammunition) and advanced night vision goggles.

Other specific investments include:

• $904 million for Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2), an initiative to modernize the Army’s communications and networking technologies. Last year, Anduril Industries developed a prototype for $99.6 million. The finished system integrates technologies from a range of industry partners, including Palantir and Microsoft, to support real-time decision-making. The proposed R&D funding would be used to deliver the system at scale.
• $2.1 billion for the MV-75 Cheyenne II tiltrotor aircraft, which the Army describes as “a revolutionary platform” capable of providing the speed and range needed for future conflicts. Introduced last year, the aircraft is intended to supplement — and eventually replace — the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk, which has been in service for more than 50 years.
• $474 million for Abrams M1E3 modernization, part of a yearslong effort to upgrade the Army’s main battle tank. In 2023, the Army announced plans to move beyond the M1A2 upgrade package and develop the M1E3, with fielding targeted for 2030. The modernized platform is expected to include a hybrid-electric drive, improved armor, advanced munitions and enhanced networking and artificial intelligence capabilities.
• $1.1 billion to transition the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD, from the Missile Defense Agency to Army control. The Army began developing the system in the early 1990s to intercept ballistic missiles inside or outside the atmosphere, and it became operational in the mid-2000s. According to the Congressional Research Service, the transition is intended to simplify “integration and oversight.”

In response to McCollum’s questions, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll acknowledged that the service has struggled in the past to manage taxpayer dollars effectively.

“We have a history of spending money in a way that didn’t defend taxpayers’ right for their dollars,” he said, adding that lengthy acquisition timelines often mean new systems are outdated by the time they are fielded.

He argued that the increased budget, and the flexibility that comes with it, is necessary to keep pace with rapid technological change.

“The purpose, from our perspective, for something like the Next Gen C2 is the speed of innovation requires us to shift dollars between back end systems,” he said. “The speed of these innovations doesn’t allow us to stay as predetermined where the dollar will go.”

In the end, Driscoll suggested that technology — specifically, the Army’s Vantage dashboard by Palantir — might be the compromise they need because it “basically gives us a lot more visibility into where the dollars are going and [gives] your team access to run their own reports.”

But McCollum still wanted the audit, saying that budget discussions “needs to be a two-way conversation.”

As first reported by Stars and Stripes, Army and Air Force budget request breakdowns describe increases to the extra pays earned by troops in harm’s way. Service members can earn either hostile fire pay or imminent danger pay, but not both. The payments are based on location and are calculated by the day — $7.50 per day up to a maximum of $225 per month.

Documents explaining the Air Force budget request describe allocations for “increases for military special and incentive pay, including hostile fire/imminent danger pay.”

While the service does not further detail the increase within budget justification documents, it does add that the Pentagon has “increased Hostile Fire Pay and Imminent Danger Pay rates to the maximum statutory threshold,” effective as of the start of Fiscal Year 2027.

According to U.S. Code, that maximum for those in hostile fire areas is $450 per month — double the current ceiling of $225.

The Army, in its documentation, describes hostile fire or imminent danger pay that “may not exceed $450 per month.”

A Pentagon official, who asked not to be named, said the Department of Defense had yet to commit to increasing pays for hazardous duties.

“The department continuously evaluates its policies to ensure that they are advancing its mission,” the official told Military Times. “At this time, no decision has been made to increase the current rates for hostile fire event or imminent danger pay.”

Meanwhile, a review commissioned through the last defense budget may result in the designation of even more regions as eligible for the stipend soon.

The Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, signed into law last December, mandated a review of the list of areas eligible for danger pay, as maintained by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service.

At the time, the last updates to the list were made in 2023, when the Bab-al-Mandeb Strait, Gaza Strip, Gulf of Aden, Red Sea and Ukraine were added.

The NDAA called for a 60-day review to begin no later than March 1, and began, for the first time, a routine review process that will consider the global conflict landscape every five years, beginning in 2031.

The current DFAS list includes 59 locations, some of them permanent and others provisional.

On Feb. 28, the list was updated to add 19 new regions, all of them connected to Operation Epic Fury, the U.S. campaign against the Iranian regime.

An appended note states that all these locations, from Diego Garcia to the Arabian Gulf, will keep their imminent danger designation until the end of the third month following the conclusion of the conflict. The designation could also extend to any follow-on operations directed by the president.

These additions do not appear to be linked to the NDAA-mandated review, however. Defense officials did not provide an update on that effort.

The guarantee comes a day after U.S. Naval Forces Central Command issued a security warning regarding maritime explosive devices to vessels passing through the strait.

“Transit via or in close proximity to the traffic separation scheme should be considered extremely hazardous due the presence of mines that have not been fully surveyed and mitigated,” a memo with the warning read.

The U.S. instructed vessels to travel through an enhanced security area south of the traffic separation scheme in Oman territorial waters and coordinate with Oman authorities to ensure safe passage amid anticipated heavy traffic.

The traffic separation scheme refers to two lanes in the Strait of Hormuz that were previously deemed safe.

“Any follow-on effort if there are mines identified, would be something that some of our units could undertake or the world could undertake,” Hegseth said. “But right now we know we have a lane of safe passage that commercial shipping can flow through.”

Iranian naval mines have proven a constant threat throughout the Iran war.

Minesweeping technology in the Middle East is ‘a very good package,’ Caudle says

While the U.S. military has destroyed a number of Iran’s mine-laying boats and storage bunkers for naval mines, the country has been previously assessed to have a stockpile of around 6,000 as recently as 2025, according to Congress.

CENTCOM announced April 11 that it had began “setting conditions for clearing mines” with the assistance of Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Frank E. Peterson and USS Michael Murphy.

The U.S. Navy currently has several options to identify and neutralize mines, including Avenger-class minesweepers and lndependence-class littoral combat ships with a mine countermeasures mission package.

The Navy retired all four minesweepers home-ported in Bahrain, the only in the Middle East, in 2025.

The remaining four Avenger-class minesweepers are home-ported in Japan, with two on their way toward the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility as of April 20, according to Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle, who confirmed the transport to reporters at the 2026 Sea-Air-Space exposition.

All three of the LCS with the MCM mission package are home-ported in Bahrain, but two of them — the USS Santa Barbara and USS Tulsa — left the CENTCOM area of responsibility and arrived in Singapore for scheduled maintenance in March.

U.S. Central Command began supporting Project Freedom on Monday, a military operation aiming to shepherd commercial shipping vessels attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

The U.S. Navy instituted a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz on April 12 after President Trump announced on Truth Social that the U.S. would intercept vessels that paid a toll to Iran for passage and begin destroying mines.

The nearly four-week-old ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran remains in effect, despite an exchange of artillery fire that saw the U.S. military destroy six Iranian small boats, as well as cruise missiles and drones.