The force’s Experimental Operations Unit conducted hands-on testing with Anduril’s YFQ-44A aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base, California, in an effort to utilize “principles of the new Warfighting Acquisition System,” according to a Thursday Air Force release.

Previously, the concept employed by the force was fully human-piloted drones, and now, “there is no operator with a stick and throttle flying the aircraft behind the scenes,” Jason Levin, Anduril’s senior vice president of engineering for air dominance and strike, said in an October 2025 company release.

The testing took place sometime last week, according to a Thursday Anduril social media post written by vice president of autonomous airpower Mark Shushnar.

Shushnar said in the post that the EOU gained experience launching, recovering and turning the aircraft during the exercise, and it conducted the pre- and post-flight checks and clearances, weapons loading and unloading and direct tasking of the air vehicle during taxi and flight.

The EOU operators used a ruggedized laptop to upload mission plans, initiate autonomous taxi and takeoff, task the in-flight aircraft and manage post-flight data, Shushnar said, taking out the previous need for fixed infrastructure of a large, established base.

Shushnar highlighted how the YFQ-44A is designed to be easy to maintain with a small crew compared to traditional unmanned aerial vehicles. The exercise demonstrated that, he said. With only a couple days of training, a handful of EOU maintainers were able to turn the aircraft between sorties.

The exercise showcases a move toward “operator-driver experimentation” to find ways to speed up the capability process, per the Air Force’s release.

“By embedding the operators from the EOU with our acquisition professionals, we create a tight feedback loop that lets us trade operational risk with acquisition risk in real-time,” Col. Timothy Helfrich, portfolio acquisition executive for fighters and advanced aircraft, said in the release.

From beginning to end, the exercise was executed by EOU airmen, working alongside Air Force Material Command’s 412th Test Wing, to polish procedures for deploying and sustaining CCA, a trailblazer for the Warfighting Acquisition System, in contested environments, the announcement says.

The release recognized that the EOU’s main objective is to place operators at the center of this process to ensure that the CCA is workable for future conflict by “embedding the warfighter’s voice as the driving force from the beginning.”

The Air Force announced in April 2024 that Anduril and General Automatics were selected to design and create this first batch of drone wingmen. Anduril began flight testing in October 2025 and announced the production for the YFQ-44A Fury CCA in March 2026.

General Automatics announced that their ground testing began May 2025.

Although it is not yet clear how many YFQ-44As the Air Force has ordered from the defense companies, the service has noted they want a fleet of at least 1,000 CCAs for tasks, such as conducting strike missions, carrying out operations and flying alongside manned aircraft, like the F-22, F-35 and F-47 fighter jets.

Despite Anduril and General Automatics both developing aircraft for the Air Force’s CCA program, the service may choose to move forward into the production phase with only one. The Air Force is expected to make that decision sometime this year.

The new LSM is based on the Damen Shipyards Group’s Landing Ship Transport 100, or LST-100, design, which has a range of 3,400 nautical miles and can beach itself to deliver over 800 tons of cargo such as vehicles, embarked forces and long range fire assets, according to the video.

The ship, measuring roughly 100 meters, is also equipped with a flight deck that can support operations with unmanned aerial systems.

The Marine Corps framed the McClung-class ship as a supplemental asset within the broader fleet, capable of support operations across chains of islands or contested coastal areas, where smaller vessels can move more easily than larger ships.

“Crucially, the LST-100 is not a traditional amphibious warfare ship designed for large-scale assault,” the video stated, adding, “it is a complementary asset providing the essential intratheater logistics and maneuver that enable our larger amphibious fleet to do its job.”

The emphasis on more mobile platforms also comes as the Navy struggles with readiness challenges among its amphibious warfare fleet. A 2025 report found that readiness rates had dropped below necessary levels as maintenance delays and degraded ship conditions reduced the number of ships available for use.

The video nodded to tensions and competition in the littorals of the Indo-Pacific region, where the U.S. has increasingly focused on countering China’s expanding military presence.

The ships, the Marine Corps said, help the force establish a forward presence by getting troops, weapons and supplies on land to land and serve as part of a larger “sea denial strategy.”

From those land bases, American forces can control critical terrain and strike adversarial ships, the service said, to establish deterrence.

Navy leaders in December 2025 approved the ship’s design as part of a wider effort to revamp the Navy’s fleet.

The LSM, the video said, supports the “Golden Fleet” initiative, a concept coined by the Trump administration that centers on massive “Trump-class” battleships that the president announced in December of last year.

The concept, meanwhile, has drawn criticism. Chinese analysts have described the proposed battleships as potential easier targets for anti-ship weapons, and a recent analysis from the Center for Strategic and International Studies questioned the viability of such an idea, citing cost and long development timelines.

The carrier is currently at Naval Support Activity Portsmouth, Virginia, after arriving at Norfolk Naval Shipyard on Jan. 8 to begin planned incremental availability following a nine-month deployment.

“Eight sailors were treated by ship’s medical and returned to full duty,” a Navy spokesperson told Military Times in an emailed statement.

The small fire that occurred was immediately contained, the spokesperson said, and extinguished by ship and shipyard personnel.

The Navy did not specify the cause of the fire.

The Eisenhower “remains on track” to complete its planned maintenance availability and return to the sea, according to the Navy.

Sailors aboard USS Gerald R. Ford reportedly lost their beds amid fire

The maintenance period is focused on providing technical updates and work on the carrier’s propulsion systems and combat systems, among other areas, to ensure “long-term mission readiness,” a Navy release said.

Before being sidelined, the Eisenhower deployed in October 2023 to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations and returned in July 2024.

The carrier, which included 4,000 people, as well as its strike group, battled Iran-backed Houthi drones during its time at sea and participated in Operation Prosperity Guardian, which saw the U.S. military defend commercial vessels in the Red Sea from Houthi attacks.

When the Eisenhower waded into Middle East waters in 2023, it was the first time a carrier had done so since 2021, when the Afghanistan war ended.

The fire aboard the Eisenhower was the second the U.S. Navy has dealt with aboard aircraft carriers in about a month. The USS Gerald R. Ford experienced what the Navy said was a non-combat related fire March 12 in the main laundry room that was so bad the carrier was forced to travel to Split, Croatia, for repairs.

The fire damaged 100 sleeping berths and injured three sailors.

The Ford, which was in the Red Sea in support of Operation Epic Fury when the fire occurred, returned to the Mediterranean Sea after a five-day port call in Croatia.

The letter, sent April 1 to the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Appropriations committees and their defense subcommittees, calls on Congress to legislate multiyear procurement of F-35A Lightning IIs and F-15EX Eagle IIs at a baseline of 48 F-35As and 24 F-15EXs per year, with a desired end state of 72 F-35As and 36 F-15EXs, totaling 108 aircraft annually.

“The United States Air Force is the oldest, the smallest and the least ready in its 78-year history,” the letter states. “We must build a fighting force that will win.”

The letter, which was first reported by Air & Space Forces Magazine, marks the first time the Adjutants General Association of the United States has collected signatures from all 22 adjutants general commanding states with Guard fighter units.

Even at 100 new fighters per year, full recapitalization of the total force could still take 10 to 15 years given the existing backlog of legacy aircraft.

“When all 22 adjutants general with fighter missions speak with one voice, it’s not advocacy, it’s operational feedback from the commanders generating combat airpower every day,” Maj. Gen. Mark R. Morrell, adjutant general of the South Dakota National Guard, said in an emailed statement.

“It signals to Congress that this is not a regional or parochial concern, but a clear, consistent demand signal from the field that the fighter recapitalization gap is real, growing and must be addressed.”

The Air Force requested 48 F-35As in fiscal 2024, 42 in fiscal 2025, 24 in fiscal 2026 and 38 in fiscal 2027. For the F-15EX, it sought 24, 18, 21 and 24 over the same years, respectively, according to budget documents.

The fiscal 2027 request totals 62 combined, still below the 72-aircraft threshold the Air Force has long said is needed just to prevent the fleet from shrinking. The last time the service acquired more than 72 fighters in a single year was 1998.

The readiness cost of that shortfall is already visible at the unit level, the generals said.

“Our airmen are doing a heroic job keeping these 40-year-old airframes in the air, but they are paying the price for decades of deferred modernization,” Brig. Gen. Shannon Smith, commander of the Idaho Air National Guard, told Military Times.

“In the interim, we are enduring risk by asking exceedingly more from our maintenance professionals, cannibalizing parts from already broken aircraft to keep others flying, and by our pilots losing their critical warfighting edge because they cannot get enough flight hours in mission-capable jets.”

Of the Air Guard’s 24 fighter squadrons, 13 currently lack a recapitalization plan commensurate with the 2026 National Defense Strategy, according to NGAUS.

The August 2025 Department of the Air Force Long-Term USAF Fighter Force Structure Report to Congress independently confirmed the need, identifying all 24 ANG fighter squadrons as required to meet the objective force of 1,369 combat-coded total aircraft needed for acceptable military risk.

The letter draws a sharp line on how that modernization must be structured.

“Cascading legacy aircraft does not recapitalize the force, it redistributes risk,” Maj. Gen. Timothy J. Donnellan, adjutant general of the Idaho National Guard, said in an emailed statement.

“Operationally, it will result in reduced survivability in contested environments, higher maintenance burdens and lower aircraft availability rates. For Guard units, it creates a structural mismatch — the Guard is an operationally ready force expected to meet the same combatant commander demands but with less capable and less reliable aircraft. To meet the 2026 National Defense Strategy the USAF must field a fighting force indistinguishable in lethality and survivability across all components, active, guard and reserve.”

With the fiscal 2027 budget request falling 10 fighters short of even the minimum threshold, the generals have a direct message for appropriators.

“Funding below 72 aircraft per year means the Air Force is not even sustaining current fighter capacity,” Smith said. “It’s actively shrinking.

“If the requirement is to meet the National Defense Strategy, then in our best military advice, 72 aircraft per year is the absolute minimum to hold the line. Anything less means accepting greater risk.”

The National Guard Association of the United States has listed ANG fighter recapitalization as a top legislative priority for fiscal 2027 defense deliberations.

The Air Force had a goal of enlisting 32,750 active-duty airmen, and the Space Force set an enlisted goal of 730 new recruits, according to a fiscal 2026 Air Force Accessions Center recruiting snapshot.

“Recruiting success like this reflects the mission of the Air Force Accessions Center, which integrates recruiting and officer accession programs to attract and develop the next generation of Airmen and Guardians,” the Facebook post reads.

In a Wednesday social media post, the Air Force said “mission accomplished” in reference to the met goal and highlighted the force’s Delayed Entry Program, which serves as a waiting list of signed up recruits that are approved to join the military but need to wait for space in Basic Military Training.

In 2025, the Air Force had its strongest Delayed Entry Program numbers in the past decade, with over 14,000 recruits, per a June 2025 Air Force release.

“With our Delayed Entry Program at its largest level in a decade, the future of our force is secure and ready,” the service’s social media post reads.

With fiscal 2026 beginning in October 2025, the Department of Defense announced it met nearly 40% of its DEP accession goals already.

The military overall in fiscal 2025 met or exceeded their recruiting numbers following shortfalls in recent years due to a competitive job market and a smaller number of young Americans qualified for service.

At the Pentagon press briefing Thursday, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth commended the historic recruiting numbers and the Air and Space Force for meeting the recruitment goals ahead of schedule. He noted that the U.S. Army and Marine Corps will “soon do the same.”

Capt. J.W. “Doc” George, a U.S. Air Force A-1 Skyraider pilot, arrived at Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, as part of a CSAR replacement rotation from Bien Hoa, South Vietnam. When asked what callsign his flight would use, he suggested the one he used at Bien Hoa: “Sandy.”

The name stuck, was passed to his replacement and soon became the standard callsign for all A-1 Skyraiders flying CSAR missions protecting downed aircrews.

The Sandy role was later transferred to the faster LTV A-7D Corsair II in 1972 as the last Skyraiders were withdrawn from Southeast Asia. However, the A-7 struggled in the role due to its higher maneuvering speeds, which made it less effective for low-and-slow visual searches and close helicopter escort than the A-1.

In the late 1970s, the Corsair passed the CSAR baton to the A-10 Thunderbolt II Warthog, which offered excellent loiter time, survivability and firepower suited to the mission. The A-10 airframe and its pilots still carry the “Sandy” callsign today.

As the Air Force accelerates plans to retire the A-10 Thunderbolt II by fiscal year 2029, the service faces a growing set of unanswered questions about what replaces it in combat search and rescue, one of the military’s most specialized mission sets.

More than an analysis of replacement aircraft and their capabilities, the transition raises concerns about the pilots in the cockpit, who for nearly five decades have received specialized training in the combat search-and -rescue mission and built trust within the CSAR community. With congressional oversight and legislation underscoring concerns about CSAR operational readiness, and on the heels of a CSAR mission over Iran that brought two F-15E airmen home, the stakes of those unanswered questions have taken on a new sense of urgency.

Highly skilled Sandy pilots

In the past several decades, A-10s have assumed the Sandy role in CSAR operations in the Gulf War, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo and most recently in the April 3, 2026, operation that recovered two American F-15E Strike Eagle airmen from Iranian territory. One supporting A-10 sustained heavy battle damage during the mission; its pilot continued flying long enough to eject safely over Kuwait.

During an April 6, 2026, press conference detailing that mission, Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, described the role of a Sandy: “A Sandy has one mission: to get to the survivor, bring the rescue force forward, and put themselves between that survivor on the ground and the enemy,” Caine said. “They are committed to this. This is what they live for. And this is what they’ve trained for, for many, many years.”

The rescue mission that brought 2 F-15E Strike Eagle crew members home

Only the most experienced A-10 pilots are selected for Sandy qualification, which requires specialized training in CSAR tactics and procedures as part of a full CSAR task force, including HC-130 tankers and HH-60 helicopters.

This advanced training takes place primarily at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, home of the 357th Fighter Squadron, the Air Force’s formal A-10 training unit. Here, Sandy pilots participate in integrated exercises, local ranges and large-scale events like Angel Thunder, the Air Force’s largest and most comprehensive CSAR exercise. Additional operational integration takes place at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia.

In a typical four-ship A-10 Sandy CSAR formation, each aircraft has a specific role, according to USAF documents. Sandy 1 is the lead pilot, serving as the rescue mission commander and on-scene commander, responsible for overall command, survivor authentication and threat suppression. Sandy 2 provides cover and backup leadership. Sandy 3 and Sandy 4 focus on the escort mission, protecting the HH-60 rescue helicopters throughout.

For nearly five decades, the A-10 has proven ideally suited for the Sandy role.

Still, the Air Force is moving forward with plans to retire the A-10 by fiscal 2029. What replaces it in the Sandy role, and whether any other platform can replicate what the Warthog and A-10 Sandy-qualified pilots bring to the CSAR mission, are questions the service has not yet answered.

CSAR in a world without Warthogs

The Air Force has confirmed there is currently no formal or informal transition underway for the Sandy 1 rescue mission commander role — the on-scene command function of every CSAR operation — to any other specific airframe.

“Discussions are still ongoing regarding the use of multi-role platforms serving in the A-10’s Sandy 01 RMC role,” an Air Combat Command spokesperson said. The same applies to the Sandy 2, 3 and 4 escort roles, the spokesperson said.

The service’s stated transition strategy centers less on the aircraft and more on the expertise of A-10 pilots themselves, suggesting the F-35A as the likely destination platform for Sandy-qualified A-10 pilots.

“The Air Force is leveraging the extensive experience of its A-10 pilots to ensure a successful transition to other aircraft,” the 355th Wing Public Affairs office said. “A-10 pilots bring a wealth of expertise in close air support and combat search and rescue experience, which is invaluable as the A-10 continues to divest and they transition to 5th generation assets like the F-35.”

The service also acknowledged that standards for validating successor-platform performance in the CSAR mission are a work in progress.

The Pentagon “is carefully reexamining future Close Air Support and Combat Search and Rescue requirements,” the 355th Wing Public Affairs office said, “including how the Air Force will validate the effectiveness of its multi-role fighter fleet in performing all aspects of the CAS mission.”

No specialized Sandy qualification program for any successor platform, such as the one that existed for the A-10 for many years, has been confirmed to exist or be under development.

Lt. Col. Joel Bier, a retired U.S. Air Force Weapons School instructor pilot and Sandy 1 instructor with more than 2,500 hours in the A-10, said the service’s transition strategy underestimates the complexity of the Sandy mission.

“No other pilots train to Close Air Support, Forward Air Control (Airborne), and Combat Search and Rescue with the ferocity of the A-10 community,” Bier said.

The challenge, Bier said, is not simply whether the F-35A, F-15E or F-16 airframes are capable of performing the Sandy mission, but whether the pilot is properly trained for it.

“A jack of all trades is master of none. Each of the fighter communities trains to a half-dozen or more equally complex missions, but CSAR is fundamentally different. It is friendly-centric and combines elements of air superiority and contingency planning at lower speeds and longer durations that fighter platforms do not routinely train to.”

A-10 versus F-35

In 2016, the Air Force conducted testing to evaluate potential Sandy replacements at the 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. Lt. Col. Joshua Wood, the squadron’s commander at the time and an F-35 pilot, was on record expressing skepticism about direct platform comparisons.

“When you try to have a comparative analysis of a single-mission platform like the A-10 against a platform like the F-35, which is fundamentally designed from the ground up to do something completely different,” Wood told Combat Aircraft magazine, as reported by War is Boring in 2016, “you run the risk of drawing unrealistic conclusions.”

Still, Wood described what happened when a former A-10 Sandy 1 instructor who had recently cross-trained into the F-35 stepped into a lackluster CSAR exercise.

“No kidding, he shows up and within five minutes on station he’s quarterbacked the whole thing,” Wood told the magazine. “They’ve rescued the survivor and everyone goes home.”

Wood attributed the result not to the F-35’s capabilities, but to the pilot’s CSAR background and Sandy training. “I would say 75% is the pilot,” he said.

Bier said the test results underscored the importance of Sandy training more than the F-35’s suitability for the mission.

“Would the F-35 pilots have stepped in if an F-16 or F-15E CSAR test had been going smoothly? Would they have intervened at all if they weren’t both recent A-10 Weapons School graduates and Sandy 1 instructors who had only transferred to the F-35 six to nine months earlier? And in the decade since, has anyone in the F-35 community created a single new Sandy qualified for the mission? The answer to all three is no,” Bier said.

“Those F-35 pilots, who I personally know and respect, never even flew another CSAR in the F-35 outside that test environment — a fact that speaks volumes about how the Air Force has prioritized the Sandy transition plan," he added.

A separate 2022 Pentagon test report comparing the F-35A and A-10C, obtained through Freedom of Information Act litigation, found that F-35A pilots reported a significantly higher workload than A-10C pilots in the forward air control mission, a role closely aligned with the on-scene command demands of Sandy. The report also noted that pilots from both aircraft found that the A-10C and F-35A performed more effectively together in contested CSAR than either platform did alone, pointing more toward a combined model than a direct replacement.

The test report was completed in February 2022, nearly three years after testing concluded in 2019. The report was finally made public more than six years after the tests took place — years after Congress had already begun approving the A-10 retirement the test was meant to inform.

CSAR community trusts the Warthog

The flight characteristics that define the Sandy mission present their own challenges for potential successor airframes.

“It’s fast enough to stay ahead of the rescue force, but slow enough to scour the ground for threats to it, and rugged enough to take hits from that threat when necessary,” Bier said of the Warthog.

The A-10’s unique capabilities extend to the rescue helicopter crews the Sandy pilots are tasked with protecting.

“A-10 Sandys serve HH-60W Jolly Green crews as their Rescue Escort — ensuring they arrive safely and with all the pertinent information at the downed aircrew,” Bier said. “Fighters will struggle to expose the small arms and AAA threats from medium altitude, while shifting to rotary wing fires sacrifices speed, armor and communications relay. These shortfalls increase risk to both the Jollys and the isolated personnel.”

The relationship between the A-10 and the accompanying CSAR aircraft is not incidental, Bier said, but rather by design.

“Calling the HH-60W or HC-130J flawed in the Sandy role is like saying the A-10 is deficient in the Jolly or Crown missions. It’s not intended as disrespect, nor is it a design flaw — it’s an intentional symbiosis. That’s precisely why Sandy, Jolly and Crown are synonymous with the CSAR mission.”

Lt. Col. Ryan Rutter, commander of the 357th Fighter Squadron at Davis-Monthan, described the relationship between the A-10 community and the rescue force in a recent 355th Wing release.

“The trust between the A-10 and the rest of the rescue community is absolute,” Rutter said. “They know we will do whatever it takes to protect them while they work to bring our teammates home.”

On April 3, 2026, the same day A-10s in the Sandy role helped recover Dude 44 Alpha from Iran, the 357th Fighter Squadron graduated its last class of A-10 pilots.

In official photo captions, the Air Force called the ceremony “the end of an era for A-10 training.” Air Combat Command confirmed the 357th is on track to inactivate in fiscal 2026, although specific timelines were not available.

Whether the closure of the 357th marks the end of the Sandy qualification pipeline entirely, or whether the Air Force plans to establish a similar program for successor platforms, remains unclear. Neither the 355th Wing nor Air Combat Command Public Affairs responded specifically to questions about the future of Sandy qualification training by the time of publication.

Congressional oversight

The fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, signed into law in December 2025, was the latest in a series of congressional measures aimed at slowing the A-10’s retirement. The measure required the Air Force to deliver a detailed briefing to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees no later than March 31, 2026, on the status of A-10 aircraft inventory and the service’s transitional plan for divesting all A-10s prior to fiscal 2029.

That deadline has passed. The Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs office could not confirm whether the briefing had been delivered. Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., a member of the House Armed Services Committee who has pushed to stave off the A-10 retirement, did not immediately respond to questions about whether the committee had received the briefing.

It is unclear whether the A-10’s recent effectiveness in Operation Epic Fury factors into the Air Force’s transition briefing or divestment plans.

The NDAA also mandated that the Air Force maintain a minimum inventory of 103 A-10s through Sept. 30, 2026, an amendment authored by Scott, reflecting congressional concerns about the service’s transition planning and potential gaps in mission readiness.

In a statement provided to Defense News, Scott cited the A-10’s recent performance in Iran.

“For 50 years, the A-10 Warthog has reliably supported critical military missions. I was proud to lead an amendment in the FY26 NDAA blocking the premature retirement of A-10s currently in service today. Because the fleet is alive, the A-10 is proving why it’s critical to our forces, providing air power for freedom and leading the rescue efforts for our airmen that were recently secured from hostile forces in Iran,” Scott said. “I will continue to work diligently to ensure that our military is properly equipped with the best weapons systems available.”

Scott pressed the issue at an April 15 HASC Subcommittee on Readiness hearing, when he asked Gen. John Lamontagne, Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force, what the service was doing to prepare for CSAR operations when the A-10 retires.

Lamontagne responded: “It’ll be a mix of platforms, just like it’s been a mix of platforms in the past with HH-60s and overhead folks doing that coordination role that the A-10s have done very well over the years.”

Scott noted that the HH-60 is a helicopter, the rescue platform, not the Sandy escort. Lamontagne clarified he had understood the question to be about CSAR broadly, rather than the fixed-wing Sandy escort role specifically.

Despite these unanswered questions, Lt. Col. Bier offered a potential path forward.

“If the Air Force proceeds with final A-10 divestment in fiscal year 2027, significant CAS and CSAR capabilities risk being lost due to the compressed timeline,” Bier said. “Extending the remaining A-10 squadrons until a viable replacement is identified offers a logical bridge.”

Bier noted that, barring congressional intervention, an indefinite extension is unlikely given the service’s well-documented intention to move on from the A-10.

Absent extending the A-10 platform, one of the multi-role fighters already slated to replace A-10 units would likely inherit the Sandy mission. But platform selection alone is not enough, he said.

“The key is selecting an aircraft to deliberately carve out dedicated squadrons with a Designed Operational Capability statement for the Sandy/CSAR mission,” Bier said. “This must include a dedicated training mandate — modeled on the A-10’s current Ready Aircrew Program tasking — and unique Air Force Specialty Codes to prevent diluting that training in the larger multi-role platform community. These actions protect the Sandy community from mission creep and preserve its unwavering commitment to the CSAR covenant: that others may live.”

Bier warned that the Air Force cannot afford to ignore the hard-won lessons of the past.

“As the old military saying goes, lessons are written in blood,” Bier said. “Sacrificing over 50 years of hard-won institutional knowledge dooms our future warriors to relearn them the hard way.”

Representatives from specialty courts and veterans’ legal organizations pressed Congress Wednesday for expansion of the Veterans Treatment Courts system and reinstatement of some Veterans Affairs benefits for imprisoned former service members.

They argued that while not all veterans convicted of serious crimes would benefit, those with other-than-honorable discharges or service-connected mental health or substance use disorders should have opportunities to change their lives.

Corey Schramm, an Army veteran who developed post-traumatic stress disorder after three deployments to Iraq and later was arrested following a blackout that involved a weapon, said a Kansas Veterans Treatment Court, where he underwent two years of treatment and mentorship, saved his family.

“I was on and off probation before I went to Veterans Treatment Court, and when I showed up, I thought I was going to play the system, go through the motions. Boy was I ever wrong. … VTC is not a shortcut,” Schramm said during a hearing Wednesday before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.

The first Veteran Treatment Court was established in 2008 in Buffalo, New York, to provide medical treatment, supervision and mentorship to former service members with non-violent criminal convictions related to service-connected addiction or mental health conditions.

Today there are more than 600, and the Department of Veterans Affairs employs hundreds of Veterans Justice Officers to support veterans in jails or who are on parole, probation or in the court system.

But many veterans remain unaware of programs tailored to them or lack access to available services because they were discharged from the military with general or other than honorable discharges, rendering them ineligible for many Veterans Affairs programs and benefits.

Others may have lost access to their VA benefits when they were sentenced, since disability compensation is reduced when a veteran is convicted of a felony and incarcerated for more than 60 days and VA health care benefits stop when they enter a prison health system.

Rose Carmen Goldberg, director of the Veterans Clinic at the University of Washington School of Law, argued that incarcerated veterans should have access to VA behavioral health care, which provides expertise in combat-related mental health issues, sexual trauma or other service-specific concerns.

“Access to VA mental healthcare can literally be lifesaving. Veterans with a less-than-honorable discharge who are unable to access VA mental healthcare have a significantly elevated risk of suicide, a difference that disappears if they gain access,” she said.

Goldberg proposed that imprisoned veterans have access to VA services through telehealth and she supports a bill, the “Get Justice-Involved Veterans Behavioral Assistance and Care for Key Health Outcomes to Maintain Empowerment Act,” sponsored by Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, and Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., that would do that.

“VA-furnished mental healthcare is critical because it is more effective than private sector care,” Goldberg said.

Another key to improving outcomes for veterans who leave the service is reforming the Defense Department’s Transition Assistance Program, which several panelists argued was ineffective for preparing service members for non-military life, the panelists said.

According to retired Army Brig. Gen. David “Mac” MacEwen, director of the Veterans Justice Commission at the Council on Criminal Justice, the Defense Department spends billions on recruiting and training but just millions per year on TAP.

A commission found that TAP did not prepare 44% of its attendees for transition and 22% of transitioning service members never attended.

“The result is a fragmented and under-resourced system that leaves too many service members ill-prepared for civilian life. This lack of preparation increases their vulnerability to involvement in the criminal justice system,” MacEwen said.

Committee Chairman Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., conducted the hearing to better understand how to help veterans in judicial system and prevent them from entering it in the first place.

Moran sponsored a bill that was approved in January to fully fund Veterans Treatment Courts and provided $4 million to establish a National Center for Veterans Justice.

“We need to make sure that veterans who carry scars, with wounds — visible and invisible — are not forgotten,” Moran said.

Yet many jurisdictions do not have a veterans treatment court or those in law enforcement or the court system aren’t aware of these programs. Former Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Lawton Nuss, a former Marine, said more courts are needed, noting that in Kansas, of the 89 veterans who have graduated in the past decade from the VTC program, just five have later been arrested, a 95% success rate.

According to Nuss, one of the first graduates from the Johnson County VTC was a combat veteran who told him he would “have been better off being killed in Afghanistan instead of coming home and being arrested for committing a violent crime.”

“He described his shame to me [as], ‘I went from hero to villain,’” Nuss said. “This justice-involved veteran suffered from unhealed PTSD. As has been said about such veterans, the painful paradox is that fighting for one’s country can render one unfit to be its citizen.”

The panelists also pressed for changes to the GI Bill that allow more veterans to access education benefits. According to MacEwen, the original GI Bill called for all veterans except those who received dishonorable discharges to receive education benefits.

MacEwen said that since the original language for the GI Bill was written in 1944, the VA has changed eligibility requirements.

“Congress explicitly wrote that individuals who were not discharged under dishonorable conditions should be eligible for VA care and benefits. However, the VA’s implementation has not aligned with this plain text, resulting in the unlawful denial of services to hundreds of thousands of veterans with other than honorable discharges,” MacEwen said.

Moran said he believes the VA and Defense Department must improve services for transitioning veterans but community organizations are vital to supporting veterans as well.

“All of our witnesses provide examples of why we work to support veterans when they transition out of the military, and the value they add to our communities and our country after their service when that transition goes well,” Moran said.

Ferencz, who died in 2023 at the age of 103, was just 27 with no previous trial experience when he became chief prosecutor in one of the most significant murder trials in history.

While Congress voted to bestow the medal to Ferencz in 2022, his family members were on hand to posthumously receive the honor this week during the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s annual Days of Remembrance commemoration at the U.S. Capitol.

“Mr. Ferencz was a tremendous force for good, a fierce New Yorker with a heart of gold and a backbone of steel, a man who saw the worst of humanity and spent the better part of a century fighting for the best of it,” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., during the ceremony.

“He came face-to-face with evil, recalling the fact that he had quote, peered ‘into hell,’” Gillibrand continued. “A lesser person might have looked away. But Ben Ferencz looked harder.”

Born in Transylvania in 1920, Ferencz, who was the last surviving prosecutor of the Nuremberg Trials, emigrated with his family to the United States when he was an infant to escape anti-Jewish pogroms.

After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1943, Ferencz enlisted in the U.S. Army and was given the job of anti-aircraft artillery gunner.

“In their typical [Army] brilliance, being a Harvard Law School graduate and an expert on war crimes, they assigned me to clean the latrines in the artillery and do every other filthy thing they could give me,” Ferencz reminisced about the Army’s odd job placement in a 2016 interview with The Washington Post.

The outspoken Ferencz, who barely registered over five feet tall, eventually rose to the rank of sergeant as a member of Gen. George Patton’s Third Army. Action during the Normandy invasion followed, as did breaking through the Maginot and Siegfried lines, crossing the Rhine and bitter fighting in the Battle of the Bulge.

After Ferencz’s honorable discharge in 1945, Gen. Telford Taylor, then the chief prosecutor of the Nuremberg Trials, recruited Ferencz to return to Germany and work with a team of investigators tasked with uncovering the horrors of the Nazi regime.

Tasked with gathering credible evidence of Nazi war crimes for the Army’s War Crimes Branch, Ferencz encountered the depths of human depravity. The Germans maintained meticulous death registries at the camps of Buchenwald, Mauthausen, Flossenbürg and Ebensee. These registries, which Ferencz was ordered to collect, contained the names of millions of victims.

“When I passed the figure of one million, I stopped adding,” he recalled in an interview with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “That was quite enough for me.”

It was there that Ferencz and his colleagues discovered the dossiers of the Nazi mobile death squads, the Einsatzgruppen — roving extermination squads that targeted Jews, Roma, homosexuals and political dissidents in Eastern Europe. In the subsequent trial, the International Military Tribunal determined that nearly two million Jews were murdered by the Einsatzgruppen.

“Death was their tool and life their toy,” Ferencz told the judge during the opening statement of United States of America v. Otto Ohlendorf et. al. “If these men be immune, then law has lost its meaning, and man must live in fear.”

All 22 men prosecuted by Ferencz were convicted. Most were sentenced to death.

The U.S. is trying to secure the strait from mines as part of efforts to end Iran’s disruption of shipping, which has severely curbed global energy supplies since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes against Iran at the end of February.

But while the U.S. can draw on modernized technology to remotely check for and remove mines, clearing a strategic waterway such as the Strait of Hormuz will still be a slow, multi‑step process, former naval officers and industry specialists say.

The U.S. military said over the weekend it had started the mine-clearing operation, sending two warships through the strait, but offered few details about the equipment involved. It said on Saturday that additional forces, including underwater drones, would join the effort in the coming days.

Iran had recently deployed about a dozen mines in the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reported last month, citing sources familiar with the matter. It is not publicly known where mines may have been laid.

U.S. President Donald Trump said over the weekend that all of Iran’s minelaying ships had been sunk. But there is a risk Tehran could deploy additional devices, some specialists said.

Mine warfare is effective because the devices are cheap, are costly to clear and “even the threat of a minefield is enough to stop ships, especially commercial ships,” said Jon Pentreath, a retired British navy rear admiral who is now a consultant.

MODERNIZING MINESWEEPING

Traditionally, the U.S. Navy relied on manned minesweeping ships that physically entered minefields, using sonars to locate the devices and mechanical gear dragged behind the vessel to clear explosives, sometimes supported by human divers. Much of that aging fleet has been retired.

They are being replaced by lighter vessels known as littoral combat ships, which carry modern mine‑hunting equipment such as semi‑autonomous surface and underwater drones as well as remote‑controlled robots that enable crews to distance themselves from the minefield. The navy has three of these in deployment.

Two of those ships were undergoing maintenance in Singapore, a senior U.S. official told Reuters in late March. At the time, the U.S. minesweeping capacity in the ⁠Middle ​East included unmanned undersea vehicles, four of the traditional Avenger-class vessels, helicopters ​and divers, according to the official.

The U.S. Navy did not respond to a comment request on the mine-clearing capability it currently has in the Middle East. U.S. Central Command declined to provide further details.

Tehran is believed to possess several types of maritime mines, former naval officials and other specialists say. These include bottom mines that rest on the seabed and detonate when ships pass above, tethered mines that are anchored but float closer to the surface, drifting mines that move freely on the water, and limpet mines that attach directly to a ship’s hull.

The U.S. operation will likely involve searching for mines using unmanned surface and underwater vehicles equipped with sensors. Once a mine‑like object is detected, the data is typically transferred to crews operating outside the minefield, who identify the device. They then determine how it should be neutralized.

The Navy’s search capability now includes sonar-mounted unmanned surface and undersea vehicles, as well as helicopters that are used to spot mines near the surface, former naval officials say.

To destroy mines, the Navy can deploy systems such as the torpedo‑shaped Archerfish, a remotely operated device about 2 meters long that carries an explosive charge and transmits video back to operators via cable, according to its manufacturer, BAE Systems. Designed to be expendable, it costs tens of thousands of dollars.

The U.S. could also use unmanned boats towing mine‑sweeping sleds that trigger detonations or gather mines, said Bryan Clark, a retired U.S. naval officer and senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. Human divers are also sometimes used, including for intelligence gathering, specialists say.

SLOW PROCESS

Clearing the strait could take two or three weeks, Clark said, and Iranian attacks on mine‑clearing crews could slow the process and raise risks. As a result, he said, the U.S. military may deploy defensive measures like ships and airborne drones to defend crews and equipment.

“Finding and destroying mines is very time consuming,” U.S. Admiral Daryl Caudle, chief of naval operations, said in March. That leaves mine‑clearing capability “vulnerable,” he added.

New technologies are being developed to speed up mine clearance, particularly through advances in sensors used for detection, specialists say.

French technology and defense group Thales says its latest sonar can scan a suspected mine from three different angles in one pass, a process that typically requires multiple sweeps.

Advances in artificial intelligence are also enabling more data analysis to be carried out onboard unmanned vessels.

Longer term, the ambition is to deploy groups of unmanned systems that can search for, identify and destroy mines, rather than it being a multi-step process.

“That doesn’t exist today,” said Mark Bock, a retired U.S. Navy captain who is now vice president of business development at Thales’ U.S. Navy business. “But it is what all nations are trying to achieve now.”

But support for the resolutions from a large majority of the 47-member Senate Democratic caucus underscored growing frustration within that party about the effect on civilians from Israeli strikes on Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.

A decades-long tradition of strong bipartisan support for Israel in the U.S. Congress means resolutions to stop weapons sales are unlikely to pass, but backers hope raising the issue will encourage Israel’s government and U.S. administrations to do more to protect civilians.

Supporters of the sales say Israel is an important ally to whom the United States should sell military equipment.

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, forced votes on the resolutions, saying the sales violate criteria for foreign assistance in the Foreign Assistance Act and the Arms Export Control Act.

The first resolution would have prohibited the $295 million sale of D9R and D9T Caterpillar bulldozers, parts and other support. The vote was 59 to 40 against advancing the measure.

Seven Democrats voted with every Republican against advancing the resolution of disapproval of the bulldozer sale. Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming did not vote.

The second would have prohibited the $151.8 million sale of 12,000 BLU-110A/B general purpose 1,000-pound “dumb” bombs and related logistics and technical support services.

Eleven Democrats joined every Republican to block the measure by 63 to 36. Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina did not vote.

Israel uses the bombs in attacks on Gaza and Lebanon and uses the bulldozers to demolish homes in Gaza, Lebanon and the West Bank, Sanders said.

“The United States must use the leverage we have - tens of billions in arms and military aid — to demand that Israel ends these atrocities,” he said, urging support for the resolutions.

Israel says it does not intentionally target civilians, and that its strikes are intended to neutralize militants and military infrastructure.

Wednesday’s vote showed an uptick in support for efforts to limit military sales to Israel. In July, two resolutions that would have blocked arms sales in response to civilian casualties in Gaza were blocked in the Senate.

Also introduced by Sanders, they failed by 73 to 24 and 70 to 27 in the 100-member chamber.

The Trump administration bypassed the normal congressional review of military sales early in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, saying there was an emergency that made it necessary to immediately transfer the weapons.

“We’re not ready to come to you with a request. We’re still working on it. We’re working through to figure out what’s needed,” Vought told a hearing of the House of Representatives Budget Committee. “I don’t have a ballpark.”

The cost of the war with Iran, which Trump began alongside Israel on February 28, has remained an open question on Capitol Hill. An initial $200 billion request for additional funding for the war met with stiff opposition in Congress last month.

Vought appeared before the panel to discuss Trump’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2027, with its $500 billion increase in military spending and 10% reduction for non-defense programs.

The request is intended to reflect Republican priorities heading into the November midterm elections, in which Trump’s Republicans hope to retain control over the House of Representatives and the Senate but face growing public concern about the cost of living, energy prices and the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.

‘Never passed an audit’

Democrats took issue with Vought’s assertions that healthcare, education and low-income energy assistance programs were marred by fraud.

“I’m so glad you asked about fraud, because you are coming back to ask for a $1.5 trillion budget for the Department of Defense,” Democratic Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington state told the budget director. “The Department of Defense is the only federal agency that has never passed an audit ... But you’re not going after any of that.”

Vought said the administration is pursuing “inefficiencies” at the Pentagon.

“I don’t think you’re doing enough,” said Republican Representative Glenn Grothman, who called for a Pentagon audit to be completed before Congress votes on defense spending.

“There is so much arrogance in that agency,” added Grothman, of Wisconsin. “They just say we don’t have to do it on audit. We’re so damn important. We don’t care what Congress thinks.”

Vought promoted Trump’s budget proposal for the fiscal year beginning October 1 as aimed at reducing spending. He promoted Trump’s 2025 tax-cut-and-spending package known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” as an initiative that achieved $2 trillion in mandatory savings through cuts to Medicaid health coverage and food assistance to low-income families.

That bill, which extended 2017 tax cuts, will add $4.7 trillion to U.S. deficits over the next decade, while reduced immigration will add another $500 billion, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

Straight face

Representative Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, the budget panel’s top Democrat, pointed to forecasts saying the legislation’s healthcare cuts would mean the loss of health coverage for more than 15 million people. Vought said they were able-bodied adults, people in the country illegally or ineligible for benefits.

“You’re going to sit here with a straight face and say they’re all illegals? They were all defrauding the system? That’s actually your position?” Boyle asked.

“Yes,” Vought replied.

Democratic Representative Scott Peters of California pointed out to Vought that the watchdog Government Accountability Office has found the administration illegally withheld billions of dollars allocated for National Institutes of Health grants, public schools and Head Start early education programs nationwide.

“Do you dispute GAO’s findings?” Peters asked.

“Yes. GAO is typically wrong. They’re very partisan,” Vought replied.

GAO disputed that claim.

“That’s not accurate,” spokesperson Sarah Kaczmarek said in an email. “GAO is an independent, nonpartisan agency that Congress has long ⁠relied on ​for fact-based analysis of federal spending and compliance with the law.”

To become law, Trump’s proposed budget needs approval from Congress at a time when Republicans are trying to overcome Democratic opposition to funding for Trump’s immigration crackdown, just months after the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. Democrats have already declared the budget proposal dead on arrival, leaving government funding to closed-door negotiations between appropriators.

The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance redirected the vessel back toward Iran after it fled Bandar Abbas, exited the Strait of Hormuz and was making its way along the Iranian coastline, according to a CENTCOM release.

“Ten vessels have now been turned around and zero ships have broken through since the start of the U.S. blockade on Monday,” the command’s post on X stated.

The U.S. Navy blockade, which involves 10,000 troops, over a dozen warships and more than 100 fighter and surveillance aircraft, went into effect Monday after President Donald Trump announced on social media that the U.S. would seal off the Strait of Hormuz following failed peace talks between the U.S. and Iran.

Any vessels transiting to and from Iranian ports are subject to the blockade, CENTCOM officials stated Tuesday, while ships not visiting Iranian ports can still navigate the Strait of Hormuz.

The America-class amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli is also in the Arabian Sea in support of the blockade.

Failed peace talks occurred on April 11 and 12 in Islamabad, Pakistan, and involved Vice President JD Vance, along with special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

The talks did not yield the intended result after Iran refused to allow the removal of enriched uranium from the country and commit to ending their nuclear program, according to Vance.

The U.S. and Iran are currently in the midst of a two-week ceasefire, which went into effect on April 7.

The department premiered WarMatrix for its inaugural use at the March 27 GE 26 Benchmark Wargame, marking the system’s move from development into operational capacity, according to a Tuesday Air Force release.

WarMatrix, described by the force as an “active wargaming environment,” is an AI-powered system that integrates existing models, data and workflows while expediting analysis.

The Air Force at the end of 2025 said it was looking for technology capable of producing simulations 10,000 times faster than real time.

WarMatrix is a “human-machine teaming system” meant to keep human judgment integral to planning and decision making, according to the release.

The use of WarMatrix during the event served as the system’s initial operating concept evaluation, signaling a change in how the Air Force conducts operational analysis and wargaming.

“Designed by wargamers for wargamers, WarMatrix provides transparency, auditability and speed, enabling decision-makers to better understand assumptions, outcomes and tradeoffs,” the statement reads.

Air Force leaders portray WarMatrix as an evolution in wargaming rather than a replacement, and the release says that the use of WarMatrix provided a more “connected and traceable wargaming process.”

It also said that the system’s design allowed for faster scenario development, repeat findings and increased collaboration with joint and coalition partners.

The two-weekslong event, hosted at Systems Planning and Analysis in Alexandria, Virginia, was attended by more than 150 people, including technical experts, Air Force leadership and allied planners.

Attendees during the event fulfilled more than six 24-hour “game-time moves” that balanced physics- and simulation-based models to ensure outcomes were realistic.

The defense technology firm introduced the system, known as MAYHEM 10, which expands upon its Switchblade family.

The Army in February announced a $186 million purchase that includes two variants of Switchblade one-way attack, or “kamikaze,” drones: the Switchblade 600 Block 2 variant and the Switchblade 300 Block 20 variant.

The difference is that MAYHEM 10 is multifunctional, meaning it can perform tasks in addition to striking. The new system can carry a 10-pound payload and has a range of over 62 miles, per the release.

The system is capable of 50 minutes of endurance, with a launch assembly that can be done in under five minutes, the statement says. It can also be launched from the air, ground or maritime platforms.

“By integrating advanced autonomy, multi-domain payloads, and rapid adaptability, we empower our forces to sense, disrupt, and strike with precision — even in the most contested environments,” Wahid Nawabi, AeroVironment’s chairman, president and chief executive officer, said in the statement.

Last year, U.S. soldiers tested the Switchblade 600 system, which has a range of 27 miles and is designed to engage a target using onboard cameras.

The Switchblade 300 Block 20, unlike the heavier 600 variant, is small enough to be carried in a backpack. For the first time, according to a February AeroVironment announcement, it will come equipped with an Explosively Formed Penetrator, a deadly warhead that is made to penetrate armored vehicles.

Despite the decline, however, the rate of suicides among military spouses and dependent children has actually risen slightly, the result of a declining population and continued deaths, according to the Defense Department.

According to the DoD’s 2024 Annual Report on Suicide in the Military released last month, 146 military family members, including 98 spouses and 48 dependents, died by suicide in 2023, the same number as the previous year. But the rate — 6 deaths per 100,000 people — rose from 5.8 per 100,000 in 2022 as the number of total family members dropped over the time frame.

Moreover, based on data the DoD received in 2024, the rate has increased steadily since 2011, with a rising rate of suicide among male spouses factoring heavily into the increases. In some years — 2012, 2013, 2015, 2018, 2019 and 2020 — male military spouses had higher suicide rates than the U.S. male population, according to the data.

“Male spouses accounted for nearly two-thirds of suicides among military spouses despite representing a much smaller share of the overall military spouse population (14%). These findings are similar to the U.S. population, which consistently shows ”males are more likely to die by suicide than females,” the report noted.

The Pentagon began publishing data on military family suicide in 2019 as part of a requirement in the fiscal 2015 Carl Levin and Buck McKeon National Defense Authorization Act. Lawmakers expressed concern at the time that no one knew the extent of the problem among military family members.

The data is important because in addition to tracking the deaths, it acknowledges the problem and can influence prevention efforts, explained Carla Stumpf Patton, vice president of suicide prevention and postvention for Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, or TAPS,

“We’re acknowledging the mental health care around family members and dependents, which oftentimes [i]s overlooked,” said Stumpf Patton, whose first husband, Marine Sgt. Richard Stumpf, took his own life in 1994. “There’s so much more emphasis around prevention and education efforts on service members and not enough focus on the family as a system, so the fact that we are [tracking] that is critical.”

According to the report, 98 spouses died by suicide in 2023, including 67 spouses of active-duty personnel, 18 Reserve spouses and 13 National Guard spouses.

More than a third were on active duty themselves in dual military marriages and another quarter were veterans. The findings are significant because both the military and veterans populations have experienced increases in deaths by suicide in the past 25 years coinciding with the decades-long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Given differences in population size and demographics, comparing Service member and military spouse suicide rates may be misleading. For example, a majority of male military spouses who died by suicide had a history of military service,” the report noted.

According to the report, 48 dependents died by suicide, including 31 who were under age 18. Seventeen of those deaths were ages 18 to 22. The latter group is notable, according to the report authors, because although that age group makes up just 7% of the dependent population, it accounted for 35% of the suicide deaths among dependents.

“This finding aligns with U.S. population trends, as suicide rates are typically higher among young adults,” the report stated.

The report contains data for 2023, the most recent year that information is available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That same year, the suicide rate for the U.S. general population was per 14.1 per 100,000, more than twice the military family rate, according to the CDC.

The report also found:

• Firearms were used in nearly 70% of the suicide deaths of military spouses, while asphyxiation or hangings accounted for 44% of dependent deaths, followed by firearms.
• 81% of the spouses were under age 40.
• More than 60% of military dependents who died by suicide were male.
• Suicides declined for military dependents, falling from 53 in 2022 to 48 in 2023, a rate of 3.5 suicides per 100,000 in 2022 to 3.2 per 100,000 in 2023.

The authors also noted the unique aspects of military life that have an impact on children’s mental health.

“Military dependents face their own unique life experiences such as the stress of having to change schools every few years or the worry that comes with a parent being deployed. The impact of these stressors may vary with age,” they wrote.

Stumpf Patton noted that while the numbers are specific and drawn from state and federal resources, they may not show the entire picture of military family suicide because often suicides are not recorded accurately on death certificates or another cause of death may be listed.

The DoD and the military services have implemented numerous programs to prevent suicide among military members and promote the self-storage of firearms, mental health treatment and spouse employment to address issues in military families that could lead to self-harm.

Stumpf Patton said the DoD has taken tremendous steps in the past two decades to support service members and families affected by suicide.

She added, however, that even with resources available, the community needs to continue to reduce risk, increase safety and foster a sense of community to support military families.

“Access to quality care, making sure we can increase support systems, making sure that it’s known to military family members that the services are there, that they can trust in those services [and] that they are not alone” are important, Stumpf Patton said.

TAPS and other organizations that support military families are critical to reducing suicides in the military, she added.

“When we can support all of those after a suicide loss, including the immediate family members, we always are trying to reduce risk and increase safety and ultimately save lives,” she said.

The USS Abraham Lincoln previously held that record, having deployed for 295 days in January 2020.

The USS Nimitz was at sea for a record 341 days in 2020 and 2021, but parts of that deployment were plagued by quarantine periods intended to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, which saw the carrier stationed ashore. The Nimitz was forward-deployed in support of American security interests for only 263 days, factoring in those isolation periods, according to USNI News.

The Ford’s record didn’t come as a surprise.

During a March 31 appearance at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle said the carrier would likely see a “record-breaking deployment.”

And Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. James Kilby told lawmakers at a Senate Armed Services Committee in March that he expected the Ford to reach an 11-month extended deployment.

The current record for longest deployment, modern or historic, is held by the USS Midway, which was at sea for 332 days during the Vietnam War.

USS Gerald R. Ford docks in Greece for port call after fire

Ford’s milestone didn’t come easy.

On March 12, the carrier dealt with a non-combat related fire in the main laundry room while it was stationed in the Red Sea in support of Operation Epic Fury, the Navy said.

The fire damaged 100 sleeping berths, injured three sailors — one of whom had to be flown off the vessel for medical attention — and forced 200 other sailors to receive treatment for smoke-related injuries.

As a result of the damage, the carrier traveled to Split, Croatia, for maintenance and repairs over five days before returning to sea.

The carrier is now operating in the Mediterranean Sea.

The Ford has also experienced plumbing problems with the nearly 650 toilets onboard, specifically with the carrier’s vacuum collection, which transports and disposes wastewater.

The Ford called for maintenance assistance 32 times in 2025, according to an NPR report.

The USS George H.W. Bush and its strike group departed from Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, on March 31 for a regularly scheduled deployment.

The Bush could relieve the Ford of its duties in order for the vessel to return home, or it could serve in tandem with the carrier in the Middle East. The Navy has not announced its plans for either carrier.

Frank Ross Talbert, most recently with the Army’s Explosives Ordinance Disposal at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, was indicted on 21 charges in 2024 after federal agents searched his home and found firearms made from illegally imported parts.

As part of a plea agreement filed with the U.S. District Court, Talbert pleaded guilty to 17 of the charges, including smuggling, possessing an unregistered machine gun and numerous violations of the Arms Export Control Act.

From 2019 to 2023, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol intercepted 16 of the approximately 350 foreign shipments made to Talbert, all of which were suspected to contain firearms or firearm parts, the plea agreement says. In the intercepted packages, CBP agents discovered illegally imported pistol grips, hand guards, buttstocks, sights, muzzle devices, gas tubes and inert rifle grenades, among other parts.

Over the years, Talbert used variations of his name and his wife’s name for the shipments, as well as different locations, in an effort to avoid detection by CBP, according to the plea agreement.

The shipments were made when Talbert was stationed at Fort Hamilton, New York, where he served as an improvised explosive device threat mitigation advisor to the United Nations.

Talbert’s shipments continued while he was stationed at Fort Campbell and residing in Clarksville, Tennessee.

After the seizures by CBP, agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives searched Talbert’s Clarksville home in 2023 and found five firearms made from illegally imported parts, court documents say. They also discovered shipping boxes containing illegally imported equipment from various countries, including Russia, and a work station with “large amounts of shipping supplies indicative of being engaged in the business of dealing without a Federal Firearms License.”

Authorities learned Talbert had a “significant presence” on online forums where members could sell, purchase and discuss firearms.

“Defendant is a high-ranking career member of the military with a sophisticated knowledge of guns,” the plea agreement reads. “His text messages and postings on gun websites indicate defendant understood what he was importing.”

According to the agreement, prosecutors will move to dismiss the remaining four charges against Talbert, which included firearms trafficking, transporting prohibited weapons without a license, dealing in firearms without a license and another charge of possessing an unregistered machine gun.

Talbert’s sentencing hearing is set for Aug. 10.

The name pays homage to the Northern Cheyenne Tribe and the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribe — Native American tribes whose members attended the 2026 Army Aviation Warfighting Summit where the new name of the Bell MV-75 tiltrotor aircraft was announced, according to an Army statement.

The naming comes as the Army accelerates the aircraft’s development timeline, pushing to field the new platform years ahead of earlier projections.

Army officials said the name reflects both the aircraft’s intended capabilities and the Cheyenne tribe.

“The Cheyenne tribes represent a resilient warrior culture and embodies the key attributes of the MV-75,” said Brent Ingraham, the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology, at the Nashville summit.

Created for use in the Pacific theater, the new assault aircraft will be the Army’s first conventional tiltrotor aircraft and is designed to fly at speeds over 300 miles per hour. It can carry up to 14 soldiers and support an external load of up to 10,000 pounds, according to the Army.

The 101st Combat Aviation Brigade out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, is expected to field the new aircraft in 2027.

The name Cheyenne was previously used for another assault aircraft that was developed in the decades before but never entered service, according to the Army Historical Foundation.

Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, a Pennsylvania Democrat and former Air Force Officer, has introduced the Women Add Resourcefulness and Resilience to Improve Operational Readiness (WARRIOR) Act, which would prohibit the military services from excluding service members from any “occupational speciality, career field, or assignment” on the basis of sex.

Houlahan was joined by Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., a former Army Ranger and paratrooper, and Rep. Maggie Goodlander, D-N.H., a former Naval intelligence officer. Others among the 36 cosponsors include Reps. Gil Cisneros, D-Calif; Pat Ryan, D-N.Y.; Mike Thompson, D-Calif., and Derek Tran, D-Calif. All are military veterans.

The bill, which lacks Republican sponsors, is explicitly described as a response to the Pentagon review and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s comments casting doubt on the ability of women to perform in keeping with established standards in ground combat roles.

“The WARRIOR Act proactively affirms women’s qualifications to serve in combat,” according to a statement from Houlahan’s office. “The legislation amends outdated law from 1996 and 2006 to ensure that women are judged on their skills, performance, and the gender-neutral standards that women in combat are already meeting and exceeding. In so doing, the WARRIOR Act prevents any exclusion of women in our Armed Forces.”

In addition to prohibiting gender-based exclusion from jobs, the bill would require the Secretary of Defense to submit an annual report to the House and Senate Armed Services committees outlining any changes to occupational standards enacted in the previous year, “including a description of how such change predicts performance of actual, regular, and recurring duties of a military occupational specialty.”

The report must also include how many members were involuntarily moved to new jobs or separated from the service “for reasons other than discipline or pursuant to a sentence of a court-martial.”

It includes an 18-month evaluation period to add new job standards, and creates categories designed to ensure that military occupational standards reflect job requirements, separating skill categories into technical, tactical, cognitive and physical.

The bill further calls for the Pentagon to provide the committees with a copy of the combat effectiveness review, which originally was set to be completed by the Institute for Defense Analyses, but was just this month reassigned to Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory.

According to an NPR analysis, about 4,500 female service members now serve in ground combat roles in the Army and Marine Corps.

The lawmakers rolled out the legislation at the end of March, surrounded by leaders of a range of progressive veterans organizations, including those focused on supporting female and minority veterans.

“Since the founding of our nation, women have proudly and honorably served in defense of our country. This commonsense update to gender-neutral occupational standards reflects what we already know to be true: women are a force multiplier across the military,” Kyleanne Hunter, CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said in a released statement.

“As the fastest-growing group of recruits, ensuring women remain eligible to serve in all roles is not only grounded in science — it’s essential to our national security. IAVA is encouraged to see standards that reflect both our nation’s mission and the modern force that serves it,” she concluded.

At this point, there has been no proposal to reverse the military-wide policy that opened up combat roles to women in December 2015. Likewise, it’s not precisely clear how policy will follow Hegseth’s dictum last September that women in combat roles meet “the highest male standard.”

In a separate statement, Crow cited his experiences serving alongside female service members on deployments.

“When I deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, I served alongside badass women who risked their lives to protect our nation,” he said. “Anyone willing to put on the uniform and defend this country deserves our support.”

The move places U.S. forces at the center of a key global shipping route after President Donald Trump on Sunday said the U.S. Navy would blockade the Strait of Hormuz, a maritime corridor through which much of the world’s oil shipments flow.

The blockade began Monday morning and applies to all vessels coming and going from Iranian ports, the command said on social media, adding on Tuesday that six merchant ships had followed orders to turn around. Vessels not engaging with Iranian ports remain free to navigate the Strait of Hormuz.

CENTCOM, the military command responsible for overseeing operations in the Middle East, said the endeavor has also included upwards of 100 fighter and surveillance aircraft. Some other assets involved include guided missile destroyers, unmanned aircraft and a littoral combat ship.

The command confirmed Tuesday in a separate statement that 3,500 sailors and Marines aboard the USS Tripoli were in the Arabian sea as part of the blockade.

The amphibious assault ship arrived in the Middle East in late March.

Defense analysts have warned that enforcing a military blockade could stress the two countries’ brittle ceasefire and push Tehran — or Iran-aligned groups — toward retaliation. A blockade of this scale, experts also said, would be difficult to sustain over a long period of time and could impact energy prices, which in turn may influence the U.S. midterm elections.

Trump on Sunday also said U.S. forces would stop any vessel that paid an Iranian toll, but it is unclear if that pronouncement has been implemented.

The 100-year-old South Carolina native received the National Order of the Legion of Honour on April 9 from Anne-Laure Desjonquères, the French consul general, who noted “Mr. Cook, you are a true hero — your example gives us inspiration for the future and your legacy provides a moral compass for generations to come.”

First established by Napoleon Bonaparte in May 1802, The Order is the highest decoration in France and is divided into five degrees: Chevalier (Knight), Officier (Officer), Commandeur (Commander), Grand Officier (Grand Officer) and Grand Croix (Grand Cross).

Roughly 10,000 Americans have been awarded France’s highest distinction, with most recipients being World War II veterans who played a role in liberating France.

“There is no way that I can even attempt to explain the feeling,” Cook said at the ceremony. “As far as I’m concerned, I am so unworthy. I want to be a representative of the people who didn’t come back. They are the ones who paid the real sacrifice.”

For three years, from 1942 to 1945, daylight bombing runs by the 8th’s Flying Fortresses over Nazi Germany unleashed 697,000 tons of bombs.

Of that total, more than 47,000 were from the 8th.

Of that 47,000, the 379th Bomb Group — of which Cook was a part of — dropped 26,459 tons.

The effort to pry the claws of the Third Reich from Europe was met with deadly resistance, prompting torturous contemplation of one’s own mortality while being confronted with casualty totals that, by war’s end, would exceed 115,000 personnel from the U.S. Army Air Force.

Despite such odds, Cook told the WWII Veterans History Project, “Anytime I got in that plane and we took off, I told myself that I’m coming home. That was my attitude.”

Enlisting in the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1943, Cook had dreams of becoming a P-38 fighter pilot. However, according to Cook’s account in the WWII Veterans History Project, he washed out of cadet training for what the Army called a “negative attitude regarding military aviation.”

Undeterred, the slender, 138-pound Cook found his way back to aviation, this time as an aerial gunner in the belly of the four-engine bomber.

“To me that was the most comfortable place in the plane. I was accustomed to that. I fit in it pretty good,” Cook told ABC 25 Columbia.

Flying with the of 524th Bomb Squadron, 379th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force out of Kimbolton, England, Cook participated in the bombings of enemy rail yards, airfields, factories, communication centers, synthetic fuel factories, rocket sites and enemy troop concentrations within France, Germany, Czechoslovakia and Holland.

According to the South Carolina legislature, the 379th’s combat record “was the most successful of all the 8th Air Force heavy bomber groups. The unit held records as far as bomb tonnage dropped … and exceeded all other United Kingdom-based Bomb Groups in the total number of missions flown, carrying out 330 missions between May 1943 and May 1945.”

Cook participated in the air cover during the Battle of France, bombing enemy positions from Normandy through the breakout at St. Lo, as well as during the Battle of the Bulge and the Allied assault across the Rhine River into Germany.

“We would bomb just about anything that would disrupt the [German] war effort,” he explained to the Veterans Project.

Cook flew his last mission — his 35th — on Feb. 16, 1945, and was discharged in October of that year. The veteran returned home to Lexington, South Carolina, where he ran a jewelry store for more than 20 years before his retirement in 1983.

“The Lord’s just been good to me,” said Cook at the ceremony last Thursday. “I have really enjoyed life, and I just thank the Lord for what he’s done for me.”

The six-month independent review, commissioned by Undersecretary of Defense Anthony Tata in December, was originally set to be performed by the Institute for Defense Analyses, a Washington, D.C.-area nonprofit that administers three research centers supported by federal funding. The effectiveness study, according to a Pentagon official, was set to kick off with the 10-year anniversary of Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s lifting of the ban on women in ground combat roles at the end of 2015.

This review, the official told Military Times on Monday, is “in line with standard [Department of War] practice for evaluating the effects of significant policy changes.”

But a reevaluation of study requirements has led to a reassignment of the work, the official said.

“The Department has since recognized the need to incorporate combat-relevant field tests, based on established tasks, conditions, and standards, into the independent review to produce the comprehensive data required for this effort,” the official said. “DoW has engaged the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory to assume responsibility for the study from IDA, effective April 2026. JHU/APL, a University Affiliated Research Center, has the capability to examine existing personnel and operational data, as well as conduct the field tests, ensuring a unified effort that will further posture our warfighters to meet mission objectives.”

JHU/APL will now complete work over the next 12 months to inform what’s now being called the “Performance, Readiness, and Integrated Mission Effectiveness Assessment,” according to the Pentagon. The assessment will use established analytical techniques “to identify the dominant drivers of combat performance variance in ground combat units and provide evidence-based findings to inform force design, training, physical standards, and readiness decisions,” the official said.

A request for information to JHU/APL for more details on the study and data collection milestones did not receive an immediate response.

Pentagon officials emphasized the long tradition of conducting reviews of policy changes, citing specifically an internal assessment of the 2010 Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal that was conducted in 2021, and reviews by the Pentagon-connected Rand Corporation of the Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986 and the Blended Retirement System of 2015.

Historically, these analyses have been used to evaluate major changes and their impacts, but have not carried with them the possibility of reopening the matter for potential reversal. It’s not clear that the same considerations are in play here.

In a December memo first reported on by NPR, Tata described the review as gauging “the operational effectiveness of ground combat” elements and the impact of permitting women to enter the roles.

Leaders of the Army and Marine Corps were asked to provide the Institute for Defense Analyses with a broad slate of data ranging from training performance to command climate; and metrics showing individual service members’ readiness to deploy.

An email from Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson at the time also appeared to open the door to changes based on the review, saying the Pentagon “will not compromise standards to satisfy quotas or an ideological agenda — this is common sense.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth expressed opposition to women serving in combat roles in his 2024 book “The War on Warriors,” saying they couldn’t meet the physical requirement and adding, “We need moms. But not in the military, especially in combat units.”

His Senate confirmation hearing in 2025 softened the stance. He said then that women would continue to have access to ground combat roles, “given the standards remain high.”

In September, he announced that ground combat jobs would be reserved for those who meet “the highest male standard.”

The Pentagon official said the pending combat effectiveness review, now to be carried out by JHU/APL, showcased the military’s commitment to “continuous learning and improvement.”

“These types of studies enable the Department to maximize our efforts in support of peace through strength,” the Pentagon official said Monday. “The ‘Performance, Readiness, and Integrated Mission Effectiveness Assessment’ is expected to further this tradition, increasing the lethality and readiness of the force.”

A Center for Maritime Strategy report, released Friday, argues that amid an “atrophy” of the maritime industrial base, the U.S. should utilize its partnerships with naval allies to boost its shipbuilding, technological and strategic capabilities.

This assessment comes while the Navy is in the spotlight for playing a large part in the war in Iran, a conflict that puts strain on the Navy’s already diminished assets and does not indicate signs of slowing down.

The Center for Maritime Strategy, a nonprofit and nonpartisan think tank that focuses on U.S. maritime issues and their broader national security implications, highlighted in its report that the Navy has yet to reach its shipbuilding goal.

“The U.S. [maritime industrial base] must be reconstituted quickly, utilizing the most modern equipment and procedures to meet the growing threats to the United States and its allies and partners,” the report reads.

President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2027 budget request allots $65.8 billion for shipbuilding to produce 18 battle force ships and 16 nonbattle force ships, doubling the amount of ships produced in fiscal 2026.

This increase is an effort to improve the maritime industrial base by manufacturing ships that are simpler to construct than battle ships, given their lack of radar systems and nuclear propulsion systems.

At a WEST Conference in February 2026, Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Eric Smith said that the industrial base is less about items and more about ensuring people are incentivized to remain in the service.

“Everything costs what it costs,” Smith said at the conference. “I don’t want to pay $4 billion for a ship, neither does my shipmate [Chief of Naval Operations Adm.] Daryl Caudle. But that’s what it costs to have pipefitters, steamfitters, welders, electricians build the ship.”

Currently, the Navy consists of approximately 295 ships with that number expected to decrease as the service retires more ships than it plans to commission. Last year, the force noted its goal to retain a fleet of 381 over the next 30 years to counter global threats.

Meanwhile, the U.S. has sent more troops to the Middle East to support the ongoing war in Iran, including the Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group and connected Maritime Expeditionary Unit. The forces include 5,000 personnel and many warships, such as the USS Tripoli, USS New Orleans and USS San Diego.

The amphibious ready group’s deployment follows a 2025 Military Times report that showcased a drop in the Navy’s amphibious assault ships’ readiness rate to 41% as a result of the Trump administration’s endeavor to combat drug cartels in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Center for Maritime Strategy recommended seven objectives in its report to improve the maritime industrial base, including reforming the design process, embracing new technologies and relying more on allies.

Out of all the recommendations, the report emphasizes the involvement of U.S. allies the most, specifically the Republic of Korea, Italy, Canada, Sweden and the United Kingdom, to model existing frameworks, use allied ports and supplement the domestic shipbuilding labor pool with migrants from the allied countries.

“For the Navy to meet the challenges it faces in the coming decades, the United States must take advantage of its strong partnerships with naval allies to support a collective revitalization of the allied maritime industrial base,” Kenneth Braithwaite, the 77th Navy secretary, said in the report’s foreword.

Spc. Caleb Godbold and Sgt. Drew Schorsch finished first after completing a host of physical, technical and cognitive tasks at Fort Benning, Georgia, over the last week.

Ranger school is widely viewed as the Army’s premier leadership and small unit tactics course. The monthslong course has a high failure rate and its graduates earn a coveted Ranger tab — worn on the left shoulder sleeve of Army uniforms — that shows the soldier completed the school.

The competition, known formally as The Lt. Gen. David E. Grange Jr. Best Ranger Competition, pits two-man teams of Ranger graduates against each other.

On Sunday, the Army published the final standings for the 61 teams, with 75th Ranger Regiment taking the top three spots.

Godbold and Schorsch faced a gauntlet of events including marksmanship, land navigation and medical tasks while under sleep deprivation and fatigue.

First conceived in 1981 as a “Ranger Olympics,” the Best Ranger Competition began in 1982 at Fort Benning. Initially limited to members of the Ranger community, the competition later expanded to include Ranger-qualified soldiers from across the force.

In 2025, the competition welcomed its first female competitor, 1st Lt. Gabrielle White, who placed 14th with her teammate, Capt. Seth Deltenre.

Female soldiers were not allowed to attend Ranger school until 2015, when the schoolhouse opened to all soldiers, regardless of gender.

Staff Sgt. Tyler Johnson and Sgt. Spencer Harrell took first place at the annual competition, which was last week at Fort Benning, Georgia, becoming only the second Marine Corps team to win the event and the first since 2009.

In a lighthearted nod to the long-running joke about Marines and crayons, the winners posed with a Crayola 24-pack on the trophy, drawing delighted reactions on social media.

Two-man sniper teams from across the United States and partner nations were eligible to participate in the multiday competition, which tests long-range marksmanship, target detection, reconnaissance and reporting, and movement under stealth and concealment, according to the Army.

The experience also serves as a forum for service members to exchange tactics and best practices.

The International Sniper Competition was hosted from April 7-10 as part of the Army’s Infantry Week.

The competition in Georgia differs from the U.S. Army Special Operations Command International Sniper Competition, which was held in North Carolina in March.