Military

Congress Warns Pentagon: Don’t Move Money To Wall

The Associated Press reports: Lawmakers from both parties told Pentagon leaders on Wednesday that the Defense Department is undermining its own efforts to get military money by diverting billions of dollars for the construction of President Donald Trump’s U.S.-Mexico border wall The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and the committee’s top Republican warned Defense Secretary Mark Esper that …

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Congress Told Virus Is Impacting US Military In Europe

Roll Call reports: The spread of the coronavirus in Europe is affecting operations and services on some U.S. military bases in Italy, and precautions could soon extend to the thousands of personnel stationed in Germany, the general in charge of the military’s activity on that continent told senators on Tuesday. Air Force Gen. Tod D. Wolters, who leads U.S. European …

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Graham Told Defense Sec “I’ll Make Your Life Hell” In Argument Over Proposal To Pull US Troops From Africa

NBC News reports: Sen. Lindsey Graham and a bipartisan group of lawmakers, uniting against a Trump administration idea to withdraw U.S. troops from part of Africa, pushed back during a fiery exchange with Defense Secretary Mark Esper here over the weekend, according to four people present at or familiar with the meeting. At one point, Graham warned Esper that there …

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Space Force Solicits “Good Taste” Names For Members

Posted to the official Space Force website: The U.S. Space Force is looking for feedback from U.S. military space professionals on what Space Force members should be called – similar to how the Air Force refers to its members as ‘Airmen’ or the Army refers to its members as ‘Soldiers’. Given the significance a name has to the identity and …

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Trump’s Budget Seeks $15.4 Billion For Space Force

Space News reports: The Trump administration’s $740.5 billion budget request for national defense in 2021 includes $15.4 billion for the U.S. Space Force, according to documents released by the Pentagon on Friday. The U.S. Space Force was established Dec. 20 as an independent service under the Department of the Air Force. In the 2021 budget the U.S. Air Force transferred …

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Just In Case: Pentagon Readies Plan For Virus Pandemic

The Military Times reports: U.S. Northern Command is executing plans to prepare for a potential pandemic of the novel coronavirus, now called COVID19, according to Navy and Marine Corps service-wide messages issued this week. An executive order issued by the Joint Staff and approved by Defense Secretary Mark Esper this month directed Northern Command and geographic combatant commanders to initiate …

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Pentagon Moves To Completely Defund Stars & Stripes

Stars & Stripes reports: Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Thursday defended the Pentagon’s effort to strip Stars and Stripes of all of its federal funding as part of its fiscal year 2021 budget request, telling reporters in Brussels that the independent news organization is not a priority. “So, we trimmed the support for Stars and Stripes because we need to …

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Senate Votes 55-45 To Restrict Trump’s War Powers

Vox reports: In a 55-45 vote, lawmakers passed a resolution that would require President Donald Trump to obtain congressional approval if he wanted to take additional military action against Iran. Unlike the House resolution, however, Kaine’s measure has the power to become law if it were enacted. That difference means it would need to be voted on by the lower …

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Pentagon Transfers $3.8 Billion To Trump’s Border Wall

The Hill reports: The Pentagon is moving $3.8 billion from various weapons programs such as the F-35 fighter jet to pay for President Trump’s southern border wall, according to a notice sent to Congress on Thursday. The notice sent to Congress said the money is going toward the “support of higher priority items” and is “required to provide support for …

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Trump “Won’t Change Mind” On Troop Brain Injuries

The Insider reports: President Donald Trump has doubled down on his assertion that the injuries suffered by US troops during an Iranian missile attack on US forces are “not very serious.” Speaking to Fox Business, the president said that he “stopped something that would have been very devastating for” the Iranians, an apparent reference to US de-escalation in the aftermath …

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Pentagon Won’t Necessarily Kick Out Nazi Soldiers

The military blog Task & Purpose reports: Membership in a white supremacist or neo-Nazi group won’t necessarily get a U.S. service member tossed out of the military, defense officials told a House subcommittee Tuesday. The officials, including representatives of Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division, appeared to make a distinction between membership in an extremist organization …

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Pentagon: 100+ Brain Injuries From Iran Missile Strike

Reuters reports: The U.S. military is preparing to report a more than 50% jump in cases of traumatic brain injury stemming from Iran’s missile attack on a base in Iraq last month, U.S. officials told Reuters on Monday. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of an announcement, said there were over 100 cases of TBI, up from …

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Air Force One Base Commander Jailed For Child Porn

Newsweek reports: A decorated U.S. Air Force colonel slated to take command of the base that hosts Air Force One has been sentenced to five years in prison for receiving child pornography. Mark Visconi, 48, of Fairfax, Virginia, was jailed on Friday after he plead guilty to receipt of child pornography in October. He was also sentenced to 15 years …

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Navy SEAL Commander To Step Down Due To Trump

Yahoo News reports: Special Warfare Rear Adm. Collin Green, the US Navy admiral responsible for the service’s special-operations forces, will step down from his position in September. His retirement follows the controversial court-martial of Special Warfare Operator Chief Eddie Gallagher. Green moved to withdraw Gallagher’s Trident pin, which signifies his membership in the Navy SEAL community. However, President Donald Trump …

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Trump To Rescind Obama’s Restriction On Landmines

CNN reports: The Trump administration is expected to loosen restrictions on the US military’s ability to use landmines in the coming days, weapons that have been banned by more than 160 countries due to their history of killing and wounding civilians, multiple Defense Department officials tell CNN. The move represents a major reversal from the approach of the Obama administration …

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Pardoned War Criminal Navy SEAL Posts FB Video In Attempt To Dox Fellow SEALs Who Testified In His Trial

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports: The retired Navy SEAL whose war crimes trial made international news has launched a video attack on former SEAL teammates who accused him of murder, shooting civilians and who testified against him at his San Diego court-martial in June. In a three-minute video posted to his Facebook page and Instagram account Monday, retired Chief Special …

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Veterans Group “Expects An Apology” From Trump

From the Veterans Of Foreign Wars: In light of the announcement from the Defense Department that 34 U.S. service members suffered traumatic brain injuries [TBI] as a result of Iran’s retaliatory strike and President Trump’s remarks which minimized these troops’ injuries, the Veterans of Foreign Wars cannot stand idle on this matter. TBI is a serious injury and one that …

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Pentagon: 34 US Troops Have Traumatic Brain Injuries From Airstrike, Trump Dismissed Injuries As Headaches

Reuters reports: The Pentagon said on Friday that 34 service members had been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury following strikes by Iran on a base in Iraq earlier this month. Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman told reporters that eight service members who had been previously transported to Germany had been moved to the United States. From the military site Task & …

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Trump’s Navy Sec Pick Linked To Cambridge Analytica

CBS News reports: Documents apparently generated by Cambridge Analytica suggest that the political consulting firm had a contractual relationship with Kenneth Braithwaite in the year before he was nominated to be U.S. Ambassador to Norway in 2017. Braithwaite, who President Trump has said will be his nominee for Secretary of the Navy, made no mention of an agreement in his …

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The New Space Force Uniforms Are Camouflage

The Hill reports: The U.S. Space Force (USSF) late Friday unveiled camouflage uniforms bearing the branch’s first nametapes for its members. “The first #SpaceForce utility uniform nametapes have touched down in the Pentagon,” the service branch tweeted from its official account, attaching a photo of the uniforms. The uniforms were welcomed with praise by some, including the official Twitter account …

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