Military

San Diego’s NBC News affiliate reports: A sailor was stopped by Navy security at the main gate of NAS North Island in Coronado Tuesday morning with bomb-making materials in his pickup truck, a base spokesperson confirmed. Navy Security Forces stopped the sailor at the request of Naval Criminal Investigative Service, according to base spokesperson Kevin Dixon. The bomb-making materials were …

The Associated Press reports: The U.S. Air Force must pay more than $230 million in damages to survivors and victims’ families of a 2017 Texas church massacre for failing to flag a conviction that might have kept the gunman from legally buying the weapon used in the shooting, a federal judge ruled in San Antonio on Monday. More than two …

Via press release from the US Army:  The United States Army announced today that it will immediately begin separating Soldiers from the service who refuse to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Under a directive issued by Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth, commanders are to initiate involuntary administrative separation proceedings against any Soldier who has refused the COVID-19 vaccination order and …

Stars & Stripes reports: The Navy has opened a fast lane to discharge for sailors who refuse a COVID-19 vaccine, to “maximize speed and equity in achieving a fully vaccinated force,” according to the chief of naval personnel. Sailors eligible to exit active duty by June 1 and who refuse the vaccine will be discharged honorably under an expedited process, …

The Associated Press reports: A federal judge in Texas has granted a preliminary injunction stopping the Navy from acting against 35 sailors for refusing on religious grounds to comply with an order to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The injunction is a new challenge to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s decision to make vaccinations mandatory for all members of the military. The …

Axios reports: The U.S. Marine Corps said Thursday that it has now removed 206 service members for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine. The updated numbers come as the Department of Defense has ramped up repercussions for service members who defy the vaccine order amid surging coronavirus cases. Approximately 94% of active members of the Marine Corps are fully vaccinated, …

Stars & Stripes reports: The Department of Defense recommended COVID-19 vaccine booster shots for all eligible civilian employees and service members on Tuesday as the U.S. hit a record number of new coronavirus cases. The DOD urged anyone over age 18 and already vaccinated to get the booster as a means of mitigating the surge in coronavirus cases associated with …

The Hill reports: The Air Force has denied 2,130 requests for religious accommodations to the Pentagon’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate and has not approved any, the service announced today. Air Force and Space Force commands received more than 10,000 requests from airmen and guardians across the active-duty, National Guard and Reserve hoping to avoid the coronavirus shot. More than 8,630 individuals …

Defense One reports: Within weeks, scientists at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research expect to announce that they have developed a vaccine that is effective against COVID-19 and all its variants, even Omicron, as well as from previous SARS-origin viruses that have killed millions of people worldwide. The achievement is the result of almost two years of work on …

The Associated Press reports: Warning that extremism in the ranks is increasing, Pentagon officials issued detailed new rules Monday prohibiting service members from actively engaging in extremist activities. The new guidelines come nearly a year after some current and former service members participated in the riot at the U.S. Capitol, triggering a broad department review. The new policy lays out …

The Associated Press reports: More than 12,000 military service members refusing the COVID-19 vaccine are seeking religious exemptions, and so far they are having zero success. That total lack of approvals is creating new tensions within the military, even as the vast majority of the armed forces have gotten vaccinated. The services, urgently trying to keep the coronavirus pandemic in …

PBS NewsHour reports: Army officials said Thursday that 98% of their active duty force had gotten at least one dose of the mandatory coronavirus vaccine as of this week’s deadline for the shots but that more than 3,800 soldiers flatly refused and could start being removed from the military next month. The U.S. military’s largest service, however, reported the lowest …

Defense One reports: The Navy will start processing unvaccinated active-duty sailors for separation under a new policy guidance released Wednesday. Thousands of sailors risk ending their career’s early and repaying bonuses and education fees for failing to be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus by the end of November. “We want every sailor to receive the vaccine and stay Navy. And …

The Associated Press reports: The Air Force has discharged 27 people for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine, making them what officials believe are the first service members to be removed for disobeying the mandate to get the shots. The Air Force gave its forces until Nov. 2 to get the vaccine, and thousands have either refused or sought an …

The Washington Post reports: The number of active-duty U.S. military personnel declining to be vaccinated against the coronavirus by their prescribed deadlines is as high as 40,000, with new Army data showing that, days ahead of its cutoff, 3 percent of soldiers either have rejected President Biden’s mandate or sought a long-shot exemption. Military leaders have few options to address …

Stars & Stripes reports: Cmdr. Lucian Kins was relieved of his duties Friday as second in command of the USS Winston Churchill, a destroyer, by Navy Capt. Ken Anderson, commander of Naval Surface Squadron 14. Officials said Kins was the first naval officer to be fired as a result of a vaccine refusal. A spokesman for the Naval Surface Force …

CBS News reports: The House on Monday night approved the 2022 annual defense bill, which authorizes programs and spending guidelines for the Pentagon and other national security programs, includes changes to military prosecutions, more money for Ukraine and a pay raise for service members. The bill had bipartisan support, garnering 363 votes. Fifty-one Democrats and 19 Republicans voted against it. …

The New York Times reports: Former Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper on Sunday sued the agency he once led, accusing officials at the Pentagon of improperly blocking significant portions of an upcoming memoir about his tumultuous tenure under President Donald J. Trump. The allegations by Mr. Esper, whom Mr. Trump fired shortly after losing his re-election bid last November, are …

From the Department of Defense: Today, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, in close collaboration with the Director of National Intelligence, directed the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security to establish within the Office of the USD(I&S) the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG) as the successor to the U.S. Navy’s Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force. …

San Diego’s Fox News affiliate reports: The Navy christened its latest ship Saturday, a replenishment oiler named after slain civil rights leader Harvey Milk, during a ceremony in San Diego. The USNS Harvey Milk is the second ship in the Navy’s John Lewis class of fleet replenishment oilers, which will serve to refuel Navy ships at sea. The John Lewis-class …