Military

The New York Times reports: Two months after the Pentagon began requiring all troops to get the coronavirus vaccine or face dismissal, the vast majority have now had shots, in part because none received a religious exemption, military officials said. While vaccine exemptions are often broadly worded, requests based on religious beliefs are coming under close scrutiny in the military …

Roll Call reports: Facing criticism that mandates for coronavirus vaccinations could force the Defense Department to fire thousands of civilians, contractors and troops, the Biden administration is signaling that vaccine resisters may get more time to comply. Three administration officials in the last couple of days have described the deadlines not as the dates when an axe will fall but …

The Washington Post reports: An Army reservist charged in the Justice Department’s sweeping investigation of the U.S. Capitol riot was quietly demoted and discharged earlier this year, becoming the first known service member to be forced out of the military after officials learned of an alleged involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection, according to personnel records reviewed by The Washington …

Via press release from the US Naval Command: Sailors must be prepared to execute their mission at all times, in places throughout the world, including where vaccination rates are low and disease transmission is high. Immunizations are of paramount importance to protecting the health of the force and the warfighting readiness of the Fleet. “To date, over 98 percent of …

The Drive reports: Ghost Robotics and SWORD International have teamed up to create a rifle-toting “robot dog.” Called the Special Purpose Unmanned Rifle, or SPUR, the system adds a 6.5mm Creedmoor rifle from SWORD to one of Ghost Robotics’ quadrupedal unmanned ground vehicles, or Q-UGVs. The SPUR made its debut on the show floor at the Association of the U.S. …

From the military blog Defense One: Catholic U.S. troops should be allowed to refuse the COVID-19 vaccine based solely on conscientious objection and regardless of whether abortion-related tissue was used in its creation or testing, the archbishop for the military declared in a new statement supporting service members who are seeking religious exemptions. “No one should be forced to receive …

The Washington Post reports: A Navy nuclear engineer and his wife have been charged with repeatedly trying to pass secrets about U.S. nuclear submarines to a foreign country, in an alleged espionage plot discovered by the FBI, according to court documents. Authorities say Jonathan Toebbe, who has a top-secret clearance, “has passed, and continues to pass, Restricted Data as defined …

The Washington Post reports: Hundreds of thousands of U.S. service members remain unvaccinated or only partially vaccinated against the coronavirus as the Pentagon’s first compliance deadlines near, with lopsided rates across the individual services and a spike in deaths among military reservists illustrating how political division over the shots has seeped into a nonpartisan force with unambiguous orders. For instance, …

CNN reports: During a rally in Georgia over the weekend, former President Donald Trump invited Lance Cpl. Hunter Clark to the stage, implying he was the Marine in a viral video who lifted a child over a wall at the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. Clark told the audience Saturday: “I am the guy that pulled the baby over the wall …

The Daily Beast reports: The MAGA medical group that spent the pandemic pushing horse paste and malaria meds as quack COVID cures has a new crusade: suing the Pentagon to stop its vaccine mandate. The lawsuit, first filed on behalf of Army and Marine Corps staff sergeants, has since enlisted the support of an Army lieutenant colonel and flight surgeon …

Via press release from the White House: Ten years ago today, a great injustice was remedied and a tremendous weight was finally lifted off the shoulders of tens of thousands of dedicated American service members. The repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, which formally barred gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members from openly serving, helped move our nation closer to …

The Military Times reports: Tens of thousands of LGBT veterans forced from the military for their sexual orientation and given other-than-honorable discharges will be able to receive full Veterans Affairs benefits despite their dismissal status under a new move set to be announced Monday. The change comes as the country approaches the 10th anniversary of repeal of the controversial “don’t …

CNBC reports: The Pentagon said Friday that a U.S. drone strike in Kabul last month killed as many as 10 civilians including up to seven children. “This strike was taken in the earnest belief that it would prevent an imminent threat to our forces and the evacuees at the airport, but it was a mistake,” U.S. Marine Corps General Kenneth …

The Associated Press reports: The top U.S. military officer said Friday that calls he made to his Chinese counterpart in the final stormy months of Donald Trump’s presidency were “perfectly within the duties and responsibilities” of his job. In his first public comments on the conversations, Gen. Mark Milley such said calls are “routine” and were done “to reassure both …

The Associated Press reports: The top U.S. military officer on Wednesday defended the phone calls he made to his Chinese counterpart in the final months of Donald Trump’s presidency, saying the conversations were in keeping with his duties as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In a written statement, Gen. Mark Milley’s spokesman, Col. Dave Butler, said Milley acted …

The Hartford Courant reports: A video on TikTok showing a woman shrieking and cursing at a man in a Berlin pizzeria has prompted a criminal investigation, with police saying the victim was a Navy sailor attacked for no apparent reason. At one point, the woman appears to slap the man — who is off camera — and yelling “this is …

NBC News reports: The United States has finished its evacuation efforts from Kabul’s airport, the Pentagon said Monday, effectively ending America’s longest war. As of early Monday, Western forces evacuated 1,200 people out of the Afghan capital on 26 military cargo aircraft flights in a 24-hour period, according to the latest figures from the White House. Since the mass evacuations …

The New York Times reports: The United States carried out a military strike in Kabul against a “credible” threat, two U.S. officials said, hours after President Biden warned that the U.S. military’s retaliatory strike Friday against the Islamic State’s Afghan affiliate would not be the last. A drone strike, in Nangarhar Province Friday near the Pakistan border, killed two members …

The Associated Press reports: President Joe Biden is embarking on a solemn journey Sunday to honor and mourn the 13 U.S. troops killed in the suicide attack near the Kabul airport as their remains return to U.S. soil from Afghanistan. Biden was traveling to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for a “dignified transfer” movement, a military ritual of receiving …

The New York Times reports: President Biden warned Saturday that another terrorist attack at the Kabul airport sometime in the coming days was “highly likely,” and he promised that the U.S. retaliatory strike for Thursday’s suicide attack would not be the last. The warning was yet another sign of the chaotic and dangerous situation as the U.S. tried to pull …