Tag Archives: military

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

The New York Times reports: The Philippines said Tuesday it had officially informed the United States that it was scrapping a military pact that has given the longtime American ally a security blanket for the past two decades. The notice to terminate the pact, the Visiting Forces Agreement, comes as President Rodrigo Duterte has warmed up to China while distancing …

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 …

NBC News reports: Richard Spencer, the Navy secretary fired from the Trump administration after he opposed the president’s intervention in the discipline of a SEAL accused of murder, will endorse Democrat Mike Bloomberg during an appearance with the candidate in Norfolk, Virginia, on Friday, according to the Bloomberg campaign. Spencer, who also briefly served as President Donald Trump’s acting defense …

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 …

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 …

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 & …

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 …

Another stunning excerpt from A Very Stable Genius: Trump by now was in one of his rages. He was so angry that he wasn’t taking many breaths. All morning, he had been coarse and cavalier, but the next several things he bellowed went beyond that description. They stunned nearly everyone in the room, and some vowed that they would never …

CNN reports: Several US service members were injured during last week’s Iranian missile attack on Al-Asad airbase in Iraq Pentagon. “While no U.S. service members were killed in the Jan. 8 Iranian attack on Al Asad Air base, several were treated for concussion symptoms from the blast and are still being assessed,” the US-led military coalition fighting ISIS in Iraq …

Roll Call reports: Defense Department brass are expected Wednesday afternoon to brief President Donald Trump on their plans for standing up a new military branch called the Space Force, and a Pentagon official said they may even present several logo options for the new armed service. The White House meeting is expected to include Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper, Air …

Via press release from Lambda Legal: Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld a lower court ruling in Roe & Voe v. Esper that halted efforts by the Trump administration to discharge members of the Air Force because they are living with HIV. The decision will allow two active-duty Airmen living with HIV, identified pseudonymously as …

The Associated Press reports: Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi has told the U.S. secretary of state to send a delegation to Iraq tasked with formulating the mechanism for the withdrawal of U.S troops from Iraq, according to a statement released Friday. The statement, from the office of the Iraqi caretaker prime minister, said the request came in a telephone call …

CNN reports: At least 10 rockets hit al-Asad airbase in Iraq, which houses US forces, a Sunni commander of the paramilitary forces in a nearby town told CNN. Qatri al-Obeidi, a commander in the nearby town of al-Baghdadi, said that the shelling has stopped for now. President Donald Trump visited the base in December 2018 to visit troops after Christmas. …

The Insider reports: The US is sending 3,500 Army paratroopers to the Middle East on a snap deployment as tensions with Iran soar, and they have been told to leave their cellphones and other personal electronic devices behind. “This is not a standard deployment,” Lt. Col. Mike Burns, a spokesman for the 82nd Airborne Division, said, telling Insider that the …