Military Times

The official in charge of tracking the Navy’s finances mocked the smell, weight and appearance of subordinates and made hiring decisions that appeared to show bias in favor of other African American women, a new report from the Pentagon’s top watchdog finds.The 42-page probe concludes that Donjette Gilmore, auditor general of the Navy Audit Service, made a habit of harassing and belittling subordinates, creating a hostile work environment and reducing some employees to tears. Of 27 witnesses int

U.S. Southern Command has activated Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere, a new operational headquarters the command says will synchronize U.S. military operations with allies and partners across the region, replacing Operation Southern Spear.Gen. Francis L. Donovan, commander of U.S. Southern Command, directed the activation Tuesday, describing Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere, or JTF-WHEM, as a purpose-built joint task force that will provide unified command and control at the tactical and o

The U.S. Air Force has committed $75 million to an initial production run of a jet-powered guided bomb that can fly more than 300 nautical miles, Boeing said Wednesday. Boeing’s BSU-111/B Payload Delivery Unit is a wing-and-turbojet engine kit that converts a 500-pound Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) into a long-range JDAM (JDAM LR) dubbed the GBU-75. The result is a gravity bomb with the reach of a cruise missile. Boeing said it has spent nearly $100 million of its own money on the program.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on The War Horse, an award-winning nonprofit news organization educating the public on military service. Subscribe to their newsletter.The fall lasted only seconds, but the consequences would span a lifetime. Under the cover of darkness in Balad, Iraq, Army Sgt. Will Fisher was moving into position for an overnight mission. He fell roughly 40 feet and landed on his feet while wearing about 100 pounds of gear. The force of the fall crushed the talus bone

Iran has made a concerted diplomatic push with Gulf states, warning them explicitly that Tehran will hit their oil, power and water plants unless they persuade Donald Trump to end U.S. strikes on Iran and instead seek a negotiated end to the war.The warning envisaged attacks on the energy facilities, oil fields, refineries, electricity grids, water infrastructure, transport networks and other strategic assets of Washington’s closest Arab allies, according to a senior Iranian official.The message

Eight months after her appointment as the Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Robotic and Autonomous Systems in December 2025, Rebecca J. Gassler was removed from the position on Wednesday, per a Navy release. In addition to the removal, the service announced the establishment of the Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager for Robotic and Autonomous Systems, aimed at correcting “years of fragmented requirements, resourcing, and acquisition practices that dispersed accountability, complicated industry

An Arizona lawmaker introduced a bill Thursday that would prevent veterans from being surprised when the Department of Veterans Affairs docks their disability payments to recoup military separation pay they received at the end of active-duty.Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., has proposed barring the VA from collecting voluntary or involuntary separation pay from veterans who are approved to receive disability compensation. The bill also would allow veterans who later qualify for military retirement p

The North Carolina National Guard settled a federal lawsuit with a former guardsman who alleged the service violated his First Amendment rights by blocking him on Facebook for criticizing its leadership.Under the settlement agreement, NCNG agreed to restore Timothy Stanhope’s access to its Facebook page and make reasonable efforts to unhide his comments.The agreement also requires the Guard to revise its Facebook moderation policy. It can no longer block users or remove, hide or filter comments

On July 9, the Army announced it was consolidating official social media accounts in the interest of improving information access while reducing operational risk. Nearly a month later, some military families say the changes have made it harder to find information about child care, community programs and installation services.Army Directive 2026-17, Optimizing Digital Media, required many subordinate units and installation organizations, including Army Community Service, Morale, Welfare and Recre

The potential cost of the Navy’s new nuclear-powered battleship procurement program is estimated to be an eyewatering $275 billion, with the first Trump-class battleship (BBG(X)) costing $23.4 billion, according to a Congressional Budget Office report published Wednesday.The Trump administration in December announced its intention to build a new class of large surface combatants, designated as the Trump-class guided missile battleship. If built, the 35,000-ton nuclear battleship, according to th

A defense technology company produced 3D-printed drones aboard a Navy ship at sea using a containerized microfactory, aiding the Navy in its pursuit of easily built autonomous technology that can quickly boost a warship’s weapons capacity.Firestorm Labs manufactured more than 1,000 parts and 12 of its proprietary 3D-printable first-person view Squall drones aboard the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Essex as it transited toward RIMPAC 2026 in Hawaii, according to a release.“Every part xCe

Decades in the making, the National Coast Guard Museum is set to open next summer on the banks of the Thames River in New London, Connecticut.The 80,000-square-foot museum will highlight the maritime service’s mission, history and accomplishment across three exhibit floors, interactive displays and experiences, featuring more than 5,000 photos and 600 artifacts, including an MH-60T Jayhawk helicopter and the Medal of Honor awarded to Signalman First Class Douglas Munro, the service’s sole recipi

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on The War Horse, an award-winning nonprofit news organization educating the public on military service. Subscribe to their newsletter.It was only a month after the roadside bombing. I was still in Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany, in June 2006, undergoing successive rounds of surgery. Rods protruded from my limbs, keeping the broken bones of my right forearm and left thigh immobile until the doctors could complete a series of bone grafts and

Through consistency and mental toughness, Michael Guzman, a Clermont, Florida, native, recently graduated from Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island after losing nearly 100 pounds.Pvt. Guzman had hoped to become a Marine since he was 5 years old, inspired by his uncle’s service. However, after graduating from high school, his weight reached nearly 270 pounds, making that dream feel out of reach.After praying for guidance, Guzman received a text message the following day from Staff Sgt. Luis C

Army soldiers for generations have guided horse-drawn caissons through Arlington National Cemetery as they escort the country’s fallen to their final resting place. Now, as the service overhauls the animals’ care, soldiers who care for the horses have a career classification of their own. The Army recently established the 08H Army Equestrian military occupational specialty and Staff Sgt. Shawn Tabor and Sgt. Daimien Copeland, both assigned to the Caisson Detachment at Joint Base Myer-Henderson H

Following the recent announcement that a Saildrone Voyager unmanned surface vehicle directly aided the U.S. Navy during a drug interdiction in the Caribbean that led to the seizure of more than $81 million worth of cocaine, the Navy has awarded the California-based company a $16.3 million task order to extend operations of the Voyager fleet in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, according to a recent release.The extension is in line with the Trump administration’s efforts to curb illicit narcotic

The U.S. Army is searching for a surface-to-air missile that can destroy small drones.The Next Generation C-sUAS Missile project comes as the U.S. and other nations are pursuing lasers, microwaves and other alternatives to kinetic anti-drone weapons, such as missiles and cannon, which are seen as too expensive and in short supply.The Army wants to quickly develop an “extended-range, quick-response missile to defeat Group 2 and Group 3 small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS) threats,” according to

Veterans of the Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard may be at higher risk for developing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) compared with veterans from other branches, according to research published in the journal Neurology.In a review of 9.9 million veterans in the VA medical system from 2000 to 2024, researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the Department of Veterans Affairs and elsewhere found that 14,419 patients had received an ALS diagnosis.In the group with ALS, 46% w

Since Aug. 11, 2025, nearly 9,700 National Guard troops from across the nation have been shipped into Washington, D.C., and put up in hotels in service of the “Make DC Safe and Beautiful” mission ordered by President Donald Trump.As the mission approaches the conclusion of its first year — with at least two more to go, unless the president says otherwise — its measure of success depends on whom you ask. In a round-table discussion with reporters Monday, Brig. Gen. Leland Blanchard, the D.C. Nati

Army officials said the Next Generation Command and Control, or NGC2, is “ready to scale” following an extensive prototyping phase that culminated at a joint force exercise at Fort Irwin, California, in July. Maj. Gen. Patrick Ellis, commanding general of the 4th Infantry Division, called the system “functional but not optimized” and said they will “spend the next year refining how we fight using the technology to share our lessons learned across the Army.”The Army had been scaling the NGC2 prot