The Defense Department has put out a solicitation for robot boats that are capable of launching small attack drones — with technology mature enough to be deployed to the field within 120 days.

The goal for the Suitable Warfighting Adaptive Payloads, or SWAP-USV, project is to find “mature, market-ready [unmanned surface vessels] fully integrated with two or more mature, market-ready aerial drones to detect, identify, track, and defeat hostile threats,” according to the Defense Innovation Unit solicitation. The call out set a response deadline of Aug. 10.

To make this happen, DIU created a year-long contest backed by $100 million in prize money. DIU wants to “partner with established maritime manufacturers, autonomy developers, sensor manufacturers, and UAS developers to execute a multi-phase Prize Challenge.”

The SWAP-USV project is billed as a solution to a problem that has also plagued missile and drone defense on land: the economics favor the offense.

“The cost-exchange ratio for detecting and neutralizing asymmetric maritime threats in contested environments is heavily skewed in favor of the adversary,” the DIU solicitation states. Nor can the U.S. military continue to rely “on exquisite, multi-million-dollar naval and aviation assets to intercept these inexpensive targets.”

The solicitation paints the picture of a drone boat that can carry, launch and control at least two small UAVs. The UAVs together should be capable of conducting kinetic strikes with a combined payload of at least 2 kilograms, or just over 4 pounds.

DIU wants a mix of recoverable and one-way attack drones that can patrol ocean, coastal and riverine waters, and loiter on station. The drones, according to the solicitation, should “support one or more operational effects, including ISR, comms relay, electronic warfare, payload delivery, or precision engagement of moving or stationary, as applicable, under operator command.”

The Pentagon also wants the system to be mobile enough to fit into a standard cargo container, on road trailers or on C-17 and C-130 transports.

“Solutions that can launch from unimproved locations or provide additional launch flexibility, i.e. remotely from a container, will be looked upon favorably,” DIU noted, adding that the UAVs should be “technically mature and have an established production line.”

Interestingly, among the maritime threats the DIU solicitation cites are “‘go-fast’ smuggling boats, and semi-submersibles.” Drug cartels have used semi-submersibles to transport contraband from South America to the U.S., and such pseudo-submarines are hard to detect.

The SWAP-USV project calls for robot craft capable of “autonomous surveillance and interdiction of defined maritime operating areas, maximizing operational coverage, probability of detection, interdiction effectiveness, and time on station while minimizing daily operating cost, logistics burden, and required personnel.”

The surveillance elements of the solicitation state that the drone boat must be able to “autonomously follow or shadow a vessel of interest, and autonomously intercept a noncooperative, maneuvering vessel. Autonomous execution of these functions is desired but not required.”

The SWAP-USV Challenge, meanwhile, comprises three “sprints,” or phases, each with separate prize money. To sweeten the pot further, companies that pass the test in each phase will be eligible for procurement contracts backed by a $200 million budget.

Sprint 1 calls for in-water testing in fall 2026, with a goal of deploying a system in the field within 120 days.

“Solutions must include a complete mission ready USV with integrated drone capability system available for testing and evaluation within 29 days of down-selection for Sprint 1,” the solicitation specified. There will be $40 million in prize money.

Sprint 2 will have a fall 2026 deadline and in-water testing in early 2027, with the focus on “expanded payloads, upgraded autonomy, and multi-vendor integrations.” The prize money for that timeframe will also be $40 million.

Sprint 3 will take submissions in early 2027, with in-water testing in summer 2027. The goals of this phase will be announced later, but there will be $20 million in prizes.

Companies must specify which phase they want to join. “The government reserves the right to assign applicants to [Sprint] cohorts based on technical and manufacturing maturity,” the solicitation noted.

Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby announced on X Tuesday that the Defense Department had “kicked off” the review Hegseth unveiled during the NATO defense ministerial in Brussels on June 18. Hegseth described the effort at the time as “a real review” of America’s force posture and basing in Europe.

Neither Hegseth’s announcement nor Colby’s statement announced troop reductions, unit movements or installation changes as part of the review. The Pentagon also has not said when the review’s recommendations will be released.

The review follows repeated calls by Trump administration officials for European allies to assume greater responsibility for NATO’s conventional defense as the administration reassesses U.S. force posture worldwide.

Hegseth said the review is expected to take up to six months, but it “could be less.” He shared that the review will include input from U.S. European Command as well as consultations with Congress and U.S. allies.

Colby said the review is designed to ensure NATO is “moving fast and irreversibly toward Europe taking primary responsibility for its conventional defense.” He explained the outcome of the review is intended to accelerate NATO’s transition to what he described as “a stronger, more equitable, and sustainable alliance.”

The Pentagon review aims to ensure U.S. force posture in Europe reflects the 2025 National Security Strategy and the 2026 National Defense Strategy. Colby said the department will develop a range of options based on “strategic rigor, a strong empirical baseline, and a clear sense of the geopolitical and military realities.”

Colby also said he looks forward to working closely with Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, on the review. He noted that the Defense Department plans to have “extensive consultations” with European allies, Congress and other parts of the U.S. government throughout the process.

New programs have launched at Naval Station Norfolk and the Hampton Roads area in Virginia, as well as at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. Programs launch within the next few weeks at installations in the San Diego, California, area and around Seattle and Tacoma, Washington.

The additions will bring the total number of installations served by MFAN’s Fresh Funds program to 17 across six states.

The other areas where the Fresh Funds program operates are Fort Hood and Fort Bliss, Texas, and Camp Lejeune, Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point and MCAS New River in North Carolina.

Families in the areas can request the assistance from MFAN directly through its website.

The program was established in response to MFAN’s research over the years that has found military families often face significant out-of-pocket costs when making permanent change of station moves, which can exacerbate financial problems. In the nonproit’s most recent survey, MFAN found that more than 40% of military family respondents reported low or very low food security.

MFAN’s recent research found that more than 60% of active-duty families who made moves in the past two years paid more than $1,000 out of pocket for expenses related to their move, over and above what the Defense Department pays to move them.

For example, during these relocations, families must replace food, cleaning supplies and other items they couldn’t bring from their previous locations.

MFAN is partnering with Instacart, an online grocery delivery and pickup service, and the program includes delivery of the items to the families.

“Meeting military families where they are — especially during the disruption of a relocation — requires partners like Instacart who share our commitment to making food easier to access,” said Shannon Razsadin, chief executive officer of MFAN, in a statement to Military Times. “Our research shows food insecurity remains a serious challenge for too many military families, and partnerships like this are an important part of the solution.”

How it works

The program starts with MFAN’s PCS Pantry Restock Box to newly arriving families who have signed up. Service members with at least one dependent are eligible, regardless of rank.

The box is stocked with pantry staples, cleaning supplies and paper goods and delivered to families’ homes. Those who need help with additional food can receive a one-time Fresh Funds code for a $125 grocery stipend, for up to three months, to order groceries and essentials through Instacart. The program doesn’t include military commissaries.

Instacart has partnered with MFAN since 2024, with more than 6,000 military families benefiting from the PCS Box program to date.

“Moving a family is difficult enough. We should make the transition as easy and seamless as possible for military families, and that starts with making sure there’s food in the fridge when they arrive,” said Casey Aden-Wansbury, vice president and head of global public policy at Instacart.

The contractor has faced setbacks in delivering two Air Force One aircraft for presidential use by its initial projected timeline due to a lack of properly cleared workers and supply chain issues, causing President Donald Trump to use a Qatari-donated jet in the interim.

Trump first traveled with the modified Qatari aircraft in early July, but just a couple weeks later, revealed that it would be “maxed out” for upgrades since the plane lacks necessary security features, like missile-defense capabilities, for a presidential aircraft.

The absence of the security features caused Trump to instead fly with an older Air Force One out of Turkey after the recent NATO Summit as tensions escalated with Iran.

Plans for the new Boeing VC-25Bs have been in effect for about a decade and were originally slated for 2024, but are now expected in 2028.

The contract was signed in 2018 with a fixed $3.9 billion price tag, but the delays have cost Boeing billions of dollars extra as the company rushes to deliver the jets to the executive airlift fleet alongside the VC-25A and C-32 fleets.

The company attributes the $280 million in second quarter losses on the VC-25B program to an investment in “additional production and certification resources,” per the earning report, but it still anticipates the first delivery to occur in 2028.

The added amount now has caused the entire project to cost over $3.1 billion, according to CNN reporting, but the contract’s ceiling has been altered to $4.5 billion to allow for other equipment.

Boeing’s total second quarter loss was $428 million, a stark increase from the $7 million loss reported in the first quarter.

With the acceptance of the 359th — and final — tiltrotor aircraft, the Marine Corps marked the end of the MV-22B Osprey program of record, a milestone that will now shift efforts towards “sustaining and modernizing the fleet for decades to come,” the V-22 Joint Program Office, which manages the Osprey program, said in a statement.

“The MV-22B ... fundamentally changed the way the Marine Air-Ground Task Force generates combat power,” Lt. Gen. William Swan, the Marine Corps’ deputy commandant for aviation, said in the statement. “It provides commanders with decision space that only speed and reach can provide, connecting ships, bases and distributed forces in ways previous generations could only imagine. Today, Marine commanders build operations around the assumption that the MV-22B will be there.”

Though the Navy and Air Force also use variants of the Osprey, the Marine Corps maintains the majority of the fleet.

The Corps intends to keep the Osprey operational through 2055 with efforts that include improving wiring, working towards pro-rotor gear boxes, standardizing the fleet and redesigning parts of the aircraft for better safety.

The aircraft has a history of safety issues and accidents that have led to the deaths of over 60 service members since 2000, according to prior Military Times reporting, and in 2023, the Defense Department grounded the aircraft after eight service members were killed when an Air Force Osprey crashed.

A 2025 government watchdog report found that the services had not appropriately shared information about Osprey issues amongst each other.

The Osprey was developed to reduce the gap between rotary-wing and fixed-wing aircraft. Since going operational in 2007, the platform has been involved in 114 deployments and flown more than 683,300 hours, according to the program’s office, which also said the Osprey represents three quarters of all Marine Corps rotary wing support.

The Osprey is produced jointly by Bell and Boeing and according to a Wednesday release from the companies, has been involved in various high-profile missions, including the ongoing Venezuela earthquake response, the 2022 earthquake response in Haiti, operations to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria, and the rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips in 2009 after his ship was hijacked by Somali pirates.

Any crackdown on mobile communications would add a new dimension to the conflict for the thousands of U.S. troops in the region, many of whom still rely on phones to periodically message loved ones and assure them they are well.

Adm. Brad Cooper, in a previously unreported letter, said Iran was benefiting from being able to see the success or failure of its strikes in near real-time by searching news reports or online posts by journalists referencing “reactions, photos, and footage from the cellphones of our troops.”

“The direct, unavoidable cost of this open-source intelligence could be measured in the lives of American service members and civilian residents in targeted Gulf countries,” Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, wrote in his July 28 letter, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.

He called on troops to “redouble our focus on operational security,” without prescribing specific steps in the memo.

The warning underscored the mounting tensions between real-time news reporting on the war, often aided by satellite imagery and first-person accounts, and the desire by the U.S. military to restrict any information that could aid Iran as it tries to kill and wound U.S. troops.

In Jordan, which has been a frequent target of Iranian strikes, some troops have been told their phones will be confiscated in the coming days, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

A third source said such a move was being considered in the region due to operational security concerns but did not present the confiscation as a certainty.

Asked for comment, U.S. Central Command spokesperson Captain Timothy Hawkins said: “The message is a general reminder to our service members on the importance of maintaining operational security. This is one of many opportunities Admiral Cooper has used to convey operational priorities.”

Running for shelter during Iran attack

In a video posted online this month, a U.S. service member recorded a video as soldiers ran for shelter during a deadly Iranian attack on the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan on July 17.

Cooper appeared to reference the footage in his letter, saying it had been recorded on Meta smart glasses with a built-in camera.

“Video captured from a service member’s Meta glasses was posted on Instagram showing where and how the individual had evacuated to a bunker during an Iranian missile and drone attack,” Cooper wrote.

Iran would normally have a tough time determining the success or failure of its strikes, were it not for such accounts, Cooper said, thanks to the U.S. military’s electronic jamming or other tactics used in war zones.

“Iran knows the weapons were fired; however, their forces do not know if they missed by 50 meters, hit an empty tarmac, or successfully struck a crowded facility,” he wrote. “Detailed lists, descriptions, and analyses of what was hit, openly published by news outlets are essentially performing Iran’s Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) for them, free of charge,” Cooper said.

Some 18 U.S. troops have died in the conflict with Iran that started on Feb. 28 and more than 600 have been wounded in the fighting, casualties that have deepened Americans’ concerns about a war that just one in three Americans support.

Democratic lawmakers have called for more information about the war, including details about damage to U.S. infrastructure on bases including radar towers, barracks and aircraft hangars. They have also called for the release of a U.S. military investigation into a likely U.S. strike on a girls’ school in Iran, first reported by Reuters, on the opening day of the war on Feb. 28.

Cell phones being taken?

Rules surrounding cell phone use for deployed troops can vary widely across the military, officials say. Many troops have to lock them away and cell phones can be banned on particularly sensitive missions by special operations forces, for example.

But the possible seizure of phones has stoked anxiety among some family members, already on edge in recent months as they read Iranian claims of deadly strikes on bases throughout the Middle East, two of the sources said.

U.S. officials have cautioned for years that certain applications on mobile devices, like fitness applications, can be exploited by adversaries to aid adversary targeting because of location data. Reuters reported in May that commercially available location data harvested from smartphones or other devices has been used to target or surveil U.S. forces.

At the same time, the Pentagon has sought to carefully control the release of information due to what it says are operational security concerns, often declining to comment on Iran’s attack claims or detail individual incidents that led to injuries of U.S. troops.

Cooper said details on strikes can help Iran mount follow-up attacks.

“Detailed public disclosures can become an immediate green light for Iranian forces to launch a secondary, much more devastating wave of attacks,” he said.

But that may not be a bad thing, according to an epidemiologist who coauthored the latest report.

The survey data, published in June in the Pentagon’s Medical Surveillance Monthly Report, shows that heatstroke cases are up from 471 to 518 from 2024 to 2025. It’s a significant climb from 2023, which had 407 heatstroke cases. While cases dropped slightly in 2022 and 2023 from 2021’s total of 459 cases, 2025 was the worst year for heatstroke since 2018. That year, which saw 578 heatstroke cases — an alarming peak for documented data — helped prompt the founding of the Army Heat Center and other structural changes to protect troops.

Last year’s reported heatstroke cases were also notable in that there was a steep increase in hospitalizations, both those reported by the Defense Department health system and those only reported at a later point by troops. Reported hospitalizations were up from 132 to 173; while those initially unreported were up from 198 to 228. The cases that received ambulatory care at the scene were down, from 141 to 117.

Dr. Alexis Maule, who works at the Defense Health Agency-Public Health Disease Epidemiology branch in Aberdeen, Maryland, said that the rise in hospitalizations might be interpreted as a positive trend. While the increase in heatstroke could be a sign, she said, that early signs of heat exhaustion are being missed in the field, it could also mean that dangerous symptoms are being flagged and diagnosed more consistently.

“There are two hallmark symptoms that distinguish heat stroke from heat exhaustion. Those are a core temperature equal to or above 104 degrees Fahrenheit, and a change in mental status, whether that be extreme confusion, delirium, and in some cases, loss of consciousness,” Maule told Military Times.

“So it’s possible that the increase in heat stroke identification is related to an increase in field medics or other medical providers in the field acquiring core temperatures prior to service members being seen by medical providers in a healthcare facility, or accurately assessing individuals’ changes in mental status and noting that prior to their transport to medical care,” she continued.

Total heat illness diagnoses saw a slight decline in 2025, with 2,751, down from 2,859 in 2024. The Marine Corps and Air Force saw steep reductions in heat exhaustion cases that appear to account for the difference. What’s less clear is whether any of the interventions the military has taken in recent years are having their desired effect.

The Army and Marine Corps in 2024 debuted the wearable Heat Illness Protection System, or HIPS, using the devices at specific training events and locations such as Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina, to monitor troops’ vitals and flag “wobbles” that could predict danger.

Earlier this year, Army Heat Center Director Lt. Col. Dave DeGroot said at a forum focused on heat injury prevention that the devices could detect heatstroke as much as 12 minutes sooner than conventional observation methods. But not every unit and formation is using the devices. It’s also likely that more years of data are needed to discern the impact of new prevention efforts.

To that end, the Marine Corps earlier this month released new interim guidance on heat and cold injury prevention that stressed data collection and rigorous reporting.

“We do see fluctuations in data every year, so that’s why it’s important to not only look at the current year that you’re reporting on,” Maule said.

“The reality is that the military has to continue to train warfighters in all environmental conditions, you know, 365 days a year, and the surveillance data tries to provide commanders with an objective and highly specific picture of the magnitude and severity of the threat of heat illness. And then we hope that leaders can deploy evidence-based prevention and mitigation strategies where they’re needed to preserve readiness, but without compromising training rigor,” she concluded.

Sometimes it changes the outcome of a battle. Sometimes it means the difference between life and death. Eisenhower credited his meteorologists as one reason the Allied invasion of Normandy succeeded. They gave him the information he needed to make a decision at a moment when weather meant the difference between victory and defeat.

This underpins a simple reality: Weather does not accommodate the mission. The mission accommodates the weather.

That is why the Pentagon should be paying attention to the El Nino forecast now. Whatever one’s views on long-term climate trends, the military still has to operate in the weather it actually experiences. And the weather forecast for the second half of 2026 is giving the Department of Defense something commanders rarely get before disruption arrives: months of notice.

On June 12, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) declared that El Nino had formed, and current forecasts suggest it may become a very strong event by fall or winter, one of the strongest in the modern record.

That means significant warming of the Pacific Ocean will influence the broad weather patterns we experience through the rest of the year. It cannot tell us when and where extreme weather will hit, but it is a significant threat indicator.

NOAA is forecasting a below-normal Atlantic hurricane season. At the same time, El Nino conditions tend to shift typhoon activity eastward in the Pacific, toward Guam and the Marianas.

The region’s exposure is not hypothetical. This year, Guam and the Northern Marianas have already been hit by two major typhoons. Typhoon Sinlaku brought widespread blackouts, flooding, and infrastructure damage in April. Super Typhoon Bavi followed in July, its eye passing over Rota, leaving severe outages and flooded roads on Guam and Saipan while thousands were still recovering from the first storm.

Whatever the forecast holds, these storms are a reminder of what installations in the region face. The El Nino outlook says: Be ready for more.

The Pacific is not the only concern. El Nino is also expected to reshape weather across the United States as the year progresses, especially this winter.

NOAA’s historical outlooks associate El Nino with a stronger southern storm track: wetter conditions across the southern tier of the country; a greater risk of heavy rain and flooding in parts of California, the Gulf Coast and the Southeast; and a generally warmer northern tier.

For the military, that is not an academic forecast. It means installations across the South and Southwest may have to contend with more flooding, more drainage and access problems and more interruptions to training and maintenance, just as they are already operating through a punishing summer.

Heat stress remains part of the story as well.

Training bases in the South already face more days above safe thresholds for strenuous outdoor activity. El Nino will not create that problem, but it arrives on top of it, extending a year in which commanders may have to manage both the immediate effects of extreme heat and the prospect of a wetter, stormier winter ahead.

Years ago, after Hurricane Michael devastated Tyndall Air Force Base in 2018, I asked the base commander what he would have done if he had six months’ warning that the storm was coming. His answer was revealing. He did not begin with a five-year military construction plan or a new regulatory framework. He talked about operations. He would have done more hurricane drills. He would have made sure his people knew what to do. He would have prepared the force to absorb the shock.

That is the right way to think about this El Nino forecast. Six months of warning is not enough time to redesign a vulnerable installation. It is enough time to prepare to operate through disruption.

For commanders and installation leaders, that preparation is not mysterious. It means testing continuity plans and making sure the mission-essential functions of a base can continue if normal operations are interrupted. It means checking backup power, fuel, water, communications, drainage and access routes before a storm or heat emergency exposes the weakness for you. It means revisiting training calendars and work-rest cycles in places where extreme heat is increasingly likely to interfere with readiness. And it means asking the basic operational question: If a storm takes this installation offline for a week, what absolutely has to keep functioning?

The larger lesson is not limited to this one forecast.

El Nino will pass, but the baseline it returns to is not the baseline of thirty years ago. Each of these events now arrives atop a warmer ocean atmosphere, which means the same seasonal pattern delivers more water, more heat and stronger storms than its predecessors did. That is not a policy argument; it is an input to planning.

Another seasonal forecast will take this one’s place. Another storm season will come. Another heat wave will test the assumptions built into training schedules and installation operations. The military does not have the luxury of ignoring those warnings because they arrive under the label of “weather” rather than “war.” The weather is part of the operating environment. It always has been.

The Pentagon cannot control the weather, but it can use the intelligence it has been given. El Nino is a threat warning. The military should treat it like one.

John Conger served as the U.S. principal deputy under secretary of defense (comptroller) from December 2015 to January 2017.

Joint Base Charleston, housed in North Charleston, South Carolina, is slated to be renamed after Graham, a U.S. Air Force official told Military Times.

Graham spent 33 years in the Air Force as an active-duty staff judge advocate, a South Carolina Air National Guard officer and a senior lawyer in the Air Force Reserve.

He died unexpectedly from an aortic dissection at the age of 71.

Graham was born in Central, South Carolina, and was elected to the House of Representatives in 1994 and the Senate in 2002.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted Monday on social media about the base’s renaming. She did not provide further details, only linking a story by The Post and Courier, which first reported on the news.

The South Carolina newspaper reported that a Monday memo, signed by Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink, directed staff to begin working with Air Mobility Command and Joint Base Charleston to rename the base to Joint Base Lindsey Graham, citing his “decades of distinguished service to the United States Congress and the United States Air Force.”

The Air Force official who spoke to Military Times confirmed that Meink signed a memo initiating steps to rename the base.

“Today’s announcement to rename Joint Base Charleston in honor of Senator Lindsey Graham is a fitting tribute to a man who dedicated his life to serving our nation and state,” Alan Wilson, South Carolina’s attorney general and Republican nominee for governor, said on social media.

Graham, who was chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, spearheaded efforts to support military funding. In particular, for the Charleston base, he assisted in securing $212 million in funding given to the Coast Guard for enhanced readiness.

Prior to his death, he commemorated the funding, calling it “welcome news.” The Coast Guard is set to use the funds to improve the installation’s pier infrastructure and construct a new medical and dental facility, in addition to other projects.

The news of the base’s renaming comes as lawmakers gathered on Capitol Hill on Tuesday for a memorial service for Graham. Afterward, his casket was moved to the Washington National Cathedral, where President Donald Trump gave remarks at a larger service Tuesday afternoon.

JB Charleston primarily houses the 628th Air Base Wing, 437th Airlift Wing and the reserve 315th Airlift Wing. It has a total force of over 90,000 airmen, sailors, soldiers, marines, coast guardsmen, civilians and retirees across four installations. The flying units are tasked with managing the base’s C-17 cargo fleet.

Think of it as “using AI to navigate your next mission,” Easterly said in a June 29 podcast of the Army’s Transition Assistance Program. Troops can feed information from the DD-214, the record of military service, into AI — minus the Social Security number and other identifiers — and give it prompts to decipher what jobs might be suitable, how much those jobs pay and what the chances might be for getting hired, he added.

In the process, transitioning soldiers should ditch the mindset that AI is a job-killing obstacle to overcome and instead think of it as a tool “that can support your transition,” said Easterly, director of the Plans, Analysis and Integration Office at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.

About 200,000 service members — 100,000 from the Army alone — leave the military each year, and this year they are entering a jobs market in flux, with the long-term effects of AI anybody’s guess. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 57,000 jobs were created in June, about half of what Wall Street analysts had expected in the current low-hire, low fire jobs market.

The impact of AI, which some have compared to the vast societal changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution, hasn’t yet produced the job apocalypse feared by many, but in May U.S employers cut 97,006 jobs, an increase of 16% over the 83,387 jobs cut in April, according to a report from the global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

The report showed that “AI is now the leading reason companies give for cutting jobs and the primary industry citing it is technology,” Andy Challenger, chief revenue officer for the Challenger firm, said in the report. “The open question isn’t whether AI changes the workforce, but how fast.”

The AI issue will become all too real in a few days for Navy Lt. Cmdr. Alvin Carr, 34, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, when he leaves the military at the end of July after 13 years in the sea service, mostly in human resources.

“I think I definitely saw that AI was a tool that was being widely adopted” by employers in their recruiting and screening efforts, Carr said in a phone interview with Military Times, but “I don’t think I had the awareness of the impact of AI on the job market that I have now.”

“I heard it’s going to be a tough,” Carr added, noting that he was still confident that “I shouldn’t have to struggle too much,” given his degree from Annapolis and the masters in business administration he earned during his time in service.

Carr is one of the transitioning service members who has sought the help of career “coaches” at the Wounded Warrior Project, where Lesly Marmolejos is a career transition manager for WWP’s Warriors to Work program.

Her first task in meeting with newcomers to the program is to disabuse them of what they think they already know about AI.

“If you tell me you’re an expert in AI, I know you’re lying,” Marmolejos said in a phone interview with Military Times.

As a “coach,” Marmolejos said one of the first things she tells transitioning troops is that there’s “not any type of certification you can get in AI. Well, there is, but it would be irrelevant in a month.”

Despite all the emphasis on being tech proficient, “I still very much believe that the human side of the hiring process is very important,” she said. “The feedback that I’m getting is that while we have to learn how to use AI as part of the employment process, we still matter. If you talk to a [jobs] recruiter, they’ll say the same thing.”

Networking is still a major component of the job search, Marmolejos added, and “we still encourage [service members] to go to job fairs. Who you know matters, and who can give you a referral still matters. I don’t think [AI is] the big bad wolf everyone’s making it out to be.”

In a separate phone interview with Military Times, Jacob Mousseau, a former Army sergeant and a coaching colleague of Marmolejos at WWP, said, “New people need to get over their fear” of AI and stop doomscrolling on how AI is going to make humans in the workforce obsolete.

Mousseau echoed Marmolejos in stressing the importance of networking, calling it “critical this year more than ever.”

He has developed his own five-step strategy for assisting transitioning service members in their job search, beginning with career exploration by using AI to turn “an assessment into a personalized roadmap — realistic pathways, salary ranges, target organizations, a 30-day plan to explore before committing.“

“I use it to build deep, individualized guides for warriors,” Mousseau added, “and I teach them to run a lighter version themselves so they can keep exploring on their own.”

Another perspective was offered by Ben Dufay, a veteran of both the Army and Navy who now is director of career preparation and training at the D’Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University.

“We’re transitioning into an environment where even people in the environment don’t know what’s going on,” Dufay said of the impact of AI on employers as well as job seekers. “Everybody knows somebody who’s been laid off. Employers don’t know what they want out of AI. It is disrupting stuff. ... Transition has always been something of a guessing game. That hasn’t changed.”

AI’s impact has only added to the traditional list of questions transitioning service members have, he noted.

“I don’t know what AI is. How does it help me?” Dufay stated, citing common questions. “How can I use it to assist me? What’s going to get me into an interview? How do you continue to engage with it, leverage it?”

Transitioning service members will also be facing a jobs market where an employer will occasionally decide that going with AI for a certain task was the wrong move, as happened with the Ford Motor Co. last month.

In a June 29 press call, Charles Poon, Ford’s vice president of Vehicle Hardware Engineering, said that AI had botched the job of quality control.

Poon called for about 300-350 engineers to be hired to clean up the mess.

“Mistakenly, we thought that by just introducing artificial intelligence and ingesting the design requirements that we had, that that would produce a high-quality product,” Poon said.

The defense company’s first YFQ-44A was built in its Pickaway County, Ohio, manufacturing facility, dubbed Arsenal-1, according to a social media post. Anduril first announced the facility’s construction in January 2025 and slated its first products manufacturing to begin July 2026.

In January 2026, Anduril declared that its first product would be the YFQ-44A, a missionized variant of the company’s FQ-44, or “Fury,” autonomous fighter jet, for the U.S. Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program.

The $1 billion, 5 million-square-foot facility is located near Rickenbacker International Airport and plans to add 4,000 jobs to the area.

The aircraft’s production comes two weeks after the Air Force conducted its first-ever live-fire test with its CCA. The YFQ-44A executed an end-to-end, beyond-line-of-sight strike against a simulated target using an inert AIM-120, which is an advanced medium-range air-to-air missile.

As Anduril announced the aircraft’s production, the Air Force also revealed on Monday the completion of a recent Agile Combat Employment exercise that showcased CCA operations at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada.

“Air superiority in today’s increasingly contested environments requires the rapid fielding of affordable mass,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ken Wilsbach said in the release. “CCA are essential to this effort. By integrating uncrewed systems to fly alongside our Airmen, we extend reach and increase lethality.”

The multi-day exercise was conducted by the CCA Experimental Operations Unit and was meant to build foundational tactics, techniques and procedures that will shape how the aircraft are integrated into the force, the release says.

The EOU completed multiple sorties, integrated with manned platforms in the local airspace and simulated scenarios.

“Our test teams can continuously use these warfighter-run exercises to gather and analyze data that aids in informed CCA fielding decisions well ahead of the normal process to deliver combat capability when needed by our Air Force and the Nation,” said Brig. Gen. Jesse Friedel, Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center commander, whose team members observed the event.

Air Force officials have continuously asserted that any decision to deploy munitions still lies in the human operator’s hands, as they have control and command of the platform at all times, even though the aircraft are unmanned and semi-autonomous.

In a recent roundtable, former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said that building trust between human operators and autonomous systems begins with computerized, man-in-the-loop simulations and training exercises, such as Red Flag at Nellis.

The Air Force awarded the CCA contracts last month to Anduril and General Atomics for their YFQ-44A and YFQ-42A, respectively.

The service has eyed 100 to 150 aircraft in its program’s first increment, with a longer-term goal of fielding 1,000 CCAs.

Anduril had not yet announced Tuesday the number of YFQ-44As the facility will produce, but the production line has the capacity to build 150 each year.

No casualties were reported and the evacuation notice for residents was lifted after about half an hour, as South Korean fire authorities and U.S. forces carried out decontamination work, Yonhap news agency reported.

“At 1708 (0808 GMT), due to a ground mishap and out of an abundance of caution, Osan AB (Air Base) established a 1,000-foot safety cordon to protect base and local populace,” the base said in a statement.

“Our emergency response professionals are currently managing an isolated situation on the installation. We are handling this matter with the utmost care and expediency.”

A spokesperson for the air base said there was a munitions-related accident and it was assessing the situation, in response to a request to confirm the nature of the leak.

White phosphorus is a highly toxic substance that can ignite on contact with air and is used in battlefield smoke screens and incendiary weapons.

The United States recorded at least 17 life-threatening casualties during the first phase of the war with Iran, according to newly obtained Defense Department records that provide the most detailed accounting yet of troops wounded in the conflict. More than 400 casualties were recorded between Feb. 28 and April 8, with Army personnel accounting for most of the casualties.

The data obtained by The War Horse details the specifics of troop injuries from the beginning of the war until the second week of April, when the United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire. Although U.S. military operations continued in the region and several more troops were wounded, hostilities remained subdued until earlier this month, when President Donald Trump declared the truce over on July 8.

The records, obtained by The War Horse through a Freedom of Information Act request, include service members’ branch, rank, injury type, and the date they were wounded. Each record accounts for an individual casualty incident, not a person, according to the DoD FOIA Analyst who processed the request, meaning that one person may have been injured multiple times.

More than 270 of the roughly 400 casualties were Army soldiers, and about one-third of those were reservists. Enlisted soldiers accounted for most Army casualties, including 57 sergeants and 53 specialists. But also wounded were 64 Army officers, including 20 captains, and 13 lieutenant colonels or colonels.

Head trauma, shrapnel, smoke: wounds of the Iran war

The U.S. military logged more than 400 casualties from the beginning of the conflict in late February through early April.

That level of detail is absent from public reporting in the Defense Casualty Analysis System, which provides monthly totals for the conflict with limited demographic data. Until now, those sparse updates were the only public statistical accounting of the war’s toll on U.S. troops.

“When you look at most of our wars, the Army does the vast majority of the fighting and dying,” said John McManus, a professor and military historian at Missouri University of Science and Technology.

While McManus said it is typical for more troops to be wounded than killed in modern warfare, the ratio in this conflict is particularly high.

The Navy reported 64 casualties, none of whom were classified as seriously injured. The Air Force recorded 51 casualties, and the Marine Corps recorded 19. Unlike the Army, the other branches did not list the type or cause of injury.

U.S. Central Command, which oversees forces in the Middle East region, did not respond to multiple phone calls and emails from The War Horse requesting comment.

‘We broke all the tactical level rules’

The data obtained by The War Horse provides new details about the aftermath of several Iranian attacks, including some that had not been previously reported.

U.S. troops suffered shrapnel wounds, broken bones, smoke inhalation, and other injuries. But one category appeared far more often than any other: head trauma.

At least 170 troops sustained head trauma between the start of the war to early April, according to the data.

One of them was an Army colonel who was sitting at a desk in an operations center in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, on March 1 when an Iranian drone slammed into the building. The strike killed six U.S. service members in what remains the deadliest attack of the war.

“Everybody inside the building was in a concussive blast,” said the colonel. The officer requested anonymity since they did not want members of their unit to face reprisal.

Two generals — later identified as Brig. Gen. Clint Barnes and Maj. Gen. Brad Hinson — also sustained head trauma that day, according to the data. General officers are rarely wounded in modern combat. The two senior officers have been criticized since then for ignoring intelligence warnings and abandoning their troops during the attack.

“We broke all the tactical-level rules,” the colonel said.

Days after the deadly attack in Kuwait, on March 3, as many news outlets were focused on drones striking the U.S. consulate in Dubai, 29 casualties were recorded in what the Pentagon classified as “enemy attack,” including one who was seriously injured. The military classifies an injury as serious when medical attention is required and death is “possible but not likely to occur within 72 hours.”

Central Command did not issue a press release or announce a large number of troops wounded in a single day. The next day, however, Central Command assured the public that the Iranian regime’s ballistic missile capabilities were “decimated.” Yet in the following weeks, roughly 200 more casualties occurred, some of them severe.

Two weeks later, on March 18, a total of 70 casualties occurred, according to the data. This large number of casualties for a single day was never reported by the Pentagon, which currently only provides public statistics of casualties by month. While more than two dozen were classified as “enemy attack,” the data on the rest of the injuries is missing. This occurred about 24 hours after a U.S.-Israeli air strike killed Ali Larijani, one of the most powerful figures in Iranian politics.

Hundreds of troops suffering from head trauma

A large portion of the wounded suffering from head trauma has led some military health experts to worry that traumatic brain injuries — caused by damage to the brain that can impact thinking, movement and emotion — could become the signature injury of this war, as in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Most traumatic brain injuries sustained in the military can be classified as mild, said Michael McCrea, a neuropsychologist who studies traumatic brain injury at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

“That means there was no evidence of structural brain damage on brain imaging studies,” he said. “And the overwhelming majority of those individuals go on to have a complete recovery over a relatively short period of time.”

But even “mild” injuries can have long-term consequences, since the effects of a traumatic brain injury may not become apparent for weeks or even months.

“Many times when we think that there’s a relatively minor event, it turns out to be much more catastrophic than we ever thought it would be,” said retired Army Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker, an expert on military traumatic brain injury who served as Army surgeon general prior to his retirement in 2012. “Down the road, there may be decrements in cognition and memory and balance.”

Schoomaker described possible long-term issues with headaches, speech, language, and more.

“Remember, this thing that is lying between our ears is the most complex computer anyone has ever seen or studied,” he said.

The army colonel wounded at Port Shuaiba knows that firsthand. Since the attack, the colonel has experienced persistent headaches, vision problems, and other symptoms. Now, as a new wave of U.S. strikes against Tehran exposes additional American troops to Iranian counterattacks, the officer is watching closely.

“The Iran War’s kicking off again,” the colonel said in mid-July. “There’s gonna be more.”

By the end of July, more than 200 additional casualties had been added to a new table in the DoD casualties database, classified only as “Overseas Operations,” and four more had been killed.

Suicidal thoughts among U.S. veterans have risen nearly 50% in the past five years, but the frequency of suicide planning and attempts remained relatively stable, according to a new study based on a survey of 2,636 veterans.

Researchers from the Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Center for PTSD and the Yale School of Medicine analyzed data from the 2025-26 National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study and found that 13.4% of veterans reported suicidal thoughts in the previous two weeks, compared with 9% in the 2019-2020 survey.

The analysis found that rates of suicide planning and attempts remained unchanged in the same time frame, but for certain groups — particularly younger veterans and women — rates were higher for thoughts, planning and attempts over the five years.

Ian Fischer, the study’s lead author and a clinical psychologist at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System, said the research was needed to understand the changing veteran population and potential shifts in suicidal thoughts and behaviors that can drive suicide prevention efforts.

“The veteran population has become younger, and there have been increases in the proportion of women veterans and shifts in its racial and ethnic composition over the past five years, making it essential to monitor changes in suicidal thoughts and behaviors and identify the veterans who may benefit most from prevention and early intervention,” Fischer said Tuesday in a Yale press release.

More than 6,000 veterans have died each year by suicide since 2001. In 2024 — the most recent year for accurate nationwide data, 6,398 veterans died by suicide. Veterans ages 18 to 34 and those experiencing homelessness or health issues were at higher risk.

According to the VA, the suicide rates among veterans are 60% higher than the national average, with suicide the second leading cause of death among veterans under age 45.

The VA has invested millions in suicide prevention and teamed with community partners, providing grants and support to address suicide among former service members. It recently has focused on encouraging veterans to enroll in VA medical services, citing evidence that patients who receive health care at the VA have lower rates of suicide and suicide attempts.

The study, published July 20 in JAMA Network Open, showed that veterans who use the VA for primary health care were twice as likely to have received mental health treatment at some point in their lives. More than half of those who said they used VA health care services were actively enrolled in mental health care.

The survey also found that fewer than 37% of veterans who reported having suicidal thoughts in the previous two weeks were receiving mental health care.

“These findings suggest that the VA is playing an important role in connecting veterans at elevated suicide risk with mental healthcare,” said Brandon Nichter, a visiting scholar in Yale’s Department of Psychiatry and study coauthor, in a release.

“At the same time, many veterans with recent suicidal thoughts are still not engaged in treatment. Expanding outreach and reducing barriers to care across both VA and community health systems will be essential to reaching these individuals,” Nichter said.

According to the study, younger veterans remain at higher risk for suicide, possibly because post 9/11 veterans experienced of “elevated trauma exposure” during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Researchers noted that service-era comparisons are complicated by generational differences and “survivorship bias,” meaning older veterans may appear less likely to experience suicide behavior because younger veterans at highest risk are less likely to survive into old age.

According to the survey, woman veterans had higher odds of suicide planning and attempts, while VA national data shows that male veterans die by suicide at higher rates.

Risk factors for suicide attempts include major depression, alcohol use and adverse childhood experiences that preceded military service, according to the study, and risk factors for suicidal thoughts and planning included PTSD, major depressive disorder and adverse childhood experiences.

The authors cautioned that the study relied on self-reported data, and veterans may have been reluctant to disclose suicidal thoughts or attempts. Those surveyed also were a recruited group and did not include incarcerated or institutionalized veterans or other unique veteran subsets, meaning the sample was not fully representative of the U.S. veteran population.

Based on the survey results, researchers estimated that between 2.3 million and 2.4 million of the nation’s roughly 16 million veterans experienced suicidal thoughts within the study’s measured time frame. They also estimated that about 1.4 million veterans had planned suicide at some point and around 830,000 had attempted during their lifetimes.

The researchers said they hoped information contained in the study will be used for improving prevention efforts, intervention and treatment.

“Targeting key risk factors in vulnerable sub-populations may help mitigate suicide risk,” they wrote.

But this time, the Pentagon is in a hurry. The Iran war has exposed the problem of relying on costly long-range missiles such as the Tomahawk. To remedy that, DoD is putting out a call for long-range, autonomously guided Ground-Based Affordable Mass, or GBAM, weapons that cost less than $250,000 apiece.

The Pentagon also wants the GBAM munitions to be ready for demonstration within three months, and full-scale production within 18 months.

The goal of the GBAM initiative is to supplement expensive smart munitions with “affordable, scalable long-range effects, and “enable commanders to service a broader target set, preserve exquisite munitions for their intended purpose, and sustain operational tempo throughout a prolonged conflict.”

To facilitate that, the Defense Innovation Unit has created the GBAM Challenge. Contestants will pitch ideas in the form of a pitch deck or white paper, with a deadline of Aug. 5.

Winning teams will be invited to a Phase II flight demonstration at a government test site in early November, where they will give a 30-minute presentation — and get a $250,000 cash prize.

The top Phase II contenders may receive up to $5 million “to immediately deliver operational test quantities to units.” They may also be eligible for other funds, including Prototype Other Transaction agreements, follow-on production contracts and Small Business Innovation Research awards.

“In total, the government has budgeted up to $250 million to support prize execution and follow-on transition activities associated with this effort,” DIU pointed out.

However, grabbing that pot of gold will require much work. For starters, the timeline is tight. The Pentagon wants “mature, affordable, long-range precision strike systems that can be demonstrated within 60 to 90 days, certified, and scaled into production within 12 to 18 months.”

DIU doesn’t specify whether GBAM will be a missile or a drone, though it does say GBAM will be “aligned with the Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager for Unmanned Systems (DRPM-UxS) mandate to field low-cost autonomous capabilities at scale.”

Either way, the U.S. military wants a “favorable cost-per-effect at operationally relevant ranges while minimizing the logistical, training, and sustainment burden on employing units.” This means a ground-launched weapon with a range of at least 600 nautical miles, and a minimum payload of 35 pounds while ideally allowing for 100 pounds.

It should have automatic target recognition and autonomous terminal guidance, and be “ideally mission-proven” to function in jamming and GPS-denied environments. This includes “Alternative Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) or redundant navigation capabilities suitable for GPS/GNSS-denied operations in maritime and other ‘feature-poor’ environments.”

DIU is also looking for a weapon that doesn’t require any proprietary launch equipment, with “remote and low-signature launch methods strongly preferred.”

Companies should have an “existing production capacity or credible path to producing 100+ systems monthly.” And with a price tag of “cost-per-effect below $500,000 based on system reliability and mission success rate, with a sub-$250,000 all-up flyaway cost at scale.”

In addition to GBAM, the U.S. military is pursuing other strike weapons that don’t cost as much as traditional missiles, and can be mass produced as needed. They include the Family of Affordable Mass Missiles, or FAMM-BAR, program to launch cruise missiles from cargo planes, as well as the Low-Cost Containerized Missiles hypersonic weapons program.

In its updated accounting method, the Defense Casualty Analysis System’s category labeled “Overseas Operations (OO) Casualty Summary” lists U.S. casualties suffered in the conflict since July 7 — effectively removing the totals from those associated with Operation Epic Fury.

The new page comes in the wake of criticism that the Pentagon had dropped the number of U.S. troops killed and wounded in the war with Iran.

On July 17 three U.S. service members were killed when an Iranian missile hit their sleeping barracks at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan. The fourth death occurred two days later in a separate incident in Erbil, Iraq, during a controlled detonation of an attack drone.

The Pentagon initially updated its system to 18 killed before lowering that number to 14 once again.

On July 23, Sean Parnell, the chief Pentagon spokesman, refuted a New York Times article on the lowering of the KIA number, writing on X that “Our Pentagon Press Office gave the New York Times a courtesy off-the-record phone call explaining in detail that the site errors on the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) were due to a temporary data disruption. Our team explained we are working on it being resolved in coordination with the Military Services.”

Under the “overseas operations” system, the Pentagon reports that 207 U.S. service members have been wounded in action. It lists 417 wounded during Operation Epic Fury. Combined, the two categories account for 624 wounded service members. The total number listed as killed is 18.

The post-July 7 tally comes one day prior to the collapse of the tenuous June ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Iran, resulting in U.S. Central Command delivering 13 continuous nightly strikes against the Middle East nation.

The collapse of the ceasefire, the Trump administration argued, restarted the 60-day clock that allows the president to use military force without congressional approval.

The new accounting system is in line with President Donald Trump’s assertion that the latest escalation between the U.S. and Iran is part of a new conflict with the Islamic Republic, not a continuation of the one that began in February.

On July 10, the president formally notified Congress that hostilities with Iran had resumed, a position that administration officials contend allows them to bypass the War Powers Resolution and restart the clock again on the war.

In April, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth controversially claimed that the ceasefire with Iran meant that Trump did not yet have to seek congressional consent to extend the war.

Hegseth argued that the pause in hostilities froze the ticking clock that would otherwise require the president either to get agreement from lawmakers or to end military operations after 60 days.

“We are in a ceasefire right now, which [in] our understanding means the 60-day clock pauses, or stops,” Hegseth told Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

“I do not believe the statute would support that,” Kaine said, adding that he has “serious constitutional concerns and we don’t want to layer those with additional statutory concerns.”

Congress has not technically declared war since World War II, and yet more than 100,000 service members have died in conflicts spanning the globe since 1945.

Active-duty airmen have a deadline of Friday, July 31, to submit their waist-to-height ratios into myBodyComp unless medically except from that component of the Physical Fitness Readiness Assessment, the service announced two weeks ago, and reservists have until Aug. 31.

Recently, myBodyComp officially launched for airmen to input their ratios, but the measurement is not part of the assessment and will not affect fitness scores, test currency or other personnel actions, according to a release.

The service describes the requirement as a “one-time biometric data collection” that sets a baseline for the modernized Physical Fitness Readiness Program, which took effect July 1.

The move to modernize the program comes as the Air Force reinforces its fitness, dress and appearance standards in an effort to boost readiness and long-term health, especially as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pushes for more rigorous grooming and fitness standards across the military services.

“This update is not just about increasing the physical fitness test standards; it’s about ensuring our warfighters are fit, ready, and prioritizing their long-term health,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ken Wilsbach said in a February memo on the modernization efforts.

If an airman completed a measurement during the diagnostic period of March 1 through June 30 and retained the assessment as official, then they do not have to reassess, as those measurements carry over automatically, per the recent statement.

Airmen whose scores were eliminated or have no score entered since March 1 must complete a new measurement before the deadline.

Those airmen not required to complete the measurement include members with a full medical exemption, a pregnancy or postpartum exemption or a composite exemption aligned with an approved retirement or separation within 12 months.

Airmen with partial exemptions for individual fitness components, like the run or push-ups, are not exempt from the waist-to-height ratio measurements unless a medical provider says otherwise, the announcement says.

Air Force Reserve wing and installation commanders will oversee the implementation of the requirements within their organizations. Reservists in a qualified duty status must meet the requirement, as well as those performing regularly scheduled drill or unit training assembly in July or August.

In May 2026, South Carolina enacted Act 186 with overwhelming bipartisan support. Under an Americans with Disabilities Act framework, the law guarantees that autistic children can receive medically necessary behavioral health support, specifically Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy, inside public-school classrooms.

It was designed to ensure that no child must forfeit their public education to access required medical care.

Yet, active-duty military families stationed at Joint Base Charleston and across the state are being stripped of this protection.

The Defense Health Agency (DHA), operating through TRICARE’s Autism Care Demonstration (ACD), continues to enforce a rigid “School Exclusion” rule.

Under this administrative posture, TRICARE completely cuts off provider reimbursement the moment a behavior technician steps onto public school property. While civilian families with commercial insurance benefit from state law protections, military families face an impossible ultimatum: Either pull their children out of public school to maintain therapy in a clinical setting or drop medically necessary care so their children can attend school alongside their peers.

The operational cost of this bureaucratic conflict is staggering.

Summer 2026 field survey data from The Military Family Advocacy Group reveals that 100% of surveyed active-duty, mid-career operators navigating these TRICARE autism denials are actively planning early separation from military service.

When a specialized EOD technician or fighter pilot is consumed by an exhausting administrative war at home just to secure standard healthcare for their child, mission focus fractures and unit lethality suffers. The military spends millions of dollars and years of specialized training to build these operators, only to lose them over a TRICARE setting restriction.

Adding insult to injury is the financial cost-shift onto local taxpayers.

Denied in-school coverage by TRICARE, 80% of surveyed military families have been forced to enroll their dependents onto state-funded Medicaid waivers to cover essential care. This shifts an estimated $6,383 annual net tax burden per child directly onto South Carolina taxpayers for care that a federal defense program should be providing.

This systemic breakdown is not inevitable; it is the result of administrative intransigence.

In 2025, a comprehensive report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) recommended that the Defense Health Agency discontinue the 12-year ACD “demonstration” status, authorize ABA as a standard TRICARE Basic benefit, remove arbitrary setting exclusions and eliminate onerous assessment mandates.

Because the Defense Health Agency has repeatedly failed to self-correct or adopt these independent scientific recommendations, Congress must step in.

As lawmakers finalize the fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, they must include statutory language that legally compels the secretary of defense to terminate the ACD demonstration status, align TRICARE with NASEM standards and prohibit the Defense Health Agency from restricting medically necessary care based on geographic or educational settings.

South Carolina has done its part to protect military children. It is now time for federal lawmakers to enforce those protections, end the school exclusion rule and preserve the readiness of our total force.

Mariah Wilkins is the executive director and principal policy advisor of The Military Family Advocacy Group.

Around 5,200 Army, Navy and Air Force enlisted students assigned to the Medical Education and Training Campus, or METC, at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston are being moved to on-base temporary housing, the San Antonio Express-News was first to report.

Their barracks face construction failures, which is forcing them to be demolished and ultimately reconstructed, a base spokesperson told Military Times.

Instead of normal wear and tear, “systemic infrastructure failures” rooted in their construction are causing the need to tear down the METC dormitories. The spokesperson said that the facilities have experienced persistent issues with their climate control systems, and the structural flaws in the building cannot be permanently resolved through routine maintenance or ongoing repairs.

“It has been determined that a complete teardown and transition to traditionally built facilities is the most responsible course of action,” the spokesperson said.

The METC dorms finished construction in 2014 using modular building methods meant to enhance efficiency and reduce onsite labor requirements to boost the project timelines.

The construction cost $140 million for each 1,200-person dormitory, according to the construction company tasked with the project. The company completed five multi-story barracks for METC.

The relocation is occurring in phases, with roughly 2,000 students moved since July 11. The spokesperson did not specify when all students are expected to be relocated but did say that construction is slated to begin by the end of 2026.

The base is utilizing existing infrastructure and transportation networks to allow for the students to maintain their training schedules, the spokesperson said.

Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, whose district houses JBSA-Lackland and parts of Fort Sam Houston, said in a release that the Department of Defense told his office five base barracks will be replaced due to mold, humidity and construction issues.

Castro said that the barracks’ demolishment is set for September, and the project is expected to cost over $1.4 billion in fiscal years 2027 and 2028.

“It’s critical that the Pentagon not repeat the construction mistakes of the past and provide quality housing that meets the needs of our servicemembers,” he said in the statement.

The move to replace these barracks follows the October 2025 creation of the Barracks Task Force by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, which aims to improve service members’ living conditions and quality of life.

The base spokesperson said the Pentagon is investing more than $1.2 billion immediately into the improvement of the METC barracks. The $1.2 billion matches the initial amount invested across the services to overhaul barracks’ conditions, alongside granting local commanders more than $400 million to direct immediate work and more than $800 million in critical barracks renovations.

A Government Accountability Office 2023 report found that concerns about poor living conditions in military barracks and its management date back decades, with issues such as safety risks from sewage overflow, inoperable fire systems and a lack of reliable information from the Defense Department on how low-quality conditions affect troop morale.

“Our primary focus is ensuring every service member has a clean, comfortable, and safe living space so that they can focus on their training and mission,” the spokesperson said. “This relocation will allow the medical training pipeline to continue without compromise.”

Students are slated to move back onto campus once the reconstruction is complete.

Admiral, who currently serves as the commander of III Corps and Fort Hood, Texas, could take over the top job from Gen. Christopher Donahue, who unexpectedly relinquished command earlier this month after only 18 months in the role. Since Donahue’s exit, Maj. Gen. Christopher Norrie has been serving as acting commander.

If confirmed, Admiral would also serve as commander of NATO’s Allied Land Command, coordinating with 104 countries in USAREUR-AF’s area of responsibility. He would remain a three-star, despite the role previously being a four-star position.

Prior to leading III Corps and Fort Hood, Admiral served as the commanding general for the 1st Cavalry Division out of Fort Hood, Texas, and in Poland, and director of force management in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-3/5/7, according to his official Army bio.

Donahue’s early July departure came amid the Pentagon’s broad senior leadership changes under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who in April asked U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George to step down and retire ahead of the typical four-year term.

Since taking office, Hegseth has removed more than a dozen senior military leaders, including former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. C.Q. Brown and former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti.

Eve Sampson contributed to this report.

The contract, the largest interagency lodging acquisition in the history of the Guard, comes as part of ongoing support for the Trump administration’s “Making D.C. Safe and Beautiful” executive order.

The length of the D.C. task force’s mission, which kicked off in August 2025, has made current lodging arrangements unsustainable, a Guard release stated. Mobilized troops have been staying in hotels throughout the region.

The Guard is hoping a long-term housing remedy will improve overall quality of life and flexibility for those mobilized while reducing taxpayer expenses, the release stated. The acquisition process was reportedly completed in under three months, “despite an agency-level vendor protest, which was reviewed and denied.”

“This contract delivers stable, secure housing for our soldiers and airmen while achieving significant cost savings for the government,” Monica Williams, executive director of acquisitions and head of contracting activity for the National Guard Bureau, said in the release. “We were able to move quickly to meet mission requirements and provide a long-term solution for deployed personnel.”

The contract pricing, according to Guard and GSA figures, is “about 49% below projected short-term commercial hotel costs and 27% below standard GSA schedule pricing for lodging and housekeeping services.”

The new arrangement comes on the heels of a May 28 report, meanwhile, that assessed that the 2,000-plus National Guard troops to have participated in the D.C. task force have had “no measurable effect on violent crime.”

The report, published by the Niskanen Center, described the Guard deployments as “an expensive tool” used in “the wrong places for the wrong types of crime.”

Researchers cited the $607 average daily cost per Guard member in the nation’s capital, compared with $384 in pay for Metropolitan Police Department officers.

Robbery and other violent crime rates in the D.C. area had also decreased prior to the Guard deployment, the report said. Those numbers were not impacted by the military operation.

Still, the report’s authors stopped short of calling the deployment a waste, noting that there was a 24% decline in opportunistic property crime recorded in the first six months of the operation.

“We brought 2,500 Guardsmen in from 15 states and the District of Columbia, and you all have done an amazing job,” Gen. Steve Nordhaus, chief of the National Guard Bureau, told troops in D.C. in July. “[Since arriving] you saved over 235 lives. You’ve done over 530 medical assistances to personnel, you restored children back to their families 27 times, and you have done amazing things in support of law enforcement to make sure we reduce crime.”

The “Readiness Simulation” project comes as the U.S. government is about to change its draft registration system.

Since 1940, men within a designated age range have been required to register with the Selective Service. But under a proposed rule, men aged 18 to 26 will be automatically registered starting Dec. 19, 2026. The Selective Service System will work off data contained in other federal databases.

Questions remain about how prepared the Selective Service System is to handle the change.

“SSS currently relies on manual analysis, legacy modeling approaches, outdated assumptions, and historical datasets that do not fully reflect modern demographics, communications channels, throughput constraints, or operational readiness conditions,” warned the agency in a Request for Quote for the Readiness Simulation tool.

The deadline for vendors to propose their simulation models is Aug. 14.

The computer simulation will explore multiple areas. These include evaluating staffing and resource requirements, comparing mobilization and police scenarios and assessing the operational impact of surge conditions. In addition, the system will “identify throughput risks, delays, and bottlenecks” and support executive planning and reporting obligations.

The goal is a simulation system that “models the full end-to-end SSS mobilization pipeline, supports configurable scenarios, and provides decision-support analytics necessary for leadership, planners, and operators.”

Scenarios will encompass draft registration, selection, notification, delivery and classification. They will also cover the Alternative Service Program, which includes various forms of community service as well as conscientious objectors.

Computer models will “represent MEPS [Military Entrance Processing Stations] throughput, no-shows, medical disqualification rates, claims processing, and ASP diversion,” according to the Request for Quote.

Contractors must be prepared to run the Readiness Simulation while “recognizing that legacy SSS draft data may be outdated or unreliable,” the agency said.

A draft registration system based on data compiled by — and accessed from — other federal agencies is likely to raise privacy concerns.

The computer simulation “shall operate within an SSS-designated cloud environment, use anonymized aggregate data, and support complete Government ownership and sustainment,” the agency said.

The simulation must also comply with multiple privacy regulations.

At 48 years old, he recorded a 182.5-kilogram squat, 140-kilogram bench press, 215-kilogram deadlift, 355-kilogram push-pull total and a 537.5-kilogram overall total, setting six Hawaii state records at the 2026 USA Powerlifting Hawaii State Championship on April 25.

He said his training prepares him for the physical demands of military service while promoting longevity.

“I do think it’s about exceeding the standards, but it’s also just about wanting to live with a high quality of life,” Moriarty said in a release. “And so that, if my number’s ever called and I have to go do some physical stuff, I’m not going to be in a bad spot.”

Moriarty wakes up at 3 a.m. three days a week to train before reporting for duty, and he encourages fellow service members to make fitness a priority.

“You just have to move, whatever flavor that is for you,” he said. “Sitting down all day long is not good.”

Moriarty said his fitness journey has also changed how he mentors fellow service members. While serving as an Air Force staff sergeant at Fort Eisenhower, he worked with another staff sergeant who had failed three physical fitness tests and was at risk of separation.

Moriarty said to him, “You need to go buy a digital scale and weigh out every single piece of food you eat until your PT test. We are not even going to run. You’re going to squat, bench, deadlift and overhead press with me.”

After eight weeks, Moriarty said the Airman lost about 26 pounds and passed the fitness test.

“I told him… no matter what I do in the rest of my career, I think this will be my proudest moment in the U.S. military,” said Moriarty.

Moriarty is scheduled to compete at the USA Powerlifting West Regionals in Las Vegas in September, where a victory would earn him a pro card and qualification for the 2027 Masters Nationals.

Col. Christine Littlejohn took command of the Wing at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, last week, according to a release, to lead 12 squadrons and two groups tasked with base operations support.

Base officials did not comment on Littlejohn’s command but did provide Military Times with a list of former 99th commanders. Sixteen names graced the list before Littlejohn’s, and they all were men.

“The Air Force selects its commanders strictly on merit,” a Nellis spokesperson told Military Times. “Col. Littlejohn has experience at various levels of command, ensuring the 99th Air Base Wing continues to maintain the highest standards of mission readiness and combat capability.”

Previously, Littlejohn served as the commander of the 502nd Installation Support Group at Joint Base San Antonio, Texas, the announcement reads. Throughout her career, Littlejohn has served in strategic and operational assignments across various major commands in the Wing and at Air Force headquarters.

Littlejohn provided critical support to many combat deployments, such as Operation Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom and Inherent Resolve.

Littlejohn took over the Wing’s command from Col. Jason Glynn, who served in the post for two years, during a Nellis ceremony on July 17.

Glynn led the installation through a government shutdown and civilian workforce restructuring, and the statement says his achievements as commander are vast, from recovery efforts after a F-16C Fighting Falcon aircraft incident to countering main gate security threats.

The 99th supports more than 10,000 personnel assigned to the Air Force Warfare Center, five wings and 52 tenant units on base. The unit provides installation support, like operational testing, tactics development and training in air, space and cyberspace.

Nellis focuses on advanced combat aviation training, housing a plethora of aircraft, such as fighter jets, bombers, refuelers and transport. The base consists of 14,000 service members and civilian personnel.

The COMPACT Act allows eligible veterans and certain former service members to receive Veterans Affairs-funded emergency suicide crisis care at VA and community hospitals, even if they aren’t enrolled in VA healthcare. New data obtained by Military Times show 49,341 veterans have used the benefit since 2023, but veteran advocates and suicide prevention professionals say many eligible veterans still don’t realize it exists until they experience a crisis.

In 2025, retired Navy Master Chief David Hull’s life unraveled after he lost his job during the government shutdown.

The transition from military service had been difficult, but he had rebuilt his life. Then when his paycheck disappeared, so did his ability to provide for his three children.

“I didn’t always consider taking my own life,” Hull said. “It wasn’t until I felt like I had no one and nowhere to go.”

“It’s easy to sink into feeling nothingness when you can’t see your value anymore or you become disconnected from your purpose,” he said.

After putting his children to bed one night, Hull searched online for combinations of pills that promised an easier way to end his life. As he poured medication into a single bottle, he accidentally knocked the empty container onto the floor.

His 6-year-old daughter picked it up.

“She looked up at me with her big brown eyes,” Hull recalled, his voice breaking. “It cracked me wide open.”

Hull left his children with a neighbor and drove to Garrett Regional Medical Center, a community hospital in Oakland, Maryland.

He wasn’t enrolled in VA healthcare. He didn’t have health insurance. Until that night, he had never heard of the COMPACT Act or that eligible veterans could receive VA-funded emergency suicide crisis care at a community hospital.

“I just needed someone to help clear my head and get me straight again,” Hull said. “I was circling the drain. On the precipice of having no home, no food, no money and no job with a promise of a better tomorrow. Nothing.”

About 40 minutes after arriving, Hull was evaluated by an emergency physician, who assured him he would be taken care of. A hospital social worker then explained that the Department of Veterans Affairs would cover the cost of his emergency treatment and follow-up care.

“I was shocked to find out that I could be seen for free after they identified me as a veteran,” Hull said.

In 2020, Congress signed the COMPACT Act Emergent Suicide Crisis Benefit into law to remove financial and administrative barriers to emergency suicide crisis care. Three years later, it was implemented by the VA, but many eligible veterans remain unaware of the benefit until they need it, veteran advocates and suicide prevention professionals told Military Times.

A lifeline beyond VA’s doors

The Emergency Suicide Crisis Benefit was established under the Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act, or COMPACT Act. Coverage includes emergency evaluation, treatment, inpatient or crisis residential care when clinically appropriate, and up to 90 days of outpatient follow-up care.

According to data provided by VA, nearly 50,000 veterans have received the Emergency Suicide Crisis Benefit since fiscal 2023, including just over 10,000 in fiscal 2023. 14,666 receieved the benefit in fiscal 2024; 15,218 in fiscal 2025; and 9,434 during the first half of fiscal 2026.

“The number of Veterans receiving the COMPACT Act’s Emergent Suicide Crisis Benefit has grown steadily since its inception in FY23,” VA Press Secretary Quinn Slaven said.

VA spent a record of nearly $110 million on acute suicide crisis care during fiscal 2025.

Slaven said VA reviews eligible cases to ensure veterans receive the benefit, educates veterans and community emergency department staff about its availability and works with providers so eligible veterans do not receive unexpected medical bills after crisis care.

According to VA, 72% of veterans who have used the benefit have since enrolled in VA healthcare.

Misconceptions persist

Despite growing use of the benefit, the Disabled American Veterans, or DAV, organization says many eligible veterans still misunderstand who qualifies for emergency suicide crisis care.

“DAV believes awareness of the safety net created by the COMPACT Act remains lower than it should be,” Jon Retzer, DAV’s national legislative director, said.

Retzer said DAV service officers routinely meet veterans who believe they must already be enrolled in VA healthcare, have a service-connected disability rating or seek treatment at a VA medical center before the benefit applies.

“Many veterans remain uncertain whether an emergency room visit will generate medical debt or whether VA will ultimately cover the care,” Retzer said. “That uncertainty can discourage veterans from seeking treatment during a crisis when immediate intervention is critical.”

Retzer urged veterans experiencing a suicidal crisis to seek emergency care first and allow VA to determine eligibility afterward.

Army Reserve Prevention Integrator David Arthur said those same misconceptions continue to surface in his work, particularly among older veterans.

He said distance from a VA medical center can create uncertainty because many rural veterans live an hour or more away, while nearby outpatient clinics do not provide emergency services.

“When they are in a crisis, in my experience with suicidal soldiers and vets, they are not even thinking about that,” Arthur said. “But those thoughts are huge barriers, especially the cost.”

“I want every vet to know they can go to any ER or hospital,” Arthur continued.

Returning to care

Hull completed the full 90 days of follow-up care available through the benefit before enrolling in VA healthcare.

“I don’t know if I could have afforded the treatment I received after that night without the VA,” Hull said. “And I don’t know that I’d be enrolled with the VA now without the care I experienced.”

“I wish so many of my brothers and sisters knew that this was an option,” Hull said. “It doesn’t matter if you have insurance. It doesn’t matter if you’re a patient in the VA system. None of that matters. There are no strings attached. No barriers to being seen. This is a gift that every veteran needs to know they’re eligible for.”