Tensions in the Persian Gulf have been volatile since Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers collapsed, following the U.S.’ unilateral withdrawal five years ago. The incredibly rare, joint trip by the three navy chiefs aboard the USS Paul Hamilton, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, saw three fast boats of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard approach the vessel at one point.

Navy to boost rotations of ships, aircraft in Strait of Hormuz

Guardsmen stood by uncovered machine guns on their decks, while sailors aboard the Paul Hamilton similarly stood by loaded machine guns as others shot photographs and video of the vessels. An Associated Press journalist also accompanied the allied naval commanders.

While the Guard kept its distance from both the Paul Hamilton and the passing British frigate HMS Lancaster, their presence showed just how tense passage for vessels can be in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of global oil supplies passes.

“Iran has seized or attacked 15 ships in the last two years. Eight seizures and seven attacks,” Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, who oversees the U.S. Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet, told the AP. “So the shipping industry is mindful of what the security posture looks like in the region. We have the ability to positively impact that influence and that’s what we’re doing now.”

Cooper said Iran’s Guard ships Friday came within 1,000 yards (915 meters) of the Paul Hamilton, which is based out of San Diego.

The U.S. has viewed securing the Middle East’s waterways, particularly the Strait of Hormuz, as key since then-President Jimmy Carter’s 1980 speech vowing to use military force to protect American interests in the wider Persian Gulf. While focused then on the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan, the Carter Doctrine’s vow to allow “the free movement of Middle East oil” now pits the U.S. against Iran, which has seized a series of oil tankers since the collapse of its nuclear deal with world powers.

Last week, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told journalists that America planned to make “a series of moves to bolster our defensive posture” in the Persian Gulf, while criticizing Iran’s recent seizures of tankers. Cooper said the joint trip on the Paul Hamilton represented part of that push, with the aim of having more coalition ships passing through the strait on a regular basis.

“The volume of commerce that flows through the Strait of Hormuz — it is critical to the world’s economy,” he said.

For its part, Iran long has bristled at the American presence in the region. After Kirby’s remarks, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani issued a lengthy statement accusing the U.S. of “creating and intensifying instability and insecurity in the Persian Gulf region for decades with its interventionist and destructive policies.”

However, Kanaani also specifically mentioned the U.S. “seizing and confiscating some Iranian oil cargoes in international waters.” The suspected American seizure of the Suez Rajan, a tanker linked to a U.S. private equity firm believed to have been carrying sanctioned Iranian crude oil off Singapore, likely sparked Tehran to recently take the Marshall Islands-flagged tanker Advantage Sweet. That ship carried Kuwaiti crude oil for energy firm Chevron Corp. of San Ramon, California.

There was no immediate reaction in Iranian state media nor from the Guard about the Paul Hamilton’s trip from the Persian Gulf out through the strait to the Gulf of Oman. However, it was unlikely the Iranians immediately knew that the American, British and French commanders had been aboard the vessel, though at least one Guard member aboard the fast boats was studying the Paul Hamilton with a pair of binoculars.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the trip.

On the trip through the Strait of Hormuz, at least one Iranian drone watched the Paul Hamilton. Meanwhile, an U.S. Navy Boeing P-8 Poseidon also was overhead. U.S. forces also routinely fly drones in the region as well, while a Navy task force also has put some drones out to sea.

Securing the Strait of Hormuz has been a challenge since the Carter Doctrine — and deadly. The so-called 1980s “Tanker War” involved American naval ships escorting reflagged Kuwaiti oil tankers through the gulf and the strait after Iranian mines damaged vessels in the region. The U.S. Navy even fought a one-day naval battle against Iran at the time, as well as accidentally shot down an Iranian commercial airliner, killing 290 people.

Former President Donald Trump’s decision to unilaterally withdraw from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers sparked new challenges from Iran in the region. Tehran seized tankers, while the Navy also blamed Iran for again using mines against shipping. The Trump administration came up with its Sentinel program, which also involved it and partner nations escorting ships in the region. But tensions with Europe after the nuclear deal’s collapse didn’t see a wide buy-in with the program.

This renewed effort under President Joe Biden does not appear to involve escorting individual ships, but trying to put more allied forces in the region. Already, the U.S. has brought A-10 Thunderbolt IIs and a submarine in the region to try to deter Iran.

America also could bring more ships into the Persian Gulf. The end of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the war in Ukraine and American concern over China’s expansion in the South China Sea, has halted routine carrier deployments in recent years.

For now, Cooper pointed to the presence of his British and French colleagues — Commodore Philip Dennis, the commander of the United Kingdom Maritime Component Command, and Vice Adm. Emmanuel Slaars, the joint commander of the French forces deployed in the Indian Ocean — as a sign of the resolve of America and its partners.

This is “part of our increase in presence in the region, which was described by the White House last week, and that’s now in execution,” Cooper said.

Bolstering international support is a key priority as Ukraine prepares for what’s seen as a major push to take back territory seized by Russia in the war that began in February last year. Zelenskyy’s in-person visit to the G7 summit comes just hours after the United States agreed to allow training on potent American-made fighter jets, laying the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine.

Host nation Japan said Zelenskyy’s inclusion stems from his “strong wish” to participate in talks with the bloc and other countries that will influence his nation’s defense against Russia.

“Japan. G7. Important meetings with partners and friends of Ukraine. Security and enhanced cooperation for our victory. Peace will become closer today,” Zelenskyy tweeted upon his arrival on a plane provided by France.

A European Union official, speaking on condition of anonymity to brief reporters on the deliberations, said Zelenskyy will take part in two separate sessions Sunday. One session will be with G7 members only and will focus on the war in Ukraine. Another will include the G7 as well as the other nations invited to take part in the summit, and will focus on “peace and stability.”

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that President Joe Biden and Zelenskyy would have direct engagement at the summit. On Friday, Biden announced his support for training Ukrainian pilots on U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets, a precursor to eventually providing those aircraft to Ukraine.

“It is necessary to improve (Ukraine’s) air defense capabilities, including the training of our pilots,” Zelenskyy wrote on his official Telegram channel after meeting Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, one of a number of leaders he talked to.

Zelenskyy also met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, their first face-to-face talks since the war, and briefed him on Ukraine’s peace plan, which calls for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the country before any negotiations.

Russia’s deputy defense minister, Alexander Grushko, accused Western countries of “continuing along the path of escalation,” following the announcements that raised the possibility of sending F-16s to Kyiv.

The G7 vowed to intensify the pressure in its joint statement Saturday.

“Russia’s brutal war of aggression represents a threat to the whole world in breach of fundamental norms, rules and principles of the international community. We reaffirm our unwavering support for Ukraine for as long as it takes to bring a comprehensive, just and lasting peace,” the group said.

G7 leaders have faced a balancing act as they look to address a raft of global worries demanding urgent attention, including climate change, AI, poverty and economic instability, nuclear proliferation and, above all, the war in Ukraine.

China, the world’s No. 2 economy, sits at the nexus of many of those concerns.

There is increasing anxiety that Beijing, which has been steadily building up its nuclear weapons program, could try to seize Taiwan by force, sparking a wider conflict. China claims the self-governing island as its own and regularly sends ships and warplanes near it.

The G7 on Saturday said they did not want to harm China and were seeking “constructive and stable relations” with Beijing, “recognizing the importance of engaging candidly with and expressing our concerns directly to China.”

They also urged China to pressure Russia to end the war in Ukraine and “support a comprehensive, just and lasting peace.”

North Korea, which has been testing missiles at a torrid pace, must completely abandon its nuclear bomb ambitions, “including any further nuclear tests or launches that use ballistic missile technology,” the leaders’ statement said.

The green light on F-16 training is the latest shift by the Biden administration as it moves to arm Ukraine with more advanced and lethal weaponry, following earlier decisions to send rocket launcher systems and Abrams tanks. The United States has insisted that it is sending weapons to Ukraine to defend itself and has discouraged attacks by Ukraine into Russian territory.

“We’ve reached a moment where it is time to look down the road again to say what is Ukraine going to need as part of a future force, to be able to deter and defend against Russian aggression as we go forward,” Sullivan said.

Biden’s decisions on when, how many, and who will provide the fourth-generation F-16 fighter jets will be made in the months ahead while the training is underway, Biden told leaders.

The G7 leaders have rolled out a new wave of global sanctions on Moscow as well as plans to enhance the effectiveness of existing financial penalties meant to constrain President Vladimir Putin’s war effort. Russia is now the most-sanctioned country in the world, but there are questions about the effectiveness.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida separately held one-on-one talks with leaders, including Modi, who is hosting the gathering of G20 world leaders later this year.

India, the world’s largest democracy, has been measured in its comments on the war in Ukraine, and has avoided outright condemnation of Russia’s invasion. While India maintains close ties with the U.S. and its Western allies, it is also a major buyer of Russian arms and oil.

The latest sanctions aimed at Russia include tighter restrictions on already-sanctioned people and firms involved in the war effort. More than 125 individuals and organizations across 20 countries have been hit with U.S. sanctions.

The leaders began the summit with a visit to a peace park dedicated to the tens of thousands who died in the world’s first wartime atomic bomb detonation. Kishida, who represents Hiroshima in parliament, wants nuclear disarmament to be a major focus of discussions.

The G7 leaders also discussed efforts to strengthen the global economy and address rising prices that are squeezing families and government budgets around the world, particularly in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The group reiterated its aim to pull together up to $600 billion in financing for the G7′s global infrastructure development initiative, which is meant to offer countries an alternative to China’s investment dollars.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni will skip the last day of the G7 because of floods earlier this week in northern Italy, which claimed at least 14 lives and devastated dozens of hamlets and towns.

“Biden, who scrapped plans to travel on to Papua New Guinea and Australia after his stay in Japan so that he can get back to debt limit talks in Washington, is also meeting with leaders of the so-called Quad partnership, made up of Japan, Australia, India and the United States.

The G7 includes Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy, as well as the European Union.

__

Associated Press writers Zeke Miller, Elaine Kurtenbach and Mari Yamaguchi in Hiroshima, Japan, and Joanna Kozlowska in London contributed to this report.

In a video posted on Telegram, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said the city came under complete Russian control at about midday Saturday. He spoke flanked by about half a dozen fighters, with ruined buildings in the background and explosions heard in the distance.

However, after the video appeared, Ukrainian deputy defense minister Hanna Maliar said heavy fighting was continuing.

“The situation is critical,” she said. “As of now, our defenders, control certain industrial and infrastructure facilities in this area.”

Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesman for Ukraine’s eastern command, told The Associated Press that Prigozhin’s claim “is not true. Our units are fighting in Bakhmut.” In a statement on Facebook, the Ukrainian General Staff said “heavy battles for the city of Bakhmut do not stop.”

Mykhailo Podolyak, chief of staff for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said “this is not the first time Prigozhin has said ‘we seized everything and are dominating’.” He also suggested that the Wagner chief’s statement was aimed at drawing attention away from Zelenskyy’s recent highly visible trips overseas, including to the Group of Seven summit in Japan on Saturday.

Fighting has raged in and around Bakhmut for more than eight months.

If Russian forces have taken control of Bakhmut, they will still face the massive task of seizing the remaining part of the Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas.

It is not clear which side has paid a higher price in the battle for Bakhmut. Both Russia and Ukraine have endured losses believed to be in the thousands, though neither has disclosed casualty numbers.

Zelenskyy underlined the importance of defending Bakhmut in an interview with The Associated Press in March, saying its fall could allow Russia to rally international support for a deal that might require Kyiv to make unacceptable compromises.

Analysts have said Bakhmut’s fall would be a blow to Ukraine and give some tactical advantages to Russia but wouldn’t prove decisive to the outcome of the war.

Russian forces still face the enormous task of seizing the rest of the Donetsk region under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas. The provinces of Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk make up the Donbas, Ukraine’s industrial heartland where a separatist uprising began in 2014 and which Moscow illegally annexed in September.

Bakhmut, located about 55 kilometers (34 miles) north of the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk, had a prewar population of 80,000 and was an important industrial center, surrounded by salt and gypsum mines.

The city, which was named Artyomovsk after a Bolshevik revolutionary when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, also was known for its sparkling wine production in underground caves. Its broad tree-lined avenues, lush parks and stately downtown with imposing late 19th century mansions — all now reduced to a smoldering wasteland — made it a popular tourist destination.

When a separatist rebellion engulfed eastern Ukraine in 2014 weeks after Moscow’s illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, the rebels quickly won control of the city, only to lose it a few months later.

After Russia switched its focus to the Donbas following a botched attempt to seize Kyiv early in the February 2022 invasion, Moscow’s troops tried to take Bakhmut in August but were pushed back.

The fighting there abated in autumn as Russia was confronted with Ukrainian counteroffensives in the east and the south, but it resumed at full pace late last year. In January, Russia captured the salt-mining town of Soledar, just north of Bakhmut, and closed in on the city’s suburbs.

Intense Russian shelling targeted the city and nearby villages as Moscow waged a three-sided assault to try to finish off the resistance in what Ukrainians called “fortress Bakhmut.”

Mercenaries from Wagner spearheaded the Russian offensive. Prigozhin tried to use the battle for the city to expand his clout amid the tensions with the top Russian military leaders whom he harshly criticized.

“We fought not only with the Ukrainian armed forces in Bakhmut. We fought the Russian bureaucracy, which threw sand in the wheels,” Prigozhin said in the video on Saturday.

The relentless Russian artillery bombardment left few buildings intact amid ferocious house-to-house battles. Wagner fighters “marched on the bodies of their own soldiers” according to Ukrainian officials. Both sides have spent ammunition at a rate unseen in any armed conflict for decades, firing thousands of rounds a day.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has said that seizing the city would allow Russia to press its offensive farther into the Donetsk region, one of the four Ukrainian provinces that Moscow illegally annexed in September.

Army officials “referred charges upon Col. Jon Meredith to a general court-martial on April 21, 2023, and Col. Meredith was arraigned at Fort Cavazos, Texas on May 15, 2023,” according to a statement from 1st Cavalry Division spokesperson Lt. Col. Jennifer Bocanegra.

“The charges include two specifications of abusive sexual contact and two specifications of conduct unbecoming an officer,” the statement continued. “Charges are merely accusations, and the accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty.”

A charge sheet obtained by Army Times states that Meredith stands accused of violating UCMJ Articles 120 and 133 — rape and sexual assault, and conduct unbecoming of an officer, respectively — for the alleged actions last summer at Fort Hood, which has since been renamed Fort Cavazos.

The charge sheet reads as follows:

“In that Col. Jon Meredith, U.S. Army, a married man, did, at or near Fort Hood, Texas, on or about 23 July 2022, wrongfully grope the breast, inner thigh, and crotch of Ms. [redacted] and repeatedly kiss her on the mouth, when the Accused knew that Ms. [redacted] was then the civilian wife of [redacted] Army officer who was at the time participating in a field training exercise, and while the Accused knew that [redacted] and Ms. [redacted] daughter were present in the house, and that under the circumstances the Accused’s conduct was unbecoming of an officer and a gentleman.”

Meredith was fired from his post due to loss of confidence, Army Times previously reported. He commissioned in 1996 and was assigned commander of 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division in May 2021.

He is scheduled to face court-martial August 14-18, 2023, Bocanegra told Army Times.

Separately, Meredith’s wife, Col. Ann Meredith, was relieved as commander of the 89th Military Police Brigade, at Fort Cavazos in February due to a “loss of confidence in her judgment,” Army Times previously reported.

She later claimed on social media that her firing was due to a text message she sent that was considered to be interfering with her husband’s investigation, Stars & Stripes reported at the time.

Editor’s note: This article was updated after publication with a statement from Army Public affairs clarifying that Col. Jon Meredith is scheduled to face court-martial August 14-18, 2023, not in October, as originally reported.

Gen. Thomas Bussiere, the head of Air Force Global Strike Command, approved the nuclear-capable fleet’s return to normal operations on May 18, command spokesperson Brus Vidal said.

“We successfully accomplished all necessary actions to safely return to full flight operations,” Vidal said. “Our ability to deliver nuclear deterrence and provide long-range strike was never in doubt.”

Whiteman AFB's only runway reopens after B-2 bomber accident

He did not answer whether the Air Force found issues with the fleet that required fixing before the jets could fly again, or whether any bombers are still out of commission.

It’s unclear what the Air Force was looking for as it surveyed the Spirit fleet in the aftermath of its second mishap in two years.

On Dec. 10, 2022, an undisclosed in-flight malfunction forced a B-2 crew to make an emergency landing at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, where firefighters extinguished flames at the scene. No one was injured, Whiteman’s 509th Bomb Wing said.

The Air Force has not yet released a public version of its investigation into that accident.

The incident came about a year after another Spirit bomber’s landing gear failed, causing it to skid off of Whiteman’s runway and into the grass with one wing on the ground. The mishap cost the Air Force nearly $10 million.

The service hasn’t said whether that B-2, or the one that caught fire in December, have returned to regular operations.

Global Strike stressed during the pause that the B-2s could still be dispatched on the president’s orders or in support of homeland security in an emergency.

B-2 accidents are rare: Before 2021, the most recent recorded incident was in fiscal 2015, according to the Air Force Safety Center. That was preceded by a fire that heavily damaged one bomber in 2010. Another B-2 was destroyed in a crash upon takeoff in Guam in 2008.

The Air Force’s fleet of 19 operational B-2s at Whiteman have flown long-range strike and surveillance missions since the 1990s, from NATO’s Operation Allied Force in Yugoslavia to campaigns against the Islamic State group in the wider Middle East and Africa.

Not-so-stealthy: B-2 bomber caught on Google Earth

The two-pilot aircraft can tote up to 40,000 pounds of nuclear and conventional munitions and have participated in rotational deployments around the world aimed at preventing Russian and Chinese aggression toward the U.S. and its allies.

But the fleet is expensive to fly and has struggled to stay in top shape. The B-2s logged a 52.8% mission-capable rate in fiscal 2022, meaning just half of the jets were able to perform at least one key mission in flight, the Air Force said May 15. That metric has fallen nearly 6 percentage points since the previous fiscal year.

The service plans to retire the fleet in the next 10 years to make way for the B-21 Raider, a more advanced stealth bomber that can carry both conventional and nuclear weapons.

Texas National Guard service members on state missions like Operation Lone Star would be guaranteed a $500,000 death benefit if they die in the line of duty under a bill approved Friday by a unanimous Texas Senate.

The bill would give guaranteed death benefits to National Guard troops on state deployment, putting them on par with benefits offered to law enforcement officers serving on Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security mission. Currently, soldiers and airmen on Operation Lone Star are not guaranteed death benefits because they are serving on state, not federal, orders.

The issue came to light in April 2022 when Bishop Evans, a 22-year-old soldier serving on Operation Lone Star, died while trying to rescue migrants from the Rio Grande. He was posthumously promoted to sergeant and awarded the Lone Star Medal of Valor at his funeral.

Evans had a life insurance policy that helped his family pay for his funeral costs, but his death highlighted the need to provide death benefits to state troops on the mission.

House Bill 90 by Rep. Jared Patterson, R-Frisco, was dubbed the Bishop Evans Act and his family traveled to Austin from North Texas to support the bill. Last month, the House made the bill retroactive so it could apply to Evans and other soldiers who died while serving on Operation Lone Star.

“This bill is named after Sergeant Bishop Evans, who drowned in the Rio Grande River while on active duty attempting to rescue individuals who were attempting to swim across the river,” Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, said before Friday’s vote. “He was certainly a hero, and I’m proud to present this bill to the Senate.”

About 4,000 troops continue to serve on the border security mission, which began in March 2021. Problems have included late or missing pay for the troops, squalid living conditions and a rash of suicides tied to the mission. The Legislature has spent more than $4 billion on Operation Lone Star, blowing past the budget it set for the mission in 2021.

House Speaker Dade Phelan made the legislation one of his session priorities.

The Senate made some amendments to the bill to clarify language on how the money would be paid out. Patterson, author of the bill, said he expects to ask the House to approve the Senate changes to send HB 90 to Abbott, who can sign the bill, let it become law without his signature or veto it.

The bill’s passage would end a yearslong effort by the state’s military leaders to persuade lawmakers to provide death benefits for National Guard troops on state active-duty missions. Former state Rep. John Cyrier, a Republican from Lockhart who serves in the Texas State Guard, had tried the past two sessions to pass death benefit legislation, but those efforts failed to gain momentum.

Patterson’s bill goes beyond previous efforts by expanding worker’s compensation to cover post-traumatic stress disorder developed during state active duty and by expediting workplace injury claims filed by troops.

If the bill becomes a law, it would go into effect in September, and families of troops who died as part of Operation Lone Star could begin applying for death benefits.

Erin Douglas contributed reporting.

Teixeira, 21, is charged with violating the Espionage Act for allegedly leaking information he accessed with a top-secret security clearance and posting them to a Discord server, a social media platform popular in the gaming community.

The decision came after federal prosecutors argued in a court document that Teixeira hid “unsavory aspects of his character” from public view, citing violent and racist views from Teixeira’s online social media accounts.

Prosecutors said Teixeira revealed that he had hidden his extremist views from security clearance inspectors by scouring his online presence and downplaying a racist incident, which led to school detention as a “misunderstanding.” Prosecutors said Teixeira “certainly did not reveal—and potentially took action to actively conceal—the significant volume of racist, antisemitic, and violent rhetoric he posted online lest his true nature and character prevent him from achieving his objective.”

Teixeira’s defense attorneys had argued that others accused of violating the Espionage Act had been allowed to stay out of jail ahead of their trial, and listed multiple examples, like former Department of Defense analyst Lawrence Franklin. The FBI charged Franklin in 2005 with three counts of espionage-related crimes. Franklin did not need to serve pre-trial confinement but did receive a 12-year sentence, such was the severity of his crimes.

The prosecuting team presented comments from Teixeira’s social media accounts, obtained by the FBI, that showed Teixeira harbored extremist views. In one video described in the court document, Teixeira uses ethnic and racial slurs while holding a rifle at a weapons range.

One Discord user suggested Teixeira create a blog account to share top secret documents Teixeira allegedly bragged he had access to. He replied: “shooting myself in the back of the head twice isnt something im fond of .... none of this is public information ... and making a blog would be the equivalent of what chelsea manning did.”

Army Pvt. Chelsea Manning, formerly known as Bradley, was convicted of espionage offenses in 2013 for leaking classified information to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

At least two National Guard commanders have been suspended from their duties after findings that Teixeira had been warned on at least two occasions that he was handling sensitive information incorrectly, and the National Guard unit has been stripped of its intelligence mission while an internal investigation is ongoing.

Federal agents arrested Teixeira on April 13, 2023 after he allegedly posted dozens of highly classified U.S. military documents that included assessments of real-time events in Ukraine, and evidence of spying on U.S. allies.

This story was produced in partnership with Military Veterans in Journalism.

Retired Col. Paris Davis, who received the Medal of Honor last year for his actions leading a Special Forces team in 1965 during the Vietnam War, was recognized at a Special Forces Association event held at the Army Navy Country Club in Arlington, Virginia.

Then a captain, Davis was leading a pre-dawn raid on an enemy camp near Bong Son, on June 18 of that year when all hell broke loose. In what became a 19-hour battle, every member of his team was wounded. But Davis disobeyed an order to withdraw and leave behind some of his troops — he instead sprinted repeatedly into a flooded rice paddy, working his trigger with the pinky of a grenade-shattered hand, and rescued them one at a time.

Retired sergeant major and future CIA operator Billy Waugh, whose April New York Times obituary lauded him as “Godfather of the Green Berets,” would have been captured that day had Davis not hauled him off the battlefield on his shoulders.

A man, a medal and what it takes to lead

Davis retired from the Army in 1985 after commanding the 10th Special Forces Group, then-headquartered at Fort Devens, Massachusetts. But he left the service without its highest award for valor, partially because the paperwork recommending the Black officer for the medal was lost at least twice.

After receiving a Silver Star for the battle, Davis always told reporters that he’d forgotten about the misplaced nomination. But his soldiers never did — they were the ones who pushed for the officer to be reconsidered for the medal in recent years.

“I only have to close my eyes to vividly recall the gallantry [of Davis],” Waugh said in a 2016 statement supporting the upgrade petition, according to the New York Times.

The final upgrade approval came around nearly two years after former acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller wrote a 2021 opinion article in USA Today to say he feared that bureaucratic requirements could keep Davis from receiving the deserved honor. Davis was awarded the Medal of Honor on March 3 at the White House by President Joe Biden.

The Army’s John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School — commonly known as SWCS — runs the Distinguished Member of the Regiment program to recognize major achievements and contributions to the service’s special operations community by special forces, civil affairs or psychological operations troops.

The SWCS commander, Brig. Gen. Will Beaurpere, lauded Davis’ achievements in a speech marking his formal induction.

The event also honored members of Thailand’s special forces units and the Americans of the 46th Special Forces Company, where Davis served a tour, that trained them throughout the Cold War. The southeast Asian country’s ambassador to the U.S., Tanee Sangrat, was in attendance.

The interim move, published on May 17, is meant to address concerns over a wing-related safety issue with the World War II-era airplanes. It requires inspections of the “wing terminal-to-spar chord joints” and subsequent repairs, if necessary.

“The FAA is issuing this [airworthiness directive] because the agency has determined the unsafe condition described previously is likely to exist or develop in other products of the same type design,” the agency said in the document.

The agency estimates this decision affects 18 U.S.-registered airplanes, approximately three of which are currently in flying condition while several others are undergoing restoration. One additional Flying Fortress is in operation in the United Kingdom.

WWI-era biplane loses war against gravity (again)

Some in the warbird community anticipated the ruling and ceased flight operations in advance as a precaution.

The Yankee Air Museum in Michigan decided in April to stop flying its B-17G “Yankee Lady,” according to according to HistoryNet. The other flyable Flying Fortresses impacted include the Arizona-based “Sentimental Journey” and the Ericson Aircraft Collection’s “Ye Olde Pub” in Oregon.

This is not the first time the B-17 has yielded concerns with the wing spars. The FAA previously issued an airworthiness directive in 2001, which called for inspections to detect cracking and corrosion of the wing spar chords, bolts and bolt holes.

Separately, in November 2022, one of the historic B-17 military planes collided and crashed with another vintage aircraft during an airshow in Texas, killing six people aboard the planes.

This current airworthiness directive goes into effect on June 1, though comments are being taken until July 3.

The Weatherman Foundation, an organization focused on protecting children, democracy and human rights globally, spent months tracking down the remains of retired Marine Capt. Grady Kurpasi, 50, according to co-founder Andrew Duncan.

A network of Weatherman-funded operators and investigators in Ukraine searched for Kurpasi’s burial plot, ultimately confirming its location with the aid of a drone, Duncan said.

“There is an unspoken bond between those who serve in uniform — if you give your life in combat, your fellow Americans will bear any burden to bring you home,” Meaghan Mobbs, the foundation’s president and an Army veteran, said in the Weatherman news release.

More than a year after Kurpasi disappeared in southern Ukraine, his remains will be flown on Friday into New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. That’s the same airport that Kurpasi flew into as an infant getting adopted from Korea, according to Duncan.

Kurpasi enlisted in the Marine Corps as a 29-year-old after the 9/11 attacks, a Weatherman news release stated. An infantry assaultman who ultimately became a scout sniper, he deployed three times to Iraq.

Kurpasi attended UCLA through an enlisted-to-officer commissioning program and received a prestigious Pat Tillman Foundation scholarship, awarded to service members, veterans and military spouses. He became an infantry officer, according to a GoFundMe fundraiser set up for his family, and retired in September 2021.

His awards included the Good Conduct Medal three times, the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal three times, the Purple Heart Medal, the National Defense Service Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, among other awards, CNN reported.

Kurpasi arrived in Ukraine in February 2022 to train soldiers and help with evacuations, according to a Weatherman news release Wednesday. Motivated by the atrocities he witnessed, he decided to remain in the country and fight as part of the Ukrainian Foreign Legion, the release stated.

He was last seen on April 26, 2022, when he went with British citizen Andrew Hill, a to investigate the source of gunfire, The Washington Post reported. They radioed to their team that they were under fire.

Hill was captured by Russian forces and charged with being a mercenary, though he was released months later, according to Reuters.

In July 2022, The Washington Post reported that Kurpasi’s wife and friends were frustrated with what they saw as a lack of urgency by the State Department in investigating the disappearance.

The State Department, which has tried to discourage Americans from volunteering in Ukraine, did not respond by time of publication to a Marine Corps Times request for comment.

The Weatherman Foundation became involved in trying to find Kurpasi in August 2022, according to Duncan. The Marine vet’s disappearance hit home for Mobbs, in large part because she is a fellow Tillman scholar.

After the foundation conducted online research and identified sites where Kurpasi may have been ambushed, the case went cold in December, according to Duncan.

In January, however, Mobbs and her father — who happens to be retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg — met with an American veteran serving in Ukraine in a safehouse in Kharki, Duncan stated. That veteran mentioned to Mobbs a few days later via encrypted message that he had the coordinates of where Kurpasi may have been buried.

In the next few months, the Weatherman Foundation coordinated and funded efforts to find Kurpasi’s remains.

Using a drone, a Weatherman-funded team on April 4 found an apparent burial site near Stanislav, in the Kherson Oblast. Investigators found that there was equipment with Kurpasi’s name plate and clothing consistent with his last known outfit, according to Duncan.

A DNA test confirmed the following day that the remains buried there belonged to Kurpasi, according to Duncan. The foundation notified Kurpasi’s widow that day.

The State Department confirmed Kurpasi’s death in an April 12 statement to Marine Corps Times.

There are now at least five Marine veterans, including Kurpasi, who have died volunteering in Ukraine.

Cooper “Harris” Andrews, 26, was killed in April; his mother told CNN that he was hit by a mortar, likely while helping civilians evacuate Bakhmut, Ukraine.

Former Cpl. Pete Reed, 33, was killed in February in Bakhmut, Ukraine, reportedly while administering medical aid to civilians.

Willy Joseph Cancel, 22, was killed in April 2022. He was the first known death of a U.S. citizen fighting in Ukraine.

Kurpasi’s remains were moved to the Ukrainian city of Odessa, then to Moldova, Turkey and finally to the United States, Duncan said. After a brief ceremony at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Friday evening, a private jet will transport the remains to his family in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Kurpasi is survived not only by his wife but also by his 14-year-old daughter, according to the GoFundMe set up for his family.

“Our family is deeply grateful to the Weatherman Foundation for their tireless efforts to find our beloved Grady’s remains and to bring him home to us,” Heeson Kim, Kurpasi’s wife, said in the Weatherman news release.

Duncan emphasized to Marine Corps Times that Kurpasi, already a Purple Heart recipient, gave his life to protect the children of Ukraine from the violence wrought upon them by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“It’s humbling, and it’s the honor of a lifetime, to help his family bring his remains home,” Duncan told Marine Corps Times. “He is the definition of a great American.”

That was the gist of a recent post on the popular Army subreddit by Chief Warrant Officer 3 Blake Furman. In the post, Furman recounted what it was like to have the Army’s top enlisted leader as his drill sergeant, and did so in the time honored tradition of current and former service members: By telling a story from basic training about an instructor absolutely ruining lives because someone else screwed up.

About 24 years ago, in the winter of 1998, before his career with the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division, or his current post at Training and Doctrine Command, where he teaches special victim courses for criminal investigations, Furman was a young private, sitting in a crowded classroom with 60 other soldiers with Echo Battery, 1-22 Field Artillery Battalion, and a furious Sgt. 1st Class Grinston.

The story takes place during one of those welcome breaks in basic training when soldiers file into a large auditorium for a traditional class with guest presenters. The respite took a turn, however, when one of the junior soldiers decided to whistle at the guest instructor as she walked to the stage.

Silence descended and hell was soon to follow, with Grinston as its herald. There would be only one chance to avoid mass punishment: Whoever whistled needed to step forward.

No one moved, presumably due to complete and utter fear — the kind that paralyzes entry-level trainees living under the iron fist of their instructors.

For the next 50 minutes, the class went on with the Army staff judge advocate lecturer running through the course material as if nothing was amiss. Meanwhile, the future sergeant major of the Army loomed over his charges, eyes roving the seats, searching for the one. By the end of the lecture, no one had come forward to take responsibility, and so responsibility would be shared by all.

“What makes it even worse is that you know he’s right,” Furman told Army Times. “It’s not fury over nonsense just to screw the privates for random stupid rule violations that they made up. You know he is 100% justified in that absolute rage.”

Once the class was finished, Grinston ordered the battery to exit the auditorium. The soldiers headed back toward their building, made their way past it and formed up near the unit’s laundry facilities and bathrooms.

Then, as many have before and since, they endured a gauntlet of physical exercises. Corrective training, as it’s called, is a rite of passage for all who serve and a common training technique, wherein drill sergeants use physical training as a disciplinary tool, but with the added benefit of soldiers getting some more PT in during the day.

“It was constant and continuous,” Furman said, adding, “they would give us breaks, but the breaks would be the exercises where you don’t move, like putting your arms out and just holding them there. Like, ‘We know you’re at muscle failure for push-ups, so we’re going to give you a break. Stand up and put your arms out.’ That kind of stuff.”

And so it continued.

“They just rotated through each one, changing muscle failure to a different group, so eventually in a half-hour you could get back to that group again, and muscle fail it again,” Furman said.

With the caveat that some of the details are hazy, given the gap in time, Furman noted that throughout it all, Grinston, who was the unit’s senior drill sergeant, hammered home the why behind the training: “Reinstilling Army values, talking about how harassment is not tolerated, this type of behavior is not tolerated, every soldier is equal, we don’t treat anybody different because of their race, gender, nationality and that type of behavior would not be tolerated in the military.”

Looking back on that day in 1998, Furman says it helped shape his view of service in the Army and “that harassment of that type would not and should not be tolerated in the military.”

Grinston, for his part, has not forgotten either, telling Army Times, “I remember that story very clearly,” he said. “I’ve never tolerated harassment in any form. I hope those soldiers understood that after our corrective training and continue to live by the values instilled at initial entry training.”

Based on the Reddit thread that surfaced nearly a quarter of a century later, it certainly seems at least one — and likely many more — remember the lesson well.

The original Reddit post has been edited lightly for style and clarity:

Picture this: A small, flat, auditorium style room, elevated stage up front. Chairs filled with baby soldiers, still with mama’s milk on their lip.

An easy training day, random classes by outside presenters. Get the instructors on stage, sit down somewhere, make sure the trainees don’t fall asleep. Try not to kill anyone.

Last class, then the drill sergeants get to go home. The end is almost here.

Ethics and EO, guest instructor, SJA Office.

1457: Stage is empty. A soft cacophony of voices from rebellious but terrified privates.

1458: CPT (random female SJA) walks onto the stage with SFC Grinston.

1458.03: A loud, crisp, clear, cat call whistle ...

1458.04: Pure … silence …

1458.05: Mid-stride, like a slow motion movie, SFC Grinston slows his gate and cocks his head toward the soldiers, with a “what the f*@k did I just hear” face. The face of a man who can’t comprehend what just happened. The face of a man that knew right from wrong … and he just heard the voice of evil call out across the aether. A face of a future SMA, that WOULD see justice.

But who would pay? No one would (or did) admit to the crime. Who would pay? That face said they would all pay. Everyone will pay.

50. Long. Minutes... of EO training. CPT (SJA) taught slide by slide, as though all was right in the world. Meanwhile, SFC Grinston stood at the edge of the stage, arms crossed, burning eyes.

50 minutes knowing it was coming. Would he find the offender? Or would we all …

40.

30. Those eyes ...

20. He can’t actually … kill one of us … can he?

10. Please, it wasn’t me.

0.

CPT (random): ‘Thank you for the wonderful presentation.’ Turns to the soldiers.

[Grinston]: “Battery … ATTENTION! Formation OUTSIDE! You have 2 minutes to fill your canteen.”

That was the first of 3 times we filled our canteens that evening…

The Navy requires at least 10 of these submarines are available for operations at any given time. These ballistic missile submarines lurk in waters around the globe with nuclear missiles onboard, their sole mission being to remain hidden and ready if called upon in a doomsday scenario.

As a hedge against shortfalls in the 2030s as the Ohio class reaches the end of its life and the Columbia class enters service, the Navy has considered extending select Ohio boats by a few years. In November, submarine community leaders said a decision would be made by FY26 so work could start in FY29.

While speaking at a May 5 defense innovation roundtable in Newburgh, New York, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said the service has “now determined five where we can actually extend those service lives, and in the ’25 budget we’re [planning on] putting in money to make that investment so we can extend those lives.”

Del Toro told Defense News in a May 18 statement that this new timeline is his intention but remains subject to the 2025 budgeting process.

The Navy has already extended the life of the entire Ohio class, from 30 years to 42 years. In 2020, submarine community leaders acknowledged that while the Navy couldn’t extend the entire class again, it could look at each individual hull and determine if any were in good enough physical condition to continue operations for a few more years.

The replacements for the Ohio boast, the Columbia class of ballistic missile submarines, is on schedule; Navy leadership said it fell a few months behind a more aggressive goal but is still on track to meet its contractual construction schedule.

Prime contractor General Dynamics Electric Boat and its suppliers have been able to devote significant attention to the lead ship, bought in FY21, due to a three-year gap between the first and second boats. There’s a two-year gap between the second and third boats, and beginning in FY26 the Navy will buy the remaining 10 at a pace of one per year.

“There is still the mountain to climb: When we go to one Columbia a year, starting in 2026 for 10 straight years, there’s hiring that’s required” at Electric Boat and at its suppliers, the acting assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, Jay Stefany, told Defense News in September 2021 when discussing the potential life extensions.

“So if you were to ask me, I’d say Columbia No. 1, pretty high confidence. Columbia No. 2, yeah, pretty high as well. But when we start going three, four, five, six, seven, all in a row ... that’s the risk,” he said.

Now summer is just weeks away. While Russia and Ukraine are focused on an intense battle for Bakhmut, the Ukrainian spring offensive has yet to begin.

Last week Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it’s been delayed because his country lacks enough Western weapons to succeed without suffering too many casualties. Weather and training are playing a role too, officials and defense experts say.

Officials insist the counteroffensive is coming. Preliminary moves by Ukraine to set the conditions it wants for an attack have already begun, a U.S. official said on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

A look at the factors delaying the counteroffensive and the preparations both sides are making in anticipation of it starting soon.

WEATHER

A big part of the delay is the weather. It’s taken longer than expected for Ukraine’s frozen ground to thaw and dry, due to an extended, wet, cold spring, which has made it difficult to transition into an offensive.

Instead, the ground has retained a deep mud that makes it more difficult for non-tracked vehicles to operate.

The mud is like a soup, the official said. “You just sort of sink in it.”

TRAINING

In the past few months, tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers have been trained by the U.S. and allies for the fight. But the final Ukrainian battalion the U.S. is currently training is just finishing its course now.

This final class brings the total number of Ukrainians the U.S. has trained for this fight to more than 10,700. Those forces have learned not only field and medical skills but advanced combined arms tactics with the Stryker and Bradley armored fighting vehicles and Paladin self-propelled howitzers. It also includes highly skilled forces who were trained to operate the Patriot missile defense system.

According to U.S. Army Europe-Africa, more than 41,000 additional Ukrainian troops have been trained through programs run by more than 30 partner nations.

Soon a new phase will begin: The U.S. will start training Ukrainians on Abrams tanks at the Grafenwoehr Training Area in Germany. But the Ukrainians won’t wait for the tank training to be finished before they launch their counteroffensive, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told reporters in late April.

WEAPONS ARRIVALS

In just the past five months alone, the U.S. has announced it would send more than $14 billion in weapons and ammunition to Kyiv, most of which is being pulled from existing stockpiles in order to get the supplies to Ukraine faster. NATO and Western allies have responded too, pledging billions in tanks, armored vehicles and air defense systems.

But a lot of that gear still hasn’t arrived, said Ben Barry, a former British intelligence official who is now the senior land warfare fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

For example, of the approximately 300 tank systems pledged — such as the Leopard 2 tanks promised by countries including Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain and Germany — only about 100 have arrived. Of the 700 or so pledged fighting vehicles, such as British Marauders and U.S. Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, only about 300 have arrived, he said.

Ukraine will also need enough ammunition on hand to sustain a higher tempo fight once the counteroffensive begins, When it comes to the ammunition needed, Ukraine’s chief military logistician will also have a strong say in when the army is ready to launch, Barry said.

In just one munition — the 155mm howitzer round — Ukraine is firing between 6,000 and 8,000 rounds per day, Ukrainian parliamentary member Oleksandra Ustinova told reporters in April.

COUNTEROFFENSIVE CLUES

Both Russia and Ukraine are taking steps in anticipation of the counteroffensive.

Russia has approximately 200,000 troops along a 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) battle line, dug in using the same type of trench warfare tactics used in World War I, a Western official said on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.

These troops are not as highly trained as Russia’s initial invading force, which sustained heavy casualties. But they are defended by ditches, minefields and dragon’s teeth — above ground triangle-shaped concrete barriers that make it difficult for tanks to move.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has begun shaping operations, such as targeting Russia’s forward lines with long-range artillery fire. That may indicate that Ukraine is about to push forward on that location — or it could be a decoy to draw Russia’s attention from its actual planned first strike, the official said.

When Ukraine does try to punch through those lines — whether in a limited area or a complex campaign carried out in multiple locations — that will be the likely indicator the offensive has begun, both Barry and the Western official said.

Barry said when Ukrainian brigades start crossing into Russian-held territories and try to attack the first line of Russian defenses, “that’s going to be a dead giveaway I think.”

___

Associated Press reporter Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.

The service’s 556th Test and Evaluation Squadron in April completed initial ground and flight testing of an MQ-9A Reaper outfitted with the Angry Kitten ALQ-167 Electronic Countermeasures Pod, a cluster of components contained in a vaguely cat-shaped tube.

The successful trials at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada, focused on providing electronic attack from the Reaper, a General Atomics Aeronautical Systems product typically used to collect intelligence or conduct reconnaissance. The pod is derived from technology developed by the Georgia Tech Research Institute, which in 2013 described the project as using commercial electronics, custom hardware and novel machine-learning for flexibility.

“The goal is to expand the mission sets the MQ-9 can accomplish,” Maj. Aaron Aguilar, the 556th Test and Evaluation Squadron assistant director of operations, said in a statement May 13. “The proliferation and persistence of MQ-9s in theater allows us to fill traditional platform capability gaps that may be present.”

Electronic warfare, or EW, is an invisible fight for control of the electromagnetic spectrum, used to communicate with friendly forces, to identify and suppress opponents, and to guide weapons. Dominance of the spectrum will be critical in a fight with China or Russia, the two most significant national security threats, according to U.S. defense officials.

The Air Force is trying to reinvigorate its EW capabilities after years of neglect; the service in September announced a “sprint” to dig up deficiencies, seek needed resources and identify next steps.

Testing of electronic warfare package for Army’s AMPV expected in 2024

Lt. Col. Michael Chmielewski, the 556th Test and Evaluation Squadron commander, in a statement said electronic attack aboard a Reaper is “compelling.” The Air Force previously used Angry Kitten in training, outfitting aggressor squadrons with the gear to harass trainees and simulate dizzying electronic barrages.

“Fifteen hours of persistent noise integrated with a large force package will affect an adversary, require them to take some form of scalable action to honor it, and gets at the heart of strategic deterrence,” Chmielewski said.

Angry Kitten’s name is a brew of inside joke and design goals, according to a 2013 Newsweek report. It is also a departure from the typical terror-inducing military moniker: Hellfire missile, Predator drone, Stryker combat vehicle.

Roger Dickerson, a senior research engineer with the Sensor and Electromagnetic Applications Laboratory at the Georgia Tech Research Institute, in 2015 told C4ISRNET that although the pod has “an admittedly slightly silly name,” it represents “very serious technology.”

“We’ve been working hard to improve the capabilities and the readiness of the war fighters in our sponsor organizations: the Army, the Navy and especially the U.S. Air Force air combat community,” Dickerson said at the time.

Jack Teixeira is due back in federal court in Worcester, Massachusetts, where a magistrate judge is expected to hear arguments on prosecutors’ request to keep the 21-year-old locked up before issuing his ruling.

Teixeira, who faces charges under the Espionage Act, is accused of sharing secret military documents about Russia’s war in Ukraine and other top national security issues in a chat room on Discord, a social media platform that started as a hangout for gamers.

Prosecutors said in court papers filed this week that Teixeira was caught by superiors months before his April arrest taking notes on classified information or viewing intelligence not related to his job.

He was twice admonished by superiors in September and October, and again observed in February viewing information “that was not related to his primary duty and was related to the intelligence field,” according to internal Air National Guard memos filed in court.

The revelations have raised questions about why Teixeira continued to have access to military secrets after what prosecutors described as “concerning actions” related to his handling of classified information.

Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh was questioned Thursday about why Teixeira’s leaders did not take action after the concerns were raised. Singh referred to the Justice Department and Air Force investigations, and said those concerns and potential lack of response to them were areas the inquiries would examine.

Teixeira has been in jail since his arrest last month on charges stemming from the most consequential intelligence leak in years.

Magistrate Judge David Hennessy heard arguments on detention from lawyers late last month, but put off an immediate decision and scheduled a second hearing for Friday. The judge has said he expects to rule Friday.

The high-profile case is being prosecuted by the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s office, whose leader — U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins — is expected to resign by the end of the day Friday after two federal watchdog agencies found she committed a slew of ethical and legal violations.

Teixeira has not yet entered a plea. His lawyers are urging the judge to release Teixeira to his father’s home, noting he didn’t flee when media outlets began publishing his name shortly before his April 13 arrest. His lawyer told the judge last month that Teixeira “will answer the charges” and “will be judged by his fellow citizens.”

Teixeira’s lawyers noted in court papers this week there have been many Espionage Act cases in which courts have approved release or the government did not seek to keep the person behind bars pretrial.

During last month’s hearing, prosecutors told the judge that Teixeira kept an arsenal of weapons before his arrest and had a history of violent and disturbing remarks.

Teixeira frequently had online discussions about violence, saying in one November message that he would “kill a (expletive) ton of people” if he had his way, because it would be “culling the weak minded,” according to prosecutors. Years earlier in high school, he was suspended when a classmate overheard him discussing Molotov cocktails and other weapons as well as racial threats, prosecutors said.

The Justice Department said Teixeira used his government computer in July to look up mass shootings and government standoffs, including the terms “Ruby Ridge,” “Las Vegas shooting,” “Mandalay Bay shooting,” “Uvalde” and “Buffalo tops shooting” — an apparent reference to the 2022 racist mass shooting at a Buffalo supermarket.

Investigators believe Teixeira was the leader of an online private chat group on Discord called Thug Shaker Central, which drew roughly two dozen enthusiasts who talked about their favorite types of guns and shared memes and jokes. The group also held a running discussion on wars that included talk of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The leaked documents appear to detail U.S. and NATO aid to Ukraine and U.S. intelligence assessments regarding U.S. allies that could strain ties with those nations. Some show real-time details from February and March of Ukraine’s and Russia’s battlefield positions and precise numbers of battlefield gear lost and newly flowing into Ukraine from its allies.

The suicides of four sailors assigned to the same unit in Virginia within a span of 28 days late last year were not directly connected, according to a service investigation released Thursday. But the losses all involved sailors who had accessed Navy mental health services and were dealing with “family, financial, medical and career-related factors.”

Electronics Technician 2nd Class Kody Decker died by suicide on Oct. 29 and Electronics Technician Seaman Cameron Armstrong took his life on Nov. 5, while Machinist’s Mate Fireman Deonte Autry died by suicide on Nov. 14.

All three men were 22-years-old. Twelve days later, on Nov. 26, Fire Controlman 2nd Class Janelle Holder, 39, ended her life as well.

The investigating team assessed that “access to personally owned firearms and unwillingness to surrender access to lethal means, to include the use of gun locks, was a causal factor in the deaths.”

All four were in their first enlistment as they grappled with various life challenges.

The sailors were all in a limited-duty, or LIMDU, status at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center in Virginia, a sprawling command responsible for overseeing the area’s ship maintenance and a place to put sailors who required LIMDU status.

There was a lack of communication between MARMC coordinators and military treatment facilities, and this “fractured” situation led to “blind spots” when it came to LIMDU sailors seeking mental health assistance, which investigators cited as a contributing factor in the deaths.

Limited-duty sailors were also not properly managed or monitored within the command.

The military may be required to start tracking suicides by job assignments

When the sailors accessed Navy mental health services they all appeared to receive “timely and dedicated medical care for their respective condition,” according to the report.

While command climate surveys at MARMC were not filled out by many of the sailors or civilians working there, interviews done by investigators did not reveal a toxic command climate.

Since the deaths, MARMC has added on-site mental health and resiliency counselors, along with chaplains, to address “a need that was unfulfilled prior to the four deaths.”

Because large regional maintenance centers are fast-paced, industrial environments, they are not well-suited for managing and overseeing LIMDU sailors, investigators wrote.

If the Navy wishes to keep putting limited-duty sailors at the Mid-Atlantic and Southwest Regional Maintenance centers, the investigation found, it will need to beef up billets to address oversight shortfalls.

MARMC struggled to implement the Navy’s suicide prevention program, but investigators noted that those struggles reflect “broader issues that have been documented across the Navy regarding the effectiveness” of that prevention effort.

The investigation recommends 25 reforms to how the regional maintenance centers look after such sailors, as well as reforms to better track these sailors elsewhere in the Navy.

Navy spokeswoman Lt. Alyson Hands said Thursday that implementing the full list of recommendations “will take time and resourcing.”

“The Navy will continue to work diligently with our partners in Congress to ensure full and timely funding for the critical steps to ensure our Sailors receive the quality of service they deserve,” Hands said.

Already, MARMC has received additional chaplains and other support personnel and is approved to hire additional mental health counselors, she said, and gun locks have been provided to hundreds of command members.

A long-term campaign is being planned so that MARMC leadership can better understand morale and mental health crises, and a cross-Navy effort is in the works to better care for and track sailors who find themselves in a limited-duty status.

“Suicide is complex and rarely the result of a single stressor,” Rear Adm. Eric Ver Hage, who commands the Navy Regional Maintenance Center, wrote in his endorsement of the investigation. “It is often difficult to pinpoint the specific cause of suicide, but based on this investigation, to understand the causal and contributing factors in these four cases, we have taken steps to effect positive lasting change within the MARMC and greater (Regional Maintenance Center) populations to prevent similar tragedy in the future.”

ET2 Kody Decker

Earlier in 2022, Decker had been an “early promote” recommendation, with his supervisor noting his “outstanding” work as a petty officer third class aboard the amphibious assault ship Bataan.

He was posthumously promoted to second class after his death and left behind a wife and 8-month-old son, according to the investigation.

Keeping firearms out of easy reach key to preventing military suicides

Shipmates remembered “his outgoing personality, infectious attitude and strong communication skills.”

But the investigation suggests life on Bataan took a toll on the young sailor. The ship was high tempo “even when the ship was in-port, with no time off,” and that harsh environment was listed as a contributing factor to his mental health stressors.

Decker first sought help in August and started going to therapy after experiencing suicidal ideations and relying on alcohol as a coping mechanism.

“Decker stated that he was worried that his suicidal ideations might progress into actions in the future,” the investigation states. “He also admitted to keeping a loaded firearm at his bedside for protection and was resistant to having his personal firearms secured.”

During five days of inpatient therapy, Decker said he was thinking of leaving the military and becoming an electrician.

After reporting to MARMC in August, he continued to receive mental health care and the investigation notes “steady improvement in his mental health” after leaving sea duty.

New 988 suicide prevention hotline gives vets, troops an easier option for emergency care

“A potential intervention opportunity” was missed when the command official in charge of drug and alcohol abuse treatment was not informed of Decker’s alcohol abuse diagnosis.

On the evening of Oct. 29, Decker was found dead in his vehicle in the parking lot of a Kroger grocery store in Virginia Beach.

ETSN Cameron Armstrong

Shipmates remembered Armstrong as a quiet sailor who generally kept to himself in the workspace, but who enjoyed anime videos and sometimes spoke of the admiration he had for his spouse.

But Armstrong struggled with obesity, and the investigation found that the restrictions put in place during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted his physical and mental health.

He reported being anxious and depressed in 2019.

In 2021, he told a mental health provider “that the military was a major stressor to him, that he wanted to get out of the Navy, and that he often does not want to get out of bed.”

“The provider stated that further evaluation was necessary to determine suitability for continued military service,” the investigation states.

After arriving at MARMC, Armstrong answered “yes” when a supervisor asked if he wanted to kill himself.

That supervisor put Armstrong in touch with the MARMC suicide prevention coordinator and arranged to meet him at the ER.

There, Armstrong told his supervisor he no longer wanted to kill himself and just wanted to go on leave, and his supervisor told him that was fine.

Investigators noted that “continuity of care” was a contributing factor in Armstrong’s death, but that the young man was also “occasionally a noncompliant or uncooperative medical patient.”

Marital stress also played a role in his issues.

Navy, Marine Corps offer gun locks to prevent suicide

“Potential intervention opportunities were missed when ETSN Armstrong was not provided the full range of support during periods of crisis,” according to the investigation.

He was not referred to a mental health program or screened for alcohol dependency, which might have provided command officials with a better understanding of what he was going through.

Armstrong was also issued consecutive physical fitness assessment waivers with no follow-on action and was non-deployable for more than 12 consecutive months, These moments were listed as missed chances to intervene and help him further.

He was found dead by a civilian friend in his Norfolk apartment on Nov. 5.

MMFN Deonte Autry

Autry was remembered as a caring young man who looked after those around him.

“He could draw a crowd with his sense of humor,” the investigation states. “He was an optimistic, bubbly guy that loved to joke around. He talked about his family and visiting them.”

Neurological issues led Autry to leave the carrier George Washington and report to MARMC in a LIMDU status after he lost consciousness on the carrier while on watch.

Medical providers never communicated any medical concerns or patient information about Autry to MARMC.

Despite the health issues and multiple seizures, Autry’s lead petty officer recalled him “seeming excited and happy” about his upcoming medical appointments.

It ‘keeps us awake’: Navy leaders say sailor suicides are huge concern

He was found dead in his Newport News apartment Nov. 14 after he didn’t show up for work.

Roughly 20 sailors attended his Nov. 26 funeral in Marshville, North Carolina, including old friends from George Washington and new friends he made at MARMC.

Investigators were unable to determine if his medical condition and prescribed medications played a role in his death.

“Leading up to the day of his suicide, there were no findings that point to a reason or crisis event in MMFN Autry’s life that would create a concern for or a suspicion of suicide,” the investigation states.

FC2 Janelle Holder

Holder enlisted at the age of 39. She had always wanted to serve but weight issues had prevented that earlier in her life.

She reported to the guided-missile destroyer Gonzalez and was remembered as a “key contributor” to the combat systems missile division.

Holder first sought help in March 2020 at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Virginia, claiming suicidal ideation.

Despite her struggles, Holder was ranked first out of 17 petty officers third class in her division and was dubbed a “top notch operator” in her June 2021 evaluation.

But suicidal thoughts continued. She continued to seek treatment, at one point asking for a new provider because the old one had suggested administrative separation and she wanted to stay in the Navy.

She also suffered from a herniated disc and “debilitating back pain” that impacted her quality of life and left her bedridden at times once she was on LIMDU and transferred to MARMC.

Holder took her life on the evening of Nov. 26.

The reforms announced by the sea service come after a separate investigation into the rash of suicides among sailors assigned to the carrier George Washington revealed how the challenging work environment at a Newport News, Virginia, shipyard had negatively affected their quality of life.

The report presented 48 recommendations to the Navy, including beefing up mental health resources, improving parking options and other basic amenities, and executing manning shifts, among other items.

“We recognize many of the recommendations will require significant resourcing solutions, and we’re working through that process now with the full attention of the highest levels of Navy leadership,” Adm. Daryl Caudle, the head of U.S. Fleet Forces Command, told reporters Thursday. “Our actions going forward will speak to how seriously we take this issue, and we will not rest until we are certain that our Navy is providing the quality of service standards that our sailors and families deserve.”

Navy leaders didn’t cite specific target dates for implementing the recommendations, but Caudle said service leaders “didn’t sit on our hands” during the early phases of the GW investigation. They jumped in to improve mental health resources, remove sailors from the ship, provide better food options and make changes to parking.

“I’m extremely encouraged with the speed that they’re moving on this thing and how passionate they are about making meaningful change [for] our sailors,” Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy James Honea told reporters Thursday.

The earlier investigation, released in December, found that three deaths over the course of six days in April 2022 were not related. However, the report also characterized the ship’s psychologist and the behavioral health technician as “overwhelmed,” and said sailors in need of help encountered a backlog of roughly four to six weeks for initial appointments.

That prompted Naval Air Force Atlantic’s launch of the quality of service investigation to evaluate ways to improve the quality of life for sailors assigned to aircraft carriers undergoing a mid-life refueling and complex overhaul, known as an RCOH. The George Washington has been undergoing its RCOH at Newport News Shipbuilding since August 2017 after being based in Yokosuka, Japan, for seven years.

The investigation determined that the working environment for sailors assigned to the George Washington during its overhaul was poor, and damaged efficiency and effectiveness. It also stymied the execution of quality of life programs.

There were too few supervisors to provide necessary training, mentorship and quality of life oversight for sailors, it found. In addition, accommodations provided by Huntington Ingalls Industries did not have the capacity for crews from two carriers — the GW and the Stennis —and did not meet Department of Defense standards. The crew’s move aboard the GW was also premature, according to the report.

USS George Washington suicides investigation reveals systemic issues

Within the crowded shipyard environment, sailors also had to cope with “disjointed and dispersed parking” with “episodic shuttle transportation” and long walks from the shipyard to the carrier.

The report advised the Navy to remove first-term sailors from an assignment to an aircraft carrier within one year of entering RCOH until after it comes out of the shipyard. This aims to reduce the number of sailors most at risk to quality of life challenges and also to eliminate strains on the chain of command.

“By reducing the number of first tour Sailors and optimizing the number of Sailors to the mission of RCOH, the Navy will effectively improve quality of life by reducing the support requirement to crew, freeing crew for other CVNs, and decreasing prolonged out-of-rate work and subsequent dissatisfaction,” the investigation said.

The report advised Program Executive Office Aircraft Carriers to conduct an analysis looking at more parking alternatives for sailors and other changes.

“Improving basic amenities, such as reducing distant parking challenges, providing convenient and available food options and offering fitness convenience and access, all centralized for basic efficiency and functionality, will increase the overall quality of life and quality of service for Sailors assigned to aircraft carriers during RCOH,” the report said.

The investigation also led to a call for the service to expand the number of medical mental health providers, advising the Department of Defense, the Navy and the chief of naval operations to “prioritize mental health clinician recruitment and retention to ensure adequate clinical services for all Sailors, particularly those assigned to aircraft carriers.”

Caudle said that immediately following the first investigation into the George Washington suicides, the Navy moved to improve mental health resources, including bolstering behavioral health technicians assigned to the carrier.

“We’re now trying to understand how to build that out more fully and to ensure that where the highest risk populations are, that we go after those areas first,” Caudle said.

But there are challenges, given that the Navy is competing with high demand in the civilian sector amid a national shortage of mental health care providers, he said.

“So, we’re working through mechanisms to ensure the compensation packages that we can offer in this [are] competitive in that space,” Caudle said.

USS George Washington returning to Japan next year

A total of 70 sailors died by suicide in 2022 — an increase from 59 suicides in 2021 and 65 in 2020, according to the Navy.

In January, Navy senior leaders acknowledged that suicides across the fleet are a major concern that they are attempting to address. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday said at the Surface Navy Association conference in January that the issue is a “vexing” problem for the Navy, and current efforts to improve mental health are not sufficient.

“The connectedness between us and amongst us is really, critically important,” Gilday said. “The first line of defense even goes below chief petty officers in terms of understanding, or trying to understand, what’s going on in the day-to-day lives of our shipmates. And if anything, our message is, ‘Stick around. We need you. We can help you.’

“There are multiple ways that we can do it, yet it’s still a vexing problem because people still choose to take their lives,” he said. “And so I would tell you, that’s what keeps us awake at night.”

The George Washington, which was originally set to conclude its RCOH in 2021, is now expected to wrap up that maintenance this year. The carrier is set to return to Japan, replacing the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, which has served as the forward-deployed carrier since 2015.

Troops and veterans experiencing a mental health emergency can call 988 and select option 1 to speak with a VA staffer. Veterans, troops or their family members can also text 838255 or visit VeteransCrisisLine.net for assistance.

Lt. Col. Jon-Paul Depreo, the former commander of the 46th Engineer Battalion, is charged with one count of abusive sexual contact, one count of maltreating a subordinate and two counts of conduct unbecoming an officer, said Fort Polk spokesperson Shelby Waryas. Depreo was fired as commander in January for “a loss of trust and confidence in his judgment and ability to command.”

Online court records indicate that Depreo may enter a guilty plea, but the officer’s defense attorney did not respond to questions from Army Times seeking to confirm his plans or the details of a plea bargain. Such agreements, especially those for sex crimes, often result in reduced charges.

Devil’s bargain: How sex crime plea deals let these soldiers retire and avoid registries

Although it’s unclear whether the criminal charges stem from the same incident, Army Times previously reported Depreo’s relief was related to an incident that occurred at the battalion’s Dec. 14, 2022 holiday ball at a casino in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Additionally, the unit’s former top enlisted soldier, Command Sgt. Maj. Jeremy Compton, also faces a June court-martial. Compton is accused of adultery, distributing child pornography and sharing explicit photographs of himself while in uniform, according to Stars and Stripes. Compton, who was arraigned in November, spent nearly two years as the unit’s top NCO.

Depreo took command of the “Steel Spike” battalion, a separate element of the Fort Bragg, North Carolina-based 20th Engineer Brigade, in June 2021. The engineer officer previously served in various staff roles across the Army, as well as overseas in Iraq and Germany.

His trial is tentatively scheduled for June 26.

At least 58 soldiers were promoted and 104 were given the recruiting ribbon as part of the Soldier Referral Program, according to a report by Military.com’s Steve Beynon. The news site was the first to report the awards, citing internal service documents obtained by Military.com.

The Office of the Chief of Public Affairs for the service did not respond to request for comment.

The Soldier Referral Program began in January. Senior service leaders — Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville and Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Grinston — said was “driven by Soldier suggestions” in a joint letter to the force. The move was intended to counter the recruiting shortfalls the service has faced in recent years.

Last year, the Army fell short of its recruiting goals by 15,000 troops — or 25% of its total goal. While testifying before Congress earlier this month, Wormuth told lawmakers that the service will fall short of its recruiting goals for a second year in a row, Army Times previously reported. That is all while increasing its target recruiting goal from 60,000 troops to 65,000 for this year.

“We are not going to make that goal,” Wormuth told the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense earlier this month. “We are doing everything we can to get as close to it as possible. We are going to fall short.”

By March, the program had produced nearly 5,300 referrals since it began in January.

“To date, the Army witnessed success as it contracted over 76 new recruits since the start of this program and we expect solid growth as the command continues to build on the momentum to accomplish the mission,” Brian McGovern, the deputy director of public affairs for U.S. Army Recruiting Command, said in a statement in March.

For one particular member of the class of 2023, graduation marks an occasion of both momentous joy and excitement about the future, but also profound reflection about the things he wishes he’d known when he began Plebe year — a West Point cadet’s first year at the academy.

As such, Spencer Gillis penned a heartfelt letter to his younger self, which ultimately holds a lot of advice for future service academy attendees.

“West Point is not what you think it is,” Gillis opens. “The vision you have of what it means to be a cadet, and what it means to be an officer, are incorrect. You are painfully naïve as to what the daily life of a cadet looks like. You will more often be unprepared than you will be prepared, and confidence will quickly become a valuable commodity. At this point in your life, you are probably thinking you ‘know’ a lot...”

He goes on to state, essentially, that no one in their first year knows much of anything. Attending West Point is as much a re-education as it is an academic experience.

What each graduate gets out of attendance at this storied institution, Gillis posits, is not a book of military stratagems or a leg up in the Army. Ultimately, like with any battalion or platoon, you benefit primarily from building relationships with a team that shares common goals.

“As graduation gets closer, you will recognize that none of the coursework you completed, shots you took, or formations you had matter at all,” he adds. “The greatest leadership lessons will be learned from those around you, and you will love and cherish them for the rest of your life. To be blunt, you will be nothing without these relationships. Everything else pales in comparison.”

He also waxes, as does Vitamin C — the musical group that sang about graduation in 2000 — about the passage of time and how funny it is the things you remember when school ends.

“Although you’ll be very excited for what’s next, you’ll recognize that as you had been hoping all along, time has in fact passed and despite your best efforts it will only continue to do so,” Gillis says. “In fact, by the time graduation comes around, you will find that you are not as ready to leave as you thought, and when you do, you might actually look back.”

And while all that may seem cliché, what Gillis says in closing may come as a shock to the academically rigorous students that typically apply and are granted acceptance into the highly-ranked military academies.

“If there’s one thing I hope you’d do differently, it’s spend less time caring about school.”

While it may be too late for those graduating this year, these lessons are certainly valuable reading for anyone thinking of applying to a service academy. But for all those departing and commissioning, consider these words from Vitamin C:

As we go on, we remember

All the times we had together

And as our lives change, come whatever

We will still be friends forever

Semper BFFs.

The service said in a Thursday release that it sent industry a classified solicitation for an engineering and manufacturing development contract for the secretive and highly classified NGAD program.

The release of this solicitation formally begins the process of selecting a contractor to build the Air Force’s next advanced fighter system, which will replace the F-22 Raptor. The solicitation came with requirements the Air Force expects companies to include in their NGAD designs.

However, this solicitation and source-selection process does not include the drone wingmen the Air Force refers to as collaborative combat aircraft, the service said.

“The NGAD platform is a vital element of the air dominance family of systems, which represents a generational leap in technology over the F-22, which it will replace,” Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said in the release. “NGAD will include attributes such as enhanced lethality and the abilities to survive, persist, interoperate and adapt in the air domain, all within highly contested operational environments.”

“No one does this better than the U.S. Air Force, but we will lose that edge if we don’t move forward now,” Kendall added.

The Air Force has repeatedly said its concept for an NGAD platform will not exactly mirror a traditional crewed fighter such as the F-22 or F-35, but will instead be a “family of systems” that incorporates a crewed aircraft component as well as collaborative combat aircraft. Increased sensor capabilities as well as advanced abilities to connect with satellites, other aircraft or other assets could also be part of NGAD’s family of systems.

The Air Force on Thursday said its acquisition strategy for NGAD “will invigorate and broaden the industrial base to deliver rapid and innovative warfighting capabilities.”

As the service develops NGAD, the statement said, it will use lessons learned from other recent acquisition programs, and will use open-architecture standards. The service said this will allow it to take advantage of as much competition as possible throughout NGAD’s life cycle, create a larger and more responsive industrial base, and cut down on maintenance and sustainment costs.

The Air Force said other technical and programmatic details on NGAD are classified “to protect operational and technological advantages.”

Kendall and other service officials said last year they hope to start fielding the crewed component of NGAD by the end of the decade, with collaborative combat aircraft possibly arriving first.

In June 2022, Kendall raised eyebrows when he said at a Heritage Foundation event that the service had “now started on the EMD program to do the development aircraft that we’re going to take into production” — a remark that some took to mean NGAD was already in the engineering and manufacturing development stage.

Kendall later walked back those comments, explaining that he was using the term EMD in a colloquial sense. He said NGAD was still being designed and had not yet gone through the Milestone B review process.

Milestone B marks the point where a program’s technology maturation phase finishes and an acquisition program formally starts in which the service takes its preliminary design and focuses on system integration, manufacturing processes and other details ahead of production.

Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek said in an email to Defense News that when the source-selection process finishes, NGAD will go to the service’s top acquisition official — who is now Andrew Hunter — for the Milestone B decision to award the EMD contract to the winning company.

Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin have expressed interest in pursuing the Air Force’s NGAD contract.

It’s unclear how much the contact would be worth, but Kendall told lawmakers in an April 2022 hearing that each aircraft could cost “multiple” hundreds of millions of dollars, though he did not get specific about the potential price tag.

Col. Jason Lacroix, who led the depot for nearly two years, was suspended earlier this month pending an internal investigation, Justine Barati, a spokesperson for the Army’s Joint Munitions Command, confirmed to Military Times. Details as to why the investigation is taking place were not immediately available.

The installation’s deputy commander, Sheila Johnson, is now in charge, Barati said, adding there has been no impact to the depot’s operations.

Pueblo Chemical Depot is one of two remaining Army installations in the United States that stores chemical weapons, the other being Blue Grass Army Depot, Kentucky.

The Colorado site originally stored more than 2,600 tons of mustard agent in projectiles and mortar rounds and expects to completely destroy its remaining stockpile this year, according to the program office that oversees the process.

Lacroix became the 39th commander of the installation in June 2021, according to a bio shared by the depot. Prior to serving at Pueblo, he was a senior military advisor for the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction in Washington, D.C. Before that, he served as a plans officer with Army Futures Command.

Lacroix did not immediately respond to a request for comment via social media.

Retired Staff Sgt. Steven M. Larrabee in November 2015 sexually assaulted a civilian bartender at a bar in Iwakuni, Japan, and recorded it on his phone, according to his cert petition, the document in which he asked the court to review his case.

After Larrabee, then a member of the Fleet Marine Corps Reserve, was charged under military law, he pleaded guilty to sexual assault and indecent recording. A military judge sentenced him to 10 months’ confinement and a dishonorable discharge, according to the petition.

Enlisted Marines with more than 20 years but less than 30 years of active service can choose to be transferred to the Fleet Marine Reserve, according to the cert petition.

Despite the name, it’s not like the Marine Corps Reserve — it’s a “de facto retirement status,” Larrabee stated, with the possibility that members can be summoned to service again in case of war or national emergency.

In exchange, members of the Fleet Marine Reserve receive retainer pay, unlike non-retirees in the Individual Ready Reserve, or IRR. Members of the IRR generally aren’t subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Military Times previously reported.

Larrabee appealed his conviction, arguing that military law shouldn’t apply to him because he was no longer in the military. He maintained he should have instead been tried under civilian law, Military Times previously reported.

After getting rebuffed by appeals courts, he asked the Supreme Court to review his case, filing cert petitions first in 2018 and again in May.

Though the Supreme Court in early 2019 declined to hear his case, a federal judge in D.C., Richard J. Leon, in 2020 agreed with Larrabee that the military prosecution he faced was unconstitutional.

Can the Pentagon prosecute military retirees under the UCMJ? Maybe — it depends.

Under current federal law, courts-martial can try members of the Fleet Marine Reserve or the Fleet Reserve, the equivalent for the Navy. Congress passed that law due to the clause in the Constitution that lets it “make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces.”

But Larrabee argued that retirees in the Fleet Marine Reserve “are functionally living as civilians.” As a result, in his view, that constitutional clause shouldn’t apply.

The Justice Department’s Office of the Solicitor General, which represents the government, argued in 2018 that members of the Fleet Marine Corps Reserve and Fleet Reserve are still part of the naval forces. The office’s brief noted that some of these retirees were called back to active service during recent decades’ conflicts.

It’s far from guaranteed that the Supreme Court will take up the case. The justices receive about 7,000 to 8,000 cert petitions each year but hear only around 80 cases, according to SCOTUSblog.

The last time Larrabee asked the justices to review his case, in 2018, they declined, after lawyers for the government pushed back on his claims and indicated that there were still questions for appeals courts to resolve before the Supreme Court should take a look at the case.

By refusing to take up the case, the court left in place the status quo, which lets members of the Fleet Marine Corps Reserve and Fleet Reserve face prosecution under military law.

Two appeals courts have since agreed that these retirees could be tried under military law, but they arrived at that conclusion through “divergent — and independently unpersuasive — rationales,” Larrabee argued in his cert petition this year.

Larrabee warned in the petition that lower courts’ rulings may affect the country’s two million retirees, even those who aren’t in the Fleet Marine Corps Reserve or Fleet Reserve. Federal appellate courts have found that retirees from the active component can be subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, according to the Congressional Research Service.

It could be possible for retirees to be tried under military law for actions that are legal under civilian law — such as anti-war speech or speaking contemptuously of the president — Larrabee argued.

There could even be implications for veterans with ties to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, Larrabee indicated. In June 2021, then-Rep. Elaine Luria, a Democrat from Virginia raised a military prosecution as a possibility for retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn for appearing to endorse a coup, CNN reported. As a retired soldier, Flynn was not part of the Fleet Marine Reserve or Fleet Reserve, which are for retirees from the sea services.

In a 2019 Lawfire post, retired Maj. Gen. Charles J. Dunlap Jr., a former deputy judge advocate general of the United States Air Force and a professor at Duke Law School, emphasized that Larrabee had chosen to transfer to the Fleet Marine Reserve rather than sever his military ties entirely.

“I recognize that (Larrabee) may now regret transferring to the Fleet Marine Reserve given the outcome of his trial, but my bet — based on literally everyone I know — is that the overwhelming majority of retired military personnel are proud of their service, and would hardly be pleased to have it downgraded to some lesser ‘connection’ simply so that a rogue vet might not be held accountable in the military justice system,” Dunlap wrote.

The Justice Department declined to comment on the case. It has until June 7 to file a response to Larrabee’s petition but has requested another month.

Steven Vladeck, one of Larrabee’s lawyers, did not respond to a Marine Corps Times request for comment.

The case is Steven M. Larrabee v. Carlos Del Toro, Secretary of the Navy, et al.

Justice Department lawyers made the disclosure in a court papers urging a magistrate judge to keep Jack Teixeira behind bars while he awaits trial in the case stemming from the most consequential intelligence leak in years. The judge is expected to hear more arguments Friday on prosecutors’ detention request and issue a ruling.

Air National Guardsman age not key in Pentagon leaks, Austin says

Teixeira is accused of sharing highly classified documents about top national security issues in a chatroom on Discord, a social media platform that started as a hangout for gamers. He has not yet entered a plea.

Prosecutors told the judge in their filing that Teixeira continued leaking documents even after he was admonished by superiors on two separate occasions last year over “concerning actions” he took related to classified information.

A September memo from the Air National Guard 102nd Intelligence Wing that prosecutors filed in court says Teixeira had been observed taking notes on classified intelligence information and putting the notes in his pocket. Teixeira was instructed at the time to no longer take notes in any form on classified intelligence information, the memo says.

Another memo from late October says a superior had been made aware that Teixeira was “potentially ignoring the cease-and-desist order on deep diving into intelligence information” given to him the month before. The memo says Teixeira attended a meeting and proceeded to ask “very specific questions.” He was told again to focus on his job, not any “deep dives” into classified intelligence information.

Still, a third memo from February says Teixeira was again observed viewing information “that was not related to his primary duty and was related to the intelligence field.” Teixeira “had previously been notified to focus on his own career duties and to not seek out intelligence products,” the memo said.

“The Defendant even continued to share information with his online associates, defying these admonishments and taking further efforts to conceal his unlawful conduct,” prosecutors wrote.

Lawyers for Teixeira, who was arrested last month on charges under the Espionage Act, are urging the judge to release Teixeira to his father’s home, noting that the man didn’t flee when media outlets began publishing his name shortly before his April 13 arrest. His lawyer told the judge last month that Teixeira “will answer the charges” and “will be judged by his fellow citizens.”

In their own court filing Wednesday, Teixeira’s lawyers noted there have been many Espionage Act cases in which courts have approved release or the government did not seek to keep the person behind bars pretrial. They have also said there is no allegation that Teixeira ever intended for documents to be distributed widely.

But prosecutors said in their filing Wednesday that one of the servers on the social media platform he posted classified information to had at least 150 users at the time the information was shared and “now may have many more users that are actively seeking access to information.”

“Among the individuals with whom the Defendant shared government information are a number of individuals who represented that they resided in other countries and who logged on to the social media platform using foreign IP addresses,” prosecutors wrote.

In messages, Teixeira bragged about the scope of information he had access to, writing, “The information I give here is less than half of what’s available,” prosecutors said. He also acknowledged he wasn’t supposed to be sharing the information, prosecutors said, writing in another message, “All of the s—- I’ve told you guys I’m not supposed to,” according to the Justice Department’s filing.

Magistrate Judge David Hennessy heard arguments from lawyers over detention late last month, but has yet to issue a ruling and scheduled a second hearing on the matter for Friday. In earlier court records, prosecutors revealed that Teixeira kept an arsenal of weapons before his arrest and has a history of violent and disturbing remarks.

The leaked documents appear to detail U.S. and NATO aid to Ukraine and U.S. intelligence assessments regarding U.S. allies that could strain ties with those nations. Some show real-time details from February and March of Ukraine’s and Russia’s battlefield positions and precise numbers of battlefield gear lost and newly flowing into Ukraine from its allies.

A fuel leak at the facility in November 2021 affected approximately 9,000 Army, Navy and Air Force families at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam and the Army’s Aliamanu Military Reservation and Red Hill Housing. About 6,000 people were sickened after drinking or using the contaminated water and sought treatment for nausea, headaches, rashes and other conditions. The military subsequently paid for many families to temporarily relocated to area hotels.

The Pentagon said it will start defueling the facility in October and is shooting to wrap up removing the fuel by the end of January 2024, according to a new supplement released Tuesday. Defense officials had previously planned to complete the defueling process in July 2024.

“This supplement demonstrates our intent to begin defueling the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility on an accelerated timeline,” Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a statement Tuesday. “The prospect of defueling early is a testament to the commitment of the Department to safeguarding the environment and protecting the health of people in Hawaii.”

The plan outlines the four steps needed to remove 104 million gallons of fuel at Red Hill:

• Defuel tank mains
• Defuel flowable tank bottoms
• Unpack pipelines
• Remove and relocate all fuel in surge tanks

Following these steps should remove approximately 99.85% of the fuel from the facility. But despite these efforts, the Pentagon said a sizable portion of fuel will still remain.

Pentagon to shut down leaking fuel tank facility in Hawaii

“DoD acknowledges that a substantial amount of fuel (between 100,000 and 400,000 gallons) will remain in RHBFSF at the conclusion of defueling actions covered in this supplement,” the document said. “DoD will provide [the Department of Health] and [the Environmental Protection Agency] with additional supplements as needed to comprehensively address all additional actions necessary to ensure removal of all fuel from RHBFSF.”

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Hawaii Department of Health must sign off on the military’s new plan.

Kathleen Ho, Hawaii’s deputy director of environmental health, said she was encouraged by the new proposal.

“We will carefully review this submission to ensure that the updated timeline and plan can be executed safely without any further risk to the environment,” Ho said in a statement.

The tanks can hold 250 million gallons of fuel but are at less than half capacity now. Thirteen of the 20 tanks, which were built into a mountain ridge in 1943, have fuel in them.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced in March 2022 that the military would shut down the facility and pursue more distributed refueling options instead.

“The distributed and dynamic nature of our force posture in the Indo-Pacific, the sophisticated threats we face, and the technology available to us demand an equally advanced and resilient fueling capability,” Austin said then. “To a large degree, we already avail ourselves of dispersed fueling at sea and ashore, permanent and rotational. We will now expand and accelerate that strategic distribution.”

A Navy investigation found a cascading series of mistakes, complacency and a lack of professionalism over the course of six months led to the 2021 fuel spill. It has yet to announce disciplinary action in response to the spill.

— The Associated Press contributed to this report.