While such memos are rare, it was not the first time the military’s top civilian leader has pressed the force on its duty to the Constitution in regard to a changeover of control under Trump.

However, in the context of the incoming president’s suggestion that he may use federal forces at the southern border, and Project 2025 plans to force out career civilians and fill positions with Trump loyalists, the Biden administration has taken unusual steps both to try to insulate those civil servants and to remind the military of its own sworn oaths.

“As it always has, the U.S. military will stand ready to carry out the policy choices of its next Commander in Chief, and to obey all lawful orders from its civilian chain of command,” Austin wrote in his letter to Defense Department personnel.

“The U.S. military will also continue to stand apart from the political arena; to stand guard over our republic with principle and professionalism; and to stand together with the valued allies and partners who deepen our security,” he wrote.

Austin reminded all members of the military that they swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution — “and that is precisely what you will continue to do.”

In 2016, the outgoing defense secretary in the Obama administration, Ash Carter, also pressed for an orderly transition after Trump was elected, telling the force he knew it would continue in the tradition of excellence “our citizens know they can expect.”

And when Trump's Defense Secretary Jim Mattis resigned in 2018, he urged the force to remain “undistracted from our sworn mission to support and defend the Constitution.”

“Our Department is proven to be at its best when times are most difficult,” Mattis wrote in December 2018, after resigning due to disagreements with Trump over a withdrawal of troops in Syria.

After the Biden administration, through the Office of Professional Management, issued a new rule in April to further insulate career civil servants from being involuntarily replaced by political appointees, Austin reiterated the Pentagon’s commitment to do the same. In a letter dated July 10, he said civil servants would be shielded “from unlawful or other inappropriate political encroachments."

The regulations were in response to an executive order Trump issued in 2020 that sought to allow for reclassifying tens of thousands of the 2.2 million federal employees and thus reduce their job security protections, which is expected to re-emerge in the second Trump term. It is unclear what sort of protections that workforce will still have in a new administration, particularly if Trump issues an executive order undoing the protections put in place for those civilian workers under President Joe Biden.

Over the next seven weeks they would retake the city, capturing or killing as many as 2,000 insurgents who had controlled the stronghold since April 2004 following the killing and mutilation of four private U.S. security contractors.

But the coalition and Marines did not fight through long days and nights unscathed. The Second Battle of Fallujah — known as Operation Phantom Fury — was the most intense urban fighting of the Iraq War, more even than the initial surge into Baghdad during the 2003 invasion.

The estimated population of Fallujah in 2004 was fewer than 300,000 residents. All but 30,000 fled the city ahead of the fight. Baghdad, meanwhile, had a population of more than 5.7 million.

In the bloody street-by-street, house-by-house fighting, 82 U.S. troops died and another 600 were wounded. Fallujah marked the most intense urban fighting the Marine Corps had seen since the Battle of Hue during the Vietnam War.

And though the November 2004 battle is considered a success, the city would fall approximately a decade later to Islamic State fighters, who held the city until 2016 when they were defeated by Iraqi-led coalition forces.

Today, two decades after Marines entered the hornet’s nest, Fallujah is regarded for its ferocity and the lessons it yields for Marines in a future urban fight. And in 2023, the Navy laid the keel for the future amphibious assault ship Fallujah, named in honor of the Marines who fought in the battle.

“Fallujah has come to represent Iraq to the Marine Corps,” said Mark Cancian, a retired Marine colonel who now serves as a senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Politics, media and social media

Public attention and political pressure were major factors in both the first — in the spring of 2004 — and second battles of Fallujah, as calls at the time for more aggressive operations sounded from Washington.

That push resulted in Marines, who had only been in the Fallujah area for two weeks prior to the spring operation, being rushed into the city without proper planning, resources or training.

Marines took the subsequent five months to refit, redistribute and coordinate before launching the second large-scale assault on the city.

Also modified was media coverage of the war. During the first battle the Marines did not include embedded reporters, which allowed insurgents to propagandize anything coming out of the fight to garner outside support. In the second battle of Fallujah, however, the Marines embedded as many as 60 reporters with units to highlight the atrocities being committed by insurgents.

Getting the U.S. side of the fighting out through the media, Cancian said, helped ease pressure on politicians and allowed military leaders to conduct the operation.

Since that time, development of new technology that favors urban defenders, the presence of social media and real-time evolution of urban combat in Gaza and Ukraine have raised the stakes for how the Marine Corps, and the U.S. military as a whole, prepares for another urban fight.

Today’s constant stream of online video, such as battlefield footage regularly posted from Ukraine and Gaza, allows for a flood of disinformation, which could again ratchet up pressure on civilian leadership.

“The Marines were trying to move into Fallujah, a pretty bloody and destructive battle that was on TV. Political leadership blinked and told the Marine Corps to stand down,” Cancian said. “If we’re ever in this situation where you get these images of destruction and death day after day, that creates a backlash and we’re seeing that in Gaza.”

While military leaders today might plan for such challenges with political leaders, Cancian is skeptical if that will even help.

“I say that because politics is a very short term, immediate game,” Cancian said.

He’s not alone in his thinking.

Retired Army Maj. John Spencer, a leading expert on urban warfare who fought in battles in Iraq in 2003 and the Siege of Sadr City in 2008, co-authored a case study of the battle for the Modern War Institute. The study captures the demands of the fight, which still might differ from what an urban, peer adversary fight would look like today.

A single Marine tank company in Fallujah, for example, fired 1,600 main gun rounds, 121,000 7.62mm machine gun rounds and nearly 50,000 .50-caliber machine gun rounds. Most of their targets were within 200 yards.

One Marine weapons company reported that, on a daily basis, each of its six assault teams used an average of six satchel charges, three cases of Bangalore torpedoes and 10 shoulder-launched weapons.

Over the course of the battle, coalition forces fired more than 4,000 artillery rounds, dropped 318 aerial bombs and fired 391 rockets to support ground troops in the city.

Those munitions figures align with Canadian Army doctrine, which estimates urban operations consume four times the amount of ammunition, according to the case study. The same doctrine shows that such fighting can create three to six times the number of casualties and require nearly three times the amount of water and rations per soldier than operations in other terrain.

Lance Cpl. Chris Lowe was one of the Marines in Fallujah and saw firsthand the effects of those rounds, bombs and rockets.

Lowe, then 20 years old, served as a warehouse clerk but was assigned to a security detail with the 5th Marine Regiment’s bomb technicians. He manned machine guns and automatic grenade launchers as bomb techs blasted Improvised Explosive Devices and other hazards all over the city’s cluttered battlefield.

“You’re bound to come across carnage, particularly in our line of work — it happens,” he told Marine Corps Times.

The post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury that Lowe experienced surfaced after the fight, he said, mostly when he got home.

He struggled over the ensuing years, eventually leaving the Marine Corps in 2016. For more than 14 years Lowe has been working with a case manager at the Semper Fi and America’s Fund, which has provided him neurological fitness training and financial assistance.

Despite his post-war struggles, when Lowe looks back on that harrowing experience, he wants people to know how much the battle meant to those who fought it.

“The time spent there, the blood, sweat and tears and even laughter — because there were a lot of really good times, good camaraderie — those memories are going to last forever,” he said. “The best I can do is live for those who cannot come back.”

Preparing for the next Fallujah

Both Spencer and Cancian told Marine Corps Times that they don’t see much preparation in the Marine Corps or the Army when it comes to facing another Fallujah.

“There was a massive battle in the hospital in the first days,” Spencer said. “The enemy [was set up] in a hospital. But I don’t think you could repeat Fallujah II today, based on social media.”

Since the 2004 battle, both commercial and military technology have advanced. Everything from target-recognition software to commercial drones are now accessible to any nation and non-state actors.

But if a future urban fight arises, the Marines will be without one critical tool — tanks. Former Commandant Gen. David Berger discarded tanks from the Marine Corps inventory in 2021.

In the Modern War Institute case study, authors noted that, in the early days of fighting, an armor-backed task force maneuvered through the city rapidly while dismounted Marines stalled following a breach failure.

Cancian argued that, prior to the Marine Corps Force Design changes, which eliminated tanks, the service should have at least preserved an enhanced battalion of six armor companies.

Berger said at the time that if the Marines need armor in the future, the Army can be relied upon.

But both Cancian and Spencer doubt that pairing the two will be that easy.

For one, Spencer said, integrating infantry and armor requires training. Without regular work between Marine infantry units and Army tankers, there’s not much practice.

Spencer noted that time also plays a factor.

Russia’s early struggles in urban fighting in Ukraine came in part from the brief buildup to the invasion, he said. In Gaza, Hamas fighters had decades to lay their defenses.

“The lesson is, if you give them the time to prepare it’s going to be a lot harder to take the city or do it without destruction,” Spencer said.

It’s unlikely the U.S. will have a first go at an urban battle against an adversary such as Russia or China and be able to reset for five months before launching another operation, he said.

Spencer has long advocated, as a partial solution, for both the Army and Marine Corps to create permanent urban training centers, expert staff, training manuals and better gear.

That wide-reaching resolution may not be as feasible with current military priorities and spending, however. Still, adding urban combat planning into military education and pushing leaders to dedicate a portion of their regular training to that environment are good first steps, he said.

But in 2020, the Marines canceled what was supposed to be a five-year-long experiment on urban technology and tactics in favor of developing new formations for its anticipated naval role in the Pacific.

“The Marine Corps has essentially moved on strategically from an urban fight and counterinsurgency,” Cancian said.

An Army major faces sexual assault-related charges involving at least 20 alleged victims in the Washington D.C. area over a roughly three-year period.

The Army’s Office of Special Trial Counsel confirmed to Army Times Thursday that the office preferred three charges that include 76 specifications of sexual assault-related charges on Oct. 16 against Maj. Jonathan J. Batt, who is assigned to the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center in Crystal City, Virginia.

A military preliminary hearing officer recommended Monday that the charges against Batt be referred court-martial, officials said, and the special trial counsel office will make the final call as to whether the charges go forward.

The Army declined to provide Batt’s charge sheet and additional details about the offenses.

Batt faces 14 specifications of rape, 20 specifications of sexual assault, three specifications of abusive sexual contact, 15 specifications of aggravated assault by strangulation, one specification of aggravated assault by suffocation, 22 specifications of assault consummated by a battery and one specification of obstructing justice, Office of Special Trial Counsel spokesperson Michelle McCaskill told Army Times.

The alleged offenses took place between December 2019 and February 2023 in the Washington, D.C. area, McCaskill said.

Army doctor faces charges he sexually abused 41 patients

Batt’s civilian defense attorney, Phil Cave, declined comment Thursday.

“We intend to represent him vigorously and we have no further comment at this time,” Cave said in a statement.

McCaskill referred further questions to CID. Special Agent Mark Lunardi told Army Times that Batt’s “remains an active and ongoing investigation.”

Batt was being detained at a military detention facility in Chesapeake, Virginia, as of Thursday, officials said.

Batt commissioned after attending the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 2007, officials said. As an infantry officer, he deployed to Afghanistan four times and was previously assigned to the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 5th Ranger Training Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division, 75th Ranger Regiment and 3rd Infantry Regiment.

The major’s awards include two Bronze Star Medals, two Meritorious Service Medals, four Army Commendation Medals, 7 Army Achievement Medals and various other awards.

Correction: This article has been updated to reflect the correction date that a preliminary hearing officer recommended charges against Batt be referred to court martial.

Cmdr. Cayanne McFarlane was ousted from her leadership role due to a “loss of confidence in her ability to command,” according to the service. She has been temporarily reassigned to Naval Information Forces.

McFarlane is the second commanding officer the Navy has fired this week. On Wednesday, the service announced the relief of Capt. Lester Brown, Jr., the commanding officer of Navy Leadership and Ethics Command San Diego.

McFarlane assumed command of Naval Information Warfare Training Group San Diego in April 2023, and previously served as the executive officer of Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station Sicily, according to her official Navy biography.

Navy fires CO of Leadership and Ethics Command San Diego

“The Navy maintains the highest standards for commanding officers and holds them accountable when those standards are not met,” the Navy said in a statement Thursday.

Meanwhile, Cmdr. Dominic DiMaggio, the executive officer of Fleet Weather Center San Diego, is temporarily stepping in to fulfill leadership responsibilities at Naval Information Warfare Training Group San Diego until a permanent replacement is found.

No other details were immediately provided. The Navy rarely provides any insight into the firing of commanding officers beyond the “loss of confidence” statement.

Naval Information Warfare Training Group San Diego falls under Naval Information Warfare Training Group based out of Virginia.

In addition to the top post at VA, Wilkie also served as the Pentagon’s top personnel official during the first Trump administration.

In a statement released Wednesday, Trump transition team co-chairs Linda McMahon and Howard Lutnick said the focus of the various handover efforts will be “selecting personnel to serve our nation under [Trump’s] leadership and to enact policies that make the life of Americans affordable, safe, and secure.”

Wilkie’s role was first reported by Politico.

Wilkie served from July 2018 to January 2021 as the most senior official at VA, replacing Trump’s first secretary for the department, Dr. David Shulkin. He also served as acting secretary for two months prior to his Senate confirmation.

As secretary, he oversaw the initial stages of the department’s electronic health records overhaul and the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic within the VA health care system.

Wilkie courted controversy late in his term after a VA inspector general report criticized his mishandling of a sexual assault allegation against a veteran visiting the Washington, D.C., VA Medical Center.

The report detailed how Wilkie directed an investigation into the victim, a Democratic congressional aide, and worked behind the scenes to discredit her. The inspector general labeled his actions “unprofessional” but did not find any criminal wrongdoing.

Still, more than two dozen Democratic members of Congress and 20 veterans groups — including the Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion — publicly called for Wilkie’s resignation or firing. Neither happened, and he left office after Trump’s term expired.

Since then, Wilkie has worked as a military and veterans expert at the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank launched by former Trump appointees in 2021.

As head of the defense transition efforts, Wilkie will lead Trump’s search for a new defense secretary, as well as other senior civilian leadership posts within the military.

Republicans are expected to hold a majority in the Senate next year, easing the path to confirmation for those picks.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity Wednesday because the order by the judge, Air Force Col. Matthew McCall, has not yet been posted publicly or officially announced.

‘We failed’: How an F-16 flight on 9/11 shaped National Guard’s No. 2

Unless government prosecutors or others attempt to challenge the plea deals again, McCall’s ruling means that the three 9/11 defendants before long could enter guilty pleas in the U.S. military courtroom at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, taking a dramatic step toward wrapping up the long-running and legally troubled government prosecution in one of the deadliest attacks on the United States.

The plea agreements would spare Mohammed and two co-defendants, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi, the risk of the death penalty in exchange for the guilty pleas.

Government prosecutors had negotiated the deals with defense attorneys under government auspices, and the top official for the military commission at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base had approved the agreements.

The plea deals in the Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaida attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people spurred immediate political blowback by Republican lawmakers and others after they were made public this summer.

Within days, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued a brief order saying he was nullifying them. Plea bargains in possible death penalty cases tied to one of the gravest crimes ever carried out on U.S. soil were a momentous step that should only be decided by the defense secretary, Austin said at the time.

The agreements, and Austin’s attempt to reverse them, have made for one of the most fraught episodes in a U.S. prosecution marked by delays and legal difficulties. That includes years of ongoing pretrial hearings to determine the admissibility of statements by the defendants given their years of torture in CIA custody.

The Pentagon is reviewing the judge’s decision and had no immediate further comment, said Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary.

Lawdragon, a legal news site that long has covered the courtroom proceedings from Guantanamo, and The New York Times first reported the ruling.

‘Don’t let me go’: Army’s 9/11 survivors and responders look back

Military officials have yet to post the judge’s decision on the Guantanamo military commission’s online site. But Lawdragon said McCall’s 29-page ruling concludes that Austin lacked the legal authority to toss out the plea deals, and acted too late, after Guantanamo’s top official already had approved the deals.

Abiding by Austin’s order would give defense secretaries “absolute veto power” over any act they disagree with, which would be contrary to the independence of the presiding official over the Guantanamo trials, the law blog quotes McCall as saying in the ruling.

While families of some of the victims and others are adamant that the 9/11 prosecutions continue until trial and possible death sentences, legal experts say it’s not clear that could ever happen. If the 9/11 cases ever clear the hurdles of trial, verdicts and sentencings, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit would likely hear many of the issues in the course of any death penalty appeals.

The issues include the CIA destruction of videos of interrogations, whether Austin’s plea deal reversal constituted unlawful interference and whether the torture of the men tainted subsequent interrogations by “clean teams” of FBI agents that did not involve violence.

AP writer Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.

The Office of Special Trial Counsel, a wing of the military that prosecutes serious crimes, charged Pfc. Dewayne Arthur Johnson II on Tuesday with the murder of Mischa Mabeline Kaalohilani Johnson. She was last seen in her home on Schofield Barracks, the home of the 25th Infantry Division, on July 31.

Johnson, who was assigned to the 25th Infantry Division, was also charged with killing Mischa Johnson’s unborn child.

Johnson was initially charged on Aug. 27, with making false official statements, obstruction of justice and the production and distribution of child pornography, but this is the first time he has been charged in the murder of his wife.

Army files charges against soldier husband of missing woman

It is also the first time the Army has acknowledged the likelihood of Mischa Johnson’s death, a spokesperson for the Army Office of Special Trial Counsel confirmed.

Johnson has been in pretrial confinement since August 19, as he awaits his preliminary hearing, known as an Article 32 hearing, which will determine if there is enough evidence to go forward with the case.

Mischa Johnson’s body has still not been found and the case remains an active investigation. She is 5 feet, 2 inches tall, roughly 170 pounds, six months pregnant and Filipino. She has a large dragon tattoo on her back.

She was known to frequent the Ewa Villages and Waikiki areas, according to the Honolulu Police Department.

The Army Office of Special Trial Counsel asks that anyone with information contact the Army CID Pacific Field Office at (808) 208-0559, or reach out through cid.army.mil/tips.

Rajesh Motibhai Patel, 69, had been charged with assaulting four patients but was convicted by a federal jury in only one of the cases. In a statement, VA Inspector General Michael Missal, whose office helped investigate the allegations, called the verdict an important step towards restoring patient trust in the health care system.

“VA employees are entrusted with keeping our nation’s veterans safe while receiving care. Acts of violence against veterans in VA facilities are reprehensible and shatters that trust,” he said. “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to hold anyone who would commit these crimes accountable.”

Patel was removed from his post at the Joseph Maxwell Cleland Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center in spring 2023 after department officials were informed of the sexual assault allegations. He had previously worked as a primary care physician there.

Justice Department officials said that Patel improperly groped female patients’ breasts and vaginal areas during multiple routine exams between 2019 and 2020. A federal jury acquitted him of charges related to three victims but found him guilty of assault in the fourth case.

“Veterans who consulted him for treatment, like the victim in this case, trusted Dr. Patel, and he violated that trust,” U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan said in a statement. “His conviction hopefully provides a measure of healing for those impacted by his crimes.”

Patel is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 20.

The chance for a governing trifecta, which would repeat the first two years of Trump’s term, already has some in Congress, the Pentagon and think tanks wondering what it means for the defense budget.

While it’s too early to forecast with confidence, analysts who spoke to Defense News said, the return of a Trump presidency will likely augur a larger defense budget, though less security aid for American partners abroad like Ukraine.

Part of why its so difficult to predict the effects of a second Trump term is that there is less Republican consensus on defense spending, said Mark Cancian, who studies security budgets at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Whereas the right once almost uniformly supported higher military spending, it’s now split into three main camps, he argued.

The first is traditional defense hawks, such as former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who favor a more assertive military and funding to support one. The second is budget hawks, like the House Freedom Caucus, who are most concerned with bloated government spending and would in some cases favor cuts.

And the third is the “America First” wing of the Republican Party, such as Trump’s final acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller, who are skeptical that America’s military needs to maintain so many missions around the world, and may also support cuts.

What faction will prevail won’t start to become clear until a future Trump Cabinet is set, Cancian said.

“Until we get some sense of that, we’re just guessing,” he said.

Clear telltales will be the nominees to become secretary of defense and director of the Office of Management and Budget, said Mackenzie Eaglen, an expert on the defense budget at the American Enterprise Institute.

“The first thing that matters is the OMB director,” she said, noting the office’s role in managing government budget requests.

By Eaglen’s count, Trump oversaw a massive hike in defense spending during his first term — some $225 billion higher than projected from the late Obama years. Defense hawks in Congress are counting on a repeat of that trend, and will have more power to force it.

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., published a memo earlier this year calling for a $55 billion surge in defense spending. The paper helped increase the Senate Armed Services Committee budget bill, though by less than half that number. With Republicans taking control of the Senate, Wicker will now chair that committee and can push for further increases.

Republican aides in Congress, when asked by Defense News, signaled confidence that a second Trump term would increase the military budget, though cautioning that it’s still too early to predict.

Congress hasn’t passed either of its two main defense bills this fiscal year, instead operating on a short-term spending bill that lasts through December.

While those will in all likelihood pass eventually, now that control of both chamber is becoming clear, the large security aid packages America has been sending to Ukraine are far less certain. The U.S. has committed more than $60 billion in security aid so far during the Biden administration — much of it going to American arms companies — gleaned from additional spending bills passed by Congress.

“Will there be any more supplementals?” Eaglen said, arguing that Taiwan and Israel had better chances of maintaining American aid.

Trump has said his main priority is ending the war with Russia, without committing to an outcome first. If Trump did abruptly end American assistance, it also risks a whiplash for defense firms that have expanded their product lines to meet Ukraine’s needs, Cancian said.

“That’s industry’s great worry,” Cancian said, though he was skeptical the shift would be too abrupt for firms to adjust.

The service announced Monday that the Gettysburg, Chosin, and Cape St. George will now remain in service up until fiscal year 2029, rather than 2026.

These cruisers have received modernization updates including “extensive hull,” mechanical and engineering, and combat system upgrades, according to the Navy. The Gettysburg and Chosin wrapped up these modifications in fiscal years 2023 and 2025, and the Cape. St. George is slated to conclude its modernization this year.

The Navy’s announcement comes as the Navy and Congress have been at odds over how fast cruisers should be phased out of the fleet. The Navy has sought to decommission more cruisers to free up money for new ships and maintenance, while lawmakers have urged to keep them around longer to satisfy capability gaps.

Meanwhile, the service decommissioned three cruisers in recent months: the Leyte Gulf, the Cowpens, and the Antietam.

“As a former cruiser Sailor, I know the incredible value these highly-capable warships bring to the Fleet and I am proud of their many decades of service,” Del Toro said in a statement. “After learning hard lessons from the cruiser modernization program, we are only extending ships that have completed modernization and have the material readiness needed to continue advancing our Navy’s mission.”

The Navy’s continuing cruiser debacle

On Thursday, the Navy revealed it would keep 12 additional destroyers in service longer, from 2028 to 2035. The ships selected underwent a hull-by-hull evaluation, and the Navy is now including a service life extension update to the FY26 budget request to accommodate these modifications.

These efforts to keep more ships in service will “bolster the Fleet as new ships are built,” according to a Navy news release.

“Today’s budget constrained environment requires the Navy to make prioritized investments to keep more ready players on the field,” Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti said in a statement. “The Navy is actively pulling the right levers to maintain and grow its Battle Force Inventory to support the United States’s global interests in peace and to win decisively in conflict.”

Capt. Lester Brown, Jr., was removed from his position due to a “loss of confidence in his ability to command,” the Navy said in a statement Wednesday.

Brown took the helm of Navy Leadership and Ethics Command San Diego in 2022, and previously served as the executive and commanding officer of the destroyer McFaul, according to his official Navy biography, which has since been removed.

Brown is now reassigned to Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, while Capt. Richard Zeber from Navy Leadership and Ethics Newport will temporarily fulfill commanding officer duties at Navy Leadership and Ethic Command San Diego.

No additional details were immediately available, and the Navy rarely shares any insight regarding firing commanding officers apart from the “loss of confidence” statement.

Navy Leadership and Ethics Command San Diego is responsible for spearheading training for officers who have yet to take command, as well as training for the Navy’s enlisted leader development program.

Sgt. Jorge A. Lara-Pedroza was arrested by the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety in California on Oct. 29, and booked into the Santa Clara Jail, according to a Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety press release.

Lara-Pedroza, who’s assigned to Marine Corps Recruiting Station San Francisco, met the alleged victim about a week before the assault, police said.

“On October 28, the victim met with the suspect at the recruiting center to learn more about the Marine Corps. During the meeting, the suspect sexually assaulted the victim,” the department said in a statement.

Marine Corps Recruiting Station San Francisco officials said Lara-Pedroza has been relieved of his duties and that the Corps is cooperating with law enforcement.

Lara-Pedroza was booked for oral copulation, penetration with a foreign object, and arranging to meet with a minor with the intent to engage in sexual conduct, according to the release.

Originally from Virginia, he enlisted in 2016, and is an aircraft avionics technician.

Officials confirmed Wednesday that Lara-Pedroza remained in custody, and he had an arraignment on Tuesday, but online court records do not indicate how he pleaded.

The incident remains under investigation and anyone with further information is asked to call 408-730-7110.

But Trump’s history of strong support for Israel coupled with his insistence during the campaign that the war in Gaza should end quickly, the isolationist forces in the Republican party and his penchant for unpredictability raise a mountain of questions over how his second presidency will affect the region at this pivotal moment.

US sending bombers, more warships to Middle East

Barring the achievement of elusive cease-fires before the inauguration, Trump will ascend to the highest office in the country as a brutal war in Gaza still rages and Israel presses its offensive against the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group. A conflagration between Iran and Israel shows no signs of abating — nor do Israel’s conflicts with Iranian proxies in Iraq and Yemen — and Iran’s nuclear program remains a top concern for Israel.

Trump says he wants peace, but how?

Throughout his campaign, Trump has vowed to bring peace to the region.

“Get it over with and let’s get back to peace and stop killing people,” Trump said of the conflict in Gaza in an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt in April.

Israel launched the war in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, when militants killed 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 250, with dozens still in Gaza. Israel’s offensive has killed more than 43,000 people, according to Gaza health officials, whose count does not distinguish between civilians and fighters, though they say more than half of the dead are women and children.

The war has ignited a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, driven Israel into increasing international isolation, with two world courts examining charges of war crimes, and has sparked a wave of protests on American campuses that have fueled debate over the U.S. role as Israel’s key military and diplomatic supporter.

International mediators from the U.S., Egypt and Qatar have tried unsuccessfully to bring about a lasting cease-fire.

Yet Trump has repeatedly urged to Israel “finish the job” and destroy Hamas — but hasn’t said how.

“Does finish the job mean you have a free hand to act in dealing with the remnants of Hamas? Or does finish the job mean the war has to come to an end now?” asked David Makovsky, director of the program on Arab-Israel Relations at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “That’s part of the enigmas here.”

Netanyahu is pinning his hopes on a pro-Israel Trump administration

Uncertainty also shrouds how Trump will engage with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. During his first term, Trump offered broad support for the Israeli leader’s hard-line policies, including unilaterally withdrawing from a deal meant to rein in Iran’s nuclear program that Netanyahu long opposed.

Trump also recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, bolstering its claim over the disputed city, and Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights, captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war. He presented a peace plan with the Palestinians widely seen as favoring Israel. Settlement-building in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, seen as an obstacle to Palestinian statehood, surged under his presidency.

Trump also helped secure agreements between Israel and four Arab countries to normalize ties that were not contingent on progress toward Palestinian statehood — a major victory for Netanyahu. The Israeli leader hopes to replicate those successes with a deal with Saudi Arabia.

The leaders had a falling out after Netanyahu congratulated President Joe Biden following the 2020 elections — a move Trump viewed as a slight from his loyal ally, though Netanyahu visited Trump in Florida this year.

Under Biden, the U.S. has been critical at times and slowed some weapons deliveries in response to Israel’s conduct in Gaza. Netanyahu is likely hoping that Trump’s return will loosen any restraints on Israel to pursue its war goals. The American leader could also work to challenge a potential international war crimes arrest warrant for Netanyahu. And a smoother relationship with Washington could help improve the Israeli leader’s own popular support.

“He has the most pro-Israel record of any president,” said Michael Oren, a former Israeli ambassador to Washington. “The hope is here that there’ll be more of the same.”

Neither Netanyahu nor Trump has a clear vision for postwar Gaza

Netanyahu leads a far-right government whose key members have vowed to topple his rule if the war in Gaza ends with anything short of Hamas’ destruction. They support resettling Gaza and are enthusiastic about a Trump presidency — and their influence will only grow now that Netanyahu has fired his defense minister over his more pragmatic approach to the conflict.

Their grip on the government and over Netanyahu’s political future helps explain why Netanyahu has not spelled out a clear vision for a postwar Gaza.

The Biden administration has favored having the war-ravaged territory governed by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the West Bank. Netanyahu has rejected that idea and insists on the right for the Israeli military to operate there.

Trump has not outlined a clear vision, although he has said developers could make Gaza “better than Monaco” because it has “the best location in the Middle East, the best water, the best everything.”

Diana Buttu, a former adviser to Palestinian leaders, said a lack of a firm U.S. vision for Gaza, coupled with a politically powerful Israeli far right, made the future for people in Gaza and for Palestinians in general grim.

“I don’t see this as a president who is going to care about Palestinians,” she said.

Will Trump help defend Israel against Iran or choose ‘America First’?

In Lebanon, Israel is battling the Iranian-backed Hezbollah with both a ground invasion and strikes on Hezbollah targets. The militant group has fired thousands of rockets and drones at Israeli communities, killing dozens and displacing 60,000. Israel’s offensive, meanwhile, has displaced over 1 million people in Lebanon and killed more than 3,000.

U.S. mediation efforts there too have been fruitless. Trump, who has a Lebanese-American son-in-law, recently posted on the social platform X that as president he would “stop the suffering and destruction in Lebanon.”

But a key question is how much Trump will be swayed by his America First instincts.

The U.S. has played a central role in diplomatic efforts throughout the war, and an even more robust role in helping Israel defend itself against Iran and its allies.

The U.S. has sent military assets to the region, helped Israel thwart two missile attacks by Iran and even has U.S. soldiers in Israel to operate a sophisticated air defense system. But any effective Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, a target it avoided in its strike last month, will likely need greater U.S. military involvement.

Accusations that Iran has hacked campaign associates and concerns about the potential for Tehran to carry out violence against Trump or members of his administration could deepen his antipathy toward the country.

While Trump has indicated he will focus on domestic affairs, the Mideast could be an outlier.

He enjoys a wide base of support from evangelical Christians, who are staunchly pro-Israel, and his son-in-law and former adviser Jared Kushner was a prominent voice in support of the country in his first administration.

“As Trump is likely to navigate between those forces mostly based on his intuition,” said Udi Sommer, an expert on U.S.-Israel relations at Tel Aviv University, “uncertainty will likely define his approach.”

“COVID-19 continues to be the most significant viral respiratory infection in our community,” said Dr. Gio Baracco, senior advisor for the Veterans Health Administration’s National Infectious Diseases Service. “It’s still causing a significant number of illnesses, even hospitalizations and some deaths, although clearly not as many as we had at the beginning of the pandemic.”

More than 1,700 days have passed since VA officials announced their first diagnosed case of the virus on March 4, 2020. At least 26,670 individuals linked to VA health care have died from COVID-related conditions over the last four years, an average of about 16 a day.

VA urging veterans, staff to get latest COVID-19 vaccine booster

But the majority of those cases came in the first two years of the pandemic, which was declared over by federal health experts in May 2023.

Since the start of 2024, VA has recorded only about 67,000 new cases (about 7% of the total diagnosed by the department) and 1,100 COVID-related deaths (about 4% of the department’s total).

Baracco credited those improvements to advances in vaccines and treatments in recent years.

“We’re not addressing COVID-19 in crisis mode anymore,” he said. “Because of the tools and the focus on prevention that we have at this time, we have been able to mitigate the severity and the impact in most people.

“But not in all people.”

Patients in the VA health care system remain vulnerable to more serious complications from COVID-19 because of their age — most tend to be older than the average American — and other existing medical issues — most tend to have other service-connected conditions — Baracco said.

That’s the main reason VA continues to track active cases at hundreds of department sites daily, even after most federal monitoring of COVID cases was shut down at the formal end of the national pandemic.

“COVID-19 has not yet established itself as a seasonal disease like the flu has, so it’s not as predictable,” Baracco said. “Something is really considered endemic when it becomes predictable. Right now, with COVID, we are seeing at least two waves each year, sometimes three per year.”

He foresees VA continuing to track virus cases for at least several more years, providing a guidepost for the department — and the public — to see when cases are spiking or diminishing.

As of Tuesday, the number of active cases spread out across the VA medical system was 1,538, down about half over the last month and far below the 2024 peak of 9,688 cases set on Jan. 9.

But even that number is a small fraction of VA’s one-day record for COVID-19 diagnoses: nearly 78,000 cases in January 2022.

The department still recommends patients and their families get vaccinated when updated versions are made available, wear masks in public areas during times of higher infection and avoid crowds if they believe they may be infected.

“The approach moving forward is not so much about treating disease, which we still continue to do, but also to prevent getting ill in the first place and prevent infecting others,” he said.

The Associated Press called the race in favor of Sheehy early Wednesday morning, with the Republican leading by nearly 8% in the vote.

Sheehy is a former Navy SEAL who also graduated from Army Ranger School as part of a special operations exchange program between the services. He courted controversy during his campaign for claiming to have been shot while serving in Afghanistan, despite no military records backing up the claim.

His victory will add another veteran to the list of prominent Republicans with military service in the Senate, including Arkansas’ Tom Cotton and Florida’s Rick Scott.

How veterans are faring in the 2024 election

Tester’s defeat represents a significant political setback for the Democratic Party, not just because of the loss of control of the Senate but also because of Tester’s leadership on a host of national security and veterans issues.

He has served in the Senate since 2007 and been chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee since 2017. Tester was a leading voice on the PACT Act — legislation which provided disability benefits and expanded health care to millions of veterans with military toxic exposure injuries — ahead of its passage in 2022.

Tester has served as the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s defense panel for the last three years, helping guide annual funding decisions for the Department of Defense.

U.S. District Judge Janis L. Sammartino also ordered Francis to pay $20 million in restitution to the Navy and a $150,000 fine, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office. He was also ordered to forfeit $35 million in “ill-gotten proceeds from his crimes,” the statement said.

Prosecutors said the sentence results from Leonard's first guilty plea in 2015 concerning bribery and fraud, his extensive cooperation with the government since then, and another guilty plea Tuesday for failing to appear for his original sentencing hearing in 2022.

Shortly before he was due to be sentenced in September 2022, Leonard cut off a GPS monitor he was wearing while under house arrest and fled the country. He was later arrested in Venezuela and brought back to the U.S. in December 2023.

Sammartino sentenced him to more than 13 1/2 years for the bribery and fraud charges plus 16 months for failing to appear, to be served consecutively.

“Leonard Francis lined his pockets with taxpayer dollars while undermining the integrity of U.S. Naval forces," U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath said in Tuesday’s statement. ”The impact of his deceit and manipulation will be long felt, but justice has been served today.”

How did Fat Leonard attend this former CNO’s change of command? He was on the VIP list

Prosecutors said Francis’ actions led to one of the biggest bribery investigations in U.S. military history, which resulted in the conviction and sentencing of nearly two dozen Navy officials, defense contractors and others on various fraud and corruption charges.

An enigmatic figure who was 6-foot-3 and weighed 350 pounds at one time, Francis owned and operated his family’s ship servicing business, Singapore-based Glenn Defense Marine Asia, or GDMA, which supplied food, water and fuel to vessels. The Malaysian defense contractor was a key contact for U.S. Navy ships at ports across Asia for more than two decades. During that time, Francis wooed naval officers with Kobe beef, expensive cigars, concert tickets and wild sex parties at luxury hotels from Thailand to the Philippines.

In exchange, officers, including the first active-duty admiral to be convicted of a federal crime, concealed the scheme in which Francis would overcharge for supplying ships or charge for fake services at ports he controlled in Southeast Asia. The officers passed him classified information and even went so far as redirecting military vessels to ports that were lucrative for his Singapore-based ship servicing company.

In a federal sting, Francis was lured to San Diego on false pretenses and arrested at a hotel in September 2013. He pleaded guilty in 2015, admitting that he had offered more than $500,000 in cash bribes to Navy officials, defense contractors and others. Prosecutors say he bilked the Navy out of at least $35 million. As part of his plea deal, he cooperated with the investigation leading to the Navy convictions. He faced up to 25 years in prison.

While awaiting sentencing, Francis was hospitalized and treated for renal cancer and other medical issues. After leaving the hospital, he was allowed to stay out of jail at a rental home, on house arrest with a GPS ankle monitor and security guards.

But three weeks before his scheduled sentencing in September 2022, he snipped off his monitor and made a brazen escape, setting off an international search. Officials said he fled to Mexico, made his way to Cuba and eventually got to Venezuela.

He was arrested more than two weeks after his disappearance — caught before he boarded a flight at the Simon Bolivar International Airport outside Caracas. Venezuelan officials said he intended to reach Russia.

‘Fat Leonard’ wrongdoing not a definite career killer for Navy officers

The cases were handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in an effort to be independent of the military justice system. But they have came under scrutiny.

The felony convictions of four former Navy officers were vacated following allegations of prosecutorial misconduct. Sammartino agreed to allow them to plead guilty to a misdemeanor and pay a $100 fine each.

Last year, Sammartino ruled that the lead federal prosecutor in the officers’ case committed “flagrant misconduct” by withholding information from defense lawyers, but that it was not enough to dismiss the case.

However, the results may not be known for several days or weeks.

That’s because each state has different rules regarding absentee voting, counting of mail-in ballots and verification of vote totals. In 2020, the presidential election could not be called until a week after the final votes were cast because of those complications. Some congressional races took even longer to decide.

Election officials have asked the public for patience while official tallying of the votes takes place. Military Times will be tracking all of the congressional races involving veterans here on election night and the coming weeks. For the latest results, refresh this page.

A spokesperson with 3rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, confirmed the Oct. 31 death of Sgt. Quandarius Stanley from his injuries.

Stanley was critically injured in May when high winds and heavy seas damaged the pier, causing four Army vessels to become beached, The Associated Press reported. Two other service members also were injured but later returned to duty.

Three U.S. troops on Gaza pier mission sustain non-combat injuries

“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Sgt. Quandarius Davon Stanley,” Capt. Shkeila Milford-Glover, command spokesperson told Army Times in an email statement today.

The two other soldiers sustained minor injuries. Stanley was treated at an Israeli hospital before being moved to Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas, in June.

Officials did not share details of the injuries that Stanley succumbed to last week.

“Sgt. Quandarius Stanley was an instrumental and well respected first line leader in the 7th Transportation Brigade Expeditionary, especially during the mission to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza,” said Col. John “Eddie” Gray, brigade commander. “We will continue to provide support to his family during this difficult time. Our entire unit mourns alongside his family.”

The transportation brigade is out of Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia.

The massive pier project was hampered by unexpected bad weather and security issues, as well as persistent safety issues involving Israeli forces that prompted aid agencies to halt distribution of the supplies out of fear of being injured and killed.

The Defense Department formally pulled the pier from the Gaza shore on June 28 and declared an end in mid-July to the mission to bring aid into the territory besieged by the war between Israel and Hamas.

The Gaza floating pier operated for nearly three weeks delivering 19.4 million pounds of aid to residents, according to Pentagon officials.

Stanley served in the Army from July 2020 until he was medically retired due to his injuries Oct. 25, officials confirmed.

The sergeant’s awards and decorations include the Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon and the Driver and Mechanic Badge.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Officials advise those who were affected to call the DMDC/DEERS Support office at 800-538-9552 to confirm their eligibility.

The problem, which was fixed Sunday after about 48 hours, affected retirees and family members whose service was tied to the Coast Guard, National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration and the Public Health Service, according to Defense Health Agency, or DHA, officials.

On Friday, DHA posted a note on their Tricare website advising people who had lost Tricare eligibility to contact their regional Tricare contractor for assistance if they had trouble getting health care before the situation was resolved.

Officials attributed the hiccup to a data transfer, and the Defense Manpower Data Center notified DHA officials that some records were missing from a file sent by the Coast Guard, according to DHA.

There were no other impacts from the incident, officials said.

DHA and their regional contractors have been transferring beneficiary enrollment information in DEERS in preparation for new Tricare contracts that start Jan. 1.

DHA earlier announced a global enrollment freeze from Oct. 25 to Oct. 27, requiring beneficiaries within the United States to call their regional Tricare contractor to update their information or make health plan changes.

And through Dec. 31, those who live in the U.S. must call their regional contractors to make health plan changes, including during open season, which starts Nov. 11. Beneficiaries won’t be able to update health plans online in milConnect by way of the Beneficiary Web Enrollment system through the end of the year.

Heeding warnings from the Department of Homeland Security about threats of violence during the week of the presidential election, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo activated National Guard members to support local and state law enforcement. Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek hasn’t activated her state’s National Guard, but her office said Monday that Guardsmen are “trained and ready” in case they’re needed.

In a joint bulletin, DHS and the FBI warned of potential violence from domestic extremists who believe claims of election fraud or harbor anger toward perceived political adversaries. The agencies wrote that extremists would likely target voting locations, ballot drop-boxes, voter registration locations, political rallies, campaign events and the offices of political parties.

In the lead-up to the election, some of those warnings have become realities. An Arizona man was accused of shooting at a Democratic National Committee office last week near Phoenix. Also last week, ballot boxes in Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington, were set on fire, and hundreds of ballots were destroyed.

In response to the ballot-box fire in his state, Inslee sent a letter Friday to Maj. Gen. Gent Welsh, the adjutant general of the Washington Military Department, activating the National Guard to standby status. The activation will expire just after midnight Friday.

“The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has warned that threats to election infrastructure during the 2024 election cycle remains high. The southwest region of Washington state has already experienced specific instances of election-related unrest,” Inslee wrote. “I am directing the Washington National Guard to prepare to provide critical public safety support by activating necessary Washington National Guard personnel in a standby status.”

Conspiracies, calls for violence spike online ahead of Election Day

Inslee wrote that the Guardsmen could support local law enforcement and the Washington State Patrol to “protect vital infrastructure related to carrying out free and fair elections and to respond to any unrest related to the 2024 general election.”

In Nevada, one of seven key swing states, Lombardo said he would activate 60 members of the National Guard in Carson City and Las Vegas to standby status on Election Day. If called upon, they’ll help with tasks like traffic enforcement, building security and communications, the governor’s office said in a statement last week.

“After consulting with stakeholders across the state, I have decided that a precautionary activation of the National Guard makes sense at this time. We do not expect that these personnel will need to be deployed,” Lombardo said.

The Oregon governor’s office will monitor instances of voter intimidation or election interference and coordinate with local, state and federal agencies “to ensure Oregon voters can safely cast their ballot,” Kotek’s office said in an email. While the Oregon National Guard hasn’t been activated, it could be called upon to support law enforcement “if they reach their capacity,” the office said.

William Banks, a Syracuse University law professor who wrote a book about the domestic role of the U.S. military, described the governors’ actions as reasonable.

“The precautionary measures by governors — activating or placing on alert members of their state National Guard — are reasonable in the same way that similar call-ups would precede a major storm that threatens a state,” Banks said. “The governors would order the Guard personnel to quell any violent disturbances, but not to interfere in any way with voting or counting. In some circumstances monitoring that line up to election interference can be challenging, but that’s the task presented.”

Veterans urge Americans against political violence ahead of election

Increased threats of violence against poll workers, in addition to false conspiracies about election fraud, prompted some election officials to increase security at the polls in preparation for Tuesday. Some municipalities have implemented safeguards like panic buttons and bulletproof glass, The Associated Press reported.

The Justice Department established a special hotline for people to report harassment or other types of voting interference. The hotline — 888-636-6596 — became available Saturday and will remain open until Nov. 8. And the Committee for Safe and Secure Elections created a public service announcement, in which local election officials and retired military officers urged Americans to not interfere with the voting process or engage in political violence.

Despite the concerns, extremism experts are predicting any election-related violence would likely occur after Election Day, rather than while voting is taking place.

“Don’t let fear and intimidation keep you from exercising your right,” said Wendy Via, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. “People need to be prepared and cautious, but not afraid.”

This story was produced in partnership with Military Veterans in Journalism. Please send tips to MVJ-Tips@militarytimes.com.

The Army Cadet Command, which oversees both JROTC and ROTC, has spent recent years promoting JROTC across the nation through new technical skills training and various events.

Those new skills, large public events and a push by Congress to expand the program in the coming years are all measures to modernize JROTC and expose more of the population to bolster military recruiting while also bridging the civilian-military divide.

Junior ROTC has mixed impact on student outcomes, new study shows

One such event, the Raider Challenge, took place in late October. Held for the second time at Fort Knox, Kentucky, home of Army Cadet Command, the challenge includes various physical fitness and leadership events such as a 5-kilometer run, rope bridge assembly and a 3-mile buddy team obstacle course.

More than 4,000 cadets from across the country arrived at the post to compete in a series of events.

The annual event was previously held in Molena, Georgia, where approximately 3,000 cadets participated in the final event there, officials said.

The Fort Knox site gives cadets a chance to see an actual military installation and meet soldiers in units serving now, Ian Ives, Army Cadet Command spokesman, told Army Times.

One cadet who spoke with Army Times recently attended the Raider Challenge at both locations, having participated in the event all four years of his high school career.

“I have met some people who don’t understand the purpose. They think it’s more an Army thing,” said Cadet Maj. Jeremiah Purvis, a senior at Kansas’ Leavenworth High School. “It’s really about helping cadets be better leaders in the community.”

Purvis is the last of four brothers in his household to participate in JROTC. His father is an Army veteran, and his oldest brother is an Army second lieutenant.

Established in 1917, the Leavenworth program is one of the nation’s oldest JROTC programs. This year the school took home top place in both the male and female division team competitions.

Julie Howell, the mother of Cadet 1st Lt. Elisabeth Howell, participated in JROTC when she was in high school. At the time, the program didn’t have the more modern tech skill classes and clubs of today’s JROTC programs.

Those types of classes and clubs help draw in students who might not have considered JROTC and allow them to learn more about the program from fellow cadets, Howell said.

“It’s a phenomenal opportunity for these kids to evolve into who they are,” Howell said.

Flashy ads, posters or social media campaigns might be what’s needed to grab the attention of the prospective young recruits the Army wants to reach, but for JROTC, another cadet might be best.

Cadet Kaitlyn Spaulding, a freshman at Leavenworth, met Elisabeth Howell at a local swimming pool and learned that Howell had been on the school’s female JROTC national championship team.

That inspired her to give JROTC a shot, she told Army Times.

“I remember seeing their uniforms and thinking ‘I want to wear those uniforms, too,’” Spaulding said. “I want to be in the program.”

She’s set her sights on attending the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

In the fiscal 2021 defense budget, Congress called for doubling the number of JROTC sites across the military branches by 2031.

Military representatives, experts and several studies have shown that the presence of a JROTC program at a school improves civilian-military cooperation, can influence students at the school to join the military and results in higher graduation rates, more successful enlistments for those who do join after high school.

Army JROTC currently has 1,744 programs with an estimated 280,000 cadets, Ives told Army Times. That’s an increase from a decade ago when there were 1,709 programs with 246,500 cadets.

Doubling the number of programs over the next six years would bring that figure to 3,488 for the Army alone.

A significant increase in the number of Army JROTC programs isn’t unprecedented, though past growth has occurred over a longer timeline. The Army tripled its JROTC programs between 1992 and 2022, according to a RAND report released in September.

The Army ordered the report to study expanding the geographic footprint of the Army’s JROTC programs across the country.

Researchers found that the Army programs were overrepresented in the Southeast region of the United States and underrepresented in the Northwest, Midwest and in rural areas in all regions.

About 6% of public high schools had an Army JROTC program overall. That ranged from 12% of high schools across the South to 3% of high schools in the Northeast and West and only 2% of high schools in the Midwest, according to the report.

RAND personnel conducted a simulation in which they replaced the 60 lowest performing schools with Army JROTC programs with 60 innovative programs in underserved areas. They found no meaningful change in participation.

But should the Army add another 1,000 JROTC programs, the service would see a noticeable increase in its geographic diversity, according to the report.

The report authors recommended the Army continue highlighting its novel JROTC programs such as the Cyber Program. Army Cadet Command has increased its clubs and offerings in technology including cybersecurity, drone and 3D printing in recent years, Ives said.

The RAND report identified prospects by state and by prioritized cities and regions in rank order based on their sustainability. The federal law that governs JROTC programs defines a program as sustainable if it has at least 100 participants or at least 10% of the student body.

The service failed to meet its accession targets for the first time ever in FY23, amid recruitment challenges military leaders blamed on a variety of factors, from more thorough medical screenings for applicants, fewer Americans eligible to serve and low civilian unemployment.

The Navy’s FY25 accessions target, the same as last year’s goal, comes as the service announced it brought in a total of 40,978 new recruits in FY24. The service attributes its success last year to “data-driven decision-making,” cutting down the time to process medical waivers and “expanding opportunities.”

Inside the Navy’s quest to fix its recruiting crisis

Among these changes are installing a two-star admiral to head recruiting stations and centers, adjusting recruiting goals from monthly to annual, and creating a Recruiting Operations Center in October 2023 to address recruitment issues and streamline the entire recruiting process.

“We are building on the foundation of success from FY24 while tackling new challenges head-on,” Rear Adm. James Waters, Commander of Navy Recruiting Command, said in a statement. “With the strategies we’ve implemented, the talent we have in place, and the support from leadership, I’m confident that we’ll meet our goals and continue to bring in the best and brightest to serve our nation.”

Likewise, the Navy has incorporated multiple reforms in recent years to address recruiting challenges. For example, the service started allowing those without a high school diploma or General Educational Development credential to enlist this year, if they score a 50 or higher on the Armed Forces Qualification Test.

The Navy also started a pilot program in December 2022 allowing sailors who scored lower on the Armed Forces Qualification Test to still enlist in the Navy. The shift meant potential sailors who scored between the 10th and 30th percentile on the AFQT were eligible to join if their ASVAB individual line scores qualified for a Navy rating.

“You’ve got transitioning vets and spouses that are in Stuttgart, Germany, or Okinawa, Japan, or any other place where the government puts them for their military time, and they’ll transition from overseas and come back home to what?” said Tom Downs, director of diversity talent acquisition and talent pipeline programs at Booz Allen Hamilton.

“So, post pandemic, we still have a robust virtual program, so we can talk to every veteran, every spouse across the U.S. or the globe for that matter. … We can’t hire every one of them, but we can make sure to at least have a conversation with them.”

Best For Vets 2024 Employers

That focus on attracting military talent is no small matter for the technology firm: About one-third of its annual hires are veterans, reservists or military dependents. Downs said the company has five recruiters dedicated solely to military recruitment, a reflection of the importance the population carries for the company.

The aggressive hiring strategy — and a host of other military-centric employee programs — earned Booz Allen Hamilton the top spot on the 2024 Military Times Best for Vets Employers rankings.

The company has been a regular among the top names in the annual Best for Vets list in past years, in large part because of its commitment to including veterans as core workers.

The survey weighs how organizations recruit, mentor and retain veterans and their family members. Hilary Niles, survey coordinator for the Best for Vets list, said the rankings don’t just echo companies’ raw staffing numbers, but also include factors such as “support programs, accommodations for military connected employees with disabilities, and opportunities for spouses and caregivers.”

This year’s list includes 238 employers spread across 44 states, with 62 firms making their debut in the rankings.

It includes 33 defense contracting firms — traditionally seen as military-friendly and military-heavy companies — but also companies in fields less associated with hiring veterans, like health care, hospitality, energy and banking.

The top 10 includes representatives from nine different industries, with only pharmaceutical employers appearing twice (Johnson & Johnson at #2, and Bristol Myers Squibb at #6).

Employee feedback

Comcast NBCUniversal, the #3 company on the Best For Vets list, earned its spot not just because of its veterans hiring patterns but also because of consistent communication with those employees throughout their careers.

Several years ago, when veterans working there pitched the idea of a discount for military families on their cable services, officials at the company fast-tracked the proposal and sent notices to military bases.

When another veteran at the media firm replaced a tattered American flag visible in his neighborhood with his own money, officials set aside thousands more to replace any aging flags that employees see in the community.

“We want to serve military customers, but we can’t do that authentically if we don’t have military-connected employees in our own workforce who can advise and guide us,” said Mona Dexter, vice president of military and veteran affairs at the company. “And seeing that response encourages our employees.”

The flag program — dubbed Operation Old Glory — is less about directly helping veterans at the company and more about finding ways to link their patriotism and service to their post-military lives.

“It’s that continued sense of service and connection to the symbol that represents the country,” she said. “And it’s a bit of education — not just for our employees, but for community members, too.”

Most companies near the top of the rankings boast relationships with local veterans groups and military advocacy organizations to emphasize that community connection.

One of Booz Allen Hamilton’s most successful partnerships is with the Defense Department, through their Skillbridge Program for transitioning troops.

The initiative allows service members — and now, some military spouses — an opportunity for professional internships and apprenticeships at private-sector firms during their final six months in service. The goal is to give transitioning service members a chance to better understand the private sector and showcase their skills, with an eye towards a post-military career.

Downs said Booz Allen Hamilton’s involvement in the program has grown from around 20 participants five years ago to more than 150 this year. More than 90% of individuals enrolled in Skillbridge partnerships have gone on to land jobs at the company after completion.

“That’s really the crown jewel right now,” he said. “If other companies aren’t engaging with that, I don’t know why not.”

Community connections

Downs noted that veterans also contribute to the overall diversity of Booz Allen Hamilton’s workforce by bringing their own unique experiences to the company. The firm boasts 11 different “employee communities” to highlight the backgrounds of various groups, including one for military-connected individuals.

“They each have their own networking events, their own development programs,” he said. “And you can be a member in as many of the groups as you want. They do happy hours, they do fun runs. That’s the kind of stuff that keeps people here, feeling connected to the community.”

It’s also another tool for recruiting. Downs said when military-related recruits start with the company, they’ve typically already communicated with other veterans at the firm, learning about available support networks and mentoring opportunities.

Nearly two-thirds of the companies on this year’s Best For Vets list said they have an active employee group focused on veterans or related community members, helping to sustain a military-friendly atmosphere at work.

About the same percentage said they have military-specific mentorship programs available to eligible employees.

Dexter said officials at Comcast NBCUniversal have noticed their employee support groups increasingly working together on charity and networking projects, bringing their specific communities together in ways that build more camaraderie.

“Nobody in the veteran employee resource group identifies only as a veteran,” she said. “Everybody can identify with multiple other communities, too. ... So, by bringing the various groups together, it just shows how there really is just a place for everyone, and everybody belongs.”

“Going Dutch” will premiere on Fox in January and will follow brash U.S. Army Colonel Patrick Quinn, who is reassigned to the Netherlands after an inappropriate outburst, Deadline first reported.

Described in a teaser trailer as the least important military base in the world, the destination is unlike anything Quinn is used to, having served for three decades in the highest echelon of the military community.

Denis Leary's Brand New Series Premieres This January | Going Dutch

It’s more of a lavish hotel than anything else, boasting a Michel Star-level commissary, bowling alley, scented laundry, and the only fromagerie in the Army, according to Deadline.

The colonel finds himself brushing shoulders with new types of service members who aren’t necessarily the cream of the military crop.

For instance, in the trailer, a soldier accidentally runs into a window paned door and shatters the glass.

Not exactly West Point material.

Throughout the show, he tries to reform the military outcasts by instilling professionalism in them and the base.

Danny Pudi, known for his work on Fox’s “Community,” will also star in the show as Maj. Abraham Shah, the colonel’s executive officer.

Leary rose to prominence as a stand-up comedian in the 90s, and found work as an actor after, most notably starring in FX’s “Rescue Me.” He was a co-creator of the show, which followed an alcoholic firefighter battling his demons after 9/11 and was nominated for several Emmys.

The remains of Lt. Serena Wileman, a California native, were due to return Monday, Whidbey Island Naval Air Station said. Lt. Cmdr. Lyndsay Evans’ remains will return later during the week in a private affair in accordance with her family’s wishes.

The two died when their EA-18G Growler jet from the Electronic Attack Squadron, known as “Zappers,” crashed east of Mount Rainier on Oct. 15.

Navy IDs two aviators who died in EA-18G Growler crash last week

The crash occurred at about 6,000 feet in a remote, steep and heavily wooded area. The cause of the crash is under investigation.

Evans, a naval flight officer from Palmdale, California, made history as part of a team of female pilots who conducted the first-ever all-female flyover of Super Bowl LVII on Feb. 12, 2023, to celebrate 50 years of women flying in the Navy.

The first female candidates entered the U.S. Navy flight school in 1973.

Wileman, a naval aviator, was commissioned in 2018 and joined the Zapper squadron on Washington state’s Whidbey Island in 2021. She earned the National Defense Service Medal, Navy Unit Commendation Medal and a Combat Action Ribbon.

The EA-18G Growler is a variant of the F/A-18F Super Hornet and provides tactical jamming and electronic protection to U.S. forces and allies, according to Boeing, its manufacturer. The first Growler was delivered to Whidbey Island in 2008.