More than 60,000 unvaccinated Army National Guard and Reserve soldiers likely won’t be cashing federal paychecks in July after missing the June 30 deadline to receive their COVID-19 shots. The soldiers could ultimately be forced out of the service, even as the military struggles with languishing recruitment and retention. As of July 1, members of the Army National Guard and Army Reserve who have refused the COVID-19 vaccination order are no longer allowed to participate in federally funded drills or training. The unvaccinated soldiers — who make up more than 10% of the Guard and Reserve c ..read more

MANBIJ, Syria — Soldiers with the Syrian Democratic Forces spilled out of a house on the edge of an abandoned village northeast of the city center. One of them, speaking into his walkie-talkie, held up his hand to stop our car. The driver, an SDF escort, put it in park and rolled down his window. “He says it’s not safe,” the driver told us. “Turkish drones. The sky is full of drones.” In May, Turkey’s President Recep Erdogan announced plans to invade the northern Syrian cities Manbij and Tal Rifaat to establish a 30-kilometer “security zone” between the two countries. So far this year, 47 Turk ..read more

Prestonsburg is a small Kentucky town along a fork of the Big Sandy, and over the past week it’s buried three police officers gunned down in the line of duty. “I never could dream or have a nightmare such as we’ve seen,” Prestonsburg Police Chief Randy Woods told mourners at the Wednesday, July 6, funeral for his captain, Ralph Harlow Frasure. Authorities said Lance Preston Storz kicked off a June 30 ambush at his Allen home when a team of law enforcement officers arrived to serve him a warrant tied to allegations of spousal abuse. Prosecutors have charged him with shooting to death Frasure, 6 ..read more

Rory Hamill later described it as a moment of clarity. A moment when the image of his children flashed through his mind. Sitting in a Walmart parking lot, the 31-year-old Marine Corps veteran lowered the .40-caliber pistol from his head, disassembled it, and threw the pieces away.  Rory, who lost a leg to an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan, spent the rest of his life advocating for veterans struggling with mental health issues. Using his own story as proof that redemption is possible, he strove to normalize mental health issues that plague many of those who have served and end ..read more

A Mississippi man who gunned down an FBI agent last year in Jackson could spend the next two decades behind bars. Demario Lamar “Big Kountry” Cotton, 39, pleaded guilty on July 1 before US District Judge Henry T. Wingate in Jackson on a sole count of using a firearm during a crime of violence. He’s slated to be sentenced Sept. 29 and faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in a federal penitentiary. FBI has declined to name the special agent who was shot, but he survived his wounds. Cotton remains incarcerated without bond inside Mississippi’s Madison County Detention Center. His criminal defense ..read more

It’s one thing to rush to rescue a downed plane. It’s another when the aircraft crashes onto an island ruled by big bears. “We know of Montague Island as a spot where they bring like some of the more troubled bears in the state,” US Coast Guard rescue helicopter pilot Lt. Ian Erickson told Coffee or Die Magazine. “That was something in the back of our minds. If there are so many bears, that’s going to be a problem for these folks.” US Coast Guard Sector Anchorage watchstanders received an emergency inReach satellite phone call at 4:15 p.m. on Tuesday, July 5, from a passenger who survived a Pi ..read more

As the military continues to struggle with sexual assault in the ranks, a new Navy policy hopes to encourage sailors and Marines to report crimes without fear of being punished, while the Air Force is making it more difficult for airmen to continue their careers after sexual assault convictions. The Department of the Navy, which also encompasses the Marine Corps, announced June 29 that it will beef up its Safe-to-Report policy by ensuring victims of sexual assault are not disciplined for minor misconduct they may have engaged in at the time of the assault. Previously, sailors and Marines ..read more

Three weeks after a New Haven man was left paralyzed after riding in a police paddy wagon, the top federal prosecutor in Connecticut said she’s watching and waiting. “My office is closely monitoring the ongoing investigations into the circumstances that have left Mr. Randy Cox paralyzed and hospitalized after being taken into custody by the New Haven Police Department on June 19,” US Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery said in a prepared statement released Wednesday, July 6. “My prayers are with him and his family. All suspects taken into police custody must be afforded timely and appropriate medic ..read more

A Maryland drive-by shooter who blasted away at a US Secret Service agent and security guards with a ghost gun in 2021 is going behind bars for the next decade. On Tuesday, July 5, in Greenbelt, US District Judge Paula Xinis sentenced Jeremiah Peter Watson to 120 months in a federal prison for assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon and brandishing a firearm during the commission of a violent crime. Watson, 24, had faced spending the rest of his life in a penitentiary, but a plea deal inked with federal prosecutors on March 3 capped his combined incarceration on both counts at 10 yea ..read more

A 19-year-old soldier was killed in a late-night shooting July 4 in Syracuse, New York, Fort Drum officials confirmed. Pfc. Malik S. Shipman was shot at 11:14 p.m. Monday in a neighborhood near Onondaga Park in Syracuse, approximately 80 miles southeast of Fort Drum. Two cars were also struck by bullets, and multiple casings were found at the scene of the shooting, the Syracuse Post-Standard reported. Shipman was taken to a local hospital but died from his injuries. The Syracuse Police Department is leading the investigation but did not immediately respond to an inquiry from Coffee or Die Maga ..read more