Military spouse wellness and some of the barriers this population faces are the platform for the newest Military Spouse of the Year, Army spouse Evie King. She shares practical wisdom for prioritizing wellness during deployments and military moves as well as underutilized resources all spouses should know about. About the guests: Evie King is the 2023 Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year who advocates for the well-being and mental health of all military spouses. As President of InDependent, she established professional volunteer opportunities that develop transferable skills. Sh ..read more

The Navy fleet’s overall material condition declined slightly in fiscal 2022, “resuming a slight but steady negative trend” that has occurred since fiscal 2017, according to the Navy’s annual Board of Inspection and Survey, or INSURV, report released by the Navy on Friday. The report notes that the negative trend “is more notable” due to changes in INSURV calculations that adhere more closely to Joint Fleet Maintenance Manual metrics. INSURV also removed major system demonstration and administrative program scores from the INSURV Figure of Merit, or IFOM, calculations. “The updated IFOM calcul ..read more

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 12:26 p.m. EST on Friday, June 2 to include updated comments. Military and civilian users of the the federal government’s Thrift Savings Plan, the popular tax-deferred retirement savings program for millions of government employees, filed a lawsuit alleging that they lost access to their funds following a modernization of its system. Attorneys representing current and former service members and federal employees who filed the complaint on June 1 say their clients have experienced financial hardships due to complications that arose after Federal Retireme ..read more

A purported Navy officer is calling out the sea service for allegedly removing a LGBTQ Pride Month post from its official Instagram account. An Instagram user, whose bio states she is a naval officer, pointed out that the Navy’s account appeared to have removed a Pride Month post in the past 24 hours. That user’s story shows a Pride Month post where the wake of a fighter jet contained the rainbow colors of the LGBTQ pride flag. “Pride Month 2023″ was written to the left of the pride jet. The officer posted a Instagram story Friday noting that the post was “very similar” to what the Navy puts u ..read more

A Marine base in North Carolina recently welcomed its first F-35B fighter jet. Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 542, located at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, received its first F-35B Lightning II jet May 31, according to a press release from the air station. A second F-35B aircraft was scheduled to arrive on June 1 to the squadron, a part of 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing. The arrival of the fifth-generation fighter jet marks the start of F-35 deliveries to Cherry Point. VMFA-542 is one of the Marine Corps’ first East Coast operational F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter s ..read more

PARIS (AP) — America’s top military officer says training for Ukrainian forces on advanced U.S. Abrams tanks has started, but those those weapons crucial over the long term in trying to expel Russia from occupied territory will not be ready in time for Kyiv’s imminent counteroffensive. The tank training got underway as the United States and its allies began to work out agreements to train Ukrainians on F-16 fighter jets, another long-sought advanced system. Those aircraft would be part of a security plan to deter future attacks, U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley said late Thursday as he arrived in Fr ..read more

Do you want to go to school? Are you even smart enough to get out? Don’t ask what other people think. What do you think? No matter what the retention office tells you, separating is not about loyalty to your branch of service. You proved your loyalty the day you signed up and by doing your job every day after. The Department of Defense is one of this country’s largest employers. They’ll find a replacement for you — don’t worry about that. This is about you for once. This is about being prepared. What the retention office is right about, however, is that life is tough out there. There is no saf ..read more

BEIJING — China’s Ukraine envoy called on other governments Friday to “stop sending weapons to the battlefield” and appealed for peace talks at a time when Washington and its European allies are ramping up supplies of missiles and tanks to Ukrainian forces trying to recapture Russian-occupied territory. Li Hui said Russian and Ukrainian officials were open to peace negotiations, but he gave no indication they were any closer to happening. Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s government says it is neutral and wants to serve as a mediator but has supported Moscow politically. Foreign analysts saw little ..read more

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is ready to talk to Russia without conditions about a future nuclear arms control framework even while taking countermeasures in response to the Kremlin’s decision to suspend the last nuclear arms control treaty between the two countries, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Friday. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in February he was suspending Russia’s cooperation with the New START Treaty’s provisions for nuclear warhead and missile inspections, a move that came as tensions worsened after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia ..read more

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force walked back comments reportedly made by a colonel regarding a simulation in which a drone outwitted its artificial intelligence training and killed its handler, after the claims went viral on social media. Air Force spokesperson Ann Stefanek said in a June 2 statement no such testing had been conducted, adding that the servicemember’s comments were likely “taken out of context and were meant to be anecdotal.” “The Department of the Air Force has not conducted any such AI-drone simulations and remains committed to ethical and responsible use of AI technology,” St ..read more