Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that the base lockdown has been lifted. A lockdown at a North Dakota Air Force base has been lifted several hours after a report of a gunshot shut down operations. The Grand Forks Air Force Base said in a social media post Wednesday that security at the base received a report of a single gunshot near the medical clinic and base exchange around 1 p.m. The lockdown was ordered “out of an abundance of caution,” the statement said. No injuries were reported. Security officers did not locate a source of the sound after a door-to-door sweep. Gran ..read more

Tuesday’s Supreme Court ruling on veterans education benefits could provide an extra year of federal tuition payments to millions of student veterans, but when officials might start doling out the payouts — if at all — remains unclear. In the 7-2 ruling, justices said that veterans can use both the Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits and Montgomery GI Bill benefits to pay for college classes if they meet eligibility for both programs. Veterans Affairs officials had required veterans attending school to choose one and forfeit the other. But in the opinion for the majority of the court, Justice Ketanji B ..read more

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Kristin Paniptchuk’s water broke on Christmas Eve at her home in the western Alaska Inupiat village of Shaktoolik, and then she began to bleed profusely. The local clinic in the tiny village of 200 people on the Bering Sea couldn’t stop the bleeding or the contractions brought on by a baby that wasn’t due for another two months. With harsh winds grounding an air ambulance from nearby Nome, medical staff called on their only other option: the Alaska Air National Guard. Five days after a military helicopter and then a cargo plane whisked Paniptchuk to an Anchorage hospital, s ..read more

Ukraine and Israel both desperately need the military weapons that are being held up by Congress’ failure to pass a funding package for the two countries at war, Pentagon leaders told House appropriators Wednesday, calling the situation in Ukraine dire. “Whether it’s munitions, whether it’s vehicles, whether it’s platforms,” Ukraine is being outmatched by the Russians, Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. “I’ll just tell you that Ukraine right now is facing some dire battlefield conditions.” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, se ..read more

Children at New Mexico’s Cannon Air Force Base were no more likely to be diagnosed with brain cancer in recent years than other kids across the country, an Air Force-run study has concluded. Still, researchers found that children affiliated with Cannon were diagnosed with a diffuse midline glioma, a rare brain cancer, at a higher rate than kids elsewhere. The tumors, which disproportionately affect minors and are often terminal, are also called diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas — or DIPG/DMG for short. Air Force investigating potential brain cancer cluster at Cannon AFB It’s unclear whether it ..read more

An Army Reserve major pleaded guilty to using his position as an Army financial counselor to defraud Gold Star families, the Department of Justice announced Tuesday. Caz Craffy, 41, who also goes by “Carz Craffey,” admitted to taking advantage of his role to swindle deceased troops’ grieving loved ones out of millions, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey. As a result of his criminal activity, Gold Star families lost more than $3.7 million, while Craffy personally pocketed more than $1.4 million in commissions. The scam prompted a move in Congre ..read more

The German anti-aircraft guns had a hold on the Eighth Air Force. The Eighth issued flak reports that sounded like weather forecasts. Here’s the flak report for September 10, 1944, when my father flew to Ulm in southwest Germany: Ulm — meager, fairly accurate. Heilbronn — meager, fairly accurate. Furth — meager to moderate, inaccurate. Sindelfingen — moderate to intense, accurate. And so on through another eighteen cities and towns with reported flak varying from light to heavy, meager to moderate to intense, inaccurate to accurate. The reported intensity and accuracy of flak varied from man t ..read more

An Army general who investigated the abuse of prisoners 20 years ago at Iraq’s infamous Abu Ghraib prison testified Tuesday that a civilian contractor instructed prison guards to “soften up” detainees for interrogations. The retired general, Antonio Taguba, told jurors that the contractor, Steven Stefanowicz, even tried to intimidate the general as he investigated the Abu Ghraib abuses. “He would lean on the table staring me down. He did not answer questions directly,” Taguba said. “He was trying to intimidate me.” Taguba’s testimony was the strongest evidence yet that civilian employees of th ..read more

A group of Senate Democrats is imploring Veterans Affairs officials to fix how they handle constrictive bronchiolitis and hypertension claims under new toxic exposure benefits legislation, saying that too many veterans are left without help due to confusing department rules. In a letter to VA Secretary Denis McDonough on Monday, 18 senators — led by Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Jon Tester, D-Mont. — said the issues need to be addressed quickly to ensure that thousands of veterans receive the compensation they deserve. “Veterans have waited decades for benefits and recognitions f ..read more

The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled in favor of a veteran who unsuccessfully tried to use both his Post-9/11 GI Bill and Montgomery GI Bill benefits, saying that Veterans Affairs officials erred in limiting his education support. The 7-2 decision could have far-reaching impact on student veterans who use up their VA benefits but still wish to continue degree programs. Lawyers for the plaintiff have estimated as many as 1.7 million veterans nationwide could benefit from the ruling, but federal officials have estimated the number to be less than 30,000 individuals. The case has been closely watch ..read more