An active-duty service member who was convicted for his participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol is now pleading for home confinement, rather than probation, so that he’s allowed to remain in the Navy. Leading Petty Officer David Elizalde urged the judge to sentence him to two weeks of home detention, as well as community service and restitution. The rules of home detention would allow Elizalde to continue working during the week. In a sentencing memorandum filed Wednesday, Elizalde’s attorney, Stephen Brennwald, said he was told by a Navy officer that sailors on probation ..read more

A new agreement between the Pentagon and State Department will ease some restrictions for federally employed military spouses who want to take their careers with them when moving overseas. The memo, signed during a White House ceremony Wednesday by Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Verma, strengthens the Domestic Employees Teleworking Overseas (DETO) program for military spouses. “We are enabling federally employed military spouses to work remotely from where their service member is stationed overseas and continue their professions with as little ..read more

Testing on dogs, cats and nonhuman primates by the Department of Veterans Affairs is set to be largely eliminated by 2026, an issue praised this week both in Congress and by advocates, but which others have previously asserted could impair the discovery of future medical advancements. The move, included in the VA’s fiscal year 2024 spending bill that was signed into law in March, restricts the department from conducting certain research on the animals in the future. “VA is on the cutting edge of research, and I am proud to say that it will be eliminating the use of research on animals within t ..read more

The three combatant commands involved in the Pentagon’s counternarcotics mission in the Americas need more defined roles in their joint operations, according to a watchdog report released Tuesday. The Government Accountability Office noted that the commands involved in U.S. efforts to curb drug trafficking of cocaine, fentanyl and precursor chemicals — U.S. Southern Command, Northern Command and Indo-Pacific Command — do not have updated agreements on their “individual and joint responsibilities in the overlapping operation area.” While the Office of the Deputy Secretary of Defense for Counter ..read more

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden suggested not once, but twice that the remains of his uncle, Second Lt. Ambrose Finnegan, were unable to be recovered “because there used to be a lot of cannibals” in the southwestern Pacific. Serving in the U.S. Army Air Force during the Second World War, Finnegan was a passenger of an A-20 Havoc, when, for “unknown reasons, this plane was forced to ditch in the ocean off the north coast of New Guinea,” according to an account published by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting agency. “Both engines failed at low altitude, and the aircraft’s nose hit the water hard ..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

A human jawbone discovered in the Arizona desert was recently identified as remains of U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Everett Leland Yager. The issue? No one knew it was missing. The 30-year-old World War II veteran was killed in July 1951 during a military training exercise over the skies of Riverside County, California. His remains were returned to his family and he was buried in his home state of Missouri. Decades passed until a child, looking to build upon his rock collection, came across the unusual “stone” while scavenging in Yavapai County, Arizona. Pocketed and taken home, the remains of Yage ..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

The first soldiers to field the Army’s newest rifle and automatic rifle began live-fire training with the weapons this week, including demonstrations on how the new round can penetrate barriers to strike targets. Soldiers with the 1st Brigade, 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division received a batch of XM7 rifles and XM250 automatic rifles and their XM157 fire controls in late March. The XM7 is the Army’s replacement for the M4 while the XM250 will replace the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon. Both new weapons are chambered in 6.8mm, a larger and more powerful round than the legacy 5.56mm ..read more

Government leaders are warning that a federal subsidy helping millions of veterans and military families pay for internet access will end in the next few weeks unless Congress extends the program before the start of May. The Affordable Connectivity Program currently provides between $30 and $75 a month to cover internet bills of more than 23 million households across the country, about half of whom are veterans and service members. For some participants, that’s enough to cover the full cost of high-speed internet access at their homes. The program was launched at the start of the COVID-19 pand ..read more