A chief assigned to the Japan-based destroyer Higgins was convicted of attempted espionage and other charges last week, according to the Navy. Chief Fire Controlman (Aegis) Bryce Steven Pedicini was found guilty of attempted espionage, failure to obey a lawful order, and attempted violation of a lawful general order charge specifications, following a weeklong, judge-only general court-martial, the Navy said. Dating back to November 2022, Pedicini shared national defense and classified information with a representative from a foreign government that he had reason to believe could be damaging to ..read more

Military officials are disputing allegations that they withheld details about additional attacks on U.S. forces following the deadly August 2021 bombing in Afghanistan and insisting that the tragedy was the result of a lone insurgent, not a coordinated assault. The pushback comes in response to a CNN report released Wednesday which appears to show multiple rounds of gunfire following the explosion at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Aug. 26, 2021. That attack killed 13 U.S. servicemembers as well as dozens of Afghan civilians. In a newly released video from the network — repo ..read more

The Coast Guard Reserve alerted thousands of its personnel to a data breach last week, nearly three months after someone improperly sent their personally identifiable information to unapproved recipients, the service confirmed Tuesday. An April 18 notification from the Coast Guard Reserve warned that a data exposure discovered Jan. 24 distributed the private material to “individuals with no authority to view the information,” a retired Coast Guardsman, who received the notification and spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Military Times. The incident, which affected 10,700 Coast Guard Res ..read more

MINNEAPOLIS — A Korean War veteran from Minnesota who still carries shrapnel in his leg from when he was wounded in combat will finally get his Purple Heart medal, 73 years late. The U.S. Army notified Earl Meyer, 96, of St. Peter, on Monday that it has reversed itself and granted him a Purple Heart, which honors service members wounded or killed in combat. The decision came after a campaign by his daughters and attorney. U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota championed his cause. The Army’s top noncommissioned officer — the sergeant major of the army — took an interest in the case after it had ..read more

NASCAR fans watching Sunday’s Würth 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover International Speedway are going to see a special paint design on Bubba Wallace’s No. 23 car honoring the World War II Flying Tigers and Vietnam War veterans. Wallace told Military Times the paint scheme, which will be unveiled at the April 28 race, is a call back to a 2019 design that honored the A-10 Thunderbolt. Four Vietnam War veterans will also have their names on the hood of the car — and attend the race. “There’s a lot of race fans, a lot of crew members, part of the race teams that have a military background,” Wal ..read more

MANILA, Philippines — American and Filipino forces launched their largest combat exercises in years Monday in a show of allied firepower near the disputed South China Sea that has alarmed Beijing. The annual exercises by the longtime treaty allies will run until May 10 and involve more than 16,000 of their military personnel, along with more than 250 French and Australian forces. While the Philippine military maintains that the Balikatan — Tagalog for “shoulder-to-shoulder” — trainings are not directed at a particular country, some of their main conflict scenarios are set in or near the disput ..read more

A U.S. defense official said that a failed rocket strike was launched at a base housing U.S.-led coalition forces at Rumalyn, Syria, marking the first time since Feb. 4 that Iranian-backed militias have attacked a U.S. facility in Iraq or Syria. No personnel were injured in the attack. Iraqi authorities said early Monday that they were searching for “outlaw elements” who launched an estimated five missiles across the border from Iraq into Syria late Sunday night targeting the base. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Also on Monday, a U.S. official said American forces had shot ..read more

A lawyer for the military contractor being sued by three survivors of the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq told jurors Monday that the plaintiffs are suing the wrong people. “If you believe they were abused ... tell them to make their claim against the U.S. government,” said John O’Connor, defense attorney for Reston, Virginia-based military contractor CACI, during closing arguments at the civil trial in federal court. “Why didn’t they sue the people who actively abused them?” The lawsuit brought by the three former Abu Ghraib detainees marks the first time a U.S. jury has weighed claims of ..read more

Veterans advocates are warning that arguments presented to the Supreme Court on Monday regarding laws criminalizing homelessness could have a troubling impact on efforts to help former troops struggling to find stable housing. The case — Johnson v. City of Grants Pass — centers on an Oregon town where officials approved regulations fining people $295 for sleeping outside in public areas, part of an effort to manage homeless encampments in the city’s parks. Offenders can face jail time for multiple violations. Courts have generally ruled against the city laws, arguing that individuals cannot be ..read more

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