Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough will appear before House lawmakers on June 4 to testify on improper benefits awarded to dozens of senior department officials last year as congressional concerns mount regarding the unfolding scandal. House Veterans’ Affairs Committee officials had requested that Under Secretary for Health Shereef Elnahal and Under Secretary for Benefits Joshua Jacobs — two officials at the center of the bonus issues — testify on their roles in the mistakes. Instead, McDonough will field questions from lawmakers on the errors and steps taken to correct them. Earlier t ..read more

A soldier imprisoned for sexually assaulting his stepdaughters is now facing a murder charge for the death of a cab driver in a Seattle suburb. The U.S. Army Office of Special Trial Counsel recommended seven charges against Pvt. Jonathan Kang Lee, 25, on May 28, including the premeditated murder of Nicholas F. Hokema, according to Michelle McCaskill of the U.S. Army Office of Special Trial Counsel. The charges also include resisting arrest, desertion, wrongful use of a controlled substance and two counts of failure to obey a lawful order. The Office of Special Trial Counsel is a congressionall ..read more

President Joe Biden has given Ukraine the go-ahead to use American weaponry to strike inside Russia for the limited purpose of defending Kharkiv, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the matter. The officials, who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter, underscored that the U.S. policy calling on Ukraine not to use American-provide long-range missiles and other munitions to strike inside Russia offensively has not changed. The move comes as Ukrainian officials have stepped up calls on the U.S. administration to allow its forces to defend itself against attacks originating ..read more

HELEN, Ga. — A profile of Andrew “Andy” Negra Jr., of Helen, Georgia, one of a dwindling number of veterans took part in the Allies’ European war effort that led to the defeat of Nazi Germany. Born: May 28, 1924, near Avella, Pennsylvania. Service: Army’s 128th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, 6th Armored Division. Landed on Utah Beach in Normandy on July 18, 1944. Fought in the battle of Brest among other battles. Later served in the occupation of Germany. He was honorably discharged on Dec. 17, 1945. “Because we saved the world” It was 1943, and Andrew “Andy” Negra Jr. had just finished hi ..read more

Housing advocates aren’t just worried about the rising number of veterans experiencing homelessness in recent years. They’re also concerned about growing apathy and anger towards the problem. “It’s not just about losing momentum. Right now, it feels like the tide is heading in the opposite direction,” said Kathryn Monet, CEO of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, which is holding its annual conference in Washington this week. “We’re just seeing so much more opposition to solutions, so many more challenges to finding ways to help people who are struggling.” This year’s gathering of hu ..read more

AGADIR, Morocco — The head of the U.S. military in Africa vigorously defended the country’s counterterrorism strategy on the continent and vowed to press forward with it despite a wave of criticism and a drift among African nations toward seeking security help from Russia instead. In an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday at Africa Lion, a war games exercise in Morocco, Gen. Michael Langley blamed a tide of Russian disinformation for anti-U.S. sentiment in volatile regions. He said the military needed to reassert how its longstanding strategy can foster stability throughout the Sa ..read more

The lawsuit of a 26-year-old Army specialist who died of a preventable breast cancer will be evaluated on its merits by an Army claims board after clearing another legal hurdle earlier this year. The attorneys representing the family of Spc. Maria Martinez say they’ve redoubled efforts to bullet-proof the case with new expert testimony and endorsement in an effort not only to achieve a victory for her, but also to pave the way for reform of a system they say is opaque and unaccountable. Martinez died in December 2021 after a two-year battle with advanced breast cancer. According to her family ..read more

A string of security, logistical and weather problems has battered the plan to deliver desperately needed humanitarian aid to Gaza through a U.S. military-built pier. Broken apart by strong winds and heavy seas just over a week after it became operational, the project faces criticism that it hasn’t lived up to its initial billing or its $320 million price tag. Military’s novel floating pier arrives in Gaza amid security concerns U.S. officials say, however, that the steel causeway connected to the beach in Gaza and the floating pier are being repaired and reassembled a ..read more

Editors Note: This article first appeared on The War Horse, an award-winning nonprofit news organization educating the public on military service. Subscribe to their newsletter. I rode the third chopper in a daisy chain of five, each bird maybe 30 seconds behind the next. Clutching my M16 rifle in the left-side door gunner’s seat and surrounded by men cocooned in combat gear, I sat on a flak jacket in the vague hope that a slug coming up through the ship’s soft aluminum belly wouldn’t make me a eunuch. The regular door gunner was back at base camp; I had his seat because a Huey has only so mu ..read more

The top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee has released a detailed plan calling for an additional $55 billion above the fiscal 2025 defense spending caps imposed under last year’s debt ceiling deal. The plan, unveiled Wednesday by Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., would ultimately raise U.S. defense spending from 3% to 5% of gross domestic product in the years ahead, a massive surge likely to come in well above $1 trillion per year. Much of the proposed long-term spending in Wicker’s plan would go toward revitalizing the struggling defense-industrial base, which the senator argues is ..read more