President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he secretly switched planes in Turkey last month at the direction of the Secret Service, but that the plane he ultimately flew on was still more vulnerable than Air Force One.Following a NATO summit in Ankara, Trump was transferred from Air Force One to a military plane via a catering truck in an extraordinary deception prompted by an Iranian assassination threat, U.S. media reported.The White House did not disclose the change, and it remained a secret until The Washington Post first reported it on Monday. Some media commentators questioned whether the operation left Trump’s…
Author: Tommy Grant
The U.S. Air Force should treat artificial intelligence as a readiness issue across critical career fields, instead of just technical specialists, a public policy institute argues.As warfare continues to be shaped by AI, autonomy and cyber operations, the Department of the Air Force should invest in targeted “just-in-time” training for officer and warrant officer airmen and guardians, according to a Tuesday report published by the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research institute based in Arlington, Virginia.“In an era of constrained resources, technological fluency may increasingly need to be treated as a core element of warfighter readiness, not a niche skill or…
Editor’s note: This report contains discussion of suicide. Troops, veterans and family members experiencing suicidal thoughts can call the 24-hour Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 and dial 1, text 838255 or visit VeteransCrisisLine.net.The parents of an Air Force Academy graduate who died by suicide filed a federal lawsuit against the school, arguing that it failed to protect her from sexual assault and adequately address the trauma that followed.Gary and Colleen Foster filed the wrongful death case on July 13 in a Colorado federal court on behalf of their daughter, 2nd Lt. Cailin Renee Foster, who died six months after…
A new $3.4 million Pentagon grant to two universities aims to help solve the thorny problem of military recruits getting sidelined with stress fractures.The grant, which covers four years, was awarded to Rosalind Franklin University in Illinois and Old Dominion University in Virginia. According to a release from Rosalind Franklin, bone-stress injuries affect up to 8% of military recruits across the services and cost the Department of Defense about $100 million per year in medical expenses alone.“Because suspected stress fractures often require serial clinical visits, radiographs, MRI and bone scans, there is a strong operational and economic incentive to improve…
A stocked first aid kit is not always within reach. Car accidents happen away from the trunk kit, injuries happen mid-hike miles from a pack, and disasters have a way of scattering supplies right when they matter most. What is left in those moments is whatever is in your pockets, your car, or the room around you. This guide covers the actual techniques for treating serious injuries with improvised materials, not a shopping list of items to stock. Every method below reflects current medical guidance, including the parts that contradict popular prepper folklore. First Aid Priorities When You Have Nothing…
EOTECH has just launched two CUAS holographic weapon sights with specialized counter-drone reticles.They say that war never changes, but it does, most often because of technological advancements. The same way that the advent of firearms changed the nature of warfare forever has recently happened again due to the rising trend of drone warfare. Whether being used for reconnaissance or payload delivery, soldiers on the modern battlefield have a new type of enemy to beware. We’ve all seen plenty of footage out of Ukraine showing what they can do. They’re sneaky, small, and extremely fast, and those all make for a…
The U.S. Air Force selected over 12,500 senior airmen to be promoted to staff sergeant in the 2026 cycle, a decrease from last year’s promotion cycle.The service chose 12,671 senior airmen out of the 39,774 who were eligible for promotion, resulting in a selection rate of 31.86%, according to a Monday Air Force Personnel Center release.The 2026 staff sergeant promotion list will be made publicly available on Thursday, according to the statement. In 2025, nearly 15,900 senior airmen were promoted out of approximately 47,000 eligible, resulting in a selection rate of 33.81%, marking the largest number of staff sergeant promotions…
Mold, asbestos and crumbling walls are only some of the issues plaguing the U.S. military’s Pacific bases, according to a Pentagon watchdog.At Camp Courtney and Kadena and Yokota Air Bases in Japan, investigators with the Defense Department Office of Inspector General found “visible corrosion, visible mold, visible fire damage, visible cracks on the building exterior and interior, visible concrete spalling and exposed rebar, water intrusion, lead‑based paint, asbestos‑containing material and inoperable communication connections.”The findings came during an audit of Pacific Command infrastructure, during which IG investigators visited 11 PACOM bases in May 2025. They examined operations and communications infrastructure, as…
Marines have less than two months to select a religious affiliation from a newly condensed list of 30 options the service announced Tuesday, as part of a Pentagon-wide overhaul to reduce the number of faith designations. The new list replaces more than 200 affiliation codes that were previously available to service members, grouping many individual identities into expansive categories. The move comes amid sweeping changes to the military’s religious programs and chaplaincy under Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Marines have until Sep. 30 to update their personnel records to reflect the slimmed-down options, the service said in an administrative message.…
Annabelle Loma has spoken with her husband only a few times since he attempted to jump overboard from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln during his current deployment. Communication has been difficult to come by, and he is now on medical hold.Loma, who lives in San Diego, said her husband had been repeatedly overextended before he tried to jump from the carrier.“He’s scared,” Loma said. “He thinks he’ll get a dishonorable discharge, and just because he was burnt out, his 13-year career is ruined, just like that. That’s not fair, that’s not right. That’s not what he should be worrying…