Austin ordered several B-52 Stratofortress bomber aircraft, a squadron of fighter jets, tanker aircraft and Navy destroyers to deploy to the Middle East, said Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, in a statement. He said they will begin arriving in the region in the coming months, as the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln begins to head home.

The military moves come as Israel’s wars with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon rage, including a retaliatory strike on Iran a week ago that likely damaged a base that builds ballistic missiles and launches rockets as part of Tehran’s space program.

The U.S. is pressing for cease-fires, while repeatedly saying it will defend Israel and continue to protect the American and allied presence in the region, including from Yemen-based Houthi attacks against ships in the Red Sea.

Austin's latest order, said Ryder, shows the “U.S. capability to deploy world-wide on short notice to meet evolving national security threats.” He said Austin “continues to make clear that should Iran, its partners, or its proxies use this moment to target American personnel or interests in the region, the United States will take every measure necessary to defend our people.”

The long-range nuclear-capable B-52 bomber has been repeatedly deployed to the Middle East in pointed warnings to Iran and it is the second time this month that strategic U.S. bombers will be used to bolster U.S. defenses in the region.

In October, B-2 stealth bombers were used to strike underground Houthi targets in Yemen.

Ryder did not provide the specific number of aircraft and ships that will move into the region. The shifts are likely to result in an overall decrease in the total number of U.S. troops in the Middle East, largely because an aircraft carrier contains as many as 5,000 sailors.

But the addition of bomber aircraft beefs up U.S. combat strength. There have been as many as 43,000 U.S. forces in the region recently.

According to U.S. officials, the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln and the three Navy destroyers in its strike group are scheduled to leave the Middle East by mid-month and return to their home port in San Diego.

When it departs, there will be no aircraft carrier in the Middle East for a period of time, officials said. They declined to say how long that gap would last.

Military commanders have long argued that the presence of an aircraft carrier strike group, with its array of fighters jets, surveillance aircraft and heavily armed warships, is a significant deterrent, including against Iran.

To make up for that gap, Austin is ordering the deployment of other Navy destroyers to the region. Those destroyers, which are capable of shooting down ballistic missiles, would come either from the Indo-Pacific region or Europe, the official said.

Eventually, it is expected that the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman and its three warships will move to the Mediterranean Sea, but they won’t get there before the Lincoln departs. The Truman strike group has been in the North Sea, participating in a NATO military exercise.

The Lincoln and two of its destroyers are now in the Gulf of Oman, and its third destroyer is with two other warships in the Red Sea.

There are also two destroyers and the Marine amphibious ready group — which includes three ships — in the Mediterranean Sea.

Cmdr. Jeromy Pittmann, a 53-year-old civil engineer corps officer who deployed to Afghanistan in 2014 and 2015 with NATO Special Operations Command, accepted thousands of dollars for drafting, submitting and falsely verifying phony letters of recommendation for Afghan nationals pursuing a Special Immigrant Visa, according to the Justice Department.

Afghans who worked with U.S. troops and diplomats as translators are eligible for a limited number of Special Immigrant Visas from the State Department each year, allowing them to live in the U.S.

Pittmann personally signed off on more than 20 letters in which he vouched for Afghan national visa applicants, claiming they had served as interpreters for U.S. military and NATO troops, the release said. Additionally, Pittmann said these applicants were not a national security threat to the U.S., and that their lives were endangered by the Taliban.

Navy officer convicted in Afghan visa bribery scheme

But the Justice Department said Pittmann accepted thousands of dollars in bribes and had no basis for recommending the applicants.

Pittmann, who first appeared in a federal court in March 2022 on charges of accepting bribes and conspiring to commit visa fraud, coordinated with a co-conspirator in Kabul dating back to 2018, according to court documents. The two met during Pittmann’s deployment to Afghanistan in 2014 and 2015, the records indicated.

Pittmann received the money through a Bank of America account in Hayward, California, which then went to an account with USAA in Pensacola, Florida, disguised under a transaction called “family support,” according to court documents.

“I got it today. Thank you and thank your friend for sending it,” Pittmann said in an email after receiving a payment in 2018, according to court documents. “I just wish the money would keep coming. Ha. Maybe one day we will get a business started. It would be nice to pay off my debts.”

Pittmann commissioned in 2003 and is a civil engineer corps officer, according to service records obtained by Navy Times.

A federal jury convicted Pittmann in July of conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery, making a materially false writing, and conspiring to commit money laundering. He was facing up to 45 years behind bars prior to his sentencing Monday.

“By protecting Afghan nationals who risk their personal safety to help the U.S. government, the SIV program is essential for the security of U.S. military and diplomatic personnel in Afghanistan,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said in a statement.

“Jeromy Pittmann, however, used his position of authority over the program to benefit foreign nationals who paid him bribes, falsely asserting that they had served the United States,” Argentieri said. “Today’s sentence demonstrates that the Justice Department has zero tolerance for those who place their self-interest ahead of our national security.”

“The Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division is aware of an alleged incident and is currently looking into it,” CID spokesman Mark Lunardi told Military Times in an email statement today. “No additional information is available at this time.”

The alleged incident, first reported by Military.com on Thursday, indicates that Army Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, CENTCOM commander, shoved an airman during a C-17 Globemaster III flight. The alleged physical altercation occurred after Kurilla had a heated argument with the flight crew over problems accessing communications.

An NBC News article quoted unnamed defense officials who described the alleged incident, which occurred “several weeks ago.”

Senate confirms Kurilla as new CENTCOM commander

The general got frustrated with communication problems and left his seat to address the problems, according to NBC News.

After an airman asked Kurilla to sit down and buckle up for safety reasons, the general allegedly pushed the airman aside and lashed out in front of multiple witnesses.

When reached for comment Friday, a CENTCOM spokesperson told Military Times that they were not aware of the investigation nor the incident.

Kurilla has headed CENTCOM since April 2022. The position is a three-year term, which means he is likely to leave the post in April 2025.

He previously served as the commanding general for the 18th Airborne Corps. His prior commands also include the 75th Ranger Regiment and 82nd Airborne Division, according to his official biography.

Kurilla’s awards and decorations include the Combat Infantryman Badge with Star, Master Parachutist Badge with Combat Jump Device, Ranger Tab and the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster.

The free Wi-Fi initiative was announced in September as part of a broader DOD initiative to improve troops’ quality of life, with the department instructing services to begin testing out ways to implement it.

“One of the questions that I ask our soldiers, our airmen, our Marines, our guardians, whoever, in those barracks is, if you could have 10 more square feet in your barracks room or free Wi-Fi, what would it be?” Brendan Owens, assistant secretary of defense for energy, installations and environment, said in the release.

For service members, Owens said, the answer was easy: Wi-Fi.

But the need for internet went beyond the simple pleasures of accessing entertainment.

Owens had observed how internet services were already being utilized by enlisted service members living in unaccompanied housing, pointing to troops relying on internet to access mental health services and connect with families and friends while they’re in remote locations.

Top enlisted leader talks pay, priorities and 1980s fashion

However, not everyone had the ability to access these services, as military personnel, especially those that work in combat arms and equipment maintenance fields, aren’t equipped with a computer and Wi-Fi as part of their job, the release said.

That’s something that Owens and the Defense Department want to change.

“From my perspective, and I think that this is certainly something that’s supported down in other parts of the [Pentagon], certainly, [these are] mission essential requirements,” Owens said.

Wi-Fi will help service members access email, banking, entertainment, online training, telehealth appointments, Military OneSource and military and family life counselors, the release said.

“We got a lot more work to do on making sure that we are capable of providing the Wi-Fi services that are necessary to fully support what our service members need,” Owens said.

The claims, filed Wednesday, come more than a month after 13 former cadets filed similar federal complaints seeking $10 million apiece in damages.

How a Coast Guard email erupted into a reckoning of sexual assault

Many of the latest unnamed plaintiffs contacted lawyers in the case after reading news accounts of the initial batch of administrative complaints filed against the Coast Guard; its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security; and its former parent agency, the Department of Transportation, attorney Christine Dunn said.

“I am certain that these 22 are just the tip of the iceberg. I know that sexual assault has been taking place for decades at the Coast Guard Academy and that there are many survivors out there,” she said. The 22 include 20 women and two men.

Dunn said she hopes and expects more former cadets who have been assaulted will come forward.

“I want a whole army of survivors,” she said. “I think that the more people you have, the harder it is to ignore us.”

The complaints stem from incidents dating back to the 1980s and as recent as 2017. Several detail how the former cadets were assaulted in their dorm rooms by classmates who were able to gain entry because academy policy prevented cadets from locking their doors. One former cadet described going to bed at night in a sleeping bag cinched tightly around her neck because she was so fearful of being sexually assaulted in her sleep.

“The Coast Guard negligently created, condoned, and actively concealed the rampant nature of sexual harassment and assault at the Academy, knowingly placing me and other cadets in danger,” wrote one of the nine new plaintiffs.

“What happened to me was the entirely preventable result of the negligent actions,” wrote the woman, who said she was sexually assaulted twice during her time at the academy — once by a classman and once by an officer. She was diagnosed years later with depression and PTSD related to Military Sexual Trauma, or MST, and now receives partial disability payments.

The experience at the academy, she said, “ruined” her career and “negatively impacted” many relationships she has had over the years.

A message was left seeking comment with the Coast Guard. In a statement released in September, officials said the service was barred by federal law from discussing the complaints and noted it is “devoting significant resources to improving prevention, victim support, and accountability. ”

The complaints follow revelations the Coast Guard kept secret a probe, called Operation Fouled Anchor, into sexual assault and harassment on campus. The investigation found that dozens of cases involving cadets from 1990 to 2006 had been mishandled by the school, including the prevention of some perpetrators from being prosecuted.

The revelations, first reported by CNN, sparked calls for major reforms and long-awaited accountability for offenders and those who protected them. There are multiple government and congressional investigations underway looking into the mishandling of serious misbehavior at the school and beyond.

Coast Guard officials have previously said they are taking action to change and improve the culture at the academy and in the service in response to the allegations raised in the Operation Fouled Anchor investigation.

Wednesday’s filing marks the first in a multistep process of attempting to sue the federal government. After an administrative complaint is submitted, the agency that allegedly harmed the plaintiff gets six months or longer to investigate the claim. The agency can then settle or deny the claim. If a claim is denied, the plaintiff can then file a federal lawsuit, Dunn said.

Dixie Denise Villa was arrested July 20, 2019, in connection with the death of Abigail Lobisch, who was found dead on Feb. 24, 2019, at Villa’s house at Aliamanu Military Reservation in Hawaii.

Villa pleaded not guilty in August 2019.

The trial has been postponed at least 13 times, according to court documents.

“It has been a painful, long and exhausting wait,” Anna Lobisch, Abigail’s mother, told Military Times. “But we are ready to finally move forward and hopefully get justice for Abi.”

Abigail’s father, James Lobisch, is a member of the Army National Guard.

An overdose of antihistamine was the cause of Abigail Lobisch’s death, according to court documents.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit, the medical examiner’s report determined that the baby’s blood tested positive for diphenhydramine, the active ingredient in Benadryl and other similar medications, at a level of 2,400 nanograms per milliliter. That’s nearly twice the 1,400 nanograms per milliliter concentration that is the average reported in infant fatal overdoses, according to the affidavit.

In September 2019, in the wake of the baby’s death, the Defense Department’s personnel chief called for officials to investigate reports of unauthorized daycare operations on installations. James Stewart, then-acting under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said officials should take appropriate steps to shut down these unauthorized operations.

To operate a family day care home on a military installation, providers must be authorized and go through a process of vetting and training and meet requirements related to safety inspections, curriculum, nutrition and a variety of other regulations.

Because of Abigail Lobisch’s death, Army Hawaii launched an investigation into unauthorized child care on its bases. Investigators found a disjointed system of different agencies’ response to the reports of alleged violations and a lack of clear procedures for dealing with the violations, according to an investigation report obtained by Military Times through a Freedom of Information Act request.

A number of factors contributed to the prevalence of unauthorized child care providers, the report said, including the lack of available child care. More than 500 Army children were on wait lists for child care in Hawaii in 2018.

A friend of the family has started a GoFundMe to help Anna pay for expenses through the trial.

America’s election infrastructure is safe and secure, and voters should feel confident in the process, said Suzanne Spaulding, a former undersecretary for the Department of Homeland Security who now works with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

However, some foreign actors are trying to persuade voters to view the process as too corrupt to participate in, and these same actors will likely try to convince Americans after Election Day that the results were illegitimate, she said.

“In 2016, our assessment was that it would be extremely hard, virtually impossible, for an adversary to change votes or tallies in order to change the outcome of a national election,” said Spaulding, who was working with DHS that year. “I think that is only more true today. We’ve gotten better at shoring up the cybersecurity of election infrastructure.”

Spaulding spoke Thursday on a panel hosted by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a research group focusing on foreign policy and national security. Earlier this month, the group flagged an Iranian-linked website that was attempting to stir up antidemocratic sentiments among veteran voters.

Iran-linked website targets vets with disinformation, think tank warns

Disinformation experts have been warning for months that malign actors, both foreign and domestic, would attempt to weaken the democratic process this election year. Spaulding and other experts who spoke Thursday said the efforts would likely result in some voters not believing the outcome of the election next week.

“The elections are going to be secure, but we are going to have a meltdown on Nov. 7 or 8 — no matter what happens — because of people’s perceptions of what happened,” said Mark Montgomery, who works with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Russia, China and Iran are targeting Americans in order to paint a negative picture of democracy and eventually sideline the U.S. military, added Bradley Bowman, an Army veteran who focuses on U.S. defense policy for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Part of their strategy is to encourage isolationist beliefs among the U.S. population and encourage citizens to oppose intervention in overseas conflicts, he said.

“They want us so weak, divided and distracted that we question ourselves and don’t have the time or the will to go and defend our interests abroad,” Bowman said. “Divide us at home, degrade our democracy in our own minds and the minds of others, and then deceive us into believing falsely we have no core interests to defend in places like Taiwan, Ukraine, Israel. Then, they don’t need to worry about our military.”

In order to combat the foreign influence campaigns, Montgomery suggested Congress provide more funding to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, a component of DHS that works to protect the country from cyber threats, as well as the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, which exposes and defends against foreign propaganda and disinformation.

Government leaders should also pay more attention to information from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, he said.

Spaulding said the U.S. population should work to become more resilient against disinformation, in part by improving civics education in American schools. Kids should learn the fundamentals of American democracy and the role individuals play to preserve it, she said.

“The target is every single American. Americans should not take that lightly,” Spaulding said. “They should be demanding [that] policymakers ... have a vigorous response to counter this activity.”

This story was produced in partnership with Military Veterans in Journalism. Please send tips to MVJ-Tips@militarytimes.com.

Then-Sgt. Maj. Charlie Clawson was charged and sentenced for wearing nine unauthorized decorations, ribbons, devices or insignia between January 2019 and October 2023, according to charge sheets obtained by Marine Corps Times.

Included in the awards and decorations Clawson deceptively sported on his uniform were the Purple Heart, awarded to those killed or wounded during military service; the Combat Action Ribbon, distributed to sailors or Marines who actively participated in ground or surface combat; and the Joint Meritorious Unit Award, authorized for those who contributed to meritorious achievement for joint activities, the charge sheets said.

Marine veteran charged in subway chokehold death set to stand trial

Clawson also wore the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Service Medal, the Kosovo Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon (with a silver and bronze device to denote seven awards), the Navy and Marine Corps Overseas Service Ribbon, and the Navy and Marine Corps Parachutist Insignia, the charge sheets said.

For each of these awards, Clawson also faced a charge for violating Article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, a general article that covers misconduct, such as indecent acts, fraternization and bigamy.

Likewise, Clawson was also charged with making a false official statement after reportedly sharing a bogus doctoral degree and transcript from Liberty University with Marine Corps Manpower and Reserve Affairs in May 2019.

The statement was “totally false, and was then known by the said Sergeant Major Clawson to be so false,” the charge sheet said.

Maj. Hector Infante, a spokesman with Marine Corps Training and Education Command at Quantico, confirmed to Marine Corps Times that a court-martial sentenced Clawson on Sept. 13 on all charges brought against him.

Military.com first reported Clawson’s reduction in rank.

Clawson, from Virginia, first enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1996 and went on to serve as a motor vehicle operator in the service, according to his service records.

The service records show Clawson is assigned to the Headquarters Battalion at Training and Education Command in Quantico. Infante confirmed to Marine Corps Times he is currently administratively assigned to the command.

Among the awards and decorations Clawson did receive are one Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, distributed to personnel who supported counterterrorism operations post 9/11; and two Sea Service Deployment Ribbons, authorized for sailors and Marines who conducted an at-sea deployment.

Col. Charles “Tre” Del Pizzo, 49, confirmed to Marine Corps Times he was the pilot who ejected from the F-35B over Charleston, South Carolina, on Sept. 17, 2023, and parachuted into a resident’s backyard. And in a written statement, Del Pizzo said Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Eric Smith ordered him to be fired from command of Marine Test and Evaluation Squadron 1 after reviewing the report on the crash investigation.

The investigation report, which the Marine Corps released Thursday, found Del Pizzo’s F-35B malfunctioned and its primary displays and communications cut out as Del Pizzo was attempting to land through rain at Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina. However, the report said its standby flight display and backup communication system “remained basically functional.”

Despite the investigation finding Del Pizzo followed the proper procedures and was not derelict in his duties, investigators concluded Del Pizzo could have continued flying the jet and his decision to eject was a mistake.

The investigation concluded that the mishap resulted from pilot error, and said Del Pizzo “incorrectly diagnosed an [out-of-controlled flight] emergency and ejected from a flyable aircraft — albeit under extremely challenging cognitive and flight conditions,” the report said.

The report said Del Pizzo followed the F-35B manual’s recommendations for ejecting from an out-of-control jet but also criticized the manual’s definition of out-of-control as too broad.

Investigators cleared Del Pizzo and all others involved of dereliction of duty. Del Pizzo was qualified and prepared for the flight, the report said, and carried it out by the book. The electrical malfunction was also not caused by lax maintenance, the report said.

Del Pizzo assumed command of the Yuma, Arizona-based squadron, also known as VMX-1, on June 21 — months after the report was completed in January.

On Oct. 2, a little more than three months later, Lt. Gen. Bradford Gering, deputy commandant for aviation, relieved Del Pizzo of command of VMX-1 “for loss of trust and confidence in his ability to execute the responsibilities of his command,” the Marine Corps said. Col. John Dirk took over the squadron that same day, the Marine Corps said.

“As a commander you serve at the pleasure of the commandant,” Del Pizzo said. “It was an absolute privilege to have the opportunity to lead the Marines, sailors and civilians of VMX-1.”

The Marine Corps sent a statement to Marine Corps Times Thursday evening confirming Smith made the decision to remove Del Pizzo from command of VMX-1.

“The commandant of the Marine Corps continually assesses matters associated with commanders and their units,” Marine Corps spokesman Lt. Col. Joshua Benson said. “Following his detailed review [in September] of the command investigation into the 17 September 2023 F-35 mishap, he made the decision to relieve the commanding officer of [VMX-1], due to the unique mission of VMX-1.”

VMX-1 is in charge of assessing the Corps’ aircraft and helping develop and refine tactics, techniques and procedures to fly them in combat successfully. The squadron’s aircraft include the F-35B, MV-22 Osprey and CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter. It is a highly desired leadership role in Marine Corps aviation, and some former VMX-1 commanders have gone on to become general officers and assume senior leadership roles in the Corps.

Del Pizzo pointed to the mishap investigation’s conclusion that he conducted the flight using the proper procedures and was not derelict in his duty. He also said a Field Flight Performance Board was convened to review the incident and concluded his decision to eject was justified.

Del Pizzo said he was restored to full flight status in June “after complying with all board recommendations.”

But Del Pizzo’s split-second decision to eject from the F-35 has now cast a shadow over his accomplished career, and left his future uncertain.

Del Pizzo said he has been offered his choice of follow-on assignments, and he and his family are now considering his next steps.

“We are deeply thankful for the support of our friends and family as we adjust to this unexpected change in assignment,” he said.

From Parris Island, to fighting ISIS, to VMX-1

Del Pizzo started as an enlisted Marine, graduating from boot camp at Parris Island in 1993 and serving in the reserves for 3 1/2 years while attending college. He earned his commission as an officer in 1997 after graduating from Auburn University and attending the Platoon Leaders Course program and in 1999 became a naval aviator.

Over the next 25 years, Del Pizzo became an experienced combat pilot with more than 2,800 hours in the cockpit, 32 hours of which were in the F-35B. He has deployed six times over his career, including deployments to support the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and Operation Inherent Resolve against the Islamic State.

His career included a stint commanding Marine Attack Squadron 231, also known as VMA-231 or the “Ace of Spades,” from 2015 to 2017. During that time, Del Pizzo took VMA-231′s AV-8B Harrier attack jets into battle against ISIS as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, including the effort to oust ISIS from the key Iraqi city of Mosul.

Del Pizzo also served as the Marine Corps service deputy at the F-35 Joint Program Office and the tactical air branch head at Marine Corps Aviation.

In August 2022, the Marine Corps announced Del Pizzo had been selected for his most prestigious assignment yet: command of VMX-1.

On Sept. 17, 2023, Del Pizzo climbed into the cockpit of an F-35B from Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501 to practice basic fighter maneuvering, alongside a wingman.

His flight, dubbed “Swede 11,” took off at about 12:45 p.m. and carried out an “uneventful” training flight through heavy rain and mist, the report said. At about 1:25 p.m., the report said, Del Pizzo turned back toward the Charleston base.

Air traffic control appeared to be trying to direct Del Pizzo and his wingman around the heaviest weather, the report said. Del Pizzo began using his jet’s instruments to guide his landing through the rain and lowered his landing gear.

While lining up his final approach, Del Pizzo decided to switch to the F-35B’s short-take off and vertical landing, or STOVL, mode and carry out a slow landing. He radioed that instruction to his wingman — but that was the last radio call the wingman heard from him.

Shortly after converting to STOVL mode, Del Pizzo’s helmet-mounted display started flickering out and back in, the report said. Del Pizzo told investigators that each time his helmet-mounted display went out, his panoramic cockpit display was also not working.

He decided to carry out a missed approach procedure and began to climb out and accelerate, the report said, but then realized he had also lost communication with the tower and his wingman.

Del Pizzo’s helmet-mounted display came back online, he told investigators, but multiple warning signs flashed and blared. He felt like the jet was not converting back to conventional flight as intended, the report said, and the helmet display again blinked out.

Del Pizzo had at that point lost his helmet display and panoramic display three times, the report said, and he wasn’t sure what instruments he could trust. He felt the aircraft was out of control, and decided to eject at an altitude of about 1,900 feet at 1:32 p.m.

The report notes that the F-35B’s flight manual says that an aircraft is considered out of control if it is not responding properly to the pilot’s inputs, and a pilot should eject from such an aircraft if it is below 6,000 feet.

The report said that given the manual’s definition of an out-of-control flight, Del Pizzo “applied an appropriate emergency procedure in response to a perceived loss of aircraft control below 6,000 feet.”

But the report immediately criticized the manual’s definition.

“The F-35B flight manual definition for [out-of-control flight] is too broad and contributed to this mishap,” the report said.

Del Pizzo’s “decision to eject was ultimately inappropriate, because commanded flight inputs were in-progress at the time of ejection, standby flight instrumentation was providing accurate data, and the [jet’s] backup radio was, at least partially, functional. Furthermore, the aircraft continued to fly for an extended period after ejection.”

‘I just rode a parachute down to the ground’

Del Pizzo’s helmet and mask were “ripped off” as he ejected, the report said. As he descended through the clouds, he realized he was over a residential area and became concerned about nearby power lines. He released his seat pan and raft to avoid getting tangled in the lines and steered into a safe area.

Del Pizzo had parachuted into a North Charleston resident’s backyard, told the homeowner he was a military pilot and asked the resident to call 911.

In audio of the call, obtained by The Associated Press, the homeowner explains that an ejected pilot parachuted into his backyard, and the 911 dispatcher responds, “I’m sorry, what happened?”

Del Pizzo can be heard in the background, reporting some minor pain in his back, before taking the phone and repeatedly requesting an ambulance. The homeowner said he had no apparent bleeding aside from a few scratches.

“We had a military jet crash. I’m the pilot,” Del Pizzo told the dispatcher. “We need to get a rescue rolling. I’m not sure where the airplane is. It would have crash landed somewhere. I ejected.”

Del Pizzo told the dispatcher he was 2,000 feet in the air when he ejected, and that “an aircraft failure” had occurred. Apparently believing the dispatcher had not yet sent an ambulance, Del Pizzo sighed and his voice took on a sharper tone.

“Ma’am, I’m a pilot in a military aircraft, and I ejected,” he said. “So I just rode a parachute down to the ground. Can you please send an ambulance?”

Del Pizzo was taken to a nearby hospital, treated and released the next morning. But the F-35 was missing, and its location would remain a mystery for more than a day.

The military, law enforcement, Civil Air Patrol and the Federal Aviation Administration focused the search in the area north of Charleston. Joint Base Charleston even asked the public for tips on possible locations for the jet.

Headlines about the military’s missing stealth fighter rapidly spread around the world — as did jokes, breathless speculation and memes on social media.

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., whose district includes the area north of Charleston, posted her exasperation online that night, hours after the plane went missing.

“How in the hell do you lose an F-35?” Mace posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “How is there not a tracking device and we’re asking the public to what, find a jet and turn it in?”

The investigation report said the F-35′s transponder failed as a result of the electrical malfunction, and the jet had crossed below air traffic control’s radar horizon.

The military announced the evening of Sept. 18, 2023, a day after the crash, that the crash site of the F-35 had been found in rural Williamsburg County, about two hours northeast of Joint Base Charleston. The jet had flown for 11 minutes and 21 seconds after Del Pizzo’s ejection, slowly climbing as high as 9,300 feet.

After about 11 minutes, the report said, the jet banked down and started descending to its right, clipping the treetops of a forest along the way before crashing. The report said no one was injured by the crash, but it did damage several trees and crops. The $100 million jet was shredded into pieces and a total loss.

The incident — and the attention it drew — rang alarm bells throughout Marine Corps aviation. It was the Marines’ third aviation crash in six weeks, following the August crash of an F/A-18D Hornet in southern California, which killed its pilot, and an MV-22 Osprey crash in Australia that killed three Marines.

As the search for the jet continued, the Marine Corps put all its aviation operations on hold for a two-day safety stand down. The announcement cited the three recent Class A mishaps, and said aviation commanders would hold discussions with their Marines on the fundamentals of safe flight operations, ground safety, maintenance and flight procedures and how to maintain combat readiness.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include a comment from the Marine Corps regarding the commandant’s decision to relieve Del Pizzo of command.

Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, officials issued a brief statement today that Spc. Wooster Rancy is being held in pretrial confinement as he awaits a preliminary hearing on charges of murder and obstruction of justice, Uniform Code of Military Justice Article 118 and 131b.

The statement did not specify the hearing date.

Roque did not show up for morning formation on Oct. 21. That same day, military police issued a missing person alert for the 23-year-old.

Investigators discovered Roque’s body that night in a dumpster next to on-base housing.

“Sgt. Roque was a daughter, sister, friend and soldier who chose to serve our country bravely and honorably,” said Maj. Gen. Christopher Beck, head of both the Maneuver Support Center of Excellence and Fort Leonard Wood. “Her passing has caused a tremendous void throughout our team, and while there are no words to ease the pain, we continue to provide care, resources and support to those who are affected during this difficult time.”

Officials announced on Oct. 23 that they had arrested a suspect in Roque’s death.

The release with Rancy’s information states that he faces charges for the “murder of Sergeant Sarah Roque on Oct. 20,” indicating that Roque died before the Oct. 21 formation.

The Army’s Criminal Investigation Division is continuing its investigation as the service’s Office of Special Trial Counsel handles aspects of the charges with military courts.

Roque enlisted in the Army in 2020 out of Ligonier, Indiana, and graduated basic training from Fort Leonard Wood. She served as a bridge crew member and mine dog handler with the 5th Engineer Battalion’s K9 Detachment.

Her awards and decorations include the Army Commendation Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal and the Army Service Ribbon.

Rancy enlisted in the Army in 2022 and graduated basic at Fort Leonard Wood. He had been serving as a combat engineer with the 509th Clearance Company, 5th Engineer Battalion.

As a component of the review, the Pentagon is considering adjusting the way Hostile Fire and Imminent Danger pay is allocated across the armed forces.

This review raises the more fundamental issue of whether military personnel are being adequately compensated for the fatality risk they assume in combat zones. If not, how should the Pentagon adjust compensation to more accurately reflect these risks?

The current policy provides a uniform danger pay premium of $225 per month to military personnel deployed into areas designated as a combat zone. This rate has been the same since 2003 because it is not indexed to inflation.

In addition to danger pay, soldiers are entitled to a special tax benefit known as the Combat Zone Tax Exclusion, or CZTE. This benefit exempts military personnel from paying income tax on any income earned while in a combat zone.

Notably, previous research has shown the CZTE costs the U.S. government approximately 4.5 times more than regular danger pay. Because the current danger pay system is tied more to the person’s income than the level of risk exposure, the major beneficiaries of the current system are high-ranking officers, who reap the preponderance of the tax benefits.

But high-ranking officers do not bear a disproportionate share of risk. The data indicates enlisted personnel have higher fatality rates in comparison to officers.

For reference, throughout the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq from 2001 to 2021, enlisted personnel, who represent 82% of the total active duty force, accounted for 90% of all fatalities.

And the distribution of fatalities becomes even more skewed at the lower ranks. For example, the ranks of E-5 — equivalent to sergeant — and below account for 72% of the fatalities while representing 59% of the total force.

The main takeaway from the data is that fatality risks are much higher for junior personnel compared to high-ranking officers, who secure the lion’s share of financial benefits under current compensation policy.

This is in direct contrast to guidance provided in the economics literature and government practices, which indicate that valuations should be based on the level of the risk, not the person’s income.

There are also widespread differences in fatality risks across job types. Previous research has shown the average fatality rate for all military personnel increases by 45 per 100,000 when they are deployed into combat zones in comparison to stateside personnel. For reference, the yearly fatality rate for typical workers in the U.S. is around 3 per 100,000.

This number increases dramatically, however, for certain high-risk jobs, such as infantry and special forces operators — commonly grouped together and known as “combat” job specialties. Compared to stateside troops, military personnel in combat jobs increase their fatality rate by 181 per 100,000 when deployed into combat zones.

Most troops, therefore, see an increase in a probability of death, though there are major differences depending upon military occupational specialties.

These distinctly different outcomes should prompt us to compensate military personnel accordingly. Calculating the appropriate compensation levels can be addressed by utilizing estimates from the value of a statistical life, or VSL, literature.

The basic concept of the VSL is grounded in the idea that individuals often make every day tradeoffs between wealth or income and fatality risks. For example, people are generally willing to pay more for safer vehicles or higher quality medical care. Likewise, workers often demand higher salaries in riskier professions, ceteris paribus.

The most up-to-date estimates indicate an average American is willing to pay roughly $130 for every 1 per 100,000 reductions in fatality risk. Dividing the willingness-to-pay estimate by the reduction in fatality risk leads to an approximate value of $13 million per statistical life. This is the value that economists use in benefit-cost analyses for government programs intended to save lives or compensate fatality risk levels.

In the case of military personnel, analysts can combine the increased fatality risk levels for deployment into combat zones with standard VSL estimates to more precisely set appropriate danger pay rates.

Using this method, the most recent estimates suggest the average military danger pay should be $1,056 per month (in 2024 dollars). For combat job types with higher fatality risk, this amount balloons to $4,245 per month.

We have several policy recommendations for more accurately adjusting the current danger pay system. First, we should eliminate the CZTE and reallocate those cost savings to alternative pay methods. The primary reason is that the CZTE is not directly related to fatality risk, but rather correlates with higher ranks or income for military personnel.

Next, we recommend reallocating CZTE funds to increase the current danger pay of $225 per month to $1,056 per month for all military personnel. This amount should be tax exempt and indexed to inflation.

Finally, we recommend providing a new “extreme” danger pay category to military personnel who serve in high-risk occupations. The extreme danger pay category should be allocated primarily to infantry soldiers and special forces operators and set at $4,245 per month.

We realize these recommendations and adjustments to danger pay do not come without tradeoffs. The reallocation of funds would mean high-ranking officers in lower risk job types would essentially be taking a pay cut when compared to the current compensation system.

In contrast, low-ranking enlisted personnel in high-risk job types would receive a pay increase. We believe this adjustment is justified based upon the fatality risks seen in the most recent conflicts and the types of personnel taking on those risks.

Given new pay directives in the QRMC are set to be released early next year, the time to act is now.

The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense, the U.S. government or any other institution with which the authors are affiliated.

Thomas J. Kniesner received a PhD degree in economics from The Ohio State University. He is a research fellow at IZA and Krisher Professor of Economics Emeritus at Syracuse University, where he served as chair of the Department of Economics. In 2013 Kniesner joined the faculty of Claremont Graduate University, where he has been university professor, senior research fellow, and chair of the Department of Economic Sciences.

Ryan Sullivan received a PhD in Economics from Syracuse University. He is an associate professor at the Naval Postgraduate School, where he has taught a variety of topics related to cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis, marginal reasoning, budgeting, finance, and labor economics. He served as a soldier in the U.S. Army National Guard from 1998 to 2006.

W. Kip Viscusi is Vanderbilt’s first university distinguished professor, with tenured appointments in the Department of Economics, the Owen Graduate School of Management and the Law School. Viscusi was previously the Cogan Professor of Law and Economics and director of the Program on Empirical Studies at Harvard Law School. He has also been the Allen Professor of Economics at Duke University and professor of economics at Northwestern University.

The program, launched in 2022, has seen 6,000 service members enlist who were previously disqualified for medical conditions, officials said. At that time, the list included 38 conditions. That number has since risen to 51.

The move could help the military services build upon their recent success in meeting recruiting and retention goals. This past fiscal year, which ended in September, marked the first time in at least two years that all the services met their recruiting marks, Military Times previously reported.

How addressing waivers and eligibility can fix the recruiting crisis

But the branches remain far from seeing pre-COVID 19 levels of recruitment, which still saw declining trends from previous years.

While the pilot program hasn’t entirely eliminated all those conditions as disqualifying factors, the Defense Department has reduced restrictions for select conditions such as attention deficient hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, Lin St. Clair, deputy director of the Pentagon’s accession policy directorate, told Stars and Stripes Wednesday.

ADHD diagnoses make up more than half of the conditions of enlistees in the pilot program, officials said.

Defense Department staff at military entrance processing stations completed 312,000 medical exams over the previous fiscal year. Medical professionals disqualified more than one-third of applicants during their initial exam, St. Clair said.

But that figure fell to about one in five after service medical waivers were applied.

Some of the listed conditions could be overcome with a medical waiver, but the pilot program removes this necessity, which eases the enlistment process.

The program provides guidelines noting when a potential recruit last received treatment or experienced symptoms of their medical condition. Regarding ADHD, those guidelines move treatment time wait periods from three years to one, allowing recent high school graduates with the condition, for example, to enlist in a year rather than waiting the previously required three.

“High school students who have some type of learning accommodation, an individual education program or are on medication — once you graduate high school, you don’t need that anymore,” St. Clair said. “By lowering it to a year, that’s allowed [the military] to pick up a whole bunch of folks.”

The second most common disqualifying condition, meanwhile, is childhood asthma.

Slightly more than one in 10 pilot program enlistees have the condition. Now, individuals who haven’t used an inhaler in the past four years will not need a medical waiver.

The study, published Tuesday, was conducted by the university’s Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement, which consulted with the nonprofit We the Veterans. The nonpartisan group has spent the year recruiting veterans and military family members to serve as election workers, believing they were the key to quashing skepticism and restoring confidence during a time when disinformation is eroding trust in U.S. elections.

The study proves that idea, said Ben Keiser, co-founder of We the Veterans.

“This study confirms our hypothesis that veterans and military families — who have already demonstrated their unwavering commitment to our country — serving as poll workers help to strengthen public confidence in elections,” Keiser said.

The study involved 1,263 people across the country who were representative of the adult population in the United States. That population was split into two groups, with each receiving a written story, modeled off of news articles, about recruitment efforts of elections workers in Maricopa County, Arizona.

One story said elections officials were recruiting veterans and military family members, while the other story said officials were looking for volunteers from the local community, without reference to any specific demographics.

After reading the vignettes, the groups were asked questions about whether the voting process would be fair, safe and accurate.

Vet the Vote recruits nearly 160,000 veterans as election workers

Those participants who read the story about veterans and military family members being recruited to work the polls were 7% more likely than those who read the other story to express confidence that their votes would be counted accurately. Among those who said they questioned the legitimacy of President Joe Biden’s election in 2020, confidence rose by 15% after reading about the recruitment efforts.

The group that read the story about veterans and military family members were 9% more likely to say the elections workforce would be committed to their jobs and 7% more likely to say that the voting process in Maricopa County would be fair and safe.

That group was also 8% less likely to be worried about potential violence, threats and intimidation at the polls, and 5% less likely to be concerned about voter fraud.

“The findings of this study are timely and crucial for the 2024 elections,” said Michael Hanmer, director of the Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement. “That sizable portions of the public lack confidence in our elections is a serious problem. Our study provides powerful evidence that recruiting veterans and military family members to work at polling places not only strengthens public trust in the process but also addresses concerns about potential threats to election security and violence at the polls.”

The findings led the University of Maryland to recommend that election officials create their own programs to recruit veterans and military family members to work the polls and make it known to the public when people from those communities are working in their precincts.

We the Veterans estimates that one out of every five election workers in November will be a veteran or a military family member. Through its Vet the Vote campaign, the group recruited more than 163,000 volunteers across the country.

Between 800,000 and 1 million temporary workers will staff polling locations across the country next week, said Thomas Hicks, chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Those workers welcome and check in voters, issue ballots and explain how to use voting equipment.

“It is likely that our elections workforce is already populated with significant numbers of veterans and military family members. Where this is the case, our results suggest that publicizing this information can help increase confidence in elections,” the study reads.

This story was produced in partnership with Military Veterans in Journalism. Please send tips to MVJ-Tips@militarytimes.com.

Absentee voting rules vary by state, with some states requiring voted absentee ballots to be returned by Election Day, while 19 states permit the counting of postmarked ballots after Election Day, according to The Associated Press.

Meanwhile, some states, like Nevada, allow absentee voters to do everything electronically. For instance, Nevada, which is a swing state, allows military absentee voters to use email, fax and the state’s online absentee voting system to register to vote, request their ballot and return their voted ballot all on Nov. 5. In Nevada, mailed voted ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 5, and received by the fourth day after the election.

Still, for voted ballot return, postal mail remains the only universally accepted method and the most common. States choose whether to allow Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, or UOCAVA, voters to return completed ballots electronically. Fax and email are the most common electronic options for ballot return. That federal law protects the right to vote for U.S. citizens living overseas and military members and their families living away from their voting jurisdiction.

If you’ve received your requested absentee ballot from your local election officials, mail it now or send it electronically if your state allows it.

Those who haven’t received their requested ballot from their local election jurisdiction should download the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot, or FWAB, immediately from the Federal Voting Assistance Program site at FVAP.gov/FWAB, fill it out and mail it. It acts as a backup ballot; but if your official state ballot arrives after you mail the FWAB, fill that out and mail it, too. Your election officials will count only one ballot.

Some state election officials are beginning to report absentee ballots as Election Day nears. In Georgia, for example, state officials’ numbers indicate that more than 13,000 absentee ballots they’ve sent to military absentee voters and U.S. citizens living overseas have yet to be returned, state officials told Military Times.

About three-fourths of the 1.4 million active duty service members are eligible to vote by absentee ballot because they are stationed away from their voting residence, according to FVAP. In addition, their family members can vote by absentee ballot.

Your voting residence is within your state of legal residence or domicile. For service members, it is typically the same address listed on your Leave and Earnings Statement.

Over the years, FVAP, postal officials, lawmakers and local and state election officials have worked to shore up the processes for getting military and overseas citizen absentee ballots to local election officials in time to be counted.

One tool for voting military members and their family members living overseas is the free expedited mail service, using the Label 11-DOD at their military post office. This service also allows the voter to track the ballot to its delivery at their local election jurisdiction.

Information was not available from the U.S. Postal Service about how many ballots have been sent back to states using the Label 11-DOD, which is available this year from Sept. 1 through Nov. 30.

Information was unavailable from FVAP about the number of downloads of the FWAB backup ballots to date, or the number of Federal Post Card Application requests used for voter registration and ballot requests. A month ago, officials said on average, the numbers for those downloads were about 50% below what they were in late September 2020 during the last presidential election.

Likewise, the nonpartisan organization Overseas Vote, part of the U.S. Vote Foundation, also isn’t seeing an increase in these downloads, according to Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat, president and CEO.

Each state or territory sets its own deadlines for voter registration and ballot return. To find information on your state’s deadlines and requirements, visit fvap.gov/military-voter. You can also find out whether your voted ballot has been received by your state, by clicking the “Check the status of your voted ballot” on that page. You can also visit your state’s secretary of state website for specifics.

Voting assistance offices at military installations also provide specific information about the voting process. The services also provide voting assistance officers at the unit level; if you can’t find assistance locally, you can contact your service branch voting action officer.

All states must offer UOCAVA voters an option for receiving their blank ballot electronically, while each state can determine the delivery method via email, fax or online portal.

States also choose the methods UOCAVA voters can use to submit their applications to register and request their ballot. Most offer some form of electronic voter registration and ballot request submission method, though a few states require postal mail.

“I didn’t think I was ever going to see him again,” Fletcher said.

Their relationship began in 2018 when Dasty, a 5-year-old male Dutch Shepherd, met Fletcher while he was stationed at Fort Huachuca in Cochise County, Arizona.

At first, it was all business, not unlike his previous two dogs. But soon, a camaraderie began developing and continued as they were both sent to complete the Patrol Explosive Detection Dog-Enhanced Course, which trains military dogs to work off-leash for up to a football field away from their handler.

As a result of the training, Dasty - with the help of an e-collar- could be instructed to sit and turn toward Fletcher by a tone emitted from the collar, at which point Fletcher would guide Dasty toward an area where he wanted Dasty to search for explosives.

Even as his bond with Dasty grew, the objective of their working relationship was never lost on Fletcher.

“The Army teaches you to look at them like tools, right, tools for war,” Fletcher said. “They even have serial numbers.”

The goal was to save lives, he said. If a military dog had to make the ultimate sacrifice, they would.

In 2019, Fletcher and Dasty deployed to Afghanistan as part of the 483rd Military Police Detachment, working as a route clearance enabler out of Forward Operating Base Shank in the Logar Province.

The deployment was difficult for Fletcher. His wife Johanna was pregnant with their first child at the time. He missed the birth.

Fletcher said it was a lonely stretch, but he leaned on Dasty for companionship and a sense of home, all of which helped Fletcher with his mental health. This, Fletcher said, brought them close together, closer than he’d ever been with previous dogs.

“It was a different connection,” Fletcher said.

Dasty was a pro on the battlefield. He located improvised explosive devices, saved lives, and when things got dicey, Dasty was unshakable.

Fletcher remembers Dasty standing stoically as bullets whizzed past them.

On another occasion, their vehicle rolled over. While Fletcher and his fellow service members were waiting for help, Dasty stood proudly on the window of the wrecked car, smiling as though nothing had happened.

But one of their most formative moments came on a scorching day

Fletcher was low on water but poured the last of it into a collapsible bowl for Dasty.

After he slurped it up, there was a small amount left.

Fletcher was thirsty and didn’t want to waste resources, so he drank the rest of the water, tasting Dasty’s slobber as he gulped it down.

“It was actually really delicious,” Fletcher said. “I know it sounds gross but that’s kind of like a bonding moment.”

Eventually, their time together ended, and in February 2022, Fletcher and Dasty parted ways.

Fletcher said he knew it was coming, since Fletcher was leaving the Army and Dasty was still in working shape.

Still, Fletcher said it was incredibly difficult.

He returned to the States and moved to Green Bay, Wisconsin, with his family, forging a new life.

But he kept tabs on his canine buddy, getting updates from a Dasty’s new handler, who was a friend of Fletcher’s.

Then, in 2024, Fletcher heard through the grapevine that Dasty was finally retiring.

Fletcher’s wife urged him to reach out to American Humane, an organization whose Military Working Dog Reunification Program reconnects retired military dogs with their previous handlers.

American Humane helped get the ball rolling and eventually, on Oct. 12, 2024, Dasty and Fletcher met for the first time in nearly two years.

“I was kind of nervous,” Fletcher said. “I didn’t know if he was going to be the same dog.”

Fletcher met a handler from American Humane and Dasty at an Airbnb in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

At first, Fletcher said Dasty was attached to the handler and paid little attention to him. But after the handler stepped away, Fletcher said they picked up right where they left off.

“I started giving him commands and that’s when it clicked,” Fletcher said. “That was pretty much it.”

Even though it was his same old friend, there were subtle differences, Fletcher said.

War had changed Dasty.

He was still the dog Fletcher had known, but he was also more skittish, his temperament more serious. He nipped sometimes. But the carefree, outgoing dog was underneath it all.

When Fletcher joined the Army in 2015, he never imagined he’d be a dog handler. Initially, he wanted to work as a Military Police, but when he was told that a Military Working Dog Handler position opened up - a rare occurrence, Fletcher said - he jumped at the opportunity.

He never knew he’d get a lifelong friend out of it.

Dasty is a full part of the Fletcher family now.

Fletcher says Dasty even recognizes Fletcher’s scent on his son, whose also grown close to the dog.

The two are inseparable, to the point that sometimes Dasty even annoys him, Fletcher said.

More than anything, Fletcher was excited to let Dasty kick his feet up and relax.

“Now he’s ready to be on our couch and get fat,” Fletcher said. “He did a lot of stuff.”

The Global Project on Hate and Extremism, a nonprofit that tracks extremist activity online, reported Tuesday that chatter of election denialism increased on Telegram, Gab, Communities.win and Fediverse — social media sites that lack moderation and allow users to share extreme and controversial viewpoints. Posts about election denialism, the false belief that elections are unfair and could be “stolen,” increased by 317% on Telegram and 105% on Gab throughout October, the nonprofit said.

The posts are often violent in nature. Some people on the platforms suggested if the election doesn’t go their way, the military should be used to prevent a peaceful transfer of power, while others called for the killing of elected officials and anyone accused of voter fraud. The Proud Boys, a far-right group that has historically recruited veterans, posted violent calls to action on Telegram. The Rhode Island chapter told members to “keep your rifles by your side” in one post viewed by Military Times.

The rhetoric differs from what extremism experts saw in 2020, when election denialism spiked after President Joe Biden was projected as the winner, rather than before the election.

“They are preparing themselves for the election to be stolen in a way they didn’t in 2020 – something we find concerning,” said Wendy Via, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. “If the election does not go the way the folks on these fringe sites want them to, we’re going to see another very sharp spike after the election, and we’re going to have to double-down on our tracking and monitoring.”

The Department of Homeland Security and Federal Bureau of Investigation released a joint bulletin earlier this month that warned of potential violence from domestic violent extremists before, during and after the election. Extremists who pose the greatest threat are those who believe claims of election fraud or harbor anger toward perceived political adversaries, the bulletin warns.

‘Toxic’ politics increase terrorism, extremism risk, DHS official says

The agencies wrote that extremists would likely target voting locations, ballot drop-boxes, voter registration locations, political rallies, campaign events and the offices of political parties.

In the weeks before the election, some of those warnings have become realities. An Arizona man was accused of shooting at a Democratic National Committee office Wednesday near Phoenix. On Monday, ballot boxes in Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington, were set on fire, and hundreds of ballots were destroyed.

Despite those incidents, Via and Heidi Beirich, the co-founders of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, said Tuesday they were more concerned about violence occurring after the election than in the days leading up to Nov. 5 or on Election Day itself.

Elections officials and law enforcement have had time to prepare for potential violence since the election in 2020, which saw unprecedented levels of threats against election workers, Via and Beirich said.

In addition, they argued that the prosecution of people who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol could serve as a deterrent. Of the nearly 1,500 people charged or convicted for their involvement in the Capitol breach, 222 had military backgrounds, according to data from the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism. About two dozen were associated with the Proud Boys.

Via and Beirich also cited the efforts of the nonprofit We the Veterans as a potential deterrent for violence at polling locations. As of Tuesday, the group had recruited more than 163,000 veterans and their family members to volunteer as poll workers. During a time when misinformation is eroding trust in U.S. elections, the nonprofit believes veterans are the key to quashing skepticism and restoring confidence.

Vet the Vote recruits nearly 160,000 veterans as election workers

Still, Via and Beirich said they are concerned about the potential for violence after Nov. 5. If it’s a close race and takes days to project a winner, emotions will be heightened, Via said. So far, national polls have projected a neck-and-neck race, and election experts do not expect a winner to be announced on Election Day.

On a call with reporters last week, former Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth Kathy Boockvar said the swing state’s ballots would likely be counted sometime the day after Election Day, but it could take weeks if the race is close enough to trigger a recount.

“There are so many variables that are going to happen between now and the days after the election. Tracking extremist groups, analyzing the data — it’s about being prepared and understanding the potential threat,” Via said. “But don’t let fear and intimidation keep you from exercising your right. People need to be prepared and cautious, but not afraid.”

This story was produced in partnership with Military Veterans in Journalism. Please send tips to MVJ-Tips@militarytimes.com.

The bellowing narrative establishes a familiar aggressive tone in the Marine Corps’ newest ad, one that comes amid the military’s usual slew of philosophical shifts driving the rest of the Pentagon’s (oftentimes unpredictable) recruiting efforts.

In their latest creation, the service’s marketing team, which settled on the theme of answering the warrior’s call, once again answered a specific call of a clamoring public: Just keep it simple.

The ad’s fleeting scenes feature Marines fast-roping from a helicopter into hostile jungle environs, advancing through arctic terrain as gunfire erupts, carrying out night operations and providing humanitarian aid.

Note for prospective recruits: You are unlikely to be spinning antiquated rifles alongside the Silent Drill Platoon on a ship’s flight deck in the middle of the ocean.

Marine Corps advertisements have come a long way since the halcyon marketing days of balrog slaying, medieval chessboard knights and the service’s dearth of rose garden-based promises.

But immense CGI improvements aside, the sentiment at the core of the Corps’ campaigns has remained remarkably consistent: the Marine Corps wants elite fighters.

It’s the same approach — toughened exclusivity — the service has employed since long before the war-hardened Maj. Benson Winifred Payne quipped, “Killin’ is my business, ladies, and business is good!”

“You’ll have to earn your place among us,” the narrator says at the ad’s conclusion. “Because you don’t join the Marines — you become one.”

Dan Daly. Smedley Butler. Chesty Puller. John Basilone. ‘Rah.

Not only was Hierl the first woman in an MOS that had been restricted to men just two years earlier; she had also made it through the grueling 13 weeks of IOC, a feat of physicality and endurance that many previously thought was beyond the capability of women.

But since then, even without the press releases and news profiles, women have continued to graduate from IOC in small, but consistent, numbers.

According to data from the last four years provided to Marine Corps Times, women are now making it through the course with a success rate of better than 50%, though the number of volunteers opting to attend IOC remains low. The course attrition and redesignation rate for male officers, meanwhile, has at times been as high as 25%.

Marine gender study reveals importance of ‘explosive strength’

The following are the outcomes for women at IOC since 2020, according to data provided by Marine Corps Training and Education Command spokesman Capt. Jacoby Getty.

• In fiscal 2020, two women attended the course; both did not pass and were redesignated to another MOS.
• In fiscal 2021, five women attended IOC. Four graduated, for a pass rate of 80%. Three received an 0302 infantry officer MOS and one opted to train as a ground intelligence officer.
• In fiscal 2022, seven women attended IOC. Four graduated, for a pass rate of 57%. Three received the 0302 MOS and two went on to train as ground intelligence officers.
• In fiscal 2023, seven women attended IOC. Four graduated, for a pass rate of 57%. All took the 0302 MOS.
• In fiscal 2024, eight women attended IOC; five achieved the infantry officer MOS, for a pass rate of 63%.

As of the end of the fiscal year, Getty said, 12 female 0302 infantry officers are currently serving.

Prior to Hierl’s graduation, 36 female officers had attempted the IOC course over five years, only to wash out through injury or inability to complete requirements or meet standards.

The Marines opened the course to women on an experimental basis in 2012, four years before a decision by then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter opened ground combat specialties to women, allowing female officers to actually hold an infantry MOS.

In 2014, 2nd Lt. Sage Santangelo wrote an opinion piece for the Washington Post explaining her experience of dropping out during the infamous Combat Endurance Test on Day One of the course.

“There came a point when I could not persuade my body to perform,” she wrote. “It wasn’t a matter of will but of pure physical strength.”

Santangelo went on to argue, though, that it wasn’t innate ability, but training, that was to blame for the female failure rate.

“I believe that I could pass, and that other women could pass, if the standards for men and women were equal from the beginning of their time with the Marines, if endurance and strength training started earlier than the current practice for people interested in going into the infantry, and if women were allowed a second try, as men are,” she wrote.

While Santangelo never got a second attempt at IOC, her op-ed persuaded then-Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller to allow future female attendees a second shot at the course.

After the first several women graduated IOC, some changes were also made to the program of instruction.

In 2018, officials announced they’d reduce the number of evaluated hikes with combat loads from six to three, and remove passage of the Combat Endurance Test from the list of graduation requirements. At the time, officials said the change acknowledged climbing attrition rates for men as well as women.

With goading from Congress, the Corps has also moved toward a more gender-integrated model of training, most notably at boot camp. The service got rid of its all-female 4th Recruit Training Battalion last year and now trains enlistees in integrated battalions at both of its recruit training locations.

An independent study commissioned by the Marine Corps and published in 2022 contained a host of recommendations focused on strength training and injury prevention, many of which the service has said it’s implementing.

For some women who served in the Marines as trailblazers, seeing women quietly and consistently accomplish a feat previously seen as impossible is gratifying, and also validating.

Riane Moser served in 2010 on a Female Engagement Team in Afghanistan, working as a cultural support and adjunct to a male infantry unit a half-decade before women were technically allowed in the infantry.

Moser said she had confronted differences in strength and physicality between the genders early in her Marine Corps training with tasks like shouldering heavy combat loads. But her FET deployment also convinced her that, with the right training, success was more than possible.

“I do not doubt that there are females who can complete infantry courses,” she said. “I know women who would have been great at it if they had the opportunity 15 years ago.”

Zoe Bedell played a role in women receiving that opportunity to prove themselves. The former officer-in-charge of a Marine Corps FET team, Bedell was a plaintiff in the 2012 lawsuit against the Defense Department that helped lift combat exclusions and open all previously closed jobs to women.

Bedell told Marine Corps Times that the continued progress of women through IOC helped validate her convictions that led to the lawsuit.

“It turns out that this is, in fact, exactly as doable as we thought it was,” Bedell said. “There are real differences. Not every woman is going to be able to do it, but we’ve always said not every man is going to be able to do it either. So, it’s a real improvement and really strengthens everyone involved.”

The small numbers of women attempting IOC on an annual basis don’t worry Bedell, she added, as her desire was simply to grant female Marines an option and a pathway that had previously been denied them.

“I’m very relieved to see that ... some women do want this. And the fact is, that men always got to choose what they wanted, and now women do, too,” she said. “I’m glad to see that the Marine Corps is at least making some moves to live up to what I think it should have been doing as an institution all along.”

It was Oct. 26, 1882, in Angoon, a Tlingit village of about 420 people in the southeastern Alaska panhandle. Now, 142 years later, the perpetrator of the bombardment — the U.S. Navy — has apologized.

US Navy to apologize to Alaska villages for century-old attacks

Rear Adm. Mark Sucato, the commander of the Navy's northwest region, issued the apology during an at-times emotional ceremony Saturday, the anniversary of the atrocity.

“The Navy recognizes the pain and suffering inflicted upon the Tlingit people, and we acknowledge these wrongful actions resulted in the loss of life, the loss of resources, the loss of culture, and created and inflicted intergenerational trauma on these clans,” he said during the ceremony, which was livestreamed from Angoon.

“The Navy takes the significance of this action very, very seriously and knows an apology is long overdue.”

While the rebuilt Angoon received $90,000 in a settlement with the Department of Interior in 1973, village leaders have for decades sought an apology as well, beginning each yearly remembrance by asking three times, “Is there anyone here from the Navy to apologize?”

“You can imagine the generations of people that have died since 1882 that have wondered what had happened, why it happened, and wanted an apology of some sort, because in our minds, we didn’t do anything wrong,” said Daniel Johnson Jr., a tribal head in Angoon.

Pentagon to review 20 Medals of Honor from Wounded Knee Massacre

The attack was one of a series of conflicts between the American military and Alaska Natives in the years after the U.S. bought the territory from Russia in 1867. The U.S. Navy issued an apology last month for destroying the nearby village of Kake in 1869, and the Army has indicated that it plans to apologize for shelling Wrangell, also in southeast Alaska, that year, though no date has been set.

The Navy acknowledges the actions it undertook or ordered in Angoon and Kake caused deaths, a loss of resources and multigenerational trauma, Navy civilian spokesperson Julianne Leinenveber said in an email prior to the event.

“An apology is not only warranted, but long overdue,” she said.

Today, Angoon remains a quaint village of about 420 people, with colorful old homes and totem poles clustered on the west side of Admiralty Island, accessible by ferry or float plane, in the Tongass National Forest, the nation's largest. The residents are vastly outnumbered by brown bears, and the village in recent years has strived to foster its ecotourism industry. Bald eagles and humpback whales abound, and the salmon and halibut fishing is excellent.

Accounts vary as to what prompted its destruction, but they generally begin with the accidental death of a Tlingit shaman, Tith Klane. Klane was killed when a harpoon gun exploded on a whaling ship owned by his employer, the North West Trading Co.

The Navy's version says tribal members forced the vessel to shore, possibly took hostages and, in accordance with their customs, demanded 200 blankets in compensation.

The company declined to provide the blankets and ordered the Tlingits to return to work. Instead, in sorrow, they painted their faces with coal tar and tallow — something the company’s employees took as a precursor to an insurrection. The company’s superintendent then sought help from Naval Cmdr. E.C. Merriman, the top U.S. official in Alaska, saying a Tlingit uprising threatened the lives and property of white residents.

The Tlingit version contends the boat's crew, which included Tlingit members, likely remained with the vessel out of respect, planning to attend the funeral, and that no hostages were taken. Johnson said the tribe never would have demanded compensation so soon after the death.

Merriman arrived on Oct. 25 and insisted the tribe provide 400 blankets by noon the next day as punishment for disobedience. When the Tlingits turned over just 81, Merriman attacked, destroying 12 clan houses, smaller homes, canoes and the village’s food stores.

Six children died in the attack, and “there’s untold numbers of elderly and infants who died that winter of both cold, exposure and hunger,” Johnson said.

Billy Jones, Tith Klane’s nephew, was 13 when Angoon was destroyed. Around 1950, he recorded two interviews, and his account was later included in a booklet prepared for the 100th anniversary of the bombing in 1982.

“They left us homeless on the beach,” Jones said.

Rosita Worl, the president of Sealaska Heritage Institute in Juneau, described how some elders that winter “walked into the forest” — meaning they died, sacrificing themselves so the younger people would have more food.

Even though the Navy’s written history conflicts with the Tlingit oral tradition, the Navy defers to the tribe’s account “out of respect for the long-lasting impacts these tragic incidents had on the affected clans,” said Leinenveber, the Navy spokesperson.

Tlingit leaders were so stunned when Navy officials told them, during a Zoom call in May, that the apology would finally be forthcoming that no one spoke for five minutes, Johnson said.

Eunice James, of Juneau, a descendant of Tith Klane, said she hopes the apology helps her family and the entire community heal. She expects his presence at the ceremony.

“Not only his spirit will be there, but the spirit of many of our ancestors, because we’ve lost so many,” she said.

But researchers say certain findings about how to test and build fitness for injury prevention may work their way into future service protocols.

The 700-page, $2 million study, commissioned by the Marine Corps and completed by the University of Pittsburgh, was completed in summer 2022 and released to Military Times several months later in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

This summer, after a lengthy publication review process, the study’s key findings were published in a special issue of the journal Military Medicine.

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One major observation that emerges — applicable to both genders — is the value of testing “explosive strength” to assess overall fitness and predict future military performance.

In the recruit training study, which involved 584 volunteer Marine recruits — 183 female, 401 male — at Marine Corps Recruit Depots Parris Island, South Carolina, and San Diego, researchers collected “baseline data” on factors they believed might predict attrition or injury before tracking the recruits through training.

One risk factor researchers quickly pinpointed isn’t terribly surprising: cigarette smoking. In the population studied, smokers were over 110% more likely to drop out of training than non-smokers.

And this contrast may be about more than the effects of smoke on young recruits’ lungs; researchers said smoking may be a top-off to other behavioral or psychosocial factors, “such as risk taking or resistance to authority.”

The other major finding researchers identified is specific to physical training: a major predictor of training injury and attrition was reduced muscular power and lower relative peaks in explosive strength.

The Pittsburgh team studied these factors by applying a pair of physical tests at the start of the research period. The first of these tests was a “countermovement jump,” in which participants placed their hands on their hips and attempted to jump “as high and fast as possible” for three peak efforts in a row.

Their efforts were judged not only in the height achieved in the jumps, but also in relative peak power and force of deceleration, assessed by software readings from “force plates” recruits stood on during the exercise.

The second test was an “isometric mid-thigh pull,” also done on top of the force plates. For this test, recruits were told to grip a steel testing apparatus simulating a heavy weight and “pull as hard and fast as possible” for five seconds at a time. After warmups and familiarization, recruits performed this test for two reps.

Notably, these tests do not precisely replicate anything in the existing standard Marine Corps fitness assessments. The Marine Corps physical fitness test includes pushups or pullups; planks for time; and a three-mile run or equivalent rowing session.

The service’s combat fitness test, meanwhile, contains more power and agility elements, including maximum reps on lifting a 30-pound ammunition can and a maneuver-under-fire event with a shuttle run, grenade throw and agility course in addition to a half-mile run in battle dress uniform.

Ahead of boot camp, under current standards, Marines must pass an “initial strength test” that more closely resembles the PFT. They perform maximum-repetition pull-ups or push-ups, crunches or planks, and a 1.5-mile run. Ammo can lifts are added for recruits planning to enter a ground combat military occupational specialty.

Though the jump and pull tests introduced by the Pittsburgh team are not as physically depleting as the Marines’ current assessment battery, researchers found the exercises to be highly predictive of injuries and attrition.

A recruit whose peak power was lower and who had a shorter deceleration period was more likely to sustain a lower-extremity injury in training, they found.

Conversely, for each “unit increase” in peak power, likelihood of injury went down more than 8%. Recruits who took longer to reach peak force and less time to decelerate were more likely to drop out of training at a rate of 2% per each unit change, they found.

Notably, the research also confirmed that subjects’ performance on these tests can improve with training.

While female recruits are still significantly more likely to sustain musculoskeletal injuries, or MSIs, than their male counterparts, it remains a Corps-wide problem. The study found these injuries are estimated to cost the Corps $111 million and 356,000 lost duty days each year.

“We advocate for neuromuscular training programs to bolster strength and power, integrated nutrition and exercise strategies for optimal body composition, and support for smoking cessation to alleviate the incidence of MSIs and curtail attrition,” the study concluded. “Effectively addressing these risk factors is pivotal for diminishing the rates of MSIs and attrition among recruits, thereby enhancing overall military readiness and operational efficiency.”

In a September round-table interview with the study’s authors, Bradley Nindl, director of the University of Pittsburgh’s Neuromuscular Research Laboratory/Warrior Human Performance Research Center, said he believed the explosive-movements tests could be adapted away from the sophisticated pressure-plate setup so they could be performed anywhere.

“At the end of the day, it’s something that you can take from the laboratory to the field,” he said. “So, I do think you’ll see more and more studies for the military, specifically, assessing performance using these two technologies.”

Karl Friedl, a senior research scientist at the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine and a guest editor on the study, gave credit to the Corps for incorporating lifting, carrying and pull-ups, all of which require musculoskeletal power, in their existing fitness evaluations. He said further expansion of explosive-strength assessments may already be in the works.

“The Marines are actually considering some kind of jump test that Marines might be able to do on a regular basis voluntarily and track on their own, to track their fitness over their whole career,” he said. “They’re still considering those sorts of technologies they’re always looking for.”

A spokesman for Marine Corps Training and Education Command, however, said not to expect any near-term changes to the Corps’ standard tests.

“No changes are planned for the PFT or CFT,” Maj. Hector Infante told Marine Corps Times. “Jump exercises and other power development exercises do occur in entry level training and at other parts of the training and education continuum and have for some time.”

That said, he indicated the strength concepts highlighted by the study are already making their way into less visible aspects of recruit training.

“USMC human performance policies and programs are in a constant state of analysis, assessment, and modification if warranted,” Infante said. “UPitt’s recommendations to enhance the sequencing of training progression in terms of frequency, duration, intensity, and timing have been incorporated into entry level training.”

President Biden issued a first-of-its kind memorandum Thursday meant to provide guidance for national security and intelligence agencies on how to effectively and responsibly use AI to further American interests.

“If the United States Government does not act with responsible speed and in partnership with industry, civil society, and academia to make use of AI capabilities in service of the national security mission — and to ensure the safety, security, and trustworthiness of American AI innovation writ large — it risks losing ground to strategic competitors,” the document states.

Alex Miller, chief technology officer for the Army’s chief of staff, said he appreciates the White House’s leadership on the issue, but he’s concerned a lack of access to and funding for core, enabling technologies like cloud storage and computing power is slowing down the Defense Department’s integration of AI tools.

“We haven’t done all the infrastructure work to set up the core technologies to do AI at scale,” Miller said at the Military Reporters and Editors conference. “If we’re really serious about it, there is a lot more investment we should be making at a national level.”

Matt Steckman, chief revenue officer at Anduril, advocated for a more robust national push to make sure the U.S. leads competitors like China on AI adoption.

“We need a national-level response,” said Steckman, who spoke on a panel with Miller. “I’m hoping this memo is the start of it, but I would go way, way further in order to get ahead of everybody else as fast as we probably can.”

In a briefing Thursday, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan acknowledged “critical gaps” in AI research and development funding. He said the Biden administration will work closely with Congress to increase funding for innovation along with the other requirements in the memo.

“We’ve received strong bipartisan signals of support for this from the Hill,” he said. “It’s time for us to collectively roll up our sleeves on a bicameral, bipartisan basis and get this done.”

Building trust

Throughout the document, the White House stresses the importance of building a level of trust in artificial intelligence and calls on national security agencies to implement guardrails to ensure it upholds laws regarding civil rights, human rights, privacy, and safety.

Organizations that leverage AI must use it in a way that aligns with “democratic values,” the document states.

That means designating trusted sources that government agencies can rely on for AI-related inquiries, investing in workforce training, creating standards for evaluating the safety of AI tools and ensuring systems adhere to federal laws around equity, civil rights and consumer protection.

“Artificial intelligence holds extraordinary potential for both promise and peril,” the memo states. “Responsible AI use has the potential to help solve urgent challenges while making our world more prosperous, productive, innovative, and secure. At the same time, irresponsible use could exacerbate societal harms such as fraud, discrimination, bias, and disinformation.”

The document calls for extensive analysis related to fostering a robust AI talent pool, assessing the competitiveness of private sector AI firms in the U.S. and understanding existing barriers to establishing key AI infrastructure.

It directs the Director of National Intelligence to work with DOD and other federal agencies to identify “critical nodes” in the AI supply chain and craft a regularly updated plan for mitigating risk to those areas.

DOD and the intelligence community should also establish a working group with a wide range of responsibilities — from establishing metrics for assessing AI safety and effectiveness to accelerating AI acquisition efforts to ensuring the U.S. has a competitive AI industrial base.

Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro announced this week that the Navy will build a Virginia-class attack submarine that will be known as the Atlanta.

It wasn’t immediately clear when the construction will start on the submarine, when it will enter service, or how much it may cost.

In August, the Navy awarded a $1.3 billion contract to the General Dynamics Electric Boat shipyard in Groton, Connecticut, to start buying materials for that and other submarines it will eventually build.

The Navy has recently been naming new submarines in its Virginia class for cities, including Baltimore, San Francisco and Miami.

It would be the fifth Navy vessel named for Georgia’s largest city. The first was a Confederate ironclad captured in 1863 and converted to Union service during the Civil War. The most recent was a Los Angeles-class nuclear attack submarine that served from 1982 to 1999.

“It has been 25 years since the Navy has had a ship named after the proud legacy of the city of Atlanta,” Del Toro said in a speech at the Carter Center in Atlanta.

Del Toro saluted the naval submarine service of former President Jimmy Carter, who just turned 100. Carter, the only president who was a nuclear submariner, already has the Jimmy Carter, a Seawolf-class submarine, named for him. It was commissioned in 2005 and remains in the fleet.

Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who has served in President Joe Biden’s administration, will be the ship’s sponsor.

“And wherever she sails, she will represent not only the legacy of the proud ships who bore the name USS Atlanta before her, but also the thousands of Atlantans who have honorably and faithfully served the United States in uniform, as civil servants, and as activists to better our great nation,” Del Toro said.

The bomber is ready to stalk the skies after its scheduled tune-up finished 91 days ahead of schedule on Oct. 15.

Before the new record, the bombers took 470 days for programmed depot maintenance, or PDM, which occurs every nine years and focuses on repairing the bomber and its stealth materials.

This time around, “Spirit of Nebraska” only took 379 days, thanks to updates to the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s Bombers Directorate made to the approach.

“Bringing these jets into PDM, getting the work done quickly, and delivering them back to the warfighter early is a big deal,” said Col. Francis Marino, a B-2 system program manager who serves in the Bombers Directorate.

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The Directorate reduced maintenance time by bumping the fuel inspection up earlier in the process so it takes place at the beginning of the repair.

“In the past, if an inspection identified a fuel leak, the team would have to pull parts and materials back off the aircraft, repair the leak, and redo previous work, often causing a 45-day delay,” the Air Force said.

The Air Force also began conducting preinspections before the aircraft underwent maintenance, which allowed the service to identify problems earlier.

“Until the B-21 is fielded, the B-2 is the world’s only long-range penetrable strike bomber and the only aircraft that can do what we need it to do today,” Marino said.

Marino noted it’s important to continue to invest in the bomber, especially as adversaries constantly update their weaponry across the electromagnetic spectrum.

The first B-2 was rolled out in 1988, and its first flight followed soon after on July 17, 1989. The bomber, which can skate through enemy defenses undetected due to its reduced radar signature, is capable of delivering lethal munitions, including nuclear warheads.

There are currently 20 B-2 bombers in circulation, with one of them being a test plane.

Federal government employees constitute a vital part of our military reserves, with up to 20% of the total one million reservists employed by the executive branch as civilians, according to a 2024 RAND report.

Congress enacted a “differential pay” statute to support federal workers called to arms. Under the differential pay law, employees — in this case, reservists — get paid their full (higher) salary from the federal government and do not have to incur a pay cut when they serve in uniform. Pursuant to the law, federal employees in the reserves are entitled to differential pay when “order[ed] to perform active duty in the uniformed services” in different scenarios, including “during a war or during a national emergency declared by the President or Congress.”

Pending before the Supreme Court is Feliciano v. Department of Transportation, a case about the interpretation of the differential pay statute. The Department of Transportation (DOT) argues that the law should be construed narrowly by requiring reservists to demonstrate not only that their service was performed “during” a war or national emergency, but that it was also “connected” to such war or national emergency.

I have concerns with the government’s interpretation. By limiting which federal reservists are entitled to differential pay, DOT’s position will have detrimental financial effects on brave federal employees and their families.

I am speaking out because the agency I lead, the Office of Special Counsel, enforces the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) as it applies to federal employees. The purpose of USERRA is to protect military personnel from civilian employment discrimination and ensure that they get their jobs back after service as if they had never left. The law protects the non-military professional lives of those who serve by minimizing disadvantages to their careers and ensuring their prompt reemployment after deployment. The law also seeks to encourage uniformed service. Notably, Congress intends that the federal government be a “model employer” under USERRA in seeking to reacclimate military personnel to their civilian lives.

But caring for their return is only part of the job. It also matters that military personnel do not suffer financial hardship while they are serving. This is where the differential pay statute comes in. Designed to maintain the financial health of reservists, the differential pay statute seeks to ensure that workers called to arms are paid as much as they receive during their federal civilian employment — that is, that they don’t suffer a loss of income by serving. This view — shared by petitioners, members of Congress and veterans’ groups — is consistent with other laws designed to protect service members like USERRA. And it is something that many private companies already provide to their employees who serve.

For over 80 years, the Supreme Court has held that statutes concerning service members should be “liberally construed to protect those who have been obliged to drop their own affairs to take up the burdens of the nation,” aiming to “benefit … those who left private life to serve their country in its hour of great need.” Under this canon, where statutes concerning reservists and veterans are open to multiple interpretations, they should be read “in the beneficiaries’ favor.”

Earlier this year, in Rudisill v. McDonough, a majority of the Supreme Court affirmed the canon’s continued vitality. Where the statute is “ambiguous, the … canon … favor[s]” the service member, the court concluded. In the present case (and much like the court’s approach in Rudisill), where the differential pay statute is possibly open to several interpretations, I believe it should be interpreted in favor of reservists — providing a more expansive view of the benefits afforded to them, not less.

Congress’s intent at the time the differential pay statute was enacted further supports this view. Sen. Richard J. Durbin, who co-introduced the underlying act in 2001 with then-Sen. Barbara Mikulski, encouraged Congress to “provide … reservist employees with financial support so they can leave their civilian lives to serve [the] country without the added burden of worrying” about the financial well-being of their families. “They are doing so much for us; we should do no less for them,” he said.

Sen. Mikulski added, “[W]e need to … close the gap between the income [reservists] are leaving behind and the country they are working to defend.”

In sum, the pro-military benefits canon and congressional intent lead me to the conclusion that the differential pay statute should be read to ensure that all civilian federal employee reservists who serve are granted differential pay whenever a war or national emergency is ongoing.

The federal government should not impose two different salaries on the same employee. If the Supreme Court does not rule in the federal employee’s favor, I urge Congress to act, again, to protect our service members and not add to their sacrifice.

Hampton Dellinger was confirmed by the United States Senate to head the Office of Special Counsel in March 2024. OSC’s military-related responsibilities include working with and protecting whistleblowing federal employees at the VA, DOD and other agencies, plus ensuring civilian workers’ reemployment rights are protected after their deployments and reserve duties are fulfilled.

The IG report, released on Oct. 15, showed that the events that triggered the reprisal began on Oct. 28, 2020, when an employee of the Navy Cyber Warfare Development Group informed their supervisor of a potential mistake in a report provided to the U.S. Fleet Cyber Command, U.S. 10th Fleet.

The supervisor and subordinate were involved in a project tasked with providing a weekly Commander’s Update Brief, according to the report. The PowerPoint updates would indicate whether a “mission area” was capable, partially capable or not capable.

The subordinate, a program manager from 2018 to 2021, brought up concerns during the October 2020 meeting about labeling certain signal intelligence missions as capable when they were not.

“We are not accurately reporting,” the subordinate reportedly claimed, to which the supervisor reportedly responded, “There are some things you just don’t want people to know.”

Two witnesses who were at the meeting were unable to recall the specific exchange about inaccurate mission statuses. The supervisor also claimed to not recall the meeting and said they never spoke with the subordinate about such a mistake.

Shortly after, on Nov. 5, 2020, the subordinate reportedly argued with an instructor during a training event and was subsequently denied access to the event as a result.

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Following that incident, the supervisor conducted a preliminary inquiry into the event, speaking to two witnesses who said the subordinate’s behavior “demonstrated his desire to circumvent policy and created confusion regarding which queries could be conducted within the boundary of law and policy,” according to the investigation.

The inquiry’s results determined that the subordinate was not in violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Despite the outcome absolving the subordinate of wrongdoing, the supervisor told investigators that the event caused him to lose confidence in the subordinate.

On Dec. 10, 2020, the supervisor submitted a non-judicial punishment for the subordinate. The supervisor then suspended the subordinate’s access to Sensitive Compartmented Information.

In his report to the Defense Department regarding the suspension, the supervisor chose not to include the findings of the preliminary inquiry.

On Dec. 18, 2020, the subordinate declined the non-judicial punishment and requested a court-martial. From there, the pair exchanged a series of rebuttals to the Navy Personnel Command.

The IG investigation, meanwhile, determined the evidence used to justify the removal of the subordinate’s security clearance was not strong enough, adding that there was an abuse of authority and animosity toward the subordinate on the supervisor’s part.

On March 13, 2023, the Defense Department reinstated the subordinate’s access to classified information.

Both the subordinate and supervisor have since retired.