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Military families moving to and from overseas assignments should be ready for weeks of shipping delays due to Iran war disruptions. Domestic moves face higher gas prices and traffic snarls.

The families of service members killed in the Middle East sought privacy during the dignified transfer of their remains in the aftermath of one of President Donald Trump’s grim cash grabs. Later in the same press gaggle, another reporter asked Trump for comment on the six service members who were killed. The president ignored the question and said, “Who else?” to the other journalists.

WASHINGTON, March 18 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's administration is considering deploying thousands of U.S. troops to reinforce its operation in the Middle East, as the U.S. military prepares for possible next steps in its campaign against Iran, said a U.S. official and three people familiar with the matter.

NAPLES, Italy — A potent mixture of flammable materials, equipment pushed beyond its limits and human error could be behind a fire last week aboard the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, according to a shipping expert. “It’s just a smorgasbord of danger all put together,” said Sal Mercogliano, an adjunct professor at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. Read more at: https://www.stripes.com/branches/navy/2026-03-18/fire-ford-red-sea-iran-sailors-21107086.html Source - Stars and Stripes

Very poor choice for any position in the government... Oklahoma senator has repeatedly made cryptic claims about ‘overseas’ work and war experience, while refusing to explain them

An Afghan father of six who came to the United States after the 2021 collapse of the U.S.-backed government in Afghanistan was taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in Texas and died within 24 hours, despite his service working alongside U.S. troops in his home country, his family announced.

Carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) is preparing to leave the Red Sea to undergo repairs at the U.S. Navy base on Crete after a fire last week required several hours of damage control efforts, USNI News has learned. Ford will travel to Naval Support Activity Souda Bay for more than a week of pierside repairs, a senior U.S. official confirmed to USNI News on Tuesday. The official confirmed a report in a local Greek news outlet that said Ford is returning to Crete.

TRICARE cost terms: Deductibles, Catastrophic Caps, and Point-of-Service Fees

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More than 600 service members and crew members aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford are without a bed after a fire aboard the ship Thursday, The New York Times reported. The fire took upwards of 30 hours to douse, according to the publication, and it damaged sailors’ sleeping arrangements so badly that they’re having to sleep on floors and tables.

Well, Let's remember that trump is trying to distract from the PDFiles... Trump has offered shifting reasons for the strikes and has pushed back on claims that Israel forced the U.S. to act. Earlier this month, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., suggested that the White House believed Israel was determined to act on its own, leaving the Republican president with a “very difficult decision.”

DOD families head to Germany and US as Iran keeps up barrage on Bahrain Read more at: https://www.stripes.com/theaters/europe/2026-03-16/bahrain-iran-evacuate-kmc-21084586.html Source - Stars and Stripes

Third injured sailor flown off USS Gerald R. Ford after fire unrelated to combat

Basically, restricting Freedom of Press, a First Amendment Right... The Pentagon has released a modernization plan for Stars and Stripes that affirms the publication’s independence while expanding Defense Department oversight, introducing new restrictions on content and transitioning away from a print publication. Read more at: https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2026-03-13/pentagon-modernization-plan-stars-and-stripes-21051529.html Source - Stars and Stripes

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This is atrocious! The wife of one veteran wanted her husband to be evaluated, fearing his cancer may have spread, and sought a radiology appointment last year with the Department of Veterans Affairs. She made “multiple phone calls that went to voicemail,” last March and received “no follow-up within the promised 24 hours,” according to the VA’s chief watchdog. That incident is just one documented by investigators with the VA’s inspector general’s office who are trying to get to the bottom of a longstanding complaint from the nation’s veterans: They can’t get through to their health care providers on the phone.

The House Oversight Committee is preparing their questions for the deposition of the security guard who was on duty the night Jeffrey Epstein died. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, joins Alex Witt to share what he hopes to learn in that testimony and to discuss a Washington Post report that a former DOGE engineer is accused of trying to take and sell Social Security data to a private company.

The U.S. Navy Independence class Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) USS Tulsa and USS Santa Barbara, which are configured for minesweeping duties, have appeared in port in Malaysia. Both of these ships were last known to be forward-deployed in the Middle East, having arrived in Bahrain in the past year or so to take the place of a group of now-decommissioned Avenger class mine hunters. Now, as Iranian attacks on commercial ships have caused a virtual halt to maritime traffic through the highly strategic Strait of Hormuz, these ships have emerged thousands of miles away. The extent to which Iran has seeded naval mines in the Strait already is unclear, but this remains a huge threat to the future security of the waterway and will have to be taken into account in any future effort to reopen this critical waterway.

FOR: Pete Hegseth, Secretary of WAAH DATE: Mar. 14, 2026 FROM: General Counsel, Department of WAAH (D'oH!)

Italy’s chief of defense staff says a drone hit a base in Kuwait housing Italian and US forces

Donald Trump is facing bipartisan criticism after a fundraising email featured an official photo from a dignified transfer of fallen U.S. service members and offered donors 'national security briefings.'