Tony

FALLS CHURCH, Va. – IMPORTANT: Do you currently live in the TRICARE West Region? Do you pay for your TRICARE coverage using a bank electronic funds transfer, credit card, or debit card?

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with a federally employed military spouse who's taking up the Department of Defense on its Deferred Resignation Program/Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (DRP VERA) offer because she feels she's out of options. She has requested anonymity because her early retirement is not yet approved. Business Insider has verified her identity and employment.

Trump included an aside to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Attorney General Pam Bondi. It asked the duo to "determine how military and national security assets, training, non-lethal capabilities, and personnel can most effectively be utilized to prevent crime." Using "personnel" to "prevent crime" seems to run afoul of the 1878 law, which is one sentence long.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday ended a seven-year-old program to boost leadership roles for women within the military, blasting the initiative as a divisive, liberal focus that does not add to service members’ readiness. The Women, Peace & Security program was signed into law by President Donald Trump in 2017. But Hegseth criticized the effort as a priority for President Joe Biden and United Nations officials, despite numerous conservative supporters of the program.

Two members of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency were given accounts on classified networks that hold highly guarded details about America's nuclear weapons, two sources tell NPR. Luke Farritor, a 23-year-old former SpaceX intern, and Adam Ramada, a Miami-based venture capitalist, have had accounts on the computer systems for at least two weeks, according to the sources who also have access to the networks. Prior to their work at DOGE, neither Farritor nor Ramada appear to have had experience with either nuclear weapons or handling classified information.

Trump has in the meantime made himself – and the US – into an international laughing stock, never mind the damage that policy uncertainty is inflicting on the global economy. You’d be forgiven for thinking that chaos is itself the policy goal. Repeatedly forced to row back on its demands and aspirations, the White House has been left looking back-footed and ridiculous.

The new head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division is dramatically reshaping the office to propel President Donald Trump’s social agenda, prompting the departure of about half of the division’s lawyers in recent weeks, according to people familiar with the situation and public statements from top officials.

Are you kidding me? Creating a biased “anti-Christian bias” task force while removing DEI is about as ridiculous as it gets. So now there is a task force in the VA, of all places, that is going to guard against “Christian bias,” but all other groups have been cancelled?!? Give me a break. And just imagine that the "sermons" (hate speeches) are about a group of people who do serve in the Navy, who do serve in the military, and who are veterans who defended our country... Fire VA Secretary Doug Collins. He is not a good representative for those who served... VA identifies incidents that led to creation of anti-Christian bias task force WASHINGTON — A new task force targeting anti-Christian bias at the Department of Veterans Affairs was established after some VA facilities restricted...

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A Navy fighter jet fell overboard Monday when the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier veered to avoid fire from the Houthis, according to two defense officials. The military was using the $60 million jet as part of its weekslong campaign against Houthi fighters in Yemen, who have attacked commercial and military shipping in the waterway for the past two years.

In his ongoing diplomatic visit to Japan, US Navy Secretary John Phelan warned that China is outpacing the United States and its allies in shipbuilding. Phelan said that China is making ships at a rate that threatens to tilt the global maritime balance irreversibly, and the United States is nearing a critical inflection point.

Navy Medicine Fast Facts: Hospital Ships, 1898 - 1920

More than 100 immigrants, allegedly in the country illegally, were detained in Colorado Springs after an overnight raid at what authorities described as an underground nightclub in a strip mall. Over a dozen active-duty military members were also at the club during the raid, and federal officials said some were working at the illicit operation.

U.S. officials say the wife of an active-duty Coast Guardsman was arrested earlier this week by federal immigration authorities inside the family residential section of the U.S. Naval Air Station at Key West, Florida, after she was flagged in a securit...

A battle between aides in Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon didn’t end when the entangled parties were ousted from the Pentagon, according to a Saturday report in The Guardian. In fact, the spat seems to have become even contentious, with one staffer reportedly making calls investigating whether another used cocaine at a previous job in an effort to turn up dirt for a lawsuit.

In an unusual move, the administration of President Donald Trump has canceled a $3.8 billion contract to build an immigrant detention camp in Fort Bliss, Texas, just days after issuing it.

WASHINGTON—Top Pentagon aides were developing a briefing for Elon Musk last month on more than two dozen highly classified weapons programs for fighting China until the department’s top lawyer intervened, people familiar with the plan said. Acting Pentagon General Counsel Charles Young learned that a memo being drafted to show Musk contained information on 29 China-related “special access programs,” a designation for the military’s most sensitive secrets, the people said.

Last month, Hegseth was furious about leaks of his having approved a military briefing for Elon Musk on China, according to multiple defense officials. When officials found out The New York Times was preparing to report the meeting, Hegseth screamed at Adm. Chris Grady, the acting chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, saying he would “f---ing polygraph” him to find out if he leaked the information about the meeting, according to three U.S. officials familiar with the meeting. Hegseth staffers also threatened to polygraph Adm. Sam Paparo, the commander of U.S. IndoPacific Command, and Lt. Gen D.A. Sims, the director of the Joint Staff, the officials said, and told the Joint Chiefs who had access to information about the Musk briefing and the agenda that they would be subject to polygraphs, the officials said.

What is often overlooked, however, is how the GOP’s complete surrender to Trumpism has worsened the problem we all have to deal with. Republican fear of a Republican president has created a cycle of broken government.

YOKOHAMA, Japan — A Japanese court on Friday ordered a U.S. sailor to pay approximately $114,000 Read more at: https://www.stripes.com/branches/navy/2025-04-25/zushi-beach-rampage-civil-damages-17575543.html Source - Stars and Stripes

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Kasper was sworn in as Hegseth’s chief of staff in late January. In early April, he touted the deportation of alleged Venezuelan and MS-13 gang members to El Salvador as a “successful counterterrorism mission.” In late March, Kasper was among senior Pentagon officials who vowed to crack down on leaks. He issued a memo warning that those suspected of disclosing sensitive information could be subject to lie detector tests. That announcement followed news that Elon Musk, who leads the administration's effort to cut government spending, was due to receive a briefing at the Pentagon on China.

WASHINGTON — Houthi rebels in Yemen have shot down seven U.S. Reaper drones in less than six weeks, a loss of aircraft worth more than $200 million in what is becoming the most dramatic cost to the Pentagon of the military campaign against the Iran-backed militants.

Federal agents on Friday arrested a judge in Wisconsin on obstruction charges after she allegedly helped an undocumented immigrant evade arrest, FBI Director Kash Patel said. Patel made the announcement in an X post, which was quickly deleted. The FBI did not immediately respond to requests for comment on why the post was removed.

PHILIPPINE SEA – Information Systems Technician 2nd Class Gabriel D. Holt, from Washington, Utah, has been listed as Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown (DUSTWUN) after being reported unaccounted for Saturday morning while the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) was conducting a regularly scheduled port call at Naval Base Guam. Responding assets searched for Holt for 120 hours, covering more than 11,000 square nautical miles. “Our deepest sympathies are with the family, friends, and shipmates of Petty Officer Holt,” said Capt. Doug Graber, commanding officer, USS Nimitz. “After carefully considering all pertinent factors and available information, we made the extremely difficult decision to suspend the search. This has been an extraordinarily challenging case, and the decision to suspend active efforts was not made lightly. We are sincerely grateful for the support and coordination from all units and partners who assisted in searching.” U.S. Navy Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 25 crews searched extensively, as did crews aboard a U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft from Commander Task Force 72, Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 21, U.S. Coast Guard Sentinel-class cutter USCGC Oliver Henry (WPC 1140), Station Apra Harbor’s 45-foot Response Boat-Mediums, and Guam Fire Rescue’s coastal and offshore teams. “Suspending the search for Petty Officer Holt is heartbreaking—we committed every resource in hopes of bringing him home, and our hearts are with those who knew and served alongside him,” Graber said. For more information, please contact the USS Nimitz Public Affairs Officer at pao@cvn68.navy.mil.