News
Republicans back abortion ban in $360B VA budget draft for next year
Republican appropriators advanced a budget bill Tuesday that includes more than $360 billion for Veterans Affairs operations but also limits on abortion access and diversity programs that Democratic lawmakers vowed to fight as the measure moves through Congress.
Republicans back abortion ban in $360B VA budget draft for next year
Republican appropriators advanced a budget bill Tuesday that includes more than $360 billion for Veterans Affairs operations but also limits on abortion access and diversity programs that Democratic lawmakers vowed to fight as the measure moves through Congress.
18th Airborne orders soldiers on staff duty to get 4 hours of sleep
The 18th Airborne Corps published a memo over the weekend that says soldiers on staff duty have to sleep for at least four consecutive hours.
11th Airborne soldier killed, another injured, in car accident
A soldier based out of Fort Wainwright died on Saturday, May 18 when the car she was in crashed and suffered a rollover, the U.S. Army and Alaska State Troopers announced.
101st Airborne soldier murdered in off-base residence near Fort Campbell in Kentucky
A soldier with the 101st Airborne Division was murdered in an off-base residence near Fort Campbell, Kentucky, on Saturday and the case remains under investigation, according to local civilian authorities.
Air Force
American Airlines must face pilots’ lawsuit over paid military leave
A federal appeals court on Tuesday revived a lawsuit by American Airlines pilots over the carrier’s failure to pay them for short-term military leave.
Space threats are a concern at this year’s Wright-Patterson intelligence retreat
Threats in and from space were one focus of a gathering of national intelligence principals Monday and Tuesday at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
Air Force honors ‘exceptional’ airman killed in Florida police shooting
Senior Airman Collin Courtney stood in a packed Hurlburt Field aircraft hangar and told the audience his friend, fallen Senior Airman Roger Fortson, was made to be an AC-130 gunner.
5,500 airmen selected for master sergeant as promotion rate ticks up
Of the 29,497 technical sergeants eligible for promotion to master sergeant in the 2024 cycle, 5,500 were selected for promotion, the Air Force Personnel Center announced May 20. The selection rate of 18.65 percent is up slightly from last year’s 17.34 percent, but it marks the fourth year in a row that the rate has remained below 20 percent.
Child care center reopens at Air Force base on Guam nearly a year after Typhoon Mawar
The Child Development Center at Andersen Air Force Base reopened this month, concluding one of the last major on-base repairs one year after a major typhoon struck Guam.
Airmen killed in 2010 Osprey crash receive Distinguished Flying Cross
The pilot and flight engineer saved 16 passengers during an emergency landing that cost them their lives.
B-52s land in UK to kick off another bomber task force
B-52 Stratofortess bombers kicked off yet another Bomber Task Force deployment May 20, with the first aircraft touching down at RAF Fairford, U.K., the Pentagon said.
Space Force
Space Force to restructure all missions into ‘integrated’ units to boost readiness: Lt. Gen. Garrant
“In the next few months, you can look for missile warning and space domain awareness as two mission areas [to be restructured], and then in the future satellite communications, for example, and then orbital warfare,” Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, head of Space Systems Command, told the Mitchell Institute today.
Veterans
Virginia Congresswoman blasts Veterans Affairs after missed deadline for VA medical center investigation
The Department of Veterans Affairs is under fire for missing the deadline to provide information on the Hampton VA Medical Center to the House Committee on Veterans Affairs following allegations of employee retaliation and substandard care.
Homeless vets find housing on old Walter Reed grounds, regardless of discharge status
Former Army National Guard Spc. Donald Carey, a Desert Storm veteran, had reached the point in his long bout with homelessness where he was telling himself and anyone who would listen: “Just get me off the street. Gotta’ get off the street.”
Oracle’s troubled effort to create the Pentagon, VA electronic health record system
Larry Ellison’s vision for the future of medicine crystallized for him in a doctor’s office.
Thousands of veterans will gain access to military health care in Virginia at Joint Base Langley-Eustis
Thousands of veterans soon will be able to receive routine medical services at Joint Base Langley-Eustis through a new partnership that gives former service members access to care at the military base in Virginia, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced Monday.
Documents show $43.5 million in PACT Act bonuses plus pay raises for VA human resources staff
The Department of Veterans Affairs paid $43.5 million in bonuses to more than 6,500 human resources specialists last year under allowances stipulated in the PACT Act, an amount the department’s chief human capital officer described as “significant.”
B-17 gunner’s remains buried in North Carolina 80 years after bomber went down in France
A U.S. Army Air Forces staff sergeant was laid to rest Monday in North Carolina, eight decades after he went missing when his bomber was shot down over France during World War II.
VA to host Memorial Day events nationwide at national cemeteries
The 155 national cemeteries managed by the Department of Veterans Affairs will be open from dawn to dusk throughout Memorial Day weekend, and more than 130 will hold ceremonies to mark the day of remembrance for those who died in service to the U.S.