Navy Installations Command Force Master Chief Greg A. Vidaurri receives his second COVID-19 vaccine at Branch Health Clinic Washington Navy Yard, on Feb. 16, 2021. US Navy Photo
The Defense Department will begin requiring Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccination now that it has received full approval from the Food and Drug Administration, the Pentagon’s spokesman said today. Read More
Marines with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) search luggage during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan on Aug. 18, 2021. US Marine Corps Photo
Troops from NATO member states, including the U.S., U.K. and France, are all working in Kabul to remove citizens and Afghans eligible for resettlement out of the country. But there isn’t a coordinated effort between the allies to communicate with the Taliban or ensure people get to the Hamid Karzai International Airport safely, Pentagon officials acknowledged on Thursday. Read More
The following is the Aug. 18, 2021 Congressional Research Service report, The Selective Service System and Draft Registration: Issues for Congress. Read More
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin speaks with reporters on Afghanistan, at the Pentagon on Aug. 18, 2021. DoD Photo
This post has been updated with a statement from President Joe Biden.
The U.S. doesn’t have enough troops in Kabul to secure safe passage for tens of thousands of Americans and Afghan allies seeking to leave the country, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in a press conference on Wednesday. Read More
A Vietnamese woman, carrying her son, is given a numbered tag as she arrives onboard USS Hancock (CV-19) on April 29, 1975. US Marine Corps Photo
The Pentagon acknowledged on Monday the evacuation of Americans and other U.S. diplomatic personnel from Afghanistan and Afghan emigrants is a “non-combatant evacuation operation,” a mission for U.S. forces to safeguard the exit of civilians and other non-combatants from a country. Read More
The following is the Aug 12, 2021 Congressional Research Service report, Joint All-Domain Command and Control: Background and Issues for Congress. Read More
Afghanistan civililans attempt on the airfield as a C-17 attempts to take off from the Kabul airport.
This post has been updated with additional comments from President Biden and Pentagon officials.
The mass exodus of U.S. citizens and American allies from Afghanistan is now a military-assisted non-combatant evacuation operation as the security situation in the capital of Kabul has continued to devolve, a Pentagon spokesman said on Monday. Read More
On Nov. 16, U.S. Missile Defense Agency and Navy sailors aboard USS John Finn (DDG 113), an Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System-equipped destroyer, fired a Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IIA guided missile that successfully intercepted and destroyed a mock Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) during a flight test demonstration in the broad ocean area northeast of Hawaii in November 2020. MDA photo.
The U.S. has several options to defend Guam against attack, the director of the Missile Defense Agency said this week, as the House Armed Service Committee wants more details on what exactly will be put in place against different threats and at what cost. Read More
The following is an August list of the Government Accountability Office’s open priority recommendations to the Pentagon. Read More
Operations Specialist 2nd Class Vincent Hernandez stands watch at U.S. 3rd Fleet’s expeditionary maritime operations center (EMOC), forward-based at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, during Large-Scale Exercise (LSE) 2021. US Navy Photo
San Diego-based U.S. 3rd Fleet relocated its command-and-control hub to Hawaii to support the Navy’s Large Scale Exercise 2021 and join an integrated exercise that’s combining live ships, including the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70), and new technologies with simulated forces designed to synchronize the joint force. Read More
