Divers, Engineers Plan to Remove Key Bridge Remnants Using Giant Buckets, Hydraulic Shears
BALTIMORE — Giant salvage buckets are hauling up the remnants of the Francis Scott Key Bridge roadway to clear space for workers to use hydraulic shears to cut a bigger part of the structure into smaller pieces. Removing the spans of the bridge that collapsed into the water March 26 after being struck by a […]
Army Orders More Helicopter Pilot Training After Spate of 12 Crashes Kills, Injures Soldiers
The Army will have its helicopter pilots conduct hours of additional training after a rash of a dozen crashes that has killed 10 service members just since October. “We’ve seen a troubling trend with our accident rates, and certainly any loss of life is 100% unacceptable,” Maj. Gen. Walter Rugen, director of Army aviation, told […]
Pentagon Chief Sidesteps Question on Privatized Barracks Oversight During Congressional Testimony
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stressed the need to invest in housing when pressed Tuesday on how the Pentagon will ensure that any privatized barracks are not plagued with the same problems as privatized military family housing. Appearing at a wide-ranging Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Austin was asked by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., about how […]
Army Expanding Pre-Basic Training Prep Courses to Bring in More Soldiers and Curb Recruiting Crisis
The Army is again dramatically expanding its pre-basic training courses that were created to get young Americans into compliance with the service’s enlistment standards, as those courses are becoming key to curtailing the ongoing recruiting slump. The Future Soldier Preparatory Course’s capacity will grow from nearly 18,000 to 23,500 this year, according to data provided […]
'The Keeper': Why an Army Vet Hiked the Appalachian Trail with 363 Name Tapes
Long-distance hikers have a few things in common with people serving in the military. Not only do they carry heavy packs for miles on end, but people who were once strangers tend to form close bonds on the trails. They even give each other new designations while out in the wilderness, called a “trail name,” […]
Army's Premier Education Benefits May Be on Chopping Block, with Tuition Assistance Cuts Being Considered, Too
The Army is seeking cuts to two major education benefits — a move that expands previously reported potential cutbacks to credentialing assistance for soldiers and that could affect more than 100,000 troops who tap the benefits each year. Last week, Military.com reported the Army was eyeing cuts to its Credentialing Assistance program. But the potential […]
Army Ranger Legend and Last Living Korean War Medal of Honor Recipient Ralph Puckett Dies at 97
When Ralph Puckett was chosen to lead a new Ranger company in 1950, he said a prayer: “Dear God, don’t let me get a bunch of guys — good guys — killed.” In late November 1950, the then-Army lieutenant was leading the 8th Ranger Company in a daring assault against entrenched North Korean machine guns […]
The US Army Will Hold Combat Training in the Philippines to Hone Skills as Maritime Tensions Rise
MANILA, Philippines — The U.S. Army is introducing a joint battlefield training in the Philippines to improve combat readiness including by ensuring adequate supply of ammunition and other needs in difficult conditions in tropical jungles and on scattered islands, a U.S. general said. The Biden administration has been strengthening an arc of military alliances in […]
Crews Begin Removing Shipping Containers Off the Dali, Ship that Collapsed Key Bridge
Work to clear the Port of Baltimore’s main shipping channel hit another milestone Sunday as crews started removing shipping containers from the Dali, the cargo vessel that rammed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, collapsing it. The Key Bridge Response Unified Command said it is progressing toward removing the pieces of the […]
Joe Brennan, Democratic Former Governor of Maine and US Congressman, Dies at 89
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Democrat Joseph E. Brennan, whose hardscrabble childhood shaped his working-class views in a political career that included two terms as Maine’s governor and two terms in the U.S. House, died Friday evening at his home in Portland. He was 89. Brennan died with his wife at his side a few blocks […]