Shaving Waivers Revoked by Massachusetts Guard in Change Disproportionately Impacting Black Troops
The Massachusetts Army National Guard has abruptly rescinded long-standing medical waivers that allowed certain soldiers to maintain facial hair — a policy primarily affecting Black service members. According to an email to the state’s troops, parts of which were posted to social media and confirmed as authentic to Military.com by Guard officials, the Massachusetts Guard […]
The US Military Takes Pride in Religious Diversity. Would Things Change if Pete Hegseth Takes Charge?
It was a history-making event: In a chapel at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, 2nd Lt. Khady Ndiaye stood proudly — wearing a hijab — as she became the first Muslim woman commissioned by the U.S. Army as a chaplain candidate. Presiding over the ceremony in June was Maj. Gen. Bill Green, the Army’s chief of […]
Duty, Honor, Outrage: Change to West Point's Mission Statement Sparks Controversy
WEST POINT, N.Y. — “Duty, Honor, Country” has been the motto of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point since 1898. That motto isn’t changing, but a decision to take those words out of the school’s lesser-known mission statement is still generating outrage. Officials at the 222-year-old military academy 60 miles (96 kilometers) north of […]
The Army Needs a Lot of Money for Barracks, But It’s Fighting for Pocket Change
“I do use this in a pejorative term, and it’s adulting.” Maj. Gen. James Isenhower III, the commander of the 1st Armored Division, was suggesting to a room packed with spectators earlier this month that a key cause of the mold and other poor living conditions in the Army is soldiers and families not maintaining […]
‘Where Is the Accountability’: Deplorable Condition of Military Barracks Sparks Outrage, Calls for Change on Capitol Hill
Lawmakers vented their frustration Wednesday after a government watchdog report detailed squalid living conditions in military barracks that included overflowing sewage, rampant mold, bed bug infestations and squatters. In the first public hearing of the House Armed Services Committee’s recently launched military quality-of-life panel, both Republican and Democrat lawmakers blasted the findings of last week’s […]
Academy Cadets with Kids Could Still Be Kicked Out as Pentagon Lags on Rule Change
Military students remain in limbo as final Pentagon guidance for a new policy allowing cadets at America’s service academies who have a child to continue their education has been past due for months. The Pentagon was supposed to make the changes to service academy policies by the end of December, a year after the Candidates […]