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Pentagon increases combat pay as war with Iran continues
Troops can now earn $450 per month in hostile fire pay and as much as $275 per month in imminent danger pay, the first increase since 2002.
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Each week on Tuesdays and Fridays our team will bring you analysis of military tech, tactics, and doctrine delivered from a rank-and-file perspective.
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National Guardsman arrested in DC for carrying pistol without permit
The guardsman told police during a traffic stop that his firearm was registered in his home state of Oklahoma.
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Florida deputy acquitted in trial over shooting of Air Force special ops airman
Florida sheriff’s deputy Eddie Duran faced manslaughter charges after he shot and killed Senior Airman Roger Fortson in 2024 at the airman’s off-base apartment.
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Navy sending aircraft carrier to Middle East with extra food and supplies
The USS Theodore Roosevelt is sailing with “significantly more” food and supplies than the USS Abraham Lincoln carried, in part due to damage to a logistics base in Bahrain.
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New fitness standards will be checked in Inspector General reviews
To meet Hegseth-ordered “accountability,” Navy and Marines say Inspectors General will continue to review fitness test and Air Force IGs may soon start.
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The military education benefits you may be overlooking — and how to make the most of them
Jai Salters, a former enlisted sailor, now a lieutenant commander in the Navy, walked us through the benefits he used to earn multiple degrees, while still being able to transfer his GI Bill to his kids.
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Return of the Blackbird? Clues emerge that an SR-71 might fly again
NASA engineers appear to be planning to once again kick the tires and light the fires of the baddest airplane to ever fly.
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Bomber crews need better food on the flight line, says celebrity chef Robert Irvine
“The flight line is more of a food desert than the base as a whole because access to a broad food selection is necessarily curtailed because of the logistics and hours of operation,” a retired crew chief said.
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Army says nearly all soldiers have now taken new cognitive test for brain injuries
All soldiers must take the cognitive test once. Soldiers in high-risk jobs like field artillery and explosive ordnance disposal will get annual assessments.
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Many awards for combat flying, few details in Iran war
The Air Force has awarded more than 70 Distinguished Flying Crosses for the conflict with Iran, but few offer any meaningful details about what led to the awards.
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Counter-ISIS mission in Iraq comes to an end
Operation Inherent Resolve will continue with a new hub in Jordan to counter ISIS in Syria.
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Airmen criticize Air Force’s use of AI in suicide prevention training as ‘uncomfortable and odd’
The service says AI-generated presenters standardize its training. Some airmen say using AI for such a human crisis instead made the message feel “cold and unnatural.”
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Tracking America’s latest conflict: The Iran war timeline
To date, at least 19 American service members have been killed and hundreds more wounded.
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USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. comes home after 10 months at sea
The ship defended Navy assets against ballistic missiles amid the U.S. war with Iran.
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Army publishes guidebook to help NCOs manage the barracks
The new guidebook isn’t policy, Army officials said, but is meant to help noncommissioned officers better understand their duties in the barracks.
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First Space Force guardians graduate from Army jungle school in Panama
Two officers completed the 18-day-long jungle warfare and survival course, amid a larger U.S. military focus on Latin America.
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USS Theodore Roosevelt arrives in Pacific ahead of anticipated Middle East deployment
The USS Theodore Roosevelt deployed after Navy leaders said they applied lessons from the USS Abraham Lincoln’s extended Middle East deployment.
Task & Purpose was founded in 2014 to cover the military and veteran community from a rank-and-file perspective, and continues to do so with accurate reporting and great storytelling to this day. Our journalists have reported on the front lines of the Standing Rock protests in North Dakota and the war in Afghanistan. We’ve uncovered American veterans being abused in Kuwaiti prisons, deported veterans being forced to work for Mexican cartels, and drawn national attention to a longstanding legal rule barring service members from suing the government — even in the face of gross negligence.
