We have updated our Privacy Policy. Please review to learn more. By continuing to use our services, you agree to these updates.

Read the latest articles from Task & Purpose (Page 24)

Image:  Soldiers assigned to 5th Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division (3rd ID), Marne Innovation Center, 3rd ID and Artificial Intelligence Integration Center, Army Futures Command, discuss a Tethered Unmanned Aircraft System with Sentinel Software at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, California, July 18, 2024. By combining forces, the U.S. Army utilizes assets and creates technology to increase the lethality of its brigades, while also cultivating a culture of innovation. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Rebeca Soria)
Army

Army creates new AI-focused career field for officers

The new 49B area of concentration will get its first cadre of officers who are tasked with integrating AI into logistics, robotics and combat.

Technician from Office of Naval Research (ONR) participates in freeflight after extensive testing for the Hiller Flying Platform. The platform was first flown in public in 1955. (Photo by US Navy/Getty Images)
History

When the military tried to give soldiers personal flying platforms

In the 1950s the Navy and Army worked on small VTOL machines to make troops go airborne. They worked, just not well enough.

Airman 1st Class Charles Crumlett, 335th Aircraft Maintenance Unit weapons load crew member, prepares a weapon to be loaded during the 4th Quarter Load Crew of the Quarter competition, Jan. 26, 2018, at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina. The purpose of the weapons load competition is to showcase the weapons crews highly developed skills with precise loading capabilities. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Kenneth Boyton)
Air Force

Lack of supervision contributed to Alaska airman’s death, report finds

A new Air Force review of Staff Sgt. Charles Crumlett’s death in March 2024 noted failures in supervision, communication and procedures while working on a F-22.

Image: Navy Counselor 1st Class Andrew Shipman from Beaufort, North Carolina, facilitates a mock physical fitness assessment aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) while underway in the Pacific Ocean, June 26, 2025. Fitzgerald, assigned to the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group, is underway in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations on a scheduled deployment, demonstrating the U.S. Navy's commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Cyrus Roson) 
Navy

Navy rolls out twice-a-year fitness tests

The new system goes into effect in the new year, with all active-duty sailors required to complete a fitness assessment every six months.

Image: The 1st Cavalry Division, Horse Cavalry Detachment poses for photos during a retirement ceremony for 1st Sgt. Brandon P. Mims, on Fort Hood, Texas, Dec. 05, 2025. The ceremony included a presentation of multiple awards, the Color Guard, a cavalry charge, and the attendance of family and friends. (U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Michelle Lessard-Terry)
Army

Army changes course, decides to keep horses at two bases

The Army previously planned to phase out its Military Working Equid program at five different bases to focus on “warfighting priorities.”

PALM BEACH, FLORIDA - DECEMBER 28: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky following their meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club on December 28, 2025 in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump invited Zelensky to his private club to work on the U.S.-proposed peace plan to end the war in Ukraine as the conflict approaches four years since the sudden full-scale invasion by Russia on February 24, 2022. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Americas

Trump says US took out a ‘big facility’ in Venezuela

The president would not say if the U.S. military was involved in the operation on Christmas Eve.

DAABDAMALE, PUNTLAND, SOMALIA - JANUARY 25: Soldiers with the Puntland Defense Forces walk back from a cave where Islamic State fighters lived until recently being flushed out on the frontline near Daabdamale, Puntland, Somalia on January 25, 2025. Islamic State in Somalia recruits foreign fighters and brings them into Somalia to try to gain ground in what is becoming a key nerve center for the Islamic State. (Photo by Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Africa

US targets ISIS in Somalia with multiple airstrikes over four days

The wave of attacks comes as American forces bombed ISIS for the first time in Nigeria. 

Judge David O. Carter looks at the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs campus through a chainlink fence.
News

Appeals court upholds order for the VA to build 2,550 housing units in Los Angeles

The Department of Veterans Affairs "has strayed from its mission," the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found, and must build 1,800 permanent and 750 temporary housing units on its West Los Angeles campus.

A missile launches in a plume of fire from a U.S. warship as part of strikes against ISIS in Nigeria on Dec. 25, 2025.
Africa

US targets ISIS with multiple strikes in Nigeria

The Christmas day attacks in the country’s northwestern Sokoto state are the first direct strike against militants in Nigeria by the U.S.

Space Force graduation
Space Force

Space Force guardians graduate basic training in their own uniforms for the first time

“This milestone reflects more than a uniform change. It represents the strength of a shared training foundation and the future focused mission these guardians are stepping into.”

Image: Jeep: US soldiers of the 3rd Division having Christmas dinner on the hood of a jeep on the front lines, World War Two, France, December 25th 1943. (Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images)
World War II

How US troops in World War II celebrated Christmas dinner on the front

Fighting was brutal, rationing was strict, but turkey was never in short supply.

Santa deployed to helmand afghanistan
Culture

Happy holidays from Task & Purpose

It's been quite a year, and we're glad we got to share it with you.

The Navy has released this rendering of the new battleships announced by President Donald Trump, which feature a railgun.
Navy

The Navy’s railgun may be back from the dead — for now

President Donald Trump announced that the Navy’s new “battleships” will each be armed with “state-of-the-art electric railguns.”

The vessels would allow the Marines to move small teams onto remote islands. Medium Landing Ship, or LSMs, can carry 200 Marines to shore.
Marine Corps

Marines may finally get landing ships for modern-day island hopping

The Navy plans to buy between 18 and 35 Medium Landing Ships, which each can carry more than 200 Marines ashore along with helicopters and vehicles.

U.S. Army Pfc. Daniel Flores, left, and Spc. Evan Card, both with 101st Sustainment Brigade, assigned to Joint Task Force-Southern Border (JTF-SB), mount a M2A1 machine gun to their M1114 Humvee before a gunnery exercise at Dona Ana Training Complex, N.M., Aug. 21, 2025. Gunneries are a routine training exercise that Soldiers conduct in order to stay proficient in warrior tasks and drills. JTF-SB executes full-scale, agile, and all-domain operations in support of U.S. Customs and Border Protection to protect the territorial integrity of the United States and achieve 100% operational control of the southern border. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Elijah Ingram)
Americas

Have you served on the US-Mexico border in the last year? We want to hear from you.

In the new year, we’ll continue to report on challenges facing deployed troops, whether abroad or at home. But to do that, we need your help.

Feature Art:  WATERTOWN, N.Y. – Labor and delivery nurses from the Samaritan Medical Center in Watertown, N.Y., observe as Army and civilian health care professionals train to stop life-threatening complications of a simulated mother who just gave birth during a training simulation at the Samaritan Medical Center June 7. Obstetrics and gynecology health care professionals from Fort Drum, N.Y. work side by side with their civilian counterparts at Samaritan to provide pregnancy, labor and delivery care to Fort Drum service members and their families. (Photo by Warren W. Wright Jr., Fort Drum MEDDAC Public Affairs) 
News

Fort Hood OB-GYN abuse case raises questions on chaperone policy

The Army hospital’s policy states that patients can request a chaperone and staff will try to honor it. Advocates say it should be mandatory for all sensitive exams.

Three Pararescue Airmen from the 131st Rescue Squadron, 129th Rescue Wing, California Air National Guard, at left in orange, join for a group photo at Moffett Air National Guard Base in Mountain View with HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopter aircrew members from the 129th Rescue Squadron, early in the morning of Dec. 17 after rescuing a woman with a medical emergency from the Ruby Princess cruise ship 130 nautical miles southwest of San Francisco. (Courtesy Photo)
National Guard

California Air Guard team pulls off ‘high risk’ night rescue from fog-covered cruise ship

"We don't train to do it inside a fog bank," said one of the rescue pilots after the crew of guardsmen faced rough winds and poor visibility to reach a woman on a cruise ship 100 miles from shore.

A Coast Guard helicopter approaches the M/T Centuries on Dec. 20, 2025.
Coast Guard

US forces seize oil tanker in the Caribbean

The Coast Guard and other troops boarded the M/T Centuries after it departed Venezuela. It’s the second tanker seized this month.

A US Air Force C-130 Hercules taxis at Rafael Hernandez Airport in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, on December 18, 2025. US President Donald Trump's administration is conducting a military campaign in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, deploying naval and air forces for what it calls an anti-drugs offensive. (Photo by Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo / AFP via Getty Images)
Air Force

US forces returning to Ecuador for ‘short-term’ counter-drug mission

The return to the base at Manta comes a month after Ecuadorian voters rejected a measure to allow the reopening of foreign bases.

Leaders from the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade run as part of a brigade wide workout in honor of opening the Maj. General Frank W. Tate Soldier Performance Readiness Center at Wheeler Army Airfield, O’ahu, Hawai’i, July 1, 2025. The mission of Holistic Health and Fitness, also known as H2F, is to empower soldiers to take charge of their health by focusing on five key domains: physical, mental, nutrition, sleep, and spiritual readiness. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Olivia Cowart)
Army

Army tosses out its Spiritual Fitness Guide after four months

The recently launched effort to boost resilience in the “spiritual domain” is already canceled.