Task & Purpose. News, culture, and analysis by and for the military community.
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Youngest soldier in Army’s Best Squad wanted to win ‘with the guys to my left and right’
The team of five Army Rangers named Best Squad this week included experienced soldiers and one so new he had yet to earn a Ranger tab.
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Here’s what the commander of the 101st Airborne says the future of air assault looks like
The 101st Airborne Division is still training for air assaults in 21st-century wars, but wants to bring new tech and aircraft to bear.
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Army’s newly named XM1776 howitzer prototype can shoot twice as far as predecessor
The XM1776, based on Hanwha’s K9 Mobile Howitzer, can fire twice as far as the M777 and uses a smaller crew.
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Rangers sweep the Army’s Best Squad and Best Soldier awards
Rangers have now won three of the last four Army-wide Best Squad titles after a team from 3rd Ranger Battalion was named winners Monday.
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In first public speech, acting Army Secretary promotes Amazon-like drone marketplace
“That’s warfighting procurement at the speed of business,” the acting Army Secretary said.
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Army finds ‘several systematic failures’ contributed to DC helicopter crash
Broken communications, errors with altimeters and bright local lighting played a role in the UH-60L’s collision with a commercial airplane.
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Tracking America’s latest conflict: The Iran war timeline
To date, at least 21 American service members have been killed and hundreds more wounded.
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The future of mechanized infantry is charging your phone
Army mechanized units are learning to move energy the way they move water and ammunition.
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Army releases ‘Know the Threat’ guide on Iranian soldiers
The “quick recognition” infographic, published late last month, is meant to help soldiers learn identifying elements of Iran’s ground forces.
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Pentagon raises Iran war death toll to 21
The revised figure includes a soldier who died in March and an unidentified sailor who died in September.
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US forces mobilize to help Panama after major earthquake
Troops are airlifting in supplies and personnel after a 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit southern Panama on Friday.
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Army activates its fourth multi-domain task force
The 4th Multi-Domain Task Force, based out of Fort Carson, combines long-range missile capabilities with cyber warfare and surveillance personnel.
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National Guard says it is ‘actively addressing’ incident of troops near DC ballot drop box
The District of Columbia’s Board of Elections sent a formal request to the military after Guard members were spotted near a drop box on Thursday.
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This is the engine Rolls-Royce wants the Army to use for its Bradley replacement
The MTU 8V 199 will be used with General Dynamics’ Wolf XM30.
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Pentagon confirms first military execution in 60 years will be ‘livestreamed’
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said the reason was so people could “understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things.”
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New VA dental patients face waits of nearly 2 months for appointments
As the VA inks a $30 billion contract to shift dental care across its system under a single private company, new figures show how long veterans can wait for a first appointment.
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Florida Air Force bases evacuate personnel, aircraft ahead of Hurricane Isaias
Hurlburt Field and Eglin Air Force Base, located in the Florida panhandle, are prepping for the hurricane’s anticipated arrival.
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After two F-16 crashes, Air Force revamps how crews inspect a ‘blind spot’
An Air Force Thunderbird F-16 crashed in 2025 when its engine blew up, as did a training jet in New Mexico in 2024. Investigators traced both mishaps to a “blind spot” inside the engine.
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USS Lincoln strike group awarded Presidential Unit Citation for Iran deployment
The Presidential Unit Citation is the military’s unit award for valor. Previous units to earn the award include D-Day paratroopers, special ops teams in Afghanistan, and Coast Guard hurricane responders.
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81 US military fighters, helicopters, and drones have been lost or damaged in the Iran war
Reports from Congress and the Pentagon have assessed equipment losses from the war at more than $3 billion.
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.
