Author: Braxton Taylor

SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii—A propeller blade that would take 18 months to replace. Parts for an expandable office that would cost hundreds of dollars to buy. A howitzer bracket that is unavailable at any price. All printed and replaced in a matter of hours at U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s new advanced manufacturing facility. “The Forge,” which its director calls the world’s only “expeditionary foundry,” isn’t meant to produce mountains of parts. Instead, the idea is to make one-of-a-kind prototypes and small batches of items that can be tested and proven for use in the military or commercial industry. It sprung from an idea…

The Department of Veterans Affairs plans to halt nearly all abortions performed at VA medical centers and to stop covering the cost of the procedure for beneficiaries of its health program for spouses and dependents.In a notice published Monday in the Federal Register, the VA said it planned to return to regulations that were in place until September 2022 — excluding abortions from its medical services coverage unless the pregnancy threatened the life of the mother.Three months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned federal protections for abortion rights in June 2022, the VA announced it would offer abortion services to…

Air Force officials are investigating an incident in which a Security Forces airman stationed at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona killed a civilian who attempted to enter the base early Friday morning.The individual, according to a news release from the base, “failed to stop and identify themselves at the base’s main gate” and was allegedly “driving erratically” around 2:30 a.m. local time on Aug. 1. The individual crashed into a vehicle barrier and attempted to back up.An airman from the base’s Security Forces Squadron “shot and fatally injured” the civilian after several of the troops used their guns to…

Veterans seeking care in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ community care program in 30 specialties will not have to get reauthorization from the VA for a year under a new policy announced by the department Monday.VA officials said that, under the change, eligible veterans will receive 12 months of uninterrupted medical services from private providers covered by the department without needing a new authorization.Before the change, which went into effect Monday, VA community care specialty referrals were reevaluated every 90 to 180 days, according to the department.Read Next: VA to Ban Nearly All Abortions at VA Facilities, Drop Coverage for…

The Space Force plans to launch satellites that can track vehicles and ships within the next year, a senior official said, and eventually use that work to figure out how to track airborne targets from orbit.The ground moving target indicator mission, known as GMTI, is a joint effort between the Space Force and National Reconnaissance Office to help the military track targets on the ground from space—a mission handled until 2023 by the aging, airborne E-8 JSTARS fleet. The service has already launched some “initial satellites” to enable GMTI, such as radar satellites and communications satellites to allow the satellites to…

Every summer, trout streams in the West face hot, low water conditions, making for tough fishing—and sometimes lethal conditions for trout. In Montana, famed trout streams like the Big Hole and Beaverhead are plagued with fishing restrictions and sometimes full-on closures in July and August. But what if there was a way to nip the problem in the bud and increase the overall water supply to begin with?Researchers are exploring exactly that with a method called “cloud seeding.” The practice involves injecting a chemical compound, silver iodide, into the atmosphere during winter months, where it encourages the formation of ice…

Now that artificial intelligence (AI) tools can do so much of the work of building a resume, what else is there for a veteran or military spouse job seeker to learn?Plenty.AI tools can be a secret to getting a job, but they can also be the reason your post-military resume ends up at the bottom of a mountain of resumes. Why?Read Next: The Best Veterans Guide to Getting a Job Fast or FasterIt is a mystery to most transitioning military members why this is happening. While your resume might seem brilliant to you and your friends, you know there is…

Unfortunately, it won’t do any of that. Thanedar’s bill would instead prohibit hunters from setting out food on federal public land with the intent to attract black bears.The campaign to end bear baiting has until now focused largely on the states, with a ballot initiative campaign in Maine and lawsuits in Idaho and Wyoming, among several other efforts, but this would be the first federal push to ban the practice. Bear baiting is currently legal in 12 states, but only seven states have federal land that would be affected by this bill: Alaska, Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.In…

For more than a decade, Team Red, White and Blue — a nonprofit organization for veterans – has operated a unique program that combines physical activity with a sense of shared purpose and mutual support.The power of the tribe has made a difference for a growing population of unhealthy veterans. Studies exploring the health outcomes of veterans and civilians over the past 20 years reveal concerns, highlighting the need for programs such as the ones Team RWB provides. For the first time, veterans have worse health markers than civilians.For America’s military veterans, the transition to civilian life is challenging mentally…

00:00:02 Speaker 1: Welcome to Backwoods University, a place where we focus on wildlife, wild places and the people who dedicate their lives to conserving both. I’m your host, Lake Pickle. In this episode, we’re going to dive deep into the conservation history of Mississippi’s once celebrated but now controversial native species, the American black bear. We’re going to start this episode off by going back and forth between two historical accounts from the same state of Mississippi, separated by nothing but time. The first being clips from local Mississippi news networks, dates ranging from ten years ago to just…