NCC Harsh

From leadership training for military youth caregivers to training veterans to be baseball umpires, this year’s five Fisher Service Award winners have found innovative ways to fill gaps to meet the needs of those in the military and veteran communities. The top winner, with a grant of $100,000, is the Caregiving Youth Student Leadership Program, which is part of the Military Child Education Coalit...[Read More]

In an era of hypersonic missiles, stealth fighters, and nuclear subs, it’s hard to picture sailors going toe-to-toe with the enemy on a ship’s deck. Yet during World War II, the crew of a brand-new destroyer escort, USS Buckley, did just that by slugging it out in hand-to-hand combat with German sailors from U-66 in the middle of the Atlantic.

Two months after an IT hiccup at the Department of Veterans Affairs left a significant portion of GI Bill recipients without their anticipated payments for school and housing, some advocates have a message for the VA: Turn the GI Bill hotline back on. Those missing payments in the wake of the rollout of a new processing system are spouses or children of veterans who have died, are missing, or have...[Read More]

The Blue Angels’ 2025 Homecoming Air Show at NAS Pensacola has been cancelled, marking the latest casualty of the federal shutdown and defense budget strain. Base officials cited funding shortfalls and contracting delays, while locals lamented the loss of a beloved tradition that typically draws hundreds of thousands to the Gulf Coast. The cancellation echoes past disruptions in 2013 and 2020, rem...[Read More]

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Sunday that Washington and Beijing would establish military-to-military communications channels, adding that bilateral ties between the countries have “never been better.” Hegseth said he spoke with his Chinese counterpart, Admiral Dong Jun, late Saturday on the sidelines of a regional security meeting and that they agreed that “peace, stability and good re...[Read More]

The U.S. military has carried out another lethal strike on alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean Sea, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Saturday. Hegseth in a social media posting said the vessel was operated by a U.S.-designated terrorist organization but did not name which group was targeted. He said three people were killed in the strike. It’s at least the 15th such strike carried out ...[Read More]

U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday said he’s ordered the Pentagon to begin planning for potential military action in Nigeria as he stepped up his allegations that the government is failing to rein in the persecution of Christians in the West African country. The president also warned that he “will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria.” “If the Nigerian Government continues to al...[Read More]

Trump is beating a curious path to executing his “peace through strength” foreign policy agenda.

This attack is at least the 15th such strike carried out by the U.S. military in the Caribbean or eastern Pacific since early September.

The United States Army Air Forces fielded two major air arms for the Allied invasion of France in 1944. The more famous of the two was the Eighth Air Force, the strategic arm whose four-engine bombers devastated Nazi Germany’s industrial capacity by day, while Britain’s Royal Air Force pounded it by night. The other American contribution was the Ninth Air Force, the tactical arm whose twin-engine ...[Read More]

Out of a hailstorm of machine gun fire and heavy shelling, Pvt. Burton Holmes returned, badly wounded, to the 371st Infantry Regiment’s command post. His unit had been set up, lured out onto Hill 188 by the false promise of surrender, leaving them vulnerable to the surprise attack from the Germans. But Holmes returned only because his automatic rifle was out of commission. He refused to be taken t...[Read More]