{"articles":[{"id":"vn-njmm5","slug":"sailors-and-marines-advised-to-hide-military-ties-on-social-media-report-suspici","title":"Sailors and Marines advised to hide military ties on social media, report suspicious activity","excerpt":"The Acting Secretary of the Navy is advising sailors and Marines to “harden” their online profiles and hide ties to the military, as part of a wider call for Department of the Navy personnel to be...","content":"The Acting Secretary of the Navy is advising sailors and Marines to “harden” their online profiles and hide ties to the military, as part of a wider call for Department of the Navy personnel to be “vigilant” against adversaries.\n\nIn an Aug. 19 notice to members of the Department of the Navy, Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao said that hostile actors are carrying out a “coordinated, multi-domain campaign” that includes direct attacks, harassment operations, and the release of personal information. Cao cited an “evolving threat landscape” since the start of the Iran war in February.\n\n“Recent incidents across the globe demonstrate a clear growth in adversary tactics, techniques, and procedures,” the notice said. “These are not isolated events; they are part of a deliberate effort to gather intelligence, test our defenses, disrupt our operations, and intimidate our force.”\n\nAccording to the memo, the threats include aerial drones surveilling bases, direct attempts to attack bases, harassment campaigns at bases to probe responses and direct harassment of Navy and Marine Corps personnel and their families. As such, department members are advised to take “immediate action” and review social media accounts for any publicly available information and set profiles to private.\n\n“Remove any information that could identify your connection to the DON or reveal patterns of life,” the message says. “Adversaries are actively mining this data.”\n\nThe Aug. 19 notice also calls for sailors and Marines to report suspicious activity to Naval Criminal Investigative Service. That includes being photographed or surveilled, suspicious questioning and any drone sighting.\n\nThe message comes after nearly a year and a half of the war and during a lull in fighting, following escalations in July. Cao writes that the decision is “based on recent events,” according to the notice, but does not specify what they were. Cao’s predecessor, John Phelan, issued a similar notice in the spring, warning of cyber operations against Navy personnel, and recommended steps for digital security. Cao’s new message addresses other threats, but goes beyond the April advice by suggesting that people hide information linking them to the military.\n\nDigital security and surveillance have been a major and repeated concern for the military in the lead-up to and duration of the war. In December, U.S. Central Command directed troops to turn off geolocation services and review privacy on their devices. Since the war started, the military has put out new warnings and restrictions, as online photos and videos, as well as commercially available data, have been used by Iran to track and target Americans.\n\nEarlier this month, Sky News reported that publicly available data on the fitness app Strava revealed troops and contractors’ routes and habits. Those included sites in Bahrain and Jordan, which were targeted by Iran during the war, with sometimes fatal results. More than 750 troops have been wounded in action since Feb. 28 and 18 killed.","category":"service","author":"Nicholas Slayton","publishDate":"2026-08-22T21:36:02.000Z","image":"https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/98009711.jpg?quality=85&w=2048","source":"Task & Purpose","sourceUrl":"https://taskandpurpose.com/news/navy-marines-warning-personnel-bases/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":110,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-23T00:00:38.183Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-23T04:00:35.250Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-m42o0v","slug":"from-homelessness-to-housing-building-financial-stability","title":"From homelessness to housing: Building financial stability","excerpt":"Meaningful employment helps Veterans overcome homelessness or avoid it all together. For many Veterans experiencing homelessness, the path to housing stability starts with employment and a steady...","content":"Meaningful employment helps Veterans overcome homelessness or avoid it all together.\n\nFor many Veterans experiencing homelessness, the path to housing stability starts with employment and a steady source of income. Both meaningful employment and income maximization are powerful tools that help Veterans build financial stability. Whether through employment, earned benefits, education or other supports, increasing income can help Veterans secure housing, weather financial challenges and build a more stable future. Together, employment services and income maximization strategies create a strong financial foundation, helping Veterans not only exit homelessness, but sustain long-term housing stability.\n\nEmployment as a homelessness prevention strategy\n\nResearch consistently shows that income and housing stability are closely connected. When Veterans have access to quality employment opportunities, they are often better positioned to manage housing costs, address financial emergencies and build savings for the future.\n\nEmployment can also provide benefits beyond income. Work often strengthens social connections, builds confidence, fosters a sense of purpose and supports overall well-being. These factors can be especially important for Veterans who are rebuilding their lives after experiencing housing instability.\n\nEmployment also supports broader recovery by helping Veterans stay engaged in their communities, which can improve their mental health and reduce risks associated with social isolation, substance use and other challenges that can contribute to homelessness.\n\nAt the same time, employment alone is not always enough. Many Veterans experiencing homelessness are already working but still struggle to afford housing and other basic needs.\n\nThe Power of income maximization\n\nWhile employment is a powerful tool for increasing income, long-term housing stability often depends on maximizing every available source of financial support.\n\nThis approach is known as income maximization and the idea is simple: help Veterans experiencing homelessness access every source of income and support available to them so that they can build the strongest possible financial foundation.\n\nIncome maximization includes:\n\nSecuring employment or advancing in a current career.\n\nAccessing Veterans benefits and earned entitlements.\n\nConnecting with education and training opportunities that lead to higher-paying jobs.\n\nIncreasing work hours or earning professional certifications.\n\nIdentifying tax credits, financial assistance programs or other resources that can improve financial stability.\n\nBy increasing and sustaining income, these strategies help Veterans secure permanent housing more quickly and reduce the risk of returning to homelessness. When Veterans have reliable income and resources to address unexpected expenses, they are better positioned to maintain housing over time and focus on other recovery and life goals. The following programs and specialists are at the center of that effort.\n\nConnecting Veterans experiencing homelessness with employment opportunities\n\nHomeless Veteran Community Employment Services (HVCES) supports Veterans participating in VA homeless programs by connecting them with employment opportunities, workforce development resources, and career support services.\n\nThrough a network of more than 150 Vocational Development Specialists serving as Community Employment Coordinators (CECs) and Employment Specialists, HVCES works alongside housing, healthcare and supportive service programs across VA Medical Centers (VAMCs) nationwide to ensure Veterans have access to the tools they need to increase income and sustain housing over time.\n\nCECs also serve as a bridge to local employment opportunities and workforce resources, leveraging their knowledge of local labor markets to connect Veterans with jobs, training and career pathways in their communities. The results demonstrate the value of this work: In fiscal year 2025, there were 12,700 Veterans employed when they exited VA homeless programs and services.\n\nWhen Veterans have the resources to maximize their income and strengthen their financial footing, they are better positioned to secure housing, maintain stability and pursue their goals. VA’s investment in these services is already making a difference and helping more Veterans build lasting independence.\n\nLearn about VA programs\n\nIf you are a Veteran experiencing homelessness or at risk for homelessness or need to connect with a Veterans justice outreach specialist, call the National Call Center for Homeless Veterans at 877-424-3838.\n\nLearn more about how VA helps Veterans experiencing homelessness with more than just housing services.\n\nVisit the VA Homeless Programs website to learn about housing initiatives and other programs for Veterans exiting homelessness.\n\nGet involved with housing Veterans experiencing homelessness.","category":"transition","author":"Nikki Verbeck","publishDate":"2026-08-22T20:30:00.000Z","image":"https://news.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2026/08/1538_Stock-Photo_van1.webp","source":"VA News","sourceUrl":"https://news.va.gov/148884/homelessness-housing-build-financial-stability/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":85,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-23T00:00:36.958Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-23T04:00:35.250Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-ufiixj","slug":"more-than-750-us-troops-wounded-in-iran-war-nearly-half-since-july","title":"More than 750 US troops wounded in Iran war, nearly half since July","excerpt":"The number of U.S. troops wounded in the Iran war passed 750 this week, as the Department of Defense updated its casualty report.","content":"The number of U.S. troops wounded in the Iran war passed 750 this week, as the Department of Defense updated its casualty report. Nearly half of those were service members wounded since fighting restarted last month.\n\nThe Department of Defense’s casualty database was updated this week, showing dozens more troops wounded. The latest figure, as of Friday, Aug. 21, shows 341 service members listed as wounded in action since July 7. The casualty database lists those as part of “Overseas Operations”, a distinct category created last month separate from Operation Epic Fury, the initial military campaign launched at the end of February. Combined with data from Epic Fury, 758 troops have been wounded since Feb. 28.\n\nThe Pentagon created the new category last month, after fighting between the United States and Iran reignited. According to the Defense Department, Epic Fury ended July 7.\n\nThe overwhelming majority of those wounded are from the Army, with 310 soldiers listed as wounded in action. The Navy accounts for 21 and the Air Force the remaining 10.\n\nThe Pentagon’s data does not specify what type of injury troops incurred or when and where they happened. The database’s figures also do not mean those injuries happened the day of the update. Injuries such as traumatic brain injuries can take time to be discovered and diagnosed as well as logged in the official database. However, their placement in the Overseas Operations category suggests they were all within the last month and a half.\n\nDespite the June 17 memorandum of understanding, reached in Islamabad, calling for a ceasefire, fighting has continued in spurts. Iran has repeatedly targeted American positions around the Persian Gulf as well as in Jordan.\n\nIn addition to the wounded, 18 service members have died in the war, four of whom died since July 7. Three of those were soldiers killed in an Iranian strike on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan.\n\nThe updated figures come as the war remains at an impasse. The June deal called for a 60-day window to reach a peace deal. The deal expired on Aug. 17. Fighting restarted in early July following disputes over traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. Alongside days of airstrikes on Iranian sites, the U.S. also reimposed its blockade of the strait. Attacks stopped this month, although U.S. forces have fired on ships trying to break the blockade.","category":"service","author":"Nicholas Slayton","publishDate":"2026-08-22T19:39:51.000Z","image":"https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/9810768.jpg?quality=85&w=2048","source":"Task & Purpose","sourceUrl":"https://taskandpurpose.com/news/us-troops-more-than-750-wounded-iran/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":110,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-23T00:00:38.183Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-23T04:00:35.250Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-49b909","slug":"space-force-unveils-new-ceremonial-uniform","title":"Space Force unveils new ceremonial uniform","excerpt":"Seven years after it was established, Space Force has a new, original ceremonial dress uniform. Guardians in the Space Force Honor Guard will debut the new uniform publicly on Sunday, Aug.","content":"Seven years after it was established, Space Force has a new, original ceremonial dress uniform.\n\nGuardians in the Space Force Honor Guard will debut the new uniform publicly on Sunday, Aug. 23 at the Freedom 250 Grand Prix IndyCar event in Washington, D.C. For much of its early years, Space Force — including its honor guard — has used modified Air Force uniforms for its service members, as the force worked to establish itself and develop its own identity. Now it has a wholly distinct outfit for members of the honor guard.\n\nThe new uniform is built on the dress uniform that guardians wear, with dark gray pants and shirts and a dark blue coat with a diagonal closure and a hexagonal Space Force symbol. The ceremonial version adds a dark cap with Space Force’s delta insignia, white gloves and a lighter blue belt and rope over the left shoulder that stand out against the coat. It also includes a lighter-colored shirt than the Class A dress uniform.\n\nAccording to the service, Space Force has spent the last eight months finalizing the design, after releasing its guidance on the ceremonial uniform in January.\n\nThe new ceremonial uniform will help make the honor guard more distinct, according to members. “The public will now be able to immediately recognize us as Guardians,” Chief Master Sgt. Ross Koehler, senior enlisted leader for the USSF Honor Guard, said in Space Force’s announcement.\n\nThe honor guard, like other services’, is the main ceremonial element of Space Force, taking part in major events such as events in Washington, D.C. and the funeral for President Jimmy Carter.\n\nThe force is currently the smallest branch of the military, with only a few thousand active-duty members. Alongside growing its force and building out terrestrial and space infrastructure, Space Force has been working to create its own distinct identity as a military service. A major part of that has been new uniforms that are wholly its own.\n\nAt the end of 2025, new guardians graduating basic military training wore Space Force’s dress uniform for the first time. That uniform, like the ceremonial one, uses a darker blue than the Air Force’s dress. The Space Force dress uniform has been revised repeatedly over the last five years; one of the major changes was to the pants, which originally were quite baggy before being adjusted.","category":"service","author":"Nicholas Slayton","publishDate":"2026-08-22T16:27:19.000Z","image":"https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/9882436.jpg?quality=85&w=2048","source":"Task & Purpose","sourceUrl":"https://taskandpurpose.com/news/space-force-ceremonial-uniform/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":110,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-22T18:00:42.577Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-23T04:00:35.250Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-1p8n4c","slug":"the-loyal-lee-robert-e-lee-s-cousin-took-the-war-to-the-south-with-the-union-nav","title":"The Loyal Lee: Robert E. Lee’s cousin took the war to the South with the Union Navy","excerpt":"The Civil War challenged the loyalties of countless Americans across the nation, tearing apart families and destroying friendships.","content":"The Civil War challenged the loyalties of countless Americans across the nation, tearing apart families and destroying friendships. Far from the clear division between North and South that many subpar summaries of the Civil War project, the conflict forced some of the nation’s leading and rising military officers to choose sides based on competing loyalties, views on slavery and secession, political convictions, and their understanding of the obligations of federal service.\n\nThis was especially evident in the seceding Southern states, where officers in both the Army and Navy were forced to choose between the Confederacy and the Union. For some officers, such as future Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, this decision was a difficult one that required weeks of careful contemplation and self-reflection.\n\nFor other officers, such as Lee’s cousin, U.S. Navy officer Samuel Phillips Lee, there was little outward indication of the same hesitation.\n\nSouthern Unionism existed throughout the Confederacy during the Civil War. The opposition to secession was most evident in the Upper South, where Unionists organized regiments to oppose the Confederacy throughout the war. Samuel Lee was one of many senior officers in the Army and Navy whose place of birth or ancestral ties to seceding states did not weaken his commitment to the Union.\n\nA number of Southern officers honored their oath to the United States, and served with distinction, including native Virginian Generals Winfield Scott and George H. Thomas. Joining these notable military commanders were political leaders like Tennessee Senator and future Vice President Andrew Johnson.\n\nYet, in addition to facing Confederate fire on the battlefields and seas of the conflict, family pressure, and threats to property, these men encountered additional scrutiny from Northern-born officers who questioned their allegiances.\n\nDuring and in the years following the Civil War, loyal Southern officers were asked about their decision to stay with the Union. According to numerous sources, when Samuel Phillips Lee was asked about his decision to remain loyal to the Union during the Civil War, he responded, “When I find the word Virginia in my commission I will join the Confederacy.”\n\nEarly Life and Navy Beginnings\n\nBorn at Sully Plantation in Chantilly, Virginia, on Feb. 13, 1812, Samuel Phillips Lee was the son of Francis Lightfoot Lee II and his wife, Jane (née Fitzgerald). A grandson of Richard Henry Lee (famed statesman and signer of the Declaration of Independence) Samuel descended from a family prominent in Virginia politics, military affairs, and business.\n\nSamuel was a cousin of Robert E. Lee, sharing a great-great-grandfather, Richard Lee II.\n\nAt the age of 13, and aided by his family connections, Lee was appointed a midshipman in the U.S. Navy on November 22, 1825. This appointment was the start of a career that spanned nearly 50 years, numerous assignments, travel around the world, and two major conflicts.\n\nLee was promoted to lieutenant on Feb. 9, 1837. During his early naval career, he participated in the United States Exploring Expedition of 1838-1842, serving aboard several vessels during the ambitious scientific and surveying mission commonly known as the Wilkes Expedition.\n\nThe voyage carried American naval personnel around the globe and provided Lee with valuable experience in exploration, navigation, and surveying that would remain important throughout his career.\n\nIn the years following this promotion to lieutenant, Lee began a long and, at times, difficult courtship with Elizabeth Blair, the daughter of Francis Preston Blair and Eliza Violet Gist Blair. Francis was a respected advisor to multiple American presidents who rose to national prominence as a journalist and editor.\n\nThe couple’s path to marriage was complicated by Francis’ early opposition to the relationship and Lee’s lengthy periods at sea. Despite these challenges, the 31-year-old Lee married his 24-year-old bride on April 27, 1843. This union between the Blair and Lee families created a powerful political connection that would last for generations.\n\nTwo years after his marriage, Lee’s likeness was captured in a painting by prominent American artist Thomas Sully. In 1840, his wife Elizabeth had sat for the same artist. Both oil-on-canvas portraits remain part of the Blair House Collection in Washington, D.C.\n\nThe Mexican-American War\n\nFollowing years of deteriorating relations between the United States and Mexico, Congress declared war on May 13, 1846, after President James K. Polk asserted that Mexican forces had invaded American territory and attacked U.S. troops along the disputed Texas-Mexico border.\n\nAlthough highly controversial among political leaders and citizens, Americans answered the call for volunteers as U.S. forces advanced into Mexican-held territory.\n\nLee saw combat during the war and, according to some sources, was wounded during the conflict. He was present during the capture of Tabasco, Mexico, by American naval forces under Commodore Matthew C. Perry on June 16, 1847. Then-Lt. David D. Porter, who would become one of the U.S. Navy’s most prominent officers, also played a significant role in the operation, leading a landing party of sailors and Marines in an assault on Fort Iturbide along the Tabasco River.\n\nPerry’s victory resulted in the capture of San Juan Bautista, the last major Mexican port on the Gulf coast still in Mexican hands.\n\nSamuel’s cousin Robert also played a prominent role in the war, serving as an engineer and staff officer under Gen. Winfield Scott. His reconnaissance and engineering work contributed to the success of Scott’s campaign from Veracruz to Mexico City. The Mexican-American War concluded with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on Feb. 2, 1848.\n\nReturn to a Peacetime Navy\n\nA return to a peacetime posture in the Navy meant that, despite extensive service at sea, Lee would remain a lieutenant for nearly 18 years. Although advancement proved slow, he continued to make important contributions to naval exploration and scientific research.\n\nIn 1851, Lee commanded USS Dolphin on an important surveying and oceanographic mission. This surveying brig departed the New York Navy Yard and sailed throughout the North and South Atlantic. During the cruise, Lee and his crew conducted deep-sea soundings, studied ocean currents, and searched for shoals and other hazards reported by mariners while ranging from the waters off South America and Brazil to the Canary and Cape Verde Islands.\n\nThe expedition was conducted under the direction of noted U.S. Navy officer and oceanographer Matthew Fontaine Maury, a fellow Virginian whose pioneering research into winds and ocean currents helped establish him as one of the leading figures in early American oceanography.\n\nLee’s findings contributed valuable information to Maury’s continuing oceanographic research. Unlike Lee, Maury later resigned his U.S. Navy commission and sided with the Confederacy during the Civil War. Lee later documented the expedition in his 1854 publication, “The Cruise of the Dolphin.”\n\nSeven years after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, in 1855, Lee was finally promoted to commander. This relatively slow progression through the ranks, compared with more contemporary times, was due in large part to the small antebellum Navy, which relied heavily on seniority for highly coveted promotions.\n\nPeacetime service significantly limited career opportunities and advancement for experienced and decorated veterans like Lee. However, much like their military brethren in the Army, the looming Civil War and rapid expansion of Union forces would open the door for advancement in a Navy that was itself divided by the conflict.\n\nOn Aug. 9, 1857, the Lee family welcomed their first and only child, Francis Preston Blair Lee. Born in Maryland, he would call the state home for the rest of his life and later represent it in the U.S. Senate. This period of Lee’s life also marked a transition from sea service to shore duty for the new father.\n\nFrom 1858 to 1860, he served on the Navy’s Board of Examiners in Washington, D.C. In the nation’s capital, Lee’s father-in-law had a home built for the family. Lee House was completed in 1859 and stood immediately adjacent to Blair House, the home of Francis Preston Blair, just a short distance from the White House.\n\nToday, both buildings form part of the Blair House complex, officially known as the President’s Guest House.\n\nOn Nov. 1, 1860, Lee received command of the sloop-of-war USS Vandalia. With already heated debates over slavery and secession intensifying in the halls of government, Lee and his crew were ordered to the East Indies, but as Vandalia got underway, the crisis reached its breaking point with the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States on Nov. 6, followed by the secession of South Carolina on Dec. 20.\n\nLee learned of the country’s descent into Civil War while commanding Vandalia, then part of the East India Squadron. With many sources placing the ship off the Cape of Good Hope, Lee, without official orders, directed his ship to return to the United States. Following South Carolina and the fledgling Confederacy’s April 12 attack on Fort Sumter and Lincoln’s call for volunteers, Virginia threw its lot in with the seceding states days later.\n\nWith Virginia went Robert E. Lee, who resigned his commission in the U.S. Army on April 20 and accepted command of the state’s military forces on April 22.\n\nSamuel’s actions backed up his commitment to the oath he had taken upon receiving his commission in the Navy. This decision stood in stark contrast to Robert E. Lee and scores of other Southerners who resigned from the United States military to join the Confederacy.\n\nUpon returning to the United States, the 49-year-old went to work supporting Union blockade operations off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina, one of the central wartime objectives of the Union Navy.\n\nLee next commanded the screw sloop-of-war USS Oneida during Flag Officer David Glasgow Farragut’s 1862 New Orleans campaign. Oneida participated in operations against Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip, Confederate positions that guarded the Mississippi River approaches to New Orleans.\n\nFarragut, a Southern Unionist from Tennessee, led his fleet past the forts during the early morning hours of April 24. Lee and Oneida successfully passed the Confederate defenses and participated in the fierce fighting that opened the way to New Orleans.\n\nDuring the engagement, Oneida also came to the aid of USS Varuna, which suffered heavy damage after being rammed by Confederate vessels. Lee and his crew helped drive off the Confederate ram attacking Varuna before engaging CSS Governor Moore, which was ultimately destroyed in the fighting.\n\nThese actions added to the success of Farragut’s fleet as it fought its way through the Confederate defenses and continued toward New Orleans.\n\nThe capture of the Confederacy’s largest city and one of its most strategically important ports was a major victory for the Union. Farragut’s ships reached New Orleans on April 25, and on May 1, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler led approximately 5,000 Union troops into the city to begin its military occupation. New Orleans remained under Federal control for the rest of the war.\n\nFollowing the capture and occupation of New Orleans, Farragut’s naval forces continued up the Mississippi River. Lee and the crew of Oneida engaged in combat operations during the early Union campaign against the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg, a heavily fortified position perched on high bluffs along a hairpin turn of the river.\n\nDespite intense Union naval pressure on the “Gibraltar of the Confederacy,” the city would not fall to Union forces until July 4, 1863, when Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant accepted its surrender following a 47-day siege.\n\nCommander Lee was promoted to captain on July 16, 1862. Two months later, he received command of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and the wartime rank of acting rear admiral. The appointment represented a dramatic increase in responsibility for Lee, who had commanded a single warship during the New Orleans campaign only months earlier.\n\nHe was now responsible for a large and geographically dispersed naval force operating along the coasts and inland waters of Virginia and North Carolina. Lee’s squadron was charged not only with enforcing the Union blockade and intercepting blockade runners, but also with supporting Army operations, protecting Union positions, and conducting combat operations throughout the region’s rivers, sounds, and coastal waterways.\n\nThe squadron also maintained pressure on Wilmington, North Carolina, which emerged as one of the Confederacy’s most important blockade-running ports as the war progressed. He would remain in command of the squadron for more than two years.\n\nIn October 1864, Rear Adm. Lee was transferred to command the Mississippi Squadron, where he directed naval operations throughout much of the western river system, including the Mississippi, Cumberland, and Tennessee Rivers. He remained in command of the squadron until the war’s end.\n\nIn this capacity, Lee worked closely with Union Army commanders and played an important role during Confederate Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood’s Tennessee Campaign in late 1864. As Hood’s army advanced toward Nashville, Lee’s vessels helped keep the strategically vital Cumberland River open to Union traffic, protecting transports and maintaining the flow of supplies, reinforcements, and communications to the forces of Union Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas, a fellow Virginian.\n\nHis squadron also worked to counter Confederate efforts to disrupt navigation and interfere with Union movements along the Cumberland. Lee’s naval support continued through the decisive Battle of Nashville in December 1864, when Thomas’s forces defeated Hood’s Army of Tennessee. Thomas later thanked his fellow Southern Unionist for the squadron’s cooperation with ground forces under his command.\n\nFollowing the Civil War, Lee reverted to his permanent rank of captain in the Navy. Between 1866 and 1867, he served in Washington, D.C., as president of a board of officers examining volunteer naval officers for admission into the Regular Navy. Promoted to commodore in 1866, Lee continued to hold a series of senior assignments in and around the nation’s capital.\n\nOn April 22, 1870, Lee was promoted to the permanent rank of rear admiral. He commanded the North Atlantic Squadron from 1870 to 1872 before retiring from the Navy in February 1873.\n\nRetirement and Death\n\nLee spent his remaining years splitting time between Washington, D.C. and his father-in-law’s country estate in Silver Spring, Maryland. There, he spent much of his retired life managing the day-to-day activities of the farm. He died at the Silver Spring estate in June 1897 following a stroke.\n\nNewspaper obituary headlines remembered the famed admiral as the “Last of His Class” and the “Last of the Admirals Who Commanded Great Squadrons During the Civil War.”\n\nIn a particularly ironic twist, Lee was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, the former home of his cousin Robert E. Lee and Robert’s wife, Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee. The federal government acquired the Arlington estate through a tax sale in 1864, and its grounds became a burial place for Union soldiers during the Civil War.\n\nRobert E. Lee’s eldest son, George Washington Custis Lee, successfully challenged the seizure after the war, regaining legal title before selling the estate to the federal government in 1883. Arlington subsequently remained one of the nation’s most important burial grounds for military veterans and government officials.\n\nLegacy and Namesakes\n\nLee’s legacy was preserved in two U.S. Navy vessels named in his honor. USS S. P. Lee (DD-310), a Clemson-class destroyer commissioned in October 1920, was lost by stranding during the Honda Point disaster on September 8, 1923, the largest peacetime loss of U.S. Navy ships in American history.\n\nA particularly appropriate second namesake, USNS S. P. Lee (T-AGS-31, later T-AG-192), was a hydrographic survey and oceanographic research ship that entered naval service in 1968 and remained in service until 1974. The vessel was later operated by the University of Hawaii as R/V Samuel P. Lee before being returned to the Navy in 1992. It was subsequently sold to the Mexican government and transferred to the Mexican Navy, where it was renamed Antares.\n\nDon’t Miss the Best of We Are The Mighty\n\n• The Civil War created the modern American funeral industry\n• 5 reasons why John Bell Hood was the worst Civil War general\n• The Civil War started and ended at the same guy’s house\n\nThe Loyal Lee: Robert E. Lee’s cousin took the war to the South with the Union Navy\n\nThe Civil War started and ended at the same guy’s house\n\nThe vital role that the US Army played in the establishment of Juneteenth\n\nHow the Vermont National Guard scored the first major victory against the British\n\nHow the Marine Corps fought the Civil War","category":"service","author":"Matt Ward","publishDate":"2026-08-22T15:00:00.000Z","image":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/samuel-phillips-lee-civil-war.webp?quality=85","source":"We Are The Mighty","sourceUrl":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/history/samuel-phillips-lee-union-navy/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":100,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-22T18:00:43.726Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-23T04:00:35.250Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-fdei0w","slug":"military-divorce-is-another-unspoken-cost-of-service","title":"Military divorce is another unspoken cost of service","excerpt":"Nothing brings me to feel-good, ugly tears like a “welcome home” ceremony. In fact, fellow Americans share in this sentiment. We eat it up.","content":"Nothing brings me to feel-good, ugly tears like a “welcome home” ceremony. In fact, fellow Americans share in this sentiment. We eat it up. There are countless reels that capture surprised and ecstatic military families when they spot their service member for the first time after a long deployment, whether it be a surprise or orchestrated.\n\nThe strength, stamina, courage, and sacrifice of military families is unmatched and is precisely why military divorce is such a travesty. Seemingly, divorce can become just another casualty of military service.\n\nYet, it needs and deserves a massive amount of awareness and attention.\n\nThe wedge can begin with another anniversary, death of a loved one, or family milestone missed because duty called. Another birthday celebrated through a screen or worse, heartache managed through separation. A PCS that forces a military spouse to abandon a career they worked years to build, and grieve the friendships and community they built in the absence of their service member. The compilation of “just one more” life event that the couple has to navigate in the absence of their partner.\n\nThe reality is that deployments, TDYs, and geographical separations rely on the fact that one parent becomes both mother and father overnight. Another promotion or bump in rank brings greater responsibility, but translates less time for family connection and togetherness.\n\nMilitary divorce is rarely the result of a single event, but is the cumulative weight of years spent carrying burdens that few civilian families fully comprehend.\n\nWhat Stats Can’t Measure\n\nStatistics can’t capture what it feels like to become strangers or live like roommates while sharing the same home, managing everyday life, and especially throwing children in the mix.\n\nNumbers can’t measure the loneliness of raising children through multiple deployments while being attentive to everyone else’s needs all the while feeling inadequate, sad, tired or exhausted. No data exists out there that can account for the number of times spouses have to restart a career over and over again, constantly having to prove themselves because of moves.\n\nIt is impossible to tally up the emotional distance that sometimes follows years of combat, operational stress, or leadership responsibilities. Military culture teaches and expects resilience, self-sacrifice, and mission-first thinking from all family member.\n\nWhile mission-first thinking is essential to national defense, military marriages can unintentionally spill into family life if the couple negates their commitment to one another. The mission can begin to receive more attention than the marriage or family.\n\nThis is when the sanctity of marriage becomes volatile and every effort needs to be made to preserve the family unit by both partners. Not one, because it will never work.\n\nDivorce Is Not the Whole Story\n\nDespite the challenges, thousands of military marriages remain healthy, resilient, and deeply fulfilling.\n\nSuccessful military couples often share common characteristics:\n\n• They communicate open and honestly, even when conversations are difficult.\n• They seek counseling before problems become crises.\n• They protect time for one another despite demanding schedules.\n• They recognize that both partners are serving in different ways.\n• They adapt together rather than expect one spouse to carry the entire burden.\n\nThe must-have characteristic for a lasting marriage is that both people put in the same amount of work. Always.\n\nStrong military marriages aren’t lucky or happenstance. Healthy military marriages are built together by both partners in the relationship. Military marriages work because two people continually choose each other in the midst of extraordinary circumstances where love and commitment is without condition.\n\nSupporting the Family Supports the Force\n\nEvery military divorce affects more than just two adults. Children navigate changing homes and schools. Units lose focus when service members are under intense personal stress. If we truly value military readiness, we must also value relationship readiness.\n\nThat means investing in accessible counseling, supporting spouse employment, strengthening community connections, expanding education about healthy relationships, and encouraging leaders to recognize that family readiness is inseparable from mission readiness.\n\nMilitary spouses have long carried an invisible rucksack filled with sacrifice, loneliness, uncertainty, longing, and resilience. It’s high time we also acknowledge the weight of protecting our marriages while serving a nation.\n\nEvery strong military marriage and family is a story worth telling.\n\nDon’t Miss the Best of We Are The Mighty\n\n• 5 key differences between Delta Force and SEAL Team 6 \n• The difference between Special Forces and special operations\n• Harriet Tubman was America’s first unconventional warfare commander\n\nMighty MilSpouse\n\nMilitary divorce is another unspoken cost of service\n\nBy Sara Jane Ginn\n\nTheir daughter was in hospice. His orders came anyway.\n\nMighty MilSpouse\n\nThe 5 biggest life skills you’ll learn as a military spouse\n\nMighty MilSpouse\n\nMy spouse is deployed aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. This is what’s really happening\n\nMighty MilSpouse\n\nMilitary parents call their kids brats—and it’s a badge of honor","category":"family","author":"Sara Jane Ginn","publishDate":"2026-08-22T15:00:00.000Z","image":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/military-divorce-illustration-DHA.webp?quality=85","source":"We Are The Mighty","sourceUrl":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-milspouse/military-divorce-is-another-unspoken-cost-of-service/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":100,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-22T18:00:43.726Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-23T04:00:36.034Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-9pc668","slug":"what-you-need-to-know-about-tricare-open-enrollment","title":"What You Need to Know About Tricare Open Enrollment","excerpt":"Tricare open enrollment, also known as Tricare open season, runs each year from mid-November through mid-December. For 2026, those dates are Nov. 9 to Dec. 8.","content":"Tricare open enrollment, also known as Tricare open season, runs each year from mid-November through mid-December. For 2026, those dates are Nov. 9 to Dec. 8.","category":"benefits","author":"Amanda Miller","publishDate":"2026-08-21T20:39:27.000Z","image":"https://static0.mltimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2025-09/military%20DHA%20chief%201800%20x%201200.jpg","source":"Military.com - Benefits","sourceUrl":"https://www.military.com/benefits/tricare/tricare-open-enrollment.html","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":70,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-22T00:00:36.231Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-22T04:00:34.261Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-olv5fd","slug":"enjoy-a-better-future-as-a-va-gastroenterologist","title":"Enjoy a better future as a VA gastroenterologist","excerpt":"The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has always been at the forefront of advancements in medical care. For specialty physicians like gastroenterologists, that means an opportunity to work at the...","content":"The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has always been at the forefront of advancements in medical care. For specialty physicians like gastroenterologists, that means an opportunity to work at the cutting edge of patient care, all while earning amazing benefits.\n\nEmbracing the future of healthcare\n\nAt VA, our commitment to caring for Veterans has always pushed us to implement new treatments and procedures that have later been adopted in healthcare systems the world over.\n\nWith the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), VA supported our National Colorectal Cancer Screening Program (NCSP) by deploying AI-assisted devices to assist with colonoscopy in dozens of facilities. In turn, our gastroenterologists have embraced this technology to conduct more precise and consistent exams.\n\n“I think the push was to see if it had an impact on the quality of procedures and the quality of outcomes for patients,” said Dr. Douglas Boyce, a gastroenterologist in the Ashville VA Healthcare System. “It really comes down to whether you can prevent cancer and provide good care. In many ways, VA was ahead of the curve in getting it implemented.”\n\nCoupled with our research and development, investments in new technologies like this are part of what makes VA an innovating and exciting place to work for physicians, including gastroenterologists.\n\nFinding new ways to heal\n\nDid you know that VA pioneered significant research in the field of gastroenterology?\n\nIn 1955, Dr. Morton I. Grossman became chief of gastroenterology at the Greater Los Angeles VA Medical Center. Grossman is considered the father of modern gastrointestinal physiology and studied how nerves and hormonal influences control gastrointestinal reactions.\n\nDr. Rosalyn S. Yalow, a Nobel laureate, devoted much of her research work to the study of gastrointestinal hormones, which are provided by an endocrine gland and transmitted by the blood to the tissue on which they have a specific effect.\n\nDr. Andrew V. Schally, another of VA’s Nobel laureates, also studied gastrointestinal hormones. Schally demonstrated that the hypothalamus, a part of the brain located just above the pituitary gland, regulated the endocrine system.\n\nFor physicians like you—experts in your field—knowing that we support and encourage research like this provides an opportunity to make a significant difference in the lives of Veterans, as well as patients the world over.\n\nThat’s because, at VA, we know healthcare isn’t just about treating ailments, but also about finding new ways to contribute to whole health.\n\nBenefits that matter to you\n\nNo matter the role you choose—whether that is direct patient care or research or some combination of the two—our employment benefits don’t change, because what’s important to you is important to us.\n\nIf time is your most valuable commodity, we’ll make sure you have plenty of it, with 13-26 days paid leave, as well as 13 sick days annually, 11 paid federal holidays each year, and 12 weeks of paid parental leave.\n\nWhen it comes to caring for yourself and your family, we offer the choice of a variety of health plans, and all cover preexisting conditions. Additionally, we pay up to 75% of health premiums, a benefit that can continue into retirement, making our insurance some of the best you’ll find.\n\nWhen the time comes to retire, your finances will be secure. VA employees have access to the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), which allows you to tax-defer a portion of your income each year, similar to a 401(k).\n\nAnd for the Veterans who choose to join our ranks, all those benefits are in addition to any you earned if you served in the military. As a VA employee, you can choose to carry over eligible military service time that can be added to your total years of service for retirement purposes.\n\nJoin our team\n\nBuild a career as a gastroenterologist by working on the cutting edge of health care, and reap the rewards of serving those who have served in the process. Explore all that VA has to offer physicians at VA Careers.","category":"health","author":"Michelle Weaver","publishDate":"2026-08-21T20:30:00.000Z","image":"https://news.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2026/08/gastroenterology-header.webp","source":"VA News","sourceUrl":"https://news.va.gov/148769/enjoy-better-future-va-gastroenterologist/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":85,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-22T00:00:34.189Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-22T04:00:34.261Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-8cjjq3","slug":"behind-the-1-million-viral-moment-the-life-of-navy-veteran-and-beast-games-stand","title":"Behind the $1 million viral moment: The life of Navy veteran and ‘Beast Games’ standout","excerpt":"Harrison Schoen spent three months on the USS New Orleans staring at the ocean, watching for anyone who might fall overboard, when he decided his life needed to change.","content":"Harrison Schoen spent three months on the USS New Orleans staring at the ocean, watching for anyone who might fall overboard, when he decided his life needed to change. That decision eventually led him to a spotlight moment on national television, where he turned down $1 million rather than betray 60 strangers who had trusted him with the choice.\n\nEnlisting in January 2016, Schoen served four years as a logistics specialist aboard the USS New Orleans and the USS Theodore Roosevelt before separating in January 2020.\n\nIt was during a deployment on the New Orleans, however, standing lookout watch for hours at a time, that the shift in mindset began.\n\n“Those three months of staring at the ocean, aside from my normal job during the day, I just realized how much time was passing by and how much I really need to get on actually living my life and creating something and moving forward in a positive direction,” Schoen said.\n\nAfter the Navy, Schoen used his VA home loan benefit to buy a house in San Diego, then cycled through side hustles: vinyl wrapping, Airbnb hosting, flipping cars on Turo. None of it stuck long-term. By 2021, he had sold nearly everything he owned and moved into an SUV, becoming part of a growing community of veterans who had swapped traditional housing for life on the road.\n\nFor two and a half years, he lived out of a Porsche Cayenne, documenting his nomadic lifestyle on social media, before purchasing a 1985 Mercedes-Benz Unimog in 2023. While the previous owner had spent nearly two decades restoring it, the truck blew its engine an hour into the drive home.\n\nSince getting it back on the road that November, Schoen has lived in it full time while continuing to renovate it, sinking close to $300,000 into the build.\n\n“I’ve spent almost $300,000 entirely on this truck, both purchasing the truck and during ownership,” Schoen said. “It was taking so much of my free time doing all of these things as well.”\n\nThat lifestyle, and his Navy background, is what caught the attention of casting directors for the first season of “Beast Games,” the Amazon Prime Video competition series hosted by American YouTuber and media personality MrBeast, aka Jimmy Donaldson.\n\nThe 2024 series, inspired by Netflix’s dystopian hit “Squid Game,” features 1,000 contestants as they compete for $5 million.\n\nSchoen made it deep into the show’s first season and was chosen by 60 fellow contestants to serve as their team captain during a high-stakes challenge, largely because of the steady, low-key demeanor he had shown throughout the competition.\n\n“People were able to kind of see safety in that, even though I told all 60 of these people that I live in a car,” Schoen said.\n\nAs team captain, Schoen was offered a counter that climbed toward $1 million, his alone to take if he pressed a button in front of him to eliminate his entire team from the competition. He didn’t take it.\n\n“It wasn’t even a thought in my head that I would accept the money,” he said.\n\nHe was eliminated the following episode after a game of chance, declining an offer of immunity from two fellow contestants beforehand.\n\nSchoen credits his service for the instincts that carried him through the show and the years of nomadic living that came before it.\n\n“The military has allowed me to just move freely throughout the world, with the understanding of how to be safe with things, of how to only have a few important belongings, because that’s what you can carry,” he said. “And just the confidence to take care of yourself in whatever situations arise.”\n\nHe’s quick to note that the transition wasn’t seamless. “One of the hardest things to overcome that the military instills is moving from being told what to do, when to do it, every day for years, to having complete freedom,” Schoen said. “Nobody’s coming to save me, nobody’s going to tell me how to succeed in what I’m doing. It’s all on you.”\n\nNow approaching 30, Schoen said he’s ready to trade constant motion for something steadier, even as he plans one more long ride: a motorcycle trip down the Pan-American Highway toward Argentina.\n\n“I want to focus in the near future on building a life that someone can be a part of,” Schoen said. “I mostly want a place that I can call home.”","category":"service","author":"Clay Beyersdorfer","publishDate":"2026-08-21T19:56:34.000Z","image":"https://cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/archetype/ARSTBHCLS5GK5O5DYKKI5JPZRQ.jpg","source":"Military Times - Veterans","sourceUrl":"https://www.militarytimes.com/veterans/2026/08/21/behind-the-1-million-viral-moment-the-life-of-navy-veteran-and-beast-games-standout/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":110,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-22T00:00:33.681Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-22T04:00:34.261Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-1ugs61","slug":"reservists-guardsmen-learn-about-your-va-benefits-from-online-course","title":"Reservists, Guardsmen, learn about your VA benefits from online course","excerpt":"If you serve or have served in the reserve or National Guard, you already know that eligibility rules for VA benefits are different than those who served on active duty.","content":"If you serve or have served in the reserve or National Guard, you already know that eligibility rules for VA benefits are different than those who served on active duty. But what are those eligibility rules?\n\nVA developed the “Reserve and National Guard (RNG) Military Life Cycle (MLC) module,” an online course, to explain VA benefits to those serving in the reserve and in the National Guard.\n\nThe RNG MLC module is part of the VA Transition Assistance Program, but it isn’t just for people who are separating. It’s designed for reserve component and National Guard members and their families at every part of the service stage, whether you’re currently drilling, activating, deploying, returning home or planning for the future. Because the module is online, you can access it at a time that works for you.\n\nWhat you’ll learn in the RNC MLC Module\n\nThe RNG MLC module focuses on four key areas:\n\nEligibility requirements for VA benefits and services: You’ll get a clear explanation of how your activation history, length of service and character of discharge impact your eligibility for benefits.\n\nVA benefits, services and tools: From disability compensation and VA healthcare to G.I. Bill™ programs, home loans and career resources, this module helps you understand what’s out there and how to use it.\n\nDual payment rules: Learn to navigate the process of receiving VA disability compensation while balancing other forms of military pay, ensuring compliance with regulations.\n\nCommunity resources: Learn to find VA-verified local and national resources that can enhance your well-being and strengthen your support networks.\n\nThere are approximately 1.2 million reserve component members and nearly 1 million reserve service family members. Whether you’re a reserve component member seeking clarity on your benefits or a family member looking to support your loved one, the RNG MLC module provides the tools to succeed.\n\nVisit the TAP Course Catalog to locate the RNG MLC module and register today.","category":"benefits","author":"briannogues","publishDate":"2026-08-21T18:30:00.000Z","image":"https://news.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2026/08/army-reserve.webp","source":"VA News","sourceUrl":"https://news.va.gov/148947/reservists-guardsmen-va-benefits-online-course/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":85,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-22T00:00:34.189Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-22T04:00:34.261Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-ozim36","slug":"how-a-navy-aircraft-carrier-ended-up-short-on-food-in-a-war-zone","title":"How a Navy aircraft carrier ended up short on food in a war zone","excerpt":"Reports of food shortages and other serious issues on a major U.S. aircraft carrier have shocked many in the public, even as the Pentagon has rushed to insist sailors on the USS Abraham Lincoln are...","content":"Reports of food shortages and other serious issues on a major U.S. aircraft carrier have shocked many in the public, even as the Pentagon has rushed to insist sailors on the USS Abraham Lincoln are well-supplied.\n\nBut for the Navy, the situation aboard the Lincoln is larger than just one ship and underscores the strain that attacks on logistics hubs can place on a fleet when supply chains are interrupted.\n\nIranian missile and drone attacks on a major U.S. base in Bahrain and a port in the United Arab Emirates have forced the Navy to bring supplies for warships like the Lincoln from locations such as Diego Garcia and Singapore, trips that can force resupply ships to sail more than 4,000 miles.\n\nDefense officials have mostly avoided discussing the impact of the Bahrain and UAE closures on Navy ships engaged in combat with Iran, but several naval experts told Task & Purpose that any struggles with the food and supplies at sea likely trace to the closed ports.\n\nLonger supply lines, delayed deliveries\n\nFor years, the U.S. military has been able to resupply its ships operating in the Middle East from ports and stockpiles within the Persian Gulf, said retired Navy Capt. Bradley Martin, a senior policy researcher with the RAND Corporation.\n\n“We’ve of course known for a long time that these ports and routes inside the Persian Gulf might be vulnerable, but it’s a vulnerability we chose to accept,” Martin told Task & Purpose.\n\nTop Stories This Week\n\nSpecial ops commander relieved, another reassigned at Air National Guard Wing\n\nBy Matt White, Nicholas Slayton\n\nArmy unit offers soldiers time off to play new ‘Grand Theft Auto’ if they reenlist\n\nHead of Central Command visits USS Abraham Lincoln amid quality of life concerns\n\nThe Iran war has threatened these hubs and severely curtailed the U.S. military’s ability to move supply ships through the Strait of Hormuz, Martin said. The New York Times first reported on resupply problems caused by heavy damage to the U.S. base in Bahrain from Iranian drone and missile attacks.\n\n“Thus, resupply had to come from ports outside the Gulf – Diego Garcia and even as far as Singapore or through the Suez Canal – which of course meant that deliveries were bound to be delayed,” Martin said. “The distance problems were likely exacerbated by insufficient numbers of combat logistics force ships and the need for combatants supporting operations to move and reposition.”\n\nShips can also be resupplied in ports, but the Lincoln has been at sea for more than 240 consecutive days, setting a new record during its deployment.\n\nGetting food aboard ships\n\nAircraft carriers at sea typically need to be resupplied every three to six days, depending on the pace of operations, said Stephen Wills, a navalist with the Center for Maritime Strategy, a non-profit think tank and research institution in Arlington, Virginia.\n\nThe longer resupply routes that have resulted from the Iran War could affect deliveries of perishable items to U.S. military ships in the Middle East, Wills told Task & Purpose.\n\n“Generally, your aircraft carrier is pretty well loaded out with what I call dry goods stuff, like macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, various frozen and other proteins,” Wills said. “So they’ve got food, but the problem sometimes is there are interruptions in the flow of fresh fruit and vegetables, and more fresher foods that you expect to see too.”\n\nCarriers are also supplied by air, but there are limits to how much cargo each aircraft can bring aboard, said retired Navy Capt. Brent Sadler, of the Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington, D.C.\n\nAnother issue is how far an aircraft carrier is from the coast, Sadler told Task & Purpose. The farther away from land the ship is, the fewer aircraft can resupply it per day. But getting closer to shore in a combat zone puts U.S. troops within range of enemy weapons.\n\nThe Lincoln, which is being replaced this month by the USS George Washington, has taken part in U.S. military operations against Iran and a blockade against Iranian ports since the start of the war. USA Today first reported in April about issues with the quantity and quality of food available to the Lincoln’s crew. Families of sailors and Marines assigned to the carrier recently told MS Now that their loved ones had food shortages aboard the ship.\n\nDefense officials have disputed such reports. Adm. Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, even took the step of penning an Aug. 16 commentary for the Wall Street Journal about his recent visit to the ship that, “Issues related to food, hot water and other concerns raised months ago were addressed by leadership and resolved,” he wrote without elaboration on what those concerns were or their solutions.\n\nIn the case of the Lincoln, Salder said he believes the food issues aboard the ship stabilized in about two weeks, which is how much time it takes to move supplies from Japan and Singapore to the Middle East. He added that the Navy’s efforts to adjust its supply lines provide a preview of what a conflict in the Pacific region might look like.\n\n“If there’s going to be a war in East Asia, it’s going to happen like what just happened with Iran,” Sadler said. “It’s going to happen quick. We’re going to have to adapt. We’re going to have to have supply chains already in place that we can fall back on.”\n\nConditions ‘not exaggerated’\n\nWhen asked about the issues that experts raised about the reported food shortages aboard the Lincoln, the Navy referred Task & Purpose to Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao’s Aug. 14 statement, which reads in part: “Meal plans were adjusted when fresh resupply was unavailable, without a single meal being missed”.\n\nBut the mother of a sailor currently serving aboard the Lincoln said that several of the crew’s families are coming forward with stories about problems their loved ones are facing.\n\n“Whenever you have this many families saying the same exact thing, you probably need to start listening to the families,” said the mother, who spoke to Task & Purpose on condition of anonymity.\n\nShe said her son told her in March that food available to the ship’s crew was limited, but the situation had improved since then.\n\n“So, I think the food issues have resolved once the food issues became national news,” she said.\n\nStill, she said she is concerned about her son, who has told her that the Lincoln’s long deployment has sapped the crew’s morale. He also told her that one of the ship’s sailors had tried to jump overboard but was stopped, and another crew member was rescued after jumping into the water.\n\nShe also took issue with U.S. government officials’ comments downplaying the difficulties facing the Lincoln’s crew.\n\n“The sailors aren’t the ones complaining,” she said. “They’re still doing their job. They are still proud to serve our country. I know my son is. He’s still a proud American. He loves his country. He does what the mission calls for, but it’s not exaggerated.”","category":"service","author":"Jeff Schogol","publishDate":"2026-08-21T17:30:56.000Z","image":"https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/7802682-copy.jpg?quality=85","source":"Task & Purpose","sourceUrl":"https://taskandpurpose.com/news/navy-carrier-lincoln-food/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":110,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-21T18:00:45.621Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-22T04:00:34.261Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-hl6ky5","slug":"the-fight-to-recognize-doris-miller-s-valor-at-pearl-harbor","title":"The fight to recognize Doris Miller’s valor at Pearl Harbor","excerpt":"A U.S. Navy messman, Doris “Dorie” Miller, was a Black 22-year-old sharecropper’s son from Waco, Texas. Because of his rating, he was restricted from handling any weapons.","content":"A U.S. Navy messman, Doris “Dorie” Miller, was a Black 22-year-old sharecropper’s son from Waco, Texas. Because of his rating, he was restricted from handling any weapons. His duties included serving the officers’ mess, collecting laundry, and shining shoes. Despite the institutional racism built into the Navy at the time, Miller found success as the boxing champion of his ship, the battleship USS West Virginia.\n\nThat didn’t change the fact that he was Black, and as a result, he was segregated from his white shipmates in both his duties and berthing. But Miller and the Navy would soon learn that hostile fire doesn’t discriminate.\n\nOn Dec. 7, 1941, Miller woke at 0600 to serve the breakfast mess. He then proceeded to collect laundry. At 0757, a torpedo dropped by Lt. Cdr. Shigeharu Murata of the Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi struck the West Virginia. It was the first of nine that would eventually sink the mighty battleship.\n\nGeneral Quarters was sounded and Miller made his way to his battle station, an anti-aircraft battery magazine located amidships. Upon finding the position destroyed, Miller proceeded to “Times Square,” a central location where the fore-to-aft and port-to-starboard passageways crossed, to report himself available for other duty.\n\nThe COMMO, Lt. Cmdr. Doir Johnson, recognized Miller’s powerful boxer build and ordered Miller to accompany him to the bridge to help him move the ship’s skipper, Capt. Mervyn Bennion, who had taken a piece of shrapnel to the abdomen. They moved him to a sheltered spot behind the conning tower. Bennion refused to abandon his post and continued to fight the ship, issuing orders and receiving reports from his officers.\n\nAfter moving the captain, Miller was ordered to accompany Lt. Frederic White and Ens. Victor Delano to load the number 1 and 2 M2 .50-caliber anti-aircraft machine guns (which sat unmanned) aft of the conning tower. Since he had no training on the weapon system, White and Delano instructed Miller on how to load and man the guns.\n\nExpecting Miller to feed ammunition to the gun, Delano was surprised to turn around and see Miller firing one of the guns. White loaded ammunition into the guns and Miller continued to fire until the ammunition was expended. Miller’s actions with the captain and the machine gun have become well-known thanks to their depiction in Hollywood films; most notably, “Pearl Harbor: where Miller was portrayed by Cuba Gooding Jr.\n\nWhat is less known are Miller’s actions after he ran out of ammo. Lieutenant Claude Ricketts ordered Miller to help him carry the captain, then only semi-conscious and bleeding heavily, up to the navigation bridge and out of the thick oily smoke that had begun to engulf the ship. Captain Bennion succumbed to his wounds and died soon afterwards.\n\nFor his actions, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. Miller proceeded to pull injured sailors out of the burning mix of oil and water and was one of the last men to abandon West Virginia as she sank. He continued to rescue his fellow sailors from the water and move them to safety as the attack continued and after it finally ended.\n\nWhile it’s unfortunate that Miller’s actions after his gun ran out of ammo are lesser known, it’s tragic that Miller’s actions during the attack initially went unrecognized. An official Navy commendation list of outstanding actions during the attack did not bear Miller’s name and only listed “an unknown Negro sailor.”\n\nThe Pittsburgh Courier, one of the leading Black newspapers at the time, didn’t think this was enough.\n\n“It made two lines in the newspaper,” said Frank Bolden, war correspondent for the Courier, in an interview before his death in 2003. “The Courier thought he should be recognized and honored. We sent not a reporter, we sent our executive editor to the naval department. They said, ‘We don’t know the name of the messman. There are so many of them.'”\n\nThe Navy’s apathy didn’t deter the Courier.\n\nHoping to undermine the stereotype that African-Americans couldn’t perform well in combat, the Courier was determined to identify the unnamed Black sailor and properly recognize him for his actions.\n\n“The publisher of the paper said, ‘Keep after it’,” Bolden said. “We spent $7,000 working to find out who Dorie Miller was. And we made Dorie Miller a hero.”\n\nAfter Miller was identified, the African-American community swelled with pride. Amidst the shock and sorrow that gripped the country following Pearl Harbor, they had a war hero that represented them. Initially, however, the Navy only awarded Miller a letter of commendation. It took a campaign by the Black press and a proposal from Adm. Chester Nimitz, Commander of the Pacific fleet, to President Roosevelt for the commendation to be upgraded to the Navy Cross, the third highest honor for valor at the time.\n\nMiller continued to serve in the fleet aboard the USS Indianapolis and was promoted to Messman First Class in June 1942. Later that month, the Courier started a campaign for him to return home for a war bond tour alongside white war heroes.\n\nAs part of the campaign, the paper published a photo of Miller next to a photo of a Sgt. Joseph Lockard receiving an officer’s commission for sounding a warning that went unheeded before the attack on Pearl Harbor. The photos were captioned, “He Warned… Gets Commission. He Fought… Keeps Mop,” highlighting the disparity in the treatment of white and colored servicemen.\n\nThe campaign succeeded and Miller returned to Pearl Harbor in November. He went on a war bond tour that included Oakland, Dallas, and his hometown of Waco until he reported to Puget Sound in May 1943.\n\nHe was advanced to Cook First Class on June 1 and reported to the escort carrier Liscome Bay. That year, Miller was featured on a Navy recruiting poster called “Above and beyond the call of duty.”\n\nAt the Battle of Makin, the Liscome Bay was sunk by a Japanese submarine on Nov. 24, 1943. Miller and two-thirds of the crew were listed as presumed dead. His body was never recovered.\n\nSince his death, Miller has had schools, streets, community centers, and a foundation named after him. A memorial in his hometown of Waco, Texas features a nine-foot bronze statue of Miller. While the Navy named a Knox-class frigate after him, the remainder of Miller’s naval dedications are quarters, galleys, and a housing community—until now.\n\nOn Jan. 19, 2020, the Navy announced that CVN-81, a future Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier, would be named the USS Doris Miller. The Doris Miller was to be laid down January 2026, launched October 2029, and commissioned in 2030.\n\nShe will be the first supercarrier to be named for an enlisted sailor and the first to be named after an African American.\n\nThe fight to honor Miller continues, however. Since the Navy announced that a carrier would bear his name, efforts to upgrade Miller’s Navy Cross to a Medal of Honor have been renewed. There are even rumors the Navy is considering scrapping the name altogether to rename the ship for President Trump.\n\nThe man who was told he could not handle a weapon but still defended his ship and rescued his shipmates should have his name on one of the Navy’s—the world’s—mightiest vessels. Doris Miller will be listed alongside names like Gerald R. Ford and John F. Kennedy. If he is posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, it will mark the final victory in the fight to properly recognize Miller for his courage, valor, and dedication to duty.\n\nDon’t Miss the Best of We Are The Mighty\n\n• A National Guard unit saw the most combat during World War II\n• The new Jimmy Stewart biopic depicts his World War II service\n• How Paul Newman survived 2 close calls in the Navy during World War II\n\nWorld War II\n\nThe fight to recognize Doris Miller’s valor at Pearl Harbor\n\nThe weird engineering that links old ships of the line and the SR-71 Blackbird\n\nWorld War II\n\nA National Guard unit saw the most combat during World War II\n\nWhy 11.5 is the best AR barrel length for most shooters\n\nThe Civil War started and ended at the same guy’s house","category":"legacy","author":"Miguel Ortiz","publishDate":"2026-08-21T17:13:09.000Z","image":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/doris-miller-navy-pearl-harbor.webp?quality=85","source":"We Are The Mighty","sourceUrl":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-trending/doris-miller-valor-pearl-harbor/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":100,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-21T18:00:53.192Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-22T04:00:34.475Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-akfosm","slug":"the-mathematical-reason-nfl-teams-are-now-more-aggressive-on-4th-down","title":"The mathematical reason NFL teams are now more aggressive on 4th down","excerpt":"Ask any military historian and they’ll probably tell you that tactical aggression is a game changer. Throughout the history of armed conflict, forces who were more aggressive saw more success.","content":"Ask any military historian and they’ll probably tell you that tactical aggression is a game changer. Throughout the history of armed conflict, forces who were more aggressive saw more success. Say it however you want: Seize the day. Take the initiative. Fortune favors the bold. It’s all the same maxim.\n\nIn a game of strategy and tactics like NFL football, the same kind of aggression pays off—and there’s a mathematical reason for it.\n\nUlysses S. Grant won the Civil War for the Union by marching into the Confederates’ backyard, after years of dithering restraint. When Maj. Gen. Lloyd Fredenhall was soundly beaten by the Nazi Afrika Korps at the Kasserine Pass, he was replaced by the famously aggressive George S. Patton, who promptly kicked the Axis out of Africa altogether.\n\n“We are advancing constantly and we’re not interested in holding onto anything except the enemy,” Patton once said. “”We’re going to hold onto him by the nose and we’re going to kick him in the ass.”\n\nMilitary wisdom says go for it on 4th down. But that’s not how NFL coaches once thought.\n\nThe Cincinnati Bengals squared off against the Kansas City Chiefs on Oct. 21, 2018. After a stalled drive in the 3rd quarter, Cincinnati opted to take a field goal, despite being down by 23 points. A lot of conservative, old-school football watchers know that a field goal or a punt on fourth down is traditionally the safe play call.\n\nFans in Cincinnati were losing their minds. Why not risk the turnover when you’re running out of the time it takes to score the four touchdowns you need?\n\nThat call—still a bad one—is NFL doctrine and has been for a long time. It’s one made even in situations not quite as extreme as the one Cincinnati faced that Sunday night. The Bengals made the field goal, but didn’t score again and lost the game 10-45. But regardless of this outcome, when a team is facing a 4th down with 4 yards to go on their opponent’s 40 yard line, there’s a good chance they’ll still opt to punt the ball away.\n\nThey shouldn’t.\n\nKicking the ball, either for a punt or a field goal, is the safe choice. Whenever a team opts for the kick, the sportscasters praise the coach for making that decision. Economists and statisticians, on the other hand, lose their minds.\n\nWhy? Because there’s no real reason for a coach to be so conservative. Brian Burke, a former Naval aviator who used to fly the F-18C, is a nationally recognized expert on advanced sports analytics. Burke is currently an analyst for ESPN. In 2009, he published a study on Advanced Football Analytics that took a look at 4th-down decision making.\n\nHis data came from official NFL gamebooks for all non-preseason games 2000 through 2008, restricted to first and third quarters. Burke excluded the second and fourth quarters because that’s when the clock and score distort decisions. He compared the Expected Points value of three options (punt, field goal attempt, go for it) at every combination of field position and distance.\n\nConversion probabilities came from 4th-down data supported by 3rd-down conversion rates, since 4th-down attempts are rare (this also washed out the selection bias of coaches only going for it in favorable spots).\n\nHe concluded that coaches should be dramatically more aggressive. Burke’s final chart put 4th-and-1 in “go” territory essentially anywhere on the field, and had teams going for it on 4th-and-2 deep in their own end of the field.\n\nHis worked example: On a 4th-and-3 from the opponent’s 37 in a tied game, early second quarter, the math says going for it is the mathematically supported way to go. Coaches in that exact situation punted 100% of the time.\n\nIf you don’t understand the math after looking at his study, don’t worry about it. People who do understand math created a handy graphic for the New York Times, based on Burke’s calculation. So we can look at the Bengals horrible performance in Kansas City a different way.\n\nAside from the terrible ball handling that led to a turnover, the Bengals tried for a fake punt on 4 and 9 from their own 37-yard-line with almost the entire second quarter remaining, a move that worked against the Chicago Bears in a preseason matchup. The play was bungled, but no matter how the ball was handled, the Times’ 4th Down Bot says they should have punted it away.\n\nLater in the game, with 6:20 left in the 3rd quarter and the Bengals down 28-7, Lewis opted to kick the field goal from the Kansas City 15-yard-line. Bengals fans everywhere were livid, given the score. While the the bot created by Burke’s formula and the New York Times doesn’t account for what to do in a blowout situation, Lewis made the correct call, according to the math.\n\nIn 2015, Burke joined ESPN as an analyst and remade the network’s 4th down decision analyzer. It now looks at score, time remaining, distance to the sticks, yard line, timeouts remaining for each team, each team’s pregame win probability, and the relative strength of the offense and defense involved.\n\nThe result is a model more aggressive than the average coach, which recommends going for it on fourth-and-1 in typical situations anywhere on the field—consistent with the 2009 EP study. Despite popular belief, the one you see on screen does not always say “go.” It only appears that way because broadcasts display the graphic only when the call is interesting or controversial.\n\nThe biggest question, however is: does it work? In 2025, the answer would be no. The NFL as a whole set a record for fourth-down aggression (teams averaged roughly 30-31 attempts) but success rate dipped slightly from the prior year, and the pattern held: volume of attempts tracked more closely with losing than with winning.\n\nTeams that went for it most often finished near the bottom of the standings. The Jets led the league with 41 fourth-down tries and finished 3-14. Carolina was next at 40 attempts and went 8-9. The Giants (39), Cowboys (35), Titans (35), and Saints (34) all ranked among the most aggressive and none of them reached double-digit wins.\n\nThe best teams largely stayed conservative. Seattle, the Super Bowl champion at 14-3, attempted just 12 fourth downs—the fewest in the league. Denver (14-3) and Houston (12-5) were also near the bottom in attempts.\n\nDon’t Miss the Best of We Are The Mighty\n\n• AUSA graphic novel spotlights ex-NFL player who earned the Medal of Honor\n• A hungover Air Force veteran scored the first Super Bowl touchdown ever\n• The Army Black Knights are the cleanest team in college football\n\nThe mathematical reason NFL teams are now more aggressive on 4th down\n\nWhy the Pentagon tried to convince Pat Tillman not to become an Army Ranger\n\nThe Army Black Knights are the cleanest team in college football\n\nMarine veteran Ted Williams delivered the best All-Star Game showing ever\n\nA former soldier with a TBI found his purpose in helping other veterans","category":"service","author":"Blake Stilwell","publishDate":"2026-08-21T16:38:19.000Z","image":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/nfl-4th-down-aggression-.webp?quality=85","source":"We Are The Mighty","sourceUrl":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-sports/nfl-aggressive-4th-down/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":100,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-21T18:00:53.192Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-22T04:00:34.475Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-1sauvg","slug":"here-s-why-the-us-military-needs-a-seaplane","title":"Here’s why the US military needs a seaplane","excerpt":"The United States military hasn’t operated a seaplane, or amphibious flying boat, since the Coast Guard retired the HU-16 Albatross in 1983.","content":"The United States military hasn’t operated a seaplane, or amphibious flying boat, since the Coast Guard retired the HU-16 Albatross in 1983. For 73 years, this kind of aircraft had been essential for everything from search and rescue to resupply. With the vast expanses of the Pacific theater in mind, an argument can be made that the versatile seaplanes of yesteryear should return to their former glory.\n\nUnited States Pacific Command is made up of over one hundred million square miles of territory, which is over half the Earth. The majority of that is water. This puts a premium on land, especially airfields. Despite technological leaps that make crossing thousands of miles faster, and arguably easier, aviators still face some of the same hurdles today as they did back in World War II.\n\nAs leaders plan for a potential fight in the region, new doctrine like the Marines’ Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations and the Army’s Multi-Domain Operations all consider the challenge of maintaining logistics for small and dispersed teams in austere conditions, with little infrastructure for traditional cargo aircraft or watercraft.\n\nThe situation looks even more dire when you consider that existing airfields and ports would be high-value targets in the opening moments of a conflict, further complicating logistics.\n\nTop Stories This Week\n\nSpecial ops commander relieved, another reassigned at Air National Guard Wing\n\nBy Matt White, Nicholas Slayton\n\nArmy unit offers soldiers time off to play new ‘Grand Theft Auto’ if they reenlist\n\nHead of Central Command visits USS Abraham Lincoln amid quality of life concerns\n\nTo prepare for that reality, the Marines are purchasing a new medium landing ship they’re calling the McClung Class, and the Army is under pressure to update its amphibious fleet. An emphasis is also being placed on versatile aircraft like the MV-22 Osprey and the upcoming MV-75 for the Army, which are capable of hauling cargo farther than traditional helicopters.\n\nThere have also been recent efforts by the Pentagon to build a flying boat. In 2023, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency selected General Atomics and Aurora Flight Sciences to develop designs for the “Liberty Lifter.” This massive seaplane would have matched the C-17’s 170,900-pound cargo capacity and operate primarily from the water. Around the same time, the Air Force was working on its own idea for a C-130 floatplane that leaders said would fly in 2023.\n\nDespite the implied need for a seaplane, neither idea would see the water. And there is a reasonable argument that by the time the Pentagon could develop a new one, we may not need it anymore. Drones are increasingly taking over many of the missions that once made flying boats so valuable.\n\nFrom the sky, the MQ-9B SeaGuardian can stay aloft for more than 40 hours and patrol thousands of square miles. These can be used to find downed aviators or sailors from a stricken vessel. And with a growing U.S. Navy drone boat fleet, unmanned surface vessels can be dispatched to complete the rescue, as was the case in June when an Apache went down while patrolling near Oman.\n\nSearch and rescue is a primary mission of modern flying boats, but as we have seen, unmanned vehicles can accomplish that task without sending more humans into harm’s way. Drones are also being used or developed for resupply, medical evacuations, and submarine hunting — all things that seaplanes are used for.\n\nBut many of those unmanned options are not yet mature technologies. Were we to develop our own seaplane, by the time it was operational, drones are likely to have closed the capabilities gap. Which is why we should just buy Japan’s US-2.\n\nThe US-2 is built by ShinMaywa Industries with a design lineage going back to the Albatross the Coast Guard flew. It has a 2,900-mile range, can fly as fast as 330 miles per hour, go as high as 30,000 feet, and only needs about 900 feet of water to take off and about 1,100 to land. The most remarkable trait the US-2 possesses is that it can fly as slowly as 55 miles per hour, thanks to a fifth engine that runs a compressor to blow air over the control surfaces. It can also operate in waves as high as 10 feet, which is a third of the aircraft’s height.\n\nMost importantly, though, it is flown by Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force, and U.S. service members have trained alongside the aircraft. A small U.S. fleet would help solve several of the problems that planners are facing in the Pacific theater, and Japan has also started opening up its defense industry to more exports.\n\nWe get deeper into the need for a seaplane and Japan’s US-2 on our YouTube channel, which you can watch here.","category":"service","author":"Kyle Gunn","publishDate":"2026-08-21T14:38:30.000Z","image":"https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/seaplane1.png?quality=85","source":"Task & Purpose","sourceUrl":"https://taskandpurpose.com/tech-tactics/us-military-sea-plane/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":110,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-21T18:00:45.621Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-22T04:00:34.475Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-t0bxdk","slug":"navy-veteran-finds-purpose-after-tbi-with-support-from-va-social-workers","title":"Navy Veteran finds purpose after TBI with support from VA social workers","excerpt":"VA coordinated care helped Navy Veteran move forward after a traumatic brain injury Navy Veteran Trenton Stahl spends many mornings outdoors with his father tending to the beehives on their property.","content":"VA coordinated care helped Navy Veteran move forward after a traumatic brain injury\n\nNavy Veteran Trenton Stahl spends many mornings outdoors with his father tending to the beehives on their property. It’s a small but meaningful routine that helps him feel a sense of purpose and connection, especially important as he continues recovering from a life-changing traumatic brain injury (TBI) sustained nearly a decade earlier during his military service.\n\nStahl comes from a long line of military service. His parents, grandparents, great-grandfather, and an aunt have all served before him. That legacy shapes the resilience his family brings into his recovery and their close partnership with VA social workers.\n\nWith support from VA and the steady guidance of VA social workers, Stahl has gradually found new ways to move forward.\n\nA new journey begins\n\nAfter a TBI in 2015, Stahl’s family found themselves navigating unfamiliar systems and difficult decisions.\n\nFortunately, while he was hospitalized in Charleston, South Carolina, they learned about Navy Wounded Warrior – Safe Harbor, a program that connected them to the VA Polytrauma/TBI System of Care, an integrated network of specialized rehabilitation programs for Veterans with traumatic brain injuries and polytrauma. This ultimately led them to the Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center at the VA South Texas Health Care System, Stahl’s first experience with VA’s coordinated rehabilitation and social work support.\n\nPersonalized support that makes a difference\n\nIn the early phases of Stahl’s recovery, social workers across several VA healthcare systems became essential guides. When the paperwork felt overwhelming, social workers sat with Stahl’s family and walked them through applications, step by step.\n\nWhen Stahl and his family moved to Houston, Texas, in 2019, social workers at the VA Houston Health Care System stepped in, coordinating TBI clinic visits, therapy evaluations and referrals before he even saw his new primary care provider. Having consistent providers and social workers has given the family confidence and continuity, which has helped support his long-term progress.\n\nMoving forward with purpose\n\nToday, Stahl stays active through routines that double as therapeutic activities. He attends equine therapy twice a week, participates in programs through local Veteran service organizations, and works with his father on woodworking and outdoor projects. At home, he uses activities he’s adapted to his recovery, such as driveway pickleball, balance-focused games and beekeeping to strengthen coordination and confidence while staying engaged in everyday life.\n\nHis family appreciates knowing they can always reach out to their VA social worker for guidance and that his doctors consistently work together to support his progress.\n\n“For us, it’s the best-case scenario,” his mother said.\n\nThey hope stories like his will inspire others who may feel unsure about seeking help to take that first step.\n\nConnect with a VA social worker\n\nFor more than 100 years, VA social workers have walked alongside Veterans and families like Stahl’s. You don’t have to walk alone.\n\nTo get connected with a VA social worker near you, call 800-698-2411 (1-800-MyVA411) or visit us online.\n\nLearn more about VA resources\n\nVA offers comprehensive traumatic brain injury (TBI) care, including evaluation, rehabilitation, therapies, and long‑term support through the Polytrauma System of Care. Learn more and connect to services.\n\nVA provides support for Veterans with Brain Injury and their families, including Social Work services, care coordination, and assistance navigating benefits and programs.\n\nCaregivers of Veterans with brain injuries may qualify for support through VA’s Caregiver Support Program, including coaching, resources, and connections to local services.\n\nIf you are in crisis, or know someone who is, call 988 and select 1, or text 838255, or visit VeteransCrisisLine.net. Help is free, confidential, and available 24/7. You don’t have to be enrolled in VA benefits to reach out.","category":"health","author":"Nikki Verbeck","publishDate":"2026-08-21T14:30:00.000Z","image":"https://news.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2026/08/1533_Stahl-Horse-Ranch_r1.webp","source":"VA News","sourceUrl":"https://news.va.gov/148878/veteran-purpose-tbi-support-va-social-workers/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":110,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-21T18:00:37.732Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-22T04:00:34.475Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-2enboy","slug":"va-research-wrap-up-new-findings-on-ptsd-treatment-hospital-acquired-infections-","title":"VA Research Wrap Up: New findings on PTSD treatment, hospital-acquired infections and lung cancer screenings","excerpt":"VA’s Office of Research and Development recently published three News Briefs highlighting new findings on improving PTSD treatment, a tool to reduce hospital-acquired infections and lung cancer...","content":"VA’s Office of Research and Development recently published three News Briefs highlighting new findings on improving PTSD treatment, a tool to reduce hospital-acquired infections and lung cancer screenings.\n\nReducing alcohol cravings improves PTSD treatment\n\nWhen PTSD and alcohol use disorder occur together, it can lead to worse outcomes, but San Diego VA researchers proved treating both together can lead to better results.\n\nThe researchers split 100 Veterans with both PTSD and alcohol use disorder into two groups: both groups received 12 sessions of prolonged exposure therapy, but one group also received the medication topiramate, which has been shown to reduce alcohol cravings. By the sixth session, those receiving topiramate showed a greater reduction in alcohol cravings. By the ninth session, those receiving topiramate also had less PTSD symptoms than the other group.\n\nAnalysis suggested the reductions in alcohol cravings drove the subsequent improvements in PTSD symptoms, providing a potential new path for Veterans to improve PTSD treatment.\n\nNotification tool reduces VA hospital-acquired infections\n\nA study of 103 VA medical centers showed an increased use of an electronic tracking and alert system effectively lowered rates of multidrug-resistant organism infection in VA hospitals.\n\nThe VA Bug Alert (VABA) system automatically notifies infection prevention personnel at VA Medical Centers when a patient with a history of colonization or infection with drug-resistant bacteria is admitted, so they can take measures to prevent infection spread.\n\nAnalysis showed every 10 days of increased VABA use was associated with a 2.2% decrease in the number of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections and a 5% decrease in the number of carbapenemase-producing carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CP-CRE) infections, two dangerous bacteria commonly acquired during hospital stays.\n\nThe results highlight VABA as an effective way to reduce hospital-acquired infections and improve Veterans’ care in VA Medical Centers.\n\nCentralized lung cancer screenings increase Veterans’ access\n\nVA Greater Los Angeles researchers showed that adding a centralized approach to lung cancer screening for Veterans can increase the rate by 75%.\n\nIn a centralized approach, dedicated staff and support tools coordinate screening and follow-up referrals. A decentralized model relies on individual primary care clinicians to recommend screening.\n\nBy analyzing VA data from 2015 to 2021, involving more than 150,000 Veterans who were screened for lung cancer, the researchers found a hybrid model using both primary care clinicians and a centralized process was particularly effective at improving lung cancer screening rates for rural Veterans and those living in disadvantaged regions.\n\nFor more Office of Research and Development updates, visit ORD online or go to https://www.research.va.gov/news_briefs/.","category":"health","author":"Tristan Horrom","publishDate":"2026-08-21T13:30:00.000Z","image":"https://news.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/04/VA-Research-Wrap-Up.jpg","source":"VA News","sourceUrl":"https://news.va.gov/148796/va-research-ptsd-hospital-infections-lung-cancer/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":85,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-21T18:00:37.732Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-22T04:00:34.475Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-7fwyrb","slug":"new-york-guardsmen-worked-almost-a-million-hours-as-prison-guards","title":"New York Guardsmen worked almost a million hours as prison guards","excerpt":"A New York National Guard mobilization that put soldiers into state prisons to work as guards was so expansive that at least a handful of soldiers were airlifted by Black Hawk from a baseball field...","content":"A New York National Guard mobilization that put soldiers into state prisons to work as guards was so expansive that at least a handful of soldiers were airlifted by Black Hawk from a baseball field in the Bronx to report for duty at a small prison 250 miles away.\n\nThe flight was part of a strikingly large-scale mobilization that tapped thousands of New York National Guardsmen to work as replacement prison guards in 42 of the state’s 45 prisons last year, according to a 2025 annual report on the New York National Guard published in July. Over 8,000 Guardsmen spent over 800,000 hours in state prisons during the operation, each collecting $4,000 in monthly bonuses on top of regular duty pay.\n\nIn 2025, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said that the deployment cost over $100 million per month at its height early in the year. Other state officials have said more recently that the operation continues to cost $50 million per month, more than a year after most of the civilian prison guards returned to work and the mobilization was converted from a mandatory to volunteer deployment.\n\nTheir mobilization began when Hochul ordered more than 1,400 Guardsmen to fill in for thousands of prison guards who went on strike in February 2025. The prison guards left work to protest chronic staffing shortages, pay and a law limiting solitary confinement for unruly prisoners, which prison workers said made their jobs harder. Some prisons required guards to work 24-hour shifts due to low manning.\n\nIn March 2025, the strike officially ended but a majority of the mobilized troops stayed to fill in as the state is still grappling with a shortage of corrections officers. Hochul also fired 3,000 guards who continued to strike past the settlement.\n\nBy April 1, the mandatory deployment ended and switched to a volunteer mission. The $4,000 bonus stayed in place for troops who stayed in addition to their state active duty pay and allowances.\n\n“As part of the governor’s agreement with the corrections officer’s union, New York Military Forces troops remained on duty in the prisons to help reduce mandatory overtime for the civilian correctional officers,” the report said.\n\nAs of Dec. 31, nearly 3,000 guardsmen were still on duty, according to the report. More than 2,000 state prison guards were fired after the strike.\n\nThe report did not say how many Guardsmen remain on duty in prisons as of 2026, though a local New York outlet reported that current number was close to 2,600.\n\nThe report said that more than 3,100 Guardsmen received Department of Corrections training in a one-week course. National Guard officials said as part of their duties, service members conducted head counts, delivered meals, monitored inmates in solitary confinement and watched over others in medium and maximum-security cells and dorms.\n\nThe report also noted that the 42nd Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigade used its Black Hawk helicopters to airlift soldiers from a Bronx baseball field and fly them to a recently shuttered prison 250 miles away in a “remote” part of upstate New York. By April, the unit had flown more than 600 hours and transported 1,050 passengers for the mission.\n\nThe conditions for guardsmen who joined the mission in the early days were described as “austere,” with soldiers sleeping on cots in prison gyms, dorms or “wherever they could find space.” As time went on, soldiers and airmen got Starlink for internet access and legitimate mattresses. Some were eventually moved into motels and hotels.","category":"service","author":"Patty Nieberg","publishDate":"2026-08-21T12:00:00.000Z","image":"https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/prison-guard-2.jpg?quality=85","source":"Task & Purpose","sourceUrl":"https://taskandpurpose.com/news/new-york-national-guard-prison/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":110,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-21T12:00:27.565Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-22T04:00:35.953Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-f51lip","slug":"the-weird-engineering-that-links-old-ships-of-the-line-and-the-sr-71-blackbird","title":"The weird engineering that links old ships of the line and the SR-71 Blackbird","excerpt":"One is the fastest jet ever produced, capable of outrunning anti-air missiles while capturing reconnaissance in some of the most hostile airspace on Earth.","content":"One is the fastest jet ever produced, capable of outrunning anti-air missiles while capturing reconnaissance in some of the most hostile airspace on Earth. The other was a state-of-the-art warship… from the 17th to 19th century.\n\nBut, weirdly enough, the SR-71 and ships of the line have more in common than being featured in Hollywood blockbusters that fundamentally misunderstand the military and how it works: They both rely on (very different) materials staying swollen in order to function normally.\n\nThe SR-71 swells with heat and leaks until it does\n\nThe SR-71 Blackbird, the only SR-designated plane, is pretty famous for this, but it’s also super cool, so we’re going to talk about it anyway.\n\nThe Blackbird can fly at 80,000 feet. And yes, it’s extremely cold at that altitude. Temperatures up there sit more than 70 degrees below zero, but the air is also super thin. It’s so thin that the SR-71 can’t bleed off much of the heat from its massive engines, this is due to both the friction at that altitude and the fact that it’s the fastest crewed production aircraft in history.\n\nOnly experimental and uncrewed aircraft have flown faster (All of which makes it crazy that a pilot actually survived the plane breaking up at Mach 3).\n\nAlso, air heats when compressed and ot compresses fast when a plane suddenly slams into it. Jet engineers have to account for that heat in the engines of any plane that goes supersonic. When a Blackbird goes three times the speed of sound, the air going into its J58 Pratt & Whitney engines compresses quickly and violently, generating even more heat.\n\nSo the aircraft is dealing with heat from compression, heat from the combustion in the engine, and heat from friction, all while the air on the skin is too thin to leach off much heat. Its titanium skin becomes superheated, and since titanium expands when heated, that could result in bubbles. At those speeds, even minor imperfections would screw with the aerodynamics or even cause ruptures in the skin.\n\nEngineers knew that was likely to happen, and so they designed the plane to accommodate the expanding metal. They left a little spacing in the seams of the metal, which expands and fills that seam as it flies. Designers made the plane to fit together perfectly only when it’s flying at its operational speed.\n\nThe rest of the time, it’s a bit leaky. The plane even drips fuel on the ground in colder temperatures. Airmen had to account for this and other problems with the plane while it was on the ground.\n\n“Swabbing the decks” was, in part, to prevent leaks.\n\nObviously, the old ships of the line didn’t leak jet fuel. But wood naturally absorbs moisture and swells, even when it’s just sitting inside of homes and other buildings. When a bunch of wood is joined together and then floats in the water for months on end, it’s going to swell— and seawater causes more swelling than freshwater.\n\nThe wood in the hull stays consistent because of constant contact with the water. The internal decks and timbers retain moist in the relatively stagnant air. But the deck alternates between soakings in storms and drying out in clear weather. That creates gaps and, because of the larger swings in size, causes the wood’s fiber to break down more rapidly.\n\nHow do you build a deck that is watertight at the start of storms but that won’t bulge and break the rest of the time? And how do you prevent frequent cycling that will make the deck break down quickly?\n\nWell, you leave small gaps in the seams when it’s dry, stuff the gaps with materials like oakum, then tar over that filling. To prevent the seams from expanding so far that it breaks apart the seal, sailors must keep the wood from drying too much. To do that, they swabbed it constantly with seawater.\n\nThis was more necessary with wood prone to large swings in size, like pine, but it was a best practice with all of them.\n\nOver 400 years later, engineers are still dealing with the same problems.\n\nLike the modern SR-71, the ships of the line and similar craft were engineered to operate properly in their most demanding moments, and crews simply dealt with the problems that created the rest of the time.\n\nNow, preventing shrinkage was not the only reason to swab the decks. As mentioned above, the larger swing in the size of the wood fibers when exposed to saltwater causes it to break down more quickly than when kept dry or exposed to freshwater. Swabbing the deck prevents these cycles and the accompanying breakdown.\n\nScrubbing the deck also kept it clean and clear of splinters, important since most sailors were barefoot. On warships, especially during battles or drills, swabbing the deck meant that any gunpowder that fell would be quickly rendered wet and safe.\n\nThere’s also the discipline of it; keeping everything spotless is just part of good order and discipline. Discipline and cleanliness serve as the main reasons today. Obviously, seawater doesn’t have the affect on steel that it does on pine. But for hundreds of years, swabbing with seawater kept the seams joined tightly.\n\nWood grows when wet, just like titanium swells when heated.\n\nDon’t Miss the Best of We Are The Mighty\n\n• A pilot survived a Mach 3 ejection from the edge of space by not ejecting at all\n• How this Air Force spy plane traveled from coast to coast in record time\n• Why the SR-71 Blackbird is the only aircraft with the SR designation\n\nBoeing wins $75 million contract for jet-powered JDAMs\n\nIran used unsecured smartphone and ad tech data to target US troops\n\nThe Navy ordered $23.4M of hypersonic missiles to be launched from drones\n\nAn Air Force vet created an app to geolocate gravesites and digitize cemetery records\n\nMeta is giving AI glasses to every blind veteran in America for free","category":"service","author":"Logan Nye","publishDate":"2026-08-21T12:00:00.000Z","image":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/SR-71-engineering-ship-of-the-line.webp?quality=85","source":"We Are The Mighty","sourceUrl":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/history/the-weird-engineering-that-links-old-ships-of-the-line-and-the-sr-71-blackbird/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":100,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-21T12:00:30.066Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-22T04:00:35.953Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-ixf4fq","slug":"need-a-personal-record-from-va-here-s-the-foia-page-that-gets-you-there","title":"Need a personal record from VA? Here’s the FOIA page that gets you there.","excerpt":"Finding the right VA office for your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) records request just got easier. VA has redesigned the page Veterans use to request records .","content":"Finding the right VA office for your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) records request just got easier. VA has redesigned the page Veterans use to request records.\n\nWhether you’re requesting a DD214, medical record or benefits letter, this page helps you get started. It replaces a maze of legal terms and links with clearly labeled boxes that match you to the form you need.\n\nYou don’t need to know the difference between a FOIA request and a Privacy Act request. You don’t need to know which VA administration handles what. You simply choose the box that matches what you’re looking for.\n\nThat’s more than a design change. It means less time searching and more time getting the records you need.\n\nFind the right office faster\n\nBefore the redesign, a Veteran’s request for medical records might end up in a benefits mailbox. A DD214 request might land in a queue unrelated to military personnel records. Every misdirected request meant more waiting and more frustration for Veterans who were already navigating an important life event.\n\nAfter the redesign, misdirected requests have dropped by 90%, helping Veterans reach the correct office faster, while maintaining the same level of access to VA records.\n\n“We transformed a confusing, text-heavy process into a simple, intuitive experience built around clearly labeled selection boxes that guide requesters directly to the right office,” said Tammy Wray, VA FOIA public liaison. “As both a VA employee and a retired military Veteran, it was important to me that every requester, especially our fellow Veterans, could easily find and request the records they need.”\n\nTeams across VA, including the Office of Information and Technology, Veterans Health Administration, Veterans Benefits Administration and National Cemetery Administration, worked together to redesign the page and improve the records request experience for Veterans.\n\nHow it works\n\nThe FOIA and records request page includes clearly labeled boxes for the most common requests, including:\n\nVeterans Benefits Administration records\n\nVeterans Health Administration records\n\nMilitary service records and next-of-kin requests\n\nDD214 requests\n\nNational Cemetery Administration records\n\nEmployment verification\n\nCivilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA) claims\n\nPublicly available records and proactive disclosures\n\nSome requests include more than one option because they follow different processes. Pick the option that fits, and the site opens the right form or submission system.\n\nBuilt with Veterans in mind\n\nThe page launched in October 2025 with six sections and has continued to evolve based on the questions Veterans ask every day.\n\nVA reviews incoming requests routinely to identify common challenges and update the page so Veterans can find answers more easily.\n\n“I find the boxes with brief descriptions and bold print especially helpful for a quick view of what we are looking for during visits,” said Amy Jack, Navy Veteran and Veteran Health Care navigator. “The addition of direct links to the actual information eliminates the need to locate an accurate website and navigate to the information required.”\n\nGet started today\n\nThe next time you need a record from VA, skip the guesswork.\n\nVisit the FOIA and records request page, select the box that matches the record you’re looking for, and immediately access the correct form.\n\nKnow another Veteran who needs a VA record? Share this page with them.","category":"health","author":"carysummers","publishDate":"2026-08-20T18:30:00.000Z","image":"https://news.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2026/08/veteran-on-sofa-FI.webp","source":"VA News","sourceUrl":"https://news.va.gov/148907/need-personal-record-va-foia-page-you/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":85,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-21T00:00:20.437Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-21T04:00:19.947Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-wcs7so","slug":"gamblers-have-made-8-million-betting-on-military-operations","title":"Gamblers have made $8 million betting on military operations","excerpt":"A small number of gamblers have made $8 million placing military and defense-related bets on the Polymarket prediction site, most placed by about 150 accounts that almost always bet correctly.","content":"A small number of gamblers have made $8 million placing military and defense-related bets on the Polymarket prediction site, most placed by about 150 accounts that almost always bet correctly. The researchers say they suspect the accounts are linked to military insiders who could be flagged for law enforcement as “the most likely potential insiders,” researchers said in a new report.\n\nWhen the most successful of those accounts bet on unlikely military events, researchers found, they won virtually every single time.\n\n“Traders acting on specialized, non-public information possess an edge that is valuable only within a limited set of markets, and that produces win rates difficult to attribute to luck,” researchers with the Anti-Corruption Data Collective said in a new report released Thursday. The researchers studied the small number of bettors who met two criteria: ”The concentration of their betting within less than 100 markets and two topics, and unusual accuracy (over 75%) of their longshot bets.”\n\nThe same research group published a report in April that found a high risk of insider trading on military-related Polymarkets after observing that “longshot” bets on military operations won 52% of the time, which was four times more often than other types of markets.\n\nWhile ‘whales’ often lose, ‘orcas’ almost always win\n\nThe collective’s new report hones in on 152 accounts which researchers analyzed and found certain behaviors that “support our hypothesis that they are the most likely insiders.” The accounts, which researchers called “orcas” or “highly specialized, incredibly successful bettors,” were compared to whales, who spend the most on a wide range of markets to “devour enormous profits,” mostly at the expense of “small fish” bettors who tried their luck but end up “losing out badly to the fat larger competition.”\n\nThe collective found that half of the orca accounts made their first long-shot bet within two days of making their Polymarket account and waged higher bets more often on high-risk, low-probability markets. The 152 orca wallets placed $2 million on military longshot bets and won 97.2% of the time for $8 million, or over $52,500 per wallet.\n\nDespite spending overall less money on bets than others, orcas still made a return of 132% compared to whales and small fish whose losses were as high as -2%. At least half of the orcas doubled their money.\n\nThe trends could pose larger national security implications, the report said. The collective observed orcas placing bets first that were then followed by whales (a group which also may include bot accounts) and small fish. As an example, orcas made a series of longshot bets around Feb. 16, 2025, and again 48 hours before the U.S. began its March strikes on Iran. Those bets were followed by whales and potential bots.\n\n“Because every Polymarket trade is visible on a public blockchain in real time, an insider betting on confidential military information is effectively broadcasting that information to foreign adversaries,” the collective said. “Copycat behavior amplifies these signals, making them virtually impossible to contain.”\n\nThe collective also pointed out that Polymarket allows users to bet with cryptocurrency tools that make tracing an account to its owner next to impossible. As a result, pinpointing “potential suspicious activity,” like government officials or military personnel using non-public information for monetary gain, may not be possible. The report recommended that Polymarket require government-issued identification for all bettors.\n\nThe group’s findings come amid ongoing insider betting cases involving U.S. and Israeli military personnel.\n\nIn April, U.S. Army Master Sgt. Gannon Ken Van Dyke, a special operations soldier, was arrested and charged for making more than $400,000 in Polymarket bets related to Venezuela and the U.S. raid and capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Van Dyke was on a Navy vessel that helped stage the raid. In April, he pleaded not guilty and last month his lawyers asked for the case to be dismissed, arguing that federal prosecutors were trying to stretch current laws to make them fit his case.\n\nSeveral Israelis have also recently been arrested on suspicion of placing Polymarket bets based on classified information, including an arrest this month of an airman accused of using sensitive military information to bet on Iran and Yemen attacks. In May, Israel charged its first airman with similar crimes, and as part of his defense, the officer claimed that “The entire Israel Air Force is involved in gambling.”","category":"service","author":"Patty Nieberg","publishDate":"2026-08-20T17:05:13.000Z","image":"https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/gambling-2.jpg?quality=85","source":"Task & Purpose","sourceUrl":"https://taskandpurpose.com/news/polymarket-insider-bets-military/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":110,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-20T18:00:21.934Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-21T04:00:19.947Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-t7we5b","slug":"a-national-guard-unit-saw-the-most-combat-during-world-war-ii","title":"A National Guard unit saw the most combat during World War II","excerpt":"Think about the World War II shows and films that stuck with you, like “Band of Brothers,” “The Pacific,” or “Saving Private Ryan.","content":"Think about the World War II shows and films that stuck with you, like “Band of Brothers,” “The Pacific,” or “Saving Private Ryan.” Now consider that not one of them is about the division that spent more days in combat than any other American unit in the war.\n\nIt’s hard to deny the long-term effects World War II had on the United States. We are sitting close to the 100th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and are still making movies about the events that took place.\n\nAnd the reason why is no surprise: around millions of Americans served in combat during the war, and that means there are so many stories yet to be told.\n\n“Band of Brothers” follows the real-life Easy Company, 506 Parachute Infantry, of the 101st Airborne. “The Pacific” belongs to the 1st Marine Division. “Saving Private Ryan” opens with Rangers on Omaha Beach. All of them earned screen time, but the units we remember are not necessarily the ones that spent the most time in the fight.\n\nThe record for days in combat belongs to National Guard members from Michigan and Wisconsin. The U.S. Army’s 32nd Infantry Division—The Red Arrow—sits alone at the top with 654 days of combat.\n\nDays in combat is only one way to measure a division’s war, though. Before we get to the 32nd, it’s worth looking at a couple of others.\n\nOne way to measure is campaign credit. The 3rd Infantry Division holds the distinction of being the only U.S. Army division in World War II to have all 10 official European Theater campaign streamers.\n\nThe 3rd came ashore near Casablanca in November 1942 for Operation Torch, fought across North Africa, then landed at Licata during the invasion of Sicily in July 1943. Two months later, it hit the Italian mainland at Salerno. Then Anzio. Then southern France in August 1944, and from there through the Vosges, the Colmar Pocket, and into Germany.\n\nVery few units in any army fought that many separate campaigns without a break. The 3rd ID’s reputation is well earned, and two of its most famous names weren’t typical soldiers. Audie Murphy came out of the 3rd ID as the most decorated American soldier of the war (and of all time). And then there’s Chips.\n\nChips was a good boy doggo assigned to 3rd ID who broke from his handler in Sicily and charged a machine gun position, taking a scalp wound and powder burns for his trouble. His unit put him in for the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star, and the Purple Heart. He was awarded all three, before the War Department revoked them later that year under a policy against giving official decorations to animals.\n\nChips didn’t get formal recognition again until 2018, when Britain’s PDSA posthumously awarded him the Dickin Medal, the highest honor an animal can receive for wartime bravery.\n\nHighest Battle Casualties in a Single Theater\n\nAnother way to measure is cost. Among American divisions that fought in only one theater, the 4th Infantry Division paid the most, with battle casualties running north of 20,000 over 11 months.\n\nThe 4th started that bill on D-Day. Its 8th Infantry Regiment was the first seaborne assault unit ashore at Utah Beach on the morning of June 6, 1944. Utah went about as well as anything did that day—the 4th got ashore for a fraction of the casualties suffered at Omaha, where the 1st and 29th Divisions landed at the same hour.\n\nThe real damage came later, in the Hürtgen Forest. Beginning in November 1944, the 4th fed its regiments into a stretch of dense German woodland where artillery burst in the treetops and there was nowhere to take cover. In roughly three weeks, the division took thousands of casualties for a few miles of forest. Rifle companies had to be rebuilt more than once.\n\nThat campaign, not Normandy, is where the 4th’s record total comes from.\n\nThe 4th also happens to be where two of America’s most famous writers crossed paths. Ernest Hemingway was covering the war as an accredited correspondent for Collier’s and attached himself to the 22nd Infantry Regiment and its commander, Col. Charles “Buck” Lanham.\n\nHe got close enough to the fighting that the Army opened an inquiry into whether he’d violated the rules protecting correspondents as noncombatants. J.D. Salinger was in the 12th Infantry, working counterintelligence. The two met in the Hürtgen Forest.\n\nA Combat Day\n\nThe count of combat says comes out of unit records, daily journals and after-action reports kept at the division level and tabulated after the war. A combat day was credited when the division was committed and in contact with the enemy. It’s a measure of the unit, not the individual: no single soldier in the 32nd was under fire for 654 straight days,\n\nIt’s an interesting comparison for a number of reasons. The first is because we’ll (hopefully) never see “combat days” of these numbers ever again; it’s a testament to the World War II veteran. It’s also interesting because because the same records produced everyone else’s numbers. The 3rd Infantry Division logged around 531 days, the 1st Infantry Division around 443, and the 4th Infantry Division around 299.\n\nThe 32nd’s beats them all by a wide margin: 654, the most of any American division.\n\nAfter France fell to the Nazis in June of 1940, Congress passed the joint resolution authorizing Guard federalization on Aug. 27. Among the 18 National Guard Divisions called up was the 32nd Infantry Division, made up of soldiers from Michigan and Wisconsin, which was called to serve on Oct. 15, 1940.\n\nAfter Pearl Harbor, the 32nd was pointed at Europe. It moved to Massachusetts to ship off to Northern Ireland. But Japan was moving south fast enough that Australia was under threat of invasion, and the Allies could only pull so many Australian divisions back from the Mediterranean. Somebody had to go, and the 32nd was available.\n\nThe orders came with three weeks’ notice, and the 32nd was sent to San Francisco. It shipped out in April 1942 with 3,000 men fresh out of basic training and still 1,800 short of strength. When they got to Australia, they had to build their own camps instead of training. Weeks went by. Everything they had trained for was for a war in Europe, and they were about to fight in the Pacific jungles.\n\nThe 32nd’s war started at Buna, on the northern coast of Papua New Guinea, and Buna would be its trial by fire. To get there, some of the division walked a track over 9,000-foot mountains that took them roughly six weeks and left the battalion worn down before it ever saw an enemy soldier. The terrain meant no roads, which meant almost no artillery and no armor, because none of it could be moved forward.\n\nWhat waited for them at Buna were Japanese bunkers built from coconut logs and packed earth, sited to cover each other, and effectively invisible until they started firing. American infantry attacked them across open ground with rifles, grenades, and not much else. Unsurprisingly, they kept failing.\n\nAt the start of December 1942, MacArthur sent Lt. Gen. Robert Eichelberger forward with instructions to take command and take Buna or not come back alive. Eichelberger found men so sick and worn down he later described them as gaunt and ragged. He rebuilt the division’s leadership and started again.\n\nBuna finally fell in January 1943, after roughly two months of fighting—and took heavy losses doing it. Malaria, dengue, scrub typhus, and dysentery moved through the division continuously, and in Papua sick casualties ran far ahead of combat casualties. Across the whole war, the division recorded tens of thousands of non-battle casualties: the total is often cited near 27,000, in a division whose authorized strength was around 15,000.\n\nThe 32nd fought on in the Southwest Pacific, because there was no rotation and no replacement division waiting. Units in Europe came off the line. In the Pacific between 1942 and 1945, there was nowhere to go and nobody to hand the job off to. The 32nd went to New Guinea and stayed in the war until Japan surrendered, finishing on Luzon in the Philippines.\n\nIn the end, its soldiers suffered over 7,000 total casualties and 32nd Infantry soldiers earned a combined 11 Medals of Honor, 157 Distinguished Service Crosses, 845 Silver Stars, and 1,854 Bronze Stars.\n\nThe patch tells you where the name comes from, if you know what you’re looking at: a red arrow shooting downward, with a bar struck through it.\n\nThe 32nd earned that in 1918. In France, the division broke through every German line it was sent against, and the French started calling it “Les Terribles.” When the Army approved a shoulder insignia after the war, the division chose an arrow piercing a line: its identity was going through whatever was in front of it. In World War II, the 32nd cemented that identity.\n\nWe don’t give National Guard units enough credit. They served alongside active-duty units then, and they do now. The Red Arrow lives on in the 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, and the soldiers wearing that patch today are carrying more history on their shoulder than most people realize.\n\nWe don’t often give enough credit to National Guard units, though they often serve alongside active duty units (to this day). Many of the National Guard units that fought in World War I and World War II still exist. The Red Arrow Division continues its legacy through the 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team.\n\nThe soldiers of the 32nd should feel tremendous pride for the legacy they carry and the heritage of the insignia they wear on their shoulders.\n\nDon’t Miss the Best of We Are The Mighty\n\n• Why the National Guard is a great option for Marines\n• The Complete Hater’s Guide to the Army National Guard\n• This National Guard unit fought alongside Marine Raiders in the Pacific\n\nWorld War II\n\nWorld War II\n\nA National Guard unit saw the most combat during World War II\n\nWorld War II\n\nLow river waters in Hungary’s capital reveal World War II dead\n\nWorld War II\n\nHow Paul Newman survived 2 close calls in the Navy during World War II\n\nWorld War II\n\nThis Medal of Honor recipient’s healing hands spelled trouble for the Japanese at Okinawa\n\nWorld War II\n\nWhy it took 2 decades for ‘Patton’ to make it to the big screen","category":"service","author":"Dave Grove","publishDate":"2026-08-20T15:04:48.000Z","image":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/national-guard-world-war-II-red-arrow-.webp?quality=85","source":"We Are The Mighty","sourceUrl":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/history/national-guard-most-combat-world-war-ii/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":100,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-20T18:00:23.129Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-21T04:00:19.947Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-nqdr18","slug":"us-destroyed-a-lost-predator-drone-after-hard-landing-in-middle-east","title":"US destroyed a lost Predator drone after hard landing in Middle East","excerpt":"The crew of a malfunctioning MQ-9A drone worked for more than 7 minutes last August to keep their stricken aircraft aloft, but a damaged wire in the fuel system had irreversibly killed its newly...","content":"The crew of a malfunctioning MQ-9A drone worked for more than 7 minutes last August to keep their stricken aircraft aloft, but a damaged wire in the fuel system had irreversibly killed its newly installed engine, dooming the $23 million drone after a day-long mission in the Middle East.\n\nFlying from a base in South Dakota, the Predator’s pilot guided the powerless drone for nearly 10 minutes before making a “forced landing” that buckled the landing gear. Rather than recover the drone inside the undisclosed country in which it landed, U.S. forces destroyed it.\n\nDetails of the previously unreported crash were released Wednesday by the Air Force in a final report of a crash investigation board. The board found that a damaged wire in the fuel system was likely at fault for the crash, and that the crew — flying remotely from Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota — had no hope of saving the drone once the fuel system shut down, despite making two attempts to restart the engine as it descended.\n\nThe report did not specify where the Predator crashed or its operational home base, saying only that the mishap occurred in the region under U.S. Central Command, which includes all of the Middle East. Notably, the report noted that the aircraft was not recovered, but “based on the circumstances and the location of its landing, sensitive equipment was recovered from the [Predator] and its remaining wreckage was demolished on site.” The report added no details on the recovery operation or the drone’s destruction, but U.S. forces commonly drop bombs on disabled aircraft to prevent them falling into enemy hands, including two MC-130 special ops planes lost in April during the rescue of an F-15 weapons officer inside Iran.\n\nThe report speculated that the bad wire in the fuel system developed a short by rubbing or “chaffing.” It’s failure caused the fuel system to shut down. The report also noted that the 19-hour mission was the first the MQ-9A had flown after a new engine was installed in the drone as part of a scheduled 3,000-hour maintenance overhaul.\n\nTop Stories This Week\n\nSpecial ops commander relieved, another reassigned at Air National Guard Wing\n\nBy Matt White, Nicholas Slayton\n\nMilitary officials respond to photo of grimy shower at Texas training base\n\nArmy unit offers soldiers time off to play new ‘Grand Theft Auto’ if they reenlist\n\nAt least some of the drone’s maintenance, the report said, was done by Amentum, a private contractor, which the Air Force employs to do “Comprehensive Engine Management System support; Aerospace Ground Equipment (AGE) and Ground Support Equipment (GSE) maintenance” for MQ-9As. The report did not specify if private or Air Force crews handled the engine swap.\n\nThe report noted that crews did not put the MQ-9A through a post-engine swap shakedown flight, known as a Functional Check Flight or Operational Check Flight. Air Force rules, the report said, require a shakedown flight after engine swaps for most manned aircraft, but not for MQ-9s.\n\nBut the board said there was no evidence that the engine swap damaged the wire that caused the crash.\n\n“No evidence indicates that maintenance procedures executed were a factor in this mishap,” wrote Col. Brian Desautels, who served as the president of the investigation board. Desautels, according to an online biography, is a career C-130 rescue pilot who now commands an Air Force rescue group at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia.\n\nOver 40 MQ-9s lost since 2024\n\nAnother detail in the report hints at how much action MQ-9As have seen in the last two years in the Middle East, as the U.S. prepared and launched its ongoing war with Iran. The two operators of the drone — a pilot and a sensor system operator — had flown almost 60 flights in the previous 90 days, a number far higher than most Air Force pilots fly in manned aircraft. In the 30 days before the crash, the report said, the pilot had flown 19 times and the sensor operator 23 times.\n\nThough the Air Force has over 200 MQ-9s in its inventory, according to the Aviation Safety Network, which tracks both military and civilian aviation mishaps around the world, roughly 40 MQ-9As have crashed since the U.S. increased hostilities with Iran in 2025, most of which have been shot down over Iran or Africa.","category":"service","author":"Matt White","publishDate":"2026-08-20T15:03:19.000Z","image":"https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/mq9-2.jpg?quality=85","source":"Task & Purpose","sourceUrl":"https://taskandpurpose.com/news/drone-crash-destroyed-2025/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":110,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-20T18:00:21.934Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-21T04:00:19.947Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-ih8yo5","slug":"how-va-health-chat-helps-one-veteran-manage-care-from-home","title":"How VA Health Chat helps one Veteran manage care from home","excerpt":"VA Health Chat app connects Veterans to VA health care For Army Veteran Evan Burnside, a visit to the nearest VA facility means a three-hour trip: an hour’s drive each way, plus time for parking and...","content":"VA Health Chat app connects Veterans to VA health care\n\nFor Army Veteran Evan Burnside, a visit to the nearest VA facility means a three-hour trip: an hour’s drive each way, plus time for parking and navigating crowded facilities, adds up fast. As a new father, Burnside finds that making frequent in-person visits simply isn’t practical.\n\nBut thanks to VA Health Chat, he can now manage many of his healthcare needs from home.\n\nThrough the VA Health Chat app, Burnside messages VA staff directly from his smartphone or tablet. This makes it easier to manage prescriptions, schedule appointments and coordinate care, all without the time and hassle of traditional phone calls or in-person visits.\n\n“[VAHealth Chat] allows me to just be a dad and not have to worry about being a patient,” he said.\n\nA more convenient way to manage care\n\nBurnside first began using VA Health Chat a few years ago after moving to a new state. He was immediately impressed by how quickly he could request and receive prescription refills and get a response.\n\n“It fast-tracks your own treatment,” he said.\n\nWhen Burnside needed specialty care, VA Health Chat helped simplify the referral process. He signed in to VA Health Chat, selected the Scheduling and Administration channel and began chatting with a VA staff member who was able to send a message to Burnside’s primary care provider. His provider then authorized care, allowing Burnside to get the treatment he needed without an extra trip to a VA facility.\n\n“Not having to give up more of my time makes VA Health Chat a lot more convenient,” Burnside said.\n\nBroadly available, with options by location\n\nVA Health Chat allows Veterans to message VA staff about non-life-threatening health issues, schedule VA appointments and refill VA prescriptions.\n\nWhile the service is available to Veterans nationwide, including in U.S. territories, not all channels are available in all Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISNs). Veterans can see their available channels by signing in to the app. Channels may include\n\nScheduling and Administration\n\nVirtual Clinic Visit (Urgent Care)\n\nLearn more about and download VA Health Chat. For more information about telehealth resources for Veterans, visit VA Telehealth Services.","category":"health","author":"Nikki Verbeck","publishDate":"2026-08-20T14:30:00.000Z","image":"https://news.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2026/08/1293_VA-Health-Chat-saves-new-dad-hours-of-travel-time-II-Evan-Burnside-daughter_r1.webp","source":"VA News","sourceUrl":"https://news.va.gov/148862/va-health-chat-helps-veteran-manage-care-home/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":110,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-20T18:00:21.185Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-21T04:00:19.947Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-41x4x7","slug":"keep-faith-with-veterans","title":"Keep faith with veterans","excerpt":"Every veteran knows the cost of service and the promise that comes with it. If we’re changed in service, our nation will be there for us when we come home.","content":"Every veteran knows the cost of service and the promise that comes with it. If we’re changed in service, our nation will be there for us when we come home.\n\nBut today that promise is being limited by something most Americans never see: federal budget rules.\n\nPolicies like PAYGO (pay as you go), CUTGO (cut as you go), sequestration and budget caps were created to control government spending. In reality, Congress can ignore these rules when it chooses, even as federal deficits and the national debt continue to rise. Yet some politicians hide behind them when it comes to improving veterans benefits and services.\n\nWhen lawmakers try to expand or strengthen veterans benefits, PAYGO requires them to offset the cost by cutting other programs or raising revenue. That means even widely supported proposals can stall, not because they’re controversial but because of how they’re paid for.\n\nFor veterans, that creates a fundamental problem.\n\nOur benefits aren’t optional. They were already paid for through service and sacrifice. Yet these rules treat them like any other government program, forcing veterans to effectively pay for improvements to their own care.\n\nThese budget constraints have real-world consequences. They can delay expansions in benefits and access to care, prevent improvements to Department of Veterans Affairs programs, and impose funding limits that don’t match veterans’ needs. Even when Congress wants to act, these rules can slow or stop progress.\n\nThe Major Richard Star Act and the Love Lives On Act are perfect examples. These bipartisan bills, which would achieve key DAV policy goals by eliminating the offset between military retirement pay and VA disability compensation and by strengthening survivors benefits, respectively, are being held up under the guise of PAYGO.\n\nDAV is working to ensure veterans aren’t held back by budget rules that ignore the true cost of war. We’re calling on Congress to exempt all veterans programs, benefits and services from PAYGO requirements. We also believe veterans programs should be protected from sequestration and across-the-board cuts and that funding for veterans benefits and VA health care should be exempt from arbitrary budget caps so it can reflect real-world demand.\n\nThe cost of war doesn’t end when service members come home. It continues in the care and benefits veterans have earned.\n\nThat cost is a national responsibility. It shouldn’t be shifted back onto those who have already borne the cost of service.\n\nRemoving PAYGO and budget caps for veterans isn’t about avoiding fiscal responsibility. It’s about keeping faith with those who served.\n\nDAV will continue fighting to ensure that promise is kept for you, your family and every generation of veterans to come.","category":"community","author":"DAV Communications","publishDate":"2026-08-20T13:35:54.000Z","image":"https://www.dav.org/wp-content/uploads/Capitol_85812226_RGB.jpg","source":"DAV","sourceUrl":"https://www.dav.org/learn-more/news/2026/keep-faith-with-veterans/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":100,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-20T18:00:23.251Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-21T04:00:20.133Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-6ali4d","slug":"remembering-gold-star-mother-ann-sherman-wolcott-my-friend-and-my-hero","title":"Remembering Gold Star Mother Ann Sherman Wolcott, my friend and my hero","excerpt":"I met Ann Sherman Wolcott many years ago, shortly after my husband passed away. It was at a Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund event. Ann was a Gold Star Mother and I was a Gold Star Wife.","content":"I met Ann Sherman Wolcott many years ago, shortly after my husband passed away. It was at a Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund event.\n\nAnn was a Gold Star Mother and I was a Gold Star Wife. Our shared commitment to our nation’s Veterans made us instant friends. I loved her as if she were my sister.\n\nAfter her son Rex was killed in Vietnam, Ann devoted her life to honoring his memory. She served as a National President of the American Gold Star Mothers and worked tirelessly for the organization.\n\nOver the years, she helped countless Veterans navigate the VA system to obtain the benefits they deserved. She was also a great asset to VVMF founder Jan Scruggs in the organization’s early days.\n\nAnn’s dedication extended far beyond national organizations—she gave her time and heart to many causes in her hometown of York, Pennsylvania.\n\nWe spent so much time together that we came to know just about everything there was to know about each other. We laughed and cried our way through many years, sharing stories—some spoken, many cherished—quietly between us.\n\nAnn died on August 8. She loved and lived life more than anyone I have ever known. She was my hero, and I will miss her forever.\n\nAnn is now where she longed to be for a very long time—reunited with her beloved son, Rex.","category":"family","author":"Jason Davis","publishDate":"2026-08-20T13:30:00.000Z","image":"https://news.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2026/08/IMG_0156.webp","source":"VA News","sourceUrl":"https://news.va.gov/148863/remembering-gold-star-mother-ann-sherman-wolcott/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":110,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-20T18:00:21.185Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-21T04:00:20.133Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-birz71","slug":"meet-the-employers-setting-the-standard-for-veteran-hiring-in-2026","title":"Meet the employers setting the standard for veteran hiring in 2026","excerpt":"DAV’s employment program helps veterans, transitioning service members, Guard and Reserve members, and military spouses navigate the job market with confidence.","content":"DAV’s employment program helps veterans, transitioning service members, Guard and Reserve members, and military spouses navigate the job market with confidence. We know that veterans thrive in the workplace when employers recognize their skills, invest in their growth and value military experience.\n\nEvery year at the DAV & Auxiliary National Convention, we recognize three companies for their workplace programs and practices that benefit the military community. This year, we were proud to award Cambridge International Systems, ENSCO Inc. and Sonepar USA as our 2026 DAV Patriot Employer Award winners.\n\nWhile these companies range in organizational size and industry, each demonstrate excellence in military-friendly hiring practices and workplace support.\n\nDAV’s Patriot Employer Award winners:\n\nRecruit veterans and military spouses intentionally;\n\nCreate opportunities for career growth and advancement;\n\nBuild workplace communities through mentorship and employee resource groups; and\n\nRecognize military experience as a valuable workforce asset.\n\nThese organizations are dedicated to the success of veterans, transitioning service members and military spouses in their workplace and beyond.\n\nDAV’s 2026 Small Patriot Employer of the Year: Cambridge International Systems\n\nAs a veteran-owned and veteran-led organization, Cambridge International Systems has made veteran hiring and retention a core part of its workforce strategy. Veterans represent approximately one-third of its workforce, and the company has maintained a veteran hiring rate between 30% and 45% for the past five years.\n\nCambridge supports veteran employees through leadership development, tuition assistance, mentorship and transition programs. Its Cambridge Stars Employee Resource Group provides connection, resources and support for veterans and military families, while community initiatives extend the company’s commitment beyond the workplace.\n\nDAV’s 2026 Midsize Patriot Employer of the Year: ENSCO, Inc.\n\nENSCO recognizes military experience as a valuable asset and has created a workplace where veterans can translate their skills into civilian careers. Veterans make up approximately 14% of its workforce and nearly 25% of recent hires.\n\nThe company supports veterans through professional development, tuition reimbursement, leadership training, mentorship and military differential pay for employees who continue their service. ENSCO also prioritizes accessibility through a centralized accommodations program that helps veterans and employees with disabilities receive timely workplace support.\n\nDAV’s 2026 Large Patriot Employer of the Year: Sonepar USA\n\nOver the past five years, Sonepar USA has hired 564 veterans and built a comprehensive system to support military-connected employees throughout their careers.\n\nThrough its MERGE military and veteran employee resource group, veterans have access to peer support, networking and volunteer opportunities. The company also provides career pathways, technical training and leadership development programs that help veterans build skills and advance within the organization.\n\nSonepar’s national partnerships and community initiatives further its commitment to veterans, military spouses and their families.\n\nDAV is honored to recognize organizations that do more than hire veterans—these employers create environments where the military community can grow, find purpose and continue to lead.\n\nLearn more about the Patriot Employer Awards and nominate a company.","category":"community","author":"DAV Communications","publishDate":"2026-08-20T13:23:44.000Z","image":null,"source":"DAV","sourceUrl":"https://www.dav.org/learn-more/news/2026/meet-the-employers-setting-the-standard-for-veteran-hiring-in-2026/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":75,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-20T18:00:23.251Z","imageBackfillAttempts":3,"lastImageBackfillAt":"2026-08-20T22:30:18.838Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-21T04:00:20.133Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-4v9ona","slug":"keeping-rides-rolling-transportation-network-vehicle-ordering-window-approaches","title":"Keeping rides rolling: Transportation Network vehicle ordering window approaches","excerpt":"This past year, dedicated DAV volunteers across the country gave over 230,000 rides to veterans for their Department of Veterans Affairs medical appointments.","content":"This past year, dedicated DAV volunteers across the country gave over 230,000 rides to veterans for their Department of Veterans Affairs medical appointments.\n\nMany of those rides were provided by volunteers driving vehicles that DAV departments and chapters—often with the help of the DAV National Service Foundation’s Columbia Trust—purchased and donated to the VA, making the DAV Transportation Network a critical program in helping veterans who don’t have reliable transportation of their own get access to their medical care.\n\nFrom 1987 to 2025, DAV has donated 3,909 vehicles to the program at a cost of more than $97 million. The Columbia Trust is a grant resource for departments and chapters that helps make this level of donations possible. The Trust is a financial support tool that helps our departments and chapters carry out services to veterans, which includes helping cover the cost of Transportation Network vehicles. The Trust relies on financially well-positioned departments and chapters to share their resources with those in need.\n\nBut it takes more than money to keep the Transportation Network running smoothly. Strong local programs rely on diligent member leaders who know and follow the process and timeline for ordering new vehicles.\n\nThe window to order these vehicles opens once a year during the last quarter. The exact timing for 2027 purchases depends on when DAV receives vehicle and pricing information. With guaranteed availability and the lowest price, this annual window is the only time departments and chapters can purchase Transportation Network vehicles.\n\nOnce pricing information is sent to DAV, Voluntary Services will send a memo signed by the national adjutant providing the details, deadlines and request instructions.\n\nBelow is just an overview of the ordering process; the memo details every step and scenario. Please refer to it for full instructions when it becomes available.\n\nRequesting vehicles is an online process that must be initiated by department leaders. Chapter leaders can’t open or start their own vehicle request applications. Vehicle requests can only be made if:\n\nThere’s an immediate need for a vehicle\n\nYou have approved volunteer drivers\n\nYour local VA medical center is willing to accept the donation\n\nYou can guarantee the funds for the minimum share requirement (which is 55% of the total cost of the vehicle)\n\nDepartment leaders must apply on behalf of their chapters but can request collaborators through the “Invitations” tab inside the application. Department leaders who are first-time users of the online portal, must select “Request Password” and use the email address on their membership record to get credentials.\n\nCollaborators will be emailed a registration link to access and edit vehicle applications. They won’t be able to submit finished requests though. This allows department leaders to control access while delegating the responsibility of filling out the form to chapter leaders.\n\nDepartments must use one application for all vehicle requests under their purview. They shouldn’t submit an application until all their department and chapter requests are completed.\n\nThe previous year’s department and chapter annual financial reports (AFRs) must be approved by DAV National Headquarters before an application can be considered. If a department or chapter is not required to file under provisions of the National Bylaws, they still must include their previous year’s AFR into the application.\n\nDepartments applying on behalf of chapters requesting financial assistance must also include their departmental AFR. As a reminder, all AFRs are now completed online and are due by June 30, with a built-in 90-day extension of Sept. 30. More information about the AFR submission process can be found in this memo.\n\nThe DAV National Service Foundation needs these financial reports for all those requesting financial assistance as this is an essential component of assessing a department or chapter’s financial health, properly determining the financial need, and deciding what percentage—up to 45%—of the cost of the vehicle the Columbia Trust will cover.\n\nEven if financial assistance is not requested, signatures on the application certification(s) from department and chapter leaders (if applicable) are required.\n\nIf you have any further questions, contact the National Service Foundation Columbia Trust at nsf@dav.org or 859-441-7300, option 6, then press 2.","category":"community","author":"DAV Communications","publishDate":"2026-08-20T12:03:07.000Z","image":null,"source":"DAV","sourceUrl":"https://www.dav.org/learn-more/news/2026/keeping-rides-rolling-transportation-network-vehicle-ordering-window-approaches/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":75,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-20T18:00:23.251Z","imageBackfillAttempts":3,"lastImageBackfillAt":"2026-08-20T22:30:18.838Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-21T04:00:20.133Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-urfh0s","slug":"why-11-5-is-the-best-ar-barrel-length-for-most-shooters","title":"Why 11.5 is the best AR barrel length for most shooters","excerpt":"Let me start by saying that shooting 55gr .223 out of a 20-inch pencil barrel with a rifle-length gas system, as Eugene Stoner, Bob Fremont, and Jim Sullivan intended, is a very enjoyable firearms...","content":"Let me start by saying that shooting 55gr .223 out of a 20-inch pencil barrel with a rifle-length gas system, as Eugene Stoner, Bob Fremont, and Jim Sullivan intended, is a very enjoyable firearms experience. That said, since the AR-15 was introduced, shooters and engineers have been trying to figure out just how short an AR’s barrel length can be.\n\nThe AR’s internal pistol design bleeds gas from the barrel and uses it to cycle the bolt carrier group. With a shorter barrel and gas system, the diminished distance between the gas port and the muzzle can increase the bolt speed. Known as dwell time, this can cause a short AR to cycle violently and more quickly degrade its parts.\n\nDuring the Vietnam War, Colt engineers cut down the M16’s 20-inch barrel to 10 inches and made the Colt Commando or Model 609. Designated the XM177E1 by the Army, the carbine was lighter and more compact than the M16, but also extremely loud. A moderator muzzle device with an expansion chamber was added to tame the extreme muzzle flash and control the blast from each shot.\n\nBut the short barrel also reduced bullet velocity and the timing of the modified gas system caused malfunctions like failure to extract empty cases.\n\nImproving on the 609, Colt came out with the 629, designated the XM177E2. With an 11.5-inch barrel, the E2 wasn’t nearly as blasty as its predecessor. However, it still suffered from range, accuracy, and reliability issues. The Air Force also adopted Colt Carbines (CAR-15) as the GAU-5 family and issued them from the Vietnam era through the Global War on Terror.\n\nIn 1982, the U.S. government asked Colt to develop a carbine version of its latest M16A2 service rifle. Building on the previous XM177s, Colt came up with the M4 and its 14.5-inch barrel. Originally developed for rear echelon troops, the M4 suffered from reliability issues in the hands of SOCOM operators who put extremely high round counts through them.\n\nA heavier SOCOM barrel helped to correct these issues and was formally adopted in the M4A1.\n\nThe M16A2 and M4 also introduced the 1:7 barrel twist. Faster than the old 1:12, it could stabilize heavier rounds like M855 and Mk262 for greater accuracy.\n\nTaking the M4 a step further, Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane cut the 14.5-inch barrel down to 10.3 inches. With the muzzle just in front of the front sight gas block, the even shorter Mk 18 became a favorite of Navy SEALs and Green Berets fighting in the streets and buildings of Iraq. It also made Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure operations easier for sailors LARPing as SEALs.\n\nHowever, the extremely short barrel brought on the same issues of increased wear and faster cyclic rates. This was further aggravated if a Mk 18 was fitted with a suppressor, which increased backpressure in the gas system.\n\nWith the AR-15 platform improved with barrel and technology, the solution to the hard-cycling Mk 18 was revived from the Vietnam-era XM177E2: an 11.5-inch barrel. That extra bit of barrel increases the dwell time in a carbine-length gas system, easing up on the gas cycling back into the firearm while adding just a bit of overall length.\n\nIt’s just over an inch, but an inch matters.\n\nWith the widespread adoption of AR-15 pistols, 11.5-inch ARs became more commonplace in the civilian marketplace since they didn’t need a $200 tax stamp and registration like a short-barreled rifle (SBR). Military adoption of the barrel length came with the Geissele Upper Receiver Group-Improved (URG-I) in Army Special Operations Command.\n\nThe URG-I comes in both 14.5 and 11.5-inch barrel lengths so that the operator can swap upper receivers on the same lower receiver, as the mission dictates. Despite the slightly longer barrel, the switch from a railed to M-LOK handguard keeps the 11.5-inch URG-I at about the same weight as the 10.3-inch Daniel Defense Mk 18 Mod 1 upper receiver.\n\nWhile the URG-I is only fielded within USASOC, the rest of SOCOM is getting on the 11.5 train. Sons of Liberty Gun Works (SOLGW) won the SOCOM Combat Assault Rifle contract with their 11.5-inch MK1. Looking to the future, SOCOM’s new Hypervelocity Improved Combat Assault Rifle program calls for a rifle with a barrel length between 11-12 inches.\n\nAnother benefit of an 11.5-inch barrel length comes with the addition of a suppressor. As long as it’s properly gassed and tuned, a suppressed 11.5 ends up being about the same overall length as a 14.5. Of course, gas and tuning is less of an issue with a low backpressure can like the HUXWRX Flow 556k “Black Magic” suppressor specifically named in the HICAR contract.\n\nThat’s great for the military, especially considering that other weapon systems like machine guns, drones, mortars, and air support can be employed in addition to a rifle. Looking at domestic use, again, it comes down to mission. Law enforcement might actually have use for an insanely short 7.5-inch barrel for SWAT Team room clearing, but require a longer barrel if their department issues a certain type of ammo.\n\nIn an interview with TFB TV, FBI Ballistic Research Facility Senior Ballistician Robert Martin stressed that purpose and projectile will dictate the ideal barrel length. That said, Martin noted that “…11 and a half inch gave [the FBI] everything that the 14 and a half was giving us.”\n\nWith the tax being dropped to $0, the financial burden for a civilian to buy or make an SBR has been removed. The same can be said of suppressors which, again, pair very nicely with an 11.5 inch barrel length. Moreover, a 2026 court ruling means that firearms purchased from Palmetto State Armory by Gun Owners of America members can be converted into SBRs without taxation or registration (as state and local laws permit).\n\nI’m not a lawyer and this isn’t legal advice, so there’s also the AR pistol and brace route for shooters wanting an 11.5-inch barrel.\n\nIn addition to Geissele’s URG-I, Daniel Defense offers an 11.5-inch barreled upper receiver with their RIS III rail, an evolution of the 10.3-inch barreled upper receiver and RIS II rail from the Mk 18 Mod 1. SOLGW also offers a civilian version of the MK1 for customers looking for an 11.5 with a military connection. Otherwise, most AR manufacturers offer some variant with an 11.5-inch barrel. Firearm and ammunition technology might change in the future, but for now, 11.5 is the sweet spot.\n\nDon’t Miss the Best of We Are The Mighty\n\n• Finland might have perfected the AR-15 (at least for Arctic combat)\n• SMASH2000: Finally, an AI-powered optic that turns your AR-15 into a drone hunter\n• Glock made a rifle. Here’s what we know about it.\n\nWhy 11.5 is the best AR barrel length for most shooters\n\nNavy awards 7-year, $22.9B Tomahawk missile contract to Raytheon\n\nEverything you need to know about short-barreled rifles, shotguns, and silencers\n\nBoeing wins $75 million contract for jet-powered JDAMs\n\nCMP boss says M14s will be under $2,000. They have trench shotguns too.","category":"service","author":"Miguel Ortiz","publishDate":"2026-08-20T12:00:00.000Z","image":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/ar-11-5-inch-barrel-best-length-green-berets-army.webp?quality=85","source":"We Are The Mighty","sourceUrl":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/tactical/why-11-5-ar-best-barrel-length/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":100,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-20T18:00:23.129Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-21T04:00:20.133Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-qw8iq","slug":"leading-from-the-front","title":"Leading from the Front","excerpt":"Joining DAV is only the beginning. Every member has the opportunity to continue serving by leading, mentoring and strengthening the organization that has fought for veterans and the benefits they...","content":"Joining DAV is only the beginning. Every member has the opportunity to continue serving by leading, mentoring and strengthening the organization that has fought for veterans and the benefits they have earned for more than a century.\n\nOne of the most meaningful ways to make an impact is by becoming a chapter or department officer. Strong leaders keep chapters active, welcome new members, support local outreach efforts and ensure veterans know where to turn when they need help. By stepping into a leadership role, you directly help shape the future of DAV while continuing your own legacy of service.\n\nLeadership doesn’t stop at the chapter meeting.\n\nEvery year, DAV members represent the organization and their chapter/department through DAV Community Impact Day, Golden Corral Military Appreciation Nights, entrepreneur programs, job fairs, benefits expos, community festivals and countless other outreach events. These opportunities allow us to meet veterans where they are, answer questions about the benefits they’ve earned and introduce them to the programs and services DAV provides.\n\nThe most successful recruitment happens through service.\n\nWhen a veteran meets a service officer or a member at a job fair, receives assistance during Community Impact Day or learns about benefits at a local event, they see our mission in action. Those conversations build trust. Membership often becomes the natural next step because they’ve already experienced the value of what DAV does.\n\nEvery outreach event is an opportunity to change a life. Every conversation is an opportunity to connect another veteran with benefits, advocacy and a community that stands beside them. Recruiting isn’t about growing numbers for the sake of growth. It’s about ensuring more veterans have access to the support they’ve earned while strengthening DAV’s voice on their behalf.\n\nWhether you’re considering becoming involved in your chapter, volunteering at an upcoming outreach event or simply taking the time to speak with another veteran, your involvement matters. Together, we can expand our membership by demonstrating our mission through action and ensuring no veteran has to navigate life after service alone.\n\nReady to take the next step? Contact your chapter leadership to learn about officer opportunities, volunteer at your next Community Impact Day or outreach event, and help introduce another veteran to DAV through the power of service.","category":"community","author":"DAV Communications","publishDate":"2026-08-20T11:50:03.000Z","image":null,"source":"DAV","sourceUrl":"https://www.dav.org/learn-more/news/2026/leading-from-the-front/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":75,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-20T12:00:26.519Z","imageBackfillAttempts":3,"lastImageBackfillAt":"2026-08-20T16:30:18.981Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-21T04:00:20.937Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-s0hjgq","slug":"need-a-personal-record-from-va-here-s-the-page-that-gets-you-there","title":"Need a personal record from VA? Here’s the page that gets you there.","excerpt":"Finding the right VA office for your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) records request just got easier. VA has redesigned the page Veterans use to request records.","content":"Finding the right VA office for your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) records request just got easier. VA has redesigned the page Veterans use to request records.\n\nWhether you’re requesting a DD214, medical record, or benefits letter, this page helps you get started. It replaces a maze of legal terms and links with clearly labeled boxes that match you to the form you need.\n\nYou don’t need to know the difference between a FOIA request and a Privacy Act request. You don’t need to know which VA administration handles what. You simply choose the box that matches what you’re looking for.\n\nThat’s more than a design change. It means less time searching and more time getting the records you need.\n\nFind the right office faster\n\nBefore the redesign, a Veteran’s request for medical records might end up in a benefits mailbox. A DD214 request might land in a queue unrelated to military personnel records. Every misdirected request meant more waiting and more frustration for Veterans who were already navigating an important life event.\n\nAfter the redesign, misdirected requests have dropped by 90%, helping Veterans reach the correct office faster, while maintaining the same level of access to VA records.\n\n“We transformed a confusing, text-heavy process into a simple, intuitive experience built around clearly labeled selection boxes that guide requesters directly to the right office. As both a VA employee and a retired military Veteran, it was important to me that every requester, especially our fellow Veterans, could easily find and request the records they need.”\n\n— Tammy Wray, VA FOIA Public Liaison and Air Force Veteran\n\nTeams across VA, including the Office of Information and Technology, Veterans Health Administration, Veterans Benefits Administration, and National Cemetery Administration, worked together to redesign the page and improve the records request experience for Veterans.\n\nHow it works\n\nThe FOIA and records request page includes clearly labeled boxes for the most common requests, including:\n\nVeterans Benefits Administration records\n\nVeterans Health Administration records\n\nMilitary service records and next-of-kin requests\n\nDD214 requests\n\nNational Cemetery Administration records\n\nEmployment verification\n\nCivilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA) claims\n\nPublicly available records and proactive disclosures\n\nSome requests include more than one option because they follow different processes. Pick the option that fits, and the site opens the right form or submission system.\n\nBuilt with Veterans in mind\n\nThe page launched in October 2025 with six sections and has continued to evolve based on the questions Veterans ask every day.\n\nVA reviews incoming requests routinely to identify common challenges and update the page so Veterans can find answers more easily.\n\n“I find the boxes with brief descriptions and bold print especially helpful for a quick view of what we are looking for during visits. The addition of direct links to the actual information eliminates the need to locate an accurate website and navigate to the information required.”\n\n— Amy Jack, Navy Veteran and Veteran Health Care Navigator\n\nGet started today\n\nThe next time you need a record from VA, skip the guesswork.\n\nVisit the FOIA and records request page, select the box that matches the record you’re looking for, and immediately access the correct form.\n\nKnow another Veteran who needs a VA record? Share this page with them.","category":"health","author":"carysummers","publishDate":"2026-08-20T11:11:26.000Z","image":"https://news.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2026/08/veteran-on-sofa-FI.webp","source":"VA News","sourceUrl":"https://news.va.gov/148907/need-a-personal-record-from-va-heres-the-page-that-gets-you-there/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":85,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-20T12:00:23.704Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-21T04:00:20.937Z","linkStatus":"ok"}],"events":[{"id":"mobilize-379336","title":"Take Action for Nebraska","description":"Fill out this form to help us elect Democrats up and down the ballot. (You will also be among the first to know when we have yard signs!)\n\nIf you want to help, we can put you to work. We will connect you with county parties and candidates so you can help in your local area too. \n\nVolunteer opportunities include phonebanking, canvassing, postcards, hosting events, and delivering yard signs.\n\nYou can also use this form to connect with caucuses and councils, just type the group in the comments box and we will connect you. \n\n**Affiliated Caucus Organizations:**\n  \n- Black Caucus\n- Democrats Experiencing Disabilities\n- Latinx Caucus\n- Native Caucus\n- Stonewall Democrats\n- Women’s Caucus\n- Young Dems\n\n**Affiliated Policy Councils:**\n\n- Climate Council\n\n- Interfaith Council\n\n- Rural and Agriculture Council\n\n- Secular Council\n\n- Veterans and Military Families Council\n\n- Working Families Council","organization":"Nebraska Democratic Party","organizationLogo":"https://mobilize-uploads-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/organization/NDP-DEM_Donkey-Logo-Horz-RGB_20250715203748488336.png","startDate":"2026-08-24T05:00:00.000Z","endDate":"2026-08-25T04:59:00.000Z","timezone":"America/Chicago","isVirtual":true,"location":{"venue":"","address":", ","city":"Lincoln","state":"NE","zip":"68510","country":"US"},"virtualUrl":null,"registrationUrl":"https://www.mobilize.us/nebdems/event/379336/","image":"https://mobilizeamerica.imgix.net/uploads/event/NEDEMS_ButtonGraphic-ImBuildingTheParty_20241113195557678804.png","eventType":"volunteer","source":"mobilize","sourceId":"379336","scrapedAt":"2026-08-23T12:00:52.801Z"},{"id":"mobilize-765447","title":"Support Veterans Rush Hour Rally","description":"Support veterans: Protect the VA!\n\nJoin our Rush-Hour Resistance Rally outside the Chalmers Wylie VA Clinic to protest the cuts to the VA and support veterans!\n\nThis huge facility, serving veterans from a wide area, is on James Road just south of the Columbus Airport. Thousands of cars pass this location during rush hour every weekday afternoon, making this the perfect place to inform people about the crippling cuts that Trump, Musk and DOGE are making to our federal government.\n\nDemonstration area: We will be demonstrating on public sidewalks on both sides of James Road, which are highly visible to commuters passing by.\n\nUPDATED PARKING INFO: To eliminate any possibility of getting in the way of patients or staff at the clinic, we are asking everyone to avoid using the VA lot to the east of James Road. Instead, please park west of James Road. Look for Visitor Parking signs in the lot for Africentric High School, 3223 Allegheny Ave, Columbus, OH 43209. Or you can park on three side streets—Kellner, Lowell and Edgevale—off Ruhl Ave., which is the first stoplight intersection south of the VA clinic. If you’re car-pooling, you should be able to drop off passengers on Allegheny Ave. just west of James, on the way to the Africentric parking lot.","organization":"Indivisible Central Ohio","organizationLogo":"https://mobilize-uploads-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/organization/OHCentral_3C_NEW%20%281%29_20241126201819684787.jpg","startDate":"2026-08-25T20:00:00.000Z","endDate":"2026-08-25T21:00:00.000Z","timezone":"America/New_York","isVirtual":false,"location":{"venue":"Chalmers P. Wylie Ambulatory Care Center","address":"420 N James Rd, ","city":"Columbus","state":"OH","zip":"43219","country":"US"},"virtualUrl":null,"registrationUrl":"https://www.mobilize.us/indivisiblecentralohio/event/765447/","image":"https://mobilizeamerica.imgix.net/uploads/event/VA%20visibility%20Mobilize%20graphic%20no%20date_20250429224625739293.png","eventType":"rally","source":"mobilize","sourceId":"765447","scrapedAt":"2026-08-19T06:00:40.844Z"},{"id":"mobilize-375701","title":"POSTCARDING w/DOLLY and SUE into all swing states - w/Field Team 6 & The Union","description":"Join Field Team 6 and our wonderful partner The Union to write postcards and talk politics with us at our weekly Postcarding Parties!  Join us anytime!\n\nNEW TO POSTCARDING??  In our main room, we will teach you everything you need to know to write postcards of every kind.  **There is no need to buy anything beforehand**. We will help you decide what materials are right for you. \n\nVETERAN POSTCARDER?? Feel free to bring whatever you are currently working on and enjoy conversation in our breakout room.   \n\nEAGER TO LEARN HOW TO WRITE FIELD TEAM 6'S VOTER REGISTRATION POSTCARDS WITH QR CODES?? We will cover that.\n\nClick here to check out our Field Team 6 voter registration postcard campaigns: https://fieldteam6.herokuapp.com/getting_started\n**If you are just starting with Field Team 6 postcarding, please wait until after your first meeting to decide what materials to order!**\n\nWe can't wait to see you!!\n\nNOTE:  This event is taking place at 2pm PT/5pm ET\n\nSTATES INCLUDED:  California, Michigan, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Wisconsin","organization":"Field Team 6","organizationLogo":"https://mobilize-uploads-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/organization/ft6%20for%20mobes%201_20231128231125005709.png","startDate":"2026-08-26T21:00:00.000Z","endDate":"2026-08-27T00:00:00.000Z","timezone":"America/Los_Angeles","isVirtual":true,"location":{"venue":"","address":", ","city":"","state":"","zip":"","country":"US"},"virtualUrl":null,"registrationUrl":"https://www.mobilize.us/ft6/event/375701/","image":"https://mobilizeamerica.imgix.net/uploads/event/postcarding%20training%2026_FB_20260708170228702425.png","eventType":"community","source":"mobilize","sourceId":"375701","scrapedAt":"2026-08-06T06:00:25.111Z"},{"id":"mobilize-651442","title":"FVWA Supporter Phonebank!","description":"Every week, FVWA staff and volunteers take time to call other ranked-choice voting supporters and urge them to engage with vital actions to bring us closer to Ranked-Choice Voting in Washington, as well as alert them to opportunities to support democracy in other ways! \n\nIf you've never phone-banked or are a veteran caller, you're welcome here. We'll always provide a training and a script.\n\nJoin us and let's ensure we're taking action when action needs to be taken!","organization":"FairVote Washington","organizationLogo":"https://mobilize-uploads-prod.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/organization/FVWA%20Logo%20light%20BKGRND_20200527195250640948.png","startDate":"2026-08-26T23:00:00.000Z","endDate":"2026-08-27T00:30:00.000Z","timezone":"America/Los_Angeles","isVirtual":true,"location":{"venue":"","address":", ","city":"","state":"","zip":"","country":"US"},"virtualUrl":null,"registrationUrl":"https://www.mobilize.us/fairvotewa/event/651442/","image":"https://mobilizeamerica.imgix.net/uploads/event/WW%20PB%20Mobilize_20240517175906183795.png","eventType":"volunteer","source":"mobilize","sourceId":"651442","scrapedAt":"2026-08-20T06:00:30.694Z"},{"id":"mobilize-776124","title":"Join 48th/51st Street RESISTANCE Overpass Fridays","description":"Join us  - every Friday Rush Hour! \n\nWe are two sister decks*  in the RESISTANCE! \nThis is a crisis, and the time to act is now. We have misters and stuff to stay cool! \n\n4:00pm -5:30pm  during the summer\n\nWe demand justice for those detained by ice. Our message to the world that we do not consent to the destruction of our government and our economy for the benefit of Trump and his billionaire allies. Alongside Americans across the country, we are marching, rallying, and protesting to demand a stop the chaos and build an opposition movement against the looting of our country. We want a world for all living creatures.\nNONE OF US IS FREE UNTIL WE ARE ALL FREE. \nLove forward together! \nNO KINGS and NO WAR! \nWHERE ARE THE BABIES. \nFREE THEM ALL\nVETERANS RIGHTS\nGEO GROUP CAMPS KILL. \nGEO ICE CAMPS KILL\nNO WAR. \nTAX THE EPSTIEN CLASS.  \nNO KINGs IN AMERICA. \nDUE PROCESS FOR ALL. \nHEALTH CARE FOR ALL. \nHUMANITY. \nEMPATHY. \nABOLISH ICE. \nWE LOVE PEOPLE\nSocial security stays.  \nICE OUT. \nWE SUPPORT VETERANS.  \nUNMASK ICE.  \nWe will sacrifice NO ONE! \nJAIL ALL THE PEDOS - JUSTICE FOR SURVIVORS. \nICE CAMPS KILL. \nNO WAR. \nFILES INTO TRIALS. \nTRANS VISIBILITY.  \nTAX THE EPSTEIN CLASS. \nPUT ALL ICE IN THE COOLER. \nGEO ICE CAMPS KILL. \nNO WAR FOR GREED.\n\n\nPlease follow along and VOTE!\n\n4:00pm -5:30pm  during the summer\n\nWe stand up in peaceful protest which is our constitutional right.\nDonald Trump and Peter Theil think this country belongs to them. \nICE agents, CA Guard and the Marines that have been turned into pawns and WE SAY NO!  \n\nThis is a crisis, and the time to act is now.\n* (a deck is a bridge or an overpass with a team and banners)","organization":"Coalition Against Project 2025","organizationLogo":"https://mobilize-uploads-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/organization/Full%20Color%20Background_20260601013044817204.jpg","startDate":"2026-08-28T23:00:00.000Z","endDate":"2026-08-29T00:30:00.000Z","timezone":"America/Los_Angeles","isVirtual":false,"location":{"venue":"This event’s address is private. Sign up for more details","address":"This event’s address is private. Sign up for more details, ","city":"Sacramento","state":"CA","zip":"95819","country":"US"},"virtualUrl":null,"registrationUrl":"https://www.mobilize.us/cap25/event/776124/","image":"https://mobilizeamerica.imgix.net/uploads/event/IMG_0894_20260722221706137760.jpeg","eventType":"health-screening","source":"mobilize","sourceId":"776124","scrapedAt":"2026-08-22T06:01:02.471Z"},{"id":"mobilize-774947","title":"Weekly Napa Rally to Resist the Trump/Musk/GOP Regime!","description":"This a local Indivisible event!  This is a peaceful protest to support the rights of ALL Americans and show RESISTANCE to the current Trump/Musk/GOP regime's dismantling of our Government services, destruction of our economy and headlong descent into oligarchy and authoritarianism.  Veterans are invited as we Support and Respect all those that have served our Country.  Bring a sign, a friend, your good humor and enthusiasm.  JOIN US in Napa!","organization":"Indivisible","organizationLogo":"https://mobilize-uploads-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/organization/Mobilize_Indivisible_Horizontal_ForLightBackground_20250320155651214400.png","startDate":"2026-08-29T00:00:00.000Z","endDate":"2026-08-29T01:00:00.000Z","timezone":"America/Los_Angeles","isVirtual":false,"location":{"venue":"","address":"Soscol Avenue & 3rd Street, ","city":"Napa","state":"CA","zip":"94559","country":"US"},"virtualUrl":null,"registrationUrl":"https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/event/774947/","image":"https://mobilizeamerica.imgix.net/uploads/organization/Mobilize%20Generalized%20Indivisible%20Event%20Campaign%20Image%201_20231214173802957298.png","eventType":"rally","source":"mobilize","sourceId":"774947","scrapedAt":"2026-08-23T06:00:59.100Z"},{"id":"mobilize-755826","title":"Ingleside Cleanup","description":"The Clean Side of Ingleside! Join the Civic Joy Fund, Refuse Refuse, SF Public Works, and the community for a friendly neighborhood cleanup!\n\nVolunteers will meet at Ocean Ale House (1314 Ocean Ave) to grab your tools. Then, cleaning will occur from 11:00am to 12:00pm. Stay afterwards for free food and drinks!\n\nSign up today and let’s beautify San Francisco together!\n\nOrganizer: David\n\nBy participating or registering in a cleanup or volunteer event, I acknowledge and agree to the Civic Joy Fund and Refuse Refuse volunteer waivers:\nhttps://civicjoyfund.org/volunteer - https://refuserefusesf.org/waiver","organization":"Civic Joy Fund","organizationLogo":"https://mobilize-uploads-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/organization/Civic%20Joy%20Fund%20Circular-Lockup-Color-trans-lrg%20%282%29_20250820005555879377.png","startDate":"2026-08-29T18:00:00.000Z","endDate":"2026-08-29T19:00:00.000Z","timezone":"America/Los_Angeles","isVirtual":false,"location":{"venue":"Ocean Ale House","address":"1314 Ocean Ave, ","city":"San Francisco","state":"CA","zip":"94112","country":"US"},"virtualUrl":null,"registrationUrl":"https://www.mobilize.us/civicjoyfund/event/755826/","image":"https://mobilizeamerica.imgix.net/uploads/event/_Ingleside._001_20230719224925244221_20250214145050122596.jpeg","eventType":"volunteer","source":"mobilize","sourceId":"755826","scrapedAt":"2026-08-23T00:00:55.583Z"},{"id":"mobilize-748846","title":"Blue Action SWATX Monthly Meeting (in-person)","description":"Join us for our monthly meeting the first Sunday of the month at 2:00pm at the Travis County Democratic Party's coordinated campaign office.\n\nSeptember 6th:\nPlease join us for a discussion with two congressional candidates as they discuss their tales from the trails.\n\nMilitary veteran and business leader Caitlin Rourk is running for CD 10 in western Travis County.  It is an open seat and runs out to East Texas.   \n\nLockhart teacher Tanya Lloyd is running in CD 27.  This congressional district takes in SW Austin, parts of East Austin, Hays County and all the way down to Corpus Christi.\n\nThese new districts are a result of Trump’s redistricting push.  While they are Republican-leaning districts, they also include large swaths of deeply Democratic voters making less of a safe R seat than previously.\n\nFollowing our speakers, we will discuss potential changes to AISD and ways you can get help turn Texas blue.\n\nSo, come on out for refreshments, fun and fellowship.\n\n\n\nUpcoming Meetings:\nSeptember 6th\nOctober 4th\nNovember 1st","organization":"Blue Action","organizationLogo":"https://mobilize-uploads-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/organization/TexasBlueAction_Horizontal-01_20260326163312979727.png","startDate":"2026-09-06T19:00:00.000Z","endDate":"2026-09-06T21:00:00.000Z","timezone":"America/Chicago","isVirtual":false,"location":{"venue":"","address":"4005 Banister Ln, Bldg B, ","city":"Austin","state":"TX","zip":"78704","country":"US"},"virtualUrl":null,"registrationUrl":"https://www.mobilize.us/blueactiondems/event/748846/","image":"https://mobilizeamerica.imgix.net/uploads/event/Mobilize%20Training%20Templates%20%2815%29_20260810165358760340.png","eventType":"community","source":"mobilize","sourceId":"748846","scrapedAt":"2026-08-10T18:01:14.920Z"},{"id":"mobilize-770562","title":"Sign-up For Democracy Action Network / Indivisible LA","description":"The Democracy Action Network (DAN) was founded in November 2024 by David Comfort in response to the re-election of Donald Trump. Emerging as a grassroots organization dedicated to defending democratic institutions, promoting civic engagement, and fostering inclusive democracy, DAN has quickly become a prominent force in the pro-democracy movement. With a nonpartisan ethos and a commitment to nonviolent resistance, DAN seeks to address threats to constitutional governance while building a broad-based coalition for democratic renewal.\n\nMission and Vision\nDAN’s mission is to protect and strengthen democratic institutions, resist authoritarian tendencies, and promote an inclusive vision of democracy that upholds universal human rights and dignity. The organization operates on the principles of nonviolence, transparency, and participatory decision-making while fostering hope-centered messaging and constructive solutions. It aims to create sustainable organizing structures that empower communities and build long-term resilience against democratic backsliding.\n\nEarly Achievements\nSince its inception, DAN has demonstrated its capacity for impactful action:\n\n- February 22nd 2025: Organized a successful march and rally in West Hollywood, drawing hundreds of participants advocating for government accountability and democratic principles\n.\n- February 2025: Played a key role in coordinating protests at SpaceX, bringing attention to issues tied to corporate influence and public policy.\n\n- Held weekly organizing meetings with 300 to 400 people attending.\n- Developing a core group of activists and organizers\n\n- March 22nd 2025: Held a really successful \"March for our Constitution\" at the Federal Building in Westwood / Los Angeles. Had over 2,000 participants and hosted speakers such as Martin Sheen and Maxine Waters\n\n\nThese events have helped establish DAN as a credible voice for democratic activism while galvanizing public support for its mission.","organization":"Indivisible","organizationLogo":"https://mobilize-uploads-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/organization/Mobilize_Indivisible_Horizontal_ForLightBackground_20250320155651214400.png","startDate":"2026-12-31T16:45:00.000Z","endDate":"2027-01-01T07:45:00.000Z","timezone":"America/Los_Angeles","isVirtual":true,"location":{"venue":"","address":", ","city":"Los Angeles","state":"CA","zip":"90069","country":"US"},"virtualUrl":null,"registrationUrl":"https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/event/770562/","image":"https://mobilizeamerica.imgix.net/uploads/organization/Mobilize%20Generalized%20Indivisible%20Event%20Campaign%20Image%202_20231214173755488494.png","eventType":"rally","source":"mobilize","sourceId":"770562","scrapedAt":"2026-05-07T00:00:51.820Z"},{"id":"mobilize-434596","title":"2020 Victorious! | National Voter Mobilization-Education Year of Action | Communities United","description":"2020 Victorious! | Communities United is conducting a National Voter Mobilization-Education-Registration Year of Action to get our communities prepared to #VoteReady and promote #VoterEducation from __January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022.__  This is a national conversation on how we can all work together every year to expand our collective mission to protect democracy, fight voter suppression, and ensure all Americans have equal access to the ballot box.  This is democracy and it requires action.\n\nWe are inviting you to join 2020 Victorious! | Communities United for National Voter Mobilization-Education-Registration Year of Action to get our communities prepared to #VoteReady and promote #VoterEducation from __January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022.__ We are counting on you to participate by organizing and supporting [virtual] voter registration drives where you will register eligible voters, and help experienced voters check-confirm and update their registration.\n\n__This month's target campaign will champion a call-to-action for:__\n\n__U.S. Senate Georgia Runoff Election__ - Tuesday, December 6, 2022\n\n__Launch a Community Conversation__ in your neighborhood-network! Let’s create a truly democratic space where we can connect together through meaningful dialogue.\n\nAdvance Preparation: Organize a personal list of colleagues-neighbors, family-friends eligible to vote in the battleground-swing states below: then write a brief statement to motivate-inform the recipients.  This discussion is for immediate participation in the call-to-action to protect our democracy.\n\n__Battleground-Swing States:__ AK-Alaska, AZ-Arizona, FL-Florida, GA-Georgia, KS-Kansas, MI-Michigan, NC-North Carolina, NV-Nevada, OH-Ohio, PA-Pennsylvania, SC-South Carolina, TX-Texas, WI-Wisconsin ... (governor, secretary of state, senator, congress)\n\n_Relational Organizing in the battleground-swing states._\n\n- - - - -\n\n__Suppressed and Sabotaged: The Fight to Vote,__ a powerful 2020 Brave New Films production documentary about the growing threat of voter suppression and election sabotage to our 2022 midterm elections.  There will be multiple documentary series presented throughout the year. [(movie trailer)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RhrbEh-osI&t=1s)\n\n* Monday-Friday, October 3-7, 2022 - __National Voter Education Week__ *\n* Documentary Screening, _upon advance request *_ [(movie trailer)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RhrbEh-osI&t=1s)\n\n__Preparation:__ We will organize our creative inspirations-skills to design several written expressions that capture the spirit of the national holiday for a monthly targeted campaign. The inspirational expressions will be distributed nationally to promote the advancement of voting rights throughout our respective communities.  This will include the development of a voting toolkit of best practices.  The community feedback provided by-to attendee-participants will guide-improve the collective voter mobilization-education-registration response.\n\n__GETTING STARTED__\n\n__A Simple Task:__  Ask your community networks of colleagues-neighbors and family-friends to check the status of their voter registration at VOTE.gov or VOTE.org ... (and ask that they pass it on to their networks).  _\"Check your voter registration status at VOTE.gov or VOTE.org and ask your networks to do the same.\"_\n\n__National Voter Mobilization-Education-Registration Year of Action is a call to action.__\n\n* THE GOAL: Engage at least 3-5+ potential voters in 5-days of action!\n* Ambitious Goal:  Engage at least 20-25+ potential voters in 5-days of action!\n\n__Immediate Next Steps:__ Early Voting [(calendar)](https://www.vote.org/early-voting-calendar/) - Mail-In Ballot [(rules)](https://www.vote.org/absentee-voting-rules/) - Sample Ballot [(guide)](https://www.usa.gov/voter-research) - Invite your colleagues-neighbors, family-friends, and community networks to be mobilized and educated about the issues that most impact them.  Include the early voting locations-dates-times, mail-in ballot instructions, and sample ballot previews information links in your personal distributions to ensure election day preparedness.\n\nNational Voter Education Week [(NVEW)](https://www.votereducationweek.org) strives to help voters overcome common barriers to become confident voters and ambassadors of voting in their own communities for every election and provides days-of-action and voting resources.\n\nLearn how to register the 4-million youth voters who will become eighteen and eligible to vote this year, the 30-million Americans who moved and need to update their voter registration, the 2-million Americans living abroad (required to verify status annually), the 2-million Americans who got married (and changed their names) and need to update their voter registration, and the millions of Americans purged from the voter registration rolls for simple and avoidable reasons.\n\nELECTION PROTECTION HOTLINE: Call or Text 866-OUR-VOTE * Tweet @866OURVOTE\n\n- - - - -\n\n__5 Days | 5 Actions__ National Voter Education Week (NVEW) helps voters bridge the gap between registering to vote and actually casting a ballot. During this week of interactive education, voters have the opportunity to find their polling location, understand their ballot, make a plan to vote in person or remotely, and more. NVEW strives to help voters overcome common barriers to become confident voters and ambassadors of voting in their own communities for every election.  Review the NVEW website to become familiar with the days-of-action and other voting resources. [(... more NVEW)](https://www.votereducationweek.org)\n\n__Optional Task:__  VoteRiders is seeking dedicated virtual volunteers to help manage voter appointments and rides to the DMV and other ID-issuing agencies on an ongoing weekly basis. Responsibilities include making appointment reminder calls, scheduling rides and handling communications between drivers and voters. No experience is necessary.  VoteRiders will provide all of the training and support needed to be successful. This opportunity is ideal for volunteers living in the Central Time Zone or Eastern Time Zone as the voters we help most frequently live in North Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Texas. [(... more VoteRiders)](https://www.voteriders.org)\n\n__12 Months | 21 Actions__ National Voter Mobilization-Education-Registration Year (NVMERY) helps voters bridge the gap between registering to vote and actually casting a ballot. During this year of interactive education, voters have the opportunity to find their polling location, understand their ballot, make a plan to vote in person or remotely, and more. NVMERY strives to help voters overcome common barriers to become confident voters and ambassadors of voting in their own communities for every election.\n\nWhile National Voter Mobilization-Education Year of Action is a __TARGETED campaign__ scheduled for a full extended year, the __Call-to-Action__ can begin today and continue any-every month-day throughout the year.  We will meet, as a collective, on the designated dates-times above to discuss our daily encounters-progress and brainstorm ideas!\n\nA few great places to host voter registration drives include: local businesses (ask customers-employees to distribute-share the links), places of worship (ask to get a table in the lobby after services), the business office workplace (talk to each colleague to get them to update their registration), your high school or college-university (set-up a table in a high-traffic area or talk to fellow students during breakfast-lunch), and high-traffic areas in your community (laundromats, playgrounds, public parks, restaurants, supermarkets), etc.\n\n- - - - -\n\n2020 Victorious! | Communities United is counting on all of us to participate by registering our colleagues-neighbors, families-friends and communities to ensure that eligible voters check and update their voter registration status during National Voter Mobilization-Education Year of Action.  We are calling on you to participate by registering your friends, family, and neighbors, and helping eligible voters check and update their voter registration.\n\nBegin by thinking of several dates and places that you can integrate voter registration into your schedule, including the places that you will already be! Think about the gatherings you already attend, and places where you regularly have conversations with others.  RSVP to this event page to indicate that during the Year of Action, you will participate by registering voters in your neighborhood and help your colleagues-neighbors, families-friends and communities check and update their voter registration!\n\nNational Voter Mobilization-Education-Registration Year (NVMERY) ... (potential dates)\n\n* Saturday, January 1, 2022 - New Year's Day\n* Saturday, January 1-31, 2022 - New Year's Day through January 2022\n* Monday, January 17, 2022 - Martin Luther King (MLK) Day of Service\n* February 2022 - Black History Month\n* Monday, February 14, 2022 - Valentine's Day\n* Monday, February 21, 2022 - Presidents' Day\n* March 2022 - Women's History Month\n* Thursday, March 17, 2022 - St. Patrick's Day\n* Friday, April 1, 2022 - April Fool's Day\n* Friday, April 22, 2022 - Earth Day\n* Sunday, May 15+22+29, 2022 - Documentary Screening [(movie trailer)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RhrbEh-osI&t=1s)\n* Monday, May 30, 2022 - Memorial Day\n* Sunday, June 5+12, 2022 - Documentary Screening [(movie trailer)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RhrbEh-osI&t=1s)\n* Tuesday, June 14, 2022 - Flag Day\n* Sunday, June 19, 2022 - Juneteenth\n* Monday, July 4, 2022 - Independence Day\n* [August 1-31, 2022 - Advance Preparations for Mid-Term Elections]\n* Monday, September 5, 2022 - Labor Day\n* Sunday, September 11, 2022 - 9-11\n* Saturday, September 17, 2022 - Citizenship Day\n* Monday, September 19, 2022 - National Voter Registration Week of Action Kickoff Rally with Michelle Obama and celebrity guests\n* Tuesday, September 20, 2022 - __National Voter Registration Day__\n* Monday-Friday, October 3-7, 2022 - __National Voter Education Week__\n* Monday, October 10, 2022 - Columbus Day\n* November 2022 - Native American Heritage Month\n* Friday, November 11, 2022 - Veterans Day\n* Thursday, November 24, 2022 - Thanksgiving\n* Monday, December 26, 2022 - Christmas Day\n\n- - - - -\n\n__National Voter Registration Week of Action Kickoff Rally__ with former __First Lady Michelle Obama__ and celebrity guests on Monday, September 19, 2022 7:00pm ET / 4:00pm PT.  __National Voter Registration Day is Tuesday, September 20, 2022.__  This rally will be a strong start to the week, as we prepare to get our colleagues-neighbors, family-friends and communities mobilized-educated-registered and ready to vote during National Voter Registration Week.\n\n__Ramp Up the Vote Rally:__ It’s time to Ramp Up The Vote! When We All Vote is hosting our Ramp Up The Vote Rally on Thursday, August 25, 2022 8:00 pm ET / 5:00 pm PT. Join us along with the partners, volunteers, and celebrity co-chairs and ambassadors as we get ready for this year’s midterm elections and ensure we all make our voices heard in the future of our country. \n\n__Special * Juneteenth Acknowledgement with Call-to-Action:__ Juneteenth marks the end of slavery in America and commemorates the collective freedom of African-Americans.  This guided discussion will acknowledge the legacy of Juneteenth in Galveston, Texas to promote thought and commit to a plan to take action for our communities, _including voter mobilization-educations-registration_.\n\n* Sunday, July 10, 2022 (special meeting, _including voting rights_)\n\n- - - - -\n\n160 million Americans cast their ballots in 2020 – shattering voter turnout records and making history.  And we can’t stop now.  There is still work to be done before we are #VoteReady!\n\nELECTION PROTECTION HOTLINE: Call or Text 866-OUR-VOTE * Tweet @866OURVOTE\n\nCopyright © 2021-2022 Communities United | 2020 Victorious!","organization":"2020 Victorious! | Communities United","organizationLogo":"https://mobilize-uploads-prod.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/organization/2020_20220210235441440024.png","startDate":"2028-01-01T05:00:00.000Z","endDate":"2028-01-02T04:45:00.000Z","timezone":"America/New_York","isVirtual":true,"location":{"venue":"","address":", ","city":"","state":"","zip":"","country":"US"},"virtualUrl":null,"registrationUrl":"https://www.mobilize.us/2020victorious/event/434596/","image":"https://mobilizeamerica.imgix.net/uploads/event/iStock-1200571987_20211230195758876840.jpg","eventType":"health-screening","source":"mobilize","sourceId":"434596","scrapedAt":"2026-04-01T16:41:53.462Z"},{"id":"mobilize-580830","title":"National Voter Education-Registration-Empowerment Year of Action | Communities United","description":"2020 Victorious! | Communities United is conducting a National Voter Mobilization-Education-Registration-Empowerment Year of Action to get our communities prepared and #VoteReady to promote #VoterEducation from __January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024.__  This is a national conversation on how we can all work together every year to expand our collective mission to protect democracy, fight voter suppression, and ensure all Americans have equal access to the ballot box.  This is democracy and it requires action.\n\n- - - - - - - - - -\n\n__Training Session:__ (outline update)\n\n* Basic Voter Education-Registration ... (30-minutes, ends 7:30pm) ... review resources in advance, arrive on-time, prepare-ask questions, take notes\n* Brave New Films: \"Suppressed and Sabotaged\" | The Right/Fight to Vote [(trailer)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RhrbEh-osI) ... (45-minutes, ends 8:15pm) ... prepare to be attentive, note impressionable incidents, remarkable statements\n* Advance Voter Mobilization-Empowerment ... (30-minutes, ends 8:45pm) ... bring experiences-questions, take notes. take action\n\n- - - - - - - - - -\n\nWe are inviting you to join 2020 Victorious! | Communities United for National Voter Mobilization-Education-Registration-Empowerment Year of Action to get our communities prepared and #VoteReady to promote #VoterEducation from __January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024.__ We are counting on you to participate by organizing and supporting [in-person/virtual] voter registration drives where you will register eligible voters, and help experienced voters check-confirm and update their registration.\n\nThis year's target campaign will champion a call-to-action for: ... (to be updated)\n\nLast year's target campaign will champion a call-to-action for:\n\n__National Voter Registration Day__ - Tuesday, September 17, 2024\n\n__National Voter Education Week of Action__ - Sunday, September 15-22, 2024\n\n__National Voter Education Week__ - Monday-Friday, October 7-11, 2024\n\n__Vote Early Day Celebration!__ - Tuesday, October 29, 2024\n\n\n__Launch a Community Conversation__ in your neighborhood-network! Let’s create a truly democratic space where we can connect together through meaningful dialogue.  __Note:__ The national acknowledgement date may differ from the date of meeting-discussion.\n\nAdvance Preparation: Organize a personal list of colleagues-neighbors, family-friends eligible to vote in the battleground-swing states below: then write a brief statement to motivate-inform the recipients.  This discussion is for immediate participation in the call-to-action to protect our democracy.\n\n__Battleground-Swing States:__ AK-Alaska, AZ-Arizona, FL-Florida, GA-Georgia, KS-Kansas, MI-Michigan, NC-North Carolina, NV-Nevada, NY-New York, OH-Ohio, PA-Pennsylvania, SC-South Carolina, TX-Texas, WI-Wisconsin ... (governor, secretary of state, senator, congress)\n\n_Relational Organizing in the battleground-swing states._\n\n- - - - -\n\n__Suppressed and Sabotaged: The Fight to Vote,__ a powerful 2020 Brave New Films production documentary about the growing threat of voter suppression and election sabotage to our 2023 midterm-year elections.  There will be multiple documentary series presented throughout the year. [(movie trailer)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RhrbEh-osI&t=1s)\n\n* Monday-Friday, October 7-11, 2024 - __National Voter Education Week__\n* Documentary Screening, _upon advance request *_ [(movie trailer)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RhrbEh-osI&t=1s)\n\n__Preparation:__ We will organize our creative inspirations-skills to design several written expressions that capture the spirit of the national holiday for a monthly targeted campaign. The inspirational expressions will be distributed nationally to promote the advancement of voting rights throughout our respective communities.  This will include the development of a voting toolkit of best practices.  The community feedback provided by-to attendee-participants will guide-improve the collective voter mobilization-education-registration-empowerment response.\n\n__GETTING STARTED__\n\n__A Simple Task:__  Ask your community networks of colleagues-neighbors and family-friends to check the status of their voter registration at VOTE.gov or VOTE.org ... (and ask that they pass it on to their networks).  _\"Check your voter registration status at VOTE.gov or VOTE.org and ask your networks to do the same.\"_\n\n__National Voter Mobilization-Education-Registration-Empowerment Year of Action is a call to action.__\n\n* THE GOAL: Engage at least 3-5+ potential voters in 5-days of action!\n* Ambitious Goal:  Engage at least 20-25+ potential voters in 5-days of action!\n\n__Immediate Next Steps:__ Early Voting [(calendar)](https://www.vote.org/early-voting-calendar/) - Mail-In Ballot [(rules)](https://www.vote.org/absentee-voting-rules/) - Sample Ballot [(guide)](https://www.usa.gov/voter-research) - Invite your colleagues-neighbors, family-friends, and community networks to be mobilized and educated about the issues that most impact them.  Include the early voting locations-dates-times, mail-in ballot instructions, and sample ballot previews information links in your personal distributions to ensure election day preparedness.\n\nNational Voter Education Week [(NVEW)](https://www.votereducationweek.org) strives to help voters overcome common barriers to become confident voters and ambassadors of voting in their own communities for every election and provides days-of-action and voting resources.\n\nLearn how to register the 4-million youth voters who will become eighteen and eligible to vote this year, the 30-million Americans who moved and need to update their voter registration, the 2-million Americans living abroad (required to verify status annually), the 2-million Americans who got married (and changed their names) and need to update their voter registration, and the millions of Americans purged from the voter registration rolls for simple and avoidable reasons.\n\nELECTION PROTECTION HOTLINE: Call or Text 866-OUR-VOTE * Tweet @866OURVOTE\n\n- - - - -\n\n__5 Days | 5 Actions__ National Voter Education Week (NVEW) helps voters bridge the gap between registering to vote and actually casting a ballot. During this week of interactive education, voters have the opportunity to find their polling location, understand their ballot, make a plan to vote in person or remotely, and more. NVEW strives to help voters overcome common barriers to become confident voters and ambassadors of voting in their own communities for every election.  Review the NVEW website to become familiar with the days-of-action and other voting resources. [(... more NVEW)](https://www.votereducationweek.org)\n\n__Optional Task:__  VoteRiders is seeking dedicated virtual volunteers to help manage voter appointments and rides to the DMV and other ID-issuing agencies on an ongoing weekly basis. Responsibilities include making appointment reminder calls, scheduling rides and handling communications between drivers and voters. No experience is necessary.  VoteRiders will provide all of the training and support needed to be successful. This opportunity is ideal for volunteers living in the Central Time Zone or Eastern Time Zone as the voters we help most frequently live in North Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Texas. [(... more VoteRiders)](https://www.voteriders.org)\n\n__12 Months | 21 Actions__ National Voter Mobilization-Education-Registration-Empowerment Year (NVMEREY) helps voters bridge the gap between registering to vote and actually casting a ballot. During this year of interactive education, voters have the opportunity to find their polling location, understand their ballot, make a plan to vote in person or remotely, and more. NVMERY strives to help voters overcome common barriers to become confident voters and ambassadors of voting in their own communities for every election.\n\nWhile National Voter Mobilization-Education-Empowerment Year of Action is a __TARGETED campaign__ scheduled for a full extended year, the __Call-to-Action__ can begin today and continue any-every month-day throughout the year.  We will meet, as a collective, on the designated dates-times above to discuss our daily encounters-progress and brainstorm ideas!\n\nA few great places to host voter registration drives include: local businesses (ask customers-employees to distribute-share the links), places of worship (ask to get a table in the lobby after services), the business office workplace (talk to each colleague to get them to update their registration), your high school or college-university (set-up a table in a high-traffic area or talk to fellow students during breakfast-lunch), and high-traffic areas in your community (laundromats, playgrounds, public parks, restaurants, supermarkets), etc.\n\n- - - - -\n\n2020 Victorious! | Communities United is counting on all of us to participate by registering our colleagues-neighbors, families-friends and communities to ensure that eligible voters check and update their voter registration status during National Voter Mobilization-Education-Registration-Empowerment Year of Action.  We are calling on you to participate by registering your friends, family, and neighbors, and helping eligible voters check and update their voter registration.\n\nBegin by thinking of several dates and places that you can integrate voter registration into your schedule, including the places that you will already be! Think about the gatherings you already attend, and places where you regularly have conversations with others.  RSVP to this event page to indicate that during the Year of Action, you will participate by registering voters in your neighborhood and help your colleagues-neighbors, families-friends and communities check and update their voter registration!\n\nNational Voter Mobilization-Education-Registration-Empowerment Year (NVMEREY) ... (potential dates) ~2024 DATES TO BE UPDATES~\n\n* Monday, January 1, 2024 - New Year's Day\n* Monday, January 1-31, 2024 - New Year's Day through January 2023\n* Monday, January 15, 2024 - Martin Luther King (MLK) Day of Service\n* February 2024 - Black History Month\n* Wednesday, February 14, 2024 - Valentine's Day\n* Monday, February 19, 2024 - Presidents' Day\n* March 2024 - Women's History Month\n* Sunday, March 17, 2023 - St. Patrick's Day\n* Monday, April 1, 2024 - April Fool's Day\n* Monday, April 22, 2024 - Earth Day\n* Sunday, May 12+19+26, 2024 - Documentary Screening [(movie trailer)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RhrbEh-osI&t=1s)\n* Monday, May 27, 2024 - Memorial Day\n* Sunday, June 2+9, 2024 - Documentary Screening [(movie trailer)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RhrbEh-osI&t=1s)\n* Friday, June 14, 2024 - Flag Day\n* Wednesday, June 19, 2024 - Juneteenth\n* Thursday, July 4, 2024 - Independence Day\n* [August 1-31, 2024 - Advance Preparations for Mid-Term Elections]\n* Monday, September 2, 2024 - Labor Day\n* Wednesday, September 11, 2024 - 9-11\n* Tuesday, September 17, 2024 - Citizenship Day/Constitution Day\n* Sunday-Sunday, September 15-22, 2024 - National Voter Registration Week of Action\n* Sunday-Tuesday, September 15-October 15, 2024 - Hispanic Heritage Month\n* Tuesday, September 17, 2024 - __National Voter Registration Day__\n* Monday-Friday, October 7-11, 2024 - __National Voter Education Week__\n* Monday, October 14, 2024 - Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples' Day\n* November 2024 - Native American Heritage Month\n* Tuesday, November 5, 2024 - __NATIONAL ELECTION DAY__\n* Monday, November 11, 2024 - Veterans Day\n* Thursday, November 28, 2024 - Thanksgiving\n* Friday, November 29, 2024 - Native American Heritage Day\n* Wednesday, December 25, 2024 - Christmas Day\n\n- - - - -\n\n- - - - -\n\n160 million Americans cast their ballots in 2020 – shattering voter turnout records and making history.  And we can’t stop now.  There is still work to be done before we are #VoteReady!\n\nELECTION PROTECTION HOTLINE: Call or Text 866-OUR-VOTE * Tweet @866OURVOTE\n\nCopyright © 2021-2024 Communities United | 2020 Victorious!","organization":"2020 Victorious! | Communities United","organizationLogo":"https://mobilize-uploads-prod.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/organization/2020_20220210235441440024.png","startDate":"2028-01-01T05:00:00.000Z","endDate":"2028-01-02T04:45:00.000Z","timezone":"America/New_York","isVirtual":true,"location":{"venue":"","address":", ","city":"","state":"","zip":"","country":"US"},"virtualUrl":null,"registrationUrl":"https://www.mobilize.us/2020victorious/event/580830/","image":"https://mobilizeamerica.imgix.net/uploads/event/iStock-1200571987_20211230195758876840.jpg","eventType":"health-screening","source":"mobilize","sourceId":"580830","scrapedAt":"2026-04-01T16:41:56.037Z"},{"id":"mobilize-413625","title":"2020 Victorious! MLK NATIONAL DAY-WEEK OF ACTION-IMPACT-SERVICE | Communities United","description":"2020 Victorious! | Communities United is excited to partner with organizations across the country to participate in a National Day of Service on Monday, January 17, 2021 in honor of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  2020 Victorious! | Communities United encourages volunteers and community leaders to host virtual or socially distant service events in their community.\n\n__“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: ‘What are you doing for others?'” – The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.__\n\nJOIN 2020 Victorious! | Communities United supporters from all across the nation for the MLK National Day-Week of Action-Impact-Service!\n\nThe full week-weekend of action-impact-service series on Monday-Tuesday, Thursday-Friday, Saturday, and Monday, January 10-11, 13-14, 15, 16, and 17, 2021 will cover critical topics and share action planning about how to be of service in our communities and to our nation.  The plan is to mobilize in order to support the The King Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, Georgia and throughout the nation.  Please feel free to attend-participate in ALL-some or part of each daily-weekend action-impact-service event. Sign up with a friend!\n\nJoin us as we criss-cross the nation from New York to California, from Florida to Texas, from Washington, DC to the State of Washington (east-west, north-south) to honor the successes-triumphs of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:\n\n* MONDAY-TUESDAY, January 10-11, 2022 10:00am-1:30pm ... (3-hour 30-minutes) 2020 Victorious! King Center Holiday Nonviolence365®  Virtual Series: Keys to Creating a Culture Shift That Sticks https://thekingcenter.org/king-holiday-2022/\n\n* THURSDAY-FRIDAY, January 13-14, 2022 10:00am-5:30pm/4:00pm ... (7-hour 30-minutes) 2020 Victorious! King Center Holiday Observance Beloved Community Global Summit https://thekingcenter.org/king-holiday-2022/ ... Rebroadcast [(01-13-2022)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne9tMDgmZ9M) [(01-14-2022)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIr_ULBzZDg)\n\n* FRIDAY, January 14, 2022 12:00pm-6:30pm ... (6-hour 30-minutes) 2020 Victorious! King Center Holiday Observance Beloved Community Global Youth Summit https://thekingcenter.org/king-holiday-2022/ ... Rebroadcast [(01-14-2022)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2GuNy1TMR4)\n\n* SATURDAY, January 15, 2022 10:30am-11:30am ... (1-hour program) 2020 Victorious! King Center Holiday Beloved Community Book Reading: “It Starts With Me”: A Virtual Youth Book Reading and Puppetry Presentation https://thekingcenter.org/king-holiday-2022/ ... Rebroadcast [(01-15-2022)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TvlBJBSVnY)\n\n* SATURDAY, January 15, 2022 7:30pm-9:30pm ... (2-hour program) 2020 Victorious! King Center Holiday Beloved Community Awards (Formerly the Salute to Greatness Awards) https://thekingcenter.org/king-holiday-2022/ - Streaming on The King Center Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and website. ... Rebroadcast [(01-15-2022)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TvlBJBSVnY)\n\n* SUNDAY, January 16, 2022 2:00pm-2:45pm ... (45-minute program) 2020 Victorious! King Center Holiday Flame of Hope Ceremony Hosts: the King Center and Earth Caravan – Location: The King Center Plaza. *masks required\n\n* MONDAY, January 17, 2022 10:00am-1:00pm ... (3-hour program) 2020 Victorious! Martin Luther King Jr. Beloved Community Commemorative Service https://thekingcenter.org/king-holiday-2022/\n\n- - - - -\n\n__OTHER MLK EVENTS:__ ... (as schedules are made available)\n\nVirtual Rally: __Poor People’s Campaign National Launch of the Moral March on Washington and to the Polls – June 18, 2022__ [(livestream)](https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/livestream/) – Friday, January 14, 2022 10:00am ET * Tune in to hear Poor People’s Campaign co-chair Rev. Dr. William Barber II offers a vision for the National Launch of this season of nonviolent moral direct action culminating in the Mass Poor People's and Low-Wage Workers' Assembly and Moral March on Washington and to the Polls – June 18, 2022.  And then, make your calls to Congress to let them know that we don’t have scarcity of resources in this nation, we are dealing with a scarcity of political will. Every day of continued injustice will only embolden our agitation and strengthen our resolve to realize our moral agenda and the nation we have yet to be. Our demands can't wait. Call now and demand Congress to:\n\n* Pass the Voting Rights Advancement Act\n* Pass the For the People Act\n* End the Filibuster\n* Pass the Build Back Better agenda as a first step\n* Pass $15/hr Minimum Wage now\n* Pass Protections for All Immigrants\n* Stop the Destruction of Apache Holy Site Oak Flat\n\nVirtual Rally: __Poor People’s Campaign National Launch of the Moral March on Washington and to the Polls – June 18, 2022__ [(register)](https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84734193899) – Monday, January 17, 2022 4:00pm-6:00pm ET * Join the NYS PPC Faith Organizing Team online to learn the history of the Poor People's Campaign and to hear what the movement is calling for us to do right now! Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis will join and we will learn from impacted leaders in the NYS campaign who will share their experiences and insights with us as well. We will hear from faith leaders and share collectively our religious traditions' grounding for us in this campaign. AND, we will sing, take action together that day and sign up for concrete ways to build towards the Mass Poor People's Assembly and Moral March on Washington on June 18th! \n\nMONDAY, January 17+24, 2022 1:00pm-2:00pm ... (1-hour program) 2020 Victorious! Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) – __History Alive! Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: The Last Five Years.__  Honor the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with living history interpreter John McCaskill as he chronicles the last five years of King’s life and shares other stories of the individuals who fought to end racial segregation and discrimination in the United States.  Additional Information:  John McCaskill brings dynamic public speaking presentations in Washington, DC and across the country.  To authenticate his living history presentations, he adorns period attire for colonial, WWII/Army Air Corps Tuskegee Airmen, and Civil War U.S. Colored Troops, World War I, Reconstruction, Buffalo Soldier, and the 1960’s Civil Rights period. ... Rebroadcast [(01-17+24-2022)](https://video.ibm.com/channel/zCPF4U3hFPc)\n\nWhile we reflect on the past and look towards the future with hope and intention, the MLK National Day-Week of Action-Impact-Service will be an analysis of our national history and future legacy.  The weekend series will be a continuum of daily information discussions conducted by The King Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, Georgia, followed by a brief 30-minute open group discussion (optional). We want you to bring your favorite relevant historical civil rights and social justice topics and your best community service ideas to the discussion.\n\nAnd once you register, make sure your communities, colleagues, friends and family join too!\n\nPRE-MLK DAY of Service Discussion: If you are looking for a place to start, but are unsure how to do so, join one of our information sessions scheduled for January 10-11-13-14-15-17, 2022 10:00am ET / 7:00am PT.  If you don't know where to start, don't have the time to research or can't wait to get started with hands-on work, join us on one or more projects for the MLK Day-Week of Action-Impact-Service scheduled between Monday-Tuesday, Thursday-Friday, Saturday, and Monday, January 10-11, 13-14, 15, and 17, 2021.\n\nCopyright © 2021-2022 Communities United | 2020 Victorious!","organization":"2020 Victorious! | Communities United","organizationLogo":"https://mobilize-uploads-prod.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/organization/2020_20220210235441440024.png","startDate":"2028-01-01T14:00:00.000Z","endDate":"2028-01-01T15:00:00.000Z","timezone":"America/New_York","isVirtual":true,"location":{"venue":"New York City","address":", ","city":"New York","state":"NY","zip":"11430","country":"US"},"virtualUrl":null,"registrationUrl":"https://www.mobilize.us/2020victorious/event/413625/","image":"https://mobilizeamerica.imgix.net/uploads/event/i-have-a-dream-pavement_20211230165501685375.jpg","eventType":"memorial","source":"mobilize","sourceId":"413625","scrapedAt":"2026-04-01T16:41:53.462Z"}],"briefing":{"stories":[{"id":"vn-njmm5","slug":"sailors-and-marines-advised-to-hide-military-ties-on-social-media-report-suspici","title":"Sailors and Marines advised to hide military ties on social media, report suspicious activity","excerpt":"The Acting Secretary of the Navy is advising sailors and Marines to “harden” their online profiles and hide ties to the military, as part of a wider call for Department of the Navy personnel to be...","content":"The Acting Secretary of the Navy is advising sailors and Marines to “harden” their online profiles and hide ties to the military, as part of a wider call for Department of the Navy personnel to be “vigilant” against adversaries.\n\nIn an Aug. 19 notice to members of the Department of the Navy, Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao said that hostile actors are carrying out a “coordinated, multi-domain campaign” that includes direct attacks, harassment operations, and the release of personal information. Cao cited an “evolving threat landscape” since the start of the Iran war in February.\n\n“Recent incidents across the globe demonstrate a clear growth in adversary tactics, techniques, and procedures,” the notice said. “These are not isolated events; they are part of a deliberate effort to gather intelligence, test our defenses, disrupt our operations, and intimidate our force.”\n\nAccording to the memo, the threats include aerial drones surveilling bases, direct attempts to attack bases, harassment campaigns at bases to probe responses and direct harassment of Navy and Marine Corps personnel and their families. As such, department members are advised to take “immediate action” and review social media accounts for any publicly available information and set profiles to private.\n\n“Remove any information that could identify your connection to the DON or reveal patterns of life,” the message says. “Adversaries are actively mining this data.”\n\nThe Aug. 19 notice also calls for sailors and Marines to report suspicious activity to Naval Criminal Investigative Service. That includes being photographed or surveilled, suspicious questioning and any drone sighting.\n\nThe message comes after nearly a year and a half of the war and during a lull in fighting, following escalations in July. Cao writes that the decision is “based on recent events,” according to the notice, but does not specify what they were. Cao’s predecessor, John Phelan, issued a similar notice in the spring, warning of cyber operations against Navy personnel, and recommended steps for digital security. Cao’s new message addresses other threats, but goes beyond the April advice by suggesting that people hide information linking them to the military.\n\nDigital security and surveillance have been a major and repeated concern for the military in the lead-up to and duration of the war. In December, U.S. Central Command directed troops to turn off geolocation services and review privacy on their devices. Since the war started, the military has put out new warnings and restrictions, as online photos and videos, as well as commercially available data, have been used by Iran to track and target Americans.\n\nEarlier this month, Sky News reported that publicly available data on the fitness app Strava revealed troops and contractors’ routes and habits. Those included sites in Bahrain and Jordan, which were targeted by Iran during the war, with sometimes fatal results. More than 750 troops have been wounded in action since Feb. 28 and 18 killed.","category":"service","author":"Nicholas Slayton","publishDate":"2026-08-22T21:36:02.000Z","image":"https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/98009711.jpg?quality=85&w=2048","source":"Task & Purpose","sourceUrl":"https://taskandpurpose.com/news/navy-marines-warning-personnel-bases/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":110,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-23T00:00:38.183Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-23T04:00:35.250Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-m42o0v","slug":"from-homelessness-to-housing-building-financial-stability","title":"From homelessness to housing: Building financial stability","excerpt":"Meaningful employment helps Veterans overcome homelessness or avoid it all together. For many Veterans experiencing homelessness, the path to housing stability starts with employment and a steady...","content":"Meaningful employment helps Veterans overcome homelessness or avoid it all together.\n\nFor many Veterans experiencing homelessness, the path to housing stability starts with employment and a steady source of income. Both meaningful employment and income maximization are powerful tools that help Veterans build financial stability. Whether through employment, earned benefits, education or other supports, increasing income can help Veterans secure housing, weather financial challenges and build a more stable future. Together, employment services and income maximization strategies create a strong financial foundation, helping Veterans not only exit homelessness, but sustain long-term housing stability.\n\nEmployment as a homelessness prevention strategy\n\nResearch consistently shows that income and housing stability are closely connected. When Veterans have access to quality employment opportunities, they are often better positioned to manage housing costs, address financial emergencies and build savings for the future.\n\nEmployment can also provide benefits beyond income. Work often strengthens social connections, builds confidence, fosters a sense of purpose and supports overall well-being. These factors can be especially important for Veterans who are rebuilding their lives after experiencing housing instability.\n\nEmployment also supports broader recovery by helping Veterans stay engaged in their communities, which can improve their mental health and reduce risks associated with social isolation, substance use and other challenges that can contribute to homelessness.\n\nAt the same time, employment alone is not always enough. Many Veterans experiencing homelessness are already working but still struggle to afford housing and other basic needs.\n\nThe Power of income maximization\n\nWhile employment is a powerful tool for increasing income, long-term housing stability often depends on maximizing every available source of financial support.\n\nThis approach is known as income maximization and the idea is simple: help Veterans experiencing homelessness access every source of income and support available to them so that they can build the strongest possible financial foundation.\n\nIncome maximization includes:\n\nSecuring employment or advancing in a current career.\n\nAccessing Veterans benefits and earned entitlements.\n\nConnecting with education and training opportunities that lead to higher-paying jobs.\n\nIncreasing work hours or earning professional certifications.\n\nIdentifying tax credits, financial assistance programs or other resources that can improve financial stability.\n\nBy increasing and sustaining income, these strategies help Veterans secure permanent housing more quickly and reduce the risk of returning to homelessness. When Veterans have reliable income and resources to address unexpected expenses, they are better positioned to maintain housing over time and focus on other recovery and life goals. The following programs and specialists are at the center of that effort.\n\nConnecting Veterans experiencing homelessness with employment opportunities\n\nHomeless Veteran Community Employment Services (HVCES) supports Veterans participating in VA homeless programs by connecting them with employment opportunities, workforce development resources, and career support services.\n\nThrough a network of more than 150 Vocational Development Specialists serving as Community Employment Coordinators (CECs) and Employment Specialists, HVCES works alongside housing, healthcare and supportive service programs across VA Medical Centers (VAMCs) nationwide to ensure Veterans have access to the tools they need to increase income and sustain housing over time.\n\nCECs also serve as a bridge to local employment opportunities and workforce resources, leveraging their knowledge of local labor markets to connect Veterans with jobs, training and career pathways in their communities. The results demonstrate the value of this work: In fiscal year 2025, there were 12,700 Veterans employed when they exited VA homeless programs and services.\n\nWhen Veterans have the resources to maximize their income and strengthen their financial footing, they are better positioned to secure housing, maintain stability and pursue their goals. VA’s investment in these services is already making a difference and helping more Veterans build lasting independence.\n\nLearn about VA programs\n\nIf you are a Veteran experiencing homelessness or at risk for homelessness or need to connect with a Veterans justice outreach specialist, call the National Call Center for Homeless Veterans at 877-424-3838.\n\nLearn more about how VA helps Veterans experiencing homelessness with more than just housing services.\n\nVisit the VA Homeless Programs website to learn about housing initiatives and other programs for Veterans exiting homelessness.\n\nGet involved with housing Veterans experiencing homelessness.","category":"transition","author":"Nikki Verbeck","publishDate":"2026-08-22T20:30:00.000Z","image":"https://news.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2026/08/1538_Stock-Photo_van1.webp","source":"VA News","sourceUrl":"https://news.va.gov/148884/homelessness-housing-build-financial-stability/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":85,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-23T00:00:36.958Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-23T04:00:35.250Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-ufiixj","slug":"more-than-750-us-troops-wounded-in-iran-war-nearly-half-since-july","title":"More than 750 US troops wounded in Iran war, nearly half since July","excerpt":"The number of U.S. troops wounded in the Iran war passed 750 this week, as the Department of Defense updated its casualty report.","content":"The number of U.S. troops wounded in the Iran war passed 750 this week, as the Department of Defense updated its casualty report. Nearly half of those were service members wounded since fighting restarted last month.\n\nThe Department of Defense’s casualty database was updated this week, showing dozens more troops wounded. The latest figure, as of Friday, Aug. 21, shows 341 service members listed as wounded in action since July 7. The casualty database lists those as part of “Overseas Operations”, a distinct category created last month separate from Operation Epic Fury, the initial military campaign launched at the end of February. Combined with data from Epic Fury, 758 troops have been wounded since Feb. 28.\n\nThe Pentagon created the new category last month, after fighting between the United States and Iran reignited. According to the Defense Department, Epic Fury ended July 7.\n\nThe overwhelming majority of those wounded are from the Army, with 310 soldiers listed as wounded in action. The Navy accounts for 21 and the Air Force the remaining 10.\n\nThe Pentagon’s data does not specify what type of injury troops incurred or when and where they happened. The database’s figures also do not mean those injuries happened the day of the update. Injuries such as traumatic brain injuries can take time to be discovered and diagnosed as well as logged in the official database. However, their placement in the Overseas Operations category suggests they were all within the last month and a half.\n\nDespite the June 17 memorandum of understanding, reached in Islamabad, calling for a ceasefire, fighting has continued in spurts. Iran has repeatedly targeted American positions around the Persian Gulf as well as in Jordan.\n\nIn addition to the wounded, 18 service members have died in the war, four of whom died since July 7. Three of those were soldiers killed in an Iranian strike on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan.\n\nThe updated figures come as the war remains at an impasse. The June deal called for a 60-day window to reach a peace deal. The deal expired on Aug. 17. Fighting restarted in early July following disputes over traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. Alongside days of airstrikes on Iranian sites, the U.S. also reimposed its blockade of the strait. Attacks stopped this month, although U.S. forces have fired on ships trying to break the blockade.","category":"service","author":"Nicholas Slayton","publishDate":"2026-08-22T19:39:51.000Z","image":"https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/9810768.jpg?quality=85&w=2048","source":"Task & Purpose","sourceUrl":"https://taskandpurpose.com/news/us-troops-more-than-750-wounded-iran/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":110,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-23T00:00:38.183Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-23T04:00:35.250Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-fdei0w","slug":"military-divorce-is-another-unspoken-cost-of-service","title":"Military divorce is another unspoken cost of service","excerpt":"Nothing brings me to feel-good, ugly tears like a “welcome home” ceremony. In fact, fellow Americans share in this sentiment. We eat it up.","content":"Nothing brings me to feel-good, ugly tears like a “welcome home” ceremony. In fact, fellow Americans share in this sentiment. We eat it up. There are countless reels that capture surprised and ecstatic military families when they spot their service member for the first time after a long deployment, whether it be a surprise or orchestrated.\n\nThe strength, stamina, courage, and sacrifice of military families is unmatched and is precisely why military divorce is such a travesty. Seemingly, divorce can become just another casualty of military service.\n\nYet, it needs and deserves a massive amount of awareness and attention.\n\nThe wedge can begin with another anniversary, death of a loved one, or family milestone missed because duty called. Another birthday celebrated through a screen or worse, heartache managed through separation. A PCS that forces a military spouse to abandon a career they worked years to build, and grieve the friendships and community they built in the absence of their service member. The compilation of “just one more” life event that the couple has to navigate in the absence of their partner.\n\nThe reality is that deployments, TDYs, and geographical separations rely on the fact that one parent becomes both mother and father overnight. Another promotion or bump in rank brings greater responsibility, but translates less time for family connection and togetherness.\n\nMilitary divorce is rarely the result of a single event, but is the cumulative weight of years spent carrying burdens that few civilian families fully comprehend.\n\nWhat Stats Can’t Measure\n\nStatistics can’t capture what it feels like to become strangers or live like roommates while sharing the same home, managing everyday life, and especially throwing children in the mix.\n\nNumbers can’t measure the loneliness of raising children through multiple deployments while being attentive to everyone else’s needs all the while feeling inadequate, sad, tired or exhausted. No data exists out there that can account for the number of times spouses have to restart a career over and over again, constantly having to prove themselves because of moves.\n\nIt is impossible to tally up the emotional distance that sometimes follows years of combat, operational stress, or leadership responsibilities. Military culture teaches and expects resilience, self-sacrifice, and mission-first thinking from all family member.\n\nWhile mission-first thinking is essential to national defense, military marriages can unintentionally spill into family life if the couple negates their commitment to one another. The mission can begin to receive more attention than the marriage or family.\n\nThis is when the sanctity of marriage becomes volatile and every effort needs to be made to preserve the family unit by both partners. Not one, because it will never work.\n\nDivorce Is Not the Whole Story\n\nDespite the challenges, thousands of military marriages remain healthy, resilient, and deeply fulfilling.\n\nSuccessful military couples often share common characteristics:\n\n• They communicate open and honestly, even when conversations are difficult.\n• They seek counseling before problems become crises.\n• They protect time for one another despite demanding schedules.\n• They recognize that both partners are serving in different ways.\n• They adapt together rather than expect one spouse to carry the entire burden.\n\nThe must-have characteristic for a lasting marriage is that both people put in the same amount of work. Always.\n\nStrong military marriages aren’t lucky or happenstance. Healthy military marriages are built together by both partners in the relationship. Military marriages work because two people continually choose each other in the midst of extraordinary circumstances where love and commitment is without condition.\n\nSupporting the Family Supports the Force\n\nEvery military divorce affects more than just two adults. Children navigate changing homes and schools. Units lose focus when service members are under intense personal stress. If we truly value military readiness, we must also value relationship readiness.\n\nThat means investing in accessible counseling, supporting spouse employment, strengthening community connections, expanding education about healthy relationships, and encouraging leaders to recognize that family readiness is inseparable from mission readiness.\n\nMilitary spouses have long carried an invisible rucksack filled with sacrifice, loneliness, uncertainty, longing, and resilience. It’s high time we also acknowledge the weight of protecting our marriages while serving a nation.\n\nEvery strong military marriage and family is a story worth telling.\n\nDon’t Miss the Best of We Are The Mighty\n\n• 5 key differences between Delta Force and SEAL Team 6 \n• The difference between Special Forces and special operations\n• Harriet Tubman was America’s first unconventional warfare commander\n\nMighty MilSpouse\n\nMilitary divorce is another unspoken cost of service\n\nBy Sara Jane Ginn\n\nTheir daughter was in hospice. His orders came anyway.\n\nMighty MilSpouse\n\nThe 5 biggest life skills you’ll learn as a military spouse\n\nMighty MilSpouse\n\nMy spouse is deployed aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. This is what’s really happening\n\nMighty MilSpouse\n\nMilitary parents call their kids brats—and it’s a badge of honor","category":"family","author":"Sara Jane Ginn","publishDate":"2026-08-22T15:00:00.000Z","image":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/military-divorce-illustration-DHA.webp?quality=85","source":"We Are The Mighty","sourceUrl":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-milspouse/military-divorce-is-another-unspoken-cost-of-service/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":100,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-22T18:00:43.726Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-23T04:00:36.034Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-9pc668","slug":"what-you-need-to-know-about-tricare-open-enrollment","title":"What You Need to Know About Tricare Open Enrollment","excerpt":"Tricare open enrollment, also known as Tricare open season, runs each year from mid-November through mid-December. For 2026, those dates are Nov. 9 to Dec. 8.","content":"Tricare open enrollment, also known as Tricare open season, runs each year from mid-November through mid-December. For 2026, those dates are Nov. 9 to Dec. 8.","category":"benefits","author":"Amanda Miller","publishDate":"2026-08-21T20:39:27.000Z","image":"https://static0.mltimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2025-09/military%20DHA%20chief%201800%20x%201200.jpg","source":"Military.com - Benefits","sourceUrl":"https://www.military.com/benefits/tricare/tricare-open-enrollment.html","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":70,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-22T00:00:36.231Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-22T04:00:34.261Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-olv5fd","slug":"enjoy-a-better-future-as-a-va-gastroenterologist","title":"Enjoy a better future as a VA gastroenterologist","excerpt":"The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has always been at the forefront of advancements in medical care. For specialty physicians like gastroenterologists, that means an opportunity to work at the...","content":"The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has always been at the forefront of advancements in medical care. For specialty physicians like gastroenterologists, that means an opportunity to work at the cutting edge of patient care, all while earning amazing benefits.\n\nEmbracing the future of healthcare\n\nAt VA, our commitment to caring for Veterans has always pushed us to implement new treatments and procedures that have later been adopted in healthcare systems the world over.\n\nWith the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), VA supported our National Colorectal Cancer Screening Program (NCSP) by deploying AI-assisted devices to assist with colonoscopy in dozens of facilities. In turn, our gastroenterologists have embraced this technology to conduct more precise and consistent exams.\n\n“I think the push was to see if it had an impact on the quality of procedures and the quality of outcomes for patients,” said Dr. Douglas Boyce, a gastroenterologist in the Ashville VA Healthcare System. “It really comes down to whether you can prevent cancer and provide good care. In many ways, VA was ahead of the curve in getting it implemented.”\n\nCoupled with our research and development, investments in new technologies like this are part of what makes VA an innovating and exciting place to work for physicians, including gastroenterologists.\n\nFinding new ways to heal\n\nDid you know that VA pioneered significant research in the field of gastroenterology?\n\nIn 1955, Dr. Morton I. Grossman became chief of gastroenterology at the Greater Los Angeles VA Medical Center. Grossman is considered the father of modern gastrointestinal physiology and studied how nerves and hormonal influences control gastrointestinal reactions.\n\nDr. Rosalyn S. Yalow, a Nobel laureate, devoted much of her research work to the study of gastrointestinal hormones, which are provided by an endocrine gland and transmitted by the blood to the tissue on which they have a specific effect.\n\nDr. Andrew V. Schally, another of VA’s Nobel laureates, also studied gastrointestinal hormones. Schally demonstrated that the hypothalamus, a part of the brain located just above the pituitary gland, regulated the endocrine system.\n\nFor physicians like you—experts in your field—knowing that we support and encourage research like this provides an opportunity to make a significant difference in the lives of Veterans, as well as patients the world over.\n\nThat’s because, at VA, we know healthcare isn’t just about treating ailments, but also about finding new ways to contribute to whole health.\n\nBenefits that matter to you\n\nNo matter the role you choose—whether that is direct patient care or research or some combination of the two—our employment benefits don’t change, because what’s important to you is important to us.\n\nIf time is your most valuable commodity, we’ll make sure you have plenty of it, with 13-26 days paid leave, as well as 13 sick days annually, 11 paid federal holidays each year, and 12 weeks of paid parental leave.\n\nWhen it comes to caring for yourself and your family, we offer the choice of a variety of health plans, and all cover preexisting conditions. Additionally, we pay up to 75% of health premiums, a benefit that can continue into retirement, making our insurance some of the best you’ll find.\n\nWhen the time comes to retire, your finances will be secure. VA employees have access to the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), which allows you to tax-defer a portion of your income each year, similar to a 401(k).\n\nAnd for the Veterans who choose to join our ranks, all those benefits are in addition to any you earned if you served in the military. As a VA employee, you can choose to carry over eligible military service time that can be added to your total years of service for retirement purposes.\n\nJoin our team\n\nBuild a career as a gastroenterologist by working on the cutting edge of health care, and reap the rewards of serving those who have served in the process. Explore all that VA has to offer physicians at VA Careers.","category":"health","author":"Michelle Weaver","publishDate":"2026-08-21T20:30:00.000Z","image":"https://news.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2026/08/gastroenterology-header.webp","source":"VA News","sourceUrl":"https://news.va.gov/148769/enjoy-better-future-va-gastroenterologist/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":85,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-22T00:00:34.189Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-22T04:00:34.261Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-1ugs61","slug":"reservists-guardsmen-learn-about-your-va-benefits-from-online-course","title":"Reservists, Guardsmen, learn about your VA benefits from online course","excerpt":"If you serve or have served in the reserve or National Guard, you already know that eligibility rules for VA benefits are different than those who served on active duty.","content":"If you serve or have served in the reserve or National Guard, you already know that eligibility rules for VA benefits are different than those who served on active duty. But what are those eligibility rules?\n\nVA developed the “Reserve and National Guard (RNG) Military Life Cycle (MLC) module,” an online course, to explain VA benefits to those serving in the reserve and in the National Guard.\n\nThe RNG MLC module is part of the VA Transition Assistance Program, but it isn’t just for people who are separating. It’s designed for reserve component and National Guard members and their families at every part of the service stage, whether you’re currently drilling, activating, deploying, returning home or planning for the future. Because the module is online, you can access it at a time that works for you.\n\nWhat you’ll learn in the RNC MLC Module\n\nThe RNG MLC module focuses on four key areas:\n\nEligibility requirements for VA benefits and services: You’ll get a clear explanation of how your activation history, length of service and character of discharge impact your eligibility for benefits.\n\nVA benefits, services and tools: From disability compensation and VA healthcare to G.I. Bill™ programs, home loans and career resources, this module helps you understand what’s out there and how to use it.\n\nDual payment rules: Learn to navigate the process of receiving VA disability compensation while balancing other forms of military pay, ensuring compliance with regulations.\n\nCommunity resources: Learn to find VA-verified local and national resources that can enhance your well-being and strengthen your support networks.\n\nThere are approximately 1.2 million reserve component members and nearly 1 million reserve service family members. Whether you’re a reserve component member seeking clarity on your benefits or a family member looking to support your loved one, the RNG MLC module provides the tools to succeed.\n\nVisit the TAP Course Catalog to locate the RNG MLC module and register today.","category":"benefits","author":"briannogues","publishDate":"2026-08-21T18:30:00.000Z","image":"https://news.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2026/08/army-reserve.webp","source":"VA News","sourceUrl":"https://news.va.gov/148947/reservists-guardsmen-va-benefits-online-course/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":85,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-22T00:00:34.189Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-22T04:00:34.261Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-hl6ky5","slug":"the-fight-to-recognize-doris-miller-s-valor-at-pearl-harbor","title":"The fight to recognize Doris Miller’s valor at Pearl Harbor","excerpt":"A U.S. Navy messman, Doris “Dorie” Miller, was a Black 22-year-old sharecropper’s son from Waco, Texas. Because of his rating, he was restricted from handling any weapons.","content":"A U.S. Navy messman, Doris “Dorie” Miller, was a Black 22-year-old sharecropper’s son from Waco, Texas. Because of his rating, he was restricted from handling any weapons. His duties included serving the officers’ mess, collecting laundry, and shining shoes. Despite the institutional racism built into the Navy at the time, Miller found success as the boxing champion of his ship, the battleship USS West Virginia.\n\nThat didn’t change the fact that he was Black, and as a result, he was segregated from his white shipmates in both his duties and berthing. But Miller and the Navy would soon learn that hostile fire doesn’t discriminate.\n\nOn Dec. 7, 1941, Miller woke at 0600 to serve the breakfast mess. He then proceeded to collect laundry. At 0757, a torpedo dropped by Lt. Cdr. Shigeharu Murata of the Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi struck the West Virginia. It was the first of nine that would eventually sink the mighty battleship.\n\nGeneral Quarters was sounded and Miller made his way to his battle station, an anti-aircraft battery magazine located amidships. Upon finding the position destroyed, Miller proceeded to “Times Square,” a central location where the fore-to-aft and port-to-starboard passageways crossed, to report himself available for other duty.\n\nThe COMMO, Lt. Cmdr. Doir Johnson, recognized Miller’s powerful boxer build and ordered Miller to accompany him to the bridge to help him move the ship’s skipper, Capt. Mervyn Bennion, who had taken a piece of shrapnel to the abdomen. They moved him to a sheltered spot behind the conning tower. Bennion refused to abandon his post and continued to fight the ship, issuing orders and receiving reports from his officers.\n\nAfter moving the captain, Miller was ordered to accompany Lt. Frederic White and Ens. Victor Delano to load the number 1 and 2 M2 .50-caliber anti-aircraft machine guns (which sat unmanned) aft of the conning tower. Since he had no training on the weapon system, White and Delano instructed Miller on how to load and man the guns.\n\nExpecting Miller to feed ammunition to the gun, Delano was surprised to turn around and see Miller firing one of the guns. White loaded ammunition into the guns and Miller continued to fire until the ammunition was expended. Miller’s actions with the captain and the machine gun have become well-known thanks to their depiction in Hollywood films; most notably, “Pearl Harbor: where Miller was portrayed by Cuba Gooding Jr.\n\nWhat is less known are Miller’s actions after he ran out of ammo. Lieutenant Claude Ricketts ordered Miller to help him carry the captain, then only semi-conscious and bleeding heavily, up to the navigation bridge and out of the thick oily smoke that had begun to engulf the ship. Captain Bennion succumbed to his wounds and died soon afterwards.\n\nFor his actions, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. Miller proceeded to pull injured sailors out of the burning mix of oil and water and was one of the last men to abandon West Virginia as she sank. He continued to rescue his fellow sailors from the water and move them to safety as the attack continued and after it finally ended.\n\nWhile it’s unfortunate that Miller’s actions after his gun ran out of ammo are lesser known, it’s tragic that Miller’s actions during the attack initially went unrecognized. An official Navy commendation list of outstanding actions during the attack did not bear Miller’s name and only listed “an unknown Negro sailor.”\n\nThe Pittsburgh Courier, one of the leading Black newspapers at the time, didn’t think this was enough.\n\n“It made two lines in the newspaper,” said Frank Bolden, war correspondent for the Courier, in an interview before his death in 2003. “The Courier thought he should be recognized and honored. We sent not a reporter, we sent our executive editor to the naval department. They said, ‘We don’t know the name of the messman. There are so many of them.'”\n\nThe Navy’s apathy didn’t deter the Courier.\n\nHoping to undermine the stereotype that African-Americans couldn’t perform well in combat, the Courier was determined to identify the unnamed Black sailor and properly recognize him for his actions.\n\n“The publisher of the paper said, ‘Keep after it’,” Bolden said. “We spent $7,000 working to find out who Dorie Miller was. And we made Dorie Miller a hero.”\n\nAfter Miller was identified, the African-American community swelled with pride. Amidst the shock and sorrow that gripped the country following Pearl Harbor, they had a war hero that represented them. Initially, however, the Navy only awarded Miller a letter of commendation. It took a campaign by the Black press and a proposal from Adm. Chester Nimitz, Commander of the Pacific fleet, to President Roosevelt for the commendation to be upgraded to the Navy Cross, the third highest honor for valor at the time.\n\nMiller continued to serve in the fleet aboard the USS Indianapolis and was promoted to Messman First Class in June 1942. Later that month, the Courier started a campaign for him to return home for a war bond tour alongside white war heroes.\n\nAs part of the campaign, the paper published a photo of Miller next to a photo of a Sgt. Joseph Lockard receiving an officer’s commission for sounding a warning that went unheeded before the attack on Pearl Harbor. The photos were captioned, “He Warned… Gets Commission. He Fought… Keeps Mop,” highlighting the disparity in the treatment of white and colored servicemen.\n\nThe campaign succeeded and Miller returned to Pearl Harbor in November. He went on a war bond tour that included Oakland, Dallas, and his hometown of Waco until he reported to Puget Sound in May 1943.\n\nHe was advanced to Cook First Class on June 1 and reported to the escort carrier Liscome Bay. That year, Miller was featured on a Navy recruiting poster called “Above and beyond the call of duty.”\n\nAt the Battle of Makin, the Liscome Bay was sunk by a Japanese submarine on Nov. 24, 1943. Miller and two-thirds of the crew were listed as presumed dead. His body was never recovered.\n\nSince his death, Miller has had schools, streets, community centers, and a foundation named after him. A memorial in his hometown of Waco, Texas features a nine-foot bronze statue of Miller. While the Navy named a Knox-class frigate after him, the remainder of Miller’s naval dedications are quarters, galleys, and a housing community—until now.\n\nOn Jan. 19, 2020, the Navy announced that CVN-81, a future Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier, would be named the USS Doris Miller. The Doris Miller was to be laid down January 2026, launched October 2029, and commissioned in 2030.\n\nShe will be the first supercarrier to be named for an enlisted sailor and the first to be named after an African American.\n\nThe fight to honor Miller continues, however. Since the Navy announced that a carrier would bear his name, efforts to upgrade Miller’s Navy Cross to a Medal of Honor have been renewed. There are even rumors the Navy is considering scrapping the name altogether to rename the ship for President Trump.\n\nThe man who was told he could not handle a weapon but still defended his ship and rescued his shipmates should have his name on one of the Navy’s—the world’s—mightiest vessels. Doris Miller will be listed alongside names like Gerald R. Ford and John F. Kennedy. If he is posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, it will mark the final victory in the fight to properly recognize Miller for his courage, valor, and dedication to duty.\n\nDon’t Miss the Best of We Are The Mighty\n\n• A National Guard unit saw the most combat during World War II\n• The new Jimmy Stewart biopic depicts his World War II service\n• How Paul Newman survived 2 close calls in the Navy during World War II\n\nWorld War II\n\nThe fight to recognize Doris Miller’s valor at Pearl Harbor\n\nThe weird engineering that links old ships of the line and the SR-71 Blackbird\n\nWorld War II\n\nA National Guard unit saw the most combat during World War II\n\nWhy 11.5 is the best AR barrel length for most shooters\n\nThe Civil War started and ended at the same guy’s house","category":"legacy","author":"Miguel Ortiz","publishDate":"2026-08-21T17:13:09.000Z","image":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/doris-miller-navy-pearl-harbor.webp?quality=85","source":"We Are The Mighty","sourceUrl":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-trending/doris-miller-valor-pearl-harbor/","serviceBranch":null,"qualityScore":100,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-08-21T18:00:53.192Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-08-22T04:00:34.475Z","linkStatus":"ok"}]},"total":1786,"limit":30,"offset":0,"hasMore":true,"lastUpdate":"2026-08-23T18:00:59.341Z"}