Latest news with #Task&Purpose
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Yahoo
Ranges on Fort Benning aren't long enough for Army's new sniper rifle
The Army is updating its sniper training range at Fort Benning, Georgia to accommodate its newest sniper rifle, which can accurately hit targets nearly a mile away. The MK22 Precision Sniper Rifle is a multi-caliber bolt-action sniper rifle that was designed to replace the Army's M2010, M110 and M107 rifles, according to the Army's Program Executive Office Soldier, which is in charge of new weapon development. The Army's current generation of sniper rifles have 'an effective range' of nearly 1,000 meters, but the new MK22 can reach targets between 1,500 to 1,800 meters away, said Shane Duncanson, Fort Benning range planner, in an Army release. As a result, he said, the sniper rifle 'requires a whole different range design.' Will Brugge, a spokesperson for Fort Benning, said that the range upgrades will allow soldiers to use the MK22 to the fullest extent, which helps them train specific sniper skills like calculating ballistics, estimating distances and actually hitting targets. 'Firing at targets with the weapon system's maximum effective range requires snipers to be absolutely precise with their ballistic calculations to accommodate for atmospheric conditions, primarily wind speed and temperature. It also requires snipers to be absolute with their range estimation skills. Further engagements also challenge the sniper's ability to detect targets and apply target recognition skills,' Brugge said. 'Snipers who do this successfully gain experience and confidence in using the weapon system.' The MK22 rifle can swap between three different barrels to use three types of ammunition: the typical 7.62mm, and two new calibers, .300 and .338 Norma Magnum rounds, which can be switched out depending on the type of mission. With the shortest barrel, the rifle can use standard 7.62 rounds for targets as far as 1000 meters. Two longer barrels accommodate the .300NM's regular ball round and the .338NM's armor-piercing round for shots up to 1,500 meters, according to an Army fact sheet on the system. An Army marksmanship instructor at one of the largest bases told Task & Purpose that some soldiers with the new MK22 have not yet received the .300NM and .338NM ammunition. Unlike 7.62 rounds, which the Army has used for decades in other weapons, both of the new sniper rounds have been developed specifically for the rifle. The Army signed a $157 million contract with Sig Sauer to produce .300NM and .338NM ammunition in June 2022. Sig Sauer told Task & Purpose that all of the ammunition ordered by the Army had been delivered. The Army fielded the MK22 to special operations soldiers in 2021. According to PEO Soldier officials, the sniper rifles are still being distributed to conventional units that have sniper-trained soldiers assigned to them, such as infantry battalions. Officials declined to give additional details on what units have so far received the MK22 or which might soon. The sniper rifle is also being adopted by the Marine Corps, which announced in November 2024 that it had been fielded to all of its infantry and reconnaissance units and training schools. The new rifles arrive amid a Marine Corps-wide overhaul of its marksmanship training, which includes building new ranges at major training centers. Fort Benning's largest firing range, the Burroughs Range, was completed in 1976 and was originally designed for heavy sniper training with armored targets and a moving target rail system 800 meters from shooters. To make room for the MK22, the range will now initially be upgraded for soldiers to practice with targets at distances between 800 and 1,100 meters. Further work will extend that distance to 1,200 meters away in the coming years. However, as part of the range upgrades, the Army is removing a 225-meter berm and tracks, which will give soldiers an additional line of sight to distant targets and an area to install new trackless moving targets. A Marine Corps reply-all email apocalypse has an incredible real-life ending Army shuts down its sole active-duty information operations command Army plans to close more than 20 base museums in major reduction Former Green Beret nominated to top Pentagon position to oversee special ops The Navy's new recruiting commercial puts the 'dirt wars' in the past
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Most military families on base don't know their rights as tenants, survey finds
More than half of military families don't know about their housing rights, official feedback systems or the offices set up to manage issues with their private housing landlords, a survey found. Two out of three respondents said that issues with military housing had affected their family's quality of life, and almost half said they had paid out of pocket for repairs or improvements to their homes. The survey, conducted by the Military Housing Coalition and released today, found that nearly 56% of respondents were not aware of their tenant rights, and 48% did not feel their base housing office provided adequate oversight. The fiscal year 2020 national defense bill established the Tenant Bill of Rights, granting military families 18 rights around their privatized military housing, including access to a formal dispute resolution process with their landlords. The education around these protections and other housing resources are supplied by Government Housing Offices at each military base. Heather Hall, the founder of the Military Housing Coalition and a military spouse, told Task & Purpose that the last few years of advocacy work aren't meaningful unless families know about their protections and the help that's available to them. 'As much as people have been pounding the ground like myself and other advocates out there to say this is an oversight piece,' Hall said, 'they still don't know that that's an available resource to them.' The coalition received responses from over 1,100 active-duty members, military spouses, DoD civilians, and retirees — a small sample of the hundreds of thousands who live in private military housing. On U.S. military installations, these private landlords operate 99% of family housing, which is made up of more than 200,000 units, according to the GAO. 'We are committed to providing our warfighters and their families the safe and quality housing they deserve. We appreciate the support of military and veteran community partners on improving awareness of DOD's Housing Feedback System, and Congressional committees to make much needed housing reforms,' a Pentagon spokesperson said in a statement to Task & Purpose. Military quality of life had become a major topic in Washington, D.C. in 2019, leading to major changes and additions in the fiscal year 2020 defense bill. Separately, in 2021, Balfour Beatty, one of the military's largest private housing landlords, agreed to plead guilty and pay $65 million in fines for 'pervasive fraud' which included falsified maintenance records. Hall said the momentum around improving private military housing from the beginning of the decade seems to have dissipated post-pandemic. Major changes were made to 2020 defense bill to address housing and in 2021, Balfour Beatty, one of the military's largest private housing landlords, agreed to plead guilty and pay $65 million in fines for 'pervasive fraud' which included falsified maintenance records But in recent years, a majority of military quality of life topics in Congress have addressed fixes to barracks, troop pay increases, and childcare. 'That's not an excuse to just completely be like, 'OK, we're done talking about housing. We're done having this conversation in Congress, we're done having hearings.' And essentially, that's what happened,' Hall said. 'It's sad that we've put all of this legislation into place over the years and yet we're still fighting that original battle that we still have bad actors.' Across bases, Government Housing Offices go by different names, which the coalition thinks should be standardized. Personnel in these offices are directed to hold information sessions with families who are new arrivals to the bases and present them with their bill of rights and offer resources for any issues that may arise. According to the survey, 26.5% of respondents didn't know about the office's role in the first place, which mirrored findings from an April 2023 Government Accountability Office report that described confusion over implementation of the dispute resolution process and the roles of official Department of Defense military housing advocates. In August 2024, the Department of Defense launched its Housing Feedback System for active-duty troops and their dependents 'to submit feedback on their current leased unit, ensuring that their voices are heard and their concerns are addressed in a timely manner.' But in the MHC survey, 67.5% said they were unaware of the feedback system. At the time of the survey, there were 34 public entries despite 183 respondents indicating they submitted their own feedback, which the coalition said raised transparency concerns. 'Many respondents reported being unaware of their rights as tenants and the resources available to them – factors that critically undermine their ability to seek help or resolve problems effectively,' according to an executive summary of the MHC survey. 'These findings reinforce the urgent need for stronger communication, improved tenant education, and coordinated, systemic reforms across the military housing landscape.' 'The reason I do this is because I don't want anyone to feel like they're in a situation like I was back then — that I didn't feel like I had anyone,' Hall said. 'Maintenance and the community management, sometimes they get the angry spouse, but you have absolutely no idea what this spouse is dealing with at the time.' Military spouses made up nearly 82% of responses, 'highlighting the critical role they play in identifying and reporting housing issues,' the coalition noted in survey materials provided to Task & Purpose. The coalition advocates for adding spouses as tenants on private military housing leases since oftentimes they aren't, which restricts their access to certain rights like the dispute resolution process. Nearly 63% of respondents said on the survey that their housing conditions had negatively affected them or their family's quality of life, especially their mental and physical health. The majority of problems reported on the survey were about mold, mildew, pest infestations, HVAC failures, water intrusion and appliance issues — issues that have been reported countless times by news outlets and have been the subject of concern at Congressional hearings on military budgets. The coalition is asking for the DoD to standardize the way private landlords address mold and water intrusion in military homes. 'Some companies are doing the right thing and trying to implement policies and asking that their contractors have certifications for handling those kinds of issues,' Hall said. 'But then we still see residents that are staying in other housing providers, that mildew and mold are being painted over or it's being dismissed as dust and not being taken seriously and it's resulting in physical health issues to our families.' While Hall's husband was deployed, her daughter was in and out of the hospital with respiratory issues, which she believes was the result of mold exposure. Sometimes her daughter would run a 102 fever and have symptoms come and go. Hall said it made her own family members question the validity of her daughter being sick. 'I couldn't prove that it was the home, but she didn't have it before and she didn't end up having it after and I looked like a crazy person. I felt like I was crazy,' Hall said. 'My husband was gone. If it wasn't for my mom coming into town and helping me, I have no idea what I would have done because I was just physically and mentally exhausted.' When maintenance workers pulled up her kitchen flooring, they discovered black mold. Hall said she 'lost it.' She was in the middle of managing the housing problems, maintaining her son's school and sports schedule and driving her daughter back and forth to Kansas City for a pediatric pulmonologist. Around the same time, an administrative error interrupted her husband's pay so sometimes she wondered how she was going to pay for gas to get her daughter to the pulmonologist. She was mentally and physically exhausted. 'That's the mental strain on these families is, they know something's wrong but they can't prove it,' Hall said. 'I understand the legalities behind it to these companies, and I don't think that there's willful negligence here. I don't think that anyone in any of these companies goes to work every day thinking that they're going to do something wrong and do something willfully, but you can't prove it.' Around 45% of respondents said they paid out of pocket for repairs or improvements for their military housing units. That result tracks with several complaints in another recent lawsuit against Balfour Beatty, which included a Navy family in Florida told Task & Purpose that the damages from mold and a broken HVAC system cost them thousands, including the husband's reenlistment bonus. 'The fact that anyone said yes that they have made a repair to their home, living on base out of their own pocket due to negligence, really that kind of stung a little bit. Nobody should have to fix their own home, especially when they choose to live on base,' Hall said. 'They should depend on the provider to fix their home.' A Marine Corps reply-all email apocalypse has an incredible real-life ending Army shuts down its sole active-duty information operations command Army plans to close more than 20 base museums in major reduction Former Green Beret nominated to top Pentagon position to oversee special ops The Navy's new recruiting commercial puts the 'dirt wars' in the past
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Health
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Sailors who can't deploy will be moved to empty jobs under Navy program
The Navy is implementing a program that will transfer non-deployable sailors to jobs that will keep them in the service long enough to return to duty rather than being separated on medical grounds. The new EMPLOY program will focus on sailor 'employability, not deployability,' by filling empty jobs with sailors who cannot deploy and reducing the number of sailors separated from the service through the Disability Evaluation System, according to a Naval admin notice posted Monday. 'EMPLOY accomplishes multiple important objectives for the Navy: we keep sailors on their career track by providing them with meaningful assignments that match their skills, we fill critical gapped billets ashore, and as an organization we retain the valuable knowledge, skills and experience these sailors possess,' Navy spokesperson Lt. Cmdr. Stuart Phillips told Task & Purpose. 'Everyone wins.' The EMPLOY program is designed to place sailors into already-funded billets that would otherwise remain vacant. These assignments last for at least 24 months and include non-deployable, land-based jobs. The Navy released formal instructions for the program this week but began a 'phased roll-out of the EMPLOY model last year,' to evaluate the program's effectiveness, Phillips said. In May 2024, the first sailor was approved for an EMPLOY program tour. To date, 850 Sailors have been considered for EMPLOY with 303 selected so far. An average of 20 sailors are nominated each week, according to Phillips. The program is designed to retain sailors who are non-deployable due to injuries or illnesses, but who are expected to eventually return to duty. Sailors who are 'medically incapable of continued service' are not eligible for the program, according to a Navy factsheet. For example, sailors recovering from a musculoskeletal injury that will eventually heal, or who are undergoing treatment for cancer, could be eligible for the EMPLOY program, Phillips said. The program could also be for sailors taking certain medications that make them non-deployable. Phillips gave the example of anticoagulant medications that prevent fatal blood clots but also increase the risk of uncontrolled bleeding 'which is even more dangerous on a deployed warship.' 'While sailors in these situations may not be suitable for a sea duty tour, they can continue to contribute from a shore billet,' Phillips said. EMPLOY is open to sailors on active duty and those in the Navy's Training and Administration of the Reserve program, in which Reserve officers are put on active duty to manage and train the service's Reserve Component. Sailors in specialized career fields that require special duty screenings, like submarine duty, will have to complete a screening and de-screening process before they can be considered for EMPLOY. The process begins with a sailor's medical provider, who nominates the sailor for the program. Their case is reviewed by officials, including a Medical Evaluation Board. Sailors can work with detailers to negotiate their current orders or they can look for new opportunities through the Senior Enlisted Marketplace. The jobs sailors can hold in the program include Type 1 and Type 6 duty stations. Type 1 stations are shore assignments at bases in the continental U.S., Hawaii and Alaska. Sailors are limited from leaving their station for more than 150 days per year, or attending schools that last 18 months or more. Type 6 duty stations are overseas and have similar limits for sailors not to be absent from their offices for more than 150 days each year. Examples of Type 6 can include overseas stations, like Naval Base Sigonella, Italy and some more-remote locations in the U.S., like Naval Air Station Key West, Florida. Sailors may be cross-rated or redesignated into a new career field if the new job requires it. They may also be issued a conditional enlistment contract if they don't have enough time left in their current one. The NAVADMIN recommends that they consult with career counselors on how these temporary jobs could affect future Navy opportunities within their job field or other non-traditional roles. However, sailors in the program are still eligible for promotion. The Navy has faced similar recruiting challenges to other services in recent years but changes to how it recruits new sailors and a revamp of its medical waiver process have led to improvements. In February, the service announced in a post on X that it was on track to meet its highest recruiting goal in over 20 years with more than 14,000 future sailors joining in the first four months of fiscal year 2025. In September 2023, the Government Accountability Office found that the Navy didn't have enough enlisted sailors to man its aircraft carriers, other surface ships, and attack submarines. As of November 2023, the Navy had 70,705 enlisted sailors, 16% fewer than the necessary 84,379 sailor billets. Sailors will be re-evaluated during their EMPLOY rotation and assessed as either fit for return to duty, a new EMPLOY assignment or referred to the disability system, or separated from the service. The Navy does not have any specific limits on how long a sailor could remain in the EMPLOY program. A Marine Corps reply-all email apocalypse has an incredible real-life ending Army shuts down its sole active-duty information operations command Army plans to close more than 20 base museums in major reduction Former Green Beret nominated to top Pentagon position to oversee special ops The Navy's new recruiting commercial puts the 'dirt wars' in the past
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Politics
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What Marines deploying to LA amid protests legally can, and cannot, do
Roughly 700 Marines have been ordered to deploy to Los Angeles to protect federal buildings and officials amid mounting immigration protests there, U.S. Northern Command, or NORTHCOM, announced on Monday. 'DoD military personnel on this mission are protecting property and personnel,' Air Force Capt. Mayrem Morales, a NORTHCOM spokesperson, told Task & Purpose. 'They are providing support to prevent the destruction or defacement of federal government property, including crowd control and establishment of security perimeters. These personnel are also protecting federal officials from harm or threat of bodily injury while those officials execute their duties.' The Marines are assigned to 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, which is based at Twentynine Palms, California, the Marine Corps' premier site for combat training. The battalion's mission includes preparing to take part in Unit Deployment Program rotations to the Western Pacific, according to the battalion's website. President Donald Trump has already federalized 2,100 members of the California National Guard in response to the protests, which began on June 6 following raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Los Angeles. The situation escalated on Sunday when thousands of protesters took to the streets. That same day, NORTHCOM announced that the Marines had been notified to prepare to deploy to Los Angeles in case they were needed. When asked why 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines would take part in the U.S. military's response to the Los Angeles protests and what capabilities it could bring to the mission, Marine Corps officials referred questions to NORTHCOM, which referred Task & Purpose back to the Marines. No information was immediately available about whether the battalion had conducted law enforcement training in the past two years. Generally speaking, Marine infantry units focus on lethal force as opposed to less-than-lethal force, so they are typically not trained or equipped to deal with civil disturbances, said retired Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré, who led military relief efforts following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. 'In this particular mission, they could supplement the Guard or work with them in the mission of protecting federal property and people,' Honoré told Task & Purpose on Monday. 'Just like we protect federal installations, we've got the authority to protect federal buildings and federal property. All of our installations are generally protected by soldiers either in the Military Police or shore patrol, and this is an extension of that.' Honoré also noted that because Trump has federalized the National Guard, those troops are not able to conduct law enforcement missions unless the president invokes the Insurrection Act, which allows federal troops to be deployed under certain circumstances, such as in response to a natural disaster or terrorist attack. Normally, National Guard troops are activated by authorities within their home state to conduct disaster relief or law enforcement missions when their governors deem it necessary, said retired Air Force Lt. Col. Rachel VanLandingham, a former military attorney. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 prohibits federal U.S. troops — including federalized National Guardsmen — from performing law enforcement duties on American soil, unless the president invokes the Insurrection Act, said VanLandingham, a law professor at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles. In this case, Trump has not invoked the Insurrection Act, and he has only directed the federalized National Guard troops to protect federal personnel and buildings, said VanLandingham, who teaches national security law and constitutional criminal procedure. The troops have not been authorized or directed to conduct arrests, searches, or seizures, which are classic law enforcement activities, she said. VanLandingham also questioned the usefulness of deploying Marines to protect federal buildings, particularly since California's governor has not requested federal support, and he could have deployed his state's National Guard to do so. 'That would be an extraordinary use of active-duty troops that has never been used before outside of Insurrection Act invocation,' VanLandingham. The last time a president invoked the Insurrection Act was in 1992, when President George H. W. Bush federalized the National Guard and activated soldiers with the 7th Infantry Division and Marines from the 1st Marine Division to respond to riots in Los Angeles following the acquittal of four police officers accused of beating motorist Rodney King. About 1,500 Marines from Camp Pendleton, California, were deployed to Los Angeles in 1992, and they were issued riot gear and given refresher training prior to their mission, retired Army Maj. Gen. James Delk, who oversaw the California National Guard's response to the riots, wrote in a 1995 Army case study of the riots. However, communications proved to be a challenge at times because Marines, soldiers, and police all use different terminologies, Delk wrote. In one incident, a squad of Marines accompanied police to a home in response to a domestic dispute. One of the police officers was hit when someone inside opened fire. 'His partner grabbed him and as he pulled him back he hollered to the Marines 'Cover me!'' Delk wrote. 'Now to a cop, that was very simple command. That means aim your rifle and use it if necessary. To a Marine, and there were some well-trained young patriots in that squad, it meant something entirely different. They instantly opened up. A mom, a dad, and three children occupied that house.' Police later found more than 200 bullet holes in the home, but thankfully no one inside was hit, Delk wrote. 'The point is, those great young Marines did exactly what they're trained to do, but not what the police thought they requested,' Delk wrote. 'You need to understand the differences in language.' When asked what steps NORTHCOM is taking to prevent similar misunderstandings from occurring during the current military response in Los Angeles, a command spokesperson said service members are trained to deescalate situations and always retain the right of self-defense to a 'hostile act or demonstrated hostile intent.' 'The safety and security of the men and women performing their duties is paramount,' the spokesperson said. This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available. A Marine Corps reply-all email apocalypse has an incredible real-life ending Army shuts down its sole active-duty information operations command Army plans to close more than 20 base museums in major reduction Former Green Beret nominated to top Pentagon position to oversee special ops The Navy's new recruiting commercial puts the 'dirt wars' in the past
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Politics
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US military's highest ranking transgender officer says seperation process is broken
The highest-ranking transgender officer in the Department of Defense said that the military's transgender separation policy is going to leave gaps in units as skilled service members are removed from the armed forces. U.S. Space Force Col. Bree Fram said that as of June 7, she is on administrative leave from the service, pending separation, as a result of the Pentagon's ban on transgender troops. She told Task & Purpose Monday that she is at the end of her more than two-decade career in the armed forces. She spoke to Task & Purpose in her personal capacity, not in reflection of Pentagon policy Fram, an aeronautical engineer who previously served in the Air Force before moving to Space Force in 2021, was serving as director of requirements and integration for Space Force. In posts on social media, she said that her last official act was to pin medals on three people who served under her. She cried as they saluted her. The Department of Defense officials say they believe there are approximately 4,200 service members with gender dysphoria in the ranks, and that as of May 15, 1,000 had come forward to begin a so-called 'voluntary' separation process. Others who may later be identified and 'involuntarily' separated could receive smaller compensation packages, officials say. 'People are on pins and needles. We're asking each other 'what do you know? What do we all know?' It's been really difficult,' she told Task & Purpose on Monday. 'I want to stress that although this is labeled voluntarily, neither the 'voluntary' or 'involuntary' process is a choice, or what anyone wanted or would have done.' Fram joined the military after Sept. 11, 2001, and came out as transgender in 2016, the same day that the Department of Defense lifted its ban on transgender service. She spent nearly 20 years in the Air Force, then moved to the Space Force in 2021. Transgender service members, Fram said, 'have been operating in a vacuum,' and are looking for more information from military leadership. The military's involuntary separation process for transgender troops, which started on June 7, remains vague on details. Members in the reserves have until July 7 to choose to go through the voluntary separation process. The Air Force and Navy have said that troops with certain years of service are eligible for early retirement in this process. A technical but life-altering issue for troops, said Fram, is the 'separation code' under which they will leave the service. Most troops leaving the military are granted an 'honorable discharge,' a separation code that indicates they left in good standing with no serious discipline issues or professional failures. Though the Pentagon has, at times, said that transgender troops with clean records would receive honorable discharges, but Fram said that's no longer clear. A May 15 memo from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness said transgender enlisted personnel would be separated under the JFF separation code, meaning it was done by secretarial authority. Officers would be given a JDK code, which indicates on their service record that 'their continued service is not clearly consistent with the interests of national security' — a black mark for troops in the job market, as it could prevent them from getting or maintaining security clearances that are required for certain jobs. Rachel VanLandingham, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and JAG, told Task & Purpose that the JDK separation code is usually reserved for matters such as mishandling classified information. Fram said that the main concern for them has been uncertainty over what is next. 'Anyone navigating a transition out of the military is put in a challenging position, but they have this extra burden of being labeled as dishonorable or liars,' she said. Fram also noted that the separations will cause disruptions for ongoing operations as troops who are qualified for specific roles are 'suddenly gone.' Fram's work focused on researching what capabilities and 'fight critical' systems the Space Force will need to field in the next decade. It's specialized work drawing on her years of experience, which others in Space Force don't have, she said. Fram noted that units that have open transgender personnel have tried to do some planning to fill gaps left by separation, but replacing thousands of people across the military 'is not something that happens tomorrow.' 'The impact of this is not just on today. It stretches far into the future,' she said. At her final awards ceremony, Fram said, her colleagues were stunned to learned she was leaving the service and all shook her hand as the event broke up. 'We served with our friends, our colleagues, with people who respected us, and now that's just missing,' she said. A Marine Corps reply-all email apocalypse has an incredible real-life ending Army shuts down its sole active-duty information operations command Army plans to close more than 20 base museums in major reduction Former Green Beret nominated to top Pentagon position to oversee special ops The Navy's new recruiting commercial puts the 'dirt wars' in the past
