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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Defense is introducing a course centered on Western civilization and Christianity this fall in the schools it operates for military families, part of an effort by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to redirect the education system toward patriotic values and classical learning. The Department of Defense Education Activity operates about 160 schools across 11 countries and educates roughly 70,000 students who are children of active-duty military or civilian service members. Conservatives have eyed the schools — which, unlike most public schools, are run by the federal government — as a testing ground for reshaping education.…

The Defense Department is changing how it determines eligibility for transitional health care benefits for reserve component service members who are separating from active duty.  In an Aug. 10 memo shared with Federal News Network, Anthony Tata, the under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said reservists no longer need to demonstrate that their period of active duty service was “substantively connected in some way to a war, a contingency operation or a national emergency” to qualify for the Transitional Assistance Management Program, or TAMP, which offers TRICARE coverage to certain service members and their dependents.  The change follows…

TAMPA, Fla. — On Aug. 13, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced efforts to establish the first-ever multi-domain, multinational attack drone task force. The unit, called Task Force Falcon Strike, will employ one-way attack drones consisting of unmanned systems from above, on, and below the sea operated by military support staff from the United States and regional partners. Falcon Strike’s launch occurs nine months after CENTCOM established Task Force Scorpion Strike, the U.S. military’s first dedicated one-way attack drone squadron in the Middle East. Scorpion Strike rapidly achieved key operational milestones, including the first-ever launch of an aerial attack drone from a…

White House deputy national security adviser Andy Baker will leave the Trump administration in the coming weeks, marking the latest change to a national security team that has undergone a shake-up in recent months.National security officials in Washington widely view Baker, who also served as a national security adviser to Vice President JD Vance, as a low-key but influential figure inside the White House.A former State Department official, academic and Vance adviser when the vice president was in the Senate, Baker had historically advocated for a more restrained American foreign policy that questioned the wisdom of long-term foreign conflicts.He was…

SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii — The Western Army Reserve Intelligence Support Center wrapped up PELE STRIKE 2026, its premier annual intelligence discipline certification event, after two weeks of joint training designed to test, validate, and strengthen critical military intelligence capabilities at Area X-Ray on Schofield Barracks. The exercise centered on certifying Soldiers from the 368th Military Intelligence Battalion while sharpening the unit’s ability to operate in a complex, multi-discipline environment alongside joint and multi-component partners. “This exercise provided a wonderful opportunity for our Soldiers to experience the coordination and technical repetitions they needed in order to be successful on the battlefield,”…

‘After capturing the Mediterranean ports, and having been welcomed as a god in Egypt, Alexander turned east again, aiming to defeat Darius once and for all.’ In this episode of the podcast, the Ancient Warfare Magazine team discuss issue 108, ‘Alexander Ascendant: The Battle of Gaugamela’. Join us on Patreon patreon.com/ancientwarfarepodcast

Key PointsA Cambridge Aerospace Skyhammer drone interceptor was found crashed on a UK beach and identified by Reddit users before the company collected it.UAV engineer Chris Wheat published an analysis of the wreckage, describing his technical conclusions as educated guesses from photos.A drone found washed up on a UK beach turned out to be a Skyhammer interceptor built by Cambridge Aerospace, the British startup that closed a $300 million funding round at a $3.4 billion valuation earlier this month, according to a Reddit thread and a subsequent technical breakdown posted on social media by UAV engineer Chris Wheat. A member…

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org A top Pentagon tech official called on industry this week to help the military develop “lighter, more efficient” directed energy weapons designed to go on aircraft and conduct special operations missions or down drones—areas where the Air Force’s directed energy efforts have been quiet as of late. Directed energy systems such as high-energy lasers and high-power microwave systems are an appealing alternative to expensive munitions for all branches of the U.S.…

The rematch between Joshua Van and Alexandre Pantoja has some real heat behind it.In December, Van took the UFC flyweight title from Pantoja, winning just moments into the fight when Pantoja dislocated his elbow while falling to the ground. Since then, Pantoja has been healing up from his injury, while Van defended his title with a fifth-round stoppage victory over Tatsuro Taira at UFC 328 in May. Now, the two are set to run things back at UFC 331 next month, and at the opening press conference for the event on Friday, things got testy between the two.“Had that not…

July 31 – August 13, 2026 Welcome back to the WordPress.com changelog. There are two bigger updates worth paying attention to this round, as well as a run of fixes: AI You know your brand, now your site does too Getting AI to write or design in your brand’s voice usually means describing that voice from scratch every single time, or settling for generic output when you don’t. Guidelines is a settings page where you write it down once: how you write, what your images should look like, and what you’re trying to accomplish. The WordPress Agent in the editor,…