Caps on troop levels in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria mandated by the Obama administration have led to an elaborate Pentagon accounting system that conceals thousands of troops from the public — one that is quickly unraveling as the Trump administration prepares to send more troops to the region.
With new plans to ramp up the war in Afghanistan, the military is finding it exceedingly difficult to maintain a practice that purposely doesn't count certain troops in the battle zone that military officials insist was not designed to be misleading but many critics now assert is at best an officially sanctioned charade.
Pentagon's concealment of total troops in war zones under fire
Chelsea Manning tweets 1st post-prison photo
Chelsea Manning, the transgender soldier released from military prison this week after serving seven years for leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks, posted her first post-prison photo on social media Thursday.
"Okay, so here I am everyone!!" she tweeted beneath a photo showing her wearing red lipstick and sporting a black top cut deeply in a V in the front.
Documentary filmmaker Tim Travers Hawkins shot the portrait photo, the ACLU told NBC News. Hawkins is shooting a documentary called "XY Chelsea" about Manning's adjustment to life after prison.
Navy's new $4.4B Zumwalt destroyer breaks down in Panama Canal
"The timeline for repairs is being determined now," US Navy Cmdr. Ryan Perry said in a statement to CNN.
USS Zumwalt, which cost $4.4 billion to build, was on its way Monday to San Diego by the end of the year where it was to join the U.S. Third Fleet in the Pacific Ocean. It was projected to be fully operational in 2018.
US veterans on Chilcot: we need our own Iraq war inquiry to avoid repeating mistakes
Following the devastating British inquiry into the 2003 invasion of Iraq, American veterans and their families have warned that the US is liable to repeat the mistakes without a similarly comprehensive investigation.
The UK’s Chilcot inquiry was released on Wednesday, and while it is no secret in the US that the invasion was a failure, nothing so damning as the 2.6m-word British inquiry has been released by an independent US government body.
Pentagon lifts ban on transgender troops
Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced Thursday that the military will no longer discriminate against transgender troops, knocking down one of the last barriers to service based on sex.
The move, nearly a year in the making, came despite last-minute concerns were raised by top brass about how to deal with the medical, housing and uniform issues for troops who are transitioning to the other sex.
Air Force has lost 100,000 inspector general records
The Air Force announced on Friday that it has lost thousands of records belonging to the service's inspector general due to a database crash.
"We estimate we've lost information for 100,000 cases dating back to 2004," Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek told The Hill in an email.
Olympian and Tuskegee Airman 'Marvelous Mal' buried at Arlington
Malvin Greston Whitfield, a Tuskegee airman and three-time Olympic gold medalist who went by the moniker Marvelous Mal, was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday.
Whitfield died in November at age 91. He joined the military in World War II and served as a tail gunner during bombing missions in the Korean War. He flew 27 missions in both wars.
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