Top 5     Advocates press for preventive programs, VA benefits for struggling vets (Military Times) With more than 100,000 American veterans incarcerated in the United States, advocates say more investment is needed for the transition from military to civilian life and services for those who have run afoul of the law.       A 10-day ceasefire in Lebanon goes into effect (The Associated Press) A 10-day truce appeared to be holding in Lebanon early Friday, promising a pause in fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group and possibly clearing one major obstacle to a deal between Iran and the United States and Israel to end weeks of devastating war.       Hegseth orders termination of DOD union contracts (Defense One) Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week instructed department leaders to terminate most of the department’s collective-bargaining agreements, more than a year after President Trump signed an executive order banning federal employee unions from many agencies on national-security grounds.       Hegseth says US is ‘locked and loaded’ to finish job of destroying Iran energy grid (The Guardian) U.S. defense secretary says Iran’s energy infrastructure is "not destroyed yet" while also lambasting the media.       DoD seeks to curb high military spouse unemployment with new hiring flexibilities (Federal News Network) A new policy urges DoD to prioritize military spouses for noncompetitive appointments and expand the use of alternate worksites.   US Strikes in Caribbean and Eastern Pacific     A list of US military strikes against alleged drug-carrying vessels (Military Times) Since early September 2025, the U.S. military has conducted strikes against alleged drug-carrying vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean in support of what the Pentagon has called continued counternarcotics efforts.   Operation Timeline     The human impact of policy changes at the DOD and VA (The War Horse) An ongoing timeline of the Trump administration’s actions focusing on the military and veterans.   Pentagon     Starlink outage hit drone tests, exposing Pentagon’s growing reliance on SpaceX (Reuters) Last August, U.S. Navy officials carrying out a test of unmanned vessels realized they had hit a single point of failure: Starlink.   Congress & Politics     Congress pushes Army leaders for answers on ouster of top general (Task & Purpose) For two days in a row, Army leaders have been questioned by lawmakers about why Gen. Randy George, the service’s former chief of staff, was forced to retire earlier this month.   Army     ‘Best drone’ innovation winner developing enemy drone recovery system with the Army Research Lab (Defense One) A group of soldiers from the Pennsylvania Army National Guard is teaming up with the Army Research Laboratory to develop a prototype enemy drone recovery system that won the innovation award at the Army’s first Best Drone Warfighter competition in February.   Navy     Fire aboard USS Dwight D. Eisenhower injures 3 sailors (Stars and Stripes) Three sailors were injured Tuesday by a fire aboard the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Navy said Thursday.       Former Navy service member charged in Georgia killing spree (The New York Times) The suspect is accused of carrying out a string of attacks in the Atlanta area that killed two women and injured a homeless man. The authorities described the attacks as random.   Marine Corps     Setback for ex-US Marine pilot accused of illegally training Chinese aviators (CBS News) An Australian judge turned away an appeal by former U.S. Marine pilot Daniel Duggan to avoid extradition to the U.S. over allegations that he illegally trained Chinese military aviators more than a decade ago.   AIr Force     Air Force hits fiscal 2026 recruitment goal ahead of schedule (Military Times) The U.S. Air Force and Space Force reached their fiscal year 2026 recruitment goals five months ahead of schedule, according to a Tuesday Air Education and Training Command Facebook post.       Combat search and rescue’s uncertain future: As A-10s phase out, US Air Force faces questions of what comes next (Defense News) The callsign “Sandy,” used by U.S. Air Force aircraft and pilots conducting combat search-and-rescue operations, traces to late 1965.   Space Force     A depleted Space Force races to prepare for Trump’s spending spree (Politico) President Donald Trump wants to double the Space Force’s budget in just one year — a stunning move to build out the military’s orbital arsenal.   Coast Guard     Coast Guard says icebreaker cutters due for delivery in 2028 will be homeported in Alaska (Stars and Stripes) The first two new Arctic Security Cutters, scheduled to be delivered to the Coast Guard in 2028, will be homeported in Alaska, the service said Thursday.   National Guard     ‘Actively shrinking’: Guard generals push Congress for 100 new fighters a year (Military Times) The nation’s Air National Guard adjutants general are making their most unified push yet to recapitalize the U.S. Air Force’s fighter fleet, with 22 generals signing a letter to Congress this month calling for multiyear funding to buy between 72 and 100 new fighters annually.   Veterans     Should veterans get a ‘second look’ at long prison sentences after military service? (Task & Purpose) Veterans’ advocates are pressing to allow judges and courts to consider a veteran’s military service when giving a “second look” to excessively long prison sentences. So-called second look reductions of long prison sentences are now allowed in federal courts and 25 states, but veterans groups say Congress needs to ensure that those reviews take military service into account.       AI is helping VA speed up claims processing, but Dems worry about errors (Nextgov) The Department of Veterans Affairs has been using artificial intelligence to speed up its processing of veterans’ benefits claims, but VA officials told lawmakers that human reviewers make the final decisions and that greater use of the emerging capabilities has not correlated with an increase in errors or issues — a claim disputed by Democrats.   Cyber, Space & Unmanned     Cheap interceptor drones proven in Ukraine protected US troops against Iranian Shaheds (The War Zone) The Army’s top official pointed to low-cost interceptor drones first sent to Ukraine as one defense against Iranian barrages of Shahed-136 one-way attack munitions. During Congressional testimony on Thursday, Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll lauded the Merops interceptor and the process to get it quickly into the hands of troops in the Middle East.   Defense Industry     EU pumps over $1 billion into defense R&D, centered around Ukraine war lessons (Defense News) The European Commission this week unveiled the results of its 2025 European Defence Fund call for proposals, selecting 57 collaborative research and development projects for a combined $1.26 billion in EU funding ? a package that makes clear where the bloc’s defense priorities lie: drones, autonomy, and an increasingly institutionalized partnership with Kyiv.       France readies AI-powered combat data-management similar to US ‘Maven’ (Defense News) France’s armed forces are working on a data-management system powered by artificial intelligence as a sovereign equivalent to the U.S. Defense Department’s Project Maven, said Gen. Benoît Desmeulles , the commander of the French 1st Army Corps.   Ukraine     Russian missiles and drones bombard Ukraine in hourslong attack, killing at least 16 (The Associated Press) Russia hammered civilian areas across Ukraine with drones and missiles Thursday, killing at least 16 people and wounding more than 100 others in the worst aerial attack in weeks, Ukrainian authorities said.       Ukraine’s army evolves under fire, with new units challenging Soviet legacy (The Associated Press) When a Ukrainian agricultural tycoon founded a volunteer unit of 30 people in the early days of Russia’s invasion, he had no certainty he would live to see what came next — but he did, and so did the force he created.   International     Iran has limited the impact of US strikes, intelligence says (Bloomberg) Pre-war planning meant Iran’s military was able to mitigate the impact of US-Israeli strikes on its weapons arsenal and leadership, according to Western military intelligence assessments — which also say it retains the ability to respond if the ceasefire fails.       Iran war exposes weakened state of Britain’s armed forces (Reuters) The Iran war has left Britain’s armed forces exposed, heaping pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to act on his promises to invest in defense, after years of warnings from military bosses about the U.K.’s shrinking capabilities.       Pakistani army chief visits Tehran in bid to broker renewed talks between US and Iran (The Associated Press) A 10-day truce began in Lebanon on Friday that could pause fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group and boost attempts to extend the ceasefire between Iran, the United States and Israel after weeks of devastating war.       US military says strike on vessel in Eastern Pacific kills three (Reuters) U.S. military says strike on vessel in Eastern Pacific kills three.   Military Culture & History     Army veteran tasked with prosecuting Nazi death squads awarded Congressional Gold Medal (Military Times) Congress on Tuesday posthumously awarded American prosecutor Benjamin Ferencz with the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest U.S. honor bestowed on civilians, for his work taking on Nazi death squads during the Nuremberg Trials.       ‘American Solitaire’ puts a veteran’s invisible wounds front and center (Military Times) Joshua Close has played a lot of roles. He’s been in FX’s “Fargo,” “Killers of the Flower Moon” and Netflix’s “Wayward.” But nothing quite prepared him for playing Slinger, the combat veteran at the center of the film “American Solitaire,” which hits select theaters Friday.   Commentary & Analysis     How the US military could clear mines from the Strait of Hormuz (Reuters) As the United States embarks on clearing mines from the Strait of Hormuz, it could draw on an arsenal of drones , explosive?laden robots and helicopters to reduce risks, though de?mining crews could still be vulnerable to Iranian attacks.       The end of managed escalation in the Gulf (War on the Rocks) The U.S.-Israeli war against Iran has exposed a reality many policymakers long preferred to avoid: The deterrence model that governed the Gulf for decades is no longer working as intended.For years, the region operated in the gray zone — covert strikes, proxy warfare, and carefully managed escalation. Iran built a strategy around missiles, regional partners, and nuclear latency.The United States underwrote Gulf security without direct war. Saudi Arabia and its neighbors relied on that umbrella while hedging against its limits, investing in missile defense and selective partnerships. There were rules, even if unwritten.That world is breaking down.  The two-week ceasefire announced       A fragile ceasefire with Iran and the price of ending the war (War on the Rocks) After failing to reach an agreement in the first round of talks in Islamabad, the United States and Iran are set to resume talks in the coming days. Via Pakistani mediation, U.S. and Iranian negotiators have reportedly made progress toward a framework agreement, though significant gaps remain and a deal is far from guaranteed. In the meantime, President Donald Trump has imposed a blockade on Iranian ports, while Israel is pressing ahead with its assault on the Lebanese border town of Bint Jbeil, even as it engages in direct talks with Lebanon in Washington. The two-week ceasefire with Iran is holding, but it remains tenuous.