Top 5     Troops get first increase in 24 years for hostile fire, danger pays (Military Times) With the Iran conflict now in its seventh month, the Pentagon has enacted an increase in hostile fire and imminent danger pay for all troops. It’s the first bump in these monthly stipends since 2002, officials said Thursday as they announced the change.       Third aircraft carrier and thousands of troops head to Mideast as Trump weighs new Iran strikes (The Associated Press) The U.S. military is dispatching roughly 9,000 troops aboard a group of ships to the Middle East, a U.S. official said Thursday. The bolstering of the American military presence comes as President Donald Trump warned anew that new strikes against Iran could be on the horizon.       Pentagon launches Office of Religious Affairs, will report directly to Hegseth (Military Times) The Pentagon is launching a religious affairs office to address what Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth calls a loss of religious community within the military after an era of “political correctness.”       Pentagon spent millions on migrant detention supplies that were never used, watchdog says (Military Times) The Pentagon spent $2.85 million assembling tents at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, that were never used to house detained noncitizens, according to the Government Accountability Office.       Trump says Iran will be hit ‘very hard’ if it is behind copilot who tried to crash flight to Israel (The Associated Press) U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that if Iran is linked to the copilot who tried to crash an Israel-bound flight, the Islamic Republic would be struck “very hard” for the attempt on the lives of more than 180 people aboard the jet.   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.   Congress & Politics     GAO calls on Coast Guard, Congress to step up marine firefighting (Military Times) The Coast Guard responded to 886 marine fires between 2015 and 2025, including 206 that resulted in serious damage, vessel destruction, injuries or deaths, according to a new Government Accountability Office report that calls for changes to the service’s response and federal law.   Your Military     Refrigeration failures affect four military commissaries in Europe (Stars and Stripes) Military commissary customers in Europe may notice some empty freezer and refrigeration space when shopping for groceries on base.   Army     Citing knowledge gaps, Army rolls out barracks guidebook for NCOs (Military Times) Command Sgt. Maj. Nema Mobarakzadeh recalls an occasion at a prior command in which a battalion sergeant major approached him, outraged that his soldiers hadn’t had running water in their barracks for a week.       Army meets Reserve, Special Forces recruiting goals for first time in a decade, general confirms (Military Times) The three-star commander of U.S. Army Recruiting Command confirmed this week that the service had reached its Reserve and Special Forces recruiting goals for the first time in 10 years or more.   Navy     Navy exceeds recruiting goal with over 45,000 new sailors (Military Times) The U.S. Navy announced that it surpassed its fiscal 2026 recruiting goal, continuing a trend of meeting its fleet’s manpower needs several years in a row.       Navy Expeditionary Combat Command rebranded to reflect warfare evolution (Military Times) The Navy announced Thursday that it will be renaming the command that handles current and future readiness for combat missions.   Marine Corps     Marines head to the Baltic to safeguard undersea infrastructure (Military Times) The U.S. is rerouting a team of “specialized” Marines from Europe to the Baltic Sea to bolster NATO-led security efforts, the Department of Defense announced Thursday.   AIr Force     Air Force identifies airman found dead at off-base housing in Italy (Military Times) Air Force officials identified the active-duty airman, found dead at off-base housing in Italy last week, as a precision-guided munition production supervisor.   Defense Industry     US Navy awards RTX’s Raytheon $24.4B for SM-6 missiles amid stockpile concerns (Defense News) RTX’s Raytheon unit won a multiyear contract worth up to $24.4 billion to produce Standard Missile-6 interceptors for the U.S. Navy, the service said on Thursday, as the Pentagon pushes to replenish munitions stockpiles depleted by conflicts in the Middle East.       Boeing adds to big week with first full-rate Grey Wolf helicopter order (Defense News) The U.S. Air Force has ordered four more MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopters, the first under full-rate production, Boeing said Thursday, just weeks after the service declared the aircraft ready for its nuclear missile security mission.       Neros, Perennial Autonomy lead in Pentagon’s drone competition (Defense News) Two California-based startups took the top spots in the latest phase of the Drone Dominance competition, a Pentagon effort to find companies that can produce high-quality, low-cost commercial drones at scale.       Space Force picks two companies to build new ‘space-to-space’ satellites by 2028 (Defense News) The Space Force and the Pentagon have commissioned two companies to build new reconnaissance satellites capable of delivering high-resolution “space-to-space imagery” of objects more than 22,000 miles above Earth.       Taiwan takes a page from Ukraine’s playbook in steeling society for an invasion (Defense News) Taiwan President Lai Ching-te told a forum in late September he was seeking “resilience through unity” with a new alliance that would let world officials and non-governmental groups prepare together in case of disaster.       Dutch say ASW frigate talks ongoing amid reports Belgium may quit project (Defense News) The Netherlands said discussions with Belgium are ongoing about a delayed joint project to develop anti-submarine warfare frigates, amid reports the Belgian government is looking for a way out and is shopping for a European alternative that can replace its two aging existing frigates sooner.   Ukraine     Ukraine has struck Russian factory vital for Moscow’s missiles, private intelligence firm says (Defense News) A Russian factory that Ukraine struck on Sept. 26 supplies electronics for a wide range of Russia’s missiles, potentially leaving Moscow without a fallback supplier, according to leaked documents obtained by the Ukrainian private intelligence firm Dallas Analytics.       Ukraine deploys FP-7 tactical ballistic missile in combat for first time, Zelenskyy says (Defense News) Ukraine has deployed its FP-7 tactical ballistic missile in combat for the first time, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday.   Video     Lifesaving and drone-killing tech from the Air Force Research Laboratory (Defense News) Check out a pair of new projects in development from the AFRL: an autonomous shotgun for drone defense, and a blood recirculation machine.       Military Times reporter tackles ‘The Green Mile’ jungle training challenge (Defense News) Mud, rivers, hills, bugs — get a taste of the troops’ culminating event in the new jungle training course in Panama.       Desolate Arctic outpost likely to host US troops under new Greenland deal (Defense News) Say hello to your new duty station — a minuscule outpost in the northern regions of Greenland. Learn about this new potential U.S. base.   Commentary & Analysis     A military man straight out of central casting. I got to know ‘Dadmiral’ in his final days (The War Horse) As my father, a Navy pilot, neared the end of his life, we watched “Top Gun: Maverick ” together. “It was good,” he commented. “I’m better.”       What America and China fear most about AI (Foreign Affairs Magazine) Over the course of just a few months, artificial intelligence has become one of the most central issues, and one of the most fraught issues, in the relationship between the United States and China.       How the intelligence community can shape AI trust with new terminology (The Cipher Brief) The Intelligence Community has an opportunity now to influence how we talk about, and thus how we approach, AI use in our work by formally adopting the nomenclature “AI-in-the-Loop” rather than “Human-in-the-Loop.” The problem with human-in-the-loop is that it subordinates the human to AI; the term carries a built-in assumption that “the loop” belongs to AI and that humans will somehow be included.       For military children who grew up overseas, home can be hard to explain (Federal News Network) "We are in a broader sense uniting a whole larger community of people that have a common and shared heritage," said Joe Condrill.       Inside Ukraine’s first combat deployment of robotic amphibious vehicles (The War Zone) The commander of a Ukrainian uncrewed ground vehicle unit gives us exclusive insights into how vehicles were designed or modified for amphibious combat operations.       Nasrallah is dead. Hezbollah’s social lifeline is not. (The Cipher Brief) Two years after Israel killed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah is weaker but not finished.       The Baltic states prepare for war (The Atlantic) Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia are readying themselves to fend off a Russian attack—with the help of the United States, or without it.