Top 5     Incidents of sexual assault, harassment continue to drop in US military, report finds (Military Times) The estimated number of sexual assaults on U.S. military personnel continued to decline in 2025, extending a downward trend that began in 2023.       Some military barracks ‘chronically neglected’ due to $285 billion in maintenance backlogs, GAO finds (Military Times) The Department of Defense does not request enough funding to fully meet its installation maintenance and major improvement needs, a Government Accountability Office report found.       Sailors and Marines advised to hide military ties on social media, report suspicious activity (Task & Purpose) The Acting Secretary of the Navy is advising sailors and Marines to “harden” their online profiles and hide ties to the military, as part of a wider call for Department of the Navy personnel to be “vigilant” against adversaries.       US Army to end experimental drone battalion in Europe (Military Times) The Army is ending an experiment with a dedicated drone battalion less than a year after tasking the infantry unit to test how such a formation could operate, an Army official said.       More than 750 US troops wounded in Iran war, nearly half since July (Task & Purpose) The number of U.S. troops wounded in the Iran war passed 750 this week, as the Department of Defense updated its casualty report. Nearly half of those were service members wounded since fighting restarted last month.   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     Backlash as US navy carrier set to honor Black war hero may reportedly be renamed after Trump (The Guardian) The Trump administration has been accused of delivering a “slap in the face” to U.S. military veterans after reports that a navy aircraft carrier set to honor a Black war hero may, instead, be named after Donald Trump.       Trump says he views Strait of Hormuz as ‘American territory’ (The Guardian) President at rally in South Carolina makes comments on key strategic waterway and jokes about bombing Iran.   Your Military     Navy sailor on USS Lincoln says dad was arrested by immigration officials (CBS News) Historically rare, immigration arrests of military spouses and parents have become more common under the second Trump administration.   Marine Corps     Marine Corps may charter more commercial vessels amid experimentation efforts (Military Times) There’s a new addition to the fleet of maritime vessels serving the Marine Corps in the Pacific, and its name is Matilda.   AIr Force     Air Force inks deal for new dorms at medical training campus (Air & Space Forces Magazine) The Air Force is negotiating a potential $1.4 billion deal to replace five dormitories—reportedly suffering from mold, failing air conditioning systems, and foundational defects—that housed thousands of U.S. military medical trainees at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas.       Former Air Force Secretary James G. Roche dies at 86 (Air & Space Forces Magazine) James G. Roche, the 20th Secretary of the Air Force who led the department from 2001-2005, died Aug. 4. He was 86.   Space Force     Space Force unveils new ceremonial uniform (Task & Purpose) Seven years after it was established, Space Force has a new, original ceremonial dress uniform.   Veterans     Behind the $1 million viral moment: The life of Navy veteran and ‘Beast Games’ standout (Military Times) Harrison Schoen spent three months on the USS New Orleans staring at the ocean, watching for anyone who might fall overboard, when he decided his life needed to change. That decision eventually led him to a spotlight moment on national television, where he turned down $1 million rather than betray 60 strangers who had trusted him with the choice.   Cyber, Space & Unmanned     AI-enabled deception threatens future operations, raises chances of large conflict, says Special Operations leader (Defense One) Faster intelligence gathering and analysis enabled by AI is allowing special operators to pull off missions that would have been impossible years ago, U.S. Special Operations Command leader Adm. Frank Bradley, said Wednesday. But malign actors empowered by simple AI tools are undermining military and civilian leaders’ confidence in digital information, he said. That credibility decay, raising doubt about what is and is not true, will affect not just operations but the ability of the United States to “generate that unity of effort” to deter or defend against adversarial attack, he said.   Defense Industry     India seeks role in France’s sixth-generation fighter program (Defense News) With the race for sixth-generation combat aircraft gathering pace, India has opened talks with France on participating in its Future Combat Air System (FCAS) as it seeks a role in technologies that could shape air combat in the future.   Israel-Gaza-Lebanon-Syria     A US envoy says Israel did not give a warning to the US ahead of a recent Syria air strike (The Associated Press) Israel did not warn the United States before it struck an air base in northern Syria this week, despite fears of an escalation with the U.S. and NATO ally Turkey, the U.S. special envoy to Syria said.   Ukraine     Zelenskyy details rift with dismissed defense minister, saying some of his actions were misguided (The Associated Press) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he believes actions taken by dismissed Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, including his involvement in mass protests and calls for an election, were misguided, as he publicly detailed their dispute for the first time.   International     Iran warns states joining US sanctions will be considered enemies (France 24) Iran on Saturday said that any country participating in the United States’ “economic war” against the Islamic republic would be considered “an enemy”. The warning came after President Masoud Pezeshkian said Friday the war with the US should end because the world had already accepted that Iran had won, according to Iranian state media.       Iran eyes US military bases in Europe as targets if war ramps up, report says (Stars and Stripes) American military installations in Europe could be in Iran’s crosshairs if the United States escalates the nearly six-month-old war, according to a recent news report.       Russia tests readiness for new round of military mobilization (The Wall Street Journal) Exercises gauge military’s ability to absorb mass of new recruits; no decision yet from the Kremlin Last month Russian military officers flew from St. Petersburg to the country’s Kaliningrad exclave nestled between two NATO countries and the Baltic Sea.       Osan drills target North Korea’s growing drone threat (Air & Space Forces Magazine) Some 50 miles from the border with North Korea, U.S. and South Korean forces recently executed their first counter-drone defense drills targeting medium-sized systems, which the North Korean military has has prioritized based on Russia and Iranian models.   Video     Navy Destroyer Spent 4 Days Without Power in South China Sea (Defense News) A U.S. Navy destroyer spent four days without power while operating in the Indo-Pacific, leaving sailors without potable water, working toilets, galley services or air conditioning.       Can GLP-1 drugs help curb alcohol use? The VA wants to find out. | MOAA Headlines (Defense News) The Department of Veterans Affairs will sponsor a trial to see if weight loss drugs can impact alcohol use disorder. That and more in this week’s headlines.   Commentary & Analysis     Every combat medic is trained for the wound. We should train them for what comes next. (Military Times) Every medic gets asked the same question. It usually comes when working — hands busy, casualty on the ground, the situation still unsettled. The soldier looks up and asks, “Am I going to be okay?”       As USS Lincoln heads home, mental health experts tally the stressors of life at sea (NPR) The USS Abraham Lincoln is now on its way home after spending nine months at sea. Experts weigh in on the mental health challenges of prolonged confinement and isolation aboard an aircraft carrier.       China’s research espionage Threat is hiding in plain sight (The Cipher Brief) Western universities and laboratories are on the frontlines of a battle over talent and technology. This assertion may seem like scaremongering, but when cold hard facts are considered, it is unfortunately true. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is undertaking an unprecedented assault to obtain scientific and technical research from the west. The broad CCP assault requires an equally broad response that must now include vetting for insider threats at universities and laboratories to bolster research security.       Mental health is a warfighting readiness problem for the US Navy (War on the Rocks) “You cannot be at mental peace always. You will be worried. So even my family — they are scared all the time, and they were anxiously praying [for] the vessel [to] come out of this area safely.”       The end of the American Middle East (Foreign Affairs Magazine) The American Middle East is finished. The regional order that has prevailed since 1991 has been one of the many casualties of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.       It’s time to reengage North Korea (The Cipher Brief) The U.S. and South Korea have their annual joint military drills (Ulchi Freedom Shield) from August 17-27, focusing on countering the threat from North Korea of drones and cyber-attacks. President Trump said on Sunday that he had ordered the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” joint military exercises with South Korea.       A rock and China’s three-sea problem (War on the Rocks) Two rocks surrounded by coral, with a total land size of less than 10 square meters at high tide, are the entire basis on which Japan claims a 150,000-square-mile exclusive economic zone, an area nearly the size of Japan itself.       Iran unleashed (The Atlantic) For years, Iran confronted a balance of power in the Middle East that tilted against it. The region was dominated by a hostile American superpower, a nuclear-armed and militarily superior Israel, and significant local actors—Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates—that were strategically and economically aligned with the United States.       A China strategy that lasts (Foreign Affairs Magazine) For decades, Beijing has used trade not only as a means to generate economic growth but also as a geopolitical tool to attract investment, strengthen its industrial base, expand its economy, and support its military.