Top 5     Sailors in Congress’s medical office reassigned after alleging controlling bosses, unsuitable tasks (Military Times) Multiple U.S. sailors assigned to Congress’s medical office were recently reassigned amid a Pentagon inspector general investigation into how staff performed their duties — which at least one sailor alleged included clipping lawmakers’ toenails.       USS George H.W. Bush families told to prepare for year-long deployment (Military Times) Families of sailors aboard the USS George H.W. Bush are preparing to spend the holidays without their loved ones after Navy leaders told them the carrier would not return home in time, extending a deployment that was initially expected to last six to seven months.       Tomb of Unknown Soldier guard granted medal after reprimanding Hegseth at site (Military Times) Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth awarded an Army sentinel a Joint Service Commendation Medal after the soldier chastised the secretary and his staff for their loud behavior at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.       House passes sweeping veterans benefits bill with polarizing tactic (Military Times) The House passed a major veterans benefits package on Wednesday, advancing new support for surviving spouses and caregivers, as well as expanded compensation for some disabled retirees, while — controversially — tying the legislation’s financing to changes to future benefits.       Trump claims arch at Arlington National Cemetery would honor military personnel, veterans (Military Times) During his Veterans Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery Wednesday, President Donald Trump celebrated recent military operations and said an arch he plans to build at the cemetery’s entrance would honor those who served.   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     Pentagon ‘greenlit’ permanent presence of US troops in Poland, official says (Military Times) The Pentagon “greenlit” the permanent presence of U.S. troops in Poland, with the final decision slated to be made by the White House in early December.   Congress & Politics     Democrats push to remove US-Israel tech measure from defense bill (Military Times) Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., is leading a push to remove provisions from the Senate and House versions of this year’s National Defense Authorization Act that would promote closer ties between the U.S. industrial base and Israel’s.   Army     Army formally activates public affairs school (Military Times) The Army formally activated its U.S. Army Public Affairs School last month, representing a milestone toward the goal of continuously upgrading strategic military communications within the Public Affairs branch, the service announced this week.   Navy     How much time are sailors away from home? Navy records leave gaps (Military Times) U.S. Navy leadership warned last month that sailors should expect deployments of 10 to 11 months for the next couple of years, rather than the traditional six to seven months.       USS South Dakota command triad fired, draws ire of congressmen (Military Times) Members of Congress called out the Navy Thursday for purportedly firing the three leaders of a Navy Virginia-class attack submarine without notifying them of the development, as is customary.       Navy unveils special warfare-themed uniforms for upcoming Army-Navy game (Military Times) The U.S. Navy released images of the football uniforms that Midshipmen players will wear in the 127th Army-Navy game, courtesy of Under Armour.   AIr Force     3 Iranian-backed men indicted in attempted plot on RAF Fairford (Military Times) Federal prosecutors allege that an Iranian terrorist proxy group’s commander, alongside two other men, assisted in orchestrating the suspected terror plot on a United Kingdom military base from jail while awaiting trial on other pending terrorism charges.   Veterans     House passes bill to expand benefits for combat-injured veterans (Defense News) The House approved legislation Thursday that would allow combat-injured military retirees with less than 20 years of service to collect their full military retirement pay and Department of Veterans Affairs disability compensation without the dollar-for-dollar offset that currently reduces their retirement benefits.   Defense Industry     A Ukrainian army unit pioneered drone evacuations. Now it's scaling up (Reuters) The first time Ukrainian drone pilot "KVN" guided a giant unmanned hexacopter to rescue a wounded comrade, preparations ?for the operation took seven days.       Germany, Poland tap SATIM to analyze military satellite imagery (Defense News) SATIM, a Polish maker of AI-based analysis tools for synthetic aperture radar magery, has obtained a contract from Poland’s Ministry of National Defence to supply software for the automated analysis of satellite imagery.   Israel-Gaza-Lebanon-Syria     Israeli airstrike on Nasser hospital in Gaza kills surgeon and five others (The Guardian) Hospital director says 28 wounded in attack on one of few remaining medical facilities in the strip   Ukraine     Putin lets Europe join Ukraine peace talks, as Kyiv says Starshield disrupted again (Reuters) President Vladimir Putin agreed on Thursday to let European representatives join the next round of Ukraine peace talks, a U.S. envoy said, though the Russian leader said Washington must work with its European allies to understand if they want peace or war in Ukraine.       Putin says Russia would target foreign troops deployed to Ukraine (The Guardian) Hardline remarks come as Ukrainian military faces disruptions to Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite service   International     Finland says it detects strike on Russian warship in Baltic Sea (Defense News) Finland’s military said on Thursday its forces had detected “a strike” on a Russian warship in the Baltic Sea a day earlier, but that the security situation in the area remained stable.       Four died in military helicopter crash in eastern Turkey, defense ministry says (Reuters) Four soldiers died ?in a military S-70 helicopter ?crash in ?the eastern province of ?Malatya on ?Thursday, the Turkish ?defense ministry said.   Video     Sentinel at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier rebukes Hegseth’s group during Veterans Day visit (Defense News) The Army sentinel stepped forward to shout at the defense secretary’s entourage after hearing laughter from the group following a photo op at the solemn site on Veterans Day.       Hegseth awards Tomb of the Unknown Soldier sentinel medal for admonishing his group (Defense News) The soldier who rebuked the defense secretary’s entourage for laughter at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Veterans Day was recognized for maintaining decorum at the solemn site       Drones that see, sense and hunt | Business of Defense - Part 2 (Defense News) Sig Sauer mounts its pistols to small drones in an effort to counter small unmanned threats, while other drone makers look to innovate battlefield capability.       Navy Special Warfare units honored in 2026 football uniform for game versus Army (Defense News) The work of Navy Special Warfare groups is highlighted in the theme for this year’s Navy uniforms in their annual matchup against the Black Knights.   Commentary & Analysis     50 years later, Vietnam veterans deserve their homecoming (Military Times) It was Dec. 20, 1965, just four days into his first deployment, when U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Bob Jeffrey climbed into an F-4 Phantom and took off over North Vietnam. His mission was to provide air-to-air protection for a strike on a railroad bridge near the Chinese border. Then, in a matter of seconds, everything changed. Anti-aircraft fire tore into his F-4. A loud thump. Warning lights flashed. And then, as Jeffrey would later recall, “the aircraft blew up and disintegrated in a fireball.”       What the Iraq war foretold about how the Iran war will end (The Atlantic) Last week, Democrats dominated elections as Donald Trump, a lame-duck Republican, waged an unpopular war in Iran that he started and that a majority of Americans want to end. Notice the parallels to 20 years ago: In 2006, Democrats dominated the midterms as George W. Bush, a lame-duck Republican, waged an unpopular war in Iraq that he chose to start and that a majority of Americans wanted to end.       The year Moscow felt the war (The Cipher Brief) In Moscow this year, people stopped answering “How are you?” with “Fine.” They started saying, “I’m full tank.”       Is China aging out of power? (Foreign Affairs Magazine) In 2021, China’s population hit a peak of 1.4 billion and then rapidly started to decline. This demographic picture presents enormous challenges in its own right.       Hegseth’s future splits Dems (Politico) Democrats are clamoring for another quick chance to take down Pete Hegseth, but they’re running into a new obstacle: their own party’s leaders.       Trump is facing a very different North Korea (Foreign Affairs Magazine) Donald Trump has Pyongyang on his mind. In recent months, the U.S. president has made comments to the media suggesting he is in communication with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.       China’s AI diplomacy is working (Foreign Affairs Magazine) Can the United States and China simultaneously cooperate and compete on AI? That is the question driving debates in Washington about the wisdom of pursuing talks on the subject with Beijing.