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Hee-Cheol Jung, CIMSEC
A fleet’s homeport performs vital functions that sustain naval power, including ship repair, resupply, maintenance, and training.

In April, the Middle East almost saw a war the likes of which the region has not seen in a long time. Unprecedented escalation brought Iran and Israel to the brink. It was only a mix of U.S. pressure, Iran signaling its attack beforehand, and Israel restraining itself that avoided worse. Yet, instead of diplomacy shifting into higher gear in search of more structural ways to prevent future conflict, complacency followed a near miss. It is not warranted. So, next time it might be different.

The military exists by its own rules, both the stated ones like the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and the cultural ones like “First sergeants have to use knife hands and the word ‘behoove’ as often as possible.” Some of these rules are frustrating, bone-grinding distractions. But some of them create openings for some fun pranks in the military.
Here are 7 pranks that can only be done in the military:
1. Reacting to outgoing fire in front of the new guy
“We gotta run, man. Otherwise, these artillery simulators may start to bracket us.” (U.S. Army Staff Sgt.

War prisoners are expected to just survive day-to-day. But some prisoners say “screw that” and find ways to make the prison easier for their peers and more frustrating for their enemies.
Here are 7 POWs who were total badasses after being taken captive:
1. A Navy officer saves his camp from both Japanese and U.S. attacks.

Cmdr. Richard Antrim Photo: US Navy
The Japanese in World War II considered surrender dishonorable and expected Americans to fight to the death. So, when they started taking American prisoners, they were exceptionally cruel. Cmdr.

On the eve of facing trial for sexual assault, a two star Air Force general pleaded guilty to lesser charges, including an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate officer and adultery. Maj. Gen. Phillip Stewart’s court martial on more serious charges including sexual assault is expected to continue this week. Stewart originally pleaded not guilty in March.
Court martials of general officers are exceptionally rare. If the trial proceeds in the coming days, Stewart will join Maj. Gen. William Cooley as the only senior officers in Air Force history to face a court martial.

U.S. Africa Command is evaluating how to best apply technology with allies and partners to monitor rising adversarial influence, terrorism and other emerging threats as forces hustle to withdraw American military assets from Niger and Chad, and Western nations’ physical presence across the continent broadly shifts, Marine Corps Gen. Michael Langley told DefenseScoop.
In a telephonic briefing from Botswana on Monday, the Africom commander previewed his plans for the African Chiefs of Defense Conference that kicks off there Tuesday. Langley also shared new updates on the U.S.

In 1944, the tiny island of Peleliu was the site of the some of the fiercest fighting of World War II, as Marines and Army soldiers fought to seize an airfield carved into its coral rocks. Saturday, that legacy was revisisted as Marines began flying again from Peleliu, this time with an eye towards its value in the modern Pacific theater.
A Marine Corps KC-130J Super Hercules tanker assigned to 1st Marine Air Wing touched down on Peleliu June 22. It was a major milestone for the U.S.

With American troops no longer welcome in Niger after a military coup, the U.S. is looking for new allies in the region, including Libya, the top official for Africa Command said Monday.
“We’re working through diplomatic means and also defense means with Libya,” Marine Corps Gen. Michael Langley told reporters ahead of the 2024 African Chiefs of Defense Conference in Gaborone, Botswana. After Langley’s remarks Monday on growing engagement with Libya, a defense official told Task & Purpose that the U.S. does not have troops in Libya, nor does it have plans to deploy troops there soon.

U.S. Space Command is on the cusp of standing up a new pilot to improve its ability to fuse data from multiple sources to create a single common operating picture for warfighters, according to Spacecom Commander Gen. Stephen Whiting.
Across its mission set, Space Command currently operates several different systems that each produce high volumes of data necessary for conducting operations in the space domain — an amount that will likely grow as Spacecom continues to grow as an organization.

BAGHDAD –   The top U.S. general in Iraq and Syria said some of his most valuable leadership lessons came in his first weeks in command, fresh out of training as a young lieutenant.
“I learned to be a little bit humble and ask questions that I didn’t know. I thought I was really good at jumping out of airplanes, really good at tactics,” Army Maj. Gen. Joel “JB” Vowell told Task & Purpose last week at the headquarters of Operation Inherent Resolve. “But getting the best out of people with different capabilities, different backgrounds, I learned that because I had good NCOs.