All posts tagged "military"

RFK Jr. and Pete Hegseth plant Army doctor at HHS to chase a COVID vaccine theory: report

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has an Army doctor in his department investigating whether COVID vaccines killed troops.

According to a Thursday Politico article, Army physician Theresa Long testified in a federal court in Virginia that she is now working alongside Kennedy and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to examine whether service members died from COVID shots that were mandated under President Joe Biden in 2021.

Hegseth assigned her to serve as Kennedy's senior medical military adviser, a role at the HHS that had not surfaced publicly until now, according to Politico.

Long said in an August 14 deposition that she is reviewing whether 2,544 deaths among troops, figures reported to a federal vaccine-injury database but never verified, can be tied to the shot, Politico reported. She told the court she hoped to wrap up her research within roughly a year.

Kennedy, a longtime skeptic of vaccine safety, has repeatedly attacked the COVID vaccines, once branding them the "most deadly vaccines in history," Politico noted. Public health experts have said his characterization is false and warn it has pushed some Americans away from shots that can blunt the disease.

Much of Long's task centers on claims that the mRNA formulas from Pfizer and Moderna raise the risk of heart inflammation, according to Politico. However, a 2026 Pentagon report cited by Politico found that while myocarditis and pericarditis cases ticked up soon after vaccination, the effect was "not sustained over a 1-year period." The Pentagon report noted no deaths.

Long testified that she remained doubtful of the military's own data, which at one point appeared to show the vaccine performing extraordinarily well, according to Politico. She claimed that officials inflated the numbers until it "made it look like the vaccine had, like, cured everything," according to a transcript of her testimony reviewed by Politico.

She added that she knew of 28 people who died because of the COVID vaccine but was barred from saying more, Politico reported.

'Remarkable': Military expert's detail about Hegseth's impact floors Kaitlan Collins

A retired Air Force secretary's description of how Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has impacted the military shocked Kaitlan Collins.

During a Wednesday interview, Collins interviewed Frank Kendall about the military under Hegseth. Kendall said that Hegseth's "witch hunt for people who are supposedly woke" and attack on dissent have frightened the ranks and diminished morale to the point where the military is struggling to operate.

"In a word, it's dysfunctional," Kendall said, answering a question from Collins about his assessment of what's happening in the military and Pentagon right now. "I've worked with and had a chance to work for maybe a dozen secretaries of defense. He's doing active harm to the Department of Defense. It's not passive. It's active harm."

Kendall penned an op-ed for the New York Times on Tuesday in which he argued that the military can't deny the damage of the Trump administration any longer. Kendall expanded on the arguments he made in the piece during his interview with Collins and pointed to problems like the firings of dozens of general officers and the removal of people from promotion lists.

"Both of these are totally unprecedented," Kendall said about the firings and removals. "The climate of fear that's been created is very palpable. It's affecting everybody in how they work. It's affecting the quality of advice that's being given. People are afraid to say something that's not going to be approved of."

Kendall said that Hegseth's "witch hunt" on woke "has a lot of people scared. Even in the first Trump administration, when emphasizing DEI was part of policy, people would make speeches about it, and now they're being punished for that."

He described it as "a very tough climate to work in," and added, "I am in touch with a lot of people. I just talked to someone recently who are service and questioning whether they should remain in the service or not continue to serve their country because of the climate they're working in."

Collins reacted to the detail by shouting, "That's remarkable," and followed up by asking, "You've spoken with people who are considering leaving the military altogether because of the environment right now?"

"That's right," Kendall said, which was followed by a long silence.

'Heartbroken' military families beg for help over 'miserable' new warship revelations

As concerns mounted Friday over poor conditions onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, families of military service members on another Navy ship were pleading for help.

A new report from independent journalist Aaron Parnas detailed the troubling conditions and declining morale shared by sailors' families, including how service members on the USS George H.W. Bush were facing "virtually no food, water, or soap," The Daily Beast reported.

A loved one of two U.S. sailors told Parnas via text how the situation was worsening for sailors on the warship in the Arabian Sea as the Iran war now drags on for more than five months.

"They've been out at sea for 146 days with no end in sight," the unnamed family member said. They learned about the conditions when her sister-in-law left the ship for a family emergency. "Morale is low, and everyone is miserable. It's heartbreaking."

The USS Bush left Norfolk, Virginia, in March, The Beast reported.

The reports onboard follow growing frustration about the USS Abraham Lincoln's roughly 5,000 sailors and Marines, who are nine months into a deployment that was supposed to end in May, with no return date announced.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has pushed back on the accounts, telling reporters Thursday that the conditions had been "completely misrepresented," though he did not specify his concerns with the reporting. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who pressed Hegseth for answers, rejected that characterization as disrespectful to the sailors enduring the hardships.

The Navy has acknowledged the war disrupted supply routes but said the Lincoln now has access to clean water and healthy meals. The carrier USS George Washington is being sent to relieve the ship, which has been at sea more than 240 days with only two port calls.

'Sick': Firestorm as 'Cadet Bone Spurs' dismisses disgruntled military families

People were outraged on Friday after President Donald Trump downplayed the reportedly poor conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln, where service members have described a dire situation.

Trump was boarding Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland heading to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York when the press corps started asking him questions about the naval vessel and sailors on board.

"Family members of service members are concerned about conditions on the USS Lincoln," one reporter said.

"That ship is moving. No, they’re not," Trump responded, saying that the ship would be replaced with another ship.

"Has the deployment gone on too long?" The reporter asked.

"No, no, no. Not nearly long enough," Trump said, not acknowledging military family members' worries.

Political commentators and media experts reacted to the president's remarks.

Internet personality and Chronicles associate editor Pedro L. Gonzalez reacted to Trump's response.

"Trump doesn't care about American troops at all," Gonzalez wrote on X. "He thinks people who serve in the military are suckers. He thinks people who fight and die for this country are fools. I don't know how you can hear Trump explicitly state that he's unconcerned about these service members and their families, that he thinks they haven't been deployed *long enough* in his idiotic war, and still conclude that he's deeply concerned about American lives."

Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), an Iraq war veteran, had a sharp reaction to Trump's comments.

"Cadet Bone Spurs thinks he understands what happens on deployments," Gallego wrote on X.

Progressive activist Alex Cole mocked Trump.

"Trump: We love our military. Military: We have concerns. Trump: No you don’t," Cole wrote on X.

U.S. Army veteran and activist Skyleigh Uhrich had a direct message for families of military service members.

"Attention Military & Military Families: Trump said 200 days of deployment at sea with no port of call is not along [sic] enough! All of you need to vote accordingly in November, all of your family members are being used as pawns in his sick game! He wouldn’t last 24 hrs pathetic mf!" Uhrich wrote on X.

Liberal commentator Lucas Sanders responded to the president.

"Translation: I don’t care about their conditions," Sanders wrote on X.

Trump doesn't care about American troops at all. He thinks people who serve in the military are suckers. He thinks people who fight and die for this country are fools. I don't know how you can hear Trump explicitly state that he's unconcerned about these service members and their… https://t.co/oEvuDGiZ9j
— Pedro L. Gonzalez (@emeriticus) August 14, 2026

ICE tells Army wife she's 'famous' before yanking her off deportation flight: report

An Army soldier's wife was pulled off a deportation flight to Brazil this week by federal agents who explained she was "famous," according to reports on Friday.

An Associated Press investigation identified Maisa Lopes Eliaser as one of dozens of military spouses and parents who had been detained following the Trump administration's rollback of protections for military families as part of its broader mass deportation efforts, The Boston Globe reported.

Eliaser's husband, Staff Sergeant Alexis Jaramillo has served in the Army for 11 years and went public about what happened to his wife, who was ripped from his side during what the couple, their son and translator thought was an adjustment-of-status appointment on July 8 in Montgomery, Alabama.

Eliaser was on a deportation flight bound for Brazil Wednesday when ICE officers onboard got a mid-flight call about her case, according to The Globe.

An ICE officer offered Eliaser the choice to returning to the U.S. Once the plane landed, other detainees were taken away and Eliaser stayed on and was taken back to Louisiana.

ICE officers reportedly told her she had become "famous" because footage related to her case was circulating online.

"Who made the call? We don’t know," Jaramillo said. "But someone made the phone call, and then she came back."

Jaramillo said he had to take leave from his training duties at Fort Polk, Louisiana, while his wife was in custody.

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), a former Navy officer, had looked into his Eliaser's case, Jaramillo said.

Danitza James, who leads Repatriate Our Patriots, an organization that supports military families facing deportation and assisted with Eliaser's case, responded to her release.

"This family’s reunion is proof of what’s possible when people set politics aside and do right by those who serve," James said. "We won’t stop until every military family facing detention gets the same chance at justice."

Although he was told there would be no further issues with his wife's case, Jaramillo is still worried. He said his wife was treated like "an animal" and has been struggling with sleep.

"It felt like I was in a nightmare," Eliaser said. "I could not believe what was happening until I returned to my house. Day by day, I’m trying to recover from this trauma."

Trump's 'disgraceful political stunt' slammed by families of fallen troops: report

President Donald Trump's comments about recently killed military service members were slammed by Gold Star families, per HuffPost.

According to reporting by HuffPost, the Gold Star families of military service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan were upset by remarks made by Trump earlier this week about four U.S. troops recently killed amid the conflict with Iran.

Before departing for Dover Air Force Base, Trump told reporters that all four of the service members, who were killed earlier in the week, fully supported the war in Iran.

"They are indeed great heroes, actually," Trump said. "They said, and they, all of them, said, very strongly, 'We can't let, cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.'"

The loved ones of U.S. service members shared their reactions to Trump's comments with HuffPost.

Karie Fugett, whose husband Corporal Jimmy Cleveland II of the Marine Corps died during Operation Iraqi Freedom, told HuffPost, "It's crystal clear to me that this is a disgraceful political stunt ahead of a major election."

"The president knows his war with Iran is the most unpopular war in modern history, and he's terrified of how that will show up at the ballot box," Fugett said. "It's foul."

"As the president of the United States, he can do a lot more than 'throw his heart out,'" Kelly McHugh-Stewart, the daughter of U.S. Army Colonel John M. McHugh, said. McHugh-Stewart's father died in Afghanistan in 2010.

"Perhaps start with ending this illegal war in Iran," McHugh-Stewart continued, describing the conflict as "a war with no clear mission, end goal, or timeline, a war costing billions of dollars that still has not been approved by Congress."

Rivka Bent, whose son, Lance Corporal Cole M. Bent, died in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom, said, "All of us would rather have our sons or daughters safely returned to us, and no amount of praise or political rhetoric can replace that."

US strikes Iran in retaliation for downed Apache helicopter: report

The U.S. military struck Iran in response to an attack against an Apache helicopter, according to breaking news reports.

Trump vowed to retaliate for the attack against the helicopter, saying that the U.S. "must, of necessity, respond," Axios reported. He said the attack against the helicopter "wasn't a big deal" in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, however.

Axios noted that it wasn't clear what the U.S. military was targeting with the strikes, but Central Command described it as "a proportional response." CNN reported that the U.S. military was attacking islands along the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian state media reported explosions in a province called Hormozgan, which lies on the Strait of Hormuz, according to Axios. The Tasnim News Agency said that Iran vowed a "decisive response" to the attacks and called the allegation that it downed the helicopter a pretense, Axios reported.

"Foreign forces in proximity to our territory are at constant risk," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X. "We prefer language of diplomacy but speak other languages too."

House GOP stealthily moves to reshape US military in ‘unprecedented’ fashion: report

House Republicans on the Armed Services Committee released their defense budget proposal this week for fiscal year 2027, which includes more than $1.1 trillion in spending, but buried within the 500-plus-page document is a provision that one foreign policy analyst warned Friday was “unprecedented,” and could reshape the U.S. military indefinitely.

That provision is titled the “United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative,” and according to Ben Freeman, a foreign policy analyst at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, it would “provide a higher level of military-industrial integration [with Israel] than the U.S. has with any other country in the world.”

Writing in a report published by Responsible Statecraft, Freeman noted that the United States and Israel “already work together heavily” on military operations and intelligence sharing. He also acknowledged that the United States “has worked closely with its NATO partners” militarily. The provision buried within the defense spending proposal, however, was “a different beast entirely,” Freeman warned.

“It would fuse the U.S. and Israeli defense sectors in multiple areas vital to the battlefields of the future, like autonomous systems and cyber,” Freeman wrote. “It would also bring extraordinary Israeli influence to the U.S. beyond what it already has through the Israel lobby and its robust network of social media influencers.”

The expanded Israeli influence on U.S. politics that the budget provision may clear a path for, Freeman cautioned, could become irreversible.

“It would give the Israeli government the opportunity to greatly expand one of the most powerful levers of influence in U.S. politics: jobs in the U.S.,” Freeman wrote.

“By expanding or starting new co-production facilities like it already has in Mississippi and Arkansas, the Israeli government could boast of providing jobs on U.S. soil, thereby securing allies among members of Congress who represent the districts where those jobs lie.”

Freeman continued, “The result could well be a U.S. political system even more susceptible to the whims of an Israeli government that seemingly has no qualms about drawing the U.S. into military conflicts in the Middle East.”

Trump lobs ominous threat at US ally during brisk press conference

Trump issued an ominous threat to a key U.S. ally while speaking to reporters on Saturday.

When a reporter asked why Trump is removing 5,000 troops from Germany, the president said that the scale will be larger. His comments come after GOP leaders rebuked Trump for the current reduction of troops, arguing that it "sends the wrong signal" to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"We're going to cut way down," Trump said. "We're cutting a lot further than 5,000."

The withdrawal of armed forces from Germany comes as the U.S. fights a war in Iran but struggles to recruit allies into the conflict.

Nobel winner sounds alarm over Hegseth's 'loyalty tests': 'Should terrify every American'

Pete Hegseth's new directives for US military personnel are undermining the standard set by previous administrations, a Nobel Prize winner has argued.

Hegseth has implemented a contentious grooming standards directive that authorizes military members to receive government-funded laser hair removal treatments while restricting eyelash extensions and certain nail polishes, justified "in support of Army readiness."

Hegseth announced a ban on military personnel attending graduate programs at nearly two dozen elite universities including Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Yale, and Georgetown, which he characterized as bastions of "wokeness" and "wicked ideologies" in February.

More recently, Hegseth ruled that military personnel would be allowed the right to refuse a flu vaccine, a decision which has been criticized by Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman.

Krugman believes these recent directives have undermined the US military standards and that they instead provide a service to President Donald Trump and, by extension, Hegseth.

Krugman wrote in his Substack, "This isn’t simply about vaccines and facial hair. These directives are part of a larger project, another step in Hegseth’s drive to cultify the US military. What do I mean by cultifying the military? I mean creating an environment in which professional integrity, military discipline, and historical precedent are destroyed in service to the personality cult of Donald Trump and his enforcer, Pete Hegseth.

"Think of these directives as loyalty tests. Hegseth can indulge his faux concerns about liberty while aligning himself with the science-hating right. If you are an officer concerned about the welfare of your troops and voice your concerns, you are out. Mention that the directive against beards is nonsensical and disproportionately harms black male soldiers with a common skin condition, then you are a woke weakling and are sent packing.

"If you are a general in possession of critical skills and hard-won experience, but served during the Biden administration, you will be unceremoniously fired.

"Simply put, the method in Hegseth’s apparent madness is to destroy the integrity of the professional military corps through destructive and despotic behavior that drives out those – like Admiral Holsey – who hold to their principles.

"And this should terrify every American. A powerful military always poses a potential threat to democracy. To keep that threat in check, the military must be presided over by an officer corps that understands that its duty is not to any one person, but to the Constitution and the rule of law. The U.S. military has been largely insulated from political influence since the nation’s founding. But Hegseth is trying to subvert that."