A Veterans Affairs social worker died after being shot Tuesday at a VA clinic in Jasper, Georgia. Nicholas “Nic” Crews of Marietta, Georgia, died Wednesday as a result of injuries suffered in a shooting at the clinic. He was airlifted from the scene for advanced medical treatment but succumbed to his injuries, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. His assailant, Lawrence Charles Michels, 51, of Jasper, was shot and killed by law enforcement, the GBI said in a release Thursday. Michels was in the clinic for a walk-in mental health consultation; Crews was the clinic’s social work case manager,…

The United States military is deploying thousands of additional Marines and sailors to the Middle East, three U.S. officials told Reuters on Friday.The deployments of the USS Boxer, along with its 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit and accompanying warship, comes as Reuters reported that President Donald Trump’s administration was considering deploying thousands of U.S. troops to reinforce its operation in the Middle East.Trump told reporters on Thursday that he was not putting troops “anywhere,” but that if was going to, he would not tell journalists.The sources, who were speaking on the condition of anonymity, did not say what the role of…

Sign up for the On The Gun Newsletter The latest for gun hunters and competitive shooters. A months-long battle between two of the biggest names in the firearms market went public last week, signaling a contentious shareholder vote that’s rare in the close-knit gun industry. In September Beretta Holding acquired 7.7 percent of Sturm, Ruger & Co. stock, then increased its total stake in the company to nearly 10 percent. That makes it the American gunmaker’s largest single shareholder. Then in February, Beretta Holding nominated four new candidates to Ruger’s board of directors. The company claims it wanted to leverage…

The vehicles vying to replace the Marine Corps’ aging light armored vehicle fleet hit the water for the first time earlier this year, completing a series of tests to demonstrate safety and performance across a spectrum of sea conditions and highlighting some new features in the process. The testing, which involved the variant of the future advanced reconnaissance vehicle, or ARV, equipped with a 30mm autocannon, took place in January and February at Camp Pendleton, California, according to a recent Marine Corps news release. Prototypes by two designers, Textron Systems and General Dynamics Land Systems, underwent the water entry, swim…

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F-35 stealth jet takes on Iranian fire, emergency landing: CNN Trump dials up threat, seeking leverage, denies approving Israeli Pars strikes; however, reports from The Wall Street Journal and Axios say the White House was aware. The US is sending more troops to the region. Energy war hits breaking point: tit-for-tat strikes are now directly targeting Gulf energy infrastructure, with Qatar’s Ras Laffan damaged, KSA, Kuwait, Bahrain sites attacked; Saudi trust in Iran “completely shattered.” Iran’s navy in the Caspian Sea reportedly destroyed. Missile strikes key Israeli refinery. Europe pushes off-ramp, refuses entry into conflict: Macron urges direct talks  “reckless escalation,” while…

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The Pentagon on Thursday said it is seeking roughly $200 billion to sustain its war in Iran, as senior military officials acknowledge that the Islamic Republic retains “some capability” to attack American assets and allies in the Middle East. Asked about the figure during a press briefing, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said “that number could move,” before adding in a blunt aside: “It takes money to kill bad guys.”“We’re going back to Congress and our folks there to ensure that we are properly funded,” Hegseth said.He asserted that the request would help fund the ongoing mission, accelerate replenishment of weapons…

U.S. service members will now be granted religious exemptions from grooming standards only on “sincerely held religious beliefs,” according to a recent Pentagon memorandum.Current service members and those applying for military service who request an exception for religious reasons must provide “a sworn written attestation affirming the requester’s belief is sincerely held and religious in nature,” according to the March 11 Department of Defense memorandum. In their requests, service members must provide statements describing the specific religious beliefs that are held and explanations of how the current clean-shaven grooming standard conflicts with their exercise of religion, per the memo.Troops must…

The Department of Defense continues its search for department civilian employees to collaborate with the Department of Homeland Security in border security missions.The department persists in attempts to recruit its civilian employees to volunteer and support DHS operations, according to a Thursday email sent to DOD civilian employees that circulated on social media.“I am renewing the call for additional dedicated civil servant volunteers to meet continued mission-critical roles in support of DHS,” the email reads.The email, sent by the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, first circulated on the unofficial Air Force amn/nco/sno Facebook page. A…

A pair of U.S. Navy counter-mine vessels that are homeported in Bahrain arrived in Singapore this week, according to a U.S. Fifth Fleet spokesperson.The Independence-class littoral combat ships USS Santa Barbara and USS Tulsa entered the U.S. Seventh Fleet area of responsibility earlier in the week, the spokesperson said, stopping first in Malaysia for a port call.Each ship is equipped with a mine countermeasures mission package designed to detect and destroy naval mines.“Tulsa and Santa Barbara are conducting scheduled maintenance and logistics stop in Singapore,” the spokesperson said. The two nations, according to the spokesperson, have an agreement to allow…

Pentagon staffers, former officials and IT contractors who work closely with the U.S. military say they are reluctant to give up Anthropic’s AI tools, which they view as superior to alternatives, despite orders to remove them. After a dispute between Anthropic and the Pentagon over guardrails for how the military could use its artificial intelligence tools, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth designated the company a supply-chain risk on March 3, barring its use by the Pentagon and its contractors following a six-month phase-out.RELATEDBut the move is running into resistance, with some military users dragging their feet and others preparing to revert…

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) — Anduril Industries will begin building its new Fury, “loyal wingman,” high-speed combat drones in the coming days at a new facility in Ohio, as the U.S. military’s interest in unmanned aircraft surges following battlefield successes in Ukraine and Iran. Amid cornfields and horse farms 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Columbus, Ohio, the defense tech start-up is expecting its $1 billion Arsenal-1 autonomous systems manufacturing campus to employ more than 4,000 people over the next decade, starting with roughly 250 by the end of this year, officials said on Thursday.Anduril is one of a new but…

The U.S. Army used Apache helicopters to shoot down drones in air-to-air combat in Europe for the first time during an exercise in Germany this week.During Operation Skyfall held at Grafenwoehr Training Area, soldiers of the 2-159th Attack Battalion, 12th Combat Aviation Brigade, used the Boeing AH-64E Apache to pursue and attack Unmanned Aircraft Systems. It is not the first time that the Army has ever practiced using Apaches against drones. In December, the service held an air-to-air combat training exercise in Yuma, Arizona, that saw the Apaches destroy a a variety of drones in flight using a 30mm fragmentation…