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'Fired by tweet:' Troops, veterans react to transgender ban
Alaina Kupec, right, and her wife Kathy Brennan work on putting bombs on a model F18 jet after pulling it out from a moving box in the home they just moved in to, Wednesday, July 26, 2017, in Orange, N.J. Kupec, a transgender woman who worked with pilots who flew F18 jets while serving as a Navy intelligence officer from 1992 until 1995, said she felt "heartbreak" after she heard about Trump's Twitter pronouncement banning transgender people from military service. The 48-year-old publicly transitioned to life as a woman in 2013. <br>Julio Cortez/AP

After Trump took to Twitter to announce he was seeking to ban transgender people from military service, transgender veterans and active-duty troops took to social media to share their stories.

Parts of West Mosul sit in ruins as the fight against ISIS continues, in Nineveh Province, on March 19, 2017. <br>Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times (TNS)

Here’s what it will take to rebuild the Iraqi city Islamic State destroyed

The nine-month U.S.-backed offensive to expel Islamic State militants from Mosul was a relentless and savage fight. Now that it has been won, another daunting battle has begun: to bring Iraq’s second-largest city back from the dead.

<br>med.navy.mil

Lawmakers move toward agreement on funding for nearly bankrupt VA program

House and Senate lawmakers came to a compromise Wednesday that would keep the Veterans Choice Program funded, while authorizing leases for new Department of Veterans Affairs clinics and research locations.

This makeshift impound lot at Ewa Villages Golf Course as one of several the city and county of Honolulu is using to handle the overflow of vehicles abandoned by departing military personnel on Oahu.<br>Wyatt Olson/Stars and Stripes

Honolulu plagued by glut of vehicles abandoned by departing servicemembers

The Hawaii Department of Customer Services currently holds more than 400 vehicles that belong to soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen who abandoned them when they left Hawaii, either because they left the service or were transferred to another duty station.

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Karl Johnson, 20th Security Forces Squadron trainer, demonstrates answering the phone at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., Jan. 18, 2017. He explained proper operational security techniques for speaking on the telephone during an OPSEC brief.<br>Destinee Sweeney/U.S. Air Force

Mattis targets mandatory training in effort to become more lethal

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has ordered a Pentagon review of the mandatory training and administrative requirements his troops face each year that cut into time that they could be spending to prepare for combat.

Lt. Col. Ben Rudolphi, 407th Expeditionary Operation Support Squadron commander, conducts a preflight check on an A-10 Thunderbolt II on July 11, 2017 at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey. <br>Ramon A. Adelan/U.S. Air Force

Concerns raised over military presence, nukes stored in Turkey

The strained relationship between the U.S. and Turkey, a NATO ally, has steadily deteriorated in the wake of an attempted mutiny against the Ankara government in July 2016. Critics say Turkey is now behaving more like an adversary than an ally.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watches what North Korea claims was its first successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile on July 4, 2017.<br>Courtesy of KCNA

North Korean missile worries grow on eve of armistice anniversary

Concern about North Korea’s rapidly advancing nuclear weapons program rose Wednesday as officials prepared to mark the 64th anniversary of the armistice that ended the Korean War.

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Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy exits a C-130 aircraft, Wednesday, July 26, 2017, in East Granby, Conn. <br>Susan Haigh/AP

Connecticut governor to state armed forces: No transgender discrimination

Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed an executive order on Wednesday directing the Connecticut National Guard not to discriminate against transgender people.

See more U.S. news
This makeshift impound lot at Ewa Villages Golf Course as one of several the city and county of Honolulu is using to handle the overflow of vehicles abandoned by departing military personnel on Oahu.<br>Wyatt Olson/Stars and Stripes

Honolulu plagued by glut of vehicles abandoned by departing servicemembers

The Hawaii Department of Customer Services currently holds more than 400 vehicles that belong to soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen who abandoned them when they left Hawaii, either because they left the service or were transferred to another duty station.

See more Pacific news
Russian President Vladimir Putin, at a news conference on May 17, 2017, in Sochi, Russia.<br>Mikhail Metzel, TASS/Zuma Press/TNS

Analysis

Putin defies Trump on North Korea

Economic ties between Russia and North Korea, though beleaguered, are becoming a point of tension between President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump.

See more Europe news
Victims of a suspected chemical weapons attack lie on the ground, in Khan Sheikhoun, in the northern province of Idlib, Syria, on April 4, 2017. <br>Alaa Alyousef/AP

Russia: Don't blame Syria for chemical attack without visit

Russia says the United States and its Western allies rushed to judgment and blamed the Syrian government for using sarin nerve gas in an attack on an opposition-held town in Syria without ever visiting the site and ignoring two witnesses presented by Damascus.

See more Middle East news
U.N. peacekeepers during an operation in the southwestern part of the city of Gao in Mali.<br>Harandane Dicko/UN

2 Germans peacekeepers dead in helicopter crash in Mali

A U.N. peacekeeping helicopter crashed Wednesday in the desert in northern Mali and two German citizens are unaccounted for, U.N. officials said.

See more Africa news

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Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy exits a C-130 aircraft, Wednesday, July 26, 2017, in East Granby, Conn. <br>Susan Haigh/AP

Connecticut governor to state armed forces: No transgender discrimination

Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed an executive order on Wednesday directing the Connecticut National Guard not to discriminate against transgender people.

See more U.S. news
This makeshift impound lot at Ewa Villages Golf Course as one of several the city and county of Honolulu is using to handle the overflow of vehicles abandoned by departing military personnel on Oahu.<br>Wyatt Olson/Stars and Stripes

Honolulu plagued by glut of vehicles abandoned by departing servicemembers

The Hawaii Department of Customer Services currently holds more than 400 vehicles that belong to soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen who abandoned them when they left Hawaii, either because they left the service or were transferred to another duty station.

See more Pacific news
Russian President Vladimir Putin, at a news conference on May 17, 2017, in Sochi, Russia.<br>Mikhail Metzel, TASS/Zuma Press/TNS

Analysis

Putin defies Trump on North Korea

Economic ties between Russia and North Korea, though beleaguered, are becoming a point of tension between President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump.

See more Europe news
Victims of a suspected chemical weapons attack lie on the ground, in Khan Sheikhoun, in the northern province of Idlib, Syria, on April 4, 2017. <br>Alaa Alyousef/AP

Russia: Don't blame Syria for chemical attack without visit

Russia says the United States and its Western allies rushed to judgment and blamed the Syrian government for using sarin nerve gas in an attack on an opposition-held town in Syria without ever visiting the site and ignoring two witnesses presented by Damascus.

See more Middle East news
U.N. peacekeepers during an operation in the southwestern part of the city of Gao in Mali.<br>Harandane Dicko/UN

2 Germans peacekeepers dead in helicopter crash in Mali

A U.N. peacekeeping helicopter crashed Wednesday in the desert in northern Mali and two German citizens are unaccounted for, U.N. officials said.

See more Africa news
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veterans

Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin speaks during a briefing on Wednesday, May 31, 2017 in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, D.C. <br>Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press/TNS

Shulkin to meet with New Hampshire VA whistleblowers

Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin plans to meet next week with doctors who have alleged substandard care at the Manchester VA Medical Center.

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Sgt. Joshua M. Snowden<br>U.S. Marine Corps

Body of fallen Marine returns home to Dallas for burial

Sgt. Joshua Snowden, one of 15 Marines killed in a military plane crash earlier this month, will be laid to rest Friday at the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery.

See more Marine Corps news

Coast Guard clears Lady Washington to sail after grounding

The Coast Guard has completed its inspection of the Lady Washington, a full-scale replica of the 18th-century sailing ship, and cleared it to resume operations.

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One of the eight C-130 cargo planes assigned to the Connecticut Air National Guard is towed into a new maintenance facility at the Bradley Air National Guard Base, Wednesday, July 26, 2017, in East Granby, Conn. Dignitaries were on hand to mark the opening of the new, $14.3 million, federally funded facility for the aircraft, which have been stationed in Connecticut since 2013 after the state's flying mission was in limbo.<br>Susan Haigh/AP

Connecticut Guard's flying mission settles in with C-130s

State and Guard officials held a ceremony to mark the opening of a new, federally funded, $14.3 million maintenance facility for the aircraft stationed at the Bradley Air National Guard Base in East Granby.

See more Air Force news
Sailors man the rails aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan as the ship begins its 2017 patrol in May from Yokosuka, Japan.<br>Kenneth Abbate/U.S. Navy

Navy officials look at giving 7th Fleet a higher manning priority

Sailors could see their chances of deploying to the 7th Fleet increase after Navy officials gathered recently to address personnel gaps in the region.

See more Navy news
Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy exits a C-130 aircraft, Wednesday, July 26, 2017, in East Granby, Conn. <br>Susan Haigh/AP

Connecticut governor to state armed forces: No transgender discrimination

Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed an executive order on Wednesday directing the Connecticut National Guard not to discriminate against transgender people.

See more Army news

military branches
Sgt. Joshua M. Snowden<br>U.S. Marine Corps

Body of fallen Marine returns home to Dallas for burial

Sgt. Joshua Snowden, one of 15 Marines killed in a military plane crash earlier this month, will be laid to rest Friday at the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery.

See more Marine Corps news

Coast Guard clears Lady Washington to sail after grounding

The Coast Guard has completed its inspection of the Lady Washington, a full-scale replica of the 18th-century sailing ship, and cleared it to resume operations.

See more Coast Guard news
One of the eight C-130 cargo planes assigned to the Connecticut Air National Guard is towed into a new maintenance facility at the Bradley Air National Guard Base, Wednesday, July 26, 2017, in East Granby, Conn. Dignitaries were on hand to mark the opening of the new, $14.3 million, federally funded facility for the aircraft, which have been stationed in Connecticut since 2013 after the state's flying mission was in limbo.<br>Susan Haigh/AP

Connecticut Guard's flying mission settles in with C-130s

State and Guard officials held a ceremony to mark the opening of a new, federally funded, $14.3 million maintenance facility for the aircraft stationed at the Bradley Air National Guard Base in East Granby.

See more Air Force news
Sailors man the rails aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan as the ship begins its 2017 patrol in May from Yokosuka, Japan.<br>Kenneth Abbate/U.S. Navy

Navy officials look at giving 7th Fleet a higher manning priority

Sailors could see their chances of deploying to the 7th Fleet increase after Navy officials gathered recently to address personnel gaps in the region.

See more Navy news
Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy exits a C-130 aircraft, Wednesday, July 26, 2017, in East Granby, Conn. <br>Susan Haigh/AP

Connecticut governor to state armed forces: No transgender discrimination

Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed an executive order on Wednesday directing the Connecticut National Guard not to discriminate against transgender people.

See more Army news
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Washington Nationals manager Dusty Baker poses with U.S. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller, left, and Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Ronald L. Green during a ceremony marking Baker's induction into the Marine Corps Sports Hall of Fame. Baker served as a Marine Reservist from 1968 to 1974.<br>Joe Gromelski/Stars and Stripes

Washington Nationals manager Dusty Baker is honored by Marine Corps

Washington Nationals manager Dusty Baker was honored by the U.S. Marine Corps Monday night before his team faced the Milwaukee Brewers on the third of five "branch days" sponsored by the Nationals during the 2017 season.

Sports
Washington Nationals manager Dusty Baker poses with U.S. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller, left, and Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Ronald L. Green during a ceremony marking Baker's induction into the Marine Corps Sports Hall of Fame. Baker served as a Marine Reservist from 1968 to 1974.<br>Joe Gromelski/Stars and Stripes

Washington Nationals manager Dusty Baker is honored by Marine Corps

Washington Nationals manager Dusty Baker was honored by the U.S. Marine Corps Monday night before his team faced the Milwaukee Brewers on the third of five "branch days" sponsored by the Nationals during the 2017 season.

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