Two soldiers have been awarded Silver Star medals for a July mission where they said they barely noticed the enemy gunfire peppering their Black Hawk helicopter in Afghanistan.

The hit Warner Bros. superhero film “Shazam!” is based on a character whose origins begin with an Army veteran’s little-known struggle a century ago to adjust to life after war.

Cpl. Robert A. Hendriks, Sgt. Benjamin S. Hines and Staff Sgt. Christopher K.A. Slutman were all assigned to 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve, and were in Afghanistan as a part of Operation Resolute Support.

All three American servicemembers killed in a bombing outside Bagram Air Field were Marines, it was announced Tuesday, while the military said an Afghan contractor initially reported dead has been found alive.

Marines are raising money to donate a service dog to another Marine in need in honor of retired Col. Mark A. Smith, who died late last month and was known for his personal leadership style.

Retired Col. Mark A. Smith, who wrote dozens of letters praised for their compassion and eloquence to the families of his Marine Reserve battalion during a deployment early in the Iraq War, was remembered this week as a “Marine’s Marine.”

The Department of Defense on Saturday identified the two soldiers who died Friday in Kunduz Province, Afghanistan, as a result of wounds sustained while engaged in combat operations.

John Walker Lindh is currently being held at the Federal Correctional Institution Terre Haute and is set to be released May 23, based on the full term of his sentence minus time for good behavior.

Decked out in a kid-sized flight suit, Je’Moni Ford, 9, became the U.S. Air Force Academy’s “youngest cadet” this month, quickly advancing from the fourth grade straight into college — at least for a day.

Photos with strangers. A kid who insists on calling you "Daddy Captain Marvel." And a little twinge of regret that you won't get to keep the moniker when you get promoted. Those are just a few of the experiences of the actual Capt. Marvels.

Here's a look at two soldiers who recently completed physically grueling courses at a time in their lives when some soldiers might be tempted to coast into retirement.

A Defense Department website used to transfer large files containing sensitive unclassified information was brought back online earlier this month after being shuttered over security concerns last year.

Before dawn, 20 special tactics airmen began on Friday an 830-mile ruck march honoring Staff Sgt. Dylan J. Elchin, a special tactics combat controller from Hookstown, Pa., killed in Afghanistan in late November, and 19 other special tactics airmen killed in the line of duty since 9/11.

Next week, Senior Chief Petty Officer Shannon Kent will become the third woman and 177th entry on the National Cryptologic Memorial, which honors code-makers and code-breakers who’ve been killed in the line of duty since World War II.

Waheed Etimad, 40, immigrated to the U.S. four years ago with his family on a special immigrant visa to “make a good life for his children."

Capt. Jon Turnbull, 32, of Gaylord, Mich., was wounded in a Jan. 16 blast in the town of Manbij that left four Americans and dozens of others dead.

The planned route is from Maryland’s Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport to Ramstein Air Base, Germany, on to Aviano, and ending at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar. Return trips follow the route in reverse.

Capt. Zoe “SiS” Kotnik was named pilot and commander of the Air Combat Command’s F-16 Viper Demonstration Team last week after completing a series of certification flights.

The polar vortex has brought record-shattering Arctic temperatures to the Midwest, Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic this week; meanwhile, snowy conditions are impacting U.S. military bases in Europe and Asia. Some are more prepared for the cold than others.

Just in case it seemed that every conceivable military-charity niche was filled, in comes A Single Plastic Fork for American Admin Clerks and Shampoo for Marines. But don't whip out your checkbooks just yet.

Warren C. Clark, a convert to Islam and former substitute teacher from Sugar Land, Texas, previously admitted to seeking a position teaching English at a university in the Iraqi city of Mosul, which ISIS has occupied for more than three years.

Capt. Jonathan Turnbull, 32, a native of Gaylord, Mich., is being treated at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center and is in serious condition after being wounded in a deadly bombing in Syria last week.

The ISIS-claimed bombing of a restaurant in Syria on Wednesday killed an Army Green Beret with four children, a former Navy SEAL working for the Pentagon’s intelligence agency and a Navy linguist, the Pentagon announced Friday. An American contractor was also killed.

Three additional American servicemembers were injured in the blast that occurred as U.S. military officials met with local leaders in Manbij.

Spc. Andrew S. Ortega was killed Sunday while deployed to Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany. On Monday evening, a second 1st Cavalry soldier who has not been identified was killed in a "rollover accident" involving a Bradley Fighting Vehicle at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif.

Obituary

Retired Air Force Col. Joe M. Jackson, a recipient of the Medal of Honor, a veteran of three wars and early U-2 pilot, died Saturday at the age of 95.

The change seems to highlight the glaringly obvious — that a belt worn to increase a soldier’s visibility to drivers of cars and other vehicles on predawn or nighttime runs would not normally be needed in broad daylight or where vehicles generally can’t go.

The United States has begun removing military cargo from Syria, though no American troops have withdrawn yet from the war-torn country, U.S. military officials said Friday, providing few details.

Under fire and carrying a badly wounded patient, the Black Hawk helicopter was just lifting off an Afghan battlefield when the crew chief saw an Army Ranger in the landing zone get shot and drop to the ground. The Black Hawk darted back to evacuate the fallen Ranger in the face of enemy fire. There was more danger to come that day.

GALLERY

Falling through ice into cold water can cause rapid breathing, tunnel vision, confusion and muscle tension, but soldiers at Fort McCoy, Wis., recently learned to overcome the shock.

Military officials are refuting reports that civilians were harmed in a coalition airstrike on an Islamic State-held village in eastern Syria last week, while observers have warned of diminished transparency in the anti-ISIS campaign.

The Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, said Wednesday they had captured U.S. citizen Soulay Noah Su, 16, who had been going by the alias Abu Souleiman al-Amriki.

Two Marines and a Navy corpsman deployed to northern Iraq are being investigated in connection with the death of a U.S. contractor last week, according to media reports describing the latest in a series of incidents and allegations of misconduct involving special operations troops.

A Texan named Warren Christopher Clark, 34, was one of two reputed U.S. citizens captured in a counterterrorism raid near the Iraqi border, the Syrian Democratic Forces said in a release Sunday.

Sgt. Jason McClary was the driver of a military vehicle in central Afghanistan when he was hit by a roadside bomb last month that fatally wounded him and three special operations troops.

The Navy and Marine Corps issued official guidance saying optical discs are the only way to securely send large files that contain private information after the military disabled AMRDEC SAFE. Officials with the Air Force and Army said they also lack an online alternative.

The public memorial service for Air Force Staff Sgt. Dylan Elchin, who was killed Nov. 27 alongside two Green Berets when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, included more than 100 fellow special tactics airmen from units in Florida and New Mexico, filling the 500-seat auditorium to capacity, the local daily reported.

Sgt. Jason Mitchel McClary, 24, of Export, Pa., died Sunday at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany from injuries he received in the Nov. 27 blast, which struck a convoy of U.S. and Afghan forces in Ghazni province’s Andar district en route to battle Taliban fighters.

Army Capt. Andrew Patrick Ross, 29, of Lexington, Va., Army Sgt. 1st Class Eric Michael Emond, 39, of Brush Prairie, Wash., and Air Force Staff Sgt. Dylan J. Elchin, 25, of Hookstown, Pa., died Tuesday when their vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device in Andar, Ghazni Province, Afghanistan.

American troops and Afghan forces were fighting a close-quarters battle assaulting “one of multiple barricaded al-Qaida shooters” when Sgt. Leandro A.S. Jasso was shot, officials said.

American and Russian forces have clashed a dozen times in Syria — sometimes with exchanges of fire — a U.S. envoy told Russian journalists in a wide-ranging interview this week.

The producers of the Netflix series hope the eight stories will inspire new generations of Americans and that they’ll be able to continue telling stories of the more than 3,500 Americans who have received the country's highest military award.

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Pvt. Tanner Frederick claims a noncommissioned officer slammed his head into the ground several times, causing him a traumatic brain injury.

The Army’s Cadet Command is assisting in an investigation into allegations that a Reserve Officer Training Corps cadet at a North Carolina liberal arts college was operating a pro-Nazi and white supremacist Twitter account.

Spc. Nicholas C. Jividen, 21, died Nov. 6 at the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, Calif., the military said. An investigation of his death is underway.

Coalition troops in Baghdad paused for a two-minute silence Sunday morning to mark the centenary of the end of World War I in Europe, which coincides with the U.S. Veterans Day and the British Remembrance Day holidays.

The uniforms were presented in Washington, D.C. last year and had the support of the Sergeant Major of the Army Dan Dailey, who wore a prototype at the Army-Navy game last December.

More than 15 years after launching “America’s Army,” a first-person shooter game aimed at enlisting real world soldiers, the Army is calling for active duty troops and reservists to compete in video gaming tournaments, or esports, in one of its latest recruiting efforts.

The Army's Camp Rogers, home of the grueling first week of Ranger School at Fort Benning, Ga., is the subject of tongue-in-cheek tributes on Google Maps.

BOOKS

In his new book, “The Fighters: Americans in Combat in Afghanistan and Iraq,” C.J. Chivers pulls back the curtain on some of the more than 2.7 million Americans who served the wars since Sept. 11, 2001.

The shooting, which officials believe was a negligent discharge, occurred Dec. 19, 2016, on Bagram’s Camp Alpha, an area of the base largely reserved for special operations personnel.

James A. Slape, an explosive ordnance disposal technician who has been posthumously promoted from specialist to sergeant, became the seventh U.S. servicemember killed in combat in Afghanistan this year when he was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan on Thursday.

To the envy of some U.S. troops, members of Canada’s military can now all wear beards, provided they can do better than peach fuzz but don’t go full mountain man.

Gary Kurtz, “Star Wars” producer and Vietnam-era veteran, died Sunday in North London, England, after battling cancer.

A new tropical uniform, which has been described as “like pajamas,” is being field tested. It's based on the same design as the current Marine Corps combat utilities, but made of a lighter material designed to dry faster and keep Marines cooler.

Nearly 17 years after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, the international coalition in Kabul is putting down new roots with hardened permanent structures to replace temporary ones at its headquarters in the increasingly violent capital.

When James Riney’s mother took him shopping for new bedding to outfit his room in their new house, the 4-year-old considered a few options: first sharks, then dinosaurs, then comic book superheroes. He passed on all three.

Syrian Democratic Forces launched the third phase of ground operations to clear Islamic State fighters from northeastern Syria on Monday, following cross-border air and artillery strikes from the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq.

Army Staff Sgt. Bryan McQueen has a minor brain injury following an attack in Afghanistan, but he will head home to his high school sweetheart wife and newborn son in a few days — a fate his mother said is an answer to her prayers.

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In anticipation of the long-awaited rollout of the Meal, Ready to Eat pepperoni pizza, Stars and Stripes flew several of the military ration’s main pizza entrees into Afghanistan for taste tests with the troops. Here's what they had to say.

The Pentagon has identified the soldier who died Tuesday from a noncombat injury at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, as Staff Sgt. Diobanjo S. Sanagustin, 32, from National City, Calif.

Command Sgt. Maj. Timothy A. Bolyard died of wounds sustained in the attack at at Camp Maiwand in Logar province.

One week after the Marine Corps celebrated a century of women in its ranks, some of its newest female recruits will be issued blues dress coats designed to look more like those of their male counterparts.

The top leaders of the U.S. security services firm that former Navy SEAL Erik Prince founded as Blackwater in 1997 have resigned, and a new chief executive has been named, the company announced.

Chief Warrant Officer 3 Taylor J. Galvin died in Baghdad from injuries sustained when the helicopter in which he was traveling crashed early Monday in Sinjar in Iraq’s Nineveh province.

An American servicemember was killed and several other troops were injured late Sunday in Iraq when their helicopter crashed after participating in a raid against an Islamic State target, military officials said Monday.

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Many of Afghanistan's remaining Soviet-made T-55s and T-62s are gradually succumbing to the ravages of time. Maintainers can barely keep the beasts running, and those they can’t are being cannibalized for parts or sold off as scrap.

The U.S. military has made its mark on the fashion world many times — consider the leather bomber jacket, khaki pants or the wool peacoat — but few soldiers likely would have pegged the infamous “glow” belt to crossover into world of civilian style.

A U.S. soldier assigned to a special operations unit in Europe was convicted of attempted rape in Denmark last week, officials said.

The Army has formally terminated its effort to develop a 25 mm airburst weapon, the largest of nearly three dozen ways a Pentagon watchdog has said the military could save $2.3 billion in defense spending.

In the newly released 1.5-minute Air Force video, Tech Sgt. John Chapman can be seen charging up a steep slope toward enemy positions to recover a fellow servicemember who had fallen from the back after the team came under heavy enemy fire from al-Qaida.

“We continue to work by, with and through our partners to achieve the lasting defeat of ISIS in designated parts of Iraq and Syria,” Operation Inherent Resolve officials said in a statement.

Troops tired of Anthony’s pizza, Charleys' subs and Auntie Anne’s pretzels will have a new food option named after someone they may actually recognize when Wahlburgers opens on a Washington base.

Lance Cpl. Dillon Bennett suffered a traumatic brain injury, shrapnel to his knee and other cuts and bruises as a result of a mortar round explosion last month. He was awarded a Purple Heart during a ceremony at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, Calif.

The Army’s Special Operations Command is cooperating with Washington state investigators after police say a Ranger brutally killed a woman in her hotel room, then opened fire at two occupied cars before fatally shooting himself late last month.

Awarded to AC First LLC in August 2016 and valued at $429 million, the cost-plus-fixed-fee contract was intended to provide maintenance services on armored vehicles and weapons throughout Afghanistan, including on Bagram and Kandahar air fields. As of May, the Army had paid out close to $78 million on the contract.