The Military Report

11/14/2025

Pentagon brass just laid strike options on Trump’s desk—10,000 troops and the USS Ford already in position, and Washington’s calling it “America’s neighborhood.”

Senior Pentagon brass—including Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine—marched into the Oval Office this week to brief President Donald Trump on possible military strikes inside Venezuela, CBS News reports. Intel hands were in the room too, laying out targeting decks a...

11/12/2025

After a brief pause off Africa, the Pentagon sends the USS Gerald R. Ford south—putting 20% of the U.S. Navy’s firepower in Latin waters to “fight cartels” and remind the hemisphere who’s boss.

The Pentagon’s top brass sends America’s $13 billion supercarrier to chase drug lords—and rattles Caracas in the process. The U.S. Navy’s showpiece warship, the USS Gerald R. Ford, just sailed into U.S. Southern Command territory—the stretch of ocean that wraps around Latin America and the...

11/07/2025

Washington stalled. Veterans go hungry. So Wounded Warrior Project will help feed them.

Wounded Warrior Project is putting real money where the promises usually end. The nonprofit announced $2 million in emergency grants this week to help veterans and military families who are staring at empty cupboards while Washington argues with itself. The money will go straight to food banks, comm...

10/24/2025

A $13 billion warship sails south — not for war, but for political theater.

In a move that’s already raising eyebrows from the Med to Maracaibo, the Pentagon announced Friday that the USS Gerald R. Ford and its strike group are being pulled from the Mediterranean and redeployed to U.S. Southern Command — marking a major shift in posture and a not-so-subtle warning shot ...

10/24/2025

When the watchdogs are replaced with lapdogs, corruption doesn’t get exposed; it gets housebroken.

By any sane measure, this week marked a new low for defense journalism — and that’s after two decades of PowerPoint wars, contractor boondoggles, and “exclusive access” stories that read like ad copy. When Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon rolled out its new press-access policy, it came with a gag o...

10/21/2025

America’s longest wars don’t end — they just get renamed and left on life support at the edge of the desert.

Airmen with the Security Forces Flight, 443d Expeditionary Squadron, conduct a routine flight line patrol with U.S. flags flying from their Mine Resistant Ambush Protected-All Terrain Vehicles at Al Asad Air Base on July 4, 2021. (U.S. Army National Guard photo) By any other name, it’s still a war...

10/15/2025

When the free press gets silenced, secrecy isn’t protecting the mission — it’s protecting the mistakes.

I’ve been covering the U.S. military for more than 30 years. I’ve seen the real cost of war — not the sanitized version, but the overworked people, the ones that didn't come home, the burnout, and the betrayal. I’ve walked the halls of the Pentagon, sat in press briefings, and asked the ques...

10/14/2025

When politics calls up troops like Uber drivers, don't be shocked when the photo op backfires.

So here comes the Texas Guard, boots on the ground in Illinois, called up by President Trump like a rent-a-sheriff posse, flown in to scare the Chicago out of Chicago. Only problem? Some of the troops rolling off the trucks looked more Buc-ee’s than Baghdad. One viral photo later, the military scr...

10/13/2025

Thirteen Marines died on Fuji’s slopes in ’79 — and America forgot. Chas Henry’s Fuji Fire makes sure we remember.

There’s no hero shot on the cover. No flag waving, no Marine in dress blues staring into the sunset. Just the title — Fuji Fire — and that’s all it needs. This isn’t a war story, not exactly. It’s a story about what happens when discipline, maintenance, and common sense slip, and young M...

09/30/2025

Pentagon says border, Middle East ops, and missile defense will keep running in a shutdown—troops keep working, but paychecks stop.

WASHINGTON — If Congress can’t keep the lights on past Tuesday, the Pentagon’s got a survival list: guard the southern border, keep the war drums beating in the Middle East, and polish the Golden Dome missile shield. Everything else can wait. That’s the gist of a weekend 16-page planning mem...

09/25/2025

Admirals, Generals Summoned to Quantico — No Reason Given

Well now. The order just dropped like a hammer on a mess hall table.

Hundreds of the nation’s top brass — generals, admirals have been summoned to Marine Corps Base Quantico next week. Not asked. Not invited. Ordered. And not by some desk-bound colonel with a clipboard — but by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth himself, in what sources are calling an unprecedented mass recall of senior military leadership.

No reason given. No agenda shared. No press allowed. Just: “Be there.” And with that, a storm is brewing behind closed doors.

It’s enough to give a cold shiver to anyone who’s ever worn the uniform — or paid taxes to fund those who do.

This Ain’t a PowerPoint Briefing

This isn’t a training seminar or a doctrine refresh. This is the kind of “all hands” that happens before wars, coups, or calamities. And the brass is coming from everywhere — Pacific commands, European posts, cyber units, CONUS installations. They’re flying in from every corner of the map, leaving behind ops, families, and yes, missions.

Meanwhile, the public gets radio silence. The Pentagon confirms it’s happening but won’t say why. Washington whispers are swirling — force restructuring, strategic redirection, loyalty testing, or worse: a showdown over control of the military chain of command.

And just to keep things spicy…

The Government May Shut Down, Too

Yep. Same week. As this cadre of generals and admirals assembles in Virginia, the civilian side of government may go dark.

No budget deal. No continuing resolution. No paychecks for the working stiffs. And possibly, mass firings, not just furloughs — a first in modern shutdown history. The White House budget office is already telling federal agencies to draw up pink slips and pull the plug on programs “not consistent with the president’s priorities.” If you smell politics, you’re not wrong. If you smell fear, you’re not alone.

But over in Quantico? No one’s talking about shutdowns. Just marching orders and blank stares. That’s what you call ominous.

What the Hell Is Going On?

You don’t recall the entire senior leadership of the U.S. military for coffee and donuts. You don’t fly in commanders from combat zones to talk about quarterly evaluations. Something’s up. And you better believe it’s big.

It could be a righteous shake-up. It could be a calculated purge. It could be a response to a threat not yet known to the public. Or it could be a new doctrine drop with all the trappings of a palace meeting — Hegseth’s house, Hegseth’s rules.

Whatever it is, the stakes are sky-high. And while the enlisted ranks keep watch in the dark, the men and women with stars on their collars are being called to the mountain.

Bottom Line

The country may be about to run out of money, but its top military minds are being summoned in silence.

One nation, under tension. Eyes wide open.

Stay tuned. This story’s just getting started.

09/22/2025

The four soldiers who were killed in the Army Blackhawk helicopter crash last week that went down near Summit Lake in Thurston County, Wash. have been identified as Chief Warrant Officer Three Andrew Kraus, 39, from Sanibel, Florida (clockwise, top left); Chief Warrant Officer Three Andrew Cully, 35...