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The US Navy has asked Yeoman 2nd Class Joshua Kelley--a drag performer whose stage name is "Harpy Daniels"--to help secure more recruits for the service by acting as their unpaid "Digital Ambassador." Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro fended off criticism by pointing out that "there is a rich history of non-binary behavior among seagoing men. Long voyages on vessels devoid of women fostered creative sexual liaisons. We thought embracing this history could tap into a recruitment pool that has been largely ignored." Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif), vice chair of the Congressional Equity Caucus and co-chair of the Transgender...

The Navy is canceling early separation programs and encouraging delayed separation as it aims to retain more sailors, especially in sea billets. The Navy announced the cancellation of enlisted early out programs, as well as waivers for new time-in-grade requirement, in NAVADMIN 142/22, released on June 22. Under the policy, service commitments, which include enlistment contracts and permanent changes of station, will be fulfilled. Anyone who has trouble completing their service requirements should work with their chain of command and/or detailers to figure out alternatives. Those seeking commissions are still encouraged to do so, with those requests considered on a...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Army said Wednesday it will immediately begin discharging soldiers who have refused to get the mandatory COVID-19 vaccine, putting more than 3,300 service members at risk of being thrown out soon. The Army’s announcement makes it the final military service to lay out its discharge policy for vaccine refusers. The Marine Corps, Air Force and Navy have already discharged active-duty troops or entry-level personnel at boot camps for refusing the shots. So far, the Army has not discharged any. Army Secretary Christine Wormuth issued the directive Wednesday ordering commanders to begin involuntary separation proceedings against those...

Some U.S. Navy sailors have been forced to take out loans after being shorted on pay, reports Military.com. The sailors earned increases in housing allowances after getting married or relocating somewhere where the cost of living is higher. The loans are meant to help these service members make ends meet. Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society Vice President Gillian Gonzalez in an interview with Military.com said the issue is happening everywhere, and that geography does not have much to do with it. He also said the group has seen an increase in loan applications from sailors but did not have an exact...

Two months after the Pentagon began requiring all troops to get the coronavirus vaccine or face dismissal, the vast majority have now had shots, in part because none received a religious exemption, military officials said. https://t.co/3zpPg5hpG6 — NYT Politics (@nytpolitics) November 4, 2021 Troops who refuse the coronavirus vaccine won’t see any extra protections or leniency in how their dismissals are handled, Defense and Veterans Affairs officials confirmed Wednesday. Instead, decisions on whether to give those individuals other-than-honorable discharges — potentially blocking them from a host of veterans benefits — will be left to local commanders, and their cases won’t...

(CNN)Consider it a win for 18th century technology over late 20th century criminal innovation. A three-masted sailing ship belonging to the Ecuadorian Navy last week captured a so-called narco sub, a homemade low-profile vessel (LPV) designed to transport illegal narcotics, in the Pacific Ocean off Colombia, according to a statement from Ecuador's military.... ,,,The 257-foot-long (78 meter) sailing ship, powered by more than 15,000 square feet (1,393 square meter) of sails hung from three towering masks, was on a training cruise when it spotted the drug-running vessel and made the stop, the Ecuadorian military said...

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday on Tuesday defended putting Ibram X. Kendi’s book How to Be an Anti-Racist on the Navy’s list of books every United States sailor should read, under grilling from Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Banks (R-IN) at a House hearing. Banks, a U.S. Navy reservist, began by asking Gilday if he agreed with Kendi’s past statements and views in his book that Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett is a “white colonizer” because she adopted two children from Haiti, and that capitalism is essentially racist. Gilday responded, “Here’s what I know, Congressman. There’s racism...

during what looked like a standard search and rescue mission, they were met by a strange twist of fate. The crew of the submarine very soon found encountered a situation where they were the ones in need of saving. Having incorrectly estimated the amount of fuel needed for the mission, when they arrived at the spot where Conestoga was presumed to be, the submarine had run out of usable fuel. Since its electric motors lacked enough battery power to transport them back to base, they were stranded some 100 nautical miles from Hawaii, caught in a desperate situation. To make...

A recent study by the Naval Medical University in Shanghai found that about one-fifth of China’s servicemen in the submarine force stationed in the South China Sea have psychological problems. According to an analysis by Taiwanese military experts, submariners need to have very strong psychological health. However, problems have been reported that may be related to the frequent military exercises conducted by the Chinese regime. In addition, there may be problems with the psychological counseling provided to military personnel. The study, published in the international journal Military Medicine on Jan. 7, found that among the 580 male participants, 21 percent...

People in Guam are used to a constant U.S. military presence on the strategic Pacific island, but some are nervous as hundreds of sailors from a coronavirus-stricken Navy aircraft carrier flood into hotels for quarantine. Officials insist they have enforced strict safety measures. An outbreak aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt began in late March and has thrust the Navy into a leadership crisis after the ship’s commander distributed a letter urging faster action to protect his sailors. Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly fired Capt. Brett E. Crozier and then assailed him during a speech on the ship in Guam, saying...

Hundreds of Navy officers gathered on board the coronavirus-stricken USS Theodore Roosevelt's hangar deck to cheer for and applaud their commander, hours after he was dismissed. Capt. Brett Crozier was relieved of duty on Thursday due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command and for not following the chain of command to voice his concerns about coronavirus on the ship to service leaders. A video was posted to Michael Washington’s Facebook page, that has since been reposted on several platforms, along with the hastags #MYCO and #WEARETRSTRONG. “That’s how you send out one of the greatest captains...

Investigators have been trying to determine what motivated a gunman who opened fire in a classroom building on Friday at the Naval Air Station Pensacola. He used a handgun and was killed after two deputies exchanged gunfire with him. The shooter was identified by the FBI as Mohammed Alshamrani -- a 21-year-old second lieutenant in the Saudi Arabian air force. He was a student naval flight officer, according to an FBI spokesperson. The shooter does not appear to have ties to terrorist groups, two sources told CNN. Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan told CNN's Erin Burnett that the FBI had...

Three Navy sailors assigned to the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier killed themselves last week in separate incidents, officials said Monday. The commanding officer of the carrier, which is docked at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Virginia, announced the deaths in a post on the ship’s Facebook page Monday. “It is with a heavy heart that I can confirm the loss of three Sailors last week in separate, unrelated incidents from apparent suicide. My heart is broken,” Capt. Sean Bailey wrote in the announcement. None of the deaths occurred on the carrier, which is docked at the shipyard for...

MANILA, Philippines (5th UPDATE) – A Chinese vessel sank a Philippine vessel in a collision in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) and left the 22 Filipino fishermen on that boat "to the mercy of the elements," the Philippines' Department of National Defense (DND) announced on Wednesday, June 12. “A collision between a Chinese and Filipino vessel (FB Gimver 1) was reported by Filipino fishermen near the Recto Bank in the West Philippine [Sea] on the evening of June 9, 2019. The collision sank the Filipino vessel,” Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said in a statement, citing information from Filipino...

Three US Navy members were killed in an apparent double murder-suicide near where two were stationed in Virginia, according to officials. Donavon Moora, 22, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound Saturday night near where two female services members were fatally shot in a Portsmouth 7-Eleven parking lot, the Virginian-Pilot reported. Moora and the two slain women — 19-year-old Shianne Soles and 23-year-old Meaghan Burns — were reportedly all active-duty Navy corpsmen. The relationship among the victims is unclear.

Sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) participate in a pinning ceremony for Fiscal Year 2019 Chief Petty Officers, Sept. 14, 2018. GHWB, with embarked Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 10 staff, is underway in the Atlantic Ocean due to Sortie Condition Alpha, which ordered all ships to depart Hampton Roads in response to Hurricane Florence....

POTUS Trump Pardons Ex-Navy Sailor Jailed For Taking Pictures On Nuclear Submarine. Well, Maybe, President Trump will also do this "Pardon and Reinstate Lt. Col. Terry Lakin" On Jan 25, 2017 – A White House petition was launched the day after Donald Trump’s inauguration to “reinstate Lt. Col. Terry Lakin into the U.S. Army with full rank, pay, benefits and pension immediately.” “Court-martialed, imprisoned, expelled from the Army and denied pay, pension and benefits,” Col Lakin, got a raw deal. He wanted to see Obummers birth certificate and refused to deploy to Afghanistan. A new petition needs to be sent...

Kristian Saucier, in prison for taking photos of classified areas inside a nuclear submarine, has been pardoned, Sarah Sanders said Friday.

President Trump tweeted Tuesday there’s a double standard in the government’s treatment of Hillary Clinton and her aide Huma Abedin, pointing to Kristian Saucier, a former Navy sailor jailed for taking six photos inside a submarine. Saucier, 31, was released from prison in September after receiving a one-year sentence for mishandling classified information. With a felony conviction, he now works up to 70 hours a week collecting garbage in Vermont. “Obviously with his tweet today he still recognizes my case, so hopefully he will do something about it. I think my family and I have been punished enough," Saucier told...

Congressional investigators and military officials warned repeatedly about overworked sailors, shortened training schedules and budget cuts in the years leading up to two fatal collisions involving U.S. Navy ships, government auditors, lawmakers and Pentagon officials said. The collisions in June and earlier this week, both Navy guided-missile destroyers operating in the Pacific, left 17 sailors dead or missing. Three reports in the past two years by the Government Accountability Office, an independent watchdog agency, spell out endemic problems. They found through interviews and Navy studies that U.S. sailors overseas often arrive to their assigned ships without adequate skills and experience....