Free Republic

(The Center Square) - The U.S. Department of War awarded a $10 million contract on Thursday as part of its Build Freedom project, an effort to develop workers for the skilled trades. The War Department gave the check to Mike Rowe, an American television host of “Dirty Jobs,” to support the mikeroweWORKS Foundation Scholarship program. The program funds scholarships for veterans to train for skilled trades jobs including plumbers, electricians and welders. Rowe coordinates the program through BuildFreedom.US, a website that compiles open job opportunities in the skilled trades sector. The website connects veterans with scholarships and educational materials to...

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth appeared to confirm Thursday that the Trump administration is contemplating asking Congress to approve $200 billion in supplemental defense funding amid the war in Iran.On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that the Pentagon had asked the White House to make the $200 billion request to lawmakers in order to replenish America’s munitions stockpile, though it was not clear when or whether the Trump administration would decide to do so. “As far as the $200 billion, I think that number could move, obviously,” Hegseth told reporters. “It takes money to kill bad guys. So we’re going...

Universities have ‘poisoned’ U.S. military education system, Hegseth said The U.S. Department of Defense announced the cancellation of its military education fellowships at 13 top universities on Friday, citing “toxic indoctrination.” “We are eliminating certain Senior Service College (SSC) Fellowship programs for the 2026-2027 academic year and beyond. I am also directing the compilation of a revised list of elite institutions offering equivalent programs to replace those eliminated,” the agency wrote in a memo to Pentagon leadership. ...

President George Washington’s original cabinet contained just four departments and department heads: Department of State, which was led by inaugural Secretary Thomas Jefferson, Department of the Treasury, which was conceived and headed up by Alexander Hamilton, Attorney General Edmund Randolph, and the Department of War, which was first led by distinguished Continental Army General Henry Knox. The War Department existed until 1947, when it was initially split into the Department of the Army, the Department of the Air Force, and the Department of the Navy. Congress had previously established a Department of the Navy in 1798, which was under the...