Focus
Emosi Bainivalu grew up on the rural, volcanic Fijian island of Taveuni where he fished and hunted wild chickens and boars. Eventually, he would join the Army and play on the same rugby team. This week, he played on the Army team, with matches against four of the other service teams at the
Benefits
As of Jan. 1, active-duty service members are now authorized to receive reimbursement for costs related to relocation of one household pet due to a permanent change of station move. The relocation expense for either one dog or one cat includes travel costs within the U.S. or overseas and any other
News Front
Over the last 15 years, the recruiting rate of the all-volunteer force has been declining, said Stephanie Miller, deputy assistant secretary of defense for military personnel policy. Those with an interest in serving and qualification rates are hovering near all-time lows, she said yesterday at the Institute for Defense Analysis in Alexandria,
News Front
Basic allowance for housing, or BAH, rates for 2024 will increase by an average of 5.4%. The new rates, which are paid to all U.S.-based active-duty members of the uniformed services when government quarters are unavailable, take effect Jan. 1. "The proposed 5.2% basic pay increase plus the 5.4% increase in
Military Policy
The Defense Department has issued its own Exceptional Family Member Program, a move that ensures consistency across the services for military families with special needs. "Service members can't focus on the mission when they have concerns about a family member's health or education needs," said Gilbert R. Cisneros Jr., undersecretary of
Military Life
Meals have always been an important part of military life - for sustainment as well as enjoyment. On holidays, the Defense Department has tried to provide especially delicious meals, as troops were often far from family and needed an extra morale boost. In 1933, the Christmas Day menu for Coast Guardsmen
News Front
On April 9, 2021 Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III established the Countering Extremist Activity Working Group to examine how the services are implementing these actions and reviewing and updating the definition of extremism in Department of Defense Instruction 1325.06. The full report of the working group was released Dec.
News Front
Continuous vetting will eventually replace periodic reinvestigations, which are conducted every 10 years for employees with a secret clearance and five years for those with a top secret clearance. It will also include DOD personnel who do not have a clearance, according to Heather Green, assistant director of vetting risk
News Front
Since the Food and Drug Administration has granted full approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, it's very likely the vaccine will soon become mandatory for Defense Department personnel, the Pentagon press secretary said. "Now that the Pfizer vaccine has been approved, the department is prepared to issue updated guidance, requiring all
Jobs & Education
An app called Gig Eagle, powered by artificial intelligence, will be developed to identify talent in the Guard and reserve forces that could be utilized around the Defense Department, an official in the Defense Innovation Unit who is working on the project said. Scott Sumner, technical project manager at DIU's AI/machine learning
