military

The U.S. military court and prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, have cost more than $6 billion to operate since opening nearly 18 years ago and still churn through more than $380 million a year despite housing only 40 prisoners today.

The Trump administration has started the arduous process of canceling $3.6 billion in military construction projects to fund its plans to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper began notifying lawmakers Tuesday which projects will be canceled in their districts. Top Democrats immediately blasted the plan.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., was among the first lawmakers to say his district will be impacted by the funding cuts, for the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

The children of some U.S. military members and government workers overseas will have a harder time getting citizenship under a Trump administration policy announced Wednesday.

The changes will affect a relatively small number of people. But the announcement touched off widespread confusion and outrage — with immigrant and veterans' advocates questioning why the administration would change the rules for people who are serving their country.

President Trump announced he planned to repeat his 4th of July salute to the military next year as a trio of Senate Democrats called for an investigation into how much the Washington, D.C., event cost the taxpayers.

"It was a wonderful day for all Americans and based on its tremendous success, we're just making the decision and I think we can say we've made the decision to do it again next year, and maybe we can say, for the foreseeable future," Trump said at an event at the White House on Monday.

President Trump hailed America's military and declared that "our nation is stronger today than it ever was before" in a Fourth of July speech with patriotic themes underscored by flyovers from fighter jets and displays of tanks near the stage at the Lincoln Memorial.

Washington observers were watching to see whether Trump would take the highly publicized speech into politics, but instead, the president highlighted heroic military tales and implored Americans to "stay true to our cause."

The Trump administration wants to scale back a program that protects undocumented family members of active-duty troops from being deported, according to attorneys familiar with those plans.

The attorneys are racing to submit applications for what is known as parole in place after hearing from the wives and loved ones of deployed soldiers who have been told that option is "being terminated."

Updated at 8:30 p.m. ET

President Trump says he called off a Thursday strike on Iran ordered as retaliation for Iran's having shot down a U.S. drone. Trump said he canceled the attack shortly before it was to begin, after he was told 150 people would very likely be killed.

"We were cocked & loaded to retaliate last night on 3 different sights when I asked, how many will die," Trump said in a series of tweets Friday.

The Defense Department announced it is deploying 1,000 more U.S. troops to the Middle East "for defensive purposes" amid growing tensions with Iran.

Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said Monday in a statement that the action, meant to address air, naval, and ground-based threats, comes after "a request from the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) for additional forces."

The Trump administration has blamed Iran for a series of attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman.

"They won back this ground for civilization," President Trump said of the Allied troops who took part in the massive D-Day invasion 75 years ago today. Trump stood on a stage near Omaha Beach in northern France, alongside French President Emmanuel Macron and other world leaders who thanked U.S. veterans and their allies for preserving liberty.

The National Museum of the United States Air Force near Dayton is marking the 75th anniversary of D-Day Thursday. There's a wreath-laying ceremony and flyover by two C-47s, the main transport aircraft used on D-Day.

Updated at 6:27 p.m. ET

President Trump has ordered some 1,500 troops to the Gulf region to serve a "mostly protective" purpose for American forces and interests.

Trump made the announcement to reporters on the White House lawn before boarding Marine One.

In a Pentagon briefing on Friday, Vice Adm. Michael Gilday, the director of the Joint Staff, would not say where the additional troops would be sent, other than that they would not be heading to Iraq and Syria.

On June 6, 1944, a C-53D Skytrooper named D-Day Doll towed gliders carrying reinforcements for troops dropped earlier in the night at Utah Beach. Paratroopers will perform a World War II combat jump from the D-Day Doll Monday over the National Museum of the United States Air Force near Dayton.

Lt. Col. Bree "B" Fram left a doctor's office on April 2. Presenting that day as Bryan, the name given to them at birth, B should have been relieved.

"Overall, it's a good thing," said B. "It just didn't feel great to have to do it on someone else's timeline other than my own."

"It" was an official diagnosis of gender dysphoria. As a transgender member of the military, B had to secure the diagnosis by April 12 in order to continue serving openly.

Members of Ohio’s congressional delegation are renewing calls for the Defense Department to locate a missile defense site at Camp James A. Garfield, an Ohio National Guard base straddling Portage and Trumbull counties.

Earlier this week, both Ohio senators and nearly every House representative signed a letter addressed to Acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan urging him to consider the base for the third Continental United States Interceptor Site (CIS).