Special Operations Forces

Fewer Marines, More Sensors Part of Berger’s Latest Force Design Revision

Marines with 1st Battalion, 2d Marine Regiment (1/2), 2d Marine Division, board a KC-130J Super Hercules at Yuma Proving Grounds, Arizona, April 22, 2022. US Marine Corps Photo

THE PENTAGON – Reducing the Marines to 175,000 and adding more sensor capability to smaller units are part of a wide swath of adjustments the Marine Corps is pursuing in the latest iteration of its modernization drive.

Released on Monday, the Force Design 2030 annual report is the Marines’ latest refinement of plans to...

Navy Stops COVID-19 Vaccine Separations for 4,095 Sailors Who Requested Religious Exemptions

Hospitalman Christopher Ramirez, right, from Kimberly, Idaho, assigned to PCU John F. Kennedy’s (CVN 79) medical department, administers a COVID-19 vaccine to Lt. Cmdr. US Navy Photo

The Navy is likely going to interpret it so that it can reassign based on vaccination status, Berry said.

“And thus far, in this litigation and with the vaccine mandate, the Navy has continued to act as if it’s above the law,” Berry said. “So that wouldn’t surprise me. But at the end of the day, they need to follow,...

https://news.usni.org/2022/03/30/navy-stops-covid-19-vaccine-separations-for-4095-sailors-who-requested-religious-exemptions

Department of the Navy Fiscal Year 2023 Budget Materials

The following are the Fiscal Year 2023 budget materials from the Department of the Navy and an unclassified summary of the 2022 National Defense Strategy released tandem March 28, 2022, with the FY 2023 Presidential Budget. The Navy is expected to release more detailed budget material that have been delayed from the initial release.

From the reports

The Department of the Navy’s (DON) FY 2023 President’s Budget (PB23) request is $230.8B, an increase of $9.1B from the FY 2022 enacted budget (with...

https://news.usni.org/2022/03/29/department-of-the-navy-fiscal-year-2023-budget-materials

CENTCOM: Iran Wants Nuclear Agreement and To Retain Ballistic Missile Capability

Iran’s Khalij Fars single-stage ballistic missile

Iran “wants some type of agreement” over its nuclear program as a way to lift sanctions on the regime, but Tehran views its ballistic missile arsenal “as their crown jewels” not to be bargained away, the senior American commander in the Middle East said Thursday.

U.S. Central Command chief Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, delivering the keynote address at a Middle East Institute conference, said Iran has “relentlessly” built several thousand...

https://news.usni.org/2022/02/07/centcom-iran-wants-nuclear-agreement-and-to-retain-ballistic-missile-capability

MCPON Smith Under Investigation for Allegations of Misconduct

Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON) Russell Smith speaks with U.S. Naval War College sailors on Jan. 16, 2020. US Navy Photo

The Navy’s senior enlisted leader is under investigation for alleged misconduct, two defense officials confirmed to USNI News on Thursday.

Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Russell Smith is now the subject of a Navy Inspector General investigation for unspecified misconduct.

In a statement to USNI News, Navy spokesperson Cmdr. Reann Mommsen declined to...

https://news.usni.org/2022/02/03/mcpon-smith-under-investigation-for-allegations-of-misconduct

Chinese Navy Piracy Patrol Shepherds Fishing Fleet Through Gulf of Aden

Undated photo of the People’s Liberation Army Navy frigate Yantir. Chinese MoD Photo

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – The People’s Liberation Army Navy 39th Escort Task Force carried out a three-day-long escort mission of Chinese fishing vessels through the Gulf of Aden, the People’s Liberation Army Daily reported today.

Destroyer Urumqi (118), frigate Yantai (538) and replenishment ship Taihu (889), along with embarked special forces personnel and two helicopters, were escorting eight fishing vessels...

https://news.usni.org/2022/01/06/chinese-navy-piracy-patrol-shepherds-fishing-fleet-through-gulf-of-aden

Federal Judge Grants Preliminary Injunction Against DOD Over Vaccine Mandate

Cmdr. Wilbur Hines , Naval Beach Unit 7 executive officer, from New York City, assigned to Naval Beach Unit 7, receives a Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Keating Beach, from Frederick, Md., on Feb. 4, 2021. US Navy Photo

A federal judge granted an injunction that prevents the Navy from taking adverse actions against members of the special warfare community who have refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

United States District Judge Reed O’Connor on Monday granted...

https://news.usni.org/2022/01/04/federal-judge-grants-preliminary-injunction-against-dod-over-vaccine-mandate

SEAL Team 8 CO Dies in East Coast Training Incident

Cmdr. Brian Bourgeois died Dec. 7 from injuries sustained during a training incident on Dec. 4. US Navy Photo

The commanding officer of SEAL Team 8 died Tuesday from injuries sustained in a training incident, the Navy announced today.

Cmdr. Brian Bourgeois, 43, died at Norfolk Sentara General Hospital in Norfolk, Va., according to a release from Naval Special Warfare Command after injuries sustained in a Dec. 4 training mishap near Virginia Beach.

The details about the training accident are under...

https://news.usni.org/2021/12/08/seal-team-8-co-dies-in-training-incident-off-virginia-beach

Navy Loses 15th Sailor to COVID-19, Second Death in October

Master-at-Arms Senior Chief Michael Haberstumpf died Oct. 10 from COVID-19-related complications. US NAVY PHOTO

A sailor stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., died from complications related to COVID-19 earlier this month, the Navy announced Wednesday.

Master-at-Arms Senior Chief Michael Haberstumpf, 42, died from complications of COVID-19 on Oct. 10 at University of North Carolina Medical Center in Chapel Hill, according to a Navy press release. Haberstumpf is the 15th sailor to die from the disease...

https://news.usni.org/2021/10/20/navy-loses-15th-sailor-to-covid-19-second-death-in-october

Panel: Military Needs More Electrical Power to Counter Long-Range Missile Threats

Chinese Type 022 Houbei-class Fast Attack Missile Craft firing missiles. People’s Liberation Army Navy Photo

The Pentagon finds itself in the “shocking and eye-opening” position of needing more electrical power to protect distributed naval and ground forces from long-range attack at a time when China dominates the global production of advanced batteries needed to meet that mission, a panel of security experts said Thursday.

Heather Penny, a senior fellow at the Air Force Association’s Mitchell...

https://news.usni.org/2021/10/15/panel-military-needs-more-electrical-power-to-counter-long-range-missile-threats

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