Military

Thirty sailors and Marines assigned to Norfolk-based Navy ships were injured Wednesday in a hovercraft training incident, the Navy said. The service members were injured in an “incident” involving two hovercraft vessels, also known as air-cushioned landing craft, according to a Thursday news release from the U.S. 2nd Fleet.  

Not since the dark day at Pearl Harbor that drew America into World War II has there been so much trouble in paradise, as the U.S. naval base on the Hawaiian island of Oahu is sometimes described. 

In her second visit to Spokane in sixth months of office, Deputy Veterans Affairs Secretary Tanya Bradsher said the federal government remains committed to the VA’s controversial electronic health records system unveiled at Mann-Grandstaff Medical Center.

Frank Fogarty knew nothing about nuclear physics on ships when he got pulled from his Korean War submarine duty to interview for a fledgling U.S. Navy program, for the world’s first atomic-powered submarines. Fogarty, who just turned 100 in Spokane, recalls initially supporting the USS Seawolf before soon getting transferred to the USS Nautilus, the first one launched in 1955, while later being Nautilus Commanding Officer in 1963-67.

The world’s costliest weapons program, Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35 fighter jet, is getting even more expensive, according to a government watchdog.

In the wake of a "troubling trend" in aviation accidents — including the March 25 crash of an Apache AH-64E helicopter on Joint Base Lewis-McChord property in Thurston County that injured two pilots — the Army implemented an aviation safety stand-up Wednesday to increase training for both pilots and maintenance personnel.

In accepting the first Thomas S. Foley Award for Distinguished Public Service, former Secretary of Defense and retired Gen. James Mattis on Tuesday called on those in the audience to reject political division and cynicism for this country.

The Spokesman-Review

Lou Conter, the last known survivor of the battleship Arizona, which sank with the loss of 1,177 sailors and Marines in Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, plunging the United States into World War II, died Monday at his home in Grass Valley, California. He was 102.

The Veterans Benefits Administration wants more veterans to apply for newly expanded benefits, explaining the new coverage for disability benefits under the 2022 PACT Act at a town hall in Pullman Tuesday .

The Spokesman-Review

The Marine gunner knelt on the rocky red soil of a 6,000-foot-high volcanic plain. He positioned the rocket launcher on his shoulder, focused the sites on his target, a rusted armored vehicle 400 yards away, and fired. Two seconds later a BANG. “Perfect hit,” said his platoon commander.

Retired Marine Corps Gen. Alfred M. Gray Jr., a highly decorated Vietnam veteran who helped lead U.S. forces during the evacuation of Saigon and became a transformational leader of the Marine Corps as commandant from 1987 to 1991, died March 20 at his home in Alexandria, Va. He was 95.

The top two generals who oversaw the deadly evacuation of Afghanistan are facing renewed scrutiny Wednesday, as House Republicans escalate their campaign to hold President Biden accountable for the fiasco and Democrats accuse Donald Trump of having set the conditions for the Kabul government’s collapse.

Weeks after the Allies stormed the beaches of Normandy, the young men of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops encountered D-Day’s lingering carnage as they waded ashore. Bloated bodies churned in the surf. Tree branches cradled the carcass of a cow blown skyward by explosives.

Spokane’s Harold Skinner has three daughters. He has grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He was a French teacher at Lewis and Clark High School for 29 years. But 82 years ago, Skinner was just 18, living in Spirit Lake on the eve of the U.S. entering World War II.

Local veterans advocates praised the Department of Veterans’ Affairs decision to expand coverage of in vitro fertilization to unmarried veterans and those in same-sex relationships amid uproar about the availability of the fertility treatment across the country.