Military

A thunderous band, waving American flags and dozens of cheering people made for a hero’s welcome Tuesday night at the Spokane International Airport.

The cruiser USS Bunker Hill — one of the first American warships to attack Iraq with cruise missiles during the Persian Gulf War in 1991 — was decommissioned Friday at Naval Base San Diego, ending 37 years of service.

F-35s are available to fly just 55% of the time, and 73% of replacement parts have to be sent back to suppliers because the Pentagon’s maintenance depots are inadequate, according to a new congressional audit on the troubled upkeep of the fighter jet that is the world’s costliest weapons system.

 The Senate on Thursday voted to make Gen. Randy A. George the next Army chief of staff, confirming the second senior military nominee in as many days whose promotion had been stalled by Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) amid a prolonged dispute over a Pentagon abortion policy.

The flight deck of the USS George Washington is already streaked with tire marks from aircraft landings just three months after the warship was welcomed back into the Navy fleet.

A man tortured two decades ago by the CIA for his suspected role as a terrorist has sued two former Spokane psychologists, who made millions of dollars from the government for developing the techniques used during the brutal interrogations.

Military and government authorities continued a sweeping search Monday for an F-35 jet that disappeared after a U.S. Marine pilot used an emergency parachute to eject from it Sunday afternoon in North Charleston, South Carolina.

WASHINGTON – In hearings on Capitol Hill on Wednesday and Thursday, officials from the Department of Veterans Affairs said they remain committed to a troubled computer system that has harmed patients in the Inland Northwest, despite uncertainty about when – and if – its problems will be fixed.

The Spokane Veterans Home on Wednesday dedicated a new patio that offers residents space to gather outdoors, even as unseasonably cold and wet weather put a damper on a tailgate-themed party.

Outside the garage of Fairchild Air Force Base’s fire station Thursday, several fire trucks were parked to create a space for rows of tables, two bouncy houses for kids and a DJ to play feel-good tunes. Firefighters in military garb lingered throughout the station with their friends and families.

WASHINGTON – Veterans who were exposed to toxic substances during their military service have a few more days to apply for new benefits after the Department of Veterans Affairs extended a deadline to Monday, following website problems caused by a last-minute surge of applications.

Two U.S. sailors have been arrested and indicted on suspicion of accepting bribes in exchange for passing sensitive military information to intelligence officers from China, federal authorities announced Thursday.

The cruiser USS Mobile Bay, which launched 22 Tomahawk cruise missiles during Operation Desert Storm and helped carry people to safety when Mt. Pinatubo erupted in the Philippines, will be decommissioned in San Diego on Aug. 10, ending the service life of one of the oldest ships in the Navy.

In the last few months, Marines at Camp Pendleton in Southern California have been retraining in the use of the new Amphibious Combat Vehicle, a troop carrier that’s expected to be the service’s most valuable asset in the amphibious fight and critical to the nation’s crisis response.

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Kansas City Democrat, has been trying to figure out when people stopped feeling shame. On Thursday night, ahead of President Joe Biden’s speech celebrating the 75th anniversary of President Harry Truman’s executive order desegregating the military, Cleaver told Biden that he feels like the country is re-litigating the issues of that time. He said there ...

Tina Tuell’s story is one of struggle, persistence and perseverance.

Three former military officers told Congress they saw unexplained flying objects and one of them claimed the U.S. government is secretly holding on to extraterrestrial wreckage.

Seventy-five years ago Wednesday, President Harry Truman issued a pair of executive orders involving Civil Rights for African Americans in the wake of World War II.

Thirty years ago Wednesday, President Bill Clinton announced an end to a longtime ban on gay men and women serving in the U.S. military.