In February 2025, incoming Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had a brief but productive telephone conference with Qatar Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defense Affairs Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman bin Hassan bin Ali Al Thani, according to a DoD News release. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and the Qatari Minister of State for Defense Affairs Sheikh Saoud bin …
In February 2025, a North Carolina-based company announced it would pay U.S. special forces veterans $1,100 per day, and a $10,000 signing bonus, to staff a checkpoint in Gaza. The contractors will staff the checkpoint at a key intersection in Gaza’s interior, said the spokesperson, who confirmed the authenticity of the email. The rules of engagement governing when UG Solutions …
American diplomats proposed replacing Israeli forces in southern Lebanon with private military contractors, an idea that others quickly rejected. The U.S., which co-brokered the ceasefire deal, offered to deploy private contractors in Netzarim, according to an American diplomatic source. This region includes several strategic areas. Al-Oweida hill, located between the Lebanese border towns of Meis al-Jabal and Blida, oversees many …
Open-air waste disposal pits (burn pits) dotted Afghanistan and Iraq during those long wars. Those conflicts are over now, but the private military contractors who lived and worked near these burn pits still suffer serious ill effects, some of which are outlined below. In most cases, burn pit-related illnesses are debilitating or fatal. The DoD reasoned that, since burn pits …
In January 2025, incoming President Donald Trump reversed a Biden-era policy and placed Cuba on a list of countries that sponsor terrorism. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel calls Trump’s move “arrogant” and a setback for the Cuban people. However, Díaz-Canel said Cuba would endure and ultimately thrive despite the renewed U.S. pressure. For several decades, Cuba has faced economic hardship due …
One of Donald Trump’s first executive orders in his new administration prevented family members of American servicemembers in Afghanistan from emigrating to America. An estimated 200 family members of U.S. troops are in Afghanistan and attempting to flee the Taliban through the U.S. Refugees Admissions Program, or USRAP, said Shawn Vandiver, president of AfghanEvac, an organization that helps Afghan allies …
Increased risk of terrorism, specifically against military bases, should make people think twice before they travel to this once-quiet Gulf Coast Country, according to a January 2025 alert from the government of Australia. Conflicts in the Middle East could result in an increase in tensions elsewhere in the region and may result in airspace closures, flight cancellations, and other travel …
Safe Reach Solutions and several other American private military contractor companies will enforce a ceasefire in part of the war-torn area. The contractors are poised to help secure a key zone that splits Gaza in two and is known as the Netzarim corridor, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak …
Initiating cognitive processing therapy or prolonged exposure (CPT/PE) sessions for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) victims reduces the PTSD suicide rate by over 20%, according to a new study. “Although receipt of eight or more CPT/PE encounters was associated with lower suicide risk in unadjusted analyses, this finding was not significant in adjusted analyses,” study author Rebecca Sripada, PhD, of the …
Offshore oil workers and other outer continental shelf (OCS) workers have some of the highest injury rates of any workers in America. The work is dangerous, mostly because of the risk of petrochemical and other explosions. Furthermore, most offshore energy exploration and other such facilities offer limited onsite medical services and no onsite emergency medical transportation services. The treatment delay …
Leaders of the two traditional East Asia rivals will meet to discuss a number of security and other pressing issues sometime in 2025. Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, on his first trip to China since assuming the post in October, sounded positive after meetings with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, saying the talks were “very candid” …
Shortly before the November election, U.S. President Joe Biden quietly authorized the DoD to send maintenance contractors to the war-torn country. The decision was made before Tuesday’s election as a way to provide Ukraine with specific technical expertise needed for weapons like F-16 fighter jets and Patriot air defense systems, said the official, who was granted anonymity to speak about …
