- Details
- Hits: 2163
Novo Selo Training Area, Bulgaria. (May 12, 2025): Situated on the Black Sea, the tiny country of Bulgaria plays an outsized role in defending NATO’s eastern flank. In this photo by Specialist Nathan Arellano Tlaczani, Specialist Samuel Roberts heads to cover after planting a charge during a live fire exercise at this sprawling military base. The U.S. Army and the Bulgarian military maintain a strong military-to-military relationship, characterized by joint exercises, training rotations, and the sharing of military facilities.
In April 2006, joint Bulgarian–American Military Facilities were established for tank gunnery, reconnaissance, nuclear, biological, and chemical defense training. As part of the agreement, U.S. Army units conduct numerous joint maneuvers with the Bulgarian Armed Forces including urban assault courses and military police exercises.
- Details
- Hits: 2052
Groton, Connecticut. (May 13, 2025): It is a submariner’s worst nightmare, finding themselves trapped in a stricken submarine hundreds of feet below the waves and the air is running out. To allay these fears, the U.S. Navy has established the Basic Enlisted Submarine School to teach Sailors how to escape in such situations. In this photo by Seaman Duncan Woodard, a student enters the school's pressurized submarine escape trainer. The trainer teaches Sailors how to escape from a submarine that is unable to surface and then survive on the surface until help arrives. The school is an eight-week introduction to the basic theory, construction, and operation of nuclear-powered submarines with courses on shipboard organization, submarine safety, and escape procedures.
The curriculum focusses on three critical areas: firefighting, damage control, and how to escape from a submarine.
- Details
- Hits: 1966
Yokota Air Base, Japan. (May 15, 2025): In the sixties, most American youngsters could be found building and launching rockets in their back yard, dreaming of the day they too would travel into space. In this photo by Airman 1st Class David S. Calcot, Space Force Lieutenant Colonel Kaoru Elliott, second from left, Deputy Commander of U.S. Space Forces-Japan and Nikki Palmer, a Space Systems Command chief engineer, watch model rocket launches with Yokota West Elementary School students. The event is part of the American military’s science, technology, engineering, and math education (STEM) outreach program. A Space Systems Command team visited Defense Department schools overseas for the first time to expand its outreach beyond the continental U.S. and reinforce its commitment to engaging military-students in the hard sciences.
- Details
- Hits: 1759
Camp Pendleton, California. (May 16, 2025): When an American aircraft goes down in enemy territory, the military must move fast to recover air crews and any extremely sensitive information on board. In this photo by Sergeant Bryant Rodriguez, Marines cut into a vehicle during the Tactical Recovery of Aircraft and Personnel (TRAP) course, a program specifically designed for the recovery of aircraft, personnel, and equipment in the event an aircraft goes down either due to mechanical failures or by enemy fire.
The course teaches how to develop and execute plans to recover the personnel, aircraft, and any sensitive material in the event that they go down. Once assembled, a highly skilled team of professionals will safely extract downed aviators while destroying downed aircraft to prevent sensitive materials from falling into the wrong hands.
- Details
- Hits: 1580
Okinawa, Japan. (May 26, 2025): A weapon invented to lay siege to castles continues to serve today as a Marine Platoon’s personal artillery piece. In this photo by Lance Corporal Rodney Frye, Corporal Juan Garcia employs an M224 60mm mortar during a field training exercise. Corporal Garcia, a native of the Dominican Republic, is a mortarman with 12th Littoral Combat Team, 12th Marine Littoral Regiment, 3rd Marine Division.
The use of mortars in combat dates to the invention of gunpowder during the 13th century. The Koreans were reportedly the first to use mortars in a naval battle in 1413. These early gunsmiths fashioned a gourd shaped weapon called a wan'gu that quickly became a fortress-defense weapon.
- Details
- Hits: 1413
Arlington, Virginia. (May 22, 2025): In this photo by Elizabeth Fraser, a Soldier from the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) places flags at gravesites at Arlington National Cemetery for Memorial Day. Nearly 1,500 troopers placed over 260,000 American flags over the headstones of the fallen during the 77th annual “Flags In” ceremony.
To most Americans, Arlington National Cemetery is a symbol of our commitment to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice, but it did not start out that way. In fact, the land that would become the world’s most famous graveyard was originally in “enemy” hands. The property was originally owned by George Washington Parke Custis, the step-grandson of Washington himself. His daughter married then Union Army 1st Lieutenant Robert E. Lee (yes, that Lee) who later led the Confederate States Army in the Civil War. Federal forces seized the property when the owner failed to pay property taxes, and the government declared Arlington a national cemetery.