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East China Sea. (June 2, 2023) In this photo by MC3 Thomas Contant, an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 25, Det. 6, attached to the forward-deployed amphibious assault ship USS America lands on the flight deck of the Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Anzac while operating in international waters. The America is the lead ship of the U.S. Amphibious Ready Group of the 7th Fleet, the Navy's largest forward-deployed force that routinely operates with Allies and partners in preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
Tensions with China are at an all-time high as another dangerous incident involving a U.S. warship occurred this week. The U.S. military released a video of the incident on Monday which shows the “unsafe” Chinese maneuver in the Taiwan Strait in which a Chinese navy ship cut sharply across the path of an American destroyer, forcing the U.S. vessel to slow to avoid a collision.
The incident involved the American destroyer USS Chung-Hoon and the Canadian frigate HMCS Montreal as they were conducting a freedom of navigation transit of the strait between Taiwan and mainland China.
Since the end of World War II, China has claimed the democratic self-governing island of Taiwan as part of its territory and that the waters of the South China Sea are part of their “exclusive economic zone”. The U.S. and its allies regularly sail through and fly over the region to assert international law and the rights of all vessels to sail these waters free from harassment by the Chinese.
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Arlington, Virginia. (June. 6, 2023): Sadly, there are fewer and fewer eyewitnesses to history like retired Chief Yeoman Bill Norberg, a 100-year-old Battle of Midway veteran. In this photo by MC2 Carson J. Davis, Mr. Norberg is joined by Vice Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Lisa Franchetti during the 81st Anniversary of the Battle of Midway celebration dinner at the Army Navy Club in Arlington. Norberg was stationed aboard the USS Enterprise during the famous battle in which the U.S. ambushed and sunk four Japanese carriers thereby turning the tide of the Pacific war. What followed was an island-hopping strategy and even larger naval battles that would lie ahead for young Sailors like Norberg.
Despite his age, Mr. Norberg maintains an active schedule doing interviews around the country where he shares his firsthand accounts of the war, from escaping Japanese subs immediately after Pear Harbor to his experiences aboard Enterprise. He was also recently featured in an article by Elizabeth Crumbley in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The ceremony commemorated the U.S. Navy's victory at the Battle of Midway and the honor and sacrifice of World War II veterans.
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San Diego, California. (June 6, 2023): Indomitable. That describes in one word the toughness, tenacity, and dedication of the American warrior. Despite suffering life-changing injuries, these warfighters nevertheless overcome obstacles that would humble lesser men. In this photo by MC1 Kegan E. Kay, Navy Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Maxwell "Kwame" Ocloo, from Osu, Ghana, competes in the 800-meter track event during the Defense Warrior Games 2023. The Warrior Games Challenge is composed of over 200 wounded, ill, and injured service members and veterans competing in 12 adaptive sporting events held at Naval Air Station North Island, California.
This is the thirteenth adaptive sports competition sponsored by the Army Training and Doctrine Command as part of its continuing care for wounded warriors. The games provide an additional opportunity to inspire recovery and physical fitness outside of traditional therapy settings.
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Gulf of Oman. (May 27, 2023): In this photo by MC2 Juel Foster, Cryptologic Technician (Collection) 2nd Class Drew Appleton, assigned to the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS McFaul, establishes communications during a replenishment-at-sea with the dry cargo ship USNS Alan Shepard in the Gulf of Oman.
There are three basic types of Cryptologic Technicians in the Navy, Collection, Interpretive, and Technical whose duties involve the collection and processing of airborne, shipborne, and land-based communication signals.
A Cryptologic Technician (Collection) collects, analyzes, and reports on communication signals using specialized computer-assisted communications equipment. These highly skilled professionals exploit signals of interest to identify, locate, and report enemy activity at sea. Cryptologic Technician (Collection) class "A" school is approximately 16 weeks long and is in Pensacola, Florida. Currently, there are 3,500 Sailors working in the Cryptologic Technician (Collection) on active duty.
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Kadena Air Base, Japan. (June 3, 2023): The Navy SEALs have their brutal log-roll, the Rangers endure a 12-mile march with a 35-pound ruck, and in the Air Force, a bunch of special operators get together to tote a 85 ton aircraft around with a rope.
If you own a fleet of combat aircraft… why not?
In the above photo by Staff Sergeant Jessi Roth, Air Force Special Tactics Airmen with the 320th Special Tactics Squadron pull an MC-130J Commando II one hundred and fifty meters across the flightline during Monster Mash, an operational readiness and resilience training. These training events include some of the most physically and mentally demanding tasks in the military and are routinely conducted among special tactics units to ensure operational readiness.
Special Tactics Airmen are the Air Force equivalent to the Marines Force Recon, the Army’s Delta Force, and the Navy SEALs. One of the most highly trained and elite airmen in the U.S. Air Force, Special Tactics troops are rapidly deployable and equipped with highly specialized aircraft to perform missions ranging from precision application of firepower to infiltration, exfiltration, and aerial refueling.
Air Force's Special Tactics teams consist of airmen in three career fields: combat controllers, pararescue men, and special reconnaissance. Each of these special operations career fields requires the most specialized intensive training in the U.S. military.
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Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. (June 4, 2023): In this photo by Richard Eldridge, Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) personnel and NASA staff hoist Campos, a fire and rescue training manikin, into a seat at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. AFRL and NASA tested the most current iteration of an astronaut crew seat and flight suit that will be used on the Orion space capsule during the next mission to the moon under the Artemis Program.
The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is a scientific research organization dedicated to leading the discovery, development, and integration of aerospace warfighting technologies as part of the Air Force science and technology program. The lab was formed in 1997 to conduct numerous experiments and technical demonstrations with NASA, the Department of Energy National Laboratories, Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) and other research organizations within the Department of Defense.
The lab’s mission is to develop cost-effective and survivable aerospace vehicles capable of accurate and quick delivery of a variety of future weapons or cargo.
The Artemis mission will land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon using innovative technologies to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before. NASA will collaborate with commercial and international partners and establish the first long-term presence on the Moon. Part of the Trump administration's push towards the moon included an enlarged role for private aerospace firms, including Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, to develop landers that can take astronauts to the moon's surface. This will be the first step in America’s quest to send the first astronauts to Mars.