Earlier this year, the Defense Department awarded a nearly $41 million development contract to Singapore-based iX Biopharma to develop Wafermine, a small, ketamine-packed wafer that dissolves under the tongue.

Recently, the drug’s manufacturer announced that it is pursuing an emergency authorization that could make the medication available to troops before it receives full Food and Drug Administration approval, citing a September U.S. declaration of a military emergency that justifies the emergency use of drugs deemed necessary by the Pentagon.

A federal emergency use approval declaration by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Sept. 3 opened the possibility of early official authorization, giving the FDA a route to use unapproved medications to treat war wounds.

According to the notice, on July 15, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth determined “a military emergency, or significant potential for a military emergency, involving a heightened risk to U.S. military forces of an attack with a chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear agent or agents,” or an attack with agents that would cause life-threatening injuries.

The declaration continues: “Injuries arising from these attacks may cause those forces to experience moderate to severe acute pain and place them at risk of developing life-threatening hemodynamic instability, including shock or respiratory distress.”

Because of Hegseth’s determination, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy, Jr. declared that “circumstances exist justifying the authorization of emergency use of drugs” identified by the Pentagon.

The notice did not elaborate on the emergency circumstances or state which drugs would be identified for emergency authorization.

A Politico investigation published Tuesday found that iX Biofarma’s domestic manufacturing partner lacks the Nevada license required to operate.

iX Biofarma called the non-opioid medication the “world’s first sublingual ketamine for acute moderate to severe pain,” and said the wafer enables a different delivery mechanism, letting patients absorb the ketamine through the mucous membrane into the bloodstream.

Typically administered via injection, ketamine can alleviate pain, increase euphoria and cause dissociation and amnesia.

A 2023 study found that opioid use to alleviate battlefield injuries decreased between January 2010 and December 2019, while ketamine use increased.

The researchers found that “ketamine is generally used first for more severely injured patients and has increasingly been employed by the U.S. military as the primary analgesic for combat casualties.”

The company said it received a “sole-source” award for Wafermine development, meaning it did not solicit other vendors.

The service said the course — which included on-site field evaluations at eight Danish dairy facilities currently approved for U.S. military procurement — aimed to ensure military members and their families overseas receive dairy that meets or exceeds U.S. standards.

In the U.S., commercial milk must be processed according to the Food and Drug Administration’s Pasteurized Milk Ordinance. Because commercial pasteurization methods are “udderly” different across the world, the course gives officers the skills to evaluate pasteurization technology in different regions, the Army said in a Monday release. The course has been taught and revised since 2004.

Military auditors from around the world, including Public Health Command Pacific, Area Support Group Kuwait and Public Multinational Force and Observers Egypt, trained to improve their pasteurization skills. Public Health Command Europe is unique, the service said, because it offers military inspectors the chance to see more than 65 pasteurizer setups.

During the course, led by Chief Warrant Officer 4 Clayton Davenport, the command food safety officer for Public Health Command Europe, the Army said officers gained realistic experience assessing equipment in operation.

“The primary training objective was to provide progressive and sequential auditor development training in pasteurizer operations that enhances understanding of the public health controls of various pasteurizers,” Davenport said in the release. “Maintaining specialized auditing capabilities remains essential to force health protection, particularly amid budgetary pressures.”

New commands and force restructuring have put greater emphasis on the Western Hemisphere and Indo-Pacific, while the ongoing conflict with Iran and Ukraine’s fight against Russia have complicated the force posture in U.S. Central Command’s area of operations and what might have been a troop drawdown in Europe, respectively.

Taken together, the moves offer a snapshot of locations the Army prioritized in 2026, and where it might turn its focus next.

Western Hemisphere

In a sweeping force restructure, the Army stood up a new Western Hemisphere Command in late 2025, consolidating three major commands under a single headquarters at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The move aligns with the 2026 National Defense Strategy, which prioritized defending the “U.S. Homeland” and the Western Hemisphere over the U.S.’s persistent goal of opposing China.

The service shuttered some of its global advisory brigades, retaining only two Security Force Assistance Brigades, or SFABs. One of the remaining SFABs is regionally aligned to U.S. Southern Command, and the Army reported that the Western Hemisphere Command would assume responsibilities previously shouldered by the Security Force Assistance Command.

U.S. Southern Command also activated Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere in August, creating a standing headquarters to coordinate regional operations with 18 partner nations and target cartels and other transnational criminal networks.

The Army also, in partnership with Panama, revived its jungle school course in the Central American country after a decades-long hiatus. Officials have said that maintaining jungle warfare skills is applicable in the Indo-Pacific region as well.

Central Command

Force posture in the Central Command area of operations — spanning the Middle East, Central and South Asia, and Northeast Africa — continues to change. In mid-April, U.S. troops shut down several American bases in Syria, handing them over to government forces and ending a 10-year presence in the country.

Last month, the U.S. formally left Iraq after more than two decades of war, spurring warnings from security experts who say the withdrawal could give Iran, its allies and the Islamic State increased freedom to operate in the country.

However, amid the U.S.’s war with Iran, the U.S. has extended an 82nd Airborne Division deployment to the region, keeping troops for a total of one year. In February, the Army announced that a brigade from the 10th Mountain Division was set to deploy to the region as well, though it did not provide a specific timeline.

Speaking broadly about the force — not just the Army — a senior U.S. official told Reuters in June that the U.S. planned to maintain its robust military presence in the region as hostilities between the U.S. and Iran persist.

Europe

In the European theater, the U.S. Army’s force posture appears to be in flux.

Shortly after the Army abruptly scrapped the planned deployment of the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, to Poland, the Pentagon announced in May it was deploying 5,000 troops to the country.

Defense Department spokesperson Sean Parnell called the surge a “temporary delay” of the Trump administration’s plan to reduce the number of Brigade Combat Teams assigned to Europe from four to three.

This summer, the Pentagon launched a broad review of U.S. troops, bases and force posture across Europe. The review, which is expected to take up to six months, comes after the Trump administration’s calls for European countries to take on heftier NATO defense responsibilities.

Still, the Army continues to participate in multinational training exercises in Europe, like Dynamic Front 2026 and Exercise Saber Junction.

Europe’s theater has been particularly rife with lessons about drone warfare. Maj. Gen. Christopher Norrie, the acting Commanding General of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, said in a September briefing that troops rotated through the Army’s “training support mission” in Ukraine’s capital to learn about drone units.

Indo-Pacific

Deterrence appeared to define the Indo-Pacific theater in 2026.

“In the big scheme of things, our highest duty is to deter,” Gen. Ronald Clark, commander of U.S. Army Pacific, told Military Times in an interview.

Earlier in the year, Exercise Balikatan 2026 — the largest drill of the series yet — was held in the Philippines and included troops from the Philippines, the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Japan and New Zealand. The exercise’s focus, Clark said, had shifted over the years from counterterrorism to “large-scale combat operations.”

Though Chinese leader Xi Jinping ordered troops to seize Taiwan by 2027, the outlying island is conspicuously absent from the 2026 National Defense Strategy.

In June, the Army launched a new Indo-Pacific multi-domain command that brought together conventional forces and the Cross Domain Contact Layer, a continuous network that combines sensors, drones, precision weapons, artificial intelligence, electronic warfare and more.

According to a May 2025 executive order, the Army plans to create four such commands, including one Multi-Domain Command—Japan.

Africa

The Army has reduced some of its Africa-focused force structure, shuttering the 2nd Security Force Assistance Brigade, previously aligned with U.S. Africa Command, late last year.

The command has seen a 75% force drawdown in the last ten years, creating what Gen. Dagvin Anderson, the command’s top leader, described in testimony before Congress as “an intelligence black hole,” and said the organization was operating with “minimum necessary resources.”

The U.S. special operations task force in Somalia posted an ad for three cultural and political advisors in late May.

The Arctic

The Marine Corps announced this year that it is moving troops deeper into Alaska with an initiative — aptly called “Campaign – Alaska” — designed to build a more persistent presence in the Arctic and prepare service members for extreme cold-weather operations.

The new rotating force will train and experiment in the frigid conditions and will likely add to interservice operations and exercises with partners like the Army’s Alaska-based 11th Airborne Division.

While the Army announced no major force posture changes in Alaska or the Arctic, the Army Corps of Engineers is working to expand where troops can operate in the region.

Researchers are developing new standards for landing Black Hawks and Chinooks on frozen lakes after testing found that aircraft could land on thinner ice than previous Army doctrine allowed, possibly opening up 25% more terrain for aviation operations.

The gaming accessory is part of KBR’s Firefly, a mobile high-energy laser weapon system developed by Kord Technologies. Recently, the Pentagon selected the company for a pilot program to test defending U.S. military installations against adversarial drones. The system uses a concentrated beam of light instead of costly missile interceptors, potentially offering a less expensive way to bring down drones.

David Zoller Jr., senior director for KBR, said the controller “reduces the amount of time that it takes to train somebody because they already know what that feels like — what all the buttonology is.”

The pilot program will place directed-energy weapons at military bases across the country for a yearlong assessment, where service members will operate, maintain and collect data on the weapons. The Pentagon will, in turn, gather information on cost and logistics.

KBR subsidiary Kord has marketed Firefly as a palletized mobile laser. The company said the system — part of which looks like a futuristic, modular cell phone camera lens — can operate in temperatures ranging from negative 15 to 35 degrees Celsius. During an August demonstration in Alabama, company officials said that a truck-mounted system needs just a few seconds to down a small drone.

Here is how it works:

Identify the threat

When the radar system detects a potential threat, it sends a cue to the human operator to investigate further. The software also has target list capabilities, so it can help a human identify things that might be threats. The human can use built-in cameras to zoom in on the anomaly — whether that be a bird, plane or drone. The AI capability tracks automatically, but the human behind the joystick makes decisions. The system, Zoller said, “still has a person that decides not just when to fire, but also where to fire.”

Engage

Once the operator makes the requisite decisions, the system steps in, tracking the threat and aiming the laser at any specific part of the threat. The laser directs “weaponized light” to counter threats by burning a hole through, Zoller said, and can be as specific as aiming at a particular propeller, engine or fuel tank.

But Zoller cautions high-energy laser systems are “not a silver bullet.” The Firefly can only engage one threat at a time, so in a drone swarm, the highest threat would need to be prioritized. “As a swarm would come in, I would have multiple systems engaging on the most imminent threat,” he explained.

As Washington shifts its attention toward the Western Hemisphere, a reinvigorated jungle school is just one part of the evolving U.S. military presence in Panama.

More than 20 years after the U.S. turned over its bases to the Central American country, the partnership offers a glimpse of what the Pentagon’s renewed focus on its own hemisphere could mean on the ground.

“The Western Hemisphere is now the priority hemisphere,” Col. Jacob White, deputy commander of Joint Security Cooperation Group-Panama (JSCG-P), said in an interview from the unit’s Panamanian headquarters. “We want to move faster and be more present down in this hemisphere.”

Decades after the U.S. launched a deeply polarizing invasion to topple Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, the disparate missions are part of the U.S.’s increasingly prioritized relationship with the country that hosts the only land bridge connecting the two American continents and the only waterway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific.

The Trump administration, and thus the Pentagon, has elevated “defense of the U.S. Homeland” to the highest national security priority, downgrading China — which previously took the top spot — as a threat.

In April 2025, the U.S. and Panama announced an agreement to counter Chinese influence in the region and secure the Panama Canal, laying the foundation for other joint activities.

According to Henry Ziemer, a fellow with the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Panama never stopped being important to the U.S. military.

It has the strategically important Panama Canal and Darién Gap, and the country sits at the intersection of some of the Trump administration’s major priorities: canal security, migration and drug trafficking.

Over the last year, Ziemer said, Panama’s importance has increased “as we’ve seen supply chain disruptions at other critical waterways like the Strait of Hormuz.”

Roughly 5% to 6% of global trade passes through the waterway, with approximately 70% of that traffic passing to or from the United States.

“For many subsequent administrations and decades, I think the United States took [its] eye off this neighborhood, off the Western Hemisphere,” said Kevin Marino Cabrera, the U.S. Ambassador to Panama, emphasizing that developments in the region have direct impacts for the U.S.

“You can’t talk about migration without talking about Panama,” he said, referring to the Darién Gap, which at its peak saw more than half a million migrant crossings per year. Panamanian service members also report drug smuggling through the narrow strip of land.

From the U.S.’s perspective, the “border begins in Panama,” Ziemer said, adding “it’s a lot easier to secure the Isthmus of Panama than it is to secure the whole Southwest land border, right?”

Cabrera said the partnership was mutually beneficial, though, as Panama also deals with cartels, drug trafficking and migration issues — though differently than the U.S.

“Our plan is to defeat the cartels, to maintain the Darién closed, so that we can secure the U.S. Southern border and keep our communities safe,” he said, adding, “we’re working together with Panama because they have many of the same goals.”

Though the gritty terrain of jungle school makes it a highlight of the partnership, the U.S. military’s inroads in Panama extend well beyond the boundaries of Aeronaval Base Cristóbal Colón, where course is housed.

Typically a country may host a U.S. Army Civil Affairs team or two — the Army’s special operations forces contingent that connects military forces with civilian populations — but Panama is home to an entire U.S. Civil Affairs company, White said, that works in virtually every district.

Those teams, he said, identify gaps in civilian infrastructure, such as dilapidated schools or unsafe bridges. The U.S. has military salvage dive teams operating around the canal and cross-training with Panamanian forces. Engineer soldiers rotate through the country, building out structures for jungle students.

Military doctors work alongside Panamanian medical professionals to assist local populations, performing colonoscopies and cataract surgeries. Dentists and optometrists — even veterinarians — rotate through rural parts of the country.

White said one of the lessons the U.S. learned during its decades-long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was that the military cannot quickly create trust.

“In a crisis, you simply can’t surge trust,” he said. “And so, being here — present — doing things on the regular with SENAFRONT and SENAN, with the government of Panama — and with their permission to do it — it helps build that trust.” Though Panama does not have a standing Army, SENAFRONT and SENAN are two branches of the Panamanian Public Forces.

On a tactical level, Panamanian instructors at the jungle school say the course, which includes Panamanian and U.S. soldiers, makes them feel that, in an emergency, U.S. soldiers would at least grasp how challenging it is to operate in a jungle environment.

With terrain different from the U.S.’s Hawaii jungle course, Panama’s environment replicates other jungle biomes where the U.S. may find itself in conflict. The Western Hemisphere, White said, abounds with jungle landscape.

But as the U.S. hones its focus on Central and South America, expanded U.S. activity inevitably raises questions about sovereignty. Decrepit military quarters line roads in and out of Aeronaval Base Cristóbal Colón, which the U.S. called Fort Sherman when it occupied it. Most sit abandoned, used only as shady hideaways for jungle instructors between missions.

Officials have been adamant that the future does not hold permanent military basing for U.S. troops. White said the U.S. contingent works to uphold the Neutrality Treaty of 1977 — which guarantees the Panama Canal remains neutral and open for ships of all nations to transit peacefully. To do that, he said, the U.S. military is operating “by, with and through the Panamanians.”

The 2025 National Security Strategy prioritizes economic dominance in the Western Hemisphere through national security, Gen. Joseph Ryan, the commander of the U.S. Army Western Hemisphere Command, said during a panel discussion with Gen. Luis Cardozo, Colombian attaché, and Vice Adm. Jo-Ann Burdian, the U.S. Coast Guard’s Atlantic Area Commander.

“The end state is economic supremacy for the United States,” Ryan said, later adding, “We have ceded control of that economic terrain in this hemisphere to the People’s Republic of China over at least the last two decades, and that is a major threat to our national security.”

Ryan pointed to Panama as an example, explaining how a high percentage of trade to and from the United States passes through the Panama Canal. He said the Panamanian government saw a mutual benefit in the partnership. It also allows the U.S. to “keep an eye on those states that are aligned with other adversaries in the region,” he said, such as Cuba, Nicaragua and formerly Venezuela. Lebanese Hezbollah has a presence in the area, he added.

Recently, the U.S. military co-led PANAMAX, a massive multinational exercise hosted in Panama for the first time since 2012, where forces practiced defending the Panama Canal. During the exercise, which included personnel from 19 countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Chile and Colombia, troops drilled command post and field exercises.

Countering cartels

In addition to countering China, the Defense Department has railed against cartels, prioritizing counter-cartel operations in the Western Hemisphere.

Burdian said the cartels are trafficking people, narcotics and bulk cash. She characterized them as “multi-billion-dollar organizations that operate globally and are unconstrained in the ways we are — they are unconstrained financially,” she said, adding, “and they demonstrate extraordinary agility, and they certainly are unfettered by rules or basic human decency.”

Cardozo said his country — Colombia — has seen how cartels can build diverse, enormous economies.

“In Colombia, it’s not only using the drug trafficking as a main source of income, they also use illegal mining,” he said, which can destroy the environment and people’s homes, but reap huge financial rewards. “I think that’s their Achilles’ heel: the illegal financing. If we take that money away from them, they’re going to asphyxiate.”

With the Army’s logistics assistance, Burdian said the Coast Guard is working to establish an Expeditionary Cutter Squadron with two ships in Panama to conduct interdiction operations. Ryan said officials recently approved a capacity increase for Joint Task Force Bravo — a forward-deployed task force based at Soto Cano Air Base in Comayagua, Honduras — to expand the footprint over the next few fiscal years.

Ryan said the task force would receive more rotary-wing aircraft and personnel to “address some of the natural disasters and threats in the region.” Those additional resources, he said, “become absolutely critical when you’re talking about moving supplies, moving people to the point of need, and making assessments.”

Command restructure

In a major force restructure, the Army stood up the Western Hemisphere Command in December 2025, combining U.S. Army North, U.S. Army South and Armed Forces Command under a single headquarters. As its focus shifted, the Army revived its jungle school in Panama’s “Green Hell” and approved service-wide wear of the Jungle tab.

In August, U.S. Southern Command activated Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere, a new headquarters to unify operations with allies and partners, including the 18 partner nations of the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition. The new task force replaced Operation Southern Spear, which has destroyed scores of sea vessels as part of what the Trump administration characterizes as a counternarcotics campaign. More than 210 people have been killed in the attacks.

The strikes have drawn controversy, and the Trump administration has offered little evidence of drug-trafficking activity. The Defense Department’s inspector general launched an investigation into whether U.S. Southern Command followed protocols with the strikes, but the White House has emphatically defended the attacks.

Ryan said that joint exercises with partner forces in the region will increasingly center on counter-cartel operations.

“We are going to focus our exercise programming going forward to be really focused on those things that contribute to the counter-designated terrorist organization threat and cartel threat in the region,” he told the crowd.

Publicly available technology is fueling the cartel’s economy, the panelists emphasized.

“Make no mistake, you know, Starlink is great as long as you’re using it on your side. When it pervades to the adversary side, it becomes very difficult to counter,” Ryan said, emphasizing that the military cannot stop cartels from accessing publicly available technology.

Ryan said the intelligence is showing an increase in unmanned aerial systems for human trafficking operations, and Burdian said the Coast Guard is used to seeing homemade submersibles from the cartels coming out of riverine terrain off the coast of Colombia. But now, as the markets grow, they are seeing them move across the Atlantic.

“The greatest threat I face — the most persistent threat, frankly — is the commingling of illicit traffic or threats or another nature with legitimate traffic,” Burdian said.

Only completely closing a port can eliminate all illegal traffic, she said, but that is economically destructive.

“So, how do you know what to let in? How do you know what to keep out?” she asked. “How do I enable those commanders on scene to allow the legitimate commerce to pass in and out while at the same time, identifying and neutralizing threats before they damage the U.S. economy or kill Americans?”

Six people interrupted the speakers at various points during the beginning of the roughly hour-long panel, which was part of the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual meeting. They shouted condemnations of the U.S. war with Iran and referenced the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

“You’re not a warrior, you’re a coward,” one person yelled, adding, “Children in Gaza are starving!” Another shouted, “You’re killing my family.”

The final protester yelled, “The world f—— hates you.” “You’re a f—— war criminal. You’re a Nazi. We’ll see you at the goddamn Hague. You should be ashamed of yourself,” as security pushed him outside of the packed ballroom.

Hegseth made a handful of quips addressing the initial interruptions, saying, “She thinks highly of me,” in response to the first protester.

He appeared to get more irritated as they continued.

“Appears we have a bit of a tactic,” he said.

The panel was intended to be a conversation about Project Agincourt, a Pentagon initiative to accelerate the development and acquisition of autonomous systems.

At one point, after a protester interrupted, a handful of spectators chanted “USA, USA, USA,” before quieting as the panelists continued speaking.

The Panama course, back after a decades-long hiatus, resumed in 2025 as the U.S. military shifted its focus to the Western Hemisphere. In August, the Army confirmed it had approved the small arch-shaped patch — emblazoned with the word “Jungle” — for service-wide wear on the left shoulder. It joins the Special Forces, Sapper and Ranger tabs as wearable markers of additional skill identifiers.

Those who attended the course from 1990 to 1999 at Fort Sherman, now known as Base Aeronaval Cristóbal Colón, are authorized the tab retroactively, as well as those who attended the 12-day jungle school in Oahu, Hawaii, after Fort Sherman’s closure.

The 18-day course includes classes on flora, fauna, machetes, jungle first aid, fire-starting, shelter-building, and more, but showing up and trudging through muddy terrain in crippling Panama humidity is not enough to earn the tab.

“There’s a difference between graduating the course with the tab and finishing the course,” said Lt. Col. Andrew Eagan, the officer in charge of the Jungle Operations Training Course in Panama, or JOTC-P.

Even if students fail one part of the curriculum, as long as their failure presents no medical or safety issues, they must finish the course.

“We direct that you will come and you will do the X number of days of training. There are then five critical tasks across the course that you have to pass in order to graduate with the tab,” Eagen said.

Combat Water Survival Assessment and 5K

Early in the course, participants face physical fitness tests.

The Combat Water Survival Assessment, or CWSA, requires participants to complete a variety of survival tasks in the water, including swimming in combat gear, ditching their equipment and dropping from a meters-high diving board.

The 5-kilometer run — only 3.1 miles — has proven one of the course’s toughest obstacles for many jungle school candidates. While a 5k might sound like an easy morning workout for most soldiers, the Panama 5k route covers uneven terrain underneath dense, humid canopy. Service members have 40 minutes to complete the run outfitted with full canteens, gear, a rifle and boots. Eagen said the schoolhouse saw a pass rate of 45% to 55% in the first three iterations.

Now that word is spreading about the route, the pass rate is improving. More than 80% of candidates are passing it now, Eagen said. “They’re not undervaluing the difference between 5k here and 5k at the Fort Benning course,” he mused.

Master Sgt. Dale Taylor, a former Ranger School instructor who attended the course in September, said that people approach the run mistakenly thinking it will be a Thanksgiving Day turkey trot. “It’s nothing alike,” he told Military Times from a mosquito-infested bench at the jungle school. “Never in any other assessment in the military do you know for a fact that you will walk a portion of the run,” he said, alluding to the heat, humidity and steep hills. Only “a handful of people,” he said, “could have ran that course from start to finish.”

Knots and Rope Systems

Jungle school students must also pass individual tests on knots and rope systems. Seven knots are tested, Eagan said, and they are used throughout the course. One example is the bowline knot service members tie around their chests to secure themselves on a one-rope bridge across water.

On a sunny practice day after minimal rain, the knots felt like an added step in an already tiresome water squad crossing. But participants know things can change quickly in the jungle: That gentle, bubbling creek could become a rushing waterway after a storm.

Jungle school students must also qualify independently on rope systems.

“You have to pass rope systems, which is individually being able — in a time standard — to tie a one-rope bridge and the Z-pulley system,” Eagen said. A Z-pulley system, he added, can move a dead or injured soldier in unforgiving terrain that does not lend itself to easy casualty evacuation.

The Green Mile

Water movements, traversing uneven terrain and ropes are all part of the final crucible participants must complete to earn a Jungle tab. The notorious Green Mile — in the heart of Panama’s “Green Hell” — is a more-than-four-mile gauntlet at the end of a days-long field training exercise that separates damp, dirty students from graduation.

Squads must run through muddy ground, wade through coastlines, climb dizzyingly steep hills — often with the help of ropes — carry a hasty litter and shimmy under barbed wire, all while carrying heavy rucksacks, water jugs and ammo cans.

Movements that might have been easy, even enjoyable, with a full night’s sleep and a cool temperature turn into damp, arduous slogs in the jungle. By the time the squads are stepping off for their final tasks, each person is running on minimal food and sleep. The hours-long trek reflects the course’s demanding nature and relentless bodily strain.

“The biggest difference between a student on day one and the last day is the physical toll the environment took on them,” Eagen said, adding, “[I] haven’t yet seen a student that didn’t lose double digits in weight. They are excessively skinny by graduation.”

The soldiers, drawn from across the force, voluntarily applied and were selected to reclassify as MOS 40D Tactical Space Operations Specialists, the Army said.

“We had nearly 3,000 soldiers apply, and selected over 600 of the most capable, professional soldiers in the Army,” Command Sgt. Maj. Rickey Jackson, command sergeant major of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, said in the release. “We drew talent from Military Intelligence, Air Defense Artillery and the Signal Corps, but the 40D MOS is open for anyone to apply.

“Ultimately, we are looking for soldiers who master their current jobs and consistently stand apart from their peers.”

The Army announced in January that it was opening applications for the specialty to soldiers in grades E-4 through E-9 across the active-duty Army, National Guard and Army Reserve.

Previously, the service temporarily pulled soldiers from other specialties to help with space operations. However, the soldiers’ experience was often lost when they returned to their original branches.

“For too long, enlisted soldiers with specialized space training and experience rotated through critical space assignments, eventually returning to their basic branches,” Lt. Gen. John L. Rafferty, commanding general of U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, said in a separate release. “The rotational system served the U.S. Army well in the past but will not meet the demands of the future, which requires a professional and sustainable approach to training, career progression and leader development for Army Space soldiers.

The Army’s Space Operations Branch was officially established in June, bringing together the newly-created enlisted occupational specialty and functional area 40As, the Army’s Space Operations Officers. Though 40As have been part of the force since 1999, they have not had enlisted peers until now.

The newly minted Tactical Space Operations Specialists will receive training at the Space and Missile Defense Center of Excellence in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

“Our space operations soldiers bring unmatched value to the Army and joint force because of the education and training they receive to execute space integration and interdiction missions — specifically counter-SATCOM, stratospheric warfare, navigation warfare and counter-sensing,” Col. Felix Torres, commandant of the Space and Missile Defense Center of Excellence, said in the release.

Space systems, the Army said, help soldiers with navigation, weather, communication and early warnings.

Soldiers in the 1st Space Brigade, the Army’s only singularly-focused space unit, have theater missile warning capabilities and long-distance satellite communications, for example.

Acting Army Chief of Staff Gen. Christopher LaNeve said that the Futures and Concepts Command has been redesignated as U.S. Army Futures and Autonomous Systems Command, or FASCOM. The change comes as the Army aligns its weapons purchases, force structure and training around new “How the Army Fights” guidance, which was published last week and explains how the service intends to wield land power in future wars.

“We are not walking away from modernization,” LaNeve said, addressing the industry partners directly at one point in his speech. “We are sprinting towards, it,” he said, adding “and we are doing so responsibly with a recognition that resources are not endless.”

LaNeve has charged FASCOM with developing corps-level autonomous capabilities through experimentation and testing.

According to a Tuesday release, the three-star command will have “capability-based formations centered on autonomous long-range fires, protection, tanks, logistics and obstacle breaching,” and will include some of the Army’s first 390A Robotic Technicians, which were activated this month.

The Army said it chose those capabilities based on their ability to affect maneuver and their alignment to the “four elements” of land power outlined in last week’s guidance: convergence, strike, close battle and endurance.

“This goes beyond drones,” LaNeve said in the release, “FASCOM will pioneer operational concepts that harness autonomous capabilities across all warfighting functions.”

The Army has come under fire recently after shuttering its experimental drone battalion in Europe less than a year after launching the novel unit to test how such a formation could operate. According to The Wall Street Journal, the decision to end the experiment — the brainchild of LeNeve’s predecessor, Randy George — came as part of LeNeve’s broad “back-to-basics” approach.

In September, a bipartisan group of lawmakers signed a letter expressing concern about eliminating the 600-member “Unmanned Assault Battalion,” which was created as part of the 173rd Airborne Brigade. The legislators questioned how the U.S. would continue to learn drone warfare from Ukraine.

In a September media roundtable, Maj. Gen. Christopher Norrie, the acting Commanding General of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, said the future of the U.S. Army’s drone warfare is spread across formations, not condensed into one unit.

“In Ukraine and Russia you’ve seen those armies create brigades and entire unmanned systems forces, whereas the U.S. Army’s approach has been to decentralize; to accelerate learning across all units,” he said, adding that the Army is aiming to push one-way attack drones to the squad level in the near future.