According to a Federal Register notice Tuesday, the $1.4 million committee will focus “exclusively on human performance,” providing guidance and insight on improving function, combating the physical, mental and emotional tolls of military service known collectively as “operator syndrome,” and preventing physical injuries and operational stress. 

“The Council will serve as a high-impact, low-cost mechanism for the [DoD] to secure the expertise of the nation’s foremost leaders at the nexus of warrior health and performance,” the announcement stated. 

The Pentagon established a Warfighter Performance Optimization division earlier this year within Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Anthony Tata’s office. It is intended to oversee and coordinate the individual services’ efforts to improve troops’ readiness and performance.

In May, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed Tata to report on existing optimization initiatives across the services to create a department-wide performance optimization plan. 

Hegseth said he wanted to accelerate fielding technologies that will improve performance — such as wearable devices and other analytics tools — and focus on elevating “cognitive performance as a key to readiness.” 

“By building on and modernizing the principles of Total Force Fitness (TFF), WPO will deliver a unified operational approach to accelerate readiness, dominance, and peak performance across the Force. We will treat the Warfighter as a readiness capability, held to the same disciplined evaluation, maintenance, and optimization we demand of every asset that preserves combat power,” Hegseth wrote. 

The services have created their own approaches to health, fitness and human performance within the last several years. Army introduced its Holistic Health and Fitness initiative in 2020 to improve the health of the force and reduce the number of soldiers considered non-deployable because of chronic medical conditions. 

The Navy introduced its Human Performance Optimization program as a pilot in San Diego in February, providing training and education on nutrition, sleep, injury prevention and stress management.  

The Marine Corps has had a total fitness strategy since 2023 that combines wellness, fitness, mental health and data to improve the health of members, while the Air Force is building a new human performance optimization facility at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona, which is designed to support Air Force Special Warfare airmen. 

The new advisory committee will have up to 20 members with expertise in an array of scientific and medical fields, including urology, endocrinology, nutrition, neurology, combat stress, orthopedics, preventive medicine, wearable technology or spiritual, psychiatric or psychological health, sleep medicine and human factors engineering.  

As with all federal advisory committees, volunteers are unpaid and only receive travel pay and per diem reimbursement when conducting council-related business. 

The announcement described the council as “an exceptionally cost-effective resource.” 

The newly formed group, the announcement stated, will provide information that helps the services create “lethal, operationally ready warriors prepared physically, psychologically, for successful large-scale, high kinetic, combat operations against peer adversaries who are imbued with the essential Warrior Ethos to win decisively,” the announcement stated.  

Shortly after Hegseth took office last year, he dismissed the members of roughly 40 Defense Department advisory boards and launched reviews to determine whether they supported his goal to “revive the warrior ethos” in the U.S. armed forces. 

The Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services and the Defense Advisory Committee for the Prevention of Sexual Misconduct were among those terminated.

Hegseth has also created several new advisory boards since being sworn in, most recently, the Homeland Defense Board, announced Sept. 11, which he plans to chair. The board will provide guidance on military support for homeland security missions. 

According to the research, published Thursday in JAMA, 20% of male soldiers younger than 30 years had testosterone levels less than the threshold established by the American Urological Association of 300 nanograms per deciliter, or ng/dL. Roughly a third of service members — 32.8% — aged 30 and older fell below the threshold.

According to the analysis, one-time testosterone testing of troops determined that 100,691 active-duty soldiers had morning testosterone levels of less than 300 ng/dL.

The results are an example of what the Department of Defense may encounter under a new program that requires all male service members 30 years and older to be screened for low testosterone, said the researchers from the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine in Natick, Massachusetts.

The results, the researchers said, “suggest that routine testosterone screening will result in confirmatory testing and clinical evaluation for many male service members.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced in July that the Pentagon would begin screening testosterone levels of all service members over age 30 and would be voluntary for those below 30 request it and are experiencing symptoms such as fatigue, low libido, depressed mood, impaired concentration or diminished physical performance.

In a video posted to social media, Hegseth said maintaining proper testosterone levels was a way to ensure that troops stay on the “leading edge of lethality.”

“This initiative is not about artificial enhancement. It’s about restoring and optimizing your natural capabilities, protecting your longevity and ensuring you have the biological foundation required to sustain and fight,” Hegseth said.

Environmental exposures, including lead exposure, combat, physical injuries, sleep deprivation and mental health conditions can contribute to low testosterone in service members.

Treatment for severe cases — medically known as hypogonadism — can have serious side effects, such as mood swings, irritability and aggression, blood clots and low sperm count that can cause infertility.

Under the new Defense Health Agency clinical practice guidelines, service members will be screened in the morning on two separate days and assessed for further evaluation if they fall below the 300 ng/dL standard. They may choose to undergo treatment, which involves once- or twice-weekly injections depending on the medication, or a daily oral medication or gel. Treatment will not be mandatory.

The interest in testosterone replacement therapy in the DoD follows a growing $4.5 billion industry centered around testosterone, with the hormone touted as a supplement that contributes to increased physical performance, sex drive, concentration and youthful energy.

Studies in 2018 by the NIH on 800 older men demonstrated that testosterone therapy improved erectile dysfunction, libido and mood, but had little or no improvement on measures such as fatigue, memory or overall well-being.

The research, published Thursday, was based on an analysis of data from the Military Health and Nutrition Examination study, a survey conducted at five Army bases from August 2024 through January 2026.

The authors noted that the low testosterone levels in service members do not indicate that they all had hypogonadism.

A study conducted last year of active-duty men found that .43%, or 12,112 of more than 2.8 million service members, were diagnosed with hypogonadism, and those with the highest rates were the most senior, largely general officers and warrant officers.

The authors of the JAMA research letter cautioned that testing could result in excess medical visits, costs and treatment.

“Positive screening result requires clinical interpretation and typically prompts repeat testing, further evaluation, counseling regarding modifiable factors, and consideration of treatment if indicated. Because testosterone replacement therapy is long term and has potential adverse effects, distinguishing an isolated low screening value from clinically significant hypogonadism is essential,” the researchers wrote.

The failure of troops to provide phone numbers for spouses in the Air Force Personnel Accountability and Assessment System, however, can carry dire consequences. Chief of Space Operations Gen. Douglas Scheiss recalled an incident in which he and his wife, Debbie, needed to reach a spouse whose husband had died in Syria.

But when they called the number on file, the phone simply rang and rang. It was the number for the airman’s cell phone.

“The number we were calling [was wrong] because he didn’t want his wife’s number to be on something,” Scheiss said during a forum on military families at the Air & Space Forces Association annual conference in Oxon Hill, Maryland, on Wednesday. “We are the most connected people in the world … but when the time is needed to contact people … don’t take away that ability for a spouse to be connected.”

The Air Force is launching an effort to improve the service’s ability to collect accurate contact information for spouses and provide it to units’ Key Support Program, the Air Force’s volunteer portion of a command’s family readiness efforts similar to Navy ombudsmen or Marine Corps family readiness volunteers.

Key Support Liaisons facilitate communications between commands and families — and often serve as the social foundation for military families when units are deployed.

Volunteers are required to keep phone numbers and other personal information confidential under the Privacy Act, but the unit phone trees they are provided are only as good as the information in AFPAAS, explained Cindy Wilsbach, wife of Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ken Wilsbach.

“We’ve asked them to do this and [Key Support Liaisons] have stood up and said they will, yet we haven’t equipped them by giving them the contact information for our families,” Cindy Wilsbach said.

“When this thing kicked off in February,” she said, referring to the Iran war, “I heard from people around the globe … ‘Cindy, their spouse is gone, and this spouse has heard from no one. No one has contacted her, no one has reached out to her.’ It wasn’t just one or two people. I heard it from a lot of people.”

The service has started distributing cards to unit leaders that explain how leaders — most likely unit first sergeants — can pull unit personnel lists from AFPAAS and provide a comprehensive recall roster to their Key Support Liaison.

The four-step effort involves identifying the need, collecting the contact information, maintaining a roster and providing it to the liaison on a regular basis.

The cards were created by Doniel Wolfe, a military family life counselor who holds a doctorate in counseling and is married to Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force David Wolfe.

Collecting and distributing accurate information on family contacts may sound simple, but it’s been a problem “for a very long time,” Cindy Wilsbach said.

“We’ve heard it at every single base we’ve visited … so we’re hoping, with Legal’s blessing, that this is the way forward, that we will arm KSLs with the power to actually do what we’ve asked them to do,” she said.

Connection with the command, as well as one another, is a cornerstone of readiness, Cindy Wilsbach added. She said the liaisons are a vital resource for making initial contact with new families, sustaining families when units are deployed and providing support in emergencies.

The senior leaders and their spouses urged personnel attending the conference to keep their spouses’ contact information updated in AFPAAS, with Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force John Bentivegna saying it’s the responsibility of leadership to make sure that spouses feel included.

“How many spouses … are maybe just waiting for someone to reach out to them. The worst that could happen is you send a note or make a phone call, send a text or an email, and you don’t get an answer back … but this is where leadership comes in — you got in there, and you got to take care,” Bentivegna said.

Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. John Caine testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee to seek $67.1 billion in supplemental money for the war and other DoD expenses, such as munitions, drones and the Army and National Guard deployments to the southern U.S. border and Washington, D.C.

Given that the department has $75 billion in its coffers from the $156 billion it received last year in reconciliation funding in the One Big Beautiful Bill, senators voiced skepticism over the emergency request.

Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the committee’s top Democrat, said the committee would not “rubber stamp a request to bankroll this war,” given that the DoD received more than $1 trillion in funding last year and has requested $1.3 trillion this year.

“The president’s request is not even a primarily a request to cover the costs of the Iran war. This request is chock full of asks to fund unrelated DoD priorities, which should be considered through our annual appropriations process, not in an emergency supplemental,” the senator said.

Similarly, Sen. Kristin Gillibrand, D-N.Y., asked how to convey the DoD’s needs when constituents have seen gas prices, food and other household expenses rise.

“You’re asking for $1.5 trillion, unlimited money for bombs, but insufficient money for the American people for their healthcare, their food, their housing,” Gillibrand said.

Hegseth said the new funding is needed to support operations because the $75 billion in reconciliation funds are slated to be used to restore a military that was “ignored” under the Biden administration. The new request is an “urgent, necessary injection of resources to address” immediate needs, he said.

“The military requires a generational investment to deliver on peace through strength,” Hegseth said, later adding that he didn’t know what his predecessor, former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, “did for four years.”

“The amount of neglect, the amount of stale thinking and bureaucracy was staggering when we took over,” Hegseth said.

He added that the supplemental was “a new request based on new realities of a world we face.”

“[We’re] stepping up to meet the moment,” Hegseth said.

In May, Hegseth estimated that the cost of war at the time was $29 billion.

Roughly half of the supplemental request, $32.7 billion, is slated to fund the ongoing operation directly. The remainder is for national security priorities not related to the war.

The request includes $21 billion for munitions, $17.3 billion for operations, $12.1 billion for classified programs, $5.1 billion for cybersecurity, $2.4 billion for drones, $1.7 billion for readiness, $1.5 billion for fuel and $2 billion for “administration priorities” and National Guard support.

The request comes as the war, which began Feb. 28, has escalated in the past two weeks. The U.S. has conducted air strikes consecutively for the last 10 days, and four U.S. service members have been killed in the last four days, bringing the total number of U.S. casualties to 18.

At least 14 merchant mariners also have died as a result of attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, according to the International Maritime Organization, and transits have decreased dramatically as Iran has reasserted its control over the strategic waterway.

Caine told senators he sat before them asking for the funding “while the window of opportunity — while time — is still on our side.”

“Our adversaries are aligning in their interests, creating simultaneous challenges across multiple domains. They are sharing intelligence, combat capabilities and technology. Technology. That is accelerating the speed of war, isn’t it?” Caine said in opening remarks.

Of concern to Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., and several other senators, was the administration’s approach to the Russia-Ukraine war and funding promised to support Ukraine that has not been allocated. Kennedy wanted assurances that the DoD had chosen a clear side in the conflict, asking Caine who “we” wanted to win.

“Sir, I want Ukraine to win,” Caine said.

“Is Russia America’s friend?” Kennedy asked.

“I think that depends on your definition of friend. I think it’s a complicated relationship,” Caine replied. After a brief pause, he added, “But no, I don’t think they’re our friends.”

Kennedy also asked what the administration thinks will happen regarding the Strait of Hormuz and what Iran’s intentions are in developing a nuclear weapon — the initial reason President Donald Trump gave for attacking Iran.

“We need straight answers!” Kennedy told Hegseth.

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska sought assurances that should the supplemental request be approved, the Trump administration would not perceive passage as a measure for restarting the 60-day clock on a War Powers Resolution, which the Senate passed 50-48 in June.

Citing precedent by President Bill Clinton in sending U.S. troops to Kosovo, Murkowski asked if the administration felt it had adequate authorization to continue the conflict in Iran.

“We certainly, as department, take the position of the White House that we have all the authorities necessary at this moment,” Hegseth said.

Two lawmakers, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc., and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W. Va., asked Hegseth to answer for the record, to concerns that service members injured in the current conflict did not receive proper medical care from the U.S. military or screenings for traumatic brain injury.

As of Tuesday, more than 440 troops have been injured in the conflict.

“Every effort was made to provide every level of medical care possible,” Hegseth said.

Acting Army Chief of Staff Gen. Christopher LaNeve said in an Army budget hearing that the order to halt a planned 9-month rotation to Europe by 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division to Eastern Europe came from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

LaNeve and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said they were informed of the order and had been consulted, but they wouldn’t provide the exact timing of the decision. On May 1, the unit had cased its colors in preparation for deployment, dispatched its advanced team and launched its equipment overseas.

Soldiers began discussing the decision to scrap the deployment publicly early Tuesday morning; the order was confirmed Wednesday by Army Times and other news media.

LaNeve said the decision was made “in the last two weeks” by the Defense Department and Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, commander of U.S. European Command and the NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe.

LaNeve and Driscoll downplayed the move as part of routine manning reviews conducted throughout the year.

“We are constantly in contact with [the Office of the Secretary of Defense] and the combatant commanders … and this is not meant to hide the ball,” Driscoll said during a House Armed Services Committee hearing.

“This type of conversation is going on throughout the year, every single year, and the Army is always ready to move people and things based off combatant commander and Secretary of War preferences,” Driscoll added.

But lawmakers questioned the timing and the reasons, lambasting the order that Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., said sent a “terrible message to Russia and our allies.”

Bacon said he had spoken with Polish leaders who were “blindsided” by the decision and understood that Grynkewich had expressed reservations to the order, saying that it was not without risk.

“This is a slap in the face to Poland. It’s a slap in the face to our Baltic friends. I think it’s a slap to the face in this committee, because we’ve put floors and restrictions on the Pentagon on further reductions in Europe because of what they did with Romania,” Bacon said.

CNN reported Thursday that Hegseth made the decision in relation to the administration’s efforts to pressure Europe to increase its own defenses.

CNN also reported that Hegseth’s order canceled a deployment of 3rd Battalion, 12th Field Artillery Regiment to Germany later this year and a command that oversees long-range rockets and missiles will be removed from Europe.

The news follows an announcement May 1 that the U.S. would withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany — a decision Pentagon officials said was made following a review of “theater requirements and conditions on the ground.”

But critics say the withdrawal is retribution for NATO countries deciding not to join the U.S. in attacking Iran. President Donald Trump repeatedly has criticized NATO countries for not investing more in their own defense and said in March that NATO would face a “bad future” if they didn’t help defend the Strait of Hormuz.

“If there’s no response, or if it’s a negative response, I think it will be very bad for the future of NATO,” Trump told the Financial Times.

Army leaders did not say how many soldiers were affected by the decision or provide the number of personnel in the advanced echelon that now must return to Fort Hood, where the brigade is based.

The order has upended the lives of at least 4,500 soldiers, however, many of whom made preparations to vacate homes and apartments, store belongings and relocate their families.

The order also cost money: in a text message reviewed by Army Times Tuesday, a brigade member estimated the cost and retrieval of equipment at $4 million.

Acting Pentagon Press Secretary Joel Valdez said Thursday the decision was “not an unexpected, last-minute decision,” but lawmakers pushed back on that assessment, with Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., saying he didn’t see how the “statement can be true.”

“These are major decisions that appear to many of the members of this committee to be last-minute decisions,” Scott said.

LaNeve and Driscoll noted that in their roles as chief of staff and secretary, their jobs are administrative and they have no authority in operational decisions.

LaNeve’s multiple references to the law that dictates the structure of the armed forces — and the pair’s lack of response — irritated several committee members.

“We have been very focused on this committee about force posture, and EUCOM in particular not being disturbed, particularly without — what the statute requires — is consultation with us, and we didn’t get that, so we don’t know what’s going on here, but I just tell you we’re not happy,” said Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala.

“It is a pretty dramatic decision to, at the last minute, pull a team that you’re trying to send over there,” agreed Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the committee’s ranking member. “If there’s some strategy behind it, then you guys ought to know, and you ought to be able to communicate it to us.”

The U.S. has roughly 80,000 service members in Europe.

European Command did not respond to a request for comment by publication.

An Army official confirmed the decision Wednesday but did not provide details and referred all questions to the Defense Department, which did not respond to a request for information.

During a congressional hearing Tuesday on the Army’s budget posture, neither Army Secretary Dan Driscoll nor Gen. Christopher LaNeve, the Army vice chief of staff, mentioned the deployment cancellation.

But word already had started spreading early Tuesday morning among those affected, with soldiers texting friends and loved ones about the change.

Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said during his opening statement in the hearing that the Army faces a budget shortfall of at least $2 billion as a result of extended operations that include deployments of the Army National Guard to Washington, D.C., and units to participate in U.S. border control.

Reed wondered what the impact was on training and operations but the topic was not addressed.

According to ABC News, the Army budget shortfall is significantly larger than Reed’s estimate. In the report, Army officials told the outlet the amount actually is between $4 billion and $6 billion.

The Pentagon announced in April that it planned to withdraw roughly 5,000 troops from Germany. Defense Department spokesperson Sean Parnell said that Secretary Pete Hegseth made the decision after reviewing “theater requirements and conditions on the ground.”

The move would bring U.S. troops levels in Europe to pre-2022 levels, before Russia invaded Ukraine and started a war that has killed more than 43,000 Ukrainian troops and at least 100,000 Russian service members, according to Every Casualty Counts, a British-based non-governmental organization that tracks conflict deaths.

More than 10,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Poland on rotation. The “Black Jack” brigade was expected to deploy for nine months. The Stars and Stripes reported that the Fort Hood, Texas-based tank brigade cased its colors May 1 in preparation for the deployment.

Portions of the 2^nd Armored Brigade Combat Team advanced echelon are already in Poland and equipment is in transit, according to the deployment plan.

Army officials from Fort Hood and U.S. Army Headquarters referred all questions to DoD, which declined to comment.

“We have no comment on this at this time,” the Pentagon press office wrote in an email to Army Times.

This is a developing news story. It will be updated as more information is made available.

A hearing on the Pentagon’s $1.45 trillion budget request for fiscal 2027 became a hotly contested debate on Iran, with House Armed Services Committee members asking how long the secretary expected the operation to last and Hegseth bristling at those who questioned the administration’s decision to go to war.

Committee members praised the work of the U.S. service members currently deployed to the Middle East, but they also wanted Hegseth to address the ultimate outcome.

Ranking committee member Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., asked Hegseth where the war was going. Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., said the military had executed the war with “tactical success” but called the administration’s strategy an example of “incompetence.”

The comments struck a nerve with Hegseth, who argued that President Donald Trump is the only U.S. leader to decide to physically stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

“The biggest adversary we face at this point are the reckless, feckless and defeatist words of congressional Democrats and some Republicans,” Hegseth said, addressing Garamendi and others who have opposed the operation.

“Shame on you calling this a quagmire two months in the effort,” Hegseth added.

When the U.S. and Israel launched combat operations in Iran on Feb. 28, Trump said the goals were three-fold: destroy Iran’s missile capability; “annihilate” their navy; and ensure that the country would never have nuclear weapons.

The operation killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and several key leaders, destroyed Iran’s navy and wiped out key military installations. In retaliation, Iran launched missiles and air assaults on U.S. military facilities, killing 13 and damaging U.S. bases across the region, as well as civilian targets in Meddle East countries.

Hegseth noted that the Iranian navy has been destroyed, but Iran continues to have nuclear ambitions despite losing capabilities as a result of Operation Midnight Hammer last summer that Hegseth said “obliterated” facilities.

“You have to stare down this kind of enemy who’s hell bent on getting a nuclear weapon and get them to a point where they’re at the table giving it up,” Hegseth said.

The questions over the war’s future come as a 60-day deadline approaches Thursday under the War Powers Act. The legislation requires the president to seek congressional authorization to continue the operation or withdraw troops.

The law allows Trump to request an extension if the time is needed to safely withdraw U.S. troops.

According to testimony, the Iran war has cost $25 billion to date, with the highest costs coming at the beginning of the conflict as a result of the use of thousands of bombs and missiles.

The Defense Department’s $1.45 trillion budget request for fiscal 2027 is 44% higher than the Pentagon’s current budget — the highest in modern history. It would fund an increase in military end-strength of 44,000 service members, provide a 5% to 7% pay raise to troops depending on rank and boost procurement funding by 76%.

“Under the leadership of President Trump our builder-in-chief, we are reversing … systemic decay and putting our defense industrial base back on a war-time footing,” Hegseth said.

During the hearing, lawmakers raised concerns about the firing of former Army Chief of Staff Randy George and the decision to remove general officers from promotion lists, with several praising the former’s 40-years of service and dedication to soldiers.

“Let’s talk about a guy who is a patriot. Someone who everyone on this dais has huge admiration for,” said Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Penn., an Air Force veteran, referring to George.

In his response to Houlahan, Hegseth hinted that he fired George as part of a war on “woke” — Hegseth’s efforts to eliminate diversity or equity initiatives in the services.

“Out of respect for these officers, we never talk about the nature of their removal, but every one of them, including myself, knows that they serve at the pleasure of the president,” Hegseth said.

But, he added, “it’s very difficult to change the culture of a department that has been destroyed by the wrong perspective.”

During testimony, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine remained above the political fray, declining to answer questions he perceived as political.

“My duty is to ensure our civilian leadership has a comprehensive range of military options and the associated risks that to those leaders who make the nation’s hardest decisions and offer my military advice privately,” Caine said.

“My blueprint for this role is Gen. George C. Marshall. His commitment to civilian control of the military and nonpartisan military remains a constant standard, and something I borrow from often,” he added.

According to budget documents released this week by the Trump administration, the VA would receive a record $488 billion, including $205.6 billion in discretionary funding for programs and operations and $282.6 billion for mandatory spending — the column that covers disability benefits, pensions, insurance and other requirements.

Highlights in the discretionary spending proposal include $500 million to build permanent facilities for homeless veterans at the new National Center for Warrior Independence in West Los Angeles, $1.3 billion to construct a VA medical center in Manchester, New Hampshire, nearly $2 billion to replace the VA medical center in Indianapolis and $30 million to buy land for a new medical center in San Antonio.

The budget supports the VA’s proposed redesign of its community care contracts and programs and planned changes to the management structure at the Veterans Health Administration. It also funds the restart of the VA’s electronic medical record system program that has been on hold since 2022. The VA plans to restart the initiative this month at four facilities, with an additional nine joining later this year.

The VA estimates that the fiscal 2027 budget would provide disability compensation to more than 7.4 million veterans and support 9.2 million veterans enrolled in VA health care.

According to the VA’s Budget in Brief documents, the proposal would support 443,327 full-time VA employees — roughly 9,000 fewer than in 2025 but up nearly 6,200 from fiscal 2026.

In a statement laid out in the documents, VA Secretary Doug Collins said the proposal will enable the department to deliver timely care and benefits for all beneficiaries.

“This budget request reflects VA’s efforts to find more effective and efficient ways to serve our mission and maximize our resources,” the document states. “The days of measuring VA’s progress by how much money we spend and how many people we employ, instead of how successfully we serve Veterans, are over.”

President Donald Trump’s $2.2 trillion budget proposal for fiscal 2027 includes nearly $1.5 trillion in spending for the Defense Department — up 44% from fiscal 2026 levels — and increases for the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security.

It trims several domestic programs, including education, food and energy assistance, housing, the National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among others.

The proposed VA budget increases spending for VA medical care provided in VA facilities but also increases the budget for community care, the VA’s program for covering the health treatment received by veterans in non-VA facilities.

The budget, which also includes a request for advanced funding for fiscal 2028, ensures that veterans benefits and services are never affected by a government shutdown. In addition, it increases medical care funding, with $96.2 billion requested for care provided in the VA medical system and $42 billion for community care.

As with fiscal 2026, VA officials asked to shift the mandatory funds designated to cover the costs associated with injuries or illnesses related to toxic exposures to the discretionary budget. The request of $52 billion from the Cost of War Toxic Exposures Fund is likely to raise concerns among Democratic lawmakers, who have argued that the continued use of the funds could jeopardize monies set aside for a specific purpose.

The proposal also seeks to cut what White House officials referred to as “divisive and wasteful diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.” The budget documents did not specify which diversity programs the budget will defund, but officials said the reductions would ensure that “VA funding is used for critical VA missions: providing healthcare; benefits; and cemetery services for America’s veterans.”

The president’s proposed budget represents Trump’s vision for the federal government. It serves as a blueprint for Congress to consider as it starts its fiscal 2027 appropriations process.

In the last 25 years, the VA’s budget has ballooned significantly to address the needs of older veterans as well as the millions who served in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Trump’s fiscal 2027 budget proposal represents a 10-fold increase for the VA since fiscal 2001, when the VA’s budget was $45 billion.

The number of American personnel killed and injured in Operation Epic Fury rose Monday as the United States continued its assault on Iran, U.S. Central Command officials confirmed.

In a statement on X, Central Command said a service member who had been “seriously wounded” in the initial assault had succumbed to their injuries. Two others, who were previously unaccounted for, have been recovered — bringing the total number of military personnel killed in action to six.

Pentagon officials did not provide specifics on the circumstances that lead to the deaths, but during a press conference Monday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said a projectile had made it through air defenses and struck a fortified U.S. military position.

Hegseth did not disclose the facility’s location, but reporting by the Washington Post indicated the casualties occurred in Kuwait.

“You have air defenses and lots coming in, and you hit most of it, and we absolutely do — we have incredible air defenders. Every once in a while, you might have one, unfortunately — we call it a ‘squirter’ — that makes its way through, and in that particular case, it hit a tactical operations center,” Hegseth said.

U.S. Central Command said Monday that 18 troops had been wounded, up from the five reported over the weekend, according to Stars and Stripes.

Central Command did not respond to questions regarding the extent of the injuries or whether the service members had been evacuated from the theatre to U.S. military hospitals in Germany or the United States.

The U.S. and Israel launched strikes Saturday on Iran, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other top leaders. The Iranian Red Crescent Society reported by mid-day Eastern Standard Time that 555 Iranians had been killed in the initial assault.

During a press conference Monday, Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that additional air assets were being sent to the region but he declined to say how many service members were in theatre.

“I think we are just about where we want to be in terms of total combat capacity and combat power,” Caine said.

The identities of the fallen have not been released pending notification of the next of kin.

Caine warned Monday that there would likely be more casualties.

“We expect to take additional losses, and as always, we will work to minimize U.S. losses,” Caine said. “But, as the secretary said, this is major combat operations.”

At a White House ceremony Monday honoring three Medal of Honor recipients, President Donald Trump said the purpose of the operation was three-fold: to destroy Iran’s missile capability; “annihilate” their navy; and ensure that the country would never have nuclear weapons.

Over the weekend, U.S. Northern Command raised the security levels on military installations in the United States to Force Protection Level Bravo, indicating a higher state of alert for those guarding U.S. bases.

Under the Bravo condition, 100% of people entering installations will be required to show current identification and vehicles may be subjected to inspection.

Also, the Trusted Traveler Program — an initiative that allows service members, those who hold a Defense Department identification card and civilians to bring individuals on base without a background check — is suspended.

For the first time, the fiscal 2026 defense appropriations bill included problem gambling as a research topic sanctioned by the Defense Department under its Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program. Gambling addiction joins more than 240 subjects authorized by Congress to receive funding under the program.

Last July, the National Council on Problem Gambling joined forces with gaming companies BetMGM, MGM Resorts and FanDuel to ask Senate appropriators to include funding for gambling research in the Pentagon’s fiscal 2026 budget bill.

According to the 2022 Defense Department Health Related Behaviors Survey, 1.6% of active-duty service members reported a problem with gambling and 1.7% of reserve members screened positive for a gambling addiction.

Despite this, however, there has been a dearth of research on the impact of gambling on the military community, according to the NCPG.

Being listed among the allowable topics in the Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program doesn’t guarantee that the subject will be studied. But it makes federal funding available and is a step in the right direction, according to NCPG Executive Director Heather Maurer.

“For the first time, federal research funding is being made available to study gambling addiction. This development is especially critical for servicemembers and veterans who face elevated risk and have historically been underserved by research,” Maurer said in a statement.

An estimated 7.5 million to 10.5 million Americans have a gambling disorder, considered a behavioral health issue similar to alcohol, drug and tobacco addiction, according to NCPG.

Problem gambling is linked to a six-fold increase in homelessness among veterans with the disorder and 40% of those seeking treatment for gambling addiction have attempted suicide, the group said.

The fiscal 2026 Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes defense funding, contains $370 million for research on the topics allowed under the PRMP. It was signed into law by President Donald Trump on Tuesday.

The program provides federal funding in several scientific study areas that affect military families and are also relevant to public health. Subjects include: infectious diseases, autoimmune disorders, cardiovascular health, internal medicine, respiratory health, rare diseases and more.

Advocates hope researchers will apply for funding to examine the impact of gambling on military personnel, to include online gambling and sports betting, intervention and treatment.

“This inclusion sends a clear signal that gambling addiction is a public health issue, not a stigma,” Maurer said. “When we invest in research, we reduce stigma, improve care, and build the knowledge needed to protect individuals, families, and readiness.”

The Department of Veterans Affairs operates two residential gambling addiction treatment centers — in Cleveland at the Louis Stokes VA Medical Center and at the VA Residential Recovery and Renewal Center in Las Vegas.

More than 3,000 slot machines are located on U.S. military installations in Germany, Japan and South Korea, generating $100 million a year for recreational facilities and programs.

In 2024, lawmakers offered an amendment to the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill that would have banned slot machines from overseas bases, saying their presence increase the risk for gambling addiction among service members. The proposal did not make it into the final version of the law.