Veterans Affairs case backlog drops below 100,000—an historic first. Roughly 98,500 of the 363,000 pending VA claims are now backlogged, defined by cases that have been pending for more than 125 days. Although the number is still high, it represents a remarkable turnaround from two years ago, when the number of backlogged cases peaked at 613,000. Average processing time has fallen from 282 days to 105 today.
The Americans who travel overseas to fight the self-declared Islamic State: Who are they? According to Nathan Patin of Bellingcat, these “other” foreign fighters are mostly male, evangelical, recent veterans, and—interestingly—largely from the state of Texas. There have been roughly 150 to 200 so far, and the number continues to accelerate. All of them have so far joined Kurdish fighting units. Many are still active on Facebook.
U.S. service deaths and setback in Afghanistan. On Wednesday, two U.S. airmen were killed as their vehicle came under fire from men wearing the uniforms of Afghan security forces. This brings to four the number of U.S. service members who have lost their lives this year under Operation Resolute Support. Additionally, three American contractors were among those killed in a suicide attack in Kabul last week. In contested Helmand Province, meanwhile, the Taliban captured the administrative headquarters of Musa Qala after a week of intense fighting and series of NATO air strikes that killed at least forty insurgents. Musa Qala represents a major source of Afghanistan’s opium crop.
Should one U.S. service rule the military’s drones? This is the question poised by Defense One’s Marcus Weisgerber. He recounts the inter-service jockeying of the mid-2000s that led to the U.S. Air Force’s (failed) bid to place all UAV acquisition and regulation under its purview. With news of rapid, multi-service UAV flight expansion into 2019, with separate flights administered by the Air Force, Army, contractors, and the intelligence community, air space management is becoming a serious challenge. Currently, UAVs do not have reliable “sense-and-avoid” systems to avoid other manned and unmanned platforms.
Elsewhere, North Dakota has become the first state to authorize taser drones for domestic U.S. policing.
The Seabees spring into action. A team of active duty and reserve members of the Naval Construction Forces (popularly known as “Seabees”) have sprung into action to build a one-of-a-kind expeditionary pier. This pier, the $60 million dollar Elevated Causeway System (ECLAS), has a reach of 3,000 feet and a width of 72 feet; it sits seven feet above high tide. As the U.S. Navy looks to the future, it is anticipated that these sorts of expeditionary construction capabilities will be in high demand. The number of sailors currently qualified on the ECLAS system—eighty—is set to double before the end of the year.
Weekend Reader video bonus: The U.S. Army has made its choice in the award for the next generation Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV), set to replace the storied humvee as the Army and Marine Corps light mobility platform of choice. Josh Urias, president of Oshkosh Defense, described his winning model as follows:
Our JLTV has been extensively tested and is proven to provide the ballistic protection of a light tank, the underbody protection of an MRAP-class vehicle, and the off-road mobility of a Baja racer.
You can see a reel of the JLTV in action here and below:
