Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
E. Green, of Brooklyn, New York, appeared in federal court on charges of theft of government property. It is alleged that Green obtained and cashed over $573,000.00 of checks made payable to an assisted living facility, issued by the United States Treasury Department and New York Medicaid.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
The twenty-one members and associates of the violent Kiccdoe street gang that ravaged the streets of Arlington, Texas, have pled guilty to federal charges of racketeering (RICO conspiracy) or other drug and violent crimes in aid of racketeering charges.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A total of eleven defendants were charged and convicted for their roles in the organization that distributed large quantities of methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and other drugs primarily from 2019 to 2021 throughout the Southern Tier of New York including Broome, Tioga and Chemung Counties.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Tallahassee, Florida –Taija Avion Smith, 25, and Jaheed Anthony Williams, 24, both of Tallahassee, Florida, pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit mail theft, theft of a mail key, bank fraud conspiracy, and multiple counts of aggravated identity theft. Williams also pleaded guilty to 14 counts of bank fraud.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
CHARLOTESVILLE, Va. – A North Carolina man. who trafficked fentanyl from North Carolina into Virginia, was sentenced to 151 months in federal prison.Semaj Montaque Sledge, 35, pled guilty to one count of distributing 400 grams or more of fentanyl and one count of distributing 40 grams or more of fentanyl.
Source: United States Navy
SAN DIEGO, Ca. – The U.S. Navy will christen its newest John Lewis-class fleet replenishment oiler, USNS Thurgood Marshall (T-AO 211), during a 10 a.m. PDT ceremony on Saturday, June 6, 2026, at General Dynamics National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO) shipyard in San Diego, Ca.
Source: United States Army
BRUNSSUM, the Netherlands – Victory is earned through preparation, resilience and the determination to keep pushing through the toughest conditions. Spc. Ethan Rieck, U.S. Army Garrison (USAG) Benelux in Brunssum military policeman, was ready for victory before he competed and won the Army Materiel Command (AMC) Soldier of the Year.
Stepping into the competition, Rieck knew the challenge ahead would be unlike any he had faced before. He focused his preparation on physical training and sharpening his knowledge in anticipation of the boards and evaluations, knowing the mental preparation was just as important as the physical.
Rieck competed against highly capable Soldiers and to succeed, he knew he would need both physical and mental toughness.
“I was nervous,” Rieck admitted. “There were some really solid competitors out there. It was definitely the stiffest competition I’ve faced so far.”
Despite the pressure, Reick found confidence in the events that tested the skills he knows best. Expert Soldier Badge (ESP) lanes, Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills were where he felt most at home, allowing him to showcase the proficiency and experience he had worked hard to develop.
The biggest challenge wasn’t the tasks themselves; it was the weather. Relentless heat pushed competitors to their limits throughout the event.
“The heat was miserable,” Rieck said. “It was so hot. That was definitely the worst part.”
Rieck had one memorable moment that has stuck with him during an overnight field event. After several changes to the packing list, competitors arrived at the site only to realize no sleep gear had been authorized. Armed with little more than a poncho, he spent the night in the woods making the best of the situation; a reminder that adaptability is often just as important as preparation.
When the competition concluded, he felt confident he had done enough to secure a spot on the team. The top four specialists would advance and he believed he earned that opportunity. However, he expected to finish second behind another strong competitor.
The results told a different story.
“When I found out I came in first, it was awesome,” Rieck said. “At IMCOM-E, I placed second and lost by a very small number of points. This felt like getting my get-back.”
The victory was more than a first-place finish. It was a validation of months of preparation, perseverance through difficult conditions and growth from previous setbacks. Now, with momentum on his side, he is focused on the next challenge and eager to represent his team at the next level.
Source: United States Army
TAHITI, French Polynesia — Soldiers assigned to the 1st Theater Information Advantage
Detachment — U.S. Army Pacific’s newest information advantage organization and the first unit of its kind in the theater — participated in the Marara Cyber Challenge for the first time during Exercise Marara 26. Working alongside military, government and civilian cyber professionals from across the Indo-Pacific, the 1st TIAD helped strengthen cyber readiness and build multinational partnerships.
Marara 26, a multinational exercise led by the French Armed Forces in French Polynesia, brings together partner nations from across the Pacific to improve interoperability, enhance collective readiness, and strengthen regional security cooperation. This year’s exercise expanded into the cyber domain with the addition of the Marara Cyber Challenge, providing participants an opportunity to tackle realistic cyber threats while sharing expertise with international partners.
The challenge brought together participants from the United States, France, the Pacific Response Group — a regional multinational emergency response organization — and other partner organizations to solve cyber defense problems in a collaborative environment designed to test technical skills, communication and teamwork.
“The Marara Cyber Challenge is a capture-the-flag event,” said U.S. Army Capt. Noah Demoes, a cyber capabilities developer assigned to the 1st TIAD. “We work together as a joint team to integrate our tactics, techniques, and procedures to identify vulnerabilities.”
While the challenge focused on cybersecurity, participants said its greatest value was the opportunity to learn from international partners and gain exposure to different approaches to cyber operations.
“It helps us understand different points of view and ways of completing the task at hand,” said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Lawrence Cook, a cyber operations specialist assigned to the 1st TIAD.
Throughout the event, multinational teams worked together to defend networks, solve technical challenges, and share expertise. Participants exchanged knowledge and gained a better understanding of how partner nations approach cyber defense.
“Their level of knowledge on cyber operations,” said U.S. Army Capt. Jermell Chester, an
electromagnetic warfare officer assigned to the 1st TIAD. “They have an immense amount of knowledge, and they’ve been able to shed light on things for us as well.”
French Army Sgt. Erwan, assigned to the Army Forces in French Polynesia, said the cyber component reflects the growing importance of cybersecurity across the region.
“Cyber has become more and more important,” Erwan said. “Seeing how nations work on a capture-the-flag challenge can improve each other’s knowledge.”
Participants also worked through language barriers and differing approaches to cyber operations, challenges they said ultimately strengthened communication and teamwork.
“We learn how other people work, and sometimes we discover new ways of seeing things,” Erwan said.
As teams progressed through the challenge, collaboration consistently proved to be the key to success.
“The more that we collaborated, the more efficient we were at achieving the end state,” Demoes said. “We each bring a unique background, and usually that background helps at one piece of the puzzle.”
Beyond technical training, participants built professional relationships that they said will continue after the exercise concludes.
“We know these people now,” Cook said. “We have their contacts, and we can always schedule different times to train. Being that it’s cyber, we don’t have to come here to do it. We can do it online.”
Those relationships support one of the primary objectives of multinational exercises throughout the Indo-Pacific: building trust and strengthening partnerships before real-world challenges emerge.
“I think participation in this exercise is something that I would advocate for moving forward,” Demoes said. “Not just for the experience and gaining more technical experience but building that rapport and trust among different nations.”
As cyber threats continue to evolve, the Marara Cyber Challenge demonstrated that effective cyber defense depends not only on technical expertise, but also on strong partnerships. Through collaboration and shared learning, Soldiers from the 1st TIAD and their multinational partners strengthened both their cyber readiness and their ability to operate together across the Indo-Pacific.
Source: United States Army
TAHITI, French Polynesia — Soldiers assigned to the 1st Theater Information Advantage
Detachment (TIAD), U.S. Army Pacific’s newest information advantage organization and the first unit of its kind in the theater, participated in the Marara Cyber Challenge for the first time during Exercise Marara 26, working alongside military, government, and civilian cyber professionals from across the Indo-Pacific to strengthen cyber readiness and build multinational partnerships.
Marara 26, a multinational exercise led by the French Armed Forces in French Polynesia, brings together partner nations from across the Pacific to improve interoperability, enhance collective readiness, and strengthen regional security cooperation. This year’s exercise expanded into the cyber domain with the addition of the Marara Cyber Challenge, providing participants an opportunity to tackle realistic cyber threats while sharing expertise with international partners.
The challenge brought together participants from the United States, France, the Pacific Response Group (PRG), a regional multinational emergency response organization, and other partner organizations to solve cyber defense problems in a collaborative environment designed to test technical skills, communication, and teamwork.
“The Marara Cyber Challenge is a capture-the-flag event,” said U.S. Army Capt. Noah Demoes, a cyber capabilities developer assigned to the 1st TIAD. “We work together as a joint team to integrate our tactics, techniques, and procedures to identify vulnerabilities.”
While the challenge focused on cybersecurity, participants said its greatest value was the opportunity to learn from international partners and gain exposure to different approaches to cyber operations.
“It helps us understand different points of view and ways of completing the task at hand,” said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Lawrence Cook, a cyber operations specialist assigned to the 1st TIAD.
Throughout the event, multinational teams worked together to defend networks, solve technical challenges, and share expertise. Participants exchanged knowledge and gained a better understanding of how partner nations approach cyber defense.
“Their level of knowledge on cyber operations,” said U.S. Army Capt. Jermell Chester, an
electromagnetic warfare officer assigned to the 1st TIAD. “They have an immense amount of knowledge, and they’ve been able to shed light on things for us as well.”
French Army Sgt. Erwan, assigned to the Army Forces in French Polynesia, said the cyber component reflects the growing importance of cybersecurity across the region.
“Cyber has become more and more important,” Erwan said. “Seeing how nations work on a capture-the-flag challenge can improve each other’s knowledge.”
Participants also worked through language barriers and differing approaches to cyber operations, challenges they said ultimately strengthened communication and teamwork.
“We learn how other people work, and sometimes we discover new ways of seeing things,” Erwan said.
As teams progressed through the challenge, collaboration consistently proved to be the key to success.
“The more that we collaborated, the more efficient we were at achieving the end state,” Demoes said. “We each bring a unique background, and usually that background helps at one piece of the puzzle.”
Beyond technical training, participants built professional relationships that they said will continue after the exercise concludes.
“We know these people now,” Cook said. “We have their contacts, and we can always schedule different times to train. Being that it’s cyber, we don’t have to come here to do it. We can do it online.”
Those relationships support one of the primary objectives of multinational exercises throughout the Indo-Pacific: building trust and strengthening partnerships before real-world challenges emerge.
“I think participation in this exercise is something that I would advocate for moving forward,” Demoes said. “Not just for the experience and gaining more technical experience but building that rapport and trust among different nations.”
As cyber threats continue to evolve, the Marara Cyber Challenge demonstrated that effective cyber defense depends not only on technical expertise, but also on strong partnerships. Through collaboration and shared learning, Soldiers from the 1st TIAD and their multinational partners strengthened both their cyber readiness and their ability to operate together across the Indo-Pacific.
Source: United States Army
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NORMANDY, France – For U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Andrew Torrance, standing on the historic grounds of Normandy isn’t just a professional milestone. It is a moment that connects his service to the legacy of his family members who fought here during World War II.
Torrance, the fire support noncommissioned officer for “Attack Company,” 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade, traveled to France to participate in D‑Day 82 commemorations. But his reasons run deeper than unit pride or historical interest.
“I am participating in the Normandy commemorations to honor my family’s legacy,” Torrance said. “My grandfather and his brother were both part of the liberation of France during World War II. My great uncle landed on Utah Beach during D‑Day as a medic.”
His great uncle, U.S. Navy Petty Officer William J. Mundy, served as a hospital corpsman aboard LST‑496, a tank landing ship that spent a week supporting operations off the coast of Normandy. On June 11, 1944, the ship struck a mine, killing three crew members and sending the vessel to the bottom. Mundy survived the blast and was evacuated to a naval recovery facility in England.
Torrance’s grandfather, U.S. Army Cpl. Charles Mundy, entered the European theater shortly afterward. In a twist of fate that became a treasured family story, the brothers unexpectedly reunited in England after two years apart. A 1944 newspaper article captured the moment, which was a rare coincidence amid the massive mobilization of Allied forces.
“There were tens of thousands of personnel moving through the theater,” Torrance said. “The fact that they found each other again is incredible.”
Eighty‑two years later, Torrance walked the same coastline where his great uncle risked his life to save others. Though he had visited Normandy before as an amateur historian, this was his first time attending official D‑Day remembrance events.
“Being in Normandy during D‑Day festivities hits different,” he said. “This is an incredibly powerful area to be in. You can feel it in the air, the presence of those who fought here and the battles that took place.”
For Torrance, wearing the 173rd Airborne Brigade patch in this setting adds another layer of meaning.
The brigade’s lineage traces back to the storied airborne operations of World War II, primarily in the Pacific theater, then again in Vietnam and Afghanistan, where the brigade’s paratroopers received multiple Congressional Medals of Honor.
“It really is something special, and it’s a major honor to be here while wearing the 173rd Airborne patch,” he said. “It’s one of the biggest honors of my life. I feel extremely humbled to be walking on these grounds.”
His family shares that pride.
Torrance said relatives, including his great uncle’s sister, who is still alive, have been sending him photos, newspaper clippings and wartime documents as he retraces the footsteps of the Mundy brothers.
“They told me I’m bringing incredible honor back to my family for coming here,” he said. “It makes it even more significant that I get to be here in Normandy while representing the 173rd Airborne.”
As thousands gather across northern France to mark the 82nd anniversary of the largest amphibious invasion in history, Torrance stands among them not only as a Sky Soldier, but as a grandson and great nephew carrying forward a legacy forged on these same beaches.
“It’s humbling,” he said. “And it’s something I’ll carry with me for the rest of my life.”