Military

The Washington and California National Guards surged forces to manage flooding and mudslide threats as atmospheric rivers hit the West Coast during the holidays. In separate incidents, two officers were critically wounded in a North Carolina custody exchange shootout, and a Washington State Patrol trooper was assaulted and had her cruiser stolen during an I-5 stop before the suspect was captured.

Haunted by the mine blast outside Da Nang in 1968 and the ringing that never stopped, my father carried survivor’s guilt home from Vietnam and spent a lifetime asking the same question: Why Them and Not Me?

Flying at treetop height with cold-war iron and nerves of steel, Ukraine’s Mi-24 crews have turned an aging “Flying Tank” into a blunt instrument of precision and audacity, proving that in this war, skill and nerve still matter more than the calendar on the airframe.

The cold sat with them like an old debt, unpaid and unspoken, while Christmas passed quietly somewhere far enough away to feel almost merciful.

Amidst the surreal backdrop of Cheyanne Mountain, crammed with soldiers in Santa hats tracking the Fat Man for eager callers, I found a unique camaraderie and a poignant reminder of the holiday’s enduring spirit.

In the thin, hard air of Fort Carson, two 10th Group Originals reminded everyone watching that heroism does not need an enemy, only a moment where a man chooses to risk everything so someone else gets to live.

Washington’s Venezuela playbook under Trump looks less like a strategy for stability and more like a reckless regime-change gamble that could detonate humanitarian pressures, spike regional insecurity, and boomerang into political and economic blowback across Latin America.

The M7 and M250 were not selected to look good on a briefing slide; they were built to make sure the rifleman and the gunner are hitting the enemy with the same kind of authority when the fight turns ugly and the squad has to carry the weight together.

Under an almost-moonless Crimean sky, SBU Alpha sent heavy-warhead drones into Belbek and punched holes through Russia’s layered defenses, torching a Foxhound and the radars and missile systems meant to keep the whole peninsula under lock and key.

Battleship revival, Ukraine under attack, and a fatal Pacific boat strike. Here’s your Tuesday morning brief for December 23rd, 2025.

Border clashes, China’s military purge, and France’s postal cyberattack lead tonight’s Monday evening brief, December 22, 2025.

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