By Jeff Lake Following the April 2020 murder of Vanessa Guillen at Fort Hood at the hands of another soldier, the military was forced — thanks to organizing by her family and the resulting public outcry — to appoint an independent commission…Read More »
By Bill Galvin In December the Navy issued new conscientious objector regulations, Milpersman 1900-020. It is essentially the same as the previous version, with some reorganization and minor changes in wording to bring it more in alignment with DODI 1300.06, which was…Read More »
By Jeff Lake As discussed in the last issue of On Watch, the President has issued an Executive Order which allows transgender individuals to enlist and serve openly in the military. This article will review the recent issuance of DoD Instruction 1300.28…Read More »
BY AARON FRISHBERG When Congress passed, and the president signed, the National Defense Authorization Act of 2020, a bill was included known as the SFC Richard Stayskal Medical Accountability Act. Sergeant Stayskal, for whom the Act was named, was diagnosed with pneumonia…Read More »
by James M. Branum See update. In the messaging put out by US military recruiters, one common theme is that the military “protects freedom,”[1] but unfortunately the military itself does a poor job of protecting the rights of its members to engage…Read More »
“Worst news in years for opponents of the draft and draft registration” Editor’s Note: Due to the timely and critical nature of this article, which was included in the Summer 2021 issue of On Watch, we are bypassing our usual 30-day hold…Read More »
By Jeff Lake On January 25, 2021, after years of confusion and litigation, the ban on military service by transgender individuals was lifted by executive order1 of President Biden. In conjunction with the order, the Pentagon issued a statement2 from Defense Secretary…Read More »
The Story of JG: September 20, 1950 – May 20, 2020 By Deborah Karpatkin Here continues the story of JG, a Vietnam combat veteran, recently lost to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Part I (Fall 2020 issue of On Watch) told JG’s story: his…Read More »