The Russian base was built using new construction technologies as part of Kremlin efforts to bolster the military amid spiraling tensions with the West following Russia's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.
Former Texas Rep. Sam Johnson, a military pilot who spent years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam before serving more than two decades in Congress, died Wednesday at age 89.
It’s unclear at the moment how many troops will receive the medals. The defense official told Military Times that the medal award packets are still going through the approval process.
It was the first known al-Shabab attack against U.S. forces inside Kenya, a key base for fighting one of the world’s most resilient extremist organizations.
The attack on al-Asad was notable, the official said, in that the attackers used a 122 mm rocket, which is deadlier and boasts a longer range than the 107 mm rockets that have been used in previous attacks.