Lolita c. Baldor, Author at Valley News - Page 2 of 4

Army Maj. Gen. Roger L. Cloutier, chief of staff, U.S. Africa Command, and lead investigating officer, briefs members of the media at the Pentagon, Thursday, May 10, 2018. Multiple failures are to blame for the Niger ambush that killed four U.S. service members last October, the Pentagon said Thursday, citing insufficient training and preparation as well as the team's deliberate decision to go after a high-level Islamic State group insurgent without proper command approval. A report summary released Thursday includes recommendations to improve mission planning and approval procedures, re-evaluate equipment and weapons requirements, and review training that U.S. commandos conduct with partner forces. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Military Finds Multiple Failures Led to Deadly Niger Ambush

by Lolita c. Baldor Associated PressMay 10, 2018

FILE - In this June 21, 2006, file photo, members of the California National Guard work next to the U.S.-Mexico border fence Wednesday, June 21, 2006, near the San Ysidro Port of Entry in San Diego. President Donald Trump said April 3, 2018, he wants to use the military to secure the U.S.-Mexico border until his promised border wall is built. The Department of Homeland Security and White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. At the Pentagon, officials were struggling to answer questions about the plan, including rudimentary details on whether it would involve National Guard members, as similar programs in the past have done. But officials appeared to be considering a model similar to a 2006 operation in which former President George W. Bush deployed National Guard troops to the southern border in an effort to increase security and surveillance.(AP Photo/Denis Poroy, File)

Trump Says Military May Secure Border

by Jill Colvin The Associated Press, and Lolita c. Baldor The Associated PressApril 4, 2018

FILE - In this Jan. 9, 2014, file photo, an entrance to the U.S. Naval Academy campus in Annapolis, Md. The number of sexual assaults reported at the U.S. Military Academy roughly doubled during the last school year, according to data reviewed by The Associated Press, in the latest example of the armed forces' persistent struggle to root out such misbehavior. It's the fourth year in a row that sexual assault reports increased at the school in West Point, N.Y. There were 50 cases in the school year that ended last summer, compared with 26 made during the 2015-2016 school year. By comparison, the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., saw only slight increases. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

Sex Assault Reports Double at West Point

by Lolita c. Baldor Associated PressFebruary 7, 2018

FILE - In this March 27, 2008 file photo, the Pentagon is seen in this aerial view in Washington. A Pentagon official tells The Associated Press that transgender people can enlist in the military beginning Jan. 1, despite President Donald Trump's opposition. The new policy reflects growing legal pressure on the issue. Potential transgender recruits will have to overcome a lengthy and strict set of physical, medical and mental conditions that make it possible, although difficult, for them to join the armed services. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

Pentagon OKs Transgender Enlistment Allow Transgender People to Enlist in Military

by Lolita c. Baldor Associated PressDecember 12, 2017

In this June 28, 2017, photo, marijuana plants grow at the Desert Grown Farms cultivation facility in Las Vegas. If you smoked pot and want to go to war, it’s not a big deal anymore. As more states eliminate penalties for marijuana use, the U.S. Army is granting hundreds of waivers to enlist people who consumed in their youth _ as long as they realize they can’t do so again in the military. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

Army Issues More Marijuana Waivers for Recruits

by Lolita c. Baldor Associated PressDecember 3, 2017

FILE- In this May 5, 2017, file photo, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, right, and his military attorney, Lt. Col. Franklin Rosenblatt, leave court after a preliminary motions hearing at the courtroom facility on Fort Bragg, N.C. Bergdahl, who was held captive by the Taliban for half a decade after abandoning his Afghanistan post, is expected to plead guilty to desertion and misbehavior before the enemy rather than face trial. (Andrew Craft /The Fayetteville Observer via AP, File)

Bergdahl Expected to Plead Guilty

by Josh Lederman Associated Press, and Lolita c. Baldor Associated PressOctober 7, 2017

FILE - In this Aug. 22, 2017 file photo. the damaged port aft hull of the USS John S. McCain is visible while docked at Singapore's Changi naval base in Singapore. The wrenching deaths of sailors, drowned while trapped in their bunks on the USS John S. McCain has reverberated around the American fleet. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File)

U.S. Ships Renew Safety Focus

by Lolita c. Baldor Associated PressAugust 26, 2017

Damage to the portside is visible as the Guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain (DDG 56) steers towards Changi naval base in Singapore following a collision with the merchant vessel Alnic MC Monday, Aug. 21, 2017. The USS John S. McCain was docked at Singapore's naval base with "significant damage" to its hull after an early morning collision with the Alnic MC as vessels from several nations searched Monday for missing U.S. sailors. (Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Joshua Fulton/U.S. Navy photo via AP)

Search for Sailors Continues

by Lolita c. Baldor Associated Press, and Annabelle Liang And Stephen Wright Associated PressAugust 21, 2017

FILE- In this March 22, 2017, file photo, a Federal Police stands next to unexploded bombs left by Islamic State group militants on the western side of Mosul, Iraq. On Thursday, Aug. 17, the top U.S. commander in Iraq said for the first time that the American military will help contractors and other officials locate unexploded bombs dropped by the coalition. U.S. Embassy officials have asked the coalition to declassify grid coordinates for bombs dropped in Iraq to help clear the explosives. The coalition's unexploded bombs are only a small part of Mosul's problems. The bulk of the explosives have been hidden by IS fighters to be triggered by the slightest movement, even picking up a seemingly innocent children's toy, lifting a vacuum cleaner, or opening an oven door. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File)

U.S. to Help Remove Mosul Explosives

by Lolita c. Baldor Associated PressAugust 17, 2017

President Donald Trump's tweeter feed is photographed on a mobile phone in Washington, Thursday, Aug. 3, 2017. Trump’s tweets declaring transgender individuals unwelcome in his military has plunged the Pentagon into a legal and moral quagmire, seeing off a flurry of meetings to devise a new policy that could lead to hundreds of service members being discharged. (AP Photo/J. David Ake)

Military Scrambles for Transgender Policy After Tweets

by Lolita c. Baldor Associated PressAugust 3, 2017