Defense

Marines with Company A, 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, use green smoke to provide concealment as they move through the simulated town during a Military Operation on Urban Terrain exercise aboard Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California, Aug. 11, 2015. (Joshua Murray /U.S. Marine Corps) For decades, the U.S. Marine Corps has attempted to tweak its force structure…

The U.S. Naval Academy mascot stands on the sideline during the 113th Army-Navy game at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pa., Dec. 8, 2012. (Department of Defense photo by EJ Hersom) Mascot-nabbing has been technically off-limits between the service academies for nearly 30 years, but that didn’t stop West Point cadets last weekend from executing a heist of Bill, the Naval…

A CH-47 Chinook takes off from Forward Operating Base Bostick in the Ghaziabad province, Afghanistan, in support of combat Operations, Feb. 16, 2011. (Cameron Boyd/U.S. Army) LOGAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan — In a stuffy office covered with white-and-black Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan flags and full of Taliban foot soldiers sipping cold tea, Akif Muhajer sits poised and composed, every bit the…