from a perspective of the navy without having a strategy to justify it, it's hard for navy leadership to fight for the fact that the ships need to be doing other things. i wanted to pause and say i am not -- on today's current navy leadership. this is decades of these decisions that were made that accumulated for where we are today. so i obviously don't envy the cno and the positions they are coming into because i think they are trying to deal with what they have today. but if they had a strategy they would have better tools to advocate for what they better need. >> i wanted to take it back to strategy for a minute. you've talked about some specific things that the navy could do to improve its capability in the near term to address the china threat. and a lot of that revolves around strategy, a strategy that the national leadership will buy into. because if you have that on the part of the white house and the secnav to say, we are going to maintain presence there and we will accept risk and other theaters, even if that means we can't deploy reagan, we will have to come up with another

navy's strategy to combat this. this is just over an hour. -- we are honored today to have with us congresswoman elaine from virginia's second congressional district for a discussion on the new maritime strategy we are implementing. >> congresswoman maria has risen to the ranks as the vice chairman house armed services committee. also is on the veteran affairs committee where she is the chair of the -- committee. she served for two decades in the navy prior to coming to congress. she is the longest-serving member of the military in the democratic caucus. before she retired from the navy, she served on six ships as they service officer and deployed to the middle east and western pacific. she was in a combat unit of 400 sailors. she is one of the first women to be in the navy nuclear power program which i'm also a graduate as well as several people here. she is one of the first women to serve the majority of her career on combatant ships. she has a masters degree from old dominion university, we appreciate you being h

individual is taken aboard a royal navy ship and made a member of the royal navy for life and no freeing that individual unless they escape and some did but this is a factor that causes a break from great britain. regulation, excessive regulation regulated by the crown 3000 miles away. in 1775 something called the fisheries act would be established where the crown would literally not allow the marbleheaders to fish the ground banks putting out of work the entire town, which causes a great deal of resentment. their judges were taken away from them and installed with royal officials. the government was changed. all these issues from into the political change within the colonies. marblehead would become the spearhead of the revolution and an idea of the mainspring of the revolution. it is a critical role in this. ships from marblehead brought home with a virus that changed america and changed the town. the virus of smallpox and people being infected but the patriots within the town to create an inoculation hospital to try to publicly deal with the virus itself, causing massive deaths and if

that individual is taken aboard a royal navy ship and made a member of the royal navy for life. there's no freeing that individual and once they escape, some did. but this is a factor that causes a break from great britain. it's one of the factors. regulation, excessive regulation. lovers enterprises were regulated by the crown3000 miles away . in 1975 something called a fisheries act would be established where the crown would literally not allow them to fish the grand banks. effectively putting them out of work the entire town. which caused a great deal of resentment. their judges were taken away from them and installed with royal officials. their governmentwas changed . all these issues phone and a political change within the colonies, within marblehead. marblehead would become the spearhead along withboston of the revolution . it would also be an idea mainspring of the revolution. and it was the marbleheaders that would play a critical role in this. but in 717 three and 74 that ships from marblehead also brought with it a virus. it changed america. it changed the town. thetow

that individual is taken aboard the royal navy ship and made a member of the royal navy for life. there is no freeing that individual unless they escape someday. this is a factor that causes a break from great britain. it is one of the factors. regulation, glover's enterprises were regulated by the crown 300. inin 1775, something called the fisheries act would be something established where a crown would literally not allow the marvel headers to fish that space. effectively putting out of work the entire town which caused a great deal of resentment. the judges were taken away from them and installed with royal officials. their government was changed. all of these issues had a political change within the colonies. they would become the spearhead along the revolution. it would also be an idea of the revolution. it was the marvel headers that would play a critical role in this. in 1773 and 74, the ships also brought home with it a virus that changed america and changed the town. the town would be divided politically. the virus of smallpox. people within the town were being infected.

navy fighter weapons program. we are thrilled this evening to welcome the program's founder, dan pedersen. he entered the u.s. navy in 1953 and went on to become the senior officer in the group of nine men who formed the navy's legendary top gun program in march 1969. he served in combat during the vietnam war with a flying crews on "uss hancock" and three on uss enterprise. he retired as a captain having accumulated 6,100 flight hours and 1,005 carrier landings while flying 39 types of aircraft. for those of you who know his story from "top gun," you'll be happy to know that jerry bruk hiemer is producing a sequel, which is squeded to be released in 2020. pedersen's book, "top gun," is available for purchase and signing following this conversation. and here to keep the conversation moving is larry burke, curator of u.s. naval aviation at the national air and space museum. so, now, please join me in welcoming dan pedersen and larry burke. >> you ready to go? okay. i'm going to take about ten minutes and just set t

navy in 1953. and went on to become the senior officer in the group of nine men who formed the navy's legendary top gun program at naval air station miramar in march 1969. he served in combat in the vietnam war with the flying crews on uss hancock and three on uss enterprise. he retired as a captain, having accumulated 6100 flight hours and 1,005 carrier landings while flying 39 types of aircraft. for those of you who knowpedersen's story from the 1986 movie "top gun" you'll be happy to know jerry bruckheimer is producing "top gun maveric" a sequel. peddersen's book is available for purchase and signing after the conversation. here to keep the conversation moving is larry burke from the national air and space museum. please join me in welcoming dan pedersen and larry burke. >> are you ready to go? okay. i'm going to take about ten minutes to just set the stage here for larry and i to go back and forth. in final preparation for the questions coming from you. the assumption tonight is no one -- how m

navy fighter weapons program. we are thrilled this evening to welcome the program's founder, dan pedersen. he entered the u.s. navy in 1953, went on to become the senior officer of the group of nine men who formed the topgun program at naval station miramar in 1969. he serve in combat during the vietnam war with the flies crews on uss hang caulk and three on uss enterprise. he retired as captain accumulated 6,100 flight hours, flying 39 types of aircraft 50/50. for thoesz of you know his story from to it 1986 movie topgun you'll be happy to know jerry bruk heimer is producing topgun maverick, a sequel, he had scheduled to be released in 2020. pedersen's book is available for signing and purchase following this. at the national air and space museum. now please join me in welcome dan pedersen and larry burke. >> you ready to go? okay. i'm going to take about ten minutes and just set the stanl here for larry and i to go back and forth in final preparation for the questions coming from you. the assumption tonight is n

this was in chapel hill at a v-5 navy pre-flight base. it was ground training and truly one of the toughest military training programs in in the world. the next screen is my dad with buddy hassett, the baseball coach and the head survival guide, which i'll touch on later, who was very close to ted. and, of course, ted and johnny. so the next slide is the five guys that come down from amherst and they shipped into chapel hill together, and most of these players, including ted williams, played the majority of his military ball in chapel hill. so the next slide, we'll show you a little bit about the culture. i just got ahold of this comic book about a month ago, and it actually -- these guys they really were captain marvels. that's my dad as a little kid reading the magazine. i know. it's amazing how things come together after people pass away and you start digging through trunks and scrapbooks. the next picture is a page out of the comic book, and that's actually a cartoon from the navy base. so the next slide will show you a little more. t

. ♪ >> the second ranking uniformed officials from the army, air force, navy, marine corps, and u.s.pace force testify before congress about the 2020 two budget request for the military. preggers -- tongass men john garamendi -- congressman john garamendi of california as the chairperson. >> i don't see our ranking chair on yet, but hopefully will be by the time we finish my statement. military readiness is the topic, we have heard about this in depth and other hearings, one of the true -- of this committee is worth -- work is finding the right balance of platforms and facilities and the modernization necessary. it's important that we invest in equipment that will put us at the cutting edge but we must never forget our current arsenal , keeping it upgraded and updating the system comes is a must if we hope to be successful in any near-term engagements. this is the very essence of readiness and we require nothing less. the same could be said for our installations. the work as chairman of the last couple of years has been prioritizing installation resiliency. for years, the services ha

navy and the fleet. mays had dropped out of navy s.e.a.l. training after five days in 2019, before being reassigned to the "ussbonhomme richard." the massive blaze breaking out last july on the large amphibious assault ship docked in san diego. at least 71 were injured. investigators finding a bottle that tested positive for highly flammable liquids and evidence of a tampered crime scene, including fire hoses that had been disconnected. the blaze gutting the warship, forcing the navy to put it out of service in april. the estimated cost to replace it topping $4 billion. mays is charged with aggravated arson and willfully hazarding a vessel. his lawyer tells us there is no evidence that directly points to mays and that his client was not an about his s.e.a.l. experience. mays maintains his innocence. whit? >> stephanie ramos, thank you. >>> now to the heat and fire threat in the west. more than 96 large fires burning in 14 states now. the forest service saying this season is unprecednted, calling it a national crisis. california's dixie fire

but then in may he signed up for the navy to take effect at the end of the season to become a navy aviator. >> he took a pretty good beating in the press, correct? >> in some of the press. there were some like dave egan who spoke up for him. he was in an uncomfortable situation. he was indeed the sole support of his mother. she was a salvation army worker, not bringing in any money on her own. and he had just started to make it. he was getting a good payday. he wanted to get in that one season, 1942, and then was prepared to serve. but he knew he was in a difficult situation. >> michael, what about the fans? you wrote that even at home, at fenway park, some fans let him know they weren't terribly pleased with how this was unfolding. >> the fans appreciated the fact that baseball was playing. they also had husbands and brothers in the war, in fox holes. to see ted williams having the opportunity to have his qualification changed from 1-a to 3-a angered a lot of people. he lost an endorsement and was expecting to be booed in every park, including fenways. he heard all the boos of the people

did the navy vice admiral misspeak in saying that we need a larger navy? he said that two days ago in testimony before the subcommittee. can you just answer that? >> what i will say, senator is that for some time we've had a goal of 355-ship navy. i think that goal is a goal -- a good goal to shoot at. so i think that's probably what he's referencing. >> and this budget doesn't get us anywhere near back on the path to do that. i also have concerns about the navy's plans for amphibious warships. last year congress authorized, in the ndaa, multi ship procurement bundle for three lpds and one lha. this would result in a $700 million cost savings. and that hearing on tuesday, acting secretary of the navy for research development and acquisition testified that although the navy had reached a hand shake agreement to execute the block buy, the department of defense was unlikely to approve it. why does it make sense that knowing that we're going to have to buy these amphibious ships, why does it make sense that the department of defense might oppose saving the tax

navy ships is mascots. well into the 20th century and that's why the goat is the official mascot of the us naval academy. now another set of functional animals are cats in small dogs that we use to board ships as what would be called ratters. they would go after rats mice and other vermin. and they were very effective at tracking them down. they could get into small hard to reach places and prevent them from doing damage to rope lines canvas, and of course the food supply board this year, so they were very valued animals. now one of the more famous cats was a black cat that served a board the union ship the monitor that was involved in that epic battle of ironclads the monitor a few months after that. unfortunately off the coast of north carolina, and there was a story that the black cat that was aboard that ship either had jumped into a gun barrel and went down with the ship or jumped onto a rescue ship and was saved. that debate never got solved until perhaps a few years ago when the ship was raised and b

what there is a navy there is a navy sailor in this sculpture. the marine corps, of course is part of the us navy and when the marines fight they don't have their own non-combat functions. they use the navy. so a marine corps medic is actually a navy corpsman. so one of the figures holding that wounded soldier will have on his sleeve the insignia of a navy corpsman to reflect the navy service in the war. we do we do show gas poison gas. of course is perhaps the most iconic weaponry of world war one and so we're here we have a scene of a nurse holding a soldier who's been blinded by gas the nurse herself represents american contributions on the front lines. and the soldier represents the blindness of war and depicts that technology of war. we'll also have some empty artillery shell casings strewn on the ground because artillery was the greatest killer of world war one. and then we asked saban for another particular image when you look at the sculpture. you see that almost all the figures are moving left to right. they're moving across the line of

got to be on navy ships for a long time, and since the inception of the united states navy, they were there also during the civil war. why? goats are great sources of food, particularly milk, which he can turn into butter or cheese. now you might say why not is a cow? gets a lot smaller, it can fit a lot easier aboard a ship. they are also very surefooted, they don't fall on the deck and roll around. they also don't get seasick. unlike many sailors, goats are actually excellent swimmers. the other thing about goats is their upkeep is very easy. you can feed them garbage and they will do just fine. so for all these reasons, goats are really treasured aboard navy ships for a long, long time. now by the time of the civil war, the union navy in particular is establishing ways of supplying their ships with nutritious foods. so the need for live animals aboard ships is starting to diminish. but goats will remain on navy ships long after they are needed for their use as a source of food. in fact, they will stay on navy ships as mascots well into the 20th century. and that's why the goat is t

motoring down streets turned into swamps with cajun navy volunteer michael, we came upon this familyou want to get out? >> reporter: marooned in their home and surrounded by water. denise cooper's family including her wheelchair-bound mother lucille matthews sheltered in an attic as they rode out the storm. the family asked me to help get lucille down that slippery staircase. michael had left to get reinforcements, and sure enough he came back. the coopers were able to evacuate with just a single suitcase and a few bags in hurricane ida coming 16 years to the day after hurricane katrina. >> the worst case scenario, it did not happen. we did not have another katrina. and that's something, again, we should all be grateful for. however, the impact is absolutely significant. >> i am concerned about our state. i am concerned about the health of the people in south louisiana. from one end of the state to the other. >> reporter: dr. catherine o'neal is the chief medical officer at our lady of the lake in baton rouge. >> it's different from katrina but in many ways it's the same. >> reporter

perhaps the best example are goats in the navy. goats had been on navy shipments for a long, long time. since continue ception of the united states navy. they were there during the civil war. why? well, goats are great sources of food. particularly milk which you can turn into butter or cheese. now, you might say why not use a cow? well, a goat is a lot smaller. it can fit much more easily aboard the ship. they're also very sure footed. they don't fall on the deck and roll around. they also don't get sea sick. and unlike many sailors, goats are actually excellent swimmers. the other thing about goats is their upkeep is very easy. you can feed them garbage and they'll do just fine. so for all these reasons, goats are really treasured aboard navy ships for a long, long time. by the time of the civil war, the union navy in particular is establishing ways of better supplying their ships with nutrition foods. so the need for live animals aboard shipments is starting to diminish. but goats will remain on navy ships long after they are ne

that is the navy but the air force? that want to ruin it but i would encourage everybody to go on your phone and google air force academy chapel and you will see exactly what is talking about. >> is someone who did that want to second that motion was the photographs worked out. the visual display so why do you think those ideological differences show off their? >> because chapels in the traditional understanding the role it plays in the service academy where the values are represented and what you stand for in the same way you look at different the culture of those churches. with those mennonites and the material possessions and hierarchical people. it's like a light wooden box. and that cap gothic cathedral with those spirals. of how to approach spirituality the same way the people who built those chapels who they were building those chapels for. >> in your writing you seamlessly balance details to unlock the characters with the overarching contextual discussion. do the characters per the idea that is the contextual pa

that's right. >> the navy. >> the navy. because the american navy cannot stand up to the british navy. the french navy is comparable in many respects and this is what's going to cut off a lot of the british advantage. so as news of saratoga spreads, washington is at the darkest period of the war, he is in valley forge, encamped, in snow, short of supplies, short on clothing, meanwhile horatio gates has won a grand victory and gates becomes the hero of the north and he starts potentially conspiring. washington is just lost. washington has just allowed the capital to fall. maybe washington isn't right to lead the army, some say. this is going to be during this period of victory in the north and defeat in and around philadelphia it's going to lead to an attempt to unseat washington. before we come to this, the winter encampment at valley forge is crucial and one of the reasons it's crucial is armies in the 18th century don't fight in the wintertime. you would have campaigning seasons, you fight in the spring or the fall or the

and this is the imperial navy's battle to lose, b and there not really th much for thet army to do toluence the outcome one way or another, and whatte you will se is thatt the relationship had a much w more poisonous effect on the strategy formulation in the march/april timeo frame as the japanese ar' grappling of what to do next. >> thank you. we have a final question from the audience to wrap it up, and it is sort of directed at all three of you. could it be said then that three battles,s, all contributed to 12 being the turning the point year, and this is coming from wi william. >> let me start this, because 1942 is an interesting start from the campaign of the eastern front, you have to go with the september of 1941 and the near smashing in front of moscow, so i am not on the 1942 train. >> as a guy who is working on the book on 1942, you are categorically wrong, rob. >> it would not be the first time, john. >> right. i h thinknk that you can't real have aec decision in this war untilkn all of the big dogs aren and that means that the u.s. has to bee in as well, because we don't a

navy and when the marines fight, they don't have their own non combat functions. they use the navy. marine corps medic is actually a -- one of the figures holding that wounded soldier will have on his sleeve the insignia of a navy format to reflect the navy service in the war. we did show gas, poison gas is the most iconic weaponry of world war i. here we have seen of a nurse holding a soldier who's been blinded by gas. the nurse herself represents american contributions on the frontlines. the soldier represents the blindness of war and to fix that technology of war. also empty artillery shell casing strewn on the ground because artillery was the greatest killer of world war i. and then we asked sabin for another image. when you look at the sculptor, you see the figures are moving left to right. moving across the line of sight of the u, or the other shoulder towards the viewer, perpendicular to the viewer. except this one figure. we asked the sculpture sculptor give us a figure that stops and stands and turns and looks at directly at the viewer. to create an opportunity for the view

i see you john john is the creator of the foremost website of in the world devoted to the imperial navy combined fle. dot com which he founded in 1995 his book shattered sword the untold story the battle of midway. he coauthored that with anthony tully to for my money still the definitive account of the pivotal battle in the pacific. he's written for every magazine. you can think of naval war college review us naval institute proceedings naval history world war ii and and probably too many others to to name at this point adjunct lecture for the us naval war college and has appeared on the history channel discovery channel the bbc currently working on a history of the year. 1942 all all fronts all regions, and i really can't wait to read that one when i when it comes out, so john will speak first on midway. he'll be followed by neil barrio neil. it's good finally to meet you at i've been in admirer of your work for a long time. a neil is a professor of military history a deputy dean of academic studies and education in the defense studies department of kings college london educated. it's

navy. and when the marines fight, they don't have their own noncombat functions. they use the navy. so a marine corps medic is actually a navy corpsman. one of the figures holding that wounded soldier will have the insignia of a navy corpsman. we do show poison gas, the most iconic weaponry of world war i. here we have the scene of a nurse holding a soldier who's been blinded by gas. and the soldier represents the blindness of war and depicts that technology of war. we'll also have some empty artillery shell casings strewn on the ground because artillery was the greatest killer of world war i. and then we asked sabin for another particular image. when you look at the sculpture, you see that almost all the figures are moving left to right. they're moving across the line of sight of the viewer. they have their shoulder toward the viewer, they're perpendicular to the viewer. except this one figure. and we asked the sculptor, give us a figure that stops and stands and turns and looks out directly at the viewer to create an opportunity for the viewer to commune directly with the sculptur

this really was the imperial navy's battle to lose. there really wasn't that much the army could do to influence the outcome one way or another. but what you see is the relationship had a much more poisonous effect on strategy formulation in the march april timeframe, as the japanese grab on to the issue. they say, what will we do next? >> thank you. we have a final question from the audience. to wrap it up, it is sort of directed at all three of you. could it be and then said that the three battles, midway, el alamein and stalingrad, all contributed to 1942 being the turning point year? this comes from william. >> i will start. let me start this one. [laughs] 1942 is a turning point year? an interesting thought. from my campaign on the eastern front, you need to go with the summer of 1941, the near smashing of army groups in front of moscow. i'm not sure i'm on the 1942 train. >> as a guy who's working on a book in 1942, you are categorically wrong, rob. [laughs] >> would not be the first time, john. [laughs] >> i think you can't have

the main reason, you are the recipient of the medal of honor as a navy seal.we be relying on them for safe passage of americans in afghanistan? >> i think it's absolutely ridiculous that we would be relying on people that we have been fighting against for the past 20 years to provide a safe passage. what we should be doing is showing our force of who we are, definitely not relying on them to provide safe passage to americans. we see where it got us, right here. the network providing security right now, he was a mentor to bin laden. so, we are relying on people that provided security for our forces that literally mentored bin laden. it's absolute insanity. >> laura: right before the anniversary, ed, of 9/11. this is unbelievable. ed, i can think of fewer people that i would rather have spoken to tonight. thank you so much, and we will check back with you next week. and now, i want to bring in retired brigadier general don boulder, who has been involved in hostage rescues and also running in the senate as a republican in new hampshire for the senate. general, wh

-- the -- the navy corpsman who is a medic.at, i was meeting with a group of medics and one of the medics asked me, sir, you're going to bring us home, aren't ya? that's the kind of weight and that commanders and leaders carry. and when oren, you know, commented that he told his mom don't worry, my guys will take care of me. that really struck me as the great, young people we have serving. so, god bless all of them and may they all rest in peace. >> i agree with you, 100%, squm glad that you are here to really pay honor to them. and you know, these young men pay -- paying the ultimate price and we are going to learn the names of the other ten members of our military who did, as well. i have got to go back and ask you something, and bear with me. sorry about that. when you said that the taliban -- it's going to make the taliban happy that the u.s. -- um -- carried out this successful strike against isis-k. so then, what happens? does it cause them to fight? or is it just -- it just makes the taliban happy? is there any sort of i

in a statement, germany's navy said, quote, together with its allies, germany wants to show more presence in the endo pacific. clearly berlin is sending a message to beijing. the united states, the u. k. japan, australia also expanded her naval presence and activity in the pacific. all sort of counter china and now india is also jumping in on the action, sending a task force, a for war ships to the south china sea, as part of a 2 month deployment. that will include exercises with the u. s. japan and australia and the task force of ships includes a guided missile destroyer guided missile frigate and an anti submarine. what's called corvette ships will also work and bilateral exercises with naval units, from singapore, vietnam, indonesia, and the philippines. all this is us, vice president, common harris is scheduled to take her 1st trip to vietnam and singapore in 2 weeks time, a trip aimed at rally international support to counter china's increasing global influence and power and power that according to the white house, we're also looking at the deadly wave shootings here in america the s

it was reported earlier 11 marines and a navy medic were killed. president biden's book to the nation after 3:00 our time. >> those who carried out this attack as well as anyone who wishes america harm, no this th. we will not forgive, we will not forget. we will hunt you down and make you pay. reporter: 11 marines and one navy medic died. >> the lives we lost today were lives given in the service of liberty, the service of security, the service of others. in the service of america. >> a number of afghans also fell victim to this heinous attack. a source tells abc news one of the explosions was a suicide attack followed by gunfire outside the abbey gate. the second explosion was near the baron hotel short distance from that same gate. >> the attack on the abbey gate was followed by an isis gunman firing on civilians. reporter: images show the wounded on the streets of kabul. the hospital is treating thousands of patients injured in the attack. a taliban spokesperson is

they have not been in the marine corps since president adams reorganized the navy in 1878. where african-americans are going to be is an issue, right that they need to figure out, as within the navy, most of those jobs, most african-americans wentic to were the cooks and th type of billet, right? remember. they had no visions of them being active combat troops. but a very good job, a very progressive jobis is being a drl instructor to maintain the training. so by the end of 1943, this is accomplished and you have steady promotions preceding that and you have a significant amount of recruits then by the end of 1943, boom that have circumvented the training that can now takeover as drill instructors. by this time you still have a whiteai senior commander, but a recruit training is carried out byas african-american drill instructors, okay? moving forward from that, then we have to tackle the actual ideas of whatke the training experience was like. anybody that has served in the military at any point in time knows that recruit training, it doesn't matterr if you do something ri

the navy is pretty good here, they push forward. army drags its feet a bit. the marine corps maintains the status quo they had at the time. the big thing here is korea. postwar budget cuts, the reorganization in 1948 of the defense department has the marine corps in a sticky situation. arguably, the marine corps has been in a situation throughout its history as the smallest force, as it stands under the purview of the navy. it is always on the chopping block, and even george c marshall looked in the postwar. bank -- postwar. bank -- postward period or at least a question, why do we need a marine corps when we have the army? and the army was with the marines in the pacific theater, they are just not thought of as much in the history. they were. the question always is, why do we need the marine corps? they are very much on the chopping block here, they have to come up with -- clifton case is the commandant at the time and he has to come up with ways to show that the marines need a place in the defense industry, essentially what you have is it takes the u.s. by

recognizing that these organizations -- might be a navy service action group. once to do that, you don't have other organizations down the range to four operational needs that can -- nobody is response will for that. there is in a great tool set for it. that need for -- we know how to do deprogram management. we talk about acquisition rings of programs. in addition to developing operational concepts, thinking about the mechanisms that we pull things together to support those concepts, thinking about how would you oversight around mission outcomes and not just program outcomes is an area that is also right for experimentation and creativity. congressman, i understand you are supporting a legislative concept the cycle that drives towards similar issues. what can you share about that? >> we have to change not just what would buy but how we buy. we need to change our buying habits awakened by software. you just don't bite the same way you buy hardware. we need to have more flexible, quick funding that directly addresses the operational challenges our troops are fac