According to the research, published Thursday in JAMA, 20% of male soldiers younger than 30 years had testosterone levels less than the threshold established by the American Urological Association of 300 nanograms per deciliter, or ng/dL. Roughly a third of service members — 32.8% — aged 30 and older fell below the threshold.

According to the analysis, one-time testosterone testing of troops determined that 100,691 active-duty soldiers had morning testosterone levels of less than 300 ng/dL.

The results are an example of what the Department of Defense may encounter under a new program that requires all male service members 30 years and older to be screened for low testosterone, said the researchers from the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine in Natick, Massachusetts.

The results, the researchers said, “suggest that routine testosterone screening will result in confirmatory testing and clinical evaluation for many male service members.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced in July that the Pentagon would begin screening testosterone levels of all service members over age 30 and would be voluntary for those below 30 request it and are experiencing symptoms such as fatigue, low libido, depressed mood, impaired concentration or diminished physical performance.

In a video posted to social media, Hegseth said maintaining proper testosterone levels was a way to ensure that troops stay on the “leading edge of lethality.”

“This initiative is not about artificial enhancement. It’s about restoring and optimizing your natural capabilities, protecting your longevity and ensuring you have the biological foundation required to sustain and fight,” Hegseth said.

Environmental exposures, including lead exposure, combat, physical injuries, sleep deprivation and mental health conditions can contribute to low testosterone in service members.

Treatment for severe cases — medically known as hypogonadism — can have serious side effects, such as mood swings, irritability and aggression, blood clots and low sperm count that can cause infertility.

Under the new Defense Health Agency clinical practice guidelines, service members will be screened in the morning on two separate days and assessed for further evaluation if they fall below the 300 ng/dL standard. They may choose to undergo treatment, which involves once- or twice-weekly injections depending on the medication, or a daily oral medication or gel. Treatment will not be mandatory.

The interest in testosterone replacement therapy in the DoD follows a growing $4.5 billion industry centered around testosterone, with the hormone touted as a supplement that contributes to increased physical performance, sex drive, concentration and youthful energy.

Studies in 2018 by the NIH on 800 older men demonstrated that testosterone therapy improved erectile dysfunction, libido and mood, but had little or no improvement on measures such as fatigue, memory or overall well-being.

The research, published Thursday, was based on an analysis of data from the Military Health and Nutrition Examination study, a survey conducted at five Army bases from August 2024 through January 2026.

The authors noted that the low testosterone levels in service members do not indicate that they all had hypogonadism.

A study conducted last year of active-duty men found that .43%, or 12,112 of more than 2.8 million service members, were diagnosed with hypogonadism, and those with the highest rates were the most senior, largely general officers and warrant officers.

The authors of the JAMA research letter cautioned that testing could result in excess medical visits, costs and treatment.

“Positive screening result requires clinical interpretation and typically prompts repeat testing, further evaluation, counseling regarding modifiable factors, and consideration of treatment if indicated. Because testosterone replacement therapy is long term and has potential adverse effects, distinguishing an isolated low screening value from clinically significant hypogonadism is essential,” the researchers wrote.

The Defense Health Agency announced in mid-September that it was switching from the older login process, DS Logon, to a new program called myAuth for the MHS Genesis system.

DS Logon required lengthy passwords that had to be changed frequently, while myAuth promised a more “user-friendly experience” and improved security, according to DHA.

Following the transition, however, some patients have been unable to access their own medical records. Sponsors must grant access permission to their spouses and dependents, and in some cases, dependent children aren’t showing up on either parent’s accounts.

“Just stop changing things. Every time one system finally starts working and everyone gets used to it, you switch it up. Tricare online was fine. Genesis was fine,” an Army spouse wrote on Tricare’s Facebook page.

In response, DHA announced Sept. 25 that the patient portal would remain “fully accessible via DS Logon.”

But beneficiaries say when they use the old DS Logon system, they are redirected to the myAuth login page and still cannot access family records.

“I can log in and see all my stuff. I can send out messages and receive them … but nothing for my kids,” a military spouse said in a direct message to Military Times. “To message their doctor, I have to send a message through my name and put in the subject my child’s name.”

DHA spokeswoman Brenda Campbell said Thursday that DHA is working with the Defense Manpower Data Center to resolve the issues. DMDC manages the myAuth system and is responsible for the transition from DS Logon, she said.

“MyAuth is a new digital login that replaces DS Logon for accessing [Defense Department] websites and applications, like the MHS GENESIS Patient Portal. We are aware of the issues associated with the transition and are providing that feedback to DMDC to ensure appropriate fixes are applied,” Campbell said.

According to DHA, MyAuth will provide more ways to log in to the MHS Patient Portal, allow for use of a Common Access Card, verification through the Okta mobile app and other authentication choices.

It also has a simpler interface that is more user-friendly, DHA officials added.

“The switch to myAuth means a simpler, more secure experience in MHS Genesis Patient Portal,” they said.

Another change to the Defense Department’s information technology systems will affect Military Health System patients and Tricare beneficiaries this weekend: a planned outage of the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System, or DEERS, as it transitions to a cloud-based system.

DEERS will be offline from 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Friday, Oct. 9, to Sunday, Oct. 11, although the Pentagon has not specified a time.

During the outage, beneficiaries won’t be able to update their DEERS records and pharmacies and healthcare providers may not be able to check a patient’s Tricare eligibility.

The DEERS database contains information about military personnel, retirees, family members and civilian employees.

The corps, which provides medical care for the U.S. Coast Guard and the Indian Health Services and supports health services and research across the federal government and around the world, is one of the nation’s uniformed services.

But most Americans “don’t know who we are,” said Adm. Brian Christine, head of the USPHS Commissioned Corps and assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services, in an interview with Military Times.

Given the agency’s role supporting national dietary guidelines, promoting fitness, protecting public health and preserving the nation’s wellness, Christine wants them to know.

The admiral, a urologist by training, launched a public outreach campaign to call attention to the corps the day he was sworn in, starting with increased visibility among members of the armed services.

In meetings with corps officers, Christine said he learned they didn’t feel respected by other uniformed service members. So with his brother, Army Judge Advocate General Maj. Gen. Bobby Christine, he pledged to increase integration with the armed services, starting with joint exercise with soldiers at Fort Myer, Virginia.

Last month, a Commissioned Corps team worked out with Christine and the Navy’s SEAL Team One in San Diego. And they are planning workouts in the coming weeks with Coast Guard men and women and hopes to team with the Space Force and other branches.

“Since we are preaching physical readiness, it seems natural for my officers to engage with and build bridges with the other uniformed services by doing physical training,” Christine said in an interview Wednesday with Military Times.

Members of the 5,400-member USPHS Commissioned Corps officers — doctors, dentists, nurses, pharmacists, dietitians, chemists, engineers, environmental health experts, veterinarians and more — who support public health and medical readiness in 38 government agencies.

They serve overseas — a team is currently in Kenya supporting the response to the Ebola outbreak — and deliver health care in remote locations, including the far reaches of Alaska.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, officers deployed to staff crowded clinics and supported vaccine distribution.

Their duties include deploying to crises, providing medical care to underserved populations, promoting prevention initiatives to fight chronic disease and supporting health education and “health diplomacy.”

But they also have a role in national security, promoting public health initiatives that encourage fitness among the recruit-age population, supporting the health of the armed services by promoting proper nutrition and fitness and ensuring the nation can respond to public health threats.

In that vein, Christine said he wants “my officers, PHS officers, to be out there as examples for diet and fitness and activity and wellness.”

He has instituted new physical fitness mandates, a program known as PHS Mission Fit, to ensure the Commissioned Corps is able to do their jobs.

“If we’re going to be advocating for Americans, men, women, and children, to be physically fit and ready to get the most out of life, then we need to walk that walk ourselves as the Public Health Service, as the Commission Corps,” Christine said.

Until last year, the officers were required to take annual fitness tests that required them to run or walk — or a combination — 1.5 miles “as quickly as possible.”

Alternatively, they could choose to swim, use an elliptical or stationary bike, and do push-ups and planks, with the ability to choose sit-ups or side bridges instead, and toe-touching for flexibility.

The new twice-a-year program includes a 2,000-meter row, expanded stationary bike options, and removal of the flexibility requirement.

The program also includes weekly physical training and motivational challenges.

The changes represent a cultural shift for the corps, Christine said, but “it’s a change we want.”

“I will get videos from my officers, literally around the world, and they’ll video a group out doing PT together,” Christine said.

Christine was appointed a four-star admiral during his ceremonial swearing-in as assistant secretary for Health and Human Services, a direct commission that is common for the position.

He earned his medical degree from Emory University and moved to Alabama to complete his residency in urology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He ran several urology clinics in Alabama specializing in erectile dysfunction.

With this background, he contributed to the development of the clinical practice guidelines to support Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s policies on testosterone screening and is part of an effort to draft clinical guidance on testing and hormonal treatment for female service members.

He is a committed supporter of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again initiative and believes the USPHS Commissioned Corps plays a role in ensuring that dining facilities in U.S. public schools, the military and the federal prison system provide healthy choices. Christine said the corps also has a place in determining that the Defense Commissary Agency’s stock also “reflects health foods and healthy choices.”

For now, the Commissioned Corps, he said, will lead by example.

“I think evangelizing to the members of men and women in uniform, like we’re doing with this format — to take these things seriously, to get out there, to get your exercise, eat the right diet, take your health seriously, hormonal health and otherwise — that’s part of the pathway forward,” Christine said.

The U.S. has six branches of the armed forces — the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force and Coast Guard — and two additional uniformed services, the USPHS Commissioned Corps and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps.

The latter is the smallest, with roughly 330 officers.

Both the USPHS and NOAA Commissioned Corps wear work uniforms similar to the Coast Guard operational dress uniform and service dress blues and dress uniforms that resemble Navy uniforms with insignia specialized for each service.

During his ceremonial swearing-in, Christine encouraged members to wear their uniforms at all opportunities.

“When someone says ‘Thank you for your service, use that time to explain who you are, what you are, and what public health officers do to keep America healthy,” Christine said. “Be seen, evangelize. Prove to Americans that when they see our uniforms, they see compassion, they see love, they see excellent service.”

Fewer veterans died by suicide in 2024 than the previous year, and the rate — the number of deaths per member of the veteran population — also declined slightly, according to a new report from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The VA’s annual suicide prevention report, released last week, said that 6,488 veterans died by suicide in 2024, down from 6,662 in 2023. The rate of suicide among the nation’s veterans in 2024 also fell, from 36.6 per 100,000 in 2023 to 36.4 per 100,000 in 2024.

Despite the declines, the suicide rate among U.S. veterans remains more than twice the rate of the general U.S. population, which was 16.4 per 100,000 Americans in 2024 and 16.7 per 100,000 in 2023.

According to the report, the risk of suicide remains high for young veterans, with the highest rate — 45.5 per 100,000 among veterans ages 18 to 34. The rate was 38.5 per 100,000 for those ages 35 to 54; 32.7 per 100,000 for those ages 55 to 74; and 35.8 per 100,000 for those aged 75 and older.

But within those figures, there’s some good news for younger veterans: According to the VA, the rate decreased for those ages 18 to 34 by 4.7% and for those 35 to 54 by 2.3%.

The VA has invested millions in suicide prevention and outreach in recent years, conducting an outreach program to veterans that resulted in enrolling 250,000 veterans in VA care since January 2025 and launching a “Don’t Wait. Reach Out” public service campaign that the department says has contributed to 3.5 million veterans taking action.

The VA announced Tuesday it had awarded $111 million in grants to nonprofits, state and local governments and organizations to support suicide prevention programs. The Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program aims to connect with veterans who aren’t connected with VA services.

While the rates of suicide among veterans who receive health services from the VA remain higher than those who don’t get VA medical care, the rate for those enrolled in the Veterans Health Administration fell 4.8%, which VA officials said was significant given the complex medical needs and risk factors for suicide among veterans seeking health services.

Leaving military service has traditionally also been a significant risk factor. But suicides among those separated from active duty have declined dramatically since 2019, when the rate was 51.1 per 100,000 veterans. In 2023, the most recent year the data was available, the rate was 36.1 per 100,000.

VA officials said the Solid Start program, an effort to provide outreach to those recently separated from the military, has had an impact, with the rate of suicides among those who have been contacted at 30.5 per 100,000, and 42.7 per 100,000 among those the VA has tried to reach but did not make contact.

The department has launched several initiatives it hopes will make a bigger impact on veterans’ suicide, including tracking staff efforts to encourage veterans to enroll in VA care.

“VA healthcare saves lives, so we’re making every effort to get more Veterans into the system to get the care and benefits they’ve earned,” VA Secretary Doug Collins said in a statement. “That means deploying innovative new ways of reaching unenrolled Veterans, screening them for suicide risk and expanding suicide prevention training both inside and outside VA.”

More than 159,000 veterans have died by suicide since 2001. Those at highest risk include homeless veterans, those with mental health conditions and female veterans.

According to the new report, 17.7 veterans die by suicide each day, down from 19 per day in 2018, when a record 7,015 veterans took their own lives, according to the VA.

The data contained in the VA’s annual suicide report is based on national and state reports.

Floyd Johnson, who served in the Army from 1983 to 1985, was sentenced in 2013 to 40 years in prison on felony charges in Florida. While incarcerated, Johnson was diagnosed with service-connected post-traumatic stress disorder and received an 80% disability rating from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Because Johnson was in prison, however, his rating was reduced to 10% because veterans who are incarcerated for more than 60 days are restricted by law from receiving full benefits.

To fight the reduction, Johnson, who represented himself, filed a case in a Florida district court arguing that Congress violated his constitutional rights by instituting a law that placed caps on veterans’ benefits for those in prison.

The Middle District of Florida court dismissed the case in 2022. Johnson appealed to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, where he received legal representation and requested to name a new defendant — the VA or the VA secretary. He also strengthened his argument against the Veterans Judicial Review Act of 1988, which created a process for veterans to appeal disability claims decisions.

Under the law, a veteran whose claim is denied or disputed goes to the Board of Veterans Appeals, and if the result is not satisfactory to the veteran, it can be appealed to the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Johnson’s attorneys argued that the Veterans Judicial Review Act improperly limited the process to the BVA and CAVC, stripping a veteran of the right to file suit in a district court.

They argued that a previous case allowed veterans to pursue benefits cases elsewhere under circumstances that involve constitutionality. They also noted in their Supreme Court petition that other appellate courts have agreed that veterans may take their cases to district courts.

“A veteran’s access to the courts should not vary depending on where he lives. This case presents an ideal vehicle for resolving this conflict on an important question of federal law,” they wrote in the petition.

During oral arguments Monday, Justice Sonia Sotomayor called the system “odd,” but not for the reasons that Johnson’s attorney — Jeffrey Chen of the Atlanta-based firm Bondurant, Mixson and Elmore — cited.

Sotomayor pointed out that with a regulation in place saying the BVA can’t address constitutional questions, the veteran can still appeal any decision that comes out of it, but the government cannot, according to the law.

“We have to take the system as it exists, and that’s a very odd system, is it not?” Sotomayor said. “It leads to your conclusion … which is let constitutional questions go to the court because that’s where the government would have a right to defend the law.”

Justice Amy Coney Barrett pointed out that if the Board of Veterans Appeals violated a veteran’s constitutional rights, they could appeal to the U.S. Court of Veterans Appeals and eventually, the federal circuit where constitutional questions are decided.

“He has that route. He still has a way of pressing the constitutional claim,” Barrett said.

Chen argued that restricting claims reviews and suits to the BVA process would “empower the inferior officers of the BVA to render final decisions” and disregard laws.

“None of the government’s proposed workarounds is consistent with the Veterans Judicial Review Act,” Chen said.

Assistant to the Solicitor General Kevin Barber argued that the current system is sufficient and the previous case cited by the plaintiff preceded the VJRA and should not apply because the law changed the entire process.

“VJRA fundamentally changed the statutory scheme. … It’s the current statute that matters,” Barber said.

He added that the plaintiff’s additional argument, that the VA can’t decide constitutional challenges to statutes, “is mistaken.”

“True, the Board of Veterans Appeals in the past has been inconsistent on its authority, sometimes deciding such claims and sometimes not, but as we see it, the board can and must decide veterans’ constitutional claims,” Barber said. “Petitioner’s contrary view would conflict with the statutory text and deprive veterans of their ability to bring such claims to the agency. It would even compel the VA to enforce a hypothetical benefit statute that was blatantly unconstitutional.”

An estimated 107,400 veterans are incarcerated in state or federal prisons, according to the Department of Justice, although not all receive VA disability benefits. Johnson’s case does not challenge the law that limits the amount of VA benefits veterans receive while imprisoned. But in their petition, Johnson’s attorneys said he plans to pursue that effort after the current case is decided.

“This case illustrates the impact of a single veterans’ benefits statute. Section 5313, the statute Mr. Johnson challenges, limits the benefits of thousands of veterans. Moreover, 30 percent of all veterans experience service-connected disabilities, and veterans with PTSD are disproportionately at risk of incarceration,” the petition states.

The court is expected to rule early next year.

The news of eight attempted suicides across the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group generated fresh heartache and outrage for U.S. Navy families of sailors assigned to Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City, including Alicia Kelsey.

Kelsey’s son, Thatcher Rupert, a 20-year-old sailor assigned to Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 3 — the “Ironmen” — struggled with depression and was hospitalized twice in the months leading to his death in December.

On Dec. 9, 2025, Rupert sought emergency mental health care at the 72nd Medical Group clinic. There, he was told he would be sent to an off-base inpatient facility where he previously received suboptimal care, his mother said.

Left alone while he waited for further instructions on the transfer, Rupert bolted from the clinic, headed toward Interstate 35 and jumped off an overpass.

The suicide was the seventh in the Navy’s Strategic Communications Wing 1 and its subordinate squadrons since March 2025.

Rupert’s death drew a massive response from Navy leadership and the attention of Democrat Richard Blumenthal, the senior senator from Rupert’s home state of Connecticut, who inquired about the tragedy in a February hearing.

Despite the scrutiny, however, the wing experienced another suicide only three months later: Aviation Structural Mechanic (Safety Equipment) 2nd Class Carlin Adams — CJ, to family and friends — died by suicide in March, the eighth suicide at the base in one year.

“I had just talked to him,” his mother, Sharonda Adams, told Military Times. “I think he just went and did it. That was how he was. CJ’s like me; he kind of holds stuff in.”

The Navy currently is under fire for deteriorating conditions aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and other vessels in the strike group that may have contributed to eight suicide attempts during the carrier’s record-long deployment to the Middle East. Tinker personnel and Navy families say the strike group’s issues are emblematic of the service’s failure to care for its biggest asset: young sailors.

“I’m furious, you know? And really sad,” Kelsey said. “It’s a shame. It’s a damn shame.”

A ‘doomsday’ mission

Strategic Communications Wing 1 operates and supports the E-6B Mercury, a modified Boeing 707 aircraft that supports secure communications in the event of a nuclear weapons crisis. Sometimes called the “doomsday plane,” the platform allows for command and control of U.S. nuclear forces by the president, defense secretary and U.S. Strategic Command.

Roughly 1,700 active-duty personnel are assigned to the wing, and the job of preparing for a worst-case scenario mission and maintaining aging aircraft is extremely stressful, a Navy officer familiar with the command told Navy Times.

He said wing members work “incredibly long” hours. Air crews do one-month-on, one-month-off rotations and are on call, training or engaging in temporary duty assignments while they are “off.” The schedule leaves members with less family time than their counterparts on surface warfare vessels, he added.

“I’ve noticed a sharp decline in job satisfaction because we do a mission that is supposed to take place in the post-nuclear world … the problem is, you don’t see the fruits of your labor, because you don’t want to see the fruits of your labor,” the Navy officer said in an interview.

“The work is never finished” because of the complexities of caring for the almost 30-year-old aircraft, he added.

Thatcher Rupert was a yeoman in VQ-3. When he enlisted after high school, he wanted to enter the Navy’s enlisted nuclear program, his mother said. But he suffered from migraines, and — despite being told by a recruiter that the health condition would not hinder his career — developed a migraine in boot camp, rendering him ineligible for his dream job.

At Tinker, Rupert was allowed to move to an off-base apartment. He bought furniture and household goods and got a dog. But the move put him in debt and exacerbated his isolation, Kelsey said. He sought treatment for depression, but the various pills he was prescribed didn’t have much of an effect.

His parents tried to help him from afar, but it wasn’t enough.

“There has to be some type of reform,” Kelsey said. “We have to protect these poor kids.”

Carlin Adams was an older, more experienced sailor who loved the service, his wife, Anaya, and his dogs, Sharonda Adams said. He had deployed once on the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, visiting Dubai, Malaysia and Guam. He looked forward to his new assignment at Tinker.

But Navy life and Oklahoma City wore thin on Anaya, who wanted to move back to her home state of Massachusetts.

Adam began talking about leaving the service to save his marriage and sought counseling for stress. But on March 24, Adams shot himself in front of his wife, his mother said.

“[Anaya] said later, she didn’t realize that he was hurting so bad,” Sharonda Adams said.

Military suicides reflect civilian trends

The rate of suicides among military personnel has risen steadily since 2011, despite a decline from 2022 to 2024.

Rupert and Adams were among the military population most at risk for suicide: young, male and under the age of 30.

In 2024, the most common stressors seen in service members who died by suicide were: a mental health diagnosis within the year before they died, at 65%; relationship problems, at 38%; workplace stressors, 38%; legal issues, 20%; and financial issues, 13%, according to the Department of Defense Suicide Prevention Office.

The year before, relationship problems were the most common thread among the deceased, at 44%, while 42% had a mental health diagnosis, 29% had legal or administrative problems, 24% had workplace difficulties and 12% had financial woes.

In 2025, the Navy recorded 73 suicides, up from 59 the previous year.

Navy officials say the rise reflects a trend among all young people in the U.S., with rates increasing in the past two decades but declining from 2023 to 2024, the most recent year for which data is available.

“What we find, interestingly enough, is that the top stressors that impact sailors are very, very similar to what you see in the civilian sector. It’s relationships, it’s finance, it’s transitions, those kinds of things, and so we continue to look at, ‘How do we provide the best support for the sailors that need it when they need it?’” retired Navy Capt. Paul Rosen, acting director of the Navy’s Culture and Force Resilience Office, said during a Sept. 17 roundtable on suicide prevention.

In 2023, after five confirmed suicides among the crew of the aircraft carrier USS George Washington while it was in a Norfolk, Virginia, shipyard, the Navy introduced a new approach to supporting members, known as “Quality of Service.” The strategy aimed to improve mental and physical health by providing more career opportunities and sea time, allowing sailors to live off ship while vessels are in drydock and improving quality of life with better food, living conditions and internet access.

The service also published a “mental health playbook” as a resource for leaders to prevent and address mental health issues in their commands.

“Having reviewed many instances of suicide deaths, the one takeaway is there’s no two that are alike,” Rosen said. “They’re all very unique. People are unique. Their stresses are unique, the situations they’re in, and so that’s one of the reasons that suicide prevention has to be so multifaceted.”

The Navy unit at Tinker is unique because it is the only Mercury command, the Navy officer said, so those in the E-6 community are assigned only to Oklahoma City when they are in operational billets.

For some, living in one place most of their career is a boon. For others, it’s a disappointment, the Navy officer said.

“We’re just kind of stuck in Oklahoma City by ourselves. Tinker itself is a very ugly, industrial-looking base, and there’s not a lot to do,” the Navy officer said. “As far as entertainment goes in the city, some people really enjoy it, but it’s a fairly basic city. And on top of that, despite Tinker being such a large base, its services are fairly limited. I’ve seen smaller bases with much larger PXs.”

The demands of the job, especially for the maintainers, can also be overwhelming, the Navy officer added.

“I really do think if these sailors have a platform to work on that didn’t break every 10 seconds, they might have some job satisfaction and be able to have a personal life a little bit more,” he said.

‘Quality of Service’ improvements

At Tinker, the ongoing investigations into the eight suicides have resulted in the service adding a permanent deputy chaplain, an integrated prevention coordinator and aerospace psychologist, in addition to the two chaplains assigned to SCW-1.

It also assigned three additional chaplains through Oct. 1, 2026, and provides mental health services through the 72nd Medical Group.

According to a Tinker spokesperson, the Navy is working to make improvements to address “quality of work and life” for sailors and families “with more planned for the future.”

Those efforts include upgrading facility spaces, requesting funding to create a specialized resiliency training program and adding civilian billets to reduce the workload.

It also increased the installation’s fiscal 2026 morale, recreation and welfare allotment, added three military and family life counselors, increased community support groups and is participating in the pilot of a wellness app. Future plans call for marriage workshops and personal resiliency programs through the Navy’s CREDO, or Chaplains Religious Enrichment Development Operation, program.

The 2025 to 2026 suicides at Tinker were not without precedent.

In 2023, the base experienced 17 deaths among personnel, although Air Force officials initially declined to disclose the causes or say whether the deceased were active-duty or civilian personnel. Air Force officials later told Military.com that six of the deaths were suspected suicides, although they did not provide information on the military status of those who died.

During the February Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on quality of life, Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy John Perryman said Air Force investigations into the “first three or four” deaths in 2025 found no systemic cause, and a review known as an “Epi-Aid” study — an epidemiological assistance investigation — “found no contagion.”

Perryman admitted, however, that the military leaders “should have probably” focused on providing resilience training and life management skills for service members “earlier than now.”

“People my age think of mental health as one thing, and the younger generation think of mental health in a totally different way than us,” Perryman said. “And I think we’ve been slow to realize that, and we’ve been slow to institute actual prevention programs that will help us get left to it.”

Calls for accountability

Last week, as a result of the reports of suicide attempts on board the Abraham Lincoln, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, and Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., called for congressional hearings into the circumstances that contributed to the crew’s stress levels.

Gillibrand and 14 colleagues sent a letter in August to acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao seeking more information about the Lincoln’s deployment, which included food and supply shortages, broken toilets and long stretches without hot water.

Cao confirmed to Gillibrand that eight sailors had attempted suicide across the strike group, but none had died. The crew, Cao said, showed exceptional “professionalism, leadership and resilience” during its historically demanding deployment.

“Good order and discipline aboard Lincoln remains strong,” Cao wrote.

Still, Gillibrand said the Navy needed a “clear plan to protect our service members.”

“What Trump and Secretary Hegseth dismissed as ‘fake news’ turned out to be serious and deteriorating conditions for our service members,” Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement. “Our troops and their families make immense sacrifices every single day, yet the president dismissed them with open disrespect.”

To provide counseling and mental health services for the 5,000-person crew and aviation component, the Lincoln has five chaplains, one embedded integrated prevention counselor, a psychologist, a social worker, three behavioral health technicians and a therapy dog.

According to Navy Cmdr. Katie Pierce, an operational psychologist with the Culture and Force Resilience Office, a Navy analysis of mental health services utilization rates has found that one mental health staff member can support 1,600 to 2,500 personnel.

The data also show that personnel don’t use mental health services at higher rates on extended deployments compared with regular deployments and aren’t seeking care at rates different than five years ago.

“Whether it was deployments to Afghanistan, ship deployments … the data is not showing us that we’re seeing any higher utilization than what we see in typical deployment,” Pierce said.

Advocates for improvement in military mental health services say, however, the ratio of counselors to sailors is low, and members could benefit from expanded opportunities and access to therapy.

Retired Navy Senior Chief Patrick Caserta, the father of the late Brandon Caserta, a sailor who died by suicide in 2018, said Navy leaders must be held accountable.

“They’re not taking care of their people. Everybody feels underappreciated and not taken care of, and when they seek help, they’re not able to get it,” Caserta said.

At Tinker, Navy leadership is taking responsibility, according to a command spokesperson.

“Through multiple visits from senior Navy and Air Force leaders, chaplains, medical providers and congressional staff, the Navy has actively put initiatives into place to address both quality of work and life for these Sailors and their families,” Navy officials said in a statement.

Whether the improvements would have prevented Rupert’s or Adams’s deaths will never be known. CJ Adams sought counseling, but perhaps he and Anaya would have benefited from the CREDO program. Rupert received mental health support, but maybe more social activities and MWR programs would have reduced his isolation.

Alicia Kelsey wishes her son would have been required to live in the barracks around others his age.

“I know Thatcher made this choice,” Kelsey said. “I truly don’t blame anyone for what happened, but I do think the Navy failed him … an ounce of compassion and five minutes of patience that day, he would still be here.”

Licensed Professional Counselor Kevin Curry, 64, of Frisco, Texas, was convicted last week for his role in health care fraud involving Tricare, the Defense Department’s health program.

According to the Justice Department, Curry, who ran three purported mental health clinics in Texas and Florida, billed Tricare for transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, therapy services for troops and their families that they either never received or were ineligible for.

Curry falsely portrayed himself as a doctor, used fake doctor credentials and paid more than $5.5 million in kickbacks to persuade eligible Tricare beneficiaries to sign up for the therapy, a treatment for severe depression that involves using magnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in the brain.

“This defendant exploited a critical health care program serving active-duty service members and their families, diverting taxpayer dollars to bankroll personal luxuries ranging from hotel stays to a casino-themed party and even a gold‑plated Tesla Cybertruck,” National Fraud Enforcement Division Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald said in a release. “Such conduct is an affront to the military community and the American public.”

According to the Justice Department, Curry directed employees to fabricate medical records, which he submitted to Tricare as proof of services and billed the program more than $26 million in “false, fraudulent and kickback-tainted TMS claims.”

Tricare paid Curry $17 million, which he used to finance his lavish lifestyle.

A jury convicted Curry of three counts of health care fraud, three counts of offering and paying illegal kickbacks and three counts of “engaging in monetary transactions in criminal derived property.”

Each count carries a maximum penalty of 10 years.

“Kevin Curry shamelessly preyed on the trust of service members, veterans, and their families, siphoning millions from Tricare through lies and coercion,” U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould said in a statement. “This conviction sends an unmistakable message that those who manipulate our military community and defraud federal healthcare programs will face the full force of federal prosecution.”

The case was investigated by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Texas Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, in addition to the Justice Department.

At stake is the future leadership of the Board of Veterans Appeals, which reviews and makes decisions on protests filed by veterans following claims denials and the makeup of the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, which would receive four new judges if all nominees are confirmed.

Four of the five nominees have extensive military and law experience, while the fifth has handled veterans’ issues while working in Congress for the past 17 years.

The nominees include former U.S. Attorney and retired Army Lt. Col. Maria Chapa Lopez, selected to chair the Board of Veterans Appeals, and four proposed Veterans Appeals Court judges: Robert Fleck, currently serving as deputy general counsel at the Department of Veterans Affairs; David Jones, a former member of the Army Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps; Daniel Rendleman, an Army aviator and JAG; and James Quinn, a longtime Senate staffer who has served as chief of staff for Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., for the past nine years.

The judgeship appointments are for up to 15 years.

“These institutions provide a critical avenue for the accountability and due process for veterans and their families nationwide,” Committee Chairman Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, said during his opening remarks. “The men and women whose nominations are under consideration each have extensive records of public service through serving in the military, justice system, executive branch and in the halls of the United States Senate.”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, the committee’s most senior Democrat, noted that despite the nominees’ extensive legal backgrounds, none had experience in handling veterans’ claims.

“Thank each of you for your willingness to serve,” Blumenthal said. “I’m gravely concerned that none of these nominees have any experience with veterans’ benefits law, whatsoever, not as judges, not as lawyers, not as advocates for veterans.”

Blumenthal noted that the court currently has three openings and Quinn has been nominated for a position that will not be vacant until next year after a new Congress is sworn in, a situation he said was “unprecedented in this committee.”

Blumenthal also submitted for the record a letter from 30 women’s and veterans organizations opposing Rendleman’s nomination over statements Rendleman made in an article in The Federalist opposing abortion, which he called “by far the greatest moral failing of our times.”

“If confirmed, you would have the power to decide if a veteran’s claims for reproductive health care coverage or reimbursement is denied,” Blumenthal said.

Rendleman said he wrote the article to understand opposing views and the role of a judge is to “faithfully and unbiasedly apply the rules as promulgated by the political branches.”

The VA currently covers the cost or provides abortions in circumstances where the life of the mother is endangered. The policy, which went into effect last year, ended a previous policy implemented in September 2022 that allowed VA medical personnel to conduct abortions in cases of rape and incest.

According to the nominees, most were approached by the Trump administration to consider their roles.

Lopez said she was asked since she was a veteran who had served in the Justice Department under Trump’s first term. The White House also approached Rendleman with the potential judgeship, while Fleck said his appointment was suggested by VA attorneys.

Jones was nominated after asking for consideration while he was a military liaison in the White House and Quinn said that having worked on veterans issues, he approached the White House Counsel’s Office for a possible appointment.

All four judges told the committee they would commit to making correct decisions and work to improve the process with congressional oversight.

“The most important thing for the judges is to get it right and get it right the first time, but realize you have to move at a deliberate pace,” Jones said.

“The key is to jump in with both feet first with efficiency and vigor, looking at both what you can do on the chambers level … but also what you can do working, if I am fortunate to be nominated with my fellow colleagues, in terms of procedures and policies of the court as a whole,” Rendleman said.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., said she opposes Fleck’s nomination for his role in forging an agreement between the Justice Department and the VA that allows the VA to request that states appoint guardians for incapacitated veterans who don’t have family or legal representation to make medical decisions.

Duckworth said in one case of guardianship, a guardian made decisions for a Navy veteran that included signing a “Do Not Resuscitate” plan against the veteran’s wishes and making medical decisions for the veteran who later died as a result of the guardian’s choices.

According to Duckworth, the guardian later was convicted of felony elderly neglect.

“The VA has many options to free up hospital beds without sending veterans in need of care off into the realm of state appointed guardianships with no plans to ensure that the veterans are safe,” Duckworth said. “I don’t think this is some clever efficiency hack, it’s a dereliction of duty.”

The lawmakers noted that the number of cases under consideration by both the board and the veterans appeals court have risen considerably in the past several years, to 10,000 in fiscal 2025, up from roughly 2,600 a year in the first 15 years of the court’s establishment in 1988.

Fleck said the increase could be attributed to several reasons, including the enactment of the VA Appeals Modernization Act in 2019 that overhauled the process as well as the PACT Act, which increased the number of claims by veterans exposed to environmental toxins while serving abroad.

Fleck also faced questions about his involvement in the hiring of his wife, a former Army attorney, at the VA. A 2018 VA Office of Inspector General report found that Fleck engaged in nepotism in the hiring process and improperly shared sensitive data with his wife during the effort.

He was also accused of making false statements to the OIG during the investigation.

Fleck told the committee that in later court proceedings, the OIG report was “substantially discredited” because the office did not consider additional evidence during its investigation and he denied extensive participation in the process.

“My supervisor, the deputy general counsel asked me about my wife, I said I had no comment on it and he asked me to send him her resume. That’s all the contact we did,” Fleck said.

The Government Accountability Office released a two-page brief Friday criticizing the service for failing to provide timely updates to Congress on sexual assaults as well as some information that is required by law.

The watchdog also said the service has not developed a performance plan to assess its progress in addressing sexual misconduct, an oversight GAO analysts noted they pointed out two years ago.

“Addressing sexual misconduct in the Coast Guard requires a cultural transformation,” the analysts wrote. “But gaps in leadership, monitoring, and employee engagement have hindered progress.”

The GAO released its report the day after the Coast Guard announced its Sexual Assault Prevention, Response and Recovery Action Plan to prevent and address sexual assault in the service.

The action plan outlines 17 steps the service will take to implement a strategic plan it released in March.

“Leaders at every level, myself included, are responsible and accountable for combating sexual assault,” Commandant Adm. Kevin Lunday wrote in the foreword to the plan. “That starts with discipline — setting and upholding the highest standards across the Service.”

Systemic issues of sexual assault in the Coast Guard came to light in 2023 as the result of reporting by CNN that found the service had conducted a widespread investigation into sexual assaults at the Coast Guard Academy beginning in 2014 but failed to assist victims, prosecute alleged perpetrators or reveal the existence of the problems or the investigation.

“Operation Fouled Anchor,” as the investigation was known, substantiated 60 cases of rape, assault and sexual harassment at the academy in New London, Connecticut, from 1988 through 2006.

Following CNN’s reporting on the investigation, then-Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan announced a review of service policies, culture and practices. The review found that the service’s handling of sexual assault cases undermined trust in leadership, but efforts to address the issue did not lead to substantial changes.

The Accountability and Transparency Review conducted under Fagan’s watch made 33 recommendations, but by March 2024, the Coast Guard implemented just five.

A GAO report in January recommended the Coast Guard develop an implementation plan for its reforms as well as reconstitute its implementation team and establish two-way communications with members and civilians on their status.

The Coast Guard’s action plan released Thursday meets the recommendation to develop an implementation plan.

The 17 steps in the plan fall under four categories: prevention, response, recovery and accountability. The plan spells out specific objectives that commands will complete by the first quarter of fiscal 2028 to prevent assault, support victims and hold perpetrators accountable.

Those steps include improving training, updating response protocols including medical response, reinforcing training on reporting, developing prosecution measures and improving timelines for separation and addressing retaliation through training and tracking.

“Through clear actions, outcomes, and end states, the SAPRR Action Plan will achieve the following vision: every sexual assault stopped before it occurs, every member treated with dignity and respect, every victim and survivor met with expert care, and every offender held accountable under the law,” service officials said in a statement accompanying the plan’s release.

Lunday said it was a “sacred duty” of Coast Guard members to take care of each other.

“Every Coast Guard man and woman — active duty, reserve, civilian, and Auxiliary — has a duty to take action to prevent and respond to sexual assault,” Lunday said in a statement. “Every one of us will act with the same courage and bias for action expected of us in rescuing someone in peril at sea.”

In a report published Friday, the VA watchdog found that 59% of the VA’s 139 reporting facilities struggle to hire qualified practical nurses and 58% face issues hiring psychologists. For non-clinical staff, 57% of Veterans Health Administration leaders reported shortages of potential VA police officers while 53% faced problems hiring custodians.

The report, based on surveys from late March and early April, shows VA hospital leaders’ perceptions of occupations that are difficult to fill, not vacancies.

According to the report, VHA officials reported 4,712 severe staffing shortages across 389 occupations.

The surveys cover fiscal 2026, a period following a reduction in VA staff by roughly 30,000 jobs. Since Sept. 26, 2025, the VA workforce has declined by more than 19,000 persons, including 11,000 from the VHA, which manages the department’s health care services.

A VA official said Monday that the OIG report is not a reliable tool to assess staffing shortages because it is not based on actual vacancies. VA Press Secretary Quinn Slaven noted that the report states that a staff shortage refers to “occupations that are difficult to fill,” and this designation “does not necessarily indicate the presence of vacancies.”

But Democratic lawmakers who track VA staffing say the surveys indicate a problem, given that the fiscal 2026 report showed 4,712 severe shortages compared with 2,959 in fiscal 2024.

In the surveys, nearly all VA facilities — 97% — reported severe occupational staffing shortages for medical officers, up from 94% in fiscal 2025, while 86% reported shortages for nurses, up from 79% the previous year.

But Slaven said VA continues to “outperform most other health care organizations” when it comes to staffing, and actual vacancy rates are 15% for doctors and 9% for nurses.

“These are lower than most other health care systems, in line with normal VA historical averages and much lower than the respective 19% and 20% physician and nurse vacancy rates VA saw at times during the Biden Administration,” Slaven said in a statement to Military Times.

He added that pay caps for physicians hinder the VA’s hiring, and the department has asked Congress to address the “longstanding pay disparity” that hurts recruitment.

He noted that since January 2025, the VA has opened 41 new health clinics, enrolled an additional 250,000 veterans in health care and increased medical appointments at VA facilities and in the private sector by 4.1% and 12%, respectively, since fiscal 2024.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., issued a report last year charging that veterans services, including health care and research, were affected by the loss of 40,000 employees at the VA in President Donald Trump’s second term from voluntary retirements, resignations and layoffs.

On Monday, Blumenthal said the OIG report on staffing shortages was also affected by the elimination of “tens of thousands of positions” at the VA’s health care system, which he said artificially reduces vacancy rates and prevents facilities from hiring needed staff.

“This report confirms that staffing shortages at VA continue to increase in number and impact,” Blumenthal said in a statement to Military Times. “Even more employees left VA because of the toxic work environment this administration has created.”

According to the report, the top five medical occupations experiencing severe staffing shortages across VA facilities are: practical nurses, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers and nursing assistants.

The top five non-clinical occupations with shortages are: police officers, custodial workers, medical support assistants, food service workers and health care engineers.

As with previous reports on severe staffing shortages, the OIG made no recommendations to VA leadership regarding the data.

“This report is a descriptive review and is intended for informational purposes,” wrote Dr. David Krulak, assistant inspector general for healthcare inspections.