Author: Lindsay

Easy Strawberry Pie
Our House Favorite Strawberry Pie!

A text I got from my neighbor last week:

I asked my husband and kids to vote on several desserts that I’ve been making lately – “which one of these should be the July Family Dessert Night recipe?”

This strawberry pie was the unanimous winner.

Everyone in our house LOVES this pie.

It’s basically a bountiful platter of fresh strawberries, cold and juicy and sweet, held together inside a salty-sweet graham cracker pie crust, and dolloped with a cream cheese whipped cream. My mom and my grandma have been making this pie for years, so it’s my turn to get in on it!

I’m one of those people who thinks a homemade graham cracker crust is one of the best tasting things on the whole planet Earth (like, the BEST thing), so that’s what I use for mine! If you find yourself really wanting a regular pie crust – make it exactly the same, using a fully baked pie shell!

A noteworthy thing I love about this pie: it’s the PERFECT hands-on recipe for kids to help with. I set up an assembly line for my girls and put them to work on the berries, and then had them help me whisk and pour in the filling. A+ for kid participation on this one!

Happy summer-ing! Wishing you a really joyful moment of walking this cold, juicy, towering pie out to the table for your people. Best feeling ever!

P.S. More of my favorite summer desserts are here!

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Easy Strawberry Pie

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5 from 3 reviews

Author: Lindsay

Total Time: 6 hours 5 minutes

Yield: 8 large slices 1x

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Description

The easiest homemade strawberry pie with a graham cracker crust and dolloped with a cream cheese whipped cream! Perfect summer dessert!

Ingredients

Units

Crust:

12 full sheets graham crackers, crushed (1 1/2 cups of crumbs)

5 tablespoons sugar

7 tablespoons salted butter, melted

Filling:

1/2 cup sugar (use 3/4 cup if your berries are less sweet)

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 1/2 cups cold water

3 ounces dry strawberry Jell-O powder (half a box, or 5-6 tablespoons)

4–5 cups fresh strawberries

Whipped Cream Cheese:

3/4 cup heavy cream

4 ounce cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup maple syrup

Cook Mode

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Instructions

Graham Cracker Crust: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix crust ingredients and press into a 9-inch pie plate. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

Prep Strawberries: Wash the strawberries well and blot them dry with a paper towel. Cut off the tops. If they are large, cut them all in half. If they are small, you can leave them as-is or just cut some of them in half.

Make Jell-O: In a small saucepan, whisk the sugar, cornstarch, and cold water. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring continuously, until it begins to thicken. Once it starts bubbling, cook it for another two minutes. Add Jell-O and stir till dissolved. Remove from heat and let it cool slightly.

Assemble Pie: Arrange half of the berries in your prepared pie crust. Pour some of the cornstarch mixture over the berries and jiggle it around a bit to make sure the mixture goes in and around all the berries. Repeat with the remaining berries on top, and cover with just enough of the cornstarch mixture to coat the berries and hold them in (you’ll have a bit of cornstarch mixture left over). Press the berries in so they are real cozy with each other, and brush the top with the cornstarch mixture to make the top glossy.

Refrigerate Pie: Refrigerate for 4-6 hours. (I refrigerate uncovered until it’s mostly set, then cover with plastic. This is best served within 24 hours, because the strawberries will start to soften and release juices.)

Cream Cheese Whipped Cream: Using a hand mixer, beat the heavy cream until soft peaks form. In a separate bowl, beat the softened cream cheese until smooth. Slowly beat in the maple syrup with the cream cheese until it is loose and creamy. Fold the cream cheese mixture into the whipped cream.

Serve: Serve the pie slices cold, with a dollop of the whipped cream cheese on top!

Prep Time: 6 hours

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Category: Dessert

Method: No-Bake

Cuisine: American

Keywords: strawberry pie, easy pie recipe, summer pie, summer dessert

Did you make this recipe?

I love hearing from you! Leave a comment or rating below!
My Favorite Strawberry Recipes

Pickled Strawberries

Summer Chicken Cobb Salad

Strawberry White Chocolate Cookies

The post Easy Strawberry Pie appeared first on Pinch of Yum.
This post was originally published on this site.
June 30, 2026
This is the moment the Navy’s USS Juneau was sunk in the name of training
This post was originally published on this site.
A geyser of water shot into the air when the decommissioned amphibious transport dock USS Juneau was struck by a torpedo fired by the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force as part of a live-fire ship sinking exercise, photos recently posted by the U.S. military show.

The torpedo was the final salvo used to sink the Juneau earlier this month as part of Valiant Shield, a biennial exercise with U.S. and allied forces, said Lt. Cmdr. Katie Koenig, director of the Combined, Joint Information Bureau for the exercise.

A Navy P-8A Poseidon fired an AGM-84D Harpoon missile and a B-2 Spirit bomber launched a Long Range Anti-Ship Missile, or LRASM, during the June 27 ship sinking exercise, Koenig told Task & Purpose.

U.S. Navy, Air Force, Army, and special operations forces heavily damaged the ship before it was torpedoed, Koenig added.

The Juneau was sunk about 200 nautical miles off the coast of Guam. The ship was commissioned in 1969 and saw service during the Vietnam War. The vessel also took part in the preparations for an underground nuclear test in 1971; it was part of the response to the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989; and it transported Marines during the Gulf War in 1991. After nearly 40 years of service, the Juneau was decommissioned in 2008.

U.S. military services have long sunk decommissioned ships to test their weapons in live fire exercises. Other decommissioned vessels that have been sent to the bottom of the ocean in the name of training include the amphibious transport dock USS Cleveland, which was struck by two Precision Strike Missiles, or PrSMs, during a 2024 exercise. The sinking of the Cleveland marked the first time the land-based missile had been used against a ship. The PrSM made its combat debut this year as part of U.S. military operations against Iran, dubbed “Epic Fury.”
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Training how to sink warships is especially important as the U.S. prepares for a possible fight against China. A 2024 Defense Department report found that China’s navy had more than 370 vessels. The U.S. Navy currently operates 291 battle force ships, according to the service’s shipbuilding plan.

As part of its reorganization effort focusing on China, the Marine Corps has equipped units in Okinawa with anti-ship missiles.

The skills honed during ship-sinking exercises can also be used against other adversaries. In early March, a Navy Los Angeles-class submarine torpedoed an Iranian warship,marking the first time since 1945 that a Navy submarine had used a torpedo to sink an enemy vessel.

The post This is the moment the Navy’s USS Juneau was sunk in the name of training appeared first on Task & Purpose.
June 30, 2026
SOCOM is seeking a long-range kamikaze drone

U.S. Special Operations Command is looking for a small but long-range kamikaze drone.

The goal is to develop an air-launched loitering munition “with an extended range and capabilities beyond the current SOPGM [Stand-Off Precision Guided Munition portfolio],” according to a June 26 SOCOM Request For Information. The response deadline is July 27.

Launched at an altitude of 5,000 to 30,000 feet, the desired Air Loitering Munition must have a range of at least 75 nautical miles. Once over the target zone, it must have a loiter time of at least 40 minutes while orbiting at an altitude of 500 to 3,000 feet, according to the RFI. The munition should also be able to maintain a speed of 50 to 100 knots, with a weight that does not exceed 95 pounds.

By comparison, AeroVironment’s Switchblade 600 — which SOCOM ordered in 2021 to test as a boat-launched weapon — has a range of more than 55 miles and weighs 33 pounds. The ALM’s guidance would be passive, homing in on radio emissions or using automatic target recognition.

The ALM will be able to be launched by SOCOM fixed-wing aircraft, according to the request. Ideally, the weapon should be capable of being fired from a Common Launch Tube, a launcher that enables most military or civilian aircraft to become missile platforms.

For the Common Launch Tube, the ALM would be no longer than 42 inches, with a 5.9-inch diameter. Fitted to a BRU-71 or BRU-78 weapons rack, the ALM could be up to 90 inches long and 9 inches wide.

The project will involve “a single demonstration for evaluation on the AC-130J Ghostrider or another SOF platform,” according to the RFI.

The RFI also calls for rough cost estimates for orders of 500, 1000 and 3000 munitions. SOCOM is “looking for true innovative, out-of-the-box thinking, conceptual approaches and ideas on how industry can expediently design, manufacture and deliver stated capabilities.”

While short-range backpack kamikaze drones have become a fixture on the battlefield, long-range loitering munitions have become increasingly prominent.

In the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War, Azerbaijan used the Israeli-made Harpy to devastate Armenian forces. Ukraine and Russia have also made extensive use of long-range loitering drones. Earlier this month, Russia bombarded Kyiv with the Banderol, which reportedly has a range of 500 miles and packs a 150-pound warhead.

Armed with loitering munitions with a range of around 100 miles, SOCOM MC-130J gunships and other aircraft would be able to hunt targets deep inside enemy lines — and do so while remaining out of range of enemy air defenses.

This post was originally published on this site.

June 30, 2026
Inside the Marine Corps’ Call of Duty training experiment

For more than 15 years, the Office of Naval Research has explored how video games can affect human cognition. While researchers often found evidence that they can improve cognitive performance, the concept has had limited application into real-world programs.

That may be changing.

In January, Marine Corps University began using a modified version of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare at its sergeant’s course in Quantico, Virginia, to help strengthen leadership, communication, critical thinking and decision making under pressure.

The program, called Research into Competency Acquisition with Novel E-gaming, or R-CANE, was developed through a partnership with Virginia Tech and the University of Memphis with funding from the Office of Naval Research.

Brig. Gen. Matthew Tracy, commanding general of Marine Corps Education Command and president of Marine Corps University, described R-CANE as enhancing “natural intelligence” rather than traditional training. Although the game has Marines playing avatars that use weapons and fight enemy combatants, he said the purpose is improving cognitive performance.

“What the game allows us to do is manipulate that cognitive load on the Marines’ actual brain and their ability to take in information, process that information, observe, create a plan on the fly, articulate that plan amongst their team, reassess that plan, create another one, rearticulate that, all as they’re being loaded with information coming in,” he told Military Times.

Tracy said that he will “pounce” on the word “training” when it comes to describing the program because he thinks it would benefit anyone in any profession or job set, ranging from a sniper to NFL player to cocktail party host and even to a writer.

“Who would not benefit from enhanced brain performance?” he inquired.

Inside the program

Louis Hickman, an assistant professor of industrial-organizational psychology at Virginia Tech and principal investigator of the project, said Marines are grouped into teams of six, with one Marine assigned to lead the other five. Wearing gaming headsets and sitting behind monitors, they work together as a fireteam to complete missions.

Hickman said the 14 custom-designed levels vary in difficulty and mission. Easier scenarios help Marines familiarize themselves with the game, while more difficult levels challenge them to collaborate and adapt under pressure.

“The goal is not to train the Marines on military protocol,” Hickman said. “It’s to help concretize some of the lessons that are already taught in the sergeant school around leadership, communication and collaboration.”

Gameplay footage shared with Military Times shows Marines clearing an office building before facing a sudden shift in mission: enemy combatants surround the building, forcing the team to move to an extraction point.

The increased pressure quickly creates chaos. Players are killed and respawned to continue the mission, forcing rapid communication and adaptation under stress.

Throughout the exercise, observers monitor player reactions, positioning and communication. Once the level is complete, a large language model, or LLM, trained with military policy, generates prompts for an after-action review.

“The goal is to get the Marines to engage in reflection and metacognition to help concretize potential learnings from the gameplay scenario,” Hickman said.

He added that players may not fully benefit from the experience unless they take time to reflect on what happened and consider how it would translate to a real-world engagement.

A review from the classroom

Master Sgt. Christine Monroig, the staff noncommissioned officer in charge at the sergeant school, said in an email to Military Times that she was initially skeptical of the program but came to see how it could benefit participants after experiencing it firsthand.

“I quickly recognized its value as an innovative training tool that complements traditional instruction by enhancing communication, decision-making, adaptability, and cognitive performance in a dynamic and engaging environment,” she wrote. “Rather than replacing existing methods, it serves as an additional capability that can further prepare Marines for the demands of future conflict.”

Monroig said she had very little experience with video games — mostly classic titles like Super Mario Bros and Sonic the Hedgehog — and limited familiarity with the concept of neuroplasticity, or the nervous system’s ability to adapt, but found that the scenarios closely aligned with warfighting principles taught at the school.

“While I cannot compare it directly to the commercial game, I can attest that the mission-focused design of the training supports the development of skills that are relevant to warfighting and small-unit leadership,” she said.

She added that the program cannot fully replicate the physical demands of live exercises, but it does create cognitive stressors that force Marines to work together and think quickly.

“One of the most valuable lessons I gained was a greater appreciation for the cognitive aspects of learning and performance,” she said. “As Marines, we are often focused on mission accomplishment and operational effectiveness, but this experience encouraged me to think more deeply about how Marines learn, adapt, and develop decision-making skills.”

Up next for the program

Currently, R-CANE is only available at the sergeant school in Quantico, where the school is equipped with 75 systems but has a capacity for 25 students.

Tracy said the deliberate rollout is tied to the program’s research goals. Each student undergoes cognitive testing before attending the course to establish a baseline and measure changes over time.

While the Marine Corps plans to expand the program to sergeant courses at other bases, such as Twentynine Palms and Camp Lejeune, Tracy said expansion will remain limited for now.

“We want to get more data before we start thinking big and asking for resources,” he said. “We have to ensure that we have a body of evidence that is rich enough and convincing enough before we make larger investments into other facets.”

Hickman said he believes video game-based learning could eventually evolve into direct military training applications, particularly for drone operations.

Rather than training on actual equipment, operators could use game-based systems that mirror real-world interfaces and physics without risking damage to costly hardware, he said.

Hickman also said expanding the program’s LLM capabilities could have applications beyond classroom gaming, particularly in after-action reviews.

He said traditional after-action reviews require a human facilitator and are usually conducted in group settings, making them difficult to scale. An LLM could provide a more flexible alternative when facilitators are unavailable.

“They have these large-language-model girlfriends. They have large-language-model tutors. They have large-language-model coaches,” Hickman said. “Here, we made a large language model after-action review facilitator.”

The long-term goal, he said, is to build an LLM capable of monitoring exercises and conducting after-action reviews not only for teams but for individual Marines as well.

“The long-term goal is to take those automated assessments from the scenario and use those as inputs in that large language model after-action review,” he said. “That way it has information about what went on so it can help guide that conversation in a more meaningful way.”

Correction: This story has been updated to include the correct modified Call of Duty video game used by Marine Corps University.

This post was originally published on this site.

June 30, 2026

Baby Boomer Wealth: How the Wealthiest Generation Stacks Up

Baby boomers make up only about 20% of the adult U.S. population, but hold roughly half of all household wealth. That’s more than Gen X, millennials, and Gen Z combined. The median boomer net worth comes in at around $432,200 in inflation-adjusted 2024 dollars, the highest of any generation measured at comparable ages.

That number puts boomers at the top of generational wealth comparisons. It’s also the midpoint of a very wide spread. It doesn’t capture Social Security income or pension value, two assets that shape retirement security more than portfolio balance alone.

Where you land in that distribution, and how your assets convert to monthly income, matters more for your plan than the headline number. Here’s where boomer wealth came from, who it bypassed, and what the numbers look like when applied to your own situation.

An older couple stands arm-in-arm from behind, looking out over a rolling countryside hill at their adult children and grandchildren, symbolizing the lasting family legacy and transfer of baby boomer wealth.

Baby Boomers Entered Old Age Wealthier Than Any Generation Before Them

By the time baby boomers reached retirement age, they had accumulated more wealth than any previous generation, even after accounting for inflation. That’s according to a 2026 Pew Research Center analysis using the latest Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), the gold standard for measuring household wealth in the U.S.

Pew held age constant, measuring each generation at the same life stage (ages 58 to 76) and comparing median net worth in 2024 dollars. The comparison isn’t skewed by how much time each generation had.

Generation	Ages at Measurement	Year Measured	Median Net Worth
Greatest Generation	58–76	1983	$185,300
Silent Generation	58–76	2001	$335,900
Baby Boomers	58–76	2022	$432,200

Source: Pew Research Center analysis of Survey of Consumer Finances, February 2026. All figures in 2024 dollars.

Boomers arrived 29% ahead of the Silent Generation at the same life stage, and 133% ahead of the Greatest Generation. If you built wealth through your working years, the data describes the conditions you moved through as much as the choices you made.

The SCF doesn’t capture the present value of defined benefit pensions or projected Social Security income. For many boomers, those are two of the most important financial assets they have. Neither shows up in the $432,200.

Baby Boomers Hold More Than Half of All U.S. Household Wealth

Baby boomers hold approximately $85–88 trillion in household wealth, according to the Federal Reserve’s Distributional Financial Accounts (DFA). That’s about half of the total U.S. wealth stock, despite the generation making up roughly 20% of the adult population.

Generation	Share of U.S. Household Wealth	Approximate Total
Baby Boomers	~50–51%	$85–88 trillion
Gen X	~26%	~$46 trillion
Millennials + Gen Z	~11%	~$19 trillion

Source: Federal Reserve Distributional Financial Accounts. Figures as of 2024.

The per-household average across all boomers is around $1.6 million. The median is $432,200.

That spread is telling: a small number of very high-net-worth households pull the mean far above where most boomers land. The median reflects the middle of the distribution, which makes it the more useful benchmark for most households. Among boomers, the top 10% hold 71% of the generation’s total wealth.

That concentration tracks closely with education. At every education level below a bachelor’s degree, boomers ended up with less wealth than their Silent Generation counterparts at the same ages. Only college-educated boomers outpaced prior generations.

Education Level	Greatest Generation (1983)	Silent Generation (2001)	Baby Boomers (2022)
Less than HS diploma	$100,300	$125,100	$77,200
HS diploma	$207,200	$280,500	$239,800
Some college, no degree	$363,600	$527,700	$330,500
Bachelor’s or higher	$605,200	$989,000	$1,077,200

Source: Pew Research Center analysis of Survey of Consumer Finances, February 2026. Median net worth of households headed by 58- to 76-year-olds, in 2024 dollars.

The median is where the typical boomer sits. But even $432,200 can fund a solid retirement or fall short, depending on how it’s structured and what the rest of the picture looks like.

How Did Baby Boomers Accumulate So Much Wealth?

Boomers grew their wealth through a combination of real estate timing, decades of equity market exposure, and labor market conditions that are unlikely to repeat. Discipline and thrift alone don’t explain it.

Start with real estate. Boomers bought homes when prices were lower and held them through decades of sustained appreciation. Home equity represents about 22.7% of baby boomer assets. Geography and timing drove that run-up more than financial planning. If you bought in the 1970s or 1980s and held, that appreciation came to you by default.

Equity market exposure runs a close second. Boomers entered the workforce as 401(k) plans were expanding. Those who invested through their peak earning years benefited from one of the longest bull markets in modern history. Compounding over 30 to 40 years is a structural advantage that shorter time horizons can’t replicate.

Many boomers also have access to defined benefit pension plans that are now rare. Pension income doesn’t register in SCF net worth figures, but it supports retirement stability in a way that a portfolio alone has to work harder to replicate.

Then there’s the early-career drag that boomers avoided. Student debt burdens were smaller, and long-term employment was more stable. Both allowed wealth to compound sooner. Those starting conditions look quite different for the generations that followed.

Millennials Are Richer at Their Age Than Boomers Were. The Pie Just Grew Faster.

Adjusted for inflation, millennials and Gen Z are building more wealth per person than boomers did at the same life stage. That tends to get buried in the headlines.

St. Louis Fed analysis of U.S. household wealth finds that controlling for inflation, younger generations hold approximately $1.35 for every $1 boomers held at an equivalent age. The dollar figures at the same life stage make that clearer than any ratio.

Generation	Average Wealth at Age 34 (2024 dollars)
Baby Boomers (measured 1989)	$257,000
Gen X (measured 2007)	$283,000
Millennials + Gen Z (measured 2024)	$347,000

Source: St. Louis Fed, The State of U.S. Household Wealth, June 2025. All figures inflation-adjusted to 2024 dollars, compared at equivalent life stage (average age 34).

Boomer homes and equity positions have appreciated for decades. The base grew faster than any generation can add to through income and savings. In other words, the floor went up faster than the ladder.

Researchers estimate around $124 trillion will transfer from older Americans to younger generations through 2048, with boomers and older generations supplying nearly $100 trillion of that total.

The Median Boomer Net Worth Looks Solid Until You Run the Retirement Math

A median net worth of $432,200 sounds like a reasonable foundation. At a 4% withdrawal rate, it generates approximately $17,300 per year. For most households, that’s a supplement. Social Security covers the rest for most boomers, and for many, it’s the primary income source in retirement. It’s also not in the net worth figure, which makes the dollar figure look more self-sufficient than it is.

Home equity creates the same problem. A significant portion of boomer net worth lives there. Home equity doesn’t convert to monthly income without selling, downsizing, or tapping a reverse mortgage. Net worth and liquid retirement assets are different numbers.

Start with the separation: calculate your net worth and break out liquid assets from home equity.

Model your Social Security timing before you claim. Claiming at 62 versus 70 can represent tens of thousands of dollars over a 20-year retirement. The right answer depends on your health, your other income sources, and your projected benefit.

If you’re within 10 years of retirement, stress-test your withdrawal rate against a bad first decade. A plan that holds up under average conditions may have difficulty weathering sequence-of-returns risk. Knowing how your plan holds under pressure, before you’re living it, is a different kind of confidence than hoping conditions stay average.

The Boldin Planner lets you run those stress scenarios against your specific numbers, including Social Security timing, withdrawal sequencing, and what a down decade early in retirement would cost you. That’s how you know your plan is ready for anything.

Frequently Asked Questions About Baby Boomer Net Worth

What is the average baby boomer net worth?

The mean baby boomer net worth is approximately $1.6 million, but the median is $432,200 in 2024 dollars, according to Pew Research Center analysis of Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances data. The difference is significant: the top 10% of boomer households hold roughly 71% of all boomer wealth, pulling the mean well above where most boomers land. The median is the more accurate benchmark for a typical household.

How did baby boomers accumulate so much wealth?

Boomer wealth accumulated through real estate appreciation, long-term equity market exposure, and access to defined benefit pension plans that are now rare. Boomers bought homes when prices were lower and held them through decades of appreciation, and their working years overlapped with a multi-decade equity bull market. Carrying less student debt than later generations also allowed wealth to compound and grow earlier.

Do baby boomers have more wealth than millennials?

As a generation, boomers hold roughly $85–88 trillion compared to millennials and Gen Z’s combined $19 trillion, according to Federal Reserve Distributional Financial Accounts data. Adjusted for inflation, though, millennials and Gen Z are building more wealth per person at the same life stage than boomers did. Boomers hold more in total because their assets, accumulated over decades, have appreciated faster than any generation can add to through savings alone.

What percentage of U.S. wealth do baby boomers control?

Baby boomers control approximately 50–51% of total U.S. household wealth, according to Federal Reserve Distributional Financial Accounts data. They represent roughly 20% of the adult population, so their share runs at more than double their population weight. That dominance comes from home equity and equity holdings accumulated over several decades of sustained appreciation.

Is $432,000 enough to retire on?

At a 4% withdrawal rate, $432,000 produces about $17,300 per year in portfolio income. For most people, that’s a supplement rather than a full retirement income. Most boomers depend on Social Security to cover a significant share of their expenses, which is why Social Security timing, spending rate, and housing decisions matter as much as net worth when evaluating whether a retirement plan is funded.

The post Baby Boomer Wealth: How the Wealthiest Generation Stacks Up appeared first on Boldin.

This post was originally published on this site

June 30, 2026

Select Navy reserve aviators eligible for up to $40,000 in annual bonuses
The U.S. Navy last week announced a slew of annual financial incentives for U.S. Navy reserve aviators in an effort to retain their services.

As part of the service’s fiscal 2026 Training and Administration of the Reserve Aviation Department Head Retention program, select aviators serving in department head billets may be eligible for annual retention bonuses of up to $40,000, according to a June 26 NAVADMIN.

“A vital part of developing a total force strategy and maintaining combat readiness is to provide appropriate incentives to retain skilled personnel for critical naval aviation enterprise billets,” the message said.

The following jobs may be eligible for the listed retention bonuses:
- Helicopter mine countermeasures operations (HM) pilot: $40,000 per year
- Helicopter sea combat (HSC) pilot: $30,000 per year
- Helicopter maritime strike (HSM) pilot: $35,000 per year
- Helicopter training (HT) pilot: $25,000 per year
- Electronic attack squadron (VAQ) pilot: $40,000 per year
- Electronic attack squadron (VAQ) naval flight officer: $40,000 per year
- Airborne command and control (VAW) pilot: $40,000 per year
- Airborne command and control (VAW) naval flight officer: $15,000 per year
- Fleet logistic multi-mission (VRM) pilot: $35,000 per year
- Fighter squadron composite (VFC) pilot: $40,000 per year
- Fighter squadron composite (VFC) naval flight officer: $30,000 per year
- Patrol squadron and unmanned patrol squadron (VP/VUP) pilot: $35,000 per year
- Patrol squadron and unmanned patrol squadron (VP/VUP) naval flight officer: $30,000 per year
- Fleet logistics support squadron (VR) pilot: $35,000 per year
- Fixed wing training for jet-powered aircraft [VT(JET)] pilot: $40,000 per year
- Fixed wing training for propeller-powered aircraft [VT(PROP)] pilot and naval flight officer: $40,000 per year
Signed contracts must be received by the Training and Administration of the Reserve Distribution and Augmentation by Aug. 26 of this year, according to the NAVADMIN.

More information on the retention initiative can be found here.
This post was originally published on this site.
June 29, 2026
Anthony Tata assumes oversight of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

Families of missing-in-action service members from the Vietnam war were issued a promise on June 25 from the new overseer of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency to look into budget cuts that have canceled MIA searches in Vietnam and Laos.

Former Army Brig. Gen. Anthony Tata, now undersecretary of defense for Personnel and Readiness, was initially met with skepticism on the budget cuts at the annual DPAA briefings for the families of those lost during the Vietnam era. Tata sought to mend fences, however, by pledging to work for restoration of about $40 million in DPAA cuts as proposed in a bill currently before Congress.

Tata first had to convince a skeptical audience member who questioned whether he would follow through on his promises.

“I’m up here telling you — please let me go look at the legislation. That’s my commitment,” he said. “I absolutely support increasing the budget for DPAA. The more money, the more questions we can answer for you.”

Tata, who previously commanded the 82^nd and 101^st Airborne Divisions, and was deputy commanding general of the 10^th Mountain Division in Afghanistan, was referring to a bill introduced by Sen. Deb Fisher (R-Neb.) to restore $40 million in funding to the DPAA. The bill was attached to the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act.

Budget cuts and fuel shortages caused by the war in Iran already resulted in the cancellation in April of searches for the missing in Laos.

“Due to significant impacts resulting from fuel shortages in Laos, DPAA was forced to cancel four recovery teams that were planned for April 27 through June 10,” a DPAA release at the time stated.

Tata sought to assure the audience of family members that he had the “full unmitigated support” of President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in his new mission, one in which former Army Maj. Gen. Kelly McKeague, director of the DPAA, will report directly to him.

“I will do anything possible to help Kelly and his team,” said Tata, whose past inflammatory remarks, including calling former President Barack Obama a “terrorist leader,” led to the withdrawal of his nomination to the post of under secretary of Defense for Policy during the first Trump administration.

McKeague said the main thing Tata could do would be to lobby for increased funding for the DPAA budget, which has gone from $185 million in Fiscal Year 2025 to $167 million in FY2026, and is projected to be capped at $160 million in FY2027, according too DPAA.

The lack of funding has forced DPAA to cut the number of recovery and investigative teams operating in Vietnam from 27 to seven; from 13 to five in Laos; and from three to one in Cambodia, a DPAA release said.

The $40 million DPAA was seeking from the Fisher bill was a pittance compared to the size of the overall defense budget, which was expected to come in at upwards of $1 trillion, McKeague said.

“It’s chump change, it’s peanuts,” McKeague said. The added funding, meanwhile, would allow him to boost the number of recovery teams.

Tata also touched on another issue that has stymied and infuriated families of the missing for decades — the red tape blocking the declassification of records that could hold information on their loved ones.

Tata said there was “very little reason” why the military “should be withholding any records. I’m super committed” to getting answers, he told the audience.

Bipartisan legislation has been introduced in the House and Senate — the “Bring Home Our Heroes Act” — to overcome the bureaucratic hurdles that often make access to information difficult for families.

According to language in the bill, the legislation would “establish an independent Missing Armed Forces and Civilian Personnel Records Review Board to identify missing personnel records, facilitate the transmission and disclosure of these records, and review any decisions by federal agencies to postpone declassification for purposes of protecting sensitive classified material.”

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) in a statement noted that the “bipartisan Bring Our Heroes Home Act takes meaningful steps to ensure that vital records are preserved, responsibly declassified and made accessible so that families can finally gain the clarity they deserve.”

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June 29, 2026
Military Sealift Command ships makes history with rare combat award

Since its creation during the World War II, the Presidential Unit Citation has only been bestowed roughly 100 times — the through line being some of the most elite units and daring operations in U.S. military history. Now, an oil replenishment ship will join the ranks alongside storied units such as the Blackhorse Regiment and receive the nation’s highest military honor for unit-level combat valor.

Next month the USNS Kanawha, a Henry J. Kaiser-class fleet replenishment oiler, and the USNS William McLean, a dry cargo and ammunition ship, under Military Sealift Command, will receive the PUC for their support of the Ford Carrier Strike Group during Operation Epic Fury.

During its 204-day deployment, the ship, named after the Kanawha River in West Virginia, operated in the U.S. 4th, 5th and 6th Fleets, delivering more than 17 million gallons of fuel, 3,000 pallets of supplies and performing 113 replenishments to 29 U.S. and coalition vessels, according to the Defense Department.

Described by the department as a “strategic enabler,” the floating warehouse sustained Operations Southern Spear and Epic Fury before returning to Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, on May 16.

The ceremony, set for mid-July, will make Kanawha and the William McClean the first auxiliary ships to receive the award, and the first in Military Sealift Command’s 77-year history.

The MSC operates approximately 125 civilian-crewed vessels that help sustain the U.S. Navy and DoD. While owned by the Navy, according to the MSC, its vessels are non-commissioned auxiliary ships crewed primarily by Civil Service Mariners or commercial contractors rather than active-duty sailors.

Kanawha and William McLean’s sailors stand alongside the Ford Carrier Strike Group, which collectively received the PUC last month for its actions during Operation Epic Fury.

“The Kanawha was underway for seven long months supporting [the USS] Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group and the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group,” said Navy Capt. Elizabeth A. Nelson, Military Sealift Command Atlantic commodore, upon the vessel’s return to port. “Kanawha’s performance exemplifies how MSC’s combat logistics force powers modern naval operations, directly fueling U.S. Navy readiness at sea.”

Oilers like Kanawha are part of the MSC’s combat logistics force and are the “backbone of sustained operations at sea,” according to the Defense Department.

With this award, the two auxiliary ships will join the ranks of elite Army Rangers on D-Day; multiple Army units during the Battle of the Bulge; the 1st Cavalry Division for its performance in Pleiku Province/Ia Drang Valley campaigns; and the Navy SEALs who killed Osama Bin Laden during Operation Neptune Spear in 2011.

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June 29, 2026
20-year trove of shipboard assault cases now public after data request

Of 116 Naval Criminal Investigative Service case files opened into allegations of sexual assault and misconduct onboard Military Sealift Command ships over a 20-year period, just five show that the case concluded at court-martial or in civilian court.

That information is now public and searchable as a database due to a records request from the Maritime Legal Aid Foundation, which represents those who report being victims of shipboard harassment and abuse. Launched earlier this month, the archive, which covers all relevant cases between 2000 and 2022, shows a broad range of alleged misconduct — most of which has never before been made public. Most of the cases, as far as records show, ended with administrative discipline, or none at all.

Among the cases unearthed in the records trove are a 2018 incident in which a government-contractor engineer onboard the hospital ship USNS Mercy exposed his genitals to the crew of a passing Navy helicopter, later acknowledging to investigators he had “just whipped it out.” Documents show that NCIS found no criminal statute applied and the engineer received a 30-day suspension.

Another case, from 2019, involved a Merchant Marine midshipman — a college student — onboard the dry cargo ship USNS Richard E. Byrd. The midshipman alleged that a navigator repeatedly subjected him to unwanted touching, including around the buttocks and groin. Though the midshipman reported the incidents, the alleged offender denied any wrongdoing, and prosecutors declined to pursue the case, prompting NCIS to close it. It’s not clear from the file if Military Sealift Command ever took administrative action to address the navigator’s behavior.

Some cases in the archive appear borderline, such as the crew member who claimed another crew member’s help with pull-ups led to grazing contact that made her uncomfortable. The command declined to prosecute in that case.

Many clearly emphasize the limited power and recourse accusers have in a domain — Military Sealift Command — that tends to occupy a gap between military and civilian legal authority.

In one 2016 file, a civilian mariner assigned to the amphibious command ship USS Mt. Whitney reported that another civilian had grabbed her, groped her breast and bitten her ear in an attack from behind. The U.S. Department of Justice declined to prosecute, and while the file said ship command was considering taking action, it’s not clear that any was ever taken.

Ryan Melogy, the founder of Maritime Legal Aid Foundation and creator of the database, said in an interview that the archive confirmed what individual cases he’d worked on had shown: that the path to justice for victims isn’t clear, and they’re often on their own, without a victims’ advocate or counsel to guide them and champion them.

Even NCIS, he said, maintains an adversarial relationship with the alleged victim, investigating the accuser’s story as aggressively as the accused.

“You’re trapped. You get assaulted in not only where you live, but where you’re working, not only where you’re working, but where your whole career is,” Melogy said. “You don’t read it in any of these files, ‘we talked to the victim’s lawyer, or we talked to the victim’s advocate.’ It’s just none of that. It’s like there’s nobody.”

Melogy is one of the attorneys representing Elsie Dominguez, an engineer who alleges she was violently raped in 2021 by the civilian captain of the expeditionary fast transport USNS Carson City while the ship was in port. The civilian captain surrendered his license last year, but does not face active criminal charges. In seeking justice in the assault, Dominguez was told her only recourse was to file a worker’s compensation claim with the U.S. Department of Labor as the harm she had suffered was in the performance of her duties onboard the ship.

While Melogy acknowledges sexual assault and misconduct cases are inherently difficult to prosecute, he hopes additional public attention will drive accountability and make it harder for cases to disappear without appropriate action. He also notes that a number of cases involve cadets — students who are on ships as part of their education and are particularly vulnerable.

One 2013 case that did enter the public eye via a short local newspaper story involved a Navy reservist charged with filming female cadets through vent openings in their cabin doors. The offender was finally sentenced to probation in 2016.

“Who knows who’s going to see it,” Melogy said of the new casefile database. “People who are involved in these cases might see it and they might have some insight … or have some additional information. You never know what could happen when you take these kinds of files and bring them out, and let people look at them.”

This post was originally published on this site.

June 29, 2026
Where Fine Dining Meets the Open Sea: A James Beard Foundation Culinary Cruise

One of the most popular aspects of Windstar’s partnership with the James Beard Foundation is its chef-led culinary cruises.

Onboard, these chefs, all part of the James Beard Foundation, lead chef demonstrations, host a culinary evening in all the ships’ restaurants, and work with the ships’ culinary team to craft distinctive new recipes. And guest chef-led market visits in port are among the most popular off-the-ship activities. Later that day, the ingredients that guests and the chefs have chosen find their way into a festive galley buffet where all aboard can taste and sample.

Curious to hear what it’s like for the guest chefs who participate, we reached out to Jennifer Hill Booker, who traveled to Northern Europe on Star Legend. She shared some insights and experiences about what it’s like to host these voyages that go way beyond the actual activities’ menu.

The owner of Bauhaus Biergarten in Springdale, Arkansas, she headed to northern Europe’s Baltic. Her restaurant is a German- style biergarten that specializes in imported German and European beers and authentic German cuisine, so she was particularly excited about making new discoveries on the 11-day voyage from Stockholm to Copenhagen, with calls at Helsinki, Estonia’s Tallinn, Latvia’s Riga, Sweden’s Visby, Lithuania’s Klaipeda, Poland’s Gdansk and Germany’s Warnemunde.

The assignment:

I hosted two full-on cooking demonstrations, led guests on a tour of the local market in Tallinn and prepared a tasting menu from the food we bought there. I also created a chef’s dinner that we served in all three restaurants and loved meeting and greeting everyone throughout the night. Best dish? I absolutely loved the braised short ribs with pimento cheese grits and tobacco onion. Also on the menu was snapper papillote poofed up with the steam before presenting it. It was a dramatic reveal and fun to see how guests responded to the spectacle.

Chef Jennifer Hill Booker demonstrates how to plate a beautiful dish./Jennifer Hill Booker

Favorite moments:

Chef Jennifer Hill Booker gathers with friends onboard Windstar’s Star Legend on her James Beard Foundation culinary cruise

II really enjoyed simply meeting and chatting with our guests and the ship’s chefs. Windstar Cruises will spoil you for any other kind of cruise experience. The staff, always happy, was so engaging helpful and gracious, I felt like part of the crew and also part of the guests.

One of my favorite parts of each day was heading to the lounge every day at 5 p.m. for trivia. Then we’d change for dinner and have a pre-dinner cocktail, connecting with other guests along the way. That was really the best down time every evening.

Tell us about the market where you led your chef’s tour:

Tallinn’s Central Market really surprised me. From the outside, it looked rustic and outdoorsy and yet inside, it was gleaming and contemporary. We bought so much! Cheese, produce, seafood, chocolate, sausage, and patisserie. We also brought back pesto, pickled herring, and fresh cherries….

Chef Jennifer Hill Booker hosted a tour of the Central Market, in Estonia’s Tallinn./Jennifer Hill booker

Was there a teachable moment in any of your cooking demos (either for you or for travelers?):

Onboard, Chef Jennifer Hill Booker shares there were teachable moments for guests — and for herself./Jennifer Hill Booker

During my cooking demonstrations, my style is informal and interactive, and in both cases I asked for a volunteer to assist. For guests, one teachable moment was, when demonstrating a recipe for citrus brined shrimp with sun dried tomatoes, Rob, my helper-guest and I had an impromptu competition – on plating. The visual appeal – after all you eat with your eyes first so plating, or arranging the presentation – is an important part of the meal. In the end, mine had height and color and garnish; his was just three pieces of food flat on the plate. We all had fun with it.

For me: Corporate Executive Chef Georg is an exacting German, especially when it comes to measuring ingredients for a dish. And all of Windstar’s recipes were in metric, not imperial measurement. “Freedom measurements,” as he called out the way many American chefs cook by eyeballing ingredients, “are not exact.”

Which ports did you like best?

My first favorite was Finland’s Helsinki, a cute city right at the wharf. A lot of locals were on vacation catching the ferry to the island where Korkeasaari Zoo is located. Bordering Helsinki’s South Harbour are two markets: The historic Old Market Hall (Vanha Kauppahalli), features locally prepared dishes and has cute little cafes inside. Just around the corner is the Hakaniemi Market Square, outdoors, and it also sells freshly prepared Finnish traditional dishes but as well has some really interesting souvenirs made of reindeer bones and wood, like handcrafted wooden buttons.

In Germany’s Warnemunde, an idyllic seaside town, we hit all the grocery stores. I love to look at butcher shops and bought a chunk of smoked bacon with a rind. It was very different from the bacon we buy in America; it was lean and the fat was creamy. The running joke was I was going to try to sneak it home, but we stayed in Copenhagen a few extra days after the cruise and I cooked it there.

We tasted beer in every port of call, sampled bratwurst, and checked out all the chocolate and coffee we could. The countries that make up both the Baltic region and Scandinavia have become very focused on farm to table ingredients and the produce was so fresh and vibrant it was even better than the best farmer’s market at home.

The trip has inspired me to import a couple of new beer discoveries, and I adored the Danish “Smørrebrød,” open-faced sandwiches on sturdy grain bread with a shrimp or fish topping. We may well introduce a pop-up at our biergarten in Arkansas and serve them there.

Chef Jennifer Hill Booker recently led a James Beard Foundation culinary cruise and highly recommends street food hot dogs in Copenhagen./Adobe

And if you visit Copenhagen, you’ve got to try the incredible Danish hotdogs. I also recommend a visit to Magasin, the city’s historic department store. For culinary enthusiasts, we loved Mad&Vin, its vibrant food market in the basement, and the Danish cafes on the top floor.

One last question: Any Windstar advice you want to share?

You’ve got to incorporate Windstar’s fabulous laundry service into your travel budget. I felt so pampered, and loved how it was delivered, neatly tucked into boxes and packages (or in hanging bags). It’s the ultimate luxury, a real game changer.

The post Where Fine Dining Meets the Open Sea: A James Beard Foundation Culinary Cruise appeared first on Windstar Cruises Travel Blog.

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June 29, 2026