The Air Force has awarded Bronze Star medals to three explosive ordnance disposal specialists at Hurlburt Field, Fla. They are SMSgt. Marin Cortez, SSgt. Brad Ferguson, and SSgt. Brian Shepherd. All three supported the Army’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, in Iraq last year. Cortez led an EOD flight covering 571 square miles, while Ferguson and Shepherd served as team leaders, eliminating numerous improvised explosive devices and weapons caches. (Hurlburt report by TSgt. Angela Shepherd)
The Pentagon’s cost estimate for the Iran War has risen to $37.5 billion, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a congressional committee July 21—and without emergency supplemental funding, the military will have to “curtail” training to cover those costs, he added.