The Air Force will award the Silver Star posthumously to Capt. Matthew Roland, a special tactics officer who was killed in an Aug. 25, 2015, insider attack in Afghanistan. Roland, who was deployed from the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron at Hurlburt Field, Fla., and SSgt. Forrest Sibley, a combat controller with the 21st Special Tactics Squadron at Pope Army Airfield, N.C., were killed when their vehicle was attacked by two men dressed as Afghan soldiers at a checkpoint near Camp Antonik. The two airmen had a combined 12 years of service and deployed a total of seven times. Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James on Monday said Roland will be presented with the Silver Star “very, very soon.”
House lawmakers unveiled a new reconciliation package July 15 with $60 billion for defense, $290 billion less than the Pentagon has been seeking, a day after a Senate vote to advance the annual defense policy bill failed—developments that show the perilous state of the Pentagon’s ambitious plans for fiscal 2027.