Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University earlier this month bestowed an honorary degree to Maj. Brad Funk, an instructor pilot at Sheppard AFB, Tex., who was killed May 1 in a T-38 crash on the base. The Times Record News of Wichita Falls, Tex., reported June 7 that Funk received a posthumous master of aeronautical science degree with honors during the 2008 commencement ceremony at the university’s Sheppard campus on June 6. Funk, 35, was working on his master’s degree at Emory-Riddle the time of his death. The T-38 crash also took the life of 2nd Lt. Alec Littler, a student pilot.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Sept. 5 to rename the Department of Defense as the Department of War, a move that has heightened the ongoing debate over the White House’s legal authorities and the role of the military in the world and at home.