President Obama will present the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military decoration, to Ryan M. Pitts, a former Army staff sergeant, on July 21, announced the White House on Monday. Obama will recognize Pitts for his conspicuous gallantry during an engagement with insurgents in Wanat in northeastern Afghanistan on July 13, 2008. On that day, Pitts was manning an observation post when his outpost came under attack. Despite taking grenade shrapnel in both legs and his left arm, and loss of blood, Pitts continued to fight and defend his position and his teammates, allowing US forces to hold the observation post and turn the battle’s tide, according to an Army release. Pitts will be the ninth living recipient of the Medal of Honor for actions in Iraq or Afghanistan. He currently lives in Nashua, N.H.
NASA Boss: Race to Moon Has National Security Stakes
Sept. 15, 2026
NASA is pushing hard to get astronauts back to the moon by 2028—and the urgency is driven in no small part by the national security implications of doing so before China does, Administrator Jared Isaacman said Sept. 15.
