SrA. Colton Read and his wife Jessica got blind-sided with a pleasant surprise Wednesday when they showed up at a housing community in New Braunfels, Tex., only to discover that they were the recipients of a new, mortgage-free home. Read was serving with the 9th Intelligence Squadron at Beale AFB, Calif., when complications from gall bladder surgery led to the amputation of his legs. He and Jessica have been living at Fort Sam Houston, a part of Joint Base San Antonio, while he rehabs at the base’s Center for the Intrepid. “It’s unbelievable. It means the world to me,” said a grateful Read as he toured his new 1.1-acre lot, reported San Antonio’s KENS TV station. Operation Finally Home donated the home. This non-profit organization honors wounded and disabled servicemen, veterans, and widows of fallen soldiers by giving them new homes.
Secretary of Defense Austin Lloyd III met with his counterparts from Australia, Japan and the Philippines to discuss bolstering defense ties on May 2. The discussion included plans for joint F-35 exercises with Japan and Australia in the coming years.