Congress is still waiting for the Pentagon’s National Guard and Reserves strategic plan required by the 2009 defense authorization act. The plan, which was to take into account recommendations made in 2008 by the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves, was due April 1, 2009. At a May 12 Senate Armed Services personnel panel hearing, chairman Sen. James Webb (D-Va.) reminded Dennis McCarthy, Pentagon reserve affairs chief, that his predecessor had promised the report more than a year ago. Webb said, “Despite numerous requests for this report, we still have not received it.” McCarthy replied that he had prepared “a new report, different entirely” because he realized there hadn’t been much progress on “substantive implementation.” He said the new report is “being staffed in the Pentagon right now” and should, he is “hopeful,” be on its way to Congress “within the month.”
Gene Smith, Former POW and AFA Chair, Dies at 91
Jan. 19, 2026
Lt. Col. Richard “Gene” Smith, who overcame five and a half years as a prisoner of war in the notorious Hanoi Hilton from 1967 until 1973, died Jan. 16. He was one day short of his 91st birthday.
