Konstantin Toropin, Author at The Rapid City Post

FILE - Recruits from Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego sing the Marine's Hymn during a baseball game between the San Diego Padres and the Colorado Rockies, Sept. 8, 2019, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)

Marines say they hit recruiting goals and point to ‘unapologetic’ standards

September 29, 2025

The Marine Corps is now touting that it hit its recruiting goals this year. It had stayed quiet this summer as the Army, Navy and Air Force announced they had met their targets, with encouragement from the Trump administration. The Marine general in charge of the effort has told The Associated Press that the politics of the moment have had no impact on Marine recruiting. Lt. Gen. William Bowers says the Marines appeals “to a certain type of young man or woman — that really doesn’t change with the economic winds.” He also says the Marines haven’t altered their entry requirements and are “unapologetic” about their standards.

FILE - Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a ceremony at the Pentagon to commemorate the 24rd anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Sept. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

Hegseth says Wounded Knee soldiers will keep their Medals of Honor

September 25, 2025

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced that he has decided that the 20 soldiers who received the Medal of Honor for the actions in 1890 at Wounded Knee will keep their awards. He announced it in a video posted to social media Thursday evening. Hegseth’s predecessor, Lloyd Austin, ordered the review of the awards in 2024 after a Congressional recommendation in the 2022 defense bill. This was itself a reflection of efforts by some lawmakers to rescind the awards for those who participated in the bloody massacre on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation near Wounded Knee Creek.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during the POW/MIA National Recognition Day Ceremony at the Pentagon, Friday, Sept. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Pentagon adds exemptions to requirement for all troops to get the flu shot

September 24, 2025

The Pentagon has stepped back from the policy that requires all troops get the flu shot every year by introducing exemptions for reservists and proclaiming that the shot is only necessary in some circumstances for all service members. That’s according to a memo written by Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg on May 29 and obtained by The Associated Press. The memo says the Pentagon decided reserve troops now will need to be on active duty for 30 days or more before being required to get an annual flu shot. It also says the military will no longer be paying for reservists or National Guard members to get the vaccine on their own time.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a ceremony to commemorate the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, at the Pentagon in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Pentagon says troops can only be exempt from shaving their facial hair for a year

September 17, 2025

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered that troops who need an exemption from shaving their facial hair for longer than a year should now be kicked out of the service. Hegseth says in an Aug. 20 memo made public Monday that commanders are still able to issue service members exemptions from shaving, but they will now have to come with a medical treatment plan. Troops who still need treatment after a year will be separated from service, the memo says. The memo is silent on what treatments the military would offer for troops affected by the new policy or if it will front the cost for those treatments.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth listens as President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Sept. 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Senate Democrats raise concerns over Pentagon plan to use military lawyers as immigration judges

September 16, 2025

A group of Democratic senators say they are deeply concerned that a Pentagon plan to allow military lawyers to work as temporary immigration judges will violate a ban on using service members for law enforcement and affect the military justice system. They also have concerns that pulling lawyers away from the military justice system will have negative effects on recent reforms and prosecutions. The letter signed by 12 Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee was sent to the military services Monday. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth approved sending up to 600 military lawyers to the Justice Department to serve as temporary immigration judges. The Trump administration has used the military in broad ways, particularly in its immigration crackdown.

FILE - Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, smiles during a walkthrough on stage during the second day of 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum, July 16, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

Navy reverses demotion of Rep. Ronny Jackson, former White House doctor

September 3, 2025

Rep. Ronny Jackson has announced that the Navy has restored his retired rank of rear admiral. This overturns a 2022 demotion that followed a scathing investigation that found major issues with his behavior while he was the top White House physician. The Texas Republican on Wednesday posted a June 13 letter from Navy Secretary John Phelan saying he had reinstated Jackson to the retired rank of a one-star admiral following a “review of all applicable reports and references.” The Navy confirmed the move. Following his 2019 retirement from the Navy, Jackson was retroactively demoted in the wake of a yearslong investigation into his behavior.

Members of the District of Columbia National Guard standing next to an MATV vehicle scan the area as they patrol outside Union Station, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

DC National Guard troops have orders extended through December, official says

September 3, 2025

District of Columbia National Guard troops who are deployed as part of President Donald Trump’s federal law enforcement intervention in the nation’s capital have had their orders extended through December. That’s according to a National Guard official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. The official says the main purpose of the extension is to ensure that any D.C. Guard members out on the streets of Washington will continue to have uninterrupted benefits and pay. The official says that while the extension doesn’t mean that all 950 D.C. Guard troops now deployed will serve until the end of December, it’s a strong indication that their role isn’t winding down anytime soon.

With the White House in the distance, National Guard troops patrol the Mall as part of President Donald Trump's order to impose federal law enforcement in the nation's capital, in Washington, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

As Trump threatens more Guard troops in US cities, here’s what the law allows

August 29, 2025

Since sending the National Guard to Los Angeles and Washington, President Donald Trump has openly mused about sending troops to some of the nation’s most Democratic cities — including Chicago and Baltimore — where he claims they are needed to crack down on crime. The threats to expand a federal intervention have legal experts and some military officials raising concerns that Trump is considering novel ways to use National Guard troops in American cities that could set up conflicts not seen since the civil rights era. If Trump wants the freedom to use the National Guard in Chicago, the easiest legal path is to invoke the Insurrection Act. He also could federalize and send D.C. Guard to another state.

FILE - Adm. Daryl Caudle, commander of the United States Forces Command, arrives to ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange, May 26, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

New top admiral takes over the US Navy amid military firings

August 25, 2025

Adm. Daryl Caudle has taken over as the Navy’s highest-ranking officer. It ends a six-month vacancy created by the Trump administration’s firing of his predecessor. Caudle became chief of naval operations Monday as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ousted a growing list of military leaders with little or no explanation. Hegseth fired Caudle’s predecessor, Adm. Lisa Franchetti, without explanation in February. Neither Caudle nor Navy Secretary John Phelan addressed the ouster at a swearing-in ceremony Monday, though Franchetti was among several former chiefs of naval operations in attendance. Caudle showed his agreement with an often-repeated Trump administration phrase, saying, “Peace through strength works.”

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks during a press briefing with President Donald Trump in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Monday, Aug. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

New Air Force policy denies transgender troops hearings before they’re discharged

August 15, 2025

The Air Force says in a new memo that transgender airmen ousted under a recent Trump administration directive will no longer have the chance to argue before a board of their peers for the right to continue serving their country. The memo says military separation boards cannot independently decide whether to keep or discharge transgender airmen and instead “must recommend separation of the member” if the airman has a diagnosis of gender dysphoria. That’s when a person’s biological sex doesn’t match up with their gender identity. Military legal experts advising transgender troops describe the policy as unlawful and fear it could serve as a blueprint across the services.

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Monday, Aug. 11, 2025, in Washington, as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Attorney General Pam Bondi look on. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Trump’s order to deploy troops in DC is his latest use of the National Guard in cities

August 11, 2025

President Donald Trump has ordered 800 National Guard members to help law enforcement fight crime in Washington. The Army said Monday that only 100 to 200 soldiers will be on the city’s streets at any time and current plans have the troops supporting police rather than conducting law enforcement themselves. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters that Guard members will be “flowing into the streets of Washington in the coming week.” The deployment is just the latest example of Trump sending the National Guard into cities to support immigration enforcement or fight crime over the objection of local and state officials.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth prepares to give a television interview outside the White House Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Hegseth reposts video on social media featuring pastors saying women shouldn’t be allowed to vote

August 8, 2025

The man who oversees the nation’s military has reposted a video on X, formerly Twitter, about a Christian nationalist church that included various pastors saying women should no longer be allowed to vote and should “submit” to their husbands. The extraordinary repost from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was made Thursday night. It illustrates his deep and personal connection to a Christian nationalist pastor with extreme views on the role of religion and women. In the post, Hegseth commented on a report by CNN examining Doug Wilson, cofounder of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches. The report featured various pastors of the denomination advocating the repeal of women’s right to vote from the Constitution and parishioners saying that women should “submit” to their husbands.

FILE - A Confederate Memorial is seen in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Dec. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf, File)

Restoration of torn-down Confederate monument will cost $10 million over 2 years, military says

August 6, 2025

A U.S. Army official says restoring a memorial to the Confederacy that was removed from Arlington National Cemetery at the recommendation of Congress will cost roughly $10 million total. It was the latest development in a Trump administration effort to combat what it calls “erasing American history.” Once back in the cemetery, the monument will also feature panels nearby that will offer context about its history. That’s according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity about a project still in progress. The Pentagon expects it to take about two years to restore the monument to its original site.

Konstantin Toropin.