Starting Jan. 2, interested racers may register their intent to participate in the new Armed Forces Series Challenge, an undertaking that involves completing five service-led races: the Coast Guard Marathon, the Air Force Marathon, the Army Ten-Miler, the Marine Corps Marathon and the Space Force T-Minus 10-Miler.

After completing their final race, participants are awarded a special Armed Forces Series Challenge medal.

The races, which are open to the public and held annually between April and December, can be completed across multiple years, giving marathoners an extended window to achieve the feat.

However, only those races starting in 2024 count toward the series, Jill Huffman, the Air Force Marathon interim-race director, confirmed to Military Times. That means those who previously competed in the various runs need to re-lace their shoes to cross the finish line.

“It is a clean slate,” she said, adding that while virtual options had been created during the COVID-19 pandemic, for this challenge the runs must be completed in person.

In addition to registering for the challenge, runners must still sign up for each event separately. Although the dates are subject to change, the upcoming races for 2024 are slated as follows:

• The Coast Guard Marathon — Sunday, April 7.
• The Air Force Marathon — Saturday, Sept. 21.
• The Army Ten-Miler — Sunday, Oct. 13.
• The Marine Corps Marathon — Sunday, Oct. 27.
• The Space Force T-Minus 10-Miler — Saturday, Dec. 14.

“Each branch of the armed forces has a unique character and distinguished tradition that is exemplified by their corresponding service-level running events,” Alex Hetherington, the Marine Corps Marathon director, said in a statement. “This is your opportunity to run with purpose, finish with pride and earn the distinction of receiving the Armed Forces Series Challenge medal.”

“The 2023 Army West Point uniforms for the 124th Army-Navy Game tells the story of the soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division during the opening phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom,” a release said.

In March of 2003, the Iraq War began — making this the 20th anniversary of the conflict — with an offensive invasion by 3rd ID. It was the largest deployment of the division since World War II.

“The 3rd Infantry Division’s success hinged upon its ability to seize and maintain the initiative against a determined adversary in harsh and unforgiving terrain,” the release noted. “The Dogface Soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division accomplished this feat through the clear application of the U.S. Army’s characteristics of the offensive: surprise, concentration, audacity, and tempo.”

The Nike uniforms are tan throughout, denoting the desert nature of the war as well as being reminiscent of the camouflage pattern worn by OIF troops. Player numbers and lettering mimic the font from Army vehicle “bumper numbers.”

Both sides of the matte gold helmet feature 3rd ID mascot “Rocky the Bulldog.” In addition, 3rd ID soldiers have been given the nickname “dogface soldier.”

The division is known as the “Rock of the Marne” after holding its position on the Marne River in France during World War I, earning a decisive victory over the Germans. As such, much of the uniform pays homage to this history with denotations on the pants and back of the helmet.

“In adopting their mottos, symbols, and ethos on the field of friendly strife, we seek to emulate their application of these characteristics to defeat our rivals,” the release added.

The 2023 Army-Navy game is on Dec. 9, 2023 and will be played at Gillette Stadium.

“Navy Athletics and Under Armour unveiled the 2023 Army-Navy game uniform today that will honor the Silent Service, the U.S. Submarine Force, its families and supporting personnel,” according to a Nov. 20 release.

The rich blue fabric used to create the Midshipmen uniform is Under Armour’s “Eclipse Navy” — a fitting moniker for the color of sea depths patrolled by the Navy’s submariners.

A sleeve patch features the anchor locked-up with the Submarine Warfare insignia known as “dolphins/fish”.

“The design encompasses a historically inspired rendering of dolphins flanking a submarine in the middle,” the release notes. “The Submarine Warfare insignia was created in 1923 by Captain Ernest J. King, who proposed that the Navy create a warfare insignia device for qualified submariners.”

Its numbering font is intended to resemble that of the lettering on submarine hulls as well, according to the release. Meanwhile, the dark blue Under Armour cleats feature a pattern of sea swells.

Lastly, the helmets are adorned with Virginia Class submarines on the right side. The left side features a mix of the traditional Navy anchor plus submariner pin — but what makes it particularly special is a color-changing paint that mimicks the radar system aboard submarines when they lock onto a target.

“This year, 158 midshipmen earned the service assignment of submarines or nuclear submarines,” the release said.

The 2023 Army-Navy game is on Dec. 9, 2023 and will be played at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

The Falcons’ alternate uniform, unveiled last week, will honor the pilots and crew of the 1942 Doolittle Raid on Tokyo and other Japanese cities after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. One of the academy’s posts on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has racked up nearly 8 million views. Comments have ranged from “awesome uniforms honoring our heroes” to “this is awful taste” and “zero class.”

“This year’s edition of the Doolittle Raiders has been extremely well-received,” Troy Garnhart, a spokesperson for Air Force Academy’s athletic department, told Military Times via email Wednesday.

“The post you mention has caused a few negative social media posts, but most of the people on the forum have reacted to the negative posts in a supportive way for the academy,” he added.

The uniforms themselves feature a chrome helmet with “B-25″ on the front and nicknames of specific planes or “Doolittle” on the back, honoring Lt. Col. James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle, who led the attack. The multiple-city raid was launched by the U.S. Army Air Forces on April 18, 1942, by 80 pilots and crew of 16 B-25B Mitchell bombers that took off from the Navy aircraft carrier Hornet.

Although the raid caused only minor damage, it forced the Japanese to recall combat forces for home defense, raised fears among Japanese civilians and boosted morale among Americans and their allies, according to the National Museum of the Air Force website.

Garnhart explained that the uniform was selected as a part of the annual Air Power Legacy Series to honor historical moments of the Department of the Air Force and Army Air Corps along with the aircraft used during those moments. Last year, the alternate uniform design honored the Space Force.

The Falcons kick off their football season on Saturday, Sept. 2, by hosting Robert Morris University at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The Doolittle uniforms get their first outing on Oct. 21 for the game against the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

While there are dozens floating around the internet, a handful made us pause.

These are eight of our favorites.

8. If Michael Scott was in the Army instead of on “The Office”

7. The Army and Navy are on the same team, except on the football field.

6. The only way to win is with excessive ordnance.

5. Old Ironsides: Is it a ship or a fighting force?

4. Is the Navy actually NASA?

3. Sometimes you just need advice from Sylvanus Thayer.

2. It’s not easy coming up with spirit spots, as Army leadership will tell you.

1. Battleship is lame, nobody plays Navy.

This year, one film rose above the rest. It has everything — romance, tragedy, and a penny whistle musical score that will yield nary a dry eye. Whether the tears are from sadness or laughter … well, that’s in the eye of the beholder.

The Army’s 1st Special Forces Command made a spirit video of “Titanic” proportions — a truly unsinkable piece of art.

Our love for this spirit spot will, in the words of Celine Dion, “go on and on.”

“While watching the first half of the game, one of the officers came up with an idea for some half-time entertainment,” according to Naval Academy history. “When half-time arrived, he romped up and down the sidelines cloaked with the goat skin barely covering his blue uniform.”

Navy won the game and attributed the luck to the goat. And in 1893, as part of the fourth Army-Navy clash, a live goat was officially made the academy’s mascot.

That proud tradition carries on today. Not only is there an actual goat, but Midshipmen also have the chance to join the mascot team and don the horned headdress to serve as “Bill the Goat.”

Last year, the captain of that team was now-Ensign Grant Vigneault.

“It’s such a phenomenal group of people that just like to have fun,” he told Miltary Times. “Being a captain was more of a figurehead than anything else.”

Vigneault grew up playing baseball but left the sport behind when his Naval Academy tenure began. The ensign, who described himself as a “bubbly, outgoing guy,” enjoyed athletics in general, so when a friend approached him about being a mascot, Vigneault said, “Sure, why not?”

“This friend of mine shoots me a text saying, ‘Hey, there’s gonna be a mascot trial. What do you think about coming out and give it a shot?’” he joked. “I just kind of just threw my arms up in the air and thought, ‘Sounds fun.’”

Serving as a mascot does involve a certain level of athleticism and endurance. The suit is warm and heavy, and mascots do quite a bit of physical activity in costume.

“It’s hot, it’s sweaty, it’s gross, it’s 30 to 40 degrees hotter inside that suit than anywhere else in the stadium,” Vigneault said. “You will show up to a game day in shorts and a t-shirt for a mid September game knowing it’s gonna be 100 degrees out.”

Because of the mask, no one knows who the mascot is. Per Naval Academy tradition, the midshipmen who serve on the mascot team do not reveal their identities to the student body until the homecoming game during their senior year.

Despite the anonymity, wearing the Bill the Goat suit gave Vigneault a sense of purpose and pride during his four years at the Naval Academy, and it was, frankly, a lot of fun, he noted.

“You get to see the smallest children line up with just the biggest smiles you’ve ever seen because the mascot came around a gave them a high five or patted them on the head or something like that.”

And it’s not just the kids who appreciate having a fuzzy goat out on the field.

“Old grads and friends of old grads are just enamored by the mascot,” Vigneault said. “You get to spend hours at games and tailgates with people who are so genuinely happy to see you.”

The Naval Academy class of 1971, in particular, loves Bill the Goat. In fact, its members are the goat’s biggest benefactor. It’s the reason why Bill sports the number 71 on his jersey.

The best part, though, is working the Army-Navy game, Vigneault said.

“Running on the field at the Army-Navy game last year, wearing the brand new aviation uniforms — that was just the most incredible feeling taking the field with 75,000 people looking at you,” he said. “That was awesome.”

The Army-Navy game will be held in Philadelphia on Dec. 10.

After a supposedly macabre incident involving a sailor wearing a dead goat skin to a match in the late 19th century, the Naval Academy began to view the pack animal as a good luck charm and, by 1893, made it its mascot. Six years later, the Army fired back … with a literal pack mule.

The first Army mule, according to the service’s records, pulled an ice wagon.

“He became a mascot when an officer at the Philadelphia Quartermaster Depot decided that Army needed something to counter the Navy goat in the 1899 game between the rival service academies,” the article notes.

Little is known about the Army’s mascot until 1936, when a mule named Mr. Jackson, for Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, began his 12-year reign.

West Point’s BlackJack mascot isn’t the school’s only representation, however. In addition to BlackJack the mule, the school touts the Black Knight. The latter remains squarely for football, but the mule carries the honor of being the mascot for the entire U.S. Army.

That’s what attracted Cadet Nathan Segovia to join the BlackJack mascot team at West Point.

“We’re the symbol for the entire Army wherever we go,” he told Military Times. “It’s really nice.”

Segovia is in his third year at West Point and joined the mascot team as a freshman. He’s now captain of the team.

“I have three different squads, each with five separate mascots that are in each slot, and three of them operate as BlackJack for every event or week,” he said. “The other two are the Black Knight.”

Segovia said it was surreal the first time he donned the suit.

“Putting on the outfit is very methodical most of the time,” he said, laughing. “You have to try to get the body on first and then you slip on the hands so you can get them to fit through the suit. And hopefully, you’re the first one to wear it that day … otherwise, it’s very moist.”

The impaired vision is probably the hardest part — aside from having to do push-ups in the suit in front of roaring crowds. Segovia found it disorienting to walk in character the first time.

“I was at the mercy of the team captain at the time,” he noted. “Once I was in the suit, I was escorted around because you can’t see outside, so you always need a handler or a guide, essentially for wherever you can go.”

Despite the distorted vision, being a mascot is a blast, he said. Still, the more serious weight of what he was doing didn’t truly hit Segovia until he had an experience with an older West Point alum. The gentleman approached him while Segovia was in costume and requested a photo together.

“Every time that I have a chance, I take a picture with BlackJack,” he told Segovia. “Mascot pictures are the only ones I have of myself and my buddy, who is no longer here with us.”

That experience illuminated the impact of working on a spirit squad for Segovia.

“From then on, I realized it was the least I could do for a lot of the old grads — be a part of the memories that they cherish,” he said.

This week, congressional leaders included as part of their annual defense authorization bill compromise language stating that skipping out of a mandatory two years of active-duty service after graduation from a service academy constitutes a “a breach of agreement to serve as an officer.”

Since 2019, Defense Department leaders have allowed some athletes to apply for a waiver to play professional sports immediately after graduation, a process that delays their active-duty service. Lawmakers now want to put a stop to that.

In explanatory language for the authorization bill, they called the current policy governing academy athletes “contorted” and said that granting exceptions to the rules goes against the principles of what the schools are designed to do.

“Service academy appointments are a zero sum game,” they wrote. “Every appointment that goes to a graduate who does not complete his or her active-duty service obligation to pursue professional athletics could have been awarded to many other qualified young people who would have happily served their country.”

The potential change in rules regarding academy athletes looms large for Army linebacker Andre Carter II, seen as a likely early-round pick in next year’s National Football League draft.

The Black Knights have only produced two NFL draft picks since 1969, both in the seventh and final round. Carter has been viewed by some scouts as a potential first-round draft pick. But the new authorization bill language could change that rating, given the uncertainty over his availability to play over the next few years.

“It’s a great opportunity to go to this school,” Carter, a senior from Missouri City, Texas, told NFL reporters when asked about life at West Point. “Not many people have that opportunity, so it’s something that I really value and cherish.”

One day after the authorization bill language was released, the Philadelphia Phillies acquired former Naval Academy pitcher Noah Song from the Boston Red Sox.

Boston had selected Song in the fourth round of the 2019 Major League Baseball draft — the highest a Naval Academy baseball player had ever been picked — but he has been unable to play for the last few years because of his service commitment.

Lt. Junior Grade Song graduated from flight school earlier this year, and applied for a waiver to play professional sports shortly thereafter.

Congress is expected to finalize the authorization bill, which includes $817 billion in defense spending policy issues for fiscal 2023, in the next few days.

Its uniform is dedicated to the soldiers of the 1st Armored Division, specifically those that kicked off Operation Torch, bringing the United States into the fold during World War II.

“Operation Torch marked the 1st Armored Division’s entry into the crucible of combat,” according to the Army release. “The resilience, grit, and commitment demonstrated by the soldiers ultimately resulted in the defeat of Axis forces in North Africa. In the harsh desert against a determined enemy, the members of the 1st Armored Division were forged into ‘Iron Soldiers’ and learned the lessons that would guide them to success in subsequent operations in Italy and Western Europe.”

Though it’s dubbed the academy’s “Old Ironsides” uniform, it is not to be confused with the Navy’s U.S.S. Constitution, the legendary frigate that went by the same moniker.

The uniform, provided by Nike, is deep Army green with gold insignia and taupe pants. Around the waist, it features a prominent “mud splatter” design, which is meant to signify the dirt and grit that would have plagued the 1st Armored Division’s equipment and tanks as they battled Axis forces in Europe and North Africa.

Cadets’ helmets have ornate detailing. This includes a streamer at the front, which combines elements of the American Defense Medal ribbon and an arrowhead on the Algeria-French Moroccan streamer symbolizing Operation Torch’s amphibious assault. Both are set on a green background to represent the fields of battle in Europe with brown stripes on the border symbolizing the sand of Africa. On the side is the 1st Armored Division unit patch.

Each Cadet wears his regiment number and company mascot animal designation over his right chest. The pants feature a nod to “bumper numbers” — the Army’s system of vehicle identification developed during World War II, which is still in use today.

Lastly, the font Nike designers selected is from the M3 tanks utilized by the 1st Armored Division.

So while the Naval Academy’s Midshipmen will be floating around in space uniforms, West Point’s Cadets will be knee-deep in the mud out on the field Dec. 10 — at least according to their uniforms.