Chief Warrant Officer 2 Deontre T. Huey and Warrant Officer Seth L. Olmstead were killed when their aircraft went down around 1:40 p.m. Central Standard Time on Wednesday near Salado, Texas, the Army said.

“Our hearts and deepest condolences are with the families of the Soldiers we lost Wednesday,” Lt. Gen. Kevin D. Admiral, III Armored Corps and Fort Hood commanding general, said in a release. “The Army is a family, and a tragedy like this is felt throughout our formations and our community.”

Huey, 34, joined the Army in February 2014 as a motor transport operator. The Army listed his home of record as Killeen, Texas. Olmstead, 25, joined the Army in January 2023 as a warrant officer candidate. The Army listed his home of record as Belton, Texas.

The Army said a team from the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center in Fort Rucker, Alabama, is leading an investigation into the crash.

Two people are dead after an Apache helicopter crashed outside of Fort Hood, Texas, according to local authorities.

Emergency calls reporting the crash came in around 1:34 p.m. Central Standard Time, said Cliff Coleman, a spokesperson for the Bell County Sheriff’s Office, during a news conference Wednesday afternoon.

The individuals were pronounced dead at 2:30 p.m., he said, directing additional questions about the military statuses of the deceased to the Fort Hood Criminal Investigation Division.

Fort Hood did not immediately respond to an inquiry.

Earlier in the afternoon, Fort Hood announced that an Apache helicopter crashed in Salado, outside of the base, and said that emergency services were involved.

“Our immediate priority is securing the site and supporting the initial response efforts,” said Brig. Gen. Ethan Diven, acting commanding general of the 1st Cavalry Division. “Our thoughts are with the crew and their families as we await further information.”

Companies will be able to request range access even if they do not have an ongoing partnership with the government, according to the release. The effort, the Army says, is designed to hasten the development and testing of drones, counter-drone systems, long-range fires and cheap interceptors.

The service said it is launching four ranges in the U.S. and one internationally. The ranges include Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, West Cibola Range in Arizona, Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center in Mississippi, Camp Grayling in Michigan and Africa Multidomain Training and Experimentation Center in Morocco.

“A company with a good idea shouldn’t need a team of lawyers and a program of record just to prove their equipment works,” Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said in the release. “So we fixed that. One front door — testrange.army.mil — a real person to walk you in, and on the other side, everything the modern battlefield demands: contested airspace, degraded signals and the space to test at real scale.”

The move comes as the Pentagon implements sweeping changes to speed up drone and counter-drone acquisition. The Defense Department created the Joint Interagency Task Force 401, a unit charged with streamlining counter-drone efforts, which recently launched an online marketplace.

It also follows reports that the U.S. has depleted around two-thirds of the Patriot missile interceptor inventory it had before the country’s war with Iran. Though Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth disputed a CNN report that said military commanders had warned U.S. interceptor stockpiles were critically depleted, the Pentagon is pressing the defense industry to expedite the production of critical weapons.

Companies can request to use the ranges using an online portal, but the service cannot guarantee a specific location or timeline. The website includes range parameters and a list of capabilities that can be tested at each site.

Additionally, the Army announced that Camp Grayling will host an “electromagnetic unreliability test event” for the private sector beginning in September and then likely on a quarterly recurring basis. The event will simulate conditions seen in Ukraine during the country’s ongoing war with Russia.

Dugway Proving Ground, for instance, offers long-range fires testing, while West Cibola Range is currently only available for drone and counter-drone assessments.

The initiative has been led by the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command in collaboration with the Mississippi and Michigan National Guard and U.S. Africa Command, according to the release.

Soldiers with the 2nd Infantry Division/ROK-U.S. Combined Division trained alongside Marines to outfit Neros Archer Strike first-person-view, or FPV, drones with C4 explosives to attack targets at Rodriguez Live Fire Complex in South Korea.

It was the division’s first time using live ordnance with the system.

The training represents part of the military’s broader push to place attack drones directly in the hands of smaller units, giving them the ability to strike targets without relying on assets at higher echelons. Both the Marine Corps and the Army have created specialized units and groups dedicated to the small sky-fliers that have changed the course of modern warfare.

“At my level, the modernization with drones is allowing for on-the-ground troops to, rather than call in company-level or battalion-level assets, within their platoon or squad-sized element, be able to support long-range fires up to 20 kilometers,” said Pfc. Gavin Zerrull, a military intelligence systems maintainer and integrator who participated in the training.

Zerrull is also an FPV coach and operator with Talon Technologies, the “innovation arm” of the 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade, according to the Army’s early August release. The effort assesses unmanned aircraft systems for one-way strike missions, intelligence collection, surveillance and cargo delivery.

The Neros Archer Strike drones are made for long-range missions. As seen in photos released by the Army, the drone is small enough to be carried in one hand, with spindly, spider-like legs and antennas.

According to Zerrull, the platform has already been used in the war between Russia and Ukraine, where drones dominate the battlefield.

“What makes this different from a typical drone training event is the fact that we’re working with live ordnance and using a platform that has actively been tested in real-world situations in Ukraine,” he said.

Lt. Gen. Charles Costanza, who was leading V Corps, was removed from command. The Army did not provide the date of his removal or disclose a reason for his departure but confirmed in a statement that “the matter has been referred to the appropriate authority in accordance with Army regulations.”

Brig. Gen. John B. Mountford, the deputy commanding general of readiness for V Corps, is serving as the acting commanding general.

According to the Army last week, Maj. Gen. Thomas M. Feltey, who was selected for promotion to lieutenant general, is set to assume command of V Corps at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

Before assuming command of V Corps in April 2024, Costanza served as the Deputy Commanding General of U.S. Army Europe-Africa. He also commanded the 3rd Infantry Division.

V Corps oversees ground forces in Europe, including those along NATO’s eastern flank. The Corps works with allied forces to integrate defense, counter-drone systems and long-range fires in the region. Costanza was the Corps’ second commanding general since its reactivation in October 2020.

In 1991, he commissioned as an armor officer from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

The removal was not political and had nothing to do with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, an Army official told Military Times.

Costanza’s removal comes amid mass leadership shakeups at the Pentagon. Since entering the position, Hegseth has removed or replaced at least a dozen senior leaders.

In early July, U.S. Army Gen. Christopher Donahue, who previously led the XVIII Airborne Corps and the 82nd Airborne Division, unexpectedly relinquished command of U.S. Army Europe and Africa. The Army did not provide a reason for his departure.

The Army recently established the 08H Army Equestrian military occupational specialty and Staff Sgt. Shawn Tabor and Sgt. Daimien Copeland, both assigned to the Caisson Detachment at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, are among the first soldiers to qualify for the new role after completing an 18-week horsemanship program.

“When the 08H opportunity came around, there was no hesitation; I immediately jumped on it. There was no second thought or doubt about doing it,” said Tabor, who has served in the detachment for eight years as an infantryman.

The 08H specialty replaced the “military horseman” identifier and, according to an Army release, is open to infantry soldiers in the grades of E5 to E9. It is a role the Army says contributes to recruiting, public outreach and military funeral honors.

During the initial 12-week program, soldiers learn grooming, groundwork and communication with horses in the Basic Horsemanship Course before moving on to horse driving and the Caisson Detachment’s distinctive postilion riding method during the Advanced Horsemanship Course for six more weeks.

Copeland, who has served in the detachment for four years, said that when he was in-processing, he was excited to learn about the opportunity to work with horses.

“During my time at Caisson, we had our first state funeral in more than 20 years for former President Jimmy Carter. Taking part in that funeral reinforced the importance of our mission and the honor of serving in a role that very few soldiers have the opportunity to experience,” he said in the release.

Previously scheduled to end, the Army in Dec. 2025 announced it was retaining military working equid programs — which include Defense Department horses, mules and donkeys — in Texas and Kansas.

The designation comes after the Army resumed limited use of horse-drawn caissons at Arlington National Cemetery in mid-2025 following a two-year suspension prompted by concerns over the welfare of the horses. The service halted the program in 2023 after two horses — Mickey and Tony — died in 2022 from colon impactions linked to substandard feed and living conditions.

According to the Defense Department, the Army upgraded equipment to replace wooden saddles with lighter, custom leather saddles. The service also decreased the caisson’s weight by over 1,000 pounds and made other adjustments to lessen the strain on the horses.

A 2025 release also said the soldiers’ training had “shifted from impromptu methods to a structured pipeline,” with the basic course — launched in 2024 — held at a private stable in Virginia and then a six-week camp located at an equestrian sports facility in Florida.

“We don’t get soldiers from horse backgrounds anymore,” said Army Maj. Wes Strickland, the 3rd Infantry Regiment public affairs officer at the time, said in the 2025 statement. “So, we teach everything — how to walk up to a horse, saddle it, clean a stall.”

The skill tab will join the likes of the Sapper Tab, Ranger Tab and Special Forces Tab as “an official skill tab,” spokesperson Christopher Surridge said, adding that the Army is in the midst of codifying official policy and procedures for the tab’s wear and approval in the upcoming iterations of the service’s regulations.

“We will officially publish and distribute formal implementation guidance to all commands upon publishing these regulations,” he said.

The update was first reported by Task & Purpose after a related memorandum circulated on social media. Last week, U.S. Army Pacific Command on X said the Army had approved the tab and asked followers to tag or submit photos of themselves wearing it.

The move builds on an effort to revive jungle warfare expertise and experience, as the Army earlier this year tapped the newly-redesignated Army Security Cooperation Group-South to oversee the Combined Jungle Operations Training Center in Panama. Candidates at the Base Aeronaval Cristóbal Colón school complete the grueling course in what the Army calls “Green Hell,” where suffocating heat and humidity pair with heavy foliage to make basic soldiering tasks even harder.

The first phase of the course — which is conducted jointly with Panamanian forces — covers “jungle survival fundamentals,” according to the Army, including learning to use machetes, kindling fires, purifying water and constructing basic shelters. In the second phase, students learn small-unit tactics, ambushes, waterborne operations and how to move in dense terrain.

The course culminates in phase three, where students are sent on simulated missions and evaluated on teamwork and leadership.

The Army formerly operated a jungle warfare training course for decades before it was shut down in 1999.

Its rebirth comes as the Army has made sweeping changes to its force structure as it prepares for conflict with peer and near-peer competitors, shifting the advisory force created by the Global War on Terror to a new mission and overhauling command structure under the Western Hemisphere Command, created last year.

The program is open to Army aviation warrant officers who meet specific career requirements and agree to remain on active duty for three to six additional years.

The move, first reported by Task & Purpose, comes as the Navy and Air Force are also offering hefty bonuses to keep select experienced aviators in the service.

Warrant officers with 12 to 14 years of active federal service can pocket up to $75,600 by committing to three more years on active duty. Those with at least 18 years of service can qualify for bonuses ranging from $120,000 to $209,880 in exchange for four- to six-year commitments.

The incentives are available to regular Army warrant officers in certain specialties who are medically qualified for flight duty and serve as pilots in command, among other requirements. Those seeking the bonuses must assent via written agreement. If they fail to stay eligible during the term of their service, aviators may be required to repay the bonuses.

The payments will be made in monthly installments — instead of a lump sum — and are taxable, though they’re tax-exempt when the payee qualifies for combat zone tax exclusion.

The program has an obligation ceiling of $17.1 million, but Army headquarters can suspend the bonus payments if funding becomes unavailable, according to the memorandum.

Effective immediately, the directive says bonus agreements will be processed on a first-come, first-serve basis. The directive expires Sept. 30, 2026.

The exercise brought Army aviators and experts together in May at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, to test virtual versions of the MV-75’s cockpit, according to a Thursday release, which said the feedback will be incorporated into the aircraft’s design ahead of its first flight and ultimate delivery to the 101st Airborne Division.

The service’s new tiltrotor aircraft — named in honor of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe and the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribe — was designed for use in the Pacific theater. The Army has sped up its development timeline and announced in April that the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, is expected to field the MV-75 in 2027.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Julian Dilg, a UH-60 pilot who participated in the weeklong exercise, said there was a noticeable cockpit change from current aircraft.

“The displays are inherently different, so we were able to work together and bounce ideas off of each other and gain insight,” he said in the release.

The collaboration was critical for the participants to “find enough common ground to work with in order to decide what changes needed to be made to display the information needed to fly it most effectively,” Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jordan Brooks, a CH-47 pilot, said in the release.

Army and Bell engineers have begun incorporating the feedback into the aircraft’s cockpit design by adjusting display symbols, improving menu navigation and improving alerting. One recommendation prompted by the exercise was the push to group power and performance data together, a change they said would make decisions easier, per the release.

The evaluation comes as militaries prepare for future battlespaces defined by drones and inundated with data. Future pilots may be expected to contend with fleets of unmanned aircraft and sensors in a crowded airspace, meaning they will have to process unprecedented amounts of information.

Maj. Collin L. Welch, 40, pleaded guilty to unlawfully introducing aliens to enter and remain in the U.S. and the theft of around $54,000 in government money, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, D.C. He is scheduled for sentencing in December.

As a married man, Welch was posted in 2019 to the U.S. Embassy in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, where he kindled a relationship with a Mongolian woman. By creating a fake divorce decree, he convinced the woman he was single and in 2022, he married her in Mongolia, federal prosecutors said.

In 2024, Welch brought the woman and her minor daughter to the U.S. on tourist visas and in October of that year, he married the woman for a second time in Virginia, according to the attorney’s office. Welch was still legally married to his initial wife at each of his subsequent nuptials.

When his guests’ tourist visas expired in early 2025, Welch continued to house and financially support them and he, once again, took to fabricating documents, creating permanent residency approvals, Social Security cards and a letter showing military health benefits for dependents, the office said. He never filed any paperwork with any government agency.

To fund the travel and living expenses of his new bride and her daughter, Welch racked up tens of thousands of dollars on his government travel card, creating fraudulent travel vouchers using fake hotel and rental card receipts.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division, with help from the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Criminal Investigations Unit.

Welch, who is from Arlington, Virginia, previously served in the Alaska and D.C. National Guard, and he deployed to Afghanistan and Djibouti.

The D.C. National Guard has not responded to a request for comment.