That is the current daily routine of Robert Hamilton Owens, a 71-year-old Air Force veteran who, alongside a crew of 11 others, is spending 40 days rowing approximately 3,500 miles across the Atlantic Ocean.

Owens and his crew, which include a policewoman from Norway and an ex-British Army soldier, departed from the Canary Islands on Dec. 4 and are destined for the island of Antigua in the Caribbean. The challenge, officially coined the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge — although Owens and his team are not competing in the official competition — will test the group’s ability to work as a team, to weather the highs and lows of transiting the Atlantic in a rowboat, and to push themselves beyond what were once their mental and physical limits.

For Owens, it’s one part of what he hopes to do prevent veteran suicide.

Pararescue

Before Owens became a career motivational speaker and avid Ironman competitor, he spent his youth in Orange County, California, with his adopted family. No one would have guessed back then what he would later be physically capable of. He was, after all, considered “special needs” due to a physical disability that put him in corrective leg braces into his tween years.

But while Owens may have struggled to play kickball with his classmates, he was an ace in the water, eventually training with famed U.S. Olympic swim coach Jon Urbanchek in Anaheim. When he wasn’t swimming or lifeguarding, Owens spent his time racing outrigger canoes from Long Beach to Catalina with the Dana Point Outrigger Club.

At 18, Vietnam was raging, but Owens, by his own admission, avoided the draft by ensuring the Army would find him medically unqualified to serve in Vietnam. He had no desire to go to war, he said, especially after seeing brothers and friends come home in boxes.

“I made sure that I had a water polo injury in my elbow,” Owens said. “I smashed it into a wall for a long time.”

Two years later, however, Owens had a change of heart. When he was approached to go into Air Force special forces, he said yes, purposely neglecting to tell the Air Force that the Army had found him disabled.

The training would be grueling, but as a longtime lifeguard with sea patrol experience, the idea of going into the military in a lifesaving capacity was much more appealing to Owens than potentially having to take lives. He managed to make it through the six-month training course and earned his place as an Air Force pararescueman.

It was a perfect fit for Owens, who enjoyed the challenge of pushing his body and mind to the limit in some of the most extreme conditions, like when he rescued climbers stuck on Alaska’s Mount Denali, the highest mountain in North America.

Just into his second tour, however, Owens decided it was time for a change and opted to leave the Air Force. The branch was “making budget cuts,” he said, and his sights were turning toward the G.I. Bill and school.

New Challenges

Out of the military, Owens focused on other physical feats, undertaking intense tests such as the World Marathon Challenge, in which participants complete seven marathons on seven continents in seven days.

Owens also tapped into his experience in becoming a motivational speaker who discusses leadership and overcoming physical and mental obstacles, having done so with organizations such as the National Football League’s New York Jets and Baltimore Ravens, the Philippines’ Joint Chiefs of Staff and the South African Parliament.

Owens was already looking to tackle the rowing challenge when his good friend and fellow veteran, Mark Crampton, passed away this past spring. The loss of Crampton, a retired Navy SEAL who took his own life in April 2022, proved to be one crushing loss too many for Owens, who categorized his experience with suicide as “significant.”

“That’s when I said, ‘I’m taking Mark with me’,” he said of his reason for doing the trip. So, while funding for the expedition is being spearheaded by the Courage Foundation, an organization that helps veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder transition back into the civilian world, the trip is also meant to raise awareness and funds to fight veteran suicide.

That battle instills Owens with the mental fortitude to get through any challenge, he said. Last year, he was set to participate in the Florida Ironman race. But because of an earlier battle with COVID, Owens’ lungs were weaker than usual. He was struggling to swim and breathe, so he made the decision to pull out of the race. After turning to a pulmonologist for help, he now feels back in the game.

“There’s something about mental resiliency that comes with time, and there’s something about confidence that you know how to adjust under pain,” Owens said. “And if you train with pain, you make it your friend. That friendship never leaves you.”

To prepare for the journey, Owens said he has continued participating in Ironman competitions and recently completed a half-Ironman in October. The past months were spent rowing, doing Pilates and focusing on exercises that strengthen his lower back, glutes, hamstrings and quads.

Surprisingly, Owens has only trained with his team once, during a trip to Scotland earlier this year, when they spent seven days in the North Sea rowing together. Safety classes were also given, during which time Owens learned how to use specific medical kits the crew would have access to on board.

The crew then learned about the navigation system on the vessel, a self-righting Rannoch that should re-orient itself in the event it flips. There are two cabins on the front and back of the boat, Owens said, and those are air-locked to protect the crew in case of truly severe weather. While water is one of the items packed onto the small boat, the vessel also comes with a water-maker that desalinizes ocean water, a process helped by solar panels located on the vessel’s topside. These also power phones and anything else that requires a plug.

Over the almost two-month period, Owens and his crew will be dining on freeze-dried food, similar to those eaten by astronauts or hikers taking on the Appalachian Trail.

Despite admitting he’s nervous for the expedition, Owens remains steadfast in his determination to complete the challenge — and, to honor Mark.

“When Mark Crampton did what he did, it was just too close,” he said. “He didn’t talk to us. He didn’t share and open up about the snakes in his head. I just thought, ‘Of all the people, not Mark.’”

Today, Owens believes there’s a chance he could have helped Mark. That, he said, sticks with him.

The Mark Crampton Memorial Trans-Atlantic Row will help raise awareness for veterans who die by suicide. It will also help raise funds for private therapy for veterans struggling with current Veteran Affairs programs, Owens said. Not only will the veterans involved get professional help, but they will also be able to partake in group rowing sessions where they can work through mental obstacles while spending time with a team of fellow veterans.

“Strong people are not afraid to ask for help,” Owens said. That’s exactly what he’s hoping this trip can provide.

The veteran, who did not give his name, turned to Star Wars actor and Marine Corps veteran Adam Driver, who was sitting in the wing of the theater, and thanked him and the event’s cast for what the organization and the evening had given him.

His best friend had been killed during his last deployment, he said, and seeing “Larry” — a character portraying a Marine home from war — address the violence inside of himself on stage struck a chord within the former EOD technician.

“I didn’t deal with [my emotions] until I saw Mr. Driver’s TEDTalk,” he said. “So, I decided to get into acting because therapy wasn’t working. … I found out that I do have emotions besides being angry all the time. And so, seeing that TEDTalk did change my life. … You did have a positive impact on my life.”

The veteran also shared that after finding an outlet in the arts to address feelings and trauma, he had pulled himself together and recently filmed his own work in Los Angeles.

Every year, the non-profit organization run by Driver and his wife, actor Joanne Tucker, provides active duty, reserve, veteran and other military-affiliated personnel the chance to experience theatre professionals on Broadway.

This year’s production featured playwright James Ijames’ Pulitzer Prize winning reinvigoration of one of Shakespeare’s most famous works with a showing of “Fat Ham.” The play follows Juicy, “a queer Southern college kid” grappling with the recent death of his father and the subsequent impact on his personal identity and sense of family and responsibility.

Based on Hamlet, the story was adapted to appeal to a modern audience, with each character taking on a slightly different role than their original iterations.

As a young Black man aware of generational trauma, Juicy leads the cast through the ordeal of attempting to reconcile with his father’s murder at the hands of his uncle and the revenge that might entail. But within this retelling is also Juicy’s closest friend, Larry, a Marine home from war struggling with his own sexuality while coping with the conflicting identities military service can cast on service members from all walks of life.

Choosing harm over pleasure to fulfill expectations or meet imposed obligations, as one of the characters noted, would only lead to pain, like the kind the EOD veteran said he was experiencing post-service.

Since its inception, AITAF has grown into providing academic opportunities for service members through intern and fellowship opportunities. It also offers financial support for military men and women hoping to get their written scripts to the silver screen or the stage.

Over the years, the organization has even offered writing retreats and performed shows for troops throughout the world, from bases in Kuwait and California to military hospitals like Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland.

AITAF is currently accepting submissions from military-affiliated individuals for the Bridge Award for Screenwriting, with the winner granted select resources, including a $10,000 prize, to help refine their work and deliver it into the world.

The 2022 Best Cities list was compiled using considerations such as veterans’ average income, unemployment rates, proximity to VA hospitals and military bases, and a suite of quality-of-life measures.

More than 400 cities across the U.S. were evaluated.

Here are the top five:

1. Charleston, South Carolina

Chosen for its reasonable cost-of-living rates and housing, Charleston takes the top spot as this year’s “Best City.” Located just 30 minutes from Joint Base Charleston, the consistently large military community is sure to make transitioning service members feel welcome. Charleston was also ranked #4 the in the Best for Military Families list.

2. Norristown, Pennsylvania

Located near Philadelphia, Norristown was selected for its proximity to beautiful parks and great colleges, such as University of Pennsylvania, Drexel and Villanova. Norristown also has relatively low-crime rates and a robust community of veterans.

3. Cambridge, Massachusetts

Situated just west of Boston, Cambridge is known for its world class institutions — Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — and a full array of fun social options, with bars, cafes, and local and state parks in close proximity.

For healthcare, the nearby Massachusetts General Hospital is renowned for its world-class doctors and its partnership with the Red Sox Foundation’s Home Base Program, which offers free mental health services to veterans, active-duty service members and their loved ones.

4. San Diego, California

With Marine Corps bases Camp Pendleton and Miramar and Naval bases San Diego and Coronado in the vicinity, San Diego makes up the largest concentration of military personnel in the U.S., equating to a lively military community and plenty of healthcare options for veterans. Not to mention, the sunny weather and beaches are a favorite with families and retirees alike.

5. Naples, Florida

Known for white sand beaches, golf courses and nature and wildlife preserves, Naples came in at #5. While traditionally noted for its many retirement communities and resorts, the southwest Florida city is also located near a raceway, casinos and shops, making this a great choice for service members looking for some sun and fun.

Rounding out the top-10 cities were:

6. Anchorage, Alaska

7. Derry, New Hampshire

8. Virginia Beach, Virginia

9. Hempstead, New York

10. Waukegan, Illinois

In partnership with Sperling’s Best Places, Navy Federal also compiled sub-lists for the Best Cities for Families with Children, Best Cities for Retired Vets and Best Cities to Buy a House. Factors considered in these lists also included crime rates and cost-of-living expenses.

They can be found here.

The Battlefield Restoration Grants funds to restore “day-of-battle” conditions at battlefields and historic sites associated with the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812 and the Civil War. The grants are awarded by administrators from the American Battlefield Protection Program, a subsect of the National Park Service that uses resources from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which reinvests funds raised from offshore oil and natural gas leasing to improve conservation and recreation opportunities across the country.

In Pennsylvania, the America Battlefield Trust received $62,500 for projects restoring Gettysburg. Two sites in Virginia were awarded $254,428 for projects involving the restoration of Brandy Station and Huntsberry Farm, with an additional $28,277 going toward the demolition of non-historic buildings near Virginia’s New Market battlefield.

Huntsberry Farm, a 209-acre property in the Shenandoah Valley, was purchased in 2009. This year’s grant will be dedicated to build a fence around the historic battlefield. The funds will help preserve a portion of the battlefield where more than 50,000 Union and Confederate soldiers fought on Sept. 19, 1864.

According to the press release, a confederate soldier said the battle was like none other. “A more murderous fire I never witnessed,” the soldier said. A Union soldier was also noted as saying that Confederate artillery fire “walked death in our ranks.”

NPS Director Chuck Sams said in the press release that the grants will build on collaborative conservation efforts between nonprofit partners and state and local governments.

“By restoring landscapes, grant recipients can preserve important historic sites,” he said. “At the same time, they are conserving open spaces, protecting natural resources, and providing public access to our shared heritage.”

Shapour Moinian, 67, was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison for acting as an agent of a foreign government and for making materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements or representations on security clearance forms signed as part of his defense contracting position. He was facing a maximum of 10 years in federal prison after pleading guilty June 23.

“This was industrial espionage, bordering on military espionage,” U.S. District Judge Jeffrey T. Miller said at the hearing. “These were extremely serious offenses against the United States.”

Moinian was an AH-64 pilot in the Army Reserve from November 1977 to December 1984 before serving as an active-duty soldier from November 1987 to October 2000, Heather J. Hagan, an Army spokeswoman, said. He completed no combat deployments, Hagan added.

After leaving the Army, Moinian transitioned over to the private sector and worked for a cleared defense contractor, where he handled classified materials that required an active security clearance. Court records did not reveal the name of the company, which was reportedly based in San Diego.

Moinian was recruited by Chinese agents after he was messaged in 2016 by a supposed recruiter at LinkTek Technical Services in Zhejiang, China.

As part of the recruiting process by the Chinese agents, Moinian was in — or led to believe that he was in — a relationship with the recruiter, court documents show.

Amid messages about Moinian divorcing his wife, Moinian and the recruiter stated that they missed each other and discussed plans for him to visit her abroad.

Moinian met with the recruiter and her associates in Hong Kong in March 2017, and again in Shanghai that September during a layover he’d scheduled while traveling to visit his stepdaughter in South Korea.

It was during the September visit that Moinian handed over a flash drive with proprietary information from his defense contractor employer, court documents show.

Included in the leaked information, which was exchanged for money, were sensitive details and materials about multiple types of aircraft designed and manufactured in the U.S., court documents show. In his plea agreement, Moinian acknowledged that he was aware the individuals he met were working for the the Chinese government.

Court documents also show that Moinian’s now-ex-wife claimed he met multiple times with associates in Bali, Taiwan, China and South Korea between 2017 and 2019. After one such occasion, records stated that Moinian and his wife smuggled approximately $22,000 in cash back into the U.S.

Thousands of dollars were also paid to Moinian through his stepdaughter’s South Korean bank account, which he reportedly told her were “consulting” fees.

In the investigation, it was revealed that Moinian had made open source internet searches in 2018 for “sabotage vs spying,” “espionage vs sabotage,” and “selling military information to foreign country is considered as,” an affidavit revealed.

In addition to working as an agent for a foreign government, Moinian was charged with lying on his security clearance forms. In multiple required questionnaires, Moinian was asked, “Do you have, or have you had, close and/or continuing contact with a foreign national within the last seven years with whom you, or your spouse, or cohabitant are bound by affection, influence, common interests, and/or obligation?”

Moinian answered no.

In a separate questionnaire regarding “Foreign Business, Professional Activities, and Foreign Government Contacts,” Moinian was asked whether “any foreign national in the past seven years offered you a job, asked you to work as a consultant, or consider employment with them?”

He again answered no. In his plea agreement, Moinian acknowledged that both responses were false statements.

Moinian will serve his time without the possibility of parole.

Byron Booker, 29, of Ludowici, Georgia, pleaded guilty to the premeditated murder of Spc. Austin Hawk on June 17, 2020, after Hawk reported his fellow soldiers for marijuana use, Justice officials said in a press release.

Hawk, Booker and Booker’s alleged accomplice, former Spc. Jordan Brown, were all assigned to the 92nd Chemical Company, 83rd Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Battalion, on Fort Stewart.

On May 2, 2020, Hawk made a report to his command about Brown and Booker’s use of marijuana, according to court records.

Days later, Booker received an honorable discharge, but Brown, who had more time in service left, now faced a court martial after failing a follow-on drug test.

In an effort to get back at Hawk, Brown and Booker came up with multiple plans to “silence” him and get revenge for the report, court documents stated.

Brown was angry that Hawk had cost him his paycheck, his girlfriend — who broke up with him amid news of the court martial — his housing, and potentially his relationship with his father, court documents stated. Enraged with Hawk, Brown agreed to Booker’s plan to murder Hawk for being a “snitch,” the court records added.

While on duty, Brown helped Booker get access to the barracks, according to court records. Booker then managed to get Hawk to open his barracks door, the plea agreement stated, but details as to how were not given.

Court records also said that Brown was not in the room at the time of the attack.

At about midnight on June 17, Booker stabbed Hawk more than 40 times, with wounds made to his head, neck and torso, according to prosecutors. Booker also made a fatal three-inch cut across Hawk’s throat that he could not have survived, according to an autopsy cited in court documents.

Booker is awaiting sentencing. As part of his his plea agreement, he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison. Parole is not offered in the federal system.

“Byron Booker murdered a former fellow soldier in cold blood in retaliation for that soldier performing his duties as a service member,” U.S. Attorney David H. Estes, also a retired Army colonel, said in the press release. “The FBI and the Department of the Army Criminal Investigative Division did outstanding work in solving this despicable crime and bringing Booker to justice.”

Brown, Booker’s co-defendant, is awaiting trial on charges of pre-meditated murder, assault, conspiracy to retaliate against a witness, retaliation against a witness with bodily injury and retaliation against a witness with killing.

Lt. Col. Christopher Hoffman, 51, faces charges of operating a vehicle under the influence of liquor, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, possession of an open container of alcohol in a motor vehicle and disorderly conduct, Falmouth police Lt. Michael Simoneau told the Cape Cod Times.

Information concerning the date of the hearing has not been given, but the charges against Hoffman will be heard in a private clerk magistrate’s office, Simoneau said. Under Massachusetts state law, magistrate hearings and connected records are not public.

In September, Hoffman followed a bus carrying senior citizens on a trip to Martha’s Vineyard for nearly 10 miles after assuming South American migrants were on board.

The incident came just days after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis flew almost 50 Venezuelan migrants to the vacation spot under false pretenses. More than 100 National Guard troops were activated in response to DeSantis’s move and the migrants were given shelter on Joint Base Cape Cod.

Hoffman followed the bus after he saw a Florida sticker on it. He was upset thinking more migrants were coming to the area, Falmouth Police Department Det. Christopher Bartolomei said after the incident.

“He spoke about a friend that he could not get over from Afghanistan and he got emotional about this and was mad that the migrants were here and not his friend,” the detective reported. The Cape Cod Times reported that Hoffman deployed to Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011.

The incident terrified everyone on the bus, driver Michael Vaughn told the Cape Cod Times last month. Hoffman also harassed hotel staff once the bus made it to Admiralty Inn & Suites, according to hotel staff who spoke with the Cape Cod Times.

The incident was live-streamed to Hoffman’s Facebook page, but that video has since been taken down.

“The criminal charges against this service member are very serious,” Massachusetts Guard officials said in an unsigned email in response to an Army Times query about the latest developments in Hoffman’s case.

“Due to the civilian nature of these alleged crimes, the civilian criminal justice system holds jurisdiction over this matter and it is anticipated that Christopher Hoffman will face legal proceedings in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” the email reads. “Once the civilian proceedings are complete, the Massachusetts National Guard will take appropriate action.”

Conducted by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, the Pentagon’s premier analysis branch for the region, the report noted a staggering 300 percent increase in militant Islamist violence over the course of the last decade.

More than 6,200 violent events were attributed to terrorist groups in 2022, a 21 percent increase from the previous year, the report noted. Almost 15,000 deaths were linked to the increase in terrorist-related activity.

Nearly 95 percent of the incident surge since 2019 has come from two areas — Somalia and the western Sahel, a semi-arid region crossing northern Africa between the Sahara to the north and tropical savannas to the south.

Both Somalia and the Sahel are actively hosting U.S. troops, but if the aforementioned statistics are any indication, that military presence has not stemmed the violence, bringing into question the effectiveness of U.S. operations in Africa, training or otherwise.

AFRICOM currently has approximately 6,000 U.S. troops on the continent, with the greatest concentrations of U.S. personnel in West Africa and Djibouti. According to documents obtained by Rolling Stone, U.S. special operations troops deployed to 17 African nations in 2021. Naval exercises were also held last year with troops from Mauritius, Madagascar and the Seychelles.

One measure undertaken by AFRICOM to address security concerns in the Sahel is Flintlock, the command’s largest annual special operations exercise. More than 400 service members from over 10 African partner and allied nations join U.S. personnel in the military and law enforcement exercise each year.

When it comes to threats throughout the continent, meanwhile, the greatest number come from al-Shabab, Boko Haram and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, according to a recent report by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies. In the Sahel, the Macina Liberation Front — part of the Jama’at Nusrat al Islam wal Muslimeen coalition of extremist groups — was noted as being largely responsible for an attack incident rate that has quadrupled since 2019, according to the report.

In Somalia, U.S. troops have experienced a surge in direct involvement in counterterrorism operations against al-Shabab terrorists.

On Oct. 1, U.S. forces took out Abdullahi Nadir — a man Somali leaders called “one of the most important members of al-Shabab” — in an attack coordinated with the Somali National Army. This most recent assault followed a series of other strikes conducted throughout the summer, one of which was responsible for killing 27 militants.

“The defensive strikes allowed the Somali National Army and African Union Transition Mission in Somalia forces to regain the initiative and continue the operation to disrupt al-Shabaab in the Hiraan region of central Somalia,” AFRICOM officials said of the September strike. “This operation is the largest combined Somali and ATMIS offensive operation in five years.”

Although the Biden administration reinstated the U.S. mission in Somalia just this year, a decision that followed former president Donald Trump’s January 2021 troop withdrawal, AFRICOM leaders are not necessarily hopeful that more funds will be spent on combating extremism throughout the region.

“I would say you’re not going to see a very significant change [in funding],” Army Gen. Stephen Townsend, the previous head of AFRICOM, told Military Times in July. “We’re still what our department refers to as the ‘economy-of-force theater’ ― also in the current lexicon, a ‘posture-limited theater,’ which means we’re still not going to get very many resources, right?”

Current national security postures indicate the war in Ukraine and threats from military powers such as China, Iran, Russia and North Korea may continue to pull funding and focus away from counterterrorism efforts in places like the Sahel.

However, Townsend’s replacement, Marine Gen. Michael Langley, told the Senate Armed Services Committee during his July 21 confirmation hearing that he sees terrorism in Africa as “more of a problem today” than ever before.

After getting a call from the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office about the stranded hikers, soldiers assigned to the Army’s Air Ambulance Detachment-Yakima were tasked with sending a helicopter capable of picking up people while hovering to retrieve them.

“At 11:53 a.m. a USAAAD UH-60L Black Hawk helicopter departed Yakima Training Center for nearby Leavenworth. where the aircrew picked up two civilian search and rescue volunteers from Chelan County Mountain Rescue,” a press release from the Army shared.

“Upon receiving the call, we knew we’d need help from search and rescue volunteers,” Chief Warrant Officer 3 Matt Kravulski, the lead pilot said in the release. “We were able to pick them up about seven miles from the point where the injured hiker was located, but what would have taken them eight hours by ground took us less than ten minutes.”

The aircrew managed to land on the south face of the mountain, approximately 200 yards from the hikers.

“The injury wasn’t that serious, a broken arm, but due to the extreme terrain we didn’t know if they’d be able to make it back without us, so we returned to YTC for fuel and remained ready in case they decided evacuating the patient by air was the best course of action,” Kravulski said.

However, within about two hours of returning to base, the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office asked for them to return and extract both the hikers and rescuers. Wind conditions had changed, though, and the aircrew couldn’t land. Chelan County Emergency Management volunteers had to lower the man about 600 feet to an area the aircrew could reach, a report from local news said.

“Fortunately,” Kravulski said, “the rescue team placed some white pieces of tape up to act as windsocks, and no one on our crew in the air believed it safe enough to attempt a landing.”

Hovering at about 8,000 feet in elevation, Yakima soldiers had to deploy their hoist four times to retrieve the search and rescue volunteers and the pair of hikers.

The injured hiker, a 28-year-old man, showed signs of shock in addition to the broken arm and was flown roughly 15 miles to Leavenworth, and transferred by ambulance to Cascade Medical Center. Without the aircrew, the hikers would have had to drive approximately 65 miles to reach the same hospital.

Based out of Yakima Training Center in Washington, the Army’s Air Ambulance Detachment regularly works hand-in-hand with the Washington State Emergency Operations Center, local sheriff departments, and civilian volunteers to rescue people in south-central Washington’s remote wilderness.

There are 33 personnel and four aircraft in the unit, the Army press release shared.

The report, which was obtained by Bloomberg News, said soldiers complained of headaches, eyestrain and nausea, with 80% of those who experienced discomfort noting that their symptoms started after less than three hours of using the goggles.

Nickolas Guertin, director of DoD’s Operation Test and Evaluation, said in the report obtained by Bloomberg that those issues must be addressed, but he didn’t deem the device a failure. The Army should “prioritize improvements” before a wider fielding to reduce the “physical discomfort of users,” Guertin said, according to Bloomberg.

The report, which was not made public, was marked as “Controlled Unclassified Information.”

The exercise chronicled in the report was conducted in May and June, although service members have been testing the Integrated Visual Augmentation System, or IVAS, for the last few years. In 2020, Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Grinston reviewed the systems as soldiers tested out the goggles in drills, such as clearing rooms.

The appeal of the goggles, Army leaders shared at the time, is that they give low-level leaders the ability to easily run new soldiers through various battle drills, building up small unit skillsets.

The goggles are supposed to provide a “heads-up display” for ground troops, similar to those utilized by fighter pilots.

Guertin noted in the report’s summary that improvements are needed with the goggle’s low-light sensors, display clarity, field of vision and other essential functions, according to Bloomberg. Guertin also noted that the latest model of the goggles — a customized-version of Microsoft’s HoloLens — allowed for “enhanced navigation and coordination of unit movements.”

The Army has proposed spending upwards of $420 million on the program this fiscal year and estimated that it may spend around $22 billion on the goggles over the next decade, citing costs including spare parts and support services, Bloomberg reported.

But while Army budgets and estimates view these goggles in a positive light, the report shows that soldiers may not be as infatuated with the goggles as planners are.

The level at which soldiers accepted the goggles “remains low,” the report showed, and both soldiers and leaders don’t think the goggles “contribute to their ability to complete their mission.”

While Microsoft was not given a copy of the Pentagon’s test results, the technology company told Bloomberg in a statement that “our close collaboration with the Army has enabled us to quickly build” and adjust the goggles “to develop a transformational platform that will deliver enhanced soldier safety and effectiveness. We are moving forward with the production and delivery of the initial set.”

The Army’s assistant secretary for acquisition, Doug Bush, said the Army “is fully aware” of concerns from the testing office and adjusting the program’s schedule “to allow time to develop solutions to the issues identified,” Bloomberg reported.

Despite these results, however, Bush gave the Army the green light to begin accepting the initial 5,000 sets of goggles produced that had been put on hold.