Carter, who began hospice care at his home in Georgia in February 2023, is often remembered as the one-term president who led the nation in the wake of the Vietnam War and who oversaw treaties involving the Panama Canal and a diplomatic relationship between Egypt and Israel.

But before Carter’s 1977-81 presidency, Carter served his nation in the sea service.

Born James Earl Carter Jr. in Plains, Georgia, the sailor-turned-president attended Georgia Institute of Technology as a Navy ROTC student before receiving an appointment to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Inspired by his uncle to join the service, he graduated in June 1946 and commissioned as an ensign, according to Naval History and Heritage Command.

Carter received his first assignment with the battleship Wyoming, stationed at Norfolk, Virginia, where he served until the vessel was decommissioned in 1947. He then served on the battleship Mississippi as a training and education officer.

Following a six-month course at the U.S. Navy Submarine School in New London, Connecticut, Carter served aboard the Balao-class submarine Pomfret, based in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and later as an engineering officer with the K-1 submarine.

After a promotion to lieutenant in 1952, Carter began working with the Navy’s nuclear submarine development team. Only a few months later, he successfully helped prevent a nuclear disaster.

When a power surge at Chalk River Laboratories in Ontario, Canada, caused fuel rods to melt in a nuclear reactor, damaging its core, Carter and his team assisted in the response, according to the Navy. Each person was allowed up to only 90 seconds at a time for the cleanup work due to the extreme radioactivity.

“We were fairly well instructed then on what nuclear power was, but for about six months after that I had radioactivity in my urine,” Carter previously told CNN.

While preparing to work aboard one of the first subs to operate on atomic power, Carter’s father passed away in July 1953 and the young naval officer opted for an honorable discharge to return to Georgia and assist his family’s peanut-growing business.

“It was a very torturous decision for me to make,” Carter previously told CNBC.

Carter remained in the Naval Reserve until 1961, transferring to the retired reserve at the rank of lieutenant before beginning a career in politics.

Five other presidents also served in the Navy, including Carter’s four presidential predecessors as well as George H. W. Bush, according to the Navy’s heritage command.

The third Seawolf-class nuclear-powered submarine is named after the former president. Last year, a building at the Naval Academy was renamed after Carter following a congressionally-mandated decision to redesignate military assets across all branches with ties to the Confederacy.

Carter’s grandson indicated in May that his grandfather was “coming to the end” during an event with The Carter Center, the nonprofit the former president — and eventual Nobel Peace Prize recipient — founded after he left office to advance human rights internationally.

Carter’s wife Rosalynn died in November 2023.

Gamble, 46, characterized the last few years of his nearly 25-year career as a struggle to stay in fighting shape.

That changed in April 2023, when a civilian doctor prescribed him Ozempic. He soon shed 44 pounds, he told Military Times, getting down to about 200.

Gamble was medically separated from the Kentucky Army National Guard, retiring as a master sergeant earlier this year. He alleges his discharge was in part due to taking a personal route toward acquiring and using Ozempic, instead of going through military-approved channels to get the prescription.

But despite how his career concluded, Gamble is clear about one thing: Ozempic, a weight-loss drug now sweeping the nation, helped get him into shape.

“As soon as I started taking the Ozempic, it just kind of toned me up pretty quick,” he said.

Gamble’s struggles with weight are not unique.

The U.S. military needs its troops in fighting shape to carry out the mission, but like many other Americans, service members have become heavier in recent years.

More than two-thirds of active duty troops are now considered overweight or obese, Military Times previously reported, citing a study by the American Security Project, a nonpartisan research organization.

Anti-obesity drugs like Ozempic can offer troops fast weight loss, and their use has grown across the ranks in recent years, even as some researchers argue that the military brass is not using them as much as they could.

At the same time, while usage has increased, the military is in short supply of policies that determine when such drugs should be prescribed.

Some researchers argue that the military health care system should be taking advantage of drugs like Ozempic to improve service member health, refine military readiness and reduce fiscal costs associated with being overweight or obese.

Military officials have publicly expressed concern about how an overweight force endangers the mission. Active-duty service members struggling with obesity are 33% to 47% more likely to suffer musculoskeletal problems, contributing to injuries, impaired readiness and possible medical separation, according to a Defense Health Agency-funded study published in August.

But problematic health trends also pose financial burdens shouldered by the Defense Department.

Service member obesity costs the Pentagon more than $1.35 billion annually, with direct care costs in 2023 accounting for $1.25 billion and productivity losses — due to hospital stays — costing an additional $99 million, according to a separate report by the American Security Project.

Promises and perils

Drugs like Ozempic work in part by regulating one’s appetite. And while makers of the drugs have warned about side effects, which occur with other medications as well, experts note that long-term impacts still need to be explored.

Many of the drugs have long been used to treat diabetes, but their use as weight-loss wonder medications — lifetime use is required to maintain a lower weight — is relatively unchartered territory.

Ozempic isn’t approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for weight loss, but is sometimes prescribed off-label to help people lose weight. Wegovy, Saxenda and Zepbound are among FDA-approved options for weight loss.

Some studies warn of pitfalls that can occur when trying to transition away from using the expensive medications, including the regaining of weight, NPR reported. And as their popularity has grown, some Americans remain dubious.

A Pew Research Center survey conducted in February examined American attitudes toward weight-loss drugs and found that, while more than half of those familiar with the medications consider them a valuable weight loss option, 19% believe they are not, while 28% are unsure.

The military’s Tricare health program began approving coverage of FDA-approved weight-loss medications in May 2018. And while associated prescriptions in the ranks have dramatically increased since, they are still being used by a small percentage of the force.

The prevalence of weight-loss prescriptions in the active component increased from 1.2 per 100,000 service members in the first quarter of 2018 to 104.4 in the second quarter of 2023, a recent study by Medical Surveillance Monthly Report noted. That dramatic surge involved prescriptions increasing from seven to 816 during the study period.

Less than 1% of active duty personnel currently use anti-obesity medications, according to the Defense Health Agency-funded report.

But that report’s authors contend that at least 22% of the active duty population would qualify for the medications because they meet body-mass index criteria for obesity. In fact, the prevalence of those considered overweight and obese within the Military Health System is 41.6% and 30.5%, respectively, the study notes.

Researchers and analysts outside the military argue that a pervasive weight bias in the military, along with a confusing and administratively burdensome system of authorization, play into a lack of wider adoption of the drugs.

They also point to a lack of obesity training and education for providers and a limited nationwide supply as factors.

Such issues have been top of mind for some military leaders of late.

Marine Sgt. Maj. Troy Black, senior enlisted advisor to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a podcast interview this summer that removing fast-food restaurants from military bases would help curb the obesity crisis.

Accessible and affordable healthy food options are critical for service members to get into or remain in shape, but analysts say the military’s obesity struggles result from more factors than a simple lack of willpower among troops.

Regardless of contributing factors, the small number of troops who have been prescribed drugs like Ozempic must follow a course of treatment that depends on the specific drug prescribed as well as physician instructions, said Peter Graves, a spokesperson for the DHA.

Tricare protocols require patients to use the anti-obesity medication phentermine before others — also approved by the FDA — can be prescribed.

“It’s not as simple [as having] a provider sit in a clinic, recognize the patient would benefit from this medication, order it and hand it to them that same day,” said Army Capt. Taylor Neuman, who co-authored the August study.

There is also the issue of supply and demand. While some companies have announced in recent months that they are lowering the cost of weight-loss drugs, offering them as single-dose vials, the FDA as of August listed limited availability for other anti-obesity medications as a result of increased public demand.

“Shortages have caused a dramatic underutilization rate across all services,” Courtney Manning, a senior research scientist at the American Security Project, told Military Times.

Getting core ingredients for the drugs, some of which are produced abroad, adds complexity to scaling importation and production, she added.

Troops using the drugs

The DHA-funded study looked at service member demographics most likely to be prescribed the drug by assessing troops and beneficiaries — 18 to 64 years old — in the military health care system who were prescribed at least one Tricare-approved anti-obesity medication from fiscal 2018 to fiscal 2022.

Those more likely to be prescribed such medications included females, individuals between 30 and 60 years of age, enlisted troops and warrant officers.

Another study published in January in the Medical Surveillance Monthly Report found that sailors, older troops, those working in health care and non-Hispanic Black troops were prescribed the drugs more often than their peers.

The DHA-funded study also found troops and beneficiaries under the age of 20, between 60 and 64 years old and those who identify as “Asian/Pacific Islander or other race” to be associated with lower odds of getting the medications.

Neuman, one of the study’s authors, said more research is needed about what overweight and obese troops are costing the Pentagon.

Additional research is also needed to understand the long-term impact of weight-loss drugs. While short- and medium-term impacts have been looked at, studies to determine whether there are long-term side effects will be necessary, according to Manning.

Despite any potential detriments, demand in the civilian world for weight-loss drugs has surged, even in light of the cost to procure the medications — some starter doses are going for over $1,000 a month, according to a congressional panel.

Such drugs came to prominence back in 2017, when the FDA approved Ozempic, a brand name for the drug semaglutide, which works as a diabetes treatment and has been used to help reduce body weight. Other options followed suit, including Wegovy, also a semaglutide injection, which was approved in 2021.

In 2022, the FDA approved Mounjaro, an injection of the drug tirzepatide, and in 2023, it approved the similar drug Zepbound.

A poll in May by the nonprofit KFF Health found that about one in eight adults said they have taken a GLP-1 agonist, an increasingly popular class of prescription drugs used in part for weight loss in products like Ozempic. Of those polled, 6% said they are currently taking such a drug.

A strong desire among Americans to use the medications aligns with the high prevalence of overweight and obese populations across the country. In 2022, all U.S. states and territories reported an obesity prevalence of more than one in five adults, with the Midwest and South showing the highest prevalence of obesity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Obesity struggles impact children and young adults as well. About one in six children and adolescents, ages 2 to 19, are overweight, according to data from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, and almost one in five children and adolescents in that same age group are categorized as obese.

And while weight management issues are currently plaguing those in uniform, such problems are also thinning the list of prospective recruits amid an historic recruiting crisis.

Being overweight was recently listed as the number one disqualifying factor among young military applicants, constituting 11% of all disqualifications, according to a 2020 Pentagon study.

“The whole issue of not as many people [qualifying for military service] because of obesity, because of behavioral issues — that’s going to continue,” Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said at the annual Defense News Conference in September.

No uniform policy

To date, the services have not aligned their policies for the use of weight-loss drugs.

The policies that do exist, meanwhile, are “unclear, outdated or restrictive,” the authors of the DHA-funded study wrote.

“These are doctor-prescribed medications and would not be issued directly to troops,” Graves told Military Times. “Service members see a Tricare-

authorized provider who prescribes the medication based on medical necessity.”

Manning said it remains unclear whether troops are asking their providers first about taking such drugs, or whether the providers are suggesting them to the troops.

She noted that she has heard of providers who have prescribed medications to eligible troops for a non-weight-related condition to avoid putting them into a category that would negatively impact their military careers.

Such medications are not routinely prescribed to sailors who enter the Navy’s Body Composition Program — a remedial program for troops who fall short of physical standards — according to Cmdr. Jessica McNulty, spokesperson for the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, or BUMED.

McNulty added that BUMED is working alongside the Marine Corps on an anti-obesity medication policy that will enable operational medical officers to prescribe them.

“We seek to improve the health and readiness of our fighting force in the safest manner possible and will continue to monitor advancements in research,” she told Military Times.

A review of Coast Guard prescription data from 2018 through the end of 2023 showed similar increases in use of weight-loss medications compared to the other military branches, according to the service. Women, older age groups and senior enlisted and officer groups in the Coast Guard reported a higher number of prescriptions issued.

But Coast Guard officials added that the number of prescriptions distributed may not equate to the number of individuals treated, considering there may be multiple prescriptions for the same individual.

An Air Force official said the service does not prescribe such medications “solely for failing to meet the service’s body composition standards.”

In accordance with Air Force instruction, weight-control medication is not approved for routine use by overweight active duty members, a spokesperson said. The service does, however, allow for the prescription of weight-control medication in select circumstances.

In May 2023, the DHA issued a policy memo that allowed military health care facility providers to prescribe weight-loss medication, an Army spokesperson said.

All Army beneficiaries must meet clinical criteria indicated in the DHA policy and receive prior authorization before receiving anti-obesity or weight-loss medications, the Army spokesperson added. In fiscal 2024, there were 9,464 active duty soldiers who received at least one anti-obesity medication.

Still, more changes around anti-obesity drugs in the military could be on the horizon.

The House-version of the annual defense policy bill, which passed out of the chamber this summer, includes a provision that would require the defense secretary to develop a strategy to align the Pentagon’s obesity-related programs with the classification of obesity as a medically accepted disease.

But the legislation still has a number of hurdles to clear before it becomes law.

The pair of Marines are deployed together aboard the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship Boxer while serving with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is helping conduct routine operations in the Indo-Pacific region.

Earlier this month, Gunnery Sgt. Joseph Morelli was afforded the rare opportunity to effectively look in the mirror while promoting his identical sibling, Albert, to sergeant. The latter left active duty in 2013 for family reasons before returning nine years later.

“Being able to promote him while we’re both on the 15th MEU was a weird moment,” Joseph said in a service release. “Especially because he promoted me to sergeant when he was originally transitioning out of the Marine Corps. It blew my mind.”

While their career paths diverged after enlisting together in 2009, the duo is now reunited, both in their support of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force and in propping each other up to pursue individual goals.

“I want to see him become a squad leader, and a platoon sergeant when he eventually completes Infantry Small Unit Leaders Course,” said Joseph, the communications maintenance chief assigned to the 15th MEU.

Albert, who now serves as an assistant patrol leader assigned to Bravo Company, Battalion Landing Team 1/5, returned that encouragement toward his brother.

“He’s already well on his way to master sergeant,” he said. “Whatever he wants to do I know he can get out there and make it happen.”

Exactly how many times fellow troops have confused the gunny and the sergeant, or whether the siblings ever use their indistinguishable features in pursuit of hijinks, remains unclear.

And while they are not the only Marines to ever elicit double takes from a passerby, the brothers in arms — and by blood — are appreciating the uncommon opportunity to serve side by side.

“I would have never anticipated us serving under the same unit and working on the same ship,” said Joseph. “The experience was weird at first, and there were a lot of moving pieces leading up to our shared deployment. It’s awesome that it turned out like this.”

Fort Moore, Georgia, kicked off the assessments this month to measure incoming troops’ brain function, following Fort Sill, Oklahoma, which started the program in June, according to Army Col. Jama VanHorne-Sealy with the Army Medical Command. Testing at two other basic training locations, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and Fort Jackson, South Carolina, is scheduled to start by the end of September, she told Military Times.

Recruits at Fort Moore will complete the cognitive monitoring assessment during training in-processing, which takes place the first seven to 10 days on post, according to installation spokesperson Jennifer Gunn.

Meanwhile, more than 5,600 Army ROTC cadets took the baseline brain health test in June during annual summer training at Fort Knox, Kentucky, VanHorne-Sealy said, and in November, assessments will begin for cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

All services are scheduled to roll out the testing at all entry training locations by the end of 2024, according to the Army.

The move allows for the monitoring of service members’ cognitive data earlier in their careers, allowing health care officials to better track significant changes, including potential brain injuries.

Dr. Steven Porter, chief of neurocognitive assessment with the Army Surgeon General’s office, emphasized the value of shifting away from a long-standing cognitive assessment program that began in 2007, which followed a predeployment and injury-centric model, to a more comprehensive, proactive approach that regularly evaluates brain health.

“Without ongoing testing, changes to a soldier’s thought processes may not be evident until an event that could put both the service member or their unit in jeopardy,” he said in a statement.

Exams are not used to disqualify anyone from service, VanHorne-Sealy said, adding that the 25- to 35-minute assessment evaluates ten areas of cognitive functioning and can be administered in an individual or group setting.

The Army discussed tracking new soldiers’ brain health earlier this year in the aftermath of a mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, in October 2023 by an Army reservist, Army Times previously reported. That soldier’s brain showed evidence in an autopsy of traumatic brain injury, which is linked to concussions and blast exposure.

In August, Defense Department leaders revealed a series of new steps designed to protect troops from “blast overpressure” injuries related to weapons use, Military Times previously reported.

In an Aug. 8 department memo, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks called for all new recruits to be screened for signs of brain injury by the end of the year, and all currently serving reservists and active-duty personnel to be screened by the end of fiscal 2025.

“Blast overpressure is one of many factors that can negatively affect warfighter brain health,” she shared in a statement.

The Army’s intent for soldiers in career fields with the greatest potential for blast overpressure exposure is to have them get tested annually; meanwhile, personnel who have some chance of exposure will be assessed biannually and those with the least potential will be assessed every three years, VanHorne-Sealy said.

At an annual summit in July, experts gathered to review the latest DOD and service research and approaches for protecting service members exposed to blast overpressure.

“I think the key thing is, is that we need to continue to synchronize across DOD,” VanHorne-Sealy said in a statement following the event. “There’s so much good work that’s already going on out there that we can learn from each other, take from each other, and we can create a better program holistically.

Family members of some of those service members have received $500,000 in compensation thanks to a recently authorized state death benefit, but several others were denied or have their claim remaining under review, according to Shelia Bailey Taylor, the Texas Military Department director of state administration, who revealed the death toll on Aug. 20.

The troops served on Operation Lone Star, a mission consisting of Texas Guard members and other state law enforcement officials that Governor Greg Abbott said was enacted to stop drugs and or people from entering into Texas across the U.S.-Mexico border without authorization.

In July, Border Patrol recorded just over 56,400 encounters between ports of entry along the southwest border, the lowest monthly total since September 2020, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. That followed an announcement in June by President Joe Biden that temporarily suspended the entry of certain noncitizens across the southern border.

Thanks to the Bishop Evans Act, families of Texas National Guardsmen who die “in connection with operations initiated to address criminal activity in the border region” may now be eligible for financial compensation. The law is named after a Texas National Guard member who died in 2022 while trying to save two migrants, The Texas Tribune and Army Times previously reported.

Others who died for a variety of reasons while serving on Operation Lone Star include a Guardsmen who suffered a medical emergency at his unit’s hotel, at least two others who were killed in accidental shootings as well as at least four others who died by suicide.

Between March 6, 2021 — the date Operation Lone Star launched — and Sept. 1, 2023, there were 10 claims submitted to receive a one-time lump sum payment of half a million dollars following the death of a service member, Taylor said. Of those, four of those claims met eligibility requirements, but only three were paid out, as the fourth did not have surviving dependents, she said. The other six claims were denied, she added.

Taylor said another seven claims were submitted for deaths that occurred during state active duty after Sept. 1, 2023. Six of those deaths remain under review, she said, though one investigation recently concluded and determined the death was during state active duty orders.

Seven of the claims were also separately submitted for additional worker’s compensation death benefits, though six have been denied as they were considered to not be “on the job” injuries within the course and scope of employment, she said.

Texas state Rep. Ray Lopez, D-San Antonio, the vice chair of the Defense & Veterans’ Affairs Committee, encouraged Taylor and other officials at the meeting to speak up if gaps or other issues need to be addressed with the implementation of the new law.

“We know that it is a good attempt. Its intent is certainly perfect in the sense that we want to put legislation out there that is helpful to those folks that we’re serving. But we know that it isn’t,” he said.

The Texas Military Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Military Times.

First Lt. Mackenzie Corcoran with the 29th Brigade Engineer Battalion, 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, is one of a few women to wear some of the most difficult to receive tabs — an arch worn on uniforms signifying a special skill.

“No one realizes how far our bodies and minds can actually go until we push them to the limit,” Corcoran said in an Army release.

Becoming a triple-tabbed female soldier is no common accomplishment.

Earlier this year, Corcoran became the 135th woman to graduate and earn her Ranger tab, making her the eighth woman to be double-tabbed with Ranger and Sapper tabs, the Army said.

Another service member became the first female soldier to complete the Jungle Operations Training Course as an infantryman when she graduated in 2014. The following year, the first women graduated from the grueling Ranger course, earning the coveted tab. And while the Sapper Leader Course had its first female graduate in 1999, it wasn’t until 2018 that the course graduated its first female enlisted soldier.

One week after arriving at her unit in January 2022, the Army said Corcoran got the opportunity to attend the Jungle Operations Training Course, a 12-day course that teaches students how to navigate and operate in wilderness environments.

First tab, completed, but Corcoran was not nearly finished.

From November to December 2022 she attended the Sapper Leader Course, a formidable 28-day course for combat engineers. In one of the more challenging moments she faced on her tab-collection journey, Corcoran described how a traditional hour of personal time was cut down to 20 minutes after running laps in the rain.

“It was miserable, we were all miserable,” she said in the Army release, noting she chose to eat her field rations instead of taking the time to sleep.

Corcoran earned her promotion to first lieutenant in January 2023 and later achieved another milestone by graduating from Ranger School in March this year.

“Ranger was physically easier than Sapper, but with so much time to my thoughts, it made it more mentally challenging,” she said.

Corcoran plans to attend a three-week course that evaluates and selects the best Rangers to be assigned to the 75th Ranger Regiment. She also would like to attend Air Assault School and Pathfinder School, the Army release noted, as well as earn her Expert Soldier Badge.

“I want to continue challenging myself by attending as many Army courses as possible,” she explained.

Caz Craffy, also known as “Carz Craffey,” 42, pleaded guilty in April after officials charged him with multiple charges, including six counts of wire fraud.

As a result of the scheme, the Gold Star families — relatives of service members who gave the ultimate sacrifice — lost more than $3.7 million, while Craffy earned more than $1.4 million in commissions.

In addition to the prison term, a federal judge sentenced Craffy to three years of supervised release and ordered forfeiture of $1.4 million, according to a department release, which added that restitution will be determined at a later date.

“Craffy made a conscious decision to defraud Gold Star families suffering from losing their loved one who paid the ultimate sacrifice serving this country,” FBI Special Agent in Charge James Dennehy said in the announcement.

“They believed Craffy was acting in their best interest, but instead, he was using their money as a method to make his own,” he said. “Heartless and despicable don’t even begin to sum up his crimes.”

From November 2017 to January 2023, Craffy was a civilian Army employee, working as a financial counselor with the Casualty Assistance Office, responsible for providing advice to the surviving beneficiaries of deceased troops who can be eligible for hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation.

From May 2018 to November 2022, he obtained more than $9.9 million from Gold Star families to invest in accounts he managed on his own and outside the system, repeatedly executing trades often without the families’ authorization, earning himself high commissions in the process, the release states.

He let the vast majority of them mistakenly believe his management of their money was done on behalf of and with the Army’s authorization.

Authorities pursued Craffy — who is also a major in the U.S. Army Reserve, where he has served since 2003 — following an investigation by The Washington Post.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has a pending civil complaint against Craffy based on the same and additional conduct, according to the feds, and Craffy has been permanently prohibited from association with any member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc.

The Army Reserve acknowledged Craffy received his federal sentence, but declined to say whether he is expected to face additional punishment by the military.

“The U.S. Army Reserve remains committed to holding personnel accountable for conduct that does not align with DoD and Army policies,” Army Reserve spokesperson Lt. Col. Addie Leonhardt told Military Times in a statement. “However, the Army Reserve generally cannot comment on pending military personnel matters.”

Craffy’s attorney declined a request for comment.

U.S. District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema wrote in a decision filed Tuesday that barring those with undetectable viral loads from serving is “irrational, arbitrary, and capricious” as it contributes to a stigma about people who are HIV-positive while also actively hampering the military’s own recruitment goals.

Previously, the court ruled that asymptomatic HIV-positive troops with undetectable viral loads who maintained treatment remained capable of doing their military jobs, including deployments, Brinkema noted.

Today, HIV treatment medications often involve little more than taking a daily pill, and that lower viral load from meds also prevents transmission to others.

“Modern science has transformed the treatment of HIV,” Brinkema wrote.

The move marks what advocates called the end of the last categorical disqualification preventing people living with HIV from joining the U.S. armed forces.

“Americans living with HIV no longer face categorical barriers to service careers – discharge, bans on commissioning, bans on deployment and finally bans on enlisting,” Gregory Nevins, an attorney for the organization Lambda Legal that helped file the case against the DOD, said in a release.

One of the plaintiffs in the case, Isaiah Wilkins, 24, described the decision as a victory not only for himself, but also for other people living with HIV who want to serve.

“As I’ve said before, giving up on my dream to serve my country was never an option,” he said in a statement. “I am eager to apply to enlist in the Army  without the threat of a crippling discriminatory policy.”

Wilkins joined the Georgia National Guard as a teen before later voluntarily separating to join the U.S. Military Academy Preparatory School, a step toward enrolling at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the court ruling states.

He signed an Army Reserve contract and mobilized into active duty when he learned he was HIV-positive during entry processing, a status which ultimately led to his separation.

Today, Wilkins is on a daily single-tablet regimen, which has suppressed his viral load to an undetectable level, the ruling states.

The decision this week in the case Wilkins v. Austin, which was filed on behalf of Wilkins and two other individuals who could not enlist or reenlist based on their HIV status, follows a series of rulings in other cases for people living with HIV.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued a memorandum in June 2022 outlining changes that allowed individuals identified as HIV-positive, asymptomatic and with a clinically confirmed undetectable viral load to stay in uniform and remain deployable.

A 2023 report by the Congressional Research Service found that between January 2017 and June 2022, DOD’s Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division estimated that 1,581 service members were newly diagnosed with HIV.

Human immunodeficiency virus, commonly known by the acronym HIV, is a virus that attacks the body’s immune system, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which lists details on symptoms, prevention, testing and treatment. There is currently no effective cure, but proper medical care can control it.

The Pentagon declined comment on this week’s ruling.

Recent reliefs span Army commands around the globe, and do not appear to be connected.

Most recently, former Command Sgt. Maj. Jaime Rubio of 5th Squadron, 15th Cavalry Regiment, was arraigned Aug. 14 on two counts of domestic violence at Fort Moore, Georgia, according to the Army court docket.

That docket indicates Rubio has pleaded not guilty and a trial is scheduled for November.

Rubio was relieved from his position on March 25, “due to a loss of trust and confidence in his leadership ability,” an Army spokesperson told Military Times.

Meanwhile, near the nation’s capital, Command Sgt. Maj. Harold “Ed” Jarrell, the senior enlisted leader for 1st Information Operations Command, was relieved of command on Aug. 13.

That followed the firing five days earlier of Command Sgt. Maj. Veronica Knapp, the senior enlisted leader of both Joint Task Force-National Capital Region and the Army’s Military District of Washington.

The Army has declined to explain why Jarrell and Knapp were let go, but statements from their respective units said there was a “loss of trust and confidence” in them.

Last month, Command Sgt. Maj. Matthew Carlson was relieved of his duties with the 173rd Airborne Brigade after an investigation that officials said “pertained to alcohol-related incidents.”

“The incidents that led to his relief were alcohol-related,” Lt. Col. Alex Tignor, an Army spokesperson, told Military Times.

Tignor added that “the substantiated conduct which led to the relief decision was non-criminal in nature.”

Citing privacy law, Tignor declined to comment on recent media reports that outlined other allegations against Carlson, which could not be independently verified by Military Times.

This series of firings among top leaders, some of which came in swift succession, are not unique to the Army.

This year, the Air Force fired an operations group commander as well as the commander of the 96th Test Wing Civil Engineer Group. The Navy ousted the commanding officer of an expeditionary sea base amid an investigation into a soft grounding the ship suffered earlier this year, as well as the commanding officer of an amphibious transport dock.

The Marine Corps relieved leaders of its West Coast infantry school and the commander of an infantry battalion in California as well.

There were more than 75,500 cases of sexual assault in the military in 2021, higher than the Pentagon’s estimate of approximately 35,900 cases that year, according to the report by the Costs of War Project at Brown University’s Watson Institute.

Researchers also estimated more than 73,600 cases occurred in 2023, a significantly higher number than DOD’s estimate of 29,000 that year.

On average, during the war in Afghanistan, 24% of active duty women and 1.9% of active duty men experienced sexual assault, the report stated, adding that racial minorities and LGBTQ+ service members also face greater risk of sexual assault.

The review of independent data noted that the range of cases being two to four times higher might actually be conservative, and that on the high end, estimates suggest the prevalence of sexual assault is 10 times higher than DOD’s figures.

“Despite efforts to address sexual assault, the prioritization of force ‘readiness’ — the ability to train and deploy troops to Iraq and Afghanistan — above all else allowed the problem of sexual assault to fester,” the report stated.

Over the last decade, the government has worked to combat sexual assault through various task force recommendations, DOD initiatives and congressional legislation, including the passage of the “I am Vanessa Guillén Act,” which removes commanders’ authority over sexual assault cases and hands it to independent prosecutors.

Data on sexual assault during the early period of the post-9/11 wars is less reliable than in later years, the report noted, because the information was only systematically tracked after the establishment of the DOD Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office.

But independent reporting and data from other organizations that assist sexual assault survivors indicates a spike in such incidents following the invasion of Afghanistan, it added.

DOD’s latest annual report on sexual assault in the military showed a decrease in sexual assault prevalence for the first time in nearly 10 years.

“We are cautiously optimistic that our work to counter these problematic behaviors is having the intended effect,” Elizabeth Foster, the executive director of the Office of Force Resiliency, said in May when that report was released. “However, to see enduring change take hold, we must sustain our efforts to implement the reforms and initiatives approved by the [secretary of defense].”

The author of the Costs of War Project report noted that while it is difficult to definitively compare DOD data to independent studies, such initiatives provide an important counterpoint to government data.