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.

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.

The decision, announced Oct. 3 in a memorandum from the Biden Administration, confirmed that seven of the 12 countries flagged for using child soldiers in their defense forces in 2022 will not receive certain types of military funding until the issue is resolved.

Initiated during the George W. Bush presidency, the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008 restricts government military funding to countries that use or recruit child soldiers. In 2020, the United Nations reported more than 8,000 children were actively being used in combative conflicts across the globe, although most were not forced into military service by state actors.

Language within the CSPA states that military aid for equipment, foreign military financing, international military education and training and peacekeeping operations can be withheld if countries are in violation of the law.

It has become common practice for the president, however, to grant full or partial waivers in the name of supporting U.S. national security interests.

For the next fiscal year, the U.S. will still provide select funding to Somalia, Yemen, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo by partially waiving provisions within the CSPA.

Both the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo will still receive funds for peacekeeping operations and international military training, President Biden’s memo revealed.

While Somalia and Yemen will also receive funding for the same missions, both countries were also granted a waiver in line with 10 U.S. Code § 333, a legal authorization that allows the U.S. to support programs of foreign defense agencies specifically tasked with counterterrorism missions, combating illicit drug and weapons trades and international coalition missions that affect U.S. national security interests.

Although the U.S. officially ended its support of a Saudi-led coalition fighting for the exiled Yemeni government, U.S. troops at Al Dhafra Air Base in the neighboring United Arab Emirates have become targets for Houthi extremists in recent years. In late January, U.S. troops were forced to seek shelter after an attack from Houthi rebels targeted the United Arab Emirates during a visit by Israel’s president.

“In the early morning of Jan. 31, U.S. military personnel responded to an inbound missile threat at Al Dhafra Air Base in the UAE,” Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, said of the attack. “This involved personnel taking shelter in bunkers and the employment of Patriot interceptors coincident to efforts by the armed forces of the UAE.”

In Somalia, the U.S. is still actively launching strikes against al-Shabab, an Islamic terrorist organization linked to al-Qaeda. Troops have also returned to in-country operations in Somalia following President Biden’s reversal of the Trump Administration’s troop withdrawal in January 2021.

Waivers were also granted to allow for licenses for direct sales related to the U.S. government’s assistance of the aforementioned countries — and Russia — “solely for direct commercial sales in connection with the International Space Station,” the memo stated.

This is the first year since the CSPA’s passing that Russia was found to be in violation of the Act, the Stimson Center for international research noted.

Biden’s Oct. 3 CSPA decision is unique in that it marks a record number of countries receiving no waivers. But despite this move, according to reporting by Human Rights Watch, more than $230 million in U.S.-issued military funding will still go to countries with child soldiers over the next fiscal year.

The seven countries violating the CSPA that were not granted waivers this year are Afghanistan, Burma, Iraq, Mali, South Sudan, Syria and Venezuela, the Stimson Center showed.

Since the law’s passing, the U.S. has allowed more than $7.2 billion in arms sales and military assistance to go to countries using child soldiers.

No U.S. or partnered troops were killed or injured in the attack, and the strike did not result in any equipment or structural damage.

“This evening at approximately 10:12 p.m. local time in Syria, a 107mm rocket attack targeting Coalition Forces near the Rumalyn Landing Zone failed,” CENTCOM officials said. “Additional rockets were found at the launch origin site.”

While CENTCOM officials did not name a group believed to be behind the attack, American troops in Syria — approximately 900 are in the country — have been heavily involved in recent months in back-and-forth strikes against the Islamic State.

U.S. forces killed three senior Islamic State leaders in two separate strikes on Oct. 6, one of which involved a rare ground raid in northeastern Syria, a region currently controlled by the Syrian regime, U.S. officials told the Associated Press.

Killed in the raid near the village of Qamishli, which U.S. officials revealed was conducted by U.S. special operations forces, was Rakkan Wahid al-Shammri, an IS official responsible for weapons smuggling.

No U.S. troops were injured in the raid, CENTCOM officials said.

In the second attack that day, the U.S. carried out an airstrike in northern Syria, killing Abu Ala, the second-in-command for the terrorist organization in Syria. Also killed was Abu Mu’ad al Qahtani, officials said, another senior IS leader.

Saturday’s attack is currently under investigation.

Addressing the regional turbulence, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told CNN on Sept. 30 that he still believes no invasion is imminent. Just a day after his discussion, the Marine Corps kicked off two massive training exercises with regional allies.

“What we do see is China moving to establish what we would call a new normal,” he said. “Increased activity. We saw a number of center line crossings of the Taiwan Strait by their aircraft. That number has increased over time. We’ve seen more activity with their surface vessels and waters in and around Taiwan.”

In a regional show of force, more than 5,500 personnel will be participating in Resolute Dragon 22, which will run between Oct. 1 and Oct. 14 in Hokkaido, Japan, and KAMANDAG 6, which will conclude on the same day and feature members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines alongside U.S. Marines in Luzon, Batanes, and Palawan, Philippines.

The Okinawa-based headquarters command for the 3rd Marine Division will be overseeing U.S. forces involved in both exercises, with troops focusing “on increasing combined capabilities for amphibious operations, special operations, maritime security, coastal defense, combined arms, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief,” according to a press release.

“Resolute Dragon and KAMANDAG are important opportunities to bolster the defensive capabilities of our alliances with Japan and the Philippines through realistic combined training,” said Maj. Gen. Jay Bargeron, commanding general for the 3rd Marine Division.

“These exercises will allow our forces to strengthen interoperability and readiness to ensure we are prepared to rapidly respond to crisis throughout the Indo-Pacific.”

In total, the two exercises will see U.S. troops training alongside 1,400 members of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, approximately 530 Philippine Marines and about 100 troops from the Philippine Navy and Air Force.

”Today, as the security environment surrounding Japan becomes more turbulent, there is a need to further strengthen the deterrence and response capabilities of the Japan-U.S. Alliance,” Gen. Yuichi Togashi, the JGSDF 2nd Division commanding general, said in a release.

“For this reason, we recognize that Resolute Dragon, the largest field training exercise with the U.S. Marine Corps in Japan, is extremely important in terms of further strengthening the cooperation between the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force and the U.S. Marine Corps.”

Resolute Dragon and KAMANDAG 6 both come on the heels of Orient Shield 22, a joint exercise between soldiers with U.S. Army Pacific and the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force.

With current tensions in mind, U.S. Army Pacific Commander Gen. Charles Flynn made the decision to leave an equipment cache behind at Camp Amami, Japan, following the conclusion of Orient Shield 22. Ordnance currently in place at Camp Amami includes two High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS.

“What you are seeing in Europe is a protracted fight, so therefore sustainment is an incredibly important wartime function,” Flynn told Reuters of his decision. “It would be in everyone’s interest to look at their stocks and locations.”

Austin also discussed President Joe Biden’s recent remarks regarding U.S. commitment to Taiwanese independence. In an interview with 60 Minutes in Sept., Biden promised that U.S. troops would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion.

“So, unlike Ukraine, to be clear, sir, U.S. forces, U.S. men and women would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion?” 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley said to Biden.

“Yes,” the president responded.

While the president’s stance has been clear and consistent, U.S. policy toward China remains unchanged, Austin told CNN.

Furthermore, the U.S. is working hard to re-open channels of communication with the Chinese military, a line China cut off in August following a visit to Taiwan by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Aust also confirmed he has communicated both by phone and in person with his Chinese counterpart, Defense Minister Wei Fenghe.

“We’ll do everything we can to continue to signal that we want those channels open and I would hope that China will begin to lean forward a bit more and work with us,” Austin said.

The plan for a formal structure in Wiesbaden, Germany, for the U.S. efforts to aid Ukraine following the Russian invasion in February was presented by EUCOM commander Gen. Christopher Cavoli to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in late September, according to the Times.

Citing an unnamed source within the U.S. military and Biden administration, the Times reported that the new command would include approximately 300 personnel, and would likely report to Cavoli. While the command’s headquarters would be situated in Wiesbaden, training would likely take place at other U.S. bases in Germany, such as Grafenwoehr or Hohenfels, where the Army has large ranges.

A final decision on the command is expected within the next few weeks.

“In close coordination with our Allies and partners, we continue to take steps to align our support to the Ukrainian Armed Forces in a more unified manner in order to aid the Ukrainians with their most urgent needs on the battlefield against the Russian invading force,” EUCOM spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Daniel Day told Military Times in a statement. “At this time, any additional changes or moves to improve our ability to support the Ukrainians are pre-decisional, but as previously stated, we continue to take steps to better align our support.”

Signs of a potential re-structuring have been seen in recent weeks, as a multi-national logistics cell — the International Donor Coordination Center — moved from Stuttgart to Wiesbaden earlier this summer.

“The co-location with the U.S. Army Europe and Africa headquarters, as well as XVIII Airborne Corps increases the ability of the organization to rapidly support Ukraine operations,” EUCOM said in a statement regarding the Aug. 6 move.

The U.S. military began its mission to train Ukrainian troops well before Russia launched its full-scale war earlier this year. The initial efforts began in 2015, following the separation of Crimea from Ukraine.

U.S. troops, in addition to forces from Canada, Lithuania, Denmark, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom, have been training Ukrainian forces through the Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine. Initially stationed at the Combat Training Center-Yavoriv near Lviv, in western Ukraine, the troops were removed just before the invasion began.

“United States military units support the training to strengthen relationships and affirm the United States’ commitment to European partners,” a press release from the Army stated. “Army National Guard brigade combat teams provide the main support to the Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine mission in nine-month rotations as part of the Army’s rotational model.”

The U.S. military also still has thousands of troops positioned across Europe in response to the invasion, including in Poland, Romania, Germany, Latvia and Lithuania. To date, the U.S. has committed more than $16 billion to Ukraine.