This week in the military, news broke that the Department of Veterans Affairs is contemplating providing abortions to veterans after the Supreme Court reveresed Roe v. Wade; the first active-duty service member to be sentenced for their involvement in the siege of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, an Army combat engineer, was given a three-and-a-half-year prison term; a senior noncommissioned officer was killed during a lightning strike at Fort Gordon, Georgia; the Air Force is testing robot pilots to "man" transport planes amid the service's pilot shortage.
U.S. Marines launch a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) during the 2022 Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise. (Cpl. Patrick King/Marine Corps)
Related: Ukraine Releases Footage of HIMARS in Action
A U.S. Marine Corps recruit "enjoys" a meal, ready-to-eat (MRE) at Camp Pendleton, California, during "the Crucible" – a boot camp graduation requirement. (Lance Cpl. Cristian G. Torres/Marine Corps)
Related: How Tabasco Sauce Fought in Every American Conflict Since World War II
Two MC-130J Commando II aircraft fly over the North Sea while one is refueled mid-flight. (Staff Sgt. Kevin Long/Air Force)
Related: MC-130J Commando II
An M1A2 Abrams rank fires its main gun during a demonstration at Fort Stewart, Georgia. (Staff Sgt. Justin McClarran/Army)
Related: Marine Corps Grounds Its New Landing Craft After 2 Are Disabled in Big Waves During Exercise
A CMV-22B Osprey takes off the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz. (Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class David Rowe/Navy)
Related: 5 Marines Dead in Osprey Crash, Second Fatal Incident for the Aircraft This Year
Australian Army soldiers return to shore after training with U.S. Marines at Bellows Beach, Hawaii, as part of the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise. (Cpl. Dillon Anderson/Royal New Zealand Air Force)
Related: Why the Star of ‘Our Flag Means Death’ Was ‘De-cruited’ from the New Zealand Army
-- Drew F. Lawrence can be reached at drew.lawrence@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @df_lawrence.
![Members of Bashar Assad's army line up to register with Syrian rebels in Damascus, Syria.](http://images04.military.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail_large/public/2024-12/ApNewsroom_Syria_93981.jpg?itok=KtmjProB "Members of Bashar Assad's army, or a pro-government militia, line up to register with Syrian rebels as part of an "identification and reconciliation process" in Damascus, Syria, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)")
![A Danish soldier onboard the Danish warship Esbern Snare.](http://images05.military.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail_large/public/2024-12/ApNewsroom_Cyprus_Syria_83465.jpg?itok=FpC0C1Xo "FILE - A Danish soldier onboard the Danish warship "Esbern Snare" as the Danish cargo ship Ark Futura, background, transports Syria's dangerous chemical weapons out of the strife-torn country, out of Cyprus coastal city of Larnaca, on Tuesday, May 13, 2014. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias, File)")
