Here are five noteworthy news stories and events to start your week, from the editors at Military.com.
1. Marines Under Investigation for Sharing Nude Photos of Female Troops
A congressman is calling on the Marine Corps to take decisive action in response to reports that hundreds of active-duty Marines shared nude photos of female troops without their consent. Rep. Adam Smith released a statement Sunday calling the alleged behavior by Marines and vets "degrading, dangerous, and completely unacceptable." An investigation into the matter was made public Saturday evening by reporter Thomas James Brennan, who wrote that members of the private Facebook group Marines United had shared dozens of nude photos of female service members, identifying them by name, rank and duty station.
2. Families of Fallen Green Berets to Talk About Deadly Attack in Jordan
Family members of three Green Berets who were killed on a training mission at the King Faisal Air Force Base in Jordan plan to talk about the incident and their search for more information on Tuesday in Washington, D.C. The soldiers -- Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Lewellen and Staff Sgts. Kevin McEnroe and James F. Moriarty, all assigned to 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Fort Campbell in Kentucky -- were shot and killed on Nov. 4, 2016, by a Jordanian soldier as their vehicle convoy entered the base in al-Jafr. The fathers of the men will be joined by U.S. lawmakers to demand the Jordanian government account for the incident.
3. US Mulls Sending More Troops into Syria to Seize Raqqa: Report
The White House is mulling a Pentagon plan to retake Raqqa, the Islamic State's self-proclaimed capital in Syria, by boosting the number of U.S. special operations forces in the country, along with attack helicopters, artillery and arms supplies to friendly forces including Syrian Kurds, The Washington Post reported on Sunday. The U.S. military has roughly 500 special operations forces on the ground in Syria and about 5,000 in Iraq to help fight militants affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. American commanders have previously indicated that the new plan would involve U.S. troops moving closer to the front lines while still avoiding ground combat.
4. Army Moving Ahead with Pistol Program Despite Protest
The U.S. Army is free to keep working on its Modular Handgun System contract with Sig Sauer despite a protest from Glock Inc. The reason? Glock was two days late filing the protest, according to a source familiar with competition law but who's not cleared to talk to the media. In order for a contract to be frozen upon protest, the company with a complaint must either file a protest within 10 days of the contract award decision or within five days of receiving the required debriefing by the government, the sources said. The Army in January awarded Sig Sauer a contract worth up to $580 million to develop the P320 as a replacement for the M9 service pistol.
5. ICYMI: Highlights from the Air Warfare Symposium
Military.com covered last week's Air Warfare Symposium organized by the Air Force Association and held in Orlando. Among the highlights from the show: Air Force Gen. Tod Wolters, head of U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Africa, generated buzz -- and some confusion -- about which type of U.S. and NATO assets the Russians buzzed last month in the Baltics, Boeing Co. announced it will offer an MH-139 helicopter based on Leonardo-Finmeccanica's AgustaWestland AW139 for the Air Force's UH-1N Huey helicopter replacement program, and Northrop Grumman Corp. said it tested a new type of RQ-4 Global Hawk drone sensor.
-- Hope Hodge Seck, Matthew Cox, Richard Sisk and Oriana Pawlyk contributed to this report.
-- Brendan McGarry can be reached at brendan.mcgarry@military.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Brendan_McGarry.
