Army plans to adopt out its horses after putting an end to most ceremonial programs
The Old Guard ceremonial caisson units at Joint Base San Antonio and Arlington National Cemetery will remain in operation for burial honors.
Ceremonial cavalry units will be closed at bases, such as Fort Cavazos in Texas, from which the horses took part in the military parade in Washington on June 14. It was the Army's 250th anniversary and the 79th birthday of President Donald Trump.
Steve Warren, a spokesperson for the Army, said other ceremonial units will be shut down at Colorado's Fort Carson, Oklahoma's Fort Sill, California's Fort Irwin, Kansas's Fort Riley, and Arizona's Fort Huachuca.
According to Army estimates, shutting down the units will save about $2 million a year. The changes are part of a war-fighting realignment, said Warren. The Army is giving the bases a year to close the units.
Warren said 141 horses will be adopted outside the military, and some may be donated to organizations, but none will be sold.
They 'are part of the Army family, we're going to treat them with compassion,' Warren said of the horses.
The Army has recently restarted caisson operations at Arlington National Cemetery. This comes after a probe found that horses in those units had been mistreated and had been left to graze in areas with little grass, prompting them to attempt to eat sand and gravel. Two horses passed away in 2022, with caisson operations being suspended until earlier this year.
The horses at Arlington National Cemetery are part of the caisson platoon at the 3rd Infantry Regiment, which is also called the Old Guard. They're best known for guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which is located at the cemetery across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., in Virginia.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
13 minutes ago
- The Independent
Trump ‘clearly furious' that his summer victory tour has been swallowed by Epstein fallout, insiders reveal
President Donald Trump's victory celebrations following an uphill battle to pass his spending bill have been consumed by the Jeffrey Epstein saga — making Trump 'clearly furious,' according to a report. Trump signed what he called his 'big, beautiful bill' into law on July 4. The bill's passage marked a huge victory for the president's agenda, but it didn't spark the Independence Day fireworks that he hoped for. The news was swallowed up by the firestorm that followed two days later. The Justice Department released a July 6 memo stating there would be no further disclosures in the Epstein case. The response was explosive. Trump's MAGA supporters have demanded heightened transparency, the president has sued the Wall Street Journal for $10 billion after new allegations emerged around the president's ties to the late financier, and the attorney general has asked judges to unseal grand jury testimonies in the case. In recent weeks, Trump has also threatened new tariffs and met with world leaders. Still, the Epstein saga has sucked all the oxygen out of the room. The president isn't happy about it, according to staff and allies. 'POTUS is clearly furious,' a person close to the White House told Politico. 'It's the first time I've seen them sort of paralyzed.' A senior White House official told the outlet that Trump is 'frustrated' by the nonstop coverage on the case — which started in February when Attorney General Pam Bondi released 'Phase 1' of the files, which revealed little new information — and his team's ineffectiveness in stopping the spread of conspiracy theories. 'He feels there are way bigger stories that deserve attention,' the official said. Trump hasn't been shy about showing a bit of this frustration publicly as his MAGA supporters and prominent members of his own party have groaned about wanting more information on the case. During a July 8 cabinet meeting, Trump interrupted a question on the topic, asking: 'Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy's been talked about for years. You're asking — we have Texas, we have this, we have all of the things. And are people still talking about this guy, this creep? That is unbelievable.' Last week, he went so far as to attack his 'past supporters' for buying into ' this 'bulls***,' hook, line and sinker. ' He wrote on social media: 'Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats' work, don't even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don't want their support anymore!' On Tuesday, CNN published newly unveiled photos showing Epstein at Trump's 1993 wedding to Marla Maples. When a reporter called Trump to ask about it, the president said: 'You've got to be kidding me.' He then repeatedly branded the network 'fake news' and, after 30 seconds, hung up, the outlet reported. This frustration comes from an acknowledgement that the topic is 'a vulnerability,' a White House ally told Politico. To add insult to injury, declassifying the Epstein files was a campaign promise. 'They're the ones that opened the can of worms on the Epstein conversation. No one made them do this, which makes it sting even worse,' the ally added. The president is no stranger to dominating the news cycle, but this saga appears to have slipped through his fingers, out of his control. Trump has tried to deflect the narrative to something else, such as his recent trade deals. Yet these attempts have come up unsuccessful. Aside from dealing with reports of mounting public pressure, reports of clashes within his administration have also surfaced. 'When you're working 12 to 15 hours a day to solve real problems and you turn on the TV and see people talking about Jeffrey Epstein, that's frustrating. That's where the president's mindset is,' the senior White House official told the outlet. Now, in an apparent effort to quell the uproar, Trump asked Bondi to release the grand jury transcripts in the cases of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's former girlfriend who is serving 20 years behind bars after her 2021 conviction for her role in a scheme to abuse girls with Epstein. Bondi filed motions to unseal transcripts in both cases; the judges overseeing the cases have asked the Justice Department for more information before proceeding. 'They would like to move on and talk about the things they think are Ws,' the White House ally told Politico. 'They are really annoyed that it's an overshadowing news cycle.'
The Independent
13 minutes ago
- The Independent
Ilhan Omar labels GOP ‘the pedophile protection party' for dodging vote on releasing Epstein files
Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar has denounced the Republican Party after House Speaker Mike Johnson declined to hold a vote on the release of files relating to Jeffrey Epstein before Congress breaks for its summer recess. 'The pedophile protection party is shutting down Congress just to avoid voting on the release of the Epstein files,' Omar wrote on X on Tuesday. Despite risking President Donald Trump 's ire by calling for the release of the files himself last week on a podcast, Johnson has since changed course and said on Monday the administration needed 'space' to vet the documents in question due to their likely sensitivity. Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, Johnson was asked whether the House of Representatives would get to vote on whether or not to release the files and answered: 'If further congressional action is necessary or appropriate, then we'll look at that... I don't think we're at that point yet, because we agree with the president.' A day later, he called an early start to representatives' five-week recess, leaving no time for a vote on the matter until their return in September, by which point other matters may be considered more pressing. 'The American people are best served by putting an end to Democrats' side shows,' Johnson said at a press conference defending his manoeuvre. 'That's what we're doing by not allowing the Rules Committee to continue with that nonsense this week. We're done being lectured on transparency.' Omar, who is regularly targeted by conservatives, was by no means the only member of Congress to attack Johnson over the decision. Her ally, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, wrote on X: 'Ummm so let me get this straight: Republicans have ground Congress to a halt and are considering adjourning the entire House for six weeks to avoid releasing the info they have on Epstein? What is going on here?' Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, an anti-Trump Republican rebel who has drafted legislation of his own calling for the release of the files, addressed the House GOP leader in a post on X that read: 'Speaker Johnson, why are you running cover for an underage sex trafficking ring and pretending this is a partisan issue? MAGA voted for this.' There could be some movement in the interim on the Epstein case, which has bitterly divided his base and left him scrambling to change the national conversation amid awkward questions about his past friendship with the financier. A panel of federal court judges is currently weighing up whether relevant grand jury transcripts can be released at Attorney General Pam Bondi 's request. Meanwhile, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has announced that he is attempting to arrange a meeting with the pedophile's jailed accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell. Trump signaled his apparent approval of that step in the Oval Office on Tuesday, saying it 'sounded appropriate.' The House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee has also voted to subpoena Maxwell. 'This is progress. We will not stop fighting until the Epstein files are released. Trump and Bondi must stop blocking the American people from the truth,' Oversight Committee Democrats wrote on X.
The Independent
13 minutes ago
- The Independent
White House trots out Tulsi Gabbard to push narrative Obama led Russian interference claims and ‘coup' against Trump
Donald Trump's intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard ranted about a 'coup' supposedly launched by Barack Obama at a White House briefing on Wednesday as the Trump administration returns to the 'Russiagate' investigation as a lifeline for an embattled president. Trump is facing the loudest uproar from his base in years over his administration's efforts to tamp down on speculation surrounding the death and crimes of Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted pedophile. In early July, the Department of Justice and FBI declared in a joint statement that no 'client list' detailing Epstein's co-conspirators could be found within the DOJ's files; the statement also reiterated the agencies' conclusion that Epstein died by suicide in 2019. On Wednesday, the president's weeks-long effort to find a distraction to turn his base's focus from that statement resulted in the director of the U.S. intelligence community declaring behind the White House podium that former president Barack Obama ordered intelligence assessments to be doctored to include the assertion that Russia was working directly to elect Donald Trump. Gabbard called the investigation into Trump's 2016 campaign a years-long 'coup' orchestrated by the former president, something that Obama dismissively rejected in a rare statement this week condemning the Trump administration's latest claims.
