Latest news with #SteveWarren
Time of India
12-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
'Beard poses no barrier to military service': Sikh Council reacts US Army's new grooming policy, no permanent shaving waivers
US Army introduced new grooming rules, no unlimited shaving waivers. (Photo: US Army) Sikh Council has reacted to the new grooming policy that the US Army announced, barring permanent shaving waivers beyond religious accommodations. Soldiers could face expulsion if they need shaving exemptions for more than 12 months over a two-year period, according to the new rules. "This is about uniformity, discipline and standards, and this is about training," Steve Warren, a service spokesperson, said. Sikh Coalition issued a statement reacting to the grooming policy and said it has been demonstrated time and time again that maintaining a beard poses no barrier to capable and honorable military service. 'Over the course of our more than 15 years of work to assist Sikhs with religious accommodations and fight for policy changes within all branches of the military, it has been demonstrated time and time again that maintaining a beard poses no barrier to capable and honorable military service," it said, adding that Sikh soldiers would not be affected by the policy as religious accommodations have been kept in mind. But the coalition said that it would disproportionately harm individuals with medical accommodations, Black men, and South Asian men. 'We have seen elsewhere that policies that discriminate against those with a medical need to shave are often also used to infringe upon the rights of Sikhs who maintain their kesh (uncut hair) as an article of faith. While religious accommodations remain exempt from this new guidance for now, the Sikh Coalition stands in solidarity with soldiers who may ultimately be kicked out of the Army by this new shaving policy, which will disproportionately affect Black and South Asian men—especially those with medical conditions like pseudofolliculitis barbae," it said. 'We remain committed to working alongside other marginalized groups as we continue to fight for full equality of opportunity for all qualified individuals across the Department of Defense," it said.
The Independent
09-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Army plans to adopt out its horses after putting an end to most ceremonial programs
The Army is planning to put most of its horses up for adoption after ending most of their 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.
Associated Press
08-07-2025
- General
- Associated Press
Army will end most of its ceremonial horse programs and adopt out the animals
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Army's history is closely tied to its cavalry units, those soldiers who rode into battle on horseback. But the service announced Tuesday that it's moving toward a future without the ceremonial horses and will put most of them up for adoption. The Army, however, will keep operating the Old Guard ceremonial caisson units at Joint Base San Antonio and Arlington National Cemetery for burial honors. Ceremonial cavalry units will be closed down at bases, including Fort Cavazos in Texas, whose horses were showcased during the military parade in Washington on June 14, which was the Army's 250th anniversary and also President Donald Trump's birthday. Army spokesperson Steve Warren said other ceremonial units will close at Fort Carson in Colorado, Fort Sill in Oklahoma, Fort Irwin in California, Fort Riley in Kansas and Fort Huachuca in Arizona. The Army estimates that closing down the units will save about $2 million a year, and the changes are being made as part of its overall warfighting realignment, Warren said. The Army is giving the affected bases 12 months to shutter the units. A total of 141 horses will be adopted outside the military, Warren said. Some horses may be donated to organizations, but none will be sold, he said. The horses 'are part of the Army family, we're going to treat them with compassion,' Warren said. The Army has just recently resumed caisson operations at Arlington National Cemetery after an investigation found the horses in those units were mistreated, left to graze in lots with little grass, leading them to consume sand and gravel. Two horses died in 2022, and caisson operations were suspended until earlier this year. The Arlington National Cemetery horses are part of the caisson platoon of the 3rd Infantry Regiment, known as the Old Guard, which is best known for guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the cemetery, located just across the river from Washington. ___
Business Insider
08-07-2025
- General
- Business Insider
The US Army is saying goodbye to most of its horses. Here's why that might not be a bad thing.
The US Army is axing almost all of its horse programs. But while some lament the blow to the service's cavalry history in exchange for $2 million in savings a year, the move may be wise considering the long-standing problems of poor equine welfare. "I'm torn," an Army veterinarian familiar with the programs told Business Insider of the disbanding. "I think overall it's a relief, since there just aren't the veterinary resources available to take care of the horses properly." "On the other hand, I wish we could provide quality care and keep them," they said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press. Starting this month, the Army will begin shuttering five military equine programs operating at Fort Irwin in California, Fort Huachuca in Arizona, Fort Riley in Kansas, Fort Sill in Oklahoma, and Fort Hood in Texas. All of the units perform ceremonial duties, such as parade and rodeo performances and mounted color guard duties, military traditions rooted in Army cavalry history. Citing "care and compassion" as the guiding light, 141 horses in those five locations will be transferred outside of the military, Army spokesman Steve Warren told reporters Tuesday morning. Two ceremonial caisson units, which specialize in transporting service member caskets at military funerals by horse-drawn wagons, will continue to operate — one at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia and another at Joint Base San Antonio in Texas. Army equine issues spilled over into the public eye in 2022 after CNN reported multiple deaths among Arlington's horses, attributed to unsanitary living conditions and shoddy care. That report prompted an internal Army assessment of equine living conditions across the country, which found systemic problems related to equine healthcare rooted in a broad lack of equine understanding and poor funding. The Arlington unit — one of the Army's most prestigious and revered postings — was shut down for almost two years for a serious overhaul in the wake of those findings. After initially struggling to reform the unit, the service found multiple equestrian legends, including world-renowned carriage drivers and an Olympic gold medalist, to help rebuild the embattled program from scratch with input from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the British Royal Household Cavalry. A new horse farm for the unit is in the works on top of a $30 million five-year budget approved last year that remains intact, said Lt. Col. Patrick Husted, a spokesman for the Army Military District of Washington, which oversees the unit. "Sustaining our current budget is critical to the continued modernization of our caisson program, which encompasses personnel recruitment, herd acquisition, comprehensive training, equipment upgrades, and facility improvements," Husted wrote in an email to Business Insider. Horses, especially those in performance programs such as military ceremonial units, require intense expert oversight often including personalized diets, custom-fitted saddles and harnesses, and advanced physical care that can include expensive water-treadmills or chiropractic treatments. But such transformation seems to be limited to Arlington's horses, one of the Army's most public-facing units, which returned from its hiatus only recently. The Texas caisson program, meanwhile, does not appear to have undergone extensive reform like that of Arlington's. And it is unclear whether recreational equine programs that are set to remain have improved their equine care. Nearly every Army equine unit was noted in the service's internal 2022 equine welfare report for subpar facilities and mismanagement. Even for those non-ceremonial equines, the quality of care should exceed what most people determine to be sufficient, experts say, including things like routine specialized hoof maintenance by professional farriers, a role previously filled by soliders. Neither the Air Force nor Navy appear to maintain ceremonial equine units. The Marine Corps maintains two equine units— one at its Bridgeport, California Mountain Warfare Training Center, where troops learn how to use equines as wartime pack animals, and another in Barstow, California with a dozen horses dedicated to ceremonial purposes. Laurie Pearson, a spokesperson for Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow, told BI that the Marines' mounted color guard does not plan to be disbanded. "The USMC Mounted Color Guard is the last such unit in the Marine Corps," Pearson wrote in an email to BI. "They are a part of a robust Community Relations Program and Marine Corps recruiting efforts." It is unclear whether the Marines' two equine units have undergone recent external equine assessments.
Washington Post
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Army says parade caused minimal damage to D.C. streets
An initial assessment suggests that the 70-ton battle tanks featured in the Army's 250th birthday celebration parade in D.C. caused minimal damage to city roads, a senior Army official said Wednesday, while estimates show about 198,000 people passed through metal detectors to attend events that day. Steve Warren, a senior Army spokesman, told reporters at the Pentagon that the figure encompasses attendance for the festival and the parade of military equipment on June 14 and comes from Secret Service data. But because there were separate security checkpoints for the festival and the parade grounds, it was not immediately clear whether people who attended both events were double-counted.
