Airborne troops are extremely vulnerable when they are descending in their parachutes. To compensate, their intense combat training is designed to take charge from the moment their boots touch the ground… whatever that ground may be. One of the many cases in point is that of PFC. Manuel Pérez Jr.Born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on March 3, 1923, Pérez was raised in Chicago, Illinois, after the death of his mother, Tiburcia, when he was just two years old. After graduating high school, the young Pérez worked at a time for Best Foods Inc., but in January 1943 he enlisted and, since he had not been drafted, he could choose his branch of service. For Pérez, that choice was airborne training and attachment to Company A, 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment — dubbed the “Angels” and “The Band of Brothers of the Pacific” — 11th Airborne Division.During training at Camp Toccoa, Georgia, Pérez acquired the nickname of “Toots” from his fellow troopers for his youthful looks. He was also described as soft spoken and intense by nature, but his poor marksmanship scores at Camp Mackall, North Carolina almost led to his transfer. With help from his friends, however, he overcame his handicap…

United States envoy to NATO Matthew Whitaker has likened NATO’s (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) European members to children, who must eventually leave parental care and get a job. Whitaker said that while the U.S. “still loves” its allies on the continent, they need to grow up. At the presentation of an annual report on Monday, the organizers of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) said, “for decades, Europe thrived under an American security umbrella that allowed it to prioritize integration and prosperity over hard power. That era has ended.” At that same presentation, Whitaker said, “I completely reject everything I just heard.” Washington is “not trying to dismantle NATO,” he added, but only wants to see its European allies take more responsibility for their defense. “When your kids are young, they’re dependent on you. But eventually, you expect them to get a job. And so to me, that’s where we are. We still love them. You’re still allies,” the envoy told the audience. During its first year, the Trump administration repeatedly stated that it would scale back commitments to its European allies, while focusing on “defending the US Homeland and deterring China.” China Asks Banks To Reduce “Exposure” To American Debt According…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Team USA racked up a bronze medal in the alpine skiing women’s team combined event at the 2026 Winter Olympics on Tuesday – and it wasn’t the skiers fans were expecting.The team of Jacqueline Wiles and Paula Moltzan were the Americans on the podium in the event. Wiles tackled the downhill portion of it and Moltzan completed the slalom. Wiles had a downhill time of 1:37.04 and Moltzan put together a slalom time of 44.87. The pair finished behind Austria’s Ariane Raedler and Katharina Huber, who won gold, and Germany’s Kira Weidle-Winkelmann and Emma Aicher, who won silver.The team of Mikaela Shiffrin and Breezy Johnson were the favorites to at least get a bronze medal given Shiffrin’s prowess on the World Cup circuit and Johnson won a gold medal in downhill earlier in the Games.BEN OGDEN MAKES US OLYMPICS HISTORY WITH SILVER IN MEN’S CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING Johnson had a solid run, finishing with a time of 1:36.59 – the best of any competitor in her group. Shiffrin wasn’t quick enough to elevate her pair to the podium, finishing a half-second behind Moltzan in the event. The group was just over three-tenths of…

Soldiers may have the option of ordering beer and wine at some chow halls of the future, but it will be up to their installations’ senior commanders. “Senior commanders own the stick on this one,” said Lt. Gen. Chris Mohan, commanding general of Army Materiel Command, which is spearheading the effort to improve food for soldiers. Mohan said he expects beer and wine to be a point of discussion with Lt. Gen. Kevin Admiral, the commanding general of Fort Hood, Texas, where 42 Bistro, the first of five pilot locations, will bring the new campus-style dining beginning on Feb. 18.The contract for the pilot locations allows for the option of selling beer and wine in these venues. Mohan said his advice to Gen. Admiral will be to look at the feedback from soldiers and the data about the usage. He also noted that they will want to consider what this does to the family environment, as the pilot plan hopes to attract families to dine in. Decisions on beer and wine will be a deliberate process, Mohan stressed. “The key thing I’m focused on is breakfast, lunch and dinner for those soldiers who don’t have another option, who live in…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! A federal judge on Tuesday rejected a lawsuit from the Trump administration seeking to acquire Michigan’s voter registration rolls.The ruling by U.S. District Judge Hala Jarbou, a Trump appointee, is the latest in a string of legal losses over the acquisition of sensitive voter information. The Trump administration has sued multiple states over voter information in an effort to force them to clean up their voter lists. DOJ TARGETS NONCITIZENS ON VOTER ROLLS AS PART OF TRUMP ELECTION INTEGRITY PUSH Attorney General Pam Bondi argued that the Civil Rights Act of 1960 gave her the power to compel states to turn over their lists. In a 23-page brief, Jarbou disagreed, saying the law applied to voter applications.”If the distinction between voter registration applications and voter registration lists is overly pedantic, it is a pedantic distinction made by Congress, and it is Congress’s prerogative to make distinctions that may seem unnecessary to a person reading the statute over six decades after its passage, the judge wrote. “”Needless to say, the existence of a statewide computerized voter list was not foreseeable to the Congress of 1960, and it is possible that legislators would have included such…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Nearly three decades after a 23-year-old woman was found stabbed to death in a drainage ditch in Azusa, California, prosecutors announced charges Monday against a 63-year-old man in a long-cold homicide case that investigators said was solved through DNA evidence.The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Brian Walton was charged with one count of murder, with special circumstance allegations that the killing of Claudia Guevara occurred during the commission of rape and sodomy.”The victim’s family has waited for an agonizing 30 years to get that call to let them know their loved one’s killer had been found and charged,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement. “While this was classified as a cold case, investigators and prosecutors never stopped in their relentless pursuit of justice, reaffirming our commitment to holding people accountable for the crimes they are accused of committing,” he added.DNA INNOVATION CREDITED IN IDAHO, RACHEL MORIN CASES SIGNALS SHIFT IN RACE TO CATCH KILLERS, LAB FOUNDER SAYS Guevara, who was reported missing by her brother on Feb. 20, 1996, was last seen at a bus stop in El Monte. She had been dropped off by two…

Even positive changes can be hard to accept. Long before the M1 Garand rifle was in widespread service in the US military, it had its share of detractors. A number of these objectors simply disagreed with the Army’s decision to adopt a semi-automatic rifle at all. They argued that the M1903 Springfield bolt-action rifle was more than capable as a battle rifle, that new semi-automatic designs were unproven, potentially too fragile or complex, and that troops would waste ammunition. A man demonstrates how to load a M1941 Johnson rifle using five-round Springfield stripper clips. Author’s collection At the time, these old-school concerns were certainly given some credence, but the Army had carefully considered these issues well before adopting the M1 in 1936. John Garand, the man who made the M1 Garand, had developed a rifle that served as America’s primary battle rifle until 1958. A more significant and modern challenge to the M1 rifle arose with the Johnson semi-automatic rifle, which first appeared in 1938. Melvin M. Johnson was a Marine Corps Reserve officer and prospective gun designer. He had several concerns about the M1 Garand’s design, and independently, Johnson assembled a rifle that became a widely discussed competitor to…

United States President Donald Trump has threatened to block a major bridge between Canada and the United States over ownership concerns. The bridge is suspended between Michigan and Ontario, and Trump is demanding ownership of at least half of the crossing. In a post on his Truth Social platform on Monday, Trump said he would not allow the Gordie Howe International Bridge that connects Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, Michigan, to open until the United States is “fully compensated” and Canada treats its neighbor with what he described as “fairness and respect.” “With all that we have given them, we should own, perhaps, at least one half of this asset. The revenues generated because of the US market will be astronomical,” Trump wrote. Trump accused Canada of benefiting disproportionately from the project, claiming it was built with “virtually no US content” and alleging that a waiver issued under former President Barack Obama allowed Canada to bypass ‘Buy American’ requirements. He also repeated longstanding grievances over Canadian dairy tariffs, provincial restrictions on US alcohol sales, and Ottawa’s recent outreach to China. The new six-lane crossing is expected to open early this year following final testing and inspections, and will become one of the busiest trade links…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! A United Airlines passenger ended up in a different country after accidently boarding the wrong flight.The passenger was headed from Los Angeles to Managua, Nicaragua, with a layover in Houston — but ended up in Tokyo, according to multiple reports.A United Airlines spokesperson confirmed the incident to Fox News Digital.AIRLINE PASSENGER ATTEMPTED TO OPEN PLANE DOOR IN MID-AIR, AUTHORITIES SAY”We followed up with the airport to understand how this happened, reached out directly to the customer to apologize for his experience and offered travel credits and reimbursement,” the spokesperson said.”We always advise customers to monitor the signs at the gate and boarding announcements to make sure the aircraft they board is going to their intended destination,” they added. The passenger reportedly realized mid-flight that he or she was on the wrong flight — and asked the flight attendant why the trip to Houston was taking six hours, rather than just over three hours.The person landed at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan — and stayed at a hotel for two nights while United sorted out a travel itinerary to the original destination.The airline allegedly first offered a $300 travel credit as an apology —…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! A Colombian woman living in Massachusetts was convicted on a series of federal identity theft and identity fraud charges, including voting illegally in the 2024 presidential election, the Justice Department said.Federal officials have pointed to the case as a rare, documented example of non-citizen voting prosecuted at the highest level, highlighting it amid renewed debate over voter identification, citizenship verification and election security ahead of the 2026 midterms.The Colombian national, Lina Maria Orovio-Hernandez, was convicted on federal charges of identity theft, passport fraud and illegal voting, including in the 2024 presidential election. She was captured on surveillance video displaying an “I Voted” sticker on Election Day, underscoring what Justice Department officials characterized as a flagrant disregard for U.S. laws.”Her actions were not a one-time mistake or accident,” the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Special Agent in Charge, Shawn Rice, said in a statement.WATCHDOG SOUNDS ALARM OVER POTENTIAL NONCITIZEN VOTING AND FOREIGN INFLUENCE AHEAD OF MIDTERMS Officials have highlighted Orovio-Hernandez’s case as an example of successful interagency cooperation and enforcement, as election security concerns have intensified in the run-up to the 2026 midterms.The verdict “sends a clear message: identity theft and…