Military news from Biloxi and Gulfport, MS

Military

Hundreds turn out to honor veterans at Biloxi National Cemetery

KATE MAGANDY/SUN HERALD
Ryan Zak, a Marine stationed at Keesler Air Force Base, holds son Elijah and helps sons Preston 5, and Isaac, 8, place a flag at a grave at Biloxi National Cemetery on Saturday

BILOXI -- Ryan Zak walked from one headstone to another, trailed by Isaac, 8, and Preston, 5.

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Archive by category ''Military

SOUND OFF

Sound Off in Action: No making changes to channel markers in South Mississippi waters

A reader asked in a Sound Off if they might add a solar-powered yard light to a channel marker to make it more visible.
MILITARY

Ceremony will honor airmen lost in 1969 spy-plane crash

OLIVE BRANCH -- Resident Paul Clever was 6 years old when his father went down in a spy plane over Laos during the Vietnam War.
MILITARY

Marine, dog reunited in surprise ceremony

DES MOINES, Iowa -- When Marine Sgt. Ross Gundlach served as a dog handler in Afghanistan, he told the yellow Lab who was his constant companion that he'd look her up when he returned home.
MILITARY

Special Camp Shelby ceremony to honor soldier killed in Iraq

Camp Shelby's annual Laying of the Wreaths Ceremony scheduled Thursday will include a special ceremony for the family of Sgt. Robert S. "Shane" Pugh, who was killed in Iraq in 2005.
POLITICS

Mississippi setting aside $2 million to combat military base closures

JACKSON -- Mississippi's officials can tell you -- defending the state's military bases from closures can get expensive. The state spent a reported $60 million to $65 million in the 2005 round of base closings, an effort that helped save such Mississippi military mainstays as Keesler Air Force Base...
MILITARY

Military update: Hagel says it was furloughs or deepen readiness crisis

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered the furlough of 680,000 civilian employees for one day a week, from early July through September, to avoid taking deeper cuts in training and maintenance, which could have degraded readiness to the point of threatening "core missions," he said.
MILITARY

Betrayed? Citizen-soldiers lose jobs; U.S. government biggest offender

LOS ANGELES -- The jobs of the nation's citizen soldiers are supposed to be safe while they are serving their country. Federal law does not allow employers to penalize service members because of their military duties.
MILITARY

Commissaries feel hiring freeze, fear new budget squeeze

Base commissaries face turbulent times as staff vacancies swell under a federal hiring freeze, employee furloughs remain a worry and the Defense Commissary Agency digests budget guidance for fiscal 2015 that will force new efficiencies on stores and possibly deeper cuts to store operations.
MILITARY

Surgeon: Stonewall Jackson death likely pneumonia

Historians and doctors have debated for decades what medical complications caused the death of legendary Confederate fighter Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, felled by friendly fire from his troops during the Civil War.
MILITARY

Long Beach native nominated for deputy chief of Naval Operations

Long Beach native Ted N. Branch has been nominated for promotion to vice admiral so he can be assigned as deputy chief of naval operations for information dominance, the U.S. Navy announced Wednesday.