The War Horse

27/10/2026

Scott Davidson ran 100 miles through Nevada on two prosthetic legs. His next challenge is even bigger: The halls of Congress. Born with severe birth defects, Davidson believes his conditions may be linked to his father's exposure to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. But when he applied for VA benefits, he was denied. Under federal law, children of male Vietnam veterans generally don’t qualify for birth defect benefits. Now Davidson and other veterans' families are fighting to change that.

Decades after their fathers served in Vietnam, children living with disabilities are fighting for benefits that VA provides to children of women who served in the same war.

22/10/2026

It was the summer of 1990 and the beginning of Operation Desert Shield. As planes lined up for deployment, I climbed aboard one carrying a briefcase full of cash and checks. As the base chief financial officer, I was beginning to understand how much money it takes to fight a war.

An Air Force veteran helped with the finances of war during his 40-year career, from making sure airmen were paid to keeping moral up.

20/10/2026

Jason English was a Naval intelligence officer who spent his career mitigating risks. But when his family moved into military housing in Hawaii, there was one danger he hadn’t anticipated.

His 4-year-old son, Evan, fell through a second-story window screen and died.

English turned his grief into a mission to prevent other military families from suffering the same loss.
In 2017, Congress passed Evan’s Law, requiring the Pentagon to install window fall-prevention devices in military family housing.

But Defense Department records obtained by The War Horse show that 35 military children have been injured in window falls since the law passed. Last summer, two children died after falling from Navy housing in San Diego.

Now the Pentagon has changed its interpretation of the law to permit devices that can be disengaged, which safety experts say may not reliably protect children.
Why are military children still falling out of windows, and is the Pentagon doing enough to protect them?

Read the story in the link in bio.

20/10/2026

After 4-year-old Evan English died from falling out of a military housing window, his father fought to prevent other families from experiencing the same tragedy.

Congress passed Evan’s Law in 2017, requiring the Pentagon to install window fall-prevention devices in military family housing.
But since the law passed, 35 military children have been injured in window falls, and two children died last summer.

Now, the Pentagon has changed its interpretation of the law to allow devices that safety experts say may not reliably protect children.

Children are falling from military housing windows. Why did the Pentagon loosen its interpretation of a 2017 law meant to protect them?

19/10/2026

“The water was up to your knees, and the fire was on top of it.”

On Oct. 19, 1979, more than 1,200 Marines and sailors were sheltering from a powerful typhoon at Camp Fuji, Japan, when thousands of gallons of gasoline spilled from a storage bladder uphill from their living quarters.

The fuel ignited, sending walls of fire through the camp. Thirteen Marines eventually died, and dozens of others were injured.

Yet what was likely one of the worst peacetime disasters in Marine Corps history largely faded from public memory.

On Oct. 19, 1979, more than 1,200 Marines and sailors were taking shelter from a typhoon when fuel spilled from storage bladders setting off a fire.

17/10/2026

Tashandra was left unemployed and facing eviction when the company she worked for slashed its workforce by a third.

When her unemployment benefits expired and she couldn’t sleep in the back of my friend’s studio apartment, she moved back to Texas with my parents.

Two weeks of living with her family reminded her of why Tashandra left home at 18.

Read her story: https://thewarhorse.org/homeless-navy-woman-veteran

16/10/2026

Does the military have a testosterone problem?

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wants to screen service members' testosterone levels. The Defense Department would offer testosterone replacement therapy to those who needed it.

But experts question both the rationale for such broad screening and the military’s ability to carry it out.

15/10/2026

I was lying on my rack in a crowded tent in Afghanistan when I felt something unfamiliar through my shirt: a lump in my left breast that had seemingly appeared overnight. As a nurse, I knew it was a red flag, but my priority was to support the people around me and stay focused on the mission, not myself.

While deployed to Afghanistan an Army nurse found a lump in her breast. She tried to delay treatment by putting the mission and fellow soldiers first.

13/10/2026

Do higher testosterone levels result in better military performance? Or, is the Pentagon creating a scenario where veterans have some severe health problems 20 years from now?

Pete Hegseth says testosterone screening will improve troop health and readiness. Research raises questions about the Pentagon’s plan.

08/10/2026

I never planned to be homeless. I went from being a Navy crypto technician to making about $80K as a cybersecurity contractor to the unemployment line.

A Navy veteran, who survived military sexual assault and homelessness, struggled to find women-only programs