Sgt. 1st Class A.G. Shaw has been a military mortician throughout America's long wars. Now he says it's time for him to move on. "It's not like the movies. We don't die pretty," he says.
The U.S. military had around 18,000 troops in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan at the end of last year. The official numbers have gone up in all three countries and now total about 26,000.
President Trump's condolence calls to the families of the fallen has put new attention on Gold Star Families. But this isn't the first time Trump has offended families who lost loved ones in combat.
The military has some 20 missions across the continent. Most are not combat operations. But the deaths of four soldiers in Niger illustrate the dangers as U.S. troops venture into the field.
"There is the feeling that all of this is diminishing our national character," one support group wrote, as a political debate unfolds over calls to the families of soldiers who died in combat.
In a wide-ranging interview, Gen. John W. Nicholson laid out some details of the new U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and explained how it will work. "We can move now in the right direction," he said.
The U.S. military and its allies have largely defeated the Islamic State in both Iraq and Syria. Now comes the tricky part: finding political solutions in both of those troubled countries.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is leaving an Obama-era policy on transgender military service members largely intact, saying he needs input from an expert panel.
The U.S. military's burn center in San Antonio is responsible for treating service members who are badly burned. But, to stay sharp, the medical teams there also treat civilians.