The Marine Corps has always been known as the smallest and fiercest force, and with the promotions being held, it is now without its leading Marine. Commandant General David Berger, Commandant of the Marine Corps, retired from military service. For the next Commandant to be able to move into that position, his promotion would need to be confirmed by a full Senate. This has not been done. General Eric Smith has been nominated for the job, but until the Senate confirms him, General Smith will continue as assistant commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps.

The position of Commandant of the Marine Corps is a long-standing position since the birth of the Marine Corps. The first Commandant was Samuel Nicholas, who was officially appointed “Captain of Marines” in November of 1775 – his final rank as Commandant was a Major. Today, Commandants are Generals. To date, there have been 38 Commandants of the Marine Corps. As the highest ranking position within the Marine Corps, the commandant is nominated for appointment by the president and confirmed by Senate. The tenure of the position has been four years since 1944, unless there is a national emergency declared by Congress or during times of war. The longest-serving Commandant was General Archibald Henderson, who served for 38 years, and his name graces many halls and street names on Marine Corps bases.

The Commandant of the Marine Corps is not the only position that is awaiting Senate confirmation. Senate confirmation is required for senior-level officers, also called flag officers. These positions are Generals and Admirals among the military service branches and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff – the military leaders advising the President, Secretary of Defense, National Security Council and Homeland Security Council on all things Defense department related.

Within military unit history, many units have service members working in acting positions. This means they do not have the title of commander but are working in those positions. The reality is that the military service branch will continue to work, and the military mission will continue. However, an acting Commandant will have to form decision-making based on current policies, unable to change or shape what is needed based on the geopolitical need at the present time.

Approving military nominations and promotions has long been a bipartisan act within the Senate. At the time of this writing, Senator Tuberville states he will not move forward on nominations and promotions until the majority of Democrats allow a vote on the Pentagon policy allowing service members to travel to another state for an abortion if the state they are in does not provide it. Tuberville has asked that the Democrats introduce their own bill on the Pentagon policy, and put it up for a vote. The Democrats have stated that it is up to the Republicans to change Senator Tuberville’s mind on the continued hold.

But why is one person holding up nominations and promotions? In the Senate, the rules are that unanimous consent must be present to move forward with the nominations and promotions – it is not just a majority rule or vote. Before the August Recess, when the nominations have been called up, Senator Tuberville objected. Due to these rules, one who does not want to move forward can hold the vote for as long as they want. To get around the hold, roll call votes for each individual would have to be held – which has not been done, and with August recess in full session cannot be done until after everyone returns from recess. Per the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Jack Reed, doing a roll call vote with the regular procedure would take over 80 days if the Senate worked 8-hour workdays.

This historical move will certainly go down in history books, and has led to conversation on how things operate in the Senate. Will it lead to change? Can it lead to change?

The family legacy of military service was common. With the drafts of World War I and II, children of these draftees in the 1980s were joining with several generations of service behind them. Perhaps some of that desire to serve was passed down. According to the Pew Research Center, 60% of veterans under 40 have an immediate family member who served, compared to 39% of civilians. Among new recruits, 21% have a parent in the military, whereas civilians reported that 9% of them had a child in the armed forces. Given that just 0.5% of the American population has served in the military in the last decade, this is quite the statistic. But will the military service legacy continue?

A separate poll was conducted among military families outside of the Pew Research Center. Among 50 military families polled, only two would encourage their children to join the service. None of the Marine Corps families polled would encourage their children to serve or would nudge them toward the Air Force. 

This directly reflects what two or more decades of service have done to Marine Corps families. Many surveyed stated toxic leaders, repeated deployments, and lack of consistent mental and physical health care led to the breakdown of their Marine Corps service members, leading to their lack of wanting their children to serve in that service branch. As one spouse put it, the Marine Corps gives lip service to family needs and tells the service member that she/he and their family should ‘buck up.’

A Gold Star spouse responded and stated that her children had seen the political fallout from military life after the loss of their father. The sacrifice and loss of their father seem to have been for nothing after the end of the Afghanistan war. She stated, “So many people in this country do not live a life worthy of their dad dying for them, and nor do they care [about the loss].” Further, the military seemed to abandon them after their required notification. She did say that the people they met through his military career were amazing, and it is not a reflection of the people. However, the bureaucracy and the government does not care about the individual, and she doesn’t want her children going into that.

Will there be a difference in career military families and those who have served less than ten years? All but one who responded had over 15 years of service and planned for a career in military service or had retired from military service. The person who responded with less than ten years of service chose to resign their commission to pursue other interests but shared that they would not recommend military service to their children for longer than a short period. Why? “It’s not worth it.” 

The Department of Defense’s pursuit is of the higher mission, and service members are either cogs in the wheel or an integral capability to accomplish this mission. The more cog-like the service, the less rewarding it is for the whole family. Each service branch differs in support opportunities for military service members and their families. The housing crisis and lack of affordable housing within a reasonable commute for many families is wearing down the service member and the family. There isn’t enough housing on military bases to account for the number of service members assigned to bases. The move to privatized housing for the military has not been without its troubles, as evidenced by lawsuits against Lincoln Military Housing (now Liberty Military Housing). Another high cost to military families is the drastic changes in car and rental insurance based on the area the military member is serving – sometimes leading to a jump in insurance of three times the previous cost – but this higher insurance cost isn’t reflected in pay for the service member. The lack of accessible medical care for service members and families is a big issue. Consolidating the Defense Health Agency (DHA) has led to less care for military families on military bases pushing even those with Tricare Prime out into already oversubscribed civilian healthcare. As healthcare recovers from the pandemic, civilian providers often have 6+ month long wait lists, and that’s just for primary care, as specialists can be longer based on the area. The support opportunities for military families with a working on-base pool, open and working movie theaters with cheap or free movies, art studios, and youth centers have waned in funding and, on some bases, have shut down. Add these civilian providers’ wait times to frequent moves and families are increasingly forced to forego care or pay out of pocket.

The Pew Research Center has yet to study if this shift is seen in a larger population. Wall Street Journal is reporting on this shift, stating specifically that veterans do not want their children to join, creating a military recruiting crisis. This is reflected in the lowered recruiting numbers. The services are expected to fall short of their recruitment goals, the Army by 15,000, the Navy by 10,000, and the Air Force by 3,000. The Marine Corps reported they met their recruiting goal in 2022 and expect to meet it in 2023.

What this will mean for the military will not be seen for several more years. Active duty and veteran children may not be of age for several more years. However, if the families remain adamant about not serving, this could mean a significant impact in the long term for the military service branches.

The year was 2011, and we were preparing to move overseas with our pet. We received orders to move overseas in April – with a timeline of arrival by the end of June. That did not happen, because overseas screening takes that amount of time to complete. While the orders report date was extended, there were still not spots on the military contract flight out of Seattle for us, or for our pet. We were given commercial tickets, and now we had two options – find someone in the states to take our pet, or pay for her spot ourselves. I made probably dozens of phone calls to the airlines to confirm pet space, and cost – including to all the connecting flights to make sure we knew total cost.

We were not alone. Many military families struggled with this debate. For those moving in the summer, there were restrictions on when pets could fly due to the outdoor temperatures. With the height of PCS in the season coinciding with the height of temperatures in the summer, many families had to leave their beloved pets with family members to send along later, alone. Or hire a service to fly with their pet overseas. This cost many families upwards of $5,000 for that one way trip. And that isn’t including a mandatory quarantine that is often required by countries that are rabies-free.

The Marine Corps has an answer to these soaring costs for military families. In MARADMIN 301/23, it expanded on the FY 2023 NDAA provision for pets. It stated that the new pet relocation reimbursement noted in the FY 2023 NDAA would not be in effect for the peak season of moving this summer of 2023, and was not expecting the Pet Transportation entitlement to go into effect until 1 January 2024.

Per section 624 of the bill, military members PCSing within the continental United States (CONUS) could receive up to $550 in reimbursement to cover costs for relocations. It further stated that for those military families moving OCONUS, outside the continental United States, could be reimbursed up to $4,000. These costs are included in the cost for the total budget for the DOD. The FY 2023 NDAA was signed into law in December by President Biden. There was no specific date listed within the bill for enacting the reimbursement. It is expected that more details and requirements will be released when the entitlement is available and may be service branch dependent.

The US Army stated in December that the pet reimbursement should take place in 180 days from signing, providing up to $2,000 for pet relocation. However, no updated publication was found at this writing detailing the reimbursement process.

Will this affect your family in the 2024 year? What have been your pet costs for shipping and moving with the military?

All monetary changes to the budget from the Department of Defense stem from Congress. Congress must debate, agree and sign the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) each year for the coming fiscal year – running from October to September. For example, the 2023 fiscal year begins October 2023 through September 2024. The FY23 NDAA was signed into law in December 2022. This month, the debates begin for the FY 24 NDAA. One can hope that the NDAA will be signed into law before the fiscal year begins, or multiple continuing resolutions will precede it.

One addition the U.S. House wants to add to the FY24 bill is a raise to military pay. The proposed 5.2% raise is the largest seen in over two decades. In the past, the military has not typically received a raise like its civilian counterparts. Federal estimates state that with this pay raise will match it to civilian wages. The U.S. inflation rate in 2021 was 7%, and 6.5% in 2022 with preceding inflation rates in the 1 and 2% for the previous five years.

Members of the House Armed Services Committee introduced the proposed pay raise. It would mean that those joining military service within that fiscal year would see an increase to about $15/hour wage. This hour wage does depend on hours worked, as the base pay does not change during deployment, but the hours worked do typically increase. Base pay is not the only thing troops receive for compensation. The benefit of accessible healthcare to active duty, housing and food stipends increases the overall compensation. In addition to the pay raise, those ranked E5 and below would see a general increase in their base pay.

Bipartisan support will be needed for the bill to pass. The FY23 NDAA did not pass before the fiscal year began, so if history should repeat itself, the FY24 NDAA will not pass before the fiscal year begins. In that case, continuing resolutions continue the functioning budget. Furthermore, the bill must go through the House and Senate. Typically, many items lead to debates that hold up passing the law. It is not necessarily the military pay or pay raise that is debated, but part of the bill cannot be passed without the whole.

It is unclear what the pay raise would cost. In 2022, there were 1.3 million active-duty members. Numbers in the budget are typically what lead to debates in Congress. If you are part of a military family, feeling the pinch of inflation and seeing the hours the military member works, this pay raise is well-deserved. Time will tell what happens to the bill and potentially to the pay raise for the all-volunteer military force.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) and Army Criminal Investigative Service are investigating reports by several service members that they received unsolicited smartwatches in the mail. A press release by the Army Criminal Investigative Service stated that when the smartwatches were used, they connected to Wi-Fi, connected to cell phones without prompting, and gained access to user data. Further, the smartwatches had malware that allowed not just access to data like banking information, and account information, including passwords and contacts, but also sent the information. The malware was noted to potentially contain voice and cameras allowing access to conversations by the service member.

NCIS and Army Criminal Investigative Service have advised not to turn on the device if one is received but to turn it into your unit security manager or local counterintelligence agency. They have not announced how many service members were affected or which service branches were affected.

Many units already do not allow smartwatches. Secure areas do not allow service members to wear smartwatches. Deployed troops were not allowed to utilize smartphones, fitness trackers, or even dating apps using geolocating features in 2018.

“Smartwatches, like any wearable device, can be used by adversaries to gain a wide collection of personal information and pose a security threat to U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps service members,” NCIS spokesperson Jeff Houston stated in a CNN article.

This is not the first time a group has been targeted for information. In 2022, an Eastern European cybercriminal group tried to hack US companies in the transportation, defense, and insurance sectors by mailing people within the organization USB drives with malware on them. Per an article on CNN, several fake letters were sent via the US Postal Service and UPS impersonating the Department of Health and Human Services or Amazon, and the letters contained a USB with malware on it. The malware allowed access to the networks. The FBI determined that these acts were due to the FIN7, an Eastern European cybercriminal group. According to the a previous report, the organization had used USB sticks in 2020.

There is no return address on the packages being sent. It is unknown where the smartwatch devices are coming from or who is collecting or looking to collect data. If any suspicious devices are ever received in your mail, do not connect to them, or open them. If you receive devices that you did not order, or you know a friend or family sent, immediately stop opening the package. Notify your service branch criminal investigative service immediately. The phrase Loose Lips Sink Ships may not specifically apply to this, but using an unknown device can open you, your family and possibly your unit up to unwanted information sharing.

Military Housing. When you read those words – what comes to mind?

Clean? Free? Mold? Long wait?

It depends on your perspective. If you are a military family familiar with military housing organizations included Liberty Military Housing, formerly Lincoln Military Housing, or Hunt Military Community, you may just feel frustrated – there is a long wait for a smaller house that has mold or no air conditioning. If you are a civilian without a military connection, perhaps the word that comes to mind is free housing – so you don’t understand why there are occasional articles in your news feed.

For military family members, housing is a big factor to figure out with each move. Military members are given a Basic Allowance for Housing, BAH, which is part of their compensation which is supposed to cover 95% of housing costs at each duty station. This means that military members are required to pay for at least some out-of-pocket expenses, For most areas though, military members are paying hundreds out of pocket for rent – plus the expenses of gas, electric, trash, water and internet/television, so that can run out to $1,000 over the BAH. These expenses can be too much for a military family to spend. Military housing is an option where the company takes all of the military members BAH for the home and then just charges for electrical or gas depending on the base in addition to internet or television. Military housing can be more affordable. Affordable housing does not always mean safest or best.

Military housing used to be handled by the military branch at the base. For example, a Navy base had housing managed by the Navy and the same for Army base, etc. As of now, 99% of military housing is owned and operated by private sector companies. When the private sectors took over, electrical costs for example were then put to the tenant of the home. However, the bases were not initially built with this in mind. So streetlights are now linked to military homes and those families are paying for it and not the military base.

Further, military housing has issues with mold, water leakage, and lack of timely responses to these issues. The US Government Accountability Office, GAO, has reviewed the laws put into place in 2019 to increase the Department of Defenses oversight on the private companies, with specific recommendations for the DOD.

A More Streamlined Dispute Resolution Process

One common concern for military families utilizing military housing is the lack of a clear chain of command on how and who to bring disputes to. A chain of command is a well-known structure to active duty members. The 2020 NDAA required the DOD to provide residents a specific formal dispute resolution process to assist with issues with private housing companies. While guidance was recommended by the Secretary of Defense, it was not clear and concise. The GAO recommends actual detailed information on how to file a formal dispute.

Better Oversight

The 2020 NDAA also required that the DOD do inspections on privatized homes prior to resident occupancy. While inspections were formed, the GAO did not develop consistent inspection standards for each military department and recommends that these are developed.

Improved Tenant Advocate

The 2020 NDAA also required that residents have access to a tenant advocate. Each military department does have a person assigned for this, but the GAO found that there was not a clearly defined role nor was there communication to the residents on how to use the tenant advocate. The GAO recommends that these guidelines are clear with clear communication.

Nineteen Recommendations for Executive Action

The GAO has outlined nineteen recommendations for executive action, which can be read here. Each of these guidelines are for specific departments – Army, Air Force, Navy and the Department of Defense are listed specifically. Recommendation 10 for example states that the Secretary of Defense ensures that the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Housing develop a mechanism to collect and incorporate resident feedback on the formal dispute resolution.

A timeline for these changes are not listed on the GAO website, but the recommendations will remain open until they are addressed.

Considering changes in retention in the military services, the Air Force is ready to address this. As of June 1, first-term Airmen can retrain into any Air Force Specialty Code (AFSC) they qualify for that is under 90% manned prior to separation, even if the AFSC they are currently in is below the 90% manning mark. The Retaining Selection Board is no longer required during the retraining application process.  

Per the press release, Chief Master Sgt. Of the Air Force, JoAnne S. Bass stated, “providing these opportunities for our Airmen helps us keep talent on the bench. While this particular change impacts First Term Airmen, expect to see more initiatives like this as we evolve our policies and talent management to focus on the fore of the future and building the Air Force our nation needs.”  This will remain in place until June 1, 2024, but could be rescinded earlier.  

This retention change comes after the announcement that the Air Force faces a 10% recruiting shortfall. With a low unemployment rate and a lack of interest and eligibility to join the service, all military service branches are facing low recruitment. This announcement hopes to retain current Airmen, thus lessening the number of recruits needed overall. According to Major General Ed Thomas, the commander of the Air Force Recruiting Service, only 23% of Americans are eligible to serve, and 9% are interested in serving. Additionally, he said that 50% of American youth could not name all of the military services, and 65% of young Americans would not join for fear of death or injury, demonstrating their lack of familiarity and understanding of the military services and the jobs that are entailed.

As of this writing, the Space Force is on track to meeting its goals for recruitment, and the Air Force does have strong retention in comparison to other military service branches.

If this will change, the number of Airmen remaining is yet to be seen. Many challenges will face the Air Force in the coming years, so other programs should roll out in order to continue to bring in new talent and keep the talent within the Air Force.

In 2021, a bipartisan agreement listed the plan to rename bases across the country with links to Confederate Generals, and the renaming has begun.

Fort Cavazos

Fort Hood was renamed Fort Cavazos on May 9, 2023. The name was chosen to honor General Richard Edward Cavazos, a hero from his time in service during the Korean and Vietnam wars. Per the Army publication, Lt. General Sean Bernabe, III stated, “We are proud to be renaming Fort Hood as Fort Cavazos in recognition of an outstanding American hero, a veteran of the Korea and Vietnam wars and the first Hispanic to reach the rank of four-star general in our Army. General Cavazos’ combat-proven leadership, his moral character, and his loyalty to his Soldiers and their families made him the fearless yet respected and influential leader that he was during the time he served and beyond. We are ready and excited to be part of such a momentous part of history while we honor a leader who we all admire.”

General Cavazos is Texas-born, so it makes sense that a Texas native’s name will now grace the Texas base. When Cavazos was but a First Lieutenant and serving in Korea, he earned the Distinguished Service Cross. He served in the Army in many different positions in the 1950s and 1960s, including as a professor of Military Science at Texas Tech.  He commanded the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment in Vietnam as a Lieutenant Colonel and earned the  Distinguished Service Cross again. He became the first Hispanic-American to be promoted to brigadier general in 1973, and in 1982, he became the first Hispanic-American to pin on four stars. He served in the Army for 33 years, retiring in 1984.

Fort Moore

Fort Benning was renamed to Fort Moore on May 11^th.  Harold Gregory Moore is a United States Army Lieutenant General. He fought in the Korean War and Vietnam War and was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism at the Battle of la Drang. After the Vietnam War, he worked in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense and went on to earn his Master’s in International Relations. He is known for being the first of his West Point Class to be promoted to Brigadier General, Major General, and Lieutenant General. 

Per FortMoore.com, the base is also named to honor General Moore’s wife, Julie, who was a lifelong volunteer in service to other Army wives. It is noted that she found out that families were learning of casualty notifications through taxi drivers delivering the telegrams, and she began to follow the cars to provide comfort and information to the families. It is noted that her efforts were part of what spurred the Army to change its policy on casualty notifications. Per the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service, “Mrs. Moore’s actions to change Pentagon death notification policy in the aftermath of the historic battle of the Ia Drang Valley represents a significant contribution to our nation.  It serves today as a shining example of one of Mrs. Moore’s many contributions to the morale and welfare of the Army family.”

Fort Liberty

Fort Bragg, home to the Airborne and Special Operations Forces, in North Carolina, was renamed to Fort Liberty on June 2, 2023.

Per the Army’s announcement, the name of Liberty was chosen to “the heroism, sacrifices, and values of the Soldiers, Service Members, Civilians, and Families who live and serve with this installation.” The goal behind the renaming to Fort Liberty is to unite the entire military community in the light of pursuing the liberty that America pursues and protects.

With more base names changing, the light will be shown on influential people in the history of military service and our country.

At one point in our history, almost every male over 18 had served in the military for at least a few years. The draft was utilized for the Civil War, under President Woodrow Wilson in 1917 for World War I, and again for World War II. In a survey of 18-year-olds shared in LIFE magazine in 1942, 90% of the 10,000,000 US high school students surveyed felt America should keep fighting, and 68.9% felt that military training should be compulsory after the war. Today’s world is a massive shift from the 1940s. In 2021, total military personnel, including active duty, retired reserve, and ready reserve, are 2,586,825 people per Military One Source. In 2021, there were 331.9 million people in America. This means that 0.01% of the American population serve in the military, worlds away from the 68.9% of high schoolers in 1942 who felt that mandatory military training was necessary. Is it any wonder that recruitment is at an all-time low?

The military is now an all-volunteer force. This means that the numbers in each military branch depend heavily on the recruitment to each branch.  

One reason recruitment is low is the lower number of Americans who are eligible to be recruited. Weight and behavioral health conditions are automatic removals from eligibility, depending on the military service branch. The Army is working to address this with a pilot program called the Future Soldier Preparatory Course at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. This program began in August 2022 to address academic and physical fitness barriers for those individuals to enter military service. At the end of 2022, over 3,000 students attended the program, graduated, and moved to basic combat training. During the course, the recruits have up to 90 days to meet the Army’s standards.

Another barrier to recruitment is that single parents must give up guardianship of their children for initial enlistment. With 11 million single-parent households who may not have anyone to provide guardianship for their children, this is a massive barrier to entering military service. Who would be an appropriate caretaker for your children during the initial enlistment? However, there is a large number of single parents serving in the U.S. military –119,186 of them, according to Military One Source. The recommendation to address the barrier for other single parents to join the military, there is a suggestion to allow recruits to regain custody of their children at 12-18 months of active duty. The reality of this happening is yet to be seen. Childcare centers are often full with very long wait lists. While active duty do get priority, this may mean that other families would not receive childcare to make room for the single-parent active duty member. If this program is enacted, more childcare centers and after-school programs should be made to provide affordable care for all.

Per a Newsweek article, Dr. Beth Asch, a senior economist at RAND who studied military recruitment, stated, “..when the civilian economy is strong, military recruiting becomes a lot more difficult to enlist the type of people the military prefers. It’s not just that the unemployment rate is very low. It’s that we know that fewer younger men are participating in the labor force. They’re not working, and they’re not even looking for work. They’ve left the labor force.”

Marijuana is still federally illegal, while there are several states where its use is legal. While a part of the federal government, marijuana is still illegal in the military. Given its sizeable legal area, many would-be recruits had used marijuana and tested positive on initial testing, meaning they cannot continue in the recruitment process. The Army now allows recruits to retest even after a positive test during the first assessment.

There are several barriers to recruitment for the military service. The lack of desire and ability to serve due to weight, health, or academic concerns. And simply due to being a single parent not wanting to give up their guardianship. While some of these barriers are being addressed with specific programs and potentially changing guardianship rules, the reality is that the federal government needs to move quickly. These changes will be discussed, evaluated, and enacted, so it could take several years unless something changes. Will there be a change quick enough to address the lack of recruitment? Time will tell.

Are we living in a science fiction novel? It looks like those Star Wars-like medical care where a robot repairs and replacing a hand may not be far off as the Department of Defense works on technology that may help determine if service members will get sick.

The Defense Innovation Unit, or DIU, partnered with the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) to create a wearable device that was successful in identifying hospital-acquired COVID-19 infections. The project is called the Rapid Assessment of Threat Exposure, or RATE, program. The device utilized an artificial intelligence algorithm trained in data from hospitals in regard to the COVID-19 illness. Per the Scientific Report published in Nature, the device was first utilized among active duty military members in June of 2020, and the protocols were reviewed by the Clinical Investigation Department Naval Medical Center San Diego, Air Force Research Laboratory Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Ohio, and Stanford University Investigational Review Board.

The RATE research utilized a Garmin watch, Oura Ring and Empatica E4 wristband to monitor the subject’s heart rate, inter-beat interval, respiration rate, pulse oximetry, skin temperature, and accelerometer date. The Oura rings were fitted based on the subject’s preference. The devices were worn every day, and no tracking information was transmitted per the DOD’s guidelines.

In addition to wearing the device, study subjects submitted a daily survey and COVID-19 testing through rapid testing at military and civilian facilities. This data was utilized to determine if the device could predict infection before it occurred. The predictive model was utilized with Python code over the 10-month study period.

As of April 2021, a total of 9, 381 people had enrolled. Of these, 7,458 were male, 1,922 were female, and one was unknown. Of the subjects, 491 reported a positive COVID-19 illness during the 10-month period. The programming had a 60% sensitivity of predicting the illness, further stating the RATE score utilized to determine illness increased (demonstrating possible illness) as early as 6 days prior to the COVID testing.

Could this be the future of healthcare in the military? The key focus of military service is workforce readiness. Every year, military members have physical and combat fitness testing in addition to pistol qualifications. This readiness ability could be affected by potential illness, especially with illnesses like COVID-19 that had mandates to stay home for up to 14 days during part of the pandemic.

The RATE device did prove to be useful in predicting COVID-19 illness. The translatability to other illnesses is yet to be determined. Additional funding has been allotted for further studies of wearable technology to predict not only COVID-19 but also other infections. The Food and Drug Administration has determined that this device is a general wellness device. We shall see what further studies show with this new technology. Will this be the Minority Report for illness? Time will tell.