MIL News Weekly 30 Nov-6 Dec 2025 (Episode 27)

This episode of MIL News Weekly covers military, retiree, and veteran news from November 30 to December 6, 2025. Highlights include the extended deployment of National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., under a hybrid federal-state framework, and the unveiling of the $1 billion Drone Dominance Program, which aims to scale up loitering munitions rapidly. Fiscal updates feature President Trump’s extension of government funding to January 2026 and negotiations on the NDAA, with a notable 15% pay raise for junior enlisted personnel and a 3.8% military-wide pay increase. Retirees will see a 2.8% COLA, and Medal of Honor recipients will gain a significant pension boost. Healthcare costs for TRICARE users are set to rise, incentivizing mail-order prescriptions. Veterans’ issues center on HR6047, a controversial bill expanding benefits for severely disabled vets but reinstating home loan funding fees for some. Another act, HR4077, proposes cost recovery from private insurers for VA care. Public health initiatives focus on opioid crisis response, suicide prevention, and lifeline cybersecurity.