McHugh Boulevard is a worn strip of pavement in the heart of Camp Lejeune, N.C. On an adjacent side street, a dozen brick buildings flank the curb. Light spills from the second story of one, where wives and parents huddle, making occasional trips to a table of powdered donuts and not-so-hot chocolate. It’s past midnight, and they are waiting for the return of Charlie Battery of the 10th Marines, an artillery detachment that has spent the last six months in southeast Asia.

One hundred years ago this month the United States entered World War I, what we still call the Great War. Worldwide more than 70 million military personnel joined the 1914-1918 conflict, and more than 9 million soldiers perished in it, plus 7 million civilians. The war hastened the end of the Ottoman Empire and the collapse of the Russian government, ushering in a Marxist revolution that began 100 years ago this month. The war also launched genocides, including the massacre of 1.5 million Armenian Christians at the hands of the Muslim Ottoman Turks.

“Faith in the military took center stage Thursday at the 62nd observance of the National Day of Prayer in Washington, D.C, as lawmakers and faith leaders gathered on Capitol Hill.”

That was the lead paragraph of WORLD’s May 2013 article on the gathering that made U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. William “Dean” Lee (later promoted to vice admiral) known beyond military circles (see a video of the speech above).

The surprise victory of Donald Trump in the presidential election could mean a Reagan-era rebuilding of the U.S. military strength accompanied by a weakening of alliances with foreign powers.

“Trump’s election heralds a surge in military spending by the government, both for weapons and for additional personnel in the ground forces,” said Loren Thompson, a defense consultant with the Lexington Institute. “Obama has neglected investment in new weapons and, as a consequence, our enemies have been closing the gap with the Pentagon in terms of capabilities.”

UPDATE (10/26/16, 11:30 a.m.): U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter ordered Pentagon officials this morning to suspend all efforts to seek bonus repayments from California National Guard members. Carter has given Defense Department officials until Jan. 1 to create a streamlined process for dealing with the fraudulent bonus debacle.

A retired four-star Marine general accepted a plea deal Monday, avoiding a public trial in which highly classified information might have been disclosed.

In the complex world of nuclear weapons strategy, perception is everything. And as tensions between the United States  and Russia escalate, Russia increasingly perceives the U.S. missile defense program as an offensive threat.

In a bluntly worded speech this week, a top officer on the Russian military’s general staff accused the Pentagon of using the missile-defense program as part of a strategy for a possible first nuclear strike.