One of the most moving events in a service member’s career often is the traditional folding of the American flag during the military retirement ceremony. But Air Force Master Sgt. Charles “Chuck” Roberson’s retirement was forever marred when airmen forcibly removed the man reciting the patriotic speech that accompanied the flag-folding ceremony—because the speech contained references to God.

In a landslide vote this week, the Senate approved a defense authorization bill requiring women to register for the draft. Opponents of the bill warn the costs will outweigh the push for gender equality. The bill has a long way to go before it becomes law: The two houses must agree on a final version in conference and send it to President Barack Obama, who has already threatened a veto because of other provisions in the bill.

The first image that comes to mind when Americans think of the Air Force is often that of a sleek, fast fighter jet with a dashing pilot in the cockpit. But after studying the global threat environment in the year 2030 and beyond, the Air Force stated traditional manned fighters—with their long development times and the exposure of pilots to threats—could possibly be replaced by networks of stealthy drones and large “arsenal planes” with long-range munitions.

As a military spouse, Kathy Roth-Douquet earned less than one-tenth of her previous salary. Now, as the CEO of Blue Star Families, she is committed to ensuring military spouses not only find employment but also earn enough to support their families.

“Military service members make tremendous sacrifices and put their lives on the line to serve our country,” Roth-Douquet said in a letter to supporters. “What can be overlooked, however, are the many sacrifices that their families make.”

In what may be a sign of the military’s return to its former place as one of America’s most trusted institutions, ROTC programs are thriving at the country’s elite colleges. Their renewed popularity comes more than four decades after many were kicked off campuses following the antiwar protests of the 1960s.

At Yale University on Monday, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter administered the oath of office to 18 students being commissioned as Navy Ensigns and Air Force Second Lieutenants—the first ROTC commissioning at Yale in more than 40 years.

A federal judge sentenced the former head of the Phoenix VA hospital to two years’ probation earlier this week. Sharon Helman was at the center of the 2014 controversy over deadly long wait times for veterans at the Phoenix VA. But her sentencing was unrelated to that scandal. The court found Helman guilty of an ethics violation for accepting gifts worth thousand of dollars from a lobbyist friend and failing to report them.

The number of active duty soldiers in the U.S. Army has dropped to a level not seen since before the United States entered World War II. At the end of March, the army had 479,172 soldiers—154 fewer than the previous low of 479,424 troops in 1999, when the Army halted its post-Cold War drawdown, according to the Army Times.

From its most recent peak of 570,000 in 2011, the size of the Army has declined dramatically and is projected to get even smaller. Current drawdown plans call for the active duty Army to have only 450,000 soldiers by the end of fiscal year 2018.