The Government Accountability Office in a new report says that the military services and DOD disagree over the number of officers commissioned into each service. The variances found were 28 percent for the Army, six percent for the Navy, 39 percent for the Marine Corps, and 10 percent for the Air Force. In all cases, the Defense Manpower Data Center—a key report generating body—numbers were greater than what the services show. To make matters more confusing, sometimes service numbers were greater—nine times greater for the Marine Corps in one case—than DMDC numbers, depending on the commissioning source.
The U.S. began extensive air and artillery strikes against Islamic State group targets in Syria on Dec. 19 in retaliation for the killing of three Americans on Dec. 13 by a gunman affiliated with ISIS, U.S. officials said.
