Independent military reporting for those who’ve served — and won’t stay silent.
A former U.S. Army soldier who was convicted in a general court-martial for killing a fellow soldier on Christmas Day is back behind bars after Florida investigators say he confessed to possessing and transmitting child sexual abuse material. According to arrest records from the Oviedo Police Department, Marshall Derrill Drake, 36, was arrested on March…
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — North Little Rock Police have confirmed an active investigation is underway following a Feb. 23 incident involving a recently retired Arkansas Army National Guard lieutenant colonel who was confronted during a livestreamed civilian sting operation. A spokesperson for the North Little Rock Police Department told The Salty Soldier that officers…
A Soldier assigned to Fort Bragg is facing a second-degree murder charge after authorities say he fatally shot his uncle on Christmas Eve in eastern Tennessee. Jail records from the Cumberland County Detention Center in North Carolina show Jacob Ryan Stinnett, 24, was booked February 23, 2026, on a Tennessee fugitive hold connected to the…
A U.S. servicemember in his 20s was detained by South Korean police after allegedly causing extensive damage inside a bar near a U.S. military installation in Pyeongtaek during the early morning hours of February 25. According to South Korean broadcaster YTN, the incident occurred shortly before dawn at a bar located near a U.S. base…
Two additional Army Reserve soldiers have now been identified following the Iranian drone strike that killed six U.S. service members in Kuwait on March 1, though one of the fallen still requires final confirmation by a medical examiner. The Department of War announced that Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert M. Marzan, 54, of Sacramento, California,…
A driver charged in the death of a decorated Army Ranger and ROTC instructor received a 30-day jail sentence after prosecutors reduced a felony vehicular homicide charge to a misdemeanor. Court records obtained by The Salty Soldier show that Jadon Demani Mike was originally indicted in Effingham County Superior Court on charges of Homicide by…
The Department of War has identified four Army Reserve soldiers killed in a drone strike in Kuwait during the opening days of the expanding war with Iran, marking the first publicly identified American casualties tied to the conflict. According to an official release, Capt. Cody A. Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, Florida; Sgt. 1st Class…
Newly released court documents are shedding further light on the case of a Fort Bliss soldier who pleaded guilty in December to child sexual abuse material offenses and drug-related misconduct at a general court-martial. The charge sheet in the case of SPC JuliusJeremiah A. Finistertirado provides a clearer picture of when the misconduct occurred and…
A Texas-based U.S. Army infantry soldier’s hour-long TikTok Live stream on Monday, March 2, 2026, is drawing scrutiny after he repeatedly showed the inside of a fully packed CONNEX container filled with duffel bags and tough boxes labeled with service members’ names. The livestream came at a moment of heightened tensions between the United States…
Three U.S. servicemembers have been reported killed amid escalating military operations tied to the February 28 U.S.–Israel strikes on Iran, according to follow-on reporting citing U.S. Central Command sources. The confirmed fatalities mark a significant development in what initially began with official messaging describing “no reported U.S. casualties” during the first wave of Iranian retaliatory…
