Military Working Dogs Get New Home at Joint Base Charleston

Feb. 23, 2026 | By Air Force Airman 1st Class Amori Greer, Joint Base Charleston Public Affairs Office |

Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina, hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony Feb. 19, officially unveiling a state-of-the-art military working dog kennel facility and marking a significant investment in enhancing the well-being and mission readiness of the dogs and their handlers.

The project began in November 2023 and was completed in December 2025, with a total investment of $3.2 million in upgrades.

The renovated facility has built-in housing to increase capacity by two dogs, sound-dampening panels to reduce kennel anxiety, angled chain-link fencing to prevent visual agitation, epoxy flooring to minimize moisture and skin-related issues and an expanded obedience yard to support enhanced training and enrichment. The new arrangement of the kennels aims to reduce agitation and anxiety, reducing the risk of behavioral issues and injury.

"Health is paramount with these dogs. They have enough room for enrichment to keep them happy and healthy," said Air Force Tech. Sgt. Kyle Titus, military working dog kennel master assigned to the 628th Security Forces Squadron. "So far, we've had zero injuries in the new facility, which has been great!"

Since the remodeling, handlers have observed how the new layout fosters a healthier, safer and more efficient environment for the dogs' health, training and recovery.

"It was like a night and day difference that you could see in them and their behavior," Titus said. "You can walk through the building now, and the dogs will remain sleeping. We can definitely tell the difference in the dogs' health and morale with this new facility."

The military working dogs conduct extensive training to secure the installation's strategic assets through actively detecting explosives, deterring potential threats and defending personnel.

"The Green Kennel Initiative started about 10 years ago, and the new facility reflects our overall goal to make a massive impact on the military working dogs' health and wellness," said Air Force Staff Sgt. Reginald Conyers, military working dog trainer assigned to the 628th Security Forces Squadron.

Looking ahead, the squadron hopes the new facility will extend the working life of the dogs while significantly reducing injuries and stress-related issues.

"We need to be doing our part as far as giving dogs ample time to get [their] energy out," Titus said. "Providing longevity to their careers with better conditions and more space to move around is a big goal for us."

The new facility supports the squadron and its military working dogs' readiness and capability to defend the mission every day, symbolizing the installation's continued commitment to resilient infrastructure and operational excellence.

"The ceremony showcases that we're going forward in the right direction in improving the life conservation of our military working dogs and making a massive impact for mission accomplishment," Conyers said.

CIO Says 'Bold' Changes Coming to War Department IT Efforts, 2025 Award Recipients to Play Role

Feb. 23, 2026 | By C. Todd Lopez, Pentagon News |

The War Department's chief information officer, Kirsten Davies, today recognized more than a dozen individuals and teams for delivering information technology capabilities and management practices that advanced warfighter lethality, readiness and network efficiency during the 2025 War Department CIO annual awards ceremony at the Pentagon. 

This year marked the 25th iteration of the awards. 

"It's important today and every day that we recognize all of the efforts that are happening across our technology and cybersecurity ecosystem at the department," she said. "This is a time of significant change for the department, and it's only going to be successful if we have innovative individuals and teams like you to drive transformation."

Two months into the job as the DOW CIO, Davies said President Donald J. Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth have given her a mandate to take bold action with the department's IT and cyber portfolio. The ongoing work of this year's award winners will be an important part of how that bold action is implemented across the department.

"[We have] the potential to truly transform the way the department operates and provides capability straight to our warfighters," she said. "Our challenge is to deliver capabilities to the warfighter that have operational impact but are also secure and delivered at speed and scale; not a small task. The secretary has accepted acquisition risk today to decisively reduce operational risk tomorrow. And we're going to follow [in the] footsteps there."

Davies noted that this year's awards program covered four broad areas: cybersecurity; the information enterprise — including cloud modernization, network, transport and software; command, control and communications; and a broader area that includes, among other things, financial and management audits, a cyber budget and electronic records management.

As part of the ceremony, both teams and individuals were either named recipients of awards or given honorable mentions. Those honored include:

Individual Gold Winners

• Air Force 1st Lt. Diego Castanon 
• Marine Corps Sgt. William Smail, U.S. Special Operations Command 
• Air Force Maj. Jean-Luc Duckworth, Defense Contract Management Agency 

Individual Silver Winners

• Air Force Master Sgt. Kenneth Bricker 
• Aaron Ford, Army 

Individual Bronze Winners

• Air Force Capt. James Lockatell 
• Richard Edwards, Defense Health Agency 
• Navy Cmdr. Matthew Manship, Joint Chiefs of Staff 
• Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Joshua Small, U.S. Special Operations Command 

Team Gold Winners

• Europe Infrastructure Services Team, Defense Information Systems Agency 
• Individual Longitudinal Exposure Record Program Management Office Team, Defense Health Agency 
• National Nuclear Security Administration Assured Communications Team, Energy Department 
• Black Ansible Team, Office of the Undersecretary of War for Research and Engineering/Navy 
• Enterprise Business Systems Convergence Capability Requirements Team, Army 

Team Silver Winners

• BLANKTELEGRAM Team, National Security Agency 
• DCI Information Command, Control Communications and Computers Networks Team, Marine Corps 
• Information Command Active Defense Campaign Team, Marine Corps 
• J6 Spectrum Branch Team, Joint Chiefs of Staff 
• Digital Advantage Division SQAD Team, Space Force/Air Force 
• Zero Trust Tactical Team, Navy 

Team Bronze Winners

• 607th Air Communications Squadron Team, Air Force 
• Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System Cybersecurity Inspection Program Team, Defense Intelligence Agency 
• Customs and Border Protection, Office of Information and Technology, Team Awareness Kit Team, Department of Homeland Security 
• 0648 Spectrum Manager Military Occupation Specialty Mod Team, Marine Corps 
• MyAuth Team, Defense Manpower Data Center 

After recognizing the winners, Davies thanked both the winners and those who recognized their contributions.

"Let me thank the leaders who nominated you, as well as each of you here, as individuals and as team members," Davies said. "I speak on behalf of the secretary when I say, thank you for all the hard work you are doing every day. You're seen, you're appreciated and your work matters to our warfighters."

Medal of Honor Monday: Army Staff Sgt. Clifford Sims

Feb. 23, 2026 | By Katie Lange, Pentagon News |

Many Medal of Honor recipients come from humble beginnings, but perhaps none more so than Army Staff Sgt. Clifford Chester Sims, who spent much of his early life with nowhere to call home. Sims grew into a humble and thoughtful man, so when an explosive device threatened his fellow soldiers in Vietnam, he didn't hesitate to give his life to save theirs.

Sims was born June 18, 1942, in Port St. Joe, Florida, as Clifford Pittman. He was orphaned at an early age and sent to live with his stepfather's family, according to an account from his wife, Mary, in a 2015 The Leaf-Chronicle newspaper article out of Clarksville, Tennessee.

However, that family already had many children, so Sims decided he wouldn't stay. To get by, he either spent the night with acquaintances or in an old, abandoned bus shelter in Panama City, Florida, The Leaf-Chronicle article reads.

At age 13, however, the young man was adopted by James and Irene Sims and took their family name. Through all that adversity, he continued his education and made it to high school, where he became inseparable from his girlfriend, Mary. They married on Christmas Day 1961, just a few months after he enlisted in the Army.

Sims initially served with the 82nd Airborne Division. In 1965, the unit was sent to the Dominican Republic to protect American interests there during the country's civil war. 

Once Sims returned to the U.S., and as the Vietnam War was escalating, he was transferred to the 101st Airborne Division, where he was assigned to Company D of the 2nd Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment — known as the Delta Raiders.

Shortly before Sims was deployed to Vietnam in late 1967, he and his wife adopted a young daughter, named Gina, who was born to his wife's sister.

Sims was not in Vietnam long before the Tet Offensive began, when North Vietnamese troops and their Viet Cong sympathizers flooded into South Vietnam in an onslaught that caught American and South Vietnamese troops off guard.

While U.S. and South Vietnamese troops were able to retake most of the territory the enemy had taken rather quickly, the fight over Hue City — known as the Battle of Hue — led to weeks of urban combat. That is where Sims gave his last full measure of devotion.

On Feb. 21, 1968, Sims' squad was assaulting a heavily fortified enemy position in a densely wooded area when they came under heavy enemy fire. Sims furiously led his squad in an attack against their aggressors, helping free a platoon that had been pinned down and nearly overrun.

Sims was then ordered to move his squad to provide cover fire for the company command group while linking up with another platoon that was under heavy enemy pressure.

After they had moved about 30 meters, Sims noticed that a brick building stocked with ammunition was on fire. An explosion was imminent, so Sims immediately moved his squad away from it, but not before the stockpile blew and injured two of his squad's soldiers. Still, Sims' prompt actions kept more people from getting hurt.

The squad continued through the dense woods while under fire. As they neared a bunker, they heard a noise no one ever wanted to hear — the sound of a hidden booby trap being triggered.

Without hesitation, Sims quickly yelled a warning and threw himself on top of the device as it exploded. He sacrificed his life so his fellow soldiers could live.

"Sims saved the lives of at least three of his squad and two of the company headquarters by absorbing the shock of the blast himself," Sims' commander, Army 1st Lt. Cleo Hogan, later wrote in an eyewitness statement. "Sims made the greatest sacrifice a soldier can make … and no mark of tribute can be too great."

For his valor, Sims' wife and daughter received the Medal of Honor from Vice President Spiro Agnew during a White House ceremony on Dec. 2, 1969.

Three other men also received Medals of Honor for their actions during the Battle of Hue: Army Staff Sgt. Joe Ronnie Hooper, Marine Corps Sgt. Alfredo Gonzalez and Army Chief Warrant Officer Frederick Ferguson.

Sims is buried in Barrancas National Cemetery in Pensacola, Florida.

His name has not been forgotten. A state veterans nursing home in Springfield, Florida, and the garrison headquarters building at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, are both named in his honor. And since 2019, the Florida county where Sims grew up has celebrated every June 18, his birthday, as Clifford Sims Day.