Tuesday, June 16, 2026

Marine Corps Opens 2026 Warrior Games With Strong Showing

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U.S. War Department: News
Marine Corps Opens 2026 Warrior Games With Strong Showing
June 16, 2026 |  By Yvonne Reed-Carlock, Marine Corps Wounded Warrior Regiment

Team Marine Corps opened the competition at the 2026 Warrior Games June 13, with a strong showing in powerlifting and an exhibition pickleball competition, earning 10 medals and setting the tone for the week ahead. 

The opening day featured a powerlifting competition at the Henry B. González Convention Center in San Antonio, where Team Marine Corps athletes captured two gold, four silver and four bronze medals.

Master Sgt. Stevan Ball earned a gold in the men's 97-kilogram division, while Staff Sgt. Brett Meil captured gold in the men's 107-kilogram division. For Meil, a Texas native, the victory came in front of a host of family members, including his wife and 20-month-old son.  

Earlier this week, Meil said participating in the Warrior Games is important because of the sense of belonging he finds among fellow competitors, making his gold-medal performance especially meaningful, being close to home. 

Ball, a communications chief recovering from multiple injuries, including a traumatic brain injury and dual hip surgeries, credits adaptive sports with helping to restore his purpose while also providing an avenue to display resilience throughout his recovery. 

Silver medals were earned by Staff Sgt. Marshal Ivy, Staff Sgt. Morgan Rempel, veteran Giavanna Vicario and Lance Cpl. Calbert Martinez. Bronze medals went to Capt. Gabriela Ortiz, Maj. Kim Yen Soto, Master Sgt. Modesto Garcia and Pfc. Baltazar Torresjara. 

In the women's 55-kilogram division, Vicario and Ortiz shared the podium for Team Marine Corps. Every Team Marine Corps woman who competed in powerlifting earned a medal during the opening day of competition. 

For Ortiz, the bronze-medal performance came during her first Warrior Games competition and in front of a hometown crowd. The San Antonio native was supported by her parents and members of her unit as she helped Team Marine Corps open the games with a strong showing. 

"It was amazing," Ortiz said. "All the females got a medal. That was the strongest thing I've seen." 

Vicario, competing in her second Warrior Games after earning 11 medals during the 2025 competition, said medaling in the first competition of the week meant a great deal and helped set the tone for the remainder of the event. 

Soto, Team Marine Corps' captain, also opened the week on the podium with a bronze-medal performance, while Garcia earned bronze in the men's 88-kilogram division. 

In addition to powerlifting, Team Marine Corps athletes participated in the inaugural Warrior Games pickleball exhibition. The team featured retired Gunnery Sgt. Gabriela Carbajal, Lance Cpl. Yates Cooper Jr., veteran Arion Klein and Staff Sgt. Jacob Wolfe, a Marine Corps reservist. The exhibition marked the introduction of pickleball to the Warrior Games, highlighting the continued evolution of adaptive sports opportunities available to wounded, ill and injured service members and veterans. 

The day was not without adversity. Lance Cpl. Brandon Ndashi suffered an injury prior to the competition and was unable to participate. His teammates rallied around him while continuing to represent the Marine Corps with determination and competitive spirit throughout the day. 

The Warrior Games bring together wounded, ill and injured service members and veterans from across the War Department to compete in adaptive sports while promoting recovery, rehabilitation and camaraderie. Team Marine Corps athletes demonstrated those values throughout the opening day, experiencing recovery in real time while competing alongside fellow wounded, ill and injured service members and veterans.

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Office of Strategic Capital Signs $500 Million Conditional Loan Commitment With Phoenix Tailings

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Office of Strategic Capital Signs $500 Million Conditional Loan Commitment With Phoenix Tailings
June 16, 2026

The United States Department of War's Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) announced today a $500 million conditional loan commitment with Phoenix Tailings, Inc. to scale the company's domestic processing of rare earth elements. Together, the OSC investment and additional private capital are intended to provide approximately $1 billion to support a significant expansion of critical metal production at existing facilities and a new, state-of-the-art, U.S.-based rare earth separation and metallization facility.

This partnership with OSC marks Phoenix Tailings' next stage of growth, positioning the company at the center of an important national security priority focused on building a resilient, domestic supply chain for rare earths. Phoenix Tailings specializes in rare earth separation and metallization, a highly technical midstream process that bridges the critical gap between raw extraction and permanent magnet production. The company's increased production will directly support permanent magnet facilities across the broader U.S. industrial base and improve supply chains for other specialty defense and industrial products.

"Supporting domestic processing for critical minerals and rare earths is a key focus for OSC, and the rare earth midstream processing capabilities that Phoenix Tailings represents are key shortage areas that need to be rapidly addressed. We are pleased to support Phoenix Tailings in building the company's Freedom Facility, which will represent an important step in strengthening the full mine-to-magnet supply chain in the United States," said David A. Lorch, Director of the Office of Strategic Capital and Senior Advisor to Deputy Secretary of War Steve Feinberg.

The company currently operates two metallization facilities located in Burlington, Massachusetts, and Exeter, New Hampshire. The conditional loan commitment between OSC and Phoenix Tailings specifies customary additional steps that the company must take to proceed toward financial close on the loan, including fulfilling financial, legal, technical and other due diligence requirements.

"I applaud the Office of Strategic Capital on this important conditional investment, which advances the reshoring of rare earth supply chains and strengthens the might of America's defense industrial base. The focused, unified effort and support from Secretary Hegseth and Deputy Secretary Feinberg have been crucial in addressing supply chain shortages and vulnerabilities in the defense industrial base," said the Honorable Emil Michael, Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering.

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Readout of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth's Meeting With Italian Defense Minister His Excellency Guido Crosetto

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Readout of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth's Meeting With Italian Defense Minister His Excellency Guido Crosetto
June 16, 2026

Chief Pentagon Spokesman, Sean Parnell, provided the following readout:

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth met with Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto yesterday at the Pentagon. The two leaders discussed the security relationship between the United States and Italy and their mutual priority to implement NATO 3.0. The Secretary and the Minister agreed on the urgent need for NATO allies to assume primary responsibility for the conventional defense of Europe by increasing defense spending, boosting defense industrial base production, and fielding lethal, combat credible forces.

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Readout of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth's Bilateral Meeting With Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa

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Readout of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth's Bilateral Meeting With Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa
June 15, 2026

Assistant to the Secretary of War for Public Affairs and Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell provided the following readout:

On June 15, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth had a productive bilateral meeting at the Pentagon with Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa to discuss U.S. national security interests and our countries' defense cooperation. Secretary Hegseth made clear that the Western Hemisphere is a top priority for the President and the Department of War. The Secretary praised Ecuador's commitment to bring the fight to narcoterrorists. The discussion also included ways to further mutual defense priorities and regional security issues. Both the Secretary and President Noboa committed to increasing and building upon existing bilateral cooperation between our nations' militaries.

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