About $2.3 million was overpaid to nearly 7,800 airmen because of an agency error, according to Air Force spokeswoman Tech. Sgt. Deana Heitzman.

The Air Force Personnel Center Operating Location Indianapolis in December 2022 stopped hardship duty pay for 11 different locations in Republic of Korea, but that was backdated to March 1, 2022. That resulted in $2,337,437.28 being overpaid to service members, who were receiving the entitlement that had previously been authorized and were unaware that it was an overpayment. The amount each service member received varied, ranging from $1.67 to $501.67 each, according to Heitzman.

Sometimes the Department of Defense overpays service members because of administrative errors in processing pay and allowances or when calculating pay and leave. Individual services are responsible for recouping the overpayments. The Government Accountability Office issued a report in 2019 stating the DoD process for getting back that money is sometimes inconsistent and that the debts can end up at collection agencies.

The Air Force will not treat these overpayments as a debt owed, however.

“Due to no fault of the members, they accrued a debt,” Heitzman explained in a statement provided to Military Times. “The Air Force determined it was in the best interest of the service to remit the debts and not pursue collection actions.”

The overpayments were first reported by Military.com.

Eleventh Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. David Nahom relieved Brig. Gen. Paul R. Birch because of “shortfalls in his personal conduct prior to taking command,” according to a statement, without providing any additional details.

“I did not make this decision lightly,” Nahom said. “Commanders must always be held to the highest standards.”

Birch assumed command of the 36th Wing in June 2022, according to his official biography. Prior to serving as the 36th Wing Commander, he was chief of the Air Force strategic planning integration division at the Pentagon. Birch graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1996 and has more than 2,100 flying hours, including 750 combat hours. He has a Ph.D. from Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama.

The 36th Wing has 8,000 joint military and civilian personnel on Andersen Air Force Base. Its squadrons execute bomber task forces, tanker task forces, contingency response operations and theater security packages in the Indo-Pacific.

Col. Larry Fenner Jr., 36th Wing Vice Commander, is serving as the interim wing commander.

Army Sgt. Thaddeus S. Matuszak, Army Pfc. William L. Simon, and Army Air Forces Tech Sgt. Frank C. Ferrel have all been all accounted for since September 2022.

Sgt. Thaddeus S. Matuszak

Matuszak was assigned to Company K, 11th Infantry Regiment, 5th Infantry Division in September 1944, according to the agency. It was part of Lt. Gen. George S. Patton’s Third Army, which had been fighting across France. In September, the German army stopped them at the Moselle River near Dornot. Some soldiers held their position against the Germans at the edge of a forest they called Horseshoe Woods.

Matuszak was reported missing after the fight, but soldiers were unable to recover his body because of the fighting and the German army’s presence along the river.

As part of ongoing research on soldiers missing from combat at Horseshoe Woods, historians and archaeologists discovered remains that could match Matuszak. The remains were disinterred in September 2018 and sent to Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for analysis. Scientists use dental and anthropological evidence to positively identify Matuszak, as well as circumstantial evidence and DNA analysis.

A rosette will be placed by his name on the Walls of the Missing at the Lorraine American Cemetery in France. He will be buried in Wisconsin.

Pfc. William L. Simon

Simon was assigned to Company G, 2nd Battalion, 109th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division, according to the agency. Simon was reported killed in action in November 1944, when his unit was battling German forces near Hürtgen, Germany, in the Hürtgen Forest.

Simon’s remains were not recovered after the battle and were not identified during investigations in the Hürtgen area between 1946 and 1950.

A historian with the agency determined a set of unidentified remains at Ardennes American Cemetery could be Simon’s and they were disinterred and sent to the lab at Offutt Air Force Base in 2019. Scientists used dental and anthropological evidence, along with circumstantial evidence, to positively identify the remains, as well as DNA analysis.

A rosette will be placed with Simon’s name on the Walls of the Missing at the Netherlands American Cemetery. He will be buried in Wisconsin.

Tech Sgt. Frank C. Ferrel

Ferrel was assigned to the 328th Bombardment Squadron, 93rd Bombardment Group, 9th Air Force, according to the agency.

Ferrel was part of Operation Tidal Wave, the largest bombing mission against oil fields and refineries at Ploiesti, north of Bucharest, Romania. He was an engineer on a B-24 Liberator bomber that was hit by enemy fire and crashed.

Ferrel’s remains were not identified after the war and were buried as unknowns alongside dozens of others at two cemeteries in Belgium: Ardennes American Cemetery and Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery.

DPAA investigators began exhuming those remains in 2017, sending them to the laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base for identification. Scientists used anthropological and DNA analysis to positively identify Ferrel’s remains.

A rosette will be placed with Ferrel’s name on the Tablets of the Missing at the Florence American Cemetery in Italy. He will be buried in Texas.

United States Northern Command, or NORTHCOM, has released additional images of the efforts to recover the Chinese balloon that floated across the U.S.

An F-22 fighter jet from Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, shot down the balloon off the South Carolina coast on Feb. 4, with support from other fighter jets. The Navy, with help from the Coast Guard, spearheaded efforts to gather the remains. Pentagon officials said Wednesday the balloon is part of a large surveillance program China has been conducting for years. China claims it was a civilian balloon used for meteorological research.

Army Air Forces 1st Lt. George W. Winger was accounted for Jan. 24, 2023, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

Winger was assigned to the 66th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 44th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 8th Air Force in the summer of 1943. He was serving as the pilot on a B-24 Liberator when enemy anti-aircraft fire hit the aircraft and it crashed on Aug. 1, 1943.

At the time of the crash, Winger was flying in Operation Tidal Wave, a low-level bombing mission that targeted oil fields and refineries in Ploiesti, north of Bucharest, Romania. The goal was to limit Axis powers’ access to fuel. Of the 178 bombers that took off from Libya for the mission, less than 90 returned to Benghazi. Hundreds of airmen died. The U.S. Army Air Forces did not attempt a low-level mission against German air defenses again.

Winger’s remains were not identified after the war and were buried with other Unknowns in the Hero Section of the Civilian and Military Cemetery of Bolovan, Ploiesti, Prahova, Romania.

The accounting agency began exhuming remains believed to be American service members killed in Operation Tidal Wave in 2017, moving them to a laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for identification.

Army Air Forces Tech. Sgt. Harold Kretzer, 32, of Odin, Illinois, was a gunner-engineer assigned to the 66th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 44th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 8th Air Force, according to the agency.

He was on a B-24 Liberator Bomber during Operation Tidal Wave on Aug. 1, 1943 when enemy fire struck the bomber and it crashed. The plane was one of 51 aircraft that did not return from the mission, and Kretzer’s remains were unidentified after the war.

Operation Tidal Wave was intended to cut off oil supply for the Axis powers by targeting fields and refiners at Ploiesti, north of Bucharest, Romania. While American airmen successfully damaged the refineries, Germany had been prepared with anti-aircraft guns circling Ploesti before the first wave of bombers arrived from Libya, according to researchers.

Hundreds of U.S. Army Air Forces airmen were killed during Operation Tidal Wave in Romania.

Some were buried and later identified by the American Graves Registration Command.

The remains of more than 80 unidentified American personnel had been interred at Ardennes America Cemetery and Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, both in Belgium, until 2017. The DPAA began exhuming remains believed to be associated with airmen lost in Operation Tidal Wave, moving them to Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for examination and, hopefully, identification.

Agency scientists identified Kretzer’s remains on Aug. 23, 2022, using DNA and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence.

A rosette will be placed next to Kretzer’s name on the Tablets of the Missing at the Florence American Cemetery in Impruneta, Italy, to indicate he has been accounted for.

He will be buried in Springfield, Illinois, at an undetermined date.

According to Maxar, the military compound is in the north-center of the city. The company released the images Friday, along with images taken in March 2022 of the same areas in Mariupol, which show the damage from airstrikes and artillery bombardments during the Russian invasion.

The before-and-after satellite images show destroyed buildings and stockpiles of construction supplies. The Mariupol theater, the target of an airstrike believed to have killed hundreds of civilians on March 16, now has a large protective screen in place around the building.

Images also indicate there has been a significant expansion of graves at the city’s main cemetery. More than 1,500 new graves have been dug at the site, according to a November analysis by BBC of the Maxar images.

Mariupol is a strategic port city in the Pryazovia region of Ukraine. Workers at the Azovstal steel plant held off Russian forces before surrendering as prisoners of war in May, according to the Associated Press. The plant had been the last Ukrainian holdout in the ruined city, where officials estimate at least 20,000 civilians were killed. Mariupol remains under Russian control.

Russian President Vladimir Putin in August ordered a major buildup of military forces, moving to increase the number of troops by 13% by the end of the year. Upon that announcement, military-aged men in Russia began leaving the country, according to the Associated Press.

In comments at the Reagan National Defense Forum in California on Saturday, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said Russia is burning through its munitions stockpiles at an “extraordinary rate.”

The Pentagon announced a new aid package on Nov. 23 to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia, the U.S. military’s 26th such package for Ukraine since August 2021. It will include up to $400 million in ammunition, weapons, and supplies.

Florida National Guardsmen, along with others from Louisiana, New York, and Tennessee are already positioned. Others from Georgia, Indiana, New Jersey, South Carolina and Montana are on the way, according to National Guard Bureau Chief Gen. Daniel Hokanson.

“In the immediate aftermath, search and rescue will be the focus,” Hokanson said. “Our concern is saving lives and getting our folks in there as quickly as possible to make a difference in that critical time — to get people out of situations that may be potentially life-threatening to them.”

Ian made landfall Wednesday on Florida’s west coast as a powerful Category 4 hurricane with 150 mph winds. The storm flooded homes, cut off a popular barrier island and left nearly 2.7 million people without power as it crossed the panhandle before moving over the Atlantic and turning north.

Hokanson said the Guard will work with local authorities to make sure the right people and equipment are in the right places to maximize impact of available assistance.

There are helicopters, high-wheeled vehicles, boats, fuel tankers and generators that Guard members can use for search and rescue operations, clearing roads and supporting law enforcement.

The Florida Guard’s 146th Expeditionary Signal Battalion provided emergency communication capabilities to civilians and first responders, a necessity when there is extensive damage to infrastructure and large areas without electricity.

“We are preparing for Hurricane Ian by giving our Soldiers training on the Transportable Tactical Command Communications Ground Antenna Transmit and Receive devices,” Sgt. Justin Love, a satellite communication systems operator-maintainer with the 146th ESB, said Tuesday before the storm roared ashore. “This training will allow us to support emergency operation centers when services are needed, such as phone service and internet.”

President Joe Biden said Thursday that “our entire country hurts” along with the people of Florida after Hurricane Ian flooded communities across the state, destroyed thousands of homes and businesses and forced people into shelters.

Biden said he would visit Florida and meet with Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis when “conditions allow.” The president said he would also visit Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory that was slammed by Hurricane Fiona.

“We know many families are hurting,” Biden said at the Washington headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, where he was briefed on federal response efforts. “Our entire country hurts with them.”

Ian regained hurricane strength as it spun toward South Carolina a day after devastating a cross section of Florida. The National Hurricane Center says the storm’s maximum sustained winds increased Thursday to 75 mph. It was centered about 240 miles south of Charleston, South Carolina, and moving northeast at 10 mph.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Although often played in Philadelphia — this year’s game is set for Dec. 10 at Lincoln Financial Field — the matchup won’t return to the City of Brotherly Love until 2027. Instead, it will be played in Boston, Washington, Baltimore and East Rutherford, New Jersey, just outside of New York City.

Dubbed “America’s Game,” the friendly but intense football rivalry, in which future military officers battle for supremacy on the gridiron, is a national tradition that started in 1890.

Naval Academy Director of Athletics Chet Gladchuk and Army West Point Director of Athletics Mike Buddie jointly announced the tour of the Northeast.

The Navy will serve as the home team when Boston hosts the 2023 game, marking the first time the game has been played in New England. It will be played in conjunction with the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party and the 225th anniversary of the USS Constitution’s maiden voyage.

From there, the game will call several cities home over the next five years:

• Dec. 9, 2023: Boston/Foxborough
• Dec. 14, 2024: Washington, D.C./Landover, Md.
• Dec. 13, 2025: Baltimore
• Dec. 12, 2026: New York City/East Rutherford, N.J.
• Dec. 11, 2027: Philadelphia

“We are looking forward to the pageantry and tradition to be on display for the fans in these cities while providing an opportunity to support the cadets and midshipmen,” said Buddie. “We had great interest from many regions and thank the cities who participated in the bid selection process. We cannot wait to have this game played at some incredible venues in great cities.”

Gladchuck also pointed to the benefits of sharing the tradition with more communities.

“Our destinations over the next five years provide the academies with an opportunity to share the economic impact, history and tradition of Army-Navy with a number of communities in diverse geographic areas,” he said. “We are certain that each location will present a uniquely accommodating experience for our fans and will make for an incredibly memorable event for our midshipmen and cadets.”

Army will serve as the home team when the game returns to the nation’s capital in 2024, which will also mark the 125th anniversary of the rivalry. It will be just the second time the game has been played in the D.C. region.

Baltimore’s turn hosting in 2025 will be the game’s seventh run in that city, where the two teams are 3-3. Navy will serve as the home team.

In 2026, the game moves to New York/New Jersey as part of the 25th anniversary of 9/11. Army will serve as the home team. It will be the sixth time the game has been played at the Meadowlands complex, but the 19th it has been played in New York or New Jersey — including last December.

2027 will be Philadelphia’s 91st time to host the rivalry. Navy will be the home team for that matchup.

The rivalry will be broadcast on CBS through 2028.

Austin, along with Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, testified Tuesday before the House Armed Services Committee on the fiscal 2023 budget request. President Joe Biden’s budget plan for 2023 includes $773 billion for defense spending, and Republicans have said that is not enough.

Austin defended the budget, calling America’s military the most capable combat force in the world.

Gaetz questioned Austin’s leadership, at times speaking over Austin, asking how the Pentagon will use the funding to make more accurate assessments, pointing to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Taliban takeover when U.S. troops withdrew from Afghanistan.

The heated exchange included discussion of inaccurate intelligence assessments of foreign militaries. Gaetz pointed to the Department of Defense’s overestimation of Russia’s capability to invade Ukraine.

“You guys said that Russia would overrun Ukraine in 36 days,” Gaetz said.

“Has it occurred to you that Russia has not overrun Ukraine because of what we’ve done? And our allies have done? Have you ever even thought about that?” Austin responded.