Two months before Pete Hegseth appeared in front of Congress to testify in his confirmation to be secretary of defense, he sat across from the podcaster Shawn Ryan, talking about the Pentagon’s 2015 decision to open ground combat roles to women. “It hasn’t made us more effective. It hasn’t made us more lethal,” Hegseth said. […]
Sonner Kehrt
Sonner Kehrt is an investigative reporter at The War Horse, where she often covers the intersection of the military and democracy. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, WIRED magazine, Inside Climate News, and other publications. She studied government at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and served for five years as Coast Guard officer before earning a masters in democracy and governance studies from Georgetown University and a masters of journalism from UC Berkeley. She can be reached at sonner.kehrt@thewarhorse.org or sonner.kehrt@proton.me.
Posted inNewsroom
A Veterans Organization Has Millions in the Bank. Why Did It Seize a Small Chapter’s Donation?
This story was published in partnership with The Sacramento Bee. Subscribe here. The Disabled American Veterans post in Sacramento, California, needed work. The small white building with blue trim and an American flag out front was built decades ago. Its heating and cooling system was ancient. The parking lot was riddled with potholes. So when […]
Posted inNewsroom
A War Zone, Minus the War: One Year Later, Has the Military Really Secured the US-Mexico Border?
On a warm, winter Sunday, the Playas de Tijuana in Mexico is filled with families picnicking. The beach here presses right up against the border wall with the United States. Music blares, teenagers film TikTok videos next to the 30-foot high fence, which is covered in painted murals on the Mexican side—butterflies, faces, human hands […]
Posted inNewsroom
Q&A: How Did the U.S. Patrol the Caribbean for Drug Smuggling Before It Started Blowing Up Boats?
For decades before the Pentagon started blowing up alleged drug boats in the Caribbean, the Coast Guard tracked, intercepted, and boarded the little skiffs that carried cocaine and marijuana across the Caribbean and eastern Pacific to the U.S. The dramatic escalation this fall, which has killed at least 99 people as of Wednesday, including 12 […]
Posted inNewsroom
‘They’re Taking Shirly’: An Army Sergeant Thought His Family Was Safe. Then ICE Deported His Wife
Immigrant family members of military troops have no guaranteed path to citizenship and face deportation if undocumented..
Posted inNewsroom
Women Have Served in Combat Roles for a Decade. The Pentagon is Reopening the Debate
Pete Hegseth has directed Pentagon leaders to review fitness, training standards which could adversely affect women in combat roles
Posted inNewsroom
Q&A: What Could the Insurrection Act Mean for the Southern Border?
Defense Secretary Hegseth, Secretary of Homeland Security Noem expected to inform Trump on whether to invoke the Insurrection Act over southern boarder
Posted inNewsroom
Battered by Cuts and Firings, VA Employees Describe Serving Veterans Under ‘Invisible Cloud of Dread’
Cuts to resources and staff at Veterans Affairs will harm provider moral and veteran care, employees say.
Posted inNewsroom
Veterans Won Big With the PACT Act. Now, Civilian Military Contractors Are Starting Their Own Campaign
When the country goes to war, it isn’t only the military that pays the price
Posted inNewsroom
‘I’m Just Trying To Be Good At My Job’: Transgender Troops Brace for Decision on Military Ban
Transgender troops await what a military ban could mean for their careers after Trump reversed Biden’s policy to allow trans service members.
Posted inNewsroom
What Sexual Assault Survivors in the Military Say about the Next Four Years
Sexual assault survivors, advocates consider military’s future treatment of women under Trump’s pick for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth.
Posted inNewsroom
Q&A: Twenty Years after Fallujah – ‘I Hope They See It As a Cautionary Tale’
A Q&A with Thomas Brennan on the emotional journey behind his reporting on the 20th anniversary of his platoon’s fight in the bloodiest battle of the Iraq War.
