A new Department of Defense inspector general’s report revealed that the U.S. Army allowed recruits who did not meet qualifications to join. The “Management Advisory: Army’s Future Soldier Preparatory Course Places Trainees At Increased Risk of Adverse Health Effects” found that recruiters and leadership at the Army Training Center and Fort Jackson admitted recruits with body fat percentages that did not comply with the military branch’s physical fitness requirements and standards.

A Fayetteville teen was sentenced to at least 12 years in prison recently for the death of his father, a well-known personal chef in the city. Nearly a year after his father, Bryant Kirby Preston Jr., died, Jaeden Preston, 18, pleaded guilty in Cumberland County Superior Court on April 17 to second-degree murder in the death. His 36-year-old father, an Army veteran, was known to thousands of online followers and customers as Chef Hefe. Judge George R. Hicks III sentenced the younger Preston to 12 to 15 years, five months...

A former U.S. Army soldier was convicted by a federal jury in Pensacola, Florida, on Monday in the decades-old killing of a pregnant soldier overseas. Shannon Wilkerson, 43, was found guilty of second-degree murder in the beating and strangling death of 19-year-old Pfc. Amanda Gonzales, the Department of Justice announced on Tuesday. The crime took place in her barracks room at Fliegerhorst Kaserne – a former Army base in Hanau, Germany – in November 2001. Her body was found on Nov. 5 after she didn't show up to her job...

A soldier was wounded last month during training at Joint Base Lewis-McChord after live rounds were mixed with blanks, the Army said Tuesday. “The injured soldier was admitted to Madigan Army Medical Center and is in stable condition,” said Lt. Col. Jennifer Bocanegra, an Army spokeswoman at Lewis-McChord, the Army-Air Force installation south of Tacoma in Washington. The units involved in the April 25 training incident include the 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) and the 7th Infantry Division. The soldier was injured by a live round fired from an M249...

Richard “Dick” Pickup, an Orange County philanthropist who made a fortune as a securities trader and investor, died of a stroke on April 25. He was 90 years old. Pickup’s family said the Newport Beach resident spent his last day working in his office trading stocks and eyeing his next investment deal. Passionate about golf, cars and giving his money away, just five months ago Pickup and his family gave $50 million to Hoag Hospital. Calling it “the best money I ever spent,” the Whittier College grad was investing once...

It's known as the Key Gate on maps and on highway signs in the area -- a gate that leads into Fort Sill from Interstate 44. It's appropriately named because it really is the key or main gate to the sprawling Army post in Comanche County -- the training ground for all field artillery soldiers, Marines and many international students from allied nations. Although it is the key gate, it's named in honor of Maj. Gen. William S. Key, former post commander, former 45th Division commander, former provost marshal for...

An Alaska-based Army platoon leader died Sunday of gunshot injuries he sustained the day before while a bystander to a shooting in downtown Fairbanks, the Army said in a news release Monday. First Lt. Brandon Keyon Moultrie, 28, of Columbia, S.C., died at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, according to the release. Moultrie was shot in the back of the head during an altercation outside the International Hotel and Bar, the Anchorage Daily News reported Monday. Moultrie was not involved in the dispute and was hit by a random shot, Fairbanks police...

The daughter of a U.S. Army veteran who was killed in front of his California home while doing yard work called for changes to local criminal justice policies critics say have enabled criminals at the expense of victims. Mario Morales-Moreno, 51, was killed on April 4 at his Long Beach home when someone opened fire, hitting him and another victim, the Long Beach Police Department said. Morales-Moreno was struck in the upper body and died at the scene. Another man was hit in the leg but survived. On Thursday, Morales-Moreno's...

Five-star sophomore Jacy Abii, the state’s No. 1 girls basketball recruit in the Class of 2026, has said that she is transferring to Legion Prep Academy after leading Frisco Liberty to its second straight Class 5A state title in March. But before she does, Abii will try to win one more state title for Liberty — in track. Abii won the shot put at the District 9-5A/10-5A area-round meet with a throw of 36-10.25 and advanced to next week’s Class 5A Region II meet at UT-Arlington. That came a week...