Sign in

JD Simkins

@jdsimkins.bsky.social
568 followers 65 following 325 posts

Editor-in-Chief, Military Times & Defense News. Once a Marine. Would rather be outside.

PostsRepliesMedia
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
UAE turns to Russian shadow airline for missions in Africa. Linus Höller with an investigative report for us @defensenews.bsky.social
defensenews.com
UAE turns to Russian shadow airline for missions in Africa: Investigation
The company behind these planes, Aviacon Zitotrans, has been sanctioned by the United States, Canada and Ukraine for its support in Russia’s war effort.
031
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Ukraine’s former defense minister launches ‘Manhattan Project’ for killer robots
defensenews.com
Ukraine’s former defense minister launches ‘Manhattan Project’ for killer robots
Mykhailo Fedorov told Defense News he wants humanoid-like robots on the battlefield within six months and an assault without infantry within a year.
011
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
“Unless you say you’re suicidal, you have to wait weeks for an appointment with the military mental health providers,” one Lincoln sailor said. Long deployments overwhelm a strained Navy mental health system, personnel say www.militarytimes.com/news/your-na...
militarytimes.com
Long deployments overwhelm a strained Navy mental health system, personnel say
Navy therapists and sailors cited long wait times and inadequate services as hurdles to getting mental health help aboard deployed ships.
044
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
ICE detained an Army sergeant’s wife. His family is still waiting for answers.
militarytimes.com
ICE detained an Army sergeant’s wife. His family is still waiting for answers.
On July 11, ICE detained Cristy Maryori Villafranca Trejo as her family drove home from the grocery store. Last week, she was almost deported to Honduras.
0107
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Suckers and losers. Rinse, repeat
000
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Good lord, this again? Just a full — *checks notes — DECADE of this complaint about EMALS www.navytimes.com/news/your-na...
navytimes.com
Navy should return to 'goddamned steam' on carrier, Trump says
President Trump says the Navy should abandon longstanding plans for electro-magnetic catapults for carrier aviation and return to the traditional steam-powered launch and recovery system.
040
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Active-duty sailor in an op-ed for Military Times: "The lesson I take from [talking to sailors who have endured extended deployments] is not that the Navy should stop deploying. It is that endurance cannot be the only plan."
militarytimes.com
If long deployments are the future, endurance can’t be the Navy’s only plan
Opinion: "If we expect the ship to endure, we have to maintain it. If we expect the crew to endure, we have to sustain them," an active-duty sailor argues.
41210
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
The Navy has denied our reporting. Not in response to our queries, but in a statement the service provided to @taskandpurpose.com - here: taskandpurpose.com/news/navy-us... Shortly after that story went up, text messages emerged from sailors detailing additional morale issues: x.com/AaronParnas/...
21610
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
The Air Force updated its COVID-19 reinstatement process this week and will now employ case managers to speed up troops' return This, meanwhile, comes on the heels of a recent report that showed less than 3% of service members eligible to return after being separated have actually opted to.
militarytimes.com
Air Force expedites COVID reinstatement process for separated airmen, guardians
The Air Force changed its COVID-19 reinstatement process to remove delays for service members seeking to return after vaccine-related separation.
121
Reposted by JD Simkins
Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
The Air Force One catering truck scandal is deeper and darker than the media is portraying it — it’s a Russian nesting doll of corruption and national security threats: www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/the-five-s...
doomsdayscenario.co
The Five Scandals Within the "Air Force One" Scandal
Donald Trump, a Catering Truck, and the Qatari "Air Force One" represent a Russian Nesting Doll of Scandal and Corruption
821832789
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Mold, asbestos and crumbling walls are only some of the issues plaguing the U.S. military’s Pacific bases, according to a Pentagon watchdog. The findings came during an audit of Pacific Command infrastructure, during which IG investigators visited 11 PACOM bases in May 2025
militarytimes.com
Asbestos, mold and crumbling walls: The US military’s Pacific bases are falling apart
Mold, asbestos and crumbling walls are only some of the issues plaguing the U.S. military's Pacific bases, a government watchdog found.
1105
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Families of sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln spoke to Military Times about multiple incidents in which sailors have attempted to go overboard amid the ship's extended deployment in support of combat operations in the Middle East
militarytimes.com
Multiple USS Abraham Lincoln sailors have tried to go overboard amid extended deployment, families say
Multiple sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln have attempted to go overboard as the carrier's deployment stretches into its ninth month.
38404174
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Onboard view of the USS Peleliu getting pummeled by US missiles during the Navy's latest SINKEX event
0105
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Saw someone mention that the White House now looks like a shitty Thai restaurant and that's all I see now
031
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Imagine getting access to the Pentagon as a press member just to ask military chiefs for a response about a social media AI video of Jesus throwing Trump into hell
000
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
All those conversations about refusing illegal orders seem more relevant by the day.
000
Reposted by JD Simkins
Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
We need especially right now to remember the model of integrity and vision for public service by the Greatest Generation and leaders like Robert Mueller — I tried to distill some of the core leadership lessons that Mueller always talked about: www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/five-leade...
doomsdayscenario.co
Five Leadership Lessons from Robert Mueller
His critical refrain — “If you have integrity, nothing else matters. And if you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters.” — matters especially now.
419674
Reposted by JD Simkins
Austin Kocher, PhD @austinkocher.com · 23/03/2026
The US government collected over $1 billion in immigration fees then refused to process the applications. No denials. No refunds. Just silence. This is the largest fee fraud in the history of the American immigration system. Here's what's happening. 🧵
8279603841
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
This is a hall of fame grift
010
Reposted by JD Simkins
Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
The fact that all these people are civilians is comical.
Kristi Noem dressed like an operator Tom Homan dressed like a militia leader Greg Bovino dressed like a NaziCBP loser dressed like his idea of a SOF operator
911231
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
Totally normal handling of a rifle. Not stupid at all
121
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
Not now, Alex Honnold
000
Reposted by JD Simkins
Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
One thing I’m thinking about today is the hollowness of all the “Don’t Tread on Me” extremists, who turn out to be just far-right extremists. Dems should retake the Gadsden flag. Is there a good blue maker of Gadsden flags that doesn’t support far-right causes?
70910142
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
"Don’t create more enemies than you take out by some immoral act." Didn't think we'd ever see this quote from Jim Mattis applied to operations in our own country. DHS is spawning an army of pissed off citizens
000
Reposted by JD Simkins
Brian Kerg @briankerg.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
💯. We treated enemy combatants - who may have been very recently trying to violently kill us - with a level of restraint and professionalism that appears to be beyond the imagination of a federal law enforcement organization handling non-violent American citizens.
640197
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
Been wild to see how fast everyone went from thumping their chest about Second Amendment rights to OKing the murder of a citizen exercising his Second Amendment rights
010
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
The Pentagon is putting out press releases about basic information like it's "Sin City" neo-noir
010
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Hegseth out here wearing the reverse Sandlot
000
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
"Which Way Western Man?" is a book by white supremacist William Gayley Simpson. It was published in the 1970s by an imprint affiliated with the neo-Nazi group National Alliance. I'm sure this language is coincidental
000
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
The president of Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota on Tuesday called for the immediate release of tribal members who were detained at a homeless encampment by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minnesota last week. apnews.com/article/ice-...
apnews.com
Oglala Sioux Tribe says three tribal members arrested in Minneapolis are in ICE detention
The president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota said three of the four tribal members detained by ICE agents in Minneapolis last week have been transferred to an ICE facility and called for th...
010
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 10/01/2026
"If I stop showing up at Klan rallies, the Klan wins, so I'm staying."
110
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
Getting hit with a snowball and returning fire with a tear gas cannister at point blank range sums this entire organization up
1629
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
Remains insane to me that in Iraq — in an active war — when encountering a potential hostile vehicle, we're told to wave/yell, use lights, fire warning shots at tires-engine-windshield last resort. But in Minnesota you just shoot into the driver window of a mom with your partner in the field of fire
319454
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 26/12/2025
When you have to discuss US strikes on terror networks in Nigeria at 1500 but must shred at 1530
000
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 24/12/2025
People really watched tape of Josh Johnson playing in Washington in 2018 and said, "Let's run that back in 2025." Would rather watch Josh Harris play QB. Pain
110
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
An ode to James Ranson, who, in just seven episodes, churned out one of the most relatable on-screen depictions of life as a junior enlisted Marine www.militarytimes.com/off-duty/mil...
militarytimes.com
Ode to James Ransone’s memorable portrayal of a junior enlisted Marine
In just seven episodes, James Ransone churned out one of the most relatable on-screen depictions of life as a junior enlisted Marine.
455
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
The Trump-class battleship and China's Renhai-class cruisers 🧐
031
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
Wild photo -- EOD techs pose for a group photo at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, California, Dec. 18, 2025. (📸 Petty Officer 2nd Class August Clawson)
131
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 20/12/2025
Iowa National Guardsman writes a message on a GBU-31 munition used today against the Islamic State in Syria. Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, and Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres Tovar, 25, were killed in an ambush last weekend.
521
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
You can't be "Mankind" and not give a shit about mankind. GOAT
000
Reposted by JD Simkins
Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
This is fucking grim. Somebody invented a white guy, an "IT professional" named Edward Crabtree, who stopped the Bondi shooting and spread it all over the internet, which was picked up by AI agents and slop aggregation sites. The real hero is a fruit stand owner named Ahmed el Ahmed.
A wrong Grok post making up a white guy who stopped the Australian mass shooting.BBC
'Hero' who wrestled gun from Bondi shooter named as Ahmed al Ahmed
Emily Atkinson
Sun, December 14, 2025 at 1:06 p.m. CST
2 min read

A "hero" bystander who was filmed wrestling a gun from one of the Bondi Beach attackers has been named as 43-year-old Ahmed al Ahmed.

Video verified by the BBC showed Mr Ahmed run at the gunman and seize his weapon, before turning the gun round on him, forcing his retreat.

Mr Ahmed, a fruit shop owner and father of two, remains in hospital, where he has undergone surgery for bullet wounds to his arm and hand, his family told 7News Australia.
274155395767
Reposted by JD Simkins
Zito @zeets.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
Will Arnett was on Conan and told a story about how Conan dealt with the death of his parents by accusing Jason Bateman of killing them. It’s so funny.
119123482879
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
"Cotton said that from watching the video, he 'saw two survivors trying to flip a boat loaded with drugs bound for United States back over so they could stay in the fight.'" Has to be one of the most absurd takes of all time. What fight? Against dying in the ocean?
210
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
Why didn't you make dinner? Me, watching Arnold cover his face in mud in Predator: It's called the fog of war. You wouldn't understand!!!
010
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
DOD's Kingsley Wilson addresses the "double tap," throwing Adm. Frank "Mitch" Bradley under the bus www.war.gov/News/News-St...
000
Reposted by JD Simkins
Ryan Goodman @rgoodlaw.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
Former US military lawyers speak out: "The Former JAGs Working Group unanimously considers both the giving and the execution of these orders, if true, to constitute war crimes, murder, or both." Statement on Media Reports of Pentagon “No Quarter” Orders in Caribbean Boat Strikes 1/2

• If the U.S. military operation to interdict and destroy suspected narcotraFicking vessels is a “non-international armed conflict,” as the Trump Administration suggests, orders to “kill everybody,” which can reasonably be regarded as an order to give “no quarter,” and
to “double-tap” a target in order to kill survivors, are clearly illegal under international law. In short, they are war crimes.
• If the U.S. military operation is not an armed conflict of any kind, these orders to kill helpless civilians clinging to the wreckage of a vessel our military destroyed would subject everyone from SECDEF down to the individual who pulled the trigger to prosecution under U.S. law for murder.Highlighted sentence at the end of the document reads:

Again, the bottom line is that, since orders to kill survivors of an attack at sea are “patently illegal,” anyone who issues or follows such orders can and should be prosecuted for war crimes, murder, or both.
11566442775
Reposted by JD Simkins
Senator Andy Kim @kim.senate.gov · 29/11/2025
Reminder that shortly after ordering these strikes, Hegseth removed the press corps from the Pentagon and the SouthCom Commander overseeing operations in the Caribbean unexpectedly announced he is stepping down 2 yrs before his term is up. What we are seeing is just the tip of the iceberg.
32845321
JD Simkins @jdsimkins.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
Pete Hegseth has championed the cases of convicted war criminals long before the Sept. 2 strikes being reported. In his Quantico speech, he called our rules of engagement "stupid." This is his standard operating procedure. Zero reason to doubt the authenticity of these reports.
010
Reposted by JD Simkins
Schrödinger's Sneetch Belly @rtodkelly.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
A reminder for those who are not aware: "remigration" is the process of deporting all non-white people from a country. It includes citizens and is, by definition, ethnic cleansing. And to be clear: this is not fake. I just screenshot it myself.
323127085051