The four-star Army general who is managing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan says “the time has come” for the military to rethink its policy toward gays.

Steven Williams survived two deployments to Iraq. He saw the worst that war has to offer—bullets flying at him and bombs exploding around him. But it was a near-fatal car wreck last April that resulted in the amputation of his left leg.

A Navy helicopter with 17 persons on board has gone down in West Virginia near Lewisburg, close to the Virginia line.  The Navy and Federal Aviation Administration said the helicopter was an MH-60S Knighthawk from Sea Combat Squadron 26 out of Norfolk. 

American military officials are stepping up delivery of bomb-detection dogs to Iraq with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government under pressure for using equipment that may be ineffective in finding explosives.

The military’s top uniformed officer declared Tuesday that gays should be allowed to serve openly in uniform, arguing that it is “the right thing to do.“

PETERSBURG—If student projections at Fort Lee hold true, a proposed 1,000-room hotel on base won’t adversely affect hotels and businesses in the Tri-Cities region, according to an impact study released by consultants. The average number of students training on base daily needs to reach 2,100 in order for local hotels to maintain the status quo, said Kyle S. Talente, vice president and principal at RKG Associates.

Two Virginia military bases will merge next month, but officials say little will change in the short term.

Six F-22 Raptor pilots have returned to Langley Air Force Base from a five-week training mission, the controversial aircraft’s first extended test under harsh desert conditions.

RICHMOND, VA. - Decked out in reindeer antlers and a bright red Christmas sweater, George Wythe High School math teacher Bland Campbell sang along to “Jingle Bells” and “Deck the Halls” as her students made their way around McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center yesterday. The group of about two dozen Richmond students was on hand to deliver five boxes of items they’d collected for the hospital’s patients, and to sing a few Christmas carols along the way.

In his adult life, retired Staff Sgt. Lonnie “Mack” McLaurin held multiple careers, but his heart remained attached to the time he served with the Marine Corps. He lived by and often repeated the motto “Once a Marine, always a Marine. There is no such thing as a former Marine!“ The Richmond native, who gave nearly 42 years of combined service to the U.S. armed forces, died Dec. 5 after a prolonged illness. He was 66.

NORFOLK—For the second time in a week, the commander of a Navy ship based at Norfolk Naval Station has been relieved as the result of a fraternization investigation. Cmdr. Christopher M. Stopyra, who commanded the USS Fort McHenry, was assigned to administrative duties after an investigation into his involvement with a subordinate on the ship, the Navy announced Friday.

Before their first meeting last summer, Brian Pearce and George Nyfeler were nervous. “I didn’t really know what we were going to get into,“ Pearce said. “We probably both had butterflies in our stomachs,“ Nyfeler said. They needn’t have worried. They hit it off big time, sharing stories about their time in the military and just about everything else.

A song dedicated to soldiers and veterans is turning the third grade at Colonial Heights’ Tussing Elementary School into an Internet sensation. The response from around the world has surprised music teacher Michael Souders, who co-wrote the song “Thank You Soldiers” with his wife, Angela, and posted the video on multiple video-hosting Web sites, including YouTube.

A Virginia National Guard soldier wounded in an accidental blast at Fort Pickett is in stable condition at VCU Medical Center and is expected to make a full recovery, a spokesman said yesterday. Thirteen soldiers taken to Southside Regional Medical Center in Petersburg on Wednesday night were treated and released and have returned to duty, said Maj. Cotton Puryear.