Army

The Topline: Outrage over a Russian sale of attack helicopters to Syria is being felt in Congress, where senators are placing holds on Defense Department employees and vowing consequences for Moscow if it continues to arm Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s accusation Tuesday that Russia had supplied Syria with attack helicopters quickly reverberated on Capitol Hill, where many senators are already up in arms about over what they say is inaction by the Obama administration to intervene in Syria.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) placed a hold on the Army’s nominee to become top weapons buyer, Heidi Shyu, over the Pentagon’s contract with Russian arms company Rosoboronexport, which is also allegedly providing Syrian arms to Assad’s forces.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) said in an MSNBC interview that President Obama should take a hard line with Russian President Vladmir Putin and make clear “there are going to be grave consequences to our relationship if they continue” to supply Syrian arms.

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Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Wednesday that the Pentagon has ordered all of the services to undertake reviews of their mental health diagnoses over the past decade, further expanding a review amid a scandal involving changed PTSD diagnoses.

Panetta said at a Senate hearing that he was expanding the mental health review beyond the Army, which earlier this month announced details of a service-wide examination going back a decade to 2001.

“What I've asked is the other service chiefs to implement the same approach that the Army's taken here,” Panetta said.

Cornyn is opposed to the Pentagon's contract with a Russian firm that sells helicopters to the Syrian regime.

Members of U.S. special forces are on the ground in North Korea, gathering intelligence on the country's network of clandestine military bases near its border with the South. 

“Winding down these longs wars has enabled us to replace and rebalance our foreign policy," Vice President Biden said.

President Obama signed into law Friday legislation pushed by Minnesota lawmakers that reversed a National Guard policy reducing in paid leave time for more than 49,000 soldiers.

The legislation, authored by Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), restored paid leave benefits for National Guard members who had already deployed before the Pentagon changed its policy last October.

Two female soldiers filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday to end the ban on women in combat.

Command Sgt. Maj. Jane Baldwin and Col. Ellen Harding are suing to put an end to restrictions in combat positions “solely on the basis of sex.”

The women, who are both Army reservists, say their military careers have been hampered by the ban on women in combat, and are asking the court to rule it unconstitutional for violating their equal protection rights under the Fifth Amendment.

Sen. Dan Coats (R) is from Indiana, home of the Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR’s Brickyard 400.

President Obama posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor to U.S. Army Specialist Leslie H. Sabo Jr., Wednesday, May 16, at 3:10 p.m., four decades after his death during the Vietnam War.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno said the House GOP proposal to limit troop reductions is too restrictive