SOUTHCOM Caribbean Buildup: More Troops, 8 Ships, 1 Sub

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The Pentagon says that there are about 10,000 US forces supporting counternarcotics operations in the Caribbean, reports The Hill. This comes as the Trump administration ramps up its campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The majority of the forces are in Puerto Rico. The Navy has eight ships in the region, along with one submarine.

ADM Alvin Holsey, head of US Southern Command, will retire, reports USNI News. DefSec Pete Hegseth made the announcement on social media Thursday. Holsey assumed command in November 2024. The command is currently overseeing the Trump administration’s ongoing military strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean.

The US struck another vessel Thursday in the Caribbean suspected of carrying illegal drugs, the first strike to result in known survivors, reports The Wall Street Journal on MSN. The US is providing medical treatment for two survivors rescued by the Coast Guard and taken to the USS Iwo Jima, which has a full medical staff. An unspecified number of others aboard the submarine were killed in the strike.

The presence of US Navy ships in the Caribbean raises the question of Venezuelan capabilities at sea. Analysts told Breaking Defense that what’s formally known as the Bolivarian Navy of Venezuela likely has limited capabilities in the open water. Questions also remain regarding the fleet’s submarines and frigates.

President Donald Trump has authorized the CIA to go into Venezuela and conduct covert operations, reports CBS News on MSN. The president told a reporter that “[Venezuela has] emptied their prisons into the United States of America” and “allowed thousands and thousands of prisoners” and “people from mental institutions, insane asylums” into the US.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro is accusing the US of committing “murder” following a strike carried out on a boat in Colombian waters in September, reports BBC. A fisherman was reportedly killed in a US strike on his boat, reports South China Morning Post.

USNI fleet tracker weekly reports the approximate positions of the US Navy’s deployed carrier strike groups and amphibious ready groups throughout the world. Here is the Oct. 14, 2025, Fleet and Marine Tracker.

The US Coast Guard has seized 100,000 pounds of cocaine through its Operation Pacific Viper, reports Seapower Magazine. The operation in the Eastern Pacific Ocean was launched in early August and averages more than 1,600 pounds interdicted daily.

A majority of the civilian staff at the National Nuclear Security Administration will be furloughed starting today, reports Politico. The agency helps manage the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile. About 375 employees will remain on the job for work that has been exempted from the shutdown. The agency doesn’t directly operate US nuclear weapons, which falls to the Pentagon.

The Navy needs to loosen its grip on shipbuilding, Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-MT) said during a Center for Strategic and International Studies event, reports Defense One. “The Navy has taken over shipbuilding, I believe, to their detriment,” said Sheehy, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “An average naval officer is not a shipbuilding expert. They’re just not. … It takes decades to build that institutional knowledge of not just naval architecture, but also knowledge of the industrial base, to effectively build the ship and build it fast and build it right. And the Navy lost that institutional knowledge decades ago.”

Offshore Aviation Group has purchased the Piney Point Terminal in St. Mary’s County, according to a news release. The veteran-owned Maryland company plans to transform the 320-acre waterfront property into a center for unmanned systems development, testing, and operations. The project at the site will involve removing storage tanks and the pipeline that connected the facility to the pier on the Potomac River. OAG will re-open Piney Point Creek to local boaters and use the site for manned and unmanned systems test and evaluation and private sea-plane base.

The Trump administration wants to test the feasibility of the US Labor Department doing unemployment claims intake instead of the states, reports Nextgov/FCW. This follows the department’s notice that it may create a national claims database, a move critics say raises cybersecurity, privacy, and surveillance risks. The department intends to pilot a platform, unemployment.gov, with a few states by the end of the year.

The United States and the Netherlands will participate in the development of the US Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program, reports Breaking Defense. “… I think it also makes the world a lot safer if in the near future, we can actually also operate CCA type of aircraft in the European theater,” said Netherlands State Secretary for Defense Gijs Tuinman at his country’s embassy in Washington, DC.

The US Air Force’s top enlisted leader will retire following his wife’s death, reports Military Times. Chief Master Sgt. David Flosi announced his impending retirement in an Oct. 13 email to the force. His wife Katy Flosi died unexpectedly because of medical complications in September.

The US Army has begun to cut 6,500 manned aviation jobs, reports Army Times. The service has embarked on its effort to relocate some 6,500 junior officers and warrant officers who it says are no longer needed in the aviation field. Officials said they hope to reach that target without forcing many troops out of the service. The cuts reflect the rise of unmanned aviation and Army force restructuring.

The Army is launching a new nuclear program to generate power for its bases, particularly those in remote or contested locations where fuel might be difficult to obtain, reports Fox News. The program follows an executive order earlier this year directing the Defense Department to begin operating an Army-regulated nuclear reactor at a military installation by September 2028.

A Cold War-era Air Force station in California is for sale for $3.2 million. The 34-acre coastal property has had several owners, including some Hollywood-adjacent dreamers, who had grand plans for the site, but something has always gotten in the way, reports sfgate.com. Now, years after alleged illegal asbestos cleanups, an FBI raid, and several lawsuits, the property is once again on the market.

Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 31 ended the AV-8B Harrier’s service with a retirement ceremony last month when the squadron flew the jet for the final time and shut it down on the China Lake, CA, flight line, reports Stars and Stripes. “It’s the most successful attack aircraft in Marine Corps history. No doubt about it,” said Jim “Jimbo” Coppersmith, VX-31 technical director, who flew the final sortie.

The US War Dogs Association is celebrating its 25th year in operation, reports San Antonio Living. To date, the nonprofit has provided more than $2 million in medications and veterinary care to retired military working dogs who, despite their service, receive no financial support after retirement.

A US Army soldier with the 10th Special Forces Group at Fort Carson is suspected of stabbing a Colorado Springs police dog last week — an attack that left the K-9 in critical condition and led to the removal of one of his legs, reports Military Times.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Prediction Center has released seasonal outlooks for November 2025 through January 2026, reports The Hill.

Contacts awards are not being published during the government shutdown.