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The Duffel Brief · the free edition, Monday, Wednesday and Friday

Vol. 15 · No. 114 · Thursday, 24 September 2026

Army

Mitch McConnell returns from extended drill weekend

Staff says senator’s three-month absence was “routine National Guard obligation”

Trump considers replacing Hegseth with rock or something

Army adopts ‘Your body, my choice’ as new recruiting slogan

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Vol. 15 · No. 114

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Vol. 15 · No. 114 · Deployed worldwide

Thursday

24 September 2026

2048 Zulu

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Veterans · Page 2

Kobe Bryant's death best possible time to bring up 22 a day, local veteran reasons

Filed · 1551

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Worldwide mourning over the tragic death of retired NBA superstar Kobe Bryant and eight others in a helicopter crash on Sunday also happens to be the best possible time to bring up the fact that roughly 22 veterans are lost to suicide every day, says local veteran Adrian Smith.

Smith, a Marine Corps veteran who served in Afghanistan, wasted no time shaming people on Facebook who were publicly mourning Bryant’s death instead of publicly mourning the death of a Marine who served with Smith back in 2006 when both were lance corporals.

“There’s a whole lot of people posting tributes for some stupid basketball player but no one seems to care about Lance Cpl. Joey Banks, one of the 22 veterans who kill themselves every day,” Smith posted on Facebook, thinking that surely most of his friends on the social network would immediately attempt to learn more about his fallen comrade instead of thinking that Smith is a total fucking asshole.

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