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Navy Adm. Alvin Holsey relinquished duties as commander of U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) to Air Force Lt. Gen. Evan L. Pettus during a ceremony at the command’s headquarters Dec. 12 in Doral, Florida. Holsey is retiring after more than 37 years of service in the U.S. Navy.

Inside the office of U.S. Navy Adm. Alvin Holsey hung a framed letter. It was easy to overlook, but it was on display nonetheless. The paper inside is slightly faded and signed decades ago by a man who once told a young college student that he could become a Naval officer and a pilot. The letter offered an opportunity, and Adm. Holsey believed it. That belief grew into a Navy career defined by results and the quiet confidence of a leader who cared more about the mission and the people than recognition.

The War Department provided an update on the U.S. military's counter-narco-terrorism campaign, Operation Southern Spear, including the casualties inflicted upon suspected narco-terrorists and a reemphasis on how the operation's first kinetic boat strike unfolded. 

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth paid a surprise Thanksgiving visit to a pair of Navy warships operating in the U.S. Southern Command's area of responsibility as part of the military's anti-narco-terror mission, Operation Southern Spear. 

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said plans to declare Venezuela's state-embedded criminal network Cartel de los Soles a terrorist organization will bring "a whole bunch of new options" to how the U.S. deals with narco-terrorists in that region.