Rebecca Kheel

Rebecca Kheel is a congressional reporter for Military.com. She previously worked as a defense reporter for The Hill, covering all things defense from the view at the Capitol, including negotiations over annual defense authorization and appropriations bills, fights about the foreign policy crisis of the day and more.

Prior to coming to D.C., she was a local reporter at the Orange County Register in California, writing about everything from disputes over new housing developments to the latest theme park ride openings.

She has a bachelor’s degree in newspaper journalism and history from Syracuse University.

Email: rebecca.kheel@military.com

Latest Articles

A U.S. Air Force senior airman provides cover fire for a U.S. soldier during a Joint Force combat arms training at Prince Sultan Air Base.

Oil Dispute Prompts Call to Remove US Troops from Saudi Arabia, UAE

A trio of Democratic lawmakers wants to pull all U.S. troops out of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates after an...

Ensign Terrance Wever signals to an F/A-18E Super Hornet on the flight deck of the U.S. Navy’s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier, USS Ronald Reagan.

USS Ronald Reagan Heads Back to Korean Coast After Latest North Korean Missile Test

The USS Ronald Reagan nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is returning to waters off the coast of South Korea in the latest show...

The U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., sits empty in the early morning a few hours prior to the 59th presidential inauguration.

Republicans Vow to Put 'Woke' Military in Crosshairs if They Win in November

Republicans will have more opportunities to take aim at Biden administration defense policies they've decried as "woke,"...

Soldiers prepare to fold the national flag during a full honors funeral at Arlington National Cemetery.

Troops, Veterans Can Get More Life Insurance Coverage Under Bill on Biden's Desk

Service members and veterans will be able to increase their maximum life insurance coverage by $100,000 under a bill that...

Soldier entertains Afghan children during Operation Allies Welcome, Germany.

Bill to Keep Government from Shutting Down Leaves Out Afghan Refugees Despite Vet Protest

The Afghan Adjustment Act would have provided a streamlined way for Afghans who were evacuated after the fall of Kabul to...

U.S. Air Force Capt. Adam Remme, 17th Medical Group pharmacy element chief, mandates prescription refills during the preparations for the Ross Clinic pharmacy’s curbside reinstatement on Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas.

100 Lawmakers Press for Answers on Pharmacies Leaving Tricare

In a letter sent Thursday to Seileen Mullen, the acting assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, the lawmakers...

Nearly 15,000 Pharmacies Leaving Tricare in October

Advocates say the move could leave patients in rural areas with few options to get prescriptions filled.

VA '100%' Confident in Suicide Data After Outside Report Argued Agency Underestimates Rate

At issue is an analysis by America's Warrior Partnership, a suicide prevention group, that said the veterans suicide rate may...

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough.

VA Stepping Up Security as It Begins Providing Abortions

While McDonough stressed he has no specific indications of protests or threats that could disrupt VA services, he framed the...

Afghan evacuees at Abdullah Al Mubarak Air Base in Kuwait City.

Veterans Group Working to Help Fleeing Afghans Alleges It Was Scammed Out of Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars

Save Our Allies, which was founded by three veterans and a veteran's wife to help fleeing Afghans, said claims it was...

Army doctor discusses contraception options with a patient while a nurse prepares for an exam at the CPT Jennifer M. Moreno Primary Care Clinic, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, Oct. 20, 2021. (U.S. Army photo by Jason W. Edwards)

No-Cost Tube Tying Surgeries Will Be Available for Some Through Tricare Next Year, But Not Vasectomies

The new benefit will be offered to enrollees in Tricare Prime, the equivalent of an HMO, and Tricare Select, the equivalent...

Afghan children at a park at Liberty Village.

Veterans Hold Another Round-the-Clock Protest Outside Capitol for Afghan Refugee Bill

The protest is emulating veterans' tactics in pushing for passage of the PACT Act, the veterans toxic exposure legislation...

USS McCampbell conducting operations in the Taiwan Strait.

Lawmakers Want to Increase Military Training for Taiwan as Tensions with China Intensify

The Taiwan Policy Act would be a far-reaching deepening of U.S.-Taiwan relations and seeks to escalate U.S. military...

Congressman Mike Bost speaks with 932nd AW leadership.

Republicans Threaten 'Sanctions' Against VA After Department Moves to Offer Abortions

Democrats in Congress maintain the VA has authority to cover abortions under the Veterans Health Care Eligibility Reform Act...

Airman Dalton Shank, 5th Bomb Wing public affairs specialist, reads pamphlets on the Montgomery GI Bill and the Post-9/11 GI Bill at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., on March 10, 2017. (U.S. Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class Alyssa M. Akers)

GI Bill Benefits Wouldn't Be Cut if Classes Move Online in Future Emergencies Under House Plan

The bipartisan bill allow the VA to immediately bring back the protections for any future presidentially declared national...

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Most Popular Military News

The altar of the main church for the House of Prayer in Hinesville, Georgia, features a large cross and a reference to a verse from the gospel of Matthew.

House of Prayer, a Church Accused of Squeezing Veterans for Benefits, Stripped of GI Bill Eligibility

A church former members have described as a cult has lost its GI Bill eligibility after two decades of allegedly bilking...

Republicans Vow to Put 'Woke' Military in Crosshairs if They Win in November

Republicans will have more opportunities to take aim at Biden administration defense policies they've decried as "woke,"...

New Navy flame-resistant, two-piece organizational clothing prototype.

New Uniforms Coming for Sailors as Navy Looks to Leave Flammable Clothing Issue Behind

The Navy has ditched its iconic and beloved coveralls for sailors aboard ships for a new, two-piece uniform that was finally...

Front of the Department of Veterans Affairs building in Washington.

'Tens of Thousands' More Veterans Will Be Eligible for VA Health Care Starting Oct. 1

Under the toxic exposures law passed in August, several groups of combat veterans will be able to enroll in VA health care.

The Supreme Court of the United States in Washington, D.C.

Supreme Court Weighs Exception to Vets Disability Deadlines

In a case before the court Tuesday, an attorney for Navy veteran Adolfo Arellano said exceptions should be made "in cases...

Soldier takes the Army Combat Fitness Test at Fort McCoy.

The Army's New Fitness Test Is Here. For Real This Time. No, Seriously. But Its Future Is Uncertain.

A staple of military service, the fitness test has effectively been sidelined as officials tuned it and soldiers got familiar...

Latest Military Videos

Cost of Battle Comes at a High Price in Lyman

Recently liberated streets of Lyman in Donetsk still bear the scars of battle. Many are still without water, electricity...

Several Dead After Al-Shabab Attack in Somalia

Islamic extremist fighters on Monday targeted the local Somali government headquarters, leaving 20 people dead and 36 wounded in...

North Korean Missile Soars Over Japan

Recent images from North Korean state media show what Japan's defense minister said was the missile that Pyongyang launched...

US Provides $625m More in Military Aid to Ukraine

The US announced plans on Tuesday to provide an additional $625 million in military aid to Ukraine, a package...

Investigations and Features

Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier at the Capitol

What Happened to Members of the Military Accused of Storming the Capitol on January 6?

At least five service members allegedly were part of the deadly pro-Trump mob that assaulted the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

Peter Antioho greets his son Mark to the world

Young and Dying: Veterans Are Getting Brain Cancer and Struggling to Get Benefits

A joint investigation by Military.com and Public Health Watch found that glioblastoma, while rare, has struck hundreds of...

Army News

Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III provides testimony during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the Defense Department’s fiscal year 2023 budget request in Washington, D.C.

Austin Orders Renaming of Bases that Honor Confederate Rebels

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Thursday signed off on an independent commission's recommendations to rename military bases...

Army Vet Caitlin Bassett Finds Herself Playing an Army Vet on 'Quantum Leap'

"Quantum Leap," the hit sci-fi TV series from the late 1980s/early '90s, has been reconstituted and revived by NBC for the...

Navy News

A U.S. Marine with Battalion Landing Team 1/4, 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, holds the portrait of Navy Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class (Fleet Marine Force) Christopher Gnem, 22, of Stockton, California, during a memorial service at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California.

Feres Helps Military Avoid Accountability for Harm. New Ruling Could Be a Chance for Justice.

On the nine-hour drive from their home in California's central valley to the Marine Corps' Camp Pendleton, south of Los...

USS Ronald Reagan Heads Back to Korean Coast After Latest North Korean Missile Test

The USS Ronald Reagan nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is returning to waters off the coast of South Korea in the latest show...

Air Force News

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Rey Sedantes of the 61st Civil Engineering and Logistics Squadron at Los Angeles Air Force Base receives instruction on how to operate the Princeton Power Systems' bidirectional electric vehicle charging stations from vehicle operations contractor Oscar Machado during a training demo in El Segundo, Calif.

Air Force Looks to Alternative Fuel and Mini-Nuclear Reactors to Address Climate Change

The Air Force's 20-page Climate Action Plan comes as natural disasters have become a regular issue for bases, something...

The Air Force’s newest commissioned officers, part of Officer Training School class 19-07, throw their flight caps in the air following their graduation ceremony Sept. 27, 2019, in Montgomery, Alabama.

Ban on Pregnant Service Members and Civilians Applying to Air Force Officer Training School Lifted

Pregnant service members and civilians can now apply to Air Force Officer Training School, reversing the service's policy...

Space Force News

U.S. Space Force Lt. Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, deputy chief of space operations for Operations, Cyber and Nuclear, speaks during the Air Force Association Schriever Space Futures Forum in Beverly Hills, California.

New Space Force Chief Confirmed

President Joe Biden's pick to lead the Space Force was confirmed last week by the U.S. Senate, giving the service its second...

The Bronze Star is authorized by Executive Order No. 9419 on Feb. 4, 1944, and is awarded to a person in any branch of military service who, while serving in any capacity with the armed forces of the United States on or after Dec. 7, 1941, shall have distinguished him or herself by heroic or meritorious achievement or service, not involving participation in aerial flight, in connection with military operations against an armed enemy.

Space Force Guardians Are Officially Eligible for the Bronze Star and Other Awards, Biden Says

The changes made by President Joe Biden add the Space Force, founded in December 2019, into executive orders issued over the...

Marine Corps News

Feres Helps Military Avoid Accountability for Harm. New Ruling Could Be a Chance for Justice.

On the nine-hour drive from their home in California's central valley to the Marine Corps' Camp Pendleton, south of Los...

A gavel lays on the Uniform Code of Military Justice inside the 28th Bomb Wing courtroom at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., July 17, 2018. (Airman 1st Class Nicolas Z. Erwin/U.S. Air Force photo)

Judge Orders Navy to Review the Medical Discharges of at Least 3,700 Sailors and Marines

A federal judge decided last week that a policy used by the Navy to determine whether members were eligible for medical...

Coast Guard News

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy transits the Arctic Ocean to the North Pole

Coast Guard Reaches North Pole for Just 2nd Time. Then Crew Members Had Some Fun, Too

The U.S. Coast Guard and a crew of scientists journeyed to the North Pole — for only the second time in history.

Capt. Eric Jones, U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Eagle's commanding officer, shakes hands with Petty Officer First Class Henry Cylkowski after a promotion ceremony onboard the Eagle.

Coast Guard Suspends Policy That Booted Troops Who Weren't Promoted Quickly Enough

The move comes as Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan has pledged to make workforce management a top priority.