• A transgender soldier shared her coming out journey and her experiences over more than a decade in the military.
• Finding support in the queer community and organizations like SPARTA was key to her resilience in tough times.
• She found support, transitioned, and fought to change military policies.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Sgt. Cathrine Schmid, an Equal Opportunity Advisor and Signals Intelligence Analyst for the 704th Military Intelligence Brigade at Fort Meade. This essay has been edited for length and clarity.

I didn't think of being trans as an identity or as a social group or as a movement, it was more just experiencing dysphoria and wishing I could be free of it.

Going back as early as six or seven, I remember thinking that I would be a lot better off if I had been a girl like my sisters were.

I know this almost makes me a walking stereotype, and obviously, this isn't the case for everybody, but I felt like I always knew something was wrong, that it wouldn't be wrong if I was more like my sisters.

At the same time, I was trying to do the best I could with what I had in a deeply religious, deeply traditional household.

A military presence

I was raised in an environment that talked about the military as a noble and valid life pursuit. Service was always something very, very close to my family. My dad was an elder in the local church, we were always doing stuff that served the community.

I was extremely religious, though I'm not anymore, and ended up going to Bible college after high school, lasting just three semesters. I flunked out of Bible college and didn't really have a life goal.

I did have a long-term relationship with my girlfriend, was deeply closeted, self-denying, and all of that, trying to overcome dysphoria through sheer force of will and old-fashioned self-denial through public service and marriage and family and all of the things that my upbringing had promised me will bring fulfillment.

While those things are incredibly important and fulfilling, they are not a cure for dysphoria, and that's how I eventually ended up in the Army. I needed that structure around me.

A lot to learn

During my first few years, I struggled. I kept re-enlisting, and in 2008, I had my ongoing undiagnosed dysphoria. Because I couldn't be honest with my doctors at the time, they diagnosed it as a depressive disorder and attempted to treat it as such, unfortunately, not very successfully.

I ended up having a brief hospital stay after some pretty strong suicidal ideation.

I remember talking to the doctor and opening up, to what extent I could, about the way I felt about being male. The doctor was like, "Do you think you could be trans?" My answer at the time was "No." The doctor asked, "Why not?" And I said, "because if I say yes, I lose everything."

They gave me some antidepressants and some coping mechanisms for dealing with the generalities of suicidality. That was able to at least get me back on my feet. I started being more successful in the Army after that.

I really dove headfirst into service as an identity and trying to overcome my feelings of self-loathing and all the symptoms of dysphoria. If the Army says that all I need to do is follow these orders and exhibit these values and be honest and selfless and dedicated, then I can do that.

Around mid- to late 2013, I deployed to Iraq, and when you are not actively engaged in the mission, you just sit in your containerized housing unit.

I had a lot of time to myself and a lot of time to think about my life. I was not anywhere near actual fighting, but I was in earshot of things and thinking: "Is this the life I can continue living?"

I remember writing in a journal for the first time, "I think I am transgender."

I got back from Iraq on Christmas Day 2013. My ex and I had been married for a decade. We had two kids together. I told her none of the stuff that I'd been trying to do had worked, and I didn't think that it was depression.

I'm thinking I'm trans, and after a couple of long conversations, it came down to her saying, "I'm sorry, but I'm straight."

Moving pretty quickly

We ended up getting a divorce, she took the kids and went back home to Oregon where we had basically grown up and went to high school and everything together. She's still a very, very close friend, but at the end of the day, what I had at the time was completely unsustainable.

I ended up climbing over the rail on the Tampa Bay Bridge in March 2014. Instead of jumping, though, I called Military OneSource and talked to one of their counselors, and I remember saying I don't want to die but I can't live like this. They convinced me to go back to the hospital.

At the time, the Army regulations still had "transgenderism," which was written as something that was incompatible with military service. The doctor said that as an Army doctor, his hands were tied. He had to inform my chain of command because I had a diagnosis of gender dysphoria and the Army regulations said that he had to tell them of any diagnosis that could impact my eligibility for continued service.

The only options I had were to let the doctor inform my command or to simply out myself. I chose to out myself. I wrote a memo, signed it, and basically said, I wish this to be entered into the official record.

I threw myself at the mercy of my chain of command and said, I don't want to get kicked out, I promise I won't pursue any transition unless authorized to do so in writing. I'm getting help from the doctors. Here's my record, and here's the evidence that I'm good at my job and that benefits the unit. Please don't kick me out.

My command decided to retain me. The commander's guidance at the time was like, "Okay, I'm not going to pursue separation for this, but keep your nose clean because the reason I'm retaining you is because you're a benefit to this formation. If you stop being a benefit to this formation, then I will not be able to justify this decision any further."

He was doing everything in his legal authority to not end my career, and there were some individuals in the unit who weren't pleased with the command's decision. There were some people who were trying to find reasons for the command to not back me anymore. For the next 18 months or so I was living in absolute scrutiny like daily haircut inspections, just to try and build a case that I have some kind of pattern of lacking adherence to standards.

I had a couple of supervisors who supported me, who stood up for me, and who helped me going through that period of time.

After recently receiving an Army equal opportunity award, I called attention to the commander I had a decade ago and said that he saved my career. If you stand up for your soldiers now, then it's going to have positive results later, even if it means putting your own neck out in the moment.

Figuring out the system

I was stationed in Tampa, Florida. The queer community down there, at least a decade ago, was very strong.

I discovered the organization SPARTA in the spring of 2014, which came out of all of the people who were in the organization OutServe back in the day when Don't Ask Don't Tell, the discriminatory prohibition on gay and lesbian service members, was repealed and wanted to begin fighting for open transgender service.

Those people formed their own splinter organization less than a year before I came out. I found a community, and I found mentors and friends. I ended up meeting my now-spouse through one of the local queer groups there in Florida.

She and I got married right after Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage, in August 2015 because we had no idea whether it was going to stick.

By October 2016, the Army had procedures in place to get our gender marker changed in DEERS or Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System, a large database for service member information.

I finished the medical portion of my transition, specifically I was able to get surgery, two years later in 2018, and I had a unit that was supportive.

If you're a benefit to the mission, and it is going to get accomplished better with you than without you, then nothing else really matters. That's the reason I kept re-enlisting in the first place. The mission is something that's meaningful to me.

Now what?

In 2017, I was stationed in Washington, and our morning formation was always 6:30 a.m. About 15 minutes before I was supposed to stand in formation and salute the flag, my phone started blowing up with people texting me saying, "Hey, did you see this?"

My phone just started exploding. The commander-in-chief had put out a new policy via Twitter that would place a ban on transgender military personnel, affecting thousands of service members throughout the country. And my immediate reaction was, "Well now what do I do?"

I thought back to Col. Cammermayer who was an Army nurse back in Vietnam and made it all the way to colonel. To get promoted to general, she had to have her security clearance reviewed. She admitted to being lesbian, so she got discharged from the Army, but then successfully fought it and got reinstated.

She was one of the very few out, non-straight people in the military, but she was able to finish her career on her terms. Her story kept ringing in my mind.

I was the Army Service lead for SPARTA, and one person on the board reached out and said Lambda Legal is putting together a lawsuit. They represented Cammermayer back in the day as well, so I gave them my name. I have the distinction of being one of very few active-duty service members who have sued the Department of Defense and the President.

We were able to get the ban weakened, though not revoked entirely, allowing us to retain our careers and our medical benefits.

Living under threat

If you've been granted an exemption to be where you are, then that can always be revoked. Living under that threat is an incredible amount of pressure.

It's still less than living with dysphoria, but that was a rough couple of years as well. The biggest thing that helped me through that period of time was the community around me: the other trans people I knew, other soldiers, people in SPARTA, and the extended queer military community.

The queer community tends to be quite progressive, yet the military is very traditional. Being at the intersection of those two communities can be very isolating because it can result in a sense of not knowing where you fit in. The best advice I can give people in that place is that you aren't alone.

If I had to come out over again, would I do it differently? There are probably things I could have done better, but I don't have any regrets.

• Ali and Amira Sajwani want to revive Dubai's failed World Islands project.
• They're planning to build 24 mansions, a beach club, and two helipads.
• The siblings' father, Hussain Sajwani, is a billionaire who's close to Donald Trump.

The children of a billionaire Dubai property developer have come up with a plan to revive the emirate's abandoned "World Islands."

Ali and Amira Sajwani have teamed up to launch Amali Island, a property development that aims to revive the troubled project by building 24 mansions, a beach club, and twin helipads.

Nineteen of the 24 beachfront villas have already been sold, and the remainder are selling for upwards of $13.6 million, Ali Sajwani previously told Bloomberg.

One of the villas yet to be sold has seven bedrooms across 22,500 square feet on a plot of 56,000 square feet.

The siblings' father, Hussain Sajwani, is one of the United Arab Emirates' richest people with a fortune worth more than $5 billion, according to Forbes.

His children aim to regenerate Dubai's "The World" archipelago — some 300 artificial islands in the shape of a world map.

State-backed developer Nakheel Properties started building the project in 2003, but the 2008 financial crisis cut it short. Many of the islands were then abandoned.

The Amali project will be formed by joining up the islands that were supposed to represent Uruguay and São Paulo, per Bloomberg.

The elder Sajwani is the chairman of the luxury real-estate developer Damac Properties, which he founded in 2002, and is known in the West for his close business ties to Donald Trump.

Damac and Trump teamed up in 2013 to build a Trump-branded, Tiger Woods-designed golf course.

Sajwani has also been vocal in his support for the ex-President's trade war with China, remarking in a 2018 interview that he felt "sympathetic" toward Washington in its battle with Beijing.

"We have signed an agreement with the Trump Organization. We're very, very happy with them — their service and their quality," he told Bloomberg. "Without the organization, we would never have been able to build our golf courses."

The World was less successful than the Palm Jumeirah artificial islands project, which now boasts thousands of homes and other buildings.

• Russian jamming has rendered US-supplied HIMARS rocket launchers "completely ineffective."
• A confidential Ukrainian weapons assessment was seen by The Washington Post.
• Jamming has also affected Musk's Starlink, causing serious communication issues for Ukraine.

US-supplied HIMARS rocket launchers have been rendered "completely ineffective" as a result of Russian electronic jamming systems, a new report said.

A confidential Ukrainian weapons assessment, seen by The Washington Post, stated that Ukraine has had to halt or scale back its use of many US-supplied arms because of targeting problems.

The report mentions weapons such as Excalibur GPS-guided artillery shells and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS.

"The Excalibur technology in existing versions has lost its potential," the assessment found. Its use on the battlefield in Ukraine had disproved its reputation as a "one shot, one target" weapon.

The HIMARS system, which can fire rockets up to 50 miles, was hailed early in the war as a lifeline for Ukraine but has now become much less of a threat on the battlefield, a Ukrainian military source told The Post.

"The Russians deployed electronic warfare, disabled satellite signals, and HIMARS became completely ineffective," the source told The Post. According to the assessment, Russian jamming can cause the missiles to miss a target by 50 feet or more.

Earlier this week, a report revealed that US-supplied glide bombs were also continually missing their targets as a result of Russian jamming.

Other systems, including the UK's Storm Shadow missile and the US Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), are far less susceptible to Russian jamming.

Jamming is a very inexpensive tactic as the software is relatively cheap and it can take out munitions worth tens of thousands of dollars, Defense One reported.

The Russian jamming system operates from the ground, projecting a "cone" that prevents weapons from communicating with satellites. These satellites guide the missiles toward their targets.

Russia "has continued to expand their use of electronic warfare," a senior US official, who was not named, told The Post. "And we continue to evolve and make sure that Ukraine has the capabilities they need to be effective."

However, earlier this month Mike Nagata, a retired US Army lieutenant general who led special operations in the Middle East, said that the US is "still falling behind" in its electronic warfare capabilities, Defense One reported.

"The gap between where the United States should be and where we are, in my judgment, continues to expand not everywhere, but in far too many places," Nagata said at the SOF Week conference in Tampa, Florida. He called on the US to get more creative to regain its dominance in electronic warfare.

Russia's jamming technology has even targeted Elon Musk's Starlink service in Ukraine.

Since the beginning of the war, Ukraine's military has used SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service to communicate and coordinate attacks.

But earlier this month, the Russian military succeeded in disrupting Starlink, creating serious problems for Ukraine's frontline troops, according to The New York Times.

Members of Ukraine's 92nd Assault Brigade said Starlink became extremely slow as Russian troops launched a major assault across the northern border toward Kharkiv.

"One day before the attacks, it just shut down," a soldier who goes by the call sign Ajax told the outlet. "It became super, super slow."

"We're losing the electronic warfare fight," Ajax said.

• I'm an interior decorator who visited Crate & Barrel to see what items were worth picking up. 
• I'd elevate kitchen and bar areas with the store's aesthetic appliances, glassware, and decanters. 
• I recommend using accent chairs and unique cabinets to showcase your personal style.

As an interior decorator, I love finding high-quality decor and furniture at popular stores like Crate & Barrel.

The retailer, which has eight outlets and nearly 90 locations in the US and Canada, plans to expand within the US this year. The store also has a popular e-commerce site, which attracts over 100 million online visitors.

Recently, I visited Crate & Barrel to look for items I'd buy for my own space or put in my clients' homes. I found lots of contemporary designs, including furniture and smaller decorative items.

Here are the eight Crate & Barrel items I'd use in my own designs.

Linens are a great way to refresh a table setting.

I love bringing color into the dining room with tablecloths, runners, and cloth napkins. It's a relatively inexpensive way to refresh a space with new colors or swap out seasonal decor.

Crate & Barrel has a great collection of linens for mixing and matching items in a coordinating palette. Customers can also order embroidered napkins for a customized set or gift.

Though they can be pricey, I trust the quality of Crate & Barrel's European Flax-certified linens because they're made with premium flax fibers sustainably grown in Western Europe.

The store had lots of stylish dishware.

One of the best parts about shopping at Crate & Barrel is picking out a table setting in the showroom and feeling the weight and texture variety in the dish sets.

I like going into the store to play around with plates and bowls from different collections to create a dimensional layered look. Most items are sold both individually and in a set, so you can get creative with plates, chargers (a decorative base that goes under the plates), bowls, and silverware to fit a specific style.

I like that Crate & Barrel makes the process easy. Once you know which pieces you want, an employee will place an order for you or wrap your purchases while you browse.

The right drinking glasses will wow dinner guests.

A fancy cocktail is more impressive when it comes in a beautiful glass. I recommend investing in timeless, good-quality drinking glasses that complement an evolving style.

Once you have basic glassware, you can experiment with some cool statement glasses to pair with those everyday cups.

Decanters are the ultimate bar-cart accessory.

If you need to declutter a countertop or bar cart, I recommend swapping the jumble of liquor bottles with beautiful decanters.

The variety of cohesive designs at Crate & Barrel resemble cut crystal, giving an aristocratic-heirloom vibe for a reasonable price. A sophisticated, timeless decanter setup will turn a messy bar area into an elevated centerpiece.

Stylish countertop appliances enhance an otherwise basic kitchen.

Crate & Barrel offers several small kitchen appliances with an elevated aesthetic. Though these items can be expensive, I think upgrading to a more luxurious option is worth it.

For example, if you keep a kettle on the counter for daily use, the modern minimalist Fellow Stagg EKG one could be a great choice.

Functional style and personality can also be added to the kitchen with SMEG's colorful 50s-inspired appliances or the colorful KitchenAid options.

Accent chairs can add flair to the living room.

I always encourage clients to invest in a plain, no-frills sofa that can withstand different trends. However, the accent chair is an opportunity to get quirky.

Crate & Barrel has a great selection of modern-yet-classic styles, which customers can personalize with fabric options and features to match their desired look.

I love the store's swivel chairs because they can fit into smaller spaces. The round swivel chairs also work great in living rooms with open floor plans since they can serve as dividers between the room's functional spaces.

I love the metal cabinets at Crate & Barrel.

I use various materials to balance a space and enhance my design style visually.

I love the metal cabinets at Crate & Barrel because they hint at an edgier industrial feel. However, because their chic design can also soften a look, they can work well in several home styles.

I love contrasting these pieces with warm wood tones and using them as a room's centerpiece to display art and sculptural work.

Pass-through bookshelves can make great room dividers.

Crate & Barrel's open bookshelves provide a practical way to divide a space into distinct areas without completely closing it off. They create a sense of separation while allowing light and airflow to pass through, maintaining an open feel within the room.

I use these shelves to create a designated entryway in homes where a front door might open directly into a living room. They function like a wall without closing the area off.

I recommend lightly styling these shelves with picture frames, books, or sculpture work for a beautiful display that doesn't feel too cluttered.

• USS Bataan extended its deployment last year and sailed into the Red Sea to combat the Houthis.
• The US amphibious assault ship joined a fight largely meant for other ships, a senior officer said.
• The Bataan is currently in New York City this week as part of Fleet Week 2024.

As war broke out between Israel and Hamas and the Iran-backed Houthis began terrorizing commercial shipping vessels, the US Navy warship USS Bataan changed its plans and rushed at "best speed" into the Red Sea.

That move accompanied an unexpected extension of its deployment and brought the Bataan, an amphibious assault ship, into a fight largely meant for other warships like carriers, destroyers, and cruisers, a senior officer told Business Insider.

Now, a few months after the Bataan finally returned home, the warship is docked in New York City for Fleet Week 2024, allowing the public a rare chance to meet its sailors and Marines.

Aboard the Bataan on Wednesday afternoon, US Fleet Forces Command leader Adm. Darryl Caudle commended the ship's deployment, especially its actions in the Red Sea.

Eight-and-a-half months, he said, is "a long time to be away from home, your families, and conducting business on behalf of the Navy and our nation. And I think I would characterize what they did as remarkable." Caudle added that he'd recently been briefed on the deployment.

The Bataan arrived in the Arabian Gulf in August, where it was expected to spend the duration of its deployment, but when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, the big-deck amphib booked it to Kuwait, picking up Marines and then sailing out "at best speed" toward the Red Sea, where the Bataan remained through the end of the year.

"Ultimately, we were there [for] presence ops, but we were also launching AV-8s to intercept KAS-4s that were airborne, and we were in position in some cases to take self-defense shots," Capt. Trace Head, the ship's executive officer, said, referring to the vessel's Harrier jump jets and a type of Iranian-made drone.

Head explained that the Houthis "weren't necessarily shooting" at the Bataan, rather aiming at Israel and commercial vessels transiting the Red Sea, "but we were in the trajectory of those missiles to where we could take shots at them."

The role of the Bataan was deterrence, but he said that "largely that mission is a destroyer/cruiser mission where they're taking shots with their surface-to-air missiles, and they're much better fitted for that."

US Navy destroyers like USS Carney and USS Gravely have, for instance, been on the front lines of the Houthi fight, shooting down dozens of threats in recent months. When the Pentagon decided to keep the Bataan in the Red Sea for a period, there were at least three guided-missile destroyers in the area. The amphibious assault ships are highly versatile though, and bring different capabilities into combat.

The Bataan was involved in retaliatory airstrikes on Houthi forces in Yemen in January, according to a BBC report.

Some of the Bataan's different aircraft were on display at Fleet Week, including AV-8B Harrier II attack aircraft, MV-22B Osprey assault support tiltrotors, and Super Cobra attack helicopters. The Bataan is armed with a few weapons systems, including two RIM-7 Sea Sparrow ant-air missile launchers.

Perhaps the most notable feature of this amphibious assault ship is its well deck, which allows for boats and other water vehicles to dock within the ship. It also lets the Bataan load land vehicles, such as battle tanks and armored personnel carriers, onto water vehicles to get taken to shore.

Marine Forces Command leader Lt. Gen. Brian Cavanaugh told BI that having the Bataan, as well as other elements of the amphibious readiness group, in the Red Sea at the time sent "a signal."

"It's a great deterrent," he explained, saying that "there's a lot of lethality on the ship, so we can go and punch somebody in the face if we need to on behalf of the nation."

Aboard the Bataan at NYC Fleet Week, Petty officer second class Bradley Rickard told BI the sudden retasking was "all very surprising," but they adapted, highlighting the crew's flexibility.

"A lot of the deployment was not what the crew was expecting initially," he said, "but we were ready to meet the call. We went and we did our mission in the areas that we were asked to be there for."

• Stronger hurricanes are growing more frequent and causing more damage to US coastal cities.
• As a coastal engineer, Jens Figlus works to protect coastlines from these threats.
• He lives in Texas, which was ravaged by Hurricane Harvey. But his home was safe because it sits 16 feet above sea level.

Jens Figlus vividly recalls the day hurricane-driven floodwaters surged into his neighborhood.

"People across the street were airlifted off their roofs with helicopters," he said. But Figlus, his family, and property were unharmed.

"We were basically sitting in the living room with power, internet, everything — watching boats go by in our street," he told Business Insider.

While this scene is from 2017, when Hurricane Harvey ripped through Texas and Louisiana killing over 100 people, Figlus' secret to saving his family and property is more relevant than ever this year.

2024 may be the worst hurricane season in history

A coastal engineer at Texas A&M University, Figlus is an expert on flooding. He's acutely aware that climate change is driving sea level rise and making dangerous storms like Hurricane Harvey more common. And this year is looking like it could be an especially bad one.

This week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released its first hurricane forecast for this year's season. It predicts that an unprecedented 17 to 25 named storms could ravage the North Atlantic this hurricane season, and potentially make landfall in the US. Other scientists from the University of Pennsylvania predicted an even higher number — 33 named storms — in April, which is the highest storm count ever forecasted.

Altogether, the data suggests that 2024 could be one of the worst hurricane seasons in history. Meanwhile, a different team of scientists argued earlier this year that we need to add a Category 6 to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale to account for the growing severity of hurricanes and better inform people of what's headed their way.

Coastal cities, like Houston, are especially vulnerable. What's more, Houston is one of the fastest-growing US cities. Between 2022 and 2023, Houston had the second-largest population growth in the nation, welcoming roughly 140,000 new residents, according to the US Census Bureau.

"People that move to this area typically are not familiar with the type of hazards that they're putting themselves in front of — the flooding, primarily," Figlus said of Houston.

During Harvey, the development Figlus lives in ended up being "locked out from the rest of civilization for five days, just because of floodwaters" he said. "But not my house."

What's Figlus' secret? "Elevation matters," he said. Figlus and his family live up on a ridge that's 16 feet above sea level. It's the highest point in their development, he said. Thanks to their elevation, the floodwaters couldn't reach them.

He knew that living in the greater Houston area meant his family's home would be vulnerable to flooding, but because of his work, he has to live near the coast. He's 25 miles north of the Gulf Coast, and 10 miles west of Galveston Bay.

That's why elevation was an important factor in his home-buying process. But you don't have to be a coastal engineer to make a well-informed choice when shopping for a home in a flood zone.

How to assess flood risk

When shopping for homes in an area that's vulnerable to flooding, like the greater Houston area, it's often up to homebuyers to assess the risk, Figlus said.

"The risk to the potential homebuyer may not be disclosed," he said. "And the developer doesn't have any incentive to tell people, 'Here's the risk, let me outline it for you.'"

Even as Texas faces more frequent and intense hurricanes, Figlus doesn't expect that developers will stop building homes in high-risk areas. He also doesn't expect to see fewer people moving to Texas despite increased flooding.

He only hopes prospective homebuyers will try to make well-informed decisions about where they live, like he did.

"If you spend a little bit of time, you can actually make some smart decisions related to the flooding hazards," Figlus said.

Asking the seller about the history of flooding in the area is a good place to start. If you need more information, use the FEMA Flood Map Service Center to look up the address of your potential new home. This online service provides a detailed breakdown of flooding risk in a given area.

You can also consider purchasing flood insurance. That way, even if your home does flood, you're financially protected. But before purchasing your own policy, ask the seller if they already have flood insurance. In some cases, they can transfer their policy directly to the new owner.

All in all, Figlus thinks people can still live in flood zones relatively safely, as long as they understand the risks.

"With a little bit of additional knowledge, and due diligence, and asking the right questions of the right people, you can make this work really well," he said.

• It's been two weeks since Marjorie Taylor Greene tried to oust the speaker.
• No one on Capitol Hill seems to care.
• The "motion to vacate" has seemingly lost its shock value.

Two weeks ago, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene forced the House to vote on a motion to remove Speaker Mike Johnson from his job.

It was only the third time in American history that such a vote had taken place, and the result was without recent precedent: most Democrats voted with all but 11 Republicans to protect Johnson's job, despite the speaker's own hard-right politics and loyalty to Donald Trump.

From the perspective of the Georgia congresswoman, the so-called "uniparty" had been exposed once and for all. And then, everyone promptly moved on.

"There's always gonna be another wreck on the interstate," said Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee, saying Greene's oust bid got "some publicity in the beginning, and now it's gone."

The only Republican in Washington who still seems eager to talk about it is the Georgia congresswoman herself.

"I do not support [Johnson's] leadership at all, and a lot of people don't," Greene told a gaggle of reporters on the House steps on Friday, letting out a grim laugh.

Yet moments earlier, Rep. Chip Roy of Texas — one of the few Republicans who voted to allow debate on Greene' motion — told me that he hadn't heard much of anything from his own constituents about his vote. He also sought to downplay the whole thing as a media obsession.

"I'm working with the speaker, working with the leadership team, to move things that we very much agree on," said Roy. "90% of Americans don't give a crap about any of this stuff that — with all due respect — you guys talk about all the time. I mean, they're focused on 'what are you delivering?' That vote was a was a statement or a proxy, if you will, on our lack of delivery."

In other words, the vote was mostly symbolic.

A former chief of staff to Sen. Ted Cruz, Roy is among the more eloquent of the GOP conference's hard-right faction. He's been dissatisfied with the way things have been going for a long time, and has argued — just as Greene has — that GOP leadership hasn't fought hard enough for conservative priorities in government funding bills. Johnson and his defenders counter that there's only so much that can be done with a slim House majority versus a Senate and White House that are both controlled by Democrats.

Other Republicans who voted to advance Greene's motion were much more likely to hedge when I asked them why they took those votes, insisting that they merely wanted to see a proper debate on the issue — or that they were voting against the dreaded "uniparty."

"I did not at that moment think that this was the wisest thing to do," said Rep. Eric Burlison of Missouri. "But when forced to make that vote, I couldn't — honestly, my stomach was turning — I just could not in good conscience vote with Democrats to vote down one of my colleagues on the Republican side of the aisle, her privileged motion."

"I was not sent up here to be the most bipartisan member," Burlison added. "People want me to save America."

"I think I'm pretty 'based' as far as like… I mean, I'm a pretty consistent conservative," said Rep. Barry Moore of Alabama, who told me he "probably would not" have voted to throw Johnson out. "I don't get out and get into media too much, but I vote my convictions, and my district loves that."

"My voters didn't send me up here to make friends. They sent me up here to change the way this town works, so that's why I cast my vote the way I did," said Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona, adding that he "didn't think it was a good time" to hold that vote.

Motions to vacate have only been filed four times in American history, and the first three times were pretty dramatic.

In 1910, then-House Speaker Joseph Cannon called the motion himself, daring his own members to vote against him. The effort failed, demonstrating the weakness of his opposition.

In 2015 — though there was never a formal vote on the matter — hard-right House Republicans filed a motion to vacate against Speaker John Boehner, helping to spur his resignation.

October 2023 saw the first successful motion to vacate in American history, in which the antipathy of Democrats and the machinations of Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida came together to spur the ouster of Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

By contrast, this month's motion to vacate seemed to be largely an afterthought, perhaps even a face-saving measure for a rank-and-file congresswoman who had overestimated her power. After Johnson allowed the passage of Ukraine aid, Democrats decided to protect him from Greene's looming ouster bid, effectively neutering the whole effort.

The Georgia congresswoman, after two days of meetings with Johnson and her co-conspirator Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, seemed to be dithering on the whole effort. In an eventual surprise twist, she forced the vote on a Wednesday afternoon, shortly before everyone left town for the weekend.

This dysfunction of the current Congress has rendered a variety of previously rare occurrences — like motions to censure individual House members or voting against your own party's procedural votes — as banal, perhaps even par for the course.

The motion to vacate may simply be the latest victim.

• Trump claims he alone can secure Evan Gershkovich's release from Russia if reelected.
• The WSJ reporter has been jailed in Russia on disputed espionage charges since March last year.
• The Kremlin denies any contact with Trump on the matter.

Donald Trump claimed that only he would be able to convince Russian President Vladimir Putin to release Evan Gershkovich, the jailed Wall Street Journal reporter.

Writing on his Truth Social platform, Trump said: "Evan Gershkovich, the Reporter from The Wall Street Journal, who is being held by Russia, will be released almost immediately after the Election, but definitely before I assume Office."

"He will be HOME, SAFE, AND WITH HIS FAMILY."

"Vladimir Putin, President of Russia will do that for me, but not for anyone else and WE WILL BE PAYING NOTHING!"

But when asked about the former Republican president's remarks, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitrii Peskov said, "Naturally, Putin has no contacts with Donald Trump," Russian state-run news agency TASS reported.

"As for communication on the issue of persons in custody, convicts, we can state once again what we have repeatedly said, that these talks must be carried out in complete silence and in an absolutely covert manner," the Kremlin spokesman said.

"This is the only way to make them effective."

A spokesperson for Trump's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Gershkovich, a US citizen, was arrested in Russia in March last year on spying charges that he, his paper and the Biden administration have all strongly denied.

He has spent over a year in Moscow's Lefortovo prison, and no date has been set for his trial.

Gershkovich appealed his arrest in April, but it was denied by the court judge. The court also rejected an offer from The Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones to post a bond of 50,000,000 roubles ($600,000).

"Evan is wrongfully detained, and the charges of espionage against him are false," the leaders of The Journal and Dow Jones said in a statement. "We demand his immediate release and are doing everything in our power to secure it."

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has previously said the US was "intensely engaged with the Russians" for Gershkovich's release, though he cautioned that there wasn't "a clear way forward."

During an interview with Tucker Carlson in February, Putin said he believed an agreement could be reached, though he reiterated Russia's claim Gershkovich was carrying out espionage.

Other prisoner swaps between Russia and the US have been carried out in recent years, including a deal for basketball star Brittney Griner in 2022 in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

This isn't the first time Trump claimed Russia would release Gershkovich for him. In an interview with Time Magazine, Trump, who has consistently said he and Putin "get along very well," said Gershkovich "should be released and he will be released."

"I don't know if he's going to be released under Biden," Trump said.

During his 2017-2021 presidency, Trump expressed admiration for Putin. In 2018, the former president refused to accuse the Russian leader of meddling in the 2016 US election, going against the findings of US intelligence agencies at the time.

Trump has also made bold claims that he could end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of returning to the White House, though he has not said how he would do this.

• After college, I ennrolled in a Ph.D. program I wasn't actually interested in. 
• I eventually dropped out of the program so that I could focus on my husband and being a mother. 
• I am now pregnant, and I'm so happy with my decision.

In high school, I knew college would be an important step toward success and a career. Nonetheless, my deeper desires involved finding "the one" — friends-to-lovers style.

I had a full scholarship to the college of my dreams, but I quickly shifted focus from my studies to my personal development. I wanted to know more about myself than my classes.

And that's what I did. I created a podcast with my friends. I fell in love with my best friend and got my friends-to-lovers romance. We even got married in college. I also discovered my passion for mental health.

But by the end of my senior year, reality started to set in. I became so fearful of graduation because I had no job prospects or future plans. I suddenly realized I would become a stay-at-home wife, and that terrified me even more.

To avoid that, I desperately searched for a career and enrolled in a graduate program I wasn't interested in.

I quickly lost interest in my Ph.D. program

I was among a small number of students who were able to get into a Ph.D. program directly from undergrad.

I was an academic in training, which meant having two part-time jobs, doing side research projects, and attending class. I saw my husband less, but he supported the sacrifice as long as I got what I wanted. I started working at 8 a.m. and finished around 7 p.m. I worked on the weekends, too.

The Pinterest-inspired home I hoped to have would have required my creativity and time, both of which are limited resources when you're running the career race. So, we kept the white walls, with no time to hang the framed pictures of our wedding day.

I started therapy during this time, and I was forced to address the fear and anxiety that had pushed me to jump head-first into a career I wasn't sure about. Toward the end of my first semester, I knew this career was not for me. I wasn't able to invest in my marriage. I wasn't able to write creatively on topics that mattered. I wasn't becoming who I wanted to be.

So, I left the program, prompting everyone in my life to wonder why I would leave a school that would earn me the highest degree you can get in academics.

I chose to be a wife and mother instead

After leaving my program, I felt relief, then sadness, and then relief again. Undergrad was about becoming myself, but graduate school showed me the realities of unbecoming — unbecoming a perfectionist, unbecoming a planner, and unbecoming a high-achiever. The pain of unbecoming had given me the freedom to change.

When I let go of grinding toward a career, I learned about my desire to be a mother. I wanted to share the beauties of the world with someone else, someone I created. Now, I'm pregnant.

When I let go of the negative connotations of being a stay-at-home wife, I realized my desire to make my home into a creative and comfortable space. So, I created it. When I let go of the fear of being a wife, I saw my husband as a compassionate, servant, and loving person who needed it in return. Now, I give love freely. When I let go of the fear of people seeing me as wasted potential, I found writing again. So, I write.

This is not what I expected for my post-graduation life, but my life is both better and different than my expectations.

In the year after graduation, I've learned that becoming's shadow is unbecoming. They exist together. The becoming is full of excitement and hope. The unbecoming is full of pain, truth, and even fear. But there's hope on the horizon.

• Russia has deployed Africa Corps units to aid its offensive in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, UK Intel says.
• The Africa Corps, created in December 2023, includes former Wagner Group mercenaries.
• Russia is currently advancing on two fronts in Ukraine's east, and in the northern Kharkiv region.

Russian units from the Ministry of Defense's Africa Corps are now fighting in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, according to the latest UK Defense Intelligence update.

Moscow "has deployed units from the Russian MOD's Africa Corps alongside regular Russian forces and Storm-Z units during their offensive on Vovchansk, northern Khrakiv," the UK Ministry of Defence said on X.

The Africa Corps, which emerged in December 2023, is made up of over 2,000 regular soldiers and officers. The Corps also contains "experienced mercenaries, many of whom previously served in the Wagner Group," the tweet said.

After the demise of Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin last year in a plane crash that many believe to have been ordered by the Kremlin, the Wagner Group has become "marginalized" and "de facto" subordinated to Russia's defense ministry.

"The fighters will do what they are told" by the ministry, Sergey Sukhankin, a senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, previously told Business Insider.

Russia's MoD created the Africa Corps in an attempt to assume greater control over the group's remaining fighters.

The military formation has been actively recruiting former Wagner Group mercenaries and soldiers who fought in Ukraine for combat operations in Africa.

In a Telegram post in February, it promised an unspecified "high monetary" allowance, payments in foreign currency, service under "competent commanders" with extensive combat experience, and medical care and social benefits.

"Wagner fighters likely have little loyalty to the company itself after Prigozhin's demise and would be willing to fight for whichever Kremlin-backed organization that exists in Africa," Raphael Parens, a fellow in the Foreign Policy Research Institute's Eurasia Program, previously told BI.

"These mercenaries care about the bottom line rather than an ideological alignment with Prigozhin," he said.

The Africa Corps' appearance in Ukraine is a clear sign that Russia is both consolidating its control over the remains of the Wagner Group and "reinforcing its war on Ukraine with resources previously assigned to Africa," the UK intelligence report stated.

Russia "almost certainly" redeployed detachments from its Africa Corps to the Ukrainian border in April 2024 in preparation for its Kharkiv offensive.

Despite earlier reports that claimed Moscow was hoping to take Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, Putin said last week that Russia was only planning on creating a buffer zone to protect the Russian border town of Belgorod.