The newest addition to the Navy's fleet of submarines, complete with all the bells and whistles, is set to begin testing.

The Department of Defense reports that the first of eight new Virginia-class submarines has completed construction and preliminary factory testing and is ready to stretch its legs in open waters. Construction was completed two months ahead of schedule, moving its estimated certification and delivery date up as well.

The new sub, christened the USS North Dakota, is the first of a new sub-section of the Virginia class. It features a host of technological upgrades including digital touch screens in lieu of mechanical controls and "photonics masts" instead of traditional periscopes, the Navy explains. The photonics masts are attached to the outside of the hull and contain high-resolution cameras that modify light sources to transmit a detailed, dynamic view of the sub's surroundings to the control room.

Still, the ship must pass a rigorous three-step testing process before being handed over to the Navy. Everything from its ability to dive and surface without incident to the amount of noise that escapes the dampening in the hull will be under intense scrutiny.

The submarine is being constructed and tested by Connecticut-based General Dynamics.

The Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks will square off Feb. 2 for Super Bowl XLVII, but some players took a break from the media hustle to thank the troops for making it all possible.

The Department of Defense had a correspondent at Media Day ahead of the big game Sunday in New York and they were very busy. Forty-two videos were uploaded to the DOD's YouTube channel with a wide variety of players, coaches and even cheerleaders from both teams thanking all members of the armed services for their sacrifices and wishing them a safe return to the States.

Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning took some extra time to explain how head coach Jon Fox, raised in a military family, has reminded his players throughout the season to maintain a military mindset – an effective strategy given his team has made it to the Super Bowl.

While the troops are surely appreciative of the players' well-wishes, they're not sitting idly by as the game plays. The Colorado Springs Gazette reports on the preparations taking place among troops at For Carson, Afghanistan.

While alcohol is prohibited for troops stationed in the country, the troops will have "a wide selection of near beer," said Maj. Tony Noce, who is in charge of the preparations, as well as 1,200 donated pizzas, hot wings and fried chicken.

"We're definitely going to eat," Noce said, even though kickoff is schedule for 3:30 A.M., local time.

With the increasingly prevalent use of drones and unmanned vehicles in operations around the globe, some top officials are rethinking how soldiers are rewarded for their service.

Despite backlash in 2013 after announcing a medal specific to drone pilots and soldiers whose deeds are performed from remote locations, Stars and Stripes reported that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has ordered a full review of all medals awarded for valor and courage on the battlefield. That specific award was scrapped, but some critics think that this review might open the door for more like it.

It's no question that drone missions have been crucial in the United States' operations abroad. The New York Times explained how the 2011 raid of Osama bin Laden's Abbottabad compound could not have been accomplished without the reconnaissance of an RQ-170 drone. The question at hand is whether to give the commendation to the robot or to the soldier who piloted it hundreds of miles away.

"We are all for proper recognition," Joe Davis of the Washington VFW told Stars and Stripes. "And we believe in protecting the rank order of those medals that can only be earned in a combat zone, and keeping them at their higher precedence."

At home or abroad, at peace or in battle, a dog is a man's best friend.

Nobody knows that better now than Sgt. Eric Goldenthal and Corky, the bomb-sniffing dog embedded into his unit. The pair swept through eastern Afghanistan, clearing out hidden explosives to open the path for a squad of Green Berets. Goldenthal, Corky and the rest of the unit continually fought off heavy resistance, Stars and Stripes writes, until Jan. 19 when Goldenthal and Corky were caught between three directions of fire in an ambush.

"And that's when me and him got hit, pretty much the exact same time," Goldenthal recalled. "I just felt it hit the back of my leg and then I heard him crying."

The injuries did not prove life threatening, allowing for a reunion between Goldenthal and Corky at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.

The critical role dogs serve in the military extends beyond combat situations, however. Emerging studies continually show how dogs trained as mobility assistance animals can help soldiers ease back into life after military service, the Smithsonian has found. As some veterans experience trouble finding an emotional balance during peacetime, dogs have been shown to markedly improve the quality of life of those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

It takes a special kind of person to join the military, but it takes a much different sort to volunteer for a mission to Mars.

For a few select soldiers, life after service won't be about transitioning back to civilian life but adjusting to the harsh terrain and low oxygen on the surface of the Red Planet. The Department of Defense spoke to two members of the military who have made it to the final round of candidates for Mars One, a one-way mission that hopes to colonize the planet for long-term human habitation.

Out of 200,000 applicants, Mars One selected 1,058 finalists. That number includes MC2 Brooks Slaughter and 1st Lt. Heidi Beemer. As finalists, they will begin a ten-year training period that includes lessons in self-sustaining farming, component repair for the modules they'll be living in and basic medical procedures, according to the Mars One website.

Still, many might see a one-way ticket to Mars as an odd choice for a soldier's life after military service. Not for Slaughter and Beemer, though, who couldn't be more thrilled with the opportunity.

"I believe that when it does happen," Beemer told the DoD's Science blog, "it's going to be the biggest thing that ever happens to us as humans."

The intelligence agency, which has been in the news as of late, may soon have a new military man in charge.

Gen. Keith Alexander is scheduled to step down from his position atop the National Security Agency in mid-March, creating a void many expect Navy Vice Adm. Mike Rogers to fill. Seemingly always in the headlines after former-consultant Edward Snowden's disclosure of surveillance programs, the Military Times reported that Rogers is expected to continue many of his predecessor's programs but with greater transparency to the public.

As a sign of the Obama administration's preference for a new direction, the Columbus Dispatch reports that the President himself interviewed Rogers last week. If confirmed by the Senate Armed Services Committee, Rogers will be the latest uniformed serviceman to helm the NSA as part of a 62-year-long stretch of such appointments.

Rogers appears to have all the right credentials to lead the nation's highest intelligence agency in a time when public confidence in it is flagging. His official Naval biography lists degrees with distinction and honors from Auburn University, the National War College, the Naval War College as well as a Masters of Science in National Security strategy.

Currently, Rogers serves as head of U.S. Fleet Cyber Command and the director of Intelligence for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and U.S. Pacific Command.

Since the Pentagon lifted its ban on women serving in combat last year, the military has been gradually adjusting to the new roles of female soldiers. While the military has witnessed many milestones recently, including the first three female soldiers to pass the Marine Corps combat training course, one challenge that remains is physical fitness.

Marine officials are still unsure whether female soldiers will be able to complete the pullup portion of the Physical Fitness Test, a new service-wide standard of fitness, according to Military Times. Currently, female Marines are not required to perform pullups when taking the test, but have the option to do either pullups or the traditional flexed-arm hang. 

Officials have decided to delay any changes to the PFT to June 30, and any modifications made to the test won't be enacted until January 2015. A Marine spokesperson told the news source that female soldiers can continue to choose between pullups or the flexed-arm hang until then.

The delay "allows more time for studies to be done to determine exactly when the Marine Corps will make a decision on when and whether or not pull-ups will be instituted in the female PFT," Marine spokesperson Capt. Maureen Krebs said, as quoted by the news source.

Nearly 14,000 women serve on active-duty status in the Marine Corps, and comprise approximately 6.8 percent of the branch, according to data compiled by the Department of Defense. 

They say blood is thicker than water but in order to see how strong familial bonds can be, look no further than the Wilkerson twins.

Staff Sgts. Eric and Jason Wilkerson are currently stationed at Afghanistan's Bagram Air Base. This marks the brothers' first tour of duty in the country, but they're far from inexperienced. As the Defense Video & Imagery System reports, this marks the fourth consecutive time that the Wilkerson twins have been deployed to combat zones together, making life after service seem much like business as usual on the home front.

"It doesn't bother us," Jason said of the twins' multiple deployments. "We've stayed together and learned many things together, so we like it."

From their first tour in 2004 to their current one in Afghanistan, the Wilkerson twins have served at Camp Cook in Iraq and twice in Kuwait. They are both trained as Heavy Equipment Operators, or 88Ms, driving gun trucks and convoys across battlegrounds.

The Wilkersons join a long list of military siblings that served, enlisted or retired together, especially in recent years. In 2013, the DOD highlighted a pair of sisters who also deployed to Bagram Air Base together.

Five servicemen will trade their combat uniforms for tight-fitting spandex bobsled suits as they prepare for the Sochi Olympics.

The Army announced that Capt. Chris Fogt, Sgt. Justin Olsen, Sgt. Nick Cunningham, Sgt. Dallas Robinson and 1st Lt. Michael Kohn will compete across two of the three US teams in the event in February. All five Olympians come from the World Class Athlete Program, a national training program that supports soldier-athletes through training regimens at facilities across the country.

Cunningham will drive Team USA's second sled in the four-man event as well as one in the two-man event. Conventional wisdom says being either a soldier or an elite athlete is enough a time-consuming and stressful commitment, but Cunningham knows the key to success at the highest level is to remember the people that got you there.

"Representing my country is my main goal in life and I will put most of my effort into that," Cunningham writes on his personal blog at TeamUSA.org. "However, I will not shut out my friends and family to achieve that goal. They have all supported me and will be by my side on this journey."

This isn't the first time Cunningham has had Olympic dreams for life after service. He also tried out to be a sprinter for the 2008 summer games, according to The Associated Press. 

Field artillery has traditionally been a male-dominated discipline in the military. However, one female officer is blazing a trail for other women to follow.

Army 2nd Lt. Taylor Cardosi  recently became the first women to serve as a fire direction officer in a M777A1 howitzer cannon unit, according to the Department of Defense. She is currently a member of the 1st Battalion, 37th Artillery Regiment at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Fort Lewis, Wash.

Cardosi entered active-duty service Dec. 27, 2012, around the same time that the Defense Department opened up a large number of new positions for women, including field artillery. 

"I like to think that I want this as a career," Cardosi said. "I'm patient enough to wait and, when that time arrives, prove that I should have been there all along. For now, that's the plan — make it a career and become a battalion commander, a brigade commander, a general."

According to data compiled by the departments of Defense and Veteran Affairs, more than 214,000 women currently serve in the military. The Army has nearly 77,000 female soldiers on active-duty status, which comprises 13 percent of the branch. Overall, more than 1.8 female military veterans reside in the U.S.