DEFENDER is the Army’s largest annual opportunity to exercise moving personnel and equipment into theater across modes for initial and follow-on operations critical to Large Scale Combat Operations. Led by U.S. Army Europe and Africa, the exercise focuses on the strategic deployment of CONUS-based forces, employment of Army Prepositioned Stock and follow-on exercises demonstrating lethality and interoperability with Allies and partners

DEFENDER 25 Outreach tour
DEFENDER 25 Infographic

Videos
Video by Clayton Cummins
PJ Allen at Tinker Air Force Base
72nd Air Base Wing
March 12, 2025 | 3:04
Thirty years have passed since one of the darkest days in Oklahoma history. On April 19, 1995, ex-Army Soldier Timothy McVeigh parked a rented truck in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City. At 9:02a.m., McVeigh detonated a powerful bomb inside that truck turning what was a peaceful downtown block into a warzone.

PJ Allen, an aviation technician at Tinker Air Force Base, was just 18 months old when his grandmother dropped him off at the America’s Kids Daycare located in the Murrah Building on that fateful day. At the time Allen’s grandmother, Delores Watson, was working up the road when the bombing occurred.
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Press Information

enlightenedTo find information about filing a claim related to exercise DEFENDER activities, visit Claims Information and select your country.