Top military leaders are warning members of Congress that the cost of ongoing military operations in the Middle East, along with other recent efforts, including in counternarcotics, could soon force difficult decisions on training and overall readiness.

During a congressional subcommittee budget hearing this week, lawmakers questioned how long the Navy and Marine Corps can sustain its current level of operations with a historic amount of warships in the Middle East.

Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Ken Calvert asked Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle how long the Navy could continue operating at its current pace before funding runs short.

“Sir, I will have to start making decisions to change training, operations, certifications events, those types of things we do to generate our force, in the July time frame in the current expenditure,” Caudle said.

The warning comes as Calvert outlined that the Navy is making a $377.5 billion budget request, a 23% increase over the previous fiscal year.

Calvert noted the financial impact the war against Iran has had and said, “Our munitions stockpiles are depleted, our fleet has deferred maintenance — critical maintenance — and our service members have been operating on an extended deployment schedule.”

Rep. Betty McCollum also warned that rising fuel costs tied to the conflict could further strain military operations.

“In addition to the threats our sailors and Marines face, I’m concerned about the broader costs of the war,” McCollum said. “The skyrocketing costs of fuel will limit the Navy and the Marine Corps ability to conduct exercises for the rest of the year.”

Potential reductions in training and certification efforts could have a significant impact in San Diego, home to more than 136,000 active-duty service members, including roughly a fourth of all Marines and a sixth of all Navy sailors, according to the San Diego Military Advisory Council.

Lawmakers also raised concerns about the growing size of China’s naval fleet compared with the United States’.

“Despite our focus on the Middle East and elsewhere across the globe, China still remains our pacing threat,” Calvert added.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently testified that the war effort in Iran has carried a nearly $30 billion price tag. The Defense Department is now facing pressure to replenish munitions stockpiles, improve shipbuilding capabilities and maintain readiness for future threats while continuing current operations.

The Department of Defense’s proposed budget for the upcoming year totals $1.5 trillion, the largest defense proposal in U.S. history.

This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC San Diego. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC San Diego journalist edited the article for publication.

Choosing a place to settle in Alaska usually comes down to which trade-offs work. Road system or off-road system. Cruise-ship economy or fishing-fleet economy. Anchorage commute or Inside Passage isolation. The seven towns ahead reach across Southcentral, the Kenai Peninsula, and Southeast Alaska. Each runs a working economy, hospital access, and the kind of community infrastructure that supports day-to-day life through the long winters. Median home prices range from $405,000 in Ketchikan to $688,800 in Sitka.

Homer

Homer sits at the end of the Sterling Highway on the Kenai Peninsula, about a five-hour drive south of Anchorage. The town has earned the “Halibut Fishing Capital of the World” tagline and runs one of the state’s largest charter fleets out of the Homer Spit, the 4.5-mile gravel bar that extends into Kachemak Bay. The Pratt Museum on Bartlett Street covers regional natural and cultural history, including the Lower Cook Inlet ecosystems and the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill response. Bishop’s Beach gives walkers direct access to the bay shoreline.

The local economy runs on commercial fishing, tourism, the arts community, and small-scale agriculture in the warmer microclimate that the Kachemak Bay creates. The median home price runs about $538,800. The South Peninsula Hospital handles regional medical needs, and the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District operates Homer High School and West Homer Elementary. The Bunnell Street Arts Center on Old Town Bishop’s Beach Road runs gallery rotations and music events year-round.

Seward

Seward sits at the head of Resurrection Bay on the eastern side of the Kenai Peninsula, about a two-and-a-half-hour drive south of Anchorage on the Seward Highway. The town is the gateway to Kenai Fjords National Park, which protects roughly 700 square miles of glaciated coastline along the Gulf of Alaska. Day boat tours from the Seward harbor reach the Aialik Glacier and the Holgate Glacier from late spring through early fall.

The median home price runs about $462,000, more accessible than larger Alaskan cities even though Seward draws the largest summer cruise-ship volume on the peninsula. The economy runs on tourism, marine research at the Alaska SeaLife Center, fishing, and public service. Seward Community Health Center handles primary care; the Providence Seward Medical Center on First Avenue covers acute care and emergency. The Mount Marathon Race, held every July 4 since 1915, sends runners up and down the 3,022-foot Mount Marathon directly behind town and is one of the oldest mountain races in the United States.

Sitka

Sitka sits on the west side of Baranof Island in the Alexander Archipelago, with Tlingit roots going back thousands of years and a Russian colonial history from the founding of the Redoubt Saint Michael settlement in 1799. In 1808, the Russians established Sitka (then New Archangel) as the new capital of Russian America, moving the seat of government away from Kodiak. On October 18, 1867, Sitka was the site of the formal handover of Alaska to the United States, ending Russian colonial rule. The Sitka National Historical Park preserves the site of the 1804 Battle of Sitka along with one of the most accessible totem pole collections in Alaska.

Housing is on the higher end at a median price of about $688,800. Sitka’s economy supports fishing, healthcare, education, and tourism, and the city operates as a borough that covers most of Baranof Island. The Sitka School District serves about 1,100 students. SEARHC Mt. Edgecumbe Medical Center on Halibut Point Road provides regional healthcare. The Alaska Raptor Center rehabilitates eagles, owls, and hawks across a 17-acre forested campus, and the Baranof Castle State Historic Site marks the bluff where the 1867 transfer ceremony took place.

Ketchikan

As Alaska’s southernmost city and the first stop on the Inside Passage cruise route, Ketchikan sits at the southern tip of Revillagigedo Island. The town runs one of the largest commercial salmon harvests in Southeast Alaska. With a median home price around $405,000, Ketchikan is moderately affordable by Alaskan standards. The town is accessible only by sea or air, and the Ketchikan International Airport sits on neighboring Gravina Island, reached by a short ferry crossing.

Ketchikan’s economy runs on fishing, seafood processing, and a cruise-season tourism industry that brings about a million visitors per year between May and September. The Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District operates Ketchikan High School, and the University of Alaska Southeast runs a satellite campus in town. PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center provides full medical services. Recreation centers on the Deer Mountain trail, historic Creek Street (the former red-light district on pilings over Ketchikan Creek), and the Totem Bight State Historical Park with restored and replica Tlingit and Haida totem poles. The Blueberry Arts Festival on the first weekend of August anchors the local summer calendar.

Petersburg

Petersburg sits on the north end of Mitkof Island, halfway between Juneau and Ketchikan along the Inside Passage. The town is known as “Little Norway” because Norwegian immigrant Peter Buschmann founded the settlement in 1897, drawing Scandinavian fishermen who shaped the town’s identity. Petersburg was incorporated in 1910 and still celebrates Norwegian Constitution Day on May 17 with the multi-day Little Norway Festival, the longest Syttende Mai celebration of any Norwegian-American community in the country. Sing Lee Alley holds rosemaling-decorated wooden buildings and the Sons of Norway Hall, built in 1912 on pilings over the water.

Fishing and seafood processing drive the local economy; Petersburg is consistently ranked among the top 25 fishing ports in the United States by dollar value. With a median home price of about $422,500, Petersburg runs moderately affordable by Alaskan standards. Students are served by the Petersburg School District, and Petersburg Medical Center operates a 24/7 emergency department. The Bojer Wikan Fisherman’s Memorial Park at the harbor holds the Valhalla, a miniature Viking ship, as a memorial to local fishermen lost at sea.

Kenai

Kenai sits at the mouth of the Kenai River on the western side of the Kenai Peninsula, with views across Cook Inlet to the active volcanoes of Mount Redoubt and Mount Iliamna. The Kenai River produces the largest sport king salmon runs in the world; the world-record king salmon, weighing 97 pounds 4 ounces, was caught in the river by Les Anderson in May 1985 and the record still stands. The Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Orthodox Church, built between 1894 and 1895, is a National Historic Landmark and one of the oldest Russian Orthodox churches in Alaska.

The median home price runs about $429,000. The local economy is fueled by oil and gas, commercial fishing, tourism, and remote-work transplants. Kenai Central High School serves area students, and Central Peninsula Hospital sits a short drive away in Soldotna. Weekends often run on fishing trips along the Kenai River, hiking nearby trails, or watching beluga whales along Cook Inlet from the Erik Hansen Scout Park bluff. The Kenai River Festival in June brings people together at the riverfront.

Wasilla

Wasilla sits in the heart of the Matanuska-Susitna Valley about 45 minutes north of Anchorage on the Parks Highway. The city holds about 10,000 residents, the largest city outside Anchorage in the Mat-Su Borough, with views of the Talkeetna Mountains to the north and Pioneer Peak to the east. With a median home price of about $449,000, Wasilla runs notably more affordable than Anchorage proper and has drawn commuters, young families, and remote workers across the past decade.

The economy runs on construction, retail, logistics, healthcare, and small businesses. The Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District supports the area’s educational needs, while Mat-Su Regional Medical Center handles healthcare for the valley. The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race holds its ceremonial start in Anchorage on the first Saturday in March, with the official restart in Willow the next day, about 30 minutes north of Wasilla on the Parks Highway. The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Headquarters is in Wasilla and houses a museum about the race. Lake Lucille Park and Iditapark add walking trails and lake access close to downtown.

Choosing The Right Alaska Town

The seven split roughly into three regional clusters. The Kenai Peninsula produces Homer, Seward, and Kenai. The Inside Passage produces Sitka, Ketchikan, and Petersburg. The Mat-Su Valley produces Wasilla. Road-system access goes to the Kenai Peninsula and Mat-Su towns; the Southeast Alaska towns are reachable only by air or sea. Median home prices run from about $405,000 in Ketchikan to about $688,800 in Sitka. The right choice depends on whether the move favors road connections to Anchorage, the year-round Inside Passage rhythm, or the marine economy of the Kenai Peninsula.