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Andrew Brunson, the North Carolina Christian pastor imprisoned in Turkey for nearly two years on terrorism charges, is in much better spirits since being released on house arrest last week, said Sen. Thom Tillis, who spoke with Brunson on Friday.

“He was a very different person than anytime I’d spoken to him since he’d been in prison,” said Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who has visited Brunson in Turkey twice this spring. “I just continue to emphasize how much I appreciate they did that.”

Senate and House leaders came to a compromise on the annual defense spending bill, providing a rare opportunity — at least based on recent years — to provide some fiscal stability in the military.

The House overwhelmingly passed the conference version of the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 on Thursday. The final vote was 359 to 54.

The Senate also is expected to approve the NDAA before it heads to President Trump’s desk.

It was a recruiting poster that first caught the attention of Sgt. Jacob Rosales.

The poster, at Fort Irwin, California, highlighted a new type of unit and a promise for a fundamental change to how the Army plans to prosecute long-standing missions in countries like Afghanistan.

And at Fort Bragg, that promised change is becoming a reality.

The 2nd Security Force Assistance Brigade is nearly at full strength, officials said. And the unit, the second of its kind in the Army, is already preparing for a deployment early next year.

Since February, Vietnam War veteran Roland Rochester has been going outside of the Fayetteville Veterans Affairs Medical Center to see a private doctor for treatment of diabetes, anxiety and high blood pressure.

Rochester, 65, said he sees the private doctor and a neurosurgeon with the VA’s blessing. He said the VA doesn’t have the capability to treat him, so it pays for his treatment to go elsewhere.