NO PEACE, NO GAS: The U.S. is pulling back some support for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen, as it presses for a ceasefire and peace talks by the end of the month. In statement, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis portrayed the decision to stop U.S. refueling of Saudi warplanes attacking Houthi rebels in Yemen as a Saudi initiative. “We support the decision by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, after consultations with the U.S. Government, to use the Coalition’s own military capabilities to conduct inflight refueling in support of its operations in Yemen,” Mattis said. “The U.S. and the [Saudi-led] Coalition are planning to collaborate on building up legitimate Yemeni forces to defend the Yemeni people, secure their country’s borders, and contribute to counter Al Qaeda and ISIS efforts in Yemen and the region.”

Last month Mattis issued an ultimatum to all sides to stop fighting and get serious about talking, but placed the primary blame on the Iranian-backed Houthis. “We’ve got to move towards a peace effort here, and we can’t say we’re going to do it sometime in the future. We need to be doing this in the next 30 days. We’ve admired this problem for long enough down there and I believe that the Saudis and the emirates are ready and in fact, had the Houthis not walked out of the last effort that [UN Special Envoy] Martin Griffiths had going, we would probably be on our way there right now,” Mattis said at forum sponsored by the U.S. Institute for Peace Oct 30.

DEMS CALL FOR END OF US INVOLVEMENT: “Ending U.S. refueling of Saudi-led coalition aircraft is an encouraging step towards ending U.S. involvement in the Yemen civil conflict,” said a trio of Democrats in the House, including Rep. Adam Smith, who is expected to take over the chairmanship of the Armed Services Committee. “The Yemeni people are facing the world’s gravest humanitarian crisis. The U.S. should be squarely focused on alleviating this crisis,” said the statement released by Smith and fellow Democrats, Ro Khanna of California and Mark Pocan of Wisconsin.

“Picking sides and supporting the Saudi-coalition is contrary to those goals,” they said. In addition to ending refueling efforts, the United States should pause sales of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia,” they added.

ONE-TWO PUNCH: The U.S.-lead counter ISIS coalition yesterday announced two operations that it said combined killed some 50 ISIS fighters, including five senior leaders at the end of October. On Oct. 30, Iraqi Security Forces and Iraqi Counter Terrorism Services, supported by Coalition forces, conducted multiple strikes against ISIS targets on Khanukah Mountain in Salah ad Din Province. The operations resulted in the death of five senior leaders and more than 30 other militants, according to a coalition news release.

The next day, Oct. 31, a combined operation involving Iraqi Special Operations Forces — with assistance of Coalition Forces — killed approximately 20 ISIS fighters in the Makmuhr Mountains in Northern Iraq.

“This successful strike conducted by the ISF disrupts ISIS networks as they continue to maintain the pressure required to prevent their resurgence,” said Maj. Gen. Patrick Roberson, commander of Special Operations Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve.

DISPATCHES FROM THE FRONT: Both the New York Times and Washington Post sent reporters down to Texas to check on what the troops deployed by President Trump were doing to “harden” the southwest border in advance of the arrival of a migrant caravan, which now appears headed for California.

Both visited Base Camp Donna, named after the nearby Texas town, where roughly 500 troops are stringing barbed wire fencing, settling in for a mission that will keep them away from home for the Thanksgiving holidays.

From the Washington Post: “Capt. Lauren Blanton, an engineer officer stationed at Fort Knox, Ky., said she arrived in Donna more than a week ago with three other soldiers and found an open field. As ‘camp mayor,’ she has since overseen the installation of a trailer with 16 shower stalls, tents for a facility meeting day-to-day medical needs, and a single, massive tent that typically is used as a cafeteria for troops. However, given the number of soldiers coming through Donna, Army officials instead turned the large tent — the only one with heat in the camp — into living quarters for more soldiers.”

From the New York Times: “Wedged between a four-lane highway and the American-Mexican border wall, the base is reminiscent of those found in Afghanistan and Iraq in the early 2000s.

As it was at the bases in those early war zones, electricity at Base Camp Donna is scarce except to power lights and communications gear. In the last several days, the soldiers installed a small shower tent. Men and women have set hours for bathing. Permitted shower length: seven minutes.

There is no mess hall, just the brown, prepackaged M.R.E.’s. Military police officers patrol the perimeter at night, armed with handguns. The tents sleep 20 soldiers and have no electricity or air-conditioning. Phone charging is relegated to a few generators that power the spotlights around the living area.”

SPARTAN CONDITIONS, LITTLE GRIPING: Still there  were few complaints, at least to the media. “I actually expected the conditions to be even more austere than this,” 1st Sgt. Steven Howd told the Post. “I was really anticipating being even closer to the border and providing whatever force protection was necessary for our engineers to do their job, but without accommodations quite this nice.”

Good Monday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre), National Security Writer Travis J. Tritten (@travis_tritten). Email us here for tips, suggestions, calendar items and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow us on Twitter @dailyondefense.

HAPPENING TODAY, VETERANS DAY OBSERVED: Yesterday was Veterans Day, and most of the observances took place around the Nation’s Capital, but because it fell on a Sunday, today is the federal holiday. The federal government is closed, as are most local government offices in the Washington D.C. area. The Pentagon never closes, but only the most essential personnel will be at their desks today.

One event continues into today. A World War I Armistice Film Festival wraps up with six films in Pershing Park, 14th St. and Pennsylvania Ave, across from the Willard Hotel, the future site of the National WWI memorial. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

TRUMP BACK FROM PARIS: President Trump is back at the White House this morning after his quick trip to Paris to join dozens of world leaders commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Armistice that ended World War I.

NO PUTIN MEETING: Among the leaders there was Russian President Vladimir Putin, but the two did not talk except to exchange greetings. But Putin confirmed he will meet with Trump on the sidelines at the Group of 20 summit in Argentina later this month.

Putin told state-funded Russian broadcaster RT that he and Trump decided “not to interrupt the schedule” of events. Putin did meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said his conversation with Putin was “good” and “very important.”

It was the the first time the two met since the downing of a Russian plane over Syria.

TRANSGENDER BAN ABOUT TO HEAT UP: President Trump’s push to restrict transgender military service has been quietly working through the courts for months, obscured from the headlines by scores of motions and counter motions. But it is now poised to burst back onto the public scene. Rep. Adam Smith indicated transgender military service will be a top priority when in January he presumably becomes the new House Armed Services chairman, and a key legal battle could take the issue to the Supreme Court at the same time.

“My guess is there is really going to be an effort to demonstrate that the Trump administration’s rationale for trying to reinstate the ban is not based on evidence and is based more on politics and emotion,” said Aaron Belkin, the director of the Palm Center, which advocates for transgender service rights.

KAVANAUGH COULD MAKE A CAMEO: Meanwhile, Trump’s Justice Department and a group of transgender plaintiffs are set to make their arguments to a federal appeals court in D.C. on Dec. 10 over whether the injunction on the Pentagon’s transgender policy should be lifted, according to Shannon Minter, a lead attorney in the Doe v. Trump case and legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. The DOJ has made clear it is prepared to take the issue to the Supreme Court and newly-confirmed Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

That could put the issue of whether to bar transgender troops before Kavanaugh and the high court just as newly empowered Democrats are taking over the House majority early next year. “So far, the courts have all cast great doubt on the constitutionality of the ban and cast great doubt on the administration’s claims,” Belkin said. “There’s concern now that Justice Kavanaugh has been seated that he might not be a fair and impartial justice when it comes to questions of LGBT issues but that’s yet to be determined.”

F-18 CRASH OFF USS REAGAN: A Navy F/A-18 crashed today in the Philippine Sea, after experiencing a “mechanical issue” during “routine operations” on the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan. Both the pilot and backseater ejected safely and were plucked from the water by search and rescue aircraft from the ship, according to a statement released by the Navy’s 7th Fleet.

Both aviators were brought back to the ship for medical evaluation, and are reported good condition. The USS Ronald Reagan is currently underway in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations “in support of security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region,” according to the Navy.

DON’T BLAME PTSD: Trump on Friday pointed to Afghanistan military service and post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, as possible reasons a California mass-shooter massacred 12 people in a bar earlier this week. “He was a war veteran, he was a Marine, he was in the war. He served time, he saw some pretty bad things. And a lot of people say he had the PTSD,” Trump said. “It’s a big problem. People come back, that’s why it’s a horrible thing. They come back, they’re never the same.”

That raised concerns among some veterans groups who have spent years of advocating to remove stigmas and promote treatment. “The president’s remarks were troubling. We reached out this morning to White House staff we regularly work with on veterans issues, making it clear the president’s remarks were counterproductive to what we are all trying to accomplish in mental health and veterans health care,” said Joe Chenelly, the national executive director of AMVETS.

TRUMP AND ERDOGAN TALK KHASHOGGI: Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the killing of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi during a Saturday evening dinner hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron. They spoke shortly after reports that Turkey shared with U.S. officials audio allegedly documenting Khashoggi’s Oct. 2 death inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. “I can confirm they sat next to one another and they discussed the ongoing tragic situation with Khashoggi,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

CHINA CLAIMS NOT TO ASPIRE TO SUPERPOWER STATUS: China is not trying to displace the United States as a world superpower, the Communist regime’s top diplomat said while traveling in Washington, D.C., for a meeting that saw both sides downplay apparent strategic competition.

“China is firm in pursuing socialism with Chinese characteristics,” Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi told reporters at the State Department. “Everything that we do is to deliver better lives for the Chinese people, to realize rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. it is not intended to challenge or displace anyone.”

SHE’D TAKE KNEE: In a Washington Post opinion piece published Sunday, the widow of former pro football played Pat Tillman says she can’t speak for her late husband, who died from friendly fire will serving in Afghanistan in 2004, but Marie Tillman says he’s dismayed by the vitriol directed against professional athletes who she says “have taken a knee to draw attention to injustice and racial inequality.”

“I think that patriotism is complex, like Pat himself. It is not blind or unquestioning. And it’s a fool’s errand to argue over who’s allowed to claim sacrifice. Many of the kneeling athletes say they are protesting as American patriots who want the nation to be better than it is. When I look around at the vitriol aimed at them for expressing their beliefs, and at the compulsion to simplify complicated issues to pit people on opposing sides, I want to kneel, too. Because I believe we are at our best as Americans when we engage in constructive dialogue around our differences with the goal of understanding one another,” she writes.

McSALLY APPEARS TO BE GOING DOWN: The Senate race to fill the open seat of Arizona Republican Jeff Flake is technically not over, but with Democrat Rep. Kyrsten Sinema holding on to a 1.5 percentage point lead over former A-10 Squadron Commander Rep. Martha McSally, the nonpartisan Cook Political Report is calling the race for Sinema.

Sinema’s campaign manager Andrew Piatt declared Sinema’s lead “insurmountable,” saying that McSally would have to win the remainder of Maricopa County ballots by 22 percent to take the lead. “This is not plausible. Kyrsten will be declared the next U.S. Senator from Arizona,” Piatt said.

If current trends hold, and assuming Gov. Rick Scott survives a recount in Florida, the Republicans will have flipped four Democratic seats in the Senate, while the Democrats will have flipped two Republican seats, for a net gain of two seats for the GOP, and a likely 53 to 47 majority.

CRENSHAW GETS THE LAST LAUGH: Rep.-elect Dan Crenshaw, a Texas Republican, showed up on “Saturday Night Live” to lob a few good-natured zingers at cast member Pete Davidson, who apologized for mocking the former Navy SEAL’s eye patch. Crenshaw lost his eye in an explosion while deployed to Afghanistan. “In what I’m sure was a huge shock for people who know me, I made a poor choice last week,” Davidson said. “I made a joke about Lt. Cmdr. Dan Crenshaw, and on behalf of the show and myself, I apologize.”

Davidson then offered Crenshaw, who accepted the apology, a chance to roast his own appearance. “This is Pete Davidson, he looks like if the meth in from Breaking Bad was a person,” Crenshaw quipped. “He looks like a troll doll with a tapeworm.” As part of the bit, Crenshaw pretended his cell phone ring tone was a song by Ariana Grande, Davidson’s ex-fiance.

THE RUNDOWN

New York Times: Taliban Slaughter Elite Afghan Troops, and a ‘Safe’ District Is Falling

New York Times: Trump’s Nationalism Rebuked at World War I Commemoration

Bloomberg: Trump Leaves World War One Commemorations Isolated Among Allies

Politico: Macron wants Europe to build its own military hardware

Reuters: Finland’s GPS was disrupted during NATO war games and Russia could be responsible: PM

Bloomberg: Once-Embattled Visclosky Comes Into Spotlight With Defense Gavel

New York Times: In North Korea, Missile Bases Suggest a Great Deception

AP: Options limited, North Korea lit by flashlights, creaky grid

Army Times: It’s official: Army approves ‘pinks and greens’ uniform on Veterans Day

Breaking Defense: Trump Advisor Charges “Globalist” Conspiracy to Undermine China Trade Deal

Daily Beast: SNL’s Pete Davidson Apologizes to Rep.-Elect Dan Crenshaw’s Face: ‘I’m a Dick’

AP: Report: Pilot error cause of deadly military plane crash

Wall Street Journal: The One Time American Troops Fought Russians Was at the End of World War I—and They Lost