Relating to the latest monthly challenge:
( A ) What US military agency would keep wraps on international scientists that have defected to the US and now work for the USA? Probably the same answer as "Who controlled the Nazi scientists that kick-started the US space program?"
( B ) If the agency that controls Area 51 and similar top-secret sites owned Norman Island (in the US Virgin Islands), and kept it as a resort for 'nazi scientists', who would have military control over it?
( C ) If not Norman Island, were else could I locate a militarized US resort?

BTW:
"In Soviet Russia, pony rides you!"

I'm guessing you recently saw Winter Soldier.

Actually....
1. Not the military's job. Previously, it fell under the purview of the Justice Department. Currently, the duties are held by the Department of Homeland Security.
2. Groom Dry Lake Air Force Base (the actual name of Area 51) is under the control of the Air Force. However, Norman Island is in the British Virgin Islands and I would assume, if anything, fall under the control of the British Ministry of Defence if anything was there.
3. There is the now-defunct Viques Island Naval Reserve on Puerto Rico. It was originally a bombing range, but has since been shut down as part of a round of BRAC reductions.

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Are you completely out of your mind?

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Dept of Homeland Security and the eastern side of Vieques Island. 'No military' drops a wrench into my current premise, but I'll see how to make it work. Thanks.

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Haven't gone to the movies this year (not counting a few of romantic comedies). May go next week or so, though.

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Okay, I know that those 'Soviet Russia' jokes are old, but I wanted to lighten the mood and thus subtly indicate that, while my premise was 'Minty raised in a lab', she hadn't been kept in a cold cage.

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Well, keep in mind that the DHS also includes the US government's only gendarmerie, the US Coast Guard, if you really have to use a military force.

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At this point, I was thinking about the east side of the island being a Navy-enforced restricted area, with the 'There's Nothing Here' Resort being in the northern side, the naval outpost on the southern side and, hidden by the low jungle, a few self-sufficiency farms and greenhouses tended by Minty.
If you insist on me using the US Coast Guard, I will, but I wanted to recycle Mike as a character.

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Well, if you used Viques as the installation, you could still use Mike; it's just that he'd probably be part of the base staff and not initially part of the project.

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I have been staring at my monitor for quite a while, just trying to come up with how to make thais questions in a non-revealing way, but I have completely failed. Therefore, I need to flush my head:
On Chapter 1 of Specimen, I made a point to underline that, due to them wanting to study her differences with humanity, the USN has always encouraged Flora to 'be herself.' Now on Chapter 3, due to the incursion three months ago (on chapter 2), she has been lashing against her pony nature, to the extend where she has abandoned her fields and now focuses on following on her Dad's footsteps into the US military.
At this point I have a number of questions. And just short answers, as they will not impact the story beyond getting a fact correct rather than me having to dance around a verbal pothole.
Who would sponsor Flora to be admitted into the US Naval Academy?
How did you resolve the physical fitness equivalences between ponies and humans? More to the point: would she pass bootcamp if she can carry a small car and can run two marathons a day under a full load, yet cannot use standard equipment, cannot climb rope and cannot run and shoot simultaneously? Or would she be an 'office-officer' forever?
I was thinking that her physical aptitude tests will be so generally awesome that she will be discouraged from the Navy and encouraged into the Army or the Marines. Any thoughts?

Who would sponsor Flora to be admitted into the US Naval Academy?

Per Wiki:
"Candidates for admission generally must both apply directly to the academy and receive a nomination, usually from a Member of Congress."

How did you resolve the physical fitness equivalences between ponies and humans? More to the point: would she pass bootcamp if she can carry a small car and can run two marathons a day under a full load, yet cannot use standard equipment, cannot climb rope and cannot run and shoot simultaneously? Or would she be an 'office-officer' forever?

Well, for starters, if she's going to the Naval Academy, she's not going to boot camp - that's for enlisted personnel. What you probably mean is would she meet the physical training (PT) and height/weight standards. That's where things would get difficult. They would have to base her standards off other ponies (and I'm guessing Equestria isn't going to be forthcoming about that) and then develop standards based on those standards.

And even admin personnel still have to pass the same standards as everyone else in the fleet. I was a yeoman - and was advanced enough in my PT training that at one command I was the PT coordinator.

I was thinking that her physical aptitude tests will be so generally awesome that she will be discouraged from the Navy and encouraged into the Army or the Marines. Any thoughts?

Not necessarily. The Seabees are a fairly rigorous Naval unit, for example.

However, there's one thing you might not have considered: her familial status. Even though she's been raised by humans, if what Rainbow Dash told them about her family status (being tied to the Equestriani royal family) is true, that could cost her the chance to go to the Academy. All military personnel are required to undergo a clearance check for any sort of clearance, whether it's a NAC (for Confidential), SBI (for Secret) or SSBI (for Top Secret or higher.) One of the major disqualifiers is having a relative which is a member of a foreign military and/or power. Thus, as Flora's aunts, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo's existences could jeopardize Flora's chances of joining the Navy - and that goes double if she's the niece of the ruler of another nation.

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However, there's one thing you might not have considered: her familial status. Even though she's been raised by humans, if what Rainbow Dash told them about her family status (being tied to the Equestriani royal family) is true, that could cost her the chance to go to the Academy.

Okay, that seriously sucks. Now I have to rewrite quite a bit. Especially so that I have to delete all that I had written on the fourth chapter, that was about Mike being retired and Flora being an active Marine.

Let me go and have a little fit for a while.

That reason is not unlike why I happen to be unable to become an elected official under Mexican law: there are three definitions of "Mexican by birth", but only those fitting the first (born on Mexican soil from Mexican parents) and second (born on Mexican soil) can become elected, and I wasn't born on Mexican soil.

They would have to base her standards off other ponies (and I'm guessing Equestria isn't going to be forthcoming about that) and then develop standards based on those standards.

I was going to have the standards written based on the captured legion of Royal Guards, who were kept in bootcamp for a week (and carefully gauged) until Equestria officially disowned them for participating in an unauthorized operation against a foreign power.

Well, for starters, if she's going to the Naval Academy, she's not going to boot camp - that's for enlisted personnel.

Well, I was reading the Wiki articles on both the USNA and its prep school, and in one of those came a curious entry: that civilian applicants that didn't want to pursue a naval career were forbidden from promotion above E-1 pay grade, were excluded from attending bootcamp along with their peers, and were dismissed as soon as the courses were over.
Also, in one of the Wiki articles about either bootcamps or drill sergeants, it stated that everybody has to go through Basic Training.

And even admin personnel still have to pass the same standards as everyone else in the fleet.

I know. Former merchant seaman here. Supernumerary. Worst job ever.

In a completely unrelated note: I would never send a friend aboard a cruise ship owned by any of the brands of the Carnival Corporation; not even as a passenger.

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Keep in mind that prevents her from being an officer. It won't prevent her from going enlisted, though she might be precluded from certain ratings (Navy)/MOSes (Army, Marines)/AFSCs (Air Force). So while she might not end up as, say, a Marine colonel, she could end up as a Marine sergeant major.

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…Just like I could get into the Mexican government on an appointed position, by being part of a cabinet or by making career as a bureaucrat. And even then, I would be a political liability and easy to let go.
Glass ceilings suck.
Besides, I already wrote that Flora has been turning into an angsty teenager, and I don't want to rewrite everything again. I'll just edit that she doesn't care for the glass ceiling, and feels a little more animosity against Equestria because of it.