Clinton is asked about her 2002 vote for the Iraq War: "I've said that my voting to give President Bush that authority was, from my perspective, my mistake. I also believe it is important that we learn from the mistake, we must learn what led us down that path so that it never happens again. I believe I'm in the best possible position to understand that and prevent it." 

After winning the coin toss, Donald Trump decided to speak after Hillary Clinton.

NBC's Matt Lauer opens by asking Clinton why her private email saga wasn't disqualifying as commander in chief. She replies: "As I've said repeatedly, it was a mistake to have a personal account .. it was something that should not have been done."

Hillary Clinton is first up, on stage and speaking to NBC's Matt Lauer.

Though Trump is now drawing a bead on "the sequester" (Congressional cuts in 2011 to military and domestic spending), not so long ago he was applauding the very same measure. In a 2013 interview with Fox News, he said the wielding of the budgetary axe, which shaved billions of dollars in Pentagon funding, didn’t go far enough. "I think you're going to have to do a lot more cutting," he told Fox. "If you're going to balance budgets, you're going to be doing a lot more cutting - and there's no question about it."

Image source, AP

The hosts of tonight's "Commander-in-Chief Forum" have created a Bingo scorecard.

Every time a candidate mentions a phrase such as "Russia", "Nato", or "Boots on the ground" players can mark it off their card.

Play along for yourself , external

Tonight’s forum will be interesting because, though the candidates won’t face one another on stage, we’ll probably see them hone some of the lines of attack they’ll deploy in their first presidential debate on 26 September in New York. It's going to be a duel that has box office written all over it.

In a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" on Tuesday Gary Johnson said that as president he would initially target a "20% reduction" in US military bases around the world. 

Green Party candidate Jill Stein has been visiting the Standing Rock protesters who oppose a North Dakota energy pipeline. She was charged on Wednesday by the local sheriff with criminal trespass and mischief after a video emerged online of her spray painting a bulldozer. 

Image source, AP

Image source, Reuters

Clinton and Trump are the only candidates invited to speak on board the USS Intrepid, but they are not the only two people running for president.

In a late-July poll, Libertarian party candidate Gary Johnson actually polled higher among members of the military, external than either Trump or Clinton, according to Doctrine Man, a popular military blogger. 

Johnson garnered 38.7% of the active duty vote, compared to 30.9% for Trump and 14.1% for Clinton.

The Clinton campaign described Trump’s remarks in Philly earlier as the "childish insults" of a "schoolyard bully" with "no basis in reality". 

Image source, Reuters

Ahead of tonight’s national security forum, Clinton burnished her commander-in-chief credentials by flourishing a list of endorsements from former top brass. It came a day after Trump touted a similar list. Clinton’s list has 95 retired generals and admirals, seven more than Trump’s. One of her endorsers, retired Air Force General Lloyd Newton, said she was "only candidate that has the experience, temperament, critical thinking and level-headed leadership to keep America safe".

Image source, AP

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America reporter

It was back to the future for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who in delivering his national security speech often sounded more like Ronald Reagan than the outsider who spent much of his primary campaign railing against his party's foreign policy elite.

He even cribbed one of the former president’s favourite phrases, "peace through strength", when explaining why he was in favour of across-the-board increases in US military spending. There were flashes of the old Donald Trump, of course - such as when he railed against nation-building and military entanglements in the Middle East. Those lines were as much a criticism of Republican former President George W Bush and his neo-conservative advisers, as of President Obama and Hillary Clinton. 

For the most part, however, Trump’s Wednesday speech was one that the conservative establishment could embrace. Reagan made appeals to the military and security-minded voters a key part of his winning electoral strategy in the 1980s. It appears Trump is betting he can do the same.

Clinton and Trump will present - and defend - their plan to safeguard US national security and address issues of specific concern to members of the military.

Military-themed publication We Are the Mighty thinks, external these are some of the key issues:

The military budget

Look for the candidates to propose spending levels for the US defence budget, currently worth over $600bn (£450bn) according to the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act. 

Veteran suicides

Studies show that more than 20 current and former members of the US military take their own lives everyday. The candidates may be pressed to propose mental health solutions.

Healthcare

Access to healthcare, which is provided by the scandal-plagued Department of Veterans Affairs, has been a hot-topic issue in this campaign. Watch for Trump to call for the privatisation of services. Clinton is opposed to that.  

War against Islamic State

Trump said earlier that as president he will have his generals provide a plan to destroy the group within his first 30 days.Clinton, a former secretary of state, is expected to stress the need for a "diplomatic solution", which leads to the removal of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

At his Philly rally earlier, Trump blamed Clinton for the Middle East’s problems, describing her as "trigger-happy and very unstable". He said her foreign policy legacy could be summed up by two words: "failure and death", referencing Libya and Iraq. Fact checkers note Trump himself also supported - initially, at least - invading Iraq and deposing Gaddafi.

Image source, AFP

Trump geared up for tonight's event by holding a rally in Philadelphia where he vowed to expand all areas of the American military if elected. He called for more troops, planes and boats, promising to offset the cost by making government "leaner".

Here's the full story on his military speech

Image source, Getty

The event is being broadcast live from the decommissioned USS Intrepid docked at Midtown Manhattan's Hudson River.

Each candidate will appear separately for 30 minutes alongside NBC Today Show host Matt Lauer.

The broadcast is due to begin at 2000 EST (0200 GMT).

Welcome to the BBC's live coverage of the "Commander-in-Chief Forum" hosted by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. 

Presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton will take the same stage for the first time this campaign season, where they will respond to questions from active duty members of the military seated in the audience.   

Image source, Twitter

We have concluded our live coverage of the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. 

Follow our complete US election 2016 coverage.

Thirteen-year-old Christian Harold of Washington ran to be homeroom representative at her school this year.

She had doubts about winning because she knew she would have to rally the boys' votes from her class.

"I realised votes can be affected a lot by gender," she told the BBC's Ashley Gold, noting that the young men in her class were less inclined to vote for her than the young girls.

Seeing Mrs Clinton become the Democratic presidential nominee was inspiring she said, and she hopes she can become the first African-American female president.

"To see that woman are coming to such high positions... I think it's fantastic," she said.