Author: Braxton Taylor

President Donald Trump on Wednesday pardoned a former junior Army officer who was found guilty in a 2022 court-martial of violating orders to comply with COVID-19 safety measures, a White House official confirmed to Military.com.Former 1st Lt. Mark Bashaw, who served as an entomologist at the Army Public Health Center at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, was convicted on two counts of violating lawful orders for refusing to telework, submit a negative COVID-19 test and wear a mask indoors, part of the installation’s requirements at the time for unvaccinated service members.The military judge who presided over the trial, Col. Robert…

The Pentagon office that oversees weapons testing will shrink by nearly half, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered on Wednesday, which will leave individual service branches to conduct testing with a smaller Defense Department watchdog. The Office of the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation, or DOT&E, will cut its workforce from 94 employees to 30 civilians and 15 service members. In a Wednesday memo, Hegseth said that a “comprehensive internal review has identified redundant, non-essential, non-statutory functions within ODOT&E that do not support operational agility or resource efficiency.” In a video released the same day, he described the reorganization as one that “will make testing…

In this exciting installment of MeatEater Roasts, Spencer Neuharth and Randall Williams turn up the heat in a thrilling wild game cook-off. This round’s featured cut of meat is the neck roast off a rutted up whitetail buck and their culinary creations are judged and critiqued by Maggie Hudlow and Anna Borgman. Ultimately, a winner is crowned to send a charitable donation to a wildlife conservation organization. Presented by Moultrie Read the full article here

Compatible with Mossberg 500/590A1 models in 12, 16 and 20 gauge as well as the Maverick Model 88 variants, the Hogue Overmold Stock is designed to re-use the factory-stock bolt with the addition of a flat washer. As its name implies, the stock’s exterior is comprised of the same purchase-enhancing material as the company’s super-popular line of grips by the same name. MSRP: $69.95; hogueinc.com A dedicated weaponlight that does require the added clutter of an accessory rail, the Nightstick Shotgun Forend Light with Green Laser replaces a factory Mossberg 500/590/Shockwave forearm with one constructed from a one-piece body of…

The Army is on the cusp of hitting its annual recruiting target months ahead of schedule, a development that’s prompting Pentagon planners to consider a rare move: increasing the active-duty force without Congress.As of Monday, the Army had brought in 59,875 new active-duty enlisted soldiers with a total goal of 61,000 for fiscal 2025, which ends Sept. 30, according to data reviewed by Military.com. That tally includes about 14,000 recruits who signed up last year but delayed shipping to basic training due to school obligations or training capacity issues. Such recruits are counted in the year they begin service.With the…

Hegseth halves Pentagon testing office. On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed a memo directing cuts to the office of the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation. The DOT&E workforce will shrink from 94 employees to 30 civilians and 15 service members as the office sheds “redundant, nonessential, non-statutory functions within ODOT&E that do not support operational agility or resource efficiency,” the memo says. In an accompanying video, Hegseth said the moves would save $300 million a year, but offered no details. Defense One’s Patrick Tucker has more, here.A second memo orders a review of DOD’s consulting contracts that “responsibly reduces…

There’s something breathtaking about a high-powered hunting dog doing its job. Speed, athleticism, drive—it’s all personified in that moment, and it’s a beautiful thing. It takes a dog with a lot of courage, endurance, and enthusiasm to do the job of hunting well, but those qualities can also be counterproductive.I suspect most of us have hunted behind a dog that is all gas and no brakes (of course, it was a friend’s dog, not one that you own!). Often, those dogs resist the partnership of the hunt. They hate to come in close enough to make eye contact, get leashed,…

Rossi USA recently added to the lever-action Rossi R95 Triple Black family with the launch of four new large-format, lever-action Triple Black pistols. The new Rossi R95 Triple Black pistol keeps the same features that Rossi R95 Triple Black lever-action rifles and carbines have but brings them over to a slightly more compact and more maneuverable form factor. Rossi R95 Triple Black pistols include several standard and useful features like 13.25-inch threaded barrels, sling mounting points and a mid-size, paracord-wrapped lever loop. The included pistol grip has the common birdshead profile that flares out towards the rear in order to…

Posted on July 15, 2024 (May 23, 2024) by Daniel Mitchell We should all feel safe in our own homes. For this reason, many people choose to purchase a reliable firearm for personal protection. But what are the best home defense guns? “Best” is, in many ways, subjective, of course. What works well for one person may not be the right fit for another. Still, there are some criteria we can use to determine what’s “best” for most gun owners looking to protect their homes and properties. We’ll go into some of those considerations later in this blog piece. For…

A new congressional watchdog report looking into whether U.S. Space Command’s headquarters would be best served by remaining in Colorado found that new construction would be needed to fix significant problems, a major revelation as the Trump administration weighs moving the command to Alabama.The Government Accountability Office, Congress’ watchdog agency, published a report Thursday examining how former President Joe Biden’s administration chose Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado, as Space Command’s headquarters location despite the Air Force identifying Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, as its preferred location, selected in the waning days of President Donald Trump’s first term…