Author: Braxton Taylor
There’s a thing in the Army called hip-pocket training. It’s training, usually at the noncommissioned officer (NCO) level, that can be done with little notice or preparation — normally in 15- to 30-minute blocks. The Army Field Manual 7-0 formalized the process and even set specific responsibilities of the commander, first sergeant and lower NCOs for the planning and implementation of hip-pocket training.The historical tradition is much less formal, with sergeants basically just grabbing their troops when they’ve found themselves with downtime for short training blocks. That could be quizzing your team on the basics of field sanitation or going…
Sierra Bullets is adding a 6mm, 107-grain HPBT MatchKing-X (MKX) projectile to its MatchKing-X line. The MKX line, launched in April, was created from a coming-together of consumer demand and the expertise of the Sierra Bullets team. Outdoorsmen wanted to see the MatchKing’s precision and accuracy in the field, so Sierra Bullets re-designed the bullet to enhance terminal performance while still preserving the qualities of the original line. As a result, the MatchKing-X is now available for shooters and hunters alike. “We’re excited to introduce this 6mm 107-grain MatchKing-X (MKX) bullet into our lineup. Its MatchKing counterpart has been a…
The Defense Department’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office on Monday awarded four tech companies individual contracts valued at up to $200 million to provide advanced AI capabilities to address national security challenges.The awards were issued to Anthropic, Google, OpenAI and xAI.“The adoption of AI is transforming the Department’s ability to support our warfighters and maintain strategic advantage over our adversaries,” Chief Digital and AI Officer Dr. Doug Matty said in a statement. “Leveraging commercially available solutions into an integrated capabilities approach will accelerate the use of advanced AI as part of our Joint mission essential tasks in our warfighting…
The One Big Beautiful Bill will hand about $2.5 billion to the Army, most of which will go to buying more current weapons while accelerating development of new ones, Defense One’s Meghann Myers reports. The Pentagon is lumping the reconciliation bill’s funding with its recently proffered 2026 appropriations request, which combined would increase the service’s procurement budget by about 14 percent.The cash infusion comes as the Pentagon reviews its weapons stockpiles and its ability to send aid to allied countries, a move that temporarily halted planned weapons shipments to Ukraine without approval from the White House. You can read more…
No, we don’t mean Apollo Creed, the band Creed or Creed Bratton, we mean the Creedmoor family of long-range rifle cartridges. Merriam-Webster defines family as “a group of things related by common characteristics,” or “a group regarded as deriving from a common stock.” You could say the family of Creedmoor cartridges are both. The latter three Creedmoor cartridges descended from the first Creedmoor—the 6.5 Creedmoor—and all four cartridges are ideally adapted for long-range application. Throughout history there have been some noteworthy cartridge families. Though you its lineage can be traced back to the 1888 8 mm Patrone 88 cartridge, the…
The Trump administration’s move to cut off research funding to universities—ostensibly, for failing to adequately address antisemitism on campus—has implications far beyond the current political debate. It directly threatens one of the most critical foundations of U.S. national security: the longstanding partnership between the federal government and American research universities. This partnership has been essential to maintaining the U.S. military’s technological edge against adversaries such as Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and now, China.President Trump has declared that “peace through strength” is a central pillar of his national security strategy, and his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has emphasized the need…
The training company I work for teaches the four traditional gun handling rules popularized by the late Colonel Jeff Cooper. We’ve also added a fifth rule: Always prevent unauthorized access to your firearms. This rule is intended broadly, meaning no one is able to access your handguns except those you intend to allow to do so. One of our most popular and well-known classes is focused on armed parents and solving gun problems when our kids are with us, and an implied task within that skill set is having a gun that can be used defensively when we need it.…
This week, Cal tackles the “Make America Beautiful Again” initiative, unpacks the impeding screwworm invasion, and spills the beans on the latest Tiger King star to be sentenced to federal prison.To learn more and get involved with any Cal to Action, click here. Read the full article here
In this episode, Clay dives deep into one of Earth’s most mysterious creatures, the narwhal, Maggie clues us into the animal that may have inspired the creation of the flute in North America, and Spencer leads another round of MeatEater Kids Trivia! Connect with Clay, Spencer, Maggie, MeatEater, and The MeatEater Podcast Network MeatEater on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube Check out our Kids Merch! Read the full article here
Topics Discussed: Steve gets the short end of the stick with a wafer cone, twice; a hot tip on using hydrogen peroxide to remove blood from fabric; an organic mass; subscribe to The MeatEater Kids Podcast feed to catch our fresh drop of Season 3; a crawfish Oedipus complex drama; mountain lions killing six times more deer because black bears steal their; the highest density concentration of bears in the world; more bear-human conflict; how the Humane Society of the US shockingly has police powers; California’s screwy laws against hunting bears and the effort to fight them; and more. Read the…