Author: Braxton Taylor
Primary Arms Optics continues to improve its top-of-the-line PLxC series of LPVO (low-power variable optic) scopes. Originally launched in 2023, the Japanese-made Primary Arms PLxC 30 mm 1-8X LPVOs represent the best that Primary Arms had to offer in a modern compact tactical riflescope. The original Primary Arms Optics PLxC 1-8 was so well received that the US DOE (Dept. of Energy) awarded Primary Arms a contract for the optic. Primary Arms Optics is now offering the new PLxC 1-8 RDB (Red Dot Bright) scope. The scope is the company’s most-recent PLxC variant, and like the original, the new Primary…
Senators have rejected an effort to rein in President Donald Trump’s war powers, voting down a resolution that would have blocked him from conducting future military strikes on Iran.Friday evening’s 47-53 vote against advancing the resolution in the Senate capped off days of debate about the effectiveness of last weekend’s U.S. military strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities and whether Iran can quickly reconstitute its nuclear program absent further U.S. military action.And it came hours after Trump told reporters he would “without question, absolutely” consider striking Iran again if U.S. intelligence concludes Tehran is still capable of enriching uranium to…
A few years ago, I was taking a top-level training class and one of my fellow students was struggling to keep up. The class covered “real world” concealed carry and gave us great insights, but this student was always a step behind due to a gear issue. He had brought his regular carry gun to the class, (a SIG Sauer P938, which is a perfectly serviceable defensive pistol) and was carrying it at the appendix position in a hybrid holster. The problem was, the holster he was using was designed to be carried on the right hip, not upfront on…
Morgan Adamski will hand the role of executive director of U.S. Cyber Command to the NSA’s Patrick Ware.“After 17 years of service at the National Security Agency, I’ve decided to turn the page to an exciting new chapter in my career. It has been an extraordinary journey contributing to the defense of our Nation and advancing the cybersecurity mission across the U.S. Government,” Adamski wrote in a LinkedIn post Friday.The No. 3 spot in the combatant command is typically held by a civilian on detail from the National Security Agency.Though Adamski did not say where she would be headed next, she spoke of…
The Pentagon wants to simplify its classified networks—so it’s testing out a secure, cloud-based network on a British aircraft carrier in the Indo-Pacific, a top defense tech official announced Thursday. The Defense Department has been working on a new initiative designed to sketch out possible ways to collapse or reduce the number of secure networks the military has to use to communicate with allies and partners, Leslie Beavers, the Pentagon’s principal deputy chief information officer, said during Defense One’s Tech Summit on Thursday. It’s called mission network-as-a-service. “If we actually get to the point where we tag the people, tag the data…
Another stretch of federal land along the Rio Grande River in South Texas is being transferred to the Air Force, creating the largest militarized border area to date as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to issue harsher legal punishments to migrants who cross into the U.S.The new military zone is located in Cameron and Hidalgo Counties in Texas and will be transferred from land overseen by the International Boundary and Water Commission, an entity that settles boundary and water treaty issues between the U.S. and Mexico.Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave the directive to create the new zone June 18,…
The Army has “Saving Private Ryan,” the Navy has “Top Gun,” the Marine Corps has “Full Metal Jacket” and, now, an animated children’s movie might be the Space Force’s most in-depth and accurate film depiction yet.Disney and Pixar’s newly released “Elio” is a story about a young orphan who is being raised by his aunt, Air Force Maj. Olga Solis, who is an orbital analyst tracking space debris. The 11-year-old boy has a deep fascination with outer space and dreams of being abducted by aliens one day in hopes of making intergalactic friends.The film was in production well before the…
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced that a Navy supply ship that honored a veteran who was the first openly gay politician in California will be renamed for a sailor who was awarded the Medal of Honor during World War II in a video message posted online Friday.In the video, Hegseth said that he would be renaming the John Lewis-class oiler USNS Harvey Milk in honor of Chief Watertender Oscar V. Peterson. Peterson heroically sacrificed his life while his ship, the USS Neosho, was under attack by the Japanese during the Battle of the Coral Sea.Military.com first reported that Hegseth…
Four big tech executives the Army directly commissioned to be lieutenant colonels, with no military background, will not recuse themselves from business dealings with the Department of Defense — as the Pentagon, particularly the Army, cozies up to Silicon Valley.Earlier this month, the Army announced Detachment 201, the name being a reference to HTTP code, for the newly commissioned executives of Palantir, Meta and OpenAI. The new formation is set to recruit tech executives to work on major Army challenges, but the service has not articulated exactly what those individuals would do — instead focusing on recruiting talent and creating…
An ex-Marine recruiter who was sentenced to a year in prison for abusing his position of authority and after self-publishing a book about his inappropriate relationship with a teenage prospective recruit was released from the brig three months early and without his victim’s knowledge.Pvt. Christopher Champagne, once a gunnery sergeant on recruiting duty in Texas over two years ago and in his late 30s, was released from a military prison in California on Monday after serving less than nine months of a 12-month sentence, a Marine Corps spokesperson told Military.com.The mother of Champagne’s victim said that the military did not…