Author: Braxton Taylor

Now that we’ve established that flashlights and weapon-mounted lights serve a different purpose for the armed citizen than they do for law enforcement or the military, let’s look at a few tools of the trade. Night sights are useful as they add more confirmation that yes, our sights are pointing where they should be pointing. Remember, if we have an incident with a bad guy, he or she needs to see us and confirm that we are his or her intended victim du jour (or in this case, du soir). Absolute total darkness prevents that from happening, so we will…

The Marine Corps has identified two active-duty service members based out of Camp Pendleton, California, who were killed in a vehicle accident Tuesday while deployed to the southern U.S. border.Lance Cpl. Albert Aguilera, 22, and Lance Cpl. Marcelino Gamino, 28, both Marine combat engineers and from California, were killed during a convoy near Santa Teresa, New Mexico, according to a news release from their unit.A third Marine from the same unit, the 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, was in critical condition as of Thursday evening, when the service issued the news release. His identity was not released in the statement.Read Next:…

Army National Guard UH-60 Black Hawk pilot Jo Ellis listened attentively to the breaking news the evening of Jan. 29 that a helicopter had struck an American Airlines jet over the Potomac River near Washington, D.C., killing all aboard both aircraft.The next day, Ellis, who is transgender, was alarmed to hear Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth say that diversity initiatives had undermined air safety at the Pentagon, hinting that they had played a role in the midair collision.But it wasn’t until the following day, when Ellis began receiving text messages from friends asking whether she was all right, that she learned…

A robotics company and a defense contractor have teamed up for a high-tech fix to the military’s aircraft maintenance problem. Gecko Robotics and L3Harris announced Wednesday they will use drones to take thousands of images of aircraft and build digital twins, leading to much faster turnaround times for maintenance. The time it takes to fix or do preventative maintenance on U.S. military aircraft has been growing longer and longer as the aircraft age, resulting in ever-lower readiness rates.  Under the new partnership, drones will take 10,000 high-definition photos of aircraft in order to build full-scale digital models of planes. Then, using…

Almost There! Help us tailor content specifically for you: Full Name Agency/Department –select– Department of the Air Force Department of the Army Department of the Navy Joint Chiefs of Staff National Intelligence Agency Office of the Secretary of Defense Other Defense Agency Air Force Army Coast Guard Navy Marines Department of Agriculture Department of Commerce Department of Education Department of Energy Department of HHS Department of Homeland Security Department of HUD Department of Interior Department of Justice Department of Labor Department of State Department of Transportation Department of Treasury Department of Veterans Affairs EPA Executive Office of the President/Vice President…

Workouts designed for teamwork can be a fun and effective way to push yourself while building camaraderie. This partner workout engages two people in a series of exercises that prepare the body for load-bearing and movement-based activities common in military training, such as log PT, equipment carries, and personnel carries.Full-body warm-up: Begin by increasing your body temperature and preparing your muscles with a half-pyramid of pull-ups, push-ups and squats. Choose to complete between 5 and 10 warm-up sets. Doing 5 sets totals 15 reps of each exercise; 10 sets totals 55. The structure looks like this:1 squat, 1 push-up, 1…

The Army is facing a future where its posts are not safe from foreign attacks, where a strike on deployed troops can be followed up by a cyber attack on an installation, hamstringing the service’s ability to send in back-up. So the service is looking to turn its small cities into energy-independent islands, capable of keeping the lights on and the airfields or railheads running, no matter what. “Our adversaries are watching, they’re probing, and they’re preparing to disrupt our ability to project power,” Lt. Gen. David Wilson, the service’s top military advisor on installations, said Thursday at an AUSA event. “This…

You might wonder, “Does potassium iodide expire?” (Potassium iodide tablets are used to some extent for nuclear radiation thyroid protection.) “What is potassium iodide shelf life?” If you have wondered if potassium iodide expires (such as the branded iOSAT™ tablets and others)… I found out that I had made a wrong assumption. This was based on what I had heard from others and the dates on the packaging. I discovered this information years ago and want to share it with you… For those of you who don’t know what these tablets are… They’re basically ‘nuke pills’. They help prevent radioactive…

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—As defense contractors await firm direction from the Pentagon on Golden Dome, executives say the technology already exists to start developing space-based interceptors capable of hitting missiles in their boost phase—but admit it’s no easy feat.“Golden Dome” surfaced in almost every conversation at this year’s Space Symposium here, with aerospace giants to startups pitching their wares for President Trump’s next-generation missile shield. Space Force officials, meanwhile, remained less forthcoming about the effort—acknowledging they still don’t have a concrete architecture or a plan for the system that could cost hundreds of billions of dollars. A highly ambitious part of Trump’s…

Versacarry recently launched its new Crusader OWB (Outside the Waistband) leather holster that combines premium vegetable-tanned leathers in a low-profile and minimalist design that accommodates some of the most popular concealed-carry pistols with slide-mounted optics found in today’s market. Versacarry builds the rear portion of the new Crusader OWB holsters with a double-ply section of leather to protect the firearm as it is worn on the hip and to also make the Crusader holster more comfortable to wear all day long. To facilitate an easier draw, Versacarry also crafted the Crusader holster with a slight forward cant. Two large leather…