Through consistency and mental toughness, Michael Guzman, a Clermont, Florida, native, recently graduated from Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island after losing nearly 100 pounds.Pvt. Guzman had hoped to become a Marine since he was 5 years old, inspired by his uncle’s service. However, after graduating from high school, his weight reached nearly 270 pounds, making that dream feel out of reach.After praying for guidance, Guzman received a text message the following day from Staff Sgt. Luis Cervantes, a recruiter with Recruiting Substation Clermont, asking if he was interested in becoming a Marine.“I took that as a sign,” Guzman said…

Sign up for the Deer Camp Newsletter Get everything from whitetail news and opinion pieces, to advanced hunting tactics and cutting-edge gear reviews. One of the biggest challenges in whitetail hunting is getting deer to walk right where you want them to. Whether you’re trying to capture a trail cam photo of a mature buck or you want one to stand broadside at 20 yards, deer have a tendency of picking the wrong trail.  Bait piles are a tempting remedy to that problem, but they aren’t legal everywhere and they have some notable cons (primarily that mature bucks tend to…

Following the recent announcement that a Saildrone Voyager unmanned surface vehicle directly aided the U.S. Navy during a drug interdiction in the Caribbean that led to the seizure of more than $81 million worth of cocaine, the Navy has awarded the California-based company a $16.3 million task order to extend operations of the Voyager fleet in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, according to a recent release.The extension is in line with the Trump administration’s efforts to curb illicit narcotics flowing into the United States via alleged drug-carrying vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.Since 2023, Saildrone’s USVs have…

There was no hint of trouble in weather or sky as the thirty-foot trolling boat Roamer cast off her lines, backed away from the dock, and moved out across Munising Bay. Her skipper, Capt. Fred Lukowski, was at the wheel and Donald Martin, the fourteen-year-old helper and cabin boy, was busy coiling lines and making things shipshape. The seven of us who were aboard for a fishing trip started to get our deep-trolling gear ready.A brisk wind had blown earlier in the morning, holding us temporarily at the dock, but it had died down to a light breeze. We had…

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Good takeaways for hairy situations found here

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Easy way to shave off some LBs found here

He let’s it all out in this podcast about danger close situations

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Sign up for This Happened to Me News on backcountry adventure and wilderness survival. I started camping right around the same time I started walking. My parents loaded my brother and I into their orange Volkswagen bus and drove us from our house in central Wyoming to the closest open campsite we could find. Since then, I’ve camped from north of Alaska’s Brooks Range to the bottom of Argentina, though the bulk of my nights outdoors are still spent in Wyoming. I’ve learned a few good camping hacks along the way. I’ve learned from my own missteps, like when we…

Sign up for This Happened to Me News on backcountry adventure and wilderness survival. My wife and I had always wanted to hunt goats and we thought it would be a cinch after being lucky enough to draw two of the 150 permits from the more than 5,000 applications to hunt in Washington State’s first official goat season. What we hadn’t figured on was the weather and more important still, our stupidity. It was clear enough when we back-packed in and made camp at Round Lake above the timberline in the Glacier Peak area of the Cascade Mountains. But when…

The U.S. Army is searching for a surface-to-air missile that can destroy small drones.The Next Generation C-sUAS Missile project comes as the U.S. and other nations are pursuing lasers, microwaves and other alternatives to kinetic anti-drone weapons, such as missiles and cannon, which are seen as too expensive and in short supply.The Army wants to quickly develop an “extended-range, quick-response missile to defeat Group 2 and Group 3 small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS) threats,” according to the Army’s Sources Sought notice. The deadline is August 20.The initial specifications are for a missile that can intercept a drone flying at 6…

Veterans of the Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard may be at higher risk for developing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) compared with veterans from other branches, according to research published on Wednesday in the journal Neurology.In a review of 9.9 million veterans in the VA medical system from 2000 to 2024, researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the Department of Veterans Affairs and elsewhere found that 14,419 patients had received an ALS diagnosis.In the group with ALS, 46% were Army veterans – nearly the same percentage of soldiers in the entire patient cohort. Using the rate…

Since Aug. 11, 2025, nearly 9,700 National Guard troops from across the nation have been shipped into Washington, D.C., and put up in hotels in service of the “Make DC Safe and Beautiful” mission ordered by President Donald Trump.As the mission approaches the conclusion of its first year — with at least two more to go, unless the president says otherwise — its measure of success depends on whom you ask. In a round-table discussion with reporters Monday, Brig. Gen. Leland Blanchard, the D.C. National Guard’s interim commanding general, suggested the impact of the Guard’s presence was as much about…

We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn More › Sign up for the Outdoor Life Newsletter Get the hottest outdoor news from Outdoor Life. Trail cameras are the most significant product in whitetail hunting strategy since the invention of the treestand. Before they came along, we would wonder if deer were using a trail and what time they walked it, and now we get those answers delivered right to our phone. One nagging problem is the wind. Forecasts aren’t reliable and the wrong wind will absolutely ruin your day. Tactacam…

The U.S. Army has used up much of its stockpile of highly accurate long-range missiles during America’s five-month war with Iran, according to three people familiar with the data, raising concerns about the military’s readiness for future conflicts. The missiles are principally the Army’s surface-to-surface weapons, known as Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) and Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM). The U.S. has used “virtually all” of these weapons, according to two of the sources. The degree to which the military is running out of ATACMS and Precision Strike Missiles has not been previously reported.The long-range munitions are an important part of…

Sign up for the Quick Strike Newsletter The hottest fishing news, tips, and tactics When most people think of topwater smallmouth takes, they envision something violent: A slashing blow and shot of whitewater spraying into the air. Hits like that get the blood pumping for sure, but I might argue that subtle, gentle smallmouth sips are even more heart-stopping. When you see the white chin of a 5-plus-pound bass rise in crystal-clear water and hover under a tiny fly before simply making it disappear, it’ll change what you thought you knew about how and what smallmouths eat.  I know because…

Army officials said the Next Generation Command and Control, or NGC2, is “ready to scale” following an extensive prototyping phase that culminated at a joint force exercise at Fort Irwin, California, in July. Maj. Gen. Patrick Ellis, commanding general of the 4th Infantry Division, called the system “functional but not optimized” and said they will “spend the next year refining how we fight using the technology to share our lessons learned across the Army.”The Army had been scaling the NGC2 prototype since 2025, an effort that concluded at Project Convergence-Capstone 6. The 10-day event tested NGC2 hardware and software using…

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