A long sit-down with David McCloskey. No rush, no fluff.

The headline’s shouting. Worth seeing if the story keeps up.

The U.S. Air Force launched an initiative to increase the number of mission-capable B-52 Stratofortress and B-1 Lancer aircraft by accelerating parts delivery, engineering support and depot maintenance.The movement, dubbed the North Star Readiness Campaign, responds to the push to maintain the readiness and availability of the U.S. bomber force for global operations, according to a Tuesday release.Air Force Global Strike Command launched the campaign alongside Air Force Materiel Command and the Defense Logistics Agency to bring together operators, acquisition and sustainment experts and logistics partners.“The North Star Readiness Campaign is our commitment to ensuring the warfighter has the nation’s…

The two top officers of the U.S. Navy released a video Tuesday assuring sailors aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt that their impending deployment would incorporate valuable lessons learned from the USS Abraham Lincoln’s historic deployment to the Middle East.Following the Lincolns’ nearly 10-month deployment that saw 264 days without a port visit, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy John Perryman said the Roosevelt will maximize its loadout of food and hygiene products before setting sail, among other improvements.“As one carrier returns home, we listen to its sailors and families,” Perryman said…

The dream team is collaborating once again.Buzz Bissinger, author of The New York Times bestselling book Friday Night Lights, and its subsequent film’s director, Peter Berg, are teaming up to deliver the true story of The Mosquito Bowl, which saw 65 Marines of the 4th and 29th regiments, 6th Marine Division, facing off on the “gridiron” of Guadalcanal before being shipped off to Okinawa.Based on Bissinger’s 2022 book The Mosquito Bowl: A Game of Life and Death in World War II, the film follows four of America’s top college football stars, who traded a pigskin for an M1 Garand. Netflix…

The Department of Veterans Affairs will mark the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks by hosting volunteer events on Saturday, Sept. 12, at more than 144 locations, including national cemeteries, VA-funded facilities and private cemeteries, beautifying the grounds to honor the fallen. The VA has held events on Patriot Day, as the date was declared by Congress in December 2001, to honor the 47 veterans and family members killed in the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, as well as the more than 16,000 veterans who have died since and are interred at VA national cemeteries. “As our nation marks…

Sign up for the Outdoor Life Newsletter Get the hottest outdoor news from Outdoor Life. Gavin Haakenson was lucky to get away with only a claw scratch on his left shoulder and a shredded sleeve on his puffy coat after he blacked out when a brown bear charged him. The attack happened while Haakenson was moose hunting on September 2 on the Killey River near Soldotna, Alaska.  “Last thing I remember was trying to shoulder my rifle and the bear jumping at me,” Haakenson tells OL. “Then I don’t remember what happened. That’s when my black out started.”  Haakenson and…

Editor’s note: This report contains discussion of suicide. Troops, veterans and family members experiencing suicidal thoughts can call the 24-hour Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 and dial 1, text 838255 or visit VeteransCrisisLine.net.House lawmakers released key findings Tuesday from an investigation into the Navy’s response to aviators dealing with flight-related brain injuries.The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform said the Navy has not done enough to research and mitigate potential neurological damage for Navy pilots despite being aware of documented mental health concerns and suicides within the F/A-18 community.“The result is a system that is well-equipped to treat…

Sign up for the Quick Strike Newsletter The hottest fishing news, tips, and tactics I’VE FISHED WITH Oliver Ngy on my home waters twice, and I walked away from both trips so inspired I was giddy, yet hopelessly frustrated at the same time. It’s rare for me to meet a fisherman who bucks the mindset of the average angler so hard it makes me feel as though I’m a novice on the water — despite my having been utterly devoted to, and infatuated with, the sport for more than 30 years.  But no matter how dialed in you think you…

The Pentagon has codified sweeping changes to military fitness requirements, some of which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered last fall. The new regulations, published Aug. 31, spell out testing timelines, standards for troops in combat arms specialties, guidelines for pregnancy and postpartum fitness and establish tracking mechanisms for testing results across the services. The policy incorporates directives issued throughout 2025 into a set of standards for the services. Among them: commanders must allow time for physical fitness every duty day and troops in jobs designated as “combat arms” must be held to male fitness standards on regular fitness tests. Many…

Retired Army special operations master sergeant Pasha Palanker first met Marc Andersen during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the man who now manages Army finances was handing out diapers at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, as part of volunteer work to support military families. Palanker was impressed — both by Andersen’s tall stature and formidable presence and by how he seemed to be serving the military community without a spotlight or a political agenda. The two quickly developed a close relationship. On Sept. 5, Palanker posted a series of photos of himself with Andersen on his Instagram, along with a “wholehearted” endorsement…

Editor’s note: This article first appeared on The War Horse, an award-winning nonprofit news organization educating the public on military service. Subscribe to their newsletter.If not for what happened on Sept. 11, 2001, Valeria Casillas probably would not have joined the military. But in the surge of patriotism following deadly terrorist attacks on New York City and outside Washington, D.C., she saw service as a chance to give back to the country where her father — a truck driver and naturalized citizen from Mexico — had carved his own path.“My dad loves this country so much. … He came to…

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 used to run on 6-volt batteries and use film. Then they evolved to AA batteries and SD cards, and now we live in a time when you don’t need an SD card at all, and rechargeable lithium has pushed battery life from weeks to months. By coupling a rechargeable lithium battery with a solar panel, you can push battery life from dove season right…

One sheet of paper. That’s the drill.

Iran said on Wednesday it had attacked 10 ships near the Strait of Hormuz after the U.S. sank five Iranian oil tankers, in the biggest declared wave of tit-for-tat attacks on shipping by both sides since the start of the six-month-old war.At least one seafarer aboard a tanker was reported killed and another listed as missing. The attacks sent the price of oil surging, with the international Brent crude benchmark breaching $100 a barrel for the first time since July. Iran also said it had fired ballistic missiles at a base used by U.S. forces in Jordan. Attacks by both…

Sign up for the Quick Strike Newsletter The hottest fishing news, tips, and tactics Capt. Kurt Christensen is a longtime veteran at catching big bluefin tuna from his 45-foot charter boat Molly Jane. But the giant tuna he and his crew of anglers caught on Labor Day morning is the biggest he’s ever seen in U.S. waters. “We knew a good spot where the bait stacked on a 164-foot ridge top with deep water all around it about 20 miles offshore,” the 62-year-old captain tells Outdoor Life. “The wind was blowing 25 knots that night when we got anchored on…

Getting flat is easy. Getting steady takes technique.

Sign up for the Outdoor Life Newsletter Get the hottest outdoor news from Outdoor Life. There was a lull in the action and our guide Mike Stahlman was searching to fill the silence that had crept into our duck blind. As any veteran duck hunter seems to do, he got to bitching about other duck hunters. “One thing that I just can’t stand is when people call them ‘scrap’ ducks,” Stahlman said, with real frustration in his voice. “If they’re just scrap ducks to you, then don’t shoot them.” That morning we had shot a few gadwall, wigeon, and ring-necked…

One tip for standing shots. Most people never got told.

The Pentagon has decided which company will make the U.S. Navy’s next-generation stealth fighter and could announce the winner in the coming weeks or sooner, two people briefed on the matter said.Boeing and Northrop Grumman are competing for the contract, which previous programs of similar scope suggest could be worth tens of billions of dollars over its lifetime.The program, currently unnamed but designated F/A-XX, has been buffeted by delays and funding disputes for years. Some Pentagon officials had sought to delay it by up to three years, citing concerns about engineering and supply chain capacity. Congress pushed back, earmarking $750…

Transition or reload. Old argument, worth hearing out.

The U.S. Air Force is looking to turn its cargo planes into launch platforms for drone swarms.Or more specifically, the service would like transport aircraft and their retinue of drones to deploy to Air Force bases. Once there, this swarm of AI-controlled drones would autonomously defend the bases — and any aircraft parked there — from attack.The goal is to transform cargo planes into “adaptive, force-multiplying launch platforms” that provide “a rapidly deployable swarm for base security,” according to an Air Force Small Business Innovation Research solicitation. The deadline is Oct. 21.The Air Force is looking for a 3-for-1 deal.…

When Andy Markoff deployed to Mosul with the U.S. Marine Raiders in 2016, one of the challenges they faced as they pushed ISIS fighters back along a hundred-mile front was that they never had enough munitions, he said.Markoff explained that calling in air support was an effective way to clear an area, but with thousands of potential targets and few available weapon systems, he constantly had to calculate whether a particular target was worth it.“Even if that target wasn’t active, knowing that it might be and maintaining availability of that type of a weapon system on station in case it…

Turns out the secret mission was the diversion.