The choice is yours on how you protect yourself daily

Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform are investigating changes made to the Defense Department’s official casualty database, demanding records they say are needed to determine why four U.S. soldiers briefly disappeared from the Pentagon’s public Iran war casualty count before being reclassified under a newly created category.In a letter shared exclusively with Military Times, the oversight committee’s ranking member, Robert Garcia, D-Calif., and Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., ranking member of the Military and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee, asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to provide a complete record of every change made to the Defense Casualty Analysis System,…

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Logic suggests that a shotgun would be the best firearm to use to take out an enemy drone as it has long been the weapon of choice to shoot down small aerial targets. That’s because inside a shotshell contains pellets that spread as they fly down range, which increases the odds of hitting a flying target. When compared to a rifle, though, a shotgun is less capable on the battlefield because it holds less ammunition, has a significantly shorter range and delivers more noticeable recoil. It also poses logistical hurdles. Someone has to carry it along with ammo that’s incompatible…

Eligible U.S. Army pilots can earn up to nearly $210,000 in retention bonuses under a fiscal 2026 program designed to keep experienced aviators in uniform, the service announced in a directive dated July 26. The program is open to Army aviation warrant officers who meet specific career requirements and agree to remain on active duty for three to six additional years.The move, first reported by Task & Purpose, comes as the Navy and Air Force are also offering hefty bonuses to keep select experienced aviators in the service. Warrant officers with 12 to 14 years of active federal service can…

The U.S. Navy announced on Monday that it is reclassifying planned nuclear-powered Virginia-class submarines to differentiate them from past generations with a less lethal munitions package.The service changed the designation for 19 boats equipped with the Virginia Payload Module from “fast-attack submarines” to “guided missile submarines.”“Reclassifying Virginia Payload Module-equipped submarines as SSGNs accurately reflects the extraordinary strike capacity, operational flexibility, and global reach these platforms bring to the fleet,” said Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle. “These submarines will provide our nation with a powerful and persistent deterrent, expand options for our combatant commanders, and ensure the Navy remains…

The Navy last week announced its latest round of guidance regarding facial hair grooming requirements and religious and medical accommodations. Commands are now instructed to produce monthly facial hair accountability reports, specifically for those service members diagnosed with skin conditions such as Pseudofolliculitis Barbae, or razor bumps, according to the July 31 NavAdmin.Commanding officers are instructed to maintain a log of personnel requiring medical facial hair treatment plans, the memo said. Commands must then “forward a Facial Hair Accommodation Accountability Report using Excel Spreadsheet by the 15th of each month, commencing August 2026.”The updated July 31 memo expands upon the…

A bag belonging to a traveler tripped TSA alarms on July 18 after officers discovered Civil War-era cannonballs in the individual’s luggage, the first cannon-related mishap since JPMorgan’s polarizing legal proceedings. Roll Tide. The inert cannonballs, which were — naturally — wrapped in paper towels, were discovered during the baggage screening process at Alabama’s Gulf Shores International Airport and later determined by police to have been stolen from the nearby coastal stronghold Fort Morgan. “My first thought was, ‘I couldn’t see a fuse and need to get some help quick,’” TSA officer Justin Dupree recalled in a release. “I couldn’t…

Thirty-five years after the U.S.-led military coalition wrested Kuwait from Iraqi occupation, a memorial to honor the service members who served and the 383 who died in operations has found its home on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.“Desert Shield and Desert Storm, to a certain degree, has been a victim of its own success,” Scott Stump, President and CEO of the National Desert Storm War Memorial Association and Marine Corps Reserve veteran, told reporters last Thursday. Stump, a veteran of the campaign, began what he dubbed “his life’s work” back in 2010, during the 20th anniversary of the successful…

Sign up for the Outdoor Life Newsletter Get the hottest outdoor news from Outdoor Life. On Thursday a consortium of key waterfowl conservation groups sent a letter to the Department of the Interior and five Republican lawmakers urging them to uphold conservation easements in the Prairie Pothole Region.  The letter is a response to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s request for information about wetland easements in the PPR of the Northern Great Plains and drainage locations adjacent to those wetlands. It’s addressed to Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and signed by Delta Waterfowl donor and director John Childs…

Patients and staff at Mann-Grandstaff Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Spokane, Washington, were evacuated Saturday because of wildfires that have encroached on the state’s second-largest city, burning at least 600 structures as of Monday.VA staff evacuated an unknown number of patients to local hospitals and are caring for 27 patients at area shelters, according to the facility’s Facebook page. The medical center, which lies less than a third of a mile from the fire perimeter as of Monday, will remain closed, “with future operations to be determined.”More than 60,000 people have been evacuated from the area as a result of…

Sign up for the Outdoor Life Newsletter Get the hottest outdoor news from Outdoor Life. My son has enjoyed shooting from a very young age and, as a 10-year-old, has budded into a fine young marksman. After shooting my M1 Garand for the first time on a trip to the range this spring, he asked if he could use it to hunt bears — and how could I deny that? I’ve learned that part of being a parent is wanting your kids to have opportunities that you didn’t, and maybe even spoil them a little. 10-year-old Tyler would have been…

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday establishing a formal commission to address decades-old, persistent problems facing military spouses and families.“It’s an order that’s long overdue,” Trump said during a signing ceremony at the White House, flanked by more than a dozen military spouses who will be part of the new commission. The President’s Military Spouse Commission will make suggestions for improving quality of life in the areas of spouse employment, housing, education, childcare, healthcare, deployment-related support “and just about everything else you can think of,” Trump said.He noted the strains of separation from loved ones deployed overseas and…

Seventy-six members of the U.S. Coast Guard died by suicide between 2014 and 2024, with 14 — or nearly a fifth — occurring in 2024, the most recent data available.In the decade from 2014 to 2024, the number of suicides among active personnel and activated reservists ebbed and rose each year, with the lowest number of deaths, 3, occurring in both 2018 and 2021, and the highest — 12 and 14 — in 2022 and 2024, according to data released July 16 at the request of Military Times.The 2024 increase occurred at a time when the service experienced a slight…

Two YouTube personalities behind the Creek Kings Outdoors channel were convicted and sentenced this spring after a years-long poaching spree of bucks in the Columbus, Ohio, metropolitan area. The Ohio Division of Wildlife Resources released details of the investigation in late July, revealing insights into how the poachers exploited Ohio’s deer for commercial gain, and how they were ultimately apprehended. Columbus residents William Bethel, 28, and Justin A. Booth, 23, were charged in September with dozens of wildlife violations documented from 2019 through 2025. Many of those were published to their YouTube channel, Creek Kings Outdoors, which has since been removed.…

Dissatisfied with the quality of the engines for its fighter jets, the U.S. Air Force is looking for new engines — and perhaps new manufacturers.“The current industrial base has demonstrated significant challenges, including production delays, quality control issues, and critical obsolescence (i.e., diminishing manufacturing sources and material shortages) across key engine components,” warned the Air Force’s Request for Information. The deadline is Aug. 28.“The government will pursue a strategic competition requiring industry to innovate manufacturing and guarantee supply chain resiliency,” the RFI said. The initiative comes as the Air Force struggles with its jet engines. For example, F-35 fighter deliveries…

As focus shifts to the Western Hemisphere, the U.S. Army has approved service-wide wear of the Jungle Tab upon a soldier’s completion of the Jungle Operations Training Course, an Army spokesperson confirmed Monday. The skill tab will join the likes of the Sapper Tab, Ranger Tab and Special Forces Tab as “an official skill tab,” spokesperson Christopher Surridge said, adding that the Army is in the midst of codifying official policy and procedures for the tab’s wear and approval in the upcoming iterations of the service’s regulations. “We will officially publish and distribute formal implementation guidance to all commands upon…