The signs appear positive for military recruiting in fiscal 2026, following the services’ success last year in meeting or exceeding their recruiting goals, defense officials said Monday.Since the beginning of fiscal 2026 in October, recruiting efforts are “already off to a strong and promising start,” officials said, with the Defense Department meeting nearly 40% of its delayed entry program accession goals. “This is a historic figure and a testament to our support from the president and the secretary, as well as the great work being done by each of the services,” said Anthony J. Tata, undersecretary of defense for personnel…

A small Mexican Navy plane transporting a 1-year-old medical patient along with seven others crashed Monday near Galveston, killing at least two people, officials said.Emergency officials rescued four people and were searching for two that were inside the aircraft, Mexico’s Navy said in a statement to The Associated Press. Four of the people aboard were Navy officers and four were civilians, according to the Navy. It was not immediately clear which ones were missing and which had been killed.Two of the people aboard were members from the Michou and Mau Foundation, which is a nonprofit that provides aid to Mexican…

Editor’s note: This article first appeared on The War Horse, an award-winning nonprofit news organization educating the public on military service, under the headline “Q&A: How Did the U.S. Patrol the Caribbean for Drug Smuggling Before It Started Blowing Up Boats?” Subscribe to their newsletter.For decades before the Pentagon started blowing up alleged drug boats in the Caribbean, the Coast Guard tracked, intercepted and boarded the little skiffs that carried cocaine and marijuana across the Caribbean and eastern Pacific to the U.S.The dramatic escalation this fall, which has killed at least 99 people as of Wednesday, including 12 this week,…

President Donald Trump announced Monday the U.S. will build a new generation of “Trump class” battleships, in an effort to advance his vision of building a “Golden Fleet.” Trump, flanked by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Navy Secretary John Phelan and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, said construction of two vessels would start “almost immediately,” with the eventual goal of expanding to a fleet of 20 to 25. The president framed his eponymously named battleships as the “largest” to ever be built. “They’ll be the fastest, the biggest and by far, 100 times more powerful,” Trump said during his remarks at…

This article was originally published by Michael Snyder at The Economic Collapse Blog.  Hundreds of millions of people all over the Western world are enjoying the holiday season as if nothing has changed.  But meanwhile, the pounding of the war drums just continues to intensify.  If the world keeps going down this path, next year’s holiday season could look completely different. Unfortunately, most people seem to assume that everything will magically work out just fine somehow.  That greatly frustrates me, because ignoring the reality of the crisis that we are facing is not going to fix anything.  If ordinary citizens…

As the U.S. military continues to build up forces to deter China in the increasingly contested Indo-Pacific region, a recent Government Accountability Office report claims that clear guidance on how it funds those deterrence efforts has yet to be provided. Each year, the Defense Department selects programs, equipment, research and support initiatives to include in the annual Pacific Deterrence Initiative budget. The PDI originated as a way for the government to gain insight into how DOD is distributing funds to counter evolving threats posed by the People’s Republic of China. The GAO report analyzed the Defense Department’s annual PDI budget…

President Donald Trump has nominated Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Francis L. Donovan to head the U.S. Southern Command after the previous commander, Adm. Alvin Holsey, retired after 13 months, the Defense Department said Friday. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that Donovan — currently the vice commander of U.S. Special Operations Command — is in line to be the next SOUTHCOM commander, taking over from Holsey, who relinquished his post overseeing military operations in South America Dec. 12.Hegseth publicized Holsey’s departure in an Oct. 16 X post, saying Holsey would retire at the end of this year after 37 years of…

United States President JD Vance is warning that Western Europe is “Islamist-aligned.” Vance is a prominent Christian nationalist who is now fear-mongering over Europe’s immigration policies. Vance accused Europe of currently lacking a sense of national identity and warned that it could risk losing cultural links to America due to their immigration policies. JD Vance Doubles Down On Christian Nationalism “If they allow themselves to be overwhelmed with very destructive moral ideas, then you allow nuclear weapons to fall in the hands of people who can actually cause very, very serious harm to the United States,” Vance said. Vance added that…

Airmen enrolled in enlisted professional military education will stay in the course, regardless of whether they have passed the school’s internal fitness test starting in January, a change from current practice. The Thomas N. Barnes Center for Enlisted Education, which created and provides the program, notified students in a Dec. 12 internal memorandum initially circulated on the unofficial Facebook page Air Force amn/nco/snco.An Air Force official confirmed the memo by email to Military Times on Monday. “Effective 1 January 2026, students that fail a physical readiness assessment will no longer be released from a course,” the memo says.All service members…

Sign up for the Outdoor Life Newsletter Get the hottest outdoor news—plus a free month of onX Hunt Elite. The search for two missing Florida fishermen intensified Monday, three days after the U.S. Coast Guard found their boat drifting in the Gulf roughly 70 miles offshore from Fort Myers. Officials said the boat was in gear and still running when they located it Saturday morning. They believe the two fishermen, Randall Spivey and his nephew Brandon Billmaier, were wearing life jackets. “My dad and my cousin are still missing and we are not giving up,” Spivey’s son, Randy, wrote in…

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadPrepping channels are full of gear lists. But what happens when you sort through all of them and see what comes up again and again? You get a short list of items that nearly every experienced prepper recommends. That’s what this countdown is about. The 11 items that prepping YouTubers recommend you stockpile more than anything else. These aren’t tactical toys or expensive gadgets—they’re the basics. The kind of gear that should be standard issue for anyone serious about preparedness. Let’s count them down, from #11 to #1. TL;DR: The 11 most recommended prepper…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Attorney General Pam Bondi is leading the Justice Department in suing Washington, D.C.’s police over its allegedly unconstitutional ban on semi-automatic weapons.Bondi announced the lawsuit on Monday, saying the Metropolitan Police Department currently wrongfully bans the AR-15 and “many other firearms protected under the Second Amendment.””The District’s gun laws require anyone seeking to own a gun to register it with D.C. Metro Police,” the DOJ said in a statement. “However, the D.C. Code provides a broad registration ban on numerous firearms — an unconstitutional incursion into the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding…

References in U.S. Coast Guard policy calling hate symbols “potentially divisive” were removed Thursday, and a U.S. senator said she was lifting a hold she had placed on a nomination for the service’s top job.Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose agency oversees the Coast Guard, said on social media that the latest changes were made so no one can “misrepresent” the branch’s position.“The pages of superseded and outdated policy will be completely removed from the record so no press outlet, entity or elected official may misrepresent the Coast Guard to politicize their policies and lie about their position on divisive…

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadFree speech has always come with a price. Unfortunately, now that price has started looking a lot more like a body count. It started off in the 1990s as political correctness. Then, during the COVID years, it evolved into cancel culture, marked by lost jobs, public shaming, deplatforming, and the destruction of businesses, among other consequences. But now? We’re entering the next and far more dangerous phase of silencing people with different opinions. People aren’t just being canceled anymore. They’re being physically attacked—and in some cases, killed—for what they believe, say, or represent. That…

Roland “Bud” Wolfe’s yen to fly hot airplanes for the British against Nazi Germany before the U.S. declared war landed him in an Irish jail — twice — making him the only American held in what was one of the strangest internment camps of World War II. The 23-year-old Nebraska native was flying over neutral Ireland on Nov. 30, 1941, eight days before Pearl Harbor and 12 days before the U.S. declared war on Nazi Germany and Italy, when the engine on his Supermarine Spitfire conked out as he sent a radio message that said “I’m going over the side.”…

Sign up for the Outdoor Life Newsletter Get the hottest outdoor news—plus a free month of onX Hunt Elite. Flagship compound bows are a real challenge to test. So much of field performance comes down to “shootability” which has a lot of subjective elements. What feels perfect to one archer might feel awkward to another. That’s why we panel score all of the bows in our annual bow test. We also shoot hundreds of arrows for scored groups at 50 yards. We do the same with crossbows. And we put all of the archery accessories we review through equally rigorous…

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadGroup membership during collapse. It sounds simple until it isn’t. Someone knocks. They need help. You know them—or maybe you don’t. But they’re standing at your front door. They’re tired, scared, hungry, maybe sick. And they need help. You have stew cooking. Their kids haven’t eaten in days. You know that sharing your food is taking away from your family. Every meal you share with other is one meal closer to you and your loved ones starving. That moment is not the moment to start thinking about how your group handles new members. Unless…

The United States ruling class is not giving up and intends to steal more oil from Venezuela. The US Coast Guard is in “active pursuit” of an oil tanker in international waters near Venezuela as tensions in the region continue to escalate and could ignite a war with the South American nation. US authorities have already seized two oil tankers this month – one of them on Saturday, accoridng to a report by The BBC. Beijing Condemns Trump’s Gunboat Diplomacy After China-Bound Tanker Seizure Sunday’s pursuit of the vessel is related to a “sanctioned dark fleet vessel that is part of…

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadPreparedness isn’t about throwing a bunch of gear into one bag and hoping it works. And it’s not about having a bunch of bags and not knowing which to use. It’s about building systems—layered, intentional, and based on how people actually move through the world. Most preppers focus on bag names—Bug Out Bag, INCH Bag, Go Bag—and that’s where confusion starts. The definitions shift. People get stuck wondering: Do I need different bags? What goes in each? Where do I start? What if instead of chasing names, you focused on time?This episode breaks down…

Sign up for the Outdoor Life Newsletter Get the hottest outdoor news—plus a free month of onX Hunt Elite. Wisconsin’s Dane County is classic Midwest whitetail habitat. Rolling hills, small farms, hardwoods, and lots of deer – big ones. It’s also where the sprawling college town of Madison is located, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources includes much of the county in the state’s special “Metro” gun season, which runs 10 days longer than the general November gun season. This gives local deer hunters some extra time in the woods, which is just what Steven Loomans needed this year.…

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadPrepping doesn’t have to mean you have to be Tactical Timmy in green cargo pants, a grey Santa beard, and an open-carry Glock on your hip. You don’t have to look or act like a stereotype to be ready. In fact, in today’s world of division, suspicion, and targeted outrage, the smarter move is to stay quiet and stay off the radar. This episode is for anyone who wants to be prepared without becoming a lightning rod with a spotlight on it. That means keeping your opinions, your supplies and gear, and your plans…

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadPeople often look at preparedness through a basic lens of supplies, checklists, and storage rooms. And, yes, it feels great as our mountain if prepping supplies grows—I love it. That mindset covers the basics. It’s the logical starting point and does a lot of good for getting prepared. But people who go deeper into their preparedness—just like you are doing now, know that preparedness is a thinking game. You know that what works today might not tomorrow, and that rigid plans, like an egg, are easy to crack. If you’re reading this, odds are…

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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadHere comes Thanksgiving travel preparedness time. Thanksgiving is two days away, and you know what that means—awesome Thanksgiving leftovers, and the busiest travel day of the year is tomorrow, the day before Thanksgiving. 82 million people will be hitting the roads and skies this weekend, leading to packed airports, traffic jams, and inevitable delays. It’s a recipe for stress and frustration. As a preparedness-minded person, you already know the basics of travel safety. You’ve packed your bags, checked your routes and times, and added a few prepping extras—just in case. But holiday travel throws…