Category: Featured

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, approximately 10% of veterans of the war in Afghanistan are diagnosed with PSTD, 11% from Iraq.  In “the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, about 1 in 10 (10%) returning soldiers seen in VA have a problem with alcohol or other drugs.” It seems like an easy match, if […]

My previous installations of the “Pages of War” discuss how war affects literature of the time. You’ve probably heard it before: “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.” And the following lines are quite popular among the western warrior community: “For he to-day that sheds his blood with me / Shall be my brother…” […]

I had an electronic pistol box for quick access to my primary home defense pistol for almost two years. The day came when the batteries died and I went to grab the 9-volt battery to “jump-start” it.  It was at that point I discovered the pistol box was designed to revert to the default factory […]

Note: The following articles in this series may have taken place during real-world events… or it may have just been a training exercise… either way, no methods, sources or secrets were or will be divulged. This is all generic stuff that you can read in any “spy” novel—so take a puff of your inhaler and […]

North Sinai, Egypt — An explosion went off Friday, followed by bouts of gunfire, in what is being reported at the deadliest terrorist attack on civilians in the Egypt. The death toll has surpassed 230, and over 100 people have been injured. The attack happened at a Sufi Mosque and according to Reuters, a bomb […]

The following contains spoilers from HBO’s “Game of Thrones” and Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy. Fictitious leaders have been portrayed in many different ways, but they usually have their flaws. A good story is often a reflection of the way things are, and our own leaders each have their particular brands of flaws–they are human, […]

Bremont was formed in 2002 by brothers Nick and Giles English. Their first watches appeared on the market in 2007. In the relatively short amount of time since then, Bremont has become one of the premier watch brands for military units across the globe. Initially popularized in part by Bear Grylls who wore a Bremont […]

Write it down. Not to sell–there are plenty of non-fiction veteran authors chomping at the bit to share their combat experiences with the world. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with that, but that’s not what I’m talking about here. The last mission of my last deployment was pretty hairy. Without getting into it, people died […]

Putting practice rounds down range can be an expensive endeavor if you do it regularly, although it is important. To the contrary, dry firing can be useful to an extent but without any results behind it there isn’t much to gain.  With the MantisX Firearms Training System, I’ve found the best of both worlds.  This […]

Cigar smoker or not, most people who have seen “Independence Day” can at least appreciate the concept of a victory cigar. You get off a particularly hard mission, hair matted from hours of sweating under your helmet and your traps are burning from a night of violent movement while carrying your kit. The small, oblong […]

I’ve never been a fan of gift shopping and I look for any opportunity to make that process easier. My preferred method is to take care of as much as possible in one shot. 5.11 Tactical is a great spot to do that; they offer a wide variety of men’s and women’s clothing, footwear, gear […]

Charles Manson died on Sunday, in a hospital in Bakersfield, California; he was almost 83 years old, had struggled with some gastrointestinal bleeding earlier this year and then was recently finished off by natural causes. In 1971 he had been sentenced to death, but before the ruling could be carried out, California did away with […]