training

Tools that make you a better shooter can in many shapes and forms. Shot timers are an excellent tool, as is the MantisX training device, and we can’t forget Snap Caps. However, one item that will help you train better is a magazine loader. I know what you’re thinking: How can a magazine loader help […]

Tensions grow as leaders try to balance the strength of the force, the safety of their soldiers, and the morale of families. As COVID-19 continues to spread in the Nation, schools are continuing to close indefinitely leaving families with additional strains as many hourly workers are laid off or told to go home. Financial stresses, […]

Hannah Duston, also alternatively referred to as Dustin, Dustan, and Durstan in early Colonial records, was a Puritan mother of nine children who was taken captive along with her infant daughter by Abenaki Indians from Canada during King William’s War. The Abenaki had taken her during a raid on Haverhill, Massachusetts on March 15, 1697, […]

Just a few days ago, Stavros did a great writeup on how conducting airborne operations in the Third World, with some of our partners and allies who aren’t very well trained, can be… interesting. Many of these soldiers had never even been around aircraft before joining the military, and most of those on their first […]

A misty morning at Fort Jackson, SC, basic trainees, currently in week seven and set to graduate soon, are tested on the Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT). About 80 percent of them will fail the test. There are six events in total: THREE REPETITION MAXIMUM DEADLIFT (MDL): Deadlift the maximum weight possible three times. STANDING […]

Read part I here. A few hours later we were allowed back onto the range, cleared hot to commence our night shoot. There was still fire in the valley and it had spread across the terrain, but it was considered under control. As before, we shot into the night, firing all of our weapons, including […]

It was Summer 2012, and I was in the Crewman Qualification Training (CQT) phase of the SWCC training pipeline. Part of CQT included going to Camp Pendleton, CA, to partake in two weeks of weapons training; the first week was dedicated to small arms and the second week to heavy weapons. The first week went […]

Soldiers assigned to the New York Army National Guard’s, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion 69th Infantry, assault a position during training at the 106th Rescue Wing, F.S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base in Westhampton Beach, N.Y., on January, 11, 2020. Soldiers of the 69th Infantry conducted ground combat-focused field exercises at the 106th RQW as part […]

A few years ago, we wrote a piece about preparing our candidates for Selection and, in regards to the Physical Fitness test, training for the Upper Body Round Robin (UBRR) rather than the old, outdated 3-Event Physical Fitness test. The Army is finally ditching the antiquated 3-Event PT Test, for the new 6-Event Combat Fitness […]

Operation Flintlock: American special operators have teamed up with Special Operations Forces from 30 other countries to hone their tactics and intelligence-gathering capabilities in the Sahel region. This exercise, which has been ongoing since 2005, has been designed to bring special operators together so they can talk, communicate and build better cohesion among the units […]

What has been described as a “rogue Iranian-led militia” has breached the 55 km deconfliction zone around the U.S Special Operations base at al-Tanf and attacked MAT, an anti-ISIS unit trained by the U.S. Maghaweir al-Thowra (MAT) is a group that has been trained, equipped and led by American and coalition SOF operators in the […]

Nancy Wake was given the moniker, “the White Mouse” by the Germans during World War II, for her uncanny ability to escape out of any trap. However, the glamorous female agent of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), was deadly; in one instance she killed an SS guard, taking him out with her bare hands to […]