The Brief: A Leesburg, Florida homeowner defended his residence after an intruder attempted a forced late-night entry. Hearing impacts at the exterior door, the resident retrieved a defensive firearm, issued verbal warnings, and shot the suspect as he breached the entrance, halting the break-in before police arrived. Responding officers took the wounded intruder into custody. Law enforcement determined the homeowner acted within legal self-defense under Florida’s Castle Doctrine, and no charges were filed against him. Safety experts highlight physical door reinforcements and quick-access safes as effective defensive measures. LEESBURG, FL — A dangerous forced entry attempt ended safely for a…
Author: Tommy Grant
Amid combat operations and efforts to clear mines and open sea lanes in the Strait of Hormuz, all while sustaining a naval blockade, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle estimates the Navy needs between $6 and $8 billion above what was budgeted for the current fiscal year “to be whole and solvent for [Fiscal Year] 26,” he told reporters at a round-table event on Wednesday.Delivering his State of the Navy address in Norfolk, Virginia, later that evening, Caudle said more than 27,000 sailors and more than two dozen ships had supported combat operations in America’s conflict with Iran.“Think about…
Mylar bags are the backbone of long-term prepper food storage, and for good reason. A properly packed mylar bag can turn a five-dollar bag of rice into a food reserve that easily outlasts a decade. Get the thickness, sizing, or sealing wrong, though, and you are storing spoiled food and calling it security. This guide covers everything you actually need to know about mylar bags for food storage: what they are made of, what thickness really matters, how to size oxygen absorbers correctly, and which foods belong in mylar and which do not. It also tackles the safety questions that…
We separate the facts from the fluff surrounding self-defense training so you can focus on what really matters.Let me state at the outset that the point of this article is not to declare that what you’ve been doing and have been taught about self-defense handgun application is wrong. The point of this article is to get you to apply some practical thinking to certain aspects of defensive handgun use in a life-or-death situation.My observations are based on my experiences in the military and as a police officer, and while training at some well-respected schools. Sometimes we get so caught up…
My mother saw me stacking potatoes right next to a bag of onions in the pantry and just said, “Don’t put that there.” I asked why, and she said her grandma always kept them apart; no idea why, just always did. I laughed it off at first, just a kitchen thing. But then it hit me: if that’s true for a bag of onions sitting out for a week, what’s happening inside my stockpile, where things sit sealed up together for months, sometimes years? I’ve been building up long-term storage for a while now, shelves full of buckets and cans…
A former Navy SEAL who completed an illustrious career as a NASA astronaut and engineer over the last decade is returning to active-duty military service, according to NASA.Jonny Kim will continue serving as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy and work in naval aviation training once he leaves the government agency Thursday. “Contributing to space exploration and serving NASA has been the honor of a lifetime,” said Kim. “Throughout my career, I’ve learned that beyond the missions, the training, and the hardware, success always comes down to the people. They are our greatest asset, and leading with love and…
The National Transportation Safety Board said on Thursday the crew of a military helicopter carrying President Donald Trump that came too close to a passenger jet on Aug. 4 failed to reach air traffic controllers before departing.The incident involving a plane departing Reagan Washington National Airport raised questions about why the passenger airplane was allowed to depart while Marine One was nearby, a time when commercial traffic is typically halted.The NTSB said the Marine One crew at least twice attempted to give controllers a required three-minute notice of departure but were hampered by communications issues. Read the full article here
Residents and airmen in the Washington, D.C., area will soon miss the familiar “whomp whomp” sound of UH-1N “Hueys” flying overhead as the aging aircraft depart Joint Base Andrews in the coming years.The U.S. Air Force recently selected Andrews to receive 26 HH-60W Jolly Green IIs, an advanced combat search and rescue helicopter, to replace the base’s 26 aging medium utility Hueys. The new aircraft are expected to reach initial operational capability by 2029, with full operational capability by 2030. In the meantime, the base will prepare for the additional aircraft through standing up the 5th Helicopter Squadron on Thursday…
The Navy is changing how enlisted advancement works. Eligible sailors in participating ratings are increasingly being connected to higher-paygrade billets, while nuclear sailors remain on a different advancement track.According to a Navy spokesperson, the programs have different functions, requirements and candidate pools. The differences are underscored by the service’s 2026 Nuclear Meritorious Advancement Program guidance, issued Aug. 19, which continues a quota-based advancement path for nuclear sailors, while 14 ratings are fully integrated into Billet-Based Advancement, or BBA. For the 14 ratings fully integrated into the BBA construct, advancement opportunities include Advance to Position and Command Advance to Position. The…
Maintenance delays for U.S. Navy attack subs have resulted in boats that are frequently idle in port when they should be at sea. Over the last decade, “these delays resulted in an estimated $3.4 billion in costs to sustain crews and submarines that provided no operational capability,” according to the Government Accountability Office study. Perhaps even worse for a Navy already overstretched and exhausted, maintenance backlogs for attack subs between 2016-25 resulted in 15,000 lost operational days. This includes “active idle time,” when submarines and their crews “must remain pier-side because they are no longer certified to conduct normal operations…