President Donald Trump on Monday recast his weekend call for American allies to deploy warships to the Strait of Hormuz as a test of loyalty rather than a strategic necessity. The shift in Trump’s framing of the issue came after nearly half a dozen countries either pushed back directly on the request or showed no enthusiasm about complying.“We don’t need anybody,” Trump insisted during a press conference in the East Room of the White House. “We’re the strongest nation in the world. We have the strongest military by far.” “I’m almost doing it, in some cases, not because we need…
Author: Tommy Grant
WASHINGTON, March 16 (Reuters) — The number of U.S. troops wounded in the war against Iran has risen to about 200, the U.S. military said on Monday, as the conflict entered its third week.The U.S. military’s Central Command said the vast majority of those wounded had suffered minor injuries and 180 troops had already returned to duty. Ten of the injuries are serious, it said.Troops had been injured in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain, Iraq, and Israel, Central Command added.Thirteen U.S. troops have been killed since Iran launched strikes against U.S. military bases following the start of…
Thermal tech on pistols: Not long ago, that was both unimaginable (for size) and unfathomable (for cost). There’s been a ton of progress in thermals in recent years, though, bringing size, performance, and cost into a neat little Venn diagram where companies like Infitac look to find their market share. With that in mind, let’s check out the Infitac Fast Mini FMP13 to see how it runs. First, the tech specs as provided by Infitac. Tech Specs Sensor: 256×192 resolution, 12μm pixel pitch Lens: 13mm F1.0 Display: 1.4-inch 360×300 OLED touchscreen Refresh Rate: 60 Hz Magnification: 0.5x base (feels like…
The U.S. military possesses several capabilities that it could wield to combat naval mine warfare in the Strait of Hormuz.Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy views the maritime weapon as a key pillar of its military strategy, according to a 2017 Office of Naval Intelligence report, and reportedly began laying mines in the sea passage last week.Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a Pentagon briefing Friday, however, that there was “no clear evidence” of mines in the strait. Adm. Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, said Monday that U.S. forces destroyed storage bunkers for naval mines during a U.S.…
Introduction: A War of Hubris and Unavoidable Consequences I’ve spent decades analyzing the intersections of geopolitics, energy, and the arrogance of centralized power. What’s unfolding in the Strait of Hormuz is not merely a regional conflict; it is the final, convulsive gasp of an American military and economic model that has long been bankrupt. President Donald Trump, sworn into office in January 2025, chose this war. In my view, this decision was not born of strategic necessity but of desperate, flailing hubris — a last attempt to assert dominance in a world that has already moved beyond it. We are…
The AR-7 design has bounced between a few different folks. ArmaLite was the original producer, but ended their run in 1973. Charter Arms picked it up, and after they folded, it landed at Henry, who still produces the Henry Survival Rifle. Charter Arms didn’t just produce a rifle, but they also produced a pistol version known as the Explorer II. The History of the Explorer II The Explorer II was produced from 1980 to 1986. Armalite originally called their rifle the AR-7 Explorer. When Charter Arms produced the AR-7, they also called it the Explorer. The Explorer II was the…
CAIRO — President Donald Trump said Sunday that he has demanded about seven countries send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, but his appeals have brought no commitments as oil prices soar during the Iran war.The president declined to name the countries heavily reliant on Middle East crude that the administration is negotiating with to join a coalition to police the waterway where about one-fifth of the world’s traded oil normally flows.“I’m demanding that these countries come in and protect their own territory, because it is their own territory,” Trump said about the strait, claiming the shipping channel…
Israel has invaded Lebanon, beginning a ground operation against Hezbollah. Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) stated that it has started a “limited and targeted” move against the terrorist group in order to protect Northern Israeli citizens. WAR EXPANDS: Iran Pounded Israel With Missiles Overnight In a statement on X, the IDF explained that the “limited and targeted ground operations against key Hezbollah strongholds” are “part of broader defensive efforts to establish and strengthen a forward defensive posture, which includes the dismantling of terrorist infrastructure and the elimination of terrorists operating in the area.” According to a report by RT, the Israeli military noted that…
A woman raising two children was among the six U.S. service members killed last week when a military refueling plane involved in the war with Iran crashed in western Iraq.Tech Sgt. Ashley B. Pruitt, 34, hailed from a large family in Bardstown, Kentucky, and was “very, very” proud of her military career, her husband Gregory Pruitt said Sunday.“I’ll give you something brief: in a word, radiant,” he said in a phone interview, trying to hold back tears. “If there was a light in the room, she was it.”Survivors include the couple’s 3-year-old daughter and Sgt. Pruitt’s stepson.Pruitt joined the military…
SETERMOEN, Norway — Norway’s elite soldiers for Arctic warfare swear by an old-fashioned method for staying hidden from drones’ sophisticated sensors: quinzhees, or snow caves, carefully dug by hand.Deep in Norwegian woods, some 400 kilometers away from the Russian border, an officer of the Norwegian Long Range Reconnaissance Squadron is hidden in a snow-made shelter, with only his light-grey firearm peeking out.The officer, nicknamed Poster Boy, is part of the country’s elite Arctic task force, designed to operate far behind enemy lines to conduct surveillance missions. The snow cave serving as his concealment is known as a quinzhee, 1.5m high…