Alex Hollings

Alex Hollings Alex Hollings writes on a breadth of subjects ranging from fitness to foreign policy, all presented through the lens of his experiences as a U.S. Marine, athlete and scholar. A football player, rugby player and fighter, Hollings has spent the better part of his adult life competing in some of the most physically demanding sports on the planet. Hollings possesses a master's degree in communications from Southern New Hampshire University, as well as a bachelor's degree in Corporate and Organizational Communications from Framingham State University.

A plate carrier for the big boys: AR500’s Testudo Gen 2 is a good pick for large frames

Plate carriers are among the most fiercely debated pieces of kit on the market today and it’s easy to see why. With so many options and prices that can range from thirty bucks to three hundred, just about everybody has an opinion on what you need for your purposes. Like most things, it’s been my […]

Stanford Outdoor Supply’s B.O.S.S. Survival Kits are basically everything you could need in a bad situation and more

I’ve always had a love and hate relationship with all-in-one kits geared toward survival. One the one hand, I love the convenience of having a curated collection of gear assembled in one place for one easy purchase, but on the other hand, I’m really particular about exactly what it is that I like to carry […]

Know a SEAL from a Night Stalker: a breakdown of US Special Operations units

While it could be said that every unit which falls under the “special ops” umbrella is comprised of operators who can move, shoot, and communicate with lethal efficiency, different units developed to address specialized challenges. As the years wore on, and particularly since the onset of the Global War on Terrorism, lines may have blurred […]

Looking back at September 11th, and the myth of the selfish millennial

The tragic events of September 11th, 2001 brought about the deaths of thousands of innocent Americans, who had their lives cut short by the cowardly acts of a small group of terrorists. It’s difficult to try to look back on such a series of events without being reminded of that sense of loss, of pain, […]

Check out the magnetic system Navy SEALs use to climb ships like Spider-Man

America’s special operations units have seen a dramatic uptick in the missions sets they’ve been tasked with throughout nearly two straight decades of the War on Terror, but despite some overlap in combat operations, each specialized unit has a specific area of expertise to draw from. The Navy SEALs, as most could assume from their […]

The warrior’s dilemma: My biggest parenting challenge has been renegotiating my relationship with death

On Thanksgiving Day this past November, something incredible happened: my wife gave birth to my beloved baby girl. It had been a long road, much longer than 9 months, and far more difficult a journey than most people realize. The birth of my daughter was more than a momentous occasion for my wife and I, […]

Check out this underwater pistol Heckler & Koch built for the Navy SEALs

One of the things movies always get wrong about firearms is how water will affect the way a bullet travels. Even in the otherwise-almost-too-real “Saving Private Ryan,” bullets are shown flying through water almost exactly as they do in the air: on a straight trajectory and with a lethal amount of kinetic energy. The truth […]

Why do Navy SEALs hate the SCAR?

For many of us from the conventional side of the military (or who never served at all) the FN Scar tends to carry with it a certain appeal. As a rifle designed specifically for Special Operations troops (SCAR actually stands for Special Operations Forces Combat Assault Rifle), it’s hard not to look at the jagged […]

These are the elite warfighting units throughout history that inspired modern American special operations

It can be said that the need to band together in groups is intrinsic to what makes us human beings. Long before the dawn of civilization, humans gathered together in like-minded groups in order to offer one another protection, defend resources, and share the mental and physical challenges of survival. Forming a cooperative group, or […]

Where does the term ‘operator’ come from?

Operator – someone who operates. In the civilian world, that could be someone operating an excavator, a wheeled tractor, and other similar heavy equipment. Historically, the term applied to people who worked in the old-school telephone centers and operated the manual telephone switchboards that were necessary in order from someone to call another number. In […]