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No sh*t, there I was: The time a US Army combat diver nearly became shark food

Large creatures under the sea give me the creeps. Grouper startle me, barracuda give me the heebie-jeebies, and sharks…well, sharks make masonry bricks come out of my ass. I wish like hell they didn’t scare me; I would have a bad-boy T-shirt printed up that says, “Ain’t Scared of Sharks.” I could rotate wearing it […]

Gear in the Wild: F-35 pilot’s arctic survival kit

Components of an F-35A Lightning II arctic survival kit lie on a table at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, April 24, 2019. A standard survival kit includes a compass, a flare and a five-inch knife. The cold-weather kit also includes components intended to increase survival chances in environments where temperatures reach negative 40 degrees Fahrenheit […]

Gear in the Wild: Training with the Army’s new Sig Sauer M17

1st Lt. Evan Kreamer loads the M17 pistol. Twenty-two Soldiers from Task Force Carentan conducted pistol marksmanship training with the M17 pistol at Gallery 9, Yavoriv, Ukraine June 22. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Justin Navin Watch U.S. Army soldiers train with the new M17 below:

Don’t try this at home? Guy builds homemade “fire vortex cannon” and lights up his backyard with it

It may come as a surprise to most folks, but here in the United States, owning a flamethrower actually isn’t banned by federal law — that means you can technically own your own in the 48 states that haven’t passed their own restrictions on these sorts of weapons. As for “electric ducted fan jet powered […]

Gear in the Wild: Coast Guard dive operations under the Artic ice

Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Adam Harris, a member of a joint Coast Guard-Navy dive team deployed on the Coast Guard Cutter Healy, holds a Coast Guard ensign during a cold water ice dive off a Healy small boat in the Arctic, July 29, 2017. The joint dive team successfully completed the first shipboard […]

Gear in the Wild:

U.S. Navy Diver 1st Class James Mostek, assigned to Mobile Diving and Salvage Company ONE-SIX, embarked aboard USNS Salvor (T-ARS 52), waits on a diving stage during a two-hour decompression stop after diving to 240 feet off the coast of Madang, Papua New Guinea, Dec. 7, 2018. The sailor is completing a Defense POW/MIA Accounting […]

Gear in the Wild: There aren’t many problems I can’t solve with an angle grinder

Boatswain’s Mate 3rd Class Joshua Sanders, from Pinebluff., Ark., performs routine maintenance aboard the Harpers Ferry-class amphibious dock landing ship USS Harpers Ferry (LSD 49) in the Pacific Ocean, May 13, 2019. Sailors and Marines of the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) are embarked on Harpers Ferry for […]

Gear in the Wild: You never know when you might need a good light source

Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician 3rd Class Marcus Crone, assigned Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit (EODMU) 5, conducts tactical maneuvering techniques during a routine training evolution in Santa Rita, Guam, May 15, 2019. EODMU-5 is assigned to Commander, Navy Expeditionary Forces Command Pacific, the primary expeditionary task force responsible for the planning and execution of coastal […]

Getting your hands dirty: The practical value of impractical hobbies

You take a rusty piece of scrap metal, a hack saw, a file, and you get to work. After hours of cutting, grinding, and sanding spread out of a week’s worth of days, you’re left with a knife that’s probably not quite as good as one you might buy at Walmart for just less than […]

Watch: The Green Beret is an outdoorsman trained to live and fight anywhere

As U.S. Special Forces recently turned 67 years old, it is interesting to take a look back at this public service announcement from the 1960s about the legendary Green Berets. Check out the video to learn more, but you may also enjoy this interview I did with Sergeant Major (Ret.) William Bowles. Sergeant Bowles passed […]