The Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System, DEERS, is the database that quietly underpins nearly every benefit a military family uses day to day: Tricare coverage, commissary and exchange access, base facility access, and the ID card that gets checked at every gate. It’s also one of the easiest things to let lapse without noticing, because the consequences don’t usually show up until you’re standing at a pharmacy counter or a Tricare claim gets denied. What Actually Expires — And What Doesn’t Two different things can go out of date, and they’re not quite the same problem. The physical ID card…

The days of choosing substance over style are far behind us. Once upon a time, you could only get a pair of good hiking boots in brown or dark brown. The outdoor industry has expanded massively since those days, and now there are loads of fun (and beautiful) designs for gear that’s also functional and reliable. We’re highlighting several new collaborations this week that do exactly that, including gorgeous new binoculars inspired by bird species, backpacks with a Wes Anderson aesthetic, running and swim gear co-designed by Olympic athletes, and tons more. Find the latest and greatest of the outdoor…

For the first time in U.S. history, a parent has been convicted of murder for their role in their child’s violence. Colin Gray, the father of the student who shot and killed four people and injured seven others at Apalachee High School in Georgia in 2024, was sentenced to 15 years behind bars on Thursday. Gray purchased the rifle that was used in the shooting for his son as a gift even after an earlier police investigation into his son for allegedly threatening a school shooting as well as his documented history of mental health…

One of the most consistently underused benefits available to service members and their families is also one of the simplest to access: free, confidential, nonmedical counseling through Military OneSource, up to 12 sessions per issue, with no referral, no diagnosis and no reporting back to anyone’s chain of command. What It Actually Covers Military OneSource counseling is designed to be short-term and solution-focused, aimed at the everyday pressures of military life rather than clinical mental health treatment. That includes relationship and marital communication problems, parenting challenges, grief and loss, stress management, deployment and reintegration adjustment, anxiety, self-esteem, loneliness and working…

Skinny sport ropes feel great until they don’t. When I go sport climbing these days, I usually want a skinny cord. I want one that is easy to clip and feeds lightning fast out of my belayer’s GRIGRI, so I waste no time on hard redpoint attempts. But I’ve started to realize those thin ropes often wear down pretty quickly. They get soft spots from too many big whippers, turn fuzzy from running through draws, or end up with core shots after a hard season of projecting. Enter the Petzl Arial 9.5 ($280-350). This rope feeds nicely, but it comes…

When the VA announced its first-ever MDMA-assisted therapy clinical trial for veterans with PTSD this spring, it was treated, reasonably, as a single, discrete story: one drug, one trial, one company’s compound moving through one arm of a massive federal health system. What that framing misses is that the VA is not running just one psychedelic research program right now. It’s running several, involving different drugs, different sponsors and different points of entry into the same veteran population — and at least one of those programs is being built with direct help from a company that is also quietly preparing…

It’s a debate as old as time: Are expensive sunglasses really worth it? In one camp, there are those who believe sunglasses are bound to break or get lost, so why spend more than $20-30 on them? The counter to that reasoning posits that not only are expensive sunglasses a better product, but the very fact that they cost so much means you will take care not to break or lose them. To be sure, there are klutzes out there (no shame), and if misplacing or mishandling things is in your nature, then cheap is the way to go. But…

A year ago, the Army did something it had never done before: It commissioned four of the most senior technology executives in the country as lieutenant colonels, allowed them to bypass the standard training pipeline, and told them to help modernize the force part-time while keeping their day jobs at Meta, Palantir and OpenAI. On June 10, the Army added three more. The unit is called Detachment 201, officially the Army’s Executive Innovation Corps. Its second cohort commissioned during a ceremony at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Virginia, timed to the Army’s 251st birthday celebration in June. The new officers are:…

In a 13-3 decision, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has dismissed an Everytown for Gun Safety-backed lawsuit that challenged the Texas law regulating carriage of firearms on private property open to the public.  The statute allows private property owners to ban firearms from their premises if they choose, but the property owner is required to give “effective” notice that entry with a handgun is forbidden. That can be accomplished both in writing with language and posting requirements specified by the state, or through oral communication as well. The plaintiffs in this case were a Unitarian…

The Coast Guard recently rescued a 9-year-old child after dogs attacked him on a beach in the Bahamas. The Royal Bahamas Police Force said in a statement that authorities took the unnamed child to a local hospital after several dogs attacked him and left injuries across numerous parts of his body at around 10 a.m. July 28 while he was playing on the beach. The police said that the Coast Guard then transported the child to the U.S. in an emergency evacuation with his father, after medics in the Bahamas said his condition was potentially life-threatening. “This case reflects the…

The gun control lobby is hoping to derail a rule proposed by the ATF that would allow for non-over-the-counter sales of firearms, and they’re enlisting the help of anti-gun politicians.  On Thursday we covered New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s announcement that she’ll be introducing legislation requiring gun sales to be conducted in person, which would negate the ATF’s proposed rule, at least in the Empire State. Hochul’s not the only elected official taking aim at the rule, though. Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee have released a letter to ATF Director Robert Cekada calling on…

The Department of Veterans Affairs approved $1.2 billion in facility infrastructure improvements during the third quarter of fiscal year 2026, the agency announced July 20, bringing total obligated spending from its record $4.8 billion, nonrecurring maintenance budget to $2.3 billion for the year so far. The fiscal 2026 non-recurring maintenance, or NRM, budget is the largest in the VA’s history. The funds go toward significant maintenance, replacements and upgrades at VA medical facilities nationwide, intended to maintain and improve both operational capability and health care delivery. Where the Money Is Going Of the $1.2 billion approved in the third quarter,…