A Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II crashed Friday morning at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, sending black smoke above the base and igniting a brush fire near the flight line. The pilot ejected before impact and reached a local hospital in stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries. The aircraft went down at approximately 10 a.m. south of Miramar Road near Mitscher Way, according to Times of San Diego. The Marine Corps classified the incident as a Class A mishap but has not announced a cause, identified the pilot or disclosed what the aircraft was doing before the crash…

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 What Actually Expires — And What Doesn’t Two different things can go out of date, and they’re not quite the same problem.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…