More than 21 million veterans and service members live in the U.S., but only about 6% of them bought a home using a VA home loan in the past five years. That percentage could be much higher. Eligible veterans often bypass the program for a number of reasons. First, they may not know all the advantages. Second, they may think getting a VA loan is an arduous process to be avoided. Last, some lenders don’t take the time to teach veterans about the program, or don’t know much about it themselves. The VA home loan is a program non-military home…
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is expected to announce Wednesday that he will cut general and admiral positions across the military by 20%, effectively doubling the reduction he ordered last year as part of a broader plan to reshape the senior ranks by Jan. 1, 2027. Hegseth is scheduled to lay out the plan during a “State of the Force” address at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, according to Pentagon officials cited by several news outlets, including Fox News, which first reported it. Quantico is the same site where the secretary gathered the United States’ highest ranking generals and admirals…
Being a police officer is tough. I wouldn’t do it for three times the top-end pay for an officer, much less what they actually get paid. Growing up around the profession, I saw just what kind of toll it could take on a person, and that’s without losing a number of your colleagues in a single day. Just one was enough to rattle a lot of police officers’ families deeply. Officers in Charlotte, NC, dealt with that back in 2024 when four of their colleagues were gunned down by a convicted felon armed with a…
LONDON (AP) — The U.K. has “strong indications” that Iran played a part in the incident that saw five men arrested near a U.S.-run military air base in England late at night, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Wednesday. Burnham said U.K. and U.S. officials are carrying out a “complex and serious” investigation into how and why five men and three vans were near the perimeter of RAF Fairford, a base that has been used by American bombers striking Iran during this year’s war. Five British men in their 20s were arrested Sunday on suspicion of explosives offenses and planning an…
Can you be convicted of a crime when you act in self-defense but an errant shot strikes a home or another person? The answer may vary from state to state, and even from case to case, as the Ohio Supreme Court recently decided. This particular case involves a man named Timothy Bradley, who was originally charged with a variety of crimes after shooting a contractor named Zachary Burch at Bradley’s home in 2024. Bradley had hired, and then fired Burch, and the pair started arguing when Burch showed up to collect his tools. Video and audio…
Separating from the military sets off a series of financial deadlines that don’t run on the same schedule, and most of them aren’t automatic. Health coverage, life insurance, Department of Veterans Affairs disability filing and retirement account decisions all run on their own separate clocks, and missing any one of them can mean a gap in coverage or a benefit that closes for good. Here’s how the sequence goes, from before separation through the end of the first year. Before Separation: 90 to 180 Days Out The window to start planning opens well before your separation date. Veterans and service…
The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division has already successfully gone after the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department over its unreasonable delays in processing concealed carry applications and recently targeted San Jose, California over its excessive fees for concealed carry permits, but now the division is seeking to strike down another local law on the books in San Jose. The Justice Department filed its first complaint against the city’s $1591 application fee a couple of weeks ago, but on Tuesday the agency filed an amended complaint this week that challenges San Jose’s requirement that concealed carry applicants undergo…
The U.S. Marine Corps is following the Department of Defense (DOD) and Air Force, issuing new deadlines for service members to revise their religious affiliation as part of a major shift in the U.S. Armed Forces that began months ago. On Tuesday, the Marine Corps published its own official Marine Corps Administrative Message (MARADMINS) implementing the policy change that will affect personnel. This MARADMIN “announces implementation of the revised Department of War Religious Affiliation Codes (RAC) and directs Marines to review and update their religious affiliation information.” Military.com was the first to report how DOD dramatically reduced its official number…
Post from MilitaryByOwner Each time we make a move with the military, we have one huge decision to make: Do we live off base, or do we live on base? In my experience, there are 7 things to consider before living in military housing—both pros and cons. 1) You may give up some privacy. We can be a nosy community. Combine that with living a few feet from each other, and you soon have a community that knows everything about you, right down to your daily routine. But don’t be fooled; you’ll soon know just as much about your neighbors,…
You get a lot of conveniences when living in a city apartment – proximity to schools, shopping, and services. However, when the power grid fails, look out, you’re in for some challenges. Unlike some homeowners in suburbia, you can’t just break out the generator or avail yourself of a large propane tank. The elevator may not work, the tap water may go dry, and managing sanitation may be an issue. The good news is you can prepare before anything happens. TL;DR: To prepare for a loss of utilities in an apartment, focus on space-saving water storage like a WaterBOB, use…
After hearing the news about the Hong Kong high-rise fire back in November 2025, I thought about the safety of apartment and condo dwellers living in high-rise buildings. In the aftermath of the tragedy, 161 people lost their lives, and thousands of residents were displaced. Many factors contributed to the fire, including the use of substandard building materials, shoddy workmanship, and shady business dealings. These facts highlight the case that there are risks for anyone living in a densely populated building high above ground. When you live in a high-rise apartment, you must always pay attention to fire safety. The…
Each summer, when a heatwave hits, the power grid gets overwhelmed. Power is interrupted, and many apartment and condo dwellers rush to the store to buy whatever they can get their hands on to cool off. By then, anything that might have helped is sold out. If you live in an urban environment, brick, concrete, and glass make the heat worse, as these materials all radiate stored heat back into your living space. Let’s look at various ways to keep cool during a heat wave and a power failure. TL;DR: To stay cool at home during a power outage, block…
I might write about what other countries do involving guns, but it’s not like I have any interest in what happens there. It’s not my circus, not my monkeys. I only care about it in the context of how it might impact anti-gun efforts here in the United States. But Ukraine is a little different.While I have no ties to the country, I’m not a huge fan of Russia, and I don’t like invaders, regardless of what anyone says to excuse why Russia crossed the border. The fact that the big former Soviet bear can’t…
When a tornado comes, many people head straight down the stairs to wait it out. But if you live in an apartment, a home built on a concrete slab, or a mobile home, you probably don’t have a below-ground shelter. Effective survival does not include hoping for what you don’t have. It is about building a plan with options, and knowing exactly what to do with the space you do have. Ability and confidence come from having a solid plan before the sky turns green. Your preparedness helps figure all of that out, stripping things down to the essentials and…
Ticks are small, but they can cause big problems. These tiny parasites feed on the blood of animals and people. A tick bite may seem minor at first, yet some ticks carry diseases that can lead to serious illness. For anyone who spends time outdoors, learning about ticks is a practical step. Whether you hike, garden, camp, hunt, work outside, or simply enjoy your backyard, knowing how ticks live and how to avoid them can help you protect yourself and your family. TL;DR: Ticks spread disease by attaching to people or animals and feeding on blood. The best way to…
Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadIt’s 12:30 in the afternoon on April 28th, 2025. You’re in Europe, standing in a Madrid train station. The lights go out. The departure boards go dark. Your phone says no service. Across the border in Lisbon, hospitals are switching to backup generators. ATMs freeze. Payment terminals stop working. In under five seconds, the entire Iberian Peninsula has lost power. Tens of millions of people. No power. No warning. Zero idea when it’s coming back. That wasn’t a hurricane. It wasn’t a bomb. It was a cascade—the kind of grid failure engineers and preppers…
It’s no surprise that Everytown for Gun Safety isn’t happy with the Trump administration taking the position that bans on AR-15s and other centerfire semi-automatic rifles are unconstitutional. If the Viramontes case was playing out at the Supreme Court during the Biden administration, the DOJ would either be silent or would be siding with those defending the bans. But it’s still amusing to me that Everytown refuses to consider the possibility that the DOJ’s current stance is based on the understanding that the Second Amendment protects the right to keep and bear arms in common use.…
Recently, I heard a troubling everyday situational awareness story about a lady walking back to her car at a neighborhood market when a young woman approached her. The young woman was friendly and complimented her. They got into a conversation, and the young woman inched closer to the lady. All of a sudden, the young woman snatched the lady’s necklace and ran off. The poor victim was very shaken and sustained some bruises, and of course, she was sad that she lost her valuable necklace. This story made me think that most people don’t get into trouble for doing obviously…
Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadI’m an adopted, Southern California surfer kid who grew up with an explosive and emotionally unavailable mother who has worked as a lifeguard, paramedic, firefighter, Army Ranger, Blackwater security contractor, and spent over a decade deployed (over 2000 days/five years on the ground in Iraq), eventually resulting in overseeing the guard force at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad and some other high-profile jobs. And, as one might expect, after over a decade working in places like South Central L.A., Atlanta, Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, and Pakistan—where, in one form or fashion, I’ve been attacked dozens…
Two veterans are among five finalists in a national beard contest, with the chance to win $20,000 for their chosen charity. BJ Ganem, a Marine Corps veteran from Wisconsin who served in Iraq, and Damon Friedman, a retired special warfare officer who served 20 years in the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Air Force, are two of the five finalists competing to win $5,000 for themselves and $20,000 for their charities. Wahl, a company that manufactures hair clippers, trimmers and other grooming tools, is running the contest. They asked bearded men from across the country to submit a video of…
Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadMost people think of awareness as a switch. On when something is wrong, off the rest of the time. It works more like a range with several settings, and you move through all of them every day without deciding to. The drive to work gets one setting. The walk through the parking lot gets another. The table at the restaurant, the checkout line, the couch at home, each one gets a different amount of your attention, and the amount you give it is rarely a choice you make on purpose. That is the problem.…
