MARPAT desert uniforms blended into the sand like copperhead snakes that slither over the landscape. The Marines took a knee. Lieutenant Colonel Whitford used a handsfree microphone in the blasted heat. He spoke with his hands always returning to a stance with his feet shoulder width apart pointing out board and his left hand over his right almost in a praying display around his navel.

He stood there like a monolith. Black as a clump of rare earth elements. He stood at the position of attention. His camouflage uniform looked slightly shabby. Some parts seemed pressed and in order while great patches looked ruffled and unkempt. He rolled his sleeves tightly, though. Silence pervaded the room of about eight other junior Marines, privates and privates first class (PFC) mainly. The hatch to the place swung open and Staff Sergeant Henley, aged twenty seven, also blue black in appearance, stepped up to the young PFC standing at attention. This was PFC Cartwright. Tears streaked his dark skin.

The heat of the parking garage enveloped the Marines. Lance Corporal Stevenson Swinton worked his biceps, his triceps, his tapezius, his core. Sweat dropped like shell casings from a M240. Other lance corporals and corporals operated in similar fashion. Every move remained swift and precise. The idea was to get buff, sure. But the real reason behind all of this lifting, squatting, pressing, and yes sweating was to be the best Body Bearers. Swinton dropped the two hundred and twenty five pound bar on the bench press. He looked up at his platoon guide. A smirk found its way onto his face.

"Safeties off, lads."

“When I first got here,” Sergeant Pella Mansley said, “I thought that I was the hotness. My CO punched me in the chest.” The words chilled Lance Corporal Chorus Lessing like frost on a tombstone.

"That Others May Live" that is the motto of the United States Air Force Pararescue Team. These guys are bad MFs who won't stop until the mission is done and lives have been saved. They are without a doubt the most elite Special Forces Unit in the Nation and perhaps the world.

My torn coat flaps in the vicious breeze as I walk slowly back home, my four year old brother running and skipping ahead, oblivious to our suffering. Pain shoots through my empty belly as I jolt and shake with each jagged step. My skin feels burnt, despite the cold, as I stride to what I humbly call my home. Disappointment reddens my face every time I walk the broken garden path to my front door. The door is dull and weathered, the lock all but broken. My sunken eyes blur as I notice the torn curtains and empty closets. I check for letters then hurry inside to start dinner for my little brother. My father is in the army. He will not be back for supper. I pour water into an iron pot and open the pantry door. I stare at the same thing I stare at every day. Nothing. I stifle a sob, not wanting the carefree nature of my brother to be corrupted by my hopelessness. My mother is dead. She was shot protecting the daughter of two complete strangers. The fruits of a country too long at war. She will not be home for supper.

On 6th June, 1944, allied forces undertook what became the biggest seaborne invasion in history. In what was known at the time as "Operation Neptune," 160,000 American, British, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and other allied soldiers stormed a 50 mile stretch of heavily-fortified coastline in Normandy, in Nazi-occupied France, landing in amphibious craft and immediately coming under heavy fire. The operation has been re-imagined in countless movies, TV shows and video games—perhaps most famously in Steven Spielberg's 1998 film Saving Private Ryan.

I have been working with ex military vets who have kindly shared their horrific war stories with me. As Soldiers... We soldier on. This was a repeated phrase used by many of our heroes. I have been connecting with soldiers and turning their stories into monologues working with a company called Iconic enterprise. With the stories, I have written them into performance pieces for our event to bring awareness to these outstanding people. I have shared three of my monologues below to help bring awareness of the pain and suffering our soldiers are put through, many suffering from PTSD.

The Corps probably has—it probably had long before I’d gotten there, too—I don’t know what punishments the cadets inflict upon themselves today, but in 2002 the approved method of masochism were area tours, colloquially referred to as “walking hours.” An Area Tour was the most common punishment for both minor and major infractions; the severity of punishment rose in accordance with the egregiousness of the crime. The punishment was to spend time, reflecting on your misdeeds, walking back and forth across the center of the campus. You hefted your rifle upon your shoulder, walked about one hundred paces, switched shoulders, faced about, and repeated the exercise for as many hours as your sins warranted. Being late to class garnered you five hours or so, or missing formation ten, or something like that (it seemed arbitrary to me at the time).

The tale, as far as I know it, started in 1979. It started with Saddam Hussein. It started with conflict, with war, with struggle, hostility, bloodshed. It started with death. My grandfather, then 25 years old, was in combat for six years. He was married and left behind six beautiful young children. I talked to him the other day about the Iranian Iraqi war and he had told me that he had fought in the defensive position and shot down Iranian fighter aircrafts to protect his base. He had told me that at some point during the war, the Iranian military had surrounded his base, and that for three days, they were left to starve. The soldiers had to resort to eating grass and drinking muddy water.

Two nuclear explosions. 80 million dead. More war crimes than any other event in human history. Entire continents turned upside-down. That's World War II in a nutshell.

"That Others May Live" that is the motto of the United States Air Force Pararescue Team. These guys are bad MFs who won't stop until the mission is done and lives have been saved. They are without a doubt the most elite Special Forces Unit in the Nation and perhaps the world.

NOVEMBER 11

48.24.57 N 101.21.29 W

"Safeties off, lads."

It was a hot summer that year, 110 degrees in the shade. We were doing training exercises in South Carolina. Digging foxholes, setting up our tents, and making sure our battle ready laser tag systems were on. Four battalions getting ready for war for and with each other. I get my foxhole ready, my tent is up, and I'm bored. What's a soldier to do?

With how much information we pass around online, it is pertinent to secure, monitor, and traffic who has the ability to access sensitive information. Therefore, it is a wise idea for the military to utilize a network traffic analyzer to better protect top secret, private, or highly sensitive material online. This is easily done by utilizing a program or individual to monitor the flow of the network. This service allows for the ability to track devices, see what people are looking at online, and take into account how much bandwidth each device is using.

Okay, you’ve made the decision that it’s time to transition from military service and start a new adventure in the “civilian world,” but how do you translate your military career into a language and skill set that is clear and understandable to prospective employers?

When you leave the military, you may be worried about your transition to regular civilian jobs. However, there are civilian jobs similar to military life that won’t be too much of an uprooting for you. Before your job search, you need to know what you’d like to do. Plenty of employers would love to hire men and women who have had military experience because of how disciplined and hardworking they are.

So you may want to join the military? Bravery, courage, hard work, and selflessness are just some character traits that you can expect military recruiters to look for when they are assessing whether or not you'll make the cut. Some of the traits military recruiters look for, though, could surprise you, and they are definitely things you should know before meeting with one. Check out some of these in-demand characteristics needed to take advantage of all the career and educational opportunities that come along with joining the military.

My torn coat flaps in the vicious breeze as I walk slowly back home, my four year old brother running and skipping ahead, oblivious to our suffering. Pain shoots through my empty belly as I jolt and shake with each jagged step. My skin feels burnt, despite the cold, as I stride to what I humbly call my home. Disappointment reddens my face every time I walk the broken garden path to my front door. The door is dull and weathered, the lock all but broken. My sunken eyes blur as I notice the torn curtains and empty closets. I check for letters then hurry inside to start dinner for my little brother. My father is in the army. He will not be back for supper. I pour water into an iron pot and open the pantry door. I stare at the same thing I stare at every day. Nothing. I stifle a sob, not wanting the carefree nature of my brother to be corrupted by my hopelessness. My mother is dead. She was shot protecting the daughter of two complete strangers. The fruits of a country too long at war. She will not be home for supper.

In the front hallway of Mom's house are a set of photos, taken on an Air Force base, portraying a dashing man in uniform and the fighter plane behind him.

First thing is first is that boyfriend/girlfriend or girlfriend/girlfriend or boyfriend/boyfriend relationships can be easy at times and really hard at other times. It goes the same when you are a civilian, and you are dating someone in the military. The the word civilian is what people in the military call people that aren't in the military. There are many rules and/or things to know that come with dating someone in the military (just like dating someone not in the military.)

Many people have a sort of love/hate relationship with all kinds of weapons in general. They do find them fascinating to look at from a distance, but to get them to touch or wield a sword or gun would be too much of a stretch. Additionally, a lot of us have this internal fear within ourselves that we may very well end up hurting ourselves, because we have no idea how to handle them. Given how many times that has happened to people, this fear is perfectly valid.

Anyone who has been watching the national budget getting passed can tell you that veteran care is grossly underfunded. For all the work veterans do, Uncle Sam simply doesn't want to take care of them once they are out of the service.

Whatever your situation is, whether you want to join the military, you're an active member of the military, or just in the market for survival gear, you'll want to look into the best possible equipment you get. Tactical folding knives are some of the popular pieces of tactical defense equipment and can be extremely important.

For several years, I went to the Service of Remembrance to take photographs and talk with Evan, who served on five continents in the Second World War. Evan was always very humble about what he did for this country during that war, and I don’t think he ever fully appreciated what his service meant to others.

I visited Vietnam in 2018, travelling from the capital, Hanoi, in the North, to the former capital, Ho Chi Minh City, in the South before heading to Cambodia. HCM City was formerly called Saigon, and in truth still is by many Vietnamese, whether they live in the city or not. There are even beers called Hanoi and Saigon, but no beer called Ho Chi Minh City.

A veteran is not your average person. They are people who heard the call to duty and stepped up to meet the challenge. Despite knowing that they may end up paying the ultimate price, they went ahead and fought the good fight anyway.

When a military family member returns home from a deployment cycle, it is understandable for everyone to be both anxious and excited. However, what family members may not realize is that when service members reintegrate into society after deployment, the soldier may be dealing with a lot more negative emotions that the family will not understand. Post traumatic stress is a very real disorder that many returning service members suffer from. Whether it’s their mental health they are struggling with or just normal adjustments back into civilian life, a healthy transition is the main goal for soldiers long term.

Simplifying your life and creating a routine can help you accomplish goals and get more done, which is something we could all benefit from. Well, it is no secret that the marine corps has special tips that can make your everyday tasks go by quicker. The military is known for being strict, but they also produce some of the best workers out there. Those who are in the military have their routine down to a science, and there are some military routines every civilian should do. Make your civilian life easier by following the simple tricks that the military uses on a daily basis.

A weapon that has not only engraved itself in the most prominent pages of history, but help create it, the ceaseless symbol of "Knighthood," "Kinship," "War," and "Chivalry"—the "Sword" is one of the world’s most ancient weapon technologies that paved the way for major breakthroughs in the historical timelines and metallurgy. Their existence in the lineage of history is so important; not merely because of the number of victories, but some of these "ancients" have been built so strong and sturdy, even modern science has failed to determine how they were made.

With thousands upon thousands of men and women in the military fighting for the safety and freedom of the United States, we must stop and take the time to express gratitude for their sacrifices. Beyond taking time on days like Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, or Veteran's Day to remember and thank service members, you may find yourself wishing to support active military troops and veterans in other ways.

There is no question that the military forces of the United States are the strongest in the world. It is a badge most Americans wear with honor, and that fact is especially true among those who are affiliated with service members. Considering the exception of military members themselves, some of the most proud are military spouses. They live a life that is opposite the same coin that their service member spouse have committed to, dealing with the stresses of everyday tasks without their support system close to home. As a friend, or even the soldier abroad, being there for them isn’t easy either; but it is important to find ways to do it anyway. That’s why a number of companies have created subscriptions boxes for military wives, husbands, or significant others at home, to help you support the loved one fighting the good fight at home.

MARPAT desert uniforms blended into the sand like copperhead snakes that slither over the landscape. The Marines took a knee. Lieutenant Colonel Whitford used a handsfree microphone in the blasted heat. He spoke with his hands always returning to a stance with his feet shoulder width apart pointing out board and his left hand over his right almost in a praying display around his navel.

He stood there like a monolith. Black as a clump of rare earth elements. He stood at the position of attention. His camouflage uniform looked slightly shabby. Some parts seemed pressed and in order while great patches looked ruffled and unkempt. He rolled his sleeves tightly, though. Silence pervaded the room of about eight other junior Marines, privates and privates first class (PFC) mainly. The hatch to the place swung open and Staff Sergeant Henley, aged twenty seven, also blue black in appearance, stepped up to the young PFC standing at attention. This was PFC Cartwright. Tears streaked his dark skin.

The heat of the parking garage enveloped the Marines. Lance Corporal Stevenson Swinton worked his biceps, his triceps, his tapezius, his core. Sweat dropped like shell casings from a M240. Other lance corporals and corporals operated in similar fashion. Every move remained swift and precise. The idea was to get buff, sure. But the real reason behind all of this lifting, squatting, pressing, and yes sweating was to be the best Body Bearers. Swinton dropped the two hundred and twenty five pound bar on the bench press. He looked up at his platoon guide. A smirk found its way onto his face.

Today I had just seen the movie Midway and I have to say that it was such a good movie. I mean, it shows about another part of the Second World War that happened between the US and Japan. The battle that happened there I didn’t even remember learning about in school. All I remember about is Pearl Harbor and how horrific it was and how many people had lost their lives that day and it was completely sad. I mean, many people are still buried in the Arizona till this day since there wasn’t any way that they could get out of there.

War can be hell for those that bravely choose to fight for what they believe in, and there is no one more courageous than a United States soldier. Those brave men and women go out into the field with enemies lurking in the shadows. Around every corner could be an enemy combatant looking to end that soldier's life. One must keep their wits about them as attacks can come when they least expect it, in more ways than one. But what if the bad guys weren’t the only ones you had to worry about? What if those who you called brothers in arms were causing you to look over your shoulder? I can’t think of a worse hell than being thousands of miles from home in a country where people are actively trying to kill you, and those who are supposed to be your allies are forcing you to sleep with one eye open. Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to The Kill Team.

I am a sucker for inspirational stories so when I first heard of the movie unbroken I definitely wanted to see it. It took quite some time but I eventually got around to seeing it. I don't know what took me so long. I guess there were a lot of blockbuster movies that got in the way and somehow I forgot about watching it.

Many years ago, the Royal Navy was deemed to be the most formidable fighting force in the world with many ships in its arsenal ready to be mobilised.

Though there are tales as old as time, being in the military is one of those "you have to see to believe" life experiences. It's impossible to realistically imagine life in the Navy unless you've lived it yourself. The Navy is a family. Sailors are brothers and sisters. They have each others' backs. There are many things to consider when deciding whether to join the Navy so learn about what it's like to be a sailor. It's probably not at all what you think it is.

Joining the Navy is a huge decision for anyone to make. For most men and women making this choice, going through the enlistment process is their first experience as an adult after receiving their high school diploma. When you are getting ready to join the Navy, there are many requirements—mentally, physically, and emotionally. If you are joining the military, or if you specifically want to prepare for joining the Navy as an enlisted sailor, an officer, or even a Navy Seal, here’s a list of how to do so.

People who have served in the military look for a veteran's attorney at some point in life. Everybody has a different reason to look for a veteran's attorney in the legal process.

Bloodshed, gunshots and screams.

Sgt. 1st Class Barbara Ospina, now retired, is paralyzed and kept to a wheelchair all day due to excruciating pain. What has caused such a thing to happen to this soldier, you may ask? Oh, it's quite simple—she had a spinal surgery in 2004 on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and they left her like this; instead of fixing the issue, they made it worse. She claims medical malpractice and now she went to the DVA (or Department of Veteran Affairs), and has requested payment for the suffering she deals with on a daily basis, and for the government to care for her caregiver that cares for her now. The DVA refused to accept her need for a caregiver, and now she has a lawyer and may be suing for her rights as a Veteran.

Also, known as the Prince of the Brigade, Tommy Prince was a Native American who was born in Manitoba, Canada in 1914. Tommy at an early age was forced to drop out of elementary school to feed his 11 siblings, mother and father. Growing up he quickly learned from his father who was a hunter how to use a rifle and a knife to be able to hunt the nearby wildlife in the native reserve that he lived in himself. Now, does he not sound like a modern-day Mowgli? He became an extremely talented marksman and tracker from all the days he spent hunting and gathering food for his family. Years later he worked as a tree feller as well as joined the cadets during his teen years. Now think back, what did you do when you were 14 years old? Suddenly the Second World War began, and due to Tommy being an Aboriginal he was rejected several times from the Canadian army as discrimination was a widespread fact at the time. Eventually, he was accepted and was assigned to the first Field Park Company of the Royal Canadian Engineers. There he was trained to be a sapper, which was the first step to his impressive skill set. If you’re unsure of what a sapper is, they were essentially engineers with demolitions expertise. Two years later he became a sergeant with the Canadian Parachute Battalion, however, soon after he volunteered for the first Special Service Force also known as the Devil’s Brigade.

Many historians have said that out of his entire life time, his best military achievement in Gaul was winning the Battle of Alesia. What makes this feat extraordinary is the scale and determination of the battle’s two opposing sides, but in what way did Caesar describe the battle of Alesia? On the side of the Gallic armies, an Arverni man named Vercingetorix led a rebellion against Rome bringing many of the tribes of Gaul together in a united front. Being that Gaul was a Roman province and Julius Caesar was its governor Caesar had to quell another Gallic uprising. Gallic wars background. Who started the rebellion and why?

On Monday, June 26, HMS Queen Elizabeth finally set sail for testing after years of setbacks. While HMS Queen Elizabeth is being tested in the North Sea, there is a huge possibility that Russia will be observing the tests of the new state-of-the-art aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy to see what the capabilities are of the new aircraft carriers. But recently there has been a clash of words between Defence Secretary Michael Fallon and the Russian military.