In this episode Gunny is patrolling for love. But instead he finds some efficiency issues in the speed dating model. So he turns to with a little Gunny-brand tough love. (Animated by Marine vet Vannick Douglas.)
That satisfying “Ping!” of bullets on target is as regular as a metronome when former Green Beret sniper, Aaron Barruga, is running tactical marksmanship drills on his home turf in Santa Clarita, CA. With his company, Guerrilla Approach, Barruga trains civilians, military, and law enforcement in proper and effective tactical firearm deployment.
The man does not miss.
“Oscar Mike” host Ryan Curtis paid a visit to Barruga’s training facility to bone up on his sharpshooting and found himself in good hands, drilling shoulder to shoulder with this veteran entrepreneurial success story. Barruga’s advice?
“I would definitely say that, if they have the opportunity, use that G.I. Bill. Get that piece of paper that says, “I’m smart and employable.” And just grind away, basically. You gotta hustle.”
As the day progresses, the sweat beading on Ryan’s brow is a testament to his hustle, if not his dead shot accuracy. And when he challenges Barruga to an Old West-style duel, our host quickly learns what high noon looks like at the Less-than-OK Corral.
Mommy? (Go90 Oscar Mike screenshot)
Watch as Barruga makes plinking targets look easy, and Curtis proves his monkey is definitely the drunkest, in the video embedded at the top.
One of the most ever-present devices in modern times is the navigation system in everything from cell phones and wrist watches to in-dash car displays. All of them are made possible with just a few constellations of satellites, most of them launched by the U.S.
But the systems use the satellite signals for free despite a cost in the billions to create and launch the satellites, and $2 million is spent daily to maintain the U.S. system. So why are civilians across the world allowed to use them for free?
An Su-15 Flagon fighter like the one that downed Korean Air 007. (Photo: U.S. Department of Defense).
The big turning point was in 1983 when a Korean Air passenger jet flying near the Soviet border accidentally crossed into Russian territory in the Kamchatka Peninsula.
The Russians were worried that the plane was a U.S. bomber or spy plane, and made the catastrophic decision to attack the jet, downing it and killing all 269 passengers and crew members on board.
President Ronald Reagan publicly condemned the attacks and turned to his advisors to find a way to prevent other mix-ups in the future. He opened the GPS signals to public use with an executive order — but added scrambling to reduce accuracy.
This made the signals less valuable to rival militaries.
Civilian companies sprang up around GPS and worked to create devices that were perfectly accurate despite the scrambling. After almost a decade of the military increasing scrambling to foil technological workarounds, President Bill Clinton ordered that the scrambling come to an end.
Instead, the U.S. jams GPS signals locally when they’re in combat with a force that uses them.
This jamming works by interrupting the signals, allowing the U.S. to scramble signals from its own satellites as well as those launched in more recent years by Russia, China, India, and Japan.
In November of 1965 Joe Galloway was a young reporter for UPI who’d seen combat, but nothing like the intensity he was about to experience by insisting he join a couple of battalions of the 7th Calvary as they faced the first large-unit battle of the Vietnam War. Galloway’s experiences were captured in We Were Soldiers Once . . . And Young, a book he co-wrote with Lt.Gen. Harold G. Moore, USA (ret), who was the commander on the ground during the battle.
Galloway sat down with WATM while he was in DC for the 50th reunion of the Vietnam War veterans of the 7th Calvary, and he offered his memories of the Battle of Ia Drang Valley as well as his thoughts about how soldiers today compare to those who fought previous wars.
For more about We Were Soldiers Once . . . And Young go here.
If you’ve ever surfed the internet looking for military rap songs, chances are you’ve come across the unique sound of “The Marine Rapper.”
Known for sporting a red mohawk and wearing an American flag bandana, TMR served 10 years in the Marine Corps as a Combat Correspondent where he earned a Combat Action Ribbon and two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals during his service.
After successful tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, TMR left the Marine Corps in February 2014. After entering back into civilian life, TMR began focusing on music as a profession and for cathartic expression.
TMR has performed and hosted numerous live shows from Los Angeles to San Diego. (Source: The Marine Rapper)
Since then, TMR’s music has been featured on the Range 15 Movie Soundtrack, the Oscar Mike TV series on Go90 network, and Apple Music.
“Star-Spangled Banger has many meanings,” TMR tells WATM. “It is a new Star-Spangled Banner, it is my moniker and a way of saying veterans made a banger.”
TMR’s music recounts personal war stories over hip-hop and rock inspired beats. He strives to motivate others and to use his rhythmic talents to immortalize his fallen brothers and sisters through music.
Check out The Marine Rapper‘s music video to watch “Star-Spangled Bangar” for yourself.
The Marine Corps has just dropped the greatest pumpkin carving video of this year. Three Marines “carve” three pumpkins in the 20-second clip, and they do it from about 15 meters away.
Check out their explosive techniques in the video below:
(You’ll need to be logged in to Facebook to see the video.)
A dramatic rescue of a little girl trapped by ISIS gunfire was captured Friday on video.
David Eubank, a former Special Forces soldier-turned-aid worker, was filmed as he ran out in the open amid ISIS sniper fire to rescue the girl as two other men covered him with rifle fire.
“I thought, ‘If I die doing this, my wife and kids would understand,” Eubank told the Los Angeles Times.
According to the Times, Eubank’s dramatic rescue played out on a street in the Iraqi city of Mosul, where ISIS snipers were firing at civilians that were attempting to flee. Wearing only a t-shirt, bulletproof vest, and helmet, Eubank is seen running out into the street approximately 150 yards where he picks up the girl and brings her back safely behind a tank.
Eubank, 56, served for a decade with the US Army Special Forces. After leaving the military, he founded an aid group called the Free Burma Rangers, which seeks to bring “hope and love to people in the conflict zones of Burma, Iraq, and Sudan,” according to its website.
Follow the rules set forth by Max, The Body, Philisaire and you’ll be at the top of the rope in no time.
If Max “The Body” Philisaire has a Phil-osophy (a Maxim?) he lives by, it might go a little something like this:
Learn the rope. Or be the dope.
FYI: the dope (left) ends up on his ass. (Photo from Wikimedia Commons, Nicoleon, CC BY-SA 4.0)
In the army, Max did his time on the climbing rope, just like you did. Every branch climbs the rope. After all, the military, in its infinite wisdom, recognized early on that the game of large-scale global deployment would be won or lost on the proficiency with which its troops could drop into, and wriggle out of, The Danger Zone.
Max is Danger Zone Highway Patrol.
And so they dangled ropes off every structure taller than two stories and made you haul your ass up, down, and up again — sometimes with feet, often with not. How well this went for you depended on the upper body strength you were able to muster and/or the belligerent, spittle-flecked hatefulness of the sergeant whose job it was to motivate you.
Now, imagine a world in which the rope is no longer a crucible and you are no longer the dope being bamboozled by it. This world is called The Danger Zone. Max guards the on-ramp to the highway to this world. And if you approach the on-ramp with enough oomph (say, 100mph or so), he will waive you through.
Because this is Max. Max doesn’t so much pull himself up as he hauls the sky down to look him in the eye. Frequently the sky resents this and throws a tantrum. And that is why sometimes there is rain.
In this episode, Max addresses all your weaknesses at once. Because that is what the rope would do. To effectively master the rope climb, you need explosive power in your upper body (biceps, back, and forearm grip), a solid core, and strong legs (quads, glutes, and groin).
Do these exercises. Because it’s a tough world out there. And if you’re going to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, you best be able to pull yourself up by a rope.
We haven’t even begun to discuss the chain… (Go90 Max Your Body screenshot)
Watch as Max rumbles all the jungles, in thevideo embedded at the top.
Once considered “unsung heroes,” military working dogs have been thrust into the media spotlight over the last few years in the form of books, television shows, and even a military working dog monument.
However, as with all stories that earn massive attention, sometimes facts are distorted. To handlers and advocates in the MWD community, it can be frustrating to read and hear about stories that not only are untrue, but are actually harmful. It’s important to understand what is myth vs reality.
Here are the 9 biggest myths about military working dogs.
If you’d like to learn more, check out the article here.
WATM’s Ryan Curtis hits the streets with stuntman Jim Wilkey, a Vietnam War vet whose Hollywood credits include “Die Hard With a Vengeance,” “Rush Hour,” “Inception,” “Mad Max: Fury Road,” “The Dark Knight Trilogy,” and several others. Jim’s experience in the Navy working with a wide range of equipment gave him the knowledge to get started as a stuntman.
Now, watch as Jim gives our man Ryan a crash course in basic stunt driving skills.
Hughes sat down with WATM’s Blake Stilwell and discussed his beginnings as a filmmaker and being mentored by George Lucas.
‘Day One’ is inspired by a Hughes’ experiences in Afghanistan. The film depicts a female translator’s first day accompanying a U.S. Army unit on patrol. As she quickly discovers, her job involves dealing with the brutal complexities of gender and religious barriers with lives hanging in the balance.
