A man who helmed a crew that illegally trapped thousands of turtles in Georgia and South Carolina to sell to Chinese pet collectors is going to prison. In Atlanta, US District Judge William M. Ray II sentenced Nathan Horton on Tuesday, May 10, to ...
How Army Special Forces Pulled a Fast One to Get Glock Pistols
Glock pistols have become the standard that modern handguns are measured against. The polymer-framed, striker-fired design has served as the inspiration for the most popular handguns on the civilian, law enforcement, and military markets. Even the ...
Camping on the Fly: How to Choose the Best Emergency Bivy
When I was 15 years old, I met up with one of my high-school buddies, Jim, to do an overnight hiking and camping trip just on the outskirts of my hometown. I didn't have a driver's license, meaning mom dropped me off. Like a lot of teenage boys, we ...
‘Jesus, There It Is’ — Inside a Daring High Country Rescue
“Jesus, there it is.” It was 4:46 p.m. on Aug. 28, and Brent Kallem — a flight paramedic on board St. Luke’s Health System’s Bell 429 GlobalRanger high country rescue helicopter — gazed along the east side of a granite peak in ...
5 Rare Survival Rifles Designed for Air Force Crews
On Dec. 21, 1943, Lt. Leon Crane was conducting a flyover of the Alaska interior when one of the engines of his B-24 Liberator malfunctioned and caused the aircraft to spiral out of control. Crane grabbed a parachute and dove from the open bomb ...
Competitive Shooting: Everything You Need to Know to Get Started
Competitive shooting is one of the best ways to practice and increase your firearm-handling skills. It is rewarding when you prevail and a nonstop challenge of your abilities. And it can become quite addicting once you catch the competition bug. I ...
Hunter, Sniper, Spy: Ret. SEAL Terry Houin Just Getting Started
Standing on the ramp of a C-130 in the dead of night, at 5,000 feet, in thick clouds over the Indian Ocean 12 miles east of the Horn of Africa, Terry Houin and his five teammates, all part of a secretive intelligence unit within the US Navy SEALs, ...
The Gun That Killed Billy the Kid Sold for $6 Million at Auction
I think we all know the story of Billy the Kid, or at least some version of it. Billy the Kid is one of our country’s most notorious outlaws, creating a legend that has been told countless times. Even though every version of the story is different, ...
Raise Them Right: Emergency Preparedness for Kids
The word pedagogy is used in the realm of education to distinguish various teaching styles and theories of learning. As the primary educator of my children in our chosen realm of home education, I make it a practice to continually study the ways in ...
SIG Sauer Will Make the Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon
Ending years of anticipation, the Army announced Tuesday, April 19, that SIG Sauer will build two of the primary weapons that infantry squads will carry in the coming decades. The new Next Generation Squad Weapon variants will replace the current M4 ...
5 of the Deadliest Insects You’ll Find in the Field
Once accepted, trained and later deployed as a military service member, you should be ready to operate in the world’s most remote areas. It is common to have the military deployed in the driest parts of the world or tropical rainforests. In such ...
Traveling Prepared: Building a Proper Vehicle Emergency Kit
Since a significant percentage of the average American family’s waking hours are spent behind the wheel, it’s paramount that we take the necessary steps to ensure that we are trained and traveling with a vehicle emergency kit to address the most ...
Florida Man Pulls in .50-Cal Rifles While Fishing With Grandson
Fishing can find you inner peace, creative ideas, engaging conversation, or in the case of one grandfather and his grandson, a Barrett .50-cal rifle. More specifically, two of them. Duane Smith and his grandson, Allen Cadwalader decided to try out ...
Disaster Prep: The Importance of Everyday Readiness
Unless you’ve been half asleep, you probably have noticed that 2020 was remarkable. COVID-19, double — correction — quintuplet hurricanes, murder hornets, threats to public health, and civil unrest. We couldn’t get a break. The fabric of our ...
Faint Screaming, Mounted Agents: Border Patrol Rescue of a Lost Hiker
Sixteen hours into a search inside Big Bend National Park’s remote backcountry for a lost hiker, US Border Patrol agents on horseback heard what they called “faint screaming.” About 20 miles north of the Rio Grande River on Tuesday afternoon, ...
Is Your Bug-Out Vehicle Go-Ready for When Shit Hits the Fan?
I spent most of my years in the military operating in the Recon genre of Special Operations — a job that had me go-ready, living out of a rucksack for days, if not weeks, at a time. I learned very quickly in combat what optimization and efficiency ...
Desert Nomad: Overlanding Lessons From Afghanistan
Wilfred Thesiger, a British Military Officer, writer, and explorer, once said, “No man can live this life and emerge unchanged. He will carry the imprint of the desert, the nomad, and he will have a yearning to return for this cruel land can cast a ...
The Guns of the Ukrainian Army
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine rages, a firearms enthusiast might be excused for wondering what small arms make up the guns of the Ukrainian Army. Let’s take a look at the weapons now on the front lines. Guns of the Ukrainian Army: ...
Why a Trauma Kit Should Be Part of Your Everyday Mobility
I’ve spent the majority of my adult life Overlanding. I started with my Jeep Wrangler Sahara, which to this day is the only vehicle I’ve never sold and will never part with. I frequented Uwharrie National Forest every weekend and spent my free time ...
The 8 Best Dog Breeds for Veterans with PTS
When heroes come home, sometimes they need a hero of their own. In canine form, that is. Service dogs are invaluable to veterans and civilians alike. These loving, four-legged friends provide emotional support, understanding, and protection, and they ...
A Green Beret’s ‘No-Fail Event’ — Summiting Everest Without Oxygen
Music drowned out the sound of Jason Howell’s fingertip exploding. It was the Saturday after he’d started the Special Forces Qualification Course — informally known as the Q Course — and he was alternating between dumbbell chest presses and flyes ...
WTF is FRA? The Origin Story of Free Range American
The best ideas are born in the mountains around a campfire, over coffee, before or after a hunt, a fishing trip, or a range day with friends. Free Range American is no different. It’s a community of like-minded adventurers, born — it turns out — from ...
Off-road Tire Pressure: How to Get the Best Ride From Your Rig
If you want to kick ass off the beaten path, your rig needs to have the correct off-road tire pressure for optimal traction, handling, and wear. Determining the proper tire pressure depends on the terrain you’re driving on and the weight of your rig. ...
How To Survive on Wild Edible Plants and Not Get Dead
Terence McKenna, famous American philosopher, ethnobotanist (one who studies a region's plants and their practical uses through the traditional knowledge of local culture and people), and author once stated, "Nature loves courage. You make the ...
Stay Fit in Preparation to Survive
If you grew up in the 1980s or the early part of the 1990s, you probably thought a chiseled, oiled, and likely chemically enhanced physique is what you needed to stay fit to survive. You can probably picture it now — a muscle-bound, larger than life, ...
Bushcraft 101 with Kevin Estela
“Bushcraft” is a term used interchangeably with “survival,” but they are not true synonyms. Bushcraft is the art of doing more with less and using nature’s resources whenever called upon. Survival is the art of getting by at any cost and is generally ...
5 Ways to Ensure Medical Preparedness
As a woman, I always take my role as protector of my children and any children in my company very seriously. As a registered nurse by education, the tendencies to gravitate toward being a healer come naturally to me, but as medical ...
Top 5 Westerns With Great Performances From Military Veterans
From Clint Eastwood to Steve McQueen and other Hollywood icons, veterans have played many roles on-screen across the spectrum of cinema history. Westerns seem to fit naturally for a military veteran whether it be from their service or maybe part of ...
Recognizing and Preventing Altitude Sickness
I remember the first western hunt I went on. I was black bear hunting at about 7,000 ft. in the Bitterroot Mountains of Idaho. Not exactly a high-altitude hunt. But I’m a flatlander from Minnesota who hadn’t been to the mountains in years. Having ...
Rikki’s 72 Hour Survival Challenge
Fieldcraft Survival Director of Training, Kevin Estela, recently got challenged by the company’s CEO, Mike Glover to complete a 72-hour bug out in the high desert of Utah with nothing but the clothes on his back and whatever he could fit in a ...
