QUESTION I’m a Machine Gunner in the Marine Corps Reserves. I’m 5’8 and weigh around 145 lbs, so I’m definitely on the smaller side, especially being a Machine Gunner. In about a year, my battalion is going to 29 Palms for our Annual Training, so I’m concerned about my strength and rucking conditioning at present. […]
Knowledge
Lessons I Learned from My Soldiers
By Brian Reed, MTI Contributor Over a 33-year Army career as an Infantry Officer, I learned a lot from the men and women with whom I served. This is a small sampling of those lessons and the stories that led to them. “You can never lose your professional composure, sir” Several months before deploying to […]
Fighting Busywork: Techniques for Prioritizing Tasks in a Tactical Job
By Trent Gardner, MTI Contributor What Causes Busywork and Burnout? I had a subordinate once who was a known slacker. Terrific person, everybody liked him, useless if work needed doing. But one quarter, he decided to change that. He busted his ass, hopped at every opportunity he found, and worked consistent sixty-hour weeks. And the […]
Army Officers Seeking Preferred Assignments Must Leverage References and Reputation
By Matt Lensing, MTI Contributor Some people have referred to the Army’s Talent Alignment Process (ATAP), specifically the mechanism officers use to prefer assignments as Tinder or speed dating between Soldiers and units. These analogies are not completely accurate because candidates in those markets start on equal ground with their peers, but in reality the […]
Arete 12.14.22
Military Soldier of Fortune Founder Robert K. Brown Passes the Torch to New Publisher After 47 Years, Soldier Systems As F-15s Leave Okinawa, an Opportunity to Change Indo-Pacific Air Tactics with Unmanned Options, RAND Ukraine’s Lessons for the Future of Hybrid Warfare, RAND Putin’s Plan: Russia Wants Swarms of Missiles from Iran to Win Ukraine […]
Q&A 12.8.22
QUESTION What programs do you suggest following completion of BW beginner? Primary restrictions (medical) are no running (used bike erg, row erg and walking for BW beginner) and no barbell squats/lunges due to neck/shoulder injuries. If you need an equipment list or anything else, please let me know. As always, appreciate the help. ANSWER I’d […]
Arete 12.8.22
Military After two years, the FBI is still seeking answers about the death of Delta Force operator who killed a fellow operator in 2018, Military News David is a Real American Hero, Real Clear Defense Beware Putin: Russia is Surprisingly Vulnerable to Bombardment from Ukraine, Real Clear Defense Were Russian Air Bases Hit in Drone […]
Minimizing Injury Risk with Load Carriage in Tactical Athletes through Strength and Conditioning: A Critical Review of the Literature
By Tammy Kovaluk, MTI Contributor Tactical athletes need to perform high level tasks while carrying additional load. Law enforcement personnel, search and rescue, and firefighters all carry loads that are typically 20kg, typically as high as 40kg (5). Military soldiers bear the highest loads, well over 45kg (100+ pounds), a likely cause of the […]
Suicide Shaped my EMS Career; Why I Dread Responding to Another Suicide
By Joe Poulton, MTI Contributor After my Uncle Jim’s Suicide in his backyard with a gun, my Aunt joined Out of The Darkness Walks through the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). When I saw the community of support being built through those walks, and noticed the AFSP expanding; I jumped at the opportunity to […]
Leveraging a Packraft To Access Hard-to-Get-To Places
By Brandon Sanders, MTI Contributor As I kissed my wife goodbye and pulled my Alpacka Mule into the river, my buddy looked over at me with an eyebrow raised. “How far have you gone in that thing?” he asked, insinuating that my tried and true packraft wasn’t up for floating the lazy 95 miles down […]