Arete 12.6.23

Military, National Defense, Foreign Policy Tuberville lifts hold promotions of generals, admirals except four-stars, T&P Air Force identifies 7 more airmen killed in CV-22 Osprey crash, T&P First female active-duty soldier graduates from sniper school, T&P Navy fires head of Amphibious Squadron 5 for ‘loss of confidence’, T&P Greece, Turkey try to reset their relationship […]

Wildland Firefighting and the Approach to Fitness: How We Can Improve

By Armand Moini, MTI Contributor Imagine you are on an NFL football team. Imagine that this team considers itself a running team. If you want to be on the team, regardless of the position you play, you’d better enjoy running a lot. Imagine that all the workouts are run by a couple of the players […]

Strength in Smiles: Filipino Military Fortitude and Friendship

  By Bryan “Yogi” Berletch Brutal is a term thrown around a lot. There are brutal PT sessions, brutal deployments and brutal drill instructors. If there were one thing brutal about the Philippines, I’d say it was the humidity. My buddy Koa and I would wake up around 0500 and catch a water taxi into […]

My Burden, Downfall and Recovery from Police Work-Related Post Traumatic Stress

By Brad Carlson, MTI Contributor 2011. Graveyard shift on patrol. I had been a police officer for 5 years, and had recently made it onto SWAT as a collateral assignment. I was working the south end of town when the triple tone went off alerting that a priority call was about to be dispatched. I […]

Arete 11.29.23

Military, National Defense, Foreign Policy DoDEA America’s Chief of Staff Arrested in Human Trafficking Sting Operation in Georgia, DOD News End of an Era: The Last Class of Marine Scout Snipers, Task & Purpose Marine Infantry veteran says enlisted shouldn’t become officers — mayhem ensues, Task & Purpose The Pentagon is facing hard decisions about […]

My Confusing and Inconclusive Attempt to Define and Measure “Military Mental Toughness”

By Matt Lensing, MTI Contributor As an instructor at the United States Military Academy at West Point part of my job included assessing and evaluating future Army officers. After three years in the assignment, and my experience as an infantry officer, I felt especially qualified to judge a West Point cadet’s mental toughness during their […]

Mistakes Made and Insights Gained: PT Student Addition

By Ansley Bucknam, MTI Contributor As a PT student in 2023, I am inundated with the internet as a means of learning alongside my didactic education and clinical experiences. This is a blessing, as I can find a podcast, blog, or social media post on virtually any topic I learn about in the classroom. But […]

Arete 11.22.23

Military, National Defense, Foreign Policy Marine veteran killed in Ukraine was attacking a Russian infantry fighting vehicle, Task & Purpose Amid recruiting woes, Army sent letters to soldiers separated for vaccine refusal, Task & Purpose No, Gen Z has not embraced Osama bin Laden, Task & Purpose 75th Ranger combat camera releases video on Afghan […]

Owning My Marine Corps Leadership Failures

By Anonymous In many military, fire, and law enforcement tragedy events, we can find deviation from basic principles as a common denominator in the after-action reports. Similarly, as a young US Marine platoon commander and executive officer in 2018, my biggest leadership failures were a result of deviation from Leadership 101. The disasters occur when […]

Arete 11.15.23

Military, National Defense, Foreign Policy Five 160th SOAR Nightstalkers killed in training crash identified, Task & Purpose Navy SEAL investigated for alleged ties to extremists, Task & Purpose ‘F—k you, I don’t know’: Marine vet Adam Driver delivers lance corporal salute during Q&A, Task & Purpose Air Force security troop wins right to wear braid […]