Army officials confirmed Monday that the human remains found last week near the Leon River in Texas were those of missing Specialist Vanessa Guillén. The identification was made through DNA analysis. Guillén, a small arms repairer, was last seen ...
Grisly Details Emerge in the Case of Missing Fort Hood Soldier Vanessa Guillén
Editor’s Note: In the interest of accurately reporting the events of Spc. Guillen’s murder, we have included details in this article that may be upsetting to some readers. While the command at Fort Hood remains steadfast in their refusal to ...
Remains Found Near Fort Hood Suspected to Belong to Missing Soldier Vanessa Guillén
The search for missing soldier Vanessa Guillén appears to have come to a tragic end on Tuesday, when human remains were found in a shallow grave near the Leon River 25 miles from Killeen, Texas. Private First Class Guillén, who was 20 years old, ...
Veteran with Lung Cancer From Burn Pits Seeks Changes to VA, DOD Benefits
Major Richard Star loved to run. A U.S. Army reservist for 28 years and 10 months, Star served almost 15 of those years of active duty, starting with Operation Desert Storm. “I just enjoyed running,” Star said. “And you breathe in deeply, ...
Foul Play Suspected in Disappearance of Soldier Vanessa Guillen
When Private First Class Vanessa Guillén disappeared on April 22, the 3rd Cavalry Regiment at Fort Hood, Texas, sprang into action. Five-hundred soldiers a day were searching around the base, and the 1st Cavalry Regiment provided over 100 hours of ...
American Dream: The Journey of a Haitian Immigrant turned US Army Black Hawk Pilot
A newly minted West Point graduate, Alix Idrache was not expecting May 24, 2016, to be a particularly exceptional day. “I was having a regular day. I just graduated, I’m really happy,” he said. But then he logged on to his Facebook account — “I had ...
11 Questions & A Cup of Coffee: BRCC Editor in Chief Logan Stark
If you’ve watched, read, or listened to anything made by Black Rifle Coffee Company, you can rest assured Logan Stark has had a hand in its creation. One of the company’s OGs, Stark is the Editor in Chief of BRCC and oversees all content from ...
The Feres Doctrine Denies Rights to Sexual Trauma Victims — How One Soldier is Fighting It
Erin Scanlon never expected to become the face behind a proposed Congressional bill. All she did was attend a party in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on Sept. 9, 2016. “There was this nonprofit that had this event,” said Scanlon. ...
Free Range American Podcast Spotlights Hard Work and Adventure
The world of podcasts is a wide and varied one. Offerings have nearly doubled over the last two years — and with more than 900,000 podcasts to choose from, there's sure to be one to match the tastes and interests of the more than 50 percent of ...
For BRCC, Philanthropy is More Than a Corporate Policy — It’s Personal
Black Rifle Coffee Company has earned a reputation for its commitment to the well-being of veterans, first responders, and active duty military. From cooperating with OSD on its supply drops to partnering with Leupold Optics to engage donors for the ...
OSD Teams with Xbox for Veteran Fundraising Efforts
Outperform Serve and Develop, or OSD, is a nonprofit organization that has made a name for itself by providing gaming consoles to actively deployed service members. This month, the organization has been presented with a huge opportunity from ...
Meet the Marine Combat Veteran Making a Difference Through Tattoos
You know, we were supposed to numb you.” The thought had clearly just occurred to him. I started to panic. “Has that not happened?” He laughed. “That has not happened.” Shit, I thought. It’s officially too late. Andre ...
How Generations of Loggers Have Kept the Petersen Ranch Sustainable
In a small, dead-end valley in Springfield, Oregon, on Camp Creek, three generations of the Petersen family still work the ranch they have owned since 1941. Over the decades, despite the majority of the land being devoted to a variety of things ...
How John Croft’s People Skills Led Him From the Marines to BRCC
John Croft is no stranger to the art of leadership. His entire adult life, people have looked up to him. At the beginning of his 26-year career in the U.S. Marine Corps (“26 years, 10 months, nine days,” he specified with pride), he earned the ...
The Long and Difficult Road to Changing Feres Doctrine
In high school, Jordan Way played football and lacrosse, as well as participating in ballroom dancing. He worked with the school’s Best Buddies program, partnering with special needs students in a mentoring capacity. “One of our nicknames for him was ...
10 More of the Best Coffee Moments in American Movie History
Last Christmas, we gave you a list of the very best coffee moments in movie history. The term “very best” was contested by a number of readers, who scoffed at some of our choices. This year, we’ve listened to the gripes and watched a few more films ...
The Untold True Story of How Black Rifle Coffee Got Its Start
Evan Hafer, the founder and CEO of Black Rifle Coffee Company, was suspicious. He was holding staff meetings every two days, being told that their in-house fulfillment center was only a few shipments behind, and yet customer ...
Black Rifle Coffee’s Mat Best, Leupold Optics Raise $72K for Boot Campaign on Twitch Livestream
On November 2, a team of gamers partnered with Black Rifle Coffee Company and Leupold Optics for a charity Twitch livestream to raise money for the Boot Campaign. Over the course of 10 hours playing “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare,” the streamers ...
How Jarred “JT” Taylor Went From TACP to Media and Coffee Mogul
If you’ve ever watched a video or seen an ad from Black Rifle Coffee Company, you’ve seen the work and style of co-founder Jarred Taylor. “Everything is devoted to creation,” Taylor said, describing his overall philosophy. “So every piece of time, it ...
West Point and Ranger School Graduate Lisa Jaster on Earning the Tab
U.S. Army Major Lisa Jaster hadn’t necessarily been one to make waves during her military career when her sergeant major approached her with an unexpected suggestion in 2015. “I really feel like the military has given me a ton of amazing ...
Green Beret With Terminal Cancer Fights to Sue the Military for Medical Malpractice
U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Richard Stayskal never intended to be an activist. “I liked being a nobody in the quiet,” Stayskal said. But his career as a Green Beret has been interrupted as he balances battling stage 4 lung cancer and crusading on ...
We Were All New Yorkers on 9/11
The smell was insistent and abhorrent, the sting of burning metal filling my nostrils. Walking up from the subway at an unfamiliar station, I emerged into a cloud of dust so thick that I could barely see the man standing next to me. I was completely ...
Hard-Working Americans: The Beekeeper
Being a double-amputee doesn’t mean you can’t find your place in the agricultural world — and for Alex Jauregui, that place is as a beekeeper. Jauregui served for 11 years in the U.S. Army and deployed four times — twice to Iraq and twice to ...
Hard-Working Americans: The Butcher
In the eyes of this butcher, the craft of cutting and selling meat is making a comeback, and he couldn’t be happier that its role in human history is being celebrated. “Butchering is the second oldest profession known to mankind,” said Paul ...
Hard-Working Americans: The Carpenter
On top of being a physically demanding job, carpentry is more of a visual process than most people realize. When you throw in the extreme weather often found in the northeast United States, it takes a special kind of person to excel in this line of ...
Hard-Working Americans: The Industrial Inspector
His service in the U.S. Marine Corps was key to this industrial inspector and entrepreneur’s career. Jay Locatelli was in a Marine Recon unit from 1998 to 2000, stationed at Camp Pendleton in San Diego. He started his own industrial inspection ...
Hard-Working Americans: The Electrician
Dilan Call has been an electrician for 11 years, and currently works out of the Local 490 union in Concord, New Hampshire. While being an electrician isn’t always an easy job, Call sees it as a key component to the American economy, and he’s ...
Hard-Working Americans: The Firefighter
Even after a residential blaze gave him third-degree burns, firefighting was a lifestyle Arron Williams couldn't leave behind. He got hooked after going on a ride-along in high school, and now going into his seventh year with his local Fire ...
Hard-Working Americans: The Metal Fabricator
More than anything, metal fabrication is a profession that requires precision and care. Those who perform the job start with large pieces of metal, and then cut, weld, burn, machine, and form them into a final product. That product could be anything ...
Hard-Working Americans: The Welder
Welding is strenuous work, but creating something with your own hands is inherently satisfying. There are many different types of products that welders have a hand in creating. For welder Travis Kasperson, who creates agricultural implements such ...