When Darius Rucker started Hootie and the Blowfish in 1986, he sang in bars with his buddies hoping they’d make enough money to keep playing music another week. Four decades later, he’s still making records, still touring, and even more impressive, he’s giving back to a very deserving demographic: veterans.
Also Read: 6 songs that will always remind America of the Vietnam War
At the 52nd American Music Awards on May 25, 2026, Rucker received the Veterans Voice Award, presented by USAA’s Honor Through Action.
Author: Michael
Drone warfare now dominates the war in Ukraine,
Summary and Key Points: Iran has quietly built the legal and bureaucratic machinery to take permanent control of the Strait of Hormuz.
-In May 2026, it created the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, which now requires transit permits — banning Israeli ships, restricting American ones, and charging up to $2 million per passage, paid in Chinese yuan to dodge U.S. sanctions.
Navy Aircraft Carrier At Sea. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
-Iran’s map even claims waters that the UAE and Oman have long held. Five Gulf states, the U.S., and China have all objected.
Summary and Key Points: For decades, rumors claimed the U.S. had secretly built the SR-91 Aurora — a hypersonic spy plane flying at Mach 5 to replace the SR-71 Blackbird.
-The legend was fueled by a mysterious 1980s Pentagon budget line, a triangular aircraft spotted over the North Sea, and “sky quakes” over Los Angeles near Area 51.
B-2 Bomber Sitting in Museum National Security Journal Photos. All Rights Reserved.
B-2 Stealth Bomber July 2025 National Security Journal Photo.
Edwin “Ned” Nye didn’t want to become a lawyer.
Seeing that he was already enrolled in law school, Nye—whose famous son simplified complex topics for millions of television viewers as Bill Nye the Science Guy—did the only thing he could. He dropped out.
Also Read: This plane survived Pearl Harbor and struck back at Midway
Not one to sit around, Nye went job-hunting. He found work as a contractor for the United States Navy, building an airstrip on Wake Island.
Summary and Key Points: The F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II are America’s two most advanced stealth fighters, both built by Lockheed Martin but designed for opposite missions.
-The twin-engine, thrust-vectoring F-22 is a pure air-superiority fighter built to dominate the skies, with supercruise speed, a 1,800-mile range, and up to six AIM-120 missiles.
-The single-engine F-35 is a multi-mission “Swiss Army Knife” — flying strike, electronic warfare, and reconnaissance across three variants for the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps.
Summary and Key Points: The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has removed roughly a billion barrels of oil from the market, triggering the worst supply shock since the 1970s OPEC embargoes.
-Exxon Mobil warns that Brent crude — about $92 a barrel now — could spike to $160 within weeks as global inventories near record lows.
NORFOLK, Va. (May 16, 2026) USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) returned to Naval Station Norfolk, May 16, 2026, following a historic 11-month deployment to U.S. 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 6th Fleets as part of the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group.
Summary and Key Points: Canada has selected Sweden’s Saab GlobalEye as its new Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced at the CANSEC defense show. Built on a Canadian-made Bombardier Global 6500 jet, the GlobalEye carries an Erieye radar that can track threats on land, sea, or air from 400 miles away — a priority as Arctic activity intensifies. The choice may also signal Canada scaling back its F-35 order in favor of Saab’s Gripen.
The F-35 Slash in Canada?
F-22 and F-35 and the Flag. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Summary and Key Points: The F-111 Aardvark was the world’s first production variable-sweep-wing aircraft — a Cold War bomber built to fly fast and low after Soviet surface-to-air missiles made high-altitude bombing a death trap.
-Its swing wings let it sprint through contested airspace and land on shorter runways. Below are our own photos from a visit to the F-111 last July at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.
-The Aardvark carried about four times the payload of the F-4 Phantom, saw heavy use in Vietnam and the Gulf War, and was retired in the late 1990s.
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