Kyle Gott, 28, started documenting his life back in 2007 and has since turned it into a career. As an avid military vlogger, Gott posted regularly about his accomplishments and struggles both personally and within the Air Force. He left the Air Force recently, but he’s still keeping his channel up to date and posts regularly about his time as an enlisted airman. Now with more than 166,000 subscribers, Gott posts weekly on Mondays and Wednesdays offering advice and helpful tips to those who might be thinking about enlisting. He even has a second channel with his wife called Gott Love where the two share their life experiences together and what it was like to be in a military family while still living in Las Vegas and travelling the world. As one of the most prominent Military YouTubers, Gott hosted the Best Military YouTuber 2018 awards which was sponsored by the VA.

Gott joined the Air Force in August 2013, made the rank of staff sergeant as an aircraft structural maintenance journeyman, and recently separated on July 1. His last duty station was at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.

JT Suits

The winner of the Best Military YouTuber of 2018 was former sailor Justin Meiners, also known as “JTsuits.” Known for his Navy content and comedy, the 28-year-old Navy veteran has more than 146,000 subscribers. While serving in the Navy, Miners deployed to the Persian Gulf for Operation Iraqi Freedom, where he was attached to the Japan-based Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron Seven Seven as a flight deck crewman.

Meiners began making videos about the Navy after his first deployment but didn’t start consistently vlogging until he was ending his career in the Navy and in school. He said he began posting his content because he noticed a gap in information about the Navy and wanted to “be able to answer any questions you can think of about the Navy.” Since leaving the Navy, Meiners has received a degree from California Lutheran University and started playing video games professionally. He also established his own online merchandise known as GoodSailorBrand. He continues to post a few times a week, where he often answers questions he gets from subscribers and gives a weekly “Seaman Report.” Meiners said he plans to keep up with YouTube as he works from home with his wife, son, two cats and two dogs.

Meiners joined the Navy in May 2010 and served until April 2014, departing as an aviation structural mechanic 2nd class.

Bully Juice

Like Gott, another YouTube-famous airmen is Darryl Williams Jr., also known as “Bully Juice.” He has more than 154,000 subscribers and is known for his motivational workout videos as well as his insight for what life is like as an airman. Williams, 29, said that joining the military is a big life step and that his goal behind vlogging is to create common ground for people who maybe want to enlist but don’t have any knowledge or resources. Williams said he wants people to see that he’s just a normal guy so if he can do it anyone can.

“I would self-describe my content as motivational content that’s pushing people to be better than you were before you woke up this morning,” Williams said in an interview with Military Times.

Williams enlisted in 2015 to serve in ground transportation for the Air Force. He has since deployed to United Arab Emirates, where he posted some videos sharing his experiences there. Williams said that his wife was the person who convinced him to start his own channel. His wife is also a famous Youtuber known as LavishlyBritt. With about 115,000 subscribers, she posts beauty videos, lifestyle tips and military spouse content.

Williams, currently lives in Florida with his wife and daughter. He plans to leave the Air Force in 2021. Until then, he says his plans are to continue making Youtube videos while he finishes his enlistment, as well as grow his family and continue to motivate people. After the Air Force, he wants to earn his master’s degree and move to Texas.

Williams entered active duty in March 2015 and is now serving as a staff sergeant with the 94 Logistics Readiness Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, as a vehicle operator and dispatcher.

Nick Bare

With more than 270,000 subscribers, former Army infantry officer Nick Bare, 29, started his channel back in 2014. He began focusing on the his eating habits and offering health or work out tips. While continually posting about fitness, Bare’s channel evolved into vlogs of his life in the Army. Bare left the Army in 2017, but has continued his fitness journey on YouTube while posting frequently about his past experiences in the Army.

Bare attributes what he learned in the military to the success of building his business, Bare Performance Nutrition, which he founded in 2012. ”What I learned in the military is so applicable to running a business — the leadership — but simultaneously the teamwork have helped a great deal,” Bare said.

As an infantry platoon leader, Bare continued to post videos while stationed in Japan for a year, sometimes waking up at 5 a.m. to film videos and staying up until the early hours of the morning editing.

“It was very difficult to keep up a channel while being in the military. I barely slept and didn’t have a social life,” Bare said. “But I was just so passionate about it.”

Bare served in the Army from May 2013 to May 2017.

ARCHIEzzle

Known as one of the original military YouTubers, Army Staff Sgt. Narcisus “Archie” Masibay, 33, is an Army medic. Born and raised in the Philippines, he moved to the United States and within a few years enlisted in the Army around 2010. Originally, Masibay was trying to work in public relations for the Army but because no spots were available he became a medic. He started vlogging about his life just for fun before he enlisted, but stopped vlogging in March 2011 when he was on his first duty assignment in Germany.

Over the next few years, he occasionally would give his subscribers updates, but ultimately didn’t begin making videos regularly again until 2016. He is now a well-known YouTuber for all things Army and the military, in general. He regularly brings people from different military occupational specialties on his channel to speak about what it is like to do various jobs. He currently lives in California working as an Army recruiter and has more than 56,000 subscribers.

He plans to stay in the Army for a while and possibly transfer to public relations. He posts a few days a week and plans to continue documenting his life and providing help for soldiers and aspiring soldiers. He says that he is lucky because the Army has “been really beneficial to me” and even has been supportive of his vlogging.

From October 2010 to January 2019, Masibay served as a combat medic specialist in the Army Reserve.

Austen Alexander

Austen Alexander, who calls California home, is an active-duty sailor who posts weekly on YouTube to an audience of 84,000 subscribers. The 27-year-old offers an inside look into his military life as a military policeman and his efforts to stay fit as an active-duty sailor. Often posting videos to challenge himself, from attempting a Navy SEAL swim test to a Marine vs. sailor obstacle course showdown. Alexander will also post advice videos and tips about juggling life in the military and a personal life, like “My Advice About Military Relationships” and “Going to College vs Joining the Military.” Alexander also devotes time to a fitness and nutrition website he has created, which offers workout plans and advice for those wanting to gain new skills and follow along with his fitness lifestyle. LifterLibrary.com offers both free tips and a members-only section, where you can follow Alexander and his workouts step by step.

Alexander enlisted in the Navy in December 2013. He served in Bahrain in the Naval Security Forces from October 2014 to November 2016. He is currently reporting to the Harbor Patrol Unit at Seal Beach, California.

Matt Ward

With more than 123,000 subscribers, Army officer Matt Ward is known for providing both Army and fitness videos. Compared with others, he focuses a lot of his YouTube content on what the lifestyle is like in the Army. He has been posting videos on his channel since before he joined the Army and has been documenting his time in Army since before he arrived at basic training. Ward does a lot of live Q&A’s with his subscribers as well as interviews with other service members on his show. He also has his own merchandise — sweatshirts, tank tops, hats, and t-shirts — that are Army or workout themed.

Ward joined the Army in February 2015 and served as an information technology specialist. Now Ward is a signal officer in the Army Reserve.

Nava The Beast

Nava The Beast, also known as Armando Nava Jr., 22, is a Marine who boasts over 500,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel. Just recently finishing his time as an active-duty Marine, Nava posts some of the “most painful and gruesome challenges,” on his channel, where nothing is off limits. He has challenged numerous other military service members to take physical fitness tests, including a Navy SEAL, Army Ranger and an airman. “I love to bring service members together from all walks of life and compete for a friendly battle of the branches,” Nava’s YouTube description says.

Not only does Nava enjoy a battle of the branches, but he will also often challenge himself to personal fitness tests, such as attempting 1,000 push ups in 24 hours. Passionate about fitness Nava created “Fuego,”a supplement company that offers products ranging from protein supplements to socks and T-shirts. In the future he plans to start teaching fitness classes to help aspiring soldiers prepare for basic training.

Nava joined the Marines in August 2015 and was promoted to sergeant in November of 2018. Though an administration specialist by trade, he is currently working as a social media influencer in Garden City, New York, while still on active duty with the 1st Marine Corps Recruiting District.

Before his accident, Garlic was living out two dreams: serving in the Army and playing ball – the things he loved the most.

“I was on track to going to play (basketball) professionally before the accident,” Garlic, 40, said. “That’s why I was so mad when the accident happened, I lost two dreams at once,” he said.

Then Garlic found out about the Department of Defense’s annual Warrior Games and is now representing Team Army for the second year in a row. The games, sponsored this year by U.S. Special Operations Command in Tampa, Florida, kicked off June 21 and end June 30.

The Paralympic-style Warrior Games, sees wounded, ill and injured service members and veterans going head-to-head in a series of sporting events.

Approximately 300 wounded, ill and injured service members and veterans are participating in the competition. The athletes represent the United States Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, and Special Operations Command. Athletes from the U.K. Armed Forces, Australian Defence Force and Canadian Armed Forces will also compete.

Teams include active-duty service members and veterans with upper-body, lower-body, and spinal cord injuries; traumatic brain injuries; visual impairment; serious illnesses; and post-traumatic stress. They are going head-to-head in 11 sports including, archery, cycling, shooting, sitting volleyball, swimming, track and field, and wheelchair basketball, and for the first time in Warrior Games history, indoor rowing, powerlifting, and time trial cycling.

The Warrior Games were established in 2010 as a way to enhance the recovery and rehabilitation of wounded, ill and injured service members and expose them to adaptive sports. The Games encourage them to stay physically active when they return to their local communities, and inspire and promote opportunities for growth and achievement. Families are a significant part of an athlete’s recovery and this year promises to have the most robust family program to date.

Garlic, the former Army crewman is competing in six events – cycling, indoor rowing, power lifting, swimming, wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby.

“I didn’t know that outside of the Olympics, you could do something like this,” Garlic said. “I didn’t realize how big it actually was, I just couldn’t not be a part of it,” he said.

Garlic’s journey to where he is today wasn’t an easy ride, he had a long road to recovery after having his jaw wired shut for three months after his face repeatedly hit the steering wheel of the truck he was in during the accident, leaving him to eat only through a tube up his nose. He ultimately lost 80 pounds as a result.

In addition to facial fractures and a broken jaw, Garlic suffered a concussion, a broken right collar bone and shoulder, multiple broken ribs, and both of his lungs collapsed. He also had a double compound fracture of his spine and hip and suffered severe burns from the truck’s hot oil that took three months to heal.

Now almost done with this year’s games, Garlic attributes both physical and mental growth to competing. As someone who likes to stay busy, Garlic gets to keep himself occupied training for the games and also interacting with other service members who have their own stories of struggle.

”People don’t grasp how deep the mental health issues go,” he said. “But you come here and you get to listen to stories about how others adapt to their new injuries, you share experiences and stories and know that people here are going through some of the same things you are.”

The end result?

“It puts me in better shape, physically and emotionally,” he said.

During the 2018 Warrior Games Garlic was awarded the 2018 Heart of Team Award within the Army branch. “I just went out there and I did everything i could, it’s an honor I cherish,” Garlic said.

But for Garlic, his best could be better. For this years games, he trained even harder, “my goal was to be better for every single event, and so far, I think I’ve met that goal, or I hope so,” Garlic said.

While Garlic’s accident may have taken away his hoop dreams,, the Warrior Games have helped fulfill new dreams.

The Warrior Games have helped him find a team again and a renew his love for sports.

“Being here is the closest I have to being in active duty,” Garlic said.

After 10 day of inspirational competition, the athletes will come together again Sunday June 30 for the closing ceremony, hosted again by Jon Stewart, former The Daily Show host and long-time supporter of the Warrior Games. Individual and team performances will also be celebrated along with the distribution of the Heart of Team Awards and a performance by multi-platinum entertainer Sara Evans.

Now Bolduc, 57, wants to add U.S. senator to his growing list of accomplishments, announcing his run for Senate on Monday to represent his home state of New Hampshire.

Bolduc, who will run as a Republican, held an event in Concord, New Hampshire, on Monday to formally announce his candidacy to oust Democrat Jeanne Shaheen from her Senate seat.

Republicans view this race as one of their best chances to take a Democratic Senate seat in the 2020 election.

Saying on Twitter that he is “anything but a politician,” Bolduc sees a problem in Washington D.C. that he wants to have a hand in rectifying. “I am ticked off by the partisan mindset on display in Washington — a politics-first attitude that is blocking solutions to real-life issues that affect each of us and our families,” Bolduc said in a tweet.

Bolduc’s goal is to refocus the leadership in Washington and give back power to the communities being represented in the nations capital. “My approach to politics is completely focused on the crisis of leadership in Washington D.C.” Bolduc said.

This mindset led to Bolduc’s campaign motto: “Service above self. People over politics. Always.” And the goal to bring “servant leadership, personal responsibility and a dedication to our core values” back to Washington.

“Politics in Congress have gone further and further away from this motto; they compromise on principles and don’t get business done for America,” Bolduc said. “When you are in charge of people, you come last. Always,” he said.

Over Bolduc’s 36-year career in the U.S. Army, he has served as combined joint special operations component commander in Afghanistan, deputy director for U.S. Africa Command (USAFRICOM) and worked for Special Operations Command-Africa (COMSOCAFRICA). He has received five Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts.

When Bolduc entered the Army, 11 days after he finished high school, he was ready to build on the values he had been taught as a child.

“The Army strengthened what I already knew and what I’d been taught from my family,” Bolduc said. “It taught me to work hard, stay focused and never quit on anything,” he said.

Bolduc’s career in the Army included 10 tours in Afghanistan, and he was among the legendary “horse soldiers” — U.S. special operations forces who invaded Afghanistan on horseback following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Because of Bolduc’s accomplishments, he was dubbed “Captain America” inside his command. “I was always out more, paying attention and trying to take care of my guys,” Bolduc said.

Bolduc hopes that now that his time fighting for his country is over, he can start fighting for the people of New Hampshire.

“I was born and raised in this state, my family is still here and I know how best to represent the people of New Hampshire because I am one of them,” Bolduc said.

Mark Edward Allen, 60, of St. Petersburg, a patient at that facility, was arrested Tuesday in connection with the IED found at the Bay Pines VA Medical Center May 29. according to court documents.

The device was found around 1 p.m. near the east entrance of the sprawling facility, near a Veterans Benefits Administration regional office. The incident interrupted traffic, but otherwise did not affect any patient treatment or other operations. No one was hurt in the incident.

VA Police, the Tampa Police Department Bomb Squad and the FBI were among those to respond, according to a criminal complaint filed by FBI Special Agent Christopher Franck, who handled IEDs while serving as a captain in the Marines.

After responding to the call, Franck and the TPD bomb squad used an X-ray tool to examine the device.

“The X-ray revealed, among other components, a 9-volt battery, electric wires, an improvised initiator, an unknown powder , and a clothes-pin switch,” Franck wrote in his complaint.

The components, he wrote, “are commonly used to construct improvised explosive devices.”

After bomb techs used a tool to disarm the device, they used a robot to dissemble it and examine its contents, which included an unknown black powder, which was collected by the FBI for further examination.

As the FBI continued to investigate the incident, they collected surveillance video from the hospital, as well as a Wawa convenience store across the street.

The video showed a white male, with a long gray beard and wearing a baseball hat with the Army logo leaving the hospital facility shortly before 5 p.m.

Two days later, the TPD bomb squad was dispatched to deal with another bomb, this one found in a home in St. Petersburg.

A woman, whose name was not released in the court document, called the St. Petersburg Police Department to report that Allen, her husband, had made a bomb at their home. She told police that while her husband was sleeping, she put the IED from her home in the trunk of her car and drove it to a friend’s house “because she was scared.”

Bomb techs responding to that device used an X-ray tool and found, among other components, a tube filled with a light bulb, designed to initiate an explosion, electric wires, and an unknown powder.

Once again, Franck wrote, the device appeared to be an IED.

After examining that IED, the FBI determined it likely came from the same person who left the bomb at the VA facility.

Franck took a still from the Wawa surveillance video and showed it to Allen’s wife, who confirmed that it was her husband.

The wife said Allen was an Army veteran who goes to the C.W. Bill Young VA Medical Center, located on the campus, for treatment and that he had a scheduled medical appointment there during that week.

Allen was arrested and taken to the Pinellas County Jail, where he is being held without bail on a federal warrant.

He made his initial appearance in federal court Tuesday, charged with the possession of unregistered explosives. If convicted, Allen faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida.

Then, joined by four of Fuit’s Marine buddies from the base, the couple celebrated their nuptials by breaking into a nearby abandoned elementary school and, ultimately, getting arrested, according to a report from the local ABC-affiliated television station, WEAR-TV.

Fuit, Carlson, Stephen Pepik, Victor Peres, Zachary Barr and Colton Patterson were all arrested in connection to the incident at the former school in Munson and are facing charges of criminal mischief and burglary, according to the Santa Rosa Sheriff’s office.

A police report filed with local authorities said the caretaker of the former Munson Elementary School spotted the group trying to break into the building by prying off wooden boards covering a broken window, the TV station reported. The caretaker had been checking on the building before hearing a loud noise and seeing two people trying to get inside.

The caretaker said he had previously seen two vehicles outside of the school and noted the tag numbers. When he went to investigate the loud noises he heard coming from within the building, he said, the suspects spotted him and left the scene, according to the TV report.

Deputies from the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office then conducted two separate traffic stops in the area and items found in one of the vehicles placed the suspects at the scene, said the Sheriff’s Office in a news conference Tuesday.

The suspects told authorities that Fuit and Carlson had just gotten married Saturday evening in the area of Bear Lake Campground, close to the abandoned school, the TV station reported.

All suspects were separated and later questioned regarding the incident.

Fuit is facing an additional charge of theft for stealing items from the building that were reportedly found in the vehicle stopped by deputies, WEAR-TV reported.

Paige Winters had deep lacerations and bites in her leg, pelvis and hands when admitted to Vidant Medical Center in Greenville just after the 12:20 p.m. attack on Fort Macon Beach, the hospital reported. Paige lost several fingers and her left leg had to be amputated above the knee, but her injuries could have been fatal if not for her father.

On Monday, Vidant Medical Center, where Paige was being treated, released a statement on behalf of her family calling her father’s actions “heroic.”

“Her family expresses their appreciation for the first responders, the individuals on the beach who helped and her heroic father who saved her life,” the statement said.

Shortly after the incident, a GoFundMe was set up in Paige’s name to assist in her long road to recovery. “Charlie, Paige’s father, Marine, Firefighter, and Paramedic has served his Country and his community for the last 20 years. Now it’s time for us to rally around him and his family to help them in their time of need,” read the GoFundMe page.

The GoFundMe page had already raised $10,000 in a matter of 17 hours.

Despite the attack, Paige calls for people to continue to respect sharks and their environment and their safety.

“Paige is out of surgery and awake,” her mother, Marcy, said on the GoFundMe page. “She’s still pretty groggy but cracking jokes. She wants everyone to know that sharks are still good people.”