The Armed Forces Initiative is more than just a community; just like the flag we salute, it's a tapestry woven with the threads of diverse backgrounds and experiences. Within our ranks, you will find veterans, active-duty personnel, reservists, National Guard members, and retirees - individuals who have dedicated anywhere from four to 40 years of their lives in service to their nation. It sets us apart, and it's what makes our community truly unique. We share a common bond through our ...

As someone who learned to hunt in the absence of communal experience and mentorship, I understand the trials of error, self-doubt, and sometimes overconfidence that can plague an inexperienced hunter. Having spent hundreds of hours peering into my phone’s screen, devouring YouTube videos with a side of hunter-forum banter, I felt ready for my first hunt. Determined, I spent that weekend hunting the closest and biggest swath of public land without an ounce of success. I figured – I was ...

Healing in the Turkey Woods (Mountains) By Mitch Vazquez                     I like many hunters started hunting turkey in the spring to fill the emptiness in our soul before fall brought screaming bulls and grunting bucks.  The obsession of chasing birds with the same tenacity as elk was not understood by me; it was more of an opportunistic hunt not something I sought out.  This all changed in the fall of 2018.               I conceptualized the nonprofit Heroes’ Harvests during a 26-day ...

I received word in 2019 that the military was sending me to Fort Huachuca, Arizona. To save time among ourselves, my wife and I named the move “Operation Javelina.” Javelina - more properly “collared peccaries” - quickly became a symbol of the state of Arizona to my family. To ease them into moving from our Midwest Michigan home, we gave our children stuffed javelina for Christmas that year. We filled their heads with visions of these stinky, hairy critters and how lucky we were to move to ...

As seen in The Lethal Minds Journal Volume 13 Please visit: https://lethalmindsjournal.substack.com/p/lethal-minds-volume-13 Transition Career and civilian transition guidance, geared towards helping servicemembers plan their careers and help transitioning servicemembers succeed in civilian life   The Armed Forces Initiative - Trevor J. Hubbs In 2004, two veterans named Mike Beagle and Tony Heckard sat down around a campfire with five other conservation advocates and decided to ...