I'm going to say...Smirnoff. Yep, it's definitely Smirnoff.

Believe it or not, even though he sports a name worthy of an Italian designer, Luc hails from…get this, Ohio. He didn’t know it then, but his high school activities were the precursor to his current job situation. You see, in the 9th grade, Luc was arrested along with nine of his friends for filming a home grown version of Jackass. It seems that the Westerville, Ohio Police Department was not too keen on a bunch of adolescents running around town doing self-depreciating stunts for a camera and deemed it as “Disturbing the Peace.” Disturbing indeed. And to top it off, they actually had to go to a Scared Straight class on the importance of not being a jackass.

After high school, Luc continued his education and has a degree in architecture. He was looking for a summer job while visiting his soon to be wife and saw an online job posting for a designer. According to Luc, it read something like this: Wanted, cool art dude who can wear flip flops, drink massive amounts of alcohol while sitting behind a computer and creating kick ass t-shirt designs for the Greatest Military and MMA Apparel Company in the world.

Jackpot!

Luc was the perfect fit and his first day on the job, coincidently, was also the first and last Whisky Thursday for RU. After his summer gig was up, Luc went back to Savannah to finish out school but just knew that RU was where he belonged and after getting his masters in Architecture he moved to area to begin the constant pestering of Nick for a full time position. In the end Nick finally gave Luc the go ahead to become the in house designer and the rest is history.

Luc explains that Ranger Up has a unique way of finalizing its designs. It all starts with an idea that is usually pitched during a creative meeting. Luc loves the fact that everyone in the shop has an equal voice when it comes to shirt ideas. He has the ability to take that random idea and transform it into a bad-ass design. After Nick approves the designs, it gets posted on Facebook where you, our fans, get your say in it. If you haven’t realized already…we read to what you post, and take your criticisms seriously. It may be tweaked several times until it is just right and then BAM, your wallet becomes lighter…it’s like magic!

T-shirt design isn’t the only thing that Luc is responsible for. The tags on the t-shirts, banners and general artwork for the companies of Ranger Up are also created under his watchful eye. The broad spectrum of work that he is faced with on a daily basis is one of the things that he loves about working with Ranger Up. You never know when Luc is going to slip a little humor into his designs (here is a hint, make sure you read the tags for your shirts…depending on which design it is, you may find a little surprise).

While Luc may have the eye for awesomeness printed on a shirt he still doesn’t have a freaking clue as to what a good Vodka tastes like. Don’t believe me? Check out this little ditty from Nick and Tommy Batboy challenging him to a taste off. Luc has also been known (in case you haven’t seen the pictures) of stripping down, jumping fences and dodging security, just to take a dip in the Atlantic, at Virginia Beach, in November! Let’s all say it together…Under the Influence!

No matter how you present it, Luc’s designs are pretty bad-ass but the humble view of Luc sums it all up. “I’m just a designer, man; with an opportunity to create shirts for some pretty fucking awesome fans”.

Dick Winters, a highly decorated World War II hero who became a household name when his heroics were chronicled in a Stephen Ambrose book that later became the HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers,” has died. He was 92. A very private and modest man, he died last week but requested that the news be withheld until after the funeral, a family friend told the Associated Press.

After enlisting in the Army on Aug. 25, 1941, the Pennsylvania native was deployed with fellow soldiers in Easy Company — the 506th regiment of the 101st Airborne Division — to land by parachute in France on D-Day, June 6, 1944. By leading the takeover of a German artillery bunker on Utah Beach, Winters and his company saved countless lives from relentless cannon fire — an action that earned him the Distinguished Service Cross, the second-highest honor an American soldier can receive. Winters and Easy Company later fought near the Belgian town of Foy during the Battle of the Bulge, liberated the German concentration camp at Dachau, and occupied Hitler’s mountainside retreat, Eagle’s Nest.

In 1945, one of Winters’ soldiers, Floyd Talbert, wrote a letter to Winters from his hospital bed to express appreciation for his leadership in battle. “You are loved and will never be forgotten by any soldier that ever served under you,” Talbert wrote. “I would follow you into hell.”

Shaken by what he experienced in war, Winters reportedly vowed to live a simple life if he managed to survive, and that’s just what he did. After returning home, he married his then-girlfriend, Ethel, bought a farm in Pennsylvania and raised a family. He reportedly never talked about his war experiences until Ambrose came calling in the hopes of documenting Easy Company’s role in winning the war. Winters said he honored Ambrose’s request because he felt it important for future generations to learn about the war, its consequences and the sacrifices made by soldiers. He later wrote his own memoir, “Beyond Band of Brothers.”

Winters was leading a quiet life of farm retirement in Hershey, Pa., when “Band of Brothers” turned him into a minor celebrity. People who knew him say that he never really became comfortable with life in the spotlight. He had fielded countless requests for interviews and personal appearances over the past decade or so, most of which he turned down.

Winters was, by all accounts, exceedingly modest. When someone would ask him whether he considered himself a hero, he would usually respond by saying, “No. But I served in a company of heroes.” Chroniclers of the World War II era, however, such as legendary NBC newsman Tom Brokaw — who detailed the lives of Winters and others like him in his “Greatest Generation” series of books — beg to differ.

“Dick Winters was the quintessential American infantry officer — brave, canny and modest,” Brokaw told The Lookout. “His heroic leadership of the Band of Brothers is a one-man course on how to become a warrior without losing your humanity.”

Major Winters in 1945 (AP Photo/Courtesy of Sgt. Maj. Herman W. Clemens) Ret.

-Turkish get-ups with a 45 pound Kettlebell) – 7 each side.
-Medicine ball chop and lifts – 10 each side.
-Air Dyne Bike 45 seconds.

Time to beat 12:10
Middle of the pack 15:19
Last man 19:04

Justin: Chipmunks…fuckers are pretty aggressive out here!

Katy: Aggressive or radioactive?

Justin: Isn’t that the same thing?

Katy: I am aggressive but I don’t think I am radioactive…

Justin: Hmmm…radioactive means you’re aggressive, but aggressive doesn’t always mean you’re radioactive (I just looked it up). In this case, Im pretty sure these are aggressive, radioactive zombie chipmunks who are out for blood. However, there is a slight chance I could be wrong about them being zombie chipmunks. Their aggressiveness isn’t so much in biting form (I’ve not let them get close enough), but more on the American Spirit of aggressiveness. They’re beginning to build civilizations at an accelerated rate, which is aggressively running off all the other animals who were there first. Zombie or no zombie, they’re aggressive and I’ve been sent here to obliterate the infestation.

Katy: Ok, so I am very visual (silly artist thing). I just got a mental picture of a bunch of zombie chipmucks erecting a city in your back yard…I may never sleep again

Justin: Ok, so now you’re seeing what I’m seeing. Enter the .50 cal and start taking out zombie chipmunk buildings! Good start right?!! The air strike and attack chopper are on standby and the AC-130 is in the air. I’m armed to the teeth and these little bastards are not putting a zombie chipmunk starbucks in my back yard!

Katy: Ok, I’ve got my GAT and a sweet ground assault.

Justin: NO NO NO. Not “sweet” ground assault. They’ll eat you alive. Then we’ll have a zombie cake maker, packing infectious zombie transformations into every delectable goodie. You’ll have to keep your distance or if you get close. Wear one of those shark bite suits under a bear attack suit, inside a HAZMAT suit, inside a bubble. You’ll have to keep your distance or if you get close.

Katy: Ok, so lets pretend for a second I am radioactive, like spiderman! I will use my web drop down plant a grenade and then go back up!

Justin: I think that’s a fantastic opportunity to surprise attack them, but it definitely won’t clear the city (which is good cause Im still having fun). Ok let’s get serious, slick move, but if you’re radioactive, then aren’t you part of the problem and not the solution? How do I know you won’t web zip your way to where I’m at, plant the grenade and then web zip away? I’m not gonna lie, zombie chipmunk cities aren’t really great areas to web swing around. The buildings are made of dead zombie chipmunks and only stand at max, about 40 foot high. That’s not a lot of room for you to be swinging around.

Katy: One, I am Spiderwoman, not Venom. So I am a GOOD radioactive being. Maybe I would be a little more Blade-style and go all vigilante justice to save your back yard. I see the issue with the buildings and restricted web swinging space. Like being the Jolly Green Giant at a rave. How about if I had a fire retardant super hero costume so I could fly through the explosion?

Justin: It’s ok. I wouldn’t call you Venom. That’s me. I got the tattoo on my leg. I don’t know that we need a “super hero” just yet. Right now just need some good old fashion firepower and accurate placement of explosives. Think you can handle that?

Katy: I think I just really want to wear a costume. It makes me feel tough. I totally don’t have a cool super hero nick name either.

Justin: Good thing Halloween is coming up. If I don’t get some shooting done, I’ll be going as a radioactive, zombie chipmunk.

Katy: I will so need pics of that!

Justin: Well let’s just hope I’ve got enough rounds to keep that from happening. And you might not need pix…aggressive radioactive zombie chipmunks have been known to travel long distances. They might be outside your house now.

Katy: So how does one kill a radioactive zombie chipmunk? Do you need special bullets like when you kill vampires? How scary would mutant vampire robot monkeys be?!

Justin: ‎3 ways:
A: Shooting it at the base of the head, where the spinal cord and brain come together.
2: high energy explosive burning at over 5000 degrees
D: Send in a spy to infiltrate they society, becoming one with their customs and ways. Marrying into a wealthy family with political ties or a family with architectural ties, so as to figuratively or literally topple the city/society from the inside, thus causing sheer chaos and eventual self mutilation and suicides on a mass scale. Though this technique has been put into action only a few times, all failing due to the spy falling in love with the zombie chipmunk significant other who, on their wedding night, usually eats the spy. However, we are fairly certain it works due to the cave writings and legends of Bill Brasky, the only supposed man to accomplish this task. But we all know is that only 3 aggressive, radioactive, zombie chipmunk eggs were left unharmed and thus started the epidemic again….. or so the legend goes.

Justin: By the way – Mutant Vampire Robot Monkeys? Now you’re just being silly.

Katy: Bill Brasky? I think there is a folk song that we used to sing at girl scout camp about him. I heard that he was the father of the three unharmed eggs. That’s why he kept them safe like an emperor penguin. I have seen pictures of cave paintings of the radioactive zombie chipmunks. I hear they pre date the cave paintings at Lascaux.

Justin: Got to go. Need to practice calling in Griffins.

His toughest win was over 10-3 Lewis McKenzie to earn the Legacy FC Bantamweight Title. McKenzie was 7-0 at the time and generally regarded as a regional bad ass. The win bumped Robo to the #1 ranked pound for pound fighter in his region (as well as #1 bantamweight), and now has opened the door for his Strikeforce fight on August 21st against the #2 ranked bantamweight, Humberto Deleon.

Of course, this wouldn’t be a Rangerified bio if we didn’t have some ball busting, so here goes:

Ranger Up didn’t make an shirt small enough to fit Robo, so we had to custom order them using the excuse that we were manufacturing dolls to justify it.

Robo once went to a horse track to watch a race. When he was mistaken for a jockey and led into the rider’s club, he played the part and walked out with a new pair of boots, a helmet, and a few riding crops. Since then his students stopped talking back.

Whenever Robo needs to smile in a photo, he recalls the time his buddy, “Dan The Captain of the Titanic” crashed into an iceberg in the middle of the desert. Ask him about it.

Robo’s work ethic borders on the extreme. Federal authorities once raided his gym on a tip that children were being used as slave labor. Instead they found Robo practicing armbars until he finished “99 bottles of beer on the wall.”

Robo named his dog John just to piss off all the Fluff’s and Rover’s of the world.

One night Robo was drinking in the barracks (imagine that) when an argument broke out over who Keanu Reeves’ wingman in Point Break was…Nick Nolte or Gary Busey. A fight broke out and a guy in his squad named “Melton” (we suspect he totally made that name up) decided to jump in while the perpetrators were scuffling and came off the top rack of the bunks with a Jimmy Superfly Snuka elbow to the head of the guy who said it was Busey. Turns out it really was Busey, but who cares. You don’t need a valid reason to go WWE during a good barracks fight.

Be sure to watch Chad Robichaux August 21st on Showtime when he fights Humberto Deleon on the Strikeforce undercard.

And check out this article on Chad from Graciemag.com

10 medicine ball overhead throws (20 lbs)
20 meter barbell overhead lunge (135 lbs)
20 foot rope climb
Sprint out 30 seconds and back 30 seconds (don’t be a douche, push yourself)

Time to beat 20:58
Middle of the pack 23:33
Last man 29:14

Cole Morgan is an Infantryman in the Florida National Guard and a race car driver. Two things that rock. Cole started racing cars at the age of 16 after attending a racing school at the age of 15, which wasn’t allowed at the time, but his dad persuaded the school to let him attend early by introducing them to a man named Ben Franklin (see…he’s the guy on the $100 bill…). Cole proved his dad right by being the Rookie Driver of the Year in 2005 and National Driver of the Year in 2006 when he also won the Cooper Tires Gold Cup Title with 11 wins in 12 races. These ain’t no go-karts, neither. These are Junior Indy Cars that go ridiculous speed. In 2007 Cole won the F2000 Championship Series after missing the first 2 races of the year so he still beat everyone after giving them a head start. That’s our kind of guy.

After dominating the circuit in 2007, Cole took a break in 2008 to find enlightenment in Tibet, but he only got a bad case of malaria and returned home to enlist in the Army. Seems reasonable. He ultimately chose the National Guard so he could continue racing and hopefully get spotted by a talent agent casting for “The Fast and the Furious 6 – Geezer Dodging in Florida!” Three weeks after graduating from Fort Benning as an Infantryman, Cole was in Wisconsin eating cheese and placing fourth in the National Championship Runoffs and doing what all good drivers do – blaming it on the crew chief. In 2010 Cole has seven Top 5 finishes and one win, despite running with a smaller budget than most teams.

Fun facts about Cole “I can do anything faster than you” Morgan:

Cole is 4-0 in professional belly flop contests despite weighing 112 pounds.

Cole has attended college on and off for 2 ½ years and has switched his major 5 times. Race car drivers call this “overachievement.”

Cole had aspirations of being a Skyscraper window washer, but discovered he was afraid of heights on his first day on the job. Ironically he’s due to attend Airborne school this fall.

After a race, another driver was pissed about losing and kicked Cole in the head before he could get out of his car. His helmet rendered the kick ineffective, but Cole’s counter headbutt worked. They both got probation.

The track can be boring, so Cole has a habit of putting “Shake-N-Bake” labels all over his car, the trailer, his dog, and sometimes his crew. He once labeled the announcer’s microphone “sausage.”

Cole caught a snake outside of a restaurant in upstate New York and threw it into his pit crew’s compact rental car…while they were in it. Turns out his engineer is frightened of snakes to the point of tears. Awesome.

Check out Cole at www.colemorganracing.com

20 Bar dips
20′ Single arm rope whips
20′ Double arm rope whips
20′ Double arm rope flips (gapplers flip)
20′ Scissor jumps
50m sprint out, 50m sprint back.
As many sets as you can do in 15 minutes

Number to beat – 6
Middle of the pack – 4
Last man – 3

I know it’s been too long since I’ve written – just like always – but I wanted to make sure you know that I’m doing well and having a blast on yet another crazy, miserable, unpredictable and exciting deployment.

You’ve probably been a bit confused since I told you months ago that I was heading to Africa, but then I called you from Haiti. Surprise! We were in Greece two weeks ago, and now I’m sitting in Estonia trying not to freeze my nads off. This all might seem odd, but the Marine Corps has a history of sending us where we’re needed most at the drop of a hat, especially when we’re on a boat like this. It’s nothing new or unusual. Besides, you shouldn’t worry about me – I’m one of the few who was smart enough to actually pack my long johns and cold weather gear. I knew you’d kick my ass if I tried to go outside without a jacket in this weather!

This deployment has been pretty fun. This is the longest I’ve ever been on a ship, and the one we’re on isn’t so bad – even though it entered service a few years before I did. I know you always worry when I go somewhere, but it was probably a relief knowing I wasn’t going to be anywhere that people would shoot at me this time around. The most danger I faced was the possibility of damaged buildings falling over in Haiti, but don’t worry, we slept in tents the whole time. Not that a tent would stop a falling building from crushing us, of course. This also was only the second time anyone in our family has been to Africa, and that alone made it significant for me. It was even hotter than Iraq and twice as humid as Camp Lejeune, but I loved every minute of it.

Being a nurse, you’ll be pleased to know that I have eaten my weight in anti-malaria pills for the past five months. I also got to feed plantains to monkeys, and I saw birds that can swim, fish that can fly, and Spanish dolphins swimming and chirping right alongside the ship. I know they were Spanish because they said “Hola” when they jumped out of the water. I trained or worked with soldiers, commandos, and Marines from about a dozen different countries. The Marines form the US Embassy even brought kegs of beer out to our camp out in the middle of nowhere for St. Patrick’s Day! I think you’d be proud of how well I was able to do my job and take care of the Marines in my unit like they were family. I don’t think you’d be as proud of how I was able to chug an Irish Car Bomb in Spain after one of my fellow Staff Sergeants spiked it with tequila, but you’d love the entire leg of jamon I staggered back aboard the ship with later that night! You’d also be disappointed about the time I was wretched hungover in Ghana and projectile-puked pure water on the Marine sitting in front of me on the tour bus. The guy across the aisle from him thought it was a hilarious and impressive display of Marine marksmanship! I also learned the hard way that I am no longer the soccer player you love and remember from years ago when dad was stationed in Germany. Two or three matches against Ghanaian and Togo soldiers showed me very clearly that I am much older and slower now! Not only did they beat us in the World Cup, but mopped the field up with our asses too.

While I don’t have any real regrets from this deployment, the time away has caused me to miss a few things: Mother’s Day and half of Arsenal’s season. We recently held a Memorial Day ceremony here on the ship that you would have been touched by. I made a point to personally put together a soldier’s cross for display in front of the formation, and I was very careful and exacting to make sure it looked just right. Nobody noticed or even gave me credit for doing it and that’s the way it should be. I did it as a personal tribute to people I’ve never told you about. People like my friend Tony and the other four Marines I knew that didn’t come home. Other people I’ve heard stories about and respected all my life – John Basilone, Lance Sijan, Randy Shugart… literally millions of others. If anything could make up for missing a few of the things I did back home, it would be spending that day among hundreds of Marines & sailors who truly appreciate sacrifices made by those who’ve gone before us.

Right now is the toughest part of any deployment, in my experience: we’re less than three weeks from returning home, so that’s on everyone’s mind right now. I’m doing my best to stay focused on our mission every day and plan ahead for future tasks and requirements, but it does take some effort. If there’s ever a chance of something going horribly wrong, someone getting badly injured or severely punished through gross stupidity, it’s on the tail end of a long deployment. There has been some friction between those of us who’ve been on this tin can since January, and it shows. More and more frequently, I find myself wanting to walk up to one of the sailors loitering outside the ship’s store, punch them square in the mouth, and scream “It’s a PASSAGEWAY, not a “Standageway”, you dumb sonofabitch!” I’m also trying not to be distracted by daydreams of what I’ll do for the 4th of July, the work I need to do on the GTO, or how I’ll be ending the months of nonstop horniness… but it’s tough. I just know that nobody can stop time, and the day will come when I do finally get off the ramp of this rusty floating pickup truck once and for all.

I hope everything’s going well on your end. Tell everyone I send my best, and that we’re out here doing a great job and upholding the Marine Corps’ reputation as you’d expect in every way. I love you and I’ll be home soon.

Your favorite jarhead,

Johnny

Medicine Ball overhead toss X10 (20lbs ball)
Overhead Barbell lunge 20m (95lbs)
Rope climb (15ft) or 15 pull-ups for you gym fags
500 meter run

Time to beat: 22:20
Middle of the pack: 25:26
Last man: 33:05