Southeast
Navy SEAL coaching program offers ‘full reset’ in health and wellness: ‘Nothing short of life-changing’
Navy SEALs are being given a chance at living fuller, heathier lives after their service.
The Navy SEAL Foundation’s Warrior Fitness Program offers physical and mental coaching for those in need of extra support.
Former Navy SEAL Chris Irwin shared his experience with the program in an interview, telling Fox News Digital he approached the program as a “warrior rehab kind of concept — like a full reset.”
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Irwin currently lives in Whitefish, Montana, and spent 14 years in active duty, checking into SEAL Team 5 in 1999.
After six years in the reserves, Irwin went on to pursue multiple careers in health and fitness before joining the Navy SEAL Foundation in 2018, where he currently works as communications director.
That same year, Irwin enrolled in the foundation’s four- to six-week Warrior Fitness Program at its East Coast facility in Virginia Beach.
The former SEAL initially joined the program to address a variety of chronic issues related to mental and physical health, he said.
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Navy SEAL Foundation CEO Robin King, based in California, told Fox News Digital in a separate interview how the program works, noting that it’s “more than just a gym.”
She said, “The Warrior Fitness program is a transformative initiative that the foundation created in combination with Virginia High Performance.”
“It is an intensive program designed to allow our Navy SEAL warriors a space to rejuvenate their bodies, reset their minds and nurture their spirits.”
King added, “It is a place where resilience is forged and recovery takes place. It focuses on biomechanics, strength, pain management, memory, cognition, nutrition, education, recovery and community connection.”
The program gives Navy SEAL warriors “a space to rejuvenate their bodies, reset their minds and nurture their spirits.”
Lodging, travel, meals and other amenities are fully covered.
Participants have considered the program to be “nothing short of life-changing, and sometimes life-saving,” said King.
The program resulted from the foundation’s recognition that SEALs needed assistance after active duty, King said.
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“After more than 20 years — with the war on terror and what is currently going on in the world and the activity of the SEAL community — we are seeing a lot of traumatic brain injury and the effects of that,” she said.
“Throughout their careers, they deal with a lot of blast exposure — and those are often labeled the ‘invisible wounds of war.’”
The program is available for veterans as well as active-duty SEALs who are injured or who are transitioning back into civilian life.
“As they’re transitioning out, they’re looking at life in a different way,” King said. “And so, they’re provided all of this education to ensure that they’re thinking about their bodies in a different way.”
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Irwin said the program takes SEALs through “multiple workouts a day,” including a lot of recovery-focused activities.
Participants have the opportunity to use flow tanks for meditation, get massages and receive chiropractic care if needed. They can also consult with a nutritionist on dietary guidance and a cognitive speech pathologist to help with mental functioning, he said.
“It’s close to a full-time job for those four weeks,” Irwin added.
The program has grown a great deal since Irwin completed it six years ago, he noted.
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This includes the 2023 opening of the Warrior Fitness Program’s multimillion-dollar West Coast facility in San Diego, California.
“[It’s] cutting edge, state-of-the-art, top to bottom,” Irwin said. “We really wanted to make this as available as we could for guys on both coasts.”
While Navy SEALs are known for enduring extremely difficult training regimens, some of them have reported learning new practices and effective workouts through the program.
SEALs “who have been there for 20 or 30 years say things like, ‘I thought I understood working out. I thought I knew about strength training, but what I learned here is just so different,’” King said.
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“If you can learn as much as you possibly can about each little muscle group and … how to open up your spine and your neck, you can relieve a lot of that pain, and that makes a big difference in people’s lives.”
Irwin agreed that no matter how much training a SEAL has had, those transitioning out can always benefit from new modalities.
For other SEALs interested in enrolling in the program, Irwin encouraged them to embrace the “whole body and mind approach.”
He advised, “Go in with the mindset of, ‘I’m going to do exactly what they tell me and try to be the best student I can possibly be, and that’s the way I’m going to get the results I’m hoping for.’”
He added, “I think every single [SEAL] should go through the program at some point in their career.”
King emphasized that the foundation is doing its best to ensure that community members and families know that help is available.
“The Navy SEAL Foundation is actively pursuing research into any information and treatments that we can bring forward to help this community and guide them through challenging injuries,” King said.
Founded in 2000, the Navy SEAL Foundation is a national nonprofit.
Its “mission [is] to provide critical support for the warriors, veterans and families of Naval Special Warfare and our Gold Star and surviving families,” according to the CEO.
The foundation has developed over 30 programs to support the needs of Navy SEALs in all stages of service.
For more information on the foundation, anyone can visit navysealfoundation.org.
For more Lifestyle articles, visit www.foxnews.com.com/lifestyle.
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Southeast
WV Gov. Jim Justice to delay US Senate swearing-in, averting brief bedlam in Charleston
West Virginia Republican Gov. Jim Justice announced that he would delay his U.S. Senate swearing-in, thereby preventing a whirlwind of four governors in a 10-day period due to coinciding changes in Charleston’s legislative leadership.
In doing so, it leaves federal Republicans’ Senate majority briefly at two instead of three seats. Justice alluded to such in remarks late Thursday, saying he wants to do what’s best for Mountaineers.
“My whole thinking behind all of this is that the continuity of government is essential during transitions. . . . When I took this job, I took this job to serve the people of West Virginia.”
Justice said he doesn’t expect much to happen between Jan. 3 – when Congress is sworn in – and Jan. 20 – when President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated, but that in Charleston, many things might transpire.
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West Virginia is one of seven states that does not have an independently-appointed or elected lieutenant governor. In Charleston, it is instead a statutory title given to the state Senate leader.
So, if Justice were to join the U.S. Senate on-schedule, current state Senate President Craig Blair would initially assume the role.
However, Blair lost the GOP primary for his Martinsburg seat in April, and therefore leaves office on Jan. 8 when the new legislature is sworn in.
On Jan. 8, the newly-selected leader, Sen. Randy Smith from Tucker County, would assume the governorship until Gov.-elect Patrick Morrisey took office on Jan. 13.
“Between January 3rd and when President Trump takes office, there’ll be some things that happen, but there won’t be anything happening [in the U.S. Congress] really until when President Trump takes office,” Justice said Thursday.
“I’m in constant contact with President Trump about my feelings about his selections for his appointments, my feelings about where we’re going to go on all kinds of issues like energy and on and on and on and everything,” he added.
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“So, I don’t think that there’s anything there that is going to rise to the level of what could happen here [in my absence].”
Republicans also flipped the Senate by a comfortable-enough 53-47 margin that Justice’s absence will still allow a two-member buffer.
“I don’t think that West Virginia needs to have four governors in 10 days,” he said.
Justice said Thursday he made the decision after speaking about the situation with both the House Speaker and Senate Majority Leader-designate.
“Senator Thune is really a good man. He’s going to do a great job as our leader and everything. And we had this discussion, and at the end of the day, I think you’ll find that everyone totally understands the complexities and everything and totally understands [my decision],” Justice said.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.V., Justice’s counterpart next session, said she looks forward to serving with him and working together to advance Trump’s agenda.
“I very much respect Governor Justice’s decision to honor his commitment to complete his term as Governor of the State of West Virginia,” she said in a statement.
“I believe this with all my soul,” Justice further told reporters. “The people of West Virginia elected me to this office, and they expected me to do right by them always . . . t has been an honor beyond belief being their governor.”
A billionaire coal businessman who also owns The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, Justice was originally elected as a Democrat but changed parties during a 2017 rally with Trump in his first term in Charleston – and was re-elected as a Republican.
Justice’s turn to the GOP and the retirement of Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., completes a full shift from the blue state that for decades elected Sen. Robert Byrd and Rep. Nick Joe Rahall to a deep-red state that Democratic presidential candidates since Hillary Clinton have lost by double-digits.
Bearing the wait until Jan. 13, Justice reiterated, will be worth it because he loves Trump “with all my soul.”
“I think the world of his family and everything. And I’m going to be there [and] super supportive of what he’s doing. And we’re going to try in every way to . . . put this nation back on the right track.”
“The people of West Virginia will know exactly where I stand with them.”
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Southeast
Manchin calls Biden's clemency for two killers 'horribly misguided and insulting'
Following President Biden’s move to commute the sentences of 37 prisoners on federal death row, Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., called the clemency granted to two of the individuals “horribly misguided and insulting.”
In the 37 cases, Biden commuted the sentences to life sentences without the potential for parole.
Manchin — a Democrat-turned-independent senator who will soon leave office — said he felt a responsibility to speak out on behalf of the parents of Samantha Burns, who was slain in 2002 at the age of 19, according to reports.
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“After speaking to Samantha Burns’ parents, I believe it is my duty to speak on their behalf and say President Biden’s decision to commute the death sentences for the two men convicted in her brutal murder is horribly misguided and insulting,” the lawmaker declared in a statement posted on X.
“Particularly since Samantha’s family wrote letters to President Biden & the Department of Justice, pleading for them not to do this, but their concerns were unheard. I can’t imagine the grief that Kandi and John Burns are reliving and dealing with during the holiday season,” Manchin continued. “As their U.S. Senator and a father, I want to express my deepest sympathy for their continued suffering. Please know that Samantha will forever be in our prayers.”
The two men connected with the young woman’s death escaped lockup and went on a crime spree in 2002, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
“On November 4, 2002, cellmates Chadrick Fulks and Brandon Basham escaped from a county detention facility in Kentucky” and “unleashed a criminal rampage that lasted seventeen days and zigzagged across several states,” according to the court, which noted that the men “admitted to killing Burns and pleaded guilty to carjacking resulting in death in the Southern District of West Virginia.”
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In a statement about the commutations, President Biden said, “I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss.”
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But he also said that he was “more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level.” “These commutations are consistent with the moratorium my Administration has imposed on federal executions, in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder,” Biden said.
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Southeast
Georgia lawmakers can subpoena Fani Willis for information related to Trump case, court rules
A Georgia judge has ruled that state lawmakers can subpoena Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis as part of an inquiry into whether she engaged in misconduct during her prosecution of President-elect Donald Trump.
In his Dec. 23 order, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Shukura Ingram gave Willis until Jan. 13 to file a list of claimed privileges and objections to anything that has been subpoenaed.
Willis plans to appeal the decision.
“We believe the ruling is wrong and will appeal,” former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes, who is representing Willis in the case, wrote in an email to The Associated Press.
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Earlier this month, an appeals court removed Willis from the Georgia election interference case against Trump and others, citing an “appearance of impropriety.” The panel also cited the romantic relationship between Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade.
“This is the rare case in which disqualification is mandated and no other remedy will suffice to restore public confidence in the integrity of these proceedings,” the court said.
At the time, Trump called the case a “disgrace to justice.”
“It was started by the Biden DOJ as an attack on his political opponent, Donald Trump,” he said, “They used anyone and anybody, and she has been disqualified, and her boyfriend has been disqualified, and they stole funds and went on trips.”
In August, the Republican-led Senate committee sent subpoenas to Willis seeking to compel her to testify in September. She skipped a hearing that month when lawmakers hoped to question her.
The committee was formed to examine misconduct allegations against Willis during her prosecution of Trump over efforts to overturn the former president’s 2020 election loss in Georgia.
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Barnes, Willis’ attorney, argued the subpoenas were overly broad and not related to a legitimate legislative need and that the Senate committee didn’t have the power to subpoena her in the first place.
One issue raised is that the Georgia legislative term will end when lawmakers are sworn in for their new term on Jan. 13. Republican state Sen. Greg Dolezal said last week that he plans to file legislation to re-establish the committee at the beginning of the 2025 legislative session.
“The law is clear, and the ruling confirms what we knew all along,” Dolezal wrote in a text Friday. “Judge Ingram rejected every argument made by Willis in her attempt to dodge providing testimony to the committee under oath. I look forward to D.A. Willis honoring the subpoena and providing documents and testimony to our committee.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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