• These 10 celebrities made it to 100 years old and have tips on how they did it.
• Staying mentally and physically active can contribute to making it to triple digits.
• George Burns took brisk walks and avoided stress; Jimmy Carter credited marrying "the best spouse."

You might expect all Hollywood stars to have outlandish health and wellness routines, but these 10 celebrity centenarians kept it surprisingly simple.

Living to 100 is rare, but those who do tend to have some things in common. Scientists who study aging say that genes play a role in how long a person will live, but lifestyle factors, including diet, exercise, stress, and social connections, play a larger one.

From Jimmy Carter to the Queen Mother, here's what famous people who lived to 100 credit their longevity to.

Since his first term, Trump has consolidated the Republican Party around not only himself but also his broader "Make America Great Again" movement.

Army officials are preparing to display rocket launchers and missiles along with more than a hundred military aircraft and vehicles next weekend at the D.C. parade celebrating the Army's 250th anniversary, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: President Trump has envisioned the June 14 parade — which is scheduled on his 79th birthday — as a show of U.S. military might.

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Zoom in: Such a display of military equipment is rare in the United States, and critics of the event have expressed concerns about that imagery as well as the damage that heavy military vehicles could pose to the city's streets.

• But officials are eager to showcase U.S. weaponry such as the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), which is used to launch rockets.
• The launchers have been used in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.

There also will be a static display of precision-guided missiles, the officials said, and a flyover by F-22 fighter jets.

• About 7,000 military personnel will be involved in the parade, which will run along Constitution Avenue NW. It's projected to cost about $45 million — roughly one-third of that for post-parade street repairs.

Zoom out: The parade is set to begin at 6:30 pm, and will start at 23rd Street and Constitution Avenue NW and end at 15th and Constitution Avenue NW.

• Trump will have a review stand on the Ellipse.

What they're saying: "When the president came into office on Jan. 20, he made it clear that he wanted to ... feature the United States Army as the first branch of the United States military to be constituted of the American republic, and he wanted to give the U.S. Army a very special birthday parade," Ambassador Monica Crowley, chief of protocol of the United States, told Axios.

By the numbers: The parade will include 28 M1A1 Abrams tanks, 28 M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, and four Paladin Howitzers.

• There will be eight CH-47 Chinook helicopters, 16 AH-64 Apache helicopters, and 16 UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, officials said.
• Flyovers by World War II- and Vietnam-era planes also are planned.

The Trump administration’s spending cuts and restrictions on foreign students are triggering a brain drain — and American scientists are panicking.

Why it matters: U.S. researchers' fears are coming true. America’s science pipeline is drying up, and countries like China are seizing the opportunity to surge ahead.

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• “This is such a race for being the science powerhouse that you never fully recover,” says Marcia McNutt, president of the National Academy of Sciences. “You might accelerate back up to 60, but you can’t make up for those years when you were at a standstill while the competition was racing ahead.”

Driving the news: The National Science Foundation, which funds much of America's fundamental science research, is already doling out grants at its slowest pace in 35 years, The New York Times reports.

• More cuts to science could come with the "big, beautiful bill."

Universities are also watching with bated breath as the administration tries to limit the number of foreign students studying in the U.S..

• Harvard is pushing back, but could face a total ban on recruiting internationally. The Trump administration says it will "aggressively revoke" visas for Chinese students studying in "critical fields."

By the numbers: While American universities are rescinding offers to incoming PhD students, other countries are recruiting heavily from U.S. labs.

• The journal Nature analyzed data from its jobs platform to track where scientists are looking for work. In the first few months of the Trump administration, there were jumps in the the number of U.S. applicants looking for jobs in Canada (+41%), Europe (+32%), China (+20%) and other Asian countries (+39%), compared to the same period in 2024.
• U.S. jobs saw fewer applications from candidates in Canada (–13%) and Europe (–41%).

Case in point: France's Aix-Marseille University, which made headlines for earmarking millions of dollars for U.S. scientists, closed its application window after receiving a flood of apps.

• After American Nobel laureate Ardem Patapoutian's federal grant was frozen, he got an email from China offering 20 years of funding if he relocates his lab, The New York Times' Kate Zernike writes. He declined.
• “This is a once-in-a-century brain gain opportunity,” the Australian Strategic Policy Institute wrote in a brief.

The other side: The White House argues that its changes to the system will usher in a golden age of science and rebuild public trust. President Trump has also suggested that spots freed up by rejecting international students could be filled by American applicants.

• But professors say this isn't entirely realistic.
• "In hard sciences, in astronomy and physics and computer science, for example, there’s no way you would fill that hole with local applicants of comparable quality," says Chris Impey, an astronomer at the University of Arizona.

What to watch: “The optimistic part of all of us thinks science is strong enough to outlast one administration, and for a while I thought that, but the hit to young people is at the center of the whole enterprise,” Impey says. “It’s like pulling the rug out from under the whole thing."

• It's not just brain drain of existing talent, he says. Students who are in high school and college now and thinking about a career in research might reconsider. "There’s plenty of things smart kids can do. They don’t have to go into science."
• At the same time, McNutt says she tells students: "If you went into graduate school in the fall of this year, by the time you get your PhD, this madness may be over. You come out with your new PhD ready to fill the gap."

• I took a round-trip Amtrak journey from Manhattan to Rochester.
• I rode coach on the way there and business class on the way back.
• I don't think my $180 business-class ticket was worth it.

At the end of May, I took a quick break from the hustle and bustle of New York City to check out life upstate in Rochester, New York.

Rather than schlepping to the airport, I decided to try a more relaxing mode of transportation: an Amtrak train. I'm not an Amtrak newbie, but I'm used to shorter train trips. My journey to Rochester was scheduled to take seven hours, while the return was even longer at nine.

As I prepared to book my tickets, I thought about all the hype I've heard about business and first-class experiences, and I was curious if an upgrade would make the long ride more comfortable.

I purchased a coach ticket for my journey to Rochester and a business-class seat for my return trip to see which was better. Next time, I'll save the money and stick to coach.

• My grandparents were very present in my life and helped raise me.
• When they died, the hardest part was telling my kids about it.
• I leaned into memories to help my kids process their loss.

I grew up with my grandparents — they raised my brother and me when our parents couldn't.

My grandfather was plagued with health issues throughout his life, almost dying from hydrocephalus when he was a kid. He had a dent in his head and a hole in his finger. These became party favorites at every family event. Gramps would let all the kids feel both the dent and the hole. My grandmother on the other hand was the picture of health, until her 70s when she was diagnosed with late-stage ovarian cancer. It came as a complete shock when she shared the news with me.

For years, my grandparents battled with their health until the summer of 2013, just after the birth of my fourth child. We got the call that things were not good. My grandfather died on July 7 at Mass General Hospital in Boston of heart failure. My grandmother died less than three months later at the exact hour and minute my grandfather had.

The hardest part of their death was having to tell my kids who were very close to Gram and Gramps.

They struggled with the loss

My kids watched my grandparents through their respective health battles. Once, my grandmother fainted during one of their birthday parties, and we had to rush her by ambulance to the hospital. Another time, we spent a Thanksgiving visit wondering if my grandfather would wake up from a cardiac event he endured after surgery for throat cancer.

My kids knew about long-term illness as much as children could. Death was different, though.

My two oldest struggled with the loss. Thankfully, the two youngest were too young to understand. I took the oldest to my grandfather's funeral, thinking it might help them process the loss of a man they had known their whole lives. Bagpipes played as we entered the church, and on the ride home, I listened to my kids cry in the back seat. We stayed in the apartment Gram had shared with Gramps. We ate Chinese food from our favorite place and stared at his seat on the couch that would remain forever empty. My grandmother was in an assisted care facility by this time.

I prepared myself to lose her. The ovarian cancer was progressing. I swore that I would do a better job of explaining her death to the kids.

We looked at photos and shared memories

She passed away as I was driving from my home in Maine to her apartment in Massachusetts. We told the kids on a warm night when I returned. We sat in our sunroom and listened to late fall sounds outside. This time, we had more time to think.

I brought out a photo album, and we talked about her and my grandfather. We told stories. I shared the eulogy I was writing and included them so they would understand how important they were to her. With the death of my grandmother, instead of avoiding the memories like we had with my grandfather's death, we leaned into them. They saved us and became a salve for our grief. We remembered holidays and the way my grandmother always greeted us at the elevator, too excited to wait for us inside her apartment.

In the months and years following the death of my grandparents, we also made sure to remain close to my grandmother's sisters. They became two of the most important people in my kids' lives. Fostering this relationship with them (who we now call "the aunts") was a way of helping them to process and continue to deal with the loss of their grandparents. We visited them in Massachusetts and shared holidays. The aunts have attended my kids' milestone events, standing in for the grandparents who couldn't.

Familial relationships and memories helped my kids in ways that nothing else could. Still, even now as my kids become teens and adults, we remember the early years of their lives, and those memories include my grandparents.

• When I decided to live at home while in college, people worried I'd miss the college experience.
• But I saved thousands on room and board while also working two jobs off campus.
• Living at home gave me a smooth transition into postgrad life after graduating debt-free.

When choosing a college, I had one requirement: It needed to be close because I wanted to live at home.

Many of my peers were applying to schools as far away as possible, shopping for dorm decor, and making plans to catch up over the holidays. I, on the other hand, was applying within a set radius. I settled on a small private university in the mountains, roughly a 30-minute drive from home.

Despite the proximity, many people assumed I'd still live on campus and were shocked when I told them otherwise. Friends and family were supportive — those who knew me especially well, unsurprised — but their responses were laced with concern.

I was often peppered with questions: Didn't I want to try living at school for at least a year? Wouldn't I be missing out on the "college experience?"

I was unconcerned. I knew what I wanted, and paying thousands upon thousands of dollars to live in a dorm room wasn't it. I believed I could have a far more fulfilling college experience on my own terms — and I was right.

Working off-campus was a priority for me

One of my primary reasons for living off-campus was simple: I wanted to work.

Upon graduating from high school, I was offered a job teaching theatre and dance at the school I'd grown up in. I'd been volunteering with the younger students for years, assisting with classes and productions. Now, being able to do so in an official capacity was an opportunity I wasn't about to pass up.

I also was leading the marketing efforts of a local bookstore — a job I'd held the year prior — and had no desire to give up experience working in my field.

My work required a sizable time commitment, so I chose to stack my full load of college classes between two days every week — Tuesdays and Thursdays. This gave me the freedom to work and maintain off-campus commitments the rest of the week.

Since I would be spending so much time off campus, it felt crazy to pay through the roof only to spend more days away from school than attending it. I was told I'd regret the decision not to be more involved in my university during my college years, but I was determined to choose my own priorities.

My social life thrived

One of the biggest concerns I heard about my decision to live at home was that I'd miss out on the relationships I'd build in college. I countered: Why would I want to solely invest in friendships that would be scattered in four years by the postgrad diaspora when I could have connections all around me?

Still, I made great friends in college. I bonded with fellow digital media majors by working with them at the student magazine. I stayed close to my theatrical roots by joining theatre electives and attending shows, cheering my classmates on.

But I also had the opportunity to make my community my own. Without being tied to college life 24/7, I could stay close to old friends more easily and get to know new people of all ages and walks of life, broadening my world in a way I wouldn't have been able to if entirely confined to campus.

The oldest of three girls, living at home also allowed me to be present for moments with family I would have otherwise missed, like weekly meals with my grandparents and helping my little sisters get ready for prom.

Instead of losing a vital opportunity for community, I was able to build and strengthen relationships that would last long past the college years.

My postgrad life is even better thanks to that early decision

After college, many 20-somethings flounder. It's understandable — for four years, their college campus has been their whole world, and suddenly they're thrust into the unknown.

I had my share of uncertainties, but I didn't feel unprepared. Instead of making college my life, I'd spent college building a life I could love — and putting myself in a great place financially to do so.

I left college debt-free, with more savings than most people my age. But living at home during college was more than just a financial perk; it also set me up to thrive mentally and emotionally.

Since graduating in December 2021, I've gone full-time with my freelance business, traveled with friends, and begun chasing even bigger dreams. I can't wait to see what's next.

After a difficult start in life, Rebel is now living his best life with plenty of fun in the water.

Going sideways is fun, but only until your rear wheel comes off, which can then launch the car straight into the catch fence.

The lawsuit claims that Grocery Outlet's pricing strategy violates multiple provisions of Oregon's Unlawful Trade Practices Act.

Harrison Burton lost his NASCAR Cup Series seat with Wood Brothers Racing at the end of the 2024 season.

Kyiv said Russia intends to seize half of Ukraine by the end of 2026, beyond the formal territorial claims Moscow made to the U.S.

• America's conflict with the Houthis gave the US Navy a taste of high-tempo air defense operations.
• The Navy is using the conflict to inform planning for future maritime wars, like a clash with China.
• One warship captain said a fight in the Pacific would be vastly different from the Red Sea battle.

The US Navy's exhausting shootout with the Iran-backed Houthis has given American military planners a clearer view into the complexities of high-tempo air defense operations.

The Red Sea conflict, now in the second month of a cease-fire, has been a heavy strain on the Navy, stressing warship crews and draining critical munitions. Though this fight has been a challenge, leaders within the service believe that it is but a taste of what a future war against China, which has far more sophisticated missiles than the Yemeni rebels, would look like.

And it's not just the missiles. Rather, it's a range of factors that would make a China confrontation significantly more difficult, but the Navy is learning key lessons from the Red Sea that it could apply to a future fight.

"In a lot of ways, the Red Sea — it's a knife fight in a phone booth," Cdr. Cameron Ingram, the commanding officer of the USS Thomas Hudner, told Business Insider aboard the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer during a recent underway in the English Channel.

"The geography is extremely tight, and that geography operating that close off of China-controlled territory would be very, very challenging," he said.

"That would be a much more long-distance fight," Ingram said. "Also, their long-range surveillance and tracking is much more advanced. Their intelligence community is much more advanced. And so there are still a lot more complexities and challenges that would make it very difficult in a China fight."

Since October 2023, the Houthis have launched hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel and international shipping lanes off the coast of Yemen, specifically in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

Navy warships and aircraft operating in the region have shot down many of the Houthi weapons, from drones to anti-ship missiles, in self-defense and in defense of Israel and merchant vessels. Thomas Hudner is one of America's ships with confirmed kills.

These interceptions — sometimes leveraging multimillion-dollar missiles to take down drones worth only thousands of dollars — have strained US stockpiles and raised concerns about readiness for potential future armed conflicts. In the case of China, which has been described as America's "pacing threat," naval air defense capacity is a priority; a potential conflict between the two would likely unfold primarily at sea.

China maintains a formidable arsenal of anti-ship weapons, including ballistic and cruise missiles, that are vastly more capable than what the Houthis have been employing, making it imperative that the Navy has enough interceptor missiles on hand; however, it has already expended hundreds of these battling the rebels.

Ingram said a China war would be challenging and complex for the Navy because of Beijing's advanced weaponry, long-range surveillance and tracking, and intelligence operations.

"That environment will have to be fought at a different level," he explained, adding that it would see engagements at longer distances than what the Navy experienced in the Red Sea.

Lessons learned

The Navy has learned a great deal about air defense from the Red Sea conflict and tested by unprecedented engagements against dangerous threats such as anti-ship ballistic missiles.

Ingram spoke highly of the Aegis Combat System, which uses computers and radars to help warships track targets and intercept them. He said it has "operated probably better than most of us expected it to, as far as success rates of engagements."

The Red Sea conflict has also informed the Navy about its magazine capacity, reloading capabilities, and munitions inventory. The sea service has changed its firing policy and reconsidered the amount of ordnance warships ought to expend in attempts to neutralize a threat.

A big focus area is trying to drive down the cost ratio for air defense missions. Using a $2.1 million Standard Missile-2 to intercept a $20,000 drone isn't on the right side of that curve, but Ingram argues that it can be worth it to protect a $2 billion warship and hundreds of lives. The challenge, however, is sustainability.

The US and its NATO allies have demonstrated in the Red Sea that they can use cheaper air defense alternatives to take down the Houthi threats. American fighter jets, for instance, used guided rockets. Ingram said the Navy is working to bring the cost difference between threat and interceptor "a little bit closer to parity."

Ingram added that there is increased attention being directed at warships' five-inch deck guns, which have a much deeper magazine capacity than a destroyer's missile-launching tubes and have served as viable means of air defense in the Red Sea.

"If I can stay in the fight longer by shooting five-inch rounds, especially at a drone, maybe I should do that and save my higher-capacity weapons systems for larger threats," he said.

Rearming is another consideration. US warships have to travel to a friendly port with the necessary supplies to get more missiles, which takes up valuable time and keeps vessels off-station for extended periods. This could be a major issue in a high-tempo Pacific conflict. However, the Navy is looking to close the gap with its reloading-at-sea capabilities.

Ingram credited the Red Sea fight as being a resounding air defense success story that could affect China's calculus and military planning. On the home front, the conflict has given the Navy more confidence in its weapons systems and accelerated the development of its tactics, techniques, and procedures.

Ingram said it's difficult to predict what the future will look like, "but I think there are a lot of things that everyone has to consider based on what the Red Sea has been over the last 18-plus months."

• My mother had to move in with my family because she had to pay down debts.
• I'm worried I'll have to support my grandmother eventually, too.
• I'm frustrated that all of this falls on me, but I know I have no choice but to step up.

I'm 36 and constantly worry about making enough money to support my small family of three: myself, my mother, and her mother.

Nearly three years ago, we made a big decision to help my mother with her expenses by allowing her to move in at 55 years old. My mom had some significant debts to pay down — partly because being single and underpaid in this economy is expensive, but also because my mother has historically been bad at managing her personal finances.

Well, the apple didn't fall far from the tree. My grandmother (my mom's mom) is still working at 76 because she has to. The threat of losing her Social Security keeps me up at night.

If I have to start paying for either of their bills, I don't know what I will do. It frustrates me that I have to prioritize working extra hard and finding work that pays not just well but exceptionally well to mitigate their personal financial situations.

I feel obligated to help my mother and grandmother

My role has quickly changed from what should be a normal parent-child relationship to a financial advisor. I frequently coach my mother into asking for more money at her job or finding a new one that pays more. I also remind her to cut back on expenses and create savings goals.

At this point, I'm doing it for my own self-preservation because if she doesn't, I'll be the one to foot the bill. And I hate it.

What's even more frustrating is that I'm not even on speaking terms with my grandmother. Our estranged relationship has had its ups and downs. She texts a handful of times a year, but we haven't seen each other in person in nearly two years. I could use all of this as reasoning for why I shouldn't be the one to support her, but I know it'll still fall on me.

Even if our relationship isn't great, I know I'm incapable of letting her struggle. I know I'll step in. But that doesn't make me feel proud that I'm capable of doing that; it makes me feel bitter that I was put in the position in the first place.

I want to break the cycle

While I'm highly annoyed by their financial situation, I'm equally (if not more) annoyed by the system that allowed them to fail.

My grandmother was a young, unwed mother with no higher education. My mother, also a young, single mother, didn't get her degree until after I had mine. Education aside, their biggest hardship was and is their lack of financial education.

I hate to admit that I'd most likely be in their same situation if I weren't married to someone who taught me basic financial literacy.

I don't want praise for stepping up. I want a world where women like my mom and grandmother didn't have to rely on their daughters to survive.

I'm doing everything I can to break that cycle, but some days I wonder if I'm just patching holes in a sinking ship — and hoping my daughter never ends up with the same bucket in her hands.

Having a baby can shake even the strongest relationships—here's how to stay connected and supported through new parenthood.

The new hotel in Oman is one of three new flagship buildings that the Trump Organization is looking to build in the Middle East.

Elon Musk might have hundreds of billions of dollars and a social media megaphone, but President Trump's power over the levers of government may put Musk's business empire at much more immediate risk.

The big picture: Virtually everything Musk does has huge regulatory exposure, from cars to spaceflight to neural implants.

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• In a government where norms are already out the window, it would take relatively little for Trump to bring the weight of regulatory burden to bear on Musk's enterprise.

What they're saying: "You just have to understand that if you own Tesla, it will be difficult to sleep at night as investors can scrutinize it from a fundamental standpoint, but also a headline standpoint," said David Wagner, head of equities and portfolio manager at Aptus Capital Advisors, in a commentary Friday.

Zoom out: Trump, thus far, as has played the whole thing relatively cool, saying he doesn't really care if Elon turns on him.

• But he's also operating from a position of strength, as he clearly knows — thus, the threat on Truth Social to cancel all of Musk's government contracts. When YouGov polled more than 3,800 Americans on that question Thursday, those with an opinion supported ending Musk's contracts by a 2-1 margin.
• Friday morning, Trump had no hesitation about telling many of Washington's top political reporters he didn't care to speak to Musk — even amid reports Musk very much wanted to speak with him.

How it works: There's a laundry list of ways Trump could squeeze Musk:

• Terminating contracts for space launches, Starlink Internet access and the like.
• Ending support for electric vehicle purchases, and the charging infrastructure to power those cars.
• More regulatory oversight of everything from Tesla's self-driving algorithms to Neuralink's implants.
• Further housecleaning of the loyalists seeded throughout the government, like the move to withdraw the NASA nominee who was a key Musk ally.
• The ultimate lever: Security clearances, a favorite Trump tool, and a question that has lingered around Musk for years.

What to watch: How Musk's public position evolves in the coming days, given how incendiary his comments were Thursday and how much Trump appreciates deference.

• "[T]he public spat was a bad look and seemed desperate in the moment and the stock reacted as such," Zacks Investment Management portfolio manager Brian Mulberry wrote in a note Friday.

The bottom line: The "first buddy" is about to find out how far friendship actually goes.

• A young Marine's course certificate accidentally made it into thousands of government inboxes.
• The "reply allpocalypse" spurred a barrage of memes, making the corporal famous.
• The saga came to an end Thursday with an unexpected surprise.

The Marine Corps is going wild after an email accidentally sent to the entire service resulted in the top enlisted Marine surprising his troops and the young corporal at the center of all of it.

The latest development is the culmination of a story that started in April, when Cpl. Andrew Hundley's boss routed his online course certificate up to colleagues for record-keeping. The message went well beyond the intended recipients.

With the online training out of the way, Hundley, a 24-year-old cyberspace defense operator, could apply for a spot at the follow-on in-person course required for promotion. That course tackles topics like public speaking and military tactics.

But when the staff sergeant hit "send," the senior Marine accidentally unleashed a "reply allpocalyspe," emailing the entire service and more. Reply-alls began flooding inboxes. Almost just as quickly came the memes, which would last for weeks.

Alarmed, his boss called Hundley to explain his certificate had gone to untold corners of the government.

"There's been this problem," Hundley recalled her saying to Business Insider. At first he was worried about either of them getting in trouble— the email had made it outside the Corps too, fielding quizzical responses from the Army, Naval Criminal Investigative Services, FBI, and even the White House, Hundley said.

"A lot of them were kind of confused why they were getting the email," he said. Some thought it was a phishing attempt.

Despite the initial stress, Hundley noted that his leaders were quick to assuage his concerns during his rocket to Marine Corps fame and kept tabs on him as the memes kept coming.

A Change.org petition to have the service's chief officer, Commandant Eric Smith, attend Hundley's in-person course graduation took off, picking up over 1,600 signatures. It would be highly unusual for a Beltway-based top leader who oversees around 170,000 troops to attend the graduation for a routine enlisted course.

The commandant didn't show up, but on Thursday, Smith's partner, Sgt. Maj. of the Marine Corps Carlos Ruiz, appeared unannounced, amid both applause and laughter, to present Hundley and his classmates with their graduation certificates.

Marine Corps spokesperson Gunnery Sgt. Jordan Gilbert said the petition gave Ruiz a chuckle.

"The Marine Corps gods have called upon me," Ruiz said as he entered the event Thursday. "They were setting up a schedule, and the schedule somehow ended up with — where you at, Hundley? Raise your hand."

A sergeant major serves as a unit's senior enlisted advisor and is the right-hand to the unit's commanding officer— in Ruiz's case, that's Gen. Smith. An enlisted leader may be subordinate in rank to an officer, but they bring decades of experience and function as a team.

Among other things, sergeants major are focused on unit welfare and troop morale — topics on which Ruiz has previously testified before Congress. That may well be why he decided to surprise Hundley and others, undoubtably a morale boost for the Marines.

The email that went out about the corporal was "an unintentional, so innocent email that went to everyone," Ruiz said. But then it went rogue. What triggered the email storm were all the people who replied all, followed by more who replied all asking the first group of people to stop.

"For three or four days, as I traveled the Corps, the question was not about barracks or quality of life," Ruiz said, referring to the service's $11 billion effort to overhaul shoddy barracks.

"It's 'Corporal Hundley!'" he exclaimed. "And that's why the gods have called me to see you graduate."

In an institution that reveres authentic leadership, Ruiz holds a high standing among many, including Hundley, who said that he was at once "amazed, shocked, and terrified" to see Ruiz walk in — he hadn't expected such a senior leader to actually show up.

Ruiz presented the class with their graduation certificates and spoke briefly with Hundley afterward.

"That the Sergeant Major is taking time out of his day, and out of his schedule just to come and see us," Hundley said. "It was an amazing feeling because it shows how much he cares."

"He most definitely fosters this idea of care for everyone in the Marine Corps," regardless of rank Hundley said of Ruiz.

"And I think that's an amazing leadership trait that anyone can have, having the humility to realize that we're all people and that we all have our own important things that we can offer up."

Having received an overwhelming amount of congratulatory messages from around the world, Hundley said the entire experience has left him feeling humbled and eager to give back to his community. A handful of classmates asked him to sign their course certificates.

Email storms happen every now and then within the US government. In 2007, a Homeland Security Department-based email chain ended up flooding over 2 million inboxes, including those of a nuclear power station in Illinois. More recently, in 2023, the Senate's email system tanked after thousands of staffers replied all to a security drill. The Hundley email debacle, however, might be the military's most amusing one.

• My home state of Wyoming doesn't have a Trader Joe's, so I drive to Colorado for my favorite items.
• The trip is 57 miles each way, but I pick up things I'm unable to get at my local supermarkets.
• I fill my shopping cart with staples like pappardelle pasta, Alfredo sauce, and sunscreen.

Wyoming has a lot to offer. One thing it doesn't have, though, is Trader Joe's.

Although I can get pretty much everything I need from local grocery stores, there are a few special items I travel 57 miles to buy at a Trader Joe's location in Colorado.

Here are eight things I cross state lines to buy at the grocery chain.

• The fallout between President Trump and Elon Musk underscores how dicey it can be to dismiss a high-profile recruit.
• When pushing out A-list talent, employers should frame the person's departure as business as usual.
• Employers may cut ties with flashy new recruits that turn out to be a poor cultural fit.

Star talent can be hard to retain — and even harder to let go.

The public fallout between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk this week may be an extreme example of a hotshot's exit going off the rails, but leadership experts said it underscores just how dicey it can be to part ways with a high-profile team member.

"These are folks with big egos," Peter Cappelli, a management professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, told Business Insider. "Most of the time they end up in court."

Saying goodbye to a prominent employee doesn't have to be dramatic. But don't assume a beefy severance package and a non-disparagement agreement are enough to leave a company unscathed.

"If people want to hurt you, they'll find a way to do it," Cappelli said. "Ask divorced couples."

How to sever ties with a high-profile recruit

When pushing out a high-flyer, employers should frame the person's departure as business as usual, said Ronald Placone, a communications professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business

"You try to normalize it," he said. "Things happen, people move on."

Trump initially followed conventional wisdom in how he went about booting Musk from Washington last month. The president orchestrated a warm and fuzzy public send-off, thanking Musk for his service and providing a sensible explanation for his departure—in this case, that the billionaire was going back to focusing on his work at the multiple companies he helms.

More common explanations are that the fired individual has decided to pursue other career opportunities, spend time with family, or engage in philanthropic endeavors. This tactic is aimed at protecting both the departee's reputation and that of the employer showing him or her the door.

"They come up with a story," said Anna A. Tavis, chair of the human capital management department at New York University's School of Professional Studies.

The goal is to avoid hurting the outgoing hotshot's chances of landing a new gig and the company's ability to find a replacement.

"It's a question of, how do we save face?" she said.

Give people something else to talk about

Employers should also aim to draw people's attention elsewhere, Placone said.

"One of Trump's strategies that often works is you just flood communication channels with other stuff, stuff you perceive is more favorable to your organization," he said. "You try to take some control by giving as many potential stories as possible so people don't home in on one."

Trump did make some big announcements this week, including travel bans on several African countries, but leadership experts say the president also erred by openly rebuking Musk's harsh criticism of his signature tax bill on X. This kicked off the back-and-forth squabble that captured the world's attention on Thursday.

"There's no need for that," Placone said. "In these high-profile situations, you want to say as little as possible. You don't want to add weight to the argument the other is putting forth."

If Trump instead kept quiet, Musk would have been more likely to stick with critiquing the bill rather than upping the ante by accusing the president of illicit behavior, he said.

"It would've eventually fizzled out," Placone said.

Why some A-list hires don't last

Employers most commonly end up quickly sacking flashy new recruits because they aren't as talented as advertised or they insist on working in a way that doesn't align with a company's culture, Tavis said.

It even happens at the very top of the corporate ladder. For example, in recent years, the chief executives of Barnes & Noble, Starbucks, and CNN were pushed out of their jobs after brief tenures.

"A lot of times they're overestimating their value," she said of people with a reputation for being above the fray, adding that due to the current tight labor market, notable departures are likely to increase.

Sam Faycurry, CEO of artificial-intelligence and nutrition startup Fay in San Francisco, can relate. Last year, he hired a well-known rainmaker after a lengthy courtship only to quickly conclude that the person wasn't a good fit.

To avoid bad blood, Faycurry said he tried making it seem as if it was the individual's decision to leave by pointing out how much they disagreed on core principles.

"This person ended up exiting themselves" without any hard feelings, Faycurry said, adding that he was relieved because his main concern was being able to refill the position with a better-aligned A-list professional.

"If the person is influential in a talent pool you want to recruit people from in the future, there's no benefit to having a relationship fall out," Faycurry said. "You're never truly parting ways."