Note from JWR:

Today we present another article for Round 11 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The writer of the best non-fiction article will win a valuable four day “gray” transferable Front Sight course certificate. (Worth up to $2,000!) Second prize is a copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, generously donated by Jake Stafford of Arbogast Publishing. I will again be sending out a few complimentary copies of my novel “Patriots” as “honorable mention” awards. Round 11 runs for two months, ending on the last day of July.

This article is a bit long, and some of you may consider it off-topic. If so, my apologies. But I think that it is worthy of inclusion in the contest. I should also mention that the author is “Captain Dave.” He is the operator of the venerable Captain Dave’s Survival Center. (You may remember them as a former SurvivalBlog advertiser.) Be sure to check out the many free resources at Captain Dave’s web site.