Dear Editor
Like other readers have stated, you have a truly amazing set of qualifications. As a former AWANA Commander, welder, machinist, physicist, embedded engineer and technical editor I hope to continue fleshing out my skills and service in the ways you have. Though my estimate is you have 15-20 years on me. 🙂 Not only welcome to SurvivalBlog but thank you for the material encouragement. -D.D.
HJL Replies: Thank you and congratulations on a well rounded and broad skill set. A quote from one of my favorite authors sums it up nicely: “A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly” –Robert A. Heinlein
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Dear Mentor,
The new editor has a lot going on for his resume and I’m sure you have the right guy for you, but some of us didn’t see any gun stuff in there. All that schoolin/rocket stuff won’t matter if he doesn’t know how to strip his AR and find the problem with why it’s not cycling, or the difference between a 5.56 round and a 7.62×39 round in the dark… If ever TSHTF it will be all about gun handling, shooting, and killing sad to say. Nowhere will be safe forever. Just saying. Thanks for the best blog on the net and great books. -W
HJL Replies: My wife tells me that I am eclectic. My kids accuse me of being eccentric. I’m not so sure, I may just be an undiagnosed ADHD, but whatever the reason, there is a lot of stuff on those qualifications. I’m sure that was the reason you missed the fourth bullet point “Holds a gunsmithing certificate from the Colorado School of Trades.” I also shoot regularly and reload all of my own ammunition. Though I don’t shoot competitively, I enjoy long range rifle (1000yd) and three gun IDPA style shooting. I am confident that I have the neccessary skills to perform should the circumstances require it. However, I believe that the other qualifications on my resume actually have more bearing on a SHTF scenario. If our civilization reaches the point of collapse, the lawlessness will, by necessity, be relatively short lived. People will start rebuilding, communities will re-establish themselves, and governance will continue. The reality is that we can’t go it alone. The skills that I have aquired over a lifetime will certainly be useful then, but they are also useful now. I don’t learn these things to prepare, I learn them and practice them because I love this lifestyle. I believe this nation was discovered, founded, and built on a “can do” attitude. As I tell my children, “That’s just who I am.”