SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “JWR”. Today, we focus on some sound Analog Radio Operations Advice.
Trump Pulls Out of SALW Treaty
Trump announces US withdrawal from UN arms trade treaty. The Fox News piece includes a video of DJT’s speech about this at the NRA annual convention.
Army Orders 6.8mm Rifles
Reader G.P. sent this link to a Zero Hedge article: Army Orders 100,000 Next-Generation Rifles Amid Threats Of War. Here is a quote:
“Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Mark A. Milley on April 10 announced the Army would order 100,000 units, mainly purchased for infantry units which engage in close-quarters combat.
U.S. Army Contracting Command (ACC) officials said the new weapons would include the Next Generation Squad Weapon-Rifle (NGSW-R) and the Next Generation Squad Weapon-Automatic Rifle (NGSW-AR).
The NGSW-R is expected to replace the M16 rifle and M4 carbine. The NGSW-AR is also expected to replace the M249 light machine gun in the Automatic Rifleman Role in the Close Combat Force.
The new rifles chamber a 6.8mm cartridge, known as the XM1186. The round has greater range, increased accuracy at longer distances, and better armor penetration capability than 5.56x45mm and 7.62x39mm ammunition. The 6.8mm round is expected to be the most advanced ammunition on the modern battlefield for the next 25 years.”
JWR’s Comment: I did some digging: According to the contract documents, the XM1186 cartridge will be developed by the contractor(s), using 6.8mm projectiles provided by the government. This seems to leave the door open for either caseless cartridges or a telescoped cartridge design–where the projectiles is fully enclosed in a metallic case. (Perhaps something reminiscent of the Nagant revolver cartridge.) Hopefully this won’t turn into another SPIW boondoggle.
The Kissing Bug Spreads
Remember the ‘kissing bug?’ CDC confirms one was found in Delaware.
Analog Radio Operations Advice
The latest over at American Partisan: No Encryption, No Problem: Analog Radio Operations For Guerrilla Units. A pericope:
“Since about 80-90% of the prepping crowd’s electronic signal devices are limited to VHF/UHF dual band analog handhelds, you have to stop thinking in terms of simply press n’ talk if you want to even begin to be secure. The presence of a pattern of signals, even if encrypted, digital, analog or whatever, will give you away if you lack basic discipline. The saying everything that’s old is new again comes to mind, because a lot of the old hand practices developed in Vietnam for rural patrolling are the first place to begin. What was high tech for them is dirt cheap today. And the training value in their blood soaked lessons shouldn’t be lost on you.”
Oregon Proposes Mandatory In-Home Newborn Visits
H.L suggested this article: Baby on board: Brown agenda includes family home visits.
Intentional Power Failure at Fort Bragg
Several readers sent this: Fort Bragg cut power for thousands to test ‘real-world reactions’ to a cyber-attack. Am excerpt:
“Fort Bragg in North Carolina says the Army post had a “blackout” for more than 12 hours overnight Wednesday as part of a cyber-attack military exercise that came as a complete surprise to its tens of thousands of residents.
The fort, which the Army says is the world’s largest military post, says it cut off the electricity “to identify shortcomings in our infrastructure, operations and security.”
“Fort Bragg has to train for any possible threats to the installation in order to remain mission capable,” said a post on Fort Bragg’s Facebook page just after 11 a.m.
“This exercise was not announced in order to replicate likely real-world reactions by everyone directly associated with the installation. In today’s world, cyber-attacks are very likely. This exercise is exactly what we needed to do to identify our vulnerabilities and work to improve our security and deployment posture.”
Suspicions the outage may have been a real cyber attack spread on social media Thursday morning, with many people noting the Army was slow to explain why the electricity suddenly went out only on the post.
Bragg officials issued an apology late Thursday on Facebook.”
California’s Quadplex Housing Solution
D.B. spotted this in the L.A. Times: Holy cow! California may get rid of single-family zoning. JWR’s Comments: This fits in well with Governor Newsom’s vision of a socialist utopia. They’ll need housing for all those lobotomized proletarian workers.
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Re:Oregon baby visits
I clicked on the link,and read it twice.
It used words like “offered” and “available”…didn’t see anything about it being mandatory,like your headline suggested.
I don’t pretend to be smart,so maybe I’m missing something?
BTW, you seem to be running the odds n’ sods more often now. Thanks, I enjoy that section.
Home visits to check on the healthy of babies is mandatory in some cases. [I’ve worked service/repair jobs.] The county home-care nurses check on the health of new babies and the very young children. The nurses bring along a baby-scale.
[I’ve talked to the county-nurses making the home visits. = Nurses taking care of babies are extraordinary pleasant women.]
Apparently, drug addicted parents will dilute their Welfare provided baby formula for their own children, and sell off the rest of the formula. The new babies do not gain weight.
(Apparently, drug addicted mothers can’t breast feed their own children, without the illegal drugs showing up inside of the babies.}
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Consumerist from Consumer Reports =
“According to USA Today, politicians and retailers are very concerned about the theft of formula. It’s popular with shoplifting rings, which then resell it, because it’s usually expensive and is always in demand by consumers. But those who purchase the lifted product face many dangers, as it often stored incorrectly after being stolen or sold past its expiration date.
Another nefarious reason for stealing formula, beyond selling it to actually feed babies, is its use for mixing cocaine and heroin.
Politicians in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Florida, Minnesota and West Virginia have all announced legislation recently, in an attempt to halt the organized theft of medical items. Currently, some stores lock up formula to keep it from being ~boosted.”
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[A lot of babies, drug addicts and thieves need our prayers. But, also the people, that think ‘boosted’ is a current synonym for ~stolen. (but, maybe i’m just old)]
I’ve been shooting 6.8 for a couple of years. I really enjoy it, and I believe it’s going to be a winner. We shall see.
CA: Why be a lobotomized proletariat worker when you can get free needles and live on the street, even using it as your restroom.
So you can replace your home with up to 4 rent controlled apartments. Qualified for section 8? Will you have to take the “homeless”? Its not like you can afford to live in California if you work and pay taxes (and people are moving out).
Maybe they should do something about Typhus and Hepatitis first…
California is Hayek’s “Road to Serfdom” meets Hitchhiker’s Guide’s “B-Ark”.
How is Detroit doing? I left the area several years ago when homes were mostly abandoned and available for a few thousand dollars or even just back taxes – but they usually burned down first. The recent “Seattle is Dying” reminded me of the book, “Detroit, and Autopsy” since it was already dead.
Detroit was the Silicon Valley in the 1920s since Automobiles were the high-tech device. It had all the wonders – Libraries, Orchestra Hall (perfect acoustics), the Zoo, all world class.
The left coast is dying, but so is Chicago. Check out the pension obligations there and in California. One recession away…
Or look at Argentina before Peron, or Venezuela before Chavez.
Socialism destroys everything, sometimes it takes longer.
6.8 what? Remington SPC?
Cloak and dagger. AFAIK they didn’t specify, and the bullets will be supplied by the govt, not designed by industry.
Still trying to figure out why they didn’t go with one of the 6.5 rounds that already exist, unless they wanted the new weapon to be built around the new munition vs stuffing 6.8SPCII into a standard M4 lower.
120 years after the 7×57 Mauser was efficiently killing our soldiers in Cuba, we finally decide to get the intermediate cartridge that knowledgeable men argued for long ago, only this one has barely 3/4 of the power of the 7×57.
Come to think of it, the first full auto rifle ever issued was in 7×57 – the Mexican army adopted the Mondragon in 1908 and issued it in 1910. Admittedly, it wasn’t a huge success.
It’s like making a big deal out of a 40-50 mpg car, when they were available 40 years ago – Civic, Chevette, etc.
There are a number of existing cartridges and rifles: 6.5 Grendel, 6.5 Creedmore, 6.8 SPC, etc., etc. If the whole deal is about Picatinny Arsenal being involved with a company that’s developing polymer cased ammo…then it looks crooked.
“We’re developing this fabulous new round and we’d like the taxpayers to pay us a big contract and cover our development costs. If it actually works, then we’ll be insider millionaires. If not, we still made a pile finding out that it wouldn’t work-at the public’s expense.”
I’m grumbling because it seems like another scam to make the right guys rich and check the blocks on some OERs for other guys, but it does nothing for the teenage line doggie carrying it. That’s me long ago and a couple of my grandsons now.
Other than some gimmicky ammo, what does the proposal offer? Nothing that couldn’t be done better and cheaper off the shelf with a HK 416 in 6.8 SPC and similarly modified SAWs.
I could not agree with you more George. Of course the argument will be ” 5.56 is cheaper and 100 rounds weights less, so our Grunts can carry more”.
From the open source I’ve read (might have been popular mechanics, can’t recall), the idea is to stop picking at the edges seeking marginal changes/improvements, and invest in something that leaps ahead. In this case, a caseless ammo would allow each round of ammo to pack more punch (6.8 vs 5.56) while reducing soldier fatigue. Thats a win-win if they can pull it off.
The Army went from M16A2/A4s to M4s for the up close, urban fights over the past 20 years. Now they want more punch and longer ranges. Lets just hope they keep those millions of M4s for 20 years from now when they want lighter weight and more maneuverability.
So, for CQB the Army is switching to a round with better long range accuracy. Wouldn’t that money be better spent on training? Or better sensors, or something else?
As usual California’s legislature is expressing it’s ignorance. Rent control stops the building of rental units. Investors and builders will not spend money producing and maintaining housing units if there is no market for them. Would you invest in rental units knowing that your investment return is capped at 2-3 percent and when you go to sell the units in the future their value will not have increased at all or decreased if interest rates rise above the state determined inflation? This stupid scheme to increase housing units in many places is well documented not to work unless under free market condition. The history of rent control is well documented to create ghettos and high crime rate areas. Yet liberals insist that government failure is the way to go. If it doesn’t work you just need to do more of it and that will surely fix the problem. LBJ’s Great Society is a good example, over 50 years of stealing tax payer money, the poverty level is almost exactly the same as at it’s inception, still adding to a failed concept which has caused nothing but a dependent society and a horrendous unpayable national debt.
Getting out of the UN small arms treaty is a great step, how about getting out of the UN entirely. It is just a bloated ineffectual Bureaucracy at best, mostly funded by us with almost no oversight or control.
With regard to Ft. Bragg’s power outage: Sometimes you need to get their attention and make a point. My brother, as part of a base(different from Bragg) project to encourage people to have some food and water extra, went door to door to explain why this was a good idea. You know, hurricanes, earthquakes or tsunamis. The people from farming community backgrounds were good. The people from an urban background looked and acted like he was retarded and asking something ridiculous…after all, it was up to the ‘authorities’ to provide all that in an emergency.
Trump Pulls Out of SALW Treaty
So Trump continues the century long destruction of the 2A with the Trumpstock ban and Red Flag laws but makes sure the military has all the guns that it needs and that the manufactures can buy/sell/transfer all the weapons that they want, just not to you and me? Hmm, I’m going need more ammo.
Fred, you seem misinformed, the Red Flag laws are passed by States, not the President. The Socialist are working a great plan for them and are winning. Instead of a full country wide assault on the Constitution, they are taking over state by state. Much like a cancer, spreading .
Feinstein wants nationwide “red flag” laws…
Trump not only sanctioned the idea, him and Pence came up with it themselves. I’m not misinformed. Here is my original research conclusion.
Here is the back and forth that took place on live TV after the Parkland, Florida shooting: “Allow due process so no one’s rights are trampled, but the ability to go to court, obtain an order and then collect not only the firearms but any weapons,” Mike Pence, said. “Or, Mike, take the firearms first, and then go to court,” President Trump responded. And later; “Take the guns first, go through due process second,” – President Trump.
That conversation happened with Democrat leadership, including Feinstein, in the room. It kicked off a furious round of legislative action across the nation to accomplish the passage of “Red Flag” laws. There is broad bi-partisan support for these laws. At least 16 states (it’s many more than that now) have legislatively taken steps toward legalizing Gun Confiscation without evidence of a crime. The NRA did not initially object to this, at all, and has been supportive of it. The NRA only paid lip service to being against it much later but has not lobbied or campaigned against these laws.
[Choice-supportive Bias: when you support something even after finding out that it is not what you wanted or thought you were getting. Aka – A Cult of Personality, in the case of a leader.]
Yes Fred you are misinformed. Red Flag laws have been on the Left’s agenda for a very long time. I believe one of the first ones was passed in my own home state of Florida after Parkland. So you claim that the President said he was for it. BIG DEAL, THE STATES EACH PASSED THEM THEMSELVES, NOT THE PRESIDENT!
I guess you would rather have seen Mrs. Clinton in the WH, or that nut Ron Paul, instead. MAGA my friend, MAGA!
I am the weapon,that is just a accessory. Almost anything can be a weapon if you are a little creative.
Fred, maybe you could recommend some politicians capable of winning in 2020, as a Presidential Candidate. … Currently in America, it has to be either a Democrat or Republican. [A 3rd party candidate has as much chance of winning, as it would be to ‘take down’ a charging Grizzly Bear with a cap gun]
Trump has been the best thing for American Presidential politics in my lifetime. In a democracy, we don’t receive everything we want.
In gun-politics, we’re lucky we still have the 2nd Amendment. The blue states, like California, Massachusetts and New York, gives an insight into what the Democrats want for the USA [Many Democrats want even more draconian laws.].
The NRA is an effective gun lobby, for our rights. The NRA is currently enmeshed in a financial scandal of some sorts. But, still the NRA is the best big organization, lobbying for private-citizen ownership of guns.
(FIY, I belong to the NRA, a bump stock is a minor restriction (Most people would not say, “Give me a bumpstock or death!”, ~ and I think the ~truly unstable mentally ill should NOT have access to guns. …. The problem with ‘red flag’ laws is ‘preemptive policing’ ~ which is contrary to our understanding of Justice. But, it’s a possible solution to preventing numerous killings. Draconian laws should be avoided.)
I also believe, the biggest crisis facing the USA is the collapsing Southern Border. Numerous people are crossing into our country seeking ~job opportunities, welfare benefits, and crime opportunities. Almost all the narcotics in the USA cross the Southern Border illegally. The illegal drugs are then trafficked by Mexican Drug Gangs.
… Many people view the USA as a Cornucopia of ‘Free Money’ ~ that can be provided to people. Some politicians only want new people voting for their political party. [Illegally registered, non citizen voters is a scandal in a functional democracy.]
Many of our national problems can be traced to the Southern Border; = Crime, Drugs, Homelessness, Welfare, the Budge Deficit, and the political power of the politicians that want to send manufacturing overseas. … The same politicians and their cronies also want to limit inexpensive and reliable energy sources in the USA.
The list of the great things being accomplished by Trump includes his other economic activities, and his foreign policy decision. Trump can’t walk on water, but so far, he’ doing a good job.
Build the wall. Full disclosure, I am a lifetime NRA member. Unfortunately I live in a red flag state, one of the worst. I refuse to vote with my feet. Let the traitors move. Thanks GGHD and keep up the good work.
GGHD,thanks it is good to hear from the Left,please immediately move to NYC,Chicago,LA or other liberal bastion where you will fit right in. Trump has been a flaming dumpster fire in the White House:no prosecution of the Clintons or democrats/rinos,no action against the deep state traitors,nothing against the propaganda media(remove the 1st amendment protection for fake news outlets),steady support for the worst war criminal states(SaudiArabia,Israel) but attack our former colonies(Iraq Iran)and continue the Clinton/Bush/Obama regime change policies. Just what I expected from NYC,democrat,corporatist,neocon with a megalomania issue and lack of self control and a perchant for theft/fraud. A real 3rd party is a long shot but this country as we have known it is history and doomed without serious fundamental change(civil war,economic collapse,grid down reset,foreign attack(real not the phony 9/11 style publicity stunt)). Forget the two sides of the same coin demoncrat/repubiltards who are in it to steal as much as they can before it all falls apart or they can have their Aldous Huxley Brave New World.
VT, ~actually I’m a registered Republican.
I vote the single issue, ‘Pro-Life’ ~ if possible. The Republican voters are Pro-Life.
President Trump is Pro-Life; he understands the people on the Supreme Court need to be changed. Currently, practical politics in the USA requires a change of personnel in the court system.
I also vote a ~ traditional Republican position on economics. … America First, is the traditional voting position of the ~majority of Republican voters. Republican leaders don’t always ~honestly represent Republican voters.
Trump has demonstrated that, prosperity through Main Street economics will bring prosperity to most working Americans. The Democrat Party Leaders and many Republican Leaders wish to continue the transfer the wealth of Americans, to overseas dictatorships [And the Billionaires and Millionaires still living in the USA.]
Typically Wall Street billionaires ~ and the US Chamber of Commerce crowd are supporters of Democrats ~ Hillary, Bill Clinton, Obama and any other candidate (deceptive Republicans), that will transfer US wealth and the good jobs overseas.
The US workers were told the USA was a ~service economy in the future. All of us workers, in the future, would provide services for the wealthy at low wages.
Donald Trump has put the kibosh on the ‘Endless Wars.’ ~ So far, he seems to be engaged in practical politics. The idea that a foreign dictator can ‘rent’ the USA Military, by paying-off US politicians doesn’t seem to work any longer.
Under the other politicians, the US Veterans were given ~just enough money for alcohol and illegal drugs; but they were NOT given decent health care as needed. Trump is fixing that problem too. [Many Veterans are/were using alcohol and drugs as a form of ~self medication.]
Donald Trump is ~trying to build a wall along our southern border. The illegal immigration, illegal drugs, and criminals would be inhibited by a Wall and Stronger Border protection. ~ There are many people that working for an economic and political collapse of America. Trump doesn’t act like one of them.
The UN Small Arms Treaty had never been ratified, so we were never really “in it”. George W’s Bolten walked out of the session while it was being debated, but Obama signed us on. Just never passed the smell test in the US Senate.
After the F35 disaster (it still is), I hope the Army doesn’t load this rifle up with high tech to the point of ruining it. But the 5.56 has got to go, it’s been a 50+ year procurement mistake as a battle cartridge.
Caseless rifles have extremely poor performance and short service lives. Some have tried to make it work since the 1960s, and it’s just not there. The M1 Rifle was originally designed around the .276 Peterson, which was rather close [in bore diameter] to what we’re fiddling with now. The M1, in original form, was a lot lighter and smaller until General MacArthur insisted it be manufactured in .30-06. In the end, it may have been a good decision because our fathers and grandfathers shot many an enemy through very large trees, vehicles, walls, etc.
General MacArthur’s decision to cancel the .276 Pederson Garand in favor of one chambered in 30-06 has come in for some criticism over the years, much of it by people who seem to believe that the .276 was some sort of early intermediate round and paradigm-changer not unlike those later developed during the Second World War and after. That belief is mistaken. The .276 was a full-sized, full-power long-action center-fire rifle cartridge, just like the .30-06, except necked down to accept a .276-caliber projectile.
The Garand in .276 held two more rounds in its en-bloc clip but was otherwise not materially different from the rifle adopted as the army standard in 1936. In finished, rather than prototype form, it would have been similar in all-up weight to the .30-06 version.
True, the .276 caliber projectile would have been somewhat more efficient aerodynamically, but at the cost of projectile weight and KE on target at longer ranges. Moreover, adopting it would have imposed additional burdens in terms of implementation and training costs, retooling for ammunition manufacturers, etc.
If the 30-06 had been in any way a substandard performer as a military cartridge, then the .276 proponents might have been onto something, but given the superb record of the ’06 in combat up to that time, as well as the significant existing stocks of .30-06 ammunition already in U.S. government warehouses and armories, it made no sense to switch during the depths of the Great Depression, when the armed services had to watch every thin dime of their meagre budgets.
And adopting the .276 would have meant two standard service rifle cartridges in the system, since the Springfield M1903 bolt-action rifle, Browning Automatic Rifle and Browning M1919 Medium machine-gun all used .30-06.
General MacArthur probably made the right call, if we try to view the problem from the perspective of that time.
California’s Quadplex Housing Solution: This is just a way to collect taxes on something that’s already going on anywhere illegal aliens reside. One or two people move into a Section Eight rental, and then bring in eight or nine “culture enrichers” to live in the 1500 square foot house. They illegally sublet rooms to the new arrivals. Each of them has a car. That’s two cars in the driveway, two or three more on the front lawn, and the rest in front of the rental and everyone else’s house. The garage is already being used as two or three bedrooms.
This is the California dream now; to turn the entire state into a housing project…
If Oregon cared at all about protecting babies maybe they could… I don’t know, just thinking out loud… Make it illegal to kill them.
Just a thought.
A good thought, you have Tyler.
I’m skeptical of Trump saying we are going to pull out of the Small Arms treaty. I’ll wait to rejoice until the ink dries and a few months after to make sure he doesn’t just make a new domestic gun law to replace it before I get excited. Trump has not been a friend to gun owners or the Second Amendment since he’s been in office, there is no reason for me to believe his words based on his previous statements about taking people’s guns first and due process later, as well as the fact he signed a unilateral executive order to ban firearms accessories which I consider a gun ban.
Just because you say you believe in gun rights, or protecting the lives of unborn babies does mean you actually do or that you will actually do anything about either. Yet every Republican who makes such claims do squat about it, even when they have super majorities, even in the Supreme Court. Actions speak louder than words and Republican actions prove they are just as Socialist as the Democrats, statism is a cancer.