The Efficacy of Insurgency in Modern America – Part 3, by Just A Dad

(Continued from Part 2. This concludes the article.) Military Training Standard training for United States military troops is commonly called boot camp, basic training, or some variation of this. This training takes place at any one of several forts and bases around the United States. It lasts between 8 and 10 weeks depending on which service branch is entered. All members of all branches receive basic firearms training using standard-issue rifles/carbines. Any additional training occurs depending on your rating, duty assignment, and abilities. Handgun training is relatively rare in the U.S. military except for some members of units with handguns …




The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

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”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats, and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, we look at the arrest of the NFAC’s “Grandmaster Jay.” NFAC Leader Faces Federal Charges Linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site:  ‘Grandmaster Jay,’ leader of NFAC militia that demonstrated in Louisville, arrested …







Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — December 23, 2020

December 23rd is the anniversary of the establishment of the exclusive private banking cartel known as The Federal Reserve, in 1913. I recommend the book The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve. And December 23rd is the birthday of Founding Father and Supreme Court Justice John Jay. (Born 1745, died May 17, 1829.) — Harvest Guard Reusable Canning Lids is offering a year-end 20% discount on all of the items at www.CanningLids.com, exclusively for SurvivalBlog readers.  This discount is effective immediately and will remain in effect through January 3, 2021 simply by entering the coupon …




The Efficacy of Insurgency in Modern America – Part 2, by Just A Dad

(Continued from Part 1.) Insurgencies can be won in many ways, “including overthrow of the government, successful annexation of independent territory, a marked recognition of minority rights or property rights, or, for the purposes of this study, dramatic political success.” (Connable & Libicki, 2010) Within the United States one could win an insurgency by utilizing a number of the following approaches, or all of them. Ensuring property rights that have been taken by the current government are reinstated. Guaranteeing that regardless of race, color, creed, or religion one would be fully accepted as long as they followed the basic tenets …




JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. The focus is usually on emergency communications gear, bug out bag gear, tools, books, and movies–often with a tie-in to disaster preparedness, and links to “how-to” self-sufficiency videos. There is also an emphasis on links to sources for storage food and a variety of storage and caching containers. You will also note an emphasis on history books and historical movies. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This week the focus is on the upcoming resumption of order-taking, over at my …







Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — December 22, 2020

December 22nd is the anniversary of the death of SP4 James T. Davis, the first uniformed American combat casualty of the Vietnam War, in 1961. This ASA soldier (of the 3rd Radio Research Unit) was killed in a Viet Cong ambush on a road outside Saigon. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 92 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000. A …




The Efficacy of Insurgency in Modern America – Part 1, by Just A Dad

Editor’s Introductory Note: Because of its length, the following essay will be presented in three parts. The footnotes can be found at the end of Part 3. – JWR — “Insurgency” as a word is relatively new in application. Where there is rule of law an insurgency is simply an act of rebellion against the current lawful authority. For the purposes of this essay, we will be looking at many different conflicts, some fall within this definition and others do not. While this essay will not address every recorded rebellion, we will establish a timeline using significant rebellions or insurgent …




SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. (Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming.) Much of the region is also more commonly known as The Inland Northwest. We also mention companies of interest to preppers and survivalists that are located in the American Redoubt region. Today, in a special edition of this column we’re featuring freely-available public web cams available for viewing throughout the American Redoubt region. These can be a lot of fun to view–especially those featuring wildlife.  View them in winter can also give you some insights on climate …







Preparedness Notes for Monday — December 21, 2020

On December 21, 1620, William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims landed on what is now known as Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts. — Today marks the Winter Solstice. I now feel quite ready for longer days! – JWR — My #1 Son wrote to mention that the newly-released book that we co-authored is selling well, and that it has garnered several quite positive reviews: Survival Retreats & Relocation: A Guide to Finding Your Secure and Sustainable Home is available in softcover, or as an e-book.  If you’ve read it, then we’d appreciate seeing your review, at Amazon.com. Thanks! — And …




Ruger LCRx .357 Magnum, by Pat Cascio

We can’t please all the people, all the time – as much as we’d like to. I get quite a few requests for more articles on all-steel pistols, or revolvers. As I’m sure many readers know, the tread for the past couple of years has been for polymer-framed semiauto pistols, not many all-steel or steel and alloy pistols are being made these days. As to revolvers – because everyone wants a semiauto handgun, there isn’t a lot of brand-new revolvers on the market. And, let’s be honest, everything that can be said about revolvers in general, has already been said …




Recipe of the Week: Roast Goose With Potato Stuffing

The following recipe for Roast Goose With Potato Stuffing is from The New Butterick Cook Book, by Flora Rose, co-head of the School of Home Economics at Cornell University. It was published in 1924. A professional scan of that 724-page out-of-copyright book will be one of the many bonus items included in the next edition of the waterproof SurvivalBlog Archive USB stick. This special 15th Anniversary Edition USB stick should be orderable in the third week of January, 2021. (Please mark your calendar!)  The 14th Edition sold out quickly, so place a reminder in your calendar, if you want one. …




Economics & Investing For Preppers

In place of my usual news items and commentary on economics and the markets, I have some housekeeping to do: My Annual Financial/Investing Disclosures: By Federal law, I am obliged to make the following annual public disclosures. For the record: I am presently the sole author of SurvivalBlog’s twice-weekly posted Economics & Investing For Preppers column. I am not a paid investment counselor or adviser. Please see our Provisos page for our detailed disclaimers. My paid consulting is on preparedness, relocation, retreat property development, and related topics–not on investing, per se. I am not a board member of any corporation. I …