November 17, 1774: First City Troop, Philadelphia City Cavalry formed at Carpenter’s Hall, Philadelphia. It is one of the oldest US military units still in service [1].
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On this day in 1777, the Articles of Confederation were submitted to the states for ratification.
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Be sure to mark your calendar for February 1, 2026, to order your 20th Anniversary Edition of the waterproof SurvivalBlog Archive USB stick. The 2005-2025 edition will have at least 12 more bonus books. These will include the 4-volume Audel’s Carpenters and Builders Guide as well as Horace Kephart’s classic book on Woodcraft, and the USMC’s most recent photo-illustrated Hand and Arm Signals field manual. There will also be two more books authored by Lowell Thomas, an Army manual on Rigging, and a 645-page textbook on Practical Physics.
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Today’s feature article is a review penned by Field Gear Editor Tom Christianson.
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We still need some articles for Round 121 of the blog’s writing contest. More than $970,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. Round 121 ends on November 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail [2] us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics [3]. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.