Author: James Wesley Rawles

On this day in 1968, the siege of Khe Sanh began, as NVA regulars surrounded the USMC hilltop airfield near the Laotian border. Fearing a repeat of the French Army’s 1953 Dien Bien Phu debacle, the Pentagon assigned maximum round-the-clock air power to the region, including B-52 bomber strikes, to break the siege. According to the Infogalatic wiki this was “‘the most concentrated application of aerial firepower in the history of warfare’. On an average day 350 tactical fighter-bombers, 60 B-52s, and 30 light observation or reconnaissance aircraft operated in the skies near Khe Sanh.” More than 100,000 tons of …

Today is the birthday of Congressman Richard Henry Lee (1732–1794) — January 20th, 1993 is a Red Letter Day for me. That was the day that Bill Clinton was first sworn in as President. That is also the same day that I resigned my commission as a U.S. Army Captain. I did so because I detested the idea of Clinton as my Commander in Chief. My commissioning document has Ronald Reagan’s signature. — You may recall reading that my mother passed away, in October. Her house in Livermore, California just went up for sale, yesterday. That was where I lived, …

Today is the birthday of the late Carla Emery (born 1939, died October 11, 2005). She is well known in self-sufficiency circles as the author of The Encyclopedia of Country Living. January 19th is also the birthday of General Robert E. Lee. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 98 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 Gunsite Academy Three Day …

January 18th, 1813 was the birthday Joseph Glidden, who invented barbed wire. And speaking of barbed wire — and the lack thereof — Kevin Costner, who starred in Open Range, was born on this day in 1955. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 98 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 Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be …

On this day in 1994, the 6.7 magnitude Northridge Earthquake struck Los Angeles. It caused about $20 billion in damage and killed 61 people. This is also the anniversary of the Battle of Cowpens in 1781. This small battle was the turning point of the American Revolution in the South. In it, the best battlefield tactician America produced, the backwoodsman Daniel Morgan, decisively and utterly defeated the most arrogant, bloody, and successful field grade officer in the British Army, Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton. The battle set in motion the chain of events that led directly to the decisive siege at …