Round 79 Non-Fiction Writing Contest Winners Announced!

Round 79 of the Non-Fiction Writing Contest has ended and the editors have picked the winners. If you are one of these winners, please make sure that you send us your USPS and your UPS/FedEx mailing addresses. Any article submitted, but not published in the October and November 2018 time frame have been automatically rolled over to Round 80 of the Contest. First Prize: First prize goes to I.S. for “How to Build a Compact, Portable Range Barricade- Part 1” and “Part 2”, published on November 24th and 25th. He will receive the following prizes: A $3000 gift certificate towards …




Black Friday (and Pre-Black Friday) Sales Have Begun!

SurvivalBlog Advertisers These SurvivalBlog advertisers have already started their pre-Black Friday sales and you can pick up some great deals on their products. Avoid the crowds and get a head start on your Christmas and Hanukkah shopping. Check these deals out! JRH Enterprises JRH Enterprises has already started their holiday week/Black Friday sales with huge savings on things like brand new ACH ballistic helmets with NV mount (over $200 off!) and Photonis PVS14 ECHO SPEC White Phosphor night vision devices as low as $2,799, with 10 year warranty included. Make sure you get on the e-mail list to get updates …




SurvivalBlog’s New Classified Ads

SurvivalBlog’s editors are pleased to introduce a new classified ad service, designed specifically for individual preppers to list your personally-owned items and artisan skills/tools for exchange, sale, or as wanted. These classified ads are a way for the prepper community to reach other preppers with items that are valued by our community. Whether no longer needed because of an upgrade or excess supply or if created craftsmen/artisan pieces produced on the homestead, items can be listed by individuals for just $5 for 30 days. Banner and text advertising are still available for professional services and companies. The new classified ads …




Writing Your Prize-Winning SurvivalBlog Article

One of the great things about SurvivalBlog is that it is nearly all staff-written and reader-written. We also carefully select a few articles from other blogs and web sites to re-post as guest posts. But you never see the schlock “contributed” articles that now clog most other blogs. Those are articles and “infographics” that are mostly paid for and provided by companies that are seeking to boost their search engine rankings, or to hawk their products. They are easy to spot, because of their formulaic writing style with no personality. You will also never see a “paid” or “sponsored” review …




Round 78 Non-Fiction Writing Contest Winners Announced!

Round 78 of the Non-Fiction Writing Contest has ended and the editors have picked the winners. If you are one of these winners, please make sure that you send us your USPS and your UPS/FedEx mailing addresses. Any article submitted, but not published in the August and September 2018 time frame have been automatically rolled over to Round 79 of the Contest. First Prize: First Prize goes to JBH for “Survival Fitness and Health-Part 1”, “Part 2”, “Part 3”, and “Part 4”, published on September 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th. He will receive the following prizes: A $3000 gift certificate …




Round 77 Non-Fiction Writing Contest Winners Announced!

We’ve come to the end of Round 77 and these are the editors picks for the winners. If you are one of these winners, please make sure you have sent in your UPS and USPS addresses to SurvivalBlog so that the prizes can be shipped. Any article submitted but not published will be automatically rolled over to Round 78 of the contest. If you are the winner of any of the prizes this contest, please send us your USPS and your UPS/FedEx mailing addresses. First Prize: First Prize goes to B.M. for “Getting Home Long Distance in the Event of …




Accuracy Testing, by Pat Cascio

Readers contact me all the time about how I conduct my accuracy testing. Even though I spell it out in my articles, I still get the same questions. I make no claims to having any special power, when it comes to shooting. I just shoot a lot, and I’ve been professionally trained in long gun and handgun shooting. What I Do With My Handgun Tests Here’s what I do with my handgun tests. After I’m about halfway through breaking-in a gun for an article, I’ll conduct my accuracy testing. For this I use a rolled-up sleeping bag (usually) over the …




Round 76 Non-Fiction Writing Contest Winners Announced!

We’ve come to the end of Round 76 and these are the editors picks for the winners. If you are one of these winners, please make sure you have sent in your UPS and USPS addresses to SurvivalBlog so that the prizes can be shipped. Any article submitted but not published will be automatically rolled over to Round 77 of the contest. First Prize: First Prize goes to A.&J.R. for “Bring Your Own Bandaids- Part 1”, “Part 2”, “Part 3”, “Part 4”, “Part 5”, and “Part 6”, published on May 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th. They will receive …




Letter: A Good Word About One of SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Sponsors

Mr. Rawles, Recently I was pleased to hear that I had won second place in round 75 of your writing contest for my Inevitable American Gun Ban article. As part of that prize, Emergency Essentials promised to provide a 3 day deluxe emergency kit. Thought grateful for the prize, I didn’t really want the kit because I have multiples of every item in that kit already. What to do? Hesitantly, I contacted them and asked if I might order something else from the website and pay the cost difference between the items I chose and the 3 day kit. I …




Round 75 Non-Fiction Writing Contest Winners Announced!

We’ve come to the end of Round 75 and these are the editors picks for the winners. If you are one of these winners, please make sure you have sent in your UPS and USPS addresses to SurvivalBlog so that the prizes can be shipped. Any article submitted but not published will be automatically rolled over to Round 75 of the contest.   First Prize: First prize goes to J.M. for “Perspectives on Patrolling-Part 1”, “Part 2”, “Part 3”, “Part 4”, and “Part 5”, published on March 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th, 2018. He will receive the following prizes: …




Letter: Why Write an Article for SurvivalBlog?

Dear SurvivalBlog Readers: To date, I have written a few letters to the editor, and several articles. I can’t speak for all authors but I can share my experience, and more important why I do it. Now, I can tell you that it isn’t easy. It’s not just about writing the article itself. The hardest part is dealing with people. If you write an article that has anything to do with money or product choice and you are almost certain to have some very interesting comments. You have to deal with a few people that think because they chose something …




Round 74 Non-Fiction Writing Contest Winners Announced!

We’ve come to the end of Round 74 and these are the editors picks for the winners. If you are one of these winners, please make sure you have sent in your UPS and USPS addresses to SurvivalBlog so that the prizes can be shipped. Any article submitted but not published will be automatically rolled over to Round 75 of the contest. First Prize First prize goes to Alaskan Gardeners for “Mid-Scale Grain Gardening in Alaska- Part 1”, “Part 2”, “Part 3”, and “Part 4”, published on December 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th, 2017. He will receive the following prizes. …




A Long Shot: Looking for Information on 2nd MI Bn. Project Alpine Cactus

The following information request on Project Alpine Cactus is a long shot, but given SurvivalBlog’s large and diverse readership, it is worth a try: As a young Lieutenant back in 1986 I was posted TDY to the U.S. Army 2nd Military Intelligence Battalion (AE), at Echterdingen, West Germany.  That unit was part of the 207th Military Intelligence Brigade, under VII Corps, at the Stuttgart Army Airfield kasserne. While there, I worked a Guardrail live mission. While working at the Integrated Processing Facility (IPF), I read a classified report on an mission that had been conducted a few years earlier. As …




Light One Candle

Happy Hanukkah! We are hoping our Jewish and Messianic friends are having a bright and peaceful Hanukkah! We are currently in the third of eight days of Hanukkah, a celebration of the re-dedication of the Temple at the time of the Maccabean revolt after Antiochus IV Epiphanes desecrated it during the Seleucid empire’s occupation of the Holy Land. Much of the Maccabean story is about fighting against assimilation into a pagan culture.We can certainly understand this concept today. This video is Benny Friedman’s rendition of Peter, Paul, and Mary’s “Light One Candle” in memory of that victory. John 10:22-30




The Survival Community’s Dirty Little Secrets

It’s no secret that the survival community has seen some hard times in recent months. During the last few years of the Obama administration, he was seen by many as the best firearms salesman ever. NICS background checks set record after record, especially after the anti-gun measures called for by the Democratic party. A Cycle of Slump and Recovery After President Trump’s election, the firearms industry suffered from a terrible slump in sales, as many felt a bit of relief from the doomsday predictions and the resulting oversupply of weapons on the market. The survival community as a whole tracked …