Notes from JWR:

May 19th is the birthday of Frank Luke Jr. (born, 1897, died September 29, 1918). He was an Army Air Service fighter pilot of World War I, who was second only to Captain Eddie Rickenbacker in aerial victory scores. (18 versus Rickenbacker’s 26.) Frank Luke was the first aviator to receive the Medal of Honor. Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, is named after him. (Luke AFB is one of the locales in my novel “Survivors”.) My grandfather, Ernest E. Rawles (also born in 1897) was a friend and mountain climbing partner of Frank Luke in Arizona, before he left for France.

An observation: The generation that fought the Second World War is now often called The Greatest Generation. These were mostly men who were born between 1910 and 1924. But I believe that an even greater generation was of those men who were born between 1880 and 1905. They were born in the days of the horse and buggy and the telegraph. But many of them lived long enough to die in the era of jet aircraft, television, sturmgewehr, nuclear power, nuclear weapons, early computers, and moon landings. Some of these men fought in both World Wars–often serving as junior officers in WWI and then as senior officers in WWII. In my estimation it is the capacity to adapt to rapid change that in part defines truly great men. This generation included both visionaries and men of action like Arthur Pink, Ludwig von Mises, Henry Hazlitt, Joseph Schumpeter, Billy Mitchell (an early airpower advocate), Jimmy Doolittle, George Patton, William J. Donovan, Raymond Spruance, Charles Lockwood, Hyman G. Rickover (America’s longest-serving military man,) Harry Day, Jimmy Buckley, and Ernest Hemingway. Sadly, a few of them like Frank Luke died too young too reach their full potential.

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Today we present another entry for Round 46 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course. (A $1,195 value.) B.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795, and C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) D.) a $300 gift certificate from CJL Enterprize, for any of their military surplus gear, E.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $300 value), and F.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo. and G.) A roll of $10 face value in pre-1965 U.S. 90% silver quarters, courtesy of GoldAndSilverOnline.com. The current value of this roll is at least $225.

Second Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training. Together, these have a retail value of $589. C.) A FloJak FP-50 stainless steel hand well pump (a $600 value), courtesy of FloJak.com. D.) A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $300 and 10 TAPCO polymer magazines (5 AR and 5 AK) courtesy of Armageddon Armory, E.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials and F.) Two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.), B.) A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206, C.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, D.) A Commence Fire! emergency stove with three tinder refill kits. (A $160 value. E.) A Tactical Trauma Bag #3 from JRH Enterprises (a $200 value), and F.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.

Round 46 ends on May 31st so get busy writing and e-mail 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.