Preparedness Notes for Sunday — September 6, 2020

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September 6th, 1757 is the birthday of Marquis de Lafayette (often known simply as Lafayette), a French aristocrat and military officer who fought in the American Revolutionary War. He was a close friend of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. George Washington met him through his connections in the Free Masons and was impressed with him. After he offered to serve without pay, Congress commissioned him as a Major General and he was an integral part of the battle at Brandywine.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 90 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical 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,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (a $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, that have a combined retail value of $589,
  3. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  4. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  5. An assortment of products along with a one-hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum-sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. A transferable $150 purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Round 90 ends on September 30th, 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.


22 Comments

  1. Trivia:
    I went to the Marquis de Lafayette elementary school in Clairmont, CA, a suburb of San Diego.
    I remember being in about 4th grade and writing letters to astronauts. Writing the return address was taking forever!

  2. FIGHTING KALASHNIKOV COURSE REVIEW, BY PROF. SPARTAN
    Posted by NC Scout | Sep 6, 2020

    https://www.americanpartisan.org/2020/09/fighting-kalashnikov-course-review-by-prof-spartan/

    ———————————————————-
    Matt Bracken said:
    If you missed “Antifa Reality Check” yesterday, make sure to take it in.
    And if you read it, read it again for the 60+ comments by knowledgeable pros.

    https://www.americanpartisan.org/2020/09/antifa-reality-check/

    1. Thank you for posting that TR. Why this is not front and center of every prepper/survival website is beyond me. I’m sure it has something to do with the fact that it completely destroys the delusional bravado of most keyboard commandos. Publisher/blogger Vox Day summarizes perfectly in his re-posting of the AP article:
      “First, the operational level of war is about logistics, not tactics. Second, the enemy always gets a vote. Neither the Boomers confident in their tacticool AR-15 rifles nor the self-reliant GenXers with their concealed 5-shot .357 revolvers have any idea what they’re actually likely to find themselves up against.”

      1. The quote is spot on. Thanks for sharing. We are up against a very sophisticated enemy that has unlimited outside funding, supply, and millions of future useful idiots that will be armed, equipped and trained.

    2. Evil, evil, evil.

      Plus, Youtube deleted the video because they don’t want people to see how evil the rioters are.

      Praising God the three good men had the strength to withhold their anger while being injured with bodily harm from taunting cowards.

      Not sure I could have. Important lessons for sure. Makes me want to give the rioter an address out in the country; come and get me. I need ground fertilizer.

  3. Any ‘battle’ in the Valley Forge ‘winter camp-out exercise’ was against bad water, lice and fleas, starvation, and incompetent leaders and other dandies.

    Starvation was a minute-by-minute ‘battle’.
    Their transportation industry froze to a stand-still because of incompetent leaders, leaving the roads and corrals littered with frozen corpses of emaciated horse, mule, and oxen.
    Frozen human corpses, emaciated by starvation, were stacked each morning to burn… the ground too frozen to dig.

    The cost of maintaining a standing army through that 1777-78 winter’s seven months of idleness is incalculable.
    The dandies lost two thousand of the twelve thousand ground-troops to sickness exacerbated by starvation and exposure.
    The term ‘exposure’ had a dual definition that winter; their clothing rotted off the ground-troops, necessitating the survivors to forage the frozen corpses for re-usable replacements.
    That ‘battle’ re-newed each morning as their deceased companions were discovered.

    The history of Valley Forge illustrates one point — the malicious manipulation of the participants in war by psychopatic leaders.
    Those leaders did and will sacrifice ‘their’ armies as cannon-fodder by the tens of thousands… so they can be memorialized on a coin or paper money.

    *****

    I surmise the lack of a recognizable ‘leader’ among the freedom folks might be due to lower numbers of psychopaths among us, and our psychopaths are nicer than their psychopaths.

    1. Don´t forget the largesse with which the colonies supplied their military, the efficiency of organisation by congress of supply and army and the thorough military education of the officers of the army, naturally except von Steuben who was a prussian staff officer

    2. The hardships our original fighters of Freedom endured were unending. And yet they did not give up. You might say they were closer to the cause than we are today with our soft lifestyle. These men and women were hard of heart and stout of stature and would prefer death over the alternative, a life of slavery to tyranny. We need to remember these lessons. Harden your hearts boys & girls it’s gonna get western soon after the election….. Long live our Republic!

    1. Great recommendation, Tunnel Rabbit! Always enjoy sharing Saturdays with our preparedness community… We begin with the SB’s prepping progress reports, and try to find a way also to enjoy Matt Bracken’s conversational exchanges (often in the background while working in the garden or greenhouse). We’re hoping as well for more interviews with JR Nyquist.

      1. Yes both are very sharp fellows, always thought provoking and educational. It is important that we stock up, but just as important to cram as much education between the ears and exercise our brains and hone the warrior’s mindset. I’ve requested that Bracken discuss the section in his Bracken Collection, a book of short essays on various topics discussing tactics and tips, Night Fighting 101. When I get off this mountain, I’ll send funds via snail mail and order a signed copy of
        The Bracken Collection: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RR9GWSP/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i1

  5. Lafayette was only 19 when he sought to join Washington’s army. A remarkable young man. Many of the colonial leaders were very young and inexperienced. I’ve studied the history of the colonies and the war for many years and remain convinced there is no way we should have won independence from the British unless God orchestrated it.

    Psychopaths? No. Wartime leaders must understand and be willing to sacrifice men in order to achieve objectives, and those sacrifices aren’t always on the battlefield. Volunteer armies make this possible without requiring leaders to be butchers or sacrifice their basic moral tenets. Soldiers understand the risks when they sign on. I agree that they faced unexpected hardship and many died as a result of it but labeling their leaders as psychopaths is unwarranted.

  6. Be ever watchful of your surroundings… A man attending a memorial for the Portland Trump supporter who was assassinated was run over by one of the “mostly peaceful” rioters. While awaiting the EMTs one observer commented that he was bleeding from his ear (not a good sign to be sure). The video is linked at Citizen Free Press (dot-com). For those who view it, be forewarned about bad language. Clearly this is a high stress, emotional situation. Hopefully the perpetrator is identified, arrested, and brought to answer before a court of law. We are lifting up prayers for the injured man, that he will recover fully.

    Remain steady. Be safe. Stay well everyone!

  7. Lafayette was wounded as he organized a retreat from the rout at Brandywine. My 4th great grandfather was also wounded trying to get the young general off the battlefield. Both spent part of the Valley Forge experience recuperating

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