Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — August 5, 2020

August 5th is the sad anniversary of the Mann Gulch Fire in Montana that took the lives of 13 firefighters (including 12 smokejumpers and one former smokejumper), in 1949. The intense, fast-moving forest fire took place in what later became the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness. The events of that fire were chronicled in the book Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean and immortalized in the haunting lyrics of the ballad Cold Missouri Waters by James Keelaghan.

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. 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)
  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. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. 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.
  3. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  4. A transferable $150 purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for the delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Round 90 ends on September 30th, 2020, 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.




5 Comments

  1. Having a firefighter son, I can’t get myself to read, “Young Men and Fire.”

    As we wake up this morning, my heart and prayers go out to those suffering from the port explosion in Beirut, Lebanon. In particular, the ten member firefighter crew that was battling the port fire before the explosion, “have disappeared.”
    I pray for their grieving families.

    So much devastation.
    So much sorrow.

    And now more food shortages will come when over 10,000 have lost their homes.

    “Epoch Times estimates 85% of the country’s grain, mostly stored in silos at the port, was also destroyed.”

    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/beirut-explosion-aftermath-death-toll-rises-100-4000-injured

    “Lebanon’s Year From Hell” – Death Toll Tops 100, Over 4,000 Injured After Beirut Explosion

    Please pray for the people of Beirut.

    1. Hey Krissy, that’s one book I’m passing over too. That would be pretty high on my list of most horrible ways to die. I was a Forest Service fire fighter during summers in college and twice I had crew bosses who got us into a dangerous situation. One time the strong winds changed direction and we had to make a run for it. Another time in Wyoming we were too close to begin with and when it flared up, we finally got the heck out of there marching double time. The smoke was so thick at one point and my eyes were watering so bad and I couldn’t even see where I was going. Not a fun feeling when you’re high-tailing it away from a fire. We were referring to it as “hot-tailing it” that day since we felt the heat on our backsides. lol. I finally grabbed the backpack of the guy in front of me and held on until I could see again. You know you’re too close when you get wet from the water-dropping helicopters.

      1. Saint, My reply from four days ago is not there, so I”m sure the error was I didn’t push laptop button twice… Thank you for the wonderful adventure/near death stories. Whew. You are definitely fearless and brave!
        Krissy

    2. A mother’s heart hurts for her son when he faces danger, Krissy. As I pray for the Lebanese, I pray also for your son’s safety. And for your tender heart.

      Carry on, in grace

      1. Once a Marine, Thank you so much for kind words and prayers for my son! Also, if I have any tenderness of heart, it is all the Lord’s doing. He has chiseled away much of my cold heart through trials, pain and suffering, just as He does with us all to make us more like Him. Your comments are always encouraging. Bless you, Krissy

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