New American Truth

Let’s all agree on something to start:  hands down, the absolute best way to maintain your library long term is to have shelves full of books made out of bound paper.  Of course, the “long term” part also requires a secure area, environmental control, etc.  In the long term, bound paper will slowly degrade as the acids in the paper settle, the paper itself dries and becomes brittle, and the glues used in the binding degrade.  Still, for at least the span of our lives, if you want to make sure you have your books available, whether they’re for entertainment or reference, build a good physically existent library. Read the full story

As I type this I just had a “conversation” with a fellow “prepper” via Twitter.  The conversation began when someone asked, “What are you preparing for?”  The options offered as answers were, “emergencies, weather disasters or the end of the world as we know it (TEOTWAWKI).”  I was of the opinion that preparing for one meant being better prepared for any of the others, so prepping in general was prepping for all three.  Others held a different point of view, seeing vast differences between preparing for emergencies or weather disasters (essentially short term survival events) versus preparing for TEOTWAWKI (long term event).  The conversation made me reconsider my outlook, analyzing it for strengths and/or weaknesses as I thought about my preparations with regard to the various events wherein I might need to activate my plan. Read the full story

It was in the year 2000 (if I remember correctly) that I attended a Low Light Instructor’s course.  The instructors were Ken Good, Vaughn Baker and a couple of associates.  It wasn’t the first time I’d ever been introduced to Boyd’s Cycle, otherwise known as “OODA Loops” – or the human decision making cycle, but it was the first time I’d had the impact of efficient OODA Loops demonstrated so effectively.  Since taking that class I’ve included at least brief information about OODA Loops in every officer survival and defensive tactics class I’ve taught.  Why?  Because winning the decision making race means winning the fight – and if you don’t understand the race you’re in, you have less chance of winning it. Read the full story

Long time readers know that I have, in the past, written several articles about Bugout Bags, Go Bags, Trunk Kept Go Bags and assorted other articles on related topics. This past week I was presented with an interesting hypothetical: what if you couldn’t take a bag? What if all you had was what you were WEARING and your guns. What would that consist of? Naturally this is radically different depending on what environment you are, or you expect to be, in. Still, it seemed an interesting enough challenge to contemplate that I thought I’d share. Read the full story

First let me say this:  We at New American Truth are horrified and distraught at the loss of life in Newtown, Connecticut.  The history of violence in or against our schools in the United States predates our country’s founding.  It should shame us all that we act so aggressively to prevent accidental deaths by fire or physical injury but we so completely neglect the prevention of violence in any realistic manner.  Instead of arming willing and capable teachers and training our students to never accept being a victim, the educational leadership mouths meaningless platitudes about “zero tolerance” and “teaching individual responsibility.”  The only way to survive a violent attack and emerge victorious against evil is to train for it and respond to it with greater justified and completely moral violence.  Until that reality becomes accepted and spread through our schools, violence will continue; the loss of innocent lives will continue; and politicians will continue to use such horrific events, leveraging them for their own power-grabbing agendas. Read the full story

As I read various articles and blogs about survival preparation, planning, preparedness, etc. it occurs to me that each writer, including myself, holds a greater expertise in certain areas of preparedness and survival than in others. I know… “Duh!” right? What would I expect? Everyone has that which they have mastered to a greater extent and those skills that they still need to practice. It is human nature, I believe, to prefer to practice that which we are already good at and to neglect, to some extent, the things we aren’t as good at. Why? Because we naturally don’t like failure and when we practice the things we’re not as particularly skilled at, we don’t do them as well… leaving us feeling a greater sense of failure than when we efficiently and neatly accomplish another skill set we’re far better at. Read the full story

Let me start out by saying that I grew up in the era of the first couple Rambo movies and was firmly embedded with the thought that a good survival knife had to be big, have saw teeth, a hollow handle, a lanyard and in general look mean enough to take down a Cape Buffalo.  I have, since then, matured some (read “gotten older”) and have realized that where field knives are concerned, bigger isn’t always better.  Of late it seems that some manufacturers are agreeing with me. Read the full story

In a recent contract job I undertook I had to study the casualties our forces have suffered in the combat zones of the Middle East, as well as the casualties our public safety professionals (cops) suffer here at home. In both cases there showed a significant number of preventable losses with those injuries being to the extremities. Recognizing that there are preventable deaths occurring from blood loss resulting from extremity wounds, the ability to control / stop bleeding is highlighted. This week I took a look at two products that are designed for just that purpose: the SWAT-T and QuikClot Combat Gauze. Read the full story

Everyone has a different idea of what a “tool kit” is and you can find a plethora of articles on “every day carry.”  My wonderment, as brought up by a conversation I had yesterday, is what preppers or survivalists carry each day that they consider essential for their survival.  The bigger question, for me, is what they think they should be carrying but don’t due to legal restrictions (weapons), convenience (bulkiness) or perception (how would people look at them). Read the full story

In my book, “Personal Disaster Planning Handbook,” I describe a layered and redundant system of preparation that includes both a backpack/bug out bag and a load bearing vest.  In the book I’m very clear that you have to make the choice whether you load your vest to support survival, defense (combat) or both.  Recently I had a friend of mine point out to me that combat is entirely about survival so if you load your vest to support defense/combat then, in his opinion, you ARE loading it for survival.  This gave me pause and forced me to consider a few things. Read the full story