New American Truth

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

CASUALTIES:

05/15/13 – Fort Knox, Kentucky – A Virginia Beach-based Navy SEAL was killed Wednesday and five other sailors were injured during a training exercise. (Virginian-Pilot 05/17/13)

05/14 & 16 – AFGHANISTAN – This has been a horrific week for U.S. casualties, culminating in a suicide bombing in Kabul on Thursday that killed six Americans and at least nine other people. Casualties include the deaths of four U.S. soldiers killed by a roadside bomb near Kandahar on Tuesday. (Google Alerts & The Atlantic)

This news has brought much pain that will need ongoing healing. Read the full story

This morning (as I type this) I’ve seen multiple news stories about how no one won the PowerBall Lottery leaving the lottery management folks to estimate the new jackpot at $350 Million (annuity totals) or a cash value of $222.8 Million – which, for the sake of this article, I’m going to round up to $223M.  My question was this: If you’re a survivalist/prepper and you win the lottery, what the heck do you do? 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

05/04/13 – AFGHANISTAN – WAR DEAD – (Google Search)
Total: 2,192
Fatalities In hostile actions: 1,731
In non-hostile actions: 461
Tallies may be incomplete because of lags in reporting.

05/06/13 – AFGHANISTAN – The weekend deaths of seven U.S. soldiers and a member of the NATO-led coalition made the casualty toll one of the highest of the year in the war in Afghanistan.(Google Search) Read the full story

O4/27/13 – KERRVILLE, TX – One Pasadena police officer was killed and another was severely injured in an accident involving an 18-wheeler late Friday on I-10. They had stopped to aid a stranded motorist. (KHOU.com, Houston, TX)

05/02/13 – NEW CASTLE, PA – Officer William “Jerry” McCarthy IV, 60, was killed Thursday when a pursuit ended in a violent crash with the suspect. He was pursuing a woman who was driving with a suspended license when she crashed into his cruiser. Another officer was injured and hospitalized in fair condition. (PoliceOne Staff and WTAE) Read the full story

04/20/13 – SHERMAN, Texas – A North Texas officer, Grayson County Sheriff’s deputy Chad Christian Key, was killed Saturday night when a repeat drunk driver hit him as he directed traffic. (NLEOMF and PoliceOne)

04/21/13 – Washita County Sheriff’s Office, OK – Deputy Sheriff Douglas Leon Hanna was killed in an automobile crash. (NLEOMF)

04/21/13 – Boston, MA – A police officer shot and wounded while pursuing the marathon bombing suspects last week, VMI alumnus Richard ‘Dic’ Donohue, had to be resuscitated after his heart stopped and he lost his entire blood supply, but doctors and relatives said Sunday he was emerging from sedation and expected to recover. (Roanoke Times and L. A. Times) Read the full story

This morning’s facebook and twitter world seem to be full of posts about The Walking Dead, zombies and preppers.  It made me think about how much of what we do (seriously) to be prepared versus what we’d do if we were preparing for a zombie apocalypse.  The decision I came to?  It wouldn’t be all that different.  Let’s think about it for a few minutes… 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

04/12/13 – Brookfield Police Department, WI – Police Officer Donald Bishop suffered a fatal heart attack while responding to a burglary call. (NLEOMF)

04/14/13 – Opelousas Police Department, LA – Assistant Warden Peggy Sylvester was killed in a single-vehicle crash. (NLEOMF)

04/15/13 – NEW YORK – A New York City police officer shot her boyfriend, turned the gun on her 1-year-old son and then shot herself in an apparent double murder-suicide at her home Monday morning. (PoliceOne.com) Read the full story