"Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance." – Samuel Johnson In part one we looked at navigating by what we can see in the sky. What if we are presented with a situation where there is no sun during the day and the moon and stars are not visible at night. There are still aids to navigation all around us. These aids require us t...
"There's nothing more gratifying than being able to depend on your own abilities." – Tom Ralston Whether we've slid off what was left of a road during a snowstorm or parted company with our equine "friend" on the trail, we're going to have to consider, at some point, how we're going to get back to civilization. Irrespective of how accomplished our ...
"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." ― Benjamin Franklin Any time you're more than a few hours from advanced medical aid, an otherwise easily treatable injury can become significantly more problematic. When things happen off the beaten track, out of cellphone reception range, you need to have the knowledge, equipment and skill set to ...
"Water is the driving force in nature." ― Leonardo da Vinci As discussed in part 1's "Rule of 3's" water is vital to our survival and should be towards the top of our priority list. Do NOT wait until you are thirsty before you start looking for a water supply. The possible effects of taking that one little thirst quenching sip could severely impact...
"The fire is the main comfort of the camp, whether in summer or winter and is about as ample at one season as at another. It is as well for cheerfulness as for warmth and dryness." — Henry David Thoreau In part 1 we looked at the rule of 3's and how it helped determine our priorities in a survival situation. Although during the warmer months we may...
"The most important factor in survival is neither intelligence nor strength but adaptability." — Charles Darwin Thinking back to part 1 and our rule of 3's, the importance of establishing a shelter, in anything but the most temperate of climates, is unchallenged. Pay attention to the site selection considerations from part 1 particularly if you ant...
Title: Basic M4 Carbine Course- Range 3 Type: Live Fire Range Time: 4 hours Venue: 25M Range Students: 12 Student Equipment: 1 X M4 Carbines per student 3 X 30 round M4 magazines per student 50 rounds ammunition per student 1 X Magazine Carrier Eye and hearing protection Marker pen/target patches Notebook and pen Instructor Equipment: Range Eq...
"We don't even know how strong we are until we are forced to bring that hidden strength forward. In times of tragedy, of war, of necessity, people do amazing things. The human capacity for survival and renewal is awesome" - Isabel Allende This is part1 of a multi part series on basic survival. It is not intended to be the "one stop shop" for everyt...
Title: Basic M4 Carbine Course- Range 2 Type: Live Fire Range Time: 4 hours Venue: 25M Range Students: 12 Student Equipment:1 X M4 Carbines per student 3 X 30 round M4 magazines per student 50 rounds ammunition per student 1 X Magazine Carrier Eye and hearing protection Marker pen/target patches Notebook and pen Instructor Equipment: Range Equipmen...
Title: Basic M4 Carbine Course - Range 1 Type: Live Fire Range Time: 4 hours Venue: 25M Range Students: 12 Student Equipment: 1 X M4 Carbines per student 3 X 30 round M4 magazines per student 50 rounds ammunition per student 1 X Magazine Carrier Eye and hearing protection Instructor Equipment: Range Equipment, Sight Charts/Diagrams, Sight Tools Ass...
From our list of the Components of Situational Awareness (Observation, Perception, Description, Memory, Human Behavior and Deduction) we just have Deduction left to cover, before getting in to some useful practical exercises in the next article. Deduction a. You have been honing your Situation Awareness skills for some time, paying great attention ...
TDG ST-3 began in the immediate aftermath of the home invasion described in TDG ST-2. The intruders have been repelled – so far as you know – while you, your daughter, and your wife are secure on the second floor. You were wounded in the exchange of gunfire, with two 12-gauge 00 shotgun pellets lodging in your left shoulder and upper arm, emphasizi...
This TDG is a sequel to TDG ST-2, Home Invasion. It posits a (mostly) favorable conclusion and explores the post-shooting environment and important choices and actions you must take. The prior scenario ended with two intruders shot on the stairs leading up to the second floor where you, your wife and your daughter were sheltering. Another retreated...
Title: Basic M4 Carbine Course- Lesson 5 Type: Dry Practice (No live ammunition) Time: 2 hours Venue: Weapon Training Classroom Students: 12 Student Equipment: 12 X M4 Carbines 12 X USGI 30 round M4 magazines 6 X dummy 5.56mm rounds per student (72) Instructor Equipment: 1 X M4 Carbine 2 X USGI M4 30 round magazines 6 X dummy 5.56mm rounds Assistan...
The previous two articles should have provided plenty of context for what follows. There are many things that should come before any conversations about owning the night. But if you follow our advice and work hard on ticking all of the preceding boxes there might eventually come a time where you want to seriously consider it. Bad things happen at n...
Title: Basic M4 Carbine Course- Lesson 4 Type: Dry Practice (No live ammunition) Time: 2 hours Venue: Weapon Training Classroom Students: 12 Student Equipment:12 X M4 Carbines 12 X USGI 30 round M4 magazines 6 X dummy 5.56mm rounds per student (72) Instructor Equipment:1 X M4 Carbine 2 X USGI M4 30 round magazines 6 X dummy 5.56mm rounds Assistant ...
Picking up where we left off on rounding out your armory, you might also usefully add in some body armor (whether soft, concealable or standalone hard plates in an overt carrier). Armor can get expensive and having any is better than having none but, like many things, it is a "cry once, buy once" kind of thing. The trade off between heavy, thick, c...
Most people know the popularized story of how the American Revolution – its kinetic phase, anyway – began on April, 19, 1775, when the Massachusetts militia turned out to oppose a British column marching from Boston to Concord to seize arms and military stores accumulated there by the colonists. Myths have grown up around the events of that day, re...
Our second TDG scenario presented the following problem: Your home in a rural subdivision is the second target of a home invasion in as many weeks. In the middle of the night, you awaken to a crash and an alarm from your phone when the downstairs back door is forced open. You and your wife are in the master bedroom; your adolescent daughter is in h...
You, your wife, and your pre-teen daughter live in a two-story home on a five-acre lot in a rural subdivision eight miles outside of town, accessed by a frontage road that parallels the interstate highway. Other than highway noise and occasional singing coyotes, it had always been a quiet neighborhood. But conditions in town have been worsening ove...
