Swift | Silent | Deadly


Self Reliance


Upcoming Training: Blackside Operator’s Course 01-24

Coming in Early 2024… A collaboration between Across The Peak co-hosts Rich Brown and Justin Carroll. This immersive, live-aboard, 5-day course is unlike any other “gun class” you’ve ever attended. Designed to give the student the ability to survive and thrive in the urban, “blackside” environment, Blackside Operator’s Course (BSOC) will make you comfortable in any situation. From fancy dinner party to prevailing in a gritty street fight, you’ll be ready. This is a gentleman’s course and business/business casual attire will be expected for throughout the class.

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Medical: HSGI Reflex IFAK System Review

Medical gear is a critical component of any battle belt, bump-in-the-night kit, or whatever you want to call it. If you go to guns, there is a chance that guns will go to you or your loved ones. You need to be prepared to deal with it. It’s also a really good idea to have a “blowout kit” with you at the range. I spent quite a bit of time picking out a suitable individual first aid kit (IFAK), and finally settled on the HSGI ReFlex IFAK System about a year ago. I’ve been using it since then, and this is what I think of it.

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XShears – The Best Trauma Scissors

I wasn’t really looking for better trauma shears when I stumbled upon XShears trauma scissors. I was mostly OK with the cheap, disposable trauma scissors I get for free at work. A friend gave me a pair or XShears as a gift and I realized XShears are the absolute best trauma scissors. This article is mostly for my EMT/Paramedic crowd, but if you need a pair of bomb-proof scissors, read on!

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Wild Edibles of The Southern Appalachians – UPDATED

As most regular readers have probably sensed, I’ve been on something of a survival “journey” over the past couple of years. Though I had a lot of head-knowledge about survival I didn’t practice much of it. Over the last couple of years I’ve invested a lot of time into bettering my survival skills. Gathering food in a survival situation has been pretty low on my list. Recently I’ve begun to correct that by learning some wild edibles of the southern Appalachians.

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Why So Many People Show Up When You Call 911

Have you ever wondered why so many people show up when you call 911? I get this question regularly in my job. I hadn’t thought about it too much until I recently read Jason McCarthy’s book about founding GoRuck. He relates being on the scene of an ATV wreck and getting a huge fire/EMS turnout. “Doubtlessly because they were bored,” he figured. No offense to Jason (I’m a big fan of GoRuck products, btw), but it’s not because they are bored. Let’s look at why so many people show up when you call 911.

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ATP Podcast E006: How to Change a Tire

Welcome back to the Across The Peak Podcast, the show Where Rich and Justin discuss preparedness, the birds and the bees, guns, history, tattoos, and… well, basically all the stuff your old man shoulda taught you! After a four-year silence we are re-releasing the ATP archive. Here it is, folks, Across The Peak Episode 006: How to Change a Tire! This show was originally released on 08/07/2018.

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Pictorial Post: Mushrooms

Recently on one of my twice-weekly hikes I noticed that the mushrooms were out in force. There must have been perfect conditions for a flush recently because I observed over 20 types of mushrooms (I think; I know next-to-nothing about mushrooms) in a single afternoon. I took a lot of pictures. This is may be a flash in the pan…or the beginning of a new obsession. Time will tell.

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The Ultimate Wilderness Survival Handgun?

Like everyone else, I love the idea of “one gun to rule them all.” Actually, maybe I like the idea  little more than everyone else. Those of you familiar with the blog know that two of my big interests are handguns and survival. So why not an article about the ultimate wilderness survival handgun? 

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