Swift | Silent | Deadly


Self Reliance


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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Know a Knot: The Yosemite Finish

I recently learned a pretty cool knot. Actually it isn’t a knot. Rather, it is a way to “finish” a bowline and tying it requires that you first know how to tie a bowline. This one is called the Yosemite Finish or Yosemite Bowline. For simplicity’s sake we’ll go with Yosemite Finish.

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Survival Cooking: The Tuna Can Stove

The tuna can stove is a simple, inexpensive little stove that can be made from (mostly) common items around your home. I recently made a few of these. The tuna can stove isn’t going to replace my Jetboil but… Well, let’s get into it and I’ll explain why this isn’t my preferred survival cooking option.

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