I’ve spent my life living, working, and growing with other men. I’m the oldest of five boys and was raised by a career Paratrooper. Push-ups, rope climbs and sit ups were how we were punished, and boxing was how us boys grew up settling our differences. (Sometimes with gloves, sometimes without…) Later I went intoContinue reading “Opinion: Thoughts on Initiation and the Void, and their roles in Training and Masculinity”
Category Archives: Opinion
Opinion: SMEAC the Gear Queer
There’s a heck of a lot more to low level armed conflict than tearing off into the bush with a $1500 weapon and cool-guy kit when your only training is shooting fast at stationary targets; the people that do that are speed bumps for the well trained, unassuming guy with a 30-30 and a solidContinue reading “Opinion: SMEAC the Gear Queer”
Seek Outside: How to Cut your Backpack Hunting Weight
I came across this article recently and I thought the author presented some interesting metrics to analyze gear weight with. Big game hunting while living out of a backpack is an elite (crazy) sport, and the weight you carry is critical. In this first sentence of the article the author makes an extremely important point,Continue reading “Seek Outside: How to Cut your Backpack Hunting Weight”
Von Steuben Training: TDG 8: Retrans Raid
I thought I would take a little time and write a response to the scenario described here. Mike at Von Steuben training is nice enough to put these scenarios together and I think they are a lot of fun. My plan is below: Careful study of the topo map reveals a few important facts toContinue reading “Von Steuben Training: TDG 8: Retrans Raid”
Opinion: Why Train? And “The way of the warrior”
This is a repost of an article I wrote in April of 2021. I’m going through and doing some “weeding out” of outdated articles, but I thought this was a good one to repost in case some had missed it. – B.R. , January 2023 There’s been a lot of good discussion over at AmericanContinue reading “Opinion: Why Train? And “The way of the warrior””
Opinion: What are prototactics?
I’ve spent the better part of the last couple years (to be honest tactics and strategy have always been a big interest of mine) studying small unit tactics from different perspectives in an attempt to discern those that might be practical for today’s concerned citizens, including myself. I wanted to go beyond the typical selfContinue reading “Opinion: What are prototactics?”
Junk on the Bunk: Defensive Hunter Gear
I’d like to do a layout for the equipment I used deer hunting this year. I’ve been working on a concept I’ve come to think of as the “defensive hunter”, and I wanted to use equipment that I felt was appropriate to the concept. While I plan on writing a more thorough article to detailContinue reading “Junk on the Bunk: Defensive Hunter Gear”
Opinion: How I setup my equipment using the line system
When it comes to gear, I like systems versus just a list of items. If we can answer the questions to understand the “why?” of something, the “How?” is made a lot easier by using a system. I’ve promised a few people lately that I would do a Junk On The Bunk article for myContinue reading “Opinion: How I setup my equipment using the line system”
Initial impressions of the ESEE PR-4 as a field knife
A customer sent me this knife to build a sheath for and I thought I’d put some thoughts down. This isn’t exactly a review, just some of my thoughts on the design and construction of the knife. The particular knife I received looked like it was nearly brand new and came with a nice lookingContinue reading “Initial impressions of the ESEE PR-4 as a field knife”
Less is More, part 5: Scalability
For the next part in this series I want to discuss a concept that is something I’m trying to incorporate into everything I’m currently working on – scalability. Scalability can be defined as a system’s ability to adapt to the working conditions, in other words it’s ability to fit the scale of the situation. WhileContinue reading “Less is More, part 5: Scalability”