EMP

No power tools or forges: Here’s how to make a survival knife using just the stuff in your garage

The looming threat of a nuclear attack launched by North Korea has brought about a resurgence in Cold War era anxieties about survival in a post-infrastructure America. If such an attack were to take place, it may not mean the end of the world, per say, but it could certainly mean the end of yours, and in the days, weeks, or months that followed a nuclear or EMP strike, there’s a chance help wouldn’t be on its way.

When you mention such an apocalyptic scenario to many people, the first thing they want to regale you with is a list of their firearms, ammunition stores, and food and water supply. That stuff all matters, and while I too maintain a laundry list of those sorts of things, many tend to forget about what I consider to be among the most important survival tools a man or woman could ever have: a good quality knife.

As I’ve written about before, knives serve a number of purposes in a survival setting. Whether you’re building a fire, preparing a meal, or fighting for your life, having a knife in your hand could mean the difference between today being an easy day, and today being your last one. Even after years of training in knife fighting techniques, armed, and disarmed defenses – I’m arguably more afraid of a skilled combatant with a knife in his hand than I am of the same man armed with a pistol in close quarters. If I can get a grip on that pistol, I’ll probably get out of a fight alive. Try the same thing with a knife, and I may lose a few fingers before he leaves me in a pile on the ground.

The most valuable part of carrying a knife, however, is that you don’t need to have trained to use one outside of the kitchen to be effective. Knives are simple, they don’t jam, they require very little maintenance, and as long as you remember which end is pointy, you’re dangerous when carrying one. For those of you who live in states that are not particularly firearm friendly, or if you’d just prefer to keep your home boom-stick free, knives offer you a legal, inexpensive and relatively safe means of defense to keep inside your home or go bag.

But what if the worst were to happen… and you find yourself without your trusty knife? Is it possible to make a passable survival knife without a forge, power tools, or even electricity?

That’s exactly what I wanted to find out.

Last year, I posted a series of videos depicting all the ways in which I wouldn’t be able to make my own knife. These guys made some incredible pieces of cutlery, but each of the projects were just too far outside my skill set, my budget, and the equipment I have available to me. If making a survival knife is something that’s possible for the layman, it means it’s got to be cheap, simple, and effective using only the sort of things you could easily scrounge up after a disaster.

With that in mind, I swore off of using the internet for guidance and headed into my garage to find whatever I could and see if I could make a passable knife out of it.

Here’s what I came up with:

-One pair of work gloves
-A hack saw with two blades
-One C-clamp
-One hand clamp
-A heavy duty file
-A sharpie

For optimal results, you’ll also need a good knife sharpener of whatever sort you prefer, but in a pinch, you could get away with just the file.
As for the knife itself, I found an old piece of scrap steel that’s been in my basement since I moved in – it was a lucky break, but it likely wouldn’t be too difficult for you to find a decent piece of scrap steel after the world ends either. Mine was about three feet long, one and a half inches wide, and maybe a bit more than 1/16 of an inch thick.

Step One: Cut the steel to the appropriate length

Raw steel next to a Smith and Wesson Search and Rescue knife for scale

Now, you could almost certainly use a ruler or measuring tape to determine the exact length you’d prefer to get started – but in keeping with my overall approach to this project (using as little as possible) and the general demeanor I’ve developed as a new father (“I haven’t slept in six weeks and I don’t care how long it is.”) I opted to just eyeball it, draw a line with my sharpie and go after this poor piece of steel with my hacksaw. The end result is shown above.

Step Two: Draw the basic shape of the knife onto the steel with your sharpie

Using the corner of one side of the steel as your knife tip, draw the basic shape of your knife blade onto the steel. You’ll be using this as your template as you cut the remaining steel away using your hacksaw. Because I did this outside in 20-degree weather, my trusty iPhone shut itself down before I could take a picture of my artwork.

Step Three: Use the hacksaw to cut along your drawn line

Clamp your steel to a secure surface – I used a good sturdy wood table, but if you happen to have a vice it could make this process much easier. Once the knife is secure, put on your work gloves and eye protection and set about sawing along the line you drew on the steel. Depending on the quality of steel and the state of your hacksaw, this step could be both times consuming and count as your cardio for the day. When you’re finished, the steel should resemble a knife in profile, despite lacking an actual edge.

I also chose to make the handle portion of the knife more narrow than the blade itself for the sake of an improved grip. I had to go back inside for my where my weak-willed iPhone was resting by the fire to snap this picture, but as you can see, I also cut notches on the top and bottom of the handle portion in order to make it easier to secure my paracord handle later on.

Step Four: Use the file to create an edge

With the basic shape of the knife established, now it’s time to get your second cardio session in for the day. Clamp the knife down at the end of your table or secure it in your vice and set about filing the steel into an edge. You’ll have to re-position the knife a number of times as you work to ensure you’re achieving a fairly even grind throughout the length of the blade, then flip it over and repeat the process on the other side. If you’re anything like me, you’ll likely have to flip it back and forth a few times as needed to ensure a reasonably even edge emerges.

Step 6: Finish the edge with a knife sharpener

If you have a knife sharpener available to you, use it to refine the edge you started with the file. The sharpener will help you to do away with any small burrs left behind by the sawing and sanding process and create a sharper edge. Although stabs and thrusts are important elements of a knife fight, you can actually do away with an opponent much faster with effective slashes to the carotid artery, for instance, rather than a stab to the gut. Likewise, a sharp edge will make the knife more useful in everyday applications, like making tinder for a fire or cutting meat.

Step Seven: Fashion your handle

The raw steel handle my knife was left with would probably chew up my bare hand almost as quickly as the blade would, so it was important that I fashion a handle for the knife that protects these old callouses I’ve worked so hard to develop over the years. I’m a Marine, so there’s paracord in a dozen places in my house, but there are a number of materials you could feasibly use to the same end: leather straps, cloth, duct tape, even shoelaces.

The sailors among us may have some better suggestions for knots, but because I wasn’t using the internet for guidance, I was forced to rely on what I could remember – so I tied what is commonly known as a “perfection loop” at the end of a length of paracord, then fed the other and through the loop and tightened it onto the top groove of the handle. I then wrapped the paracord around the steel as tightly as possible and secured it again on the other end before repeating the process.

What I was left with is a pretty passable survival knife. From start to finish, the project took about three hours, though it may take you longer if you find yourself gassed from the sawing and filing. All that’s left to do is see how well it holds up when put through its paces. My testing of this knife will be the subject of a subsequent article, so you can see how well it holds up to real-world use.

Hopefully, we won’t find ourselves needing this sort of know-how before then.

Originally published on NEWSREP and written by ALEX HOLLINGS

Prepper Paradise: A bit more than a million dollars could buy you this entire military installation

Mankind has always harbored a macabre fascination with the end of the world. Doomsday predictions litter humanity’s history, and for each new prophet promising the end of days, you could find a disappointed congregation, maligning the world’s existential persistence when his promises of fire and brimstone have failed to manifest.

For a long time, doomsday prophecies often centered around astrological events, transitional dates between centuries or millennia, and various religious beliefs regarding higher powers and their interventions in the affairs of man… but in recent decades, that spiritual sense of foreboding has been replaced by a very practical one. The Baby Boomer generation grew up under the very real specter of nuclear war, conducting duck and cover drills in school houses and devoting tax dollars to massive underground bunkers America hoped could deliver its government unscathed to the other side of the world’s end. For the first time in mankind’s history, the fear of the end of the world was finally matched by our capability to actually bring it about.

It’s little wonder, then, that many of the men and women that grew up training to climb under their desks in the event of a nuclear attack have now taken to an often-scoffed at hobby: “prepping.” Preppers come in a variety of sorts, of course — ranging from the pragmatic to the delusional — but if there’s one thing just about every prepper will agree on, it’s that money can help you “be prepared” for the apocalypse a whole lot faster than good intentions.

If you’re able to secure a remote piece of land and outfit it with all the things you need to survive before the world ends, you’re in pretty good shape by most prepper’s standards — but if you’ve got the passion and the pocket book, there are some options that even put that idea to shame. Options like a surplus military SATCOM II intelligence gathering and communications post in Scotland, for instance.

The property, which is listed for sale at just $1.22 million (a bargain compared to most hardened facilities), has actually been on the market for some time — meaning you may be able to haggle the owners down a little if you’re on the market for your own rural military installation, complete with air filtration system to protect you from nuclear, chemical, or biological attacks. The facility is even hardened against electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) that are known to render electronics unusable after a nuclear blast.

According to the listing:

SATCOM II Satellite Ground Listening Station is situated on the S side of the World War II airfield ( ) and B918 public road and set within a high double fenced compound. The Station stands on the former taxiway of the airfield.

Known locally as the ‘Golf Ball’ on account of the radome covered in fibre glass panels. The radome is linked by corridor to the equipment building and mess and recreation/office building. Within the ‘golf ball’ is a large dish antenna on a servo assisted rotating base, the mechanism allowing the dish to move up and down as well as around. The other buildings are connected by a main corridor which have NBC doors at each end. There is an emergency power generator room, containing two 180KW output diesel engines.

A MoD Police Post was built at a slightly later date near the main gate to guard and control the first fence line.

And in case your primary concern is nuclear attack, the sprawling 9 acre compound comes complete with a currently inactive NATO Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) early warning radar system aside from its complement of offices, garages, guard houses, living spaces and even recreational areas.

If all that isn’t enough to convince you that this property is just what you need to survive the end of days, the realtor points out that, until the world ends, this facility is also conveniently located near highway access for a short jaunt into town to resupply your stash of survival Twinkies. Check out the realtor’s listing if you think you may have found your new summer home.

Images courtesy of AmazingResults.com

Darkness and confusion may be the biggest killer in future wars—will anyone be safe?

Today’s world, while safer for most than at any other time in human history, is ripe with burgeoning conflict, simmering just beneath the surface. Civil wars and regional spats in nations like Yemen and Syria draw powerful militaries into proxy-conflicts. Looming concerns about a resource-scarce future have prompted Russia to lay claim to the Arctic, while China devotes its energy to securing the South China Sea. Nations like North Korea and Iran have their nuclear programs subdued through sanctions and politicking, but no experts suggest any treaty or agreement will stem the nuclear tide forever.

Put succinctly, if humanity’s tenacity for global war is cyclical, we seem to nearing the end of our reprieve. The next great conflict may not be fought by the men and women in uniform today, but increasingly, it seems like it may be fought by their children.

War is nothing new, and despite new technologies emerging every day, chances are good that the battlefield of such a hypothetical conflict would look familiar to service members in the fight today — but beyond the firefights and the security zones, a modern war against an opponent with the resources and capabilities of a near-peer in the future will be unlike any conflict the American people have ever known. The insulation Americans have enjoyed from conflict tucked safely between two oceans with allies to the North and South, will give way in favor of a new kind of warfare that may prove every bit as deadly.

According to reports out of the U.K., British military forces recently conducted a drill that approximated a Russian invasion of the West. As a part of the endeavor, British forces executed a mock cyber attack against Moscow, blotting out the power and plummeting the nation’s capital into darkness. This concept, of course, is nothing new in warfare. Cutting the supply of essentials to enemy strongholds is a concept as old as strongholds and supply lines — but where warfighters once had to sever those lines by hand, they are now cut digitally from anywhere on the planet.

Last year, the Trump administration levied a new series of sanctions against the Russian government for their apparent infiltration of the American commercial power grid. According to U.S. government reports, the Russian intrusion was contained once it was discovered, but it’s important to acknowledge how significant a breach of American national security that is: turning off the electricity to American homes is not just an inconvenience, it can be absolutely devastating.

In fact, a recent study into what effect an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) attack would have on the United States concluded that a nation-wide power outage could result in the deaths of as much as 90% of the American population. An EMP attack, however, would require multiple nuclear weapons being detonated high above the United States — and while America’s midcourse defense system may not be as effective as some would hope, it would at least have a shot at intercepting the inbound nukes. A cyber attack with the same intent, however, could be done quietly with keystrokes from a basement anywhere in the world. There would be no early warning, no opportunity to intercept: Americans would simply get up one morning into a world of continued darkness.

The ensuing silence would be the greatest weapon America’s enemies could wield, as people grew frantic about the situation. Things will only get worse as food becomes more scarce, especially in densely packed population centers that are reliant on food being shipped in and refrigerated to support the population. The sick and the feeble would die first, and as people’s parents and children began to succumb — to the elements, dehydration, starvation and more — the American people would forgo their sense of national unity in favor of survival. These people would be unaware of the war raging elsewhere, as their fight becomes one for survival.

This method of injecting confusion and panic into a nation’s population has already been used by Russia in places like Ukraine, and will undoubtedly see expanded use as national level militaries increasingly look to cyber warfare as a means to expand capabilities. The systems we rely on to live our lives are, by their very nature, a strategic weakness worthy of exploiting — and the more reliant a society is on those systems, the more dramatic the result will be when severed from them.

The confusion that would result after a concerted cyber “invasion” would make a nation’s populace its own worst enemy, as developed countries disintegrated into millions individual struggles for resources. No communications. No sign of help on the way.

Of course, this tragic hypothetical is not a foregone conclusion. Diplomacy is as alive and well as conflict in our modern world, but in the meantime, consider this:

What would you do if the lights shut off right now, wherever you are, and didn’t come back on?

Do you want to be prepared for anything? Check out the Crate Club to have tactical and survival gear delivered right to your door!

Feature image courtesy of Dan Nguyen on Flickr

Prepping 101: The Gun Question

The gun question: does a prepper need a gun? And if they do, what kind should they buy? I’ve been asked this more times than I care to count. The responses to this question are as varied as the people answering it. Camp AR15 versus camp AK47, team semi-auto against team revolver. In my opinion, it isn’t as simple as what kind of gun you should choose. The bigger question that everyone seems to forget in this whole debate is, can you safely use a weapon at all?

There is no shame in admitting that you don’t know your way around guns. I, along with many other gun owners, would rather you admit that to yourself upfront rather than buying a firearm without knowing how it works or how to use it safely. If you’re one of those folks, I would suggest that you team up with someone who does know how to handle a firearm, and learn from them. Armed security will be a major element of survival in a prepper situation and crucial to protecting your family and your possessions, despite what authorities might suggest.

All we have to do is look at the recent events over the last few years and read the articles we have already published to see this is not a game. Now, there maybe some reading this who have never owned a firearm but want to enter the world of gun ownership. This entire post is for you, my friends. The whole issue is pretty complex for an experienced prepper and gun owner, let alone someone who is new to it. That’s where we come in—to help you navigate the maze of “Which one, and why?”

Consider buying used

Since you are at the beginning of this journey, I would first say owning a firearm is a massive responsibility. Putting thought and research into it is prudent. Research starts with actually talking to gun owners, but remember, we are all biased. We just are. Expect to hear stories of our favorite guns and which ones are, in our opinion, “terrible.” Then, I suggest going into a locally owned mom-and-pop gun store to look at used firearms.

Buying used firearms isn’t like buying used underwear; they can be a terrific purchase for a fraction of their original cost. Remember, the salesmen work for you—never be ashamed to ask questions about a gun or how a particular firearm operates. It’s their job. To give you a starting place when you first set foot in the store, I’d first suggest looking for guns that embody simplicity. Simple works. If you’re confident in the reliability of your firearm and comfortable with how it functions, then you are at an advantage.

Next, I’d suggest you resist the urge to buy anything designated “tactical.” I know this flies in the face of all things popular, but tactical is a buzzword applied to any firearm that is black and has some kind of rail system on it. That doesn’t automatically make it the best choice for survival or defensive purposes.

I broke my suggested firearms into two easy categories for your consideration. You will notice I omitted rifles. This is because I am writing this article with the beginning prepper in mind—one who may not have firearms experience. The popular military-style semi-automatic rifle and the quintessential hunting rifle are most definitely useful tools, but for someone taking their first serious look at firearm ownership, they can be a bit intimidating. Remember, we walk before we run, and where firearms are concerned, it is best to start by taking baby steps.

#1) Pump shotguns:

Easy first choice here. Nothing says “Don’t touch my stuff” like a good old-fashioned American-made shotgun. I’d suggest a pump over a semi-auto for their superior reliability. The two most popular manufacturers of shotguns, Remington and Mossberg, happen to also be the two most trusted names in pump shotguns. The Remington 870 and the Mossberg 500 are the two most popular pump shotguns on earth, with a combined 20million units sold since 1961. That’s a stunning number to comprehend.

There are dozens of varieties of each model, but let’s keep things simple. When it comes to calibers, the two most popular are 12 gauge and 20 gauge. When shopping for your shotgun, barrel length isn’t important—you can change the barrel on a shotgun with no tools, and barrels are readily available at any gun store and on several online retailers, and can be acquired without a permit or license.

Ammunition for your shotgun is totally a personal choice in regards to what size “shot” to get. Below is a handy chart for reference.

#2) Handguns:

Handguns get a bad reputation as “evil” even though they’re just brainless hardware incapable of being inherently evil. What the popular media and most gun magazines don’t do a good enough job of telling people is that a pistol is primarily a defensive weapon—a last-chance weapon. Something used to “break contact” and get away from a potentially lethal situation. Being one of the last tools available to save your life or the life of a loved one makes the choice of pistol very important indeed.

There are two major “camps” in the pistol community: the semi-automatic group and the revolver group. In the interest of full disclosure, I am a huge fan of semi-automatic handguns, but I carry one often and have years of experience with them, so I am comfortable with them. What I’ll say next will cause some people to shake their heads: If you’re new to handguns, I highly recommend a revolver.

Revolvers are easier to use. I write this to the person who is looking for SHTF prepping, not to someone who is looking to conceal carry a pistol or possibly shoot as a semi-serious hobby. Unfortunately, many gun-shop owners often push new gun owners toward semi-automatics when the buyer isn’t ready for one. To the novice gun owner, semi-automatics can be highly intimidating: levers, switches, magazines, pulling the slide, it can totally overwhelm some people. I’ve seen trained shooters in competitions screw up a reload and drop a fresh magazine, and they all had more training and time behind the gun than I have, for sure.

This is the second part where I go against traditional gun wisdom; I recommend a full-sized revolver instead of a short-barreled compact revolver. The reasoning is simple: A larger-framed gun will be much easier for the novice shooter to comfortably hold and operate. The shooter will feel less recoil, and therefore build confidence and improve their shooting skills. A revolver with a medium or large frame, a 4″ barrel, and chambered in .38 S&W or .357 Magnum, was the preferred weapon of most police departments for years, and has enough power to get the job done for our application.

Remember, we aren’t talking about a running gun battle or the Siege of Stalingrad, we are talking about a worst-case scenario for a novice gun owner and prepper. Smith & Wesson and Ruger both make fine revolvers that fit into this criteria, but regardless of what you choose, I would suggest purchasing one chambered to .357, because it has the ability to shoot .38 S&W special out of it as well. A .357 Magnum and .38 S&W Special use the same-diameter bullet, so it’s safe. Make sure the ammunition says “38 S&W Special” .

There are other things that you will need if you are serious about adding a firearm to your life and to your emergency response/prepping plans. Training should be the first thing you consider. Even before purchasing ammunition for your new weapon, training comes first. The first step in training is reading.

All new firearms come with an owner’s manual in the box. Be sure to read the “operations and safety” sections over and over until you can almost recite them from memory. Don’t worry if you purchased a used firearm and it doesn’t have the owner’s manual; as far as I know, every manufacturer will provide you a copy if you contact them. It’s in their best interest to do so.

Next, check with your local gun shops to learn the names of reputable firearms instructors. Many instructors offer courses for first-time gun owners, and some offer courses specifically tailored to certain types of weapons or groups, such as a women’s-only firearms course.

I know I may sound like a broken record at times, but your personal protection should be your highest priority. Doing it safely and correctly is your responsibility. The goal for this installment is to help the first-time gun buyer and prepper to outfit themselves with tools that are easy to use and effective. We aren’t expecting you to load up like you are laying siege to a city or running around the outback playing Mad Max. A sturdy shotgun with a sling and a safe, operational pistol with holster and belt are perfectly suited to defensive applications.

We here at The Loadout Room have many years of combined firearms training and experience. I say that not to brag but to relay that we have a vast range of resources and varied skill sets from which to draw on when answering any questions that you may have. It doesn’t matter if you post the question on Twitter, Facebook, or in the comments below, we are here to help.

(Featured image courtesy of dailymail.uk.co)

The Future of Special Operations

It is 2025, a decade after the first female soldiers were allowed to attend the Army’s premier leadership school (Ranger School). Since then, there has been a full integration of women across all facets of the military, including special operations. There were some growing pains. In 2018, two of the joint-chiefs actually resigned in protest to the integration. However, all protests stopped after the detonation of a nuclear weapon in New Delhi, India.

It is believed that the attack was carried out by ISIS. Continuing its trend from 2015 ISIS marched across the Middle East eventually invading Iran. The world changed after Iran was defeated. Although Iran had denied it for years, they did indeed have a stock pile of nuclear weapons. Even lacking sophisticated delivery systems (ICBM), in the hands of a suicide bomber these weapons would yield catastrophic results.

Russia and China immediately began fortifying their borders. Russia, having successful annexed Ukraine, and Romania fortified its southern territory from Kazakhstan all the way into Europe. China fortified its western border along Kyrgyzstan and the former countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Knowing it needed help, India allowed China to utilize New Delhi as a transit/operations base. Upwards of 350,000 Chinese soldiers, and over 10 million civilians were believed to have been present when the nuclear bomb went off. Easily the most catastrophic, and violent event in human history.

Knowing that something like this could happen in the United States, and wanting to take the fight to the enemy, the U.S. Military formed a new special operations unit called SCABS (Self Contained Assault Battle-Suits). The battle-suits were environmentally sealed, allowing the operator to fight in any environment (nuclear fallout, underwater, and even space). The suits came equipped with an oxygen-conversion system which converted the operators exhaled breath, as well as external contaminated air, back into breathable air.

The battle-suits medical innovations were revolutionary during their initial unveiling. Vitals monitoring, automatic drug administrations, self applying tourniquets and a stasis mode (severely wounded operators would go into a drug induced coma allowing them the chance to be recovered and treated). Armor was specifically developed for the battle-suits. Small/medium arms fire had zero chance of causing any damage to the SCABS. Larger weapons such as RPGs could rattle the operator, but rarely incapacitated a battle-suit. However, SCABS operators needed to be cautious around certain crew served weapons, and vehicle mounted cannons.

The battle-suits also increased the operators strength. Using hydraulics, and powered by a compact electric engine, operators could easily lift 1000 lbs, run at sustained speeds of 30mph, and withstand blasts that would have torn up-armored humvees apart during OIF/OEF. Initially, the weaponry of the suits was integrated into the arms of the battle-suits. This turned out to be disastrous. Operators couldn’t retrieve extra ammo from each other, and when battle-suits were breached by enemy fire, often there would be a chain reaction causing the entire suit to explode.

Weapons were eventually designed specifically for the SCABS. Without having to worry about weight, the weapons were extremely powerful, and effective. There were four basic load-outs for a SCABS operator: heavy weapons, recon/sniper, standard, assault. All load-outs all came standard with melee weapons. Most SCABS operators choose either a long sword, or two tomahawks. Although the melee weapons sound primitive, in the hands of a SCABS operator they could single-handedly shift the momentum of a battle.

SCABS Load-outs

Heavy weapons: operators use a modified .50 GAU-8/A Avenger Gatling-type cannon. This weapon fires large depleted uranium armor-piercing shells. Prior to SCABS this weapon system could only be used on a vehicle mount. These operators have the ability to destroy armor, bunkers, aircraft, and strategic structures.

Recon/Sniper: operators use an electrically powered electromagnetic railgun. Using the battle-suits power supply this railgun can achieve a muzzle velocity exceeding Mach 10. These operators have been able to hit targets as far out as 5 miles, depending on the terrain and computer assist. If you need a HVT (High Value Target) killed, these are your guys. They also provide overwatch and quarantine security when needed.

Standard: operators use a modified XM25 CDTE. The XM25 fires 25mm grenades that are capable of air-burst at various distances. Integrated into the suits computer system the operator can quickly select, or change burst ranges. There are a variety of rounds for this weapon (thermobaric, ADM, HE, Armor Piercing, etc.), making it an all round choice for combat.

Assault: operators who use this load-out are expecting to be inside structures, or where using the other load-outs were deemed impractical. There was a lot of experimentation with this load-out, however it was eventually decided that a flame-thrower was the best choice. The FT2 was extremely effective in close-combat, easy to maintain, and allowed the operator to reduce permanent damage to structures.

Traditional deployment of SCABS is via airborne. Small thrusters on the boots, and back slow the rate of descent to a level that can be absorbed by the suit (approximately 60ft per second). A typical mission would involve four SCABS (one of each load-out). Due to the extreme cost to produce a SCABS, they are very rarely deployed in groups any larger than 12. In fact, there have only been three instances where such deployments occurred: the battle of Tehran (100 SCABS), the battle of Kabul (50 SCABS), the defense of Tel Aviv (60 SCABS).

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Today is April 20th, 2025 and it will mark the fourth time that a large-scale SCABS deployment will take place. My name is Robert, and I am a Heavy weapons SCABS operator with the 2nd SCABS Battalion, Cco, 1st platoon. 2nd SCABS Battalion, has been assigned the task of taking the enemy stronghold of Paris, Cco in particular, will be the main effort.

*********************************************************************************

The aircraft rocked slightly from turbulence as it approached the drop zone. All internal aircraft lights were extinguished, and the SCABS operators hung silently from their drop harnesses. The internal comms cracked to life, “1st platoon 1 min to drop”. Simultaneously with the update, the floor of the aircraft began to open. Robert looked down into the darkness while making minuet adjustments to his gear, and computer systems. Activating his thermal overlay, he could see structures zipping past. “30 seconds” came over the comms. The harnesses were swung into place over the now missing floor. With a snap, Robert, and the rest of 1st platoon released from their harnesses.

For what seemed like an eternity, Robert simply floated in position, and then as gravity gripped harder, he was sucked into the darkness. Having released its jumpers, the aircraft began banking towards its extraction coordinates. In the distance, the pilots could see multiple nuclear detonations, “god help us” gasped one pilot.

It appeared that the enemy wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

(Featured image courtesy of wallpapervortex.com).

The Fight For Light | Protecting the Power Grid

In the following video series provided by NRA News, you’ll get a glimpse into just how vulnerable our national power grid really is. The threats to the power grid range from smaller attacks on major sub stations to a larger more catastrophic EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse) strike. Several years ago we experienced a small attack on a sub station in silicon valley taking out a large section of that area. Little is known about that specific attack. Some think it could have been a small terror cell gathering intel such as our reaction time to the outage and how long it took to restore service. Either way it’s a wake up call to the overall vulnerability of the power grid. There is little we can do individually to help secure the grid, but there are steps we can take to survive outages to the grid. We have published several articles on disaster preparation, long-term food and water storage and general survival skills in the event of power outages. Take a few minutes to watch the following 3 videos to see just how scary things can get if we truly lose the power grid someday.

Featured image courtesy of the NRA YouTube Channel