Marine Corps Times Magazine (and me?)

photo of cover

Just another quick post to let you all know that I am going to be on the back cover of the Marine Corps Times Magazine (Off Duty).  One of the editors (Jon) found me through this blog and contacted me for a piece that he was doing on preppers in the military.  For some reason he decided to use my ugly mug on the (back) cover and in the article along with my gorgeous sexy wife Angel.  It is a good piece and it paints the right image for preppers without making us look like a bunch of whack-adoos like the TV always does.  Thanks for the platform and the voice Jon.

photo of article

Credit wise, the photo in the article was taken by my 10 year old son Leif.  The kilt that I am wearing on the cover is a Utilikilt "Survival" and the ones that Angel and I are wearing in the article are 5.11 Tactical Kilts.  The knife in Angels boot is by Ka-Bar and the one on her hip is one that I made "Babydoll Bushcrafter" and of course I am wearing my fire striker Thors' Hammer,

Back on the homefront

This is just a quick post to let you all know that I am back on the home front now.  The knife shop is open and I am trying to settle back into home-life.  I created a facebook page for my knife shop (Survival Hardware) and Ill be back blogging soon.  There is certainly no lack of topics these days politically speaking this place is a shit show.

Does any one else find it strange that the media is referring to every other news outlet as the "MEDIA" and excluding themselves as part of the problem?   HMMM!

Take care folks and pay attention, our political system needs an enema and it just may get one.  You don't want to be caught off guard when that thing goes off.

NM

The Aurora Tragedy

For starters, my heart goes out to all those that were affected by this horrific act.






I am caught in a rift since I am currently serving in Afghanistan and I don’t have a really reliable source of news. Not that any one source is all that reliable these days. I want to focus on a couple points for this post because I have not heard them mentioned yet. I have heard a lot of talk about stricter gun control and I don’t think that is the answer to this particular problem. While guns were the tool of choice for this freak I think that is a good thing (in this case) that he chose to use a firearm. Here is my argument before you all stone me to death.








The shooter obviously had access and knowledge of chemicals and explosives. It is a good thing that he was able to get the guns because if he had decided to make a bomb or worse, a chemical agent this tragedy could have been many times worse. We seem to forget that if a homicidal maniac has his sights on a mass killing he will find a way to make it happen. Chemicals would also not be outside the agenda of the fictitious joker character either. If he was a trained shooter then this could have been much worse, we can consider ourselves lucky that he chose not to go with HIS area of expertise. If he had made a chemical agent would we outlaw science labs because of their potential to do harm? Most people have no idea how easy and cheap it really is to make explosives. We already know that he knows how to do it right. Don’t think for a second that I am in any way defending this asshole. What he did was an evil thing and now watch out for more evil people to use this to their advantage.




There will I am sure, in the weeks and months come, be a ton of evidence that would have potentially predicted his instability. I don’t think that this should open the Pandora ’s Box any wider for the government to give any more power to the DHS or to invade any more of our precious liberties. Our focus should be on the families and survivors of this tragedy and provide support for this community that has already been rocked by a similar event not so long ago.




We should also keep an eye out for those freaks at the WBC who I am sure will use this as an opportunity to preach their message of hate and intolerance. We should also come together to make sure that those who perished should be able to be put to rest without their services being molested by the WBC. I think that their community needs to have a plan to deal with those freaks or they might wish that they had. Lastly, as much as we want to hate this loser, we should refrain from molesting his family and parents. I am sure that they were, up to this point, proud of their son and blind to some of the warnings like any loving, supporting parent would be. This is not the fault of his family. The blame lies with him and him alone. He should be held responsible for his actions and it should be dealt with swiftly and to the letter of the law. If others were involved I am sure that information will come out eventually.




I am sure that all the major mouthpieces will come out of the woodwork to use this to preach their agenda just like they did after Columbine, and other events. Those people are just as bad as the WBC. They preach hate and intolerance, socialism and government control. Please don’t give the assholes a soap box. Remember my earlier warnings in my earlier posts; if you find that what is being said strikes you emotionally, take a step back and examine why. These people are masters of manipulation and it would be a shame to let them manipulate this event to send their one sided messages. Watch the news from the left and the right and make up your own mind. Don’t let the would be puppet masters tell you what to think. Additionally do not forget that this is an election year and both sides will exploit this for their gain. Do not let them distract you from the issues that affect the future of America. There is talk of some conspiracy theories about how he got the money and what his motivations were. I do not think that our Government has enough organization to make this happen. They are simply too bloated at this point to make this kind of a mission work.




There has also been a lot of other distractions soaking up the media attention lately from the Zimmerman shooting to the supposed Zombie attacks . Likewise these are being used as distractions. Do not give them any attention and demand that the news be centered on AMERICAN Issues that affect the livelihood of this country. There is no shortage of debatable issues that will give you information to base your vote on. When you watch the upcoming debates on TV I challenge you to turn off the TV after the debate and ignore the interpretations of the “talking heads” that will twist every word to the advantage of their side. Again, you are intelligent, American taxpaying voters and you should be allowed to make up your own mind free of emotional provocation and quick witted diversions by the right, left and middle.






Stay vigilant, stay informed, stay aware, and stay in control! NM

My Independence Day!

It is not normal for me to share things of a personal nature on this blog, for some reason I feel like this particular one should be shared today.  As many of you know I have been on active duty in the United States Marine Corps since mid 1993.  Additionally I have been married since I graduated boot camp.  We are the only spouses that each has ever known, and we have five children together, and no others.  I guess for the most part we are in the minority on family values.

With a "Preppers Eye"

I was watching some of those "prepper reality" shows on TV and I thought that I would offer up my view on them,  for whatever its worth to you.  For starters I know a couple of the people that were featured on one of them.  Those individuals are no where near as whacked out as the network would have you believe.  So if you just enjoy  that kind of programming then they have you pegged.  If you are a prepper and you found that you were saying WTF or That is stupid, well you might be right but I am willing to bet that it was edited  to look more stupid than it was.

Offending candies

I was in a conversation today and someone brought up a story that most of us have probably heard of in some form or fashion.  It is eccentric and over the top so that would lead to the story being twisted many times in its retelling.  It doesn't matter how you twist it the genius of the story is still there and it escapes most people.  So with that, I thought that I would let you see the wisdom of the story so that in the future it may help you identify the method behind other events that may seem absurdly eccentric.

The HUMAN condition

As most of you probably already know, I am stationed on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi.  And wouldn't you know I am deployed and hurricane season is in full swing.  In fact I think that we just had a near miss.  We may not be where the center of Katrina hit but I would bet that most of the people that were here then would find that to be an irrelevant statement; especially those that lost everything in the storm.  So as my current role as a military adviser, I have the opportunity to speak with many people that survived that event.

Blaaaaa day

Today was boring and uninspiring.  I did manage to make a nifty little pipe nail (a tool for cleaning my pipe) by smashing a nail between a hammer and a rock, then filing the end with the file on my Leatherman, and another rock.  It felt good to smell that metal filing smell.  I can't wait to get back in the shop and start making knives again.  I would give you a picture but it would take an hour to upload and it is just not that impressive.

I did learn something today, the INSANITY workout makes you want to stab yourself in the face with an ink pen.  I recommend it highly! :)  Hopefully Ill have more for you tomorrow, keep learning! NM

Star gazing

I was sitting in the gravel by the laundry trailer listening to "Tiger Army" and over the glow of the camp the stars caught my eye.  It took about a half of a heartbeat to spot Ursa Major and then Polaris.  And for just that moment I was back on my mountain watching the stars and eating overcooked wild rabbit.  It was a good reminder of home.  Then it occurred to me that I have sought comfort in those stars in more shit holes on this planet than any one man should have to visit.  If you do not know the stars, you should get to know them, it is amazing how comforting they are in shitty times.   NM

BTW The TA song was sea of fire!

A lesson of lessons

I learned a lesson today!  While that in and of itself is nothing new, in learning that lesson it taught me a more important one.  If you have been reading this blog very long you probably already know that I am a big advocate of paying attention to what the hell is going on.  Not just that but looking back and trying to put the pieces together so you don't repeat the same mistakes tomorrow that you made today.  If you didn't make any mistakes today then you need to get off the couch and make a few or you are going to fall behind.

Our silent revolution

There is no doubt that our personal liberties have been slowly
stripped away from us. Some have been taken with our consent and some
without. All over the internet there is talk of the coming revolution
but I have doubts that we would even be able to manage society if we
stripped away our government. No matter how ineffective it is right
now. Here is the solution to that problem.

Exercising FREE WILL

For starters this is a test to check and see if I can post to my blog
via email. If it doesn't work you will never know, if you are reading
this post then I have succeeded.

I think that occasionally the people in my office think that I am
stark raving mad. I have an impulsive personality because I trained
my brain to be non confirmative in a sense, to cope with all the
conformity necessary to function in the military. Just as an example:

Solving the national debt

Solving the national debt.  

If the government sold advertising on paper money, say a laser printed line on the bottom edge of a dollar bill, at the face value of the bill, our money would be paid for.  The smaller the bill the sooner it would be out of circulation.  The larger the bill the more wealthy the demographic and the longer it would be in circulation.  As the money is destroyed the cost is profit and the ad is expired.  The newly printed money would be sold again.  Eventually in place of a "certificate of debt" we would be exchanging a "certificate of wealth."  Every dollar printed would be paid for with advertising and in time would actually be generating a profit.  What better place to advertise than on the actual money used to buy your products.  How else can you buy an add for a dollar that could end up gaining sales anywhere in the world and stay in circulation for five years or more, and be right there when people are ready to spend money?

WHAT IS SURVIVAL: Guest post from DOCWATMO

I received this guest post from Docwatmo some time ago and I didn't have access to my blog to put it up for you.  Thanks for your patience with me.  If you enjoy this you should pop on over to his page and add it to your favorites,  I assure you that he is allot more consistent with his blog than I am with mine .  ENJOY! NM 

 http://averageguyreviews.wordpress.com/ 

What is Survival? 

Survival is a Step, read on and you’ll get the idea.

There has been a lot of discord in the “Survival” world with some trying to classify groups of survivors, which is human nature so we won’t beat it up.  As people we tend to like to categorize things for our own reference.  However, the term survival itself can mean many things.   You survive a car accident, are you a survivor?  Well, what is survival then?  Is it just living, period, doesn’t matter if you’re doing anything other than the basic necessities (Food, water, shelter) to survive?  Many homeless people do that on a 

UPDATE

Hey Survivologists,  I know that it has been awhile since I posted,  I am sorry to say that it will continue to be like this for quite some time to come.  I am currently deployed overseas and I do not have regular access to a reliable internet connection.  In light of this situation I am opening the blog up to guest posts.  If you have something that you would like me to post please email it to M40surgeon@gmail.com  Ill look it over and if I think my readers would like it ill post it with full credit to you (for original material only)  and a link back to your blog or website.  I cant offer much more than that but what the hell, its people helping people, and isn't that what we are supposed to be doing in the first place?

Take care, Ill catch you on the flip side.
Norseman

Survival library - free downloads

I found this site just chocked full of survival related e books, from gardening to nuclear survivability, to blacksmithing.  If nothing else it is a good starter reference library for your E reader or your smart phone.  I downloaded a couple of them and didn't find any broken links or viruses so I thought that I would point you in this direction.  Enjoy  URBAN SURVIVAL SITE

NM