Today is the 100th birthday of famed Navy fighter pilot Royce Williams. From Wikipedia: “He is known for his solo dogfight with seven Soviet pilots during the Korean War, which, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune, has been called “one of the greatest feats in aviation history” by military experts. A retired admiral and multiple members of Congress have been campaigning for him to receive the Medal of Honor for his exploit. On January 20, 2023, he received the Navy Cross—the second highest military decoration awarded by the U.S. Navy—from Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro. In 1952, then-Lieutenant …

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(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) If you have a large property or a self-contained housing tract, layered defense could work well. Imagine an outer barbed wire fence, maybe one of those extra-sturdy five or six strand ones along an Interstate. Next, there would be (ideally) 100 yards or more of open ground with little to no cover that is easily observed from defensive fighting positions. The inner perimeter has a wall or tough, tall chain link and barbed or razor wire fence. Gates are ramming-resistant. If someone gets past that, the inner compound is further subdivided for …

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Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. In this column, JWR also covers hedges, derivatives, and various obscura. This column emphasizes JWR’s “tangibles heavy” investing strategy and contrarian perspective. Today we report on the final death knell for FinCen’s domestic reporting requirements. (See the Financial Privacy section.) Precious Metals: The Precious Metals Bull is picking up speed. On Thursday, March 27th, spot gold was under $3,052 per Troy ounce.  But by Monday (March 31st) spot gold touched an all-time high of $3,148.88. Meanwhile, silver was …

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“I, for one, will remain constantly vigilant of a government that admits its transgressions of liberty only when they are caught lying.” – Senator Rand Paul

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April 3, 2025 is the 60th anniversary of the first attack on the Thanh Hoa Bridge. The Vietnamese called it the Ham Rong (Hàm Rồng) — or Dragon’s Jaw. It spanned the Ma River in North Vietnam, and had been built by the French during their colonial period in Indochina. The U.S. Air Force and Navy launched hundreds of sorties against it, losing at least 11 aircraft in the effort. After the 1968 to 1972 bombing pause on missions against North Vietnam, the U.S. finally took the bridge down with laser-guided munitions in 1972. The bridge was rebuilt and still …

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Introduction It’s every prepper’s fantasy: living in (mostly) a self-sufficient secure compound surrounded by liked-minded individuals living off the land just out of reach of the ravaging hordes. For novelists and daydreamers, living on the frontier in a simpler way is an appealing escape from the often-disheartening humdrum of ordinary life. Rather than worry about politics and taxes, you worry about raiders and if this summer’s crop will come in. But in the pages of fiction or the corners of our imagination, the good guy always prevails. Reality is much more stark. Those who lived on Israeli kibbutzim—collective compound-style communities— …

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SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods. This column is a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from JWR. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats, and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. In today’s column, news of a bid solar flare, and we look at some global conflicts. Sun Unleashes Powerful Earth-Facing M5.6 Solar Flare Reader Mike in Alaska sent this news: Sun …

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“I was always afraid of dying. Always. It was my fear that made me learn everything I could about my airplane and my emergency equipment, and kept me flying respectful of my machine and always alert in the cockpit.” – General Chuck Yeager

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On April 2, 1513, explorer Juan Ponce de León claimed Florida for Spain as the first known European to reach Florida. — Today is the birthday of Sergei Ivanovich Mosin. (April 2, 1849 – February 8, 1902.) He was a Russian military officer, engineer, and a co-designer of the Mosin–Nagant rifle. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present the first entry for Round 118 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could …

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My son played lots of sports growing up and had/has a very competitive nature. Very seldom did his teams lose. When his teams lost, he was a very poor sport about it. I used to tell him winning is easy, but you learn more from losing. That is, we learn what we need to do better or differently, thus making us stronger. The same can be said about preparedness, we learn more from our failures than our successes. Here are some of my prepper follies and what I wish I would have done differently. First and foremost, I would not …

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