The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “JWR”.  Today, we focus on the U.S. Army’s “new” Retro Class A Uniform.

The Beehive Thieves

Reader C.B. sent this from National Geographic: Beekeepers hit hard by thefts of hives.

Dennis Prager on College Indoctrination

The recent essay by Dennis Prager is well worth reading: Coming Home From College. JWR’s Comments: Prager has it right. It is very clear that America’s high schools are liberal/statist indoctrination centers, and that our colleges and universities are now advanced indoctrination centers. Unless your kids have tremendous maturity and discernment, after you have home schooled them to a 12th grade level, I recommend that you tell them:  “It is better to learn a trade and then start your own business. But if you insist that you need a degree, then work for a few years, and save money so that you can go to college, and come out of it debt free.”  By starting college at 23 instead of at 19, they will be far more ready to perceive propaganda when it is pushed at them.

Some Sauna Health Confirmation

A link that ties in to a recent SurvivalBlog article on Scandinavian home saunas was sent by Reader H.L.: Confirmed: Sweating Removes Deadly Chemicals From The Body.

Gray Man Ethics and Gun Culture

Reader Tim J. suggested this essay:  Gray Man Ethics and Gun Culture by Bill Buppert

Army Adopts Retro Class A Uniform

To Stand Out, the Army Picks a New Uniform With a World War II Look.  JWR’s Comments: No doubt many Texas A&M alums will be thrilled, since the school’s Corp of Cadets never stopped wearing the iconic “Pinks & Greens”. (As shown in this column’s photo.) The new Class A uniform is an improvement, but as a former U.S. Army officer I’m the first to admit that the U.S. Marine Corps still has better looking uniforms.

Red Flag Law Tyranny

Next, there is this by R. Quinn Kennedy, at American ThinkerRed Flag Laws and Individual Rights. Here is a good summary quote:

“There are inherent risks associated with living in a free society.  One of those risks is that free people will harm other free people.  Is freedom worth the risk?  Of course it is!  The reason is because the alternative is far worse.  In a society where government controls every aspect of life, particularly the ability to own a firearm, dead bodies are piled upon each other at the hands of government elites who hold little regard for freedom of the masses.

Loss of liberty is the central contention against ‘red flag’ laws being enacted state by state.  The law chips away at personal freedom.  What the left refuses to accept is that liberty as an irrefutable right is foundational to the United States Constitution.  The Constitution, so right and moral, has never stopped the left from snubbing their collective nose at yours and my freedoms.  In legislative bills around the country every year, the left demonstrates that they prefer subjugation over personal liberty. California is an enduring example of citizens actually embracing subjugation by government. Imagine that.

Nowhere is subjugation more plain than in the Democrat’s efforts to legislatively institute ‘red flag’ laws.  The harsh truth is that ‘red flag’ laws are an affront to the United States Constitution.

A citizen’s right to own and bear arms is guaranteed by the Second Amendment.  The left infringes upon this basic right using the tactic of incrementalism.  Each time the tactic is employed, it is accompanied by the deceitful narrative of protecting people’s lives.  The left’s goal isn’t protecting lives, it is controlling lives — subjugating them.  As long as Americans are armed, subjugating them requires taking the incremental road while leftists prefer the expressway.  Owning a firearm is a basic right of a free society the left would prefer to see you without.”

Practicing with .22 Conversion Kits

We’ll close with some wisdom from blogger Commander Zero: Practicing with .22 kits. JWR’s Comments: I concur with his conclusions. If you decide to buy an HK subcalber kit, then be sure that it has two magazines. I once bought a kit that came with just a single magazine, and finding a second one took more than a year, and it cost me a fortune. HK G3 alloy standard magazines: $3 each. HK .22 subcaliber magazines:  $80 each!



  1. The Beehive Thieves,

    Here in FL, years ago, the Dept of Corrections began teaching convicts the beekeeping trade. When I expressed my opinion that I thought that probably wasn’t a good idea, given that beehives are often placed in remote unattended locations, some folks thought badly of me for thinking that freed rehabilitated convicts would steal beehives… And, I don’t have any statistics to back that theory up.

    There are a lot of good decent honest hardworking folks in the beekeeping trade in FL…

  2. In the 60’s, my brother and I “discovered” our Dad’s uniforms from WW2. He had his dress uni and his Field Jacket. I wore his Field Jacket until it finally came apart at the seams. It was great at repelling BB’s when we played war.
    But the wool dress uniform itched so badly that neither of us could handle it. Hopefully, the new dress unis will be more forgiving.
    My Dad hung onto his brother’s Navy Pea Coat and it kept him warm for many winters.

  3. Being a frugal individual have a hard time seeing the justification for a change in military dress uniforms. Fashion has no place in military expenditures, How many Millions of our tax dollars is this going to cost, and what is the actual reason for this change? I can see the justification for combat uniforms that are better camouflage that save lives or improve performance, but dress uniforms seem a little out of line. Will the navy now have to compete with tri corn hats? This money if it has to be spent would be far better spent on raises for the men and women that keep us safe than new uniforms for officers to parade around in. One man’s opinion.

    1. Joe,
      When I was in the army, it was on us soldiers to purchase our dress uniforms – not the US taxpayers. Now that was in the late 80’s, so things might have changed.

    2. Maybe you aren’t aware, all military personnel are responsible for the cost of their own uniforms. They are afforded one complete set at induction, after that, the cost is theirs throughout their careers.

  4. As a Navy Veteran in a family with over 80 years of consecutive Naval Service, I concur the “Men’s” Department of The U.S. Navy (U.S.M.C.) has always had the best looking uniforms. Semper Fi!

    1. SamAyeAm,

      You and JWR got it right. He said, “I’m the first to admit that the U.S. Marine Corps still has better looking uniforms.”


      Carry on

  5. Red Flag Law Tyranny

    This entire article is Republican government propaganda.
    “Nowhere is subjugation more plain than in the Democrat’s efforts to legislatively institute red flag laws”. Trump, a Republican supports Red Flag laws. Pence, a Republican supports Red Flag laws. In Indiana, a Republican legislature instituted Red Flag laws. In Florida, a Republican legislature instituted Red laws. In Tennessee, the only Red Flag bills introduced have been submitted by Republicans. There are more, do your own research.
    “A citizen’s right to own and bear arms is guaranteed by the Second Amendment.” The 2A guarantees NOTHING. The guns guarantee EVERYTHING. Unwillingness to use them is THE PROBLEM.
    “The left infringes upon this basic right using the tactic of incrementalism.” The Right and “conservatives” have conserved exactly ZERO things. It’s all a fake slap fight while every last Democrat AND Republican at every level of government are Statists who want total control.
    “Owning a firearm is a basic right of a free society the left would prefer to see you without.” The RIGHT wants you disarmed just as badly, they simply lie more about it.

    The entire Left – Right thing is a ruse. You’ve been had, and it will get your children interred or killed.

    Dear Republicans, We KNOW what you’ve done.

    1. These ERPO laws will ultimately be appealed to SCOTUS, though it will be several years’ wait. They are so blatantly unconstitutional that they cannot weather argument. Remember that *legal* and *lawful* are two separate terms – if a group of dimwits writes down a terrible piece of legislation on paper and shows it to you in a move to bend you to their will, it is “legal”. But if it resides in opposition to the High Law of the land (e.g., the Federal Constitution), then it is unlawful and void. The Leftist politicians know this, and choose to “throw as much spaghetti against the wall” to see what will stick, forcing us to expend our time and effort to repeal what they’ve done through litigative arguments before a judge who recognizes the High Law.

      For example, our California State Constitution clearly declares in Article 3, Section 1:

      “The State of California is an inseparable part of the
      United States of America, and the United States Constitution
      is the supreme law of the land.”

      That’s it. Just that one single sentence. Looks rather straightforward, doesn’t it? Yet our Dear Leaders in Sacramento openly and vociferously violate it on a daily basis because they know their strategy to “overwhelm and frustrate” their conservative constituents is successful.

      1. Thank you for your thoughtful reply. My concern is that this gets challenged at the SCOTUS level under Takings and the challenge wins. That would mean that the dot gov can then take all the guns that they want as long as they pay, setting the stage for a National Gun Buyback similar to Australia. Anybody who challenges these under takings instead of Shall Not Be Infringed is a willful traitor or an idiot, a distinction without a difference.

    2. I have to agree with you for the most part Fred. The deceit of two opposed political parties is a lot of bs. There is not 10 cents of difference between the democrats and republicans, save that the repubs seem to be able to take longer to get the same result. Its all theater for those folks who don’t do their research or pay attention and think about what is happening. The repubs saying they are against such and such is the biggest deceit of all. I think when the democrats (with repub agreement) created the administrative state and the senior executive service personnel status, we lost the law and the due process of law. Now any government bureaucrat can make any sort of claim and have it ratified in the corrupt courts where due process of law is a thing of the past. We are in deep trouble.

  6. Good Gray Man article. I live in a large liberal city in a red state and can easily pick out who probably is conceal carrying versus who has never held a firearm. As 2A supporters we need to blend in more, even wearing a pair of plain tactical pants or specific footwear can give you away. I try and blend in with the other goober dads so as not to appear a threat. However I’ll never wear flip-flops in public.

  7. Re: College

    Sent two children to college. Got a very small amount of indoctrination back that is almost entirely worn off. My son went to a fairly liberal old Quaker school in the Portland area. My daughter went to the local community college and then MIT for 5 years in Boston. (Got a Master’s).

    Both are Mechanical Engineers because I told them to either sell me on a firm plan of their own or they were going to be engineers. My son had about 5 minutes interest in Sports Medicine but did not really want it. My daughter wanted to be a music major. We talked about the. Fact that she actually likes to eat well and a music major, by the odds, was not going to make her much money and she opted for my plan. Both make six figures now.

    Interestingly both my children learned to operate lathes, drill presses and other basic machine tools at college. (Don’t remember if they were taught to use a mill.) And my daughter learned to sew at MIT. An elective.

    Several mechnaical engineers that I know have machine tools in their garage for personal or private business use. Nearly all are competent with their hands.

    We home schooled and then in my daughter’s case sent her to a Running Start program at the community college. They both took a few classes (Spanish, Art and some AP math) at the local high school and played sports there but other than that we’re not influenced much by the high school.

    I would never send my kids to college for a liberal arts program but our current economy strongly favors those with engineering, computer science or medical training. Geology is another money maker. And the engineering schools at many colleges hate the liberal arts departments. For good reason.

    BTW MIT alumni traditionally have nothing but disdain for the rest of the liberal arts Ivy League schools.Especially Harvard. For more information have an MIT grad explain to you what the beaver is doing to the ivy branch on their class ring.

    The trades are a good choice however the tradesman or tech frequently has a bullseye on them for elimination. I myself work in a mixed environment of engineers and techs. Although I have a computer science degree I work as a tech by preference and because I can make more money in overtime. But the techs are always under fire if anything goes wrong and are not replaced in a timely manner or at all when they retire or quit. I take advantage of this for overtime however it is always clear who is valued and who is not valued as much.

    Difficult choices but having worked the spectrum from being a high school drop out to obtaining a night school computer science degree myself, that technical degree is worth a lot of money. If you send your kid to get a liberal arts degree I think that is a bad idea. If you send them to get a technical degree and stay involved with their life with good communication I think that is a good way to go.

  8. As a professor in a liberal redoubt university I have indeed seen the indoctrination that many of you speak of. However, the bulk of this indoctrination takes place in the liberal arts curriculum. Little of this occurs in the sciences and engineering curriculum (the students are too busy learning useful information). If you are silly enough to pay for your kid to get a degree in Gender Studies or some other equally useless liberal arts degree then you get what you deserve.

  9. The bee thieves are hard at it. Just found out we have a bee hive and two nuc boxes with bees missing. The nuc boxes were newly purchased filled with bees and placed near our established hives this past week. They were gone when we checked on them several days later. Our loss is minor in comparison to the big losses in the above mentioned article. I forsee things getting much worse as people take advantage of those who have property of any value.

    1. CW- I’m also an Iowa guy and my family is looking to convert a couple acres into habitat. Can you give me any tips? I’ll be in Ringgold County next week for a month. thanks

  10. “…the left demonstrates that they prefer subjugation over personal liberty. California is an enduring example of citizens actually embracing subjugation by government.”

    Democrats are, what they have always been, slave mongers. The Democrat party was and is the party of slavery. The Democrat party of 2019 is the same Democrat party that existed in 1859. Unfortunately the Democrat voters, just like too many Republican voters, are basically stupid. They vote without thinking, they vote based on feelings rather than knowledge. They have never learned to apply critical thinking to the incessant bulls**t coming out of the mouths of their politically correct politicians. They vote based on whether there is a (D) or an (R) after someones name on the ballot. They’ve never ever read the US Constitution, and wouldn’t understand it if they did. They’ve never ever read the Federalist Papers or any of the Anti Federalist Papers, and wouldn’t understand them if they did. The same could be said of the majority of the justices on the Supreme Court or elected members of both main political parties. How can you OBEY what you have never read and/or are too ignorant to understand.

    Do I sound skeptical that anything is ever going to change in this country? I truly love my country, but I seriously hate this government. If you equate country with government, you are no different than a Stalinist communist or a Hitlerite Nazi.

    Enough said, rant over. 🙂

    1. Just to prove my point about both political parties, Lindsey Graham is in the process of writing a federal red flag law. This with the blessing and encouragement of Mitch McConnell. Will you good folks in South Carolina and Kentucky please get rid of these two lunatics! Please!

  11. Re. College Indoctrination.
    If this old coot was younger my wife and I would absolutely home school our children and then recommend to them, “It is better to learn a trade and then start your own business.”

    While building a home in the Redoubt we uncovered so many awesome opportunities for young people to start their own business. Our young plumber and roofer did exactly what you recommend. Both are well established and I bet they are living debt-free.

  12. As a person with several advanced degrees, I’ve been telling my children and grandchildren, to skip college, identify strengths and weaknesses, and teach yourself what you need to know, or apprentice under someone you admire. If a kid can read, and listen, he can learn anything. He or she can start a business or work for someone else. I know that sounds simplistic, but like one poster stated the “techs” often make great money depending upon the number of hours worked, as compared to the engineers. My field (now retired) was computer science and in particular network security. I did well. Yes, engineering is a great field, and especially I see mechanical engineering making a come back as manufacturing moves back to this country, thanks to our President. But, you don’t need a college professor to teach you. Again, my view sounds simplistic, but it’s not a pipe dream. It’s possible. Unless and until colleges and universities, cut out all the crap they’re teaching trying to turn our young people into Marxist and Socialists, college is definitely not worth the money. I wouldn’t give them any money. Another suggestion is to find someone within your circle who can and will tutor your child at the college level when help is needed, if you can’t do it yourself. My two cents.

  13. Not everyone is able to home school their children due to factors such as having to work outside the home, not being focused enough for their children’s’ studies, not being confident in their own educational teaching abilities, etc. However, being a PARENT who makes sure the children have stable and moral foundations is something all of us can and should do. By doing so, the kids go off to junior and high school and possibly off to college and are firmly grounded in their beliefs and stronger for it. One thing I think all of us need to keep in mind is that once someone turns 18 (a legal adult), it is no longer a parent’s right to dictate their lives no matter how hard that is to accept. If the parenting for those 18 years has been consistent, positive and firmly grounded, I’m not sure how worried parents should be sending their kids off to adulthood where their workplace, college, military, trade school or other avenue of making their way in the world will be influenced – negative or positive in our perception. A lot of folks chalk too much up to “school and college” being negative influences but, I believe that most kids with firm families do just fine “out there”. The last thing an 18 year old needs is to become an adult and have zero idea on how to handle themselves around others with differing opinions, ideas, religions, politics, etc. because they have never learned how to stand up for their beliefs and ways of living by only being surrounded with like-minded family, church and friends. One possible downturn is that, because of not being trained up to stand firm when confronted, they will fall away to the masses… I’d like more of us to have FAITH in our parenting skills and also our children when they must deal with influences outside what we consider ideal. Also, homeschooling isn’t only for those with our preferences for how children should learn. Any “group” of like-minded people out there have their own ideas of what and how their children should learn. So, as vehement we may be with sheltering our children in learning what and how they learn it, others who are not in line with our beliefs are doing the same. I’m ALL FOR homeschooling! Just putting out a perspective that their are possible holes in the idea to consider.

  14. Well finally!!

    A uniform the Army can actually be proud of!!

    So far it’s been a clown-suit progression: GEN Shinseki (the same idiot who mis-ran the VA) was the one who insisted on dishonoring the Ranger Regt.’s by issuing a black beret to the entire Army!

    Then, they switch from the long-used dress greens to the clown-suit looking dress blues (which were primarily meant to be worn with a service hat), WITH THE BLACK BERET ADDED!! Talk about idiocy!!!

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