Video – Inside the Most Prepared Country on Earth

Finland borders Russia and has had a wee bit of tension with them in the past. It’s perfectly understandable how, given Russias activities of late, that they would ramp up their resistance to any potential future conflict. From what I read, this sort of thing is rather becoming the rage in countries that border Russia and/or have been punching bags for the Communists earlier this century (looking at you, Poland).

An interesting video. Not sure how germane it is to you and I, in terms of preparedness here on the other side of the world from them, but its got some interesting bits.

The Finnish company Varusteleka has been the go-to source for European military camo and gear for the last several years. I am especially interested in their various flavors of snow camo. I’ve ordered some stuff from them in the past and been pleased.

When I was in school a few years back, one of my instructors was this hot little bohunk from Estonia. She would mention how every time she went home it seemed the nation was gearing up more and more ‘just in case’.  The Russians have made an impression, it seems.

The US is pretty unique in that the idea of an invasion is almost ridiculously implausible. In ‘Red Dawn’ the Soviets crossed the Bering Strait and came down from Alaska, where I’m sure the fearsome might of the Canadian military slowed them down just long enough to break for lunch before continuing down to the US, while more forces came up through Mexico. Nowadays I’d say the threat isn’t invasion, in the ‘armies on the march’ sense of the word, but rather through insurgency and irregular warfare….all those Chinese college kids suddenly disappearing would be a pretty strong sign something is about to happen. I have absolutely zero doubt that there isnt a conex or twenty stacked in a port somewhere labelled as ‘agricultural machinery’ but filled with arms, radios, explosives, and everything else a fifth column needs. Heck, Soviet defector Mitrokhin alleged that there were already stockpiles of this sort of thing scattered across the US during the Cold War.

Anyway, interesting video and further evidence that the world is getting interesting.

Video – Exploring the Paranoid Country with 374,142 Bunkers to Hide Everyone (how is this possible?)

I’ve made a few posts here and there about the Swiss and their lovely bunker fetish. Here’s a pretty cool video of some folks touring privately-owned former-government bunkers. I really have to hand it to the Swiss, they really don’t do anything halfway in regards to these holes in the ground.

The gun collections shown are rather impressive as well.

Video – I ate Survival Food Rations for 30 Days – Here’s What Happened

I very much like when someone actually real-world tests a piece of gear or a system and goes all Mythbusters on it. Whats it like to live 30 days on one of those 30 day emergency food kits? Well, this guy did it and documented the results. And, yes, the digestive results were as bad as you might have guessed.

This video is really quite informative and I highly suggest watching. Skip it to 1.5x speed if youre in a hurry. The short version is that appetite fatigue is real, even at 2000 calories a day he lost eight pounds, and you’re going to use a lot more water than you might think. In the spirit of good science, he also documented the time, fuel, and water consumption involved in the cooking and cleaning process as well. Excellent material.

Most of us, in a crisis, wouldn’t, I think, be living exclusively on pouch survival food. We’d supplement it with offthe-shelf everyday foods that have fairly good shelf life…canned meats,canned fruit, jarred sauces, etc. BUT….those don’t have thirty year shelf life.

Youre mileage may vary, of course, but this video, in my opinion, is very much worth watching. Watch it, and then think how you’d adjust your long-term food storage inventory appropriately to make your experience better than his.

Video – A Hunting Rifle 🦌 to 500yds: Practical Accuracy

“Package guns” are those find-them-in-WalMart type of deals where you get a rifle, an attached scope, and maybe a carry case for a set amount of money. The scope is invariably some variable of the 3-9x variety and the gun is usually a no-frills model. Theyre a nice package for someone getting their feet wet in hunting or for someone on a tight budget. But… is it any good?

The guys at 9-Hole Reviews usually work with military-use guns. In this video, they jokingly and tongue-in-cheek refer to this type of guns use in the ‘documentary’ movie ‘Red Dawn’. You don’t go to war with the guns you want, you go to war with the guns you have. How would a package gun like this acquit itself as an impromptu mid-range rifle? It acquits itself fairly well.

A standard trope of almost every ‘invasion’ book and movie is some non-military dude running around with his hunting rifle nailing invading soldiers from distance. Is it an accurate trope? Well, it’s certainly happened. Is it likely that one woodtick with a hunting rifle is going to materially stop an advance of enemy troops? Beats me. Certainly things come to a temporary halt when someone starts dropping bullets into a dismounted group of soldiers, but it doesn’t seem to stop the advance…it just delays it momentarily. But, hey, Im no expert.

The evidence, at least from this video, seems to support that a good shooter with a Tractor Supply Christmas Sale rifle can pose a reasonable threat at distance. And..doesnt everyone have a gun like this somewhere?

Video – The History and Components of The US Military’s ALICE and LINCLOE LCE Systems

A rather dry but informative video about the history and development of the old ALICE gear system used by the US military.

Older and wiser heads than I, who actually used this stuff, will have their own opinions, no doubt, and thats as it should be. ALICE gear is another bit of legacy gear that is fairly common in survivalist circles. The stuff was so ubiquitous and abundant that I doubt there’s anyone who doesnt have an ALICE pack, mag pouch, our other component sitting in their gear. It may not be ‘Tier 1’ stuff these days, but for the price it’s not a bad choice for certain usages. I find the ALICE packs, with an upgrade to the shoulder straps, to be a fairly competent piece of kit for an emergency bag. Since the market abhors a vacuum, there are several companies that make bags to go on the ALICE pack frame. My emergency gear in the truck is in a Spec-Ops Brand bag on an ALICE frame and I like it alot. Theyre stupid expensive these days but I think I got mine on closeout a few years back for around $75 each. I love Spec-Ops Brand gear but they seem to be perpetually on the brink of going out of business. They used to have all sortsa cool, well-thought out, and well-made gear. Now it seems they just have a few items and not much else. A shame, I really like their products.

Back in the day, ALICE gear was pretty much what every survivalist started with. Nowadays its more MOLLE/PAL webbing and gear. Good stuff, no doubt, but sometimes I like the nostalgia of the old green ALICE gear.

Because of the huge amount of ALICE gear out there, there is a thriving industry in upgrades and accessories for the ALICE system…adapters to let you use MOLLE pouches and vice versa. Replacement packs for the ALICE frames. Things like that. I personally think much of the ALICE gear is inferior to what we have now with the MOLLE stuff, but I really do like the upgraded bags, like the Spec-Ops, on the ALICE frame. The newer plastic MOLLE pack frames are alright, I suppose, and I do have some, but for ruggedness and versatility I really like the ALICE frames…especially when combined with the cargo shelf for carrying things like fuel/water cans and cases of ammo.

Anyway, an interesting bit of history about some legacy gear that many of us still have in our stockpiles.

 

Video – The Weird History of Milk

This rolled across my feed this morning, which is rather serendipitous. As I mentioned, there’s some evolutionary/maturity reasoning behind why we drink cow milk and why many of us can’t.


Its an interesting history and, like the history of many foods, has a lot more depth and complexity than you might think.

Nonetheless, I’m still not a fan of milk although I have a slightly better understanding now of why humans consume it.

Video – Medieval Surgery | Arrow Removal Techniques

Merciful Crom….I knew the Middle Ages weren’t a walk in the park but, geez…

If the world really turns into a Stirling or Kunstler novel it may actually come to pulling arrows out of people. How did they do such things in years gone by? With an interesting array of horrific techniques:

Egads that looks horrible. And the guy leading the video looks more than a little creepily at home in this project. Someone go check that guys basement.

Realistically, I think that if anyone gets shot with a broadhead hunting arrow these days the odds are pretty good its gonna just punch right through. I’ve known more than a few elk hunters who tell me their arrows punch through both sides of an elk. Factor in a modern crossbow and, unless the point lodges in a bone, the bolt is just gonna whistle through.

Grisly business all around, that.

Video – WW2 US Navy ice cream

This is an interesing video. It discusses how during WW2 ice cream played a big part in troop morale and he efforts by the military, esp in the far-flung hot Pacific regions, to provide ice cream to the troops.

What makes this interesting is that the military ice cream is made from shelf-stable powdered ingredients…most notable eggs and milk. Now, I loves me some ice cream and the notion of not having to ride out the apocalypse without ice cream has an attraction. That said…..:

Obviously you’re going to need a particular amount of electricity to cool things in your ice cream maker, but often times it’s a lot easier to produce electricity than it is to produce milk and eggs. And I rather like the idea that, once you have the basic ingredients in long-term form, you can whip up some homemade ice cream whenever you want.

And befoe anyone mentions Mountain House’s freeze-died ice cream…it’s not that great. I’ve had it before and its just a bit gummy.

Lyrical interlude

I absolutely detest rap music, but this future perpetual-tax-audit-recipient does a nice job of laying out the case against Biden. If you’re offended by profanity, well…you need to grow up.

The poignant part was him pointing out that Biden’s policies armed the Taliban as he’s trying to disarm his own citizens.

 

H/T to Aesop.

Video – Jerry Cans: The True Secret Weapon of WWII

I fully recognize that there have been , since WW2, advancements in design, materials, and manufacturing process. It is not unreasonable to believe that there would be a better designed, better made alternative to the NATO-style (or Euro-style) fuel cans. Certainly there are devotees of the Scepter cans, and I’m sure they have their strengths, but I’ve been using the metal NATO-style cans for 20+ years and I have a difficult time thinking that a plastic can, even a super heavy-duty one, like the Scepter is going to be as leak-proof and as durable.

These last few posts have been about fuel because, well, I’ve got it on the brain since I watched it jump almost twenty cents in a day. And watched what it did to my monthly fuel budget. (Man, I could sure go for some $2 gas and some mean tweets right now.)

Anyway, although I’ve posted about history of these types of cans before, I thought this video might be interesting for those of you out there who weren’t aware of the interesting history of these gems.