Wednesday Wisdom: 31 December 2025

Medal of Honor: Donald Gilbert Cook

Captain Cook willingly and unselfishly put the interests of his comrades before that of his own well-being and, eventually, his life. Giving more needy men his medicine and drug allowance while constantly nursing them, he risked infection from contagious diseases while in a rapidly deteriorating state of health. This unselfish and exemplary conduct, coupled with his refusal to stray even the slightest from the Code of Conduct, earned him the deepest respect from not only his fellow prisoners, but his captors as well. Rather than negotiate for his own release or better treatment, he steadfastly frustrated attempts by the Viet Cong to break his indomitable spirit, and passed this same resolve on to the men with whose well-being he so closely associated himself.

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A New Anonymous Phone Carrier Lets You Sign Up with Nothing but a Zip Code

An offer of cellular service for your existing phone that makes near-total mobile privacy the permanent, boring default of daily life in the US. “We're not looking to cater to people doing bad things,” says Merrill. “We're trying to help people feel more comfortable living their normal lives, where they're not doing anything wrong, and not feel watched and exploited by giant surveillance and data mining operations. I think it’s not controversial to say most people want that.”

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Gunfight Training That Works: A Case Study

“If I can’t hit my opponent, I can’t possibly win.” A case study in producing gunfight winning performance at scale is to place zero emphasis on qualification, apply training process frequently and consistently over time, and adopt an “All basics—All the time” approach with an emphasis on hitting small targets at speed.

“Evidence-based” is one of the hot new buzzwords in professional firearms and tactical training circles. As a general concept, of course, everyone should support this. We all should just want to do what works.

In practice things are a bit more complex. We simply don’t have a lot of good data regarding successful performance in gunfights. The big data sets that we do have (i.e., LEOKA and UCR) are mostly based on failure.

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Heckler & Koch Close Assault Weapon System (CAWS)

In the early 1980s the US military’s Joint Service Small Arms Program (JSSAP) launched the Close Assault Weapon System program. The CAWS program evolved from several other efforts, including RHINO and Multipurpose Individual Weapon System (MIWS) to create a new combat shotgun. CAWS aimed to create a shotgun with greater range and more firepower than a conventional shotgun which could engage targets within 100m to 150m. The weapon was to be used in anti-area, material and personnel roles using a variety of specialized shotgun cartridge loads. The need for a CAWS was based on both British experience during the Malayan Emergency and American experiences during the Vietnam War when shotguns had played an important tactical role during close range engagements.

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Shots Fired: Skokie, Illinois 08/25/2008

There were 17 total hits on his body including three fatal shots to his head, a couple to his torso, and one to his abdomen," Gramins says. "Which means that even though Maddox was mortally wounded before the head shots, he was still able to engage me.

"People don't die the way we think they do," Gramins says. "I had 17 rounds in the guy. That will teach you how critical shot placement is."

Gramins' inability to successfully place rounds in the early part of the engagement is readily understandable given both the spontaneous nature of the attack and the confined environment he'd found himself in. Still, he'd made the most out of suppressive fire.

"Early in the fight, I didn't see where my rounds were going," says Gramins. "I had a favorable backdrop but didn't have my front sight. You need to find that front sight as fast as you can.

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Davidson’s Exclusive Smith & Wesson J-Frame Revolvers

Smith & Wesson has just added two new options in the form of the Davidson’s Exclusive Model 432 and Model 632, both J-Frames chambered for .32 H&R Magnum. The two wheelguns are functionally the same besides their finish colors, with the 432 sporting a black-anodized aluminum matte finish and the 632 featuring a matte silver finish.

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Finding Your Reason

“It’ll just get taken away from you and used against you.”

This annoying and offensive sentence, with its unspoken accusations of female inferiority and lack of resolve, is nevertheless based on an important truth: If you carry a gun and are not prepared to use it if necessary, you are indeed at risk for a gun grab or worse.

A lot of concealed carry folks swim in a sea of euphemisms; I just did it myself. “Use it if necessary” avoids the blunter but more honest, “to kill another human being in order to save an innocent life.” If speaking bluntly about the purpose of our concealed weapons doesn’t come easily to most of us, how much more difficult would the deed itself be? Socially, psychologically, and emotionally, few people unwaveringly consider the full implications of carrying a deadly weapon for self defense.

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There Are Many Like It: 250 Years of Marine Corps Service Rifles

Since its founding in 1775, the United States Marine Corps has earned a distinguished reputation as one of the world's premier naval infantry forces. This legacy is built on an unwavering fighting spirit, strict adherence to the highest standards, and formidable marksmanship skills; forged in combat using a tool of warfare that has evolved dramatically over the last 250 years - the rifle.

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Point of Law: The Limits of Electronic Searches

In March 2025 the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a decision in United States v. Holcomb, 23-469 (9th Cir. 2025), where the court considered “whether an individual can be prosecuted for despicable criminal conduct based on evidence obtained in violation of the United States Constitution. Ultimately, the Ninth Circuit judges wrote, “In the circumstances of this case, respect for the Constitution and the rule of law requires an answer of “no.”

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Raising Boys into Men: Reclaiming the Game

There was a time in America when boys learned how to become men not from lectures, school counselors, or influencers on the internet, but from the direct example of older men who lived lives worth imitating. Fathers, uncles, veterans, tradesmen, and community leaders used to take boys out into the woods, onto the water, or into the workshop and teach them through doing. For several generations, the greatest expression of this was something Robert Baden-Powell called a “game for boys.” That is all Scouting originally was, just a game, but one so well-designed that it shaped the character of millions.

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When you outsource your security to the government--You get government security

Please correct me if I’m mistaken, but it seems to me that two terrorists rampaged with a five-round bolt-action Beretta BRX1, and a tube-fed shotgun for AT LEAST ten minutes — on bloody video — while four (4) armed Australian police officers … didn’t stop them.

Four armed officers on-scene while two bastards armed with weapons that don’t reload quickly played Whack-A-Mole … and a citizen had to be the one to rush them.

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