Wednesday Wisdom: 29 July 2026

WWII Marine Killed on Saipan Finally Returned Home to Louisiana

 

Marine Sergeant Frank L. Schmaltz, who was killed more than 80 years ago in the Battle of Saipan during World War II was laid to rest on October 13, 2025, in Metairie, Louisiana. Welcome Home Marine.

On June 15, 1944, roughly 70,000 American soldiers and Marines landed on the Japanese-occupied island of Saipan in the Mariana Islands. Sergeant Frank L. Schmaltz of Company A, 1st Battalion, 29th Marines, was part of the initial assault waves as American forces landed at Tanapag Harbor. Allied commanders planned to use Saipan as a base for long-range B-29 Superfortress bombers to strike the Japanese mainland.

On June 25, 1944, Schmaltz and the 1st Battalion were ordered to seize Mount Tapotchau and destroy the Japanese forces occupying the high ground. The Marines encountered Japanese sniper and mortar fire as they maneuvered up the mountain. The movement was slow and costly for the Americans. Around 10 a.m., Schmaltz and his men encountered fierce resistance as they approached the main Japanese defensive line on Mount Tapotchau.

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E Company No. 32 Marked U.S. Colt Model 1847 Walker Percussion Revolver

Samuel Colt's firearms are intimately linked to the American West, especially to the State of Texas. The Walker was officially made the Texas state handgun in 2021. The state legislature noted: "The original 1847 Colt Walker pistol was historically crucial to the early survival of the great State of Texas" and was "an essential tool in the defeat of the Mexican army during the Mexican-American War to reclaim Texas, the 28th state of the Union." The formidable Colt Model 1847 Walker revolver was designed in collaboration between Samuel Colt and Captain Samuel H. Walker of the Texas Rangers and the U.S. Regiment of Mounted Riflemen. 

The original intent was to issue a pair of Walkers to each man in the U.S. Regiment of Mounted Rifles, and the revolvers were marked for A Company through E Company. There were 120 revolvers marked for E Company out of the total of 1,000 U.S. contract revolvers. Many of the revolvers were used by the First Regiment of Texas Mounted Rifle Volunteers led by John Coffee Hays. The last 500 Walker revolvers were delivered to the Ordnance Department in March 1848.

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A Smile and an Arsenal

While Capone’s official love was his wife Mae, he had only one Sweetheart. What he called his Sweetheart was his favorite sidearm, a Colt 1911 that he claimed saved his life on multiple occasions.

Manufactured in 1912, the .45 ACP pistol has a three-digit serial number, making it collectible enough as-is. It had aftermarket stag horn grips that have been excellently patinaed with years of constant use (and perhaps a little blood), and the slide has been engraved with ornate scrolling that is still sharp a century later.

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Evolution of the M1 Carbine: From M1 to M3 Carbine

Before the M4 carbine went to war in the Middle East, before American grunts began humping the boonies in Vietnam with the M16, before all of that anodized aluminum and Space Age black plastic, there was the M1 carbine. Lightweight, compact, and generally adored by the dogfaces who carried it, the carbine helped wrest the world back from the likes of the Nazis and the Nipponese. While the handy little carbine was the most-produced American long gun of World War II, it wasn’t really intended to serve as a general-issue infantry combat weapon.

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The History of the Back Lock Folding Knife

Modern lock-blade folding knives encompass a wide variety of lock mechanisms. Although many of them are relatively recent innovations, others trace their origins back hundreds of years to the earliest days of their genre. The grandfather of them all, however, is the back lock. To truly appreciate this brilliantly simple design, it helps to understand the rich history of its evolution.

 

The oldest known folding knife is believed to be about 2,500 years old. Known as the “Hallstatt Knife,” it was discovered near Hallstatt, Austria, and is estimated to date back to between 600 and 500 BCE. Made of iron and bone, it featured a hawkbill-style blade, a metal bolster, and simple “friction folder” style of construction. Amazingly, the folding knife’s basic form would remain largely unchanged for almost 2,000 years before the advent of lock-blade folding knives.

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AI (and thus Scammers) Can Find Your Location 91% of the Time Using Just One Photo

Something to consider if you travel. Consumer research found that more than 1 in 3 Americans have encountered a travel-related cyberthreat, and 41% of those impacted lost money, often exceeding $500. At the same time, rising travel costs and time pressure are pushing people toward faster, riskier decisions. Those are exactly the conditions scammers are built to exploit.

The data reveals just how exposed travelers make themselves without realizing it. Nearly two-thirds of Americans connect to public Wi-Fi while traveling (63%), and a similar share scan QR codes without verifying where they lead (62%). Almost half use airport Wi-Fi specifically (49%), and 41% admit to trusting travel-related messages without checking the sender. One in five logs into financial apps while on public networks, and the same group shares travel plans in real time on social media. Twenty percent click travel-related links without verifying the source first. And finally, around 1 in 5 (22%) admit to sharing travel plans in real time.

I do not share travel information or pictures real-time. For what its worth, ChatGPT failed to identify the correct location for the image above even though it had 90-95% confidence. 

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OpenAI Artificial Intelligence Models Went Rogue During Testing

Oopsie. OpenAI said that an autonomous agent that one of its advanced artificial intelligence models powered went rogue during a security test and triggered a hack that compromised the infrastructure of AI startup Hugging Face. The ChatGPT creator ‌was testing capabilities of some of its most advanced models in a controlled environment, but the agent escaped containment, reached the internet and ‌broke into Hugging Face to satisfy its testing goal.

The incident signals that AI's expanding capabilities are already fueling the security threat experts long feared and even top developers can be caught off-guard ​by flaws their models can exploit. The breakout was "an unprecedented cyber incident, involving state-of-the-art cyber capabilities" and OpenAI is reinforcing its safeguards, the company said in a blog post.

It also drew attention as New York-based Hugging Face said it had used an open-source Chinese model to contain the attack because leading U.S. models, unable to tell a defender from an attacker, refused to process the data needed for analysis.

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Handgun Ergonomics

I see people trying to master handguns that fit poorly all the time—often with challenging results. An excellent article from Karl Rehn of KRTraining concerning pistol fit.

Pistol fit is widely misunderstood or completely neglected in the handgun buying process, and the impact of poor gun fit on shooting capability mostly ignored. Those coming from the military/law enforcement background taught in an environment where everyone was stronger/fitter than the average population, with more grip strength than average, and equipment was mandated. Those that could not perform to standards because of equipment issues were washed out, often without the instructors understanding why the individuals were struggling – leaving the instructors ill equipped to assist or advise private sector/armed citizen students with small hands, short fingers and limited grip strength.

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Shooting 101: Myths and Facts About Snapping Revolvers and Slamming Slides

I’ve had a front-row seat to this argument for years, both in person and online. Likewise, I’ve watched people get into heated arguments over it. I’ve even seen YouTube videos that make fun of both camps. And I already know that when this article drops, somebody’s going to send me hate mail with the subject line “You’re Dead Wrong.” That’s fine. However, before you die on your hill, let’s look at what’s happening when people do these things. Not to mention what it can cost them.

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The RXD22Ti Suppressor Collaboration from Ruger and Dead Air

 

This is most interesting--a 3D printed 22 caliber suppressor. In collaboration with Ruger, Dead Air has developed a .22-caliber suppressor with Dead Air’s Triskelion baffle design. This baffle layout helps spin and push the gas forward to dissipate at the muzzle instead of building up in the face of the shooter. The titanium suppressor is incredibly light at only 5.6 ounces but is full-auto rated for .22 LR.

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