Been struggling  to get by on smart phone and kindle for a good while. Finally got the desktop and going again.
Should be on more regular now.
We bought a house in Oakland Ne. about 30 miles from granddaughter Emma. So we get to have her over often and go to her house at least 5 days out of 14.
Looking to get a side business up in the shooting/hunting/ supplies for black powder. Also maybe sale some survivalist stuff and how too. My old source for military how to manuals has dried up if anyone knows where you can pick up the print copies these days, internet is everywhere but in true survival mode there will not be a lot of on lining getting done.

Alboy, good to see you back on THL. I keep wondering about a lot of the members & what they're doing & if they're still among us or had to leave early. Keep us posted on things going on in your life. Our membership seems to have declined and everything has been quiet since the China virus outbreak. .......Paul H....

Hey, Al.

Wish I lived 30 miles from my grandkids!

Good to hear you are getting going again with the BP stuff! Years ago, I went looking for Army manuals of all sorts, including their survival manuals, the only ones I could find were poor photostatic copies that were in turn rendered 'electronically' on CDs - on Ebay.  However, there may be someone here at THL that knows of a source for the 'hard' copies. I THINK I have two copies of the Army's original Field Manual (FM), but I assume you're looking for more than "a" copy. I did find a PDF of FM 21-76 which appears to be an updated version:https://thesurvivalmom.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/FM_21-76-US-army-survival-manual.pdf

Paul

I was just glancing at a few pages from the above PDF and noticed their comments on dehydration. Since that happens to be a bit of a 'pet peeve' of mine, I take it as a "sign from God" that I saw that particular section and therefore should relate some first-hand experience with survival and "keeping hydrated".

When I lived in Fairbanks, I went through the Army's Arctic Survival School. (The Boy Scouts sent me so I would be qualified to train Boy Scouts for their Survival Merit Badge.) Preventing dehydration was a BIG DEAL to these guys! We spent a week in the field 'surviving', and there were three points they hammered: 1) Shelter, 2) Fire, 3) Dehydration. The first two I embraced enthusiastically. The third - hydration - was, in my opinion, ABSURD. They INSISTED that we drink AT LEAST 8 quarts of water a day! EIGHT QUARTS! That's simply stupid. I'm sorry. I don't give a tinker's dam that they are "experts". There is no way on God's earth than I could drink 8 quarts of water a day if I was stranded in the Sahara desert. In fact, when they forced me to "drink", I literally gagged up water. The course was a very good course, but the "dehydration" aspect was complete BS. I see that same opinion expressed in the above-mentioned Field Manual 21-76. The fact of the matter is, even when working pretty strenuously, I can BARELY drink a gallon of fluid in a day. Most days, I drink four cups of fluid a day: Two cups of coffee, and a 'drink' with lunch and dinner. While each of those 'cups' MIGHT be SLIGHTLY more than the 8 ounce "cup", they're not much more. 'Rounding up', that's considerably less than a HALF-GALLON of fluid a day. In other words, less than ONE-FOURTH of what the "experts" recommend! I MIGHT be willing to accept a factor of 2 variance, but a factor of 4 is not 'reconcilable' with eye-squinting and 'rounding error'.

The "thing" about this that so rubs me the wrong way is that this specific admonition, and in general ALL "nutritional" BS these days, COMPLETELY IGNORES the variability within populations, and between individuals. Talk about tigers or lemurs or rhinoceros's and the 'experts' always emphasize the 'need to appreciate the variability of their diets". But once you start talking about HUMAN nutrition, we are ALL, EXACTLY THE SAME according to them. We ALL need NO LESS THAN 8 hours of sleep a day. Otherwise we get "sleep deprived" and become a hazard to ourselves and those around us. :cens:! For more than 40 years I never slept more than 4 hours a night except in VERY rare occasions. According to the "experts", I should be dead. Do some people need 8 hours of sleep MINIMALLY? Sure. My wife is one of them. If she doesn't get AT LEAST 8 hours of sleep, well, let's just say the ramifications are immediate and unpleasant. As for me, as I have aged, I sleep more. Now I'm up to about 6 hours per night. "You" can't MAKE me sleep more than my body NEEDS. Which leads me to what I have tried to teach my children: If you can, eat when you're hungry and DON'T EAT when you're not. Sleep when your sleepy, AND SCREW THE SONS OF BACHELORS THAT TELL YOU THAT YOU "NEED" AT LEAST 8 HOURS OF SLEEP A NIGHT!

EIGHT QUARTS OF WATER A DAY?!?!?!:cens: Gimme a break.

Paul

Paul, I agree with you completely on water & sleep. Even at my advanced age, I only sleep around 6 hours a night but have felt the need for an hour or so nap during  the day for the last year or two.  I'm almost always out of bed by 4 AM. Been doing that since the day after I was born. I was even born at 4 AM. ....... I drink 3 to 4 bottles of water a day. Two cups of coffee and 2 cups of milk on average. Once in a while I drink a  can of beer if I've been out working & get hot. I've always said there's no such thing as an "expert" in any field. They MAY be knowledgable but that doesn't make them an expert. Even a gallon of water a day is excessive in my opinion. ......Paul H  ...