Sunday 13 January 2019

TRUE NORTH TRADECRAFT DISASTER PREPAREDNESS GUIDE



True North Tradecraft recently published TRUE NORTH TRADECRAFT DISASTER PREPAREDNESS GUIDE in December of 2018. I saw the announcement on social media and contacted them requesting a copy to review. Boris, the owner of True North Tradecraft, replied immediately and offered to send me an early electronic to read and review. I have known Boris for a few years and met him a few times when my work took me to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Regular readers of this blog will know that friendship or personal relationship don’t affect the veracity of our blogs. In fact, we likely judge our friends harder than strangers.





Friday 30 November 2018

Tourniquet Myths

Screenshots live forever!


The comment above was posted on social media a few months ago. It is a perfect example of some of the mythology around tourniquet application. I planned to address this sooner but I have been deployed with little to no interweb access.

Friday 7 September 2018

Pelican 7600 Tactical Flashlight





Sixteen months ago, I was fortunate enough to win an Instagram contest conducted by Pelican Professional Products. The prize was a Pelican7600 Tactical Flashlight. I was very thrilled to have won and even more enthusiastic to do a flashlight review after a reasonable period of use. As regular followers of the blog know, a free product does not mean a free ride. I carried and used this flashlight as part of my everyday carry (EDC) and for operational use (military) for well over a year. It has racked up some miles as well and has travelled across Canada, USA and Caribbean. It has been a dependable and rugged illumination tool throughout this period of evaluation.

Sunday 27 May 2018

Big Words aren't Scary



Vocabulary: noun, plural vo·cab·u·lar·ies. A list or collection of the words or phrases of a language or technical field. See also lexicon, jargon, argot, parlance or lingo.

Sunday 22 April 2018

SJ Hardware Glock 1oz. Metal Base Plates


SJ Hardware, a Canadian manufacturer and distributor of firearms, firearms accessories and most things tactical, have developed an aftermarket base plate for GLOCK magazines. For the sake of clarity, I am friends with owner and received a significant discount for purchasing this product with the understanding of an honest blog would be written. This product was shipped to me through their local distributor, Freedom Skwad.



Friday 2 February 2018

Selecting Tactical Medicine Course


I have read many articles about how to select a firearms academy or tactical instructor. But, I have yet to see one on the selection of a tactical medicine program or course. There are similarities in the selection process but there are a few distinct differences that are very important. How do I know this is a successful recipe for this type of training? I was part of the CAF TCCC program that taught thousands of soldiers Combat First Aid and TCCC for their deployments to Afghanistan. The Canadian Armed Forces had an unheard of 100% preventable death save rate during that conflict.

Friday 26 January 2018

SJ Hardware M&P 9mm Mag Base - 10rd Mags

A post shared by freedomskwad (@freedomskwad) on

Ten round magazines suck. The Firearms Act in Canada requires all pistol magazines to be limited to ten rounds. This is a federal law with only law enforcement, military and licensed exemptions. This post is not about the validity of this law as that is beyond the preview of this blog. Suffice to say ten round magazines suck.

Friday 19 January 2018

Improvised Wound Simulators

Yoga Blocks

One of the most important hemorrhage control interventions taught on the CTOMS POD Survival Course, or any proper tactical medicine course, is wound packing.