- 4 APR 1917 – After years of sustaining neutrality, Congress votes to enter into WW1 on the Allied side in a vote of 90-6. Days later, on the 6th, Congress would formally declare war on Germany. Since the start of the war in 1914 America had maintained its neutrality even though the majority of America was sympathetic to the Allied cause and effort. Germany would drive the USA towards entering the war when it resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in the war zone, hoping to starve Britain out of the war. This combined with the discovery of the Zimmerman Telegram, a German invitation to Mexico to join the war as an ally, turned American policy to war.
- 5 APR 1869 – Last surviving Soldier of the Revolutionary war, Daniel Bakeman, dies at the age of 109.
- 9 APR 1865 – Meeting in the McLean House after the Battle of Appomattox Court House, Confederate General Robert E Lee surrenders to Union General Ulysses S Grant, ending the Civil War. The terms of surrender offered by Grant were generous and Lee accepted without argument. The terms allowed the Confederate forces to surrender and leave without imprisonment or prosecution for treason. Officers were allowed to keep their sidearms, horses and personal baggage while the enlisted were allowed to take home horses and mules so they could carry out spring planting on their return home. The defeated men were even supplied with food rations as theirs had nearly ran out. The next day Lee would give a farewell address to his army and on the 12th the Army of Northern Virginia marched to surrender their arms and colors, a ceremony that no Confederate officer wished to go through. The war would result in at least 1 million casualties, around 3% of the American population, with about 620,000 Soldiers dying. Two thirds of those deaths were from disease, due to the lack of proper medical treatment for wounds and sickness
10 APR 1945 – During WW2 the US would liberate the Nazi concentration camp, Buchenwald. This was the first concentration camp to be found by the Allies in the west. For years claims had been made about the atrocities committed at these camps, and the Soviets had come across the first during their advances in the east. These claims were not readily believed till the US and other Allies saw what had been happening first hand. This is not to say the Allies rebuked the fact they existed, they just believed the claims were exaggerated for effect by the Soviets.
North American Rescue Tourniquet
The NAR gen 7 CAT tourniquet is a staple in for trauma kits. The CAT has been used in military and law enforcement trauma kits for nearly 20 years. The gen 7 is the most recent improved version of the CAT. Everyone should always have a tourniquet on hand or nearby because you never know when you might be dealing with severe bleeding on yourself or someone around you. Please make sure you have proper training using tourniquets before attempting to use them. Using a tourniquet improperly on a wound can be just as bad as not using one at all. Be prepared on all your ventures.
Military Gloves
We just added even more gloves to our collection. Most of these gloves are USGI and made in the USA. Some of these gloves are made by US Allies like South Korea and made under contract for the US Military. All the gloves are super high quality as you would expect for military issue gloves (we will never stock something we believe to be a poorly made product). If you have not looked at them before I recommend checking out the cold weather flyers (CWF) style gloves. The CWF style gloves are one of the most comfortable and popular options; plus, they are flame resistant!
Woodland Camo Waist Packs
The waist pack has been used by the US Military for over 30 years. These packs are meant to attach to the large rucksack and to work as a standalone pack. They have a waist strap that can clip around the waist as well as MOLLE straps to allow them to be attached to any MOLLE compatible surface. We got a small shipment of these in woodland camo and still have a few left so grab one before they are gone.
Eleven 10 MBOK Trauma Kits
We are closing out the MBOK kits! These compact trauma kits are both belt and MOLLE compatible depending on your needs. These kits normally retail for over $200 without medical supplies and we have them for just $69.99 and include some supplies. Please keep in mind that most of the supplies inside the kit are expired and would be best used for training purposes.
USGI Boonie Caps
We just expanded our collection of boonies hats. We have a lot of awesome camos in select sizes. Obviously the Multicam boonies are the best. Made by a Gov’t contractor for Crye Precision, they are high quality and ready to go for your next Venture. While they are not USGI, they are American made with licensed Mutlticam from Crye Precision and very high quality. But you know, tiger stripe is a classic and you cannot go wrong with the US Marines MARPAT.