Doing Good - How you can help our Armed Forces.

With Memorial Day almost upon us, we thought it would be a good idea to highlight some of the many great groups groups that help our men and women in uniform. Note: we have compiled a more complete list on our site here.

The United Service Organization

These are the people that help keep up the morale of our warfighters. Whether they are greeting military travelers at airports, promoting military events at home or sending a piece of home to deployed soldiers, the USO has been there every step of the way. You can help the USO by volunteering or by donating funds to support their mission. Lastly, an easy way to express your support is by sponsoring a care package. For just $25 you can send about $75 worth of need items along with a personal note of support.

The Wounded Warrior Project

The WWP is dedicated to making sure our service men and women are not forgotten and have grown to be come an advocate for those injured from their service to our country. You too can get involved by becoming a Wounded Warrior advocate. Help a service person find a job by coaching them on their resume. Volunteer at an event. Or donate money and help sponsor many of the direct programs that benefit wounded warriors. The greatest casualty is being forgotten. Help the WWP to make sure that doesn't happen.

eMail our Military

When the Depart of Defense canceled the popular Any Service member postal program, many average Americans lost a way to connect and support their deployed service personnel. The eMOM or (eMail our Military) group was started as a way to fill that gap. There are many simple things you can do and they don't take a lot of effort or money. Check out their site to see how you can help.

Veterans Airlift Command

Wounded troops from our recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan sometimes require extensive travel in order to reach their family or medical facilities for care. The VAC sprang into action as a grass roots effort to utilize a special group of people: Private plane owners and their fleet of aircraft. These passionate Americans have since formed a network that pairs a wounded warrior with a pilot or aircraft owner to help them meet their needs. If you are an aircraft owner or pilot, consider adding yourself to the network or donate funds to help defer the cost of fuel and other expenses. Click here and help be the wind beneath the Veterans Airlift Command.

Dog Tags for Kids

Nothing warms your heart more than the smiling face of a youngster. All to often though, the children of a deployed service member have a burden they aren't ready for. This organization grew from the need to keep the connection between families, even if they were miles apart. Now you too can support a deployed soldier with children by sponsoring a simple set of engraved dog tags. Click here to get behind this worthy cause.

Memorial Day Weekend - Keeping the Spirit Alive

With Memorial Day fast approaching, we thought it would be prudent to talk about the history of this day and what we, as Americans, should be doing to keep the spirit alive.

Memorial Day originally was called Decoration Day and was created to honor the Union dead of the Civil War. Over time, as hostilities over the bloody war between the states subsided, the more inclusive "Memorial" replaced "Decoration" and the perception of a national holiday grew. Memorial Day became even more popular following World War II, but it wasn't until 1967 that it became a federal holiday. During the 1970s the traditional date of Memorial Day was finally established, the last monday in May.

That was the abridged version, if you want more details, learn more about Memorial Day here.

What does Memorial Day mean to you now? How does it rank in your life? Obviously, we should thank our armed forces everyday that we live in a free country. This weekend especially, though, we need to take a moment to remember the fallen.

Memorial Day weekend isn't just about opening our pools and grilling hot dogs. Countless soldiers have paid the ultimate price for the freedoms we enjoy and sometimes take for granted. Please remember, wherever you are on Monday, May 31st, take a moment at 3pm to remember that freedom isn't free. It was paid for by the men and women of our brave armed forces. Learn more about what you can do on this day here.

20% Off 5.11 Tactical at www.uscav.com

It only happens once a year - the 5.11 DAYS Event. This year you can save 20% off on your 5.11 Tactical® purchase, not just one day but two days - May 11th and 12th! Save on tactical pants and shirts, polos and shorts, belts, boots, packs, outerwear, watches, gloves, and VTAC gear. All the 5.11 Tactical® products you love. But hurry, the clock is ticking.

U.S. Cavalry Announces New BEER Back

Cold, refreshing adult beverages in a tactical hands-free hydration system!

Radcliff, KY (Apr. 1, 2010) – U.S. Cavalry, the world’s leading multi-channel distributor for Military, Law Enforcement and Homeland Security personnel, is proud to announce new tactical hands-free tactical beer hydration systems. Our troops at home and abroad have been using personal hydration units for years, but they’re really on good for water. Wouldn’t it be great if you could take that same basic idea and enjoy cold, refreshing adult beverages anywhere you wanted to? Well, now you can.

If you ever wished that you could partake in a cold, refreshing libation when you’ve been stuck somewhere you really didn’t want to be and think to yourself, “Man, I could really use a drink”? Well, your friends at U.S. Cavalry have come up with the solution – THE BEER-BACK! The Beer-Back is a totally self-contained personal refrigeration and alcohol-dispensing unit that allows you to have cold, crisp, refreshing beer anywhere you go. Just add your favorite pilsner, ale, lager or stout, turn on the unit, and you’re ready to go! Our special double-lined, four-ply, Mylar-infused bladder keeps your beer tasting brewery fresh all day long, and our patented micro-refrigeration unit located in the bottom of the pack will keep it ice house cold right down to the last drop.

The Beer-Back is perfect to take along anywhere that you could really use a drink without the social stigma attached to drinking in public.

The Beer Back comes in three convenient sizes: the 12-Back, the 24-back and for those times you want to forget your own name, the Keg-Back! See how this works in the product video: http://www.uscav.com/beerback.aspx
Order now and will include the MOLLE Snack Vest. Perfect for carrying all the snacks you need for when you get the munchies after a long day of drinking. But we’re not done. We’ll also throw in the Chicken Wing Fanny Pack! Nothing goes better with beer than chicken wings and the Chicken Wing Fanny Pack holds all the chicken wings and dipping sauce you need to satisfy you craving for deep fried fowl appendages.

Don’t wait, call now and order your very own Beer-Back! You’ll get the Beer-Back, the MOLLE Snack Vest and the Chicken Wing Fanny Pack all for only $49.99. You heard me right, only $49.99. We can’t sell the Beer-Back at this price forever so call now and order!

Be sure to check out the complete specifications and availability dates at: http://www.uscav.com/beerback.aspx

About U.S. Cavalry: U.S. Cavalry, headquartered in Radcliff, Kentucky, has served professionals for over 35 years by delivering the world’s finest equipment, services and training. The company serves its customers through managed accounts, retail stores, mail order catalogs and web site. We also like a good laugh and hope you do too. This product is definitely not real. Happy April first!

For more information, log-on to our web site at www.uscav.com or call 800.777.7172 today.

We had to break out the asterisk!

On our recent product e-mail newsletter, we rolled out our traditional St. Patrick’s Day discount. As we do from time to time, we included a 15% off discount.

Unfortunately, we had to a put an asterisk on that offer.

5.11 Tactical® has been experiencing a number of violations of it’s minimum advertised price (MAP) policy and so recently has decided to enforce a ban on percentage and dollar off discounts for their product line.

So, while will still continue to offer a great selection of 5.11 Tactical products as a full line dealer, we have to comply with this restriction. You may not be able to save as much money on a 5.11 purchase as in the past, but you can rest assured that industry wide, you will be paying a fair price.

Now, just because there is a MAP policy in place doesn’t mean we can’t offer any incentives. Starting right now you can get free shipping with your purchase of $75 or more of 5.11 Tactical products (thru March 24th). There are also a great many gift with purchase options as well. Click here to check those out.

Check all of the great 5.11 Tactical products here.

Eberlestock Suffers Warehouse Fire

Eberlestock started their business making custom rifle stocks and then hunting packs specifically designed to carry long guns comfortably. Over the years, Eberlestock picked up a loyal following within the military and law enforcement sniper community and that market has evolved Eberlestock's products with more tactical options. The Eberlestock Gunslinger series and the newer Terminator Pack are popular items. Things seemed to be picking up steam until disaster struck.

Just before the 2010 SHOT Show, their main warehouse in Idaho was destroyed by fire.

We spoke to the owner, Glen Eberle, at SHOT as part of a scheduled new product meeting. Although the fire certainly weighed heavy with Glen, he assured us that this event would make his company stronger. We were impressed with his determination and had no doubt he meant every word. However, in the short term, we understood that supplies would be constrained.

Eberlestock will be back to full inventory by the middle of April. So bear with us as stock may be slim for the time being, but don't hesitate to make a purchase of an Eberlestock item as every sale will help them raise the capital they need to recover.

We also understand that while you may not be able to find what you need at U.S. Cavalry, we realize that keeping a valued partner in business is best for you and the industry. So please keep buying Eberlestock wherever and whenever you can.

The New Gerber DMF - Wicked Automatic

Gerber has recently introduced the successor to their popular 06 Auto, the DMF or dual multi-function knife. As it's name implies, this isn't your average pocket folder. It was built specifically to meet todays military requirements with features that are well thought out.

The DMF sports a matte black, 1/8 inch thick, S30V blade with nearly 3 inches of cutting surface - a third of which utilizes some very effective serrations. One of the biggest differences from the 0

6 Auto is the tanto point. Note the false back edge to the blade that will definitely aid in penetrating tasks.

The choil area (section between the serrated section of the blade and the handle) is about 1/2 inch long and notched so that you can really grip up on the blade for detailed cutting tasks.

When you're looking at an automatic knife, the deployment of the blade is what it's all about. The DMF's deployment system is truly ambidextrous featuring a sliding release that also functions as the locking mechanism. Gerber really put some thought into this. Take a look at the stair-stepping on this release. It will surely give you positive traction whether wet, muddy or even gloved.

For those of you familiar with Benchmade's Auto Axis lock, it seems that Gerber's design is just as rugged and reliable.

Some may find the deployment speed lacking, but the military found that a slower deployment system was less likely to jump out of someone's grip that some overzealous autos can tend to do. In another example of the thought put into this design, activating the safety seems like a natural movement once the blade is open. The safety's locking bar is located on the spine of the handle which also lends to it's ambidextrous operation. Just slide the heavily jimped safety bar toward the blade to prevent the sliders from accidentally releasing the blade in use.

This safety can also be deployed in the closed position to prevent unintentional opening, but seems unnecessary considering this isn't a traditional push-button auto. That means that you can cary this and not have to worry about disengaging a safety before you deploy the blade.

The handle on the DMF is made of two 1/8 inch G10 slabs that give positive traction in the hand. Underneath these slabs are two 1/16 inch steel liners that ad to the heft of this knife, but also the strength.

The DMF weighs in at just under 7 oz. Keep in mind that this isn't intended as an everyday pocket folder, so some extra weight is to be expected for such a hard use knife.

Some other things we noticed:

• Overall ergonomics of the handle are excellent for those with medium to large sized hands.
• Steel strike pommel. This can be effectively used as a pressure point device when you don't need the deadly force of the blade. An oversized lanyard hole allows you to tie a tether or wrist loop to when in an operational area where there is a high risk of loosing your blade.
• There is a large forefinger groove and slightly smaller middle finger groove, while the remaining section is left coarsely jimped. This design works equally well in a forward grip as well as a reverse grip.
• The pocket clip on this DMF is reversible but only provides for tip-up carry.
• Another nice touch is that the area under the pocket clip has been smoothed to prevent excess wear on your pocket that can normally occur with course G10 checkering.
• While in the pocket, the clip leaves about 3/4 of an inch of the handle exposed, giving plenty to grab onto to withdraw the knife. An ultra-deep pocket clip, like those found on some edc knives would be impractical for the DMF's tactical role.

Lastly, Gerber provides two carry methods for the DMF. For a traditional belt style you can use the included nylon sheath or opt for the blackened steel clip for pocket carry.

The new Gerber DMF is a value packed tactical auto that will serve you well on your next mission.

Get yours today at uscav.com.