David T. Cloft

David T. Cloft is a competitive smallbore and long range rifle shooter from the United States, who has won seven National Championships and has set 11 US National Records. In 1999 he became the first American to be Knighted by the Princess of Buedingen, Germany after winning their annual Schutzenfest. He formerly served as a United States Army officer and retired at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

Kosovo 1: The Bottle, the Battle, and the Bombers: Why Kosovo Was Never Just 1999

by

When NATO started bombing Yugoslavia in 1999, most Americans discovered Kosovo approximately fifteen minutes before forming an opinion about it. The problem was that the people actually living there had been fighting over its history for roughly 600 years. From the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 and the Ottoman world of Vlad the Impaler, through Tito’s Yugoslavia and one bizarre, politically explosive glass-bottle incident in 1985, Kosovo accumulated centuries of grievances before the first NATO bomb fell. American troops arrived carrying rifles, radios, maps and rules of engagement. The Balkans were waiting with six centuries of history.

Kimberly Guilfoyle: What Profits a Woman to Gain the World and Lose Her Soul?

by

Kimberly Guilfoyle has spent decades surrounded by fame, wealth, beauty, and political power. From Gavin Newsom’s wife to Fox News celebrity to Trump’s ambassador to Greece, her journey raises an uncomfortable biblical question: What profits a woman to gain the whole world and lose her soul? As new financial allegations emerge, perhaps it’s time to revisit what Jesus taught about the love of money. I hope she finds redemption, because heaven doesn’t accept American Express.

The Echo of Solzhenitsyn: Spiritual Warfare and the Illusion of Modern Man, Part 3

by

Solzhenitsyn’s address delves deeply into the concept of “man with a capital ‘M’,” critiquing the modern, inflated perception of human potential and autonomy. He warned against the hubris of believing that mankind could solve all problems through reason and science alone, a belief that has only intensified in the contemporary era. This illusion, he argued, neglects the spiritual dimensions of human existence and leads to a profound disconnection from the divine.

You Can’t See the Forest for the Trees

by

We have become experts on trees. Trump said something. Russia bombed something. China sanctioned something. The market moved, somebody posted something stupid, and by lunchtime half the country is furious. But zoom out to December 2019 and a different picture emerges: COVID, debt, inflation, war, rearmament, economic fragmentation, broken supply chains and great-power competition. Maybe these aren’t separate crises at all, but chapters in the same historical transition. Call it the Great Reset. Call it World War III. Historians will decide what to name it. Our problem is simpler: we’re standing three feet from an oak tree arguing about the bark while the entire forest behind us is changing.

The Echo of Solzhenitsyn: Spiritual Warfare and the Illusion of Modern Man, Part 2

by

In his Harvard address, Solzhenitsyn offered a scathing critique of ideological conformity, which he perceived as a threat to genuine intellectual and moral freedom. He warned against the dangers of a monolithic worldview imposed by the state or society, which stifles individual thought and suppresses dissent. This critique remains strikingly relevant today, as various ideological forces seek to dominate public discourse and marginalize opposing viewpoints.

Two Men, Two Experiments, Same Answer

by

Two men, separated by centuries, ran essentially the same experiment. The voice of Ecclesiastes had wealth, power, pleasure, wisdom, and everything the ancient world called success. Leo Tolstoy had aristocracy, military adventure, family, wealth, fame, and literary immortality. Both climbed the ladder, reached the top, looked around—and discovered the same uncomfortable truth: none of it could answer death. Ecclesiastes called it hevel—vapor. Tolstoy called it a crisis of meaning. Different men, different worlds, same conclusion: the things of this world cannot do the job of God.

The Echo of Solzhenitsyn: Spiritual Warfare and the Illusion of Modern Man, Part 1

by

Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s 1978 Harvard commencement address, “A World Split Apart,” serves as a profound critique of the spiritual and moral decay in Western societies. Solzhenitsyn foresaw a decline rooted in materialism and a departure from spiritual values, a perspective that resonates even more powerfully in today’s context. He warned of a society increasingly driven by consumerism, where the quest for comfort and wealth eclipses the pursuit of higher moral and spiritual ideals. This crisis of the human spirit, he argued, leads to a shallow existence, devoid of deeper meaning and true fulfillment.

The Armor of God Was Never a Surrender Flag

by

Somewhere along the way, Christianity confused being peaceful with being helpless. Ephesians 6 tells us to put on the Armor of God, not wave a surrender flag. Scripture condemns vengeance, but it repeatedly recognizes the duty to protect the innocent. The Christian warrior should be reluctant, restrained, prayerful, and prepared. The firearm isn’t the mission. Peace is the mission. And sometimes peace needs someone willing to stand at the door.

Jack O’Connor Would Have Loved the 6.5 Creedmoor

by

Jack O’Connor died in 1978, nearly 30 years before the 6.5 Creedmoor appeared, but judged by the standards he championed in The Hunting Rifle and decades of Outdoor Life writing, he probably would have loved it—even if it never displaced his beloved .270 Winchester. O’Connor valued accuracy, moderate recoil, flat-enough trajectory, high sectional density, efficient bullets, penetration, and above all the hunter’s ability to put a bullet precisely where it belonged. The Creedmoor checks virtually every box: a 140-grain 6.5mm bullet has excellent sectional density, modern high-BC bullets retain velocity remarkably well, recoil is lighter than the .270, and the cartridge is famously easy to shoot accurately. Where O’Connor would still favor the .270 is raw velocity and its flatter trajectory at ordinary hunting distances—especially important in his era, when hunters estimated range rather than pushing a button on a laser rangefinder. Ironically, O’Connor also admired cartridges such as the mild-mannered 7×57 Mauser and repeatedly argued that shot placement mattered more than horsepower. The funniest conclusion, then, is that the old-school hunters who dismiss the 6.5 Creedmoor as some newfangled fad might be surprised by their own patron saint: the Creedmoor is essentially an O’Connor hunting cartridge designed 30 years too late—accurate, efficient, mild to shoot, and powerful enough to kill what you’re hunting if you quit arguing about caliber and put the damned bullet where it belongs.

DIME Part III: Follow the Money

by

The generals get the history books, but the lawyers and comptrollers often decide what can actually happen. The same is true of nations. If people voting with their feet is one warning sign of decline, money may vote even earlier. Before the factories close and the scientists leave, watch where capital flows, where companies invest, what central banks buy, and what currencies nations choose to use. People need passports to leave. Money just needs a mouse click.

One Firing Squad, Two Wars: The Second-Order Effects of Executing Nidal Hasan

by

Executing Nidal Hasan may finally deliver justice for Fort Hood—but wars are fought in the information domain too. An American firing squad executing a man who claimed he had “switched sides” and embraced jihad could become instant propaganda. The first-order effect is justice. The second- and third-order effects may be a story America doesn’t control.

DIME Part II: When People Begin Voting With Their Feet

by

Part II: Economic collapse doesn’t begin when everyone runs for the exits. It begins when the people who can leave quietly decide they should. Scientists take foreign grants. Engineers follow better jobs. Entrepreneurs move companies. Families move their money and children. The poor may be stuck, while the very people capable of rebuilding the country disappear. History’s warning may be remarkably simple: watch when people begin voting with their feet.

DIME Part I: The Next World War Started Before Anybody Fired a Shot

by

History teaches us that wars rarely begin with the first shot. Long before the tanks move, capital flees, talent leaves, economies fracture, alliances shift, and nations begin using every tool of power except the one labeled “military.” From brain drain to DIME, Clausewitz, game theory, nuclear deterrence and the Madman Theory, the warning signs are usually there. The problem isn’t that history doesn’t teach us anything. It’s that humans keep waiting for the shooting before admitting the war has begun.

Violence Was the Weapon: Fear Was the Payload

by

October 7, 2023 was Israel’s 9/11—a surprise attack on Shabbat and Simchat Torah, almost exactly fifty years after the Yom Kippur War. Terrorists understand that violence is the weapon, but fear is the payload, and calendars, holidays and symbolism can amplify the blast. Three years later, the consequences have spread far beyond Gaza: Israel abandoned containment, Iran’s proxy strategy collided with Israeli deterrence, and America discovered once again that being the global hegemon means everybody sends you the bill. The old Middle East wasn’t stable. It was merely temporarily not exploding.

Can We Finally Call It Biowar 1.0?

by

COVID-19 may never be proven to have been an act of biological warfare, but strategically it gave the world something almost as valuable: a full-scale demonstration. A microscopic threat closed borders, disrupted militaries and supply chains, crippled economies, expanded emergency powers, and turned fear and information into weapons—all while leaving cities, factories, farmland, and infrastructure standing. That is the thesis: COVID was effectively the world’s Biowar 1.0 field exercise, regardless of intent. Now, as outbreaks, laboratory incidents, and biological threats generate headlines from Congo to Russia, the unsettling question isn’t whether COVID was deliberately weaponized. It is whether governments watched the experiment, studied the vulnerabilities, and are now saber-rattling—perhaps even conducting psyops—with what Biowar 2.0 might look like.

Don’t Wait for the Rain: Elon Musk and Humanity’s Next Ark

by

Elon Musk isn’t Noah, and Mars isn’t the Ark—but the comparison raises an interesting question. Humanity has eight billion people, one planet, and no backup plan, while the richest man on Earth is spending his fortune trying to build one. Noah understood something we routinely forget: the time to build the Ark is before it begins to rain.

My Will Be Done

by

We spend our lives chasing happiness—more money, more success, more pleasure, more control—yet somehow the appetite always survives the meal. Ecclesiastes called it vapor. Augustine called it restlessness. Tolstoy discovered that even extraordinary success couldn’t answer death. Maybe the problem isn’t that God hasn’t given us what we want. Maybe it’s that we keep praying “Thy will be done” while quietly demanding “my will be done.” Happiness comes and goes. God offers something deeper: peace.

MOA vs. Mils: No, Mils Aren’t More Accurate

by

MOA vs. mils: no, mils aren’t “more accurate.” Math is math. They’re just beautifully idiot-resistant.

Tell Private Snuffy to add ½ and ¼ and you can smell the electrical fire. Tell him to add .3 and .5 and he can probably do it on his fingers. Suddenly the military’s love affair with mils makes perfect sense.

PRS speaks decimals. Traditional American riflemen speak fractions. Different dialects, same X-ring.