Visual Stories

Photos: Prepper, Survivalist and Militia Rendezvous

David Luntz grilled steaks Friday evening as the summer sun lit up a broad meadow fringed with canvas tents.

A few people sitting in camp chairs sipped gin and tonics, getting to know each other before the weekend got started.

Rick Ford and Jon Droska walked up with unloaded hand-built machine guns. Ford, in head-to-toe camouflage, shouldered an AK-47. Droska, a bearded, burly U.S. Navy veteran who now conducts emergency medical instruction, carried an AR-15. Around his legs rippled a a charcoal-gray "Elkommando" kilt made by Mountain Hardware.

Welcome to the fourth annual Prepper, Survivalist and Militia Rendezvous.The gathering probably isn't what most Alaskans think of when it comes to the state's militias.

Read more: Weekend militia gathering in Talkeetna aims to debunk stereotypes

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