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Letter Re: Finding a Family Oriented Survival Retreat
We are a devoted Christian family located in N.E. Oklahoma who are looking
to encourage, help, and possibly connect with other families that are like
minded. My wife and I have been preparing since we have been together (1999).
We now have three young children, and are very family oriented. We homeschool
and even home church. Despite the fact that some 'hard core' survivalists cringe
at the thought of caring for little ones, we love children and consider them
a blessing, and we believe that it is an honorable duty to be able to provide
for and protect them. Besides ourselves, we also have two other family members
who are part of our core group. For the last year we have invested all of our
time, energy, and extra funds into preparing for what is coming. We prayerfully
approach all of our decisions, and realize that 'unless the Lord builds the
house' all of our efforts are vain. We do not believe we have all the answers
as to what is coming and how to best deal with it, but we feel confident in
stating that if we seek the Lord with all our hearts that he will direct our
path. We do believe that the evidence shows that what we see happening to our
nation is part of God's plan to bring judgment upon this wicked backslidden
people. As I've heard it said before 'if God doesn't judge this nation, than
he will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah'.
Logistically, we are in good shape in most areas. The Lord has blessed us to
be able to accumulate a large food supply (2-3 years), gardening supplies,
food processing and preserving equipment and supplies, lots of various
outdoor gear, water purifiers of all sorts, bug-out vehicles, medical supplies,
rechargeable batteries, and also guns and ammo. Areas we are working on presently
are communications, power independence, more medical knowledge and gear, and
other various training to help 'hone' all of our skills. I agree with JWR
that gadgets and gear are useless without the skills to use them.
My biggest area of concern right now is location. We have a fairly secluded
spot with acreage, but there are three major issues we have discovered:
1) We still have a mortgage on the place that cannot be quickly paid-off (too
much, too little time). Which, when the economic crash comes, would put us
at the mercy of the government controlled bank (due to bail-outs). This would
cause us to have to relocate at a time of tremendous risk to our family. (This
is not wise) We do have a 'plan B', that will be discussed on point 3.
2) Mentality of the populous: After living here for five years, we have come
to the conclusion that most people in this area, sadly, even many who claim the
name of Christ, are either lazy and dependent upon government programs to sustain
them, or have no apparent discernment and therefore see no need to prepare. That
means
that they will likely succumb to the pressure and do the bidding of the powers
that be, and/or they will come knocking demanding another 'free ride' from those
of us that are prepared. (A great example of this can be found in Matthew 25,
The Parable of the Ten Virgins) . Either way that spells trouble and possibly
an armed confrontation, which we are ready and willing to withstand, but we realize
that at this point we are under-manned. This is not a good situation for our
Family Orientated Survival Retreat. Our philosophy is to avoid all potential
armed confrontations if possible, but to be willing and ready to defend when
necessary.
3) Physical Location & Plan B: This particular area of Oklahoma, though it
is very rural and has a longer growing season, is very difficult to farm. Because
we are in the foothills of the Ozarks, the soil is extremely rocky and very difficult
to cultivate. We had to bring in top soil to be able to start our own garden.
It also gets extremely hot in the summer months, so irrigation would be critical
to keep crops from withering up & dying. That requires a whole separate set
of logistics that would need to be sustainable during a crisis period. If we
had to leave the homestead under adverse conditions, there's Plan B.
Plan B is to retreat into the plentiful woods surrounding my area, but here is
what I have discovered. There is a tremendous amount of poisonous snakes and
spiders inhabiting the terrain, and even worse, there is also an innumerable
amount of ticks and chiggers out there to torment even the casual traveler or
hiker. Even though statistically the ticks in this area predominately do not
carry Lyme disease, there are other diseases that can be transmitted by these
tormenting Arthropods. My family and I have suffered many other physical reactions
from the bites of ticks and chiggers. You can scarcely walk out into the grassy
area of the yard during the warmer months and not get infested by ticks, chiggers,
or both. We even looked at some retreat property in the mountainous terrain of
N.W. Arkansas and found the very same problems with these nasty critters.
Even with good repellents you can still get attacked, and realistically, if you
are on the run how much repellent can you carry with you along with the rest
of your critical supplies? The thought of having to hide a family with little
ones in the deep woods of this area for any extended period of time worries me.
When we first moved here I thought this area would suit our needs well, and for
our present needs it's worked out okay, but simply put, this is not what would
be considered an ideal area for survival.
With all that said, I stated above that our main concern is location. We believe
that it is expedient for us to look for another location for our group. Here
is a breakdown of important items that must be part of finding the ideal location.
A) Safety
Because we are family orientated and have small children, we must try to establish
the safest location possible, preferably making that location your primary residence.
Also, your location must be set up to be able to best provide for the needs of
families, which includes children of all ages. Number one priority is safety,
that means being safely away from the hordes, safe from looters, and safe from
tyrants and their minions. Think about what it was like when you and your spouse
were first married, and how easily the two of you could just 'up and go' when
you wanted to, but now that you have children all of that has changed, and, depending
on the number of children you have, it can be a major project just 'packing up'
for church! Now imagine what it would be like if your retreat was about to be,
or was being overrun by a group of attackers. How fast could
you and your family, with all of their necessary gear, move to safety? Would
you
even be able too?
That is why the best way to protect your little ones is to gain an 'advantage'
by choosing the optimal retreat location now while you still can. This may mean
sacrifice and teaming up with others, but what is the alternative? This deserves
careful consideration on the part of all concerned parents and retreat members.
Even if all cannot be permanent residents, there still needs to be a concerted
effort by several families to establish the best scenario possible. Therefore
the Family Oriented Survival Retreat must be remote enough to be avoided by most,
but reasonably accessible to the members who are not full time residents. As
most realize, moving a family to a safe location during times of crisis can be
very difficult and dangerous. There are so many potential hazards that can occur
during a 'bug-out' situation that time and space cannot allow for them to be
written here. Not to say it's impossible, but it is a notable risk. Therefore
all families that cannot be permanent residents should strive to be located as
close as possible to the retreat location.
B) Team Work
The Family Oriented Survival Retreat location must also be properly manned and
defendable. This means that one family by itself is not enough, no matter how
remote you get. We all need help, and we should all want to
help others. This is how all truly great institutions have worked, this is how
Christianity works,
and this is how a Family Oriented Survival Retreat must work. This is probably
the biggest stumbling block of all, because Americans are generally selfish,
we only think about ourselves and that's the way we plan. We generally don't
try to work with other families to create a better situation for all. I realize
that we must be discerning about others, and character does matter, but if you
haven't found the people you are looking for in your immediate area than maybe
it would be advantageous to look for others outside your area. The bottom line
is that there are others out there who would be great to work with and have the
right mind set, but maybe like yourselves, don't quite have the financial means
to buy a big remote property, and even if they did, they wouldn't have the man
power to make it work. That's why we need to connect with others somehow, maybe
even set-up a forum for people to be able to discuss these matters and potentially
find other like minded families too work with.
C) Relocation
This leads me to my last point, and that is location, or maybe better stated,
re-location. After studying several areas and reading the articles written by
Mr. Rawles and others, it seems that the Northwestern region of the U.S. may
be the most plausible place to look. There are several important factors to consider
and for sake of space I would just recommend checking out this
comprehensive
write-up [by JWR] that goes into greater detail on the subject.
I have spent time talking to a few realtors and others in Northern Idaho and
in Northwest Montana, and my impression is the basic mindset in these areas is
geared
more
toward that of the survivalist. There also seems to be a greater sense of community
as well. If this is true than it could go a long way in a crisis. But regardless,
this may be a good place for a few like minded families to band together and
create several Family Oriented Survival Retreats. This would pool resources,
skills, and abilities and would increase the chances of surviving the coming
years.
I realize that a lot more can be said on this subject, but I challenge those
of
you who feel moved to look into these things to put it to prayer, and if you
would like to share your thoughts or are interested in pursuing a Family Oriented
Survival Retreat you can contact me at: quityourselveslikemen@yahoo.com.
- David M.
