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Retreat Owner Profile: Mr. & Mrs. India
Mr. and Mrs. India
Ages: 34 & 33
SOs: Three children 6 and under
Profession: U.S. Military Serviceman
Background:
He: Grew up in Florida, raised in a self-reliant family, attend and commissioned
from a military educational institution, married his sweetheart, completed
pilot training, and is currently stationed at his sixth military installation.
She: Grew up in Idaho, raised by a self reliant and second amendment loving
family, moved off to school, took work as a nanny, worked as an accountant,
is currently a loving mother and supportive military spouse. For the most part
she lives the self reliant lifestyle with things like grinding wheat and making
bread while he spends money on the latest and greatest gadgets. Present Home:
4 bedroom/2 car garage, government house on a northern tier military installation.
I would get paid a housing allowance if I lived off the installation and there
could be lots of self reliant benefits to doing this, but at this station we
choose to live on the installation. This is a choice we have to make during
every move and consider many things such as housing availability, local market
conditions, commuter costs, school zoning, and the areas grade based on the
book "Rawles
on Retreats and Relocation".
Income: $60,000 year not including benefits.
Additional Income: An occasional eBay sale, the Mrs. teaches piano, and extra
cash from my frequent temporary duty (TDY) tours
- I normally return from a TDY with more than half of the per diem by being
frugal with food and not over indulging in entertainment. And when I say entertainment
I mean not spending too much at the new-to-me gun stores, junk yards, used
book stores, pawn shops, and Army/Navy stores.
Investments: We sold most of our IRAs early in 2008 to pay off debt. I now
consider survival prep my top investment- food, ammo, extra magazines, extra
receivers, books, and junk silver. We are currently saving to start a Swiss
America gold account, and eventually purchase $1,000 face vale junk silver
bags for each family member.
Vehicles: Primary - 80 series Toyota Land Cruiser. Grocery Getter - Honda minivan.
We also have a Gen 1 Suzuki King Quad (slow but capable and carbureted), bicycles
and bicycle trailer. Ideally I would own a complete spare primary vehicle but
the frequent moves and lack of space make this difficult. For now I perform
a lot of preventative maintenance to keep the vehicles in top condition and
try to stock critical spares.
Firearms: Custom Remington 700 .308, four FALs
with configuration ranging from Izzy HB to 18” carbine, M1A worked
over by Smith Enterprises, S&W
M4gery,
DMPS M4gery, Mossberg 590, Winchester SX2 tactical, three Ruger 10/22s, Beeman
HW77 .177 pellet rifle, Ruger SP101, Springfield Armory 1911, Glock 22,
Browning Hi-Power, Ruger Mk 22/45, Scout rifle built on .308 Ishapore Enfield
action,
FR8, Savage
24C. The frequent moves are going to force me to shrink and further standardize
my armory. I also made the mistake of buying a normal gun safe and moving it
has been a huge and heavy pain. I plan on selling it and replacing it with
one of the Zanotti
Armor [6-piece modular] gun safes that you recommend. I
would also like to add a crossbow to the collection for the silent gathering
of meat
if
the
Schumer
hits
the fan.
Ammo: Over 50,000 rounds with the bulk of that in .22 LR. One of my top priorities
at this station is to finally unpack all my reloading supplies and purchase
whatever is required to complete my setup so I can have an operational reloading
bench. I am also on the lookout for a .177 pellet mold for my Beeman. I know
accuracy would be way down but I think I could have an unlimited supply of
pellets when old tire weights and discard car batteries are considered.
Fuel: 25 gallons in 5 gallon Scepter [current US mil-spec] gas cans, roughly
30 gallons of propane in various tank sizes. This is about as large of a supply
as I can
store, rotate,
and do a permanent change of
station (PCS) with.
I have printed plans for a portable 12 volt DC fuel pump and will have parts
when this year’s snow melts off the local junk yards.
Water: On the grid but we have a two week emergency supply (90 gallons stored
in 15 gallon water barrels) and a Big Berkey water filter with buckets for
carrying water from a local source to filter if needed.
Property tax: $0/year (one positive aspect of living in military housing)
Gardens: Allowed on military installations with restrictions. In the past I
had been skeptical about planting a garden because the yard had to be returned
to sod when changing stations. From a financial sense, rolling out sod when
we leave would probably be more expensive than the money we would save in crop
production. However, after considering several posts by fellow SurvivalBlog
readers, I now think the expenditure will be a wise investment in learning
the ends and outs of gardening. Keep in mind that on some military installations
they have set aside large lots near housing that are opened for families to
plant gardens - this would be the best of both worlds. We have a collection
of hand tools to do the gardening but are limited on spares due to space and
household good weight limitations.
Livestock: Not allowed on installation but I have seen people get away with
having a hutch or two for the ‘pet’ rabbits.
Dogs: Allowed in military housing but I do not have one at this time. The spouse/kids/neighbors
have to be supportive of a dog to make it work in the military. When the kids
get older and can help out when I’m TDY, it will be an addition to our
family.
Security: We live in the ultimate gated community provided by full time military
police/security forces. When off the installation, personal security provided
by sidearm and concealed carry permit. House has normal doors and locks but
the family is usually in a low state of awareness due to the gated community
feel. Five sets of various adult sized Kevlar vests and helmets. A 2nd gen
night vision scope that is waiting for a rifle mount. My top priority in this
area is to get the stars to align (namely: fly out grandma to watch the kids
and find some reasonable transportation/lodging) so that I can use my long
stored certificate
and purchase an additional course so my wife and I can attend Front
Sight together.
Food storage: Close to a year of staples (grains, beans, rice, powdered milk,
honey, and salt), At least three month’s worth of canned/perishable goods
that is constantly rotated, and 2+ weeks of MREs. I also have a collection
of traps that Buckshot recommends and feel confident I could add meat to the
table at any large military installation. When notified of a PCS,
my wife starts using the canned and perishable goods almost exclusively so
we can minimize our household goods weight. The household weight limit is something
we always struggle with. We have averaged 1/3 more than the allowed weight
on our last three moves but we have come up with a solution that has worked
for us. We do a partial Do IT Yourself move (DITY move) where the military
pays a contractor to move part of our goods and they pay us to move the rest
of the goods (up to the maximum allowable weight based on rank and dependents).
When the contract movers show up we have them load all the large and bulky
items such as furniture, bicycle trailer, and empty water barrels. This usually
amounts to about 2/3 of our belongings based on size but only 1/3 based on
weight. We then pack the rest of the goods in a rented moving truck ourselves.
The stuff like food storage, books, and the safe easily fit in the rental truck
and adds up to about 2/3 of our total weight. Although we only get paid for
about half of what we move we still make more than enough to cover all our
expenses and avoid having to pay a carrier to move the excess weight.
Communication: HF base station is a Yaesu FT-840 with every factory option.
I also have a Realistic Pro 2006 scanner, a Yaesu FT-8900 for the Land Cruiser,
and a couple Yaesu handhelds. Exterior antennas are not allowed in military
housing so I have to get by with low profile dipoles and a good antenna tuner.
Right now I am encouraging my wife to get her Technician license. Besides wanting
a VHF radio for the base station, I also need a battery backup system that
can serve as our emergency electrical power supply. I want to be able to feed
the battery bank with a small generator as well as a fairly large but portable
solar panel(s).
Survival Library: Extensive with all the SurvivalBlog
Bookshelf recommendations as well as most of the books recommended by readers.
Hobbies: Family adventures, church activities, vehicle maintenance/upgrades,
Scouting, "$200 stamp collecting" (AWC and AAC firearms sound suppressors),
increasing food storage.
Next project: At our current location I need to develop an emergency home heating
plan. I wish we could add a wood stove but will probably have to settle with
a kerosene space heater. I am also developing my exit strategy from the military – hopefully
more to follow in the form of another writing contest submission.
I have deviated from the normal profile format and added a couple paragraphs
to sum up the pros and cons of living the survival lifestyle while serving
in the military.
Pros of active duty military: The opportunity to serve with many like minded
selfless patriots, job security, benefits such as medical and commissary, requirement
to stay physically fit, installation amenities such as gym and auto hobby shop,
and a good retirement if I can make it to 20 years. I’ll be honest, the
retirement plan will probably keep me in. I’ll be 44 when eligible to
retire and I like the idea of being able to move to our desired retreat location,
take a low paying job if nothing else is available and count on the immediate
retirement income to make up the difference.
Cons: Not being able to live at and develop our desired retreat location,
frequent/extended TDYs keeping me away from my immediate family, being stationed
away from extended family, frequent moves, and the possibility of living in
a state not up to the Constitutional standards of firearm and suppressor ownership.
