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- JWR
Note from JWR:
The SurvivalBlog
Benefit Auction ends tomorrow night at midnight, eastern
time. The high bid is now at $325.
This auction is for four items: A FoodSaver
GameSaver Turbo Plus heavy duty food vacuum packaging system (a retail
value of $297) kindly donated by Ready
Made Resources an autographed copy of : "Rawles
on Retreats and Relocation", an autographed copy of "SurvivalBlog:
The Best of the Blog", and a copy of "The Encyclopedia
of Country Living", by the late Carla Emery. The four items have
a combined retail value of around $395. Please e-mail us
your
bids, in $10 increments.
Range Test and Product Review: Rock River Arms LAR-8 .308 Mid-Length A4 Carbine, by Michael Z. Williamson
After many delays for many reasons, I finally have my hands on a LAR-8, which
is Rock River Arms' entry into the AR-10 clone market. This model is the LAR-8
16" carbine,
flattop, MSRP $1,100.
The rifle arrived in a sturdy bright blue case, compartmented to fit a disassembled
rifle of each length, with one magazine, manual, everything wrapped in plastic.
This is a heavy rifle compared to an AR15, at 8.1 lbs (for a carbine, remember),
but is quite reasonable for a .308.
From the rear: The buttstock is a standard 6 position, and aftermarket stocks
will fit, likewise for the Hogue grip. The internals are proprietary, but it
appears that standard AR fire control parts will fit. The trigger felt really
odd, almost hair trigger, until we weighed it right about 6 pounds. It is just
exceptionally crisp with a very sweet let-off. The fire control switch is right-handed
only, which is a little odd, since the magazine release is ambidextrous (button
on each side), and the bottom-mounted bolt release is, also. It appears that
standard handguards will fit, too.
The controls are easy to reach. I do like the bolt release. Insert a magazine,
brush downward with thumb, and it clacks into battery. Operation was flawless
for
the full day. This is on the rifle as delivered, with no oil, teardown, anything.
It chambered and fired every time, and there were no hitches.
Here's one of the prime selling points: The rifle is advertised to, and does,
accept metric and inch FAL magazines. I had a little more
trouble with inch mags, but I suspect they were older. I bought ten at a gun
show for $50. That's
enough magazines for 210 rounds of ammunition (nine 20 round, one 30 round).
That's about the price for just one of the competitor's magazine. Feed and
function was fine with both, assuming the magazine was good. At that price,
though,
one can buy a case and keep the tight ones for spare parts.
The weapon is tight, well-made, with excellent fit and finish. It is well-balanced
and comfortable. It felt very robust and durable, though as a loaner, I didn't
do an all-out abuse test. If you are familiar with the AR-15, the only relevant
differences for handling are the weight and the location of the bolt release,
which is lower than one is trained for, but easily managed. Since most of us
slap the paddle as the hand goes down anyway, there's no problem adapting to
carrying the motion to the base of the magazine well. Other minor differences
are the much heavier recoil spring, and the previously-mentioned
excellent if unusual trigger.
The rifle came without iron sights on this model (other models have M16A2 style
sights). This was a minor problem. I have excellent scopes, but no riser to
bring them high enough above the receiver, and no mountable front sight. I
managed by attaching one of my EoTechs. The EoTech is a combat sight, not intended
for long range precision, but seemed to work well enough. I was within 8" of
center with the first shot (before zeroing). That's good enough for combat
shooting at 100 yards.
Weather: 64° F, 62% relative humidity, Barometric pressure 29.87 and falling,
elevation 630 ft above sea level.
Using South African surplus R1M1, 204W, Lot A11/80, I was able to keep 4" groups
of 20 rounds. This is 4 MOA, with 30 year old ammo, a short barrel, a combat
sight with a red dot shooting at a red target. I find this acceptable.
With US [military] surplus Lot 1-80, three shot groups ranged from 2.125" to
2.375",
very consistently.
Using US military match grade XM118 LR PD (2002, Lake City), our groups ranged
from 1.125" to 1.6", median 1.375". This is well within the
1.5 MOA accuracy promised, using an inadequate sight. I am impressed and satisfied.
A good handloader could probably break 1 MOA, and this is with the 16" carbine,
not the 26" heavy barreled "varmint" rifle.
I would suggest Rock River make the fire selector switch ambidextrous, since
all other controls are. That's the only improvement I can think of.
It cleaned easily, with a little more room to get inside than an AR-15. The
bolt cam pin appears to go in sideways compared to an AR-15 (rotated 90 degrees).
The firing pin is longer. Everything fit well, had a good metal surface and
a very dark parkerized finish.
For those of you wanting .308 power and range with the AR's handling, welcome
home. For those wanting a reasonably priced precision rifle for target shooting,
hunting, or SHTF, you'll be hard-pressed to do better than a Rock River LAR-8.
The availability of AR-platform accessories and mods are significant points
in
favor of both,
as
are the dirt-cheap military surplus FAL magazines. One can buy the rifle and
included case, customize stocks, grips, handguards and mechanicals, load 200
and more
rounds in magazines, and still be money ahead of a competing AR-10 clone. Add
in the exceptional accuracy and strength, and it tops my list.- Michael Z.
Williamson
Two Letters Re: Triage in Emergency Mass Critical Care (EMCC) Events
Dear Jim,
This letter is in response to NC Bluedog's very informative article that appeared
today. Here in rural Wisconsin, we have the same problems as he noted--shortage
of high-technology life-saving devices. This is due to the overall situation
that our medical care industry is dollar-driven. He have a small hospital,
and two more within a 15 minute dash via ambulance. Each hospital has at least
a four-bed Intensive Care Unit (ICU) with a ventilator per bed, and at least two extra ventilators
that can be used outside of their ICUs. Beyond that, there are none available.
Extra units would have to be imported from major hospitals within the state.
To get these units would take time, along with the funding to lease them--providing
the disaster is confined to my area. The hospitals in my area are not sufficiently
wealthy to do this in a mass emergency event.
So, in a TEOTWAWKI situation, what can you or I do? There is a solution. Each
EMT and Paramedic have in their Rescue bags, a set of airways and a bag-valve
mask. Some even have a device called a "Pulse Oximeter." This unit
measures the amount of oxygen in the blood. When an airway, bag mask, and Pulse
Oximeter are used in conjunction with each other, you have a primitive ventilator.
There are more devices that are available to the EMT/Paramedic, but all require
more advanced training in their use. I won't go that way here. However, to
use these devices requires training, and I suggest that you enroll in the proper
program to use them correctly. The only down-side to ventilating a patient
in this manner is very time-consuming and labor-intensive. If you must do this
for any length of time, I suggest you have several individuals willing to take
over and give the proper ventilations to the patient. This method is used in
our hospitals as a back-up should there be a ventilator failure.
How much does this cost? The basic set of six airways will run approximately
less than $5, and bag-valve-mask starts at approximately $10 and goes
up, and the killer is the Pulse Oximeter. I've seen them advertised starting
at $300 and continue on up through the roof. If you are a family, and
have the need for such a unit, (an asthmatic child, etc.) talk to your insurance
company and see what can be done. If you are a member of a group, talk it over
and have each member donate toward the cost. Then get proper training. These
units together are not hard to use or understand. Think about this when you
have your next group meeting. All of these devices can be purchased Over The Counter (OTC) from
the better Medical/EMT supply companies.
I hope this small solution will answer a lingering question that any of you
have concerning the availability of ventilators in an emergency. Start thinking
about, and plan for, the addition of airway management tools to your medical
preps. Doing so now will give you an edge up when the day comes. - DS in Wisconsin
Jim:
The other dirty secret that isn't described is that at some point, you
will run into staffing issues. I'm an Intensive Care nurse at a big teaching
hospital,
and I find the challenge of a complex patient: managing ventilators and "dancing
on the vasopressors" is second nature and even quite fun.
NC Bluedog makes a good point that the hospitals are chronically short of staff
an money, but let's play with the idea further. We'll grant that we've been
able to find intrepid and dutiful nurses and physicians who will work for free
and will work more than a hundred hours a week. And the Ventilator Fairy drops
all of the vents (and warmers, IV pumps, heart monitors, Swan-Ganz monitors,
etc, etc, etc...) that we need. Even with the Hollywood Scenario, at some point
there will not be staff. Certainly in an outbreak, but I wonder about it often
during especially bad flu and pneumonia seasons. There will be no staff because
they're all out sick themselves (the stress and long hours having weakened
their immune system in the face of super bugs, or just the "run-of-the-mill
the native drug-resistant ones we have in the hospitals now), or because they've
got a sick family member to care for. Or they have their own kids to look after-
recall earlier this year when Singapore (or was it Hong Kong?) closed the schools
for two weeks to prevent the spread of an especially bad infection. Someone's
going
to have to stay home with all those quarantined kids. I can't put them in day
care while I head to the hospital after all.
And at some point the devotion to duty will start to fail. Even with the threat
of lost licenses (State Boards of Nursing frown on folks who walk away from
their patients or who don't show up when needed), folks will feel the need
to be home with their kith and kin.
And that's when we reach Kunstler's "World Made by Hand" - Regards,
Michael G.
Odds 'n Sods:
R.E. found a link to this
map of the population density of the US, Mexico, and Canada. Do you see
why I prefer the Western US for retreats? Too bad that Canada has
a frigid climate (inland) and such draconian gun laws. Otherwise, much of
western Canada would
be ideal.
See my free Recommended
Retreat Areas web page for more detail on my recommendations, and
my nonfiction book "Rawles
on Retreats and Relocation" for even greater detail, with some
very useful accompanying maps.)
o
o o
Eric sent us this: Hard-hit
consumers turn to Amish--People save by buying 'scratch and dent' and reclaimed
grocery items
o o o
Brent mentioned this article about Australian farmers sowing a record-breaking
number of hectares in wheat: Sowing,
Not Sewing. And speaking of wheat, Bob G. sent us this alarming article:
UN alert: One-fourth of world's wheat at risk from new fungus
o o o
Kevin suggested this piece from Slate: Gauging
the
risk of an inadvertent nuclear war.
Jim's Quote of the Day:
"Oppression can only survive through silence." - Carmen de Monteflores
Notes from JWR:
The high bid in the current SurvivalBlog
Benefit Auction is now at $325. This auction is for
four items: A FoodSaver
GameSaver Turbo Plus heavy duty food vacuum packaging system (a retail
value of $297) kindly donated by Ready
Made Resources an autographed copy of : "Rawles
on Retreats and Relocation", an autographed copy of "SurvivalBlog:
The Best of the Blog", and a copy of "The Encyclopedia
of Country Living", by the late Carla Emery. The four items have
a combined retail value of around $395. The auction ends in two
days--on May15th. Please e-mail us
your
bids, in $10 increments.
Today we present another article for Round 16 of the SurvivalBlog
non-fiction writing contest. The writer of the best non-fiction article
will win two valuable four day "gray" transferable Front
Sight course certificates. (Worth up to $4,000!) Second prize is a copy
of my "Rawles
Gets You Ready" preparedness course, generously donated by Jake
Stafford of Arbogast Publishing. Round 16 ends on May 31st,
so get busy writing and e-mail us your
entries. Remember that articles that relate practical "how to" skills
for survival will have an advantage in the judging.
Technology After TEOTWAWKI, by JLG in Texas
"A wise man has great power, and a man of knowledge increases strength;
for waging war you need guidance, and for victory many advisers." (Proverbs
24:5-6)
Most survivalist planning focuses on physical needs—food, shelter, clothing,
first aid, self defense. While the physical essentials rightly belong at the
top of the list, there's almost always some empty space left in the locker/bunker/trailer/back-of-the-truck
for...something. What to put in there?
Human beings are social animals, and we need each other; God has woven this
into our genetic code. A "Lone Ranger" survivalist might have an
edge in the short-term, but a group of survivors has a distinct long-term advantage—if
they can overcome the challenges. Other than basic supply-scale issues, the
primary challenges facing larger groups center around communication issues—making
sure everyone is fully informed and knows The Plan. Communication helps build
trust, and trust-based relationships are exactly what you need as a survivor—whether
you're dealing with your family, or with the family down the road, in the next
county, or across the globe.
One of the reasons I enjoy being a technology consultant is the fact that technology
brings people together. Postal mail, telephone, fax, mobile phones, email,
text messaging, videoconferencing, two-way radios...you name it, it's basically
about human communication. As I formulate and revise my overall survival plan,
I find myself evaluating various technology gadgets in this light: Would this
gizmo (whatever it is) provide communication benefits to me if I were in survival
mode, and, if so, is it feasible and reasonable to utilize it in that capacity?
Note that what is "feasible" and "reasonable" are almost
completely subjective, depending on the skill set of the particular individual
or group—those who have a "techno-wiz" or two in their midst
can obviously support more complex technology than others. By evaluating your
group's capacity for utilizing technology, and carefully selecting from some
proven technologies, you can improve your survival capabilities in numerous
ways by improving your ability to communicate within your group of survivors,
be it large or small, and increase your access to outside resources. Here are
some ideas:
Get your ears on. The mobile phone infrastructure may or may not be operational,
and even if it is, your survival retreat might not have decent reception—so
don't count on it. If your group consists of more than one person, odds are
that you will need to split up at some point, and radio communications give
you a huge advantage in almost every situation—especially if you run
up against an aggressor. Anything is better than nothing, so at least grab
a set of inexpensive "bubble pack" FRS/GMRS radios.
Better still, see if you can develop a relationship with a like-minded radio
guy in your
area, and draw upon his expertise. Find yourself an expert and get educated.[JWR
Adds: See the ARRL for a directory that will include a ham radio club
in your area.]
Get eyes in the back of your head...or house. A good survival retreat includes
a security system, and this is a great place to leverage technology. D-Link,
TrendNet and others make decent network cameras, both wired and wireless, for
around $100 each. You can string network wires through the trees, direct-bury,
or go wireless. Virtually any inexpensive wireless access point (e.g., Linksys/Netgear/D-Link
cable/DSL routers, Apple AirPorts, etc.) can be used to provide a basic communications
network for wireless cameras. Using multiple cameras with software like Security
Spy for Macs or NCH
Software for Windows, one person
with a laptop computer can cover a lot of ground just sitting in a chair. You
can even configure the software's motion detection features to alert you (by
making a noise, flashing the screen, etc.) when anything moves, so the man
on duty doesn't have to keep his eyes glued to the screen. Much of this equipment
runs on 12 VDC, so it's perfect for photovoltaic-powered systems.
Own the night. Get some night vision equipment. Others have written extensively
and with much more knowledge on the subject than I possess, but if you can
see in the dark, you have a huge advantage over the guy who can't. Find yourself
an expert and get educated. 'Nuff said. [JWR Adds: One night
vision gear vendor that I recommend is JRH
Enterprises.}
Get connected. What happens to the internet after TEOTWAWKI?
A safe assumption is that the Internet will be unreliable at best, and possibly
unusable. This
may be true to varying degrees on a global or regional scale, but understand
that the internet itself is simply a conglomeration of smaller networks. If
you've built a security network like the one mentioned above, you can use point-to-point
wireless links to connect your survival retreat with your closest like-minded
neighbor (you do know your neighbors, right?), so you can communicate more
quickly and easily. Remember, there is strength in numbers—especially
when you can maintain good communications. What's more, if you build a "mesh" of
interconnected networks, if just one location has internet access, those communication
and information resources immediately become available to the entire mesh.
Remember all those survivalblog.com articles you always meant to print out
but never did? If the server is still online, now you can get to them!
The least expensive wireless point-to-point equipment is generally going to
be a pair of weatherproofed 802.11b/g radios hooked to a directional antennas.
The disadvantage to this configuration is that 802.11b/g is a "line-of-sight" technology
that uses microwave frequencies—so, anything that would heat up in a
microwave oven will attenuate the signal. Thus, if your two locations are
separated by foliage or terrain, you'll have to get those antennas up over
the treetops.
Not only is that a hassle, but it's also a very easy way for non-friendlies
to locate your retreat. In that case, you'd be better off utilizing more specialized
equipment from a manufacturer like Motorola or Trango. It's pricier, but it's
non-line-of-sight (NLOS)
and will shoot through trees.
Light 'em up! A good solar power system is a great addition to a survival retreat
in any case, but it becomes a necessity if you want to leverage electrically-powered
technology. A basic solar power plant is comprised of one or more photovoltaic
(PV) solar panels, which generate electric current whenever they're exposed
to light, one or more deep-cycle batteries to store the excess power for later
use, and
electronics to regulate the voltage and manage the battery charging. Power
is usually delivered at 12 VDC, which can be converted to 120 VAC using an
inverter—though it's more efficient to simply use equipment that will
run on 12 VDC. Don't skimp on photovoltaic gear, and I recommend sizing your
solar panels to at least double your usage projections. For one thing, you'll
always
want more juice than you think you'll need. For another thing, many vendors
quote solar panel performance based on best-case conditions, and even if they
regionalize their numbers for the amount of daylight in your area, they typically
use an average length-of-day instead of the shortest length-of-day, and they
either ignore or underestimate the effects of cloudy days, dust coating, bird
feces, etc. on PV panel performance. Solar power is quiet, too, so you won't
be giving away your position with a noisy generator. [JWR Adds: One
alternative energy system vendor that I recommend is Ready
Made Resources Also, don't overlook the references available at SolarDoc, at Backwoods
Home magazine, and at Home
Power magazine.]
Protect your equipment against electromagnetic pulse (EMP).
The general effects of EMP are fairly well documented, but the specific effects
of EMP on various types of electronic
equipment, and the most effective ways of protecting that equipment, are not
so well-documented. EMP is surrounded by misinformation, urban legend, and
simple unknowns. Most "experts" on EMP seem to agree that the most
straightforward way to protect equipment is probably to store it inside a "Faraday
box," which could be made by lining the inside of a metal filing cabinet
with several layers of newspaper, or wrapping a cardboard box with a couple
layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil. Stored in these containers, your electronic
equipment is reasonably protected against EMP. Note that I said "reasonably." When
we're talking about EMP, we're talking about nuclear attack, and survivability—for
electronics and people alike—is obviously highly dependent on where you
are in relation to ground zero, so all you can do is make reasonable preparations
and pray to God for grace.
Only you can determine whether or not the benefits of these technologies are
worth the money and effort in your particular survival plan. If you decide
to utilize any particular technology, I highly recommend building and testing
the system now, before it's needed. And, of course, you should always have
a "Plan B" for those times when—not if, but when—the
technology fails. EMP, rainwater in the wrong place, a broken wire, and a dead
battery all have the same end result—dead equipment—and you need
to plan for it. Note, too, that the ideas presented here were kept to a basic
level of information due to the limited scope of this article—each topic
would easily merit a fairly lengthy book, if not a complete volume, in order
to be explored to a satisfactory degree—so I strongly encourage you to
seek further knowledge in those systems that are of interest to you.
Again: Find yourself an expert and get educated. If you're an expert in one
or more survival fields, find someone who wants to be educated and teach them.
Being a survivalist doesn't mean you have to be antisocial. Remember that part
of your survival plan should involve building relationships with like-minded
people who have, among them, a diverse enough skill set to be able to handle
the widest possible range of survival tasks. One of the primary uses of communications
technology, aside from its immediate tactical use, is to build and maintain
these kinds of relationships even (or especially) in a survival scenario."Two
are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one
falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has
no-one to help him up! Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend
themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken." (Ecclesiastes
4:9-12)
Here is a non-exhaustive list of Internet resources, to help get you started:
Night vision:
Sideroad.com
N)Vision
Optics Planet
Point-to-point and outdoor wireless:
Radio Labs
Trango Broadband
Motorola
PTP
MoonBlink
Wi-Fi
Teletronics
Photovoltaic power:
Solar Power Directory
Solar-Electric
EMP protection:
AusSurvivalist EMP Protection Pages
Faraday Cages
1997
Military EMP Hardening Handbook
Parrhesia.com
EMP Hardening Handbook
Letter Re: The Legality and Ethics of Blocking Roads and Bridges After TEOTWAWKI
Sir:
I live in an area of the south that is fairly rural. People her still
plant gardens, can, hunt, raise livestock and I believe could if need be survive
longer
than most in a crisis time. Don't get me wrong I am stocking and preparing
for a long term survival and defense possibility.
My question is this: The 40 acres I live on is situated on a ridge in this
area surrounded by deep flowing rivers,streams and creeks. These water ways
separate
the area
I live and a metropolitan area 80 miles in one direction and another 60 miles.
In a full collapses such as in your novel "Patriots"
would it be feasible to block or make impassable these bridges as to route
the
flow of scavengers and marauders away from my area. Also it would funnel
any that
would find their way in to my area in from one defensible direction.
I'm talking about doing this only in the event of a full collapse as in TEOTWAWKI.
The only real protection the people in this area will have will be themselves
and
their
neighbors.
Our
group
will be large enough to defend our stronghold
at the size it is now. I just think that a more controlled area with fewer
entry points would be easier to defend. Now we are not going to box ourselves
into a hole, but limiting vehicle access just would be prudent. If we pulled
back closer there are four smaller bridges that are less than a mile away
that would close our "back door" from unexpected visitors. Most of
our neighbors are self reliant and I believe in that situation would agree
that
limiting
access would be to all of those in the "enclave's" best interest.
I'm not talking of destroying them--only blocking them with junk cars and
such. We have a lot of heavy equipment between us and it would not be a problem.
Typically the bridges are in low spots so they are also easily defendable
from higher ground. I know this sounds extreme but we are planning long term
defense and survival. - Southern
Survivor
JWR Replies: Legally and ethically, as an individual you
can only block roads on your own property. But if a small community makes a
collective decision
to block a road or bridge, then that is another matter. I would assume that
every state in the Union has laws forbidding blocking any public road.
Further, as both police
(in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, under color of law) and
various protestors have found, Federal law prohibits blocking interstate freeways.
As I've mentioned in SurvivalBlog several times, it is best to pick
a property that is situated away from channelized
areas (also known as "lines
of drift.") A
ridgetop location is generally quite good, but this of course raises the age-old
issue of clear fields
of fire versus concealment. The best possible solution would be to have a cleared
area for at least 50 yards, yet still have a solid screen of trees close to
any nearby thoroughfares. This necessitates having at least 20 acres--which
is out of the
price range of
many preppers. In the end, it comes down to compromise, and tailoring your defensive
preparations to your locale and to your personal "worst case" expectations.
In my years of consulting work, I've met many folks that have confided that
in the event of an absolute worst case--the dreaded "Mutant Zombie Biker" scenario--they
plan to block public roads or even destroy bridges. Two of my consulting clients
own large Caterpillar-type tractors. I've urged them to not use those
Cats to move earth and rock to block roads, but rather to possibly use
them
as mobile road blocks. Parking a Cat crosswise at the
end of a two-lane bridge (with its blade lowered) will stop most vehicles.
OBTW, when doing this, don't depend on just a keyed switch to disable the vehicle.
Just a few types of key variations were made and/or they can
easily
to bypassed ("hot wired".)
So a mobile roadblock
must be
disabled
by temporarily removing or disabling a crucial ignition, fuel, or hydraulic system
part. (See
how utility companies do so, for some examples.)
By using a mobile road block that is under armed observation 24/7,
you will minimize the risk of alienating your neighbors. Who is to say how
long
a
crisis
might
last?
If
you
were to
block a road with earth
or rock piles, or even with wrecked cars, you would probably infuriate any
neighbors that decide to return to a normal life of work and commuting, as
well as any
that resume hauling
produce
or livestock to market.
Also, as I've pointed out many time in the past: Physical obstacles are just delays--not absolute
safeguards. People will find a way through them, over them, or around them--on
foot if need be. Also, given enough time, almost any obstacle can be reduced
or removed. This
necessitates
covering
any obstacle with armed sentries. For a community in a post-collapse situation,
this is best accomplished by 1.) a mobile roadblock, 2.) prominent warning
signs, and
3.) covered by one
or more well-camouflaged sentries equipped with scoped battle rifles and radios,
from a 200+ yard distance. Just one rifleman in a ghillie suit, set back in
a tree line
can have a tremendous psychological impact in defending a roadblock. ("Where
did
that shot come from?") In my estimation, the traditional "armed
party of men" standing behind barricades manning
a roadblock is a thoroughly antiquated carry-over from the Ancien Régime.
In the modern context, it is just an invitation
to
take casualties, as well as a waste of manpower.)
Odds 'n Sods:
22
dead in Missouri, Oklahoma, Georgia after new round of storms. This underscores
the need for anyone living in tornado or hurricane country to construct
an effective
storm shelter.
o o o
Rob at MURS Radios mentioned
that he will soon have a limited number of Kenwood TK-2100 MURS radios in stock.
These are similar to the ones that he used
to sell and at
the
same price.
These
come with a used radio (programmed for MURS frequencies), antenna, drop-in
charger, and a new battery. The price is $69 each, plus
shipping. Rob is taking pre-orders on a
first come, first served basis. I highly recommend the MURS band, since it is
far less crowded than the FRS/GMRS band, and the Kenwood radios also have
superior range. This may be his last batch, so don't hesitate.
o o o
"I told you so" Department: House
passes bill to make coin-making cheaper.
Steel or zinc "nickels" now seem inevitable. Did you stock up on real nickel nickels, as
a I suggested, back in November of 2007? It is still not too late to acquire
some rolls of five cent pieces at face value.
o o o
SF in Hawaii sent us the link to a well-produced Flash animation web page
that articulates the
core of libertarian thinking.
Jim's Quote of the Day:
"There comes a time in every man's life when he is called upon to do something
very special; something for which he and only he has the capabilities, has
the skills and has the necessary training. What a pity if the moment finds
the man unprepared." - Winston Churchill
Notes from JWR:
I'm scheduled to be interviewed on Steve Quayle's "Q Flles" Internet/shortwave radio show today at 4 p.m., Pacific time (7 p.m. Eastern time.)
The high bid in the current SurvivalBlog
Benefit Auction is now at $325. This auction is for
four items: A FoodSaver
GameSaver Turbo Plus heavy duty food vacuum packaging system (a retail
value of $297) kindly donated by Ready
Made Resources an autographed copy of : "Rawles
on Retreats and Relocation", an autographed copy of "SurvivalBlog:
The Best of the Blog", and a copy of "The Encyclopedia
of Country Living", by the late Carla Emery. The four items have
a combined retail value of around $395. The auction ends in three
days--on May15th. Please e-mail us
your
bids, in $10 increments.
Letter Re: Nomex Flight Suits for Ground Troops in Iraq
Dear Mr Rawles,
Just wanted to thank you for SurvivalBlog, and I especially like the useful
tidbits from the troops overseas. I was a Navy Corpsman / combat advisor
with a Marine
[Corps] Police Transition Team (PTT) in Hadithah six months after the alleged
massacre, interesting times for sure.We got in-country in August 2006, and
the Nomex
suits were just catching on [with Marines]. We managed to snag a set for
each of our 10- man team.
The only real reg[ulation]s were that at Al Asad or any large Garrison type
Base they wanted you wearing camouflage [utilities], otherwise they fine
with
the
Nomex, the big deal [with IED flash
burns] was the synthetic Under Armor type shirts
that
are
great for staying dry and cool(er) but [in a flash fire] will melt to your
skin. the Uniforms weren't really the problem. I prefer the uniform especially
on patrol, it goes back to training, with my uniform I know where all the
pockets are, and most importantly I can wear a belt and not feel like I'm
wearing a dress.
I hit one IED in Hadithah, which means I was a lucky b****rd.,
I was in the
back [of the vehicle]. Two other [Marine]s got med-flighted out. We had been
totally engulfed in the blast and flames but no one got burned. Thanks again,
- Matt B.
Letter Re: Triage in Emergency Mass Critical Care (EMCC) Event
Dear JWR:
I feel that there is a strong premonition in the article you flagged on Wednesday
(Who Should Doctors Let Die in a Pandemic?) This hit the Main Stream Media
(MSM) early this week and quickly fell off the news cycle. The topic is simply
too uncomfortable. The original
articles were published in the medical journal Chest (The
Journal of the American College of Chest Physicians and are very dry and
difficult reading even for a physician. This is unfortunate because it is a
salient topic
which needs to be vigorously publicly debated (instead of who got voted off – insert
various “reality TV” show). It has specific implications for those
of us reading your SurvivalBlog. Several recent postings in SurvivalBlog (specifically
two discussions initiated by questions
raised by DS in Wisconsin )
show this to be a paramount topic.
I would like to address some of these issues by means of an analogy to the
area I live and work. We have a typical, financially struggling, small (100
bed) non-profit hospital serving a population area of approximately 50,000.
Down the road is the “Medical Mecca” (actually more than one) with
total bed capacity in the thousands. Our small hospital has an 8-bed Intensive
Care Unit (ICU) which is always full, with the typical patient in one of the
various states of terminal disease processes. When a critical care patient
leaves the Operating Room (OR), there is the usual story of “Musical
Beds”, where a patient has to be transferred to “make room” in
the ICU. This usually involves transferring the least critical patient to the “Step
Down Unit” (SDU). ICU patient transfers to the “ Mecca ” typically
takes 24-48 hours because their beds are also constantly full. Our hospital
owns four ICU ventilators, and if the number of patients requiring ventilation
exceeds this, additional units have to be delivered from the “medical
supply house”, which also provides rental units to the “Medical
Mecca”. Due to financial constraints, there is no “surge capacity” in
the system. In the typical bureaucratic system, the “mirage” of
available space is accomplished by simply “redefining” a given
patient from “Intensive Care” to something less, either wholly
inside our hospital or by including the “Mecca” in the system (as
in a “larger” system). [JWR Adds: I briefly discussed
the chronic shortage of ventilators in my
static article on Asian Avian Influenza.
I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment
of the shortfalls in
medical delivery infrastructure!]
The issues addressed by the articles in Chest concerned Emergency
Mass Critical Care (EMCC) events, prototypically pandemic influenza. In such
a situation,
even the “mirage” of available space breaks down because you cannot “enlarge” the
system by including more “geographical” area since each additional
area is encompassed by the same problem. The currently circulating “bird
flu” H5N1 is a particularly nasty bug, more closely resembling the various “hemorrhagic
fevers” than typical influenza when infecting humans. The syndrome includes
pulmonary edema (fluid collecting in the lungs, i.e. drowning in own secretions),
disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) (internal bleeding) and multi-system
organ failure (kidney and/or heart failure, etc.). Treatment typically includes
intensive hemodynamic and ventilatory support until the body can clear the
infection and heal. Even in our relatively rural area, it would not be unreasonable
to expect to have tens, if not hundreds, of patients needing this level support
in order to survive. The “Mecca ” will see proportionately more
demand.
The recommendations of the authors of the Chest articles are well reasoned
and intelligent, but totally impractical in our financially strapped and egalitarian
healthcare system. These recommendations include providing for the ability
to surge to three times the ICU capacity and provide for 10 days of service
without resupply. Due to shortages of trained nurses, our ICU depends on locum
tenens (contract agency) nurses to staff the ICU and medical care is provided
by a single pulmonologist (physician specializing in lung diseases). It is
totally impractical from a staffing issue to provide 3x surge capacity. As
far as inventory, 10 days is an eternity. Where will the money come from to
stockpile these items and medications (our hospital only has about 30 days
of operating cash on hand)? Will the staff forego a paycheck in order for this
to occur? Additionally, the “medical supply house” typically only
has a couple of unissued ventilators at any given time, before having to “tap
into” their larger supply chain (i.e. maybe a dozen or so “extra” in
the entire State). Where do you expect these to be issued in such a crisis
(try not to be cynical, but I suspect it will be near the State capitol)?
The most difficult (albeit the most logical) recommendations concerns the rationing
of the scarce healthcare resources. They suggest that the effort should go
to those most likely to survive, instead of those likely to die (i.e. those
most likely to benefit from the therapy). This is described as making a medical
decision for the entire population, instead of an individual patient. The goal
is to maximize survival in the population (at the expense of individual survival).
The difficult question is: Who should get the resources and whom should be “redefined” into
the “expectant” (i.e. expected to die) category? Should the ventilator
go to the college student with severe pulmonary edema or the nursing home patient
with the stroke? Should the neonatal/pediatric ICU bed space go to the 20 week
premature infant or the previously healthy two year old? If only these decisions
would be this straightforward. Who is going to tell the family that grandmother
doesn’t meet criteria? Who is going to care for the other patients while
the situation is explained (repeatedly) to these families (typically hours
with each family)? Do you think that that family will quietly accept the decision
or will there be riots? Do you ever wonder why during a food riot, the first
thing destroyed is the bakery? Do you think healthcare providers will show
up for work at an armed camp with constant rioting or stay home and care for
their own family? Would you go to work in a similar situation?
As in most things health related, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of
cure. With communicable diseases, isolation and personal hygiene are the most
important. These are issues which do not need to be described to the SurvivalBlog
family (look at the archives), but should be seriously discussed within your
own family/group. In regards to the questions raised concerning emergency medical
transport and personal/retreat medical stockpiling, it is an important consideration.
In such a crisis situation, transportation is likely to be futile, if not fatal.
While nobody should expect to have a personal ventilator in their medical kit,
a supply of IV fluids and electrolyte preparation should be standard for those
who know how to administer it. Antipyretics (fever reducers) and antispasmodics/antiemetics
(diarrhea and nausea medication) should also be standard fare as well as easily
digestible foods. A broad-spectrum antibiotic would also be warranted for bacterial
superinfection, although everyone should already know that antibiotics do not
treat viral infections. The data on antivirals (amantadine, rimantadine and
oseltamivir/Tamiflu) is inconclusive at best and contradictory at worst concerning
H5N1 [Asian Avian Influenza], but if they are available it may be prudent to
have some on hand.
It is unfortunate that the public discussion of this topic has died such an
untimely death. Perhaps a little more debate would spare a few hospitals from
the ultimate riots, but I am not enthusiastic, human nature being what it is.
In this era of “Hope and Change”, especially with regards to healthcare,
it will undoubtedly be continued deterioration. We will continue to spend the
majority of healthcare dollars in the last six months of life, instead of helping
the survival of those most likely to survive. In summary, logical evaluation
of such a crisis leads to an illogical result (riots and destruction of the
healthcare system). We will likely be left with taking care of ourselves and
our family. - NC Bluedog
Two Letters Re: Physical Preparation--How to Survive When Your Gear Doesn't, by T. Davies
Mr. Rawles:
T. Davies' letter begins with the proper assumption, that most
people reading it will be suffering from hardening arteries and softening backsides,
and NOW
is the time to reverse the trend. Swimming, walking (especially), and running
are all good exercises and abilities to possess and cultivate.
Beyond that, his comments range from dangerous (foot conditioning) to the plainly
fallacious and silly (Tae Kwon Doe Masters kick harder than any others!). Where
to begin?
Firstly, as to foot conditioning: yes, most of us could use some foot toughening,
but the author ignores the fact that the African Bushman, as well as any other
barefoot Aboriginal type he'd care to mention, is a tiny grasile creature,
with very little extra weight (muscle or fat) on his bones. Therefore his body
density
to total body mass is much greater than his Northern European counterpart. Humans
have become much larger, particularly in the past fifty years in this
country. Why? ask your local anthropologist...diet, genetics, it's really just
a guess,
but the Aboriginal is small because a small man requires less food to sustain
himself. Thus, diminutive size is a survival advantage on a daily basis. Also,
the Aborigine, when on walkabout, isn't carrying a pack, rifle, ammo, and water,
along with assorted medical supplies and munitions. He has, at most, a bow and
a few arrows, and maybe some sort of water carrier. That's it. Walking
around barefoot while burdened is asking for permanent foot injury, unless you
are a
Sherpa by birth. Limping and gimping about is the quickest surest route to becoming
every MZBs first and favorite target. Modern boots are a bargain. Buy the best
you can afford that fit you well, then buy two more pair and rotate them! Survival
is dependent on one's ability to MOVE (Motionless Operators Ventilate Easily).
The first thing one does when in a fight with a stronger adversary is to degrade
his ability to move. (Read: chase you.)
Which brings us to the Martial Arts section:
Karate is highly focused on repetition, not kata, and makes greatest use of powerful
linear attacks.
Tae Kwon Do masters kick no harder than any other masters. (I have been kicked
by, and kicked, masters in almost every Martial Art taught in North America,
and I have come out on the winning end of most of the exchanges. The hardest
kicks weren't by Tae Kwon Do masters, and I don't practice Tae Kwon Do.) Backup
mass is one of for Major components in generating power in all motion: Backup
mass,
timing,
balance, and speed. There are many others, and these apply to ALL motion, fighting
or otherwise. Notice, the term used is Backup, not body mass. without alignment
with the direction of one's attack, the size of the body doesn't matter. Imagine
me swinging a wooden arrow at you, arm fully extended. Now, imagine the same
effort being exerted, but this time I am thrusting the arrow ...get the point?
Tai Chi is the root form (or the closest living relative) of all Chinese, and
therefore by default Japanese, Okinawan and Korean martial Arts. The deadly fighters
mentioned are master fighters, schooled in many styles and systems not just Tai
Chi masters,
Kung Fu is a generic term applied to Chinese Martial Arts (as opposed to karate
for Japanese/ Okinawan). I have never seen a generic "Kung Fu" school
in this country. Most honor their distinct heritage proudly (wing chun, qi gong,
jeet kun do, kempo, kenpo etc. Ed Parker's American Kenpo karate is considered
kung fu by many, due to its origins in China) It is no harder to learn than any
other form of fighting art.
Ninjitsu is an art I have no personal experience in, so my only comment would
be that time spent practicing with arcane weaponry would be better spent practicing
firearms proficiency. One may be able to disguise a sword as a walking cane (I
do it all the time) but a Glock tucks right into the trousers as easily. Efficiency
first, esoteric later...
Aikido is based on two principles, both using an opponent's energy (their attack)
against him. First is evacuating the line of attack; second is turning big circles
into smaller circles (a declining radius/apex arc, in engineering terms). Judo is
not a sport form of Aikido. Aikido is a "sporting" version
of Aikijuitsu, the Martial Art practiced in the Japanese Imperial Court. Judo
is a "sporting" version
of jujitsu.
Jujitsu is a grappling art, not just focused on grappling.
Brazilian jujitsu
is a "ring" oriented style. The greatest weakness with any style of "-jitsu" is
that it is singular combat, and bad guys come in bunches, and it is becoming
more ring-oriented (i.e., more "rules", ala boxing). I had a kid try
an arm bar on me the other day. He caught me by surprise, got the legs around
my arm and neck, but before he could straighten it , I locked my hands together,
put a foot on his throat, and began to lift. I may be old, but I'm still plenty
mean, quick, and crafty, and if you want to cheap-shot me in my own school, I'm
more than happy to play rough! Needless to say, as my weight and his and my pulling
all became directed on his neck via my foot, his efforts ceased precipitously,
and he tapped out immediately and vigorously!
Please do not misunderstand my comments, but [Mr. Davies'] misinformation must
be
corrected
before it becomes "common knowledge". After all, you and SurvivalBlog
have become the "source of record" for the survivalist movement
with the mainstream media. FWIW, - Bonehead
Jim:
Regarding Mr. T. Davies' statement: "When you run, you should never
touch the heels of your feet to the ground."
Is completely incorrect as is most of the rest of his remarks on running. To
be honest the above statement is correct only if the runner
is sprinting. Long distance running (800 meters or more) can be run on the
heals of your feet!
At least I do, and my knees have not been the problem.
For some really good advise on running please see Running
World and
Running Ahead. The latter has some really good runners that post often
and are very helpful to both new and old runners alike.
I started running after walking the One America 500 Festival Mini Marathon
a few years ago. I run to control my Type 2 diabetes sans medication. And so
far so good
For new runners, do a web search on "Couch to 5K race" training program
and follow it. It is a great way to start your running.
Some general rules to follow.
Build miles slowly. Don't add more than 10% to your weekly miles per
week. In other words if you currently are running a mile a day for six days
a week then next week should be no more than 0.6 miles more.
You should have one long easy run per week, and that run should be
no longer than 30% of your weekly total miles
An easy run should be at a pace where you can carry on a normal conversation
with your running partner
Cross train. It is important to have good core strength. If you don't you
joints will attempt to move in directions the joint was not meant to go.
And stretch before and after your runs. This is a must. The before run stretch
is always after a nice 3 or 4 minute warm up session. Never do this "cold"!!
Don't be afraid of walking some of your miles! Here is a fact: A lot of runners
that keep missing qualifying for the Boston Marathon attempting to run all of the
distance in qualifying races. When they start doing recoveries (walking) some
of the distance, they find they make the qualifying time.
These rules will generally help and I want to repeat that: They will help in
avoiding injuries. But very lucky is the person that completely avoids running
injuries.
The number one rule for running (and even walking) is getting the proper shoe
and having it properly fitted to your gait! This, more than anything,
helps avoid injuries! Do a web search on running clubs in your area and contact
them. Ask them where
they go to get fitted for the proper shoes. The people in these shops are trained
to watch you run and most of the top shops have machines that analyze your
gait in the shop and see the mechanics of how you run, then fitting you to
the proper shoe. To skip this process in your running is like buying a nice
new .45 ACP then stocking up on .357 ammo. There are going to be problems!
And be prepared to pay from $75 to about $110 for good shoes. I have not spent
more
than $95
to include tax on any of my shoes. The price range can go to $250 and above,
but you still are going to be replacing them at between 300 and 500 miles no
matter what you spend, so don't unless you just have to have the absolute
top of the line. Oh and one other thing, NB 767 bought at Penney's for $55
is not the
same NB 767 bought at the Runners Shop for $85. You will be replacing them
in 150 to 250 miles. That is not saving money!! Tracking shoe miles is where
Running Ahead comes
in. There is a top of the line free on line log
there and the tools are great! You can lay out training runs complete with
miles. water stops etc. You can toggle between street mapping and Sat images
and even graph the course elevations.
And don't forget to enter some local races. You'll meet some great people and
learn more about running and your body than you ever thought possible! Where
I live we have Pace for the Race Training each year. It is a group that meets
to train for 15 to 16 Saturdays before the Indianapolis Mini. For several weeks
before we run that morning we have guests come in and teach us the things we
need to know to avoid bad knees, shin splints and ITBS (ITBS hurts like h**l!)
Hope this helps. There is nothing like completing your first 5K or half-marathon!
- Gregg S.
Odds 'n Sods:
FerFAL--SurvivalBlog's correspondent in Argentina--reports in his personal blog
on the
effects
from
the
volcanic
eruption in adjoining Chile.
o
o o
We found this linked at Steve Quayle's site: As usual, journalist Ambrose
Evans-Pritchard pulls no punches: Global
free
market for food and energy faces biggest threat in decades
o o o
Bob at Ready Made Resources mentioned that they have just five cases each
of the following Mountain House freeze dried foods briefly back in
stock, available for immediate delivery:
Spaghetti and Meat Sauce $110 per case
Chicken and Rice $110 per case
Beef Stew $165 per case
Beef Stroganoff $125 per case
Lasagna $165 per case
Full cases only (six #10 cans, one gallon size). Sorry, no mixing and matching.
Because these are in such short supply, this is a "by phone order only" special.
Call: 1-800-627-3809
o o o
From Dr. Gary North: Mapping
the implosion of the real estate bubble
Jim's Quote of the Day:
“It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making
decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no
price for being wrong.” - Thomas Sowell
Note from JWR:
Today we present another article for Round 16 of the SurvivalBlog
non-fiction writing contest. The writer of the best non-fiction article
will win two valuable four day "gray" transferable Front
Sight course certificates. (Worth up to $4,000!) Second prize is a copy
of my "Rawles
Gets You Ready" preparedness course, generously donated by Jake
Stafford of Arbogast Publishing. Round 16 ends on May 31st,
so get busy writing and e-mail us your
entries. Remember that articles that relate practical "how to" skills
for survival will have an advantage in the judging.
Physical Preparation--How to Survive When Your Gear Doesn't, by T. Davies
There is a lot of information online and in print about what gear
to have on hand if the worst happens, tons and tons about how to store food,
fuel, etc. There is even a plethora of information on how to get food and
build shelter in the extremes. All of this leaves out some crucial elements.
In this article you are going to see how to prepare your body and
mind for
working without equipment in adverse or even brutal conditions. the steps
involved are extremely labour intensive. What you do with it is up to you.
If you are out hunting and home base catches fire, will you be able to get
to a location suitable for shelter in a reasonable amount of time? If everything
goes wrong and your supply caches are gone, the fuel stores have burned and
the damned jeep is toast, is your body in the kind of shape it needs to be
in to survive? If you are confronted by an attacker and your ammo is long gone,
can you win in hand to hand?
Even the basics, like walking for a full day, are beyond most people in North
America. This isn't a natural condition, and is not true in most of the world.
In the highlands of Papua New Guinea a native will still walk a full day with
a spear sticking through his leg if conditions require it. In the plains of
Africa it is not uncommon for a tribesman to run a hundred kilometers in a
day. This level of survival is available to anyone if they simply take the
steps and do the work to build it.
A good place to start is with walking. People think that walking requires good
shoes or boots. Nothing could be further from the truth. Some form of light
foot covering such as a moccasin is useful but not necessary and most of the
walking footwear out there will actually get in your way over long distances.
Your feet are built with natural springs in the form of the muscle in the arch
of the foot, most footwear destroys that muscle by giving constant support
for the arch. Your feet are also supposed to bend at the toes, most footwear
restricts movement through the toes. Then there is ankle support. In rough
terrain your ankles are supposed to constantly modify their angle in order
to maximize your footing, string ankle support actually prevents your ankles
from being able to do their job. Finally we come to padding. Padding in shoes
is supposed to cushion you from shocks. It actually does the exact opposite,
providing no protection for impacts above 5 psi while preventing the bodies
natural feedback mechanisms from reporting the true strength of your impact.
Put another way, wearing those expensive hiking shoes can really mess up your
legs over any kind of real distance. As stated above, simple moccasins are
great as they offer a degree of protection to you feet, but they do lack durability.
Other options include Nike Free's (the cross trainers are not as good from
the foot health perspective but are much better than a normal shoe and will
last a very long time). Alternatively, Parade boots have no padding at all
and as such are better than hiking boots and last almost forever, while being
very cheap from most surplus stores. Of course, barefoot is ideal and your
feet will toughen up over time. Any of the walking options mentioned above
will take a lot of getting used to. If you are unused to walking with this
kind of footwear, you should start to practice now. The first few days will
cause you pain in areas that are unfamiliar. After a few days the pain will
mitigate and you will be able to walk faster than you were able to before,
but you still won't have much in the way of arch muscle so anytime you push
it you are going to experience muscle fatigue. Push yourself, but keep in mind
that if you push too hard you will injure the muscle and be in worse shape
than before you started. It can take quite a long time for a muscle that hasn't
really been used since early childhood to develop, so be patient with it.
Running would be the next spot. Again, footwear has all of the same problem
associated with it as it does in walking, plus there are some thing you will
probably need to unlearn before you can be an effective runner. When you run,
you should never touch the heels of your feet to the ground. The pattern is
toes to ball or mid-foot, use the toes to launch again (this requires very
developed foot arch muscles). Running on your heels means that the impact if
transferring
to your knees, causing minute damage with each step. The accumulation of that
damage will increase your odds of a serious knee injury, usually within the
first your of running. In a true survival situation your legs are your best
friends, treat them with kindness and respect and they will outlast any vehicle,
cover terrain that even a horse can't touch and keep you going when everything
else has failed. Breathing is another aspect of running. If you have ever done
track, odds are good you were taught how to breathe. Unfortunately you were
taught wrong. When you run you should breathe exclusively through your nose.
There will be a strong temptation to breathe out through your mouth (after
all, that is what we were all taught). The problem with that is twofold. One,
it rapidly expels all the Carbon Dioxide in your blood. This seems like a good
idea, but in reality we require a small CO2 reserve to allow us to properly
absorb oxygen. Without that reserve, you are simply making your body operate
with less oxygen than it should have. Two, mucus. This sound fairly unpleasant,
but mucus exists in our body for very good reason. In this case it helps to
lubricate the nasal passages, but needs strong out breaths to flow properly.
If you try running on a cold day, you will notice that for the first few minutes
every in breathe through the nasal passages hurts, but once the mucus is being
pumped properly the pain goes away. There is one other benefit of nasal breathing:
many asthmatics who have tried it have found that they become asymptomatic
and remain so. There is no real research on this, so these are purely anecdotal
accounts, however the sheer volume of them is fairly persuasive.
So now you can walk somewhere and run if you need to put on a burst of speed.
This is where the advanced stuff comes in. Parkour is a discipline that was
created in France in the late eighties by a man named David Belle. Parkour
is essentially the art of running
away really fast in places that your pursuer probably can't follow. The
best info on parkour will come from local communities, but barring that, the
Parkour.net web site is
a great resource. [JWR Adds: This
video clip and this
one of the notorious "Ninja For Hire" show the more extreme aspects
of the art. Disclaimer: Kids, Do not try this at home! Their interpretation of the "art" seems foolhardy, especially engaging in practice jumping without at least wearing a rock climbing helmet!] What follows is more
of a brief summary
of
the
training
and methodologies
involved.
A huge part of Parkour is the idea of gradual progression. When you begin
training you should practice landing as much as you can. Go to a flight
of stairs and
go up one step. Turn and face the bottom of the stairs and then jump off.
When you jump, lift your legs as high as you can in front of you, and then
bring
them down so that they are almost straight (just a slight bend in the knees)
and point your toes. Your feet should be a little more than shoulder width
apart. Land on your toes, spreading the impact across all of them. As the
impact starts to hit, bend your feet until you hit the balls of your feet,
resisting
with your foot muscles. Then start to sink down using your thigh muscles,
while resisting as much as you can. You should end with your hands on the
ground,
between your feet. Listen to your landing, it should be almost silent. Once
you can do that perfectly a hundred times, move up to the next step and start
the process again. There is no point where you are finished training how
to land, practitioners of parkour who have been doing it from the start
still
train how to land every day. That is fairly typical of parkour training,
intensive repetition combined with conditioning and incremental improvement.
The key
skills are: landing, rolling, vaulting, climbing, jumping, and running. Parkour
can save your life in literally hundreds of situations, from extracting yourself
from a burning building (the creator was a fire fighter in France) to escaping
pursuit, but it isn't a casual discipline and requires a very high degree
of commitment.
Swimming is another skill that every survivalist should have. For swimming,
it is probably enough to be able to cover a lot of distance although the
stronger a swimmer you are, the better.
Finally there is unarmed combat. While parkour can keep you out of most situations
involving hand to hand combat, there may come a time where it is needed (either
because you are unable to formulate an escape route, or if you are diligent
with parkour more likely because you are protecting a loved one who is unable
to escape). Obviously there are many, many styles of martial art, and many
factors as to which one is going to suit you best.
Karate is the classic martial art, because it was really the first one that
western audiences had a large exposure to, but that doesn't mean it is the
right one for you. Karate is highly focused on Katas [(choreographed sequences
of footwork, kicks, strikes, and blocks)] and improvement can be slow, while
many believe that Katas are actually detrimental to your
ability
to win a fight (Bruce Lee was among those who believed this.) Having said
that, many people find the rigid discipline of Karate valuable, and it does
leave
you far better equipped in a fight than an untrained opponent.
Tae Kwon Do is more focused on mastering very hard, very effective punches
and kicks. A Tae Kwon Do master actually kicks harder than someone of the
same skill in any other discipline. Improvement tends to be fairly rapid,
with the
average time to black belt being around 3 years at 100 lessons a year and
diligent practice. One down side of this is that physical condition is imperative,
on
the other hand diligent practice at Tae Kwon Do tends to leave you in great
shape. Body mass is also a major advantage, as it is the main source of power.
Tai Chi is not usually thought of as a martial art, but more as an exercise
for elderly Chinese people. However, Tai Chi teaches you a huge amount about
redirection of force and using spirals to create energy. Some of the most
effective fighters in the world are Tai Chi masters.
Kung Fu is actually not one style of martial art, but it is usually taught
as a single style in the west and so is being considered that way here. Kung
Fu is probably the most stylized of all the martial arts listed here, and
takes the most time to master. There is a high focus on Kata again, and a
high demand
for physical conditioning. Basically, Kung Fu is really, really hard to master.
Once you do, it is very difficult to beat. The amount of time you can dedicate
to it and your passion for the beauty of the movement should be the determining
factor in taking up this martial art.
Ninjitsu is a Japanese martial art that is very different from the rest on
this list. Ninjitsu was a peasant martial art, designed to take on opponents
who were better armed, armored and equipped in a situation where if you
were caught training with weapons you would be killed summarily. As such,
ninjitsu
is eminently practical. Kata's simply don't exist in ninjitsu and most moves
are designed around deception and redirection. Joint locks, low kicks and
nasty nerve strikes are the main weapons, as well as a thorough training
in stealth.
Aikido is an art that focuses on redirecting your opponents force and moving
them off balance. Aikido is very effective for smaller people, as it doesn't
rely on your body mass or ability to generate force at all. It uses many
of the same locks and throws as ninjitsu, but is more focused on them. Judo
is
basically a sport version of aikido and probably shouldn't be your first
choice for unarmed combat.
Jujitsu has been receiving a lot of focus lately as it is the most common
martial art in modern mixed martial arts competitions. It is focused primarily
on grappling. A really good jujitsu fighter can beat most other styles if
they can get the fight to the ground, but there is inherent risk associated
with the process of getting someone to the ground. That is why most Jujitsu
fighters cross train at least one striking martial art as well.
There are many, many other styles out there (Capoeira, Savate, Kick boxing,
Muay thai, Escrima, Krav-maga, Jeet kun-do, etc.) each of which has its own
specialties. The one to take is a very individual choice but all require
dedication and focus. Parkour and Tai Chi seem to be a common combination,
although Parkour
tends to magnify your abilities in any martial art due to the simple physical
awareness and athleticism it imparts.
Of course, strength training is important for any and all physical routines
(for Parkour a strict body weight routine is strongly encouraged) and
the more cardio you do the better your endurance will be.
In the end, the only tool you can't lose is your own body so it makes sense
to keep that tool in as good a condition - T. Davies
JWR Adds: I do not recommend the "foot toughening" approach and/or wearing minimalist foot gear that lack thick soles and arch support--such as moccasins or ninja tabi--for preparedness. Note that this foot gear would be mutually exclusive with Parkour, which requires foot protection. It is also out of the question for anyone living in an area with long-spined cacti (such as Cholla), or for anyone that might ever have to do any karst climbing or reef walking. Foot toughening also requires a commitment of time and a level of training dedication that few adults can afford. You will note, for example that barefoot competitive runners are few and far between. ]
Letter Re: The SurvivalBlog 10 Cent Challenge
Mr. Rawles,
Over the past few months some relatives and I have been reading SurvivalBlog.com.
However, we have been "SurvivalBlog Voyeurs", lurking in the cyber-shadows,
benefiting from usable information while failing to contribute to the 10
Cent Challenge [voluntary subscription program]. Well,
we shall lurk no more! The next time I am in town, I pledge to mail you my
contribution, and my son-in-law says that he will do the same.
Thank
you for your generous site, and I would encourage others who benefit from the information here to
do the same: Support SurvivalBlog. It is the site that brings the world a uniquely
critical link to helpful information. - KMA
Odds 'n Sods:
Jack B. forwarded this: Wheat
disease threatens supplies.
o o o
Reader KBF found a
mainstream media article that has good general advice and great links for
food cost savings: Tips
for taming rising grocery prices.
o o o
Frustrated
owners try to unload their guzzlers.
o o o
Oil
surpasses $125 per barrel ahead of US driving season.
Jim's Quote of the Day:
"Once the coffers of the federal government are opened to the public,
there will be no shutting them again." - Grover Cleveland
Wars, and Rumors of War
I got a hoax press release on Friday about Chile declaring war on Peru. But meanwhile, there are lots of real wars gong on. Fierce
fighting has broken out in Lebanon. And to top
it off, crude
oil spiked to an all-time high of $126 per barrel, in part because
of tensions between Venezuela and Columbia.
In the midst of all this war news, the ongoing global grain shortage crisis
is likely to cause additional civil wars, and possibly cross-border wars. It
is
all too
clear that we are living in very dangerous times. Let's call them fragile times.
In such circumstances
it is
prudent to be well prepared. Si vis pacem, para bellum.
If you haven't done so already, get your beans, bullets, and Band-Aids squared
away, muy
pronto.
This advice is meant for all of SurvivalBlog's
readers--all over the globe. (We
have readers in 130+ countries.) Modern commerce is now so globalized
that shortages and conflict anywhere affect us all. Pray hard.
Letter Re: Advice on Stocking Up on Batteries
Sir;
I was wondering: How many batteries should I store for all my radios, flashlights,
smoke detectors, and so forth? I'm also planning to get night vision goggles,
soon. I assume rechargeables, right? If so, what kind [of rechargeables], and
who has
the
best prices? - T.E.
in
Memphis.
JWR Replies: I recommend buying mainly nickel metal hydride
(NiMH) batteries. Stock up plenty of them, including some extras for
barter and charity. Unlike the older Nickel Cadmium (NiCd) technology, NiMHs
do not have
a "memory" effect.
(The diminished capacity because of the memory effect has always been one
of the greatest drawbacks to NiCds batteries.) The best of the breed are the latest Low Self Discharge (LSD) variants, such as the Sanyo Eneloop.
One discount supplier with a
very good selection that I can enthusiastically recommend is All-Battery.com.
They
also have great prices on "throw away" batteries, such a lithium CR-123s.
Four Letters Re: Advanced Medical Training and Facilities for Retreat Groups
James
In response to BES in Washington's comment on Paramedics and EMTs I must say
that I agree when it comes to workaday medics. A great benefit to having
the years of training as a paramedic is that it earns
you some credibility.
My advice to paramedics and long time EMTs is to speak to your training officers
and EMS directors and find out if your supervising physician or another doctor
would be willing to mentor you in surgery[, though observation]. I had the
opportunity starting with my paramedic internship to make relationships with
quality doctors
who wanted to mentor me in advanced surgical skills which were often outside
my scope of practice. It is important to somehow become a student under the
hospital so their insurance or that of your school will cover you or
this is a pointless exercise.
Getting advanced mentoring means establishing a bond of trust. You need to
convince the surgeons and doctors that you are reliable as well as being the
type of person that they want to have in their O.R. for hours. It doesn't hurt
to mention a desire to go to medical school in the future, I believe it was
my interest and reliability that opened many doors to advanced training that
might have otherwise would have remained closed.
The other thing that helped me was taking a part time job in the E.R. on my
off days, it was easy to have my beeper go off and run to the O.R. when there
was a surgical emergency. I got to see trauma calls come in and because of
my special training relationship with many of the doctors and departments I
was able to follow many cases from the door to the ICU. I made many career
decisions based on the opportunity to advance my skills.
In the end, once you are inside the system as a professional start asking for
extra training, remember that the title Doctor means teacher and if approached
with the proper attitude most good doctors are very happy to help you learn.
- David in Israel
Jim:
Just a quick note regarding medical training. While the combat medic courses
look okay, they are limited. EMT courses require a lot of advanced equipment.
A much better option would be a Wilderness First Responder (WFR) course.
It is an 80 hour course over about 10 days that teaches extended care and
injury
management. It is the gold standard in the outdoor industry. The "wilderness" designation
means that definitive medical care is more than an hour away--and then trains
you to deal long evacuations or extended care.
There are a number of places offering WFR courses throughout the United States.
You can contact the Wilderness
Medicine Institute of NOLS for a list of courses,
as well as others. What we like about the WMI courses is that they focus on
real world scenarios, as well as judgment. They are
not about memorizing lists, but about learning how to make good decisions under
stress. The courses and on-going recertification are more than worth it, as
they keep you sharp and up to date on what the latest issues and concerns are
in wilderness medicine.
Perhaps the best thing about WMI and related companies is that their instructors
are in the field teaching and doing wilderness medicine all the time--they
know what works and what doesn't work.- Mark R.
Dear Jim,
Thank you for sending us your autographed copy of the best of the blog and
the patriots. In response to the posting "Letter Re: Advanced Medical
Training and Facilities for Retreat Groups"
I commend the writer for addressing these important issues. Here are a few
thoughts to add: Over the years, the field of medicine has become very complex,
including training, equipment, and delivery. Lets look at each of these individually.
First, training. It used to be that every physician went through medical school,
then completed a general practitioner residency and then specialized in a particular
field if they were so inclined. About 10 years ago, that all changed. Now,
even before medical school is completed, the students decide which area
of medicine they would like to pursue and go directly into that residency program
without becoming a general practitioner first. What
this means is that physician's knowledge is highly specialized. Physicians
are good at what they do, but lack the knowledge/experience to perform tasks
outside their area of expertise. For example, if you were to suffer a bone
injury which
required an operation, the person you would need to see would be an orthopedic
surgeon. However, they
would most likely not feel comfortable putting you to sleep. For that,
you would need an anesthetist. And, if you also had and abdominal wound (e.g.
gunshot),
the orthopedic surgeon would most likely not feel
comfortable operating. For that, you would need a general or a trauma surgeon.
And if you happened to have burns associated with your injury, you are best
off with a plastic surgeon. Now throw a diabetic patient into the picture (for
which you need an internist), and you get the picture.
I am a physician, having recently graduated after 14 years of university, including
a biochemistry degree, a medical degree, and five years of residency specializing
in oncology. If you have cancer, I will
know what to do, but if you put me in an operating room, we're all in trouble!
The point is that if you have "one physician" in your survival group,
don't expect them to be able to do everything. Medicine is very multi-disciplinary:
General surgeons are best at abdominal wounds and trauma
Plastic surgeons are best at handling burns
Orthopedic surgeons are best at dealing with bone fractures
Internists deal with medical problems like diabetes and heart disease
Anesthetists provide anesthetic to put you to sleep for the operation
Oncologists deal with cancer
Pulmonologists deal with ventilators and such, et cetera.
All of these are highly specialized physicians, but physicians knowledge of
cross specialties is limited!
Second, equipment. In third world countries, physicians have wonderful diagnostic
skills based on physical examination of the patient. Most American physicians
don't have these skills. We rely very
heavily on tests including X-rays, ultrasounds, CT scans, MRI scans, PET scans,
angiography, blood work, laboratory tests with pathologic interpretation, etc,
just to name a few. All of these require expensive equipment, laboratories,
power to run them, and a radiologist or pathologist (specialized physician)
to interpret them. Asking a physician to diagnose your ailments without being
able to perform any of these tests is like asking your mechanic to tell you
what is wrong with
your car without allowing him to lift the hood. It is very difficult! Thus,
even
if you have a physician with appropriate knowledge in your survival group,
if they don't have access to their equipment, they will be very limited in
what they can do.
Third, delivery. Let's assume that a member of your group becomes ill and
that 1) you have a physician in your group with appropriate knowledge and 2)
the physician has access to equipment which allows them to diagnose your ailment.
Then, the physician would know how to treat you. However, there is a big jump
from knowing what you need to actually being able to deliver it.
For example, suppose a member of your group developed a bacterial pneumonia.
Lets say your physician was able to perform a chest xray to confirm this. Now
the physician knows how to treat you. You need an antibiotic. Now the problem
becomes access to appropriate medications/treatment.
What if your retreat does not have any antibiotics on hand? or insulin? or
nitroglycerin? or Fentanyl/Versed (anesthetic)? or IV fluids? or blood? or
chemotherapy? etc. Many of these are difficult to access and/or store.
In summary, the current healthcare system is highly complex in its training,
equipment, and delivery. Many of these issues need to be thought out beforehand
when planning your medical room at your retreat. - KLK
Dear JWR & SurvivalBlog Readers (especially DS in Wisconsin ):
I would like to respond to DS concerning his questions. I agree wholeheartedly
that nobody should try on-the-job training for medical care without a good
mentor. That is what nursing and medical training is for as JWR strongly suggests.
I also agree that the human body is complex and can be inadvertently damaged
with attempted care. However, the human body does have an amazing ability to
repair damage if allowed. This is why I strongly suggested learning techniques
to control and stop bleeding, replace lost intravascular fluids and limit infection.
In trauma, there is the concept known as the “Golden Hour”. During
the first hour after a near-fatal injury, the body can compensate for bleeding
by shutting down perfusion of not immediately critical tissues such as kidneys,
skin, muscles and extremities, thus permitting limited perfusion of heart,
lungs and brain. This is a state known as shock. If the patient can be stabilized
in the first hour, the likelihood of survival is dramatically increased. This
is accomplished by controlling bleeding and replacing lost fluids. Nearly everyone
can be trained to control bleeding, since holding pressure on a dressing is
not difficult. Starting an IV is slightly more complicated but is not beyond
the ability of most people. Even the most gruesome of wounds, such as a chainsaw
injury, will eventually heal if allowed to (although the cosmetics may be less
than desirable). If you can get over the “Golden Hour”, you are
blessed with what I refer to as “The Tincture of Time”.
My second suggestion was to do everything you are capable of doing, even with
the knowledge that survival is unlikely. This is where the concept of errors
of commission verses errors of omission comes into play. In my mind, it is
better to attempt something life-saving than omit the possibility because the
outcome may not be successful. As the quote goes: “Tis better to have
tried and failed, than never to have tried at all.” Our mindset has to
change from “First do no Harm” to one of “Do the Benefits
Outweigh the Risks?”. I don’t think anyone is suggesting reading
a guide while doing this, simply suggesting doing something you are capable
of doing. The key is not to destroy your psyche with remorse and self criticism
if the results are not optimal.
As far as our personal preparations, my wife and I are both experienced medical
people and long ago decided that that would be our biggest contribution in
TEOTWAWKI. As such, we have an elaborate and extensive setup, not unlike what
you describe, however our garage is reserved for other uses currently. We are
an extreme case and should not be viewed as a guide. Unfortunately, I feel
that JWR seriously overestimates the medical preparation
of the general population. Instead of 98%, I would suggest 99.99% of the population
is ill-prepared. The
biggest asset in a trauma situation would be a couple of cases of heavy duty
(I think they are called “heavy days”) feminine pads and some rolls
of tape. IV supplies and the skills to administer it would make you invaluable.
The “field surgical kit” would simply provide appropriately sized
sharp scissors and tweezers/clamps for cleaning out the wound after you have
administered the “Tincture of Time”. It is not something to carry
while also hauling around an enormous ego. - NC Bluedog
Letter Re: EcoBeam Construction for Ballistic Protection
Hi Mr. Rawles,
I read your reply reharding "EcoBeam Construction for Ballistic Protection".
Three years ago, a friend of mine and I shot
a concrete wall until we made a nice size hole in it. This was just to
see how much small arms fire it could take. [We used handguns.] Here is a web
page
I made
about
it with photos.
Readers will get a idea what you meant about sand and and gravel being better
at stopping small arms fire than even reinforced concrete.
Take care, - Wes
Odds 'n Sods:
Eric mentioned that Rock
Port, Missouri is the first US city to be 100% [net meter] wind-powered.
o o o
Burma
death toll worse than Tsunami. We may never have an exact count, but
the previous estimate of 100,000 dead may have been a huge understatement.
And to make maters worse:
UN
halts aid to Myanmar after junta seizes supplies.
o o o
I found an insightful article by Devvy Kidd linked over at the Bull
(Not Bull) blog site: Do
You Have a Plan?
o o o
A reader in Iraq mentioned that US Marine Corps soldiers in fairly significant
numbers are bending their field uniform regulations. They are wearing desert
tan Nomex flight
suits instead of their desert pattern utility uniforms. The reason? Worries
about flash burns from IEDs.
There have been some reports of their standard utility uniforms burning and
causing some severe burns with complications.
Since Nomex is highly
flame resistant, it offers better protection from flash burns. The consensus
seems to be: "I'd rather risk getting an Article 15 [non-judicial punishment
for the uniform violation] than risk a long stay in the hospital."
Jim's Quote of the Day:
"Remember the ancient saying: '[Si] vis pacem - para bellum' -
if you want peace - be ready for the war. Within the whole history of our civilization,
no one
disproved it. So let the weapons be not the means of terror, but the way to
defend peace, democracy and law. I wish you all health, success and fruitful
work. With best wishes," - Mikhail Kalashnikov
Note from JWR:
The high bid in the current SurvivalBlog
Benefit Auction is now at $270. This auction is for
four items: A FoodSaver
GameSaver Turbo Plus heavy duty food vacuum packaging system (a retail
value of $297) kindly donated by Ready
Made Resources an autographed copy of : "Rawles
on Retreats and Relocation", an autographed copy of "SurvivalBlog:
The Best of the Blog", and a copy of "The Encyclopedia
of Country Living", by the late Carla Emery. The four items have
a combined retail value of around $395. The auction ends in six days--on
May15th. Please e-mail us
your bids, in $10 increments.
Book Review: "Surviving A Disaster", by Tony Nester
We were sent a review copy of "Surviving
A Disaster -
Evacuation Strategies And Emergency Kits for Staying
Alive". This
slim paperback (just 57 pages) is a basic overview and
introduction to Getting Out Of Dodge (G.O.O.D.)
It was written by Tony
Nester, a wilderness survival teacher in Arizona. Nester has also written
the books "Practical
Survival" and "Desert
Survival".
The book covers Bug Out Bags (BOBs),
basic first aid kits, home evacuation gear, water, food, and so forth. It is
mainly written about preparedness for
evacuation
in
the case of a short-term
natural or man-made disaster, not TEOTWAWKI.
However, it does cover 'minor' disasters fairly well.
Positives:
- It is a basic look at preparedness, that your sheeple brother-in-law
and co-workers could understand.
- Also, the author speaks about preparedness very rationally, not sounding
like a paranoid whacko.
- He includes extensive lists of everything you might need to pack
in your BOB.
- He presents ideas on how to organize your gear. (Particularly, having
a layered system. For example, if the road is impassable, you
will be ready to leave the car and go on foot.)
Negatives:
- The book is aimed at new and non-survivalists. It doesn't go into extreme
detail.
- There isn't much here that is really new ideas.
- If you are already well prepared, you probably won't need it.
If you've been prepared for a decade or more,
then you probably don't need this book. However, if you are new to preparedness,
or have friends and relatives that are unprepared, this might be a good
starter. It does not have that intimidating 'survivalist'
look, and starts with the basics.
Letter Re: As It Was in the Days of Noah
Dear Mr. Rawles,
I recently read your novel "Patriots", which was a very positive experience.
For more than a year I have read most anything I can get my hands on concerning
survival, as I started feeling led by God in the direction to prepare for something...not
knowing what the something may actually be.
I recommend buying the "Forever" postage stamps, as a hedge against inflation.
[JWR Adds: This is the last week to buy the "Forever" stamps
before the upcoming rate increase.]
Hurricane Katrina gave my family and I just a small
taste of what I am afraid we may all face in the near future. And no one
is going
to
be bringing
FEMA trailers by the thousands, and sending Red Cross checks etc. We were
one of the lucky ones that did not loose our home, minimal damage, and we are
located
only 1 1/2 blocks from the beach. My only response, God was watching over
us. Our home was two feet higher than the tidal surge, dropped 8 huge trees
in our
yard which all missed our house. We spent 2 weeks without electricity and
water, and months in a neighborhood that looked like a scene from a war zone.
We learned
a lot, luckily we had prepared, didn't loose our stuff, and had spent a lot
of time camping in the past. But people are already forgetting the hard lessons
we learned during that time.
Do you recall the scene out of [the movie] Star Wars? The Cantina
scene where there was some bloodshed, the music stopped,
a hush fell
over
the
room, they
dragged the bodies out, all was quiet for a few moments, and then all at
once the band started playing, people started talking, and laughing, and right
back to how things were. I think that is how the majority of people in the
US are
today. I am very afraid that they are all just partying it up, like in the
days of Noah, and one day it will come down like the rain. Sincerely, - Nancy
G. in Mississippi
Louisiana Sales Tax Holiday for Hurricane Preparedness--May 24 & 25
Residents of the US state of Louisiana can purchase needed items
free of sales tax as they prepare for the 2008 hurricane season.
The inaugural 2008 Hurricane Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday takes place on
Saturday, May 24 and Sunday, May 25. The holiday is an annual, statewide event
created by the Louisiana Legislature to assist families with the important
job of protecting their lives and property in the event of a serious storm.
During the two-day holiday, tax-free purchases are allowed for the first $1,500
of the sales price on each of the following items:
•
Self-powered light sources, such as flashlights and candles;
•
Portable self-powered radios, two-way radios, and weather-band radios;
•
Tarpaulins or other flexible waterproof sheeting;
•
Ground anchor systems or tie-down kits;
•
Gas or diesel fuel tanks;
•
Batteries – AAA, AA, C, D, 6-volt, or 9-volt (automobile batteries and
boat batteries are not eligible);
•
Cellular phone batteries and chargers;
•
Non-electric food storage coolers;
•
Portable generators;
•
Storm shutter devices – Materials and products manufactured, rated, and
marketed specifically for the purposes of preventing window damage from storms
(La. R.S. 47:305.58).
The 2008 Hurricane Preparedness Sales Tax holiday begins at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday,
May 24, and ends at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, May 25.
The sales tax holiday does not extend to hurricane-preparedness items or supplies
purchased at any airport, public lodging establishment or hotel, convenience
store, or entertainment complex.
For more information, visit the State
of Louisiana web site.
Letter Re: Advanced Medical Training and Facilities for Retreat Groups
Jim,
I have been enjoying and appreciating the letters and replies throughout the
blog, and I am compelled to respond to “Advanced Medical Training and
Facilities for Retreat Groups”. The letter contained very accurate and
useful information, but I must comment on medical skills available to survivalists.
First of all, need to say that I am a professional Emergency Medical Technician – and
have been for 25 years. I have treated dozens of real-life gunshot wounds, hundreds
of knife wounds, and thousands of other cases of trauma that I would prefer to
not remember.
As a 911 responder, I appreciate the faith that the general public has in my
knowledge and skills. The word of an EMT or Paramedic is trusted – and
we don’t take that trust lightly. This is a part of the reason for this
letter. In our existing EMS system, EMTs are very good at arriving as
quickly as possible and providing life-saving treatment until definitive care
can be provided. In a TEOTWAWKI event, the shortcomings of EMT skills will be
readily apparent. My crew and I are as good or better than anyone at stopping
bleeding, splinting, providing
