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Letter Re: A Retreat Property Shopping Trip -- Three States in Six Days
Mr. Rawles,
At one time or another I have driven every mile of the trip as you described in your reply. Like you, I have encountered those who [are unfamiliar with the driving distances in the western US]. I've even met folks that cannot discern the difference in scale on a road atlas from switching the pages between Montana and Massachusetts.
I see this regularly with Army inspectors who call me and say that they want to fly into Billings, inspect Army Reserve units in Billings, Butte, Helena, Great Falls, Missoula & Kalispell all in two days and then fly out on the third day. :-)
Not counting any of the half-day side-trips that you mentioned, Mapquest estimates a driving time of "19 hours, 31 minutes, and a Total Estimated Distance: 1,114 miles". Regards, - Ed in Montana
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Letter Re: A Retreat Property Shopping Trip -- Three States in Six Days
Mr. Rawles:
I am planning a trip to the Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming area the first week of October. Is there any area to avoid at all costs? Is there any area to "must see"?
We will only have 6.5 days on the ground so must make every minute count. Your knowledge and help is greatly appreciated. Thanks, - Mr. Falsch
JWR Replies: Wow! Covering three states in six days? That will really be pushing it. Given that incredibly tight time constraint, I'd recommend this itinerary:
Fly in to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and rent a four wheel drive SUV. But don't look around there--it is a resort town. Drive south and start looking in earnest in the Star Valley of Wyoming, then drive down to Montpelier Idaho. Then zoom through (skip-over) most of southern Idaho, and head north on Highway 95. Start looking in earnest again when you get to about 20 miles south of Riggins, Idaho. Then take a half-day side-trip to see any available ranch land up on the "Island" plateau (a must)--that sits west of White Bird, Idaho. Then proceed to Grangeville, and drop down the south fork of the Clearwater river. You'll pass right by a property that I used to own, near Stites. Spend some time looking around Kooskia (a must), and be sure to take a drive out Clear Creek Road. Next, drive down the Clearwater River Valley to Orofino, and then Lewiston. Then drive up to Moscow and perhaps take a short side-trip to Troy. Proceed north on highway 95 and then take a side trip to St. Maries (a must), then after skipping over the resort town of Coeur d'Alene, check out the area from Athol up through Cocolalla. Then, skipping over the resort town of Sandpoint, check out the vicinity of Bonner's Ferry and take a half-day side trip up the Moyie River Valley. Crossing into Montana, check out the Yaak River Valley, and then up the Kootenai River Valley to explore the Libby, Montana area. Finally, drive up to the vicinity of Eureka, Montana.
Even with only brief stops to talk to real estate agents to pick up brochures and to buy some Huckleberry ice cream cones, you will be hard pressed to do all that in six days. If you had just a couple of more days available, then I'd advise taking a side trip to the Salmon, Idaho area (especially driving the nearby River of No Return Road, as far as the wide spot in the road called Shoup), and perhaps another side trip Driggs, Idaho.
Places to avoid: Skip by all of the arid regions (wherever you see mostly sagebrush-dotted hillsides), skip all the trendy resort towns, and skip all of the high-elevation towns like McCall!
For much greater detail, see my book "Rawles on Retreats and Relocation". There, you will find some useful maps and details on the locales that I mentioned. That book ($28) will give you the equivalent of several days of my consulting time, that is normally $100 per hour.
There are also numerous suitable retreat properties listed at our spin-off SurvivalRealty web site. (You will note the Idaho, Wyoming and Montana are featured prominently.)
OBTW, mid-October will be the peak of the fall colors through most of the route that I described. So bring lots of film or a high capacity digital camera memory card!
Also, BTW, October is deer and elk season in all three of those states, so expect to find only skeleton crews manning the real estate offices. It is best to make appointments with agents in advance!
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Five Letters Re: Escape From (Fill in Your City Here), 2009
Jim,
I live in a rural farming area east of the Mississippi and can tell you that cutting a gate or fence would be a very bad choice (in this area). In 99% of the cases you would already be on private property, so cutting the fence or gate would be considered a “hostile” act. Most of the folks I know would shot first and ask questions later . . . these folks all hunt, so they are not likely to miss . . . and trust me they know when someone is on their property. When the police are called, you will find they are a relative or friend of the local (we are very rural) . . . and the “strangers” will be just “bagged and tagged”. If you must cross a gated or fenced area, stop, honk your horn, jump up and down, o anything to get the property owners attention, he is probably watching anyway . . . who knows you might turn out to be an asset to him instead of a liability.
I do not want to make this sound all negative. We all know that living at your retreat full-time is the best option, but circumstances may make that impossible for you; your job or just the finances to make that kind of a move. The real question is do you believe bad things can and will happen? If so what are you going to do that is practical and realistic? “Borrowing” a plane might be a cool idea, but it is far from realistic. Several have already commented on this point and I happen to be a retired Naval aviator with more hours and experience than I care to remember, and flying to my retreat would be the last option I’d consider (we live at our retreat full-time, but do travel). If “your” plan involves some exotic way of escaping the metropolis you live in then you are planning to stay too late (that includes having to take back roads)! You will have to establish “trigger events” that make the decision to execute “your” depart plan (what those trigger events are up to you, based on your analysis and understanding of events.) If you wait until it is obvious to everyone then you are “way too late”. And that is the rub: are you willing to give up your comfortable city life for a survival existence, on a “chance” that “this is it”? If the answer is “no” then best of luck to you, you will need it. If the answer is “yes” then you had better figure out a way to preposition your items, at a location that involves more than just your family . . . and then maybe you will have a fighting chance to survive the transition. None of this is easy, but if you really want to provide for and protect your family then what other options do you have. You can rely on the government to see to your basic needs (it’s called being a refugee), or you can do all within your power to provide realistic options for them yourself. The choice is yours. - RH in Virginia
Dear SurvivalBlog Readers:
I want to preface my comments by saying that I have the utmost respect for JWR, his work, and all the readers and contributors to this site. I understand and hold close the essential tenets of independence and preparedness, living as I have my whole life in the heart of Southern California earthquake country.
That said, the recent string of essays about escaping a city when TSHTF is complete nonsense. The thought that if you get out early you’ll leave everyone else behind is fantasy thinking. The fact is that in such a situation just about everyone will be thinking about getting out and many will act on that impulse. That means that EVERY freeway, EVERY back road, EVERY intersection, and EVERY town will soon be filled with hoards of roaming people, all of whom will be unprepared, scared, and desperate. You might – MIGHT – actually get a jump the situation and beat the hoards out of the city but a human tidal wave will be right behind you, spreading out in all directions, many thousands of which will be heading right to wherever it is you’re going.
Further, a good percentage of the roaming hoards will be street criminals and gang members. Many will be military vets who had advanced training in tactics and equipment and they’ll all be heavily armed – in many cases, better equipped than the local law enforcement. In the short-to-medium timeframe, these groups will be the most dangerous threat and sooner or later they’ll be coming to your hideout. I don’t care how many rounds of ammo you’re carrying on the way or how much you’ve got stashed if you actually make it to your refuge. No matter how much you’ve got it won’t be enough, especially if you get in a firefight with a group that’s shooting back with high caliber, armor-piercing ordnance. And let’s not forget about the really heavy stuff – RPGs or plain old dynamite that they’ll find along the way. If you look like you’ve got equipment and food, you’re going to be a target, simple as that.
JWR is right – the safest strategy is to move away now and get established long before the crisis hits, preferably far enough away that it’s just too difficult for city hordes to get to you. (A tip of my hat to Frank B – 15 miles from the nearest asphalt road.) You’ll still be in danger from unprepared locals and groups that do make it out to the frontier but the farther away and better prepared the better.
Meanwhile, what about the millions of us who can’t relocated and are stuck in the cities? After 30 years of survival thinking related to earthquake preparedness I determined that the only effective strategy is to stay put and lay low. Don’t fire up your generator, blast your radio, and light up your house will the oil lamps you so carefully stashed for just the very event. In fact, leave all your survival equipment stashed for a couple of days until the first big wave of refugees passes by. Camouflage your place and your family to look like you’re destitute – that you have nothing, just like everyone else. With a bit of luck, the hordes will pass you by and you can then join up with neighbors, pool your equipment and resources, and develop a defense strategy. Meanwhile, whatever governmental resources exist will be directed at the cities first so there’s a likelihood that some form of law enforcement will be imposed. It’s the rural areas that will be the most lawless and there won’t be anybody out there to help enforce the peace, at least not for a very long time. Once the peace is secured in your city you can implement your long-term strategies of off-grid living, food production, bartering, and practical skills - machinery repair, welding, auto and home maintenance - that will always be in demand.
One final thought – as mentioned so often on the site, survival skills have a very steep learning curve and there is no substitute for hands-on experience and training. Read the books but then go practice! Can you find, set up, and operate your equipment in the pitch dark at 3 AM? If you’ve had a beer of two? Can your spouse, if you’re hurt? Can your kids if you’re not home? Have you ever eaten freeze-dried food? Can you take down and repair the Coleman stove? Bake biscuits? Operate a chain saw? Jury-rig a DC power cable from the car battery to your living space? Successful preparedness means that you continually ask – and answer – such questions. - Patrick C. in Southern California
James,
I think using an aircraft as a bug-out vehicle would not be a good idea. If you look back at the emergency following the September 11, 2001 attack on the United States, you'll remember that all planes were grounded. I a 9-11 situation a small aircraft flying low or even flying at all would attract unwanted attention. Probably in a bug-out situation in a aircraft you would have to leave early before things got hot and and you risk being forced down in a strange location or being shot down. Both not good options. On 9-11-2001 my wife and I were scheduled to fly home on a commercial airline at 13:30 from half way across the country. Needless to say we found we were grounded before we finished breakfast. When I heard the news we headed to the nearest electronic teller and withdrew as much cash as was allowed. Since we were traveling by air we were traveling light and had little survival gear and virtually no weapons. First we checked the trains and found they were all stopped, same for busses. I next zipped over to the local truck rental and reserved a rental truck for a one-way trip home with a credit card. After the truck reservation was secured I went to a local car dealer and secured financing for the purchase of a late model used SUV and put a small deposit down for them to hold the vehicle. Had I had my own plane I may very well have considered hedge hopping home and would more than likely not been allowed to refuel reroute and maybe risked being arrested if I did manage to land of my own accord.
Because of the help afforded us as total strangers stranded in a strange town, far from home, we moved to the area the following year and have lived here on our small farm at the end of the gravel road ever since. - P.B.
Jim,
I knew my letter regarding escape in a light plane would end up attracting the criticism of one or more experts on the subject... I'd like to address Larry in Pennsylvania's response.
First I'd like to point out that I never suggested using a Cessna 172 for anything. I merely mentioned that my father-in-law recently purchased one and that's what got me thinking about it. There are any number of light planes available, from ultralights to Cessna Caravans, and some are better suited to the task than others, depending on how far you need to go. I, for example, have friends who own a 450 acre ranch 250 miles from here. I could easily make it to their ranch in virtually any airplane without having to refuel.
I addressed some of Larry's points in my original letter. Yes, fuel is an issue, that's why I mentioned it. I think Larry might have misunderstood what I was saying. I was not suggesting putting autogas into any random airplane. There are a ton of light planes that have been STCed (Supplemental Type Certificate qualified) for autogas and many more with the same engines that could burn autogas but whose owners haven't asked for an STC. In a 1998 letter to the Experimental Aircraft Association (of which I'm a member), the FAA said "Autogas use has been extensively compared, tested, and analyzed. Autogas has been shown to be an acceptable alternative to avgas for the airplanes and engines approved for such use. Airplanes and engines approved for autogas use have met the FAA certification requirements for engine detonation, engine cooling, fuel flow, hot fuel testing, fuel system compatibility, vapor lock, and performance." More information and a copy of the letter above can be found at AviationFuel.org. What I suggested and what I'm suggesting now is research. Know ahead of time what your airplane can burn and either have it on hand or have solid plans for how to obtain it.
I also addressed Larry's concerns about overloading so I won't rehash that here other than to say again that yes, payload is an issue but it can be planned out ahead of time. I thought I was very clear that leaving by airplane was for those who had pre-positioned supplies [at a retreat].
As for obstructed runways or runways cluttered by looting, etc., I seriously doubt it in any realistic situation that would require emergency evac by air. Here is a perfectly realistic situation: Terrorists bomb the nuclear power plant that sits 150 miles upwind of my (very large) city. A fallout cloud is approaching at 15 miles per hour. The authorities screw around for four hours and then declare an evacuation of the entire city. We've got at most six hours to evacuate a huge city and its suburbs - a feat that the Gulf Coast cities can't pull off in two days! Interstates immediately become parking lots and before long are totally stopped by broken down cars. A mere fraction (5%) of the population decides to take state highways and county roads - that's 315,000 people - and the same thing happens to those roads. Whatcha gonna do?
In this scenario, do you think looters are really going to head for the airports to steal gas and oil? I doubt it would even occur to them, especially in the hours immediately after a disaster. They'll be in Best Buy and Wal-Mart stealing televisions and beer - we've already seen it happen!
My airplane suggestion was laced with caveats and the weather was certainly one of them. During many parts of the year, large parts of the country enjoy nice weather with only isolated storms. You don't need forecasts and radar to avoid bad weather. God gave you eyes and the ability to make a 180-degree turn. Pilots did it for years before these services were widely available. Further, except over congested areas, there are few places where you'll have no options for an off-field landing. Have plans 'B' and 'C' constantly in your mind. When I was flying my solo cross-countries, there was never a moment when I hadn't identified somewhere I could land if the engine quit 'right now' - my instructor beat that into my head constantly. As Larry points out, an off-field landing could invite looters but remember, the emergency is only hours old and people aren't hungry yet, and probably aren't desperate enough that the normally law-abiding become a danger.
As for Navaids such as VOR, ADF, and even GPS... Ever heard of a chart, a pencil, a stopwatch and a compass? It ain't rocket science. If the weather is good you don't need any outside help to get from A to B. Again. pilots did it for years before these were available - and for many years after, since many couldn't afford to equip their aircraft with fancy gadgets and nav radios.
Finally, once again I'll say this is a very unlikely scenario. If it happens it depends on having good weather and solid pre-planning, at least to the extent possible. The wisest course in my hypothetical situation above would be to bug out by car at the first hint of a problem - before the full extent of the problem was revealed to the masses. But if for some reason the news was delayed or something (car problems, missing family member) delayed your departure for even a few hours, leaving by car would be impossible. At that point my "Plan B" starts looking better than radiation sickness, despite some well-identified problems and risks. It's all about options. I think keeping options open is important. - Matt R.
JWR,
An important note to remember if one plans to use an aircraft during some type of emergency is that the control of the National Airspace System may have been handed over to the military. If that is the case, and I think it would be as the government attempted to maintain control of things as the cascade of events progressed into TEOTWAWKI, something called SCATANA (Security Control of Air Traffic and Air Navigation Aids) could be implemented. This plan closes down all aircraft operations save a few fixed wing fighter interceptors under the direct control of the National Command Authority. Here’s the bottom line. Under SCATANA if you fly, without positive control from the right folks, you die. No warning, no identification passes. An example of how serious the blanket authority is enforced is illustrated by the instructions given to a USAF C-130 on 9-11-01. This aircraft, full of soldiers from one of America’s front line Divisions was over the Great Plains on an exercise. They were ordered to land at a small municipal airport immediately. These soldiers, and they weren’t just Privates, ended up renting a bus for the day long ride back to their unit. Agree desperate times may call for desperate measures but ensure you have adequate information to make the decisions. As always, planning is the key ingredient for success. Using an airplane is a possible Get Out of Dodge solution, especially if used early on in the event. Just know all the second and third order effects. Keep up the good work. Excellent site - Redcatcher21
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Letter Re: Escape From (Fill in Your City Here), 2009
Mr. Rawles,
Concerning the article: Escape From (Fill in Your City Here), 2009, by Bill in Chicagoland, I would like to add to these comments. My 20 years experience driving the county roads and the farmer ranch roads with the Soil Conservation Service have given me a perspective of the potential for choice this road system presents.
I have a considerable amount of experience driving cross country.
I have driven from the Northern Texas panhandle across the Oklahoma Panhandle into southeastern Colorado and north to the Colorado Springs area on mostly gravel and dirt roads.
Several times I have driven the 250+ miles from Denver Colorado to Salina Kansas mainly on dirt/gravel roads or county blacktop roads. This particular trip is paralleling the major river valleys throughout this area. The interstate roads basically follow the uplands/highlands avoiding the river/creek valley bottoms. That portion of the drainage system between rivers called the upland or divide area. Up on these area you have minimum drainage systems to cross. Only when the rivers and major creeks make a jog south or southeast do you find a major drainage system to cross.
Why are drainage systems death to bugging out? You can cross them only on bridges, and bridges are [logical ambush sites and hence potentially] death traps.
Here is an example: West of Oklahoma City, you'll see that I-40 strikes out to the west.
Now, let's clarify something. [Even in most plains states,] there are no paralleling roads to interstates that extend for extensive distances. Yes, there are some that may parallel for 20 to 30 miles. But as soon as the interstate jogs you get the paralleling road intersecting the interstate or its diverting away in a direction you may not want.
If you do not know your area well, you can get boxed in quickly.
West of Oklahoma City striking in a southeasterly direction is the Canadian River. The interstate crosses the Canadian river in the Hinton/Geary area. That is some 35 miles west of Oklahoma City. The next Canadian river crossing on the north side of the interstate is just northeast of Thomas. That is 23 miles west and 13 miles north of the interstate.
So…you come barreling out of Oklahoma City and find the interstate clogged. Look again at the map. The city of Oklahoma City has a major river running through it. The North Canadian River. You cannot get on the Interstate. The bridges going over the North Canadian River south are filled with traffic. You opt to set out west through Oklahoma City on a street that will take you west to El Reno and then on to points west following the Interstate. But you cannot do this on the north side of the interstate.
And the south side of the Interstate is closed off because of the bridges across the North Canadian River are jammed full.
The road system on the north side is a maze of closed roads, dead end roads that all end up down in the Canadian River valley. And in the 60 miles west of Oklahoma City only one bridge crosses the Canadian River on the north that can keep you on any kind of westerly tract. That’s at Thomas. The closer bridge only gets you down to the interstate and it will be clogged full at that point.
So you make it to Thomas overland on the secondary roads.
What now?
You now have a dozen or more large creeks all running southerly into the Washita River. You have to cross them if you continue cross country.
Yes, you can get on Highway 33 west but I would guess that many others will have the same idea.
You also have Foss Lake complex and its National Wildlife Refuge area to get around.
Another major obstruction.
Going west now on secondary roads you will notice the interstate drifting in a SW direction. You are getting further away all the time.
Backtrack: What did you miss on the map? By the way, what map am I now looking at?
A copy of a DeLorme Atlas & Gazetteer
[Get one for your state, and contiguous states].
You missed the railroad bridge. Where?
Find Bridgeport between Hinton and Geary. See the railroad track symbol where it crosses the river.
Now, the following separates the men from the boys. When I was 16 my buddy’s father was the Missouri Pacific’s depot agent in Larned, Kansas. We knew the train schedules. We conquered our fears and put my 1948 Dodge car on the rails. Yes you can drive down the rails. You do not have to let the air out of the tires. Just slow down when you go over road crossings and switches. We rode the rails for miles. We even crossed over the Arkansas River railroad bridge. That was scary to think about the wheels coming off the rails way out over that 150 yard long bridge. But we drove this way, and so can you.
You will need to be very cautious doing this. Sending people ahead with radios to the top of a close high point so they can see the tracks some miles away. Giving you time to cross. What speed can you expect to make? We used to cruise 10 to 15 miles per hour. My 1948 Dodge had a traditional hand throttle that you could set.
[JWR Adds This Proviso: Hy-rail pickups and dedicated speeder vehicles have been previously discussed in SurvivalBlog here and here. Please read those article and heed the safety and liability warnings. Riding rails on car tires without supplementary alignment aids is foolhardy. There is a lot that can go wrong in a hurry! Don't attempt improvised rail travel this unless it is an total SHTF disaster situation and there is absolutely no alternative, and only then with someone playing "ground guide", and with certain knowledge of the train schedule (or by doing so only on a rail line that is known with certainty to be inactive.)]
This is dangerous. Be careful. It is also illegal.
The thesis of this presentation is several fold:
1. There are no extensive long parallel roads along most interstates.
2. You must have a set of the DeLorme atlases or similar detailed maps for where you are going. Better to have a set for every state that surrounds you. If you live in the prairie states get a set for every state within two states in every direction.
3. You also need to have a map showing just the counties and the river systems.
4. You must drive you routes in advance on both sides of the interstate.
Note that Item #3 above is necessary to have a map of the rivers. You can plot a general route that will keep you on the uplands/divide between the river/creek systems when you cross country.
The system described here is good only for the plains states between the Rockies and the Mississippi River. It will work in the area between the Missouri and Mississippi further north in most of those areas. But once you get into the Ozark highlands, the southern deserts off the Rocky Mountains and in the swampy country next to seashores and the Southern States it does not work.
Nor in the Appalachian mountains. The west coast is another whole problem.
The central portion of the US, the prairie states have a grid road system laid out in township and sections. This allows a great amount of choice for travel. Areas that do not have this system are much more constrained as to overland travel.
Driving cross country you will find [some straight] dirt and gravel roads that can be negotiated at 45 to 60 miles an hour. Be cautious and slow down at every road junction and at the crest of all hills that you cannot see over. Some where out there you will crest a hill and find a slow tractor pulling a swather or a large combine with a 20 foot wide head on it suddenly in your way. You must use caution on these back roads. Do not assume that all dangers are marked. You may find dead end roads just over a crest with a 4 foot tall wall of dirt and a deep ditch in front of you at 55 mph. Crash, end of journey. Be careful of bridges. There are still may bridges out there with wood decking. It can be weak, have nails sticking up and or tire wide gaps in them. I have also seen concrete bridges built by the WPA in the 1930s with holes in the deck more than two feet across and not marked with any warning signs.
Vital equipment for cross country driving:
1. Binoculars or spotting scope
2. Weather scanner
3. Maps
4. Jacks with wooden blocks to put under them for support.
5. Shovels
6. Tow chains
7. Tire chains.
8. Bolt cutters and wire cutters
Beware of sudden rain showers on dirt roads. Soils high in clay particles will shed rain and appear to be shiny. They are called ‘slick spot’ soils. You will not sink into them. But rather your vehicle will just want to slide over into the ditch if the road is not flat. These roads are slick! It is possible to put a vehicle into a low gear; get out and walk along the side steering and pushing or pulling sideways to keep it in the center as you walk along. Better when there are several people to help. I have accomplished this for stretches of road further than one quarter of a mile when I worked as a District Conservationist with the Soil Conservation Service.
Avoid showers in the distance. Drive out of their way if possible. Stop on a stable section of road and wait for the sun to come out. Slick spot roads can dry out in one hour or less and be drivable as if no rain fell there for days.
Genuine cross country driving:.
If you find roads blocked with wreckage, power poles, washed out bridges, trees and or a group of freebooters who demand tribute, then you need to have thought of an alternative.
There is an alternative to simply turning around and being chased.
Cut the wire on the fence and drive away out across the land. Best done out of site of the freebooters. Wire the fence back up so it is not too obvious that someone has exited the road at that point. You will need bolt cutters. A 24 inch pair will suffice. For chains at gates or locks you need a 36 inch-long set and a hacksaw blade with extra blades. Carry along several locks. If you cut off a lock replace it. If you have to come back you can open it quickly and lock it putting a good barrier between you and any belligerents that want to discuss the situation with you.
If you lack a lock that looks like the one you have cut. Super glue it shut. You can always re-cut it a second time if necessary.
Carry with you two 2x4s that are 10 feet long, each pierced with 20 penny nails arrayed close together. Drill holes that are just small enough to provide the friction to seat the nails so they will not come out easily. Drill two 5/8 inch holes in each end. Cut half inch rebar stakes 12 to 16 inches long and sharpen then to a decent cone shape on one end. You will need a 4 pound hammer to seat them into a roadbed.
So, say that you approach a hill crest slowly and glassing the road ahead, you see a group of freebooters down the road. They see your heads and cab of a pickup sticking up over the crest. Whooom, here they come. Get out the spiked 2x4 and nail it down across the road with the rebar. Leave and when they come roaring up over the crest their tires will have lunch with the spikes. Flat tires have a way of ending pursuit.
If you encounter groups of people who are belligerent but appear not to be shooters. Place a spiked 2x4 across the front of your steel safety grill and make a run for them. They will not want to get spiked as you go by. It will keep them away from the windows and doors.
[JWR Adds This Proviso: Caltrops have been used as a defensive
measure for centuries. I have my doubts about their utility in
daylight, but they might prove useful at night. To be useful in daylight
for defense against vehicle-borne looters approaching a retreat slowly,
caltrops or tire
spikes would have to be concealed, which is a huge
legal liability.
Because we live in very litigious times, I DO
NOT recommend
using caltrops or tire spike strips in in anything but an absolute
worst-case TEOTWAWKI situation,
where you
are completely
on your own to defend your retreat, and there is no longer a functioning
law enforcement or court system. Using them in any lesser situation
is an invitation to a hugely expensive civil lawsuit and possible
criminal sanctions. An ambulance-chasing attorney would have a field
day, and the likely result would be that you would lose everything
that you own in settling a lawsuit. Ironically, this is an example
of where using
deadly
force
against
an intruder (namely, a firearm) is less likely to result in
a lawsuit than a non-lethal weapon. Civil court juries tend to be very
sympathetic
to
"maimed"
plaintiffs,
and are prone to award disproportionately huge "pain and suffering"
damages. Caltrops and tire spikes are banned in some states in the US, and
Australia. With all that said, commercially
made caltrops are available, as are tire
spike strips, although most manufacturers will only sell them
to law enforcement agencies ordering on department letterhead. The
best
of these use hollow spikes, so they can defeat even self-sealing
tires. And example
of this type is the HOllow-Spike
TYre Deflation System (HOSTYDS), manufactured in the UK.]
Crossing Interstate Highways
All interstate roads will have at some point a significant water gap.
It will be big enough for you to drive through. Be very careful. These can have plunge basins formed on the down stream side that are many feet deep. Can be clogged with old fence wire and tree limbs. They can be swampy and full of washed in silt that is solid on the top and unstable to support weight underneath. You can get stuck and never get out.
Scout these places carefully.
Remember you may be driving under the interstate that is packed above with people who have gotten desperate.
And you may be able to just drive up to the interstate, cut a fence on one side and drive across weaving through parked cars, perhaps, if you are lucky.
Get the maps. Study them. Drive the [primary, secondary, and tertiary] routes. Anything less is a modified death wish.
Rule #1: Leave early.
Rule #2: Remember, you can never schedule an emergency.
- JC in Oklahoma
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Letter Re: Advice For Older Preppers With Limited Mobility
Hi James,
Thanks for your many years of great work. While I was enjoying and learning
so much from your books and the web site, I was also growing older and have
physically "lost the edge". More accurately, I reaped the unintended
consequences of 55 years of smoking and now have a tough situation Chronic
Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).
This is [best described in layman's terms as] a combination of bronchitis
and emphysema. I have not smoked for
three years and my breathing
is now stable at 51% of normal. This ailment is not unusual in the senior community,
and COPD is the third largest killer in the USA. It severely restricts activity
and higher altitudes are deadly. Like most of us with COPD, I am on oxygen
20-to 24 hours a day, seven days a week, plus lots of varied and expensive
medications, to include my liquid oxygen, mostly supplied to me at low or zero
cost by the Veterans Administration.
Additionally, and this may apply to many of your readers, my wife and I are
the primary care givers, in our home, for her mentally disabled older brother.
He too is a vet, Korean War Era and age 79, and receiving 100% of his medical
care from the local Veterans Clinic, as I do. The Veterans Administration
(VA)
is a terrific source of excellent health care. All eligible vets should enroll
ASAP a the VA
web site. Go there and get in before the Obama National Health Carelessness
Agency gets to their house! I expect the VA will be forced to shut out all non
combat vets soon!
My wife and I, and a few friends, all sorta elderly fellow military vets, have been like minded about preparedness since well before the Y2K era. About 20 years of learning and prepping! We have the basic stocks of food, water, meds, clothing, and appropriate security items. We have learned to help one another and to be able to give to others in need. I have stocks of dvds to enjoy and to use to teach others. We have a 2,100 Watt solar system for power. We have devised a simple system to safely filter irrigation water for our local water needs, to include drinking, cooking, and laundry. We've worked together and planned together successfully. We are a team and care for each other as an extended family.
We live in small town in rural Utah. My wife and I are pleased to live in
a close knit town of about 500 good caring folks. This area is highly LDS,
about 50 - 60 %, and they are mostly "not very well-prepared" ....
surprise! surprise! The [majority of] Mormon people--and I can say this as
an active LDS--are not ready for any disaster. Less that 10% have a emergency
response
mindset.
The LDS Provident
Living web site is great, and while the LDS Church strongly
promotes and enables provident living, far too few members are prepared for
any emergency. Many have a little bit and very few have enough. As a people
we are not well prepared. [JWR Adds: But on average far better
prepared than most other Americans, and that is commendable.]
As a family, we've done all that preparation, and still I have a serious
problem with no answer. You see, I will be dependent on solar power to enable
my oxygen concentrator to produce O2, power the kitchen, and the computers,
and to recharge the batteries. I can't leave our home area for more than about
6-9 hours (maximum battery life for the portable concentrator). In an emergency
my darling wife of 43 years will not leave me. My Veterans Elderly "A" Team
/ Extended Family wants to "zip cuff, gag, and bag" me and take
me out of danger, but they too recognize the travel difficulty and are without
a solution. Moving the solar array and the necessary ancillary equipment is
a two day exercise.
We seniors are a large portion of the community and an even larger part of
the preparedness group. I have yet to see or hear any preparedness help for
folks like us. Many seniors are just like me; older, somewhat ""less abled
physically, somewhat less able to travel, and more dependent on local medical
services.
20% of us are raising our grand children... At the same time we are surely
more knowledgeable, more able to lead, more experienced, more secure financially,
more able to teach and to mentor, more equipped, and more likely to have lived
through hard times and to have serious military training. And very importantly,
many of us have real time combat experience. We have been to see the "Elephant
Country". The younger folks need what we have to offer because they will
die without it.
My problem is very simple. I have done all of the right preparedness chores and now I find that my family can not get in the truck and bug out. And I'll be 69, next birthday. What do I do now?
thanks again. - Old Bobbert in Utah
JWR Replies: My general recommendation for retirees is to
set yourself up as the retreat destination for the younger
members of your extended family. You can provide them with their bug-out location,
and storage for their supplies, and the benefits of your years of preparation.
They can provide you with the young and healthy hands, strong backs, sharp
eyes, and sensitive ears you will need after TEOTWAWKI.
I often stress the need to pre-position retreat logistics. By having your extended
family's supplies at your locale, it provides insurance that they
will be there to help out, when the balloon goes up.
OBTW, you mentioned oxygen. For anyone that heavily dependent on medical oxygen,
I strongly recommend buying a portable
oxygen concentrator. Many of the portable models are compatible with 12 VDC power.
This means that you can run them from your alternative power system battery
bank, without the need to run a DC-to-AC inverter. For much greater "range"
away from your retreat, you can keep a charged pair of deep cycle 6 VDC golf
cart
batteries in your vehicle.
« Two Letters Re: It Matters Not Whether We Face Inflation or Deflation--You Need to Protect Yourself |Main| Letter Re: Advice For Older Preppers With Limited Mobility »
Letter Re: Growing Food on a City Lot
JWR:
While we all dream that perfect place in the country it is important to
emphasize how much that can be accomplished on a small city lot. My home sits
on about 6,000 square feet of land, a small suburban house in a cookie-cutter
neighborhood . The house and garage and drive way take up about half of the
lot . Of what's
left, I'm slowly converting the ornamental landscape to organic food production.
My current garden consists of 48 tomato plants (4 varieties) 2 beds of sweet
corn, 2 rows of cucumbers staggered 2 month s apart for continuous harvest,
2 similar rows of pole beans, one row of lima beans, 30 sweet pepper plants,
6 pumpkins, 12 winter squash, 12 summer squash , 6 cantaloupes , 4 peach trees,
2 nectarine trees , 2 pear trees , 2 apple trees, and one fig. In addition, numerous
herbs –(basil , dill, rosemary, sage, and thyme) and 4 artichoke
plants . Could easily plant enough onions and garlic to last us all year and
I plan to do so as I add beds.
Last year I grew enough popcorn to last two years. Next year I plan on a large
bed of dent corn for corn meal. Am still experimenting with winter crops but
peas, beets, carrots, and kale all do well and I'm anxious to see how many
potatoes I can get from 100 square feet.
I figure that I' ll pull about $2,000 worth of food from the garden this year
and that ’it is going to increase because I still have about 1,000 square
feet of ornamental beds and lawn to tear out and plant and the fruit trees
are still
young . Over the past 8 years I've spent less than $1,000 for tools
and equipment: two spades (one all metal for my heavy clay soil) , a
Mantis tiller, metal fencing stakes for pole beans, tomato e s, and cucumbers
( they last forever, much better than wood) , various clippers, twine, a bit
of organic fertilizer , and the bare-root fruit trees . This year I've spent
less than $25 ( seeds, twine, and a bit of seaweed spray) since I have all
the tools already. Could rent out my tiller at $ 30 / day if I took the trouble
to post at the local store. Meanwhile, we're eating healthy and free
and will start putting up food as I expand my beds and grow enough to save
as well as eat.
I love the work so it is not drudgery for me it is great
exercise and a relief to be outside after working in my office all week . Weekends
in late winter and early spring are a bit busy –-- perhaps 5 or 6
hours per weekend for a month or so . But once the winter garden is out and
the spring
garden is planted, it requires about two hours per week for the rest of the
season.
Yes, we all want to life in the country. But until then there's free food
for eating and survival storage right in your backyard if you're willing
to do the work. - Patrick C. in Southern California
« Economics and Investing: |Main| Note from JWR: »
Creating a Crisis Decision Matrix, by Steve N.
It's been said, “It takes a village to raise a child”. While
I do not agree with much of anything else Hillary says, that was certainly
true in my case. My upbringing consisted of guidance and council from a rather
diverse group of individuals, a large segment of whom were 1970s-era survivalists,
(How many of you remember Mel
Tappan's “Personal Survival Letter”?).
These were self-sufficient, hard-money, common sense, salt-of-the-earth type
people.
A few even had underground bunkers, (I mean “root cellars”). Given
the mind set of my mentors, you might assume that I’m all stocked up
on beans, bullets, and band aids. Regrettably, I am not as well prepared as
I should be. As I analyzed why this is so, I was forced to admit that I had
fallen prey to a fault that could prove to be uncomfortable or even fatal,
if not corrected. Please bear with me as I illustrate with personal experience.
I was raised in rural America, and have hundreds of hours in canoes. One clear
October morning, my friend and I took a hankering for some fresh trout, and we
knew of a lake a couple of hours paddle downstream from his house. October is
nigh winter in the North, and we figured since the bugs had been frozen out for
a week or so, the trout would be ravenous.
We arrived at the lake after a leisurely downstream paddle, and were delighted
to find only half the lake's surface in winter's early grasp. Our strategy
was simple, we would cast our lures onto the edge of the ice, reel them back
ever
so slowly, until they slipped into the water with hardly a ripple. With such
a quiet entry, the unsuspecting trout were inhaling our spinners. We sure had
it our way; no bugs, no bears, no tourists, and the fishing was hot! In my
mind's eye, I could see my wife's beaming smile, she loves fresh trout.
Then, while netting another candidate for the skillet, my friend leaned over
a bit too far. The canoe tilted and several gallons of water poured over the
side. My fast-thinking (but clumsy) friend, realizing that he was going to
capsize us completely, rolled over the side, into the lake. The canoe righted
itself
but, all the water that had poured over the side seconds earlier, now ran to
my end of the canoe. The combination of my body weight plus several gallons
of water was enough to submerge my end, and water poured over the bow into
my lap.
Having no recourse, I (gracefully) floated out of the swamped canoe, into the
lake. We stayed with the canoe, and kicked our way towards shore, however,
the closest “shore” in this case was a raft of muskeg several yards
away. (Muskeg is a thick mat of vegetation so dense it floats, common in the
North
country).We clawed our way onto the muskeg, and it immediately started to sink
beneath our weight, so once again the water came pouring in. Everything reached
equilibrium and we stopped sinking at about knee deep, so we stripped down
and wrung out our clothes, dumped the canoe out and headed for home. The upstream
paddle was a blessing in disguise because the hard work kept us relatively
warm.
We made it back, and even managed to save the fish. And yes, my wife did beam
a brilliant smile; she loves fresh trout you know. But legend has it that, every
October, the animals gather at lakeside. They tell a tale of a couple of hapless
fisherman, who stood on the edge of the muskeg, naked to the waist, knee deep
in icy water, hyper-ventilating while they wrung the water out of their clothes,
and then disappeared upstream, never to be seen again.
My point is simply this, through no fault of my own; my situation had deteriorated
from relatively pleasant to a little chilly, and a lot life-threatening. Never
before, or since, have I been unintentionally thrown from a canoe. Just that
once... but that's all it takes, right? “Just that once”. I suspect
you and I are a lot alike. Despite our experience, (remember my “village”),
we keep living our lives as though the “canoe is never going to tip”.
It's called denial.
The people who study the psychology of survivors, tell us that the mental progression
in wilderness survival situations is similar to that of someone who has just
received some disastrous news. Countless situations have devolved from rescues
to recoveries because the participants refuse to acknowledge that they were
in a dangerous situation. The survivors are the ones who get through the denial
stage the fastest. The don't waste a lot of energy wondering “Why has this
happened to me?”. They get over it, and get on with the business of surviving.
The preparedness process can seem overwhelming at times. There are so many necessities
that, deciding where to commit time and/or resources can be disquieting. The
truth is, its way easier and cheaper to stay in denial, because after all, the
canoe is never going to tip, right? To help get you off high center, I'd like
to offer a decision making matrix; a method to help you decide where to expend
your time and resources to your best advantage.
Industry has developed a procedure called "Process Hazard Analysis".
If you’re
responsible for the safe operation of a facility of some kind, you gather your
engineers, technicians and operators together and discuss the risks involved
in running your plant. Big picture it works like this; you pick an event, and
rank how likely it is to happen, the severity of the consequences if it did,
and any safeguards in place to prevent that particular event from happening.
With this prioritized list you are able to see where to put your maximum effort.
If you’ve never had the joy of sitting through this procedure... I’d
suggest a mid-October swim instead. But, if you think of an “event” as
a condition that produces an undesirable result, then you can see how we can
apply this process to our preparedness efforts.
Make 6 columns down a piece of paper. Title the first "category/event",
the second "Likelihood", the third "Consequences". "Safeguards", "Total" and "Action" are
the titles for columns 4, 5, and 6.
The rankings for the “likelihood” and “severity” columns
will be 1 through 5, with 1 representing "highly unlikely" (for likelihood)
and "Insignificant" (for consequences), 3 representing "Probable" and "Serious
but Repairable", and 5 representing "Highly Probable" and "Financial
Ruin/Fatality". (I'll include a complete list of the rankings I use in
an appendix at the end of this article).
So, for example, if I picked a category of "Civil Unrest" and an event
of "Riots", my thought process would go like this: There has never
been a riot in my hometown and it's very unlikely there ever will be, so "Likelihood" would
get a rank of 1. I live a ways out of town so, even if there was a riot in town,
it's very doubtful that it would spread to my place, so "Consequences" gets
a 1. I have locks and an alarm system and a big dog, so I'm "Confident" in
my safeguards, I'll give them a 3. You can see that I don't need to spend a lot
of resources preparing for riots. On the other hand, you may live in a neighborhood
that has experienced nearby riots. You rankings would come out different and
perhaps indicate that you should spend some time thinking about how to mitigate
that risk. Note however, that a category of "Civil Unrest" with and
event of "Burglary" would rank higher in my situation, because that
particular event has happened in my area.
Had I chosen a category of "Natural Disasters" and an Event of “Forest
Fire", my likelihood rank would be 5 (because forest fires have occurred
in my area). The consequence rank would be 5, because the worst case consequence
is a fatality. My safeguards, (detectors, and extinguishers) are adequate but
could use improvement, so safeguards get a 2. Add column 2 (likelihood) and 3
(severity) and subtract column 4 (safeguards) and I have a total of 8 out of
a possible 10, a high priority. You can see through this extreme example that,
it makes more sense for me to focus my efforts on upgrading my fire plan, than
it does preparing for a riot. I should probably place a higher priority on fire
extinguishers than firearms, hard to do given the emotion of today’s
situation. Examination of your situation may well result in a different conclusion.
The
important thing is that emotion is removed from the decision making process.
We all have a tendency to “lock up” when faced with an intimidating
task. It is my hope that, by introducing this decision making process, you can
remove the paralyzing emotions from the decisions that must be made. By thoughtfully
following the process, you’ll create a touchstone that will anchor you
when self-doubt or well-meaning friends criticize your actions, and you are tempted
to procrastinate or worse. If your beliefs don't impact your actions then they're
just worthless mental baggage. How many times have you heard the word "unprecedented" lately?
That means that we have never been in this situation before, not in all of
mankind's history. So we really have no idea how this will end. There is still
time to
act, the canoe hasn't tipped yet. Use this matrix to assess where you are in
the preparedness process and, most importantly, act on your decisions.
Suggested Definitions of Rankings
Likelihood
1. Has not happened to you, or in your local area
2. Improbable, unlikely
3. Possible
4. Probable, likely
5. Has happened to you or in your local area.
Severity
1. No significant consequence
2. Disagreeable, minor physical/financial loss
3. Significant but repairable
4. Major injury, financial hardship
5. Financial ruin, fatality
Safeguards
1. None
2. Low confidence, needs improvement
3. Confident, has been adequate
4. Extremely confident
5. Absolute confidence
Add the Likelihood and Severity numbers, and subtract from that the safeguard
number for a personalized risk ranking of a specific event.
You can see that, events with high likelihood, severe consequences and low safeguards
are going to require action, say any event with a total risk ranking of 8 or
more. Total risk of 5-7 deserves some serious consideration. Total risks of less
than 4 are low priorities. If you decide an event requires action, it may be
possible to add safeguard points, and diminish the risk, with simple lifestyle
changes before committing resources that could be better used elsewhere.
The following is an example of a Crisis Decision Matrix. (Modify to fit your
particular situation.)
Crisis Decision Matrix |
Category |
Event Likelihood |
Consequences |
Safeguards |
Total |
Action |
| |
1. Has not happened to you or in your area
2. Improbable/unlikely
3. Possible
4. Probable, likely
5. Has happened to you / in your area. |
1. No significant consequence
2. Disagreeable, minor physical/financial loss
3. Significant but repairable
4. Major injury, financial hardship
5. Financial ruin, fatality |
1. None
2. Low confidence, needs improvement
3. Confident, has been adequate
4. Extremely confident
5. Absolute confidence |
Likelihood
+ Consequences
–Safeguards
= Total |
|
| Civil Unrest –Riot |
1 |
1 |
3 |
-1 |
None |
| Civil Unrest – Burglary |
5 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
Look into improving my security system with cameras and a DVR |
| Natural Disasters – Fire |
5 |
5 |
2 |
8 |
Need to improve fire detection ability and devise family contingency
plans for specific fire scenarios. Research “Firewise” principles
for structures in high risk areas. |
« Letter Re: DIY Baking Powder Solves a Shelf Life Dilemma |Main| Note from JWR: »
Letter Re: Advice for Newcomers in a Community--Overcoming the We/They Paradigm
Good evening Mr. Rawles,
My name is Ignacio, I'm a Cuban-born American. The three best days in my life
were when I married my wife, when I became an American citizen and
when my daughter was born (in this country). I am an avid reader of your blog,
and working hard to get prepared, we bought a small place (1.5 acres in
southwest Florida, it's in the woods) it was the only thing we could afford to
get ready. But I am very concerned that my neighbors might not like us because
we are Hispanic (although my wife is blue-eyed and has blonde hair.). I can
assure you
that no one loves this country more than we do, but I understand that most of
the Hispanics do not like our country.
What would be a good way to approach my neighbors? Sincerely, - Ignacio R.
JWR Replies: I recommend that you do your very best to get
to know your neighbors, and make it clear that you are are part of the
community.
Get involved in
community
activities. For example: join the local volunteer fire department (they
offer great training, by the way!), make the effort to introduce yourself to
your
neighbors,
invite
them over for barbeques and other social events, join the local church, Rod
and Gun club, ham radio club, and so forth. I also recommend joining (or forming)
a local Community Watch organization.
It takes time, but with effort, you
can make yourself an insider in a community. I am confident that you
know in your heart that you are "an
okay guy", but you just need to demonstrate that to the
folks in your new community. If you work hard enough at it, they will consider
you not just a neighbor, but an indispensable neighbor and a
genuine "go to guy".
Several times in SurvivalBlog, I've
mentioned what sociologists call the We/They Paradigm. The bottom line
is that you need to immerse yourself into the collective "we" (insiders),
so that you aren't seen as part of the "they" (outsiders). In my
experience, race and even religion need not be barriers to becoming part
of the "we".
It
is clear from your letter that you love our Nation. Just make it clear to
your neighbors that you love your community, just as much.
Cementing your relationships with your neighbors can take years. Or, in the
case of South Florida, just one hurricane season. If a time
of deep trauma or deep drama comes up (such as severe weather or wildfires),
then jump in and help out with disaster relief, starting with your nearest
neighbors.
Check
on every
one of
them, and
ask if there is anything that you can do to help. Based on what you demonstrate
of your character, your neighbors will quickly learn that you are someone that
can be trusted when the Schumer Hits the Fan. And, BTW, it will give you a
chance
to size them up, as well.
« Two Letters Re: Dealing with Uninvited Guests |Main| Baking and Simple Cooking After a Disaster, by LCHS »
Letter Re: The Top 200 Hunting, Fishing, and Low Cost of Living Towns
Jim,
The June / July 2009 issue of Outdoor Life magazine is out, and they
again rate the top 200 towns to live in based on the following data:
1. Gun Laws
2. Huntable species
3. Fishable species
4. Public-Land access
5. Trophy potential
Their top Five? Lewiston Idaho, Marquette Michigan, Idaho Falls Idaho,
Rawlins Wyoming, and Pocatello Idaho.
They also rate the 30 places to live for hunters and fisherman based upon the
cost of living index. (Your dollar goes further there.)
This magazine is out now, and also has an excellent review on many current binoculars
and spotting scopes.
Look for the big: "200 Best" on the cover.(BTW, I am not associated
with this magazine.)
Regards, - FloridaGuy
JWR Replies: It is no surprise that Idaho, Wyoming and Montana
have held prominent positions in the Outdoor Life rankings for two
consecutive years.
After all, some of their criteria is quite similar to what I used in my Recommended
Retreat Areas state-level rankings.
« Mexican Flu Update: |Main| Three Letters Re: Stocking Up on Prescription Medicines »
Letter Re: Prince of Wales Island, Alaska as a Retreat Locale?
Sir:
I understand your
comments on Alaska's [poor] potential for survival retreats .Your
logic is sound and I have to take seriously someone who has thought about these
issues longer than
I have. But
there is always a but...What about Prince of Wales Island, Alaska? Backwoods
Home magazine
published an article written by a Jon Stram that I have not got out of mind.
The article sold Prince of Wales Island very well, so [for counterbalance]
I need an unbiased, expert opinion Thank
you, - Russell:
JWR Replies: You aren't the first to suggest that locale
to me. it. I must admit, that as Alaska goes, it is captivating and has one
of the
best climates.
The island is bigger than Delaware!. In my estimation,
it would be a
fine
place
to be during an economic depression comparable to the 1930s, but not in
a full scale collapse where it would be isolated from transport--especially liquid
fuels.
(Chainsaws, power boats, generators, float planes, and snow machines "no
worky".)
There are 6,000+ people
on the island. That is a lot of people for an island with essentially no
large scale agriculture, especially when there is no gasoline,
diesel, propane, or kerosene available. The accessible four-legged wild game would
probably
be cleaned
out in short order. After that, things might get ugly. In an absolute worst
case, your neighbors might start hunting two-legged game.
« Note from JWR: |Main| Jim's Quote of the Day: »
Letter Re Advice for College Students Living Abroad
Hi,
I'm a student from Singapore studying overseas in Australia and I'm also a
Christian. I have been following your blog for quite awhile, and there are
some things I would like to ask.
First, what advice can you give to students studying overseas? As a student,
I stay on my own in a rented place, and probably will have to move every six
months or so, so stockpiling food and goods are only feasible for about a month
or two worth of food, as I will have to shift everything I own on my own to
my new place whenever I move. That being said, I have roughly about a month's
supply of food stored up, but it is mostly in rice. If things go bad, I won't
be able to eat well, but will survive (I stocked up on some vitamins as well.
Not healthy I know, but better than nothing.). Additionally, what kind of food
should I buy and store? Currently, I am thinking about baking hardtack, as
they are easy to make and store well. I also have about 20 liters of water,
and am able to purify more than 100 liters of water using water purification
tablets and I also have a bottle of plain bleach.
As I am not in my home country, and if anything happens, I have no 'safe' place
to go. Other than going into the bush, which will not happen, as I have no
bush skills, the only choice I have is to hunker down and try, if possible,
to get a flight/ship back to Singapore. With such limited options, I am worried
about what to do WTSHTF,
which is ever more likely, given the current swine flu going around. While
I do know a family staying in a relatively rural area,
I do not know if I am able to get there as their acreage is quite a distance
away from my place and I have no transportation. Also, I am not sure if they
are prepared and stocked up for any crisis, so there is no guaranty that they
will be able to take me in. I would greatly appreciate some advice over this
issue, as it is the most important issue, and also advice on whatever you think
I am lacking in below.
Supplies: I have managed to gather some stuff over time, some medicine/first-aid(learned
some first-aid when younger, and still know the important stuff), lights (some
military stuff, since I have done my national service, a couple of wind up
torches as well for backup/indefinite use), fire starting equipment (lighters,
matches, fire starters, candles, no flint due to being unable to find someplace
that sells it), lightweight cooking equipment (billycan, metal bowls and tins,
utensils). Not much, but been trying to convince my parents to send over some
more supplies I have, which are mainly military stuff (nothing illegal, but
will raise some questions; excuse is they are for paintball, etc). Additionally,
for food I have about 10 kg of rice, plus enough canned food for a week (or
more, if I ration it), 6 liters of packet milk, about 20 packets soups, cooking
spices (very good for making whatever you have taste better), salt, etc. For
toiletries, I got plenty of toothpaste/toothbrushes, toilet rolls (about 2
months worth), soap/shampoo, etc.
Self defence: Nothing much, since there are strict airport rules, and can't
get a gun over here or in Singapore either. I keep a Swiss army knife on me
all the time, but that is mainly for use as a tool, as normally there won't
be any time to take it out. I learned tae kwon do when young (almost
got my black belt, but was unable due to circumstances), and am trying to learn
more
methods
and techniques of fighting. If it comes down to a fight, I am fairly confident
that I can hold my own against one or two people, but I have been trying to
improvise weapons that will allow me to escape. I have been trying to find
a place to learn Krav Maga, which is an Israeli martial art designed to teach
you to fight anywhere, any how, and
any time, against multiple opponents that may or may not be armed, with various
weapons. They focus on being ready to fight at all times using whatever it
takes to survive (aka all the dirty fighting techniques). I think that it is
a very useful martial art to learn, as it is the most realistic form of combat,
and teaches you how to improvise on the spot (They have two rules: 1. survive,
2. Try not to hurt your sparring partner.). In any case, I think the most important
thing to have is to be aware of your surroundings and people that are around
you. An armed man is hard to be beaten, unless taken by surprise, and an alert
man is hardly ever taken by surprise. As a side note, I recently bought a slingshot,
not that I expect it will be of any good for defence, but rather more for hunting
small animals if things really go south. Just need to get around to practicing
with
it.
Day to day carry: I carry with me a Swiss army knife, some medicine/first-aid,
water purification tablets (for 20 liters), a small LED light, a lighter and
some money in small notes in a small pouch close to me everywhere I go. Planning
to add on another pouch with more medical supplies, especially for this swine
flu outbreak. I also have a SOG multi-tool that I can add on, but chose not
to as people will really question what I am doing with 2 knives and all those
stuff. Also, wherever I go, I also bring along at least 1 liter of water, a
torch, a poncho, additional first-aid supplies, hand sanitizer, a bar of soap
and a couple of cereal bars. If I am on a long trip (more than a day or a few
hours by car), I would bring along additional stuff, like more fire starting
equipment, extra food, extra water, a spare torch, and a spare change.
Skills: I learned basic first aid when young, learned tae kwon do,
crude fire making (not too good), cooking, sewing (very basic, mainly for repairing/modifying
clothes) and cycling (although my area is very hilly, so I hardly cycle). I
am trying to learn more skills, like bushcraft, Krav Maga, hunting (doubt I
will be able to), and brush up on my fire starting skills, although in light
of the recent bushfires, it may be a bad idea. Also I am handy with simple
repairs (mainly a crude temporary fix), and like to innovate and make new stuff.
Swine Flu: I have been trying very hard to raise my stock of food and medicines
ever since I heard about the swine flu, but due to time (university) and financial
constraints, I can only stock up so much. I have been buying paracetamol tablets,
aspirin, face masks (box of 100, plus various other dust masks), anti-bacterial
hand gel, hydrogen peroxide, and am looking for surgical gloves, proper N95
equivalent face masks, Sambucol, more water purification tablets, antibiotics,
Betadine, bandages, etc.
Economic crisis: I have been looking around for a place to purchase silver
bullion with whatever spare cash I have, but have been unable to find a dealer.
I am hoping to get at least 150 ounces of silver in 1-ounce to 10-ounce bars
before the economy gives way, which I suspect won't be long. I pray it doesn't
happen,
as my home country will be hit really hard as it is focused heavily in the
financial sector, but being a realist, I think eventually my family will have
to move over to Australia, as at least it has farmland, natural resources and
a very social welfare-focused government as well.
Thanks for all your effort to educate people about the coming world situations
and how to prepare for it. What you are doing can mean life or death to many
people in the future when the world crashes and burns. - DieReady
JWR Replies: By all means, do team up with a rural family,
if you can. If you cache a large quantity of food with them, you will be assured
of being welcome there WTSHTF,
since you will be a benefactor for the family. In such circumstances, food
is a much better investment than silver! If you can pre-position your storage
food and
most of
your gear
there, you can
plan
to
bug out via
mo-ped.
There are two ways of looking at obstacles to preparedness: 1.) As reasons
to give up,
or 2.) as
challenges
and opportunities
for
growth. For example, your hilly terrain can be seen as an opportunity to build
strength
and endurance, rather than as an excuse for not bicycling. And just because
you can't find a local martial arts center that teaches Krav Maga, don't lapse
into inactivity.
Study whichever art is available locally. Just be sure to
find the best full
contact dojo in town. Furthermore, don't look at airport
security restrictions as a the lowest common denominator for
your
self defense preps. If you are going to be in Australia for an extended period
of time, then there is no reason why you shouldn't go ahead and purchase a
few key "dual use" self defense items, such as a half dozen 15 minute
road flares, a machete .,
and a six-C-cell
black MagLite ..You might also see if these is a local archery club--perhaps
affiliated with your local university. Practice at least twice a week with
your slingshot! They can
indeed be quite useful if
you
take
the
time
to
practice.
For your silver
purchases,
be
willing
to look
further
afield
for
dealers, or if
need
be, to
buy from a
reputable
mail
order dealer. Concentrate on the positive aspects of prepping, shepherd your
available funds, train consistently, and you'll make
progress!
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SurvivalBlog Reader Survey Results: Conveniently Bypassed Areas
The following are the first batch of responses to our survey about
areas that might be bypassed by looters and refugees, WTSHTF:
There are many islands off the east coast that in my opinion would be avoided
by most and are rich in natural resources. Particularly Virginia and believe
it or not New Jersey--one that comes to mind that I've visited in NJ is Island
Beach State Park. And don't forget Acadia in Maine.
--
In Arizona: The Santa Rita Mountains are south of Tucson, just
east of I-17, and are used as a landmark for everyone coming across the border
from Mexico. The Chiracaua Mountains are southeast of Phoenix. They are more
inaccessible. Anyone wanting to make them a retreat locale needs to study up
on the terrain and weather of the location. Summer highs of 110 are common
and the phrase “it’s a dry heat” is a reality. A better location
would be the strip of land between the north rim of the Grand Canyon and the
state line. It is difficult to get to and not near any major
freeway. To the north are the badlands of Utah and to the east is the Navaho
Nation.
--
There is a nice little
quadrangle of Appalachia between four interstates, also known as the Monangahela
National Forest in West Virginia. Bordered by major G.O.O.D. interstates
81 to the east and 68 to the
north, it's
also bordered by I-79 to the west, and 64 to the south. If you have a
retreat there, or have friends or relatives there, it'll be about as safe as
can be this
close to Washington, D.C., but if you don't, then mountain folk will take less
kindly
to fleeing urban zombies,
If you aren't known, then you won't be welcome!
--
James Hancock County Tennessee is a small county near the Virginia and Kentucky
line that is really overlooked. There is not one foot of rail line here and
you
don't go thru here to get to anywhere. No four lane roads lead into or out
of the county and the total population is around 6,000. There are a few more
counties west of here that are just as inaccessible. The downside is Oak Ridge
National Laboratory and the fuel Plant at Erwin are relatively close ( by nuclear
disaster standards ) but it a beautiful area where land is cheap and the people
are
friendly. We have more livestock than people and the Clinch river has the largest
variety of fresh water mussels in any river in the nation.
--
The Illinois Valley in southwestern Oregon. Cave Junction is the "Big
Town" in
this area. Grants Pass, Oregon is past the northeast end of the valley, and
Crescent City California is past the southwest end. Tiny towns are here and
there. It is rural,
open carry [of firearms] is very common, and real estate prices are presently
low. Unemployment is high, but if you can bring your work with you, then you
can
do just fine.
--
West Texas (from Fort Worth to Midland/Odessa), the Hill Country (west of
Austin down to west of San Antonio)
Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York
Various islands in the 1,000 Islands Region in Upstate New York (St. Lawrence
River
area)
--
I recommend the Big South
Fork National River and Recreation Area ("BSF")
in eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, roughly 40 miles west of I-75. There is
very rugged terrain inside BSF, so few roads through it. The area around
BSF is lightly
populated
with tiny settlements along rough winding roads that dead
end at the river gorge. Poor access to jobs, fuel, food, medical care, etc.
--
The Owens Valley (US 395) corridor of the Eastern Sierra
California. I believe that the military bases of the Mojave Desert is almost
certainly going to be turned into a giant refugee camp due to the I-40, I-15,
I-5, and US 58 interstates and associated railways. This is particularly true
of the USMC logistics base in Barstow and Edwards Air Force Base. However,
once one travels further north to Bishop, California, one should be able to
travel
all
the way
through the Owens Valley and into central Nevada.
--
In the Great Lakes region:
One good bypassed area is southwestern Wisconsin, between the Wisconsin and Mississippi
Rivers - Crawford, Vernon, and Richland Counties in particular.Look
at the topo maps - it's full of hills.
There really is no reason to go through there. Major highways are far from that
area. The Mississippi has some traffic, but not the Wisconsin River - that's
really just recreational.
The very small nuclear power plant in La Crosse has been long shut down. Ft.
McCoy is well East of La Crosse.
Door County, Wisconsin - North of Sturgeon Bay (only
2 bridges) - Washington
Island, ferry access only plus airfield. Lots of boat
harbors
Problem - Nuclear Power plants to the South, Two Rivers and Kewaunkee, expensive
tourist area along the Green Bay side of Peninsula
Beaver
Island - Lake Michigan - A huge island, 36 sq. miles with seven lakes on
it.
It
took me four hours to drive perimeter, two airfields, long ferry ride and only
from
Michigan
side
The
uppermost portion of Michigan's Upper Peninsula (UP) - North of Houghton/Handcock
Michigan -
the
growing
season
here
is
actually better than to the South of it!
Only one bridge, and it's a raise-bridge, so it can be shut off from traffic
in moments.
Bayfield/
Madeline Island Wisconsin - Remote, but cold area . (Once the lake freezes,
you
can drive to island, but then there is period of weeks when you can't drive and
boats
can't
make
it, so there is an ice air boat.
Wisconsin's "Northern
Highlands". Wisconsin has over 15,000 lakes
and
is
second
only to Florida for fishing licenses This is an area of forest, with some agriculture,
potato country (first plant patent) and wild rice - hunt, fish, camp - it's all
here. If not on a lake, land
is reasonably inexpensive.
« Economics and Investing: |Main| Flu and Antibacterials, by David in Israel »
SurvivalBlog Reader Survey: Conveniently Bypassed Areas
When working with my consulting clients, I often discuss channelization and
lines of drift. Most major routes out of major cities will become very dangerous
places to be in the event of a massive involuntary urban exodus. Imagine the
situation WTSHTF in
small towns on either side of the Snoqualmie Pass in Washington, or near I-80
across the Donner Pass in California, or on the Columbia River Gorge (that
divides Oregon and Washington), or virtually every other stretch of interstate
freeway that is within 150 miles of a metropolitan region. These channelized
areas (also called “refugee lines of drift” by Military Police
war game planners) should be studiously avoided.
Conversely, there are areas between lines of drift that will likely
be bypassed by refugees and looters, due to poor access. (Constrained by small
winding roads, water obstacles, intervening canyons, swamps, et cetera.)
Some of these bypassed zones might actually be fairly close to urban areas.
It is a dangerous gamble, but if for some reason you must live near
a city, then I suggest that you carefully search for what may be a largely
bypassed zone for your retreat and/or home. A few regions that may be bypassed
come to mind, based on what I’ve seen in my travels and from recommendations
by my associates. These include:
Portions of the Ouachita Mountains, west of Little Rock, Arkansas
Some islands in the Great Lakes region
Parts of Sabine County, south of Shreveport, Louisiana
The periphery of Harry S. Truman reservoir, 60 miles southeast of Kansas
City, Missouri.
Portions of Dewey and Custer Counties (80 miles west of Oklahoma City.)
The Santa Rita Mountains, southeast of Tucson, Arizona
The Chiracaua Mountains, in the southeast corner of Arizona
The Mount Hamilton region, Alameda County, California. (East of San Jose,
and south of Livermore.)
Parts of the San Joaquin River Delta, east of San Francisco, California
Some islands in the Puget Sound, Washington
Driving the back roads of your region will probably reveal other similar areas
that might be bypassed.
I'd greatly appreciate getting input from readers via e-mail about
other areas that are likely to be bypassed in the event of major crisis. The
diverse readership
of SurvivalBlog includes many folks that frequent out-of the way locales, including
fish and game officers, foresters, utility workers, horse wranglers, surveyors,
wildlife biologists, hunters, backcountry fishermen, backpackers, kayakers,
NRCS employees, and even a few wildlife photographers.We can benefit
from your insights. Please e-mail your
suggestions, with "Bypassed Areas" in the message header. Thanks!
« Letter Re: Learning the Details of Self-Sufficiency |Main| The Mexican Flu and You »
Letter Re: Atheism and Choosing Your Neighborhood
James:
I am a new reader to
SurvivalBlog and a big fan of "Patriots"
.,
I have been reading all the archives and old posts, and I would just like to
clear one thing up. I am an
atheist. I don't believe that there is sufficient evidence to prove the existence
of a
supreme power. This does not make make me a bad person. There have
been some posts about choosing your neighbors that have said Christians and Jewish
people make best neighbors because they are "God fearing" etc.
Just because I don't believe in a god does not mean I am going to kill/steal/rape
in a TEOTWAWKI situation. It hurts me when I read such generalizations. Just
because I'm an atheist, I am not going to harm you. I believe in the rule of
law and mutual respect. I don't decide not to kill or steal because I fear a
punishment from god. I choose not to do these things because they are wrong,
I don't
need
a god or bible to tell me they are wrong.
Atheists are not barbarians, without morals. I help my neighbors, I work
hard and believe in self reliance and preparedness. I am trustworthy
and respectful. I have encountered many so called "God fearing" believers
who I cannot say the same for. God may not be a driving force in my life, but
I
still know the difference between right and wrong. I will not try to convert
you, I
am not one of those loud atheists who will try to tell you how wrong you are.
I believe in everyone's right to believe what they may, and I ask all to give
me the same courtesy.
Religion and morals are not the same thing. I don't need to believe in a
supreme power to have morals and know what is right and wrong. I just wanted
to clear up these misconceptions. I really hope you post this. Thank you for
your work, SurvivalBlog is a great knowledge source, - J. in Michigan
JWR Replies: The comment in my Precepts
page that you mentioned
is not a question of individuals, because there are indeed exceptional
individuals, and I'm
confident
that you
are one
of them. Rather,
this is
a question of averages. On average, people that have
the moral underpinning of the Judeo-Christian religious ethic are less
likely to commit property
crimes than those that don't, and statistics bear this out. For example, look
at the "Property"crime
rates for particular counties in California (The City and County of
San Francisco, for example, has one of the lowest church attendance rates
in the country). Compare that to the more religious
counties
of North Dakota (a "Bible
Belt" state). This
map is quite an interesting starting place. Sorry, but
facts are facts.
Property
crime rates are generally higher in communities with a low ratio of church
attendance. My
choice to live in a tight-knit religious community is not a reflection
on you as an individual. It is just a conscious
choice, based upon statistical correlation and my strong conviction
as a Christian, to do so. FWIW, please consider that
a religious community is also the safest
place for you--an atheist with morals--to live, too.
If
I hypothetically had to live in New York or New Jersey, then I'd probably pick
a small town with a
predominance of Christians or Orthodox
Jews for neighbors.
« Letter Re: Why Survivalists Should Buy Local Organic Food |Main| Letter Re: Pedal Power for Electricity Generation and Water Pumping »
Letter Re: The Mexican Drug Wars Come to the United States
Jim,
As the economy gets worse, crime
of this sort will only increase. Small towns
that have secondary and tertiary highways are not immune. Often these secondary
routes
parallel
the primary highways that have the heaviest enforcement which leads the traffickers
to use the secondary routes to evade Law Enforcement. We have had first hand
experience with interstate drug traffickers in our Midwestern town of 1,300
people that has a parallel secondary highway running through it. I shudder
to think what will happen to our borders, cities, and towns when bankrupt states
and cities are forced to confront the stark reality of forced service reductions
due to insufficient revenues. - LEO in the Midwest
« Letter Re: Highly Productive Home Gardens |Main| Note from JWR: »
Cooper's Color Codes and Bugging Out Before the SHTF, by H.I.C.
Colonel Jeff Cooper once wrote that he was born in another country. Born and
raised in the US before the Great Depression, the country of his youth was
no longer.
It had been hijacked by pointy headed socialists with academic degrees and
not a trace of common sense. At 50 years of age I not only agree, but maintain
that the “New America” based upon a globalized economy, Federalized
powers, and an Urban-centered society is dying. Our great country is dying
and our great cities will burn in the funeral pyre.
Most Americans know that survival in our great cities, deserts, and marginal
climate areas of the US would not be possible without continued delivery of
basic Supplies (food and gasoline), Services (water, electrical power, natural
gas), and Civil Order (rule of law, generally accepted currency). What they
may not know is that these great cities have no great food warehouses, no great
fuel tank farms, few electrical power plants, few water storage reservoirs,
and they have disarmed the law abiding public at every turn. These supplies
are transported by thousands of semi trucks, ships, barges, and trains every
single day. If a sudden crisis disrupts transportation, if we lose the use
of our interstate highways or the diesel fuel to transport supplies, everyone
in these cities will either have to leave or they will die.
Recent hurricanes, recessions, and terrorist events are reminders that our
modern society is fragile and that critical supplies, services, and civil order
will likely be interrupted by any major event. Look at what happened to New
Orleans (population 480,000) during Hurricane Katrina. More than half the
population left early, but when the storm hit, tens of thousands either would
not or could
not leave. Now imagine these barbaric conditions in a city like Phoenix
(population 2 million) or Los Angeles (population 10 million). Now imagine
it happening all across
the US if our oil refineries are either destroyed or the world runs out of
crude oil.
Transportation in the US is totally dependent on crude oil and most of this
oil comes from folks who hate us. The supplies underground and our ability
to find new supplies are diminishing and no one knows how much is left. Even
without the potential for a renewed terrorist attack using WMDs, or the long
dreaded west coast mega-quake, our cities will not be sustainable without some
new technology. Renewable power sources such as solar, wind, and geothermal
can produce electricity but do not effectively power transportation. Hopefully
most Americans can be sufficiently motivated to move out the cities with their
families, but those who will not listen must feel.
Should I Stay or Should I Go?
I think it is a common belief by newly awaken survivalist that they can keep
living in a big city until the stuff actually hits the fan and then bug out
with their vehicle and all of the survival gear and prepared food. I am curious,
have any of you actually tried this? Have you taken the time and effort to
load your vehicle with thousands of pounds of guns, ammo, survival gear, and
freeze dried food? Have you then driven through a major city, a long distance
interstate trip, stopped for the night, or had car trouble? And what if you
are forced to bug out without shelter and a considerable amount of food, have
you really improved your chances for survival?
I have and the whole process was a pain in the . I hooked up my one ton
pickup to my 5th wheel trailer, filled it with the guns, ammo, tools, extra
fuel, and food storage, and the rig grossed at 18,000 lbs. Let me tell you
this was not bugging out, this was crawling out. Even powered by a Cummins
Diesel, nothing weighing 9 tons moves quickly or escapes over steep or narrow
roads. I also tried towing an open trailer filled with a tractor and tools
cross country and learned about road trash puncturing trailer tires and criminals
loitering at rest stops and RV parks.
Fortunately, these problems surfaced during normal times when the highways
are open, fuel is available, and I was
the only one freaking out. My experience is telling me that the best response
is to move away from the cities before an event. Move to a more secure area
now. Preposition your survival tools and food storage at a secure site before
the stuff really hits the fan. Then find a way to move there your self.
I have read all the government’s emergency preparedness books talking
about folks pulling together, one big nation singing Kumbaya. But I have
also read the postings from folks who were late evacuating New Orleans. Many
of them were threatened, robbed, and assaulted by their neighbors simply because
they were better prepared. I do not know if this entitlement mentality is really
that widespread, but experience suggests that Americans will get scared and
will act like animals.
Deciding When to Leave; Cooper’s Colors for a Social Crisis.
Jeff Cooper also devised a series of situational awareness colors to allow
his self defense students to make proper decisions and know when to use deadly
force
to protect
their lives and family. Borrowing Cooper’s Colors for a social crisis
I suggest the following:
Condition White) Circa 1981-1988: Following the Vietnam war, Watergate, and
the Iran hostage crisis, the US was ready for a positive change. During the
Reagan years we challenged the Soviet Union and emerged as the world’s
lone supper power. Despite some evidence to the contrary, we felt that we had
no reason to be concerned by terrorism. Paul Volcker tamed inflation by inducing
a severe recession. We all shared the economic pain, then we shared the rewards
of a growing and stable economy combined with low inflation. Social changes
were being made slowly and with participation from the general public. The
Government rarely took violent actions against protesters. Crime was random
and quickly dealt with by law enforcement.
Tough times, but the US government was working for the People.
Condition Yellow) Circa 1989-1998: The US is struck repeatedly by terrorists
at home and abroad. The Government treats this as a criminal manner. The economy
fluctuates but appears to correct itself rapidly and without visible government
interference. The US starts pursuing free trade and globalization treaties.
Manufacturing, agricultural, and finally high wage jobs are being outsourced.
High risk mortgages and investments are legalized and encouraged. Presidents
Bush (I) and Clinton start talking about and building a “New World Order”.
Social changes are being made to protect and benefit the people in power, without
participation from the general public. The Government begins to track, infiltrate,
and take deadly action against small religious groups and grass roots militias.
Law abiding citizens are blamed for violent crime and gun ownership is highly
regulated. The only bright spot during this decade is the results of the 1994
midterm election and the subsequent Contract with America.
A break of trust between the US Government and the People. Citizens should
store guns, ammo, food, and fuel. Prepare financially, physically, and mentally
for
change.
Condition Orange) Circa 1999-2006: The US is struck repeatedly by terrorists
at home and abroad. The Government responds by aggressive military action designed
to change the conditions in countries hosting terrorists. The economy fluctuates
between extremes of growth and recession, as if no one knows the true worth
of these commodities and major corporations. The Government begins to spend
massive amounts of money on the war and hides this spending off budget. Price
increases affect the availability of food and fuel. Social changes are being
made without participation of the citizens or even the US Congress. The most
offensive of these changes are rammed down the throat of a disbelieving public
by the courts and petty bureaucrats. The heavy handed tactics of the State
and Federal Government begin expanding the number and boldness of protest groups,
well ahead of their attempts to control them. Crime is increasingly organized
by gangs, carried out by minors and illegal aliens, and is funded by illegal
drugs. Law enforcement is not effective against this and many believe the problem
is intractable.
A second break of trust. Citizens should liquidate their financial assets,
purchase and store critical supplies and solar panels, and move to safer locations.
Condition Red) Circa 2007 – ????: High risk loans, derivatives, and credit
default swaps cause huge financial losses and trigger irrational stimulus spending.
The US Treasury and US Federal Reserve start taking up major ownership stakes
in US corporations, then use this position to control the means of production.
They announce plans to create a Federal domestic police force. This may be
used to enforce new requirements for domestic passports, travel restrictions,
and to deal with any visible protests. The Obama Administration is full of
folks committed to new laws regulating guns ownership and banning the sale
of effective defensive weapons, ammo, and reloading components. Large scale
energy, income, and sales tax increases are planned. I believe that Americans
will again be deprived from owning real [precious metals] money. Our currency
will be devalued by perhaps 80% to offset the massive Federal spending. Price
controls
and rationing
of food and fuel will be introduced by executive order. During the Great Depression,
FDR banned the private holding of gold and foreign currency. US dollars
(gold certificates) were replaced by Federal Reserve Notes. Many
banks were closed without returning deposits to account holders and what little
cash was left in the hands of the people was devalued by the Treasury by 40%.
Many folks are moving out of large cities. They are buying rural land and planting
a garden. They are buying and hoarding guns, ammo, food, fuel, and looking
to buy gold and silver. While economic conditions appear bad, the break of
trust
between the Government and the People is more reminiscent of the Civil War
than the Great Depression.
Can You Make an Orderly Transition?
a) Moving Out of the City but Keeping Your Job.
Many folks simply can not leave their big city job and feel trapped. For them,
moving your family out of the city and keeping your present job, and commuting
back and forth may be the best interim solution. You might look at public transportation
in your area and see if you could buy a home near this. Also consider owning
a Jeep or a pickup that can contain survival tools, food storage, hiking boots,
even a mountain bike and commute using that vehicle when you feel that a crisis
could be imminent. You need to practice for this occasionally to find out how
to drive home without using freeways, or clogged intersections, or having to
refill your gas tank. If you plan on biking home, why not try it once a month.
Find out now if it is a viable alternative.
b) Career Changes that Improve Your Preparedness.
Some friends of mine recently underwent a significant career change. They left
their research position at a US government lab in California to take a college
professorship in a small Midwestern town. There are many opportunities for
folks to change careers and significantly improving their preparedness level
without losing their career and every thing they have built. Creating a portable
small business, building a farm or ranch, taking a related job in small town
America are all good ways to improve your position without the big and scary
step of quitting and living off your savings.
c) Transfers and Early Retirement.
I moved out of Los Angeles 25 years ago, to a small desert town three hours
away. I soon plan to retire and move even further away from California and
its enormous
insatiable and unsustainable cities and their outrageous politics. Often times
these transitional changes take years of planning and savings to carry out
successfully. For me, the years of planning and savings are worth it. If you
are just a few years away from retirement, you might want to find out the rules
and calculate how to retire early and how much such a change would cost you
in the long run.
How Can You Bug Out Safely?
d) What are you Bugging Out From.
This may be the most important question. I believe that you must know what
you fear before you can plan what to do, and ultimately where to go. What could
convince you that you must leave your current home? Are you worried about a
natural disaster such as a hurricane, an earthquake, or a tsunami. Perhaps
you are concerned about a 1930s type depression, a renewed terrorist strike,
or a combination of events that teardown the rule of law and allow rioting
and conflict on a nationwide scale. If you are just worried about keep yourself
employed in our current economic mess, you might consider mobility and job
skills more important than bugging out. But if you have come to the conclusion
that the American society will fracture when subjected to enough stress and
that the inevitable reaction to almost any sudden crisis will be rioting and
nationwide loss of the rule of law, you might want to consider moving to an
area where you fit in and are accepted by the community.
e) Selecting the best route and location.
Leaving your “Big City” job and moving back to your home town is
a pretty popular idea right now, perhaps even smarter than trying to start
a new life in a new and strange part of the country. I grew up on a small farm
in the Midwest and am planning to move back to a small farm. When I talk to
my new neighbors I find that I actually have more in common with them culturally
that the folks I have worked with here in California for over 25 years. Truth
is I am still a farm boy who is more concerned with my farm and livestock than
I am with a Lexus or a wide screen entertainment system. No one seems to be
much impressed about my “Big City” job but every one is stoked
that I am a qualified gunsmith and can trap beaver out of the creek.
Some good friends of mine moved back to their home town of Sandpoint, Idaho
about 12 years ago. Northern Idaho seems like a nice enough place when I visited
a back then, but even a couple of local boys with engineering degrees had a
hard time landing a full time job. Perhaps moving where you can actually find
a job and where you can still afford some nice farm land would make more sense
than moving to someone else’s idea of an ideal location, (Sorry, James).
The same applies to your route selection. Staying away from the inner city
areas that always seem to be the flash points for social unrest seems obvious.
But perhaps moving out of the big city early is more important than planning
the best escape route and waiting too long. If you must wait until the last
minute you should consider finding a bug out location that is within a very
short drive, say only a few hours away. Another advantage of have a “local” bug
out location is using as a vacation spot on long weekends. Suddenly, taking
a week off and driving out of the city is more of a regular occurrence. If
you practice it often, it is more likely to work under the added stress of
a real crisis event. [JWR Adds: The drawback to this is that
if your retreat is in close proximity for you, then it is also in close proximity
for The
Golden Horde. A three hour drive out of Los Angeles, is just about where
most refugees will be running out of fuel. Choose your retreat locale wisely,
well-away from exit corridors and natural lines of drift.]
f) What to Carry, What to Pre-position.
Even if you have a very secure location to preposition or cache goods and equipment,
I believe that you need to store the primary means of survival at your home
and be prepared to carry it with you. I define the primary means of survival
as food, water, shelter, clothing, and protection from immediate harm. Secondary
stuff would be the means to sustain life beyond the immediate threat, i.e.
productive land to grow food, livestock, tractors and farm equipment, means
of producing
electrical power, reload ammunition, trade goods, gold and silver. I recommend
that you keep the primary stuff at home and have the means of transporting
it to safety at a moment's notice. You may choose to store the secondary stuff
at your retreat location (and take the risk of theft) or at home (depending
upon your ability to transport it). In practice, I would suggest that the heaviest
and most bulky secondary items should be pre-positioned or cached at the retreat
location.
g) Selecting a Bug Out Vehicle.
If you plan to--or fear you may have to--make a lengthy bug out trip with a
loaded vehicle during crisis conditions you might consider the fuel range and
load capacity as the most important considerations. While recently designed
gasoline vehicles tend to be very reliable and more fuel efficient than trucks
built in the 1970s, their fuel mileage is still much lower than an equivalent
turbo diesel with a manual transmission. Plus it is easier to add significant
auxiliary fuel storage tanks to a diesel. My number one recommendation for
a bug out vehicle is a 1994 thru 1997 Dodge Cummins one ton pickup with a 5
speed
manual transmission and 3.54 rear end. Add a 90 gal Aux. fuel/tool box combo
for 1,900 mile range without stopping to refuel.
What If You Leave Too Early?
h) Leaving When You Should.
Human nature is a funny thing. Through out history folks have remained in very
dangerous conditions, literally losing their own life, because they are afraid
of public ridicule for running away. This was particularly true with the Jews
in 1930s Germany. While leaving may have been difficult and even prohibited
by the Nazis, it was possible. So why did so many folks bow to social pressure
to remain. Who cares what the sheeple think, learn to run like a scared little
rabbit. If you can not move to a safe area permanently, then find a way to
move there temporarily. Look for an opportunity to take a sabbatical, or take
time off to care for an aging parent, or to work part time. Look for anything
that allows you to leave the most dangerous area at the first hint of a crisis.
Yes, your friends may harass you for bugging out too early and slinking back
a couple of weeks later. Just remember who they are and invite only those folks
who seem to understand the risks we appear to be facing.
i) Leaving Yourself a Way to Return.
Please do not plan to max out your credit cards, pull out of your retirement
accounts, or burn bridges with your boss. History is full of folks who thought
they knew the end of the world was coming, only to be forced to deal with reality
the next day. Did you ever hear of the 1840s religious group, the Millerites?
They gave away everything they owned because their leader knew that Christ
would
return
on a particular day. Leave yourself a safe way to return to your old life
if you decision to bug out is wrong. While I believe that it is a much better
plan to live in a safe area all the time than try to predict the event, I also
recognize that many people can not move quickly enough. I believe that the
Bible states that the end will arrive like a thief in the night. No notice,
no warning, one second every thing is fine and the next second the world has
changed radically.
j) Living with Your Mistakes.
It is possible that you will be caught up in a crisis in spite of all your
preparations. Perhaps you needed to travel to a big city hospital or take
a long range flight on just the wrong day. Perhaps a crisis develops while
you
are living your life and not really paying any attention. Life is not going
to send you any emails telling you that the stuff has hit the fan and you
are now on your own. I recommend that you always carry a bug out bag with
the basic
survival food and equipment, and bring along your knowledge, skills, experience
with you. Carry enough gold, silver, and cash to replace some of your preparations
and allow you to purchase the means to get home if you are caught taking
a long distance flight.
Summary.
There really is not any way to know what they future is going to look like.
We could experience a long degrading slide into the dust bin of history (France,
Spain, Japan) or in a blinding flash of cataclysm (1917 Russia, 1934 Germany,
2001 Argentina). We could be looking at a repeat of the Great Depression,
a World Was over the remaining oil supplies, or a second Civil War. What
I do know is that our Government has been corrupted and is responding to the
unbridled greed of an elite few and against the needs of the many.
Studying our own history and the history of other developed nations under
similar shows
two clear possible futures: Those that shared the pain recovered, those that
spared the elite at the expense of the many suffered from long debilitating
economic depressions that often decayed into Civil War, Fascism, or Communism.
I would rather face the future surrounded by like-minded people in an area
that can support both my life and a sustainable society. A society that is
not dependent on long distance transportation of critical goods, non-renewable
energy sources, centralized control and just in time deliveries, or intensive
industrialized agriculture. I was born on a small farm in the breadbasket
of the world, and I want my country back!
« Letter Re: Highly Productive Home Gardens |Main| From The Werewolf: New Flex Fuel Ethanol Motorcycle Now Available in Brazil »
Letter Re: Offshore G.O.O.D.--Do You Have Your Papers?
We all know that many Jews saw the handwriting on the wall in a pre-WWII Germany,
but failed to leave, or could they not leave? There was obviously a window
of opportunity for most to leave but why did so many miss it? Some were not
wealthy, but were able to escape. Some had the money, so why could they not
leave? If
one only has a few moments in which to leave a foreign country, is the house
in order? My sister dwelled on this problem and then looked at her own family.
She was
the only one with a passport. Consider:
- How many families in Jewish families in Germany had passports or visas?
- How many parents had passports, but not for their [late teenage] children?
- How
many had no passports?
- How many had the currency of the country they wished
to flee to?
- How many had sufficient sums of the foreign currency?
- How long does it take
to get a passport in your country?
- How long does it take to get a visa to the
place to where you wish to flee?
After asking these questions, another reason why many Jews did not leave WWII
Germany becomes obvious: they could not leave! Not enough paperwork, or no paperwork.
King Solomon said "there is nothing new under the sun", so what was done in
Germany has been done in other countries to keep a population "in" before
that same government would eliminate it. The pattern and signs should be the
same.
In most large countries like the U.S., folks have a place to go where the government
may not be able to reach, but in smaller countries this may not be the case.
In summary, it might be a good idea for every family member to have a
passport. (At least for those live in an area where the government can reach
it's tentacles to
every corner of the country, like in WWII Germany). Even Joseph had to
flee
with his wife and son to get away from King Herod! Furthermore, in the US,
what if you wanted to flee to Canada? Or in Canada, what if you wanted to flee
to
the U.S.?
Lastly, consider that some countries will not allow entry without certain
vaccinations. So if a family is to have a plan B or plan C bug out emigration
plan, then
that plan needs to include the vaccination requirements for that country.
- Rick B.
« Letter Re: Backpackers of the Apocalypse: Selecting and Ultra-Lighting Your Bug-Out Bag |Main| Note from JWR: »
Letter Re: Viability of Central America Retreat Locales?
Hi Mr. Rawles,
I thank you sincerely for all of the great information that you
have made available to us all, for all your years of experience and knowledge.
I have what I hope will be an interesting question for you. I am
young, 25, and currently work for an NGO in
Nicaragua and previously did the Peace Corps work here as well. I have been
pondering over how reasonable Nicaragua
would/could be as a retreat location, for numerous reasons, such as, in any
given area:
- Rich topsoil and annual rains
- Extremely low population density (lowest in
Central America)
- Low real estate prices
- Low real estate taxes
- An abundance of excellent [self-sufficient retreat]
locations
These reasons make it seem to me, at least, as someone with minimal financial
resources, as the best option, since preparing a retreat would be so much cheaper
than in the USA.
There are, however, many downsides, such as:
- Lack of other prepared people
- Long distance from where I will be living (the
USA)
- Lack of medical supplies, qualified doctors, etc.
These make me tend to believe that one would have to be of the lone ranger
type...or at least accept that others that would accompany one would
not bring any material resources to the table, only experience (especially
in agriculture,
animal husbandry, do it yourself repairs, etc.). Because a big plus in
the Nicaraguan economy is that it is already very subsistence based - cooking
is
done with firewood outside of the cities, soap can be made, etc.).
However, I always ask myself this question: When TSHTF,
if I am living in the USA, will I be able to make it to my retreat in Nicaragua
in time? Since
I
love Nicaragua and speak Spanish, etc., for me it stands out as an ideal
location, however, I want to ask your advice on this particular question:
When TSHTF,
would you leave yourself a long plane flight and [an additional] 100+ KM [by
road] from your retreat location?
I hope this question warrants real interest on your part and that it is
a legitimate concern that other readers of SurvivalBlog can learn from. -
Daniel G.
JWR Replies: I only consider offshore retreats viable if
you relocate semi-permanently, and don't attempt to "time" your departure.
That might work in a "slow slide" scenario, but unless you are an
experienced blue water yachtsman and live within a few miles of where you keep
a fully-stocked
sailboat, it just won't work in the event of a sudden-onset
collapse. (Driving would probably be impossible, since borders will be closed,
and flying won't
be an option since most international flights will presumably be grounded.)
Given the high crime rates in much of central and south America, it is important
to find a farming community that is in a low-crime area. It is absolutely essential
to learn Spanish muy rapido, and to develop close friendships with
locals as soon as possible. Most of the Americans that I know that have made
this transition
successfully have either married into local families, or have set up companies
that have employed a dozen or more local employees. (Thus, the employers have
made themselves indispensable to the community.)
The financial crisis will becoming increasingly global, so don't consider yourself
insulted by merely living in a a rural community in Nicaragua. Arm yourself,
get good firearms training, and if possible acquire a Starlight scope and a passive
IR intrusion detection system, such as a Dakota Alert. (The latter are sold by
Affordable Shortwaves--one
of our advertisers.) Kalashnikov (
AK)
rifles
are ubiquitous in Central America, so I recommend taking AK-centric
classes, such as those
taught by Gabe Suarez.
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Letter Re: Mining Claims as Retreat Locales
Dear Jim,
My closest neighbor works in our local Bureau of Land Management (BLM) office.
He told me that the lady in the cubical next to his handles mining claims.
She
has
told
him
that
there
has been a significant increase in new mining claims. What she is confused
about is that where many of the claims have been made, there is no evidence
of any minerals. She told my neighbor that she researched to law and there
is no requirement to prove that there are minerals to be mined at a claim site.
My neighbor feels that people who are filing these claims, are getting locations
set up where they can go to if the Schumer Hits the Fan (SHTF). It is very
cheap to file a claim and the fees have not gone up in decades. Living here
in the
west
,there
are
plenty
of old mines that are not being worked, that have gated roads and no trespassing
signs. It is my understanding that the owners of the claim just need to do
the yearly assessment work to keep it.
I am sure there are readers with a lot more knowledge of mining law than me
that may be able to verify that this might be a viable way to obtain an inexpensive
retreat.
Here is some more information on mining claims. It looks pretty good for those
getting started on a small budget.
From eHow: How to File a Mining Claim
From a BLM office n Arizona
A
Mining Claim Book Review
Regards, - P.D.
« Three Letters Re: Some Practical Lessons with Daily Concealed Carry |Main| Note from JWR: »
Old Frontier Forts as Alternative Bug Out Locations?, by R.D. in Wyoming
I wish to present an alternative prep situation that I have not really seen talked
about on your blog and at other other sites. First a small bit of biographical background and anecdotes to explain
my reasons for what I (now recently we) are doing.
Ten years ago, I retired from the military (26+ years, Life Scout (in a younger
form) and an ex-scout leader (both Boy and Girl Scouts), fixed income with a
part time job, never lived at one address longer than three years (requirement
of
military
lifestyle), hobbies oriented to colonial/fur trade eras (see anecdote), recent
earnest prepper (caused by that feeling in the pit of my stomach and head that
things really aren't right and not going to get better). Fiscally responsible
but bought the "earned your retirement" false dream long ago--that
can't be changed now.
While in the military a lifestyle of semi-preparedness was necessary because
of my low income. (I suffered through the
Carter and Clinton administrations). We canned food from our garden wherever
we
were
stationed
to
stretch
the food budget and teach our children how to make their own food; we cut firewood
for heat in some locales; we relied on kerosene lamp back-up lighting and camp
stove cooking because of unreliable base power grids. At one base I was even
visited by the Public Works officer to find out why my quarters had lights during
a power outage. Imagine his surprise to find both lights and heat off the grid,
plus all my neighbors and their children warm and well fed.
At times, while in the service, we qualified for assistance food and
based upon those experiences have reached some unconventional decisions. Assistance
food usually meant a five-pound block of USDA cheese, #10 cans of dehydrated
soups or powdered eggs, surplus breads and very large containers of dried milk.
When
you
open these it becomes a use-it-or-lose-it menu even for a family of four!
My colonial/fur trades hobbies came about with involvement in Scouting, teaching
merit badges, Indian skills and camp crafts. They are both enjoyable and practical
from a barter-trades aspect: hide tanning/leatherworking, moccasin and footwear
making, non-manufactured clothing making (no zippers or buttons) and
using trade cloth/blankets), primitive cooking and camping skills and pioneering--the
art of using logs and rope to construct bridges, platforms and watch towers,
cranes and jack-legs, and other basic heavy lifting rigs. I highly recommend
adding Scouting handbooks and merit badge books (older printings) to family
preparedness libraries. There is a
wealth of information there!
Last year, while looking for our current home, I was really taken with a 1950s
home that still had a primo Civil Defense specification bomb shelter in the
back yard, primarily as a safe place for my reloading and weapons storage.
It was
the
high end style
that
was connected to the basement of the house with a concrete tunnel, doored at
both ends, and three feet underground. It was in mild disrepair: vent system
damaged and entrance sealed off at the house, but repairable. We passed on
that house because it was in the end too small for our needs and in a shall-we-say
"unstable" neighborhood.
Six months after purchasing our current home my wife, out of the blue, says
that
maybe we should have bought the other house! This from a woman that has made
disparaging remarks when I have added to our LBE kits and checked the status
of our "homeland defense" items.
She seems to have had an epiphany after our taxes were prepared when she wanted
to know why we had not taken the $3,000 credit from our small investment nest
egg
before and I explained that we had never lost over half of it to the economy!
When the "boss" changed
her attitude and became interested in my "below the radar" preps,
I started to include her in the decision and prioritizing of what to buy and
the impacts on our limited budget.
"Below the radar" preps means passing off a purchase as some other
need (diplomatic when not everyone is on board with the idea): a small generator
was
for our tent camper, food items were for this summer when our grandson visits
or to replace things lost in a move, water jugs were because of the places
where we camp, extra gas cans were for the lawn mower (a stretch but it worked),
the
FRS radios
were an aid when we are out hiking, though there was no need to disguise the
increase
in reloading components when the election results were in.
All this brings me to our different style of prepping.
While I would like to be able to stock up as is generally noted and advocated,
our finances and storage space do not permit the expenditure of the amounts
necessary to buy in bulk. Also from my experiences in the military I don't
like to place all my eggs in one basket. I will admit that while
it is more expensive per unit cost, it is also more "do-able" in
an on-going practical sense on a fixed income and has an unforeseen future
benefit.
We make our storage food purchases with only the two of us in immediate mind,
to aid in use and rotation, by buying individual serving packages for most
of the items that we get: boxes of rice sealed in boil-in-bag pouches, powdered
milk in boxes that have quart size servings inside, individual packages of
Ramen
style noodles, small cans of fruits and vegetables (the type with the pull-off
lids), non-refrigerated microwave meals that serve one (these are very practical
as they go in our lunches on a daily basis), individual packet boxes of instant
oatmeal, and normal sizes of canned meat, chicken and fish. Some items naturally
are bought in what would be normal sizes but for only the two of us they seem
to last forever: Five pound bags of flour, sugar, cornmeal, coffee and pancake
mixes. The primary factor in these purchases is getting the longest expiration
dates
that we can find. All this gets put into 22 gallon Totes that have latches
for the lids but only one container of each item per Tote: a box of rice, a
box
of milk,
salt, coffee, etc., 4 each of the fruits and vegetables (36 total), 4 rolls
of toilet paper and towels, strike anywhere matches, sets of durable plastic
knife, fork and spoon, zip-lock bag of 28 individual size soap, 4 empty plastic
bullet boxes that hold
4 Bic style [disposable butane] lighters, 2 packets each type garden seeds.
This list is not complete, but you get the idea. The content of each Tote equate
to one
month's
food and paper needs and is movable by even our 13 year old grandson. We currently
have six totes filled, after only four months of serious additions. We are
trying to add
one Tote a month in addition to the other things that we are getting. My part-time
job provides the funds for this so what we can get depends on what else is
on a priority that month. We do have an additional Tote that holds 36 MREs
and is
marked for priority loading. Our water is stored in the newer G.I. five-gallon
plastic water cans, available at flea markets. These are stored in a dark storage
room.
Our
small
camper
is
always stocked and ready to go no matter what season of the year.
Now for the reasoning behind this method. If TSHTF or TEOTWAWKI occurs
it may be gradual or a traumatic event requiring different tactics. If gradual
and
we can hunker down while finishing up necessaries, only one Tote at a time
needs
to be opened to augment what we have. If traumatic, anyone can carry/load the
Totes into one of several available G.O.O.D. vehicles or the trailer while
another watches their "six". The urgency of a bug-out may dictate how much
can be loaded
in the time available. The more Totes that can be grabbed, the longer we can
make do but the MRE Tote and water is always loaded first. This is in addition
to B.O.B.s and
homeland defense items.
Now for the unforeseen future benefits that I mentioned. As you have noted
several times and places, I too could not turn away others that are in need
if I can
help. But giving someone a #10 can of beans or soup will not really help them.
A grocery bag of individual servings that they are familiar with and provide
variety and full meals for one or two days plus a means to heat it will help
while not depleting our stores. Secondly, if a bad guy finds a single Tote
with a few of everything in it, they may assume that's all there is
and not attempt to engage in a protracted search for more.
One last item that may not meet with approval but is out-of-the-box thinking
in the selection of several fallback retreat sites that most others probably
will not think of. If we cannot stay in the city, as small as it is,
I have found a couple of locales that would prove ideal. One is a semi-restored
1870s military post. Yes, I know that I don't own it in the
traditional sense though I have paid for it through my taxes, but if there
is no more
authority in force, it could prove useful. The fort is already set up to function
without power as we are used to, just coal
or wood heat and cooking (there is no electricity on site), bulletproof buildings
and pre-determined fields of fire, close to a year round water source, small
homes
for families
and barracks for singles and designed by some of the best military minds of
their times. Even has a powder magazine and jail! It also has a very low visitor
count.
If it is occupied or contested, no problems, as there are others at regular
distances closer or farther. If not, then it allows for a rally point and the
expansion of a
Group as others arrive that are aware of my thinking. And they are not unique
to our Area of Operations (AO).
I have been to some really complete ones back east, in the south, and
on the west coast. Let your mind do the walking.
I didn't realize how long this became. If you find it suitable for
others to see to help them achieve their goals with limited or minimal means,
please feel free to chop it as necessary.
Very Respectfully of your efforts to aid others, - R.D. in Wyoming
JWR Replies: That is an interesting concept, but implementing
as you describe would require a quite unique set of circumstances. Namely,
it could only happen if there were
a sudden an near total collapse of society, and if all law
enforcement evaporated overnight. It is far more likely that we will witness
a "slow slide"
from recession
to
depression, (and then, much less likely) to collapse. For most that continuum, your actions would be seen
as criminal, and you'd quickly attract the attention of government. So then
you might end up behind some other very
stout walls. And BTW, any of these forts that are on National Forest or National
Park land are considered Federal property, so any occupation deemed "trespassing"
would be a Federal offense and likely carry a much more severe penalty than
trespass on state or county parklands. So it is best to make this a "very
low likelihood"
contingency plan.
In my estimation the only pragmatic way to occupy an old
fort in the midst of a slow slide situation would be to include representatives
of county, state or perhaps even Federal government as part of your planned
cadre, and characterize
it all
as a "continuity
of government" (COG)
endeavor. Bureaucrats often enjoy thinking (or pretending) that they come up
with original ideas. Given the promise of safety for "selected"
people, this should not be too difficult to orchestrate, especially as the
economy worsens and the crime rate escalates. Creating a nexus with a governmental
organization could be as complex as getting qualified as an EMT, or as simple
as joining a
Sheriff's Posse,
joining a County
SAR team,
or becoming a RACES-affiliated
ham radio operator.
« Economics and Investing: |Main| Letter Re: A Short Term Home Evacuation Taught Some Lessons »
Letter Re: The Challenges of Prepping While on Active Duty Military Service
Hi,
I just finished reading the
Profile on Mr. & Mrs. India. I had planned
to write earlier and this truly motivated me. I am in the military with 24
years
in.
I discovered your web site last spring and have been a dedicated reader. I
have learned so much. Unfortunately right after I discovered your site I was
transferred
overseas. I am almost midway my tour but have been very frustrated in that
so much of what I could do in terms of preparation is hampered by being overseas.
Ordering staples for the pantry is the easiest thing I could do and yet the
hardest as I would not be allowed to bring food back into the U.S. and many
other items cannot be shipped to FPO [or APO]
boxes.
In terms of food, I have
ordered some and had it delivered to my Mom’s house but I have to be
careful about the weight as she is in her seventies and can’t do a lot
of lifting. I also will need to move these items from her home when I return
to the States.
I have purchased the grain mill, plan to get the water filter, and have ordered
a lot of seed prior to my leaving home. Right before I came here I purchased
a bow and had a friend teach me how to shoot. Unfortunately foreigners here
can’t have weapons so it’s still in the case but at least I have
it. As an active duty member I can qualify on the rifle range and so get free
arms training.
Being in a foreign country does have it’s benefits in
that they have some things here (farm tools, household items, etc.) that
are very practical yet not sold in the U.S. I have been able to stock up on
some
personal hygiene items such as tooth brushes, tooth paste, and some neat
Japanese garden items. If anyone has any other ideas as to things I can do
to prepare
I would appreciate it. Also, if you can give advice to those of us who do
live the nomadic lifestyle in the military, especially when we have to go overseas
and leave everything in storage or be hamstrung in terms of what we can
and
cannot ship between countries.
Being far from home, every evening when I get to my apartment I visit your
web site. It is so uplifting and informative. It is a real morale booster
for those of us who can’t be back home. Thank you!
« Economics and Investing: |Main| Letter Re: Barnyard Junk: The Things that You Do and Don't Need for TEOTWAWKI »
Letter Re: An Impromptu SurvivalBlog Meet-up at Front Sight
There was a bit of a ‘covert’ Survivalblog
gathering at Front Sight recently. Along with Tim R & Tantalum Tom I was
also in attendance earlier in March. I have two grown sons, both of which had
expressed a desire to have a handgun for home defense. As a law enforcement
officer
and
former
SWAT team member I am familiar with the operation of and responsibility with
owning a gun. I am confident in my training and ability to defend my home and
family through that training. My two sons, however, had barely even held a
gun, let alone fired it. This spurred me to obtain the proper training as any
responsible gun owner should do, and when I heard about the "get
a Gun " promotion for the four day Defensive Handgun course that Dr. Piazza was offering, I jumped on board for all three of us.
Both of my sons were shocked when I made the presentation to them last year.
Before doing so, they knew something was coming, but had no idea as to exactly
what it was. When I gave them the course, including transportation and lodging,
they were both flabbergasted and ecstatic. Imagine how amazed they were to
find they would also be using a brand new gun of their choosing which would
belong to them upon completion of the course, with Front Sight sending it back
to our local FFL dealer. I gave them this present last July, and thanks to
Front Sight’s generous scheduling policy, I had the luxury of planning
the trip at my convenience, choosing dates in mid March.
The trip to Vegas was go od, where we rented a car and drove out to Pahrump,
about 50 miles to the west. We even had enough time that first day to go back
to Vegas where we feasted on the sights and sounds of ‘The Strip’ and
one of the many great buffets, catching a show afterwards. On Friday we drove
up to the front gate at Front Sight where we were welcomed and directed to
the check in location. Often times any of us are nervous when doing something
for the first time, especially in unfamiliar territory far from home. But here
we were greeted with a smile by a well organized and helpful staff. Nerves
disappeared almost immediately, replaced by the excitement of what was to come.
The five days there were phenomenal, especially as I had the honor of sharing
that voyage of discovery with my two sons. You’ve undoubtedly read the
commentaries from other attendees, so I will spare you from repetition other
than to say the education I received was excellent. I put some 800 rounds through
my [Springfield Armory] .45 XD and by the end of my time there it felt so natural in my hand to be
almost a part of me.
I was most taken back by the staff who make it truly phenomenal. I will refer
to my range-master as the ‘Stair’-Master who took us, step by step,
through their procedures in such a natural way. He was informative, professional,
friendly, o pen and knew what he was teaching inside out and back to front.
But to be perfectly honest, you could say the same for all of them. There were
times when we had seven or eight instructors on the line with us. Talk about
individual coaching and instruction! Unheard of! This by far is the best firearm
instruction I have ever received, and would recommend it to anyone, both novice
and expert alike.
In addition to receiving great instruction on the range, we were also afforded
some informative and well thought out lectures introducing the concept of owning,
using, choosing and carrying a gun. The presenters make it interesting and
use their experience and real life situations to better relate to the student
body. I even found myself enacting one scenario out with them in a realistic,
unscripted way that I have to say, would be very realistic given the situation
they presented.
I would also recommend the lunches available through pre-order from ‘Beach
Café’, linked through the Front Sight web site. They deliver lunches
daily and I found them more than sufficient to get me through the day. As others
have said, make sure you hydrate, dress appropriately (layers) and expect to
spend long days there which whiz by with all that you do. The coffee is plentiful
and the friends you will make from those around you will make it even more
special. Come the last day I ‘slowly, carefully, reluctantly’ placed
my gun back in its holster and shook the hands of the new friends I had made,
determined to return and further my education on a later date. Cruise eBay
for some first
time student gray course certificates and you too can attend some of their
courses at a great rate where you will then discover the awesome deals available
to
return students. Folks, you will not be disappointed, and you will feel so
much better prepared in your ability to protect yourself, your home, and most
importantly, your loved ones. - DeFuz
« Letter Re: Private Gated Communities May Not be Gated After All |Main| Notes from JWR: »
Life's Lessons and the Foundations of Preparedness, by A.B.
We may soon depend on all of what we have learned over the years. Putting
all of the threads of knowledge together into a tapestry of self-sufficiency,
and survival capabilities, is part of the lifelong quest for our family’s
security. We learn from many sources and experiences such as: family, church,
friends, teachers, teammates, co-workers, reading books and SurvivalBlog, and
hopefully from our mistakes.
Preparedness Skills from our Grandmas and Grandpas
The foundation for preparedness begins with my childhood in Michigan. We
lived in Lansing where my great-grandmother was next door and my grandmother
lived
next door to her. My father was born in great-grandma’s house after
the family moved to the city during the early 1900s. My sisters and I spent
weekends and summers alternately at my mom’s family dairy farm, which
was just outside of the city, and at my dad’s family cabin “up
north”. These were the richest times of my life. We knew all of our
grandparents and some of our great-grandparents very well. My great-great-grandfather
still
lived in the old log cabin when I was born in 1956. We have been fortunate
to have had five generations alive consistently from then until now. The
wealth of love and knowledge you gain from your extended family is irreplaceable.
The “old timers” told stories of hardship during the great depression
and the dust bowl era (we live an area that was the largest prairie east
of the Mississippi.) Memories of crop failures with tales of early and late
frosts
were passed down. There were also hunting and fishing stories passed down
as we learned to hunt and fish with older family members. There were bigger
than
life lumberjack stories and stories from Prohibition and the World Wars.
I learned to safely handle and accurately shoot a .22 rifle with peep sights
when I was six or seven years old. I walked the roads with my grandpa squirrel
hunting. We ice fished on local lakes and went to Tip-Up
Town USA every year.
All
of
this adds to ones persona and the early experience helps awaken the necessary “survivalist” traits.
On a working dairy farm you rapidly learn about life (and death). Animal
husbandry and caring for the land lead to sustainability. Animals do become
food and
harvesting the crops sometimes seems little reward for the hard work. The
milking must be done every day and chores do not wait. As a kid I learned
to drive
tractors and pick-ups to and from the fields. We mowed, bailed and then stacked
the hay in the mow. Alfalfa, oats and corn were the field crops. Pigs, chickens,
and sheep were raised along with the dairy cows and we cleaned the barns
and spread manure.
Knowledge is passed down from generation to generation such as when to plant,
where to plant, when to harvest, and how to raise the animals. There were
many topics of conversations at the Sunday breakfast table. Many things are
debated
and discussed after chores and before Church. Most times the conversations
continued outside the Church after the sermon. It was the only time you saw
the other farmers. When you are a little guy you tended to be quiet, pay
attention and learn.
Grandpa was a farmer and Grandma was a one room school teacher. Grandma also
taught vacation bible school during the summer break. Us kids learned how
to tend good gardens and helped preserve the food we raised. We took care
of the
barn animals while the uncles milked. We hauled water to the bull pen and
helped milk as we got older. Survival skill sets from the farm come from
being part
of a close knit community with a solid work ethic. There are strong religious
underpinnings with good people engaged in caring for one another as well
as the animals and the land.
Preparedness from "Roughing It”
The log cabin “up north” had a well-house for getting water and
an outhouse for getting rid of water. There was a wood fired cook stove for
heat and kerosene lamps to play cards under. There was a red checkered oilcloth
on the table with cane chairs around it. The place was originally homesteaded
by my great-great-grandfather in the late 1800s (a few electric lights
were added at some point.) We used to go up on Friday night after Dad or
Grandpa got out of work. The next morning started with an awakening trip to
the outhouse
and then fetching a bucket of water from the well house and kindling for
the wood stove. On a cold morning you stepped lively until the fire was going.
Once the stove was hot, Grandma would cook buttermilk pancakes on a griddle
that my great-grandmother had used in the lumber camp. Eggs and bacon sizzled
in a cast iron skillet. Clothes were washed on a washboard in a wash tub and
then
hung
out to dry. You took a bath in the river. During the summer we would fish
morning and evening and water ski on the nice days. The family summer vacation
was
spent camping in a tent along the river or at a state park. The old cabin
was also used for small game hunting in the early fall and deer camp in the
late
fall / winter. We would take walks in the woods and look for morels and other
edible things like may apples, hickory nuts or raspberries and huckleberries.
Animal tracks were learned and followed with hopes of a glimpse. Life was
considered sacred unless needed for food and being a part of nature became
obvious. A
leave no trace and waste nothing ethic was being born.
Opportunities for further wilderness and pioneering skill development were
provided by Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. My mom and dad were actively involved
in Scouting when I was growing up. Teamwork and sharing responsibilities
for the group were learned. Outdoor cooking and keeping things sanitary were
heavily
emphasized. Food poisoning is no joke – we had one patrol that damn near
killed us with their meal. We learned to wash our hands and boil the crap out
of everything. Hiking and backpacking skills were beginning to be developed
in the Scouts. We day hiked a 20 miler once a year on the Johnny Appleseed
Trail - the Scouts version of the death march. You had to carry a full pack
if you wanted the patch. We also hiked the Pokagon Trail in northern Indiana
and learned to camp in the winter.
While living in Pennsylvania (later in life) I started winter backpacking with
a few of my buddies. We went in the winter both for the solitude it offered,
and
to learn the special skill sets required for survival in the cold. There
are beautiful views from Seven Springs and other spots along the Laurel Highlands
Trail during the winter. This experience then led to the development of technical
mountaineering skills. The books Basic Rockcraft, Advanced Rockcraft and
Knots
for Climbers were memorized along with study of the book Mountaineering:
The Freedom of the Hills. Skills were practiced and ingrained.
My first solo backpacking / climbing trip came in the summer of 1980 in the
Organ Mountains of southern New Mexico. I later solo climbed most of the
4,000 and 5,000
footers in New England (many in winter). I met a like minded climber on one
of those hikes and we made a summit bid on Mt. Rainier in June of 1998. I
also began
the solo circumnavigation on the Wonderland Trail that year. I set the first
tracks both that year and when I completed the circuit in June of 2001. Map
and compass skills were required. Primitive camping
while carrying everything you
need to survive for two weeks is a tough proposition. It was tough in my 30s
and 40s. It’s even harder now that I am in my 50s. G.O.O.D. to
the deep woods is doable but it would be a hard life.
Responsibility and Teamwork
We learned to be responsible and self-sufficient during our childhood. We learned
to play without other kids around and had chores to do for our allowance. I
learned to gather the wood and light a fire as soon as I was old enough. You
pumped the
water and filled the reservoir if you wanted warm water for washing up. You
learned to use guns and knives as tools while you learned hunting techniques
and cleaned
the game for the table. Being a responsible hunter meant taking ethical shots
and using what you kill. Catching and cleaning fish, then cooking or smoking
them were all part of being a good fisherman. To go along with these survival
skills you also need the ability to share knowledge and work as a team.
Most of the skills you learn will help you to fend for yourself one way or
another. The only problem is summed up with the statement “no man is an island”.
You will need others sooner or later. My sisters and I developed basic teamwork
skills while setting up camp. The girls helped mom and I helped dad. We had a “system”.
This was carried further in Scouting. Some Patrols set up tents while another
set up the kitchen. These valuable lessons were used later in life as I went
through boot camp and during service in the military. I served on small boats
as part of a search and rescue team in the USCG.
Teamwork helps to overcome the steep learning curve and high risk of being
a self-sufficient survivalist. You can do things as a team exponentially quicker
and safer than you can by yourself. Your bunkmate becomes your partner in boot
camp and later becomes your shipmate. You learn “one hand for yourself
and one hand for the boat”. As a team you can survive what would kill you
alone. In a bad storm someone has to steer while someone bails out the boat.
One person couldn’t do it. Avalanche in the back country is another perfect
example - by yourself you are probably dead. Doing things alone is great - but
it may cost you your life. Skill and knowledge can’t cover your a** like
a buddy. It’s nice to have someone else on the rope with you; they are
your only hope.
Teaching everyone at least something you know and learning from everyone something
you don’t know can only make the group stronger. If someone gets sick
or is tired someone else can step up. CPR is
a good example here. In the back country one person can’t help himself.
One person helping may bring back the life but it better happen quickly. Two
people allow you to send someone for
help while
rendering aid until you are too tired to continue. Three people allow almost
indefinite support. Two can alternate CPR while waiting for the one who left
for help to return with the defibrillator. If help is real far away, then it’s
done. There is a point of no return. Remote locations usually cross that point
which is a distinct disadvantage (unless the SHTF).
Without teamwork you will usually die if something bad happens. Everyone has
to be a good shot. Everyone needs to be able to render first aid. The group
is only as strong as the weakest link and precious resources are spent covering
someone’s a** that’s not up to speed. Teach and learn and cross train.
Remember what you did as a kid and don’t sell the kid’s of today
short. Teach them the skills they need and allow them to grow into the responsibility.
Being part of a team or extended family that functions like a team is fun. The
action of being responsible for one another is at the root of any team.
The
Prepared Family
The family is the primary source of knowledge. Some survival skills to learn
right along with reading, writing and arithmetic are: swimming, knot tying,
fire building under all conditions, where to get water and how to make it safe
to
drink, safe gun handling and accurate shooting, hunting in fields and the woods,
fishing in rivers and on lakes, first aid, camping, boating, gardening, making
things “homemade”. You can’t start learning or teaching these
things too soon.
10 years ago we moved back home to Michigan after living all over the USA.
I had come home for my Grandpa’s funeral and was returning to New England.
Something was wrong and I couldn’t put my finger on it. That’s when
the light came on and as I drove it became apparent that I was going the wrong
way – both figuratively and literally. We were chasing the so called “American
Dream”. Losing my grandfather and returning to the north woods had shown
me where home really is. It is with family and God and where your roots are.
I had drifted away from the true values I had learned early in life.
I resigned my position, cashed out the 401(k), and bought the homestead from
grandma. We planted 24 fruit trees and installed irrigation systems for the
gardens. We
pruned the grape vines back and tended to the asparagus beds. My wife renewed
the old flower beds and I have replaced the split rail fence. We re-roofed
everything. The folks put down another well up the field and had another septic
system installed
for their travel trailer. We had a 100 amp power drop installed and we also
buried a power cable from the field to the trailer for a 12 volt system (small
scale
solar and wind).
I once again could use guns after living in the tyranny of Massachusetts. (I
refused to get an Firearms ID card so my guns never left the house in 16 years.)
I taught a niece
and nephew to shoot with the same .22 that grandpa used to teach me with almost
50 years ago. My nephew, now an 8th grader, got his first deer this past year.
No one believed him when he came home and told them. He did it on his own.
Things have now come full circle in our life. My grandma lives with us in her
old house through the summer. My sisters are both Grandmas themselves now and
they are taking care of our mom and dad. The kids have great-grandparents and
a great-great grandmother. My understanding wife of thirty years and I live
here on the homestead as stewards of the family heritage. The whole family
gets together
up here once or twice a year. We know how to provide for and take care of each
other. If the SHTF my sisters and the rest of the family will head up here
to the homestead and once again adopt the ways of our Great-Great Grandpa and
Grandma.
Everything we have learned through our lives will serve us well. Skill sets
from the north woods and from the farm are derived from living simple, living
manual
and living with nature as part of nature.
We used to fall to sleep on a feather tick mattress while listening to rain
tapping over our heads in the loft of the old log cabin. Bedtime stories were
told as
we drifted to sleep and the whippoorwills sang into the night. We didn’t
think that the day would come that just about all of what we learned from our
family and from our life would come into play. Thank God for our tight family
and all of the distilled knowledge passed down to us. I now live in a home
built over the site of the original log cabin and now we have 7 generations
since my
great-great grandparents first cleared this piece of land. It looks like we
will be talking of another “Great Depression” soon and the complete
cycle renews. Do we learn from our mistakes?
Preparedness Skills and Materials
We’re preparing for the future and I hope to teach what I can to as many
people as I can before it’s over. We can survive well if we draw on one
another’s strengths and knowledge. It starts with the family and moves
out to the extended family then to the neighbors and on to town folk and into
the blogosphere. Many people have grown up in similar circumstances and have
similar experiences. We must practice our learned skills and trades all of
the time to stay fresh and perpetuate our way of life. We must keep acquiring
new
skills and more materials for survival. Preparedness is a constant quest.
Survival trades that I've learned:
ASE Certified Master Auto Technician
Journeyman Machinist and Apprentice Welder.
Experience with all aspects of house construction from framing to finish work,
including house wiring and plumbing for water, gas and DWV systems.
Professional ditch digger and home brewer of beer.
Survival tools, equipment, and material acquired over the years:
Comprehensive set of Snap-On hand tools, diagnostic equipment and garage.
Several redundant computers and complete wi-fi coverage with satellite internet.
All of the carpentry, plumbing and electrical tools needed to build a house.
All of the tools required to garden both manually and with gas engines.
Fence building tools and supplies.
5,500 watt gas generator.
Wood stove and saws, axes, mauls, wedges.
Stores of food, bits of gold and silver, books and manuals, and lots of lead.
Survival firearms battery:
Auto-Ordinance Model 1911A1 .45 ACP (I qualified Marksman in USCG)
Stag Arms AR-15 with 20” Bull barrel, 5.56 (I qualified Expert in USCG)
Marlin .22 WMR (squirrel / varmint gun)
Mossberg .22 LR (shot this since 1962)
Ruger M77 Mk II .270 Win. (my deer rifle)
Winchester Model 94 .32 Win. Special (got my first deer with Grandpa’s
gun)
Mossberg 12 ga. 3 -1/2” Ulti-Mag in Camo (turkey / duck / goose gun)
Winchester Model 1897 12 ga. 2-3/4” (I've shot this gun since 1969)
Reloading equipment and supplies (loads for Barnes Bullets)
Survival Quest 2009 (the final pieces I'll need for grid down and
"zombies"):
Ruger M77 Mk II .300 Win Mag with optics
A manual water pump (the old pump is
gone)
Wind turbine and photovoltaic panels for water pumping and power generation.
Battery bank and inverter
More kerosene lamps
Night Vision for the AR-15
Radios
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Letter Re: Private Gated Communities May Not be Gated After All
Dear Mr. Rawles,
I read Brad S.'s letter with interest today. About ten years ago I was working
in property management for an apartment community in Lakewood, Washington.
Not exactly a low-crime area, to say the least.
One of our selling points was the gates at each entrance of the community.
My manager and I took over the property not knowing the sort of people the
previous management team had rented to. Over the course of four months, we
evicted dozens of tenants for being months behind on rent, among other things.
When
this process began, we noticed that we received daily complaints about our
gates being "busted".
Turned out disgruntled ne'er do wells whose pass codes had been deleted and
locks changed were using their vehicle [bumper]s to push the
gates open to get into the community. Because the gates open in the direction
the
vehicle is going
(i.e. in for incoming vehicles and out for outgoing), these was extremely easy
for them to do. One (non-criminal) resident actually got brave enough to slip
outside one night and get video footage of a vehicle so that we could help
the police try to track them down.
We went through thousands and thousands of dollars by the time we just gave
up and stopped fixing them. It became a game for the nasties in the area and
just wasn't worth it any more. The police had a heck of a time getting anyone
involved in the Neighborhood Watch in the area, but when they finally got mad
enough about their rent money not keeping up "security", people started
cracking down on their former neighbors and current neighbors. Yes - current
- even some of the punks who didn't get evicted were still doing it just to
infuriate my boss.
Additionally, most of the apartments set up like this will purposely lock the
gates open during heavy commute hours (say, 0700-0900 and 1600-1800) just to
save on the electric bill and keep lines from forming at the gate. This means
that anyone and everyone who happens to notice this on a property can just
time their visits appropriately and have full access to your community.
Unless you are the only family on your place with much better gates and a
better system, such gates are nothing but a mental barrier to keep honest people
honest, as they say, and to instill a sense of security and class in the residents.
This doesn't apply to heavy duty gates, especially those that slide from side
to side on a track, vs the kind that open on a hinge with a small motor, of
course. But in general, as somebody who got to write up about a hundred repair
requests - skip 'em. They aren't worth it if they are the generic "make
you feel special and make your place look fancy" type of gates.
Thanks for all your hard work. - M.K.
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Cold and Dark--An Account of an Ice Storm, by Steve S.
Preparations
In January, 2008, the outlook for people in the United States appeared bleak.
I told my wife that we needed to stock-up on food because I felt that the supply
lines were thin and vulnerable. I began my preparations by Internet search.
I found JWR's SurvivalBlog and I bought a copy of his novel. In the meantime,
I started buying cases of canned goods. I bought food that we generally ate.
I looked at the expiration dates of every purchase. I tried to buy what would
last through 2011. Not much would, so I bought with the idea of buying more
later, looking for one year at a time.
The pantry was full. I had read Jim's book, and had found many links
on the SurvivalBlog that helped me know how much of what to buy to be balanced.
I bought a freezer at Sam’s Club and filled that also. I noticed that
food prices were increasing at an alarming rate in August. They were up 18%
on same item purchases, on average. Later that figure would reach 35%. I only
talked about this to a trusted few. My wife was starting to wonder about me.
Soon thereafter, a Harbor Freight store opened in Jonesboro, Arkansas, my home
base. There, I purchased several more items I saw as essential. I got a two
burner propane stove with a center grill feature. I bought some LED flashlights,
ropes, staple guns, and other miscellaneous items. Being a hunter and former
U.S. Army officer, I had a lot of camping (survival equipment) on hand. Sleeping
bags were there, polypropylene long johns, butane lighters, three 20 gallon
and one 100 gallon propane tanks were filled. I use them for my barbeque grill.
I told my wife that we should buy a generator. She said that if I thought we
should buy it, that I should. I didn’t.
I found some water barrels at a local food processing plant. I now have eight
55 gallon drums. I found 4 red 35 gallon chemical barrels that were set aside
for gasoline. I had about six 5 gallon gas cans to operate my 4 wheeler, fishing
boat, and sundry other small engines like lawn equipment and field water pumps.
Day to day, I am an NRA certified training counselor/instructor. Starting in
November 2008, my business started to boom. I had a 300% increase in Arkansas
concealed carry classes. That hasn’t stopped to this day. I have a 35
acre facility that is a former bean field, surrounded by thousands of farmland
acres and two liquor stores. I have a 1,200 square foot building for classroom
and office space, a 52 foot trailer for storage. My plan for survival guns
was simple. All guns were to be military calibers. Handguns would be .45 and
.38 calibers. Rifles would be .22 rimfire, 7.62x39, .308 and .30-06 calibers.
Shotguns would be 12 gauge. Stocks of ammunition were increased starting early
in 2008.
Shelter, food, security. What is left? Communications. I bought a set of 25
mile range pair of Motorola hand held communicators with recharger on sale
for $38. Stores of batteries were laid in. Cell phones. Transportation was
what we already had. 2001 Dodge Durango 4x4 and a 2005 Chevrolet 4x4 extended
cab pick-up.
The Storm
January 28, 2009. KAIT –TV weather in Jonesboro, Arkansas is forecasting
a wet winter storm cold front with frigid weather following out of the Northwest.
When it began, the outside temperature was about 27 degrees Fahrenheit. Freezing
rain collected on everything in near biblical quantity.
I was awakened in the early morning of January 29th and you could hear branches
starting to snap with a sound like gunshots. Outside, you could see flashes of
light as one by one, the transformers on the light poles blew out. The power
was off. It was time to go to work. First, open the flue and light the gas logs
in the fireplace. Inside the house, the temperature had quickly fallen to about
40 degrees. I thought to crack a window for ventilation draft to reduce the chances
of carbon monoxide poisoning. Then I set up a propane heater and went about blocking
off all rooms except the den and kitchen, which were adjoining. I used 4 mil
plastic to cover two entrances to the den. The temperature quickly found about
62 degrees. We placed a carbon monoxide detector in the room to keep us from
being statistics. The propane stove was set up over the electric range for cooking
and a 20 pound bottle of propane was connected to it. I started thinking about
how I should have bought a generator.
By morning, we felt isolated in our home. Very few vehicles were moving. The
world outside looked like a war zone with ice-laden limbs and the things they
crushed. With no electricity, the phones didn’t work. We ate breakfast
normally. The whole world became our refrigerator. No cable TV so we cranked
up the radio and began to listen to the results. Reports of some break-ins started
coming in as people abandoned all electric homes for the designated shelters
in town. Outlying areas quickly ran out of gasoline and propane. Stores emptied
out their goods and shelves became bare. Generators and flashlights were nonexistent.
Batteries and power supplies followed suit. Many businesses were unable to sell
anything as their computers were down and lights and heat were out. Sadly, no
one has a backup plan for how to sell anything without electricity. Gas cans
were a faint memory. I checked on our neighbors to make sure they were coping,
and to exchange cell phone numbers. The telephone system actually works without
outside electricity if the type of phone you use doesn’t need 110 volts
from the grid. We had one emergency phone for that reason, and it was operational.
I wondered how many people knew about that?
The day passed relatively uneventfully. We had everything we needed to exist
in a minor disaster. Some people didn’t. A few died for their lack of
preparedness.
After the passing of the first day of “survival,” tree limb removal
became the priority, while everyone fought what southerners call severe cold.
It was the 30th of January. The temperature was unrelenting with nighttime lows
of 9 degrees and daytime highs of 20. I was able to venture out for things that
would be nice to have, like a generator. You see, with a generator, our gas furnace
would work. All you need it for is the electric blower. It was the only hole
in the preparations. I went in to the local Lowe’s, after checking a couple
of other stores. In the back of the store there was a line of about 13 people.
I asked why they were there. There was a truck inbound with 75 generators. I
got in line. Twenty minutes later I was in the electric department buying the
necessary wire nuts and power cords needed to hook my [newly-purchased] generator
to
the
power
panel in my house.
When I got home, the first thing I did was to disconnect the house from the grid
by turning off the main breaker, outside the house. You must do this before attempting
to connect a generator to your power panel. Failure to do so could kill workmen
repairing downed power lines and connecting transformers. To get things operational
quickly, I used the cord provided with the generator, which used four grounded
plug outlets. To operate the [selected] areas to connect, I bought 10
gauge wire. We turned off all appliances and I pulled out the circuit breaker
for the
selected
rooms. I disconnected the wire from the circuit breaker and wired it directly
to each wire with a male plug on the other end to mate with the wire from the
generator. I did this for the heater circuit, the den wall circuit, the kitchen
wall circuit, and the master bedroom wall circuit. The heater kicked on.
I offer one final note about using a generator. The operation book has a chart
in it showing the watts used by each type of appliance. You must calculate the
[load] amount used by your appliances. It has to add up to less than your generators
running wattage rating.
We were on a main highway in town, and we had our electricity hooked to the grid
after spending only a few nights without. Many in town were without electricity
for three weeks. In outlying areas, some are still not connected. The line crews
working to restore power were fantastic. Limbs still line the highways and yards
a month after the event began.
Lessons Learned
It was nice to be confident in the preparations that we had made. It was also
easy to see the holes in the plan. I now have the generator that I knew I would
need when the grid goes down. After the fact, I also bought the connections necessary
to hook up the generator just by turning off the main breaker, plugging the generator
to an installed wall socket, and cranking it up. Cell phones go down after only
a few days without a charge. I bought a portable power battery for that purpose.
If we had been out of power long term, the generator would have had to have been
used on a part time basis, at night. That means that daytime operations would
have been using only one or two rooms, again. When power goes down, the best
fallback is natural gas, if you have it. I am in the process of planning where
to install additional natural gas stubs for appliances that can be added. The
natural gas hot water heater was a blessing. It was on from the start. The warmest
place in the house was the utility room where the water heater is located. Remember
to have books and games for those evening hours when you would have been watching
television. Make sure all of your gasoline cans stay filled and stabilized. Make
sure
all of your propane bottles stay charged. Make sure you have plenty of batteries
for radios and flashlights. Make sure you have enough essential medicines. Roger’s
Rangers rules #1 rule is "Don’t fergit nuthin!"
I may have missed a few issues, but I want to talk about future plans. I am going
to install photovoltaic panels to run an emergency LED lighting system. This
would
be
a small solar panel, probably 45-60 watts [and a deep cycle battery], as a precursor
to getting
a more comprehensive system. LED lights use very little electricity and they
are
very
long lasting.
More technology will be added as it becomes available. Reducing reliance on the
grid is the ultimate goal.
Final Words
You can war game and "what if" emergency situations as much as you
like. It is good to exercise your plan. The problem is that real situations
have a
way of
waking you up to the holes in your plans. Do not wait to begin planning for the
next disaster. People in tornado and earthquake zones know about being ready
for these things, but Mother Nature will have a surprise for you no matter
where
you are.
Prepare for the worst and pray to God that it doesn’t happen.
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Letter Re: Private Gated Communities May Not be Gated After All
Hi Jim,
Due to the real estate slump and the poor economy, my wife and I are trying
to unravel our mess of real estate investments. One thing we did, was to abandoned
our McMansion in a rural area near Seattle, Washington. It was a new four
thousand square foot custom home in a gated community. All the other houses
were as large and some significantly larger. We had abandoned the house about
a
year ago after failing to sell it for what we owed, and have not made any house
payments since then. We also chose not to pay the home owners association dues
which is there to maintain the landscaping and the automatic gates.
Last week we received a letter from the gate maintenance company. they repair
and service the gates. They sent a contract to each of the houses behind our
particular gate requesting us to pay them month service fees in order to have
the gates that were owned by the neighborhood to be operational.
Apparently, the association had several people not pay the yearly fees and
they have decided to keep the landscaping maintained, but not the gates.
My point is that these are a very false sense of security. I know for fact
that if power is lost, the gates automatically open. and the power can be turned
off usually by an unlocked power panel behind some bush nearby the gate. I
thought this was interesting and wondered if any other people had this same
experience. - Brad S.
« Letter Re: Selecting Retreat Properties--Pros and Cons of Buying Remote and Off Grid |Main| Notes from JWR: »
My Tale of the Hurricane Rita Evacuation. August, 2005, by Dan G.
I was working in a pawnshop in Aransass Pass Texas, about 20 miles North of
Corpus Christi, Texas. Two days earlier my wife and I watched the destruction
of New
Orleans on National Television, the news coverage was continuing around the clock
as the drama unfolded.
Gasoline had shot up from $1.56 to $2.99 a gallon overnight and of course
I had to fill up that morning to get to my menial low paying job. Late that
afternoon
a rich looking couple driving a huge brand new pickup truck, came into the pawnshop.
They spoke very loudly about how their family members in New Orleans did not
have electricity and were relying on them for help. How they communicated [with
those in New Orleans], I did not know. The pawn shop owner had two used generators
and this couple was
desperate to buy them, even hundreds of miles away from Louisiana, generators
had become scarce. The couple bought both of them, at an extra high price, and
the owner asked how they were going to get them to New Orleans for their family
members to use. “Well” said the man, “we can’t drive
up there because the roads are closed, so we are going to take these to the UPS
office and have them shipped to New Orleans, no matter what it costs.” No
one revealed to this man the flaw in his thinking. My Wife and I had a good laugh
about that when I got home that day.
September 20, 2005.
We were very concerned about Rita’s progress that night, after Katrina
everyone was in near panic.
September 21, 2005
They called the evacuation that morning, we had no money and our car was hardly
running, there was no way it would make it inland several hundred miles, even
if we had money for gas. The storm looked like it was going to make a direct
hit where we lived in Rockport, Texas 30 miles North of Corpus, and right on
the coast. Our financial situation was dire, my Wife had lost her job, and after
an altercation with my manager at the pawnshop, I had quit mine. We were awaiting
an inheritance to come through, but it had not happened yet. The job prospects
in the small tourist town, in the off season, were grim. I thought about just
sitting tight, but the lives of my Wife and kids prompted me into action. With
reluctance and a feeling of failure as a man, I called my Father for help.
Jobs, money and status were the code that my father lived by, even though he
had never held a low wage job in his life. He agreed to help, and reservations
at a hotel in Wimberly Texas were made, before the golden horde set out from
Houston. We would leave in the morning in my father’s truck, heading roughly
two hundred miles inland. Wimberly is located between Austin and San Antonio
Texas. I spent the afternoon of that day boarding up my Father’s house
in the nearly 115 degree heat and humidity. After that was accomplished my Wife
and I needed to pick up a few things in town including a prescription. It was
completely surreal in Rockport late that afternoon. The streets were all but
abandoned, trash fluttered in the wind on the empty sidewalks, most business
were already closed. The schools had closed at noon that day, and the children
sent home. Even the sky had a peculiar orange brown cloud cover that was unnerving.
A hand painted cardboard sign adorned the windows at Super Wal-Mart stating that
the store would be closing at 6pm, less than an hour away. The parking lot contained
a handful of RVs and pick-ups with travel trailers, all of them were loading
up canned goods, bottled water, propane, charcoal, flashlights, batteries and
ammunition. We had about $6 at the local bank, but we also had a $300 overdraft
privilege, the decision was made to exercise it. The ATM machines had been limited
to dispensing only $80 at a time for only 3 transactions, to keep the machines
from running out of cash. The ATM’s were also adorned with crudely made
cardboard signs. We took our $80 out 3 times, with a $25 overdraft charge each
time, that we would owe the bank at a later date. Inside Wal-mart it looked as
if the hurricane had already struck, the store was a mess, and the employees
had a haggard appearance. We picked up the prescription, there were no more batteries
to be had, but I needed a box of .45 ACPs.
People had paid attention to the mayhem that followed hurricane Katrina, this
was evident at the ammunition counter. They were out of shotgun shells, all common
rifle rounds were gone, the same held true for common pistol rounds. All they
had were oddball cartridges, .357 SIG, .45 G.A.P. .17 Remington, .300 Weatherby
Magnum, et cetera. Even the .22 LR were gone. There would be no .45 ACPs for
me, so we headed home. We passed several gas stations, again with crude signs,
stating they had only premium fuel. We got home to get ourselves and our kids
ready to
evacuate in the morning. The television news reported that the hurricane was
gaining
strength, they still had no idea where it would make landfall, and residents
of Houston were “urged” to evacuate now in a few hours it would be “mandatory”.
I felt it was imperative for the members of my family to be equipped with proper
footwear, in case there was trouble and we wound up walking. My 11 year old fashion
aware daughter proved to be a problem, all she had was girly shoes that were
otherwise useless. We scrambled to find her some walking shoes, deep in the closet
we found a pair. Also in the closet we located a forgotten partial box of .45ACPs,
at least my magazines would all be loaded. I vowed to never be caught
without
essentials like walking shoes and ammo again.
We packed light, I backed up my family photos and writings onto a CD-ROM and
packed it, we included socks and a change of clothes for everyone, all of our
important paperwork and identification and full canteens. Into my backpack went
half of our cash, one 1911 Colt .45 Automatic with five magazines on a gun belt,
one large Ontario Razor sharp hunting knife, one Swiss Champ, my medications
including a good supply of aspirin, salt tablets and Dramamine. One compass,
a military poncho, foot powder, boonie hats and a copy of “Conan the Adventurer” By
Robert E. Howard. Everyone also had high energy snacks and a poncho. As we went
to bed that night the TV reported more bad news.
September, 22 2005
This would be the day that I would learn how truly fragile our complex modern
society is, I would also learn that by avoiding groupthink and with a little
forward planning most hazards could be easily bypassed.
After disconnecting the water, electricity and gas to our house my Dad arrived
and we loaded up by 9 a.m. . As I got into the truck my Father handed me a
Texas Roads map book and said, “I have picked out our own evacuation
route.” he
had traveled the roads of Texas his entire life and knew every back road there
was. The penciled in evacuation route would prove to be our saving grace. Many
lives were lost that day because people and bureaucrats could not or would
not read a simple road map; instead they relied on digital gimmickry and an
unswerving belief that the interstate highway system was the only roadway available
to them.
Urgency bordering on panic was wafting on the air, you could feel the tension,
and see the worry on other motorists faces. We headed out on the first of many
Farm to Market (FM) roads crisscrossing the state. Traffic on these back roads
was still heavier than I had ever seen it. Towns we went through appeared deserted
until you reached gas stations that were near riot conditions many were out
of gas. Luckily my father had filled up the previous night, if he hadn’t
we may have very well been stranded in the choking gasping heat that day. We
switched back and forth onto differing FM roads to avoid more and more traffic,
every town was congested, we had long waits at every stop light and four way
crossing. A three hour trip had turned to six hours and counting, we stopped
at small hamburger joint for lunch, it was jam packed, as we ordered we overheard
other folks talking. Rumors were flying about accidents, fires, turmoil and
gridlock on Interstate 10, they still had no idea where Rita was headed. We
got our order and headed back out eating in the truck, the little town was
swamped with cars and people, one person was driving on the sidewalk, there
were no police in sight.
Between towns on the FM roads it was easy going, but as you neared any community
there was chaos, as the afternoon progressed, many a crude sign could be seen
proclaiming “No more gas”, No more food”, this was repeated
again and again. We were coming up on Seguin Texas when traffic came to a halt,
we were about to cross over I-10 the main evacuation route out of Houston.
Out of the truck window along the horizon I could make out several columns
of black smoke. It took over an hour to travel the two miles to the overpass
and then I saw I-10. All the lanes had been re-routed to head west only, It
was like a scene from a movie, as far as I could see there were lines of cars,
both to the east and the west pointed in a single direction. There was no end,
none of them was moving, more columns of smoke could be seen in the distance
what caused them I did not know.
Heat rippled off the metal and in automobile exhaust, the evacuees could not
turn off their engines, if they did there would be no air conditioning and
heat prostration would quickly find them, especially the old and the very young.
Along the roads sides people could be seen walking, I guess they had abandoned
their vehicles in search of a respite from the heat. A fuel truck was also
traveling on the road side, it was not stopping for anyone, and a few police
cruisers traveled the road sides as well, the only vehicles in motion along
that nightmarish interstate.
Late in the afternoon we arrived in Wimberly and checked into the Motel, which
was completely booked and we were the last people with a reservation to arrive.
My father was staying with a friend in Wimberly and he left us his truck. We
headed to the grocery store to lay in our supplies it was crowded but not overrun
yet. We bought three days of food for a family of four and headed back to the
hotel. The storms heading was still uncertain, but at last we enjoyed some
peace and laughter. Later that night we decided to run back into town and get
some ice cream, there was chaos in Wimberly this time. The grocery store we
had been at just hours earlier was stripped bare. They had cleaning supplies
and some make-up but that was about it, there was no more food of any kind
to be had, no drinks, no water and no toilet paper. The streets were packed
stalled cars littered the roadways and every gas station was out of fuel. We
went back to the hotel, grateful that we had bought supplies earlier. We watched
the TV and heard horror stories of what was going on, events that we had witnessed
throughout the day. The night passed without incident.
September, 23 2005
We spent the day relaxing at the hotel late in the afternoon Hurricane Rita
made her turn to the North making the previous two days an exercise in futility.
She struck in the early morning hours on September, 24 between the Texas/Louisiana
border, while we were safely asleep at the hotel. We went home as the storm
moved inland.
Lessons Learned:
I believe that after Katrina officials overreacted to Rita in ordering the
evacuation of Houston, Many died needlessly. This is a danger we still face
today, not just the storms but the hysteria surrounding them.
After our experience we gave up on the coast and moved to Oklahoma, we live
a hundred miles from any major city and we keep stores of food, ammo, water
and medical supplies on hand in case we need them in a hurry. Never
again will we be caught unprepared!
« Economics and Investing: |Main| My Tale of the Hurricane Rita Evacuation. August, 2005, by Dan G. »
Letter Re: Selecting Retreat Properties--Pros and Cons of Buying Remote and Off Grid
Jim--
A note regarding my own experience with remote property ownership ...I
owned a wonderfully ideal 40-acre bug-out property in northern Minnesota for
many years. It was very remote. Some of the closest neighbors did not even
know there was a cabin back in those deep woods. It was backed up to a large,
forested DNR property that was itself bounded by swamp. My other bordering
neighbors were full-time residents who were kind of ornery (very protective
of their property and thus unintentionally served as guardians of my property)
and so that was a plus. We were a half-hour from the nearest towns. Several
dirt roads eventually took us to our driveway which crossed over the land of
a curmudgeonly Vietnam vet. The driveway was a mile long through his property
and then on through the DNR land where in parts it traversed swamp. We had
two locked gates on that drive, near and far.
I won't go on reminiscing about the cabin, the off-grid electrical system,
and all the rest of it here. (BTW, I bought this property shortly after first
reading "Patriots" , so you certainly had a role in my thinking.) What I thought
I could add to the current discussion is this:
1. If you are not a full-time resident of a property, even remote property--you will have
uninvited visitors, "legitimate" and otherwise. We had several
occasions of snowmobilers, ATV riders, and even a couple of burglary attempts.
We were well fortified, so they were only attempted. (However, if they had
been serious about getting some very valuable stuff on the premises, they could
have done so with the proper preparation. We also discovered that we had a
couple of visits while we were not there by the county tax assessor who hiked
the one mile in when he could not get past the first gate with his vehicle.
2. Owning and maintaining a second comprehensive property, if you are not living
there all the time, is an expensive and time-consuming proposition. In fact,
it requires a demanding lifestyle commitment that, if you have other things
going in your life, can get quite burdensome. Eventually, I made the decision
to put all my time and preparedness money into my primary homestead (and in
my preparedness business). I sold the property and all that went with it to
a very lucky and appreciative buyer and used the proceeds to install an NBC
shelter under a new addition on our home. We're on the outskirts of suburbia
and come hell or high water, we'll make our stand here. It was really quite
a relief to go this route, as I always worried about how and when we would
be able to make the decision to head for the hills and whether it would be
when everyone else was doing the same thing--making ourselves very vulnerable
on the roads until we got to the property.
Furthermore, I had to admit that I'm not the young lion I once was, which had
allowed me to think about dragging my family anywhere in a chaotic environment,
unless there is simply NO option to stay put.
Bottom line--when someone asks me about bugging out vs. hunkering down--I advise
that if at all possible, you live where your refuge is. There is an awful lot
you can do to make your home your castle--wherever it is located. And you can
do that for less money than buying, equipping, and stocking a second property.
It also eliminates having to put you and yours at risk on the road between
Points A and B (assuming you do have a secure Point B) at a time when there
are going to be a lot of panicked and desperate people out there.
Blessings, - Vic at Safecastle
« Letter Re: Selecting Retreat Properties--Pros and Cons of Buying Remote and Off Grid |Main| Jim's Quote of the Day: »
Letter Re: Idaho and Washington as Retreat Locales
Hi Jim,
I heard that Washington state joined the 10th Amendment
movement. Funny, but we moved out of that state in February because it was
seemingly so socialistic. Since then we've been actively looking for a small
farm in Idaho
but when I heard that news I wanted to see if you think it advisable to look
into eastern Washington too. I'm amazed at all the properties for sale
there. You can get so much more for your money there. But I wanted
to check with you first. Thanks, - Evan S.
JWR Replies: Keep in mind that just a few legislators
in Washington have joined the movement. The resolution is far from a "done
deal"! The long-term trends
for both
Washington
and Oregon are for continued Californication.
It is hard to buck a major demographic change, so I expect the tax and gun
laws in Washington to get worse in the years to come. Just moving east of the
Cascades won't help. It is the population weight of liberal western Washington
that calls the shots. They look with disdain at eastern Washington as a "hick" minority.
Although land prices are generally lower in Washington, the property tax rates
are much higher. I'd rather pay more at the outset, than be bled dry through
the rest of my lifetime by high property taxes. My advice: Stick with Idaho!
« Two Letters Re: Some Thoughts on the Survival Vehicle |Main| Letter Re: Idaho and Washington as Retreat Locales »
Letter Re: Selecting Retreat Properties--Pros and Cons of Buying Remote and Off Grid
Jim:
To follow-up on your
recent article, a very big “Pro” to buying
off-grid land that was not mentioned is that you will not have strangers
having
access to
your
property.
I am specifically
referring to the Meter Reader for the utility company. I have “country” property
on the Grid and have to furnish the Meter Reader a key to access the property
to read the electric meter. The Meter Reader comes once a month to read the
meter. I have not figured a way to deny them access. (Maybe you have a suggestion
on how to prevent the meter reader from accessing the property) This stranger
therefore has access to the property and also has a key to the gate and obviously
has some knowledge of what is physically located on the property since he traverses
the property to get to the meter. Being off grid puts you in a position to
be able to keep everyone off of the property which to me carries a lot of value.
- Carl D.
JWR Replies: Don't forget the propane delivery truck. But
at least that can be scheduled for once every couple of years, at your convenience,
and you don't need to give them a gate key.
« Letter Re: Pack a Property Tax Receipt in Your G.O.O.D. Kit, to Get Through Checkpoints |Main| Note from JWR: »
Selecting Retreat Properties--Pros and Cons of Buying Remote and Off Grid
I recently had a consulting client that hired me to do a search on his behalf
for a rural retreat property in southwestern Oregon. In the early stages of
the search, he asked about the pros and cons of buying undeveloped "off
grid"
properties that do not have utility power poles nearby. This summarizes my
reply:
From the standpoint of setting up a rural, self-sufficient retreat, an off-grid
parcel is actually advantageous, for two reasons:
1.) They are generally more remote and away from natural "lines of drift" and
hence are far less likely to be in the path of the Golden
Horde.
2.) Off-grid properties sell at up to a 30% discount versus comparable properties
that have grid power. On a large acreage, this savings is often enough to pay
for installing a photovoltaic power system
The downsides:
1.) Off-grid properties tend to be at higher elevation, since
it is just the "way out in the hills" properties that don't have
power poles nearby. Most of the low river valleys have long hence had grid
power. There are a few exception that I've encountered
2.) The property is unlikely to have line of sight to neighboring residences.
That can raise the risk of burglary if your retreat house is left unoccupied
for extended periods of time.
3.) There is remote (30+ minute drive to the nearest
town), and then there is very remote--a one hour+ drive to the nearest
town, part of which might be on either US Forest Service road or a road that
you have to maintain yourself. This could isolate you from commerce and social
interaction
especially in an era of fuel scarcity.
« Economics and Investing: |Main| Some Thoughts on the Survival Vehicle, by OddShot »
Letter Re: Advice on Silver or Gold Jewelry for Barter?
Hello Jim,
Been learning a lot from Survival Blog, thanks for the great work. I'm just
wondering if sterling silver and 14 karat [gold] jewelry (plain [rings or
chains], or gemstones would make good bartering items? Have been thinking
of selling them and using
the money for preparedness, etc but wondered about this.
Thanks very much for all the useful information. - Mrs. H.
JWR Replies: Although at first blush keeping jewelry on hand
might seem practical, in actuality its drawbacks outweigh its benefits. Perhaps
metals, but gemstones are a definite no. Gemstones--either diamonds or colored
stones--will not be trusted by 99% of your potential
bartering partners. Gold or silver chains might be
trusted by some trading partners, but only if they were clearly marked for
their purity, and if you
were to carry a compact
pennyweight scale, to establish the weight of the chain (or a chiseled-off
length of chain).
Parenthetically, I should mention that as first popularized by the "Flying
Tigers" (AVG) in China, early in World War II, some
military aviators, Special Forces soldiers, and mercenaries have habitually
worn heavy gold bracelets. They have worn these with the
intention of
being
able to
trade links
from
these
chains
for assistance
from villagers, if they should become stranded in Third World countries. This
is a sort of a "Get Me Home" insurance policy. These chains are often flaunted
at VFW halls
and have been touted by a few armchair survival writers, but I have my doubts
about
them working
well in post-TEOTWAWKI First
World countries. Ironically, your average First World urbanite or suburbanite
is actually far more ignorant about precious metals and testing their
purity
than the
average "ignorant" Third World peasant. (Many peasants know how to use a touchstone
and even and more sophisticated merchants would know how to do an acid test,
while the average American would be clueless about any of that!)
In my estimation the "precious metals chains" approach to barter will have
very limited utility in most anticipated post-collapse situations, The biggest
problem
will
be convincing
your bartering
partner that the gold or silver that you are offer is genuine, confirming
its purity to the nearest half-karat value, and establishing its weight and
hence its value. It is far far easier
to have
a
pocketful of widely recognizable pre-1965 mint date circulated "junk" 90%
silver US dimes, quarters
and half dollars. And of course there is always "Ballistic
Wampum." Someday soon, common caliber ammunition may become the
coin
of
the
realm.
My advice to anyone that has set aside any "extra" (non-heirloom)
jewelry, earmarked for barter: Sell it, and use the funds
generated
to buy pre-1965 90% silver US dimes, quarters and half dollars,.
« Letter Re: The Value of Sprouting |Main| Note from JWR: »
Three Letters Re: Hunkering Down or Storing Gear in a Commercial Building
Hello Jim:
After doing Industrial Security in some of the roughest English Industrial
Towns, we found that "moating" vulnerable doors and walls against
heavy equipment traffic was a great help in preventing the equipment from
prizing open doors, or more simply being run backwards through the doors
and walls. The floors at the man doors and protected vehicle doors had a
two foot deep by three-to-four foot wide ditch dug and a light weight (two
inch
in many cases)
concrete topping poured over an infill of mostly styrofoam bead.
When we needed to bridge in with heavy gear we used overlaying steel [trenching]
plates to spread the load, but if a forklift ventured on the spot-loading would
break
through and the lift would go down.
Our inspiration was a rural 19th century US Postal Service post office construction
technique of having a small concrete island under the floor safe, surrounded
by flooring & joists
purposely sized too lightly for the safe to be dragged away - the safe would
fall 10
feet into the cellar if rolled off of the concrete island. 73s, - Steve W
Mr. Rawles;
I enjoyed reading tonight about the prospect of "hunkering
down in a commercial building". We have two warehouses and actually live
in one of them! No one has any idea,
either! You cannot tell from looking at them. They are located on
a short dead end street, so there is no traffic to speak of. There is land
between the two buildings that I will begin to garden this spring. I would love to
be on 20 acres somewhere way out of town, but this is where we are now. It
is convenient and close to everything that we do. We also have a location out
of town on several acres to go to when the Schumer Hits the Fan. Sincerely,
- Mrs. Downtown
Mr. Rawles,
Just wanted to point out that if you follow this gentleman's advice in regards
to this line: "If outdoor growth is not a viable option, try indoor crop
growth with lamps, skylights, or mirrors. As growing things indoors can be
difficult at first,
it may be good to practice this well in advance of the need to do it for your
life."
That, I am fairly certain that if you have a moderately clandestine location
with a large indoor growing operation you are at way more risk for a [police]
SWAT raid
than of TEOTWAWKI
in the (very) near future. If the feds find a bunch of grow lights etc. (and
especially if they are associated with stockpiles of food, weapons,
and preparedness supplies) there is no way they wouldn't prosecute for a drug
crime, confiscate all money and goods (they don't even need to prosecute to
keep it -- you have to prove it wasn't drug money). Even if no illegal drugs
are found
the lights and equipment are considered "drug paraphernalia" for
the purposes of prosecution. That could be tough to explain. - Bill B.
« Economics and Investing: |Main| Letter Re: The Impact of FDIC Insurance Rate Increases on Small Banks »
Two Letters Re: Voting With Your Feet--Comparing Economic Freedom in the 50 States
Jim:
When I read that academic study of economic freedom in the various states,
and saw the summary map, it was a strong piece of "ah-ha" confirmation
for me. It immediately struck me that what a close correlation there
is
to what you had posted two years ago in your State
Rankings on places to move with the best retreat potential. [in 19 western
states.] Independently, you
nailed those recommendations squarely, sir. Bonus Brownie points for
you! Wishing You The Lord's Blessings, - Ted J.
JWR,
I read through the PDF that you mention in your "Voting with your feet" post
. Today's prisoners could be tomorrow's Golden Hordes. I recently saw this
in the Wall
Street Journal. Prison
Population of a few states. The report also noted huge
discrepancies among the states in regard to the total corrections population
-- one of every
13 adults in Georgia and one of every 18 in Idaho at one end of the scale,
one of every 88 in New Hampshire at the other extreme." - Jonathan
« Four Letters Re: 3-in-1 Home Workshop Machines |Main| Letter Re: Learning Beekeeping is Worthwhile for Self-Sufficiency »
Letter Re: Cloudcroft, New Mexico as a Retreat Locale
Mr. Rawles,
I read your book "Rawles
on Retreats and Relocation", which is a very good resource. In
it, you didn't mention one area that interested me a little bit, and that was
the area around the Lincoln National Forest, near Cloudcroft, New Mexico. I've
driven through there a few times, and it might do well in a depression. Of
course, it's too close to the Mexican border, which might lead to a problem,
though I'm not sure which direction the refugees will be heading. You probably
heard that the mayor of Juarez has sent his family to El Paso to live. Here
in Florida, it seems that many of the immigrants are heading home.
There's game and some water in these parts, but water is still an issue when
the rain is insufficient. The towns of Weed and Mayhill are worth considering.
The mountains offer the usual advantages in keeping strangers out or unaware.
By the way, I know of people making a living in nearby Orogrande from the gold,
as well as the great rock hounding. There's a moderately large Indian reservation
north of this area, which is not necessarily a bad thing, as it's largely empty.
Of course, Alamagordo, New Mexico and El Paso, Texas are too close, but, in
a meltdown scenario, the roads could be blocked fairly easily. - Paul in Florida
« Letter Re: Hunkering Down or Storing Gear in a Commercial Building |Main| Note from JWR: »
The Incredible Disappearing Retreat in the Woods
Here is something that heretofore I have only shared with a few of my consulting clients:
an approach at rural retreat construction that can make a rural retreat of
10 acres or more essentially "disappear".
If there is a thick screen of trees or tall brush between the public road
and potential building sites at your undeveloped country retreat parcel, then
your
property
might be a good candidate for a "hidden
retreat house". This is accomplished by making as few changes as possible
when the parcel is viewed from the county road. No fancy entry gate, no mailbox,
basically
nothing new that is visible except a small diameter
drainage culvert by the side of the county road and a narrow semi-improved
road that will just look like a
disused
farm
machinery
access lane. It should be just lightly road-rocked for the first 100 feet,
to encourage grass to actually grow up in it. Design the roadway leading in
to the back end of the property narrow and in a serpentine path,
so that additional trees can be planted to block any view down the lane. You
will
of course need
to
brief and
oversee
the road contractors, so that they don't do the usual "wide road with
lots of rock."
Either have grid power run in underground, or skip it altogether and put in
a photovoltaic (PV)
power system. Thus, there are no power poles and visible lines to give away
the location.
I recommend building a masonry house with small windows and with either a rock
or an earth-tone brick facade. The roof should be green metal, all the better
to
blend in. Do not clear trees to "open up a view",
since that would likely provide line of sight from the county road, revealing
the house.
The aforementioned
measures might all seem a bit "Bat Cave", but I have seen this approach
used at a retreat on the Big Island of Hawaii. The owner--who has had the place
for 10 years--mentioned that a few of his neighbor's houses have
been burglarized, but his never has been. His house is invisible from
the road and from all of the neighboring houses, so opportunistic burglars
"just passing through" don't even know that
there is a house there. His lane just looks like something used by farm tractors,
not by a homeowner.
Granted, this approach will not protect your retreat from being known
by your neighbors. Twelve-year-old boys tend to hike around just about everywhere,
and pay little attention to "No Trespassing" signs. Ditto for a lot of hunters
and fishermen. But statistically, a hidden retreat will be much safer,
both before the Schumer hits the fan, and after.
An even more elaborate disappearing act is an underground house with an entrance
hidden in what appears to just be a utility building. But that gets much more expensive. I'll have
more on that in an upcoming post.
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Letter Re: Hunkering Down or Storing Gear in a Commercial Building
Mr. Rawles,
As always I enjoy the site and the support you provide. I would like to mention
a few items that have come up lately here in South Florida with regards to
survival in an urban area. This may be of particular concern to any of your
readers that live in urban areas or for those that are not yet at a point
in their preparations, or lives, to be able to move to a better, less populous
location.
First, as has been mentioned on this web site, in your novel "Patriots",
and by every credible “prepper” in the world, a person retreating
to a safer location must have a primary, alternate, contingency, and emergency
plan.
The method of getting out of urban areas during an emergency is problematic,
particularly if you did not leave when you could (i.e. Hurricane Katrina).
This can lead to your routes being miles long roadblocks. However, if you live
near a coast, inlet, canal, interior waterway, river, creek, or major city
(above ground) drainage system, you may be able to use them in a boat, canoe,
kayak, zodiac, dingy, on foot, or with duck-waders to find better routes. Obviously
in the case of inclement weather these may not be options on the worst days,
but may be excellent routes during the ‘lemming run’ to get out
of the area. Many concerned people in my area include these routes of escaping
the city and urban sprawl in their plans.
Second, the wide availability of commercial property for use (particularly
in the current economy) is staggering. A simple examination of the properties
available for use by your close friends and family may surprise you. Over several
planning sessions and field trips we found many urban cache locations, significant
shelter options, and overwhelming amounts of storage space in places that were
rented, leased, and sometimes owned by members of our group. With these locations
it is always good to fully understand the government restrictions on use, function,
zoning, storage, and occupation of commercial property. That being said, some
commercial sites offer significant security advantages over homes in neighborhoods
(not to mention apartments!), can easily be ‘hardened’ without
letting the nosey neighbors knowing, and are often full of useful storage space,
accesses, exits, entries, storage space, subterranean layers, and did I mention
storage space? One of our associates has a commercial building with a separate ‘hidden’ space
inside in which a fully stocked “bug out vehicle” waits for action
in a regularly maintained state. This vehicle has its own locked bay which
can only be opened from the inside after a trip into the basement or via a
large air duct to gain access to the room. His regular business operates on
the other end of the building so none of his road-crew employees spend enough
time to even know the building has a bay on the other side. The other end of
the building faces a small maintenance path for the phone company box and is
fenced in and has plenty of “junk” camouflaging its true purpose.
Other examples of commercial property use is in the planning of cache locations
and in situations where you may need to bunker down with your family or “prepper” network
during trying times. Warehouse districts that are not contiguous to shopping,
tourist, entertainment, or government buildings offer potential safety during
riots, looting, government action, or general unrest. These warehouse districts
often see little or no activity during even the most destructive of riots.
If one has access to these types of areas, it is a relatively simple operation
to put up an innocuous name on the fence and receive deliveries (or just bring
stuff yourself) and have no one bat an eye. The districts may even have enough
24-hour traffic to mask late night movement if you are only using the warehouse
space as a pre-positioning and construction site for your burial cache boxes,
tubes, and such, since the neighbors may get a bit nosey with you burning the
midnight oil in your workshop/garage with your ‘survivalist nonsense.'
Third, unless you are have never heard of OPSEC,
commercial properties can allow you to hide in plain sight. If someone has
a TEOTWAWKI need
or economic-depression reason to operate in an urban location, you can easily
blend in with local traffic and business populations if they exist. If you
are in a manufacturing or construction area wear some roughed up ‘Dickies’ work
clothes and have a dirty pickup truck. In an office complex, have some light
business attire with a jacket/blazer so as not to stick out. If you happen
to be in a meat packing district or medical complex, have some ‘scrubs’/lab
coat or coveralls available. As long as no one is looking for you,
visit the local ‘roach coach’, ration station, trading post, or
gas station so you can keep aware of local government, gang, crime, or quisling
activities and be able to be ‘seen’ as a local (if being seen is
an option or necessity). You should be able to move any vehicle inside buildings
to hide them or work on them and to keep them out of view from outside observers.
You may be able to set up extensive security systems, passive/active surveillance,
power devices, and even communication systems. Some locations even offer the
ability to tap into sewage, storm drain, and other access points.
Fourth, if you have some property available you may be grow food (this must
be carefully done if industrial chemicals are in the area). If outdoor
growth is not a viable option, try indoor crop growth with lamps, skylights,
or
mirrors. As growing things indoors can be difficult at first, it may
be good to practice
this well in advance of the need to do it for your life.
Finally, let me say that none of the aforementioned tips can replace a move
to less populous, rural locations, far from those who will become
mindless mobs in an emergency. These ideas/tips are only presented as limited
alternatives for those, like me, who are months or years away from
realistic retreats to safer environs and for those unlucky few who may get
caught up
behind the wrong side of a line during hard times. Regards, - I.S.
JWR Replies: That is an interesting approach. I might add
just one proviso: If you plan to hide supplies (or even yourself) behind a
"blank" roll-up
door
in a chaotic situation, then do not leave the ignition key in the
company forklift, or leave a pallet jack outside of your storage space.
Either of those could be used by goblins to quickly use leverage to their advantage
in prying-up
the door!
« Economics and Investing: |Main| Letter Re: Hunkering Down or Storing Gear in a Commercial Building »
Letter Re: Voting With Your Feet--Comparing Economic Freedom in the 50 States
Mr. Rawles,
A study was conducted by William P. Ruger and Jason Sorens of the Mercatus
Center at George Mason University on a ranking of states basis on personal
and economic
freedoms.
It is titled:
Freedom in the 50 States:
Index of Personal and Economic Freedom. It encompasses
items such as income tax, gun laws and homeschooling (among many other areas).
My state unfortunately ranks in the bottom thirteen. As my family and
I search for another income means it may behoove us to "vote with our feet",
as you say.
Here is an abstract of the study:
Abstract
This paper presents the first-ever comprehensive ranking of the American
states on their public policies affecting individual freedoms in the economic,
social,
and personal spheres. We develop and justify our ratings and aggregation
procedure on explicitly normative criteria, defining individual freedom
as the ability
to dispose of one’s own life, liberty, and justly acquired property however
one sees fit, so long as one does not coercively infringe on other individuals’ ability
to do the same.
This study improves on prior attempts to score economic freedom for American
states in three primary ways: 1) it includes measures of social and personal
freedoms such as peaceable citizens’ rights to educate their own children,
own and carry firearms, and be free from unreasonable search and seizure; 2)
it includes far more variables, even on economic policies alone, than prior
studies, and there are no missing data on any variable; 3) we adopt new, more
accurate
measurements of key variables, particularly state fiscal policies.
We find that the freest states in the country are New Hampshire, Colorado, and
South Dakota, which together achieve a virtual tie for first place. All three
states feature low taxes and government spending and middling levels of regulation
and paternalism. New York is the least free by a considerable margin, followed
by New Jersey, Rhode Island, California and Maryland. On personal freedom alone,
Alaska is the clear winner, while Maryland brings up the rear. As for freedom
in the different regions of the country, the Mountain and West North Central
regions are the freest overall while the Middle Atlantic lags far behind on both
economic and personal freedom. Regression analysis demonstrates that states enjoying
more economic and personal freedom tend to attract substantially higher rates
of internal net migration.
The data used to create the rankings are publicly available online at www.statepolicyindex.com,
and we invite others to adopt their own weights to see how the overall state
freedom rankings change.
God Bless and thank you for all you do, - John in Ohio
« Two Letters Re: Advice on Night Vision Gear |Main| Notes from JWR: »
Did the American Indians Have it Right?, by MMJ
In these trying times when civilizations are at the brink of disaster and
many people are already in personal collapse, we should look back through history
to find out how to salvage what we have and how to survive what is to come. [Minor
rant snipped.] It seems that economic collapse is imminent and that at some
point in the near future it is going to be every man for
himself. As we watch countries collapse, global economies fail and people
across the world starve and die, I ask myself has any culture or civilization
in history gotten it right?
The nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle led by the American Indians may be the
way that many in the future may need to survive. The thought of a
survival retreat is nice, but what if a toxic gas cloud is coming your way?
Or a band of starving armed men and women discover your location and decide
that you have what they want? Are you equipped for a small arms battle? Lets
face it, most of us are not. Many of us still need to live in an urban environment
to make a living (while we still have the need) and having a stocked retreat
is just not feasible. When the sh*t hits the fan you have to ask yourself,
will you have enough time or even be able to get to your survival retreat?
For most of us the answer is simply no. So how can we prepare
for the impending collapse that most certainly awaits all of us? Thinking like
an Indian may
be the answer to your concerns. Mobility can be the key to survival. Having
a plan of escape for several different scenarios and banding together with
other like-minded people and loved ones who have also planned ahead to deal
with the inevitable collapse of our society. Going where you can survive for
short periods of time comfortably and being able to use the natural resources
available to you wherever you may end up, can be the answer to survival for
you and your loved ones.
The Indians moved with the food, with the climate in small tribes, which was
best suited to their survival. They learned to use what was provided by nature
to live, wild edibles and medicinal uses of plants, as well as some amount
of farming and of course hunting. But they also learned to take only what they
needed so that when they were to return they would have what they needed again.
This is a lesson that most of us in modern society have long since forgotten.
We have for so long here in America lived the life of gluttony (which has probably
led to collapse of more societies than we realize) that when the end comes
most of us will not know what to do or how to survive, which will not end pleasantly
for those of us stuck in the urban areas. Those of us who plan ahead and have
the ability to survive on the go while getting out of the way of the sh*t storm
that will be left behind in most urban areas after the end comes. We will be
the ones that will thrive in the face of adversity. We will be the ones left
to create a better way--a way that works.
As I contemplate the future happenings I know with utmost certainty that the
plan that I have derived will keep my loved ones and me safe and out of harm's
way. For I have thought and planned like an Indian would, made preparations
to survive on the go with a minimal amount of supplies but with the knowledge
required to get what I need from what nature has to offer. But you may ask
what if nature is damaged beyond repair, then how will you survive? Well my
answer is simple, at that point nobody will survive and mankind will cease
to exist. A gloomy thought but still one worthy of contemplation.
The reality
is there is no right or wrong answer or single philosophy that is the definite
end all to be all correct way to do it for any situation. Survival is fluid
and every situation has to be dealt with accordingly. Creativity as well as
preparation will see you through. Remember that nature taught the Indians
how to survive, they didn’t have books, schools, survival manuals or
hospitals etc… and they did just fine until the European man came with
their gluttony and took from them what was theirs, to exploit it for their
gain
and greed.
As I end my letter, I leave you with this:
“Prepare yourself with the knowledge that you hope you never
have to use, and you and yours will be just fine.” - MMJ
JWR
Adds: I will append MMJ's article with the caveat that based on
studies
of skeletal remains, the average life expectancy for pre-Columbian
Native Americans was only 18.6 years. That was
before white men brought with them European diseases. As Hobbes
put it so succinctly: "...the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish,
and
short."
A pampered sedentary lifestyle may be bad for one's cholesterol numbers,
but a hunter-gatherer nomadic lifestyles is no picnic.
At this juncture, for the sake of balance I'll also re-post something that
I originally posted to SurvivalBlog back in September of 2005:
You should discard any fantasies that you might have had about strapping
on a backpack and disappearing into nearby National Forest to “live
off the land.” IMHO,
that is an invitation to disaster. Too many things can go wrong: You will
lack
sufficient
shelter. You will not be able to carry enough food reserves. Your one rifle
and your one pistol, and your one axe, once lost or broken
will leave you vulnerable and unable to provide for your sustenance or self
defense. Any
illness or injury
could be life threatening. Even just a dunking in a stream in mid-winter
could cost you your life. Also, consider how many thousands of urbanites
will probably
try to do the same thing. Even if you manage to avoid encounters with them,
those legions of people foraging simultaneously will quickly deplete the
available wild game in many regions. Furthermore, on your own you won’t
be able to maintain sufficient security. (You must sleep, after all!) For
countless
reasons, playing “Batman in the Boondocks” just won’t work.
So forget about the "one pack" solution, other than as a last resort--for
example, in the event that your retreat is overrun.
Any of you that do not live at your intended retreat location year
round should
have a “Get out of Dodge” (G.O.O.D.)
pack ready at all times. Keep it in the trunk of your car in case circumstances
force you to hike all or part of the way to your retreat. (A sub-optimal
situation, as described in my novel "Patriots".)
Be sure to inspect your G.O.O.D. pack regularly and rotate any first aid
supplies, chemical light sticks, jerky, dried fruit, or other perishables.
While MMJ's planned approach of traveling in a group is preferable to a solo “Batman
in the Boondocks”, I still have my doubts about its viability, especially
in harsh climates.
« Letter Re: Navigating by the Stars |Main| Note from JWR: »
Making the Transition to Country Life, by Bois d'Arc
Many readers of Survival Blog are either in the process of moving to a lightly
populated area or actively planning to bugout to such an area when the balloon
goes up. Twenty years ago I moved from the edge of a large city to a fairly remote
property, and have been quietly setting up the doomstead and perfecting skills
ever since. In the process, I became part of the fabric of country life here
and have learned some valuable lessons which may benefit the rookie country dweller.
Most full-time country residents are descendents of frontiersmen who ventured
into the wilderness with little more than a rifle, axe, team of horses, and a
large supply of guts. Country people hold many of the same attributes as their
forebears; competence, toughness, perseverance, and a willingness to help their
neighbors, be it for common defense or a barn raising. Many of these traits are
at odds with modern city life supported by a specialized full-time job. Your
transition to country life will be smoother if you consider the following:
Country People are Closet Doomers:
They can do lots of useful things such as shoe a horse, grow corn, weld, back
a trailer, milk a goat, make tamales, catch a wild cow, troubleshoot an electrical
problem, can a tomato, and shoot lights out. And that's just the women.
People here are armed every day as a matter of course. Most have been shooting
all of their lives, so the level of firearms proficiency is way above average.
I see lots of casual ARs and scoped bolt actions, so if my neighbors and acquaintances
are any barometer, potential rampaging MZBs are in for some exceedingly
tough sledding.
On a related note, there are a few bad apples in the country, but most tend to
migrate to the anonymity of the cities. The outlaws who remain are generally
well known to both law enforcement and the population at large, and are easy
enough to avoid once you plug into the local grapevine.
Be Scrupulously Honest:
Country people don't care that much what you think or how you wear your hair
as long as they can trust you. Lie or stiff a merchant one time and in 45 minutes
everyone in the county will know it, guaranteed.
On the flip side, if you've been given too much change or an error is made in
your favor with a bank deposit or charge purchase at a merchant, politely point
out the mistake and insist on paying the correct amount. While such a gesture
will usually be met with stunned disbelief in a large city, in the country it
will be acknowledged with a nod and sincere appreciation. And never doubt for
an instant that the country grapevine will work in your favor as the word spreads.
When I first moved here, I was able to open an account with any business in town
simply by asking if I could charge a purchase. No references, no questions, no
credit check, just an address so they could send a statement at the end of the
month. Such an accommodating policy would most certainly not have been the case
had I been late in paying those first bills.
Money is Overrated:
Country people never forget a kindness; they also rarely forget a transgression
against good manners or honesty. The most valuable commerce in the country is
not conducted in dollars but in trading, gifts, being owed a favor, and goodwill.
Become Part of the Community:
Self-sufficiency is a worthy goal, but in truth perhaps the most useful survival
skill is contributing to a community which has a stake in your well being. To
my mind, being able to call upon neighbors for specialized assistance or trade
is just as important as beans, bullets, and Band-Aids.
Schools and churches are the glue which binds a country community. If you have
children in local schools or choose to attend church, tapping into country networks
will be greatly accelerated.
Also, small communities run largely on volunteers, so consider volunteering at
the library, as a fireman, at sports fund raisers, community cleanup, or meals
on wheels. JWR Adds: If you homeschool your kids, be sure to
join the local
homeschooling "co-op" group. You will be sure to meet the preparedness-minded
folks in your community.
The Country is a Time Warp:
Time passes slower here, as it's based more on the seasons than on a clock.
Fight the city urge to hurry everywhere. Tasks are completed when time, required
supplies, and any needed help are available, and not on an arbitrary schedule.
Parts are generally not readily available as they are in a city, you might have
to order a particular part and wait days or weeks for it to arrive, and perhaps
have to improvise in the meantime.
The two main time-related lessons you’ll learn is that weather can throw
a kink into any plan, and maintaining household water supply trumps almost every
other concern. You’ll soon adopt a mañana attitude about
most other projects, as there is always plenty more to be done while waiting
for specific parts or
supplies.
Slow down enough to take time to talk about the weather, trade recipes, talk
gardening, help a neighbor with a project, and to watch a sunset.
Seek Out Those with Useful Skills Now:
Country life requires a generalist rather than a specialist, so trading your
particular skills – whether carpentry, electrical expertise, or knowing
what’s wrong with a row of beans - with neighbors in exchange for their
skills just makes sense. In fact, there is even a term here, “neighboring”,
which refers to a group effort of working each landowner’s livestock in
turn without hiring outside help.
I have also become acquainted with various people who have huge gardens or dairy
goats or sheep or hogs or teams of horses and mules or a small band saw mill
for
making lumber. Such people often don’t advertise and they may be hard to
find, but the search is potentially of huge benefit to the astute survivalist.
As an example, there is a man here who has an old steam-powered grain mill. Another
has a tiny combine for harvesting wheat and oats in the scattered small plots
where it is grown in this area. Up until now, I haven’t used their unique
services, but still make it a point to give these men a quart of honey from our
hives every summer.
You will choose to help many of these people in time of trouble, just as they
will choose to help you, but in the meantime always exercise OPSEC about your
underlying motivations and preps. Country people have a wide independent streak
so your desire to be more self-sufficient will never seem out of place.
Country People are Provincial:
But largely by choice, which doesn't mean they are stupid or uninformed. The
vast majority are Internet savvy and many are exceptionally well-traveled and
well-read. More than a few have made the decision to leave a lucrative city existence
in exchange for country life. The level of overall awareness is high, so you'll
hear more commonsense over a cup of coffee than you'll ever hear from Washington.
A few recent quotes I’ve heard regarding our current economic meltdown:
“I was going to sell all of my calves last fall but held back four in case
my
freezers start to look empty.”
“We’re breaking some new garden ground this spring, going to plant
a lot
more potatoes than we usually do.”
"I bought two more cases of .223 ammo, just in case the rabbits go on the
warpath.” Listen and learn.
Never Underestimate the Amount of Work Involved:
Few farms or ranches here are entirely self-supporting, with one or both spouses
usually working a “regular” job. The pay scale is considerably lower
than in a city, so often people work two or even three jobs in order to live
well. This is in addition to farming and working livestock on their own places.
People work hard, and that’s in relatively good times.
If this economy continues to unravel, more subsistence-level farming and ranching
may well become the norm, and that’s when the work really begins. Growing
and processing most or all of your own food requires a tremendous amount of labor
and expertise, with constant effort from everyone involved. Have no illusions
about some idyllic country life of sitting on the porch all day, chewing on a
grass stem while contemplating the vista. The trick for making subsistence agriculture
work is for everyone to always be doing something constructive, whether it’s
hoeing weeds in the garden, building a chicken coop, shelling beans, cleaning
a firearm, playing with a toddler, or rereading one of your how-to books.
With that said, no family or survival group can possibly be competent at all
of the skills required. This is when being on good terms with neighbors becomes
essential; give them half of a fresh beef now for the cheese they can provide
later on; the pickles you made are a fair trade for his baskets of peaches; your
stash of supplies may well allow you to trade for a rooster and five hens (along
with some expert advice on getting started); if you can provide the diesel, your
neighbor might plow your garden plot after your tractor has thrown a rod. - Bois
d'Arc
« Letter Re: Kids and Home Security |Main| Note from JWR: »
Perspectives on Prepping on a Very Low Income, by Kuraly
I was raised in a missionary family, on nine different mission fields around
the world. At the age of nineteen, I went out to serve the Lord on my own in
the former Soviet Union. I had no formal Theological training, but was accepted
by the missionary societies of my denomination because of my experience under
my father and my willingness to go to dangerous areas.
I married, and my wife and I have now six children. A few years ago, due to
some changes in my theology, I fell out of favor with my denomination and had
to return home to the USA. I was faced with a situation of suddenly having
to feed and care for a large family with: 1. no formal education/training/skills
of any kind and 2. very little understanding of the southern American culture
that I found myself living in. I was forced to take very low-paying jobs and
survive on a low-income.
With our savings we were able to buy a small rural house and 7.5 acres in the
southeast. We were able to pay cash, I wanted it to be ours with no strings
attached, regardless of what the future held. I figured that at the very least
we would have a roof and some plantable land. I bought in the area my parents
lived in to help care for them as they progressed in years.
Our income is very limited. I work at just above minimum wage. I work a full-time
job and another part-time job. I am thankful that the Lord provides.
As I studied current events I became concerned about the possibility of a world-wide
economic and/or societal collapse of some kind, or a societal break-down here
in the USA resulting from any number of possible reasons. I had witnessed the
chaos of the nineties in the former Soviet Union, had watched doctors and physicists
sweep streets and live off of potatoes and bread for months on end, and I was
concerned about my responsibility to feed my family should a similar collapse
happen here.
What can you do when you have very limited means? Actually there is much you
can do. It amounts to setting goals and getting your family on board with you.
The first thing I did was (after my wife and I had many long talks and she
began to see things in a similar way), I gathered the family around and explained
everything to them. I explained about our limited means, exactly how much money
was coming in, how much went to utilities, fuel, etc. I explained what I believed
the dangers were. I explained what we needed to do as a family. Let me interject
here that after being born and growing up on a third-world mission field, they
were far from spoiled children! They were accustomed to living in tight quarters,
washing in cold water, eating cheap, and basically just "roughing it."
My first priority was for two weeks worth of provisions. We began to buy a
few extra cans of food when we went shopping. I set a goal of 20 dollars per
week for prepping. Some weeks ten dollars of canned goods and/or dried foods
like rice, beans or noodles, and ten dollars in ammo or medical supplies. Some
weeks just food, some weeks just extra gasoline. We bought gas cans at thrift
stores and garage sales for a dollar apiece, Large scented candles (better
than nothing) at closeout sales and garage sales for 30 and 50 cents, and just
about anything we could scrounge that might come in handy if the lights went
out. It did not take us long to build up enough supplies to last two weeks
in an emergency. We had enough gasoline to drive to work for two weeks (if
needed), enough food for our family plus a little extra, and candles, radios,
batteries and other odds and ends to get by.
I had also along the way added
to my ammunition stocks for my Winchester .30-30, and my bolt-action .22 LR.
After we reached the point where we felt we had enough for a two-week catastrophe,
we began to focus on the six-month time frame. This opened up many entirely
new possibilities. since the food required for this amount of time was such
a major expense, we had to make sure that it would last for several years.
This raised the issue of long-term storage in buckets, mylar bags and oxygen-absorbers.
We had to save for months to buy an order of oxygen-absorbers and mylar bags
on e-bay! We found low-cost buckets and began to fill them with rice, feed
corn, corn meal, noodles, beans etc. Anything that was inexpensive. We taught
the children to like corn-meal mush and grits since they might get quite a
bit of it one day!
Gradually we worked our way up to 30 buckets. At this point I made a strategic
decision. I decided that we needed to invest our extra funds in gardening.
Not entirely stopping the food storage, but reducing it in favor of procuring
means and experience in growing and canning our own food. We began to buy canning
jars and lids to put away in the attic for the future. My father gave us a
tiller with a blown engine which we were able to get fixed, and we began to
garden. The first garden was not very well thought-out. Some things grew, some
did not. But we learned. We learned first-hand what pollination means and about
soil fertility. We learned about bugs and blight. We gained valuable experience.
We also invested in chickens, and watched some of them die, some of them be
eaten by neighbor's dogs, some get eaten by our dogs, and the hardy survivors
begin to lay eggs. We watched them eat their own eggs and learned to give them
calcium. We let half of them free range and half range in portable pens that
we built which have an open floor that we could move each day to fresh grass.
We learned how to make them roost and lay where they were supposed to.
We bought some rabbits and learned a lot, real fast! We experimented with many
types of portable cages for rabbits which would allow us to move them from
one grassy spot to another without giving them time to dig a burrow. Sometimes
we would wake up and find rabbit carcases torn to shreds, because a neighborhood
cat had gotten to them. My kids handled most of this, and they learned things
the hard way.
If you haven't figured it out yet, We were totally green. I spent my life traveling
and overseeing the translation of Christian literature into foreign languages.
My wife is a musician. We had zero experience at any of this, and no one around
that we knew to advise us. We had to learn everything from scratch. We bought
a goat and promptly saw it attacked and killed by a stray dog. That hurt,
financially as well as emotionally. After sending the dog to join the
goat "on the other side", I bought another goat. and then another.
These have survived. We have learned to care for them.
Gradually I am seeing my children grow confident in their relationship to the
animals under their care. Gradually we are learning the needs of these animals
and how to make them produce for us. If we had had some kind of hands-on training,
it would have saved the lives of a lot of animals, but we didn't. I am happy
to announce a much higher survival rate for animals that we bring home now.
I felt like I needed a greater firearms capability (what man doesn't?). I thought
long and hard. At first I bought a Mosin-Nagant since they were so cheap ($75)
and the ammo was dirt-cheap as well. I then began to consider what type of
semi-automatic I could afford. I looked at the prices of ammo which was very
critical since I would have to train my entire family to shoot. At the time
the best deal for us appeared to be the SKS rifle.
It was cheap (a good quality Yugo[slavian SKS] was less than $200), dependable,
semi-auto and the ammo was
very cheap at the time. I later added a cheap 12 gauge pump, and last but not
least,
a
17 round Bersa Thunder 9mm. After purchasing these guns I began to pick up
ammo for them when I could find it on sale. I have gradually gotten up to about
500 rounds for each of them.
I then turned my attention to our home and it's defense. While we live in the
country, we are close to our neighbors 100 yards +/-, about five miles from
a small town, about 15 miles from a large town, and about 90 miles from Atlanta
(upwind fortunately). My greatest concern is our proximity to the road. The
house is only about 65 feet from the dirt road in front of our house. A looter
or burglar/rapist could be at the door or windows before the dog barked. In
response to this my next expenditure is to be fence posts, fencing, and barbed
wire, along with a row of thorny bushes in front of the wire next to the road.
Our house is a soft target, offering no ballistic protection. My remedy/forlorn
hope is to have plenty of sand and gravel on hand, and to start checking the
thrift stores for pillow cases to buy and store. perhaps we would have time
to bag up sand bags and at least harden up certain corners or rooms of the
house. We also have several large piles of sandstone (we live on top of a mountain)
which could be placed strategically and then perhaps sand bags on top of that.
We could also cut logs and add that to the mix.
Our water supply is a [grid-powered] electric well. This is one of my biggest
worries. We have made it a priority to buy a generator at least strong enough
to run
the
well and freezers for an hour or two a day. I know that this is only a temporary
solution but is about all we can handle right now. I am very thankful for the
non-fiction writing contribution about the siphon pumps for wells such as mine,
that offered up new possibilities which I have not had time to address yet.
We also have a neighbor 1/4 mile away which has an artesian spring on his property,
though it has extremely high iron content. I have purchased two 330 gallon
plastic livestock watering tanks and several drums which I can fill at the
first sign of trouble. I can also load them on my little trailer and pull them
down to the neighbor's to fill up from his well. I just need to check on the
ramifications of the high iron content.
I am also trying to fill up as many containers as possible with gasoline. I
add Sta-Bil and plan to use/rotate it yearly (as long as the price stays low).
I would like to keep at least 250 to 500 gallons on hand at all times. I buy
old gas cans at yard sales and just found a source for cheap 55 gallon drums
with sealed lids ($3). I may start using them instead.
Our immediate plans are to build more pens and raise more chickens and goats,
maybe a pig or two. We also look forward to planting a much bigger garden this
spring and maybe use some of our hard-won experience of last year. We also
want to involve the kids in martial arts classes if we can afford it, as well
as herb-collecting hikes from the local community college field school (which
are free and fun). We want to spend more time with them in the woods and in
the garden so that they feel comfortable there and begin to think about survival
from their own perspective. We also are beginning to exploit the library for
free resources for them to study on various topics.
The future of this country looks grim. As Christians we have "read the
back of the Book" and we know Who wins. Our responsibility is to be good
stewards of the talents we have, perform our duties as husbands and wives,
mothers and fathers, and ultimately, to trust Him for that which is beyond
our vision and power.
« Economics and Investing: |Main| Letter Re: It Looks Like the End is Beginning »
Letter Re: Survival Retreat vs. Neighborhood Survival -- Part Deux - Galt's Gulch vs. Idiocracy, by E.B.
Sir,
Although it is enlightening to hear of various approaches to Survivalism,
I don't believe that conspiracy theories should get much play during this very
serious time we are living through. E.B. mentions the World Trade Centers collapse,
vaccination, sugar, aspartame, fluoride and the AMA monopoly . While some of
these may be real concerns, this is not a proper focus at a time when the infrastructure
is collapsing around us. It's like trying to investigate the cause of the Titanic
sinking during the time the ship is going down. During that time period, the
why doesn't matter. What matters is making your way to the lifeboat.
Conspiracy theories are sure to be seized on by mainstream media as evidence
that Survivalists are nuts. SurvivalBlog should concentrate on things we can
do something about right now - Beans, Bullets, and Band-Aids.
On Monday, SurvivalBlog linked to the excellent and revealing speech by Dimitri
Orlov: Social
Collapse Best Practices. Orlov said that "at the end of
2008, I announced on my blog that I am getting out of the prognosticating business.
.... collapse is well underway,
and now I am just an observer." He made the point that now is the time
to deal with the basics: "Food. Shelter. Transportation. Security."
Orlov is right. Even though most of us probably think the government is corrupt,
that can't become the focus. Practical preparedness is what really matters
right now. Let's keep SurvivalBlog on track. - K.L. in Alaska
JWR Replies: Your point is well-taken. While I don't agree
with everything that E.B. espouses, I do my best to accommodate a variety
of viewpoints in SurvivalBlog, some of which are out of the mainstream. FWIW,
you would not believe the sheer volume of whacko e-mails that I get, that make
E.B's postulates
seem quite
tame
by comparison. Nearly
every
day I get rants on everything from Gray Aliens building massive underground
bases and tunnels, to sightings of boxcars equipped with shackles. These are
mostly from the "I believe in everything" Coast-to-Coast
AM radio show crowd.
Discernment seems to be a scarce commodity in some circles. You
name, I get it. (And then
I get
follow-up e-mails, asking why I didn't post
their
earlier e-mails, inferring or outright accusing me of being part of an organized
Cover-Up Conspiracy.) Most
SurvivalBlog readers don't realize how much nonsense and blather I have to
filter out.
I chose to
post
E.B's
letter intact.
I'm
sure that
I
get grief
about it, but he makes some valid points and in my opinion he deserves to
be heard, at least regarding his preparedness strategy.
Editor at Large Michael Z. Williamson Adds: I'd just like
to point out that diesel fuel does melt "structural steel": Structural steel is low carbon alloy
(1015, 1020) that every blacksmith uses, and that most people wind up deforming
in their fireplace as the grate ages.
I'm not going to comment on any other Sep 11 theories. One can choose to believe
the engineers of the world, or believe they're all part of a conspiracy. I'm
just going to point out that "structural steel" will only resist
fire in your house for a few minutes before failing. 1,000 degrees
Fahrenheit (attainable in any fireplace, barbecue or structure fire) will reduce
its strength by 50%.
At 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit (easily found in the center of most fires) it melts
into decarburized
slag. It is not a magic barrier against bullets or flames.
« Letter Re: Real World Observations on Fighting Crime and Criminals |Main| Notes from JWR: »
Survival Retreat vs. Neighborhood Survival -- Part Deux - Galt's Gulch vs. Idiocracy, by E.B.
Introduction
This is a response to a
previous article written by the esteemed
Dr.
Richard of the Virginia Prepper's Network. Dr. Richard and I agree completely
on a
great many issues but disagree on the issue of the Survival Retreat vs. Neighborhood
Survival. Here are my thoughts on the issue:
Dr. Richard makes some good points with respect to the desirability of an
informed and prepared neighborhood, but in the end it all depends on your particular
neighborhood and neighbors. Because I saw the collapse coming in 2005 I sold
my home in Northern Virginia at what the Washington Post called the
absolute peak of the market and put the proceeds into physical gold and silver
when
gold was trading around ~$400 an ounce and silver at ~$7. BTW, the guy who
bought my home tried to sell it less than a year later for significantly less
and could find no buyers. My goal was to move to low cost Austin, Texas where
I could be near my dad’s ranch which I could then get prepped to survive
the coming economic collapse. Unfortunately my wife thought I had gone completely
insane which along with other disagreements on the health of our children (She
believes in vaccination, sugar, aspartame, fluoride and AMA monopoly medicine
and I don’t) led to a divorce. Now I rent a single family home to be
near my ex-wife and kids where I can spirit them to safety when the SHTF. While
I have never been to Dr. Richard’s neighborhood the detailed description
(cul de sac, all single family homes on relatively large lots, high income/
high IQ neighbors in a development of less than 400 homes in a somewhat rural
area) sounds infinitely more survivable than mine.
My situation is much different. My neighborhood is a mix of single family
homes and townhouses with a much greater density than Dr. Richard describes.
The neighborhood is lower income / lower IQ as well. There is an apartment
complex about a mile away and I once found a cocaine baggie in the parking
lot while jogging through it one day. Unfortunately because I am so busy I
haven’t met as many of my neighbors as I would like and the ones that
I have met are essentially completely clueless to the realities of the world.
My neighbor with the most raw intellectual horsepower is a software architect
in IP security but he still hasn’t figured out that fire can’t
melt structural steel and giggled when I tried to explain the realities of
9-11. He is morbidly obese, addicted to sugar and nicotine, and completely
unarmed. Not exactly the guy you want to have your back fending off looters
and brigands. My second smartest neighbor is an engineer for an IP hosting
company. I spent 30 minutes one day taking him through the physics of WTC 7
and how 47 story modern steel framed skyscrapers don’t collapse completely
and symmetrically into their own footprints at freefall speed defying the laws
of physics. I thought I saw a glimmer of understanding but I never heard back
from him. I am assuming he went back to the TeeVee set. When I jog through
the neighborhood at night the street is lit up with the glow of flat screen
mental prisons.
Anyone that has ever unplugged someone from the matrix understands how difficult
and time consuming it can be to educate and free a single mind. I have a good
friend who is an entrepreneur/small business owner and has held VP level positions
at international networking companies. I have been working on him for years
and even after his son had a febrile seizure 24 hours after getting vaccinated
he is mad at me for trying to warn him and continues to see the same doctor
that potentially crippled his son. My ex-wife has P.hD and I can’t get
her to stop giving our kids fluoridated water even though the practice is opposed
by 14 Nobel Laureates, 2,100+ health professionals, and the EPA’s own
scientists through their union. If I can’t convince my own ex-wife to
quit giving her kids water “medicated” with a chemical used as
rat and roach poison which has been linked to lower IQ in 23 peer reviewed
studies from around the globe then how I am going to educate and convince dozens/hundreds
of acquaintances and strangers on the realities of the world.
So, since neighborhood survival is not an option for me then creating a survival
retreat with a self-selected group of individuals is my #1 strategy for survival
in an economic collapse. Compare some of the qualities and skill sets of our
group and those we are speaking with vs. the TeeVee bums in my neighborhood.
• A general contractor who is a firefighter / EMT in his community with
skills in general carpentry (framing, form, and trim), basic electrical, plumbing,
HVAC, masonry, roofing, and siding. Skilled in basic small engine repair, hand
tools, and appliances. He is taking classes in sustainable agriculture and
automotive repair.
• A retired naval Commander (helicopter pilot) with special operation experience
that has been working on his retreat for years.
• A world class software and information security architect.
• A C-level executive and former military intelligence officer.
All are completely aware, completely awake, completely armed, with good to
excellent preps and are already in high gear improving their skills and doing
what it takes to get ready for the coming collapse.
Now add the advantages that a remote survival retreat offers over attempting
to survive in an area populated with completely clueless starving TeeVee bums.
•
Security – Hidden from looters and brigands who would be more than willing
to kill for your stored food and supplies.
•
Rural Location – Self-sufficient agriculturally with farmers, dairymen,
and cattle ranchers. Plentiful wild game and plentiful wild edible plants.
•
Self-selected compatriots – Honest, trustworthy companions that are completely
prepped for the collapse and have a diverse blend of excellent skills to weather
the storm.
•
Designed for a collapse – Wood stove, solar power, well water, fruit
trees already planted, etc.
So while I wish Dr. Richard the best of luck I am headed to Galt’s Gulch
with other members of the intelligentsia. It doesn’t mean that I am not
willing and/or trying to help my neighbors, in fact I am having a large number
of them over next week to try to explain the realities of the coming collapse
but at the end of the day I must protect my family and myself and a self-selected
group of intelligent people awake to the realities of the world secure in a
remote retreat represents the best odds of survival.
Even if you are going to bug out here are some tips to help the folks who must
prepare for themselves:
Educate, Educate, Educate - Give DVDs, send links to web sites like this, Virginia
Prepper's Network, SurvivalBlog, WhatReallyHappened.com, InfoWars.com, and
SteveQuayle.com. When you pass along DVDs specify that the recipient must pass
it along to someone else and specify that the next recipient must pass it along
as well.
Share your Bounty and Improve Your Own Chances - I am sharing some of my storable
food with a neighbor with the caveat that we would share when the SHTF. If
I successfully bug out then they keep all the food for themselves. If I am
trapped in the neighborhood then I have improved my chances for survival with
diverse food stores.
Arm Them With Knowledge - Take your neighbor to the Appleseed Project and turn
a rifle owner into a Rifleman.
Plant an oversize or community garden - Share the costs of sod, seeds, and
the rental of a tiller.
Store Extra Preps for Friends and Charity - I have stored extra food for charity
and even stored items like diapers and wipes for a low income couple who live
in my neighborhood. I have cached food, money, and silver for the employees
of my business as well in a location they can access in an emergency.
« Letter Re: Should You Invest in Real Estate? |Main| Note from JWR: »
Survival Retreat vs. Neighborhood Survival, by Dr. Richard
Earlier this month, I posted Etienne's guest post Seeking/Starting
a Survival Retreat in Virginia / Maryland / Pennsylvania / West Virginia.
Today, I had lunch with Etienne
de la Boetie and another prepper here in Loudoun County [, Virginia].
We had a long discussion about survival retreats vs neighborhood survival.
Etienne is a big fan of the survival retreat concept. He previously had a
retreat where he did not own the land but where he was able to store a travel
trailer recreational vehicle in which he pre-positioned various preps and
supplies. Unfortunately, his friend moved and sold the property. There are
four major flaws in the survival retreat separate from your home concept:
- There are significant liabilities and social problems with communal retreats
where one does not own the property - you are vulnerable to the actions of
the others, particularly the property owner.
- Property left at unattended retreats is vulnerable to theft and vandalism.
This is going to be a growing problem as the economic depression gets worse,
especially if we have economic collapse.
- Getting to the retreat would be problematic in the event that it is
actually needed - particularly in martial law scenarios where the military
and law
enforcement block traffic at key intersections or in cases where there are
fuel shortages.
- Relatively undeveloped retreats with a trailer and undeveloped
land may not be sufficiently developed for long-term survival and offer insufficient
space
for storage of the various preps and other items you need. Many of these
items would likely be at your day-to-day residence and you cannot assume
that you
can transport everything at the last minute.
My view is that survival retreats only work if you live there full-time. Furthermore,
although remote locations are further removed from the masses, they are also
further removed from jobs, markets, customers, hospitals, and many other useful
infrastructure and will be harder pressed to gather a sufficiently large group
to cover all of the tasks needed in a true long-term survival scenario. Even
the best special forces operator cannot defend his property 24 hours a day,
seven days a week. Unfortunately, we are rapidly running out of time and it
is probably already too late to relocate - especially if relocating means trying
to sell your existing home in this real estate environment -- in my neighborhood
we haven't had a sale in over eight months and anyone who bought in the last
four years and did the traditional 20% down payment fixed 30 year mortgage
now has negative equity.
I am a big proponent of the concept that your family, friends, neighbors, and
church are your survival group. Yes, I understand that many are unprepared
and clueless about both the threats and what they need to do to prepare for
them. However, your home is your survival retreat. Strengthen it to the extent
you can, but your odds improve exponentially if you can organize your neighborhood
and help everyone survive against the threat(s) you are facing in your survival
situation. You and those in the group who are better prepared or who have the
right skills are the cadre needed to get organized and do what is needed. The
rest of the neighborhood are your foot soldiers and do'ers. My philosophy is
to lead and organize but that charity starts with those who are willing to
help themselves and help the group in the survival situation. In a survival
situation, your first challenges are to assess the hazards/priorities/immediate
needs, organize the group, secure the neighborhood, and scrounge/barter/trade
for needed resources.
Be a leader. There are many things you can do to help develop your neighborhood
group of family, friends, neighbors, and fellow church members and increase
the odds of the neighborhood surviving:
- Get to know them.
- Have potluck dinners.
- Help them wake up and prepare.
- Start a garden club to help start victory
gardens.
- Start a community watch program for your neighborhood.
- Give them a copy
of Chris Martenson's
Crash Course on the economy DVD. I bought a case of
30 and gave them as 2008 Christmas gifts.
- Give copies of Holly Deyo's book
Dare to Prepare as gifts. I bought a case of 8 and gave them as 2008 Christmas
gifts to family and several neighbors
who got it and were starting to prep.
- Store extra preps for charity and be
prepared to give when it is needed for survival.
- Learn about their skills,
backgrounds, and interests - on my street we have a former Navy Corpsman/LEO/M16
Instructor/master scrounger/contractor/award
winning barbeque chef who "gets it" and is starting to prepare, two nurses,
a master gardener, an agricultural engineer / head of the 800-home neighborhood HOA,
a Mormon family that does food storage, and six members of the neighborhood
garden club run by our master gardener.
- Buy tools that would be useful that
could be shared like tillers.
- Buy extra seed such as a seven year supply of Survival
Seeds and be prepared to provide seeds for neighbors
- Build a survival library
of books and skills that you can use to train them when they need survival
skills.
- Buy several extra surplus rifles such as the Russian Mosin-Nagant
or SKS rifles and stock extra ammunition to equip your "community watch" patrols.
- Invite
them to go to a shooting range with you.
- Be prepared to give honest evaluations
of whether individuals should relocate once a survival situation begins
to relative's homes or even public shelters
if that is the best option for them.
You will be pleasantly surprised how many of your family, friends, neighbors,
and fellow church members that are starting to wake up and realize the reality
and danger of our current position. This number is increasing every week. Don't
simply assume that they are all clueless sheep - many simply need some education
and a leader to show them the way.
« Odds 'n Sods: |Main| Letter Re: My First Attempt at Forming a Retreat Group »
Letter Re: Alaska as a Retreat Locale
Dear Jim:
For those that are thinking about relocating to Alaska as a retreat location
they should read this
CNN news story. Thousands of villagers in rural Alaska
are struggling to survive, forced to choose between keeping their families
warm
and keeping their stomachs
full. - The Old Yooper
« Odds 'n Sods: |Main| Letter Re: Diesel Motorcycles Coming to America? »
Letter Re: The Ozarks as a Retreat Locale
Mr. Rawles;
The Ozark Mountains and the Ouachita Mountains are part of a very old series
of mountains that runs from the Mississippi drainage to the Red River. This
formation has
been worn down to its present height by erosion and was more recently split
by the Arkansas river. In addition to the generous growing season and precipitation
you mentioned, many parts of this area have recoverable natural gas deposits
and in is common for farms along the Arkansas river to have gas well heads.
In addition to a monthly payment, many of these farms also enjoy free natural
gas for domestic use.
The Ozark and Ouachita Mountains extend north into Missouri, west into Oklahoma,
and as far south as the Texas border. While there are many nice areas in Arkansas,
you might want to compare the taxes and regulations in all four of the states
in this area. The cities of Fayetteville, Arkansas and Springfield, Missouri
are rapidly growing in population but land located even 20 miles away from
these urban
areas
and their associated highway corridors would be reasonable locations.
Finding undeveloped land in not hard as you are discovering, finding land
with good water (natural gas often adds a sulfur smell) and deep tillable
soil requires
a little more investigation and testing. The agricultural extension service
from University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and Oklahoma State University,
Stillwater have great web sites and a local office in every county seat [in
their respective states]. They can help
with
soil and
water
sample
testing
as can the local well driller.
One of the very best features about this area is its reputation as a low
cost retirement haven for hunters and fishermen. Since most folks in the
area live
close to the land and survive during normal times in a more or less self
sufficient manner, building a survival retreat/retirement home will not make
you an obvious
target. In some counties, over 30% of the population is composed of retirees.
Hiding in plain sight is an effective form of OPSEC. -
C.H.
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Two Letters Re: Alaska as a Retreat Locale
Jim,
For starters I would like to say that Jim you are dead-on with your Delta
Junction recommendation. I live near Delta. And it is some of the finest
farm land in the
world. everything grows amazing here. Some of the information in the previous
letters is wrong and I would like to clarify them . The growing season may
be a little shorter in days of light, but in total hours of light it is much
longer than other places. It gets light here in May and gets dark at night
again in late August. Some vegetables will grow great, some don't do so well,
Corn doesn't like it, but potatoes grow without trying. And as for isolation,
that's the idea. Things are harder to get, but you learn to live with less
and enjoy it more. As for power, at least in the Delta area you do not need
to worry about that in the winter, solar is awesome here in the summer, but
in winter the wind is ever present. I have four wind generators that I built
from old car alternators and Fan blades. I never had a loss in the battery
bank.
I live off of their grid anyway, so I am used to adapting.
As for the wood
situation, certain types of trees do incredibly well here, And they grow faster
not slower, I have trees that I know weren't there ten years ago and are over
twelve feet tall, Spruces grow well here, and birch is my main heat, I have
a fair sized house, and a new, catalyst stove and burn 5-to-7 cords of wood
per
winter.
Fuel is more expensive here, but it fluctuates like anywhere else,
buy when the price is low, and stockpile it. In this area it is common for
people to have a couple of 1,000 gallon tanks buried in their yard, Moose and
caribou ar always around as a meat source, as with buffalo in this area. (Yes
we have buffalo in Alaska). Along with Many other species of flora and fauna.
On the other hand Alaska is not a place for those who can not take care of
themselves. In this area it is not uncommon to see the temps dip below -60,F.
I have seen -72. It is dark all winter, And the stores never have what you
want.
There is plenty of water though, my well is thirty feet deep, and the pump
is set down to twenty feet, My suggestion for people who are thinking about
moving to Alaska is simple, Unless you have lived a subsistence lifestyle for
a while, are used to constant extreme weather changes, and can do it on your
own, stay where you are, or find some place else. As for me, I will never go
outside [Alaska] again, you can keep it. - Z. in Alaska
Mr. Rawles
I too am a long time reader and this is also the first time I have written.
I urge all of your readers to take head to Mr. Galt's letter concerning Alaska
as a retreat locale. It is harsh up here. I live in Delta Junction area and
love it. We have been here for over 10 years now and have our place set up
pretty well. We live off grid and in the bush, hunt, fish, trap, mush dogs
etc. etc. I wouldn't encourage anyone to try to move here and set up a retreat
this late in the game. We just went through a couple weeks of -50 to -60(Tok
recorded -78) temperatures then 70 m.p.h. hour winds that blew down many
trees and damaged a lot of structures. These things are a regular occurrence.
A lot
of Russian immigrants have moved from the lower 48 into the Delta area. Most
of the ones I have met seem to be good people but most live off welfare.
When the welfare stops we'll have problems. The bad bunch of them are thieves
already not just the Russian but Americans also. The Russian community has
a bad reputation for it though. Anyone planning to move here and find a job
might be in for a rude awakening.
The local jobs don't pay enough to live on the grid and the government jobs
stay filled mostly. Delta is profiting from a small military bubble economy
brought
about
by the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense
(GMD) program but with you know in office now all that could come to a
screeching halt at anytime. Because of the GMD program everyone around here
thinks their land has gold on it and prices it
accordingly.
Yes, Delta does have a big farming community. Most of the farmers get buy
living off of government programs and are deeply in debt. The ones that don't
live
off the program hurt. Most farms lay dormant wile collecting CRP checks.
I have heard that there will be no more new CRP contracts in the future. The
fertility of the farm land has gone way down too because of the climate here.
The cold doesn't allow much time for plant matter to decompose plus it's hard
to have crop rotation with only Barley. (Barley, hay grasses, potatoes, and
carrots are the main crops grown here.) For the last three years we have had
a frost in the middle
of August that pretty much killed any vegetables that were not in a green house.
Wells in Delta are any where from 40 to 450 feet in depth. If you buy land
where there is bed rock you may drill 450 deep and still get mastodon pee to
drink. Wells are at $50 a foot this year. Better plan on how to get water out
of the well when the power goes down. Currently heating oil is 2.23 at the
pump in town, more if its delivered. Diesel is currently $3.69. It hit $5 last
winter. Fire wood from Delta Lumber is $180 per cord until they run out for
the winter other sources are up to $250. The people from Delta lumber are great
people and will work themselves silly trying make sure no one goes cold. I
have seen one add for firewood for $300 per cord. Dry firewood is a must because
-50 the soot form green wood builds in the chimney thus creating chimney fire.
A friend of mine got burned out at -50 for that very reason. They didn't get
in enough dry wood for the winter. Luckily they were able to run to separate
garage and no one suffered any cold injuries. Finding a place to cut fire wood
now is getting hard to find.
Most people here are enjoying high power bills now since Golden Valley increased
their rates. The average size house power bill is running $300- $400 [per month]
in the winter maybe less if your really frugal. You have to keep your vehicles
plugged in. In a diesel that is like running a 1,500 watt electric heater.
Wind power is a possibility if your turbine can withstand the wind. Closer
to the mountains it has been 100 mph. The wind here isn't steady it is really
gusty, not good for turbine. Rent is running around a $1,000 and up for a three
bedroom home. Certified sewers are from $6,000 to $16,000 depending. Cost to
build is running around the $150 per square foot range and going up.
If you don't know how Seasonal Affect Disorder (SAD) will affect you, then
you's better find out before you try to make a permanent move here. Cabin fever
has been the demise of many people who move here and plan to live the wilderness
experience. The only cure for it is to be outside. It don't matter what the
the temp is you got to get out side when it's light. SAD has be the cause for
suicide, alcoholism, and drugs. People do the latter two to cope. I personally
have never had it. I have too much work to do. People who don't procrastinate
and get all there chores done and food stores in order for the winter and plan
to stay in the cabin for the winter suffer the worse. We don't procrastinate
but we don't stay in either. The cabin is only a place to warm up, eat and
sleep. Living is done outside the cabin. We trap, mush dogs, care for the horses,
cut more fire wood when it's not too cold, fire up the blacksmith forge, build
some log furniture. It is easy to get lazy and lethargic during the winter.
You have to fight the urge daily. We had a couple move in not to far from us.
I told the lady to make sure she kept the windows uncovered in the winter.
Well, they were the lazy type and didn't ever have enough wood cut so they
covered the windows and blocked out some of the cold but mostly the light.
They made
it though one winter but the next one they didn't. They pulled up [stakes]
and left middle of the winter.
As much as I love living here, if I were looking for a retreat locale this
late in the game then it would be some place more hospitable. We did move here
for the
lack of people and when things get even worse I expect people to start migrating
out of Alaska especially the interior. It requires a lot of hard work to live
here more especially so if your living off the land. How would you like to
cut 20 cords of wood with a hand operated saw and axe when you run out of gas
and or you saw goes down? Running chain saws in the sub-zero weather is hard
on them. Better get extra clutches for them. What about when the mosquitoes
bloom and you have run out of bug dope?
Hunting is decent here. The Russian community poaches a lot of the moose in
the Delta management area. They do it to eat. I am not knocking them for that.
When the SHTF it
will be even worse therefore even we will have to start going further into
the bush to hunt using sled teams to get there. If you plan to
have dogs and sled they require a lot of food. [Here they eat mostly] fish.
The salmon that makes it this far inland is [best -suited for] dog food. It
is pretty beat up by the
time
is gets
here.
The flesh is a faint pink to gray color as they are close to the end of the
life span. Anyone planning to come to Alaska to survive the upheaval better
have there you know what together or they won't make it. This land is unforgiving
and the least mistakes get big in a hurry. Sorry that my letter has gotten
so long but I want people to know what they are getting into if they come here
thinking
it's paradise. It ain't. but it's the life we love. People here are willing
to help if you are not stupid. Our favorite saying around here is "If
you gonna be dumb then you'd better be tough" - C.B.
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Letter Re: Gun Ownership in Chile
Hello JWR,
I hope everything is going well for you and your family! Every day that passes
makes me realize how blessed I am to be out of the states and living at a great
retreat location in Chile.
I was reading your site yesterday and saw your article asking for information
about foreign gun laws. I recently purchased a new shotgun in Chile and will
share that experience with you. First, I don't think most Chileans follow the
gun laws here. The law is that you must register every weapon you own, and registration
is limited to three per person, but no limit per family. That means I could register
three in my name, three in my wife's name, etc. Laws state you must keep your
weapon in your home and if you transport in somewhere else, you must ask for
permission and get a form to do so. If you are stopped by the police and have
a weapon without the transport form, they have the right to seize it. (I have
been stopped many times for a registration check, and they have never searched
the vehicle or asked about weapons, so this is a very remote possibility in normal
times, IMHO).
From those restrictions, you can see why I feel most Chileans don't follow the
law. I wanted to ship down my grandfather's old Mossberg, but since it didn't
have a serial number, and the associated government paper hassle, I just bought
a new one here. When buying from a dealer, you have to follow the rules, and
being a foreign national residing here, I went along (for my first). I wanted
a basic Mossberg pump action 12 gauge, and the dealer informed me I had to pass
a hunting exam before I could buy the gun. He gave me some example tests, true-false
questions, and I went to register for the test. Not being a native spanish speaker,
I was a little worried about the exam. It cost about $24 US to get a study book
and pay for the test. The exam covered all the separate hunting laws for the
country, broken down by state. I had to know the dove daily limits for a region
1,500 miles from my house! Unbelievable. I managed to luck through the test and
pass with a 70%, even though none of the test questions given to me by the dealer
were on the test- wouldn't you know it!
Once I had my hunting license I returned to the gun dealer/ sport shop. I paid
for the gun, and then they took me to the local Chilean army office to register
it. On the way, the dealer casually mentioned I had to take a test there to ensure
I knew the proper care and maintenance of the shotgun I was buying! I had no
idea what those names were, so I had about 10 minutes to learn what a sight,
breach, stock, etc were called in spanish, and I lucked my way through another
multiple choice test on basic maintenance, and how many shells I was able to
buy
at a time, etc. What a pain! Now you see why I think most chileans skip this
law. Everyone was quite nice and helpful, it was just the process that stank.
The next step was needing the police to check my residence on the application
to ensure that I lived there. Well, I live 150km from this town, and I could
not take possession of my gun until my residence was checked. For this reason
I used a friend's residence in the town. I was checked out and returned the next
morning for my shotgun. What an ordeal. Total cost, not including the shotgun
itself, was about $60 US. Fortunately, now I have my legally registered shotgun,
even though it is registered at a residence far far away, so it would take some
searching to find me if the officials were so inclined. Obviously my next weapons
purchase will be from an locals to skip the whole bureaucratic nightmare. Since
I live way off the beaten path and know the local police, I am not worried, but
the national system here is set up for potential confiscation if necessary- remnants
of the 1970's and the civil war/Pinochet days.
Hope you find this informative. Chile is a great country for old German rifles
and such like. I look forward to getting a Winchester .44-40, .357, and other
weapons off of the grid. I've actually had my folks bring down boxes of rifle
shells and deer slugs in their airline luggage- no problem with customs. In other
news, I now have my pigs, chickens, and the sheep are on the way! Fresh eggs
and ham through any crisis! Best wishes. - Bruce
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Letter Re: The Ozarks as a Retreat Locale
I'm giving really serious consideration to a move to the north-central Ozark
area of Arkansas. My reasoning is that the weather is fairly benign - average
temps are 40-to-80 F, good [length of] growing season; land is still pretty
reasonable. Acreage at $1,000 per acre - sometimes less - is not unusual. The
area has springs/lakes/creeks/caves; many smaller towns; living costs are very
reasonable;
a strong family orientated population; fairly well-developed medical services
even in the smaller towns.
I realize that this area is more suited for people who do not work or who
are not looking for work, but I'm only seven months from retirement and so
far have managed to keep most of my retirement funds from tanking. I hope to
have in the area of around $4,000 per month coming in to fund my retirement;
and this without resorting to IRA withdrawals. I should hopefully be able to off-load my house in Florida for around $150,000 - mostly
because of the location. After paying the minimal balanced owed, I hope to
pretty much be able to put up ~$100,000 as purchase money. Looking through
the current realtor's ads from the area, that money could buy me anything from
50-to-80 undeveloped acres at one end, to a three bedroom house on 20-40 acres
on the other end.
The biggest negative in the area appears to be that the in-place governmental
infrastructure occasionally is not up to the job, a state income tax, and jobs
are not very plentiful. But again for me these are really almost pluses. I
plan to use trusts to handle most of my transactions there and by limiting
my visible income I hope to keep pretty much off both the state and Federal
radar screen. All taken together the pluses - at least from my perspective
- seem to far outweigh the negatives.
I would like to build a semi-underground house on a southeast exposure to
minimize heating and cooling costs as well as reducing security issues
- both personal and disaster related.
A big downer there is that it is in the Mississippi earthquake zone, but sometimes
you have to flip the coin, and I worry more about the caldera of Yellowstone
than I do a [local]earthquake. Regards, - Doug D.
« Odds 'n Sods: |Main| Letter Re: The Ozarks as a Retreat Locale »
Letter Re: Alaska as a Retreat Locale
Mr. Rawles,
Although being an avid reader, this is the first time I have written your site.
The letters posted on your site today respecting Alaska as a retreat locale
raised a few possible issues in my mind. First of all, let me say that Alaska
is my favorite place in the world, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
However, as a retreat locale, one may want to think twice unless the situation
forces their location there. Also, it is important to remember that the conditions
and terrain in Alaska are very wide ranging, depending where you are. The
climate can range from arctic in the north to relatively mild in the south.
I have heard the climate in the south compared to that of the mid-Atlantic
states on the East coast.
Most parts of the state are totally without agriculture, but there is some
in the Matanuska-Susitna
Valley. The growing season is usually around 100 days
long, and can produce huge vegetables because of the length of the days. Some
vegetables do well there, such as potatoes, carrots and cabbage.
Therefore, if one intends to do any kind of farming in Alaska, the "Mat-Su"
Valley is where it is possible. However, there is a major drawback to this
fact,
from
the perspective of retreat logistics. The Mat-Su valley is one of the most
densely populated areas of the state. It has, as of late, been converting
to suburban communities for workers who commute to Anchorage. As we all
know,
the suburbs are a bad, bad place to be WTSHTF.
And even if one were to build a retreat in a section of the valley not yet
suburban, there is no way to
know that it would remain so for the next five years or more.
Prepping before the SHTF is
made more difficult by the state's isolation. Building materials, fuel,
food, guns, ammo, medical supplies and any other product must be shipped in
from the [continental] US or elsewhere.
This makes these
products not only
more expensive, but generally less available, especially outside of the urban
centers. Ordering off the web makes them easier to get, but the shipping
is still expensive. Fuel of any kind is the most expensive in the nation,
and
ammo is pretty over-priced, too.
Fuel, as one letter pointed out, is a major problem. Getting by without fossil
fuels is a main goal of most preppers, and it may prove more difficult in
Alaska. Solar is out, at least during the winter. Not only is there very
little light,
but it is less intense than elsewhere, due to the oblique angle at which
it hits the state (as it is so far north). I don't know a lot about wind,
so that
may be a possibility. If it was, any parts would be difficult to get. As
K.L.'s letter says, firewood is a possibility, but this raises three issues.
As he says, with no gas or diesel = no power tools to cut [and haul firewood].
Any broken hand tools would be irreplaceable, and even having extras is likely
not enough
when you plan to cut by hand and burn firewood for a very extended period
of time.
Hand cutting firewood is also time consuming.
Since it would need to be done in the summer, it would take up time for farming
and other chores. This might not be a problem if you are part of a large
retreat group, however. Also, felling trees, in any way, especially by hand,
is extremely
dangerous. I would strongly recommend a logger certification class for anyone
planning to possibly use firewood as a retreat fuel. Although the course
will focus on mechanical forestry, the safety principles are the same universally.
Third, unless one has a retreat on a very spacious lot, it is possible to
run out of firewood to cut. Trees grow much slower in Alaska People who
do not heat
their homes in this manner would be surprised at the amount of fuel a wood
stove can use in a winter. For instance, to heat the house on my family farm,
it
takes roughly 10 to 15 cords to get through the winter,
with a little to spare for safety's sake. And that is back in New York, not
Alaska. Imagine cutting
that much
firewood on a 25 acre lot for five years or more. One may be able to cut
off of their property, but that is a bad way to meet the neighbors, especially
after
TSHTF.
This letter ran much longer than I planned, and I would like to go on further,
but time prevents me from doing so. In short, think twice about a retreat
in Alaska. It is absolutely possible, but would present much greater difficulties
than other feasible places. In the lower 48, one can find the same type of
isolated area, but with:
Better farming conditions
Lower prices in general
A climate not requiring huge amounts of fuel for the winter
Ability to travel through the US without crossing international borders
(If they still exist after TSHTF)
And so forth...
If you think you can do it, then go for it. My wife thinks I'm trying to keep
it all for myself. - J. Galt
JWR Replies: Thanks for that input. I have my doubts about
the viability of the Mat-Su Valley in worst-case collapse. Its proximity to
the hungry, teeming
masses of Anchorage is troubling. Alaska cannot feed its population, even
in today's economy, and one can only wonder what it would be like grid-down,
with no
fuel available.
I encourage anyone serious about living in Alaska to look
at the
Delta Junction area, in Alaska's interior. I haven't been there since
the summer of 1980 (when I attended the U.S. Army Northern
Warfare School), but it struck me as a very productive agricultural
region.)
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Two Letters Re: Alaska as a Retreat Locale
Jim:
As an Alaskan survivalist I concur with everything Brad in Texas had to say.
Alaska has many distinct advantages as a retreat location. However, it also
has some major disadvantages. First and foremost is the amount of work involved.
You must have a way to get fuel for heating. If you can't use vehicles and
chain saws, most of your summer will likely be taken up getting ready for winter.
The same applies to food. You would have to grow enough vegetables during the
short summer to last seven or eight months. Thankfully, game is available all
year, so you probably won't starve. Alaska is great for people who are able
and willing to work really hard.
As for the spirit of Alaska, what Brad says is true outside the major cities.
I would estimate that only 5% of Juneau and Anchorage residents and 20% of
Fairbanks residents have any concept of survival in hard times. Most people
in the cities essentially live in a bubble, with no real contact with nature
at its harshest. Even in Alaska! Juneau is jokingly referred to as "Seattle
North" and Anchorage as "Los Anchorage." If you consider Alaska
as a retreat location, it would be wise to avoid the major cities. In a SHTF
scenario, the helpless refugees would overwhelm the surrounding countryside
just as in the lower 48.
K.L. - Alaska
JWR:
We lived in Alaska for almost three years, we miss it. Here is our Wish List
for our next trip:
Snow machines [called snowmobiles in some parts of the US], purchased in
the Lower 48
More gear
More guns
More knowledge of the laws going in and out of the borders
Have a gun shop picked out up there ASAP for weapons you will not be
able to carry into Canada or back into the US (handguns and [so-called] assault
rifles)
All records for animals
Go
on the ferry to avoid Canada
Some of the larger problems facing newcomers in Alaska is the lack of light
in the winter, the lack of fresh fruits and veggies, activities in the winter,
the isolation, the cold....
The suicides are on the average 20% higher in Alaska than anywhere else in
the US. The alcohol abuse is so rampant that in some of the more desolate towns
there is rationing of alcohol or there is none period.
Most go up there totally unprepared for the struggles of everyday life. We
lived in Anchorage and it wasn't that bad. There are a few books that can give
you a rundown on the worst (Death Stalks the Land is a good reference).
The people who went there unprepared and paid for it with their lives. Even
those who lived there 20 years are not immune to getting caught unaware.
Everything thing you need to get has to be shipped overseas including
grain for livestock and hay, milk, tools, some building supplies and clothing.
The natives do produce some things. However, most do it for the tourists that
show up.
There are many tales of those that made it up there but for each one of those
there is one or more that lost limb or life trying.
There is a book on the last homesteader to go to Alaska and it is a real eye
opener.
The plusses: The constant daylight in some areas [in summer] makes for incredible
food and if you can fruits and veggies, you'll be better for it.
The Icelandic Horses can and will eat dry or fresh fish and there is plenty
of that.
You can't beat the hunting and fishing.
It is incredibly beautiful, summer or winter.
I will leave you with this - It's a very long way to go for help or to help
anyone while there, if you go you will truly be on your own. - TD
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Letter Re: Finding Like-Minded Folks
Hello,
I've read
your novel "Patriots" and
I feel compelled to mention that it was the first book I ever defaced. I've
always loved reading, but I read (and in some
cases
even
re-read multiple times) books but never highlight or mark up the books. I
don't know why, I just don't. It was almost immediate, like a lightning strike...
that I needed to change what I was doing when I started reading Patriots.
It even occurred to me that I needed a couple different colors to distinguish
separate
types of information. I absolutely loved the story line, not because of the
happy ending, not because of the advice, but a combination of identifying with
the characters and with the events they were in, and how they dealt with them
which was your actual message... the readability of your Patriots novel is
5 stars in my opinion and I thank you greatly, I'm actually starting over again
tonight, because even with hi-lighting the key elements, I still enjoy the
story and still need to reinforce the lessons they are teaching me.
I am in complete agreement that the decline of our economy is not only assured,
it's gaining speed as I type this. While our paid legislators hammer out details
on which political action committees and which unions will receive how much
money, the country is being destroyed, willingly.
I'm not willing to sign up for that! but I'm one person in California, the state that is driving this insanity!
I've spent a bit of money recently in various purchases of both hardware and
consumables, and I have perhaps 10 months [of food and supplies] right now,
ready to go food if the Schumer hits the fan, (in my opinion wisely since investments
are
libel
to
crash even
further when liberal politics affect wall street) but I have short comings...
I have friends here who are like minded about preparedness, but are unable
or unwilling to sacrifice to make the retreat happen
I have money myself to to put down some money on a few acres in my home state
of Arizona and I plan to buy in heavily militia territory, but I don't want
to be forced to be co-opted into a "must join" as you described in
Patriots when the two groups first met. But I don't want to be alone
on my land, and I don't
know how many of my friends might actually be able to make it there if the
"zombie invasion" occurs... Added to which, an A-frame cabin as my "secured" retreat
means to me that I need two or three or maybe even four back up plans and
pre-positioned caches.
Do you host any sort of "getting to meet ya" events of like minded
folks?
Do you have any suggestions for me, outside of the obvious... pick the best
tools for the job and then take with what you can. I have a 4x4 truck and I'm
storing currently enough fuel to get to where I want to buy a few acres, but
it's going to get awful lonely in my A-frame cabin--or awfully exciting--and
I hope I make it if the full zombie invasion takes place and I have to defend
against looters. An A-frame cabins (not even built yet) are very poor protection
and unfortunately prone to theft and who knows what when left unattended, like
I'd have to do here in California.
Your suggestions would be great appreciated, and if there's people that would
be looking to recruit me without me knowing who they are, I'd appreciate you
forwarding that as well. I can not do this on my own, I don't have all the
answers and I never will, but I must find folks who are at least willing to
ask the
questions and even look at the unpleasant answers.
Thanks! and please keep writing! - Brent
JWR Replies: You mentioned your intention to build an A-frame
cabin. I encourage you to pick a better design. This
post from the SurvivalBlog archives (August, 2007) sums up my objections to A-frame
designs.
Sorry, but I don't host "get-togethers". In fact,
given the OPSEC concerns
created by my high media profile, I don't even publicly mention the state
that I live in! (Sorry to be so circumspect , but I 've made solemn promises
to family members that I can only mention that I live in TUWS,
somewhere west of the Rockies, on the bank of TUR,
on a ranch in TUROM.
All this dissimulation might seem odd to some readers, but please put yourself
in my shoes. We
had
some
odd
stalking
incidents when we were living at our previous ranch, so when we made or last
move
we
took
some
unprecedented
OPSEC measures. I even have cousins that don't know where I live.
Your situation, feeling unable to link up with other that share your preparedness
goals, is fairly typical . See
my static web page: Finding
Like-Minded People in Your Area. The advice there will probably be very
helpful. May God Put You in the Right Place, at the Right Time, with the
Right People.
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Three Letters Re: The Community Retreat
James:
When it comes to real-world advice that applies to real people, Kathy
Harrison's article ranks right near the top of the list. There is a sizable portion
of the survival
community (including my family) that believes that the community retreat
model outlined in this article is, for most scenarios, the single best strategy
for survival. While there are certainly some scenarios in which a remote
retreat would be advantageous, those (in my opinion) are relatively few and
unlikely. The community retreat strategy is one that can be used by just
about anyone regardless of family or occupational requirements. It takes
full advantage of the very reason that people have always congregated together.
It's followers are well positioned for recovery efforts that leave out the
isolated retreater, and it incorporates one of your key points - live at
your retreat.
I look forward to more articles of this type by Kathy Harrison and others.
- Stephen in Florida
Dear Mr. Rawles,
The recent post “The Community Retreat, by Kathy Harrison” prompted
me to write with some comments about municipal retreats. Her comments are about
a community retreat that is privately operated. I recently had an opportunity
to see how a municipal shelter/retreat functioned. It was illuminating.
Recently we had a pretty severe ice storm here in the American Northeast. Many
folks feel that it was the worst since 1987, when a storm knocked out power for
two weeks. I wrote about my experiences with that storm here.
One thing about this storm that was new to me was that it was the first time
my municipality had activated its Emergency Preparedness Plan (EPP).
I live next to a municipality of 1,600 people. The Village covers a little under
two square miles and has 386 households.
Like most municipalities these days that receive Federal grants, the Village
must meet certain eligibility conditions. One of those conditions is that there
must be a municipal Emergency Preparedness Plan. This plan describes the village
chain of command, who is responsible for what (fire, police, DPW, etc.), how
to contact those departments/individuals and what resources they have. It also
lists resources available in adjoining municipalities and what resources (fuel,
water, etc.) are available within the village.
Another aspect of the EPP is that the village has to have a facility to shelter
residents during an emergency. That is what I wanted to address here.
This was the first time the village had activated their shelter plan and I thought
it might be useful to describe how it was supposed to go and how it actually
went.
When the village wrote the EPP, the plan was that the American Legion [Hall]
would
be
used to shelter residents. The Legion had large open spaces, a large commercial
kitchen, was located on high ground and had ample parking. There were large bathrooms
with many toilets and sufficient storage for reserve food and cooking items.
To this end a trailer mounted military generator was permanently acquired from
the Federal government and the buildings wiring slightly modified so that all
one
had
to
do was plug the generator into the building, throw a transfer switch and you
were
good to go. Sleeping cots were stored in the building as well as assorted small
items that would allow for sheltering a large number of people. The American
Red Cross would set everything up.
Like most municipalities, the village worked very hard on the EPP, sent copies
to all the right people/departments, filed it with the Feds and States and then
put it on a shelf and never paid attention to it until this ice storm hit. They –never-
updated it. The plan was 2.5 years old.
The Legion hall is privately owned. About 8-10 months ago a decision was made
by its owners to put it up for sale. When the time came to implement the EPP,
the building was no longer available and a replacement had to be immediately
found.
The –only- other building available was the Village Hall. It had emergency
power and water and as a village owned property was immediately available. The
downside was that it was considerably smaller; only about 25% of the capacity
of the Legion [Hall]. The Village Hall contained both the police and fire departments
so it was being used as a command & control facility. The Red Cross switched
gears from Legion to Village Hall. A space was found for about 20 cots but fire
and police personnel had to go through this area to meet with their commands.
The radio room was right next to the sleeping area and the sandwiches and coffee
for the firefighters and cops and everyone else was also in the same room. I
don’t see how anyone could have slept.
While there was no disorder or major crime, the police maintained a presence
in the shelter that did seem a bit ominous. People were allowed to come and go
freely, but it would not have been a stretch of the imagination to foresee a
time when people, once entering the shelter would not be allowed to leave. Commander
Zero [, the editor of the excellent Notes
From the Bunker
blog] commented on the New Orleans,
Louisiana authorities
doing
this
at
the
Super
Dome: They
said
that
the citizens had [effectively] signed an unwritten contract with the authorities
by
entering
the Dome and that they were being prohibited from leaving ‘for their own
safety’. Commander Zero called this the "Guantanodome."
The food supplied to those people seeking shelter in the Village Hall was limited
to grilled cheese sandwiches and coffee and water. There were no diapers, no
provisions for pets, no toys or distractions for younger children. The bathrooms
were small,
each containing only two toilets. There was a single television but it’s
volume was kept low so as not to interfere with radio communications.
Finally, there was no guidance or protocol from higher authorities on how long
to keep the shelter open. After five days or so, staffing the shelter (all the
staff were volunteers) became more difficult and a decision was made to close
it
down.
By this
time only about 10 people remained and they were directed to shelters in another
town. I don’t know what became of those people when those shelters closed.
I like to think that power was restored to their homes by then and they went
home.
It would be very easy to say that this shows that an individual really should
not rely on government in an emergency. In a large way, that’s correct.
While I advocate that the goal of being prepared is to prevent having to go to
this type of shelter, I do not think one should ignore the need for a municipal
shelter. While I will still prepare and strive to not need to leave my home,
I will work with the Village hierarchy to update and improve the plan that they
have. If I know the village residents have a place to go and resources to draw
upon then there will be that many fewer people out scavenging for what I have
put aside for me and mine. - RMV.
Hi Jim...
It never ceases to amaze me how the majority of US survivalist wannabes adamantly
contend they must live in the major cities. Fully 80% of all survivalist wannabes
want to hunker down in their urban or suburban homes according to our polls.
Yet, they subscribe to and post 'survivalist' articles to survival forums like
my Surviving
The Day After list at Yahoo Groups], Rourke's
Survival Retreat and Secure Home [list at Yahoo Groups], or Brad's
HunkerDown06 [list at Yahoo Groups]. Their topics are often centered around
a socialist/communist theme of a secure,
remote survival retreat paid for by pooling money and resources
of would be members and living a communal existence after TSHTF.
None of that is a viable plan, especially with the coming economic collapse
of the USA, worldwide depression, and World War III. But, they won't even consider
getting out of the cities now! It's frustrating to survivalists like me.
BTW, I am in West Texas and we are developing a problem here in such a sparsely
populated area. Pecos, Texas is about 5,000 people around mile marker 40 on
Interstate Highway 20. They have a 3,000 bed county-run prison that houses 3,000 Federal
prisoners. Last Saturday night the prisoners rioted and burned out the R2 unit.
About 45 days ago they had rioted and burned out R1 unit. My brother is a prison
guard
there
and called
during this riot to warn me the inmates were expecting help from MS13 [gang]
contact/associates from Mexico.
The night before, a Hispanic youth gang called Brown Pride Gang torched six
homes in and around Pecos. Two of those homes had Hispanic families asleep
inside.
Those responsible have been apprehended and are facing attempted homicide by
arson charges. These gang "youths" were organized and incited to commit this
attack by MS13 members in Pecos.
Glenn Beck was saying on Fox News that the border violence is intensifying
and yet neither the Democrats or the Republicans are willing to close and regulate
the border with
Mexico. And to top that off, Beck was warning that Texans will soon get fed
up and take matters into their own hands, arming themselves and protecting
their families and property from invasion.
This all has an effect on my personal survival plans long term of course. The
lack of population, the distances involved here in the desert of West Texas,
and the proximity of our paid-for mountain retreat to our paid for farm in
the valley puts us in a much better prepared position than 95% of the populace.
It has taken years of preparation and planning, though. And, none of it came cheap.
I am still a voice in the wilderness crying: Get out of the cities, now!
Regards, Lawrence R.
List Owner, SurvivingTheDayAfter at Yahoo Groups
« Odds 'n Sods: |Main| Three Letters Re: The Community Retreat »
Letter Re: Alaska as a Retreat Locale
I have read your list of recommended
retreat areas and agree for the most
part. My wife and child and I are leaving Texas in March and heading north.
Idaho
and
Alaska
are the only places we are considering because they are the only two western
states that have 100% parental autonomy on homeschooling.
As for Alaska not being recommended, I would have to disagree somewhat. Yes,
it is not for everybody. Some people don't like cold
and that's fine by me. However, the issues of supplies and resource shipment
I think may become
moot. When TSHTF the
shipment of goods will be disrupted everywhere, and in the lower 48 there will
be more people fighting for what is left. For those
of us looking to get off the Made-in-China Wal-Mart matrix, these are changes
we are preparing for and will welcome.
In Alaska there will be an advantage not found anywhere else. First, it's cold
climate and geographic separation from the lower 48 will keep it very well
protected against the roving bands of thugs and immigrants already overpopulating
the lower 48. People simply won't be able to get there, and borders will likely
close to all such traffic. Second, Alaska has a long and well-ingrained tradition
of self-sufficiency and the character of the people there will be more immune
to the shock of having to get back to basics. Additionally it is the most likely
candidate to be the first state to secede. The crime rate statistics are misleading
as well, due to the low population and the fact many "crimes" are
not crimes at all, or they represent alcohol-related petty crimes, eskimo tribal
feuds, bar brawls, etc. All in all, I believe the spirit of Alaska will prevail
and people will get along better than the lower 48 on many levels, regardless
of whether or not there is a Wal-Mart. On another note, [Governor]
Sarah Palin has also proposed the
creation of a new natural gas line just for the state residents. - Brad in
Texas
« Retreat Building Lighting Systems, by The Old Yooper |Main| Note from JWR: »
Inauguration Fallout: Will Retreat Locale Priorities be Skewed?
The recent inauguration of BHO and
the establishment of a quasi-socialist majority in congress will have some
far-reaching implications. Today, I 'm
just going to focus on one
of them,
because it is of concern to
many preparedness-minded individuals:
The possibility of Federal gun laws becoming just as bad or
perhaps worse than those extant in the most gun-grabbing states.
For many years I have advised my consulting clients and SurvivalBlog readers
to "vote with their feet", if they live in states with restrictive
gun laws. Unlike the UK, that has a uniform set of national laws, the US has
always been characterized
by it patchwork of state laws, which vary widely. Here in the US, if someone
dislikes paying sales tax, they can simply move to a state like Alaska, Delaware,
Montana, or Oregon, that have no sales tax;
or someone that doesn't like income tax can move to Florida, Nevada, Texas,
South Dakota, Washington, or Wyoming. Likewise, someone that
feels
oppressed
by the gun
laws of
New Jersey
or California could move to a mecca of firearms freedom like
Idaho, Kentucky, Montana, or Wyoming . These various taxes and restrictive
laws weighed heavily when I developed my
ranking of 19 western states for their potential for relocation for those
that want
to be prepared for long term societal disruption. The recent paradigm shift
in Washington, however, may change that. It now appears that Federal gun
laws may become more draconian than the worst of the existing state laws. This
will make those state laws essentially a moot point. So how will this affect
my rankings? Depending on how things play out, this could push up the
rankings of Arkansas, California, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, and Washington.
I'd appreciate your comments on this issue.
Moving Offshore?
I plan to stick it out here
in
the States,
but for the sake of showing other points of view,
I'd also appreciate hearing from any American readers that have gone the
ex-pat route. Please let us know you reasoning in deciding to move offshore,
and a description of where you settled. Do you feel more of less free there?
How are the gun laws in your new country? Are they more or less restrictive
that in the US? Is registration required? Are the gun laws openly flaunted?
New Impetus to Buy Pre-1899 Guns
The other major fallout of the new Washington paradigm for gun owners is the
prospect of almost universal nationwide registration of firearms. Knowing that
registration is often a precursor to confiscation (as in Australia, Canada,
and the UK, for example), this could be a proverbial Very Bad Thing (VBT).
I predict that if nationwide gun registration is established, many Americans
will refuse
to comply with what they see as unconstitutional law. Then, much like in Finland and
Germany,
Greece, Italy, and Spain, rather than register their guns, owners
will simply hide huge numbers of them in elaborate wall or attic caches,
hidden rooms, and underground
caches.
(Not surprisingly, some of the highest rates of unregistered gun ownership
are in countries that were occupied by Germany during World War II, wand where
there has been a fear of occupation by other invading armies. (With
the reasoning being "Fool
me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.")
Massive
noncompliance with gun registration will lead to a predicament: If most guns
get buried somewhere,
then what
will people
use
on a regular
day-to-day
basis for target shooting, hunting, and self-defense? Certainly, some wealthy
owners might embark upon buying a "second set" of registered guns.
But this is prohibitively expensive for most of us.
I predict that many shooters will
begin "collecting" Federally-exempt cartridge guns that were made
in or before 1898. These guns have always been outside of Federal
jurisdiction, and the December 31, 1898 cut-off date has been set in stone
since the passage of
the Gun Control Act of 1968. Thankfully, Federal legislators consider pre-1899
guns a thoroughly obsolete non-issue, and they will likely be exempted in
any nationwide gun registration scheme. I predict that the prices of pre-1899
cartridge
guns
will
increase substantially in the next few years, regardless of changes in Federal
gun laws.
But if there is indeed a nationwide registration law and pre-1899 guns are
not included, their prices will likely quadruple or quintuple, practically
overnight. Keep in mind that there
is a very small, finite supply of these guns! Presently,
you can buy a Mauser rifle made in 1898 for just 20% to 30% more than one
made in
1899. But in just a few years, there might be a 5X difference! Plan
accordingly. For
details on pre-1899 guns and how to identify them, see The
Pre-1899 Antique Guns FAQ, that I authored.
County and City Divergence
In addition to the sharp differences at the state level, there is also the
issue of divergent county and city ordinances. For example, the state of Nevada
as a whole has fairly non-intrusive gun laws, but just Clark County (home to
the sprawling Las Vegas metroplex) has some absurd gun laws on the books. Residents
of states
without firearms law preemption laws share this predicament. I find
some of
the local
restrictions on full-capacity magazines particularly onerous, and
hard
to
keep track of. Here are some examples:
No magazines with a capacity over 12 rounds are allowed in Chicago, Illinois
No magazines with a capacity over 15 rounds are allowed in the state of New
Jersey, South Bend, Indiana, or Aurora; Illinois.
No magazines with a capacity over 20 rounds are allowed in the state of Maryland
(without a special permit),
Wichita,
Kansas,
or the City & County
of Denver Colorado
There are also some idiotic restrictions on sales of firearms ammunition at
the local level. For example, it is illegal to sell ammunition by mail order
(using common carriers such as UPS) to private parties in:
The city of Sacramento, California
Marin, Napa, Ventura,
and Yolo counties in
California
Cook County,
Illinois;
Alaska
Hawaii
The Chicago metropolitan area,
New York
City
New Jersey
Massachusetts
The District of Columbia
Puerto
Rico
APO or FPO (US m overseas) addresses
But state, county and city laws also provide a few
interesting loopholes. One well-known loophole was mentioned to
me by reader F.G., who forwarded this article link: Old
firearms given new life by restrictive New York
gun control laws. I'd be interested in hearing about others.
The flip-side to all this is state reservation of rights, wherein states effectively
thumb their noses at over-reaching Federal jurisdiction. A
recently-introduced bill in New Hampshire is a good example. (A hat tip
to SurvivalBlog reader Larry T. for that link.) Another example is HB
246, Montana's proposed "made in Montana" Federal firearms jurisdiction exemption
bill. I predict that if new Federal gun laws are enacted, many
more states will do their best to exempt themselves, citing the 10th Amendment
and the
Lopez decision. Some might even go so far as to start rumbling
about secession from the Union.
Keep the Change, Pal
It is difficult to predict how gun laws might change at the
Federal level in the next few years, and any broad implications thereof.
All that is certain is that the majority of the American
electorate consciously voted for change in the last election.
We may soon find that we are the recipients of more change than is comfortable.
« Odds 'n Sods: |Main| Letter Re: Lessons from the January Ice Storm »
Letter Re: Lost Tribe Bypassed by History: Ragtag Band of Khmer Families
James;
This is an old story but still interesting: Lost
tribe bypassed by history.
My [Cambodian] wife, who is in her thirties, still has some of these jungle/farming
skills. Her younger brothers and sisters who have lived in Phnom
Penh do not.
Most young people only know about Karaoke and mobile phones. Many of the under
15's think the Khmer Rouge is something their parents made up.
See:
Lost
tribe leaves the jungle for brave new world of mobiles.
Help runs out for the lost tribe of Cambodia
Slide
show: Lost tribe
I don't think most people want to copy their example. But their story does
illustrate that long term survival is possible for people with skills even
if they have little resources. Regards, - F.D.
« Letter Re: Mobs of Young Beggars on the Streets of Baghdad |Main| Notes from JWR: »
The Community Retreat, by Kathy Harrison
Establishing a retreat seems to be the dream of many survivalists but realistically,
evacuating to a retreat is not a proposition that is readily available to very
many. There are generally problems with finances as well as family commitments
to contend with. Many folks, like me, have spent years in establishing perennial
food plants, compost piles, garden plots, building small businesses and, most
importantly, forging important community ties that would not be easily broken.
Therefore, we would be well advised to explore how to approach ways to turn
our own residences into retreat communities.
The location of the community is of the utmost importance. Pulling off such
a feat off in a large city or an affluent suburb would be pretty difficult.
A small town in a rural location with a high proportion of families who already
raise food and livestock is your best bet. Such a town is likely to have a
well-developed sense of community, strong family ties and a faith-based community.
You will also likely find a diverse set of necessary skills. Such communities
are generally located in areas that have climates suitable to growing food
crops. Hunting is often a part of the local culture so firearms ownership is
not seen as a problem. It has been my experience that a large number of survival-minded
folks find themselves living in this kind of locality. The question then becomes, “how
do we locate like-minded families and establish a network of support, with
possibility of barter arrangements and the sharing of skills and tools in such
towns?”
We began by attending a film series a few years ago. Free showings of films
such as The End of Suburbia, King Corn and Life At The
End Of The Empire were
shown. Each film was followed by a discussion group. Setting up this kind of
series can happen at a library or house of worship. Out of this format, a core
group formed, all with the sense that life as we knew it was unlikely to be
sustainable for the long term and that we needed to take steps to prepare for
the eventual change. We began meeting on a monthly basis. We are a diverse
group; some more interested in the implications of Peak
Oil, some with financial
collapse. Others are the local growers of organic produce and the breeders
of heritage breed livestock. We have no membership list, no rules of order,
no dues and no criteria for coming to our monthly meetings. We do follow a
loose agenda to ensure that we get some work20accomplished but much of our
time together is devoted to chit chat about current topics and sharing ideas.
One of our most successful endeavors has been our "101" classes. This
is a series of free workshops devoted to helping people learn valuable skills
from others.
We have had classes in raising chickens, canning produce, cheese making, mushroom
propagation, herbal medicine, knitting and many other subjects. The object
is to make all of us less dependant and share skills that might otherwise be
lost.
Recognizing that energy shortages are likely, we set up a panel of people already
alternative sources of energy. This was remarkably well-attended and led to
a day long event where folks opened their homes to people who wanted to see
each system in operation. We saw underground homes, photovoltaic systems, solar
heat collectors, wind powered homes and a couple of places that had been off-grid
for years. The tour ended with a pot-luck soup and bread dinner.
We consider helping each other as a given. We have helped each other get
in our winter wood supply, can an abundance of bulk purchased chicken and
traded
off tools, vehicles and equipment. When my husband scored some very inexpensive
sap buckets, he bought enough for many other group members. When I found
myself overwhelmed with peaches, three of us processed 50 quarts in an
afternoon.
A couple of us are really interested in wild foods. Together we gathered
fox grapes and put up 20 gallons of juice, harvested and dried over 100
pounds
of wild mushrooms and canned 35 quarts of wild applesauce. We are still eating
the fiddleheads we froze last May. Out latest project is to take a firearms
safety course together.
When a major ice storm left our town without power for over a week, we saw
an opportunity to check our preparedness level and hone our skills. Many
of us were also able to provide help and provisions to those who were less
prepared
including the elderly in our small town.
We still have work to do. We realize that we are not as well prepared for
medical emergencies as we would wish so some members are researching becoming
EMTs
and First Responders for our local volunteer fire department. We also see
the wisdom in becoming more involved in our town government.
I know this is not the kind of preparedness one generally reads about on
sites such as this but I think for many, this is the most realistic. Should
the worst
happen, we will be prepared to ride it out with friends and neighbors,
bonded together with common purpose and presenting a united front. - Kathy
Harrison
« Handcuffed and Stuffed in a Car Trunk -- My Review of OnPoint Tactical's Urban Escape and Evasion Class, by Mr. Lima |Main| The Big Roller Coaster is Picking Up Speed »
Letter Re: Some Observations on Finland from a Finnish SurvivalBlog Reader
Dear Mr. Rawles,
I'm a long-time lurker of SurvivalBlog, but thought I'd pass on some links
of interest. For the record, I've read your novel ["Patriots"],
and I am coming from a "Peaknik" viewpoint.
But still have my original copy of "Life After Doomsday".
Currently I'm living in Finland, which has its pros and cons. "Russian
bombers over your home" is not a theoretical concept to Finns and they
don't grow enough food for themselves [for a self-sufficient economy.]. A Nordic
socialist government with high taxes and cost of living might not be of interest
to many SurvivalBlog readers, but at least I see where my money goes and feel
safer for my family should something happen to me. We won't talk about gun
control and no legal right to self-defense. However, the country is the third most heavily armed
civilian population in the world. Excluding the two school shootings the lack
of most violent crime I would attest to the social welfare system in the country
helping even out the worst of the differences. Study the causes of the nasty
Finnish Civil War of 1918 with how united the country was in WWII and you can
see why some of the social welfare system was instituted.
There's a large
number of illegal guns in the country, 50,000--500,000. These aren't just your old
hunting rifle, but include Maxim machine guns sealed behind a wall and mortar tubes in the basement. See the
Wikipedia page on weapons caches. (A stay-behind plan in case of Russian
occupation of the country. Note the explanation of why Finnish communists went from planning revolution to entering Parliament).
The Finnish government has spent a lot of time and effort towards building
resiliency into the country, fearing a repeat of WWII when they ended up fighting
both the Soviets and the Nazis. Since then they put a lot of effort
into building up food stocks and ensuring the country can survive on its own.
Bomb shelters are still part of the standard building code, though it's been
relaxed from buildings of 600m2 [floor] surface area to 1000m2, and the air-raid
sirens are still tested regularly. Military conscription is still practiced
here and overall widely supported by people as well as a strong reserve system. However recruits
these days are more likely to be out of shape and more attuned to working with
computers than the farm-bred youth of WWII.
Many Finns have their own cottages as they move from the farm didn't occur
that long ago. With the many lakes for water, cottages for shelter, wood for
fuel and more nature-orientation of the Finns I think they'd do fine overall
as a society in a TEOTWAWKI situation
presuming the government food supplies get the population through the first
winter. I was reading the government estimate
in a Finland-stands-alone situation is that they can feed everyone in Finland
with at least 2,800 calories per day, though you might be suicidal from the
blandness of the diet. (See the NESA web site). This is a bilingual country
with Finnish and Swedish, but they still translate many things into English).
Unfortunately, I don't know how much they took into account cuts in the fuel
supply for tractors, fertilizers and transportation. The winters can be harsh
and we're noticing climate change here leading to "black winters" that
are worse than "real" winters. The snow
and frost helps kill off bugs in the soil, provide extra insulation for buildings,
and reflects light so it's not so dark. Unfortunately, that's all disappearing.
Winds blow to the east for about nine months of the year. Unfortunately, Chernobyl
melted down during one of the [Spring] months [when] the winds blow from the
east and so nuclear fallout is also a concept that's been just theoretical
so far.
There's
some
mushrooms here you no longer want to eat. The Sosnovy Bor reactor that powers
St. Petersburg is the same model as Chernobyl and is far closer to the Finnish
border than one would like.
[Some topics previously discussed in SurvivalBlog snipped, for brevity.]
Lest we forget non-TEOTWAWKI scenarios, here's
a reminder of the world of US WWII rationing. I like the
various kids' books about disaster being published by various agencies. "Color your way through disaster!" could be their
motto. Still, it's a beginning.
May I also suggest some readers might be interested in the late John Seymour's
post-collapse novel "Retrieved from the Future". Seymour
is famous as a father of the back-to-the-land movement in Britain, publishing
two classics as "The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It" as
well as "Forgotten Arts and Crafts". Both are well illustrated
and have a wealth of information on how to do things as well as how things
used to be done. "Retrieved from the Future" is basically
a Peak Oil novel written twelve years ago and set in Britain. As befits a self-sufficiency
guru he pays a lot of attention to how high-energy farming fails to keep going
as oil, fertilizer and spare parts go away while also discussing the rebirth
of older forms of agricultural. The Golden
Horde makes its visit and is deflected,
but not the British Army when it comes time to requisition food for the cities
and seize the few weapons British civilians have. Basically a solid British
perspective on what would happen during a collapse.
As some readers have expressed interest in the new film "Defiance" I
might also suggest trying to get hold of a
Soviet film from 1987 called "Come
and See". Essentially a film about partisans in Byelorussia during WWII, the depiction of the village
being destroyed came to my mind several times while I was reading your book
"Patriots".
Regards, - Simo H. in Finland
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Letter Re: The Sad State of Private Firearms Ownership in Australia
Jim:
I'm a SurvivalBlog
reader in Australia. I want to describe the current situation for Australian
gun owners, but first a bit of background information is needed
to compare then and now: I
grew
up
in
Australia
in the
1960s. My parents came here in the 1950s from a war torn Europe to have
a better life here in a climate away from the cold and starving masses in Europe
after
the war,
the so called “gun culture” in Australia was very free then, you
could go on public transport with a 22 rifle tucked under your arm after a
days shooting on the range or from shooting rabbits on many small acres dotted
around
the big cities, no one accosted you or thought anything about it, people chatted
to you and asked how the says hunt went.
Driving through country areas was an experience! lot’s of people had
gun racks in their back window of their pick-ups, and it was common to go out
and
bag 50 or 60 rabbits in a young boys lazy afternoon.
I grew up being the proud owner of a Remington 22 pump action at 13, and have
owned many guns over the years, to have a license then was a mere formality
and paying a small fee, up till 1998 in Australia you could legally own pump
actions,
semi autos and lever guns of all types, AR-15s and FN-FALs were
very common along with AK copies, SKSes, etc.
That has all gone and an entire era has disappeared. Today in Australia, you
pay a fee of AUS$200 for three years, then pay a another $30 to transfer
a firearm to your name before you buy one you like, the ammo must be stored
away
from the gun and you must have a approved steel safe suitably bolted to a brick
or concrete floor/wall, now you must have the police inspect your beloved new
toy and of course its registered!, also you must have the ammunition pertaining
only to the guns you have in your safe, heaven help you if its different from
your guns.
The Police have the authority to randomly inspect your car while out on a hunting
trip and often can and do searches of your vehicle to or from a hunting area,
needless to say semi-autos are verboten! And our own version of Handgun Control,
Inc (Yes we have those fools here too !) constantly screech about the “gun
culture” in
the US, (I lived in the USA for several years and thoroughly enjoyed my time
there and most enjoyed the freedom to carry a handgun there. And I understand
if it was not for the American servicemen we would be speaking Japanese, that
must always be remembered ).
Australia is not what it once was, now it’s a benign dictatorship. (Those
are harsh words but true never the less ) Both the main parties support the
strict system
we have, in truth real freedom to possess firearms for self defense purposes
has never occurred,. The Police here have all the best equipment, the unlimited
budgets and power and backing of the state, there really isn’t much difference
between the thugs of Nazi Germany and now. Did you know Australia has one of
the highest rates of home invasion in the western world ? (It ranks about
5th or 6th )
Now the precursor for all the anti-gun push was supposedly a man called Martin
Bryant who many claim shot and killed 35 people.
"No action can really be understood apart from motive which prompted it." Arthur
Schopenhauer. 1851.
For the record, Martin Bryant never had a trial by jury, he received a pre-sentencing
hearing and all files pertaining to his case have been locked up under an act
of secrecy for 30+ years. Now I ask are they the actions of open and honest
Government? Jim, in my mind there is no question that this was deliberately
foisted on the Australian people to facilitate disarmament, Australia today
is a poorer
place,
both morally, spiritually and physically. To own a rifle today will set you
back quite a large sum of money and the costs are onerous, for example to
buy common 22 [rimfire] ammunition will set you back AUS$700 for 5,000 rounds!
and the
costs keep going up (never down ) woe to you if you shoot and intruder in
your home, all the onus is on you to prove your innocence, in all probability
you will lose all you own to get a win in the courts.
I subscribe to what
the US Constitution stated. The Founding Fathers envisioned a
peaceful country without foreign involvement or even a standing army, so
the Constitution states that appropriations for
the army can't exceed two years (Article I, Section 8). Alas, our Constitution
has been ineffective in curbing the war racket. Unfortunately, the US seems
to be heading toward monarchy. No standing armies for Australia or the USA…….my
country is involved in two wars now, Australia has no place in Iraq or Afghanistan,
period end
of story! I will protect my family, my wife, my children, but not foreign
interests
or oil politics. To that end I prepare my family
By the way I want to state as a born again fundamentalist Christian, I see
firearms as a God given right and most definitely not a “sport”.
Since
when is owning a gun [to defend life and liberty] a sport? If it’s a
sport it can be legalized away (which is exactly what has happened in this
country),
there
were over
1 million firearms owners in this country, but you know something? no one voted
the lying self serving politicians out over the issue!
On a final note, I would have to say that if there is in the US about 360,000
people in the survivalist movement, over here the number can be counted in
as few as 20,000, a tiny number, even fewer in the Christian circles I travel
in , I find that saddening as most Christians here as anti gun and handgun
inc, we are marching to abyss , but I for one wont go down without doing my
bit to prepare my family for what’s ahead. Regards - Alan C.
« Odds 'n Sods: |Main| Letter Re: Looking at Preparedness as a Challenge »
Letter Re: Way Points for G.O.O.D. Routes?
Jim:
The gentleman that wrote
to say that he wants to rent his property out for bugout situations should
read the [first hand] observations posted on [the aftermath
of Hurricane]
Katrina. [This was written by someone that sheltered dozens of people]: Thoughts
On Disaster Survival. Regards, - Bill N.
« Letter Re: Do-It-Yourself FIFO Canned Food Storage Bins--Made From Cardboard |Main| Note from JWR: »
Letter Re: Way Points for G.O.O.D. Routes?
James,
I finally have my bugout location found and purchased. Plan to start building
a small home there later this year. Cabin first, house will wait till I see
how the economy runs. On the east coast, as I have family here and really don't
want to leave this area. I am outside a small town, on a dirt road off a local
rural highway. I have near nine acres of woods and one acre of pasture (garden
and orchard) space. One acre of the land is separated from the rest by a four
foot wide surface creek. It has a nice cleared area I plan to develop into
a picnic area at the creek. The majority of the land is heavily wooded.
I am considering offering the space as an overnight primitive camping stop
for bugout travelers. One night to one week maximum. You know, rest up and
recoup or reunite with stragglers while en route. Good idea or no?
How should I let fellow survivalists know about the location? I would have
to meet traveler in some nearby town to get to know before showing them the
location,
for personal security.
Or should I hole up on my land and let everyone else fend for themselves? Your
thoughts are appreciated, either as an e-mail or a post on your blog. Thanks,
- S. in Alabama
JWR Replies: I can foresee a few potential problems with
your plan:
First: Vetting someone for suitability and trustworthiness for such an arrangement
is time consuming. Unless you could properly vet someone before they
were told the exact location of your retreat, then it would be a huge OPSEC risk.
Worst case: Your retreat ends up on some outlaw motorcycle
gang's "shopping list."
Second: If anyone asks if they can cache supplies at your retreat,
there could be legal implications, especially if they are less than honest
about what they are
burying on your property. (I've heard a couple of horror stories from consulting
clients about the antics of some their erstwhile "friends" that turned out
to be flakes or criminals.)
Third: In times of Deep Drama, it might be difficult to persuade "stay-overs" to
abide by their contractual obligation to move on. (I can just hear the whining:
"But I'm
sick with the flu". or, "But my wife has a badly sprained ankle and can't walk...",
or, "I'm not leaving until my brother arrives. We're supposed to meet-up
here.")
Fourth: "Signing-up" a large number of stay-overs is an egregious violation
of the "need to know" rule. Each person that is told about the retreat location
represents one more person that could get careless and blather or boast of
it to friends. Repeat that risk 20 or 30 rimes, and sure enough, on TEOTWAWKI+
1 or TEOTWAWKI+2 you'll wake up in the morning to find that a hundred tents
have sprouted in your pasture, most of which will be occupied by newcomers
that
you know nothing about.
(This factor, BTW, is why The
Memsahib and I have taken some extreme measures
in
guarding the location of our year-round retreat.)
In summation, I think that such an arrangement is more trouble than it is
worth. To do it right would requite plenty of vetting. And if you are going
to that much trouble, then it might as well be to approve someone
that will be a full-fledged member of your retreat group.
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Letter Re: Recommendation for the Movie "Defiance"
Hello Mr Rawles,
Just a quick comment on the
new movie that's out called "Defiance".
It is rated
R since it has killing and some cursing but is based on a true story about
three Jewish brothers [named Bielski] who lived in Byelorussia at the start
of WWII when the Germans [and their Quisling allies] began to round up and
murder entire villages and communities of Jews.
They decided to live in the woods that they knew so well and escape and resist
the Germans...They met others who had escaped to the woods to hide and began
to pool their talents and pick off soldiers and arm themselves and live off
the land and ended up living in the woods on the run for over two years and
ended up over 1,200 strong. Their will to survive and methods of survival
against well armed troops was incredible. They started out with a revolver
and four cartridges
and began to accumulate different types of weapons to fight back. Some scenes
show them trying to defend themselves with old bolt actions against machine
guns till eventually they began to use all [the small arms] that the Germans
had available, as well. The movie excelled in contrasting the different mindsets
that were
common among the people of the day that caused many to sit idly by and be
rounded
up or shot on sight and many to be able to run and hide and fight. I think
many SurvivalBlog readers would want to see this movie and would marvel at
what humans are capable of--both positively and negatively. Thanks, - Ross
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Lessons from Peru on Third World Living, by Tantalum Tom
I hope this can be useful to people who want a perspective into the Third
World way of life. I recently had the chance to interview two people from Peru.
One is a man who grew up in the Andes with no electricity, dirt floors, etc.
who worked his
way to becoming a geography and history teacher. The other is a former Peruvian
Special Forces soldier of 15 years. My mother in law's input is also dispersed
throughout this article. Although I have little respect for modern reporters,
I found out how difficult it can be to interview someone.
When I first started probing into the Peruvian way of life, I was shown a series
of photos, They were of the Geography teacher's family making cheese, so I
will start with that.
In the true Latino way, after I had asked him many times to get a copy of the
photos so I could post them, and many affirmative responses, he never sent
them. He said yes to my face so he wouldn't offend me by saying “no.” I'm
not offended, I can see why he wouldn't want 178,000 people looking at them,
and I know its the Latino way. This is definitely a cultural difference. I've
seen
this occurrence hundreds of times. The first picture was his brother
squatting (no stool) next to a cow milking it. The cow's hind legs were tied
together so it wouldn't kick. No stall. This
was in the open. He was wearing Yanqii rubber “tire tread” cut
mining belt sandals.
Cheese is made every single day. There is no refrigeration for the milk available.
This is how he explained to me the cheese making process. I am not a cheese
maker, so I don't know the accepted modern way to do this. In fact, neither
does this mans family. They just know their way that they've used for the last
five centuries or more, and it works. It makes what they call “queso
fresco” or
fresh cheese. I know of no American supermarket version except in heavily Latino
areas.
The daily labor of cheese making, not including the milking, is about a half
an hour.
The first thing that is done, is the coagulant needs to be prepared. This is
not included in the half-hour, as it is something that is already set up and
renewed easily each day.
These mountain people take a pigs stomach, wash it, sew up one end, then stuff
with green banana peel, cut up limes, and some kind of leaf he doesn't know
the name of, until it is big and round. The empty spaces between the solid
ingredients are filled with the whey from the last cheese they made, or water
to start a new batch. The other end of the stomach is sewn up, and they smoke
it above their crude indoor fire pit for 7 months. When it is really reeallllyyyy
sour, it is ready. Every time they remove some, they replace it with whey.
Rennet
is what is being extracted from the pig stomach. Slowly these people are switching
to rennet pills, so this
way is being lost. The imported German pills come from a pharmacy where you
can buy anything you can afford, antibiotics, hypodermic drugs & needles,
etc. with little restriction.
They take some of this mixture ( I believe about 1/2 to 1 cup) and mix it with
their milk in a plastic bucket. It looked like a two gallon bucket. I noticed
that one of the buckets formerly contained latex paint. Buckets are extremely
useful with innumerable uses. They pay about three dollars for a used bucket.
(that's a lot for subsistence
farmers) About 15 minutes later,
the milk has solidified. It is broken up with their hands into small chunks,
then patted down to the bottom gently. The whey stays on top. It can be saved
to drink, but usually discarded after refilling the pig stomach. After the
whey is discarded, the remains are placed in a deep tray and broken up again
by hand until it is soft small balls, salt is added during this step. Next
it is stuffed into a mold for a few days, then smoked over their cooking fire
to dry and cure for a few more days. Cheese made like this, according to one
who lived it, is good for at least six months with no refrigeration.
In the village, the people are extraordinarily tight knit. They are as unified
as unified can be. Everyone knows everyone. I estimate it was a community of
about 200. Everyone helps who needs it. If you need a house built, just stake
out an area, and make some food! It will be up in a few days. Building codes?
Huh? The roofs are covered with a fiber-cement corrugated sheeting. He was
very proud to have it. It must be better than tiles. (Tiles are so old fashioned)
Nobody will hurt you anywhere in town. His anecdote was “If you'd just
had a drink, and wanted to take a nap, you could just lay down anywhere and
nobody would bother you.” People there are honest and trustworthy. The
very unfortunate part is that the youth are loosing their values and morals.
I personally attribute this to the television that infected his community 13
years ago.
In his tiny town there was no electricity until 13 years ago. It is hydroelectric.
He claims it is extremely clean. He said gas driven generators are nearly non-existent
(maybe at some mines or other large industrial complex) Photovoltaic is extremely
rare. How can we expect the poorest to use the most expensive (per watt hour)
electricity generating technology? Even the western world has trouble affording
it! The electricity powers street lights--I counted seven--indoor lights,
and televisions.
I was told that quite often people have their guinea pig farms indoors, in their
living/cooking/eating quarters with its accompanying filth. They have public
outhouses. They dig their pits about 4m deep. This place is blessed with a source
of clean water. They have water from a fresh spring across a small valley and
up a hill. No pump is needed to get the water to the public spring head, all
gravity. If it wasn't for their spring, they'd be boiling everything. According
to this man, and a couple other people, a populace can become accustomed to fetid
horrible water, and not get sick. They say a daily occurrence is to see simultaneous
deification, dead animals (probably including human), clothes washing, bathing
and drinking all in the same river! Yuck! I don't know their definition of “sick” though.
Strange though as this is, I find it more odd that they only drink bottled water
here in New Jersey, because the “pipes aren't safe” to them.
They grow all their own produce. Anything left is donkey driven to the nearest
town up to three days travel away. Natural is normal there. You either get your
food
from
your own garden, or at an open air farmers market in your town. Most farming
is manual.
Big farms as well as small. Horses and cows will plow, but there aren't any/many
horse drawn machines. Lots of different sized shovels and hoes are used. Mechanization
with tractors is only near cities. Nearly everything is produced locally and
consumed locally. According to this one source, he believes that more is produced
by hand and locally than mechanized and transported. I tend to agree, given everything
I've heard also. Flies are natural too, right? They crawl all over, and people
don't have screens on their windows or doors. Ignorance is quite prevalent. Not
stupidity though, that's different.
This man clearly stated that if there ever were some collapse, his city of
birth
would be absolutely fine, and wouldn't even notice the difference.
I showed him how to get a copy of the book “Where There is No Doctor” he
was excited and will send one to his village health worker. I also steered him
to
the Third World
Reference Library web site, but alas, we found it is mostly in
a
foreign language to him. He did note that some of the Spanish language literature
was
published by his alma mater. He had one eye that
opened farther than the other... He has been through a lot.
Horrible inflation lasted 2-3 years before
the currency changed twice. People starved to death. More and more money available,
prices climbing daily. People
hoarded commodities for days to weeks speculating to get a higher price. Logic
aside, that is what happened. People who paid for round trip passage somewhere
were denied the return trip, it had become too expensive. Oops, stuck.
If you think water-boarding is torture, listen up. Peru had internal terrorists,
they have been extinct for many years. The Terrorists would cut down power
poles, block roads, kill and create, well, terror. The terrorists
wanted a socialistic government. Both the geography teacher and the special
forces soldier understand that socialism has been tried many times and in many
countries,
and it doesn't work. The Peruvian Army and Fuerza
de Operaciones Especiales (FOES) special forces would fight them. They would also retrieve information
from the enemy in creative ways,
for example, they would have a person stretched out tied to a pole, laying
horizontal,
suspended some distance above the ground, slowly rotating over a fire until
they decided they would part with sensitive information, etc. They would also
kill
anyone and everyone associated with, including family, friends and acquaintances
of known terrorists. It worked. They had been dormant for a long time. They
may be on the rise again though. (not sure) Peru is also still dealing with
this
extremely high collateral damage, and I'm not sure if it continues today.
I can find next to nothing about the FOES online, even on Peruvian Google,
except the Youtube videos he showed me. Look up in YouTube “Comandos
Peruanos” and “FOES
Peruano” if interested in more. To be in the FOES, one had to show their
valor. They showed it by ripping open live dogs and eating their hearts and
livers raw/living. Hand-grenade hot-potato is a popular party game. Having
someone shoot
a machine gun between you and your comrade too. They are trained in martial
arts, knife fighting, etc. I know my cousin, a SEAL,
told me that they only use their
knifes to open MREs.
This Peruvian guy used them for much, much more. (My cousin also told me that
push ups cannot be made into an aerobic activity,
I figured
he'd done enough to know, so I had asked him. “We're still human,” he
said.)
Yeah, that ain't Politically Correct, as my friend Karl would say.
This person also worked for private security firm. He laid out to me how their
system worked. Sorry, but all the titles are in Spanish so when I translate
them, they will sound weird.
The first guy is called “gerente de recursos huamnos” or
Human Resources director.
He's in charge of the whole company.
Next they have one “Jefe de Seguridad” Security Leader.
He's in charge of everything security.
Below him are “Inspectores de Seguridad” Security inspectors.
These people have a zone they are responsible for, and they dispatch and are
in charge of their “vigilantes de seguridad” Security guards.
The security guards have a “full ration of weapons and ammunition”.
They are not allowed full power arms. Short barrel semi-auto hand guns and
shot guns. I'm not sure If they also water down the powder charge or not, but
they
can not have full powered military style weapons. Again, this is private security,
so people pay for these services. There is lots of shooting going on by these
guys. Rich people have electronic security systems linked to these “vigilantes.” Electric
fences and walls topped with electrified wires are good deterrents. The voltage
and amperage varies on your preference in cooked flesh: Zapped, Shocked, Lethal
or Char. Broken glass topped compound walls seem to be a worldwide safety
measure. Bars across doors are normal.
The official police are part of the delinquent gangs congregating on the corners.
The police beat people and abuse them other ways.
Taxes in Peru.
This is confirmed with at least three sources of small businesses.
If you earn $1,000 in your business, you pay $20 taxes. (2%!) Wages are not
taxed.
Low low property taxes.
Everything in Peru is repaired many times before it is replaced. A guy with
two lathes and a mill can make it quite well re-boring motorcycle cylinders.
A new
car there costs a lot more than repairing everything and painting
and upholstering. Like $1,000 to refurbish a car, versus $15,000 new! If the
part
isn't
available at a store,
you go and get it made. This applies to industrial machinery, commercial, everything.
He gets it that its the system here [in the US] that prohibits the refurbishing
of anything.
If you own land, but do not develop it, the extra poor will come and squat
on it. They will build their shanty towns out of woven palm-like leaves into
walls,
and fill up your space. If someday you get tired of it, and want to get rid
of them, just call the police and they'll burn it down and drive the people
away. They'll come back, and you'll burn it down again, until one side gives
up.
The military also corrupt. This guy was ordered to remove thousands of
bullets from their casings and to sell the brass for some commander. In fact,
when the
military was in charge of the whole country, it was openly corrupt, and unstable.
This is the cause of Peru's continued Third World status. Government corruption
and instability. They have plenty of natural resources, oil and minerals, gold,
et cetera. This man told me “we take it out of the ground, and form it
into rough ingots, then send it somewhere where they know what to do with it.” So
they could have a fully functioning economy, but they don't.
I wish I knew what to do to keep that from happening here. Nobody has any (legal)
answers as for what to do, besides get ready and get far far away.
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Survival Gardening: Growing Food During A Second Great Depression, by H.I.C.
By God’s grace I was born and raised on a small family farm. During the
1960s and 1970s we were trying to pay off a 340 acre corn and soybean farm
in northwestern Iowa and we were flat stinking broke. So we raised nearly all
of the food
to
support our family. This required a large garden (80ft x 120 ft), an even larger
truck patch (48 ft x 1,200 ft), a small fruit orchard (12 trees), livestock
(caves, sheep, hogs, and 300 laying hens).
With some of the best and most productive farm land in the entire world, with
better than 30 inches of precipitation, 165 frost free days, real farm tractors,
planters, and cultivation equipment it took us 20 ac to feed six people. That
breaks down
to a 1/2 acre garden, 1 acre truck [farming] patch, 8 acre pasture, and 10
acres for hay ground and animal
feed.
My point for you non-farmers out there, is that you are not going to feed yourself
with a Mantis tiller and 1,000 square feet of sandy dirt that requires you
to pump endless ground water irrigation just to keep your crops alive. If you
committed
enough
to surviving that you purchase over 20 firearms and 20,000 rounds of ammo (a
good start) I am suggesting that you need to consider a similar commitment
to growing food.
I do not discount the importance of purchasing and storing up bulk staples,
dried grain, canned goods, and freeze dried entrees, I have them as well. But
I am telling you straight out that if the economy tanks anything like the 1930s,
and I think it will last longer, you are going to run out of grub mighty early.
Now everyone has different skills, resources, and family commitments, but
let's consider some of the basic requirements for growing food:
Yearly precipitation
Up to a point, more is better. You typically need 12 inches to grow grass,
20 inches to grow trees, and 30 inches to grow corn. If you want to raise
a really big garden without irrigation you need about 8 inches per month
through
out the primary growing season (May-June-July-Aug). Except for a few areas
defined as microclimates I recommend that you consider living east of the
dry line (100th meridian, i.e. Wichita, Kansas). Rainfall beyond 12 inches
per month
or 48 inches total will only make it harder to control the weeds and bugs.
A maximum of 48 inches leaves out Louisiana, Florida, and the Coastal areas
of the deep south A good source of local area climate data is City-Data.com.
Frost free
growing season.
See these
maps at the NOAA web site. Anything less than 120 days severely limits
what you can grow. Remember that the folks scratching a living from the
Dakotas, Eastern Montana, and
most
of the Rocky Mountain States are not multi crop farmers, they are either
ranchers
or specialist who grow crops like hard winter wheat. Any climate with between
165 to 240 days is about perfect. This translates into south of the Dakotas
and North of Dallas, Texas. This is enough of a growing season for row
crops and all vegetables and allow a little wiggle room for getting every
thing planted
on time. In the south
you will be able to plant every thing directly in the garden, on the northern
edge
you will be starting many of your plants in a greenhouse. That said, starting
plants in a green house gives them an important jump start on weeds and bugs.
You should plan on one.
Microclimates
While I suggest that you should consider living in the mid-southern region
of the short grass prairie, there are a number of smaller areas that provide
the
basic conditions for productive farming. I suggest some fine areas such and
La Grande Oregon, Rathdrum, Idaho, Montrose, Colorado, where the local rainfall
and warmer
winters make favorable microclimates. The easiest method of evaluating an
area in the arid
west is to look for big commercial fruit orchards. If it grows both apples
and peaches the temperature extremes will be acceptable and if you can grow
fruit
without pumping ground water they must get enough rain. The reason that I
concentrate so heavily on living in an area with rainfall is that I anticipate
that no
matter what the trigger event (WMD terror
strike, economic crisis, destructive natural
event) we will not have enough electrical power or fuels to pump large volumes
of ground water for a really long time.
Soil productivity
Black, gray, brown, and even red soil is fine as long it is loam. This means
that it has organic particles (composted twigs, leaves, wood, bark, and stems)
to help hold the moisture and feed the worms, bugs, and microbes that make soil
really productive. Sand and gravel are fine structure but if you don’t
have the worms, bugs, and microbes to aerate the soil and fix atmospheric nitrogen
for the plants roots you will have to do this mechanically and ultimately you
will have to add nitrogen fertilizer. [JWR Adds: It is wise
to have the soil tested before making an offer on a retreat property. Soil testing
is usually available
at colleges and universities that have agriculture programs. You can also contact
your
local
NRCS
office
or USDA Extension
Office, and they can. provide information on soil testing
labs in your region.
Equipment
My whole family might be able to plant and cultivate 1/2 acre without equipment.
But I don’t plan to find out. For my own use I bought a 25 hp diesel
tractor and basic tillage, planting, and cultivating attachments. I also bought
an
old Ford 8N plus 4 attachments for under $2,000. A small tractor should only
burn
20 gallons per year tending a small garden and truck patch. Gas and diesel
may still be available
during a deep depression, it may even be cheaper, but I have 500 gal of stabilized
diesel in a farm tank.
Seeds, Fertilizer, Weed & Pest Control, and Livestock
Most folks have heard about Heirloom seeds. Plant varieties that will reseed
themselves true year after year. But just as important, livestock will allow
you continued farming success without access to petroleum based fertilizer,
weed, and pest control. I use a wheel hoe in the garden and a tractor mounted
cultivator
in the truck patch to kill weeds, but I would rather use sheep, goats, and
poultry to eat the seedling trees and weeds when I can. Livestock manure is
the ultimate
fertilizer and Poultry, particularly ducks, geese, and guinea hens will help
control the bugs and deliver the fertilizer at the same time. Personally, I
can not imagine trying to control weeds and bugs without my livestock.
Fences, Shelters, Ponds, and Trees
These are some common land improvements that are best built and planted before
the crunch. [With most common soils] an agricultural pond will not efficiently
seal and hold water for 2-3 years, fruit trees take 3-5 years to bear fruit
heavily,
and
my Pecan
grove
will likely
take 10 years if the deer and bugs will just leave it alone for a while. Building
these improvements is really not difficult unless you try to do it yourself
without power tools. I suggest that you build them now so you can borrow or
rent tractors
with PTO augers,
bulldozers, backhoes, cement mixers as needed.
Academic Classes and the Extension Service
Many community colleges and land grant university extension services offer
free information and classes to teach you to raise gardens, fruit, and livestock,
and how to store your produce using a home canner. I took a great class titled “backyard
food raising”. The skills needed to raise and store food are a lot like
the skill to shoot a gun or reload ammunition. You can’t just read about
it, you learn by doing.
Practice
Growing a garden is not like riding a bike. It is different for each area and
the weeds and bugs are scheming right now to eat you out of house and home.
I suggest that you start now and learn each new plant, animal, and pest while
you
can still buy food at the grocery store. While you can grow a lot the first
year, my experience is that it will take 3 years practice before you are confident
and fully successful
.
Some Useful References:
Homesteading, Gene Logsdon, 1973 Rodale Press
Basic Country Skills, Storey, 1999, Storey Publishing
Emergency Preparedness and Survival-Section 3, Jackie Clay, 2003, Backwoods
Home Magazine
Organic Orcharding, Gene Logsdon, 1981, Rodale Press
Introduction to Horticulture, Shry, Reiley, 2007, Thompson Delmar Learning
Backyard Fruits and Berries, Miranda Smith, 1994 Quarto Publishing
Animal Science, Ensminger, 1991, Interstate Publishers Inc.
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Letter Re: New "Defiance" Resistance Warfare Movie
Hi;
I have learned a great deal from your site and recommend it to my customers (I
sell preparedness books).
There is a movie being released on January 16th called Defiance. You
can go to the movie web site to get a several minute long previews.
This is a movie on the Polish Partisans, or resistance forces that fought against
the Nazis in World War II. My dentist escaped from communist Poland and told
me that her grandfather was a Partisan leader. I have done was research I could
to learn about her grandfather and the resistance forces. Basically, as this
movie will "teach", they moved great numbers of Jews into the forests
and built underground houses, shops, entire villages. They conducted guerrilla
warfare against the Germans while protecting the young and old from capture.
I have meant to contact you about this basic idea as a tie in to this scenario
in your book. If people were to prepare positions in advance, build more permanent
structures equipped with a small wood stove, well, septic, supplies, the odds
of survival would drastically increase. But we can learn from what has already
been done. And they did this with minimal weapons, and those, when available,
were a few pistols and bolt action rifles. Compare this to what we have available
and already in our hands today. Keep up the good work. - Don in Ohio
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Letter Re: Choosing Between Roughly Comparable Retreat Locations
Jim.
To follow up on your response E.G. in the southeast who has such good
neighbors. This reminds me of the small town in Maine where I grew up. Back
in the day[s of early pioneer settlement].
this community, like so many agricultural ones in the region, hosted homesteads
that were spread out much like E.G.'s friends in the southeast. At the time,
raids by indian parties were the norm as relations fluctuated between harmonious
and
deadly.
As it was more than obvious that a homestead family alone could never hope
to hold out against a band of forty warriors bent on pillage, the community
made provision for the common defense by picking a good piece of ground and
building a blockhouse on it. This was stocked with arms, ammunition and provisions
and maintained for the common defense and place of refuge. This system became
the norm in the region and low and behold, the raids eventually stopped because
the bands started bouncing off one block-housed community after another,
and paying the price for it.
Jim's sage advice along this line is not only spot on (as always) but also
has deep American roots; individual people who work their lives as sovereign
individuals but who in times of danger come together to form a cohesive group
capable of protecting the whole...and having the pre-positioned goods and
SOPs in
place to make it happen.- Mosby
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Life On the Road Presents Preparedness Dilemmas, by Wandering Will
As I sit in the front seat of my motorhome looking out at the beautiful hanging
Spanish moss, feel the warm breezes and know that all I have to do for breakfast
is walk five feet and pluck a fresh grapefruit from the tree beside my campsite,
I once again know how blessed I am. However, as idyllic and normal as the situation
appears, I know full well that it can all come crashing down at a moments notice.
I have always been a preparedness freak to some extent and even finished up
my career as an emergency management specialist for a large defense contractor.
The majority of my friends and family snickered as I prepped up for Y2K. In
spite of the jokes, labels and general disdain of the sheep, over the years
I managed to keep a good supply of food and equipment and tried to update my
skills on a regular basis. As retirement approached, my wife and I decided
we wanted to join the ranks of what are know as “full-timers”.
These are people who live in their recreational vehicles full time and travel
the country. Many like us have no permanent home or base. The regular logistical
problems associated with life on the road are fairly easily solved by solutions
such as mail forwarding services and electronic banking and bill paying. What
keeps me up at night is how to maintain a suitable level of preparedness in
less than three hundred square feet of rolling, living space. What I am presenting
are solutions or at least partial solutions that I have adopted to meet my
needs, obviously all situations are different and I advise readers to explore
many options. Although far from complete, here are some of the preps I have
made.
The Plan:
First and foremost, you must have a plan, and I don’t mean just an idea
in your head of how you will react in certain situations I mean a written plan.
Write it down, print it out, you don’t want to be trying to boot up the
computer during an emergency. Next, practice the plan. Nothing wrecks great
theories faster than actual application. Revise your plan and keep on revising
it till it is workable. The evacuation phase of my particular plan envisions
three different scenarios for leaving a location. In the motorhome, in the
small vehicle we tow, and on foot. With each scenario, I list which equipment
will be taken with us, this eliminates the need to try and decide once the
emergency commences. As Mr. Rawles so aptly puts it “two is one, and
one is none” so
we do keep some redundant gear. In the tow car are two, ready-to-go backpacks,
and any time we are in the car there are a minimum of two weapons. This way
in case we return from a day trip and find our motor home non operable, we
are able to egress with at least a minimum amount of supplies.
Supplies:
Living in a Recreational Vehicle (RV) you are constrained not only by space
but also weight, each unit has a designated cargo capacity and it is not wise
to
exceed
it.
Therefore,
storing large quantities of food and water is out of the question. In order
to get the best bang for our capacity buck, we keep a good supply of staples
such as rice and beans, dried soup mixes, and of course a few MREs. As for
water, my particular RV has a 70-gallon tank which can last a very long time
if you adhere to wise water use. Of particular concern is the fact that many
manufacturers are now producing RVs with no way to gravity fill the tank (with
that kind of intelligent thinking they should run for Congress). Additionally,
I have found that many water spigots in national parks and other areas do not
have any threads on the pipe making it impossible to hook up a hose and fill
your unit. One way around this is a device call a water thief which hooks on
to the spigot and provides the threaded surface necessary for a hose connection.
This device can be found at most RV suppliers and should be considered mandatory
equipment. In the event that we run out of supplies, we keep a fair amount
of cash on hand because credit cards become useless when trying to bargain
with the local farmer or you need repairs in a small town.
Defense:
A couple of the rather large vulnerabilities of a motorhome are fuel consumption
and maneuverability. Rolling houses are not the best option for circumventing
roadblocks or out running cars filled with those people intent on relieving
you of your possessions and/or your life. One lesson we learned the hard way.
Once, after refusing to fill up at a gas station in Texas because it was obvious
they were running a “bait and switch” on the posted price, I drove
off defiantly only to find out it was the last station for 126 miles. When
we arrived in the next small town running on fumes, we were forced to buy gas
at $4.35 a gallon. Lesson learned: never drive with less than a half a tank
and we make it a point to fill up before we stop to camp for a while. A full
tank will hopefully be enough to get us out of the immediate danger zone if
evacuation is required. As for armament, I pared down my choices to a shot
gun and a battle rifle chambered for .223 Remington]. This, with a couple
of hand guns round out our supply. When choosing your weapons for the road,
be
sure
to consider
where you will be going as you may be illegal in some states depending on what
you are carrying. Again, with space and weight limits, a large amount of ammunition
is out of the question, so the “spray and pray” philosophy is not
an option nor should it ever be. To our benefit, my wife and I both have extensive
weapons training and the mindset that we will protect ourselves.
As I said before, these are only a few of the problems we are working on. The
bottom line is we love our lifestyle and enjoy seeing different parts of the
country. The reality is we know what is coming and will probably have to give
up our mobile lifestyle in the near future in order to find a relatively secure
retreat location. We will not be starting from scratch as we already have most
of our equipment and food in storage and will simply move it to our new location.
Of course, the most important question is, “When do you head for the
fort?” I don’t think anyone can answer that so we will continue
to monitor the news, pray for guidance, and trust the Lord to get us there
in time.
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Letter Re: Choosing Between Roughly Comparable Retreat Locations
Dear Jim,
Thank you for the web site, it has been a great source of info. I first read
your novel ["Patriots:
Surviving the Coming Collapse"] in the 4th quarter of 1999. It
was very helpful for preparedness for Y2K.
I read it again 1st quarter 2008
and
am
now re-reading
with the high lighter
and pen.
For the folks who have not read your book, they are missing one of the best preparedness
manuals out there.
I have never been a Boy Scout, but my personal creed has always been to
be prepared. If you have any skills at all, then there is nothing worse then
being in a situation and not having the "stuff" to resolve your problem.
If you are mechanical, then you need to have some basic tools with you, etc.
etc. People who do not know how to use something don't see the need to have it.
It's like caring a gun, people think it's extreme or crazy to carry it, but I
ask do they have a cell phone? Why? because they may "need" it, well
better to have it and not need it then to need it and not have it. Pretty basic
stuff huh?
After reading your novel, I realized how unprepared I and my family were,
as well as how vulnerable we were in the location we lived. I was born and
raised in the Northeast.
A few years ago, we moved to the Southeast, to the "area" you recommended
to another blog reader last month as one of the places to go to this side of
the Mississippi
if you couldn't go further West.
Prior to moving, compared to my neighbors and guys at church, I would have
been labeled pretty handy, can fix and paint cars, gas and arc weld, build,
etc. After getting to know the boys down here, they all can do this stuff, most
of
the fellows from church have built their own homes, can do car repair, lots
have restored cars and trucks, operate heavy equipment, etc.
My question is this, three of my best friends down here have very similar
set-ups like mine. Private homes and land, 25 to 50 plus acres, all very keen
on being prepared, lots of good guns, grub, etc. Three of the four have read
your book, and the one who has not has been well briefed.
Our location to each other is about two miles apart from one another, each.
We are not on the same country road, but the first guy is two miles to the
next guy, then four miles to the next guy, etc. All of our homes are up on a
hill,
private, defendable, but all are wood-frame built homes. No brick or stone,
dumb, dumb, dumb!!!
Each guy and his family could hold down the fort from a few trouble makers,
but if a few pick up truck loads of the bad guys came at us the same time,
it would be tougher, plus not any of us has large enough families to handle security
patrols and the like.
If it were only me in a good spot or one of the other guy's had a great
set up, it would be easy, we all just hunker down here or there, but with four
great retreats, and like minded people, what is a guy to do with these options?
I know I have not covered all the other possibilities, like heat, water,
fuel, wood, food, but they are all pretty equal, like I mentioned earlier,
these guy's are pretty handy, so they all have a lot of "stuff".
I would like to hear your opinion or the opinions of others.
OBTW, we have done business with some of your sponsors and I bought the "Rawles
Gets You Ready" preparedness course.
This is a "must have", even for us people who think that we
know a bunch!
Thank you, - E.G.
JWR Replies: I think that you should plan to co-locate at
a property that has a shallow well (that can be hand-pumped), and that is the
most defendable. (Advantageous
terrain, clear fields of fire, and so forth.) As I often tell my consulting
clients, "Just think medieval": If you were going
to pick a particular parcel of
land--not pick an existing house, based on its attributes--then
where, in your darkest imaginings, would you someday build a castle? That,
then,
is the property you should pick.
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A Farmer's Perspective on Combating Crime in South Africa, by Joe Ordinary Voortrekker
Although we in South Africa do not live in a TEOTWAWKI situation,
we routinely have to deal with constant attempts to appropriate life, possessions,
and
freedom that could be good training for a
TEOTWAWKI
situation. The following are some real life insights as to what and how we
handle these regular attempts at property liberation on our homesteads and
surrounds.
We are fortunate to live well outside of South Africa’s largest city,
our community is isolated and not visible from any main road. To a point where
people that live in nearby areas do not know where our entry road is, and have
to be given detailed instructions on how to get to our community. (I’ve
even had a 20 year resident of an adjacent area tell me outright that I’m
lying and no such road/area exists. What a great place to be!) There are a
total of 24 families in our area, not all participate in the community [security
effort] and only one
other family has a preparedness mindset. Almost every member of the community
is very private and the idea of personal privacy and property rights is taken
very seriously. Of the 24 families there are nine that take an active role
in protecting the community totaling 15 men. Our community is situated in
a blind
valley with a single very defendable entrance, there are however two additional
tracks that can be used for either a north or south escape route if you know
where to find them.
Most of our threats consist of one or more of the following.(In no particular
order) Stock
theft, cable
theft, fencing or dropper [(cattle chute)] theft, house breaking,
armed home invasions, rape and other crimes. There is also a marked increase
in produce theft (directly from fields) in recent months.
What also needs to be understood is that in the rural areas there are specific
crime ‘seasons’. Outright you can peg the December/January and
Easter periods as a very high probability of stock theft, then the last two
weeks in any month with increases in housebreaking and implement/equipment
theft.
Our analysis of this suggests that people are looking for meat in December/January
and April for family [summer and fall] feasts. And at month end they are looking
for a bit of cash to tide them over till payday or they have just plain run
out
of
cash
and need
more.
The number one livestock theft item is sheep, they are simple to lift onto
ones shoulders and carry off without a sound (sheep make no noise at night
if manhandled). Cattle
are the next most frequent target. of theft. How this
is achieved is the cattle are often liberated early evening (20h00 – 21h00)
and a team of thieves will work as follows. A Cutter will walk ahead and cut
any
fencing
about 100m
in
front
of the cattle, then three drivers will drive the cattle along the chosen route,
typically the hocks are slashed so that the cattle cannot run, they are then
prodded with sharp sticks or bicycle spokes in the correct direction. The animals
are generally butchered in the veld and
only choice portions are taken, or they are herded directly to a township/village
for slaughter. They are often
herded over 20 or 30 km in one night. Making track and trace is sometimes extremely
difficult. The sad thing about this is that if you do recover your animals
before they
slaughter them, the animals need to be put down anyway. We have
even had a situation where large ‘steaks’ were cut out of living
cattle and they were left to be found in the morning. Goats and Pigs are very
low down on the list as they will vocally announce their displeasure at being
manhandled. This
PDF describes another very well known way of transporting
stolen stock long distances.
With regards to implements and equipment theft. Very high on the list are hand
tools, power tools, generators, water pumps, borehole pumps, and electric gate
motors--in fact anything that can be pawned or sold off quickly. A new phenomenon
that has recently reared its head is that people are stealing metal gates and
droppers, we have yet to catch one in the act, however we believe it’s
for the scrap metal market. New fencing is also quick to go, especially weld
mesh and Bonnox-type
fencing. As it’s easy to roll up and cart away,
and has a quick resale value on the open market if priced right.
To counteract the effects of crime in our area we have established for a number
of years now a very effective farm watch system that includes the following.
(I will cover each point separately to provide insight into the logic and tactics):
Highly visible motorised patrols: The main point of these is to provide a “show
of force” and it is mainly used as a deterrent during low crime times.
The use of vehicle mounted Search/spot lights is heavily employed. One of the
largest drawbacks is that ‘they’ can see you coming and a) either
scamper off to find a quieter area to harass, or b) just drop into the grass
that is typically 1 metre (3 feet) high, and then effectively become invisible.
Another drawback
is that once the patrol ends this can be easily be seen, due to a
lack of lights sweeping the roads and properties.
Foot patrols: These are undertaken specifically during times
of harassment, or in peak crime times. Foot patrols generally consist of two
separate patrols
of minimum three individuals each, contact via radio is available but only
used as and when required. A preset route is followed, there are a total of
nine
routes, typically only four are covered by both patrols in an evening. Each
route has
specific LP/OPs developed
as well as caches of food/water and medical [supplies] on the longer routes.
Some routes are never more than about 300
- 500 meters from a lot of the homesteads and others can take one over two
kilometers
from
the nearest homestead.
LP/OPs: Generally performed on off nights where ‘nothing
is going on’.
Members will walk out onto their own properties and take up specific LP/OP
to generally [listen and] observe. This is often tied in with the final checks
on animals, stores and stables. The interesting thing is you are able to track
the movement
of an individual(s) from well over two kilometres away, just by listening to
the night sounds of animals. Dogs, Plovers,
Geese, Guinea
Fowl, and peacocks, frogs/toads,
and others can all give an indication as to what is happening in the area.
We have got to a point where just by listening to the sounds of the local critters,
both wild and domestic, we are able to make a good judgment call if a impromptu
patrol needs to rustled up. Most evenings we can track the return of staff
members and labourers as they walk back from the local shebeens.
Contact Routes: These are predefined routes that each farmer will
take when a contact is established. This has worked very well for us on a number
of occasions
leading to the arrest of six individuals and the peppering of at least three
that have escaped, with bird shot liberally inserted into their Gluteus
maximus.
The adage in our area is not to have someone die on your property, rather wound
[them] and let them spread the word. It the best advertising you can get for
a peaceful nights rest. They also cannot go to a hospital as this raises questions.
We
have heard via the grapevine of one individual that had a friend digging around
in his butt with a piece of bent piece of wire to try extricate shot. Somehow
I don’t think he is coming back. [JWR Adds: Things are
different here in the oh-so litigious US, where wounding a miscreant is an
invitation to a huge civil lawsuit. I advise American, Canadian and British
SurvivalBlog readers: Don't pull the trigger unless your life is immediately
threatened.]
Basically there are two types of contact:
1) Farm based. When there is an attack on a particular farm then the alarm
is raised via, land line, cell phone, radio or audible sirens. Information
is generally given to wives for relay, as husbands prepare, as to what portion
of the farmstead is threatened. A ring is established around the farm with
selected individuals providing direct support at the farmstead, once the farmstead
is cleared then the ring closes along predefined routes. BTW, it is vitally
important that the outer ring is maintained, as often a lot more is seen from
the ring than from the farmstead. In addition all lights on all farms get turned
off, specifically to assist the guys with Night Vision, but we have found that
those that don’t, can also see better without distracting ambient light
sources. Lastly, the explicit rule is that if it’s your farm / livestock
under attack then you are not to leave the house! There is
no need for a hostage situation or to allow for a penetration of your family's
security, or God forbid
a friendly fire incident. That is why you have neighbours.
2) Infrastructure based: Typically this is cable
theft, we are very proud of
the fact that we are one of the few rural areas in South Africa that has had
no interruption of our telecoms service in well over 18 months. We have taken
the initiative to install alarms on our lines that activate as soon as there
is a voltage drop. ([Caused by a] cut line) This triggers a response where
farmers scramble to cover specific points. The amazing thing is how fast
these cable
thieves
can move. They cut and drag 150-200 metres of 50-pair cable well over 500 meters
in a matter minutes. It took us a while to get our attack honed, but
now we have a 100% strike rate and no more cable theft.
Most patrol members are armed with Shotguns and occasionally with a sidearm,
a 2-way radio, torch, Night Vision if they have the gear, and a small first
aid kit is carried by one member. A handful of heavy duty cable ties [for use
as handcuffs are also carried.
Each member is also at liberty to equip themselves with what they feel is necessary.
What we find is that new members tend to go all out on kit, and it only takes
about two weeks for them to start reducing the amount of glory kit they carry
to the minimum. (We actually have a pool bet going on the number of patrols
walked with full kit, we always do the two longest for them on the trot. Hey,
we need some fun.)
Some additional information, many thieves will plan their attacks long in advance
with scouting and intel well sourced, either via the local labourer population
or via direct observation. One of the most common and disturbing warning signs
that you will get, is that dogs
are being poisoned in the area. Depending on
the poison used, it will generally be a fast acting (in a matter of minutes)
the most common poison is Aldicarb
or Temik a restricted use agricultural pesticide.
Luckily we have not had any incidents in our area, but all around us there
are reports of multiple dogs going down in a single night.
Finally, one of the benefits of living in [the old] South Africa (pre-1994)
was conscription, with two years of compulsory military service,
for most straight
out of school.
This
has put most of the ‘older’ (I say that with care as I’m
yet to hit 45) members of our group with a military service background and
we have been through some of the Border
War. All of this helps to set the tone
of patrols and provides the training and discipline for younger members.
« Letter Re: Field Test with a MURS Band Dakota Alert Intrusion Detection System |Main| Note from JWR: »
Letter Re: Observations on Preparedness from a Gulf Coast Hurricane Veteran
Mr. Rawles,
I just wanted to let you know how much I have enjoyed your site. I had no idea
that there were whole survivalist communities out there until I stumbled on a
link by accident. In fact, I didn’t really know that I fit into that category
myself. My wife and I live on the Gulf Coast and we discovered the hard way during
Hurricane Rita that a bag of trail mix and a bottle of water, was not preparing
to evacuate. Eighteen hours in traffic in a hundred and fifty mile traffic jam
taught us to find the roads that are not on a US map. After that we planned,
made maps of blacktop roads for evacuation, and stocked a retreat a couple of
hundred miles from the coast and cities.
Two years later here came Hurricane Ike. Since
we had our gear pretty much laid out it only took us about an hour to load
and we were gone. It was a vacation compared to the first time. After the storm
blew
threw we used some of the gas we had stashed and wanted to look at the house
and see if there was anything left to come back to. The trip was eye opening.
There were people sitting in gas lines that stretched for more than a mile
for five gallons of fuel. Some people where sitting at stations that didn’t
even have gas because they just couldn’t go any farther. There was no
food or water to be found. I thought to myself what if the trucks didn’t
come back or the electricity didn’t come back on for an extended time
frame.
People can speculate if there is going to be nuclear war, Peak Oil or the
economy is going to complete collapse. People have been saying “The
End is Near” for
a few thousand years, but this was real, we saw it, and we were in
it. We made our trip. The house was damaged but still there. We checked to
make sure everything
was secure and left back for our retreat. We stayed for about two weeks in
semi-comfortable conditions. We are not where we want to be as far as being
stocked up for an
extended time frame but we are getting there. By the time next storm season
comes we should have supplies for about two months and we are installing solar
power
to augment our generator and propane systems. That is a pretty short time for
some of your readers but considering the rest of the people I have seen, this
is living like a king. After that it’s a squirrel on a stick. -
Randall
« Odds 'n Sods: |Main| Letter Re: Field Test with a MURS Band Dakota Alert Intrusion Detection System »
Letter Re: Precipitation and Growing Season as Retreat Locale Criteria
Sir,
Regarding your Retreat
Areas recommendations: I grew up on a small multi-crop
and livestock farm in north western Iowa, with 24 inches of precipitation
and 180
frost free
days.
I have been living in California Eastern Sierra since 1982 , but soon will
be leaving.
I respectfully submit that your assessment of the agricultural capability
of many of the low precipitation/low humidity areas of the western US is vastly
overestimated. Western states such as Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico
are not farmable
by amateurs using conventional means available during any TEOTWAWKI scenario.
Obtaining water rights and controlling large scale irrigation is not some thing
you can learn after a crash. Northeastern Oregon, Southeastern Washington,
and the Snake River plain of Idaho are exceptions.
Your frost free growing season data [at state level over-generalizes] for
many states. For example, eastern Oklahoma has 200 - 220 [frost-free] days.
For the vast majority of readers, Interstate 90 should be their northern limit
if they wish to grow any more than a small garden and areas south of Interstate
80 would be preferred.
If you plan to grow enough row crops to feed yourself, or if you want to trade
with the local farmers, you will need an absolute minimum of 18 inches [of]
precipitation
(preferably during mid spring and summer) and 140 frost free days.
JWR Replies: I
have always recommended that readers do detailed study of micro-climates before
relocation. Start with the Gale Publishing Company book "The Climates
of the States" (in the reference section of many libraries), and
then do detailed climate and soil studies using data from the
NWS,
NRCS, and various online resources.
My general guidance is to avoid areas that require irrigation, with the exception
of the very few locales that have an end-to-end gravity fed irrigation
infrastructure in place. As I've mentioned many times, if and when the power
grids go down, many parts of the western US will quickly revert to desert.
Hence, my preference is for "reliable rain" or "dryland farming" regions--that
is, areas where crops can be reliably grown with regular spring and summer
rains. But here is the rub: Many of those regions are heavily populated and
might might not be safe in the event of a major societal disruption. So your
choices will be narrowed to ""a subset of a subset", if you
are looking for an ideal retreat local. There are just a handful
of places that
I consider ideal lightly-populated locales
for
retreat
self
sufficiency.
Two
notable ones
are
the Palouse Hills
region (straddling the border of eastern Washington and north-central Idaho),
and the Montpelier, Idaho region. So, taken together with other important criteria
like crime, taxes, gun laws, and so forth, it is no wonder that Idaho
is at the
very top of my list for retreat locales.
With the exception of the immediate
riparian tracts, I do not recommend Idaho's
Snake River Plain, because the
majority of the region depends on electrically-pumped irrigation water, much
of it from deep wells. When the grid
goes down, that area will revert to sagebrush. That, by the way is a clue
to remember: When
you are traveling in search of potential retreat properties, observe the
native vegetation on the non-irrigated hillsides. What you see is what you'll
get, when the grid goes down. Again, in much of the West, the only exceptions
will the
few and far-between places with end-to-end gravity fed irrigation. And
BTW, if you plan to live "in town" the same logic applies to municipal water
supplies. Very few of these are gravity fed from
end-to-end. (Ironically, the City and County of San
Francisco is one such locale. (Its water comes from the Hetch Hetchy reservoir,
high in the Sierra Nevada mountains. But given its population density, San
Francisco can hardly be recommended!)
« Two Letters Re: Home Invasion Robbery Countermeasures--Your Mindset and Architecture |Main| Our 2009 Predictions, by Roger Wiegand »
Letter Re: The U.S. Expatriation Exit Tax
Hi JWR,
Here's another one for your readers. I'd heard of this "exit tax" a
few months ago and it was completely ignored by the mainstream media (MSM).
At first blush, it doesn't appear to impact most people,
i.e. only those over $4 million USD net worth for couples who renounce U.S.
citizenship and leave. However, we all know how well the alternative minimum
tax (AMT)--the so-called millionaire's tax--worked out.
It was supposed to affect only several hundred tax "scofflaws", and
now because of inflation, millions of citizens are affected. A few years of
50% inflation will put most professional couples into the realm of exit tax
eligible.
I'm sure many of your readers will agree that it is making more and more sense
to go off the financial grid, as well as the electric grid. Rendering unto
Caesar is getting pretty darned expensive, even if you want to leave!
Take a look at this
post over at The Ron Paul Forums. Here is a snippet:
"Europe's Economist magazine refers to this new tax as, "America's
Berlin Wall." They also point out that, along with North Korea, the United
States is already one of the few countries in the world that taxes its citizens
on
their income regardless of the country they earn it in. As most already suspected,
the IRS is a hard master. A government that is bankrupt by any honest accounting
accounting standards will eventually be forced by its creditors to turn over
any real assets it
still has at its disposal. Unfortunately, in most courts of law, those assets
can include the full net worth of all U.S. citizens and residents. The ability
to tax this net worth, to extinction if necessary, is the ultimate backing
behind the guarantee U.S. debt holders know as"the full faith and credit
of the United States."
Yikes! - CK
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The MOAB Expands Yet Again: Five State Governors Seek $1 Trillion from Uncle Sugar
Back in November I reiterated my point that the Mother of All Bailouts (MOAB)
would know no limits. One of my specific warnings was: "The States - Some 29
of the 50 states are reporting budget crises. Lo an behold,
most of the hardest hit states are those with bloated Nanny
State bureaucracies.
No surprise there. The states that had the worst fiscal management, of course,
will get the biggest share of the taxpayer funds. Those that were fiscally
conservative will get nothing." A recent wire service headline confirmed
that prediction: U.S.
governors seek $1 trillion
federal assistance.The article begins: "Governors of five U.S. states
urged the federal government to provide $1 trillion in aid to the country's 50
states
to help pay for education, welfare and infrastructure as states struggle with
steep budget deficits amid a deepening recession. The governors of New York,
New Jersey, Massachusetts, Ohio and Wisconsin -- all Democrats -- said the initiative
for the two-year aid package was backed by other
governors and follows a meeting in December where governors called on President-elect
Barack Obama to help them maintain services in the face of slumping revenues."
This is affirmation of my long-standing assertion that the MOAB
will continue to expand, uncontrollably. According
to a published tally sent to me by SurvivalBlog reader Matt C., $7.2 trillion
of bailout money has been allocated, of which $2.6 trillion has already
been spent.
It is noteworthy that this figure does not include President-elect BHO's
proposed $1 trillion "stimulus
package",
nor does it include the $1 trillion sought by the state governors.But even
this
glut of Federal largesse (from your wallet, BTW), will be insufficient.
You will read of some spectacular state and municipal bond failures, more
derivatives fiascos,
state pension funds "in
crisis", and then there will be news of "special levies", "temporary'
or
"one time" taxes, and so forth. I anticipate that both state income
taxes and state
sales
taxes
will increase dramatically. There of course will also be news of "drastic"
cut-backs, but chances are that while some of the more extravagant programs
will be cut, few bureaucratic paper-pushing
jobs
will
be sacrificed.
(That, my friends is is the only truly "essential service" in the
eyes of a bureaucrat.) I also would not be surprised to see some of the
states
that have
never had
sales
taxes
start
to
implement
them.
The
bottom
line is
that
we can expect taxes to increase at the city, state, and
Federal
levels.
In an era of rising unemployment, the few
people
that
are still productive
and fully employed will be asked to shoulder the burden of the bailouts.
It will be wealth redistribution on a grand scale--Robin Hoodism run amok.
The only
genuine escape from all this would be expatriation, but few will take that
route. However, the one thing that
you can do with relative ease is
move internally to
a state with a smaller scale of government. Again, it is no coincidence
that the states that have he most bloated bureaucracies, the least fiscal
responsibility, and the most Nanny State
trappings
are
those that are having the biggest budget crises. If you stay in
any of those states, they are going to sock it to you. You can expect--with
utter certainty--that the tax rates in those states
to soon rise to painful levels. My advice is simple: Vote with your feet.
For any of SurvivalBlog readers that are self-employed, or that are retired
(or that are about to retire), or that have "portable" jobs that
are readily available with the same job security
in other states, my advice comes down to one word: move.
If you have been considering moving to a state with suitable retreat
areas,
take this as your cue. Given the
deteriorating real estate markets-both residential and commercial--this may
indeed be your
last chance to sell and move before you lose another 30% of your equity. Parenthetically,
I recently
had
some correspondence with a consulting client that owner of a small but prosperous
business in California. This man owns both a home and half a dozen pieces
of commercial
real estate.
He is someone
that has been "considering" moving to a state where hi family would
have better chance of avoiding violent crime. My advice to him was blunt:
"I recommend that
you seriously consider moving out of California, while you
still have the chance to sell your business as a profitable operation, and
sell your other
commercial
properties at a profit." And later, "I recommend moving out of
California and making your new [retreat] home your full-time residence. Sell
off most
or all of your
California properties. Perhaps leave one or two that are the most stable,
profitable, and recession proof in the hands of a trustworthy
commercial property management company. I realize that it is a major life
change that we are discussing, but recognize the real decisions have already
been made, and made by folks "above our pay grade". Presently,
99% of the population are deer in the headlights. They are petrified and
they are going to get squashed. You are in a good position at present,
and you should take full advantage of it by cashing out and moving as soon
as possible. If you wait until the recession (and then depression) sets in
in earnest, you will probably lose nearly everything. " And later in
the correspondence, after he mentioned how his business ventures were still
prospering,
I wrote:
" At the current rate, the prosperity you currently enjoy will evaporate
in less than two years. By then, all that you will have is un-sellable properties
and negative cash flows. Get out!" I then went on to
recommend to make some specific recommendations on potential retreat locales
(one of which was highlighted in my book "Rawles
on Retreat and Relocation".)
I concluded with an admonition: "There are quality of
like
issues at stake, but more importantly preservation of life issues.
Discuss this with your family and pray about it. In any case reduce your
commercial real estate holdings, as soon
as possible. That needs to be done, regardless
of where you
move. Do not hesitate."
I'm sure that there are many other
SurvivalBlog readers that are in comparable situations to that consulting
client. My advice to many of you would probably be much
the same. The only strong proviso in all this is: Do not abandon
a job that is good-paying and that has genuine job security. In
times like these, that would be foolish.
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From the SurvivalBlog Archives: Survival On a Shoestring Budget
I often get e-mails from readers claiming either directly or indirectly that
preparedness is "only for wealthy people"--that working class people
cannot afford to prepare. That is nonsense. By simply re-prioritizing your
budget and cutting out needless expenses (such as alcohol, cigarettes, convenience
foods, and cable television) almost anyone can set aside enough money for a
year's worth of storage food in fairly short order.
It is amazing what can be done with hard work, ingenuity, and very little
money. While I do not endorse interloping on public lands nor do I
suggest that you live like a hermit, the following stories are indicative
of what can be accomplished with next to no cash.
First, here is an
article about about a father and daughter that lived for four years undetected
in a Portland, Oregon park
Next, a
news story about a hermit who secretly lived for at least three years inside
the "secure" Los Alamos nuclear research reservation in New Mexico:
Next, an
article about New York City's part-legend, part-fact "Mole People"
I also vaguely recall in the 1990s reading an article about a man who
secretly built an underground house in parkland abutting the suburbs somewhere
on the east coast. The house went undetected for several years. Its entrance
was hidden in a berry thicket. He was only discovered because neighbors saw
his comings and goings. When police arrived to investigate, after
much searching for the entrance, they entered the underground house just after than man had taken a shower in his underground bathroom. (Perhaps one of you readers saved
the newspaper clipping or has a link to the news story.)
I recommend the book "The
Last of the Mountain Men". It is the story of Sylvan Hart (a.k.a."Buckskin
Bill"), a famous Idaho solitary who lived deep in a roadless section
of the River of No Return Wilderness. His solution to his own unemployment
during the Great Depression was to move to the wilderness and live self-sufficiently.
The book describes how Hart lived from the 1930s to the 1970s. He mined and
smelted his own copper, made his own muzzle loading rifles and pistols, and
constructed his house and garden. It is a fascinating book.
And for someone with a "maxi" budget? Consider the
Bear Den: [now
advertised at our spin-off SurvivalReatly.com web site.]
I didn't point out all of the preceding references because I want you to live
like hermits or flee into the wilderness and live in a hollowed-out tree like
the boy in My
Side of the Mountain. Rather, I just want you to start thinking outside
the box. Survival is 90% sweat, ingenuity, and perseverance.
It is only the remaining 10% that requires cash.
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Six Letters Re: Home Invasion Robbery Countermeasures--Your Mindset and Architecture
Greetings Mr. Rawles,
I read your blog everyday and am learning so much. Thanks for your dedication
to helping prepare us for the future.
In reference to the recent article on home security, we lived in Argentina
for three years and we could all learn from their security measures. The first
house we lived in had steel shutters, as did everyone in the neighborhood,
and they were all shut at night. The doors have locks that automatically lock
when you leave the house. The small front yards usually have tall steel fences
with the same height gates. The gates were also locked at all times. Homes
that didn't have shutters of some kind, had bars on all the windows. Big dogs
were also the norm. The back yards were usually walled in by concrete block
walls sometimes 10 feet tall. At our second house, one of our neighbors had
concertina wire around the top of their walls.
It is a normal custom to clap your hands to alert someone you were at their
front gate. It would be very rude to try to enter someone's front yard without
being invited first, and is usually not possible due to the locks and dogs.
But, as new houses were being built, we were seeing less and less of the shutters
and bars, more American style houses were being built and that's a shame.
It was very difficult at first to live with these kinds of security measures,
but after awhile it became normal and comforting to know your house was secure.
Gun control is very strict and very few folks have guns, so home security was
very important.
Just wanted to share those observations with you. Thanks again for your hard
work.
Warmest Regards, - Beverly A.
Hello James Wesley, Rawles:
Feed lot panels are extremely useful for hardening windows against dynamic
entry.
For those who are not familiar with the product, feed lot panels are welded
wire product. They are typically 16 feet long. The height varies but is typically
54" high. The wire is very stiff (typically #4 or #6 gauge) and the wire
is galvanized for long life. The panels are inexpensive and semi-rigid.
We recently replaced a 13' x 69" bay window with a 60" by 60" picture
window (one pane) flanked by a couple of 60" high by 24" wide double
hung windows. Our primary goal was to increase energy efficiency by reducing
cold air infiltration during the winter and to improve our cross ventilation
during
the summer.
I had some fairly extensive conversation with the contractor regarding my desire
to have sufficient "beef" beside each window to be able to run several
5" x 1/2" eye-bolts beside each window (with the eyes of the bolts
aligned in the vertical direction), slide the trimmed-to-fit feedlot panel
over the eye-bolts, and then drop a cane bolt through the openings in the eye
bolts.
(Minor detail notes: Roof overhang requires that cane bolts be inserted from
bottom, but "drop in from top" is a more natural word picture. Also
desirable to use a cushioning material to hold panels away from frame of window
to eliminate scarring. Rubber or vinyl garden hose is a possibility.)
He was very happy to comply. Each window is framed in with 2x4s next to the
window frame, but then a 4x4 was bracketed into the top and bottom headers
immediately beside the 2X4s on each side of each of the three windows. Wood
is cheap.
Feed lot panels can be defeated. But defeating them requires time and tools...not
something typical home invaders want to expend/lug around. Feed lot panels
also help protect windows against airborne, flying trash during extreme wind
storms. They may be ugly, but they are cheap, durable and relatively easy
to install, given proper tools and some time and the foresight to have enough
wood to bolt into. - Joe H.
Jim,
I've already made numerous changes to my home and
property to thwart / limit any would be thefts and boosting the overall
security. A number of
ideas
came from your web site. Thanks.
Other than the simple measures of installing a Radio Shack microphone/speaker
and, locking the doors of my barns with snap links and walking out the front
and locking that door, I am worried for my horses if someone should try to
force their way inside and manage to stay very quiet. I'm very impressed
with my $149 Radio Shack investment, you can hear everything and my house
is 300
feet away.
Can you offer any additional advice on making barns more secure? I'm more
concerned about the horses than all of the tack and saddles. But those items
aren't cheap
either. Thanks, - Pete in Florida
JWR Replies: I do have one specific recommendation: Buy a
MURS band Dakota Alert infrared intrusion detection system. (Available from MURS
Radio, one of
our advertisers). Put one Motion Alert Transmitter (MAT) out
at the end of your driveway,
and one "watching" the front of your barn door. We
use Dakota Alerts in conjunction with matching frequency Kenwood MURS band
hand-helds here at the Rawles
Ranch on a daily basis. We have been very satisfied with their
quality and reliability. In our experience, this combination is ideal for detecting
intruders on likely avenues
of approach.
.
Dear Mr. Rawles,
First, as always, I am compelled to thank you for your service to all those
who would learn from your knowledge and efforts. My 2009 10
Cent Challenge contribution is forthcoming,
but it is only a small token of my appreciation in light of all that I have
learned from your excellent blog.
I wanted to add a note of my reality to your recent excellent comments on the
sorry state of home architecture in our country today. I live in a typical
recent-construction, middle class, Metro Atlanta home with a brick front facade,
and Hardiplank (a concrete-like product molded to look like wood siding) on
the remaining three sides. It is essentially three stories, with a "daylight
basement" comprising the first story. Many of the "weak links" that
you pointed out exist in my home, but we did install a fairly comprehensive
alarm system.
Last February, while my wife was at work and I was taking my son to daycare
(it was 11:15 a.m.), thugs broke into our house by kicking through the basement
wall! Evidently, the crooks suspected, or noticed, our alarm system, and tried
to bypass it by going through the wall. It would have worked if the dummies
hadn't opened the basement door preparing to depart with their loot. Of course,
opening the door set the alarm off, and they fled never having made it out
of the basement. They did steal an old rifle that I had recently bought, and
had left in a storage closet awaiting a good cleaning. All in all, we were
very fortunate.
I write not to simply share my story (which is, unfortunately, not very uncommon),
but to point out what I learned:
1. Though Hardiplank, and similar products, have many virtues, resistance to
invasion is not one of them.The concrete feel and appearance gives a false
sense of security. I was shocked to learn that the only thing between my "inner
sanctum" and the bad guys was the Hardiplank, fiberboard sheathing, and
drywall! Even if your 1st story sheathing were 5/8" plywood it would present
a much more formidable barrier!
2. If I had heeded my instincts, the burglary could have been avoided. I try
to live in "condition yellow", though I slip into white more than
I would like. That morning, while buckling my toddler into the car, I noticed
a rough-looking young man walking slowly up the sidewalk. By the time I had
buckled my seatbelt, he was ambling back down the street in the opposite direction.
All of the alarms in my head went off, but I didn't call the police to investigate
(something that they encouraged me to do in the future while discussing the
event). I did, however, step back inside and turn on the alarm, which I didn't
usually do for such short trips (things are different now). If I hadn't turned
on the alarm, I would have probably walked right into a home invasion in progress
(stupidly in condition white!) after dropping my son off. As it was, as soon
as I got the call from the monitoring service, I knew exactly what had happened,
and who had done it! During the frantic 3 mile drive home, my main concern
was, "what will I do if I arrive before the police?" At the time,
I had no firearm with me, which leads me to my final point.
3. Any time you walk into your home [after an absence] in condition white,
with no way to defend yourself, you invite disaster. Yes, I know it can be
terribly
stressful
to
admit to yourself that our society has "come to this", and some people
would rather just play the odds and hope it doesn't happen to them. I feel
that God was watching over me that day (by the way, the police were on site
when I got home - it had only been 20 minutes since I left the house) and gave
me a second chance. I guess I could remain in condition white, and hope it
doesn't happen again, but I have responsibilities. God gave me a second chance,
and I am committed to learning from this experience. You'd better believe that
I will arrive home in condition yellow to orange, looking for any hint that
something is awry - especially if my family is in tow! Oh yeah, and my next
house is going to be as solid as I can afford, and then some!
I hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas, and will have a terrific new
year. Best Wishes, - SH in Georgia
James;
I have been an advocate for survivors of violent crimes. I would like
to point out some things that I have been tracking for almost a year now. (I
have 'home invasions" as a google search alert and get messages on this
topic many times a day). First, I have noticed that most of these invaders
are not so much interested in carting away ill-gotten booty from the residence
that they have invaded as much as the first object is to terrorize and torture
those in the dwelling. This is a major change in the high level of deprived
violence of these burglars who are now being reported as "home invaders".
The attacks are sadistic, whereas, twenty years ago true sadistic attacks
were more rare as the goal seemed to be to steal and leave. Second, these sadistic
home invasions are world wide. I have not yet figured out why this is so. It
is, however, concerning that no place seems safe from this bizarre rise in
sadistic violence. Perhaps it can be linked to violent video games? I am not
sure what else could link these acts world wide. Third, unlike violent home
crimes in years past, the home invaders are attacking during the hours when
it is more likely that the residents are home. (Most of these
invasions seem to take place between 11 PM and 5 AM). Clearly, unlike in early
times when
the criminal element wanted to avoid the residents, this new class of thugs
want that violent encounter.
I think this does require that decent folks to have a change in understanding
what is taking place. These criminals are not just getting the pleasure of
taking your property but they want to cause you and your family extreme fear,
terror, and pain. Passive conduct by the victims that might have allowed these
thugs to rob your home and leave you alone might have worked twenty years ago,
but I think today's home invaders first literally will want a pound of your
flesh. On a positive note, I have also read of numerous residents who have
successfully fended off the invaders by being properly protected within their
homes. I am 'surprised" that the media doesn't seem to do much coverage
of these heroic deeds of the victim defending himself or family members from
these sadistic invasion. - Advocate for Survivors
of Violent Crimes
Dear Mr. Rawles.
Regarding your post on Tuesday December 30, titled "Letter Re: Home
Invasion Robbery Countermeasures". I would like to see you elaborate on
the "Countermeasures" portion of the title. Specifically, could you
show some real examples that people could use as "force multipliers" similar
to this . Maybe you can do a post on with and without grid power in SHTF scenarios.
For example I live in a suburb of a city of about 80,000 people. I live on
a corner lot and have a fenced in back yard. What low-tech methods could I
deploy
to
allow full coverage around the perimeter of my property to signal of coming
trouble. It would help if the ideas were designed to not create an abundance
of false alarms and not alert the surrounding neighborhoods like a trip alarm.
I don't have a retreat location but I'm getting my finances in order to allow
a property purchase soon. If TSHTF tomorrow, I would need some simple ideas
to keep my family safe as long as possible.
BTW, I read your "Patriots" novel
and it was awesome! I am about half way thorough your "Rawles
Gets You Ready" course and it too
is great. Thanks, - Steve F. in Louisiana
JWR Replies: A corner lot is problematic. Depending on the
landscaping that is prevalent in your neighborhood, if it would not look
too out of the ordinary then you might consider planting a
"decorative" thorny hedge around as much of your perimeter as
possible, and install a
gate across the front of your driveway. Make both the
maximum height that you can get away with,
without being branded as the Neighborhood Paranoid Poster Boy. The gate should
have a spiked top of some sort, to discourage gate jumpers. Just inside the
gate, position a passive infrared Motion Alert Transmitter (MAT) for a Dakota
Alert. You should also plant thorny
bushes below each of your windows.
Motion-activated floodlights are inexpensive and very easy to install.(They
are available at home improvement and hardware stores such as Home Depot and
Lowe's.) If the power grid goes down, you really should bug out ASAP, but if
you are forced to stay, then solar-powered floodlights might
suffice. (But note that their reviews mention that they have a short service
life. So it is best to just test them but not mount them outdoors until needed.)
Under those circumstances, a pair of night vision goggles would be a must.
(And if you have those, you might want to retrofit your floodlights to use
infrared bulbs. Being battery
powered, your
Dakota
Alert
system
will
continue
to
operate without grid power.
But
of
course keep plenty of spare batteries on had for all of your flashlights
and other home security and communications electronics.
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Letter Re: Winter Solstice Slam 2008--Observations from the Pacific Northwest
Hello Jim:
I send this to you from the snowy Seattle, Washington metropolitan area where we are
digging out of a fairly impressive storm of snow and icy temperatures that
have plagued
an
unprepared
area. As a cop and a Preparedness Oriented Person (POP), I have been watching
the lead up to and duration of this weather event. Here are some observations:
Advance Warning & Notification
Folks in these parts complained that there was little warning of the impending
snow event. Some stated that since weather forecasters were often wrong, they
would be wrong about this. When you had local television outlets, NOAA, The
Weather Channel and AccuWeather all providing similar information, some of
us would call that a trend likely to occur. Indeed, there was anywhere from
a week to 10 days advance warning and modeling showing the cold temperatures
and ice. Gosh, you didn’t have to have a degree in weather sciences to
understand that when warm air with moisture slides over the top of entrenched
cold air, you would get snow. Media outlets correctly warned folks to prepare.
In my observations, most did not heed the warning until it began to get bad.
Indeed, metropolitan areas (as I type this) have seen from 6-20 inches of snow.
Outlying areas are at three (3) feet or higher! That is impressive for this
area.
The Problems
Folks from other regions, especially the Midwest, often chuckle when folks
in the Western Pacific Northwest (Portland Metro and Tacoma-Seattle-Everett
Metro) areas complain of a few inches of snow. Problem is that much of these
cities are built on hilly areas. Some cities see a 500-800 foot elevation gain
within the city limits, features not seen with our neighbors in the plains.
Add to the mix infrequent snow events so there are few plows and you have an
immediate transportation problem. The lack of plows has hampered a quick cleanup
of arterials in the region along with a general reluctance to use road salts
(environmental issues so heartily embraced in this liberal region). Sand pits
are well away from urban areas so transportation of sand to terminal points
or public works yards were hampered. Most cities and the counties have given
up on side streets and less traveled rural roads, leaving them to become ice
skidding messes. Many people in the region were smug that their front, all
or four wheel drives would get them through the mess, up and down hills, all
without alternative traction devices like chains. That has led to nearly 1,000
collisions just on the interstates alone (early estimates are that there are
likely 10,000 or more collisions, spin outs, street blockages and so on in
the cities which have not tallied their response counts like the state). When
heavy
snow started falling, roads were passable at slow speeds. However, timid drivers
afraid of the snow would abandon their cars on the streets and state highways,
leading to blockages. These blockages would snarl traffic, cause collisions
and block major transit routes for goods and services. For the airports, a
shortage of liquid de-icer led to delays and cancellations (it should be noted
that one company in North America makes de-icer and a strike there led to shortages – a
ripple effect). Avalanche dangers led to passenger rail cancellations. Commercial
bus companies canceled their runs due to closed mountain passes or streets
adjacent to their terminals that were iced over and not sanded or plowed. At
one point, the roads became so poor that our chief ordered us back to the station
for emergency responses only, no active patrolling. Folks would call us for
the most inane stuff. Unfortunately, this was stuff we would respond to on
normal weather days. However, when they were told they were on their own to
solve these minor problems, they got mad! Somehow, it was foreign to many of
them to that they would have to solve problems like blocked cars or icy sidewalks.
Unreal and yet, expected for this area. Makes one think of the challenges people
would have in bugging out if a volcano were to cork off, an earthquake to split
some bridges or a WMD type event.
JIT Wasn’t In Time
Just In Time (JIT)deliveries
were hampered by the road conditions. Many gas stations in the region are starting
to run their tanks dry as commercial fuel
carriers
can’t move product safely on icy arterials and side streets. Grocery
stores reported runs on staples and emergency supplies (batteries, candles
and TP,
just to name some items) but were limited on restocking because normal 18 wheeler
rigs were downloaded to smaller trucks or bobtails, just to make
it safely. Many people failed to remember the last major storm we had and did
not fuel in advance, either gas cans for their generators or their vehicles.
Last week, prior to the storm and to beat an expected OPEC price
hike, I was refueling some gas cans and topping off my car. I had a fellow
look at me and
ask if I was expecting the worst. I explained that I would be ready as I had
learned early. His response to me was typical of folks in this area: “Nah,
we’ll have regular deliveries.” I expect his thirsty F250 must
be a bit annoying to him right now, especially after both gas station in my
area and many more surrounding gas stations in the area when dry. I spoke with
grocery store managers in my patrol area. They reported that people needed “just
a few things” to tie them over. These people came back to find limited
supplies like milk or eggs and were mad at the store! Certain large grocery
chain stores reported that they ran out of shopping carts as so many people
crowded into the stores to get what they could when the snow began to fall
and stick. A local hardware store manager told me that he had a stream of people
that came into his store, angry that he had sold out of faucet covers, rock
salt, presto fire logs and snow shovels. He laughed when he told me that he
saw the weather trending as did the corporate offices. They sent him additional
product to stock and he sold it quickly, early on to those he described as, “Preparing
early and correctly.” My liberal, elderly neighbors became snowbound.
They believed that the government would make sure they could drive by having
a plowed road in front of their house. [JWR Adds: See this
Seattle Times article for background on counterproductive city policy: Seattle
refuses to use salt; roads "snow packed" by design.] My wife
and I wound up assisting them with taking some supplies to them when they
ran
out
because
