We've completed the judging for Round 38 of the SurvivalBlog Writing Contest!

1st Place: Barter, Post-TEOTWAWKI: The Micro Store by A.A.A. which was posted on December 22, 2011. He will receive: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner's choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795, and C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) D.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), and E.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo.

2nd Place: Comprehensive Crisis Communications Planning for the Prepper, by Hammer posted on January 19, 2011

He will receive: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) A FloJak F-50 hand well pump (a $349 value), courtesy of FloJak.com. C.) A "grab bag" of preparedness gear and books from Jim's Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $300, D.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and E.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value) and F.) A Tactical Trauma Bag #3 from JRH Enterprises (a $200 value).

3rd place: Profitable Homesteading: How to Thrive in a TEOTWAWKI World, by Dusty, January 24, 2012. Dusty will receive:A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.), B.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, C.) A Commence Fire! emergency stove with three tinder refill kits. (A $160 value.), and D.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.

We've also selected an unprecedented 18 Honorable Mention Awards! (Each writer will receive a $30 Amazon.com Gift Certificate). The Honorable Mention prize winning articles are:

Canning Food in a Grid-Down World, by Christine C. posted Friday, January 31, 2012

To Shoot or Not to Shoot?, by Mr. White posted January 27, 2012

A Woman’s Journey Towards Firearms Acceptance, by The Little Woman posted January 26, 2012

Trauma School, by John M. posted January 25, 2012

The Overnighters: Coming to a Neighborhood Near You, by Frank C. in California posted January 22, 2012

Self-Sufficient Farming in East Prussia in the 1930s and 1940s, by Mrs. Icebear posted January 20, 2012

Post Collapse Barter: The Rest of the Story, by D.T.R. posted January 15, 2012

Candle Making For Preppers, by Jennifer L. posted January 14, 2012

Survival Fishing 101, by Captain T. posted January 12, 2012

Keeping Honey Bees for Survival, by Michael J. posted December 31, 2011

Horse and Rider, by D.O. posted December 27, 2011

How to Make Homemade Dog Food, by D.M.D. posted December 27, 2011

Childbirth at Home by Kelli S. posted December 25, 2011

Emergency Preparedness for the Frugal Beginner, by Paratrooper John posted December 18, 2011

Getting Prepared For a Disaster on a Tight Budget, by L.G.W. posted December 17, 2011

Sucking Chest Wounds and Exsanguinations, by Walker in the Woods posted December 14, 2011

Building an Armed Response Kit, by Madduck posted December 9, 2011

How to Drain an Abscess, by Lonestar Doc posted December 8, 2011

Note to prize winners: We'll need e-mail addresses for each of the Honorable Mention prize winners (since your Amazon gift "cards" will arrive via e-mail.) We'll also need both UPS and USPS addresses for just the top three prize winners. Please e-mail us this info, so we can get your prizes to you. Congratulations!

Round 39 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. begins today. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner's choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795, and C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) D.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), and E.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo.

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) A FloJak F-50 hand well pump (a $349 value), courtesy of FloJak.com. C.) A "grab bag" of preparedness gear and books from Jim's Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $300, D.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and E.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value) and F.) A Tactical Trauma Bag #3 from JRH Enterprises (a $200 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.), B.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, C.) A Commence Fire! emergency stove with three tinder refill kits. (A $160 value.), and D.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.

Round 39 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and articles that relate practical "how to" skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Jim:
I recently won the third prize for the survivalblog writing contest and I thought I would give back to the SurvivalBlog readers a review of the items I received as a way of saying thanks. The items I received were a Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21, expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy, and two Super Survival Pack seed collections, courtesy of Seed for Security. I received all the items quickly and with two of them I also received congratulations cards on winning which was a very nice touch in my opinion. I want to take the time to respond back to these, and all the survivalBlog prize donators with a big thank you. Your efforts are helping to drive one of the best collections of how to articles available on the net.

The first item I want to review is the Royal Berkey water filter. When I received the box I was impressed with how well packaged the item was. I then removed the filter from the box and I must tell you these look even better in person than it does in the pictures. I was also taken with how small it actually was. I had always imagined something the size of the tea dispensers you see in restaurants. Instead it was closer to the size of a coffee percolator, a large one, but still smaller than I expected, very impressive for something rated at four gallons of flow per hour.  The box contained everything I would need to get started except the water.

The filter housing is made of stainless steel and does not feel flimsy at all; it feels like it could handle being moved around a lot. You can really see why these are considered the gold standard for water purification. I would in no means call it bug out bag capable, but if you need to move it around your retreat local you would not have to worry about it coming apart. This would be a good item to put in a dedicated bug out vehicle that had some storage capacity to allow you to travel with it. I could actually see permanently installing this in an RV or other similar setup to provide safe drinking water on the road. As an emergency supply for those planning to bug in this would be invaluable, especially if you have a local source of water that might become contaminated once the SHTF. With no water, or questionable water, from the pipes this item will give you the flexibility you need to manage your drinking supply.  This would also provide an excellent long term camping solution to ensuring clean drinking water.
                 
The next item I received was the item from Natural Cozy. Now this is a bit harder for me to review being a guy and not needing these regularly. They are very nicely made items, to the point that when I took them out of the package I started to think of other uses I could use them for. They are very soft and absorbent feeling, something I am going to have to assume is a good thing. I was also struck by the thought that they would make excellent bandages in an emergency.  They are strongly stitched and appear that they can take a lot of use.

I introduced these items to the wife and daughter and the reaction was interesting. At first I will admit they were a little hesitant about these items. Both of them are products of modern society and frankly tolerate my prepper ways, mainly because I have the last say in my house on these issues. They have been raised to think of disposable as clean and anything else as dirty. There perception changed a bit once I started to ask them what their plans in this area were once things went south and they could not pop over to the local store and grab a box of hygiene products whenever they wanted. I pointed out that the local stores supplies would most likely be gone in a week and that we simply did not have the space to store enough to last them more than a month. I did offer to help to help them to figure out the middle ages method of control involving a rag and dried moss. Once they realized I was serious they suddenly got a lot more interested in these items. Their impression seemed to be that while they were not interested in using them right now, that once SHTF they would be very interested in them. Since then my wife has commented a couple times she is actually glad that we have them.

From my point of view I am also glad to have them. While I don’t personally need them I have a sneaking suspicion that I am going to be real glad I have a supply once they get scarce. I may run my house and control things, I am not sure I could stand the insurrection caused by two of the ladies of the house with no midol, no chocolate, and no hygiene pads. I can at least plan to furnish to them one of these pieces and save myself a lot of headaches in the future! Until then I have put them in a long term storage bucket marked plumbing supplies.

Finally I want to talk about the seeds for security package I received. The package contained two sets of their super survival packs and I must say I was impressed. Each set contains multiple packages of heirloom seeds packaged in their own Mylar packs. I found this to be very desirable over the more common #10 can method of packaging as I only had to open the pack I needed to use, not the entire collection at once. The packs are also nice because great care was taken to package sets of seeds that have the same growth needs. The spring pack, for example, contains everything that should be planted together in the spring, followed by a summer pack, a fall pack, and a winter pack. Grain packs are also included so that you can keep you separate rotation of grains going at the same time as your main vegetable garden. Each set of seeds came with detailed planting instructions. Add a farmer’s almanac to this mix to find the proper starting times for each season in your area and you are golden. This set is as close to fool proof gardening as you can get.

Again I wish to express my gratitude to these sponsors for sending out these items. The water filter and seeds were next on my list for items I needed to stockpile. The hygiene products should have been on my list and were not. I am glad they got moved up and covered now that I have thought on them more. If you don’t have these items yet I strongly suggest you run out and get them after you have your initial stockpile of food started.

Safecastle has announced the winners of their video and writing contest. I was pleased to see that a SurvivalBlog writer won first prize and that second prize went to a piece that was originally posted at one of our favorite self-sufficiency blogs, Rural Revolution. (Edited by Patrice Lewis.)

Article Category:

1st prize: "What is a Well-Stocked First Aid Kit" by K.M., SurvivalBlog.com - Prize: Katadyn Pocket Water Filter

2nd prize: "Preparedness for Young People" by Maria S, Rural-Revolution.com - Prize: Excalibur 9-Tray Dehydrator

Video Category:

1st prize: "Survival and Prepping - The Basics" by Falcon15, Survivalmonkey.com - Prize: Katadyn Pocket Water Filter

2nd prize: "PSK Survival Exercise" by ia woodsman, Survivalistboards.com - Prize: Excalibur 9-Tray Dehydrator

Because our e-mail box is now getting hammered with more than 100 pieces of spam mail per day, we are now reluctantly removing the direct e-mail links in SurvivalBlog. Henceforth, all of the "e-mail us" links will be directed to our Contact page. There, at the the top of the page, you will see a fractured e-mail address: james--AT SYMBOL--rawles.to (Change the "--AT SYMBOL--" to @). This formatting is designed to divert web spiders that harvest e-mail addressess for Nigerian scammers and those V*agra hucksters. Sorry for any inconvenience that this might cause you. Note that there is no need to update your e-mail address book. (Our e-mail address hasn't changed--only the way we show it on the site.)

I only post one reminder each year about the voluntary Ten Cent Challenge SurvivalBlog subscriptions, and this is it. Unlike Jimmy Wales at Wikipedia and those whiners at PBS, I don't do endless pledge drives.

I depend on my readers to help pay the bills to keep SurvivalBlog up and running. Our web hosting on two dedicated servers (one in Sweden and one in the U.S.) cost $850 per month (including 3 Terabytes of bandwidth), and our local ISP bill is $129 per month. We also have other expenses including liability insurance, phone bills, computer hardware, software, a VPN tunneling service, accounting, subscriptions to periodicals, post office box rentals, writing contest prizes, and so forth.

The subscription appeal is simple: If you feel that you get more than 10 cents per day in value from reading SurvivalBlog, then please make a voluntary subscription payment, for just 10 cents a day. (This equates to $36.50 for a year.)

I don't keep any e-mail lists, which is why this annual post is necessary. (I never e-mail any solicitations for subscriptions or renewals. Subscriptions are purely on the honor system.)

The Silver Dimes Option: I also take payment for voluntary Ten Cent Challenge subscriptions in the form of pre-1965 U.S. silver dimes. The current multiplier for the value of pre-1965 silver coins is around 20-to-1. (20 times face value--so a silver dime is worth about $2.00.) But since mass inflation looks inevitable, I expect that the value of a silver dime will soon exceed $10. So just mail us two to five silver dimes for each year's subscription. OBTW, please tape them to a scrap 3"x5" card before placing them in an envelope, so that the coins don't rattle around. And of course check with your postal clerk for the correct postage on the envelope.

Our mail forwarding address is:

SurvivalBlog
Attn: Jim Rawles
P.O. Box 303
Moyie Springs, Idaho 83845

And for those that like to use Bitcoin, our address is: 1K7Gk6kqX6psSWDJaRV6pyDH7dwZuvqtUB

To those that have already subscribed, my most sincere thanks! You represent the less than 1/2 of 1% of the 250,000+ SurvivalBlog readers that subscribe. I greatly appreciate your loyal support! Again, subscriptions are entirely voluntary.

We've completed the judging for Round 37 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest:

First Prize goes to Paul B., for Staple Foods Storage By The Numbers, posted on November 10th. He will receive: A.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner's choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795, and B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo, and E.)A Tactical Trauma Bag #3 from JRH Enterprises (a $200 value).

Second Prize goes to J.M. for Rawhide and Brain Tanning, posted on November 23rd. He will receive: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) A "grab bag" of preparedness gear and books from Jim's Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $300, C.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and D.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize goes to Masquita for How to Make Lye Soap, posted on November 30th. She will receive: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.), B.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, C.) A Commence Fire! emergency stove with three tinder refill kits. (A $160 value.), and D.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.

Honorable Mention Prizes ($30 Amazon.com gift certificates) go to the authors of these articles:

The Ultimate Altoids Tin Survival Kit, by J.C.R.

Gauze and Water: A Combat Medic's Guide to Preparedness Medicine, by Walker

Sleeping With the Friendlies, by Heidi C.

Experience Building a Missouri Masonry Stove, by Tiasabaki

First Aid: From Sprained Ankles to Gunshot Wounds, by Big Country

Field-Test Improvements to a Go Bag, by Todd S.

Homestead Food Production by Mary A.

How to Defend a Retreat Against Wheeled Vehicle Threats, by B.W. in Pennsylvania

Land of Plenty--Establishing or Reclaiming an Orchard, by D.V.

Some Seed Saving Advice, by Lydia S.

Note to all prize winners: Please e-mail me, so that I have your current contact information.

I also have some great news: Starting with the next round (Round 38) the top prize in the First Prize package will include a gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand. Also, JRH Enterprises has upgraded their medic kit prize to a Tactical Trauma Bag #3 -- a $200 value! (Also part of the First Prize package.) I greatly appreciate their generosity.

Round 38 begins today. As usual, we ran out of room for articles that were received in the last week of Round 37, so we we've begun posting those extra articles today.

Please start writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical "how to" skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

I've heard from several readers about the absolute hatchet job that was recently inflicted upon me. The statist Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) issued a wholesale smear against me, Pastor Chuck Baldwin, and Stewart Rhodes of Oath Keepers. This was well-documented here: Brandon Smith: SPLC Labels Montana Patriots as “Extremist”.

The SPLC is is famous for interspersing legitimate conservative public figures amidst lists of assorted racists, neo-Nazis, xenophobes, anti-Semites, criminals, and Grade A Whackamos. This is the classic "Guilt By Association" smear technique. In my case, it could better be called "Guilt By Non-Association", since I have no connection with them, whatsoever. The SPLC even tried to label me as some sort of anti-government malcontent, simply because I use a Common Law presentation of my given name and my family's surname. (With a comma betwixt, to distinguish between the two forms of appellation.)

Just read my Precepts page, any of my published books, or even my Wikipedia biography page. You will soon see that I am an anti-racist and pro-Israel. (And see for example, my American Redoubt page, where I posted: " I can also forthrightly state that I have more in common with Orthodox Jews and Messianic Jews than I do with atheist Libertarians. I'm a white guy, but I have much more in common with black Baptists or Chinese Lutherans than I do with white Buddhists or white New Age crystal channelers."

The bottom line: Please take purported "intelligence" reports published by the SPLC (and parroted by their fellow travelers) for what they are: none-too-subtle gray propaganda.

James,
They are now blocking SurvivalBlog along with Zero Hedge and I Hate The Media from work where I work. Yes I'm on a government network. I assume that more of the alternative media sites are going to be blocked, shortly. I'll send you updates as they are blocked.  Thanks for your time. - C. in Northern Virginia.

Sir:
I am a full-time National Guardsman. (Sorta a rarity.)   I just discovered a change when I tried to look at SurvivalBlog, as usual, on my lunch hour. It is now a blocked [by name] on our or computer network . I suspect that is because it has "blog" in its [domain] name. I was glad to read that your announcement that you are setting up a server offshore, and that you will also have a number of mirror sites with "dotted quad" addresses, available for alternatives.

I fear that some sort of crackdown on non-mainstream web sites is coming soon, in America. (You probably heard that there were another 150 sites blocked on Monday.) Thanks for setting up multiple ways to access [your blog]. My advice to fellow readers: Bookmark the dotted quad addresses of all your favorite news outlets and discussion forums, ASAP. Be vigilant. - The Non-Captain Kirk

"The only purpose of a government is to protect a man's rights, which means: To protect him from physical violence. A proper government is only a policeman, an agent of man's self defense, and, as such, may resort to force only against those who start the use of force. The only proper function s of a government are: The police, to protect you from criminals; the army, to protect you from foreign invaders; and the courts, to protect your property and contracts from breach or fraud from others, to settle disputes by rational rules, according to objective laws. - John Galt in Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged

Houston, Texas – October, the First Year

Growing up on the streets of Houston had made Ignacio Garcia both wary and smart. He never used any drugs other than some occasional marijuana. And he never sold drugs. He realized that was sure to get him arrested, eventually, because customers always talked. His only contacts with heavy drug users were some that he hired, to work his burglaries. Garcia developed a reputation as a clever burglar who never got caught. His modus operandi was exacting: Hit between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on weekdays, when nobody was home.  Avoid lower class neighborhoods, where the pickings weren’t worth bothering, and avoid the wealthy neighborhoods where they all had burglar alarms. Instead, he hit middle class neighborhoods, where there were still things worth stealing, but where they didn’t have their guard up.

Garcia started out by doing burglaries himself, but soon moved on to organizing and equipping teams to do the work for him. To approach middle class houses surreptitiously, he outfitted his teams to look like plumbers, carpet cleaners, or gardeners.  Their vehicles looked very convincing.  Garcia then fenced his goods though a network of pawn shops, flea market dealers, and coin dealers who could keep their mouths shut.  He had his teams concentrate on jewelry, guns, coin collections, cash, and high-end digital cameras. He made a point of never keeping any stolen merchandise at home.  He paid several little old ladies to rent storage spaces for him. Eventually, he had almost a dozen places to hide his stolen goods.

Garcia was never associated with any of the big gangs, although he did recruit a few members of MS-13. He kept his own gang—“the gang with no name” as quiet as possible, and discouraged them from antagonizing any other gangs.  Garcia often said, “Let them bicker and kill each other, while we hang back and just make lots of money.”

The stoners that worked for Garcia sometimes did stupid crack head stuff.  Even though he gave them explicit directions, they’d ignore him and bring back things like big screen HD televisions, bottles of various prescription medicines, and kitchen appliances.  One time, one of his men brought back plastic bags of live koi carp that they had stolen from a pond. This pond was in the backyard of a house that they had trouble entering. Some of the items had to be discarded, or took weeks to fence.

Three years before the Crunch, Ignacio realized that some upper-middle class people rarely let their guard down. For these targets, Garcia started to train and equip his home invasion team.  He selected his most ruthless yet most level-headed men.  He gave them some of his best guns, and carefully selected targets –mostly ones that he’d previously had to pass up.  He called this team “La Fuerza”—The Force.  Most of their home invasions took place at mid-day, when there would likely be just one adult at home.

The home invasions went remarkably well.  Because Garcia insisted on a strict six minute time limit inside a target house, La Fuerza never met the police face to face.  Eventually, he split La Fuerza into two teams of six men each.  Their take was so lucrative that he eventually stopped using his traditional burglary teams altogether.  He gave control and ownership of that whole operation to his cousin Simon.

Garcia grew up in Houston’s Second Ward, but after he built up capital from his burglaries, he bought a house in Greenspoint, on the north side.  This was a nice suburban neighborhood that was roughly half Hispanic.  He did his best to blend in. Ignacio told his neighbors that he was in the import/export business.  In a way, he was right.  He just exported things from people’s houses, and imported them into his own.

When the Crunch started, there were 16 full members of Garcia’s gang. As the economy cratered, Garcia realized that he had to switch gears quickly.  Previously, his goal had been converting stolen goods into cash.  But now cash was perishable and even undesirable.  The goods themselves were more valuable.  He also realized that once Houston became the target of rioting, that the whole city would be locked down, and he’d be just as at risk from burglary or robbery as anyone else.

Anahuac, Texas – October, the First Year

Garcia leased a large warehouse in Anahuac, a white bread community on the east side of Trinity Bay, in Chambers County, east of Houston. He rented a nearby apartment and moved his wife and children there. The warehouse had 35,000 square feet, and a pair of large roll-up doors in the back. He set all of his men to work, ferrying the best of his accumulated loot from his various storage spaces to the warehouse.  Then he had them start stealing late-model cargo vans and pickup trucks with camper shells. He didn’t ask them to stop until he had 17 of them parked in the warehouse.

Using his gang members as agents, Garcia scrambled to convert as much of his cash as possible into practical tangibles.  He had them buy 10 jerry cans for each van and truck, and set each vehicle up with roof racks.  They each also got water jugs, canned goods, camp stoves, sleeping bags, ammunition, tools, and freeze-dried foods. They bought or stole four spare tires mounted on rims for each vehicle, and strapped them down on the roof racks. After just three days at the warehouse, he asked his cousin Simon to join him, and to bring along his eight toughest men who were bachelors.

Garcia spent many hours, talking what ifs with Tony, his most trusted lieutenant.  Tony had three years of artillery experience in the army, with a tour in Iraq.  That was before his Article 15s and dishonorable discharge.  It was Tony who suggested putting CB radios in every vehicle.  It was also Tony who recommended buying up as many cans of flat tan and flat brown spray paint as they could find.  Tony was good at planning ahead.

They had everything almost ready at the warehouse by the time that the riots started in earnest.  He ordered the men and their families to get used to sleeping hard-- essentially camping, inside of their vehicles in the warehouse.  There were some complaints at first, but then once Houston started to burn, they thanked Ignacio for rescuing them from the chaos, and for getting them ready.

The entire gang eventually adopted the name La Fuerza.  Ignacio set them on a well-calculated campaign of night-time robberies of sporting goods stores, department stores, and recreational equipment stores. They were cautious though, so none of these stores were located in Chambers County. 

Once the gang was equipped for traveling and living independently, La Fuerza started stealing armored vehicles.  Their first targets were members of the Military Vehicle Preservation Association (MVPA), a group that Garcia’s wife found with an Internet search. The MVPA members meticulously restored jeeps, trucks, and armored vehicles. Their roster—complete with the addresses of members--was there for the taking on the Internet. The gang’s goal was acquiring wheeled armored personnel carriers.  Their vehicles of choice were the Cadillac Gage V100 Commando—a four-wheeled APC, and the Alvis Saracen, a British 6-wheeled APC. Garcia sent out four-man teams in stolen cars to as far away as Oklahoma and Louisiana to steal them.

His men would arrive after midnight, batter down house doors, and force people from their beds at gunpoint. They marched them to their garages to show the gang members how to start and operate their vehicles. To give them more time to get away before an alarm was raised, the gang members killed the homeowners and their families. Over the course of three nights, they drove back to Anahuac with three Saracens and two V-100s.

Garcia was disappointed to find that most of the MVPA members had only non-firing dummy weapons mounted on their vehicles. Only one of the vehicles had a live gun. This was a semi-automatic-only Browning Model 1919. So their next targets were belt-fed machineguns, taken in storefront or home invasion robberies of Class 3 licensed full auto weapons dealers. These robberies netted six .30 caliber belt-feds, two Browning .50s, and 15 submachineguns of various types. They were surprised at the quantity of ammunition and extra magazines that the dealers had.  In all, there were 232 cans of ammunition, much of it already on linked belts. 

It was not until after they had the guns and Tony started reading their manuals that they realized they needed belt-linking machines to assemble belts of ammunition.  They then brazenly went back to a store that they had robbed just two days before, and took both .30 and .50 caliber hand-lever linking machines, and several 20mm ammo cams containing thousands of used links.

This is the release day for my novel "Survivors: A Novel of the Coming Collapse". (October 4th, 2011.) Thank you for waiting to order your copies until today. Keep an eye on the book's Amazon Sales Rank, as the day progresses. This should be fun!

Here is some information on the novel, without any spoilers: Much of the novel is set in the Four Corners Region of the American Southwest. "Survivors" is unusual for a novel sequel. Unlike most sequels, instead of extending the "Patriots" saga further into the future, it is contemporaneous with the action in the first book. But it is set in different locales, with mostly different characters, with vastly different levels of preparedness. The novel begins from the perspective of a U.S. Army officer deployed in Afghanistan, just as "The Crunch" unfolds.

Unlike the protagonists in "Patriots", most of the characters in "Survivors" don't have a deep larder, so they are forced to scramble and improvise. There are just a few crossover characters between the two novels, such as Ian and Blanca Doyle (whom you will remember from "Patriots" as the husband and wife Laron Light Experimental airplane owners living near Luke Air Force Base.)

The cover art for the book was masterfully rendered by mixed-media artist Tony Mauro, Jr. of New York. He took my vague one-minute verbal description of what I had in mind for the art, and he nailed it. I am very happy with his design and his choice of color palette. It really captures the essence of the novel. (The lead character, Andy Laine, is depicted on horseback in Texas, in the midst of The Crunch. You'll see how closely Tony matched the storyline when you read the novel.

"Survivors" is being published by Atria Books, a division of Simon & Schuster. This first released is in hardback. It retails for $24, but Amazon sells it at the deeply discounted price of $14.40.) It will be followed sometime in 2012 by a trade paperback. (The latter is the same binding format that was used with "Patriots".)

The publisher tells me that the first print run of hardbacks was 35,000 copies. This big initial printing was in part based upon Amazon's strong pre-order of 15,000 copies. I'd prefer that readers in the U.S., Canada, and the UK order through Amazon. (If your order is at least $25, you can qualify for Amazon's free "Super Saver" shipping. See our Catalog Page for ideas on other items that you might want to order, to bring your total over $25.)

I should also mention that Kindle, Nook, and iBook e-books as well as the audio book are also now orderable. The award-winning Dick Hill narrated the audio book. (He also narrated "Patriots".)

The hardback will also soon be available to U.S. armed forces servicemembers, through the All Services Exchange Catalog.

If you've already read it, succinct, positive reviews at the Amazon and Barnes & Noble web sites are greatly appreciated. For example, here is one that was just posted:

"I was fortunate enough to get an advance copy of Survivors and truly enjoyed reading it. If you liked Patriots you will love Survivors! While Patriots was about 50% technical manual and 50% novel, Survivors is much more a story but still has enough "technical" in it to keep a true Rawles fan happy. Survivors is a wide-ranging book that takes place with different groups in many locations who are much less prepared than the groups in Patriots. That makes it very interesting, coupled with the fact that Rawles dosen't mind killing off a character you like once in a while to keep you guessing. I especially like the "Kentucky Seed Lady", Sheila Randall, who shows that you just don't lay down and take it when things go bad but get to work instead. Also, who wouldn't like Andy Laine and his story of sacrifice and scrappiness to get home from Afganiston when things go bad. The world and timeline that Rawles has created will continue to support many new books in the future. Survivors (unlike Patriots) leaves you with some unfinished business which, I assume, will be tied up when [the second sequel] Deo volente comes out.

I also have to mention that even though I have read Survivors I ordered a new copy so I can get the great cover art on my bookshelf (the advance copy has a plain cover). The art fits the theme of Rawles world and the story itself perfectly. Great story, great read, educational, interesting and timely - just what you want in a book. Nice work James Wesley Rawles!" - Robert A. Jacobsen

Thanks for your help in making the Book Bomb Day a success!