Today, I begin a series of articles that compare 19 states in the western U.S. for their retreat potential. I hope that you find this useful. I would appreciate your comments and suggestions to balance my admittedly subjective assessments.
If nothing else, Hurricane Katrina has verified my long-held belief that we live in a very fragile society with just a thin veneer of civilization. And it is evident that it doesn’t take much to peel back that veneer. A “must read” article recently ran in USA Today. And consider this from yesterdays’ Daily Reckoning: “Katrina was the rainy day for which people are meant to save. But Americans of the Greenspan era saw no need to save. The latest figures show them saving in July at the rate of MINUS 0.6% of income. Oh la la…laissez les bon temps …
The data in this series of posts describes 19 western states. (Note: Much more detailed retreat locale recommendations will be provided in subsequent blog posts, following this series of articles.) After much consideration, all of the eastern states were intentionally excluded from this analysis because they are either downwind of nuclear targets and/or are in areas with excessive population density. (See my post on population density, back on August 5th.) This wasn’t just the result of subjective bias. I try to use the dispassionate mindset of an actuarial accountant. As evidenced recently with Hurricane Katrina, population density is perhaps the …
Arizona: Population: 5.1 million. Population Density: 44.7 per square mile (Rank 7 of JWR’s top 19 states). Area: 114,000 square miles (rank 6 of 50). Average home insurance cost: $438/yr. (rank 30 of 50). Crime Safety Ranking: 48 of 50. Boston T. Party’s State Firearms Laws Ranking: 91%. Per capita income: $24,988 (rank 37 of 50). ACT & SAT Scores Ranking: 25 of 50. Plusses: Mild winters at lower elevations. Has the nation’s top rating in “education freedom” (the state is at the forefront of the charter school movement.) Open carry of handguns is legal and perhaps the most commonplace …
Rite in the Rain is truly waterproof paper. You can even write on it underwater! I tested their Field Binder. They also make binders and paper for many other uses. The paper comes in several templates: Universal Grid paper, CAS Briefing Form (9 Line), Standard Range Card, Call for Fire, Warning Order, Soldier’s Personal Data, MEDEVAC (9 Line), and UXO/IED Report (9 Line). The grid paper is useful for writing and graphing/mapping. Field Binder Design: The green plastic binder measures 7 3/4″ x5 3/4″x 1″ with six snap rings. It has an inch ruler and a standard/metric conversion table inside …
Jim, Reading through the reams of articles and blogs concerning New Orleans, this AP piece stood out. Notice that the person profiled is apparently a Vietnam veteran who had stockpiled food, fuel and firearms, lived in the war zone, and seemed to be just fine without bugging out. And it made me think… Yeah, we all want a ‘retreat’ – but this may be possible for less than 1 percent of Americans. Are we as survivalists ignoring the efforts of the folks that are prepared to sit in place in an urban setting? What training or informational resources would …
Jim, You might want to have a section dedicated to the lessons we can learn from this. If you do, my two cents worth would be: 1-The authorities may cut off the water and phones-even if you are a politician. The Feds want you to go to an approved shelter-and they want control of all information. Your life is not really that important to them. 2-The shelter may lock you up for five days or so with no water, food, or medicine. And you can’t get out-and charities won’t be allowed to come to you. 3-The shelter may have druggies …
“Along the debris-choked Mississippi River, pharmacist Jason Dove watches as people scramble in the parking lot of the downtown convention center for cases of airlifted water and shakes his head. ‘We created this Frankenstein,’ he says. ‘It’s showing how fragile this society is.’” -as quoted in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, USA Today, Sept. 2, 2005.