Dear Jim:
Regarding force multipliers, you touch on early warning with SIGINT, HUMINT and night vision, but I would argue that more immediate early warning through intrusion detection or perimeter security should be stressed as well:
If you are not aware of the bad guys approach, then all your other defensive measures are for naught. Even just having a minute to muster a defense, instead of 10 seconds, could make all the difference. Imagine an early warning on the approach of intruders at O-dark-thirty, with your entire team wide awake and suited up in defensive positions, vs. waking up to the sound of gunfire to mount a defense.
Some examples of perimeter security to give you early warning:
• Electronic motion detectors, or ground sensors. [Typically either passive IR or seismic.]
• Electronic hearing amplification. [JWR Adds: The Walker Game Ear hearing aids are very compact and have automatic noise suppression, so they work like electronic ear muffs.]
• A trip wire connected to tin cans, or a chemical light stick (visible light or IR) or blank cartridge. [JWR Adds: Magic Cube photographic flash cubes can also be set off, using a paper clip and a trip wire. It is quick and easy to use clear packing tape to attach them to a post, tree, or large bush. Magic Cubes are no longer manufactured but are still often sold on eBay and Craigslist.]
• Military grade thermal imaging scopes would be the ultimate for your OP, but are still $10,000 plus, the last time I checked
• Don’t forget the obvious – a cleared field to approach your homestead versus an overgrown field. How have other folks dealt with this issue? What worked, what didn’t?
Regards, – OSOM
James,
Regarding force multipliers, I would like to mention body armor. Obviously, protecting the main target area on the body “puts the odds in your favor” as we say.
Being in the business of selling body armor (I run BulletProofME) I am obviously partial to ballistic protection, but no less an authority than Boston T. Party lists body armor, along with night vision and secure radio communications as “… An order of magnitude advantage”. (See his book Boston on Surviving Y2K