Timeless World War 2 Lessons, by T.W.

After recently reading a number of books on intelligence, subterfuge, spying, and survival in World War 2, I have been led to compile a list of lessons that we can draw on today. Preparation is Key The best spy masters and espionage groups built up networks of contacts around strategic areas before the invasion or war. This allowed one to gain information without being seen as suspicious. If your spy doesn’t know the language thoroughly, errors in translation lead to disaster. A few weeks in language school is rarely enough, but that’s what many operatives received during World War 2 …


Beyond The B’s…Now What? – Part 2, by Jason (Soon To Be In The Redoubt)

Don’t Be Too Cool For School SurvivalBlog readers, at least on the greater web, believe it or not, have a reputation as being amongst the more educated and affluent members of the preparedness community. Take that for what you will, but up until quite recently I had relied on a work ethic, intelligence, and blessings to continue to secure my rise in my chosen field. I had left college some eight years ago after being stuck in the “somewhere in my senior year” quagmire for what seemed like forever, after deciding that I had plenty of opportunity in my chosen …


Beyond The B’s…Now What? – Part 1, by Jason (Soon To Be In The Redoubt)

Living a prepared life, as most readers understand, is not something that stops. One is never properly finished preparing. It is not something one works on for a bit and then says, “Okay, I’m done.” It is a lifestyle of self-sufficiency and preparedness. One of the first things most preppers come across in exploring the basics of preparedness is the three B’s– beans, bullets, and Band-aids. How many times have we read, even on this blog, “Make sure you have your beans, bullets, and band-aids squared away first!” That’s sage advice, and we should all follow it. However, what happens …


A Portable and Easily Constructed Manual Water Pump – Part 2, by G.G.

Parts Required First, here is a picture of the necessary parts. All metal parts are made of brass, and all plastic parts are made of PVC. Brass parts and seal: 1 @ 1/2” x 3” brass nib 2 @ 1/2” x 1” brass nibs 2 @ 1/2” threaded brass coupler 1 @ 1/2” threaded brass ring/nut (I had to sand mine down as it was hexagonal) 1 @ piston cup seal – McMaster Carr part # 9411K12 1 @ 1/2” brass check valve (I used Merril 800 series CV50) 1 @ 1 1/2” brass check valve with filter screen PVC …


Aquaponics, by A.M. in NC

Introduction As a forward to this article, let me tell you a little about myself. I’ve been an avid daily reader of SurvivalBlog for about four years now and an avid prepper since my days as a Boy Scout. I’m 30 years old with a wonderfully supportive wife and two adorable girls. About two years ago, after being introduced to the idea of aquaponics, I started thinking about how much the cost would be to get started, how much more of my time toward prepping this would take up, and then finally how I would convince my wife that this …


Do What You Are Good At, But Work At What You Aren’t, by R.D.

Fear and prudence I’ve never thought of myself as being particularly knowledgeable on specific things regarding preparedness. I wasn’t in the military, so I don’t feel qualified to give “tactical firearms advice”, but I like to shoot and train as much as possible. I’m not an EMT, but I’ve put together several first aid kits that our family feels comfortable using. I’m not a farmer, but we have learned basic gardening over the last seven years in our small urban garden. I’m not a professional mechanic, but I prefer to maintain our cars and equipment largely by myself. I’m not …


Seriously Mentally Ill (SMI), by N.N.

My experience is based on working with the SMI population in a behavioral health outpatient clinic and through personal experience with a spouse with a SMI diagnosis as well as a parent with an SMI diagnosis. The types of individuals that are in the SMI population vary wildly and can been acutely symptomatic and asymptomatic depending on their diagnosis. This is NOT a complete guide on mental illness; it’s only an experienced perspective on mental illness. Acute symptoms Acute symptoms are often easy to identify; they include talking to self, responding to internal stimuli, depression, aggression, or suicide. Common symptoms …


Amazing Affordable Force Multipliers – Part 2, by Tupreco

EMP-Proof Your Radio Comms With a USGI Ammo Can Inexpensively How can you EMP-proof select comm gear for under $100? You can do this more easily than you might think. Radio comms are radio-based systems that can communicate across distances from a few miles up to thousands of miles, under the right atmospheric conditions. In order of range (and cost) these radio comms include walkie talkies using the Family Radio Service (FRS) and the General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS). Next, at higher cost and more range, is citizens band radio or CB. At the top end in price and range …


Letter Re: Amazing Affordable Force Multipliers

HJL, I enjoyed reading this article about inexpensive thermal/IR force multipliers, but there are a few things I’d like to mention about these. Turning on any smart phone in a combat situation would look like someone holding up a 60” flat screen to anyone with real night vision and would probably draw the attention of the naked eye too. PVS 4s can spot a man puffing on a cigarette from over a mile away, so imagine what the light emitted from a smart phone looks like whether it’s facing you or not. To use a thermal smart phone effectively, you’d …


Amazing Affordable Force Multipliers – Part 1, by Tupreco

Night Vision, Thermal Vision, Wireless Video, EMP Protection I decided now is the time to put this together because the consistent theme in every prepper blog and financial publication today is that TIME.IS.RUNNING.OUT. Even non-preppers know something is up because it is starting to pop up now and then in random conversations. Many average people are finally realizing that something is different this time. However, they mostly still want to complain and do nothing, but at least it’s a start. In the meantime, the more motivated among us are making ready for the pending disruptions we know are coming. This …


The Most Important Preps Of Your Life – Part 2, by J.M.

Motivation Staying motivated can be tough. What worked for me was finding that thing that can keep me going indefinitely. For me, that’s my wife and kids. Everything I do is for them– my fitness level, my prepping, my everyday activities…..everything! Every time I don’t want to go to the gym, I think about them. Every time I stock some ammo or food away, I think of them. I do it for their safety and health as well. I am not the most fit person in the world, nor am I the most prepared, but I give it my all …


The ABC’s and 123’s of Survival Preparedness – Part 2, by The Circumspect Survivalist

Now we will move to the physical aspects of preparedness as they relate to survival. Survival Systems Physical fitness is a given when talking about preparedness, but a detailed discussion of it is beyond the scope of this article. Suffice it to say that it is of vital importance and if you aren’t in shape right now you’re at an extreme disadvantage. During whatever time we have left, it would be prudent to at least take some positive steps to improve your fitness level if you haven’t already made it a priority in your life. Survival systems, on the other …


The ABC’s and 123’s of Survival Preparedness – Part 1, by The Circumspect Survivalist

End of the Line For those who are already deeply entrenched in the fortified bunker of their survival awareness, it is universally understood that we as a nation and a world are about to transit through a very dangerous and challenging period in our history. Whatever your personal beliefs, there is no question that either because of an economic collapse, social and or political breakdown, another world war, or one or more environmental catastrophes, our present way of life is about to change forever. The days are drawing near, if not already upon us, when the luxuries and services that …


One Yukon Learning Event, by S.H.

On a mid-November day years ago, I set out to walk over a high, broad, timbered ridge through some apparently uninhabited spruce, poplar, and birch woods in the Yukon Territory, Canada. I was headed over and down to the lower part of a long creek about seven direct miles away. I carried metal tags that I’d received from the Mining Recorder’s Office for nailing to two sets of placer claim posts that I had cut, labeled, signed, and recorded a few weeks before, one set done by Power of Attorney. Daylight hours were now becoming seriously short at that subarctic …


Planning Your Preps Using the Rule of 3s, by Last NJ Conservative

I have been an avid reader and novice practitioner of prepping for some time now and, like many, I have been bewildered by the vast amount of information and details available on the subject matter. One area in particular that I have found utterly confusing has been tying it all together to develop a start up, or a beginning plan, to guide us in a prioritized and scaled approach. Using some basic doctrine that is already available on the Internet and modifying some common sense tenets into it, I believe a generic footprint follows to assist you in your efforts. …