Letter Re: The Importance of Rural Retreat Light Discipline

Jim: I’m writing to comment on something in your nonfiction book “How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It”: On page 206 you state: “Without proper blackout precautions, your house will be a ‘come loot me’ beacon that can be seen for miles at night.”I can’t stress light discipline enough. Here’s an example: About fifteen years ago my parents went to dinner at The Cougar Inn on Lake Wenatchee [in eastern Washington]. It was a dark night and on the way back from dinner they looked across the lake and saw a faint green flashing light …


Two Letters Re: Choosing the Right Footwear

Captain Rawles, I just read Desert Rat’s piece on footgear, and would like to put up a bit of advice and a recommendation on the subject.  Bates, while they put out excellent footwear, primarily makes footwear for institutional environments.  This is to say Police, EMS, Corrections, Hospital staff, etc.  Many of the officers I worked with in Corrections wore Bates on board our facility, and the footwear served them quite well in all conditions.  However, the footwear did not serve as well in the field, when we had need to be out in the boonies.  From my own experience, I …


Economics and Investing:

Andrew K. sent us this: The Most Important Decision Bernanke Will Ever Make Over at ETF Daily: History Says Silver Could Become The Next 10-Bagger Investment; Here’s Why Largest Rare Earths Producer Halts Output. Eric N. sent a link to an interview with mainstream investment guru (and prepper) Robert Kiyosaki Items from The Economatrix: Budget Cuts Claim Hundreds of Thousands of City, County Jobs This is No Normal Recession:  Are We Ready for $100 Oil? Gold Signals The End Gold and Economic Decline Alternative Misery Index Drives Gold Demand


Odds ‘n Sods:

An interesting piece on the EPA running roughshod over an Idaho family.    o o o F.G. flagged this over at The Daily Mail: Brains over 55 work quite well    o o o Michael Z. Williamson (SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large) recommended the Newseum web site, where you can see scrollovers of a large number of American newspapers.    o o o Über-absurd: The Glock 9mm Beta CMAG. I suppose the greatest practicality these will have is in giving Nancy Pelosi a fit of apoplexy when she learns of their existence. Oh, and then there’s the very rare chance that …



Notes from JWR:

Michael Z. Williamson (SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large) has updated his review of the X7 rifle (posted on Augus23rd), to reflect his ongoing tests.  — Today we present another entry for Round 37 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: 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. …


Choosing the Right Footwear, by Desert Rat

I am relatively new to prepping, but one thing I have noticed is that there are quite a few “oh by the way” mini-lectures on footwear that sneak in among other topics.  This is unfortunate, because footwear should not be relegated to a bunny trail or an afterthought when planning for an uncertain future.  Your choice of shoes can be the difference between comfort and misery, so they deserve careful consideration.  By careful consideration, I don’t mean going to the nearest military surplus store to buy the most expensive tactical boot you can afford.  As I have discovered, there can …


Letter Re: A Low-Cost Method of Storing Tinder in Your Field Kit

Dear Mr. Rawles, I just began reading your second novel and in some ways find it even more fun to watch the beginning of the action knowing some of what lies in store in terms of “future history.” But the purpose of my e-mail today is to describe a simple container I’ve been making to transport a variety of items including doses of medicine and fire starters.  As many of your readers know cotton balls saturated with vaseline make really good fire starters.  But how to transport them and keep them fresh?  This is my method: Get two plastic 20 …


Two Letters Re: How to Defend a Retreat Against Wheeled Vehicle Threats

Mr. Rawles, Thank you for all you do in educating those of use who have been slow to see. After I read B.W.’s How to Defend a Retreat Against Wheeled Vehicle Threats I had to tell about an idea I have been playing with. Taking the anthill and flower trough concepts and combining them. To build this in imagination we will go in reverse order to what you would do in real life. First build the ant hill. They should surround your building spaced less than a cars width apart. Build another ring outside of that but put the anthills …


Economics and Investing:

Cities Where Homes Will Not Sell EW.B. sent this article about a Nevada town: End of Empire: Tough economy closes mining town. (JWR’s Comment: This illustrates the importance of avoiding relocating to towns that are depended on a single employer.) HOLY BAILOUT – Federal Reserve Now Backstopping $75 Trillion Of Bank Of America’s Derivatives Trades. (Thanks to Steve S. for the link.) John R. flagged this: WOLF: Liberalism’s unwashed last stand–The hippie-critical new faces of the Democratic Party On a similar note, The Daily Bell‘s editors ask: Elite Control of OWS Protests Increasingly Obvious? Items from The Economatrix: The Global …


Odds ‘n Sods:

A foreshadowing of a post-collapse threat? Lions and Tigers and Bears! Deputies Hunt Exotic Animals on the Loose in Ohio. (A tip of the hat to Mary F. for the link.)    o o o K.A.F. sent this: Reid signals government jobs must take priority over private-sector jobs    o o o K.A.F. also sent a link to a scheme of genius from the Mickey Mouse State: San Francisco plan would offer tax break for hiring felons. (Yes, but will they take the next logical step and use taxpayer funds to provide free insurance for all the toner cartridges, laptops, …



Notes from JWR:

Note from JWR: Safecastle’s big 25% off sale on Mountain House canned long-term storage foods, with free shipping and additional buyer’s club incentives, ends today (Wednesday, October 19, 2011). Be sure to get your order in by midnight, eastern time. — Today we present another entry for Round 37 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: 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.) …


Some Thoughts on How to Live in Times of Hunger, by ShepherdFarmerGeek in Spokane

We prep in large part to keep ourselves (and those we love) from going hungry in the event of a disaster or crisis.  Yet there’s no way of knowing in advance what kind of crisis we will face, nor how long our supplies will last. Even the most prepared among us could find their supplies wiped out in a fire, in a raid or natural disaster. And our plans for gardening or hunting could be completely disrupted by any number of things. What this means is that at least some of us are going to go hungry, and its possible …


Two Letters Re: How to Defend a Retreat Against Wheeled Vehicle Threats

CPT Rawles: From a former Army Combat Engineer’s perspective, I would disagree with some of the information about anti-tank ditches and agree with other points raised in the article; How to Defend a Retreat Against Wheeled Vehicle Threats, by B.W. in Pennsylvania.   In the U.S. Army we would build a ditch at least 1 meter deep and typically closer to 2-3 meters deep with D7 bulldozers.  The ditch would be right around a blade width wide.  The most effective method is a dozer team with one digging it out and the other coming perpendicular to push the spoil to …