Category: Emerging Threats

Letter Re: Re: Studying Guerilla Warfare Tactics

Hi Jim, To follow up on this discussion, another good publication to study guerilla and counter-guerilla warfare is the book Total Resistance by Major H. Von Dach. Although the publication was written in the 1960s and concerns Swiss plans for dealing with a Soviet invasion, I believe it has quite a bit of information that is directly useful, or which could be easily updated, for use in today’s world. I’m not sure that the English-language version is still in print, but used copies can be found. – J.B. and Co.


Seventeen and Prepping, by Michael on the East Coast

Greetings, my fellow SurvivalBlog readers! My name is Michael, and I am seventeen years old. I live somewhere on the East Coast of the United States of America with my mother and father. To the rest of the world, I appear a normal teenage boy: Glued to my iPad, where I read SurvivalBlog each night before bed, obsessed with both new and old music, and always quoting music lyrics, movies and television shows with my friends. Yet what both the majority my friends and society do not know is for the last year I have been preparing for The End …


Letter Re: Preparedness for Hazardous Chemical Spills

Dear Sir, I work as an firefighter/EMT and Hazardous Materials Tech in the Greater Louisville, Kentucky region. I would like to provide your readership with two examples of ‘stabilized’ emergencies going wrong in the last year in the Louisville area alone. Both could have been catastrophic had it not been for quick thinking and pure dumb luck. The first incident began in late October of last year when 11 cars of a 57-car Paducah and Louisville line (a CSX owned company) derailed in the southwest corner of Jefferson County, very near Fort Knox. The cars that derailed were carrying Butadiene …


Letter Re: Some Disturbing Trends in an Eastern Nanny State

Dear Mr Rawles, I have a couple of disturbing events in my state (southeastern New England) I wish to report to you and your readers. I do not have medical  insurance.  Because of this I go to the local health  center run (until now) very well by the local hospital. and I have benefited greatly by their care. However, this past week I became quite sick, and made an appointment to be seen by one of their doctors. Upon entering I saw they have new computers and scanners. A patient must use this to check in. This is done by …


Letter Re: Drawing the Line on Noncompliance with Unconstitutional Laws

Hello Mr. Rawles,  As an avid reader of your blog I felt compelled to send this email. I noticed again in your Sunday blog that your telling people to not register there firearms. While that may be easy advise for someone living in a free state, those of us who can’t relocate due to various reasons and live in Progressive hell holes like myself (in Connecticut) find that advise to be very dangerous. If you do not register your firearms here and get caught with them after our new unconstitutional new “laws” go into effect, it’s a class “D” felony …


Letter Re: Chicken and Beef Bouillon Without MSG

Hello, I would like to point out to everyone that even though the Better Than Bouillon labels say “NO ADDED MSG” it does still contain some MSG. Those of us who are made very ill by MSG have learned to triple check all listed ingredients. Here is a quote from Food Renegade that explains this better than I can: “Hydrolyzed soy protein is an ingredient that always contains MSG! (source) Because the manufacturer didn’t add an ingredient called “mono-sodium glutamate,” they can “truthfully” claim “No MSG added” on their label. Yet, nothing is stopping them from adding ingredients that contain MSG. In …


California’s Draconian Gun Legislation: The Beat Goes On, and On

California State Senator Tom Berryhill (who represents a far-flung conservative district up in the lightly-populated Sierras) recently sent an e-mail with a depressingly long list of pending Democrat-sponsored gun legislation in People’s Republic of California: Senate Bill (S.B.) 47 (Yee, D-San Francisco) Changes the definition of “assault weapon” to include a firearm which is a semiautomatic, centerfire rifle or semiautomatic pistol that does not have a detachable magazine. S.B. 53 (DeLeon, D-Los Angeles) Dubbed the “ammo purchase permit bill”, this legislation creates new state permits that require background checks for buyers of ammunition. S.B. 108 (Yee, D-SF) Requires ‘safe’ storage …


Two Letters Re: Peak Oil Meets Yuppie Marketing

James, I agree with Mr. Williamson’s comments.  To use a Tennessee expression I would opine that Heinberg does not know “diddly-squat” about farming.   First, my bona fides: I grew up on a farm.  Both sets of grandparents farmed with teams of mules in west Tennessee.   Some 30% of our farming acreage was used to grow food for the team of mules.  We now operate a mini farm to be self sufficient in food and to grow and save heirloom seeds for barter after “The Crunch.”  We have a Kubota B7510 tractor and all the implements.  This year we’ve some …


Letter Re: GPS Jamming is Illegal in Most Jurisdictions

James, Please let your readers know that GPS jammers are illegal to own, operate, and market in the United States. Here is a link to the FCC consumer alert on GPS jammers. While I can understand that someone could make the personal decision that their personal privacy justifies blocking GPS tracking, please be aware that these GPS jammers are very effective and can jam an area up to a mile in diameter. There was well-publicized incident of a personal GPS jammer that shut down the aircraft landing aid at the Newark, New Jersey airport. And there are documented cases of …


Letter Re: Canadian Officials Cast a Wider Net on Restricted Guns

Mr. Rawles, Two years ago, I wrote to you prior to the abolition of the Canadian Long Gun Registry about rumors that senior officials with the RCMP were conspiring to reclassify a large number of long guns. A major development has recently unfolded that I think merits attention to both your Canadian and American readers – as this could potentially set a major precedent pertaining to gun registration and confiscation.   There is a lot of drama and intrigue involved between some of the owners of businesses involved, and a more comprehensive explanation of the situation can be found here …


Michael Z. Williamson’s Commentary: Peak Oil Meets Yuppie Marketing

Over at the One Scythe Revolution web site, Peak Oil expert Richard Heinberg states that in order to continue to grow the same amount of food in the future, without the use of cheap oil, we will need 40-to-50 million farmers, farming 3-to-50 acres each, cultivated with hand tools. No, not like in the Middle Ages. We are talking about “appropriate technology” here. But let’s face it, “appropriate technology” is wielded by slaves. Masters wield guns. Slaves wield scythes. Here is quote: “One good scythe per farm, could revolutionize small-scale farming.” I kinda feel like this has already been done. …


Three Letters Re: Studying Guerilla Warfare Tactics

CPT Rawles, To follow up on the recent letter son Guerilla warfare: 1.   The most important thing to the success of the insurgent is the support of the people (the fish swims in the sea). The insurgent must maintain support/legitimacy.  Discipline when dealing with the people is paramount.   2.   The insurgent always chooses the location of the fight. 3.   The insurgent never fights when he knows he will lose.  The insurgent wins by surviving. 4.   Advance/retreat; rest/harass; retreat/advance – read Mao. 5.   The insurgent seeks to make the enemy overreact against the people. 6.   In the early phases of …


Letter Re: New Jersey Court Upholds Man Arrested for Visible Gun Case

Sir: The situation described in the recently-cited article (New Jersey: Court Upholds Man Arrested For Visible Gun Case In Car) only underlines frequent Rawlesian reminders for maintaining OPSEC at all times.  His arrest might have been avoided had he simply covered the cargo area with a blanket so the cases were not visible.  Hopefully the conviction will be overturned in a higher court under the provisions of the Firearms Owners Protection Act (FOPA).  In general, this states that: “notwithstanding any state or local law, a person is entitled to transport a firearm from any place where he or she may lawfully possess …


Letter Re: Studying Guerilla Warfare Tactics

Dear Mr. Rawles, So few understand insurgency and its intricacies that if the SHTF there would be no leaders in the towns and cities to teach the people who would become the auxiliary, the underground, and the guerilla units what they need to know to be successful that we would have an “epic fail” from the very start.  Insurgency is more than picking up a weapon and shooting, in fact that is a small part of insurgency.   Most people can’t even define insurgency, and that includes the so called experts in survival.  The fault doesn’t lie with the people, …


Incendiary Words: Of Detonations and Denotations

I find it curious that the definition of “weapon of mass destruction” has become more elastic and quite geographically dependent in recent years. When it is used to describe events overseas, the phrase still seems to include only lethal chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons. But here in the States, it can mean something as small as a pressure cooker packed with 10 pounds of black powder, or even just a home-made hand grenade containing perhaps eight ounces of explosive. Meanwhile, the Obama administration has ordered laser-guided GBU-38 JDAMs up to 2,000 pounds dropped on Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, and Yemen, yet …