Category: Field Gear

Letter Re: Stow Your Gear Securely in Your Vehicle

JWR, I didn’t know how to post this, so I thought I’d email it. [JWR Adds: Email is the preferred method for submitting letters or articles to the blog, at james@rawles.to.] A couple of Sundays ago, we lost our “getaway” car. My wife and I had our 2004 V-10 Ford Excursion tricked out for anything, including an emergency kit with everything from soup to nuts in the back. And best of all, it was paid for! We could grab the grandkids and go. Might even take the kids, too! Anyway, a little road rage from some miscreant in a Toyota …


Survival Tools, by SJH

I’ve read many articles regarding “survival “ and “preparedness” topics, my conclusion is that an important area has been missed. Lots of planning seems to focus on food storage, water, supplies, and so on, yet I have not seen or read anything about “survival tools — how to be prepared for anything mechanically”. So after considering this topic for several years, I’ve decided to introduce my own topic as far as tools for the self-reliant individual. My background includes 30 years of mechanical equipment repair on automobiles and trucks/trailers to heavy construction equipment including dozers and cranes. Having been exposed …


Lessons Leaned from a Wildfire Evacuation, by Daniel in Montana

It was a gorgeous Saturday night, Sept. in Montana’s mountains the weather was hanging onto summer’s 70 degree temperatures, warm and dry. Working all day at the hospital and finishing some of my home preparedness projects gave me a satisfaction and sense of accomplishment. Time to relax, I sat down, put my feet up and was sipping my week’s end treat, a cold beer. I phoned my friend, “Brett” to finalize our plans to butcher a few of his farm animals tomorrow. He was finishing a Bible reading with his boys and was putting them to bed, and would call …


Letter Re: An Overwhelmed Newbie, Catching Up at Prepping

Mr. Rawles, I’m fairly new to your blog (three months), and still feeling a tad bit overwhelmed. I’m a 5th grade school teacher, and my husband is a former truck driver, now a truck dispatcher/supervisor. Not just am I realizing that I have a lot of catching up to do to get my family prepared for the rough times ahead, but I’m realizing how much my husband and I have to learn, to be truly ready! I’ve taken your advice and have asked my mother to teach me how to do pressure cooker canning. That was something that I had …


Letter Re: Some Advise of Starting Wood and Charcoal Fires

Hello Mr. Rawles; Recently I have seen lists recommending the storage of charcoal lighter fluid. I would like to suggest the use of a charcoal starter chimney. You will not need to use and store the lighter fluid and worry about running out of it. With the chimney all you need to store is a supply of newspaper. It takes just a sheet or two of newspaper wadded up to start the charcoal and in short order your charcoal will be ready to use. You can find the chimneys on eBay or go to the Internet and find instructions for …


The Dumpster List, by InfoRodeo

Because of our financial constraints, aggravated by the economy and rural area we now live, my family cannot afford to own a second “retreat” home, nor do we have much land on which to build a shed or store much of anything. As a boy, my parents didn’t have much money, and through a mix of my dad’s “fix it or make do” attitude, the scout motto “be prepared” and my newfound need for better frugality, I’ve made a kind of checklist that every non-food purchase my wife and I make must go through, and it’s jokingly called the Dumpster …


Letter Re: Perspectives on Roughing It and Covert Car Camping

My dad kicked me out when I was 19 so I lived in my car for a year on the streets and got pretty good at it. I’m now married in my mid-40s and have ran several successful businesses and doing well for myself. But, I’m still a cheapie at heart. I absolutely hate paying for motels. When I travel I spend lots of money on food and entertainment, but I hate paying nightly for a bed to sleep on. About 10 years ago I bought nondescript 1994 mini-van Plymouth Voyager and converted it into what I call the Stealth …


Noise, Light, and Litter Discipline, by Survival Ranger

“If I can find your MRE trash, I can find your patrol base!”  A quote that has stayed with me, haunted me, and perplexed me throughout my military career. Who would have thought that simple traces of life could serve such a double edged purpose? The very fact that we could locate (almost better than a GPS fix on a position) an enemy encampment, an over-watch position, or cache by sight sound or smell is an amazing concept. But the fact that careless lapses in security on any of the above could compromise our own is a very harrowing one. …


Selecting and Caring for a Provider, Defender, and Companion, by Survival Ranger

Ironically, I’m not talking about a person while writing this article. The truth is that in many situations, a firearm will be a Provider, Defender, and Companion, and more. Thus, it is only fitting that I shed some light on the very real necessity of proper firearms selection and maintenance. In order to condense this article, and to prevent the inevitable debates, I am not going to list my preferences. Simply put, firearms are a means to an end. Whether it is the means of procuring game, fending off looters, quelling a riot, distracting and buying time, or just giving …


Lessons Learned from Hurricanes Ike, Rita, and Katrina, by TiredTubes

In September, 2008, Hurricane Ike–a Category 4 hurricane–pounded the Gulf Coast of the southern US. Some coastal communities like Crystal Beach no longer really exist. Inland, life was severely disrupted. For those of us on the South Coast hurricanes are a frequent reality. We were quite well prepared, but used the disruptions and dislocations as a test and opportunity to tune up our preparations. 1. Be ready to help others and to accept help We didn’t need much during Ike, but the power went out before a neighbor finished boarding up his house. My 1 KW inverter, hooked up to …


Prepping for the Worst Case: Becoming a Refugee, by Dr. L.D.

I am unable to make my home self-sustaining.  So, unfortunately, my family will probably become refugees in a true SHTF scenario.  My focus presently is in becoming desirable refugees rather than shunned refugees.  The key is minimizing any negative impact (extra logistics of all sorts) and maximizing any positive impact (filling in weak spots) to someone that is geographically fortuitous.  I was challenged to figure out how a small family could best become a wanted commodity when food is tight and security isn’t. I determined the key for us was that everything carried needed to be dense in value. Density …


Three Letters Re: Perspectives on Roughing It and Covert Car Camping

Hi Jim, That was a great letter from Jolly but I’d like to add a couple of things. Jolly says ‘never, ever’ sleep at an highway rest stop. I guess that depends on where you are. In the last few years Texas has built some absolutely beautiful rest stops with clean bathrooms, vending machines, etc. that are manned 24 hours a day. They encourage sleeping there (better that than fatigued drivers on the road). I asked the people at one if it would be okay to sleep in my car – they replied that yes, it would be perfectly okay …


Perspectives on Roughing It and Covert Car Camping, by Jolly

I was a Boy Scout, and later did a fair amount of camping when I toured the US by motorcycle in the late 1980s. My tents started floorless and without mosquito netting; progressed to canvas umbrella tent with both. Later still, I was able to go to ripstop nylon “pup” style tents. Advancing, finally, to modern shock-corded aluminum poles and nylon. After a long gap of 20+ years, my son is now a scout, and I’m on the “no-other-parent-can-go-and-we’ll-have-to-cancel-if-you-don’t-volunteer” rotation for his troop. I just completed my second camp-out, and have noticed a few things that both dismay and encourage …


Letter Re: Preparations for Eyesight and Hearing

Hello Mr. Rawles, This is just a quick note from a new reader. If what I mention to you has been covered on your site, I apologize; your site takes more than a few multi-hour reads to digest! I see very little talk about contact lenses/solution and hearing aids/batteries post-TEOTWAWKI in most preparedness articles. I would think it would be most unfortunate to train, learn and prepare for any upcoming abnormalities and shortly thereafter not be able to see or hear. It would seem to me that at least a couple year’s supply of contact lenses on hand at all …


Water, Water Everywhere?, by David in Israel

James, I think it important to remind the readers of survivalblog to assess their water supply situation in the event of a local or national emergency. Much of the western united states even the well irrigated areas are actually truly considered high desert and could nor supply even 10% of the population should access be lost to the water supply infrastructure. Unfortunately many people have lived their whole life with functional first world plumbing and the clear knowledge that magical faucets, toilets, and shower heads will always have a supply of clean potable water. It is imperative that anyone planning …