Category: G. O. O. D.

Letter Re: Minimum Safe Distance From The Big City for Retreat Locales

Mr. Rawles, If one takes the Rawles Ranch criteria for minimum safe distance from large metropolitan areas – 400 miles from an area of 1 million or more, then one has eliminated all of the west except Montana north of Helena and North Dakota west of Bismarck (With a small piece of South Dakota northwest of Pierre too). Indeed, all of Idaho (the state mentioned in your novel “Patriots”) is excluded by circles drawn on Seattle and Salt Lake. My area of interest (when I’ve paid off the land and can afford to move) in the Big Horn area of …


Letter Re: Manpower Requirements for Defending a Retreat in a Worst Case, and the Jealous Neighbor Factor

James: The “Mr. and Mrs. Oscar” profile was most interesting. For a lot of us, probably the epitome of “If I had the money, my retreat would be…” On the downside, I would be concerned with: 1. The problem of defending/patrolling the property. A quarter section translates to a full mile of frontier. In a full SHTF situation, I’d want a trustworthy, commo equipped, well-armed loyal soul every 100 yards or so. If those folks put in 12 hour shifts, you’d need about 35 hands for perimeter security. That doesn’t take into account the roving patrols on the interior of …


Preparing for TEOTWAWKI–A Change of Lifestyle and a Change of Mindset, by D.O.

The End of the World as We Know It (TEOTWAWKI): statistically speaking, the odds are that you and your family are going to die. However, because you are reading this, you have decided that you want to die of old age in the event that Schumer hits the fan. 1. Your Level of Preparedness is dependent on where you are living. If you are living in large metro city. Then have about 60 days of supplies. After that time in a true TEOTWAWKI situation living conditions will have deteriorated to the point that it is unlivable and you will die …


Two Letters Re: Minimum Safe Distance From The Big City for Retreat Locales?

Dear Jim, My thoughts on retreat location, or living location (Ideally the same place) are as follows: From recent disasters (Hurricane Katrina, the Kim family, others), I see that most people are bound by societal rules of the road to stick to the Interstates or major highways, and to trust gadgets, without learning the mapping and math behind them. The worst places I can think of to live are the nice country houses one sees from the freeway. These are certain to be looted in a major disaster. US highways aren’t likely to be much of an improvement. However, as …


Which Vehicle Will Work? Choices For Post -TEOTWAWKI Transport by John in Central New York State

The following are a few comments on what might be a good vehicle at times of crisis, infrastructure failure, etc. Call it what you want – I don’t know what will, or will not happen in the future. This lack of knowledge makes it equally difficult to know what attributes might be needed in a car or truck. I live in a rural area of New York State – maybe 200 miles from New York City, 50-60 from the state capitol – Albany. My experience is that of a diesel mechanic, electrician, farmer, and house builder – mostly “old school” …


Letter Re: Minimum Safe Distance From The Big City for Retreat Locales?

Dear Jim: Re your recommendation that a retreat for TEOTWAWKI needs to be “at least one tank of gas away from the big cities–preferably at least 300 miles, if possible” to escape at least the worst of roving looter gangs. I agree 100% — I see getting out of the [path of the] flow of looters as the # 1 problem. Just like real estate – LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. You can store food, and learn how to grow food in time (or barter stored wealth) but no matter how good you are, sooner or later you’ll take casualties if you …


Letter Re: Is Radio Direction Finding a Potential Threat for Survivalists?

Mr. Rawles: Hey, I was just wondering what everyone with radios is planning in order to conceal the location of their transmissions from people who could potentially use the signal as a beacon to guide them right to your antenna. It might be fairly difficult to build a tracker, but I suspect there are pre-made devices to direction-find a fairly strong signal (e.g. ham radio). Thanks, – James D. JWR Replies: The only people that have effective radio direction finding (“DF“) equipment and the requisite expertise to operate it are A.) The NSA and a few other government agencies such …


Letter Re: America’s Interstate Highway and Freeway System in Decline

Hello James, Another indicator of America’s decline: our interstate highway system. [The following was in part excerpted from a Department of Transportation history web page. and from an article at The Tax Foundation web site.] The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1952 authorized the first funding specifically for construction of the interstate highway system, but it was only a token amount of $25 million a year for fiscal years (FY) 1954 and 1955. Legislation in 1954 authorized an additional $175 million annually for FY 1956 and 1957. Under the leadership of President Eisenhower, the question of how to fund the Interstate …


Letter Re: The James Kim Exposure Death Tragedy: Lessons to Be Learned

Mr. Rawles: I followed the search and rescue story [the tragic death of James Kim–stranded on a remote Oregon logging road] in the news recently and was struck with very emotional feelings about their ordeal. Apparently he and his family did the right things, but in the end bad luck and a lack of proper survival gear was disastrous. Putting myself into his shoes I feel that I too would have definitely tried to hike for help after a week of hunkering down and waiting for rescue. See the series of Google Earth images showing his path while trying to …


Letter Re: Pros and Cons of Property On or Near a Utility Easement

Jim, The use of utility easements as bug-out routes has been mentioned here and elsewhere (e.g., the [online shareware] novel “Lights Out” by Halffast.) It seems to me, living next to one would have both pluses and minuses. Plusses: Handy access in case you need to bug-out and clear lines of sight (in at least two directions). Minuses: (If you choose to stay put) the necessity of monitoring bug-out traffic at least and the potential of defending your retreat from such traffic at worst. Are there other advantages or disadvantages? In the final analysis, would you recommend purchasing property adjacent …


Letter Re: Tactical Vests as Wearable Mini Bug Out Bags

Hi Jim, I found another vest that some of your readers might be interested in if they like to “load up” like I do, but without having to use a medium ruck sized back pack. It’s made by Eagle Industries out of St. Louis and it’s called the Eagle Hunter’s Vest (product code HV-CH). It’s one-size-fits-all and its carrying capacity can be increased by adding a “butt pack” type pack also sold by Eagle that straps to the upper back of the vest. I have used a number of their products over the years while deployed [overseas] with the Army …


Letter Re: Tactical Vests as Wearable Mini Bug Out Bags

Hi Jim, Don’t know if this has been covered before, but I think that a 5.11 tactical vest could serve as a “bug out bag” in a vehicle. Easy to slip on, no worries about taking it on and off as you get in/out of a vehicle. Everything you need right within reach. It may not carry as much as a knapsack, but it sure could provide enough gear to get you through a day or so. Best, – R.S.


Getting Ready for Survival On a (Broken) Shoestring Budget by J. Cole

Since the mid-1960s, after reading Pat Frank’s novel Alas Babylon, I have been interested in preparing myself for TEOTWAWKI. And, as a child of the 1950s growing up in central Florida, I was taught early to be ready in case of nuclear war, so Frank’s book was not that far-fetched to me. My family was poor by any standard you could compare it to in those days. There was no chance of us ever affording a “bomb shelter” but preparations were made as best we could. We stocked up on canned food and water, we had a central hallway with …


The Apex, North Carolina Fire–My Story

Hi Jim, Love your web site! I live just on the outskirts of Apex, NC which is basically a suburb of Raleigh.One week ago, as you know, a hazmat processing facility there had a huge chlorine gas leak that led to a massive industrial fire with multiple explosions and leaks of all kinds of nasty-kill-you-dead-chemicals leaking into the air. 17,000 people were evacuated from Apex that evening. You can read the complete story here. What I want to share with my fellow SurvivalBlog readers is how that thing that “will never happen here” happens and the very real need for …


Letter Re: An Early Snowstorm in Western New York

Well, mother nature really gave it to them this week. There were 24 inches of snow dumped on us in about 24 hours. That, and the trees still had most of their leaves still intact. That just made more surface for the snow to stick, and it was the wettest imaginable snow you have ever seen. I’m writing this on Sunday. The power has been out since about 5 P.M. on Friday, and they are saying it won’t all be back on till next weekend. I didn’t lose my power, since I live north of the worst of it. I …