Category: Retreat Groups

Colloquium (CQ) Groups–Part Two–What We Have Learned, by H.B. in North Central Idaho

The first part of this series described the foundation for success in starting a community preparedness group.  If you haven’t read it yet please do so now before proceeding. The first step in implementation is to find a few like-minded individuals with whom you can share ideas, receive counsel and help spread the word about the first CQ.  As I mentioned previously I used the wisdom and connections of a local businessman who saw a lot of like-minded folks come through his door.  I also sought counsel from a few others whose temperament and personalities were complementary to my own …


Colloquium (CQ) Groups–Part One, by H.B. in North Central Idaho

The Beginning CQ has a unique definition to many people.  One military and another for the Amateur Radio (“ham”) community.  I’d like to add another definition for CQ.  CQ to us refers to our local community preparedness group that we started five months ago.  CQ is actually short for Colloquium- which basically means an open discussion about various topics.  I chose colloquium to shorten the even longer original name-”community preparedness meeting at the Big Cedar Schoolhouse”  Whew!  What a mouthful!  You can see why it was abbreviated.  I soon got tired of having to explain what a colloquium meant so …


Two Letters Re: The Skeptical Spouse

Mr Rawles, I have shared the experiences of many with skeptical spouses. My solution has been a very gradual (and low-key) process of preparing and building up a basic supply of items/food in combination with education and hints of what was going on around us (local crime issues, Hurricane Katrina experiences, etc.). Again, she wasn’t too happy with my weapon and ammo purchases, but accepted it grudgingly. She began warming to the issue of “being prepared” with some of the bad weather in 2008, when she realized that as new home owners, we now had to solve our own problems. …


Two Letters Re: The Skeptical Spouse

Hello Mr. Rawles, My wife wasn’t exactly skeptical, but her focus was defined by other requirements. Her family history showed her that keeping family close and healthy was a first priority. So her natural drive was in that direction. My re-entry into the world of prepping came from critiquing the television show Jericho. At first, I was embarrassed to let her know about my interest in the subject matter, and how I thought there were better ways to handle things in the plot. When we talked about it one night, I saw an interest in her eye, and the prepping …


The Skeptical Spouse, by Mike H.

While many readers of SurvivalBlog might be hard-core, prepped to the nth degree, live off the land survival types like Mr. Rawles, I would suspect that most are much like myself: quiet suburban dwellers whose eyes have been opened by Mr. Rawles at SurvivalBlog and similar voices to the fragility of our modern intertwined civilization. However, my awakening and “journey” was begun without my most important companions: my lovely bride of seven years and our two very young daughters. While I consider my wife to be one of the most resilient and resourceful individuals I have ever met, she shares …


Practical Steps to Preparing a Family for TEOTWAWKI, by Mitch D.

Author’s Background I live in Northeastern Minnesota with my wife and four children ages: four to seven.  I teach and am a sports coach at the local high school in town (population 1,200).  We live two hours away from any type of big city, which in our case is Duluth, Minnesota (population 85,000).  My wife is a stay-at-home mom.  Three years ago, we built a new house four miles outside of town on 15 acres that my parents gave us.  Combined, we make just over $56,000 a year.  In just this past year, my wife and I have started making …


Letter Re: The Advent of McBunkers

Hi Mr. Rawles, Here’s an interesting article I just came across: Bunker Mentality: The Ultimate Underground Shelter. This is the web site for the company: Terra Vivos. I guess this concept was inevitable and I would expect that more companies would get into this business. While I don’t fault anyone from wanting to be prepared, I just see tremendous logistical problems that I doubt would be surmountable. It also seems to me that these “McBunkers” might represent a large bullseye target from opportunists. Take care, – BB JWR Replies: I agree! Be very wary of large scale commercial ventures with …


Letter Re: A New Survivalist Singles Web Site

Mr. Rawles, I noted with interest (and joined) a new web site for singles “SurvivalistSingles.com“. As a Christian, prepper, mom and grandmother, I find most date sites decidedly unappealing. Perhaps this new site would be of interest to some of your single readers, even if only to network and gain new friends. It is new, and for now, free. You’ll find that SurvivalBlog is mentioned in the questionnaire, as well! Thanks for all you and your readers do to share, enlighten, and teach. – Ruger9mmgal, a Michigan SurvivalBlog reader P.S.: I am not in any way affiliated with the site …


How to Do More than Survive at the Different Stages of Societal Collapse, by Tamara W.

Dmitry Orlov wrote about the five stages of social collapse. In descending order, these stages are: financial, commercial, political, social and – last and certainly worst – cultural. In the face of a collapsing society, what can be done to lessen the immediate and local impact at each of these stages? How can we lessen the personal impact of societal collapse? Preparedness is key in any disaster, and societal collapse is certainly a disaster on epic scale. The question then is what to do at each stage of societal collapse. Here is how to do more than survive at each …


Letter Re: True Self Sufficiency Requires Multi-Generational Teamwork

To The Editor, I am an outdoorsman. I love camping, hiking, and biking. To enjoy these things, I must be in decent shape. I have to work at physical health because I have a desk job. So I exercise regularly. Keeping oneself reasonably healthy is part of being prepared. But I am not so young anymore. I am not old, mind you, in my early 50s, but I don’t consider myself young either. Yet, I am reminded of my physical limitations more often the older I get. I thought of this the other day when I was working in the …


Advice for New Members to the Survivalist Camp, by Ken in Ohio

A couple of years ago I took the “red pill”. Media led propaganda and the tales of success from my elder peers led me down the path of blindness. No problem there, it was, and still is, the norm. All of us are led until the day we decide to take flight on our own. Sometimes its one incident that starts us down that new path of enlightenment; Haiti, Chile, Southern Louisiana, 9-11-01. Sometimes it is a series of unfortunate events; loss of the head of household, halving of investments or retirement funds, cut in pay or hours or loss …


Kids and Sleep During a Crisis, by AK. in Texas

We live in Tornado Alley which means we’ve had more than a few opportunities to break out the 72 hour kits and find out what works and what doesn’t. However, one thing we were surprised to find was that we hadn’t figured out what to do when the crisis extends through bedtime, or when it occurs while the kids are asleep. If you have to “hunker down” during a crisis, it’ll take a while for you or the kids to get sleepy. For the adults, this isn’t that big a deal, but when children miss sleep, they have a tendency …


A “10% Test” Survival Trip by C.J. in Helena Montana Edited by Capt. Barr

I work as an independent hospital contractor. Our home base is in Montana, but I am independent. I work as temporary health care staff at hospitals, being licensed in about 5 states. I usually make pretty good money traveling, but I miss having a fixed point in case of crisis. My wife and I really enjoy living in Montana, we were having a good life: hunting in the mountains panning for gold and camping. While working at a good paying contract, the hospital I was with had asked about renewing the job for another several weeks. I accepted the renewal …


Who is On Your Team?, by G.

In the last year, I have been on my latest “life journey”, wherein I have rediscovered preparedness. During my college years, my friends in engineering school and I discussed Y2K and possible outcomes. Obviously a bunch of electrical engineering students had no idea what would happen. But it did give me pause. What if the worst case situation occurred? What would my parents and I do? (I lived at home throughout college to save funds.) On a limited budget, and even less knowledge, I did recognize two primary needs: water and firearms for self defense. Working at an internship gave …


Letter Re: Finding Community

Jim, A quick observation about a dog’s ability to judge character or to determine a person’s intentions: They can’t, they have no clue; they are terrible at it. What a dog can do, however, is study their master. Remember, we are their world and the object of their attention 24/7. Your dog knows your thoughts almost as fast as you think them. After all, they have nothing better to do but watch you. So if your dog doesn’t like someone new, they are picking up that vibe from you, and acting on it. Your dog doesn’t care about hurt feelings …