Category: Retreat Groups

Letter Re: Advice on Finding a Retreat

Mr. Rawles Regarding GvO’s letter that was posted on Thursday: I think that “finding a retreat” is not as important as finding people to work with, and while time may be getting short, I still believe the answer is primarily about people, not places. GvO obviously has skills that would be useful even before the Schumeresque season arrives. So, I can tell you what worked for us. We found an online group that was devoted to Homesteading, after a year or so when the group decided to have a Meet-N-Greet, we went, and met the founders, and some of the …


Letter Re: Finding a Family Oriented Survival Retreat

We are a devoted Christian family located in N.E. Oklahoma who are looking to encourage, help, and possibly connect with other families that are like minded. My wife and I have been preparing since we have been together (1999). We now have three young children, and are very family oriented. We homeschool and even home church. Despite the fact that some ‘hard core’ survivalists cringe at the thought of caring for little ones, we love children and consider them a blessing, and we believe that it is an honorable duty to be able to provide for and protect them. Besides …


Letter Re: Advice on Finding a Retreat

Hello Mr Rawles; Back around 1996, I downloaded (and paid for) a copy of your novel “Triple Ought” [an early shareware draft “Patriots”]; I and others around me, learned from it and enjoyed it immensely. I now have an autographed copy of “Patriots“, and have read it more than once. A little background; We lived on a ‘farm’ retreat in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (“U.P.“) with two other families from the Summer of ’99 (read: Y2K) to the Spring of 2002 and experienced first-hand the trials and joys of such an existence. We survived on the very basics; we raised our …


Letter Re: Retreat Region Demographics and TEOTWAWKI

Hi James, Thanks much for the exceptional information you provide. Your book “Patriots” and your site have been tremendously helpful in my preparation efforts. I’m not there yet, but well on the way. As far as a retreat location goes, I’ve heard you and others cautioning folks away from poorer areas. I think you might want to re-think this somewhat, and for one simple reason: Poor folks are already used to doing without. Consider two post-TEOTWAWKI scenarios: One, an affluent or even typically middle class family suddenly has little food in their pantry and no grocery store from which to …


Letter Re: Remote Rural Retreats Versus Living in a Small Town

Dear Jim: I found an interesting article that argues against a remote, rural retreat for an urbanite. He reasons: 1. local kids with time on their hands will sniff out your retreat in their exploring 2. Any road to your place will get checked out eventually by kids, a utility employee, a hunter, etc., etc. 3. A remote place gives a thief all the time in the world to break into a cabin or recreational vehicle, pre-disaster. 4. When you are at a retreat, post-disaster, you are on the defense, the offense (potential looters) gets to choose the time of …


Letter Re: More Observations on the Aftermath of Hurricane Dolly

Dear JWR and Memsahib, On June 30, in a response to “Help with a Non-Preparedness Minded Spouse”, I shared the thoughts of like-minded men in a group meeting regularly with my husband to prepare for survival needs. Due to the lack of female companionship I was experiencing, and the frustration my husband’s buddies were experiencing, I offered to start a “Ladies Auxiliary” group to motivate the wives to see the value of preparing for emergency survival. Living near the coast of Texas provides us with the challenge of hurricanes each summer, so that became the topic for personal and immediate …


Letter Re: Disseminating Local News and Information in a Grid-Down Societal Collapse

James: I haven’t seen much information about this, so I ask you: How do you plan on “Getting the word out”? Once the ink/toner runs out of your printer, what will a survivalist group do? We’ve nearly lost the ability, and knowledge, to operate hand-presses. Moveable type suppliers are long gone, and there’s precious little available on eBay. Certainly not an entire printing press. You might find some blocks of moveable type, but not enough to actually make an entire flyer, book, or other piece of information, such as a book or even a Bible. And we can’t rely on …


Letter Re: The Reactive Culture, or 20 Years of Greater Depression

Dear Jim, America, and modern industrial democracy, is a reactive culture. We wait for disaster to strike, then we talk about it, vote, and throw money at it until it goes away. That’s what we’ve been doing since the deficit spending initiated by FDR, socialist that he was. Now we’ve reached the end of deficit spending, having exported our jobs, currency, and control of our economy overseas and become a great big lazy balloon floating over the glass recycling bin at the local dump. Gasoline, food, and other essentials are in a tight 18% inflationary spiral and the public is …


Ten Letters Re: Help With a Non-Preparedness Minded Spouse

JWR’s Introductory Note: The recent reply to a an e-mail from Trevor by The Memsahib inspired ten replies. Note that many of these were written by wives with non-prepper husbands! The final letter comes from a family that had their house nd barn blown away by a hurricane. Some sobering stuff. Mr. Rawles, You are truly blessed with your wife’s level of discernment and ability to communicate!. I would like to share our similar situation. Understand that I am an old Girl Scout whose former leaders took us camping from New Mexico to Old Mexico and from the beaches to …


Letter Re: Help With a Non-Preparedness Minded Spouse

Dear Jim and Memsahib, I have been discussing preparedness lately with several of my close friends. One of the things that has aided me in winning friends over to being preparedness minded is your book. Usually, once loaned to a guy, the fellow sees how plausible something like that really is and they begin to prepare. The problem is this; overwhelmingly we find have trouble with our wives. My wife, for example, says please don’t talk to me about that stuff; just tell me to get in the car when its time to go and I’ll go. She tolerates my …


The Warrior Way as Survival Strategy: Attune Yourself to a Martial Mindset in Daily Living, by Jeff Trasel

One of the constant knocks by the mainstream media on the preparedness movement is the oft-touted canard that preparedness, indeed the “survivalist” mindset is nothing more than an excuse by far-right loons to engage in Rambo-esque fantasies of firearms, firefights and macho posturing. While there is a scintilla of truth to this in some far dark quarters of doomsday lunacy, it is for the most part fiction. (This matches JWR’s caveat on discussing unregistered suppressors [in the US] or other illegal preparations). So that we bring no discredit on what is nothing more than prudence, perhaps a few short observations …


After 10 Years–Some Observations and Lessons Learned by a Y2K-Era Prepper

It was June, 1998. Y2K was a salient topic of conversation. It got my attention. When the electricity went off and there would be no water to drink, and no fuel to move food to the JIT grocery stores, I could see things getting very ugly. I had been willing to fight for this nation as a member of the US Army. Now it was time to fight for my household. I bought a Springfield Armory M1A. I bought a safe to store it in. I bought another M1A (for the spousal unit of course!) I bought ammo. Lots of …


Letter Re: Retreat Options for a 20-Something with Cash Savings

Hello Jim, I’m a 26 year old guy living in the city in Washington [state]. I’ve been watching the world deteriorate over the past five years, and suspect it will get worse faster. For a long time, I’d simply resigned myself to dying young. It didn’t really bother me (probably because it was not at hand.) But recently I’ve been thinking that I might have a chance, and anyway I’ve never liked this “labor for dollars” way of life. I’ve saved up $140,000 and about 3-to-4 year’s worth of stored food. I have very low expenses, no debt, and no …


Letter Re: Advanced Medical Training and Facilities for Retreat Groups

Jim, I have been enjoying and appreciating the letters and replies throughout the blog, and I am compelled to respond to “Advanced Medical Training and Facilities for Retreat Groups”. The letter contained very accurate and useful information, but I must comment on medical skills available to survivalists. First of all, need to say that I am a professional Emergency Medical Technician – and have been for 25 years. I have treated dozens of real-life gunshot wounds, hundreds of knife wounds, and thousands of other cases of trauma that I would prefer to not remember. As a 911 responder, I appreciate …


Letter Re: Advanced Medical Training and Facilities for Retreat Groups

Mr. Rawles, Last month I wrote to SurvivalBlog about what do one would do medically in TEOTWAWKI, when all systems are down. I had received three very good replies, and have ben thinking about what was said. I want to thank those people for their valued replies. Now, I have more questions and concerns. From what I’ve read concerning medical advice leaves me wondering. All of the advice given has stated to get a good quality Field Surgical Kit, and two books: “Emergency War Surgery”; and, “Where there is no Doctor”. Then these articles went on to [imply that] when …