Category: Retreat Groups

Letter Re: Joining or Forming a Faith-Based Survival Retreat Group

Sir: Many of the recommendations in your book, Patriots, and on your blog deal with survival contingency plans from a small-group/family perspective. Simply put; what is your advice to single (possibly young) people who have no dependents or family structure? In Patriots, one of the characters (who was not an original member of “The Group”) is a young, single male, who “freelances” (almost in the Medieval sense of the term) to the group. In a TEOTWAWKI situation, is it plausible to hope that one can form a mutually beneficial relationship, perhaps in exchange for goods or services? Of course, relying …


Letter Re: Afghanistan’s Deteriorating Security Situation and Request for Advice on Retreat Buying

Mr. Rawles, I wanted to run a few observations of mine by you and then pose a question. I am working in Afghanistan as a security contractor. I don’t have a normal security contractor job (i.e. doing PSD work for dignitaries), and I get to see a lot more of the country, frequently by myself. I see things turning in the wrong direction here, and while we could take the upper hand again, I don’t think the powers that be will make the right decisions. The U.S. will be turning over control of the violent south and east to ISAF …


Letter Re: Leadership in Survivalist Circles

I’ve been looking for a U.S. Survival site to take the lead and looks like you are it. John has done a great job with http://www.aussurvivalist.com and Jim Benson keeps the torch of the original ASG thinking alive with http://www.modernsurvival.net, otherwise Yahoo groups has been the best place to hang out – but now this is this site and I wish you all the best. Love what I see so far. The “Survivalist” movement is going to make a comeback in the next 4-to-6 years IMHO, and it looks like you are going to be a real leader in that. …


The Trouble With Caretakers

So are you “stuck” in the Big City? You make a great salary and can afford to buy a retreat, but you can’t telecommute. Finding a trustworthy caretaker for a retreat can be problematic. I have one close friend who has a large, very elaborately prepared retreat in the Inland Northwest: A big house, shop, springs, ponds, a year round creek with a micro-hydro generator, photovoltaics, diesel and gas storage, you name it. My friend found a man from the local church who agreed to be a renter/caretaker. He charged him just a nominal sum for rent, with the understanding …


Letter Re: Retreat Plans on a Budget, and Finding Like-Minded Friends

I have a couple of questions 1.) I agree that the best possible course of action for TEOTWAWKI would be to have a retreat. Today you described how strategy’s like the “Batman in the Boondocks” approach, or “RVing” would probably fail. How does someone who does not have a retreat, (or the funds for one) plan? 2.) In your book “Patriots“, the main characters had formed a group years in advance. How does one find like-minded individuals to join groups such as theirs? Talking to your neighbors about things like this get you labeled as a kook pretty fast. JWR’s …