Category: Retreat Locales

Letter Re: Another Job Opportunity in The American Redoubt

Sir, I’m a country kid who never knew other people were hopelessly dependent on “the system”. I got interested in being prepared while serving as a US Marine during a Mountain Warfare and Survival course in Bridgeport, California. I now live in Wyoming which has just opened up concealed carry to responsible citizens without having to have permit. While reading your books you’ve talked about employment near a retreat in the American Redoubt. I work for the Wyoming Department of Corrections (WDOC). They pay very well and offer a retirement following 20 years of service. New officers start out at about $17 …


Letter Re: Another Job Opportunity in Northwest Montana: CNC Machining Programmer

Jim First of all, thank you for your blog. I read it every night. I read your post about an employee search in Montana last night. I am doing a similar search. I need a highly skilled CNC programmer and I just can’t find one. We are located in Kalispell, Montana. We presently manufacture rifle barrels, pistol barrels and complete rifles. I am looking at buying a $300,000 machining center, but until I find at least one person to program it and set it up then I can’t put in the order. [Some additional information on the company deleted, for …


Something Is Always Better Than Nothing, by V.G.

For someone who was never a “prepper”, Hurricanes here in the South, will make you one, or at least a beginner, and in this tight economy, a little “Something is always better than nothing”.  I live in an area just north of Houston, Texas. My husband has always been of the mindset “you never know when we may need it”, so I have always had to deal with his “stock up on this or that” or “next time you go to the store, you need to get this or that”, you never “know” when we might need it or even …


Letter Re: Coalbed Methane and Retreat Locale Selection

Mr. Rawles, I wanted to send a quick note that one option for a retreat’s power/heating needs could be met with a natural gas well on the property.  Here is a link to a map which shows coal bed methane areas in the United States.  If someone was so inclined, a well could produce natural gas for a retreat for as many as 100 years and allow for a completely independent fuel source which can be added to other sources such as wood stoves and the like.  Best Regards, – Jon H.


Letter Re: Job Opportunities in Northwestern Montana

For those looking to relocate to the American Redoubt, I just got word of some job opportunities at a family-owned and operated woodstove company in Troy, Montana: Are you looking for a way out of city life but can’t find a well paying job in a remote area? Montana based Obadiah’s Woodstoves has openings for secretary, bookkeeper, web site design, SEO maintenance and possibly inside sales. We are also looking for a future manager to oversee operations. If your looking to live and work near beautiful Glacier National Park in Northwestern Montana, for a honest rapidly growing company focused on …


Letter Re: Home Heating in the American Redoubt States

Sir; I enjoy your site and have learned a lot from you and others of a similar mindset.  I enjoy the fact that the info you present is from the perspective  of  a Christian.  I have been looking at land in Wyoming and while there is some very affordable land I have to wonder how anyone is going to heat their abode when “cheap oil” is gone.  I cannot find land that is in my budget that has any trees. I have spent most of my life in the southern US and some time in Central America and I cannot …


Letter Re: Racial Tolerance in the American Redoubt

James Wesley We thank God for your blog and all who thoughtfully contribute to SurvivalBlog. I visit often and it has been a godsend for our preps over the past year. As much as we enjoy the natural beauty and diversity here in California, we all know how this place is continuing it’s political nosedive so we’re seeking to relocate, preferably to the Redoubt. But the biggest unknown we face in relocation is that we’re a multi-racial couple (Nordic male and Asian female). Even though we’re happily wed faith-filled Christians, proud American citizens, disgusted with entitlement mentalities and politically aligned …


Michael Z. Williamson: Roads and Infrastructure in Bangladesh

One of my regular correspondents is a civil engineer with the highway department in Bangladesh. He sent me the following article links from The Daily Star [in Dhaka, Bangladesh]: RHD chief engineer quits MPs blast communications minister Impossible rides stop They are facing problems of massive corruption, infrastructure failing, and several large rivers that are dammed on the Indian side of the border, which threaten to turn fertile deltas into deserts. He’s sufficiently placed he may be able to, and “considering” emigrating to Canada or to the US.  I suggested he “consider faster” and not wait until it’s too late. …


Letter Re: Prepping for Missionaries and Other Long Term Foreign Workers

Dear Mr. Rawles, I have been following the thread on “Prepping for Missionaries and Other Long Term Foreign Workers.”  My business partner and I have more than one hundred mission trips between us and have been first responders to several of the latest disasters including the Tsunami in Banda Aceh, Hurricane Dean in Jamaica, and the Earthquake in Haiti. Several of the writers and especially P.J.H. has been spot on in their information.  Problems in the mission field or for the foreign worker have a direct correlation to the lack of understanding for the culture of the country where they …


Three Letters Re: Finding Prepper-Friendly Churches in The American Redoubt–Expanding The List

Hi Jim, There’s a great local cowboy church called Gold Hill Church, near Deary, Idaho. It is not only prepper friendly, but even “dog friendly”. Another prepper-friendly church is the Community Church in Southwick, Idaho. Also, I noted that one of the churches you listed in Bonner’s Ferry appears to be a Seventh-Day Adventist (SDA) church. As I grew up in that church and greatly admire much of the values of the SDA subculture, it always concerns me when an SDA[-affiliated] church does not let people know that they are really an SDA church. The books they list for sale …


Finding Prepper-Friendly Churches in The American Redoubt–Expanding The List

Based on some suggestions from SurvivalBlog readers, the following are several new entries to supplement the list of prepper-friendly churches in the American Redoubt that I already posted. (I’ve just updated the original list.) Parenthetically, I’m often asked why I place an emphasis on Reformed churches. First and foremost, I believe this is a doctrinally-correct stance. (Your mileage may vary, but the Five Point Calvinist view matches my interpretation of the Bible.) Secondarily, those who hold to a mid-tribulation or post-tribulation eschatological view (as many people in Reformed circles do) tend to be more prone to prepping than those who …


Practical Tips on a Cross-Country Move, by P.J.G.T.

We are moving from the East coast to the Northern Rocky Mountains, and here I sit in a Midwestern state at my cousin’s house waiting for a part for our car to be shipped in. So, I thought I’d take this opportunity to put down on paper the best answer I have come up with to a question I had before the move: How do we move our family across country with limited funds, lots of stored supplies and more than a handful of tools? My husband and I are walking a fine line to make this move the best …


Letter Re: The Thinning of The Horde by Matt B.

Dear Survivalbloggers: I just finished re-reading JWR’s novel “Patriots“. Anyone who has read it knows that in Chapter 21 a number was given on the percentage of the population that perished during the Crunch. This has allowed me to open my mind. There will undoubtedly be a Golden Horde, but as you will read, it will quickly and overtime diminish considerably.   This last semester I took a human geography course which I found especially relevant to the way that a ‘Horde’ would move. In the course I have learned that in a typical East Coast suburb, there are about …


Smoke and Mirrors: The Full Implications of the U.S. National Debt

We are told by U.S. Treasury officials and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) that the Federal Government’s debt is now just over 100% of our nation’s annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and while this level of debt is “alarming”, it is “still sustainable.” Meanwhile, Greece’s sovereign debt is now 157% of its GDP, and the nation is on the verge of default and collapse. I presume that Joe Sixpack here in the U.S. sees the news headlines and says to Mrs. Sixpack: “Wow, those poor Greeks. I’m glad that we don’t live there. I wouldn’t feel safe, living in Greece.” …


Six Letters Re: A Prepper Goes to College

James:  The article “A Prepper Goes to College” by S. John aptly points out a problem in which is completely avoidable.  It is heartbreaking to know that so many people are setting themselves up for a life of lost opportunities by being saddled with educational debt.   This problem is the subject of the book Debt-Free U: How I Paid for an Outstanding College Education Without Loans, Scholarships, or Mooching off My Parents by Zac Bissonnette.  “Debt-Free U” points out the huge disparity in the cost/value relationships of the many college education options.  It provides strategies (solutions) for getting a good …