Category: Retreat Security

Making Your Home a Castle Hidden in Plain Sight, by B.T.

Many people do not seek professional advice about home security, because there are many do-it-yourself resources available. This, coupled with a handful of common sense, can get you a long way in home fortification. Let’s talk about how to get these upgrades to work together in a synergistic manner that maintains a low profile but increases your security posture. I have 15 years of military experience, 12 years of law enforcement experience, and four years of experience providing personal security for top U.S. government and foreign officials. I have traveled the world, working with foreign governments, militaries, and police forces. …


Letter: Relocation in Advance of SHTF

HJL, I always assumed that as long as I was somewhere far far away with a one year supply of food and water, if you just wait it out, then you could have your pick of relocation areas and homes as most of the population would be gone. Am I missing something here? Why go to all the trouble NOW of relocating and setting up the BOL that you might in fact have to abandon, when you can just hunker down with some good paperbacks and videos and wait it out? HJL’s Comment: The concept of relocating now is designed …


Guest Article: Open Source Intelligence, by Samuel Culper

In light of an election season, economic conditions, and domestic stability particularly vulnerable to disruption, we should examine a distinct possibility. Under Title 10 of the U.S. Constitution (as described in Title 18, USC Section 1385), the President has the authorization to order military forces to support civil authorities and to aid domestic security efforts. These operations are referred to as Military Assistance to Civil Disturbances. After the Watts Riots of 1965, the U.S. Army drafted a plan for the Defense Department, codenamed Operation Garden Plot. Since then, U.S. Presidents have authorized both regular army and national guard troops to …


Five Common Mistakes New Preppers Make and How to Avoid Them- Part 2, by S.M.

Practicing Poor Opsec (continued) There are a lot of different ways to see if a person is receptive to prepping or whether they are sheep. Help those who ask for your help or are interested in becoming prepared. I actually put together an easy 30 day pantry list and have been asked for a copy by several people shortly after the “winter weather” discussion I mentioned earlier. They can easily grow from there on their own. Some other great topics that you can work around to a preparedness conversation that I like to use are: Civil Unrest. Everyone is discussing …


Pat Cascio’s Product Review: Tactical Walls

If you’re like me, you hate it when someone starts out with “this is a true story” and you know it’s not. Well, I’m going to relate a true story. People who know me, know that I just don’t lie. If you tell your lie, you have to remember that lie and cover it up with another lie. I don’t have time to make up stories or tell lies, and those who know me know that. If they don’t want to hear the truth from me, then don’t ask me. Life is too short to live it based on lies. …


Building An Infrared Triplight (and Other Ideas), by ShepherdFarmerGeek

Here’s an idea for how to build a tripline-activated infrared light that will illuminate a path or area when triggered. The person passing through will not know they have triggered it, and an observer with a night vision device will be able to see the person better than with only ambient light and without activating their own infrared source/spotlight. Why set up triplights? The reasons would be to: (a) alert you to the approach of someone at night, (b) to help you identify the approaching person(s), and possibly even (c) to help you target the approaching person if you absolutely, …


My Defenses- Part 2, by Sarah Latimer

Be secure and uninviting. Keep your gates, doors, and windows locked and secure as much as possible. Limit access to your property and home to one or two main entrances and keep those well guarded, monitored, and locked. Be sure to keep shrubs and trees trimmed so you can exit and see what is in the yard around your home. You don’t want to walk up to the front door with keys in hand and have someone jump out from behind your tall shrubs and push you inside and lock the door behind you to isolate you and do whatever …


Letter: IR Floodlights

HJL, I recently had my vehicle broken into in the wee hours of the morning. While we had video surveillance running and though it did indeed capture the image of the perp, I was entirely unsatisfied with it. The camera has built-in IR illumination, but it is only good for about 20 feet. The driveway camera is almost 100 feet from where the break-in occurred and the only reason it got a clear picture is because the dome light in the vehicle turned on illuminating the thief. The camera was unable to see his approach. A quick search of Amazon …


Noisy Cows and Other Animal Noise Issues, by B.O.C.

I will start this by saying my farm experience range from South Florida to Maine and in climates in between. I also have experience from hobby farming to production on a large scale. From rabbits, chickens, pigs to beef and milking animals. My tenure in these areas has encompassed about 30 years of my life in one form or another. A lot of this is some common sense as well, so forgive me if I dumb this down too much. A few days ago I read an article on this site about the farms in Venezuela and their government taking …


Letter: Solar Fence Chargers as Alternate Power Supplies

To HJL and JWR:I’m a dry land crop farmer, cattle rancher, and hog producer in Montana. Through my work I find things that make me think I could use WTSHTF. (Yes, I’ve read your books). One thing I wanted to offer up, if you haven’t tried it, is a solar powered electric fence charger. These charges cost from $170 to $500. But to charge a few small items the PV panels on the smaller $170 to $300 models are plenty large enough. The chargers work by solar powering a gel cell battery. The [battery] terminals can be changed with a …


Ghillie Up, by Molon Labe

From a young age, I’ve been fascinated with hunters and snipers alike who stalk the wilds with a bushy cloak that conceals their location, like a ghost who conforms to his terrain and disappears in plain view. And so since an early teen I’ve researched, constructed and eventually refined the art of personal camouflage by way of the ghillie suit. The truth is that nothing can make you truly invisible and that even the best camouflage can be compromised with movement. However, through constant research and development both for myself, friends and eventually building ghillie making into a side business, …


Letter Re: The Vulnerability of Many Commonplace RF Electronics

Dear JWR, Regarding the recently linked article on the hack of the Simplisafe alarm system, I’d like to alert readers to the fact that many, many radio frequency (RF) devices available on the US market have similar vulnerabilities. But it’s worse than that. These devices operate on one of several unlicensed radio frequency bands authorized under Title 47, part 15 of the FCC rules, most specifically Section 15.231. There are transmitters available for purchase on 433MHz, as used by Simplisafe, and they are quite inexpensive. Many of these evaluation kits only require attachment of a battery and you are ready …


Winter Survival- Part 3, by R.C.

In Your Home In the first two parts of this series, we talked about how to survive on foot and in your vehicle in winter weather conditions. In this third part, we will discuss some plans to survive in your home during a cold weather event. The two worst fears for many of people who read this blog is that “the event” happpens in the winter and the grid goes down. The easy answer would be, I’ll get in my car, use mass transit, or fly somewhere that’s warm. During this past storm, we saw the shut down of all …


Letter: Home Locks Review From Someone That Breaks Into Homes (Legally) For A Living

HJL, As a long time reader of the blog, I was interested in the note about secure home products. The trick with the rod with the hook to undo an automatic garage door opener I thought was great; I actually tried it yesterday and after a minute I gave up on it and just drilled the lock. When I walked in the garage I looked up and I almost had it hooked another minute I think I would have had it. Here’s the back story; I break into homes for a living. My job is to secure foreclosed homes. The …


Letter Re: Pat Cascio’s Product Review: Beyond Locks

HJL, Often missed in this sort of door up-armoring process are the hinges. Assuming your door is set on its own rough framing (no sidelights), replace at least two hinge screws on the jamb side in each hinge with 4 1/2″ flathead stardrive heavy screws (through the finished jamb into the rough framing). In other words do the same thing you’re doing to the strike, fastening them deep and strong. This works. When we first moved into our present quarters, I replaced the strike and hinge screws is this manner. About a month later my wife came home to find …