Category: Retreat Security

Pat Cascio’s Product Review: Beyond Locks – Door Security

For much of my life I’ve been involved in law enforcement, security, K-9 security, private investigations, and security consulting in one form or another. It’s been a fairly diverse and exciting career, to be sure. I’m hardly ever bored on most days. I still do some security consulting these days and training, mainly in the firearms field, as time permits. For a guy who is supposed to be at the very least semi-retired, I find myself busier than I care to be most days. I don’t know what happened to my retirement dreams of hunting, fishing, and sitting on the …


Being Anonymous, by Spotlight

I walked out onto the driveway to greet my wife as she backed the car in, arriving home from a long day at work. Right away, I noticed a magnet on the back of the car, proclaiming us to be members of our church, complete with our town name. “What’s up with that?” I said, looking at the magnet, as she got out of the car. She laughed and said the pastor of our church had put it on there when he saw her in the parking lot. I think she had laughed because she knew what I was going …


Letter Re: How to Title Retreat Property

Hello: The article on the importance of maintaining privacy with regard to ownership of property, and particularly retreat property, was very good. One other option, which was not addressed, is to use a trust under state law. Trusts are not generally registered with the state, but they will require use of an attorney in order to be sure it is properly formed, can receive and hold title, is enduring, and can eventually sell property if that becomes appropriate. A trustee may need to be named for the trust, as may beneficiaries, but again none of that is registered with any …


How To Title Retreat Property, An Overlooked Item in Your Planning, by John in the Ozarks

I have spent the last eight years building and stocking my full-time retreat. Our family has had a terrific timing putting this together. One thing has happened beyond our control. The area we are located in has grown substantially. Our population has increased substantially, and we have also been slotted to receive Syrian refugees. I have come to the realization that It is simply going to be too hard to depend on this location as my only retreat. So after due diligence and the help of Survival Realty, I have purchased a secondary retreat in a totally different region of …


Guest Article: Five Intelligence Essentials for Preparedness and Community Security, by Samuel Culper

Intelligence is a poorly covered topic in our the preparedness community, largely because there just aren’t enough former intel guys willing to teach on the topic. Although the work of intelligence can consume your life while preparing for SHTF, there are several small things you can do today in order to become more prepared. If you’re spending hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of dollars on things but aren’t studying the threats in your area, then there’s a good chance that you will suffer from strategic shock; in other words, you may be exploited in a way that you hadn’t …


Letter Re: A Solid Solution On Securing Home Defense During A TEOTWAWKI Situation, by B.M.

HJL, Home safety is an assumption that you need to fully analyze, being just 40 miles out from a city. I’m two hours away from NYC and about a 40 minute drive from the NY border, yet I see NY plates all of the time. (They often come here, day in day out, to escape their city lives for whatever reason.) Cars/mobility make it possible; a tank of gas will get you around 350 miles in a small car. Some of the people here have roots in NYC, meaning when things get bad the relatives will appear. Being only 40 …


Letter Re: A Solid Solution On Securing Home Defense During A TEOTWAWKI Situation, by B.M.

Good morning, Hugh, I’ve been following the discussion on “indoor concertina wire” and agree wholeheartedly; it’s a poor decision. A recent writer pointed out that concertina wire, barbed wire, and tanglefoot should be secured to posts of some sort; I concur, and would like to elaborate on that topic. When I build fences I install a 4 foot wide hinged walk-through gate that, on closing, latches to a removable post. There is also an 8-foot hinged gate that latches to that same removable post, allowing a 12-foot entry for equipment should it be needed. Depending on the fence, and requirements, …


Three Letters Re: A Solid Solution On Securing Home Defense During A TEOTWAWKI Situation, by B.M.

HJL, I can see some problems. First you must store it and deploy it when things go down. Second, if it is winter, you really don’t want your windows and doors broken. You want to defend them first (maybe both inside and outside). Third, even if you can insure you are safe, you will need to be able to go the other way, perhaps multiple times per day. Fourth, it doesn’t provide security if they decide to firebomb or shoot into your house. Fifth, if there is a fire or something else, you may have to get out fast, but …


Three Letters Re: A Solid Solution On Securing Home Defense During A TEOTWAWKI Situation, by B.M.

JWR, I’m sure I won’t be the only one commenting on this article, but I come to this site for good advice sound information; this article concerns me a lot. I have learned enough in the past couple of years to see the total unworkability of this approach, but I worry about newcomers seeing this and either heeding this advice or seeing through it and getting turned off to the whole site. What’s this family going to do when the mob torches the house, shoots through the (non-bullet resistant) walls, or just breaks through with a chainsaw or pick axe …


A Solid Solution On Securing Home Defense During A TEOTWAWKI Situation, by B.M.

Currently, I reside in a suburb about 40 miles outside of Chicago. It’s just far enough in my opinion to escape the madness should the SHTF. Nobody is going to walk 40 miles out of the city to my town. What would they achieve by doing this anyway? In any case, my personal bugout plan is to bug-in should a SHTF scenario develop. I live in a typical small suburban home with neighbors all around me. It is a typical suburban American block. I have thought through many scenarios that may present themselves during times of trouble, whether it’s that …


Two Letters Re: Love Thy Neighbor…Trust No One

HJL: I’ve got the same issue on my one acre in a small town in Georgia. Great soil but with neighbors that think it is theirs. In my case a 45-foot section of board fence drew a line. I continue to fence the corners and plant hedge material when nephew labor is available. Periodic extra tall posts seem decorative now but will make a splendid support for barbed wire. My intent is to make it possible to fence it quickly from stored supplies should misfortune befall us. I hesitate to go ahead and install the fence because the location, while …


Two Letters Re: Love Thy Neighbor…Trust No One

HJL, The writer of this letter is waking up to the unfortunate reality that, thanks to our national leadership or lack thereof, the law only applies to those who adhere to the law. Lawbreakers have been taught by our own government that there are no consequences for breaking the law. On the contrary, lawbreakers are now actually being REWARDED for breaking the law. This will only get worse. As the author of the letter has discovered, we’re going to have our hands full in the coming times. May God be with us all. – Pete H. o o o HJL, …


Head Up, Eyes Open, by Hondo

By way of introduction, I am a retired cop. For my second career, I now ride the train to work daily. After 28 years in my first career, with command responsibilities for training a very large agency’s officers for many years, I have many habits ingrained as second (or FIRST!) nature. These habits are not always useful, until the SHTF. These habits are “cloaked”, because that’s how they work best, until the SHTF. These habits sometimes, even after all these years, baffle my loved ones. My aim here is to share a few things that may be useful, in light …


How to Use Paddle Wire for Survival by Prepper Ray

A couple of weeks ago one of my prepper friends stopped by and said: “Check this out” he hands me a small spool of green wire. I was intrigued, what is it? Trip wire? Snare wire? “It’s both and much more,” he said. After he told me a few of the ways it could be used, it became clear to me that Paddle Wire was the one missing component in my survival gear. If you don’t have a good supply of Paddle wire or never even heard of it, you wouldn’t be alone. Paddle wire is a low-cost 22 to …


The Harsh Truth About Bugging Out of Cities, by Patrice Lewis

A common concern among rural people in a grid-down situation is the concept of marauding urbanites swarming through the countryside looting and pillaging — the so-called Golden Horde. I addressed this issue on my blog a few months ago when a reader noted, “You can hide yourself, but not your garden. Are you going to take your beef herd into your house with you? In any long-term crisis situation, your cattle and garden will be indefensible and therefore gone in a matter of months. You cannot protect them from a determined large, armed group.” This reader respectfully listed what he …