Category: Retreat Security

Letter Re: Tropical Storm Ike’s Devastation Works its Way North to Ohio

Hi Jim, We live in Columbus, Ohio and had 76 m.p.h. winds on Sunday. We have been without power until late today. Our neighborhood looks like a war zone. Many trees on homes and in yards. There is some good news in that we shared our generator with neighbors. Others in the neighborhood were doing the same. Some of the kids set up a barbeque stand and were selling hot dogs and hamburgers for cost. This helped many to have meals. Everyone helped to clear trees and limbs from the roads and yards. Schools are still closed for Wednesday and …


Letter Re: West Virginia as a Retreat Locale

Sir, I just wanted to get your thoughts on West Virginia. I live in Huntington which is at the conjunction of West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio. My family lives in a valley where we are related to nearly everyone there [by blood or by marriage]. We have industrial equipment in our business in the valley. Also a US Corps of Engineers lake covers one end of our road. This leaves just one roadway in or out. The only other approaches are to cross the heavily wooded hills. – Doug in West Virginia JWR: Replies: As I’ve often written in my …


Four Letters Re: Pistol Holster Recommendations for Women

Jim, Bill from Ohio has a number of great observations about carry issues for females. Among the issues he mentions about hip holsters built for men: 1) Because of a woman’s hips they tend to cause the butt of the weapon to dig-in to a woman’s waist 2) Because women have hips, upon which they wear their belt they have less room to lift the weapon before it impinges into their armpit. 3) Because of factors 1 and 2 the FBI cant further complicates a natural draw for women. I’d like to mention a holster made by Blade-Tech that addresses …


Letter Re: Airsoft and Paintball Groups for Small Unit Tactics Training?

Gidday Mr Rawles, I was just wondering whether or not it would be wise for me to join a tactical Airsoft club in the future. Due to the current political climate in New Zealand training with live firearms, and so forth is frowned upon and could get you labelled as a “terrorist”. However there are a lot of Tactical Airsoft/Paintball groups throughout the country and I was wondering whether it would be a wise move for me to join one of these clubs to gain some tactical skills/experience? Or is it better to avoid groups all together? – S.S. in …


Letter Re: How Much Ammo to Carry?

Hello Mr. Rawles, You are a great man for what you do! You have shaped my life in many ways and most certainly opened my eyes to many things, and for that thank you. I have recently started my own small TEOTWAWKI preparedness group of like-minded Christians. We have standardized our gear but I have no idea how much ammo we should carry on our web gear, and if we should have a combo of rifle and pistol ammo. We have a lot of ammo stockpiled but we are wondering about patrols and other times when we would need to …


Letter Re: Night Operations

James: Regarding Pete C.’s article on night operations: The great (but now sadly defunct) magazine “Coevolution Quarterly” had a great article about night vision development sometime in the 1980s (I’ve got a copy of it hanging around here somewhere, if only I was organized enough to lay my hands on it) that gave a brilliant method for training night sight via peripheral vision. The technique involved taking something like a lightweight brazing rod and attaching it [off-center] to the bill of a baseball cap. On the end of the rod, you attached a small white ball or disc, which you …


Night Operations–Gain the Tactical and Psychological Edge, Even Without the Aid of Night Vision Devices, by Pete C.

Sometime in the future, in a post-TEOTWAWKI environment, your retreat group may decide to send out small teams to conduct either reconnaissance or security patrols. They may want to collect information on what is happening at the nearest town or confirm/ disprove the accuracy of any information (rumors) previously attained. Whatever the mission, these teams must function as a cohesive unit every time. Their success or failure will depend on everyone’s ability to operate during darkness or periods of reduced and/ or limited visibility (to include rain, fog, snow, etc.) even if they do not have the aid of night …


Letter Re: The Shenandoah Valley as a Retreat Locale?

Mr. Editor: I live 50 miles west of Washington, DC. How do you feel about the Shenandoah mountains area as a retreat location? I was thinking about building a cabin with a Safecastle underground [blast/fallout/security] shelter. I have not yet bought the land yet but it is a good time to do so. I look forward to talking with you soon. – Mike JWR Replies: I highly recommend Safecastle’s shelters, but a shelter by itself will not ensure our safety in truly desperate times. You will also need geographic isolation. I think that anywhere that is within one tank of …


Letter Re: How to Store All Those Saved Nickels

Mr. Rawles: I diligently read your “nickels”article and archived follow-ups, but nowhere do you mention which size ammo can it is that cubes rolled nickels for storage most efficiently? I have cleaned out my children’s bank accounts slowly over the last few weeks and am walking into random banks and grocery stores converting the cash into rolled nickels. ”Havin’ a yard sale, don’t ya know.”.Wink. It keeps the Stepford bank weenies from asking unnecessary questions. – Laura C.; Hiding in Plain Sight, Somewhere Deep In The People’s Republic of Northern Virginia JWR Replies: In my experience, the USGI .30 caliber …


The Golden Horde and the Thin Veneer

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Because of the urbanization of the U.S. population, if the entire eastern or western power grid goes down for more than a week, the cities will rapidly become unlivable. I foresee that there will be an almost unstoppable chain of events: Power -> water -> food distribution -> law and order -> arson fires -> full scale looting As the comfort level in the cities rapidly drops to nil, there will be a massive involuntary outpouring from the big cities and suburbs into the hinterboonies. This is the phenomenon that my late father, Donald Robert Rawles–a career particle physics research …


Letter Re Binocular Recommendations

Sir: For our possible retreat security, you’ve written a lot about communications gear, intrusion detection devices (like Dakota Alerts), night vision gear, guns, and even observation post [construction]. But I haven’t seen your recommendations on binoculars. What model/brands [do you] recommend? Thanks, – Ray V. JWR Replies: I generally recommend 7×50 binoculars for retreat security at fixed sites. For patrolling, I prefer 7 power binoculars with smaller objective lenses–perhaps 7×42 or even 7×35, for lighter weight. If your retreat is out in open plains country, you might want more magnification and larger objective lenses. (Perhaps even a large 30×50 monocular …


A Practical Guide to the Recon Patrol, by TMC

Okay, the stuff has hit the fan, you have made it to your retreat, and you are geared up, stocked up and ready to survive. Inner security has been established, with LP/OPs located at likely avenues of approach. You at some point will start to wonder what else is out there, how far away it is, and what it means for your group. You might want to start implementing the recon patrol. While I could write what may very well be a small manual on the subject, I will just put out the basics that will point you in the …


On Rural Retreat Safety and Secrecy, by E.I.D.

A major worry for many urbanites considering maintaining a rural retreat is their ability to, from a distance, ensure the secrecy and security of their property. Many of us cannot afford a full time retreat-sitter, and must use other legal methods to ensure the security of our property and supplies in both grid-up and grid-down scenarios. First, county roads running to or through your property are always a liability. I set my retreat as far back off of the gravel county road as possible by clearing my own road, with the help of friends, through thick pine forest. My road …


Section 13(3), Rule 1830, Rule 308, and Naivete

The news headlines have been packed with economic Gloom and Doom, in recent weeks. To many observers, things seem to be spinning out of control–with collapsing credit markets, massive bailouts, emergency cash infusions, and taxpayer “stimulus” checks descending like Manna from Heaven. Given all this news, it is timely to discuss three rules: Section 13(3), Rule 1830, and Rule 308. Section 13(3) Section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act (of 1932) empowers the Federal Reserve banking cartel the power to lend to any corporation or to any individual using any collateral. The only proviso is that the Fed must declare …


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 …