Category: Survival Mindset

Letter Re: Advice on the Most Versatile Bicycle for Schumeresque Scenarios

Mr. Rawles, I need to snag bikes for my wife and myself. We are both young and relatively fit, but we live in [Washington,] DC and take [the] metro [subway system] everywhere. We [presently] don’t have bikes, and I have no knowledge about them. The [SurvivalBlog] section on guns was helpful, I was wondering if y’all had something on the most versatile bikes, by price point. Thanks. – Jordan H. JWR Replies: These days, I generally recommend folding bicycles. Prices have come down substantially, so they are not much more expensive than standard bicycles.They are also just a s robust …


The ABCs of WTSHTF, by Mark B.

The ABCs of When the Schumer Hits the Fan (WTSHTF.) aren’t what you have prepared, acquired or stowed but even more basic in the preparation processes that we sometimes take for granted. The A is the ability to learn, to adapt and to try. No matter how many classes we take or how much we have stored away there is the potential that we might have missed something or prepared for one scenario and ended up with another. We may be in the middle of TEOTWAWKI and not be fully ready but guess what, we aren’t scheduling it. Ability is …


Letter Re: Don’t Delay Dental Work and Elective Surgery!

Mr. Rawles and Fellow SurvivalBlog Readers- I am recovering today from having oral surgery yesterday. It was not a tooth that was in pain but one that could give me trouble at any inopportune time. As a family we have been getting all our dental, vision including extra glasses and contacts, and other various health concerns taken care of now. After everything hits the fan or even during this coming economic crisis, getting good medical care may be a challenge. I wouldn’t want to imagine having the dental work I had done yesterday performed as a “do it yourself” job. …


Three Letters Re: Advanced Medical Care and Transport After TEOTWAWKI

James, [Regarding the letter from DS in Wisconsin:] Maybe and I mean maybe there would be someone to care for a injured or sick member of your retreat group or a doctor or nurse to look at them, probably not. If you have the gas to get them there. If you can leave enough security at the retreat and enough security to take with you. Remember, this is The End of the World as we Know It (TEOTWAWKI). There are several books that should be in a medical library you might already have them: Where There is No Doctor, Where …


Economic Climate Change: The Long Winter May Begin This Summer

I’ve had several consulting clients contact me in recent weeks, all with notes of fear in their voices. They realize that something is horribly wrong with the economy, but they cannot properly isolate and articulate the problem. I haven’t been able to calm them, however, because to an extent I share their anxiety. In my estimation, the “something wrong” that we sense is nothing short of a monumental shift in the economic climate. America is clearly headed for a recession. Most economic recessions are simply a product of the business cycle. These recessions are relatively mild and they often last …


Front Sight’s New “Get a Gun” Training and Gear Offer

Front Sight has been a SurvivalBlog advertiser for nearly as long as I have been writing the blog. The Memsahib and I have both attended four-day courses at Front Sight, and we can attest that the training there is absolutely top notch. We were both very impressed with the world class quality of the instruction and the quiet professionalism of the instructors. The Front Sight experience is hard to put into words. You really need to experience it for yourself. To be prepared for the potentially dark days ahead, I highly recommend that at least one member of your family …


Letter Re: Sword Ban Begins on April 6th in the United Kingdom

James: In the past you have recommended that SurvivalBlog readers in the UK to get a samurai sword. Well, they are banning them now. As of the 6th April 2008 it will become illegal to manufacture, import or sell (but not own) all swords with a curved, single edged blade over 50 cm in the U.K. Although they can still supply such weapons for “permitted activities”. These activities include; Historical re-enactments and Sporting Activities. The legislation does not mention samurai swords. It only mentions single-edged curved swords with a blade length of 50cm or over. As per the document, it …


Lessons From Fiction–A Critique of “I Am Legend”, by Michael Z. Williamson

I finally had a chance to see [the 2007 movie] “I Am Legend“, and analyzed it as a writer, and from a technical perspective. I’ve seen a lot of discussion over his [use of a] M4 [Carbine as his primary weapon]. I have to say for that type of fighting, I’d prefer a shotgun. However, a shotgun doesn’t reload fast enough. He might be better off with a good .308 self-loading carbine, if he can find adequate soft-point ammo. In New York City, that’s unlikely. National Guard armories would only have ball ammo, and likely wouldn’t have anything other than …


Family Learning for Preparedness, by T.D.

My husband and I are like minded, (he realized way before I did), and he and I didn’t meet until I was in my mid-thirties. I was considered weird, called a tomboy and later, a gear head. Don’t get me wrong, I cook, sew, knit and crochet. I had many interests though and wanted to learn. What I have seen lately and in some people we met that are like minded, is the lack of initiative on the part of some spouses. I have seen some women and men that will ridicule their spouses or will just roll their eyes …


Post-Doomsday: Dress Incognito, Play Down Your Preps, by Ranger Man

Rawles, at SurvivalBlog, had a good post earlier this month that included reader-submitted comments on survival lessons from the homeless. Check the link to read the advice, which mostly contains thoughts on street survival as the homeless see it, how to score a free shower, etc. Let’s flip this line of thinking around and brainstorm on how staying dirty could be a SHTF survival technique. If (when) the world is your enemy, deception is your ally. I think this is particularly pertinent to urban dwellers, but it could be valuable for everyone. WTSHTF – dress like a bum. Post-doomsday: George: …


Letter Re: Deep Family Roots Versus “Ideal Location” When Considering Relocation

Good Evening, I’ve recently become a reader of your web site – thank you for the excellent resource. Having read through your information on Recommended Retreat Areas, I have an additional question or two. My husband, kids and I currently live in Utah. He has family here, within an hour drive. We also live in a heavily populated area, right on the Wasatch Fault. That is worrisome. My mother, many cousins and close friends live in rural coastal North Carolina. My mom lives alone and is aging. We have thought ahead to the possibility of needing to care for her. …


Two Letters Re: Some Offshore Retreat Considerations, by P. Traveler

James, I see a lot of letters concerning ‘re-locating’ out of the U.S. What are these people thinking? If there is one country that still has a modicum of privacy, freedom, and the ability to ‘disappear’ into the wilderness, then it is here in the U.S. Where in the world can you own the variety and quantity of firearms than here? [Where else can you] stockpile food, go off the grid et cetera? The legal system is still intact here as well, so you can win in court under most circumstances. I just cant figure Americans willing to give up …


Some Offshore Retreat Considerations, by P. Traveler

Moving to a new area is a challenge, as any city-bred person from the US East Coast could tell you after his first winter in Wyoming. And the job market is not exactly as promising, either, at least for office workers. Yet, many make the move, and come to regret having waited so long before having done so. An even more difficult move is to go from the country of your birth and to explore a new life somewhere else. Many of our ancestors did this, however, and under far more difficult circumstances than you would face today. Just think …


Four Letters Re: Use of Force in Retreat Security–Planning for Rules of Engagement

James: First, thank-you for posting my question on SurvivalBlog. Second, thank-you for posting your thoughts. They are well thought out and very well presented. Your response sparked an additional couple of thoughts: Dogs have been man’s early warning and engagement system since the dawn of history. A barking dog tells the potential visitor that he lost any advantage of stealth and that he is facing a team. Two barking dogs are even better. Dogs over 50 pounds also represent a physical threat. The second thought is to split the axis (axes?) of confrontation. Killing flies by clapping one’s hands over …


Getting it All Together, Or, The Worst Pencil is Better than the Best Memory, by Sled238

If you are even moderately past the first stage of becoming prepared, you have (or will have) the experience of finding things you had forgotten you had bought. Yeah, Christmas! I thought, until it occurred to me that if I had needed that item really, really badly, I would have just screwed up, big time. Cancel Christmas. After the third – or was it sixth? – time reading “Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse”, it occurred to me there was one thing I wish had made it into the book: the Gray’s notebook. Their preps notebook, to be more specific. Only …