Category: Survival Mindset

Conditions for Combining Survival Groups Under Extraordinary Circumstances – Part 1, by G.R.

The following is a response addressing concerns of those to whom a proposed “Plan B” bug-out scheme had been provided by a larger, existing group to multiple smaller groups. This larger group had extended an invitation to smaller groups that are lacking the financial and over-all resources of that larger group. This is a series of responses that have been/were made to the chief “officers” of the smaller groups. The basic proposal is for a 60-day, temporary sheltering at a safe location with provision capabilities for a larger group of individuals and families beyond the recognized community/core member group. This …


Becoming A Warrior At Gunsite Academy, by J.H.

I had dreams of becoming an armed warrior at a very young age. My father and my uncle put a .22 rifle in my hands after I joined the Boy Scouts, and they asked that I go with them through the woods along the Cahaba River in Shelby County, Alabama. They cared less about sports and preferred that I learn how to survive in a non-urban/non-suburban environment. I believe they were interested in passing along family history as much as anything else. They told me how my ancestors, mainly my great-grandfathers, survived as warriors when they fought in the American …


An Introduction to Gangs – Part 1, by T.N.

The Threat Unfortunately our American justice (or in-justice) system has utterly failed to curtail certain groups and organizations from threatening the safety of the American public. I am warning you that just beneath the super-thin veneer of American civil society lurks a dark and deadly threat. It’s a threat so insidious that it kills young children often times for sport and so powerful it has purchased politicians at both state and federal levels of government. Most people see very little of this threat, only catching glimpses of it as it burns through the thin layer of civility and boils over …


Optimizing Training for the Committed Prepper, by F.M.

Almost everyone who reads this column knows that most Americans are woefully unprepared to face a post-poop hits the fan, WOTROL, grid down world. Equally sad and dangerous is the fact that most in the prepping community fall into one of the following categories: Someone who thinks about prepping and sees the need but hasn’t really gotten started, Someone who buys a lot of “stuff” but doesn’t really know what to do with it, or Someone who has “stuff” and reads a lot of books and columns on prepping but still hasn’t tried to live it. I suppose that even …


Letter Re: A Decade of Prepping

Hugh, I absolutely agree with the dedicated wife in what she wrote in ”A Decade of Prepping, Do’s and Dont’s” that women are an integral part of being prepared. Farm women are very hard to find, even for me (a woman) to be friends with. I spent several years living in a city and didn’t understand why I never fit in with my city friends. Then I found a mentor, an older Christian lady who was married to a farmer, who explained to me that I wasn’t wired to be a city girl; I was wired to be a farm …


Letter Re: A Decade of Prepping, Do’s and Do Nots by RR

In “A Decade of Prepping, Do’s and Do Nots by RR”, I must take issue with RR’s advice to not discuss prepping issues with a future wife because prepping is a male thing. There are plenty of women around who want the security of preparedness. If a man can’t find a practical woman who values preparedness, maybe he is looking in the wrong places or at the wrong women. I am a “Plain Jane” who met my husband 20 years ago working in our church’s Sunday school. We came together because of our mutual love of Jesus. Neither of us …


Letter Re: Walking Home: Daylight or Dark?

HJL, I’ve got a 35-mile commute to work. I’ve often wondered, if the lights go out, should I walk home during daylight hours or at night, which I believe would put me at risk of getting shot in the dark by trigger-happy people. I recall in Patriots the couple moving at night and sleeping during the day. This is a rural highway route, far from larger cities. – B.D. HJL Responds: You will need to evaluate the routes(s) that you use to determine the best time of day for travel. If you do plan on traveling at night, I strongly …


Two Letters Re: A Decade of Prepping, Do’s and Do Not’s, by R.R.

HJL, This was an excellent piece, the kind of concise and practical advice your deep woods grandfather would give. The statement “The ground will be littered with unfired rifles” is a prediction my team has made as well. The powerful lure of “bling” guns has to be the greatest detriment to prepping that I routinely encounter. DD in CO o o o HJL, I agree with almost everything he said, until I got to the hand-to-hand fighting section. I always look upon things with skepticism, especially if they cost thousands of dollars and claim to do fantastic things. So I …


A Decade of Prepping, Do’s and Do Not’s, by R.R.

My experience in survival preparedness has spanned roughly a decade now, from my early 20’s into my early 30’s. I have learned a lot along the way and would like to share my experiences, varied as they are, on many subjects. These are only my opinions. Your individual circumstances will vary; you can take from this what you will and ignore the rest. Money The number one most important survival consideration is that NOW, while money is worth something, you had better get HOT on MAKING MORE MONEY. Ten years ago, I was absolutely convinced that the financial system was …


Watchman Fatigue – Part 2, by J.P.

Make No Mistake – The Watchman’s Warning Is To The Church! Ezekiel 33:8-9 gets us right into the thick of what a watchman had better be about: “When I say to the wicked, ‘You wicked person, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade them from their ways, that wicked person will die fora their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the wicked person to turn from their ways and they do not do so, they will die for their sin, though you yourself will be saved.” …


Watchman Fatigue – Part 1, by J.P.

If you’ve been at the tasks of continually surveying the landscape, monitoring changes in our country, calculating family needs for the coming months or years, spending 95% of your discretionary funds on dried vegetables and wool socks, encouraging anyone close to you to heed the warnings, and wondering if it’s your last time to hear the national anthem, then you can identify with my sense of being tired with it all. Yes, I’m tired beyond fatigue. Worse yet, when I went back to the Bible to reexamine the teaching in regard to the task of a watchman, I discovered I’ve …


The Frog In A Slowly Heating Pot, by N.H.

1

Do you recall the frog in that joke about how you boil a frog and the answer is by slowly turning up the heat? It’s done that way because he doesn’t notice the heat until it’s too late to jump. Let me tell you the story of how that frog joke relates to me. The second ice storm hit a few days ago– two days after the first one. The first one was a pretty inconvenience. Schools were closed for the day; we had a day off work; the freezing rain, which coated the branches and power lines, shone like …


A Commercial Diver’s Guide to Emergency Preparedness, by A. Diver

Right now you might be thinking, “Why did he use the phrase ’emergency preparedness’ instead of ‘prepping’?” The answer is really simple; “prepping” has a negative connotation in this world. While the rest of the world has been in survival mode for a long time, Americans have been living in the lap of luxury. This world of convenience that we have made for ourselves has made us fat, naive, and lazy. This “lap of luxury” lifestyle has also made us complacent. We take things as they are and expect everything will be alright. If you are reading this, you have …


Letter Re: Dogs Tracking Someone

JWR, HJL, SurvivalBlog Readers: I have a few thoughts about tracking dogs. My wife does canine search and rescue for the local CERT team in our rural county. There are two main types of search dogs– area and trailing. A trailing dog will follow a scent from weakest to strongest along a track. They may cut, circle back trails, and follow the strongest scent trail. Area dogs look for the strongest scent, not worrying too much about a specific trail but concentrating on an area. Over many years (doing training) the dogs have always found me. The team dogs have …


Letter: Dogs Tracking Someone

Hello, I l liked your books. Recently a wanted felon in our small town eluded a canine unit whereas many others have not. God forbid it should happen under the wrong circumstances to anyone not deserving to be hunted down. I did wonder though how the one that got away might have done that. I went to the Internet and found a few answers, but when I searched your site I could find nothing about it. I wondered if any of the readers out there have any practical solutions on the topic. It seems like the knowledge might be of …