Notes for Friday – September 18, 2015

The 18th of September is Chilean Independence Day. On this day, in 1810, Chile declared independence from Spain.

o o o

Have you ever wondered how you will siphon gas from all the dead cars on the road if TEOTWAWKI occurs to fill your tank with all of the modern anti-siphon, anti-spill devices on them? Or have you ever wished you could just get a gallon or two from your car for your lawnmower? Ready Made Resources has the answer. The Gas Tapper is a read-to-go siphoning system that will defeat most anti-siphon devices and comes in a vapor-proof container so it doesn’t stink your trailer or car up with the smell of gasoline.

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Today, we present another entry for Round 60 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $10,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,195 value),
  2. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  3. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper with a hammer forged, chromlined barrel and a hard case to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR type rifle to have quick change barrel, which can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools, and a compact carry capability in a hard case or 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  4. Gun Mag Warehouse is providing 20 Magpul pmags 30rd Magazines (a value of $300) and a Gun Mag Warehouse T-Shirt. (An equivalent prize will be awarded for residents in states with magazine restrictions.),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A Model 120 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $340 value),
  7. A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo,
  8. KellyKettleUSA.com is donating both an AquaBrick water filtration kit and a Stainless Medium Scout Kelly Kettle Complete Kit with a combined retail value of $304,
  9. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $300 gift certificate, and
  10. Two cases of meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Second Prize:

  1. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  2. A FloJak EarthStraw “Code Red” 100-foot well pump system (a $500 value), courtesy of FloJak.com,
  3. The Ark Institute is donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package–enough for two families of four, seed storage materials, a CD-ROM of Geri Guidetti’s book “Build Your Ark! How to Prepare for Self Reliance in Uncertain Times”, and two bottles of Potassium Iodate– a $325 retail value,
  4. A $300 gift certificate from Freeze Dry Guy,
  5. A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials,
  6. Twenty Five books, of the winners choice, of any books published by PrepperPress.com (a $270 value),
  7. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value),
  8. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $150 gift certificate,
  9. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site, and
  10. Safecastle is providing a package of 10 Lifestraws (a $200 value).

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  6. APEX Gun Parts is donating a $250 purchase credit,
  7. Montie Gear is donating a Precision Rest (a $249 value), and
  8. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).

Round 60 ends on September 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Giving Directions in a Crisis Situation, by J.R.

So you’re the resident prepper in your neighborhood. Maybe your neighbors know, or maybe they don’t. You’ve run through all the scenarios you can think of and have it all planned out. You and your kin are ready to get out of Dodge, and you all know the where’s, how’s, and why’s.

In each “what-if” scenario, are you taking the best route to avoid people? Yup, that’s probably wise. You know the safe ways to get from here to there. No matter how it will play out, you can’t avoid people for the rest of your post-TEOTWAWKI life. You are prepared; you are called to help others.

Map reading and navigational skills are essential tools for the well-prepared. The not-so-well-prepared may also have the need to get from point A to point B in a situation where pre-planning is not feasible. You know how to get to safety by looking at a map, planning a route, and perhaps adjusting based on conditions. How well are you able to communicate directions and routes to others who either have no map to guide them, no ability to read a map anyway, or have the navigational awareness of a drunken butterfly?

It’s 11pm and you are 15 miles on the other side of urban world when it all hits the fan. Forget driving home in this scenario. It’s boots or nothing at this point. It’s no problem because your maps cover your safe route home to meet up with your loved ones. Before hopping the fence to head for the drainage ditch, you notice a normal looking fellow with a backpack clearly lost as to which way he should go. After some brief, nervous chit-chat about what’s going on, you find out he’s from out of state. Knowing that going east would be his best bet of staying safe, you realize your maps only cover your north-south route.

You know the general area well enough to think through a safe route to at least get him out of suburbia, but how do you convey that to him? Can you draw an accurate enough map to get the job done? Can he even follow a map? Is he one of those “I need written directions, not a map” kind of people? We, as “the prepared”, have a duty to help those who need it when it is in our power to provide that help.

Man’s general ability to look at the lay of the land or to recall one from memory and accurately recreate that on paper is a skill that does not get honed especially in our modern world. As with a lot of abilities, our reliance on computers has softened time-proven skills that at one time were essential to survival. However, the forgotten ability for the common man to produce an accurate map can not be blamed entirely on the age of GPS and Google Earth. Our reliance on mass published paper maps can be traced back a few generations, if we walk down the timeline of transportation and land purchases. Pre-computer, we all depended on the USGS to make maps for us, along with county highway maps, tax parcel maps, and even local street maps in the front section of the Yellow pages. Who had the need to make their own map when it was so easy to find one already printed on decent paper, to scale, very accurate, and rich in useful details?

We would all agree that map making is an art, but you don’t need to be a skilled artist to get the job done.

Here are some ideas to get your mind thinking spatially and your hand ready to do the communicating:

Play

Start with a simple map game. We in these United States of America know the familiar shape of the fifty states and can probably sing the song as well. Can you draw the 50 states freehand? Grab a friendly competitor and a letter-sized outline map of the U.S. (or whatever country you are familiar with), give each other two minutes to study and refresh your memories, and then see who can draw the most accurate re-creation of the map on a blank sheet of paper without referring back to the original. This is an attempt to take what your brain can accurately visualize and put it on paper in a spatially correct way.

Practice

The next step is to take an actual route in real life and make it into a map. For this, the goal is to create a visual picture that someone else could take and get from point A to point B. Let’s look at your path from work to home or from home to town. Take a sheet of blank paper that’s no bigger than half of a letter-sized piece. First, picture this as an official map. Let’s do this with the idea that you will be walking this route, not driving or riding. Is your route oriented more north and south? You will want the paper to be long up and down (portrait). If you’ll be walking more east and west, turn the paper the long way– left to right (landscape). Take as much of the available paper as possible with your start point on one end and your destination on the other.

Think about what features you would encounter along the way and what details would be helpful to someone following your map. Picture yourself flying over the path, like you’re viewing it in Google Earth. Anyone familiar with your area could lay down the major roads on paper, but what will you encounter when you walk through the woods and avoid the well-travelled ways? Think not only of familiar landmarks, like hills, mountains, creeks, tree rows, fences, buildings, and things that can serve as landmarks along the way. What obstacles and dangers lie along the route? Are there walls, canyons, major rivers, mountains, or angry citizens? Anything potentially helpful should go on the map.

Ideally your map will turn out to be somewhat to scale. What do I mean by that? When you are all done drawing, take it to your favorite digital device (with a large screen), zoom to your map area in your online mapper of choic, and hold your hand-drawn map to the real thing. Are the items on your map in the same relationship to each other as they are in real life? Would your hand drawn map be able to take a stranger to the destination? Practice this skill and give your maps to your friends and family to critique.

Action

Grab your paper and pencil along with a trusting loved one or gullible stranger and head to a park or part of town that you know well but your victim is unfamiliar with. Without pre-planning or scoping out the area, start your friend out at a safe spot and draw him or her a map to another safe part that is a good distance away. See if your mapping skills can lead the wary traveller successfully to the destination. Make it as easy or as hard as the two of you decide. (It might be a good idea to take your communication devices along, too.) This can be a fun game and a great learning tool, if your partner is willing to give blunt advice on your mapping ability.

A few other tips for successful map creating:

  • For most maps used for navigation, north is at up, at the top, on a map. Most map readers will assume this and may have trouble following the map if north is not up.
  • Keep in mind the circumstances when you are creating this map. Is the route long and the traveller will takes days to get there? If so, don’t overwhelm him with too many details, if all he needs is a general idea of what the best route is and what to avoid. Is there a crisis and a great need to boogey out of where you are? If so, keep it basic, short, and sweet. Is the area of travel short but wrought with potential personal danger? Every little detail could make a great difference in a successful journey.
  • Pencil is better than pen. If the map gets wet, ink will run. Pencil will be readable.
  • You need to make a map but don’t have paper or writing tool. Improvise! Just about anything can be written on, if you have the right tool. If you lack a good writing tool, try chalk, marker, charcoal, crushed berries, or anything available to get the job done.
  • Smaller is better but don’t limit yourself if you need to add important details.

Directions Only, Please

So what do you do when you need to make a map for someone who can’t read maps? If the destination does not require a complicated set of turns to get there or is simply not that far away, a map may not be needed at all. “Follow this tree line until you cross the first road, turn right on the road and walk up the second driveway on the left.” No map needed for that one. But if you are about to give complicated directions that you know will require a map and the person simply cannot follow a map, how do you communicate those directions?

In this scenario there are at least two ways to help the person seeking to get somewhere. If the person is not a visual thinker enough to use a map, most likely they need worded directions that would read almost like a recipe or operational manual. In that case there’s a good bet they are also excellent note takers. Give them the pen and paper and slowly give them the directions, and have them write it in their own note-taking lingo. Work with them to create step-by-step instructions that they can follow and make sense of in their own head. Perhaps a hybrid list of directions with occasional diagrams of turns, waypoints or notable features to head toward would be helpful to some people.

If you come across a person who you feel either cannot follow a map or follow written directions (in a crisis they may simply be panicked and not thinking clearly), the second option is to find other alternatives for the would-be traveler. Is someone else going that direction that they could travel with? Is there a safe place not far away that they could navigate to? Could they shelter-in-place until conditions improve? If the person needing directions does not feel confident enough to head out on their own with the instructions you gave them, could they tag along with you? Do all that you can with what you have in the safest way as time allows. Knowing that you’ve done that, the worst case is that you say a quick prayer with them and leave them to fend for themselves, if it becomes apparent you can’t help them any more.

Just as a medic would help others in time of crisis because they know how to treat wounds or a family with a well-stocked pantry would help their neighbors in time of need, let’s prepare ourselves to offer accurate and potentially life-saving directions to those who need it.

Letter Re: Vehicle Fences

Hugh,

Just a comment on cutting metal (including cables).

A hacksaw takes a long time and will be obvious to many people. I have found when needing to cut hardened steel or thick metal too big for bolt cutters to use a metal cutting wheel on a battery operated tool like the 18 V Dewalt Grinder. It is fast and effortless. It does throw alot of sparks, so beware of your environment and maybe throw a wet towel or blanket down. Also, the blades are fragile and can break if twisted, so keep some spares with your kit. – S.T.

Economics and Investing:

OPSEC about gold from Dilbert – G.G.

o o o

If the world can no longer expand, will it implode? – T.A.

o o o

“Two hundred or four hundred dollar silver! Outrageous! Yes, of course, when we think in terms of today’s dollars, euros, and yen. But what if current deflationary forces overwhelm markets and currencies, debts are defaulted, and central banks panic. Rather than accept crushing deflation, they massively “print” to boost asset prices and thereby create a huge inflation. Instead of dollars and euros, we soon have mini-dollars and mini-euros.” Outrageous Silver Speculation

o o o

Federal Debt Held by the Public Totals $107,000 Per Household – G.G.

Odds ‘n Sods:

DIY survival watch for about $20 – P.S.

o o o

Military exercise that sparked fears in Texas of ‘hostile government takeover’ ends – JBG

o o o

What’s in a refugee’s bag? – P.S.

o o o

I normally try to stay out of politics, but this exchange profiled on Bill Whittle’s Trifecta is refreshing. If only all politics were like this! – MtH

o o o

Acetic acid, found in vinegar, shown to be effective against bacteria found in burn wounds – A.D.

Notes for Thursday – September 17, 2015

Today, September 17th, we celebrate Constitution Day in these United States.

o o o

I just noticed that my third novel “Founders“, is now available in Spanish, in trade paperback: Fundadores. – JWR

o o o

Today, we present another entry for Round 60 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $10,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,195 value),
  2. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  3. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper with a hammer forged, chromlined barrel and a hard case to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR type rifle to have quick change barrel, which can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools, and a compact carry capability in a hard case or 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  4. Gun Mag Warehouse is providing 20 Magpul pmags 30rd Magazines (a value of $300) and a Gun Mag Warehouse T-Shirt. (An equivalent prize will be awarded for residents in states with magazine restrictions.),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A Model 120 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $340 value),
  7. A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo,
  8. KellyKettleUSA.com is donating both an AquaBrick water filtration kit and a Stainless Medium Scout Kelly Kettle Complete Kit with a combined retail value of $304,
  9. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $300 gift certificate, and
  10. Two cases of meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Second Prize:

  1. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  2. A FloJak EarthStraw “Code Red” 100-foot well pump system (a $500 value), courtesy of FloJak.com,
  3. The Ark Institute is donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package–enough for two families of four, seed storage materials, a CD-ROM of Geri Guidetti’s book “Build Your Ark! How to Prepare for Self Reliance in Uncertain Times”, and two bottles of Potassium Iodate– a $325 retail value,
  4. A $300 gift certificate from Freeze Dry Guy,
  5. A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials,
  6. Twenty Five books, of the winners choice, of any books published by PrepperPress.com (a $270 value),
  7. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value),
  8. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $150 gift certificate,
  9. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site, and
  10. Safecastle is providing a package of 10 Lifestraws (a $200 value).

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  6. APEX Gun Parts is donating a $250 purchase credit,
  7. Montie Gear is donating a Precision Rest (a $249 value), and
  8. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).

Round 60 ends on September 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Occupying Your Community- Part 2, by B.S.C.

Occupying An Assembly Area

Well, my decision to stay put in the next crisis brings me to the title of this article. The word “occupy” is very powerful, and that’s why the U.S. Army has been using this term for as long as there has been a U.S. Army. For example, when a platoon is establishing a defensive posture, it’s called “occupying an assembly area.” This is just a fancy way of saying “this is mine, and if you want it, come and take it!”. Did you know that you always have a 3:1 advantage by staying put and defending what you have? I don’t have a bug-out bag, because I don’t have anywhere better to go than my own castle.

Your neighborhood is your “assembly area,” and you “occupy” it by controlling it. This is where you assemble what you’ve got, in order to plan and prepare for any number of potential future actions or moves. You know the entry and exit routes like the back of your hand. You know the high points and the low points. You know the names of your neighbors, and you have an idea about what they’re good at (and not so good at). You know where the high-speed approach routes are and the best places to erect obstacles. You know where that river leads, and you know the boundaries of those woods. In a SHTF emergency, there is no longer such a thing as my house, the city park, your front yard, or the convenience store parking lot. It is all yours (the organized community’s) now, and you need to own it, control it, use it, defend it, and occupy all of it.

In the Army, the key to performing the task of occupying an assembly area correctly (for example, so that the platoon isn’t wiped out immediately by an ambush) is establishing a Priority of Work. The Priority of Work principle is a never-ending process that will successfully guide your community from preparation to execution. Notice how I said “your community”? That’s because you’re not doing this alone. To put it in context, let’s think about the worst case scenario: a total society collapse with many others wanting what you have.

Priorities of Work is not a laundry list of tasks to be completed; to be effective, Priorities of Work must consist of a task, a given time, and a measurable performance standard. (Ref: US Army Ranger Handbook)

  • Security It’s always the #1 priority, but there are no other pre-defined priorities. This is the only one that is always true. Remember that different weapons (shotguns, rifles, handguns, knives, bows, and others) have different ranges and purposes in different situations.
  • Alternate position/withdrawal plan Occupation is the best laid plan of mice and men, but if all else fails where will you go? How will you get there? This could also include transportation, such as a bicycle in your trunk to assure your trip when your vehicle can no longer travel any further.
  • Clear fields of view/fire You need to see what is coming. “Short range heads up.”
  • Prepare fighting positions (dig foxholes, prepare basements and/or other safe areas) An area you can shoot from without being hit, to shelter in place, use as a safe room, or for other purposes.
  • Communication This might include a weather radio, Ham radio, police scanner, CB radio, walkie-talkies, mirrors, whistles, smoke signals, et cetera. “Long range heads up.”
  • Coordination Working with adjacent units (other neighborhoods).
  • Emplace obstacles Erect roadblocks to slow high-speed attackers down.
  • Cover, camouflage, and concealment This is all about protection and deception. It might be that you strew clothes and furniture on the front lawns of some of the outlying homes to make it look like your neighborhood has already been hit by raiders.
  • Weapons and equipment maintenance Tools, tool sharpeners, extra parts, gun oil, et cetera.
  • Water resupply Bleach, buckets, water filters, wood for boiling, solar distillation, et cetera.
  • Eat
  • Sleep
  • Resupply of ammunition and food This is everything from fishing poles to chickens to rabbits to reusable rat traps to small cages to edible weeds to beetles and more.
  • Sanitation and personal hygiene Medications, first aid, feminine hygiene supplies, toothpaste, toilet paper, and more.

When it’s time to occupy your neighborhood, then using the Priority of Work will synergize your community’s efforts. Security will dictate that Joe gives up his deer rifle to Bill who’s taking an overwatch shift in Betty’s attic because that’s the highest ground on the block. The withdrawal plan may dictate the use of Jim’s 40 gallons of gasoline in his garage for Bob’s tractor trailer to quickly relocate the group’s prepositioned important supplies to an alternate site. The need for a clear field of view may dictate the demolition of Susan’s house, and she may end up sleeping with all of the group’s children in the warm and secure basement of Jennifer’s house. Once you get through the Priority of Work, you start the process all over again and improve them. Using the collective resources of the group by priority (and in a never-ending process of continual improvement) will help ensure the tribe’s survival.

Strangers are always presumed to be attackers, no matter what “official” or sorry stories they come up with. The survival of the tribe depends on it. The enemy will employ deception at every opportunity to exploit weaknesses and discover a way in. War is hell. Welcome to your survival situation.

—————————————————————————————————————————-

Thinking You Are Janet Napolitano’s Feared Lone Wolf?

For those of you who think you are tough enough to make it on your own, you are probably calling me some sort of hippie at this point. I am calling for sharing resources with the next-door neighbors who you have never even cared enough to meet. You don’t care about that old lady living alone or that weird guy across the street? You don’t want to be burdened with that dead weight, right? They didn’t bother to prepare, and you’re good. All you need to do is either hit the road to get to your pre-stocked Garden of Eden, or outlast them, and take whatever’s left when the buzzards start circling their house. Either way, you couldn’t be more wrong.

Remember that I said you had a 3:1 advantage in a defensive position? What this also means is that you need a 3:1 ratio of attackers to defenders to at least have a 50:50 chance of success in a raid (attacking someone else who is on the defense). This ratio has been proven so many times throughout history that you can count on it as a given. Whether you are attacking or defending, you can’t do it alone, because centuries of statistics don’t support it.

Furthermore, if you plan to just “bug out” to your lost-in-the-woods hideout, you better be able to get there before society breaks down, because when it does, you’re going to be considered an attacker coming by my neighborhood along the way. We’ll be ambushing you on the road, and we’ll have a fortified defense by following the Priority of Work. Most likely, you’ll just die of dehydration while you’re stuck in a traffic jam on the side of the highway. If you do manage to get there by some miracle, chances are that you’ll have to fight your way in. According to the 3:1 ratio, you’d better arrive in force, because there are six waiting for you, and they really like your place. You’ll need 18 attackers to be equal in force.

Yes, you can be a loner and just hang out in your well-stocked house and not help anyone around you, but once again, you’re going to make a real nice target. The sooner someone takes you out, the more supplies they can acquire before you consume them. They might employ the element of surprise and attack you with overwhelming firepower when you least expect it.

On the other hand, our group has families to feed. We’ll have no patience for your lazy, dead weight taking up valuable space and resources on just yourself.

Conclusion

Know when to hold them. Know when to fold them. Know when to walk away, and know when to run!

My suggestion is hold them for as long as possible. Don’t give in to fear. If you have to walk away, take your gun, ammo, gasoline, water, and stuffed animal for the kids. If you need to run, also take a copy of this:

STANDING ORDERS ROGERS RANGERS (from U.S. Army Ranger Handbook)

  1. Don’t forget nothing.
  2. Have your musket clean as a whistle, hatchet scoured, sixty rounds powder and ball, and be ready to march at a minute’s warning.
  3. When you’re on the march, act the way you would if you was sneaking up on a deer. See the enemy first.
  4. Tell the truth about what you see and what you do. There is an army depending on us for correct information. You can lie all you please when you tell other folks about the Rangers, but don’t never lie to a Ranger or officer.
  5. Don’t never take a chance you don’t have to.
  6. When we’re on the march we march single file, far enough apart so one shot can’t go through two men.
  7. If we strike swamps, or soft ground, we spread out abreast, so it’s hard to track us.
  8. When we march, we keep moving till dark, so as to give the enemy the least possible chance at us.
  9. When we camp, half the party stays awake while the other half sleeps.
  10. If we take prisoners, we keep ’em separate till we have had time to examine them, so they can’t cook up a story between ’em.
  11. Don’t ever march home the same way. Take a different route so you won’t be ambushed.
  12. No matter whether we travel in big parties or little ones, each party has to keep a scout 20 yards ahead, 20 yards on each flank, and 20 yards in the rear so the main body can’t be surprised and wiped out.
  13. Every night you’ll be told where to meet if surrounded by a superior force.
  14. Don’t sit down to eat without posting sentries.
  15. Don’t sleep beyond dawn. Dawn’s when the French and Indians attack.
  16. Don’t cross a river by a regular ford.
  17. If somebody’s trailing you, make a circle, come back onto your own tracks, and ambush the folks that aim to ambush you.
  18. Don’t stand up when the enemy’s coming against you. Kneel down, lie down, hide behind a tree.
  19. Let the enemy come till he’s almost close enough to touch, then let him have it and jump out and finish him up with your hatchet.

~Major Robert Rogers, 1759

Letter Re: Vehicle Fences

HJL,

I wanted to make a comment about this great letter. I think it may bear mentioning that in an emergency situation the weak point in the fence is the concrete. Having watched one get hit and seen many more that were hit, I can say that the concrete set post will give way before the cable. This being said I can’t for sure say the best way to knock one over but bumper up to it at a 90 degree angle and the post should give way then the slack between the posts should allow you to drive over the cable. The saw would be the best, but if you can’t exit your vehicle for any reason, hitting a post or two once or twice should allow you to get to the other side. Like the writer said, it is illegal to tamper with them, so testing this out would not be recommended, but if all else fails… – J.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Attacks on Internet Fiber Optic Cables Ongoing. – T.A.

o o o

Video: How to Make a $1500 Sandwich in Only 6 Months – W.A.

A heavy dose of reality for those who think that they can just change their lifestyle after SHTF. Start now! Practice! Remember, it’s not practice that makes perfect but perfect practice. – HJL

o o o

Kid Takes Homemade Clock to School to Impress Teacher; They Arrest Him for “Making a Hoax Bomb” – D.S.

o o o

Freeze And Seize—-Not Conspiracy Theory: Legislative Fact Harder, more logistically improvident, is the prospect of seizing the people’s wealth after it’s been taken out of its tronic form and turned into cans of food, tools, seeds, ammo, and held, not in centralized accounts awaiting the push of but a Pharaohnic button but rather in a sprawling unregistered delta of barns and basements, root-cellars and attics and even caches…

(…because an armed and competent people in control of their own food supply are a prickly people to conquer and tyrannize….a unified and deeply-faithful people, all but indomitable…)

But just because it is improvident doesn’t mean it won’t be done, or at least—savagely—attempted. If we reflect on the sudden purchasing of legions’ worths of black rifles for the IRS, of an overwhelmingly debt-ladened administration nonetheless unprecedentedly purchasing enough hollow-point ammunition for its Internal State Security Forces to kill every man, woman, and child several times over, of its unconstitutional federalization of state, local, and electorally-answerable police forces—with their screenings, reported to me by more than one LEO friend, to insure that these de facto Stormtroopers are willing to confiscate arms from the electorate—and its conversion of many of these to, essentially, anti-public light-armored-urban-occupation-brigades, we may be drawn to further reflect that the improvidence of an undertaking has never been dissuasive to Big Government, in general, and to this administration, in cruel particular.

And if reflect, instead, on all the examples of how this administration has been constrained by ethical boundaries—of the magnum efforts to divide people into racial and ideological warring camps, of the mocking and leeringly public abandonment of the Rule Of Law, of the Soviet stratagem (as noted and commented-upon by, inter alia, East Germans under occupation) of breaking marriages, families, culture, by flooding a society with cheap porn, booze, and soul-numbing pharmaceuticals—we cannot but shudder, or perhaps weep in condign repentance, for all that our forefathers bequeathed and entrusted, to us, now failed and lost…

…but then we steel ourselves, and begin to prepare our bodies and our minds and our souls…

…and perhaps also we pray. – GJM

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‘Allahu Akbar!’: Migrants rampage, attack police – D.S.

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“The direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it is generally employed only by small children and large nations.” – David Friedman

Notes for Wednesday – September 16, 2015

September 16th is the birthday of “Mad Jack” Churchill (1906-1996), who was a true eccentric. He went to war in WWII armed with a broadsword and a longbow. (The latter was successfully used to dispatch several German soldiers.) He later became a devoted surfer. What a guy.

o o o

Today, we present another entry for Round 60 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $10,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,195 value),
  2. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  3. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper with a hammer forged, chromlined barrel and a hard case to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR type rifle to have quick change barrel, which can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools, and a compact carry capability in a hard case or 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  4. Gun Mag Warehouse is providing 20 Magpul pmags 30rd Magazines (a value of $300) and a Gun Mag Warehouse T-Shirt. (An equivalent prize will be awarded for residents in states with magazine restrictions.),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A Model 120 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $340 value),
  7. A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo,
  8. KellyKettleUSA.com is donating both an AquaBrick water filtration kit and a Stainless Medium Scout Kelly Kettle Complete Kit with a combined retail value of $304,
  9. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $300 gift certificate, and
  10. Two cases of meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Second Prize:

  1. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  2. A FloJak EarthStraw “Code Red” 100-foot well pump system (a $500 value), courtesy of FloJak.com,
  3. The Ark Institute is donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package–enough for two families of four, seed storage materials, a CD-ROM of Geri Guidetti’s book “Build Your Ark! How to Prepare for Self Reliance in Uncertain Times”, and two bottles of Potassium Iodate– a $325 retail value,
  4. A $300 gift certificate from Freeze Dry Guy,
  5. A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials,
  6. Twenty Five books, of the winners choice, of any books published by PrepperPress.com (a $270 value),
  7. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value),
  8. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $150 gift certificate,
  9. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site, and
  10. Safecastle is providing a package of 10 Lifestraws (a $200 value).

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  6. APEX Gun Parts is donating a $250 purchase credit,
  7. Montie Gear is donating a Precision Rest (a $249 value), and
  8. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).

Round 60 ends on September 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Occupying Your Neighborhood- Part 1, by B.S.C.

Let’s face it folks, this past decade has been chalk full of so many major disasters affecting the world, that it’s hard to keep up. From one day to the next, we are bombarded by stories about hurricanes, earthquakes, terrorists, radiation, shootings, market turmoil, droughts, wildfires, tornados, meteors, and you name it! Throw in government corruption and nonsensical rules encroaching on your family’s well-being and freedom, and you’ve got the recipe for a well-founded case of narcissism or worse!

Why do we worry so much about all these events that not only can we not control but don’t even directly affect us at all or just causes minor inconveniences at the most?

For many people, like myself, folks had been on the edge of their seats in anticipation of “something” that might affect their family for a long time after 9/11. Those events were just so shocking and traumatic that it really made you start thinking about personal survival here in the United States. The illusion of a safe and secure cocoon had been shattered, and we realized the government wasn’t as able to protect us as many assumed.

Years later, I would be hesitant to turn on the news, but was drawn to it like an addiction. I kept looking for little clues that I could possibly piece together to be one step ahead in my planning and preparation. Even if it amounted to mere minutes, then hopefully those would’ve been the precious few that I needed to beat traffic home before the story really broke out and I instead found myself stranded on the great highway-parking lot.

Many preppers have experienced a trigger in their lives; Hurricanes Katrina and Rita were my wake-up calls. Hurricane Katrina once again confirmed that the government was powerless, and then I found myself affected by Rita. Today, I wanted to tell you about a certain mindset that I’ve developed after recounting a personal experience.

I First Made A Mistake, And Then I Made Some More

Yes, let’s start by talking about my first mistake. This is how I learned that it is better to rely on a group than yourself, it’s better to remain in familiar surroundings until you’re forced out, and it’s better to be disciplined in your approach by following a plan than to follow a haphazard path of fear of the unknown, like I did previously.

It was Wednesday afternoon, September 7, 2005, in Houston, when I got off work. The radio announcer was talking about how Hurricane Ike was going to hit the city just as hard as Katrina hit New Orleans two weeks before. I noticed cars were lining up at the pumps at every station I passed. I thought about getting gas, but I had a little more than a half tank and just wanted to get home. There was no way I was going to sit and wait for 15-20 minutes to top off. I thought, “I’m good” and kept on driving.

That evening, I sat on my back porch in the Southwest side of Houston smoking a cigarette. A stream of ambulances and fire trucks were headed out of the city in convoy on the road behind my house, and I stopped counting when I reached 100 vehicles. Images of Katrina were flashing across the television screen on the news, and that’s when I started thinking that maybe we should evacuate. My wife agreed when I told

her about what I saw. That was my first mistake. I created tension in the house and unnecessarily added to the fear. We were not in a designated evacuation zone; we were 100’ above sea level and probably a hundred miles from the coast.

Stop, think for yourself, and do not trust your gut, because the only thing your gut knows is fight or flight, which is an animal instinct. You are not an animal. You are a logical, rational, human being capable of doing a risk assessment and weighing the big picture. For that matter, I am not saying that you should trust the government blindly either. There will always be those who stand patiently in line for their turn in the gas chamber, and that is not what I am saying you should do. People who blindly follow orders are not people; they’re sheeple headed to the slaughter!

What am I saying? I’m saying you should always think about staying put first. It’s going to be the easiest thing to do anyway. Your last choice should be to leave.

Our alarm clocks woke us up at 3 a.m. on Thursday, September 8. The truck was already packed the night before and ready to go. We turned the corner out of our neighborhood and immediately got in line on the highway, joining the entire coast of Texas trying to get out, all driven by fear.

We sat. It was pitch black, and my wife turned on some children’s songs. The kids were perfectly happy in the back singing along. It was like any other happy outing. Hours later, the sun began to rise, and we sat. We had moved a couple hundred feet, so at least we were making progress. I needed to smoke, so I got out of the truck. I finally realized that while the lane we were sitting in on the two-lane highway was full, the oncoming lane was wide-open and each side of the shoulders were open. What a waste of space, I thought!

I was also getting down to below half a tank, and I decided that I wasn’t going to wait in this line any more. I got back in, and started driving down the right-side shoulder. People were not happy, and they were throwing things out of the window at us. I saw in the rear-view mirror that other cars began to peel off out of line and follow us. Before you knew it, cars began to peel off onto the shoulder in front of us and then into the oncoming lane when they saw me approaching in their mirror and weren’t able to cut onto the right shoulder because cars behind them were already there, led by yours truly.

Watch a flock of pigeons sitting on a telephone wire sometime. For whatever reason, one pigeon will take off. It could be that he feels bad, the wind hit him a little differently on his tail feathers, he heard a different noise or just woke up from a bad cat dream, or whatever. Within seconds, the entire flock will take off, even though they were all perfectly content and had no reason to fly before they saw another pigeon freak out for some reason. I was the first pigeon to make a break, and before I knew it chaos instantly ensued all over the place.

The right side shoulder quickly became congested ahead of us. I was frustrated because the cars heading onto oncoming traffic were moving, so I tried to cut across from the right-shoulder through the right-side lane. I cut in front of the wrong guy as this big truck pushed up and trapped me. A big, bald-headed guy got out with a baseball bat. He had tattoos all over his arms, neck, and face. He was yelling and waving the bat all around when he approached my window and not in the least bit cordially asked me to get out of my vehicle. I politely asked him to quit cussing because I had kids in the back. He told me to get out and make him. Nothing good was going to come out of this situation, and I had no weapon to speak of. Luckily for me, his girlfriend got out of the truck, yelled at him, and chilled him out enough to get him back inside. I seized the opportunity to get into the oncoming, high-speed, low-drag, contra-flow lane. We almost went a whole mile.

Then, there was nowhere else to go. There were no little, side roads. There were no more shoulders and no more contra-flow. There was a deep, water-filled ditch on each side of the road and a barbed wire fence above it. As we sat on Hwy 90, the sun kept rising in the sky, and the gas tank continued to dwindle with the A/C on. I turned the engine off. All the cars on the road had their engines off. Little kids and babies were crying in the cars around us with our windows open. The temperature gauge read 116 degrees Fahrenheit as we sat on the blacktop. In between the cries, you could hear grasshoppers flying free in the fields. Women got out of the cars ahead of us and urinated in the middle of the road. Some men were taking empty water bottles to adjacent homes on the side of the road to fill them up with garden hoses. Up ahead, the heat coming off of the asphalt made everything blurry. Still, we sat, and then we sat some more.

At 3 p.m., we reached a little town called Eagle Lake. By some miracle, we had gone 38 miles in 12 hours on a half of a tank of gas. Don’t laugh! It was truly divine intervention that we made it that far and did so safely. We made it to a gas station and then spent the weekend at Marble Falls at my wife’s uncle’s house. On Sunday, we drove back. The hurricane had turned way up north towards Port Arthur at the last minute, and Houston was not affected at all. We came home to chirping birds and the lush green lawns of our subdivision, like nothing even happened. That’s because nothing did!

There are only two choices, when you are faced with a potential character-building event: fight or flight. If you allow fear to enter your body, you will make mistakes. Sometimes they will be forgiven, but most times they won’t be. In a survival situation, even the smallest mistake could become a life-threatening ordeal. So, when your adrenaline is pumping and you just want to run away is not the time to be making big mistakes. Fear and hesitation gets you killed; so, I will fight and defend what is mine. That is the decision I make today for tomorrow, and it’s not driven by adrenaline today.

I was lucky that I didn’t get my skull fractured by a baseball bat that day on the highway, but that scenario had never occurred to me when I was getting all rallied up by the evening news about the “impending doom”. So, what does it mean to choose to fight in practice? It doesn’t mean running with a bigger baseball bat than the other rats who might be running in the same direction!

Letter Re: Vehicle Fences

HJL,

A caution to readers about the fences found between roadways. Some are under tremendous tension, and cutting them can lead to catastrophic consequences. I am a professional firefighter and have had some experience with accidents involving these fences. I would HIGHLY caution against cutting, unless you know what you are dealing with. – BR