Thankfully no police were murdered before the truth came out! Black student admits hanging ‘White Only,’ ‘Black Only’ signs near school bathrooms, water fountains – P.M.
o o o
1.5 million citizens’ private healthcare records exposed – D.S.
o o o
Nuclear attack? Duck & cover! – G.G.
o o o
Fed Judge: Fast and Furious details off limits during trial of Brian Terry’s killers – T.P.
o o o
“Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” Deuteronomy 31:6 (KJV)
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.
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:
Second Prize:
Third Prize:
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.
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:
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
“We are powerfully imprisoned in these Dark Ages simply by the terms in which we have been conditioned to think.” – Buckminster Fuller
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:
Second Prize:
Third Prize:
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.
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)
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.
—————————————————————————————————————————-
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.
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)
~Major Robert Rogers, 1759
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.
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
o o o
“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
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:
Second Prize:
Third Prize:
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.