Odds ‘n Sods:

A bit of “prepper” humor for your enjoyment: 30 Signs That You’re One of Those “Crazy Preppers” – G.W.

It’s scary how many of those actually fit.

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United Nations Seeks US-based Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Specialists – B.B.

And lest you think this is a hoax, here is the link to the actual job posting (requires login). – H.L.

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From B.C. – This is the DHS equivalent to the probably better-known DoD QDR review of missions. It is certainly long (may need a large file warning for bandwidth-constrained users) but may be of interest to your readers. Agreed or not, this provides the broad strokes of the political framework within which DHS will operate for the next four years. Given that the review process is about two years, this will take us into the next administration before any new analyses even begin.

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First Hillary Clinton claims she was broke; then, when that was shown to be a lie, she insists her wealth does not make her out of touch with ordinary Americans. – RBS

Another four years of “Billary” in the Oval Office is a bit too much to stomach.

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Forget CDS; Corporations Are Now Taking Out Life Insurance Policies On Employees – J.M.

Working the debtslave class to death now can have a black-ink upside.

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“Debt is cancer, it is killing our economy and killing the dreams of many Americans. There may be little you can do about the total national debt but you can control your own debt. Do so now!” – Jack Spirko

Notes for Tuesday – June 24, 2014

June 24th is the birthday of rifle-toting, abolitionist, pastor Henry Ward Beecher. (Born 1813, died March 8, 1887.) He and his adherents from his church smuggled so many Sharps rifles to Bleeding Kansans that the Sharps rifles picked up the nickname Beecher’s Bibles. Wikipedia states: Several of his brothers and sisters became well-known educators and activists, most notably Harriet Beecher Stowe, who achieved worldwide fame with her abolitionist novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

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Today we present another entry for Round 53 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $11,000+ worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three 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. Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  4. A $300 gift certificate from CJL Enterprize, for any of their military surplus gear,
  5. A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $300 value),
  6. A $300 gift certificate from Freeze Dry Guy,
  7. A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo,
  8. A roll of $10 face value in pre-1965 U.S. 90% silver quarters, courtesy of GoldAndSilverOnline.com, (currently valued at around $180 postpaid),
  9. Both VPN tunnel and DigitalSafe annual subscriptions from Privacy Abroad (a combined value of $195),
  10. 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,
  11. APEX Gun Parts is donating a $250 purchase credit, and
  12. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $300 gift certificate.

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. Acorn Supplies is donating a Deluxe Food Storage Survival Kit with a retail value of $350,
  4. The Ark Instituteis 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,
  5. $300 worth of ammo from Patriot Firearms and Munitions. (They also offer a 10% discount for all SurvivalBlog readers with coupon code SVB10P),
  6. A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials,
  7. Twenty Five books, of the winners choice, of any books published by PrepperPress.com (a $270 value),
  8. Two cases of meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value),
  9. Dri-Harvestfoods.com in Bozeman, Montana is providing a prize bundle with Beans, Buttermilk Powder, Montana Hard Red Wheat, Drink Mixes, and White Rice, valued at $333,
  10. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $150 gift certificate,
  11. Organized Prepper is providing a $500 gift certificate, and
  12. RepackBoxis providing a $300 gift certificate to their site.

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,
  5. A MURS Dakota Alert Base Station Kit with a retail value of $240 from JRH Enterprises,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  7. Ambra Le Roy Medical Products in North Carolina is donating a bundle of their traditional wound care and first aid supplies, with a value of $208, and
  8. SurvivalBased.com is donating a $500 gift certificate to their store.

Round 53 ends on July 31st, 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.

My Journey To The “Summits On The Air”, by Banjo Ninja

The Meta Game of Portable Communications as Practice for Prepping

1968 I had an interest in electronics from an early age. Back before most consumer electronics went digital, people actually repaired things when they stopped working. One of my earliest memories was Mr. D. coming to the house to fix our TV. In those days, the TV repairman came to your house, tested and replaced vacuum tubes, which was the dominant technology of the times, and Star Trek magically returned to your screen. This whole process fascinated me. Plus, Mr. D was a retired Air Force Colonel, so he was almost as cool as Mr. Spock to a little kid. As I got older, I collected things like old radios, lamps, bits of wire, and other unidentifiable bits from several sources in our area, and I tried to emulate that TV repairman. Nine times out of ten, my projects were interesting but didn’t work. I kept at it. I could fix lamps and, sometimes, radios. The spark (pun intended) I got from those infrequent successes started an interesting chapter in my life and put me on the road to being a lifetime learner of radio and electronics. Thanks, Mr. D., you were a huge influence on me, whether you realize it or not.

1977 As I reached my teen years, I realized my cousin and uncle also did some amazing things with electronics, and I watched and listened carefully. My uncle was an electrical engineer for Baldwin Locomotive. Visiting his house was like stepping into Dr. Frankenstein’s laboratory. It was wonderful. Radios, antenna wires, components, and test equipment were everywhere. At any one time there must have been a dozen projects “in progress” on his workbench. My cousin’s basement was nearly the same. He repaired x-ray equipment for a living. I realized they were both Amateur Radio Operators, or Hams. They not only built and fixed this amazing gear, but they talked to people all over the world, and even used satellites to communicate. These two people were very important to me in that they gave me that early encouragement that I needed. I did okay in school, sports, and music, but I was far from a standout. However, I knew I wanted to be like them. Thanks, Uncle Ray and Rob!

My cousin later gave me a Lafayette Shortwave radio when he upgraded some of his gear, and I strung up a long wire antenna in the attic. I listened to the BBC, Radio Canada, and music from West Germany. That old radio literally opened up a whole world to a lonely country boy in a remote county that was so backward there were not even any stoplights there. I bought several electronics kits, and I built every one of the 150-and-1 projects in the book, several times over. I read and re-read a whole box of old Ham Radio magazines I got at a Ham Fest for maybe $3.00. I wanted to get that license and talk, as well as listen. Back in the 1970s, the first Ham license was called Novice. You needed to take a test to get the license. There was theory, some rules and regulations, and safety precautions to study. No problem. Oh, and you had to learn Morse Code, both to transmit and receive. Talking happened at a higher level of licensing.

There was a problem. I tried and tried. I could send CW (Ham radio slang for Morse Code) just fine, but I just couldn’t receive it. Forget it. I have suffered from tinnitus, or ringing in the ears, for as long as I can remember. It has made paying attention, studying, and even relaxing and sleeping, a challenge for me at times. When under stress, like taking a test, or when hearing some loud or non-natural / electronic sounds, the tinnitus gets worse for me. Copying CW, with that ringing in my ears, became nearly impossible. I am sure some people thought I was crazy. Plus, I was still just a kid and probably trying to be too grown up too quickly. This only added to the frustration and aggravated the tinnitus. My uncle and cousin were sympathetic; they tried to help me, but the tinnitus was not understood in the ’70s like it is today. My dreams of getting that license went on hold.

2007 We’ve fast forwarded nearly 30 years. A couple of degrees, a wife and kids, a home, and stability (more or less) finally came my way. I had a summer that was more or less free (since I teach), and I had finally finished my Masters Degree. The kids were old enough that they were involved in their own activities and did not need as much attention, and I was looking for something a little different to do with myself. I wanted to get some more physical activity but about the only things I liked were hiking, swimming, and martial arts. Let’s face it, exercise can be boring. I was looking for something different online, and BOOM! It happened.

Somehow YouTube took me to a video of this guy, Steve, who had two mischievous goats– Rooster and Peanut. The guy dragged radio equipment up on top of mountains to talk with people. Actually, Steve is a smart dude; he used the goats to do a lot of the work, saving his back and knees. I don’t know what was funnier– watching the goats in action with their special packs or seeing Steve’s comments about them. Figuring “what do I have to loose?” I contacted Steve with my newbie questions. He responded quickly. He was funny, helpful, and encouraging. Thanks, Steve.

The activity is called Summits on the Air, or SOTA. The video was cool, interesting, and entertaining all at the same time. It was outdoors, like hiking or camping, but there was also the cool radio tech. I was hooked on the idea from the start! SOTA is not exactly like radio contesting but close. There is an awards scheme. Hams earn points for “Activating” a registered peak. There are easy, medium, and difficult peaks, and Associations are located regionally throughout much of the world! If an activator works hard, they could someday earn the title “Mountain Goat”, like that guy Steve. Now, people in Colorado, where Steve lives, would laugh if they saw what passed for mountains here in the East, but still, it looked fun. I knew I wanted to do this SOTA activity.

A few quick Google searches and I found out that the licensing requirements had changed. Morse code was no longer required! With some more Googling, I found that the FCC published the test questions, and there were online test simulators. Much of my Masters focused on Assessment, Testing, and Test Prep. I was golden! Within three months I had the new Technician license and had upgraded to General, which permitted more HF (think long distance, or world-wide) privileges. I had even wired together a couple of QRP (low power) transmitters. Later, I bought some better, high-performance equipment, and I actually started having some successful CW QSOs (contacts)! Maybe you’ve seen Radio Amateurs participating in Field Day– the once-a-year portable radio activity. The way I saw it, SOTA made every day a Field Day!

2010 This was the year of the first activation. After assembling all of the gear for my first SOTA adventure, I had a thought– this was kind of like training for an emergency. What if there was a bad flood? What if there was a chemical spill in the nearby rail yard? Thinking that I could establish reliable communications away from home, not reliant on the power grid, and without a monster antenna on a 75′ tower in my backyard began to shape how I thought about SOTA. In a way, I war-gamed, or maybe more correctly, Meta Gamed my SOTA adventures to increase the success rate.

By Meta Gaming a hobby, I mean, step outside of actually doing the hobby, and analyze what is going on within it. Fix what is not working. Retain what is working. Pay attention to unusual solutions to problems. Discover what can be done better, or more efficiently. Then step back into the game. You might be surprised that you are more successful. You might have gotten better at the hobby. Professional athletes, musicians, and artists often find this technique works very effectively for them.

I’ve not been in the military, but I have enjoyed being a war gamer since Junior High School. I like the competition, the “what-ifs”, and designing armies and strategies. I competed for a time at the State and Regional levels, and some of those old Majors and Colonels at the Army War College took our club under their wings. Look out, competition! Our club wiped the table with other groups.

Some of those officer’s lessons, like concentrating force, having contingencies, and having a plan that was so good that the die roll was irrelevant, really stuck with me. Some players would push the envelope with army design when they could, in order to up their chances of winning. It wasn’t cheating. They remained within the rules, but they would think unconventionally, organize, and plan such that their army had certain non-obvious strengths and synergy, so that they were difficult to beat. Thank you, Col. Mac.

I began to see how this approach would help me be more successful at SOTA, and this is where the “SOTA as Prepping” idea came into my head. As far as radio and SOTA, this included sticking to common frequencies and bands for the activity, establishing what a good activation time was with respect to time zones, developing the Activator-Chaser relationships with people, making sure the equipment was bombproof, having antenna options, battery backup, and so forth. Using the SOTAWatch website effectively was key to this. When I was trying to figure it all out, and wondered if “self-spotting” on SOTAWatch was “fair”, Steve told me, “Hey, you can have the most awesome party in the world, but if you don’t invite anyone, you might be enjoying that awesome party all alone”. So now I always use SOTAWatch.

SOTA activators are not allowed to use repeaters, only simplex (direct) operation. I took a backpack to handle radio, batteries, first aid kit, shelter, and ground pad. I had several maps, a compass, and a borrowed GPS to help me arrive at the official summit. It was a cold October that year, so I took a tent and sleeping bag too. Earlier that Fall, I had a bad experience with a coyote some 15 feet from my back porch, so I figured going armed might not be a bad idea either. Thankfully, I started that practice and kept with it throughout all of my SOTA activations. SOTA is prepping.

Some SOTA peaks involve a challenging hike and offer spectacular views once the activator arrives at the summit. Other times, you will hike and hike, and the summit is covered in Hemlock trees, and you can’t see a thing. For my first SOTA adventure, the hike was not difficult, and there was a nice vista at the summit. I got the antenna set up; it was a low, wire dipole I threw up into the trees with some para cord and a rock. It tuned up fine, and I began working other stations almost immediately. The SOTA summit I chose was a Unique, which had never been activated before, and some helpful Chaser “spotted” me onto the SOTA Watch Alert page on the Internet. I had a “pileup” within a few minutes.

A pileup is exciting to work. “Chasers” (other SOTA operators) frantically call in order to make the contact to get their own points for the Summit. Pulling one call sign out of a pack of 10 operators with background noise on the radio increases the challenge. Chasers operate either from home, or from other SOTA-approved peaks, and attempt to get chaser points. So within SOTA, one person can be both a Chaser and an Activator, often at the same time. It was a challenge logging all of the chasers in that pileup onto my notecards. SOTA requires that activators and chasers record their contacts into a database, which verifies contacts and tracks various awards. I would transfer my paper log to the computer when I got home. Even though my stay at the summit that first day was under two hours, I was glad for the tent and sleeping bag. The temperature had dropped, and it was now snowing. I packed up most of my gear, made an extra large coffee for the descent (that little hiking stove was a yard sale bargain at $5.00), and headed back to the car with a satisfied grin on my face. Using portable power and a “compromise” antenna, which consisted of about 66 feet of lamp wire and an RF connector (nothing fancy and under $3.00 to make), I had reached out across the U.S., Canada, England, and Germany. Being up higher than my home and having the downward slope helps contribute to better DX (long distance / foreign country) contacts.

2014 Here’s a banjo ninja’s humble, radio-inspired advice to preppers:

While I’m not close to being a Mountain Goat yet, and I’m not a skilled CW op, and I don’t climb “14-ers” for SOTA, like Steve, and I’ve only been prepping for about three years, I have learned several things from completing Summits on the Air Activations, and much of this information could apply to prepping or to an emergency situation. Thirty years of playing guitar and keyboards in rock bands has affected my hearing. Now I turn down the music– a sure sign I’m getting old. I focus on listening before I call out my activation information. That listening means both to the radio as well as to my immediate surroundings. I’ve had bears pass so close I could smell them. Apparently, they just ate. It would be easy to get lost in the moment if I heard some rare DX station calling me back. So I pay attention. This extends to being prepared with bug spray, sunscreen, warm gloves, first aid kit, shelter, and a host of other trinkets to load down my backpack and make my knees and back ache. There are two words most preppers know– Situational Awareness.

The tinnitus is still there. The loud music of my younger years was partially an attempt to drown out the annoying jingling and ringing in my ears. Relaxation techniques, supplements, and modifying diet can all help lessen the effects. CW, my old Morse Code nemesis, has gotten easier. While I’m no expert, I understand the efficiency of CW is much greater than SSB /phone / voice modes, so there are times that I use it. When using portable power, lighter radios, and compromise antennas, poor weather conditions, and less-than-optimal radio propagation, sometimes CW is the mode that will make the contact. So, as a Prepper, it is important to recognize my own limitations or inabilities and adapt and overcome. Also, I am always trying to learn new skills, and I don’t let early failures dictate what I can or cannot accomplish.

I made a point of getting the training to use the equipment that I carry. I upgraded to the Amateur Extra license, which gave me more knowledge and privileges. I really began to understand antennas better after studying for that license. Building antennas is an interesting sub-hobby within Ham Radio. It is inexpensive and rewarding to come up with more “options”. Knowing what you want to do with the Activation can influence your antenna choices. That dipole becomes something called an NVIS (Near Vertical Incidence Skywave) antenna, when it’s strung low to the ground. Sometimes that is beneficial, like if you want friends within 300 miles or so to hear you on 40 meters, rather than have the signal “go long”. This summer, I’ve started experimenting with a Rope Yagi. Basically, it is a directional “beam” antenna, but it is very compact; it’s essentially some rope and wire between two light PVC spreaders. Again, depending on what I want to do, it might be better in some respects. Any radio-equipped Prepper (and IMHO we ALL should have comms) should have several portable antenna options available. Also, know how dipoles, beams, verticals, and NVIS work. They all have their place in your bag of radio tricks.

I learned to always take the emergency essentials, including a good first aid kit, water and shelter. Dress properly, from head to feet. I usually don’t like to eat when I’m hiking, but I do take food. Eating something will warm you up if you are cold, and give you energy if you are spent. Salty food is good if you get leg cramps. For the non-radio stuff, the course in Wilderness First Aid is worth its weight in gold. I’ve given first aid to complete strangers on the trail, and they are sometimes amazed at what I have in that backpack. “Crazy Glue? Cake Icing?” Yep! I do carry that kind of stuff in my first aid kit. I consider a hand held radio an outdoor essential, even if I’m not doing SOTA. Even if I’m activating using an HF radio, I take a hand-held for “what-if”. My UV-5R has FM radio for news, et cetera, and I have all of the NOAA / NWS frequencies programmed in for weather reports, and I check it from time to time. (http://www.noaa.gov/) This saved me during a freaky hail and lightning storm last year. I listened in to NOAA when I got to the summit, and I knew I had to get a shelter up fast on what looked like a normal, sunny Fall day. Legging it down the mountain back to my car would have left me exposed for over an hour, and there just wasn’t time to get back to the car before that storm would have hit, so I backed down the peak a few hundred yards, got a tarp up under a bit of a ledge, and bunkered in until it passed. I’m thankful for much of my Scout training, such as Weather Hazards. I don’t want to relive that hail and lightning storm, if I can help it.

I’ve gotten in better shape, and I’m much more confident about my outdoor abilities. I trekked to Canoe Base for a BSA Boundary Waters High Adventure. I didn’t take my radio on that one– it certainly would have gotten wet and probably ruined. I learned a lot about pushing myself physically and not giving up. Later this year I will be going on another trek; this time I’m going to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. I will take a small radio, just to see what will be possible from those altitudes. SOTA is great exercise-– both physical and mental.

I sometimes do SOTA alone, and other times with friends. Whether going solo or in a group, I leave my hiking plans with the wife and kids. I spot myself to the SOTAWatch website, and I notify State Park officials, if the hike is on State Lands. The camaraderie of going with someone makes the hike part go faster, and it’s fun to explore new summits and share in these experiences, like when there is a propagation opening to Japan. It is also comforting to know you have someone reliable at your side when you meet strange people on the trail who might want to take your expensive radio and hiking gear. So again, be alert, and be prepared to deal with human and animal pests. People in the SOTA community look out for each other. I’ve often heard on the air, “Hey, you’re early, or “I was worried because you were 45 minutes past the time you put on SOTAWatch.”

I can read a map, and I can use a compass. I’m getting better with a GPS when I can borrow one, but I still don’t own one yet. I always take a flashlight and spare batteries. Getting lost is a bummer. Getting lost and finding your way in the dark is exponentially more of a bummer. Factor in some cold rain and a twisted ankle; you get my point. Thankfully, I’ve never been lost in the dark in the woods with lousy weather to endure. I rely on my common sense, and I don’t take chances, even if it takes longer, so when my mind says turn right, and I see that the sun at 5 PM says, “yes, that’s west”, I listen to it, because sometimes the maps and/or compass can be wrong. For example, the “easy” SOTA hike that was a two mile switchback on the map, that ended up actually being a steep, grueling four mile corkscrew up the mountain. Oh, my knees!

From the radio end of things, I’m prepared with spare SLAB batteries for the main rig. These are seven amp-hour, 12 volt rechargeable batteries, which can last an hour or more if I limit the RF output of my radio to 50 watts or so. They aren’t as light as I would like, but they are not expensive. A solar charger is also a nice idea. I built an inexpensive and effective multi-band antenna, based on the Buddistick Design. This one bit of gear allows me to work any band from 60 meters down to two meters. Basically, it is an adjustable whip, a set of coils which select the band, a long wire for a counterpoise (kind of like a ground), and a 12′ telescoping painter’s pole for a mast. The painter’s pole makes a handy walking staff. This antenna’s flexibility can make the difference between contacts and no contacts. The synergy of this Buddistick, a SLAB battery, and a relatively lightweight but full-power, full-featured multi-band HF radio like the Yaesu 857D is what makes SOTA Activations successful for me. Additionally, I carry a spare wire dipole antenna, because it is light and reliable (and “two is one, one is none…”) A few repair items are also a good idea, such as a multi-tool, some wire, and electrical tape. Spare fuses for the radio are essential. The wires popped off my battery once and shorted out. The fuse blew, protecting the radio, but I had no spare, so radio time was OVER! Having that UV-5R for FM news, Weather Bands, and two meter contacts is handy.

In a SOTA Activation, just as in an emergency situation if everyday comms go down, getting “up, up, and away” will probably have some benefits. Using the height of a mountain is almost like having a several thousand foot tall tower. Using the downward slope of a mountain will also assist in “take off” for your signal. A salt marsh will sometimes boost your signal, as will salt water such as the ocean. The problem is that there aren’t a lot of oceans at the tops of mountains in this state.

If there is any local electrical noise or interference near populated areas, being in a more remote and/or elevated locale might mean less noise. Depending on the situation, you might also do well to be away from your normal AO for radio activities, thus avoiding someone direction finding (DF/RDF) your homestead. Ah, yes, many Hams can DF radio signals. A simple form is a fun activity called “Fox Hunting”. Using these skills, we found the sick idiot who was using a radio to switch off the landing lights at our local airport. He’s now taking his mail at the Federal Prison down the road.

I hope I have sparked an interest among preppers in Ham Radio and hiking through my experiences doing SOTA activations. The skills that an Activator uses for SOTA have many parallels to things that will help preppers in emergency situations. I encourage you to war-game or meta game your hobbies, and see how they might have some application toward being a more successful Prepper. 73 (Best wishes)

Letter Re: Gravity Fed Water Systems

Editor,

A good and useful post by J.S. I always appreciate articles by those who have lived and used what they are proposing. As an irrigation contractor I built and used a homemade water system for a couple of decades in the Colorado mountains and can offer a few further ideas. For an infiltration gallery, I dug a small trench under the spring/small stream I had on the property and placed in the bottom 10′ of 4″ perforated flexible plastic drain pipe that came with a mesh “sock” around it. This pipe is used in French darins and the like. Gravel/sand was backfilled over the pipe to the depth of a couple of feet. A 1″ poly pipe connected that to my water system. As this is all underground, the gravel and sock combination provided a trouble free source of clear water. No leaves, bugs, critters or people ever bothered it. The 1″ pipe connected to a Y strainer in an underground valve box . Both are commonly used in drip irrigation. The strainer has a stainless steel mesh filter that is easy to flush and never wears out. This is a perfect primary filter to use and if put at the entrance to the system will prevent solids from entering the rest of your piping. J.S. is correct in that poly pipe is the way to go, but do use 100psi NSF pipe. The NSF rating means it can be used for potable water. Non rated pipe is made with (literally) plastic garbage and is unsafe. A propane torch will be necessary to warm (not melt) the pipe to insert fittings. If freezing is an issue and the ground prevents installing the pipe below frost line then either insulate the pipe with foam before backfilling and/or make sure there is a thick cover of grass over the trench. Thick grass cover is cheap and easy and does wonders for limiting frost, as does snow. Never clear away snow over water pipes if you live in the North. After a couple of decades I sold the house and finally had the water tested by a means other than drinking it. While the water never harmed anyone the bacteria count was way, way higher than allowed. Rather than installing a chemical injector, I installed an ozone treatment system. As I used a fiberglass 1,000 gallon storage tank in the basement, this was easy to do. A UV light box was installed. Any aquarium supply store has them. A small air tube led to a Little Giant submersible pump in the tank bottom. These pumps are used in those small water features you see and are available anywhere. A venturi is connected from the tube to the exit of the pump and the resulting ozone is bubbled into the water where it kills germs and then converts to oxygen within seconds. My water then had a zero bacterial count and no chemicals were used. Geardia will also be killed if present. The key is ozone contact time with the water so installing this in a water storage tank is required. One note of caution; Guns, tools or any metal should not be anywhere near ozone as ozone is a very good at causing rust. I do have to say though that in my current retreat I installed a conventional deep well, powered by a full off-grid solar system and I could not be happier. While I’ve put all of my eggs into a non-repairable (by me) system, it is very reliable, maintenance free and cannot be contaminated. All of which is not true of a surface system. Expat

News From The American Redoubt:

If you are looking for an off-grid property in northern Wyoming, this may be for you: Right on the MT/WY State line, very isolated, yet not far from Billings, off grid, abundant water.

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Company disputes Idaho rare earth mining claims . – RBS

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Are you looking for a way to help you get to the American Redoubt? The American Redoubt Jobs Clearinghouse

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Men cited for melting Kuna road with burning Christmas tree . – RBS

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Woman needed staples in head after Oregon port-a-potty blast

Odds ‘n Sods:

CFAPA.orgon the web: Survivalist starts issuing his own press passes

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Chicago Children’s Hospital Takes Custody of 16-Year-Old Away from Parent Who Sought Second Opinion. – D.S.

Incidents like these do not seem to be an increasing problem with the state, rather private hospitals are causing the issues. Child Protective Services (CPS); Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD); or whatever else the government services are called have a long history of letting real abuse slip through the cracks of the system and unfairly attacking healthy homes, but this phenomena by private hospitals is something new. Egos the size of Alaska in the Doctors and staff perhaps?

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Water war bubbling up between California and Arizona . – H.L.

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New Tourniquet Helps Save Soldiers from Most ‘Common Cause of Preventable Death’. – JBG

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Well-Tended Fires Outperform Modern Cooking Stoves. – P.H>

Notes for Monday – June 23, 2014

SurvivalBlog would like to welcome our newest advertiser, Gun Mag Warehouse. They have said that if anyone has any questions or needs assistance with any magazine choice or compatibility, they can simply call support and ask for Peter. Be sure to mention that you are a SurvivalBlog reader. This can be very helpful to those who are in states, like California, where confusion about what can and cannot be purchased is still common. Save time and frustration, visit their website and give them a call.

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Camping Survival is having a sale on Mountain House freeze-dried foods this week. 25% off all MH #10 Can Freeze Dried Food, and they will throw in Freeze Dried Neapolitan Ice Cream with every #10 can. They are also offering 15% off of all MH Breakfast Pouches, Entree Pouches, Dessert Pouches, and Buckets.

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Most SurvivalBlog advertisers that carry Mountain House Freeze Dried foods are also offering sales on them, so be sure to check them out from our advertisers’ ads. This is a slow time of year and the deals are to be had at this moment. It’s a great time to stock up!

Guest Article: The Timetable For Bugging Out, by H.B.

We all get nervous when faced with the prospects of possibly bugging out because of a disaster or threat of some kind occurring. Do we leave or stay? 

This has been discussed many times over, and it is based on the type of threat, your particular location, your preparedness, and what all. This article will simply touch on the possible timetable, as it relates to your chances of effectively escaping to your destination without getting caught in the middle of a traffic jam and all of those corresponding issues.

 Let’s review your handling of being actually caught in the jam. Circumstances being what they may, you finally get the family and supplies packed in the car. You get on the interstate and then get caught in the unexpected miles of traffic jam because you weren’t able to see that far ahead.  As we  know from experience, traffic jams can result from road construction, too many vehicles getting on, a disabled vehicle, heavy traffic at on and off intersections, accidents, and now monsters. Now, you are saying to yourself “monsters”? Well, take into consideration literally hundreds of people, scared out of their minds about the THREAT, and you’ll have drivers doing whatever they have to, to get away or to get home to get to their families. Suddenly everything in their way of getting where they are going– whether a tractor trailer, driver cutting in, or a road block– is perceived to be bigger than usual, and people become more aggressive towards it. Thus, there are more “accidents”.

 Face reality, we also know one accident on a normal day can tie up traffic for a couple of hours, and we know that’s why you shouldn’t be there in the first place when a disaster is occurring. So, why am I beating this issue to death? Because the thruway is the quickest way to get from “here to there”, and if it appears relatively open, if you check if before making that last-minute decision on which route to take– IT CAN CHANGE! Here’s where the importance of  that timetable is so critical.

First, we have the threat to you and your family. How soon will that threat impact you? You should know about a pending hurricane several days before it would actually hit your immediate area. Could the direction of travel change?  If it’s a train carrying hazardous materials that goes off the tracks or an accident or fire at a nearby plant that processes dangerous chemicals, how far away do you live, and which way are the winds blowing as it relates to how much time you have to leave. Still, you will have some time to pack the car and decide which direction to take.

If it’s a solar flare or EMP attack that knocks out the power grid (my personal greatest fear), you should take into consideration that most people don’t even comprehend what those threats are, won’t be warned in the normal manner by radio or TV, and will naturally assume that it’s just a normal power outage and the electric will be back on in a few hours. Those people won’t be clogging the thruways, even if their cars were useable.  So again, you will have a little lead time.

Then you’ve got that large percentage of  people who know about an immediate  danger to them,  and they decide that they have to Get Out Of Dodge ASAP, but they’re not at all ready to go. Thinking about the hours it takes the average family to simply get ready to go on vacation, the time it takes them to round up the family members, add in a spouse who thinks that the government will resolve the issue, and that they don’t have any place to go anyway arguing over what to take, and packing for departure, and you can imagine the thousands of families that aren’t going to be hitting the roadways anytime soon. So again, you will have a little lead time.

Remember, those reading this blog and likely many of the others are more or less prepared. We have taken steps to decide what our destination options are– vacation home, retreat, other family members away from the threatened area, the mountains, or for those with campers or tents, campgrounds somewhere. You’ve pre-planned, your kids are rounded up, the vehicle is full of fuel, and you take off.  Remembering the thoughts above,  that most everybody is still only getting a grasp of what’s happening and aren’t reacting quickly (many will sit there watching the coverage on TV not realizing the personal danger to them), you decide to take that interstate. Good idea… NO!

The problem with that decision is that while you may get the jump on most everyone else in your town and you  reach the interstate 15-20 minutes ahead of the masses, and it isn’t clogged or even crowded,  by the time you drive 15 or 20 miles toward your destination, the people in the next town up and the town beyond that will have by then reacted to the threat and are filling that interstate in front of you, causing the clogged condition you were trying to avoid in the first place. So, you’re stuck, or you finally get off and wind up taking back roads you’re not familiar with and which will also be jammed by then.

When evacuating, recognize that the roadways will be considerably more and more clogged as you travel toward your destination.

We all have to realize how important it is, if your not going to hunker-down at home, to be sensitive to potential dangers and if at all possible, leave early– not an hour early but maybe the day before everyone else. It’s better to lose a day’s work than get caught in the city when everything’s falling apart all around you. That “possible” end-of-the-world type warning isn’t likely to happen that often. Better “A day early than an hour late.” You can always use it as a training exercise. Good luck.

Scot’s Product Review: Laser Ammo Shooting Practice System

I have mixed feelings about electronics and prepping. There is always that sense of dread that someday I might not be able to get electricity to run electronics, plus there is the chance of an event that will disrupt them. On the other hand, electronics are extremely useful. I wouldn’t be able to get this article to you without them, for example. My compromise has been to try to avoid buying electronics that don’t fulfill some real purpose on the road to building a self-sufficient life for my family.

One of the electronics items I’ve been wanting to try has been a laser practice shooting system. These systems give you a laser cartridge that fits into the chamber of a weapon and fires a brief flash of light at a target when the weapon is “fired.” Most of them have a small target device that beeps and counts the hits. There are also systems that use computer software and a webcam to record and score hits.

Dry fire, by the way, is a key component of shooting excellence, but it lacks the feedback of seeing where the shot hit. The beauty of the laser systems is that you can confirm your hits and diagnose your misses. This equipment really shines when ammunition is hard to come by or expensive. Another benefit is that you can have quiet practice. I can imagine situations where you wouldn’t want the noise of live fire, but you would still need to maintain competence. Mind you, this doesn’t eliminate the need for live fire practice. You don’t get noise or recoil nor can it accurately simulate rapid fire. The distances are limited too. Nonetheless, it can reduce the need to burn ammo or reveal your position for practice. I also think this stuff would be fantastic for new shooters, since they could get familiar with a weapon without noise or recoil to contend with.

The folks at Laser Ammo http://www.laser-ammo.com/ have been kind enough to send me some of their gear for a review, and I will have to say it fulfills a real use, so it meets my criterion for electronics. It actually allows you to accomplish more in the way of training than I expected. I expected to like the concept, and I do. I also like the Laser Ammo products. The first component I found in the box was the SureStrike Ultimate LE Edition. This is probably their nicest kit. It includes the 9mm Parabellum SureStrike laser cartridge. That’s what goes into the chamber of your weapon. It has three parts. The first is the laser emitter. You drop in the battery (part two) and then screw on the activator/simulator cap (part three.) This part has a little switch that is struck by the firing pin causing the laser to pulse once. You can easily see where the shot would have gone, though it is bad for follow through to focus on the target after the shot breaks to see the flash. We will get to solutions to that problem in just a bit. The 9mm cartridge isn’t all you get in the kit. There are adapters for the manly .45 ACP as well as the popular .40 S&W and .223 Remington/5.56mm NATO. There is also a sort of extension rod that can be threaded through the barrel of a pistol onto the laser cartridge. You can then attach a red safety nut to the assembly that is outside the end of the barrel. This does a couple of things. First, it reminds you that you have set your pistol up as a laser trainer, which is a good thing to remember. Second, it seems to help stabilize the cartridge in the barrel, which means more consistent accuracy. There is a set of reasonably clear instructions, and you get a battery for the unit along with some small reflective targets to shoot at. Lastly, you get a nice little pouch to hold it all. Before I get into target practice, I want to mention a cool extra trick you can do with the cartridge. It can be set to emit a steady laser beam for bore sighting your weapon, which can save some range time and ammunition. I tried it in four pistols in .45 ACP and 9mm Parabellum and an AR-15 in 5.56mm. It worked fine in everything I tried it in. Assembly of the cartridge with the various adapters was simple, but you do have to pay attention when putting it together. If you don’t, the similarities between the 9mm and .223/5.56 adapter can trip you up, despite the fact they are clearly marked. You can guess how I know. Note to self: “Read the markings!” My other assembly foibles included putting the battery in backwards, but thankfully this didn’t destroy anything. I also over tightened the rod that goes through the barrel the first time, which meant I couldn’t get it apart without disassembling the pistol. It wasn’t a real problem but was slightly annoying. I mentioned accuracy above. While one might think a beam of light would be perfectly consistent and hit in the same place every time, remember that you are hammering it with the firing pin with each shot. If it fit the chamber perfectly, it would be quite hard to get in and out of the weapon. They also have to allow for variations in chamber dimensions from one weapon to another. That means it has to have a little bit of wiggle room so it does move a bit as you shoot. I was getting my shots to stay within about ½ to ¾” of the point of aim at seven yards, which is pretty close to what I might get with live fire with these weapons, so I’m pretty happy with it. I did find the rod and red safety tip helped accuracy, especially when the tip was snug against the muzzle. For repeat shots, I thumb cocked the 1911’s. A slight pull on the slide of the Glock makes it ready to go while retracting the operating handle on the AR-15 cocks it. The laser cartridge has no rim, so running the bolt or slide will not pull it from the chamber. If you have a Glock, they sell a reset trigger, so you can just pull it as rapidly as possible for repeat shots. I didn’t test this, so I can’t speak of how much trouble it is to install. It appears to be a pretty handy accessory at $200, though a bit pricey for many of us. It would be a great training tool for an organization or group, though. When you are done with laser practice, you can use a pencil to push it out of the pistol barrel or a cleaning rod on a long arm. It was a bit tight in my AR but easy to remove from all of the pistols. The only thing that I don’t like about it is the small and specialized battery it requires. There is just no way around that, given the size of the cartridge, but it isn’t something that you can likely find at the local store. The battery life is supposed to be several thousand shots, but I lost count after I let my nine-year-old son try it. (I had trouble, in fact, getting it back), so I can’t speak to this accurately. I know we have gotten well in excess of 1,000 shots, and the battery is still going strong. Laser Ammo does recommend that you remove the battery pack when you aren’t using the cartridge. This whole package runs about $197 from Amazon. You don’t need to buy the whole kit at once, though. You can just buy the individual cartridges. The 9mm Parabellum kit http://smile.amazon.com/Laser-Ammo-SureStrike-Cartridge-Practice/dp/B004F1D48K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1402343614&sr=8-1&keywords=laser+ammo is about $140.00, and you can then add adapters for other calibers. In addition to the handgun adapters I received, Laser Ammo offers adapters for 10mm, .357 SIG, .38 Special/.357 Magnum, .44 Special/.44 Magnum and .45 Colt. For the rifle, they add .308/7.62 NATO and for shotgun, you can get 12 and 20 gauge adapters. All of these work with the same laser cartridge. Up above, I mentioned that watching for your laser to flash on a target to see how you did is bad for follow through. Most of us have trouble with follow through, and anything that encourages us to look at the target rather than the front sight is going to aggravate it. I learned that shooting steel in matches. Your eye REALLY wants to go down range to see the steel fall. Oops. If you see the steel, it means you have done something to jerk the weapon out of your line of sight so you can see the target. This does not help you get hits! You are usually rewarded with an image of steel majestically standing there, mocking you. The same principal applies with the laser, and since a miss with a laser seems less “expensive” than looking stupid in a match, you don’t have as much incentive as you should to do it right. In other words, you could build bad habits if you don’t apply some discipline.

Enter a solution, deus ex machina, stage left, the LaserPET Electronic target. This is a neat little gizmo on a cute folding tripod that has a sensor about 2”x2” that sees laser pulses. Not only that, it can count them and beep when it sees one. You set this up across the room and take your Laser Ammo loaded weapon and shoot at it. Hear a beep; you got a hit. Hear silence; well, try again. Even better than that, it has two more modus operandi. Mode one is what I just described, a beep with each hit and a counter to keep tabs on your shots. Mode two gets more interesting. You get a start signal. It starts the clock, stopping when you get a hit, so you can measure your reaction time. You could do it from a holster, a ready position, or perhaps time a reload. Mode three is a par time. You get four seconds to get ready, and then you have to hit the target within five seconds.

As well as the target gizmo, they give you a pair of AAA batteries for it and some little targets that slip over the sensor to increase the difficulty.

Besides of the little folding tripod, which secures to the target by a standard photo tripod mount,) there is a hole in the back so you can hang it on a wall as well as standing it on a shelf or table.

I was concerned with how well this would work in different lighting conditions and at what ranges. I was very pleasantly surprised. I first tried it in our living room, and it worked quite well. It also worked well in the kitchen under bright fluorescents. This was at seven to ten yards. I then tried it in our sun room, which has windows on the length of one long and one short wall. There was no problem out to ten yards. I then set it outside on a cloudy afternoon and again there were no problems. I even faced the sensor up so it had to deal with even more light and it had no problems. I’m impressed.

I do find that about four to five yards is the practical maximum range for me, though. With the laser shooting a 1.5” group at seven yards and only having a 2”x2” hit zone, it starts getting a bit dicey to consistently hit it even if you are doing things right. This still provides excellent practice, even at close range because, remember, you are hitting a very small target. As the man said, aim small, miss small.

The one problem I have is that the sensor is essentially black, so lining up black sights is a slight strain. Using one of the slip in targets helps as they are light grey and provide some contrast to help locate the sights. It’s not a problem using a red dot sight on a carbine, but you do have to remember to allow for the fact that the bore (and laser) are lower than your sight. You have to aim high to get a hit at close range. I really liked this and my son loved it to the point of driving my wife nuts with all of the clicking. I was pleased that he was good with muzzle control, though I had to stifle his urge to fan a 1911. Sometimes, when you’re nine, rate of fire is too cool. It clearly improved his precision and I hope that translates to live ammo.

The LaserPet is about $110.00 on Amazon.

A huge leap up in ability comes with the L.A.S.R. Professional Software. Laser Ammo sells the software which was written by Centrolutions. It was probably the most exciting part of this package for me. The basic idea is that you have a webcam attached to your Windows computer and it sees the laser flashes and times and records them. You hang a target on the wall and draw a scoring circle or box on the picture of it that appears on your computer screen. The scoring area can be as small or large as you desire. You then start the session and shoot at it. It records hits and the time for each one. As with the LaserPET, you have a selection of modes. You can just have a basic shoot and count the hits or you can have it provide a go signal and the time to each shot. You can also set par times that will give you a start and then time how many hits you make in whatever time you choose. Your hits in all cases remain visible on the target until you clear them. You can also record them to a log so you can monitor progress.

This is pretty powerful stuff and allows you to do some very serious evaluation of your shooting. Since you aren’t limited to a 2”x2” target, you can get back a bit further. You can also create a target that works better for self-defense practice. You can have multiple targets and the software will call which one to shoot and score you. There is no reason you can’t set up matches with other shooters.

You do need a separate camera. The built-in cameras found on many laptops and some monitors aren’t likely to be pointing where you need to place the target. I have an IPEVO Point 2 View documents camera, and it worked surprising well. You can, however, get by with a considerably cheaper camera. It needs to support at least 320×240 resolution at 30 frames per second. The support folks said higher than 640×480 resolution really isn’t necessary, so you don’t need an expensive camera.

I initially set the camera up about 18” from the wall I taped a target to. Since it is a USB camera, I was limited in computer placement by cord length. That meant walking back and forth to start and stop it. That didn’t work so well with random starts, so I decided to try moving the camera back. I was really surprised to find that it worked quite well from five yards back. The quality of the image was rather poor, but it still recorded the shots perfectly. The screen quality actually doesn’t matter as you can setup and then evaluate your targets easily even if it is blurred.

They advise that it works better in lower light, but I found normal room lighting worked fine. Bright windows or lights can cause issues. Lighting needs to be pretty even accross the course of fire. I suspect that camera quality matters and the better the quality camera you have, the more it will tolerate bad lighting. My camera, being designed to image documents in a classroom probably wasn’t the best choice, but it worked fine.

I had a few lighting situations that led to false hits being recorded, but changing the lighting or shifting the camera easily remedied the problems. The program does warn if there are likely lighting problems. It really didn’t like it when I tried the Streamlight I have mounted on a carbine to illuminate a target, but that’s hardly a fair test. The light completely washed out the target in the video, and the program called foul.

A nice feature is that you can hang most anything up to use as a target. I started with a standard bull’s eye target and switched to a white sheet of paper to make it a bit easier to see the black sights on my weapons. I then tried an International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA) tan cardboard targets, which worked extremely well. I also used some photos.

I used a laptop, which allowed me to move my laser range around easily. I’m sure you could make it work with a desktop, but it is more flexible on a laptop.

I can imagine setting up courses of fire in a room and then taking turns running through them. If you have more than one laser cartridge, you can also pit shooters against one another on their own targets. You can even tell it to require a certain number of hits to down a target, if you are using one of those Glock triggers that allow repeat shots without having to run the slide or cock a hammer. A revolver could be nice, too, but you would need enough lasers to fill the cylinder.

Additional possibilities are intriguing. I experimented a bit with projecting photos onto cardboard. I found that if you darken the photos enough and they were fairly even in brightness across the target area, the camera could record the laser flashes. It was easiest to do with one computer projecting the targets and a second running LASR. You should be able to do it with one computer, but it would be a hassle to coordinate the screens. You could setup a slideshow with threat and non-threat targets mixed together and check a shooter’s judgment. By inserting a blank image between slides, you could allow the shooter to ready for the next one. I am, needless to say, getting very geeky and involved at this point, but I wanted to see what is possible. It would take a fair amount of time and energy, but it could be worth it, especially if you are training multiple people. I almost forgot that you have choices for sound effects for starts and hits.

The software goes for $125.00. I’m saving for it, along with the rest of the system.

Safety

One concern I do have with any dry fire is safety. Be sure to clear the weapon. I say again, BE SURE TO CLEAR THE WEAPON. With the laser cartridge, you have to insert the laser into the chamber, so clearing the firearm is, thankfully, part of the process. You can’t chamber a round with the laser in the weapon– another safety plus. What I worry about is doing some practice, readying a weapon for carry by reloading it and putting it down. A littler later, you decide to do a bit more practice and forget where you were with the weapon. That’s one reason why I try to make a habit of not using my primary carry weapons for dry practice. I have similar ones that I use instead. It would be ideal to have dedicated trainers for lasers, but that’s not practical for most of us. Regardless, you still want to obey the safety rules. I like them the way Lt. Colonel Jeff Cooper (USMC) put them:

1. All firearms are loaded.

2. Never let the muzzle of a firearm point at anything you are not willing to destroy.

3. Keep your finger off the trigger, unless your sights are on the target.

4. Be sure of your target and what is behind it.

If you use these rules during all handling of firearms, whether live or dry fire or simply handling them, you will have to stack mistakes to cause a tragedy. The big ones for dry practice are number two and four with a lot of help from number three. We ALL make mistakes, and the person who hasn’t had a negligent discharge (ND) probably hasn’t lived long enough. If you use these rules, especially rule two, that ND will probably only cause embarrassment rather than tragedy.

Conclusions

This stuff isn’t cheap. If you can afford it, though, I think it can really help your shooting. It is also a lot of fun and a great way to start new shooters. You would have to balance your preps to decide whether it fits into your plans or if something else should take priority. I’ve decided that it fits mine, and I need it. – SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor Scot Frank Eire

Recipe of the Week: Scotch Irish Stew

Ingredients:

  • 2 pounds extra-lean stew meat, cut into bite-sized pieces
  • 2 small pieces bacon, finely chopped
  • 8 small brown cooking onions, peeled and cut in half (leave in halves, not separated)
  • 8 to 12 small white and/or red potatoes
  • 2 large carrots, thinly sliced
  • 1 large parsnip, thinly sliced
  • 2 big packages mushrooms, sliced (try assorted mushrooms for interest)
  • 1 12-ounce bottle Guinness Stout
  • As much non-fat beef broth as necessary to fill a crock pot
  • Black pepper, to taste

Instructions:

  1. Brown the stew meat and bacon in a frying pan, using PAM if possible.
  2. Put in the bottom of a crock pot. Add three or four grinds of black pepper. Layer in the veggies. Add the Guinness first, and then the beef broth.
  3. Set on high and cook for 4 or 5 hours. Then turn on low until serving time.
  4. Serve with good, fresh bread. To be authentic, serve with a good brown bread, but this also goes well with sourdough, olive oil/rosemary, marble rye, or pumpernickel bread.

As a variation, try serving with rice or noodles.

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Do you have a favorite recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? Please send it via e-mail. Thanks!

Letters Re: Militarization of LEOs

HJL,

I am a Peacekeeper, otherwise known as an LEO. I am a firm believer in being part of the solution, not part of the problem. I teach my children “dont fuss, fix it.” The first step to fixing it is understanding the problem. I will do my best to not respond with bluff and bluster. I took this job by choice. I do not expect nor look for sympathy or a medal for my career choice.

There are a few issues at work here. I will highlight a few recent incidents that will shed some light on part of the problem, as I see it.

First, realize we, as a nation, re-elected Obama. That means that a majority of our fellow citizens like and want more of nanny statism in our lives. A majority of our fellow citizens want the federal government involved in more aspects of our everyday being.

To highlight this, after the recent tragic shooting in Santa Cruz, the media and public were calling for laws to make it easier for police to detain people for mental evaluations. This is frightening. Again, this is people calling for the government to take care of them, because they feel we are incapable of doing it ourselves. In all 50 states, families can petition the court to have loved ones checked in for a 72-hour evaluation against their will, but why would someone take responsibility for a family member when we can call the government to do it?

With the recent shooting of the two Las Vegas police officers and the concealed carry holder who died in WalMart, the vast majority of media coverage talked about how this brave citizen “wasted” his life, and he should have left it up to the “professionals.” Again, we are declaring ourselves incapable of protecting ourselves and our loved ones, which is the most basic human right, and they’re asking the government to do it for us.

I can’t count the number of calls for service we receive for children who won’t go to bed or who won’t get in a car at the mall or for a snake in the yard. People are relying more and more on the government for everyday needs, usually ones that should be handled by the head of the household.

My agency had DoD M-16s. (We gave them back.) After the north Hollywood bank shoot out, DoD offered them out. We, as a local agency, did not have money to purchase patrol rifles, so we took them and issued them out. Our government was being fiscally responsible and recycling things (and not in the Lois Lerner hard drive way!). We got some six digit serial number A1’s that were beautiful, as a side note. Our helicopter pilots fly with surplus NVG’s at night. I can’t tell you how many missing hikers have been rescued by the glow of a cell phone at night in night vision. We always lambast the government for wasting money. We waste so much money; it is absurd. So what starts out as a pretty wise idea turns into sending MRAPs to towns of 5000. I want people to realize the dichotomy of this. I would rather re-use what we can of what our taxes already bought. There is a right and a wrong way to do this.

Fire departments do an excellent job of making use of their down time. When not fighting fires or going to medical calls, they routinely train or do outreach at schools about fire safety. When police are not responding to calls, we write tickets. Communities want stats. They want their money’s worth, and a full 10-hour shift of it. We have a hard time paying for what we might use if that makes sense; we want to see results. It always amazes me when we receive numerous calls about speeders in an area. When we go to run radar, one of the people who gets stopped always says, “Oh, I was one of the ones who called about the speeders.” We, as citizens, want results and stats we can see on paper; the end result is we are turning peace keeping into law enforcement. It should be okay for police to be bored. It means you live in a nice place. The public does not want bored police, so we have cops in nice areas writing window tint tickets.

So to the important part. What can we do about it? How can we combat this?

First, get to know your neighbors. Help each other. The more you can solve yourself, the less you rely on the government. Have a snake in the yard and you are scared of snakes? Call your neighbor. Is there a dog in the road? Stop and get it. Keep a fire extinguisher in your car. Put out small fires before you have to call the fire department. Keep a tow strap with you. When you get stuck, call your buddies, not the police. That being said, report crime. Crimes are tracked. If someone has broken into your car three times and you have not called, police have no way of knowing to increase patrol in the area.

Get to know your local police. If it’s a big agency or city, find your local precinct. Go for a ride along. I’m serious. See where your tax dollars are going. It’s a lot more impressive when you call a complaint in and can say “I rode with your agency”.

Go to community meetings the police hold. We hold meetings once a month. No one comes. When they do, it is usually far left activists. The conservative silent majority has been silent too long. We need to speak up. Hold your elected officials accountable. If your town is getting surplus gear, ask about it. See what they turned down. See if there are other ways to pay for it.

If you are a LEO, talk to your fellow officers. My squad has talked. We know what our line is. We know when we will walk away from the job. Dirty cops disgust me more than you; believe me.

Lastly, if you come in contact with the police, remember one phrase. Am I free to leave? If they say yes, leave. If they say no, request a lawyer and do not talk.

God Bless. – A Peacekeeper.

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Sir,

I have been following your column for quite some time now and have responded to a few articles, but this one in particular needs to be addressed.

To 15fixerI would like to ask what has made you so fearful of LEOs? You say that you have had several run ins with LEOs over the years, so is it safe to assume that you regularly and habitually break the law? I am asking this because I am a current LEO serving in a mid-sized town in central Texas.

I can tell you that as a BIBLE-believing, GOD-fearing Christian that I am a minority in the law enforcement community, but THAT does not mean that I am corrupt! I am also a member of my department’s SWAT team, and I am a former Army Ranger with 20 yrs of service.

What gives you the right to say that ALL LEOs are corrupt? Have you ever spent a day in our shoes? Have you ever stopped a vehicle for a minor traffic infringement and had to worry if you were going to be shot or not? Have you ever responded to a domestic disturbance only to be attacked by the very person you were there to help? Have you ever been “sucker” punched by a drunken tourist when you were trying to do your job in maintaining the peace for the rest of the “law abiding” patrons? I would say that the answers to all of these questions are “no”.

I can also tell you that as a member of a SWAT team, 100% of the search or arrest warrants that I have served were against violent offenders with multiple felony convictions. I can also tell you that we never use a NFDD device (flash bang) in a location were young children are present. Does that make me corrupt that I serve search/arrest warrants on these individuals? – M.C.

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HJL,

War surplus is nothing new to local law enforcement. Some police armories still have old “tommy guns” from WWII!!!

At least one coastal town here has a few surplus army trucks for emergencies, like flooded roads, so it’s not all bad.

Sadly, there are other departments that do promote SWAT-like tactics, but it’s up to us as the citizens to curb this mentality amongst our local police.

The Feds are another story, but it’s still up to us to let our elected officials know being pushed around by government bullies will not be tolerated as by evidence during the recent incident involving that Nevada rancher.

Something may indeed be afoot with ammo stock up and militarization of our police, which means it’s even more important to have an open dialog with our police instead of trying to further alienate them.

The police are our neighbors, and we have to remind them of that. – U.G.

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Hugh,

While reading your comment today concerning the recent letters about LEOs on the site, I found myself mostly agreeing with you in your overall assessment and counter-argument to some others, but I absolutely cringed at one comment that you made, to wit:

“If it is hard to find a civilian that will always tell the truth, and LEOs come from the same population pool, it’s obvious that LEOs are going to have the same problem.”

Yes, I understand. LEOs are people, too. I agree. But I am getting really, really impatient with people, and particularly law enforcement officers, themselves, who differentiate cops from non-cops by using the word “civilian.” Law enforcement officers are civilians. We have a civilian law enforcement structure, not a military one. The only people who are not civilians are people in the military.

I say again: LEOs are civilians (unless, of course, they are on active duty with the military, such as military police). Otherwise, civilians.

Please help to stop perpetuating this improper use of the word, so widely and incorrectly used by the media and by the cops, themselves. Remind them that they, THEY, are civilians.

Two Dogs in WV Lt.Col. USMc (ret)

Economics and Investing:

The Fed’s Illusion of Prosperity is Breaking Down

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Oddly enough, Obama’s bungling and greed over collecting tax dollars may be what finally collapses the dollar as the world reserve currency. This law basically tells foreign banks that if they have U.S. customers or transactions in U.S. dollars, they must share all information with the IRS or completely divest themselves of U.S. dollars. Secret Tax Could Collapse Dollar – B.B.

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16 Reasons Why We Are Collapsing As A Nation – D.B.

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Items from Mr Econocobas:

Gold Jumps Most in Nine Months as Silver Soars on Fed