Notes from JWR:

I’m pleased to report than more than 10,000 copies of the First Revised Edition of Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse have been sold since its release on November 26, 2012. This is the first time that the book has been printed with a cloth (hardback) binding. I updated the book slightly to remove some temporal incongruities that had built up in the course of previous editions, and added a new introduction. As with the later paperback editions, it includes a glossary and index.

Today we present another two entries for Round 45 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course. (A $1,195 value.) B.) 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, and C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) D.) a $300 gift certificate from CJL Enterprize, for any of their military surplus gear, E.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $300 value), and F.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo. and G.) A $200 gift certificate, donated by Shelf Reliance.

Second Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training. Together, these have a retail value of $589. C.) A FloJak FP-50 stainless steel hand well pump (a $600 value), courtesy of FloJak.com. D.) A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $300, E.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials and F.) Two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.), B.) 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, C.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, D.) A Commence Fire! emergency stove with three tinder refill kits. (A $160 value. E.) A Tactical Trauma Bag #3 from JRH Enterprises (a $200 value), and F.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.

Round 45 ends on March 31st, 2013, 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.



Addictions That Could Be Your Undoing, by Z.T.

I have tried to think about things that you may not have thought of, in regards to The End of the World as We Know It (TEOTWAWKI.) And maybe not just fresh ideas for readers, but even for those that write about these things. And, it’s possible that you may even think that I am going waaaay out there to bring you fresh ideas. But I’m not. I bet you haven’t thought of how silly and secret addictions can really hurt you. Have you? While the effects of hard drugs, even seemingly minor alcoholism, have their own withdrawal symptoms that are easy to point at and identify. It’s the ones that you haven’t thought of that may be your undoing. Let me share a story.

Last week, I traveled by commercial airliner for some on behalf of NASA. My flight left at 6:08 am. So, I didn’t really have time to fix a pot of coffee. I figured I would grab a cup when I got the the airport and enjoyed a fabulous $10 re-warmed biscuit. And, verily, that’s exactly what I did. I enjoyed said biscuit with a small coffee, then boarded the flight from Huntsville to Houston.

Knowing that this would be a long day, judging by post experience on United, I drifted off to sleep on the flight. When I woke up, I found out that we had been diverted to Alexandria, Louisiana due to fog. We sat on the plane an hour, then deplaned into this tiny executive airport. Alas, it has no restaurants and only one kiosk that sold bottle drinks. Since 7 other planes arrived before me, the kiosk was drained. No big deal. After all, I have sworn off soft drinks in an attempt to lose weight.

Boarded, once again, and we finally made the flight to Houston.

That’s where it began.

I had a splitting headache. I was sick to my stomach. I had ZERO energy. When I called my wife, she immediately could tell something was wrong. I could barely speak, I was trying to figure out what I needed to do to make it to Salt Lake City with all the delays. But I couldn’t think. At all. My brain simply wouldn’t work. I told her I didn’t know what it was and that I felt I was dying. Being ever so intuitive to her loving spoonful, she knew what had happened. I had 1 cup of coffee. All day.

Sounds stupid, doesn’t it? Because I had only 1 cup of Java that day, I couldn’t mentally function. And this isn’t the product of just a long day. It’s happened over. And over. And over.

In fact, I can’t start my day without having a pot of coffee. Not because I am spoiled, but because I can’t mentally function. See, my every morning revolves around dressing my kids, packing snacks and diaper bags, and getting them to school. There have been days that I have gotten to work and had to seriously think about if I actually took them.

Laugh now. But consider. Are you in the same boat? Do you have a long term tradition of stopping at Starbucks? Do you have to have a pot of coffee at your desk while you read the news, before you start your work day? Do you have to have that Mountain Dew at 2 pm? How about that Redbull or 5 Hour Energy Drink?

You do. Don’t you? Don’t lie to yourself. It’s ok.

And if you don’t? Do we dare go down that path? Well, I’ve already told you about my inability to function. As a NASA engineer, I recognize many of the stereotypes in myself, and one of those is the need to “mainline” caffeine directly into my blood stream. And if I don’t….I cannot function.

Okay. So, I think we have beaten that dead horse enough.

What does this mean for our survival? Do you realize just how dangerous this is to your TEOTWAWKI plan? We have had many talks about being on top of your mental game. Having a plan and enacting it, having thought of solutions to conceivable future issues. Making. Critical. Decisions. At. Critical. Times.  This takes clarity of thought. And if you don’t have this, you have a problem.

I couldn’t wrap my mind around how to change a flight to make it to my destination. How would I ever be able to make a split second decision on how to save my and my families life? I wouldn’t. That doesn’t even get into the physical ailment I felt. I am willing to bet that I would have been throwing up had I not downed a 34 ounce Dr. Pepper.

Now, I am much better off with my coffee consumption that I have been at other times in my life. I drink about 10 fluid cups a day. That’s the only caffeine in which I partake. Let’s look at some facts.

According to CoffeeFAQ, a standard 8oz coffee has UP TO 200 mg, but usually around 110mg.
According to Mountain Dew, a standard 12 oz can has 55 mg
According to 5 Hour Energy Drink, a standard shot has 208 mg
According to Red Bull, a standard 8.4oz can has 50 mg

So, while many people may laugh at the amount of coffee I drink, many of those drink multiple 20 oz bottles of Mountain Dew everyday. Or multiple Redbull. According to this, I consume a gram of caffeine a day. A GRAM!

Where do you fit? Have you ever gone without? If so, what were your experiences? I honestly would like to know.

What this past weekend showed me was that I have a severe addiction to coffee which can completely inhibit my physical and mental cohesiveness. It is something that I MUST consider in my survival plan. But, I will be honest. I enjoy coffee, so weaning myself off of it is improbable. So, what’s my solution? Well, it’s silly and simple.

I had been thinking about this topic and just how dangerous it really is, for something as stupid as a daily habit. I mean, honestly, I don’t rank my addiction up there with heroine…and yet, I can now identify what Kurt Cobain must have felt (though I identify that I didn’t have Courtney Love to deal with). When I got to my hotel that evening, the first thing I saw was the prepackaged Coffee on the sink. I thought to myself….hey. That’s at least a Band-Aid solution. After all, in TEOTWAWKI, our plan all along is that we will have scavenge at least some. But until it’s safe, just a few packets of prepackaged brown goodness would get me by. So, I snagged it. And now it’s in the pack.

While this may sound stupid and you may not even believe me, others have considered it. In the “Outlanders” series of books by James Axler, coffee is a regular staple of commodities that are held in high regard in the Post-Apocalypse. In “Pitch Black”, Cole Hauser’s character Johns, has an addiction that is never specified, yet it renders him physically and mentally incompetent after their space ship crashes on a hostile planet.

So you don’t care about media? Consider this: Coffee is a staple in military Meals Ready to Eat (MREs). Why? Maybe not for addicted souls like me, but certainly for some of the reasons that I am addicted to it. It’s a stimulant. It keeps you alert. It’s comforting.

The fact is, the TEOTWAWKI is a scary and harsh place where survival is already walking a razor thin edge. Just to survive and prosper, you already will require a great amount of luck, not to mention the planning and sharper-than-razor mental capacity to make even the smallest decisions that mean life or death. You cannot have anything keep you from making the right call at the right time. Losing your mental capacity over something stupid, such as missing a days worth of coffee, is a silly way to go out.

And, again, we aren’t even considering the more serious addictions that you may have. Doing a quick search, I learned that 30% of Americans have a drinking problem. That sound about right to you? It does to me. The effects of alcohol withdrawals are just as dire, and even more so. I have seen it first hand. So, 1 out of every 3 of you that read this now know that your alcohol addiction should be something to consider.

I’m not telling you that you must kill off your secret addictions. It’s not my place. And, considering how unlikely an earth-shattering TEOTWAWKI would be, it’s probably not worth quitting. Shoot, I know I can’t quit coffee. But, it’s certainly worth planning for, even if it means raiding the hotel’s freebee coffee stash.



Preparing Your Mind, Body and Spirit for TEOTWAWKI, by K B.

Preparing Your Mind, Body and Spirit for TEOTWAWKI, by K B.

I have met many great survivalists from all over this great country.  I have heard a lot of good advice on food preserving, silver and gold purchasing, ammo stockpiling and medication/first aid preparation.  I have further read numerous books and taken part in numerous survival training programs provided by the United States Army, that have taught me how to protect my family, my community and myself when the Fit Hits the Shan (FHTS).  I have utilized learned skills first hand during my tours with the army in Afghanistan and Iraq, survived 2-½ years of homelessness and along with 315 million other Americans, struggled to raise a family of five during these tough economic times.  What I learned so far is it doesn’t matter how prepared I have made my household, food supply, finances, security measures, family, neighbors and community; if I haven’t prepared myself, it was all for nothing. 

Before take-off at the start of every business trip, the flight attendant reminds you that if the air supply bags drop from the over-head compartment, that you are to place your mask on first before assisting others.  The reason behind this is you are useless to anyone else if you are dead from a lack of oxygen.  Any fire fighter will share a similar belief when it comes to their SCBA mask and rescuing people from a burning building.  Imagine spending half of your life reading about and preparing for the end of the world and when it all goes down, you are morally, mentally and physically un-prepared to handle the new normal. 

In this article I will cover the definition of wellness; basic skills one could implement to improve their physical, mental and spiritual well being and resources for improving ones resiliency and the resiliency of ones loved ones.  As a disabled combat veteran, I could not stress enough the importance of wellness preparation, maintenance and stability.  Please keep in mind however, that even the most prepared or resilient individuals cannot predict or survive everything, just like being a non-smoker doesn’t make you immune to cancer, it can only improves your chances of survival. 

For the purpose of this article when I discuss your overall wellness I am referring to your physical, mental and spiritual level of functioning and resiliency.  With that said, I am a mental health worker and a full-time student of Social Work.  Everything you are reading is based on first-hand experience, training/education, evidence based practices and second and third hand observations.  Furthermore there will be disclaimers and notes throughout the article, for your protection and my own.  There will also be two sets of information provided for each of the three areas of strengthening/preparing; a list of skills that can be implemented today without the limitations of TEOTWAWKI and a second list that follows the “Back to the Basics” approach for after the FHTS.  The majority of these skills are presented at a basic level and are a great way to get starting in improving your overall wellness.  For more advanced skills training I encourage you to seek the help of a professional in the area you would like to enhance (i.e. priest, doctor, dietitian, gym, therapist, etc.). 

Wellness
In current day and future days, our individual overall wellness will define how we adapt to our ever changing world.  The basic wellness model identifies the three most important areas of our functioning as our physical, mental and spiritual health.  SAMSHA expands this model in their “Wellness 10 X 10” model which covers 8 dimensions of wellness.  For further information and publication on wellness, please explore the web site above, it is a great resource and provides numerous publications free of charge.  Improving your strength and resiliency in any of the three areas will have positive ramifications on the corresponding areas.  Likewise, any weaknesses or a chronic issue in any area negatively impacts the other two areas.  It is important to work on yourself while encouraging the same in others, but remember, no man (or woman) can be the Pope, Arnold Schwarzenegger or Albert Einstein all in one person.  Any improvement in any area greatly improves your overall wellness. 

Mind (Mental Health)

Self-disclosure alert.  I suffer from chronic Moderate to Severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder with Depression.  I would rather try to survive TEOTWAWKI with a like minded individual, then someone free of stress, mental health issues or firsthand hardships.  Lucky for me, most Americans are like minded, with mental health issues found in the majority of individuals and no one being immune from the effects of stress.  Our chances of experiencing mental health issues are based on our level of susceptibility and vulnerability, as is most physical health concerns.  Having a mental health issue does not however make an individual any less capable of survivor, in this writer’s opinion, it makes them stronger.  Individuals with severe and persistent mental illnesses (SPMI) are going to find barriers others don’t have to worry about, such as medication management, treatment follow through and symptom management. 

When the FHTS, it will only be a matter of time before most individuals will experience a heightened level of adrenaline followed by the phenomenon of “fight or flight” thinking.  When this happens your autonomic nervous system goes to work and your survival instincts and natural reactions will come out.  For more on the autonomic nervous system and the parasympathetic/sympathetic  system please review this article.  For simplicity purposes we will refer to this mindset as the zone.

In the military many drills are repeated numerous times in a multitude of scenarios in order to increase the chances of use when in the zone.  It doesn’t take much to see how training your natural reactions towards stressful situations to mirror your best chance of survival could be highly effective.  Doing this for every scenario and every possible outcome would drive even the most disciplined Special Forces Op or Navy SEAL crazy.  To compensate, we look to improve our ability to “bounce back from” the situations we couldn’t prepare enough for, this is called resiliency.  This resiliency is what helps us to adapt and overcome minor to severe changes in the world around us.

Note: As identified above, no one is immune to the effects of stress and/or mental health issues.  Increasing your resiliency will help reduce your susceptibility but will not make you immune.  In our present day society over half of the American population will experience a traumatic event in their lifetime and over two-thirds will experience at least a minor episode of depression at some point in life.  These statistics are based off of today, when the FHTS, you can only imagine the effects it will have on the average American psyche. 

Present Day Skills:

Getting Connected / Social Support System:  Building strong, positive relationships with loved ones and friends can provide you with needed support and acceptance in both good times and bad.
Make every day meaningful:  Do something that gives you a sense of accomplishment and purpose every day. Set goals to help you look toward the future with meaning.
Learn from experience:  Think back on how you’ve coped with hardships in the past. Consider the skills and strategies that helped you through rough times. You might even write about past experiences in a journal to help you identify both positive and negative behavior patterns — and guide your behavior in the future.
Remain hopeful:  You can’t change what’s happened in the past, but you can always look toward the future. Accepting and even anticipating change makes it easier to adapt and view new challenges with less anxiety.
Take care of yourself:  Tend to your own needs and feelings, both physically and emotionally. Participate in activities and hobbies you enjoy. Include physical activity in your daily routine. Get plenty of sleep. Eat a healthy diet. To restore an inner sense of peace or calm, practice stress management and relaxation techniques, such as yoga, meditation, guided imagery, deep breathing or prayer.
Be proactive:  Don’t ignore your problems or try to wish them away. Instead, figure out what needs to be done, make a plan and take action. Although it can take time to recover from a major setback, traumatic event or loss, know that your situation can improve if you actively work at it.

Back to the Basics Skills: (Most of the skills identified above can further be use after TEOTWAWKI).
Share your experience and encourage others to do the same:  Sharing with others and listening to how others are adapting and moving forward with the changes brought on by TEOTWAWKI can not only help identify gaps in progress in individual and group adaptability, but it names issues, makes them real and provides you the ability to take a problem and make it an obtainable goal.
Continue to document your experience:  As identified above, learning from your experience can be a great tool to reduce future effects of stress and change, as well as increase your overall ability to cope.
Develop a Crisis Response Plan:  Identify a written plan for how you are going to deal with negative thinking, thoughts of harm or suicide, depression and other mental health symptoms.  Sign it and share it with others, make it available for reference. 
Use your supports and be a support:  Even if you find yourself in an “I am Legend” scenario and you are the last human on earth, you still have the support of your spirituality (see I told you these go hand in hand) and your own mind.  With others, be there for them, practicing active listening (actually listening and reflecting on what they say, without judging) and show care and support (if the feelings aren’t there, fake it until you make it).  Rely on others for the same.  We are a social species and rely on the interactions of others to experience comfort and relief. 

Body (Physical Health)

Note:  I have read numerous blogs and threads regarding the stockpiling and keeping of prescription and non-prescription medications.  As I have seen in those threads, I will also do here and not encourage or condone the use of non-prescribed medication or the abuse of medication.  I encourage the proper use and disposal of unused medication when no longer needed.  With that said, you are your own person and you know what you need and don’t need.  If you have the need and the means, then it is up to you to make those decisions.

There are many aspects that affect your ability to survive TEOTWAWKI in regards to our current and maintainable level of physical functioning and health.  For this article we will focus on endurance, susceptibility and positive decision making.  For information on trauma care and medical care please review the book “When There is no Doctor.”  

It doesn’t take much imagination to see how the overweight and out of shape will handle the big changes that can come with TEOTWAWKI.  Anyone can overcome change with the right skills and mind set.  With that said, why make it harder on yourself and wait until the end of the world to decide that it’s time to do something about your 35% body fat or high blood pressure.  The first thing I encourage in this area is routine.  Start slow and implement one or two things at a time, in other words pace yourself, pace yourself, pace yourself.  Trying to be the next Mr. Olympian is not your goal.  It is better to be overweight and in shape then be overly fit and unable to complete basic tasks, like running far distances.   

Getting into shape goes beyond working out, it is what we eat and how we carry ourselves throughout the day.  I could easily say don’t smoke, don’t drink, stay away from drugs, don’t eat red meat, carbs are the devil, so on and so forth, but I am not your doctor.  With everything you do for your body, moderation is key.  My biggest piece of advice, aside from pacing yourself, is don’t look at improving your physical health as a chore, turn it into something fun, you can do again and again and again. 

Present Day Skills:
Get active:  All those ads you see on television and on billboards are right.  Getting active at least 30 minutes a day can greatly improve your overall health and overall wellness.  Try doing something you enjoy such as swimming, walking, playing basketball, jogging, dancing, cleaning, etc. 
Get involved:  Join a club or start an exercise regime with others such as your family.  You don’t need a lot, if any money, to get active and to workout, just if you want the big fancy machines when doing so.  Find creative ways to keep the family active throughout the day like walks after supper, playing in the yard after work or doing pushup and sit-up contests during commercials.
Mix it up:  Mix up your routine to make things interesting.  If you planned to go for a nice walk, turn it into a run.  Go hiking or canoeing instead of just lifting weights.  If you miss a day, a week or a month, don’t dwell on it, there are 24 hours in a day and tomorrow is another day.
Moderation:  Get your body used to moderation in most things you do.  Eating, drinking, socialization and other activities are more than fine, when done in moderation.  Too much of a good thing, makes it a bad thing.  Not to mention when the FHTS, it might be pretty hard living up to your vises and abuses, such as excessive drinking, smoking or overeating.
Back to the Basics Skills: (Most of the skills identified above can further be use after TEOTWAWKI).
Stay active:  Your gym may now be closed, but the majority of exercises can be fulfilled in small spaces and without the assistance of man-made contraptions.  For a giant list of ways to work out under even the most strenuous of circumstances, check out this web site.  
Don’t skip a meal:  It is better to eat brown rice for three meals a day then it is to skip a meal or two a day.  Our bodies need calories to survive and when the FHTS, our standard 2000 daily calorie intake may not be enough.
Take care of yourself:  Don’t wait until your cut is infected or your “cold” is a nasty viral infection.  Start with your immediate care and always follow up with the preventive care to the best of your ability, for the sake of your health and the health of others around you.

Spirit (Spiritual/Moral Health)
Spirituality is based not on what religion you claim, or even whom you worship.  Spirituality is what you believe connects us together, powers the universe, keeps time moving and empowers people to do what is morally right.  For some spirituality is found in God (or some deity), nature, art or the universe itself.  For myself I find spirituality in my faith in God and in my beliefs in the Catholic faith.  My spiritual character has further been developed through trials and tribulations, the military, fatherhood and life experience.  Whether you pray to God or baste in the awe of a sunrise over the mountain, we all are at some level aware of our spirituality. 

Your moral system is derived from nature and nurture.   We learn right and wrong from stories, church, life experience, feelings/emotions, school, society, self-discovery and many other influences.  When your moral/ethical system is tested and boundaries are crossed, moral injuries can occur.  These injuries can have long lasting effects and take away the drive that keeps one going. 

If you are a God fearing man or follow some structured religion, it helps to know where you are going when you die.  No matter how much you prepare you will eventually die someday.  Accepting death is a struggle every person experiences in their own way.  By accepting death and defining your reason for life, you have provided the strongest desire for survival.  I know my eternal resting place is among the saints in heaven.  Knowing this and having already accepted death through war and tribulation, I know I survive to honor the blessing of life God has bestowed upon me.  My faith is Catholicism, but my spirituality is defined by my relationship with God and how I honor him and my fellow man.

Note:
  There has been a regular theme in this article about priorities, without that word actually being used.  Defining ones ethics and values is one thing, but prioritizing them is another.  For me it goes; God, family, myself, country, community, work.  View this PDF for a questioner if you need help identifying your values.

Present Day Skills:

Pray: Prayer/meditation is an amazing tool for improving your spirituality.  Whether you pray to God or look into yourself for strength, doing so can bring your closer to the thing that ties us all together. 
Get involved:  Get involved in your local church.  Participating in mass/service is one thing, but getting involved with the Monday thru Saturday activities can help strengthen your beliefs and improve your spiritual fitness.  Socializing with others of like mind and spirit encourages growth.  If you don’t go to church or don’t believe in a higher power, you can still get involved.  Spend more time doing what makes you feel closer to your spirit, if it’s fishing, fish; if it’s nature, hike and if it’s the stars, keep your eyes to the sky.  Learn what you can about what empowers you; it can only make you stronger.
Read:  Some religions and spiritual paths come with manuals, while others must be found in various different books.  Owning a manual (i.e. Bible, Torah, etc.) that you never read, is like trying to fly a plane full of passengers without having ever left the ground or taken flying lessons.
Put your spirit into what you do:  If you are conducting an inventory of your preparations, practice praying and thanking God for his gifts.  Utilize mindfulness to enhance the experience of whatever activity or hobby you are taking part in.  You can be mindful canning or cooking dinner, just as easy with practice as you can when in nature or experiencing a wave of spirituality. 
Back to the Basics Skills:
Keep the faith:  When the FHTS, this can be easier said than done.  Morals and values are tested in hard times.  The stronger you are in your spirituality the better you will be able to do this come TEOTWAWKI.  Continue the list of things above to the best of your ability with what is still around.  This last part may be hard, but find God in what has happened.  Remember that God had to go through hell to open the gates of heaven; sometimes being like him (being a Christian) isn’t easy.
Pray, pray, pray:  God protects us (please read Psalm 91) and wants us to live in his blessing of life.  For non-believers, meditation can help stabilize the mess of stress and moral injury brought on by TEOTWAWKI.  When the world is at its darkest and prayer seems futile, at a minimum, one can pray to thank God for another day every morning, taking heed in the continuation of life.

Final Note:
  Death is inevitable for everyone, ignoring that robes you of true appreciation for life.  With death there is a rebirth and in this rebirth eternal life can finally begin.  To all of my fellow survivalists and preppers I wish you a blessed life and encourage you to always help others by giving them bread and teaching them to fish.
Thank you and God Bless.



Letter Re: Buried Cache Retrieval

I recently found an old issue of American Survival Guide magazine (now defunct), with an article that described a cache that had been buried 20+ years earlier, and how well it had fared. Extremely well so the article went, but the land and landmarks had changed over that length of time and it almost wasn’t recovered.

For long-term storage like that, remembering where you stashed your cache could be a concern. You might find that a fire has removed all of the trees, and erosion removed any other landmarks you may have used for a benchmark. Or the area has since been developed and you arrive to find a strip mall/parking lot right on top of your valuables.

There are many ways to cache your stash, and different ways to make “X” mark the spot. You just have to remember where that “X” is, and never, ever forget. During the Spring, Summer or Fall, you may only have to worry about heat, rain, insects, poison ivy, or other preppers looking for their stash. That is not the point of this article.

It’s February up here in my part of the United States. And it’s cold. Very cold.

Which brings up the reason for this article – Winter cache retrieval considerations.

The temperatures for the past couple of months in my area have averaged right around the freezing point. In late January we had to put down a beloved family pet, and we wanted to dig a nice, deep hole in the back yard and give her a proper burial. I went and got my dependable old shovel out of the shed, but it wouldn’t even make a mark in the frozen ground. I went back to the shed and brought out my post hole digger. Same result. My grandfather’s old pick/mattock worked some, but it seemed like it was going to take days with that old tool!

At this point I was wishing for a motorized ice auger, something that would break through the ice without it breaking in the process. I went back to the shed and brought out an ax and a hatchet. It took two of us in fair physical shape 3½ hours to dig a 3′ x 2′ x 3½’ hole. Turns out that there was 8″ of frozen topsoil that we had to painstakingly chip through.

Where have you buried your cache, and in what part of the country? If you’re down South and it’s a mild Winter, you might not have a problem getting your goodies out of the ground. In nearly all of the Northern states, unless you’re having a very mild Winter, you are going to have a problem.

If it’s a cold, hard Winter like most of us up here are having now, and you find yourself in an extreme, immediate-need situation to access your cache, will you be ready? Do you have an ax, a hatchet, or whatever tool that will work for you, in your “at the ready” supplies so you can chop out that frozen ground if need be?

Are you in good enough shape to break through and access your carefully-hidden supplies? Will you have enough time to dig that hole and retrieve your (name your life-saver) before the rotating-oscillator-contacted Schumer blows your direction? Do you have the right type of transportation, clothing, footwear, and most important, tools to go and get your stuff in a safe manner without risking health, limb or life?

Since only you know what supplies you have on hand, and what you’ve saved for that fast-approaching “rainy” day, I suggest you rethink what you are doing, have already accomplished, or what you’re thinking of starting.

No one knows when the balloon will go up, the hammer will fall, or the Schumer starts flying your way, so make sure you have the right tools and other equipment to access your hidden treasures where, and especially what time of year the need should arise.

Hopefully this is enough information for you to re-evaluate any preparations you may have made. I hope I’ve left out enough information so you will start thinking about your own personal situation as it stands right now and any possible scenario you might have to overcome when Mother Nature and circumstances throw that curve ball at all your plans. Get ready while you still have time. – Steve in Iowa



Letter Re: Observations on Winter Storm Nemo

Mr. Rawles,
In the past few days, I have noticed many articles and threads from preppers regarding the northeast and our recent  snowfall. The general feeling is that we (from New England/New York) did not learn anything from Hurricane Sandy, and were again caught unprepared. Multiple news clips and sound bites  seem to support this. What the rest of the country seems not to realize, is that empty grocery stores, power outages, and blocked roads are a way of life here in New England, and have been for as far back as we can recall.  The prepper community is always speculating on what they would do days or hours leading up to a SHTF situation. I can speak for the majority of us northerners who can say "been there, done that, doing it again next year".  We all gassed up our vehicles, snow blowers etc, stocked up on perishable groceries, batteries etc. stayed home and weathered the storm safely.  Because in general, we know how to handle this type of event. It is in our blood.

The take away for your readers, is that wherever they call home, there are certain hazards which they will have to deal with on a semi regular basis, be they weather related or otherwise. You cannot prevent them, nor become impervious to them. We all can only be prepared enough to weather the storm best we can. It is up to each individual to asses the dangers presented by their region, and make the necessary preparations. I for one am not prepared for flash flooding, it is just not worth prepping for in my area, if I lived along the Mississippi, I might feel differently.

I think it is a testament to the preparedness of my region, that only three days after the most recent "snowstorm of the century" things are pretty much back to normal. Businesses are open, people are back to work, and we are merely waiting for power to come back on for a few thousand customers. We had no looting, food riots or bank runs.
Thanks for all your work, – Rico



Four Letters Re: A Prepper’s Guide to EMP

Jim:
That was a very good article by Chris C. to get people up to speed on EMP threats and mitigation, there is one very simple thing to add that was shared with me by a former military contractor who was involved in EMP work.   While it’s possible to protect equipment in place with shielding, grounding and specialized electronic components, the most economical solution is to store spares.  This has the advantage of protecting (remember, “two is one”) with backups from ANY type of equipment failure, EMP or otherwise.  This method uses readily obtainable and very economical materials.  There’s really no excuse not to do this, as you’ll be protected against a number of different possible problems.

Go through your your gear and determine what you need for spares.  Many, many things now have microelectronics inside.  Low startup power water pumps, tankless hot water heaters, refrigerators, LED light bulbs and flashlights, audio equipment, inverters, charge controllers, solar panel diodes, video cameras, network routers and switches, computers, cars and trucks etc. all have electronics that could be fried.  

According to my source, the best way to store electronic equipment is in it’s original box, which provides an insulator from the outside via plastic, cardboard or foam.  Many electronic components come in static protecting bags, which will provide yet another layer of protection.  Double wrap the box with heavy duty aluminum foil, being careful to seal all seams with metal ducting tape in each layer.  The outside of this is then wrapped in plastic bubble wrap and placed inside a galvanized steel 32 gallon trash can.  

The inside of the trash can needs to have the same metal tape applied over the holes in the metal from the handles on the barrel and the lid and an insulating layer of cardboard should be fitted to the inside of the metal trash can.  This is to provide an insulator between the Faraday cage of the trash can and the electronics inside.  

Place all your wrapped electronics (double foil and bubble wrap) inside this trash can and seal the lid with more metal duct tape.  This provides two layers of security from the can and each component is also separately protected inside the can.   You can test this by placing an FM radio that is turned on, wrapping it in a box, layering the foil and bubble wrap, then placing it inside the metal trash can.  If you don’t hear any radio signal after it’s been wrapped and placed inside the metal trash can, you are good to go. – C.K.

 

James:
While I appreciate the thought that Chris C. and others put into discussions of EMP scenarios, Chris and others are all forgetting one fact that makes all of this an exercise in futility:  There are dozens of active nuclear reactors operating in the US.  Any EMP burst will travel along the high tension wires that are used to distribute their output and fry them.  It’s not going to be the 1850s, it’s going to be more like The Omega Man, with most of the population dead within weeks from radiation poisoning when the cores melt down and explode. Those who survive this initial die off will be left with a land that will not grow crops for millennia to come.  That’s why I don’t worry about EMP anymore: There’s going to be nothing left. My family and I live in Butte, Montana astride the Great Divide. That puts us upwind of most of America’s nuclear reactors.

If we do ever suffer an EMP, I hope that there won’t be concurrent or subsequent radioactive fallout. The fallout from the Japanese earthquake/tsunami/reactor incident has really made me think hard about this.  If memory serves, there are 47 active reactors in the US, if they all overheat their cores [or spent fuel ponds] at once (or within the same week, say) I seriously fear for the population of the US and other countries. 

Wouldn’t the Jet Stream eventually carry the fallout around the northern hemisphere and hit us here as well?  I read that it takes several months under controlled conditions to completely shut down a reactor [and disassemble its pile], and that if the fuel rods were exposed to air because the pumps stopped that it might take years for them to cool off and stop spewing radiation. If the grid collapsed due to an EMP, there would be no heroic efforts like we saw in January, with 47 reactors going critical and no communications or transport, Sir Isaac Newton is in the drivers seat. 

I don’t want to sound defeatist, I have been following SurvivalBlog for several years, and am doing my best to prepare to keep my family alive in case of emergency.  I’m even working on a Bug-Out Bag article, which is what caused me to really start thinking about what I was prepping for.  The collapse of the grid like in your novel Patriots is obviously the biggie we all try to plan for, and if it goes down like that we all might have a chance to try the 1850s over again.  – Greg C. (A former USMC Captain.)

JWR Replies: These issues were described in detail in a SurvivalBlog article posted back in September, 2010. The only good news is that by the time that fallout clouds circle the globe, they will have already dropped most of their heavier components. In an absolute worst-case situation where all of the nuclear power plants and spent fuel ponds boil off and melt down, the worst-affected regions would be: the northeastern United States, Quebec, Iceland, and northern Europe. (Sorry about that!)

The southern hemisphere would obviously be safer, since there are relatively few nuke plants compared to the more industrialized northern hemisphere. Here in the United States, the least-affected regions would be the Pacific Northwest and the Inland Northwest (The American Redoubt.) I would not want to be living anywhere in the eastern United States!

Mr. Rawles,
We have had a couple telephone consults and I have found your knowledge to be of great use. I try to make your blog one of my first early morning reads here on the East Coast.
 
Chris C.’s article on EMP was extremely well thought out, comprehensive and full of accurate information. The only thing I take issue with is his statement regarding the reason we are a very likely target. Chris stated, “We now face an enemy who is difficult to put a face on, impossible to identify, and hates us for no other reason that the fact that we are a nation of free infidels.”
 
I find this type of thinking to be all too prevalent in America today. I am in no way a Muslim apologist. I feel strongly that the Islamic community has done little to nothing to denounce terrorism, either through fear of retribution from fellow Muslims or tacit approval of the activities of their radical counterparts. Additionally, my late father was a United States Marine, I was a U.S. Navy Corpsman and my son is presently a Marine Lieutenant attending flight school in Pensacola, so I do not take what I am about to say lightly.
 
Chris C.’s way of thinking is short-sighted and flat out wrong. The vast majority of Muslims do not hate us for our “freedom”. That is a false narrative that [the media] has been trying to create for decades. Just as any red-blooded American would be outraged at the presence of a foreign military on our soil, so do those inhabitants of Islamic countries who have had our military occupy and/or invade their lands. There is no denying that Saddam Hussein was an oppressive and evil tyrant and the world is a better place without his presence, but the same can be said about many dictators throughout the world, particularly on the African continent. The government of Afghanistan may or may not have known the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden, but did its people deserve invasion and continued occupation?
 
Let’s use a fictitious example for a moment. An American citizen or group of citizens plots and successfully blows up the Eiffel Tower. Washington D.C., for whatever reason, states they don’t know where the group is, or simply will not turn them over. Would YOU accept French planes bombing U.S. cities, breaking down doors in the middle of the night looking for suspected terrorists or knocking your car out of the way with an APC because they wanted to get through……or would YOU be planting IEDs alongside the road to blow up the French troops?
 
The hijackers on 9/11 were almost all Saudi’s, as was OBL, yet they are our “allies”. OBL was found and killed in Pakistan, yet they are our allies. Does anyone believe that OBL lived in Pakistan for years without the knowledge of elements high within the Pakistani government? Let us not be naive. America is a great country, but we serve our interests, as do all nations. That said, we must not be surprised when our actions result in hatred. Most Muslims knew nothing of the United States, but when we bomb their countries, kill thousands and call it “collateral damage”, should we be surprised when that hatred is turned towards us?
 
We have involved ourselves in the politics of oppression throughout the world to serve our own national interests and must realize that the end result is hatred directed towards us. Yes, they resent the encroachment of “Western” corruption on their generations, but don’t we resent many of the very same vices that they do: promiscuity, drugs, alcoholism, abortion. Christianity preaches against the same things. They hate us not because we are free, but because we wish them to “be like us”. Forcing your ways upon the people of another land is not freedom, no matter how backwards we may perceive them.
 
Many of us resent the way our own government is trying to force us to comply with their beliefs. Anyone with the slightest bit of intellectual honesty will admit that our country is not the beacon of freedom it once was. That oppression they feel will soon be directed upon those who disagree with our present government. You basically wrote as much in your first novel, Patriots.
 
America has much to be proud of, its people are kind, generous and caring. Our government is not. If we need to know why they hate us, we need to look no further than those in Washington, D.C. Hatred of freedom? Please, let’s not fall into that jingoistic trap of false patriotism. True freedom is when people are left alone to live their lives, safe with their families, to live their lives. It’s not having Humvees racing down the street with guns pointed at your children. Let’s at least have an honest discussion.
 
Otherwise, it was an outstanding piece. Thanks, – Ken B. on Long Island

 

Jim:
Chris C.’s essay on EMP has some false information and conclusions unjustified even by those falsehoods, and misleading advice. His essay rehashes some myths that have been circulating on the Internet for years in spite of the ready availability of reliable contradictory evidence. He tries to qualify his remarks by saying there is “debate” over situations where “no one is sure what will happen,” but in truth we do know. It’s just that the facts contradict his opinions.

He clearly wants to believe that “small transistor devices”, airplanes, modern cars, laptops, and pacemakers are at high risk from EMP, but the facts show that they aren’t. Of course, they shouldn’t be. They simply aren’t able to capture very much energy from EMP, and the features that protect these devices from electrostatic discharge (whether fingertip static on a cold day, or nearby lightning strikes during a storm) also serve to shunt EMP energy away from their critical systems. – P.N.G.



News From The American Redoubt:

A Montana television station’s regular programming was interrupted by news of a zombie apocalypse…

   o o o

FAA Releases New Drone List. (Note that there are just a few airports in the American Redoubt, compared to other parts of the country)

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Oregon-collared wolf killed by Idaho Hunter

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I heard that Armageddon Armory in Nampa, Idaho still has some firearms inventory available, and they just took delivery of a large batch of TAPCO polymer magazines. Many gun shops across the country have empty shelves. So it is nice find one that still has a decent inventory. At last report, they have available: “4 Century R1A1 .308 rifles, 6 Anderson Arms free float AR-15 rifles, 2 M1 Carbines, and just one each of the following: CETME .308, Springfield M1A SOCOM Scout, Sterling 9mm carbine, Calico 9mm, Barrett .50 BMG, Armalite bolt action .50 BMG, Bushmaster XM15 .223, Bushmaster M4, and a Stag Arms left hand AR-15.” They also mentioned that they have “…more ammo en route at this time from Magtech and Sellier & Belloit.”

   o o o

Where Are Guns Made? Mapping Gun And Ammunition Makers In Idaho. Oh, and next door: Firearm Manufacturers in Wyoming

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PNW Arms (in Potlatch, Idaho) is already well-known for their Cold Tracer bullets. They are now developing a line of bullets designed for extreme penetration through water. I’m sue that the U.S. Navy has taken notice.

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BVAC Ammunition (in Stevensville, Montana) is presently sold out of .223 ammunition. But they are doing their best to catch up. They still have several other types of ammunition in stock.

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WWII Battle of Midway hero Jim Muri dies at 93 in Billings, Montana.





Odds ‘n Sods:

MagPul Industries issues a Colorado legislative alert and says “we may have to move.” Needless to say, they would be enthusiastically welcomed here in the American Redoubt!

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Chris G. sent this: Department of Homeland Security Raids Gun Collector Who Didn’t Violate the Law

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Nuts! Jericho creator confirms Netflix in talks to revive series

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A reader mentioned a mail order company that is worth checking out: 1st Army Supply.

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Anthony Wile of The Daily Bell recently interviewed constitutional lawyer Edwin Vieira about his new book on the right to keep and bear arms and militias.



Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“They’re not going to tell you [that a collapse is coming]. You’re going to have to see it for yourself. [During the Tequila crisis], the Mexican government affirmed they would not default, that they would not devalue, almost daily. The day after they said “we won’t devalue,” they devalued by 60%. The government’s never going to tell you that it’s going to happen.

“Greece’s Yunker said recently, ‘When it becomes serious—you have to lie’. These guys are never going to tell you the truth, because they can’t tell you the truth. Their job is to promote confidence, not to tell you the truth.” – Kyle Bass



Notes from JWR:

Today is the birthday of the late Burt Blumert (born February 11, 1929 in New York City, died March 30, 2009.) He once owned Camino Coin Company. (Coincidentally, so did former congressman Dr. Ron Paul from 1984 to 1996.) I was a Camino customer before the turn of the century. I can remember Burt personally helping me dolly out my first purchase of 100-ounce Engelhard bars. That was back when they cost just $580 each. Those were the days. (The same bars now sell for more than $3,200 each.)

Today’s first feature article is by our Back Country Editor, Mat Stein. The second piece is by our Medical Editor, Dr. Cynthia Koelker. The third post comes from Pat Casio, our Field Gear Editor. They are all subject matter experts. I am very grateful to all of them for their volunteer work for the benefit of the SurvivalBlog readership.



Why Your Doctor Won’t Help You Prepare–And What You Can Do About It, by Cynthia J. Koelker, MD

This past week I had a pharmacy call me about a multi-year prescription I had written for a fellow prepper.  The pharmacy would not fill the prescription, and didn’t even know if was legal.  At first they told the patient I would have to write a note regarding the purpose of so much medication, and that the drug might not even be good beyond a year.  On further consideration, they informed him that he would have to get a new prescription written for a smaller amount.  It seemed they did not even want to keep the written prescription in their records (which are periodically reviewed).

It so happened that the state board of pharmacy was visiting that day and the pharmacist inquired as to what the law actually states.  I’m told the pharmacist was advised that they could not fill any prescription for more than one year into the future, even if the physician writes a note saying the patient is aware the medication will be considered out of date beyond a year.
This demonstrates just one of the obstacles to obtaining long-term medication for TEOTWAWKI that I’d like to address.  There are other barriers as well – perhaps you’ve encountered a few.

To begin, here’s my short list of reasons your doctor won’t help you prep:

  • He or she believes all is well – From your doctor’s point of view, tomorrow will be much like today, and on and on, indefinitely.  All this doomsday stuff is mere malarkey. 
  • Your doctor may be an employee – Even if he’s a hard-core survivalist, your doctor is obligated to comply with his employer’s policies.
  • Your physician is afraid of getting in trouble – How many people are looking over your doctor’s shoulders?  To name a few, your physician may be answerable to partners or peers, a practice manager, a hospital or other employer, pharmacies, drug boards, the DEA, insurers, Medicare, Medicaid, the state medical board, and no doubt the IRS.  Would you risk losing your license and livelihood under these conditions?
  • Your doctor thinks you’re a nut – Perhaps your questions are perceived as paranoia rather than preparedness.
  • Depending on your condition, your doctor may fear you’ll hurt yourself – Medical concerns include overdosing, under-dosing, not recognizing certain side-effects, drug interactions, necessary lab tests, and many others.
  • Your doctor does not want to be responsible for someone he or she is not seeing regularly – Current law requires a doctor to oversee a patient’s care on a regular basis, and to document this in a legal medical record.  Physicians are required to document every prescription written or dispensed, as are pharmacies.  Doctors are responsible for treatment regimens we prescribe.
  • Your physician may fear lost income – Doctors still have to make a living, which is becoming increasingly difficult, particularly for primary care physicians.
  • Society as a whole and medical providers as well believe the field of medicine should be left to professionals – The person who learns enough to care for himself may be more feared than respected, a loose cannon beyond societal norms.

The point of this list isn’t to make you give up, but rather to recognize and quantify the challenge.  There is much you can do, depending on your motivation.  You, too, can make a difference.   
So here’s a list of suggestions to overcome the above obstacles:

  • Convince your doctor that all is NOT well – When you see your doctor, take a brief moment to ask a question about the economy, or where our medications come from, or what you should have on hand if a tornado strikes, or how your community is set to handle a disaster like Hurricane Katrina.  
  • Learn whether your physician is an employee – If so, don’t expect much cooperation in the prepping department.  You may want to seek out a second, independent medical professional.  Solo practitioners are becoming a rare breed, but are much more likely to be independent thinkers.
  • Don’t put your doctor at risk – Ask only for small favors, perhaps an extra month of medication at each visit. 
  • Don’t act like a nut – Doctors appreciate patients who act responsibly, who know the names and doses of their medications, and who follow-through on agreed-upon treatment plans.  There could come a time when your doctor comes to you for advice on a preparedness issue.
  • Educated yourself thoroughly about your own medical condition, medications, and other treatments – There is nothing that prevents you from studying up on your own disease.  Your doctor likely has more clinical experience, which is an enormous advantage, but otherwise you can learn an great amount about any medical condition.  A good place to start is with the American Academy of Family Physicians journal which is online free at www.aafp.org.  You should know the common side-effects, potential for poisoning, and common drug interactions for all your medications.  Although doctors are aware of many of these, they cannot memorize them all.  A free online Interaction Checker is available at www.drugs.com.
  • If you have a chronic medical condition (such as diabetes, hypertension, etc.) see your doctor regularly – I cannot emphasize this enough.  The point is not only your current care, but your future health as well.  If you demonstrate trustworthiness in small things (such as keeping appointments), your doctor is more likely to trust you with bigger things (such as extra medication or a prescription for antibiotics for a future need). 
  • And now for the fine print – I recognize the above will only get you so far.  I strongly advise taking advantage of your current freedoms.  Currently you are allowed to seek medical care from more than one physician, perhaps one within your insurance network and one out-of-network, or even in a different city.  Currently you are free to obtain prescriptions from more than one pharmacy.  Currently you have access to a vast and amazing array of effective over-the-counter medications, about which I’ve written previously.  Currently you are permitted to acquire a wide variety of A-B rated USP generic antibiotics intended for aquarium use.  Currently you have access to as much medical information as physicians enjoy.  Currently you have the freedom to acquire medical items for potential future barter.  Currently there is no restriction regarding obtaining medical skills for personal use, such as suturing and casting, as taught in my classes and elsewhere.   Currently you can acquire insulin over-the-counter.  Currently desiccated thyroid replacement may be obtained without a prescription.  Currently herbal medications are available in abundance.  Currently you can purchase new or used books on physical therapy, massage, and chiropractic.  Currently you have the freedom to attend EMT or nursing school, even if you don’t intend to pursue a career in the field.

Fortunately there is much you can do to build your self-reliance in the medical arena, but it cannot be accomplished overnight.  An abundance of free information to get you started is available at my ArmageddonMedicine.net web site, and I suggest reading my other articles in the SurvivalBlog archives. (Put “Koelker” in the Search box.)



Winter Survival Tips, by Mat Stein

Note: This article is adapted from my book When Disaster Strikes: A Comprehensive Guide for Emergency Planning and Crisis Survival

Tips for Surviving Outside in Extreme Weather and Subfreezing Temperatures

Every year people get lost in the backcountry near where I live in the High Sierras, and end up spending one or more unplanned nights outside in the snow and extreme cold. Some of those folks live to tell the tale, and some of them don’t. Hopefully you will never need to spend unexpectedly long hours outside in extreme weather, but in case you do, here are a few tips:

  • Stay Dry: If at all possible, keep your clothing dry, including hat, gloves, and boots. It takes a huge amount of energy to dry clothing using just body heat, and wet clothes will not insulate nearly as well as dry clothing. If you must lay down to sleep, break fresh green pine boughs off evergreen trees to make a somewhat insulated “bough bed” that will help you stay drier and warmer than lying directly on the snow.
  • Check for numb hands and feet: The extremities of your body will tend to cool and freeze first, so keep a watchful eye on your hands and feet. At the first signs of numbness, you should stop what you are doing and get the blood circulating again, or you will risk frostbite and potentially permanent damage due to freezing your flesh. For the feet, brace your arms against something, stand on one leg, and vigorously swing the other leg back and forth, like a ringing bell in a bell tower. The centrifugal force of the swinging motion will usually restore blood circulation and warm your toes, unless they are already truly frozen and not just cold. If they burn and hurt, that is okay and the painful condition should only last a few minutes, unless the feet had actually suffered frostbite. The easiest technique for restoring feeling and circulation to the hands is similar to the previous technique for the feet. Swing your arms in wide rapid circles to help drive blood into the fingertips. Alternately, take your gloves or mittens off and stick your bare hands under your jacket and into your arm pits until your hands are warm.
  • Check each other for signs of hypothermia and frostbite: A few years back a father and son skied out of bounds into the Granite Chief Wilderness and survived several nights out until they were rescued. The father kept the son moving most of each night to keep his feet and hands from freezing, and to help prevent him from succumbing to hypothermia. A couple winters back, a female snow boarder descended out of bounds into the Granite Chief Wilderness. She perished from exposure while trying to hike her way out of the wilderness, not realizing that in the direction she chose, it is about a 50 mile snow covered backcountry trek to reach the nearest all-season road. If you have no companion to help each other check for frostbite and/or hypothermia, you must be vigilant and do this for yourself. Frostbite on the skin shows up as a bright white patch of skin, usually surrounded by pinkish colored flesh. It is caused by freezing of the flesh, and actual frost crystals start forming on the skin’s surface. See below for more details on both frostbite and hypothermia.
  • When in doubt, backtrack: Surprisingly few folks who get lost in the wilderness try to backtrack. Downhill skiers and snowboarders who travel out of bounds inherently dislike the idea of hiking back up the mountain the same way they came down, but this course of action would have saved many a life. However, when snows are incredibly deep, like they can be in the high mountains, backtracking may not be a viable option.
  • Seek Shelter: Tree wells and snow caves can provide shelter from storms and extreme cold. Snow is an excellent insulator, but try to keep yourself from getting wet both while building your snow shelter and when staying inside the shelter. If you must sit or lie down in the snow, a layer of fresh green pine boughs can provide insulation and help minimize getting wet from melting snow with body heat
  • Build a Fire: Your chances of starting a fire in extreme weather, using primitive methods, like a fire drill, or flint and steel, are pretty slim, but if you happen to have matches or a cigarette lighter on hand, by all means build a fire! Look for standing dead wood, or drier branches sheltered underneath fallen logs that may be drier than the rest of the available wood. For kindling, look for branches on trees that have a bunch of dead brown pine needles. The dead pine needles on these branches will usually burn even if they are fairly wet. Make sure you knock the snow off any overhead branches before you start your fire, so they won’t dump snow on your fire as it heats up. You can build a fire directly on top of the snow. Just lay down a bunch of branches to keep your drier wood separated from direct contact with the snow.

An aside:

On a solo trans-Sierra backcountry ski trip, while I was setting up my camp for the night, I made the mistake of not bothering to stop what I was doing in order to swing my feet and regain the circulation in my toes. My route had taken me to lower elevations in the warmth of the midday, and the snow had been quite wet, soaking through my old leather ski mountaineering boots. It was a clear night as I was pitching my tent, and the temperature had dropped to well below zero. Figuring I would soon be inside my sleeping bag, boiling a hot pot of tea on my camp stove, I did not pay attention to my numb toes. Turns out I froze the last half inch of my big toe. It blistered up, became quite sore, and turned black. I eventually lost my toenail and a large hunk of blackened flesh peeled off the tip of my big toe, but I did not need any surgery or have to deal with infection problems, so I consider myself lucky, having learned a valuable lesson that could have been a lot worse.

Warning Signs of Hypothermia

Hypothermia, and its evil twin, hyperthermia, are both very dangerous life-threatening conditions. The human body is designed to function within a relatively narrow core body temperature within a few degrees of 98.6°F (37°C). When the body’s core temperature rises a few degrees above this, hyperthermia (overheating) occurs, and when it drops a few degrees lower, this condition is described as hypothermia (overcooling). When left uncorrected, either case can rapidly lead to impaired mental and physical performance followed by death. When people die in the wilderness due to either overheating (hyperthermia) or overcooling (hypothermia), their cause of death is usually referred to as “exposure”.
Recognizing the signs and symptoms of hypothermia is extremely important. Most people who died of exposure probably had ample time to recognize the situation, and may have been able to do something about it had they realized what was going on. The following are warning signs of hypothermia:

  • Shivering
  • Decreased awareness and inability to think clearly
  • Numbness, especially in the extremities
  • Pale skin color and skin cold to the touch
  • Poor dexterity

As hypothermia advances, and the body core temperature approaches the “death zone”, the following symptoms may occur:

  • Apathy
  • Feelings of blissful warmth
  • Sleepiness and the desire to lie down and take a nap
  • The victim may start to feel hot and start shedding clothes
  • Difficulty or inability to walk
  • Slurred speech followed by inability to speak, or speech not making any sense whatsoever
  • Ashen cold skin, looking like a corpse that can still move a little
  • May or may not have waves of uncontrollable shivering

Treatment for hypothermia:

  • It is absolutely critical that core temperature be raised as soon as possible.
  • Monitor pulse and breathing. Give victim artificial respiration, or CPR, if necessary.
  • Get the victim out of wet or frozen clothes and immerse in a warm bath (not hot, optimum is from 102°F-105°F/39°C-40.5°C), if available. Change victim into dry warm clothes. Alternatively, wrap victim in pre-warmed blankets.
  • Drink plenty of hot liquids, such as tea, coffee, or simply just hot water.
  • If prior options are not available, have a warm person crawl into a single sleeping bag alongside the hypothermic victim for body heat transfer from the warm body to the hypothermic body. NOTE: Simply placing a hypothermic victim inside a sleeping bag by themselves is usually not good enough, since their body will at that point be pretty much shut down and not generating enough body heat on its own to rapidly restore correct body temperature.
  • Seek medical attention— hypothermia is life threatening, so time is of the essence!


Pat’s Product Review: Blackhawk’s Gideon Knife

I believe I first started writing about knives for Knives Illustrated magazine back around 1994. Since that time, I’ve probably had the opportunity to test literally thousands of knives, both fixed blade. folders, and out-the-front knives. Most knives I’ve tested are really pretty good blades. If something is junk, I just won’t waste my time writing about it because folks don’t want to read about junk! Once in a while, something new catches my eye, and I sit up and take notice, when it comes to knives.

Blackhawk Products caught my eye with their Gideon drop point fixed blade knife. I’ve designed several knives over the years, and they have all been fixed blade knives, of the survival or combat style, so I know a little something about designing a good knife. I have one sitting here on my desk that I co-designed with custom knife maker, Brian Wagner, at Okuden Knives – that we are attempting to do a collaboration with a big knife company, in order to get it into the hands of consumers at a reasonable price. We call it the OC-3 for lack of a better term, because it is our third collaboration together.
 
The Blackhawk Products Gideon is one of those smaller fixed blade knives that has perfectly flowing lines from the tip of the blade to the butt of the knife. It just seems to “sing” if you ask me – it feels great in the hand, and many people have handled my sample. I think the first thing that catches your eye on the Gideon is the handle design, it’s made out of G-10 and this is some seriously tough material – almost indestructible. However, it’s not just the material itself, it’s the curve of the handle and the sculpted design that catches the eye, that feels “oh-so-nice” when you hold it in your hand. There is also a somewhat pointed skull-crushing pommel on the end of the knife, with a lanyard hole in it.
 
The blade material is AUS8A, one of my all-time favorite stainless steels for knives – it holds an edge a good long time, and its easy to re-sharpen as well, and pretty darn corrosion resistant . On top of it, this steel is one of the more affordable stainless steels on the market. Value! The 5-inch black Ti-Nitride coated blade design flows, and there are also two holes at the base of the blade for tethering the blade to a pole for use as a weapon or for spearing fish – I’ve done it before – not with this knife, with with others, and it’s a lot of fun spearing fish instead of just using a fishing pole. Something to think about in a wilderness survival situation. There is also an additional finger groove in front of the quillion that provides an additional grip area for choking-up on the blade for close up work, like in caping big game, and for more control when cutting. the overall length of the knife is 10.250-inches – and the knife is a total brute!
 
When dealing with a wilderness survival situation, where you aren’t able to get resupplied with gear, you want the toughest gear you can find, you can’t afford to have equipment failure in the field. The Gideon won’t let you down, this little knife is brutally strong and the blade is very thick – real thick! This is the proverbial sharpened crow bar, that we’ve all heard so much about. However, unlike some other “sharpened crow bars” the Gideon is very graceful in design and the way the knife feels and handles. If a knife doesn’t feel good or “right” in my hand, I won’t use it or carry it. There is also a slight upward rise on the top of the knife for placing your thumb for use in the fencing grip, too. An injection molded sheath, with Nylon and mounting plates set-up for PALS/MOLLE or in a drop leg platform helps you carry the Gideon.
 
My Gideon sample came hair-popping sharp right out of the box, something you don’t get with some knives – I’ve had a good number of custom knives pass through my hands over the years, and there are some companies and custom makers that don’t put a really keen edge on their knives for some reason. I don’t understand this, a knife is a tool, that is supposed to be sharp in order to get the most benefit out of it. Blackhawk did a great job on the Gideon – it came super-sharp, and held an edge a good long time.
 
I put the Gideon through a lot of testing, more than my usual routines. I did a lot of chopping – while the Gideon worked as a chopper, the blade and overall length of the knife is a bit too short for this task, but it worked if I put some extra effort into it. I used the Gideon to split wood – using a big piece of wood, to pound the Gideon through another piece of wood – and the knife held-up just fine. There were some rub marks on the Ti-Ni coating, but that was it. I used the Gideon as a throwing knife, but the balance wasn’t there for this chore, and I never did get it to stick in a target, tip first. I did however, note some serious indentations in the target from the skull crushing pommel. The pommel’s design can easily crush a skull, with a downward movement – so this is something to think about – you don’t have to just cut or stab an attacker, you can put them out of commission by cracking their skull open – a last resort method of self-defense.
 
I used the Gideon for all manner of kitchen chores, and the edge never dulled – even cutting cardboard boxes – which really dulls and edge, didn’t affect the sharpness of the Gideon. I whittled on some wood, and finally the blade’s edge started to dull, but it was still very useable. I also stacked cardboard and “stabbed” the Gideon into it – and it easily penetrated the full length of the blade – the knife’s point and the sharpness of the blade helped in this regard, as well as the shape and contour of the handle! I’m not sure who designed the Gideon, there’s no info on the Blackhawk web site, but whoever it was, did a great job on this knife.
 
I also pounded the point of the Gideon into a tree and snapped the knife out sideways…no damage to the tip of the knife at all. I said the knife blade was thick – it is, but it is strong, too! I’ve tried this same test with some other well-known fighting knives over the years, and the tipped either bent or completely snapped off – either the blades were too thin or poorly heat-treated causing the tip to fail. Not something you want in a combat or survival situation. The Gideon won’t fail you.
 
As a bit of a Bible scholar, I know a little bit about Gideon in the Bible. And, the name means “Destroyer” or “Feller of Trees.” Gideon was one of the Judges in the Old Testament. So, the name Blackhawk Products gave this new fixed blade seems to fit…now, I wouldn’t want to try and fell a tree with the Blackhawk Gideon, but it might just do to fell an attacker or destroy him, or save your bacon out in the wilderness, too.
 
I like to save the best for last, whenever possible. The Gideon has a full-retail of $129.99 and for what you get, this is one of those best buys in my humble opinion. (They also make a Gideon tanto point variant.) You are getting a very well designed fixed blade knife, that is made from top materials, from a company that backs-up all their products. Blackhawk doesn’t make any junk – they can’t afford to, many of their customers are military and law enforcement and they demand and need the best of the best. The Gideon won’t let you down – they are a bit hard to find right now, but you can find one, and if you do, lay claim to it.  – SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor Pat Cascio



Plan B: Key Phrases to Memorize for Citizens’ Reservation of Rights

I’ve posted numerous articles and links in SurvivalBlog that emphasize the importance of remaining silent whenever you are contacted by law enforcement officers. I strongly recommend that before reading the rest of this post, you take the time watch this lecture: Don’t Talk To The Police, and take it to heart.

I’ve heard from several readers who say that that they’ve been pulled over by police officers on “fishing expeditions”. The officers refused to let the motorists go, even though it was obvious that no crime had been committed. These readers did everything right. They presented their identification and proof of insurance, and repeated: “On the advice of my attorney, I am exercising my right to remain silent and I do not consent to any search.” This has to be repeated over and over.

The officers pressed on, with all their usual tricks, to try to get the motorists to agree to an unconstitutional search. Repeated queries were made, with the words: “Officer, am I free to go?” Finally, after more than an hour, a supervising officer would arrive on the scene, and the entire litany would then be repeated, for the umpteenth time. Then they were finally allowed to continue their travel. This is real fun in southern states when the outside temperature is 100 degrees F and the temperature inside your car is even higher.

So what if an officer persists? What if it goes on for more than an hour? At that point, depending on your patience or the volume of your bladder, it might be time for Plan B. Here is what I recommend:

1.) Keep your hands in view, preferably resting at the classic “10 and 2 o’clock” position on your steering wheel. To make the officer feel more at ease, leave your hands there throughout the encounter unless specifically ordered by the officer to move them for some specific reason.

2.) When the officer approaches your window–or the passenger’s side window, depending on the situation–roll the window down a crack and slowly and without and sudden movements hand him your driver’s license, registration, and proof of insurance. If you are a CCW permit holder, then also hand him your CCW permit at the same time as the other paperwork, and tell the officer: “I am obliged to tell you that I am a concealed carry permit holder and that in accordance with the concealed carry law of ______ (state) I am carrying a ________ pistol/revolver/whatever, located ___________.”

3.) If a traffic citation is issued, read it and then ask: “Am I free to go?” If you are told “Yes” then go. Don’t stick around for any debates, lectures, or pleasantries.

4.) If the officer asks you any questions, say: “On the advice of my attorney, I am exercising my right to remain silent and I do not consent to any search. Am I free to go?”

5.) If the officer start playing fishing expedition games to try to trick you into consenting to a search, simply repeat: “On the advice of my attorney, I am exercising my right to remain silent and I do not consent to any search. Am I free to go?”

6.) Repeat this as many times as necessary.

7.) If this goes on for more than 20 minutes, then add the phrase: “You seem to be unreasonably delaying my freedom to travel. Please contact your supervising officer. Will you please do so?”

8.) If, after an hour you still cannot get permission to proceed, I recommend that you ask: “Officer, may I contact my attorney?” If permission is refused, of if you do not have a cell phone with you or you are not in a cell phone coverage area, then you will be in a bit of jam. Then, and only then, I recommend that you politely elevate the encounter with another series of questions:

A.) Ask: “Officer, please explain why you are arresting or detaining me?” He will probably answer: “You are not under arrest.”

B.) Then ask: “So, am I free to go?”

C.) If the answer is still no, then ask: “Officer, I need to ask you: Are you familiar with the legal standards of Probable Cause, Reasonable Suspicion, and Plain View?” He will probably answer: “Yes I am” or perhaps: “What, are you some kind of an attorney?”

D.) Then ask: “Do you have Probable Cause to believe that I have committed or am about to commit a criminal offense?”

E.) If the answer is no, then ask: “Am I free to go?” If the answer is no, then ask: Then ask: “Do you have Reasonable Suspicion to believe that I have committed or am about to commit a criminal offense?”

F.) If the answer is no, then ask: “Am I free to go?”If the answer is no, then ask: “Is there anything that you see on my vehicle in your Plain View that would lead you to believe that I have committed or am about to commit a criminal offense?”

G.) If the answer is no, then ask: “Am I free to go?” If the answer is no, then ask: “Is there some new legal doctrine or standard that I am not aware of that would give you cause to detain me? Please explain.”

H.) If the officer gets obstinate and orders you out of your car, and declares that he (or they) are going to conduct a search or you witness them initiating a search, or they tell you to wait while a K-9 unit is being be summoned, you should ask: “Officer: Are you familiar with the Fruit of the Poisonous Tree legal precept? I must warn you that this is an nonconsensual and unconstitutional search and that anything that you might find will not be admissible as evidence. I must insist that you cease this search. By continuing, you are opening yourself up to litigation and I will not hesitate to sue both you personally, and your Department. Because you are proceeding with a clearly unconstitutional search you will not benefit from any immunity. “

Memorize these phrases, and their sequence. Beyond them, I don’t know what else I can recommend.

Note that almost everything that I have recommended that you say should be IN THE FORM OF A QUESTION. This keeps the officer on the defensive at all times.

May God Bless you, in your travels. Be safe out there! – JWR