Notes from JWR:

70 years ago today, dozens of USAAF bombers struck the hydroelectric power plant and deuterium oxide (“heavy water”) factory in German-occupied Vemork, Norway.

—

Today we present another entry for Round 49 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $8,500+ worth of 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), F.) A $300 Gift Certificate from Freeze Dry Guy. G.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo. H.) A roll of $10 face value in pre-1965 U.S. 90% silver quarters, courtesy of GoldAndSilverOnline.com. The current value of this roll is at least $225, and I.) VPN tunnel, DigitalSafe and private e-mail annual subscriptions from Privacy Abroad. They have a combined value of $265.

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.) $300 worth of ammo from Patriot Firearms and Munitions. (They also offer a 10% discount for all SurvivalBlog readers with coupon code SVB10P.), E.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials F.) A full set of all 23 of the books published by PrepperPress.com. This is more than a $210 value, and G.) 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.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security., F.) A MURS Dakota Alert Base Station Kit with a retail value of $240 from JRH Enterprises , and G.) A Nesco / American Harvest Gardenmaster Dehydrator with an extra set of trays, and the book The Dehydrator Bible, from Mayflower Trading. (A $210 value.)

Round 49 ends on November 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

An Expatriate’s Experiences In The Philippines, by M.B.

I saw your blog’s recent article about expatriating to Panama, and thought I would throw in my own 2 cents worth regarding relocation to the Philippines.

There were a bunch of things that made me reach my breaking point and expatriate.  In the beginning when I purchased my home here on the tropical island, It was economic.

At first it was the crazy increases in home prices in the US.  I had the idea when I left the US in 2004 that I would work a couple years, come back to the desert southwest, and build a self sufficient home. Having spent many years living the American debt, paycheck, endless bills cycle, I had the strong desire to break it and get away from the endless treadmill.  I changed my mind when I saw property on a popular real estate broker site go from $10,000 for a bare piece of land without utilities go to $30,000 in two years.  In addition I had seen firsthand the economic explosion in Dubai, China and other places around Asia. 

At the time I was dating my future wife who is a Filipina.  She was open to moving anywhere I as going.  I studied Australia, Belize, Macau, and several other countries before deciding on the Philippines.  The Philippines has restrictions on foreign land ownership which meant that I was only able to purchase land with my wife’s name on the title.  Nothing ensures marital harmony more than knowing that in the event of a split, property will not be divided like the US.  In addition there is no divorce law in the Philippines. Buyer beware when looking for a wife here. I married well with a wife who is a dentist and has a nursing degree. She is from a good family.

I worked my job in the Middle East for several years after that.  I had a mortgage at a 10% interest rate.  Long term mortgages are a Western concept, so we put a very large amount down and a very short loan.  Along the way I lost my Middle Eastern job and ended up back in the US for awhile until I got hired back to the Middle east.  It was a wake up call that nothing lasts forever when it comes to jobs or income.  The only thing I can be reasonably assured is that a paid for home is mine and cant be taken away nor can I lose it to some bank just because I lose a job for a year or 2. When it comes to being self sufficient the Philippines beats the US hands down.  I can afford to be poor here.

When I was in the US, I got a satellite radio subscription and started listening to Glenn Beck. Listening to him I was fully aware of the coming 2008 crash a long time before it happened.  I thought it would be worse that it was, so I planned for WROL.

It did not happen.  I was planned for full on collapse like the “Crunch” and not for what has transpired these last few years.

I got another job back in the Middle East, which I knew would not be forever.  So I planned accordingly.  Over two years, I kept thinking, researching, and planning, One thing that kept coming back to me was “Value and Values, Producing real things with real value”. I paid off the mortgage, got rid of the new pickup truck, and bought all the tools needed to open up shop and work for myself.

Seeing as the Philippines is not really a place where a foreigner can just jump into a high paying job unless they are sent there by a call center company, or specialized trade; after moving there I had to create my own work based on my home location and situation.

We purchased our home in the Metro Manila area.  I had a eye for a gated community.  Close enough to the city to be able to do business, and far enough away to have a buffer from the pollution, squatters, and the like.  Being on the edge of a city of 13 million is probably breaking one of the Rawles retreat guidelines.  Although we do have ample garden space and open land around the neighborhood that could be tilled and planted in short order.  The neighborhood has a squad of live in guards toting 12 gauge shotguns patrolling the area along with high concrete block walls around the perimeter.  Water is thru a community well water service that has three water towers around the neighborhood in excess of 5,000 gallons each, along with backup commercial grade generators to run the wells for several weeks.  The last part was added in after the loss of electric in a typhoon a few years ago. We are sheltered from the worst of the typhoons by the mountain range to the east.  As such it is mostly the heavy rain we get.  The neighborhood drainage system is large enough to drive a semi truck thru and even when we got a couple feet rain over two days, it was less than a foot deep.

Firearms here for locals are harder to get than Texas and easier to get than Chicago.  Foreigners are not allowed to buy firearms, although high powered air rifles, bows, slingshots and the like are allowed.  It does not mean that one can not use the wife’s guns to defend the home or go to the range. Foreigners can also rent various arms at the local indoor ranges.  The trend here has been for more firearms freedom.  Filipinos view shooting as a recreational sport akin to golf.  As such the politicians/chamber of commerce types go shooting vs the golf course.

As for food, we mostly use the local market with a backup garden plan.  I have a partially completed aquaponics system and there are a few other homes in the neighborhood with fully operational aquaponics systems.  My only excuse for not finishing my system is time and funds. 

The growing season here is year round.  Some things one my be used to like apples or peaches will not be grown here mainly due to it not being cold enough to set fruit.  Potatoes, Taro, Eggplant, onion, peppers, corn, cabbage and the usual garden items here grow year round.  The Philippines is very well set up climatically for super intensive farming practices.  Vertical gardening, and aquaponics are much easier to succeed with than in the north.  

The local supermarkets are well stocked with most of the same brands you are used to in the West.  Most of the differences are the packaging is more for the tropical climate.  Instant coffee comes in Mylar bags, Milk is in multi-layer retort cartons that do not need refrigeration, vegetable oil comes in plastic bags, and the like.  Meat from the US is available but mostly canned Spam and some of the lesser known US brands.  The prices for US spam is a bit more than the Chinese stuff (of questionable quality) and cheaper than the European DAK brand canned meats or the Argentinean canned meats. 

Fresh beef here is a rarity and expensive.  I joke with other Americans that the best beef here is at Burger King or Outback Steakhouse.  (yes we have that here) Locally pork is about US 2.50 per kilo and chicken the same.  Yard bird chickens have no social stigma here, and feed stores abound. 

As a foreigner one can not own their farm (without a Filipino family member on the title), however they can rent.  It is buyer beware.  People will rent out land they do not own, or try shenanigans like taking the rent, waiting until you built out something and then try to kick you out.  A lawyer or at least a paralegal is necessary to protect yourself. Foreigners can own condos however.

The biggest issue here has been earning a living.  John Robb‘s writings on diversifying ones income streams, and building a resilient home have been immensely useful.  You really have to create your own work here.

As such, I do a lot of networking here.  From the local inventor groups, engineer types, prepper groups, art groups, all introduce me into different networks that I do my business and earn a living.  Basically I make things here for a living.  I have a well equipped shop along with a now large list of people to call on to collaborate on projects that may require skills that I do not have.  I am kind of a project manager in that respect.  It is also about the whole ‘tribe’ concept.  

A tribe is certainly not something one builds in just a year or two.  However slowly I am getting to know people whom I know have my back if a SHTF “without rule of law” (WROL) situation happens, and at the same time if a slow decline happens here, I still have a income and resilience.  That was my lesson from 2008.  Prepare for both.

There are prepper groups here in the Philippines.  They are mostly people concerned about natural disaster, peak oil, invasion, and the gadget hobbyist types.  Libertarian/freedom minded views are not a extremist thing here. Filipinos follow the NRA goings-on quite intently, for example.

Regarding the Philippines it is a mixed choice for emigration.  If you do not have family here or a local support network, You can make up for it by having a large cash reserve.  If you really wanted to look at this place, come here for a year.  Do not make any financial commitments before then.  Get yourself a small Suzuki mini truck or van for $3,500, a cell phone with GPS and explore for awhile.  Rent a small cheap $300-400 dollar condo as your base. 

Should you move here, do not bring your car.  I repeat do NOT bring your car, no matter what you read online.  As a matter of fact bring your clothes, mementos, and nothing else.  You can easily replace what you need here at the same cost as the US without wasting money on shipping costs/customs fees.  

If you have a trade, and need specialized tools, ship the bare minimum only after you check local costs. 

The economy here is really booming now, and has a long way to go upwards.  The number of cranes on the skyline is as many or more than I saw in Dubai in 2005.  Downside is there are restrictions on land ownership and business ownership for foreigners.  Not saying it is impossible, the large population of Koreans, Chinese and Indians show that it is possible to achieve.  If one has ancestral ties to the Philippines i.e. white grandparent resided here before WW2, there are avenues to citizenship which make doing business easier.

One overlooked opportunity here is the free trade zones in the former US bases. Basically they are tax free, areas where foreigners can operate businesses with a very tiny regulatory burden.  One that makes Singapore’s very liberal restrictions look dramatically Soviet by comparison.  The downside is the quality of labor available in these areas is not so high.  In those areas the good workers go abroad, or to Manila.  So one is left with challenges when it comes to finding high quality skilled people one is used to like in the West like welders or metal fabricators for example.

The Philippine legal system is based on US law.  It is US law as of July 4, 1946, and built on from there.  As such most contracts, titles and other forms are pretty much the same as the US.  One could even use US boilerplate legal forms here for many things. 

The transportation system in the Philippines is a mess.  There are a few good superhighways here.  On Luzon, it still is a adventure to get anywhere fast.  A 100 mile drive can take an entire day.  The secondary roads themselves are in good repair, but they are narrow and clogged with motorcycles, farm tractors and the like outside the cities and clogged with Jeepneys and trikes in the cities.  There is very little what one would consider safe driving or courteous driving by western standards.  People here drive the wrong way down the road whenever it strikes their fancy along with just plain carelessness.  It is not a Foreigner vs Local thing, they do it to each other as much as to anyone else. 
there is very very little drivers education here.

The Philippine electric system is fairly reliable but that depends on the area.  In my experience I saw many blackouts in 2004 and in 2013, I can only relate to a couple short blackouts this year, mostly due to moving power poles in my area for road widening.  Electricity is very expensive though–early double the rates of the US.  One soon learns to go without air conditioning, unless they enjoy a large bill.  Solar systems are increasingly available locally.  $300 USD will get you a 250 watt panel.  Solar cells are cheaper and it is more economical to build panels for yourself.  We have part of our home set up to go off grid in time of calamity with the flipping of a couple switches and two strong rooms in case of typhoon.

The local Internet service used to be quite bad in 2004.  Prepaid dial up was cheaper and more reliable than DSL. Now reliable 1mbs-6mbs service is common.  In the more upscale areas of metro Manila 100mbs fiber optic Internet is around $350 USD per month.

Regarding churches here.  They abound.  the Catholic Church has a huge influence on the local scene.  I have been at the DMV and seen mass being held in the middle of the drivers license waiting room,; altar, communion and all.  The LDS church has a large presence here, although they do not really practice the food storage aspect here.  No LDS canneries or Deseret Industries here.  Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Jehovah witnesses, Salvation Army, are all active. 

If you are a Lions Club member they are quite active here as well, along with other fraternal organizations. 

Sports locally have a lot of community involvement. Probably more so than the US.  Basketball is the national pastime along with boxing.  Football and Baseball not so much.  Music and Movies are mostly American.  Kenny Rogers is a musical idol here.  You can see mostly the same movies locally as the US at about 1/4 the cost.

Local costs for things are different than the US.  Some has to do with the exchange rate.  Automobiles are at least double the US cost.  A 1999 F150 or Silverado will set you back about $12,000 USD.  A new 175cc motorcycle will set you back a cool 800 dollars.  Gasoline is over $5USD per gallon once you do the conversion. 

As a American you are tax exempt up to around $90,000 USD if you earn the money overseas and are out of the country for at least 330 out of 365 days.  You are also exempt from Obamacare (for now)  If you have a big nest egg, there is FACTA to deal with.  This is beyond the scope of that aspect of the article and can be better explained at one of the many expat sites like Sovereign Man or International Man.  Consult your tax professional/lawyer.

Daily wages for a semi skilled welder or carpenter is $12, but a lawyer will run you much more than the US.  Dental fillings are around $15. Surgical removal of a ingrown toenail is maybe $2-400 dollars depending on the clinic.  In my profession, I can charge about $100 an hour, but engineering and CAD work is 15-20 dollars a hour. You will not find any certified mechanics outside of the dealership and finding a US standard mechanic with the right tools outside of the dealership is non-existent.

The Philippine government is not very strong on the national level.  The Mayors hold sway more than the provincial governors. The organizational structure here is similar to the US but not the same.  The smallest level is the homeowners association if you are in a subdivision.  The homeowners associations do not have the same powers that the American ones have with fines, and fees.  Next is the Barangy (pronounced ba-run-guy) captain.  He is like the local alderman or township guy.  Next up is the Mayor, and city council.  Above that is the Provincial governor, Congressman Senator and President.  The Philippines government has congress(US house of representatives like) Senate, and Supreme Court.  The Army holds control of some areas usually in the parts where the last remaining Communists are holed up and the Moslem rebel areas. 

There are communists here.  From what I have been told they are Maoist types but get most of their support from the US.  They are recruited thru the universities (kinda like the US in that one) They number a couple thousand and are mostly bandits.  The Filipinos have no taste for communism but they have been influenced by radical American community organizer types who travel here and rabble rouse. 

Crime here is mostly the petty variety.  Not much of the blatant holdup robberies here anymore like there were in the 1990s.  The merchants employ shotgun-toting guards everywhere.  McDonalds has a smiling uniformed guard with a shotgun to open the door for you.  Sneak thievery is common, but that depends on where you live and whom you associate with.  Personally, we have only had one sneak thief in the house back in 2005 who stole some $2 kitchen knives and abandoned them in a vacant house next door. He was caught.

Police bribery is relatively low compared to Mexico for example.  It is not Tijuana.  The few times I have been solicited a bribe for a non-existent traffic violation is one of the old guard Marcos era cops. Most of those old guys are being replaced by younger generations that are not so much into bribery.  Political corruption here is rampant.  After seeing the US events I think that the US now has more corruption, Filipinos just don’t pretend its non-existence.

Meth addiction is common and Marijuana use happens.  I don’t keep that sort of company, so I don’t really see it in my daily life. I just don’t do business with people who have obvious meth mouth teeth. The penalties for drugs are very very high.  Alcoholism is common among the lower classes.  Gin is the drink of choice.  Drinking and driving is not really something enforced here.  Illegal but not enforced unless you have a accident. 

Car insurance is mandatory although many do not carry it, and there are few penalties for not having it.  One should carry a high policy in case one runs over one of the ever present tipsy pedestrians walking the roads at night.  It will save you a lot of headache.

English is the most common language although it is a second language.  There are regional languages, but if you are from down south, you use English when coming to Manila or muddle your way thru Tagalog.  If you are from Luzon and go to Mindanao to do business, you use English.

Schooling for children you either send them to the private schools that teach almost entirely in English or here on Luzon the public schools that teach in Tagalog.  Children graduate when they are 16 years old.  It is not uncommon to see a 16 year old engineering student at the university.

The hardest part here is deciding where you will live.  As an American you would do well to stay out of the areas with large American populations.  Angeles and Olongapo city are full of miscreants who have pretty much destroyed any goodwill you would find elsewhere due to bad habits. There are very few Americans here under the age of 40.

In short, if you are looking for your tropical island escape hole, you have two things to consider with the Philippines.  On one hand the government is too weak to implement USA style repression, and it is susceptible to Chinese invasion. On the other, It has good economic prospects if you are the entrepreneur type and don’t like snow.

It is not easy being a expat and doubly more so if you do not have a high paying job or pension.  There is no social safety net.  No food stamps, no one to help you if you are in the hospital with bills.  It is high wire trapeze without the safety net. As such you must be a prepper to survive life’s inevitable setbacks.

Economics and Investing:

Number of U.S. expatriations reaches record high in 2013

US Treasury: Ramps Up The Zimbabwe Style Printing Press. (Thanks to J.B.G. for the link.)

And speaking of Zim: Zimbabwean government demands cash from churches

Items from The Economatrix:

The Two-Income Trap For Americans: How Dual Income Households Are A Financial Necessity In A Time When The Median per capita wage is $27,000.

U.S. Dollar and Treasury Bonds are Dead – Dr. Jim Willie

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.
Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.
For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.
For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.
But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble." – Proverbs 4:13-19 (KJV)

Notes from JWR:

One final reminder: On Saturday November 16, 2013, I will be a featured guest speaker (via teleseminar) at the Charlotte, North Carolina Back To The Basics convention. (Formerly known as Charlotte PrepCon.)

—

Today we present another entry for Round 49 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $8,500+ worth of 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), F.) A $300 Gift Certificate from Freeze Dry Guy. G.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo. H.) A roll of $10 face value in pre-1965 U.S. 90% silver quarters, courtesy of GoldAndSilverOnline.com. The current value of this roll is at least $225, and I.) VPN tunnel, DigitalSafe and private e-mail annual subscriptions from Privacy Abroad. They have a combined value of $265.

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.) $300 worth of ammo from Patriot Firearms and Munitions. (They also offer a 10% discount for all SurvivalBlog readers with coupon code SVB10P.), E.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials F.) A full set of all 23 of the books published by PrepperPress.com. This is more than a $210 value, and G.) 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.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security., F.) A MURS Dakota Alert Base Station Kit with a retail value of $240 from JRH Enterprises , and G.) A Nesco / American Harvest Gardenmaster Dehydrator with an extra set of trays, and the book The Dehydrator Bible, from Mayflower Trading. (A $210 value.)

Round 49 ends on November 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

The Philippines: The Stuff Has Indeed Hit the Fan by G.V.R.

I have been thinking about writing an article on what is going on in the Philippines since I first saw the news last Friday.  There is so much that I saw I realized that I would need to write far too many pages to explain it all.  But I will write a few.
 
I saw the news of Typhoon Yolanda, as it is called in the Philippines, live from PI.  They called it Typhoon Haiyan elsewhere.  I am married to a Pinay (a Filipina lady) and we get several of the Philippine television networks right here at home via satellite.  I think we watched all of them.
 
I wish to make some observations here from what I saw, and I do not plan on giving detailed answers on everything.  I do not have them.  But perhaps we can learn from what has happened.
 
Yolanda Arrives
 
On Friday, November 8th, at dawn, Typhoon Yolanda went first to the Island of Samar (my wife’s home island), right over her Barangay Basyao, then onto Tacloban and through the rest of the Vasayn area, touching Cebu (the number two city of PI) and outward after crossing a few thousand of the seven thousand islands in that nation.  That will not mean a lot to everyone on this list, but I know for certain it will to some.  Tacloban (the number three city of PI) is where the most damage was done according to the news.  That is the main city of the area and it has about 220,000 people not counting the nearby towns and villages.
 
Preparation
 
A good number of the Philippine people I have met through the years are not so big on disaster preparedness.  Those that come from a local village (barangay) in particular live very much day to day.  Some have some things stored up, but not so many.  The poorer ones even in the cities do not always have adequate refrigeration.  And even those that do often do not have the space for general prep if they are in the cities.  People do what they have always done.  Not that it is wrong in itself, but that sometimes costs people much, and sometimes everything.
 
Yolanda came in as nothing like ever did before.  It had steady winds of 195 MPH, and gusts up to 235.  From what I could see, and I do not have all the information, Yolanda flattened many villages and a very big chunk of Tacloban, including concrete structures and many of those with corrugated tin roofs.  The villages typically have a lot of bamboo framed structures with coverings of palm leaves and grasses.
 
There were stories of people being pulled out of houses by the winds or the water and their bodies later found in the water, in trees, or not at all.  I do not know how many drowned from the twenty foot waves that covered so many people.  They were big enough waves that full sized cargo ships are now on land, on top of what used to be homes.  I do not see how one could have done enough preparations where they were.  Leaving would have been the only solution for most.  Living on an island, even a large one, makes that very tough though.
 
After the Storm
 
The stories of people surviving way out in the country are out there.  I do not know how many made it yet.  From what I heard was that some in that group may have survived because they did the only thing they knew how to do.  They went to the same mountains and jungles to hide where their parents or grandparents hid 70 years ago from the Japanese.  It was the same thing some of the Vasayn people did to get away from the Spanish several centuries earlier.  In the past they would also hide in the low laying caves.  That might not have been a good choice this time.
 
There was a strange side note to this.  Former first lady Imelda Marcos had a secure and fortified shelter and survived well.  Very few others had such an option.  Imelda and her now deceased husband Ferdinand Marcos (the dictator) had in the 70’s done at least as much damage to the people of PI as Yolanda did.
 
The pictures and videos I saw showed that sometimes you are just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and there is hardly anything you can do about it.  Most of the Philippine people who Yolanda hit did not know it was coming.  They have no TV, radio, or even electric in a lot of places away from any city.  And even some of them do not even have a radio.  The only thing they do is personally watch the weather, buckle down as needed if they can, and they clean up later.  It is what they have always done.
 
The people of PI found there were too many to bury.  They took tractors and backhoes of all sorts and buried people with unknown identities dozens or even hundreds at a time.  It does not dawn on us, even those who prep somewhat that this can happen.  What a horrid situation.  But sometimes it happens that way in parts of the world.  We have not seen that here in well over a hundred years.  May it never happen here.  It could though.  One of our members on this list has already told me he thinking he may need do that one day, while he hopes not.  Me too.
 
TV and Media Coverage
 
The Filipinos have several TV networks.  ABC-TV5, GMA, and ABS-CBN are the bigger ones.  We mostly watched the first two.  TV coverage in the Philippines is not really the same as here.  They are very much to the point, open in what they say or do, and they tend to be fairly graphic in what they show.  What we see is more sanitized; for good or bad, maybe you know?
 
Some of the saddest things I saw were the dead bodies in the street.  They were in the trees.  They were floating in the water.  And more.  I apologize if that was a little rough the way I wrote that.  I say it this way so that if some horrific event happens you will at least know what to expect.  I have never seen that, but I have seen many dead bodies, including a large number in one place from a disaster.  It does something to you if you let it.  Prepare your mind for the worse if, God forbid, the stuff hits the fan like it did in PI.
 
I saw a man one day holding onto his young dead son, who was perhaps ten.  He had that thousand-yard stare and did not know what to do.  He just stood there.  Very similarly, another man carried his very young daughter’s body.  He was actively seeking a place he could lay her body down.  I do not speak the language, but the reporter said he did not want to put her just anywhere.  Later they showed a local church building that survived mostly intact.  People turned it into a morgue of sorts.  I do not know if that father found that place or another, but others thought it a good place to place their dead until they could be buried.  Would I do that as a pastor?  Would I allow others?  Yes, in a heartbeat under such conditions.  We are the Church.  The building is to serve the people that serve God.  May it never happen.  But I would allow it.
 
Some of the reporters did not just interview the people there, but they became the same people.  The network cut to one lady reporter who had just been in another church building.  While she was there the winds took the roof off.  She was trying to explain what happened, but when she looked around at everyone, she just began to cry.  Someone at the studio wanted to cut back when the lead reporter at the studio said, “No, leave her alone.  Let her cry.”  And cry she did, standing there in the rain.  Then she spoke.  She said, “WE have nothing.  Let’s pray to God for help.”  While I would never admit to it if I had, I almost lost it there.  Then the other lady in the studio agreed with her, and said “we must pray to Jesus for help”.  Often enough on air reporters there have said on other occasions they need to pray for their country, but this one really hit.  It took two reporters half way around the world to remind me that God’s people can pray anywhere and any time no matter what the circumstances.
 
One Philippine TV station began playing early Christmas music with one song in particular that was written to roughly say they were facing very hard times, but if we looked up, looked to the Child that was Jesus, all would be well, that we could make it.  When times were bad we must look up to God to save us .
 
Government Help
 
In general the thing that Filipinos know all along happened.  They were on their own.  Most of the gov people who were supposed to help did not help on time.  The people picked up their own dead.  The people moved whatever barriers out of the way that they could.  The airport tower went down.  No lights or radio communications.  All the cell towers went down.  No one in an official capacity seemed to know how to do anything, at least not at first.  Police and other local emergency workers did not show up for work.  Some could not, and those that could took care of their own families instead.  It dawned on me that it was a very real possibility that the same could happen here too.  We could well be completely on our own in some circumstances.
 
I saw one very good related thing though.  The PI president refused to declare martial law.  I did not fully understand what he said, but I understood clearly that he said no.  He said they would help their people the best that they could, but not like that.  I suspect that he remembered well that his own father was assassinated under martial law for speaking up against the tyranny of Marcos.  It was good that he remembered.
 
I also observed that the Philippine people know what their gov did or did not do right.  I saw that they did not appreciate what they thought of as meddling by CNN’s Anderson Cooper who reminded them of that “live from Tacloban” (which he could not pronounce).  The GMA network played clips of him talking too much.
 
Attitude
 
I will not downplay the looting.  People were hungry and broke into food stores.  I saw one man standing in front of his store with a pistol in his hand telling everyone to stay away.  They did.  I later saw a different man open his store and tell others to take the food they needed, and they did.  Interestingly enough, there was one very large food warehouse that was never looted or broken into.  It became the distribution center for many when the food supplies did finally arrive.  Some of the food that was sent by boat or plane disappeared into I do not know where or how.  People just came and got what they needed.  But it was food.  They were not breaking into stores for new sneakers or designer “hoodies” that I saw.
 
I heard plenty of people, even in their desperation say they would not give up.  Some of those lost everything, families included.  A few put up Philippine flags to remember their nation.  One man who was interviewed said, “We are hurt, but we will rebuild.  We will turn to God.”
 
There was a lot of bravery.  Parents gave lives for children.  Husbands did for wives, and wives for husbands.  People swam out to where the waves took their families.  A few came back.  Many never came back at all.  In one case a sixteen year old gave hers for her mother.  Only one could get out, and the girl did not think she would make it.  She pushed her mother out telling her she needed to live.  That was a very hard thing to hear the crying mother tell.  I thought of the Bible verse that says, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”
 
Miscellaneous Observations
 
It the time of a disaster like this, small motorcycles ruled.  I heard time and again that the gas pumps were all shut down.  And that it would not matter, because the roads were all shut down.  But the riders of these little bikes found fuel and were going everywhere.  There were even a few small motorcycles with side-cars holding more people than one would imagine they could carry.  I think it was a business for some.  I also saw people with soda bottles of gas for sale.  For the bikes?  Regular bicycles had a lot of good use as well.  Even in the worse of times people find a way to do things.
 
I learned that some people walked for hours to the airport, not knowing for certain, but they heard “the Americans are coming”.  It took a few days, but come we did.  It is nice to know some still think we are the Calvary, and in this case we were.  Americans brought C-130s, V-22s (Osprey tilt rotors), and all sorts of choppers.  A lot of supplies.  As of the time I am writing this, we have ships on the way.  It is not exactly a secret in the Philippines, but just because Subic Bay Naval Station and Clark Field closed does not mean all of our stuff left.  We still have things there.  And our military still stops there.  I understand that some of our naval ships can generate enough power to light up a small city.  If they have not by the time you read this, I suspect they will.  Having no control tower for the airport is no problem.  They bring their own.  One might think I was still proud of our troops.  I am.
 
I watched Philippine President Aquino wade through a crowd and spent some time handing out water to a very big group.  I saw them before and afterwards, but his security team was not visible when he was doing that.  They were either very good at blending, or the guy was just very comfortable with the people there.
 
The US military ran the airport well enough that by Thursday the 14th (PI time), some commercial planes could land even.  US C-130’s lifted many from Tacloban to Manila.
 
A couple of the cargo ships that were on land became emergency housing.  Someone figured that the ships were stable enough (we all hope) and were certainly going no place, so people took up residence.  In an emergency it is good to consider all possibilities.
 
Franklin Graham had his Samaritan’s Purse charter a 747 full of supplies to PI.  Our church took an extra offering and sent money that way through his outfit.  They have a high integrity.  I heard that the Southern Baptists are sending help, and I read that the Conservative Baptists are doing the same.  I fully trust both of these to do right in this also.  I understand there are other Christian organizations also doing right.  I read of one Jewish organization sending food aid, and some medical team arrived from Israel.  There is a team of American doctors helping at no charge too.  There are probably more people doing what is good and right that I do not know so much about.
 
I read the following in a British newspaper,
 
“Filipinos have a saying: Weeds don’t die easily,” she said. “When it’s safe, when there is electricity, when it’s livable, I’ll come back.”
 
Final words
 
I have said many good things about some people from the Philippines.  As I think about it, I believe that despite our often selfish society, there are many individual people here who would do every good thing I wrote about above.  While I do not think the percentage is as high as it should be, I think a lot of us still have that “I can do it attitude” that would help us get through some very terrible events.  We should accept help when we need it, but it is so very important that we learn to fend for ourselves.
 
We must never take God for granted.  He has preserved us thus far.  He may not always.  He may choose to let us go as a nation one day.  Job had a good answer for this,
 
"Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.
Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him." – Job 13:15
 
Pray for the Philippines.  Pray for our nation.  Pray for your families and yourselves. I wish you Godspeed.

Letter Re: Being Prepared to Homeschool

As a home-educated graduate and home school parent who happens to be a prepper, I have given a great deal of thought to homeschooling after a collapse as my children are not grown. There are those who are already home schoolers and those who have not and will not consider homeschooling unless there is a SHTF scenario. This article is written for the latter : those who would like to set aside educational materials for their children and their progeny in the care of a true SHTF scenario.

While it would certainly be possible to buy a few workbooks at Costco and consider it done, I recommend that you sit down and discuss your thoughts on education as a family. If you have a son or daughter who aspires to be a medical doctor or who is a history buff you will need to take your families ideals and natural gifts into consideration. Deciding whether you are interested in faith based or secular materials would then be the next place to start. Consider the many different methods of home education and choose a few to research whether or not they are well suited to your personality and educational philosophy. There are classical, Charlotte Mason, Unit Study, Self Directed and even Unschooling methods to name just a few. If you are interested in faith based materials look for publishers which line up with your religious beliefs such as Abeka.com and Setonhome.org would be a good start for Catholics while Chinuch.org carries materials of interest to Jewish families. Pearsonhomeschool.com is a popular secular publisher as is Homeschool.calvertschool.org. Relatively new to the home school communities are virtual academies and discs from SOS (Switched on Schoolhouse) from Alpha Omega Publishers. This is not by any means a complete list. Christianbook.com and Rainbowresource.com sell materials from most of the aforementioned publishers and much more. CathyDuffyReviews.com and Homeschoolreviews.com are excellent in depth review sites.

While you are discovering your ideas and ideals on education invest in good books and reference books for your family. A good hardbound dictionary is a must and an older set of encyclopedias from Craigslist or a local thrift store would be a great beginning. While I prefer workbooks for daily ease of use, Saxon math materials such as Saxon 54 are reusable for multiple students which will save space and money in your preps. Rod and Staff publishers have excellent materials such as their second to grade ten English materials which are hard bound and non perishable. McGuffy Readers while used by earlier generations such as our great grandparents are still being used in many home schools today as are their math and grammar counterparts. All seven McGuffy readers which would be usable from grades K-8+ cost around $120. An eight volume set of Ray’s Arithmetic would cost around $100 while Harvey’s Grammar books can be purchased with keys for around $50. Some of these items are for sale on both eBay and Amazon. These would at the very least make excellent reference materials and while not flashy would enable you to give your children a solid old fashioned education for a good price.

While it is possible that you may never have to use your homeschooling preps, in a true collapse or flu pandemic situation having the capability of continuing your children’s education may greatly comfort your children and provide emotional stability. Allowing their learning to stop altogether would be unfair to your children and sitting down for an hour or more each day to better their minds will not hurt. I recommend putting by good books such as many found at Sonlight.com to read, games, art materials and puzzles to occupy your children’s minds. Most of these items can be picked up at local thrift or book stores. When there is no cable television or xBox to entertain  children we need to fill that void not only with hard work such as would be required in a survival situation, but grant our children the opportunity to expand their minds and not just their muscles. Paper, pencils, rulers, chalkboards and chalk, scissors, glue, crayons and colored pencils can all be purchased very inexpensively from August to September from your local Wal-Mart or Dollar store and is the best time to stock up. Part of our home school preps includes a power source, printer and CDs from RobinsonCurriculum.com.

You won’t regret attending a home school conference as is held in every State at least once a year. Being able to review curricula online or in person will help you to make a final decision as will carefully reading reviews. Best yet would be actually using the materials you set aside for extra tutoring/study or during summer break to discern if you have a perfect fit.

Special care should be given to our children who especially need stability and constancy during stressful times. Just a little foresight in this often overlooked area could make a huge improvement in the quality of life and education of our future.

Three Letters Re: Your Retreat’s Privy

Jim,
I just finished reading the article by Stephanie M. titled “Your Retreat’s Privy” and I’d like to add a couple of ideas. First off, let me start out by saying that I, along with my wife and 3 boys, live remote and off-grid here in Alaska. Our only form of a toilet is an outhouse, or as we call it here in Alaska, the Long Drop 🙂

The first suggestion I’d like to add to this article is if you live in colder climates, find yourself a piece of 1″ thick styrofoam and cut it out the same size as the toilet seat so that it makes a ring to put on the seat – it’s much more bearable in the winter to sit on styrofoam than the cold seat. In fact, if you have multiple people in your family, you can create a seat for each of them and keep them hung on the wall in the privy or in the cabin / house if it’s too cold outside. [JWR Adds: I’ve heard that dense blue styrofoam works best, for this purpose.]

Second, since we often see temps hovering around -20 degrees in the winter, we keep a long, stout stick handy to knock down the poopcicle that will form in any cold weather environment. I dug our hole about 8 feet deep so I don’t have to do this often but if your hole is only 3 to 5 feet – you need to watch this. I”m sure I don’t have to mention what would happen if you’re using the outhouse in the middle of the night and the poopcicle is hovering right about seat level.

Third, don’t make your outhouse too small. Since you’re going to the trouble of building a subfloor, walls and a roof, expand it out to a 8’x10′ building, insulate it if you want but buy some Visqueen (sheet plastic) and put a vapor barrier in the walls and ceiling. Once you have it dried-in, you can build or buy some cabinets with doors and store extra toilet paper, feminine products, etc., thereby saving space in the cabin for more perishable items. Besides, who doesn’t want as much toilet paper as possible in a grid-down scenario?

Finally, don’t forget to put the toilet seat down when you’re done. I heard that a guy down the trail from us went out to use the bathroom one night and got a cold nose on his backside. Apparently his dog had fallen through the seat and ended up down below – this guy pulled the toilet seat off the bench and jumped down to rescue the dog. I’m not sure I love my dogs that much but around here, he’s lucky it wasn’t a small bear cub with an angry mother lurking around the corner of the outhouse.

Thanks for the great article, Stephanie! Regards, – Trevor W.

 

Dear Mr. Rawles,
The article “Your Retreat’s Privy” was very informative. If you have pest problems, there are a couple extra items that can also assist you with flies and spiders. You can build a fly tight seat lid and you can use a 2 to 3% solution of Malathion sprayed on the roof corners and under the box lid to help control flies and in my part of the country spiders especially black widows. Borax can be also put in weekly to help prevent fly breeding. If you choose to have a ventilation gap under the roof overhang, it never hurts to have rat wire around to prevent birds nesting in this location. There will also be times when a pit privy will not work for your family as the author discusses in the article.  In my work, I generally have to replace pit privies not because they have failed but because as wise King Solomon knew “time and unforeseen occurrence” has befallen the resident. As part of your outhouse construction, remember to also provide the materials you will need to help your ill, very young or aged as the case may be. The verse cited in Deuteronomy provides for a basic approach to sanitation that can be an excellent backup. Good health to you, your readers and their families. – Elaine M. in Virginia

 

Jim,
Concerning Stephanie M.’s article on building a privy for your retreat, there is an additional, and simpler, solution to having a privy.
 
For several decades now we have used porta-johns. This offers (IMHO) many advantages over home built johns. Every [modern] commercial porta-john I have ever seen is made of fiberglass, making them basically impervious to decay, and they have sky lights. They have rounded corners and edges, have no splinters or nails, are white on the inside and are fully sealed to wind and rain infiltration. During the day they are bright inside and at night easy to light with candle, lamp or flashlight. They are very easy to keep clean and are bug and spider free. –We simply spray them down with a hose or bucket of water every so often, making it “the cleanest room in our house”.
 
In order to make them chemical free, we simply cut out the bottom and postion them over a hole, as Stephanie suggests. Then after each use we toss in a cup of sawdust, lime or wood ash, whichever happens to be currently available (which totally controls flies and ‘fragrance’). 
 
The porta-johns I’ve seen all come on skids and are overall quite light, so they are easy for even one person to move to its next hole. Around here its possible to buy a new john from the companies that rent them, but an even better solution is to buy a much cheaper damaged john from the company, then make whatever minor repairs that are required (often just fixing a door hinge).
 
We ‘camouflaged’ our johns by painting all the exterior (excluding the sky light) the predominate color of the surrounding background landscape. Then we painted trees and bushes over the base coat, so that the out-houses blend in quite well with the landscape (and helps to keep them out of sight from any stray g-men who might happen along in the days before the coming nobamapocalypse). – Jim in Ohio

Economics and Investing:

RBS: “The Fed Is Now Responsible For Monetizing A Record 70% Of All Net Bond Supply”

Mike Maloney: Expect First Real Deflation, Then Hyperinflation

Reader C.D.V. spotted this: Bill would outlaw U.S. dollar in Russia

Items from The Economatrix:

Richard Russell – Frightening Hyperinflation Coming To US

Federal Reserve Whistleblower Tells America The REAL Reason For Quantitative Easing

Three Warning Signs Of A Potential Bloodbath Ahead

Odds ‘n Sods:

I prefer using 20-round magazines in ARs, so that I can get in a comfortable low prone shooting position. (Prone shooting is the most accurate and also the least likely to get yourself killed, because you present a small silhouette to your opponents. But when prone, I’ve never liked the sensation of going “high center” on a long magazine. Not only is it distracting, but it also detracts from accurate shooting.) In my opinion, 30 and 40 rounders are only apropos for sustained firing when shooting from behind cover, such as from a sandbagged position or from inside a masonry building. For those who want long magazines, MagPul recently introduced a 40 round magazine. They retail for less than $20 each. They reportedly function just as well as MagPul’s 20 and 30 round PMAGs, which needless to say are almost universally lauded. I checked with MagPul and they told me that they only plan to make the 40 rounders in black, but these can of course be spray-painted with some flat green or brown paint, to match your rifle’s camouflage. One strong caveat: If you buy any 40 rounders, then buy only PMAGs or some of the very scarce Sterling of England 40 rounders. (Most of the other 40 rounders on the market are unreliable aftermarket junk!)

   o o o

DIY Hacks & How To’s: Laser Tripwire Alarm. (Thanks to R.L.H. for the link.)

   o o o

Michael Z. Williamson (SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large) liked this piece: A Former Cop Explains How To Avoid Getting Arrested

   o o o

Also by way of Mad Mike (and also mentioned by Tam at View From The Porch): 21 AR Grips compared

   o o o

Currently available free at Amazon, the Kindle book: Fish & Game Cookbook, by Bonnie Scott. It has more than 150 recipes.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“It’s the same old story. We’re told guns are responsible for murders and the ‘sour economy’ is responsible for a surge in robberies. Get real. Murderers are responsible for murders. The press likes the phrase gun violence. There are violent people but no such thing as violent guns. Likewise, robbers are responsible for robberies. It’s what they do. The economy, sour or otherwise, doesn’t commit robbery. Simple truth can be wrapped in delusions but it can’t be made complicated: criminals are responsible for crime. Hence the term ‘criminals’. Why suggest otherwise? What is society’s gain in these misdirections?” – Ol’ Remus, The Woodpile Report

Notes from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 49 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $8,500+ worth of 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), F.) A $300 Gift Certificate from Freeze Dry Guy. G.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo. H.) A roll of $10 face value in pre-1965 U.S. 90% silver quarters, courtesy of GoldAndSilverOnline.com. The current value of this roll is at least $225, and I.) VPN tunnel, DigitalSafe and private e-mail annual subscriptions from Privacy Abroad. They have a combined value of $265.

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.) $300 worth of ammo from Patriot Firearms and Munitions. (They also offer a 10% discount for all SurvivalBlog readers with coupon code SVB10P.), E.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials F.) A full set of all 23 of the books published by PrepperPress.com. This is more than a $210 value, and G.) 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.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security., F.) A MURS Dakota Alert Base Station Kit with a retail value of $240 from JRH Enterprises , and G.) A Nesco / American Harvest Gardenmaster Dehydrator with an extra set of trays, and the book The Dehydrator Bible, from Mayflower Trading. (A $210 value.)

Round 49 ends on November 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

War Games, by Phil S.

The United States Military tests its capabilities and preparedness by exercising its systems, soldiers and supply chains in war games. [These include field training exercises (FTXes), Command Post Exercises (CPXes), and Mobilization Exercises (MOBEXes), Emergency Deployment Readiness Exercises (EDREs) and more.]  These war games are used to ensure that their personnel is trained and fit, that the hardware of every sort works as it was intended to work and that in times of duress their supply chain will provide the fighting men at the front what supplies they need in order to be victorious.  I have extended my preparations for what the future might hold by exercising my personal set of war games.

I have been preparing for surviving a variety of events for a little over a year. Living in a rural area in eastern Oklahoma we are in an area prone to tornados and wildfires.  Beyond natural disasters I am very concerned about the effects of geopolitical decisions our government has been making.  I have read numerous articles and books on what to accumulate, how to store what you collect, how to do it on a budget, what kinds of defensive arms and skills to accumulate etc. etc. etc.  I have used this information to formulate my own lists of needed supplies; food, shelter, hardware, knives, guns and so on.  I have broken it down into lists of those things absolutely essential, those things that would be great to have and those things that may not be essential to survival but that would make surviving more comfortable.  What I am about to share with you is as essential as anything on any of those lists!

If you are not mentally, physically and spiritually prepared to deal with survival situations all your supplies will only help you temporarily, if at all!  Sociologists have researched human behavior in disaster situations and have found that immediately after an event 75% are in a daze, 10% are even worse, crying and wailing, while only 15% start working on a solution to alleviate suffering and provide for human needs.  Not surprisingly they found that these 15% were also the ones that were trained and had practiced what to do and how to deal with survival issues (shelter-food-water).  In other words, they had participated in some form of war game prior to the event they were thrust into.  Preparation time is never wasted time.

My War Games consists of testing your personal readiness to deal with the physical and mental challenges we might face in the future.  I’m talking about testing your readiness to deal with off-grid living by regularly practicing those skills and preparing your body physically by wilderness backpacking.  Preparation time is never wasted time.  I’m talking about backpacking into wilderness areas as if you were “bugging out” and using the things you would use, both hardware things and skill things.  You will learn what things you can live without and therefore lightening your BOB and also you’ll learn what things you really need to have.  Just like when you started collecting your cache of prepping supplies you will learn slowly at first and grow in wisdom and ability, with time you will find out where your weaknesses are and also your strengths.  Backpacking as a recreation is not only a good war game to test your survival supplies and skills but you will be preparing physically for the challenges of post calamity survival, whether its days or weeks without power because FEMA is inept or even longer because of political, financial or petrol disaster on a nationwide or worldwide basis.  Surviving off grid will take skill, will take good preparation and will require a person to be healthy and fit.  I suggest that backpacking not only tests your ability and resources but also helps you continue to improve and prepare in all these areas.

Now this is an area of prepping that I have been working on for a lifetime, I just didn’t label it as such!  I teach backpacking and wilderness survival skills to Boy Scout Troops, Royal Rangers, VFW Halls, church groups and wherever people are interested in learning how to spend time safely in the outback.  A personal aside here, my goal is to reacquaint today’s youth with outdoors skills that sometimes have not been passed down from father to son as in the past.  My teaching is based on 40 years of outdoors experience, packing into remote areas on foot and horseback, sometimes to hunt and fish where others haven’t had the gumption to go; and other times just to get far enough away from civilization to test myself, hear from God and just think.

I divide wilderness skills into four categories; pre-trip planning, gear, skills and physical fitness.  I will cover each one specifically as to how it relates to survival preparedness.

Pre-trip planning:  Any trip to the wilderness requires planning, and planning means decisions and choices.  We have three basic needs, water, food and shelter.  Planning any trip, whether it’s recreational backpacking or planning to be ready to bug-out means evaluating where you will be going and making choices.  Is there water available?  In this day and age we can assume all water needs to be treated, learning to treat water on a backpacking trip will give you confidence in the case you might have to bug out and treat your water source.   Will you be able to carry 100% of the food you need or will you be able to supplement your supply by hunting and gathering.  Sure you can carry a weekends worth of food, but wouldn’t it be a good time to practice your hunting, snaring and gathering skills in case you have to be away from a grocery store for an extended period of time.  Is there firewood available where you’re going?  I own some pretty awesome lightweight stoves but in a long term situation you will probably run out of fuel so now is a good time to learn how to build a fire under any conditions, use it to cook and to heat a primitive shelter.

Gear-As I said earlier in the area of gear, backpacking will help you evaluate things that you can get along without, what gear provides more than one use (always a good thing) and what gear you absolutely have to bring, usually in duplicate.  Another value of backpacking is finding out if your choice of gear is dependable and durable.  If a necessary piece of gear breaks or fails to perform on a camp out it may mean discomfort or a problem until you get back home and can replace it.  Once you bug-out, if it fails, you can’t return it to the store for a replacement or refund!  You will also find out what gear needs to be duplicated.  I need reading glasses, so besides the ones in my pocket, needed for map reading and such,  I usually have two pair in my pack, one in the first aid kit.

Skills- This is the real crux of the matter!  You can read about how to build a shelter and where, you can read how to navigate with a compass, build a fire, cook with a fire, find your food et cetera. But the best education is practice.  By using your backpack and actually going into the wilderness you will be practicing survival skills and gaining confidence.  Training and confidence is what separated the 15% from the 85% in the scenarios that the sociologists studied.  Have you ever spent the night in your backyard with just a blanket and a canteen?  Most people never have.  Most people have no idea of what being alone at night anywhere is all about. Try it sometime,  it’s not as easy as it sounds!  Think about what the same night would be like if you were in the wilderness with only you and coyotes howling, or wild boar rooting around you, or someone looking for you that is not looking to “rescue” you.  How about building a fire?  Daylight, no wind, no rain, matches, -sure you can build a fire.  But what if you fell into a creek, its cold, you need a fire, it’s windy and raining? Now can you build a fire?  These are skills that need and can be practiced before you actually have to have them.  A soldier doesn’t learn how to acquire a target, identify it and squeeze the trigger the day he gets sent into battle, he learns the skills ahead of time and is tested in war games.  First Aid is another important skill-both to the weekend backpacker and also to the person trying to survive off grid.  It needs to be acquired ahead of time.  Learn how to bandage burns, how to control bleeding, take a CPR course, better yet take a complete First Aid course.  This skill will be a little harder to practice war game style but education and training will build confidence.  When the poop hits the ventilation system is not the best time to be learning essential skills.  It is not the best time to find out how far you can’t walk with your bug-out bag, or how much weight you can’t carry, and that brings me to my final category-physical fitness.

Physical Fitness-We live in a comfortable society, we have remote controls, we heat our houses by turning up the thermostat, we get a drink by turning the tap or reaching into the fridge for another bottle of purified, distilled water.  It hasn’t always been like this.  My grandfather heated a five bedroom house with wood, in northern Wisconsin, without a chain saw or log splitter!  He used a tractor driven 36” saw and a splitting maul.  He and my grandma had a large garden that they hoed by hand, no rototiller.  They were both physically fit because their lifestyle both demanded it and also contributed to it.  Any off grid lifestyle whether its short term because of natural disaster or long term TEOTWAWKI will demand that we be physically fit, and waiting until it happens to get fit is a recipe for disaster.  I’m 62 and still backpack on a regular basis with scouts and also a men’s ministry I’m a part of.  The boys (ages 12-16) often comment on my fitness.  Many times during a rest break on an outing I will forgo removing my pack or sitting down,  I’m fit, they’re not.  There are different types of fitness.  A weightlifter can seldom run a marathon,  a jogger usually won’t play the line in a football game.  In my opinion backpacking is a great way, probably the best way, to get the kind of fitness needed to survive off grid.  If you need to grab your BOB and go, all those miles jogging or lifting weights at the gym will help, but the best way to prepare the legs and back for your BOB is to carry your bag ahead of time, especially up and down hills not in the park or on a sidewalk.  Part of fitness is weight as proportioned to height. Too thin, no muscle is almost as bad as too fat.  Especially since many of today’s maladies are weight related.  Diabetes, High Blood pressure, even headaches can be weight related.  By getting physically fit now you may reduce or eliminate medications which will be at the very least, difficult to obtain off grid.  Essentially, the better shape you are in, the higher your level of fitness will translate into longer success in a survival situation and backpacking on a regular basis is a great way to get into survival shape. 

Wilderness backpacking will get you fit, get your skills refined, give you confidence in yourself and your equipment and the best part is that it can be done as a family, a couple, an individual or a group.  It doesn’t cost much (National Forests are open to free camping) and is healthy spiritually, mentally and physically.  So if you’re serious about survival-why wouldn’t you?  My intention in this article was not to get you trained, there are countless books and articles, whole shelves in most libraries, that can train you.  My intention was to show you why you want to get your skill level increased and your fitness improved.  Wilderness backpacking, with its accumulation of skills and physical challenges is an excellent test of your readiness for survival situations.

The military uses war games to test its readiness for battle.  Serious backpacking can be the war game equivalent that tests your readiness, hones your skills and improves your chances at survival.

Letter Re: Why Is Utah Not in the American Redoubt?

James,
All your points regarding Utah being unsuitable [for inclusion as an American Redoubt state] are well taken, I would add only a few items and clarify one statement;

The plain fact is the Mormon [LDS] church controls the political and economic conditions within the state and they have always wanted to expand that control to a national level. The majority follow (in my view) a completely wrong religious doctrine, in that they practice the corporate teachings of their church, which has very little to do with the Bible. I would also say when push comes to shove 99.9% of the elected officials will do exactly what the gray suits at the [LDS] temple in Salt Lake City tell them to do.

I, not being a native [to the state] nor a Mormon, have found there is what I call The Mormon Ceiling in employment here, meaning most upper level and higher paying jobs are very difficult to come by and seem reserved for those of a proper standing [within the LDS Church.] Especially in the public service jobs (local and state government) there is only so far up the ladder that a non-member can go. I have noted that in difficult times the employees let go are predominantly not members of the mormon church in both the private and public sectors. In fact are still some cities that actually require a temple recommend to even get an interview (all in the shadows of course).

To be perfectly blunt, given the class system ingrained in Utah society and even within their own religion, Utah is not a good choice for survival unless you become a cog in their system, but even then you will be treated as an outsider.

My observation is the people here are also pretty racist. It seems that it may be due to ignorance, lack of contact with other races and brainwashing from those very same powers that be. Sadly, they are blissfully unaware of it, denying it vehemently, even after it is proven to them.

The error I noted is (unless the law has changed in the last year since receiving a CCL permit) that Utah residents can open carry anywhere in the state as long as it takes two mechanical actions to fire the weapon. [Further, anyone carrying a gun] must leave a private business or home if asked and apparently schools, churches and public buildings are weapons free areas or free fire zones as some call them.

I have visited quite a few parts of the state and besides very small pockets of Utah that have [favorable] microclimates, most of the state is not viable in a total collapse, although this is probably true in most any [other western] state. Given what I have observed and living here for the last 20 or so years as a Lutheran, I can honestly say a move to the north west of here, would be a prudent choice for long term survival. Otherwise it is a decent place to live. I just wish we had continued north years ago. – Jordan

JWR Replies: Thanks for mentioning the clarification on open carry in Utah.

The folks at US Conceal and Carry posted these details on Utah’s strange open carry law:

“Utah allows for open carry of unloaded firearms without a concealed firearm permit. “Unloaded” as it applies here, means that there is no round in the firing position, and the firearm is at least two “mechanical actions” from firing. As carrying the firearm with the chamber empty, but with a full magazine, meets this definition (the handler must chamber a round, and then pull the trigger), this is a common work around for Utah residents who do not wish to acquire a permit. Without the permit, the [unloaded] firearm must be clearly visible.

(Emphasis added.)

It is sad that open carry of fully loaded guns without a permit is not legal in Utah.  Unless you have a CCW permit, you cannot legally openly carry a loaded revolver or an autopistol with a cartridge in the chamber. The alternative, Condition 3 carry (that is, carry with an empty chamber–commonly called Israeli Carry), is slower and cumbersome, since it requires two hands to ready the gun for firing. If you have only one hand available (for instance when grappling, or when injured), then you may end up dead.

For anyone who lives in Utah without a CCW permit but who wishes to open carry, I recommend that you skip carrying revolvers altogether. (They are too slow to load, even with a speedloader.) Also skip carrying a Glock (or a non-thumb safety version of the S&W M&P autopistol), because without an external safety lever they probably wouldn’t meet the “two mechanical actions” test of the Utah law. For open carry of other autopistols, be sure to practice a lot in drawing and slide rack chambering from Condition 3 (“Israeli”) Carry.

As for Mormon politics and clannishness in Utah, I don’t consider that a major issue or impediment for anyone who is considering relocation to Utah or to southern Idaho. I’ve observed that there are are lots of non-Mormon small towns throughout the United States where newcomers get the cold shoulder socially, and where there is a de facto hiring preference for locals. That is just basic social dynamics and the We/They Paradigm in action. To illustrate: I’ve been a landowner living year-round in The Unnamed Western State for eight years, and faithfully attending the same local church for all of that time. But I’m still considered a relative newcomer. Many of my neighbors have lived here for three or four generations. So I can’t expect to be “instantly integrated.” That is just the way it is.

As for LDS doctrine, I’d rather not open that bucket of worms in detail in this venue. That would go far beyond the scope of SurvivalBlog’s raison d’être. Just suffice it to say that I have some irreconcilable doctrinal differences with the LDS Church. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t get along with Mormons, socially. I’ve met some fine individuals who are Mormons.

For anyone who is curious about LDS doctrine, I would recommend that you read both the LDS Doctrine and Covenants tome (available at almost any used book store and also available on-line) and a great evidential book by an outsider, titled Letters to a Mormon Elder. I find the history of changes to LDS doctrine over the years is fascinating, just in itself.