Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"You have to choose between trusting to the natural stability of gold and the natural stability of the honesty and intelligence of the members of the government. And, with due respect to these gentlemen, I advise you to vote for gold." – George Bernard Shaw

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 40 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, 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.

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) A FloJak FP-50 stainless steel hand well pump (a $600 value), courtesy of FloJak.com. C.) 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, D.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and E.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value) and F.) A Tactical Trauma Bag #3 from JRH Enterprises (a $200 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.), and E.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.

Round 40 ends on May 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Sport Shooting for Preppers, by C.K.

I’m going to talk about an aspect of survival that may or may not have been covered already. I haven’t seen it so far in SurvivalBlog, and it only gets a passing nod in many books.

An important aspect of just about everyone’s preps involves guns of some sort. You can see a lot of that in shows like “Doomsday Preppers.” I’d guess (because I haven’t seen every episode and I’m too lazy to do an exact count) that about 90% of the preppers featured on the show have or talk about having guns. Handguns, rifles, shotguns of a wide variety of shapes, sizes and calibers. Some of the episodes give a passing nod to gaining some level of proficiency with them, some episodes showcase the number the prepper has (probably to emphasize the degree of obsession the featured guest has with TEOTWAWKI). JWR’s novel “Patriots” talks about some of the characters taking classes at Front Sight. (Although I’d have picked a better school than that, like Gunsite or the Magpul guys).

Few people, blogs, books, or television shows talk about maintaining a level of proficiency. We all kind of talk around it, but it can be a grind, just training, training, training. It gets old quickly, it burns money for ammo (or components–if you’re not reloading, shame on you; but that’s another show) you’d probably spend on another prep, and it burns that most precious commodity, time.

So, what’s a prepper to do? How do you get past the monotony of just training? How do you introduce variety and keep the training dynamic?

I’d recommend getting involved in one or two sports. Yes, sports. Think about getting into either US Practical Shooting Association (USPSA) or International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA) matches at your local club.

I know what you’re thinking, and you’re right. Neither is a substitute for real training. You still need to learn and practice the truly tactical stuff–room clearing, setting sectors of fire, dismounted patrolling, etc. Those are all things neither USPSA or IDPA will teach you.

Both games may also teach you a few bad habits, if you let them. USPSA lets you dump partially loaded magazines wherever you want, stand in doorways, eschew the use of cover or concealment. IDPA mandates slide lock reloads (unless you want the time penalty of a retention reload), considers concealment to be the same thing as cover, and mandates “tactical priority (if you have three targets arrayed near, far, and mid-range from left to right, you have to shoot near, mid, then far, even if it’s smarter to shoot left to right to because you can get effective hits faster).”

Both games also have some scoring methods which play to the game aspects (Virginia for USPSA and Limited Vickers for IDPA) and the courses of fire sometimes mandate stupidity (strong hand only shooting when you’d normally use two, etc.).

Finally, both games have ridiculous magazine restrictions to negate competitive advantage for people from states where they don’t limit you to a 10-round magazine. I shoot Custom Defensive Pistol in IDPA, where a .45 caliber is mandated, but I do it with a Springfield XD45 (my carry gun). Because I shoot CDP, I’m limited to an 8-round magazine, to negate my advantage over 1911 shooters. I sometimes shoot Production in USPSA with a Springfield XD(m), and am limited to 10 rounds, even though the gun holds 19 rounds of 9mm.

The other thing you’re probably thinking is that it’s too expensive to get into. USPSA, in particular, has a bad reputation for needing multi-thousand dollar guns and a lot of specialized equipment. IDPA is marginally better, but there is a division where folks shoot guns on the upper end of the cost scale. I can assure you that’s not the case. You can get into either game by buying a decent (Lorcins need not apply) gun and making sure you have at least five magazines, a holster, and magazine pouches/holders. You can use a decent concealed carry belt (web or leather, it’s your option) and you’re good to go.

The last criticism is that both sports are handgun-centric. While that’s true, both sports have long gun rules. The constraint is most the fact that few clubs have ranges large enough to accommodate long gun matches. But they are out there. If you can find one, you can get the same benefits with a rifle and shotgun, too.

So, what’s the true value?

There are four primary benefits.

First, you get trigger time in a dynamic environment to reduce the monotony of training. I burned about 300 rounds just this past weekend over the course of about six hours and was never bored. I shot two USPSA matches. In most areas of the country, there’s a USPSA or IDPA club within driving distance. You can probably find at least two matches a month to shoot for a minimum of expense (most match fees for club matches are less than $20). I live outside of St Louis, and within a three hour drive, I could shoot eight matches in a month, expending right around 2000 rounds each month. That would be a lot of shooting. It would be a lot of quality time with your gun. Learning its strengths and limitations, what kinds of ammo it likes, whether your handloads are worth a damn or not. And you get to do it in a fairly dynamic, and dare I say, fun environment.

Second, you learn to manipulate your chosen gun at speed. Regardless of how seriously you take the competitive aspects of either game, when the timer beeps, Type A people are going to move quickly. I’d wager most preppers are Type A’s. Why would you bother to prep and take all of the precautions to protect your preps if you weren’t? The clock-induced stress helps you learn how to draw, to do reloads, shoot, and deal with malfunctions when you’re not expecting them and when you’re distracted by other things. That translates into being much more confident with your gun and having practiced multiple repetitions of doing fundamental things under stress. You learn to manipulate the gun around walls, through ports, off-balance. Do you expect to always have the opportunity to get set in a perfect stance with a perfect grip when things go badly? Neither do I. One of the benefits of IDPA for concealed-carry guys (which I assume most of us are) is you learn to use your self-defense gun from concealment in this environment.

Along with that is the third benefit–handling your gun safely. Above all things, the rules for both sports emphasize safety. In one of the episodes of “American Preppers,” there’s a prepper dad who took his kids out to the desert to shoot. At some point, this jackwagon blows off his thumb, because he wasn’t handling his gun safely. While neither USPSA nor IDPA are, pardon the pun, silver bullets for keeping you from blowing off parts of your body, you learn to be very aware of what condition your gun is in and where the dangerous end is. At the very least, you forfeit the match if you’re unsafe. It’s also extremely embarrassing. Most important, it’s a self-critiquing event–you become a much safer shooter as a result.

Finally, you learn what acceptable combat accuracy really is. Many folks practice shooting groups and shrinking that group size to be as small as possible. But they don’t practice getting lead on a target as quickly as possible while still making effective hits. In USPSA, this translates into getting A-zone hits. In IDPA, this translates into being down nothing at the end of the stage. When you’re under the clock, you don’t have the luxury of absolutely perfect and clear sight alignment. You’re getting the front sight post into the notch, knowing there’s a cone of vulnerability at the end of your gun for the target, not a laser beam.

Like I said earlier, neither sport is a panacea for all of the training you need to fit with your guns. But neither are they totally useless. IDPA guys like to make fun of USPSA guys by saying IDPA is training for a gunfight. That’s nonsense. You can train, train, train to learn how to employ your gun, but you can only learn how to gunfight by doing just that (and I am, in no way, advocating going to look for opportunities to use your guns in a real world situation).

Like martial artist Bruce Lee said, “Absorb what is useful.” Shoot a few matches, find out what you’re really capable of doing with your guns. I’m a middle-of-the-pack USPSA shooter, so I’m not awesome at anything. But, I can draw my Model 1911 and shoot two aimed, combat-effective shots in less than two seconds, reacting to an external stimulus. I can execute a reload and fire an aimed, combat-effective shot in less than one and a quarter seconds. I instinctively react to malfunctions and go into remedial actions now.

Can you?

I have my sport shooting to thank for that.

Letter Re: Weighing the Merits of Retreat Areas

JWR,
I was hoping you could chime in for some feedback, as I think many of your readers are in a similar boat that my family is: Trying to balance professions and existing commitments against hunkering down for the coming storm.  Given the population density of some of the Midwest states… If you had to take relocating to a larger 60,000 population town in the American Redoubt (Idaho Falls, and the like) or living in the rural cornfields of the Midwest, and I correct you would advise locating to a medium sized American Redoubt city?  – Greg H.

JWR Replies: That all depends… Parts of the Midwest can be viable for retreats depending on their distance from population centers, the water table, and whether or not they are monocrop regions. But a place that is close to a city, with deep well depths and/or just one crop (corn) would be a bad thing.

Selecting a retreat locale is always a tradeoff. The desire to have isolation from urban areas and self-sufficiency has to be tempered by the need to make a living and to keep peace in your family.

While I tout the Redoubt, I don’t claim it has any magical exclusivity or that it is a panacea. You can make up for the higher population density of the Midwest and some of the eastern states by very carefully selecting bypassed areas that are well away from refugee lines of drift, and by stocking up on food and fuel in greater depth. (Since the period of lawlessness in a societal collapse will undoubtedly be longer, with higher population density, you may need to hunker down much longer.)

I would feel uncomfortable in a city with a population of 60,000, even in farming country. To my mind, the sweet spot is a population somewhere between 500 and 5,000. With less than 500 people, a town might not be defendable. And with any more than 5,000, the sense of community cohesion will likely be lost. (See my comments about this in my September, 2008 SurvivalBlog article: Finding a Mineshaft or a Gemeinschaft, and my earlier commentary on the We/They Paradigm.)

To look for some retreat locale possibilities outside of the 19 western states that I’ve analyzed, I highly recommend Joel and Andrew Skousen’s book Strategic Relocation–North American Guide to Safe Places. The updated Third Edition was just recently released.

Letter Re: A New Malware Threat

Hello, Mr Rawles:
I saw the Odds ‘n Sods piece where Michael Z. Williamson’s forwarded an article on the warning about “thousands of PCs infected” to lose Internet access that refers people to www.dcwg.org. I read the article.

Sorry, but I don’t trust going to such a site. It could easily be a government-based data collection site. It’s amazing how much information is passed along with simply browsing a web site. dcwg.org is registered to someone in Cupertino, California.

I found that www.DNS-OK.us will give the same information about whether a system is infected or not. That site is registered to Paul Vixie, whom the article refers to as their consultant. Vixie’s site will give you a green colored screen if you are clear and a red colored screen if you are infected. His site does warn that if your Internet Service Provider (ISP) redirects DNS, the Domain Name System, your computer might pass the test yet still have the infection. It seems that only Windows systems were affected, although ISPs could have been and they’re used by other systems, such as Linux and Mac systems.

After checking Vixie’s site, the easiest way to know if you may yet be infected is to check your DNS server addresses against the FBI’s bad list:

85.255.112.0 to 85.255.127.255 ——–> 85.255.112-127.0-255
67.210.0.0 to 67.210.15.255 ———–> 67.210.0-15.0-255
93.188.160.0 to 93.188.167.255 ——–> 93.188.160-167.0-255
77.67.83.0 to 77.67.83.255 ————> 77.67.83.0-255
213.109.64.0 to 213.109.79.255 ——–> 213.109.64-79.0-255
64.28.176.0 to 64.28.191.255 ———-> 64.28.176-191.0-255

For those who do not know about Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, notice that they contain four numbered parts with periods separating each part, sometimes called a dotted list. Each part will be a number in the range 0 to 255 inclusive. On the right I have denoted them as dotted range lists. For instance, if the first two or three dot-separated numbers, e.g., 85.255 or 77.67.83, do not match your DNS numbers then you are clear. If any in the bad list do match, the rest of the entry shows the ranges of the bad numbers. For instance, if your DNS server number starts with 85.255, then the third number must be between 112 and 127 inclusive to be a match in the bad list. If that third number matches then the fourth number is a guaranteed match.

Windows users can find out their DNS server IP addresses by opening the Start menu and selecting the Run option in the list. Type “cmd” and press ENTER. A window running cmd.exe will open. At the command prompt type “ipconfig /all” and press ENTER. At the end of the output will be a list of DNS Servers. Check the DNS IP address numbers against the bad list. One address could be the router’s address, typically beginning with 192.168. If that’s in the list of server addresses, you may have to login to your router to see what it denotes as its server. The router connects to the ISP, which does the real Internet access.

To check the DNS server that your ISP gave your router, login to the router. Start a web browser, click your mouse pointer in the location box, erase whatever is already in there, and type the IP address that ipconfig showed as the “Default Gateway.”

The router’s web page may prompt for your router’s login name and password. If you did not change the login info from the initial settings that came from the router manufacturer, shame on you! Those names and passwords are documented and well known to system crackers — check your router’s manual. That would be the way someone could have changed yours. Enter your name and password and check your DNS Server’s IP address against the bad list.

If the router’s DNS address is on the bad list call your ISP’s technical support immediately. Should you get the red screen on Paul Vixie’s site instead of the green, or one of your own system’s DNS address is on the bad list, you may have to reformat your disk drive, reinstall your operating system, all your software, and your data files. You should have a backup of your important files stored somewhere so that reinstalling is merely an inconvenient, time-consuming pain, but you are not left out in the cold. Be careful of a simple restore of your entire operating system from your backup because you may have backed up the infected system and you would just reinfect it with the restore. Safest to start from scratch. Install from your operating system and various programs you use from manufacturer’s disks.

If you’re not familiar with these operations, consider consulting a friend, relative, or neighbor who is familiar or contracting with a computer professional to help. – Larry R.

Economics and Investing:

G.G. flagged this Reuters report: Bank of Japan likely to ease, may buy longer-dated government bonds

Peter S. sent this: US home prices drop yet again

Also from Peter: Greece economy to shrink another 5%

 

Items from The Economatrix:

Outlay of $14 Trillion Hasn’t Solved Problem of Debt

The Best Reason in the World to Buy Gold

Unemployment Rate:  “Number Doesn’t Match Reality”

German Tempers Boil Over Back-door Euro Rescues

Odds ‘n Sods:






James C. recommended a video by Mas Ayoob and Tom Gresham how to handle a police traffic stop when carrying a concealed weapon.

   o o o

Over at Philosophical Pilot: Connect the Dots

   o o o

Wonders Never Cease Department: “Cold Tracer” Glow Ammunition. (A hat tip to George S. for the link.)

   o o o

Mary F. suggested this: New Fashion Wrinkle: Stylishly Hiding the Gun

   o o o

Some reminders on our non-fiction writing contest rules:

1.) You can write on any topic related to preparedness or survival that you think would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. Again, to be eligible, an article must be an original work of at least 1,500 words. (2,500 to 4,000 words is ideal. Very long articles are allowed, but may be serialized, as the editors see fit.)

2.) Be sure to thoroughly proofread your article, and and have at least one friend or relative proofread it, as well!

3.) All writings must be original works and the copyright will become the property of SurvivalBlog. Anyone sending a letter or article grants the right for posting, reproduction, or any other use. Non-fiction articles only. (No fiction, poetry, or prose pieces will be accepted.)

4.) Once your article has been posted at SurvivalBlog, you cannot submit it elsewhere. The copyright belongs to SurvivalBlog.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“I believe that liberty is the only genuinely valuable thing that men have invented, at least in the field of government, in a thousand years. I believe that it is better to be free than to be not free, even when the former is dangerous and the latter safe. I believe that the finest qualities of man can flourish only in free air – that progress made under the shadow of the policeman’s club is false progress, and of no permanent value. I believe that any man who takes the liberty of another into his keeping is bound to become a tyrant, and that any man who yields up his liberty, in however slight the measure, is bound to become a slave.” – H.L. Mencken

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 40 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, 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.

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) A FloJak FP-50 stainless steel hand well pump (a $600 value), courtesy of FloJak.com. C.) 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, D.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and E.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value) and F.) A Tactical Trauma Bag #3 from JRH Enterprises (a $200 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.), and E.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.

Round 40 ends on May 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Basic Preparations for Urban Outskirts in Third World Countries, by Jorge Gato

The following observations are geared toward expats or even locals living in the Third World, although most would apply as well to residents of the First World.
Here in México, there have been countless horror stories, albeit, most of them not life threatening and essentially not classifiable as DEFCON 1 situations. Both expats and locals have been the victims of countless assaults. An acquaintance on the street was recently told simply to hand over his money and music player.

Another fellow, a philosopher, became inspired at midnight on a city street and only had his laptop to record his divine whispers. Not soon after, a guy hit him with a stick, grabbed his laptop and ran off toward a taxi in waiting. As the philosopher chased him, the taxi ended up backing into the victim and he rolled over the car, as dozens of bystanders did nothing. He suffered no serious injury.
Yet another instance was when a man was getting out of his vehicle, he was approached by a robber while accomplices waited in a vehicle nearby. The robber wanted everything including the man’s watch. It had been a gift from dead grandparents and he told him you can have everything but you’re not taking the watch, respect the dead. He got lucky keeping his life as the thief drove away in the man’s vehicle. It was later found stripped to the bone for the spare parts black market. He had been complaining to his landlord to install a security fence for the driveway for exactly this reason, to no avail.

A final example was when an expat had recently been arrested by a mini-brigade of armed federal police pointing automatic weapons at him and a companion, for driving his own car. He had apparently tried for years to clear his car’s name, as it had been stolen and recovered. It still registered as stolen in police databases. The police most likely knew it was his, but detained him for eighteen hours in a jail cell smeared with excrement and swarming with mosquitoes. They were surprised when his lawyer showed up, essentially catching them red handed. It seems they were either looking for a bribe or to take the car. It is important to note that this particular individual generally is one who is generally a bit careless hence his frequent run in with trouble.

My home had been broken into while on vacation. The three things the thief got away with? One was an old ounce of silver on my coffee table. Next, he spotted a pack of Marlboro’s I kept as a prank for friends. Needles to say, I found one of my exploded cigarettes on the floor. Finally, he took my desktop replacement laptop only to discover once he got home, that it had gone completely defunct about a week prior. He also had missed an ounce of gold I had hidden away (which has since been relocated).
After this relatively harmless wake-up call, I have begun to take certain vigilant measures.

Electronics
Although my laptop was defunct, it may have been possible to recover any personal data I may have had on the hard disks. I immediately changed all my passwords. What I am doing now is to encrypt my personal data via free software such as True Crypt. Because I also occasionally hear of daytime break-ins via friends of friends, I keep my computer secured via laptop locks. If I leave for extended periods, I move the laptop to a safe place outside of the home or take it with me. It is good to have a safe place such as work or the home of someone you can trust to care of any valuables. I have not owned a television for over half a decade. I also use an extension internet cable in the home and not wireless both to mitigate health issues from Electro Magnetic Pollution (EMP) and security risks associated with hackers. I do the same at work to lessen the effect of the Wi-Fi signal.

Precious Metals
One lesson I had learned was to find a better hiding place for any metals I may have around. I was lucky the thief had not found my ounce of gold, but this just goes to show that it was likely somebody who lacked experience this time around. The key is to think of smarter locations to place these valuables. An additional trick would be to leave easier to find bait so as to deter interest from the real stash. Also, one can diversify by holding both local and foreign allocated metals accounts. There are local banks where you can open silver accounts and you always have the option of safety deposit.

Personal Safety
The window bars which the thieves pried open on the front of the house were cheap. They were immediately replaced with thicker bars. I was also amazed that I had overlooked the simple placement of a wooden stick between the window and the window frame, so as to prevent someone from being able to push the window open in the case they are able to pry their way in (the same has been done to all windows).
I went out and bought motion detection lights for the front of the home. I also have purchased a few high voltage stun guns. One thing residents and citizens must do is investigate local laws. I have recently acquired my firearms license from my home state which, though not valid in a foreign country, may prove useful. I have spoken to military and it is legal for citizens or residents to purchase a firearm of a caliber lower than what is currently used by national forces. I plan to purchase a firearm for the home and a safe in which to store it. There is also an Israeli IDF soldier which runs a Krav Maga center with whom I have taken courses. I plan to make it a regular habit to attend his firearms seminars as well as self-defense courses. In most cases, you will not want to walk around with much money, so if you are confronted, you should most likely give up what cash is on you. Depending on your assessment of the situation, you may need to prepare for action if the thieves want more than just your cash and put you in a life or death situation.

Food
Each trip to the store means buying a few extra of each item in order to stock up. Extras are stored in bins and rotated. Seeing as the water from the tap is not fit to drink (and in some instances come out discolored), filters have been placed on the shower and faucet to provide clean water for cooking, brushing teeth (with non-fluoride toothpaste) and showering. I believe fluoride is not added to the water here, but the water is otherwise of horrid quality, containing all types of pollutants, metals and chemicals. Drinking water here normally is purchased filtered in twenty liter containers. I keep four or more at a time, which would last me a good while were anything to happen.  It really only rains here during the rainy season which lasts for three to four months, but a small rain collection unit would be possible to install.
I also keep a good stock of liquor, beer and wine, this not generally for personal consumption, but for guests as well as possible barter use. I now am planning to start growing food on the roof to supplement purchases and serve as a reserve. There are increased reports of the spread in common food of genetically engineered organisms so I make it a point to purchase “organic” (or what our grandparents used to call just “food”). I also use a regimen of about a dozen of the top supplements one can take, many of which have been suggested by “Over the Counter Natural Cures” and include astaxanthin, curcumin, vitamin K2, krill oil, spirulina, chlorophyll, mushrooms, CoQ10, milk thistle, melatonin, colloidal silver and alpha-lipoic acid. It is also important to purchase brands which at least do not contain conventional magnesium stearate, which is used in the manufacturing process. I also keep items such as potassium iodide, water purification pills and filters on hand, such as the Swiss made Katadyn pocket filter. A survival backpack that would last a week is also stashed and ready to go.

Vehicle
I keep my car well-maintained and take it in regularly for a tune-up so as not to be surprised by malfunctions at times or in places where you really wouldn’t want to be stuck. Unfortunately, I have seen people here, who are generally short-sighted, suffer continuously for lack of foresight. They would wait instead until the problem gets really bad before they deal with it. One person had a leaking radiator and because they continued to drive it for a few days, ended up having to spend almost $1000 on repairing a number of parts destroyed as a result of the malfunctioning radiator.
I keep essential items such as jumper cables, quick tire inflation can, medical kit, blankets and such stored in the trunk. I also keep a spare ten-liter canister ready to go in the case of any fuel disruption. The spare tire which is on the outside of the vehicle has been secured via a combination lock, as thieves have also been known to take those (happened recently to a friend). One neighbor had her car stereo stolen right out from under her nose in the middle of the night, as her vehicle was parked right below her bedroom window. The car only has a cassette player and there are no objects visible inside the car, so as not to give incentive to thieves. The car itself is an old used vehicle that doesn’t attract attention. It is wise to recall the instances of armed robbery here, which target high-value vehicles. All papers are kept in the glove compartment as well as printouts of my visa and relevant Mexican laws in case I get stopped by an unethical officer.

Passport
It is good to take out as much identification as possible. I not only have an American state driver’s license but a state ID, passport as well as card which would allow land travel through North America. I am also in the process of obtaining a local driver’s license. A second passport is a must. If the USSA intends to revoke my passport for whichever reason, I’ll have another to go on. I have heard from other expats, such as the Dollar Vigilante, that it is best to have two passports and to live in a third country of which you are not a citizen, in which case the government would have less power over you. Others have argued the contrary, where as a citizen, you have more tools for righting a wrong at your disposal.

These may seem like common sense preparations, but the funny thing is, literally 99.9% of the people I know haven’t got a clue. However, I have befriended a few like-minded individuals. One of them is a family man and we have discussed the collapse scenario. He has a well-fortified home with solar power. His benefit to having me join him in a time of crisis is adding protection for his family. A collapse scenario essentially is a numbers game and having an extra individual who is self-sufficient would not drain the person’s own resources.

I have accumulated this strategy gradually over time and though it hasn’t been cheap, it also hasn’t broken the bank. As a result, I sleep a bit sounder knowing that if there are disruptions, I’ll have less to worry about.

Letter Re: Defending Static Positions in a Survival Setting

Mr. Rawles,
 
Three thoughts on this topic:
 
1.  If you are relying on defending your home without outside help then the battle is already lost.  It is too easy to burn down your average residence.  Defense should be a community endeavor with “depth” provided by multiple engagements from multiple locations.
 
2.  I believe that your average, semi-motivated troublemakers in a TEOTWAWKI will lack training and will become victims of “target fixation”.  In other words, they will be motivated to roam around and loot but will not have a modicum of good tactical skills.  They will fixate on their target and will be easily ventilated from a shooter outside of the home.  After the gun battle begins, they will be focused on the house or other structure and a trained shooter can take them under fire from the flank or rear.  This shooter must wait until the mob begins attacking the home/structure.  The crowd will think any casualties they take are coming from the target.  Keep the battlefield a 360 degree challenge.
 
3. If your city/town/community has collapsed to the point that mobs are roaming with impunity then sitting around and waiting to be the next target is a loser’s game.  Take the fight to the enemy.  Always choose the time, place and conditions of a fight.  
– Mark S., PCSed to Germany 

Odds ‘n Sods:

Ian R. sent this:  Crises make automakers rethink lean parts supplies

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News from the Philippines: Rabies kills 67 people in three months.

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Camping Survival just received a truckload of Wise Foods buckets. Feeling overstocked, they created an unprecedented 10% off coupon code just for SurvivalBlog readers.  The coupon code is “wiseblog“

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SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large Michael Z. Williamson forwarded this: Your computer may be at risk, FBI warns–Thousands of PCs infected by hackers could lose Net access

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G.G. flagged this piece about solar flares: Feds and Utilities Face Off Over the Electromagnetic Pulse Threat Coming in 2014