Note From JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 39 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 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), and E.) 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 F-50 hand well pump (a $349 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.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, C.) A Commence Fire! emergency stove with three tinder refill kits. (A $160 value.), and D.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.

Round 39 ends on March 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.

My Vacation in War Torn Yugoslavia, by C.N.

My family is from the former Yugoslavia and it had been a family tradition to go back and visit the homeland of my grandparents. Unfortunately for me, by the time I could go, my father had passed and I found only one cousin willing to do it again. As luck would have it, it was the summer of 2000 and I thought the war had been long over. It was only recently I discovered that the horror continued right up until just before my arrival there.
 
After a short stopover in Frankfurt, we boarded a smaller plane to Zagreb. The flight was beautiful, the scenery, breathtaking.
I thought about the stories I was told about this place. My family were farmers there, and I was excited to experience the way of life that used to sustain them. I wanted to see the animals, horses, pigs, cows, chickens, the fields of vegetables, and how they did it all. I had heard about how they would slaughter the pigs, then salt and smoke them, and I really wanted to know how. I don’t know if you’ve had them, but Yugoslavians are famous for their cabbage rolls. I wanted to know how to make the sour cabbage, and how they did all this for ages without refrigeration. I was fascinated with the idea of being self sustaining off the grid, and how they managed even after the war.

We rented a van to get to the tiny village of Covac near the larger city of Okucane. I was surprised at the military presence there still, there were checkpoints with armed guards asking to see your passport. Luckily most of them spoke English and didn’t actually seem that concerned with us. We must have went through three before getting to our destination.

Arriving in Covac, it was like nothing I had ever seen. One gravel road, off of another gravel road, one small store at the corner. There were maybe 40 houses altogether, surrounded by fields and farther back, forests. At one time this place was beautiful. Now, unreal. Most of the houses had been destroyed and abandoned. Some had walls missing, bullet holes marred the surface of the concrete, trees even growing where the roof once was. The town pavilion that once held meetings, dances and parties was reduced to rubble. We pulled into the gravel driveway of the house we would be staying at. 

Our hosts came out to greet us, a young lady and her elderly mother. The house was small by western standards, a concrete square with a kitchen, bedroom and cold room. The kitchen had a table and chairs, a woodstove and small counter, and a laundry line all lit with a single bulb hanging from the ceiling. The bedroom held two single beds, and a dresser with a television with rabbit ears atop, again all illuminated with a single bulb. The cold room was farthest away from the woodstove, just a concrete room with shelving on all sides which interestingly doubled as the room to bathe in. The outhouse was about 40 feet away, past the open well, unlit of course. My cousin told me a story about using the outhouse while a chicken pecked her from below, I guess that’s when they closed it off at the back. Regardless, I still had some anxiety about using the outhouse at night. The well was open, like the ones you see in old fairytales, with a roof and a bucket on a rope. Looking down into the water, I counted four frogs swimming around down there. I hoped they boiled the water before drinking. They didn’t. Meals usually consisted of smoked, salted meats, sausage or bacon, eggs, fresh vegetables like tomato and onion, bread and soups.

I remembered my Grandmother telling me about picking beans in the fields, and moving the livestock from the forests to graze, and back to the barn. Looking out at the fields, there was nothing but weeds. The only livestock in the town was some chickens and a cow. I asked what happened, the stories I was told and the place I was in seemed vastly different. When the war came here people fled and later were forced out or had their homes destroyed or taken over. Most of the younger people never returned leaving a town of mostly elderly. There was no one to do the hard work involved in farming here, and no one could afford the start up costs again even if they could. At one time this land was self sufficient, the people were happy and free, now barren, a way of life lost. I wanted to walk in the fields that sustained my family for generations, I was told I was not allowed. Not allowed? Apparently it had not yet been cleared of land mines so it would be an enormous risk. I still can’t believe that a tiny village, so far away from a small town had been hit so hard in this conflict. I recall a story from my Grandmother about her family hiding from the Nazis back in the war. That happened here, at least twice people were murdered in war, here, on this tiny strip of houses, seemingly in the middle of nowhere.

We went to visit other relatives in nearby Gredjane, I had hoped they fared better, they didn’t. My Grandfather’s brother and his wife lived in a small brick house, the size of a shed. The four of us couldn’t all be inside at once it was so small. It held a single bed, a woodstove, and a table and chairs. Nothing here was refrigerated, they had no electricity, not even a light. The towns people came by to say hello. Once again I was surprised at the age of the people who remained here. It amazed me that the elderly people chose to stay or come back while the youth took to the cities and stayed there. Leaving that place, it would be the last time I would see my relatives again. My Grandfather’s brother died two years ago, six months after my Grandfather.

Back in Covac, it was bath day. My gracious hosts had to heat buckets of well water on the woodstove for me. I bathed in the cold room, in a plastic bucket a foot deep, two feet across. It wasn’t pretty, but it did the job. I had to get used to brushing my teeth outside, and just spitting on the grass. I had never done laundry by hand, that wasn’t so bad. All in all, life there seemed so quiet, peaceful. It was actually hard for me to sleep at night, I wasn’t used to it being so dark, and so quiet. There were no streetlights, no traffic sounds, not even the familiar sound of dogs barking.

They did have a small garden close to the house. They grew potatoes, onions, carrots, cabbages, tomatoes and beans. Since the summer was ending we did get to help with some of the harvest. At this time, they didn’t pull out all of the root vegetables, just some for the cold room to use, and some for next years’ planting. We put the seed potatoes in a hole near the house. It was full of hay, we placed the potatoes and onions inside then covered them with hay and buried it. The cabbage was harvested, washed and placed in large tubs with brine, enough to just cover them.The tubs were stored in the cold room, then covered with fabric, a wood plank, and weighed down with a brick. Unfortunately my stay was not long enough for me to try them once the process was complete. I must say, although delicious when cooked up, the smell of them fermenting was a little harsh.

I did not have the opportunity to see any meat processing but I was told how it was done. Once ready, the meat was salted, and then smoked in smokehouses. This would occur in the fall so the meat was then hung in the attic which vented the woodstove smoke in one end and out the other. This would continue the smoking process thus preserving the meat longer for later use. After my visit, the smell of a wood fire always reminds me of my trip, and the taste of homemade smoked bacon.

Three weeks had gone by so fast, even here where there were no distractions in daily living. On the long ride home I had a lot to think about. I believe the one thing that made the deepest impression was the fact that this village, so remote, and so small was so deeply affected in their own TEOTWAWKI. I had just assumed that in almost any situation fleeing the cities is always plan A, this trip taught me otherwise. I believe we need to be careful in creating a plan for disaster that is sort of one size fits all. In this situation, in this civil war, the resources in the city were better. Those left in the country were completely alone in a horrific time and to this day, many of their stories remain untold.

Ebola for Beginners, by Jeff R.

CentOre’s February 7, 2012 article “Signs of the Times: What are the SHTF Tipping Points?” briefly touched on one point that I would like to expand on: Ebola and Marburg viruses.  I am not a physician–I’m not even in the medical field, but I have had the occasion to learn a little more about these viral hemorrhagic fevers (or VHFs) from a research project while pursuing my Bachelor’s degree in Emergency Management. The information available on this subject is constantly changing and involves advanced knowledge in a number of scientific disciplines, so what I can provide is just sort of an Intro to Ebola 101.  I know there are people out there who are better trained and more knowledgeable on this topic than I, but maybe this will get the conversation started.  God forbid that one of these plagues should ever come to our shores, but should that happen, I hope this will help SurvivalBlog readers be a little better prepared for it. 

An Ebola Primer

Most of the viral hemorrhagic fevers in the Ebola family originate in sub-Saharan Africa.  The only exception is variant Ebola Reston, which originates in the Philippines. Ebola Reston causes only asymptomatic infections in humans, but devastatingly lethal infections in other primates.  As we will see, it is important in this discussion because it is the only known variant contractible via airborne transmission.  Ebola viral hemorrhagic fevers all begin with fever, body aches, and chills, but soon progress to vomiting, hematemesis, diarrhea, bloody diarrhea, hemorrhaging, and often, death.

Marburg virus
A cousin of Ebola, this virus is fatal in up to 90% of human infections.  First identified in Marburg, West Germany in 1967, it came to Behring Laboratory in a shipment of African Green Monkeys. Lab workers became infected while using the monkeys and their tissues in polio research. The outbreak spread into Yugoslavia before it was halted.  In 2007, the Egyptian Rousette, a species of African fruit bat, was identified as the reservoir of the Marburg virus (Institut de Recherche, 2007).   It is a wide ranging, migratory species found throughout sub-Saharan Africa and the Nile River valley, which brings the primary reservoir into the same area as the major metropolitan areas of Cairo and the Nile River delta (Egyptian Fruit Bat, 2003).  These cities are a mere six hours by air to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport, and twelve to New York’s JFK airport. Or as Dr. Robert Swanepoel of the South African National Institute for Communicable Diseases stated in 2006, “Los Angeles is as close to Ebola as Kinshasa [Democratic Republic of the Congo] with air travel,” (Stoddard, 2006).  Air travel has already brought Ebola to our doorstep. 

Ebola Zaire
Identified in 1976 during an outbreak around Yambuku, Zaire, this variant killed 88% of those infected, making its lethality virtually equal with that of Marburg. The reservoirs of this and all other known variants of Ebola have not been identified, in spite of decades of effort.
Ebola Sudan
Near simultaneously with the above Ebola Zaire outbreak, a second Ebola outbreak occurred in the Nazara and Maridi areas of Sudan in 1976.  The infective agent in this outbreak was also identified as Ebola, but a less aggressive variant, killing only 53% of those infected.

Ebola Bundibugyo
The first outbreak of this variant occurred in the Bundibugyo district of Uganda in December 2007 through January 2008. Ebola Bundibugyo differs significantly from other Ebola variants in that it causes more vomiting and was fatal in only 25% of infections.  Its presentation departed so much from previous expectations that only after laboratory analysis was it identified in August 2008 as a new Ebola strain (Powhall, 2007).

Ebola Tai/Cote D’Ivoire/Ivory Coast
 In November 1994, a Swiss ethologist contracted the fever while performing a necropsy on a chimpanzee found in the Tai National Forest in Ivory Coast. She had used poor barrier protection, and was most likely infected by aerosolized fluids during the necropsy. She was later transported to Switzerland for treatment, and made a full recovery after six weeks. In spite of transportation and treatment without strict isolation, no other human cases occurred (Waterman, 1999).

Ebola Reston
As noted above, Reston causes only asymptomatic infections in humans. Researchers discovered it during a 1989 outbreak at a primate quarantine facility in Reston, Virginia. A second outbreak occurred soon after at another primate quarantine facility in Alice, Texas.  No human illnesses or deaths resulted from the few human infections that occurred.  During the outbreaks, primates housed in different sections from the infected primates soon contracted the virus as well.  Since there was no contact between these groups and the second group had been in quarantine beyond the incubation
period for Ebola, it appears that this variant is communicable through airborne transmission.

Complications

Recombinant viruses
Samples of Ebola Zaire obtained from six dead gorillas and a chimpanzee were found to have different genetic sequences.  In other words, Ebola viruses are capable of recombination, a capability seen rarely in RNA viruses and never before seen in filoviruses (Mackenzie, 2007). Remember the “milder” Ebola variants Bundibugyo and Tai, and airborne but asymptomatic Reston?  Should any of them find their way into a common host with one of the fiercely pathogenic Zaire, Sudan, or Marburg variants, recombination could occur and result in a slower burning but just as deadly new variant of Marburg, or a murderous and airborne variant of Zaire. Had that been the case in Reston, Virginia or Alice, Texas, instead of a few dead Macaques, the result could have been much worse, perhaps even TEOTWAWKI. 
           
Increasing risk to North America
Ebola has long been in intermittent scourge in sub-Saharan Africa, and has extended it reach into Europe once.  It has not been a major concern to North America for a couple of reasons: 1) outbreaks tend to occur deep in the African bush, and 2) the disease is so aggressively pathogenic that it kills its carriers before they can spread the disease further.  As illustrated above, the potential for an emerging, less aggressive variant is an ever-present risk.
Sub-Saharan Africans have been immigrating to Europe in record numbers. Such immigration to France doubled between 1982 and 1990. By 2005, the African immigrant population of metropolitan France was an estimated 3.6 million (ISEE, 2005). This growth has triggered a rapidly growing demand for illegal bush meat, any of which could carry one of the Ebola viruses or some as-of-yet unidentified hemorrhagic virus.  And it isn’t just Europe’s problem. The black market bush meat trade is a growing problem in the United States and Canada (BCTF, 2009). Anyone who handles Ebola-infected bush meat is likely to contract that disease, and likely to transmit it to others as it progresses through vomiting, hemorrhaging, and death.

Carrier states
According to the Special Pathogens Branch of the Centers for Disease Control, Ebola viruses have no carrier state; that is that there can be no “Typhoid Mary” of Ebola—no person who carries an infective form of the virus yet has no symptoms (CDC, 2009).  While it may seem like sophomoric hubris for one to differ with the CDC on the issue of disease, research indicates that their position may not necessarily be accurate.
Research performed during two outbreaks of Ebola hemorrhagic fever in northern Gabon in 1996 discovered that “asymptomatic, replicative Ebola infection can and does occur in human beings” (Leroy et al, 2000, p. 2210). This same research demonstrated that there were no genetic differences between the Ebola strains found in symptomatic and asymptomatic persons, indicating that that the cases were not the result of viral mutation.  This raises the ugly probability of the Ebola version of Typhoid Mary; persons without the disease but still infected and very much infective.  A further complication arises during convalescence after acquiring Ebola, as viable virus has been isolated from the seminal fluid of convalescing Ebola victims two to three months after the disease has resolved (Leroy et al, 2000, p. 2210).  It is therefore only prudent to assume that Ebola is also sexually transmitted.

Another potential carrier of Ebola viruses are dogs.  During the Ebola outbreak in Gabon in 2001-2002, research was conducted on pet dogs in the area of the outbreaks. Blood samples were taken from dogs living in areas where outbreaks had occurred, major cities, and as a control, dogs in France. In short, testing on the dogs showed an increase in seroprevalence of Ebola as a function of their distance from the outbreak areas. Villages in the outbreak area with an animal source, such as a dead primate, also had the highest level of seroprevalence when compared to villages without an animal source, major cities, and the dogs in France (Allela, Bourry, Pouillot, Delicat, Yaba, Kumulugui, 2005). The researchers concluded that the dogs had been infected with the Ebola Zaire virus that circulated in that area, and that the infections had been either extremely mild, or completely asymptomatic. During these asymptomatic infections, dogs “may excrete infectious viral particles in urine, feces, and saliva for a short period before virus clearance” (Allela et al, 2005, p.389). Ebola is a highly infective pathogen requiring exposure to relatively few virus particles to produce symptoms.  An affectionate lick from an asymptomatic dog might be all it takes to contract the disease.

Implications for the Prepper

The sooner you can pick the truth out of the media noise the more time and distance you can put between the generally diseased public and yourself.  Amidst all the media sensationalizing and the government bowdlerizing, listen for a confluence of these reported symptoms. Parenthetical figures are percent of known historical cases reporting each symptom.

  • Fever (90%-100%)
  • Headache (40%-90%)
  • Chills
  • Muscle pain/joint pain (40%-80%)
  • Malaise (75%-85%)
  • Pharyngitis (20%-40%)
  • Loss of appetite
  • Vomiting (59%)
  • Vomiting blood (10%-40%)
  • Non-bloody diarrhea (81%)
  • Blood fails to clot (71%-78%)
  • Abdominal pain (60-80%)
  • Dry and sore throat (63%)
  • Chest pain (83% of Ebola Sudan infected patients; uncommon in Ebola Zaire infected patients)
  • Abnormal susceptibility to bleeding—hemorrhagic diathesis (71%-78%)
  • Maculopapular rash—flat, red rash with raised bumps (5%-20%)
  • Hiccups (15 %)      (Waterman, 1999)

 

 Your first order of business should be to create distance between you and the GDP as you can as quickly as possible. If ever there was justification to withdraw to your retreat, this is it. The CDC and local health departments will be scrambling to isolate and identify this beast, but it could be weeks before they even know what they are dealing with.  If you don’t have your own piece of the American Redoubt, then quarantine yourself and yours from the rest of the population as best you can. Barring some god awful mutation, Ebola is not airborne, so if you can keep people from coughing, sneezing, bleeding, vomiting, secreting, or doing any other kind fluid-slinging on you, you will be safe. 

Since dogs are likely capable of becoming “Typhoid Mutley” and carrying Ebola, keep stray or feral dogs away from your location. Obviously you don’t want anything that is infected spattering or bleeding around your retreat, so if you can passively exclude dogs and any other carnivores and omnivores from your location with fencing or other measures, it might help prevent you having to kill them within your perimeter.  Also, take care to keep your animals away from strays or wild animals, and don’t let them nose around animal carcasses or droppings. I could not find any information regarding Ebola and native North American wildlife, but the possibility of other animals becoming carriers is a real concern.  Keep this in mind as you go about your daily routine.

If Ebola hits home:
With an incubation period of up to three weeks, going into retreat mode and taking Ebola with you is a possibility.  What if, in spite of all your precautions and preparations, somebody in your group develops Ebola?
At the time of this writing, there are no set treatments for acute Ebola, aside from supportive care in managing hydration, electrolytes, oxygen, and blood pressure. Maintaining the comfort of the patient as best as possible is important, as is doing what can be done to improve their chances of survival and recovery. Due to the extreme pathogenicity of Ebola, extraordinary care must be taken to avoid contamination or infection of others.  Below are the bare minimum of what precautions you should take to protect yourself and the rest of your group while there is an active Ebola infection.

  • Isolation
  • Quarantine
  • Barriers
  • Bleach
  • Burning

 

Isolation of the symptomatic Ebola patient from the rest of the group. Time in the isolation “ward” should be  minimized as much as possible while still maintaining humane and compassionate care.

Quarantine of exposed persons until the maximum incubation period for Ebola has elapsed (21 days). This means any person believed to have had any direct contact with any amount of bodily fluids from the patient.

Barrier protection for any person caring for the patient or handling anything used by the patient.  The bare acceptable minimum of protection is a face shield that covers the eyes, nose, and mouth; mask, gloves, gown, foot covering, and hood.  You don’t have to have a positive pressure biohazard suit (although that would be ideal). The goal is to keep bodily fluid from touching you being inhaled or ingested.

Bleach the soles of the shoes when leaving the ward by walking through a pan of bleach solution. Spray down the barrier protection with bleach solution before removing it.

Burn contaminated clothing, medical waste, and anything else not reusable. This is not the time to try to conserve medical supplies by reusing disposable supplies. Re-use of disposables was a primary vehicle of spreading Ebola in the earlier African outbreaks.

The CDC has a detailed manual covering infection control procedures for Ebola. It is available as a PDF download from its web site, as well as are other resources. It might be a good idea to have that manual saved on your TEOTWAWKI flash drive and a couple of hard copies printed out, just in case. The manual can be found at: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/spb/mnpages/vhfmanual.htm.

Putting familiarization with Ebola and other possible agents of pandemic on your preparation list, and adding some basic barrier and infection control supplies to your stockpile should help you gain an edge over any such outbreaks. With adequate preparation and help from the Almighty, you can make it through an Ebola crisis.

Bibliography

Allela, L., Bourry, O., Pouillot, R., Delicat, A., Yaba, P., & Kumulungui, B. (2005). Ebola virus antibody prevalence in dogs and human risk. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 11, Retrieved April 15, 2008, from http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol11no03/04-0981.htm

Bushmeat Crisis Task Force, (2009).  United States and Canada in “Regions affected.” Retrieved February 18, 2012 from http://www.bushmeat.org/bushmeat_and_wildlife_trade/regions_affected/us_and_canada

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (2010, April 9). Ebola hemorrhagic fever information packet. Retrieved February 18, 2012, from CDC Special Pathogens Branch Web site: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/spb/mnpages/dispages/Fact_Sheets/Ebola_Fact_Booklet.pdf

Deadly Ebola virus can mutate, French scientists warn. (2007, November 30). Agence France-Presse. Retrieved February 20, 2012 at http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jVqkLb-RTvPTOkzEkrovrzFYqeJg

Egyptian fruit bat. The centre for the conservation of specialized species. (May, 2003). Retrieved on April 10, 2007 from http://www.conservationcentre.org/scase2.html

Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (2007, September 11). Marburg virus identified in a species of fruit bat. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 17, 2012, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070909205527.htm

INSEE, (2005). Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économiques – France – statistiques. Retrieved April 9, 2008, from Le recensement de la population Web site: http://www.insee.fr/fr/home/home_page.asp

Leroy, E. M., Baize, S., Volchkov, V. E., Fisher-Hoch, S. P., Georges-Courbot, M-C, & Lansoud-Soukate, J. (2000). Human asymptomatic Ebola infection and strong inflammatory response. The Lancet. 355, 2210-2215.

Mackenzie, D. (November 2, 2007). Ebola evolves deadly new tricks. Virgin Media, Retrieved March 26, 2008, from http://www.virginmedia.com/digital/science/ebola-evolves.php

Parker, J. N., Parker, P. M. The official patient’s sourcebook on Ebola hemorrhagic fever. Icon Health Publications, 2003.

Powhall, K. (2007, December 6). Ugandan health workers hit by Ebola, causing panic. The Seattle Times, Retrieved March 28, 2009, from http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004056966_webebola06.html?lid=seattle_times&lpos=day_txt_ap_report

Stoddard, E. (June 19, 2006).  Ebola could follow bush meat trade routes to west. Reuters, Retrieved February 19, 2012, from http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1651716/posts

Waterman, T. (1999). Tara’s Ebola site: Honors thesis Stanford University. Retrieved on February 15, 2012 from http://virus.stanford.edu/filo/filo.html . This site is also a good source of information on Ebola.

World Health Organization, (2007). Ebola haemorrhagic fever. Retrieved April 12, 2008, from WHO Media Center Web site: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/index.html

JWR Adds: One of the surest preventative measures for diseases spread by human contact is isolation. I have long recommended moving to farming or ranching country in the American Redoubt region. (Even before I gave it that name.) Ponder these population statistics (as of 2011):

Idaho: 1,568,000

Wyoming: 563,000

Montana: 989,000

Eastern Oregon: Approximately 300,000

Eastern Washington: Approximately 450,000

Total Population of The American Redoubt: Approximately 3,870,000

Versus:

Tennessee: 6,403,353

Virginia: 8,096,604

Michigan: 9,876,187

New York (Entire State): 19,465,000

Queens County, New York: 2,230,750

Bronx County, New York:1,385,100

Thus, the combined population of The American Redoubt is about the same as just two boroughs of New York City.

The bottom line: If you want to survive a pandemic spread by casual contact, then your best chances will be in lightly-populated places like the American Redoubt region. Just be sure to stock up on plenty of storage food and fuel, so that you won’t have to make any trips to town for the first 18 months of a pandemic.

Economics and Investing:

James K. was the first of several readers to send this piece in the usually Pollyannaish McNewspaper: Three doomsaying experts who foresee economic devastation ahead

G.G. suggested this: Extreme couponers push some retailers to tweak the rules.

Reader C.D.V. sent these four article links:

Credit Card Debt Nears Toxic Levels

George Osborne: UK has run out of money

More bad news: U.S. water bills to triple. (Yet another good reason to move out to the country and build where you can use spring or PV-pumped well water.)

Cue the dark, foreboding Beethoven music: Iran Moves Further to End Petrodollar, Announces Will Accept Payment in Gold Instead of Dollars.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Michael W. mentioned: Eight Home Remedies that Actually Work

   o o o

A surprisingly good article, coming from Canada’s notoriously leftward-leading Toronto Star (a.k.a. Toronto Red Star or Toronto Krasnaya Zvezda, by its detractors.): Why Costco is preparing for the end of the world. (Among others, the article quotes JWR.)

   o o o

K.A.F. flagged this: Mystery virus kills thousands of lambs

   o o o

Urban farming in Detroit gets the documentary it deserves. (Thanks to Matt L. for the link.)

   o o o

Martin sent us this: The World War Three Files.

Note From JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 39 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 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), and E.) 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 F-50 hand well pump (a $349 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.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, C.) A Commence Fire! emergency stove with three tinder refill kits. (A $160 value.), and D.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.

Round 39 ends on March 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.

Alternative Power in a TEOTWAWKI World, by Scott H.

I am currently working in the Alternative Energy industry after retiring from a 21-year career with the military.  As part of my Vocational rehabilitation, the military allowed me to choose my future career.  As a long time reader of SurvivalBlog and a Bible-believing Christian, I saw the importance of prepping.  This includes living off grid.

Alternative energy seems to be emerging as a buyer beware market.  You can see many manufacturers prey on fear claiming that their systems can run your fridge, furnace, freezer and well pump during any grid down event. This is simply an impossibility, a typical house needs 10 or more Kilowatts of power.  This is impossible to provide with an 80W panel and a 50 amp/h battery with a 250 W inverter, which many of these boastful claims are built around.  Not only will it not run your house, or anything else for more then a few minutes the shocking price demanded for these systems are well over $2,500.

When designing a system we always do a spreadsheet up of the total wattage of the household in question, and many times a typical household can expect to pay $14,000 plus for a system sufficient enough to be off grid. 

It is obvious that companies and consumers are asking the wrong questions when thinking about alternative energy.  The industry is looking to make money.  The consumer is looking to get the best bang for their buck, so in the interest of the little guy who cannot fork over thousands of dollars I have a few suggestions.  Without getting into the nitty gritty of system sizing, wire sizing, fuse sizing everything has be laid out in layman’s terms.

1.)  How much do I have to spend?  Let’s face it, if you only have $500 then you need to build a system around that costs $500.

2.)  Build a system that in the future can be expanded upon.  There is no point in buying a 6-amp charge controller as part of your upgradeable system when the biggest panel you can add to it is 80W.  For the ease of numbers, an 8-amp charge controller will handle a 135 Watt panel.

3.)  Change your lifestyle.  Most people who are preppers already know that life will change dramatically.  When the grid goes down, you will not be using your electric range your electric dryer, and definitely not your hair dryer or coffee maker.

Addressing the foregoing:  First, a solar system has three components.  Solar panel(s) + Charge controller + Batteries.

So for that $500 you could buy a 50 Watt panel, a 10-amp charge controller (ensure that the model is equipped with a low voltage disconnect.) and a 50 amp hour battery.  With this system, you can add an inverter to enable you to charge batteries for cordless tools, run a laptop or radio.  You can buy pre-packed distribution centers for 12 volt lighting with have 12-volt auto-jacks and 2.1 plug-ins to run lighting.  A 3 Watt LED 12V light bulb has the same lumens as 60 Watt incandescent bulb.  A system this size would give you 25 amp hours of continuous power.  Roughly, a 50 Watt panel will charge a 50 Amp/h battery in a day of continuous sun light. 

Not only could you light your cabin with 3Watt bulbs you can also add a couple of 12 V, 10W motion spotlights for security as well as have capacity for cordless tool batteries and laptop charging.  Your heating choices would have to be kerosene, propane or wood as well as cooking and refrigeration.  There are 12-volt refrigerators and freezers but you would need a substantially larger system to run them.

To expand on your $500 system you can substitute your 50W panel up to a 135 Watt panel keeping your 10-amp charge controller.  You can upgrade your batteries from a 50 Amp/h battery to a 106 Amp/h or even a 165 amp/h battery. 

Currently Fur Harvester Auction Trap line Store in North Bay, Ontario carries pre-packaged cabin systems for off-grid trappers cabins that are manufactured by Glenergy, these can be viewed at www.glenergy.ca  All of these pre-packaged plug and play systems range from  $300 to $1,160 Canadian Dollars.

To upgrade again, you would have to replace the 10-amp charge control to add additional panels.  If you had 2 x 135 Watt panels which could be used in either a 12 or 24-volt system now.  A 20 amp 12-volt charge controller and 2 x 6volt 530 Surrette batteries wired in series has just significantly increased total power output.  You can still run all the lighting requirements, use a larger inverter and now you can add a 12-volt deep well pump, and give you more storage, this means if the sun does not shine for a week, you still have power stored. 

Also when purchasing items, eBay is a valuable resource.  Just ensure that when searching for a panel, most flexible solar panels that are 35 Watt or greater are only 6-volt so you will have to buy 2 and wire these in series these to make 12-volt.

When upgrading from here, you can purchase a smart controller and wire in a generator with an electric start.  The generator would strictly run to charge batteries and not run any 120-volt appliances directly.  This would be beneficial when you have a long period with no sun and over consumption, the generator would run long enough to top up the batteries.  When the system has been set up correctly the generator would not run very often unless your kids are having a PS3 Tournament and leaving all of the lights on.

When buying your batteries only buy solar rated batteries as they are built for rapid charge and a longer discharge.  Deep cycle RV batteries just are not built for this.  Another consideration for batteries is trying to use a Lead Acid Gel battery when designing a portable system, liquid lead acid batteries will spill and vent, and lithium ion batteries are expensive and heat up when charging. Regardless of what type is used, ensure that if they are housed in any kind of container they are vented to the outside for larger systems and if it is a portable system make sure there is some sort of overpressure valve.  Pelican cases have overpressure valves built in already.

When building your system, ensure everything is fused.  Fuse your solar panel, fuse your battery, and fuse your loads.  In the event of a solar flare or an EMP, you can have a second charge controller and spare fuses stored in a Faraday cage such as a military ammo can.  In 30 minutes, you could have your system back up and running.  In this case most charge controllers are plastic, one alternative is Morning Star controllers which are metal and encapsulated which makes them weather proof.  The downside to these controllers are that if the solar is hooked up and the battery fuse blows or is disconnected the controller will get fried.  Most other controllers do not have this problem.  Saying that, I always recommend that the solar is disconnected before the battery is disconnected with any charge controller.

When I build custom systems, they have to be rugged.  Currently I have twenty-one 10 Watt systems in Africa which are in use by missionaries.  These systems charge cell phones and laptops, charge 9-volt lanterns and fans and provide 12 volt localized lighting.  Each missionary kit was provided a 10 Watt security spot light as well.  This shows that with even a system as small as a 10 Watt panel and a 9 amp/h battery can provide most of your requirements, plus these are portable and pretty much maintenance free as tool kits are in short supply as well as the ATC fuses.  In a bleak future of a grid down world, there may be an abundance of abandoned vehicles and ATC fuses will be one of those items not scavenged, except for by of course you who is reading this article. 

This leads to another plus in a grid-down world.  In Africa, there are hardly an land lines, there are large areas with no electricity and yet everyone has a cell phone.  Cell towers are mostly powered by solar.  There have been a few businesses set up Ghana with systems I have built to charge cell phones.  Any soldier who has been to Iraq or Afghanistan has seen the countless call offices where you can pay to use a cell phone.  With a small system you can charge lanterns, cell phones, whether or not cell phones will work and even batteries, this can be a valuable source of barter.

Using ruggedized cases such as a Pelican case is one way of building a portable system that can be taken with you in the case you have to G.O.O.D., something that can be thrown into the back of a pick up.  A system this size can be as small as a 20 Watt panel with a 21amp/hour battery.  This size system again would be enough to charge tool batteries, laptops and run 12 volt lighting.  Something as small a 3Watt 12-volt panel with 50 Watt hour batteries will light a tent, charge cell phones or other handheld devices and costs less than $85.

It is my belief solar will be a much better option then naphtha or kerosene lanterns because you will not need to carry spare fuel bottles.  This is a definite plus if you are traveling, light or the cost or scarcity of these resources makes them unattainable.

Letter Re: Handy Photovolatic Calculators

Jim,
I’m a retired U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer who has taken restoration carpentry as my second career.  I’ve been following you for a couple years now and very much appreciate what you’re doing. To those ends, I received a link to this article from Fine Homebuilding and thought it might be interesting and perhaps useful to fellow preppers.  Of particular interest to me was the interactive maps from NREL.  One can point their mouse to a particular point on the U.S. map (or to pre-selected points on the global map) and then load the location data into NREL’s PVWatts Calculator.  The calculator then shows the user location-specific data regarding positioning of arrays, available sunlight by month for the location selected, DC to AC inversion de-rates, et cetera.  

It occurs to me that calculating the value of the energy produced by a notional PV array would be useful so long as we remain grid-up as it provides the user the ability to calculate an amortization schedule for the investment.  Going the other way, as I’m currently noodling, it provides the ability to develop an electrical load scheme for a home factoring location, budget, and power requirements.  For example, wiring a completely separate DC bus not tied to the grid with a lead-acid battery backup versus using the standard residential AC bus with DC-AC inverter and grid-tied.  Or, a dozen other permutations to arrive at the best bang for the buck.  

Cheers, – Joe B.

Letter Re: Celiac Disease: The Gluten-Free Prepping Challenge

We are a family of survivalists and almost all of us are gluten free, some out of necessity and some by choice.  Here are some thoughts and resources for gluten free food.
 
Later this year, there is a Gluten Free Expo convention in Sandy, Utah starting October 12.  If you can’t attend, check out the vendors page (there are many) to identify other resources for gluten free food.
 
Augason Farms has #10 cans of food that are certified gluten free, including oats.   It’s a great company and easy to talk to them on the phone.  If you want to purchase without a credit card, they can help you calculate the total of an order you’d like to place and wait for you to send a check or money order.  Thus far I have tried the Buttermilk pancake mix and the Chocolate Morning Moo.  The pancake mix only requires the addition of water and makes nice, tasty pancakes, but I might add a Tablespoon of coconut or almond flour to next time to add fiber.  The Morning Moo is very tasty, doesn’t have as much calcium as a powdered milk, but makes up thicker like a milkshake. It also requires the addition of just water.  I will be stocking more of these in my pantry.  A family member reported to me that he tried the Gluten Free Chili and that he thought it was good, too.  They carry a French bread mix which I haven’t tried yet.  It requires only water, cider vinegar and yeast to be mixed with it.
 
Side note on buying the canned products:  One very important consideration when buying any food product, is to compare the serving size on the package to what you think is a serving size when you eat it.  I made the recipe on the Augason Farms Buttermilk Pancakes for my husband and I, and we think two servings is our serving size when making a breakfast of pancakes.  Try the foods you buy, then realistically assess what your storage needs are from your past experience with the food, rather than what the package says.  If it says 47 servings, it might really be about 23 servings per can. Plan accordingly.
 
There’s a newsletter for gluten free cooking from Mary Frances, who has bread/biscuits/doughnuts recipes and teaches on line how to cook gluten free. She tries to provide alternatives for other food intolerances, like dairy or soy so she may be a great resource for some. (many celiacs also have difficulty with dairy ingredients) Her bread recipes include ingredients such as brown rice flour and sorghum, and those can be stored in whole form and ground into flour later.  She does charge a fee for her lessons, but with what she’s investing in time to make this available, it is well worth it.  Some of her recipes are free and online, including her latest addition, the gluten free doughnut! 
 
I noted that in the article the author was storing pasta.  Why couldn’t quinoa be stored whole and ground later to make homemade pasta with a hand cranked pasta cutter? You would have longer term storage that way.  Here are links to some quinoa pasta recipes online: One and Two and Three.  It would be important to store the other ingredients like the arrowroot to do this.
 
For a new resource on gluten free diets, anyone with gluten issues should seriously consider a “paleolithic diet” and there are many new cookbooks on the market.  The Paleolithic diet is naturally gluten free, and based on foods our ancient ancestors ate.  Many of the ingredients are foods you can grow or hunt.  I received one of these books for Christmas, Paleo Comfort Foods: Homestyle Cooking for a Gluten-Free Kitchen by Julie and Charles Mayfield.   The paleolithic diet is having me rethink some of my food storage strategies.  The pumpkin pancakes are amazing with molasses.
 
This is only a partial list; some product names you can look for in the store or online also include: 
Bob’s Red Mill – many (but not all) are gluten free, bread mix, brownies, cornbread and more
Pamela’s – pancake mixes, cookies, etc
Udi’s- granola (and the best bread I’ve eaten gluten free, comes frozen)
Lundberg – they have a “couscous” made from brown rice;
Hodgson Mill – for pasta
Glutino – pasta, pie crust mix, cookies, many products
Quinoa corporation – pasta under the label Ancient Harvest
Ener-G – for bread crumbs
Amy’s – some of her burritos (frozen) are gluten free
 
While these foods are prepackaged, it is possible to extend the shelf life with freezing.  We have frozen flours to make them last longer and it worked quite well.  It’s important to rotate your prepackaged foods regardless of this, and know that when the power grid goes down then the clock starts ticking faster on the shelf life.  If you live in a cold climate, you may be able to continue the freezing process during the winter by moving your whole chest freezer to a bear proof outdoor structure like a garage or shed.
 
The convenience of these prepackaged foods will come in handy as we are busy defending our retreat or just tired to the bone from gardening.  When we run out of these, we will need to cook more from scratch. Fortunately, we do not really need to have these prepackaged foods to live and many of the processed gluten free foods lack fiber.  It is extremely important to find ways to increase the fiber in a gluten free diet.  A company called Coconut Secret makes a canned coconut flour that is 40% dietary fiber and also supplies protein.  Two tablespoons of the coconut flour adds 8 grams of fiber! We add this to many of our recipes, like pancakes and bread to add fiber back in.  Almonds and bean flours also add fiber to your recipe and you may be able to grow one or both of these to grind.   
 
Rice, corn, teff, buckwheat, nuts, quinoa and potatoes all provide carbohydrates, fiber and nutrients, and cooking from scratch with these in TEOTWAWKI will be a more natural way to stay gluten free.  While processed foods are a treat, leaving them behind will actually be healthier.  But for now, I am going to try the Mary Frances doughnut recipe. – Mrs. R.L.B.

Economics and Investing:

Japan posts record trade deficit while real estate values go deep into the 1980s. US has decade long collapse in real estate values in spite of record low mortgage rates. The path of two lost decades in US real estate values is looking very similar to Japan.

Ben in Nevada sent this: The price of cooking the books (Describes inflation statistics fraud in Argentina)

In tough economy, people turning in rare, unique items in for cash

G.G. flagged this: A new recession seems inevitable

Items from The Economatrix:

False Recovery 2.0:  It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like 2011

Jim Rogers: Gold to Rise Much Higher in this Decade, Do Not Sell It!

Latest Resignations From World Banks and Governments

Disability Fraud Holds Down US Unemployment Rate

Japan, China to Promote Yen-Yuan Currency Exchange

Odds ‘n Sods:

T.S. recommended a video that may be a glimpse of TEOTWAWKI: Syria: the horror of Homs, a city at war

   o o o

G.G. flagged this: Toy Guns Becoming A Criminal Offense?

   o o o

Several readers sent this: Ice To See You: 30,000-Year-Old Flower Revived. (Perhaps Scrat had the right idea.)

   o o o

Fred K. wrote to mention: “Here is the link to the Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy which is available for viewing on line for no cost. Obviously when the Internet goes down this will be of no value, but for now, for those who cannot afford the book, the material is still available for free viewing. Also, here is a link to the Merck Manual for Home Health. (Available free, as well.)

   o o o

Stephen and Kris mentioned that there are some useful insights the late 1980s BBC television series The Victorian Kitchen Garden

The Mainstream Media’s Blatant Anti-Preparedness Bias

It seems that any time that there is a crime that involves someone who lives outside of city limits and that owns guns or that lives with any degree of self-sufficiency, then they are immediately branded as a “survivalist.” This label gets slapped on regardless of whether or not the perpetrator has had any training or inclinations toward survivalism. The outlaw Claude Dallas was a prime example. Dallas was an eccentric 19th Century anachronist rather than a survivalist. But the mainstream media uses the label “survivalist”, almost by default any time that a criminal flees into a National Forest, if he ever had so much as weekend Boy Scout training or watched re-runs of Survivor Man.

SurvivalBlog reader Tim J. recently sent me this article: Mystery mountain man to Utah cabin owner: Get off my mountain. Take a few minutes to read that article. This is just the latest example of the media misusing the term “survivalist.” By definition, a survivalist is someone who trains and prepares tools and supplies in advance for self-sufficiency to overcome disasters. But backwoods burglars have to steal because they aren’t properly prepared and because they lack genuine self-sufficiency skills. They aren’t true survivalists. An early example of this media sensationalism was the case of Bill Moreland, the so-called “Wildman” or “Ridge Runner” of the Clearwater National Forest. (Moreland’s criminal exploits were detailed in the book Calked Boots and Other Northwest Writings by Bert Russell.) Then of course there was Eric Rudolph, who was also mislabeled as a survivalist. If he had been a real survivalist, then he wouldn’t have to be scrounging in grocery store dumpsters–which reportedly is how Rudolph got spotted and arrested. (Although some claim that he was lingering behind a supermarket awaiting a scheduled pick up by one of his supporters.)

Movies like The Survivors, Blast From the Past, and Phase 7 do more than just poke fun at survivalists. They either subtly or overtly make any anyone that prepares for disasters look mentally imbalanced. The latest example is the upcoming film The Divide starring Michael Biehn. Judging from the film’s brief trailer, it casts the survivalist (Biehn) to be, like Sarah Connor, a “Grade A Whackamo.”

Some people in the preparedness movement now consider the term survivalist so tainted that they have exclusively adopted the term prepper. There are even those that try to distinguish between two camps: the survivalists and the preppers. That is absurd. Anyone that says: “Oh no, don’t call me a survivalist, I’m a prepper!” is essentially conceding defeat to the anti-preparedness bias of the media.

I am not ashamed to call myself a survivalist. The statist mass media–in newspapers, magazines, and television–has consistently done their best to castigate and trivialize survivalists, because we don’t match their Big City-centric and government dependent world view. They try to make us look like we are living in a fantasy land. But the truth is that it is they that are deluded, thinking that big government is their all-capable savior and that disaster won’t affect them personally. They are so deeply submerged in normalcy bias that they see disaster preparedness as paranoia. I pity them.

Pat’s Product Review: The Stronghold Haywire Klamper

Don’t you just hate it when someone comes up with one of those “gee, why didn’t I think of that” inventions? I know I do! And, what is amazing is, the product under review here, the Stronghold Haywire Klamper, is also one of those “wow, is that simple” inventions.
 
Have you ever had a radiator hose break under the hood of your car? I know I have, on quite a few occasions over my 60+ years on this earth. Or, have you had a hose clamp let loose on you, and in your e-box, you have every size hose clamp – except the one you need? Yeah, me too! I used to do a lot of off-roading – not as much as I used to, as it has cost me a lot of money in repairs – and have a muffler clamp or tail pipe clamp break – leaving your muffler or tail pipe hanging on the ground? Yeah, me too – one time too many – and the baling wire or rope I had in my e-box didn’t hold up very long.
 
I’m sure you’ve all had some camping equipment break on you, and it always happens at the worse possible time, and you would have given anything to have the right repair kit handy to put the broken parts back together. Sure, I’m a big duct tape fan, and it’s excellent for making all manner of repairs, most of the time, the repairs are short-lived or temporary at best. I’ve used baling wire, military trip wire, electrical wire – whatever I could lay my hands on, to get me and my gear back up and running, until I got back to civilization, and I could make a better repair, or replace the broken gear. I’m betting a few of you, especially hunters, have taken a tumble or rolled a horse with their rifle or shotgun, and broke or cracked the wrist on their long guns, haven’t you?
 
Well, I’m here to tell you, there’s a better, and a much easier way, to make repairs, when you need to bind two pieces of “whatever” back together. I received the Stronghold Haywire Klamper – with a short handwritten note, for test and evaluation several weeks ago from Wilson at Pantry Paratus.) I thought for a few minutes “what am I supposed to do with this “haywire” thing – I don’t live on a farm or a ranch – I have a tiny homestead, in a rural area of Oregon, so I didn’t know what use this device would be to me. Boy, I hate it when I’m wrong.
 
After wondering what good a “haywire” clamper would be to me, I decided to check out the video on the Pantry Paratus web site. Boy, were my eyes opened to a very, very neat tool, that everyone should have in their rig or pack, or both. What we have with the Stronghold Haywire Klamper is a tool, with some 14-15 gauge wire, that can bind together all manner of gear and equipment, and do it in short order and without much chance of doing it wrong. In the video, you will see a man demonstrating a hammer, with an obviously seriously cracked wooden handle, that has already been repaired with this device. However, he takes the wire repair off the hammer, and shows the viewer just how damaged the wooden handle is, then takes a minute to make a repair with the clamp and wire, and proceeds to pound nails with the hammer. It was impressive.
 
The Stronghold Haywire Klamper is a simple metal clamp/tensioning device, that comes with some 14-15 gauge wire, and complete instructions for use in a package that only weighs about 4 ounces. You can add more wire to the kit – and I strongly suggest you do – and you can make all manner of repairs in an emergency situation. The only other thing you will also need is, a good Leatherman-type tool. (And if you’re serious about survival, you must have some type of multi-tool in your gear. I keep my Leatherman on my belt, and use it practically every day – I’d be lost without it.)
 
So, how does this neat little device work? Well, the video on the web site will show it much better than I can explain it, so be sure to check it out. I played around with this little invention, and found I could make all manner of repair in short order. It was so easy, I kept asking myself if I was doing something “wrong” – as many things don’t work as advertised, or when you buy them and get them home.
 
I’ve made duct tape repairs on split radiator hoses before, however, they usually don’t last very long. With the Haywire device, you can make a duct tape repair even stronger, by first applying the duct tape over the split hose, then wrapping/clamping the provided wire around the repaired area and tightening it down over the duct tape. Also, if a hose clamp gives way, you can make a clamp using the haywire device in a minute or two, and it will probably be stronger than the original hose clamp was.
 
How about making an improvised spear with your hunting knife? Easy enough to do, if you have a quality hollow handle survival knife. Supposed all you have is a regular fixed blade hunting knife? Yeah, I’ve tried making a spear myself, by lashing a knife to a stick or tree branch – it doesn’t hold up very well. With the haywire device, you can clamp your fixed blade hunting knife to a stick, pole or tree limb, and have no fear of the knife coming off – until you want it to.
 
Have you ever tried binding two pieces of wood together, let’s say, in the shape of a cross? Yeah, harder to do than said. The haywire device will allow you to easily make a cross out of wood, metal or even two different materials – and it will stay together. I can think of hundreds of repairs that you can make with this device, and I’m sure you will, too. The possibilities seem endless when you start thinking about all the repairs you can make – and make the repairs stronger than just about anything else, and you’ll wonder how you ever got along without the Stronghold Haywire Klamper in your car’s e-box or your pack.
 
Now, my problem is, deciding which rig to put my haywire in. Probably put it in my GMC Yukon, until I can get a second one, and put that in my wife’s Dodge Durango. I might even pick-up a few more haywire devices, and put ’em in each of our bug out bags – along with a good supply of extra 14 or 15 gauge wire.
 
The full retail asking price on the Stronghold Haywire Klamper is $24.95. At first, you’re gonna think that’s a bit steep, for such a simple device. However, the first time you use the haywire for an emergency repair, you’re gonna think it’s worth a thousand dollars or more. I was totally blown away by how simple this device is – and how well-made it is. (They are made in the U.S.A.) I was also amazed at how many things you can repair with it. I don’t normally get overly excited by new products that I test and evaluate. However, with the Stronghold Haywire Klamper – I’m giving it my 100% endorsement – and I rarely endorse products – and I mean rarely! To say you “need” this product is an understatement – this is a must-have piece of gear that every serious survivalist and military servicemember should have in their kit – at all times. Get one!