Desert Survival, by Amy H.

Every year, a group of my friends go on a week-long camping trip in a Nevada desert.  Sounds silly, right?  No trees, plants or animals, no running water. Not even roads–usually the nearest hospital is well over an hour away, sometimes two, and that’s if you don’t get lost by trying to cut across an impassable part of the desert trying to get to it.  But, it’s a good test to see if we can be self-sufficient for even just a week.  Also, in a bug out situation, some people may just find themselves having to cross through barren desert to get to someplace safer (say from Southern California to Southeastern Oregon, Idaho or Wyoming).  Our rules?  Bring everything you need to survive, and plan to leave no sign of our passing.  

One week might sound easy, but when you start thinking about what you actually have to face in the desert, you realize that’s not as easy as it sounds. With no life for miles around, it forces us to literally bring everything we need to survive.  Every bit of water, food, medicine, first aid, and clothing that we might need.  When you take into consideration the time of year, that adds up quickly with even just five people.  We try to do this some time in August, when daytime temperatures often get over a hundred, and in years past it has even gotten to 120.  Contrast that with the nighttime temperatures that can be into the low 40s, and you have a tremendous temperature spread to prepare for.  

For dealing with the high temperatures, we plan on very lightweight, loose clothing.  Light colors are best.  I tried wearing a dark blue sarong last year and it ended up dying my skin blue because of how much dye is needed to maintain dark colors.  My friend who wore the orange sarong was much better off. And for those of you who don’t know what a sarong is, think Polynesian attire.  It’s the simplest form of clothes out there:  just a rectangle of fabric that you wrap around yourself, overlapping a little in the front, and then tightly fold over at the top a couple times to secure it in place.  Very lightweight, nice and breezy–you’ll probably only sweat at the folded band.  Some of us have tried no clothing, but then we’re exposed to the sun and the high elevation combined with direct sunlight usually means burns everywhere unless we’re very liberal with the sun block, which may not be practical for longer than a week (in which time you can use up two whole bottles with no problem).

For the cold, layers are the key.  We do a lot of walking around in the night since the heat isn’t beating us down then, and when you have too many warm clothes on, you start to get stifled quickly, so you best not put that winter coat on over that long-sleeved shirt for the trek.  But, as soon as you stop, that sweat-covered skin chills super fast and you can be left shivering if you didn’t bring something to throw over yourself.  My solution was to simply dress in long pants with good socks and shoes (feet are one of the major heat-loss zones, so I really don’t recommend going barefoot if you can avoid it when it’s cold out), and just a tank top.  Even at 45 degrees, as long as you’re moving your arms will stay warm enough.  When I stop, I untie a heavy sweater from around my waist and throw it on.  The great thing about keeping it tied around your waist is that the sleeves get warmed up by being close to your body, so your now-cold arms get an infusion of heat from your hip-heated sleeves.  My sister’s solution, though, which is better when you have to move fast, is a mechanic’s jumpsuit or flight suit over shorts and a tank top.  The numerous pockets also allow for packing around a great deal of stuff, including your pocket knife, a first aid kit, extra goggles, a water flask, a flashlight and a bunch more.  If she gets too hot, she just has to take her arms out of the sleeves and tie them around her waist.  She could let them hang loose since the waist has an elastic band, but I already mentioned the benefits of tying your sleeves around your waist.  There are suits out there that also have a double-runner zipper, so if you have to urinate you don’t have to strip your top to get yourself out.  (And ladies:  there’s this wonderful product called a Go Girl that can give you the same freedom–just remember to shake it out well before you tuck it back in your pocket or whatever you’re carrying it in).

That time of the year, we often see rain, too, if not much.  However, last year, on our first day out there, we were hit by a downpour that started suddenly and lasted several hours.  The rain caused the ground to be very hard and rough once it dried out, and for anyone who wasn’t used to walking around barefoot (we didn’t require you to wear shoes if you didn’t want to), it would actually cut up their feet.  Even those of us who were accustomed to being barefoot had to take good care of our feet by rubbing moisturizer into the cracks each night.  It’s very important to take care of your feet when they’re your only mode of transportation.  The ones who wore shoes and socks had to take those off every night to shake the sand out of them, and either moisturize because the sand had dried their feet out or let their feet dry out because they had sweat so much.  Again, when your feet are your only mode of transportation, it is imperative that you check on their health every day–sometimes you don’t feel the cracks, redness or fungus until it could be too late to treat, or it might take several days of treatment before you’re mobile again.  

The other major weather we have to deal with is sand-laden windstorms, which can keep you blind to just a few feet for several hours, not to mention getting it into your eyes, nose, mouth, and anything that’s not completely sealed (including the inside of your car).  Everyone needed some sort of dust mask.  My sister and I were quite happy just with our handkerchiefs tied around our faces like train robbers.  Protecting the eyes was the less obvious part.  Some people just brought sunglasses which admittedly kept their eyes protected from the sun, but offered no protection against the wind.  Our solution:  welding goggles!  They offered protection for our eyes against the wind and kept our eyes shaded.  There are also some tinted motorcycling goggles out there as well as clear ones.  The clear ones are good for nighttime use, but sandstorms tend to not be as active at night, so only one of our party even bothered with them.

Shelter is an interesting problem in the desert.  Because of the wind, most tents can’t stay down.  There are some dome tents made for high wind that have flexible poles.  Not all dome tents will cut it though.  Most will be able to handle a week, although some can’t, and fewer will be able to handle much longer than a week or two in high winds.  And trust me, it’s no fun trying to sleep in a tent with a broken fiberglass pole.  Other issues tents have are their vents, which will allow in choking amounts of sand in a sandstorm.  There are couple solutions to this.  Some tents have a decent enough rain fly to keep most of the sand out in a light sandstorm.  A better solution is to duct tape a medium-thick blanket over the tent.  Better yet, put your tent inside a larger tent with the doors facing opposite directions.  That’s my favorite solution.  I take a dome tent that’s just big enough for me to sleep in comfortably and build it inside a tent that has enough clearance to fit it inside (you kind of have to finagle the poles to arrange do so inside another tent, but with the outer tent door open it usually works without problems).  A rectangular outer tent works best so that you can walk around the inner tent without too much difficulty.  I keep all of my stuff–clothes, etc.–in the outer tent.  

This set up also helps with another problem:  balancing light and heat.  Since we are so much more active in the cool of the night, trying to sleep during the day becomes a bit of an issue because a light colored tent keeps the temperature inside down but lets in a lot more light than anyone is likely to easily sleep in without an eye pillow (which I hate), but a dark one absorbs heat while it keeps the light out.  Last year, our outer tent was darker green, keeping the light out of the general structure, and the inside one was red (not as light as it could be) and gray which reflected the heat back into the outer tent.  By the time that it got light and warm enough in the inner tent, it was usually mid- to late-morning, which was plenty of sleep if I had gone to sleep at least an hour before sunrise.  Another option for shelter in windy conditions is a geodesic dome structure, which are very hardy to windy conditions and keep the dust out nicely if you buy one with an attached floor (or attach one yourself using velcro or duct tape and some tarps), but are not ideal if you have to be able to move quickly because they can take an hour to put up or take down.  I still recommend doubling up so you have the combined benefits of light and dark.

Then there’s the issue of food when there’s no plant or animal sources to forage or hunt.  Our group of five got by just fine with a large cooler filled with non-perishable food and no ice.  The cooler kept the sand out of our food when it wasn’t open.  We tried to keep bulk down, so we had a lot of things like noodles, oatmeal, preserved meats (deviled ham and spam, mostly), jerky, dried fruits, cheese and butter powder, powdered milk, and crackers.  In the desert, salt is actually very important, because your body needs electrolytes to absorb water.  Plus, when you’re sweating, you loose a lot of those electrolytes. Tasty foods are also important.  When you’re hot, you don’t feel hungry even when you’re working more than normal.  I’m a strict three meals and a couple snacks kind of person, but out there, I had to be reminded to eat more than two meals each day, and if they hadn’t tasted so good, I wouldn’t have eaten very much even then.  We did all of our cooking on a propane camp stove.  Be warned though: cooking for just 5 people for a week took about 2-1/2 canisters of propane.

Then there is water.  You will be amazed how quickly a small group of people can go through water.  We brought a whole truck-bed full of cases of water in gallon jugs (each case had four gallons) for our group of four and left with only three cases left.  Now admittedly, one of our group was a coffee fiend and was probably responsible for the greater consumption of our water, but even if we didn’t count his coffee water, we would have probably used up about 1/2 to 3/4 of that truck load even so. How?  Not only do the heat and extra activity of living outside use up extra water, but so does the wind.  Wind will dry you out quicker than any other thing–even if you’re in the tundra.  Sure, we washed, but our washing consisted of wetting a rag down and wiping off what we could, paying special attention to areas like our feet, groins, armpits and faces where moisture was likely to collect–and then dry out, leaving salt behind, which can eventually cause some major discomfort.  Some water went to cooking noodles and adding to the powdered foods.  The noodle water was usually recycled for washing out our dishes.  

Most of the water, though, went directly to drinking.  In normal temperatures under lazy conditions, it’s recommended that you get 8 cups of water a day (1/2 gallon).  One nutrition class I took demonstrated that you could easily get yourself up to recommended hydration standards just by taking a swig of water every 15 minutes.  That’s not a bad practice.  We used that in the desert, taking a swig every once in a while, but adding a good pull any time we felt ourselves being more dehydrated that we wanted to be.  The frequency of long pulls was a good indicator of just how much extra water it takes to survive in hot, dry, windy conditions.  Don’t be surprised if you down a whole gallon or even two just for yourself in that kind of condition.  

Even with a schedule of water drinking, you usually don’t feel thirsty until that water hits your mouth.  If you do feel thirsty, you’re already starting to get dehydrated.  Cracked lips are another good indicator, especially if they’re cracked underneath a good layer of lip balm (which I also recommend when you’re in any kind of dry wind, hot or cold–we put it on religiously for snowboarding as well as desert camping–just avoid the tasty ones that make you lick your lips a lot because that defeats the purpose).  Other indicators that are very bad signs include dry mouth and gummy eyes (even if you want to deny it by claiming that it’s gunk blown in your eyes by the wind).  If you or someone in your party is obviously dehydrated, sit them down out of the wind and make them take small sips of water about every five minutes until they start looking better (probably at least an hour).  And yes, drinking that much extra water will make you want to urinate a lot, so just remember to keep putting more water and electrolytes back in.

JWR Adds: The currently-approved practice in western armies is to slightly “over-drink”, just in case. It is better to be slightly over-hydrated than to risk being under-hydrated.

Traditional Archery in a TEOTWAWKI

I felt prompted to write to point out some advantages to traditional archery, especially for those that might not be all that familiar with archery as a family sport.

First, a little about me. I am 56 years old and have been an archer since I was 14. My dad was an avid outdoorsman who introduced me to a .22 rifle when I was six years old. I still have that rifle and used it to teach my wife how to shoot when we first married 36 years ago and am now using it to teach my nephews to shoot.  I got my first shotgun when I was about 10 and started hunting with my dad, uncle and cousin. Saturday’s were our “day” and except for the rare occasion when my dad had to attend to a job related matter with the construction company he owned, we hunted or fished just about every Saturday of the year. To say I was a highly blessed child would be an understatement.

Although my dad was an avid outdoorsman he never was into archery, however when I was 14 my cousin who is about four years older than me, decided he wanted to try bow hunting. He got me hooked and now, 42 years later I still enjoy the sport of archery both on the range and in the field.

As with all things, modern technology has made archery a precision shooting experience. But, in a true TEOTWAWKI how many of the archers using those fancy compound bows will be able to maintain them for more than maybe a year or two before they either do not have the tools or the expertise to properly tune the bow for maximum performance?

From that last paragraph you probably have guessed I still shoot the good ol’ reliable recurve bow made so popular by Fred Bear and Bear archery. I don’t use any mounted sighting aids, meaning I use the “instinctive” method of aiming. If you practice and learn to use this method it has several advantages in a survival situation. First, you are not dependant on a sight that can easily get damaged or knocked out of alignment. Second, you can get on target faster shooting instinctively than you ever could trying to line up your target in the peep sight. Third, anything added to your bow equals more weight and often times, more noise when you shoot.

I know many will say the advantages of the compound bow outweigh the disadvantages. I am not here to debate the pros and cons of compounds over recurves or long bow but here is the biggest reason to learn to shoot instinctively with a recurve or long bow – Low Maintenance! You never have to tune a recurve or long bow and in a pinch you can literally make a new bow string in less than 10 minutes from the inner strands of 550 parachute cord. You cannot do that with any compound bow I am familiar with!

I have a friend who is a world class archer who also owns a local archery shop. About every two or three years I have him custom make two new bow strings for my Bear Grizzly recurve bow. So I always have at least three or four of these extra bow strings in my preps.

I think most woodsmen and preppers  probably have a supply of beeswax which is really about the only thing you need to keep the recurve or long bow operating at optimal performance. Every time I take my bow out,  I run the bees wax up and down the bow string once I have strung the bow. This preserves and protects the bow string and maximizes its useful life.

Using a bow and arrow takes a bit more skill, you have to be much closer to your target but for OPSEC and stealth a bow is hard to beat.

Another thing I would like to mention is repair and maintenance on your arrows. Besides bending or breaking an arrow the most common problem you’ll encounter is with the fletching or feathers. If you shoot frequently, as I do, the fletching will get damaged or come completely off the shaft. When this happens the arrow is useless until it is repaired. For less than $50 you can get everything including extra fletching you need to repair dozens of arrows. A simple fletching jig can be had for about $20. A one time investment. I still have and use the first fletching jig I bought when I was 15. In addition, a tube of glue or fletching cement and the feathers are all that is needed. Add some nocks which are the nylon or plastic tips on the arrow that the bow string is placed into and, depending on the type of shaft you are using either some epoxy or a resin glue stick and some field points or broad heads and you’re ready to repair or even make your own arrows. While store bought fletching is much easier to use, in a TEOTWAWKI a single common bird feather can make at least two fletching feathers.

While re-fletching arrows is a common necessity with both traditional and compound bows the advantage to traditional is that arrows are much easier to make, if you had to, to shoot in a recurve or long bow. Due to the tremendous thrust a compound bow initially creates when the string is released, wooden shaft arrows will often splinter, making them unsatisfactory for compound bows. In a TEOTWAWKI aluminum or graphite shafts will be hard if not impossible to find. Even though I use a recurve bow, I prefer aluminum shafts. They are more accurate and last longer than wood-period. But, if I had to make my own wooden arrow shafts my recurve bow will shoot them where as a compound bow would just splinter them.

Archery is something the entire family can enjoy and although I have harped on the use of traditional archery equipment in a TEOTWAWKI , to get the wife and kids started and to make sure they enjoy their initial experience, investing in a compound bow may be a better choice. Compounds require less strength by the shooter to pull the bow to full draw. They also deliver more power. The problem with starting someone off with a compound bow is, I don’t know of anyone who shoots a compound bow instinctively, in fact since I don’t even own a compound bow, I’m not sure its even possible to shoot one instinctively. My three attempts at it failed miserably and I handed the compound bow back to its owner and said thanks but no thanks. Not learning how to shoot instinctively at the beginning, I believe, will handicap you later. You become too dependent on the use of sights, which as I mentioned earlier can get knocked out of alignment or damaged.

Now, let me be quick to say I am far from being a “expert” archer despite 42 years experience, but every time I go to the indoor range near my home I seem to amaze my fellow shooters with their compound bows and peep sights because I can fairly consistently group my arrows in a 8-inch circle at 30 yards shooting instinctively. In my younger days before the need for glasses, and when I had time to practice more I could group in a 5 inch circle.

Another advantage to archery, you can build a back yard range even if you live in the city (in most cases, but check your local ordinances first). The least expensive route is to get four bales of hay from the local feed store or co-op. Ask to select the bales yourself or tell whoever is going to select them at the store that you need only bales that are tightly and evenly baled since you are going to use them for archery targets.

I lay two of them down lengthwise, then place the other two upright behind the first two. The two bales thickness will stop any arrow you can shoot except maybe from some more powerful crossbows. Having the two stacks turned opposite ways prevents the arrow from slipping through the crack between the two bales should it hit exactly at that point.

As with any type of shooting, gun or archery, always be mindful of what is downrange behind the target, especially if you live in a subdivision and put in a back yard archery range. I have a half acre lot and have my range set up next to my garden at the back of the property. My neighbor is also a bow hunter so he has no problem with my target bales being against our mutual chain  link fence between our properties, and he knows he is welcome to come over and use my range anytime whether I’m home or not,  but I even watch two houses down because that neighbor has two dogs and if they are out roaming their back yard I will not shoot-period.

Not long after I bought this home 22 years ago I had neighbors on both sides that had children who played in their back yards frequently which made it much too dangerous to consider putting in the range I have today. I did however have an outbuilding with a lean-to beside it that was 22 feet front to back. I installed walls on the long open side and back and put my bales at the back of the lean-to, that gave me a short range of about 25 feet that I could use even if the children were outside.

To summarize, archery is a fun sport the entire family can enjoy and in a TEOTWAWKI offers stealth, protection and a means to put food on the table. With a relatively small investment you can get everything you need to maintain traditional archery equipment long term and even make your own arrows and bowstring should your prepped supply be exhausted. And to spin off of Jim’s statements, you can make your own long bow from a good straight and dried hickory sapling or other wood. I have often thought about trying to do that but have never actually done it. I do have a friend in Texas who does make his own long bows and creates some beautiful and highly functional and accurate bows he hunts with. – Muscadine Hunter

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Red Dawn Goes Korean: Digitally-Manipulated Political Correctness

They call it the “dream factory”. Hollywood, they say, is where any dream can be made to appear to come true. Apparently that is still the case: The Los Angeles Times just reported that MGM has magically transformed the villains in the soon-to-be-released remake of the legendary John Milius film Red Dawn from Chinese to North Korean. The change in bad guys was accomplished by creating a new opening sequence summarizing the back story, by re-editing two scenes and by using digital technology to transform many Chinese symbols to Korean. All this cost only about $1 million in additional post-production costs. The LA Times reports that these post-facto changes will not completely eliminate references to China, but it puts North Korea in the lead role in the coalition that invades CONUS. The movie had been “in the can” for more than a year, but the release was stalled, because of MGM’s bankruptcy. But as MGM Corporation crawled up out of the dustbin with new financing (partly from overseas) and a new foreign distribution arrangement, it had a very inconvenient problem: Red Dawn was still waiting for release. Rather than facing another fiasco of Heaven’s Gate proportions, MGM’s management decided to finagle their way out, digitally.

Producer Tripp Vinson was quoted as saying: “We were initially very reluctant to make any changes, but after careful consideration we constructed a way to make a scarier, smarter and more dangerous ‘Red Dawn’ that we believe improves the movie”. I have nothing but contempt for this sycophantic political back-pedaling. So did also going to digitally change the Chinese soldiers’ facial features to look Korean? Did MGM’s “careful consideration” include the management reminding them that Sony now has a stake in the newly-reorganized MGM? And is it it just a coincidence that the Chinese government is now “co-investing” with Sony? I think not.

Are we supposed to blithely accept the digital legerdemain of removing the familiar “Eight One” chop mark of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and substituting some hangul squiggles? The whole concept is absurd. North Korea has an army that numbers just over one million men and women with a largely fictitious 7.7 million member “reserve” force. (The latter is a paper tiger, armed mostly with T-54 and T-55 tanks that won’t start, SKS and Mosin Nagant rifles, and even some ersatz solid wood “rifles” for parade drills.) The North Koreans also have virtually NO blue water transport fleet. They would have trouble successfully invading the 38,600 square miles of South Korea, much less the 3.79 million square miles of the United States. Contrast that with China’s three million PLA troops and at least some naval transport, and a huge fleet of container ships. Even portraying the PLA would be stretch for an invasion force, but putting Uncle Kim’s Army in the lead role is absolutely laughable.

I find this whole charade reminiscent of the novel 1984, where military alliances were changed at a whim. But for MGM to change a completed film in post production is a new twist. If they can make changes this dramatic via digital manipulation, then I wonder what other changes we could see made to existing movies. This makes Ted Turner’s “colorizing” black and white films seem tame, by comparison. I predict that there will be a huge interest in the obsessive Bit Torrent geek world in comparing the pre-Korean and post-Korean versions of the movie. (Sort of like the folks that enjoy comparing doctored Soviet photographs.) MGM’s digital wizards are giving new meaning to both the terms “political correctness” and “historical revisionism.”

I wonder how Chris Hemsworth and Josh Peck (cast as Jed and Matt Eckert in the new movie) will feel about all this, when they attend the premiere showing. “Dang, I thought we were fightin’ the Chinese!”

A closing thought: May God have mercy on any nation that ever attempts to invade the United States. To quote the lead character in my novel “Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse”: “Come back if you dare. And when you do, you’d better bring a lot of ammo, plenty of extra grub, and a good supply of body bags, because you’re going to be in for a deuce of a gun fight.”

Economics and Investing:

F.G. suggested this: Golden Years–People have had a fascination with gold for thousands of years. Here are some milestones along the way.

C.D.V. sent this bit of gloomage: Mandatory Spending to Exceed all Federal Revenues — 50 Years Ahead of Schedule.

From John R.: Europe debt risk hits $2.5 trillion

Items from The Economatrix:

The Silver Door Is Closing

Sprotts On Silver — The Door Is Closing     

14 Reasons Why The Economic Collapse Of Japan Has Begun  

Around The World Graphs 

Odds ‘n Sods:

This headline may remind readers of a prescient article that they read in September, 2010 in SurvivalBlog: Spent nuke fuel pool may be boiling, further radiation leak feared. Note that most spent fuel ponds are typically NOT housed the same heavy duty containment vessels as reactors. Thus, they pose a greater contamination risk than reactors!

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Reader Troy H. sent this: No looting going on in Japan. Troy’s comment: “I think this article gives credence to your idea that having a morally unified community (e.g. your fellow retreaters, your small rural town, etc.) increases your chances of survival significantly. (Besides, it make life much more enjoyable!) [The experience in Japan] also provides us an example for us as a nation.”

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I heard that Ready Made Resources just received 10 of the scarce 7-day storage food units from Mountain House. As I’m sure most SurvivalBlog readers are aware, in the past three months Mountain House foods have been very hard to find “in captivity.” (Note: These are in such short supply that they are still listed as “Out of Stock” on the web site–but they actually do have a few! Phone them for details. Jump on these, before they sell out. OBTW, I also recommend Alpen Aire brand storage foods. (Since they are of comparable quality.)

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My editor at Penguin Books sent me some updates about my book “How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It”: There are now 132,000 copies of the book in print, and it has gone through 11 printings. She mentioned that there will soon be a Romanian edition. Thus, there are now ten foreign publishing contracts in place to produce editions in nine languages. With the recent calamitous events in Japan, the book is again climbing the sales ranks on Amazon, up to #75 overall and #1 in the “Survival Skills” category, as of Wednesday morning. That’s not bad for a book that had been in print for 18 months.

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I just heard that Martin A. Armstrong has finally been released from prison, but he is still under house arrest. His latest newsletter (presumably the last one that will be produced on a typewriter) was quite interesting.

Note from JWR:

Today we present another two entries for Round 33 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) 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 B.) Two cases of Alpine Aire freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $400 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A 250 round case of 12 Gauge Hornady TAP FPD 2-3/4″ OO buckshot ammo, courtesy of Sunflower Ammo (a $240 value), and E.) An M17 medical kit from JRH Enterprises (a $179.95 value).

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) 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, C.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and D.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.) , and B.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value.

Round 33 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

A Firearms Battery on a Budget, by J.J.K.

There has been a lot written about firearms in a SHTF scenario. Plenty of information about which firearms are the “best” and which calibers are the “best” and so on. I have no interest in proceeding on that same tack. If you have the money, you can make any firearm choices you want, and if you have the time and authority, you can coordinate with those who are likely to show up to your retreat. Neither of these is possible in our personal situation.

My wife and I have both been unemployed for well over a year. My unemployment is about to run out, and she never qualified. Despite our best attempts, neither of us is holding out much hope of getting a job before a crisis hits. Odd jobs and the occasional selling of personal items has been the only way we’ve been able to supplement our income. The bright spot in our situation is that my father-in-law owns a farm well out into the country, and well away from any major highways. When we first realized that things weren’t going to be getting better (about a year ago), we proceeded on the assumption that our family would be moving up to his farm. Before I get any comments about this, we are not just “dropping in,” my father-in-law  has been aware of our plans, and approved of them from the beginning. We have food, supplies, firearms and ammunition already stored in place. My brother-in-law and his family have finally jumped into prepping with a vengeance (after almost a year of hedging) and his family now has the same plan. Since then, and with the agreement of my father-in-law, a few others have been accepted into our retreat group. I bring this up to highlight the personality clashes that will contribute to the problems within our planning.

Now we arrive at the root of our problem. Before last year we had just one firearm, a .22 rifle. My brother-in-law and our other retreat members had none. When our plans started, it was suggested that there are enough firearms at the farmhouse for our needs. They are: three hunting rifles in three different calibers, two 12-gauge shotguns, one 20-gauge, two shotguns in .410 caliber, and five or six .22 rifles. In addition there are six revolvers in four different calibers. So aside from the .22 rifles, there is essentially no cohesion between calibers. If we were to rely on those rifles, providing sufficient ammunition for all of them all would be too expensive for us to manage.

My wife and I made a decision fairly early on to standardize. We were going to stick with .223 for battle rifle purchases, only buy 12-gauge shotgun shells, and limit small arms to 9mm. There can be complete novels written about how good or bad our choices were, but that is what we decided based in part on ammunition cost. After purchasing our first AR-15, it became apparent that our group couldn’t afford the AR-15 as a standard. So after much discussion, we changed our battle rifle to 7.62×39. The ammunition cost is comparable to .223, and the rifle is affordable to the monetary-challenged. Unfortunately my brother-in-law chose to go in his own direction. He has the most disposable income of anybody in our group, and we are still encouraging him to pick up an AKM clone for standardization reasons, but his most recent purchase was a .308 caliber battle rifle.

We have three rifles in 7.62×39, still the two 12-gauge shotguns, and two 9mm pistols. So there is an attempt at standardization. But due to monetary constraints and personality conflicts, we have not had a great number of new firearms purchased, and therefore still have a plethora of calibers to attempt to store. My wife and I are trying to stick to our plan on purchasing only a few calibers, but we have agreed that even if it’s just one box of ammo per revolver, it still makes sense to have something available for them to shoot.

Despite every preppers best attempts, not everybody is going to be as well standardized as the main group in “Patriots”. We wish our retreat was as well-prepared as theirs, but unless that lucky lotto ticket comes our way, we are not likely to be able to match that level of preparations. Instead we have accepted that scrounging and trading will become part of the way of life after the SHTF. However the means by which you acquire them, you cannot count of the firearms you may come across to fall into your standard classifications. If you have the money and space, you may want to store some common-caliber ammunition for firearms you do not own. If nothing else it can be traded. But it may mean that the additional weapon for your retreat can be used as more than just a high-tech club.

There are four primary lessons here:

Lesson One: Training. Make sure that everybody in your group has at least a basic understanding of whatever your standard firearms are. In our case, we have a week-long retreat planned in a few months, and every adult member will be learning to field-strip and clean the AR-15 platform and the AKM platform. The AKM is essentially our standard battle rifle, and if something happens, the three owners can not be the only retreat members who are able to use them. The AR-15 platform is essential because if the absolute worst happens, as in Patriots, it is arguable that the two platforms most likely to be used by our opponents would be the AKM series or the AR-15 series.

Lesson Two: Logistics. While budget is the unfortunate master of all purchases, it is still a good idea to try to maintain a sufficient supply of ammunition. Even if you are reloading, you are looking at a finite supply of ammunition for your weapons. (Black powder muzzle loaders being an exception if your retreat has the powder elements nearby.) You cannot assume that you will be able to resupply your ammunition. What you have stored is it. So you should focus your efforts on the firearms which give you the best bang for your buck. 7.62×39 is by no means as good a round as 7.62×51 NATO, but it is far more affordable in the amount required. I still think buying non-standard ammunition is a good idea, but focus on the fact that ammunition cannot be replaced once used and plan your purchases accordingly.

Lesson Three: Planning. Now is the time to get your planning done with regards to firearms. Most people are familiar with the firearms they own. There are far less people familiar with firearms they don’t own. It is possible in a SHTF scenario that you will acquire weapons one way or another, and there is no guarantee that it will be a firearm anybody in your retreat group is familiar with. What we have done is downloaded the field-stripping and cleaning instructions for a variety of firearms that we don’t own. We printed them out and placed them in the same binder that has the field manuals for our own rifles. We focused primarily on those firearms that are calibers we are storing, but certain firearms were chosen based on their popularity. Former military standard rifles and handguns are a good place to start. Based on the CMP sales, we have included the M- Garand and the M1 Carbine in our binder. The M1911A1 was also an obvious choice. Will we be coming across these after the SHTF? Maybe we will, maybe not. But if we do, we have the manual that would allow us to clean and maintain them, so we can use them if the need arises.

Lesson Four: Relax. You may have people in your retreat that are obstinate. There isn’t a whole lot you can do about it, especially if you don’t have the authority or the heart to exclude them. Remember your faith and take it all with a grain of salt. We had one person who allowed his personal desire to override our attempt for everybody to have a standard battle rifle. Two others did not and purchased an AKM clone. This is not the best result, but under the circumstances it was pretty good. And in all honesty, that .308 battle rifle is going to do wonders for our ability to “reach out and touch someone.” When you are prepping on a limited budget, you have to take things as they come instead of how you wish them to be. Think of it as training for after SHTF when everybody is going to have to develop that skill.

Could our firearms preparations need better coordination? I would say yes. Are our standards the best choices? I would say overall, no. Is it the best we can do with our limited personal income and the loose cohesiveness of the retreat group? In that I would have to say yes.

If you are despairing at the inability to match the outstanding preparations that you read about so often, remember that you are not alone. Budget yourself, do what you can, and prepare. It’s better to prepare as best you can than not prepare at all.

Prepper Turnout Gear, by Vincent H.

When I use the term turnout gear what does that mean to you?  If you’re a fire fighter this brings to mind the boots, pants and coat you don before you battle a fire.  If you’re at your retreat, or even your home, this is the gear you quickly throw on to address an unexpected problem.  In this post I hope to cover some gear I have decided would be beneficial to have under these circumstances and what I have acquired to use in this situation.

The best example I can use to reference this problem to everyone is well illustrated in JWR’s novel “Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse” (which I can assume everyone has read since you are on this blog.)  During the night a group of raiders/ thieves come to the Groups retreat with the intention of taking things they have no right to have.  In the book the alert person on LP/OP recognizes and identifies the threat alerts the others, who are sleeping, and they repel the bad guys by force and let God sort the rest of it out.

Now this situation has got me thinking, if I was at my retreat and some bad hombres came a knocking how would I answer the door?  While I’m perfectly comfortable fighting in my Scooby-Doo boxer shorts why not get into the fight a little better prepared?

What I have done is acquire a set of coveralls (mechanic’s coveralls work great, or if you want to call yourself Maverick you can find surplus flight suits for sale) a few sizes larger than my body type to throw on in a hurry.  I made sure they were roomy enough to get on quickly, but not so big that I looked like a kid in Dad’s coat.  Coveralls come in snap-up and zipper design, for quicker access I recommend the zip up style.  Most of these coveralls are made in twill or cotton and are very reasonable, but if you feel the need to get some flame retardant coveralls the above mentioned flight suit or even some tactical coveralls are out there to cover that need.

Next I acquired a pair of zip-up boots that also go on in a hurry.  I was lucky enough to find a pair of boots, Bates Durashocks, that come in a straight lace up style and the same but with a zipper on the side for quick slip on.  I like these boots because they are sturdy, comfortable and resole-able.  These are the boots I currently wear for everyday use so the nice thing about having the zip-up boots is that they are the same style that my feet are used to.  This makes it feel like I’m wearing my everyday boots, which has fooled my feet into thinking they are always in the same boots all the time.  Now if you are wondering why I am taking the time for boots I offer these two thoughts: one, are you ever going to the shooting range in your bare feet?  Why not?  Because you don’t want to walk over hot brass anymore than I do.  If this is a TEOTWAWKI situation a bad burn or cut on your foot could become infected and lead to medical issues that are not as easily resolved in a grid down scenario.  Plus this puts you on “light duty” for a while and we are trying to minimize that as much as possible.  Second, while I support staying put in an assigned defensive position while under siege I have also asked the question, what if those banditos just grabbed someone in your group and are trying to kidnap them?  While I have no reservations about chasing those bad men/women while wearing the aforementioned Scooby-Doo boxers and my bare feet I would prefer to go at it with proper foot wear.  I think this also answers the question of slipping on un-laced boots or a slipper. Another situation to consider is if your location is no longer viable and you need to evacuate.  If your location is on fire or the situation has degraded to a point where leaving, i.e. making a hasty but “tactical” retreat then having essentials (and clothes) on you makes it easier until you can make it to one of your caches. 

The third piece of equipment I have in my turnout gear is a tactical vest.  They have tactical vests that zip up in the front and that have numerous other pouches that I can fill with whatever I deem essential, magazines, knives and even a pistol.  These vests come in different styles and prefigured configurations, whatever suits you individually, for the dollar conscious person. 

If you are just looking for a vest to serve this purpose they make some for every price range from high dollar, but high quality, Blackhawk, to less expensive brands.  The point is having spare ammo on you, as well as placing magazines at shooting locations, gives you the ability to have some in the event you need to move or you even run out of your supply of stationed magazines.

I have a tactical vest that also has belt anchor points around the bottom of it which allows me attach a nylon pistol belt directly to the vest.  I use this to hold my pistol holster, because I always carry a pistol on my strong side hip, and I like carrying my sidearm in the same manner in which I have trained all these years.  Also by adding a quick connecting belt to this rig you add additional attachment points for other pieces of gear. If you are looking to add body armor to your tactical vest I must warn you that I have seen several different styles of tactical vest carriers and the majority of them utilize a cummerbund support belt beneath that, while adds a level of comfort and stability, adds additional time to getting yourself into a state of hurried preparedness.  If I have plenty of time to get ready I would put on one of these on, but the point of this article is placing yourself in a state of readiness as quickly as possible.

The last piece of the solution that I highly recommend is practice.  Lay out your gear so that you can quickly grab it and put it on.  Lie in bed and practice jumping up and getting your gear on (if you can get away with it without getting banished to the couch by the wife set an alarm and run this drill in the middle of your sleep cycle.)  Think about how you sleep and how you get up, place your gear in a place that makes the most sense (and won’t trip you or the wife if you have to make a midnight bathroom trip) for you to get at in a hurry.  While you can never 100 percent prepare for the real deal building up muscle memory ahead of time will reduce fumbling during crunch time.  With several practice sessions you can be dressed and at the ready with a weapon in hand in seconds.

Now some of you might say that you would just sleep in your BDUs and be ready to jump up to the fight, but I question if any of us will be sleeping in full pants and shirt in the middle of the summer, especially after months of monotony and long hard days of work during the day.  Even soldiers will tell you that while on patrol in “hostile” areas they sleep in full gear in case a firefight breaks out, but even in areas declared a combat zone they don’t sleep in their combat gear while they are safely behind the wire.

Another use for this turnout gear is for when the SHTF.  Not all of the TEOTWAWKI situations that we might find ourselves in are slow starting, like an economic collapse.  Some situations we might find ourselves in are quickly transpiring (a natural or celestial disaster, or the impending zombie invasion) and throwing gear on quickly could make bugging out faster.  Even going so far as to keep a pair of boots, which has been mentioned before by others on this blog, in a bag and a pair of coveralls in your trunk could be useful.  I would like to think that while I quietly prepare for any conceivable future I also don’t deny myself admiring and living in the splendor of God’s world.  For example if you take the family to the beach and suddenly the situation changes in some cataclysmic way being able to change from my flip fops and swimming trunks into boots and coveralls makes things a whole lot better in my mind.  So I have placed an extra pair of boots, coveralls, and under garments in a small gym bag next to my B.O.B. in my trunk, because I would rather have it and not need it then need it and not have it.  

I hope this article is useful to some of you out there since I have been able to get so much useful information from SurvivalBlog that I hope this gives at least a little piece back.

Letter Re: Preparedness at Your Workplace

Mr. Rawles,
As a regular reader of your blog, I have seen little mentioned about one obvious “bug in” solution that most people overlook, which would be their office or work site. This will not work for everyone but please allow me to provide you with my own experience.

We have a small warehouse/office operation of about 2,000 square feet. There are 2 offices, a basic bathroom, and a small room previously used as a lunch room for the employees of the other tenant. These rooms take up about 400 square feet of space from the total 2,000 square feet. The warehouse also has a mezzanine area above the office rooms for about 400 square feet of extra storage.

Our small warehouse is located about 20 minutes outside the downtown core of a major city. In a SHTF scenario, people will be driving away from these industrial areas trying to get home. Also, government control will be focused on high density population areas of the city, not the industrial areas on the outskirts of a city.

In our warehouse I always have on hand around 3 months worth of food. How do I store it without being noticed? Well, I simply build what I call a rolling work bench. I build a plywood box that is 48” square and 30” tall and stores my “tools” in it. I use the flat top as an actual work bench during daily use. I put heavy duty caster wheels on it for easy movement. I put locks on the front door of this box so nobody else can access it (people accept the explanation of locking your tools up). The box itself is light enough (once emptied of contents) that I can lift it myself onto my pickup truck with the extra rope handles I built into it.

My boss now knows what I am doing. I’ve been working with him for five years and he’s starting to see the light of being prepared as I’ve gradually got him thinking about it. It’s one thing to talk about it, but when I showed him my “stash” in the warehouse he got very interested! He had no idea that such a large amount of preps could be “concealed” in what is literally a 4’x4’ rolling, portable, plywood box that he thought was a work bench (and it is a work bench/table). He was amazed that I had taken it upon myself to “prep” the warehouse at my expense. I could see he was thinking about what to do at his house without alarming his wife and daughter. We all know that “prepper education” takes time.

I’ll describe some of the contents of my warehouse prep box.

  • A 45 lb, 7 day bug out backpack with pellet gun & other defenses.
  • Two“grab-n-go” emergency 5 gallon food buckets (my own design).
  • Large Rubbermaid container with bulk food items. Too many to list.
  • Another container with food, clothes, and various cooking utensils.
  • Other items include extra fuel, guns, and more food.
  • Coleman stove and several cans of fuel.
  • Small propane bottles with accessories.
  • Rope… lots of it. – 2 coils each of 100 feet.
  • Tools… folding shovels, small axes and multi-tool knives
  • Three different types of sharpening tools.
  • Portable Rocket Stove which I made myself.

As I look into the storage box, I’m sure I’m forgetting something on the above list. Anyway, this is just a picture of what I store where I work, all in a 4’x4’ plywood box on wheels that everyone thinks is my tool crib and work bench. – A Prepper in Alberta

JWR Adds: Beware of storing packaged foods and volatile fuel or chemicals in the same space. Otherwise, you may end up with ramen noodles that taste like white gas.

FWIW, back when I worked in the corporate world, I took full advantage of my locking file cabinets. The back one-third of several of the lower drawers held nondescript-looking brown cardboard boxes that were full of preparedness gear and food. I also took advantage of the dead space in my cubicle walls. At one of my jobs I had my office on the 11th floor of a 14-storey office tower. I kept a gas mask, a Swiss seat, a couple of oval carabiners, and 150 feet of kernmantle rope in my office. I felt ready for fires, but I wondered how I would explain all of my gear if I was ever "shown the door", on short notice.

Letter Re: Low-Light Tactics and Options

Officer Tackleberry’s recent article was a rarely touched upon subject in the tactical world. People like to train what they are good at and not what they aren’t so good at. Low-light takes a lot more work for a variety of reasons. I hope to add a bit to Tackleberry’s very useful article. I will attempt to not be too redundant, as Tackleberry did a very good job of describing techniques and principles… perhaps we can overlap in a beneficial way.

When activating your tactical light, be it handheld or weapon-mounted, always have the light pointed at, or nearly at what you want to illuminate and not at the “low-ready” or at the ground (yes, even with a weapon-mounted light… more on that later). Particularly when using any of the techniques that mate the hand holding the light and the gun (like with the “Harries”), and when using a weapon-mounted light, do not activate the light before bringing the light/gun up to illuminate what you want to illuminate or you will “draw” a path from you to the bad guy. Gun/light come up, then you activate the light. This principle still applies with the other techniques Tackleberry mentions… the reasoning being you are wasting time by bringing the light up and possibly specifically pointing at where you are standing with your light giving the bad guy more time to acquire you as the target!

Perhaps more critical is that you should use your light in very short bursts of light, as in roughly two to three seconds at a maximum… otherwise you risk becoming a bullet magnet (strobing might be an exception to this). Once the light has been brought up, then activated, you will scan with the light in the various techniques Tackleberry brought up for that (maximum) of two to three seconds, then the light should go off, and then MOVE! I cannot stress this part enough. Moving one step or two is usually not enough, though if that is all you have, then it is better than standing still. In drills with students, a light is activated in pitch black from somewhere in the 360 degrees around them for less than a second, then the light goes off, and they almost universally point to within 0-3 feet of where the light was… and that’s at a distance of 20+ yards to the light! In a normal living room this means they would pinpoint you! This would suggest that you should move more than that three feet to avoid their incoming fire once your light goes off.

About weapon-mounted lights… on handguns I am a firm believer in them though there are legitimate preferences on both sides of that preference. You should most definitely know the other non-weapon-mounted techniques as well. They compliment each other nicely. In my experience and in training others with varying levels of training I have found that target acquisition speed and accuracy are both greatly enhanced with a weapon-mounted light. This keeps you alive! The weapon mounted light allows you to focus on shooting the weapon and not on manipulating a light. This applies to both handguns and long guns. On long guns I would say it is more critical as weapons retention and driving the gun to the target (and any subsequent ones) are significantly faster and more solid than if you were using a hand-held light. The legitimate issues Tackleberry brought up about accidentally shooting someone due to a weapon-mounted light are negated with proper training. Remember that most cops don’t train outside of their department’s mandatory training and often that is lacking (not knocking cops, as I’m one, but it’s the sad truth).

As far as light selection, I will say don’t skimp on quality lights. There are legitimate reasons beyond brand names that Surefire and Streamlight charge $100+ (often upwards of $300!) for most of their lights. Briefly, as far as handgun mounted lights go, I would think the Surefire X300 is the dominant one in the market for good reason as of now… though I would strongly recommend mating it to the “DEVGRU” type switch that allows you to keep your natural firing grip while activating the light. For long-guns, I would also recommend Surefire’s X300 or Scout lights mounted as close to the 12 o’clock on the gun as possible, though other locations work well too.

All in all train with what you have. If all you have is grandpa’s worn out revolver and a 4-cell MagLite, you can still dominate your adversary with the proper mindset and training!

Psalm 144:1, God Bless! – PPPP

Economics and Investing:

The latest at Dr. Housing Bubble: The financial psychology of negative equity – 1,880,000 California mortgage holders have no equity in their homes. California home prices will fall 15 to 25 percent in the coming years. 1 out of 3 California mortgage holders at risk of walking away or defaulting.

What’s the Difference Between 1 Gold Karat, 1 Diamond Carat and 1 Troy Ounce?

Ben S. suggested this: Normal Interest Rates Would be a Disaster for U.S. Debt

Items from The Economatrix:

Fears of a Slowdown in Japan Push Stocks Lower  

Quake Selloff Wipes $287 Billion Off Tokyo Stock Market  

Tangible Commodities Rule as Dollar Tumbles  

The Economic Aftershock of Japan  

The Rule of Gold After Financial Collapse 

Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader J.B.G. sent this: Panic Buying Adds to Shortages After Japan Quake. JWR’s Comment: I predict that next they’ll try to cast blame on folks that stocked up before the earthquake. (True “hoarding” is something that occurs after a the onset of a crisis.) Meanwhile, in Tokyo: Japan’s nuclear emergency prompts panic buying in Tokyo

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Don’t miss this essay by Victor Davis Hanson: The Fragility of Complex Societies. (Thanks to Z. for the link.)

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Six Lessons for Preppers from the Japanese Earthquake / Tsunami / Nuclear Meltdown Disaster

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Reader Jim V. wrote to mention that the now dominant school of thought is that Potassium Iodate (KIO3), Potassium Iodide (KI) or other thyroid blockers for radiological events are not recommend for anyone over 40. Oh, and for the No Great Surprise Department: Potassium Iodide Runs Low as Americans Seek It Out. This underlines one of our mantras: “Better a year early, than a day late.”

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Given the high standard of living in Japan, I predict that in the next few weeks we may see some unofficial and very quiet refugees coming to the United States, via commercial airliners. They will declare themselves “on a vacation”, but they will actually be here on a long term “radiation vacation.”

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"You control your future, your destiny. What you think about comes about. By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be. Put your future in good hands: your own." – Motivational speaker Mark Victor Hansen