Product Review: WileyX SG1 Protective Glasses, by Michael Z. Williamson

I first got Wiley protective glasses as issue equipment when I deployed for OIF. I still have the same pair, and use them heavily while driving, shooting, and working with tools.

Let’s start with the most important part, the lenses. These are MIL-PRF-31013 ballistic certified. They are incredibly resistant to scratching—sandstorms, construction, daily wear and carry have not affected them. I even wore out the rubber seals mentioned below, and the lenses were still pristine. They’re still so transparent I’m not even aware of the lens, and I’m someone who has never needed correction. However, if you do, they can make prescription inserts of the same material. The lenses snap easily into the frame and are very secure, but can be replaced without undue difficulty. They also came (this model) with a ventilated rubber face seal that was indispensable during sand storms.

The frame is flexible enough to be tough while remaining sturdy, and extremely comfortable. It’s very modular. You can swap lenses from clear to smoke to prescription, change from ear pieces to elastic strap with a clip connector. The mounting screws for the hinges are full-length stainless. There is a slide on strap for the regular earpieces, with a nut to tighten behind the head. This causes the frame to bend and conform to the face to seal against dust. Even with that tight, the frame is flexible enough to let you pull the glasses up or down over the ears—we had to do this several times a day when moving in or out between facilities and sand.

Most importantly, their customer service is exceptional. When I eventually broke an earpiece at the hinge (and it only broke partially. It was still wearable for the week), their rep assisted me in identifying which model I had, and sent the spare parts gratis, even after I offered to pay.

Wileys are not cheap, but I can’t think of any improvements to make, and they’re useful for any task that requires UV protection or safety lenses. Given the engineering and quality, I find the price very reasonable. – SurvivalBlog Editor at Large Michael Z. Williamson, author of the new science fiction novel Do Unto Others.

Letter Re: Supporting the Any Soldier Program

Hello James,

I see that you link to AnySoldier.com from your blog site. Any Soldier is a great organization that works hard to support our troops in the time that they need it most.

As a Gulf War veteran, I really appreciated the support from Any Soldier when I was over in Iraq. Now that I am back safe and sound, Airsplat, the company that I work for, it doing their part to help Any Soldier. They have pledged to send 5% of all sales to Any Soldier from people who come to the site and enter the coupon code “any soldier”. The buyers also get a 5% discount. You can check it out on the Any Soldier site.

Thanks for your time. – John Durfee, AirSplat.com

Letter Re: Avoid Using Anti-Bacterial Soaps

Mr. Rawles,

I’d like to respond to the Cleanliness article by P. J. W.. The author recommended “lather (with anti-bacterial soap).” Readers should be aware of how unnecessary anti-bacterial soap is and how it’s loaded with negative side effects. Although anti-bacterial soap is best at reducing bacteria during hand washing, the use of non-antibacterial soap and water alone are most effective at removing viruses. See this YouTube clip.

Also see this Mercola article. (You may need to register to read, though registration is free.)

Studies have shown that people who use antibacterial soaps and cleansers can often develop a cough, runny nose, sore throat, fever, vomiting, diarrhea and other symptoms just as often as people who use regular soaps.

Part of the reason for this is because most of these symptoms are actually caused by viruses, which antibacterial soaps can’t kill.

But even for symptoms like vomiting and diarrhea, which may be caused by bacteria, those who used regular soaps still had no greater risk than those who used antibacterial products.

So, antibacterial soaps are completely unnecessary for the purpose of washing away bacteria.

But there’s more.

They can actually cause far more harm than good by promoting the development of resistant bacteria.

Yes, many scientists now fear that the widespread use of antibacterial soaps and various disinfecting products may be contributing to the rise in “superbugs,” bacteria that are resistant to modern medicines.

The antimicrobial triclosan, for example, is known to promote the growth of resistant bacteria.

Even the American Medical Association (AMA) does not recommend antibacterial soaps for this very reason.

Additionally, many traditional medical circles now accept the hygiene hypothesis, which centers on the idea that children need to be exposed to some bacteria in early childhood in order to strengthen their immune systems. Children who are not exposed to common bacteria (which are wiped out by antibacterial soap), may become more prone to allergies and asthma as they grow.

But aside from that, the active ingredient in many antibacterial products, such as triclosan, can be hazardous in and of itself as well.

and see this article on toxicity.

The antibacterial agent triclosan, commonly used in certain soaps, is starting to appear in consumer products ranging from socks to toothpaste.

But research shows that under normal household conditions triclosan can react with chlorinated water to produce chloroform, a likely carcinogen.

An initial 2005 study showed that, in the laboratory, pure triclosan reacts with free chlorine to produce chloroform. More recently, follow-up studies on 16 products found that household goods containing triclosan produced either chloroform or other chlorinated byproducts.

In some soaps, the triclosan degraded within one minute of exposure to chlorinated water at temperatures used for household cleaning. Regards, – Erik M.

Economics and Investing:

From The Daily Bell in Switzerland: The West’s Pending Paper Money Implosion

M.B. sent this: Here Are The Next Countries to Announce a Currency Intervention

Also from M.B.: The Real Underemployment Figure is 22.5%

Why California is About to Fall Off Into an Ocean of Unpayable Debt

Items from The Economatrix:

Martin Weiss: G-20 Heads Up: Losing Battle To Stem Currency Wars

Tab For Fannie, Freddie Could Soar to $259 Billion

Jobless Claims Fall to 452,000, But Remain Elevated

Mortgage Rates Rise to 4.21% From Decades Low

Natural Gas Prices Tumble as Supplies Grow

America’s Bright Future After US Treasury Debt Default

MortgageGate Could Crush The U.S. Banking System

China’s Interest Rate Rise Sends Global Markets Into Turmoil

Close To The Edge (The Mogambo Guru)

The Incorrigibles

Notes from JWR:

I’m happy to report that “How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It” will soon be published in Russian. There are now seven foreign publishing contracts in place, for editions in six languages.

—

Today we present two entries for Round 31 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round will 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 between $500 and $600, and B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees, in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $392 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A 500 round case of Fiocchi 9mm Parabellum (Luger ) with 124gr. Hornady XTP/HP projectiles, courtesy of Sunflower Ammo (a $249 value), and E.) An M17 medical kit from JRH Enterprises (a $179.95 value).

Second Prize: A.) 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 $400, B.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and C.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, from Arbogast Publishing, and B.) a Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.)

Round 31 ends on November 30th, 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.

The Forgotten Skills, by Andrew C.

First please allow me to give you a little background on myself. I have been preparing for TEOTWAWKI for about nineteen years but I have focused (until recently) on wilderness survival. I even managed to get a book published on how to survive when you get stranded in the middle of nowhere (it is called What We Forgot a lesson in survival). About a year ago I heard about this site while I was listening to Coast to Coast one night and I was so thrilled to find out that I was not alone in my thinking. Since then I have managed to store about a years worth of food and have everything ready to go incase I need to bug out. (I know that isn’t enough but my fiancee and I won’t be able to take any more unless we leave other important things behind.) As much as I love what has been written there has been a lack of attention paid to the topic of actual survival skills. After all what good is a survival retreat that is stocked with twenty years of food if you get lost in the wilderness when you are on patrol and die because you don’t know that you can eat almost everything in the woods and that includes all birds and furry animals.
Now because I am the kind of guy who would rather give solutions instead of complaining about what has been done this is what I feel everyone needs to do.

1) Pickup two different copies of a book on how to survive in the wilderness from at least two different authors. (Every one has a different stile and some ways will work for you.) One of them should be the US Army’s field manual because it also tells you how to evade the enemy and if TSHTF almost everyone will be the enemy.

2) Practice in the comfort of your home: Go to your backyard or garage and figure out how to make the skills work for you. When I was ten I spent about three months working in front of my mom’s fire lace trying to figure out how to get the hot coal to form using a bow and drill. Then I had to learn to build the fire from that small ember. (This was my choice after my mom got scared that I would get lost and die in the mountains on a camping trip and got me my first copy of the US army survival manual.)

3) Practice out in the wilderness: Start out small do not go out with only a knife like Bear Grylls unless you have the training and the experience to come home alive. On several occasions I have had to go and save some new survivalists who got a book and decided to try to survive for a week with only a knife. (It was a lot of fun for me but those young people were miserable.) So start by camping and leave something like your tent at home. Then after a few trips forget something else as well. Keep forgetting things until you have nothing but a knife on you. By the time I was in high school none of my friends would go into the mountains unless I was there with them. When I asked them one said, “With you around I don’t need a survival kit.” And another made the claim that I could be dropped north of the Arctic Circle and be found a week later in Mexico City sitting by a pool with a fistful of pesos and a million dollar smile. I do not agree with their statements and I feel that everyone needs to learn at least the basics.

4) Keep up your skills even if your plan is to bug in you will need to leave your home sooner or later. Anything can happen and if you are a little rusty then you and or your family could die.

5) Expand from the basics. Learn to track animals including those pesky talking monkeys (I call all humans that not one ethnic group). Because if you are out there and find an animal you wouldn’t mind eating then kill it. But if you are going to do that you should also learn what plants you can eat so you can stretch the food you brought with you even farther. But don’t forget to learn how to dry the meat in the field an how to tan the hide so you can keep them longer.

Now that I have said all this I you should know that the things that are coming won’t be fun and it will seem like a nightmare even for all of us that have been expecting it. Now I know that probably most of you are not only skilled in survival but well practiced. I did this for those who are new to this and think “All I need is a million bullets and twenty five years of food and I will be fine.” Well to all those who do think that I say I hope you are right but shouldn’t you expand your strategy just incase you can’t stay with your food? Now I know that you are probably thinking that I just want to sell a lot of books but the truth is I would like to give them away but my publisher and my fiancee won’t allow it. I want to help people stay alive that is why I plan to help you to expand your knowledge with topics like smoking meat to dry it, making and maintaining archery equipment and other things that we will need to know after the chaos of the first year to two years has ended in later posts. I hope you have fun and stay safe.

Cleanliness–Maximize Your Productivity and Protect Your Investment, by P.J.W.

1

Your preps are complete, your house is bomb proof, you run on alternative energy, and you are on the top of a mountain surrounded by a moat… Who can defeat you? Yourself! It doesn’t matter how extensively you have prepped, how secure your retreat is, or how well you are prepared for a TEOTWAWKI situation, if you let it all fall apart from the inside! So what are some simple things that you can do to set yourself up for success?

We’ve all heard the proverb “Cleanliness is next to Godliness” and most of us have heard the expression “Don’t poop where you eat!” Well both of those statements couldn’t have more value than in a survival situation. Your health will ultimately determine your survival… weather you can digest certain foods, survive a gunshot wound to the arm, make it through a bout with diarrhea, the list goes on. So why would you invest so much time and consideration into planning and prepping, if you aren’t willing to secure your investment? Now by all means I am not talking about the sterility of a neurosurgery room, or to live in a “bubble”, but there are a few simple steps to take, things that we do every day (or at least should) that will set us up for success.

Basic sanitation.
Showers, baths, and hand-washing is extremely important when dealing with field situations. You have heard it your whole life, from your mother, to the school nurse, to the signs at your place of business saying to wash hands before returning to work. Washing your hands is possibly the single most important thing to preventing the spread of common illnesses. Rinse, lather (with anti-bacterial soap) rinse. It’s really that simple. Plus, nobody feels like using their valuable medical supplies to treat a cold that could have been prevented (and that’s what this is… preventative medicine!) Showers and bathing are also important. You need to keep your body clean, and your pores open and breathing. You don’t want to get fungal or bacterial infections growing. Those are a nightmare and can easily spread.

Food sanitation and preparation.
Obviously water needs to be sterilized, and there are a billion ways to do it, so I’m not going in to that… But let’s talk about food sanitation. How many people do you see on family holidays, or large gatherings that have a meat thermometer checking temperatures? That’s what I thought. A simple two dollar tool can save you a ton of time battling food poisoning, which can be fatal if you don’t have the right resources to deal with it. Buy a food thermometer. Additionally, ensure your foods are protected from disease transferring creatures such as roaches, mice, rats, etc. Keep your food surfaces clean and sanitary. You probably have bleach stored for various things, well this is one you will want it for. Dilute it into a spray bottle, and use it to clean your kitchen area. Once again, food poisoning, salmonella, e-coli, etc can be awfully hard to treat without proper medical facilities.

Living areas.
Ever wonder why your mother said your room looked like a landfill? Because it is so dirty, things can grow, rodents can hide, and it can become a potential trip/fall hazard. Simple organization and cleanliness will save you some headaches. Plus, designate a place for meals, and do not have the “bag of Cheetos in the bed syndrome.” You are just asking for rodents to come in. Additionally, clean your living areas with cleaning solution, and keep the dust to a minimum to combat allergens. Have dust masks handy. Also, keep outlets clear and clean, and power cords untangled and organized. You don’t want to create a fire hazard and burn down all of your precious resources! Air filters for your air conditioning systems (if running alternate energy) or replacement screen material for your windows to ensure that bugs don’t fly in during those warmer summer months are a necessity to keep your air flow clean.

Latrines.
This is where we refer to the quote above. Keep your bathroom sanitary! If using an interior bathroom, ensure it is cleaned thoroughly, and stocked with anti-bacterial soap. Wash your hands after using it, and for the men out there, watch your aim! Do your part to help keep the area clean. Use an appropriate amount of toiletries to get the job done. Avoid clogging the toilet, and forcing interaction with bodily waste. If using an outdoor latrine, ensure steps are taken to keep the odor down, and to keep flies to a minimum. Ensure there are chemicals in the tank, or you have the facility far enough away so as not to contaminate a water supply. If you are using a composting toilet (indoors or out) ensure you are using personal protective equipment (PPE) when you move the waste to a garden. Fecal matter has long been used as a lethal poison for a reason. It is deadly.

Medical waste and sterilization.
Obviously, your tools and equipment when it comes to medical matters need to be sterile. That is a point that doesn’t need stating. But what to do after you use it, and what do you do about where you use it? Whether it is a common cold, an accidental knife or axe wound, or a carefully placed gunshot wound, you need to sterilize the environment you work in, not just for the patient, but for everyone else as well.  Nobody wants to treat a patient only to find out that they got everyone else sick by not practicing good hygiene. Obviously wash hands before and after contact with a patient. A patient recovering from an injury already has a weakened immune system from treating its own wound. You do not want to contaminate someone with additional impurities that the body will have to fight off. Also, clean up medical waste after treatment, and dispose of it separately from other garbage. Ensure gloves are worn and a mask is worn if contagious material is around. Then take the waste to a remote location and incineration is generally your best bet. You don’t want to let the medical waste sit and fester in a garbage can.

Rodent Control.
Rodents carry diseases, and diseases kill people! Don’t let rodents ruin your storage and cause problems! First, store your foods in airtight containers, and keep them above the floor. Ensure they are in containers that mice can’t freely chew through. If a rodent finds that it can eat something, it will continue to come back. If it starves, it will look elsewhere… Ants, roaches, mice, rats, raccoons, and opossums all pose potential problems. The best defense is a good offense when it comes to rodents. Place traps, keep areas clean, and keep them from getting what they want!

Refuse.
In a TEOTWAWKI scenario, the lovely neighborhood Friday trash pick-up isn’t going to happen. You will still accumulate garbage, and you need somewhere to put it. So a couple questions will come to mind at first… Did I stock up on trash bags? Do I have appropriately sealed containers so as not to let rodents in, or worse, bears! But seriously, no one thinks about garbage when they are putting their preps together. Another thing that comes to mind is security. Can you safely burn your refuse without putting a signal out to the world that your area is inhabited? If you can, great, but if not, you may have to consider other means. For natural, organic material, composting will undoubtedly be your best bet. It will fertilize your garden, and limit refuse piling up in your castle. Another idea may be to burn cardboard and paper in a woodstove. Smaller, and less of a signal, the woodstove will burn cardboard and paper, and give your home a byproduct in heat. Plastic bottles and metal cans can be sterilized and reused. in-house recycling is always a good option.

In summary, keep your work areas neat and orderly, clean up as you go. Don’t create any unnecessary risks by leaving trash and clutter around. Keep your areas free of rodents, and ensure you sterilize what you can when you can. There is no need to combat half of the illnesses you face every year if you can prevent it. Also, when you practice these simple cleanliness steps in good times, it will be a lot easier to implement them when SHTF. And cleanliness is everyone’ responsibility! It’s simple to teach kids common steps to clean living, plus they will have fun when they see something they do contribute to the success of the household. Remember that this is Preventative medicine! You do these things to prevent something bad from happening. A couple good references are the Army FM 21-10 (Field Sanitation), the Center For Disease Control, and the American Red Cross. Good luck, stay clean, and happy hunting!

Guest Article: Future Chaos: There Is No “Plan B”, by Chris Martenson

Note: This article builds on my recent report, Prediction: Things Will Unravel Faster Than You Think. It explores the coming energy crunch in more detail by looking at existing government planning and awareness, and the implications of what international recognition of Peak Oil as early as 2012 might mean.

The hard news is that there is no “Plan B.” The future is likely to be more chaotic than you probably think. This was the primary conclusion that I came to after attending the most recent Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO) in Washington, DC in October, 2010.

The impact of Peak Oil on markets, lifestyles, and even national solvency deserves our very highest attention – but, it turns out, some important players seem to be paying no attention at all.

ASPO conferences tend to start early, end late, and be packed with more data and information than should be consumed in one sitting. Despite all this, I was riveted to my seat. This year’s usual constellation of excellent region-by-region analyses confirmed what past participants already knew: Peak Conventional Oil arrived a few years ago, and new fields, enhanced recovery techniques, and unconventional oil plays are barely going to keep up with demand over the next few years.

But there were two reports that really stood out for me. The first was given by Rear Admiral Lawrence Rice, who presented the findings of the 2010 Joint Operating Environment (a forward-looking document examining the trends, contexts, and implications for future joint force commanders in the US military), which spends 76 pages summarizing the key trends and threats of the world. “Energy” occupies six of those pages, and Peak Oil dominates the discussion. Among the conclusions (on page 29), we find this hidden gem, which uses numbers and timing that are eerily similar to those that I put forth in my April 2009 report, Oil – The Coming Supply Crunch:

By 2012, surplus oil production capacity could entirely disappear, and as early as 2015, the shortfall in output could reach nearly 10 million bareels per day (MBD).

(Source)

While there are two “coulds” in that statement, the mere possibility that such an imminent arrival and massive shortfall could be true should give every prudent adult a few second thoughts about what the future may hold. If surplus production capacity disappears in just a couple of years, there is an entire world of planning that should take place beforehand at the international, national, community, and personal levels.

More on the JOE report in a minute. Next I want to turn to a presentation given by Rick Munroe, who did his best to discover where within the civilian governmental departments lie the plans for what to do in a liquid-fuel-starved future.

To cut to the chase, it turns out that virtually every department that he contacted in both the US and Canada denied having any such reports. In one humorous exchange by email, Natural Resources Canada stated two things in the same email:

“At this time the Department has no views on [Peak Oil]. “There is no imminent Peak Oil challenge….” It will be interesting to see how NRCan words their e-mails once they do develop a point of view.

The main conclusion from Rick’s presentation was that Peak Oil is being examined closely and taken seriously by military analysts, but not civilian authorities. The few plans that do exist on the civilian side are decades old.

The implications of this are that North America “remains highly vulnerable to a liquid fuel emergency disruption” and, since because there are only a few dusty plans lying around, there will be greater chaos than necessary.

Now back to the JOE report.

OPEC: To meet climbing global requirements, OPEC will have to increase its output from 30 MBD to at least 50 MBD. Significantly, no OPEC nation, except perhaps Saudi Arabia, is investing sufficient sums in new technologies and recovery methods to achieve such growth. Some, like Venezuela and Russia, are actually exhausting their fields to cash in on the bonanza created by rapidly rising oil prices.

A severe energy crunch is inevitable without a massive expansion of production and refining capacity. While it is difficult to predict precisely what economic, political, and strategic effects such a shortfall might produce, it surely would reduce the prospects for growth in both the developing and developed worlds. (p. 28)

Well, the amounts needed from OPEC are quite, shall we say, ‘ambitious,’ as they amount to an additional two Saudia Arabias coming on line in order to make up the shortfall. A massive crunch is not otherwise avoidable. Let’s be honest; there are no more Saudia Arabias to be found. Perhaps we could cobble one together out of thousands of smaller, less productive fields, but the likelihood of a few massive fields waiting to be found 1,100 feet underground is extremely remote. People in the business of actually producing oil know that producing from smaller wells takes more time, equipment, and manpower.

Meanwhile, I also happen to agree with their assessment that the details of the effects are difficult to predict but that the general theme will be one of reduced growth, and that’s under the best of circumstances. More likely we’ll have to figure out how to operate on zero or even negative growth.

So I came away from the ASPO conference pondering two completely polar trends that combine to create lasting discomfort. On the one hand, we have more and more private and military organizations coming to the conclusion that Peak Oil is imminent and will change everything, possibly disruptively. On the other hand, there appear to be no plans within the civilian government to deal with a liquid fuels emergency.

While we can expect that such plans will be tossed together when necessary, I would hope that Katrina taught us a few lessons about developing plans on the fly after the disaster has already arrived. Sure, things got done, but they were certainly suboptimal and led to more confusion and more chaos than if they had been carefully developed, practiced, and debugged.

The way that I understand the lack of planning on the part of the civilian side is that Peak Oil does not present any easy political wins, if any at all. Given the two-year planning cycle in DC, it’s never a good time to bring up such an unpleasant subject. Politics trump necessity.

What can be rather easily predicted here is that when the next fuel crisis arrives, there will be more chaos than necessary. Some areas will get completely stiffed on their fuel allotments, while other areas will be reasonably well supplied. The reason that this can be easily predicted is because it more or less already happened in Europe during a protest by French fishermen inspired by high fuel prices. They blockaded ports in late May of 2008, and by early June, the action had spread across Europe. Shelves were quickly stripped bare of essential goods, tensions mounted, and petrol stations ran dry in a hurry.

And these were just the effects of a port blockade and tanker truck strike. What would happen with a real and persistent shortage of fuel? Well, if it were perceived to be due to a structural and permanent inability of the global oil market to meet demand, prices would rise stratospherically until demand was cut off. The only problem is, letting prices determine which industries idle back may not be the best plan.

Consider the case of agriculture. If full ‘pass-through pricing’ is the mechanism of rationing, which it currently is, then less food will be grown. With world grain stocks at historic lows, this is one area where we might not want to let Mr. Market dictate the activities of farmers based on fuel price. To do otherwise would require a plan of some sort, and none appear to be in effect.

That’s the source of my discomfort. It’s not necessarily that large organizations are beginning to share my sense of timing and impact of Peak Oil, although that will hasten the tipping point of awareness. It’s that somehow I always thought that because Admiral Hyman Rickover knew well that this day would come (in the 1950s!), 60 years would have been sufficient lead time to assemble some credible plans.

No plans = unnecessary chaos.

The lack of planning also betrays a very common attitude, which might be summarized as, “We’ll deal with that when we get there.” I detect this attitude in a wide range of individuals and market participants, so it’s not at all uncommon. However, I think it’s a mistake to hold this view. When (not if, but when) full awareness of Peak Oil arrives on the international stock, bond, and commodity markets we will discover just how narrow the doorways really are. Only a few will manage to preserve their wealth by squeezing through the doorway early; most will not make it through. As mentioned frequently on this site, our What Should I Do? guide for developing personal resiliency against a Post-Peak future offers a valuable resource for those just getting started in their preparations.

This thinking is explored in greater depth in Part 2 of this report (enrollment required), in which I discuss strategies to fill the official vacuum by developing our own plans for what we should do in response. – Chris Martenson, author of the widely read Crash Course

Three Letters Re: Keeping Secrets in Suburbia–Constructing Our Hidden Basement Room

James Wesley:
In the article “Keeping Secrets in Surburbia–Constructing Our Hidden Basement Room, the author describes the difficulty they had removing hard-packed dirt with the consistency of dried concrete, and using an air chisel to break it up for removal and excavation. I’ve faced a similar problem with an underground excavation of a basement and egress tunnel in the granite and sandstone beneath the foundation of my own retreat home in the Western US.

My answer came in the form of a good deal on a slightly used Bosch #11304 “Brute” breaker hammer electric jackhammer, suitable for use either with 115-volt/15 Amp household current or a 1,500 kilowatt electric generator. Though I picked mine up used for a bit under $1,000 [less than an ounce of gold, and well worth it!] they’re available from such internet retailers as ToolBarn for $1,389 plus shipping or can often be found as rental equipment at industrial tool rental outlets for around $50-to-$75 a day.

The advantage for me in owning one rather than renting is that this allows me to minimize my use of my own tool to an hour or less a day, then moving on to other projects so as to minimize exposure to noise, jackhammer vibration and dust. I also found it much easier to remove the broken stone from my workface in two-gallon metal pails rather than the more common 5 or 6-gallon plastic pails around the place; these were both easier to maneuver in the close confines and, of course, lighter in weight. – George S.

 

Jim:
I loved the fact that everyone pitched in on this [excavation project]. My wife puts up with my tin foil expenditures, and would help if I asked but it is reluctant help at best. My basement is a full basement and wide open and unfinished, on purpose. While we do tons of Martial Arts and I store foodstuffs downstairs, I don’t really want it to be a hang out place. I wish I could fashion a “cave” in the fashion that Andrea did, the layout of the land just wouldn’t allow it. I did however use some carpentry 101, and created a false room in the basement where I keep all of my tactical gear (four load bearing vests, shotgun bandoleers, et cetera), ammo, etc. Basically there is always space under the steps and since I have 10 ft ceilings in the basement that can add up. Basically I enclosed the walls of the steps with drywall, and cut out a non-load bearing stud and dropped in a doorway. Under the highest part of the steps I built shelves on the inside to hold ammo cans. On the outside of the doorway I built a closet space to hang all of my hunting camouflage coveralls, cold weather gear etc. On the inside of the closet it looks like an unfinished wall with plywood on the wall but there is a hidden pull string that opens a section of the plywood allowing access. Inside I have a string of Christmas LED lights to see. This cleared up a lot of space in the basement shelves for more food and provides more OPSEC for those things that people shouldn’t “run” across.

Thanks for all you do Mr. Rawles. Your words and blog site influence a lot of sheep to become sheepdogs and I for one appreciate it. I have listened to the unabridged “How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It” audio book three times now and it is worth every penny. I have it in my personal library, but I have more time to listen than to read. Thanks again. – A.J.K.

Hi Jim,
As a general contractor, one important item which was not discussed in the construction of the hidden basement is the subject of drainage.

I hope the author will have no problems with this, but given the clues regarding snow and clay I personally would be concerned. Perhaps drainage is already taken care of in some fashion with the already existing basement…I don’t know details…but anyone considering such construction needs to give serious thought to how they will handle moisture. Groundwater has a remarkable knack for finding its way in. I would include a perimeter drain and a sump pump (assuming there is no way to [gravity] drain to daylight (i.e. a hillside slope)) in my plans if considering such a project.

Many thanks for the blog. – Tom in Southern California

Economics and Investing:

J.B.G. sent this: Officials hint Fed on the verge of more easing.

Thanks to S.M. for sending this bit of confirmation to an earlier report: China Said to Widen Its Embargo of [Rare Earth] Minerals

Sue C. sent: 11 state pension funds that may run of out money

Items from The Economatrix:

Gerald Celente: “We Are Living On Borrowed Time”

Reaching For Yield In The Bond Market (The Mogambo Guru)

Dollar Declines for Fifth Straight Week on Prospects of More Monetary Easing By Fed

Say Good-bye To Traditional Free Checking

Silver On The Move

Silver Shipments From China, Biggest Exporter, May Plunge By 40% This Year

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"When young men seek to be like you, when lazy men resent you, when powerful men look over their shoulder at you, when cowardly men plot behind your back, when corrupt men wish you were gone and evil men want you dead … Only then will you have done your share." – Song lyrics by Phil Messina

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 31 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round will 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 between $500 and $600, and B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees, in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $392 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A 500 round case of Fiocchi 9mm Parabellum (Luger ) with 124gr. Hornady XTP/HP projectiles, courtesy of Sunflower Ammo (a $249 value), and E.) An M17 medical kit from JRH Enterprises (a $179.95 value).

Second Prize: A.) 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 $400, B.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and C.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, from Arbogast Publishing, and B.) a Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.)

Round 31 ends on November 30th, 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.