Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“ ‘Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, “How do we rob you?” In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.’ ” – Malachi 3:8-10

Notes from JWR:

To my readers in the US: Happy Fourth of July. Long may our flag wave over a land of liberty!

Today we present another entry for Round 23 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest.

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 foods, courtesy of Ready Made Resources.

Second Prize: 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 $350.

Third Prize: A copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, from Arbogast Publishing.

Round 23 ends on July 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.

Preparedness Through Joining the National Guard, by Christopher D.

Several months ago, a man wrote an article for the SurvivalBlog detailing the ups and downs of being a prepper while serving on Active Duty. As a former Active Duty soldier I could appreciate what he was saying but more than anything else I found myself being thankful that I was now doing my prepping while serving in the National Guard.

Many preppers join the local volunteer fire department or rescue squad in order to learn valuable skills for free that could help in an emergency. They also do it so that they can learn skills that will help pull their communities through during tough times. I would like to propose that some of the readers who are of this mindset could gain much by joining the National Guard.

I have been in the Army seven years now. I started on Active Duty serving in Georgia, Germany, and Iraq. After three year I moved back home and joined the Guard. I am currently wrapping up a tour as the commander of a 170-soldier Military Police (MP) company. Like anything else, the Guard has its positives and negatives and I’d like to provide readers with both so that they can make an educated decision about what I think is a great opportunity. (Full disclosure: I like my job.)

First, the positives:
1. Job training. Hands down, from a survivalist mindset, this has to be the best thing that the Guard has to offer. The training for jobs in the Guard is the same as what you’d receive on Active Duty. The difference is, while it’s common for Active Duty soldiers to stay in the same carrier field for the duration of their career, Guardsmen often end up training in more than one field for a variety of reasons. I have soldiers who started out as mechanics who retrained as Military Police after a few years because there were more opportunities for career development in our MP focused unit. Likewise, in my unit we are authorized three medics up to the rank of Specialist [E4] (the fourth enlisted rank in the Army). When they decide that they want to pursue their Sergeant stripes, they will either go to another unit that has slots for a medic at the rank of Sergeant (there are two such units within 25 miles of us) or retrain as Military Police to pursue one of the many slots available in that field for the rank of Sergeant and beyond. The point is that the choice is theirs. How valuable would it be for you to train as a mechanic, infantrymen, medic, MP, or chemical specialist? It is not uncommon for some of my older soldiers to be formally schooled in up to three different Military Occupation Specialties (MOS).

2. Learn additional skills beyond your MOS. Every one of my soldiers has practiced putting in an IV, knows how and when to use a nasopharyngeal airway, and can perform a range of basic first aid tasks. Two of my soldiers have been school trained as armorers as an additional duty to their primary job. I put everyone on the range 2-3 times a year firing 9mm, 5.56mm, 7.62mm, .50 cal, 12 gauge, and 40mm. Our people know how to maintain and fire a variety of pistols, rifles, machine guns, shotguns, and other less common weapon systems. We practice navigating alone or in small groups cross country using a map and compass. We also train everyone on basic hand-to-hand combatives. Finally, our Military Police soldiers get trained on collapsible batons, OC, and soon, Tasers.

3. Continue to live where you want. One of the big complaints of preppers on Active Duty is having to move every few years. In the National Guard you choose your armory (presuming they have an open slot) and you can live anywhere that you like. In my state 90% of counties have at least one National Guard armory. As you go up in ranks you may have to go to another armory that has the slot that you want but you’re never forced to do so. If the openings don’t exist for your career track at your armory, you can always retrain into another field where the slots do exist.

4. Be a leader when trouble strikes. When society gets shaken you will likely be called upon to stabilize and sustain your city, state, or nation. Some would see this as a downside as they would prefer to hunker down when things get bad. I see it instead as a positive. Even as a mere mid level leader in the Guard I have the ability to make decisions that will help restore towns to a state of normalcy. This was proven to me when our company was charged with restoring law and order to a coastal Mississippi town in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. We fed people, stopped the looting, and gave the utility workers the support that they needed to restore basic services. Not only was it a rewarding experience, but it also pulled me into the survivalist community. I promised myself that my family would be prepared when disaster struck.

5. Local in focus, global in reach. Unlike the Reserves, National Guard soldiers serve at the direction of their state’s Governor. If this sounds odd to you, remember that before 1933 the National Guard Bureau was called the Militia Bureau. If you’re interested in helping in natural disasters, the Guard is the way to go. I’ve responded to tornados 30 miles North of my home as well as hurricanes 500 miles South. I’ve even conducted exercises in South America and Europe with the Guard. The President can always federalize a Guard unit, but at our core, we’re a state asset.

6. Learn even more skills outside the Army. The GI Bill and Tuition Assistance can help you go back to school for vocational, college, or post graduate training with little or no out of pocket expense.

7. Gain an extra paycheck. Not much more to say on this one. Live off your civilian job salary and you can just apply your Guard paycheck to paying off your house or any other debts that you have faster.

8. Gain full time employment. While the Guard is traditionally a part time force (usually one weekend a month, two weeks a year… though the War on Terror was stretched that), there are some full time jobs out there. Put in some time and prove yourself and you could serve full time from your hometown. Of particular interest to people who understand the threats that exist domestically are the Civil Support Teams (CST) that each state has that’s composed of Army and Air National Guardsmen. These are the first responders for just about everything that a terrorist might level against us here at the home front. All the soldiers in a CST serve full time and represent the best that we have for detecting and dealing with chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear threats.

9. The camaraderie of a group of like minded individuals. It’s good to know people in your community that you can count on in a pinch. Plus the Guard can be a good networking opportunity if you’re looking for employment in an emergency response field (police, fire, EMT, etc.).

And now, the negatives:
1. Overseas deployments. Sooner or later you’re probably going to go to Iraq or Afghanistan if you’re in the National Guard. If you have a family, this is definitely a negative. However, for some of you the experience that this brings would be invaluable in a survival situation. Just prepare your family to operate without you, preferably in conjunction with the support of trusted friends and neighbors. Know also that the Guard has really made headway since the wars started in providing dwell time to its soldiers. Current deployment cycles attempt to limit a unit to one deployment for every five years.

2. Some units in the Guard lack vision and don’t train hard. It pains me to say that but we must remember that the Army is a microcosm of the society it serves. Some leaders are no good and some units are lazy. My unit trains hard and the soldiers appreciate it. We take every opportunity to learn and grow. Not every unit is like that. If you join a unit that’s sub par, work to change it from the inside. If the culture of that unit is beyond your ability to fix, request transfer to another one.

3. If you’re thinking about joining the Guard now, you just missed some of the best enlistment bonuses in decades. Work closely with your local Guard recruiter (located at most Guard armories) and see if the field that you’re interested in still offers money up front to help kick your prepping into high gear. Not all the bonuses are gone but several of the bigger ones went away a few months ago.

4. Leaving your family during the height of an emergency. I alluded to earlier, but it’s worth repeating given the audience. It is all together possible that when your family needs you the most, you will get called away to help other people. This is a chance that we take along with our brethren first responders. Police, Fire Fighters, EMTs, Doctors, Nurses, and Guardsmen… if we hold to our oath then we’ve got to go where our community needs us in an emergency.

If you’re thinking about joining, grab a friend in the Guard and ask a lot of questions. It’s not a small step because it requires many years of commitment. I think it’s worth it, though. Hopefully this article has answered your questions regarding the Guard as means to serve your community and grow your personal skill set in preparation for a survival situation.

Four Letters Re: Brumby Compressed Air-Powered Well Pumps

James,
Your comments about the relative efficiency of compressing air with a windmill are spot on. Most of the energy would be lost. In the real world, air compressors are only about 10 to 15% efficient at best. This is because air heats when it’s compressed. In fact, since more energy is converted to heat than to mechanical energy, a compressor is actually better at heating and cooling a house as a heat pump than it is at compressing air. So unless you could figure out how to drive the Brumby well pump and utilize all the waste heat at the same time, a wind-driven compressor would not be the way to go. – Kenneth L.

Hi Jim,
Here is a link to Airlift wind pumps. I have not used one of these but I have seen a lot of them in Arizona. It seems like a good idea. Regards, – Paul

Jim:
I found the following over at Amish News: “Almost any electrical appliance can be adapted to work off of alternate power, such as compressed air. Some Amish women have been using compressed air to power blenders in the kitchen for years. In one house, compressed air powers a water pump, sewing and washing machines, and drills and saws in the shop. Some Amish businesses have as their specialty adapting such appliances so they can be powered by compressed air.”

From: the Unity College web site: “This particular plant will make small-to-medium turbines for farm-scale installation, each turbine connected by an air hose to a large compressor tank. By both saving lots of air in storage tanks, and by scheduling manufacturing and other shop work for breezy days, the Amish can have compressed air without doing what they normally do, which is run a small gas engine to run the compressor. Gas has been expensive lately, and not all Amish church meetings allow the use of gas engines, so there’s reason to think that wind compressors will be welcome additions to the Amish toolkit.”

From OtherPower.com: “There are many tools that can be run on compressed air. Many of the Amish use compressed air for kitchen appliances, fans, shop tools etc. A no-longer-certified propane tank makes a great air tank with large capacity.

Why not make a windmill that powers an air compressor? By storing compressed air I could reduce the size of the battery bank I need. Air tanks have a far longer service life than batteries and cost much less to purchase. Used tanks can be acquired for next to nothing.”s

I suppose that to obtain the higher pressures a reduction system would need to be used to obtain enough torque to drive the compressor. But what if a sail type windmill similar to the Dutch pump mills was used. I imagine those huge sails generate incredible torque. Here is a small mill that only generates up to 30 PSI intended for aeration of a pond.

And here is an air lift pump for pumping from a well. (But there is no data on the pounds per square inch generated).
Regards, – Len S.

Sir,
Regarding Mike B. in Florida’s question on compressed air and wind turbines, I recommend that he research the combination of a Trompe and a Savonius wind mill. A trompe produces compressed air from falling water. A wind mill may be used to lift surface-stored water (pond or tank) to a suitable height to produce the falling water. I suppose any wind mill design would suffice, but I recommend researching the Savonius as it is supposed to perform well in areas with low wind speed such as Florida (ignoring the occasional tropical storm and hurricane). I do not know how much water must be lifted to what height to produce the quality of compressed required, but it may be worth looking into. Both devices are relatively simple (a trompe has no moving parts) and very reliable. – d’Heat

Influenza Pandemic Update:

Reader L. Jean sent this: UK Government prediction: 40 deaths per day from swine flu. L. Jean’s comment: “[I really have no idea where the figures come from as sources aren’t quoted in the article, and it doesn’t seem to be causing any panic, in fact most people just don’t believe it, and are saying ‘it’s just fl'” and are refusing to take any precautions – which is bad news for the rest of us. I’m still waiting to find out if it’s a cytokine storm that kills or not – perhaps not if all deaths so far have been to people with ‘underlying health problems’. Strange how every government uses the exact same phrase.”

Karen H. flagged these three articles for us:

Britain revamps swine flu strategy to handle 100,000 new cases a day by end of August.

WHO working on formulas to model spread of swine flu as actual case outpace reported numbers. “The meeting comes as it becomes clearer that actual case numbers may be far higher than the agency’s tally of officially diagnosed infections.”

World health officials tackle swine flue pandemic, spreading in Southern Hemisphere, Europe. “As we see today, with well over 100 countries reporting cases, once a fully fit pandemic virus emerges, its further international spread is unstoppable,” Chan said during opening remarks.

Odds ‘n Sods:

US Judge Seeks to Ban Internet News Linking. (I guess that they’d better ban news broadcasters from mentioning news headlines, while they are at it…)

   o o o

Food Recall Alert: Dave C. forwarded a DoD bulletin warning that the current MRE Menus 1, 9, 21, and 22 contain a Dairy Shake Powder that is listed in a food recall. “Do not consume MRE and UGR-E Dairy Shake powder, Fortified with Calcium and Vitamin D”

   o o o

The result of sixty years of gun control in the U.K: The most violent country in Europe: Britain is also worse than South Africa and U.S. (Thanks to Keen for the link.)

   o o o

An independent documentary film production company in the UK is seeking intervirew candidates, for an upcomig documentary that will air on Channel 4. The working title is: “Self-Reliance in a Fragile World”. The producers say that they are “are keen to speak to individuals and families in the UK who believe that a level of preparedness is increasingly important and have taken action.  You might be working towards self sufficiency with perma-culture in case of crop or energy failure or learning bushcraft and survival skills to improve your self reliance.  You may have a store of food and water in case you are forced to remain in your home or a rehearsed emergency plan in the event of disaster.” Contact:  Amy Ruse, Development Producer at Kowalsk Media. Phone: +44(0)20 7882 1021 or e-mai: amy.ruse@kowalskimedia.co.uk

   o o os

Three pieces of saber-rattling news: North Korea Fires Missiles; Launch Toward US Feared — “Dark Clouds Of Nuclear War” In North Korea — Impending Missile Launch May Require US Military Action

Note from JWR:

I heard that JRH Enterprises is having an Independence Day Sale on medical kits, PVS-14 night vision units, and NBC gear. Be sure to check it out!

From Mike Williamson: Some Useful DIY Home Power Technology Web Links

The following links will be of interest to anyone interested in do-it-yourself (DIY) power generation and 19th Century technology. Most of these come from Lindsay Publishing. [JWR Adds: They are also one one of my favorites!] :

Generator and Inverters

Wood into Charcoal and Electricity (although the generator design is at best a temp make-work design while you scrounge to build a better one).

Gas Engines and Producer Gas Plants

DIY Wind Turbine Power Plant (The best DIY design out there, although you might find a cheaper copy elsewhere).

DIY Machine Shop (This is a Gingery design, not suitable for those that are clumsy)

Other Wood Gasifier DIY Books.

A FEMA-designed wood gasifier that will hold you over while you build something better, if you are lazy and wait until it is almost to late. Not even remotely the best design but it is quick and fairly easy to build. It is titled: “Construction of a Simplified Wood Gas Generator for Fueling Internal Combustion Engines in a Petroleum Emergency/”

I hope that folks find these useful. – Michael Z. Williamson (SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large)

Prefabricated Garden Sheds as Instant Shelters and Storage Spaces for Retreats

Letter Re: Prefabricated Garden Sheds as Instant Shelters and Storage Spaces for Retreats

This article is not intended to promote the Tuff Shed brand per se. Any of Tuff Shed’s products can be built from scratch. This is just one way to obtain “instant” shelter at a reasonable price. Tuff Sheds come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. For the sake of this discussion I will limit myself to the rather plain-looking Tall Ranch Tuff Shed model because, unless you happen to be short of stature, you will probably need a tall shed. In Portland, Oregon the Tall Ranch model is available in sizes ranging from 6’x6’ to 16’x24’. This idea will not be practical in an area prone to flood, hurricane, or tornado. Much of what’s in this article is just common sense. I like to think of it as food for thought.

The great thing about this idea is that many county building codes will allow the construction of a shed without obtaining a building permit, although this often depends on the size of the shed. (Of course they don’t expect anybody to actually live inside one.) So, you can put one on your “bug out” site without notifying anybody in most cases. If you purchase a ready-built shed that is only 8’ wide it can be moved on a flatbed trailer without an oversized load permit. For the purpose of a simple survival shed I would consider the 8’x12’, 8’x14’, or 8’x16’ models. These sell for around $2,500-$3,000 new in Portland, or about the same price as a good used travel trailer. The shed doesn’t come with any insulation, wiring, plumbing, or interior walls however. This is good because it makes it easy to install these features exactly the way you want them before you deliver the shed to your site. The shed is usually sold with a window, but it can be easily omitted. I would order it without any windows and, instead, I would install peepholes on all four sides. Not having any windows means that a light can be kept turned on inside without alerting anyone that passes by.

I would install three or four electrical receptacles and stub the wiring out in a corner where the inverter and batteries will go later. I would also install one low power-consumption, but bright, LED light in the center of the ceiling with a quiet DC switch located where it could be reached in a hurry. For heat I would install a vented propane heater of the type used in recreational vehicles and install it through the wall at the back of the shed. After I had done all of the wiring, and installed the heater and peepholes, I would thoroughly insulate the shed so that it could withstand the most severe winter weather with only minimal heat. All of the work would be done at my leisure in my own back yard before the shed is ever moved to my “bug out” site. For the walls I would use oriented strand board (OSB) instead of drywall because it’s tougher and lighter. Also, it’s easier to mount various accessories on the OSB later on, with screws. The OSB can be painted with interior house paint. I would use a thick rug or carpet on the floor so that it wouldn’t make much noise when walking around inside. Just before the shed is to be delivered to the “bug out” site I would paint the exterior with two or three coats of good quality house paint in an earth tone color similar in color to the “bug out” site [soil or foliage].

Ideally, I would place the shed on my site where it is surrounded by brush and/or trees or, even better, in a low spot between some knolls. In any case the shed’s foundation would have to be elevated 6” to a foot above the grade to avoid rainwater infiltration. I would be sure that the rainwater drains away from the shed. Once the shed has been set in place I would repaint the outside of it to closely mimic its surroundings, camouflaging it that it cannot be seen from any direction by anyone less than 25 yards away. The roof would be similarly camouflaged with paint and/or local vegetation. The shed would have to be well hidden to avoid detection because it’s a hideout, not a fortress! For water I would use a two-gallon water cooler and refill it from a spring or creek (with proper filtration of course.) For a restroom I would use a portable chemical toilet. A pit could be dug at some distance away from the shed for waste burial. Bathing would have to be done in a creek.

For electricity I would use a couple of deep cycle 12-volt batteries, a solar panel, and a 120-volt power inverter. The inverter need not be large. In fact a small one would help to conserve battery power. It would only need to be large enough to run a couple of lights and a radios. The solar panel would not be mounted on the roof. It would be portable so that it could be hidden inside the shed when it isn’t being used. It would be placed outside during the day when I was around to keep an eye on it. Harbor Freight and Northern Tool & Equipment both sell 15-watt solar panels for about $60. A couple of these would easily keep the batteries charged. I would spend most of my time outside of the shed during the day and only use it at night or during inclement weather.

This “bug out” shed or cabin would suffice in an emergency to provide a relatively safe hideout for up to several months. The trick would be to keep it secure when I was not there to watch it. It might make better sense to bring along most of the needed supplies when retreating to the shed. – Mr. E.

Letter Re: California’s Absurd Weapons Control Laws

Hi Mr. Rawles,
I live on the sinking Titanic that is California, where this morning one of our co-workers failed to come into work and we could not reach him. We finally heard from him. He had just got out of a night in jail by posting $1,500 bail. Why? Because after a car accident last night, he consented to a police search of his vehicle where they found, of all things, a blackjack. Yes, an old-fashioned small club like the bad guys used in the Bugs Bunny cartoons. Years ago he found it in another state and had carried it in his car here, never realizing it was illegal. Had it instead been a large, hard baseball bat, this nice young man would not have spent the night in jail, lost $1,500, or gained a police record.

Yes, blackjacks are illegal in California according to our Dangerous Weapons Control Law. I can only hope that this is one of those absurd left-over laws from the 19th century.

Lesson learned: Protect yourself from absurd laws, and protect your privacy, by refusing to consent to search. The laws do not always have our best interests in mind. – Jason P.

Influenza Pandemic Update:

Mycroft sent us this: Pandemic is here: Time to panic?

Now, H1N1 is in Africa

New Flu Strain Has Pet Owners Worried

Former Marine Claims Illness From Mystery Vaccine “Target 5 [a television news team] has discovered that an alarming number of U.S. troops are having severe reactions to some of the vaccines they receive in preparation for going overseas. ‘This is the worst cover-up in the history of the military,” said an unidentified military health officer who fears for his job. A shot from a syringe is leaving some U.S. servicemen and women on the brink of death.'”

Economics and Investing:

Nick Taleb declares: ‘We’re in the Middle of a Crash‘ (Thanks to GG and A.W., the first if several readers to send that link)

John W. notes: Seven more banks closed “and it’s not even Friday yet…”

Ray G. sent news that unemployment at a 26-yer high: U.S. job losses spike in June, dampen recovery hopes

From Cousin Bill: New York City Apartment Sales Down More Than 50%

FDIC Proposes Tough Investor Guidelines For Failed Banks

Items from The Economatrix:

Obama Confident in Economic Recovery Despite Jobs Report

Prime Mortgage Delinquencies Up 260%

The Monumental Cap and Trade Outrage (video)

Worldwide Depression: Review of Global Markets

Mounting US Jobless Claims Force States to Borrow

Scalia Slams Bush Officials On Bank Regulations

Stocks Tumble After Jobs Report 467,000 people lost their jobs last month

States Work to Stave Off Government Shutdowns

Schwarzenegger Orders Third Furlough Day, Proposes New Cuts

Florida Drivers Will Pay Higher DMV Rates for Everything

US Diesel Supply Climbs as Goods Orders Slip

Odds ‘n Sods:

Several readers wrote to say that The Discovery Channel will debut ‘The Colony’, a post-pandemic urban survival reality series on July 21. It will be interesting to see how the politically-correct Hollywood crowd will tiptoe around the topic of firearms used for self-defense. I suspect that they’ll create the absurd artifice that neither the looters nor the Colony defenders will have guns available. (I noticed that one clip showed a miscreant being ineffectively blasted with a fire extinguisher .As if that would so badly frighten the goblins, that they’d never come back. The folks in Hollywood, it seems, can only relate to guns that shoot blanks. So much for so-called “reality” television.)

   o o o

Meanwhile, NBC is planning to air a new disaster television series, set in Van Nuys, California which will never be on my Retreat Locales list!), called Day One. “In the aftermath of a global event that devastates the world’s infrastructures, a small band of survivors strives to rebuild society and unravel the mysteries of why the event took place and what the future has in store. Told from the point of view of an eclectic group of neighbors in a Van Nuys, California apartment building, this journey of survival will show us that hope is found in the smallest of victories and heroes are born every day.”

   o o o

A dozen readers mentioned this: Federal agents hunt for guns, one house at a time. Notice that the only apparent gun runner they found (at the end of the article) was a sworn police officer. Also note that the ATF cowboys bemoaned the lack of a firearms sales “database”, yet they admit that there is a standing requirement that permanent paperwork (a Form 4473) be kept on file for every transaction. In my estimation, the “US guns flowing to Mexico” issue is a highly politicized sideshow, almost entirely fabricated, and promulgated with the goal of undermining our right to keep and bear arms.

   o o o

Saul G. spotted this linked at The Drudge Report: Ant mega-colony takes over world