Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 29 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, and B.) 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 29 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.

The Disappearing Suburban Basement–Part 2, by Jeff W.

In part one of this article, I outlined the process I used for the exterior of my home to create a hidden retreat for my family, and maybe a few lucky friends, should we experience some event in the nation which would precipitate the need to “go underground” for a short time.
With the exterior of our home finished, and the basement retreat fully camouflaged from possible intruders, looters, or those looking to pillage and do harm, I turned my attention to outfitting our basement retreat into a space converted to provide shelter, defense, and storage.

The only true access point to our basement is a single staircase leading down from the first floor. The door to our basement is in a short hallway with four other doors leading to various other rooms in our home. I created a quick-assemble false closet to install behind the door leading to our basement, matching the closet contained within another doorway in the same hallway, and hopefully good enough to fool anybody attempting to loot our home.
The stairway leading into the basement dead ends into a wall at the bottom, and anybody entering the basement needs to take an immediate left turn at the bottom of the stairs, and make another left turn to enter the main portion of the basement. Basically, a person makes a complete 180 degree turn at the bottom, and then enters the largest portion of the basement. This section of the basement is about 25 feet wide, and runs the entire length of our home, twenty yards or so, and then another section meets it from the left. Essentially, the basement is configured in an “L” shape, and anybody entering the basement would be entering from the top portion of the “L”.
The stairway, due to the fact anybody entering the basement needs to immediately turn to enter, creates a natural choke-point which limits the number of people who can enter the main basement space—a nice feature,  perfect for creating a defensive setup.
To take advantage of this funnel, I decided to build a false wall at the far side of the basement, facing the stairway and entrance to the basement.
I built the wall six feet from the original back wall of the basement, and the wall runs the same width as the section of basement visible when a person enters the basement from the stairs. One side of the wall is open, for easy access—and the window leading to the area below our deck is now behind the new wall as well.
I built this wall using concrete blocks to make it appear as the normal end of the basement, and when constructing the wall I left five slots, each 6 inches by eight inches, for firing positions. With these slots, I can stand behind the cover of the wall and fire out into the open section of the basement, and most importantly—the bottom section of the staircase. From these slots in the wall, one person can cover every inch of the main section of basement effectively, and with more then one person firing from behind this cover we now have crossing fields of fire. As only one, maybe two, people can squeeze into the basement from the stairs at the same time, this creates a killing zone right at the basement entrance.

The concrete blocks also would provide adequate cover should somebody toss a flash-bang or fragmentation grenade into the basement from the stairway.
To further give the appearance that this new wall is a natural part of the basement, I lined the floor in front with boxes, toys, and other junk we keep in the basement.
The rest of the defensive preparations for the basement were simple changes. To augment the defensive position of the new wall, I also cut out a section of riser in one of the steps—the vertical part of the step—at shoulder height. This wooden board can now be removed quickly from underneath the stairs and used as another position to fire upon the landing at the bottom of the stairs. I also painted the front wall of the basement white–the portion that would be immediately to the rear of anybody entering the basement–to create a better silhouette picture and provide easier target acquisition.
To also further disorient anyone entering the basement, I placed two large strobe lights on either side of the basement, shining toward the stairway entrance, but until I’m able to rig these lights up on a battery system they may just be useless if the power grid goes down.
Now that I have the two entrance points to the basement covered defensively, it was time to lay in supplies of food, bedding, communications, ammunitions, and weapons. This process was pretty self-explanatory.

Our food stores are a continuing, on-going process, with the goal to build up to a minimum of a one year supply. This consists of a combination of canned goods—both from the grocery store and freeze dried #10 cans from Costco, MREs, and other long-term storage food items.
Water, also, is a continuing and ongoing process. With a goal of having one gallon per person, per day, the amount of water needed for a long-term event is daunting to say the least. Every week I purchase at least one 5 gallon plastic water dispenser from the local grocery, and I keep these stored in the coolest, darkest portion of the basement. I have also built a rain-barrel, and eventually I will have this feed down into the basement with the use of PVC piping and a clamp system.

I currently have a Sawyer 4-in-1 filter, which can be used to filter any water gained from the rain-barrel or other outdoor sources if needed, and I also have a Steri-Pen for backup. The Steri-Pen is effective and easy, but I use it strictly as a backup due to its fragile nature and battery usage.
The shorter section of the basement—the lower portion of the “L” shape—is the living quarters, and this section has been partitioned off from the main section of the basement using steel cord and curtains. Most of the food and water is also stored in this section of the basement. This section of the basement also faces the open side of the new wall, providing quick and easy access to the defensive positions and means of escape from the window well leading out below the back deck.
With the current setup, I figure up to ten adults could stay here for up to a month, but the cramped quarters would not be large enough to accommodate this many people for longer periods of time.
I also have G.O.O.D. packs prepared and ready for each member of my family. I have obtained and enlarged maps, both street and topographical, of an area 100 miles around our home—with designated routes of escape, alternative routes, and possible destinations should our home become a non-viable place of shelter.

Our weapons, another process of continual growth and upgrade, are pre-positioned, along with an adequate amount of ammunition, in our defensive positions and ready to go at a moments notice.
I have also laid in a stock of supplies that include medical kits, saved prescription medications, batteries, flashlights, radios, a C.B. radio, and all of our tactical gear. I had to get rid of a great deal of junk to create room for all of these things, but the proceeds from the garage sale of items we no longer used purchased a number of supplies that made the entire effort worth our time.
My biggest fear during this process of creating the “Disappearing Suburban Basement” was my neighbors on either side. I often wondered if they might find it strange that my window wells were suddenly gone, or that my house now appeared different then the home they were used to seeing from their windows—but the reality is most people are too caught up in their own lives, their own dramas, to really notice or care what you are doing. Not once did anybody ask me about the window wells, or the construction I was doing in and around our home.

Today, I feel totally secure that the people who live in close proximity to me have absolutely no idea of the preparations I’ve made—and in a catastrophic event secrecy will be perhaps the greatest tool of survival.
My basement, and my plans, continue to grow and evolve—and while I’m now confident that I can ride out most major events in relative safety for a short period of time, the lessons I’ve learned creating my hidden bunker have opened my eyes, and opened my mind to even bigger and greater ideas—and I’m excited to begin my next project using the knowledge I’ve gained in the time since I started this journey.
For those of us who don’t have the means to become remote and remove ourselves from the mainstream of society and larger population centers, the need to become creative and use the things you already have available is critical—and it could very well be the difference between life and death. I encourage everybody to make a list of your needs, your wants, and then take an inventory of what you have available currently, then fashion a plan. Don’t wait, thinking that eventually you may be able to move to some far off location—make your plans as if some event could happen tomorrow—because, the reality is, it can.

Follow-Up on a New Preparedness Documentary Television Series

As I mentioned in SurvivalBlog once before, I’m involved with development of a preparedness television show for a major cable television network. I’ll be doing voice-overs for the show, critiquing the participants. For fear of having the show’s concept get hijacked by competitors, I can’t mention many details. Suffice it to say that this is a legitimate project. I personally know two of the principals in the production company. I can assure you that they are sincere, and not out to do a “hatchet job.” Rather, they are serious about preparedness, and want to show some “best practices” in the preparedness movement, to motivate others. They are preparedness minded, conservative, and pro-gun. Ditto for the actor that will be the host of the show. I’d love to be able to mention his name (preppers will recognize it!), the name of the production company and their lengthy list of credits, but I can’t do so until after the production gets the final “green light” from the cable network. Rest assured that the producers have promised that identities and locations will be kept confidential.

For full disclosure: I am being paid modestly to work on this project. But I’m enthusiastic about it, because main goal is to get hundreds of thousands of American families motivated to prepare themselves substantively. If that happens, then I’ll count this as a success.

Thusfar, more than 15 families have submitted anonymous biographies and/or video tapes. If you’d like to appear on the show, prepare yours, and send it in, soon.

For even greater privacy, I recommend that you make your submission under a pen name. You might even set up a special gmail account, created just for correspondence with the show producers.

Here is the latest revised “casting call” announcement, from the producer.

TEOTWAWKI
Calling All SURVIVALISTS, SELF-SUSTAINERS & PREPARED FAMILIES

A “like-minded” Production Company is developing a television show about TEOTWAWKI.

They are looking for self-sustainers, survivalists and squared away preparedness families to appear on the show and instruct America how to survive the coming collapse.

Identities and locations will be kept confidential.

If you have a retreat, an underground bunker, or an organized self-sustaining community then you may submit a short bio of family members along with photos. You have the option of including a video showing your preparations.

If you are trained in weapons, hand-to-hand combat, medicine, agriculture or possess a set of survival skills please describe them in your submission. Send all submission materials to:

TEOTWAWKI.casting@gmail.com

or,

TEOTWAWKI Producer, P.O. Box 1848, Santa Monica CA 90401

For video submissions you can post them on your web site, or send them in by mail. Acceptable formats are VHS, Mini-DV and DVD. Tapes will not be returned unless a self-addressed stamped envelope is included.

 

Letter Re: Can Contaminants Pass Through Mylar Bucket Liners?

Hello Mr. Rawles,
I communicated with you from time to time over the past two years while stationed overseas. As I said before, your site was a true morale booster after a hard day’s work. Thank you sooooo very much! I discovered your web site a few months prior to transferring overseas and began serious preparation at that time and have continued. I returned to the U.S. two weeks ago for my twilight tour (final tour before retirement). I continue to be a dedicated reader and have purchased some of your materials. I do have three questions regarding plastic pails. Last summer while home on leave I tried to put away as much as possible but unfortunately ran out of [confirmed] food grade pails. Since I had no other option given my situation, I purchased some new plastic pails from Home Depot. With both the food grade and Home Depot pails I put my grains in heavy duty mylar bags with oxygen absorbers, sealed them and then placed them in the pails. I have three questions: Can chemicals from the plastic pails penetrate the mylar bags? Should I discard all of the items stored in the manner I described above in the Home Depot pails? If these items are still safe, do you suggest I take the mylar bags of food from these pails and transfer them to food grade pails at this point? Thank you very much for your assistance. – Marilyn B.

JWR Replies: I get this question frequently. While mylar bucket liners are often described as “gas-impermeable”, there are several factors that can contribute to a loss of their integrity. These include:
1.) An inadequate seal of the top of the bag. Unless you use a heat sealer and you get an absolutely perfect seal, then you can’t be sure about permeability.

2.) Pinholes or tears. Just one pinhole in the mylar liner will allow vapors to enter.

3.) Time. Mylar isn’t 100% gas impermeable (although they are much less permeable that the HDPE buckets themselves). So over time, it is conceivable that contaminants inside a bucket could end up inside the liner.

So to be absolutely safe, you’d have to discard any food stored in non-food grade buckets.

As I’ve mentioned before in SurvivalBlog, your non-food grade buckets should be marked and specifically relegated to non-food storage purposes, such as storing tools, clothing, web gear, and ammunition.

The “Rawles Gets You Ready” family preparedness course has details on determining whether or not particular buckets are truly food grade.

Two Letters Re: Advice on Insuring Survival Gear

Mr. Rawles,
Regarding the recent post on homeowner’s insurance: I am an insurance claims professional. Most standard homeowners policies have a stated limit (in your example, $250,000) for the main structure and then 70% of that (or $175,000 in this example) for personal property. This 70% is the amount that would cover all food storage and other gear. Even in total house fires, I rarely see a claim where that limit is exceeded. If someone thinks it would be, then that coverage limit for personal property (called Coverage C) can be increased through your insurance agent. Like you said, the best support in case you need to make a claim, is to video or photo your personal property (all your goods that are not attached to the building) and keep that video or photos at multiple locations. Related to this, most policies have a stated limit for theft of firearms, say $1,000. If you have more than this, you will want to increase your coverage there as well. Finally, if you are storing personal property at locations that you own other than your primary residence, there may be a stated limit (say “$1,000 or 10% of Coverage C, whichever is greater”-which would be $17,500 in your example), so be mindful of that as well. The best way to find out what your policy covers is to call your agent and ask for the phone number of the claims office and talk to a claims adjuster or claims supervisor. The agent is not usually the policy expert, but rather the sales expert. – Panama Ridge

Sir:
I wanted to express my thanks to you for all of your books and this great blog. The information is incredible. I have been in the risk management and insurance business for 30 years. I wanted to respond the Nancy S.’s question about insuring her survival gear.

First, let me say that as a prepper myself, I have been worried about how the insurance industry treats preppers as clients. Credit scoring has made it’s way into the basic rating systems of most, if not, all major insurance companies. This creates a problem for “debt free” survivalist/preppers, because becoming “debt free” may cause your premiums to go up.

Credit scoring is determined on the following factors:

* Payment history – 35%
* Amounts owed – 30%
* Length of credit history – 15%
* New credit – 10%
* Types of credit used – 10%

A good payment history (while carrying the highest weight in the formula) is only 35% of the score. Amounts owed, new credit, and the variety of types of credit make up 50% collectively. Therefore, if you have recently paid off your mortgage or other large debt obligations you may see your premiums go up (even with good payment history and without any claims). If you do, it’s your credit scoring having a negative impact on your insurance rates.

There is no way to know how much insurance companies rely on credit scoring to determine the price of insurance (they consider that a secret). So I can’t give you a list of the ones who rely less on credit scoring. However, I have three suggestions to fight the impact of your credit score on your insurance premiums.

First, discuss with your agent the reduction of your debt. They can sometimes be a positive influence for additional credits, and these additional credits can off set the negative impact of credit scoring.

Second, use smaller or more regional insurance companies. These companies are not as sophisticated as the larger insurance companies, who can and do spend millions of dollars annually to figure how credit score impacts claims. Credit scoring by most insurance companies is done electronically, meaning the credit score is pulled when the application is submitted; and therefore, immediately you are placed in a higher rating model. Smaller companies still use a less sophisticated rating systems; and therefore, may not have access to your credit score as quickly. Always use an insurance companies with an A.M. Best rating of A.

Third, the judicious use of credit cards, by using them for small purchases then paying them off, will help increase your score and lower your premiums. (As against our morals as that may be!)

Now more directly to Nancy’s question, the question of whether they believe you have a year’s worth of food stored when you make your claim, is an easy fix. Documentation rules the day! Everyone should take a video of their personal property, including their stores, and other items as evidence that you owned it.

Someone else should shoot this video, as you walk through your home and narrate the video. You should open cabinets, closets, drawers and any of your hiding places to show what you own. This will produce a record of your personal property including your identify and your address (with a view of the outside of your home) and evidencing your personal property. It will also help you remember what you had after a loss.

This video should be duplicated and stored off site to prevent it from being damaged by the same insurable event that you might be making a claim on. One lesson learned from Katrina, was that the one time in most people’s lifetime when they needed a copy of their insurance policy, it was destroyed. Ask for an electronic copy of your policy and store appropriately.

Don’t forget that many of the items we hold dear such as firearms, artwork, business property, electronic data, jewelry, and money (cash or precious metals) have “built-in” limits as to how much the policy will cover. The limits are very low, sometimes as low as $100 (check with your agent or representative). Therefore, you will need to list these items on a “scheduled basis”. This can get expensive so get quotes before you do it.

As to the question of secrecy, most insurance claims adjusters have had a though background check (including criminal checks) by their employers and don’t pose a huge threat of coming back to get your stuff. As to listing your guns on your policy, beware that if the government passes a law stating that the insurance companies must give up the information about who owns a gun, they will give it up in a minute! And they’ve publicly stated as much in their privacy statements.

As the cost of food goes up and our cash becomes less valuable, being able to replace you home and stores will become more difficult. Insuring those properly should be on our list of “must do”! – Ted G.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Jim W. sent this article: Squatters take over South Florida. homes in what police call latest fraud in housing crisis

   o o o

Ethnic riots sweep Kyrgyzstan, government begs for help. (A hat tip to Mike M. for the link.)

   o o o

Rick in Canada mentioned a National Geographic documentary that will air on Tuesday, June 15th at 10 p.m.: Electronic Armageddon. It is about the effects of a High Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (HEMP) on the US.

   o o o

F.G. sent this one: Black Flight Hits Detroit: After 10 burglaries in seven years, a professional Detroit woman calls it quits

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Within, I would say, the next six years, interest payments on the [U.S.] Federal debt will exceed the defence budget. I think that one of the clear lessons of history is that is a major turning point for any [global] power. From Spain in the 17th Century , The Netherlands in the 18th Century, through the Turks in the 19th Century, and British in the 20th Century: When you are spending more on your debts than [on] your Army or Navy, it’s all over as a great power.” – Niall Ferguson, in a 2010 lecture on sovereign debt and crises of public finance.

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 29 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, and B.) 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 29 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.

The Disappearing Suburban Basement–Part 1, by Jeff W.

Two years ago, as I began preparing for TEOTWAWKI, the first thing I did was take a real, accurate assessment of what I had and what I was going to be able to do for my preparations. One of the first issues I needed to face was the fact I would never have a true “survival retreat” located out west, far away from any major population centers, and tucked away in some forgotten corner of the country.
As much as I would love to have something like this in place, the balancing act between having a family, financial commitments and restraints, employment, and several other obligations, I needed to accept the fact that should the worst happen I was going to have to deal with it in my current location and from my current home.

I live with my wife and two small children in Ohio, in the suburbs midway between two decent sized cities. Just two decades ago our town was a sleepy little farming community, but developers came in, bought up most of the land, and began carpet-bombing middle-class homes and planned urban developments. We still have the feel, the atmosphere, of being out beyond the cities, but the tractors and combines no longer run in this area.

With these limited options, the only thing available to me WTSHTF is my home or a neighborhood effort to create a fortified, defendable position to try and ride things out—not ideal, but it is what it is . . .
At that time I decided to use our home, part of our home really, to create this fortified location to protect my family, store our supplies, and lay low for awhile. Our home is about 2,000 square feet, with lots of windows and entry points, and built by a home developer whose motto seemed to be quantity over quality—again, not the ideal home for creating a defensive position, but it’s what I had to work with.
The only thing of any value I had, as far as creating a defensible retreat for my family, was our basement. The basement is poured concrete and has around 1,200 square feet of useable room; it has three window wells and one stairway leading to the first floor for entry points.
My dilemma was how do I make this basement a retreat location—easy to defend, with adequate storage, and most of all hidden from potential looters or those wishing to do harm and steal our supplies?
How do I make this basement disappear?

With the thought of creating an invisible basement retreat, I got right to work. I have the three window wells leading into the basement from various points along the foundation of the house, so this was the first issue I decided to address. One of the window wells is actually located below our wood deck at the back of our house, behind the kitchen. At night, when the lights are on in the basement, the window was barely visible due to light leak—and only then if you were looking for it specifically. I came up with a plan for this window; since the only means of getting in and out of the basement was the stairway leading down from the first floor, I decided to make this a second means of exit, a more covert access and escape. First, I pulled out the window and replaced it with an insulated wooden panel and hinged it at the top. Now, the window well to the outside could be accessed quickly in case the basement should be discovered or overrun in a survival situation. The deck outside was already raised, with just enough crawl space for a full sized adult to be able to crawl out between the support beams. At the side of the deck I cut the boards and placed bolts on both sides of the loose wood panel. This way nobody could open up the boards from the outside.
The leaking light problem was fixed with the hinged, insulated window I had installed, so the only time I needed to worry about light was when the window hatch was open for somebody to come in or go out. To minimize this effect I purchased a carpet remnant, twice as long as the wooden window panel, and screwed it to the inside portion of the hinged window—essentially creating a light flap.
Now, the basement had an emergency exit leading out into the backyard should the need to escape arise.

The other two window wells are on either side of the house. They are standard sized window wells, with glass window panels to allow light into the basement. The wells are surrounded by a metal well grate, and at the bottom have gravel and a drainage pipe.
These windows presented a large problem due to the fact they were obvious, and they were also standard on all the surrounding homes in the neighborhood that had basements. About half the homes on our neighborhood had basements, while the other homes were simply slab homes built upon a solid concrete foundation.
To conceal these window wells, I decided landscaping both sides of the house would be needed.
First, I purchased half-inch, treated lumber and cut the panels the fit and cover the glass windows. Using Liquid Nail and silicone, I attached the wood panels to the outside the windows, completely covering the glass and eliminating light from the inside of the basement.

With the lumber in place, I gathered some larger rocks from a nearby construction site and used them to fill the window wells about half way. Next, I placed about a foot of peat moss in the wells, filling in the gaps between the stones and covering them. After the peat moss settled, I filled the rest of the wells with regular topsoil. Along the entire length of both sides of the house I built up the topsoil to completely cover the concrete foundation, sloping it outward toward the yard. Now, the walls along both sides looked like a garden plot—and the window wells were both completely invisible.
To complete the camouflage, I planted perennial flowers—being sure to intersperse plants that bloom throughout the spring, winter, and fall. I also included bushes—choosing firs for year round coverage.
Once completed, our home just looked well landscaped with lots of foliage along the entire length of our home. The home now appeared like just another slab foundation, no-basement home from the exterior.

Next came the interior, and the issue of the stairway leading down to the basement. The hallway which contains the basement stairs is a short hallway that also contains access to a half-bath, a laundry room, a coat closet, and the doorway going out to the garage. In all, this hallway is only about 14 feet long yet has five doors—it’s actually pretty goofy looking, and a major design flaw, but it’s what I had to deal with. All the doors in the hallway were matching, so I needed to figure a way to disguise the basement steps.

I decided to turn the doorway leading to the basement into another coat closet—matching the one straight across from it as much as possible.
To do this, I purchased lumber and sheetrock, and built the back wall, top shelf, and flooring section to the same measurements as the existing hallway closet. I also created a bracket, hinge, and support system that allows me to attach all the pieces needed to complete the closet in about five minutes.
When fully deployed; with the addition of coats, hangers, and other stuff thrown in on the top shelf and flooring, the disguise is complete—I now have a second fully functioning coat closet hiding the stairs to the basement. The back wall of the closet also swings open enough to allow anybody in the basement to quickly leave the basement.
I did this closet with the thought, and the hope, that should the “worst case scenario” come true, looters will be moving quickly—looking to get in and out, strip away and steal whatever they can use quickly and without time to fully investigate, or even wonder, why there might be two matching closets in the same hallway.
Now, I have a usable, defendable, secure retreat perfect for disappearing for short periods of time.
My next project was to outfit the basement with supplies, create defensive positions, and to make a livable space for several people that could be used for an extended stay should outside events require the need to go underground.

In Part Two I will show you how I finished my “Suburban Basement Retreat”, and how you too can create a safe space for your family in case of emergency.

Three Letters Re: Ammo Carrying Options for M1 Garand Owners

JWR:
A gentleman posted some options about carrying M1 Garand ammo clips, and I wanted to share this link and his story if that was possible: Olongapo Outfitters
He makes gear specifically for Carbines and Garands, and while he has a bit of a wait time, he’s had good reviews. – M.W.

James:
In addition to the methods described in the 11 June SurvivalBlog letter from Matt R. regarding M1 Garand ammo carrying options, there are at least three other excellent methods worthy of note.

The twin-magazine MOLLE pouches meant for the carry of a pair of 30-round M16 magazines will nicely carry three loaded Garand clips in each pouch cell for a total of six clips or 48 rounds of ammo, only with the clips placed in the pouch with their bullets pointing toward the sides of the pouches instead of vertically. Similarly, the common three-magazine M16 magazine pouch, usually seen in OD nylon, also works very well with Garand clips instead of the bulkier box-type magazines. the small straps meant to keep the M16 magazines separate from each other need to be removed to use them for Garand clips, a pretty simple modification. Either of these pouches can be used with either a web pistol belt and LBE suspenders, or with a MOLLE vest or ballistic plate carrier with MOLLE straps.

Also usable: the 10-pocket Chinese cotton web chest pouch belt for the SKS, each pouch holding a pair of stripper clips for the SKS rifle. These pouches will also take a pair of Garand clips each, making it a 160-round pouch that’s frequently available for around $10.00- $15.00 or so. There is also a smaller accessory pouch built into the ChiCom SKS chest pouch belt, providing a place for cleaning gear, spare parts or a first aid kit.

One source for these is ODSurplus in Texas, which lists the ChiCom pouches for $11.00 each, plus shipping. regards, – George S.

Jim:
Check out the M1 Garand 48 Round En Bloc Clip Pouch made by FCO. Regards, – Timothy J.

Economics and Investing:

G.G. flagged this item from McNewspaper: Bankruptcy filings are nearing the record 2 million of 2005

Also from G.G. come this item from the Australian branch of The Daily Reckoning: The Housing Non-Recovery

Frequent content contributor RBS sent this: Silver? The Swiss franc? Fear sends investors to safety

Items from The Economatrix:

Too Much Risk: $1.2 Quadrillion Derivatives Market Dwarfs the World’s GDP

Hedge Funds Hit in “Monstrous” May

Bernanke All But Rules Out Double Dip

Inflation Corroded Copper Coins (The Mogambo Guru dispels the coinage “hoarding” myth.)

50 Statistics About the US Economy that are Almost Too Crazy to Believe

Retail Sales Drop 1.2% in May, Biggest Dive in Eight Months

World Bank Warns of Double-Dip Risk

US Faces “Severe” Losses on AIG, Commission Warns. (What, more MOAB?)

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint. ” – Isaiah 40:30-31 (KJV)

Notes from JWR:

I just heard from my editor at Penguin USA that they’ve gone back to press yet again on my nonfiction book “How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It”. This ninth printing of 15,000 copies will bring the total in print to 96,000.

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Today we present another entry for Round 29 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, and B.) 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 29 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.