Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"Freedom is not synonymous with an easy life… There are many difficult things about freedom: It does not give you safety, it creates moral dilemmas for you; it requires self-discipline; it imposes great responsibilities; but such is the nature of Man and in such consists his glory and salvation." – Margaret Thatcher

Two Letters Re Converting A Gasoline Engine Generator Set to Propane

Hi Jim,
Regarding the thread on converting generators to propane, last year I installed a tri-fuel conversion kit on my 7.5 KW generator, that has a Honda engine. [Since the conversion] it works perfectly and [the conversion kit] was very easy to install. If the [grid] power goes out, I can switch it to the piped-in natural gas and if that goes out, I can either use propane or gasoline.
I also got an inexpensive solar trickle charger and connected that to the battery, so that the battery is always fully charged. Best Regards, – Kurt

JWR Replies: I consider the small (5 watt) 12 VDC battery trickle chargers that you mentioned a must for every retreat. We have one for each of our vehicles here at the ranch. Keeping one of these connected to your backup generator battery is a great idea. They are available from Northern Tool & Equipment. (One of our Affiliate Advertisers.) At Northern Tool’s web site, search on Item # 339973.

Jim
Propane is a good long term fuel for home and engine use as long as “the system” continues to work. How long will you be able to maintain your power needs after the balloon goes up?
Things to think about, [are]:
What are the common failure parts in you genset and automobile?
What are your consumables, gas, oil, diesel, hoses, gaskets?
How long can you practically extend oil changes and not damage your engines?
Can you add a oil purifier to your engine?
Wood gasifiers are a proven and reliable source of fuel to run engines for the long term. As long as there are trees and shrubs then you have fuel.
The GENGAS web page has charts and plans for a stratified down draft gasifier that can run all manner of internal combustion engines including diesels cars and generators.

If you want to see the kind of engines that stand the test of time go down to your local farm and see how many of the old tractors are still running [that were made] from the 1940s to the 1960s.
I would be careful about spending money on conversions that will only be useful while the [modern commercial] supply system is running.

One other note: How safe is your fuel storage from fire and to incoming [small arms] fire? Large propane tanks can and have leveled city blocks when set on fire. In some locales underground tanks are illegal so a block house away from your main structure would be in order, and security for same must be reviewed.
Now think of your last power outage. How quiet was your neighborhood? How far does the sound of your genset carry?

Remember that needs and wants are a long way apart. Skills are cheap and you can accumulate lots of those and no one can take them from you. Goods cost money and they can be taken or lost. The short of it is: do not buy what you can learn to build or do without. In my humble opinion the best way to survive is to organize like a Special Forces team with overlapping skill sets. And never rule out mobility as strategically v have any choice. Learn all you can about it. Good reference books to have are the U.S. Army’s FM 7-8 on infantry tactics and battle drills and the Ranger handbook. A third “must have” is ST 31-91B US Army Special Forces medical handbook. As the motto [borrowed from the British SAS] goes: “Who dares, wins”.
Sorry for the rambling but I read your blog every day at 0400 and don’t get to write that often. so I start my day with a good cup of coffee and good friends. God Bless and Semper Paratus, – Mike H.

Letter Re: Kanban: America’s Ubiquitous “Just in Time” Inventory System–A Fragile House of Cards

Jim,
Having both worked in a hospital and worked for hospitals for the last 18 years I must loudly concur with “Mike the MD in Missouri”. As a service specialist in an un-named Level 1 trauma center I had access to almost every inch of the facility(s) including the warehouses where we stored our unused equipment and all the patient care products. Naturally I was able to assess the on hand stock versus the use and replenish rates at a glance. I was always amazed at how little there actually was for a hospital in a city of
150,000 people.
Let me assure everyone that Mike the MD is absolutely correct. This, is due largely to the hospitals spiraling cost of doing business. The paltry or sheer lack of adequate funding to healthcare facilities has caused management to resort to Just in Time (JIT) inventories. Lean stock management is a necessity for all but the largest big city hospitals and even those are lean.
The small rural hospitals are, by far, the leanest and also will be the hardest hit if there is a disruption in transportation. Anyone remember the phrase “the sacrifice of the few for the benefit of the many”? This mentality applies to rural hospitals. The big inner city hospitals will get resupplied (albeit perhaps scantly) first.
It is incumbent upon each and everyone of us to have the appropriate, on hand, quantities of prescription medicines, symptomatic medications (helpful for those manning a LP/OP), med supplies in the form of gauze pads, bandages, tapes and wound closures including the “medical grade super glue” style, cleaners, skin preps, splints, wraps, towels, antiseptics, soaps and shampoos (un/minimally scented), tooth past and brushes, gloves, sutures (if possible), ointments, tools (medical and dental) of all sorts. Don’t forget crutches, walkers, (if possible) a wheelchair, feminine hygiene
products, et cetera. Diabetic folks need to stock up heavily on syringes and needles. [JWR Adds: And they should absolutely stock as much insulin and test materials as possible without using them beyond their expiration dates. Be sure to label and conscientiously rotate these supplies on a first in, first out (FIFO) basis.]
Thanks to Mike the MD for broaching this topic and thanks also Jim for the platform to which the topic can be addressed. – Joe from Tennessee

Notes from JWR:

Notes from JWR: My only comment on the recent tragedy in Salt Lake City (where Sulejman Talovic, an 18-year-old Bosnian Muslim refugee ran amok with a shotgun and a .38 wheelgun) is that if we had a better armed citizenry, this madman would have been stopped much more quickly. (Probably long before he could have shot ten people.) I have no doubt that the gun grabbers will try to capitalize on this sad event. But they don’t have an intellectual leg to stand on. Madmen will always be able to get hold of weapons, regardless of how many gun laws that the Barbara Boxers and Hitlery Clintons of the world put on the books. If Vermont-style concealed carry (with no permit required) were adopted nationwide, we would live in a much safer country. An armed society is a polite society.

I spent most of yesterday afternoon out with our primary chainsaw (a Stihl 029 with a 24″ bar) cutting some firewood for next winter. It was a good opportunity to brief our kids about chainsaw safety–especially the necessity of wearing Kevlar chainsaw chaps. The widespread use of these chaps in recent years has greatly reduced those messy trips to the Emergency Room.

Speaking of cutting things off, I’m about to cut off the current debate on climate change at SurvivalBlog, since there are obviously some almost diametrically opposed views, and the debate is starting to run in circles. Thanks for your input, folks. The bottom line, in my estimation: Just be ready, regardless of what happens vis-a-vis short term weather patterns, or potential long term climate change.

Two Letters Re: Pondering Some Personal Consequences of Global Climate Change

Dear Jim and Family,
Wow, people sure are getting worked up and personal about climate change aren’t they? I agree that as survivalists we should do our best to plan for reasonable emergencies. Cold weather gear in Central America? Probably not. A larger cistern system than you think you need in the desert or great plains? A good idea. Why? Climate change, whether caused by man or not, makes for changing rainfall patterns. Maybe heavier so your soil gets waterlogged and you get unexpected floods. In Hawaii this may mean more hurricanes. Or maybe Hawaii turns into a desert island with little rainfall and ends up collapsing like Easter Island did. If the rain gets more brief and falls less often, aqueducts, which keep your well full, could fail and you’re suddenly out of water. Drought has a very long history in North America in particular, topping several advanced and complex civilizations: the Mayans, Hohokam, Mississippi Mound Builders, and the Anasazi. In north america, climate can be accurately mapped by tree ring growth and several other methods, and the region has a tendency of a couple centuries of reliable weather, then a couple decades of severe drought. We’ve had 150 years of reliable weather, and I guess now we’re going to have drought. The Mayan calendar maps that to 265 year cycle of growth and destruction, which is purported to end around 2012, which should be around 4 years into the Peak Oil collapse.

A couple degree water temp difference means a huge difference in Cod catch in the North Sea near Norway and Iceland. There are centuries of records on those, if anyone is interested. A couple degrees can mean glaciers grow or retreat, which they’ve been doing for millennia before man began burning coal or oil. I think that the IPCC report is inconclusive, but I’m a geologist and nobody asks us about climate since our viewpoint is a lot longer than theirs and our conclusions don’t make good headlines: “It’s Interglacial. Climate changes because its erratic until the next ice age begins.” But that’s not as sexy as claiming the <s>sky is falling</s> world is melting and everything will die. I’m pretty tired to explaining this to ignorant masses who want to believe we’re all going to melt into the sea.

When all is said and done, climate change is something the governments of the world have decided to accept as truth, regardless of whether it is or not. They are prepared to mandate “solutions” to “stop warming”, when their own vaunted report says that if we start now with the most extreme measures (no CO2 emissions at all), it will take 50 years to see any change.

As survivalists, we should be thinking about the political consequences of that decision, such as banning the burning of firewood to cut CO2 emissions, outlawing internal combustion engines, perhaps even seizing rural properties without active agriculture because the cost of transit from this rural location makes it environmentally damaging under the Kyoto protocols. Think about that. Are there alternatives to allow your lifestyle to survive? Yes, but they’ll be expensive and bid up by demand. Electric cars actually cost around $40K, and are subsidized by the government down to $22K. A mass release of electric cars to the general public won’t scale up for subsidies, so expect to pay that $40K for the first models. Instead of seeing the price drop, it will probably rise with time as demand for the most efficient models and latest innovations (and inflation) will bring it higher. As metals will cost more to make thanks to the lack of fuels and restrictions on CO2 emissions, special taxes are added on for a personal transport vehicle, and road taxes and GPS tracking of mileage that gets very expensive. I can easily see cars costing $70K (before inflation) by 2012. How many households can afford that? I sure can’t.

The IPCC report invites all sorts of oppression and we should fight misuse and abuse of the data aggressively. They’ll take your guns today (UN says self-defense is illegal) so they can take your cars tomorrow (personal vehicles release too much CO2, use precious fossil fuels/electricity), then your furnace/fireplace (CO2), then your pantry. (Ration Cards). You can see where that’s going. Pretty soon you’re living in Orwell’s 1984. Letting government, and their politically motivated scientists, tell me I can’t burn wood, coal, or oil to heat my home because it releases CO2, thus denying my right to survive the winter in a rural retreat, is the same as a putting a gun to my head and telling me to obey and die. I have real problems with that. Things like this convince me that the UN is the enemy of the Free Man.

Even if the science behind the IPCC report is correct, the threat of forcing First World countries to suffer like the 3rd World is too high a cost, particularly when it means death for so many of us. Regardless of effort applied, change will have to be endured over the next 50 years, so basically the rest of our lives. It is in our own best interests not to abide by the Kyoto protocols and to adopt affordable alternative energy. Any changes we make must make economic sense and the radicals frothing at the mouth over the IPCC report want aggressive changes made now, the kind that kill a lot of people. These are not people we should be taking advice from.

So, think about rainfall totals, falling well levels, potential oppressive laws, and how to deal with them all at your location while you try and make a living under the radar with a modicum of both privacy and comfort. Best, – InyoKern

Dear Jim,
I see that folk myths are becoming part of the Ad-hoc Working Group (AWG) “science.” Regarding: “Greenland! Those who bought the stories they were told about it were sorely disappointed when they arrived.”
Repeating: there are currently Viking Era farms melting out of the glaciers in Greenland, proving it was warmer then than currently. Greenland was not a garden, but by the standards of the Norse it was quite viable. The furthest north discoveries of artifacts are near 80 degrees north, well above the ice line for centuries in between then and now. Greenland was occupied for 450 years, by people who had boats as a standard. Think of where the English word “Skipper” comes from, also “Starboard” and many other nautical terms. If it had not been viable, they would have left. The Inuit arrived around the year 1200, fully two centuries after the Europeans, and survived the climate change the other way–colder. This is established fact.
“(freakish warmth in Greenland at some point is not a basis for concluding that a world-wide trend was evident, as it wasn’t) .
It’s sad to see this myth persists.”
As to there not being supporting evidence, here’s a secondary source linking to lots of others: See: http://www.john-daly.com/hockey/hockey.htm This one smashes the notion that there was no Medieval Warm Period, with evidence from the Antarctic, Africa, North America, South America, Australia, the Pacific…all supporting a period warmer than today, followed by the Little Ice Age, and no measurable change in sea level.
The best quote from here is: As a prominent Finnish scientist remarked about a historical military event in his country’s distant history, “if `anecdotal’ ice is thick enough to carry a whole army, we can infer the ice was both thick and durable as an objective conclusion based on a documented historical fact.”
To suggest that the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) and Little Ice Age (LIA) didn’t exist is revisionism on par with Orwell’s 1984. Any “scientist” claiming so is a charlatan, plain and simple. Too many disciplines, from geology to geography to botany to history to cartography all concur for them to be wrong on such a scale.
~~~
The other point I shall address is:
“In another widely held misconception, the rise in sea levels is not pegged to the weight of ice in the sea, but rather the melting of land ice and thermal expansion of the ocean.”
This is an easy one (I had a physicist assist me, but my college math and HVAC thermodynamics is well able to grasp it):
http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/Water/temp.html
The average temperature of the ocean surface waters is about 17 degrees Celsius
90 % of the total volume of ocean is found below the thermocline in the deep ocean. The deep ocean is not well mixed. The deep ocean is made up of horizontal layers of equal density. Much of this deep ocean water is between 0-3 degrees Celsius (32-37.5 degrees Fahrenheit)!
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean
its volume is over 1340 million cubic kilometers
Average Depth: 12200 feet (3720 m).
www.mos.org/oceans/planet/features.html
A Calorie or kilocalorie is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one kilogram of water one Celsius degree.
Although the metric unit of energy is the joule, heat is commonly also measured in units called calories (there are about 4.19 joules in a calorie)
Oceans volume: 1.34×1021 l
Oceans mass: 1.4×1021 kg
90% of the water is below the thermocline and can be ignored –
surface heating won’t affect it.
Average surface water temperature: 17 C
Energy required to raise average surface water temperature to 22C
5×1.4×1020 KJ = 7×1021 KJ
Solar power input to the Earth is about 1050 W/m2 after counting the
amount reflected. Earth’s cross-sectional area is 1.27×1014 m2, so
total solar power input is 1.33 x 1020 W
So 50 million seconds of solar output would do it.
Giving density at 17C as 1.024193346 kg/l
and at 22C as 1.020066461 kg/l
So our 10% surface water of 1.4×1021 kg has a volume of
1.36692940397×1020 l at 17C and 1.3724595931×1020 at 22C
which is a difference of about 5.5×1017 litres = 5.5×1014 m3
The surface area of the oceans is 3.61×1014 m
which give an approximate level rise of 1.5m or five feet, about 0.41%.
So, if the sun doubles in output for TWO YEARS, enough energy will enter the system to raise the ocean level about 5 feet.
If we decreased the energy radiated from the Earth by 1% (a SIGNIFICANT change for a system in equilibrium radiating on average as much as it absorbs), and if all that extra energy went into the oceans, that would raise the water temperature by 3C over 100 years, for less than a 2 foot rise.
This disregards that the upper ocean is not a parallel-sided tank, but slopes, that 30% of that energy would fall on dry land, and that toward the poles much of it would be soaked up or deflected by atmosphere. Also, in the last 3 billion years, the solar influx has INCREASED 40% without catastrophe. http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/sol.html#solarconstant
This disregards additional cloud cover raising the albedo and reflecting some of the incoming energy.
Atmospheric warming is irrelevant to sea level expansion (it can affect surface ice), because the transfer rate from gaseous air to liquid water is very low.
And yet, this is an idea that so-called scientists are endorsing? I certainly hope not.
And there is certainly no consensus that warming is taking place to the degree some argue:
http://muller.lbl.gov/TRessays/23-MedievalGlobalWarming.html
Supports global warming. Says he doesn’t trust Mann’s paper.
http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba/ba478/
http://www.nps.gov/archive/mora/ncrd/glaciers.htm some advance, some retreat
http://www.nasa.gov/lb/vision/earth/environment/sea_ice.html Antarctic ice may be increasing
There has historically been much more CO2 in our atmosphere than exists today. For example, during the Jurassic Period (200 million years ago), average CO2 concentrations were about 1800 ppm or about 4.7 times higher than today. The highest concentrations of CO2 during all of the Paleozoic Era occurred during the Cambrian Period, nearly 7000 ppm — about 18 times higher than today.
http://www.clearlight.com/~mhieb/WVFossils/Carboniferous_climate.html
The Carboniferous Period and the Ordovician Period were the only geological periods during the Paleozoic Era when global temperatures were as low as they are today. To the consternation of global warming proponents, the Late Ordovician Period was also an Ice Age while at the same time CO2 concentrations then were nearly 12 times higher than today– 4400 ppm. According to greenhouse theory, Earth should have been exceedingly hot. Instead, global temperatures were no warmer than today. Clearly, other factors besides atmospheric carbon influence earth temperatures and global warming.”
~~~
One can say that the scientists working for the energy companies are “biased,” but bias works both ways. One could also say that those getting paid higher wages by the private sector are competent. Those who can, do, and all that.
Certainly we are facing climate change. Certainly it will affect life, cause local disasters and shift society. But the planet, life and even the human race have withstood much worse with much less knowledge. – Michael Z. Williamson

Letter Re: Supporting SurvivalBlog

On the Yahoo discussion group survivalretreat, the other two moderators and I recently posted a very boiled down and simple philosophy: “The more who prepare, and the better they each prepare, the better off we all are. We welcome people to join us as survivalists.” I hope this is your attitude as a survivalist, and if you think about it, wouldn’t this be an incredibly wise policy for any government to take. It would make its citizenship stronger, less needy, and more resilient to against any catastrophe or hard times. The best part is, it’s free. This is merely information, advice, and encouragement for people to ready themselves with some realistic advice as to how to do so. Survivalblog.com, to a significant extent does this for all of us through the continued posting of and debate of ideas, for free. Advertisers here make this financially possible, and offer the products and services that allow you to expand and improve upon your preparations. I hope you consider patronizing them first for this reason. I have.

Special thanks to James Rawles for the continuing level of quality and fresh material on the site. Is there financial self-interest for the advertisers? Of course there is. But don’t kid yourself about them becoming rich off this. Survivalism is unfortunately a very small market, and thus we should all take special appreciation as to how this blog site brings so many of us together internationally. I see that it is now been a year since I took the Ten Cent Challenge , and is time for me to renew. I encourage you to as well, as you are able.- Rourke

Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader Alfie Omega recommended some very sobering observations from Peak Oil guru James Howard Kunstler. Yes, he’s coming from a left-of center political perspective, and the timing of Hubbert’s Peak may be decades (or more) premature, but this is still worth pondering.

  o o os

Those RFID chips just keep getting smaller and more numerous. Now Hitachi has announced a nascent RFID dust.

   o o o

JB in Tennessee spotted a disposable toothbrush with self-dispensing toothpaste in the handle called Fresh ‘n Go. JB notes: “It is advertised as good for about two weeks use, but I find that I can stretch one to 5-6 weeks. I have packed a handful in my family BOB, as well as in individual camping and survival kits. They were available initially in a few drugstore chains, but now the only reliable source seems to be direct from the manufacturer at $10 for [a package of] six units.”

Note from JWR:

The first piece today is from a SurvivalBlog reader that took the Four Day Defensive Handgun course at Front Sight, outside Pahrump, Nevada. (Just under 40 miles from Las Vegas.) The Memsahib and I have taken the same course there, and we can attest that the trainers are excellent and that already well-experienced shooters will return from the course at a much higher plateau of skill and confidence with a firearm. There is no macho posturing, no shouting, and no belittling of students at Front Sight. Just very courteous instruction from some of the very best in the business. I highly recommend the training at Front Sight. Safety is stressed throughout. Near the end of Day Two of our course when they transitioned to “hot range” conditions, I felt no apprehension at all having all of my classmates with holstered loaded guns behind the firing line, because I knew that they had been drilled in safe gun handling procedures.

Perhaps the thing that I appreciate the most about Front Sight is the fact that they have a “train the trainer” approach. Thus, someone with a limited budget can attend Front Sight and then go home and pass on those skills to their family members and friends. Remember: A true survivalist collects skills, not gadgets. Just having a big defensive firearms battery does not make you well prepared. In fact, by itself an assortment of guns can give you an unrealistic sense of confidence. Get the training.Your life or the life of a loved one may depend on it.

Special thanks go to Dr. Ignatius “Naish” Piazza, the founder and director of Front Sight. He has very graciously provided us with the four day “gray” transferable Front Sight course certificates (worth up to $1,600 each) that we have been awarding to the first place winners of the the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. This is how “S.F.” earned his way to Front Sight.

A SurvivalBlog Reader’s Four Days at Front Sight, by S.F. in Hawaii

I recently returned from a four day handgun course at Front Sight, courtesy of SurvivalBlog’s writing contest. Upon arriving I made a quick headcount of the handgun class. ~50 students, 10 female and 40 male. Mostly 30 to 50 year olds but a few teenagers and 60 year olds as well. The first pleasant surprise was how safe and peaceful I felt in a location where I was surrounded by absolute strangers all of whom had a gun in plain sight on a holster. I’ve never been around so many armed people and never felt so comfortable either. Crime in such a situation was an utter impossibility. This was man (and woman) in their natural state: armed, and polite. No victims and no criminals here.
The class progressed from proper standing position, angles and presentation from the holster to trigger control, malfunction clearing, tactical situations and simulations (including night shooting), entering and clearing a room and hostage situations. There was also a good deal of class time where ethical, legal and tactical situations were discussed.
While there isn’t space to delineate everything I’ve learned, here are some highlights:
1) Keep it simple. I thought my tricked out Glock 19 was a great idea but the first thing that they did was to take off the Jentra plug and Magwell. They told me that they would interfere with stripping out the magazine in certain malfunctions. On the other hand my tritium big dot XS sights did make rapid target acquisition much easier than the standard sights. I think it gave me a fraction of a second advantage over the other shooters. This may not seem like much but consider what happens if someone shoots you a fraction of a second before you can shoot them. There is no second place in a gunfight.
2) Know your weapon. Just owning it isn’t enough. Having Heirloom seeds in my refrigerator doesn’t make me a farmer and having a gun collection didn’t make me a skilled shooter. Practice did. I had 35 high-brass malfunctions on Day 3. Was this due to underpowered ammo, a bad extractor or “limp wristing” a ported gun? I’ll find out shortly when my gunsmith takes a look at it. Having your gun jam when a man is pointing an AK-47 at you (even if it is a paper simulation) it quite disconcerting, not having the automatic reflexes to clear the jam even, more so. Also, finding that your gun shoots 4 inches to the left at 10 yards makes tactical shooting a bit unnerving. There are many survival situations where you have the luxury of a few mistakes and correcting them in the field. So what if it takes you 30 minutes to start a campfire your first time with a flint and tinder. If it’s not freezing it’s no big deal. Next time you’ll be faster. A gunfight is not the place to learn your lessons. A school is.
3) Know how to clear malfunctions. You should be able to clear type 1, 2, and 3 malfunctions in under 3 seconds. If you don’t know what lock/strip/rack/rack/rack/insert mag/rack means, then you’d better find out now.
4) Whereas basic hand to hand combat skills can give you a degree of comfort in 1 on 1 unarmed encounters giving you a ‘sphere of confidence’ [of only] 5 feet in every direction, being skilled with a handgun can give you a sense of confidence against an armed opponent or multiple opponents out to 10 yards or better.

On the last day I was put 7 yards from a paper hostage target. A hostage was in the center of the target and offset to the right and left of the hostage’s head were the silhouettes of two hostage taker’s heads. Only a part of the hostage taker’s head was visible. The instructors then asked for the name of a loved one (I gave my wife) and wrote the name on the hostage. The task was to put 5 controlled shots into the cranium (an area the size of an index card) of the the hostage takers on both the right and left without hitting the hostage. Ten shots later I breathed a sigh of relief. When I unrolled the target and showed my wife a few days later (I took the target with me) that the bad guys were shot and her target was unharmed, I felt more proud than if I had handed her a diploma from Harvard University.
I’ll be going back for their rifle and advanced handgun courses without question. The instructors were very qualified and the entire experience was both sobering and enjoyable. I’m very grateful to the staff at Front Sight and Jim Rawles for the opportunity to learn. I recommend their training wholeheartedly. – SF in Hawaii

Letter Re: Kanban: America’s Ubiquitous “Just in Time” Inventory System–A Fragile House of Cards

James:
This “just in time” thinking has transformed the medical industry, especially hospitals. The “Central Supply” or stockpile in hospitals has disappeared and in its place are vendors with same day and next day shipping. This includes band-aids, medications, ventilators, equipment etc. In the business setting it makes sense, but in the medical setting it often falters on a day to day basis. In a crisis medical event, surge capacity is limited to how fast the vendors can respond. In a contained disaster, vendors can shift needed supplies to a hospital in as little as several hours. But, in a local area or larger disaster, when several hospitals are requiring materials, vendors can and will run dry. Recently we had an episode where we had to transfer several patients due to lack of ventilators at our facility. We requested more, but the the vendor had already sent them to another hospital that was in need, and this was only the typical flu/pneumonia season! Medications, IV fluids, surgical supply are all limited in supply at most hospitals. Add transportation and trucking problems, and many hospitals with cease to provide our current level of care. Pharmacies are in the same boat, antibiotics and even the OTC meds will quickly run dry, as vendors try to cope with a surge in usage. Thinking in terms of pandemic flu, this will reach crisis levels very quickly, and will set off a domino effect in local area, including rural hospitals and the big city hospitals, affecting routine and critical care. Lesson to be learned, is to stock up on medical supplies including any prescription meds you need, but also antibiotics and symptomatic medications such as Tylenol, Aspirin, Motrin, Imodium, but also on IV fluids, oxygen and other medical materials that could save your life. Obviously, getting an EMT, paramedic, RN, or doctor into your group will be priceless, and life saving, now and into the future.
Another aside, what is the recommendations for your tool cache? Everyone gives there opinion on weapons, and what foods to stock up on, but what basic tools do you recommend to have on hand?
– Mike the MD in Missouri

JWR Replies: I will discuss tool selection in detail in my upcoming non-fiction book: “Rawles on Guns and Other Tools for Survival”. I hope to release it this coming summer.