Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” – James Madison, written in The Federalist, No. 47, 1788.

The Apex, North Carolina Fire–My Story

Hi Jim,
Love your web site! I live just on the outskirts of Apex, NC which is basically a suburb of Raleigh.One week ago, as you know, a hazmat processing facility there had a huge chlorine gas leak that led to a massive industrial fire with multiple explosions and leaks of all kinds of nasty-kill-you-dead-chemicals leaking into the air. 17,000 people were evacuated from Apex that evening. You can read the complete story here.
What I want to share with my fellow SurvivalBlog readers is how that thing that “will never happen here” happens and the very real need for a ready bag and a plan for when to use it. Here’s how it went down in Apex from my view. I was in a parking lot at a football game 5 miles away from Apex 11:30pm or so Friday night when I remarked to my friends about the lightning and thunder off in the distance. A few minutes later when all of my friend’s cell phones began to ring, we knew something was up- and it wasn’t a thunderstorm. All the wives talked about an evacuation of the town and chemical vapor plumes. At first, we thought someone was joking… but then, some had gotten a reverse-911 call telling them to evacuate the town, other’s heard public address (PA) loudspeakers from fire trucks. Some were just outside the evac zone and wondered what to do. Some panicked, packed the kids in the car and drove 60 miles away. All of my friends live in Apex, I’m just outside of town. We were in the post-game gridlock with 60,000 other fans and going nowhere fast. What I quickly became aware of was the various reactions of my friends. One was clearly in denial and kept making jokes; another just rationalized the impending rainy weather and assured us all it would wash away the plume and that everyone was safe. Another one just spoke quietly to his wife on the cell phone. It was a startling thing to observe. I casually asked them if any of them had a gas mask in the house their wives could use if they need ed to drive out in a hurry. They just looked at me with raised eyebrows…I’m sure they ever considered that thought. One said, “I’ll die with my family before I wear one of those!” I thought to myself, you know, you could likely drive them out of harms way with a mask on or, heaven forbid, have one for each of them! After we got out of the gridlock we drove to my place which was well outside the evac zone and better-yet, upwind. As we entered the garage I went over to the workbench and produced 2 chlorine gas rated respirators and said, here, take these, my full face mask is upstairs. You should have seen the stunned looks! They could not believe that I just walked into the garage and produced personal protective gear for them in under 10 seconds. I chose not to share with them the extent of my ability to deal with a variety of other situations. As it turned out, my friends stayed over and the wives sheltered in place as they were just 2/10 mile outside the evac zone. Not the heroic thing we wanted to do but the police had stopped all of the traffic and closed many roads into Apex. We were not going anywhere. As we drove back in today, each and every road into town had orange cones and a patrol car blocking any access. If you think there is no way the authorities could ever blockade your entire town, you are sadly mistaken. There were police from all over called in to help, fire crews from 50 miles away called in, and hazmat crews from other states on standby. It was the real deal yet it stemmed from a relatively small facility with only a few dozen employees. I’d hate to be unprepared and live downwind of a refinery or major chemical plant! It made me wonder about how we would fair if the nearby Nuke Plant had an evac order for all of Raleigh-Durham which approaches 1 million people in 4 counties. Or what would happen if a pandemic erupted in our town.
The most important take-aways I can share are these thoughts: We’ve had lot’s of brutal hurricanes here over that last 20 years, most of us here know the drill. But that is not the hazard to prepare for- it’s for the ones you don’t think of all the time that you need to consider, the ones that happen to “other people”, the ones that will “never happen here”, that’s what you should consider. Because, everything else, you can probably deal with already- you know, something goes bump in the night, duh, Annie get your gun! Really consider the “big ones” (for us, the Nuke Plant), pandemics, serious bio-terrorism, those are what you should give rational, considered thought to. Because, if you don’t, you will be subject to the whims of authorities and the masses. And no one will be happy with that. – Sig

Letter Re: My Experience with TA-1042 Field Telephones

I noticed that one of your advertisers is currently selling surplus AN/TA-1042 Digital Non-secure Voice Terminal (DNVT) field telephones. Earlier this year I bought two pair of them and even though I don’t have the hard-to-find circuit switch, (AN/TTC-39D) for terminal to terminal dialing, when a pair is interconnected these phones offer super communications. The full duplex audio is clear and crisp over several hundred feet of wire (easily), has a ringer and audio volume control and a ring indicator LED ( flashing for ringing, steady on signifies in-use) for silent mode operation.
I run mine in a local battery configuration: one 12 volt, 17 or 26 amp hour battery per phone with a solar panel and charger controller on the one in my barn. The phones will operate reliably with the battery voltage level around 5.5 VDC although they are designed to function with a voltage range of 5.5 to 28 VDC with a current draw of 50 milliamp. These phones are severely damp proof and quite rugged. They even have a strap for fastening the phone to a pole or tree.
My original plan was to have a net of phones set up at various secured locations around the farm. Without the tactical circuit switch the keypad will not function phone to phone. If one can find a TCS these phones will be transformed from great to incredible. (.They have direct dialing capability addressing up to 240 terminals with four levels of priority over-ride and can even key a radio transmitter for
phone to radio communications). – Joe from Tennessee
JWR Replies: I also think that the TA-1024 is a great design. As someone that was first trained with the older generation TA-1 and TA-312 simplex-only mode field phones, the DNVT generation phones seem very Buck Rogers. As I pointed out in my novel “Patriots”, having reliable field telephones is essential to coordinate retreat security in a post-TEOTWAWKI world. For semi-permanent installation, it is best to buy cable that is rated for underground burial (“UB”) , to conceal and protect all of your lines. For TA-1042s you will need four conductor cable. (Or two parallel runs of two conductor cable.) Burying your lines will prevent both intentional and unintentional line cuts or breaks. Don’t overlook getting a few extra field phones, so that you can run commo wire to your neighbors and coordinate with them as well. The circuit switch that you mentioned (AN/TTC-39D) is sometimes available from Fair Radio Sales. Otherwise, just watch eBay.com for one to come up at auction. The TA-1042 DNVT field telephones themselves are currently available from Ready Made Resources. They sell these field phones in pairs, with a free civilian photovoltaic panel included.

Note From JWR:

Get your entries in soon for Round 7 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The writer of the best non-fiction article will win a valuable four day “gray” transferable Front Sight course certificate. (Worth up to $1,600.) Second prize is a copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, generously donated by Jake Stafford of Arbogast Publishing. If you want a chance to win Round 7, start writing and e-mail us your article. This round will end on November 30th. Remember that the articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival will have an advantage in the judging.

Letter Re: The Varroa Honeybee Mite Threatens U.S. Crop Production

Letter Re: The Varroa Honeybee Mite Threatens U.S. Crop Production

The Varroa mite, Varroa jacobsonii, is an external parasite of honey bees. It feeds on the hemolymph of both brood and adult bees. The entire life cycle of these mites is spent with the bees. The Varroa mite originated in Southeast Asia where it is a parasite of the Eastern honey bee, Apis cerana. It was first discovered on the Western honey bee, Apis mellifera, in 1960. The crossover resulted from beekeepers intermingling the two species, and further spread has been encouraged by beekeepers transporting colonies.

No one is sure how it came into the United States but it is most likely that they arrived with queen bees which were brought in illegally.

By 1992 Varroa mites have been found in at least 40 of the United States and continue to spread. They were first found in Wisconsin in late 1987 and shortly thereafter were reported in Florida. They are assumed to have been in Florida first and moved to Wisconsin with migratory bees. A further assumption is that they were in the U.S. for at least two years before discovery.

Why am I mentioning the lowly Honeybee in a survivalist forum?

The varroa mite has killed or severely weakened an estimated 40 percent to 60 percent of honeybees in the United States during the past six months.
• Millions of acres of U.S. fruit, nut, vegetable, seed and legume crops depend on insect pollination. An estimated 80 percent of insect crop pollination is accomplished by honeybees.
• Crops that require bees for pollination include apples, avocados, blueberries, cherries, cranberries, oranges, grapefruit, sunflowers, tangerines and watermelon. In addition, the production of most beef and dairy products depends on alfalfa, clover and other plants that require pollination.
• Honeybees are ideal for pollination because they can be managed easily and moved to where they are needed. They also will pollinate a wide variety of crops without harming the plants.

Isn’t it great? The things we get from Asia? Formosan Termites, Varroa mites, Asian Avian Flu, etc. – Hawgtax

Three Letters Re: Military Surplus Gasoline Cans–Questions on Cleaning Procedures and Venting

Mr. Rawles
The man who bought the military gas cans with the latches and no vent hole, sounds like he [might have] bought five gallon military water cans. That also could explain why he found unknown liquid instead of gasoline in the cans. Love your site. OBTW, I’m a Unimog survival vehicle owner. J.P. in Montana

 

Sir:
Joe is probably referring to the German style fuel cans! They are a very well designed can that vents with a passage from the cans opening up though the handle to the humpbacked air chamber on the back of the can behind the handles. This air chamber also serves as a float chamber if you want to throw your full cans overboard and allow them to float ashore.
With good seals these can will travel tied down even upside down (if you want) and can take a beating. There is plenty of good info on the web about these cans and their history if he wishes to learn more about them. The Allies were losing a very large percentage of their fuel to spillage until they stole the Germans idea of a Jerry can but even with the Brits and US making cans they where poor seconds to the original until the Brits just straight out copied the German can design. Thanks for the good informative Blog! – SC in WV

 

James:
The screw down lid that comes with the GI cans has a wide flange that covers, and seals the vent hole. The spout that you screw in has a narrow flange, allowing the can to vent during the pouring. If you will look at the rubber gaskets on the cap and spout you will see the difference in the outer diameter. The spout gasket has a smaller outside diameter. – TCH, in Oregon

Letter Re: Storing Coal for Home Heating at Your Retreat

Jim:
Regarding he recent thread on coal storage, old factories and military installations that used coal (some barracks were coal heated and still have bins outside) often have large amounts (suitable for the survivalist or amateur blacksmith) of coal that’s not cost-effective for the operation to do anything with. If one offers to clean it up, it might be available free. I know there’s lots of anthracite coal outside old barracks at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin. Perhaps someone in the area would be able to salvage it. I’d appreciate a load for my forge for the referral if anyone does this. – Michael Z. Williamson, (in sword maker rather than sci-fi writer mode)

Odds ‘n Sods:

John the Bowhunter sent this one. The housing slump continues. From Sacramento, California: Now house prices are noticeably declining.

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Jason pointed me to this story: Brazilian granny who shot thief to get Rio medal, but may go to jail for “gun crime”

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Business booms for fallout shelter industry in Japan following North Korea’s nuclear test. My question: Since Honolulu, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles are all now reportedly inside the radius of North Korean nuclear missiles, why aren’t shelter builders in the Western U.S. just as busy? A tip of the hat to “Hawaiian K” for sending this link.

Letter Re: Military Surplus Gasoline Cans–Questions on Cleaning Procedures and Venting

Hi Jim.
I recently bought several used five gallon military gas cans over the Internet. Since they are used, they arrived with some remaining liquid residue in them. I don’t know what it is, other than it is not gasoline. Also, the lids are the kind that close down securely with a latch and don’t appear to be vented like the gas cans bought in a hardware store. I have several questions. (1) Do you have any suggestions for cleaning them out so that I can store gasoline in them? (2) What is the purpose of the cans being unvented? (3) What are the pros and cons of the cans being unvented? (4) Are there any dangers peculiar to unvented gas cans that I need to be aware of? Thanks for a great blog, I have been a regular reader from the beginning. – Joe.

JWR Replies: In answer to your questions:

1) Ironically, the best solvent for cleaning a used gasoline can is… gasoline. When cleaning a 4 or 5 gallon can, in a well-ventilated place, well away from any open flames and taking proper static electricity grounding precautions, simply put one quart of fresh gasoline (the octane number is unimportant) in the can, seal it, and then shake it vigorously for two minutes. Wait five minutes and then give it another two minute shake. Immediately pour out that gas and treat it as you would any other toxic waste. (Do NOT attempt to run it through any sort of engine. At this point it is only suitable for making napalm.) Then repeat the entire process, using another quart of fresh gasoline. Again, discard that gas. At this point the can should be clean enough to use for storing gas for use in engines.

2, 3, and 4) I’ve never heard of an unvented military gas can, but I don’t have much experience with some of the foreign military designs. U.S. mil-spec gas and diesel cans alway have vents. Look closely at the filler neck. It will probably have one or two small vent holes, possibly under the cap’s rubber seal. Unvented cans are a safety hazard in my estimation, because they would be at risk of leaking or rupture with changes in temperature or elevation.

Letter Re: Advice on Ammunition and Precious Metals for Barter?

Mr. R.:
Years back a good friend – a “tech incubator” and investment banker – asked me “What would make a good, easily portable medium of exchange ?” He was referencing some WTSHTF, post apocalyptic scenario. Good question. We thought about it and came up with answers, none of which were a pretty, malleable, ductile, shiny metal.
Same with diamonds. Pretty. How do they taste when brewed up in the coffee-pot ? … oh yeah, they don’t!
Wanna barter ? You’d better be bringing something to the table that has functional value. Food. Water. Shelter. Fire. Things that go bang. Things that when fed-in make those things go bang [i.e. magazines]. Medicine. Seed. Tools. Knowledge – the ultimate tool
I understand that we’re talking about a more rounded management and market-system where a universally-accepted medium of exchange would be operative, and that many here are interested in money and gold. But discussions of precious metals seem to be the economic analogue of the “Tommy Tactical” threads. The foundation of any pyramid that would support either an individual or some aggregate of individuals will have to focus on essentials. With apologies to Mr. Maslow, gold ain’t in that bottom layer, or any of the higher ones.
I’ve got a brick of .22 and you have a gold coin. If I have enough bricks, I’ll sell. If not, that one gold coin ain’t gonna be doing it. It’ll take two, maybe three. Your stock of gold just went down in valuation by 67%. And that would be on a good day, when the marketplace is beneficent, and there’s no gangs roaming the countryside, and you’re healthy and can walk, and your boots are in good shape, and so on. Ditto with a tin of butter, coil of rope, lighter, cold-weather parka
Actually envisioning the landscape and scenarios that’ll eventuate, should inform decisions we make. I’m hoping that I never need to use my resources in a world gone kaflooey, but since it might happen, I plan for that scenario. My stewardship of family wellness and preparedness entails investments and savings, and for us gold isn’t one, nor are gold stocks, gold funds, gold futures, gold coins, promises of gold or the lure of gold. Markets move up over time, and we’ll invest, just not in gold. Not till we’re squared away with our other funds, the kids and their UTMAs, our HSA, and other more tangible and productive ventures
Yes, I like the payoffs from expendable income, and the things that money can buy. But I’m skeptical that gold holdings will serve me in the world-we-hope-never-to-see. If the SHTF (Excuse me again, Mr. Farnham – when ) gold will be of little value, and I suspect that any surviving governmental apparatus will be rounding it up along with real assets. Flash yer gold and get what you want (or) loose it (or) get incarcerated …. hmmm ? Three outcomes, two bad … hmmm ? Woody Hayes is speaking to me from the grave. In the interim, I’ll be brewing real coffee, versus virtual coffee from my envisioned precious metal asset-base. – Monsieur Anon

Odds ‘n Sods:

North Korea defiant, amidst fears of second nuclear weapon test. In other headlines, North Korea say that the recent UN sanctions resolution is a “declaration of war.”

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The U.S. is beefing up security on the Canadian border, deploying air assets–including drones.

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The U.S. Special Forces SCAR rifle acquisition program moves forward: The SCAR has unique specifications that allow the same receiver to be used for both .223 (“SCAR L”) and .308 (“SCAR H”) variants. Hmmm…The army finally gets back on track, nearly 50 years after the T44 versus T48 rifle trials, and acquires an FN-designed gas piston-operated 7.62mm NATO rifle with a pistol grip stock, charging handle on the left side, and a relatively straight line stock. (Sound familiar? Sounds like a FAL-inspired design to me.) My only question is: Will the .308 version of the SCAR use standard metric FAL magazines? I hope so.