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.

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

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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.

Two Letters Re: The Jericho Television Series Returns With New Episodes

Hi Jim:
Hit the nail on the head didn’t you? Jericho is nothing more than the standard protagonist/antagonist Hollywood pipe dream of heroes coming out of the woodwork to save the day.

I certainly hope no one is seriously considering this show as a realistic depiction of life after “the pulse”. Rather, I compare this show to the “Dark Angel ” series, i.e. for network TV, fairly good science fiction with almost nothing based in fact. Actually, I retract that statement. As far as depicting the scenario after an EMP event; the “Dark Angel” series was quite a bit more realistic than Jericho, if you ignore the mutants that were the basis for the show. The “Dark Angel” series depicts a repressive and corrupt socioeconomic system fostered and encouraged by the so-called “government” that came into place after all “normal” government had failed. Checkpoints, passes to enter and leave the city, national ID cards. Sound familiar? These are realities that have and will occur if a major catastrophe strikes.

Back to Jericho: Nice mercenaries? Way too many Steven Segal movies. Backing down a crew of heavily armed mercs with shotguns and 22 rifles? I Don’t think so. One realistic part was the sniper shot by the only fellow in Jericho who has a lick of sense, the double agent. I doubt he makes it all the way thru the third season, if there is a third season. The response to that scene was not so realistic!

I understand that the anticipated rush by the general populace to stock up on “survival” supplies due to the influence of this show never materialized. I imagine this is because the viewing audience of Jericho either:
1] Feels they are already prepared and watch the show because it validates their preparations or 2] Takes the show with a grain of salt. Pretty cool situation drama, and beats the heck out of the That 70s Show reruns or one of the other “pabulum” shows on network TV or 3] Simply have their head in the sand! Their thought processes may be as follows: “This can never happen, and , if it does, we can live like those folks on Jericho.”See how well they live?”.And, “They have power, food, water, even beer and a transistorized juke box that still seems to work after a half a dozen megaton nukes go off all over the US!”
Enjoy the show, take it for what it really is, and Lord help us if the depicted scenario actually occurs. – Bob in GA

Mr. Rawles:
I appreciate your take on Jericho, but I see it a little differently from an average person’s perspective. Jericho is not going to be an accurate portrayal of how the US would react because the general public could not handle it if it were. The show would be too violent, too depressing and would never garner ratings, let alone be aired by politically correct network. To make it an entertainment vehicle, it has to have the very elements that make it more fantasy than reality (girls and makeup, lack of arms, etc.). On the flip side, what makes this show wonderful is that it actually has a large audience of ordinary folks who may never have thought of survivalism or may never have thought they could survive such a cataclysmic event. So yes, it is not accurate. But if it gets people talking and moving towards preparedness, then it’s saving lives. That is heck of a lot more than you can say about CSI or American Idol. LOL. I speak from personal experience since up until last fall, I was one of those ‘sheeple‘ whose eyes were opened by the show and the survival [Internet] groups I joined as a result. – Tarran

Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader CM flagged this piece: Flu pandemic could choke ‘Net, force usage restrictions. CM’s comments: “I came across this article in LinuxWorld and thought it meshed very well with your thoughts on lean supply systems. Everything’s great when the critical people continue to show up to work and system disruption or damage can be limited. As the article states, no one can war game out exactly what those critical people will actually do in a real Crunch.”

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David in Israel recommended this inspiring story of survival, from World War II.

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Mike F. sent this CNN news story: National Guard troops aid motorists stranded by winter storm. Mike’s comment: “Here is a great example of why we all need a survival kit in each of our vehicles.”

Notes from JWR:

Today is the first day of a new SurvivalBlog benefit auction. This one is for a brand new Schecter “Warthog” Electric Guitar! This is an awesome guitar, in eye-catching stylized U.S. Air Force A-10 livery. It has a $729 retail value. It was kindly donated by the fine folks at Schecter Guitar Research.) Please tell any of your friends that are guitarists about this auction. The auction bidding starts at just $50. Just e-mail me your bid. Thanks!

Congratulations to Mike in Missouri, the high bidder in our most recently ended benefit auction, for a pair of upgraded MURS hand-held radios.

The Jericho Television Series Returns With New Episodes

Airing of new episodes of the television series Jericho will resume on February 21st here in the States. (After some sort of “split season” break.) I’ve watched most of the episodes via the Internet, since we don’t own a television here at the Rawles Ranch. Here is my “$.02 worth” evaluation of the show, based on my own viewing and from comments that I’ve distilled from Internet discussion boards: Jericho severely stretches credulity for accurate portrayal of a post-nuclear America. Apparently all of the female characters must have been secret adherents of the Maybelline School of Survivalism and hence stocked up heavily on cosmetics in anticipation of WWIII. Viewers deduced this because none of the female characters show any signs of running out of lipstick or mascara, or for that matter the requisite time to apply them. And as for the men folk? Well, apparently hardly anyone in the town of Jericho owned a decent .308 semi-auto battle rifle, or if they did then they must be hiding them. Now that the proverbial Schumer has hit the oscillator and flown around copiously, nobody in Jericho feels the need to go about their daily business armed. That seems odd, since in a recent episode the town of Jericho was attacked by a large groups of rogue Blackwater-ish looking mercenaries bent on “requisitioning”” food and fuel. If the show were less politically correct and a bit more pragmatically honest, then they would portray the majority of the adult citizenry–both male and female–armed at all times when they are outside of their homes. It only stands to reason that they would do so, both for their individual and collective defense. My other problem with the show is that it trivializes the need for basic necessities like food and water. For example, there they are on dead-level Kansas terrain, yet they seem to have no problem obtaining drinking water, without benefit of grid power. Perhaps the script writers don’t want to bore the audience with mundane things like the struggle to obtain the bare necessities of life, or the fragility of our technological infrastructure. I realize that the producers are trying to appeal to a broad demographic, but the characters seem to spend an inordinate amount of time discussing relationships. Come on! America has just been nuked back to 19th Century technology and population levels, yet they seem oh-so concerned with who is dating who. Lastly, for a town that has had no 18-wheelers arriving with milk, Nutter Butter cookies, and Pop-Tarts for several weeks, the citizenry seems remarkably well-fed and law abiding. Given the fact that the average American home has less than a week’s supply of groceries on hand, I am dubious that Mr. Joe Sixpack would just quietly starve at home. In actuality, there would be a lot of burglary and siphoning going on. Lots of it. Oh well, perhaps I’m too critical and cynical. It may not be very realistic, but at least Jericho beats watching re-runs of situation comedies or the umpteen different geographical flavors of CSI forensics shows.

OBTW, I should mention that airing of the new Jericho episodes should reinvigorate the Jericho Discussion Group, which is moderated by Rourke. (Who you’ll probably recognize as a frequent SurvivalBlog content contributor.)

Letter Re Converting A Gasoline Engine Generator Set to Propane

Hi Jim,
A friend just sent this note to me and I thought I should pass it on to the SurvivalBlog readers:

I finished the generator conversion this weekend. I converted my generator from gasoline to propane. I had to order the big regulator (Garretson) from an online supplier.
These are a ‘demand’ [feed] regulator and will only deliver propane if something is pulling on it. Once the engine is shut off, it quits delivering gas. I started by removing the gas tank and fittings, then
stripped the carb down, removing everything that had anything to do with fuel delivery. I left the throttle and choke in place.
Using RTV/Silicone by Permatex, I plugged every hole and orifice in the carb except the main fuel delivery tube. Ace Hardware provided most of the brass fittings. The really tough fitting was the elbow that goes into the bottom of the carb. I managed to find an elbow with a heavy wall barb and just threaded the barb to match the threads in the carb. Everything else was ‘plug and play’.
Skagit Farm Supply was the source the tank regulator, 12 foot hose, and fittings to adapt the hose to the Garretson regulator. I elected to go with a tank regulator having about four times the flow capacity
of a barbeque grill regulator. I salvaged the propane tank fitting from an old barbecue grill and modified it by drilling out the passages and knocking out the check ball. This modification was done to assure
adequate gas flow in cold weather. I also took the needle valve apart and cleaned it, then applied a liberal dose of Crystolube 111 lubricant to the threads and “O” ring. Crystolube is an oxygen-safe
lubricant and is not affected by any petroleum product. I tightened the gland nut down to the point that the needle valve has enough drag/resistance so that it won’t move from vibration when the genset
is running.
The 1/4 inch fuel line (regulator to carb) was sourced from a Shuck’s Auto Supply store and the fuel line clamps were salvaged from the original gas tank. This really isn’t critical, as there is no positive pressure in this line.
I made the regulator bracket from a piece of 1/8″ x 3/4″ mild steel strap and installed it with fasteners I salvaged from the gas tank mounting.
Total cost of the conversion parts was in the neighborhood of $110 (perhaps a little less.)

So, how does it run? Perfectly. I should have removed the choke and will the next time I have the carb off. The choke is unnecessary, as the Garretson regulator has a ‘prime’ button it to give the carb a
shot of propane. The engine starts on the first pull and the mixture was very easy to adjust.

[My generator set is a] 4000/4400 Watt genset with Subaru Robin 9 h.p. engine. It should run about 12 hours on a ‘grill size’ tank of propane. I will eventually be plumbing this into the house propane system so I don’t have to mess with the little tanks.

I am impressed with the little Subaru Robin engine. It is an overhead cam / overhead valve engine and is beautifully made. It also runs at less than half the noise level of the last genset I had. I would say
this engine is equal to or better than a same-sized Honda engine, and having heard a Honda genset run, the Subaru is quieter. I would not hesitate to do this again.

Hope this can be beneficial to you and your readers. God Bless! – Steve, Still in Seattle

Odds ‘n Sods:

A scary video on binary explosives. I can now see why US and UK transportation officials recently got so anxious about allowing any cigarette lighters and any liquids aboard commercial airline flights.

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For those of you considering a “blue water” or “brown water” bug out, Bob at Ready Made Resources mentioned that he has in stock just one high capacity PUR-Katadyn Model 35 MROD-type desalinator that has been freshly factory reconditioned. It produces 1.5 gallons of fresh water per hour. These are normally around $1,500 each. Ready Made Resources is selling this one for the bargain price of just $895 and it comes with four bottles of biocide, which are otherwise $35 each.

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James K. tells us: “This video [titled “Old Friends'”] over at YouTube.com has been making the rounds, and I thought it would be of interest to your readers. It depicts a semi-prepared family trying to hunker down, and survive a pandemic of bird flu. Sadly, the video shows that half-way measures only get half-way results. [JWR Adds: Warning. Graphic violence!]

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes, and the other is the Bill of Rights." – Major General Smedley Butler, US Marine Corps 1930