Odds ‘n Sods:

I’m nearly done reading “The Protector’s War“” the second installment in S.M. Stirling‘s “Dies the Fire” trilogy. If you can suspend disbelief–getting past the basic premise of the series (an inexplicable overnight change in the laws of physics that renders gasoline and gunpowder impotent) then you’ll enjoy these books. In this installment, part of the storyline takes place in England. The author uses the books in this series as a bully pulpit to preach preparedness and self-sufficiency. (Or at least I think that is his intent.) He weaves lot of history and practical skills into the storylines. Stirling is one of my favorite science fiction authors. I previously mentioned his parallel universe novel Conquistador, which in my opinion is his best piece to date. (And it also has some practical/tactical tidbits.) Stirling is known too, for having written three novels based on Jim Cameron’s Terminator movie franchise, and several other sci-fi novels, all of which have considerable merit. Given the high price of books these days, it is probably best to pick up his books from a bargain Internet book dealer such as Abebooks.com or BooksAMillion.com. (Or for our readers in the U.K., perhaps Abebooks UK.)

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There is a great thread of discussion on “collapse assessments” underway over at the Survival and Preparedness forum at the FALFiles.

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Ken Timmerman reports: Israel ‘Will Not Allow’ Iran Nuclear Weapons

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Mirroring the recent cooling in the oil market, Gold and silver have both been pushed down substantially in recent days. Methinks the present dip is a good time to buy.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"It is certain that free societies would have no easy time in a future dark age. The rapid return to universal penury will be accomplished by violence and cruelties of a kind now forgotten. The force of law will be scant or nil., either because of the collapse or disappearance of the machinery of state, or because of difficulties of communications and transport. It may be possible only to delegate authority to local powers who will maintain it by force alone." – Roberto Vacca, The Coming Dark Age

Note From JWR:

I just ran the numbers. Of the more than 9,500 people that read SurvivalBlog several times a week, only 242 of them have subscribed, sending 10 Cents a day, or more. That represents just 2.5% of readers. Subscriptions to SurvivalBlog are 100% voluntary. Nuff said.

The Basics of Stocking a Retreat For One Year, by Buckshot

Remember the movie Red Dawn? Think about when Colonel Tanner said: “You think you’re tough for eating beans every day? The scarecrows in Denver would give anything for a taste of what you got. They’ve been under siege for about three months. They live on rats and on sawdust and sometimes… on each other. At night, the pyres for the dead light up the sky. It’s medieval.” Do you have a plan set up to keep you and your family from become scare crows? I mean a realistic plan that you are working on every payday?

A good friend once told me. My place is going to have one foot thick concrete walls, solar, wind, and a positive air system to filter out all nuclear, biological, chemical attacks. Solid steel doors and steel shutters. That is all fine and good but do you have the $100,000 to build it? Ah no? It is far better to have a 12×12 hunting camp with a hand pump well, kerosene lights, a wood stove, and a propane cookstove than a dream retreat that never got built. Start with the basic stuff first the Five Bs: Building, bullets, beans, bacon, and buckshot.

An apartment size propane cookstove with a small oven is very efficient. Normal everyday usage is from 2 to 5 gallons a month. Five gallons of propane is commonly called a 20 pound cylinder. You can get two 25 gallon cylinders (100 pound) and hook up with automatic switch over when the first tank is empty it switches to the full tank. Hook up to a propane stove and you have one year supply of cooking for a family of four. This is just an estimate–your results may vary. Now this is not a camp stove but a regular looking small apartment size propane kitchen stove.

What about light for a year? If you use a Dietz lantern for light and use it 4 hours each night you will need how many gallons a year? 26 hours per fill up on I believe is 22 ounces, 128 ounces in a gallon, one gallon will give 150.8 hours of light or 37.7 days per gallon. A little less then 10 gallons of lamp oil or kerosene per year. Plus extra wicks and at least one spare globe. You can burn kerosene it is cheaper then lamp oil but it smells. Make sure you test it before depending on it. That means kill the lights for 1 hour and burn it and see if you can handle the smell. Please be careful with a lit flame in your house around children, pets and anything flammable.

The most important thing to have on your property beside owning it free and clear is a drilled well. Hauling water is for the birds. I have advised many people it’s better to own five acres with a well than forty acres without one. Water is vital and after the first few days of hauling water more then ten feet it become old, tiring, and a dreaded chore. They say each person uses seventy gallons a day that includes, cooking, drinking, flushing the toilet, and showers. You can get by with ten gallons a day pretty good except when you wash clothes. A solar shower sold in camping supply stores are a great thing to have. Fill it in the morning place where the sun can reach it and you have a hot shower.

A drain field for most states requirement for a drain field for even a small cabin is a ridiculous price ranging from $6,000 to $20,000 to meet new strict codes. Before you buy property make sure you find out the cost. Normal problems are typically found in the blue states with too many bureaucrats. Some states are so strict they will not allow National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) approved composting toilets. That is a clear indication it is time to vote with your feet and move to a red state. If you can use a basic composting toilet, a sink, a shower drain hooked to a small drain field. It works great.

If you do have a well on your property there are lots of ways to get water from windmills, hand pumps and solar power pumps. Water is a requirement that you need every single day. So, the first thing you need on any property is a well.

Are you heating with wood? How much wood do you need to get through a winter? Depends on the size of the building, how well insulated, where you live and how efficient your stove is. Cheap $100 wood stoves are for the birds. Get a better airtight stove. Buy the better thicker pipe, buy the cleaning rods and brush, if you have a chimney fire how do you put it out. There is a couple of ways you can set up a chimney cab that slams shuts on the top. This cuts off the vent and air or another way is they sell a item that looks like a road flare you can toss in your wood stove that is suppose to put it out. I have not tested either. But have cleaned my pipes and chimney every year. I don’t burn pine or fir or cedar. If you do burn soft resinous wood like pine I recommend you clean your chimney once a month. Another safely precaution is a metal roof it might just save your house from burning to the ground if you ever do have a chimney fire. If you have never had a chimney fire they say it sounds like a tornado shooting up the chimney and flames shooting straight up 4-5 feet or more. Normally they happen in the coldest nasty weather because people really fire up the stove then. Might just ruin your whole winter to watch your retreat burn to the ground. Hopefully you have smoke detectors and everyone made it out safe. Be careful wood stoves can be dangerous.

Get a good chain saw like a Husqvarna 141. They are good on gas not too heavy and very reliable. Extra chains, spare bar, spark plugs, pull cord, sharpening files at least 6, and air filters. Maybe a spare electronic ignition brain. You will need 5 gallons of chain and bar oil, or in an emergency you can use used motor oil. 10 gallons of gas per year and enough 2 cycle mixing oil for the gas. Now how are you going to haul the wood back to the cabin? A 2 wheel cart is one way. Splitting mauls make sure you buy them with fiberglass or steel handles. Axes with fiberglass handles same with rakes and shovels use fiberglass handles. You are going to need safety goggles and plenty of leather work gloves. Cutting down standing trees is dangerous if you never handled a chain saw before it might be a good idea to go out with a trusted friend and have him teach you the safe use of dropping trees and chain saw use.

Okay, so far we have talked about a small hunting camp with a metal roof heated with wood, a propane cooking stove for summer cooking, a well, compost toilet with a small drain field for sink and shower, good tools, etc. Now what else? Just the basics of what you will need. A .22 rifle with a good scope and 1000 rounds of ammo, a 12 gauge pump shotgun–I prefer the Remington 870–with assorted shells: slugs, buckshot and bird shot, a good hunting rifle, at least a .308 with a good Leupold scope and 160 rounds for it.

Now what else? gill nets, four dozen assorted snares , extra matches, good flints, traps, garden seeds, a way to can or dry and store food. Flashlights, in 9 volts like the PAL Light which is great because it is has a always on feature that last two years on one battery. The solar yard lights are fairly cheap come with AA Batteries that can be put in to use in other flashlights. Or remove the batteries at dusk place back in the day and recharge again. Lots to do with that idea. Use your head. Having a working flashlight 6 months into a real emergency is God sent. Worst comes to worst you can use them inside for your night lights.

A year supply of food. A good basic storage assortment with just the essentials and don’t forget a wheat grinder so you can grind flour. This is written for a single person or small family that would want to live at their deer camp for one year. I am not even getting into retreat defense or other assorted guns [and the amount f ammo required for that]. As I have stated in another article if I was going to be in a thick wooded area give me a Browning Buckmark .22 [pistol] and a good old reliable .30-30 Winchester.

First aid. Don’t forget spare eye glasses, chap stick, Vaseline, prescription medicine, super glue, tweezers, Advil, aspirin, assorted Band-Aids, gauze, wraps, antiseptic, etcetera. Make the kit according to your family needs.

Make sure you cover the basic needs first. What good is 12,000 rounds of ammo, two battle rifles, BDUs, one flashlight, and one case of MREs after the first week? You must have a full plan to survive. Providing for just one year takes some serious dedication to reach that level. A couple of decks of cards, pens, papers, small note books, the list can go on and on and on. You have to be well rounded. Can you skin a buck, run a trap line, drop a tree with a chain saw, plant a garden, protect your garden, preserve your food? Do you have dogs? Do you have enough stored food for them? How about pest control, mice traps, squirrels, rabbits, coons, ground hogs, can sure tear up a garden do you have traps for them? Think it through: Chipmunks, gophers, garden pest, and bug control. Mosquito netting is the best thing you can buy if you plan on being outdoors.

Sit down and try to put a list together for one year of supplies. You know just the basics like where are you going to get water every day. How are you going to cook? How do you heat in the winter? Have you ever tried to chop a years supply of wood? Do you have children? What kind of medicine will you need for them in 1 year? What kind of non power games do you have for them to do? Does you wife sew or crotchet? Do you have some supplies like that put away. A knitted wool hat or mittens sure would be nice if you didn’t have them when you left. How about washing clothes? One way that works ok is to take 5-6 gallon buckets and cut a small hole in the center of the lid just big enough for a toilet plunger. Fill 3/4 ways with water add soap (you did remember laundry soap for a year right?) add clothes for about one person pants, shirt t-shirt, under wear and socks, plunged for 1 minute let soak for 5 minutes plunge again for 10 seconds. Dump out water, fill with fresh water again plunge for 1 minute dump out, fill again with clean water plunge for 1 minute dump out. Hand wring the clothes, hang out to dry or hang near wood stove in the winter to dry. Again be careful you don’t allow clothes to get to close to the wood stove or you have a fire hazard.

You did put away enough toilet paper for a year, right? You also protected this toilet paper with traps or poison so the mice and chipmunks didn’t chew it all, up right? How about feminine products for a year. What about yeast infections? I know not the most pleasant thing to talk about but a must if you are seriously planning to survive. I talked to an old timer once that grew up in the Depression and I asked him what did you use for toilet paper his words “Last year Sears and Roebuck catalog, oh and by the way I sold all my furs to them too.” What would be a good catalog today? How about some thick old city telephone books, might be a good choice to store away for back up toilet paper.

I did this the old fashioned way through hard knocks. Trust me, the first time you have to haul water for 100 yards you will wish you spent the money for a well. When your Coleman lantern runs out of fuel or breaks, you will wish you had a Dietz lantern back up. When your splitting maul wooden handle breaks you will wish you had spent the extra money for fiberglass. When your ammunition is damp and unreliable you will wish you’d spent the $5.00 each for used ammo cans. Trust me, I learned these all the hard way and still had the luxury of running to store for replacement supplies. When I say I tested everything that is what I mean and along the way I had several lessons learn the hard way. Having a fully stocked retreat is a comfort. Having tested everything yourself it gives you experience and know how.

Lots to think about. You will be glad that you put up a year supply of food, it sure will make a welcome sight every morning instead of surviving like scare crows eating sawdust and rats, that is brown rats not the good tasting marsh rabbit–what most folks call muskrats. :-). When you have water, heat, a cook stove, and roof over your head life will seem pretty good. Lots to do when you sit down and really look at what it takes to survive with just the basics for one year. Don’t waste your time worrying, get to work. After you take care of the basics then you can move forward with more advanced plans. – Buckshot

 

Letter Re: Clock Drive Radios

Mr. Rawles:
I bought a cheapy Chinese plastic model (“Dynamo and Solar Radio” model, in a small black rectangular plastic case), and it worked okay for a couple weeks. Then the flimsy plastic crank handle broke inside the unit. At least the solar cells seem to recharge it okay if left in the sun for a few hours. The Eton/Grundig ones seem to be well constructed I hear, but now perhaps a better one is coming with a Sony model being released in Japan. They are usually pretty good about testing ergonomics and durability much more than most companies.

Odds ‘n Sods:

For our U.S. readers: According to Congressman Ron Paul’s office the vote on his NAIS de-funding amendment (H.R. 5384) has been put off until next week. This gives us more time to reach our representatives in congress. E-mail, call, tell friends and family, et cetera. The NAIS scheme would impose costly and time consuming requirements on U.S. animal owners, without compensation. It must be stopped!

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SurvivalBlog reader RBS mentioned these two articles on the fate of the dollar: US dollar weakness likely to crash global stocks and “The Declining Dollar Erodes Personal Savings” (from Ron Paul’s congressional newsletter)

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U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions unveils Massive Numerical Impact of Senate Immigration Bill

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IMF Moves to Prevent Meltdown of Stock Markets

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“If Calvera comes riding in with no idea of the reception we’ve prepared for him, I promise you we’ll all teach him something about the price of corn!” – Yul Brynner as Chris Adams, The Magnificent Seven

Letter Re: Survivalist Matchmaking?

Hi Jim,
I remarried about three years ago to a woman from Vietnam whom I met through a friend I work with. We were introduced by my friend who is also from Vietnam. We became pen pals and conversed via e-mail and chat for almost five months before I went to Vietnam to meet her. She was a school teacher in Saigon and had never been married. She and her family survived the brutal takeover by the communist North Vietnamese after the U.S. government abandoned the South Vietnamese in 1975. My wife and her family made several attempts to escape after the war but were caught and imprisoned until they bought their way out of jail. They finally resigned to staying in Vietnam and moved to the central highlands to become farmers. Years later they moved back into the Saigon area and now maintain several homes and properties they have acquired. Things in Vietnam are much better now that the communists have opened the borders to foreign trade and tourists. Most Vietnamese are free to travel anywhere in the country and around the world if they can afford it. I have been there three times and enjoy it immensely as the people are very friendly and just curious about outsiders. My wife has adjusted to life here in Southern California and now works in a nail salon as many Vietnamese women do because it is easy to do and the money is very good. My wife is very survival oriented because of her former life in Vietnam and she still maintains a garden here. She is very thrifty and resourceful as most Vietnamese are. She understands my survival preparations and is okay with them as long as I don’t “break the bank”. None of her family want to come here to the U.S. because they have successful thriving businesses and family back in Vietnam and things are very expensive here. My wife calls her family almost every week and we travel there to visit every year. It has been a wonderful experience for both of us to have met and married. You may post this if you feel your readers might be interested.
Thanks again for a great site with lots of good info about our ever more dangerous and changing world. I am a 10 cent challenge member and have been into survival prepping for more than 30 years. – DC in So. Cal.

The Memsahib Replies: Your suggestion that foreign women make better "survival" wives is very interesting. Many American women I know from the baby boom generation have had it good all their lives. They were brought up in a time of a booming economy and their parents did very well for themselves. These women do not want to face the reality of the weakening American economy. They want to go on their merry way, believing they will be just as affluent as their parents and that their children ought to be even more materially blessed than they were. Most of the practical women I know are women who are in their eighties! They are old enough to understand the realities of the Great Depression. They saw the shortages of the World War II years. It makes sense to me that foreign-born women who have experienced war, persecution, and economic upheaval would be survival minded. My caution would be though that those women might be so desperate to marry an American that they might pretend to be someone that they are not, just in order marry. I also think certain countries have a "national personality" which is more congenial to meshing with the American personality. Native-born Filipinas that I know seem to have a strong Judeo-Christian underpinning but the Soviet Bloc and Communist Chinese women I have known (raised during 60+ years of atheism) have been brought up to look out only for themselves. Make sure that your faith matches that of your prospective spouse. Also consider the differences between women raised in rural villages versus women raised in big cities. For any SurvivalBlog readers considering marrying someone from abroad, I suggest that you interview many men that are already married to women from the country that you are considering. Are they happily married? If not , why not? Is there a pattern of behavior/attitudes that their wives show? I also counsel a really loooooooong engagement!

Two Letters Re: Advice on Firearms Caching

Good Evening JWR:
I want to safely hide guns and ammo at strategic locations on my wooded property without placing them in buildings, in the chance situation I could not get into my home. Do you have any suggestions on safe storage? Thank you, – Rus

Jim,
I have been thinking, perhaps someone with expertise in this area may want to post on your blog about long term firearms storage. I have stocked up firearms in the spirit of your book “Patriots”, to give to a friend who has none, or to group standardize for a group that doesn’t exist yet. After stocking many firearms of three different systems, if find there is a hidden liability, all the eggs are in one basket. I find myself wanting to inter them in long term storage in off site locations. (They are all legal firearms, and in legal safe locations, of course.) Any words of wisdom on this topic would be greatly appreciated. In particular, what should I store with them, and how to build waterproof containers, how to choose a cache site that won’t be frozen in winter, et cetera. Thanks in advance, – J. Mac

JWR Replies: Caching is a bit of an arcane art form. Rather than going into detail, retracing “trodden ground”, here are three links to get you started: First, a thread that appeared at the Free Republic site. Next, an article on some techniques developed out of recent legal necessity, in Australia. And lastly, here is a piece from the Anozira site. Waterproof containers are readily available but often expensive. Large diameter PVC pipe is quite expensive–especially the threaded end cap that you will want for one end. One low cost alternative are U.S. Navy Surplus sonobuoy canisters. These sturdy hexagonal gray plastic canisters have have a threaded end cap. They were originally made for shipping the expendable sonobuoys dropped by P-3 Orion anti-submarine warfare (ASW) patrol aircraft and by Navy helicopters. They are commonly called “Orion tubes” or “Gray overpacks.” They are only about 7″ inches across and have a roughly 6″ diameter opening, so some rifles must be disassembled in order to fit inside. They were made in huge numbers. Even though they haven’t been used for U.S. navy contracts since the late 1980s, these tubes can still be found at military surplus stores in coastal areas.

One point that I need to emphasize: Regardless of the container you choose, be sure to include at least six ounces of silica gel to dry the air in the container that you are sealing up. Be sure to seal the container very well. A coating of vaseline on a container’s rubber seal helps. If you use glue (not recommended for closing the final seal–if you do, you’ll be sawing the container open someday. Metal ammo cans have a tendency to rust, but this can be retarded by painting the cans with heavy marine paint or asphalt emulsion. In my experience, the large U.S. Navy surplus 40mm (or larger) anti-aircraft galvanized steel ammunition cans are zinc coated and hold up remarkably well in the elements. Large ammo cans are often available from Cheaper Than Dirt!, Coleman’s Surplus, and other military surplus dealers.

If you live in an area with high water table, you might have to get creative to protect cached items from moisture–even if it is in “watertight” tube. Two tried and true methods for getting around this difficulty are placing the plastic container inside a hollowed-out log, or in the middle of a firewood pile. (Of course if someone steals your firewood, they will also get an unexpected bonus.)

Odds ‘n Sods:

Don’t miss this “must read” piece from Chris Laird on gold price increases and the imminent collapse of the U.S. dollar.

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Yikes! Human-to-Human Transmissible Avian Flu in Indonesia?

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The high bid is currently $110 in the SurvivalBlog Bandwidth Fund benefit Book Auction. Please e-mail your bids before May 30th. Thanks to Kurt and Angie Wilson of Survival Enterprises for sponsoring this fund raiser!

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The next big Los Angeles earthquake could be strong and prolonged.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest.” – Mohandas Gandhi

Legislative Alert!: Defunding NAIS — Please Call Your Congressman, ASAP

Please call your congressman today, encouraging them to support some immportant legislation! A vote is scheduled for tomorrow. Congressman Ron Paul has introduced an amendment (H.R. 5384) to the Agriculture Department appropriation bill that will defund the USDA’s proposed National Animal Identification System (NAIS). This will effectively block the USDA from implementing NAIS. This vote is crucial because the USDA is giving Federal money to the states to fund the state level Premises ID and NAIS. For details, see the NoNAIS.org site. The NAIS scheme must be stopped! Make these calls!

Letter Re: Maggots for Wound Debridement

Sir:
Has anyone, including you, ever posted information on your site regarding the application of maggots for treating/cleaning infected wounds and dead tissue? This topic ties in well with the subject of survival in worst case scenario situations. Thank You. – JD

JWR Replies: I actually had that posted as one of my “Best of Readers Letters” and Replies. But so that it can be found via our search window or via search engines that employ Technorati tags, here it is again. (Scroll down to paragraph 22-3):

ST-31-91B
US ARMY SPECIAL FORCES MEDICAL HANDBOOK
SEPTEMBER 1982

CHAPTER 22 PRIMITIVE MEDICINE
22-1. GENERAL.
a. This chapter covers a number of primitive treatments using materials that are found worldwide. It does not cover herbal medicines because specific herbs (plants) are difficult to identify and some are found only in specific areas of the world. This does not mean, however that they should not be used. To get information concerning types and uses of herbal medicines in a particular area, talk to the natives. But remember, it is preventive medicine (PM) that must be stressed. Proper hygiene, care in preparation of food and drink, waste disposal, insect and rodent control, and a good immunization program can greatly reduce the causes and number of diseases.
b. All of us—patients and doctors alike—-depend upon wonder drugs, fine laboratories, and modern equipment. We have lost sight of the “country Doctor” type of medicine—determination, common sense, and a few primitive treatments that can be lifesaving. Many areas of the world still depend on the practices of the local witch doctor or healer. And many herbs (plants) and treatments that they use are as effective as the most modern medicine available. Herbal medicine has been practiced worldwide since before recorded history, and many modern medications come from refined herbs. for example pectin can be obtained from the rinds (white stringy part) of citrus fruits and from apple pomace (the pulp left after the juice has been pressed out). if either is mixed with ground chalk, the result will be a primitive form of Kaopectate.
c. Although many herbal medicines and exotic treatments are effective, use them with extreme caution and only when faced with limited or non-existent medical supplies. Some are dangerous and, instead of treating the disease or injury, may cause further damage or even death.
22-2 Primitive treatments.
a. Diarrhea is a common, debilitating ailment that can be caused by almost anything. Most cases can be avoided by following good preventative medicine (PM) practices. Treatment in many cases is fluids only for 24 hours. If that does not work and no anti-diarrheal medication is available, grind chalk, charcoal, or dried bones into a powder. Mix one handful of powder with treated water and administer every 2 hours until diarrhea has slowed or stopped. adding equal parts of apple pomace or citrus rinds to this mixture makes it more effective. Tannic acid, which is found in tea , can also help control diarrhea. Prepare a strong solution of tea, if available, and administer 1 cup every 2 hours until diarrhea has slowed or stopped. The inner bark of hardwood trees also contains tannic acid. Boil the inner bark for 2 hours or more to release the tannic acid. The resultant black brew has a vile taste and smell but will stop most cases of diarrhea.
b. Worms and intestinal parasites. Infestations can usually be avoided by maintaining strict preventive medicine measures. For example, never go barefooted. The following home remedies appear to work or at least control the degree of infestation, but they are not without danger. Most work on the principle of changing the environment of the gastrointestinal tract.
(1) Salt water. Four tablespoons of salt in 1 quart of water. This should be taken on a one time basis only.
(2) Tobacco. Eat 1 to 1 1/2 cigarettes. The nicotine in the cigarette kills or stuns the worms long enough for them to be passed. If the infestation is severe, the treatment can be repeated in 24 to 48 hours, BUT NO SOONER
(3) Kerosene. Drink 2 tablespoons. Don’t drink more. The treatment can be repeated in 24 to 48 hours but no sooner.
(4) Hot peppers. Put peppers in soups, rice, meat dishes or eat them raw. This treatment is not effective unless peppers are made a steady part of the diet.
c. Sore throats are common and usually can be taken care of by gargling with salt water. If the tongue is coated, scrape it off with a tooth brush, a clean stick, or even a clean fingernail; then gargle with warm salt water.
d. Skin infections.
(1) Fungal infections. Keep the area clean and dry, and expose to sunlight as much as possible.
(2) Heat rash. Keep the area clean, dry, and cool. If powder is available, use it on affected area.
(3) The rule of thumb for all skin diseases is: “if it is wet, dry it, and if it is dry, wet it.”
e. Burns. Soak dressings or clean rags that have been boiled for 10 minutes in tannic acid (tea or inner bark of hardwood trees), cool and apply over the burns. this relieves the pain somewhat, seems to help speed healing, and offers some protection against infection.
f. Leeches and Ticks. Apply a lit cigarette or a flaming match to the back of the leach or tick, and it will drop off. Covering it with moistened tobacco, grease or oil will also make it drop off. Do not try to pull it off; part of the head may remain attached to the skin and cause an infection.
g. Bee, wasp, and hornet stings. Inspect the wound carefully and remove stinger if present. Apply baking soda, cold compress, mud or coconut meat to the area. Spider, scorpion, and centipede bites can be treated the same way.
h. Chiggers. Nail polish applied over the red spots will cut off the chigger’s air supply and kill it. any variation of this, e.g., tree sap, will work.

22-3 MAGGOT THERAPY FOR WOUND DEBRIDEMENT
a. Introducing maggots into a wound can be hazardous because the wound must be exposed to flies. Flies, because of their filthy habits, are likely to introduce bacteria into the wound, causing additional complications. Maggots will also invade live healthy tissue when the dead tissue is gone or not readily available. Maggot invasion of healthy tissue causes extreme pain and hemorrhage, possibly enough to be fatal.
b. Despite the hazards involved , maggot therapy should be considered a viable alternative when, in the absence of antibiotics, a wound becomes severely infected, does not heal, and ordinary debridement is impossible.
(1) All bandages should be removed so that the wound is exposed to circulating flies. Flies are attracted to foul or fetid odors coming from the infected wound; they will not deposit eggs on fresh clean wounds.
(2) In order to limit further contamination of the wound by disease organisms carried by the flies, those flies attracted to the wound should not be permitted to light directly on the wound surface. Instead, their activity should be restricted to the intact skin surface along the edge of the wound. Live maggots deposited here and/or maggots hatching from eggs deposited here will find their way into the wound with less additional contamination than if the flies were allowed free access to the wound.
(3) One exposure to the flies is usually all that is necessary to ensure more than enough maggots for thorough debridement of a wound. Therefore, after the flies have deposited eggs the wound should be covered with a bandage.
(4) The bandage should be removed daily to check for maggots. If no maggots are observed in the wound within 2 days after exposure to the flies, the bandage should be removed and the wound should be re-exposed. if the wound is found to be teeming with maggots when the bandage is removed as many as possible should be removed using forceps or some other sterilized instrument or by flushing with sterile water. Only 50 – 100 maggots should remain in the wound.
(5) Once the maggots have become established in the wound, it should be covered with a bandage again, but the maggot activity should be monitored closely each day. A frothy fluid produced by the maggots will make it difficult to see them. This fluid should be “sponged out” of the wound with an absorbent cloth so that all of the maggots in the wound can be seen. Care should be taken not to remove the maggots with the fluid.
(6) The period of time necessary for maggot debridement of a wound depends on a number of factors, including the depth and extent of the wound, the part of the body affected, the number of maggots present in the wound, and the fly species involved. In a survival situation an individual will be able to control only one of these factors– the number, and sometimes not even that; therefore the exact time to remove the maggots cannot be given in specific numbers of hours or days. However it can be said with certainty that the maggots should be removed immediately once they have removed all the dead tissue and before they have become established in healthy tissue. When the maggots begin feeding on normal healthy tissue, the individual will experience an increased level of pain at the site of the wound as the maggots come in contact with “live” nerves. Bright red blood in the wound also indicates that the maggots have reached healthy tissue.
(7) The maggots should be removed by flushing the wound repeatedly with sterile water. When all the maggots have been removed, the wound should be bandaged. To ensure that the wound is free of maggots, check it every four hours or more often for several days. Any remaining maggots should be removed with sterilized forceps or by flushing with sterile water.
(8) Once all of the maggots have been removed, bandage the wound and treat it as any other wound. It should heal normally provided there are no further complications.
22-4 SUMMARY.
The treatments discussed in this chapter are by no means all of the primitive treatments or home remedies available for use. Most people have their own home remedy for various problems. Some work, some don’t. The ones presented here have been used and do work, although some can be dangerous. The lack of modern medicine does not rule out medical treatment. Common sense, determination to succeed, and advice from the natives in the area on primitive treatments can provide a solution to a medical problem. Just keep one thing in mind: “First I shall do no harm.”