Note from JWR:

I get more than 40 e-mails a day, more than half of which include specific questions. My humble apologies for not being able to respond to every e-mail. For those of you that do get replies, my further apologies for being so terse. You might feel cheated when you get just a two or three line reply to a 20 or 30 line e-mail. But if I were verbose as I’d like to be in my responses, I would only be able to respond to a small fraction of the e-mails instead of half of them. Since I have a full time job as a technical writer I only have about three hours a day (evenings and early mornings) to respond to e-mails and to put together the blog. Many thanks for your understanding of my situation!

Recommended Region: The Clark Fork Valley Region, (Sanders County, Northwest Montana)

The Clark Fork Valley Region, (Sanders County, Northwest Montana, near the Idaho State Line.)
This isolated valley sits between the Bitterroot and Cabinet Mountain Ranges. Concentrate on small towns along the Clark Fork such as Plains, Thompson Falls, Belknap, Trout Creek, Noxon, and Heron. Avoid the upper elevations. (In this region, an additional 1,000 feet of elevation puts you in a much different climate!)
Advantages: Away from the I-90 corridor.
Disadvantages: Cold climate and short growing season. (Can be compensated by building a large greenhouse.) Economy is not as diverse as the Kalispell/Flathead Lake Region. Insufficient agriculture in the region necessitates very extensive food storage to make a viable retreat.

Grid Up Retreat Potential: 4 (On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the best)

Grid Down Retreat Potential: 5 (On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the best)

Nuclear Scenario Retreat Potential: 4 (On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the best)

Letter Re: L1A1 Rifle Bolt Hold Open Modification

Mr. Rawles:
I am finding your SurvivalBlog to be of interest. Here’s some info for those wishing to convert their Inch rifles to have a true BHO after the last round is fired with a magazine in place. For several years I’ve used an 1/8 inch roll pin to replace the ground pin. This seems to work out better than a piece of drill rod because the roll pins are already hard, and of course by design are compressed slightly when inserted, so they tend to hold in place better than just a press fit rod. The pin hole will normally measure about 110-115″, so all one needs do is turn the roll pin to about 115 thousandths and drive it into place. A drill press and file will do this job, or a hand drill placed gently in a vise and a file if you lack the drill press. I typically use a one inch pin [and trim it to length] simply because the local hardware store stocks 1/2 inch ( a bit short) then 1 inch (a bit long.) If one has an un-drilled BHO, the correct location mikes out to about .435″ from the top of the BHO to the center of the hole. The lever one presses will be on the opposite plane from the hole, don’t drill it on the same plane or it will be pointing in the wrong direction! I hope this helps those with an SLR that want the use of a bolt hold open. – R.J. (known to friends as “Doubletap”)

 

Another Letter from John in Iraq Re: IEDs and “The Tactical Decision Game” (SAs: Supporting Our Troops, IEDs, Tactics, Survival Mindset)

Hello Again Sir,
I was delighted to see that you’d not only printed a letter from myself, but also from a good friend of mine, Grampa R. He’s the one who first lent me a copy of Patriots and Unintended Consequences and got me started on the survival mindset.

Well, Ramadan’s started but things haven’t been too busy yet. A friend of mine was killed by an IED that also took the leg from a corpsman. Went on a patrol today that took IDF close by, and had an RPG impact one of the trucks. Thankfully it was a glancing shot and it didn’t detonate. If the SHTF to the extent you’re worried about RPG’s or similar being shot at your house, setting up angled barricades might be more effective than trying to make something thick enough to stop it outright. Have to think about it.

We had some problems with a mosque a couple days ago; every Military Age Male (MAM in our jargon) in the area was running into it and staging prior to attacking us. Wanted to go in badly, but the CO of another company was on the hook to battalion and he wasn’t pressing for it as much as he could’ve been. Or maybe he’s just not very articulate; either way higher didn’t give us the go-ahead to raid the place. We got a few small caches and detained a few hajjis, but compared to my friends life and that squids leg it seems insignificant. Sure wish we could’ve raided that mosque. Might’ve actually done some good.

One part of training I think is often overlooked is playing “what if” games. The officer types call it the “Tactical Decision Game.” I’m an 0351, the infantry MOS that does demolitions. The gunner in my truck is as well, so on patrols we ask each other a lot of what if questions about demo. “If you needed to breach a wall of X material, that is Y thick… what charge would you use?” Lots of fun, keeps us awake, and is actually a big help when it comes to making decisions in the field.

Before I deployed I did the same type of thing with my wife. “If riots break out when you’re at work… how will you get home, what will you take, who will you call, where will you go. etc” Seemed to really help her have a solid game plan. Might help those looking for a way to draw a disinterested spouse into the spirit of surviving as well. Or it might just annoy them that you’re bothering them with “your stupid hobby.” Times up again. God bless, and keep up the good work. – John

Letter Re: Retreat Potential for The Eastern States

Sir:
You mentioned that you don’t feel qualified to comment on much less to rank the eastern states. I can start the ball rolling, re: the Urban Northeast (the UNE). The disadvantages of the UNE are: cold winters, overpopulation, generally bad gun laws, socialistic politicians, and high Sheeple Ratio (SR). However, tens of millions of people live there, so:
1. I live in Philadelphia, for which the natural bugout area is the Catskills, Lehigh Valley, etc.
PA gun laws are surprisingly good; an oasis of sanity in the UNE: Shall Issue CCW (and you can carry virtually anywhere — no annoying patchwork of carry-proscribed areas); no AW laws; no waiting periods. Long guns can be sold privately without a paper trail, but sadly all handguns must go through FFL. This latter is disconcerting because, in open defiance of state law, the PA State Police are keeping a firearm registry. That’s why creating a cache of off-paper rifles is all-important.
PA taxes vary: state income taxes are mild but City of Philadelphia taxes are savagely draconian.
2. New York City: you’re screwed. Politics; gun laws; taxes; population; SR are all hopeless for the foreseeable future. There is no sane bugout area around. New York state gun laws are only marginally better than NYC. NJ is hopeless too. Your best bet might be CT.
3. Boston area. Look north. I can’t comment on Maine, but both NH and VT are excellent choices, especially with regard to gun laws. I’ll try to have my NH friend contribute more info.

JWR Replies: Okay, you other easterners, chime in! Here is your chance to jump up on the virtual soapbox and extol the virtues (or non-virtues) of the eastern states and particular counties within them!

Follow-Up Re: The Walla Walla Region (Walla Walla and Columbia Counties, Southeast Washington)

Two different readers e-mailed to remind me that there is a maximum security Washington state prison near Walla Walla. It currently houses 16% of the state’s worst criminals, including approximately 116 sex offenders. The current inmate population is 2,277. Because of this I have revised the “grid down” potential for the region down from a 5 to a 7. (On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the best.) For the sake of all of our readers living near any jail or prison, let us pray that their electric cell door control systems default to “locked” rather than “open” when the backup generators run out of fuel.

Two Letters Re: The Importance of Using Non-Hybrid Seeds

In a recent post, you said: “…we will be discussing how to collect (“save”) and store seed stock in detail in some upcoming blog posts. – The Memsahib”
When it comes to storing seeds long term, I think you will find this article of interest. See: http://www.echotech.org/network/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=84
This describes a safe and easy-to-create liquid that greatly increases the long-term viability of seeds. I bought both chemicals from http://www.chemicalstore.com/ , but after checking this morning, they apparently no longer sell glycerol. It is a safe and widely-used chemical, so it should still be easy to obtain after doing a bit of web searching. Thank you for all you do! Take care and God Bless. – SMG

Just a caveat when using open-pollenated seeds: Be sure the varieties you grow won’t pollinate each other, or you will have: a hybrid. It won’t grow true from seed. The best way to combat this is to grow only one variety, and lots of it. This way, if there are no other varieties of the same crop in the near vicinity, the seed will be true to the original ones planted. Semper Fi, – Sarge

Letter Re: Reinvesting a 401(k) Into Precious Metals

Mr. Rawles,
Congratulations on the success of your website. I follow it everyday and have gleaned much info from it. My wife and I have been working at getting our “beans, bullets and band-aids” together and have made what we believe is good progress. With the state the economy is in and considering your advice about investing, I have a question that I hope you can/will help me with. I am thinking about taking out a loan against my 401K to: 1) Pay off our home @ approximately $18,000; 2) Round out our “beans, bullets and band-aids” and 3) Invest in 2-3 bags of pre-1965 silver coins. To my way of thinking (which may be skewed) this would be a way of re-investing a portion of my 401K in tangibles instead of paper. I would appreciate any advice that you would be willing to give. Thank you for your hard work and for sharing your knowledge and insight. – Steve

JWR Replies: I’d recommend that you keep your investments diverse. Diversifying some of your retirement money into precious metals is wise. Paying off your home early only makes sense if the interest rate that you are paying on your mortgage is higher than the rate of return you are earning on your 401(k).

If like me you have no faith in the long term prospects or the value of the dollar, American Church Trust offers gold coin deposit self-directed IRA accounts. (The folks at Swiss America can help you set one up.) Under some circumstances a 401(k) can be rolled over into an IRA. Parenthetically, when I was with Oracle Corporation back in 1999, my co-workers thought that I was crazy putting money in a gold IRA rather than Oracle stock. (“Jim, you are missing out. Oracle shares are going to the moon!”, they said.) That was when gold was under $325 per ounce. And where are gold and Oracle shares now, respectively?

Letter Re: Retreat Architecture

James:
Thoroughly enjoyed your book “Patriots”. Are there any recommended sources for designing a retreat on the Web that you recommend? You have provided a ton of info on the locating a retreat, but I have not been able to find anything on how to design a retreat or a comprehensive list of recommended features. Thank you for your Website, I read it daily. – J.M.

JWR Replies: Glad that you like the site. I’ll be talking about retreat design in detail in blog posts in coming weeks. In the meantime, read Joel Skousen’s book “The Secure Home.” (The book is pricey, but worth the price!)

Letter Re: Other Web Sites and Newsletters

Sir:
I subscribe to the [name deleted] investment e-mail newsletter. If you go to the web page listed below, he has an article where he gives his opinion of the “doom-and-gloom” naysayers. I don’t think he was speaking about you specifically, but I thought you might be interested in reading what he has to say and maybe responding to him with a rebuttal. I also wonder how you feel about someone like [name deleted], who claims he runs a survival, not a survivalist web site. I had never considered that there was a difference until he pointed it out. Thanks again for taking the time to read this and please let me know what you think. – P.S.

JWR Replies: Even though I have been offered some complimentary subscriptions, I intentionally avoid reading economic or preparedness blogs and newsletters on a regular basis, for fear that I might consciously or subconsciously mirror what they say. I don’t want to sound divisive or critical of the other writer’s views, but trying to distinguish between a “survivor” and a “survivalist” is splitting haIrs, IMO.

Yes, I’m firmly in the gloom and doom camp, or perhaps call it the “guns and groceries” camp. I’m definitely not in the “Buy a chateau in the Swiss Alps and Krugerrands for barter” camp.

My years in Army intelligence really opened my eyes to a number of factors, most significantly just how incredibly cheap human life is regarded in most developing countries, and how very thin the veneer of civilization is in all countries. In the event of a major war, and major pandemic, or even just major economic troubles both individuals and governments will show their true colors very quickly. It may sound pessimistic, but the only hope that I have is in God’s providence to put me in the right place with good Christian friends that I can count on.

Letter from “The Army Aviator” Re: Suspension of Posse Comitatus and The Asian Avian Flu

Jim:
Trying a little “out of the box” perambulation. I disremember but seem to recall that this was your bailiwick back when. I noticed the President is publicly talking about getting congress to authorize the use of military troops should bird flu, et al occur. It seems to me that particular authority already exists. So I ponder. If he already has the authority, why ask for it again? Is it to make a public statement that he asked, as part of good planning, before it happened and we should be grateful and pleased? Does he know that “massive plague (or a simulation) is going to occur and it’s natural (or artificial or simulated) or intentionally created/simulated and want’s it to look like he did everything he could? Something just niggles me about his publicly asking for permission. Mayhap I didn’t state this clearly but I think you’ll get the idea. So….. what’s your take and the Memsahib’s take (she has a unique perception). – The Army Aviator

JWR Replies: The A.A. Flu “flag” seems to have been run up the pole to test the winds for the prospect of removing the Posse Comitatus statutes. (They had to cite something more far-reaching than just a series of hurricanes.) This prospect is very bad news. If people don’t make a major stink about this, then Posse Comitatus may go away with just a whimper. I really doubt that the A.A. Flu is anything but naturally occurring. This bug has been cited in the medical journals as 58% lethal with advanced medical care. Should the worst happen, it is best, methinks, to have some rural isolation, independent water and power, and at least a six month food supply to give this thing time to burn itself out. The full implications of a potential 50% global die-off are staggering.

Note from JWR:

Yesterday, we celebrated the two month anniversary of SurvivalBlog. I have been overwhelmed at the blog’s rapid success. (61,000+ unique views and 1.5 million page hits!) I owe most of the credit to you, the loyal SurvivalBlog readers. Your letters and contributed articles are the best part of the blog!

I’m still looking for entries for the SurvivalBlog writing contest. The prize is a transferable four day course certificate, good for any course at Front Sight!

Recommended Region: The Olympic Peninsula (Clallam County, Western Washington)

The Olympic Peninsula is a very rainy but quasi-remote region in western Washington. Albeit with strong reservations, it is one of the few retreat regions that I recommend in the western half of the state.

Statistics (for Forks):
Average high temperature in August: 71.8.
Average low temperature in January: 33.7.
Growing season: (Clallam Bay): 182 days.
Growing season: (Forks): 175 days.
Average snowfall in January: 4.8”.
Clallam County Median residential home price: $140,000.
Advantages: Mild climate with the moderating influence of the Pacific Ocean, Clallam County crops include hay oats, corn, apples, cherries, pears, plums, carrots, peas, and berries. Upwind from the Cascade Mountains (which are prone to rare but very violent volcanic eruptions/ash falls). Upwind from all of Washington’s anticipated nuclear targets.

Disadvantages: Extremely heavy rainfall except in some “rain shadow” towns like Sequim (spoken: “SKWIM”.) Proximity to the Seattle/Tacoma metropolitan region. One important proviso: Lots of folks in western Washington go fishing and hiking in the summer on the Olympic Peninsula, so they may immediately think of it as a place to bug out WTSHTF. So be prepared for a substantial influx of refugees in the event of any sort of rapid-onset TEOTWAWKI.

From JWR and the Memsahib–The Importance of Using Non-Hybrid Seeds

Modern agricultural science is a two-edged sword. Hybrid vegetable and row crop varieties have tremendously increased crop yields in the past 50 years. Along with chemical fertilizers and pesticides, this has allowed the Earth’s population to double in the past 45 years without mass starvation. Unfortunately because the seeds from hybrid plants do not breed true, it makes farmers captive to the seed companies an dependent on modern chains of supply for seed distribution. Any seed that is saved from crops typically produces less yield than traditional non-hybrid progenitors. In the event of a global TEOTWAWKI, I anticipate that catastrophic starvation would occur. This would of course be caused by disruption of hybrid seed production and/or disruption of supply chains. The lure of high yields has forced the vast majority of the worlds farmers into the ongoing use of hybrid seed. It is like an enormous, inviting, invisible trap that has taken in nearly all of the farmers on the planet-JWR

An additional hazard of hybrids or genetically modified seeds is that the exact same seed type is planted on a mass scale. A disease that could wipe out one plant would kill ALL the plants. All are identical, and all would have the same lack of resistance. You can think of hybrid seeds as identical twins.The beauty of non hybrid seeds is that they offer genetic variety. Non-hybrid seeds can be thought of as cousins. They will be from the same family but each have unique attributes. Among a field of non hybrid plants would be some with resistance to the disease. You would only lose part of your crop. And if you saved the seeds from the plants that had the most resistance, you would have disease resistant plants the next year.

OBTW, we will be discussing how to collect (“save”) and store seed stock in detail in some upcoming blog posts. – The Memsahib

The best alternative to the hybrid seed trap is to stock up on traditional open pollinated (non-hybrid) seed varieties, also called “heirloom” variety seeds. Our favorite source is The Ark Institute. They sell very high quality, open-pollinated seeds. They even offer the service of assembling a seed kit specially tailored to your climate zone. Here is how to contact them: The Ark Institute P.O. Box 1721, Gold Beach, Oregon 97444. Phone: 1-800-255-1912, e-mail: arkinst@concentric.net Web site: http://www.arkinstitute.com/. OBTW, Dr. Geri Guidetti of The Ark Institute kindly provided this article on Asian Avian Flu on her web site.

Other sources of information and open-pollinated seed:
Seed Savers Exchange, R.R. 3, Box 239 Decorah, Iowa 52101.

Seeds of Change, P.O. Box 15700 Santa Fe, New Mex. 87506.

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, P.O. Box 158 North Garden Virginia 22959.

Territorial Seed Co., P.O. Box 157 Cottage Grove, Ore. 97424.
(Carries seeds primarily for the Pacific Northwest and similar climates.)

Letter Re: Chronic Illnesses and Disabilities in Retreat Planning

Dear Mr. Rawles,
I am a recent reader of the blog (nice job by the way). However I have read “Patriots” and I frequent several boards that you frequent. One issue I have, and a lot of survival minded people need to make sure is covered is medical requirements for chronic illnesses. The human body being fragile can develop an illness that must be treated on an ongoing basis. Anyone who is preparing for any disaster must take into account a supply of medications/supplies. I am not talking about the typical Tylenol and bandages, but prescriptions. Some prescriptions will be difficult to stock up on because of federal laws, or the medication is not in pill form and must be injected. And getting a ‘script’ filled just prior to a sudden catastrophic event may be impractical. A catastrophic event where you have time to make some preparations, such as a hurricane, is a bit easier to address. However keep in mind that insurance companies have time limits on filling medications. If you are near a refill date you will be okay. But if you have only used a small amount of a recent prescription, and want to have an additional supply for 30 or 60 days your insurance will not necessarily pay for it, so all of that will be out of pocket. A chronically ill person may find themselves laying out a lot of money on that supply; money that could be used for other supplies. Some medications used for an acute illness can be saved for later use. One medication I have done this with was a pain medication that I had when I had an unpleasant encounter with kidney stones. My doc told me that if I didn’t use all the pain medication to retain any unused portion. The doc said that the only thing that will happen over time is a diminished effect of the medication and I may have to take one and one half or two to gain the same pain relieving level. So, when I travel, always take it with me just in case I had another attack, because getting to a hospital to get treatment may would take a longer time than I would like to experience pain. So one needs to plan accordingly. If a person can take the time and try a week or longer taking say half of their medications (without placing your life or general health in undue danger) you will get a good idea of how to ration your medication to maintain a reasonable level of health and functionality over any given period of time. But one must know their medications. Some medications you can’t just stop taking, but must be diminished gradually over time. So be careful with what you do when testing. At this moment I am undergoing such a test. I am not doing this of choice, but because of economic reasons. I have found that I can remain fairly functional with my more expensive medications cut in half. And so far this ‘time of test’ has been a bit over two weeks. I hope to return to my normal dosage level soon. But if I watch what I do and pace myself I can manage pain levels and still get some of my basic work accomplished. Anyone who has a chronic condition can be a contributor any survival group, but one must know one’s limitations as well as capabilities. It would be foolish for me to try plowing a field with a mule, but I can do ‘lighter’ work. And if push comes to shove, I can lay down a lot of covering fire for a tactical retreat. Every survivalist needs to take into account the fragility of their own health, and make adjustments according to health, age, and physical abilities. And for you young survival minded people, you will get older so don’t overlook your own fragility and mortality; its an inevitability of life. Just a penny for a thought, -The Rabid One