Observations and Prepper Lessons From County Jail, by M.R.

12

I am a correctional deputy, who works in a rural county jail in a mid-sized state somewhere out west, with some observations to share with my prepper community. When I first went into the jail to work, I felt naked without my EDC– a pistol, knives, and multitool. Don’t fret; I have them safely stored in my private vehicle outside should the SHTF happen and I need to make the trek home. However, I like to use every opportunity to learn something new.

Enlightened Observations of Communal, Cramped Living

As I have been making my rounds, conducting shakedowns, and dealing with the 300 or so inmates we have, my mind has been enlightened by some of their creativity. I asked myself, “What application does this have for me?” I also have gained a few ideas about either communal or cramped space living.

Things Learned From Fellow Guards and LEOs

There are also a few things I have learned from my fellow guards and law enforcement officers (LEOs) about how to live in different circumstances. I hope that I can share some things I have gathered for our benefit as preppers.

Continue reading“Observations and Prepper Lessons From County Jail, by M.R.”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

19

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “HJL”. China’s bad social credit policy is rearing it’s ugly head.

How to Negotiate with Hospitals

Not too long ago, I had a time where I was without medical insurance and I had to have a medical procedure performed. That was when I learned that most hospitals and doctors had sliding scales for payment and that they were open to negotiation on payment. I still ended up paying more than I thought I should though, because I didn’t really understand how to negotiate with these companies. Reader H.L. sent in this article that lays down some basic rules and would have been exceedingly helpful had I known them at the time. Whether you find yourself doing this because you refuse to participate in the mediocrity of Obamacare or you are unemployed, these are skills well worth having.

Four Meals from Anarchy

Reader A.D. sent in this link from The Telegraph outlining how they believe that British cities are only four meals away from anarchy. If the grid was taken down, mass chaos would present itself. People have become so reliant on electricity that a prolonged blackout would quickly lead to a loss of water, fuel, banking, transport and communications and they fear conditions would be pretty close to “stone age”.

Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” – Romans 8:1-2 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Saturday – March 17, 2018

March 17th is the birthday of novelist Pearl S. Buck, best known for her novel The Good Earth. (Born 1887, died 1973.)

This is also the birthday of Józef Franczak (born 1917, died 21 October 1963), who was a Polish Army Corporal who fought in the World War II resistance against the invading Germans. He then carried on after the war, to fight against the occupying Soviets and their Polish communist stooges. Eventually, he was one of the last of the Cursed Soldiers resistance in Poland. His nom de guerre was Lalek.

o o o

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

This has been another entry for Round 75 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $11,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. Two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value), and
  8. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  2. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  3. A gift certificate for any two or three-day class from Max Velocity Tactical (a $600 value),
  4. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  5. A Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 value),
  6. A $200 gift certificate good towards any books published by PrepperPress.com,
  7. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances, and
  6. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).

Round 75 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Perspectives on Patrolling- Part 5, by J.M.

22

Today is the final part of this article on patrolling in the post-SHTF scenario. If you just jumping in here and have missed the earlier parts, go back and look at what has been covered already, including objectives, planning, navigation, movement, contact, observing and more.

Bivouacking

Let’s look at the practical concerns of bivouacking within a patrol group. Even if everyone in the patrol is in perfect physical shape, you’ll still need to stop for food and rest occasionally. Since you will be walking a lot, you’ll be burning a lot of calories, which you’ll need to replace. Food is obviously a very personal decision. However, keep in mind that for patrolling you’ll need food that is light and compact, has a high calorie count, and is easy to prepare. You could have the patrol forage, fish, or hunt for food. But that will take time away from achieving their primary objectives. It might also expose them to greater risk.

Patrol Meal Choice

My choice for patrol meals are custom freeze-dried meals that I create using ingredients from various #10 FD cans. I store them in a vacuum-packed sealed mylar bag with an oxygen absorber. They can be prepared quickly by just adding hot water, which I heat up with a simple alcohol burner, pot stand, wind break, and lightweight pot. Denatured alcohol is inexpensive and stores forever.

Continue reading“Perspectives on Patrolling- Part 5, by J.M.”

Editors’ Prepping Progress

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To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make long-term and short-term plans. Steadily, we work on meeting our prepping goals. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities. They also often share their planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, property improvements, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year. We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in the Comments. Let’s keep busy and be ready! This week’s emphasis is on small arms mechanical training.

JWR

Dear SurvivalBlog Readers,

I was down with a cold for most of this week. So I didn’t accomplish a lot around the ranch. But I had recuperated sufficiently to attend a gun show on Friday. That gave me the opportunity to stock up on some more full capacity magazines. I did so, just in case the denizens of The Swamp have another spasm of unconstitutionality and try to limit new production to only reduced capacity magazines for the citizenry. (They did so with their 1994-to-2004 ban, and that was a memorably hideous decade.)  By mailorder, I also bought a few more 80% AR receivers and 80% pistol frames, for use with my Ghost Gunner automated compact milling machine.  (It is an original Ghost Gunner that recently went back to the factory to be upgraded to the more accurate Ghost Gunner II generation spindle.)

Also by mail order, I also picked up some assorted SIG P320 parts, magazines, and holsters. (While I’m still primarily a Glock 21/Glock 30 .45 ACP kinda guy, the SIG P320 is now my preferred 9mm pistol.)

Avalanche Lily Reports: There are now hundreds of sprouts growing rapidly in the tile-floored spare bedroom that we’ve temporarily re-purposed as our “pre-greenhouse” room.  There, I am using our pair of GrowPro 600 LED grow lights 13 hours a day, with amazingly fast results.  The two grow lights put out so much heat that we don’t need to heat that room. This past week, I planted additional seeds: broccoli, Butternut squash and another type of beefsteak tomato.  Additionally, I planted parsley, mint, oregano, basil, cilantro, acorn and Hubbard squashes cantaloupe, and Sugar Baby Watermelon.

The Outside Greenhouse: My “Greenhouse within a Greenhouse” experiment is now really taking off.  I finally have one-inch sized secondary leaves of kale, lettuces and spinach.  Definitely, the winter gardening needs to be started in late August/early September, not at end of October which was when I planted the seeds, to have produce throughout the winter.  Otherwise, we are just getting a big jump start on earlier-producing greens in the spring.

Spring is just about here.  This week the Robins, Winter Wrens, Varied Thrushes, Oregon Juncos, plus others, I’m sure that I just haven’t heard yet, have returned to our area.  I love hearing the spring birds’ chorus in the morning and evenings.  Hooray, warm weather will soon be arriving, too.

Please continue to post comments about your own preps.

Thanks, – Jim Rawles and Avalanche Lily, Rawles

 

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

6

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “HJL”. With the conclusion of our article on patrolling today, we are also excited about Max Alexander’s new tactical manual.

New Tactical Manual

Max has released his new Tactical Manual. This small tactics manual is the result of more than a quarter century of experience at the highest professional levels. Based on real-world deployments to multiple conflict zones spanning pre-9/11 and the current Global War on Terror. The contents are combat proven and time tested for light infantry, special operations and paramilitary deployments. Max based this manual on a number of sources including the U.S. and British Army doctrine and added his own “lessons learned”. If your looking for a source to compliment your small groups abilities in this area, you need to check this manual out.

Improve Your Tracking Skills

Keven from onPoint Tactical released a short document that helps you improve your tracking skills. Every so often, you will find yourself in need of tracking someone or something. A few years ago, my own mom began to suffer from an Alzheimers related illness and several times I received calls from my father to help find her when she had wondered away from home. Basic tracking skills that I had learned in Boy Scouts helped me find her on quite a few of those times. Like other skills, tracking is a perishable skill. If you don’t practice it regularly, you start losing it. You may remember the basics, but you will not be as quick about it as you want. This document will provide you will some basic drills to help keep those skills sharp.

Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:”

Preparedness Notes for Friday – March 16, 2018

1

Today is the anniversary of the Battle at Pound Gap Kentucky. (1862)

o o o

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

This has been another entry for Round 75 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $11,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. Two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value), and
  8. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  2. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  3. A gift certificate for any two or three-day class from Max Velocity Tactical (a $600 value),
  4. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  5. A Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 value),
  6. A $200 gift certificate good towards any books published by PrepperPress.com,
  7. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances, and
  6. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).

Round 75 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Perspectives on Patrolling- Part 4, by J.M.

9

We are looking at patrolling in a post-SHTF scenario. In parts 1, 2 and 3, I reviewed the definition of “patrol” and objectives of patrolling as well as planning, dress and kit, navigation, movement, and now the subject of dealing with contacts while out on patrol. I have provided some pointers on handling contact situations, and there is still a considerable amount to cover on this subject. Let’s continue.

Contact (continued)

Document Each Contact

Once the contact is complete and you’ve departed the immediate area, you should stop and document the contact while the information is still fresh. This should include names and descriptions of the people in the contact group along with any information they provided you. You should also attempt to assign a confidence level to the information you collected. This is an indication of how accurate and up-to-date you believe the information is.

Exchange of Gunfire

While your primary focus should be on reconnaissance and contacting people for the purpose of collecting intelligence, there will be contact situations that either start out with or devolve into an exchange of gunfire. This could be a planned ambush, an attack by a hostile group that encounters your patrol, or a contact situation that results in shots being fired.

In most cases your primary goal should be to break contact with the hostile forces as quickly and as cleanly as possible. In any scenario involving gunfire, the members of patrol with the best lines of sight to the hostile contact should initially take cover and return fire, while other members of the patrol watch the sides and rear to ensure additional hostiles aren’t trying to sneak up on them. The members in contact should communicate with the patrol leader to provide the number of hostiles and their position, movements, and types of weapons.

Continue reading“Perspectives on Patrolling- Part 4, by J.M.”

Letter Re: Doxycycline and Penicillin

12

Hello,
You have posted several articles on penicillin over the years. There is usually a link to follow to purchase it online. The link almost always brings me to a website to purchase fish meds. Is fish penicillin safe for human consumption? Thanks for your response. – Mike

JWR Replies:

Those articles are posted for informational purposes only. I am not a doctor and cannot give medical advice. Please consult your local licensed physician.

Economics & Investing For Preppers

3

Here are the latest items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. And it bears mention that most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of JWR. (SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor.) Today’s focus is on investing in rare and antique motorcycles. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)

Precious Metals:

Silver keeps getting kicked into the gutter by short sellers. But the silver stackers will get their reward in the next few years. Higher interest rates will soon collapse the U.S. stock market and housing bubbles. Then we’ll see folks desperately running for safety. Those exit doors are always made visible by their gold and silver colors and their “TANGIBLE WEALTH” markings.

Cryptos:

The cryptocurrencies have certainly lived up to their reputation for high volatility since last December.  When I last checked, the cost of a Bitcoin was $8,056, an Ether was $604, and a Litecoin was just $160. I suspect that we’ve reached “floor” levels. All the talk of higher interest rates appears to be driving a lot of those who bought “on margin” out of the market. This is a good time for new buyers, not sellers–especially those speculators who bought cryptos in December at the top of the market with OPM (Other People’s Money.) Buy low, and sell high. Doing it the other way around soon leads to ulcers or self-defenestration. FYI, I’m still fairly bullish on the major cryptos in the long term. But for now, “buckle up!”

 

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“My mind,” he said, “rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation. That is why I have chosen my own particular profession, or rather created it, for I am the only one in the world.” – Arthur Conan Doyle, The Sign of Four

Preparedness Notes for Thursday – March 15, 2018

1

This is the birthday of General and President Andrew Jackson, in 1767. He was the 7th President of the United States (1829-1837.)

o o o

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

This has been another entry for Round 75 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $11,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. Two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value), and
  8. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  2. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  3. A gift certificate for any two or three-day class from Max Velocity Tactical (a $600 value),
  4. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  5. A Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 value),
  6. A $200 gift certificate good towards any books published by PrepperPress.com,
  7. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances, and
  6. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).

Round 75 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Perspectives on Patrolling- Part 3, by J.M.

9

We are looking at patrolling in a post-SHTF scenario. In parts 1 and 2, I reviewed the definition of “patrol” and objectives of patrolling as well as planning, dress and kit, and navigation. Now, let’s look at what the patrol does after it is dressed, fed, and in action.

Movement

When on patrol you’ll generally be doing one of three things– moving, observing or resting. The majority of your time being spent moving around, so it is essential to understand and practice movement techniques.

Dimensions of Patrol Movement

Two of the most important dimensions of patrol movement are being able to detect potential threats or contacts before they detect you, and responding to threats when they are detected. Being able to detect threats/contacts allows you to plan and respond on your terms instead of reacting in a panic. I’ll provide some recommendations for how to prepare for this below.

Do the Jingle Jump

Do the “jingle jump” before you initially depart and after any stops where you moved gear around. This involves each member of the patrol jumping up and down while wearing their full gear load-out to determine if anything makes noise. If it does, they correct it.

Continue reading“Perspectives on Patrolling- Part 3, by J.M.”