Bugging Out With Young Children- Part 2, by MPB

In Part 1, I described why I believe it is impossible to bugout into the woods with just a rifle and a backpack when you have young children in tow. In Part 2 I’ll be offering suggestions on what can be done to get your children to safety when you have no choice but to leave home.

Before I get into that though, let me stress that by far the best advice when you have kids (or even if you don’t) is to live at your bugout location if at all possible. Besides the many reasons outlined by JWR in his writings, let me add that it will be much easier on your children. A disaster is a traumatic event, and kids will be much better able to cope if they can stay in their normal environment and maintain at least some of their normal routines.

However, if you must go, here are some important tips:

  1. You must have a place where you are going, not a part of the country or an area with which you are familiar but a specific address. If you don’t own the property, make sure the residents of that address know you, expect you, and will welcome you in. Ideally this should be the home/homestead of a like-minded family member or a close friend. Helpful hint: They’ll be much more likely to welcome you if you’ve pre-positioned a large amount of supplies at their location.

    Unfortunately, young children are not very helpful. Kids may earn you a bit of charity here and there, but it would be unreasonable to expect a stranger to take in a family of five refugees knowing that only one of them will actually be able to give back in the form of meaningful labor. (Remember the other parent is taking care of the kids full time.)

  2. Bring help if you can. If you know any others who are heading to the same destination (such as your parents or a sibling), try to meet up with them and travel together. To some extent there is safety in numbers, and it will also spread out the burden of carrying and caring for your children among other adults.
  3. Travel in your vehicle as far as possible. Remember, children on foot will potentially only be traveling about three miles a day. Even if you have to wait in your vehicle three days until the traffic clears, it will take only a few minutes to make up the distance you would otherwise have walked. Try to get out early and plan your route to avoid bridges, cities or towns, and any other choke point that might prevent you from driving to your final destination. A vehicle is the best way to carry all the supplies you’ll need to keep your family going while evacuating. Abandon it only as a very last resort.
  4. If you must leave your vehicle, you need some other means of conveyance. As I mentioned, you can’t carry both a backpack full of supplies and a child. There are many options that will let you pull both when needed. These will also allow you to move much faster than a child’s walking pace, although keep in mind that they will still slow you down quite a bit from your single-adult walking pace. A heavy duty jogging stroller can carry a child over fairly rough terrain and has the bonus feature of doubling as a bed for your little ones. I recommend a folding double stroller even if you only have one child, so that you can transport more supplies. Other options could be a sturdy garden cart (very useful even after you reach your destination), a deer cart (easy to maneuver through wooded areas), or a sturdy child’s wagon (avoid the cheap plastic ones that can’t really go off road). I would even consider using a large recycling cart on wheels if you can get your hands on one. Just make sure it is clean. (I wouldn’t recommend using a used trash cart because of the smell and risk of bacteria/mold/etc that may be growing inside.) A recycling cart could even provide a simple shelter for one adult or two small children in a pinch.
  5. Bring a serious tent if there is any chance you will spend the night outdoors. As I mentioned above, you can’t throw together an emergency shelter for five people made out of all natural materials just before nightfall. Because you’ll have your vehicle or another means of conveyance with you, you can carry a serious tent. I would recommend buying a tent sized for one or two more people than will be traveling with you. That way you’ll have room to keep some supplies and equipment out of the rain as well.
  6. Bring food that your kids will actually eat. Never assume that if kids are hungry enough they’ll eat anything. That’s just not how most of them work. One box of cheerios will be worth a lot more than a #10 can of beef jerky, even if it doesn’t have nearly as many calories. With very young children, what they are willing and able to eat can change pretty rapidly. In those cases you might not want to rely entirely on a pre-packed supply of food in a bugout bag that gets rotated every six months. Instead (or in addition to that), plan to run to the pantry with a shopping bag and throw in whatever it is they’ve been eating well for the last couple of weeks.
  7. Avoid trouble at all costs. This means avoiding crowds, refugee camps, and pretty much all other travelers as much as possible. It will quickly become apparent to anyone watching you that you’ve got resources. Children are vulnerable, and they make an easy target for anyone who wants to “negotiate” for your supplies. The best way to protect your children is to avoid desperate/unprepared people altogether.

    As uncomfortable as it will be, I also recommend thinking ahead of time about potential scenarios in which someone does try to harm your children. You and your spouse should really spend time talking together about the best course of action. To whatever extent you can, create a plan now for how you will react and make those tough moral choices ahead of time. When someone has a knife to your daughter’s throat, it is not the time to think through the implications of negotiation vs. opening fire.

  8. Teach your children everything you can now. Children are constantly learning. In age-appropriate ways, introduce them to survival skills. It might start out with teaching a 2-year-old that fire is hot; don’t touch. At four, he might be ready to learn that matches and lighters create fire; don’t play with them. By six, your child could probably learn to safely add wood to a fire and roast a hotdog, and by eight he may be able to start a campfire with matches on his own. A similar process can take place for any skills you want to pass on to your children, but the timing and the exact steps involved will likely be unique for each child. Teaching children can be difficult and slow, but it is also extremely rewarding. Everything they can do for themselves makes the burden that much less on you.

As a final thought, I’d like to encourage those who haven’t yet read it to get a copy of JWR’s novel Liberators. In that book, he describes a successful bugout by a young family. The family utilizes many of the tips I’ve described here. They are heading for a specific location (a friend’s house in another state), they stay in their vehicle as long as possible, when forced to abandon their vehicle they obtain two deer carts to carry supplies, and they wisely strike off on their own rather than head toward a known refugee camp.

If you don’t already have kids, you may have read this article and concluded, “I don’t ever want to become a parent. Why would I willingly take responsibility for a group of slow, heavy, picky, loud, curious, unhelpful, vulnerable little people?” The answer lies in the other things that children are. They are also precious, lovely, funny, wonderful gifts from God. They stretch us in so many ways, causing us to grow. They inspire us, motivate us, and fill us with indescribable joy. Some of the most fulfilling moments of my life have involved passing on my faith and my skills to my children. There is truly nothing like it. And in a real sense, raising the next generation of godly, self-sufficient men and women is the ultimate goal of survival in the first place.

– Soli Deo Gloria (All for the Glory of God)

Letter: Getting First Aid Supplies Tax Free

Hello,

I just found a neat, and new to me, way of purchasing first aid supplies with pre-tax dollars that I thought I would share. For some years now I have taken advantage of my company’s Flexible Spending Account (FSA) program. For the unfamiliar, an FSA is money withheld from your paycheck that allows you to purchase eligible items with pre-tax dollars and is offered by many employers. If you have regular vision, dental, or copay expenses, it’s a great way to pay for these things. As I had more money withheld than I had spent this year, I wanted to make sure that it didn’t go to waste as plans are use-it or lose-it. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could purchase Adventure Medical Kits and a number of other supplies that I would consider to be good preps online at fsastore.com with my FSA card. Now I’ve got two fairly comprehensive first aid kits coming my way with money that otherwise would have gone to waste. While some plans may allow carrying over these funds into the next year, you should check your actual deadlines as YMMV. – Jason in Colorado

JWR’s Comment: This is a useful tip, but under many corporate FSA programs this is earmarked as “use to or lose it” money. Under such circumstances, it is crucial that employees mark their calendars and spend those pre-tax dollars in the time allotted or risk forfeiting them.

Economics and Investing:

Bail-Ins Coming? World’s Oldest Bank “Survival Rests On Savers” – DSV

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America created 10 million new jobs in the last decade. Almost all of them are temporary or contract gigs. – G.G.

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GM Inventories Highest in 8 Years, Multiple Plant Shutdowns Coming

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U.K. Retail Sales Grow at Fastest Pace in More Than a Year

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SurvivalBlog and its editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for details.

JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

Books:

Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand. (Later made into a feature film of the same name, now available on DVD.)

Fool’s Talk by Os Guiness

Young Men and FireYoung Men and Fire by Norman MacLean

Movies:

Sully. Tom Hanks plays pilot Chesley Sullenberger, who made an emergency water landing on the Hudson River, saving all of his 155 passengers.

Lone Survivor. (Mark Wahlberg plays Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell.)

Television:

12 Monkeys A time traveler from 2043 attempts to prevent a global pandemic that killed seven billion people, by traveling back to our present day. Originally aired on the SyFy channel. Season 1 is now available on Hulu.com. Both Season 1 (available now) and Season 2 (pre-order for shipment in January) on are on DVD from Amazon.com.

Note: This series is a much more detailed storyline than in the feature film of the same name that starred Bruce Willis.

Dark Matter. This sci-fi series is not quite Firefly but something close.

Music:

Jean Michel Jarre: Recollection

Afro-Celt Sound System: Capture 1995-2010

Instructional Videos:

John Heisz: My Top Ten Workshop Projects

Money Making Welding Projects – 3 Point Carryalls (Three Parts)

Magazines:

Molly Green

Backwoodsman

Blogs:

Notes From The Bunker

Podcasts:

Lost Skills Podcast

The Self-Sufficient Gardener

Gear:

U.S. Military Surplus Heavy Duty 25mm Ammo Boxes. These bargain-priced boxes (two for $40, postage paid!) are sold by a long-time sponsor of our non-fiction writing contest– CJL Enterprise.

Fox Outdoor Products Rifle Butt Stock Cheek Rest, Olive Drab

Clothes:

SCOTTeVEST Enforcer Jacket – 30 Pockets (CCW Tactical)

Comfort Fit Men’s Microfiber Fleece Lined Thermal Top & Bottom Underwear Set

Odds ‘n Sods:

How to Store Vegetables Without a Root Cellar – DSV

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CNN Responds to Islamic Terror Attack in Berlin by Blaming Conservatives – T.P.

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Egyptian police arrest five people for using children to stage fake ‘Aleppo’ footage – W.C.

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Russian diplomat ‘found dead from gunshot wounds at home just hours after ambassador killed at art exhibition’ – DSV

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An interesting article. These stingrays have grown in use over the recent years. Imagine an aerial based platform, small, and remotely operated. Cell site simulators – Congressional Report and article – G.S.

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“In all our associations; in all our agreements let us never lose sight of this fundamental maxim – that all power was originally lodged in, and consequently is derived from, the people.” – George Mason

Notes for Tuesday – December 20, 2016

On December 20th, 1606, the Virginia Company loaded three ships with settlers and set sail to establish Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas.

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Today, we present another entry for Round 68 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $15,000 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 that is good for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,195 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 with a hammer forged, chrome-lined barrel 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, which can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools and a compact carry capability in a hard case or 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Gun Mag Warehouse is providing 20 Magpul PMAG 30-rd Magazines (a value of $300) and a Gun Mag Warehouse T-Shirt; (an equivalent prize will be awarded for residents in states with magazine restrictions),
  6. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  7. The Ark Institute is donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package (enough for two families of four) plus seed storage materials, a CD-ROM of Geri Guidetti’s book “Build Your Ark! How to Prepare for Self Reliance in Uncertain Times”, and two bottles of Potassium Iodate (a $325 retail value),
  8. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  9. Two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Second Prize:

  1. A Tactical Self-Contained 2-Series Solar Power Generator system from Always Empowered. This compact starter power system is packaged in a wheeled O.D. green EMP-shielded Pelican hard case (a $2,400 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. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value),
  8. An infrared sensor/imaging camouflage shelter from Snakebite Tactical in Eureka, Montana (A $350+ value),
  9. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site, and
  10. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A custom made Sage Grouse model utility/field knife from custom knife-maker Jon Kelly Designs, of Eureka, Montana,
  3. 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,
  4. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  5. A Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  6. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  7. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  8. Montie Gear is donating a Y-Shot Slingshot and a $125 Montie gear Gift certificate.,
  9. 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), and
  10. Fifteen LifeStraws from SafeCastle (a $300 value).
  11. A $250 gift certificate to Tober’s Traditions, makers of all natural (organic if possible) personal care products, such as soap, tooth powder, deodorant, sunscreen, lotion, and more.

Round 68 ends on January 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.

Bugging Out With Young Children- Part 1, by MPB

The concept of bugging out is an integral part of preparing for an uncertain future. I won’t list them here, but there are dozens of reasons why it may be necessary to leave your home/homestead on very short notice. Page after digital page has been published online addressing this subject… some of it quite good and some of it good for nothing more than a laugh.

But there is one aspect of bugging out that I think has been largely overlooked in the survival community. It is the special considerations needed when bugging out with young children. My focus in this article is on families with one or more children in the age range of 1-10. I’m not writing as an expert on child development but as a father of two boys who has spent a lot of time thinking about this subject out of concern for my own family.

If you don’t have your own children in this age range, please keep reading anyway. If you are young enough you may have children someday, and if you are old enough you may have grandchildren someday. In any case, you may find yourself in a situation where this knowledge would enable you to help a young family in need of guidance when that day comes.

In the first part of this article I will address what can’t be done in terms of bugging out with young children, and in the second part I will offer tips on what can be done.

To get started, I will state emphatically that you cannot bugout with young children. It cannot be done. End of story. But before you get too discouraged, let me explain. What is impossible with young children is the stereotypical, bugout-fantasy of heading off into the wilderness with a rucksack on your back and a rifle in your hand, determined to live off the land like the mountain men of old.

The follies of this theory have been pointed out numerous times on SurvivalBlog, so I won’t get into them here. I’ll just say this: some people might argue that a young, healthy individual with the right skill set and the right tools could “live off the land”, but no one can argue that such a person could support a family of five “off the land”.

Don’t believe me? Then go to the local library and look for a book on wilderness survival for families. Even the few books written with children in mind generally assume the child is lost and alone. Search Amazon for “bug out children”, and the first book that pops up shows a dog in a ladybug suit. There are thousands of videos on Youtube showing how one person can build an emergency shelter to get himself through a long cold night, but I didn’t find any on how one person can quickly throw together an emergency shelter that allows an entire family to sleep warm and safe for the night before they continue their bugout journey at dawn.

Why is a stereotypical bugout impossible with young children? First, it’s because children are slow. A very fit 25-year-old might travel cross country at two or three miles per hour for up to 25 miles in a day on foot. So, if your bugout location is 75 miles away, you’ll be there in three days. However, a healthy young 5-year-old will travel at a pace closer to ½ mile per hour and cover maybe three miles in a day. So now, it will take 25 days to reach your bugout location, and you’ll need an awfully big backpack to carry 25 days worth of food.

“It’s no problem,” you might think, “I’ll just carry my little ones, like we do when we’re at the mall.” That brings us to our second point: children are heavy. Though many of us would struggle to do it, a good prepper fitness goal is to be able to carry a 40lb bugout bag on a multi-day hike. Well, guess what? That is almost exactly the median weight of a 5 year old(1). So, if you are carrying your children on your back, you won’t be carrying much else: not much food, not much water, not much with which to make shelter, and not much in terms of self defense.

Can you partially offset that lack of carrying capacity by foraging for wild edibles? Probably not, because many children are picky eaters. Most wild edibles taste different than the foods we eat on a regular basis, and to a child “different” usually means “yucky”. Add to that this consideration: in the absence of human competition, a skilled forager might find enough calories to sustain himself for quite a while (at least during certain times of the year). But in the long-term, a family of five will need at least 10,000 calories per day to break even; that’s 3,000 calories for dad, 2,500 for mom, and 1,500 for each of three kids. For reference, that equates to gathering about 39 pounds of blueberries, 78 pounds of unprocessed cattail root, or six pounds of raw acorns each and every day(2). Gathering and processing that quantity of food would drain nearby resources fast and wouldn’t leave much time for any of the other activities essential for survival.

Hunting, fishing, and trapping are other options for bringing in calories (although human competition is likely to quickly decimate the wild animal population in most areas). Again, though, few of the websites that advocate this have in mind what you would actually need to feed a whole family. It comes out to about 76 individual squirrels, 13 individual rabbits, or 19 pounds of trout each day or about one whole deer every six days to meet your family’s calorie needs(2). Hunting, fishing, and especially trapping also all require gear, and remember that you can’t carry much of that because of the weight of the children. Also, keep in mind that children are loud. You won’t have much success stalking a buck with an 18-month-old strapped to your chest. So the kids will have to stay back at the camp.

This leads in to the next point: someone will have to watch the children almost constantly, because children are curious. Don’t think that both Mom and Dad can be out hunting at the same time to bring in those 13 rabbits. Most young children simply aren’t mature enough to be left alone at your shelter in the woods where you (presumably) have an open fire, some knives sitting around, a loaded firearm or two, and endless opportunities to get lost. As any stay-at-home mom can tell you, keeping two or three children changed, fed, safe, and marginally clean is a full-time job for one person. Don’t expect it to get any easier if you are fleeing for your lives in a disaster.

Someone out there is probably thinking, “Wait a minute. It can’t be as bad as you’re making it out to be. The Native Americans lived off the land while frequently moving around among hostile tribes. If they can do it, so can I!” I would point out that they had a few key advantages over us: a very low population density, a very high ratio of resources to people, and the accumulated wisdom and skills passed down by generations before them who had lived that lifestyle. A little research also shows that despite those advantages, their lives were much harder and shorter than the idyllic picture we often imagine. The life expectancy of the very healthiest Native American tribes has been estimated at 35 years(3) and the child mortality rate in the pre-industrial world was about 20-30%(4).

So if the balloon goes up and you grab your family and march out into the woods, it probably isn’t going to end well for you. In a day or two you’ll find yourself 10 miles from home, carrying your children, with no food and very little gear, facing the hopeless task of providing your family with shelter, water, and 10,000 calories per day.

I know this is a gloomy picture, but I thought it was important to go into the details of why the stereotypical bugout is impossible with young children. I don’t want anyone to start thinking “Maybe I could pull it off if I just…” It can’t be done, period. Tune in tomorrow to find out what actually can be done to get our children and families to safety in a hurry when it really counts.

Notes:

(1) Median weight of children was taken from this website on 28Oct16: http://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/clinical_charts.htm#Set1

(2) Calorie counts for various wild foods were taken from these websites on 28Oct16: https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list http://woodtrekker.blogspot.com/2013/09/living-off-land-delusions-and.html

(3) Native American life expectancy was taken from this website on 27Oct16: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/29/science/don-t-blame-columbus-for-all-the-indians-ills.html

(4) Child mortality rate estimate was taken from this website on 28Oct16: http://www.pbs.org/fmc/timeline/dmortality.htm

Letter Re: Trump’s Presidency: A Replay of the 1980s

JWR:

Trump is savvy. He will split the bankers if he is aggressive in eliminating Dodd Frank. Reinstatement of Glass-Steagall may also be perceived as favorable by many main street bankers as less regulation will be necessary. He will need to win over that chunk of the banking world as he has planned to go after the “Carry Trade” exemptions, which will alienate investment bankers. The FDIC is not on the investment banker side of things. I am trying to remember what it was like in the 1980s when Reagan’s policies took hold. I think it comes again. Without a doubt, the banks are “fragile”.

I just picked up six cases of rice to go with three cases of beans from the Mormons. There is crushing inflation coming. We cannot just sit in a defensive hole and survive that. – R.V.

News From The American Redoubt:

“That’s pretty rare”: Helena gets two record-breaking days of snowfall this week

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The liberal Cascadia Movement’s planned secession territory map flies in the face of logic. The territorial divide seems to have been selected based on watersheds rather than social and political demographics. The ground truth is that the folks in northwestern Montana, north Idaho, and virtually all of Oregon and Washington states east of the Cascades are conservative stalwarts. So including any part of the American Redoubt region into the Cascadia plan is laughable. I, for one, want no part in it. Even if they were to secede (which is doubtful), they would have an electorate that is deeply divided. In contracts to “Cascadia”, the American Redoubt movement’s geographic goal is NOT secession. Rather, it is for simple partitioning into new state boundaries. This is what happened when Virginia and West Virginia split. They remained in the Union but became separate sovereign states, each with its own capitol and legislature. Something like that is my goal for eastern Oregon and eastern Washington. – JWR

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2 found dead after mobile home fire in Mountain Home

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Wyoming: Bill would prevent public from viewing police dash, body cams without a judge’s order

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More than 20 school buses get stuck on snowy streets Monday

Economics and Investing:

The War On Cash And Then On Gold And Silver

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Who Won The 2016 Oil War? Heading into the New Year with oil prices above US$50, both OPEC and the U.S. shale industry are claiming victory in the latest oil war battle, but who really won it?

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Chinese Rush to Open US Dollar Forex Accounts: More Capital Controls Coming

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Will A Stronger Dollar Cause a Trade War with Europe?

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SurvivalBlog and its editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for details.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Caught on Tape: “Allahu Akbar! We die in Aleppo, you die here!” Russian Ambassador to Turkey Shot Dead at Art Gallery – W.C.

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Adding a tensioning feature to your snare decreases the likelihood of your prey chewing through the line or working their way off. The tensioning feature can be a spring pole or a suspended weight like a hunk of wood or a jug filled with water. The use of a tensioning feature requires a trigger. Woodscraft: Triggers for snares – Joe

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From Breitbart – Washington Post: Virgin Mary Offends Rape Victims by Her Purity – D.B.

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On the 225th Anniversary of the United States’ Bill of Rights – Antonius Aquinas

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Localism – community prepping – T.Z.

Product Review: Enola Gaye Smoke Grenades, by Pat Cascio

Many years ago, I used to teach SWAT to police and security agencies, and I even co-authored a book SWAT Battle Tactics with my late friend, American Kenpo Karate Grand Master John McSweeney. The book, published by Paladin Press, is in need of a serious re-write, as there was some material added in the manuscript after I approved the galley copy. Still, the basic material is strong and one can build a SWAT team using the basics.

When conducting SWAT training, I would often booby trap a house/building or an area where the team would be entering using various types of traps, including smoke grenades, military-grade smoke grenades. They were very expensive back then, and they still are. However, there was no question or debating when someone tripped a smoke grenade booby trap; the high volume of smoke told the story.

As many long-time readers will recall, I served an apprenticeship with the late Col. Rex Applegate. I worked for the good colonel for three years, and during that time he taught me all manner of military and law enforcement techniques, as well as handgun firing. In particular, he taught me point shooting, and Paladin Press sells my DVD entitled Tactical Point Shooting, which has rock solid information in it. One thing many people didn’t know about Applegate was that he was an expert in riot control methods. His book Riot Control Methods And Materials is still in print. Many big city police departments would do themselves a favor if they purchased the book, with all the riots that recently took place after Donald Trump won the presidential election.

I happen to know a little bit about riot control, as I served in the Illinois National Guard in Chicago, IL in the early 1970s, and we had more than our share of call-outs for riots. One piece of kit that was always used was tear gas grenades as well as smoke grenades. Most rioters didn’t know the difference between the two at the onset. When they saw smoke, they would run and disperse! Applegate also served as a general in the Mexican Army shortly after WW2; in this role, he was one of the original 12 staff of instructors at the OSS– the forerunner to today’s CIA. Without giving away any secrets, at least not too many, Applegate worked as a sale rep for Remington Firearms in Mexico, and he also trained the Mexican military in riot control techniques. One such covert technique was to have either tear gas or smoke grenades in the front pockets of baggy trousers, and he would walk through a crowd of rioters and release these grenades through a hole in his pocket. The grenades would fall to the ground, and no one knew where they came from. Then, Applegate would fade into the background.

Military-grade smoke grenades are very expensive and extremely hard to come by, especially for civilians. Of course, there are less expensive smoke grenades that you have to ignite by lighting a fuse, which is more than a little bothersome, and they don’t put out a lot of smoke. The good folks at U.S. Tactical Supply in Albany, OR are always on the lookout for cutting-edge professional equipment and gear. There is no junk at this store, and they are some of the nicest people you’ll ever deal with, too. They alerted me to their newest piece of kit– Enola Gaye smoke grenades, and they were kind enough to have one of their employees actually deliver them to my home, because I’ve just been buried in work.

Now, what use would you possibly have for professional-grade smoke grenades, you might ask? Well, several uses come to mind. First off, a quality smoke grenade can be carried in your Bug Out Bag or your hiking or backpacking bag. In the event you get lost, and don’t say it won’t ever happen to you, you can pop one of these smoke grenades to alert a search and rescue team to your location. In my neck of Oregon, we have dense forests where you can easily get lost, and it is even harder for someone to pin point your location. A quality smoke grenade will sure let them know where you are.

In a survival situation, you might want to cover your escape and evasion with smoke. Dense smoke can confuse your pursuers as well as give you a chance to put some distance between you and them. If things go terribly wrong and you some how find yourself engaged in a firefight (and you want to avoid this if at all possible), some heavy smoke can cover your strategic retreat, too. One can also use smoke grenades in firearms training, believe it or not; I’ve done it in the past. It makes your students become more positive of their target, before pulling the trigger. If you can’t make out your target, you keep your finger off the trigger. It’s as simple as that.

Let’s take a closer look at the various smoke grenades that US Tactical Supply is selling. Go to their website for complete information. There are two large smoke grenades, and two smaller grenades, and there are several different sub-categories. Some grenades emit the smoke extremely fast and for a shorter period of time, while some emit smoke a little slower over a longer period of time. In my testing of the large and smaller smoke grenades, I was impressed with the huge volume of smoke the smaller grenades put out; I was very impressed.

The two larger smoke grenades, the EG18X and the EG18, are similar; however, the EG18X has a faster burn time of 50-60 seconds, so it emits a lot of smoke quickly. The EG18 burns for 90-120 seconds, so the smoke is emitted slower. Both come in eight different colors: black, green, white, purple, blue, yellow, red, and orange.

The two smaller grenades the WP40 and Burst are only “smaller” in size. They both put out an incredible amount of smoke. The WP40 has a 90-120 second burn time and is available in the above eight colors. The Burst model has a burn time of 20-30 seconds for a massive amount of smoke, and it only comes in seven colors. There is no black smoke for some reason with this model.

I didn’t intentionally pick some of the worst weather to do some of my testing of the smaller smoke grenades; it just happened that way. We were having some freezing rain in our area. Actually, at my small homestead, it wasn’t freezing rain just yet. I elected to go to my usual shooting spot, which is about seven minutes away up on a small mountain of only about 3,000 feet in elevation. As I was approaching the peak, I noted all the trees were covered in a thick layer of ice. When I reached my regular shooting spot, everything was covered in ice. The freezing rain wasn’t just coming down hard; it was blowing almost sideways, too. When I popped two of the smaller grenades– the WP40 and the Burst– the smoke was dense and blowing completely sideways. Did I happen to mention how hard it was raining? The Enola Gaye smoke grenades are water resistant, and they both worked as advertised.

Inside of only a few minutes, my pickup truck windows were completely iced over so the testing ended. The next day, we had even worse weather. On top of the freezing rain we had the day before, we got snow. Then, on top of the snow, we got more freezing rain. It was horrible driving conditions, and I elected to do some testing in my own front yard early in the morning before there was any traffic out. There was none, and all the neighbors were still sleeping. I tested the two larger smokers– the EG18X and the EG18.

Something very curious took place in my testing, not with the smoke grenades themselves but with the weather. While both smoke grenades worked as they should have, we had an updraft in the front yard. I couldn’t feel it, but I sure saw it when I popped the smoke grenades. The smoke from both grenades rose directly upwards, and I mean straight up. It was rather interesting to watch. The smoke would normally just disperse and stay close to the ground but not in this case; it just rose straight upwards. I walked to where I tossed the grenades, but I couldn’t feel any updraft at all. It was strange!

US Tactical Supply ships the Enola Gaye smoke grenades in zip-lock plastic bags, and you would be wise to keep them in the bags; the grenades are water resistant, not water proof. The grenades are ignited by a pull ring, and it takes considerable effort to pull the ring and get the grenades going. You only have about two seconds before they start to smoke, so be sure of where you want to toss the grenades. They do burn hot, so do not hold them in your hand after pulling the ring to ignite them. The pull ring is located under a plastic cap that is easily removed. The body of the grenades is made out of some kind of rigid plastic. Additionally, these babies are manufactured in the United Kingdom, of all places.

I pulled out my A.L.I.C.E. gear. I’m old school and carry my combat gear on a pistol belt with suspenders and magazine pouches that hold three thirty-round AR-15 magazines. These ammo pouches have two pockets on the side for carrying anti-personnel grenades. I was hoping the large smoke grenades would fit in those pockets, but I had no such luck. However, while I’m old school, I also have some tactical assault vests, and the larger grenades easily fit into the magazine pockets. I have some old AR-15 magazine pouches with the divider ribbons that have ripped, and I can fit one of the larger smoke grenades inside or two of the smaller grenades, and it can be attached to my pistol belt.

Once again, I would advise that you store and carry the Enola Gaye smoke grenades in the zip-lock plastic bags they come in. As stated, they are water resistant, not water proof. We get a lot of rain on the west side of Oregon, and I wouldn’t want to need to use one of these smoke grenades only to find out they got wet and won’t ignite. So, be advised. If you are out backpacking/hiking, you would be well suited to carry a couple of the smaller smoke grenades in your pack in the event you need to signal for help. Remember, they do burn hot, and make sure when they are ignited that they are not on ground that would catch shrubs on fire. The last thing you need is a wild fire, if you are hoping to get rescued.

Now for the good news, the EG18S sells for only $14 (black is $15) and the EG18 sells for only $12. The smaller grenades are only $6 each. That is a deal. And, in my limited testing, I was more than a little impressed with the total volume of smoke the smaller grenades put out.

For the price, these smoke grenades are one heck of a buy. I plan on stocking-up on plenty of them in the very near future. You just never know when, you might need the cover of smoke for a hasty retreat or something like red smoke to signal rescuers who might be out searching for you. Get ‘em while you can!

– Senior Product Review Editor, Pat Cascio