Guest Article: Considerations for Night Operations- Part 3, by Max Alexander

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Yesterday, I shared about the use of illumination flares and what to do when caught in one as well as began discussing the use of night vision in a patrol situation.

Night Vision Technology

Now, let’s talk a little bit about the night vision technology. Your standard night vision devices, such as the PVS-14, are image intensifiers. This means that they amplify ambient light to produce the familiar green image. (Now, you can get white image versions.) On a lighter night they work better, on a darker night not so good. This is because they magnify the available light. These are passive devices, in that they do not generate anything that can be picked up by an observer. They are equipped with an IR flashlight, which can be used to covertly illuminate a small area.

However, use of the IR flashlight device is an active measure that will be seen by anybody else using night vision equipment (just like an IR flashlight mounted on your rifle). Importantly, a night vision binocular or monocular is not a magical device. If you could hide from an observer with the naked eye, you can hide from an observer wearing a PVS-14. It is more a case that an observer with a PVS-14 has an advantage over one without. Yet both see worse than they would during the day, it is simply a matter of degree. Also, it is important to note that if you use an old-school binocular night vision goggle you will lose depth perception. This is why the monocular, such as the PVS-14, is preferable over the PVS-7. It allows you to retain night vision in the unused eye, and allows you depth perception.

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The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

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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”. Venezuela is back in the news again. Now that the hurricanes have taken a break from their destruction, man-made disasters are being paid attention too.

Venezuela

Venezuela continues it’s slide into oblivion and now it is becoming apparent that the country is becoming cut-off from the rest of the world. Nearly every major air carrier has discontinued service to the country due to security concerns. Now foreign governments are putting barriers in place to keep Venezuelans out. Even if you are able to obtain a visa to exit the county, flight costs are prohibitively expensive. Thanks to S.B. for the link.

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Venezuela’s annual inflation rate just dropped — to 2,276%. it is so bad that the average Venezuelan has lost at least 20 pounds since this started. Dieting may be a fad in America where the majority of the population is obese or borderline obese, but there it is about survival.

Puerto Rico

Wondering why experts almost always recommend that you keep three months worth of cash on hand? Puerto Rico was devastated by multiple hurricanes and most of the infrastructure on the island was destroyed or severely impaired. Now there are reports of armed gangs roving the streets posing as police. Cash is king as no one wants to (or can) take credit cards or extend credit to individuals. The ATMs are running out of cash and the basics are tough to get.

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The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“Survival kit contents check. In them you’ll find: one forty-five caliber automatic; two boxes of ammunition; four days’ concentrated emergency rations; one drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills; one miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible; one hundred dollars in rubles; one hundred dollars in gold; nine packs of chewing gum; one issue of prophylactics; three lipsticks; three pair of nylon stockings. Shoot, a fella’ could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff.” – Slim Pickens as Major T. J. “King” Kong in Dr. Strangelove.

Guest Article: Considerations for Night Operations- Part 2, by Max Alexander

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Yesterday, we began looking at how to see and move at night with low tech- or no tech equipment. I shared about the importance of developing and protecting natural night vision and ways to more safely patrol at night. You cannot assume that darkness masks your movement, but you can adjust. Let’s continue with this in mind.

Adjusting To Challenges of Moving At Night

So there are challenges of moving at night when working low-tech. But it’s actually something that you can get used to after a little bit of practice. You can get very comfortable at it. You need to just take account of the difficulties the darkness presents, with the lower visibility. Compensate your patrol conduct as required. Your pace will be slower, in order to avoid excessive noise by blundering around in the trees. You will need to close up a little to take account of the reduced visibility. You’ll need to make extra efforts to ensure the patrol does not become split or separated. You will need to close up at halts in order to pass any hand signals, whispered messages, and to ensure accountability.

What Happens When It Gets Hot and Lights Flash

What happens if you get into contact and it goes hot? If it’s dark and you walk into a contact, then perform your contact drill as rehearsed. Fire at the enemy’s muzzle flashes. Remember that if tracer is involved, either by the enemy or by yourself, then it lights up at 100 meters from the muzzle (if the NATO standard type). So it does not truly point both ways. If the contact is taking place at ranges greater than 100 meters, then you can also use tracer as a means of target indication. Tracer looks like blobs of light flying through the green night sky when viewed through night vision.

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Economics & Investing For Preppers

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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 rimfire ammunition. (See the Commodities section.)

Precious Metals

 

The surprising rationale behind a million-dollar bet on silver

Stocks:

CNBC: Are the homebuilders showing cracks? (Auto-start video.)

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Next, at Seeking Alpha: The S&P 500 Goes Flat In Week 3 Of September 2017

 

Commodities  (Rimfire Ammunition):

After three+ years of chronic shortages, I see that the price of .22 LR rimfire ammo is finally normalizing. For example, mail order giant Midway presently has Remington 22 LR 36-grain Golden Bullet buckets of 1,400 on sale for under $85. But back during The Great .22 Crisis just a single brick of 500 was selling for around $80. Buy low and sell high, folks!

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I spotted this linked at Zero Hedge: In World’s Hottest Oil Patch, Jitters Mount That a Bust Is Near

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JWR’s Recommendations of the Week

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Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. This week the focus is on headlamps. (See the Gear section.)

Books:

After a 25 year hiatus, master spy storyteller John LeCarré has finally released another George Smiley novel: A Legacy of Spies.

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The End of Alzheimer’s: The First Program to Prevent and Reverse Cognitive Decline

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Destinations of a Lifetime: 225 of the World’s Most Amazing Places

 

Movies and Television:

HJL mentioned that he liked this BBC television series: The Doctor Blake Mysteries.

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The Ghost Army.  A recent PBS documentary on large-scale deception used by the U.S. Army in  World War II.  Available on DVD, or for free download for Amazon Prime members.

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A reader recommended this on YouTube: Swedish Documentary On Failed Immigration

 

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Guest Article: Considerations for Night Operations- Part 1, by Max Alexander

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Let’s talk about night operations. This is a topic that often comes up, particularly with regards to modern night vision equipment. There are multiple aspects to discuss about night operations, so my intent will be to give a broad brush of the various aspects in order to clarify, and open it up to comment and discussion.

We are primarily concerned with the armed civilian in an SHTF environment. Thus, you will only have the equipment that you purchased or acquired. We can certainly take pointers from practices within the military, and that is part of the intent of this article, but we must also be realistic and realize that we are not going to be issued all the latest gear. The gear you have is a function of what you can afford.

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SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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Here is SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt. This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. We also mention companies of interest to preppers that are located in the region. The emphasis this week is on Wyoming Wildlife. (See the Wyoming section, near the end of thsi column.)

Idaho

High Country Video: The Beehive Five Traverse. “Traversing across the Selkirks in Northern Idaho, linking five different 7,000′ peaks along the crest. Four continuous miles of some of the finest granite in the Northwest.”

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Raul Labrador Weighs in on Bunkerville Standoff

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