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.”

o o o

Raul Labrador Weighs in on Bunkerville Standoff

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CRKT TSR Knife, by Pat Cascio

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The Columbia River Knife & Tool – TSR (Terzuola Survival & Rescue) fixed blade survival knife is one of the newest designs from the mind of legendary custom knife maker Bob Terzuola. I’ve covered Terzuola’s background before, but a quick glean of his background is in order.

Custom Knife Maker Bob Terzuola

Before becoming a legendary custom knife maker, Bob Terzuola was into carving jade jewelry in Central America at one point. Then he moved to New Mexico and started making custom knives. Back in 1984, I saw an ad for his knives and sent away for his brochure. It was nothing but drawings of his designs and no pictures! However, I was taken by his clean and simple designs. The order was placed for one of his knives. I also had a conversation or two with Bob while awaiting my knife. I was not disappointed in the least when the knife arrived either.

CRKT Knives – Columbia River Knife and Tool

Many will agree that Terzuola might well be considered the Father of Tactical Knives.  I’m not about to dispute that title either. Bob produces both fixed and folding knives, and they are rock-solid designs, too. The BT70, which CRKT produces, is one of the stoutest folders to be had; we are talking super-strong.

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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 industrial metals. (See the Commodities section.)

Precious Metals

Silver Price Forecast September 25, 2017, Technical Analysis

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Gold To Remain Under Pressure As Metal ‘Gives Way’ To Hawkish Fed

Stocks:

Reader Chris B. suggested this piece: Jim Rogers says ETF holders will get mauled by ‘the worst’ bear market ever

Commodities (Industrial Metals):

Metals Massacre – Iron Ore Enters Bear Market, Copper Collapses To 1-Month Lows. JWR’s Comments:  This collapse in industrial metals could be a precursor of a stock market collapse.  It shows us how weak the real economy is.  (The current illusory prosperity of equities market was created by artificial stimulus, rather than the market cycle.)

o  o  o

Expect A Major Leap In U.S. Oil Exports

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Triggers, Tipping Points, and Black Swans, by Coast Ranger

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Letting Others Know The Status Quo Won’t Hold

The purpose of this contribution is to indicate how one might approach letting others know that the status quo will not hold. It is based upon my own efforts.

There is a tendency for people to focus upon “big picture” or mass hysteria items, like North Korea and now Nazis, that might impact the future to the exclusion of the many other things that are less transparent or obvious but still extremely important. The following list of triggers, tipping points, and black swans is based upon a handout or a lecture I gave at my local Grange. I am my Grange’s lecturer, which is one of the elected offices.

With the exception of a few items below, all of the items are concerns raised by other writers and are readily available on the Internet. However, it is important to use the right search engine, given the recent changes in algorithms to prevent “fake news”. The Grangers have also been told, “Don’t trust MSM.”

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Letter Re: Food Storage Question

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HJL,

With limited storage space, cost not a concern: Is it better to store the typical dry beans, rice, etc.? Or would you obtain a higher calorie count with something like the Mountain House cans?

HJL’s Comment:

It really depends upon your budget and what means you have to store food. Dry beans and rice (and similar foods) are easy to store and can provide a basic sustenance, dense calorie count diet with very little supplementing from other food sources. However, it is a very bland existence. If just surviving is the name of the game, it will work, but I like more variety. If you are willing to add herbs and spices to your survival pantry, you will be much happier. More expensive items like freeze dried foods work very well when you need to minimize the cooking aromas (so as not to draw attention to yourself) or are on the move. They take very little time and effort to prepare and are lightweight.

I do not personally use commercially prepared freeze dried foods because we own a Harvest Right freeze drier and we prepare our own foods using that, but it is a significant expense. You also need to be cautious about commercially prepared foods because many companies use smaller portions than what you really need to eat. Rather than use their meal count, use a calorie count method to determine how much you need to store. There are several SurvivalBlog advertisers that sell freeze dried foods of high quality.

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”. Tensions with North Korea continue to escalate with the U.S. sending aircraft up the coast and North Korea continuing their threats of nuclear destruction.

Surviving an Apocalypse

Supposedly, in 1929, when Joseph P. Kennedy received stock tips from his shoeshine boy, he knew that it was time to get out of the market. If you understand the mechanics of a bubble, then you can understand the truth of that statement. I wonder if that applies to the main stream media as well? SurvivalBlog reader G.G. sent in this link to the New York Times on How to Survive the Apocalypse. Granted that it is a bit tongue-in-cheek and it’s pretty obvious the author is poking fun at us. However, it seems to me that it comes pretty close to the shoeshine boy metaphor.

North Korea

The U.S. has flown B1 Bombers (from Guam) and several F15 Eagles (from Okinawa) as an escort to them, farther north of the DMZ than they have any other time this century. Even though the B1 is no longer part of the nuclear force and the planes stayed over international waters, it was intended to send a message to Jin San Pang Kim Jong-un. North Korea’s response was to threaten to build a missile to attack any part of the U.S. Thanks to reader P.S. for the link.

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The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; 19 because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.” – Romans 1:18-19 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Saturday – September 23, 2017

September 23, 1800 is the birthday of William McGuffey, a college president who is best known for writing the McGuffey Readers, the first widely used series of textbooks. It is estimated that at least 122 million copies of McGuffey Readers were sold between 1836 and 1960, placing its sales in a category with the Bible and Webster’s Dictionary.

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My Recent Experience Bugging Into A Disaster- Part 2, by J.W.

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Travel Prepared- Non-Lethal and Sidearms

I always travel prepared for whatever may happen. I am older, and while still in good shape, my fight rounds are probably down to less than a minute before I get worn out (comes with age), so I travel prepared to personally defend myself and those with me in any situation. As always, situational awareness is first and foremost. On short trips, I prepare by carrying both non-lethal protection and sidearms. On long trips (my long trips average 2500 miles round trip), I carry additional long guns that are purpose minded and a reasonable amount of ammo.

I can not stress enough, should the world decide to go south and you find yourself on the interstate a thousand miles from where you would prefer to be, you simply must err on the side of that one in a million chance that you need to be better defended than the next guy or guys at least for the short term to get home. It can and will happen that fast, especially in the more populated areas like where I was traveling.

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