Notes for Sunday – January 08, 2017

On this day, in 1835, the U.S. National Debt reached zero for the first and only time. This is also the birthday of the late Algis Budrys (born 1931, died June 9, 2008). He was the Lithuanian-American science fiction author who wrote the classic survivalist novel Some Will Not Die.

New Year’s Leadership-Part 2, by Sarah Latimer

Shifts (Continued)

It is well recognized that the biblical Hebrew word for “house” is meant to refer to a man’s wife. The thinking is that a man builds a house by first taking a wife and then together they become one and make a family. So, how important is a wife to a man? Well, she is his home and is the one who enables him to have a comfortable and safe place to go (at least one that’s emotionally safe), a place to build a family, a place he can call his own to bring others, and even a place that demonstrates his honor within the community. She, through the work she does in the home and in the community, brings him honor also. Beyond being a child and a princess of the Most High God, there is no greater honor or role I can have than to be the home-maker for Hugh.

I’m Hugh’s partner in life, and I am his home. I’m the being with whom he has family, comfort, and honor. My efforts and behavior brings honor (or dishonor) upon him within our of community of influence, and his honor is also my honor. He loves, cherishes, and protects me. He provides for my needs and many of my wants and encourages me to pursue greatness, not only in home-making but in intellectual matters also. He has always been involved with our children, just as I have been. He is supportive and patient when I leave the home to care for others in our community, and he is at least as generous and charitable as I am, so there is no conflict when I want to give of my time to “mother” the motherless or visit the elderly or sit with the dying. He encourages this and gladly covers for me at home, if need be. We have a beautiful, cooperative relationship of respect and love for one another, trying to serve and care for the other, in our unique roles and responsibilities, though we help each other too. He helps me make the bed and in many other household duties, and I help him with the blog, as I write regular contributing articles.

This may seem “old fashioned” to many, but it is God’s way of looking at family. Our so-called liberal, feminist culture tells people that we should each look out for ourselves with a selfish attitude. It tells us that we have to keep score of wrongs and fight for whatever we think is ours, even within our families and marriages. Our culture tells us that we each deserve luxury as if it is “owed” to us somehow. Few of our grandparents could imagine that kind of thinking and certainly not our great grandparents.

There is also an expectation of instant gratification. If we don’t have it (whatever that latest “thing” is), then we’re told we should just get it and worry about paying for it later. This is the thinking that gets people into the bondage of indebtedness and sometimes addiction, too. Delayed gratification is something that most Americans don’t understand or practice. Try buying a pack of M&M’s or peanuts and eating them over the course of days instead of minutes. Can you? Can you eat just one M&M or peanut every couple of hours or must you shove the whole pack into your hand and consume them in one or two mouths full? Learning to relish something small is a good skill. It goes against the lies that commercials tells us– “consume, buy, consume, and do it right now; you need this to be happy”. However, finding pleasure in small things will be quite useful when TEOTWAWKI occurs and we have very little.

Consumer over-spending and indebtedness as well as the devaluation of a home-maker and expectation of instant gratification are merely a few examples among many shifts in our culture’s thinking that draw us away from the One who we need to lead us through whatever the future holds. We are bombarded in our culture with messages that tell us we need things and that we should be the one telling everyone else what to do. We are told that serving others is demeaning and that there is no honor in serving others or following someone, yet that is a complete and total lie.

Building a House on Solid Ground

So, think about your reaction to what I wrote above. Wives, how did you react to the idea of serving your husband as a wife who devotes herself to providing her husband with a home that is comfortable, safe, and gives him honor? Husbands, how did you feel about providing for, being patient with, and cherishing your wife? She is more valuable than rubies (Proverbs 31) and a gift from God. (Treat her tenderly and as a precious treasure.) How do you feel about caring for the poor, the sick or elderly, and the dirty travelers (like the homeless)? Are you okay with delayed gratification?

It’s not easy and most will not follow God’s way in this; Jesus told us that the way was narrow. The Bible clearly tells us to care for the widows and the orphans, especially those in our own families and the believers in our own communities. Jesus told us so. In Matthew 7:12-14, Jesus said:

“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets. Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”

Did you get that? There will be relatively few, according to Jesus, who find the narrow way that leads unto life! That means it is not what the crowd is doing. It’s not the way of the culture at large, especially when the culture is not following the law, the prophets, or our Savior– Jesus.

In Matthew 7:21-27, Jesus said:

“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.”

Regardless of our resolutions and intent, what matters is our actions. When the figurative or real floods come, will we have built our house on a solid foundation that withstands these floods? Are you a man and woman who follows God and builds your family and your life upon God’s word and His ways rather than upon our culture? When the physical floods come, will we go the way of the hordes and rely on convenience and government, or will we work hard and prepare as the ants do for the winter and as Joseph did in preparation for a coming famine? Are we spiritually and physically fit, working hard to have what is needed for our household and also to have some to share with those in need who God puts in our path to help?

Who Do You Follow? (Facebook Follow, Celebrity Follow, Friend Follow, Trend Follow, or Jesus Follow)

Another way to put this is to ask yourself who you follow. Do you spend much of your time and thought “following” people and organizations on Facebook and Twitter? Do you follow a celebrity, someone at work or in your career who excels in some way, or someone who catches your eye (but may not be worthy of your heart, mind, and soul), or someone who has your heart above all others?

If you profess to be a follower of Jesus, are you really His follower? If so, then you know how He lived, understand His teachings from the perspective of His culture and time, and you are modeling your life and actions based upon this. In evaluating your knowledge of the One you’re following, I’ll list just some of the questions you might ask yourself. How did Jesus respect His Father, worship His Father, treat his friends and family, serve others, and view material things? What holy days did Jesus keep and how? Did Jesus prepare for the future and teach His followers to do the same? How did Jesus use money? What did He teach about worry? Did He always engage in conflict or were there times He avoided communities where there would be confrontation? Did He spend time in prayer to His Father? How did Jesus pray? Was Jesus a weakling or did He have the strength to endure horrific beatings and still carry His cross toward the place of His crucifixion? What did Jesus eat and wear? How did Jesus treat women, the elderly, children, the sick, the tax collector, and the prideful religious men? How did He respond to the merchants conducting business in the court of the Gentiles– a place that was supposed to be reserved for worship? When He healed someone, what did He often tell them about their sin? These are just some of the things you might ought to know about the God you profess to follow.

After Jesus healed people, He sometimes challenged them to “go and sin no more”. I believe He was asking them to turn away from their sinful “norm” and to make a commitment, a resolution if you will, to pursue righteousness. They had met Perfection, and He had healed them. After meeting Him, they had a choice to go back to doing things the way they had wanted to and how they’d been living before, or they could follow what His Father instructed in the Scripture and to be blessed by living like Jesus modeled for them.

Jesus was a miraculous cure in the land of Israel during His time on Earth. He wiped out disease, it seems. He healed leprosy, gave sight to the blind, stopped the bleeding of those with chronic hemorrhaging, stopped seizures and fevers, and He even brought the dead back to life. He had power over demons and controlled the storm winds and the water. He could turn water into wine and multiply food. In a catastrophic crisis, wouldn’t you like to have a leader with those kinds of powers?

Odds ‘n Sods:

Over at Zero Hedge: Americans Couldn’t Wait To Ditch These 10 States In 2016. (None, of course, were in The American Redoubt.)

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My thanks to everyone who has made Ten Cent Challenge subscription donations for 2017. Please note that the PayPal address to use is: james@rawles.to

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I noticed that the InfoGalactic free online encyclopedia has moved to a much faster server, making it much easier to use. – JWR

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Eight vegetables you can buy once and then grow forever – G.P.

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Staying Off Grid When “Nearly Everything Is Chipped, Almost Everything Is Tracked” – B.B.

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy it? And looking round about upon them all, he said unto the man, Stretch forth thy hand. And he did so: and his hand was restored whole as the other. And they were filled with madness; and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus.” – Luke 9:6-11 (KJV)

Notes for Saturday – January 07, 2017

This is the birthday of several notables: Senator Rand Paul (born 1963); Cresson Kearny (born 1914, died December 18, 2003); and Bent Faurschou-Hviid, known as The Flame (born 1921, died October 18, 1944). The Flame was a red-haired Danish resistance fighter in the Holger Danske Group during World War II. His exploits were dramatized in the movie Flame and Citron.

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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 Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. A custom made Sage Grouse model utility/field knife from custom knife-maker Jon Kelly Designs, of Eureka, Montana,
  4. 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,
  5. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail 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.

The Common Discussion, by R.K.

The conversation begins in a variety of ways but usually goes something like this:

Bob: why do you need a fancy gun that shoots so many bullets….?

Me: Do you need to drive a car that produces more than 120 horse power? That’s more than enough power to move you from point A to point B in a timely, economical, environmentally responsible, and safe matter. Therefore, should we not outlaw all cars that produce more than 120 HP? All you need is 120 HP. Think of all the things in your life that you don’t actually need.

When we open the discussion of need vs. want, it questions one of the basic foundations of our country. We are free to choose what we want. Who is a government or another person to tell us what we can and can’t have? That is God’s job, and He gave us unalienable rights already. As long as we’re not infringing on anyone else’s rights, we are free to make our own choices.

Bob: Well, so many people are dying from guns in the United States, and I have numbers to prove it…

Me: I don’t agree with that, but I’ve read through endless amounts of statistics and recognize there are numbers that support both sides. I’ve also taken enough statistic courses to realize you can use numbers to tell any story you’d like. If you want to get into an exchange about statistics, we’ll be here a very long time countering each other. If you are genuinely concerned with saving lives, let’s talk about a less subjective argument about the top killer in the U.S. and how we can help that situation right now. I lost both of my parents to heart disease, and I will do whatever I can to help eliminate it. More than six times as many people die each year from heart disease in the U.S. than from firearm-related incidents. Usually around 600,000 people die from heart disease in the U.S. each year. Almost half of all deaths in the U.S. each year are from heart disease and cancer. Let’s tackle the biggest problem first and pass laws to get heart disease out of the way. Then we can talk about more debatable issues, like gun control. What are the leading causes of heart disease? Poor diet, smoking, obesity, and lack of activity. So instead of passing laws against guns, would it not make sense to first pass laws to require everyone to exercise at least one hour each day? What about outlawing smoking? Also, would it not make sense to pass laws limiting people to consume only their basic caloric requirements each day and penalize people who consume more than their government allotted amount? Do you see how slippery of a slope this is? Sound crazy? Well, former NY Mayor Bloomberg already tried to ban jumbo-sized sugary drinks. Luckily, his proposal was struck down in court, but it still demonstrates how so many politicians want to dictate every part of what you may and may not do, drink, own, et cetera. Besides, it’s difficult to compare our country with many other places, since we have such a unique set of circumstances here, one of which being the right to keep and bear arms. Ironically, the few countries besides ours with similar gun laws have astonishingly low crime rates.

Bob: I still don’t understand why you need such a big clip to hunt…

Me: The Second Amendment has nothing to do with hunting. Hunting was a necessary part of life at that time. The Second Amendment is all about protection. Of course it would be difficult for ordinary citizens to defeat an organized military, but the point is God gave us the right to protect ourselves and our families any way we see fit, as long as our efforts don’t infringe on anyone else’s rights. Our founding fathers formed the United States to get away from massive government interventions, so why do you want to go back to a system where government manages every aspect of your life? If a person feels more secure owning a firearm that holds a magazine full of 50 rounds of whatever caliber, then he or she should be able to own it. Also, I don’t want to subcontract out my family’s safety to the government. Many of our politicians enjoy armed guards protecting them and their families around the clock at our expense. Most people can’t afford that type of protection and certainly can’t charge taxpayers for the associated costs. At one time I said I was only asking to have the ability to protect my family, but now I realize no politician has the right to take away my God-given right to protect my family using any firearm I choose. I no longer ask for the government to recognize the rights entitled to me by our Creator, and you should not either.

Bob: So let’s all go out and buy nuclear weapons then…

Me: No. You cannot select individual targets with a nuclear weapon, so let’s be realistic. However, the public should be able to own fully automatic weapons without a costly tax stamp.

Bob: The Second Amendment was for muskets…

Me: Actually there are records of ship owners writing to our forefathers and asking if the Amendment included cannons to protect their fleets. The answer of course was, “Yes!” Those cannons and muskets were the best weapons of the day. The public should be able to own the best weapons of our day, too.

Bob: Are you not worried some nut-job will get his hands on a fully automatic weapon?

Me: I totally understand your concern, but one unfortunate byproduct of a constitutional republic is that some people will make poor choices with their freedoms. That is where laws come into play. We punish people who infringe on the rights of others. For example, some people choose to consume too much alcohol and drive a vehicle. Others choose to purchase powerful cars and drive too fast. The truth is, some people will abuse freedom, but law-abiding citizens should not be punished because of the very small percentage of people who choose to violate the rights of others. Of course, simply saying that some people will abuse freedom does not make the victims of crime feel any better, but it is the truth. No one likes to see people injured or killed by firearms, but there are many countries that outlawed any type of firearm ownership but still have a much higher murder rate than we do.

Bob: I understand what you’re saying, but gun-free zones are still a great idea to keep innocent people safe…

Me: These places have not done anything but attract attackers who know they will not encounter resistance with a firearm. These “zones” make an easily accessible and target-rich area for individuals looking to take out as many people as they can for whatever reason.

Bob: Can’t you just run, hide, fight, or protect yourself with a knife?

Me: Again, it’s about choice. I’ll let you be the one to run, hide, or protect yourself with a stick if you’d like, but I choose to have a force-multiplier such as a firearm. Our country is not based on running away. One of our ideals is to stand and fight for what is right without backing down, although that principle seems to have faded in the last few years.

Bob: Just let the police protect you…

Me: You need to study history. I’m not subbing out my family’s protection to anyone. Also, one of the first things governments who wanted to control their citizens have always done is disarm them. Again, I realize beating an organized military is nearly impossible, but one of the ideas behind the Second Amendment is for the people to at least have the choice and ability to fight back against a tyrannical government and have the choice to be able to protect themselves and their property. Besides, the average police response time is 11 minutes, which is far too long to hide from a weapon-wielding lunatic.

Bob: I still don’t agree with you. We need more gun laws…

Me: The truth is that more gun laws would not have prevented any of the mass casualty events involving firearms in this country. The highest gun-crime areas in the United States are the ones with the strictest gun control laws in the country, where current gun laws aren’t even effectively enforced. Do your own research, find information not tainted by the mainstream media, and you’ll find taking away weapons from citizens is the first way to control a population. From ancient China and Japan to modern day Australia, you’ll find problems occurred after confiscation. I realize politicians say they want to copy Australia, but again do your own research. I even found a video of a recent incident where a man of middle-eastern descent went on a stabbing spree in Australia. Everyone needed to run away including the police when they arrived on scene. Look at crime in Venezuela, the perfect model for us to copy according to some politicians. The information is out there, even though at one time it was easily hidden from us before social media.

Bob: To tell you the truth, I’m almost embarrassed to admit I sometimes feel ashamed to live in a gun culture.

Me: Do not be ashamed of your heritage, in spite of attempts by opponents of our Second Amendment trying to disgrace people for being independent and taking responsibility for the protection of themselves and their families. It’s a common tactic used to convince people of a certain point of view. Most people in our society would benefit from becoming more self-sufficient by trying to raise, grow, or kill at least some of their our own food. In my area, hunting is becoming a shameful act, but yet the same people who demean hunters, purchase dead animals from the store that were basically tortured for human consumption. We are a gun culture and for good reason, if you look at our history even beyond hunting. You are not a “gun nut” or “gun crazy,” nor do you wear a tin foil hat if you believe in God and our Constitution. Too many people don’t understand how our country was founded and what’s happening to our rights. Hopefully they’ll wake up soon.

Bob: I have, um, a friend who wants to buy one of those ARs. Where can I get one, I mean, where can I tell him to buy one and get training to use it?

Letter Re: The $1,000 Kennedy Half Dollar Roll Search

James and Hugh,

I stopped searching about eight years ago; I found that I used 1000 bucks eleven times. I found zero silver coins. (I’m not saying it’s all gone, just that I had bad luck.) My luck was bad enough that I decided that the only thing I was finding was a lower gas gauge on my little car while driving from my pickup bank to my dump bank. I did manage to get part of a walking liberty half book filled the year before. I’m just saying that the guys doing coin roll hunting for halves have a high probability of finding marked coins from other people’s dumps and not much more this late in the game. Everyone knows about halves now. Back nine years ago, I could and did walk into banks asking for rolled halves and walked out with complete rolls of 1964 halves for $10. Dumping the coins annoyed the tellers at my dump bank. The nicer tellers would be happy about the doughnuts but not happy about having to change the bag every time I came to visit.

At some point I decided it wasn’t cost effective to go coin roll hunting for halves. It’s just cheaper to go metal detect (if you have the time) or just go buy junk silver at the local coin/jewelry shop. I can go there any day I don’t find a silver dime and buy them for around $1.30 a silver dime. Guess what; I didn’t even have to break a sweat or get dirty looking for them. There’s no poison ivy roots either or ticks. Though I do enjoy hunting for old coins in the ground, and you never know what you’ll find. – Fitzy in Pa

Economics and Investing:

Record 95,102,000 Americans Not in Labor Force; Number Grew 18% Since Obama Took Office in 2009 – G.G.

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The False Economic Recovery Narrative Will Die In 2017 – B.B.

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Video: Gold “Gold is now in the advancing phase of a new intermediate cycle. Bearish sentiment at the recent bottom was among the most extreme readings we have seen in the past 40 years. This should be the fuel to drive a really big rally”.

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Yuan Intervention Poised to Fail: All Not Well in Middle Kingdom

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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:

Please ask eBay to ban this seller of counterfeit knives. They have been selling fake Rawles XL Voyagers for weeks, under the Seller ID “lms536”. And also this seller: “hzfa0662”. Thanks! – JWR

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I spotted this unusual new listing over at our SurvivalRealty spin-off site: Redoubt-Ready Complete Container Homes. – JWR

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Hack Attack on Drudge Report a Sign of Chaos to Come

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Police union: Baltimore at ‘tipping point’ because of too few cops on streets

Dallas and other major cities are having the same issue. Additionally several states are experiencing major cuts in budget for patrolling. – G.P.

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Attribution + Russia = Misdirection – P.M.

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad a bondman to my lord; and let the lad go up with his brethren. For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me? lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father.” – Genesis 44:33-34 (KJV)

Notes for Friday – January 06, 2017

Today is the birthday of musician Earl Scruggs, (1924-2012) and British comic actor Rowan Atkinson (born 1955).

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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 Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. A custom made Sage Grouse model utility/field knife from custom knife-maker Jon Kelly Designs, of Eureka, Montana,
  4. 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,
  5. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail 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.

Prep Your Ride- Part 3, by J.U.

Situation: “Normal,” Everyday, Routine, and Your Vehicular Operations

What is “normal,” everyday, or routine? Most people in America assume that these words mean orderly peacefulness, a lack of chaos and violence, and a Merry Christmas to all. They think that way because for so long that was “normal” in this country. Anyone who watches the news at all knows that these are things that can no longer be taken for granted; those sentiments do not represent the “realities on the ground” in our current state of affairs.

Post “event,” what will become the new “normal” will likely be far different than what was “normal” five minutes before. You have to adapt quickly to the new reality or face some pretty serious consequences.

Whether or not you subscribe to the belief that we are in a period of “gray slide” towards bad times, you will benefit from increasing your awareness of the situation around you. Situational Awareness can be divided into three macro-levels– strategic, operational, tactical.

From the standpoint of your vehicular operations, the strategic level involves awareness of the larger situation. What are present conditions like nationally and regionally? Does the current state of affairs fit into a pattern, and if so what’s the trend towards?

Operational awareness would involve perceiving present conditions in a region to the local level. Are there riots in your city? If so, which roads are open for you to drive on? Has there been a natural disaster? If so, which streets aren’t flooded?

Tactical awareness concerns what is happening immediately around you in your vehicle. What is the white car that is speeding and driving aggressively through heavy traffic likely to do next? If you start taking rounds from that group of protesters, how should you orient your car to maximize cover (put that engine block between you and the baddies). What is your best option to avoid a problem?

The information you gather and mentally file into one of these three categories is fairly useless, unless you put that information to effective use. What is effective use? Humans make decisions and act upon them in a format that has become known as the OODA loop. OODA is a military acronym created for fighter pilots to learn how to “break into” their opponent’s decisions making/action cycle and shoot him down by thinking/acting faster than their foe.

There are four steps to OODA– Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act. For you to take any action, you must first observe something and take note of it before you perceive the need to act at all. The “orient” stage consists largely of analysis of what has been observed. It is in this stage that many untrained people experience OODA failure. They know what they’ve observed and what’s happening around them, but they get hung up on what was or the “way things should be” instead of proceeding to decide and act on the way things actually are.

Orient flows more easily into decision and action for those who are trained and have prepared. Indeed, for the properly trained, there should be very little or any gap between decision and action. Once the decision has been made, it should immediately be put into effect. Could it change? Sure, that’s why OODA is a loop. Feedback received at any stage triggers another OODA cycle.

So, how is this relevant to you and your vehicle? It’s actually relevant to everything, as the OODA loop should be running non-stop in your life. OODA is not something to pull out of your hat when things get bad; it should be working for you every day.

For example, you’ve observed that things don’t quite seem to be living up to the “Hope and Change” mantra everyone was into just a few years ago. The analysis of your orientation leads you to conclude you might want to start living a more aware life. You make a decision to do so and act on that by seeking alternate routes to and from work. That was easy and builds your confidence, so you buy a local roadmap and mark out multiple color-coded routes from your house to places you frequent. You include on your map good rally points that are easily secured along such routes of march. You create “phase lines” on the map at prominent intersections or landmarks for quick reference. You purchase another map and mark it identically to ensure each vehicle has the same map. You equip each vehicle with a CB radio and practice efficient, clear communication of vital information over the airwaves with your team (family).

With all the positive feedback from your OODA loop, you began to practice “crossdecking”– moving essential gear and personnel (and in the case of your family, they’re all essential) between vehicles, in case one is damaged or disabled. You begin to PT regularly in case you have to get out and move on foot. Your OODA loop needs to always be engaged and switched on.

Let’s say you don’t go to the “extremes” I’ve just mentioned, but you do decide to go gain a little local road knowledge. You can do that every day with minimal intrusion into your current daily lifestyle. Why could it matter? GPS may not always be working, and if you have a flat or break down, 911 or AAA is going to need to know where you’re at before they can send someone to aid you. For you to tell them, you need to know where you are. If you are calling someone you know to get help, the first piece of information you need to give them is where you are at. That way, they have a starting point for getting to you, if your phone suddenly cuts out.

Tactics and Your Ride: A Few Brief Thoughts

When you get into a vehicle, lock the door. Doors have locks for a reason. I’ve worked carjackings where the victims decided not to lock the doors, even at the perceived approach of danger, for fear of being thought of as “paranoid” or “racist”.

When you are in the “parking lot of life”, the rules are universal. Keep your head on swivel and be willing to leave that cart if it’s time to leave. You can always get more groceries. Practice getting in and out of the car, getting over the seats from inside the vehicle. Be able to access the appropriate “tool” effectively and quickly. Keep magazines for “vehicle carry tools” physically attached to holsters or to the firearm itself, if it’s a long gun. This way, you can grab and bail out without needing to dig through the trunk. A “vehicle gun” is just that. Your carry gun needs to be on your person and easily accessible.

Always be able to see where the tires of the vehicle in front of you touch the pavement over your hood. If you can’t, you’re too close and can’t quickly turn out from behind that vehicle in a single fluid movement.

Remember, your vehicle is a several thousand pound weapon, if need be. The vehicular answer to being in lots of bad scenarios is found in the gas pedal. Don’t drive through trouble if you can drive around it.

Vehicles are frequently a target for rioters during civil disturbances. Damage may range from broken windows and “light” vandalism to vehicles being overturned and set alight. If you think bugging out may be necessary at some point, you’ll get much farther with more equipment if you can access a working vehicle. The best vehicle to access is your own because, in addition to the issue of morality, attempting to jack someone else’s ride post-event is a good way to end up shot.

Hopefully, you don’t drive a vehicle that is easily mistaken for a law enforcement car. This is an important consideration. While in good light and to a sober thinking citizen your car may look nothing like a police car, remember that most riots take place at night and involve people who are not thinking clearly or acting rationally. Regardless of the type of car you drive, try to avoid parking it on the street, where a riotous crowd would have to flow around it and could easily decide to destroy it as a way to commemorate their team’s latest basketball championship. Kept it in a locked garage is best, as it is out of view and out of reach unless the mob decides to detour onto your property and smash doors in. Then it’s time for something else altogether.

Vehicles and their operation are a cornerstone of our daily lives. Understanding and being confident in their uses and limitations is a key element of preparedness in the modern world.

Letter Re: EPA to Sub-Freezing Alaska

JWR and HJL,

Sadly, we are about to experience the same bureaucratic wisdom here in NY’s North Country and Adirondacks. Recently a well known engineering school had a student research panel present similar concerns in a public forum. I’m not quite sure how I’ve lived as long (or as warmly!) without their expertise. The old adage of “…wood heats four times” is still true. – RJH