Preparedness Notes for Monday — September 28, 2020

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Flash Traffic: Azerbaijan announces military mobilization, declares state of war.  Not to make light of this grave situation, but when I was attending the Military Intelligence school (MIOBC) at Fort Huachuca, we used to make jokes about Armenia and its army.  One of our favorites:  “What is the Armenian national anthem?”  Cher sings it. (And then we’d all sing the chorus.) Here is some news footage.

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Here is a new listing over  SurvivalRealty: Off-Grid Country Home Bordering State Land in Northern Arizona.

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We have resumed taking orders for Elk Creek Company. My #1 Daughter is already busy padding and packing orders, as they come in. But be advised that we won’t begin shipping out most of the orders until Monday, October 5th. (We live at a remote ranch, and don’t get into town often.)

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Today, another product review from our tireless Field Gear Editor, Pat Cascio. (Pictured.) He lives in southwestern Oregon.

 

 


15 Comments

  2. Some factoids about the maybe war between the countries of Armenia and Azerbaijan.

    1. “Deadly clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan are unlikely to result in major disruptions to energy production and supplies, analysts say, despite the region being a critical corridor for pipelines transporting oil and gas to the global markets.”

    “There is not really much anticipation that this will boil over into something more serious for oil and commodity markets,” Edward Bell, a senior director at Dubai-based Emirates NBD bank, told CNBC.” [CNBC 9/28/2020]

    2. The main religion in Azerbaijan is Islam, though Azerbaijan is the most secular country in the Muslim world. Estimates include 96.9% (CIA, 2010) and 99.2% (Pew Research Center, 2006) of the population identifying as Muslim. [Wikipedia]

    3. As of 2011, most Armenians are Christians (97%) and are members of Armenia’s own church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, which is one of the oldest Christian churches. [Wikipedia]
    ***
    ***
    Quotes from the USA and our problematic conflicts =

    Here in the USA, the late Rodney King plaintively asked on May 1, 1992, “People, I just want to say, can’t we all get along? Can’t we all get along?” [Internet]

    “Each of you begins your career in the Army at a crucial moment in American history. We are restoring the fundamental principles that the job of the American soldier is not to rebuild foreign nations, but defend — and defend strongly –our nation from foreign enemies.
    We are ending the era of endless wars. In its place is a renewed, clear-eyed focus on defending America’s vital interests. It is not the duty of U.S. troops to solve ancient conflicts in faraway lands that many people have never even heard of. We are not the policemen of the world.”
    [The Orange Man at West Point Military Academy on June 13, 2020. From Whitehouse(dot) gov]

  4. To follow up on GGHD comment:

    1) Three words: “Transcaspian Gas Pipeline”
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Caspian_Gas_Pipeline

    2) Two words: “Great Game”

    https://dailytimes.com.pk/79148/the-new-great-game-the-caspian-sea/

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/arielcohen/2018/08/09/exxon-and-chevron-hope-to-cash-in-after-new-caspian-summit/#671145403119

    3) Two more words: “Nord Stream”
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nord_Stream

    And you guys were wondering why our Democrat schools don’t teach geography to our kids.

    Looks like it’s time to go and “Spread Some Democracy”

    PS Note that Chevron’s headquarters is in good San Francisco, not in evil Texas.
    Practically neighbors with Pelosi.

    How are those Ukrainian oligarchs doing, by the way?

    https://www.rand.org/pubs/issue_papers/IP198.html

  6. As an Armenian reader of SB, I am taken aback by the flippant attitude towards the war on Christianity. All military jokes aside about the Armenian military, this is a very serious situation.

    I doubt that this new set of aggression is not about oil or a pipeline, but the Azeri’s, who are ethnic Turks (Muslims), want to finish what the “young turks” started back on April 24th 1915… The first genocide of the 20th century…

    If you want to read up on it from an American point of view, read:
    – Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story, by Henry Morgenthau
    — (US Ambassador to Ottoman Empire)
    – Hadjin and The Armenian Massacres, by Rose Lambert
    — (American missionary in the town of Hadjin (my family roots) Armenia)

    Today, Christians are being killed or driven out of their homes in many countries, just search any web browser, specially in Ethiopia.

    Look all the all out war on Christianity in the good old U.S. of A. If we as Christians in the USA do not defend Christianity and the Constitution, what you see in other parts of the world will be coming to a neighborhood near you.

    If Armenia, the land of Noah’s Ark, should fall, God forbid, what do you think is going to happen to other Christian nations?

    =====00000=====00000=====00000=====

    Armenia was the first nation in the world to accept Christianity as a nation.
    Tiridates III, also known as Tiridates the Great, in 301, Tiridates proclaimed Christianity as the state religion of Armenia, making the Armenian kingdom the first state to embrace Christianity officially with the help of St. Gregory the Illuminator.
    (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiridates_III_of_Armenia)

    We have been survivors for over 5,500 years and will continue to survive another 5,500 years. Surviving and being prepared is in our DNA.

    1. Strange. Here I thought it was peace-loving Armenia –allied with Russia — who used military force to seize part of Azerbaijan. The part known as Artsakh.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Artsakh#Current_situation

      Artsakh is not recognized by the USA nor by the international community.

      Our ally Turkey supports Azerbaijan and Azerbaijan is the narrow corridor between Russia and Iran through which US Big Oil is trying to transport Caspian Sea oil –and ultimately natural gas from huge deposits in Turkmenistan.

      So I doubt Washington will support Azerbaijan being carved up into fragments. Or pushing Azerbaijan into the arms of the Russians.

    2. I, too, was taken aback because this is not typical of JWR. I just completed Eric Bogosian’s book, “Project Nemesis.” I grew up with several Armenian families in our school. The Young Turks were more ruthless and more thorough than the Nazis in their genocide.

      1. I actually have a strong bias toward Armenia, given the history of the Armenian genocide. (See page 128 of my new book.) Sorry if that joke was in bad taste.

        1. The Armenian genocide was 100 years ago– does not mean the present day Armenians are moral demigods. They are allied with Russia and Iran — for understandable geopolitical reasons. Circa 1975-83 they were waging a terrorist war against Turkey — as noted by the CIA:

          https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP85T00283R000400030009-2.pdf (See Key Judgments)

          I am indifferent toward both Azerbaijan and Armenia –other than asking what are the US interests. I also think that people who are given the gift of US citizenship should have loyalty to the American People — not to the people and country they left behind.

          https://cis.mit.edu/sites/default/files/documents/DividedTheyConquer.pdf

          In that regard I oppose the intense lobbying of the Armenian Americans in Congress — just as I oppose similar lobbying by Poles for use of the US military to advance Poland’s interests and Britain’s 100 year tradition of dragging us into her wars and then offering to hold our jackets while the US Army does the heavy lifting.

          America First.

        2. Mister ,Rawles,

          Jokes in bad taste are very welcome!
          I honestly truly believe a sense of humor is required prior to acquiring any other ‘tangible’ asset!

          I grew-up on a farm surrounded by grandparents and aunts and uncles and older cousins returned from wars.
          Not a one wore skin so thin, we couldn’t get a chuckle out of just about anything.

          Working with pilots and medical professionals and soldiers and LawEnforcementOfficials, graveyard humor and corpse jokes help ‘ground’ us in facing our short existence here on the physical plane.

          The brit singer/songwriter Sting realizes this after the transitions of his parents:
          * “How fragile we are!”

          Kidding around, poking fun.
          Maybe this’s my Irish attitude.
          Of course, you need to kiss a lot of bad jokes to find your balance… so keep joking.
          We need more jokers!

        3. MR. Rawles… Thank you. After rereading the original post a few more times several days later… Normally I would have picked up on the humor. The timing… raw nerves… who knows… Hearing from Edrogan, Turkey’s leader, that they want to finish what their forfathers started… The eradication of the Armenian race…

          I sincerely want to thank you for the apology, it is greatly appreciated. I should have read your book already, but will be purchasing it soon. Thank you for your bias towards Armenia. Your support is a breath of fresh air in skies filled with hate.

          May God continue to bless you, your family and all the readers of this blog.

          Shnorhagal Em (I am thankful, in Armenian)

  7. The photo pulls on my heart strings. So onto another topic.

    Secure Radio Communications using a directional antenna.

    Although there are probably few who are interested in further developing their commo plan, I’ll chuck this out there as it might be helpful to one person. If you need help with any of this, please let me know. By enabling another person, I am fighting the enemy.

    Here is a home made yagi antenna for MURS that is available on Amazon. I checked the build quality, and design from photos posted on Ebay. It is over all an excellent build and based upon the same yagi design I believe is optimal for the average prepper. It is broad banded as a 3 element yagi gets, and has a high front to back ratio that limits radiation in the rear of the antenna. making it more difficult to direction find your signal. And it blocks unwanted signals from the rear. It is also a proven and popular design for direction finding used by Ham clubs for ‘fox hunting’ a signal. Being able to determine the general direction of a signal is a very important ability, as one can get an idea of where the threat may be. It will be useful for most of the VHF band for this purpose. But most important, is that it will boost the signal strength, and improve range. Having built these myself, I can make an educated guess that it is tuned for 151 to 155 Mhz, or should be. In this range are most of the Business Band Frequencies that one can also exploit. Mount the antenna horizontally and the signal becomes very difficult for other antennas to receive. If we can limit who can hear us, the better off we will be.

    The ERP (effective radiated power) should be close to 11 watts, or more when transmitting with 4 watts. Because the signal strength is increased we can power down to the lowest setting and transmit on only 1 watt and still have reliable communitions. 1 watt through this antenna should be about 3 watts out. To use, simply attach an UHF (SO 239) to SMA Female adapter for the Boafeng UV5R, and a cable with PL259 connectors on each end. I’ll include these is the parts list. It is always a good idea to check the SWR of any antenna if you have a meter. If not, get one. An SWR meter an essential tool for the commo guy (Military MOS, RTO, Radio Telephony Operator).

    Parts List:

    MURS Yagi $63.00 https://www.amazon.com/Elements-YAGI-Antenna-MURS-Band/dp/B08D89315T/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=yagi+murs&qid=1601313242&sr=8-5

    18′ RG58 cable. https://www.amazon.com/RG-58A-Coaxial-Cable-Pl-259-Connectors/dp/B001JT0CGI/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=rg58+coax+cable+18&qid=1601314492&sr=8-3

    UHF to SMA Female adapter for the Boafeng UV5R
    https://www.amazon.com/DHT-Electronics-coaxial-adapter-female/dp/B00CVQP7CW/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=sma+female+to+uhf+adapter&qid=1601314629&sr=8-3

    VSWR Meter https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01D86IKIQ/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_6?smid=A263LSCPZJCHO0&psc=1

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