Over the past year I’ve written a series of articles highlighting the risks of terror attacks across the country. I even went as far as predicting a mass casualty attack before the election. It seems I missed the date by a couple of months.
Someone I trust with this sort of thing recently said we should expect a major increase of this kind of terror attack come January and it seems he’s right. Why you might ask. Well according to that person, it is going to be the new resistance movement. While I’m not in complete agreement with that conclusion, it cannot be ignored. The simple fact that there have been millions of unvetted illegals coming across the border in the past four years is reason enough.
So, with that in mind, what does staying frosty look like? Simple, it looks like you’re aware of your surroundings and prepared for whatever might come your way.
To find out if you’re ready, you need to ask yourself the following questions:
DO you have a quality EDC kit?
Have you been training like I keep telling you to?
Is your EDC pistol reliable?
Do you have a trauma kit in your vehicle?
Do you carry a tourniquet with you?
Do you know how to use the medical equipment you have?
Are you aware of your surroundings?
Have you developed an OODA loop?*
*I covered the OODA (observe, orient, decide, act) loop in this post.
There are other questions you need to ask yourself, but these are enough to start with.
I said those were enough to start with, but I left out the most important one: How far are you willing to go to protect yourself, your family and others. I know the answer to that question for me, but mine is not likely to be the same as yours.
So, friends keep your heads on a swivel and as our good friend Winnie the Pooh says, Stay strapped or get clapped.
This editor has said publicly that there is some sort of major upheaval coming. I don’t know what or when, but it’s coming. You need to be prepared for it. But what does being prepared look like? We’ll take a look at the answer(s) to that question in this article.
Depending on the scenario, and there is an upcoming article on that, your preps can and will vary. We’re going to take a look at the basics today. I have already covered the guns you should have here.
Shelter
If we look at the rule of threes, shelter is near the top of the list of things you need. In extreme conditions, you can die after as little as three hours of exposure. Shelter doesn’t always mean a roof over your head. It can mean a fire or shade from the sun. Depending on your SHTF plan, you may need to think about temporary shelter. If you plan on ‘bugging in’ it’s less of a concern, but if you’re bugging out, you need to have some sort of tent or tarp just in case.
As I said above, fire, or another source of heat, is considered shelter in a SHTF situation. If you’re staying put, make sure you have a way to heat your home and an ample supply of fuel for that heat source. I’d recommend some sort of wood stove for that. You can both heat your place and cook on it.
For those who are bugging out, there are several small, packable wood burning stoves like the one below from kampMate. That one folds flat and weighs 1.1lbs. I’d choose that, and the extra weight, over a butane camping stove just because wood is almost everywhere. In a SHTF scenario, you’re not going to be able to run down to the local Walmart to pick up some fuel canisters.
Foldable wood stove from KampMate $29.99 at their site
Water
Water is the elixir of life. Our bodies are composed of between 60 and 70% of the stuff. A typical person needs about 3 liters of water a day to survive. While 2/3 of the earth’s surface is covered by it, unfortunately, nearly all of the surface water is unfit to drink. So, in a situation where potable water is unavailable, we need a way to make it clean enough to drink and cook with. There are many options available to purify water, from small, handheld camping/hiking purifiers to large countertop units like those from Berkey.
Big Berkey, $367 at BerkeyMSR Guardian $390 at REI
Note I said purify and not filter. Filters do not remove all the contaminants from water, and even one giardia spore or plasmoid is enough to get you extremely sick. Giardia, or ‘beaver fever’ is no joke, and the treatment sucks. Ask me how I know. . .
Your specific choice in water purifier is dependent on your plan. Be sure you have enough spare filters whatever you do. They are a consumable item and need regular replacement.
You can also boil the water to destroy any biological contaminants. Boiling, however, does not remove heavy metals and other inorganic materials. If you go the boiling route, be sure to filter the water. You can make a filter from commonly found items that will remove any particulate matter and reduce the amount of inorganic dissolved solids from your water.
Food
There are a lot of options when it comes to SHTF foods. Dry foods, canned foods, freeze dried meals and MREs are all good options.
When I say ‘dry foods’, I mean stuff like rice, dried beans, pasta and the like. As long as you keep them in a rodent-proof container, these items will keep almost indefinitely. When stored in proper containers, rice and beans take up little space for the amount of food they provide. A diet of beans and rice will keep you going for a long time, even if you’ll be craving something different after a while.
Canned foods can provide a variety during SHTF, but have their drawbacks. They take up a lot of space and have a limited shelf life. If you do go this route, be sure to keep the cans stored in a cool dry place and use the oldest stuff first. There are designs out there for can storage racks that ensure the oldest gets used first.
I’m going to lump freeze-dried and MREs together. They both have similar characteristics, both have long shelf lives and both are on the costlier side for survival foods. Companies like My Patriot Supply, Ready Wise and Mountain House all offer survival food kits that consist of freeze-dried foods packaged in a plastic pail. While you can occasionally find a deal, a two week kit from My Patriot Supply is listing for $127 plus shipping at their site. Keep in mind, these types of food are freeze dried and require a goodly amount of water for preparation.
While it is technically illegal to sell actual military MREs, they are available on the civilian market alongside many civilian versions. Ameriqual, SoPakCo and Wornick, the three manufacturers of DOD MREs, all offer, indirectly, the same products they sell to the government to civilians. If you go this route, make damned sure you store them properly. While the listed shelf life for all of the MilSpec MREs is 7 years, that is under ideal conditions. An MRE stored at temps above 85 degrees goes bad in as little as 6 months.
Take the time now to learn how and what to forage in your area. Here on the East Coast, there is a surprising abundance of edible foods just there for the taking if you know what you’re looking for. Cattails, for instance, can provide you with something to eat all year round. I will caution you against foraging for mushrooms though. If you do not know exactly what mushrooms are good to eat and which will put you to sleep permanently, don’t waste the time and effort.
R, the yummy chanterelle, L, the deadly Jack O’ Lantern
While we’re talking about food, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention salt. Put up a goodly amount of the stuff, preferably iodized, in an air and water tight container. Salt has a lot of uses besides seasoning your food, although that’s a good enough reason for me.
I would also recommend you have some honey on hand. It’s an excellent sweetener and will keep almost indefinitely if stored properly. It also has anti-microbial properties and can be used to treat wounds.
Medical
With medical care not being readily available, you’re going to need to have a supply of wound care, medications and such. Prescription meds are going to be an issue. Unfortunately, most doctors won’t prescribe more than a few weeks worth at a time. That said, there are only three US makers of antibiotics, and, well, they make the antibiotics for the aquarium trade too. I’ll let you do the math. . .
A good trauma kit is a must. Clot inducing bandages like those from QuikClot are a good addition, but they do expire, so make sure you have the freshest you can find. Find a first aid class and take it. Look for an upcoming article that discusses what you should have in a trauma kit and what else you should have in your medical supplies.
Personal Care
This is exactly what it sounds like. Soap, shampoo, cleaning supplies, TP, feminine products, anything that will make your life more bearable. Most products of that sort have long enough shelf lives, and store well.
Like I said, this article only covers the basics, but it’s a good starting point. And hopefully a reminder that you do need to be prepared.
Hunting season is upon us. That means its time to get your equipment ready for whatever game you hunt.
Depending on where you reside, some seasons are already open. For this area, the month-long nonmigratory Canada goose season is open through the end of September and a few wildlife management areas have a two week special deer season.
Let’s start with your hunting clothing. Hopefully, you washed it all at the end of last season and stored it away where it wouldn’t get moth eaten or whatever.
First things first, dig it all out and check to make sure it all still fits and serviceable. Now is the time to figure out if the zippers all still work and you can actually get it zipped up, not at 0430 on opening day as you’re heading to your stand or blind.
The next step is to launder it. I recommend you use a detergent with no added scents or UV brighteners. Most game animals see in the UV spectrum, and clothes washed in detergent with brighteners will stand out to them. I like Sport Wash, but there are many good detergents that don’t contain brighteners.
While we’re on the subject of detergents, at this stage I wouldn’t worry too much about cover scents. Just be sure there isn’t any fragrance in your detergent. You can worry about scents and such later. Like when your clothes are clean and dry.
I store my hunting gear in a dedicated tote with a sealing lid. After the preseason wash, it all goes back into that tote. I usually toss a couple of pine or spruce boughs in there with all my gear. The scent from the boughs is a good natural cover scent, though id you don’t hunt in an area with that kind of tree, it may not work for you.
As far as cover scents and odor eliminators go, I don’t use them besides the above. Do they work? I don’t know. I have seen evidence that they don’t, but, if it’s something you have confidence in go for it. They cant hurt.
I don’t use many attractant scents either. There was a time when I did a lot of bow hunting and I used a lot of different attractant scents then. However here in NY, the archery season for deer coincides with the rut generally, and the gun season, at least in the area I hunt, does not. So attractants aren’t nearly important or effective.
If you are a bow hunter, you should have been practicing all summer. If you haven’t, shame on you, archery is a highly perishable skill that requires constant honing. Anyway, get your bow tuned up well before the season. That gives you a bit of time to shoot it before the season both to fine tune your aim and to make sure everything still works the way it should. Be sure to shoot some of the broadheads you intend to hunt with. The may fly quite a bit differently than your field points. And don’t forget to sharpen the cutting edges on your broadheads. Dull ones don’t do the job the way sharp ones do.
Now for you gun hunters, and it doesn’t matter if you’re going after big game, small game or birds, pull out you gun and give it a good scrub and a once over for loose screws, broken parts and other deficencies. Just for reference, scope base screws should be loctited and torqued to 20-25 inch pounds and ring screws should be torqued to 18 inch pounds.
Hopefully you have the ammo you need. It looks like its going to be another tough season for hunting ammo, although supply seems to be loosening up some.
If you’re shotgunning, a simple function check should be all you need to do. Load up your magazine tube and let a few rounds fly just to make sure everything works as expected.
For you riflemen out there, it’s time for a trip to the range to check your zero. With the ammo situation being what it is, do not assume the (whatever caliber or manufacturer) ammo you find on the shelf will shoot to the same point of aim/point of impact the (whatever weight or manufacturer) ammo you used last year. It likely will not.
I can, and likely will, write an entire article on how to zero a rifle, but this isn’t the place for that.
Welcome to the first edition of the Prepper’s Corner, where we’ll discuss the art of the prep. We’ll cover everything from getting started to advanced prepping.
Let’s start with the basics. And it doesn’t get more basic than the rule of three.
The Rule of Three helps you to remember the most important and prioritize the most urgent needs that you may have when in a survival situation.
Three minutes without air or in icy water.
Three hours without shelter in a harsh environment.
Three days without water if you have shelter.
Three weeks without food if you have shelter and water.
The first of the three is pretty self explanatory. If you can’t breathe, you’ve got about 3 minutes to live. An unprotected person will fall victim to hypothermia in short order in cold water.
The second rule can be interpreted in a couple of ways. Shelter doesn’t always mean a roof. In some instances, a fire or other source of heat will serve you better than a house. Conversely, there are times when a simple sun shade will be the choice. Regardless of the situation shelter from the elements is the primary concern in a survival situation.
Next up is water. The human body is around 60% water. A source of potable water is a must. Finding and purifying water is going to be your next mission after you find or build your shelter.
Food is the least of your concerns. The human body can last a relatively long time without food. That said, insufficient caloric intake can drastically reduce the amount of physical activity you can perform before tiring.
Got any tips about how to secure any of the items in the rule of three?
Been in a situation where you were in need of the three?
Have a suggestion for future editions of the Prepper’s Corner?
