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HomePosts Tagged "Survival" (Page 13)

You may have heard of the increasingly prominent use and promotion of what is being called essential oils if you have read any prepping blogs or self-sufficient literature in the last few years. Essential oils are typically derived from plants and their uses in Aromatherapy or Naturopathy are numerous. You can buy individual oils for specific ailments or boxes containing hundreds of oils. I remember one Doomsday Preppers episode where the preppers planned to use small drones to send survival kits consisting of essential oils to fallen neighbors after some pandemic.

I don’t know anything really about the usefulness of natural “Essential Oils” but I don’t dismiss the validity of their claims. I am sure there are tangible benefits to be realized by depending more on nature to heal our bodies as opposed to the concoctions of the pharmaceutical companies, but this post isn’t about Rosemary or Lavender. In this article, I wanted to talk about the other oils we use all of the time to make our vehicles go, to lubricate our power tools or to light our way. In a survival situation you may need to look at stocking up on some other essential oils.

Oils for your vehicle

Yes, we need to plan on our vehicles working even after a SHTF event. Many assume that an EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) would render all electronics inoperable and that may be the case, but I don’t know if every single vehicle in the world can be counted on to be worthless in the future. There are some essential oils that you could store away just in case you have to keep that Bug Out Vehicle running. Some of these aren’t technically considered oil but they do fall into the lubricant category. The list below would also extend to off-road vehicles.

  • Motor Oil – Motor oil is an easy one for most people even though I would bet that a majority of us, myself included take our vehicles to a service station for an oil change. Even though I do that now, I certainly have changed my fair share of oil in the past and could easily do it again. Having spare motor oil is an easy prep that you can store away in the back of the shed. Don’t forget oil filters for your vehicle too.
  • Transmission fluid – Many newer cars have what are called sealed transmissions but if you have service instructions in your owner’s manual for transmission fluid, it can be replaced. Imagine not going to the mechanic for 10 years? Many manufacturers recommend changing the transmission fluid every 30 or 60 thousand miles. Consult your manual and get the recommended replacement amount just in case.
  • Power steering fluid – If you have power steering, you might need to flush this out or top it off after a leak. Careening down trails in the back country could cause some damage you need to fix with spare hose and your trusty Leatherman.
  • Brake Fluid – Brake fluid could run out or need topping off so this is another good one to have on hand. A small can goes a very long way.
  • Lubricating grease – In my Army days we used to have to grease all of our fittings on our trucks and there were a ton of them. There aren’t as many on my current vehicle, but I can still lubricate several points along the drive-shaft and it’s good to have some lubricating grease on hand. As well as vehicle maintenance, you never know when you might have to make a sticky bomb.

Hand tools are important, but if I can use a chainsaw, I will.

Oils for your Power Equipment

So now you have most of the major oils and fluids for your vehicles, what about the power equipment you will likely rely on when the world ends? What equipment you ask? I can think of generators, chain saws, garden tillers, and mowers. Given enough time and desperation, there is probably a never-ending list of creative things people could do with the engines in our sheds. If the grid goes down, I seriously doubt I will be mowing the grass, but I could easily see a need for a chainsaw and I might be able to convert that mower into a survival generator.

  • 2 cycle Oil – For any engines (like chain saws) that need to have the oil mixed in with the fuel.
  • Chain oil/ Bar oil – To lubricate your chainsaw blade and help it slide over the bar.
  • WD40 – For just about anything that the oils above don’t fix.

Lighting and Fuel

You would use anything other than batteries for lighting? Sure I would, with caution. I have some great kerosene lamps that I would break out if needed. In the winter time they would even be more valuable because they put out a good bit of heat.

  • Lamp Oil – I have lamp oil for my lamps that burns nice and clean, but they also burn kerosene. This lamp fuel is pretty cheap and I have several gallons stored for an emergency.
  • Kerosene – Kerosene runs my heater and those lamps in a pinch. I could even barter with any extra fuel if the opportunity came up.
  • Extra Gas – I have frequently written about the benefits of even 20 gallons of gas stored properly and how that could help you in an emergency. You could avoid the gas lines or use that fuel to fill vehicles and get out of dodge.
  • Stabil – To make sure your stored fuel is protected against the effects of degradation, use a good additive like Stabil to keep your fuel fresh. Even with this, I add the fuel to my vehicles yearly and fill my containers with fresh fuel.

Oils for your Health

This list will likely be the one that people point out all of the oils I have missed and that is perfectly fine. I threw a few of these in here that were actually oils that I could see from a strictly utilitarian viewpoint. I know there are more but these three have immediate uses I could identify.

  • Mineral Oil – Did you know that you can preserve eggs for at least a year by coating them with Mineral Oil? In addition to making eggs last eggstra long (OK, I couldn’t resist) you can also use mineral oil as a topical moisturizer. It is supposed to also make a good laxative but I haven’t tried it.
  • Vaseline – Ointment and lubricant that can be used for hands, feet, lips, elbows; pretty much anywhere you have dry or cracked skin.
  • Tea Tree Oil – This can be applied to the skin for infections such as acne, fungal infections of the nail, lice, scabies, athlete’s foot and ringworm. My kids were unfortunate enough to bring lice home from summer camp one year and we all shampooed with Tea Tree Oil shampoo for a month, but no lice for me. According to WebMD, It is also used topically as a local antiseptic for cuts and abrasions, for burns, insect bites and stings, boils, vaginal infections, toothache, infections of the mouth and nose, sore throat. Ask your doctor if Tea Tree Oil is right for you.

Oils for Cooking

The last category I will include are cooking oils. You need a healthy amount of oil in your diet and some of this can come from the oils used to prepare your food. Oils don’t typically have a long storage life, but having extra on hand can make cooking much easier.

  • Cooking Oils/Vegetable/Olive/Canola – Need to fry up some squirrel that you brought home from your big hunting expedition? A little oil in your cast iron pan will help that little guy out and make cleaning easier.
  • Shortening/Lard – I know Crisco isn’t that healthy, but it sure does make a yummy icing for a birthday cake. Saving your grease from cooking other foods like bacon makes a good substitute for frying needs, but maybe not dessert. Yes, there will be cake after TEOTWAWKI or someone will be in trouble.

Oils for your weapons

Initially when I wrote this article, I left this all too important oil off the list. You need to protect the metal that is protecting your life. Cleaning supplies and weapon oils are very important supplies to have.

So there is my short list. What oils did I miss? What essential oils have you stocked up on?

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You may have heard of the increasingly prominent use and promotion of what is being called essential oils if you have read any prepping blogs or self-sufficient literature in the

I am sure there are those who initially looked at the title of this article dismissed it as something that will never apply to them and that it is just fear mongering. Personally, I think the information here is applicable to everyone who is concerned about their own well-being and that of their families. I am sure those living in the former Yugoslavia never thought their country would be destroyed by civil wars in the 1990’s… In more recent history look at the implosion of Iraq, Syria, Libya, the war in Eastern Ukraine and the terrorist attacks in Western Europe and the US. Whether attending a demonstration in a major US city or preparing for a SHTF situation, understanding a little about snipers and methods used in countering snipers is an essential part of your operational planning and preparations.

Snipers

One thing I find amusing and annoying is that whenever there is a terrorist attack with an attacker using a long gun the media tends to immediately label the shooter as a sniper. There is a very big difference between a trained sniper and some idiot with a rifle and just because someone served in the military to some extent it does not make them a sniper. But, with modern weapons and a little knowledge the wannabe jihadist or anarchist are still a serious threat.

Whether your potential threat is from specially trained personnel outfitted with state of the art equipment or merely an individual with average marksmanship skills, armed with an off the shelf rifle and tactics acquired from YouTube, you need to have plans in place to minimize the threat and procedures in place for dealing with active shooter situations.

There are five general types of shooters: the military sniper, the trained infantryman, the trained marksman, the trained shooter and the untrained armed civilian. Tactically each group have their own application and operational styles, you need to understand a little how they operate to identify the threat you could be under and plan effective countermeasures.

A top sniper, codenamed “Arrow,” loads her gun in a safe room in Sarajevo, Tuesday, June 30, 1992.

  • Military Snipers: At the top of the sniper field are those who have been selected for and passed military sniper schools that usually last anywhere from two to three months. Note, I said selected for… Candidates for most military sniper schools are usually selected to attend the courses after going through basic training and proving themselves capable soldiers within their units, to start with. In addition to long-range shooting skills military trained snipers need to be experts in navigation, communications, camouflage, concealment and observation. These individuals are trained to select key individuals as their targets, stalk them and kill them at distance while avoiding detection.
  • The Trained Infantryman: Infantry soldiers from professional armies should have no problems shooting and hitting a man-sized target at 300 meters (yards) with their service weapons in most weather conditions from a prone position. In addition to their shooting skills they are trained in camouflage, concealment, stalking and combat tactics.
  • The Trained Marksman: Most law enforcement units and the like tend to have marksmen as part of their tactical units that should be trained in precision shooting past 300 meters. The law enforcement sniper schools last from 5 to 10 days and are commercially available to those who qualify. These schools put an emphasis on precision shooting at 100 to 300 meters, rather than the camouflage, concealment, stalking and combat tactics which are not needed by law enforcement units.
  • The Trained Shooter: Most military personnel are trained to safely use, shoot, and qualify with a rifle on a regular basis, so they are trained to some extent, but the standards can vary to extremes. There are also the trained competition and recreational shooters who practice regularly and undertake professional marksmanship training but lack the tactical training. Hunters also fall into this category and tend to have at least a basic knowledge of camouflage and concealment.
  • The Armed Civilian: These are shooters with little or no formal military or firearms training. You can see them all the time in the news reports from various international war-zones. They have been given a rifle and ammunition and told which direction to shoot and that’s about it. Their shooting is not accurate, they seldom deliberately target specific individuals but they have high potential to cause casualties far out of proportion to their actual skill level at close and medium ranges.

Hopefully you can see from the descriptions above there is a lot more to being a real sniper than being able to hit a target at 100 meters and having your picture taken wearing a Walmart ghillie suit. What makes snipers extremely dangerous is their ability to be undetectable before and after killing their target; if you don’t know where the threat is, how can you counter it?  The art of field-craft is the bread and butter of the sniper; they can move undetected and have the discipline to stay virtually motionless and alert for hours, if not days at a time to get a shot, this is what sets the professional sniper apart from the trained marksman.

The Tools of the Trade

A well camouflaged sniper is an extremely hard target to spot.

The typical range for a military sniper attack is 300 to 600 meters with medium-caliber rifles, but depending on the environment, weapons available and the skill of the sniper undetected shots from 50 to 2400 meters plus are possible.

Some of the main calibers for sniper rifles are:

  • .22: Even though this is a very small-caliber .22 rifles make excellent close range sniper rifles, as they are small and easy to suppress. Within 100 meters with quality ammunition they should be able to deliver lethal head shots.
  • .308/7.62x51mm: This round has been around since the 1950’s and for many years was the standard round for NATO sniper rifles. This round, with the right weapon and shooter, can hit individuals at 800 meters and deliver harassing fire at 1000 meters plus.
  • 62X54mm: The Russian military first introduced the 7.62X54mm round in 1891 and it is still in use today with the Dragunov sniper rifle and the PKM machine gun. When fired from quality sniper rifles the round is accurate out to 800 meters plus, I say quality because there are many inferior copies of the Dragunov on the market.
  • .338: The .338 Lapua has gained popularity as a sniper rifle cartridge and has been used extensively in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In November 2009, in Helmand Province, Afghanistan British Army sniper, Corporal Craig Harrison, killed two Taliban machine gunners at a range of 2,475 meters using a L115A3 Long Range Rifle. This is the current record for longest recorded sniper kill. The .338 fired from military sniper rifles should be consistently accurate at 1500 meters but as you can see from Corporal  Harrison shooting, it can reach out farther in skilled hands and in the right conditions.
  • 9X39mm: This is a Russian round that is used in the suppressed VSK-94 & VSS Vintorez rifles which have an effective range of 400 meters and has been in use by Russians and others since 1987. The 9X39 is a heavy, subsonic round that has excellent penetration qualities against body armor.
  • 5mm: The 14.5×114mm was developed in Russia during the cold war for heavy machine guns and anti-material rifles and is still used by many countries. There are numerous rifles chambered in this round with the average effective range of about 2000 meters.
  • .50 Browning: The .50 Browning round was first developed as a heavy machine gun round in 1918 and today it’s still in service internationally. In the Vietnam war USMC sniper Carlos Hathcock used a scoped M2 Browning machine gun to get a confirmed kill at 2250 meters. In the 1980’s Barrett developed the M82 sniper rifle that has been used extensively in conflicts since then. These days they are quite a few manufacturers producing .50 sniper rifles for military, police, and commercial use. Sadly, many of these weapons have found their way into the hands of international terrorists. The average effective range of a quality .50 sniper rifle is about 1800 meters.
  • 20mm: There are several rifles on the market chambered in 20mm, the American made Anzio has a reported maximum effective range of 5000 meters. There are several bullpup 20mm rifles such as the South African Denel NTW–20 and the Croatian RT-20 which would be a more maneuverable option for sniper operations but at approximately 19 kg (42 lbs) without ammunition they are not really stalking weapons. These weapons are meant for targeting vehicles, equipment and buildings. Vehicle mounted or in fixed position these rifles could be used with devastating effects as their ability to shoot through most common building materials would render ineffective most cover from fire positions.

There is a lot more to distance shoot that just having a scoped rifle and ammunition, you must ensure the rifle shoots straight to start with. I was chatting with a friend who had spent time in Syria with the Kurdish YPG and he mentioned how a lot of the sniper rifles the Kurds had were not accurate, which is common in such settings. I expect a lot of the weapons were old and had been banged around which is detrimental to a scoped rifle.

Scoped rifles need to be zeroed regularly to ensure the rounds are going where you want them. If the optics are damaged or not properly fitted this can also lead to inaccuracy. The rifle’s barrel needs to be in good condition and taken care of; Romanian rifles used to have very low quality steel in their barrels, which lead to accuracy issues after minimal use. Ammunition needs to be of good quality, in many conflicts ammunition will come from various sources including the black market. Different ammunition will perform differently from the same rifle and old or damaged ammunition just might not be able to fly straight at all.

The weapon’s sights are extremely important and the weapon needs to be zeroed to the shooter. If the shooters eyes are good with quality open sights they should be able to hit a man-sized target at ranges of 200 to 300 meters. For precision and long distance shooting optics are a necessity and on the commercial market there are a vast array of scopes to fit all budgets. The quality of night sights have drastically improved over the last 20 years and they have become freely available on the commercial market. Simple and low-cost optics will not enhance the performance of the average $500.00 rifle into the accuracy class of true sniper weapon but these sights make the trained marksman a much more effective shooter at combat ranges out to 300 meters and beyond.

Many military sniper rifles are equipped with effective suppressors to either completely silence or greatly reduce the noise and muzzle blast of the weapon. Weapons such as the Russian VSK-94 & VSS Vintorez rifles have integrated suppressors on their barrels. Not only do suppressors reduce the noise of a weapon being fired, they also inhibit the task of trying to determine the location of a sniper. Suppressors can reduce the maximum effective range of a sniper rifle, but can be very effective when employed at less than 300 meters. Suppressors are available on the civilian market and are easy to manufacture, the legalities of ownership vary from location to location.

Countering Snipers

The first step in countering snipers is for everyone to be aware of the threat. This is where a threat assessment needs to be compiled and the realist threats need to be identified, if potential snipers are a threat then procedures need to be put in place. In general, operational planning for a sniper threat should always be considered to some extent. Not only should counter sniper procedures be planned for but they need to be practiced, your people need to be trained at least in the basic reactions to fire and the use of cover, preferably before they are exposed to the sniper threat.

A sniper from “C” Company, 5th Battalion, The Black Watch, 51st (Highland) Division, in position in the loft space of a ruined building in Gennep, Holland, 14 February 1945.

When compiling your threat assessment check media reports and talk with locals and those with knowledge of your area of operations. You need to determine what the threat level could be; are there trained personnel, what weapons are available and what’s their motivation and objectives.

When planning counter sniper operations, you need to answer four basic questions that will help you to assemble effective procedures that are relevant to your situation.

  • What is your task and objective?
  • What equipment and weapons do you have?
  • What does your opposition want to accomplish and what capabilities do they have?
  • What are the rules of engagement?

Rules of engagement are a very important consideration and can vary greatly, for example if you are caught up in an active sniper situation in an urban area in the US and you have a legal weapon on you, you cannot go blindly firing into potential sniper locations without positively identifying your target. Also, this puts you at risk of being mistaken for the active shooter and shot by police or other armed citizens. In a hostile or combat environment, your rules of engagement could be a lot freer but the limits of appropriate use of force need to be understood by everyone.

In many parts of the world people openly carry firearms and just because someone has a firearm it does not make them a threat. Also, just because someone is shooting, it does not mean they are shooting at you or being hostile. There is a big difference between someone in your vicinity shooting in the air and you being shot at with accurate and effective fire. You need to be able to determine the difference and plan your reactions accordingly.

Counter sniper procedures are mainly common sense and should be ingrained in most former military personnel with any hostile environment experience.  Basically if you can’t be seen, you can’t be shot, so limit your exposure, always make maximum use of cover, and move tactically. Remember, the sniper always has the initiative unless detected and is trained to wait for hours for a target or the time when your guard is down.

  • Use concealed routes
  • Avoid open plazas and intersections
  • Stay away from and don’t linger in doorways and windows
  • Move along the side of streets, not down the center
  • Stay in the shadows.
  • When moving with others stay spread out and use bounding over watch
  • Go around well-lit areas at night
  • Never be silhouetted against lights, skyline or light backgrounds
  • Move quickly and quietly across open areas that cannot be avoided.
  • Make maximum use of cover and concealment
  • Do not gather with others in large groups in the open
  • Conduct all meetings, gatherings of personnel undercover
  • Do not wear anything that could draw attention to you
  • Do not establish routines

After your threat assessment has been compiled you need to survey the area around your location for potential firing positions that a threat sniper could use and routes in and out of those locations. Once identified those locations need to be monitored where possible, occupied with friendly forces, booby-trapped or made unusable for a threat sniper. Clear any bushes or obstructions etc. that could be used as cover by snipers or inhibit your view of potential sniper positions.

Now in many urban and rural locations the potential positions for threat snipers will be endless, so your only option will be to limit exposure; if you can’t be seen you can’t be shot! Board up windows or put up screens to block the lines of sight for threat snipers. Canvas or plastic sheets can be used to make a dangerous alleyway or street crossing safer. In the long-term, fixed positions, more solid barriers and defenses can be put in place such as sand bags or earth filled 55 gallon drums etc.

Here are some basic military considerations for counter sniper procedures that can be adapted to the civilian world. Not everything will apply to everyone and all situations

  • Cameras: These days’ surveillance cameras are widely available and can be used to monitor potential sniper positions. Hunters trail cameras can be placed in potential sniper positions and along the routes to those positions to help identify any potentially hostile activity in your area. Also, after a shooting incident to help identify the shooter. In hostile environments, special care needs to be taken when checking or retrieving cameras as they could have been booby-trapped or the sniper could be waiting for you. Placing semi-camouflaged cameras around a property will let any potential threats know the area is monitored and can be a deterrent.
  • Drones: Where weather conditions and budget allow, drones fitted with surveillance or preferably thermal imaging cameras are ideal for spotting potential threats especially in rural areas.
  • Observation: Potential sniper firing positions should be constantly under surveillance and where manpower allows observers should be employed to monitor these positions for suspicious activity.
  • Patrols: Random patrols should be employed to gather intelligence, identify hostile movements in your area and deny snipers access to firing positions.
  • Dogs: Trained dogs can quickly search large areas and buildings for snipers who are trying to remain undetected.
  • Protective Clothing: Ballistic vest and helmets will not always stop a sniper bullet, especially from large-caliber weapons, but can significantly reduce the severity of wounds.
  • Armored Vehicles: Whenever possible try to use armored vehicles.

Reaction to fire

Over the years, I have spoken to many security contractors, police and military personnel and find it amazing that when talking about their reaction to fire drills most of them just say they would draw their weapon and return fire etc. That’s ok on a gun range but you need to take a few other things into consideration if someone is shooting at you! You also need to remember that if you are being targeted by a competent marksman unless you have detected them before they pull the trigger, chances are you’re going to be dead or seriously injured.

Basics, moving targets are harder to shoot than stationary targets. It’s a fact, it’s harder to shoot a target that is moving than one that is stationary. So, if someone is shooting at you, do not stand still, run, and get into cover. Smaller targets are harder to shoot than large targets! If there is no cover for you, make yourself a smaller target and drop to a kneeling or prone position.

Following is an adaptation of the British Army individual reaction to fire drill. Some of this may apply to you and some might not- use this as a basic format. If you are serious about your personal security, you must put together a plan that is specifically designed for your situation and then practice it until it is second nature.

  • Preparation: If you have a firearm it must be clean, serviceable, and well-oiled. Ammunition must be of good quality, clean and your magazines full. You must be properly trained and ready to deal with a shooting incident.
  • Reacting to fire: The immediate reaction to fire is to move to cover as you are deploying your weapon and returning fire, if available use a smoke grenade or discharger to cover your movement.
  • Dash– a moving target is harder to hit than a stationary target.
  • Down– keep low and present a smaller target.
  • Get into cover from fire.
  • Observe where the threat is.
  • If armed return fire.
  • Winning the fire-fight: If armed as soon as the threat has been firmly located, you must bring down sufficient accurate fire on the threat to incapacitate them or force them into cover so you can extract yourself from the kill zone.
  • Re-organizing: As soon as you have incapacitated the opposition or are in a safe area, you must reorganize yourself as quickly as possible to be ready for other possible threats. You need to re-load your weapon, make sure that you or anyone with you is not injured and inform law enforcement, emergency, or support services immediately.

Where the rules of engagement allow, suppressing fire can be directed at the general area of the sniper’s location to force them into or keep them behind cover, so you can move to a safer cover or extract from the sniper’s kill zone. Look for and shoot at objects close to the sniper’s position that would cause ricochets and flying debris, such as brick, plastered or concrete walls. Also, you need to be aware of injuries from ricochets and debris when being shot at! In hostile environments and combat zones maximum use should be made of what light, medium and heavy weapons available.

U.S. Soldiers with 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division return fire during a firefight with Taliban forces in Barawala Kalay Valley in Kunar province, Afghanistan, March 31, 2011. ( U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Cameron Boyd/Released)

Make maximum use of smoke dischargers where available and use the smoke to cover your movement. Commercially smoke signals are available from maritime stores as they are used for emergency signals on boats, also various smoke bombs are used for paintball and air-soft games. In a major city chances are you cannot carry firearms but can legally carry a couple of smoke bombs, if an active shooter situation develops drop smoke and bug out!

It is very important that you understand the difference between cover from view and cover from fire; you always want to locate the latter where possible. You need to consider which type of rounds will be stopped by the cover you’re using. A table might be able to stop a .32 fired from a handgun, but a .50 round from a M82 will go through it and you.

If planning the defense for a building you need to consider what caliber of rounds the inner and outer walls can stop. Also, where large-caliber rounds can penetrate walls you can expect bricks and plaster to splinter within the rooms and cause injuries. You also need to take note of any surfaces that would cause incoming rounds to ricochet within the building.

Cover from view means you can’t be seen but can be shot and includes:

  • Cardboard boxes and empty rubbish bins
  • Bushes
  • Thin walls and fences
  • Thin tabletops
  • Doors
  • Shadows

Cover from fire means, depending on the firearm used, you can’t be seen or shot and includes:

  • Thick tabletops
  • Heavy furniture
  • Stone and concrete walls
  • Dead ground
  • Thick trees
  • Various areas of a car
  • Curb stones
  • Re-enforced barriers

When you get into cover, you should always try to have an escape route and try not to get pinned down. When using cover as a shield, always keep low and fire or look around cover- not over it. When you are in cover and need to move, first select the next piece of cover that you will move to and move fast and keep low. Keep the distances between cover positions short. When you get behind the cover, assess your situation, where the threat is, etc. Keep moving this way until you are out of danger.

Hunting the hunters

When a sniper threat has been identified and you have the trained personnel, weapons and are within your rules of engagement, you should take active measure to eliminate or capture the sniper.

Potential indicators that threat snipers are in your area could be:

  • Personnel seen wearing camouflage uniforms
  • Individuals in possession of binoculars, range-finders, and well-maintained scoped rifles
  • Hearing single-shot fire.
  • A lack of locals in an area before a shooting incident
  • Reflections spotted from optical lenses
  • Small groups of (one to three) local personnel wandering around or observing your location for no apparent reason.

To capture or eliminate a threat sniper you need to identify a pattern in their modus operandi such as:

  • Time of day of sightings or shooting
  • Direction of incoming sniper fire
  • Location of threat sniper sightings
  • Patrols would need to look for material evidence of threat snipers being in a location such as broken foliage, hide positions, cigarette butts, food, body waste, empty rounds casings or discarded equipment

Once a pattern in the sniper’s routine has been identified, be it the location of a potential firing position, a route in or out of that position a covert ambush would need to be set and the sniper killed or captured. Note: Kill or capture operations need to be kept on a need to know basis, regular routines need to be maintained as not to alert the threat sniper or surveillance that they are being targeted.

Conclusion

Hopefully this article has given you an insight into counter-sniper operations and will enable you to draw up some plans and procedures to fit your needs and circumstances. Sadly, we all need to keep the threat from active sniper shooting in mind and be prepared to deal with worse case scenarios.

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I am sure there are those who initially looked at the title of this article dismissed it as something that will never apply to them and that it is just

Bartering is the key. This will be the solution to all our problems when the grid goes down and society devolves back to somewhere around the early 1900’s,  or at least that is what everyone in the prepping community would have you believe. Everyone that is except for the 10% who are anxiously awaiting the collapse so they can finally live out their lawless fantasies to their fullest.

Bartering, in theory makes perfect sense. It is at its core, trading services or goods for other services or goods. An agreement between two people to exchange one thing for another. The assumption is that two people would have an honest contract implicit in nothing more than a firm handshake or “you have my word” statement. This will work for most people as I believe that most people are good and honest. However, some people are not honest and forthright and those are who you will need to be aware of when the subject of bartering comes up. Bartering has its good points and its bad so today we will discuss the pros and cons of bartering as it relates to preppers.

Bartering isn’t new. It has been used as a form of commerce since the dawn of time. Before there was money, everyone bartered. If you had chickens and eggs, you may barter with the blacksmith to fix your wagon wheel. The amount of eggs or chickens that equaled the work of fixing the wagon wheel was agreed upon by you and the blacksmith and the exchange occurred. Bartering isn’t something that has disappeared out of time either. I know of many stories of people bartering today. Venison in trade for making jerky; canned preserves for small chores. Bartering happens every day even now, so why shouldn’t it continue in earnest when the grid goes down?

I do believe if we have an economic collapse, we will see a huge resurgence of bartering, but for bartering to work, you must have something to trade. What if you have nothing to barter with? No goods or supplies to trade? You can trade your labor, or I fear some will trade their bodies. This will only go so far until people get desperate and then the simple act of bartering could turn deadly if you aren’t careful.

OK, at this point you may be thinking I am trying to scare everyone out there, and this is not true. I am only trying to suggest that bartering may not be the perfect doe-eyed solution you have been thinking it was. At the very least, each situation must be considered on its own (as will so much else when the grid goes down) and with respect to the possible risks associated. Your value of a good or service will almost always be different from what someone else thinks and tempers could flare.

Before I discuss the risks, let’s talk about potential bartering items. This list is something every prepper must read and use as a guide in making your decisions about what tangible items you should consider purchasing.

Popular items that you can purchase to use for Barter later if the SHTF.

  • Ladies supplies
  • Ammo of various calibers (good luck with that now)
  • Salt (Buy lots of cattle blocks and 1 pound canisters of iodized table salt.) You can buy a case at Sam’s or Costco for about $5
  • Two cycle engine oil (for chain saw gas mixing. Gas may still be available after a collapse, but two-cycle oil will probably be like liquid gold!)
  • Gas stabilizer
  • Diesel antibacterial additive
  • 50-pound sacks of lime (for outhouses).
  • Alcohol for human consumption in small bottles
  • 1 oz. bottles of military rifle bore cleaner and Break Free (or similar) lubricant.
  • Thermal socks
  • Waterproof matches (or disposable Bic type lighters)
  • Military web gear (lots of folks will suddenly need pistol belts, holsters, magazine pouches, et cetera.)
  • 1-gallon cans of kerosene.
  • Rolls of olive drab parachute cord.
  • Rolls of olive-drab duct tape.
  • Spools of monofilament fishing line.
  • Rolls of 10 mil sheet plastic (for replacing windows, isolating air spaces for nuke scenarios, etc.)
  • Strike anywhere matches. (Dip the heads in paraffin to make them waterproof.)
  • Playing cards or games. Anything to break monotony.
  • Cooking spices.
  • Rope & string
  • Sewing supplies
  • Beeswax, 5 lbs.
  • Candle wax and wicking
  • Gold testing kit for dealing with gold.
  • Gold key for dealing with gold.
  • Rolls of wire, plain
  • Barbed wire, mesh wire, chicken wire, chain link etc
  • Cable, various sizes, and cable clamps

There are tons of other items I could think of to add to this list, but you get the idea. The common theme for Barter items in this list would be relatively minor household items that can make your life easier or make what you have last longer. This doesn’t go into the services side of things as that could be limitless and I don’t think we mentioned toilet paper either, but we have our idea of items.

Risks

So how could Bartering be risky? There are a couple of scenarios I can envision bartering in the future if things get bad. The first scenario was demonstrated in the books Alas Babylon and Patriots, (Two excellent books by the way) of a market type of event where everyone in the town comes to a central location to trade what they have in hopes of securing items they want. The second scenario is that someone you know or don’t know approaches you and inquires about trading something as barter. Work or goods they have for something you have they want.

The risk could come with the transaction itself. The first type of scenario would seem to offer the most protection of the transaction. You would be in a public area, presumably with lots of other people and the likelihood that you would be robbed should be lower. The risk that I see is that you are taking goods you have and showing everyone what you have in order to make a trade. Perhaps someone sees that you have a nice bottle of scotch that you are looking to trade for some .45 caliber ammunition. Actually, I think you wouldn’t be able to buy too many rounds with a good bottle of Scotch if the S ever really HTF but I digress. The bad guy sees the scotch, but doesn’t have any ammunition. Actually, they may be jonesing so bad for a drink now because they are an alcoholic and have nothing to trade at all,  but now they know YOU have a bottle of Scotch. Maybe they know where you live, or follow you back home after you leave to try to take the Scotch and anything else you may have. Bartering in this type of setting seems to go against good OPSEC practices.

The second type of scenario is far more likely to end badly if the person on the other end of the transaction has evil intent. They may be right there in your house, looking around and spy other items they want. They may decide at that time to take more than they need or that you and they agreed to. Without some thought and precaution things may end up badly for someone. Hopefully not you.

How to mitigate risks

Now that everyone is thinking about how your neighbor is going to kill you for a cup of sugar let me explain some simple practices you can use to keep yourself safe.

Never let them see where you have your supplies – If you have a stocked pantry full of cans of food, freeze-dried stores and tons of hard red winter wheat, keep this out of sight. This probably should apply now as well as if the grid goes down or we have an emergency. In survival situations people can become desperate and if they know you have something they need, eventually, they will start thinking about how to separate the thing from you.

Never take everything you want to trade at one time – If you have the Patriot’s type of market where someone is trying to trade their Corvette for any kind of handgun, don’t take all of your spare guns with you. If I had extra handguns that I would be willing to trade, I would shop first and discuss the trade with the person interested. Once a deal was struck, I would arrange to meet them at some other time and place with the rest of the guns. This approach has risks too, but may mitigate risks from someone trying to take your guns from you there.

Always conduct the transaction away from your supplies – Do not invite strangers or even friends into your house if they are asking for supplies. Some of this may fall into the charity topic, but if you are trading something for a cup of wheat berries let’s say. Don’t let them come into your pantry with you and see you scooping from a big 50lb. bag of wheat. Ask them to wait and then you will come back with the wheat. Optionally, you can tell them you will bring it right over and that way they may not even know where in the house you are keeping it. Some of this may seem over the top, but use your best judgment.

These are just some thoughts on bartering but I would love to hear your ideas also.

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Bartering is the key. This will be the solution to all our problems when the grid goes down and society devolves back to somewhere around the early 1900’s,  or at

A common question when preppers begin the process of accumulating supplies and knowledge is How much ammo do I need for SHTF? Of course, if you don’t have any firearms, the question is more likely, how much ammo do you need meaning the person like me? Because anyone with a gun, in their opinion doesn’t need it, and any ammo except maybe a single box is too much. That box should also be registered with the local sheriff and kept under lock and key preferably at the Sheriff’s office.

For the rest of us who are able to keep firearms (for now) and who don’t have a problem with firearms, I wanted to give my take on how much ammo to keep. The typical SHTF scenario is not a limited disruption in services or power like what you can expect from a weather event. Although, there are a lot of cases recently where Hurricanes disrupt a community for years. (Haiti, Hurricane Sandy, Katrina) so to some of you this could be a real SHTF scenario in its own right. I am not really speaking to this threat, but you can glean some information for those who do find themselves in a weather caused event I think.

My scenario for this post is a real SHTF type of scenario where for whatever reason, any resemblance of normalcy has been thrown out the window and there is no Rule of Law or Law and Order is severely diminished. Economic Collapse, Mutant Zombie Bikers from Mars, Global pandemic; pick one. The point I want to get to is if the stores never opened again, if you couldn’t walk down to Walmart ever and get more ammo; how much would you need on hand before the collapse?

Let me first preface this with the following. Everyone’s situation is different so this is just my idea of the recommended minimum amounts. If I haven’t taken into account some of your realities, please let me know. I think this post can be a forum where we can all get more perspective from others out there.

What are the recommended minimums in your favorite calibers?

Next, this is not assuming you are going to bug out into the woods. I can already hear people saying “How are you going to carry all of that” and I completely agree that you would never be able to on foot. I am not planning on bugging out; this is my minimums for bugging in. Additionally, there will be people who say things like, what if you get killed and you have all of that ammo? The bad guys are going to get everything you have. True, but I could get killed falling down the steps or eating some bad spaghetti sauce and the bad guys would get it anyway. Any plans I make are for living, not dying. I think it’s stupid to plan for dying. Let the people burying you worry about that.

How Much Do I Need?

So, to get to the point, I mentioned in another post the Top Five Firearms You Need to Get Your Hands on, so that is my battery of arms. This included one Shotgun, One Battle Rife, One Long-Range (Hunting) Rifle, One pistol and One small game rifle. For these weapons, I have the following recommendations.

  • Shotgun
    • Small Game – 500 rds.
    • Defensive – 500 rds.
  • Battle Rifle AR or AK – 2000 rds.
  • Long Range Rifle – 500 rds.
  • Pistol
    • Defensive Hollow Point– 1000 rds.
    • Practice (Ball) – 2000 rds.
  • Small Game (.22) – 2000 rds.

For the ultimate in capability, look into reloading.

I will go ahead and explain my reasoning for these numbers and please feel free to comment with your own opinions and suggestions. I am just like every single other person in the world out there. There aren’t any SHTF experts so it is just opinions all around. You may have a lot of experience in the Army, or the Police Force but that doesn’t make you an expert any more than anyone else.

Shotgun – This weapon has two uses so the count is fairly high. 500 rounds each for hunting game and defending your home should last a long time.

Battle Rifle – This to me is your go to weapon of choice in any type of SHTF scenario and your magazines will hold more than just about any normal magazine of any of my other choices. A decent combat load is 12 magazines at 30 rounds each (12 X 30 = 360) and that is just what you can carry on you in your vest or LBE. 2000 to me is the minimum I would strive for.

Long Range Rifle – Again, this pulls double duty along with the Shotgun. A well sighted .30-.06 or .308 can reach out and touch a lot of people at a respectable distance if they are handled correctly. This can be the weapon that bags deer for dinner or picks off a zombie at 600 yards.

Pistol – This weapon is not as powerful as the battle rifle, but it will be on your side more often I imagine. Spare pistol ammo can be bartered in a pinch, but only if you have more than your minimums.

Small Game – This is my .22 and it can be used to practice with, take smaller game and varmints if you are a good shot. This ammo is still considerably cheaper than just about any other too.

Now that I have my minimums out there, how do you get started? If you had all of these calibers and had zero ammo I would try getting a little of everything as your finances allow. Don’t stock up on rifle ammo and forget everything else.

What should you do when you have the minimums? You can keep going to further ensure you will have enough or move on to your other preps that you need to check off the list. As long as you have the minimums I would spend my money on other necessities before I add more ammo.

How many magazines do you need for each weapon?

That is another excellent question. I would say 4 magazines for each pistol at a minimum and 10 for your battle rifle. You don’t have to worry about shotguns and rifle magazines are costly too. I would say 4 magazines for your long-range rifle too but that is only after you get everything else first.

Have some ideas of your own? Id love to hear them in the comments below.

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A common question when preppers begin the process of accumulating supplies and knowledge is How much ammo do I need for SHTF? Of course, if you don’t have any firearms,

A great deal can go into site planning for your survival homestead, even when the infrastructure is already in place and funds don’t exist to renovate lines or move buildings. Where we place things can increase or decrease our defensive abilities, success in growing, and how likely we are to see something – which can be good or bad. It can also hugely impact the efficiency of a site, whether it’s a small suburban or urban lot or a large rural retreat. While more space creates more options, planning for efficiency has major merits for any size site. When things are more efficient, they require less work to maintain. Whether that work is manual or powered, using less time, labor and resources frees up our abilities elsewhere, allowing us to do more.

Site Planning Factors for your survival homestead

The three most important factors in site planning for efficiency are arguably access, sun, and water. They are equally important, although when aspects like defense and drought resilience come into play one or another may take more precedence. There are variable levels of importance within factors as well. For example, access for ease and convenience might drop to the bottom of a list, but access for maintenance should stay near the top.

Cattle on silvopasture – Trees can be saw logs, firewood, forage/fodder or fruit and nut trees in a rotational pasture system that creates shade and stacks the functions taking place on a piece of land, creating a more efficient use of that land.

Sun

Sunlight plays a lot of roles in our lives, far more than just which plants will be successful – and where. Sunlight can be manipulated to create passive heating and cooling, such as using deciduous trees to shade greenhouses, coops, homes and windows, and livestock in silvopasture. Shading even just the entrance of a cellar can help dramatically reduce the amount of heat-cool transfer while loading it during harvest season. Shading can also significantly reduce moisture loss. On the flip side, opening canopies can not only increase availability of sunlight for plants during winter, it can help us dry up spring-bog areas and provide free lighting.

Using sun and shade to create passive heating and cooling by combining livestock and deciduous trees with a greenhouse, or locating coops and hutches beneath trees.

 

When we look at shading, a lot of times we only look at trees, but buildings, fences, and walls come into play as well. One rule of thumb is to place the tallest things on a site to the north in the northern hemisphere, to allow the most light through. However, if we want that shading factor to limit our irrigation or keep our rabbits breeding longer without running fans, we can play with them, interspersing buildings and alleys of pasture to create the best fits for our needs.

Another school of thought – especially in areas heavy on buildings and trees – is to group tall things together and slope mature heights to create either a peak effect (tallest in a central area) or a valley effect (tallest things on the rims sloping down to the center).

All three have their pro’s and con’s, and the slope of land, amount of irrigation, soil types, and purposes or function of the land play a big role in deciding which works best for us.

If you are building a survival homestead, take advantage of the sun’s natural path to position your home most effectively.

 

Something to remember is that sunlight changes through the year and by location, with summer and winter, extreme elevations, and distance from the equator affecting not only the track the sun takes in our skies, but also the intensity of the light – light quality, compared to light quantity. Even quantity comes with some wiggle room. “Full” sun is about 6-8 hours of direct light, but 8-10 hours of diffused light works too, unless the quality of light is low the way it is during winter in the middle and upper latitudes.

Water for your homestead

Water is one of the basic necessities of life. Manually hauling water sucks big time, and so does hand pumping water if mechanical systems fail. Ideally we plan our site so that things with the greatest volume needs are nearest the pumps and catchment systems.

When we’re accounting for high-volume needs we need to take into account our own varied uses such as laundry, cooking, and cleaning our homes as well as direct consumption. Livestock, young trees, and crops also require water. The closer they are to a water source, the less time and labor (of any kind, manual or mechanical) is needed to provide that water for them. We also want to bear in mind year-round needs, as opposed to seasonal like a garden with three months of growing season.

There are two types of water catchment systems that can decrease the need for pumping water – passive and active. Studying the sheep and cattle stations of the Australian outback, especially at the turn of the century, can provide a number of examples of how people survive near-desert conditions using active and passive water catchment systems.

Active catchment includes things like water barrels and buckets, which can be highly complex or pretty darn simple, or rain-filled water catchment on towers and roofs – both of which then disperse water through lines via gravity. Another example of an active catchment includes old-style towers that are filled by pumping, but then provide a gravity-fed reservoir for use during dry periods.

There are all kinds of passive water systems, some of them overlapping with the sunlight and wind vectors that we take into account as incoming and outgoing factors on a site. Some of the most common passive water-catchment and water-conservation systems include:

  • Simple low spots or dug swales that increase the infiltration of water by slowing its loss, making water available longer after a rain.
  • Ponds
  • Hugel-type, lasagna-type and Eden Gardening style growing beds with layers of material that absorb water and release it slowly
  • Gabion-style and stacked stone walls and fences that create drip-back microclimates by condensing evaporation on the underside and lee of the stone
  • Trees and shrubs planted to block and filter drying winds from the north and west or block sunlight and provide shade during the hottest hours (usually 1-4 p.m.)

Access

Arranging things for ready access is arguably the most important of the three factors, depending on the primary focus of site planning. At the simplest, we have to be able to reach things to use them. With some foresight and planning, we’re able to reach them in the most efficient and economical way(s) available to us. In the best case, things are conveniently near each other as well as just being accessible, saving time and work transferring them.

We can increase efficiency by locating things that need regular care close to our daily paths, like putting greenhouses and veggies near our homes. Alternatively, they could go near water sources, or be located beside chickens and pigs that till, turn compost, provide manure, and will be helping with garden clean-up. We don’t want to have to cross a yard to get tools and hoses and come all the way back to a garden plot, though.

When we plan the space we want to leave to facilitate access, we want to take into account our methods of reaching our targets:

  • walking with hand tools, with hay bales on hooks, with forks or bags of feed or seed or fertilizer, or with buckets, blickeys and crates
  • wheelbarrows, push or pull carts
  • tractor or ATV and attachments
  • truck or gators/field carts
  • tree pruning tools, branch removal or chipping (and chipper size and type)
  • firewood harvest methods
  • distance between storage and harvests of hay, straw or crops
  • type of brush control and access for it
  • longevity/sustainability of methods chosen for all phases (we all get old unless we die young, and what we can manage by now may become impossible due to age, illness or injury)

Tall hugelkultur beds increase our efficiency not only by decreasing water and fertilizer needs but also by increasing by 3-5 times the amount of growing space we have. Tall beds also eliminate some of the stooping involved with veggie gardens, creating longevity in our growing systems.

 

We also want to leave space for things like sorting, curing, drying, and curing harvests of various types, running our chipper-shredders, PM’g and repairing our equipment, and to get out of sight of nosy neighbors for livestock culling and harvest. Ideally, that space is conveniently located to the origin or destination, to water, and to where we collect and leave our tools for the tasks. Leaving room for living space and accounting for where we’re creating shadows, damper areas, windbreaks, open sight lines, and cover or concealment for thieves and worse as we plot out our sites is also important.

Something I’ve seen lower harvests in both small-scale and large-scale is somebody cutting a corner with a wagon or tractor a little too close and wrecking the end of a row, or having room when everything is small and new or just seeded, but having no room to maneuver once perennials or large crops grow in. Paying mind to the turning radius of our chosen methods can help save those. (So can practicing when a field is still empty.)

The general rule of thumb when planning for access is that things that need the least care go farthest away and off beaten paths, while things that need the most care and attention go nearest the living space(s) and along walkways.

Our own needs and desires and our infrastructure plays into where we might stick things. I may not use my shop much, but it may be easier to run power to it if it’s close to the house and since my trucks are near the house, I may not want to cross an acre or two for my air pump. Fruit and nut trees traditionally go further away from my home since they don’t need daily care, but if I’m using them for passive heating and cooling or am stacking the productivity of the space by keeping birds or rabbits under them, I may want them closer. My soil type and spring bog might also lead me to avoid an area that would be considered prime, or I might choose to locate things further away so I have a yard space where I can see my young kids easily from a window. Everyone’s situation is different.

Convenience factors into access – The easier it is to reach and see something, the more likely we are to deal with it. There’s no reason not to put veggie beds near the house even in a large yard, or to incorporate herbs and veggies into traditional flowers and landscaping along our driveway and footpaths.

 

Convenience should also play a role when it comes to access, and for some people the convenience is more important than for others. If it’s difficult to get to something, most of us are less likely to deal with it. It’s up to us to accurately judge ourselves and decide how likely we are to ignore or procrastinate with chores and checks.

Likewise, the “out of sight, out of mind” factor plays a role. Not only are we more likely to remember that something needs dealt with if we’re seeing it every morning on the way out, we can also arrange things to serve as canaries in a mineshaft for us.

Planning & Efficiency

Planning is a big part of efficiency – with anything, military excursion to home to garden to daily tasks. As a permaculturist, efficiency is basically my Holy Grail. The interactions of biotic and abiotic factors get manipulated to death to allow nature to do a lot of our work for us and to limit the time and effort of our labors.

It’s helpful to start with sketches of what already exists on a site, what is staying and what can go, and the inputs from the surrounding area when planning for an efficient site. Permaculture zones and sectors are excellent research points for anyone just starting out.

Wasted steps are wasted time and wasted energy, no matter what scale we’re living and growing in, just like allowing runoff, sunlight, and wind to enter and exit a space without ever harnessing them. In some cases, poor site planning ends up costing us extra money when we upgrade, downsize, or need a repair.

We can limit some of our inefficiency just by making lists.

Lists start as big, general goals of our wants and needs. We can make other lists of our potential resources, challenges, and capabilities. In the case of our homestead – urban balcony to 5-50 acre farm – knowing our long-term goals lets us start accounting for them from the get-go. Lists also help us streamline and prioritize, which allows us to stay focused.

We can refer back to our lists as we approach each step in making our goal a reality. Likewise, sketching a plan and making lists of the pro’s and con’s of placing various components where we have can give us a guideline to refer back to as we move forward over months and years. Lists and a sketch can keep us from feeling hemmed in to a decision we made five years ago because we didn’t realize what a pain it was going to be to haul water 500 yards because the hose pressure won’t reach the spot where we put in our annuals.

Increasing efficiency can be as fast and simple as putting coops and hutches over compost and worm bins to decrease some of the back-and-forth steps of moving manure to those systems and being able to check levels and moisture and harvest worms at the same time we care for other livestock.

 

Planning for Efficiency for your Survival Homestead

Water, sun and access are just the tip of the iceberg for site planning. There are dozens and dozens of things that can factor into creating an efficient self-sustaining homestead. People have written books on the subject, and placement considerations – from the things we’re possibly going to want on location to how we decide where to put them – occupy week-long lectures. Particularly when it comes to access.

Another aspect of efficiency we don’t regularly want to consider is old age, if not a Seventh Generation outlook. How much annual care does what we’re putting in need? Will it start spreading beyond our control when we hit cane and walker age? Will that oak destroy the lawn between the house and “yard” in 10 years, leaving dogs and people ginger stepping 8-12 times a day and washing away good soils? Will those coppiced trees start wrecking fences if we’re injured or busy standing watch?

Most of us just can’t plan for everything, but at least being aware of goals, of some of the factors that affect our efficiency and the long-term effects of inefficiency, and of the priority we’re willing to assign components in and around our homes, we can be better prepared for smooth transitions and limit some of our wasted labor. Being aware of site planning and efficiency as something to research allows us to let the environment around us and that we build do some of our work for us.

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A great deal can go into site planning for your survival homestead, even when the infrastructure is already in place and funds don’t exist to renovate lines or move buildings.

If you have an AR-15 or any rifle really, and you plan on using this in a defensive role should the need arise, you need to consider what is the best scope for your use. Even if you have the venerable AK-47, the scope that you use will greatly determine your capabilities after your natural skill and training have reached their limits. A good scope is a huge benefit in allowing you to accurately acquire a target and with a properly sighted rifle and good fundamentals hit what you are shooting at. There are many different configurations that are possible given the role you intend your AR-15 to be in but I wanted to discuss what I think are some of the best AR-15 scope options you have right now in order to help you hit what you are shooting at in a SHTF scenario.

Before I begin, let me state to everyone who is reading this that I am not trying to say any scope will make you a better shooter. No amount of money you spend on optics will make you a better shot with whatever rifle you have and there are people who can shoot better than you(or I) could ever dream with nothing more than iron sights. I understand this and so should everyone reading this post.

Scopes do enhance our abilities though by augmenting our ability to focus and select objects usually at a distance. You can’t ignore all of the other aspects of the shooting skills, but a scope does help. Another aspect to consider is cost. Will you get $1000 worth of value out of that scope you have your eyes on, or would something much less expensive be perfectly suited to your needs?

Different AR-15 Scope for different missions

A quality maintenance kit is a good idea when you no longer can go to Amazon for spare parts.

For the purposes of this article, I am only going to focus on Red Dot sights and Rifle scopes. What are the differences? The over simplified version is that Red dot sights usually have zero magnification and project a red (hence the name) dot onto glass for a heads up display instead of the typical cross-hairs, of where the bullet will hit. Assuming of course that you have the rifle sighted in to your sight.

Red dot sights are usually preferred in close quarter combat (less than 20 yards) situations where target acquisition speed is crucial. They are also designed to be used with both eyes open.

If you plan on pushing your rifle out to longer distances (50 to 300 yards), have older eyes or want the best lenses for low-light (not night vision) you are typically looking for a rifle scope that has some magnification factor and greater light transmission.

Red Dot Options for the AR-15

The EOTech XPS2-0 HOLOgraphic Weapon Sight is extremely rugged and durable. It’s compact size also leaves you more room on your picattiny rail for a magnifier if you want, but if you are buying a magnifier, why wouldn’t you get a dedicated scope? I understand options. Options.

EOTech’s are not cheap and this one is currently $477 on Amazon which is a pretty decent price, but you have to determine if spending this much on an optic is necessary for your skill level and what you plan on needing in a SHTF scenario. When I first started prepping I was convinced that I would need a red dot sight for close quarters, but my thoughts have evolved since then.

EOTech XPS2 HOLOgraphic sight.

If you like the idea of Red Dot sites, but are trying to keep from spending a new car payment on one, the Bushnell Trophy TRS-25 is a much more economical option. I have one of these myself and while there are some things I don’t like about it (the adjustment knob is hard as hell to turn) it is a great little optic that gives me the same red dot feature for a much more reasonable price of around $80. Now, I am not comparing the quality of the Bushnell to the EOTech, but it is an option you could consider.

Bushnell Trophy TRS-25. Lower cost alternative to something like the EOTech.

Moving away from Red Dot sites and going into scopes, another good option is the Nikon P-223 3×32. This scope was made specifically for the trajectory of the .223 Rem/5.56 NATO round. There isn’t an adjustable magnification with this scope, but once you have it sighted in at 100 yards, there are reticules for targets at 200, 400 and 600. It is nicely set up so that if your rifle is sighted in, and you have a target out to 600 yards, you can elevate the rifle to get the bottom reticule on the target and the ballistics should work out. One thing about this scope is the lack of magnification makes sighting in at 100 yards impossible without a shooting scope or someone to tell you where you are hitting. Once sighted in you won’t be able to choose between head or body really, but you should be able to hit them. For me this is a good balance of close quarters capability and long range assistance with the reticules. Target acquisition at long ranges wouldn’t be easy with this scope, but I could hit them.

Nikon P-223 3×32 – Great mix of functionality in a scope for the AR-15

For excellent magnification and much longer range, the Redfield Revolution 3-9x40mm TAC-MOA is a great scope with a very good price point of $265. No, this isn’t the same quality (or cost) as a Leupold or NightForce, but if you are looking to spend 1 to 2 thousand dollars on a sniper scope, you should be looking somewhere else for advice.

There are many more options depending on what you are looking for and this great video from Nutnfancy lists off many more options. I have added links to all of his suggestions below the video. What do you think is the best AR-15 Scope?

Best AR-15 Scope Suggestions from the video above.

Weaver 2.5-7×32 206
Burris Fullfield II 3×9 165
Bushnell Elite 3200 5-15×40 398
Burris 6.5-20×50 364
Nikon ProStaff 4.5-14×40 199
Bushnell Elite Tactical LRS 2.5-16×42  628
Weaver 6-24×42  355
Weaver  Classic 3-9×32  259
Weaver 2-10×38 209
Nikon M223 2.5-8×32 350
Nikon M223 3-12×42 398
Redfield Revolution 2-7×33 168
Redfield Revolution 3-9×40 185
Burris Fullfield II 3-9×40 185
Burris  Fullfield II 4.5-14×42  275
Burris Fullfield I 6.5-20×50 364
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If you have an AR-15 or any rifle really, and you plan on using this in a defensive role should the need arise, you need to consider what is the

Our last article; the first in this series of 5 things you need to go off grid now, began with the concept of preppers looking for an ideal life of untethering ourselves from “the grid” in an effort to enjoy a more self-sufficient life. To that end, many of us only consider moving to rural land and building homes that depend less on some of the interconnected systems we rely on today. But even if that isn’t possible for most of us currently, we might be wise to plan on going off grid anyway. In a disaster scenario, we might not have any other choice. If the grid goes down due to any one of dozens of possibilities and you aren’t at your perfect survival retreat in the woods, what do you need to consider now that could impact your family’s survival?

The last article covered water primarily because more than almost anything else, water is needed for survival. The average human person can only go for three days without water so in a grid down situation, this will need to be one of the top if not your first priority. If you have water taken care of, the next thing you will need if the grid goes down is food.

Food

After water, our bodies need food for energy and nourishment. When I started prepping; food and water were the first two items I began to consider for the obvious health related requirements, but unlike a survival bunker, stocking up on extra food is an easy thing to do. On top of that, not too many people look at you with a weird expression when you simply purchase a little extra food each trip. I just blamed my children for being pigs… “Man! You just won’t believe how much spaghetti my 6-year-old puts away.”

Each and every one of us eats food every day so it isn’t like we need to plan clandestine trips to the Army Navy store to avoid letting our neighbors know we are prepping. The concept you need to remember is planning for the Grid down scenario where you won’t be able to load up the car and drive over to the local supermarket. If the grid really does go down in a major way, you will need to already have a plan in place for taking care of your food needs both short and long-term. You will not be able to begin your food storage after a disaster.

Stocking up on groceries

Easy food storage start is to simply buy a little more each week of what you already eat.

There are many ways you can begin to think about food after a collapse and the simplest short-term solution is to simply stock up on the foods your family already eats. When you go to the grocery store; if you buy 3 jars of spaghetti sauce normally for example, just buy one more. I won’t lie and say that purchasing extra groceries will not cost you more money, but it is the easiest way to build your supplies. For a lot of us, we have more money than time right now. In our imaginary grid-down scenario there will be no power so I would recommend against stocking the freezer only or buying dozens of microwave burritos. In addition to planning your food storage, you have to consider how you will cook this food if the power is no longer working, but I will deal with that in another article.

Long term food storage

When we think about planning for long term food storage, we routinely consider canned foods or foods that have been sealed to prevent spoilage for a long time. You can purchase bulk items like rice and beans and seal them with oxygen absorbers in 5 gallon buckets. This will allow you to store a lot of food for a really long time. Optionally, there are dozens of companies that sell freeze-dried food where they have done the job of protecting the food for you. Of course, this food will cost you more than what you can spend if you do the work yourself, but there are some advantages. You can assume that most of these companies know what they are doing more so than you starting out which may give you comfort in knowing that when you need to use the food you are storing it will have been properly stored and you won’t open up a 5 gallon bucket of rotten rice.

Growing a survival garden

Even if you spend $10,000 on food and you have it locked in your basement, eventually that food will run out. What if the grid is still down when all your food supplies are depleted? To really be in the best shape you can be in when the grid goes down you need to have your own source of renewable foods. The most obvious and understood option is to have a garden. Gardens are not a cure-all though and require a significant amount of up front work, planning and there is a learning curve.

A garden is simply a prepping must-have to live off-grid.

Many preppers I know plan to start their garden when the grid goes down and that is not a good strategy in my opinion for a few reasons. First, simply making a garden plot takes a lot more than a shovel and a rake unless you already have tilled soil that is ready. Most of us have a spot in our backyard where we imagine that beautiful little garden with nice neat, weed-free rows of fresh vegetables. That doesn’t happen overnight and it certainly doesn’t happen without some hard work.

Secret Garden gives excellent tips on growing your own camouflaged food forest to reduce the threat of anyone stealing your food.

Assuming you have a nice plot of land without any grass or weeds, you may need to amend your soil to give it the right nutrients. Composting and adding natural fertilizers help with this but again, that isn’t something you will have on day one. And, probably the best reason against this plan is that those beautiful vegetables take time to grow. You can’t wait until you are hungry and expect to go dig a hole and plant your survival seeds. You could be waiting months for the first fruits of your labor. I recommend starting a garden now. The Farmer’s Almanac says that a 16 x 10 foot garden will feed a family of four with a little left over for canning and freezing. What if your crops fail? I would plan on a much larger garden even though that is more work and the reality of it is you may be looking to convert every single square inch of dirt you have into food production. You will also need to plan on canning supplies and all that goes with that. Gardens do not provide food all winter so you will need to grow enough to eat and put away to last you during the winter months.

Something else to consider is your garden will be visible to anyone walking past your property. A really brilliant alternative would be to use the food forest concept to grow a camouflaged food forest so that your food supplies are less likely targets of wandering hungry people. Rick Austin has a book that introduces these concepts called “Secret Garden of Survival” and I think that is a great place to start.

Raising Livestock

OK, so you have a full pantry and even have a stash of freeze-dried foods under the beds and in the closets. Your garden is underway and you are already seeing the first fruits from your plot of dirt. What about protein?

Rabbits are a low footprint option for raising a lot of meat.


Assuming you aren’t a vegetarian, meat is on the menu or it would ideally be in a grid down scenario. Sure you could plan on hunting but you will be in competition with everyone else in this grid-down world that is hungry too. I believe in a massive collapse, any wildlife would be quickly depleted and the chances of getting wild game would be slim. Sure, legumes and some grains have protein, but for those of us who like to eat meat there are a couple of relatively simple options to consider in a grid-down world that you can even use now.

Chickens are incredibly easy to raise and take care of. They just need some basic protection from the elements, good quality food and water. In return you will get delicious fresh eggs. At our house I have fresh eggs every morning for breakfast. Raising rabbits is another great option for protein but they will need to be slaughtered and butchered. Rabbits are prolific breeders – a single female has on average 8 kits per litter and their gestational period is about a month. Assuming you start with three rabbits (2 females and one male) you could have well over a hundred rabbits in the first year.

Aquaponics is another option that I think lends itself to an off-grid lifestyle, but it does require power. Raising chickens and rabbits does not.

Tomorrow we will get into the third thing you need to go off grid. Water and food are checked off our list. Can you guess what is next?

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Our last article; the first in this series of 5 things you need to go off grid now, began with the concept of preppers looking for an ideal life of

Being a successful survivalist means being able to handle any situation life throws your way and come out on top. Training and preparation are key, but what happens if you find yourself without any of the tools you’ve relied on? Could you still surmount any odds using only your skills and perhaps a knife?

Let’s jump into the worst-case scenario of finding yourself in a SHTF situation without any tools but the clothes on your back and a trusty knife. Using only what is available to from the natural surroundings and what small amount of belongings you have, it’s time to construct one of the oldest tools used by hunters, the bow and arrow.

Gathering Your Bow Making Supplies

European Yew is suggested as the best material for making bows, but good old Hickory is great also.

It is important before you even begin shaping or sharpening your arrowheads to find the proper materials for creating a bow. Look around to find any dry, dead pieces of wood to use as the basis for your bow. The perfect piece of wood will be dry and hard but not cracked or damaged in any way that may render your bow inefficient. Find a piece that is

  • Around six feet in length
  • Free of any noticeable cracks or knots that will weaken the wood
  • Suitably thick enough to withstand the force of pulling back on the bowstring but still maintains a level of flexibility
  • If at all possible stay away from using freshly cut pieces as the wood lacks the strength of dried wood and will be less effective

Once you’ve found a suitable piece of wood for your bow, begin looking for pieces to construct into arrows. The ideal wood should be about half the length of your bow and as straight as possible. Avoid using freshly cut saplings if you can.

Assess and Determine the Key Points of Your Bow


After locating a suitable log for your bow, it is time to determine the natural curvature of the wood so you can know in which direction to begin shaving the limbs.

Place the wood on a flat piece of ground and apply pressure to the center with one hand while keeping your other firmly against the top. The wood should swing to show you which in which direction it curves, the side that is facing you after the swivel will become the belly, the piece that faces you, of the bow. Find and mark the center of the bow on the side opposite the belly, the side which will face away from you.

Begin Shaping Your Bow


Using the mark on the center as a guide begin shaping your bow by gradually shaving away wood from either side, it is important though to shave wood only from the belly side of your bow. Leave about three to four inches extending from the center on both the top and bottom untouched, this will be your handhold.

As you begin to shape the bow, pay close attention to which portions bend and which remain stiff. You’ll want the bow to bend evenly across the bottom limb and upper limb so as you shape, flex the bow slightly to ensure it is indeed bending correctly. Continue flexing and shaping the bow until you have a consistent and strong bend.

Begin Notching and Preparing Your Bow for a String


Cut into either end of your bow, notching both sides deep enough to hold a bowstring but shallow enough to not compromise the integrity of the wood. As with before only cut wood away from the belly side, any damage or cuts to the back-end of the bow can render it inefficient or at worst cause it to break when under pressure.

Stringing Your Bow


Now hopefully you paid attention to our 7 Survival Skills You Should Know post and learned the importance always carrying paracord. Using the paracord you’ve fashioned into a survival necklace or boot laces measure out a sufficient length to create a bow-string. Your string should be able to reach both ends of the bow while remaining taut enough to resist pulling. Once you’ve cut the proper length, tie a solid loop knot at each end and knot the cord around the bow at its notches.

Check Your Bow’s Strength and Construction

Now that you have a properly shaped and strung bow, it’s time to check its strength. Firmly hold your bow in hand with your lead arm extended fully while pulling back on the bowstring with your other hand. The bowstring should be able to be pulled into your draw hand is almost in line with your chin. Pay close attention to the bend in the bow to ensure it is bending evenly and does not need to be shaped further.

Bows & Arrows of the Native Americans: A Step-By-Step Guide To Wooden Bows, Sinew-Backed Bows, Composite Bows, Strings, Arrows & Quivers

Making Your Arrows

The most simple form of an arrow consists of a thin shaft of wood shaved into a point on one side and notched for the bowstring on the other.

Begin by shaving away pieces of your arrow shaft until the entire length of the wood is smooth and rounded.

If you will be opting for a simple pointed arrow without an arrowhead, just simply shave one side into a sharp point and notch the opposite side. You can harden the arrow tip by heating it above a fire but pay close attention to not burning the arrow at all.

Optional Arrow Features

If you find suitable materials in the field you can also add:

  • An Arrowhead by notching the wood and attaching the arrowhead securely to the shaft with a small bit of twine or paracord
  • Add fletching to the bottom your arrow shaft by splitting the back-end of the shaft and inserting a feather. Use your remaining paracord to tie the split pieces back together

Now just gather your hunting camouflage and use your bow to catch dinner.

 

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Being a successful survivalist means being able to handle any situation life throws your way and come out on top. Training and preparation are key, but what happens if you

I came across an article on the INCH Survival site that was originally posted in May. In this article, the author discusses the pro’s and con’s of joining a survival group as opposed to simply going it alone. The article raises some good points, but the concept isn’t only for survival groups. Anytime you are dealing with other people you will have to accommodate their personalities. You will get their strengths and be subjected to their weaknesses. One thing I thought about after reading this post was for a lot of us, our families will be our survival groups and I don’t believe they will act any differently than friends or strangers in the same scenario.

Consider this, a disaster has occurred in the United States and virtually everyone is affected. There is no hope anywhere and no assistance. For all practical purposes you will be on your own for shelter, security and survival. Family members will likely bond in times like this so your survival group might be Aunt Doris who never really saw you much more than at family events. Another member might be your second cousins that you only know through Christmas dinners and word of mouth. Does the fact that these people are blood relations change how they will act in a crisis? Are family members any more trustworthy than your neighbor, or a stranger?

I personally don’t believe the Lone Wolf will ever last long in a major crisis. Could they hang tough and make it through the first/worst part of the disaster because they have some training, resources and the will to survive? Probably. I imagine a lot of people would, but eventually anyone who cares for their survival will want to be part of a larger group and all the problems of people together in bad situations will be shared regardless of your relations.

I think a valid thing to consider is how you as someone who is interested in Prepping will adapt when your sphere of influence or responsibility grows due to a tragedy. Have you given this any thought? Knowing what you know gives you one set of advantages, but the same people you swore you wouldn’t become (the sheeple) could easily be part of your group and under your care without you even trying. This isn’t so much a debate about who will share supplies as it is relationships with other people in crisis. When those people are your family, what considerations will you be forced to consider as the leader in your group?

Read the article: The Lone Wolf VS The Survival Group and let me know your thoughts.

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I came across an article on the INCH Survival site that was originally posted in May. In this article, the author discusses the pro’s and con’s of joining a survival

When planning for disaster, we run through scenarios in our mind and those scenarios give us a visual baseline for which we make plans. As preppers we talk a lot about the steps you can take right now to get prepared so that you will have a plan, supplies and options for when that disaster may strike. Often preparedness deals with the immediate effects of disaster like having a vehicle to bug out or having plenty of food and water to deal with shortages. The next logical step from that is a longer term plan, but those long term prepping plans usually revolve around extensions of those same basic needs: Food, Water, Shelter and Security.

Take any crisis with a timeline much longer than we associate with “typical” natural disasters and you need to consider different items as part of your planning. For a “typical” emergency, the chaos is relatively short lived. Even though the rebuilding and recovery process may take years, the process can start as soon as the dust has settled, the earth has stopped shaking, and wind no longer howls, the fires are extinguished, the rains have stopped or the water has receded. We shed tears and hopefully hug all of our loved ones and start to pick up the pieces.

But what about a scenario that just doesn’t stop? What if you are visited by the potential threats of a new fresh hell every day? We hopefully plan for food that we can eat off of and grow for future needs. We can band together with others in our neighborhood for security or devise alternative energy schemes to keep the lights on. We rarely talk about the stress, anguish and for some, crippling fear that could be a part of life in the worst apocalyptic view of the future. You have plans for everything else, but do you have a plan for coping with stress after disaster?

First world problems

It’s interesting to try and research stress from the standpoint of some end of the world as we know it perspective. So much of our current world is about as far away from disaster as you can be. In the U.S. currently, we lead very comfortable lives when compared with large parts of the rest of the world. Don’t get me wrong, I am not apologizing for that at all, but it does change how you view stress.

We have a running joke in my family and I am sure we aren’t alone in this of whenever one of us encounters something that irritates us or “stresses us out” we jokingly, but accurately label that as a “first world problem.” If I can’t find any good movies out of the thousands available to me via the internet piped into my living room, that is a first world problem. If my computer is not running as fast as I want as I sit in an air-conditioned home or I have to wait 3 minutes for it to reboot due to a free OS upgrade, that is a first world problem. If I have to leave the security of my bathroom to walk two feet to a closet with dozens of rolls of soft toilet paper… you get the point. We don’t have anywhere near the stress in our lives now that some people do and we frequently take that for granted. I don’t expect anyone to sit and feel ashamed for our lifestyle, but what will you do if that is all gone?

Imagine the father who has walked hundreds of miles with his family across a desert to avoid ethnic cleansing or the mother who is alone with three small children living in a refugee camp. The same camp with hundreds of thousands of other displaced people where she is lucky to have a small meal of watery rice a couple times a day. Oh, did I mention that she has to walk almost a mile to stand in line for that rice and she goes back to a tent to live in with 15 other families. I won’t even mention the people who are still running for their lives from groups bent on their complete destruction who kill men, women and children with machetes. We don’t know real stress in the US right now.

We don’t know stress in the US like some people.

You can find lots of information about the “stress” we do have in our lives and plenty of advice for dealing with stress. In a disaster, getting fresh air or exercise probably won’t cut it but that does say something about what we do all day. I think in a crisis like many of us are expecting in our worst nightmares, our very definition of stress will be radically rewritten. Even if nothing that bad happens, stress and I mean real stress is something we should plan for.

What are some symptoms of stress?

  • Frequent headaches, jaw clenching or pain
  • Gritting, grinding teeth
  • Stuttering or stammering
  • Tremors, trembling of lips, hands
  • Neck ache, back pain, muscle spasms
  • Mood-swings and easy bouts of crying.
  • Overwhelming guilt and self-doubt.
  • Difficulty sleeping.
  • Low threshold of frustration.

As preppers reading this article I have to assume that you will be leaders to the people in your group. Recognizing stress will be important for a couple of reasons. First you want to be able to identify situations where someone needs a little extra care, assistance or rest. Stressed out individuals can make mistakes that could get people hurt or killed. I am not talking about the kind of stress caused by not having enough space on your smart phone to take a one hour video of your daughter’s birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese either.

When you are living with loss, possibly death, great uncertainty or dangers to your safety, people can deal with stress in a number of ways. I think at some point stress will become a part of life and you will have peaks and valleys depending on the relative safety and security you are living in at any moment but when your entire life has been thrown into a blender and dumped on the ground, stress might take it’s toll for a while.

How can you deal with stress?

Each person deals with stress in their own way and in a disaster it would be perfectly normal to have feelings of sadness or loss and uncertainty. You as a leader will be living with stress just like anyone you come in contact with most likely and if you know how to deal with your own stress you will be better prepared to help others like a spouse, children or parent deal with their own stress.

Stress frequently brings dark feelings and doubt to the surface. It is very normal to want to lash out when you are stressed, to hit back at the situation that has impacted your life. Sometimes this may work to your benefit, but for most times I think you want to reserve anger like that. What can you do?

Focus on what you can control – We can easily dwell on the problems we can’t fix right now and worry about how that will change. There are so many things to consider when we are in a stressful environment and that is one additional reason to prepare now so that all of the basics of life and security will be checked off the list.

Admit you are stressed out and talk about that with someone – When I am stressed, I tend to focus on all of the things I am worried about. I rush through my day trying to knock things off my list or thinking about them until I reach some level of satisfaction about where I am. I don’t normally go to my wife to discuss things I am stressed out about but she seems to know when I am stressed and engages me to talk about it. Even though the things I am worried about don’t disappear, it helps to talk. Sometimes she does help me with ideas or just a different perspective. I would never want to be without her counsel.

Don’t blame yourself for bad things – I know that personally, I prepare because in the back of my mind I feel responsible for my family and I don’t want to let them down in an emergency. Its one thing if Dad forgets to stop at the store and get ice cream for dessert (first world problem) but another thing entirely if a storm knocks out power for two weeks and I can’t keep them warm and fed. There will be things you can’t control and dwelling on what you should have done is useless. Focus on what you can do, make things happen and move on.

Sleep, eat and drink – Our bodies are amazing creations and so many problems can be remedied themselves with the simple basics our bodies need to function properly. Making sure you get enough sleep is an important stress reducer. You also need to make sure that applies to everyone in your group. That is another reason why a group of people is better than lower numbers of people so that you have more people to work, stand guard and help. Food and Water is the fuel our bodies need to function at peak capacity. So that should be one of the first things you check off on your prepper to do list. See a theme here?

Rely on your higher power – The saying goes that there are no atheists in foxholes and that simply means that when you are worried about dying, you start to believe/hope for an afterlife and a loving God to watch over you and keep you safe. Many of us already have a spiritual component in our lives and we should be embracing this daily. You can certainly lean heavily on your own higher power for strength and peace in a time of high stress. Sometimes a simple prayer is all it takes to calm me down and I know that if I ever was in a real “stress” inducing situation I would be praying much more often than I do now.

How do children react to stress?

Adults are one thing and you might think we can do what they did in old movies. Just slap the person going hysterical and yell at them to “Snap out of it”! That may work, actually it might feel pretty good depending on the person on the receiving end of the slapping. Just kidding… sort of.

Children are different though so understanding the stress from their eyes will help you deal with them in ways that make them feel better. Children all deal with stress differently at different ages. This is a breakdown from FEMA:

Birth through 2 years. When children are pre-verbal and experience a trauma, they do not have the words to describe the event or their feelings. However, they can retain memories of particular sights, sounds, or smells. Infants may react to trauma by being irritable, crying more than usual, or wanting to be held and cuddled. The biggest influence on children of this age is how their parents cope. As children get older, their play may involve acting out elements of the traumatic event that occurred several years in the past and was seemingly forgotten.

Preschool – 3 through 6 years. Preschool children often feel helpless and powerless in the face of an overwhelming event. Because of their age and small size, they lack the ability to protect themselves or others. As a result, they feel intense fear and insecurity about being separated from caregivers. Preschoolers cannot grasp the concept of permanent loss. They can see consequences as being reversible or permanent. In the weeks following a traumatic event, preschoolers’ play activities may reenact the incident or the disaster over and over again.

School age – 7 through 10 years. The school-age child has the ability to understand the permanence of loss. Some children become intensely preoccupied with the details of a traumatic event and want to talk about it continually. This preoccupation can interfere with the child’s concentration at school and academic performance may decline. At school, children may hear inaccurate information from peers. They may display a wide range of reactions — sadness, generalized fear, or specific fears of the disaster happening again, guilt over action or inaction during the disaster, anger that the event was not prevented, or fantasies of playing rescuer.

Pre-adolescence to adolescence – 11 through 18 years. As children grow older, they develop a more sophisticated understanding of the disaster event. Their responses are more similar to adults. Teenagers may become involved in dangerous, risk-taking behaviors, such as reckless driving, or alcohol or drug use. Others can become fearful of leaving home and avoid previous levels of activities. Much of adolescence is focused on moving out into the world. After a trauma, the view of the world can seem more dangerous and unsafe. A teenager may feel overwhelmed by intense emotions and yet feel unable to discuss them with others.

Coping with stress may not be the first thing we consider when we are prepping, but it is a natural by-product of the events we are planning for. Your job as leader won’t end simply at gathering supplies. You will also have to provide strength and compassion and understanding as appropriate to help others around you. I don’t expect to turn into a touchy feeling – hug it out kind of guy when we are trying to survive and cannibals are munching on your legs. That is just not in my nature and I will be focusing on other things I assume. I do think it’s important to be able to realize how each person is dealing with the stresses in their lives. You can use this to help people by guiding them in certain directions or collaborating with others to provide assistance while you focus on slaying the metaphorical dragon.

Call it prepping for the emotional component of your group under duress. It is something that we all should spend a little time thinking about. You could be the person who brings someone through their stress and helps them survive. Helping others cope might even help you in the end.

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When planning for disaster, we run through scenarios in our mind and those scenarios give us a visual baseline for which we make plans. As preppers we talk a lot

This post might get some push-back from my military service friends but I welcome the comments. I have been meaning to write about various holster options for a while and what I believe based upon my experiences with holsters I own and my perceptions of various factors in a grid down situation. I decided to pull out three holsters I own and give my ideas behind their strengths and weaknesses as well as where I see them most likely being used in a grid down situation. This might help you select the right holster for your prepping needs.

A Tale of 3 Holsters

My first holster is the Raven Phantom Modular Holster. This is my concealed holster during the fall and winter months. When it is cooler outside I can easily and consistently cover up with a light jacket to reduce printing. My current weapons are either a Glock 17 or Glock 22 which also works out great because both weapons fit this same holster.

Phantom Modular Holster

The Phantom Modular fits nice and snug against my back and feels great when I am walking or moving around. Sitting in the car is another story and that is another reason why I am looking to downsize my concealed carry to a Glock 30S. The belt in the photo is the 5.11 tactical TDU Belt 1.75” wide and it holds the weapon and holster perfectly fine. The Knife is my Kershaw Leek. There are usually some other EDC items hanging off the other side of my belt also. The 5.11 belt has no metal parts so it is airport naked body scanner friendly. I always opt-out so I have to remove my belt anyway.

The Phantom Modular costs $85 and is great both when nothing is wrong as in the S hasn’t hit the fan yet and you want a great concealment holster. It is also perfect if you are trying to carry concealed when the grid goes down. At the start of any societal unrest I believe it will be better to keep a low profile so walking out the front door looking too militaristic could be bad.

I like this holster because it is dirt simple and tough. You can’t hurt it unless you run over it with a truck. Magazine storage has to come in the form of other options not included, but for simply holding your weapon securely and allowing for a nice smooth draw, the Phantom is great.

The second holster is a drop-leg holster and I purchased this so long ago I can’t even remember the company that I bought it from, but there are millions like this and you can find them for around $30. I found one that is very similar on Combat Sport Supply.

Simple and cheap drop-leg holster.

This drop leg platform was what I thought would be perfect and I am sure that is in no small part due to TV and the movies. Drop leg holsters seem so practical and it makes you look like a modern-day gunslinger, right? This holster has a velcro strap that adjusts to practically any weapon and covers a snap closure. The idea is that you would flip the vecro strap off, unsnap the snap closure and draw your weapon. This might be cheap, but the platform and this holster has some drawbacks.

The first is inherent with any drop leg holster and that is the weight distribution. With the weight of the weapon that low on your leg, running feels odd. You are dragging this gun and a magazine with your leg and it makes you feel off-balance. Also, the drop leg renders your cargo pockets almost unusable. This holster has capacity for one extra magazine and is what I wear into the woods (deep into the woods). I thought that this would make a great holster, but it sounds better than it actually feels in reality. Additionally, the straps seem to ride down and always require adjustment.

One feature that is nice is the holster detachment clip so you can remove the holster without taking your belt off. You can’t do that with the Raven.

My plan for this holster? I will continue to use it when I go hiking as long as I am really in the woods. I wouldn’t take this on a day hike to the state park. If something does happen, most likely one of my kids would get this holster as it is better than nothing, but I wouldn’t buy one like this for your ultimate grid-down holster.

The third holster and my favorite is the Rogers Tactical Holster. This is also a drop leg platform, but it has some serious advantages over the cheaper nylon version above. Of course, those advantages come with a price.

Rogers Tactical Holster – My favorite holster.

The Rogers Tactical Holster will set you back over $100. It is built using Safariland parts and is used by police forces, military and competition shooters everywhere. The holster features a paddle that you slide inside your waistband. It removes very easily so you can wear the holster with or without a belt and you can remove it without taking off your belt. The ride is higher than a traditional thigh rig so the weight isn’t down as low on your leg. This feels much more natural. It is just low enough so that it doesn’t interfere with body armor.

You also have two magazine pouches that are friction retainers that keep the magazines in without latches or clips. This could save seconds when you really need it. The weapon fit at least for both of my Glocks is flawless and they both slide easily into place. The Rogers tactical holster has an ALS (Automatic Locking System) that keeps the weapon secure. You deactivate this by gently pressing your thumb down and pulling the weapon up. This feature is nice as the thumb release is perfectly positioned where my thumb naturally goes. Removing the weapon is a quick and easy affair and it feels so good, I have to admit that I practice drawing just to hear the perfect movement of the weapon sliding from the holster. You can tell that some serious engineering went into this piece of equipment.

The Rogers Tactical only has one thigh strap instead of two which I think reduces the ride up factor I mentioned above. Overall this feels and works great!

So when would I wear this holster? This is the ‘all hell has broken loose’ holster when you are carrying every single day and aren’t afraid to show it. Just like the drop leg above you can’t wear this if you are trying to be discrete unless you are on the firing range, but when SHTF, this is what I plan on rocking.

Your turn. What is your favorite holster and why?

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This post might get some push-back from my military service friends but I welcome the comments. I have been meaning to write about various holster options for a while and

I generally agree with the premise that skills are far more important than stuff, and that knowledge weighs nothing. There are skills that benefit us, every single day and definitely in a disaster – on any scale. However, sometimes collecting knowledge can be a pricey and time-consuming prospect. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t learn, but we need to prioritize as with anything else. We also have to honestly assess our preparedness level, plan, and current lifestyle.

Exceptions & Assessments

There are exceptions to some of what I’ll suggest. If you’re a wilderness adventure enthusiast or work in extremes, you already know it. If you truly have lots of free time but zero money after lots of cutbacks, and you have materials/resources lying around and don’t have to buy anything, okay.

If somebody is just into history, a reenactor, a hobbyist, I’m also not talking about that. Mental health clause – you need an outlet. However, interests are just interests and don’t belong in the “but it’s useful/preparedness” category of our time and financial budgets. It belongs under our entertainment budgets.

Please remember those caveats as you read the list. I’m talking about somebody learning from scratch specifically as a survival/preparedness skill in lieu of practicing, buying, or learning something else.

I also hear the argument put forth that somebody’s going to learn a skill or trade because then they can barter it. That is absolutely true in some cases (medical, mechanics, midwives). In others …

We have to ask ourselves: How many people who are preparing or not preparing are actually going to be around and need that particular skill? How do we plan to find those souls who are unprepared to do it themselves, but are expected to have surpluses worth our time and labor to trade for us?

Below are a few things I regularly see pushed as a must-have skill. I’ll break down the pro’s and con’s, and cover alternatives.

Image: How sustainable is our water plan – and our bodies – compared to our need to make soap or learn primitive fire making methods, or learning an already fairly common trade?

Alternatives After Assessment

Would it be better to develop the knowledge of how to find water by recognizing terrain and land cover patterns, a map of streams and springs in the area, and the physical strength to carry and drag water-level weight through woods, on crappy roadsides and ditches, and repeatedly lift buckets and containers out of a downed well or deep cut with cord, or over the side of a pickup?

Could we instead spend time locating buckets, storage totes, and barrels, the used and wrecked pieces of furniture and equipment on Craigslist and Freecycle to turn them into water catchment, and the afternoon or afternoons it takes to assemble them, to limit the amount of time we even have to go out hunting water?

We have to ask ourselves how important primitive skills are instead of something like wrapping a sprain.

Water is always going to be a focus for me, but there are other skills, too.

Gather wood for the stove/grill and practice cooking and canning on it. Learn hauling and tying knots, and practice felling, branch removal, and topping on consecutively larger trees. Learn to change your own oil and bike chain. Figure out how to unclog a drain using supplies and tools you already have on hand. Walk on the ditch verges and wooded hills to strengthen ankles.

We have to ask ourselves how important primitive skills are instead of something like wrapping a sprain, turning off water and gas mains, producing and finding food, mending a fence, sharpening a blade, rescuing a drowning/choking infant or child, and backing a trailer.

Fire From Scratch

If you happen to have a battery and steel wool, more power to you. It was never in my pack for fire tools.

Let’s start off with a super controversial one – yay!

First, I’m not talking about finding dry tinder in wet woods or making a feather stick. If somebody’s out in the woods regularly, the potential of injury in a downpour makes them worthwhile in the crisis stance. As a through packer (I think they call it ultralight now, but my bag was never light) and multi-day paddler, those are things that saved me time and energy for my hot meal.

I’m talking about Survivorman fire starting, primitive fire starting. If you happen to have a battery and steel wool, more power to you. It was never in my pack for fire tools.

Second, if you’re a remote-creek kayaker, canoe trekker, or a hiker, get a few pill bottles to stuff with wet-weather or DIY-coated matches and a few cotton balls or some dryer lint, and start wearing one around your neck and carrying one in a pants pocket. Get a ferro rod and block or a windproof cigar lighter, and replace the chain with 550 cord to wear on your belt or pants button or the snap of your life vest or knife. Keep another set duct taped to the bottom of your water bottle or glasses case.

No belt or knife? No glasses? Don’t worry about fire from scratch then. It takes a long time to master starting a fire with a bow and starting it with a lens requires a lens. If you don’t have a knife to make shavings and the bow and start the notch, there’s a stick and another stick, and you’d be far better served spending the time making a cocoon-style debris hut.

Matches/Lighters versus Primitive Skills

People do get lost in the woods, and eventually we absolutely will run out of matches and lighters on a homestead.

We’ll run out of them faster if we’re using smaller fires for short periods and thus starting them regularly. They can break, leak, get wet and grody, and strike-anywhere are harder and harder to find so you have to figure on the striker strips getting worn totally smooth, especially if we buy the big bulk boxes.

Learning to find tinder in wet woods is time-consuming enough (and worth it for some/many).

If you’re only bugging-out to a BOL, not in an INCH situation, or if you’re a boater, fisherman, hunter, hiker, or outdoors enthusiast, throw in a cigar lighter so wind is less of a factor – they fit in a Gerber case inside bags or small plastic bottles with matches and other fire-starting materials pretty well.

For a homestead/bug-in situation, we can say three meals and a snack a day, plus morning coffee. Starting five fires is pretty generous and buys time for us to learn how to bank a fire for coals and keep one going.

Say it takes us a couple broken/burn-out matches to get one started, so we need three matches per fire. Using 15 a day for a year gives us a total of 5.5K matches.

Bricks of 100 small kitchen match boxes run $8-15 bucks each for 3.2K matches – two would cover our needs for $20-$30. My dollar store also carries match books cheaper (not my first choice).

Or we could buy one of those multi-pack bricks for $10-15, and hit Amazon for a 100-pack of disposable lighters for $20 and a set of three big boxes of 300 matches for $7-$10. That gives us 4K+ matches and 100 lighters for $37-45.

We can store them in our currently empty canning jars, or spend $5-6 at the dollar store to get candles or nail polish or lacquer to waterproof them and some baggies to keep them in. Strikers and blast matches, cigar lighters that work even in whipping Montana winds, run in the $4-$12 ranges.

Yes, it costs money. Yes, if you already have the knife, tromping into the woods to do it like Bear doesn’t.

Tromp into the woods learning to not make noise, recognize animal sign, and recognize landscape features that promise water instead.

There are multiple situations (and future practical, everyday skills) that benefit from that knowledge.

Soap – Making vs. Buying

Let’s start with the basics of soap. There’s a couple of modern recipes, and a link to the history. About halfway down, that one breaks soap making into three stages of lye, fats, and combination – which is where we’d be at a total pioneer homestead or “My Side Of The Mountain forever” INCH lifestyle.

I’m going to discount any soap making as viably sustainable if it’s using a fat or oil that’s not locally produced. That’s including people who buy the glycerin soap blocks. (For soap making – no comment on other uses.)

That’s the whole argument about sustainable, colonial and primitive skills – they’re for when there is no store and we run out of things.

If you need palm oil, you’re storing something and you might as well store the finished product. (There are exceptions, like the many balms and other uses for various oils.)

Some basic soap-making starter kits are available for as little as $10-15. Better will run as high as you like. I couldn’t find one that already included a scale (soap making is one of those things that requires weights according to some experts, although others have converted recipes to volume).

$10-15 for a kit isn’t much, absolutely. However, soap requires those rendered animal fats or oils. Those aren’t in the kits, and some of the ones I’ve seen in recipes are pretty pricey.

Too, in a crisis, especially if we’re living off grass-fed livestock and wildlife and the diet food of garden produce, fats and oils are going to be precious to keep our bodies functioning.

There’s still tons of bar soaps available at the dollar store and <$1 at Walmart. Some are travel sized and singles in boxes. However, options are available in 2-packs and 3-packs of standard-sized bars. So for $10 I can get 18-27 bars of soap and still pay tax.

If I’m inclined, I can cut that down, get a bottle or two each of Dawn and pine cleaner for dishes and laundry, floors, and surfaces, and still get 14-18 bars of soap.

I once figured that between bathing and washing my hands and face, I run through a cake of soap a week, so I need more than $9-10 worth. I need more in the neighborhood of $20-$30, and about a shoebox of space. For laundry, surfaces and dishes for a year, and surface cleaning, depending on household, I need a couple of free liquor boxes and another $20-30 for liquid cleaners, even buying from the dollar store. (The dollar store is not the cheapest per ounce or most compact form, but they are incremental purchase and use sizes.)

Cost doesn’t apply for the folks who plan to have fatty pigs and cattle, and use their wood ash. For them, the comparison is strictly about time. For a lark, sure, jump one weekend. But weigh out what else could be learned, what other materials cost, and what family ties could be strengthened with a different activity.

Soap is compact. They are sensitive to dampness, so they need a Ziploc bag, lidded can, or plastic tub. There are environments where dry soaps melt, but most of North America could keep them in a shed. So will the ingredients for making soap, or finished homemade soaps.

Rendering suet for tallow

Some will still think it’s worthwhile. To each their own, but please refer back to the general premise and Pat’s arc to be sure it’s the best use of your resources and time as you stand now.

On the flip side, totally learn how to make suet and tallow if fatty animals and materials are present. They have a ton of uses, provide a storable sustainable fat source, and they fill very real needs in a self-sustainable lifestyle.

Treating Hides

Hides and making useful items from hides is 50-50 with me. On one hand, I know a woman who makes a bundle from it, and if you have rabbits or hunt deer, you have hides. On the other hand, should the world collapse to colonial and pioneer day levels if not the Dark Ages, lots of humanity will die fast enough for me to find underroos, sheets, work boots, and socks should I need to go out past my X date – they aren’t exactly the things being grabbed in today’s riots.

 

If it’s going to be a side business, sure, jump – after you do some market research. If it’s a niche market half-hobby, jump.

If it’s something on the to-do list because it seems like a great skill … maybe consider jumping on a maps website, finding farm fields and nearby specialty farms, making some non-nut cookies or muffins to carry, and sharing that you’re interested in breaking away from city life, would the nice farmer be willing to work out some kind of tag-along for labor deal so you can get a good idea of what’s involved.

Another option useful in disasters of all kinds is mapping power-line cuts to avoid traffic jams, snow and flood evacuation routes, and directions and A, B, C routes to and from kids’ schools and the school evac rally points.

Skills versus Stuff

Nine times out of ten, I would argue that knowing is better than having. However, there are exceptions – usually because of the time and-or resources they require, and sometimes because of the space.

There are lots of things that we should know just to be well-round humans, let alone homesteaders or – if inclined – nomads. However, sometimes we waste our precious resources learning something that only benefits most people during a very specific type of disaster, or a total breakdown and reversal that lasts for 5-10+ years.

Sadly, a lot of people who push and learn those lack the skills and supplies to survive long enough for some primitive skills to become valuable again. Some of those skills come at the cost of things that can benefit us, right now.

There are all kinds of things to do without spending more money or spending time on something with highly specialized skills and low-likelihood needs.

I figure I’ll get hate mail for the concept and for the specific few I listed. I just want people to weigh their to-do and to-learn lists so that they can prioritize based on where they already stand and where they want to go.

If there’s true need and potential – and sometimes there is – or it’s just a hobby, there’s nothing wrong with any of the primitive skills. I think most of us, though, have something we would be better served learning, practicing or building than the three listed.

0 Comments

I generally agree with the premise that skills are far more important than stuff, and that knowledge weighs nothing. There are skills that benefit us, every single day and definitely