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HomePosts Tagged "Tactical"

Introduction

“When the system breaks down, we all break down.” – Sgt. Barnes – Platoon

Tactical camping is a great way to develop and sharpen many essential survival skills. But, beyond these skills there is a particular discipline that needs to be practiced; one that will improve your ability to travel through unfamiliar or potentially unfriendly territory during dangerous times if circumstances should require it. Most people don’t think about evading detection because their day to day lives don’t depend on it.

To my way of thinking, there are three issues that risk the safety and obscurity of a group in camp. These are visibility, noise, and odor. I will leave it to you to visualize the circumstances under which these risks might apply, but the general scenario is that you are on the move between points A and B of indeterminate distance. Whether you are alone or traveling in a group, on foot or caravanning with several vehicles, the issues are the same.

Importantly, I am excluding urban or other densely populated areas from this discussion. They are not in my field of expertise and frankly, I don’t spend much time thinking about cities. My presumption is that you have successfully evacuated from an urban/suburban location and are traveling through rural, less populated country.

As a Prepper, you either already have a plan or you are working on one. It should mean you have a rally point where your group will assemble, that you and everyone else know the route to the destination and that you have pre-established way-point locations where you will lay up while en route to that chosen destination. It will mean that you have taken congestion and potential roadblocks into consideration. Finally, it will mean that you have evaluated fall-back sites and alternate routes that may be needed to reach your objective.

The thrust of the title is that you need to be a ‘hole in the dark’ for all three issues. In other words, an apparently dark camp can still be exposed by excessive noise, the odor of drifting smoke or food preparation. What techniques can you employ to establish and maintain a profile that is ‘dark’ to all aspects of the human senses?

tactical_concealment

Abandoned structures can be ideal locations for concealing a tactical camp. In this photo, six vehicles are parked behind an abandoned beehive that is about 100 yards away from a 2-track road.

But first, what is the best time of day to be on the move with a group? The answer will most likely be based upon the group’s overall capabilities, the tools, and resources at your disposal. If you opt to travel only at night, but you have no night vision goggles, then your rate of travel may be exceedingly slow. It will be further hampered in rough terrain where you are required to distinguish safe from unsafe trails. My general bias is to move in daylight and camp at night, but there are conditions, such as familiar terrain, ample moonlight and an experienced team that I’m working with, where I would flip the preference.

The discussion that follows reflects my bias for laying up at night. I have practiced these disciplines under a variety of weather and terrain conditions, both singly and in groups ranging up to a dozen people.

Establishing a ‘dark’ camp:

  • Seek locations that are as secluded as possible. This means that you are consciously separating your group from the Golden Horde. Circumstances created by a SHTF situation dictate that you avoid Interstate highways and all other major routes that lead to your chosen destination.
  • Seek locations that provide the best possible concealment for the entire group, whether natural or man-made. In the case of structures, think of a vacant barn, warehouse or a walled compound. For outdoor settings, think of places where concealment is provided by terrain, dense vegetation, or structures that will obfuscate. One such example might be on the backside of an abandoned corral. Open-air campsites need to be located beyond the range of approaching headlights.
  • Strive to set your camp well before sundown so that you have enough light and time to prepare a dark camp. This means that you are establishing lay up sites that are close enough to reach in the time you have allotted for each day’s travel. It implies that these are preselected locations that you have already evaluated to some degree. The time required to set a secure camp may vary at each location along the route.

Night vision would allow you to move without external illumination and hides your location from others.

  • Have time to deploy or create necessary obfuscation, such as camouflage. The absence of sunlight is not a guarantee that your camp is safe from detection. Although there may be a low probability, consumer-grade thermal/infra-red cameras can spot exposed camps and vehicles at distances greater than one mile. If thieves are on the hunt for vulnerable groups, an exposed campsite becomes an easy target.
  • Have time to set a security perimeter that maximizes your ability to detect any approaching threat. Elevated lookout or observation posts (LP/OP) give you a decided advantage during night time hours, as well as the ability to spot traffic or groups during pre-dawn and after sunrise. If possible, locate these posts on the military crest. Time your travel to and departure from the LP/OP(s) so that you are moving in low light and shadow. Elevated security posts can be at any distance as long as you can maintain a clear line of sight of the area that you need to monitor. Obviously, communication between your camp and LP/OP(s) will require the use of two-way radios.
  • Prepare your evening meals and clean up before dark. In these circumstances, you will want your cooking fires out and cold before dark. Avoid the use of wood or charcoal fires where possible, or use devices like the Rocket Stove, which require a minimum quantity of biomass and burn hot enough to limit the output of smoke. Do not prepare your morning meals until daylight to keep fires from being visible. This is not a backyard hamburger cookout. Drifting smoke and the smell of food may alert others to your presence.
  • Stow non-essential camp items before dark to prevent accidental noise.
  • Each morning, break down your camp and stow gear as quickly as possible. This should be an assigned task. Remember, your security team members will be returning to camp. Every step they take downhill reduces their visibility to approaching vehicles or groups and progressively shrinks your security perimeter. Once they reach your camp the entire group may be effectively blind to any threat. Be prepared to move out before you have to.

tactical_obfuscation

In situations where complete concealment is not possible, your camp can be effectively obfuscated by using features that break up the profile. In this photo, corral posts and rails, an abandoned well and native brush served to mask the presence of a camp.

  • Cover and conceal all vehicles to prevent moon glow. I cannot emphasize this enough – I know of surveillance operations that have ‘gone south’ because a subject was able to detect the glint of moonlight on a partially covered windshield.
  • Set the dimmer switches in your vehicles to the off position. This will eliminate escaping light if you need to open a door after dark.
  • Cloak any vehicle that may be used as an Op center where interior lighting may be required. To be effective, this requires using opaque blankets that shroud all possible sources of light leakage.
  • Strictly avoid the use of flashlights for signaling. In other words, restrict communication to radios with headsets, but keep your traffic to a minimum. Avoid popular GMRS/FRS frequencies that can be monitored by others within range. Use the lowest power output possible. [I use programmable dual band (VHF/UHF) two-way radios that permit me to transmit and receive over GMS/FRS/MURS frequencies, but I also have my own SHTF frequencies that would be used by the group. This helps to assure that you are ‘dark’ to the radio spectrum that is most likely to be used by others.
  • Constrain all movement to the absolute minimum at night. If I am standing a watch between 00:00 and 02:00, there are only two people that I expect to see, the person I relieve at midnight and the one who relieves me at 02:00. Don’t wander around in the dark. Otherwise, you are a safety hazard to yourself and others.

tactical_lpop

An effective security perimeter is not constrained by two dimensions. This photo shows a surveillance LP/OP that was located on a hilltop 300 feet above and 1100 feet away from the corral shown in the previous photo. Locations such as these can provide a significant tactical advantage. Communication between the LP/OP and camp were maintained via radio.

Other Contingencies

I am somewhat reluctant to open this subject, but the exposures are real enough and they are played out every night along the Southwest border with Mexico.

If you envision bug out circumstances that tend toward the extreme, such as attempting to move through an area after martial law has been declared, there will be other considerations that apply to concealment. For example, the government could enforce martial law over large areas through the use of surveillance aircraft equipped with thermal cameras, FLIR and ground surveillance radars that detect motion against a stationary background.

In case it hasn’t occurred to you, the Department of Homeland Security already uses hundreds of fixed and rotary wing aircraft, a fleet of Predator UAVs, mobile vehicles and portable manned surveillance equipment. These are used to detect and apprehend smuggling groups along the U.S./Mexico border. Under conditions of martial law, some of those assets could be redirected to the detection and apprehension of citizens. In circumstances such as these, you could be dealing with a potentially hostile and/or desperate populace as well as a government that wants to find you. Their motivation may not be particularly humanitarian.

The type of surveillance aircraft referenced above has the ability to detect heat signatures at distances of fifteen miles or more. They can differentiate between you and a warm rock. They can detect a stationary vehicle, even though the engine hasn’t been running for two or three hours. They can detect your movement, course, and speed. If that isn’t enough, their thermal cameras are capable of identifying if you are carrying a long arm.

Fixed-wing aircraft generally operate at altitudes of 8,500 to 10,000 feet, while Predator UAVs typically patrol at altitudes ranging between 19,000 and 21,000 feet. Generally speaking, all of these aircraft are quiet and they patrol without running lights. In other words, you will not see or hear a surveillance aircraft that is orbiting your position from seven miles out.

Most nighttime detections occur where groups are laid up or moving across open ground or along ridgelines.

Against these capabilities, the basic concepts of maintaining a dark camp require added precautions; particularly if you are outdoors.

  • You may need to consider setting camp in an area that provides dense overhead cover and that is in a narrow confined area, such as a ravine or draw. Your heat signature can be significantly reduced by the overhead cover. The steep angular nature of the terrain will help prevent detection from long range. Ideally, you will want to be inside an enclosed structure; one that has a roof.
  • Setting camp against a cliff, particularly if there are overhangs or shallow caves, can mask you from surveillance.
  • The heat that is radiating from a vehicle (especially the engine block) is much more problematic. One suggestion is to open the hood as soon as you’ve concealed the vehicle. This will help dissipate heat more quickly. Parking under dense tree cover will also quickly lower the overall temperature of the vehicle. Avoid covering the vehicle with heat-trapping blankets, tarps and camo netting until it has reached the ambient temperature of the air.

I have not experimented with heat cloaking devices, so I cannot make recommendations regarding the efficacy of any product or technique. If anyone has experience or suggestions on this subject, I am all ears.

The probability of surveillance aircraft being deployed during or after a major SHTF scenario (that is, one that pulls large numbers of CBP aircraft away from the border) is probably very low. I know of no situation, such as a major hurricane or earthquake, where this has ever happened. Other assets, such as the National Guard and state Department of Public Safety aircraft, are more likely to be used for search and rescue operations.

Circumstances that might lead to a declaration of martial law across a major region or the entire country are far harder to visualize to any reasonable level detail. The deployment of surveillance aircraft against citizens under martial law conditions would certainly require a functioning central government, and motivations could range from the elimination of armed bandits to the suppression of rebellion. The problem is that an aerial surveillance camera operating at 19,000 feet will not know that you are merely trying to get home. My only recommendation is “when in doubt, assume the need for maximum precaution.”

If it is any comfort, Border Patrol agents optimistically estimate that they succeed in apprehending somewhere between 35-40% of illegal aliens that cross the border. Their estimate of success for drug smugglers (the wiliest of all creatures) is even lower; in spite of the surveillance technologies that I’ve described above. For the most part, smugglers that successfully evade detection use terrain to their advantage.

Conclusion

More than anything else, being a ‘hole in the dark’ is a discipline rather than a set of tools. Certainly, tools can help, but they cannot offset poor security practices. If you don’t plan and prepare for the circumstances that require you to exercise those disciplines, you are placing yourself at risk. Any bug out destination that you have in mind is likely to require one or more lay up sites along the way. Your survival may very well depend on knowing in advance where they will be, as well as the steps needed to assure a secure camp.

I welcome your comments and questions.

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Introduction “When the system breaks down, we all break down.” – Sgt. Barnes – Platoon Tactical camping is a great way to develop and sharpen many essential survival skills. But, beyond these

What if the SHTF when you are away from your home? What if you are on the big family vacation down at the Grand Canyon and the global economy finally tanks like a drunken toddler going down the stairs on roller-skates? You could be hundreds, maybe thousands of miles away from your home, your supplies and everything you have been preparing for. All of your careful planning, saving and prioritizing would be wasted if you couldn’t get back home to the comparative safety of your home or retreat.

This is something I think about whenever I have to travel out-of-town so I have developed a couple of processes to help me if my main priority is getting back home. The steps I take are different and my plans need to be adjusted depending on how I am traveling and who I am traveling with. Naturally, the distance and duration of my travel has an impact on my plans as well.

Distance

If I have to travel less than 500 miles away from home, I try to drive. Why drive 500 miles when you can simply hop on a plane you ask? For several reasons, I dislike flying. No, let me say I hate flying with a blind passion.

When you fly anywhere now, unless you are going from one major city to another major city you will most likely be on multiple flights. The airlines do this so they can combine travelers on bigger jets but it makes a simple trip for the average person a pain in the rump. If you have one of these multiple hop nightmares, you could face delays on one leg that make you late for your connecting flight. There are few things more infuriating than running with your luggage across a crowded airport only to arrive at your next gate and watch the plane you were supposed to be on slowly pulling away. No, they won’t come back for you either. Add to this security delays, which mean you need to get to the airport earlier, parking, shuttles, luggage hassles, not to mention the ultimate insult as they grope you and your family.

I do still fly, but with certain considerations and it isn’t my first choice. If you are flying, you have much less you can do in the way of taking major preparations with you. Less than 500 miles I like to drive because my trip starts the minute I leave my driveway. I can also take firearms, extra food and water and other items I may need if I have to get back home. You can still carry firearms on a plane, but in a car, there is almost zero hassle.

Alone or With Companions

If I am traveling alone, I definitely carry fewer items in my survival kit. Actually, I don’t take a true survival kit that you would recognize. I always have my EDC which consists of knife, multi-tool, handkerchief, water etc. I also carry concealed if the state I am traveling to honors my permit. I don’t worry about carrying too much extra food, because I am not as concerned with feeding myself as I would be if I had a hungry wife and kids with me.

Read more: Knowledge to survive any medical crisis situation

If I am traveling with my family, I bring much more because I have more people to consider. Hunger, at a minimum, can seriously harm morale and is one of the easiest concerns to prepare for.

Food

Traveling with a family, our family anyways, involves food. There is something about a car trip that makes everyone hungry so snacks are necessary just to get us to the next food stop. I think there is some chemical aroma that our car puts off that makes you hungry if you are in it more than 20 minutes. It may be years worth of fries under the seats. We make sure we have more than enough snacks for our trip for everyone in the car. These don’t seem like much, but the caloric count of the snacks we have in the cooler would more than make up for a days’ worth of eating.

Water

Depending on the time of year we adjust the amount of water we carry in our car. Regardless of the outside temperature, everyone has a full Nalgene bottle before we leave the house. We also have enough bottled water to last us each 2 days. This isn’t enough to take showers or cook with, but we wouldn’t die of dehydration.

Read more: Build yourself the only unlimited water source you’ll ever need

Now, if we are driving through the desert, we pack more. I have also packed my backpacking water filters on occasion and always carry water purification tables in my Get Home Bag.

First Aid

I found an excellent combat medic bag at a gun show last year for $80 and this is always in the car with us on long trips. This has more supplies than I would ever use on a standard trip, hopefully ever, but I have this for a couple of reasons. First, if we are in a serious car accident, or witness a serious car accident I would be able to immediately assist with first aid (provided I wasn’t the one injured) and possibly save a life. The second reason is that if we had a grid-down scenario I would like to have my first- aid bag on steroids with me and not at my house. In this bag I have all of the normal items and some major blood stoppers.

Eventually, my plan is to add an IV. This bag is really to treat and stabilize major trauma; immobilize injuries and stop blood loss. I don’t think there is one Band-Aid in the whole bag. I also have a simpler first-aid kit that we bring with us on day trips. This is augmented with survival blankets,but the Combat Lifesaver is left in the car most of the time.

Weather

You should have a pretty decent idea of the weather you are going to encounter along your trip and at your destination. With the prevalence of weather websites and smart phone apps there is no reason except for laziness to not know how to pack. Is there a snow storm planned for where you are taking a vacation? Hurricanes in the summer can wreck all of your vacation plans, but these are the big-ticket items that receive a lot of notice on the news. What if there is no hurricane or blizzard, but you don’t pack a jacket and the temperatures are lower than you expect? You have to plan clothing that could keep you alive.

Read more: The vital self-sufficiency lessons our great grand-fathers left us

At a minimum I try to pack like I am not coming home. I bring too many clothes, but I am usually prepared for any weather. I have a rain blocker and a fleece if I am going anywhere where the forecast is rain or cooler temperatures. Even at the beach, nights can be cool. Could I live without the fleece if I only have to go back inside? Sure, but what if I am stuck outside and that fleece is the only thing keeping me warm overnight? My little trick is to have and wear clothes that would keep me alive if I didn’t have a car or a warm house to go to. This usually involves headgear and gloves which never get used, but it’s nice to have them as backup.

Fuel

Having all of the items you need to survive a collapse is great, but if you don’t have enough fuel to get you where you are going, it could be a much less pleasant trip. If you are driving, never let your tank get below half-full. This way your vehicle can get you closer to home regardless of what happens during your trip. Having the vehicle you are in maintained is a no-brainer also.

Firearms

Every trip I can, the firearms go with me. Why? What if the SHTF and you are hundreds of miles away from your AR? Just like clothing, I imagine what it would be like if I had to shoot my way back home. It may sound paranoid, but I have several firearms with multiple magazines each and at least one rifle. In some cases I have more than that. Again, all state and federal laws should be obeyed, but I don’t like being away from home without some serious firepower. Murphy’s Law states that would be when I would need it.

All of this is fine if you are driving, but what if you have to fly or you are traveling internationally? You can still travel with a lot of the items I mention above but every situation is different. You may need to adjust your plans to your travel requirements. It may help you in the use as I described though and if nothing else; it may help you prioritize when you are packing next time. Is there a case to be made for minimalism and making do with less or using items differently, of course. The main point is to be prepared and if that means another suitcase, so be it.

If you have travel ideas or tips, please share them with everyone in the comments below  and “safe travels”!

Other self-sufficiency and preparedness solutions recommended for you:

The vital self-sufficiency lessons our great grand-fathers left us

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Liberal’s hidden agenda: more than just your guns

Build yourself the only unlimited water source you’ll ever need

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What if the SHTF when you are away from your home?

Prepping is all about giving yourself a chance to survive. By preparing for disasters, you are proactively taking steps that give you higher odds of making it through or out of whatever circumstances you are faced with. If you have stored up emergency food, you will be less likely to go hungry if there are food shortages. If you have backup power, then you will not feel the same effects as your neighbors if the electricity goes out. These are actions you have to take in consideration of your family well in advance of bad times. FEMA or your local government doesn’t have your best interests at heart, only you do and the responsibility to be prepared for emergencies is yours.

We talk about Prepping or preparedness almost every day on Final Prepper and there are so many facets, so many needs we all have. There are no shortages of disasters that happen every day to prepare for and as preppers, we strive to act now so that we will have the advantage of tools, resources and skills needed for an emergency. We discuss storing water so that everyone in your family will have at least 1 gallon a day to last for some extended period of time. We talk about stocking your pantry with food that your family will eat should the grocery stores be out of food, or become unreachable because the roads are closed due to weather. We talk about all manner of preparing both from the standpoint of purchasing or setting aside supplies as well as becoming more self-sufficient so that you don’t rely on the stores for your food, the electric company for your power and even the police department for your safety.

Most of the topics of prepping are simple common sense (at least to me) and they usually fall into the buckets of having stored provisions for times of trouble and working towards backups when those stores run out. You have several months’ worth of food stored as well as a garden to supply additional food when the pantry is bare. The security aspect we discuss as preppers is different though. Security must be considered in some ways the same as food or water because without sustenance, you will die. Likewise, if you are defenseless you could fall prey to people who want to do you harm.

When it comes to security, I make no qualms about saying that I believe every responsible adult who is legally able should own a firearm. When it comes to firearms there is a whole world of different models to choose from, equipment that will augment these firearms and additional supplies you could purchase. It isn’t hard to start spending too much time, money and your focus on the latest gear or the proper outfit and instead of prepping we find ourselves falling into the Tacticool trap.

By tacticool, I mean that instead of focusing first on what you need for your families’ safety you focus on looking cool. I think some of this is simply part of being a man in that we want on some level to live out our Navy Seal fantasies while we are living our Homer Simpson reality. One simple example of this concept are these two hilarious videos below from Highjak86 who roast the tacticool crowd in a brilliant and funny way . These two videos illustrate the absurdity of some people’s focus on gear without any logic.

The first video is titled the “Most tactical AR15… Ever!!!”

The second video is titled the “Most Tactical Loadout….Ever!!!”

Is tactical gear necessary?

That is a great question and one that I have to ask myself anytime I want to purchase something new because none of this gear you see people running around in comes cheap. To answer the question though, it really depends on what you are preparing for and when it comes to self-defense what type of situation you foresee. Tactical gear intentionally mimics the gear soldiers wear into war. Actually, a lot of the suppliers to the military sell to the civilian market as well so you are able to purchase equipment that our soldiers actually use in conflicts.

Preppers see the usefulness in purchasing gear like this because over time the gear our soldiers wear has been tested. We know what works and what doesn’t and there aren’t many better options for their intended use. Now, the next question is what was it designed to be used for? That is simple. Tactical gear is designed to accompany a person into combat and carry the supplies you need to function as highly as possible so that you will have a better chance of coming out of combat alive.

Can you wear camouflage out hunting? Of course. Can you take a IFAK with you as part of your car survival kit? Absolutely. Would you ever take a bulletproof plate carrier with 6 AR magazines, 3 pistol magazines, a dump pouch, radio pouch and your IFAK to the grocery store? Probably not. Not unless you were picking up groceries during a Walking Dead zombie apocalypse.

What gear makes sense?

There is a lot of gear that the average prepper can purchase that makes total sense when you are purchasing it with the idea of possibly going into combat. By combat, I don’t mean you are part of the military, enlisted for 4 years and shipping out overseas for a tour of Afghanistan. Have you ever seen riots? Have you watched the news of ethnic cleansing in Africa? Have you seen the footage of people being shot in the street or having their heads chopped off for believing in the wrong religion?

Combat isn’t reserved in all cases for our armed forces and bloodshed and chaos can visit you on your street as history has proven time and time again. All things in moderation though, right?

I think that there are those who genuinely love gear and I fall into this camp sometimes. I think there are a lot of cases where purchases of tactical gear are perfectly valid and I’ll even cover some of my purchases and recommendations in upcoming articles so you can make your own decisions. There are some people who just love to buy things and when something catches your eye, you reach for your wallet. This is when the prepper can get into trouble.

When does it go too far?

Prepping needs to be viewed across a wide spectrum of needs spread out over your available resources. For me the most important things a prepper needs to worry about are additional food, water and shelter. This is what is the easiest to acquire and what is most likely you will need in the highest percentage of cases. You are probably a thousand times more likely to go through a natural disaster or even a relatively minor weather event that disrupts your town than you are to go through a civil war. You are more likely to lose power than to have the government collapse and your family is much more likely to need food than they are to need you standing in the front yard in all your tactical gear shooting zombies as the shuffle toward you.

Prepping should be a balance of priorities and your first priorities should be food, water and shelter. Security follows that, but before you go and spend $2500 on a high-tech sniper scope I would spend $2500 on long term emergency food. I am not saying don’t spend anything on security, but don’t become tacticool at the expense of feeding your family. Don’t look like Rambo if you don’t even know how to shoot that rifle. Don’t invest in a high-dollar night vision scope, if you can’t last the winter without heat.

There is nothing wrong with wanting gear as long as you are training with that gear and purchases are balanced with your other needs. Let your wife see you are thinking about her and the children by taking care of the needs they feel are important and think long and hard about your tactical purchases. I still think they have a place for those who can see a potential use, but judgment and moderation will make your choices wiser.

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Prepping is all about giving yourself a chance to survive. By preparing for disasters, you are proactively taking steps that give you higher odds of making it through or out

As you begin to think about preparing your family for a survival type of scenario there are a lot of important considerations. Do you have enough food stored up to keep your family fed and healthy during the length of any disruption? Do you have adequate water stores and a plan for resupplying that water and disinfecting it? Certainly firearms are considered as well as a plan for security in your home, but what if your plans are to bug out? If you have analyzed your situation and the plan for you and your family if the SHTF is to Get out Of Dodge (G.O.O.D) then you are going to need a vehicle most likely. Today we are going to talk about all of the different options, choices and considerations for your own personal Get out Of Dodge Vehicle.

Vehicle Type Options

Most of us aren’t going to be able to swing the totally awesome Conquest Knight XV pictured above unless we win the lottery or you are independently wealthy. Actually, I don’t know how much one of these costs because the website says “Price: will be provided privately”. I assume that means the same thing as if you have to ask, you can’t afford it. There is a chance that you could stumble upon an abandoned Hummer full of weapons like Columbus and Tallahassee did in this scene below from Zombieland, but I kind of doubt that too.


For the rest of us we have to be a little more practical, so extremely expensive vehicles and found jackpots of Zombie survival booty aside, let’s look at our options.

Truck – A truck is a solid choice for a Bug Out Vehicle and offers a lot of advantages. For starters, trucks are so common you can’t help but find a truck out there and they have plenty of uses even outside of an emergency. Trucks have a bed that can be just as useful for hauling supplies to your retreat location or your survival kit as it can a new washing machine home from Lowes. An important consideration with any bug out vehicle is the best ones have 4 wheel drive so that if the need arises to go off-road, you will be prepared.

If you are considering the very real potential threat of EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) you will want to get a truck that doesn’t have an electronic ignition. 1986 and older trucks fit the bill nicely and come with a lower price tag. Of course, you will be looking at a truck that has very high mileage and mechanical issues in most cases, but the price you are going to spend for this truck is much less than a newer truck so some of your money can go to refurbishing your new Get Out Of Dodge vehicle. I would make sure to have the engine rebuilt or replaced if the mileage is really high. The transmission would be the next logical place to put your money. I wouldn’t worry about the paint job or interior trim niceties until your major mechanical systems were almost as good as new.

Along with 4 wheel drive, a quad or crew cab will give you extra room for people or storage. An older truck with a quad cab and 4 wheel drive won’t be as easy to find as an old Ford Ranger, but it is worth it to look around. Use Craigslist to find good deals and you might have to be willing to travel up to 50 miles away to find a diamond in the rough. They are out there.

SUV – SUV’s are actually easier to find used and cheaper than trucks. This is because trucks can always be used for work while SUV’s are primarily a family vehicle. Another and more obvious reason is gas mileage. With gas prices over $4 a gallon in many locations people are unloading them to downsize to more fuel efficient vehicles. SUV’s suck a lot of gas obviously, but they do have some advantages that trucks don’t without modifications.

First, the entire vehicle is already covered so there is no need to buy a camper shell. This can give you more security for your supplies; you don’t have to worry about your spare food or weapons getting stolen as easily as out of the back of a truck. You can also sleep in the back of most SUV’s if you remove the seats and have that same covering over your head. SUV’s usually have a 4 wheel drive option on the dash but their off-roading abilities are not as substantial as you might think. Your typical SUV is a lot heavier than a truck but in some cases this is an advantage. If you have to plow through a roadblock of stuck cars, an SUV would be the better option in that case.

As with trucks you want to shoot for an older model with 4 wheel drive and spend your extra money on rebuilding the engine and transmission. You may be able to get rid of any third row seating to free up storage space.

Surplus Military – This is a very interesting option but not one that your average suburbanite is going to go for. For the same amount of money you can find used military vehicles that would make excellent bug out vehicles, but would certainly be a lot more noticeable by your neighbors unless you lived in a very remote location or a military base. If OPSEC is a concern (and it should be) then a military surplus vehicle wouldn’t be the first choice but should be considered. There is a great amount of options for vehicles and other military surplus from the Government Liquidation website and you could walk away with incredible deals. Make sure you research the terms of sale first. You may win a giant tanker truck that isn’t operable yet and it would be your responsibility to take it off the lot.

There are great deals to be had if your wife is ok with you parking a 5-ton camouflaged truck in the driveway while you wait for a disaster to happen. These vehicles are already set up for off-road ability and are made to take a beating. Spare parts would be hard to come by though in a grid-down scenario. The spare parts issue alone is one strong reason to choose an older American made truck or SUV.

Motorcycle – I don’t own a motorcycle but I have ridden them before. A common thread in survival forums and literature is the horde of motorcycle gangs rolling into town and killing and raping the women. This may happen, but if I had to choose a vehicle to roll into a potentially hostile town, it would not be a motorcycle. That’s just me.

Motorcycles have advantages in that they are pretty good on gas, can be hidden easily and if equipped right, can be ridden off road. They are also able to zip between cars stopped in traffic. At least until someone opens their door. Motorcycles lack shelter though and you can’t carry a lot of people or equipment on a motorcycle. You are exposed to the elements and this means heat and cold. You are basically toast if you have a wreck and motorcycles can fall over easily in any type of snow or rain.

I will add that it may be handy to know how to ride a motorcycle though. You never know if you might need to hop on one to escape a situation. They aren’t completely useless, but as I said, they wouldn’t be my first choice.

Animals – Horses would make a good bug out “vehicle” in certain situations also. I would not want to try and get out of the city on a horse and like motorcycles; they can’t carry a lot of supplies or other people. I know two people can ride a horse, but the more you load on a horse, the slower they will go and will need more rest. Horses have to be fed also, but as long as there is grass to eat and water to drink they should be fine. The elements are another factor with the horse as with a motorcycle.

Bikes – A bike is able to carry a decent amount of weight considering what you are looking at and only requires you to power it. A touring bike with saddle bags would be able to carry you and some supplies but like motorcycles and horses you are exposed to the elements, they are unstable and aren’t recommended for heavy duty bug out scenarios. If you can get a jump on the crowd and your retreat has all of your prepping supplies, a bike with saddle bags may be a good option.

Fuel Options – The most common options are Gas and diesel. I know there are propane and hybrid technologies, but you can’t siphon propane out of anyone’s tank. Batteries aren’t good options in an end of the world scenario so between diesel and gas, which is better? It does depend on the age of the vehicle and the equipment you are running. In very general terms, in older vehicles diesel is preferred for its mileage and durability of the engine. Diesel engines typically deliver 20- to 40-percent better fuel economy than comparable gasoline engines doing the same amount of work. A diesel engine with 400000 miles is nothing odd and Diesels have extra torque and more pulling power.

Bio-diesel is another option, but must be created in a lab. OK, the lab can be your kitchen, but it isn’t as easy as the pump. The process is supposed to be simple and there are sites and plans for this as well. In a total collapse I would give this one a shot, but for now I would store up several hundred gallons of regular gas or diesel. It’s just simpler for the average bear.

Another interesting option and one I would pursue if I had a workshop, the time and a more mechanical mind would be wood gasification. Wood gasifiers can power either spark ignition engines, where 100% of the normal petrol can be replaced with little change to the carburation, or in a diesel engine, feeding the gas into the air inlet that is modified to have a throttle valve, if it didn’t have it already. All you need is wood to burn and you are all set. I have seen a lot of claims and even plans online for how to retrofit a regular engine to run on gassification. Again, this would be at the end of the world before I would try this. To simply get out of dodge I would want a simpler solution.

Post Collapse Considerations

Since we are talking about fuel we should talk about how you are going to ensure you have or can procure the fuel you need after a disaster or collapse of society. Prior to the collapse, you should have enough fuel stored at all times either in your vehicle or on your property to get you to your retreat location. I would say double this amount just to be safe because you may have to take alternate routes or be delayed in traffic. The last thing you want is to run out of gas half way between your home and your bug out location with gas stations that are either out of gas or are unable to get to the gas due to a power outage.

A simple hand pump is an easy way to recover fuel from abandoned vehicles.

One simple rule of thumb is to never let your gas gauge get below half a tank. This will ensure you are never on empty when some disaster strikes. You can focus on getting back home to your family and not waiting in line at a gas station. If you remember hurricane Sandy, they started rationing gas almost immediately and there were lines of people queued up to fill their 5 gallon cans for their generators. You don’t want to be in that line. My sister in-law was visiting from out of town and we were talking one time and the subject of keeping the tank at least half-full came up. She said “well, that wouldn’t get me home if I was at your house and I only had half a tank” to which I replied, “maybe not, but you would get 200 miles closer”. I think that made her consider things differently.

There will always be the possibility that no matter how you planned, you may still need to get gas. Siphoning from another gas tank is pretty simple. Just make sure you have several feet of garden hose or plastic tubing. I prefer clear plastic tubing that you can get at any hardware store because you can see when the gas is coming out and avoid a mouthful of nastiness.

A manual hand pump and about 15 feet of hose or tubing would allow you to tap into fuel tanks buried under gas stations in an emergency. Depending on your route this may be something you want to plan for.

Modifications and Upgrades

What is the best thing about buying a bugout vehicle? Tricking it out with all sorts of modifications of course! Once you have a vehicle that is running well, free of any mechanical defects and you are confident it will get you where you are going, its time to accessorize!

Off road tires – This is a no-brainer but the tires should match your environment. If most of your driving is on the highways, I would tone this option down a little and try to strike a good balance between functionality and common sense. Giant knobby tires are perfect for the mud bog, but if you have to drive 500 miles on the highway with a short dirt road to your retreat maybe you don’t need these.

Bumper Guard – Bumper guards pull double duty as protecting the front of your vehicle, holding additional lights and equipment like winches. If money were no object I would go with a Warn Industries package.

Winches – as mentioned above, these are normally incorporated into a reinforced bumper guard and will give you the ability to pull your vehicle or another vehicle out of a stuck situation. If your buddy sinks his old jeep in the mud, you can hook up to his bumper and pull him out from the dry safety of the river bank. Don’t forget towing straps too so even if you don’t have a winch, you can potentially pull your buddy out of a ditch.

Additional Fuel Bladders – These can be as simple as throwing some additional 5-gallon tanks in the back or as complex as augmenting your entire fuel system. For a truck, I would consider an extra fuel container that also doubles as a tool box in the back for maximum fuel capacity. This could give you almost 100 gallons of capacity and a lot of range.

Trailer – When you want to carry all of your food and shelter and supplies, the easiest way to increase your capacity is to hook a trailer up to the back but make sure you know how to back that trailer up. Used trailers can be found for a few hundred dollars and there aren’t that many moving parts to go bad. Ensure the wheel bearings are in good shape and packed with grease and your tires have plenty of tread left on them. When you aren’t hauling all of your supplies to your retreat you can help your friend get a load of mulch in the spring!

Rooftop Cargo Carriers – a lot of vehicles come with a basic luggage rack, but a more substantial cargo carrier can give you storage options on the top of your truck or SUV.

Hopefully, that gives you some inspiration and ideas about your Get Out Of Dodge Vehicle. If you have anything to add, please comment below. Happy shopping!

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As you begin to think about preparing your family for a survival type of scenario there are a lot of important considerations. Do you have enough food stored up

I am asked regularly what equipment people should have or need for tactical or hostile situations. I am not a gear-queer and tell people to make maximum use of what they have in their everyday environment, there is no need for camouflage knife, forks, and spoons. I am a great believer in the saying that “The more you know, the less you need” and I tell my students always look for equipment that is multi-use or think how something can be adapted for multiple uses.

Let me ask you a question… What makes equipment tactical? For me all that makes equipment tactical is the word “Tactical” which, is overly used these days by stores and manufactures to sell Chinese made junk. Apart from firearms and ammunition a lot of useful equipment can be found in most hardware or kitchen stores.

The advantage of kit from hardware or kitchen stores is that it’s meant to be used and worked with, not just talked about, and played with as is the case with a lot of tacticool kit. For example, I always buy my flashlights from hardware stores, they are generally a lot cheaper than tacticool flashlights and take AA batteries etc. that are more widely available than fancy lithium batteries. From a tactical perspective, you don’t need powerful flashlights, they need to be powerful enough for the job, you want to see, not be seen!

Camouflage and tactical black kit may look cool when you showing it off to your buddies but, try finding the camo flashlight or zippo you dropped in the bush when you need it… As, long as kit does not shine or reflect light it will be fine. When buying, equipment think about if you drop it, which you will, would it be easy to find! In potentially hostile environments all but essential equipment needs to be packed or in your pouches or pockets, so your orange spork should not be tucked in your hat band!

The below personal tactical gear list is taken from a proposal I put together for counterinsurgency / tactical team in West Africa a few years ago, this should give you a few hints on kit etc. I have made some explanations on why I have included some of the items, and not every item will be applicable to everyone in every situation, so use this as a guide and adapt it. This is a tactical gear list for operational personnel and I am sure some reading this will say it’s not applicable for most preppers etc. OK, then don’t read it, but remember not so long ago Libya, Syria and The Donbass (Eastern Ukraine) were peaceable countries, whose populations would not have believed you if you told them civil wars would tear them apart.

Discover in this video how this will affect you.

100 Deadly Skills: Survival Edition: The SEAL Operative’s Guide to Surviving in the Wild and Being Prepared for Any Disaster

From a U.S perspective look at what happened in New Orleans with hurricane Katrina in 2005 or the situation in South Chicago. Not so far afield look at what’s happening in Mexico, could this happen in the U.S., to an extent yes… The Mexican Cartels in the U.S. generally keep things amongst their own communities, they are making plenty of money and compared to Mexico they are relatively safe. But with the strengthening of security on the U.S./Mexican border, which will lead to human and drug trafficking routes being cut, things could spill over. What trafficking routes are left will be fought over and the now unemployed narcos will be seeking other sources of income.

Such situations can lead to what can be classed as “Bosnification”. Now when society breaks down, who takes charge? Sadly, in most places its usually the organized criminals; they are organized, armed and willing to take risks. After the Soviet Union collapsed Mafia groups took control in one way or another of local governments throughout the former USSR. Many of the irregular units fighting in the civil wars in the Balkans in the 1990’s were formed by what could be classed as Mafia bosses. You can see it these days in Iraq, Libya and Syria where local militias have taken control of areas and change sides on a regular basis, and in the meantime the local populations have to deal with their BS and taxes.

In Mexico, in theory, there is the Military, Federal Police, State, and Municipal Police to enforce the laws but much of the country is controlled by drug Cartels and their offshoots. I have worked in Mexico and the police there have an extremely difficult job. I have trained some very effective police tactical units in Mexico who in the long run were disbanded or became ineffective due to being targeted by criminals. State and local police generally live in the areas they work in, if not from and grown up in those areas, which makes it easy for the Cartels to identify them and their families. Even if the officers want to do their jobs properly are they going to put their families lives at risk to do so, or just take their pay check and look the other way? In many situations where regular law and order has broken down, be it in Mexico or elsewhere it has been up to the local communities to protect themselves.

Now, when considering what equipment you need, put it into four different layers and think what gear you need, rather than what you want. I have used British Army Infantry terminology to help explain this section, each layer would be added on as required.

  • Personal Items: Think about what should be on your person and at hand at all the time; knife, pistol, pistol magazines, cell phone/radio, lighter, personal water filter, basic first aid kit.
  • Assault Order: This would consist of the essential kit needed to conduct a short-term military type tasking in a potentially hostile environment; rifle, spare magazines, water bottles, comprehensive first aid kit, protective clothing etc.
  • Combat Order: This is the Assault Order with rations and personal equipment, that enable the you to live and fight for a period of 24 hours.
  • Marching Order: This is the Combat Order with the addition of a field equipment such as backpack, sleeping bag, poncho, cooking stove, spare socks etc. required for two week operations without resupply, except for ammunition, rations, and water.

As I stated earlier this kit list was put together for a government team who had access to military weapons, I know in most places civilians will not be able to get AK’s and CS grenades, so make use of what you have. If all I had access to was a double barred shotgun I would be happy, it’s a very effective weapon if you know how to use it and have your strategies planned! If you have access to firearms buy weapons that you can get spare parts and magazines for, in common calibers. I have heard people applauding the FN 5.7 as the best pistol on the market, and I will admit it’s a very nice weapon, but trying to get the ammo at the best of times can be a pain, during a SHTF situation, it might be easier to find rocking horse shit… I would suggest you stick to 9mm, .40 or .45 etc…

Team Formation & Equipment

Team operatives need to be carefully selected not only for physical abilities but also for social skills and their ability to blend in with other people. This means the best operatives are usually average height and weight and look like normal people. The operatives need to be physically fit and should be trained in light infantry tactics, first aid, communications etc. The operatives will need a high standard of self-discipline and intelligence; they will need to be mentally flexible enough to adapt to rapidly changing situations. The operators will need to be able to work by themselves or in team with minimal equipment and support. Our suggested size for an operational team is six operatives, this size team should be able to handle most tasks and be able to be split into two three-man independent fire teams. The team should consist of a team leader, a second in command and four operatives.

Equipment

The operatives need to be able to operate with minimal equipment and be able to adapt everyday objects to meet their needs. The operatives should be as lightly equipped as possible, too much gear will only slow them down. When on operations they should only carry what is necessary, if they don’t need it, don’t carry it. Below is a list of equipment the operative should have access to for cover and overt operations, they will not need everything for every operation.

Personal Equipment

  1. Communications; Radios, cell/mobile phones. Note: Consider if the cell phone networks will be working in SHTF situations. Remember with radios, the more powerful they are the easier they are to intercept from a distance. Make maximum use of smart phone apps if they do not compromise operational security. All communications equipment needs to be secured at all times.
  2. Power; mobile power sources need to be available for charging communication devices etc. Consider solar options.
  3. A reliable wrist watch
  4. Two good quality high capacity pistols with minimum of 6 magazines: We recommend two identical full size service weapons.
  5. Concealable/duty pistol holsters; strong side and shoulder rigs.
  6. One folding stock rifle/carbine with minimum 6 magazines. We recommend AK-47 type platforms. Note: AK platform was chosen for this location due to availability, always chose weapons you can get spare parts and ammunition for.
  7. Chest rig capable of holding 6 rifle magazines and two water bottles
  8. Plenty of ammunition for operations and training.
  9. Weapon cleaning kit
  10. Waterproof flashlight and batteries
  11. Personal first aid equipment
  12. Quality fixed blade knife
  13. Quality multi-pliers
  14. Quality pruning shears/secateurs. Note: used for building hides and clearing trails of brush that can make noise etc.
  15. Quality compass, Maps of operational areas, GPS with software updates.
  16. Minimum two 1 liter water bottles, water purification tablets or personal filters.
  17. A level 3A concealable bullet proof vest. Note: protective clothing should not inhibit movement and remember the heat factor!
  18. Smoke/CS grenades.
  19. Two Carabiners & 20 meters of 9.2 mm climbing rope
  20. Scrim net/sniper veil
  21. Backpack
  22. poncho
  23. sleeping bag
  24. stove etc.

Team equipment

  1. Spotting scopes
  2. Night vision
  3. Stills and videos cameras
  4. Bolt cutters/entry tools

Dress

Operatives should dress to blend in with their environments; civilian clothes should be used for tactical operations especially when working in close proximity of civilians. A simple green or brown shirt can blend in to bush just as well as camouflage if the operative is properly trained. Our preference for civilian cloths over military fatigues is because if you are performing an operation in a suburban/urban area you have to blend in with the public and if you are wondering around the streets in military fatigues and face paint you will draw attention.

For footwear, we suggest to wear what the general population is wearing, something light that is good for running and swimming in. Tactical boots can draw attention and their aggressive tread leave obvious ground sign. If using running shoes ensure any reflective material is removed.

The only specialist clothing we would recommend would be a fire proof balaclava and gloves. The balaclava can be used for concealing your identity and hiding the shine from your face on rural operations. Good gloves amongst other things gives you extra grip on your weapon and again hides the shine from your hands on rural operations etc. Tactical clothes for direct action operations should be fire proof and of a good quality.

Cash

Cash and assets will need to be available for operational expenses and to pay sources for information or services provided. Operatives should sign for all cash and assets and get receipts or at least record all expenses.

Safe Houses

Teams and operatives will need places to work from, live and train. Locations will need to be secure and defend-able. A threat assessment needs to be compiled on all locations uses by the team; weak spots must be identified and dealt with. Escape routes need to be identified from the safe houses to other safe locations or ERV’s. All potential surveillance and sniper locations around the safe house need to be identified and monitored. Doors and windows on all floors need to be secured, reinforced or blocked if they are not used. The safe houses should regularly be searched for listening devices, cameras or IED’s. When entering a safe house that has been left unoccupied even for a short period of time the whole place needs to be search for intruders, signs of intruders or forced entry. If a safe house is broken into it should not be used again. Fire alarms and firefighting equipment needs to be available and in working order. Above all the safe house does not want to draw attention; it needs to appear to be a normal house. It is difficult if not impossible to find the perfect safe house, find the best you can and take all precautions.

Transportation

All vehicles used by the operatives needs to blend in with the environment they will be working in and not draw attention. When working in vehicles you should where manpower allows always have two operatives in a vehicle. One would be the driver, who should always stay in the vehicle, behind the wheel ready to drive away in an emergency and the other would act as escort or navigator. Windows where possible should be tinted for surveillance purposes. The vehicles should be registered to front companies and not to the operatives or the agency they are working for, so they cannot be traced back to you by the terrorists. Vehicles should be reliable and regularly serviced, all should have a good break down kit. You will also need a recovery plan for immobilized vehicles and stranded personnel. When a vehicle is left unattended the area around it needs to be searched and then the vehicle needs to be searched for IED’s, tracking devices or contraband.

In urban areas, public transport should be used as it is good for identifying terrorist surveillance, losing anyone who has you under surveillance and is not usually an expected mode of transport for an operative.

Conclusion

Hopefully this article has given you a few things to think about. The main thing I try to stress to people about equipment is keep it simple and keep it to what you need… Remember, the more you know, the less you need!

On a different note, here’s some other self-sufficiency and preparedness solutions recommended for you:

The Lost Ways (The vital self-sufficiency lessons our great grand-fathers left us)
Survival MD (Knowledge to survive any medical crisis situation)
Backyard Liberty (Liberal’s hidden agenda: more than just your guns…)
Alive After the Fall (Build yourself the only unlimited water source you’ll ever need)
The Lost ways II (4 Important Forgotten Skills used by our Ancestors that can help you in any crisis)
The Patriot Privacy Kit (Secure your privacy in just 10 simple steps)

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I am asked regularly what equipment people should have or need for tactical or hostile situations. I am not a gear-queer and tell people to make maximum use of what

To the concealed carry permit holder, you have a very important responsibility. The responsibility to carry a handgun is not one that you should take lightly, it is a key factor in deciding whether or not you or your family will be safe and at the same time whether or not you will take a life. Guarding your family and ending the life of a bad guy is not a choice you should make with the same amount of thought as to what you are going to watch on TV tonight. This should be something that you are clear in your mind of the reasons why, and the possible ramifications of your choices.

Why Carry Concealed?

There are a lot of reasons why an individual would choose to carry a concealed handgun but they almost all boil down to personal security or protection. Why else would you carry a firearm that is capable of killing someone unless you were prepared to use that amount of force to do just that? If you weren’t willing or able to pull the trigger, there would be no need to carry would there?

Carrying a concealed firearm should be done with the full intention that one day you may need to draw your weapon, point it at the threat and pull the trigger. If you don’t understand this basic fundamental and more importantly, are prepared to do just that, you should not be carrying concealed in the first place.

For me, the motivation behind carrying concealed was not because of a threat on me or my family. I had no out of the ordinary experiences in my past that made me fearful for my safety or the safety of my loved ones. I look at this from a practical standpoint. I think Wayne LaPierre summed it up nicely in response to the outcry over the Newton School shootings when he said, “The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” I agree completely.

It wasn’t a school shooting that convinced me to carry either, but Wayne’s comment resonates perfectly with my own philosophy. As a legal carrier of firearms, it may come down to me standing in front of a “bad guy” with a gun. I don’t view this as a preordained destiny from God that I would be placed in any situation like this, but if I am, I want to make sure I am prepared. If I am in that situation, I will accept the responsibility of being the good guy who potentially stops the bad guy.

Obviously my family’s safety was first and foremost in my mind, but like school shootings, or church shootings or mall shootings, I believe that the more legal, responsible people we have with firearms, the safer everyone else would be if a bad guy got it in his head to harm people.

Never leave home without it.

I know a couple of people who have their concealed carry permits, but they never have their weapon on them. When I ask why, it is usually one of two responses. Either they laugh and say, “I don’t have to worry about anything here do I?” or that the firearm is bulky, doesn’t go with their outfit, not easily concealed, etc.

If you have a permit, you should carry your firearm everywhere you go. I have mine with me even sitting around the house in my sweatpants. Why? Because you will almost never foresee the time and place you will need it. Leave it at home one day and the church you are attending may be paid a visit by a lunatic who wants to meet God, really. Have that firearm in your bedroom and someone may kick down the door while you are watching American Idol. You never know, so it is your duty and obligation to carry your firearm with you at all times. How are you going to protect yourself or anyone else if your concealed carry is under the bed?

When should you use your weapon?

Carrying concealed, as I explained above, is not to be taken lightly. If you are carrying, you must think through the possibilities and potential threats, escalation and your actions.

Let’s say you are a woman and you are work evenings at a retail store. When you leave at night, you may have to go out into a dark parking lot or a dark alley. Maybe this isn’t in the best part of town, maybe it is. Regardless, there is a chance someone could approach you on your way to your car, but you are carrying a concealed handgun. Out of the corner of your eye you see a man walking towards you. He is mumbling something that you can’t quite make out and he is closing the distance between you and your car. As he gets closer he is still mumbling and you see a knife in his hand. What do you do?

Every situation that you could possibly face is different so there is no one size fits all answer to using lethal force. As we saw with the George Zimmerman case, there was much arguing and heated debate over the “Stand your Ground” law in Florida. First, you should know the laws of the state you are carrying in, but a general guideline is that your life must be in jeopardy before you can justifiably kill someone. You can’t kill someone who is being rude or talking too loudly in a movie theater, or who stole your parking spot. This is life and death we are talking about so there can’t be any grey area.

If you do have to use your firearm, the police will be involved and they will be scrutinizing you very carefully to ascertain whether or not the person you shot (just like George Zimmerman) was a real threat. If they decide that you killed someone who didn’t deserve to die, guess who goes to jail?

One fallback you have is that the simple fact you are carrying, may be a deterrent. Without shooting anyone you can let them know that you will, if need be. Drawing your firearm and having it pointed down at the ready position (down) is a first step. Forcefully warning your attacker that you have a gun and you will use it may defuse the situation. They leave, you are both alive and you don’t go to jail.

You must play out scenarios in your mind and make sure you understand what you will do in various situations. You want to clearly deal with the threat if you are ever forced into that reality.

Why does all of this matter?

In order to be prepared, we look at a lot of different aspects of our lives, possible threats that could impact us and make plans for how to mitigate the pain or suffering we would go through in the event that any of those threats come to pass. Carrying a concealed firearm, just like storing food for an emergency is one type of survival preparation. You carry survival kits for when your car breaks down in an emergency. You carry a Get Home Bag if something happens and you need to make it back home, right?

Carrying a concealed firearm is what you do if you are planning to survive a bad guy trying to kill you or someone else. If you have foresight to get your permit, carry a weapon and have thought through the ramifications of deadly force, you have a duty to yourself and the other good guys around you to have this with you and be prepared to use it.

On a different note, here’s some other self-sufficiency and preparedness solutions recommended for you:

The Lost Ways (The vital self-sufficiency lessons our great grand-fathers left us)
Survival MD (Knowledge to survive any medical crisis situation)
Backyard Liberty (Liberal’s hidden agenda: more than just your guns…)
Alive After the Fall (Build yourself the only unlimited water source you’ll ever need)
The Lost ways II (4 Important Forgotten Skills used by our Ancestors that can help you in any crisis)
The Patriot Privacy Kit (Secure your privacy in just 10 simple steps)

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To the concealed carry permit holder, you have a very important responsibility. The responsibility to carry a handgun is not one that you should take lightly, it is a key