Patrol Packs & Sustainment Loads

Great topic by the always outstanding Max Velocity. Please read this, print it, hand it out to your team/friends. This is really good information. Do not only read this though, take this into account when setting up your pack/ruck.

http://www.maxvelocitytactical.com/2016/03/gear-patrol-packs-sustainment-loads/

This post is derived from the gear talk that I give as part of Combat Patrol Classes (CP). If you have not attended this class, you really should – the prerequisite is Combat Team Tactics (CTT), which is really the MVT ‘basic training class.’ CP really moves you on to a higher level of training, with patrolling, patrol base, recce, ambush, and raid which are staples of any irregular warfare situation – not to mention the utility of knowing how operations may be conducted against you, and the training on Ground Domination Activity (GDA) security patrolling in order to protect your area.

There is much nuance in this post, which may or may not translate well across the medium of the internet. As usual, I see much nonsense out there. Many people get hung up, for example, when watching a class training video, with the exact terrain the class took place in. Well, not only do you not always get to choose your ideal terrain, but either way these TTP’s are the same, just adapted to the specific environment. It is about training the basics, and adapting, rather than becoming focused on, or limited by, whatever terrain the class took place in. Terrain at classes is just a different flavor. Small Unit Tactics (SUT) is simply SUT, adapted specifically to the operating environment.

In this same vein, people like to criticize training that takes place in the woods, not understanding that what is being taught is SUT, in a certain training environment (and I don’t have a range in the city). If these basics are applied for real, one would hope that they would be adapted to the environment and common sense applied. But related to this is the notion from some that the woods are not important, and that all conflict will take place in the city. Well, if you want to be there to take part in it, that is your choice! I would argue that you need to make best use of rural areas – you are either there patrolling and defending a retreat or community, or you are moving back out there after an operation in an urban or suburban area. Obviously you can’t conduct operations entirely in the woods, if your enemy is not there, unless of course your whole goal is avoidance. If you wish to conduct operations against an enemy that is in an urban or suburban environment, then it stands to reason that you must go there to conduct them. But you don’t have to live there. Mission, or METT-TC, dependent.

Many preppers can take full advantage of rural areas by simply being there to avoid any conflict in urban areas. If you decide you must partake in any conflict, for whatever reason or cause, then you may either have to operate, evade and defend in rural areas, or you may have to move out of them to conduct short term operations. Which brings me back to the point about these classes teaching you SUT that can be applied in any environment. Fire and movement and squad tactics learned at MVT in the woods of West Virginia equally apply in a suburban environment. If you wish to enter and clear structures, then this adds another dimension which is covered by the Citizen Close Combat (C3) Classes, which applies equally to a lone farmhouse in the woods. But be aware that the urban combat environment is extremely dangerous and casualty intensive, so my advice is go there if you think it necessary, conduct the raid or ambush, and then get out into the rural areas again.

If you do specifically want to be trained on your home terrain, then look into a remote class which can be held at your location: CLICK HERE FOR INFO.

This whole topic is related to gear. There is a whole lot of nonsense on the prepper internet community about ‘Bug out bags’ (BOB) and such sayings as ‘two is one and one is none’ etc. It’s all nonsense. Many expect, when they come to class, for me to get them to pack some huge ruck with a whole lot of gear in. Items for all occasions! They are often disappointed. Consider this (Fun spoiler alert – PT is involved!):

•You must pack as light as possible in order to retain practical mobility.
•Although you may have a common ‘standard’ basic load, you must pack METT-TC dependent: mission, weather, environment, duration of patrol, season etc.
•If it is too heavy, you will become tired, lazy and ineffective.
•Sadly the above is related to PT and mindset.
•If it is too heavy, in a contact you will dump it and never see it again.

Realities:

•If you are to operate as light infantry, which is really what people mean with this talk of going all ‘G’ and unconventional warfare-ish, then you need to carry a basic load.
•Operating as ‘light as possible’ is never actually ‘light’ when we consider what we need to carry to operate in such a situation i.e: ◦Rifle
◦Basic ammo load on person – 8 mags.
◦Immediate resupply ammo load – 4-6 mags (patrol pack)
◦Handgun + ammo?
◦Small IFAK.
◦Water
◦Food / snacks
◦Night vision gear?
◦Weather dependent clothing
◦Ballistic plates (yes, please)
◦Radio + batteries
◦Misc items

•This means that we will already be somewhat weighed down by gear. We will also most likely be carrying some type of, even if small, patrol pack for this load in addition to whatever belt or chest rig setup you are wearing. . This may be a small daypack/hydration carrier affair, which you will need if you are ever more than a couple of yards away from either your base, or vehicle.
•If what you carry is too heavy, you will become exhausted and lose alertness, thus take the easy option every time = complacency = death.
•If you carry a heavy ruck load, you will end up having to drop it in an emergency or contact situation, thus losing all your gear.
•Some weather conditions, such as extreme heat or cold, have unavoidable realities for gear carriage if going out for any extended period of time, or perhaps for overnight. This means that you will be unable to ‘go light’ in these situations if you plan to be out overnight or for more than 24 hours. ‘Travel light, freeze at night’ becomes foolish in these circumstances, and the other adage that ‘any fool can be uncomfortable (or die of exposure)’ becomes more relevant.

The realities are now starting to crowd in on us, and we realize that our BOB /ruck is too heavy to be practical, and would likely result in our exhaustion, or dropping it at the first sign of trouble, and that our PT is probably not up to scratch anyway. ‘Two is one, and one is none’ results in a BOB that we can’t, or won’t, carry. As far as bugging out anyway, you may have your BOB squared away, but what about the kids? Grandma? We start to get into nonsense territory, where BOB(s) are really just car bags if you have to drive out in a hurry from a natural disaster, and thus not tactically practical loads.

We are now realizing that:

•‘Light’ isn’t really light, and thus we should try and minimize our loads as much as practical for the mission.

•Why are we even out there? Are we planning on living for weeks out of a patrol base? Or perhaps just going out for a short (as possible) mission? However big your ruck, if you are out for long enough, you will need resupply.

•Thus operations need logistical support, and a plan that does not involve you trying to patrol and conduct operations while struggling around like mules.

•Thus mission analysis and planning.

•If we need to carry sustainment gear for something of longer duration, perhaps an Observation Post (OP) patrol, then the following applies: ◦If you have to carry a heavy ruck, pack your patrol pack ‘grab bag’ with essential items and have it attached to the top of the ruck (under the top flap works) ready to be grabbed and run if a contact forces you to drop the heavy ruck.

◦If you can think of any other way to bring in heavy/sustainment gear, use your intellect. Can you move rations to a cache / patrol base using vehicles or ATV/UTV? Can you incorporate vehicles into the operation anyway? It’s not all about humping gear – use your brain and plan. Perhaps you are manning a long term OP, so you have supplies moved into a cache, to which you can send short patrols periodically to resupply you in the OP?


I have the following recommendations:

•Use a smaller ‘day pack,’ something like a hydration pack with pouches or small patrol pack, for when out on patrol close to your base or vehicles. This would carry the immediate items mentioned above, with space for snacks/lunch etc. This would be added on the back of the chest rig / battle belt concept outlined in the video below, whether or not you are wearing ballistic plates:

•You are therefore not going to be unrealistic about the weight you carry on normal security patrols. Remember that as the weather gets hotter, you need more water, and the thought of humping this gear (plates?) will deter you and make you lazy. It’s a balance between going light on the one hand, and having enough gear to do the job and operate in a contact situation on the other. How far out are you going from the retreat? Are you out over dawn/dusk on patrol and thus need to take NV gear on / off and stow it, etc?

•For operations that are going to be overnight or for a longer duration, try to plan to be mobile with nothing more than a ‘three day pack’ larger-type patrol pack. This will hopefully allow you to remain alert, while remaining mobile in a contact situation, and thus avoiding the need to drop it to bug out.

•Although you will see modern infantry equipped with large heavy patrol packs, and operating under fire with them, and this is the reality, you still do not need to carry the same weight as they do. You do not have to carry much of the gear that a soldier on deployment may have to carry – heavy radios and similar equipment, mortar rounds etc. So apply the balance to this. Your gear is still going to be a hump, but it doesn’t want to be too much. In fact, much ‘overnight gear’ is in fact bulky, but not that heavy – think sleeping bags and tarps etc.

•Purchase decent gear that is where possible small and light but gets the job done. I talk about specific gear brands for classes on the Combat Patrol Class page. Balance minimalism against practical living in the field. Weather has much to do with this.

•If you can move loads for resupply using vehicles, then do so, as long as it is tactically sound for the operation.

What kind of gear goes in a 3 day patrol pack? This is not an exhaustive list, but some suggestions. This is assuming at least one overnight where you have to sleep out on the ground. Much of this gear is for ‘personal administration’ purposes and for keeping you going in the field. It stands to reason that the shorter, rougher and dirtier your patrol, the less you need of this. Again, you can get away with a lot in the summer, if you have water, that you cannot get away with in the winter months:

◦Spare ammo in mags – perhaps 4-6 magazines.
◾This is to immediately resupply if you have a break contact and use some of your mags.
◾For specific operations i.e. ambush / raid you will need more because you will use more as part of the planned ‘action on the objective.’.

◦Water bladders / hydration carriers / Camelbak – the number defined by season, patrol duration and water availability.
◦Means to purify water resupply into the bladder(s).
◦Rations: if MRE, strip down. Two MREs per person per day are sufficient, stripped down.

◾Morning and evening meal entrees, rest of the time eat snacks.

◦Cooker: see above for type of rations. SOLO stove with pot burns twigs as well as solid fuel tablets if you want, and can be used to heat water for rations, purification and also for hot drinks (morale).

◾Dehydrated rations are lighter but require more water to prepare.
◾For shorter term operations, you can consider leaving cookers and heavy rations behind and eating convenience rations such as meal bars and MREs etc.

◦Suitable trash bag, to bag and carry out ration trash (Ziplock).
◦Waterproof/canoe type bags for inside (and perhaps securely outside i.e. sleeping system) the patrol pack, to keep everything together / separate and dry.
◦Seasonal sleeping bag.
◦Bivvy Bag
◦Tarp / MVT SHIELD – use bungees / paracord /lightweight tent pegs to erect. If shortage of trees, consider shelter half poles.
◦‘Thermarest’ style ‘self inflating’ sleeping mat – 3/4 length is fine. ◾Without which all your body heat will disappear into the earth.

◾Will fold down and stow away nicely.

◦Foot care:

◾Spare socks
◾Foot powder
◾Blister kit

◦Seasonal spare clothing / rain gear (‘snivel gear’).
◦Beanie hat / gloves.
◦In the heat, consider at least a spare t-shirt/combat shirt to change into.
◦Folding saw.
◦Small Medical kit with limited medications – anti- inflammatory etc, for less than trauma situations.
◦Bug / tick spray.
◦Garden trowel to dig cat holes for poop.
◦Baby wipes / hand sanitizer.

◾Wipes better than TP.

◦Lip balm.
◦Vaseline / petroleum jelly or specific anti-monkey-butt glide cream. ◾consider wearing spandex type or well fitting boxer briefs to cut down on chafing. Wear well fitting pants that do not chafe the seam between the thighs.

◾This still won’t stop the chafe between your butt crack in certain environments, this is where the Vaseline comes in (yeah, yeah, chortle chortle)
◾Don’t use the Vaseline on your butt and then your lips……
◾Chaffing will mess up your patrol….’nuff said.

◦Lightweight litter or equivalent – one per patrol.
◦I’m not going to get off into patrol medic /specialization stuff and all that.
◦Hard candy – coughs and morale.
◦Mission specific gear: radios, batteries, wire cutters, bolt croppers, lights, flares, booby traps (don’t ask), binos, spotting scope, thermal device, chicken wire, burlap and camo for OPs…..etc….

During a recent Texas Patrol Class, we conducted a full overnight operation, including a patrol base and the works, before moving off in the early hours and laying the ambush. That is because it was a training class, designed to compress and teach aspects of a full operation. Clearly, if it was just the ambush we could have headed out and simply patrolled to the ORP overnight, and shivered in the ambush until it was sprung/or collapsed. Alternatively, it could have been a long way to the ambush site, requiring a long patrol and perhaps some rest stops along the way, whether just lay ups or full patrol bases. The exercise took place on a ranch in Texas. A real operation ‘off the ranch’ might have involved vehicles moving either covertly on roads or cross country. The ambush could have been in a suburban or urban area, perhaps using buildings,. The patrol base or lay up could have been in a building, in certain circumstances. It’s all about applying the principles, as taught, to the situation. What if we had taken casualties or had exploited the ambush site and had gear to haul out? Maybe we could have had vehicles on call…….get the idea…..?

Okay, as we can see, it starts to get detailed when you are thinking about spending time out in the boonies. So let’s engage the brain again and try to figure out why we are out there and for how long. If you are going out for a short term mission then you will want to spend as little time on the ground as possible which is balanced against the requirement to stay out there by the specifics of the mission that you have planned. If you are heading out to raid the cannibal bikers in the next village, you may head out, for example overnight, and attack at dawn, but you may not really be factoring in much of a planned rest/sleep i.e. patrol base or Lay Up. So you may go relativity light (there’s that misleading ‘light’ word again), loaded with ammo, water and any necessary food, and plan to just rest for an hour or two, having placed security, as necessary. That way, you are doing the whole ‘travel light, freeze at night’ deal. I have memories of having an hour or two to kill in places like the ORP while waiting for an op to kick off, and curling up shivering on top of my gear to get up off the ground, and nodding off for an hour or so. Think of the old jungle technique of sitting back to back with rucks on, taking a rest, etc. Perhaps sitting backs against trees….

You may also be able to incorporate vehicles into the plan, particularly when thinking about ammo resupply and also casualty evacuation. If you can move closer to the objective tactically using vehicles in some manner, then do so, because it will help with your extraction / evacuation.

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Auxiliary Cells

This article is a vital read, read.... PLEASE READ. This is very important stuff, I know... it is long, but please take the time and fully read it. Print it out, learn it, there is a lot of good stuff here.

By, John Mosby

John Mosby is a former U.S. Army Special Operations soldier. He lives somewhere in the mountains.

Laying Foundations: Building an Auxiliary Cell

From providing logistics, communications, and intelligence collection services, to providing transportation to the underground and the guerrilla force; from developing and running safe house and underground hospital facilities, to acting as a “plug-a-hole” reserve fighting forces for underground and guerrilla operations, there’s a wide variety of possible roles for members of the auxiliary to fulfill.

Within each of those roles, there is also a broad variety of sub-categories for auxiliary personnel to fulfill. Looking at the wide range of “duties” of the auxiliary, it readily becomes obvious that we need an idea of where to start. There’s an old cliché, of course, that says “the best place to begin is the beginning.”

Contrary to the popular misconception of too many in the tough-guy “prepper/survivalist/III%” culture, a guerrilla force or underground “living off the land” does not mean they’re out there gathering roots and berries, and catching rabbits with 550 cord snares. That MAY play a role in logistics, but the guerrilla force that ends up in those dire of straits is pretty well screwed. They’ll spend more time trying to keep from starving than they will in achieving their strategic end goals.

Similarly, “living off the land,” is not simply a matter of stealing chickens and cows from the local civilian populace, and damn the consequences. If you want an idea of how well that works out, I would heartily suggest studying the efforts of Napoleon’s army in the Peninsular War. They weren’t guerrillas, they were foreign invaders, but the principles still apply. All you’re going to do is piss off friend and foe alike.

The purpose of the auxiliary is to provide both logistical an intelligence support to the underground and guerrilla force. They achieve this by coordinating the support efforts, ensuring that the local civilian populace that is supportive of the force is protected, and helping provide support for the guerrilla and underground, while any “let’s steal some cows” efforts are targeted only at those hostile to the efforts, and who cannot be converted to supporting them.

“The auxiliary in traditional Maoist insurgency conducts clandestine support functions by organizing people on a regional, district, or sector basis, depending on the degree to which guerrilla forces are organized.” –US Army FM 3-05.201 Special Forces Unconventional Warfare Operations, APR 2003

Therein lies the crux of the “how do I develop an auxiliary?” question.

Who is the guerrilla force or the underground that you are supporting? It need not be formed and active yet—in fact, it generally should not be—but you need to know who they are, in order to support them. What is their strategic goal, and what tactics will they be using to achieve those goals? Without this knowledge, you’re not part of the auxiliary, you’re just a dude with a bunch of stuff hoarded in your basement, drooling over Internet pictures of fat guys in camouflage.

The problem of course, is that—unless you belong to an organized group, like your local militia—there’s no way to know, for sure, the critical answers.

If you don’t know what unit(s) you’ll be supporting, you don’t know what their strategic goals are going to be. The majority of militia/III% “movement” groups in this country are—sadly—a joke of disjointed, divergent polarities, most of them “led” by somebody on a power trip that wants to be the king, and refuses to even consider working together with nearby groups because they might “take over” or something.

One militia group might have decided that their only purpose is to protect their county, while another is gung-ho to go anywhere within their state that they feel requires their presence. A third group, meanwhile, is running across state borders, completely ignoring their claims of “constitutional authority.” They are, in fact, conducting an armed invasion of a neighboring, sovereign state…

Finally, a fourth group may be trying to position itself for a federal-level power struggle, trying to draw in “true believers” to support its efforts to back a coup of some sort.

I have, since long before I started writing the Mountain Guerrilla blog, posited that “we don’t need a revolution. We ARE a revolution.” So, what does that mean?

It means, you need to ask yourself, “why do I care about ‘survival?’ Why do I care about ‘liberty?’”

“Why do I care about ‘survival?’”

Are you interested in survival, no matter what? I’ll let you in on a secret. It’s not going to work. We’re all going to die. The only choices we have are how we live in the meantime, and—hopefully—how we die (well or poorly, not the mechanism of lethality, necessarily). So, what’s the real reason you stockpile guns, ammunition, and food?

I would argue that, from an evolutionary biology standpoint—and from a moral standpoint for most people—the reason we are interested in “survival,” is because we want to ensure that our children/grandchildren/loved ones survive. We tend to believe the best way to ensure that is by preparing for bad stuff, and surviving ourselves. Right?

That’s a pretty solid reason, actually. It also ties into the “tribal/community autarky” strategic goals I discussed in Volume Two of The Reluctant Partisan (and in even greater detail in the forthcoming third book). That is simply a strategy of not worrying about what the idiots in DC are doing, and focusing on your local community of friends and family. Of course, this also drastically impacts the fund-raising and recruiting efforts of any “national ‘militia’ organizations,” but really, forget them. Local, local, local; always. If every liberty-advocate in the USA would quit worrying about what the federal government is saying/doing/trying, and focus on teaching a dozen of their closest family and friends what living independently means, and convince those 12 people to live that life, and do the same? As the guys at Action Figure Therapy say: “Problem solved. Problem staying solved.”

“But…Liberty!”

Why do you care about ‘liberty?’ What does that word actually mean, to you? The Oxford English Dictionary (and for any thinking person, that is really the authoritative arbiter of word definition in the English language), liberty has two basic definitions that are applicable when most people discuss it.

1) the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one’s way of life, behavior, or political views.

2) the power or scope to act as one pleases.

What if I told you—and brace yourself, this is one of those Matrix-shattering moments in life—that the only people that can have a negative impact on your Liberty, using those two definitions, are members of your local community?

Oh, sure, the federal beast can pass laws. They can tell you “you’re not allowed to do XXX!” They can say, “you MUST do YYY!” But really? They cannot enforce those edicts. Even if they had the physical capability for doing so, it’s someone local to you that would have to tell them you either were or were not doing what you were told. It’s going to take someone local to you to actually come investigate and find out that “Yes, in fact, Mr. Liberty Advocate IS actually daring to do XXX!”

So, if you can either a) keep your local friends, family, and neighbors from knowing that you’re actually daring to do XXX, or you can convince them that you doing XXX is really, not that big a deal, and the federal government overlords are full of crap, then you really have nothing to fear about infringements on your Liberty, do you?

Want a couple of examples?

1) Colorado
2) Washington
3) Alaska
4) Oregon

Every one of those states has legalized recreational marijuana within their states. What has the federal government done? How many arrests and trials of residents of those states, in federal court, have we seen?

Now, that’s one thing. That involved combined efforts from small, local groups, combining to exert their influence on a state government. What about at the local level? What about tribal?

Do you believe that, on the day marijuana was legalized, all those people that are smoking pot in Colorado suddenly decided, “Oh, hey, I’ve ALWAYS wanted to try getting high! I don’t have to worry about going to jail now, so I’m gonna go smoke out!”

There may very well have been a few. The vast majority, however, had been smoking pot, despite it being illegal, prior to that. Yet, they weren’t ALL in jail or prison, were they? They just focused on their local community, buying pot from people they trusted, or who were vetted to them by people they trusted…and for the vast majority of them, they got away with it, for a very lengthy period of time, even though we’ve been in a “War on Drugs!” for decades.

Of course, many readers have their hackles up right now, because I seem to be supportive of marijuana legalization, and that ol’ demon weed is BAD!

A far more useful task would be – instead of worrying about what other people put in their bodies – to look at how they’re getting away with it, in those states that don’t have legalization, and learn from them. Here’s the deal, regardless of what you think about marijuana: there had to be someone growing it. There had to be someone buying it from the people growing it. There had to be others buying it, in turn, from them, and then ingesting it. Despite the fact it was/is ILLEGAL, and has had a concerted effort from federal, state, and local law enforcement, to stop it from being grown, harvested, sold, and ingested. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what you’re trying to do!

Not with marijuana, necessarily—although, can you think of a better way to finance your local tribe’s efforts? Whether you’re focused on short-sighted concerns like guns and the Second Amendment, or invasively high taxation, or any number of other issues that we need to take into consideration, due to undue federal influence.

If you could develop the same types of LOCAL networks that pot-smokers have, you’d have Liberty, in your lifetime…right now. Today.

How?

Let’s look at guns. Everybody loves guns, right? Well, except liberals, and even they love guns, they just don’t love that you have guns. So, how do you start building your networks around guns? Well, how many of your close friends have guns and love to shoot? 4-5? 12-20? It doesn’t matter if they agree with you on religion. It doesn’t matter if they agree with you on taxes. It doesn’t matter if they agree with you on prostitution. We’re focused on ONE aspect now. We’re focused on guns.

So, let’s say you’re like me, and are kind of an a-hole, so you only have 4-5 people you consider “friends.” By that, I mean, they are close enough that you would—literally—step in front of a moving train and die, facing the danger, to save their lives…and vice-versa. Of those, only 3 are serious gun guys. Now, within those 5 people, you have the nucleus of a tribe. Even though the other two aren’t gun guys, they’re loyal to you, unto death. You have frith with them. They may have other close friends who are gun guys too, but let’s focus on the three of your kinsmen that ARE gun guys. You’ve decided that you really, REALLY, REALLY, need a .338 Lapua Mag, but the fed has outlawed them. What are you going to do? You’re going to go to your gun guy friends and ask if they know anyone they trust, who has one they’d part with. In turn, they’ll go to their other gun guy friends, and ask if they know anyone that they trust, who has one. Eventually, down the trail a little bit, someone actually has one, and has decided—for whatever reason—he doesn’t need it anymore. Granted, it’s “only” a Savage 110 BA, but it IS a .338 Lapua Mag. He’ll sell it, but he wants $3500 for it.

Then, the guy down the line of friends of friends, who actually found the .338, well, he wants $500 for a finder’s fee. So, you’re going to pay $4000 for a rifle that originally cost less than $1500. That’s messed up, isn’t it? Guess what….it’s not at all messed up. It’s not a breach of frith, and it’s not an insult to the “cause.” It’s called the real world.

So, you pony up $4000, and hand it to your friend that you trust. He hands it to his friend, etc, all the way down the line. Two weeks later, your friend hands you a beat up Savage 110BA. You inspect it, and realize, the barrel is damned near shot out. Did you get screwed? Nope. Your auxiliary found you what you said you needed. Now, you’re going to have to replace the barrel. You can either restrict that conversation to your gun guy friends, or you can ask any of your friends that you trust, if they know a machinist or old gunsmith that can build you a barrel. It ends up costing you another $2000 to get a barrel built. You’ve now dropped $6000 on a rifle, and you don’t even have ammunition for it yet….

Newsflash, THAT’S how the underground and auxiliary work.

What!?

So, what does THAT have to do with the original question? You want to help the fight for liberty! You’re not worried about how you’re going to buy guns on the black market!

Patience, young Padwan. It has EVERYTHING to do with the auxiliary you want to start building.

Logistics Auxiliary Cell

1) Cellular Construction

Your cell consists of the people you know, personally, and trust—even unto Death. How many people do you know that you would trust to die—or go to Federal Prison for a decade—before they would rat you out? One? Two? Three, if you’re really, really blessed? That’s your cell. In turn, of the two people you trust, who trust you to the same level, they each have another one or two friends. Those people DO NOT need to meet you, or even know about you. They can know their friend has another friend he trusts as implicitly as he trusts them, but nothing else. Now you’ve got—within the network of multiple tribal bonds—the beginning of a network.

2) Supporting the Warfighters

So, within your three-man cell, none of you are “spring chickens,” and you have recognized that you’re not going to be leading any raids or fighting off hordes of Cannibalistic San Franciscans. What you want to be able to do is provide a level of support to those that need it, who CAN fight off those hordes. How do you do that? You ask your tribesmen, “what do your friends that are young enough to fight, need to do so?” They ask their younger, fitter friends, “Hey, buddy, what gear/equipment/supplies are you short on? What do you have, but recognize is perishable/expendable, and WILL need to be replaced/resupplied in the future?”

The reply comes back, through the intermediaries, “Ammo. Gun parts. Body armor. Medical supplies. Food.”

“Great, you knuckle-draggers. What kind of ammo? Parts for what guns? What type of body armor? What medical supplies?”

“Oh. Sorry. Yeah, my guy says he and six of his friends are all running M4 carbines, and SIG Sauer P226 pistols. They’ve got Level III ceramic plates for their body armor, size large, and they’re worried about basic TC3 medical supplies. Can we help?”

“Sure. Now, I know what specifically to stockpile. I’ll get on it.”

Let’s assume for a moment, that you’re an older guy, you grew up with an M14, and .45ACP, and you think 5.56 and 9mm are jokes. You also know though, that you’re beyond an age where you’re interested in looking for trouble. Does it make sense to only stock 7.62×51 and .45 ACP, or would it make more sense, in order to support those guys, for you to stockpile some 5.56 and 9mm, besides?

Yeah…..

But, you’ve never taken a TC3 class, so you don’t know what medical supplies you need. You can either ask, or even better, you can take a TC3 class somewhere, and find out what medical supplies are needed, and why, in order to know what supplies will be in the greatest demand, in relation to the others.

You’ve got AR500 steel plate body armor. It’s cheap, and you’re not planning on running combat missions, so why bother blowing the extra money on ceramics? They can have steel!

Go take a patrolling or SUT class, and wear your steel plates for it, then come talk to me about how steel plates are “just as good.”

Do steel plates have advantages? Arguably. They’ll theoretically survive longer than ceramics. Ceramics are single-use items, right? How much does a steel plate weigh? According to the AR500armor.com website, their Level III plates (which are actually, probably NOT Level III, legally) – I can’t count the number of steel plates I’ve seen tested that M855 zipped straight through – weigh 7.5 pounds. So, 15 pounds for a set.

According to the Shellback Tactical website, my Banshee plate carrier weighs 2lbs, 5oz. So, now, I’m at 17 pounds, before I start adding ammunition.

My personal plate carrier, with my ceramic plates, weighs less than 12#. That’s FIVE loaded magazines I can carry, before the weight even equals the steel plate body armor alone. More importantly, I can run a lot further, faster, than I can with the additional five pounds of marginal protection.

Does it cost more? Of course it does. It’s a better product.

Can I afford six or seven or eight sets of ceramic plates? No. If I’ve got ten people in my “auxiliary” however, who are smart enough to set aside a set of ceramics though, I will be able to replace mine, should I need to, down the line.

Buying up supplies, to support the warfighters, without finding out what they need, and WHY they need it, is retarded. You might think you’re an “expert,” but the dude at the tip of the spear is whose opinion on the subject matters. Ask.

3) But, Money!

As we pointed out above, there’s no necessity that you’ll be “giving stuff away.” You MIGHT. It might turn out to be worthwhile to you, when the wolves are at your door, to say, “Hey, Joey, I know you’re gonna be out there on the line, and I can see you’re lacking body armor. I’ve got a rig set up in my basement. Let me go get it for you!” In return of course, Joey is “paying” you for the armor, by the very minor task of potentially getting shot in the face, to protect your home and life!

Alternatively, if it’s some dude you don’t know, in a cell three towns away, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with telling your trusted friend, who will pass it down the line of friends to the end-user. “Hey, yeah, I’ve got a spare set of ceramic plates stashed away. I need $500 for the set.” The end-user dude, who is not part of your tribe, after all, will either pony up the $500 or he won’t. That’s not your problem.

If it’s GOING to be your problem – if they get over-run and the bad guys are coming to your town next – then maybe you’ll decide to give them away after all, in the hope that he’ll stop them first. Or, maybe your friend will ask you to give them away, as a favor to his kinsman. That’s your decision to make, at the moment, based on circumstances.

In a Nutshell
So, what does it mean, to start a logistics cell? It means identifying who your guerrilla and underground force are—at least in a general sense—and finding out what they need. It means stockpiling the stuff THEY will need, not what you think they will need.
It means asking your friends—whom you trust, even unto Death—to ask THEIR friends, whom they trust, even unto Death, what exactly they feel like they’re going to need. Then, it’s a matter of stockpiling it.

Intelligence Cells

Developing an intelligence cell requires that you begin by defining your area. What area are you going to conduct an IPB (Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield) for? Your town? The County? The State? Once you’ve one that, you need to look at developing a complete intelligence picture, of that area. Hostile threat groups, potential allies, behavior and beliefs of non-aligned people in the area.

At the risk of sounding self-serving, I’m going to suggest two things, if you believe you want to begin developing an intel cell. 1) Take Sam Culper’s class. 2) Get Volume Two of The Reluctant Partisan, and study the two entire chapters I did on Intel Collection and Intel Analysis. Between those two activities, you’ll have a really, really solid idea on how to start developing an intel picture of your area.

When it comes to actually collecting information, most of your efforts will—necessarily—focus on open-source collection from sources like newspapers, the Internet, etc. There’s no reason however, that you can’t teach your two or three friends how to conduct tactical questioning (NOT the same thing as an interrogation), and have them teach two or three of their friends, and then ask them for specific intel product, to be gained through TQ from others that they might know.

The Role of Responsibility in a Tribe
We had friends over for supper the other night, and we sat around playing a strategy board game. As we were finishing up, the conversation turned to the efforts of the Liberty movement. Our friends are well versed in my views on neo-tribalism as the strategy of choice for survival and restoration of Liberty.

As we were talking, I brought up the fact that most of the “rights” we believe are “natural” or “God-given,” did not originate in antiquity in Greco-Roman culture, but in fact were derived from the cultures of the Celtic and Germanic language-group tribes of Northern Europe. One of those is the “right to bear arms.”

Unfortunately, in today’s world, too many have been brain-washed into the belief that this is a “God-given right,” and thus is subject to nothing. The fact is, in the culture from which the recognition of that right was derived, the “right” to bear arms was more accurately, the “responsibility” to bear arms. No free man could be righteously robbed of his right to bear arms within his tribe. Not even by a chief or a king.

In return however, in order to maintain his status as a free man, and member of the tribe, he knew he was expected, when called upon, to move towards the (extremely metaphorical in this case) sound of the guns, weapon in hand, to protect the tribe. Refusal to do so would result in “outlawry.” This didn’t mean you went to jail. This meant—basically—excommunication from the tribe.

In that time and place in history—well, prehistory, technically—not having a tribe was pretty much the same as a death sentence. You were no longer protected by the reputation and fame of your tribe’s ferocity and honor. You were fair game for any dude with a bow or spear, who decided to kill you and take your stuff. Sure, you might be lucky enough to fight off one attacker. If you were a particular badass, you might manage two or three (of course, if you were that much of a badass, you wouldn’t have been cast out for being a wimp in the first place, right?).

So, what does THIS have to do with being the auxiliary?

A lot of people have taken the discussion of being the auxiliary as having meant they don’t need to do PT, train with their weapons, and learn the basics of small-unit tactics. They’re the support guys, and support guys don’t fight, right?

I call BS. You are still responsible for your own safety, ultimately. You may still be called upon, in extremis, to grab your rifle, and go help protect hearth and home.

You STILL need to learn to fight. You STILL need to do PT. You may not ever be “elite infantry” or “special operations” fit again in your life, but you still need to be as dangerous as you can be, and being fit and well-trained is a critical part of that.


Conclusion

So, how then, do we go about building an auxiliary cell?

1) Do PT and train. It is part of the task, AND it will help you understand what the end-users need.

2) Talk to your closest friends and determine if they will be fighters or not. If so, find out what they and their group of fighters feel they will need. If not, find out if they know anyone, that they trust, who will be a fighter. Somewhere down the line, you will find someone. If they’re out there training, find out what they feel like they will need, or even DO need. There’s nothing saying that, just because your local network isn’t fighting RIGHT NOW, that you can’t be the auxiliary, right now, and equip some young guy with the gear he needs. Even if it’s only loaned out—through friends—when he’s training, it’s supporting their efforts.

Send one of the young studs to a class with someone. So what if you need to finance it? That’s what the auxiliary does. They provide logistical support to the warfighters. Even if the “kid” you send to a class turns out to be a flake, or he ends up moving six states away, so what? You’ll still—through your connections, and with anonymity—built connections of trust and loyalty with the group he was with when you financed it.

3) Start developing an intelligence preparation of the battlefield (IPB) of your local area.

4) Of the friends that you hold closest, maintain those relationships, and do what you can to strengthen them. Not just with the individual friends, but between spouses and children as well. Do things together, as families, even separate from “prepper” activities.

5) If you have some acquaintances or “friends” of a lesser bond, who you think are like-minded, spend the effort and time to make those bonds tighter.

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Counter Insurgency Operations

Counter Insurgency Operations are what "they" will be using against us during the "Restoration". We need to be aware of them, and use what we can against our enemies, train ourselves to be strong and prepared for what is coming. The more we know, and the better trained we are, the more effective we will be.

COIN: Seven Lines of Effort for Prepper Security

One threat that many preppers are likely to face post-SHTF is that of the criminal insurgent, or groups of criminals, gangs, mobs, and looters. This criminal threat will manifest for a few reasons; namely out of the criminal’s need to survive, the availability of unprepared, soft targets, and the community’s inability to enforce laws in a Without Rule of Law scenario.

Learn all you can about your Ashraf and Bedu. Get to know their families, clans and tribes, friends and enemies, wells, hills and roads. – T. E. Lawrence

One question that ought to be answered is, “How long after SHTF, and under what conditions, will the criminal threat become active in my area?” That’s a question best answered by the intelligence element. This article assumes that many communities will eventually encounter the conditions that support a criminal insurgent threat, and that the best way to fight against the criminal insurgent threat is through Counterinsurgency (COIN). The criminal insurgent defined is the individual, or group of individuals, who are not only actively engaging in common criminality, but also actively working against the re-establishment of the rule of law. In other words, it’s in the criminal insurgent’s best interest to work against any system that attempts to bring security back to the area.

COIN is and has always been, even before being named Counterinsurgency, about the people. There are wars that involve tanks and planes fighting for domination, and then there are wars of the people. In COIN, the populace is the center of attention; every plan is viewed through the lens of the populace, and every action is put through the paces of the populace. In short, as the populace goes, so goes the war.

The worst case scenario is that the criminal insurgent receives support from any segment of the populace. Let’s look at Ferguson, Missouri briefly. Are there members of that community who don’t support the rioters? Yes. But are there members of that community who like the police and perceived injustice less? Are there members of that community who believe, as much as they may be against it, that violent protests are the only way to effect change? Yes, there are, which is why those rioters are finding cover from the protestors and the community. If there wasn’t a significant part of the population who supported violent protests, then there would be very little violence and it wouldn’t last very long. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, as the saying goes; and in this case, there is some level of support for the activities that go on there.

When considering a COIN plan for your community, first ask yourself, “What does this community want? What will this community want in a post-SHTF scenario?” To be honest, you may have a segment of the population who will tolerate criminality as long as it benefits them. As long as they benefit, they will tolerate it, and you may even find that they begin actively supporting that criminality if it helps them achieve their goals, i.e., survival.

To start COIN planning, we need to look at the seven lines of effort (slightly modified from its traditional form in FM 3-24.2 Tactics in COIN):

1. Establish Local Security – What will your community want? They’ll want what nearly all humans want: to be secure without the threat of violence against them and their family. If the criminal insurgent gives that to the populace, then the populace will find a very good reason to support the criminal insurgent. It’s therefore incumbent on you to be prepared before the SHTF and be ready to step in to provide this fundamental service to your community. If you can bring and/or maintain security without losing the trust of the people, then you will be successful. Lose the trust of the people, though, by having your volunteers loot, rape, or plunder, and the populace may seek, or form, a viable alternative.

2. Establish Local ‘Control’ – By control, I mean positive control of the situation. Bringing security must be the first step, but security is not governance. And I’m not talking about taxes or legislation, here. Establishing local control means establishing legitimacy by forming a judicial system, enforcing Constitutional laws, and generally protecting the citizenry against internal and external threats — the very basic tenets of limited government. Ask yourself, To whom will this community lend their support, and why? Answer that question, and you’ll be well on your way to establishing local control. Your community may support warlordism or the law of the jungle. I’m sorry if that’s the case, but it’s probably time to move if you find yourself in that situation. For all others, you can prevent warlordism and ‘might makes right’ by making these plans beforehand.

3. Support for Local Security – Once you’ve provided security for the community, are enforcing laws, and generally keeping the peace, then you’ll need to continue to keep the support for your efforts. That means doing everything above board and allowing the populace to have some skin in the game. It also means training up at least a semi-professional security staff who are effective at solving problems the least intrusively (to the populace) as possible and who make good decisions.

4. Support for Governance – How will you build support for local governance? If things get bad enough, building support for governance is going to be a huge problem for a lot of people. How do you get the average citizen to “buy-in” to your plan? Starting at the community-level, you could simply form an agreement that all disputes will be taken up by a third party, like a judicial system. However you decide to solve problems, disputes could arise that may negatively impact your legitimacy in the eyes of the populace. Maintain that support by being fair.

5. Restore Essential Services – Creature comforts come down to water and electricity. Both of these may be disrupted; in fact, it’s probably in the criminal insurgent’s best interest to keep essential services out of commission. So once essential services are restored, how are you going to protect and maintain them?

6. Support Economic/Infrastructure Development – Three words: Intelligence Preparation of the Community. How can you create meaningful work as soon as possible? What are the demands in your area? What goods and services can your area supply to others? Other things to consider are transportation and telecommunications. Being able to communicate easily, i.e., the restoration of phone lines, for instance, will make commerce much easier. Safe roads capable of supporting commerce is another piece of this puzzle.

7. Conduct Information Engagement – Simultaneously, we need a way to ‘exploit’ all the positive contributions we’re making in the community. How are we going to get out this information to the public? How are we going to shame criminals and continue to turn the public’s opinion against these criminal insurgents? How are we going to publicize attacks against the community and frame them in a way so that the populace will continue to turn against these threats? On the flip side, we need to keep our ears to the ground and learn how the populace feels and what they think. If they think we’re doing a good job, then they’ll continue their support. If they think we’re doing poorly, then they may find a good reason to support someone else.

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Implications in an Insurgency

When "IT" does go down, there will be a lot of implications to such an even on our soil. This article by Samuel Culper at Forward Observer Magazine talks about some of the things that will come up. We need to know this stuff and to think about what it will be like so we will be better prepared to be part of the solution for our nation. We will need a lot of people participating in the "Restoration" if it is going to go the Constitutional route.


Here are a number of points to consider in the event that an insurgent conflict breaks in in America.

1. Whenever we talk about conflict, we have to consider the implications on both sides of collateral damage and civilian casualties. A common practice for the US Army and Marine Corps is to remove civilians from military objectives, so we can kill bad guys and seize the objectives. We saw a lot of information operations targeting the populace of Iraq, warning them that a US/Coalition military operation was imminent, and they should leave the area, or stay indoors, or not carry weapons on the street. These operations were aimed at minimizing civilian casualties by keeping them off our battlefield. During the invasion of Iraq, General Tommy Franks estimated that 28 million leaflets were dropped over the country. How are you going to protect innocent people in your community?

2. There were quite a few places in Iraq and Afghanistan where we didn’t go. We didn’t patrol, we didn’t plan operations there; these places were just basically denied terrain for us. There are some parts of America where police officers don’t go. Why? The juice isn’t worth the squeeze. No police officer wants to die enforcing the law that’s basically unenforceable given the manpower and resources. What implication does that have for us?

Simple: organize your communities and turn them into denied terrain for the police state. If you live in an area where unconstitutional laws will be enforced, then the best time to start is yesterday. If unconstitutional laws are or will be unpopular in your community, then begin the work now of convincing your neighbors that their children’s only hope are acts of resistance. (Hearts & Minds, cough, cough. If they support you, they won’t turn you in.) If unconstitutional laws will be accepted and supported in your community, then you have three options: move now, move later, or die in place, hopefully in an act of resistance. What can you do this week to help build denied terrain for the police state?

3. The populace are a significant part of the terrain, and just like any physical terrain feature, the human terrain can be used by you or be used against you. There are several people credited with the quote, “In war, truth is the first casualty.” This is a really good reason why Hearts & Minds is important. The US media is actively involved in running information operations targeting the populace, and their ability to sway the public is a persistent threat to the future of the Liberty movement.

Go read The U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual. The media is considered an asset of the enemy. And put quite simply, the populace is a tool. Aim them in one direction and pull the trigger; that’s exactly what happened after poor, little, seven year old Trayvon and the huggable, lovable, innocent little angel Dindu Nuffins-who-wouldn’t-hurt-a-fly were killed. As an alternative, look at Alex Jones who infects the internet with lots of speculation and conspiracy theories, which is its own form of propaganda, and those pieces of information get disseminated among the Liberty and Patriot communities. According to some people, a Russian invasion on US soil is imminent. Information, whether accurate or inaccurate, controls people. How can you influence your community to support you in your fight against tyranny? (Pro Tip: The populace can support your cause, but reject your actions. Before you act, better double check that those who support your cause also support your actions.)

4. David Galula was a French Army company commander during the Algerian insurgency (1954-1962) and saw counterinsurgency on three continents. In Counterinsurgency Warfare: Theory and Practice, Galula writes:

To confine soldiers to purely military functions while urgent and vital tasks have to be done, and nobody else is available to undertake them, would be senseless. The soldier must then be prepared to become . . . a social worker, a civil engineer, a school-teacher, a nurse, a boy scout. But only for as long as he cannot be replaced, for it is better to entrust civilian tasks to civilians.

In a conflict where the human terrain plays a factor, as with most low intensity conflicts, security elements or militias may have to be more than riflemen. Although they may fight in wars, the militia’s mission is to protect the populace and community. It would, therefore, behoove them to build a strong relationship with the populace, so the populace will offer them unbridled support. Sometimes they’re going to have to offer their knowledge to the populace and fix things and make life better for the populace.

In one sentence: the more you do for the community, the more they will do for you and the more they will do to keep you around. What can you do for your community to make them want to keep you around? Answer that question and then start winning some Hearts & Minds. Because if you don’t win their Hearts & Minds, then the State will turn them against you (though coercion or benefits, not that it matters), and you will lose.

There’s an endless list of considerations if hostilities break out. Focus on your family, build tribe in your community, foster cooperation among yourselves, and get prepared. And, if the time comes, then we can deal with each of these factors when necessary.

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Dirty Civil War, Matt Bracken

This is an interview between Matt Bracken and Forward Observer Magazine, take from it what you will. I think it is an important read.

MATTHEW BRACKEN is a former Navy SEAL (BUD/S Class 105), a Constitutionalist, and a self-described “freedomista”.

You might think that the most courageous thing Matt Bracken’s ever done is taking a SEAL team to Beirut, Lebanon in 1983, the same year of the Marine Barracks bombings… but you’d be wrong. Bracken is standing up as a bulwark for Liberty in the face of growing danger to those who speak out against the regime.

FO: What are some of the threats that pro-Liberty Americans will see in the next few years, and what can we expect? More lawfare? Actual conflict? A fight for the Republic?

MB: All Americans face the risk of chaos, anarchy and starvation resulting from the collapse of our electrical grid. Electricity has become our oxygen, necessary to sustain our civilization, and I see at least a dozen ways it could be disrupted with catastrophic results. To the extent that pro-liberty Americans are also “preppers,” they will be better prepared to face the dire consequences.

Absolutely I see “lawfare” by our rogue federal agencies against patriots continually ramping up. With no consequences resulting from scandals such as Fast and Furious and the targeting of patriots by the IRS, Team Tyranny feels emboldened and will only make life harder for those who defy them.

As far as an actual fight for the republic, it could happen, for example, after a hypothetical future Waco incident. In that case, I could envision federal agents being lured into ambushes and so on. The ambushes could be false flag operations or actual attacks by frustrated Americans, but the result could be a shooting war, with patriots being “disappeared” on one side of the ledger, and federal agents and officials being assassinated on the other. This would probably turn into a “dirty civil war” similar to what happened in Northern Ireland or Argentina in the 1970s, but obviously on a far more vast scale.

FO: You mention that there are at least a dozen ways that our electrical grid could be disrupted. What do you see as the most likely causes for grid-down?

Anything from a solar flare to a cyber-war with a national entity could take down the grid. In the event of a civil war, there will be a strong urban vs. rural dynamic, and one way that rural participants will strike at their urban antagonists will be to strike at the grid carrying power to the cities. The Metcalf power station incidents in California last year seem to have been a dry run or proof of concept drill. A dozen teams of riflemen could put our grid at danger with a coordinated attack.

Groups from the former Sendero Luminoso in Peru to the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico to Al Qaeda in Yemen have attacked major power grids. In America, we have allowed electricity to become our oxygen, and it’s naive to expect that in any type of future war, (civil, international, or terrorist), antagonists will not attempt to cut off that oxygen and kill their enemies en masse. Our power grid is our exposed jugular vein.

FO: What are the best ways Patriots can protect themselves during this time? How long might a “dirty civil war” last?

If [Social Network Analysis] is used to target patriots–and it will be– then there is not much anyone can do for self-protection, other than move to an area where Federal Law Enforcement Agents (FLEA) are afraid to operate, if such places will even exist. Nobody will be able to live a normal life if there is the constant risk of a Soviet KGB- style arrest by plain-clothed teams of anonymous agents. My goal is to remind [law enforcement officers] and especially the FLEAs to think very hard about following orders facilitating secret arrests. The blow-back against all of them and their collaborator for employing Gestapo tactics against Americans will be incredibly ferocious.

Once patriots begin to disappear, Rule 308 will be used against any identifiable FLEA targets, and the dirty civil war will turn into a nightmare that could last for years. There is no way to predict which side would win, or what America might look like at the end. But once a war of secret arrests and assassinations begins, it will be very hard to stop.

My goal with much of my writing is to warn all potential sides that a dirty civil war must be avoided if at all possible. The only thing worse than a dirty civil war would be America turning into a Soviet-style totalitarian dictatorship. Uncounted millions of scoped deer rifles tell me that turning American into a dictatorship would be almost impossible, and I hope that the FLEAs who might study this Q&A also give my short story “What I Saw at The Coup” and my essay “Dear Mr. Security Agent” a very close reading. The shape of the next few years will depend largely on the honor and integrity of our LEOs and FLEAs, and how strongly or weakly they adhere to their oaths to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

FO: What’s your take on the current militarization of the police? Are these police MRAPs just a useful way to re-purpose military vehicles or something worse? What roles do you see the police taking in any Constitutional crisis?

Federal LEAs are attempting to co-opt local law enforcement agencies, turning them into their “grunts” for perimeter security around federal actions and other duties where sufficient armed manpower is required. There are simply not enough federal agents to conduct all of the raids they might envision conducting, and also at the same time provide all-around security for the federal agents from potentially enraged local citizens.

[Mine Resistant Ambush Proof vehicles], latest generation night vision and commo gear and so on are the “gifts” that the feds are be- stowing upon local LEAs in order to make them dependent upon federal largess and beholden to federal masters. In the near term this strategy might be effective, but in the event that an actual dirty civil war is ignited, the loyalty of local LE to their FLEA masters cannot be assured. At the least, some constitutionally-minded local LEOs will warn patriots of planned raids and arrests, resulting in FLEAs being ambushed on the way to their targets, or at their targets.

Look to Mexico today to see what an American dirty civil war will look like. It will be impossible to tell the genuine “on duty” LEOs from “off duty” LEOs in so-called death squads, from criminals posing as LEOs. This would obviously be an extremely dangerous environment for freedomistas, as we see today in Mexico.

CW2 cube

FO: Your Civil War 2 Cube (above) has been immensely popular. We see Suburbia is kind of trapped between Rural and Urban. What do you think the suburban spaces will look like during conflict?

Not all suburbs are alike, obviously. A suburb located between Asheville, NC and the mountains is not the same as a suburb located between megacities in the DC-Boston corridor. In general, I agree with the hypothesis of the book “A Failure of Civility.” A well-located suburban subdivision offers enough manpower to mount a guard force, as well as containing a useful collection of skills from doctors to electricians. During the Dark Ages the walled city or town was the best model for success. Farmers did not live in distant, lonely farm houses; it was simply too dangerous to be that isolated.

FO: What’s your message to those who have no bug-out plan out of urban or suburban areas? What advice can you offer about sheltering in place?

Stocking up on food and water might be critical for surviving a short catastrophe or power outage, so it is something that is well worth doing. If the power stays out for months or longer, “bugging in” won’t work. If the environment is too dangerous to permit safe travel, then all of the food that is consumed must be generated within your own zip code. How many American zip codes generate enough food, right now, to ensure the survival of their inhabitants? What if those food sources are without electricity, fuel, or needed chemicals during the growing season? In any case, if the power goes out, the food will stop moving. Starvation will begin in just a few weeks, while it will take months or years to start new agricultural projects at the local level.

If you must shelter in place in suburbia, I’d recommend following the advice in [A Failure of Civility]. Attempt to interest your neighbors in preparing for various scenarios. No single house in suburbia can become a successful fortress. Suburbs must be defended at their gates, with a quick reaction force ready to respond. Former military buddies in your neighborhood might become the nucleus of the nascent defense force. I cannot recommend the book “A Failure of Civility” highly enough.

FO: Fast-foward: we have a domestic conflict over a Constitutional issue. What happens to the military? What’s your opinion on how they align themselves with the regime or with Freedom Forces?

I cling to the hope that most of the military will not be willing to perform raids upon American homes. However, they will be capable of following most general orders and they will be effective at cordoning towns and cutting off travel options, which can be just as deadly if the cordon means that local inhabitants can neither leave nor bring in food supplies. A pandemic resulting in city-wide quarantines is one easy to imagine scenario. Soldiers don’t need to shoot you to kill you. They can pin you in place until you starve to death. Ask the Ukrainians. For actual raids and assaults upon American citizens, the military and FLEAs will develop units made up of individuals selected for their loyalty to the federal government, and their willingness (or even eagerness) to shoot “enemies of the people.” Social Network Analysis will not only be useful for finding and targeting “enemies of the state,” it will also be extremely useful for locating the sociopathic killers among the wider military, LE, and prison populations (gang members).

These willing killers can then be brought together into very dangerous “hunter-killer teams” to do the dirty “wet work” required by Team Tyranny. In the event of a grid collapse, most members of the military and LE will desert at the first opportunity, in order to take care of their own families. In the event of an economic collapse, they will also desert if they are not paid, or if they are paid in meaningless scrip with no purchasing power.

FO: Many members of the special operations community hear the call to defend Liberty at home. If conflict is inevitable, where do these former leaders fit in?

I believe that the Constitution will remain our most important defensive bulwark. The Constitution will be our most effective litmus test for separating the oath takers from the traitorous oath breakers. Former military and LE leaders should take every opportunity to remind their active duty brothers of their sworn oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. They should also politely remind them that Team Liberty will have a very long memory when it comes to dealing with traitors. There will be no statute of limitations for traitors, and justice might eventually be dealt out under the well-known Rule 308. Loyalty to the Constitution must be a constant theme, both among friends and on social media. No active member of the military or LE will be permitted to plead ignorance when it comes to upholding the Constitution. We must remind them of that fact as often as possible, until it is ringing in their ears.

FO: What are a few things outside of physically and mentally preparing that Patriots can do to help the fight for Liberty right now?

Unless one’s personal strategy is to remain a “gray man,” or in effect an unknown “stay behind agent,” patriots should be loud voices for liberty both in person and in social media. Don’t cower in fear of Team Tyran- ny. Social Network Analysis means that they already know who you are, where you live, and what your views are. Take every opportunity to stand up for freedom and liberty, and make the Constitution your byword. Take every opportunity to remind active military and LE that we expect them to uphold their sworn oaths to defend the Constitution, and that we are paying very careful attention to the oath breakers among them. The boys and girls down in the fusion centers must be made to understand very clearly that they will be held accountable for their actions, and that “I was just following orders” will not be an acceptable excuse for acting against the Constitution as the minions of Team Tyranny.

FO: You’re a big proponent of hitting the water to escape civil unrest. Why do you prefer that to a rural retreat or a mountain location?

Rural retreats, once located, are too easy to besiege with sniper tactics and other means. FLEAs actually prefer it when patriots move to remote locations: it makes them easy to isolate and eventually they can wind up in a Waco or Ruby Ridge situation.

On the other hand, all of the oceans are connected. A forty-foot sailboat can carry enough food and water to last its crew for months. A sailboat can leave port and wait out a pandemic or social disorder while spending weeks or even months at sea before returning, or a sailboat can voyage non-stop to another country or even to another continent where conditions might be better. Obviously, sailing is not a viable option for everybody. It requires some physical stamina and agility, and a resistance to motion sickness.

FO: What are the most likely threats you’ll face while bugging out on a boat? What are your expectations?

Once at sea and more than 50 or 100 miles from land, the ocean becomes a very low threat environment. Oceans are so vast that the odds of randomly crossing the path of another vessel are astronomically small. Post SHTF, few will be out wasting precious fuel motoring around the oceans looking for random prey. Pirates (including those wearing uniforms with numbers on their bows) always congregate near ports and will transit mainly along coasts. Near land, a speedboat can obviously overtake a sailboat. Get- ting clear of the coasts and gaining the anonymity of the open ocean is always the first priority during dangerous times.

In the event that a motor vessel with superior armaments does spot a sailboat and determine to attack it, the sailboat is going to be in a very tough situation. However, this “worst case” (and very unlikely) ocean scenario is no worse than being besieged on land in a remote rural retreat. The other big risk comes in port, when corrupt officials might decide to take your boat under color of law. But being able to cross oceans means having the flexibility to leave a dangerous or corrupt nation and sail directly to a safer place. Or leave a very dangerous state in America, and sail directly to another one. For example, during a SHTF scenario, a sailboat could easily transit directly from New York to Texas, while that same trip might be impossible by road.

A 40-foot sailboat could leave Florida, gain the safety of the open ocean, and next make port weeks later in Iceland or Argentina. Imagine how far a 40 foot RV, loaded with sup- plies, would make it on the inter- states after the SHTF. Not very far, with road blockages, check points, and ambushes around every curve. A sailboat over the horizon on the open ocean has effectively disappeared from the grid matrix. It can also reappear at the moment and the location of its choosing.

FO: In your book, Domestic Enemies: The Reconquista, you write about a concerted effort by enemies to re-conquer the American Southwest. Although it’s “fictional”, your writing tends to foretell non-fictional events. Where are we right now in the Reconquista conflict and what happens next?

The Southwest is now in a death spiral as far as liberty, freedom and prosperity go. Several generations of anti-American and pro-Aztlan radicals have graduated from universities across the Southwest, and today they are judges, federal attorneys, district attorneys, FLEAs, mayors and police chiefs. This allows them to take leftist “lawfare” to a much higher and very dangerous level. Witness the Reese case in Deming, New Mexico: it is a model for future abuses of official power. Ideologically motivated federal attorneys are able to cherry pick judges who are fellow travelers, with the outcomes of selected cases preordained. This corruption of official power will get worse and worse, until patriots either flee the South- west, surrender, or retaliate in anger, leading to a “dirty civil war.”

The anti-American cabal largely running the Southwest today is fully committed to open borders and amnesty citizenship for illegal aliens. We are well past the demographic tipping points. The Southwest will become more and more like Mexico: extremely dangerous and totally corrupt. As I mentioned above, soon we will see assassinations and ambushes by shadowy groups that might be made up of cartel killers, or “off-duty” policemen, or federal agents, or a very dirty combination of them. Study the Reese case very carefully: it shows the future. Corrupt police shielded drug cartel smuggling routes in Luna County, New Mexico. Corrupt police were blackmailed by ideologically corrupt ATF and FBI agents into providing libelous testimony in order to railroad the Reese family. The false and fabricated case was put forward by corrupt leftist federal attorneys to corrupt leftist judges. Leftist reporters in the media turned a blind eye to the ideological corruption. Justice is effectively dead in New Mexico. What is waiting around the corner ahead of us is a fatally corrupt Southwest that is indistinguishable from the worst of Mexico. There is no turning back from that outcome that I can see.

FO: In our previous issue, we took a look at Balkanization and secession. Where do you see America in another 10 or 20 years? What do the political structures and geographic boundaries look like?

There are many potential outcomes, one being a post-apocalyptic landscape resembling my short story “Alas, Brave New Babylon.” Unfortunately, I see almost every scenario resulting in attacks against the power grid, and the consequences will be hard to imagine if our electricity is cut for even a few weeks. If we somehow manage to avoid a grid- down scenario, I think that America will follow in the footsteps of the Soviet Union in terms of possessing a decrepit nuclear deterrent, with a collapsed economy that will not support superpower-level military operations either abroad or at home. If the troops cannot be paid in a currency of value, they will not follow orders. We may eventually devolve into “Argentina with nukes.”

Something like the scenario in my novel “Foreign Enemies and Traitors” is possible: a regional breakup, with Washington DC only in full control of a rump USA, mainly in the Northeast. The Southwest will resemble Mexico: corrupt to the marrow and far too dangerous for anyone to live a normal life. The Northwest and the South might do better, depending on how the collapse and breakup proceeds. On paper, the United States might still have 50 states, but I don’t think that Washington will be able to dictate terms to all of them. Federal taxes will not be collected, and the remaining federal forces will mainly be situated around Washington DC and the Northeast corridor, to protect the nominal national leadership.

But if at some point the power grid is taken down, our cities will explode, and all bets are off. If people don’t have time to read my long novels, I wish that they would read “Alas, Brave New Babylon,” “What I Saw at the Coup,” and the other short works on the Bracken Anthology. Links to the individual essays and stories are located on my website gratis. I hope this Q&A encourages people to read them. These are extremely dangerous times. Forewarned is forearmed.

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Ghillie suits

Ghillie suits are a must have for the patriot that intends to stand up when needed. If you are part of a Militia, a patriot group, OK CPT, OK QRF, III%er, or any other form of resistance, then you will need to have one of these. A Ghillie offers much better concealment than regular clothing in most environments. This is a good article I found over on the Survival Blog that I thought would be very good to share with you guys.

Ghillie Up, by Molon Labe

From a young age, I’ve been fascinated with hunters and snipers alike who stalk the wilds with a bushy cloak that conceals their location, like a ghost who conforms to his terrain and disappears in plain view. And so since an early teen I’ve researched, constructed and eventually refined the art of personal camouflage by way of the ghillie suit. The truth is that nothing can make you truly invisible and that even the best camouflage can be compromised with movement. However, through constant research and development both for myself, friends and eventually building ghillie making into a side business, I’ve learned many helpful facts that can help you in deciding if you want to add a ghillie suit or similar variant to your Bugout Bag (BOB).

First, we must ask, “Why ghillie up at all?” What are the benefits and downsides, and how can they respectively be maximized and minimized? Back in the 19th Century, the Scottish hunting guides and game wardens found it helped them to stalk closer to their prey when they wore burlap bags around their head and shoulders, which disrupted their distinctly “human” shape. From that point forward, increasingly greater forms of concealment were adopted by many long range marksman and snipers, and their three dimensional outfits became known as “ghillie” suits in honor of these guides and wardens who were known as Gillies. The great thing about three dimensional (3D) camouflage is that it disrupts a person’s outline and can confuse the prey’s depth perception as well, lending to the misconception that some of the wearer’s body is further or closer than it actually is. But more than this, the fringes of the outfit will, or at least should, if constructed properly, sway with the breeze. These things all contribute to make the 3D outfit much more effective than any two dimensional piece of camouflage. As much as [Woodland pattern or Multicam pattern] battledress uniforms (BDUs) may blend in with the surrounding environment, they still has noticeable edges that stand out much more plainly than the edges of the ghillie suit, which from a distance seem to fade gradually from its fringes to the background.

What camouflage must do in order to be effective is to look like anything but a human, rifle or any other equipment that you bring into the wilderness. At best it will look exactly like the surrounding foliage, but at least it should look like something other than human or man-made.

One of the greatest benefits of the ghillie is that it will disrupt your silhouette, which is extremely important, both in broad daylight and especially at night. Ask yourself, how do you distinguish an animal at night from the rest of the landscape? Unless you flash a light on them and see two reflecting eyes, it’s most commonly by distinguishing a solid shape that does not resemble nature against the background. That, and of course, movement. And although a ghillie suit cannot hide your location when moving quickly–especially transverse to your target’s field of vision–it will save you from noticeably not swaying with the breeze when everything around you is. It also can play with your target’s depth perception and can, especially with shadows, make you to appear dispersed and in that sense, human and animal eyes will skip right over you without noticing anything, as you will simply blend into the landscape. All these things will greatly aid in keeping your presence hidden. But what are some downsides?

Traditionally, ghillies were never worn except when absolutely necessary because they can be very hot and extremely restrictive if not constructed properly. They can be heavy, because the classic material used is burlap or jute, which not only will add several pounds to your clothing but will soak up any moisture like a sponge and make you feel like lead when it rains. And if you are planning on discharging a weapon around it at all, you will want to treat it with flame retardant when using burlap or jute. Yes, this makes it even heavier. Yes, this may have to be redone after it comes in contact with moisture. But let’s not forget that a bundle of clothing that adds significant depth from the sole of your foot to the top of your head is hard to keep in a packable bundle that will squeeze into your bag with all your other “necessary” gear. Because the simple fact is that if you are traveling any distance through a forest at any speed except for a slow stalk, you won’t be wearing a traditional ghillie.

Still, if it greatly aids in your concealment, are there ways to mitigate or bypass some of these downsides? Absolutely. Rule number one is that if you are going to be using this for anything more than purely recreational use and don’t want to be itching and being roasted alive in a heavy, restrictive outfit, then don’t use burlap or jute at all. I say this because I’ve been told by a current U.S. Army sniper instructor that Army snipers haven’t used conventional full ghillie suits in over 30 years, because when the material sheds away (and it will) it will leave a trail behind that bespeaks only one thing: “Sniper”. This has led to the discovery and death of a few snipers downrange. Even if the enemy doesn’t see a sniper team, they’ll call in mortars, artillery, a tracking team with dogs or anything available to them to obliterate or search out any area that may have a sniper.

So the question is, if 3D camouflage is so good, but discovery by its trail of shed fibers so dangerous, then what is the solution? In 2007, the US Army developed a synthetic thread that has completely replaced burlap and jute. This new thread is fire retardant, waterproof, water repellent, rot proof, mildew resistant, non-allergenic, and is considerably stronger and lighter than burlap or jute. The other great thing about this synthetic thread is that you won’t need nearly as much of it to get the job done and does not trap nearly as much heat, which is a real bonus when you’re down prone in the summer sun for hours on end.

Regardless of what material you decide to use for your ghillie, it will need to be securely fastened to a wearable outfit. This is most often done by tying it to a form of netting that has been either glued or sewn onto the desired outfit. This is effective, but in my opinion is not efficient. In my area we have four distinct seasons with at least three distinct colors schemes, and if I matched any one of them I would stand out in the other two. Remember this is three dimensional camouflage; it either matches the surrounding colors or it doesn’t. There’s no two dimensional magic you can create to deceive the eye like Multicam or similar patterns. This means that I either have to have three different suits in my closet or I can create a method to attach the right color scheme to a single outfit, and with this one outfit, I can have all the bells and whistles to make it the most comfortable, rugged, cool, and functional as I can. This is the approach that I’ve taken.

Now, how to do this? What I’ve done for my personal ghillie suit is to use Shoe Goo to attach earth tone 550 military grade parachute cord (“paracord”) onto the back side of the jacket, pants, and the top of my boonie hat. This was done in a crisscross grid-like pattern with about four inches between intersections. Onto this I’ve tied more than a dozen ½-inch quick-release plastic buckles–the same type which you find on many survival bracelets. And then using fish net with the synthetic thread tied evenly to it, I’ve cut out the outline of my ghillie jacket, pants and hat. To this I’ve tied on corresponding buckles which clip into those tied onto the parachute cord grid pattern. Now I have an easy method to apply the “ghillie cover” to my ghillie base. When not wearing the ghillie cover I can stow it in my pack and merely wear the ghillie base.

BTW, the base of my ghillie suit is a set of Multicam pattern fatigues so that I can easily blend into most places during every season except winter. However, when the ghillie suit is large enough to allow warmer clothes under it–as mine is–you can also attach a synthetic thread covering with pure white thread. This, although less than perfect, is very effective when you consider that the Multicam base bleeds through in areas and creates a “break up” result. A very helpful feature especially when you consider that solid white does not blend into any snow land environment except the North Pole.

The Ghillie Poncho
But the other approach is to not have a full ghillie suit at all and instead use a simple ghillie poncho. A ghillie poncho is usually constructed using durable but ultra-light fishing net and can be thrown over your existing clothes, tactical gear, etc. This is very useful, if you are going to be traveling through two different environments such as a forest where dark green and brown are key and a very green or very tan field, you may want to pack both options, and with the advent of ghillie ponchos which weigh only 2 to 3 pounds and can squeeze into a compact space, this is now a viable option.

Now, there are two major kinds of ghillie suits, and the same principle applies to ponchos; the soldier’s ghillie and the sniper’s ghillie. The difference between these is simply that the soldier’s ghillie has full 360 degree coverage front and back, top and bottom. Whereas the sniper’s ghillie suit keeps the chest and front of the legs (and often arms) slicked out to better facilitate crawling low to the ground. Both are effective but one tends towards the sniper’s uses better than the other. Bow hunters have no need to be low crawling and will prefer to have the soldier’s ghillie.

Now when it comes to getting your own, there are a few different options. With some supplies and a little creative thinking, thread and needle, you can create your own and make it with as many added features as you care to have. Among these are creating vents in the back of the jacket, pants or hat for better ventilation, putting more rugged material such as 1,000 Denier Cordura fabric on the elbow and knee sections, “slicking out” the front of jacket and pants for low crawling, adding a hydration pack, adding pockets, add paracord thumb and boot loops which can keep the ghillie from snaking up on your arms and legs when low crawling or reverse-low crawling, putting in rain proof sections, or any other enhancement you can dream up that could aid you for your particular area and mission.

But if you opt out of do-it-yourself (DIY), or buying from a ghillie store you’ll find a four-piece ghillie (that is: jacket, pants, head cover and rifle wrap) off the shelf that comes from China, at nearly every sporting goods store. And if your purpose is bow hunting or paintball, you’ll be hard pressed to find a less expensive solution. But if your life may be on the line, you won’t want something quite so flimsy and easy to track. Trust me, I have one and the thread will tear out all too easily when you brush by a limb or bush. These, although made with the new synthetic thread, are sewn on in bunches and not hand tied. In my opinion, this is worse should you brush up against anything in the wild, as it will come right out with a tug and will not biodegrade.

Now what should one look for in a ghillie suit? Number one it that it has to conceal you. It should be of the right color [to match your local foliage] and be constructed to fit your purposes. Secondly, it should be rugged. These suits, depending on the type of material chosen, often have the uncanny ability to reach out and grab every twig and edge of a bush within five feet. (This in itself will aid to the natural look and help to conceal you.) It should also be functional to your purposes. Ghillie suits are most often used only when hiding in a static location or while slow stalking. This however means that for most of the distance that you may need to trek through the woods, you won’t want to be wearing one. In keeping with this principle, I always look for something adequate for the job that will easily be carried, which means: compact and light. This will be situational dependent, but often times you may not have the need or space to carry a full-blown ghillie suit, which is one reason ghillie ponchos have become more popular.

Finally, how should we look at ghillies? If you are someone who puts their life on the line for those you love and go down range, I believe you should look at ghillies as another piece of kit. Again, it is something situational dependent, but mandatory to have ready to take, should you be able to take advantage of it. Whether you are a sniper, solider, or just a prepper it is advantageous and often times critical to be concealed. Ghillies are perhaps one of the best tools to deceive the human eye into believing that it sees nothing more than an uninteresting clump of nature.

Whether you construct one yourself, pick one up from a shop or shell out the cash to get a custom design from an online store, realize each design has advantages and some disadvantages. However, I must say, if you decide to take the next step in the art of camouflage, then you should train with it as you do the rest of your kit. If you simply buy one and put it aside to use on The Day but never use it when you train, then it will be an unnecessary frustration when you finally do, and you won’t be able to maximize the benefits as you should.

https://survivalblog.com/ghillie-up-by-molon-labe/

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Limits and how to overcome them

Know Your Limits, by Molon Labe

In these times, there are many activities that we must train to be able to do, many skills we must know, and many tasks we are forced to accomplish to sustain our lives and those who we care about. In the days ahead, there will be even greater and more difficult things that we will have to do should a collapse or failure of civility occur to any degree in our area. Many things that are abhorrent to us may become required in order to righteously protect what is ours.

Taking lives in the defense of our lives, our property, and more importantly in defense of our friends and family, may well be absolutely necessary. This is a topic which is often neglected today but clearly shown in Holy Scripture. However this is one of the only skills that you cannot afford to do without or make a mistake. Realistically, you may not have to utilize the skills of a warrior more than 1% of the time, and probably less than that. But if a mistake happens during that 1%, you, and those you care about and are standing in front of, won’t live to enjoy the other 99%.

You must realize that I am not talking about going to the rifle range on a nice sunny day and excelling at punching holes on a non-moving paper target with all the time in the world. Certainly there is a place for that, but the best shooter in the world will not survive a violent conflict or be able to protect his family when the time comes if that person has not made the conscience decision beforehand that he or she will drop the hammer on that other living, breathing human being. That they will plunge that knife into the enemy’s neck, or bring that chair over their head, and repeat with savage fury until finished. If it isn’t in you to go up to that edge and know that you will, for a certainty step off and take that reprobate’s life from him, even as he comes at the unexpected moment to take yours, then you will not survive.

This cannot be overstated: Hesitation kills. Remember that! Most gunfights are over in less than four seconds. It has been stated many times over that a failure to plan is a plan to fail, and that is true. So the question is; what have you determined to do when the time comes that those you love are in danger? Even if you never have to endure a failure of society or go through a war zone, make no mistake, this is a cruel world and scumbags are everywhere. I’ve had a friend killed by a Muslim with a pistol at point blank range. A few of my friends have encountered men with lethal intent and had to defend their lives or die trying; they have survived and their enemies are either in the ground or in prison. None of these men had gone looking for a fight or had done anything stupid which should have been avoided. I’ve survived a potential violent conflict the best way, by keeping my eyes open and with the help of the Lord, escaping the narrow confined room where I should have been killed. In that case I didn’t have to snap the enemy’s spine or use my knife, but if I had, would I have been ready? If it quickly came to a “him or me” situation, could I have fought intelligently and fiercely? I hope so. I was young at the time, but I had already crossed that line in my head a hundred times before.

On a side note, you don’t have to be in a bad spot to be targeted by bad people. Sometimes they follow you. Or like in the case of my friend, they come to your door out of nowhere with a gun and a bag full of cutting tools and implements associated with torture. Had my friend not been the man that he is, he and his wife and two children would have been a sad memory instead of a shining example in our community. The point here is that you will not be able to decide when the moment of truth is: It’s going to choose you. And statistically, that means it will be up close and personal (and probably very dark, to boot).

Know Your Limits
In your mind, you have to know your limits. You have to know how far you are willing to take it and how much you are willing to risk to protect those you love. Ask yourself, are you willing to take a bullet, stop that bat swing with your arm, or get hit by that vehicle for someone you love? For principle? For right? No matter what the cost? Run through scenarios in your head, and know personally how far you will take it, for what, and why. For me, the idea of living the rest of my life knowing that I could’ve bit the bullet and saved someone I love dearly, but didn’t, is more horrible than death itself, regardless of how frightening the circumstances may be. What if it’s a little girl, or even perhaps one day, my own little girl? My mom, dad or sister? No, the preservation of their lives and the lives of my friends is more important to me than my own. And on the day, when that dirt bag has captured them and seeks to extinguish their life by the most barbaric means possible, or when those Religion of Peace types begin gutting, crucifying, beheading, raping, (fill in the blank), to someone I care about, in that situation time-is-life. Remember this, as Douglas MacArthur stated, “In war, you win or lose. Live or die. And the difference is just an eyelash.”

So let me now ask you. How fast can you get your shot off reliably from the method you carry? If it isn’t carried on your person, are you sure you can get to it, get it out and running before the gunfight is over? Remember from the first to last shot in a gunfight on the street, it’s going to be over in 2.5 to 4 seconds. When you’re slipping backwards in the dark and rain, that isn’t very long. If you intend on using an edged weapon or blunt instrument, how fast can you cover distance and disable your opponent, and how sure are you that you will be able to take down that threat? What if you are caught without a weapon? Do you have to resort to picking something up or can you kill with your bare hands? At what point in the fight will you draw your knife or gun, and why? If you take a single hit from a pistol caliber, you have perhaps as much as 95% chance of walking out of there alive; not so if you are stabbed in the neck. And never discount the method of making distance via your feet, sometimes referred to as the Nike Jitsu technique, if it is an option to you. If you are fired at while running away from an urban gang member with a pistol, statistics show you have a very good chance of not getting hit. Obviously, that isn’t always an option, from either a moral or strategic standpoint.

This is what you must know: You will probably not die from a single gunshot wound or knife slash. People survive them every day. If you are dealing with an opponent with a gun, the gun is probably going to go off; you may get hit. Knife, yes, you’re going to get cut, it’s not the end of the world. Pipe-bat-chain, yes, you’re going to get smacked and yes, it’s going to hurt, but that’s why we have casts and splints. The point is to keep fighting. It’s not over until you are dead, have given up, or have won. If you die, your worries are over. If you give up, you’re as good as dead, or you may have to endure a fate worse than death. But if you resign to fight until you can’t fight any more, or until you’ve no one left to fight, you’ve already won. Because if you do all you can and fail, it’s not truly failure. Failure is refusing to try.

Now if you know you’re going to fight and fight until you can’t fight any more, then what are some things that can help prepare you for that day and stack the odds in your favor? You must know your limits. That is, your current limits. Let us remember what Bruce Lee said once, “There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level.”

I know that I can draw my pistol and get a center mass hit reliably in under one second with movement in my open carry rig. Add 2/10ths of a second from concealment. I know that my carbine speed reload is on average 2/10ths of a second slower than drawing my pistol, but that if I have more ammo in my Redi-Mag, then I’ll take that extra time to get 30 rounds of .223 in the fight, versus 11 rounds of .45 ACP. I know that I can speed reload in pitch dark as fast as I can in the light, maybe faster. Sound impossible? The truth is that if you can perform an action without using conscious thought, if it can be controlled, regulated and maneuvered by using subconscious thought, it will be faster, smoother and more efficient. And this brings us to the next point.

Practice, Practice, Practice
Whatever action you may be called on to do when time is life, you’ll want to practice it until it can be done without conscious thought. The simple truth is that the better you become at subconsciously running your gun, then the better you’ll be able to use your conscious thought for solving problems. In conflicts there will always be problems that must be solved, obstacles to be overcome. One thing about guns is that sooner or later, (and probably sooner rather than later in battlefield conditions,) your gun will have a malfunction. So, can you clear your weapon’s malfunction quickly, no matter what kind it may be? How quickly? Can you do it without thinking about it, and keep your head in the game, thinking about the next move while you’re doing it? Make no mistake, this will take time and practice. A few inert rounds and some time spent with your weapons systems, off and on the range, dealing with malfunctions could very well save your life when it fails to go bang on the day. If you are carrying more than one weapon into the field or on the street, you need to know how quickly you can solve the problem, and at which point you swap to your alternate weapon or method. There will be no time on the day to stop and think, “Oh, yeah, NOW would be a good time to go to my back up!” It must be done via muscle memory or you’ll skip a beat, miss a step and be even further behind the power curve.

Don’t forget that your mind is your greatest and first weapon. It is the thing that drives all else and we want to keep it clear and have as few problems as possible to solve. So work with your gear and decide what your standard operating procedure is before it comes to it, and then practice it until it becomes instinct. When deciding your method in handling different situations or weapon systems, try to never go with a particular technique just because someone else said to, no matter how good or knowledgeable that person is, because people don’t always have the same body mechanics or application for any given situation. No, you’ll want to develop your own method based on good reasoning. If there’s a good reason behind why you’re doing what you’re doing, then at least you’re doing something right. But don’t stop there; look to see if you can find a better reason to do it any other way. Follow the 80% rule. You want to practice what is going to work for you 80% of the time or better. Ask yourself when you are doing your next dry fire practice or shooting at the range, or anything that may need to be accomplished during critical moments, “Is this going to work for me when it’s wet, when I’m tired, when I can’t think, when my lungs are working overtime to suck in some vital air, when I’m scared out of my wits?” And train to reality. Reality isn’t sunny and 75 on level ground with no pressure. Reality is dark-cold-scared with everything on the line and no do-overs.

How well do you perform when your heart is pounding at 145+ beats per minute, your legs and arms are smoked and your mind is struggling to find the answer to the current problem? Test yourself and know that at that point, the head shot at 25 yards is stupid with that pocket pistol, or manageable with that shotgun. Know that your speed reload falls to pieces if you go too fast, so you can slow it down, take a breath and think through the problem. If you train through enough stressful situations, running as fast as you can, then you’ll find where you melt down and where you need to be to keep things running quickly but smoothly. One important point to remember is that “You can’t hit by missing.” This means that if you’re going to miss, slow it down, correct it, move up, slow your heart and breathing or just man up and dig deep and do whatever needs to happen to get the job done right.

But don’t go faster than you can. I learned this lesson crystal clear when I was about 15 years old. I remember expending an entire 20 round magazine at a full-size steel through my rifle at 200 yards and never once hitting it because I was frustrated and was shooting way too fast; a shot that I should have hit the first time if I had slowed myself down a couple seconds. This was a stupid mistake that could have meant taking an innocent life through negligence down range on the day, because every missed round is a liability. But the point here is that if you shoot, move or operate too fast for your level, you’re doing no one any good. So if you find yourself missing, slow it down and get your hits. Again, this comes back to knowing your limits. Don’t go faster than you can on the street, means that you hit that failure point on the range, in training, so you won’t make that mistake on The Day. So where are your limits? Do you know them? Do you know if you can hit that half a head hiding behind your best friend when he/she becomes a hostage? It’s all on you.

Train hard. Fight harder. Live for God and do your best; leave the results to Him because they are His anyway. Love those you should and be ready to kill those who need to die. And always know your limits.

https://survivalblog.com/know-your-limits-by-molon-labe/


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