Here is the second part in the two part series by John Mosby, like I said at the beginning of part one, this is vital information that we need to start performing now. We need to be organized and ready to go before it is too late. We need to be part of the solution, not the problem. If we as patriots do not perform the necessary actions needed to be ready to perform our part this nation will cease to exist as a Constitutional Republic (which it really does not resemble any more).
The Formation and Organization of Resistance Movements, Part Two
John Mosby
This is part two of a two-part series.
There are three necessary components to a successful insurgency. The subversive underground is always present and is the first component of the resistance to form and begin active operations. The strategic goals of the resistance movement will determine the level of development for all three components:
The subversive underground
The support auxiliary
The paramilitary guerrilla force
The subversive underground.
The subversive underground is a cellular organization within the resistance movement that has the ability to conduct operations in areas that are practicably inaccessible to the paramilitary guerrilla force, such as populated areas that are under tight control of the regime’s security forces. The underground maintains the ability to operate in these denied areas because it operates clandestinely, returning to innocuous “day jobs” when not performing missions.
Typical tasks for the subversive underground include, but may not be limited to:
-Gathering intelligence and the development of intelligence networks.
-The development and operation of subversive “pirate” broadcast systems that control the dissemination of propaganda through radio, newspaper and leaflet distribution, and/or internet communications and web page development.
-The fabrication of special materials, such as false identification, weapons, and munitions.
-Black market networks and safe houses for transport of personnel and logistics.
-Sabotage by individuals and/or small units in urban centers.
-Operation of clandestine medical facilities to treat injured/wounded resistance personnel.
Members of the underground are normally active, productive members of their community, and their ability to function as part of the resistance is a product of their daily life and/or position within the community. They operate by maintaining a strict compartmentalization and delegating most risk to their auxiliary workers. The functions of the subversive underground are what allow the resistance to have a noticeable effect within urban or built-up areas.
The underground operational cell should typically be comprised of a leader and a few cell members who operate directly as a unit to conduct direct-action missions for the underground. The intelligence cell is different in that the cell leader should seldom, if ever, be in direct contact with the subordinate members of his cell, and the members of the cell are rarely in contact with one another. All communications of the intelligence cell would typically be conducted through dead-drop and other covert/clandestine methods of tradecraft.
It is imperative for the potential future guerrilla fighter to understand that, until he sees and recognizes these actions being undertaken by unknown parties, there is little point to “going to guns.” Doing so will only accelerate the actions of the regime to hunt down such “extremist” outlaws. Since the security forces will not be forced to deal with hunting down members of the subversive underground at the same time, there will be little to prevent them from focusing extensive assets to hunting down the “bandits hiding out in the woods.” If you have friends, whom you trust enough to discuss these matters and potential future issues with, who are not outspoken and openly critical of the current demise, educate them on the need for future subversives. They need to remain quiet and simply prepare for the day they need to wire a couple cans of ether to some douchebag’s engine manifold…(I’ve actually never tried it, but I’m pretty well convinced that it would be an extremely effective anti-vehicle/anti-personnel device to be utilized by a mechanic who happens to secretly support the resistance. If anyone has a junk vehicle that will still run, they should try it and let me know how it works out…Don’t run out and try it on a local police cruiser, please. I am not saying do it now. I’m saying consider such possible weapons in case they are needed in the future.
The auxiliary.
This term refers to members of the population who provide very limited clandestine support to the subversive underground and/or the paramilitary guerrilla force. Very seldom will they be “active” members of the movement and, as such, offer little intelligence value to the regime if compromised. Functions of the auxiliary may take the form of logistics, labor, or intelligence collection. Auxiliary members may not know any more than how to perform their specific function or service that supports the network. They may not even realize they are actively supporting the resistance. They should certainly never be asked to perform a job by a valuable member of the subversive underground cadre, face-to-face. Even in the modern environment of credit card payments and billing services, there are ways to accomplish such chores remotely. Until they are trusted, they do not learn the names or identities of the resistance.
In many ways however, the auxiliary personnel are at the greatest risk of compromise (thus the importance of their not offering intelligence value to the regime if compromised). Typical functions of the auxiliary include:
-Logistics procurement (either through stealing from a workplace, or purchasing on the black market, or open market, if it can be done without compromising their security or that of the movement.)
-Logistics distribution (transporting goods and dropping them in pre-determined cache locations for later pick-up by resistance forces.)
-Labor for special material fabrication (in some instances, the fabrication will be conducted in assembly-line fashion, to preclude any one group of auxiliaries from recognizing what they are manufacturing).
-Security and early warning for underground facilities and guerrilla bases (obviously, this is a task that must be reserved for well-trusted and very secure members of the auxiliary…cooks in regime mess halls/dining facilities who may overhear conversations regarding upcoming operations, mechanics who notice an increase in the request for pre-mission checks on vehicles, etc…)
-Intelligence collection (intentional or otherwise)
-Recruitment (obviously, in this case, the auxiliary member knows his part, but can still be compartmentalized to reduce risk to the actual underground or guerrilla force).
-Communications networks staff such as couriers and/or messengers.
-Propaganda distribution.
-Safe house management.
-Logistics and personnel transport (if functioning as part of the black market, the auxiliary member may never realize he is actively supporting the resistance).
The paramilitary guerrilla force.
The paramilitary guerrilla force is the overt military arm of the resistance. As individuals who actively engage the conventional military in combat operations, guerrillas have traditionally held a significant disadvantage in terms of training, equipment, and firepower (it should be noted that, in the event of an U.S. resistance movement, these would not necessarily be the case. That’s the purpose, after all, of this blog). For all their disadvantages, however, the guerrilla force has one distinct advantage that can offset any unfavorable balance – the initiative. In any operational planning, the guerrilla leader must strive to maintain and exploit this advantage.
The guerrilla element only attacks when it can develop and maintain a relative, if temporary, state of superiority of force. The element avoids any sort of decisive engagement, thus denying the conventional force military of the regime the opportunity to recover, regain their superiority, and use it against the guerrilla force (the application of conventional small-unit tactics, such as raids and ambushes, in an unconventional manner, such as an IED/EFP-initiated ambush, followed by selective targeting of personnel, then an exfiltration, or a rapid, snatch-and-grab raid to kidnap a key enemy leader, are the definition of guerrilla warfare tactics). The guerrilla element is only capable of generating this type of tactical success in areas where they possess a significant familiarity with the terrain and a connection to the local civilian population that allows them to harness clandestine support for security and intelligence-gathering purposes. Don’t ever allow yourself or your unit to suffer the terminal disease of testosterone poisoning and think you’re going to survive, let alone win, a toe-to-toe slugfest with a conventional force rifle platoon. You might have better riflemen, and even bigger numbers, but they have indirect-fire support, close air support, and a faster Quick Reaction Force (QRF) to call on for reinforcements.
Depending on the degree of control over the local area, a guerrilla force element may range in size from fire-team size all the way up to a brigade-level force. In the initial stages of a resistance, the guerrilla force, regardless of size, will generally be limited to stand-off attacks that we typically think of as “guerrilla warfare.” This may include the aforementioned raids and ambushes, albeit on a slightly larger scale. As the guerrilla force grows, however, so should its ability to engage the regime’s conventional military forces on a larger scale, allowing some degree of parity with the enemy. In these cases, formerly isolated bands of guerrillas may be able to connect and coalesce, forming liberated territory that allows for the development of a larger, more conventional military force to face the regime’s conventional force.
It is critical to delineate the difference between a true resistance guerrilla fighter, and other small-unit, irregular force operatives that may appear similar but in fact, are drastically different, such as militias (although the local militia may operate as a part of the guerrilla force in liberated territories), mercenaries, and criminal/narco-terrorist gangs. The militia’s only intent should be to provide security for the local community and its residents. Mercenaries and criminal/narco-terrorist gangs will seldom hold themselves to any sort of moral construct similar to that of the resistance-force guerrilla. It is critical for the guerrilla force insurgent to recognize that only uniformed personnel of the enemy regime are legitimate targets for the guerrilla force. Key political personnel, civilian population sympathizers and informants, etc, must be dealt with solely by the subversive underground. This is critical to the PSYOP campaign for the resistance, since conduct of assassinations/kidnappings, etc., by the underground can be plausibly blamed on the regime’s security apparatus if it is not conducted by organized paramilitary forces of the guerrilla.
Nous Defion,
John Mosby
Somewhere in the mountains
John Mosby is a former Army Ranger and Green Beret, and the author of the Mountain Guerrilla blog.
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Click here for all your prepping/tactical needs: The Tactical Patriot Store
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Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Formation and Organization of Resistance Movements, Part One
This topic is what it will all be about soon enough. We need to be ready to form and organize units such as this. This is invaluable information, please read and pass on to your team/buddies that are like minded. We need to organize now before it is too late.
The Formation and Organization of Resistance Movements, Part One
John Mosby
This is Part One of a two-part series. Part Two will be posted tomorrow.
Resistance movements generally begin with the desire of individuals or small groups of individuals to remove intolerable conditions imposed by an unpopular regime. Opposition towards the regime and hatred of existing conditions that conflict with the individual’s or the group’s values, interests, and way of life spread from the individual (or group of individuals comprising the group) to family, close friends, and neighbors. This can result in an entire community cohering in an obsessive hatred for an established regime. Generally, this hatred has historically manifested itself as sporadic, spontaneous, nonviolent and violent acts of resistance towards the regime, or available representatives of the regime. As the discontent grows, natural leaders (historically, former military personnel, clergymen, local political leaders, and community organizers- remember most resistance insurgencies in the last century had a basis in communist/socialist ideals…) emerge to channelize the discontent into an organized resistance movement that promotes its own growth. The population must be convinced by this leadership that it has nothing to lose, or at least, more to gain, by resistance, than by maintaining the status quo.
The ultimate key to progressing from increasing discontent to active insurrection is the belief by the populace that they have nothing to lose by revolting, combined with the belief that they have a genuine chance to succeed. Additionally, there must be some sort of catalyzing trigger that ignites popular support against the regime’s power and a dynamic resistance leadership that can exploit the situation when it arises. (Critical Note: this apparent focus on leadership within the resistance should not be construed to invalidate the concept of “leaderless resistance.” The concept of leadership should not be relegated to some shadowy, mythical central controlling party of the resistance, but rather, individual cells should have the ability and willingness to take advantage of any key trigger events to leverage the already present discontent to begin active operations to win the support of the populace.).
Once the resistance begins to act out against the regime, there are two types of initial resistance: Clandestine resistance and overt resistance.
a) Clandestine Resistance is conducted by people who outwardly appear to follow their normal mode of existence. This type of resistance may or may not be controlled by any level of leadership, and may include the following activities by individuals and/or small groups/cells.
– Political action and campaigning
– Propaganda development and dispersal
– Espionage
– Sabotage (see my previous post on the critical differences between sabotage and terrorism. They are NOT the same thing.)
– Black marketeering
– Intelligence gathering
b) Overt Resistance is conducted by individuals trained along paramilitary lines. This is the guerrilla force and provides the military arm of the resistance. These individuals and groups make no secret of their existence or objectives (once hostilities have begun in earnest), although they may use the leaderless cell approach and compartmentalize information closely to prevent compromise of the entire movement. The guerrilla force will generally be comprised of those individuals who have previously been openly disdainful or antagonistic towards the regime, and recognize the probability that they have been targeted by the security forces anyway (as much as he hates sleeping on the ground, especially in cold weather, your author recognizes that he has probably set himself up to be stuck playing this role if the inevitable happens. This really sucks since I have bad arthritis anyway, courtesy of letting Uncle Sugar convince me what a great idea it was to walk out of perfectly functioning aircraft that were in flight….and carrying a 90-130lb rucksack? Why gee, that sounds swell!)
Part Two (notes the subversive underground, the support auxiliary, and the paramilitary guerrilla force) will be posted tomorrow.
Nous Defions,
John Mosby
Somewhere in the mountains
John Mosby is a former Army Ranger and Green Beret, and the author of the Mountain Guerrilla blog.
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Click here for all your prepping/tactical needs: The Tactical Patriot Store
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The Formation and Organization of Resistance Movements, Part One
John Mosby
This is Part One of a two-part series. Part Two will be posted tomorrow.
Resistance movements generally begin with the desire of individuals or small groups of individuals to remove intolerable conditions imposed by an unpopular regime. Opposition towards the regime and hatred of existing conditions that conflict with the individual’s or the group’s values, interests, and way of life spread from the individual (or group of individuals comprising the group) to family, close friends, and neighbors. This can result in an entire community cohering in an obsessive hatred for an established regime. Generally, this hatred has historically manifested itself as sporadic, spontaneous, nonviolent and violent acts of resistance towards the regime, or available representatives of the regime. As the discontent grows, natural leaders (historically, former military personnel, clergymen, local political leaders, and community organizers- remember most resistance insurgencies in the last century had a basis in communist/socialist ideals…) emerge to channelize the discontent into an organized resistance movement that promotes its own growth. The population must be convinced by this leadership that it has nothing to lose, or at least, more to gain, by resistance, than by maintaining the status quo.
The ultimate key to progressing from increasing discontent to active insurrection is the belief by the populace that they have nothing to lose by revolting, combined with the belief that they have a genuine chance to succeed. Additionally, there must be some sort of catalyzing trigger that ignites popular support against the regime’s power and a dynamic resistance leadership that can exploit the situation when it arises. (Critical Note: this apparent focus on leadership within the resistance should not be construed to invalidate the concept of “leaderless resistance.” The concept of leadership should not be relegated to some shadowy, mythical central controlling party of the resistance, but rather, individual cells should have the ability and willingness to take advantage of any key trigger events to leverage the already present discontent to begin active operations to win the support of the populace.).
Once the resistance begins to act out against the regime, there are two types of initial resistance: Clandestine resistance and overt resistance.
a) Clandestine Resistance is conducted by people who outwardly appear to follow their normal mode of existence. This type of resistance may or may not be controlled by any level of leadership, and may include the following activities by individuals and/or small groups/cells.
– Political action and campaigning
– Propaganda development and dispersal
– Espionage
– Sabotage (see my previous post on the critical differences between sabotage and terrorism. They are NOT the same thing.)
– Black marketeering
– Intelligence gathering
b) Overt Resistance is conducted by individuals trained along paramilitary lines. This is the guerrilla force and provides the military arm of the resistance. These individuals and groups make no secret of their existence or objectives (once hostilities have begun in earnest), although they may use the leaderless cell approach and compartmentalize information closely to prevent compromise of the entire movement. The guerrilla force will generally be comprised of those individuals who have previously been openly disdainful or antagonistic towards the regime, and recognize the probability that they have been targeted by the security forces anyway (as much as he hates sleeping on the ground, especially in cold weather, your author recognizes that he has probably set himself up to be stuck playing this role if the inevitable happens. This really sucks since I have bad arthritis anyway, courtesy of letting Uncle Sugar convince me what a great idea it was to walk out of perfectly functioning aircraft that were in flight….and carrying a 90-130lb rucksack? Why gee, that sounds swell!)
Part Two (notes the subversive underground, the support auxiliary, and the paramilitary guerrilla force) will be posted tomorrow.
Nous Defions,
John Mosby
Somewhere in the mountains
John Mosby is a former Army Ranger and Green Beret, and the author of the Mountain Guerrilla blog.
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Click here for all your prepping/tactical needs: The Tactical Patriot Store
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Tuesday, January 5, 2016
SF home and perimeter security for SHTF
Now this is a really good article with a bunch of useful information that we can all use. The author has the right kind of experience that most people do not have, but can glean a lot of great stuff from. This is a very important topic that we can apply to our homes, our bug out locations/redoubts/compounds/or any other perimeter we might need to secure.
How US Special Forces Handle Home Perimeter Security When SHTF
October 14, 2013
Home Invasions, Night Vision Training, Tactical Training
Original Article at The Prepper Project
SHTF
Dennis jumped on his mountain bike and pedaled as fast as possible through the brush and onto the short trail that would take him directly to the back door of his house in the growing evening darkness. Either his radio or batteries apparently had just chosen this inopportune moment to give out. Traversing the trail quickly on the bike was something he could do even in complete darkness however, as he had traveled it at least twice daily even before the collapse. Less than two minutes earlier he had spotted a truckload of armed men using his binoculars. Dennis knew they were raiders . They had running lights on and he doubted they had night vision equipment. The truck was turning into the entrance of his small, otherwise empty neighborhood and starting up the first hill.
Since the collapse and ensuing pandemic, everyone else in his neighborhood had left, died or been killed. Dennis, his brother’s family and two other small families from the neighborhood were now the sole residents, and even they were making plans to leave within the next week. Things were just becoming way too dangerous now that word had apparently gotten out that there might be a house in this neighborhood worth looting, women worth raping and food, ammo and medicine to the raiders who took it.
Man shooting a shotgun Dennis and the other three families had consolidated into the largest house in the neighborhood that had an easy area to clear, was located at one of the highest elevation points of the neighborhood and had a crawl space underneath that they were able to dig out and expand. They had done their best to make it appear as though the house was not lived in, but it was impossible – especially when there were children involved – for there to be complete noise and light discipline all of the time. They were going to be ready to bug out as a group in just a few more days, but based on this truckload of raiders, they were going to have at least one fight between the immediate present and that departure date. They had at least given some thought to home perimeter security before the collapse which is a lot more than others could say.
SHTF House He wheeled up to the house, giving the code word for a full alert to Josh about 500 meters away from the house. Josh was in the closest LP/OP to the trail he rode up on. “Prairie Fire, ETA 2 minutes” He said loudly enough for Josh to hear. For the moment, until they arrived at their final bugout location, they were down to three working FRS radios due to shortages on batteries and limited recharge possibilities. His own radio crackled as he heard Josh pass the word on to the nearside LP/OP that also served as the command center. Dennis noted that apparently his own radio at least received transmissions or maybe the battery was just no longer holding much of a charge.
Dennis dumped the mountain bike into what looked like a pile of trash in the back yard and quickly ran around front, stopping at the house to yell only loudly enough for everyone inside, the same code phrase for “attack imminent,” then ran to the front to help check on tripwires and defensive positions. He could hear the sound of the truck now as it turned onto their street less than 6 blocks away. From his combat and military experience, he knew that no unit or team was ever fully ready for battle no matter how much they trained, but he hoped they had trained enough as a group of family and friends over the previous several months to at least get through this onslaught without any injuries or deaths…
Home Perimeter Defense in a SHTF situation
There are two very important concepts to realize when you are faced with the prospect of defending your home – whether it is in a post-SHTF scenario or someone breaking in: 1) A typical residential home is not a defensible structure unless it is either built that way or has been heavily modified and 2) Once the fight has reached the inside of your home, you have lost a good deal of advantage that you will have if you can keep them outside. 2
Because of this, there are a number of important priorities to consider in a SHTF situation when defending your own home, and this article will be divided into two parts. The first part will discuss defending your home while the attackers are outside of it while the second part will discuss the defense of your home once your attackers have entered the same structure that you are defending. It is important to be able to deal with this kind of a tactical situation during low-light conditions. As an additional primer on some of the most important low-light tactics you can incorporate into your training and preparation, I highly recommend the “Own the Night” DVD produced by the Womach brothers, that is available online.
Creating Targets
Small house on the hill. To defend your home correctly, you must take away cover (or lure them to false cover) from your attackers and turn them into targets. This can be done a variety of ways: You can clear all possible cover within a certain radius around your home (100 meters or more would be ideal). It may be that you already have this kind of yard, and are at the top of a hill looking down on all terrain 360 degrees around you, but chances are good that this is not your situation. I personally would have a hard time living in a home where I had no trees, rocks, logs and other
such potential cover in my yard.
So in the case that you have natural cover (and a pretty yard), you need to consider two major things. How can you easily (with less than 10 minutes of warning) create a barrier for high-speed vehicle approach straight up to your house? And how can you direct foot traffic from that point, to areas that you want foot traffic to go to? In other words, what can you do to force attackers into the positions that you want them to be in? Barriers such as fences, logs, rock walls, ditches, ponds, pools, heavy brush, etc., can all be used to keep people from getting to
cover easily (or at all), expose them even more during their journey to cover (such as having to climb up and over a wall that profiles them). This is the type of “fortress-scaping” that you can undertake now if you have already decided that your home will be a bug-in location (which it generally should be) in all but the worst situations.
Attractive walls, paths and heavy brush (for example greenbrier and other thorny plants that are very difficult to negotiate through with any speed) are very easy ways to direct foot traffic to the locations you want it in. At the same time, give yourself vantage points over all potential cover, as well as placing or at least having locations for future strategic light structures (yes, they can be shot out, but if they can be operated remotely, offer a good spotlight situation when you are ready to shoot the target once lit and have at least several seconds to do so while also ruining their night vision temporarily), motion detectors, trip wires (flares, noise makers, booby traps, etc.).
So what kind of cover do you need for yourself from inside your home? In part 2 of this article I will talk about ways to fortify (and defend) your home – both in ways that are not apparent to the casual observer and will give you the advantage during an armed break-in, as well as full fortification in a SHTF scenario – but for the SHTF scenario you can much more easily convert a crawl space, basement or other type of ground-level shelter under your house (e.g. pier and beam construction) that will allow you to create very effective defensive positions. Think “foxhole” fighting positions whenever possible, as this makes you a much more difficult target giving you a huge defensive advantage over any approaching attackers if you have cleared your fields of fire.
Fighting At Night
Fighting At Night. If you are not prepared to fight at night or in low-light environments, you are not prepared to fight at all. There are many considerations in regard to preparing and training for low-light conditions that include the most basic and primitive (flares, tritium/night sights, tracer rounds) up to the solutions that require power in order to work (IR lighting and night vision devices, flashlights, spotlights). IR and night vision is great, but make sure that you have the ability to sustain your power sources for the long run if you are truly interested in prepping wisely. In a complete collapse, batteries and sustainability of power will start to be at a premium in the first few weeks if not days. Target identification when fighting at night is one of the first and most important issues to deal with. Friendly fire is a very real probability in any night engagement involving teamwork. Another issue is keeping track of your equipment, loading magazines, dealing with being hit (both from the standpoint of first aid as well as loading and firing with an injured limb), dealing with equipment malfunctions, remembering where you keep gear, ammo, first aid, tools, etc. , team communication and signals and more. These are all things that can be practiced in the dark in your own home or back yard at night without having to use ammo. In fact, I highly recommend you get the basics of movement, gear and weapon management and weapon handling to a place that you feel very comfortable with before you even load a single round in your weapon and start practicing live fire. As a part of this type of preparation, there are some great resources out there to read, watch and learn from.
Part 2: Inside your Home
In part two of this article, I will cover two primary topics: 1) Field-expedient methods of reinforcing your home in order to make it more defensible and 2) Tactics inside your home if attackers make it that far.
SHTF Home Defense: Part 2 – Defending the Home
Dennis and Jake looked at each other from across what used to be a living room. “If they saw us come into this house, I’m guessing we have about 10 minutes tops before they come through one
of these doors,” Dennis said. A little over a week into their bugout, they had left the rest of their group and families in a much safer location outside of this small town, and had come in as a team of two to scout out supplies, and bring back what they could. Despite their best attempts, someone had seen them come into town and had fired a shot, missing both of them by several feet, but forcing them into the best cover they could find: A small, ranch style home at the end of a small cul-de-sac. They both wanted to get out of town, but their exits were blocked by a small gang that looked to have taken up residence in this town. Their best bet was to hole up in an abandoned home and wait for nightfall.
None of the houses on the block were inhabited – and for that matter none of the houses in the town had appeared to be occupied, which made Dennis wonder where this gang actually resided.
They hopped the fence first as though they were heading into the yard behind this house. Once they saw the back yard was fairly secluded from vegetation, they circled around and came in the back door of the house as quietly as possible. A quick security check revealed the house was void of everything except furniture. An 4 attached, half-finished garage contained some building supplies and tools that apparently had not been scavenged by anyone yet.
Dennis and Jake set to work while both keeping a watchful eye and ear on the street in front and the back yard…
Criminal in mask aiming at you. Inside the Home
In part 1 of this series we covered some of the important points in defending the perimeter around a house. In part 2 we will discuss a couple of very important points relating to home defense from inside of your home – both while attackers are outside as well as once they have gained entry into your home. One of those concepts is very similar to the perimeter around the home (which we talked about in part 1):
Namely directing the flow of traffic in a manner that creates targets out of our attackers without allowing them the chance to shoot at us first. Secondly – and as an overlapping part of this first concept – we want to fortify our house on the inside in ways that allow us to identify and shoot attackers before they make it into the house (ideally) or force them to slow down and take certain routes in if they do get that far.
Both of these concepts require the use of barriers such as furniture and construction materials (cinder blocks, plywood and other lumber, sand or cement bags, etc.). Additionally – if there is time – the common entry points such as doors and windows – can be fortified. Starting with the most common entry point for any house – the door – let’s look at how we can fortify this. The
door is held onto the frame with hinges, a deadbolt and a doorknob. However, what’s holding the frame onto the house? Most doorframes are 1” wood (1 x 4) and have very little strength. The key to proper reinforcement of a door is to use steel (angle iron or mending plates) support that attaches the door frame to the studs that frame the doorway. Additionally, longer screws and a longer deadbolt (not necessary, but helps) sink the frame and the deadbolt itself into the framing of the house. In a post collapse situation where it is not necessary to keep the door looking pretty, 2 x 4’s can be screwed or nailed across the door (if you want to keep it permanently closed), or slid through an angle-iron bracket attached on either side of the door, like a barn.
Barricade Door SHTF. If there’s time, windows need to be boarded up using plywood, cinder blocks and/or sandbags. If you’re short on materials, decide which parts of the house are indefensible and pull back into the most structurally sound portion of the house. However, don’t leave yourself blind. Whether you have to knock holes in the wall or remove doors, make sure you are able to cover as many angles as possible of any room in the house based on how you set up barriers. Home-made, bullet-resistant windows can be made relatively cheaply using glass sandwiched between polycarbonate or acrylic sheets, glued together with liquid nails.
Fake barriers will also afford you the ability to force people behind “cover” that you can easily shoot through. Even though the attackers are in your home, you can still set yourself up for success by having good cover in a defensible location that narrows your attackers through forcing choke points (requiring them to move in single file) and fake cover. For example, you heavily barricade all but one door entry or window entry that you are most sure the attacker(s) will try first. Upon entry, perhaps a light couch in front of the door that slows them down but offers them no real cover and makes it look as though you didn’t want them to enter through this door.
Now let’s say there is a breakfast bar that overlooks all entries into the front of the house. You fortify this with sand or concrete bags (be aware that shooting into concrete bags will create a lot of dust that will interfere with visibility and be caustic to breathe), steel or even lumber if that’s all you have, but give yourself the ability to fire 5 through several different “murder holes” (to borrow from the medieval defense concept) in your breakfast bar barrier.
If you have more than one person defending a room, make the door into a choke point (narrowing it if possible using scrap lumber and furniture) and create wide angles for each person to have to cover when they enter. In other words, force your attackers to walk directly, one at a time, into a room where they are immediately flanked widely. Don’t wait until the first attacker is down before turning your attention to the next one. Have one defender always focusing on the next attacker coming through the door so that they do not have a chance to create their own fields of fire and return fire as a team. Force fire superiority on the attackers from the very start when they have entered the room, and do not allow them to regroup or gain momentum.
Some of the supplies I would recommend having on hand to make your own home more defensible in a bug-in situation would be: Lumber (1/2”or 5/8” plywood, 2 x 4’s, 4 x 4’s, 2 x 6’s), 1”, 2” & 3” nails and/or sheetrock (or deck if you can afford it) screws, power drill (with sustainable source of power), crowbars, gas masks (assume an attacking force would try to gas you out if possible using propane or insecticide, etc.), duct tape, plastic sheeting, sandbags, sand, ready-mix concrete and/or mortar, angle-iron (pre-drilled holes), mending plates, sledge hammer, heavy axe, fire extinguishers.
There is a lot more to be discussed on this topic, but remember that thinking through the concepts I’ve outlined in this article and asking yourself how you would break into your own home are good starting points. It costs nothing but time to practice low-light reaction drills and think through as many possible scenarios as you can in your planning for a defensible bug-in situation.
About Sam Coffman (The Author)
Sam Coffman has over 10 years of military experience as a U.S. Special Forces Medic, an interrogator and a linguist. He studied botany and bioregional medicine both privately and at several outdoor schools in Colorado, and during his military service as a Green Beret Medic he logged thousands of hours in the field as a team medic, military emergency rooms and troop medical clinics. Sam founded and directs The Human Path – a survival school in central Texas – where students learn hundreds of skills based on four basic core specialties (combat medic, hunter gatherer, primitive engineer, scout) both in urban and primitive settings, and then apply those skills as a team in both scenarios and real-world settings in support of the non-profit organization Herbal Medics.
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Click here for all your prepping/tactical needs: The Tactical Patriot Store
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How US Special Forces Handle Home Perimeter Security When SHTF
October 14, 2013
Home Invasions, Night Vision Training, Tactical Training
Original Article at The Prepper Project
SHTF
Dennis jumped on his mountain bike and pedaled as fast as possible through the brush and onto the short trail that would take him directly to the back door of his house in the growing evening darkness. Either his radio or batteries apparently had just chosen this inopportune moment to give out. Traversing the trail quickly on the bike was something he could do even in complete darkness however, as he had traveled it at least twice daily even before the collapse. Less than two minutes earlier he had spotted a truckload of armed men using his binoculars. Dennis knew they were raiders . They had running lights on and he doubted they had night vision equipment. The truck was turning into the entrance of his small, otherwise empty neighborhood and starting up the first hill.
Since the collapse and ensuing pandemic, everyone else in his neighborhood had left, died or been killed. Dennis, his brother’s family and two other small families from the neighborhood were now the sole residents, and even they were making plans to leave within the next week. Things were just becoming way too dangerous now that word had apparently gotten out that there might be a house in this neighborhood worth looting, women worth raping and food, ammo and medicine to the raiders who took it.
Man shooting a shotgun Dennis and the other three families had consolidated into the largest house in the neighborhood that had an easy area to clear, was located at one of the highest elevation points of the neighborhood and had a crawl space underneath that they were able to dig out and expand. They had done their best to make it appear as though the house was not lived in, but it was impossible – especially when there were children involved – for there to be complete noise and light discipline all of the time. They were going to be ready to bug out as a group in just a few more days, but based on this truckload of raiders, they were going to have at least one fight between the immediate present and that departure date. They had at least given some thought to home perimeter security before the collapse which is a lot more than others could say.
SHTF House He wheeled up to the house, giving the code word for a full alert to Josh about 500 meters away from the house. Josh was in the closest LP/OP to the trail he rode up on. “Prairie Fire, ETA 2 minutes” He said loudly enough for Josh to hear. For the moment, until they arrived at their final bugout location, they were down to three working FRS radios due to shortages on batteries and limited recharge possibilities. His own radio crackled as he heard Josh pass the word on to the nearside LP/OP that also served as the command center. Dennis noted that apparently his own radio at least received transmissions or maybe the battery was just no longer holding much of a charge.
Dennis dumped the mountain bike into what looked like a pile of trash in the back yard and quickly ran around front, stopping at the house to yell only loudly enough for everyone inside, the same code phrase for “attack imminent,” then ran to the front to help check on tripwires and defensive positions. He could hear the sound of the truck now as it turned onto their street less than 6 blocks away. From his combat and military experience, he knew that no unit or team was ever fully ready for battle no matter how much they trained, but he hoped they had trained enough as a group of family and friends over the previous several months to at least get through this onslaught without any injuries or deaths…
Home Perimeter Defense in a SHTF situation
There are two very important concepts to realize when you are faced with the prospect of defending your home – whether it is in a post-SHTF scenario or someone breaking in: 1) A typical residential home is not a defensible structure unless it is either built that way or has been heavily modified and 2) Once the fight has reached the inside of your home, you have lost a good deal of advantage that you will have if you can keep them outside. 2
Because of this, there are a number of important priorities to consider in a SHTF situation when defending your own home, and this article will be divided into two parts. The first part will discuss defending your home while the attackers are outside of it while the second part will discuss the defense of your home once your attackers have entered the same structure that you are defending. It is important to be able to deal with this kind of a tactical situation during low-light conditions. As an additional primer on some of the most important low-light tactics you can incorporate into your training and preparation, I highly recommend the “Own the Night” DVD produced by the Womach brothers, that is available online.
Creating Targets
Small house on the hill. To defend your home correctly, you must take away cover (or lure them to false cover) from your attackers and turn them into targets. This can be done a variety of ways: You can clear all possible cover within a certain radius around your home (100 meters or more would be ideal). It may be that you already have this kind of yard, and are at the top of a hill looking down on all terrain 360 degrees around you, but chances are good that this is not your situation. I personally would have a hard time living in a home where I had no trees, rocks, logs and other
such potential cover in my yard.
So in the case that you have natural cover (and a pretty yard), you need to consider two major things. How can you easily (with less than 10 minutes of warning) create a barrier for high-speed vehicle approach straight up to your house? And how can you direct foot traffic from that point, to areas that you want foot traffic to go to? In other words, what can you do to force attackers into the positions that you want them to be in? Barriers such as fences, logs, rock walls, ditches, ponds, pools, heavy brush, etc., can all be used to keep people from getting to
cover easily (or at all), expose them even more during their journey to cover (such as having to climb up and over a wall that profiles them). This is the type of “fortress-scaping” that you can undertake now if you have already decided that your home will be a bug-in location (which it generally should be) in all but the worst situations.
Attractive walls, paths and heavy brush (for example greenbrier and other thorny plants that are very difficult to negotiate through with any speed) are very easy ways to direct foot traffic to the locations you want it in. At the same time, give yourself vantage points over all potential cover, as well as placing or at least having locations for future strategic light structures (yes, they can be shot out, but if they can be operated remotely, offer a good spotlight situation when you are ready to shoot the target once lit and have at least several seconds to do so while also ruining their night vision temporarily), motion detectors, trip wires (flares, noise makers, booby traps, etc.).
So what kind of cover do you need for yourself from inside your home? In part 2 of this article I will talk about ways to fortify (and defend) your home – both in ways that are not apparent to the casual observer and will give you the advantage during an armed break-in, as well as full fortification in a SHTF scenario – but for the SHTF scenario you can much more easily convert a crawl space, basement or other type of ground-level shelter under your house (e.g. pier and beam construction) that will allow you to create very effective defensive positions. Think “foxhole” fighting positions whenever possible, as this makes you a much more difficult target giving you a huge defensive advantage over any approaching attackers if you have cleared your fields of fire.
Fighting At Night
Fighting At Night. If you are not prepared to fight at night or in low-light environments, you are not prepared to fight at all. There are many considerations in regard to preparing and training for low-light conditions that include the most basic and primitive (flares, tritium/night sights, tracer rounds) up to the solutions that require power in order to work (IR lighting and night vision devices, flashlights, spotlights). IR and night vision is great, but make sure that you have the ability to sustain your power sources for the long run if you are truly interested in prepping wisely. In a complete collapse, batteries and sustainability of power will start to be at a premium in the first few weeks if not days. Target identification when fighting at night is one of the first and most important issues to deal with. Friendly fire is a very real probability in any night engagement involving teamwork. Another issue is keeping track of your equipment, loading magazines, dealing with being hit (both from the standpoint of first aid as well as loading and firing with an injured limb), dealing with equipment malfunctions, remembering where you keep gear, ammo, first aid, tools, etc. , team communication and signals and more. These are all things that can be practiced in the dark in your own home or back yard at night without having to use ammo. In fact, I highly recommend you get the basics of movement, gear and weapon management and weapon handling to a place that you feel very comfortable with before you even load a single round in your weapon and start practicing live fire. As a part of this type of preparation, there are some great resources out there to read, watch and learn from.
Part 2: Inside your Home
In part two of this article, I will cover two primary topics: 1) Field-expedient methods of reinforcing your home in order to make it more defensible and 2) Tactics inside your home if attackers make it that far.
SHTF Home Defense: Part 2 – Defending the Home
Dennis and Jake looked at each other from across what used to be a living room. “If they saw us come into this house, I’m guessing we have about 10 minutes tops before they come through one
of these doors,” Dennis said. A little over a week into their bugout, they had left the rest of their group and families in a much safer location outside of this small town, and had come in as a team of two to scout out supplies, and bring back what they could. Despite their best attempts, someone had seen them come into town and had fired a shot, missing both of them by several feet, but forcing them into the best cover they could find: A small, ranch style home at the end of a small cul-de-sac. They both wanted to get out of town, but their exits were blocked by a small gang that looked to have taken up residence in this town. Their best bet was to hole up in an abandoned home and wait for nightfall.
None of the houses on the block were inhabited – and for that matter none of the houses in the town had appeared to be occupied, which made Dennis wonder where this gang actually resided.
They hopped the fence first as though they were heading into the yard behind this house. Once they saw the back yard was fairly secluded from vegetation, they circled around and came in the back door of the house as quietly as possible. A quick security check revealed the house was void of everything except furniture. An 4 attached, half-finished garage contained some building supplies and tools that apparently had not been scavenged by anyone yet.
Dennis and Jake set to work while both keeping a watchful eye and ear on the street in front and the back yard…
Criminal in mask aiming at you. Inside the Home
In part 1 of this series we covered some of the important points in defending the perimeter around a house. In part 2 we will discuss a couple of very important points relating to home defense from inside of your home – both while attackers are outside as well as once they have gained entry into your home. One of those concepts is very similar to the perimeter around the home (which we talked about in part 1):
Namely directing the flow of traffic in a manner that creates targets out of our attackers without allowing them the chance to shoot at us first. Secondly – and as an overlapping part of this first concept – we want to fortify our house on the inside in ways that allow us to identify and shoot attackers before they make it into the house (ideally) or force them to slow down and take certain routes in if they do get that far.
Both of these concepts require the use of barriers such as furniture and construction materials (cinder blocks, plywood and other lumber, sand or cement bags, etc.). Additionally – if there is time – the common entry points such as doors and windows – can be fortified. Starting with the most common entry point for any house – the door – let’s look at how we can fortify this. The
door is held onto the frame with hinges, a deadbolt and a doorknob. However, what’s holding the frame onto the house? Most doorframes are 1” wood (1 x 4) and have very little strength. The key to proper reinforcement of a door is to use steel (angle iron or mending plates) support that attaches the door frame to the studs that frame the doorway. Additionally, longer screws and a longer deadbolt (not necessary, but helps) sink the frame and the deadbolt itself into the framing of the house. In a post collapse situation where it is not necessary to keep the door looking pretty, 2 x 4’s can be screwed or nailed across the door (if you want to keep it permanently closed), or slid through an angle-iron bracket attached on either side of the door, like a barn.
Barricade Door SHTF. If there’s time, windows need to be boarded up using plywood, cinder blocks and/or sandbags. If you’re short on materials, decide which parts of the house are indefensible and pull back into the most structurally sound portion of the house. However, don’t leave yourself blind. Whether you have to knock holes in the wall or remove doors, make sure you are able to cover as many angles as possible of any room in the house based on how you set up barriers. Home-made, bullet-resistant windows can be made relatively cheaply using glass sandwiched between polycarbonate or acrylic sheets, glued together with liquid nails.
Fake barriers will also afford you the ability to force people behind “cover” that you can easily shoot through. Even though the attackers are in your home, you can still set yourself up for success by having good cover in a defensible location that narrows your attackers through forcing choke points (requiring them to move in single file) and fake cover. For example, you heavily barricade all but one door entry or window entry that you are most sure the attacker(s) will try first. Upon entry, perhaps a light couch in front of the door that slows them down but offers them no real cover and makes it look as though you didn’t want them to enter through this door.
Now let’s say there is a breakfast bar that overlooks all entries into the front of the house. You fortify this with sand or concrete bags (be aware that shooting into concrete bags will create a lot of dust that will interfere with visibility and be caustic to breathe), steel or even lumber if that’s all you have, but give yourself the ability to fire 5 through several different “murder holes” (to borrow from the medieval defense concept) in your breakfast bar barrier.
If you have more than one person defending a room, make the door into a choke point (narrowing it if possible using scrap lumber and furniture) and create wide angles for each person to have to cover when they enter. In other words, force your attackers to walk directly, one at a time, into a room where they are immediately flanked widely. Don’t wait until the first attacker is down before turning your attention to the next one. Have one defender always focusing on the next attacker coming through the door so that they do not have a chance to create their own fields of fire and return fire as a team. Force fire superiority on the attackers from the very start when they have entered the room, and do not allow them to regroup or gain momentum.
Some of the supplies I would recommend having on hand to make your own home more defensible in a bug-in situation would be: Lumber (1/2”or 5/8” plywood, 2 x 4’s, 4 x 4’s, 2 x 6’s), 1”, 2” & 3” nails and/or sheetrock (or deck if you can afford it) screws, power drill (with sustainable source of power), crowbars, gas masks (assume an attacking force would try to gas you out if possible using propane or insecticide, etc.), duct tape, plastic sheeting, sandbags, sand, ready-mix concrete and/or mortar, angle-iron (pre-drilled holes), mending plates, sledge hammer, heavy axe, fire extinguishers.
There is a lot more to be discussed on this topic, but remember that thinking through the concepts I’ve outlined in this article and asking yourself how you would break into your own home are good starting points. It costs nothing but time to practice low-light reaction drills and think through as many possible scenarios as you can in your planning for a defensible bug-in situation.
About Sam Coffman (The Author)
Sam Coffman has over 10 years of military experience as a U.S. Special Forces Medic, an interrogator and a linguist. He studied botany and bioregional medicine both privately and at several outdoor schools in Colorado, and during his military service as a Green Beret Medic he logged thousands of hours in the field as a team medic, military emergency rooms and troop medical clinics. Sam founded and directs The Human Path – a survival school in central Texas – where students learn hundreds of skills based on four basic core specialties (combat medic, hunter gatherer, primitive engineer, scout) both in urban and primitive settings, and then apply those skills as a team in both scenarios and real-world settings in support of the non-profit organization Herbal Medics.
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Click here for all your prepping/tactical needs: The Tactical Patriot Store
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Monday, January 4, 2016
Info you can use 1/4/2016
Obama is at it again, pretty soon he will cross the "Red Line" and it will begin Obama gun control
Now the Chinese are entering the fight against ISIS Chinese send elite troops
And our politicians want to bring refugees here! Muslin refugee crime wave
Do you have what it takes to live without power? EMP reality check
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Click here for all your prepping/tactical needs: The Tactical Patriot Store
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Now the Chinese are entering the fight against ISIS Chinese send elite troops
And our politicians want to bring refugees here! Muslin refugee crime wave
Do you have what it takes to live without power? EMP reality check
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Click here for all your prepping/tactical needs: The Tactical Patriot Store
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Redoubt Kit Concept
Here is a great idea, and a really good concept, I think we should take this idea and make it happen for ourselves.
Original article at Survival Blog
Building a Redoubt Kit, by M.C.
Anyone who has seriously considered preparation for TEOTWAWKI knows that the ultimate preparation is to have a well-outfitted redoubt, located in a remote location. Unless you’re rich and you can purchase one with all the trimmings or you’ve been working on it for several years already, you’re feeling significant apprehension as current events imply time is short and you are unprepared.
Why Have a Redoubt Kit?
Now, if you are the diligent one that built a well-stocked redoubt but find that over time civilization has overtaken the area, this is for you also. Finally, if you have your redoubt, it has not been encroached on by civilization, and you think you’re fat, dumb, and happy, you still may want to consider a redoubt kit. Why? Things change, stuff happens, and if you ever have to abandon your redoubt, you’re going to want to do it with a lot more than a bug out bag. An example of this is in Rawles’ book Patriots, where the group had to flee the redoubt because of impending forces. If that happens to you in a typical Montana winter your chances of survival are very slim, unless you have a redoubt kit.
Most of us have carefully assembled our bug-out bags, spent time educating ourselves on how to survive, and acquired new skills—all of which make us feel better. However, the more educated we become, the more we are confronted with the reality that true survivability is attained by reaching a state of “sustainment”. Unlike having a year’s worth of supplies stored, sustainment serves to provide an endless or perpetual supply. Growing and preserving food while harvesting the seeds for the next season is an example of a sustainable supply. Having a solar electrical system to provide power for lights and other amenities is another. A redoubt contains these and many more products and processes, that when put together provide a relatively comfortable and sustainable living. This is not to say that bartering with others for expendables or skills you don’t have is a failure to reach sustainment. On the contrary; this factors in the larger concept of a redoubt community.
I believe the redoubt to be essential to sustainable survival, though it can take different forms. Native American tribes demonstrated this before the explorers disrupted their way of life. Everything they needed came from the environment where they lived. Some were nomadic hunters, and some were farmers of the land. There were those, like the Apache, who lived in high mountain deserts of the southwest, and by contrast there were the Inuit, who traveled the icy sub-zero temperatures of the arctic. Survival sustainment can be achieved just about anywhere, but you must have the skills and knowledge of the environment you’re in to be able to be successful. It’s a lot of work, and it’s a full time job, make no mistake.
The natives made their own tools out of what was available, and these served them well until the invaders came with firearms and cannon, which were a definite game changer. I bring this up because acquiring the skills of the Native American in an environment of your choosing would not be enough today. The population expansion in the United States alone is a game changer in that it leaves fewer places for a redoubt to exist and in harsher environments. So, there’s no doubt you need a redoubt (pun intended). I believe time is short and if you don’t have a lot of money or you haven’t been working your redoubt and are nearly complete, there is an alternative for you to consider– a redoubt kit.
What’s a Redoubt Kit?
The redoubt kit is like a big bug-out bag, except that instead of being designed to keep you alive for a short term, it’s designed to get you into a state of long-term sustainment. The kit can be a small-to-medium sized trailer, depending on what items you need to support yourself in the environment you choose. It could also be buried in or near your location or some combination of buried and trailered. Maybe instead of a trailer, you need a boat. There are too many variables to cover here. Folks want to be in an environment they are comfortable with, because that’s what they know. From a Louisiana swamp to the mountains of Montana, it’s really about where you choose to find your redoubt and for that reason the first step is to identify the location. You really can’t plan or build your kit unless you know where you’re going.
Selecting a site for your redoubt kit is very similar to buying one except you won’t own the land. You’re not even going to rent it. For this reason, your target areas should be places like national forests, BLM, state preserves or reserves, and other governmental lands. Why? Because unlike private properties that will likely be protected by hostile owners, the government employees entrusted with managing these lands are not going to be working after TEOTWAWKI debuts. Their posts will very likely be abandoned.
Am I advocating that you be a “squatter”? I have no right to give you permission to do so. It is not the ideal solution and carries potential legal ramifications, depending on where you go; you should know that. If you have financial means to purchase a property, then do it. If not, you have to consider less than ideal options and your alternative is staying in a city under siege where your family will eventually succumb to looters or worse. I’d rather be judged by 12 than carried by six.
Where?
The same rules that apply for a conventional redoubt, also apply here. Start looking in locations or areas that are just over the distance that a tank of gas would get you from a large-to-medium sized city– about 350 to 400 miles. This a bit different for those using a boat, but the idea of separation is the same. Those who would come to steal the provisions of others will think twice if their chances of success are slim. Imagine you are a pillaging thug and you have a vehicle with a full tank. Would you risk extending yourself to a one-way trip, if you didn’t have a reasonable assertion of finding fuel and provisions when you arrived?
Thugs aren’t the only ones who will trouble you either. Imagine a reasonable upstanding citizen who flees the city to get away from the thugs, but he carries only what he can get in the vehicle, which is probably food, water, some camping equipment, and maybe a gun or two. It’s all good, until he runs out of provisions and becomes desperate. He will impose on those who have achieved sustainment, and he won’t come alone. You may not have to go so far away, but you will have a better chance of avoiding conflict if you do.
What?
What goes in a redoubt kit? That will depend on where you’re going. Mountains will require different items than the prairie, and a swamp is different than a desert. Your personal needs also factor in. Do you have medical issues, physical restrictions, or special care needs? Those have to be considered as well. The best place to start is with the “List of Lists” offered for free on the survivalblog.com website. It’s very comprehensive and covers most all the bases. I know it’s overkill for a redoubt kit, but you can use it as a prompt to identify items you may not have thought of or included in your kit. Unless your bug out vehicle is a semi-truck, you couldn’t carry everything on the list anyway. Imagine yourself at the redoubt and consider the activities you would need to accomplish in order to sustain yourself. Also, consider your arrival at the worst time of the year—what would you need? Let me use my own circumstance as an example.
I live near the Rocky Mountains so the worst time of year to bug out is winter. I’ve already chosen a place that has water nearby and good hunting. I also considered a low enough altitude to have a growing season for a garden. It’s the onset of winter, and the snow is already a foot deep. First, I need to get there safely. I have a four-wheel drive vehicle, not a sports car. Next, I’m going to need shelter for the entire winter. My choice is a canvas lodge tent with a wood-burning stove. Do not consider a stove requiring fossil fuels, as you would eventually run out. (Remember, think long-term sustainment.)
I’m already near water and I can hunt, but I need food to sustain me until I can bag some meat. Also, I can’t live on meat alone, I need other nutrients and vitamins—so, I need to bring enough food to get me through a growing season. After that I can sustain myself with vegetables from my garden. Of course, after I harvest my garden, I’ll need to preserve my harvest in order to sustain myself until the next growing season. This little exercise just prompted additions to my list– tent, stove, food, vitamins, cooking items and utensils, gun, bullets, knives to skin and butcher, axe for wood, garden tools, seed for crops, roll of chicken wire to protect crops, way to irrigate crops, canning jars to preserve crops, canning equipment, and the list goes on. The more you think about it, the more you’ll add to the list. Don’t worry about organizing the list just yet. The important thing is to get it on paper.
Now, you need to consider how you’ll accomplish sustainment. You need to accumulate knowledge. Going back to our little exercise, do you know how to hunt, maintain guns, butcher, garden, process seeds for the next season, or can food? Did you get heirloom seeds? Missing that little item could cost you and your family their lives. If you don’t know what they are, you need to do more research. What if you have an accident with the axe or knife? Do you have medical training? If you don’t have these skills or knowledge, then you must acquire them. Add that to your list and insure you get paper books, as the Internet isn’t going to be available. In short, increasing knowledge is likely the most important thing you can do, and it’s the most neglected.
The canvas tent was good for a temporary home, but now you need to consider building a more permanent one. For me, it’s a log cabin. I had to educate myself on how to build one and discovered I needed log togs, chisels, hammers, and a few other things as well as a blueprint. Maybe you’re planning to be on the prairie, and you need sod house tools and plans. Your tool set will be different from the guy who lives in the swamp. Adjust accordingly to your redoubt circumstance.
Prioritize
After you’ve compiled your list, you’re going to have to prioritize. If you’re like me, you have about a half of semi-truck worth of materials. It’s time to cut down. Start with identifying items that are essential for establishing long-term sustainment, followed by “nice to haves”, and finally (if you have room) comfort items. Some of your essential items do not qualify for sustainment, like the tent, but are required until you can sustain with a permanent structure.
Do the same with acquisition of knowledge and skills. Home-building, canning, and medical training rank higher than basket weaving and stitchery, though those things are very desirable. Start learning now!
Test
This is a very important step and can be challenging depending on your circumstances. If you own a property, that’s ideal. Use the kit to establish the redoubt. Make alterations or changes as you go. If TEOTWAWKI doesn’t happen before you finish your redoubt, good for you. Your kit is perfect, because it was responsible for actually building it. Now, reassemble it, and prepare for a potential bugout. Locate a future location in case you are forced to leave your redoubt, and keep it updated. Your kit is ready.
If you can’t afford a property, as described in the beginning of this article, take your kit to an area where you can practice and maybe camp for a few days without drawing undue attention. Getting a wood-cutting permit for public lands is a good choice here. This is where I was reminded of an item I didn’t have on my list by the blisters on my hands—a good pair of leather gloves. I also added a chainsaw and container of stabilized fuel. I know it’s not a long-term device, as it has a limited supply of fuel, but it sure kick-started the effort. I could have done it with hand tools, but it fell in the category of “nice to haves” and I had room for it.
Start Today
There’s no time like the present. Do not procrastinate! Whether you already have a complete redoubt or you’re just starting out, you need a redoubt kit, no doubt. Everyone is vulnerable.
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Click here for all your prepping/tactical needs: The Tactical Patriot Store
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Original article at Survival Blog
Building a Redoubt Kit, by M.C.
Anyone who has seriously considered preparation for TEOTWAWKI knows that the ultimate preparation is to have a well-outfitted redoubt, located in a remote location. Unless you’re rich and you can purchase one with all the trimmings or you’ve been working on it for several years already, you’re feeling significant apprehension as current events imply time is short and you are unprepared.
Why Have a Redoubt Kit?
Now, if you are the diligent one that built a well-stocked redoubt but find that over time civilization has overtaken the area, this is for you also. Finally, if you have your redoubt, it has not been encroached on by civilization, and you think you’re fat, dumb, and happy, you still may want to consider a redoubt kit. Why? Things change, stuff happens, and if you ever have to abandon your redoubt, you’re going to want to do it with a lot more than a bug out bag. An example of this is in Rawles’ book Patriots, where the group had to flee the redoubt because of impending forces. If that happens to you in a typical Montana winter your chances of survival are very slim, unless you have a redoubt kit.
Most of us have carefully assembled our bug-out bags, spent time educating ourselves on how to survive, and acquired new skills—all of which make us feel better. However, the more educated we become, the more we are confronted with the reality that true survivability is attained by reaching a state of “sustainment”. Unlike having a year’s worth of supplies stored, sustainment serves to provide an endless or perpetual supply. Growing and preserving food while harvesting the seeds for the next season is an example of a sustainable supply. Having a solar electrical system to provide power for lights and other amenities is another. A redoubt contains these and many more products and processes, that when put together provide a relatively comfortable and sustainable living. This is not to say that bartering with others for expendables or skills you don’t have is a failure to reach sustainment. On the contrary; this factors in the larger concept of a redoubt community.
I believe the redoubt to be essential to sustainable survival, though it can take different forms. Native American tribes demonstrated this before the explorers disrupted their way of life. Everything they needed came from the environment where they lived. Some were nomadic hunters, and some were farmers of the land. There were those, like the Apache, who lived in high mountain deserts of the southwest, and by contrast there were the Inuit, who traveled the icy sub-zero temperatures of the arctic. Survival sustainment can be achieved just about anywhere, but you must have the skills and knowledge of the environment you’re in to be able to be successful. It’s a lot of work, and it’s a full time job, make no mistake.
The natives made their own tools out of what was available, and these served them well until the invaders came with firearms and cannon, which were a definite game changer. I bring this up because acquiring the skills of the Native American in an environment of your choosing would not be enough today. The population expansion in the United States alone is a game changer in that it leaves fewer places for a redoubt to exist and in harsher environments. So, there’s no doubt you need a redoubt (pun intended). I believe time is short and if you don’t have a lot of money or you haven’t been working your redoubt and are nearly complete, there is an alternative for you to consider– a redoubt kit.
What’s a Redoubt Kit?
The redoubt kit is like a big bug-out bag, except that instead of being designed to keep you alive for a short term, it’s designed to get you into a state of long-term sustainment. The kit can be a small-to-medium sized trailer, depending on what items you need to support yourself in the environment you choose. It could also be buried in or near your location or some combination of buried and trailered. Maybe instead of a trailer, you need a boat. There are too many variables to cover here. Folks want to be in an environment they are comfortable with, because that’s what they know. From a Louisiana swamp to the mountains of Montana, it’s really about where you choose to find your redoubt and for that reason the first step is to identify the location. You really can’t plan or build your kit unless you know where you’re going.
Selecting a site for your redoubt kit is very similar to buying one except you won’t own the land. You’re not even going to rent it. For this reason, your target areas should be places like national forests, BLM, state preserves or reserves, and other governmental lands. Why? Because unlike private properties that will likely be protected by hostile owners, the government employees entrusted with managing these lands are not going to be working after TEOTWAWKI debuts. Their posts will very likely be abandoned.
Am I advocating that you be a “squatter”? I have no right to give you permission to do so. It is not the ideal solution and carries potential legal ramifications, depending on where you go; you should know that. If you have financial means to purchase a property, then do it. If not, you have to consider less than ideal options and your alternative is staying in a city under siege where your family will eventually succumb to looters or worse. I’d rather be judged by 12 than carried by six.
Where?
The same rules that apply for a conventional redoubt, also apply here. Start looking in locations or areas that are just over the distance that a tank of gas would get you from a large-to-medium sized city– about 350 to 400 miles. This a bit different for those using a boat, but the idea of separation is the same. Those who would come to steal the provisions of others will think twice if their chances of success are slim. Imagine you are a pillaging thug and you have a vehicle with a full tank. Would you risk extending yourself to a one-way trip, if you didn’t have a reasonable assertion of finding fuel and provisions when you arrived?
Thugs aren’t the only ones who will trouble you either. Imagine a reasonable upstanding citizen who flees the city to get away from the thugs, but he carries only what he can get in the vehicle, which is probably food, water, some camping equipment, and maybe a gun or two. It’s all good, until he runs out of provisions and becomes desperate. He will impose on those who have achieved sustainment, and he won’t come alone. You may not have to go so far away, but you will have a better chance of avoiding conflict if you do.
What?
What goes in a redoubt kit? That will depend on where you’re going. Mountains will require different items than the prairie, and a swamp is different than a desert. Your personal needs also factor in. Do you have medical issues, physical restrictions, or special care needs? Those have to be considered as well. The best place to start is with the “List of Lists” offered for free on the survivalblog.com website. It’s very comprehensive and covers most all the bases. I know it’s overkill for a redoubt kit, but you can use it as a prompt to identify items you may not have thought of or included in your kit. Unless your bug out vehicle is a semi-truck, you couldn’t carry everything on the list anyway. Imagine yourself at the redoubt and consider the activities you would need to accomplish in order to sustain yourself. Also, consider your arrival at the worst time of the year—what would you need? Let me use my own circumstance as an example.
I live near the Rocky Mountains so the worst time of year to bug out is winter. I’ve already chosen a place that has water nearby and good hunting. I also considered a low enough altitude to have a growing season for a garden. It’s the onset of winter, and the snow is already a foot deep. First, I need to get there safely. I have a four-wheel drive vehicle, not a sports car. Next, I’m going to need shelter for the entire winter. My choice is a canvas lodge tent with a wood-burning stove. Do not consider a stove requiring fossil fuels, as you would eventually run out. (Remember, think long-term sustainment.)
I’m already near water and I can hunt, but I need food to sustain me until I can bag some meat. Also, I can’t live on meat alone, I need other nutrients and vitamins—so, I need to bring enough food to get me through a growing season. After that I can sustain myself with vegetables from my garden. Of course, after I harvest my garden, I’ll need to preserve my harvest in order to sustain myself until the next growing season. This little exercise just prompted additions to my list– tent, stove, food, vitamins, cooking items and utensils, gun, bullets, knives to skin and butcher, axe for wood, garden tools, seed for crops, roll of chicken wire to protect crops, way to irrigate crops, canning jars to preserve crops, canning equipment, and the list goes on. The more you think about it, the more you’ll add to the list. Don’t worry about organizing the list just yet. The important thing is to get it on paper.
Now, you need to consider how you’ll accomplish sustainment. You need to accumulate knowledge. Going back to our little exercise, do you know how to hunt, maintain guns, butcher, garden, process seeds for the next season, or can food? Did you get heirloom seeds? Missing that little item could cost you and your family their lives. If you don’t know what they are, you need to do more research. What if you have an accident with the axe or knife? Do you have medical training? If you don’t have these skills or knowledge, then you must acquire them. Add that to your list and insure you get paper books, as the Internet isn’t going to be available. In short, increasing knowledge is likely the most important thing you can do, and it’s the most neglected.
The canvas tent was good for a temporary home, but now you need to consider building a more permanent one. For me, it’s a log cabin. I had to educate myself on how to build one and discovered I needed log togs, chisels, hammers, and a few other things as well as a blueprint. Maybe you’re planning to be on the prairie, and you need sod house tools and plans. Your tool set will be different from the guy who lives in the swamp. Adjust accordingly to your redoubt circumstance.
Prioritize
After you’ve compiled your list, you’re going to have to prioritize. If you’re like me, you have about a half of semi-truck worth of materials. It’s time to cut down. Start with identifying items that are essential for establishing long-term sustainment, followed by “nice to haves”, and finally (if you have room) comfort items. Some of your essential items do not qualify for sustainment, like the tent, but are required until you can sustain with a permanent structure.
Do the same with acquisition of knowledge and skills. Home-building, canning, and medical training rank higher than basket weaving and stitchery, though those things are very desirable. Start learning now!
Test
This is a very important step and can be challenging depending on your circumstances. If you own a property, that’s ideal. Use the kit to establish the redoubt. Make alterations or changes as you go. If TEOTWAWKI doesn’t happen before you finish your redoubt, good for you. Your kit is perfect, because it was responsible for actually building it. Now, reassemble it, and prepare for a potential bugout. Locate a future location in case you are forced to leave your redoubt, and keep it updated. Your kit is ready.
If you can’t afford a property, as described in the beginning of this article, take your kit to an area where you can practice and maybe camp for a few days without drawing undue attention. Getting a wood-cutting permit for public lands is a good choice here. This is where I was reminded of an item I didn’t have on my list by the blisters on my hands—a good pair of leather gloves. I also added a chainsaw and container of stabilized fuel. I know it’s not a long-term device, as it has a limited supply of fuel, but it sure kick-started the effort. I could have done it with hand tools, but it fell in the category of “nice to haves” and I had room for it.
Start Today
There’s no time like the present. Do not procrastinate! Whether you already have a complete redoubt or you’re just starting out, you need a redoubt kit, no doubt. Everyone is vulnerable.
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Click here for all your prepping/tactical needs: The Tactical Patriot Store
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Thursday, December 31, 2015
Info you can use 12/31/2015
Here are links to information I thought the readers would find useful, and enjoy reading and learning about.
We all need to improve our medical skills, so here is some information that will hopefully help: Needle Decompression Location
More medical information, this is a very valuable skill to learn: How to apply tourniquet one handed
First aid kit: Is your first aid kit complete?
How to protect your family from a Influenza pandemic
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Click here for all your prepping/tactical needs: The Tactical Patriot Store
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We all need to improve our medical skills, so here is some information that will hopefully help: Needle Decompression Location
More medical information, this is a very valuable skill to learn: How to apply tourniquet one handed
First aid kit: Is your first aid kit complete?
How to protect your family from a Influenza pandemic
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click here for all your prepping/tactical needs: The Tactical Patriot Store
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The High Price of Knowledge
The following is a good article about the increase in the medical field that we have gained from our recent conflicts:
The Laboratory Of War: How Military Trauma Care Advances Are Benefiting Soldiers And Civilians
By Eric Elster, Eric Schoomaker, and Charles Rice
Editor’s note: This morning, in Bethesda MD, the Executive Director of the American College of Surgeons, Dr. David Hoyt, presented the leadership of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center with a plaque recognizing its designation as an ACS-certified Level II Trauma Center. Walter Reed Bethesda is part of extraordinary chain of military health system facilities, providers, organizations, and techniques that have dramatically improved an injured service member’s odds of survival and recovery. As the authors of this post note, lessons learned during more than a decade of war are now being adopted into civilian care, to the benefit of children and adults in every corner of the United States and beyond. For more on emergency care, read the December Health Affairs issue, “The Future of Emergency Medicine: Challenges And Opportunities.“
Out of the ashes of 9-11 and the two wars that followed, a new paradigm has emerged that has benefited more than 50,000 injured warfighters and is transforming civilian trauma care. During the past decade of war, strategic investments in research and clinical care, coupled with contributions from world-class clinician-scientists, have produced the lowest case-fatality rate among combat casualties in the history of armed conflict.
At the beginning of Operations Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Iraqi Freedom (OIF), the combat injury case-fatality rate was approximately 18 percent. Over the subsequent decade, it steadily decreased to 5 percent despite an overall increase in injury severity. This remarkable achievement is grounded in advances in all aspects of trauma care, from the point of injury to optimum treatment in military rehabilitation centers.
As with all previous conflicts throughout history, clinical knowledge generated in the civilian setting was rapidly adapted in innovative ways to address challenges encountered on the battlefield. Now, it is coming full circle to improve the care and decrease the mortality of both injured warriors and civilian trauma victims. This reciprocal relationship between military and civilian medicine, recently highlighted in domestic terrorism attacks such as the Boston Marathon bombing and the mass shootings at Aurora and Tucson, is visible in daily practice in trauma centers throughout the country.
These improvements didn’t happen by accident; the military invested in relevant translational research and developed a flexible, evidence-based trauma system that rapidly developed, assessed, deployed, and refined new advances in trauma care and rehabilitation. In this post we highlight a number of these advances and the science behind them, and we offer a roadmap to ensure that these advances are not only preserved for use in future conflicts, but evolve to benefit all patients — military and civilian alike.
What Has Been Accomplished
Tactical combat casualty care. One of the first important advances was recognition, based on experience gained in the First Gulf War, that combatants themselves are the true “first responders” on the battlefield. Combatants are trained to recognize and promptly respond to life-threatening injuries, and medics and corpsmen are now trained in a realistic, scenario-based, and standardized fashion, based on the principles of tactical combat casualty care (TCCC). TCCC provides the training for the effective use of topical hemostatic agents (bandages with the ability to accelerate blood clotting) and, when necessary, tourniquets to control severe bleeding, along with other skills such as rapid assessment of injuries, airway control, treatment of traumatic pneumothorax (collapsed lung), and immediate pain control.
TCCC is divided into three phases that are relevant in both the combat and civilian mass casualty settings: care under fire, tactical field care, and tactical evacuation care. “Tactical” refers to individual and small unit activities, such as direct care rendered by a first responder at the point of injury, in contrast to “operational” and “strategic” activities, which involve larger units and broader geographic space. This coordinated approach achieved exceptional success; when adopted by elite units of the US military, it resulted in the near elimination of preventable deaths on the battlefield. Today, civilian emergency medical systems (EMS) are adopting the TCCC approach using a course offered by national organizations representing the EMS community.
Bleeding control. Early hemorrhage (bleeding) control, using tourniquets and topical hemostatic agents, are a prime example of how new or improved techniques on the battlefield can produce profound benefits at home. Previously tourniquets were not advocated for routine use for fear of limb loss. However, the need for tourniquets was quickly recognized as essential in modern warfare where severe extremity injuries are common and evacuation is often both timely and fast. Widespread adoption of tourniquets saved many lives in combat without secondary limb loss.4 As an adjunct, the use of topical hemostatics, was more than 90 percent effective. Over the course of the conflicts, these agents were modified several times. This allowed military doctors to optimize their effectiveness while minimizing side effects.
Both of these approaches to hemorrhage have quickly made their way to civilian settings, moving “from the sandbox to the street.” This was most clearly seen following the Boston Marathon bombings, where “without a doubt, tourniquets were a difference-maker and saved lives.”
Massive transfusion protocols. Advances in care did not end on the battlefield; they accelerated upon arrival at hospital settings. This began with new approaches to replacing blood loss from trauma. Prior to our experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, the most severely injured casualties were resuscitated in a step-wise fashion, first with saline solutions, followed by a gradual escalation to the use of blood products. Faced with less than ideal outcomes, military surgeons challenged this approach and looked for better ways to replace blood loss. Based upon solid lab research, these surgeons introduced the concept of “balanced resuscitation”, by immediately countering blood loss with key components of blood when the injured soldier or marine’s injury profile suggested the need for massive transfusion (unstable patients or those with severe injury patterns). This approach not only improved survival, it reduced the rate of complications in combat-wounded patients.
Adoption of “massive transfusion protocols” has become one of the most swiftly adopted changes in care coming from the battlefield. Today, a majority of Level I trauma centers in the US have shifted to this practice. This approach is also being adopted in surgical education, where trainees are taught to activate “massive transfusion protocols” to counter severe injuries.
“Damage control” surgery. The next major advance took place in the operating room where prompt surgical control of bleeding, closure of perforated bowel injuries, and early debridement of damaged tissue are key steps. Focusing on these priorities up front, leaving the abdomen “open” with temporary dressings, and deferring more complex definitive surgery for subsequent procedures has avoided the secondary insult of prolonged periods in the operating room. This led to a practice called “damage control surgery.” This concept was first introduced in the civilian trauma world (utilizing a term adopted from the military, where “damage control” refers to maneuvers to save a ship so it can continue to be effective). The technique caught on with military surgeons, many of whom who had trained in civilian trauma centers, and was swiftly refined under wartime conditions. As with the other advances discussed, the widespread application of damage control surgery has benefited military and civilian populations alike.
Neurocritical care. Patients with specific injuries, most notably penetrating head and extremity injuries, have also benefited from military medicine. In previous conflicts, many of these patients were assumed to have non-survivable injuries and were treated as “expectant” (i.e., only comfort care). Now, they are aggressively managed using techniques similar to those applied in damage control surgery.
For example, in cases of massive head trauma, a portion of the skull is temporarily removed to allow the brain to swell without creating a lethal rise in pressure that would stop blood flow to the brain. This is particularly important for patients faced with long medical evacuation times. Another technique involves preventing the spasm of major blood vessels that are necessary to support brain survival and function. Although this practice has not yet been widely adapted in civilian trauma, it may come to be widely used in future mass casualty events and conflicts.
Treatment of badly damaged limbs. Another advance that has seen widespread use is an integrated approach to early limb salvage versus amputation in patients suffering from massive extremity injuries with significant tissue loss and neurovascular damage. Military and civilian researchers have found that, for certain patients, early amputation results in better long-term functional outcome. For patients who remain good candidates for limb salvage, the innovations in soft tissue reconstruction have produced survivors who not only recovered, but in many instances returned to full duty and extremely active lifestyles.
Two key adjuncts to the successful treatment of severe extremity wounds are adequate pain control and aggressive, early rehabilitation. The adoption of regional pain control and integrated pain management teams has allowed rehabilitation to start while the patient is still in the hospital. All of these efforts come together in the treatment of the multi-limb amputees who face substantial challenges. Without these approaches, the amazing functional results that have been seen would not be achievable. Many of these techniques are now working their way into civilian practice, such as treatment of victims of the Boston Marathon bombings.
Rapid evacuation to tertiary care centers. Transporting injured personnel to centers capable of providing advanced levels of care required comparable innovations in tactical and strategic casualty evacuation. In conflict zones, tactical evacuation is largely accomplished by medical evacuation helicopters, while inter-theatre strategic evacuation over thousands of miles is achieved with large Air Force fixed wing aircraft outfitted with ICU pallets and staffed by specially trained Critical Care Air Transport Teams (CCATTs). This integrated approach has resulted in a reduced medical footprint in the conflict area as compared to previous conflicts. Equally important, improvements in hand-offs of care were devised to assure seamless transitions between the military, the U.S. Public Health Service, the Veterans Health Administration, and, ultimately, civilian trauma and rehabilitation facilities. The collective impacts of these advances in care are unprecedented in military history.
How It Was Done
Almost as remarkable as this progress is the manner in which it was done. Normally, progress in patient care is achieved through painstaking, incremental research, often tested and refined through large-scale randomized trials involving thousands of patients. It’s been written that the average time frame for research to reach the bedside and be widely adopted into care is measured in decades. The military health system didn’t have that sort of time. Lives depended on swift and sure decisions, backed by the best available evidence.
Much of the progress was made possible through creation of the Joint Trauma System (JTS), whose mission is to improve trauma care delivery across the continuum of care through careful data collection and analysis, to improve clinical outcomes in near real-time. This effort represents the largest combat registry ever created. In addition to monitoring the quality and outcomes of care, the JTS develops and implements clinical practice guidelines system-wide, and identifies the training and research needs for trauma care in the military.
The ability of the JTS to rapidly identify emerging injury patterns, develop best practices and research-based CPG’s, and subsequently disseminate and track such guidelines represents a paradigm shift away from costly, multi-year clinical studies to “focused empiricism” and continuous process improvement. Driven to address challenges identified by the JTS, the DoD continues to invest in mission-relevant research focused on biomarker-based care, regenerative medicine, and advanced approaches to hemorrhage control. While many civilian centers have adopted similar models with a degree of success, the widespread implementation of this approach could serve as a model for other large health care systems.
Early in what has proven to be the longest armed conflict fought by the U.S. to date, military medicine recognized that it needed to fundamentally change how it approached the care of wounded warriors. It did this by implementing data-driven decisions at every step in the continuum of care, from battlefields in two nations across 8000 miles and three continents to world-class hospitals and rehabilitation centers in Germany and the United States. Importantly, this work was done while the individuals involved were doing their utmost to provide the best possible care to every injured combatant and civilian they touched. As was true following the conflicts in Korea and Vietnam, lessons learned in the crucible of war are beginning to transform care in civilian hospitals in the U.S. and around the world.
The progress that has been made over the past decade is tenuous at best. Some of those who led these efforts have retired from the military, and others are struggling to contend with budget cuts, furloughs and funding constraints. It won’t be easy to maintain surgical skills honed over a decade of conflict. But this is essential to assure that military healthcare in any future conflict will be as good, and ideally better, than in the most recent ones. There is little doubt that thousands of service members and veterans are alive today thanks to the work of dedicated military and civilian health care professionals. Many of the insights they developed are beginning to transform care in the civilian world and millions will benefit.
The knowledge gained over a decade of war cannot be taken for granted. Continued work is needed to identify and manage challenges that are only faintly understood today. The progress that is made will not only help our warfighters in future conflicts, it will help save the lives of civilians as well.
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Click here for all your prepping/tactical needs: The Tactical Patriot Store
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Laboratory Of War: How Military Trauma Care Advances Are Benefiting Soldiers And Civilians
By Eric Elster, Eric Schoomaker, and Charles Rice
Editor’s note: This morning, in Bethesda MD, the Executive Director of the American College of Surgeons, Dr. David Hoyt, presented the leadership of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center with a plaque recognizing its designation as an ACS-certified Level II Trauma Center. Walter Reed Bethesda is part of extraordinary chain of military health system facilities, providers, organizations, and techniques that have dramatically improved an injured service member’s odds of survival and recovery. As the authors of this post note, lessons learned during more than a decade of war are now being adopted into civilian care, to the benefit of children and adults in every corner of the United States and beyond. For more on emergency care, read the December Health Affairs issue, “The Future of Emergency Medicine: Challenges And Opportunities.“
Out of the ashes of 9-11 and the two wars that followed, a new paradigm has emerged that has benefited more than 50,000 injured warfighters and is transforming civilian trauma care. During the past decade of war, strategic investments in research and clinical care, coupled with contributions from world-class clinician-scientists, have produced the lowest case-fatality rate among combat casualties in the history of armed conflict.
At the beginning of Operations Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Iraqi Freedom (OIF), the combat injury case-fatality rate was approximately 18 percent. Over the subsequent decade, it steadily decreased to 5 percent despite an overall increase in injury severity. This remarkable achievement is grounded in advances in all aspects of trauma care, from the point of injury to optimum treatment in military rehabilitation centers.
As with all previous conflicts throughout history, clinical knowledge generated in the civilian setting was rapidly adapted in innovative ways to address challenges encountered on the battlefield. Now, it is coming full circle to improve the care and decrease the mortality of both injured warriors and civilian trauma victims. This reciprocal relationship between military and civilian medicine, recently highlighted in domestic terrorism attacks such as the Boston Marathon bombing and the mass shootings at Aurora and Tucson, is visible in daily practice in trauma centers throughout the country.
These improvements didn’t happen by accident; the military invested in relevant translational research and developed a flexible, evidence-based trauma system that rapidly developed, assessed, deployed, and refined new advances in trauma care and rehabilitation. In this post we highlight a number of these advances and the science behind them, and we offer a roadmap to ensure that these advances are not only preserved for use in future conflicts, but evolve to benefit all patients — military and civilian alike.
What Has Been Accomplished
Tactical combat casualty care. One of the first important advances was recognition, based on experience gained in the First Gulf War, that combatants themselves are the true “first responders” on the battlefield. Combatants are trained to recognize and promptly respond to life-threatening injuries, and medics and corpsmen are now trained in a realistic, scenario-based, and standardized fashion, based on the principles of tactical combat casualty care (TCCC). TCCC provides the training for the effective use of topical hemostatic agents (bandages with the ability to accelerate blood clotting) and, when necessary, tourniquets to control severe bleeding, along with other skills such as rapid assessment of injuries, airway control, treatment of traumatic pneumothorax (collapsed lung), and immediate pain control.
TCCC is divided into three phases that are relevant in both the combat and civilian mass casualty settings: care under fire, tactical field care, and tactical evacuation care. “Tactical” refers to individual and small unit activities, such as direct care rendered by a first responder at the point of injury, in contrast to “operational” and “strategic” activities, which involve larger units and broader geographic space. This coordinated approach achieved exceptional success; when adopted by elite units of the US military, it resulted in the near elimination of preventable deaths on the battlefield. Today, civilian emergency medical systems (EMS) are adopting the TCCC approach using a course offered by national organizations representing the EMS community.
Bleeding control. Early hemorrhage (bleeding) control, using tourniquets and topical hemostatic agents, are a prime example of how new or improved techniques on the battlefield can produce profound benefits at home. Previously tourniquets were not advocated for routine use for fear of limb loss. However, the need for tourniquets was quickly recognized as essential in modern warfare where severe extremity injuries are common and evacuation is often both timely and fast. Widespread adoption of tourniquets saved many lives in combat without secondary limb loss.4 As an adjunct, the use of topical hemostatics, was more than 90 percent effective. Over the course of the conflicts, these agents were modified several times. This allowed military doctors to optimize their effectiveness while minimizing side effects.
Both of these approaches to hemorrhage have quickly made their way to civilian settings, moving “from the sandbox to the street.” This was most clearly seen following the Boston Marathon bombings, where “without a doubt, tourniquets were a difference-maker and saved lives.”
Massive transfusion protocols. Advances in care did not end on the battlefield; they accelerated upon arrival at hospital settings. This began with new approaches to replacing blood loss from trauma. Prior to our experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, the most severely injured casualties were resuscitated in a step-wise fashion, first with saline solutions, followed by a gradual escalation to the use of blood products. Faced with less than ideal outcomes, military surgeons challenged this approach and looked for better ways to replace blood loss. Based upon solid lab research, these surgeons introduced the concept of “balanced resuscitation”, by immediately countering blood loss with key components of blood when the injured soldier or marine’s injury profile suggested the need for massive transfusion (unstable patients or those with severe injury patterns). This approach not only improved survival, it reduced the rate of complications in combat-wounded patients.
Adoption of “massive transfusion protocols” has become one of the most swiftly adopted changes in care coming from the battlefield. Today, a majority of Level I trauma centers in the US have shifted to this practice. This approach is also being adopted in surgical education, where trainees are taught to activate “massive transfusion protocols” to counter severe injuries.
“Damage control” surgery. The next major advance took place in the operating room where prompt surgical control of bleeding, closure of perforated bowel injuries, and early debridement of damaged tissue are key steps. Focusing on these priorities up front, leaving the abdomen “open” with temporary dressings, and deferring more complex definitive surgery for subsequent procedures has avoided the secondary insult of prolonged periods in the operating room. This led to a practice called “damage control surgery.” This concept was first introduced in the civilian trauma world (utilizing a term adopted from the military, where “damage control” refers to maneuvers to save a ship so it can continue to be effective). The technique caught on with military surgeons, many of whom who had trained in civilian trauma centers, and was swiftly refined under wartime conditions. As with the other advances discussed, the widespread application of damage control surgery has benefited military and civilian populations alike.
Neurocritical care. Patients with specific injuries, most notably penetrating head and extremity injuries, have also benefited from military medicine. In previous conflicts, many of these patients were assumed to have non-survivable injuries and were treated as “expectant” (i.e., only comfort care). Now, they are aggressively managed using techniques similar to those applied in damage control surgery.
For example, in cases of massive head trauma, a portion of the skull is temporarily removed to allow the brain to swell without creating a lethal rise in pressure that would stop blood flow to the brain. This is particularly important for patients faced with long medical evacuation times. Another technique involves preventing the spasm of major blood vessels that are necessary to support brain survival and function. Although this practice has not yet been widely adapted in civilian trauma, it may come to be widely used in future mass casualty events and conflicts.
Treatment of badly damaged limbs. Another advance that has seen widespread use is an integrated approach to early limb salvage versus amputation in patients suffering from massive extremity injuries with significant tissue loss and neurovascular damage. Military and civilian researchers have found that, for certain patients, early amputation results in better long-term functional outcome. For patients who remain good candidates for limb salvage, the innovations in soft tissue reconstruction have produced survivors who not only recovered, but in many instances returned to full duty and extremely active lifestyles.
Two key adjuncts to the successful treatment of severe extremity wounds are adequate pain control and aggressive, early rehabilitation. The adoption of regional pain control and integrated pain management teams has allowed rehabilitation to start while the patient is still in the hospital. All of these efforts come together in the treatment of the multi-limb amputees who face substantial challenges. Without these approaches, the amazing functional results that have been seen would not be achievable. Many of these techniques are now working their way into civilian practice, such as treatment of victims of the Boston Marathon bombings.
Rapid evacuation to tertiary care centers. Transporting injured personnel to centers capable of providing advanced levels of care required comparable innovations in tactical and strategic casualty evacuation. In conflict zones, tactical evacuation is largely accomplished by medical evacuation helicopters, while inter-theatre strategic evacuation over thousands of miles is achieved with large Air Force fixed wing aircraft outfitted with ICU pallets and staffed by specially trained Critical Care Air Transport Teams (CCATTs). This integrated approach has resulted in a reduced medical footprint in the conflict area as compared to previous conflicts. Equally important, improvements in hand-offs of care were devised to assure seamless transitions between the military, the U.S. Public Health Service, the Veterans Health Administration, and, ultimately, civilian trauma and rehabilitation facilities. The collective impacts of these advances in care are unprecedented in military history.
How It Was Done
Almost as remarkable as this progress is the manner in which it was done. Normally, progress in patient care is achieved through painstaking, incremental research, often tested and refined through large-scale randomized trials involving thousands of patients. It’s been written that the average time frame for research to reach the bedside and be widely adopted into care is measured in decades. The military health system didn’t have that sort of time. Lives depended on swift and sure decisions, backed by the best available evidence.
Much of the progress was made possible through creation of the Joint Trauma System (JTS), whose mission is to improve trauma care delivery across the continuum of care through careful data collection and analysis, to improve clinical outcomes in near real-time. This effort represents the largest combat registry ever created. In addition to monitoring the quality and outcomes of care, the JTS develops and implements clinical practice guidelines system-wide, and identifies the training and research needs for trauma care in the military.
The ability of the JTS to rapidly identify emerging injury patterns, develop best practices and research-based CPG’s, and subsequently disseminate and track such guidelines represents a paradigm shift away from costly, multi-year clinical studies to “focused empiricism” and continuous process improvement. Driven to address challenges identified by the JTS, the DoD continues to invest in mission-relevant research focused on biomarker-based care, regenerative medicine, and advanced approaches to hemorrhage control. While many civilian centers have adopted similar models with a degree of success, the widespread implementation of this approach could serve as a model for other large health care systems.
Early in what has proven to be the longest armed conflict fought by the U.S. to date, military medicine recognized that it needed to fundamentally change how it approached the care of wounded warriors. It did this by implementing data-driven decisions at every step in the continuum of care, from battlefields in two nations across 8000 miles and three continents to world-class hospitals and rehabilitation centers in Germany and the United States. Importantly, this work was done while the individuals involved were doing their utmost to provide the best possible care to every injured combatant and civilian they touched. As was true following the conflicts in Korea and Vietnam, lessons learned in the crucible of war are beginning to transform care in civilian hospitals in the U.S. and around the world.
The progress that has been made over the past decade is tenuous at best. Some of those who led these efforts have retired from the military, and others are struggling to contend with budget cuts, furloughs and funding constraints. It won’t be easy to maintain surgical skills honed over a decade of conflict. But this is essential to assure that military healthcare in any future conflict will be as good, and ideally better, than in the most recent ones. There is little doubt that thousands of service members and veterans are alive today thanks to the work of dedicated military and civilian health care professionals. Many of the insights they developed are beginning to transform care in the civilian world and millions will benefit.
The knowledge gained over a decade of war cannot be taken for granted. Continued work is needed to identify and manage challenges that are only faintly understood today. The progress that is made will not only help our warfighters in future conflicts, it will help save the lives of civilians as well.
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Click here for all your prepping/tactical needs: The Tactical Patriot Store
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Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Info you can use 12/30/15
Great information in the following links to enjoy.
Survival Blades Part 1
Survival Blades Part 2
Here they come! Cal gun confiscation law (effective 01 Jan 2016)
Here is a great force multiplier: Thermal evasion suit
You need to always have a PSK on, or close to you Video about personal survival kit
This is sweet, but it takes a prescription to get one: Wound stopping sponge gun
I hope you guys find this information useful or at least interesting. Thanks for reading this blog. If you enjoy it, please join up.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click here for all your prepping/tactical needs: The Tactical Patriot Store
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Survival Blades Part 1
Survival Blades Part 2
Here they come! Cal gun confiscation law (effective 01 Jan 2016)
Here is a great force multiplier: Thermal evasion suit
You need to always have a PSK on, or close to you Video about personal survival kit
This is sweet, but it takes a prescription to get one: Wound stopping sponge gun
I hope you guys find this information useful or at least interesting. Thanks for reading this blog. If you enjoy it, please join up.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click here for all your prepping/tactical needs: The Tactical Patriot Store
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unconventional Warfare
This is a very good article that the readers of this blog and any involved in the patriot movement need to learn. We need to be ready to do our part, and to do so means we need to learn/train/practice things that will increase our survivability and our ability to perform the role we will be called on for.
Understanding Unconventional Warfare As It Applies to Conservative Families, by Swamp Fox
Before reading a book, watching a YouTube video, or obtaining any form of information from any source, a wise consumer will ask a few questions. What is the worldview of the individual imparting the information? Is the individual, who is imparting that information, qualified to do so? Is this person sufficiently capable of relaying this information through his or her chosen means of communication? It is said that one “cannot judge a book by its cover”. I disagree. As a man who has, from a very young age, frequented used book sales in search of hidden treasures among tattered covers, I firmly believe in judging a “book by its cover” or, if not purely by the cover, the summary on the inside flap, the biography of the author, and a quick skim of parts of the book, its illustrations, and the author’s writing style. Is this book worth my time? To preface this article I will give you my cover story, which is basically why I believe that my worldview is valuable, worth my time to put on paper, and therefore worth your time to read. As stated in the book of Proverbs, “Whoso boasteth himself of a false gift is like clouds and wind without rain.”
I am the oldest of nine children: eight boys and one girl. We were homeschooled from kindergarten through high school. I was raised on the words of Ralph Moody, Paul Hutchens, Jack London, Jack O’Brien, and G.A. Henty to name a few. I have spent time in two of America’s armed forces– the Navy and currently the Army, where I remain employed as a Special Forces Engineer Sergeant. I am married and have five children: four boys and one girl. We live on five acres with goats, chickens, and one awesome Boerboel. A few of my childhood heroes were John Mosby, Francis Marion, and the Apostle Peter, who struck off the ear of a high priest. Honorable mention goes to Sampson for the unconventional fighting award, tying 300 foxes together by their tails, lighting said tails on fire, and driving them into his enemy’s camp.
I will not offer advice on subjects for which I am not a subject matter expert. So this essay will be on how conservative families can wage unconventional warfare; specifically, it’s on raising boys, both from my experience as a homeschooled boy as well as my experience as a homeschooling father. It will define the current war we are engaged in and our role in winning that war. For OPSEC, any military-related items covered will be open source; Wikipedia will be my manual.
When we hear the phrase Unconventional Warfare (UW), it may drum up ideas of ninja clad warriors stalking through dark, murky swamps, armed with knives, seeking to kill the Vietcong. We think of Mosby’s Rangers and the Swamp Fox. What might not come to mind is the Civil Rights movement, the Socialist invasion of our education system, or the degrading of Christianity in America’s worldview. In fact, if you pay attention, there are UW campaigns, with their accompanying propaganda, going on all over our country and the world. The battle is being fought. Do we even recognize that we are at war? Wikipedia states that “Unconventional Warfare consists of activities conducted to enable a resistance movement or insurgency to coerce, disrupt or overthrow an occupying power or government by operating through or with an underground, auxiliary and guerrilla force in a denied area.” My challenge is to convey to you the following facts:
1.A war for the hearts and minds of our children is being waged by covert, and, at times, overt means.
2.We, ourselves, posses the tools of UW to fight back.
Growing up as a sheltered homeschooler, I was indoctrinated from a young age as to the evils of the government. The evil Democrats, the church down the street, or that music that has too much beat are all “tools of the devil” to lure our hearts and minds away from God, or so I was led to believe. Escaping home, I traveled, read, watched, and learned. I noticed that everyone had pet peeves. Historians and wealthy homeschoolers on a tour of old battlefields in the northeast United States waxed eloquent on our loss of freedoms as Americans. Libertarians and Conservatives cried “taxation without representation”. The list of fractured political protests goes on and on. What I didn’t see were answers. At a well known Christian conference, I cornered the keynote speaker. At 19 years of age, I was young and full of venom. Since he considered himself such an orator on the evils of our society and our rights as Americans, I asked what his plans were to fix those problems; if he were elected POTUS tomorrow, what would he do? After hours of getting a whole lot of nothing, I realized he was “clouds and wind with no rain”. A light bulb went off, and I realized that nobody had a plan. It was all talk, negative talk, with no solution and best left to gossips and drunks. Young men have work to do. Then I learned about American Redoubt.
I Kings 19:10 says, “And He said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword: and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” Verse 18 of the same chapter says, “Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which not bowed to Ba’al, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.”
Elijah was a great warrior for God. He did not have access to do a Google search on men who had not bowed the knee to Ba’al. He believed himself alone, the last servant of God in the world, and he believed his enemies surrounded him to kill him and that their victory was assured. Today we face a world in which our families are encompassed on all sides by the enemies of God, but unlike Elijah the prophet, we have the tools to find like-minded people through the Internet.
I was led to survivalblog.com, through the guidance of a friend from church. We were discussing some of our common beliefs and he told me to Google the American Redoubt, which I in turn did. For the first time in my life I was looking at action. Make no mistake, moving like-minded people to areas where they can affect elections through peaceful means and engaging in recruiting such freedom-oriented individuals to join the fight is UW. It is brilliant, engaging, and practical. Before reading about the American Redoubt, my individual opinion was that the world was doomed and the best I could do was train my children in critical thinking and survival skills to weather the storm. The idea behind peaceful utilization of our right to vote and voting with our feet is beautiful. So I firmly believe the long-range goal for all conservative families should be to consider voting with their feet.
Practical Preparations
My worldview is pretty simple– we are at war. The war is already won and the outcome secured, but in the meantime we fight. The TV blasts propaganda at us and our families. Modern literature, newspapers, and other types of media are all tools to dull our minds and lure us into complacency in order to slowly take away our freedom to raise our children as we see fit. So how can we fight? The battle begins with examining every thing that enters into our home. We must filter all information through the worldview of what is good and right and return it to our children clean and sanitized. What follows are practical things I have done with my boys to prepare their minds for battle.
Structure and Detail
First, structure and attention to detail are absolute imperatives. In a world full of excuses and weakness, boys need to know that blaming others and government for personal problems is unacceptable. One of the first talks I had with my wife when we married was far from politically correct. I explained that in our household we do not use excuses like being tired, hungry, or “that time of month” for weakness. Do we follow this to a T? No, but the premise is there, and we attempt to transform our excuses into victory. Soldiers are expected to perform at high levels whether or not they are tired or cold, whatever the weather, bugs, or other distractions. Soldiers must accomplish the mission no matter what. We are all soldiers in one way or another, and I teach my boys that when they demonstrate toughness and are able to accomplish difficult things when under duress, they have done a great thing. As a second-generation homeschooler, I would say one of the worst flaws of homeschooling is that it is easy to become lazy and allow children to escape accountability. We teach them to be self-taught, but we don’t follow up and insure that they are abiding by standards of excellence. Boys need the discipline of fathers or they will run circles around their mother, manipulating her, and doing what they please. Fathers must be a part of the process of homeschooling boys; they must lead by example.
Even when very young, boys must be taught that for every action there is a reaction. For example, if you leave a terrible mess with your toys and refuse to diligently clean them up in a reasonable amount of time, then you have too many toys. Obviously, you are not prepared for the great responsibility of owning so many great things, and therefore, until you learn to properly steward what is yours, five toys a day will be thrown away or something to that effect. Boys need to be weaned or driven off of electronics, movies, and other forms of indoctrination. Don’t get me wrong, the iPad is a great learning tool, but structure must be observed and laws established. Let’s talk about movies. Remember the hero? Yea, he was rather pathetic, weak, and uninspiring, but have you noticed the trend in children’s movies for the anti-hero? Young children are supposed to empathize with this character. He isn’t big or strong or particularly good looking. He is passive aggressive and hip. This disgusting role model mocks his parents and always has a wiser way of doing everything, inevitably leading his family and friends to his or her way of thinking. Young soldiers should not be subjected to watching this filth. In our house, we watch our share of movies, but if you actually listen to the propaganda being fed our children, you will perhaps agree that there are better forms of entertainment, such as books, projects, and shooting. Open the world of literature to boys, and steer them towards what is good and right. Give them room to re-enact what they read. Give them space to run and get dirty, make bows, and wrestle. Monitor their behavior and watch for teachable moments to drive home important life lessons about character and manhood. Bullying and weakness are never acceptable.
Guidance
Secondly, let us abolish this lie that we must not steer our boys towards liking anything, that we have to let them choose their own path. Children would wallow in their own fecal matter, eat nothing but sugar, and participate in a myriad of other ridiculously barbarous acts, if we did not teach them otherwise. There is nothing wrong with teaching a boy the skills of his father. There is nothing wrong with understanding that every boy should have a foundation of skills to enter the halls of manhood. Perhaps they don’t like to shoot or do wood projects or change the oil in their car. Big deal. Like the Nike commercial says, “Just do it.” If we equip them with critical thinking skills and a philosophical view of the world through literature, then, with our aid, we can steer them toward whatever vocation they please, but they will have basic, practical skills before they leave the house.
Reading
Another benefit to survivalblog.com is that it has a great reading list. I have read a few on the list, and one that stands out is Boston’s Gun Bible by “Boston T. Party” or Kenneth W. Royce. With American Sniper setting so many records in the box office, it would appear that America recognizes our need for riflemen. On second thought, maybe not. Still, America needs shooters, America needs Minutemen, and America needs boys trained by their father’s to become riflemen. The best illustration of the grave necessity for rifleman is watching Europe cringing and hiding in fear from Sharia militias. The Charlie Hebdo shooting in France further illustrates the point. Ask yourself if this could happen in America, where many of our citizens are armed? Could terrorists waltz around with apparent impunity stating, “What up, St. Louis Taliban says hi?” I would hope not. Even our criminal elements would shoot back, because they can’t have the Taliban on “their” turf. Will history remember our generation as those who allowed themselves to be herded into cattle cars by evil forces? You can say God would not let that happen, until you are blue in the face. Tell that to Christians in Iraq or North Korea. Train your boys to shoot and shoot straight. Train your girls to shoot, train your wife to shoot, and train your neighbors to shoot.
Battle the Dragons
When I was on my first trip, in Special Forces, to a mountainous region in Asia, I left my wife and two small boys in Japan, where we were stationed. I returned during the day and knocked on the door. My oldest son opened it and calmly asked me, “Are they all dead?” Slightly confused, I played it out. “Are who all dead, buddy?” He replied, “The dragons. Mommy said you were overseas killing dragons, so are they all dead? Is that why you came home?” What could I say? Honestly, what a great illustration of a little boy’s mind that is. A boy’s mind is full of dragons, of princesses and castles, of good and evil. From the time my boys were very young, we have fought “dragons”; the vile things show up at the worst times. In Japan we didn’t have guns, and we didn’t have much land, but we had those dragons. We would stalk them in a wedge formation, using only hand signals in the dark, where the boys were scared. I taught them to face their fears. One of the coolest things I’ve heard was on another military sponsored “vacation”. My wife emailed me to tell me about my boys. A tropical storm was brewing and the wind howled around our house in Okinawa. My wife walked into the living room to see a triad of small Spartans, clad in an odd assortment of my military gear and swimming goggles and carrying spear guns without tips that I had let them play with. With the wind howling and darkness falling, they were terrified. However, when my wife asked them what they were doing, they responded that they were scared of the dragons outside and that their dad had taught them to face their fears, so they had no choice but to do battle and engage the dragons. She of course let them out to face their fears.
I’ll leave you all with this. Teach your boys to turn the light on, to clear under the bed, the closet, or wherever the bogie man is hiding. We know him for what he is– weak and cowardly. The enemy is scared of all that is good and true. All we have to do is stand like a man, face his shenanigans, and send him to hell, where he belongs.
In the name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click here for all your prepping/tactical needs: The Tactical Patriot Store
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Understanding Unconventional Warfare As It Applies to Conservative Families, by Swamp Fox
Before reading a book, watching a YouTube video, or obtaining any form of information from any source, a wise consumer will ask a few questions. What is the worldview of the individual imparting the information? Is the individual, who is imparting that information, qualified to do so? Is this person sufficiently capable of relaying this information through his or her chosen means of communication? It is said that one “cannot judge a book by its cover”. I disagree. As a man who has, from a very young age, frequented used book sales in search of hidden treasures among tattered covers, I firmly believe in judging a “book by its cover” or, if not purely by the cover, the summary on the inside flap, the biography of the author, and a quick skim of parts of the book, its illustrations, and the author’s writing style. Is this book worth my time? To preface this article I will give you my cover story, which is basically why I believe that my worldview is valuable, worth my time to put on paper, and therefore worth your time to read. As stated in the book of Proverbs, “Whoso boasteth himself of a false gift is like clouds and wind without rain.”
I am the oldest of nine children: eight boys and one girl. We were homeschooled from kindergarten through high school. I was raised on the words of Ralph Moody, Paul Hutchens, Jack London, Jack O’Brien, and G.A. Henty to name a few. I have spent time in two of America’s armed forces– the Navy and currently the Army, where I remain employed as a Special Forces Engineer Sergeant. I am married and have five children: four boys and one girl. We live on five acres with goats, chickens, and one awesome Boerboel. A few of my childhood heroes were John Mosby, Francis Marion, and the Apostle Peter, who struck off the ear of a high priest. Honorable mention goes to Sampson for the unconventional fighting award, tying 300 foxes together by their tails, lighting said tails on fire, and driving them into his enemy’s camp.
I will not offer advice on subjects for which I am not a subject matter expert. So this essay will be on how conservative families can wage unconventional warfare; specifically, it’s on raising boys, both from my experience as a homeschooled boy as well as my experience as a homeschooling father. It will define the current war we are engaged in and our role in winning that war. For OPSEC, any military-related items covered will be open source; Wikipedia will be my manual.
When we hear the phrase Unconventional Warfare (UW), it may drum up ideas of ninja clad warriors stalking through dark, murky swamps, armed with knives, seeking to kill the Vietcong. We think of Mosby’s Rangers and the Swamp Fox. What might not come to mind is the Civil Rights movement, the Socialist invasion of our education system, or the degrading of Christianity in America’s worldview. In fact, if you pay attention, there are UW campaigns, with their accompanying propaganda, going on all over our country and the world. The battle is being fought. Do we even recognize that we are at war? Wikipedia states that “Unconventional Warfare consists of activities conducted to enable a resistance movement or insurgency to coerce, disrupt or overthrow an occupying power or government by operating through or with an underground, auxiliary and guerrilla force in a denied area.” My challenge is to convey to you the following facts:
1.A war for the hearts and minds of our children is being waged by covert, and, at times, overt means.
2.We, ourselves, posses the tools of UW to fight back.
Growing up as a sheltered homeschooler, I was indoctrinated from a young age as to the evils of the government. The evil Democrats, the church down the street, or that music that has too much beat are all “tools of the devil” to lure our hearts and minds away from God, or so I was led to believe. Escaping home, I traveled, read, watched, and learned. I noticed that everyone had pet peeves. Historians and wealthy homeschoolers on a tour of old battlefields in the northeast United States waxed eloquent on our loss of freedoms as Americans. Libertarians and Conservatives cried “taxation without representation”. The list of fractured political protests goes on and on. What I didn’t see were answers. At a well known Christian conference, I cornered the keynote speaker. At 19 years of age, I was young and full of venom. Since he considered himself such an orator on the evils of our society and our rights as Americans, I asked what his plans were to fix those problems; if he were elected POTUS tomorrow, what would he do? After hours of getting a whole lot of nothing, I realized he was “clouds and wind with no rain”. A light bulb went off, and I realized that nobody had a plan. It was all talk, negative talk, with no solution and best left to gossips and drunks. Young men have work to do. Then I learned about American Redoubt.
I Kings 19:10 says, “And He said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword: and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” Verse 18 of the same chapter says, “Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which not bowed to Ba’al, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.”
Elijah was a great warrior for God. He did not have access to do a Google search on men who had not bowed the knee to Ba’al. He believed himself alone, the last servant of God in the world, and he believed his enemies surrounded him to kill him and that their victory was assured. Today we face a world in which our families are encompassed on all sides by the enemies of God, but unlike Elijah the prophet, we have the tools to find like-minded people through the Internet.
I was led to survivalblog.com, through the guidance of a friend from church. We were discussing some of our common beliefs and he told me to Google the American Redoubt, which I in turn did. For the first time in my life I was looking at action. Make no mistake, moving like-minded people to areas where they can affect elections through peaceful means and engaging in recruiting such freedom-oriented individuals to join the fight is UW. It is brilliant, engaging, and practical. Before reading about the American Redoubt, my individual opinion was that the world was doomed and the best I could do was train my children in critical thinking and survival skills to weather the storm. The idea behind peaceful utilization of our right to vote and voting with our feet is beautiful. So I firmly believe the long-range goal for all conservative families should be to consider voting with their feet.
Practical Preparations
My worldview is pretty simple– we are at war. The war is already won and the outcome secured, but in the meantime we fight. The TV blasts propaganda at us and our families. Modern literature, newspapers, and other types of media are all tools to dull our minds and lure us into complacency in order to slowly take away our freedom to raise our children as we see fit. So how can we fight? The battle begins with examining every thing that enters into our home. We must filter all information through the worldview of what is good and right and return it to our children clean and sanitized. What follows are practical things I have done with my boys to prepare their minds for battle.
Structure and Detail
First, structure and attention to detail are absolute imperatives. In a world full of excuses and weakness, boys need to know that blaming others and government for personal problems is unacceptable. One of the first talks I had with my wife when we married was far from politically correct. I explained that in our household we do not use excuses like being tired, hungry, or “that time of month” for weakness. Do we follow this to a T? No, but the premise is there, and we attempt to transform our excuses into victory. Soldiers are expected to perform at high levels whether or not they are tired or cold, whatever the weather, bugs, or other distractions. Soldiers must accomplish the mission no matter what. We are all soldiers in one way or another, and I teach my boys that when they demonstrate toughness and are able to accomplish difficult things when under duress, they have done a great thing. As a second-generation homeschooler, I would say one of the worst flaws of homeschooling is that it is easy to become lazy and allow children to escape accountability. We teach them to be self-taught, but we don’t follow up and insure that they are abiding by standards of excellence. Boys need the discipline of fathers or they will run circles around their mother, manipulating her, and doing what they please. Fathers must be a part of the process of homeschooling boys; they must lead by example.
Even when very young, boys must be taught that for every action there is a reaction. For example, if you leave a terrible mess with your toys and refuse to diligently clean them up in a reasonable amount of time, then you have too many toys. Obviously, you are not prepared for the great responsibility of owning so many great things, and therefore, until you learn to properly steward what is yours, five toys a day will be thrown away or something to that effect. Boys need to be weaned or driven off of electronics, movies, and other forms of indoctrination. Don’t get me wrong, the iPad is a great learning tool, but structure must be observed and laws established. Let’s talk about movies. Remember the hero? Yea, he was rather pathetic, weak, and uninspiring, but have you noticed the trend in children’s movies for the anti-hero? Young children are supposed to empathize with this character. He isn’t big or strong or particularly good looking. He is passive aggressive and hip. This disgusting role model mocks his parents and always has a wiser way of doing everything, inevitably leading his family and friends to his or her way of thinking. Young soldiers should not be subjected to watching this filth. In our house, we watch our share of movies, but if you actually listen to the propaganda being fed our children, you will perhaps agree that there are better forms of entertainment, such as books, projects, and shooting. Open the world of literature to boys, and steer them towards what is good and right. Give them room to re-enact what they read. Give them space to run and get dirty, make bows, and wrestle. Monitor their behavior and watch for teachable moments to drive home important life lessons about character and manhood. Bullying and weakness are never acceptable.
Guidance
Secondly, let us abolish this lie that we must not steer our boys towards liking anything, that we have to let them choose their own path. Children would wallow in their own fecal matter, eat nothing but sugar, and participate in a myriad of other ridiculously barbarous acts, if we did not teach them otherwise. There is nothing wrong with teaching a boy the skills of his father. There is nothing wrong with understanding that every boy should have a foundation of skills to enter the halls of manhood. Perhaps they don’t like to shoot or do wood projects or change the oil in their car. Big deal. Like the Nike commercial says, “Just do it.” If we equip them with critical thinking skills and a philosophical view of the world through literature, then, with our aid, we can steer them toward whatever vocation they please, but they will have basic, practical skills before they leave the house.
Reading
Another benefit to survivalblog.com is that it has a great reading list. I have read a few on the list, and one that stands out is Boston’s Gun Bible by “Boston T. Party” or Kenneth W. Royce. With American Sniper setting so many records in the box office, it would appear that America recognizes our need for riflemen. On second thought, maybe not. Still, America needs shooters, America needs Minutemen, and America needs boys trained by their father’s to become riflemen. The best illustration of the grave necessity for rifleman is watching Europe cringing and hiding in fear from Sharia militias. The Charlie Hebdo shooting in France further illustrates the point. Ask yourself if this could happen in America, where many of our citizens are armed? Could terrorists waltz around with apparent impunity stating, “What up, St. Louis Taliban says hi?” I would hope not. Even our criminal elements would shoot back, because they can’t have the Taliban on “their” turf. Will history remember our generation as those who allowed themselves to be herded into cattle cars by evil forces? You can say God would not let that happen, until you are blue in the face. Tell that to Christians in Iraq or North Korea. Train your boys to shoot and shoot straight. Train your girls to shoot, train your wife to shoot, and train your neighbors to shoot.
Battle the Dragons
When I was on my first trip, in Special Forces, to a mountainous region in Asia, I left my wife and two small boys in Japan, where we were stationed. I returned during the day and knocked on the door. My oldest son opened it and calmly asked me, “Are they all dead?” Slightly confused, I played it out. “Are who all dead, buddy?” He replied, “The dragons. Mommy said you were overseas killing dragons, so are they all dead? Is that why you came home?” What could I say? Honestly, what a great illustration of a little boy’s mind that is. A boy’s mind is full of dragons, of princesses and castles, of good and evil. From the time my boys were very young, we have fought “dragons”; the vile things show up at the worst times. In Japan we didn’t have guns, and we didn’t have much land, but we had those dragons. We would stalk them in a wedge formation, using only hand signals in the dark, where the boys were scared. I taught them to face their fears. One of the coolest things I’ve heard was on another military sponsored “vacation”. My wife emailed me to tell me about my boys. A tropical storm was brewing and the wind howled around our house in Okinawa. My wife walked into the living room to see a triad of small Spartans, clad in an odd assortment of my military gear and swimming goggles and carrying spear guns without tips that I had let them play with. With the wind howling and darkness falling, they were terrified. However, when my wife asked them what they were doing, they responded that they were scared of the dragons outside and that their dad had taught them to face their fears, so they had no choice but to do battle and engage the dragons. She of course let them out to face their fears.
I’ll leave you all with this. Teach your boys to turn the light on, to clear under the bed, the closet, or wherever the bogie man is hiding. We know him for what he is– weak and cowardly. The enemy is scared of all that is good and true. All we have to do is stand like a man, face his shenanigans, and send him to hell, where he belongs.
In the name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click here for all your prepping/tactical needs: The Tactical Patriot Store
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Information of the day
I just wanted to post up some links to information that is relevant to us as Patriots.
Great podcast with tons of great information and years worth of episodes: Radio Free Redoubt
Fun read for those of us "crazy" preppers: 30 Reasons why you might be a crazy prepper nut job
What Thomas Jefferson had to say about taxes: Thomas Jefferson on Taxes
Great read about the relevance of the 2nd Amendment today: The Second Amendment and its relevance in todays society
I hope you guys like the information I am posting up, and the articles. Please make a comment if you have any feedback about this blog. Thanks.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click here for all your prepping/tactical needs: The Tactical Patriot Store
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Great podcast with tons of great information and years worth of episodes: Radio Free Redoubt
Fun read for those of us "crazy" preppers: 30 Reasons why you might be a crazy prepper nut job
What Thomas Jefferson had to say about taxes: Thomas Jefferson on Taxes
Great read about the relevance of the 2nd Amendment today: The Second Amendment and its relevance in todays society
I hope you guys like the information I am posting up, and the articles. Please make a comment if you have any feedback about this blog. Thanks.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click here for all your prepping/tactical needs: The Tactical Patriot Store
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Soft Power
I found this great bit of information over on the Forward Observer site and knowing it's importance re-posted it here for you to read. This article makes some really good points, especially about your group's/your reputation, and how it will affect things during SHTF.
Community Defense & the Elements of “Soft Power”
If hard power is violence and coercion, then soft power is influence and motivation. American power projected across the globe teaches that violence has its limitations. To modify a turn of phrase, war is not always the answer. Coercion causes resentment and, as we’ve seen in Iraq and Afghanistan, creates unnecessary enemies. (Just look at the popular backlash against law enforcement when violence is used as an action of first resort. Many individuals not directly affected by police action have changed their opinions on just how peaceful “peace officers” are.) Violence indeed solves some problems, but it may also cause more problems than it solves — and that’s why we need soft power, too.
In his book, The Accidental Guerrilla, author David Kilcullen writes that soft power on a regional or global scale includes, “international reputation, moral authority, diplomatic weight, persuasive ability, cultural attractiveness, and strategic credibility,” arguing that soft power is a critical piece of enabling hard power and not an either/or proposition. It was America’s soft power after 9/11 that enabled a global response to al-Qaida. American leaders persuaded and gained the cooperation of other nations not directly affected by al-Qaida to join a coalition to wage the Global War on Terror (GWOT). The nations that did not participate in kinetic operations tracked and prosecuted terror financiers, stemmed the flow of foreign fighters and materiel, and cooperated with U.S. intelligence to hunt down known and suspected terrorists.
Now consider America’s soft power in the world in the years following the Iraq War. Between perceived unilateral action, the global battlefield, warrantless spying on U.S. citizens and other “perceived human rights abuses,” America’s standing in the world is diminished, both among its foreign and domestic audiences. In short, U.S. soft power is diminished because the government has harmed its credibility and reputation. To reiterate, your soft power is a critical enabler of your hard power, as Kilcullen writes.
For individuals and communities preparing for a future that incorporates violence and morally ambiguous situations, to omit developing soft power is an unwise move. We can imagine lots of realistic scenarios in which soft power will enable us to achieve or maintain security: gaining the trust of community members to contribute to the security effort, working with local authorities to fight known threats, sharing information with neighboring communities and security groups, and persuading at-risk segments of a community to not support threat elements.
How can we develop soft power as a part of community defense? First, focus on your reputation. There are militias, security teams and prepper groups that have poor reputations, stemming from poor leadership, unrealistic, unethical or immoral goals, past indiscretions, and incompetence. When cooperation is a necessity for community defense, these groups are going to have a much more difficult time finding partners to push in the same direction. You don’t want to be a security partner of last resort with a team reluctant to work with you.
Second, be virtuous people. I foresee that communities who seek justice and do the right thing, even at great personal cost, will be more able to exercise its soft power in an area. Community members, neighbors, and others in the regions will be more likely to trust you and therefore more willing to cooperate towards greater security and stability.
Third, focus on developing an ability to persuade. Influence, by Robert Cialdini, should be on everyone’s bookshelf. Those who are just as interested in solving another person’s problem as they are their own, are more likely to find satisfactory, win-win agreements. If you want to persuade someone to cooperate with you, demonstrate your value and trustworthiness.
Lastly, be technically and tactically proficient. That’s a bit from the U.S. Army’s Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) Creed; which, by the way, many of us here at FO have had to recite from memory on more than one occasion. Tactical and technical proficiency should be the standard for those outside the military, too; especially those working towards security and defense. Technical proficiency means knowing your tools and equipment. Whether it’s a radio, rifle, or medical kit, know how to use it and be able to teach others. (Being able to teach and mentor others will go a long way in gaining a positive reputation, too.) Being tactically proficient means knowing how to employ your tools, equipment and teammates to accomplish the mission. You may not need to have been a career infantry soldier to accomplish community defense, however, obtaining tactical training for you and your team, as well as continuing education and follow-on training, is the absolute minimum effort that will be required.
If you can set aside some time to consider how to further develop these four things — your reputation, making virtuous choices, your ability to persuade, and becoming technically and tactically proficient — then you will be developing “soft power” that will benefit you and your community in any SHTF scenario.
Community Defense & the Elements of “Soft Power”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click here for all your prepping/tactical needs: The Tactical Patriot Store
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Community Defense & the Elements of “Soft Power”
If hard power is violence and coercion, then soft power is influence and motivation. American power projected across the globe teaches that violence has its limitations. To modify a turn of phrase, war is not always the answer. Coercion causes resentment and, as we’ve seen in Iraq and Afghanistan, creates unnecessary enemies. (Just look at the popular backlash against law enforcement when violence is used as an action of first resort. Many individuals not directly affected by police action have changed their opinions on just how peaceful “peace officers” are.) Violence indeed solves some problems, but it may also cause more problems than it solves — and that’s why we need soft power, too.
In his book, The Accidental Guerrilla, author David Kilcullen writes that soft power on a regional or global scale includes, “international reputation, moral authority, diplomatic weight, persuasive ability, cultural attractiveness, and strategic credibility,” arguing that soft power is a critical piece of enabling hard power and not an either/or proposition. It was America’s soft power after 9/11 that enabled a global response to al-Qaida. American leaders persuaded and gained the cooperation of other nations not directly affected by al-Qaida to join a coalition to wage the Global War on Terror (GWOT). The nations that did not participate in kinetic operations tracked and prosecuted terror financiers, stemmed the flow of foreign fighters and materiel, and cooperated with U.S. intelligence to hunt down known and suspected terrorists.
Now consider America’s soft power in the world in the years following the Iraq War. Between perceived unilateral action, the global battlefield, warrantless spying on U.S. citizens and other “perceived human rights abuses,” America’s standing in the world is diminished, both among its foreign and domestic audiences. In short, U.S. soft power is diminished because the government has harmed its credibility and reputation. To reiterate, your soft power is a critical enabler of your hard power, as Kilcullen writes.
For individuals and communities preparing for a future that incorporates violence and morally ambiguous situations, to omit developing soft power is an unwise move. We can imagine lots of realistic scenarios in which soft power will enable us to achieve or maintain security: gaining the trust of community members to contribute to the security effort, working with local authorities to fight known threats, sharing information with neighboring communities and security groups, and persuading at-risk segments of a community to not support threat elements.
How can we develop soft power as a part of community defense? First, focus on your reputation. There are militias, security teams and prepper groups that have poor reputations, stemming from poor leadership, unrealistic, unethical or immoral goals, past indiscretions, and incompetence. When cooperation is a necessity for community defense, these groups are going to have a much more difficult time finding partners to push in the same direction. You don’t want to be a security partner of last resort with a team reluctant to work with you.
Second, be virtuous people. I foresee that communities who seek justice and do the right thing, even at great personal cost, will be more able to exercise its soft power in an area. Community members, neighbors, and others in the regions will be more likely to trust you and therefore more willing to cooperate towards greater security and stability.
Third, focus on developing an ability to persuade. Influence, by Robert Cialdini, should be on everyone’s bookshelf. Those who are just as interested in solving another person’s problem as they are their own, are more likely to find satisfactory, win-win agreements. If you want to persuade someone to cooperate with you, demonstrate your value and trustworthiness.
Lastly, be technically and tactically proficient. That’s a bit from the U.S. Army’s Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) Creed; which, by the way, many of us here at FO have had to recite from memory on more than one occasion. Tactical and technical proficiency should be the standard for those outside the military, too; especially those working towards security and defense. Technical proficiency means knowing your tools and equipment. Whether it’s a radio, rifle, or medical kit, know how to use it and be able to teach others. (Being able to teach and mentor others will go a long way in gaining a positive reputation, too.) Being tactically proficient means knowing how to employ your tools, equipment and teammates to accomplish the mission. You may not need to have been a career infantry soldier to accomplish community defense, however, obtaining tactical training for you and your team, as well as continuing education and follow-on training, is the absolute minimum effort that will be required.
If you can set aside some time to consider how to further develop these four things — your reputation, making virtuous choices, your ability to persuade, and becoming technically and tactically proficient — then you will be developing “soft power” that will benefit you and your community in any SHTF scenario.
Community Defense & the Elements of “Soft Power”
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Click here for all your prepping/tactical needs: The Tactical Patriot Store
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Monday, December 28, 2015
Being Anonymous
Disclaimer: I did not write the following article, the credit is listed below. I posted it here because I felt that it is good information, and that the readers of this blog would gain something from this information.
Being Anonymous, by Spotlight
As posted on the Survival Blog.
I walked out onto the driveway to greet my wife as she backed the car in, arriving home from a long day at work. Right away, I noticed a magnet on the back of the car, proclaiming us to be members of our church, complete with our town name. “What’s up with that?” I said, looking at the magnet, as she got out of the car. She laughed and said the pastor of our church had put it on there when he saw her in the parking lot. I think she had laughed because she knew what I was going to say next , “That won’t make it until bedtime!” (It didn’t.) When I got into preparedness, I came across the “grey man” theory at some point. Reading it, I realized that I fit the profile, for the most part. I think of it more in the sense of being anonymous, but it’s close enough. The grey man theory is the idea of remaining unnoticed in general and not standing out, not being the one on television who’s being interviewed in regard to some controversial position, not being the guy everyone noticed because of his loud mouth or loud clothing, and that sort of thing.
I have actually been fairly anonymous all of my life, although I didn’t realize it until more recently. You know how some people are very noticeable? Do you know how everyone takes notice when they walk in a room, people talk about them when they’re not in the room, and everyone generally remembers what they said? I am the opposite. It never really dawned on me for most of my life. I’ve always been an introvert, always being more comfortable alone than in a group. In school I always had one or two close friends and never really a big group of them, despite being on numerous sports teams.
When I grew up, I became a police officer in the small town I grew up in. After a few years, I was promoted to detective and spent the rest of my career in that role, which I really enjoyed.
Since I was a cop in the town I grew up in, which as I mentioned was a small town at that, I was particularly careful about telling people where I lived and even more so after I got married and had a family to protect. People think that only big city cops have to worry about retaliation from criminals, when in fact I suspect that it is much more prevalent against small town cops. We’re a lot easier to find, since most big city cops I ran into didn’t live in the cities they patrolled. Those of us in the small towns tend to have repeat contact with the same criminals, and it’s easier to run into a small town cop on a force of 50 or less on purpose, than to find some cop in a city of thousands. On the occasion people asked me where I lived, depending on who they were (i.e. criminal or non-criminal), I either flat-out lied (to the criminals) and named a city where we had looked for houses so I could be somewhat knowledgeable of the area or was vague enough (to the non-criminals) so that it sounded like I had answered but really hadn’t told them much. In addition to being careful what I told people, I had an unlisted phone number and a PO box to get my mail, which was necessary since we first lived in an apartment with no direct mail service. The PO box just became another layer of security after we moved.
As I got into prepping and became familiar with the grey man concept, I realized that I had been born a “grey man” to some degree. For some reason, I am really good with names and faces, but no one seems to remember mine, even people I have met on more than one occasion. Perhaps it’s because of my introverted nature that I am not “rememberable” to people, but I have always found it somewhat humorous to go up to someone I met once or twice, call them by name, and watch as I see them looking confused as to who I am or why they know me while we talk. (I’ve often told my family that men are lucky. We can call each other “buddy”, “pal”, “boss”, and the always flattering “chief”, and no one is the wiser as to the fact that we have no idea who this guy is that we’re talking to!)
So, let’s get back to the car magnet my wife received. Why on earth anyone would drive around with a sign saying where they worship (and probably live) on the back of their car? It’s like those family magnets people put on their car, showing how many kids they have and what gender they are, then add a sticker from the local elementary school as well. So, you have just notified the world that you have X number of young children, what school they go to, and what town you live in. It doesn’t make any sense to me. Don’t get me wrong; I do know why people do it. They’re showing pride in their church, school, or even their family. I just think it’s poor OPSEC, at a minimum, and in some ways, dangerous.
Before I list my tips to being anonymous, here’s one word on the Internet. It was a game changer for privacy as we all know. Anyone who wants to can probably find me pretty easily, since a lot of public records are online for free or for a small fee. However, as one of my former co-workers said when we were discussing why we bothered taking privacy precautions as police officers, “Just because they can find it if they look hard enough, doesn’t mean we should give it to them for nothing.”
Being Anonymous:
1.Unlist your phone number. If you’re already listed, I don’t know how much this will do to remove what’s already out there. At a minimum, tell the phone company you don’t want your address listed. (Yes, you can do that!) My unlisted number costs me less than $5 per month. As a bonus, I almost never get telemarketing calls. If I’m asked in a store for my phone number, I tell them it’s unlisted or give them my cell number, which is not connected to my home.
2.Use a PO Box or UPS store mailbox. Yes, it’s a hassle to have to go somewhere other than the end of your driveway for mail. We actually do get some mail at our house, but we use the UPS store mailbox that I set up for a side business for most of our bills, checks, DMV paperwork, et cetera. It’s particularly helpful on the DMV paperwork. In the event my car gets stolen, the thieves won’t have my home address. In my state, the DMV is okay with a PO Box or UPS store address on the actual license or registration, as long as you provide them with your real street address for their records. Anytime I’m asked for my address, it’s the UPS Store one I give.
3.Skip the flashy clothes or ones with controversial statements. One of the things I liked about being a cop was wearing a uniform. There was no picking out clothes everyday. Then I made detective and had to pick out clothes (and a tie!) everyday. Now that I’m retired, I wear mostly earth tones, nothing that screams tactical (i.e. “shoot me first” in a robbery), and either work boots or hikers. Before I was a cop, I was obsessed with police hats, sweatshirts, et cetera. Not long after I got on the job, I realized that not everyone actually likes the police, so that came to an end quickly. I have participated in events like praying the rosary outside Planned Parenthood without having to wear the t-shirt that goes along with it. I don’t wear shirts that advocate gun rights, but I could still go to a gun rights rally. I don’t think being anonymous keeps you from exercising your rights; it just doesn’t need to be on the shirt you wear.
4.Keep stickers and magnets off the car. Similar to above, I don’t put stickers or magnets on my car that state my political beliefs either. Similar to the family type magnets or what school my kid goes to, no one needs to guess that I’m probably carrying a gun because I have five NRA stickers on my bumper. While we’re at it, maybe take off that license plate frame the dealer loves to put on every car they sell. First of all, why am I giving them free advertising? Secondly, no one needs to know where you got your car, since most of us buy them near where we live.
5.Don’t drive a flashy, distinctive car. Speaking of cars, driving a flashy or distinctive car is definitely anti-anonymity. After I retired from law enforcement, I was a private investigator for a few years. At that time, we just happened to own a navy minivan that was about eight years old and a grey Ford sedan that was about the same age. Talk about perfect cars for PI work! I spent many hours in the back of the minivan, seats folded flat, sitting on a lawn chair, watching worker’s compensation scammers ply their trade. When I wasn’t on surveillance, the Ford was great for riding around in to conduct interviews or accident investigations. If I drove a lifted Ford F-150 with 35” mudders on it, I probably would not be too successful at sneaking around. Which car are people going to remember driving down their street?
6.Avoid publicity as much as possible. As stated above, it’s much harder in the Internet age to do so than it was when I was growing up. My name still appears online in regards to some old cases I worked on and in things related to my old department. There’s nothing I can do about that. However, when I was invited to appear as an audience member on a national TV show in regards to the gun control debate, I politely declined.
7.Recognize that some times you will be exposed. No matter how hard you try to be anonymous, it’s very difficult and sometimes you’ll be identified through no fault of your own. My wife joined a local organization and became its president after a few years. Unbeknownst to her until a year or so after her term was up, the national organization that oversees the locals had put all of the officer’s names, addresses, and phone numbers online! This was prior to our PI business being up and running, and it was during the time where we had moved away from the area where our PO Box was and we were only getting mail at our house. I think she was more upset than I was, mostly because her job sometimes requires her to deal with some angry people, so she wasn’t too keen on our address being so public. Again, we can’t control everything.
8.Don’t be completely forthcoming when talking to people you don’t know. As an introvert, I don’t have too much problem with this, since I don’t spend much time engaged in conversation with strangers. But, even if you are an extroverted type of person, try to avoid giving your life story to everyone you meet. Most people are just being polite when they ask where you live or what you do and don’t have any evil motives. Even then, it doesn’t mean you have to give out your address. Even now, to people I meet who may ask, I generalize where I live by describing its close relation to the next town over, but that description is pretty broad in reality. I can always tell someone more about myself later if necessary, but I can’t “untell” them anything once it’s out of my mouth.
9.Don’t attract attention to yourself by being the big mouth at the event or the one who is complaining loudly about some perceived bad treatment you received. This doesn’t mean not to complain if it’s warranted; just don’t make a big scene when it’s not necessary (and it’s usually not). In this day and age, you can bet your tirade will be on YouTube or someone’s Facebook page as soon as you’re done ranting.
10.Don’t post anything online using your real name. I often see people posting on various websites with what appear to be real names and in some cases definitely are. I used to read one investigation related website that required real names! Note I said “read” as I would never have posted there or anywhere else with my real name. Some people claim it makes it harder for people to hide behind their pen names, which is probably true, but it’s also dumb. Luckily, Survival Blog allows and encourages us to use pseudonyms when posting.
11.Get a shredder. We have had a shredder for many years, since way before they became really popular. Currently we have a small Fellowes brand shredder that cross cuts, which is way better than the old strip style shredding. Now they make ones that micro shred, which is even smaller than cross cutting.
12.Don’t use social media. If you’ve read Survival Blog for any amount of time, you are probably aware of social media and its downfalls. Facebook is notoriously bad at maintaining its users’ privacy. Don’t do it!
13.Turn off GPS tracking. I always keep my GPS software turned off on my phone and digital camera. One of my cop buddies used to tease me by telling me that I thought I was so important that someone would track me. I didn’t think that, but with the NSA listening to regular American’s phone calls, who knows who’s watching us anymore? Again, don’t give it away.
14.Select an Internet birth date. I have what I call an “Internet birthday”, which is not my real birthday. If something on the Internet requires my birthdate, it’s my Internet birthday that I put down. Make it something you’ll remember easily but that’s close enough to your own that you don’t make yourself too much younger or older. Also, be careful where you use it. I once used it for a particular company where I didn’t think it really mattered and then months later when trying to verify who I was the rep asked me for my birthday. I forgot I had used my Internet birthday. Oops! Luckily I was able to identify myself in other ways, but be more careful than I was. Plus, I get to admonish my family every year when no one wishes me a Happy Internet Birthday on that day!
15.Finally, don’t be paranoid. This probably sounds ironic, coming from someone who just described all of the things he does to remain anonymous, but as stated earlier, you can’t control everything. I used to do crime prevention surveys for residents of the town where I was a police officer. One of the things I used to tell our residents was, “if for some reason, someone wants to get into your house (as opposed to any house), they will, regardless of what you do.”
I hope this has been helpful to you in your quest to keep you and your family safe. I truly believe anonymity is an important part of being prepared.
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Click here for all your prepping/tactical needs: The Tactical Patriot Store
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Being Anonymous, by Spotlight
As posted on the Survival Blog.
I walked out onto the driveway to greet my wife as she backed the car in, arriving home from a long day at work. Right away, I noticed a magnet on the back of the car, proclaiming us to be members of our church, complete with our town name. “What’s up with that?” I said, looking at the magnet, as she got out of the car. She laughed and said the pastor of our church had put it on there when he saw her in the parking lot. I think she had laughed because she knew what I was going to say next , “That won’t make it until bedtime!” (It didn’t.) When I got into preparedness, I came across the “grey man” theory at some point. Reading it, I realized that I fit the profile, for the most part. I think of it more in the sense of being anonymous, but it’s close enough. The grey man theory is the idea of remaining unnoticed in general and not standing out, not being the one on television who’s being interviewed in regard to some controversial position, not being the guy everyone noticed because of his loud mouth or loud clothing, and that sort of thing.
I have actually been fairly anonymous all of my life, although I didn’t realize it until more recently. You know how some people are very noticeable? Do you know how everyone takes notice when they walk in a room, people talk about them when they’re not in the room, and everyone generally remembers what they said? I am the opposite. It never really dawned on me for most of my life. I’ve always been an introvert, always being more comfortable alone than in a group. In school I always had one or two close friends and never really a big group of them, despite being on numerous sports teams.
When I grew up, I became a police officer in the small town I grew up in. After a few years, I was promoted to detective and spent the rest of my career in that role, which I really enjoyed.
Since I was a cop in the town I grew up in, which as I mentioned was a small town at that, I was particularly careful about telling people where I lived and even more so after I got married and had a family to protect. People think that only big city cops have to worry about retaliation from criminals, when in fact I suspect that it is much more prevalent against small town cops. We’re a lot easier to find, since most big city cops I ran into didn’t live in the cities they patrolled. Those of us in the small towns tend to have repeat contact with the same criminals, and it’s easier to run into a small town cop on a force of 50 or less on purpose, than to find some cop in a city of thousands. On the occasion people asked me where I lived, depending on who they were (i.e. criminal or non-criminal), I either flat-out lied (to the criminals) and named a city where we had looked for houses so I could be somewhat knowledgeable of the area or was vague enough (to the non-criminals) so that it sounded like I had answered but really hadn’t told them much. In addition to being careful what I told people, I had an unlisted phone number and a PO box to get my mail, which was necessary since we first lived in an apartment with no direct mail service. The PO box just became another layer of security after we moved.
As I got into prepping and became familiar with the grey man concept, I realized that I had been born a “grey man” to some degree. For some reason, I am really good with names and faces, but no one seems to remember mine, even people I have met on more than one occasion. Perhaps it’s because of my introverted nature that I am not “rememberable” to people, but I have always found it somewhat humorous to go up to someone I met once or twice, call them by name, and watch as I see them looking confused as to who I am or why they know me while we talk. (I’ve often told my family that men are lucky. We can call each other “buddy”, “pal”, “boss”, and the always flattering “chief”, and no one is the wiser as to the fact that we have no idea who this guy is that we’re talking to!)
So, let’s get back to the car magnet my wife received. Why on earth anyone would drive around with a sign saying where they worship (and probably live) on the back of their car? It’s like those family magnets people put on their car, showing how many kids they have and what gender they are, then add a sticker from the local elementary school as well. So, you have just notified the world that you have X number of young children, what school they go to, and what town you live in. It doesn’t make any sense to me. Don’t get me wrong; I do know why people do it. They’re showing pride in their church, school, or even their family. I just think it’s poor OPSEC, at a minimum, and in some ways, dangerous.
Before I list my tips to being anonymous, here’s one word on the Internet. It was a game changer for privacy as we all know. Anyone who wants to can probably find me pretty easily, since a lot of public records are online for free or for a small fee. However, as one of my former co-workers said when we were discussing why we bothered taking privacy precautions as police officers, “Just because they can find it if they look hard enough, doesn’t mean we should give it to them for nothing.”
Being Anonymous:
1.Unlist your phone number. If you’re already listed, I don’t know how much this will do to remove what’s already out there. At a minimum, tell the phone company you don’t want your address listed. (Yes, you can do that!) My unlisted number costs me less than $5 per month. As a bonus, I almost never get telemarketing calls. If I’m asked in a store for my phone number, I tell them it’s unlisted or give them my cell number, which is not connected to my home.
2.Use a PO Box or UPS store mailbox. Yes, it’s a hassle to have to go somewhere other than the end of your driveway for mail. We actually do get some mail at our house, but we use the UPS store mailbox that I set up for a side business for most of our bills, checks, DMV paperwork, et cetera. It’s particularly helpful on the DMV paperwork. In the event my car gets stolen, the thieves won’t have my home address. In my state, the DMV is okay with a PO Box or UPS store address on the actual license or registration, as long as you provide them with your real street address for their records. Anytime I’m asked for my address, it’s the UPS Store one I give.
3.Skip the flashy clothes or ones with controversial statements. One of the things I liked about being a cop was wearing a uniform. There was no picking out clothes everyday. Then I made detective and had to pick out clothes (and a tie!) everyday. Now that I’m retired, I wear mostly earth tones, nothing that screams tactical (i.e. “shoot me first” in a robbery), and either work boots or hikers. Before I was a cop, I was obsessed with police hats, sweatshirts, et cetera. Not long after I got on the job, I realized that not everyone actually likes the police, so that came to an end quickly. I have participated in events like praying the rosary outside Planned Parenthood without having to wear the t-shirt that goes along with it. I don’t wear shirts that advocate gun rights, but I could still go to a gun rights rally. I don’t think being anonymous keeps you from exercising your rights; it just doesn’t need to be on the shirt you wear.
4.Keep stickers and magnets off the car. Similar to above, I don’t put stickers or magnets on my car that state my political beliefs either. Similar to the family type magnets or what school my kid goes to, no one needs to guess that I’m probably carrying a gun because I have five NRA stickers on my bumper. While we’re at it, maybe take off that license plate frame the dealer loves to put on every car they sell. First of all, why am I giving them free advertising? Secondly, no one needs to know where you got your car, since most of us buy them near where we live.
5.Don’t drive a flashy, distinctive car. Speaking of cars, driving a flashy or distinctive car is definitely anti-anonymity. After I retired from law enforcement, I was a private investigator for a few years. At that time, we just happened to own a navy minivan that was about eight years old and a grey Ford sedan that was about the same age. Talk about perfect cars for PI work! I spent many hours in the back of the minivan, seats folded flat, sitting on a lawn chair, watching worker’s compensation scammers ply their trade. When I wasn’t on surveillance, the Ford was great for riding around in to conduct interviews or accident investigations. If I drove a lifted Ford F-150 with 35” mudders on it, I probably would not be too successful at sneaking around. Which car are people going to remember driving down their street?
6.Avoid publicity as much as possible. As stated above, it’s much harder in the Internet age to do so than it was when I was growing up. My name still appears online in regards to some old cases I worked on and in things related to my old department. There’s nothing I can do about that. However, when I was invited to appear as an audience member on a national TV show in regards to the gun control debate, I politely declined.
7.Recognize that some times you will be exposed. No matter how hard you try to be anonymous, it’s very difficult and sometimes you’ll be identified through no fault of your own. My wife joined a local organization and became its president after a few years. Unbeknownst to her until a year or so after her term was up, the national organization that oversees the locals had put all of the officer’s names, addresses, and phone numbers online! This was prior to our PI business being up and running, and it was during the time where we had moved away from the area where our PO Box was and we were only getting mail at our house. I think she was more upset than I was, mostly because her job sometimes requires her to deal with some angry people, so she wasn’t too keen on our address being so public. Again, we can’t control everything.
8.Don’t be completely forthcoming when talking to people you don’t know. As an introvert, I don’t have too much problem with this, since I don’t spend much time engaged in conversation with strangers. But, even if you are an extroverted type of person, try to avoid giving your life story to everyone you meet. Most people are just being polite when they ask where you live or what you do and don’t have any evil motives. Even then, it doesn’t mean you have to give out your address. Even now, to people I meet who may ask, I generalize where I live by describing its close relation to the next town over, but that description is pretty broad in reality. I can always tell someone more about myself later if necessary, but I can’t “untell” them anything once it’s out of my mouth.
9.Don’t attract attention to yourself by being the big mouth at the event or the one who is complaining loudly about some perceived bad treatment you received. This doesn’t mean not to complain if it’s warranted; just don’t make a big scene when it’s not necessary (and it’s usually not). In this day and age, you can bet your tirade will be on YouTube or someone’s Facebook page as soon as you’re done ranting.
10.Don’t post anything online using your real name. I often see people posting on various websites with what appear to be real names and in some cases definitely are. I used to read one investigation related website that required real names! Note I said “read” as I would never have posted there or anywhere else with my real name. Some people claim it makes it harder for people to hide behind their pen names, which is probably true, but it’s also dumb. Luckily, Survival Blog allows and encourages us to use pseudonyms when posting.
11.Get a shredder. We have had a shredder for many years, since way before they became really popular. Currently we have a small Fellowes brand shredder that cross cuts, which is way better than the old strip style shredding. Now they make ones that micro shred, which is even smaller than cross cutting.
12.Don’t use social media. If you’ve read Survival Blog for any amount of time, you are probably aware of social media and its downfalls. Facebook is notoriously bad at maintaining its users’ privacy. Don’t do it!
13.Turn off GPS tracking. I always keep my GPS software turned off on my phone and digital camera. One of my cop buddies used to tease me by telling me that I thought I was so important that someone would track me. I didn’t think that, but with the NSA listening to regular American’s phone calls, who knows who’s watching us anymore? Again, don’t give it away.
14.Select an Internet birth date. I have what I call an “Internet birthday”, which is not my real birthday. If something on the Internet requires my birthdate, it’s my Internet birthday that I put down. Make it something you’ll remember easily but that’s close enough to your own that you don’t make yourself too much younger or older. Also, be careful where you use it. I once used it for a particular company where I didn’t think it really mattered and then months later when trying to verify who I was the rep asked me for my birthday. I forgot I had used my Internet birthday. Oops! Luckily I was able to identify myself in other ways, but be more careful than I was. Plus, I get to admonish my family every year when no one wishes me a Happy Internet Birthday on that day!
15.Finally, don’t be paranoid. This probably sounds ironic, coming from someone who just described all of the things he does to remain anonymous, but as stated earlier, you can’t control everything. I used to do crime prevention surveys for residents of the town where I was a police officer. One of the things I used to tell our residents was, “if for some reason, someone wants to get into your house (as opposed to any house), they will, regardless of what you do.”
I hope this has been helpful to you in your quest to keep you and your family safe. I truly believe anonymity is an important part of being prepared.
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