Cookies

Notice: This website may or may not use or set cookies used by Google Ad-sense or other third party companies. If you do not wish to have cookies downloaded to your computer, please disable cookie use in your browser. Thank You.
Showing posts with label prepare for SHTF. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prepare for SHTF. Show all posts

Saturday, May 17, 2014

Americans Fleeing to the Cities?

Wait a minute,...you're heading in the wrong direction!! This is an article from the Daily Ticker, by Nicole Goodkind. That discusses the economy based reasons why the trend of the population fleeing the cities is now reversing. Those same factors are making a coming economic collapse likely in the next couple of years if not sooner. If you click on the link above you should still be able to watch the short video associated with this article.

I understand that having a means of support,..e.g.. a job, is necessary to live most places, however moving into a high rise apartment or condo in a city places you at much greater risk when the collapse, from whatever angle, hits this country. I would make every effort to secure the safest lodging even if it meant a commute from there to your place of work. The safest off site or out of city lodging while still having a job within the city should include determining and staying off the likely refugee routes. And this out of city lodging while you work therein, should be considered a temporary rally point. A Bug Out plan to a secure location is still required. This makes the stockage of supplies and materials problematic.

Not that staying in the suburbs is safe. As it is not. The only common advantage to living in the burbs is perhaps having just a little more time to make a decision, like to execute a controlled and planned Bug Out,....but we're not talking a week or even days, it may just be a 24 hour advantage. Anyway, without further rant, this is the article. At least the reader can understand the economic issues forcing moves back to the city and these economic factors are what is helping drive the U.S. train to collapseville.

Americans Fleeing to the Cities?

The American dream: a white picket fence and a patch of grass to call your own. In 2002 President Bush declared “owning a home lies at the heart of the American dream,” and wanted, "everybody in America to own their own home.” Twelve years and a housing crisis later, it seems as though that’s no longer the case: Americans are packing up and booking it to the city.

“The American dream is fundamentally about opportunity,” says Vishaan Chakrabarti, director of the Center for Urban Real Estate at Columbia University. “It’s not so much where you live but whether you can do better than your parents and grandparents and a lot of young people today are finding those opportunities in cities. The data are very clear, we’ve seen an enormous migration to every urban area in the country.”

The nation's urban population increased by 12.1% between 2000 and 2010. According to the Census, urban areas accounted for 83% of the U.S. population in 2012. And The Brookings Institute notes that "among the 51 metropolitan areas with more than one million residents, 24 saw their cities grow faster than their suburbs from 2011 to 2012-- that was true of just 8 metro areas from 2000 to 2010."

Single-family homebuilding is at its lowest rate in decades, as only 600,000 single-family homes were built in 2013, down from 1.7 million in 2005. The purchasing of single-family homes is also down 13.3% year-over-year. High-rise apartment buildings now make up 40% of all new construction and metro areas are growing more quickly than the U.S. as a whole. According to The Nielsen Group 62% of millennials would prefer to live in urban centers.

And it’s not just millennials; baby boomers are also leaving their suburban homes for apartments with much less square footage. So why this exodus from the suburbs?

People want to closer access to health care facilities and culture, says Chakrabarti. Gas prices are a factor too.

“Most people have been hit really hard by this last recession and are worried about mortgage debt and auto debt, so this is a pocketbook issue at a significant level,” says Chakrabarti.

The tightening of purse strings is a prevailing issue but there’s more to reurbanization.

“If you look at the millennials they grew up with Hurricane Katrina, Deep-water Horizon, a lot of things that were around the environment—it’s a socially conscientious generation and they are interested in driving less and walking more,” Chakrabarti explains.

There’s also a social aspect to living in a city that people in the suburbs tend to lack. “People like the amount of diversity they find in cities," Chakrabarti notes.

According to Chakrabarti, it’s the perfect storm of economic, social and environmental issues that are driving the suburbs into extinction.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

How to Plan For Any Disaster

How to Plan For Any Disaster - a mainstream financial planning article from Money.com it seems like more and more mainstream venues are talking about some sort of collapse preparation.  The value of this article is that it can serve as a "bridge" for someone who is not prepping at all, as opposed to the "go for broke', total planning and prep process for the coming collapse.

Many of us have people, be it family, friends or neighbors, who we are reluctant to expose our preps to.  Simply copying this article and sending or printing and passing out to these people can get them to thinking and prepping at some level, so when the collapse occurs and we end up taking some of these people in, absorbing them into our group, they will be more of an asset.  

Best case scenario is that someone you give this article will ask you questions.  Of course, you may have to give guarded answers as an OPSEC precaution, but is may result in another American who is better prepared to face the multiple possibilities of SHTF,....and maybe a family membr or friend who is less of a burden on you come SHTF. 

How to Plan For Any Disaster
Disasters disrupt life in unimaginable ways, making those affected much more vulnerable to secondary disasters — the kind caused by criminals. I’ve been through a number of earthquakes and lost a home to Hurricane Sandy. I know how all-consuming the aftermath can be.

Wildfires, tornadoes and other natural disasters seem to be happening more and more these days. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warns that the 2013 Atlantic hurricane season will be “above normal and possibly extremely active.”

The danger and chaos that inevitably follow a natural (or for that matter — man-made) disaster, create opportunities for predators, who seem to slither out from under the rocks to prey upon their victims: identity thieves, burglars, snake oil salesmen disguised as home improvement contractors and fraudsters claiming to be raising funds to help ease the pain.

Plan Ahead

We can and have learned from past disasters that meaningful preparation can pay big dividends in helping people deal with and recover from the unimaginable. Here are some suggestions that might help you weather the disaster.

Have a family emergency disaster plan. Disasters can strike with little or no warning at any moment of the day. It is quite likely that many families are not together. Parents can be either at work or at home. Kids can be at school. Family members can be running chores or away on business trips or vacations. Therefore, you should develop a communication plan that establishes who you contact and when you contact them in the event of an emergency. You should also agree upon primary and secondary meeting places.

Keep emergency numbers handy for key support functions and home utilities. Create a list of all emergency service phone numbers, as well as those for your utility companies that provide electric power, natural gas, water and telephone services. Know where your shut-off switches and/or valves are for these services and how to shut them down. In event of a pending or significant disaster, turning off the electric, gas and water utilities — if it can be safely done — can help prevent secondary fires, explosions and internal flooding to your residence.

Make copies (front and back) of the documents that confirm your identity and allow you to buy what you need. Birth certificates, driver’s licenses and passports; Social Security, voter’s registration and medical insurance cards; credit and debit cards. Also, make sure you have the customer service information for financial institutions and credit card companies as well as your credit and debit card numbers so you can contact them immediately and arrange for credit and debit card replacement in the event they are lost. You may wish to store this information in an encrypted file so that you can access it online. In the physical world, you may want to store a copy of these documents either in a waterproof container that can be secured in a safe place or scan them onto a password protected, encrypted USB drive that you always carry with you.

Consider remote electronic data storage for irreplaceable documents or photographs. If you have some irreplaceable or historical documents, trust and estate documents such as wills and Powers of Attorney or special family photographs, consider scanning them onto a disk and/or storing them in an accessible online electronic vault.

Record model and serial numbers for your big-ticket items. For insurance and property identification purposes, record the model and serial numbers for items such as your flat screen televisions, computer equipment, cameras, audio gear, musical instruments, or other valuable personal belongings. It is wise to photograph these items as well in order to prove possession and store the photos on disk and/or in an electronic vault so they can be easily retrieved.

Assemble a “crash kit.” Pack a small suitcase or duffel bag with items such as sensitive documents, your wallet, purse, ATM and credit cards that you will need to grab in an emergency in order to secure them AND have 24-hour access to cash or purchasing power if needed. Also have your house, office and car keys close at hand. They may well provide access to secondary shelter.

Have a survival kit ready to go. Pack a separate bag with flashlights (LEDs preferred for battery life), extra batteries, a portable radio, a sharp utility knife, toilet paper, several bottles of water and energy food bars, a couple of lighters or match books, a portable first aid kit, other supplies and (of great psychic value) a few pairs of socks and underwear. Remember that you may well have to travel fast and light so be selective.

Keep your cell phones charged and bring chargers with you in the event of evacuation.

Consider utilizing the available special notification and alert features offered by many banks, credit and debit card issuers that will notify you via email or text when an unusual transaction occurs in one of your accounts – this is a good practice regardless of disaster planning.

If You Are a Disaster Victim

Protect important information and documents. Whether you’re in a shelter, staying with friends or crashing on your family’s couch, never let the documents that can authenticate you leave your sight.

Be proactive and check your credit report by visiting AnualCreditReport.com. Consider adding an initial security alert to your credit report. For more information go to the websites of each of the three major credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian and Trans Union). Monitoring your credit scores regularly, using a free service like Credit.com’s Credit Report Card, can alert you to a problem if you have an unexpected drop.

Ask the post office to hold your mail until you return home. If it appears that you will be unable to return home for an extended period of time, you may even consider getting a post office box. This will keep thieves from finding sensitive materials that are left in your mailbox.

Store sensitive documents in an encrypted email account that you can access if needed.

When filing claims with insurance, if you did not do so before the disaster, ask if your policy provides identity theft assistance and what are the parameters of your coverage.

Check your credit card and bank accounts online daily. In the event you detect unauthorized or questionable activity, immediately contact the appropriate financial services provider.

In the Aftermath of a Disaster

Be alert to the fact that there are many unscrupulous people who will look to take advantage of a disaster. Be on guard for:

Fly-by-night contractors asking for advanced payments for board-up and/or repair work. Scam operators looking to obtain personal or financial information from you under the pretext of helping you or being “an official” from an emergency assistance agency – like FEMA, or an insurance adjuster, investigator, etc.

Thieves and looters roaming impacted neighborhoods.

Individuals soliciting funds door to door, in public areas, or via the Internet claiming to assist the victims.

While this information is helpful, it is not exhaustive. Furthermore, you can take every step outlined above and still be a victim because you will never really know where all your information has landed. That said, there is no substitute for preparation and remaining cautious and alert before, during and after a disaster.

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Can Preppers Trust the Government?

Note: I wrote the below from an article by Bernie Suarez before the news came out on the current administration's use of the IRS to target Tea Party and other conservative groups. It remains to be discovered just how high in the governmental chain of command that that the IRS targeting order came from.  Additionally, since I initially wrote the below there was a mass shooting in New Orleans, albeit of a suspected gang related type and not necessarily a terrorist, home grown or not.  Some remarked to me that they suspect some type of government engineered shooting or bombing in the near future which would give the government the popular support necessary to crack down on gun owners and that means preppers.  I hope to God this never happens but it seems my faith in government is declining on a daily basis.  I have had that faith in the scores of loyal government workers that work the machinery and not the politicians or the political appointed, but sometimes it seems like the politicians are winning.         

The article below, an amazingly good read published with the title "The Art of Catching Government False Flags in Real Time", by Bernie Suarez and posted on the International Forecaster is really all about Government trust to do the right thing. Just like individual people, high ranking government elected or appointed people can easily fall into the trap of doing unethical or illegal things justified by the end result.


I am not really into Government conspiracies, and it is not a conspiracy if it is an overt act by the Government like moving towards more gun control, however I have seen enough to know, to absolutely know, that innocent people can be caught up, either intentionally or unintentionally, by a government agency. 

What this means to preppers is a planned event by the government, or elements in the government, to effect an agenda that is based on control,...controlling the population, the wealth, and/or firearms. This is a good article, I hope everyone takes the time to read it.

The Art of Catching Government False Flags in Real Time

With the topic of government false-flag operations being discussed throughout the country with the recent slow but progressive mass awakening to such events occurring in America it seems like good timing to ruminate on the issue and discuss just how the average person can develop the skills required to skillfully predict and catch government false-flag attacks in real-time and awaken others around you to these events and the political motives behind them.

I use the word ‘art’ because I believe being right about such high-level events deserves attention for the cognitive and intellectual skills required and the ‘delivery of truth’ skills required to share these truths with receptive (intellectually honest) members of society. Truth is always vindicated and victory goes to the opponent that is willing to deal with ALL the facts openly and transparently, as truth seekers in the information war have done for a very long time in America. The establishment government, however, always plays the same hand with these events. Today these longstanding similarities that follow false-flag operations have naturally rendered some clear patterns to recognize for those of us seeking truth.

Step 1 – Clear your mind

The art of catching government false-flags in real time begins with altering your belief system to disconnect your mind from the influence the mainstream media has on it. This ‘connection’ is very real, and understanding how important it is to disconnect your mind from mainstream media lies cannot be understated. Many Hollywood movies and almost all TV shows play a huge roll in reinforcing the government narrative, as does the public school curriculum, so you will also have to be aware of the connection between these as well. However, since the mainstream media breaking news story of the next false-flag attack is the very thing you’ll be judging, it is paramount to distance oneself from this entity. This is the most important step that will make catching your first realtime false-flag very easy.

Armed with a clear mind and now thinking on your own, considering all logic and reason, you are now prepared to clearly see your first false-flag event. Your mind is prepared to see what is right in front of you now that you have removed the signal that was blurring your understanding. A free person with a clear mind free of government engineered propaganda and marketing is a powerful tool with potential that is unlimited. The magic of living in a world where a controlled media and government does not even play a role in your life and your thinking process is a magic you cannot imagine until you cross that bridge. With that said let’s explore the next step.

Step 2 - Understand the stakes at hand

Are you aware of the stakes at hand? Consider history and what the end result of too much government control really means. Consider what freedom for humanity really means and those who have given their lives for these beliefs in the past. Apply the process of critical thinking to these ideas and see what you discover. First, approach the process of thinking with the purpose of being the best. Exercise what I call Intellectual Karate. Realize that you are about to go into an arena where the battle is for reason, truth, justice, logic, wisdom and cognitive conquering. Think for a minute, if man-kind is truly the superior animal on the planet because of its cognitive abilities and its abilities to apply a form of higher brain intelligence that allows us to conquer all other animals, then shouldn’t we care which form of mankind-thinking (meaning which paradigm) will ultimately control the destiny of the species?

This I believe is the core meaning of the information war we fight; a competitive battle of cognitive expressions of truth versus lies, each side representing a specific agenda -- that being selfishness versus altruism, or personal greed and thirst for power versus selfless concern for the future experience of humans. I believe that this war is possibly spiritual and it (this battle of consciousness) defines who we are as a whole and will determine where humanity is headed.

Step 3 - Arm your mind with facts and reason

We owe it to ourselves to research history and see how governments have used false-flag operations for political gain in the past. The fact of the matter is that false-flag operations have been a commonly used tactic of past governments to justify an attack on an enemy. See and understand the logic that makes planned attacks on a selected enemy nearly impossible without an engineered and carefully timed false-flag attack. Become aware that false-flag operations and tactics that incite the enemy are officially part of military strategy. Realize that documented U.S. government plans for false-flags date back at least 50 years. Consider also that if governments have determined falseflag tactics to be an effective option 50 years ago then that is more than enough reason to suspect false-flags to be a reasonable explanation for any potentially engineered bombing or attack we see today.

Step 4 - Search, pin down, and recognize the beneficiaries

We can all see where false-flags of the past have worked very well for the perpetrators. This information is difficult to hide. Throughout history the beneficiaries of false-flag operations are not debatable. This is knowledge and power for truth seekers. Beneficiaries stand naked in the eyes of history; alone they stand hoping that humanity will look the other way, not notice, or chalk up their improbable luck to coincidence. When government stands alone as the prime beneficiary of a false-flag, that should bother your sense of truth, trigger your intellectual integrity and set off your truth meter.

Side with reason and common sense before you blindly believe that governments luckily accept the results of apparent false-flag events and conveniently and impulsively change legislation to increase their power and take away the power from the people.

Step 5 - Analyze the event and look for common trends

Government false-flags almost always have a patsy designed to take the blame. This patsy seems to always have a connection/relationship/history of interaction with the U.S. government (military, FBI, CIA). This relationship with government entities is always ignored or downplayed by the controlled government mouthpiece mainstream media.

They always act as though the relationship is not real or not relevant. Amazingly, the patsy’s history always leads back to government. The patsy always denies doing it or tells the world they are being set up. Patsies are always eventually murdered, silenced, tortured or all of the above. We all know that dead men tell no tales and tortured people will tell any tell you want them to. This is why torture and murder is and always will be illegal even when committed by a temporary criminal government.

Government agents and entities always stage a massive presence at the event or scene of the crime well in advance, and always just prior to the event. It never fails, yet many in America chalk this up to coincidence, where there is no such thing when it comes to politically motivated events. The mainstream media is key to understanding false-flags. Look for huge overplayed ‘Breaking News’. This type of news is extremely sensational and is ongoing. Stories are repeated and told by various mouthpieces in almost exactly the same way.

Early on, the controlled mainstream media finds itself in a battle for laying out the initial narrative. They (the media) find themselves making gross errors, but government steps in and declares the changing narratives within the first few days even if the story is contradictory to what was being said the first day. During this early period it is common to hear large segments of truth coming especially from local media networks struggling to figure out what is happening but having to depend on the highest level (government controlled) sources.

During the coverage of the event, look for media to sensationalize the emotional trauma portion of the event in a manner that engages the public and invokes a mass emotional response. Nowadays they specifically target the emotions of the masses to open them up to accepting a soon-to-be-delivered solution (Problem-Reaction-Solution) to the false-flag attack.

The media coverage of this specific event will supersede coverage of any other tragedy or event. No matter what else is happening, government does not allow other events to get in the way of their planned false-flags. Too much has been invested to get the reaction and subsequent politically motivated solution to come. This is an important observation to make in identifying government false-flags.

The controlled mainstream media will always ignore huge facts, testimonies, and figures surrounding the event. Look for the ‘ignore reality and facts’ mode the media goes into when working with a false-flag event. Questions are very vague and not too challenging to the official story. In this phase look for politicians, police chiefs, mayors and media running from the real questions.

Note that in some cases you’ll be able to observe other huge (9/11 size) coincidences, but not all false-flags will be as easy to diagnose as the September 11th global government terrorist attacks. Many will be smaller scale and the scene of the crime will be limited to one instead of three.

Step 6 - Convince yourself and look for the evidence

Challenge yourself by telling yourself that you are willing to believe the government-mainstream media version of the story. Tell yourself that as long as the media version of the story is provable you are willing to believe only their version of the story. Then set out to prove the government-media claims. Get focused and go to work. Pick up every claim and set out to actually prove their claims. You’ll quickly find out that media and government actually never submit or put out any proof for their claims. Stay focused and prove this to yourself. Notice how they run from truth, reason and actual proof. You will hopefully finally distinguish between a claim and actual factual proof.

Once you see this reality you’ll never go back. You are now ready to take on the establishment and become a ninja for truth.

Step 7 - Cementing the lies

Finally, after the false-flag is over and time begins to pass, the government media complex will settle on one story. Facts and figures detrimental to their version of the story are never raised again, and those who question their version of the story are demonized and ridiculed. After this initial phase, Hollywood picks up the baton and reinforces the government-media version of the story from this point on.

Step 8 - Get ready to catch your first real-time false-flag

Beware, handle with care, and proceed slowly. The experience of catching your first government false-flag in real-time can be very distressing yet very liberating at the same time. My first real-time false-flag was the Bin Laden death hoax of May 1st 2011 and it felt very troubling yet very liberating. It was like a mental jolt, an awakening years after already being awakened.

This topic deserves a lot of attention and in this article we’ve discussed a sequence of factors that come into play for identifying government false-flags. Realizing the magnitude of what is at stake, the power of the mainstream media, the improbability of government and media claims and coincidences including governments connection to their patsies are all part of the government false-flag blueprint.

Will you allow this pattern of deception to work on you again? Or will you be prepared to call out the government on the next bombing false-flag? Are you still connected to the mainstream media poison? Is all of this a challenge to your paradigm? These are the fundamental questions you have to resolve before you can stand tall and know that you’ve caught your first government false-flag. Good luck, and remember: the greatest mind altering drug is the truth.

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Survival Firearms Skill Sets


I received this through e-mail from a reader: "Dear Urban Survival Skills I have been reading your site, other prepper sites and ar15.com as I am into the prepping movement hook, line and sinker as much as I can be with a wife and two kids, both under 8 years old. I have a AR -15 rifle with the straight military butt stock. A buddy who works with me who was in the Air Force tells me it is a duplicate of the M-16A2 but mine only shoots one bullet at a time. He thinks I should either buy another shorter barrelled one with a telescoping stock or modify my AR-15. My friend and I were both talking about some professional training. He was a airplane refueler and I have never served in the military. Although I could probably never afford it, what do you think about the firearms schools? My friend has read about Gunsight(?) Do they have classes for civilians? Any ideas about getting my skills built up? I can shoot pretty good, but I do not have the gun skills like I see on T.V. Sincerely, Chet."

UrbanMan replies:: It is a credit to you Chet that you recognize the need for training. If what you mean by television is the action movies, then you are seeing rehearsed and much edited scenes which are make believe. Although Hollywood does do a good job sometimes about hiring professionals to teach the actors how to be professional looking in their weapons handling. Enough about that - it just isn't real.

I can tell a lot about a person's ability by the way they handle a gun,..where his hands and fingers are, muzzle direction, how comfortable he appears with it, etc. This comes from many, many hours handling firearms. And of course without the ability to put bullets on the intended target, you just look like you are competent.

I am not convinced that a collapsible stock, short barreled M-4 clone is much better than a fixed stock AR-15. If you buy a second AR for your wife than a M-4 type would give you more versatility like carrying it in your car, truck or any situation where the shorter barrel and overall length makes it easier to handle.

And your friend is right about the possibility of modifying your current AR-15 with a collapse stock, but I would put the money into other preps.

If I did not have a suitable handgun or shotgun, before I would buy a second AR, I would think very soberly on a defensive handgun and/or a shotgun. In fact with today's AR prices you could probably pickup up two decent handguns AND a good quality 12 gauge pump shotgun for the same price or less than an AR.

Since you mentioned Gunsight Academy, a five day carbine course would cost you around $1,500 tuition not counting the cost of over 1,000 rounds of ammunition. Then you have travel, lodging and meals. If you wife lets you go, then she's one in million. If you could latch onto someone at a local gun range, such as a well versed instructor (some of which are teaching concealed carry classes now) or get involved with IPSC or IPDA shooting, you may be able to build your skills albeit slower, but saving some money. If you did go to professional training after that, you would get more out of it most likely.

In the meantime why don't you go to Youtube and check out the Viking Tactics Channel for weapons drills ands such. Good luck to you. You are on the right track. But remember while firearms are a key component to surviving the collapse, so is stocking food, having a water source, prepaing in all other survival equipment and material areas,...and above all, have a plan.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Post Collapse Book Review: Going Home

 Just finished a collapse and survival tale called Going Home, written by A. American. I know, I know most of you have already read this book, but I am impressed by it enough and I am writing this short review and recommendation for it.

From the get-go, when the main character, Morgan, discussing his Get Home Bag concept where he has two different packs and takes one according to his requirement for that trip.  Basically how far from home he is going and what he wil ned to get back home, as well as packing additional items just in case - I think if this as mission specific packing.

While Morgan did not carry any firearms bigger than a Springfield XD in .45 ACP, spare mags - this may be a practical consideration depending on where you are going and applicable state laws.  He also carried a host,....I mean a butt load! of additional items.  And as the story goes, this character soon procured other firearms taking them from would be robbers or being gifted a rifle from good folks.

Anyway the premise for the story is a prepared individual working 250 miles away from his home and family when an EMP event, either externally or internally caused, placed im in a situation where he had to walk home since modern vehicles were all crapped out.  The story implicates a possible internally caused event - meaning caused by the US Government in order to manipulate the necessities of martial law for cover in dealing with political adversaries.

I really liked the story for several reasons:

1. Plausible survival story - alternatively walking and riding over 250 miles (no route is ever in a straight line) and being faced with what we would expect to see, and that is people taking advantage in the deteriorated security conditions enforcing their will.

2. The author, A. American (probably not his real name -haha), knew his kit and had prepared well, although I suspect the back pack/ruck sack load was heavier than most of us would want to carry.  Read about his gear load and determine if that was something you would have in your Get Home or Bug Out bag.

3. While the storyline is somewhat far fetched about possible US Goverment initiation of the EMP and the subsequent pitting of DHS personnel against DOD personnel and the secretive vetting of county sheriffs if they will support the heavy handed Federal Government, ....I have friends and acquaintances who believe whole heartedly that this is not only possible it is probable.......scary thing indeed.

This branch of the story gains credibility when ModernSurvivalBlog.com reports "the establishment of a federal authority framework that will enable Secret Service agents (not just those guarding the president), and others of the U.S. Secret Service including uniformed division officers, physical security technicians and specialists, and other ‘special officers’, to arrest and remove an elected sheriff for refusing to enforce the law (or anyone breaking the law).  The bills being introduced defines law as including any rule, regulation, executive order, court order, statute or constitutional provision."

4. This is a story without giant gun battles in each chapter and without the fanciful exploits by the hero with are sometimes found in other survival novels. I don't want to ruin the book for anyone who has not read it, so I'll stop here by saying I found it as enjoyable as any of the post collapse novels and more readable and believeable than most. I recommend it and am awaiting the next novel in this series.


Friday, October 7, 2011

Orgaznied and Pro-Active - A Survival Team

UrbanSurvivalSkills received a comment from Chris, regarding the post about our accountant being a surprise prepper,... ......."With indicators becoming so clear and prepping going "mainstream", Is there anyone starting a movement that doesn't involve Egypt-style riots? As preppers, we know how to farm, and most are handy with a hammer... I just think we'd all have a better chance together, organized and pro-active."

UrbanMan's comments:

I recently talked to a retired banker, who had converted much of his wealth to previous metals, mainly, silver, then converted most of his silver to gold to reduce the weight to wealth ratio. This gentleman did not know about me nor my survivalist preparations. I could sense his reluctance to talk me about possible scenarios that would make survival preparations necessary. The conversation started about how Greece may default on or about 10 October and what repercussions this would have not only on the European Union but for the United States as well. Then it melded into peak oil, then the problems with the U.S. capability to grow and feed ourselves and the phenomenon with the giant increase in family gardening. Only when I started to describe my thoughts and preparations did this gentleman open up and tell me about his wealth - precious metals conversion, and his procurement of six AKM's and 9mm handguns for his family and his current focus on stockpiling food for what he see's as a huge catalyst for SHTF and one that is most probably.

Interestingly that this guy, without any military or law enforcement time, instinctively chose to standardize firearms.

Anyway, this gentleman lives with his wife in a city and is actively looking to move to a small town with agrarian links, size anywhere from a few hundred people up to a few thousand population. He is scared about the big population centers and the high density of starving, desperate people that would come from a food crisis with or without a collapse of the monetary system.

I did not let on about this blog site, but I did talk to him about building a survival team with alike minded and alike prepared individuals or families. So when I read Chris' comment about "we'll all have a better chance together, organized and being pro-active", he is right on the money. Without a survival team large enough accomplish all of the necessary survival tasks in a worst collapse scenarios, we'll be scrambling.

Some of the Survival tasks a group or team may have to consider would be:

~ Provide Security for the Group, 24/7

~ Provide for a rest/sleep cycle for team members

~ Growing food, processing food and cooking - which may involve some travel away from the Team location of safe zone

~ Travel to meeting with other groups - which may require any additional manpower for security or to transport material

~ Procurement patrols - which may include travel to barter with other groups

~ The Survival team may establish a command post type of duty to monitor radio frequencies for dedicated net control or to collect information on other radio traffic

I would think that a minimum Survival Group, for sustained operations, would be around 8 people, all who had compatible skills and who could be relied upon to accomplish any of the Survival Group aforementioned tasks. This minimum number could be larger if the threat situation warranted it, or if the environment (terrain and weather, urban, suburban or rural areas) dictated it as well.