November 6, 2024

Update on The Ultimate Survival Bundle

UltimateSurvivalBundle.com
 

I just wanted to give you a quick update on the Ultimate Survival Bundle, they have now added as a free bonus the 11-in-1 Survival Tool!

USB

The 11 uses are:
can opener, knife edge, screwdriver, ruler, bottle cap opener, 4-position wrench, wingnut wrench, saw blade, direction ancillary indicator, 2 position wrench, and keychain hole.

This is only available to US residents only.

Those of you who’ve already purchased will be contacted to get your address to be sent one as well.

If you have not purchased one yet, remember that the Ultimate Survival Bundle ends on Monday.

34 Ways to Use Duct Tape for Survival

This article was written by Gaye Levy of Backdoor Survival and originally posted here.

 

 34 Ways to Use Duct Tape for Survival

 
I have always claimed – and not altogether jokingly – that you could build a house with Elmer’s glue and Duct Tape.  Both items are readily available, relatively inexpensive and easy to tote around.  I will set aside the Elmer’s for another time, though.  Today, I thought it would be fun to look as some of the practical uses of duct tape around the house, camping and of course, in a survival situation.

First a bit of history

This miracle stuff was created during World War II when the US military needed a flexible, durable, waterproof tape to use making repairs in the field. A strong tape was created by Permacell, a division of Johnson and Johnson for this purpose. As the story goes, the GIs called it “duck tape” because it was waterproof – like a duck’s back.

Enough of the boring details.  Just how can you use this miracle tape?

34 Uses of Duct Tape for Survival and Emergencies

 
Repair a tent:   You open your tent at the campsite and oops — a little tear. No problem as long as you’ve brought your duct tape along. Cover the hole with a patch; for double protection mirror the patch inside the tent. You’ll keep insects and weather where they belong.

Make a rope: Twist one or several lengths of duct tape into a cord or rope. Of course paracord34 Ways to Use Duct Tape for Survival   Backdoor Survival would be a lot better and you do have some of that, right?)

Make a clothesline:  Twisting a long piece of Duct tape makes a great piece of rope to use as a clothesline.

Hold the feathers in your sleeping bag: If you have a hole in your down sleeping bag, you can patch the hole with duct tape.  No more feathers flying out all over the place.

Reseal packages of food:  Use duct tape to seal up partially opened packages of food.  Fold over the top of the package and seal it tight with a piece of duct tape. Works for cans, too.  Simply fashion a lid out of duct tape.

Hold your tent closed: A damaged zipper could leave your tent door flapping in the wind. Stick the door shut, and keep the bugs and critters out.

Splint a broken tent pole or fishing pole: Tape a stick to the broken area of your tent pole or fishing rod, and you might just get one last adventure out of it.

Catch pesky flies:  Roll off a few foot-long strips of duct tape and hang them from a branch or your tent or cabin rafters. The DT serves as flypaper and when you depart, you can roll up the tape to toss it in the trash.  No need to use nasty chemicals, either.

Repair your water bottle: Have a cracked water bottle or a pierced hydration bladder? A little strip of duct tape to the rescue. Be sure to dry the surface before you try to tape your patch in place since most forms of duct tape don’t stick to wet surfaces. You can also wrap plastic water bottles with duct tape to prevent cracking and leaking.

Make a spear: Strap your knife to a pole and you have a trusty spear to fend off beasts, or make one into your dinner.

Create a shelter: With some trash bags and some duct tape, and you have a survival shelter roof, or sleeping bag cover, a wind break, or well, there are kits of possibilities.

Wrap a sprained ankle:  If you trip and sprain your ankle, wrap the ankle with duct tape to give it some support.

Make butterfly bandage strips: Cut two small strips of DT, and add a smaller strip across their centers (sticky side to sticky side) to create a makeshift butterfly suture.

Make a sling: Fold a length of DT down the middle, so that it is half the original width and no longer exposing a sticky side. Use the strap to make a sling for a busted arm.

Affix bandages: Place a sterile dressing over your wound, and strap it in place with DT.

Blister care:  Cover the blistered area with a bit of cotton gauze, and tape over the cotton. Make sure that the duct tape fully covers the cotton and doesn’t touch the blister at all.

Create a splint: A broken ankle or leg can be stabilized with ample splint material, padding and duct tape. Pad the crotch of a forked branch with some cloth and duct tape to fashion a quick crutch to go with your splint.

Make a bandage: Fold tissue paper or paper towel to cover the wound and cover this with duct tape.

Make a temporary roof shingle: If you have lost a wooden roof shingle, make a temporary replacement by wrapping duct tape in strips across a piece of 1/4-inch (6-millimeter) plywood you’ve cut to size. Wedge the makeshift shingle in place to fill the space. It will close the gap and repel water until you can repair the roof.

Fix a hole in your siding:  Has the stormy weather damaged your vinyl siding? A broken tree limb tossed by the storm, hailstones, or even an errant baseball can rip your siding. Patch tears in vinyl siding with duct tape. Choose tape in a color that matches your siding and apply it when the surface is dry. Smooth your repair by hand or with a rolling pin. The patch should last at least a season or two.

Tape a broken window:  Before removing broken window glass, crisscross the broken pane with duct tape to hold it all together. This will ensure a shard does not fall out and cut you.

Mend a screen:  Have the bugs found the tear in your window or door screen? Thwart their entrance until you make a permanent fix by covering the hole with duct tape.

Repair a trash can:  Plastic trash cans that are blown over by a storm or frozen in an ice storm often split or crack along the sides.  Repair the tear with duct tape. Just be sure tape over the crack both outside and inside the can.

Make a belt:  Run a piece of DT through your belt loops and stick it to itself in the front. Overlap it about 4 or 5 inches and you’ll still be able to peel the belt apart when nature calls.

Repair your glasses:  If your glasses break while you are out in the wilderness, tape them up.  You might look a bit nerdy but at least you will be able to see.

Fix your rain gear: Keep the dry stuff dry, and keep the water out, by mending your ripped rain gear with a few strips of duct tape.

34 Ways to Use Duct Tape for Survival   Backdoor SurvivalRepair your clothing:  Repair rips and tears in your clothing by slipping a piece of tape inside the rip, sticky side out, and carefully pressing both sides of the rip together. The repair will be barely detectable.

Add extra insulation in your boots:  Make your winter boots a little bit warmer by taping the insoles with duct tape, silver side up. The shiny tape will reflect the warmth of your feet back into your boots.

Hem your pants:  No time to hem your new jeans?  Fake it with a strip of duct tape. The new hem will last through a few washes too.

Make handcuffs:  Create handcuffs for the bad guys by taping their hands together around a tree to prevent them from becoming a danger to themselves or others.

Mark a trail: Use duct tape to blaze a trail or signal for rescue, especially if your DT is brightly colored or reflective.

Make emergency repairs on your Bug Out Vehicle: Repair leaking hoses, broken tail lights, windows that don’t stay and even bullet holes with strips of duct tape.

Hang perimeter or security lights:  String lights around your camp with a rope make of duct tape.

Make a disguise:  Using trash bags and leaves, fashion a disguise then hold it all together with duct tape so that you can hide in plain sight.

The Final Word

34 Ways to Use Duct Tape for Survival   Backdoor SurvivalFor the past 70 years or so, duct tape has been considered somewhat of a miracle worker.  For the fix-it-yourself types, duct tape has become indispensable and has been used for things that I am sure the original developers of the stuff never imagined.

Whose to say that it can’t go on for the next 70 years?

Enjoy your next adventure through common sense and thoughtful preparation!

Gaye

Review of Discovery to Catastrophe

Discovery To CatastropheBy Jerry Wood

I was approached by author Jerry Wood some time ago about reviewing a book called Discovery to Catastrophe. I owe Mr. Wood an apology. With the many turns life has taken in the last year, my recreational reading time was minimal and it took me much longer than I had hoped to finish the book; for that, Mr. Wood, I apologize.

The book initially follows one family and, later, multiple families who form a house church. Latter still, they join with a small church, as they research the tribulation, and prepare for what may come. There are several scriptures provided on end times study, that are meshed well into the story line.

This is the first Christian prepper fiction book I have read and I enjoyed seeing scripture mentioned. I also enjoyed seeing how a Christian MAG worked together. It reminded me of Acts 2 and how the first church worked and formed community.

I don’t want to give any more of the story away, but I will just say this; I pray we never see a catastrophe like the one in this book.

One of the downsides of having such a large cast of characters like this book has is a lack of character development. Because I enjoyed the development of the MAG and watching how they each blessed the group with their research and work, I don’t know that I would say that the lack of character development is a negative. It works well in this case.

With the decisions and actions being God-based and the focus on a large preparedness-based community, this definitely isn’t the average prepper novel. If the book sounds interesting I hope you will read it.

 
I am going to leave the comment section open, for now. There was an article last week that started some pre-trib – post-trib conversation, and I put an end to it. For some reason this topic gets people riled up. On another forum, I had my faith questioned because of my belief. I have a couple important things I want to say.

This is not a salvation issue.

No matter your belief on the subject, you are talking to a son or daughter of God, so speak to them with respect and humility.

I don’t care if you believe pre, mid or post. If you have not thoroughly studied the subject, you should. If you believe in one position because it is what you were taught as a child and you always accepted it as truth, try to look into this from a neutral point of view.

As I mentioned, I’ll allow comments for now. You can say something about your position, but as I stated above, keep it respectful. I don’t want to see any arguing or telling someone else they’re wrong. If I see that, I’ll just delete your comment.

 
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The Ultimate Survival Bundle

UltimateSurvivalBundle.com

You might have seen the banners on various prepper and survival sites advertising the Ultimate Survival Bundle, which lists 36 expert guides, 46 resources (some videos and audio files) from a range of preparedness experts! It is said to have a value of $700 and is all offered at the low price of $29! It’s available for a very short time. The offer is expiring on September 23rd.

I personally looked into it briefly, and thought I would check it out more when the sale went live. I took a look today, and was blown away by the eBooks that are listed! Topics include Preparedness, Survival, Homesteading, Cookery, Energy, Governance, Health and Security. Below are just some of the titles.

• Making the Best of Basics
• The Untrained Housewife’s Guide to Getting Prepared eBook
• The Homesteader’s Home Management Binder Printable Pages
• 170 Gallons of Water a Day eBook
• Simple Shelter eBook
• Companion Planting eBook
• How to Control Pests Using Natural Remedies eBook
• Apartment Gardening eBook
• Medical Preparedness for Adults eBook
• North American Foraging Guide eBook
• Solar Cookery: Everything Under the Sun eBook
• Pioneering Today: Faith and Home the Old-Fashioned Way eBook
• The Complete Consumers Guide to Wind Power eBook
• Sunshine to Dollars eBook
• Rocket Mass Heater Operation and Maintenance Manual eBook
• A Guide to Understanding Herbal Medicines and Surviving the Coming Pharmaceutical Monopoly eBook
• Surviving EMP eBook
• Nuclear War Survival Skills eBook
• To Keep or Not to Keep: Why Christians Should Not Give Up Their Guns eBook
• Instant Identity Armor eBook
• And more.

I dug into this a bit more today and purchased the Ultimate Survival Bundle. After looking at some of these eBooks, I’m so excited about them that I wanted to let you all know about it, in case you want to take advantage of this great offer!

To be completely honest with you, some of the items listed are not up my alley, but “Making the Best of Basics” is a book I have reviewed. In my opinion, it is a book every prepper should own. “Sunshine to Dollars” is another book I have looked at and I’m pretty excited that it is included! Those two alone would cost about as much as the entire Ultimate Survival Bundle.

If you would like to get more information, feel free to follow the link in the image below. If you would rather simply purchase the bundle, follow this link..

Again, the Ultimate Survival Bundle is available until September 23. You still have some time!

UltimateSurvivalBundle.com

Challenging Bug Out Myths

Challenging Bug Out Myths

Over the years I have read several blog posts, and statements in many different preparedness/survival forums about bugging out that I want to challenge today. I call them “myths” because, as I see it, they are just not true. The trouble with these myths is that the person saying them might not mean it as a hard and fast rule but the person new to preparedness who reads it, might not understand that.
 
 
Myth One: You Have to Bug Out

This is probably the biggest of the myths; that there are many reasons that you’ll have to bug out. The truth is that for the vast majority of scenarios, you will be safer, more secure, and more comfortable by battening down and staying home. Home is where your family feels the safest. It is where you have a routine and familiar surroundings. In dire times, those two things go a long way to uphold our mental wellbeing.

Home is also where all of your preparations are and where you’re best suited to face the most “come, what may” scenarios.
 
 
Myth Two: You Don’t Need a Bug Out Plan

This is the other camp that says they won’t ever bug out and don’t need a bug out plan. As I mentioned above, in the vast majority of scenarios, staying home or “bugging in” is a better solution. To me, this means that the events you do need to bug out for are much more serious. Events that could push me from my home are things like imminent fire, flooding, a prolonged grid down or civil unrest in an urban and some suburban areas. When do you know you should bug out? When you would be safer leaving than staying. The events I described could be extremely dangerous, so not having a plan to put in action, having BOB’s and a plan for bugging out, is equally as dangerous.
 
 
Myth Three: You Need a Bug Out Location (BOL)

The majority of preppers don’t own a separate piece of property that they consider their BOL. The truth is, you don’t need one. Sure, it might be ideal, but it isn’t needed. Below is a way to develop multiple locations. That way you have four routes out of your area. First, if you have a relative or friend outside of your general area, consider asking them if you could head there.
If you don’t have another location to go, I recommend finding a town that’s big enough to have a hotel but small enough to be inconspicuous, which is thirty to sixty miles away. I say “large enough to have a hotel” because that is the landmark. If they have a room available, stay if you like. If you want to continue on, do so. Do this going north, south, east and west. Now develop a couple different routes to each location and label the routes “1” and “2”. We purchased plastic foldable maps and have one in our BOBs and one in the vehicle.
I think each car should have a map and the directions to each location. If you’re at work and your spouse is at home when you need to bug out, you can send a text or email that says “North, route 2”. Now you know where they are going and the route they’re taking to get there.
 
 
Myth Four: BOB’s Need to Last 72 Hours

Many times BOB’s are referred to as “72 hour kits”. The purpose of a BOB should be to get you from your home to your BOL and to last a minimum of three days, or 72 hours. As I have stated above, the events that would actually force me to bug out are pretty serious. If I have to leave, there is a good chance it won’t be safe for me to return to my home in 72 hours.
My point is that you might have to make do for longer than 72 hours. Keep that in mind when stocking your BOB. You don’t know if you’ll find a working ATM while you’re out so you might consider keeping cash or precious metals in your BOB so you can restock while you’re bugged out.
 
 
Myth Five: Your BOB Needs to be as Light as Possible

There have been more posts and comments about this than any of the other myths. Anytime someone makes a forum thread and shows their BOB, there are always people who make a comment like “Good luck carrying that”. I always wonder where these scoffers are planning on bugging out to. Me? I plan on driving. If there is some type of event that keeps me from driving, I can think of five ways to carry my BOB and other gear as well.
Maybe they plan on heading to the deep woods? For 95% of people, that is a bad idea. Even if you are a primitive skill master and can make do with a knife and a dirty look, what about your family?

Since the events that you actually need to bug out for are severe and you don’t know when you’ll be able to go home, what will you do in the woods when your supplies run out?

My thoughts are that if I do have to bug out there is a pretty serious reason. Since I don’t know how long I might need to be away, I want to make sure I have enough gear to take care of my family. I’m more concerned with making sure I have what we need than I am with the weight of the pack. On the very slim chance I can’t drive and have to carry it, I can find means to negate the weight.
 
 
My Bug Out Plan

If there is something that forces us to leave, we’ll grab the BOB’s and other gear and load the truck. We’ll then head to one of our locations and keep an eye on the situation. If something happens that would force us to walk, we have a wagon and would find a shopping cart nearby as well. In the winter we have a couple children’s sleds we could load up and tow behind us.
I hope this helps clear up some misconceptions about bugging out. I look forward to reading your comments.

 
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“Super Brains” Trying Predict How the World Will End

Super Brain

 

Some of England’s smartest people have joined forces and formed a group called “The Cambridge Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER). This group includes Stephan Hawking and 26 other leading thinkers.

The Daily Mail article, Killer robots and crippling cyber attacks: How the world is going to end – according to super brains such as Stephen Hawking states that the groups manifesto is clear:

“Many scientists are concerned that developments in human technology may soon pose new, extinction-level risks to our species as a whole.”

One pearl of wisdom given is this:

“In a modern, efficient world, we no longer stockpile food. If the supply is disrupted for any reason, it would take about 48-hours before it runs out and riots begin. So on a practical level, individuals should keep some non-perishable items at home.”

So what are some of the threats they have identified?

“Cyber attacks: Power grids, air traffic control, banking and communications rely on interconnected computer systems. If these networks collapse due to action by enemy nations or terrorists, the paralysis could result in society breaking down.”

“Food supply sabotage: Efficient distribution networks mean many Western nations have only 48 hours worth of food stockpiled. Any disruption would result in panic buying and riots.”

“Fast-spreading pandemic: International travel means a new killer virus, mutated from animals, could travel the globe in days, wiping out millions before a vaccine can be developed.”

Those are just three. Read the article for others. My favorite is the intelligent technology (LOL).

In all seriousness, I think it is great that they are taking a look at this. Many of the dangers they have listed are things the preparedness community has been talking about for years. If they were really “super brains” they would invite a few preppers! I suppose they would feel that their group would not be taken seriously, which is too bad, because I see a few glaring dangers that aren’t listed.

 
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Learning as We Go

My wife Trudee wrote the following article.

Learning as we go

As some of you already know, Chris and I live in Minnesota. What some may not know is that it gets pretty warm here in the summer. At the time of this writing, it’s 94 degrees with 37% humidity. I’m very grateful for the low humidity level, as our central air stopped working properly on Thursday! Unfortunately, I don’t tolerate ANY heat very well.

Chris and I decided to purchase a portable air conditioning unit this past spring, to keep our room cooler while we sleep. Little did we know at the time that the AC unit would end up being one of our best preps yet! (Okay, that’s MY opinion! hehehe)

We’ve talked about what we would do to keep the house warm in the winter if our furnace wasn’t working for whatever reason. We never gave much thought to what we would do if our central air stopped. Thursday night, we found out!

It was just after supper and I had just finished cleaning up the kitchen. I hadn’t had the oven on and couldn’t believe how warm it was in the house. The thermostat read 81 degrees and the outside AC unit sounded like it was running normally. I checked a few of the air vents to see if there was normal air flow. The crankiness started upon realizing there wasn’t much air movement at all.

Ladies, I don’t know how many of you have experienced hot flashes but that’s where I’m at in life right now and I don’t like being hot on a NORMAL day. I’m sweating from being in the kitchen, discovering that the AC isn’t working properly and having a hot flash on top of it all. This is one of those times when I have to be so grateful for God’s beautiful grace because I have NONE.

We’ve had a service plan through our natural gas supplier for years and years. We’ve had to use it enough that it has been worth the $17.95 per month and then some! We consider that plan a prep. It covers our furnace, gas drier, water heater and stove. We added our AC unit to it a few years back, thankfully.

I tried to schedule a service appointment online but the soonest was 5 days out and the next day was supposed to be 92 degrees! They’re usually so much faster than that but I’m guessing budget cuts have dwindled their service technician staff. I tried calling, hoping they would have something different. No such luck! I set the appointment up for 5 days out and set about the task of trying to get the house cooled off.

Chris and I share a home office. It’s on the top level of our small 4-level-split entry home. That top level is ALWAYS the warmest. Hot air rises and all that! (You can’t see it but I snarled when I said that.) Our bedroom is at the end of the short hallway that our home office shares. I decided that since we spend the most time in those rooms, I would do what I could to cool only those rooms.

I knew I had a spare shower curtain tension rod and I had just seen some black landscaping plastic in the garage. Remember now, we’re both unemployed and practicing making do with what we have. We have duct tape! hehehe I set the tension rod up to fit between the walls of the hallway and duct taped the black landscaping fabric to the tension rod. It proved to be a good makeshift barrier to keep the cooler air in our bedroom and office.

The portable AC unit is set up to vent out our bedroom window. Leaving our bedroom door open with a fan blowing the cooler air into the office helped Chris be able to work on the blog and me to be able to study. Once we were done for the day, we closed our bedroom door to keep it nice and cool for bedtime.

I’ve had to spend today in the bedroom as well. I’m thankful we have the option and I’m thankful for being a prepper. I knew what we would do to keep a room warm and similar principles are used to keep cool!

Thank you, Chris, for taking such good care of me while I hid from the heat!!
 
Chris says: We made it through the last five days or so and the AC is now fixed. Living in Minnesota, I have given a lot of thought to what we would do if we lost heat for an extended period. I’ve thought about how to keep cool in a general sense but never came up with a plan. Trudee knocked this out of the park, hanging that black plastic up kept the two rooms cool enough for me to work in the office.

To me, the two biggest assets a prepper can have are: thinking ahead and making do with what you have. We can’t think of everything but we can figure out how to get by!
 
 
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Review of SurvivAMINO

SurvivAMINO

Eating a healthy, high protein diet is a good idea now, when times are “normal”. But we prepare for the future, and it can be difficult to make sure you have a good form of protein in your food storage, let alone in BOB. Just as a refresher, here are some forms of protein; eggs, meats, soy, milk, cheese, yogurt and beans. You can store some canned and powdered versions of the above listed food but there is now another option.

I was approached by a company that sells a product aimed at giving a solution to this problem, and their target market is preppers. The name of the product is SurvivAMINO. This is a supplement created from essential amino acids that can act as a complete protein replacement for up to 28 days.

Here is some information provided on SurvivAMINO:

SurvivAMINO“Lightweight, portable, and low volume: Take care of the most difficult part of the nutritional equation with confidence. Complete protein sources such as meat go bad in hours, easily storable forms are often an incomplete source of amino acids. SurvivAMINO™ is an innovative formula consisting of pure amino acids, taking care of your protein needs in a fraction of the space and weight. When every ounce counts, bet on SurvivAMINO™.
 

Improve your health: The SurvivAMINO™ formula has been used for decades by elite athletes to improve performance. By providing the building blocks for your body, the formula has been proven to add muscle, improve blood cell count, and even improve endurance in test subjects. When you’re trying to survive, your health is what counts.”

There is also more information given on what SurvivAMINO is made of.

“A complete source: Of the 22 commonly accepted amino acids, only 8 are deemed essential. Without these, important reactions cannot take place in the body. The consequences of this range from muscle wasting to organ failure and death. This is especially true for the elderly and young, who are less efficient at processing proteins. SurvivAMINO™ consists of 100% essential amino acids to make sure you have all the bases covered.

No binding agents, no caffeine, and no sugar added. Every ingredient in the SurvivAMINO™ is an amino acid essential to life. Anything else would just weigh you down. Keep it anywhere; in your pack, on your boat, or stored in your shelter. Be prepared. Sustain yourself. Sustain your survival.”

For more information visit the SurvivAMINO site. Here is a digital flier as well.
 
My thoughts:

As far as the nutritional aspect of SurvivAMINO goes, I think this is a great idea. Amino acids have been used by athletes for decades to enhance their training. I know some people store vitamins in their preps, but vitamins don’t contain the same amino acids needed to be a protein replacement.

I ran my own short, one-week experiment. I used SurvivAMINO as a replacer for my morning protein for one week. I considered using it for a protein replacer for every meal for an entire week but with diabetes, I need more protein than carbs. I opted to do breakfast so that I would be full and not have to compensate with carbs for each meal. I felt fine and had the same amount of energy I normally do.

The only downside to SurvivAMINO is that it is a bit expensive. MSRP is $45 a bottle, which contains 20 servings. SurvivAMINO’s parent company has agreed to give Preparedness Club members a $5 discount per bottle.

Where I think this product will really be a good fit is in BOB’s. I don’t think bugging out is needed in the vast majority of situations but the ones that require it are sure to be difficult. Making sure you have something to continue to feed your body’s need for protein in such a small, lightweight product makes this a great purchase if it’s in your budget.

I don’t see any information on storage life, but they come in tablet form, so as long as they’re stored in a cool dry place, I bet they’ll last a very long time.
 
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GridEx II, Camping Hacks and a Discount at Guardian Survival Gear

Today I want to bring a few things to your attention that aren’t big enough for their own article.

GridEx II

I have gotten email from folks who are concerned about GridEX II, which is taking place on November 13 & 14. They’re concerned about mass power outages. It seems there are some in the preparedness niche that are making GridEx to be something it really isn’t. According to the North American Electronic Reliability Corporation:

“The objectives of the NERC Grid Security Exercise (GridEx) series are to exercise the current readiness of participating Electricity Sub-sector entities to respond to a cyber incident and provide input for security program improvements to the bulk power system. GridEx is a biennial international grid security exercise that uses best practices and other contributions from the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

NERC conducted the first sector-wide grid security exercise, GridEx 2011, on November 16-17, 2011. The exercise was designed to validate the readiness of the Electricity Sub-sector to respond to a cyber incident, strengthen utilities’ crisis response functions, and provide input for internal security program improvements. The GridEx 2011 after-action report is below.”

As mentioned, they have done this before, in 2011. They are preforming a table top exercise, which is like “pretending” the grid has been hacked. They will gameplay how they will respond. There is no risk of the grid going down because of this. I think this is actually a great thing! It shows that they know there are vulnerabilities and that they are trying to figure out how they can and will fix those vulnerabilities.

If you want more details on GridEx II, you can read an overview here.
 
 

41 Camping Hacks That Are Borderline Genius

When used in this context, a “hack” is a very clever way to do something. Thanks to GK for sending me this link. There are some really good ideas here that some of us might want to incorporate into our plans.
 
 

Guardian
 
 
 
A licensed distributor of Guardian Survival Gear has agreed to be a Preparedness Club Supporter and is offering a 10% discount to members of the Preparedness Club. Wrex believes that we need to be equipped to be our own first responders and wants to offer this discount so that we can be better prepared to do so! Thanks Wrex!!
 
 
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Are You Prepared to Use Violence to Stop Violence?

Fight Violence with violence

Are You Prepared to Use Violence to Stop Violence?

If asked, “are you willing to use violence to stop violence against you or a loved one?” many of us would answer “yes”. I know I would. The truth is, unless you’ve been tested, you really don’t know. During the last couple of months, I have put in a lot of drive time, listening to the audiobook “On Killing” by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman. This book helped firm up my understanding of humans and their capacity and willingness to use violence. In short, the vast majority of human beings are not wired to use violence on one another.

Lt. Col. Grossman goes into great detail to explain how, through the earliest of American wars; the Revolutionary War, the Civil War and the World Wars, the majority of the men fighting them would purposely miss what they were shooting at. He explained how the aversion to killing another human was so strong that a trained soldier often times would not shoot another, even if it meant losing his own life.

Leading up to the Vietnam War, great effort went into figuring out how to train men, not only to kill but to do so without hesitation. Today’s military are some of the most efficient warriors in the world’s history.

Someone might say that an aversion to violence is a good thing and that Jesus said, “Those who live by the sword, die by the sword”. I would agree with Him, but He did not say we should never use the sword. In fact, I believe that if we willingly decide not to act in our own defense or in the defense of another innocent person, we have sinned. We now bare blood guilt and are accountable for all of the future acts of violence our attacker commits. We also bare the guilt of all the good that we or the person we did not defend would have done.
 
 
Less Than Lethal Force

It is my belief that the majority of humans have an aversion to using any form of violence against one another. I’ve mentioned before that I took a real world martial art called “Haganah”. I noticed that almost all new students hesitated using even minimal force to strike their partner. These are people who are aware of the need to learn to defend themselves but have to be trained that it was acceptable to strike another person. I was a wrestler in high school and had a few minor altercations as a young adult. Physical violence wasn’t completely new to me. I still had to retrain myself that using force was not only acceptable in this setting, but encouraged. I trained with some students who hesitated striking with even 10% of their force even after months of training.
 
 
10-80-10 Rule

In the book The Survivors Club, author Ben Sherwood explores a theory developed by a man named John Leach called “The 10-80-10 rule”. In summary, the rule states that the top 10% of people in a crisis excel; they think clearly and take immediate action. The middle group comprises 80% of people; they are “quite simply stunned and bewildered”; “reasoning is significantly impaired and thinking is difficult”. The last 10% of people are the “ones you definitely want to avoid in an emergency”.

A few pages later, he explains something called ‘behavioral inaction’; “The current theory of behavioral inaction goes like this: As your frontal lobes process the site of an airplane wing on fire, they seek to match the information with memories of similar situations in the past. If you have no stored experience of a plane crash, your brain can’t find a match and gets stuck in a loop trying and failing to come up with the right response. Hence: immobility.”

While he was talking about a plane crash, I believe the theory carries over to any type of critical incident. In terms of violence I think that the first 10% are capable of violence, either to harm or to defend. The middle 80% of people are those who will freeze either initially and then take action or remain frozen. The last 10% of people are made up of those who just shut down.
 
 
More Than Fight or Flight

You’ve probably heard of “fight or flight”, but there are at least five possible responses. They are fight, flight, freeze, posture and submit.

Fight – This is a group of people who have a capacity for violence, either to hurt or to protect. Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs is an excellent depiction of those who’re willing to use violence. The wolves are those who prey upon others (the sheep). Sheepdogs are those who’re capable of using violence in protection of themselves and in defense of the sheep.

Posturing – Posturing is combat without making contact, using intimidation. This is frequently seen in the animal world but can be seen in humans as well. Posturing comes easy to those who fight but I have seen some who were not typically thought of as fighter’s posture enough to prevent an attack and back a wolf down.

Flight – This is a group of people who have an innate urge to flee from harm. There are some who might initially flee, only to change to another behavior.

Freeze – People who freeze might do so for mere seconds while their brain catches up to the reality of the situation. They could also be people who are so completely overwhelmed that they simply shut down. People in this group can slide to other groups. For instance, someone might freeze for a second before being able to use violence to defend themselves. Another person might freeze before running away or submitting.

Submit – Submitting is totally giving up to an attacker. There is evidence in the FBI’s annual uniform crime report to suggest that submitting is more dangerous than fighting back. However, feigning compliance and submitting temporarily can give a person the upper hand.
 
 
Putting it all Together

I believe that the 10-80-10 rule and the five possible responses to violence can be combined. The first 10% are the people who are ready and willing to use violence and obviously have no aversion to it. The last 10% are made up of those who flee (and continue to flee), and those who submit. They are so incapable of violence they would rather perish than use force, even to save their own lives. I think that the middle 80% is on a sliding scale of sorts. There are those who, under certain conditions, are capable of using violence. There are also those who might initially freeze and later panic.

Since the majority of us fall into the middle 80% of people who freeze for some length of time, how can we make sure we override any aversion to violence? How can we make sure we don’t remain frozen? How can we make sure we snap out of it and are willing to use violence to stop violence being used against us or another human being?

Remember that the reason people in the 80 portion of the 10-80-10 rule freeze is because their minds can’t quickly latch onto something from their stored experience. What we need to do is make sure there is something in that stored experience.
 
 
Overcoming the Aversion to Violence

As I mentioned, in the book “On Killing”, it is noted that trained soldiers from much of America’s history missed their shot on purpose, even if it meant their own life. If a trained soldier had difficulty overriding the aversion, what hope can the average citizen have?

If you’re not intellectually, emotionally or spiritually averse to the idea of using violence to save you or a loved one, there are some things you can do to train yourself to act in self-defense and in the defense of others.

Lt. Col. Grossman listed several things modern training has done to make the modern warrior act, often without hesitation. I’m not going to cover them in detail, as some just wouldn’t and shouldn’t apply outside of a military setting. Many of the things that we can do are intellectual and psychological.
 
 
Visualization

No, I do not mean that touchy feely, self-affirming “I’m good enough, I’m smart and doggonit people like me” crap. I mean visualize different scenarios and what you might do and say when a threat causes you to go to code orange or red. (If you don’t know what the Cooper Color Code is, follow that link and learn to incorporate it into your daily situational awareness.) For instance, thinking through the following scenario; if this person following me follows the next three right turns I make (walking or driving), I am going to do “x”.

I haven’t ever had someone kick down my door and come in with a weapon. I have thought about what I would do in many different variations of that, and Trudee and I have discussed them.

Visualization is more than just thinking through imaginary scenarios that could happen. I also think about how I would respond to violent encounters I read about, see in the news or even in TV and movies.

By mentally preparing my mind for situations where violence is an acceptable response, I am overriding the natural aversion to violence. This is something that should be done on an ongoing basis, much like weight lifting to build and keep strength.
 
 
Training

Less Than Lethal – I am a big supporter of real world self-defense for multiple reasons. Watching a fist fight on TV or movies is a completely different thing than actually being in one. Of course, not just the physical aspect of it, but also the mental. When you’re on the receiving end of violence, there is a mental shock, which is probably why 80% of people freeze. As I mentioned earlier, there is often a hesitation to strike someone. While it’s possible to overcome that in an actual fight, I suppose, repeatedly striking someone and defending against various attacks gets one used to the initial shock and you learn how to override it and defend.

Lethal Force – If you haven’t taken a handgun training course, take one. If you’ve taken one, then take another. There are some training companies where you enter a “shoot house” and fire at multiple types of targets. There are also some places that use simunition (simulated munition), which is a paint tipped round. They put you in various real world situations and have Joe Dirtbag enter and do dirtbag stuff that you have to react to. Some places also have force on force training with Airsoft or paintball. If you can do those, great! If not, when you’re at your local range, visualize the target as the threat you visualized in the above scenarios.

The goal is not only to excel with your firearm, but also to train you to respond with violence to stop violence.
 
 
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