Communication

This is something that many survivalists overlook. With the coming of the cell phone, many people tell me that they think that is all they need. They laugh at short wave, CB and other two way radios as old fashioned and out of date. One of the scenarios that I have talked about many times that would take down this country the quickest is for a scattered group of terrorists to take down a bunch of our communication towers at one time, leaving this country in bad shape. I also do not like the fact that my cell phone message goes to a tower, then possibly to another tower before it gets to the person I am talking to. This makes it easy to intercept and listen to the messages. Even a natural disaster such as an earthquake, tornado or hurricane can take down enough towers to make cell phone usage impossible. An earthquake that takes down a bridge while you and your mate or another part of a survival group is on one side while you are on the other can make communication necessary. If that earthquake also takes down all of the surrounding cell phone towers, your cell phone will not do you much good. So, what is a survivalist to do?

First of all, I am not against cell phones. My wife and I each have one with our own phone number. We use TracFones. This is one of the prepaid services. We use this service for two reasons. Number one, we are not heavy users of our cell phones using them for emergencies and when we are out of town or on the road. When I am on a trip for hunting, fishing or to check out survival sites, I call in each night. Other than that we may not use our cell phones for a month or more at a time. Number two, I find that I have coverage in many spots where other cell phone users cannot get a signal. I am not sure why this is except that I know that TracFone uses any tower in the vicinity. Everyone should have a cell phone in this day and age as one of their means of communication. We also still keep our land line as our main phone system.

Having said that about cell phones, like anything else survival, you need an alternative. I know that CB has gone the way of the Dodo bird except for long haul truckers to ratchet jaw while they are on the highway. Having said that, it is still an excellent way to keep in touch and I have a 40 channel base in my house with a "Big Stick" antenna. I also have a hand held unit and two mobile units. While I do not have my mobile units in any of my vehicles at the present, I have them fixed so that I can have them up and running in the either or both vehicles in about a half hour. I have magnetic base antennas for both of them. That way when not in use, no one needs know I have them. The CB's are what my wife and I will rely on for up to five mile communication if our cell phones should ever fail.

We also have a good set of two way radios, that are good out to about a mile. These are what we use to stay in touch with one another here on our rural property. We use them for when I am out cutting firewood or out in the woods looking for edible plants. We also use them for communication when I am out working in my shop. They have call button and several channels. They are Midland LXT310's. I also have a multi-channel five mile range radio that has the same channels as the radios that my daughter, son-in-law and grandkids use. We use it hunting but it can have many other uses. I have one more five channel hand held that I got when I was testing radios for a survival group. That was back when I was writing my monthly survival newsletter.

While I do not yet have a short wave transmitter, I do have a receiver. I hope to be able to get to a swap meet and pick up a cheap transmitter and then get a license. However, even now, with the receiver, I can get messages and relay them by other means.

We cannot forget the computer as a means of communication. However, like the cell phone, we already know that terrorists from other countries have hacked into our internet connections and can get all of the information. Having an encoding system on your machine will help a lot but codes can be broken. Also, taking out communications might include our computer network as well as cell phones.

This may sound like overkill and it probably is. The reason I have so many layers of communications is that being a survival adviser, I try things out and then I just wind up keeping them. Each survivalist needs to decide what they need. Just make sure you have at least one method of communication besides your computer and your cell phone.

Until next time SURVIVE, and check out my other blog at:

http://www.therealamericanpolitics.blogspot.com

H1N1/Health Care

I am not as worried about surviving Swine Flu as I am about surviving the cure and now the national emergency declared by our pretendsident. I do not give advice as to whether to take the swine flu vaccine, all I can say is that I WILL NOT take it. With the declaring of a national emergency it is a possibility that the flu could become mandatory. If that is the case I think that things could get messy. They could get messy enough that martial law could be declared. I still believe that is what is going to happen. If not for the swine flu for something else. One more question I would like to ask. If the swine flu pandemic is a national emergency, why is not the HIV/aids pandemic an emergency. There are more people with HIV/aids in this country than there are people with swine flu. There have also been many more deaths from aids than swine flu. Is it because HIV/aids is a politically correct disease and swine flu is not? While HIV/aids is widespread among many types of people, it is spread by homosexuals, the group of people that are treated as better than the general population. They want special privileges for making a stupid lifestyle decision.

But to get back to the subject at hand swine flu and health care in general. My take on all health care is to stay the heck away from all doctors. Actually for myself, I get my health care from the VA and have to be checked over twice a year to keep in good standing. However, most of my health care is taken care of by myself with vitamins and supplements. Each winter I increase supplements that boost the immune system. I have never taken a flu shot in my life and do not intend to. I may get a mild cold during the winter but not usually.

As I believe I have previously written I am now getting back into herbal medicine. I have currently made an ear medicine and a salve. I would advise anyone to get some knowledge of natural healing. You do not need to get into it as deep as I am, but have an idea in case our fasciunist pretendsident and his fasciunist friends in the house and senate pass a bill that we cannot live with. If you are my age or have a disability, you may not get any health care at all. They just want to give people like us a couple of pills and tell us to go away and die. That is why in the spring I will be planting an herb garden and making even more of my meds.

So my survival advice on this subject is to learn about any natural ways to protect your health. If you are on prescription medicines right now, see how far ahead you can get your meds for. If you can have a years worth on hand that is great. If not, try to get six or even three month supplies at a time. Then try to find out if there is some natural supplement or herb that will do somewhat the same thing as the prescription you are taking. Either start getting that now or be ready to do so when the ship hits the sand, and it will. There are many books and much on the internet about all of these subjects so I am not going to go into specifics. If you need to know about one or two things in particular, just Google them and you should have all the info you need.

Until next time; SURVIVE and check out:

http://www.therealamericanpolitics.blogspot.com

Bug Out Time??

There is currently a lot a talk going around about a possibility that some of us may have to bug out. I am for staying put in an emergency unless it becomes a dire emergency. That is, if you live somewhere that is somewhat safe in that emergency. As a survivalist, we never know what the emergency will be. Should it be something like a forest fire, a hurricane or something similar, it would behoove us to move out. If you live in a fairly large city and rioting or other looting and anarchy takes over, it would also behoove you to move out. Those of us who live in smaller communities or in rural areas should plan on being able to protect what is ours and stay put in most circumstances. In that way you could continue your gardening, hunting, fishing and other food gathering in an area that you are very familiar with. However, having said all of that, it may still become necessary for us to bug out. So, how should we prepare to leave and find safety?

There are several things to look at here. First, are you going to be leaving by automobile or on foot? I personally am set to do either. I live in the country, six miles from the closest community and that community is under 1,000 people. I have two packs, one for myself and one for my wife, packed and ready. These packs contain enough for us to live for at least two weeks and much longer if we are able to procure some wild food. These packs contain all light weight food that does not need refrigeration and will keep for years. Most of it has been repackaged in vacuum sealed bags. That way each one can contain exactly what we want. There is a lightweight tarp to be used as a shelter, sleeping bags, first aid kit, a couple changes of socks each along with a change of under garments. Add one flashlight, one wind-up radio, any medicines that are necessary. a candle lantern and candles, a Sterno cook stove and several cans of Sterno, a mess kit each with eating utensils, a waterproof container of matches, a compass, a plant identification book and anything else that you feel is a necessity. If you are packing for two you will need to decide how to divide up the gear. My wife has had four back surgeries so I carry about two-thirds of the gear. You may also want to hang your knife and a machete along with your canteen on your pack. You will not want to keep the water in the canteen as it will get stale. Fill these just before you bug out. While I may have missed some things that others think are necessary, the items mentioned will get you through. Two other things I keep in my pack is fishing gear and my .22 pistol with 100 rounds of ammo. While a pistol is not as good as a rifle, for packing I prefer it. It is light and easy to pack and I practice with it enough to know I can take small game with it. A take down .22 rifle would also do. My fishing tackle is a collapsible rod and ultra-light reel along with a small box of hook, sinkers, spinners and not much more.

Should I be able to leave by motor vehicle, I have a pop-up camper that is ready to go with enough gear in it to last at least ninety days. I still try to keep the food light weight so that I do not have too much to pull. I add a medical kit rather than a first aid kit but other than that I go with what is in the pop-up. My camper has no electrical hook-up but is run on four 12v batteries and propane. It has a heater in it so that I can go winter or summer. I have a small 12v refrigerator so we can take a few things that need refrigeration. However, most of what I take is things I have purchased in the grocery store or things that I have dehydrated and vacuum packed. With a camper you can take just about anything you think you might need. This includes more guns and ammo and more fishing equipment. I store my two packs in the camper, so I can either use that stuff also or if I have to bug out from the camper at a later date, I have them.

The next thing to know is where you are going to go. Have some type of plan in place so that you are not just wandering. Practice now by backpacking, even in the winter. It may be winter when bug-out time comes. This goes for the camper or any auto bug-out; know where you are going to go. With both types of bug-outs you may want to even have a backup plan. If the area you prefer happens to be unsecure, you should have a plan in mind.

All of these thing are moot if you can stay put. However, being a good survivalist means being ready for anything. Being ready to bug out is just one more part of readiness. It may help you to

SURVIVE.

Until next time check out my other blog at: http://www.realamericanpolitics.blogspot.com