Be Prepaired

I chose the title from the Boy Scout Oath because back 50 yrs ago the Boy Scouts, along with my small town semi country raising taught me much about what todays generation would consider survival tactic. In those bygone days there was freedom, that sadly will never be experienced by any one in this country, less than 50 yrs old, unless there is a complete break down of the curant system. Even in those wounderfull days, those who lived in the large citys did not, for the most part, plant gardens, make their own tools, or need to improvise as much as those in the country settings, so below you will find basic info, tools and other supplys necessary to exist in what, I believe, is the not to distant future.

There soon will be 2 books available on self subsistance and surviveing the near future. more will be available on them in later posts. I will begin with the bare esentuals and expand from there.

It takes 1200 lbs. per year of healthy food for each human to survive in a relitivly functional state. Todays supermarkets carry a 3 day supply. You need to start storeing food today. The food must not be parisables. You may likely not have refrigeration, so foods like frozen vegies or meat are not an option unless they are dried or canned. Beans and rice such as red beans and rice are a whole food and can be stored for years you need both, one for protein and one for carbs and starches. dry grains such as corn and wheat, flour,sugar, salt and other spices for jazing up booring tast and bartering. these all can be stored for long periods in plastic air tight water proof containers from one gallon to 55 gallon drums.Here I need to interject, I'm not too crazy about "survival " food, they are priced about three times what they should be and I consider most of those producing and selling it as profiteers, but if you have the funds great go ahead the food is good for the most part, very convient, and easily stored.
You must have a clean water source minimum of 1 gal per day per person, again water may be stored in containers, if stored you must boil the water before use. If you have your own well great but, get a hand pump installed in the well system there most likely will not be power available to pump the water if you have acess to a streampond or lake, great but boil the water before use.Meat will be scarce so you will have to supliment your diet with 1 Tbs of oil per day per person, virgin olive oil is best, non vegitable oil is an option.

The citys will quickly become unbearable so if you have the option move to the country or at very least a small town and a small town is not one with 10,000 population I'm talking rural small town. There is still dirt cheap property available in these small towns all over America but it is being gobbled up fast by those in the Know.

CLOTHING
Be selective party dresses and Armani suits will not be the dress code of the day. Have available rugged clothing levis, ranglers, heavy duty boots, jackets and coats heavy and light, clothing that you can layer according to need, army surplus and camo clothing I'm not too crazy about, there may be situations where you don't want to be mistaken for military personel, or a militia type.

ARMS AND WEPONS
some who read this are squemish about guns I know, but they will be a tool to protect your family, you and your suplys. These will be desperate times and desperate people do desperate things.
Think, what you would do to feed your children if they were starving before your eyes.
There are four basic guns types and they each are tools of a different trade so to speak.1. hand gun is used for close range protection only, The caliber has to be .38 or larger to be of much use, the lighter the gun and the bigger caliber, the harder it is to control the second shot. I recommend .38 .357 or 9 mm hand guns with a heavy frame, the heavy frame will give you more control, will be more rugged, and easier on your arm and wrist under repeated fireing conditions. Those calibers are large enough to stop most intruders. If you must buy a cheaper gun I recommend a revolver and speed loaders, cheap semi auto loaders are not always reliable, however if you can afford a good semi auto get it by all means, and with the highest capacity clip you can get, ten or more shots can sometimes make up for bad aim.

2. Shot gun. Here I constantly see others touting the 12 guage as the ultimate, I don't agree. The 12 ga. has little more stopping power than a 16ga or even a 20ga but the kick from a 12 guage is much greater. There are 3 basic loads for a shot gun, bird shot for small game, buck shot of verious size for home protection, and slugs for heavy duty hunting or protection. You must have a good supply of all three. Don't be fooled by what you see on tv, a blast of bird shot from a 12 guage even at close range will, most often not imedeatly kill your enemy, any they will be concious to harm you untill they bleed to death, if they do. Penitration of the human body must be 5 to 6 inches to reach vital organs and bird shot will generally only penitrate about 4 depending how close they are. I recommend a 16 or 20 ga semi auto or pump shot gun loaded alternately with 1 bird shot,1 .00 buck shot 1 rifled slug in that order, and fill out the magazine with the buck and slugs. I use the first bird shot as a warning, like a rattle, snake to let the intruders know you are armed, and in most cases this warning shot (at the intruders not in the air) will be enough to run them off.3. rifles are without doubt the most controversial and most complicated choice, all I can do here is give you what I believe the minimum requirements.There are three basic catigories here, long range medium game, hunting/defence long barrel rifles, small claiber small game rifles, and defensive rifles with hi magazine capacity and semi autimatic rapid fire capabilities.

The long barrel "hunting" rifle if used only for food gathering or long range defense can be either, semi auto, bolt action, lever action, or pump action,and can be of any medium calber 30/30 to 308 or other more exotic calibers if you have them already in your posession, however keep in mind the ammunition availability, more common calibers will be easier to find ammo for and generally cheeper, allthough at this time ammo is not cheep in any caliber, and getting excedingly more difficult to find.The second catigory is much over looked and disreguarded by most "survivalists" types but in my opinion this is a big mistake.


The .22 caliber rifle will be essentual in small game hunting it is cheap by comparison and cheap to shoot, it can be made vertually silent with an old lawn mower muffler and some steel wool. Silence may be more of a factor now that shot detecters are being installed in citys and will eventually be extended into fish and game jurisdiction. It is also hard to skin a rabit or a squrile thats been shredded by a .306 or 308 round or mangled by a.223. Your small game rifle can be fed in any manor really,bolt, lever, or semi auto.many years ago I built a very devistateing wepon useing two Ruger rotery clip .22 with 2 thirty round clips, attached to a bracket useing a simple crank and cam trigger mechinism. these two little short barel.22s would devistate a car, and would eat up cement blocks in secounds. For you feds that may be reading this blog, don,t bother to kick in my door they were dissassembled many years ago, however instructions will be available in my new book. FRONTIER SURVIVAL 2010.

The 3rd wepons are for defensive purpose only and these are the most important at this time because of the probable coming ban and because the availability is already causing the prices to sky rocket. Some like the chinese SKS have risen in price 500% in the last year or so, and AKs have gone up beyond my simple means, not to mention the .223 cal m16. AR15s, mini 14s, bushmasters and other common militery LOOKING, so called assult rifles.About the only thing I can advise here is, for an efective defense weapon you need to trow a bunch of led so a bolt action rifle is not going to be as efective as a semi auto hi capacity one. The twpe and brand is dependent on, your budget and your experience with fire arms. Iam not a fire arms expert so I would suggest you consult with one for more exotic weapons. I will tell you that my choice is the russian made 7.62 mm SKS, or AK47, the Chinese also made millions of these but the chinese models use a lot of cast type parts where the Russian models use stamped metal parts and are much more rugged and reliable over the long haul but after beeing shot twice in Viet Nam with either one I can tell you either will do the job. The sk or ak are both very rugged, reliable and both will take a lot of abuse under very adverce conditions, mud, water,sand ect.

MEDICAL SUPPLYS
Don't clean out your medicine cabinet, throw all the out of date drugs your med bag. most drugs will last a long time if kept out of the heat, they may loose some potentcy but will be much better than none, and the corner drug store won't be an option. Don't take up space and weight with every day cold meds. you'll just have to tough out colds and minor ailments, and natural cures are abundent watch this blog or the cordite country show at Oracle network for the comeing book on natural cures by Cordie Howell. You want plenty of gause bandage, ace bandages, anticeptics, and antibiotics, you probably should have some compress bandages for more searious wounds, these are available at army surplus stores. Include sewing needles and fine 3 0r 4 lb fishing line to sew up cuts. The fishing line is avalable in very convient little mini rolls at any sporting goods store, you may even be able to find some surgical needles there or at army surplus these are fine needles in kind of a wide u shape oh and by the way the sooner you sew up a large wound after the event the less painfull it will be, the skin around the wound will be numb from natural body defence reaction to the wound.Hand sanitizerand water purification pills or liquid are a must. Splints for broken bones can be easily improvised.If nothing elce steril is available fresh news print can be used, it is one of the more steril and most available materials. Bic liters at least 5 and I recomend many more they will be valuable as a barter tool. Flashlights and plenty of extra batterys these will also be very valuable. I recomment the led type, they last longer, are much more compact, and don't eat the batteries up as fast. DON'T SKIMP ON THE LIGHTERS, OR THE FLASH LIGHTS, I said Bic because it is the most reliable available I have found.

COOKING
Forget the teflon it not good for you under normal conditions, and will be pure poisn under camp fire conditions. Compact cooking kits are available at any sporting department or at the surplus store dont skinp here either you may have to use them for a while. If you are going to be staying put remember there most likely won't be any power or at the very least prolonged power outages, so have some good heavy aluminium, or stainless pots and pans, a dutch oven, and or cast iron frying pans, a good supply of lard, oil, and spray oil. Don.t forget the utincils forks knives, spoons, metal spatula, and large cookeing spoon. With these items you can cook a gormet meal or bake a cake over a camp fire if it becomes necessary. If you have to go mobil be more selective, you can do most any thing with just a dutch oven if necessary. Mess kits are handy for travel and are readily avalible at the surplus os sporting goods store.

EVACUATION
Try to keep your emergency vehicle full of fuel at all times. If you live in the city you may well want to get to the country, the citys will quickly become a living horrer movie. Make arrangements with some one for a place to go away from the city as far as possable. Sleeping bags and surplus Alice packs (back packs) are available at surplus stores as are duffel bags. You should have 4 bags packed. First and most importand food and water for at least 3 days and your med bag, include your Bic lighters and flash lights in this bag. Second cookeing utinsels . Third extra clothing blankets tent ect.

WATER-FOOD-PROTECTION FOR SELF AND FAMILY-SHELTER-CLOTHING. these are the esentials for life and in the order stated.

Don't miss Oracle network on your computer for lots of good info , most especially Cordite Country at 2;00 Sundays (Archives are available) watch for Cordies new book .

PLANT THOSE DAMN GARDENS NOW, as big as you can, and plant staples, watermellon is not survival food.any questions jericopapers@yahoo.com or catch me in the chat room at Oraclebroadcasting.com
sSorry bout the spelling my spell ck quit. Part two, home fortress, and tools next time

c ya b safe Jerico