Monthly Archives: September 2003

Rambling

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Imagine waking up in your nice first-class berth aboard the Titanic and hearing the crew screaming that you have one minute to get up top and into the boats or youre gonna die. Now, in that minute you have to frantically assemble whatever you can to insure that you’ll survive the long wait in the chilly Atlantic waters. You scramble around looking for warm clothes, maybe a flask of whiskey, that sort of thing….painfully aware that in a minute youre going to have to make do with what you have.

See, thats how I feel most of the time…’under the gun’, so to speak. I know what I want (or need, for that matter)..its just getting those things thats a bottleneck..mostly because of money. Hey, preparing for the uncertain future isnt cheap.

In other news, I was rummaging through the freezer and determined the oldest food item in there is a vaccuum sealed package of ground beef from March of 2001. So I thawed it out and cooked it up yesterday and it was just fine. The big freezer keeps everything around zero degrees and the vaccuum sealing prevents freezer burn and helps to preserve things. So, 2.5 years is, thus far, not too long for properly stored frozen meats to last. Good to know. Also finished off a 15-gallon drum of rice last night. Part of my y2k stash. I’ll head up to CostCo this week and pick up another couple 50# bags and funnel ‘em into the drum. 100# of rice lasts quite a while…and stores very nicely.

Since winter is approaching I need to swing by Home Depot and pick up a few more 5-gallon cans of kerosene. Stores well and is quite safe to store…I can use it in my lamps, heater and camp stove. A very useful fuel.

Two acquisitions I need that are going to be huuuuuugely expensive: property for Rancho Ballistica (aka Area 52) and some sort of uber-reliable vehicle.

Money, money, money…..I should put on a suit and tie and take an ad in the NY Times calling myself a ‘Emergency and Crisis Preparedness Consultant’ and charge NY firms $500 a day to tell them to keep a flashlight and spare batteries in everyones desk.

Standardization

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Ah..looters. Not in the ‘Atlas Shrugged’ context, but real honest to goodness running-down-the-street-with-a-VCR-in-each-hand looters… Its one thing to scavenge for food and water…its another to enter the ruins of someones house and help yourself to their belongings..and its a completely different story to set up your own little goon squad and start robbing the stricken survivors.

There is, of course, one recourse to such evil and ‘it is best delivered with a Winchester rifle’, as TR might say.

Living in Montana is a mixed blessing when it comes to worrying about looters. On the one hand, most looters won’t last long. On the other hand, any looters here are likely to be quite well armed.

Regardless, contrary to the stereotype, we dont spend all our resources worrying about looters and invading UN hordes. Really. But the fact is that when the lights are out, its the middle of winter and theres no idea when the supermarket is going to be open our little heated, illuminated and well-stocked homes are going to look mighty tempting and some people just dont take no for an answer.

What are the standard armaments for the LMI’s? I was mentioning this yesterday to a potential recruit…heres what we went with and why:

AR-15 rifle – We went with this because although an M1A would offer more power we wanted something that would let us get mags, parts and ammo anywhere….every National Guardsman or cop is a potential source. (“Hey soldier boy, trade you a bottle of Jack for five magazines and a firing pin…”)
Rem 870 shotgun – The most common shotgun in the US and a proven design with all sorts of accessories available. The Mossberg is a secondary standard.
1911 .45 – We all like .45′s so we standardized on the 1911 pattern
Browning P35 – 9mm is the most common ammo on the planet so it made sense to have something in that caliber…Glocks and Rugers are pretty common but the P35 has all the same controls as our 1911′s. Theyre also quite reliable and well made
Ruger 10/22 – Again, the most ubiquitous .22 rifle in the US. Mags and accessories are everywhere.

Additionally, we try to keep spare parts for everything as well as ‘support materials’ (holsters, cleaning kits, screwdrivers, lubricants, etc).

Thats it for standardized weapons. After that theres caliber standards but no specifics on the firearm itself. For example, everyone has to have a .357 revolver but you can have whatever make you want. Same for a .308 bolt gun. (Although we’ve been thinking about standardizing on the Rem police package)

Although it isnt required, most of us try to have redundancy in our armaments. For example, 2 AR-15, 2 1911′s, 2 Ruger 10/22′s, etc, etc. Sounds paranoid, right? You’d be surprised….

Recommendations

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Question for my favorite crazy-survivalist-type
, what kind of gear/supplies would you suggest that your average Joe Citizen should have in every room in his house?

I’m thinking things like flashlights, self-defense, food, water, blanket, etc – I mean, you can keep all that stuff in one room, but what if, when the time comes, you can’t get to that room?

I’m trying to mentally catalog what I need to find room for in every room in my new place.

Depends on what youre planning for. If you want something for the usual hurricane, power failure, blizzard, etc. you can fit all that in a couple of those black-n-grey ‘ActionPacker’ Rubbermaid containers. (Which I recommend.)

Simplest way to to it, in my opinion, is to stand naked in your living room in the dark in the middle of the night with the heat off and ask yourself “Okay, what do I need at this moment?” I’d go with a change of clothes, lighting, heating, cooking, water, food, communication, defense, portability and a few other things. Specifically:
Change of clothes inc. shoes…seasonably appropriate. You’ll probably be able to get some clothes out of your closet and dresser, but if you have to leave home for any reason in a hurry you’ll at least have one change of clothes with you. Comfortable clothes and shoes, please.
At least two quality flashlights and spare batteries. A good LED flashlight will save you on batteries and can be used alot more freely than a non-LED light. Whatever you get, make sure both take the same size batteries…MagLites are kind of the standard for flashlights. Candles and oil lamps are okay but obviously come with their own hazards.
Heating may or may not be an issue for you. A small propane heater works well indoors but you might just wanna go with a sleeping bag or blanket.
Some type of food that doesnt require much in the way of cooking is nice. If you have a gas stove you’ll probably still be able to use it. An electric stove is obviously another story. If you decide to get a small camp stove, be sure to use it in a well-ventilated area. Coleman makes propane stoves, lanterns and space heaters that run off the small 1# propane bottles that you normally use on torches. Theyre very handy, store well and give good service.
If you know theres going to be a possibility of an outage or other disruption, fill your bathtub. You can drink the water if you have to but its nice to use for washing up and flushing toilets. Save the bottled water for actual drinking. I keep a couple five gallon jugs but also a couple cases of 1-liter bottles. A case of bottled water is less than ten bucks at CostCo.
A good battery radio is a must. Preferably running on the same size batteries as your other battery-powered gear (flashlights, etc). Baygen, Grundig and a few other outfits make wind-up radios that dont use batteries at all. (They make flashlights like that too) and I highly recommend them. If you think you need them, the Motorola FRS walkie-talkies are pretty nice. Usual caveat about batteries.
Your Glock should serve you just fine…have at least a hundred rounds for it and a couple extra mags. A short shotgun would be nice.
Ideally, you want all this stuff in a ‘man-portable’ container so that you can, on a moments notice, grab it and throw it in the back of the vehicle and go, go, go. (If you have a garage where you keep your vehicle, I highly recommend a couple five-gallon cans of gas. Or, always make sure to never let your vehicle go below 1/2 tank.)
Keep some cash on hand. ATM’s will be out and no one is gonna want to take a check. Small denominations. Nothing bigger than $20.
All of this stuff should fit into a footlocker-size footprint. Or a couple of those ActionPackers. I cant say for sure, but I’d guess you could put together the FEMA/DHS suggested ’72-hour’ kit for less than a couple hundred bucks.

Obviously, for a more….ugly….situation you would need more extensive preps. If you need really, really more specific details on things let me know…

Logistics, Gamma Seals

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Logistics and planning…two things that you just cant ignore when youre Commander Zero. Of course, it isnt that I *ignore* it..I just sometimes overlook things. Naturally, two weeks after the nukes go off thats when i’ll suddenly discover Ive got a hundred cases of canned ham and no can opener.

Most of the logistics is simple. If you have a canned ham, pack a can opener with it. If you have candles, package them with some matches. Thats the easy stuff…then it gets exponentially difficult.

Example: Kerosene heater. One heater and some kerosene and youre set, right? Nope…gotta have kerosene, a storage container for the kero, a funnel or pump to transfer fuel, cleaning rags to take care of spilled fuel, a fire extinguisher, matches, spare wicks, a box to keep all these items together, and a few other items. See how it adds up? And thats for something simple. Imagine something more complex like, say, a vehicle. Then youre into fuel, spare fuel pumps, tires, water pumps, radiator hoses, belts, lights, batteries, etc, etc, etc.

Fortunately I dont see my future having a mushroom cloud over it…oh sure, someone *will* nuke/dirtybomb LA or NY, no arguement there. But Montana? Not likely. No, I suspect its going to be a creeping depression and/or infrastructure failure…which means lines for toilet paper, empty meat counters, minimal fresh produce and probably gas rationing or something like it. Think Moscow/Beirut.

Of course, theres a zillion less dramatic things that can happen…unable to work, illness that prevents you from working, etc, etc. The sorts of things that cause alot of people to get in trouble. If you lost your job for, say, six months, how would you fare? Food? Utilities? Bills? See, these are the everyday disasters that are minimized by being prepared….

In other news, Sportsmans Guide has Gamma Seal bucket lids on sale for $5.97 ea. Great price. I love these things. Turns any 5-gallon bucket into a screw-off waterproof, airtight container. Great for storing grains and whatnot. Me and the LMI’s will be ordering a bunch next week.

Guerilla Gourmet

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Hmm..I sure am posting alot lately.

I was talking with someone yesterday about grains and, to a degree, food storage.

My ideas on food storage are ‘layered’…I have the normal day-to-day foods in large quantity that get used and rotated. I simply buy alot of them at a time. (Spaghetti sauce, pasta, canned meats, canned soups, etc, etc) These are things I use daily but I keep enough of them on hand so that with their normal consumption rate theyd last a couple months. All have a shelf-life of a year or better. (and, actually, they last longer..its just their nutritional value starts to dminish, but their safety and edibility remain.)

Next layer is day-to-day/longer term stuff. This is things like instant potatoes, canned vegetables and fruits, honey (honey is incredible stuff..it literally will last forever), etc. Its basically the same as the above, but with much much longer shelf life. (Example: Im still using Idahoan instant potatoes from 1998. Theyre in #10 cans and have been sealed since then. Taste great.)

Then theres the convenience/emergency food – this is MRE entrees. This stuff is for situations where you cant cook or need maximum portability. MRE’s are already cooked and you can, if you must, eat them cold. But you can also toss ‘em on hot engine blocks, in a pan of hot water, or on a hot driveway to heat them up. If you have to grab your gear and head for the hills theyre a great choice.

Freeze drieds make up the really long term layer. They’re sealed in #10 nitrogen filled cans. Assuming the can doesnt get punctured, the shelf life is over fifteen years. Theyre very, very lightweight. Disadvantages is that they require hot water to reconstitute and they aint cheap. But, theyre good.

Last layer is the bulk stuff… 5-gallon and 15-gallon buckets of wheat and rice. (Corn too, as soon as I get around to it.) I dont care much for beans but they store exceptionally well and may be worth it for trade value…additionally, if I get hungry enough, I’ll eat anything. (Plus, beans and rice [or corn and rice] make a complete protein.) The wheat is the most versatile…it can be sprouted for fresh greens, made into flour, craked and made into a meal, or made into bulghur. Pretty versatile. Lasts forever too.

Combine all this together and you can come up with some pretty decent meals. Of course, this doesnt include whatever I can scrounge at the last minute. Nor does it take into account whatever foodstuffs that arent already set aside may be in the fridge/cabinets.

Still need a few other things like dehydrated butter, eggs, that sort of thing. Im also wanting to get a really, really high-end hand-crank grain mill…the wone I want is about $310 but it’ll last a lifetime and grinds to all sorts of granulations.

Ive got a spreadsheet around here somewhere that keeps track of all this stuff. On the 2000 calorie diet its around 2.5 months…good for short-term stuff…but I want at least six-months and ideally a years worth. Ive got the storage space, that isnt a problem…just gotta cough up the $.

Links

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Some of the links in Zero’s Bookmarks:

Major Surplus – Has some interesting gear and their prices arent too bad. I get their catalog every month and sometimes you can find some real deals in there (Swiss medic pouches $9.95 ea, etc, etc)

Essential Gear – Specialty LED lights. Me and the LMI are quite pleased with LED flashlights…bulbs arent fragile, dont burn out, and battery life is magnified exponentially. Their VIP model in red LED/black case would be standard LMI gear if it werent for the price.

Nitro-Pak – Not the cheapest but certainly one of the most complete. Their catalog is a dream. Good source for Mountain House foods, but a bit pricier than other places.

Long Life Foods – MRE central. Best place Ive found for pouch food.

Army Radio – Good commo is a must. Military radios take abuse, are man-portable, and immune to most civillian eavesdroppers.

eBay Surplus – I find Seismic Intrusion sets, military radios, field phones, fallout suits and lotsa other cool gear here. ALways, always, always worth looking through.

ALICE manual – Everyone has an ALICE pack. Heres how Uncle Sugar says youre supposed to use it.

Best for last: Survive a nuclear attack – Lotsa happy shiny links.

Hurricane, fuel

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Ahhh…hurricanes. The news shows the obligatory photos of people standing in line at Home Depot for batteries and flashlights, later they are on line at the supermarket for bottled water and milk.

Who are these people??? They really couldnt spend $20 once a year to keep a couple flashlights and batteries on hand at all times? Watch the aftermath..lines of people waiting for ice and water and other goodies…no need to worry, your friendly fedgov will take care of you. After all, who wants citizens who think and act responsibly? But convince them that .gov is the answer to their problems, that .gov will take care of you, and they’ll happily smile and nod their heads when you say ‘We’re doing this for your protection.’ Food, water, heat, light, first aid, security and communications…how bloody hard is it to set yourself up for those simple needs?

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I was talking about fuel with someone the other day. Me and the LMI’s try to have multiple redundancies and this applies to fuel. If youre going to store fuel the two biggest factors are safety and shelf life. Gasoline gets pretty wierd after a couple years. You can put Sta-Bil in it to stretch its life, but after a few years it’ll be good for lawnmowers and weedwhackers and not much else. (Unless youve an older vehicle thats very tolerant of wierd gas.) Propane is miraculous stuff as long as you can store it safely and the tanks keep their integrity. (Nice thing about propane, you can scavenge 20# ‘barbecue bombs’ off all the gas grills in your neighborhood).

Me, I like kerosene. Its cheap, lasts forever with no treatment, is completely safe to store (drop a lit match in a 55-gallon of kero and you dont get any drama..unlike gasoline.) I have kerosene lamps (good ones – Aladin and Petromax), kerosene heaters, and our camps stoves are multi-fuel so they can run on kero, white gas, gasoline, jet fuel, or anything else that’ll burn. They even make kerosene powered refrigerators. (Remember, a refrigerator uses a heat source).

However, a bit of gasoline is definitely worth storing and rotating every year. A couple five-gallon cans at least. Why? Because fuel is one of those things that people will trade heavily for if things go bad. Remember, when the power goes out all those gasoline pumps wont run..and you’ll be stuck with the 1/4 tank in your car and its 150 miles to your retreat. Now, you gonna walk or you gonna start bargaining with the fella who has a five-gallon can of gas to trade? Dont believe me? Talk to some folks in Arizona… when your ability to come and go quickly and conveniently is at stake, you’ll deal.

Of course, gasoline, diesel, (and propane, actually) are used for generators. Generators are a mixed blessing…theyre good for keeping things like your well pump, freezer and battery charger going but they usually make enough noise to let everyone know that youve got an island of civilization. Risk vs. rewards.

I usually buy sealed 5-gallon drums of kero at Home Depot, coat ‘em with varnish to help protect the metal, and store them out in the yard. Ive also a couple dozen of the smaller propane bottles to be used on things like heaters, lanterns, etc. In fact, all my lighting, heating, cooking needs can be run entirely on either white gas (Coleman fuel), kero or propane…so if I do come up short on fuel, I can use whatever I find.

Kerosene heaters actually work very well. The trick is that when you light them and when you turn them off, let them sit outside for about five minutes..by then any smell has disappeared. No muss, no fuss. And kero burns hot so it puts out a good amount of heat.

I’ll be heading up to HD this week to pick up another five-gallon can or two..can never have too much. When I have my place out in the sticks, I’ll have four or five 55-gallon drums of the stuff in storage..lasts forever and can be used for almost all my needs.

Been pretty good with power outages here…we usually have one every winter but only for a few hours..but, just in case……

Rambling

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Being Commander Zero is not all sunshine and stun grenades….its an expensive life. Really, its almost a gamble against something that is uncertain (an ugly future, for example). However, its no different than, say, disability insurance or, really, any other form of insurance. Its an expense to provide large benefit(s) if event x happens. Unfortunately, being the Zero isnt $49.95 a month like alot of insurance. No, its time, money, and alot of odd looks from people from time to time.

I was travelling lately and spent time in Virginia which is an utter hotbed of fedgov buildings, facilities and personnel. Was I uncomfortable? A bit. If, say, a NYC-style blackout had occurred Id have been at a disadvantage. If a hurricane occurred Id have been at a bit of a disadvantage. When Im here in ZeroLand Im much more comfortable…I know that I have food, warmth, clean water, a place to sleep, protection, and LMI’s. In VA there would have been sudden appearances of armed badge-wavers on every corner repeating over and over that they were ‘here for your protection’…and I would have been one of many sheep among the wolves. I dont wanna be a sheep. But I dont wanna be the wolf either. I wanna be whatever it is that watches the wolves and sheep do their thing, all the while completely undetected and left alone. Squirrel?

Anyone can be a liberty-lovin’, self-reliant, fiercely-independent individual when the power is on, the supermarket is open and the infrastructure is running. But when you have to stand in line for a National Guardsman to toss you water bottles and T-rations or shuffle into a Red Cross tent for a free meal and shelter voucher you lose alot of things…self-esteem and control of your future spring to mind.

I would guess that my ability (real or imagined) to be able to take care of myself and my loved ones while everyone else is panicking, starving, freezing or being herded into cattle cars has an incredibly large effect on how I think of myself. Maybe its that secretly Ive always wanted to be a hero, maybe I hate the idea of not being in control of my future, maybe I want a sense of adventure, maybe I’m a fatalist, maybe I just think responsibility for my well being starts and ends with me…I dunno.

Regardless, I tend to not focus on why I do the things I do rather than just simply doing them. There are, after all, far worse interests and hobbies to have. Being Commander Zero has some everyday benefits…food is cheaper since its bought in bulk..same for toiletries and other consumables. Im good at improvising or problem-solving and other uses for ‘thinking differently’. I lead a very safe existence (when Im not out of state)…minimal crime, no senseless violence, no drive-by shootings, etc.

Self introspection is so not my strong suit…lets shift gears….

Picked up some more remaindered meat for the deep freeze, a couple boxes of 3″ Kling bandages, and some more bags for the vaccuum sealer. Winter is coming and I need to make sure im set for emergency heating and lighting. It can get pretty cold here if the power goes out in the middle of winter.

Rambling

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So everyone and their brother has these absurd and overly dramatic 9-11 remembrance things going on. If they’d take that concern and effort about the past and focus it on the future maybe next time (and, trust me, theres gonna be a next time..several of them, in fact…) things will work out differently.

What has changed for the Zero since 9-11? Interestingly, my own government , which had been relatively benign, suddenly Orwell’ed on me and came up with indefinite detentions, secret courts (and thats a BIG roadsign), ‘heightened’ powers and the siren-call of “If you are innocent, you shouldnt mind”. Stock up on .223, bottled water and ‘questionable books’ and you get tagged as someone worth investigating…and ten years ago theyd write you off as no one..just some loony in a tinfoil hat and a couple cases of SPAM waiting for the Soviets to invade. But now…now its another ball of wax….

You know, when you look at your bookshelf and think ‘gee, I should get rid of some of those books in case someone sees them and starts to think I’m a [terrorist/insurgent/whatever]‘ then society has really become something out of the Central Committee’s handbook. Think about it..you have to worry about what you read…how utterly unAmerican is that?

But, whats that got to do with Cmdr. Zero? Well, part of being the Zero is reading…and I mean *alot* of reading…and some books could be considered ‘inflammatory’ or ‘suspicious’.

Never thought Id ever need to think about hiding books.

So, anyway, its the second year since a buncha idiots pulled a one-in-a-million stunt with spectacular results. How do I ‘commemorate’ it? By lamenting that their activities are forcing my legal and legitimate activities ‘underground’.

This happened a efw years back…some family in VA/DC was reported to the feds as possible terrorists. The feds came with their usual overkill of SWAT teams and whatnot. The place was searched, masked gunmen (hey, just like your average South American death squad!) crouched in the shrubs, and the family was questioned at length. Their hideously flagrant threat to America’s well-being? They had a dozen plastic blue barrels that they bought to store water in against Y2k. Yup..thats it. Some neighbor saw these barrels and thought of the Oklahoma City bombing and dropped a dime on their simple neighbors.

I guess the upshot is that I need to look a little less…interesting…should someone wind up viewing my library, basement or gun cabinet.

Travel guns

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I *really* need to investigate a ‘politically correct” and relatively disposable set of firearms for air travel. Travelling with a 9mm and an AR-15 draws way too much attention. Additionally, an AR is $750 and a good pistol is another $600. Thats alot to tie up if some idiot at the ticket check-in doesnt know the proper procedure for firearms check-in and airport security has seen “Die Hard II” too many times. A used .357 is $200 and a Marlin .357 is another $250. Not an unrecoverable loss.

I’m thinking Im going to pick up a nice Smith .357 and couple it with a Marlin carbine in the same caliber. I can get ammo (.38/.357) anywhere and the guns are about as non-threatening as you can get.

“Why would you need these guns when you travel, Zero?”
Personal safety, of course. Take, for example, the recent blackout on the east coast. If the power is out for a few days and I’m grounded until power is restored I dont want to have to stay up all night fearing that looters and other opportunists are going to be prowling the hallways with reckless disregard of the police who are going to be a) way to busy to care and b) probably calling in sick to take care of their own families.

The other alternative is a Ruger autopistol and a Ruger P9 carbine, a 1911 and a Marlin carbine, or a Glock and a Kel-Tec carbine. However, I’m really preferring the .357 for its ammo availability and the Marlin’s harmless looks.

In other news, I am going to have Rancho Ballistica up and running by 2005 if I have to sell a kidney and work 36 hour days to do it. A nice quiet extremely private paradise that I can live on and be left alone on. Sovereignty, thy name is property.