Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Major Surplus N’ Survival is having a sale on military extreme cold weather bags. Comes with a groundpad and some cheesy backpack. The military extreme cold weather bag is a goodie. Its big and heavy, so dont plan on backpacking it anywhere….however its an outstanding choice for static usage such as keeping in the back of your truck in the winter and that sort of thing. A couple years ago I waited until it got to be about zero degrees outside, set the bag out, stripped to my shorts, tshirt and socks and climbed in. Was warm enough that I would have no trouble recommending this bag for vehicle use or for use in other cold weather situations where staying warm is a life/death issue. Sale price is, get this, $30! And thats with a ground pad! Thats a good deal, folks. I recommend it to all concerned.
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Whats in the Zero’s Tactical Tailor bag that he carries with him most every day? Buncha stuff….spare Glock mags, 9mm ammo, Gerber folding knife, two LED flashlights, first aid kit, paracord, zip ties, AM battery radio, cold weather module, lashing straps for the pack, notebook and pens, bottle of water, etc, etc. It isnt a BOB since I live 9 blocks from where I work. If I lived ten miles from where I work I’d carry much more different stuff. This mostly just things that will be handy if the power goes out, the rioting starts, the aliens land, etc. and I need to walk home. Its also handy for medium-range roadtrips. However, it has come in handy in the past….never know when youre going to need to ziptie something together or have to bandage a booboo. (And, before anyone chimes in with ‘You should have _____ in there’, trust me its probably already in there.)
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The local Sportsmans Warehouse has a goodie I want. Its got the large Volcano cookstove with propane conversion. Uberrific! I have a small Volcano charcoal stove and I must say it works very very nicely. However, I do wish I had gotten the larger one. This one I saw at SW is not only large, but it can be quickly converted to use the highly convenient bottles of propane. Thats the sort of multifuel capability that brings a smile to the Zero’s face. An advantage to the Volcano stove versus, say, a Coleman folding camp stove, is the sheer ruggedness of the thing. You can stack layers of heavy cast iron dutch ovens on the Volcano with no concern for buckling or crushing something….and cast iron cookware really shines when youre cooking outdoors. This isnt to say that I’d go with the Volcano stove as my only alternative cooking stove….sometimes portability is needed and thats where my delicious little Omnifuel comes in. But, adding the Volcano to the stove I already have I will have the ability to cook and boil water using charcoal, gasoline, kerosene, coleman fuel, propane, wood and pretty much anything that you can put a match to… and the ability to create large quantities of boiling water can be pretty darn handy in a crisis. Esp. when being clean and eating with clean utensils means the difference between healthy survivor and sickly weak survivor.
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Speaking of crisis, my focus is still on an economic/infrastructure crisis brought about by either terrorism or economic upheaval. As Ive said before the incidents where you go to bed in a normal world and wake up in a Mad Max movie are pretty rare…earthquakes and nuclear weapons are about the only things that really do that in the blink of an eye. Im more concerned about the gradual slide into a crisis…prices go up, jobs are lost, shelves start going bare, the supermarket is slower to restock, more and more police start hanging around banks, rolling blackouts occur, etc, etc. Pretty much a slow slide into Third Worldism. Sure it may be a temporary Third Worldism lasting only a year or two but when America catches a cold, pretty much everyone reaches for the Kleenex. My goal is that if the jobs are lost and the economy tanks to still be in a position to have heat, food and security for at least a year.

Of course, if youre ready for that youre probably also prepared for the sudden crisis like earthquakes, nuking, hurricanes, blizzards, famines, etc.
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I’d like to take a minute to recommend AR15.com’s ’survival’ discussion board. Unlike another board I spend a good bit of time on, this one seems to have less judgemental Jesus-worshippers. Im a live and let live kinda survivalist, but the notion that if I dont believe in Jesus or think the Ten Commandments dont belong in government Im somehow less of a patriot makes me a bit angry. Hence, Im going to divide my time between the squirrels and arfcom’s board.