Welcome to this week's Urban Survival Newsletter, sponsored by SurviveInPlace.com and UrbanSurvivalGuide.com.
This week, we're going to talk about simple ways to start using your bulk survival provisions on a regular basis, some quick thoughts on self-defense, a video showing the impact of the proposed federal budget cuts, and survival clothing.
Let's start off on the economic front, since the economy is one of the most clear and present threats that we are currently facing.
Now we can't blame our current situation on the mistakes of the current administration, or the last one. The events that we're seeing today have been in the works for over half a century.
That being said, the budget decisions that have been made over the last 10 years are making an economic collapse almost inevitable.
As an example, Obama signed the $787 billion stimulus bill on February 17th, 2009. (I really don't care if it was a Democrat, Republican, or a pink unicorn who signed the bill...the fact is that the bill got signed and it was bad.)
To date, about 1/2 of that money, or $385 billion has been spent. I guess he's waiting because he doesn't want to stimulate things too much.
So, how much has that $385 billion stimulated the economy? The answer is difficult to calculate exactly, but the best estimates are that we've seen $116.8 billion in economic growth since the money was given out.
Put another way, we borrowed $385 billion from China, gave it out with the express purpose of stimulating the economy, and we got $116.8 billion of benefit. In other words, we lost $270 billion in borrowed money.
Simon Black put it this way, "Not only can politicians not generate a positive ROI, but they manage to lose 70% of their investors' capital. If Uncle Sam were an institutional money manager, he would be charged with criminal negligence and hauled off to jail."
Fortunately, D.C. has a solution...budget cuts. They're throwing all sizes of numbers around, but most of them are hard to visualize. I can see in my head what happens if I take $10 away from $100, but I can't really get my head around what it means to take $100 million away from $3.5 trillion.
Here's a video that describes it better than any I've seen. The kid sounds like he's talking down to the audience and I completely disagree with his definition of "mandatory" spending, but the visualization is still a good one.
You'll note that it's not new, but the message is still timely.
To put it bluntly, this type of reckless spending and lack of respect towards the American taxpayer is going to end badly. One of the next steps in the diabolical plan is to pass Cap and Trade. I won't get into the details, but the net impact of Cap and Trade is projected to be an additional $829 per family JUST for utility costs. This doesn't include the increased cost of everything you buy due to shipping costs.
What's the point of all of this? It's not to give you something to worry about...the point is to get you to take action! If you can take big steps, take them now. If you can only take small steps, take them now. Whatever you do, don't wait until things are "perfect" to get more prepared.
Eating your bulk food on a daily basis.
At some point during your preparations, you probably bought bulk food of some sort. We started buying 5 gallon buckets of bulk rice, beans, oatmeal, and other stuff a few years ago. The funny thing is that we kept buying rice, beans, and oatmeal in small quantities from the grocery store.
This is kind of like jerking meat by the pound and STILL buying the stuff you regularly eat from 7-11.
You might be different, but for us, the big buckets were kind of intimidating. Really, it was just a lot of unknowns. How do we reseal it? How do we keep from losing 5-10 pounds to spoilage?
The blunt answer, I realized, kind of like everything else with preparedness, is that it's much better to have experience with these issues before an emergency than to learn it all when you're under stress.
When we opened our buckets, we found out that our local emergency supply store uses an inner 7 gallon mylar bag to extend the shelf life out to 20-30 years. Yours may or may not be the same. Regardless of whether yours is the same or not, it would be smart to find out.
So, the process of using our long term storage is pretty straight forward. I'll mention one way you can do it here:
1. Cut open your mylar bag. It's best to make as small of a hole as is practical so that you can reseal it easily.
2. Put a week or a month's worth in a smaller container. You can use zip locks, wide mouth mason jars, or empty plastic containers like what workout drinks and meal shakes come in.
3. Burp the mylar bag in your plastic bucket to get the air out of it. You probably won't need your O2 absorber if you're actively using the item. Of course, if you think it will take you more than a few months to use up the entire bucket, you might want to put in some O2 absorbers.
4. Seal your mylar bag. If you have a FoodSaver, you can use it to both suck the air out and seal the mylar.
If not, you can seal the mylar bag by pressing it between a 2x4 and a hot iron. You probably don't want to use the same iron that you're going to use on your dress clothes. If you don't have electricity, you can also heat up an old fashioned iron or piece of metal on a stovetop or in a fire.
One trick you can use if you don't have a FoodSaver is to seal the mylar bag mostly closed and then suck out the remaining air with your mouth, or with an inflating/deflating pump like what you'd use to pump up inflatable beds and toys. Once you've got the air sucked out, finish sealing.
5. Close your 5 gallon bucket with a Gamma Lid. Gamma lids are plastic lids that you can put on a 5 gallon bucket that allow you to unscrew the lids when you want access in the future. They cost between $5-$10 apiece, depending on how many you buy. Here is a link: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...rviveinplac-20
Canning is also a GREAT option for taking bulk quantities of food and making them more manageable. One of the biggest advantages is that you aren't limited to food that happens to come in 5 gallon buckets. You can can food from anywhere…your garden, a local farmers' market, or your grocery store. Unfortunately, that is a topic that is beyond the scope of this week's newsletter.
Next, we're going to talk real quickly about self-defense...specifically about rules. A lot of martial arts training today is geared towards competition. This is good, because it helps develop strong minds and bodies, but it can be a problem if you ever have to use the skills to defend yourself. Simply put, martial arts impose rules on fighters so that people don't get serious injuries. This makes sense, because hurt fighters can't make a living fighting, and a martial arts studio won't be able to pay their rent if all of their students are recovering from serious injuries.
In self-defense training, when people DO get hurt to the extent that they need medical care, it's normally an accident.
In real violent self defense situations like home invasions, muggings, and car-jackings, you don't want to find out that you're the only one playing by the rules, and you want to make sure your attacker(s) are injured enough that they don't have the ability to attack you again.
In short, take some time to evaluate your thinking on violent encounters. If forced into a situation where you have to defend yourself, do you really want to throw a perfect jab, cross, hook, uppercut to an attacker's bony face with your bare hand? That's a good way to break, cut, or otherwise injure your hand. That's bad in normal times and could be a death sentence in a survival situation.
Do you really want to go back and forth, trading blows when there's no ref and your life is at stake?
Instead, think about targets you can attack, regardless of how much bigger, stronger, faster, and younger your opponent is like eyes & ears & throat & nose. Back of head, collarbone, knees, and instep…knees and instep. (which you can practice to the tune, "Head, Shoulders, Knees, & Toes"
When attacked aggressively, these targets will work if you're tired and hungry, even if you're a small framed lady against a huge brute.
I'm going to be sharing some incredible resources with you over the next couple of weeks that will help you in this area. I consider unarmed defense to be vital for myself and my family. Why? Because I don't always have a gun with me, but I always need to be prepared to take responsibility for my safety and for the safety of my family.
GIJeff has written an article on clothing for survival. I've already used one of the resources he mentioned this week and encourage you to head over to the blog and check out his article at: http://secretsofurbansurvival.com/en...vival-Clothing
Have comments? Leave them below. Know other people who should read this? Please send them a link to this page.
Until next week,
David Morris
P.S. Yes, I sell stuff to help get families prepared. Just like with
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One thing people sometimes forget about is the need for proper clothing for survival situations. Further complicating the issue is the convenience of heated vehicles and homes, rendering clothing capable of sustaining our temperatures for more than the trip from the toasty house to the toasty car unnecessary. People tend to think as they always have, tending to be resistant to changing mental gears, until it's too late. Don't be one of those people. The fact that you are reading this tends to indicate that you are not only capable of responding to changing situations, but also capable of forecasting potential difficulties in the future and preparing for them.
I try to dress for the weather conditions outside, keeping in mind that heated vehicles get stuck, break down, and have accidents and I might be out in the cold for a while while I deal with the situation. It's a good practice to keep in, and if there is a problem, you needn't work to hard to shift mental gears to be comfortable. It's easy enough to turn the heat DOWN in a car that does run, but turning the heat UP in a car that doesn't.....well now, THAT I would like to see.
One thing I try to do is use the same clothing I'd wear in a survival situation in my everyday life. Two reasons for this are to keep familiar with the placement of pockets, usage, characteristics, and to make sure they are comfortable for everyday sustained use. Another reason is strictly budgetary. If you buy one set of clothing for your bug out bag and another for your everyday use, you have spent twice as much money on clothing as necessary. As things wear out, you can buy more or rotate new out of your bug out bag into usage. Paying a bit more for something that lasts twice as long isn't really spendy, it's thrifty.
I prefer long wearing, eminently practical clothing as a rule and got a taste of some of the most durable clothing made while I was in the US Army. I had t-shirts that lasted my entire enlistment, and though my BDU's didn't long outlast my enlistment, they were getting more than the usual workout crawling around on tanks and whatnot, so I wasn't expecting too much of them. The wool socks last a very long time, and are still warm even when wet, furthermore they are easily repaired when they do start to fail.
For slacks I wear 5-11 tactical gear from LA Police Gear, which are basically improved BDU style pants, cargo pocketed, with additions like Velcro, cell phone pockets, and some other features that make them desirable. They far outlast normal denim jeans and other types of slacks. The polyester blend ones tend to be the most durable and longest lasting, in addition to being cooler than the more cotton heavy blends. I wear them in basic black...sans pearls. (Yes I stole that line from Richard Marcinko's novels). Camouflage clothing tends to bring out the reactionary in people, especially in the current militia wary environment. Black looks more civilian than ACU and dressier than the other colors. I've never been under-dressed using those slacks with a shirt that's appropriate to the environment. I also keep a set of BDU's in ACU for situations where camouflage is necessary. I will expand on the number of sets as finances allow. A good boonie hat will keep the sun off your face and shade your eyes far longer than sunscreen, which may become unavailable at some point.
I tend to wear t-shirts year around, with a long sleeved shirt only when a sweatshirt over the T would be too warm. Layers are a big key, using the same items for many types of situations means less need for redundant clothing. Less clothing in your bug-out pack with more versatility is a good thing. Having thermals is a nice thing, but sweat pants and long sleeved t-shirts can do the same jobs and more. I use sweat pants in place of thermal pants and wear my loose fitting 5-11 tacticals over those for more warmth and I still have all my same pockets etc available. A sweatshirt or sweater over a long sleeved T can be warmer than a t-shirt and a jacket, and helps you keep warm in more situations. If you get too hot, you can take off the T, the sweater, or your jacket or any combination thereof for more versatility.
In extreme winter weather I layer up even further by adding a USGI insulated winter coverall on top of all that, with my parka and parka liner on top of that. I purchased that from Ebay for a mere twenty dollars. (one of those deals you have to jump on fast to get in on) If camouflage is a necessity, I can use my ACU pants over the coverall instead of the black tacticals under. My parka is also ACU and came from Sportsmansguide.com. A parka is a good thing, but without a liner is not terribly warm. I would shy away from simple field jackets and tend toward the parkas with liners. Parkas cover your body lower down than a simple field jacket, going down to the knees or thereabouts. They usually have a drawstring waist to prevent cold air coming up from below. A hood is also essential, keeping you MUCH warmer than the same coat with the hood down or detached. When I am equipped as outlined in this paragraph I can spend hours at the shooting range, sitting still most of the time at a shooting bench, without getting cold. In addition to the aforementioned layers I use the USGI Mickey boots to top it off. These boots are rated to -20 degrees, whatever that means. All I can say is I can stand in a puddle full of ice or slush and not get cold feet for as long as I'd care to with them on. They look HUGE on your feet, and aren't very stylish....but they are WARM. Sportsmansguide currently has them for around 40 dollars, which is a steal. In training they told us not to wear them above freezing temperatures as they were thought to cause your feet to sweat at warmer temperatures, but due to a little mishap jumping down from the tank one day I broke a water insole in my combat boot and had to wear these, my only other boots downrange, till my boots dried out. I had no discomfort whatsoever in 40-60 degree temperatures, though they were a bit more unwieldy than my usual combat boots. I use thinsulate gloves when temperatures are below freezing, and isotoners when they will do the job, keeping both in the voluminous pockets of my parka for easy access to whichever is needed.
Military surplus items are some of the best built and most desirable items to use, and are exceedingly inexpensive if you buy items that are previous generation. I was able to find a large alice pack for my bug out bag online in ACU, mil spec with a new paint job basically, for forty dollars. A MOLLE II pack would have cost me near a hundred and been smaller besides. I found a USGI sleeping pad for eight dollars on Ebay. Many items can be had for next to nothing if you look around and find the best price. One reason I feel confident purchasing mil spec items for such low prices is that I know from personal experience how effective they are and the quality they represent. Sometimes a price that's “too good to be true” really isn't. I can believe that the US Government seeing some of the prices I've paid for some of it's best hardware, and knowing what they paid for the same items new, is having fits.
I recently placed an order with Sportsmansguide for mil spec sand colored T's and OD green long sleeved East German shirts for ridiculously low prices. You have to catch these items when they are in stock, but I got the T's for twenty four dollars for twelve T's and the long sleeved shirts for fourteen dollars for ten of them. I have to admit, I've been ordering a lot of items from them lately so I finally caved and got a membership. I know I will be buying more from them as stuff I can't pass up on comes in. I missed out on some spectacular boots recently. I bought size 9's of the Austrian ranger boots and they were too tight. Unfortunately by the time I sent them back and requested 10's they were out of them. This brings me to the most important of all items you can have in your kit. BOOTS. Good boots last years and having two pairs that are broken in and ready for use is essential. (You too could have a mishap and wind up with soggy boots) You may have to walk miles, even hundreds of miles in a survival situation. Boots can't be easily replaced without our current infrastructure being intact. If things go south you aren't going to be able to replace your worn out boots with new ones for some time, so you'd better have enough to last you a while to give things time to settle down and sort themselves out. I normally wear GBX boots, which are very long wearing boots, but a tad low (ankle height) for true rough terrain hiking. Dr Scholls work gel insoles go a long way toward making boots more liveable long term.
Last week, I touched on some of the ways that cities and towns are actually better than rural locations for survival situations, and today & tomorrow, I'm going to give you a more in-depth list of the top 10 lies and half-truths about urban survival.
It's ironic to note that survival is the very reason why many cities were originally set up. They wanted to set up a common defense, build a marketplace for their goods, and have access to people with specialized skills.
What do I mean by urban? Well, by "urban" I mean a few thousand people to a few million people. Basically any community that shares water/sewer/electricity distribution. With that in mind, here are the top 10 lies about Urban Survival and why it may be better for you than a fully stocked rural retreat (in no particular order)
Lie #1. "I'll be a sitting duck in my house!": If you live on a street with several houses, you can rotate a watch without it being too much of a burden on any one family. This has been around for generations. Just to be clear, it doesn't stop crime,it only changes the location where it happens.
If a crack head needs to steal a TV to support their habit, it'll just get them to go a block or two away to break into a house and steal someone else's stuff. Of course, many scale this up and have multiple roving people covering an entire neighborhood. In the country, there's just too much space between houses to make this practical. Why? Because in an urban area, one person can watch several houses at one time.
Lie #2. "With all those people, everything's going to run out right away": True, but it's just the first chapter of the story. Many people will abandon cities and others will die of shock, medical reasons, or violence, leaving a remnant of people who were prepared who can continue/rebuild the economy. Also, at some point, products like fuel will start being distributed again. If refiners have the choice of trucking fuel to one city or 10 towns, they'll pick the one city. Their cost to deliver the fuel to only one location will be less AND they'll probably be able to sell the fuel at a premium because of higher demand. The key here is to have enough supplies on hand to make it
through the worst part of a civil breakdown situation until resupply begins.
Half-truth #3. "Everyone in the city will turn on each other": Partially true. I hear people talk about their organized plans to kill, loot, and steal from their neighbors way too often. Just yesterday a friend told me how he overheard a group of otherwise rational people talking about how they have their neighborhood mapped out and the houses prioritized according to which ones they're going to attack first. This is no joke, and it's why I cover operational security so much in the SurviveInPlace course. I think these people should and will be "taken care of" quickly if they ever start acting on their sick plans. They go against everything that America stands for and they disgust me.
There is another side to this story...one which has a lot more historical evidence. Think of barn raisings and the ability of a rural community to band together to get a big project done. Now think about how many more people there are in a city than in a rural area and how much easier it would be for any one person to get a group of people together to get a big project done when there are so many more people to ask. (stop laughing)
Really, stop laughing. The reality is that people don't tend to help each other like this in urban areas anymore. But one of the "good" things about disasters and breakdowns in civil order is that while idiots are running amok, good people band together to help each other. It happened after the San Francisco earthquake, 9/11, numerous floods & tornadoes in the Midwest, and even after Katrina.
In fact, I've got a friend who has moved BACK to New Orleans because of what he saw after Katrina. He happened to have friends who lived in a neighborhood that was galvanized by the event, pulled together, and became like a small town community in the middle of all the chaos.
None of this was in place before Katrina to set this up,it just happened that good people decided to take control of the situation in front of them. They had armed checkpoints to get into their neighborhood, they took care of each other, and when things calmed down they realized that they had turned their neighborhood of strangers into a family
Lie #4. Only jacks-of-all trades will survive. people with specialized skills will have no use and quickly die: Famous
self-reliant author Robert Heinlein (Starship Troopers) said that "specialization is for insects" but that's not entirely true. A better view on life would be "Jack of all trades, master of ONE." In other words, if you happen to be a surgeon, it's really not worth your time to change your oil, build a deck, milk a cow, or dress & butcher a kill, but you should still know how.
No matter what you do, there are going to be tasks that you're not efficient at. I recently read that the reason why people are so busy in survival situations is because they're spending all of their time doing things they're not efficient at. In a city, you don't HAVE to do everything?even if you know how to do it all. There are a ready supply of skilled friends, acquaintances, and experts for hire who can do specialized tasks that you aren't efficient at much quicker than you can.
The other benefit of specialization in urban areas is that it allows for highly skilled people like the surgeon that I
mentioned. In a rural area, the surgeon may only get a chance to practice his skill a few times a month. In an urban area, he'll have the opportunity to hone his skills every day and all of his patients will benefit from his efficiency and expertise.
Half-truth #5. Sickness will spread like wildfire in cities after a disaster: True, but history shows us that much of the reasons why disease spreads so quickly in urban areas is not only due to population density, but also due to a lack of sun exposure due to spending all day indoors. This is something you have control over. Throughout history, the benefits of efficient distribution have outweighed the dangers of disease spread.
In fact, A HUGE advantage that urban areas have over rural areas is how much more efficient product and information distribution is. A kid on a bike can deliver a few hundred newspapers quickly in a city. Mail can be delivered on foot. Bike messengers can deliver packages and messages quickly. Food and produce can be
delivered QUICKLY by hand, foot, vehicle, cart, or animal to hundreds of customers without adding much cost to the final buyer.
One of the big problems that we have, both in stable and unstable times is urban sprawl. By urban sprawl, I'm specifically talking about subdivisions of 1000-3000 houses with absolutely no grocery, retail, or convenience stores except at the entrance from the main road. These are very inefficient setups because they require people to drive for small things like fresh produce, a snack, a missing ingredient for a favorite recipe, or a newspaper.
I have a very strong feeling that in a civil breakdown situation, as others abandon their homes in search of greener pastures, many houses in subdivisions like these will turn into markets?regardless of zoning. In other words, if you've got a main street through a subdivision that's a couple miles long, I can see 5-10 of them being changed into convenience stores and, when the season is right, farmer's markets.
Why do I say this? Because good people always have and always will figure out a way to improvise, adapt, and overcome?and this is a natural solution to a problem that we see in subdivisions in every city in America.
I'll be back with the next 5 tomorrow, and on Friday, I'm going to talk about how Chicago is breaking down and tell you the reason why gangs of "bad people" won't be a long term problem in most cities after civil breakdown.
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This week is a quickie...I'm doing a detox/clense this week to help boost the performance of my liver and intestines, but the lack of calories is making everything take longer to do. I'm going to touch on some of the bizzare news stories that came out this week, the instability in the stock market, and why surviving in urban areas may very well be better than on an isolated farm.
I'm always reminded when I have a limited calorie intake for a day or two how important it is to make plans and decisions when you're well rested, fed, and not under stress. In other words, get your survival PLANS in order now, so that you can execute them when you're tired, hungry, and stressed.
Sometimes I feel like I'm living in a parallel bizarro world.
Obama is trying to take over banking under the guize of "financial reform" (Incidentally, this could tear apart honest banks that support our current and former troops, like USAA.) The EPA is saying that "social justice" is central to their mission of protecting the environment, and somehow, GM thinks we should cheer for them just because they paid back a few billion dollars of the more than $50 BILLION bailout from the TARP program (not counting cash for clunkers).
Bizarre. Really bizarre. I guess if you say a lie loud enough and repeat it often enough, people will believe it.
At the same time, the stock market is going up...not as fast as the fed is printing money and increasing the money supply, but still pretty fast. Last year I did a video warning about the money supply when it was at 1.8 Trillion. Now it's at almost 2.4 Trillion and climbing fast. I know that the "big money" on Wall Street is supposed to be controlled by a bunch of genius Harvard MBAs, but I think they're missing the boat here like they did with subprime mortgages and credit default swaps.
Specifically, looking at charts of the Dow, we're on the bad end of a "head and shoulders" pattern. Sorry for the "geek" speak...one school of thought in investing is that you can identifiy predictable patterns in the stock market and have a better than even shot of knowing what's coming next.
One of these patterns is called "head and shoulders" and it looks like the outline of a sillouete target...it goes up on the left side, levels out or dips for awhile at the shoulder, pops up again pretty rapidly, levels off for the top of the head, then it drops, comes back up for awhile until it hits the other shoulder, and then drops like a rock.
We had the first shoulder in 2001. It peaked in 2007 only to drop to the collarbone in early 2009.
It appears as if we're approaching the other shoulder.
What will make it tank? A natural disaster, a foreign attack, or the breakdown of any of the false economic props that I've talked about before could all cause a crash. With unemployment and underemployment as high as it is, this next drop will be painfull.
In short, you need to get prepared NOW...you need to become more self-reliant...you need to develop and strengthen local relationships so you have people you can depend on if things go south...and you need to do it all without making yourself a ripe target for the unprepared and the "entitled" masses.
You also need to have a solid plan in place for surviving right where you currently live...regardless of whether it's a town of 5000 or 15 million. It might be a secondary plan if you have a stocked bug-out location, but you need to have a solid plan nailed down if you have to stay where you are.
The ironic thing is that cities are safer in some ways than isolated rural retreats.
As much as people talk about cities and towns burning to the ground and gangs taking control when "it" happens, the reality is that bad guys do this in rural areas too. Bad guys know that isolated farm houses means they've got long sight lines and that nobody will be able to hear you scream for help.
In fantasy land, you'll never have to leave home, always be 100% aware and have armed guards manning observation posts...but that's just not reality for most people...especially when there is not a clear and present threat to keep you alert.
Bad guys know that isolated houses are ripe for attack.
It happend in France when Germany invaded. It happend in Eastern Europe when the Soviet Union invaded. It happend in South Africa and several other parts of Africa in the last decade for racial, religious, and political reasons. It happened in Argentina when their economy collapsed. It's starting to happen with drug dealers attacking isolated homes on the southern border of the US.
Yes, cities are far from perfect, but they do have some benefits over rural areas...people who know each other can look out for each other. People can team up, specialize, be charitable, and undertake big projects like water & sewage treatment. Neighborhoods can hire armed guards or have a community watch that rotates. And when it comes to food, history shows us that farmers will take their crops to where they can get the most money for it.
History also shows us that this will be cities because they have micro-economies that are active and cities have more people competing for goods, which gives the farmer higher prices.
If utilities are cut off, they'll be restored to population centers before rural areas. If outside aid comes in, it will be delivered to places that have distribution systems in place. If there are only a limited number of vaccines, insulin, anti-biotics, or other specialized drugs, they will be delivered to cities...also because of distribution, infrastructure, and efficiency.
So, even though there are numerous signs that a severe economic downturn is coming soon, don't feel like you're going to be the only good person left in your city or town. Just get yourself prepared and do it smartly.
That's it for this week. Let me know what is making you prepare for surviving disasters in urban areas...finances? medical reasons? are you a first responder and have a duty to stay? Let me know by commenting below.
Until next week.
David Morris
UrbanSurvivalGuide.com/SurviveInPlace.com
UrbanSurvivalPlayingCards.com
SecretsOfUrbanSurvival.com
P.S. Yes, I believe in the free market and sell stuff to help you get prepared. Just like with TV, radio, and newspapers, this free weekly newsletter is supported by paid advertisements. In this case, it's supported by my own products. In case you didn't know what all I offer, here's a quick summary:
htpp://SurviveInPlace.com / http://UrbanSurvivalGuide.com : This is the comprehensive online Urban Survival Course that over 2000 students have gone through. There's currently no other book or course available like it. It includes several advertised and unadvertised bonuses and an ever increasing number of lessons from the audio version of the course. At the end of the course, students have an option of receiving my book, which is the first 12 lessons of the course, or additional lessons. To see what other students have said, go here: http://secretsofurbansurvival.com/en...rvival-Course…..
http://UrbanSurvivalPlayingCards.com : Every go-bag and 72 hour kit should have a deck of playing cards in them...and if you live near other people, that deck of cards should be a deck of Urban Survival Playing Cards. These decks have 52 urban survival tips, tricks, and secrets that you're likely to forget under stress that could make the difference between surviving a disaster or becoming a victim.
My book, "Urban Survival Guide", which is available on Amazon.com. Click on the picture below to buy it now. At last check, this week it's being bundled with Ben Sherwood's "Survivor's Club" which is also a great book. We share a lot of the same thoughts on survival psychology and the bundle is a great deal.
Welcome to this week's SurviveInPlace.com's Urban Survival Newsletter.
This week we're going to touch on the potential for economic collapse in the US and what you can do about it TODAY, new protocols that are replacing 72-hour kits, collapsible airsoft targets, & Bug-Out-Bags.
It seems like I hear reports that either the economy is turning around or the housing market is turning around at least a couple of times a week.
While I agree that it's great to be optimistic...and I understand that consumer confidence can and will help bring the country out of a recession, the thought that things are turning around anytime soon is simply delusional and unhealthy for you to buy into. That doesn't mean you need to be bummed about it...it just means that it would be intelligent to be aware of what's going on and take appropriate action.
Here is just a sampling of some of the many artificial props in the economy right now that are keeping prices low and giving us an "economic honeymoon"...
-Excess inventory due to businesses going out of business. (electronics, furniture, etc.)
-Excess inventory due to individuals selling off all they can in yard sales and on ebay.
-Artificial liquidity due to the Japanses post office buying US Treasuries, even though they're bankrupt (I think they are actually worse off than we are!)
-Artificial liquidity in the dollar due to citizens in Greece, Ireland, and the EU in general moving their money from Euros to dollars.
-Artificially high real estate prices due to interest being rates so low that the risk premium has been removed.
-Artificially high real estate prices due to excessive tax credits and other government interventions.
-Artificially high real estate prices due to banks keeping bad debt on the book so as to not tank their entire portfolios.
-Artificially high real estate prices due to investors and families making incredible (unsustainable) sacrifices to pay the mortgages on their 2nd homes and investment properties that they can't sell because they owe more than the homes are worth.
-Artificially high commercial real estate prices due to banks not foreclosing so as to not tank their entire portfolios.
-Artificially high stock prices due to Harry S. Dent's "great boom" retiring...which will affect prices when retirees begin moving retirement funds out of stocks and into more conservative investments.
-Artificially high financial stock prices due to credit default swaps not showing up as the liability that they truly are.
-Artificially high bond rates b/c of buying our own debt in exchange for short-sighted deals with China.
-AND, of course...printing lots of US dollars in the face of a dropping GDP.
(I could go on)
Someday soon, some or all of these "props" are going to go away. It could happen gradually, they could fall quickly in succession, like dominoes, or several could happen all at once after a natural disaster or major terrorist incident on US soil.
Regardless, all of these problems HAVE to get worked out of the market. Will you be ready?
More importantly, will you have your head screwed on so that you can keep a positive, realistic attitude, regardless of the circumstances.
Sometimes, I'm accused of being all "doom and gloom" because I am aware of the threats we face. Actually, the opposite is true. While I have my eyes wide open and am very aware of hundreds of economic, manmade, and natural threats, I'm quite happy.
Here's part of my secret...I choose to take immediate decisive action on the few things in my life that I have control over and decide are most important.
What do I do with the rest?
I turn the rest over to God and/or simply refuse to let it suck my time/energy...but whatever I do, I don't WORRY about things I can't control and I definitely don't let those things consume my thoughts and take time away from productive thinking and living. Worrying and fretting about things that you can't control acts like battery acid in your brain...ruining your mood, relationships, and even your ability to think clearly. This can manifest itself in the form of depression, lowered immunity, and many believe cancer.
Going back to the possibility of a coming economic collapse, what CAN you do? Well, you can't balance the national budget today, but you can get politically active...not only by voting and going to rallys, but by contacting representatives and offering to help do research for them.
If you don't have a fully stocked rural retreat already set up with neighbors who know and trust you, it's unlikely that you will be able to put that in place between now and when something major happens. Even if you get moved to a rural location, it could take a decade or even a generation for your neighbors to stop seeing you as "the new guy" or "an outsider."
So keep working towards that goal...but accept the fact that things may not happen on your schedule. In the meantime, you CAN keep buying food/medical supplies for your current home, learning survival skills, simplifying your life, and getting to know your neighbors and finding out who's switched on.
As you're making your preparations for natural/manmade/economic disasters, keep asking yourself the following question, "Will what I'm doing/planning/buying be worthwhile regardless of whether or not a disaster ever happens during my lifetime?" If you can answer yes, then you'll probably be much happier 1, 5, and 20 years down the road.
5 day kit replaces 72 hour kit?
700 small earthquakes hit Utah every year and smart residents are continually preparing for "the big one." With major earthquakes hitting Haiti, Chili, Baja, and Indonesia in the last couple of months, earthquake experts in Utah have changed their recommendation from 72 hour kits to 5 day kits. Why? They're being realistic about both local and national relief agencies not being able to respond quickly due to ever tightening budgets.
This doesn't just apply to Utah. Budgets for first responders are shrinking around the country and if you don't already have a few basic 72 hour kits cached in various locations (each floor of your house, each car, office, etc.) now would be a good time to do so...and beef them up with a few thousand extra calories, more meds, and more water and/or purification tools.
If you want more information on preparing for economic disasters, disaster psychology, or 72 hour kits, make sure to go to SurviveInPlace.com and check out my complete Urban Survival Course.
CHEAP collapsible airsoft target frame:
As I mentioned last week, I love training with airsoft. It allows me to get a LOT more trigger time than I could afford if shooting lead was my only option, and it allows me to train scenarios that I can't do on my local ranges.
One problem with airsoft is that normal airsoft targets are small and incapable of taking repeated hits from quality airsoft guns.
I've solved this problem by making my own target frame/backstop for under $30 and using full size (2'x4') targets. Granted, this isn't original OR rocket science, but it is a great solution for airsoft training.
This is the entire frame/backstop with a target attached
Basically, I made the target frame out of 2 10 foot sections of 1 1/2" PVC pipe. The 4 vertical sections are 3' long, the 2 horizontal cross pieces are 2' long, and the 4 legs are 1' long, for a total of 20' of pipe with absolutely no waste. I connected all the pieces with 2 elbows and 4 Ts and capped the legs with 4 caps. All of the PVC parts cost me about $20.
Here is JUST the frame. As you can see, it's VERY simple and fast to put together.
Home Depot will let you cut PVC in the store with their saws, so you don't even need to buy a saw.
There's enough friction on the fittings to keep everything together, and it's easy to break everything down as much as you want for storage.
As a bonus, 2' and 3' sections of PVC make great improvised weapons : )
For the backdrop, I started out with a $7 tarp folded and draped over the top. It was louder than I liked, so I threw a $7 moving blanket from UHaul over it. It's absorbed thousands of focused hits so far without giving out, but when it starts to, all I need to do is slide the blanket up or down so my impact area is different.
When I tri-fold the moving blanket I have, it is just slightly narrower than my target and two clothespins are all that I need to secure targets in place.
I keep a box underneath the target/blanket and it catches 90-95% of the airsoft BBs, making cleanup a breeze.
Of course, you could also accomplish the same thing by draping a blanket over a door at the end of a hallway or over a doorway chin-up bar, but the PVC frame will allow you to practice entering a room and engaging a target, engaging the target behind partial cover, or hundreds of other scenarios that most people don't have the facilities to practice regularly.
Bug Out Bags
One of our staff writers, Henre' Neville, wrote a very practical article on Bug Out Bags that you'll want to read. He covers some very practical experience, real life consequences of not having pre-stocked/positioned Bug-Out-Bags, and some ideas of what to put in yours. You can read the whole article here: http://secretsofurbansurvival.com/entry.php?22
What's the difference between a Bug Out Bag and a 72 hour kit? I went over both, as well as the MAJOR differences in a one hour interview I did awhile back, but basically a 72 hour kit gives you 72 hours to get to your home, a cache, or to establish a short/long term food/water supply. A bug out bag, on the other hand, is for when you have to evacuate your primary shelter (home) for an undetermined amount of time. It will contain more legal documentation, money, medications, and other personal items.
That's it for this week. Try to make a point of making daily progress on your Urban Survival/Preparedness/Self-Reliance journey this week, with an emphasis on "doing" and "practicing" rather than simply reading/learning.
With most survival books/websites, people read a lot and agree that it's all important, but rarely implement more than one or two things because of information overload.
That's one of the reasons why the SurviveInPlace.com Urban Survival Course is so valuable...it is broken up into weekly bite-sized chunks that you're encouraged to take action on. It includes both announced and unannounced bonuses, an ever increasing number of audio lessons, AND students have the option to receive my book, "Urban Survival Guide" or additional lessons at the end of the course. To read the course description, go here:
Of course, if you simply want a teaser, check out UrbanSurvivalPlayingCards.com, or I just released the first 12 lessons from the course in book form on Amazon.com. You can purchase it by going to: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1450582230?...rviveinplac-20
Comments or questions? Fire away by commenting below!
Take care, and stay safe!
David Morris
UrbanSurvivalGuide.com/SurviveInPlace.com
UrbanSurvivalPlayingCards.com
SecretsOfUrbanSurvival.com
Today is Good Friday...one of my favorite days of the year, and one of the days that is most important to me : )
This week, I'm going to talk about using airsoft trainer pistols as a training aid.
But first, if you haven't claimed your copies of my new book, "Urban Survival Guide", I encourage you to check it out by going to www.UrbanSurvivalGuide.com/amazon.php . I'm offering a great bonus for people who order multiple copies, and I've SIMPLIFIED the offer considerably since yesterday. So if you checked it out and it made your eyes roll into the back of your head, you weren't alone. Sorry about that. Please forgive me for being a recovering engineer...Sometimes I just can't supress my Rube Goldberg tendencies : )
On to the meat of today's newsletter...Using airsoft trainers as a firearms training aid.
As ammo prices have shot through the roof, I've started doing more and more of my training with airsoft Police Tactical Pistols (PTP or Trainers). These are a class of airsoft guns that are made of metal, are the same size and weight as their real counterparts, and have the same controls, including safeties, slide locks, mag releases, and they even break down the same. In other words, these aren't the clear plastic toys you buy at Target.
I'll be brief today, but here are some of the big plusses and drawbacks of using airsoft trainiers:
Plusses: + (just the basics)
Dry fire on steroids: It's important to note that airsoft training is not a replacement for real shooting. You NEED to feel the recoil, hear the boom, know the feel of taking up slack on your trigger and the feel of trigger reset on your real firearms. A healthier and more accurate way to look at airsoft training is as dry fire training on steroids that happens to be a lot of fun.
Cost: High quality bbs are less than $20 for 4000 rounds, or just under 1/2 cent per round. You have to add gas to that cost, but it's still less than a penny per round. Trainer Glocks, 1911s, etc. cost around $150 apiece and extra mags are $30-$40 apiece.
Frequency of training: I am able to shoot 100-200 rounds of airsoft EVERY DAY because the time/cost barrier of training is so low. I still shoot quite a bit of real lead, but I don't have the time to shoot every day with my real firearms. Normally, when I go shooting, I shoot more rounds at one time to justify the travel time and range fees, but the frequency that I am able to train with airsoft allows me to build up and retain muscle memory much faster than shooting lead alone.
Variety of training: I practice my grip, presentation, sight acquisition, transitioning between targets, reloads, movement, odd angles, one handed, off hand, cornering, drawing form concealment while seated, and more...some of which just aren't possible at most ranges.
Simplicity of training: I don't have to drive to a range, pay for time, drive home, and clean my guns...I just get up from my desk and take pushup/shooting breaks throughout the day. That's not possible for most people, but you can shoot down a hallway in your house or in your garage.
Fun: I could do most of what I do with airsoft with snap caps and dry fire drills...but I never did dry fire training as much as I do airsoft training because airsoft training is FUN. It's fun to hit targets, make holes, and knock things over, even if it is on a smaller scale than with a real gun.
Size & Weight: Since the airsoft trainers are the same size and weight of their real counterparts, you can use the same holsters that you normally use.
Social Proof: The Japanese steel target team trains on airsoft all year, comes to the US and shoots lead for just 2 weeks before meets, and places well every year. Several US military units and police departments are training with airsoft as well.
Recoil/Flinch: Shooting airsoft will expose and cure you of anticipating trigger break & recoil. While big dips of the barrel may be hidden with real recoil, it shows up immediately with airsoft. There's no need for it with airsoft and you can train your mind to not flinch with a few hundred rounds of airsoft.
Training wifes/kids/newbies to shooting: Since it's fun, there's no boom, smell, or recoil, airsoft is a great way to introduce people to shooting or to start teaching advanced techniques to current shooters. Since you're eliminating the recoil and the boom, you can focus on fundamentals until they are learned and THEN transition to low caliber and defensive caliber firearms.
Drawbacks: -
It's a toy: Face it...airsoft is a way to compensate for not having enough time or money to shoot the real thing as much as you'd like. It will never be as good as a real firearm. I resisted airsoft, tried it, and now have embrased it as a way to get a lot more trigger time. That being said, it's better to get a lot of trigger time with an airsoft trainer than no trigger time with the gun you can't afford or find the time to shoot.
Lack of recoil: The airsoft trainers do have recoil, but it's nothing like a real firearm. This means that you can't REALLY practice multiple shots because it's much easier to reacquire your site picture after each shot. What you can do is transition between targets, shooting each one once, OR use airsoft training to develop your speed and focusing on followthrough (reaquiring your site picture) after each shot.
Dropping mags: Airsoft trainer mags have gas cylinders in them...this makes them heavy and causes them to break when you drop them on hard surfaces. You basically need padded carpet wherever you intend on dropping mags during reloads. To clarify, picture a real magazine...it's heavy when it's full and light when it's empty because most of the weight comes from the bullets. With airsoft, the little plastic bbs weigh .2 grams, so the weight changes very little as it goes from full to empty.
Authentic trigger feel: While the double action triggers and single action triggers work as they should, they just don't feel like a real trigger. The tension builds up different, the break isn't as precise as with a real firearm, and the reset isn't quite as pronounced. That being said, the double actions that I have are good enough to practice drawing up the slack during the extension phase of my presentation and all of the airsoft trainers that I have shot can be used to do trigger reset drills.
Precision: With the airsoft trainer handguns, you're not going to have much precision. My We Tech 1911 will shoot 1"-3" groups at 25 feet out of the box. My KJ Glock is slightly less accurate. Both can be modified to shoot more accurately, but that hasn't been a concern for me. Airsoft trainer rifles are another matter entirely. My Top Tech M4 will hold 8" groups out to 80-100 yards when there is no wind.
Safety: There is a distinct possibility that you will learn bad safety habits with airsoft. Don't. You must treat airsoft guns like the real firearms they represent. Never point an airsoft trainer at an object you don't want to destroy (unless you are doing force on force training, which is beyond the scope of this article). Always use proper muzzle/safety discipline so that when you are handling real firearms you won't have any bad habits creep in.
I welcome any questions you have on this. Just let me know by commenting below.
Next week, one of the things I'm going to talk about is how to build a portable, collapsable airsoft target stand/backstop that will take full size targets that you can make in under an hour for less than $30.
Must read articles: Dr. Leonard Breure (retired Army and Police Officer) has written 4 hard hitting articles this week that are posted at http://secretsofurbansurvival.com/me...p?557-lmbreure including:
"A Call To Arms"
"An Open Letter to Our Elected Representatives"
"The Warrior Way" < Great article
and "We Want America Back!"
I encourage you to go over and read them. Leonard has a treasure chest of real world experience and doesn't hesitate to share what he's learned over the years.
Have a blessed Easter weekend,
David Morris
UrbanSurvivalGuide.com/SurviveInPlace.com
UrbanSurvivalPlayingCards.com
SecretsOfUrbanSurvival.com
In today's edition of the Urban Survival Newsletter, I'm going to
talk briefly about some unintended consequences of the healthcare
bill that were announced today, cover a little more on poppies,
tell you about a tactical flashlight you can buy for under $8!
and point you to a great AR vs. AK resource.
I've had quite a bit of feedback on Wednesday's newsletter about
using the current focus on healthcare as a spark to get more
self-reliant when it comes to medical and trauma self-care.
Again...regardless of your political beliefs, PLEASE use this
opportunity to become more prepared.
I've also added some of the emails that I received back as
comments after the article...good stuff. We're making it easier
for you to join the conversation, so let me know what you think
while you're there.
One of the biggest questions I received was on poppies. What
kind? Where to get? Tell me more!
The seeds themselves are cheap, legal, and you probably actually
eat them a few times a month (think 'poppy seed bread') and you
can buy them MANY places, including local nurseries, and
Amazon.com. You want to search for one particular variety,
called "Papaver somniferum." There are SEVERAL really pretty
color options within that variety.
As you can probably imagine, a LOT of the literature surrounding
poppies come from the "drug culture", "hippie culture", and
"far-out culture." That being said, one book that you might want to get is,
"Opium for the Masses." You can find it on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/193...rviveinplac-20
Again, I am not advocating illegal drug use, harvesting, or
processing...Several of my friends and some close relatives
are in law enforcement and they risk their lives fighting illegal
drug use. I'm simply including this as something for you to
consider if you are concerned about a long-term complete
breakdown in civil order. In fact, one rule of thumb that you
could follow is that you shouldn't harvest or process the sap
from the poppy unless things have broken down so completely that
you feel comfortable asking local law enforcement to guard your
garden and come over to help you harvest.
If you want to really get into the botanical specifics, like the
specific variety, soil type, plant spacing, fertilizer, and other
techniques for optimum morphine yield, check out: http://www.poppies.org/news/botany.shtml
We're planting some this year. They're really nice flowers to
look at and I don't want to wait until I NEED the skill to learn
it. Who knows...we may even bake a couple batches of poppie seed
bread.
Healthcare=phone surcharges?
Amazingly enough, we're already getting fallout from the passing
of the healthcare bill...AT&T announced today that it will take a
$1 BILLION charge for THIS QUARTER because of changes to the
Medicare-subsidy tax treatment. We can expect similar
announcements from most major companies and we can expect all of
these costs to get passed on to the consumer. Look for these
charges to start showing up on our receipts as "surcharge" fees
and higher prices across the board. In other words, your dollar
is about to get devalued...If you've been waiting to stock up on
essentials, I think now would be a good time.
CHEAP tactical flashlights:
My amazing wife found a tactical flashlight this week that is
affordable AND pretty darn cool. She found it at Costco, of all
places! They're currently selling 2 for $15. It has a low, high
(160 lumen) and strobe setting. It's not as high quality as my
Surefire lights, but I can afford to buy a few of these so I have
good backups to my Surefires and so I can have more tactical
lights handy. I'm going to be doing a video review of it this
week...including dropping and throwing it to see what damage it
will take. I'll let people know on Twitter.com/SurvivalDave and
Facebook.com/SurvivalDave when I post it and I'll include a link
in next week's newsletter.
AR vs. AK?
If you've been thinking about buying a high-caliber rifle, but
have been torn between an AR or an AK, buy both. (Joking
GIJeff has written a great piece about his experiences with the
two systems and how he purchased both at VERY reasonable prices.
To read it, head on over to Jeff's blog at http://secretsofurbansurvival.com/blog.php?b=16
P.S. If you haven't signed up for the SurviveInPlace.com Urban
Survival Course, you really need to. In addition to covering
alternatives to prescription medications, we go over improvised
trauma strategies, and tactical considerations you need to know
before you are forced into a survival situation. To see the
complete course description, please go to http://SurviveInPlace.com
This week was kind of a kick in the gut for me….and many Americans. Between the increasing number of foreign threats that want to destroy us and the domestic threats to our liberty, the last few days should serve as a wake-up call to make sure you are getting your plans squared away to survive breakdowns in civil order in your area.
I'm not going to go into depth on the healthcare bill right now. I probably will talk more about Obamacare in the coming days here on the blog/forum, but I will say that we just can't afford it…even if the federal government stays out of the insurance side of healthcare, we can't even afford for the federal government to oversee, let alone enforce the bill that was just passed. Here are two quick reasons why:
- Social Security is paying out $29 BILLION more than it's taking in this year…That's roughly $90 for every man, woman, and child. This shortfall is AFTER quietly cutting payments to thousands of recipients already this year (including my parents).
- Washington is spending $1 ¼ TRILLION more than it's taking in this year…That's $4,000 that our representatives borrowed on behalf of every man, woman, and child in the US…from China, who's leaders have repeatedly said that they "hate" us and who's military regularly trains attacking us with cyber attacks and Japan, who's economy is such a messed up house of cards that it's amazing it didn't completely implode in the 90s.
Whether you think the bill is wonderful or horrible, and regardless of whether the bill ever gets enacted or not, this is a good opportunity to take some time and figure out how you can become more self-reliant in terms of trauma care, long term medical care, and sicknesses.
For trauma, consider taking a first responder class, buying and studying an EMT manual, or even taking an online EMT/Paramedic course with local hands-on tests. The classes are a little spendy…about $1,000, but the time and money that you spend on the training will seem like a bargain if you ever NEED the skills.
For short and long term medical issues, you might need to get creative, do some research, and get a small stockpile of non-prescription treatments for various ailments. I go into this in a lot more detail in the www.SurviveInPlace.com Urban Survival Guide, but I'll share a few examples below. Keep in mind that I'm not a doctor and I'm not giving medical advice…just giving you a few things to talk about with your healthcare professional. These are all potentially life and death issues and choices that you shouldn't take lightly. Do your research and talk with qualified people before changing medication or medicinal herbs.
If you're hesitant to use any non-prescription solutions for medical issues, keep in mind that many prescriptions are refined or man-made versions of naturally occurring substances.
When I start to get a sinus or upper respiratory infection, instead of getting a Z-pack or other antibiotic, I use eucalyptus, tea tree oil, grapefruit seed extract, saline washes with zinc, and other herbs/oils with antibiotic/antiviral properties.
That being said, I AM more than willing to use a prescription antibiotic if I can't beat illnesses on my own. I don't hate the medical system…I just value self-reliance, privacy, and solutions that have a minimum number of side effects.
If you have type II Diabetes, check with your healthcare professional about using cinnamon or other cheap, easy to find products to control your blood sugar levels.
If you take blood pressure issues and take beta-blockers or vasodilators, talk with your healthcare professional about using properly harvested & processed chamomile tea or the amino acid l-arginine.
If you take anti-depressants or anti-anxiety medication, talk with your healthcare professional about using 5-HTP, melatonin, SAM-e, St. John's Wort, amino acids, or simple sun exposure & exercise.
If you anticipate needing pain management in a survival situation, it might benefit you to learn the pain management techniques taught in the Bradley Natural Childbirth classes.
I realize that there may not be a non-prescription solution for your issue, like type I diabetes, chronic pain issues, organ anti-rejection medication, and more. Don't waste time focusing on the things that you can't change, but the more self-reliant you can become in terms of medical issues, the less vulnerable you will be to changes in the accessibility of the healthcare system due to economics, politics, or disasters.
If you are to the point where you are COMPLETELY prepared for probable events and have moved on to preparing for electromagnetic pulse (still frighteningly probable) & other mass-chaos, end of the world type events, you might want to consider buying poppy seeds as well. You will lose all your possessions and go to really, REALLY bad federal prison if you attempt to harvest opium when there are functioning law enforcement entities, but in a Mad Max scenario, a renewable supply of pain medication could save a lot of lives. (Really…don't screw around with this.)
With all "herbal" or "natural" remedies, it is very important to study up so that you know you're getting quality products. There are particular components of oils and herbs that have medicinal qualities and these can be ruined if the wrong part of the plant is processed, if the processing is done incorrectly, or if the final product is stored incorrectly.
With teas, as an example, some companies tend to use harvesting and processing techniques that give their teas the most flavorful or aromatic end result…which are not necessarily the harvesting and processing techniques that give the most medically effective tea.
Since these and other non-prescription items are all currently non-controlled items, it's still possible to stock up on them if you find that they work for you.
There's another angle that you can take with this as well. Let's say that you don't have type II diabetes, but you know neighbors who do. You might want to stock up on some cinnamon to have on hand as a barter/charity item. This strategy isn't restricted to cinnamon…it can apply to ANY unique need that you see your neighbors having in a survival situation.
P.S. If you haven't signed up for the www.SurviveInPlace.com Urban Survival Guide, you really need to. In addition to covering alternatives to prescription medications, we go over improvised trauma strategies, and tactical considerations you need to know before you are forced into a survival situation. To see the complete course description, please go to www.SurviveInPlace.com right now.
David Morris here with this weeks Urban Survival Newsletter.
One of the big problems that houses in colder climates have is that they don’t have wood fireplaces and their heating systems require electricity to work. Gas furnaces require electricity to run the blower and thermostat, and even most pellet stoves require electricity to run the auger. It’s not uncommon to find whole neighborhoods of houses with gas furnaces, gas fire places, lots of windows, and no backup if the electricity goes out.
As many people find out every winter, this means is that in a power outage, you might have all the fuel you could want to heat your home, but still not be able to. As I’ve talked about in other articles, you can keep yourself warm enough by dressing warmly, creating a shelter within your house, and using the fuel you have to heat liquids to drink. That being said, you may still need to keep your house above freezing to protect your plumbing.
Keep in mind that the strategy that I use may not work for you. In many cases, electrical work must be done to code by a licensed electrician for your homeowners’ insurance to remain valid. This is serious stuff. It could kill you or loved ones, or cause your house to burn to the ground with no possibility of a check from your insurance company. Don’t screw around with this stuff…get a licensed electrician to help you. Even then, this method may not be up to code for your area and it might require serious modification to be legal and safe.
In short, what you do is add an outlet and a plug to your furnace (instead of running straight to your circuit panel), get a long heavy extension cord, that will run from your furnace to your car, a properly sized inverter for your car, and extra gas.
Just to clarify, an inverter takes the 12V DC power from your cigarette lighter and turns it into 120V AC power that will power your furnace blower.
This is obviously an UGLY solution, and won’t work in many apartments or condos, but it IS a field expedient way to heat your house when you’ve got fuel but no electricity.
Since it’s very modular, there are several benefits to implementing this strategy, namely:
1. It’s fast and inexpensive to implement. $100-$400 for the inverter, and very little else if you have a friend who’s an electrician.
2. You can easily upgrade from using your car’s alternator to using a generator.
3. It’s another good reason to have extra fuel on hand.
4. An inverter has all sorts of benefits in a survival situation, from converting solar power to 120V, powering computers, running other appliances from your automobile, and charging batteries that you only have wall chargers for. In the meantime, you can use it on road trips, for camping, and more.
Here are some “gotchas” that you’re going to want to look out for:
1. You’ll notice that there is no connection between the inverter and the electrical panel or double-male plugs in this setup. It is designed to power one appliance at a time. If you want to get tricky and do more, have an electrician set it up for you.
2. Your alternator may not put out enough amperage at warm idle to power your inverter. Check the specs on your alternator (It’s very unlikely that they’ll be easy to find), have a mechanic test the output of your alternator at warm idle, or shine your headlights at a wall with the engine idling, plug in your inverter, and plug in your furnace or some other appliances. If your headlights get dimmer and stay dimmer, then the alternator on your car isn’t big enough to power your inverter and you need to try a different vehicle, increase the idle speed of your car (which will run through gas quicker), or upgrade the alternator in your car. A beefed up alternator will put out more amperage at lower RPMs, but will also cost you $100-$300 more.
3. You need to make sure that your inverter is sized correctly to handle both the run load of your furnace blower and the peak load when it starts up. As an example, if the run load of your furnace is 2.3 amps, the peak load might be 6.5 amps.
4. You need to make sure that you have a HEAVY, rated extension cord that’s rated for the length and current load that you’ll be using.
5. Make sure that you have a licensed electrician set up the plug/outlet to local code.
One of the beautiful things about this mini-project is that you can go out and buy your inverter, extra gas, and extension cord TODAY. Even if you never get the interface with your furnace set up, you’ll still be able to benefit from the extra gas and the inverter. Still, I’d get on the phone and call an electrician to schedule a time to have them come over and get your furnace(s) set up right away.
What do you think about this strategy/mini-project? Let me know by commenting below:
While you’re there, check out some of the other recent articles, including:
“Friends, Families, & Bubbas” by BNMLuedeman. He talks about one of the topics from the SurviveInPlace Urban Survival Course…why it’s smart to be friends with “bubbas.” You can read the whole article by going here: http://secretsofurbansurvival.com/en...es-and-Bubba-s
Make sure to go on over to http://UrbanSurvivalPlayingCards.com and pick up a deck for each go-bag and vehicle you own, as well as for relatives. They contain 52 urban survival snippets from the SurviveInPlace.com Urban Survival Course that you can use when you’re under stress to survive disasters ranging from earthquakes, blizzards, and tsunamis to full fledged breakdowns in civil order.
Until Next Week,
David Morris
SurviveInPlace.com/UrbanSurvivalGuide.com
UrbanSurvivalPlayingCards.com
SecretsOfUrbanSurvival.com
P.S. If you haven’t signed up for the SurviveInPlace.com Urban Survival Course, you really should. It goes into much more detail on powering electronics in a “grid down” situation, how to secure generators, and 12+ weeks of proven techniques to survive disasters in urban environments.
Sign up now by going to: http://www.SurviveInPlace.com
P.P.S. What do you mean by “Urban?” Great question…urban can range from small cities to metropolises, but the most basic definition for this course is ANY area where housing is dense enough to warrant municipal water, sewer, and/or gas…in other words, it covers where you live.
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