The best time to leave for your bug out location is just before a major crisis occurs. But all of your carefully made plans and preparations will easily go to waste if you do not know how protect them from spying eyes.

Do you know how to avoid being followed and how to escape any tails that try to follow you?

Never forget that in the days leading up to a crisis, there may well be people that have access to information that you do not have. They will use that information to stop people like you that choose independent survival means.

Sharpen your senses and read this article, because this tricks will be really useful to plan your escape.

Do You Know the Signs of Other Groups Traveling Your Selected Route?

• That very strong nagging feeling that you are being followed, but you do not see, hear, or observe anything or anybody around.
• New or increased numbers of vehicle or human tracks on dirt roads or pathways.
• Increase of trash or garbage along your chosen route.
• Actually seeing other groups in the distance or way behind your group.

When to Switch to Alternate Routes?

• Once you feel reasonably certain that your group is being followed.
• When other groups are trying to close the gap between their group and yours.
• Search aircraft or vehicles are observed in your area.
• Adverse weather like heavy rain, snow, or heavy wind make it harder for tails to follow your changes. Keep in mind that advanced technologies may still give your location away. Always try to stay on paths where the ground features break up radar and heat signatures.
• After dark when no one can see the groups change in direction. Once again, be wary of technologies that may detect your position. If necessary, have everyone scatter and meet at a safe location.

How to Secure Your Direction

Use point scouts and rear guards to secure your road because these individuals are the group’s eyes and ears as to what is going on around the group. If there are any problems, these individuals will be the early warning system to any kind of offensive actions. Also, these individuals can act as decoys when the group is being followed.

In order to cover or mislead your group’s true direction of traveling, take into account a few tricks, as follows:

• Back tracking or set up a new trail that doubles back through the old trail to confuse followers or trained trackers.
• Set up false trails to confuse trackers or are used to split up the tracking parties.
• Erase the true path and send the followers in the wrong direction.
• Travel over hard ground or rocky ground. Under these conditions it is very hard to track people because there would be very few readable tracks to be followed, and the trail will easily end without the trackers knowing which direction the trail goes.
• Never travel in a straight line to the bug out site. A good tracking party would be able to figure out where the group is going and send out an advance party to cut you off and wait for the group to arrive.
• When in doubt, take to the trees or other high locations where you can travel from point to point.

Survival decision point: It is my belief that all point scouts and rear guard individuals should have small tools concealed on them to be used to aid in escaping if captured, or to use while leading others away from the main bug out group.

Escape and Evasion (E&E) Tools and Where to Hide Them

Just about anything can be used as an E&E tool. The tools you choose should be small, concealable, light weight, and serve multiple purposes. Most tools are not specialized escape tools, but are fashioned out of everyday items that are modified for this particular escape.

{adinserter aliveafteramerika}Your E&E kit must have some type of cutting tool such as a dog tag knife or a modified religious medallion. These items can be worn around the neck on a cord. Mini knife blades or knifes, wire saws, and other flexible cutting devices can be hidden either in your belt or behind your jean brand tag.

Handcuff keys, lock picks, button compasses, and other escape tools can be kept in a hollowed out portion of the heel of your shoes. Shoe seams can also be cut to hide small items like hair pins, needles, or piano wire.

If your bug out group could be traveling in hostile areas, E&E planning should be a regular part of your day to day routine. Take the time to hide E&E items on your body and clothes.

Finally, practice and keep practicing with the tools till it is muscle memory. Never forget to keep a survivor’s mind set- never give up and be prepared to fight to your last breath.

Escape and Evasion Techniques

It is human nature to run away from a threat as fast as possible. If you do this without a plan you are asking to get caught. It is always best to prepare for the worst and carefully execute the plan with discipline instead of fear. You, as an evader, must know how to react to such things as tracking dogs, possible air surveillance, night vision, thermal imaging, and satellite tracking of any electronic devices you are carrying or even within your vehicle.

It is important to remember that the people who catch you will most likely be the least qualified people in the chain of command looking for you. In most cases they are only to hold you until they can arrange to turn you over to the higher ups. It is important to get away now before you are moved to a location of tighter security.

If you are unlucky enough to get captured by another group your attitude, condition, and preparation will largely determine the successfulness of your attempt to escape. Even a high tech team can be evaded if you know what to look for and how to escape.

Attitude

• Have a good mindset that you will win at all costs, even if you must fight and kill those who are holding you.

Conditioning

• Keep yourself in good to excellent physical fitness.
• Eat healthy foods and do not drink alcohol.
• Learn to constantly exercise your memory.
• Mindset, do not take anything for granted. Memorize all exits in a new building and which one to use in an emergency.
•  Always be on alert. What seems wrong is usually wrong. Listen to that little voice in the back of your head.

Preparation

• Always keep minimal tools on your person knife, flashlight, cash, or a multi-tool.
• Know your surroundings, be aware of where you are, and which way is to safety.

Evade

When trying to evade it is extremely important to get outside of your captor’s perimeter. The odds are they will not find you and give you a head start to develop a better plan of action. Staying inside of the perimeter will get you nothing other than recaptured. Perimeters are fluid they change with each group. They can be as small as 100 yards to miles in diameter. Once on the run, put as much distance as possible between the captor’s and yourself.

Camouflaging Yourself

If you manage to escape, camouflage yourself so you do not stand out in the surroundings. This can be done by using natural materials like grass, twigs, leaves, or other vegetation that grows in your location. Remember to replace all natural vegetation before it fades or wilts.

The individual must blend with the surroundings, otherwise you will be very easy to spot and capture. Do not over camouflage or use incorrect garments for specific settings, as this can also draw attention.

Never have shiny objects exposed to bright sunlight like eye glasses, watches, or anything else that could flash. Keep them well covered. Always use the prone position to observe an area from good concealment.

Survival decision point: Is it safe to build a small shelter while on the run to rest or hide? If there is bad weather are you safer in a shelter than exposed to the elements? You will need to take into account the technologies used by potential captors as well as how much of a lead you have on them. Never forget that exhaustion can be just as dangerous as being within the captive’s perimeter.

In addition, lack of proper scouting can also cause you to fall straight into the hands of someone else looking to capture you.

How to Build a Shelter

If you decide that you need to build a shelter, it must blend into the surrounding area. It must be a small irregular shaped structure in a secluded area that is less likely to be searched. There must be an escape route that you can leave without being observed.

Entrances to the shelter should be located along ridges, ditches, and rocky terrain to keep from making paths to your shelter location. With proper camouflage and concealment, this could buy yourself some time during the first disorganized hours after your escape.

How to Find a Shelter

If you find an old abandoned building that would be safe to stay in, choose the second floor. Make a mental map of the building showing all possible escape routes. Try these escape routes both at night and in the daylight. Block all doors and windows that will not be used as an emergency escape route.

Totally memorize locations of stairs, ladders, or ceiling accesses that might help in an escape. Always sleep fully dressed and wear your shoes. Any other personal gear should be kept packed and ready to go at a moment’s notice.

Another good place to hide in cities or towns is in the underground drainage system. Here a person can travel around without being detected. If the drainage system is extensive, it will take a large group of searchers to go into the system and flush you out. With good training and a bit of luck, it is possible to change you appearance to match that of your searchers and escape the man hunt.

Silence Is Golden

There can be no noise allowed as you are running to freedom. This means there will only be total silence.

• You must secure all loose items on your person. To check after securing all loose items, jump up and down. If anything still makes noise pad it or wrap it to quiet the sound.
• Remove all Velcro and tape it up. Velcro makes a very distinct sound when ripped open.
• If possible, move during bad weather so that natural sounds cover your noise.
• Use car or train traffic noise to mask your presence.
• Shut off all electronic devices and remove all batteries.

Be Wary of Light at Night

• Do not use any light sources unless absolutely necessary. That means no smoking because that little red glow can be seen at a great distance on a pitch dark night.
• Do not wear black or white clothing because they project a strong infra-red signature at a distance. Try to wear earth tone clothing because it blends nicely with surrounding terrain.
• Remember that moonlight can be reflected off vehicle glass and clear water bottles and be seen at a long distance.
• Only build a small fire when absolutely necessary for your survival. Build it under a tree canopy to help dissipate the smoke as much as possible.
• When observing at night always scan with your eyes. Do not try to focus in only one direction. Scanning and the use of your peripheral vision will help you pick up faint light quicker than direct vision.
• Keep in mind that search parties usually have poor light discipline when moving through woods or open terrain. Use this to your advantage. Remember bright lights make hard shadows and cause the user to lose their peripheral night vision.

Safe Methods of Movement

When moving always be aware of being outlined by any light source that could silhouette you or make you stand out in the terrain you are crossing.

Carefully move from areas of concealment to an area of concealment. While in these areas check out the location by stopping, looking, listening, and smelling the wind to check for any human activity or other signs that the area is occupied.

• When walking, move slowly and carefully so that you do not move rocks, leaves, grass, sticks, or other ground cover.
• Pad your feet in clothing to muffle the sound of breaking sticks or twigs.
• If you must cross soft ground, try walking in the vegetation and not in the plain dirt. Always try to use hard or rocky ground whenever possible for it leaves less evidence of your traveling.
• Try to stay in vegetation that is less than your knee height.
• In heavy vegetation use a walking stick to move leaves carefully aside, and then move them back to their original position.
• Finally under no circumstances do you liter. Any trash or lost equipment can be easily spotted by trackers.

Survival decision point: To steal or not to steal? If you must steal, do it very low key and do not draw attention to yourself. If you must steal a car, take an older model which is easier to hotwire. Remember to disable the dome, internal, and dash lights. When driving away, do not draw attention to yourself by a burning rubber acceleration or high speeds. Just drive slow and easy to fit in with other traffic.

How to Disrupt the Tracking Party

If being pursued by dogs try to defeat the dog handler. Use zig-zag patterns of movement through rough heavy bushy terrain. This makes it very difficult for the handler to work his dog on a long lead. This action can cause doubt on the abilities of the dog handler. Walking a box maneuver can also help loose the trackers.

Survival decision point: Is it to your advantage to set out simple booby traps? Setting out simple booby traps like trip wires will slow down the tracking team because now they must slowdown in order to search for these traps. Be careful when using distraction techniques. They can tire you out, leave more of your scent in the area, and reduce the time-distance factor that is important to your escape.

No matter what you do, never travel in a straight line. If this is done the trackers can send an advance team to cut you off and intercept you. Never head directly to an obvious location. Keep the trackers guessing.

Survival decision point: Is it in your best interests to enter possibly hostile urban areas? It is usually best to avoid hostel urban areas. If you must go into these areas, then try to look like you belong there and use the crowds to your advantage.

• Do not run or appear frantic.
• Stay away from groups of children because they are quicker to spot strangers than the average adult.
• Dress down and remove all signs of who you are. Wash as soon as it is safe to do so.
• Beware of any curfews or other habits of the area.
• Do not over eat or appear to hungry.
• Keep your escape tools well hidden.
• Stay out of market places during normal operating hours. This will be one of the first places the trackers will look for you and it will be staked out by observers.
• Market places are good places to hide and pick up thrown away food or tools after they have closed for the night. Just be wary of surveillance cameras and technologies like Google Glass that can be used to determine your location.

In the time before a crisis it is important to learn how to travel without being spotted and how to loose anyone that might try to follow the group. If one of the members of the group gets captured during the process of misleading the followers it is important that all members of the group be well trained in escape and evasion techniques that could save their lives.

The key to surviving an escape and evasion is to remain calm, think before you act, and stay low key.

You might be looking at your nation a little differently lately.

There have always been dangerous neighborhoods and boroughs. Places like Compton, Kensington, and Camden might come to mind when you think of places that have a reputation for crime. Some of these areas have actually improved from when I was child. However, there are lots of places all around this nation that have been dangerous and many that are getting worse.

The move towards lawlessness in many of our biggest cities has been brought on by the current attitude towards police and police funding. As states bandy about the issues and people worry about things like natural disasters and economic decline, many have moved or considered moving.

You might be living in one of America’s deathzones and not have a clue about it
What if that were you? What would YOU do?

In the next few minutes, I’m going to show you the U.S. Nuclear Target map, where you’ll find out if you’re living in one of America’s Deathzones.

What are the safest zones in the US?

Safest Cities

There are safe havens all around this nation. There are places that have historically had low crime and great community cohesion. The key in most of these cities and towns is ownership and loyalty. Most often transient places are dangerous, and people are more likely to commit crimes in these places.

Let’s look at some of the safest cities and towns in America:

• Round Rock, Texas

With a population just over 100,000 this smaller town in Texas is a very appealing place for preppers to live. It is also a very safe place with a median income of $70,000.

The low poverty rate in Round Rock has much to do with the safety and security of this Texas town.

Round Rock has been dubbed a “super suburb” as a place just outside of Austin

• Naperville, Illinois

This Chicago suburb is a gem in an area that most people would not expect. The River Walk is an important part of Naperville, but it is hardly the only thing that this suburb offers. A population 144,000 people are a successful and well paid lot. The median household income is over $100,000.

The minimal crime rate, per 100,000 people, has much to do with the low poverty rate which is just over 4%. 77.6 violent crimes per 100,000 people is something to be proud of.

The safety of Naperville could also have to do with the tremendous outdoor opportunities. With over 130 parks and 2 public golf courses, there is nearly a park for every person!

• Port St. Lucie, Florida

If you are going to pick a new safe place to live, why not consider a place where the weather is wonderful! Along the southern coast of Florida Port St. Lucie is a beautiful tropical zone with $169,000 a year median income.

You will have to be prepared for hurricanes. An evacuation plan is needed as the southern coast of Florida is at risk during hurricane season, but we are preppers!

You will not have as much to worry about when it comes to violent crime as there are just 115 violent crimes per 100,000 people. You will love near breweries, botanical gardens, preserves and marinas. Great fishing on the coast, too!

Best Regions to Survive Disasters

Along with safe cities and towns America also features some great regions to setup a life that are far away from some of the biggest threats. Remember, people are only one threat. Mother nature can have a devastating affect on the North American continent and has done so in the past. From massive super volcanoes to devastating earthquakes

What are the safest regions to survive massive cataclysmic disasters?

• The Cascades

Deep enough inland and high enough up to counter things like flooding and tropical cyclones that affect the West Coast. The cascades are loaded with resources for survival like water, food, and wood. They are a beautiful backdrop to deal with the post-apocalyptic world and far enough away from southern California to inherit any of that mess.

The northernmost portions of the Cascades are even located in the American Redoubt, which we will discuss later in this article.

• The Blue Ridge Mountains

Another range of mountains that offer similar benefits as the Cascades. This east coast mountain range covers several states, has plenty of food, water, shelter, and game animals. Covering the land by food would not be easy but the seclusion from the chaos would be well worth it.

Because of elevation and distance from the coast there are almost no threats of flood, tsunami, or hurricane in this region. There is little seismic activity in the area.

During a SHTF situation, pain could become an annoyance for some, but unbearable for others.

If doctors are scarce and medicine becomes even scarcer, this one little weed, found all over North America and similar to morphine, could be a saving grace.

West of some particularly important and sizeable cities, the Blue Ridge mountains could become a safe haven for millions of people in the very worst case scenario. That is the only weakness of this location.

• Appalachia

Further west still, on the other side of the blue ridge mountains in the region of Appalachia which runs from New York to Mississippi. This is another great region to consider because of its sparse population compared to the coasts. Its quick access to the Blue Ridge Mountains and safety from most major disasters.

Prepper Strongholds

Are you looking for even more benefits? Maybe you want the people and the safe places. There is nothing wrong with that. Around the nation there are several places that have not only been deemed safe and pleasant but are also filled with preppers!

Yup! The self-reliant and independent have taken up refuge in a few spots across the nation. They are often looking for more friends like them to build their prepper community. These areas are not just filled with preppers but are in rural areas where other people are as self sufficient as the prepper community.

• Redoubt

In 2011 James Wesley Rawles proposed Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming as the American Redoubt. The Redoubt also encompasses the eastern parts of Washington and Oregon. It is unclear how many people have moved to the American Redoubt with the intent of stockpiling, prepping, or homesteading for the long haul.

However, there is a small community of voices from Rawles, to John Jacob Schmitt, to the American Christian Network, that will align with much of what you believe. It has been estimated that thousands of people have moved to these areas as a safe haven from the growing turmoil of our world.

Because of its low population density and impressive access to resources, as well as low threat profile, as long as you can stay warm in the winter, the Redoubt has some tremendous benefits. You will also have plenty of wide open space so if you don’t align with everything Rawles proposed you can do your own thing and be just fine!

• Ozarks

The Ozarks are more of a plateau than a mountain range with some of its tallest peaks between 1-2000 feet tall. Because of its location in the nation and its elevation, it has a tremendous amount of benefits to the average prepper looking for a safe zone.

The Ozarks are not affected by things like floods because of the elevation, it has this elevation without snow because it is in the south. It does not face any kind of earthquake threat, hurricane, or forest fire. There is a long growing season that features lots of rain.

Pastor Joe Fox of Viking Preparedness has been expanding his Shofar mountain and influencing preppers for many years to make their way to the Ozarks. COOHMP or Come Out of Her, My People as taken from the book of Revelation. A growing prepper stronghold has taken root in the Ozarks making it a wonderful place to move and a very safe region.

Also, those who are not preppers in the Ozarks are looking to do their own things and basically be left alone. So, it is a sentiment we can all understand!

We live in a MASSIVE nation full of all kinds of opportunity. There are areas that are incredibly dangerous, but the reality is we have a lot of wide open spaces that can be whatever you want them to be!

Did you know there are even some places that will give you free land or pay you to live there! If you aren’t tethered to a location than you can take advantage of the areas, we mentioned. However, you should arrive there and become a part of the community. This is particularly important. You can never know the full potential of any area unless you integrate and become a member of the community.

Go forth and choose your destiny!

Guns have been referred to as “the great equalizer,” and there’s no weapon which can come close to them in that regard.

A lot of the popularity of firearms is due to the fact that anyone can use them effectively, not only the strong and agile. The young, the old, men, women and child can take up firearms in defense of home and family and do so effectively.

But what do you do if you can’t use a gun – or if you don’t have a gun — to protect yourself?

Alright, we have done a couple of articles on “Knowing Yourself,” and “Knowing Your Enemy.”  Now that everyone knows one another, let’s take it to another level.  As a single individual, as a family member, or operating in a group, after it hits the fan, you will have to fight eventually.  You will not be able to avoid it and hunker down until the cavalry comes, because it will be in your neighborhood and the cavalry isn’t coming to your rescue.

We’ve discussed “Fabian Tactics” in previous articles.  These were based on the exploits of Quintus Fabius Maximus in the First Punic War between Carthage and Rome. “Hit and Run” tactics exemplify their description: strike a numerically superior larger force at a time and place of your choosing, and then break contact.  Fade back into the forest, hide, and avoid further combat until the next engagement of your choice.

Lessons from the Roman Army for Post-SHTF Combat Operations

Let’s “fix” ‘em: set the enemy up and zap ‘em!  Let’s do a few things that the Romans were famous for…using these techniques here and now.

1. Choose the Ground: Yes, you choose the place you will engage them.  Along with this, you pick the time of day, the formation of the attack, the objective, and the criteria for withdrawal.  You choose it.  As an individual, you would be sniping.  As a group (depending on your numbers and composition), you can engage in operations limited by your size.  Choosing the ground means also to actively recon the enemy and not allow him to choose it and catch you unawares.
2. Prep the Ground: The Roman Army were masters of this task. They scouted the area and with thorough intel, they knew where their enemies were, actions these people planned on taking, and avenues of approach.  They cut timber and created obstacles of logs interlaced with natural “barbed wire” in the form of thorns and thistles…along with spikes and stakes, to limit enemy cavalry.  Long before William Wallace of “Braveheart” was ever a thought, the Roman legions spread out hay soaked with pitch and oil in areas where enemy foot soldiers would move, and applied flaming arrows when the time was right.  They always took the high ground when possible, and used the natural terrain features (cliffs, rivers, etc.) to form boundaries to help them channel the enemy.
3. Always Fight with the Sun at your Back: The Romans positioned themselves and attacked to place the sun in the eyes of their enemies. I know, I know: the enemy has “Ray-Bans,” right?  No, it worked for the Viet Cong as well.  When they’re looking into the sun, they’re at a severe disadvantage.  Use the sun.  Use the terrain.  Live with the land and live.
4. “SPECVLATORES”- the Speculatores…the deep-cover operatives…the Special Forces and Reconnaissance warriors of the Roman Empire. You need operatives in your “unit” with the ability to do “deep penetration” of an enemy’s defenses…whether in their midst unsuspectingly or observing them from a nearby locale…operating on their own ground unbeknownst to them.  You need one or two people who can get the job done…and provide you with the deep-cover intel you’ll need to make decisions.
5. Alliances – “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Not always so, but you can use such rifts to your advantage…with other groups who your enemy is at odds with.  Here is where diplomacy, teamwork, and political acumen/savvy comes into play.  These “non-combat” skills are just as important to “fixing” your enemy as any of the actual missions you will undertake to defeat him.  Be skilled at making alliances, and do not make them just for the sake of socializing.  It is an art that we will cover more in-depth in future pieces.
6. Feed Them Disinformation: Yes, the Romans were very adept at sending messages or planting information that was false. This regarded their strengths, their movements, supplies, and reinforcements.  Sun Tzu was not the only one with a knowledge of how to monopolize disinformation, and he wasn’t the first to employ it.
7. Lure Them and “Stake” ‘Em – the Roman Army would plant different things out in front of an approaching enemy force in order to delay and distract them…making them ripe for an attack or ambush. You can do the same, and make it fall “in line” with the enemy you’ll be facing.  Quick question: How many of you have Russian or Chinese canned delicacies, such as Borscht or caviar for the former, or imported Chinese canned foods and fineries for the latter?  Because you may be able to use it to lure such if they ever come to this country…and set a trap on or in it, or place shooters in an overwatch position overlooking it.  Because you may need prisoners, and what better way to lure them in than with a carton of their own cigarettes, their own liquor that they would think to be safe?      Be advised: SAVE YOUR RECEIPTS FROM THE STORE YOU BOUGHT IT!  This is because in the times to come if anyone ever suspects you of collaborating with them…you can show the receipts that you bought it all long before the conflict began, and give them an explanation of why you bought it all.  This may keep you from being shot by your own countrymen.
8. The Violence of Action in a Controlled Manner – the Romans did not win their mastery over all of Europe and most of the Middle East by conducting drill and ceremony. They were trained, skilled killers and understood that the thing that made the Empire possible was the discipline and aggression of the individual legionnaire.
9. A Perfect Chain of Command – Modern militaries all have a chain of command and an order of succession for someone to fill the “vacancy” at all levels when a commander “buys the farm,” so to speak. You need to enable each member of your team to be able to step into the shoes and position of the leader and take charge to continue with the mission.
10. Discipline: this encompasses all areas. A “guerrilla fighter,” whether fighting off marauders from a neighboring town post SHTF, or a tyrannical, oppressive government, or a foreign invader…the guerrilla needs to be disciplined.  Physical toughness, adherence to standard operating procedures (SOP’s), a cool head and iron nerves, and endurance…the ability to keep this up for years…to go the distance.  These are the things that the Romans kept focused upon and central to their legions for many centuries.

In conclusion, small unit tactics are more than just a matter of either superior arms or numerical advantages.  They are based on common sense and knowing how to plan out your objectives, as well as a plan of attack.  You will have to be the “David” going against the Goliath, and although not shirking from battle, picking the time and place of your engagement, and the conditions and standards you will set to achieve those objectives.  It is no guarantee of success, but you are guaranteed to perform better with the proper planning, training, and clarity of purpose prior to a battle.  It can mean the difference between success and failure, life or death.  In this vein, I highly encourage you to study more about the Roman Army and the warfare in ancient times.  Take the time to clean the tarnished pitcher and you may just find a silver piece made by Revere.  The knowledge is there: seek after it and make your future rather than just allowing it to happen to you.

There have been rumors of the next financial collapse ever since the last one, in 2009. More and more financial gurus have gotten on board with that message, prophesying a gloomy for our country’s financial future. Considering the impact that the Great Recession had on the rest of the world, once it had hit here at home, we can be sure that when we fact this crisis, we won’t be facing it alone.

Considering how hard the COVID-19 pandemic has been on our economy, we’re likely to be very close to that crisis. I’m surprised that Wall Street has remained strong and inflation has remained low in the face of the trillions of dollars the government has been spending in providing financial relief to our citizens and businesses. Where can all that money possibly be coming from? How long can they continue to do that, without the whole house of cards coming down?

If there’s anything that will lead us to an economic crisis, it’s the national debt. That debt will eventually lead to high inflation, which in turn will end up leading to high unemployment. The two together equal an economic crisis, something that can takes years to overcome.

Any economic crisis impacts society in a number of ways, from shortages in the stores to increased crime rates. While the rich and powerful go on living their lives as normal, they are about the only ones who don’t. Thousands upon thousands of people end up losing their livelihoods, with many of them turning to crime out of pure desperation. They prey on their fellow man, because they feel they have no other choice.

So, the question for you and I, is how do we keep ourselves from being preyed upon? Part of that might be having the ability to defend ourselves; but what’s more important than our ability to shoot our way out of a problem, is our ability to avoid becoming a target in the first place. That means making sure that we’re not on anyone’s radar as a potential target. How do we do that?

Don’t Buy New Things

The real giveaway that someone is in good shape financially is what they’re spending. It doesn’t take a financial crash to see that. The difference during the crash, is that the only ones who will be buying new things will be people who are still in good shape financially. So buying anything new, but especially buying expensive things, will make you stand out as someone who has money.

With the economy being shaky, spending money isn’t a good idea anyway. Even jobs that are normally considered extremely stable and secure can be lost in rough financial times. Just look at all the nurses and other medical personnel who lost their jobs during COVID, because hospitals weren’t taking in anyone except for emergencies and patients with COVID.

This includes Internet Purchases

We’ve all become much more accustomed to buying things over the internet, thanks to the pandemic. But that’s even worse than buying things in the store, in the midst of any financial crisis. Having packages show up regularly on your doorstep is a sure sign that you’ve got money to spend.

Not only that, but there’s already a problem with people stealing packages off of doorsteps. You can be sure that those thefts will increase during a crisis, when people are desperate and looking for anything they can do to get a buck. A lone package, sitting on a front porch, is a tempting, low-risk target for someone who’s trying to figure out how to pay for the next meal.

Don’t Look Well Fed

The first thing to do is probably also the hardest; that’s to stop eating so well. A full 36.5 percent of US adults are obese, with another 32.5 percent being overweight, but not to the point of obesity. But you can be sure that there will be a lot of people losing weight in the midst of a financial collapse.

With people losing their jobs and rampant inflation making everything more expensive, people will have to cut back. When that happens, one sure sign of someone who is not suffering from the crash will be to not be losing weight.

Another option to use, if you’re just a little bit overweight, is to buy used clothing that’s too big for you. Wearing clothes that obviously don’t fit you will make it look like you’ve lost weight, even if you haven’t. Make sure it is used though, so that it looks like clothing you’ve been wearing a while.

Let Your House Look Junky

One of the things that thieves look for are homes that are well-kept. A nice looking home, with a well-groomed lawn, probably belongs to someone who has the money to take care of it.

On the other hand, a home that’s starting to look a little bit run down indicates that the owners are going through financial troubles, making it hard for them to pay for repairs.

Obviously you don’t want to damage your home in any way, but leaving some junk laying around (nothing useful or valuable) as well as letting the landscaping go a bit can do a lot to make a home look like it’s not being taken care of. If there are things which can be put off, like a new paint job, then put them off. Better yet, just prime the bad spots with some primer that doesn’t match the paint, making it look like you couldn’t afford to finish the job.

Hide Your Stuff

As part of making your home look less inviting, make sure that you hide anything of value.

Thieves look for expensive toys in the yard, whether those are children’s toys or adult toys. They also have no compulsion against looking through your windows to see what they can find.

So, either move that expensive television to a wall that can’t be seen through a window or keep the window shades drawn.

Stay at Home

Going out a lot leaves your home vulnerable to attack, as well as leaving you vulnerable to attack while you are out. This is seen in that during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, crime rates have dropped by as much as 23%. But auto theft, as well as the theft of other high dollar portable items has been on the increase.

During the Argentinean financial collapse of 1999, crime was so bad on the streets, that people didn’t dare stop at stop signs and red lights, unless they had to for crossing traffic. That was a prime spot for criminals to hide, reaching through car windows to grab what they could or trying to pull the driver out of their car, so they could steal it.

Your best place to defend yourself and your family is at home. Not only is that familiar ground, but you’ve got a wall between you and anyone who might want to get to you. With a few precautions to harden the perimeter of your home, it will be the safest place you can be.

Sell Stuff You Aren’t Using

One good way to signal that you’re not doing all that well financially speaking is to sell things, especially things of intermediate value that you don’t need.

If you have an old electronic gaming console that you’re not using, sell it. Do the same with other “toys” such as boats, motorcycles, and snowmobiles.

The point here isn’t just to get rid of stuff, but to do so in an obvious way, allowing that to act as camouflage for you, making it seem that you have to sell that stuff. This is a bit of a reverse English way of staying under the radar, but it works. Criminals know what to look for when they’re casing a home and they’re not interested in hitting a place that’s not going to be worth their while.

When planning for a SHTF Survival situation, there is really only one thing that you can be absolutely sure of: Survival is going to be a much bigger and tougher challenge than you ever thought possible. While there are some things you can do to prepare yourself for the chaos ahead, the reality of the situation is that when things go bad, there are going to be things happening that none of us prepared for or could have ever imagined.

What is SHTF?

SHTF has multiple survival meanings, but the acronym itself means Shit Hits The Fan. The meaning is pretty straight forward, but basically, it’s just a prepper/survivalist’s way of saying that during a long term survival crisis or collapse of society things are going to get bad, real bad! How bad none of us really know, and what dangers we will face is only speculation at this point, but one thing we do know for sure is that most people have no real clue to the dangers they will face during a collapse scenario.

During a SHTF situation, pain could become an annoyance for some, but unbearable for others.

If doctors are scarce and medicine becomes even scarcer, this one little weed, found all over North America and similar to morphine, could be a saving grace.

Prepping for SHTF Scenarios

It’s not hard to imagine things going bad during a long-term disaster or collapse situation; all you have to do is look at how quickly things turn south during normal yearly disasters to get a sense of how bad things could get. Even during somewhat predictable events like summer storms, flooding and hurricanes we see a large section of the population turn desperate. From people who failed to prepare totally losing their shit in the grocery store when they find the shelve empty to the assholes who take advantage of every disaster to hit the streets looting and attacking innocent civilians, you can find plenty of examples that should at least get you thinking of what you need to be prepared to face.

10 Realistic SHTF survival situations that most people Don’t Prepare or Plan for!

While many of the threats you will face can be easily predicted by looking at recent events, we wanted to look at some very likely SHTF scenarios that very few think about, and almost nobody prepares for. These are threats they may present themselves during short-term disasters, but in all likelihood, these threats will be the ones that start to pop up during those extreme long-term situations where people lose hope and become desperate.

SHTF Law Enforcement Issues

1. No Law Enforcement

During an extreme SHTF scenario, it is very likely that law enforcement and emergency responders will be pretty hard to find; in fact, I would go even further and say that they will become nonexistent. Even during small-scale disasters, law enforcement officers often leave to take care of their own families first. When things go bad (empty grocery stores, no utilities, mass riots, violence, etc.) you are more than likely going to have to defend and take care of yourself.

2. Fake Law Enforcement

In a SHTF Scenario, you need to be on the lookout for everything including people impersonating law enforcement and military personnel. During a catastrophic event, you will most likely see criminals preying on the innocent by pretending to be either police, firefighters, emergency personnel, or military officers. In fact, almost every time a natural disaster hits we see criminals posing as some type of first responder in order to gain easy access to areas where they can then take advantage of the situation and loot homes and businesses.

You have to be able to quickly determine who are the real law enforcement officers or be prepared to stay away from people at all costs.

3. Law Enforcement and the Military Will Try to Take Your Guns.

Think it can’t happen? It already has!

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans Police Superintendent Eddie Compass ordered all local law enforcement, including the U.S. Marshalls office and the National Guard, to seize all civilian firearms.

Without warrants, armed National Guard troops and New Orleans law enforcement officials forcibly confiscated over 1,000 legal firearms from law-abiding citizens. The New Orleans gun confiscation should serve as a warning to how the government and law enforcement officials will react during a large-scale national disaster.  

It’s very high on the probability list that they will come for your guns!

SHTF Personal Safety Issues

4. Gangs & Raiders

When things go bad, there will likely be more people who mean to do you harm than there will be people who are prepared. This is something that you must accept and learn to deal with. The fact is, most people have no idea what it really takes to survive, and once their safety net is removed, they will become increasingly desperate and unpredictable. Even your once jolly neighbor will become a threat when he is faced with surviving without knowledge or supplies.

Let’s face it, even during the good times there’s a certain segment of our population that’s just downright insane. From the idiots who go nuts and riot after their team loses a game to the violent criminals and gangs who are already terrorizing big cities throughout America, there’s little doubt that a total collapse will make urban living almost impossible.

5. You need to be able to Defend Yourself.

During an extreme emergency situation, the lunatics of the world are going to be roaming the streets looking for easy victims to target.  If you’re serious about survival, you need to train yourself in multiple self-defense styles and techniques. This means arming yourself with not only weapons but also with the knowledge of how to defend yourself without them.

These are things you should be doing now to ensure you can protect yourself during a SHTF situation:

• It Starts with Developing your Situational Awareness: This is probably the single most important self-defense skill you can have. It will allow you to defuse most dangerous situations before they can become a threat to your safety.
• How to Protect Yourself from Violent Mobs of Criminals: The really scary thing about situations like this is when people start to mob up and form groups. You need to be prepared to take on multiple attackers, and you need to know how to quickly get out of hotspots and trouble zones.
• Surviving Active Shooter Situations: Sadly this is a SHTF situation that we have to deal with now, in our everyday lives. Imagine how bad things will get during an actual crisis!

SHTF Sanitation Issues

6. Garbage will become a Killer.

This is another survival topic that’s not often thought about or discussed, but it’s one that will probably become one of the biggest problems you will face during any long-term disaster situation. If the gangs and criminals don’t get you, the real danger might actually come from something that you already have in your home: GARBAGE!  

You need to have a serious plan on how to deal with it and how to make sure your general sanitation doesn’t become a threat. Check out our article on how to deal with Garbage during a SHTF disaster.

7. You have to Stock up on Sanitation Items

When planning to survive a long-term disaster or collapse, one thing that’s often overlooked is the danger associated with a lack of adequate sanitation. It’s certainly not a pleasant thing to think about, but this one issue has the potential to kill more people than any other survival issue we can talk about.

Even today, because of liberal policies that are destroying big cities throughout our country, we are starting to see Medieval diseases reemerge because of unsanitary living conditions in homeless and immigrant populations in these urban hell holes. In fact, in California multiple disease outbreaks are running through these populations including Typhus.

Mental & Physical Health Issues

8. Maintaining a Positive Mental Attitude during a Survival Situation

The ability to maintain a positive mental attitude during a survival situation is something that needs to be taken seriously. It’s also something that you need to start working on now, before disaster strikes.

Making it through a survival scenario often comes down to how well you can control your emotions. Keeping a positive frame of mind in the face of an unthinkable threat will help you process what’s happening and will help you respond to the situation without giving into fear.

9. You must be prepared to face a number of physical and mental challenges.

From dealing with a lack of sleep and inadequate hydration to coping with hunger pains and other stressors, survival can take a huge toll on your body. One of the best things you can do to ensure your survival, in just about any situation, is to make sure your body and your mind are trained to survive. This means motivating yourself to get off your butt and get in shape before it’s too late.

SHTF Communication Issues

10. You will be cut off from the outside World.

In a survival situation, knowledge is going to be a critical factor in determining the ultimate outcome of your situation. The ability to be able to predict what will happen during a survival situation is an important part of being prepared and often comes down to your ability to send and receive information.

When the power lines go down, and the radio stations stop transmitting, there’s one line of communication that will still be alive and well.  

Having a good Multiband Ham Radio will allow you to send and receive critical emergency information during a disaster. It’s also a great way to find alternative news sources from around the world.

You might be living in one of America’s deathzones and not have a clue about it
What if that were you? What would YOU do?

In the next few minutes, I’m going to show you the U.S. Nuclear Target map, where you’ll find out if you’re living in one of America’s Deathzones.

These days, it has become all too common for people to reach for a pill bottle or call the doctor anytime something goes wrong, or even for the smallest scrape. The simple, wacky home remedies of our grandparents, those weird concoctions formed from everyday household goods, are often mocked by today’s medical establishment. But surprisingly, the truth is that our grandparents actually knew a lot more about the world than we give them credit for, and many of these old-fashioned folk remedies actually work. Not just that, but many of them work better than the synthetic pharmaceuticals that so many people stuff their bodies with today.

You might be living in one of America’s deathzones and not have a clue about it
What if that were you? What would YOU do?

In the next few minutes, I’m going to show you the U.S. Nuclear Target map, where you’ll find out if you’re living in one of America’s Deathzones.

Here are 40 weird, wacky, but shockingly effective home remedies that still work today, and would make grandma proud.

1. Use Garlic and Olive Oil for Athlete’s Foot

Everyone knows about the many health benefits of garlic, but did you know that it can fix your athlete’s foot problem in a jiffy? Just mince some garlic cloves, mix them with natural olive oil, and then use bit of cotton to rub this mixture onto the affected area between the toes.

2. Potato Slices for Headaches

Headaches and/or migraines can ruin even the best day, but there is a weird natural solution that works: potato slices. Just cut a few slices from a raw potato, soak them in a very thin cloth, and apply them to your forehead or directly to the temples.

3. Ease Cuticle Infections with Vinegar

Done too much manicuring? Cuticles all torn up and infected? Make a glass of vinegar and warm water, then put your fingers in it for about 15 minutes. Repeat this procedure once a day or so until the infection fades away.

(Here are 21 wild edibles you can find in urban areas.)

4. Use Vinegar to Cure Swimmer’s Ear

There’s nothing that ruins a good day at the beach like coming home with swimmer’s ear. But when your grandparents told you to drop some vinegar in your ears, they weren’t kidding. The acidic properties of vinegar can kill off that awful swimmer’s ear bacteria, leaving you feeling like yourself again. Just take out some white vinegar, dilute it with distilled water, and put three drops into the problematic ear, three times a day, until the problem fades.

5. Olive Oil for Eczema

Feeling itchy already? Eczema can make anyone grow crazy. But olive oil, which is full of antioxidants and often used as an ingredient in professional skin creams, isn’t just good for athlete’s foot: it can ease the symptoms of eczema as well. Simply rub some olive oil onto the eczema-affected areas of your skin, and it should help quite a bit.

6. Fix Hiccups with a Spoonful of Sugar

Yes, seriously. The legends are true. Don’t get too overzealous with it, because diabetes isn’t something to mess around with, but this old-fashioned trick will halt the hiccups in their tracks. The reason why is because the behavior we call “hiccups” are actually just spasms of your diaphragm, so having a spoon of dry sugar will throw off the nerve muscles and cure their agitation.

7. Get rid of warts with duct tape

It sounds crazy, but it works. Instead of going to all the work to get your warts frozen off, just covered them with duct tape. After cleaning a wart off, just apply a strip of the tape to the affected area, and then keep it there for three days. After that, remove, rub the wart area with a pumice stone, and then apply new tape.  Continue this process every three days until the wart goes the way of the dinosaurs.

8. Treat Acne with Coconut Oil

Coconut oil might seem like the cool new kid on the block, but it’s actually an old-timer that’s been around since the 1800s. In addition to many other uses, coconut oil is an effective treatment for acne, since its antibiotic properties prevent further breakouts. Just apply coconut oil to the skin, maybe mixing it with a little raw honey.

During a SHTF situation, pain could become an annoyance for some, but unbearable for others.

If doctors are scarce and medicine becomes even scarcer, this one little weed, found all over North America and similar to morphine, could be a saving grace.

9. Have a Little Yogurt for That Bad Breath

Bad breath, officially known as halitosis, is a terrible thing to live with. But the cure for it is right there in your fridge: yogurt. At least two servings a day of this probiotic wonder, ideally a plain brand with no sugar, changes the landscape of your tongue so that it won’t breed any more the bad bacteria that produces that distinctive stink.

Here are 23 survival uses for honey that you didn’t knowabout.

10. Deal with bug bites by using toothpaste

Well, not technically the toothpaste itself, but rather, the peppermint oil inside the toothpaste: if you have the pure peppermint oil itself, that’s even more effective. Either way, applying peppermint oil to a bug bite—even if it’s just through dabbing on a little toothpaste – will immediately reduce the raw itchiness we all know too well.

11. Use Licorice to Eliminate Corns

Yes, licorice, everyone’s least favorite candy. But the one thing worse than licorice is having a corn on your toe. If you soak some licorice with oil, apply it all to the affected area, then wrap it tight under plastic wrap (and maybe a sock) for 6-8 hours—for instance, overnight—this will cause the licorice to soften the corn.

12. Ease Your Hangover with Apple Cider Vinegar

Drinking might be fun, but hangovers aren’t fun for anyone. But when you used to see grandpa downing a shot of apple cider vinegar after a night with his buddies, he knew what he was doing. Apple cider vinegar balances the pH levels in your stomach after a little too much alcohol throws it off. Just gulp down a teaspoon of this vinegar, or a small shot-glass. If you can’t take it straight, dilute it with some water.

13. Constipation with beets

The human body needs to eliminate waste, and when it gets all bunched up, major discomfort ensues. One home solution you may have heard from your grandparents was to eat some fresh-steamed beets, then drink the water they were steamed in. This should clear out your colon like magic. Just be warned that when you do go, your stools or urine may be bright red: nothing to worry about, just the natural dye of the beets.

14. Vodka for stinky feet

Having trouble with foot odor? Get some vodka. No, we’re not suggesting that you get drunk and avoid the problem. The key is that alcoholic is an antiseptic, which means it eliminates the fungus that causes foot odor, and dries your feet out. Just soak a thin cloth in some vodka, swipe your foot down, and feel the smell go away.

15. Mix Cumin, Honey, Cinnamon and Ginger for Diarrhea

A bad case of the runs can keep you up all night. Instead of taking drugs that will simply constipate you, thereby causing more stomach pains, a better natural remedy is to combine a teaspoon of cumin, and the same portion of honey, cinnamon, and ginger into a paste that you can drink.

You might be living in one of America’s deathzones and not have a clue about it
What if that were you? What would YOU do?

In the next few minutes, I’m going to show you the U.S. Nuclear Target map, where you’ll find out if you’re living in one of America’s Deathzones.

16. Lemons for an Earache

Pain in the ears can be soothed by the application of freshly-squeezed lemons. Just squeeze a lemon onto a Q-tip, and delicately rub this just inside the ear to restore pH balance.

17. Stinging Nettle for Hair Loss

You can’t force hair to regrow once it’s already gone, but you can slow down the rate of hair loss through the use of stinging nettle, an herb often used for tea. Drinking stinging nettle tea a few times a day should help, and you can also massage stinging nettle itself in your scalp.

18. Cure Nausea with Olives

Whether it’s from motion sickness or an unpleasant sight, the familiar (but unpleasant) side effects associated with nausea can be cured by eating olives, due to the tannin inside them.

19. Potatoes for Spider Bites

If a spider managed to sink its teeth into you, ease the itching and swelling by shredding a potato, wrapping the pieces in cloth, and applying to the bite area. Note, this is a treatment for symptoms of a regular, non-deadly bite: if the bite comes from a more deadly spider, such as a black widow, seek immediate medical attention.

20. Raw Honey for Chapped Lips

Don’t ever waste your money on Chapstick again. Much has been said about the healing properties of raw, organic honey, but if your lips are chapped, you can simply apply honey to the affected area—rub it on, just as you would Chapstick—and it will do the job nicely, and taste better to boot. Just make sure the honey is both raw and organic.

21. Garlic for Allergies

For a more natural antihistamine when your nasal allergies act up, eat lots of garlic, whether it’s straight bulbs or slices on crackers. Garlic contains a lot of the antioxidant quercetin, which eases allergy symptoms. If there’s no garlic in the pantry, onions work as well.

22. Buttermilk and Ginger for Diarrhea

If you don’t have cumin on hand, another weird-but-effective home remedy for diarrhea is to mix half of a teaspoon of dry ginger into a cup of buttermilk, and drink it.

23. Treat Styes with Potatoes

If you haven’t noticed, potatoes are a lot more powerful than people realize. If you get a stye on your eye, just grate a potato, wrap the gratings in a cloth, and press to the affected area to ease inflammation.

24. Avoid Mosquitoes with Garlic

If you don’t want to get eaten alive with mosquitoes, enjoy a garlic-rich diet, because mosquitoes are totally repelled by garlic. For further protection, rub garlic oil on your skin. If it’s already too late, you can also ease the stinging of the bites with garlic as well.

25. Yams for Menopause

To up your dosage of vitamin A, lower your cholesterol, and add more antioxidants to your diet, start incorporating yams—real yams, not sweet potatoes—into your regular daily diet. This will help with common menopause symptoms.

26. Apples Help the Bowels

Apples are high in pectin, a naturally occurring fiber that both bulks up and softens stools. This means that apples are an effective treatment for both diarrhea and constipation. Just make sure to eat the skin too, which contains valuable ursolic acid.

27. Banana Peel for Poison Ivy

While bananas won’t prevent you from getting the allergic rash that 85% of the population contracts from touching poison ivy, they can help. Rub the inside of a banana peel against poison ivy rash for relief from the pain and itchiness.

28. Honey for Acid Reflux

As soon as the symptoms of acid reflux begin affecting you, swallow three spoons of honey, and it should help you achieve better digestion.

29. Blackstrap molasses for Constipation

If you suffer from frequent constipation, try injecting a little blackstrap molasses into your diet, whether as a coffee additive or an extra ingredient in cookies. This molasses should ease constipation, but be careful not to over-indulge, because too much molasses will increase constipation.

30. Pine Syrup for Sore Throats

You know what helps a sore throat? Pine needles. Yes, really. To make pine syrup, collect a cup of freshly-washed pine needles, and thoroughly blend them. Meanwhile, boil water, corn syrup, and a bit of salt, mix this with the needles, then steep for a few hours. Keep this syrup in the refrigerator for at least a month, then keep it on hand forever to treat sore throats.

31. DIY Cough Syrup

If you want to make a good cough syrup from the ingredients of your pantry, mix together ¼ teaspoon ground ginger, 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1 tablespoon of honey, and a few spoons of water. Mix it all together, and have 1-3 teaspoons to ease coughing symptoms.

32. Garlic for toothache

Nothing will keep you up at night like a bad cavity or an exposed nerve. While garlic won’t cure the underlying issue, chewing on garlic at night, particularly chewing whole cloves in the affected area, will ease pain tremendously.

33. Put on Wet Socks to Treat a Cold

Hear us out for a minute. To treat the symptoms of a common cold, begin by soaking your feet in hot water for at least three minutes – or just taking a bath. Meanwhile, soak a pair of your socks in ice water. Put the socks on your feet, cover them up with a pair of wool socks, and then go to bed. As you sleep with these horribly cold feet, the blood vessels will constrict, pushing nutrients up into your body to push out the infection.

34. Fix Dry Skin

To soften dry skin, break down two bananas and mix them with a bit of honey. Apply this paste to the skin, let it sit for about 20 minutes, and then wash it off, and your skin should feel softer.

35. Teabags for Burns

Get a cool-temperature, wet teabag, of any tea, and place it directly on the burned area. This won’t fix the burn, but it will relieve the pain almost immediately.

36. Oil Pulling

This might have become a trend recently, but it’s actually an old practice that our grandparents learned from their grandparents. Basically, enhance your dental routine by taking a spoonful of coconut oil – though other oils work as well – and swishing it in your mouth for five minutes a day, specifically pulling it through the teeth, and then spit it out into the toilet. The oil will “pull” all of the toxins out of the mouth, allowing you to spit them out in one go. When used in addition to standard brushing and flossing, oil pulling will help digestion, reduce gingivitis, prevent receding gums, get rid of bad breath, strengthen teeth, and much, much more.

37. Help Eczema with an Oatmeal Bath

If the horrendous itchiness of eczema still has you down, you can hugely reduce the itchiness by following your grandmother’s old advice taking a bath of oatmeal. There’s a reason that so many lotions and pharmaceutical eczema treatments contain oatmeal as an ingredient: it really works! For a home solution, just make a bath for yourself, fill it with colloidal oatmeal, and then soak for a while.

38. Stop Your Snoring

Is your snoring annoying your wife or husband? Try drinking a glass of warm milk with a teaspoon of turmeric powder added to it before bed, and hear your partner’s relief.

39. Basil Leaves and Ginger for Fever

Fevers are the body’s way of pushing out an infection, but when it’s time to cut back on the heat, here’s a home solution. Crush some ginger and basil leaves together into  paste, then add a teaspoon of honey. Squeeze out the liquid, and then take a drink ever four hours or so.

40. Soak Golden Raisins in Gin for Arthritis

If there’s one thing that afflicted so many of our grandparents, it was the terrible swelling pains of arthritis. But they had a home remedy that still works today. Get some golden raisins, soak them in gin, and let it sit overnight until all of the gin has been soaked up. After this is done, eat about ten raisins a day. While this won’t fix the underlying problems of arthritis, it will greatly ease the symptoms.

Government overreach in Canada is ratcheting up yet again, as nanny state officials there are now creating so-called “Hoarding Action Response Teams” (H.A.R.T.), which threaten to basically sic S.W.A.T. teams on people who choose to stock up on emergency supplies for worst-case scenario situations.

During a SHTF situation, pain could become an annoyance for some, but unbearable for others.

If doctors are scarce and medicine becomes even scarcer, this one little weed, found all over North America and similar to morphine, could be a saving grace.

The claim by the city of Vancouver, where the concept of H.A.R.T. appears to have been concocted, is that these police state squads are necessary to address what the government claims is a “public health hazard” posed by people who have too much stuff.

The goal is to have local fire departments team with property inspection departments and mental health “experts” to pursue residents of British Columbia (B.C.) who hoard things “that seem unusable or of limited value to others, such as old newspapers, clothes, and broken or old gadgets,” the city of Vancouver explains.

It’s an entirely subjective approach to dealing with the problem of “clutter” that opens wide the floodgates of government intrusion into people’s personal lives – including people who choose to stock up on emergency supplies that others might perceive as dangerous “hoarding.”

“Since 1999, (the) government has been mobilizing strategies to combat what they perceive as hoarding,” writes Celeste for Shepherd’s Heart about the Canadian government’s backdoor scheme to gain access to people’s homes without due process.

“They have made tremendous strides in their campaign … Over the next months you will notice firefighters being trained to take proactive steps against hoarders. You will see firefighters using the same template that they have for Defensible Space to minimize wildfires, only this strategy will include the inside of your home.”

American Psychiatric Association says hoarders have a “mental disorder” – will “mentally ill” preppers eventually be deprived of their Second Amendment rights?

According to government officials in B.C., people who “hoard” have questionable physical and mental health, and thus need an “intervention” by the state – which is where this whole situation gets disturbingly Orwellian.

The justification for raiding people’s homes uninvited will be that they’re somehow “mentally ill,” and in need of “help” by state workers, presumably armed, who will come into their homes and conduct “inspections.”

If it’s found that such folks are stocking up on things that the government determines to be “dangerous,” whether it’s piles of old newspapers or boxes of canned food, then the state will proceed to seize all of the “dangerous” items and make the homes “safe.”

“Hoarding has a very subjective definition and is in the eyes of the beholder,” writes Celeste, echoing this sentiment.

“For instance, having two dogs or two chickens, in some areas can qualify you to be labeled as a hoarder. Having more ‘essentials’ than the government recommends, can activate the Hoarding Response Team to your home for a mental evaluation.”

While it’s true that some people truly are hoarders who are putting their own lives and the lives of their families in danger, there are many others whom, seeing the writing on the wall, are simply prepping for the worst – and others who are blind to what’s going on might misunderstand their intent, and consequently report them to the authorities.

This precedent could even become a threat to preppers who stock up on firearms and ammunition, as they could eventually be accused of “hoarding” weapons.

“When you do stock up with preparations you do need to learn how to manage those preparations. That is part of the art of wisdom of this Preparedness Skill-Set,” Celeste adds.

“My concern is that there are certain Executive Orders at all levels of government ready to unload your hoarded supplies as an asset of the government. There is no doubt, that our current laws and regulations have made that threat very real to your family.”

You might be living in one of America’s deathzones and not have a clue about it
What if that were you? What would YOU do?

In the next few minutes, I’m going to show you the U.S. Nuclear Target map, where you’ll find out if you’re living in one of America’s Deathzones.

America – the greatest nation on earth – is currently facing unprecedented times of social unrest, and dare I say, this is just the beginning.

Regardless of who presides over the nation, we should always be aware of the so-called “shadow government” and their agenda. And mark my words: Our nation is in for times of massive unrest that were being plotted as early as 2015 and will continue until the “global agenda” pursued by George Soros and his allies is implemented.  The coming out-of-control riots may lead to a call for Martial Law, as I will explain.

During a SHTF situation, pain could become an annoyance for some, but unbearable for others.

If doctors are scarce and medicine becomes even scarcer, this one little weed, found all over North America and similar to morphine, could be a saving grace.

America has been preparing for massive social uprisings for a very long time (a quick research on the topic will reveal this truth). What I am about to tell you next might come as a surprise for some of you, but most of the things that we experience are being manufactured.

Never in my lifetime have I seen America so divided.

Our politicians and the mainstream media have been endlessly pitting various groups against one another for years, and everywhere you look, hearts are growing very cold.

Trump’s victory has come as a surprise for many, but if we consider the new state of play of the world, where the economic crisis has led to global divisions driving, thus, a return to national interests over the global ones, voting for Trump has been the obvious choice. During difficult times, we must safeguard the values and interests of the American people. But manufacturing nation-wide protests during confusing times may be just what some might wish for in order to divide and destabilize the country in exchange for the ability to control us at all times. In case we don’t comply with their “desires” we will face dire consequences, as the infamous Zbigniew Brzezinski, the imperialist/globalist/war-monger and former policy advisor to Obama, said:

“Today, it is infinitely easier to kill a million people than to control a million people”.

After some extensive research on the matter, I am inclined to affirm that what we’re currently experiencing is just the beginning, and the protests are rapidly turning into violent riots. Although many commentators are claiming that martial law will not be declared, we can never be sure of what is being planned for us.

Did you know that if martial law is declared, Trump will be prevented from taking office?

Returning to the fact that Soros is behind most of the protesters’ actions, we must acknowledge that the fundamental reason for inciting violence is to create favorable circumstances for the President to legitimately institute martial law if the riots continue on the same path. This is how it will work:

• The current protests are spreading rapidly, and when there is an increase in both violence and numbers, this movement will inevitably grow into a national riot.
• If needed, due to extensive clashes, martial law will be declared. Therefore, when this happens, Trump will not be able to take office because Obama will stay in power for however long is necessary until the “National State of Emergency” has passed (Bernstein), (AMBELLAS). There is a good chance that this has been the back-up plan for some liberals all along (as mentioned earlier, there’s proof the protests are being staged) in order to further advance the globalist agenda that has been denied by our President-elect Trump.

You might be living in one of America’s deathzones and not have a clue about it
What if that were you? What would YOU do?

In the next few minutes, I’m going to show you the U.S. Nuclear Target map, where you’ll find out if you’re living in one of America’s Deathzones.

So, here’s a glimpse of how life will be when martial law comes into effect:

• Everything we own can become federal property (especially guns and food stockpiles, which will be the first to be confiscated).
• Curfews will be the new normal, while groups of armed men and women will patrol the streets at all times.
• Access to food, water and other resources will be rationed. If your life depends on a daily dose of medication, you should start storing it in advance.
• There will be sky-high inflation, and with a national debt of almost $20 trillion, the stage is set to sky-rocket a new financial crisis that will make the 1930s Depression look like a walk in the park.
• Everyone will be considered suspicious. A short chit-chat with your neighbor about the “wrong” things can put your life on the line.
• There will be no access to free Internet, while free press and the freedom of speech will be things of the past

The 6 Golden Rules of Surviving Martial Law

Prepper or no prepper, these are the 6 Golden Rules to follow if martial law comes to your town:

     1. First and foremost, talk with no one and trust no one.

Although the clear majority of preppers are already set to outlast any scenario that cuts them off from all the common supply lines, we must remember that under martial Law, everything that we own is able to become government property. Therefore, do not tell people about your supplies or secret hide-outs. I know it’s hard not to brag about your preps, but be careful to whom you’re talking

     2. Always renew your supplies and make sure you have a “basic martial law survival kit.”

A basic martial law survival kit would imply the following: electricity generator, water filters or even water generators (H2O Dynamo), weapons, food supplies for six months, first aid supplies, clothing for any type of weather, a flashlight, batteries, radio gear, and navigation equipment. Of course, you’ll need these if you want to stay put. If you want to go outside and face the music…that’s a different story.

     3. Avoid getting in the way of law enforcement or the military.

Even though some would advise that we be resilient to any violations of your constitutional rights, which, by the way, will be justified under martial law, the best survival tactics are to keep your cool and think before you react. You can always choose to fight back. These two options – bugging in or bugging out – will cause you to probably face the hardest decision of your life.

     4. Tune in and be up to date with the news.

It is crucial to stay informed and keep in touch with whomever you consider important. Every media outlet, as well as the Internet, will be controlled by the federal government, and you will not have access to any other information except what is being communicated by the state. Although this might be upsetting, you still need to know what is going to happen so you can be prepared for any situation.

     5. Cautiously develop a survival network.

Establishing a survival network would be an excellent idea considering the fact that we can never know for how long martial law will be imposed. Consequently, setting up a diverse group of preppers will ensure your long-term survival. But make sure you keep a low profile so that you and your group will not be targeted as perpetrators.

     6. Inspect and know your surroundings by heart.

You should be able to visualize your home turf even in your sleep. Ideally, you would also have a safe room. Make sure you have a blueprint of your area where you mark the closest escape routes, develop the quickest itinerary to a safe haven, and formulate the best and safest evacuation strategy.

We may all be sitting in the dark, but there will always be some things that still work.

Most stories about a power grid failure assume a post-apocalyptic scenario that leaves civilization in the dark for centuries. The story usually leads to people living in caves surrounded by an arsenal of weapons waiting for the Mad Max gangs.

But if you think about it, there is a wide range of scenarios that could result in a grid failure and a range of responses to getting through it. How long the grid remains down depends on the events leading up to it, but how someone responds has more to do with an assessment of what happened, what’s going on, and what should be done about it.

A Brief Recap of Why the Grid Could Go Down

Books have been written about how the grid could fail, but here are the most popular assumptions.

EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse)

An electromagnetic pulse can originate from nature as a result of an event in space originating from exploding stars or other phenomena that send waves of electromagnetic energy to Earth. It’s happened in the past in 1858, but there were fewer electronics and no grid, so few people noticed.

A nuclear detonation also emits an EMP and would have the same effect over a large area. The result of any EMP is the failure of electronics, particularly computers, and the assumption that it would ultimately lead to grid failure.

Solar Flares

Keep watching the skies. The sun has a cycle of activity that peaks every 11 years. During those peaks, massive solar flares often erupt from the sun’s surface sending radiation out into space. If it hits the Earth, lots of things happen.

It’s the particularly large solar flares that cause the problem, and we had a near-miss in 2014 that could have taken down electronics and the grid. It didn’t happen but it was close.

Terrorist Attack

A physical attack on power generation stations and substations could cause a cascade failure of the power grid. There were reports of an attack on a power station in 2013, but little has been said about it.

If history has any precedent, it’s that a terrorist attack can wreak havoc, and an attack on the grid would definitely fall in that category.

Cyber Terrorism or Cyberwarfare

More and more, everything is becoming dependent on computers, software, and programming to function. The power grid is no different, and more and more reports of hacking into government and business computer systems continue to show up.

A dedicated cyber attack on the systems operating the power grid could cause it to fail on a large scale.

Failing Infrastructure

Many reports indicate that the infrastructure in the United States is falling apart. Many of them point at things like bridges, levies, and water systems, but a few point to the antiquated and poorly maintained power grid that we still rely on for one of our most critical commodities: electricity.

It’s always a surprise to watch a bridge collapse into a river, but deteriorating infrastructure usually has that result. If the power grid infrastructure ultimately fails, it could be just as sudden and surprising.

And oh yeah…

Other events from nuclear power plant explosions to alien invasions have shown up as the cause for a grid failure, but those events would either be highly localized or absurdly impossible to assess. Regardless, if the grid goes down, everything gets complicated. But some things could still work–from the surprising to the obvious.

Some of the possibilities on this list assume that you have some means of generating power from things like car batteries, generators, and . Even a small, portable solar panel is enough to recharge a computer or cell phone.

Disasters May Vary

A lot of what happens after a disaster is a question of location. Some places may not be as affected as others.  Some regions may be better prepared than others.  If there’s one lesson that we can all take from Y2K, it’s that what we expect is sometimes very different than what actually occurs.

With that in mind, here are some things that could still work to varying degrees if the grid goes down.

1. The Internet

The origins of the Internet began with the U.S. Department of Defense through DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). The design parameters were for an information exchange platform that would survive a global thermonuclear war. The RAND Corporation came up with the winning design using a HAM radio concept called “packet switching.”

The idea was to use the network or the spider “web” of phone lines across the country to automatically switch messages from one server to another across locations to allow a message to eventually “worm” its way through the web of wiring in spite of catastrophic damage and widespread failures of everything else.

It worked and was initially called ARPANET. It was originally run through servers at universities across the country and was the domain of graduate students and college professors for years until it slowly began to enter into the mainstream.

Today we know it as the Internet, and while it has become significantly more complex than its original design, there are fundamental aspects of the foundation concept that will still work in spite of thermonuclear war or–a grid failure.

Getting the Internet to Work after a Grid Failure

It may be incorrect to assume that plugging your computer and modem into a generator is going to get you back online through broadband cable after a grid failure, but it’s worth a try.

A more likely scenario is using the old and slow wired phone lines from the infancy of the Internet. You won’t be able to enjoy your favorite streaming videos, but fundamental text communication and even email will still transmit over standard phone lines.

This assumes you still have standard phone lines in your home and that you have the phone cables and a standard phone jack on your computer. The old phone lines are cheap, and a standard phone jack modem or connector can be easily hooked to many of today’s computers.

You’ll also need a connected and transmitting hard wire phone line. Many of us have walked away from hard wire phone lines in an age of cellular phone technology, but if you’re concerned about a grid failure, it may be worth the small monthly fee just to have the line working.

And yes, it will most likely work after a grid failure. If you ever experienced a temporary power outage in the distant past, you may have been surprised to find your phone still worked after the lights were out. That’s because standard phone lines don’t rely on the grid, although it’s fair to assume that the phone company is going to need some alternative way to generate power.

The big question is how much power the servers that power the Internet require to keep functioning and whether any plans are in place to keep them running. Regardless of the possibilities, it may surprise you to find the Internet may still be accessible over your old phone lines.

There are other ways as well, but you may also be able to use your cell phone to access the Internet.

2. Cell Phones (In Areas)

Anytime we endure a local power outage, the first thing many of us reach for is our cell phone. The first call is usually to a local family member asking the question, “Is your power out too?”https://c87b7ebae1d1bbb96947a204114a37a1.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.html

The next call is most likely to the local power utility to find out when the power will be back on. All of that works because the power outage is localized and there’s available power at other locations to keep the cell towers transmitting. But what if there’s a widespread grid failure?

Cell phones depend on the wireless transmission of radio waves. It takes some power (battery power) in any wireless device to receive radio transmissions, and it takes some power (grid or generator supplied) to send radio transmissions. It takes more power to send a radio wave any distance than it does to receive one.

The assumption is that wireless service providers have some ability to generate power without the grid. Hospitals have that capability to maintain power to their Intensive Care Units and surgical suites, and many wireless transmitters have the same backup capability with some even powered by solar. Legislation was drafted to require backup plans, but it was never passed.

In the case of receiving a wireless transmission, alternative power to recharge a battery from a solar recharger to plugging into a car’s cigarette lighter jack can do the trick. Here again, many of these sources assume some level of independent power generation, whether it’s a $30 solar phone recharger or industrial-strength generators at hospitals and wireless transmission stations.

If you really want to push the envelope, you can buy your own satellite receiver that connects you directly to communication satellites, although you may have to spend a little time with the instruction book.

3. Radio

Radios are similar to cell phones in the sense that they also depend on the transmission and reception of radio signals. There are solar/hand-cranked radios that receive AM and FM in addition to other transmissions including:

• NOAA Weather Alerts
• National and State Emergency Alert Systems

HAM Radio

Amateur radio transmissions are the “go-to” communication platform of choice for disasters. Whether the communication is via Morse code or voice, HAM radio operators can send and receive using power derived from solar-powered batteries or generators and, they could be a primary communication resource in the event of a catastrophic grid failure.

If the Internet does in fact fail and cell phones simply don’t work, radios may be the last resort for electronic communication.

4. Natural Gas Appliances

This is another example of past experience many of us have had with power failures. The lights won’t turn on, but we’re able to light a gas range with a match and cook. That’s because the delivery of gas through gas lines is largely powered by the pressure of the gas.

Some argue that you can also manually light a furnace or water heater that’s gas-powered, but gas furnaces rely on forced-air powered by electric motors, although you might have a shot with a gas-fired water heater. Here’s how:

If you live in an area where your water pressure is delivered by a water tank you may have water, at least for a while. Water towers stand hundreds of feet in the air and use gravity to deliver water pressure to a municipal system.

They also rely on electric-powered pumps to refill the water tanks, but as long as there’s water in the tank, you may have water pressure and hot water from a manually lit pilot light on a gas hot water heater.

And the Obvious But worth Thinking About…

5. Books

Yes I know, of course books will still work. We don’t have to plug in a book to read it, but if the grid is down and the Internet is either inaccessible or limited because of slow, standard phone line transmission, we’ll be at the mercy of the books we have on hand.

The post-apocalyptic movie, The Book of Eli, is all about the importance of books. In fact, the end of the movie is about a library slowly collecting books for future generations. To put it bluntly, we’ve been spoiled by the Internet, and not only book stores but personal book collections have started to diminish. After the grid goes down is a bad time to go shopping for anything in stores or online, including books.

Another book could be written about which books to stockpile for a post-disaster lifestyle. It might be a good idea for an article, but until then, think about books you would need after a grid failure. We’ve become so dependent on Googling anything that it might come as a rude surprise when we realize our bookshelves have little or none of the information we may suddenly need.

6. Cash and Coins

It’s possible that you still may be able to use debit and credit cards. Or not. It also may be impossible to pull some fast cash out of the ATM, and it’ll be interesting to see if and how banks would reopen.

It’s also fair to assume that cash may suddenly be in short supply. We’re currently experiencing a coin shortage due to the pandemic, and who’s to say that cash wouldn’t suffer the same fate after a power outage?

How much cash you choose to keep on hand is up to you. And speaking of coins, forget about conventional quarters and half-dollars. 1-ounce silver coins from the U.S. mint or 1/10-ounce gold coins may become the currency of choice for a while. Old coinage with some silver content would also have value, but modern coins may not be worth the trouble given they only have face value.

7. Solar Panels

It should come as no surprise that solar panels don’t need power to function and will even survive an EMP. At a minimum, buy some small solar pads or panels to recharge small items like cell phones, computers, batteries, flashlights, and other small tools and appliances that can plug into a solar panel’s USB port for a recharge. Some small panels can even recharge a car battery.

At the other end of the scale, rooftop solar panels can be used to recharge batteries that can be used to power various lights and appliances depending on the size of your solar setup. There are varying levels of tax deductions for most solar installations, and it may be worth at least investigating the idea of solar-powered solutions.

8. Hand Tools and Weapons

Another brilliant penetration of the realm of the obvious is the ability to use hand tools and weapons without electricity. But in the same way that some books may not be available after a grid failure, it’s a fair bet that critical hand tools for major tasks and weapons for self-defense will be in short supply.

Think about the electric tools you depend on and what hand tools you have as a backup. As far as weapons and ammo. That’s another one that’s up to you.

9. Cars

It also seems obvious that a car would start after a grid failure, but if the failure was the result of an EMP, it’s possible a car’s small onboard computer systems might fail. The good news is that cars are surrounded by a steel body that acts as built-in Faraday cages. However, how effective that will be could depend on how far the car is from ground zero.

A Faraday cage is any metal box or container (even a metal garbage can) that prevents the electromagnetic waves from frying the electronics. Most cars would survive an EMP, and not only would they have working radios, they could recharge some electronics.

Finding gas at a gas station when the pumps don’t work due to the power failure is another question, but at least the car will run before the gas runs out.

It’s All a Matter of Degree

Disaster scenarios vary. A grid failure could be local or widespread. It could last for months or years. It will definitely have broad and wide-ranging impacts on society and everything else around us.

If the pandemic has taught us one thing it’s that the unexpected happens from continuing struggles to figure out home-schooling to wondering how long we should wait before seeing a doctor or dentist again.

The good news is that we’re slowly finding solutions. The bad news is whether we’ll have half the resources we would need to find solutions without the grid. Fortunately, some of those resources could still work. We just have to remember what they are.

Do you know how to survive a gun fight?

Here’s the situation: some people want your stuff, or they just plain out want to kill you. Whatever the cause of the escalation might be, all you’ve got is a gun lying on the ground next to you. What shooting techniques and tactics would you use and how would you survive a gun fight?

So first, you’ve picked up the gun, pulled out the magazine and checked how many rounds you’ve got spare. This is all while rounds are flying over your head and bouncing off things around you. But they’re not hitting you because you’ve already ducked behind cover to figure out your tactics right?

Let’s just say that if there were a group of people firing at me, my first thought would be to get out of there as quickly as possible, regroup with some gun-savvy would-be John Wick volunteers and come back. One big tip that might help, in a gunfight, 3 on 1 is better than 1 on 3. So work with those odds and round up some friends who would be worthy of a gun fight and are up to scratch with these 14 things to remember to survive a shootout.

Guns have been referred to as “the great equalizer,” and there’s no weapon which can come close to them in that regard.

A lot of the popularity of firearms is due to the fact that anyone can use them effectively, not only the strong and agile. The young, the old, men, women and child can take up firearms in defense of home and family and do so effectively.

But what do you do if you can’t use a gun – or if you don’t have a gun — to protect yourself?

1. Have yourself a merry little sidearm pistol

Weapon fires weapon stops. This is a thing they teach to soldiers in initial weapons training. They teach this because guns are not like a weapon in Call of Duty, in a real gun battle they stop. You could fire one shot and the weapon might not automatically reload because you have a chunky piece of metal 5.56 jacket jammed in your ejection port.

Now while any good shooter might pull out the magazine, cock the weapon and give the gun a right old nudge and shake just to free up the jam, you’re not going to do that. In an immediate jam, you are going to sling that weapon (everyone should have a good adjustable sling) and whip out your pistol to keep firing.

You might have seen John Wick make his way through a soiree of larger weapons before working his way down to his pistol range, that’s because when you’re in the heat of a shootout, using your next loaded weapon is quicker than fixing a jammed gun, or doing a magazine change.

That pistol is your merry little backup present when the first one wasn’t good enough. It is loaded and ready to dump out the 15-30 rounds you might be carrying in your glock magazine.

In this case, you’d probably use this secondary weapon to work your way through a pistol fight while you find cover and get your boomstick back into the game.

For a demonstration on the quick sling of the primary to secondary weapon, we can look no further than to the training given to Keanu Reaves to become John Wick by Taran Tactical for this one:

2. Know where your ejection port is

While we all love the John Wick films and other great shooting movies, those films aren’t always that accurate. Especially when it comes to bullet casings. Every weapon has an ejection port. Out of that comes the bit of bullet that never leaves the barrel of a gun. It’s called a casing and it is damn hot.

The first reason you should know where your ejection port is would be in the case above where your weapon jams up. Most of the time it’s going to be a bullet that hasn’t been struck properly and has not fed into the gun correctly, you will see this stuff up in the ejection port. It is about this time that if you are only carrying one gun, you should know how to fix a weapon jam pretty quick.

The second reason, and one quickly learned by shooting beginners, is that some weapons have ejection ports that can fire hot bullet casings onto your skin causing a nice little bullet tattoo to be burnt into your skin. Generally, the ejection port is on the right side of the weapon, so when your would-be volunteer buddies in the gun fight are on your left you are going to get sprayed with burning hot bullet casings.

What should you do about this? Suck it up. They’re on your side and you’ve got bullets coming at you. But if you’re like this lady with a bullet casing down the top, you’re probably going to be burning.

3. I shoot, you run

If you are not shooting you should be running. Tell your buddies in the gun fight the same thing. Try to synchronize it. If you are retreating, one person shoots while the other runs, repeat this until you are in your abandoned building, bunker hideout.

This works the other way, in the attack. If you have sized the enemy as being reasonable for your capacity and you decide to attack, shoot in their direction while your buddy runs. Let’s hope he is smart enough to figure out he should do the same.

The process of your buddy shooting while you run is called ‘covering’. This is why you hear that great term, covering fire.

This gunfighting technique also referred to as ‘fire and movement’ and if you’ve been in the military you’d cringe just hearing these words as that is a lot of the combat practice in the field which turns to elements in urban training.

When you are making those shots, sure, rounds placed near an enemy’s position is going to keep them pinned behind cover, but make sure you control your breathing, which in turn helps with your aim. The military uses a method called Box Breathing for this. Learn it and use it as it is a great way to de-stress and take control of any given situation.

You might be living in one of America’s deathzones and not have a clue about it
What if that were you? What would YOU do?

In the next few minutes, I’m going to show you the U.S. Nuclear Target map, where you’ll find out if you’re living in one of America’s Deathzones.

4. Keep your eyes on three things at the same time

While you are ducking, diving, and firing well-aimed shoots in your gunfight survival, there are three other things (I know, it’s a lot) that you should be paying attention to: the guys shooting at you, your buddy, and possible cover. These three things are the only things you should be looking at. You should be watching where your enemy is, where you last saw them or where they sound like they are shooting from. You should be watching this because when your buddy is moving, this is where you are shooting.

You should be watching your buddy and listening out for his gun. If he is shooting, you move, if you don’t hear any shots from him, that probably means his weapon is jammed or he is just plain useless. In some cases that uselessness can also cause a jam – be warned.

On top of this, you should always be looking for the next place you are going to move to. If you are in a retreat, this is basically putting solid things behind you, if you are attacking, this is stuff in front of you. Always be looking for covering spots. Why? Because the next point is why.

5. I’m up, he sees me, I’m down

This is what you say when you run. As soon as you take your first step you should say to yourself: “I’m up, he sees me, I’m down”. This is enough time to move, and not allow your enemy to take a steady aim and kill you. If you run longer than this, anyone with a sense of aim can take a quick sighting and put some metal your way and possibly land a hit. So don’t let it happen.

When the phrase says ‘down’ this doesn’t just refer to dropping to the ground, it is whatever you deem a safe place to fire from. If it is a wall or over the front of a car, use it as cover and shoot while your buddy moves.

You can see how these guys from Polenar Tactical work in unison to provide covering fire for their buddy running. Eventually, this would get you close enough to the enemy to grenade them, or get closer to get your buddy in a flank.

This phrase is something that is regularly repeated in initial combat training for a lot of the world’s forces. It is taught for the reason which is to keep you alive. But this will fail you if you don’t adhere to the next part, which is once you are down, move for an extra few meters. Why? Next point.

6. Don’t be a rabbit

Ever seen a rabbit in the grass? It bends down to eat, pops its head back up and bends down again. You give your friend a nudge in the arm and say “check out two meters left of that tree, there’s a rabbit”. And before you know it, the rabbit has popped his little head up in the exact same spot. Boom, if you were the rabbit you would be dead. The same will happen in a real gun fight.

In a shootout, if you see someone running you are going to aim at their last seen place and wait until they pop out to shoot them. So with the principle mentioned before, once you leave the visibility of your enemy whether it be behind a car, wall… or whatever, move and crawl a few meters before popping up to shoot. Make sure that movement is lateral to the enemy. Think of it as getting out of the X.

In an urban environment, this can only work so well as you might be behind a car or a single-spaced object with very little crawl distance. Make do with what you can but remember the idea of the rabbit popping up in the same place.

7. Be aggressive and quick

Let’s think about some animals at the top of the food chain. All of the ones that I can think of are aggressive and quick in their attack and you should be too despite whether you are attacking or retreating. Why? When you are covering fire you only have a certain amount of bullets to do so (You are hoping that we picked up a gun with a full mag when we found it at the start).

Taking a gun fight slow and steady will result in getting shot. Bullets move fast and you need to as well. If you are ever unfortuante enough to find yourself in the midst of a real gun fight the number one rule is to be aggressive, confident and quick.

Part of being aggressive is also being on the offensive. When it comes to surviving a gun fight, when you maintain the offensive with your buddy (hopefully more than one) you are overwhelming your enemy with so much precise force that they cannot handle the pressure and start making mistakes and panic. This puts you in control and control is the key to winning.

8. Plan like it’s the last thing you ever do

Yes, it could be the last thing you ever do. Getting shot is no field trip and it can result in a massive loss of blood and death. So what are you going to do? Well, you should already have your answer for that. Plan, plan, plan.

It could be anything from attacking with your buddy up until you can run a flank, or it could be to sit and fire a few shots in the enemy’s direction to probe and find out what sort of guns they have (let’s hope for your sake they don’t have mounted heavy belt-fed weapons). Whatever you do, have a plan and a backup one if that fails.

When it comes to gun fights, there are a huge amount of tactics that can be employed, they all depend largely on the area where you are fighting, such as urban gun fights in buildings, apartments and tight streets, or in the wilderness in forests, jungles or wide open planes. All of these have their setbacks, exposure points, and weaknesses. The only way to win a fight is to think logically and exploit those weaknesses against the other team.

I recently wrote a post about a tactical way of thinking using situational awareness. The theory of the OODA loop was developed by a military tactician and is something you should use to diagnose, dissect and win your gun fight. The OODA loop is explained in-depth in the post on situational awareness but for an overview, it stands for:

• Observe your enemy
• Orientate how they are acting and what you can do to counter and win that action
• Make a Decision on the best course of action to take
• Carry out the Action.
• The loop then continues back into the observation phase.

9. Be fit for a gunfight

By this, we don’t mean you should start doing pushups in the middle of a two-way range. This is a preparatory thing and is a big part of prepping for when the sh-t hits the fan. Fitness is important in a gun fight for three main reasons:

• It keeps you confident with a level-head and tactical thinking mindset
• It gets you from point A to B quickly and efficiently
• It allows you to make a steady aim after just sprinting for your life

If you are not fit, get started by working with high-impact interval training.

10. Get creative when looking for cover

Cover isn’t just a place to hide, it’s also a place to shoot rounds from to try and land a hit on your enemy as well as to suppress the enemy for your buddy to gain some ground. Part of this involves the flexibility and creativity that many special forces soldiers use in their field office. Chances are your gun fight is going to be in an urban environment which means you are going to have vehicles, houses, fences, garden hedges, windows and anything else at your disposal. Whatever you have got, use it.

Navy SEAL Rich Graham teaches various methods like this at his Tactical Carbine course. While this video was intentionally about muzzle awareness from a concealed position, you can see how he uses the tray of a truck as a covered firing position.

Remember that whichever position you find to fire from, make sure you can build a solid firing position to aim, control your breath and control your weapon so that you can make more accurate shots. These are simple military marksmanship principles and greatly improve your aim ability to end a firefight with a well-placed shot when coupled with breathing exercises taught to soldiers. For those that find they need to take time to line a good shot on the range, there are courses developed online such as the Spec Ops Shooting Course that teaches you how to shoot faster while still maintaining the same accuracy. When it comes down to it, shooting quick, and accurate is the most important shooting technique you can ever master.

Experts predict that an EMP strike that wipes out electricity across the nation would ultimately lead to the demise of up to 90% of the population. However, this figure begs an important question: if we were able to live thousands of years without even the concept of electricity, why would we suddenly all die without it?

11. Bring a knife to a gun fight

You have probably heard something along the lines of “don’t bring a knife to a gunfight”, but that is completely wrong. A knife is a piece of equipment every tactical gun fighter should have on their kit for a number of reasons. One of them is that a knife something you can grab in close combat when everything else fails.

Remember how we said you should have a merry little sidearm? What if you have spent all of that ammunition getting to the enemy and it comes down to a test of strength between the two of you? No, that’s not going to happen. You’ve got a fixed-blade knife ready to use in combat.

What type of knife should you be using? That’s up to you, but as far as cool gear goes, you can’t go past the legendary US Marine Ka-Bar knife.

12. If you are entering a gunfight in a car, shoot, then get out and shoot some more

Cars are bullet magnets, and you are pretty well exposed if you are sitting in it (unless of course, you are in the US President’s Beast), so you are going to need to get out of that thing quickly. But while you are getting out, you could be sprayed with metal.

To leave a car in a gun fight (assuming it has stopped) you should:

1. Fire some shots at whoever is shooting at you (this will divert their attention from shooting you to ducking)
2. Open the door and hold it open with your foot (some doors have a kickback)
3. Lead with your gun out the door aiming at the enemy and fire shots while leaving the car
4. Position yourself so that the vehicle is in between yourself and the enemy

Here is a demonstration on executing a quick departure from a car under fire from Tactical Rifleman:

13. Don’t forget your chest rig

Okay, so if you are in a gun fight, chances are you were probably looking for one and did not run away at the first sign of a shot. This means you are a hardened individual ready to eat lead, shoot with precision, advance towards an enemy and make them quiver with fear from your dominant fighting skills.

All of this means you probably already have something like a Condor Recon Chest Rig and the sweet sidearm carrier the Condor Tornado Tactical Leg Holster. You are a dangerous gunfighter by the looks of it. And with this gear you can carry more magazines, have the smaller working space between the quick draw of your magazines to the loading port of your rifle and handgun and you can also fasten the previously mentioned US Marine Ka-Bar knife to the molle on the rig.

If you are are anything of a military buff, you have probably heard of the film Lone Survivor, the film adaptation of the amazing story of war hero Marcus Luttrel. The film’s immensely real adaptation of military tactics, weapons drills, and equipment was very real. In saying that, the specialist Rhodesian Recon Vest (RRV) chest rig the character wore in that film is also a very popular option for many military professionals and security workers.

14. Don’t get in one, but if you have to, win.

Remember how we mentioned the OODA loop in Number 8? Well if you can see an opportunity to de-escalate an issue then take it. Peace is a much better approach for all parties than exchanging fast and hot bullets.

If there is a peaceful option to take, then take it. But if there isn’t then god speed.

In writing this article, I also encourage anyone who is interested in weapons, in general, to promote gun safety to anyone you know who is about to touch a weapon otherwise you might end up being injured by one of these unsafe people. While this post might sound light, guns are no joke and are meant to be taken very serious when working with and around them.

I hope you enjoyed this post. Give it a share with the buddies you would expect to back you up in a fight!

In this video, i will unearth a long-forgotten secret that helped our ancestors survive famines, wars, economic crisis, diseases, droughts and anything else life trew at them.
So pay chose attention because this video will change your life forever for the good!