How to Bug Out – The Ultimate Guide

If you are new to prepping in general you have probably already read and heard about the concept of bugging out. Or perhaps you are a relatively green prepper, and have not tackled this “big ticket” item on your prepper To-Do list.

Whichever the case might be, bugging out is in some ways a sort of central tenet to the idea of prepping as a lifestyle and personal choice, and you should not neglect it.

The only trick is knowing where to start! Do you bug out on foot or by vehicle? Both? How much stuff do you take, and what kind? Is bugging out temporary or a more permanent measure?

What else do you need to know? Where do you start? What should you do first? All questions that are asked regularly for those new to the concept.

Happily, you have come to the right place. In this article I’ll present an A-Z guide on bugging out: what it is, what it means, when you should do it and most importantly how to plan, prepare for and execute a bug out by foot or by vehicle. We’ll be digging into a lot of content and you’ll have plenty of additional reading after this article so let’s get started!

What is Bugging Out?

Plainly stated bugging out is simply a self-starting evacuation. More specifically, it means you choose to evacuate your home or shelter location and typically proceed to one of several pre-selected secondary shelter locations.

This is all done in response to a threat of some kind, be it emergent or current. You may choose to bug out via foot, using a vehicle of some kind or both depending on the situation, your plans and your destination.

Some preppers are passionate that “bugging out” is a specific subtype of evacuation, one in response to a situation or threat where you are never coming home.

I think this type of thinking is too narrow: there are plenty of events that you can reasonably expect will end and allow you to return to your home, but they are bad enough, dangerous enough that you will still want to get the hell out of its way!

Bug-outs might be shorter or longer term in duration, with some preppers choosing to make the distinction of long-term bug-outs by calling them INCH events, INCH standing for “I’m Never Coming Home.”

Regardless of duration, any time you decide to grab your bag and head for the proverbial high ground you can be sure you are “bugging out.” Speaking of your bag…

Meet BOB: The Bug-Out Bag

The other major component of bugging out is taking the supplies with you that you’ll need for basic life support while you are en route and potentially at your destination.

To accomplish this you’ll rely on the most foundational piece of bug-out gear: the bug-out bag, commonly abbreviated as the catchy acronym BOB.

BOB’s are defined by being intended for use during and packed for a bug-out event. BOBs should always be kept ready to roll out at a moment’s notice with everything you’ll need or think you’ll need contained therein.

Don’t leave your BOB half packed or empty to be filled when the “call” comes in; a BOB that is not packed is not worth much when minutes count!

To make sure you aren’t running around frantically while the sky is falling, or about to fall, always keep your BOB loaded, checked and set in a place where you have planned to retrieve it and don it before taking off into the wild blue yonder.

Don’t dig through your BOB for tools or supplies you want or need just because it is convenient- treat your BOB like the piece of emergency equipment it is.

That being said, chances are your BOB will contain items that expire or otherwise have a shelf life. You should set up reminders and have a schedule for checking on or rotating out those items which will or might have expired so you aren’t disappointed and left flapping in the breeze with dead batteries and spoiled rations.

You Haul It: Choosing a BOB

Preppers will argue without mercy or end as to what kind of pack is bet for a BOB. What brand? Should it be frameless or a framed pack? Internal or external frame? Should you go with camo for discreetness or a brighter color for visibility?

No matter what kind of pack you are thinking of buying you have three main concerns, in no particular order since they are all important. First, your BOB has to have ample capacity carry everything you’ll need while enroute to your destination and once you get there, if your location does not have any supplies pre-emplaced and waiting for you.

Second, it has to be durable, since the rigors of bugging out and carrying a heavily loaded pack over rough terrain is a far sight more demanding on man and material than hauling a load of books to and from class or toting a gym bag into the gym.

Lastly, your BOB must fit you well. This is something better covered in another article here on the site, but suffice it to say that a poorly fitted or poorly fitting pack will become nothing short of torturous when loaded.

This will sap your strength and stamina as well as your morale, making you more susceptible to injury. Remember, you will be carrying your pack on your back for many miles if you go by foot.

Even if you plan to take a car to your destination there always exists the possibility you’ll have to abandon the vehicle and run for it. If you do nothing else, grab your BOB and go!

Also, lastly, it goes without saying you want a bag that is a proper backpack, preferably with a belt and chest strap as well as shoulder straps. This is the only design that will permit you to carry and control it for long distances of travelling on foot.

Things like suitcases, shoulder bags and the like should not be considered at all unless you have, literally, no other choice at the moment.

Everything Except the Kitchen Sink: BOB Contents

Any BOB should contain the essential items needed to support life. Unfortunately, this is not your Precious Moments figurine collection or that wicked pirate ship in a bottle model. You’ll need a variety of gear and provisions to give yourself the best chance of bugging out possible.

You’ll need to cover your fundamental needs for life. That means shelter, to regulate your core temperature. You’ll need a way to procure clean, drinkable water. You’ll need food, for energy. You’ll also need weapons and tools for self-defense and for getting work done efficiently.

A short list of items you’ll likely need and want to have in your BOB:

• Water and Water Purification: Bottles, canteens, filters, steri-tabs.
• Food: Stable, high calorie meals ready to eat with little or no preparation.
• Shelter: Seasonal and weather appropriate clothing, bivy, tarp, flyweight tent.
• Fire: Lighters, matches, ferro rod, fire steel, tinder.
• Lighting: Flashlights, headlamps and plenty of batteries.
• Weaponry: Guns, knives.
• Tools: Hatchet, machete, bush knife, folding saw, pry bar.
• Hygiene Kit: Toothbrush, toothpaste, baby wipes, foot powder, soap, hand sanitizer.
• Medical: basic first aid kit with medicines, trauma kit.

Get a full list here.

A quick note on hygiene: before you consider leaving out your hygiene kit as “unnecessary” or just luxury items keep in mind that keeping clean is not just good for social success and feeling good, it is a necessary preventative measure to keep yourself mobile and healthy.

A skin rash that develops from you being plain dirty and unwashed can bloom into a nasty infection that will derail you. Dirty, wet, gross feet will blister readily and develop all sorts of fungal infestations.

Your private areas are likewise hotbeds of germ activity, and the longer they go unwashed the greater the chance of contamination.

Your teeth also need care. While your teeth are usually very slow to decay and break down, regular brushing will help prevent all kinds of gum related issues, not to mention bad breath that would knock a buzzard of a garbage truck at 50 yards.

Consider the second order effects; if you have others in your group, or just people in close proximity, would you rather be around people who smell nice or at least don’t reek, or be trapped in a miasma of stinking, fear-soaked unwashed humanity?

Don’t underestimate the power of cleanliness for morale boosting!

This represents the minimum you will want to carry, modified for your local climate and terrain, of course. I and other authors have delved deeply into the minutiae of BOB packing lists and breaking down precisely what you’ll need here on this site in other article

I suggest you dig into those as soon as you are finished digesting this one.

Trying it on for Size: Testing your BOB

One of the worst things you can do as a prepper making ready for a true big-out scenario, especially one by foot, is to neglect getting both your body and your BOB ready for movement under load.

Most people never have to carry any amount of weight on their backs over any distance. This means your body, even if you are fit, will not be “hardened” to the task and, boy oh boy, you will suffer if the time ever comes you have to do it for real.

This means you’ll need to practice hiking or at least walking with a pack that has some weight in it, and approach this training task as you would any other: like a prepper, with an improvement and better capability as the end goal.

To do this, you’ll start “rucking” like you would any other new activity or workout regimen: slowly with little weight, increasing distance, speed and weight as you improve.

Once you attempt this, even carrying something as light as a 15 lb. BOB, you’ll notice a drastic decrease in performance and an increase in exertion (and soreness!): your body’s tiny stabilizer muscles in your trunk will be little used to such hard work.

Likewise, your legs will be working overtime to support the additional weight and your feet will be taking a pounding. You will especially notice the sore shoulders from the pack’s straps pressing into you. While they may not be painful, they will leave marks!

All of this can be ameliorated by dedicated practice. The more you work on your rucking, the better prepared you’ll be for long, tiring movements by foot with a loaded BOB in tow!

The other goal you’ll accomplish simultaneously while strengthening your body for the rigors to come is a proper shakedown of your BOB and its loadout.

It is here, during an accurate simulation of actual use that you’ll discover any flaws in your pack’s configuration or load order, defects in its, material or construction, and any nagging issues with ride or fit.

Don’t wait for an actual event to discover your BOB’s straps chafe you painfully, or that you can hear and feel stitches in the panels pop-pop-popping right before spilling your vital, life-sustaining gear out onto the muddy trail.

It is only by proper hard-use testing and benchmarking that you can say for certain both you and your BOB are fit for the brutally unforgiving task of survival.

Luggage Optional: Other Types of BOBs

While the term BOB is often specifically applied to your pack you keep loaded and ready for taking with you when evacuating, it can also be broadly applied to several other kinds of specific-use emergency luggage.

Among these various bags are the EDC, or Everyday Carry bag, Get Home Bag, also known as a GHB and the INCH bag, a sort of Super BOB intended to carry the majority of things you will need to survive a permanent exodus from your home.

An EDC bag is usually a small satchel or backpack that is your “daily packer,” carrying a few essentials that don’t fit in your pockets or on your person, or is used to haul a slightly expanded kit full of essentials.

A small bag like this is painless to carry and is a cheap insurance policy against mishap when you leave your home. Common items include an expanded medical complement, spare ammunition, a small toolkit and similar handy, essential gear.

A Get Home Bag is a sort of mini-BOB intended to be kept in your vehicle or taken with you on longer trips from home, carrying inside it a selection of items intended to allow you to return on foot to your home at best speed should be overtaken by some event that prevents road transit.

A GHB will often contain comfortable clothes suitable for strenuous hikes or walks, some quick-energy foods, water and simple water filtration solutions, minimalist shelter gear as well as navigational aids and some defensive tools.

The INCH bag is the kitchen sink of bug out bags, a large pack more akin to the enormous rucksack carried by an infantryman than a hiker’s technical pack.

The “I’m Never Coming Home” pack is designed to support what the name suggests, long-term sustainment living, or at least the initiation of sustainment when you are leaving everything behind.

Often, the INCH kit will have more of what you pack in your BOB, and additional items like tools that you would omit for weight and bulk concerns in a standard BOB.

Beware, a true INCH bag is often a monster, and you’ll need to be very fit or move only in short intervals on foot or go by vehicle if you are going to carry one very far.

Hitting the Road

Where the rubber meets the road, often literally, is during transit. Whatever is happening, you have made the decision to get out of town and hopefully to safety and greener pastures.

You’ll be taking off on foot or using a vehicle and will be braving a world that has likely changed radically from the one you typically see when you step out of your front door.

On foot or by automobile, you’ll be contending with masses of panicked, fleeing people, environmental threats in the form of man-made hazards or bad weather and its aftermath, destruction, rubble, general mayhem and even sadly the predations of your fellow man.

You might be lucky or good, but chances are the challenges you’ll face will be tremendous. There will be danger. Bugging out is almost always dangerous, if only because you are stepping off into unknown situations in unknown territory.

There is also the matter of knowing where you are going. More preppers than you might think make the mistake of just wanting to “take off” and find some place they can pitch their tent and wait for the whole affair that sent them scurrying to blow over before coming home.

While that may, in theory, work if you have not taken the time to scout and carefully select your fallback points, known as bug-out locations or BOLs, as well as multiple traversable and hopefully safe routes to each of them you’ll be setting yourself up for a bad outcome and will likely endure more risk during your jaunt.

It may not be cool or fun, but the majority of your work will be done when putting together your bug-out plan during the “advance” phase: that’s the part where you get all your research, scouting and general route and BOL selection done.

In the next section, we’ll tackle the nuts and bolts of planning and preparing for your bug-out, and then we’ll come back around to choosing, stocking and packing your BOB.

Start at the End: Choosing Bug-Out Locations

All your planning, all your work and the countless hours of preparation you are going to pour into bugging out is for one, singular purpose: to ensure you can get somewhere safe, or safe enough.

All of that effort will be wasted if you don’t have a good place to go. Actually, you should have multiple places to go in case your initial plans get derailed.

Where you choose to head to could be anywhere, and could be almost any place. Do you have friends or family a little ways off from your home, but still reachable by vehicle or by an on-foot journey even if it would be a long and wearying one? That is one place you might choose. How about a friend’s house similarly situated? Sure.

Maybe you have your own little hideaway for the purpose. A cabin or cottage located well away from the greater mass of humanity may make a fine place to weather a storm. A bare patch of land where you can set up camp and easily react to additional events is likewise worth consideration.

You don’t have to stick with known habitation, either. Plenty of people choose to head to a remote or secluded patch of wilderness with easy access to water for their BOL.

Others might not go very far, even choosing to stay in a metropolitan or suburban area but “bugging out” to a group of friends, family or likeminded people in a mutual assistance group for increased security in times of trouble.

The options are nearly limitless. The most important thing is you choose a place that has access to drinkable water, with “drinkable” in this case meaning water that can be reliably filtered to make it safe.

Ideally, your BOL will be defensible and off the beaten path, at least enough where the mass of people sure to be fleeing and moving around in a panic will have to wantonly detour to run into you.

Generally speaking, the more unknown contacts you have to manage, the better the chances of having a dangerous run-in.

Another key consideration: make sure you choose BOL’s that are more or less evenly distributed around the region where you live. Ideally, you’ll want to be able to head out in any cardinal direction and reach a safe haven.

The reasons for this are many: what if there is greater trouble, or potential danger brewing closer to one of your BOLs than the others? What if you are dealing with something like unrest or factional violence than could potentially make any travel highly risky?

What if a man-made disaster has sent hazardous chemicals or lethal agents into water sources or made them airborne?

Yeah, you’ll want to go the other way and quickly. It is not just a matter of being able to go the long way around.

Getting There: Movement to your Chosen BOLs

Now that you have chosen your BOL’s, it is time to decide how you’ll get there: by foot, or by vehicle, whatever that looks like. You might be able to get to some via either mode of travel, or some only by one or the other, or by a special vehicle.

Right up front, if you require a specialized vehicle to reach your BOL (helicopter, plane, boat, hot-air balloon) you should only ever seriously count on getting to that location if you or someone in your survival group has full-time control of that vehicle and can access it at the outset of the crisis.

Otherwise, it is time to get out the maps and start deducing how on earth you’ll make it to these places, and weighing the risk factors. It is important to understand the pros and cons of your given mode of transit weighed against the likely risks you’ll face in an event and let that guide your final selection of plausible bug out locations.

For instance, a hike of 10 miles over flat, gentle land is a good workout and will take time, but anyone in decent shape and with appropriate footwear could be expected to complete it in more or less a timely fashion.

Take those same 10 miles and lay it over major hills, with lots of elevation changes and rough, uneven ground.

Now we are talking about serious exertion, considerably more time, greater risk of injury and ever increasing fatigue. Crank that difficulty dial all the way up: the same 10 miles of rough terrain, only now add on a heavy pack of 50 lbs. or more, an injured partner, two exhausted, shivering, children and bad weather. Now things are serious.

A car ride of 50 miles won’t take long at all on wide open highways with free-flowing or little traffic. But if those same highways are gridlocked, or you cannot even reach your primary route since your city is a morass of jagged metal, stalled and abandoned cars and clogged bridges, your car will not count for much. What now?

The point is you truly have to consider the route in its totality with a “filter” of mayhem over it: anything that can go wrong probably will. You’ll be heavily laden, stressed out, and fighting obstacles every step of the way.

Always have a Backup: Multiple Routes for Bug-Out Success

This is a two-pronged stratagem for bugging out: you always, always, always want multiple bug-out routes leading to every BOL you choose. Reason being you might encounter an obstacle that will temporarily detour and reroute you, or you might run into a major hazard or pathway-closing incident that forces you to double back and go another way.

The more ways you know in and out of your home to your BOL’s and from your current BOL to another BOL the better. Obviously you should take pains to have at least a couple for foot travel and a couple for vehicular travel.

May your path always be clear and the sailing easy, but you must be ready for all kinds of hazards on the road.

Follow the Yellow Brick Rail, er, Road: Using Alternate Lines of Travel

Always make a note of major, permanent routes that you might not necessarily think of as pathways to and from your BOLs.

Things like rivers, railroad tracks and even large cross-country power lines (the kind you don’t want to live under). Now, the latter two aren’t truly permanent, but anything short of a colossally destructive event will not erase them from the landscape. A river is truly permanent for our purposes.

If you get completely lost, turned around or otherwise flummoxed, you can simply follow either and be assured of knowing where you’ll wind up so long as you know where they go.

Write this Down: Mapping your Routes

Now, if this sounds like a lot to remember, it sure is. You might be the mental cartographer of the county and know every crook, bend, valley and hollow like the back of your own hand having lived in Hometown USA your whole life but you must still map everything we have discussed and more to ensure you can successfully navigate to your BOLs.

Why? Simple: travelling along a route under extreme stress, in dangerous conditions and perhaps having endured a major disaster that, very literally, altered the landscape, you can probably assume you’ll need some navigational aids.

Driving to the old vacation cabin by the normal route when the sun is shining and the birds are chirping is one thing. Doing it when the sky is dark, you have had to detour four counties out of the way and you are scared out of your mind is entirely another.

Plainly put, paper remembers what your mind forgets, even temporarily. And there is always the possibility of getting forced so far off all planned and practiced routes that you are truly in new territory.

Don’t risk going without maps. At the minimum, you’ll want a greater metro area/county map showing all points of interest and roads in and out, as well as topographic maps for all BOL’s. Also never, ever go without a road atlas, if going by foot or auto. Make sure all maps stay up to date.

Avoid Ahead of Time: Anticipating Problems and Obstacles

You should plan your routes taking in to account obstacles and situational hazards. Do not underestimate how precious time is in a SHTF situation. Delays could truly cost you your life.

Any road of any kind, any path, will be vulnerable to its own set of obstacles and potentially show-stopping delays. Bridges could be damage or clogged with pedestrians or vehicles, to say nothing of the prodigious traffic slowdown they often generate in normal times.

A railroad crossing with a train parked on it will surely be a major issue if you are counting on bugging out via automobile (though people on foot could just slip between the train cars).

Rural roads are themselves not immune to problems. Trees and power lines can fall, sometimes in abundance, making them impassible to vehicles.

Before you think you’ll just hop off road and drive around recall that muddy ground often becomes a quagmire for vehicles, and soon you could be facing a recover situation, or even become immobilized.

Roads and paths can be flooded. Trails grow over or wash away. Rioters might lock down entire blocks. Fire can consume pavement and plant alike.

There is always a chance that your chosen route, the one you are counting on to get you and yours to safety, will be impassible, or too dangerous to risk.

It pays to think things all the way through. Do you know what parts of your area are easy to drive through off-road? How about which parts become dicey when on foot in bad weather?

With some luck, you will be able to go straight from your point of departure to your destination with no major delays or detours, but don’t count on it.

Steer Clear: Avoiding Hazardous Areas

Which parts of your town or city are dangerous in normal times, i.e. crime ridden? Rest assured they and the areas beyond their “borders” will be considerably more dangerous in any crisis where emergency responders are overwhelmed or knocked out.

Now, that is reason enough to avoid them when planning your routes but if everyone knows to avoid that area it could make for a relatively clear and speedy exit. You should only attempt such a tactic if you know all other routes are closed to you and staying put might mean death.

Also take note of places like chemical plants and refineries in urban areas that if damaged or sabotaged will create major dangers all their own. Also be extremely cautious around police stations, military bases and National Guard armories, not just for what is likely to be a heightened security posture but also for their susceptibility to attracting looters and raiders.

If travelling via foot, you should always be extra cautious around river crossings, swamps, loose and avalanche prone hills, and any route with steep drops.

When travelling though the lonely and remote parts of the country even as something as “inconsequential” as a sprained ankle could spell certain doom when there is no one to call for help.

Get Home to Get Away

One common thread you’ll see in most bug-out planning sessions and discussions is that they begin at the beginning. Rather, they all start with you at home when the balloon goes up.

This is of course convenient if it happens and sure would be nice under the circumstances, but chances are that won’t happen unless you are retired. Most adults spend significant, even the majority, fractions of their lives away from their dwelling, either at work or out and about on some errand or enjoyable endeavor.

This means you likely will not be home when the sky darkens, the mountains tremble and the seas roar. Unless you want to head out into an increasingly hostile world with whatever you have in your pockets, you should probably have a plan to get home to your primary stash and then make ready to bug out with the full complement of gear you selected.

Also consider what you would do if you are separated by some distance from your family, either a city’s breadth or a tens or dozens of miles. Assume you cannot just turn around and drive their way, you’ll need to get to them, post-haste.

All of the above situations make a great case for the GHB discussed above. A Get Home bag is one of those items that should stay in your vehicle or perhaps at your office if you have secure storage for it so that you will have that cache of items needed for a march back home.

A GHB is a little more specialized than a BOB, intended to allow you to move quickly, longer (fitness allowing) so you can make best speed to where you are going. It will not emphasize sustainment items outside of what is needed to keep you moving and fueled up.

GHB’s often include a defensive component as well since any confrontations that don’t end favorably for you would necessarily be a show-stopper. Other important concerns are navigation aids- maps, compass, GPS, etc. If you cannot pathfind your way home from wherever you happened to be, you’ll be in worse shape.

Think of a get home event as a sort of bug-out in reverse; you need to head for home and hearth from wherever you might be.

Momentary Respite: Note All Safe Havens

Sometimes, things just will not go to plan no matter what you do. You’ll need to stop short after a leg of your trip takes way too long. Maybe you run afoul of an injury or mechanical breakdown that means you need to “pit in” and assess the damage to man or machine.

Maybe things are just plain falling apart and it would be nice to have a place to collect your thoughts in relative safety. You need places to do this, just in case.

You don’t often want to sit dead in the water on any primary route of travel since you are significantly more likely to encounter other travelers. These travelers may not have your best interests at heart, at best being solely concerned with their own survival and at worst being willing to rob you blind or kill you out of desperation or sheer malice.

You can make things easy on them by looking like easy prey or a quick means to an end- waylaid, broken down, injured, lost or just scared, confused and exhausted.

To help prevent this eventuality, you’ll want to note any and all potential “safe havens” on your routes. What is a safe haven? This could be a structure or terrain feature that could potentially afford you better security or just more time to react to any eventuality.

If travelling by vehicle, this will be any place that will help hide or disguise your ride from view by those moving along the main route. On foot, this can be any place that lets you stay out of sight or potentially button up for rest in relative safety.

You might also count safe havens as friends’ or family dwellings; if they are staying put, you might be able to put all of your heads together for mutual security and planning what to do next. Other options include any government or civic installations willing and able to provide some measure of aid to civilians in need.

This is always a dicey proposition in major catastrophes since resources and manpower will naturally be strained to the breaking point, and several of these would-be saviors will stop functioning all together.

Also worth noting is any location that could potentially, ahem, “provide” life-saving gear or supplies. Think fire houses, police stations, EMS and ambulance bays, etc. If things become truly dire and society is crumbling, you might be able to secure critical gear from abandoned or destroyed places like those.

Consideration: Bugging Out with Pets and Livestock

Not everyone has the “luxury” of being able to stay or go with no concern or care given to any other living thing. Most of us have not only people who depend on us that we are responsible for but also our animal companions, be they money-making assets or just faithful and fun members of the family.

You should start planning now in accordance with how large the animal is and how specialized its life and care requirements are.

A dog or cat is easy enough to prepare for, being mobile and nominally easy to carry or at least able to keep up with you on foot. Dogs and cats are also “food versatile” and can survive at least on the short term with little to no ill effects.

Assuming you are planning to take your furry canine or feline with you, you must plan for taking along their specialized medication and supplements they require.

Muzzles are also a requirement: while dogs and cats are generally okay if you are okay, they can and will panic in scary situations and you don’t want you or anyone with you to suffer a bite on top of whatever else has sent you fleeing.

Larger animals like common livestock- cows, goats, pigs and so forth- will require large vehicles and trailers to move at all and doing so will dramatically complicate your bug-out plans unless you are just doing the slow highway slog away from something like a hurricane.

Horses on the other hand have the advantage of being able to carry both man and cargo on their backs. The disadvantage of horses is that they require an awful lot of food and specialized care to keep them able to work.

Managing horses, to say nothing of riding them, is a specialized skill of its own and will require considerable investment of time and energy prior to bugging out if you have any hope of utilizing a horse as a viable means of transport.

Conclusion

Having a bug-out plan is something fundamental to prepping, but for as much as it gets discussed, very few people have taken the time to learn and apply all the various disciplines they need to in order to be truly bug-out ready.

Don’t be a wide-eyed wreck with a loot box strapped to your back come the Big One: read this guide and then learn all you can about the information presented before crafting your own comprehensive bug-out plan.

via Modern Survival Online https://ift.tt/2szegrJ

Just What Constitutes SHTF?

“SHTF” is a time-worn and borderline cliché prepper acronym we have all heard, seen and continue to hear and see daily in prepping circles. What will you do when the SHTF? Where will you go when the SHTF? Has the SHTF? It never ends.

Even so, it is an important concept. In case you have been sadly out of the loop for the past couple of decades, “SHTF” stands for Shit Hits The Fan, a vulgar euphemism for things going well and truly pear-shaped; FUBAR, sky is falling, hell on wheels, you name it.

A SHTF event is one where your daily survival necessities are no longer guaranteed, where the typical social order is suspended or heavily disrupted, where help in the form of emergency services is not available and where government intervention is either useless or part of the problem.

In this article, I’ll offer my thoughts on the matter.

Small Fans and Large Fans

Disaster is a matter of perspective, I suppose, and perception being what it is in this day and time with everything, every word, concept and interpretation rendered hideously malleable by the current cultural zeitgeist, it makes sense that event the concept of disasters would be subjected to the same.

A common car crash, however bad the effects on life, limb and property, is not a disaster and never will be unless the car crashed into a tanker full of nuclear waste and knocked it into a nearby river.

That has not stopped some people from treating car wrecks like “serious” SHTF events. And one could say they are if you treat SHTF as shorthand labeling for any event that requires you to employ emergency skills at any level.

How about the destructive crash of some larger conveyance? How about a train? I say that is not a SHTF event, either. How about a jetliner crash? I still say no, though the passengers aboard the doomed vessel hurtling toward terra firma would doubtlessly dispute my assertion. So what does qualify as a SHTF event in my eyes?

For me, it is a matter of scale, and not simply in property damage or lives lost, or the potential for either. A real, SHTF scenario will affect almost every facet of your day to day existence for some time going into the future.

How long that disruption lasts being of course dependent on the intensity of the event, its reach and any other of the thousands of potential variables that keep society knit together and recognizably functioning as such in 2019 America.

Severity Counts

As a ‘for instance,’ one could say that a powerful natural disaster would qualify as a SHTF event. Landfall of a severe and powerful hurricane could qualify as a SHTF event without question.

One need only look at the aftermaths of Hurricanes Katrina, Harvey and Andrew in the not too distant past to get a glimpse into the dystopian misery awaiting us. Natural disasters of many kinds, if severe enough, if they strike the right place at the right time, could do much the same.

But if one were to drive far enough outside the majorly affected area, one would probably see life as normal chugging on without a care in the world, save perhaps a rise in lumber and gas prices. I would not say an event has to have a truly regional or even national area of effect to qualify as a SHTF incident.

Disruption of Society

Anything you can walk away from and go get a burger after or go to get groceries after is certainly not a SHTF event. SHTF events by any measure should disrupt society almost entirely, or rather disrupt our day-to-day “normal.”

If you cannot turn a switch and expect electricity, cannot open a tap to get clean water and cannot expect waste in any form to be vacated from the premises, you are dealing with a SHTF event.

If you cannot reliably call on the cavalry in the form of EMS, police and fire responders, you are likely living in a SHTF scenario (or a major American city). If everyone has to seriously start relying on bartering and get deals done before returning home to meet a curfew, you are likely dealing with a true SHTF event. If you are fleeing rampant pillaging and looting, or a city on fire with no end in sight before it turns to ash, you are dealing with a SHTF event.

A major prolonged breakdown of any and especially multiples of the above facets of our societies should be considered herald enough for a true, blue SHTF instance.

A power outage lasting a half hour to an hour is not. A protest that turns violent and gets put down harshly is not. A freak fire that burns down a handful of buildings is not.

When the bad things we take for granted as taken care of start going unopposed unless you oppose them yourself, that is a SHTF situation.

Reach and Area of Effect

A SHTF event that affects a handful of people cannot be said to be a true SHTF event. You and three friends who get irretrievably lost in bear country while out joy hiking are in the shit now, for certain, but it is not a SHTF event, even when Yogi and Boo-Boo come sniffing around.

There will be people, authorities, friends, family, looking for you. Helicopters will be scrambled. Dog teams deployed. Rangers on four wheelers. The works.

An entire town a couple of hours away from a major metropolis that is left to rot and fend for themselves because what functioning government is left is triaging the situation and deploying all available resources to keep command and control facilities, government institutions and critical supplies and infrastructure solvent? Oh yeah, that would definitely qualify as a SHTF situation.

Essentially, the more people that have to say to themselves in chilling realization “No one is coming. I am on my own,” the more likely it is that you are facing a true SHTF scenario.

Paradigm Shifting Events

As awful as some things are, like city-wide riots and cataclysmic natural disasters, as much havoc as they spread, as much damage as they do and as many lives as they claim, they are not what I denote as paradigm shifting events, a sure symptom of a SHTF situation.

Flood waters will recede. Things will eventually dry out. Rubble will be swept away, bodies will be hauled off to be disposed of, power lines reconnected and life will eventually go back to normal.

So what do I mean by paradigm shift? When a paradigm shift occurs, things don’t go back to normal. It might mean a technological regression, a near-permanent loss of modern commodities, or living under the constant burden of some new threat or vulnerability.

A great example of a paradigm shifter is something like a typically imagined cataclysmic EMP that wipes out much of or the entire nation’s electronics and electrical grid.

Author R. William Forstchen imagined this precise scenario in stunning detail in his speculative fiction novel One Second After. Give it a read. You’ll get some inkling of just how irrevocably things will change in the aftermath of such an event.

So much of what we assume is “just the way things are” will vanish, permanently, with one stroke of fate. Something similar will happen in the wake of a nuclear exchange, major asteroid impact, or super volcano detonation.

As an example that most will understand, a paradigm shift would undoubtedly occur if zombies were to rise from their grave or aliens were to invade.

A paradigm shift is knowing, “Things will never be the same.” Whatever caused it is definitely a SHTF event.

Government Conflict

Any time a widespread, regimented crackdown is inflicted on citizens by their government that qualifies as a SHTF event unto itself. History furnishes ample examples of how badly and how quickly violence and loss of life and freedom happens when things finally boil over.

Even at the state level, it is all too easy for the government to start infringing on basic rights and liberties, imprisonment and executions being the hallmarks of tyranny.

Even for those outside of conflict zones, disruptions to travel, commerce and utilities can quickly turn a scuffle into a proper siege at the larger scale.

Checkpoints, inspections and constant stress will lead to flaring tempers, overreactions and the spilling of more blood and subsequently tighter restrictions. Your staples and essentials are now officially no longer guaranteed thanks to localized sanctions.

These things have a way of snowballing, especially in the histories of Western nations. We don’t generally do sustained, low-level, brushfire conflict, preferring instead to let things become intolerable before our animosity erupts in an orgy of violence that changes the course of history and the lives of the surviving populace forever after.

If the tree of liberty must be refreshed with blood, you can be certain of SHTF.

All Together

To me, a SHTF event is one that not only sends you scrambling to respond, but will put you and everyone else in your area, and probably your region, in prolonged mortal peril.

Your basic survival requirements, and I mean the necessities- clean air, shelter from the elements, clean water for drinking, food- will no longer be guaranteed unless you are clever enough and prepared enough to provide them.

The institutionalized trappings of a functional society will be strained past the breaking point or just cease to exist. The uneasy quasi-truce between the rabid dogs of society, criminals, and the rest of us will disappear, and the natural law will once again take precedence.

What is yours will only stay that way of you can keep it. Your next meal will only be ready if you provide it. Your continued existence will no longer be guaranteed by default barring a fluke. Survival, real moment-to-moment, day-to-day survival is the new normal. The Way Things Were is the simultaneous plea and eulogy on everyone’s lips.

Diseases that are rendered powerless by modern medicine will reassert themselves with fury. Death will harvest his grim crop in ways that were once laughable inconveniences. Infection from a scratch. A fever gone unchecked. Parasites. A rotten tooth.

Medieval ailments will once again spell nearly certain doom. There will be no competing pleasures to occupy your time. Every moment will mean another minute of life, earned, or a squandered opportunity in the face of the encroaching night.

When things have changed so utterly for the worse that your most fervent wish is full bellies and a warm, safer place to sleep next to your loved ones, that’s when you’ll know you the Shit has well and truly Hit the Fan.

Conclusion

The term SHTF should be reserved for major events that severely threaten lives and the fabric of society, not localized disasters and crises no matter how bad they are.

While events that mortally imperil you, even for days at a time, are scary and might be the penultimate test of your life, they are still likely not true SHTF situations.

Try not to water down the import of a term that should be reserved for properly cataclysmic situations by tossing it out every time a riot occurs or a tornado touches down.

via Modern Survival Online https://ift.tt/2Q0dKvN

LuaRadio Gives Insight into SDR

In theory, you shouldn’t need any help to develop a software-defined radio (SDR) application. But in real life you really don’t want to roll your own code every time to read the IQ samples, perform various transformations on them, and then drive audio output. At worst, you’ll use some libraries (perhaps GNU Radio) but usually, you’ll use some higher-level construct such as GNU Radio Companion (GRC). GRC is a bit heavyweight, though, so if you’ve found it daunting before, you might check out some of the material on the LuaRadio website.

We’ve looked at LuaRadio several years ago, but it has undergone a lot of changes since then and has some excellent documentation. Like Lua itself, LuaRadio emphasizes fast scripting. It supports quite a few pieces of common hardware and nearly anything that feeds data through a soundcard.

Why not use GNU Radio? LuaRadio has an official answer. However, LuaRadio doesn’t have a GUI — at least, not yet. Maybe a Hackaday reader will fix that. It also isn’t as mature as GNU Radio, but it does have a lot of positive features such as a small footprint, easy embedding, and a simple way to add additional features.

If you have an RTL-SDR, there are a number of examples:

• WBFM Broadcast Mono and Stereo Receivers
• NBFM Receiver
• AX.25 Packet Radio Receiver
• POCSAG Receiver
• RDS Receiver
• AM Receiver (envelope and synchronous)
• SSB Receiver

The project GitHub page shows recent updates to version 0.6.0. Just as an example, the flowgraph at the top of this post looks like this in Lua code:

local radio = require('radio')

radio.CompositeBlock():connect(
radio.RtlSdrSource(88.5e6 - 250e3, 1102500), -- RTL-SDR source, offset-tuned to 88.5MHz-250kHz
radio.TunerBlock(-250e3, 200e3, 5), -- Translate -250 kHz, filter 200 kHz, decimate by 5
radio.FrequencyDiscriminatorBlock(1.25), -- Frequency demodulate with 1.25 modulation index
radio.LowpassFilterBlock(128, 15e3), -- Low-pass filter 15 kHz for L+R audio
radio.FMDeemphasisFilterBlock(75e-6), -- FM de-emphasis filter with 75 uS time constant
radio.DownsamplerBlock(5), -- Downsample by 5
radio.PulseAudioSink(1) -- Play to system audio with PulseAudio
):run()

Not too hard, even without too much documentation. If you’d rather tackle GRC, we have a tutorial for that.

via Radio Hacks – Hackaday https://ift.tt/2SnQA49

Top 10 Biggest Killers in the United States and How You Can Avoid Them

Improving you day-to-day chances of survival dramatically now, before the SHTF, means you must take a long hard look at a specific set of factors that directly and substantially influence the threats you are living under.

There are three major issues that impact your overall chances of survival:

1. Medical History And Overall Health
2. Where You Live, Work, And Prep
3. How Often And By What Method You Travel

Biggest Overall Survival Threats

For over 10 years, both heart disease and cancer have remained in spots one and two as the leading causes of death in the United States of America. When deaths caused by these two medical conditions are combined, they account for a grand total of 46% of American deaths.

Over the past three decades, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have been compiling and reviewing the causes of deaths in America to help doctors develop better preventative tactics.

Violent crime comes in a close second to medical issues on the day-to-day survival threats scale. Personal attacks on the street, and home invasions are the top two ways Americans are injured or killed annually.

Accidental injuries are the most difficult to predict and prepare yourself against, which is why occupational, recreational, and automobile accidents often take a tragic turn.

Heart Disease

More than 600,000 Americans die from heart disease, on average, each year. Those at prime risk include: men, people over 55, smokers, obese or overweight Americans, and those with a family history of the disease.

How to Improve Your Chances of Survival from Heart Disease

• Do not smoke or stop smoking.
• Lose weight and live a more active lifestyle (starting a homestead is a great way to stay active and productive at the same time).
• Eat a healthy diet.
• Consult your doctor regularly if you have a family history of heart disease.

Accidental Injuries

The leading cause of death in Americans aged 1 to 44 is accidental injury. Accidental deaths are the fourth leading cause of death in Americans overall.

The most common types of accidental deaths include:

• Falls
• Drowning
• Poisoning
• Suffocation
• Industrial accidents
• Fires
• Firearms Accidents
• Medical Mistakes

How to Reduce Your Chances of Dying in an Accident

Expecting the unexpected is an extremely difficult thing to do. To help reduce your chances of dying from any of the top modes of accidental deaths in the United States:

• Never swing or engage in watersports alone, under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Never go into the water during unsafe weather conditions or with unsafe equipment.
• Always wear your seatbelt, have your vehicle serviced regularly, inspect the tires on a routine basis, do not drive under the influence of drugs or alcohol, do not drive in unsafe weather conditions, when overly tired or ill, and always remain alert and watchful of other drivers – especially those passing lanes or entering the roadway from a ramp or side road.
• Do not operate heavy machinery or agricultural equipment unless trained to do so. Only use machinery or farm equipment unless it is in good working order, do not work in unsafe conditions or in bad weather.
• Always have a working fire detector and carbon monoxide detector in your home. Keep a folding emergency ladder in every room in a second story home, do routine fire hazard inspections of your home, clean the dryer out of your lint trap. Never leave a dryer or stove running unattended, do not use unsafe emergency heaters indoors, develop a fire escape plan and practice it with your family.

Stroke

Far too often, the first warning sign that you are going to have a stroke, is the stroke. Hundreds of thousands of people. Strokes and other cerebrovascular diseases account for approximately 5.2% of annual deaths in America.

Subarachnoid hemorrhages, mini strokes or transient ischemic attacks, and vascular dementia.

Stroke Risk Factors That Are Impossible or Difficult to Control

• People with high blood pressure that runs at least 140/90 are most susceptible to strokes. Also, individuals who have chronic kidney disease or are diabetic with blood pressure at 130/80 or higher are also at great risk for a stroke.
• Americans with heart disease and atrial fibrillation that can cause blood clots, are also a high risk group for stroke.
• The chance of stroke increases as we age. When younger, men are more at risk to have a stroke than women, but women are more likely to die from a stroke when older, or when taking birth control pills.
• Diabetes causes blood sugar levels to increase because the body is incapable of producing enough insulin. Being a diabetic may increase the chances of having a stroke even in blood pressure levels largely remain in check.
• Having bleeding disorders like vasculitis and sickle cell disease can expand your risk of having a stroke.
• Strokes occurs more frequently in Native Americans, African Americans, and Alaskans than Americans that are white, Asian, or Hispanic.
• A person with a brain aneurysms of a history of them can be at an increased risk of stroke.
• Americans with an individual or family history of stroke, or having already had a stroke or mini stroke, can increase the chance of this medical emergency from occurring again.

Stroke Risk Factors You Can Control

• Smokers experience a reduction of oxygen in the bloodstream, which can increase the risk of stroke for themselves and, albeit to a potentially lesser degree, to second hand smokers.
• Abuse of alcohol and drugs, especially amphetamines and cocaine, can increase the chances of having a stroke.
• Living a sedentary life and being overweight can also increase the possibility of suffering a stroke.
• Eating an unhealthy diet may also put you at greater risk of having a stroke.
• Americans who are struggling with high levels of stress or depression can get a stroke.
• Individuals who have high cholesterol levels also put themselves at risk for experiencing a stroke.
• Americans who are taking anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for long periods of time, other than aspirin, could be placing themselves at a higher risk of stroke. Naproxen and ibuprofen are two of the most common over the counter forms of NSAIDs.

How to Reduce Your Risk of Dying From a Stroke

The best way to decrease your possibility of having or dying from a stroke is to have regular screenings with a medical professional and to make healthy choices related to the risk factors that can be controlled and to routinely have screenings.

Violent Crime

There is a substantial and distinct link between population density and violent crime rates. In the rural area where I live, there has only been one homicide in over a decade, and that involved the likely transporting of a dead body into the region from a city.

Approximately 65 miles away (a distance that might seem long to city folks but some rural men drive this far to work on a daily basis) in the state’s capitol, there are 100 to 143 homicides on an average annual basis.

Yes, the more people, the more potential for crimes, but when a bit of population per capita math is completed, the difference in violent crime statistics is still astonishing – and the same scenario plays out across the country.

There are almost always significantly more legally owned firearms (per capita, again) in rural areas than urban ones – and more illegally owned guns in cities than in rural areas. This likely plays an essential part in the disparity of homicides by geographic area.

Poverty and unemployment are often cited by the talking heads on television as the reason for violent crime. That might be a good sound bite to attempt to explain away the carnage, but both poverty and joblessness haunt rural areas as much as the urban inner city.

How to Reduce Your Chances of Being a Victim of Violent Crime

• Move to a rural area where violent crime rates are low.
• Get a concealed carry permit and keep a rifle in your home. Approximately 88,000 up to 4.7 million lives are saved each year by defensive gun use.
• Work as near to your home as possible, and take extra safety precautions when traveling through or working in a city: legally carry weapons, never walk alone, park in well lit areas, etc.
• Get guard dogs.
• Install a surveillance system on your home.

Types Of Weapons Used In Violent Crimes

These statistics are from 2017, the most recent reporting year available at the time of publication.

Weapons	Incidents
Handguns	7,032
Rifles	403
Shotguns	264
Other Guns	3,283
Knives	1,591
Hammers, Clubs, and other blunt objects	467
Body – Hands, Feet, fists	696
Poison	13
Fire	103
Narcotics	97
Drowning	8
Strangulation	88
Asphyxiation	105
Unidentified Weapon	979
Explosives	0

The Flu Or Pneumonia

On average, approximately 55,000 Americans die from pneumonia and the flu each year. The flu is highly contagious and some types of pneumonia can spread from person to person.

Deaths from these medical conditions account for roughly 2% of those that happen in the United States annually. Because pneumonia can cause a reduced amount of oxygen flowing through the body, it too could contribute to the risk of stroke.

• Both of these illnesses become more prevalent during the winter months. Take steps to bolster your immune system before the annual “flu season” and for the long cold months of winter that follow.
• Wash your hands frequently.
• Stay away from people who are sick and always cover your cough and use a tissue when sneezing.
• Get enough rest.
• Keep hydrated.
• Clean and disinfect all surfaces inside the house regularly when someone gets sick and before to prevent the spread of germs carried in from school, work, etc.
• Take common sense precautions when touching communal spaces when away from home like: gas pump handles, door handles, copy machine control panels, vending machine buttons, etc.
• Getting vaccinated against the flu may help, but because new strains of the flu emerge faster than vaccines designed specifically to address them can be created, they might not prove successful.

Where you choose to live, work, and prep may have the most drastic impact on your chances of day-to-day survival – and is the most controllable risk reducing factor on this list.

In 2018, the latest reporting year statistics available at publication, there were 16,214 homicides in the United States. That figure is a 6.2 percent drop from the year prior.

Environmental Hazards

Where you choose to live and work also may expose you to potentially hazardous environmental conditions. If you work in a city you will be exposed to more air pollution than Americans who live and work in rural areas and the suburbs.

Water quality disparity may also be more prevalent in cities, especially in poor inner city neighborhoods. In some rural areas sanitary sewer systems are still emerging which could expose residents to improperly processed raw human solid waste.

• Live and work in areas that are free or nearly so, from air and water pollution. Have your water tested and purchase bottled water to drink and wash with, if necessary.
• If you home is not hooked up to a sanitary sewer system or properly installed and leeched septic tank, take steps to correct that problem and use extra care when exposing yourself to parts of the property where raw human waste could be pooling or flowing.

How to Protect Yourself When Traveling

When traveling for work or pleasure, you may be placing yourself at greater risk from accident, injury, or death. If you are using any mode of public transportation or air travel, you are literally placing your life in the hands of a complete stranger. Assuming the individual behind the wheel is well-trained, sober, and mentally stable might be a deadly mistake.

Also, taking for granted the bus, train, plane, or boat is in proper working order and has been maintained by trained professionals might also be an assumption that could get your hurt or killed.

• Know before you go. Research the company providing the travel service online to see if they have been sued for negligence, injury, or death.
• Research available law enforcement records to determine if any passenger units in their line have been involved in accidents or have had criminal charges filed against them.
• Visit the OSHA website and search the clickable “citations” database to see if the company providing the travel service as been cited for violations during inspections.
• Speak with an experienced member of the company providing the travel service and find out in detail what training and maintenance rules and policies are in place. Ask specifically for the name of the person who will be behind the wheel when you are traveling so you can search available law enforcement and legal records databases to check them out thoroughly. Do not assume a pilot, bus driver, or boat captain would lose his or her job if they have been arrested for a DUI or related driving while impaired infraction.
• Always travel with a first aid kit.

Personal Assault

In 2017, the most recent year for FBI statistics at the time of publication, an estimated total of 810,825 people were assaulted in the United States. That estimated shows a one percent increase from the previous reporting year.

The type of personal assault threat can vary widely, from a strong-arm mugging to being accosted at knifepoint in a car jacking, and rape.

• Practice situational awareness no matter where you are or the time of day – personal attacks can (and do) happen in broad daylight even in nice neighborhoods.
• Live and work in a low violent crime area.
• Carry legal protection devices such as: mace, stun gun, striker flashlight, pepper spray, personal alarm system electronic device, etc.
• Get a concealed carry permit and carry a lawfully owned firearm anywhere it is legal – and skip going into any place, event, or building that does not respect your Second Amendment right to personal protection.
• Do not walk to your car alone.
• Take self-defense training.
• Do not stop your car or roll down your window for anyone you do not know.
• Do not allow anyone into a building where you live or work unless they are supposed to be there – supposed delivery guys and gals included.

Car Crash

There are more than six million car crashes in the United States each year, on average. Approximately three million people are injured in car crashes in America annually – approximately two million of the victims of those accidents are left with permanent injuries. On average, 90 people are killed in car crashes every single day.

The vast majority of car accidents in the United States are caused by reckless driving, speeding, distracted driving, and alcohol.

• Never drive under the influence of drugs or alcohol – or ride with anyone who is.
• Drive defensively – assume any car on the road with you could have a driver under the influence behind the wheel, be driven by a novice, sick, or tired person.
• Do not drive long distances without getting out of the car to stretch your legs and assess your level of alertness. Never drive when you are too tired.
• Obey the speed limit and observe all driver safety rules.
• Be on the watch for animals, people, cars, children, debris, or road damage that could be in your path and cause an accident.
• Drive more carefully during inclement weather, if driving cannot be avoided. Watch out for black ice and slick overpasses and bridges – even if the road itself is not icy.
• Always carry a first aid kit that include a quick-clotting bandage, tourniquet, burn cream, and other potentially life-saving medical supplies.
• Inspect your tires, breaks, and lights regularly to ensure they are in full working order and will not possibly cause your vehicle to break down or wreck.
• Do not text and drive or allow yourself to become distracted by a ringing phone, misbehaving children, changing your music, or eating and drinking while behind the wheel. Sending a single text can divert your attention for close to five seconds. If you are driving 55 MPH while sending or reading that text, you have driven the length of a football field.

Dying During SHTF

Prepping should be looked upon as a learning experience – one that never ends. To increase your day-to-day chances of survival you must have an in-depth survival plan in place.

• Develop a bugout plan even if you are living on a rural and sustainable survival homestead. A fire, disease, or band of marauders too large to defend could force your to evacuate – rapidly.
• Keep a detailed inventory of all your preps so you know exactly what you have, when it goes out of date, and what you need.
• If you must work more than 10 miles from your home, keep a “get me home bag in your car” and – or bury caches along your travel route, especially if your commute is longer.
• Develop and work a self-reliance training program and cross-training schedule to enhance the skill set of your prepping family or survival tribe.
• Develop an off grid communications plan and rally points so you can meet up with your loved ones if you all work or live away from home.
• Strongly considering homeschooling your children and learning to live more simply so one (if not both) parents can work from.

There is no way to 100% decrease the threats we all could face on a daily basis. But, through proper planning, diligence, common sense, and making smart health choices, we can vastly improve our day-to-day chances of survival.

via Modern Survival Online https://ift.tt/2ENNiPC

All Your SDR Software In A Handy Raspberry Pi Image

The SDR revolution has brought a bonanza of opportunities for experimentation to the radio enthusiast, but with it has come a sometimes-confusing array of software for which even installation can be a difficult prospect for an SDR novice. If you’re bamboozled by it all then help may be at hand courtesy of [Luigi Cruz], who has packaged a suite of ready-to-go popular SDR software in an OS image for the Raspberry Pi.

On board the Raspbian-based OS image are SDR Angel, Soapy Remote, GQRX, GNURadio, LimeUtil, and LimeVNA. In hardware terms the RTL-SDR is supported, along with the LimeSDR, PlutoSDR, Airspy, and Airspy HF. All are completely ready-to-go and even have desktop shortcuts, so if the CLI scares you then you can still dive in and play. More importantly it’s designed for use with SDR transmitters as well as receivers, so the barrier for full SDR operation for radio amateurs has become significantly lower too.

This year has seen the seven-year anniversary of the RTL-SDR hack that probably did most to kickstart the use of SDRs in our community. Our colleague [Tom Nardi] wrote a retrospective that’s worth a look for its overview of some SDR tricks that have evolved over that time. Meanwhile if you don’t mind restricting your outlook somewhat, it’s possible to turn the Raspberry Pi 3 into an SDR all without any extra hardware.

via Radio Hacks – Hackaday https://ift.tt/35K2uJs

The Best of the Best Glock 43 Holsters

The Glock 43 was one of the most anticipated pistols of the middle part of the decade, and has since firmly established itself as one of Glock’s most popular models. A superb carry pistol for deep cover applications, Glock’s single stack 9mm has proven itself a worthy standard-bearer for all of the manufacturer’s hallmarks: reliability, simplicity, and ease of use.

But as nice as the Glock 43 is to carry on its own merits, carrying it will be far harder still without a good holster to do so with. Single-stack 9mm’s are seeing a major resurgence in recent years, and holster makers are doing their best to deliver goods that will enhance their already great carry characteristics.

Successful concealment of a handgun often hinges on the quality of the holster, so this is something that savvy shooters should pay close attention to.

In this article, we’ll be taking a brief look at one of the smallest Glock’s and its sureshot rise to popularity and also at some of the very best holsters for carrying this pint-sized powerhouse.

The Glock 43 – Single Stack Perfection?

Single stack 9mm’s are nothing new, and in fact have been around for quite some time, having become passé in the wake of ever greater capacity in modestly sized polymer guns around the mid to late 1990’s and early 2000’s. Firepower was the word of the era. But the single-stack concept was not dead, merely slumbering.

The time came around 2012-2013 when the shooting public began to grow full in the glut of high-capacity pistols. The shift back toward small, thin, light carry guns with modest payloads had begun.

Manufacturers like Ruger and Taurus moved quickly to capitalize. Some manufacturers like SIG Sauer had single stack pistols in the P225 and the concealed carry optimized P239 which were great shooting pistols with strong, if small followings.

Glock, for years, was content to rest on their haunches, the only “new” products they were releasing were better classed as improvement programs for their existing guns.

Fun fact: Glock fans had been clamoring for years for Glock to roll out a single stack, slim 9mm pistol for concealed carry. In essence, they wanted a gun akin to the single stack Model 36, only in 9mm, with correspondingly leaner proportions.

Glock stayed mute. Then at the 2014 SHOT Show, a big announcement: The Glock 42. A small, svelte single stack… .380?! Come on!

Still, the gun sold well and continues to sell well, being an excellent subcompact carry gun in all respects if one does not mind the slightly punier cartridge.

Of more importance: the Model 42 must have sold well enough to fully shake the cobwebs from Glock HQ’s ears, since the very next year in 2015 they debuted the Model 43, the Slimline 9 that fans had been clamoring for years.

Finally, it was here. It took them a while to get off their Austrian throne built from bricks of thousand-dollar bills, but Glock finally did it.

Characteristics of the Glock 43

The Glock 43 is not surprising, otherwise: it is Glock to the core. The 43 uses the same trigger system, same action and has the same safeties as all of its predecessors, and only differs from legacy guns in a few small ways.

First, and most obviously to the eagle-eyed, the 43 has a modest beavertail at the top of the backstrap to protect the shooting hand from overriding the back of the slide.

The magazine release is the newer Gen.4 style square button and the frame texturing is likewise Gen.4, being made up of a field of truncated pyramidal nubs. Not a bad texture for concealed carry, but still a tad slick in situations where hands are wet and emotions run hot.

Internally, there is not much new to see aside from the Gen.4 refinements to the fire control and the captive double recoil spring. If you are already comfortable with Glock pistols you will be right at home on this one, like slipping into a pair of your favorite sneakers.

Capacity is a modest six rounds plus one in the chamber, though this can be increased with extended magazine floorplates.

What cannot be understated is just how slick and slim this little pistol is: only a tiny scootch wider than an inch at its very widest point (the slide release lever), 6 ¼” long and 4 1/4” high, the 43 is much closer in dimension to its smaller cousin the 43 and its pudgy brother the 26 than it is the Model 19. This is one tiny nine!

The only gripes about this little gun are the ones typical of any box-stock Glock; standard sights are plastic and fragile, and the whole gun is slippery, even with the Gen.4 RTF2 texture.

The trigger is a mushy, indistinct 5 ½ – 6 lbs., but entirely serviceable and familiar to those already initiated to the ways of Glock handguns.

One should be aware, as with any small, light handgun, that potent ammo will produce brisk recoil, likely out of proportion with what you are used to on larger guns, so make sure you are prepared for that and practice with your chosen defensive ammo to acclimatize. The 43 is not the smallest 9mm in its class on the market, but it is still a seriously small, light gun.

Aside from these quibbles, I can recommend this Glock without reservation.

Carry of Single Stack Pistols

You may be asking yourself, “Why do I care about single stack guns? Why on earth do I want a 6 shot 9mm? We are talking revolver capacity here!” And right you are.

But concealed carry of handguns happens in two realms: on paper, and out in the world. On paper, the double-stack 26 or the larger 19 are obvious choices, right? Better capacity, only a little thicker or bigger. What’s not to like?

Well, out in the real world, believe it or not, there is a set of people who carry a gun for a living or just to protect themselves that are willing to give up capacity to keep dimensions lean and caliber modest, while sacrificing little or nothing in the way of shootability.

Ask yourself why Glock has also recently released the Model 48, a single stack 9mm of Glock 19 proportions.

If that is a stumper, the answer is because fractions count when you are concealing a gun. A quarter-inch here, a tenth there. It adds up, and in addition to the guns shape and other salient characteristics determines largely how concealable the gun is.

Remember, the width of the holster goes on top of that, both sides, as does a belt most probably. See where I am going with this?

You don’t want to let fractions pile up for no reason. For many shooters, no-fail concealment is actually more important than things like capacity or even caliber.

The reason why some switched-on shooters have clung to single-stack 9mm’s like the H&K P7, SIG’s P225 and P239 and now the G43 over the years is that they offer a unique blend of characteristics: they shoot like bigger guns, but conceal as well as a smaller one.

All they have to give up is a little ammo. Not something to be done lightly, but for stateside concealed carry most likely a fine trade.

There is nothing unusual or odd about carry of these pistols, including the Glock 43, but there is one commandment you should keep in mind: These guns are all almost to an example thin, and slick.

It is in your best interest to choose a holster that will help in this regard, not hinder. Choosing a big, bulky holster with a stacked belt loop or clip will largely defeat the purpose of going with a slick little gun like this.

Look for minimalist holsters, pancake holsters, IWB holsters with offset attachments and AIWB holsters with claws to keep the gun in tight to the body. Kydex is a sure winner here, since it is thinner than leather in most cases. Leather is not a deal-breaker so long as our other traits can be had.

The Best Glock 43 Holsters

All of the holsters on this list are optimized for concealed carry, but are further chosen for their own intrinsic characteristics, namely that they will increase the size of the gun hardly at all, maximizing efficacy.

Raven Concealment Vanguard 2

RCS’s “non-holster” is a winner for carry of the Glock 43. The body-less trigger-covering device and is clip add virtually no bulk and hardly any width to the already thin Glock 43.

While it omits the ability to reholster without removing the unit from your waistline, this is less an issue than most people make it out to be.

Made from injection molded plastic, the Vanguard 2 affords a unique way to carry that gives up nothing in the way of adjustment; the full kit allows you to set the Vanguard 2 up as a tethered “static line” cover that will pop off when drawn, a simple click-on cover that can be pried off, or a proper “holster” with a tuckable strut and clip arrangement that is still adjustable for height and cant according to shooter preference.

The Vanguard 2 is one of the only ones of its kind, and like all RCS products made with the utmost care and backed by the best guarantee in the biz.

PHLSTER Skeleton

PHLSTER’s Skeleton holster is a study in minimalism, using absolutely no more material than necessary this holster adds very little to the overall bulk of the pistol while still being everything you’d desire in a kydex rig of any size.

Positive, crisp retention, adjustments for height and angle, and a mounting system that cams the grip of the gun inward to reduce printing. All made with the exacting precision and near-ruthless perfectionism that PHLSTER rigs are known for.

If you want a super low-profile holster with all the benefits of a proper IWB kydex rig, look no further. This superb offering is made even better by its price; just a hair over $50 bucks.

Dark Star Gear Hitchhiker

A multi-mode kydex holster for the Glock 43. Without the claw attachment, it is a slim, slick and well-fitted clip on IWB. With the claw, it is a slim, slick well-fitted AIWB holster.

Many holster makers try and fail to make a dual purpose IWB/AIWB holster option but fail due to unique differences in optimal carry geometry for the two body positions.

Many more shooters fail to understand that and shoehorn a standard IWB into the AIWB role, only to denounce the concept when their homebrew setup sucks. Dark Star has cracked the code.

Like all of Dark Star’s offerings, you can get this one in about a zillion color offerings, from the Usual Suspects (black, tan, gray) to the truly insane (purple, green twill).

Whatever special snowflake itch is eating you up, Dark Star can scratch it and you’ll still have a dead-hard piece of kit at the end. Alternate attachments are available as options if you don’t like clips.

Milt Sparks Summer Special 2

Milt Sparks is a name synonymous with top-quality, hardcore leather holsters, and arguably the most famous of this famous line is the Summer Special.

Easily ID’d by its rough-out leather construction, heavily reinforced mouth, and a generous sight track, the Summer Special 2 features an interchangeable belt loop attachment and high-rise shirt guard, aka flab tab.

Secure, tough and oh-so-easy to carry. Milt Sparks is a legend in leather for a reason. Pricey, but these holsters definitely warrant it.

Conclusion

The Glock 43 has been the answer to many Glock fans’ prayers: slim, slick, light and packing a seven-shot 9mm payload, in many ways, the G43 is the epitome of single stack carry guns today. But this compact wonder will not hide so well in just any holster.

Make sure you take the time to choose a holster solution that is as lean and low profile as it is, and you’ll have a carry system that virtually disappears.

via Modern Survival Online https://ift.tt/35C9vw9

A Modern Take On A Piece Of Old Test Equipment

The HP 11947A is something of a footnote in the back catalogue of Hewlett Packard test equipment. An attenuator and limiter with a bandwidth in the megahertz rather than the gigahertz. It’s possible that few laboratories have much use for one in 2019, but it does have one useful property: a full set of schematics and technical documentation. [James Wilson] chose the device as the subject of a clone using surface mount devices.

The result is very satisfyingly within spec, and he’s run a battery of tests to prove it. As he says, the HP design is a good one to start with.   As a device containing only passive components and with a maximum frequency in the VHF range this is a project that makes a very good design exercise for anyone interested in RF work or even who wishes to learn a bit of RF layout. At these frequencies there are still a significant number of layout factors that can affect performance, but the effect of conductor length and  stray capacitance is less than the much higher frequencies typically used by wireless-enabled microcontrollers.

via Radio Hacks – Hackaday https://ift.tt/36ClZnf

How to Recruit Members to Your Survival Group

Recruiting members to your survival group was once a nearly unheard of idea. When the prepping movement really garnered top momentum at the turn of the century, most survivalists were either determined to go the lone wolf route, shied away from the use of the internet entirely or were active only under clever usernames for OPSEC reasons.

Today, prepping and survival groups abound online across all media platforms, even Pinterest, stepping out of the shadows to learn more, share more, and connect with other preppers, and without reducing important OPSEC has become commonplace.

By connecting with like-minded folks who share our same mindset and similar or more varied skill set, we become far more self-reliant and prepared to withstand whatever comes.

Surviving any type of long-term disaster is going to be a battle, make no mistake about that. There is no type of battle that you will ever fight where numbers won’t make a difference. Odds are you landed on this article because you already knew that.

It is finding the right type of people to bolster your prepping tribe that seems problematic, and not the knowledge that you need to do so to increase the chances that you are your loved ones will indeed be survivors and not become statistics in some SHTF death toll.

Thoughts to Ponder for the Undecided Reader

Are you taking a risk by letting your friends, neighbors, co-workers, and extended family know that you are a prepper? Yes.

The next steps you take when recruiting members to your survival group have to be measured, embarked upon with caution, and must be undertaken in the most intelligent and well-researched way possible.

You obviously do not want to just fly your prepper flag from your front porch, alerting everyone that you house is the one to go to or rob when disaster strikes.

There are two distinct types of people to court into your survival group: folks with skills who do not necessarily label themselves as preppers, and proud preppers in your area with which you may not be personally acquainted.

Carefully cultivated relations that are evaluated with each baby step you take when revealing that you are a prepper to skilled non-preppers and established preppers, alike.

When you are outing yourself as a prepper you do so by tipping your toe in the water and not just doing a big old cannonball in public waters. You guard your personal information and survival plan tightly, sharing only small parts when you are confident it can be done so safely, never before.

The folks you recruit to be members of your survival group must bring something to the table that will lighten your load, increase the skills of your existing group or family, and be willing to put skin in the game on a regular basis to train, enhance stockpiles, and complete vital prepping projects as a part of your tribe.

Member Recruiting Step 1 – Policies, Rules, and Repercussions

Put your best foot forward when recruiting either your first survival group member, or adding onto an established tribe. A group, a true group, will have a leadership structure that is clearly defined and approved by the founding members.

Any recruit accepted into the group must be allowed to review the governance documents and sign a document stating they understand and agree to abide by the established policy.

In additional to the foundational governance documents, a survival group should also have a policy document that details all of the rules, rights, responsibilities, and repercussions for breaking the rules of the prepping group.

All recruits must sign the document stating they understand and agree to follow all of the established rules – with the original being kept by the group and a copy being given to the recruit.

No matter how incredibly skilled and character driven a new member may seem, if he or she does not know upfront what is expected or agree to abide by those terms, you would likely have a revolt or disparity in the group at meetings, trainings, and during a disaster scenario.

Member Recruiting Step 2 – Preparations

Before you begin reaching out to others in any way as potential survival group recruits, you must determine what you are looking for in new tribe members, and develop a way to “grade” each person who is being considered for approach.

Making actual contact with a potential recruit before you have a plan in place to evaluate them and a set of survival group rules which they must agree to abide by is a recipe for disaster.

You must have a clearly defined set of goals for your survival group and know exactly what skills your tribe both has in abundance and is in need of the most.

Unless you have an unlimited budget, amount of land, and living quarters for your survival group, you can only take in X number of new preppers.

While it might seem like a huge score to find four new preppers who are all accomplished hunters or even medical professionals, if you are light on members who have a self-defense background or know how to grow and preserve their own groceries, filling all of your available recruit slots with preppers who share the avid hunters will leave your vulnerable in the other essential survival categories.

Another thing to take into consideration before recruiting starts is how many people each recruit would need to bring with them. It is best to complete the evaluation process outlined below entirely for each potential recruit before issuing an invite to join for even an outstandingly skilled member.

If you have space for only 10 new people total at your retreat and the first highly skilled member needs to bring four family members with him but a similarly skilled member you would meet later only needs to bring himself or a spouse, then your available space to take on more preppers would be unnecessarily reduced.

You should also consider giving the option to bring their own RV or build their own living quarters if you meet them or are contacted by them virtually after you have filled all the space you have established at your survival retreat – if natural resources available and the stockpile they will bring with them warrants such a decision.

Character Traits

Conduct a personal inventory of each person you are considering to recruit as a survival group member. No matter how long you have known them, even if they are flood related, put pencil to paper and review how they measure up to the essential character traits below.

To undertake such an inventory of a “stranger” prepper you meet online or at a local meet up event or militia meeting can take months.

Adding a member to your survival group is a process that simply cannot be rushed – your life will depend on the choices you make – this simply cannot be stated strongly enough.

You should plan on online, telephone, and multiple in person meetings with a potential survival group recruit that you have not known for years or are related to – in addition to shelling out about $50 for a complete background check on the person.

Top 10 Character Traits of Survival Group Recruits

1. Integrity
2. Work Ethic
3. Dependability
4. Intelligence
5. Ingenuity
6. Decisiveness
7. Diligence
8. Dedication
9. Adapatibililty
10. Ability to keep a secret

The folks you choose to focus upon as survival recruits will eventually learn all of your secrets. If you cannot trust them completely, they are not only of no use, but have the capability to become well-informed enemies.

Draw several columns on a piece of paper or insert a table on a blank computer document to create a checklist to gauge each potential survival recruit’s prowess with each character trait on a scale from 1 to 10 – or print our the sample table below.

Character Assessment Table

Recruit	Integrity	Work Ethic	Dependability	Intelligence	Ingenuity	Decisiveness	Diligence	Dedication	Adaptability	Ability to keep a secret

Skills

Every member of your survival tribe must bring at least one vital skills to the group. My husband and I decided a long time ago that we would never turn away family – no matter what, even the ones we might not like if we weren’t related – not even my liberal brother.

By doing so, we knew that although each person would score high on the character traits review, many would possess few critical survival skills.

This same scenario will likely materialize when you choose to invite a highly skilled recruit into your survival group that has a spouse or significant other (and children) that do not have a well-honed skill set.

Every person in the survival group must contribute or they will simply be dead weight and another mouth to feed – both things you can ill afford during a long-term disaster.

The first part of this section will address essential survival skills and scenarios to ponder in order to estimate how the recruit will react, and what they can bring to the table.

The second section involved thinking outside of the prepping box to other more common everyday and survival homesteading skills that new members may have, or can quickly be taught and what chores they can be tasked with to free up your more skilled group members, during a SHTF event.

My husband, Bobby, is an excellent shooter, as you can see.

40 Possible Skills and Career Backgrounds of Survival Recruits

1. Military Veteran
2. Law Enforcement Officer
3. Firefighter
4. Doctor
5. Nurse
6. EMS Medic or Paramedic
7. Nurse’s Aid
8. Veterinarian
9. Pharmacist
10. Herbalist
11. Dentist
12. Chiropractor
13. Chemist
14. Hunter
15. Angler
16. Gunsmith
17. Trapper
18. Carpenter
19. Architectural Engineer
20. Butcher
21. Rancher
22. Farmer
23. Homesteader
24. Scientist
25. Mechanic
26. Mason
27. Martial Arts Instructor or Student
28. Plumber
29. Electrician
30. Civil Engineer
31. Welder
32. Machinist
33. Blacksmith
34. Gardener
35. Logger
36. Handgun Proficiency
37. Shotgun Proficiency
38. Rifle Proficiency
39. Bow Proficiency
40. Knife Proficiency

When you are recruiting new survival group members, they will likely possess multiple skills in addition to the possibility of an emergency preparedness professional background.

I highly recommend also making a chart (or printing our sample one below to use) to record and perhaps apply a grade to each recruit’s potential assets.

Recruit	Skill #1	Skill #2	Skill #3	Skill #4	Skill #5

Non-Survival Skills and Career Background

These skills are not directly survival related but can either be beneficial to have members who possess them in your group during a long-term disaster.

The spouses or significant others of skilled members can use these types of skills and knowledge to fulfill common daily needs on your survival homestead or prepper retreat that are important to the health, meals, and general well-being of the shared living areas and your small survival community.

Do not underestimate the benefits of creating an environment of normalcy during a SHTF event. Providing some morale boosting activities in addition to establishing some semblance of a routine home life can go a long way to preventing or reducing stress, fatigue, anxiety, and depression for everyone in the survival group.

The skills in this section also gives everyone in the survival community a job to do and something of value to contribute – even the youthful and elderly members of the group.

Remember, a highly skilled person looking for a survival group to join can be a hotly sought after commodity. To get him or her to become a recruit member of your survival group you may also have to be willing to take in their children and parents, as well.

22 Non-Survival Skills of Survival Group Recruits

1. Sewist – Seamstress
2. Teacher – Homeschooling Parent
3. Musician or Singer
4. Member of the Clergy
5. Child care worker or experience babysitter
6. Food service worker
7. Greenhouse worker
8. Home canner or dehydrator
9. Maid or Janitorial worker
10. Art and crafts hobbyist or professional
11. 4-H member
12. Writer or Secretary – keeping organized records of crops, medicines, etc. will be important
13. Camping or Hiking hobbyist
14. Fitness instructor or hobbyist
15. Dietician
16. Scout member or leader
17. Basket Weaver Hobbyist
18. Ceramics worker or Hobbyist
19. Wood Carver
20. HAM radio operator
21. Glass cutter or hobbyist
22. Heavy equipment operator

When discussing both survival and non-survival skills with group recruits it is also good to add a notation to any activities or skills the person already has an interest in learning or is willing to learn as a part of their membership invitation.

Health and Physical Fitness

It is not unusual for a group to require recruits to submit to a physical and drug test during the first stage of consideration. Each recruit should also be willing to share his or her medical records and family history of disease and illness for evaluation.

An out of shape individual, a person with a physical disability, or a person who has a chronic condition for which they must take medication does not necessarily need to be ruled out.

The skills and knowledge such a recruit brings to the table can far outweigh the physical fitness, mobility, and health issues of concern. Such issues must be evaluated on an individual basis after you thoroughly review and discuss what each brings to the table during a SHTf event.

One of our most skilled survival tribe members is a diabetic, as is one of his six children. His diabetes is far more under control than his child’s. What he and his wife both bring to the table from a skills perspective far outweighs any longevity and medical supply drain concerns any seasoned prepper could have.

Because we know about the need for insulin now, we all have time to stockpile as much as possible, have a plan to keep it from going bad if the power grid fails (when – really), and to make a natural alternative to commercially manufactured insulin.

While we won’t know how well the natural alternative will work until forced to use it, a plan is in place to deal with the potentially life threatening issue.

Financial Records – Credit Check

If all members of the survival group are expected to share in the cost of building or maintaining a prepper retreat or contributing to agree upon supply and materials purchases, getting a financial history would be incredibly wise.

Even if the recruits do not have to pool their money for specific survival retreat purchases, the group may mandate each member purchase X amount of supplies to stockpile in a locked area inside the member’s living quarters for their own personal use when the SHTF.

Some prepping groups require a credit check even if the members do not have shared expenses simply to verify the responsible nature of the recruit. In turn, a recruit may ask for verification of your financial status for the very same reason.

SHTF Scenarios to Evaluate

Once you have an in-depth view of the potential survival group recruit’s character traits and skillset, it is time to move on to see how they would react and be of value in specific types of situations you are prepping to survive.

For this part of the study, review, and intake process, you will be doing more note taking and conversing than charting on a table. First, think or write down how each recruit’s character traits and skillsets would be of value or a problem in each SHTF scenario.

You can use this same list of doomsday disaster scenarios when you do an interview with the recruit or work them the topics into conversations during face to face meetings or chats.

• EMP attack or solar flare that takes down the power grid
• Economic collapse
• Pandemic or epidemic
• Conventional war on American soil
• Nuclear war
• Civil war
• Flood
• Hurricane
• Tornado
• Earthquake
• Food shortage
• Drought
• Fuel shortage
• Martial law
• Attack by a marauding horde
• Wildfire
• Government collapse

Member Recruiting Step 3 – Connecting With Preppers

There are two primary ways to connect with other preppers or skilled individuals who might be preppers in the making: online and in your community.

Unless you know the person in your community is already a prepper, you will go about connecting with them differently than you would on a self-reliance social media platform, or in comments beneath a prepper story.

Recruiting Locally

No matter where you live there is likely at least one natural disaster that threatens or plagues the area on an annual basis. In my region of Appalachia we deal with flooding every fall and spring.

Using a “sane” prepping topic like this one to work with your neighbors, community members, and volunteer groups to better prepare the area to deal with the twice-annual flooding is a superb way to rub elbows with folks that are dedicated, responsible, diligent, hard working, and likely possess some skills that could be useful to you.

Attend or start a group meeting, or a local survival expo that specifically deals with prepping for a common localized weather related problem.

Spend time talking with the folks at the meeting to gauge their possible skill level and interest in taking their home protection and “life assurance” efforts a few steps further.

Connect with them on social media to get a better idea of their personalities and to forge a friendship that stems beyond the initial shared goal.

Once you have a rapport established and have decided this person could be a good recruit for your survival group, start sharing a little more about your self-reliance efforts in small doses.

Can you can your own jams and jellies? Make natural remedies from foraged material? Have a target range on your land? Stocked pond? Great hunting trails?

What activities you and your group does that you could share without risking OPSEC to entice the potential recruit to learn more about your self-reliance and prepping efforts?

As the relationship develops, you will be better able to determine if the new friend is a good fit for the group and shows enough interest in being prepared to tell them you have a survival group.

From there, still with primarily baby steps, you can enlighten them about the group, if you feel comfortable and they show interest.

12 Local Groups to Join or Places to Go to Meet Survival Group Recruits

• Volunteer Fire Department
• VFW – American Legion
• Law Enforcement Auxiliary booster – volunteer group
• Shooting Club – Gun Range
• Hunting Club
• Fishing Club
• Gardening Club
• Red Cross
• 4-H
• Gun Shows
• Teach a class at a library or 4-H Extension Office that is self-reliance related
• Take a gunsmithing class

Recruiting Online

There are a few ways you can go about meeting other preppers in your area online. You could join a free or paid online group via social media or a website, visit a website with a highly active comments section or forum, or attend prepper meetups in your state.

It might be hit or miss when seeking to connect with a prepper from your area via a comments section or forum, but the odds are you will get to know other preppers from your state.

I was a little surprised when multiple readers on The Survivalist Blog who comment regularly beneath my weekly column (they are dubbed, “The Pack”) were not only from my state, but lived within a short drive (in rural folks terms) from our survival retreat.

Prepping websites that require you to join either for free or a nominal cost offer a space for survivalist to connect with each other to recruit for prepping groups and to share valuable tips and hints.

Top Prepping Connection Websites

• Prepper Link
• Survivalist Singles
• Prepper Groups
• Prepper Meet Up Groups
• Prepper Forums

Top Prepper Groups On Social Media

• MeWe – this is a great Facebook alternative for preppers, Second Amendment Supporters, and non-liberals.
• Use the #preppertalk hashtag on Twitter
• Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children Facebook Page
• SHTF And Homesteading Central Facebook Page
• Homestead Survival Facebook Group
• Practical Prepping And Survival Facebook Group
• Deep Survival Facebook Group
• Gardeners, Homesteaders, Preppers, And Survivalists Facebook Page
• Self-Sufficient Living Facebook Page

Member Recruiting Step 4 – Conversation Starters, and Cautions

What you say, how you say it, and when you say are crucial for both OPSEC and attracting the right caliber of recruits.

Approach each new interaction slowly and never willingly share your full name, address, or specific information about your survival plan or survival group until you are ready to invite the person to become a recruit.

Cautions

Protecting your personal information from anyone online is nearly impossible. If you use your real name when interacting on social media, online groups, online forums, and in the comments section of websites, all it takes is a simple Google search for anyone to find out far more about you than you are likely comfortable with.

When engaging in recruiting efforts online, I would highly recommend making up one first and last name for a man and a woman to represent your survival group.

This not only protects your personal information, but also allows every existing member of your survival group to log onto the same social media accounts and review the conversations and comments by and to the group.

When multiples from your group have access to the account it will be easier to manage timely responses and to keep the account highly active.

If you go this route, expect to spend hours setting up an online persona of a prepping couple that depicts what your self-reliance lifestyle is all about without giving away any personal details.

You should like and interact on all the pages, groups, photos, etc, that appeal to you to round out the faux prepping couple’s persona.

Include photos to make the persona appear highly authentic, but do not show expose the faces of anyone who poses in them or any distinguishing attributes of your survival retreat. Google Earth searches are quite advanced, a fact worth remembering.

Conversation Starters and Topics

• Talk about prepping in general, including how and why you got started. Keep it informative and conversational and not preachy or condescending.
• Do you part to debunk the stereotype of preppers depicted on reality shows to attract a higher caliber of potential recruits.
• Discuss natural disaster preparedness, this is something all preppers on the same page or group can relate to, have a non-controversial opinion about, and can share some skills knowledge and stockpiling tips that can give you insight into their general level of preparedness and mindset.
• The more logical and straightforward the prepping concept you want to discuss is, the more folks will be willing to throw their two bits in about – keeping the conversation going and attracting more comments from other preppers in the process. Instead of asking whether folks in the group are prepping for a nuclear war, ask how others are prepping for a lengthy power outage in case a predicted weather event happens. This expands on the earlier topic of weather issues but throws in some very important off grid prepping topics that can bring more of the potential recruit’s skills and mindset to light.
• Ask for tips on topics that are more pointed and obscure, and on ones that you or a survival group members are an expert in. This will help you to pull more information from the potential recruit in a low key way that will again aid in determining their skill level and mindset.

Next Steps

Stage 1

Unless the online group you are in is localized or state-specific, you have to narrow down your potential recruit pool to a reasonable geographic area. Make a log of every person a member of your survival group interacts with that includes checking out their profile to find out their location.

Begin a folder on any person of interest that lives close enough to be a prospective recruit. Print out or copy and paste all interacts with the person, and other details and photos you can find related to them on social media or via online searches that sheds more light on who they are.

Increase your group interactions with this person, tag them in comments or send them survival related tidbits or other funnies they might enjoy on a consistent but not overwhelming or stalking basis to establish more rapor and create a real online friendship.

Stage 2

If the second stage goes well and creates more interaction that proves out your theory of their potential recruit status, begin chatting with them privately online or via texting.

Start these conversations with questions they might be able to help you with that are survival related, or sharing of a garden or gun photo privately – telling them you thought they would like to check it out but the image wasn’t something you wanted to share publicly for OPSEC reasons.

Gauge their response to OPSEC and the topic the carefully chosen photo is about to again to learn more about this potential recruit.

Stage 3

Ideally, there should be at least a phone conversation between you and the recruit before moving forward with information about your survival group.

You could message the person and ask that they call you if they have not yet shared their phone number, because you needed some tips on a project that was simply too long and detailed to message about. Not being willing to give up a phone number at this stage should not be a deal breaker.

Since you live near each-other, consider sharing information about a gun show, training class or something that would seem of interest to the person, and invite them to attend so you can have a casual meeting in a public space.

If no such event is occurring and you are certain you want this person in your group enough to risk OPSEC, you could set up some type of a training at your place with only other group members in attendance, and invite your new online prepping pal.

Renting space at a campground or similar area to hold a training of some type is also an OPSEC worry free option, as well.

Whichever way you decide to communicate, private message, phone, or in person, now would be the time to have an introductory conversation about you being part of or the leader of a survival group. Hopefully, the response will be, “Wow, really?” and followed up by questions that rely interest in joining.

Stage 4

If this conversation takes place on the phone or at a public event and goes well, schedule a time to go have a drink or bite to eat or hit the shooting range with the recruit and a handful (not an overwhelming number) of group members to give the recruit a better sense of the dynamic of the group.

At the second conversation or meeting, bring along some type of a welcome gift for the recruit that showcases the skills and offerings your self-reliance tribe has created together.

This could be dehydrated fruit or vegetables that you grew, quality compost that you cultivated, a little ceramic or leather item that someone in the tribe made, a homemade bow out of PVC that was part of youth training, deer jerky, a little off grid or campfire cookbook of the group’s favorite recipes, etc.

If the recruit has a family, make the second meeting a gathering with other spouses and children to again, better showcase the dynamic of the group and this time to allow a full meet and greet with all group members that are willing to attend.

Perhaps at this meeting it will be time to go over the group governance and rule book, only you will know if that stage has been reached or if such things should still be relayed just verbally in broad strokes.

It may take additional meetings either away from or on the prepper retreat before the survival group is ready to hand out the formal paperwork and turn the recruit into a member.

Always use caution when bringing recruits to the survival retreat or giving a full tour. It is not necessary to do so until the final meeting where group paperwork is shared.

This “getting to know you” phase will likely takes weeks or months. You might want to approach this person quickly about joining the group because they seem like a perfect fit and as we all know, the S can HTF at any moment.

But, do not rush this process. Think of it as dating. You would not ask someone to get engaged or move in with you after just knowing them a few weeks or even 60 days, right?

The relationship you are cultivating with this person who was just an online stranger a few days ago, is geared to a possibly lifelong cohabitation – one in which your life might just be in their hands.

via Modern Survival Online https://ift.tt/2PJBlQ4