Police and Desert Dave Search for Armed Robbers in Northeast

Police (and Desert Dave) Searching for Armed Robbers in Northeast

I'm retired Dammit! Why is that darn helicopter circuiting around my rooftop while I'm trying to take a nap? Going outside I didn't need my binoculars to read what it said on the bottom of the Texas DPS (Department of Public Safety) helicopter flying directly over my home for the umpteenth time and disturbing my beauty sleep.

Gearing up (camera, binoculars, Kimber and all that junk I carry on my belt) I walked up the street to see why there was a cop car with overheads flashing at the end of the street.

Seems the cop had just arrested one guy and was standing by (with the crook handcuffed in the back seat of the patrol car) while a tow truck operator winched the getaway car onto the towing platform.

Took some digging, but I finally wormed some information out of the cop. Seems the gendarmeries were still looking for two more; hence the helicopter.

By that time the circling copter had shifted its attention about 200 yards to the north.

Putting on my interested/concerned neighbor/citizen hat I strolled over to where I could see a swarm of constabulary near the drainage pond below the park. I was prepared to identify myself as an armed Concealed Handgun Licensee (CHL) if anyone should ask, but no one did.

"Don't get on the playing field, Dave", I told myself, "but be sure you get a front row seat." I resolved to stay out of the way and let this thing play out without any interference from me.

Just like the good old days when I freelanced crime scene photos to the "Police Blotter" page of a local newspaper. (Ah, the good times!;-)

From a high point beside and slightly in front of a blocking force of officers on XXXX Street I could see a line of constabulary, gendarmeries, cops, park rangers and state troopers walking toward us in a skirmish line. These guys were serious; with M4's slung across their chests.

About a dozen jackrabbits ran past me just before the line of officers came abreast of my position, but no suspects.

Seems the dirty bad guys got away... this time.

Going home I knocked on the front doors of two of our neighbors informing them of the situation and giving them a description of the suspects. Then I went inside and called two other neighbors with the same info. One of them said she'd heard a report about the situation on the radio and was afraid to step outside to get her mail. I stood by while she went out to her mail box and now I'll wait to see what come on the six o'clock news.

Desert (mail box hero, busybody, concerned citizen, nosey neighbor) Dave

--------------------------------------
(Redacted online news report from the web site of a local TV station.)

Police are search for two of three men who robbed a Northeast Radio Shack at approximately 11:30 this morning.

According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, the three men were armed with guns during the robbery. One man was caught and police are searching for two other men who are considered armed with a handgun. The men were last seen heading towards XXXX Community College Campus.

The DPS Chopper is in the air searching for the men. DPS is being assisted by [the] PD.

Currently, XXXXX schools and nearby community colleges are on lockdown.

Superfluous Survival Tip of the week:

Anyone who's ever been present at an occurrence covered by the news media knows that the published report almost always gets something wrong. Misspelled names, wrong addresses, incorrect sequence of events you name it; something you know for a fact is generally reported incorrectly.

My Police (and Desert Dave) Search for Armed Robbers in Northeast adventure is one such event. We've got the usual four network affiliates (two of which are owned by one media company) and I watched coverage of the great heist that night.

One TV station showed a graphic depicting the robbery as occurring miles away on another street. Very convincing, they even showed/announced an incorrect street number. I'd have believed them if I hadn't known better.

Flipping back and forth between channels I "learned" that the robbery was carried out by two or three men carrying none, one, two or three guns who may or may not have run into a nearby junior collage parking lot. In this case it's comical, but what if these channels had been reporting on forest fire, flood or earthquake damage/escape routes or refugee centers?

(Now before I go galloping off on my high horse I want to point out that the police are often forced to rely on incomplete (and inaccurate) information when dealing with developing situations. This is why you in your blue car might be stopped because a witness reports the bank robber drove off in a blue or silver car. But this information is kept within law enforcement channels and not broadcast to the general public.)

But the TV news reports were broadcast hours after the search was over. These TV journalists had hours to get the story straight, and failed to do so.

So, is the escape route over the mountain open? Has DOT (Department Of Transportation) placed limits (no campers? no trailers?) on which vehicles can use it?

Are people west of such and such street supposed to report to this refugee center or that one? Are pets allowed or will you be forced (at the shelter door) to set Fluffy free to fend for herself?

With most of the information put out by the nightly news crews "close enough is good enough" but when your (or Fluffy's) life is on the line?

In one episode of one of my favorite TV shows* Blue Bloods actor Tom Selleck, as fictional Police Commissioner Francis "Frank" Reagan, tells a troublesome journalist planning to publish information detrimental to an ongoing undercover investigation that although the Police Commissioner can't refuse to release information to the journalist the Police Commissioner can influence the timeliness of those info releases to the journalist. The message in this fictional case is clear. It's a fictional example of the way real world powers can influence the news we see and hear.

Here's a real world example: our mayor (an unscrupulous politician if ever I saw one) suddenly refused to grant interviews (on or off camera) to one (and only one) of the local TV stations. After a week of reporting the mayor refusing to speak to them on this or that issue the TV station had a private meeting with the mayor and all of the sudden the interviews were back on. What compromises were made behind closed doors?

Thus my insistence on having multiple radio band radios, TV and Internet to gather information in normal times and especially in an emergency. Heck even a phone call to a friend/family member out of town or out of state can change your whole outlook (and hence your reaction to) what's going on.

(* see also Castle, The Mentalist, MythBusters NCIS & NCIS Los Angeles of course 7 of 9 is still hot in Body of Proof)

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You Can Run and You Can Hide But Not For Long

Camper One:
Talking into his Satellite phone as he watched the rearview camera the camper carefully backed his class A mobile home between the RV park's utility hookups. In a few minutes electricity, water & sewage lines were connected and he joined his wife inside as she adjusted the angle on the satellite TV dish.

They'd emptied the cupboard and both freezers before fleeing the city, but he'd still felt it necessary to clean out what was left of the overpriced food for sale in the little store next door to the campground's headquarters. The proprietor had demanded cash claiming the credit card system was down. Selection had been sparse, seems he wasn't the only one thinking this thing might last awhile. The expensive campground's beef jerky, chips and Twinkies would have to wait; tonight they had to eat the thawing food they'd been unable to stuff into their ice chests and the RV's little freezer.

One of the national TV networks was still off the air, but he was able to get in the Internet. The bloggers were going wild with competing conspiracy theories and some of those theories were close to what the remaining networks were saying. He was glad he'd brought along his long barreled 12 gauge goose gun and a box of shells.

Camper Two:
Putting her cell phone away she backed the 4X4 pickup next to the fire ring at the far end of the National Park Service's "Remote" camping site. The wide camper shell made it difficult to see behind her as she edged the long bed pickup under a tree. She'd expected it to be deserted this time of year, but the camp site was almost full.

They'd emptied the cupboard and refrigerator/freezer as they headed out the door. They had fuel for the camp stove, gas for the generator and cast iron pots and pans if they had to "rough it" with a camp fire. She wasn't looking forward to that and hoped the whole thing would be over before the Coleman fuel ran out.

Hubby's hobby was HAM radio so he'd been exchanging real news with other HAM's around the country and the world via HF, VHF and UHF as they drove up here. They didn't have to depend on that crap the Emergency Alert System kept spewing out on all the broadcast stations and satellite radio.

They'd emptied the house of food, blankets and clothes on the way out the door. The cooler was full of the freezer's contents and beer. Her husband was complaining there were so many cans of food in the back he didn't have room to move around. He'd maxed out his credit card at the last gas station on the way up here buying overpriced gas, beef jerky and beer. They'd keep up with the news on the truck's radio and a portable radio until the batteries ran out. Hubby'd put his 30-30, scoped .22 rifle and the riot shotgun under the blankets on the camper's bed with several boxes of bullets & shells for each gun. They were keeping his Colt single action "cowboy" revolver and her .38 caliber stub-nosed double action revolver under their shirts.

Camper Three:
He slipped the cell phone into an outer pocket of his backpack after pulling the jeep under a tree at the trailhead. He'd been unable to get any bars for the last three hours but figured its weight would be worth lugging to the mountaintop on the off chance that they'd be able to get bars from up there. The solar charger would keep their cell phones charged and he'd heard that text messages had gotten through when voice had not during some earlier disasters. Maybe text would work from the mountaintop. They didn't want to be completely dependent upon the government for information about the crisis that was being put out on the regular broadcast frequencies.

Realistically if there were any changes to the situation they'd have a better chance of hearing them on the many shortwave and other bands of their solar/hand crank KAITO ka009 portable radio than the Jeep's in dash AM FM radio.

They had hundreds of rounds each for his big bore iron sighted rifle and her scoped Ruger 10-22 plus more ammo for their pistols, but they'd depend on cachés, traps and snares for their food for as long as they had to stay up in the mountains to avoid the spreading chaos in the cities. Hopefully they wouldn't need the heirloom seeds.

Addendum

HCF replies:
(and I respond)

So what happened? What are they running from? I can't say that any one of them has the right or wrong idea there. Riding the storm out in Class-A luxury is kind of appealing.

Yes it is. To be able to sit around the Jacuzzi later, martini in hand, talking about how you sat out "the big scare" in comfort is appealing.

But what if "the big scare" turned out to be "the big crunch"? Would a Class-A mobile home in an RV park be the place to be? How far would one of those gas guzzlers get when the power to run gas station pumps went out? Wouldn't the RV parks be rapidly overrun with refugees?

Would Campers two or three be in a better position to sit out the storm?

You Can Run and You Can Hide But Not For Long is a think piece designed to get you to think about the consequences of the choices you make early on. Evidently I failed to communicate that.

HAM radio is great for hearing what HAM radio operators want to tell you. It's kind of like the Internet in that regard. The gear used to be heavy and power-hungry; has that changed in recent years? I know some HAMs that have "mobile" rigs in their trucks. It's a hobby I never had time or money for.

Yes, HAM radio is very much like the Internet in that you have various voices bringing you disparate reports of what's happening in the world. However, I hope I made clear that HAMs represent a valid source for reports from the source which may not always be in sync with official pronouncements.

Like you, I've neither the time nor inclination to pursue the HAM hobby, but there are many radios on the market which enable you to listen in on what HAM's are saying. In fact HAM's are oft times part of Civil Defense communication networks. By being able to listen in on both official and unofficial reports survivors should be able to build a more balanced picture of what's happening.

BTW your spellchecker failed you. It's "hybrid" not "highbred" seeds. Having seeds is not enough; most commercially available seeds are hybrid, which means the seeds produced by the plant are sterile. This ensures you come back again next year to buy more seeds. It also makes hybrid seeds a poor choice in TEOTWAWKI scenarios. Look for "heirloom" seeds if it matters.

I've made the correction. Thanks for taking the time to correct me. If it's OK with you I'll put a copy of this exchange as and addendum to the piece.

Dave

- - - - - Then a reply to the reply - - - - -

You Can Run and You Can Hide But Not For Long is a think piece designed to get you to think about the consequences of the choices you make early on. Evidently I failed to communicate that.

OK. Thoughts:

Camper #1 did a good job equipping himself with what he had. Unfortunately what he had screams "rich guy with stuff to steal".

Exactly!

Camper #2 is closer to what I would do for myself. I would not have stocked up on beer.

LOL! Me neither! Aside from losing situational awareness by imbibing there's the problem of beer, as trade goods, going stale or flat over time.

Camper #3 obviously believes it's TEOTWAWKI and is acting accordingly.

Exactly! In the absence of creditable evidence to the contrary he's taking a 'sick day' so as to be sure of being outside of ground zero if the Big Scare turns out to be the Big Crunch.

So, like I said earlier, it's hard to know which is the right response without knowing the scenario better.

Ah yes! And that is the $64,000 question. Will the media to pass on the "real news" or regurgitate official handouts from politicians who obviously have a stake in how the situation is interpreted by the populace?

More to the point, will "official sources" give you the information you need to make a intelligent decisions in time for the info be meaningful in terms of giving you time to take action?

Obviously having access to alternative sources of information will help us make that determination. Which brings us to:

During our recent SHTF scare (http://boards.fool.com/shtf-3-29522612.aspx) I found Twitter to be the most reliable source of near-real-time information. After that was the local paper's (http://www.statesman.com/) "Blotter" blog of news events. TV news and other "mainstream" outlets were MIA. So I am aware that alternate forms of news have substantial value.

An interesting observation for several reasons. First that people would turn to Twitter in time of crisis. (I guess "Instant Messaging" is pretty much the AOL of the Internet nowadays.;-)

Second that the newspaper has read the writting on the wall and is making the transition from dead tree to online newspaper.

I interpret your words to mean TV news and other mainstream (radio?) outlets were 'responsibly' passing on pronouncements from officials which, by the time they filtered down to the microphone were out of date.

In re: HAM's
I did not know this. I will look into it.
http://www.arrl.org/emergency-communications

Years ago I read of a HAM operator participating in a Civil Defense drill being held in the basement of a local hospital on the seedier side of town who was asked to leave his pickup/camper full of radio equipment in the parking lot and run a base station inside where he'd be more readily available to pass messages to and from field units.

He flat out refused saying he wasn't going to leave $50,000 worth of radio equipment outside unguarded as a free gift to drug addicts. He stayed in his camper and they brought messages out to him.

In other words not all HAM operators are "independent contractors" (if you will) and won't slavishly parrot official handouts. A potpourri of HAM conversations will likely give a slightly (or maybe much) different take on a situation.

To be fair to seed vendors, hybrid plants have a number of positive characteristics like pest resistance that make them valuable to mainstream gardeners. Just be aware of the sterile seeds if planning for TEOTWAWKI.

Noted.

- - - - -

Superfluous Survival Tip of the week:

Real long term survival requires farming.
Got seeds?

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Dealing with Authority after Disaster

Addendum: Shortly after posting this blog entry online I received a sharp rebuke from a friend in law enforcement. He is correct.

I overstated/misstated my point. I want to emprise that in the following diatribe when I refer to "the authorities" I'm not talking about LEO's (Law Enforcement Officers), fire or EMS, but rather the upper echelons who make the decisions as to whether or not you'll be allowed to evacuate along this road or that; whether or not you'll be allowed to bring your pets into or out of a public shelter; whether or not you'll be able to keep your possessions and where you'll be allowed to go.

LEO's (Law Enforcement Officers) don't make those decisions. They just follow orders to block of this route or that, to allow this or that into the public shelter or even whether or not you'll be allowed to leave the public shelter. So don't mistake the following tirade as an indictment of First Responders, they're doing their jobs.

The purpose of this oration is to inspire you to stock up on food and water so you can sit out the disaster at home and not end up like "those people".

How much food and water do you have on hand? The minimum federally recommended three days? But is that enough?

After a disaster authorities are more concerned with maintaining control than your personal comfort and wellbeing. Keeping you fed in a shelter has more to do with reducing/controlling your desire to get out than concern for your comfort and wellbeing.

Your personal safety is secondary to maintaining control to prevent (or at least control) chaos.

Until the disaster is declared officially over, I expect you'll find it a whole lot harder to get out of a public shelter than it was to get into it. Also, you will be disarmed going into a public shelter. Don't expect to get those guns back.

Therefore, if at all possible, staying out of a public shelter should be one of your top priorities. Having sufficient food and water on hand to ride out the storm will be paramount in that case.

Three days worth of food and water? Why not three weeks?

(Note, the events below are not a race problem; half of the police officers involved were black.)

NEW ORLEANS, (CBS/AP) It's one of the more horrific stories to come out of the Hurricane Katrina disaster - two unarmed men gunned down, four others wounded, allegedly at the hands of police officers.

Now four New Orleans police officers stand charged with multiple criminal counts including the murder of 17-year-old James Brisette.

The Danziger Bridge shootings happened Sept. 4, 2005; just six days after Hurricane Katrina tore across the south, overwhelming New Orleans' famous levies and drowning the city in water.

--snip--

Seven heavily armed New Orleans police officers stormed Danziger Bridge.
Prosecutors said they shot at the first people they saw, people prosecutors say were crossing the bridge to find food.

--snip--

The indictment claims Faulcon shot mentally disabled Ronald Madison, 40, in the back as he ran away on the west side of the bridge. Bowen is charged with stomping and kicking Madison while he was lying on the ground, wounded but still alive.

Bowen, Gisevius, Faulcon and Villavaso also are accused of shooting at an unarmed family on the east side of the bridge, killing 17-year-old James Brissette and wounding four others.

--snip--

Update

Assistant U.S. Attorney Theodore Carter says police had no justification for shooting unarmed, defenseless people on the Danziger Bridge, then plotting to plant a gun, fabricate witnesses and falsify reports.

But a defense attorney urged jurors to consider the "disorder, chaos and lawlessness" that gripped the flooded city after Katrina when they decide whether the officers acted reasonably in using deadly force.

Second update
(Various sources)

Lance Madison was on the bridge the day of the shooting. He was thrown behind bars for false accusations that he shot at police. His mentally disabled brother, Ronald Madison, was shot and killed.

"Without the support and hard work of my family, I might still be in prison for false charges and the truth about what happened on the Danziger Bridge might have never been known," said Lance Madison.

"These defendants will be facing very, very long sentences," said legal analyst Dane Ciolino. It was a far cry from three years ago when the officers involved in the shooting were given a hero's sendoff when they surrendered on state charges in the same case.

Note that it took federal intervention to bring these guys to justice and that no matter what sentences are handed down it won't bring the dead back.

Superfluous Survival Tip of the week:

100 year old canned food can be eaten safely. "Among the canned food items retrieved from the Bertrand in 1968 were brandied peaches, oysters, plum tomatoes, honey, and mixed vegetables. In 1974, chemists at the National Food Processors Association (NFPA) analyzed the products for bacterial contamination and nutrient value. Although the food had lost its fresh smell and appearance, the NFPA chemists detected no microbial growth and determined that the foods were as safe to eat as they had been when canned more than 100 years earlier. The nutrient values varied depending upon the product and nutrient. NFPA chemists Janet Dudek and Edgar Elkins report that significant amounts of vitamins C and A were lost. But protein levels remained high, and all calcium values 'were comparable to today's products.'"

Hormel Foods also has some information on the storage of their products.

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Working the Border

I'm reading a book I bought at Costco which outlines the life's work of Texas Ranger Doyle Holdridge who worked Texas's unsecured southern border, in various law enforcement capacities, for nearly four decades.

The book is a series of short stories (reports actually) each encompassing a criminal case Doyle worked. They are fascinating, easy to read and informative! In many of the cases I see lessons for preppers and survivalists that could arm them with knowledge that could help them survive in a TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It) or WTSHTF (When The $#!t Hits The Fan) situation. Here are a few:

Lessons learned from a Backpacking Poacher
In the tale of the "Backpacking Poacher" Doyle recounts how a locally famous deer poacher would have an accomplice drop him off at night near a ranch known to have bucks with big racks (antlers) and hunt for several days. This tactic insured no one would find his vehicle *** and know the poacher was operating in the area.

Carrying only food, water, sleeping bag and a rifle the poacher would "cold camp" (no campfire) returning to a predetermined spot to be picked up with his ill gotten gains at a prearranged time. Never caught, he was a ghost coming and going without a trace.

Doyle doesn't say if the poacher wore camouflage clothing, but it would have helped him elude detection not withstanding that stillness is great camouflage too.

If you need to move across contested ground to or from your Bug Out Location the poacher's lesson has something to teach you.
- - - - - - - - - - -

Tommy's (El Cheapo) Burglar Alarm for Light Sleepers

A guy named Tommy who lived along one of Doyle's beats had a simple, but very effective homemade burglar alarm consisting of a microphone in his rural gas station with a wire running to a speaker in his nearby home. Dishonest travelers thinking to make an easy late night score on a closed gas station soon found themselves staring down the barrel of a 12 gauge shotgun.

Probably only good for inside buildings, the microphone/speaker setup can guard several nearby locations at once if each mike is attached to a different speaker.

One of the advantages of this setup is that the intruder doesn't know he's alerted the owner(s) and may more easily be taken by surprise.

One disadvantage (aside from heavy sleepers) is that the system is constantly "on" and transmitting thus using power which could be a problem if the electricity is out.
- - - - - - - - - - -

While working the Texas Governor's security detail Ranger Holdridge learned, via several personal experiences, that anti-gun governor Ann Richards was a Bitch. I could have told him that.
- - - - - - - - - - -

(If At First You Don't Secede this next tale takes a bit of enplaning to get all the groups involved (or not) identified. The original "Republic of Texas" (1836 to 1846) had nothing to do with these modern day whackos other than that the idiots appropriated the name. Three groups all claim or claimed to be the "The Republic of Texas" but couldn't get along even with each other hence the three splinter groups of stooges. There is also a "The Republic of Texas" ROT biker rally held every year which may/may not have anything to do with any of the aforementioned groups. To from your own "Republic of Texas" please form a line on the right.)

Lessons learned from a Bunch of Idiots
In 1997 one of these groups of idiots who'd organized themselves into outfits they called "The Republic of Texas" (not to be confused with the original Republic of Texas) kidnapped two people attracting the attention of law enforcement:
Another incident occurred in Fort Davis, Texas a year later in March 1997 when a faction of the self-styled "Republic of Texas" militia group seized hostages. The Republic of Texas group believed that the annexation of Texas as a state in 1845 was illegal, that Texas should remain an independent nation, and that the legitimate government of Texas was the group's leadership.[12] Joe and Margaret Ann Rowe were taken at gunpoint in retaliation for the arrest of member Robert J. Scheidt, who had been arrested on weapons charges. Leader Richard McLaren then declared that the group was in a state of war with the federal government.[13] The property was then surrounded by the entire Jeff Davis County sheriff's department, state troopers, Texas Rangers, and agents of the FBI.[12] McLaren's wife, Evelyn, convinced him to surrender peacefully after a week-long standoff. The McLarens and four other Republic of Texas members were sent to prison.[13]

Ranger Holdridge was one of the Texas Rangers sent to quell the "rebellion" by the half dozen or so rebels. Using standard police procedures the assembled Law Enforcement Officers (LEO's) negotiated with the splinter group until the hostages were released and all but two of the kidnappers surrendered. The remaining two took to the hills and the chase was on.

One rebel took a stand on a mountainside shooting it out with a police helicopter and dozens of LEO's in a deadly firefight which he lost.

The second runner escaped temporarily; hiding out with other militia groups who found him too crazy even for them and was captured as he was being kicked (literally) out of a car that was supposed to be taking him to a new safe house. He's got about 90 years left to serve on his sentence.

The first lesson to be learned from all of this is that when local law enforcement outnumbers your group by hundreds to one committing major felonies and then publicly proclaiming your position (both ideologically and geographically) is not a good group survival tactic.

Secondly, it would have been helpful (to the two runners) if they'd done their bugging out in the middle of the night so as to reduce the chances of being seen and chased.

Thirdly, once again stillness helped a person elude dozens of pursuers on the ground and in the air.

Fourth, when many of the people chasing you think you're dead and have given up searching for you; don't call a newspaper reporter to remove all doubt about your breathing rate and promise revenge.

And the last lesson to be learned from these idiots: as far as I could ascertain all of the members of the "Republic of Texas" group that were involved in the hostage stunt went to prison. So the third thing we can learn from this is don't hang out with people who advocate breaking the law, and especially don't hang out with people who are committing felonies!

Also, a midnight break-in at the supermarket because Herald Camping has convinced you that tomorrow is "TEOTWAWKI Tuesday" will likely land you in jail which is definitely not where you want to be if it turns out you were a week early.

****************************************
***
Reading this report, JRG wrote to say:

"One of my acquaintances occasionally trespasses on large ranches to go arrowhead hunting. What he does is park adjacent to a construction road crew, then cross the road and fence on the other side. The road crew figures it’s the rancher, the rancher thinks the vehicle belongs to someone on road crew, no one suspects a thing."

Thanks JRG!

Superfluous Survival Tip of the week:

Lessons learned from a Sporting Goods Store Burglary
Responding with a friend to an alarm at the friend's store they and the cops quickly determined the perpetrator had fled the scene. Too quickly as it turned out because as Doyle looked behind a hot water cooler in the back of the store he found himself nose to nose with the burglar.

I'll quote Ranger Holdridge for the lesson on this one: "A man needs to stay on his toes all the time." In a situation like that you "Never let your guard down. You just never know what's going to happen."

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Castles

Your home is your castle right? This precept of English Common Law came over on the Mayflower and is firmly ensconced in American Jurisprudence. But would it have any relevance in the aftermath of TEOTWAWKI?

Let's face it, the lack of law and order is an integral part of the definition of The End Of The World As We Know It).

In modern America we depend upon the police to defend our homes. You don't see high walls topped with broken glass and barbed wire surrounding inner courtyards in your neighborhood. There are no heavy wood or metal gates barring access to your front door.

Esthetics and cost, not strength and armor plating, likely played a major part in the selection of your front door. So how would your castle fare in the absence of law and order?

Got moat?

Castles in the Middle Ages had loopholes and cleared fields of fire.

Thanks to the greed and avarice of the developer that built your home (or maybe your unwillingness to pay a king's ransom for a five acre spread) there's probably a gap of just a few feet between your castle and the castle next door. Local zoning laws likely determined the limits of your castle's field of fire long before you bought the place.

More to the point, because your castle lacks projecting towers at the corners, once an attacker gets up against the wall of your house it's next to impossible to dislodge him without sticking your own neck (or arm) out a window to get a clear shot at him. If the attacker's accomplice is covering the windows of your wall dislodging the wall hanger becomes dangerous indeed.

Then there's the minor little problem of simultaneous attacks from several sides. How's the modern castle dweller to cope when there are barbarians at the gate in a post TEOTWAWKI world?

First off, keep in mind that the attack will likely develop from a foraging foray by a lone looter or small gang of looters rather than a planned raid by a SWAT team or combat infantry squad.

A looter looking for food, medicine and other valuables will likely stumble upon your stay at home Bug-In-Location by chance. Greed being what it is he probably won't call to his comrades until he's checked things out (and stuffed his pockets) for himself.

He'll consider a locked door a signal that treasure awaits inside. Yet leaving your front door open merely invites surprise attack. You want it plain that the front door is unlocked but not gotten through without a bit of (noisy) effort.

I say "front door" because looters going through a neighborhood will most likely take the route of least resistance. Scaling back alley walls or climbing fences between yards takes a lot more effort than walking up the street checking/kicking in front doors.

Let's do a little channeling. No, I don't mean attempting to contact your long dead great-great-grandmother. In the days when castles were more than tourist attractions castle builders went to great lengths to channel attackers into what we today would call kill zones via exterior constructions called barbicans.

"The Barbican passage contained Murder Holes in the ceiling and arrow slits on either side of the barbican passage. The barbican is also referred to as the Death Trap."

You can build your own interior barbican with little or no effort. In fact you probably already have one. It's called the foyer or vestibule.

If you already have burglar bars on all the windows (you should) and security gates on the side & back door(s) you've likely done a lot more channeling than most of your neighbors.

Now for the barbican.

Remember we're talking about the end of the world as we know it when your life and your family's lives are on the line, not some WTSHTF (When The $#!t Hits The Fan) interlude after a tornado, hurricane or earthquake when law and order will soon be restored because in some jurisdictions under some conditions this could be considered luring the looter.

If your front door is partially open held loosely in place only by one of those stupid chain door guards you've got your noise maker in place. Simply throw a box of books, an easy chair or some other heavy object directly behind the door on the hinge side so that whoever shoulders past the chain guard will find himself further delayed by the door not opening fully.

Filling the foyer or hallway with fluffy stuff (large and medium empty corrugated cardboard boxes, metal buckets, five gallon paint pails, floor and table lamps with shades anything that forces the intruder to pick and choose his steps will further delay him while whoever is on guard takes aim from the other end of the hallway.

Challenge or shoot!
At this point whether you challenge or shoot the intruder will depend on you and your situation. Obviously in a WTSHTF situation you'd want to avoid bloodshed if at all possible. After Armageddon you might have no choice.

Superfluous Survival Tip of the week:

Many people who've only recently begun thinking about how they will get along if the support system we call infrastructure (electricity, water, natural gas, gasoline and communications) ceases to function for a little while (tornado, hurricane, earthquake, etc.) often think in terms of flashlights, spare batteries and cooking on the BBQ for a day or two.

For longer term solutions (and not having to worry about dead batteries & empty bags of briquettes) I suggest solar powered yard lights and solar ovens either (hand made or purchased.

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For those who don't know

For those who don't know, TEOTWAWKI is an acronym for "(The End Of The World As We Know It)".

It refers to a total long term breakdown of government, financial systems and society. Think the Mad Max movies or, more realistically, the book/movie No Blade of Grass to get an idea of what the term means.

If you Google TEOTWAWKI and do a bit of research you'll find TEOTWAWKI adherents generally break down into two groups: Gun Nuts and Sustainable food storage/growing Nuts.

The food nuts point out, correctly, that you can't eat guns.

The gun nuts point out, correctly, that a guy with a gun can get pretty much anything he wants from a guy without one.

(This is not an idle argument. I'd once just met a man who, when the subject of Y2K came up, opined that he wasn't storing any food because he had a gun. This man was a sergeant on the local police force.)

The term TEOTWAWKI became popular during the run up to the Y2K (Year 2000) nonevent in 2000 but its roots go back before that.

Gary North, among others, foretold the End Of The World As We Know It because computers hadn't been programmed and/or hardwired to acknowledge the year 2000 and all subsequent years. The theory was that computers would either read '00 as 1900 or wouldn't be able to cope with 2000 at all.

If you feel yourself becoming enmeshed in a desire to prepare for TEOTWAWKI keep in mind that beyond a certain reasonable point preparation for TEOTWAWKI hinders or even prevents preparation for other, more likely, events.

Yes, in the year 2011, a recession or depression seems likely in our future, but which action makes you more prepared for the MOST LIKELY scenario of 2012 or 2015 or whatever:

Paying down Credit Cards, car loans and other high interest debt as you buy cases of canned foods you normally eat and rotating them (eat oldest first and replace with case of similar), building up a reserve of cash and MAYBE a gun.

Or

Buying an "assault rifle" with hundreds of rounds of ammo and 500 pounds of rice & beans for storage in air tight containers in your garage?

Perhaps some adherents to TEOTWAWKI are attracted to the idea of avoiding car, mortgage and Credit Card payments in the smoking ruins of civilization, but the more rational approach to the MOST LIKELY scenario is to pay down debt, build up an emergency supply (one month's worth of expenses) of cash and buy foods you'll actually eat by the case.

Of course if TEOTWAWKI really comes (you turn on the TV and see smoke coming from the White House, riots on Wall Street and some guy proclaiming himself interim emperor) you can run down to Costco and buy cases of everything with your credit card and pick up a pistol on your way home. If it turns out that Orson Welles' grandson was having a bit of fun at your expense, well, Costco has a wonderful return policy.

All fun aside, most states have waiting periods for handguns so if you want one (non shooters should buy a .38 special caliber double action revolver with a two inch barrel and a box, fifty rounds, of bullets.) buy it and a trigger lock now. If you want to wait and buy a rifle or shotgun, remember there'll probable be a bigger rush at the gun store than Costco so you might stop by Pistol Pete's Pistol Trading Post first; right after you gas up the car.

Superfluous Survival Tip of the week:

Time is what keeps everything from happening at once which is why you'll have a hard time filling the pantry, buying bottled water, filling the gas tank(s) on your vehicle(s) and buying that gun all at once.

Desert Dave's helpful hint: if you get as many of those items checked off your list BEFORE the $#!t hits the fan you'll be ahead of the game.

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Quack Medicine

In the wake of a TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It) or WTSHTF (When The $#!t Hits The Fan) event you may find yourself "playing doctor" with a dearth of modern medical equipment and supplies. The following are some "make dos" and "work arounds" that may help until help arrives or you can get the patient to professional help.

As your read this keep in mind that I'm no doctor. In fact I don't even play one on the Internet.

Honey
Click here for more about Honey. See also Sugardine & Sugardyne in this document.

Yogurt
Live active culture Yogurt fights both diarrhea and constipation.

Mole Skin
Mole Skin (to prevent/treat blisters) Out of Moleskin? Don't forget blisters are best treated when you first notice the irritation (sometimes called a "hot spot") not after they've bloomed into full blown blisters.

Duct tape
Duct Tape can be used as a field expedient in place of Mole Skin just place a small piece of paper over the blister or hot spot and then duct tape in place. Duct tape can also be used to hold a temporary splint in place or as a bandage. Duct tape occlusion therapy for warts.

New Skin
New Skin is so useful for small cuts and scrapes you should have a bottle in your home first aid kit. It almost removes the need to stock band-aids. New Skin covers the wound, holds skin together and forms a clear antibiotic protective shield over cuts and abrasions thus protecting the wound from further infection. You can find New Skin in the First Aid section at you local drug or grocery store.

Bandanna
Most commonly found in red or blue paisley patterns bandannas have 1001 uses, everything from triangle bandages to tourniquets to dust masks to a Kerchiefs (head cover) or neckerchiefs (scarf) to compression bandages. They can be worn under the back of a baseball cap (effectively turning it into a Legionnaire's hat) to keep the sun off of the sides of the face, ears and neck. Be sure to buy one large enough to wrap around your head.

Brightly colored bandannas can be used for signaling (movement & contrast) but I prefer subdued colors like dark greens, dark tans, browns, black or camouflage so as to blend in with my environment. You can make an impromptu bandanna from any piece of cloth.

Expired Over the Counter Medicine
A retired SF medic once told me that the expiration dates on most over the counter medicine is there more to protect the companies from lawsuits than to protect the customers. Most over the counter medicine simply looses potency over time so you may end up having to take four pills instead of the recommended two, but work up to that slowly and only if you can't get fresh meds.

Animal Medicine
I keep hearing from various sources that the animal meds sold to farmers, ranchers and at some pet stores are "human grade" medicines. Some people even claim to take or have taken these meds with no ill effect. In a TEOTWAWKI situation with no human medicine available that might be worth a shot. (Literally ;-)

Sugardine & Sugardyne
Packing wounds with sugar and/or 10% iodine Povidone iodine (brand name "Betadine") solution now used mostly for horses has purportedly worked on humans with similar infections for over 3000 years.

QuickClot
QuickClot is New Skin's big brother. It is intended to stop bleeding from major wounds. It's standard issue for our military and some police departments as well as being used by EMT's to stop bleeding until they can get the patient to a hospital.

Graphic Video: Test of QuikClot on a live pig

You can sometimes find QuickClot in military surplus stores, hiking, hunting, camping and extreme sports stores. If the you know what hits the you know what QuickClot would be a good item to have in your survival first aid kit.
(Two civilian versions)
QuickClot Sport

QuickClot Combat Gauze

Extreme Measures
[Addendum, I found this on another site. It's apropos for most if not all "self treatment" of injuries and ailments pre-TEOTWAWKI and the laws of nature/medicine will still apply after TSHTF too.]

"Just a note to all you guys who like to take fish antibiotics... I am not against that notion especially if that is all you have, but certain antibiotics treat certain bacteria based on the pharmacology of the drugs and their actions on varying structures on the surface of or inside bacteria.

Some antibiotics are bacteriocidal (kill bugs) others are bacteriostatic (just prevent bugs from multiplying) Do you all trust your knowledge to know which are which, or will you just take a guess.

If you take amoxicillin for a skin infection that is being caused by a bacteria that is resistant to that drug, you are going to get sicker, and you may actually have some side effects from the drugs.

Drugs are not benign, I don't care if they have been around for 50 years, people still die every year just because they took Penicillin.

And there can be long term (or short term if particularly aggressive) effects from many antibiotics including anaphylaxis, liver damage, kidney damage, gastrointestinal effects, interactions with other medications...and the list goes on and on... sigh..

So in short learn the subject, don't just take chances... sorry I got on my soap box. It just bothers me that with this subject, a little bit of knowledge can be a very dangerous thing..."

Fish-Mox
(In an extreme emergency fish antibiotics may help. Many of these are made to USP pharmaceutical specifications.)

Fish-Mox exerts a bactericidal action on gram positive and some gram negative bacteria. Useful for control of some common bacterial diseases.

Be sure you know what you're doing when using these.

Go to Lambert Vet Supply when the page comes up, look on the left side and click on
Pet Medications
You will see a page entitled, "pet medicines", click on
Antibiotics
You will see a page entitled, "antibiotics", click on
OTC Pet Medications
Scroll down until you see ... "Fish Cillin" ... and you are there.

They have:

Fish Cillin, 250 mg Ampicillin x 100 Capsules, Non-prescription
Fish Cycline Forte, 500 mg Tetracycline x 100 Capsules, Non-prescription
Fish Cycline, 250 mg Tetracycline x 100 Capsules, Non-prescription
Fish Flex Forte, 500 mg Cephalexin x 100 Capsules, Non-prescription
Fish Flex, 250 mg Cephalexin x 100 Capsules, Non-prescription
Fish Fungus, 200 mg Ketoconazole x 100 tablets, Non-prescription
Fish Fungus, 200 mg Ketoconazole x 30 tablets, Non-prescription
Fish Mox Forte, 500 mg Amoxicillin x 100 Capsules, Non-prescription
Fish Mox, 250 mg Amoxicillin, 100 Capsules, Non-prescription
Fish Mycin, 250 mg Erythromycin x 60 Capsules, Non-prescription
Fish Pen Forte, 500 mg Penicillin x 100 Caps, Non-prescription
Fish Zole Forte, 500 mg Metronidazole x 100 Tablets, Non-prescription
Fish Zole, 250 mg Metronidazole, 100 Tablets, Non-prescription

Be sure you know what you're doing when using these.

Superfluous Survival Tip of the week:

Emergency/improvised cold weather clothing

If caught away from home/supplies in cold weather stuff crumpled newspaper, phone book pages or other paper under your clothes for insulation. This is the equivalent of using leaves in a wilderness situation.

An improvised rain coat can be made from a large trash bag after cutting holes for your head and arms. Cutting out the bottom of another bag allows you to use it as a "skirt" or kilt to give a raincoat effect.

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Unless you specifically ask me not to, I'll post your reply here in the blog so everyone can read it. Of course I'll remove your name, email address and any other specific information for privacy purposes.