Crossposted to survivalist

Someone posted a comment in my LJ about preparing on a budget.

Im no expert, so Im just gonna say how I do/did it…

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

Hmmmm…whats the big threat assessment these days? A few of us LMI’s are still favoring the terrorist-act-leading-to-martial-law scenario. Im still leaning towards a crawling Depression that leads us into a Russian-style of life of lines for toilet paper, rolling brownouts and corruption. Although, honestly, the Chinese/Korean nuclear situation is gaining ground……

Naturally, if youre prepared for the worst case scenario (say, a nukefest, for example) youre automatically prepared for the lesser events (hurrican eor blizzard). So, Im not worried. However, now that Im pretty secure in my basic, primary needs theres an urge to expand….I need some redundancies, more off-site caching, and, ideally, my own personal little hidey-hole in the middle of nowhere. Its that last one that is going to be the masterstroke of my life as Commander Zero.

Its the typical survivalist fantasy: the voice on the radio says the bombs will hit in thirtyseven minutes. You grab your gear, hop in the truck and take you pre-planned route to your hidden, well-stocked, easily-defended and quite safe retreat. Ah, the stuff dreams are made of. Fortunately, Im not exactly living on a high-priority target area like, oh, say, the folks in NY or LA….but even in a town of 75,000 people things can still get ugly in a hurry.

Y’know, a nice, quiet, twenty acres or so at the end of a long dirt road would be nice.

Hmmmm…whats the big threat assessment these days? A few of us LMI’s are still favoring the terrorist-act-leading-to-martial-law scenario. Im still leaning towards a crawling Depression that leads us into a Russian-style of life of lines for toilet paper, rolling brownouts and corruption. Although, honestly, the Chinese/Korean nuclear situation is gaining ground……

Naturally, if youre prepared for the worst case scenario (say, a nukefest, for example) youre automatically prepared for the lesser events (hurrican eor blizzard). So, Im not worried. However, now that Im pretty secure in my basic, primary needs theres an urge to expand….I need some redundancies, more off-site caching, and, ideally, my own personal little hidey-hole in the middle of nowhere. Its that last one that is going to be the masterstroke of my life as Commander Zero.

Its the typical survivalist fantasy: the voice on the radio says the bombs will hit in thirtyseven minutes. You grab your gear, hop in the truck and take you pre-planned route to your hidden, well-stocked, easily-defended and quite safe retreat. Ah, the stuff dreams are made of. Fortunately, Im not exactly living on a high-priority target area like, oh, say, the folks in NY or LA….but even in a town of 75,000 people things can still get ugly in a hurry.

Y’know, a nice, quiet, twenty acres or so at the end of a long dirt road would be nice.

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

Y’know, being Commander Zero is an expensive lifestyle. For example, any other human being would simply go to Wal-mart, grab a ‘made in China’ backpack off the rack for $19.95 and call it a day.

But, when youre the Zero you have to factor in things like:
~ Color – must be subdued. Olive, black, brown, etc.
~ Durability – I must be able to wear this backpack, tie a rope to the end of it, throw it off the side of a cliff, drag it back up, hang by the straps like a gorilla, and get it soaking wet with all the contents remaining dry. All snaps, flaps, zippers, catches, etc, have to be compeltely replaceable with readily avaiable parts and have secondary systems in case priamry fail (ex: if the zipper wont work, are there straps to keep the pack closed?)
~ Versatility – Must be able to carry ammo, gear, unusual shaped objects, have lashing points to attach gear, have various carry handles, etc.
– Manufacture – Preferably surplus military to take advantage of the billion dollar research and development that went into making the thing. Doesnt have to be American military…the Swiss, Germans and Swedes make great gear. Soviet stuff tends to be crap.

So, as you can see, although the gear is top notch, it can be spendy. But when youre trekking through the middle of nowhere with only what you can carry, it does give a bit of relief to know your gear is up to the task.

Has it paid off? Sure. When I go hunting I know I can tumble off the side of a cliff, get muddy, bloody, wet and snowed on and my gear will still do what its supposed to.

But its still spendy stuff….

Y’know, being Commander Zero is an expensive lifestyle. For example, any other human being would simply go to Wal-mart, grab a ‘made in China’ backpack off the rack for $19.95 and call it a day.

But, when youre the Zero you have to factor in things like:
~ Color – must be subdued. Olive, black, brown, etc.
~ Durability – I must be able to wear this backpack, tie a rope to the end of it, throw it off the side of a cliff, drag it back up, hang by the straps like a gorilla, and get it soaking wet with all the contents remaining dry. All snaps, flaps, zippers, catches, etc, have to be compeltely replaceable with readily avaiable parts and have secondary systems in case priamry fail (ex: if the zipper wont work, are there straps to keep the pack closed?)
~ Versatility – Must be able to carry ammo, gear, unusual shaped objects, have lashing points to attacj gear, have various carry handles, etc.
– Manufacture – Preferably surplus military to take advantage of the billion dollar research and development that went into making the thing. Doesnt have to be American military…the Swiss, Germans and Swedes make great gear. Soviet stuff tends to be crap.

So, as you can see, although the gear is top notch, it can be spendy. But when youre trekking through the middle of nowhere with only what you can carry, it does give a bit of relief to know your gear is up to the task.

Has it paid off? Sure. When I go hunting I know I can tumble off the side of a cliff, get muddy, bloody, wet and snowed on and my gear will still do what its supposed to.

But its still spendy stuff….

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

“Commander Zero, you seem like a smart guy..are you really expecting a Mad Max future of biker gangs, cannibal mutants and alien overlords?”

Not really. This is actually one of the things the LMI’s and I arent so LM about…then again, five years ago the idea of a 9/11 scenario was pretty far-fetched too….

In fiction there are zillions of ways that the Wheels Fly Offa Western Civilization…a few: race wars, nuclear war, nuclear terrorism, biowarfare, natural disaster, plague, rioting, martial law, economic depression, global economic depression, invasion, etc, etc.

Im leaning towards an economic catastrophe that will devolve into a Russia or Beirut style of life…lines for toilet paper, crumbled infrastructure, dying economy, etc. But, being smart guys, we’re kinda prepared for all of them. If youre prepared for the worst one youre pretty much covered on the lesser stuff.

By economic catastrophe..well..try this scenario…someone somewhere decides to throw a surplus Soviet nuclear artillery shell into play…maybe Pakistan drops one on India, Syria hides on in Tel Aviv, Chechens truck one into Moscow…it really doesnt matter where…but some ‘trigger event’ (like 9/11 for example) takes place and disrupts ‘business as usual’..economies and markets fluctuate wildly and confidence in the markets disappears…and a self-fulfilling prophecy occurs..people think the market is shaky so they pull out, which *does* make the market shaky causing more people to head for the exits…when its over, businesses are laying off, people arent spending, governemnt is paralyzed with partisan politics….meanwhile your grocery store is suddenly getting shipments twice a week instead of four times a week (truckers want to get paid, after all). Farmers wont ship crops without the promise of getting paid. Banks start foreclosing and calling in loans … businesses that were holding on go under..unemployment rises, inflation starts creeping, the military is stretched thin elsewhere and angry people start rioting every once in a while demanding that the government ‘do something’. Without the money coming in from taxes social services take a cut and cities start to become breeding grounds of riots and arson. Everyone starts to get edgy.

But, here in paradise, the LMI’s and I will be safely esconced in our well fortified homes, eating well on our supplies of food, buying what we need with our inflation-proof gold, safe from the hordes and patiently waiting the eventual rebound.

So, no, I dont see the mutant cannibal zombie bikers being a problem…but if it came to that, we’d be ready.

“Commander Zero, you seem like a smart guy..are you really expecting a Mad Max future of biker gangs, cannibal mutants and alien overlords?”

Not really. This is actually one of the things the LMI’s and I arent so LM about…then again, five years ago the idea of a 9/11 scenario was pretty far-fetched too….

In fiction there are zillions of ways that the Wheels Fly Offa Western Civilization…a few: race wars, nuclear war, nuclear terrorism, biowarfare, natural disaster, plague, rioting, martial law, economic depression, global economic depression, invasion, etc, etc.

Im leaning towards an economic catastrophe that will devolve into a Russia or Beirut style of life…lines for toilet paper, crumbled infrastructure, dying economy, etc. But, being smart guys, we’re kinda prepared for all of them. If youre prepared for the worst one youre pretty much covered on the lesser stuff.

By economic catastrophe..well..try this scenario…someone somewhere decides to throw a surplus Soviet nuclear artillery shell into play…maybe Pakistan drops one on India, Syria hides on in Tel Aviv, Chechens truck one into Moscow…it really doesnt matter where…but some ‘trigger event’ (like 9/11 for example) takes place and disrupts ‘business as usual’..economies and markets fluctuate wildly and confidence in the markets disappears…and a self-fulfilling prophecy occurs..people think the market is shaky so they pull out, which *does* make the market shaky causing more people to head for the exits…when its over, businesses are laying off, people arent spending, governemnt is paralyzed with partisan politics….meanwhile your grocery store is suddenly getting shipments twice a week instead of four times a week (truckers want to get paid, after all). Farmers wont ship crops without the promise of getting paid. Banks start foreclosing and calling in loans … businesses that were holding on go under..unemployment rises, inflation starts creeping, the military is stretched thin elsewhere and angry people start rioting every once in a while demanding that the government ‘do something’. Without the money coming in from taxes social services take a cut and cities start to become breeding grounds of riots and arson. Everyone starts to get edgy.

But, here in paradise, the LMI’s and I will be safely esconced in our well fortified homes, eating well on our supplies of food, buying what we need with our inflation-proof gold, safe from the hordes and patiently waiting the eventual rebound.

So, no, I dont see the mutant cannibal zombie bikers being a problem…but if it came to that, we’d be ready.

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

Need to re-evaluate the quantity of firt-aid gear that I carry around. One obvious glaring oversight was that it was centered around the need for one incident. But if two people are hurt, then I may wind up being short on some things. Drawback is, where do I limit it? If I carry enough for, say, four people, the kit goes from being easily portable to bulky and annoying. Hmmmmm. I mention this because last weeks incident while hiking brought it home to me..I used two antispetic wipes on one kid and had to use iodine wipes on the other.

The TRC3A wireless intrusion set showed up and now I just need to pick up a portable scanner that picks up the frequencies it operates on (133.5mHz~). Ive been needing a new scanner anyway, so that isnt a big deal.

I do need to stock up on some more ammo though, and I need to cache a bit of it off-site. The LMI’s and myself keep enough on hand to completely equip several other people but I still dont like having all my eggs in one basket. I especially need to have some more .223 in reserve. At least a few thousand rounds.

Summer is here and Im very pleased with how the Camelbak and HydraStorm ‘hydration systems’ have been working. These things are great. The other LMI’s dont use them yet but Im going to move that we all get a couple more. If not, I’ll get them each one for Christmas.

Fourth of July is next week and thats usually our summer field exercise…unfortunately it looks like Im going to have to miss it. I need to work and make money after taking a weeks vacation…so I’ll make it up somewhere down the road…maybe hunting season.

Need to re-evaluate the quantity of firt-aid gear that I carry around. One obvious glaring oversight was that it was centered around the need for one incident. But if two people are hurt, then I may wind up being short on some things. Drawback is, where do I limit it? If I carry enough for, say, four people, the kit goes from being easily portable to bulky and annoying. Hmmmmm. I mention this because last weeks incident while hiking brought it home to me..I used two antispetic wipes on one kid and had to use iodine wipes on the other.

The TRC3A wireless intrusion set showed up and now I just need to pick up a portable scanner that picks up the frequencies it operates on (133.5mHz~). Ive been needing a new scanner anyway, so that isnt a big deal.

I do need to stock up on some more ammo though, and I need to cache a bit of it off-site. The LMI’s and myself keep enough on hand to completely equip several other people but I still dont like having all my eggs in one basket. I especially need to have some more .223 in reserve. At least a few thousand rounds.

Summer is here and Im very pleased with how the Camelbak and HydraStorm ‘hydration systems’ have been working. These things are great. The other LMI’s dont use them yet but Im going to move that we all get a couple more. If not, I’ll get them each one for Christmas.

Fourth of July is next week and thats usually our summer field exercise…unfortunately it looks like Im going to have to miss it. I need to work and make money after taking a weeks vacation…so I’ll make it up somewhere down the road…maybe hunting season.

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

When I tool around town or the boonies theres a certain minimum amount of gear I usually take with me. I take my small backpack since, this being a college town, it fits in and lets me carry stuff around. Standard gear, unobtrusivley stowed away, includes a knife, pistol, ammo, flashlight and first aid gear.

So I hiked up to the M with the most beautiful girl in the world and on the descent ran across a couple little kids who had fallen and cut themselves. The adults were unprepared to deal with it but…no fear, the Commander is here! Reached into my bag of tricks, pulled out some antiseptic wipes, some dressings and some tape and -voila- patched up kid #1 just in time to see kid #2 take a tumble and cut her palm….a truly minor wound but you know how kids are…so I gave her the fussing and soothing that she wanted and all was good.

Moral of the story:
a) Commander Zero is more than just a dirty look and a detonator
b) Be prepared
c) Commander Zero is friend to small kids everywhere