We brainstormed for a while, did a bit of research and identified a couple possibilities. All along we were watching out for prices, since our initial discoveries were quite expensive.

We should have something to share this week. Surplus masks might just be surplus for a very good reason…

As I looked over to my left, at the gate near 11 o’clock, I noticed three arab looking men in a tight knot, speaking very quietly and highly animated. Looking around further, I noticed three “European males” watching the goings on. It took a minute, but all four of us noticed each other, locked eyes, and nodded slightly. Not even two weeks had passed, and tensions were high. The four of us watched those men, but also kept an eye on others. For me, I was also concerned that someone might go off on the trio without cause, and create a real problem.

As we boarded, we each took seats separated someone evenly along the length of the plane, made sure we had noted each others’ positions, and locked onto the trio. Nothing happened on that trip.

I don’t feel that profiling them was wrong. We knew who did what, and that there was a chance more might make similar efforts. It would have been absolutely correct to broadcast, on 9-11, that young men of middle eastern descent had hijacked a couple planes… be on the lookout. It might have stopped further bloodshed if it were possible. APBs are detailed profiles. The US government profiles us every 10 years in the census. No. I have no issues profiling. In fact, it is an important tool for anyone looking to identify a suspect, locate a criminal on the loose in the neighborhood, or trying to prevent race-based violence. Profiling makes sense where certain classes of crimes are perpetrated by individuals or groups of specific characteristics. What I find funny is how those against this practice have no trouble classifying profilers one way or another, and assume that certain actions will follow attempts at profiling. THEY profile US. Quite laughable, actually.

I encourage people to practice profiling. It is a basic survival instinct that should be honed to prevent mistakes. In one of my my lines of work, I am “marked”, profiled, “scoped”, studied and evaluated as to just how hard it might be to lighten me of the tools of my trade, my wallet and even my life. It’s not as bad as it used to be, in another city, but bad enough. I’ve survived enough encounters to recognize the preceding events. It happens. Learn how to profile. Practice. Do it quietly, and don’t let the nay-sayers talk you out of it. After all, those people won’t be there to save your life when you need it.

U.S. and European officials say that even though an al Qaeda bomber was stopped before he could board a plane for the U.S., the threat is far from over — there are believed to be several other would-be bombers with similar non-metallic devices that could get through most airport security screening.

The article goes on to say that the bomb had “a highly refined detonation system“.  They made a point of mentioning “it was apparently something that was going to be carried onto the plane on the body, not in the body, of the suicide bomber.”

What I’ve been concerned about for the last couple of years is the advancement of bomb making technology. We saw in Iraq that the early IEDs were not the end of the evolution of the bomb. They became more sophisticated and dangerous. It is foolish to assume that any other bomb making cottage industry will rest upon just one successful design. My expectation is that the detonation techniques and designs will become more reliable and covert. This article shows that the detonation materials are non-metallic, and advancing… though it doesn’t say in what way.

Creating a bomb garment that eludes back scatter scanning technology is certainly a focus of the enemy. It was shown by an online expositor last year that simple plastics morphed onto the body of a traveler were invisible to the scanners. It’s somewhere on Youtube, if you care to search for it.

When I was watching that one, I had the thought that a cavity bomb would be much more suited to the task of getting past airport security of all types. If and when detonators could be manufactured that would allow for setting off such a device, then the whole game would change. The ABC article shares that opinion when it says “it was apparently something that was going to be carried onto the plane on the body, not in the body, of the suicide bomber.” Cavity bombs are on everyone’s radar. Don’t expect them to be discovered, though. Current scanning technology can not detect cavity bombs. The only thing between them and a dead airliner is a workable detonator.

Discovering how such a terrorist success actually worked would be one seriously difficult assignment. If the plane is brought down over the ocean, you can forget about discovering the method. Until cavity searches are authorized, or actual X-ray machines deployed, there would be no way of detecting one of these before the bomber was aboard.

One other item stands out from within this article. It is…

“The chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee said the White House gave the misleading information for security reasons. Said Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Connecticut, “I was told that no public announcement of the plot was made at the time in order to protect ongoing counter-terrorism operations in the field.”

Anyone that believes real and actionable information will get out to the public in advance of an attack is a fool. Whether the reason is to protect an ongoing operation, to prevent panic or to protect missteps by politicians involved, you will get no warning. What are you to do then? If you have to travel, PROFILE your fellow passengers. The big boys supposedly can not do that, but YOU can. If you feel uneasy about a flight because of a passenger you notice, do what you think is necessary. Get another one or cancel. Some people can’t do this for employment reasons. The thing in their favor is that of all flights that can be targeted, the odds of theirs getting hit are slim. But the facts are that any attack is most likely to be carried out by a young man of middle eastern appearance or descent. It isn’t racist to say that- it’s just the facts, and facts don’t lie.

I think we have to assume that there will be a dead airliner in the future. The domestic results of that will be severe and immediate. Lingering effects will be increased security at many points of entry, via air and other means. There will be more surveillance in general, and more resistance to it. Creating accurate scenarios from there will be difficult for the traveling prepper. As usual, you are tasked with being your own security.

“Freedom exists first in your head. Freedom 2 think & decide. From there flows all choice & action. Prep because you choose to.”

I think this is where some preppers find their Waterloo. Some people find their greatest limitations within their heads. Preconceptions regarding their mental, physical and financial capabilities stand in the way of their progress. Obviously, some can do more than others, but most can do more than they believe. Where these “limitations” meet and defeat their efforts is the battleground most worth conquering.

The battlefield of the mind is one that must be viciously owned and defended. The one who masters his mind, his thought life, is the one who is free to explore the possibilities open to him, and even to create opportunities where none existed before. Action born of thought is a plan at work. By chance, the prepper may do a few things right. By PLAN, he will accomplish a great deal more. By thought, quickened by the knowledge that his mind is his own, a prepper, or any individual for that matter, will take control of those things which rightly should be subject to him. No action plan, though, will succeed in the absence of free thought.

Where a thought seeks to consume your efforts, and control the direction of your life, see it for what it truly is – a danger -  and it will lose its power.

Where impulse seeks to override carefully honed instinct, purpose to follow your training.

Where someone tells you differently, search out the truth and hold on to what is good and right.

Never let the freedom of thought, which is a right of yours by birth, be subject to the pressure of lies, disinformation and manipulation. If surviving this or that is truly your goal, allowing for your free thought to be subject to anything less than your own trained and truth-seeking brain is to hand yourself over to your captor’s chains, however good meaning or evil he or it may be.

Be free to think. Be open to ideas. Consider options and alternative methodologies. But always settle the truth about the matter as best you can and stand your ground. The battlefield is yours to win or lose, or hand over without a fight.

We will continue to look for other answers.

What I first noticed about it was the MOLLE webbing on both sides, in two ranks. There are four straps located on one side that you may, of course, position anywhere you like. As far as I’m concerned, it’s about as close as you can get to a universal mounting system without getting silly. It will work equally well for lefties and righties.

There are 4 attachment points suitable for the included adjustable shoulder strap. I didn’t notice anything about the adjustment that presented a problem, and the D-rings lend themselves to creative usage with the strap. The shorter strap can be used as (and is originally designed for) a retainer for whatever weapon type you are carrying. The image shows a shotgun. If you chose not to use it in that manner, it might be useful as a further means of retaining the scabbard itself. I see no reason why it couldn’t be mounted to just about anything with a slot or hole, or heavy straps and webbing. You name it… your back, a horse’s tackle, dividers within a work truck, a modified rifle rack… Pick your system and adapt.

The material is a nylon blend. I’m not sure how it will affect a firearm’s finish. It concerned me a little bit, but that’s a secondary issue. My Marlin Guide gun fits well, and carries well. That is the mission this piece of equipment has. There are ways to protect a rifle in this situation.

There is a good amount of padding in this thing, all around. Being a soft case, the padding help to add rigidity. It is flexible, but not floppy by any means. The bottom of the case has a drain hole, for those of us that ford rivers for fun.

I did have a problem, though. The first one I looked at had some very bad stitching along on edge, that looked to me as if it would fail at some point. I looked at six of them in total, with 4 being passing, and two being no-go. Mine appears to have no defects at all. The light green color suits my needs, but it is available in black, tan (coyote) and ACU.

Here is a YouTube review done by CQBRadio. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImEQqX88e1A

If we are taking our RV, we don’t bring it home and leave with it on go-day. It might come home a week early, or not at all. If early, it is for a clean up, but we do that anyway, at random, so that event is mostly ignored by any and all. Sometimes we clean it up at the storage lot. It rarely, if ever anymore, gets loaded at home and deployed. Our things go into the truck (which is backed up to the garage door) and taken to it.

We do not advertise to the world that we are going anywhere. That includes Facebook, Twitter or even most e-mail. Our leave and return dates are not cataloged on any public system. At the most, there is a reservation at our destination.

When on the road, our communications do not make note of the fact that we are not at home. We don’t let Facebook “locate” us, or describe activities in which we are engaged. Cell phone pics might get to our family, and those that matter to us, but they know not to publish them on social media.

Our home is watched over by family. There are enough vehicles around to maintain the “look”. Since we do not get the newspaper, nothing builds up on the porch or driveway. One of our neighbors watches tings, too.

Sometimes I remember to inform the local police that we are gone, and they make passes through the area to check on things. That’s one great benefit of being friendly to law enforcement, and acknowledging them when we see them in town, at the store or somewhere on the road. (Helps to have a good force to begin with, and we do.  )

Our tow vehicle is parked on the street, in the driveway, across the street, or is on day trips now and then. It’s presence or lack thereof doesn’t raise any flags. I like to think that our longer trips aren’t noticed until we get back. when we do return, any plunder from our shopping goes from tailgate to door, or garage. We’ll even wait until nightfall to do it. Not only does the dark help, but the difference in time breaks up the whole return /unload parade that so many undertake.

Basically, we do as little as reasonable to draw attention to our activities. I suggest you do the same.

Paranoid? No.

Just PREPARED.

Okay, you two…. the clock really IS ticking……

J&J set out to make their additional Lists. To keep things orderly, their initial thought was to build lists based on Threats. But that changed when they started making sub lists. “Messy” wasn’t the problem, it was just the wrong kind of messy. J&J wanted something they felt good about, so they tossed it all out and started again. still, at the restart, Jack was showing some signs of frustration. “I’m not sure how to do this right.” “Honey. Is there a ‘right’ way to do this? Let’s just do what we feel is good and then test it. We should also probably accept that we’re going to screw this up at least once, and not worry about it when it happens. We’re beginners. We’re learning.” He smiled at her and agreed. “Ok. That’s sounds good. Screw ups are allowed. Any ideas on how to screw this up?”  “Jack, let’s work off Rule #2 and build the lists from that information.”

“Skills and Materials” from Rule #2 served as the basis for the following lists.

J&J decided on 4 simple lists: Skills Required, Current Skills, Supplies Required and Supplies on Hand. As they went through the creation of these, they realized that the “on hand” lists were pretty much already in their heads. Coming up with what was “required ” made the on-hand lists seem redundant. As a result, they are not listed here.

Skills Required

All-weather Sheltering

• tent setup and care
• lean-to construction
• camp site identification (location and weather exposure, available water)
• off road driving, and vehicle recovery /repair
• travel trailer maneuvering, setup and care
• reading weather patterns and charts to determine wind direction and fallout movement

Clothing (“Clothing skills? Can’t we dress ourselves?” “Sure, but with what, and when?”)

• break in new boots when purchased, check forums on how to pick them and break them in
• try out cold weather gear and learn to determine when we are too warm or cold while in cold weather
• learn to adjust, load and carry our Mobility Packs designed to support us on foot in transit, and use them to set up camp

Food

• preparing freeze dried and dehydrated foods
• making meals in a camp setting from regular ingredients
• staring a camp fire
• using a camp stove (if we get one)
• putting out fires
• storing leftovers (try to prepare only what is needed)
• identify healthy foods for prep storage
• learn to store foods properly for later use
• hunting /trapping? (Will we do this? Further thought required.)
• cleaning up with minimal water usage

Water

• building an expedient water filter (cloth and a filtered sports bottle setup)
• using and maintaining a commercially made portable water filter
• locating water via a map, or plant life
• using as little as possible for hygiene and cooking, and cleaning
• heating for cooking

Air

• how to build a HEPA filter for home and RV over-pressurization
• how to fit it to the house and RV
• sealing a room for quarantine, or small area safe room for NBC protection
• small battery powered filter for use with the tent? Hmmmm..

Medical

• basic First Aid
• trauma treatment
• identifying shock, hypothermia, internal injury and bleeding
• setting broken bones
• stopping horrific bleeds not covered in basic First Aid
• advanced class in wilderness medicine (Ohio Medical Corps or similar?)

Defense

• basic self defense skills, hand-to-hand
• workout and exercise skills, to safely increase strength and agility (Read up! Or talk to Fred!)
• stun gun usage
• shotgun usage for the home, and maybe hand guns
• cleaning and safe usage of the guns

Energy

• learn to safely store gasoline, diesel, propane or whatever
• how to use fire starters, solar chargers
• how to treat fuel for long term storage
• how to transfer fuel from storage to vehicle or device
• how to store batteries

Mobility

• how to drive the new truck (new USED truck….)
• hooking up the trailer and maneuvering, quickly!
• basic maintenance and repairs to vehicles
• navigation via map or GPS, dead reckoning

Communications

• finding and tuning into shortwave news sources
• identifying emergency services talk on a scanner
• using public Wi-Fi connections for internet information gathering
• getting to more forums for information
• radios, 2, 20 or 40 meter? CB? Talk to users….

Supplies Required

- (includes materials and equipment of all types)

Shelter

• large 6-person tent as part of the truck’s equipment, for long duration stays, 3 season minimum (can be used as outer shell for a smaller 4 season tent!)
• 4 season tent for two (all weather capable – overkill for us, but guaranteed to do the job)
• lean-to supplies; 12′x16′ dark tarp, rope or 550 cord, tent stakes
• pair of 10 degrees sleeping bags
• road and topographical maps of our area, and possible relocation areas, compass, portable GPS unit, information on water sources
• axe or hatchet, saw for tree limbs, hammer or mallet, medium pry bar
• some sort of radiation detector or meter
• 4X4 3/4 ton truck with front bumper winch, spare parts and two spare tires on rims, roof rack and rear bumper fuel can storage
• used 20′ – 25′ travel trailer with good storage, checked out by repair shop
• laptop PC or i-Pad with Wi-Fi connection, loaded with apps for weather, news and outdoor survival

Clothing

• cold weather gear such as long underwear, over pants and coats, rain ponchos, mittens or gloves, caps, maybe some scarves
• all terrain waterproof boots
• pair of large backpacks in dark civilian colors, 4000 cubic inches capacity, clam shell construction or else with multiple points of access to the interior
• insulated sleeping mats
• good underwear and good socks, lots of them!
• cargo pants and shirts in bland tan or light green and brown colors

Food

• freeze dried and dehydrated foods for home
• freeze dried and dehydrated foods for on the road
• home food storage designed to move quickly into a BOV, like in totes or uniformly shaped boxes that can be handled by one person
• cooking and serving /eating utensils
• camp stove (Rocket Stoves look like a good investment, so do solar ovens)
• packaging materials like Mylar bags and 5 or 6 gallon buckets with lids, bag sealer, O2 absorbers or dry ice for packaging (or both), space and racks to store it all
• MONEY (We will have to create a budget and a purchasing plan and schedule)
• garden and animals??? salads and eggs??? “Food” for thought!

Water

• sports or portable filtration like a filtered sports bottle or a Katadyn system
• portable site filtration such as a Big Berkey or Berky Light
• storage barrels
• purification tablets or similar
• water collection system for the winter (roof runoff or hillside collector?)
• WATER, 500ml and 1 gallon bottles
• canteens (2 qt collapsible military surplus)

Air

• box shaped HEPA filters
• filter materials (wood screws and tacks, duct tape and plastic, silicone sealant)
• gas masks? (might need to reconsider and add those…)

Medical

• basic First Aid kit and…
• extras supplies such as “blood stop” (Celox), trauma blanket or “survival” blanket, chemical hand and /or body warmers, splints, battle dressings and tourniquets (sounds like we want military battlefield First Aid Kits, or IFAKS. We can expand on them, or build something like them)
• IFAKs (let’s build a couple)
• any over-the-counter (OTC) or prescriptions drugs we use regularly or seasonally
• natural remedies for this and that (study)
• dental hygiene products
• burn treatment like Hydrogel and burn dressings
• AED “Automatic External Defibrillator” (grandpa had heart issues, maybe we should have one on hand)

Defense (Personal)

• a couple good knives that fits our hands
• a good book on working out and diet
• some basic weights… a couple dumbbells and a chin up bar
• stun gun
• shotgun for home use
• look into a hand gun or rifle (we have some long distance possibilities up here…)
• cleaning supplies for any guns, and recommended spare parts
• ammunition
• a gun safe (no way we’re going to provide a gun to a thief!)

Defense (Material)

• home alarm
• strong dead bolts, maybe even barricade bars to secure the doors when home
• impact film for the windows (8mils – the kind that prevents glass breakage. Hey! That might prevent blow out from near miss nukes!)
• bright outside security lights pointing away from the house
• sprinklers that can hit the walls, and wet the roof, with internal controls
• axe for inside the home, to get out if earthquake jams the doors
• tool to turn off gas and water (maybe automatic earthquake gas shutoff valve… necessary retrofit for some homes sold here in California)

Fuel

• equivalent of an extra tank of fuel for one vehicle stored in 5 gallon Jerry cans
• fuel treatment for stored fuel
• hand cranked fuel transfer pump for can to tank
• siphon rig with that automatic valve that means you don’t have to
• solar charger of some sort, for RV and portable device batteries
• spare batteries
• fire starters for camp (magnesium, “fire sticks”, matches, long lighters, etc….)

Communications

• get a scanner /scanners that provide access to police, fire, air and nautical, government broadcasts… the more the better, even if over 2 or more scanners
• short wave radio for news
• one radio should have NOAA and weather capability
• MURS radios for home and land use
• portable HAM or other such radios for news and personal comms
• laptop for Wi-Fi hookups, or iPad or “notebook”

These, and the prior lists, allowed Jack and Jill to get a good handle on where they stood, and where they wanted to go. Recognizing that they were making mistakes and assumptions as they went along made it much easier to explore their thoughts, concerns and hopes. When they reached the end of the “Supplies Required” list, J&J sat back and looked at each other. Their thoughts echoed those of most start-up preppers: “This will cost us a bit of cash.” It was then that they created a new rule. J&J Rules for Prepping #4: Create a Budget. They knew that they couldn’t budget what they didn’t have. Making what income they did have stretch longer would mean cutting out a few things.

Rules #4 is next….

Here are links to the four previous parts in this series:

• Part I
• Part II
• Part III
• Part IV