Camouflage Clothing…to stay alive! : Part #1

Posted on September 28, 2019 by AH Trimble

note: article first appeared in October 2015

I have read many purposes and definitions of camouflage, but I think they miss the mark, the “real” mission. Obviously you can tell the various explanations for camouflage were written by some very intelligent folks, a few PhDs in there for sure. And undoubtedly more than a couple generals made their contributions to the official definitions. But I don’t agree with any of them.

So here is my mission for camouflage –

“To stay alive.”

Sorry if that is a bit let down to you, but I am sincere in that mission statement. Now, in all fairness, let me explain the next part of that. There are only two functions that come out of that mission statement.

Defensive – To remain undetected so animals can’t kill you while avoiding contact with said animals.
Offensive – To remain undetected so you can render said animals lifeless.

Yup, no other reason or purpose for camo than that. Right?

OK, maybe one other reason…”tacti-cool.” Yeah, you want to look really cool so you wear a camo hat, t-shirt, or your truck is painted camo. Hence, now you are a cool kid if any of that applies to you…tacti-cool.

But, back to a more serious note…what is the true purpose of camouflage? It is to keep you alive. If the animals can’t see you, they probably can’t kill you.

Oh, “animals” can apply to whatever you wish to define it as. I am talking about bad guys being animals. You may wish to modify that to whatever makes you happy and your situation applicable, 2-legged or 4-legged.

Background –

There is a whole lot of information available to how camo works and how it applies to humans. But let me boil it down for you to make it a lot easier to understand.

Humans are both prey and predator in the animal kingdom. We both hunt and we are hunted. Over the generational history of humans we have experienced gene perfection as both prey and predator. One obvious sign is the placement of our eyes, facing forward. Simple eye placement gives us the ability to have depth perception. Don’t discount our peripheral vision though, it’s pretty dang good as well.

There have been studies done that test how our brains “look” at scenes. Basically, humans search for bright colors and movement. We also have built into our genes a predisposition to recognize certain shapes. Not surprisingly, the shapes that catch our attention the most are those associate with other predators. And at the top of that short list of predators are the shapes associated with humans. Yes, that means that humans are the most common predator of other humans.

“Foveal vision” is the human eye looking for fine details. That process occurs in the center of our gaze. Details get lost in our peripheral vision the further away from the center of our gaze. Our gaze jumps around more than you think. And eventually is drawn to the most detail-rich areas within our field of vision. That occurs because it is simply the most interesting area to look at. But our eyes will scan the areas that attempt to put together a “story” of what is happening. We’re instinctively looking for a narrative.

Sound a little like Situational Awareness (SA) stuff?

Let’s put that to the test for a moment –

Example #1 – We are in downtown New York City, Wall Street to be exact. It is 8:30am on a Tuesday. What would you expect to see?

Now, you are told to look for threats. Would you be able to “see” every man and woman walking the streets around you?

Now, what if you saw a man dressed head to toe in camouflage clothing carrying a back M-16 rifle? Would they stand out? Would your eye be drawn to him pretty quickly? What if he were standing in a crowd of say 50 people waiting to cross a street?

Why would he stand out? I mean, come on, he’s dressed in camo, right…when everyone else is dressed in civilian clothes. He would be the most “interesting” to gaze upon.

Example #2 – We are out in the forest in Colorado. It is 8:30am on a Tuesday. What would you expect to see?

Now, you are told to look for threats. Would you be able to see every hunter in the forest? Now, what if you saw a man dressed head to toe in a $1,000 suit, white shirt, yellow tie and carrying a black M-16 rifle? Would they stand out? Would your eye be drawn to him pretty quickly? What if he were standing in a crowd of say 50 people waiting to cross a stream? Why?

Think “narrative.” In NYC you expect to see people dressed for business. In the forest you expect to see people dressed for hunting. Your mind will try to create a story based on where you are and what you expect.

So how do you defeat, or more appropriately, overcome, how a person commonly “sees”?

Well, before we get to that let me mention one more thing…shadows. In testing associated with how people view pictures, art, and scenes around them, it is pretty conclusive that people look in shadows last and not for very long. Why? It is boring. Yup, it’s not very detail-rich so the human eye tends to simply skip those areas.

Defeat being spotted –

OK, so back to how we defeat being spotted. Remember, in our scenario being spotted is also dying.

Yeah, I forgot to tell you, I am talking today about the most extreme of examples…grid-down.

So, how do we avoid being spotted?

It goes back to Situational Awareness (SA) and the OODA Loop (Observer-Orient-Decide-Act). Having good SA and staying inside of your opponent’s OODA Loop is how you win (i.e. you don’t die). < click here to read more about Situational Awareness >

Here is the set-up…

It is grid-down. Society is a mess, lawlessness in the rule of the day.
You are out looking for places to set your snares (24-hour hunters).
You are in the woods and by yourself. You are armed with standard battle-rattle, but you are alone.
You hear people coming. You are sure that they haven’t seen you yet.
They are heavily armed and you have no doubt they are bad guys.
They are looking intensely around the area, appear to be on a recon mission.
You want to avoid all contact, at all cost.

How do you do that?

You use the principles of camouflage and how people “see” what is around them.

That being the case, their narrative (their mission/task) is to:

Avoid being ambushed.
Find people and/or food.

You apply the principles you’ve learned so far to stay outside of their narrative. Your narrative (your mission/task) is:

You don’t try to be a predator and you don’t try to ambush them. So you don’t take a predator posture.
You also want to avoid looking like prey. They are predators looking for prey. So you don’t run, that creates movement, which is easy for them to spot.

So, now that you have that part under control, what are some more things to do, or not to do?

You stay out of their “Foveal Vision.”
As slowly as possible, meld into shadows as much as possible.
You don’t have any noticeable fine details for their eyes to focus on. Yes, that means you are wearing camo clothing.
You stay motionless.

And the whole no “fine details” thing is where camouflage clothing comes into play. So what does camo clothing accomplish?

Breaks up any human shapes and forms by applying random non-detail patterns to your normal human form.
Further breaks up your shape by introducing shadows.
Continues to break up your shape by adding random applicable colors to your shape as well.

Right about now you should be thinking that wearing the appropriate camo clothing should be a pretty high priority. And you would be 100% right in thinking that. But make sure we are talking the same thing…I am talking real camo clothing.

What is “real” camo clothing? Or more entertainingly, what is “fake” camo clothing?

I am going to take the easy way out and tell you, “It is whatever camo clothing that is appropriate and applicable to your situation and environment.”

Yeah, a cop-out to be sure, right? Well, maybe not.

Here are some of the most popular camo patterns…

Military –

Hunting patterns…

The actual “how To” –

What I can do is go through the process that I used for choosing the right camo clothing for my situation and my environment. When you are done reading, and if I have done my job correctly, you will know how to figure out what is the right camo clothing for your situation/environment. You will have learned the assessment process.

So let me use visual examples as reference. Below is an example of the environment around where I live. And there is a man standing in that environment about 30 yards away from the camera. He is dressed in rather normal street clothes. How does that work out for him?

How about with the typical t-shirt?

Given the surrounding environment in the picture, what did you mind expect to see?

Now, why is the man so easy to spot?

Tomorrow I will go into detail on how to turn this man from easy-to-spot prey into………

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Looks do matter !

Posted on September 26, 2019 by AH Trimble

vs.

note: articel first appeared in June 2015

Yeah…try to figure this one out with the two pictures…and make the connection with prepping…

Several years ago I built my first AR. I used a BCM upper because I didn’t want to screw-up seating the barrel, shoulder spacing, etc. Besides, BCM makes one of the, if not the, best uppers on the market today. Everything else, each individual part, that went into the build was bought for a specific reason – quality.

It was a great experience and I really learned so much during that build, it truly helped me understand my weapon better. And the end product was an amazing pair of AR’s, one for my wife and the other for me. But it didn’t stop there.

Whenever people see my AR in the field they always kinda look it over pretty closely. Most can tell that the parts and pieces are high-quality, but others look a little astonished at the mixing of colors of my carbine. I don’t own one of those “black” guns.

The colors on my carbine are black, flat dark earth and a dull flat darkish bronze kinda color. And my two-point sling is a padded BlueForce multicam. So the weapon looks a bit like a weaponized quilt.

So why no cool “back gun” look for me?

Well, look at the picture below…

A black gun pretty much stands out like a sore thumb doesn’t it. There is no mistaking it for anything other than a military grade weapon. And I don’t like that. Nope, I don’t like that one little bit. So when I built our AR’s I wanted something that blended in to the background a bit more.

Why?

Oh come on now, you know why. If they can’t see you, they probably won’t shoot you. You don’t always have the safety of “cover” so I will take its ugly, distant cousin “concealment” if I have to.

The human eye is genetically trained to pick up certain shapes and such. We are wired that way to help us stay alive from lurking predators that would eat us for dinner, or shoot us to take our stuff. The key is to trick the predator’s eye into by-passing us if we happen to be exposed (i.e. not behind cover). Changing up how your carbine looks is one of the tricks.

So here is a mix-color AR in the same setting. Is it a bit harder to see?

But notice the black upper and the black magazine “complete” a picture for your mind to associate with a “danger” signal and you can recognize it as a gun. The black shadow also gives it away. What could you do to reduce the shadow and the black mag visually?

The next coupe of pictures show the same gun with a variety of magazines…

OD color magazine

Flat dark earth color magazine.

Cammo paint job on magazine.

Notice how just using the right color magazine can dramatically reduce the gun’s signature profile?

Now I want you to look at this AR that I had painted (Duracoat) to match the environment it is meant to be carried in. Notice the difference?

Painted gun with black magazine.

Notice how the AR blends in but the black magazine makes it stand out again and makes the weapon recognizable. The Black magazine draws your eye to it and then your mind pulls the rest of the gun into focus to make it recognizable…complete the narrative.

But let me swap out a magazine. Now what do you think?

Cammo’d gun with flat dark earth magazine.

Notice that just swapping a magazine now allows the whole gun to fade into the background because it gives nothing for your eye to be drawn to.

A little bit of changing up can make a big difference, a difference that could save your life. But let’s take it the next step further. Here is a fully cammo pained (Duracoat) carbine. What do you think?

Cammo’d gun with cammo painted magazine.

With the cammo painted magazine the gun fades even more into the background and it is hard to see the magazine at all. But slap a black magazine into the weapon and all of the sudden you can stat seeing the gun again even with the entire gun cammo painted.

So here is what the Duracoat painted carbine looks like with a cammo painted magazine in it and laying in the environment that is was meant to be used in. The profile is very low, with a hard to see signature. It is called an “advantage.”

I hope by now you can see the value in keeping your profile and signature as low possible. Remember, they won’t shoot you if they don’t see you. And when times are tough I would think you would want every possible advantage you can get.

You might be asking me about now, “What do I do if I already own a black gun?”

Great question! Several answers come to mind:

Find a quality gun painter in your area that paints weapons with Duracoat or similar system. Have him show you several patterns for the area where you will be using your weapon BEFORE you decide on the paint job.
Buy a couple cans of spray paint for metal in earth tone colors. Store them for when the time comes and paint your own weapon. You will have to clean your weapon thoroughly in preparation to paint it to remove not just dirt, but the oil as well. But in the meantime you still have your pretty black gun.
Just don’t worry about it all, keep your black gun intact and just let luck run its course. Make sure you have a black sling as well, it make it even easier for the bad guys to see you. (yeah, not such a great option huh?)

Have a great day!!

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Mission or Event Briefing Outline

Posted on September 24, 2019 by AH Trimble

note: article first appeared in February 2015

Why this a subject for a post?

Have you ever had to give a group of people information for an event? How about for a mission or task? How about just inform some folks on what is happening that day? If you have, what format did you use? If you haven’t done it yet, but will…what format would you use? How will you organize your briefing presentation?

This post is designed to explain exactly what you need to do to provide a high-quality and informative briefing to a group of people. It is based on a long-standing successful model used in all major emergency/disaster incidents by emergency responders. It is another tool in the toolbox for you to use.

This is used for a briefing. Notice the root word is “brief”. DO NOT drag this meeting out. It should cover just enough details that everyone has a clear picture of what should happen. Everyone involved doesn’t need to have every minor detail. The Leader’s Intent is the most important piece of information. Leader’s Intent let’s everyone know when it will be done and what it will look like when it is done. In other words, without Leader’s Intent, no one would ever know the mission/activity is done because no one ever told the people involved what “done” looks like.

The whole briefing, even on a complicated mission, should never take more than 20 minutes. Once you hit the 10-minute mark you will start losing people’s attention. Do not let people involved in providing parts of the briefing ramble on; stop them. Best way to address that is to tell them clearly ahead of time exactly what information they are responsible for sharing during the briefing and how much time they will have. Normally 1 – 4 minutes each.

Don’t let detailed questions from the audience takeover the meeting. Major, large-scale questions need to be addressed but not minor questions. Example #1: Do you expect a tornado to hit during the mission? Answer that one. Example #2: I can’t eat any gluten and I get swollen feet if I do. I need….. Stop them! Tell them to see the logistics person after the briefing to handle food and meal issues.

If the Operational Detail part has more hardcore information with multiple moving parts involved then consider a post-briefing “break-out” meeting for the operations folks. Example: We will have two groups; Group 1 is responsible for filling the sandbags, Group 2 is responsible for transporting and the placement of the bags. Anyone over the age of 50 is in Group 1, anyone 50 and younger is in Group 2. Tom there {finger pointing to Tom} is in-charge of Group 1, Mike over there {finger pointing to Mike} is in charge of Group 2. They will hold a break-out meeting with their respective groups right after this briefing. Group 1 will meet in the NE corner of the parking lot, Group 2 will meet in the SE corner by the tree. And you’re done…stop!

Briefing purpose. State why the briefing is being held. Example: We are here this morning to go over the operational details for putting sandbags at the church to protect the building from potential flooding. Joe Brandon will be in charge today.
Current situation. Briefly outline what the current state of affairs is that is driving the mission. Example: We have received 4” of rain in the last 2 days. The church is threatened with flooding within the next 12 hours if we don’t place sandbags in the parking lot to divert the water that is flowing from across the street into the parking lot.
Leader’s intent. The person leading the briefing then states what the mission looks like upon successful completion. Normally the intent should be stated in as little as one sentence and no more than three. Example: When we are done today we will have placed enough sandbags in the parking lot to divert all the current and expected water flow away from the building. When we are done there there will be no threat of flooding the church building. And it is especially important that we will do that without getting anyone hurt.
Operational details. The person in charge of the actual operational activities then briefly explains what will be happening and when. Example: We will be ready to depart the Walmart parking lot by 0800. We will rally at the church no later than 0845 and make individual work assignments at that point. We will place sandbags in the northwest corner of the parking lot and divert the flow of water around the west side of the parking lot away from the church building. We expect to be done no later than 1500. Everyone will be free to travel home directly from the church. No need to meet here after the work is completed. Does anyone have any questions, thoughts, issues, or concerns about what we are doing?
Logistics needs. Whoever is in charge of logistics presents pertinent information regarding expected or potential logistical issues. Example: We need to all fuel-up before departing, lunches will be provided at the church by the women’s group, and the sandbags are being delivered by the local fire department. The bags should be there by the time we arrive. The truck full of sand will wait until they get a call from me before delivering the sand. I will call them when we leave here for the church. For lunch, if you any have special diet restrictions see me afterwards. If there are any other logistical needs see me after the briefing as well.
Communications. Whoever is responsible for communications will then briefly give an overview of the communications arrangements. Example #1: We will use cell phones for communications. Operation’s cell phone number is…. My cell phone number is…. For logistics call….. Example #2: We will use FRS channel 2 to keep in contact while traveling. Channel 3 will be for operational issues at the church. Channel 4 will reserved for logistics to use. If you don’t have the channel frequencies already programmed into your radio see me after the briefing.
Safety. Quickly review any safety concerns that will be present during the mission. Example: Be careful driving, the roads are slick from all the rain. Do not drive through water running across the road that is more than 6” deep. Also, if we hear any thunder that is within 5 seconds of our location, or if we see any lightening we will get back in our vehicles and wait it out for 30 minutes. John will give us the all-clear when it is safe to return to work.
Wrap-up. The “leader” then gets back up and closes the briefing with a very brief conclusion. Example: I want to thank everyone for coming out on a rainy morning when there is plenty of college football to watch. We need to get this done or the church will be flooded and heavily damaged if we don’t. I want us to stay safe and enjoy working together. Thank you again and please come see me if you have anything that could help us today. See you at the church.

The “briefing” is an essential element of any mission. If folks don’t know what is happening, what is expected of them and what success will look like, then they are being cheated and the mission will more than likely fail.

The key is giving enough information that everyone feels comfortable to get to work, but not so overloaded with information that folks get confused. Use the breakout sessions to give the detail information. These breakouts would be the smaller groups of folks that are assigned to different areas or functions of the overall work project.

To get an idea on how much information to provide – think about what you would like to know. That will get you started. Also, write down the general info that you want to present. Makes it easier to stay on track and not miss passing on any vital info.

Lastly, a little humor also helps. But not too much or the “tone” of the mission may be compromised.

Real “lastly”…Why do you need to know how to give a briefing? If you don’t know how to do it right, you will probably do it it incorrectly. And if your people don’t know what is going on, if they don’t have all of the right information, how do you expect them to be successful? When you give your people the right information in the right format…you are giving them one of the tools they need to succeed.

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Decision Fatigue

Posted on September 22, 2019 by AH Trimble

note: first appeared in March 2015

So I came home, walked in the door, plopped down on the couch, turned on the TV and started watching a show. I have no idea what show it was, no idea who the cast was or even if it was in color or black and white. Then my wife walked in about 15 minutes later. I was quiet and barely said “hello.”

The dogs greeted her, she set her bag down, walked over and kissed me on the cheek. So far so good; then it went downhill real quickly, she started to talk to me. Oh boy, wrong move.

First she asked me how my day went, did I stop and get milk on the way home, and did I remember we had a meeting that night with some friends. Before I could really get much out of my mouth she then asked me if we would be able to do… That is when I asked her if we could talk about it later, for now I just wanted to relax. She then started asking why I needed to relax, did I have a bad day? Oh boy, wrong move…

I finally just told her in my day-job command voice that I just wanted to relax and we could talk about all those things later. And that was a wrong move on my part. Fifteen minutes later she was still asking me questions and I was still telling her I just wanted to relax. Sound familiar?

I was suffering from “decision fatigue” in a big way and I had no idea that I was…suffering from it. I had never even heard of such a thing then, now I have.

Decision fatigue is a psychological phenomenon that has only been in the research and discovery phase for about four years now. However, its effects have been felt for many thousands of years.

Decision fatigue manifests itself in:

Poor quality decisions
Impulsive decisions
Paralysis in decision making
Reduced self-regulation

Decision fatigue is caused by making decisions. Yes, you read that right. If you were doing hard physical work all day, far beyond what you were used to doing, there would come a point where you would become physically exhausted and unable to continue the work. The very same thing happens in your mind when living one of those days where you find yourself having to make continuous decisions all day long. And the more stressful the decisions are, the more wear and tear on your brain. Eventually your brain starts having real problems making good-quality decisions and will ultimately completely shut down your ability to make decisions at all.

Yes, all decisions take energy whether they be simple decisions or complex decisions. Stressful decisions take more energy than easy decisions. “Do you drink the white milk or the chocolate milk with breakfast?” is an easier decision. “Do we take a chance on this firefighting tactic and increase the risk of life safety?” is a much tougher and more stressful decision and thus takes far more energy.

Making a decision at breakfast will come easier than one in the evening. Why? Because you’ve been working your brain all day making decisions and you brain is more tired in the evening. If those decisions you’ve been making all day are stressful then you will be mentally exhausted and the decision you make will make in the evening be of lesser quality. Alternatively, you may become paralyzed and unable to make any decision at all.

“What would you like for dinner sweetheart?”

“I don’t care.”

“No sweetie, really, what would you like to eat tonight?”

“I don’t care at all. Whatever sounds good to you is fine with me.”

“Well, it sounds like you had a rough day. I would like to fix you whatever you would like to make you happy.”

“I don’t a crap what you fix or even if we eat tonight!”

Ah yes, marital bliss. I would never admit that this conversation ever took place in my home or vehicle. But maybe you know of someone that has had this experience – decision fatigue.

So how does that affect us during an incident? Every day, all day and in ways you may not have thought about it. We find ourselves having to constantly make decisions throughout the day. Some decisions are significant, other more trivial, but all are important in one way or another. Understanding the physiological issues is the first step to reduce decision fatigue.

Here are the ways to reduce decisions fatigue:

Understand and accept that it is real.
Reduce the number of decisions you make. You can do that in a number of ways –
1. Make leader’s intent clear and use subordinates, allowing them to make decisions for their area of responsibility.
2. Make it clear that if someone brings you a problem, they are also responsible for bringing you a solution (or at least an idea).
3. Have “habits” that make a decision for you rather than going through an entire decision making process.
Move important decisions to earlier in the day.
Make decisions a head of time and use predetermined trigger points to implement those decisions.
Water, stay hydrated, and that also includes electrolytes.
Eat and keep your glucose levels up but not spiked.
Rest; get good quality sleep and take breaks. Any sleep and any breaks are better than none.
Don’t over analyze a problem before making a decision. Use the minimal amount of high-quality information and then choose the first “right” decision. Notice I didn’t say choose the “best” option or the “ultimate” option. Over analyzing doesn’t do anyone any good and just adds to the stress of making a decision.
Know that decision fatigue happens to everyone and that includes you. You are not immune to decision fatigue so take the necessary steps to avoid it.

Failure to mitigate decision fatigue can manifest itself as:

Making a costly decision based on impulse vs. logic and reason. You might just not want to “deal with it” so you make a decision quickly, too quickly, to get the decision over with and out of the way. Few of us like inducing pain on ourselves, especially mental pain and anguish. When suffering from decision fatigue we are more likely to make any decision, even it if it is a bad decision, just to relieve ourselves from the pain associated with the decision making process.
A serious manifestation of decision fatigue can occur as decision paralysis. This is where a person just won’t make a decision. The amount of incoming information is overwhelming and the decision process just becomes too much to handle. At that point a person can shut down and become incapable of making any decision at all. The ramifications of decision paralysis can be fatal if taken to the extreme; costly at a minimum.
Lastly there is the “self-regulation” side effect to decision fatigue. This can be very ugly and personally costly. Researchers have found a direct correlation between decision fatigue and poor decision making in a person’s life. Examples would be; substance abuse (including alcohol abuse) and sex-based dalliances. In some circles individuals who were considered “high speed – low drag” leaders were at particular risk at suffering from self-regulation problems.

Stressful environments where decision making is demanded of you can be mentally costly to you. Understanding decision fatigue and appropriate mitigation options can go a long way towards keeping you in the game and performing at acceptable levels. And “acceptable” means safe and productive in the field where your people depend on you.

Don’t neglect (i.e. ignore) decision fatigue…it cost you too much.

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Days of September…..

Posted on September 21, 2019 by AH Trimble

All right then….

My Days of September series of articles is over. It covered from Sept 1st through Sept 19th. The series also covered a whole lot of material and I asked you to do a lot of thinking.

So how did it turn out for you?

I ask that because I had a conversation on Friday morning with a friend I’ve had for over 40 years. They liked what they read…but…and I hate it when I hear the dreaded “but” !

They had a hard time following the articles because they couldn’t come to the website each day. Bummer! She asked me to link each article to the next one. So, there is a “next” button now on each of the articles to guide you from the September 1st all the way through each article in the proper order. I also posted the list of articles in the “Table of Contents” page. I am also going to post a list of the articles at the end of this post as well.

There was a number of great comments on many of the articles and I appreciate each and every one. Some emails I received were stunning! They were very heartfelt and eye opening. I enjoyed reading each one and hearing what ya’ll had to say.

Now…this post is to remind you to read the articles from start to finish…if you haven’t already. There is an opportunity to make comments on each page. And this post is to give you another opportunity to make comments, ask questions, make suggests, raise concerns, etc. You can do so via the “reply” feature at the bottom of the page. Also, I am including a “comment form” as well. This will give some folks an opportunity to share with me directly concerning their thoughts about the articles.

So, what I would like to ask of you…

What is the top 1 or 2 things that really struck you in these articles?
What is the top 1 or 2 things that that you felt prompted/motivated to accomplish?

Days of September

← Back

Thank you for your response. ✨

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Vehicle Emergency Bag/Box (VEB)

Posted on September 20, 2019 by AH Trimble

note: first appeared in July 2015

Yeah, another bag/box of emergency equipment. Go ahead…laugh at me if you want to. I probably would if I was you. But hey, my job is to provide you with information that is both practical and useful for emergencies, disasters and grid-down. And having a vehicle breakdown in the middle of nowhere is an emergency in my book.

The scenario that I saw that is driving the need for a Vehicle Emergency Bag/Box (VEB) is simple. You or a family member is in a vehicle out in the middle of nowhere, no communications capability, and the vehicle breaks down. The threats remain the same for this scenario as with any other; violence, injury/sickness, etc.

So we have to meet those threats with solutions.

Having 20 years of experience responding to traffic accidents I have come to the conclusion that the number one threat to being broken down on the side of the road are idiot drivers. And I want to emphasize IDIOT drivers. I could tell you story after story of how stupid people are when it comes to driving, but I will spare you. Just understand that I believe the #1 threat to your safety if you are broken down are other drivers. They will take every opportunity to run you over or smash into your vehicle. And they can be very creative in doing so. Take nothing for granted, err on the side of caution.

The mission of the VEB is:

Ability to recover from a flat tire or stuck vehicle, or survive overnight from the stranding of vehicle in a remote location.

Here is a list of VEB contents. I will get into the explanation of each at the end of the list. The contents are:

{ click to enlarge and print }

Why didn’t I address the threat of violence? It is a matter of security. I can’t in good conscious recommend that you leave a firearm in the vehicle at all times. It simply wouldn’t be secure enough. Over the years I have had my personal vehicle broken into three times. It was bad enough that one of the times the low-life criminals stole the mechanics tools that my Dad had left to me after his death. But to have a gun stolen would have been even worse. Criminals have access to enough guns, I don’t want to make that worse.

How do I address the self-defense aspect as it applies to a VEB? You bring it with each time you get in the vehicle. I am a huge advocate of conceal carry. I believe that every prepper should conceal carry. I feel it is part of each prepper’s responsibility. However, if you don’t conceal carry that is your choice. But I would suggest that whenever you are going to be gone for any length or time or going more than just a short distance, take a firearm.

There are two options that I consider; 1) my conceal carry pistol, 2) a Stevens 12ga shotgun. Actually, I guess that technically there are three options, the two above and both combined.

When I would consider having both would be when I am headed into territory that I consider to have the potential to be dangerous. Yes, I know that means just about anywhere today but I am thinking more along the lines of southern New Mexico, southern Arizona, southern Texas, or any longer road trip.

That about covers the threat of violence issue pretty well. I do know a person or two that have installed law enforcement grade weapon retainers to lock down a shotgun and/or an AR. I am not a big fan of those because normally the retention hardware makes the long guns easily visible. I prefer to have my guns out of sight.

Here are the details of the VEB:

Toilet Paper – This is a “must have” item. Just take a roll from your supply at the house and place it in a freezer Ziplock bag.

First Aid Kit – I would suggest an IFAK for most situations. If you are going on a trip as a family then I would suggest adding a TBAK.

Flashlight – If you can’t see what you are doing the rest of this stuff doesn’t matter much. I would suggest you use the same tactical light that you use for everything else. Yes, standardization is a good thing. I personally use and recommend the LED Lenser. Always have a spare set of batteries. If you store your flashlight in a “box” I would suggest that you not have batteries in the flashlight, they will corrode. Keep them in a baggie with the flashlight and the spare set of batteries. Yes, always have a spare set of batteries.

Stanley Tri-Pod Work Light – This is a fantastic working light. It can operate off of 3, 6 or 9 AA batteries. The light is very bright, the head is adjustable and the legs make it capable of standing alone on the road berm leaving both hands free to work on whatever is needed.

Road Flares – There are two reasons for road flares in my opinion; 1) visual warning to other drivers that a breakdown or accident has occurred, 2) a weapon. Yup, a weapon.

Gloves – I would suggest a really decent pair of gloves, something along the lines of work gloves that can handle rough treatment. Thin cloth gloves are almost as bad as having no gloves. I like Mechanix brand gloves.

Fire Extinguisher – You can use one of those small 5lb extinguishers if you want to. Something is better than nothing. But I like a 20lb myself. In my years as a firefighter I’ve seen those 5lb’ers do little more than make a mess before the vehicle burned down.

Emergency Carry Knife – This can be a blade of your choice. I wouldn’t go with anything expensive. A Gerber “paraframe” model for $18 works just fine.

Emergency Blanket – This can be either the “space” blanket or an actual emergency blanket, either will work. You just want something to help you stay warm wrapped around you, or reflect the heat if you build a fire.

Waterproof Matches – You always gotta have a way to make fire; stay warm, signal, or defense.

Fix-A-Flat – I recommend two cans of the good stuff, large cans. Don’t skimp and buy the cheap stuff it won’t work when you need it to.

Air Compressor – A 12vDC model, plugs into your cigarette lighter. Sometimes the Fix-A-Flat just won’t be enough air.

Tire Air Pressure Gauge – This is a no-brainer. Again, don’t get the cheapest one. Get the one that will work for you when you need it to.

Tire Repair/Plug Kit – This is the little kit that has the two tools, one to clean the hole, and the other tool pushes the plug through. There is also some sealant cement to help hold the plug in place and prevent air from escaping.

NOTE: Slime Tire Spair Kit has all of the following –

24oz. Slime Tire Sealant (TPMS safe).
Heavy-duty 12V tire inflator with LED light.
Adapters for any battery.
Key valve core removal tool.
Valve caps and valve cores.
Air adapters for inflatables.
Alligator clips.
Pencil tire gauge.
30 tire plugs.
T-handle reamer and plugger tools.
Convenient zippered case.

It is all high-quality gear in a great carry bag. The kit will run you less than $60.00 and well worth every single penny.

4-Way Tire Iron – Your regular tire iron is probably shaped like an “L” and will work the majority of the time. But with a 4-way you will be able to get a whole lot more leverage when taking the lug nuts off. And you can spin it to get the nuts on and off a whole lot faster.

Jumper Cables – Here is another area not to skimp. You can get the good 4guage cables that are 20’ long and have much more power to jump your car. Or you can get the pathetic 10gauge and get a fraction of the power coming through the cable. Go for quality!

Folding Trench Shovel – These are hard to beat, they can get you out of a snow bank or the sand. And they can be a pretty lethal weapon as well.

Tow Chain/Strap – I actually carry both a chain and a strap. Both are 20’ long. That gives me options when it comes to how close the tow vehicle is relative to the stuck vehicle. Also, if I am stuck and I have to use the come-along to get myself out I use the strap around a tree, rock, etc. and then use the chain hooked to the truck.

Siphon Pump – This is purely to get gas from some other container (or vehicle) into my truck.

Canvas Drop Cloth (6’x9’) – This has a number of uses; cover, shelter, shade, etc.

Large Bath Towel – This is simply to dry myself off if I get wet.

Rags – Yup, to clean my hands with.

Trash Bags, Heavy (3mil or heavier) – These will be used for a couple different purposes; 1) trash, 2) makeshift ponchos for a number of folks, 3) collect water, etc. I like the Hefty SteelSak brand.

Tool Kit – Check the chart above for a list of the minimum tools you should have. You are not trying to have complete repair capability, just enough to get you moving again.

Pick-up Truck Kit – These are to help secure a load that you put on the truck or to improve your existing load security.

Mini-Survival Kit – This is not to replace your GHB or a GOOD BOB. These items are to use instead of your GBH or GOOD BOB items. If you end up with another person with you, they can use these items if it turns into a get home situation.

Heavy Kit – Notice the inclusion of a HighLift jack. If you haven’t been trained on how to use a HighLift jack…don’t use it! Man folks have come away with broken teeth and fractured faces because they try to use a HighLift jack and don’t know what they are doing.

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without expressed written permission from AHTrimble.com
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What would you do? (9/19)

Posted on September 19, 2019 by AH Trimble

If you haven’t read the post on September 1, 2019 that explains this post…well, go read that post first (91/2019) and then this post will make more sense.

It has been six months since the collapse of America. There is no electricity or other functioning utilities. There is no help from the government. The food distribution system shutdown months ago and grocery stores are basically empty shells. Many folks who couldn’t take care of themselves relocated to massive FEMA Family Care Centers. In the FEMA-FCC’s they provide lodging in tents and basic food to eat. But, for those benefits, you also have to work on large-scale infrastructure projects in the bigger cities scattered around the country like, New York, Los Angels, Chicago, etc.

You and your family had been preppers for the 1-1/2 years prior to the collapse. You got excited about prepping after your best friend shared AHTrimble.com with you one day. You followed the “layers” system of prepping and subsequently you were ready when everything fell apart. You have developed a pretty self-sufficient lifestyle with a close knit group of other preppers. But there is a problem…

Your nearly 1-acre garden is showing signs that someone is coming in at night and stealing some of your crops. Since your garden is essential to your family’s survival you are very concerned. Your garden has just really started producing after 4 months of hard work getting it to this point.

Each morning for the last four days you have noticed about the amount of food for one person missing each morning. Nothing else is disturbed or damaged. No large amount of anything is missing just about enough of your garden for one person to eat each day.

You have been looking for tracks but they have been brushing their tracks out to cover any evidence that they have been there. But, this morning you found a single track about 12’ away from the garden…a size 6 or 7 shoe print that appears to be from a tennis shoe.

What do you do next?

2009 - 2019 Copyright © AHTrimble.com ~ All rights reserved
No reproduction or other use of this content 
without expressed written permission from AHTrimble.com
See Content Use Policy for more information.

SitRep – 9/18/2019

Posted on September 18, 2019 by AH Trimble

It was kinda strange reading the opening of my last SitRep, “Not a whole lot has changed since the last SitRep…” Man, that is not true now!

So this SitRep is going to accomplish two goals if I write it correctly. First, I will give you my opinion on what I see happening and where I see us headed. Second, it will lay the groundwork for my series of articles that should come out in October that I think you will like. Well, some of you may like. OK, maybe only one or two of you may like it. Seriously, at least I will like it…I hope 😉

In this SitRep I will cover the following…

Crisis of Trust and Confidence
Second Amendment
Politics & Politicians
Economy
Technology
Violence
Need for Change of Creature

Crisis of Trust and Confidence

I’ve been trying for a while now to really put my finger on a major issue in America right now, maybe the single most important issue facing the entire world right now. I think I have it…Trust and Confidence.

For this article I am going to use the following definitions of the words:

Trust: firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.

Confidence: the feeling or belief that one can rely on someone or something; firm trust.

So what about the “crisis” part? There are multiple definitions of the term crisis. The top three are:

a stage in a sequence of events at which the trend of all future events, especially for better or for worse, is determined.
is any event that is going (or is expected) to lead to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, community, or whole society.
a time of great disagreement, confusion, or suffering; an extremely difficult or dangerous point in a situation.

So for crisis feel free to put it together any way you wish…you get my point.

So yes, I think the major problem right now is a crisis of trust and confidence. Meaning, at least to me, that we can no longer trust or have confidence in the world around us. By that I mean:

We no longer trust the government because we see it for what it is and what it is doing to us. And what they are doing is blatantly anti-Constitutional, moving us towards a totalitarian state. We see the government forcing our country into the financial abyss of debt that we can never recover from. And a hundred other moves that show us clearly that they do not have our (We the People) best interests at heart.
We no longer trust politicians because we see them virtually immune from the laws that we are subject to. And, we see them, virtually all of them, advocating laws, policies, regulations, bills, and agendas that support anti-Constitutional ideas. Most folks who are “awake” realize that they are doing little more than strengthening the totalitarian goal.
We see the Department of Justice allow those that perpetrated a treasonous coup against the President go unpunished. We see the FBI and CIA at the center of that coup against the President. We see the CIA having hired former Nazis leaders in the 40’s and enabled them to conduct horrific experiments on America Citizens for decades. The CIA was responsible for introducing LSD and other dangerous/illegal drugs into America. We see the FBI burn to death nearly 80 men, women, and children…ambush and murder a man in Oregon and then attempt to cover it up. And it goes on and on and on…
Many no longer trust their churches. Many churches now promote doctrine that is false such as no longer relating the story of Adam and Eve…it is now Adam and Adam, Eve and Eve. Churches preach about Jesus, charity, love of life, but accept abortion.
We watch commercials about banks and how wonderful they are to, and for, their customers. Yet, we watch them get bailed out time and time again while the average person gets hung out to dry. Many lost their homes just a decade ago while bank executives earned huge salaries and even larger bonuses.
The media…well, enough said. I don’t know anyone who trusts or has confidence in the media at all. At rightfully so.

I could go on and on giving you example after example of where we have lost trust and confidence in the world around us…but you already know them and see them. Hopefully I have just brought it all together and defined those issues onto a sum total and a clearly understood term…crisis of trust and confidence.

As I think about the problems that faces America today I see all of those problems roll into that single thing…a crisis of trust and confidence. Now that I defined it, what do we do about it?

Ah yes, there is the big issue, isn’t it! And I will get to it but you have to give me a little time and a little leeway.

Second Amendment

I should have probably saved this for last. Why? Coz I am going to probably lose some of you as you read this section. Some may never come back to the website again, ever. Some folks may just get bored. But, here goes…

I was going to write a whole article about the Second Amendment but decided you probably read many articles about it already and have grown a bit tired of it all. So, no stand-alone article. But, I will write just a bit to hopefully shed some light on my view of it…and maybe a twist that you might not have considered before.

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

Occasionally there is confusion of why it is written the way it was. There shouldn’t be. But, it is rarely taught or explained in the context of its day, let alone in any context. So let me share a few things…

We all know that in the later part of the 1700’s the Founding Fathers saw the British government, specifically the King and Parliament, as being oppressive and tyrannical. They also saw the colonies as having virtually no ability to resist that oppression and tyranny. Why? Because the British kept a huge standing army in the colonies. And the British rulers used that army with ruthlessness to suppress any resistance to their vice-like grip on life in the colonies.

When the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution, after defeating the British, they wanted to prevent in the future the kind of oppression and tyranny that they suffered under the hands of the British. And their number one concern…a standing army. They knew that without a strong standing army that they could prevent the enforcement of oppression at the hands of a strong federal government.

Remember this…the Founding Fathers wanted the true power and strength of the USA to reside in the states. They knew all too well what a strong central government was capable of…and they wanted to prevent that repeat of horrible history. James Madison wrote that a standing federal army could be balanced by militias controlled by the states…”a standing army would be opposed by a militia.” He went on, state militias “would be able to repel the danger” of a standing federal army, “It may well be doubted, whether a militia thus circumstanced could ever be conquered by such a proportion of regular troops.” He went on to make clear how European governments viewed an armed populace…”afraid to trust the people with arms,” and that “the existence of subordinate governments [states] … forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition” of a tyrannical federal government.

So then let’s keep going…in the early days of America (1790’s) militias laws were formally enacted…and the Army (standing federal army) seriously regulated and diminished of power and scope. The militias were to consist of able bodied men 18 – 45 willing to serve. The federal army was only to be organized for specific reasons and then only for periods of two years. Imagine that! And its uses were only for the purpose to repel invasions and against “insurrections.” Ah, notice the very specific term insurrection? The law does not use the term “rebellion” for a reason…especially in the context of the English language in the 18th century. An insurrection is a resistance, usually violent, to established authority. A rebellion is an armed resistance to a government/ruler to replace it with a more suitable form of government.

Why is there a difference in the terminology? One needs only to read the first paragraph of a fairly important document…

“When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.” The Declaration of Independence

The Founding Fathers knew exactly what they were doing, exactly the correct way to write it, and how it was to be implemented. They left the door wide open for us, as American citizens, to rebel against an oppressive central government. And they insured us a means to do so…ARMED! They clearly stated the right and insured the means to fix a broken oppressive federal government.

So, now let’s consider a very key word in the Second Amendment “arms.” What exactly did they mean?

Once again, very simple. Since militias, state level armies, were to be made up of average citizens; and those citizens were to provide their own arms. What were those arms?

The average well-turned-out militia member of the day armed himself with: a rifle, a pistol, a long knife, and occasionally a hatchet (tomahawk). Also remember, that almost always a regular, standing-army soldier would carry a musket. While a musket could be loaded a little faster than a rifle, they were much less accurate and far less range than a rifle. Most regular army soldiers also carried no pistol or long knife (but many carried a bayonet). So your average citizen soldier (militia member) had superior weapons (i.e. arms) vs. the average regular army soldier. That is an indisputable fact!

Now, about cannons…The average citizen soldier did not have a cannon hanging around the cabin. Although it would not have been illegal to have one. Cannons were considered “company level” weapons…or “crew served” weapons. When a company of militia was activated, and cannon was needed, they were provided by the company and manned by a specific crew.

Now the Second Amendment should be crystal clear…the Founding Fathers intended the wording to provide for a militia of regular citizens to be armed better than, or at least as well, the army. Why? In order to defeat the army in a violent encounter should the army be used against the citizenry. And, specifically if the citizens were rebelling against an oppressive tyrannical government. Period!

The Declaration of Independence laid the groundwork for it and the Constitution ensured it.

So why are the Democrats and Republicans so eager to restrict the Second Amendment…or eliminate it? Another simple answer…The government today, and almost all politicians, do not want the American citizens to have the ability to effectively resist an oppressive and tyrannical federal government.

Please challenge that! But, you already know the answer to that challenge.

Reviewing the gun-control advocates arguments…Look at the states and cities with the most restrictive gun laws or out-right gun bans. Then look at the time period of the “Assault Weapons Ban”. The look at the National Firearms Act of 1934. OK, done reviewing that?

1 – The cities and states with the most restrictive gun laws and bans are the most violent and have the highest number of deaths by guns. Chicago…52 people shot, 10 dead. Oh wait…that is in a single weekend in 2019. Interesting side note…every state and city where gun violence is the highest…ALL controlled by liberals/democrats/progressives.

2 – During the “Assault Weapons Ban” there was no statistical evidence to indicate any reduction in mass shootings or gun violence via the banned weapons…which was almost non-existent to begin with.

3 – Since the National Firearms Act of 1934 was enacted there has been a huge increase in gun violence and gun-related crime, most of it starting about the 1960’s. There is not a single shred of actionable evidence to indicate any positive effect to make America safer by the National Firearms Act of 1934. Criminals simply chose a different weapon. And what started happening in America society in the 1960’s? Yeah, a whole other aspect of this argument.

So what could the only real reason be for all those anti-Constitutional gun control laws? Yup! You guessed it.

OK…now, where am I headed with all of this? You should already know by now. Without any equivocation I oppose any restriction on gun ownership at all. And by guns I mean ‘arms’ exactly as worded in the Second Amendment.

Unfortunately, what I think doesn’t matter, the truth of the matter is this…we are 100% screwed. Why?

Because both Republicans and Democrats oppose the Second Amendment. What?????? Yup! Don’t doubt me on this. Even the NRA opposes the Second Amendment. Yeah, that personification of all things “liberty and freedom”, the NRA, opposes our Founding Fathers and the Constitution. Yup, that sacred organization, the NRA, supported:

the National Firearms Act of 1934
the Gun Control Act of 1938
the Gun Control Act of 1968
concealed carry legislation
banning of bump stocks (at the hands of an allegedly conservative Republican President Trump)

A former president of the NRA even stated that he opposed people even carrying a gun at all!

So please don’t tell me that Republicans, the NRA, or even President Trump supports the Second Amendment…they DON’T…and that is a fact! And the coming months, if not weeks, will show me to be correct again when Congress passes gun-control legislation and the President signs it.

Why is any of this important?

Listen, if you are asking that question vs. me proposing it for more opinionated fodder…then you simply don’t get it. But, let me share it with you all the same…whether you get it or you don’t.

The Second Amendment is there for us to protect ourselves from, or rebel against, an oppressive and/or tyrannical federal government. That’s it…period! That was also the whole idea of NOT having a standing army…the federal government couldn’t overpower the states…even with military power. Those are not my words…those are the words and intentions of the Founding Fathers!!!!

What does that tell you about where we are today as a country? Again…100% screwed!

The states are mere groveling servants to the federal government with NO, ZERO power to resist them politically, financially, or forecefully. The Founding Fathers, in their divinely inspired infinite wisdom gave us one last tool to stop the federal government…the Second Amendment. And they clarified the right to rebel against the federal government…the Declaration of Independence.

So all you NRA members…thanks! All you bump stock ban supporters (or non-resistors)…thanks! All you Republicans…thanks! You, yes…YOU…are contributing directly to the destruction of the Second Amendment, the Constitution, and assisting in the installation of a totalitarian regime. And along the way…you folks are making criminals out of people that our Found Father would have called patriots and heroes.

Yeah, pretty strong words I know. Lots of folks will be very mad at me. Some will cuss me. Some will dismiss me as a nuts. Some will stop visiting the website. Yeah, I can accept all of that. But, what THEY can’t accept is the truth and the hard evidence of what I said…and their role in the destruction of the United States of America.

So if I haven’t already offended you…let me be clear, perfectly clear…

If you didn’t resist, or care about, the bump stock ban…you are no patriot. You are an enabler to the destruction of the Constitution. You oppose the Founding Fathers.
If you are an NRA member…you are the same.
If you back any upcoming gun legislation…you are the same.
If you back any previous gun-control legislation…you are the same.
If you back Trump’s anti-gun EO’s…you are the same.

Why am I calling out so many people and making people mad at me?

First, I am not calling you a traitor for backing Trump. I am saying if you back Trump’s bump stock ban you are an enabler to the destruction of the Constitution. But, let there be no confusion or doubt, Trump is NOT pro-Second Amendment. He has done NOTHING to prove otherwise. And no, I am not a “never Trumper”. If you think I am…you’re an idiot. And you can’t show anything of substance that shows Trump to be pro-Second Amendment.

Continuing…It is not my intention to make folks mad at me, cuss me, or anything similar. It is to wake people up to their awful state. We are seeing the wheat and chaff being separated…and many who thought they were wheat are, by definition, chaff. Some who thought they were patriots…are pawns…pawns of those that would destroy the Constitution and our country…and are enemies of our Founding Fathers. Many have lost their way…some intentionally, some through ignorance.

But, as with any person that is lost…they can find their way back! All they have to do is decide what they believe in.

Do you believe in and support the Declaration of Independence or not?
Do you believe in and support the Constitution or not?
Do you believe that our Founding Fathers were divinely inspired or not…and support those divinely inspired principles or not?

These are not hard questions to answer. There is no qualification or explanation needed. It is simple…you either do or do not…”yes” or “no”. If it is “no” then you are participating in the destruction of America. And America is the world’s last and only hope for us to save ourselves.

Politics & Politicians

Ah yes…politics and politicians…it all sucks! I am serious…all politics sucks now. It is all about power and money…and we are to blame. Why? Coz we keep electing the problems…politicians.

Yeah, wasn’t that an absolutely brilliant observation and deduction!!! I must be a genius.

So I will make this simple…forget ALL politics, political parties, and partisan ideology. Yup…forget 100% of it…total, complete, entirely. Replace it with principles. If a politician matches up with your principles…then support them. If a particular piece of legislation matches up with your principles…then support it. Ignore all the rest of it.

Economy

I’ve been watching this very closely the last couple of months…I mean real closely. Here are the issues:

Consumer debt is at an all-time historic high.

Corporate debt at astronomical historic levels.

Trump administration setting records for federal government annual operating deficits.
National debt is far beyond any previous historic record levels, and unrecoverable.

Actual GDP is 12% below where it would normally be, let alone any net growth.

Many foreign government sovereign debt is at 0% or below.

EVERY factual, evidence-based indicator shows we are in very serious deep trouble economically. PERIOD!

I was listening to a very well placed, knowledgeable asset manager Tuesday morning. He runs one of the world’s largest pool of assets. He said the problem we have in the USA right now is “confidence”. Confidence in our country, politicians, government, financial system, markets, companies, etc. And that is a huge concern to him. He said that our US economy is about 70% consumer driven…and consumer spending is driven by confidence. He went on that consumers just don’t have solid confidence in much of anything anymore and it is getting worse…which means we are teetering. And when asked what puts us over the edge into financial Armageddon…his answer was “something geopolitical”.

His #1 example was the inability to come to terms with China and the trade war, and our competition with China for world economic domination. Then he went on to mention Iran and their trouble-making issues in the Middle East. Yes, there were more, but you get the idea.

The reason for many industrialized nations having a 0% or a negative interest rate is not difficult to understand. But, to fully understand it correctly you have to compare it to the US t-bill rate that is still in positive territory. The majority of the world has no confidence in other, including their own, countries’ ability to recover economically. They are betting on the US economy and our financial/economic abilities to economically save the rest of the world. When viewed in light of those same countries holding US t-bills to prop up their own currency you see it clearly. They are all betting/counting on us. If we go down…the whole world collapses with us. There is no other viable and realistic scenario. And that is a gloomy one to be sure. Not a bet I would make.

Well, if you have been following my website for any length of time, especially the last 5 years, none of this is any surprise to you. I have been pointing out fact after fact after fact of what is going on. Some of the evidence I have provided has really pissed off some folks and they will no longer follow the site. Yeah, mostly the “ever-Trumpers”…those that back Trump no matter what. What really ticked some off some folks was when I pointed out the fact that the Trump stock market is trailing both Clinton and Obama stock market gains. And would have been trailing Bush #2 had it not been for 9/11. I didn’t point it out to make anyone mad…just pointing out facts. Because facts help you see clearly.

And facts are facts are facts…and they are quickly catching up to us…and it ain’t pretty.

Just yesterday (9/17) the NY Fed had to step in to the market to stabilize bank cash reserves and Federal interest rates. Bank cash reserves dropped dramatically and the Fed funds rate jumped. The NY Fed had to instantly infuse $75billion dollars to prevent a huge shortfall in cash reserves at banks. But expert financial experts stated there is still, and will be, a ripple effect to deal with. What could have been the outcome had the Fed not stepped in yesterday? A massive run on banks as people lost confidence and attempted to pull money out of their bank…only to find that banks didn’t have enough cash for people to withdraw. And this is the first time this has happened since 2008. And you know what happened in 2008/2009.

Technology

Over the last six weeks I saved a whole bunch of articles about AI and DeepFake technology. I was going to use those articles to substantiate my warnings all the way back to June, and then later in July, when I laid out the specific threats of AI and DeepFake. But…I am not going to use those articles that I saved.

Why?

I don’t need to. You read my previous SitReps, starting last June, and you know what I said. If you follow the news at all you will have read since July many independent articles confirming what I had warned you about starting the month before. Interestingly…some so-called prepper-gurus are just now getting up to speed on these problems. Pity.

As I stated previously…in the past you could trust in what you saw and heard yourself. Not so anymore. Video and audio DeepFake is to such a level now that the normal person can NOT tell what it is fake or real. And that presents a huge dilemma. And that also compounds the “crisis of trust and confidence” that I mentioned earlier in this post. It will only get worse.

So, how do you deal with it? I will get more into that that in an upcoming series of articles. But, for now:

Know who you are.
Have solid principles, morals, and ethics.
Rely on what you know to be true, reject those things that fall outside of that.
Be slow to judge.
Be stalwart.

Violence

Well, well… here we go…

It is nice to see some prepper-gurus finally seeing the writing on the wall…that has been there for over two years. Recently I read an excerpt from this really well respected prepper-guru guy who many folks believe is directly connected to God himself. And interesting enough…he wrote about what might happen in the 2020 election. He was amazingly accurate!!!! He was spot on like I can hardly imagine!! And he wrote almost word for word what I’ve been telling you for the last 2 years. I guess he likes and trusts my stuff 😉

OK, enough of me droning on about that…

We are seeing an uptick of violence…especially once again on the left via AntiFa. It will get worse the closer we get to the election.

We are also seeing more provocation by the right. I won’t mention the groups by name because I don’t want to give them any more notoriety than they already have. But, the right is now actively trying to provoke violence as well. No, I don’t mean they are going out and burning cars and buildings. But, they are holding events that they know will bring out AntiFa and other violent Democrat Party individuals/groups. And they know once the two sides are in the same vicinity of each other there will be violence.

Don’t get sucked into it!!!! I am strongly suggesting that you stay away from all rallies, marches, protests, etc. for now. Don’t get involved in them, stay away from them. If you find yourself inadvertently in the area…leave at once. Don’t try to stand up for a right-wing cause right now. Don’t try to protest against a left-wing cause right now. They are almost all designed to prompt violent confrontation.

60 Days prior to next year’s Presidential election be 100% prepared to deal with violence on a large scale. “Large scale” meaning city-wide scale. And “prepared” doesn’t mean body armor, 100000 rounds of ammunition, and an AR for your 3-year old. I am saying have a plan to avoid the violence, to withdraw from it, to remove a family member from it, to protect your property from it, to protect your church from it, to protect your neighborhood from it. Yup, you read that right. More about that as time goes on.

Need for Change of Creature

Kinda of a weird title for a SitRep section isn’t it? I wasn’t sure how to appropriately express what I want to say in this section. But I had one of those “Ah Ha!” moments. So here goes, I hope it works…

What would you think? What would you do?

Scenario…The grid has gone down, chaos is widespread. There has been some pretty bad looting and rioting nearby. It is not safe to be outside at night. You have done everything to prepare for “grid-down” and the family, is hunkered down in the home ready to defend it and ride out the storm. Fast forward a few days…

It is 2am and there is a knock at the front door, the alarm is raised, the guards are intensely looking for threats in their field of view. The RIT team jumps into action for their assigned positions. As head of the house, looks through the observation hole…a middle aged man is there, known but not too well, mostly just an acquaintance. He begs for the door to be opened, he is scared, he has his wife with him and three children. They have nothing but the clothes on their back, but he is carrying a double barrel shotgun. No response given to his knocking. The guards and RIT team are tense, expecting trouble…maybe a trap. There was violence a couple blocks over earlier in the evening. A fire or two is burning not too far away, obviously houses.

The man is knocking even louder, crying, begging to be let in. He sounds desperate, his family looks ragged, and their clothes are tattered and filthy. His wife is crying, the teenage daughter has the 1000-yard stare. It looks like the perfect diversion set-up for a gang to hit the house. Still no response is given to his pleas, the hope is…he will just go away.

The house and group is well-supplied with a year’s food and water but no idea how long the grid will be down. It is suspected this is the “big-one” and it could last for years. Everyone in the house feels confident that they can weather the storm, grow food as needed for the family, the well can supply water, there are plenty of guns and ammo to arm the defenders…and the defenders are all well trained.

He bangs on the door again…weaker this time. His wife has collapsed with the daughter in her arms, they’re sobbing uncontrollably, the oldest son, better view of him, now has a baseball bat in his hands, the father is crying as well.

What would you think? What would you do?

Think hard about that…really hard…think it through…get your response clearly in your head. Now that you have that in your head, read on…

You are the father or wife outside of the door. It is your daughter with the 1000-yard stare because she was raped by two gang members that raided your house earlier that night, beat your wife and you unconscious. They stole all of your food, your guns, your ammo, everything you had. Then lit your house of fire as they left. You were able to get your family out just in time. You dug up the shotgun from the backyard that you had hidden there “just in case”. Your oldest son picked up an old softball bat from the side yard as you walked away. He wanted something to help you defend the family. You walked for two hours through the night with your family terrified that another gang might catch you. You finally got to the house of a person that you met a couple of times and whom you respect…and who you thought might be the one person able to help your family in this time of crisis and extreme need. You have knocked and banged on their door three times…you’ve begged for their help…there has been no response. You don’t know what you will do now.

Now that you’ve heard the whole story… What would you think? What would you do?

I hope the spirit of the scenario that I just relayed has touched you in the way I meant it to.

Summary

I need you, I want you, to really listen…please. Listen not just with your ears/eyes but also with your heart and spirit. Listen closely…

There is a storm coming…a big one, a very bad one. As it approaches the skies will darken, it will grow cold and as inhospitable as you’ve ever known. Things will happen that you never expected…some good and some bad. Some people will become better than you ever expected, some worse. Institutions will fail, some will oppress, some will abandon you, and some will step up. Overall, it will be bad, very bad.

Now please…listen even closer…

You can overcome, you can succeed, you can beat whatever comes our way. I promise you that!

Some of what will help you to succeed and overcome you can learn from this website. Some of what will help you to succeed and overcome you can find in family, friends, church, and community. Most of what will enable you to not just succeed and overcome, but to thrive,…will come from inside of you. It will come as a result of who are have become and your ability to be the person you need to be.

And yes, for those of you who are religious, myself included, a lot of who you are inside comes from Him, His strength, His grace, His love, His sacrifice for you. Draw on that. Become who He needs you to be.

If you are not the person you need to be…well, that’s OK. Start now and become the person you need to be! Regardless of who you are, what you have done…you can be the right kind of person…the person you need to be…the person you should be. You can do that!

By now, reading this post, you either think I am crazy or something else…who knows what. But, if you are reading this and are truly hearing what I am saying…well, you know…you just know.

You know what you need to do…starting right now, you know what you need to do…who you need to be. Please…just go do it.

Be prepared for the coming storm. Your family needs you. Your church needs you. Your community needs you. He needs you. Be that person.

Personal Note:

For me this SitRep started out like so many others, then I went into the Second Amendment lecture. Yeah, painful I know…sorry (kinda of). The rest of the sections were fairly normal for me. Then came the Change of Creature and Summary. Something clicked inside of me, something strange, heartfelt. But, it was more than that…but I can’t put it into words. If you are still reading this SitRep I think you understand what I am saying.

Last night after I went to bed I laid awake thinking about this SitRep and how it would be received this morning as ya’ll read it. Honestly, I was a little concerned that some would find it demeaning or insulting…not sure why but that is what I felt. But just as quickly I felt that a good number of you would “get it” and know what I am getting at, what I am trying to say…or at least trying to get at. And for those of you that do get it…that would be all worth it.

Then I felt seriously impressed…and I mean seriously impressed that I should add a contact form for you to send me your thoughts and feelings that you receive from this SitRep. I am not 100% sure why…I think it might be different for each person that responds. But, what I want to to do is give you a chance, if you feel it appropriate and you feel prompted, to tell me what this Sitep means to you. And yes, the Change of Creature and Summary are the sections I am specifically referring to.

I would love to hear how you felt, what you feel prompted to do, any changes you feel inspired to make, and/or any actions you feel motivated to take. And yes…anything else you care to share with me.

If you want everyone to be able to read what you have to say you can use the “reply” option on the page. For the more special, intimate, spiritual, or personal stuff you can use the contact form. I look forward to hearing what you have to share. Thank you!

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What would you do? (9/17)

Posted on September 17, 2019 by AH Trimble

If you haven’t read the post on September 1, 2019 that explains this post…well, go read that post first (91/2019) and then this post will make more sense.

You have been a prepper for five years, you’ve lived in the same house for the last 10 years. You and your neighbor were almost best friends until you joined the local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints church 7 years ago. You quit drinking and smoking, but your neighbor hasn’t. He thinks you are a goody-two-shoes now and harasses you occasionally when your are grilling outside. He only does it when he has been drinking, which is most of the time. You’ve been polite to him but you’ve had to ignore him several times when he got verbally abusive to you in front of your family.

Times are tough economically in the country, the stock market isn’t doing well, businesses are suffering. You work for a highway construction firm and they have a couple of interstate contracts lined up so your work and financial situation is pretty decent. You have been putting away food storage as well as other prepper items for when tough times hit. You are outside with your family on Saturday grilling and splashing around in your above ground pool that doubles as your bulk water storage. You and your family are having a great time together.

Just as you sit down to eat burgers and hotdogs your neighbor leans over the wall. He is not wearing a shirt, he has a cigarette in one hand and a beer in the other hand. He yells out that he sees where your teenage daughter gets her good looks from…her mom. He laughs out loud at his own joke before he breaks into a coughing fit. You ignore him, your wife rolls her eyes, your teenage daughter looks upset…and mumbles “gross!” under her breath.

As he walks away he tells you not to worry, when you go out of town to work he will watch over your wife and daughter. Then breaks out laughing one more time before resuming another coughing fit. Your daughter runs into the house knocking over her chair and spilling her plate of food in the process.

Later that night you find out that your neighbor has made comments to your daughter for over two months now when she gets off the bus after school. She hasn’t told you because she was embarrassed. The comments aren’t threatening or lewd, just suggestive. Your daughter is scared of him…for good reason.

It is now two weeks later…the stock market and economy basically crashed about 7 days ago. It is Saturday and you made some last minute runs to Sams Club, Walmart, and the Dollar store. That afternoon you came home with a load and rather than pull into the garage and close the garage door to unload your groceries and other items, you unloaded the SUV in the driveway.

As you finish up the unloading you look over and your neighbor is drinking wine from a bottle, a cigarette in his hand, and flashes you a thumbs up. You realize that you just made a huge mistake by unloading the SUV in plain view of your neighbors. But you have no time to worry about that right now, you leave in the morning to travel to your company’s work-site 250 miles away.

Later that week on Wednesday you get a frantic phone call from your wife. She tells you about coming home with your 14-year old daughter from cheerleader practice. As she and your daughter were getting out of the SUV your neighbor and five of his buddies were drinking in his open garage. They all started yelling very obscene comments about her and your daughter. Your wife is inconsolable and very afraid for their safety. Later that night she finds your 12-yearold son loading a shotgun in his bedroom. He refused to give it to her stating that he will kill the pervert neighbor next time. Your wife begs you to come home even though you are not due home till Saturday.

The next morning (Thursday) you wake up to news reports that truckers have gone on strike nationwide and nothing is moving, no food, no fuel, nothing. There is a lot of violence on the interstates between union and nonunion truckers. Grocery stores empty their shelves by 9am. Gas stations run out of gas by noon. You talked to your boss and he tells you to get back to work, you have a job to do, and you can’t leave till Saturday.

You decide to quit and head home, its 1pm. You get into your pick-up truck just to see your fuel gauge is sitting nearly on empty. You have 250 miles to get home, but it will probably take 10 hours due to the road conditions, strikes, etc. The radio is playing and the emergency notification systems starts with a message that a nationwide curfew will go into affect starting at midnight.

You pound the steering wheel and gaze out the windshield. You are trying to figure out what to do next. As you are trying to figure that out, you find yourself staring at the company’s fuel storage tank that is nearly full.

Nine hours later you are pulling into your driveway just to see your neighbor and three of his buddies still drinking. You have to park in your driveway because there is no room in your garage to park. You want to say something to your neighbor but decide the time is not right. Although he has different ideas…he starts yelling that he appreciates all the prepping you’ve done. He says he and his buddies will help themselves to anything they want that is yours…anything. And then they start cat-calling and whistling.

Just then your wife starts coming outside because she heard you drive up.

Answer the following questions:

You filled your truck’s fuel tank up from the company fuel storage tank. How do you justify it and make it right?
What is your most imminent risk right now at this moment as your wife is walking towards you?
How do you deal with your son and the shotgun?
You decide you are going to talk to your neighbor about the comments concerning your wife and daughter? When and how do you do that?
What is your plan to deal with your neighbor regarding his remarks about your food storage, etc.?
What actions do you take 30-days later when your neighbor is threatening to take your food because his kids are starving?

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Update – 9/16/2019

Posted on September 16, 2019 by AH Trimble

Yeah, you’ve probably been wondering what happened to me…or have you?

I prepared a whole bunch of posts ahead of time to make sure fresh content and resurrected articles kept getting posted to the website in my absence. And yes…that means I’ve been gone. I have been working on our house that I am building for our retirement…and whatever else the future holds for us. But, I got back a couple of days ago, and re-acclimated to society.

This morning I began working on the website again. First thing I did was review and pending comments and approved those that needed it so they would appear. Then I spent about 1-1/2 hours updating the Table of Contents with all the articles that have appeared in the last 7 weeks. So the Table of Contents should be very useful once again.

Yes, I know that the entries in Escape from Home stopped at the end of August. Two reasons for that; 1) I didn’t edited and schedule additional entries before I left, 2) I wanted to give the Days of September exclusive attention on the site. I really felt that it deserved it from a usefulness perspective. I hope some of you felt the same way.

So, what does the future hold?

I have content scheduled through the middle of October or so. I will be adding to that as time permits before I head back to the house project in a few days.
I will try and get some more Escape from Home entries scheduled as well. If you are wondering why I only have them showing up every three days…simple, to get you coming back to the website on a regular basis.
I am going to be doing a SitRep…I feel it is very, very important right now. There are some very important things going on right now and I want to give you my take on them.
I am also going to be looking over the hundreds of emails I received and see if I can get some responses out. So please don’t get mad if you sent me an email and you don’t hear back from me.
I am working on a series of articles that I feel may be the single most important articles I will ever write. Yes, it is that important and serious. I will be working on that project for the next month. I want it to come out no later than the end of October. It is going to lay out a “road map” that I don’t think you want to miss.

Now, I want to hear from you. I want to hear exactly what you would like me to write about starting in November and on. It can be on any topic as long as it is related to preparedness. Let me know by using the form below.

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A.H. Trimble – Emergency preparedness information for disasters and grid-down

Serious emergency, disaster and grid-down preparedness and prepper information.

Author Archives: AH Trimble

Camouflage Clothing…to stay alive! : Part #1

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Decision Fatigue

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Vehicle Emergency Bag/Box (VEB)

What would you do? (9/19)

SitRep – 9/18/2019

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What would you do? (9/17)

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Update – 9/16/2019

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Serious emergency, disaster and grid-down preparedness and prepper information.

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