Thursday, November 28, 2013

My first homemade alcohol stove


I made this today by following a video I found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYktDCP-IWU and it works great. It uses the non-petroleum based fuel isopropyl alcohol but can also run off grain alcohol, denatured alcohol, ethanol, methanol, nail polish remover, nitromethane, moonshine and fuel injector cleaner. It's cheap, light, compact and surprising fuel efficient; but the best thing?...it doesn't rust so you can safely bury it ;)


best regards, Dave - www.howtoburyyourstuff.com

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Good reasons why NOT to trust safety deposit boxes

http://cherylkicksass.blogspot.com/2011/04/why-safe-deposit-boxes-arent-safe-in.html

www.howtoburyyourstuff.com

Surviving riots or civil unrest

Great advice for surviving riots or civil unrest. www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUuqY7sJJfA&feature=youtu.be For more, check out www.thesurvivalmom.com

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Looking for camping, folding, beach chairs or hammocks?


Cool affiliate site for anyone looking for comfort and relaxation in the great outdoors.

10 tips on caching gear and valuables underground

http://www.howtoburyyourstuff.com/general-tips/

Prepping 101: A Complete Guide for new Preppers

How do you make a plan? One step at a time. Reading this is your first step. The next ones will guide you through the process of putting down on paper, or in the computer, those things you will need to do to get to the state of preparedness you want.

Some assumptions that I think are reasonable that should be taken into consideration when you make your plans:

• The overwhelming majority of preps will be needed for situations that occur at home.

• Most disasters will not be Doomsday, The Apocalypse, TEOTWAWKI or WROL situations.

• Most disasters will still have police and National Guard units enforcing law & order.

• People will still be responsible for their actions legally and morally.

• There will looters and violence in some major disasters, but the proportion of life & death incidents will be much smaller than the number of incidents requiring basic human needs.

• Most households will have some basic items at home that can be used during a disaster. Not everything has to be purchased for use only during one. You can often incorporate into the preps items you already have. (Basic first aid kits including some OTC & any needed prescription meds. A flashlight or two & some candles. A knife. Bedding)


The actual plan:

1. Threat Analysis:
Sit down with your loved ones and have a discussion about the current situation and what fears and concerns everyone has. No one can prepare for everything, especially in the beginning. Make note of what the things brought up in the conversation. Don’t need to scare anyone, and it could be difficult to get them to admit to any fears, especially the younger ones. But it is important to include them, because not everything you will want to prepare for is life and death.

Forget about Doomsday Preps, Armageddon, or TEOTWAWKI for now. Keep it real. Do the best you can to decide what reasons you would bug-out as opposed to bugging-in. Bugging-in is the much preferred action, but there are very good reasons to bug-out. Consider what would drive you from your home, based on your location and situation.

2. Prioritize:
Once you know the things you want to prepare for, put them in a general groups of what you want to start with, what can wait a while, and what should be put on the back burner for the moment. Trying to do everything at once is likely to overwhelm and discourage everyone. You don’t want that. A steady progress to each goal you set will get the job done. And I will suggest a couple of goals right off the bat. One is learning and getting all the training you can. Classroom, internet, and book as well as hands on. The other is part of the first. Begin acquiring a good library of prepping books and magazines to read and learn from as part of your educational program, as well as storing them for future use.

3. Goals:
And keep things goal oriented. Set the goals, realistic ones. Goals that can be achieved. Leave the pie in the sky super deluxe bunkers and Mad Max vehicles to the fiction writers. You want something that you can achieve, on a timely basis. Set the level of preparedness you want for the first group of priorities. Once you know where you are going, you can start getting ready to get there. Set some general achievement goals on a timeline to get started. And remember that goals should be realistic to start with, but can be adjusted as things change, you learn more, or things happen that call for a change in the plan.

4. Budget:
This is an extremely important part of the process. A budget is a good idea for all financial matters, but is even more so when trying to get ready for things that might just happen before you are ready for them. You will need to spend some money. But you can’t let other things go, either. Still have to pay the mortgage or rent, the auto loan, and on and on. Get them in the budget. Everything you must pay on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly basis.

Don’t forget taxes, and the unexpected. And don’t give up everything you like to do. You still need to live a life, especially with a family. Once you have a household budget, you can determine how much you can spend on preps for given timelines. Then you start doing a separate budget, using those numbers, to get the things done you need to do.

Before you put many numbers in, you are going to have to decide on the items you want first, but get the budget set up, and keep it flexible. It will change over time. Once you have a reasonable budget lined out, add the timeframe and amount for the long lead items that you plan to purchase and start saving a budgeted amount per month for that item/those items.

5. Start Prepping
Once the basic plan is in place and the budgets set up, start prepping.


Prepping 101
The best place to start is usually getting the basic human needs taken care of first, no matter what scenario you are preparing for. First you need to figure out what those are, but that is pretty easy. I have a list. The rest can come when you have learned more and not only have, but have practiced with, the initial items. Begin to study and learn all you can now, and as you go along. Preps without knowledge aren’t nearly as effective as they are when you know the why-to and when-to in addition to the how-to. Do not feel like you must do everything in the order listed. You will need to do many of the things, especially these first ones, concurrently. Some things can wait, depending on your specific situation, but the basic human needs should all be met as quickly and completely as possible.

1. Air:
Fortunately, it is still free and available, for the most part, for most scenarios. If there is a problem with air supply, special equipment and supplies are necessary. Not a beginner’s subject.

2. Water:
Has to be contaminate free, naturally or with other means. And a lot of it. Store a lot, locate a reliable future source, get water treatment/purification. A few 15-gallon water drums, a couple of stainless steel water bottles with cups for the BOBs, a quality water purifier, either a high cap camping filter or a combination of a drip filter for the BIB and a smaller hikers filter for the BOBs. Scout out locations for long term supplies of water.

3. Food:
You can go for a while without it, but not long or you become useless. No cook, add hot water only, & easy-cook shelf stable foods, heavy on meats, fruits, and comfort foods. For both BOB and BIB. Buy in bulk or in case lots when possible. At the least, buy extra of the things you want and use on a daily basis when they are on sale. To build up longer term supplies, double buy each grocery day. Soon you will have a good pantry.

Learn to garden and grow as much as you can as soon as you can. Ditto home canning when you get the garden going. Don't be afraid of the commercially produced crops like wheat and oats. You can grow non-hybrid/organic types in a home garden.

4. Sanitation:
You gotta go when you gotto go. You need the safe means to do so. Chemical toilet, TP, hand washing means, bug spray, antiseptic cleaners, shovel to bury wastes. Toiletries. Charmin camper’s toilet paper and cleansing wipes for the BOBs. Infectious diseases protection supplies, face mask, gloves, goggles and hand sanitizer. And the ladies, and especially soon to be ladies, need large supplies of their needs on hand.

5. Environmental protection:
You need appropriate clothing as well as housing. Sometimes it is more important than food or sanitation in extreme circumstances. This includes being able to make and control fires. The right clothes for the season. Basic camping gear in case the house becomes unlivable.

You are probably already doing the right clothes for the given season, though here in Reno I see people going from heated homes to heated cars, to heated business and back again wearing a T-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops in 20 degree weather with snow on the ground and coming down hard (I am not joking). Have what you need to keep you comfortable in the weather.

And the camp gear is for when the house cannot be lived in and you need to camp out in the back yard or evacuate. Or even stay in the house when nothing is working. Fallout/blast shelters, like air purification, are another specific topic that deserves separate consideration. Put it in the budget, and start saving, but don’t short the other equipment and supplies unless war is imminent.

6. Security:
Beside protection from the elements, there can be a need for protection from dangerous animals, including other humans. Light is your friend. If you cannot see the threat, you cannot protect yourself from it. Lights and vision devices are an important part of a security plan, as well as all around useful. Once you know you can see it, you can get the actual means to protect yourself from those things in your threat analysis you decided were the biggest dangers. From wild domesticated animals, wild animals, and self-defense in those cases where it might be needed. Training, weapons, defensive measures. For some this is a much higher priority. Evaluate your needs and make the decision.

They tend to be expensive, so set up a long range budget and start saving money for them now, even if you can’t get it yet due to the overall expense. But as soon as you can, get something that is at least reasonably effective, even if you prefer something else in the future. Don’t put it off protection items to get the penultimate weapons system. Train, train, and train some more with them. And don’t forget operational security. Be very careful who you let know you have preps. There can be repercussions if other people do know.

7. Fire/Lighting/Sharps:
These are important for safety and utility. You will want several means to start a fire, and a couple of items to contain fire. Fire steel, Lifeboat matches, lighters with some tinder for the BOBs. To heat one room in the house, an indoor safe propane or kerosene heater with a supply of fuel stored outdoors.

You will need lighting for indoors & outdoors. A couple of crank flashlights for both BIB and BOB, candles, propane lanterns, battery lanterns. Tactical lights for defense. Get some lighting specifically for preps, even though you probably already have a couple of flashlights with weak batteries and non-working bulbs.

You will need sharps to cut with. Knives/SAK/Multi-tool, axe, saw, etc. I’m fairly sure you have a knife or two in the house. Probably suitable for most uses, except lacking a sheath. But there are some blades that are better for field use and Swiss Army Knives (SAKs), and multi-tools can be handy, and if you need to build shelter or an outdoor fire, axes and saws will save you much labor.

8. Heat/cooling/Cooking:
There quite probably will be a need to maintain acceptable temperatures in home and in the field such as indoor safe propane and kerosene heaters. Gas grill w/tanks, various camping stoves for home or field to cook food when possible (but not in the house). No-cook, and add-hot-water-only foods are desirable in the early stages of a situation. But a hot drink and hot meal can raise the spirits and supply needed warmth in many situations. Not critical at first in some climate, but nice later on.

Others will need to up this on the priority list if in a cold climate and suitable clothes for the weather won’t be available. This could include a generator in addition to non-electrical means so a refrigerator, freezer, AC, stove, medical equipment, fans, etc. can be operated.

9. Medical:
Maintaining everyone’s good health should be a priority all the time. But in some of the scenarios you probably came up with include medical emergencies. Knowledge and the right tools are literally life and death in some instances. Extensive first-aid kits, heavy on the trauma treatment for at the scene and in both BIBs & BOBs and the rest of the alphabet.

These are supplemental kits to your regular home first aid kit. It’s is fine for minor cuts, abrasions, stings, and bruises. In a disaster the injuries are likely to be not only worse, but in great numbers. Stock up with quality in mind and with as much quantity as is possible. Another item to budget early on to get a bit later. And get some training.
Make sure to rotate items that have expiration dates. You can use some of the outdated items in training exercises. Dispose of over the counter medication and any sharps safely.
A note on prescription medications. Unlike OTC meds, prescriptions medications are limited to how much that can be obtained and stored. Some things, like narcotics, are limited to a single 30-day prescription. Other prescriptions can often be written for a 90 day supply. Work with your doctor to get as large of a supply of your prescription medication as you can get and can afford.

10. Morale/Welfare/Recreation:
If you need to be using preps, that means there is a lot of stress involved. The means to help relieve that stress can be very important. Games, some small toys and some paper and pencils, religious books, movies, books. Something to keep the kids quiet and busy, adults entertained or comforted, or just to break the monotony.

There are many more things on the list, but the first ten are the most important, in most circumstances. If your threat analysis includes certain scenarios, things like HAZMAT preparations climb up into those first ten

Some of the additional needs:

11. Information/communication:
We live in a society. You need to know what is going on around you. Radios can provide that service, though there are a few other ways. A wind up radio with NOAA weather alert (this could easily be the first item you should get if you’re in tornado alley or where coastal hurricanes occur), AM/FM, Short wave & a set of FRS/GRMS or MURS radios works for both BIB & BOB, Amateur Radios for LR comms, Binoculars, maps, compass, GPS, flares/mirror/smoke/whistle.

Forewarned is forearmed. If you know it is coming the better you can deal with it. And if you are lost or separated or trapped, having the means to signal will get you back a lot faster.

12. Transportation:
You may or may not be able to stay where you are, though it is usually the best in many scenarios. But some call for evacuation, often suddenly. Not only vehicular, but alternative means, with a way to carry the gear in addition to the people. A vehicular BOV if possible, Motorcycles, bicycles, animals, on foot.

Since, in my opinion, the majority of disasters do not call for bugging out long distances, if at all, transportation is down here on the list. If you live in a tsunami zone, near an active or soon will probably be active volcano, you might want to up the priority level. And if you have children or pets or both, evacuation on foot is very difficult and calls for some more sophisticated measures.

I consider LBE (Load Bearing Equipment) part of transportation. This is equipment to carry your gear and supplies when in the field. BOB/BIB/GHB/INCH bag/GOOD bag, etc. Packs, travois, game cart, bicycle. I am a proponent of taking more than what you can comfortably carry in a back pack. Especially if you have children. Definitely consider having some type of cart to carry heavier weights than you can on your backs, and give the little ones a chance to get off their feet.

13. Tools/Hardware/Cordage:
Besides fire/lighting/and sharps, you will need tools to fix things with, and some hardware to make the repairs to keep the above items in good repair, available, and useable. To get you out if you’re trapped in, to get in to someone that is trapped. Tools and parts to make and repair items. 100+ feet of 550 cord for the BOBs, plenty of rope of several types for general use.

Not everyone knows how to use many of the specialty tools, or are physically unable to. These are primarily for at the scene of a disaster, but some items can be carried in the evacuation kits for minor things on the road. This also includes fishing equipment/hunting equipment/traps/game prep equipment, wild edibles books and gathering equipment, etc for gathering wild foods.

14. Camping gear:
You may not be able to stay in your home, for a variety of reasons. Having adequate camping gear for the family, whether staying in the back yard or when bugging out, can keep you out of a community shelter and simply make life easier. The gear addresses most of the basic human needs, just in a relative portable package. And much of the gear can be used indoors if need be if the power and other services are out. And if you do need to bug out, in bad weather, the gear can be lifesaving.

15. Important Documents:
Having documentation after a major event can be critical for getting help, or avoiding problems. You will need to have originals or copies of IDs for everyone, contact lists, copies of insurance cards, etc. There are several lists of what you need to have. This is another thing that, though probably doesn’t need to be budgeted for (except to get replacement birth certificates and passports) does need to be planned out and executed over time.

You will be working with agencies of the government and big business with some of them and it just takes time. Start early and finish when you can will hopefully be good enough. It is serious enough for me to remind parents about children’s immunization records. Those could be a big deal.

16. Education & Reference Works:
You are going to need to how to do a lot of different things during and after a major event. Start accumulating as you see books and things on sale. Read over them and then put into good storage. Practice those things that are advantageous for ordinary times. Gardening, home canning, auto repair, and wild food gathering and the list goes on. This is long range planning. If you don’t already know how to hunt and fish, and process wild foods, you might want to work it into your schedule as you get more prepared.

17. Finances:
You will need assets during and after an emergency situation. Cash, gold coins, silver coins, a debit card. This is special disaster related finances, not your everyday household budget, which should already include an emergency fund for every day happenings such as car repairs. The things listed can, in various circumstances, be of great help. Or not. It is all situational. Some will take cash but not PMs, and some will take PMs but not cash, some won’t take either. Try to have something set aside if you have to evacuate.

And then there is barter: After a major event, there may be times when cash or precious metals just won’t do. People will be wanting things. This is quite low priority, compared to most of the other things on this second list, but you might want to stock some items to barter/trade to get things you need. For those that don’t think precious metals or cash will be any good, and to just have when having is better than not having. Don’t tie up junior’s college fund for it, but look at some of the many lists on the forums that address trade and barter.

18. Spares:
Don’t forget spares. Spares for everything that uses consumables plus spare parts for critical items. Once you get ‘things’, it doesn’t end. Some will need routine maintenance, some rotation, and some spare parts and extra consumables such as batteries, bulbs, wicks/mantles, fuels.

19. Special Situation Gear:
There are several situations that might come up, depending on what actually happens in the particular disaster, that the more or less normal preps don’t address. Things like the need to climb or rappel, either in the field or within high-rise buildings. Special medical supply and equipment needs for a member of the family, including pregnancy and birthing gear. Specific wild animal threats in an area. Specific climatic/weather threats in an area.

Some of these special situations require specific plans and gear that should be analyzed and budgeted for, then acquired, especially HAZMAT/CBRNE (Hazardous Materials/Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosive) CBRNE gear. Chemical can include transportation accidents, fires, and chemical weapons. Biological can include the common cold up to epidemics, pandemics, to biological weapons. Radiological can include radiation leaks at nuclear power plants, and “Dirty Bombs”. Nuclear includes all the “Atomic War”, “Nuclear War”, and “Global Thermonuclear War” scenarios that include direct radiation, blast, thermal radiation, fallout, and several more. Explosives are pretty much conventional bombs and pyrotechnical devices, including Molotov cocktails and IEDs.

HAZMAT/CBRNE gear is extremely important if needed, but expensive and requires training. Radiation sensors, Respirator, protective suit, other PPE. Bucket, brush, bleach to decontaminate. The cleansing items you probably already have. The PPE items are very important if needed. As stated above, if you live in an area where you have to think about nuke plants melting down, up the priority and get them in the budget for acquisition as soon as possible.

20. Humanitarian Aid:
This is a tough subject and tied closely with operational security. Should you spend your hard earned dollars on supplies for other people not in your immediate family? Or even your immediate family if they have made the decision to not prep? If you do decide to have things for other people to use, there are risks.

One is that once people know you have supplies, they will want more than you are willing to give. Another is that the authorities could confiscate them. If you do decide to set aside some supplies for others, you must decide how you will get them to the people that need them. One way is to just give the supplies to the people face to face. Might not be a good idea unless they are very close friends and you know they will not be giving out the location of where they got the supplies.

Another is to clandestinely leave the items and hope the right people get them. Another method is to anonymously present them to your local church, soup kitchen, the Salvation Army or other humanitarian agency for distribution.

Yet another consideration, especially if you are giving out the things directly, is do you do the very basics, such as rice and beans, while you are eating canned meats, fruits, and comfort foods? How will people react if they know you are eating better (or have a better situation in many ways) than what you are providing for them? A very difficult situation. You will have to make your own decisions

21. Special Needs:
Don’t forget those with special needs. That includes pets, livestock, babies, the elderly, and the disadvantaged. They have the same basic needs that everyone else does which must be met in ways appropriate to their situation. Special foods, medical needs, special clothing and housing. Evaluate occasionally and then obtain, store, and rotate as necessary items for those in your group that have these special needs.

Once into the process of following the budget and the plan is underway, continue to re-evaluate everything on a regular basis. You might need to adjust the budget based on less income, or even higher income, or situations might change that require a change in plans. Prepping isn’t static. You aren’t ever ‘done’. It is a continuing process, just as everything else in life is. Keep it in the back of your mind at all times, and your chances of surviving even some very desperate situations are much higher than the norm.

As much as I'd like to take credit for writing this most informative masterpiece, I'm afraid that I can't. If you found this helpful or just want more reading like this, check out www.survivalistboards.com

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

How to bury your stuff; about me

How to secure your valuables; the ultimate security and peace of mind. http://www.howtoburyyourstuff.com/about-me/

Need food stamps? Welfare?


Give a man a fish...


10 tips for burying your stuff underground

http://www.howtoburyyourstuff.com/general-tips/

The Mentor, 1986

Another one got caught today, it's all over the papers.  "Teenager
Arrested in Computer Crime Scandal", "Hacker Arrested after Bank Tampering"...
        Damn kids.  They're all alike.

        But did you, in your three-piece psychology and 1950's technobrain,
ever take a look behind the eyes of the hacker?  Did you ever wonder what
made him tick, what forces shaped him, what may have molded him?
        I am a hacker, enter my world...
        Mine is a world that begins with school... I'm smarter than most of
the other kids, this crap they teach us bores me...
        Damn underachiever.  They're all alike.

        I'm in junior high or high school.  I've listened to teachers explain
for the fifteenth time how to reduce a fraction.  I understand it.  "No, Ms.
Smith, I didn't show my work.  I did it in my head..."
        Damn kid.  Probably copied it.  They're all alike.

        I made a discovery today.  I found a computer.  Wait a second, this is
cool.  It does what I want it to.  If it makes a mistake, it's because I
screwed it up.  Not because it doesn't like me...
                Or feels threatened by me...
                Or thinks I'm a smart ass...
                Or doesn't like teaching and shouldn't be here...
        Damn kid.  All he does is play games.  They're all alike.

        And then it happened... a door opened to a world... rushing through
the phone line like heroin through an addict's veins, an electronic pulse is
sent out, a refuge from the day-to-day incompetencies is sought... a board is
found.
        "This is it... this is where I belong..."
        I know everyone here... even if I've never met them, never talked to
them, may never hear from them again... I know you all...
        Damn kid.  Tying up the phone line again.  They're all alike...

        You bet your ass we're all alike... we've been spoon-fed baby food at
school when we hungered for steak... the bits of meat that you did let slip
through were pre-chewed and tasteless.  We've been dominated by sadists, or
ignored by the apathetic.  The few that had something to teach found us will-
ing pupils, but those few are like drops of water in the desert.

        This is our world now... the world of the electron and the switch, the
beauty of the baud.  We make use of a service already existing without paying
for what could be dirt-cheap if it wasn't run by profiteering gluttons, and
you call us criminals.  We explore... and you call us criminals.  We seek
after knowledge... and you call us criminals.  We exist without skin color,
without nationality, without religious bias... and you call us criminals.
You build atomic bombs, you wage wars, you murder, cheat, and lie to us
and try to make us believe it's for our own good, yet we're the criminals.

        Yes, I am a criminal.  My crime is that of curiosity.  My crime is
that of judging people by what they say and think, not what they look like.
My crime is that of outsmarting you, something that you will never forgive me
for.

        You may stop this individual,
but you can't stop us all... after all, we're all alike. And we are an idea, you cannot stop an idea.
- The Mentor, 1986

Sunday, November 10, 2013

JFK and Walter Cronkite






Man-to-man interview in 1963 - what politics used to be, not the puppet show we see today.

How to Bury a Laptop






How to bury a laptop using only common household products. A step-by-step article with photos http://www.howtoburyyourstuff.com/how-to-bury-laptop/

How to bury your guns: updated page






Recently updated page, backed by many years experience. http://www.howtoburyyourstuff.com/firearms-and-ammunition/

Saturday, November 9, 2013

How to Bury Your Stuff is now on Facebook!!


How to Bury Your Stuff is now on Facebook! For new preppers and survivalists, just a little help to get you started successfully caching your gear or valuables in the safest possible place. Why bury? Because no one can take what they cannot find.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/How-to-Bury-Your-Stuff/220064754835153

How to Bury Your Food






New page today! How to bury your food, for new preppers. http://www.howtoburyyourstuff.com/bury-food/

Friday, November 8, 2013

Why weapons of war belong on our streets


“Weapons of war do not belong on our streets” was a direct quote from Barack Obama concerning the AR15 and AK47 styled semi-automatic rifles so common in America. These rifles can carry 30rd (or higher) magazines, have a rapid rate of fire and can be reloaded in a two or three seconds.

Let’s step back to the year 1776, muzzleloaders, or muskets as I believe they were called, were “weapons of war” in 1776. These muskets were the high-tech “badass” assault weapons of the late 1700′s and without them being readily available to the citizens of the 13 British colonies then I’m afraid we might still be under British rule.

I’m reminded of a passage I read last year. I’ve searched and searched but cannot find it. In any case, it went something like this…

“This new weapon is so destructive, so lethal, that no man in good conscience would ever deploy it even against his worst enemies. It changes the fundamental nature of war.”
There was more to it than that, and much more eloquent, but that’s the gist. As one read the passage one naturally thinks the author is referring to nuclear weapons. But no. The author was writing about – the crossbow.

The point made in that book was that weapons do not change the fundamental nature of conflict and war and this is the very foundation for the second amendment.

Assault weapons and their definitions change as technology changes. “Weapons of war” may be different than they were 200+ years ago but their place in our society has not changed.

Weapons of war belong in every home, next to every couch and next to every bed, just as they did in 1776.


My Seagate HDD

This what the HDD in the following post looked like before packaging.

My personal hard drive; currently underground


Seagate Backup Plus sealed in FoodSaver bag with desiccant; planning on digging it up in 
three years, swapping it out and testing it :)

Thursday, November 7, 2013

From one American to another

From one American to another

A plea to U.S. law enforcement officers and U.S. military service-members

This letter is directed to all law enforcement officers living in and employed in the United States by any
level of government (including any type of peace officer; magistrate or officer of the court; township,
parish or city police officers; county sheriffs and deputies; state troopers; state highway patrol officers;
DOT enforcement; state or commonwealth Department of Public Safety officers; state fish and game or
wildlife enforcement; federal authorities like the U.S. Park Police or FEMA and sworn agents of the
FBI, DEA, ATF and DHS) and all enlisted or commissioned military service-members of the United
States armed forces (including all state or commonwealth National Guardsmen and Reservists; and all
active-duty or reserve Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, Navy and Marine personnel employed by the
Unites States Department of Defense) stationed anywhere in the world.

The American government is broken. The “system” has failed in so many ways and our once-proud
country is in the process of collapsing. Our (yours and mine) Bill of Rights is gone and a large
percentage of the American people have lost all faith in the individuals that we've elected and entrusted
to “lead” us; however, the incompetence of our leaders is just too profound of a subject to delve into
and that's not the purpose of this letter. Most Americans who are old enough, educated enough, sober
enough and alert enough can clearly see an impending catastrophe on the horizon. The rest (the
majority, I'm afraid) are too worried about their Nike Shox or iPad to notice; or too dependent on the
same broken system to question it.

In the last year, history, sociology and economic experts have agreed that the United States of America
simply cannot continue as it has been. For a lot of us, our country feels like a runaway train speeding
towards a massive cliff with no brakes; and the scariest thing is that even though we see what is
happening, we feel helpless in being able to actually do anything about it. During the past 20 years this
helpless feeling has evolved into apprehension and during the past 3 or 4 years apprehension has
rapidly evolved into fear. Fear, driven and antagonized by mainstream media, has turbo-charged
something called “the prepper movement.” Known as “survivalists” or “doomsday preppers;” average
Americans who are concerned about providing the basic necessities for themselves and their families
have started hoarding or hiding food, burying firearms, learning survival skills like gardening or
trapping and organizing coordinated groups to pull together as prepper communities in the event of any
variation of an economic collapse. The movement exploded exponentially before the 21st of December
2012 and no one truly knows how many “preppers” there are in the United States. I've personally done
quite a bit of research in the past few months and my best guess would be at least three million active
preppers in America; but as I said, that's a guess at best.

I realize that one must tread lightly when speaking for others. As a result, for the rest of this script I will
only use the words “we, us, our” when speaking for myself and a large group of survival preppers that I
have only recently met personally and discussed this subject with at great depth. For “us,” America is
not a government or a piece of land, America is an idea. This group of people lives in my region and it
consists of families; educated, sober and functional individuals who are true patriots. Like you, they
believe in defending their Constitutional rights against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. It is
only with their permission and blessing that I post this letter.

“We” are labeled by mainstream media and possibly our own government as being extremists, paranoid
or if not yet; we will eventually be labeled as terrorists. Although part of our population consists of
both active and retired police and military personnel; we are not combatants and not fighters. We do
NOT want to fight anyone. We do NOT wish for an economic collapse, overthrow of the government,
civil war, world war or any other variation of any apocalyptic event. We are not war-mongers, we are
simply scared Americans; terrified for our loved one's futures and afraid of our own government(s).
Since you are employed by that government or governments; we are afraid of you.

One can do a search on YouTube and quickly find dozens of videos showing brutal and unnecessary
violence by American police and military personnel. We know that these videos are the “exception”
and not “the rule.” We know that the wonderful things that you do on a daily basis, the things that come
at a great personal cost to you and your family, are rarely publicized. We know that your lives are
difficult; political correctness and bullshit in general, combined with the constant threat to your
physical safety and time away from your loved ones is unimaginable for some of us. We also realize
that your sacrifices are for the most part overlooked or under-appreciated. This concept is a paradox as
there are “bad apples” in every demographic. We realize that there are homegrown terror groups
blending in with the survivalists and the militias and that it's your job, your passion, to apprehend these
people. We want these criminals and psychos caught just as much as you do.

True militias, preppers and survivalists are secretive for a reason but not because we are terrorists or
criminals. Our federal government is so blatantly incompetent and criminal that we as Americans can
no longer ignore the “conspiracy theories.” The rumors and supporting evidence of impending martial
law and civil war are too widespread and put quite simply; we are afraid. We sneak around hiding food,
supplies and weapons not of malicious intent, nor as the result of a criminal conspiracy against you or
our fellow countrymen; but out of self-preservation and concern for our future and the future of our
loved ones.

I titled this script “From one American to another: A plea to U.S. law enforcement officers and military
personnel” and as an American child or teenager many years ago, I wouldn't have believed that I would
ever write such a letter. I understand that you have an obligation and an oath to follow orders, but my
plea to all U.S. law enforcement and U.S. military personnel is to ask that when that day comes,
PLEASE don't turn your sidearms and rifles against us.

We have no intention of ever hurting another human being and almost half of us, myself included, do
not even own a firearm. From one American to another, we are not enemies. Your leaders will lie to you
just as quickly as ours will lie to us and we depend on you to protect us. Stop and think about it for a
moment, we have more in common with each other than our political leaders and news services would
have us believe.

Just like you, we believe in our Constitution, and we are divided only by our own prejudices and fears.
Despite whatever your predispositions about us may be, we are on the same side. We are fellow
countrymen and fellow patriots. Regardless of what you may read on CNN or what your commanding
officers might say; we are not your enemy and you are not ours.

Cheryl, October 2013 www.howtoburyyourstuff.com

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An impossible question

How far would you go to protect your loved ones? An impossible question...


The world is at war and the United States has been invaded. Thousands of enemy soldiers have neared your hometown and you've heard many stories of these soldiers raping women and torturing and/or killing everyone.
Yourself, your spouse, your children and about 30 of your neighbors have taken shelter in the basement of a nearby home just as you all hear several trucks arrive on the street outside. Dozens of soldiers armed with assault rifles begin searching all of the homes on that block, looking for anyone they can find. Most of the 30 or so people with you are unarmed so fighting the soldiers would only end in a massacre...but the trapdoor to your basement hideaway has been expertly crafted and well hidden so as long as everyone in your group remains totally quiet, you will not be found. At that moment a baby in your group begins to cry. The baby is approx 6 months old and the parents cannot be found as one of the men in your group found the baby abandoned in a car just before the soldiers arrived. Efforts to silence the child only agitate it further and the baby begins to scream.
At that moment you are all faced with a dilemma and you must decide quickly. If the soldiers hear the childs' screams they will likely kill, rape or torture everyone in the basement and you have only seconds to decide...could you be the one to walk over to the screaming child, place your hand over it's mouth & nose and smother it to save yourself, your family and the other 30 or so people in your group?
The results? When I first wrote this about a month ago, I used Facebook to ask this question to 25 mothers and 25 fathers (not the same couples) and you may or may not be surprised by the answers.
Only 3 of the fathers stated that they could indeed suffocate the baby; the other 22 dads said that they would be unable to do it and thus allow the rape and or murder of themselves and their families.
Only 1 of the mothers that I asked stated that she would be incapable of suffocating the baby. Most of the other 24 moms stated that they wouldn't hesitate; if it was their child versus another, then although it would be a terribly horrible thing, they would do it in a "heartbeat" to protect their babies. I quote one mom as saying "Fuck'm, nobody's hurting my children."
I recently joined the prepper movement and constructed this moral dilemma out of sheer curiosity. Men have always been vaulted as being protectors of the family but now I have my doubts.


How far would you go?

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Monday, November 4, 2013

Happy Guy Fawkes Day!

I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason and plot should ever be forgot. Behind this mask there is more than just flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea.
Remember, remember the fifth of November. The gunpowder treason and plot.

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