OPSEC Tip: How to Hide your Bugout Location

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This is not our cabin but it is the closest I can get to
showing you how our back porch is built around a
mature tree until I can get a good pic myself.

Wifey and I have begun cleaning and prepping an old family cabin that has been unused for several years.  In fact, when we called to have the water and electric turned on for inspection, we were told deposits were needed as the services have not been on in over seven years.

One of THE coolest things I found out about this cabin was something I didn't even realize at first.  You see, I had Google mapped it and tried viewing the cabin from Google Earth to get an idea of what was in store for us.  I could see the neighbors just as plain as day but I couldn't see OUR cabin. Hmmm.

I mapped out the closest water source and saw tons of forest nearby (mostly pine and cedar).  I felt I had a good general feel for the area and looked forward to the three hour drive north of town.  We took the easiest route which no doubt would be the first to jam up should a catastophe strike.  Luckily, there are numerous alternate routes to get us to safety.  It just might take us a tad longer.

Upon our first arrival to the cabin, we did a complete walk-around.  Grandpa had built a frame around a single wide trailer from (I'm guessing) the 1970's.  He, as a Master Carpenter (degree'd from Arizona State), carefully crafted an additional room on the trailer and proceeded to build both a front and back deck. That's where I found the hidden treasure...on the back deck.

Trying to spare as many old pine trees as possible, grandpa decided to leave one particular large pine right where it grew.  Which happened to be right in the middle of the back deck he was building.  As he crafted the deck porch extending off the back of the framed trailer, he cut a large hole in the decking so that the boards encircled the large pine but hindered it's growth not one bit.

And therein lies the OPSEC tip: the huge canopy atop this old pine tree almost entirely covered our cabin (or atleast a good portion of it). The rest of the cabin was shrouded by the other trees on either side of the home.  Turns out, that is why I couldn't see the cabin from Google Earth.  This place has been there for 30+ years so I'm sure the all-watching Google satellite has passed over several times.

So if you want to keep your place hidden, consider building your trees into the design of your retreat and not just cutting them down to make room.

OPSEC Tools Worth Adding to the Plan

Good OPSEC is partly habit and partly having the right tools. A trail camera lets you monitor a remote location without needing to physically check on it often, a faraday bag keeps phones from broadcasting location data when that matters, and a simple privacy window film keeps prying eyes from seeing what is stored inside a structure. Small details like these add up to real operational security.

Survival Preparedness includes Physical Fitness

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Watching a live haboob (aka
dust storm) roll through town
from inside the gym.

As made obvious by my sporadic blog entries these last few months, I've been a little busy. Among the many things Wifey and I are striving towards this year, physical fitness is at the top of our list. During our 15 years of marriage and concurrent with having six daughters...we've become a little (cough, cough) out of shape. 

I've noticed a few things when it comes to physical fitness:

1) You never see a fat marathoner

and

2) I've never heard a farmer say "Today at the gym..."

What I can deduce from this is that if you want to lose weight, you don't need a fitness club membership or fancy workout equipment.  Just get your butt out the door and starting running. Once you get to the point where you can run 26.2 miles (marathon), look down at your belly.  There shouldn't be much of it left.

And farmers work SO much on the farm that they don't need to go to the gym for a workout.  Visit Rural-Revolution a few times a week and see how much time they spend running down their cattle or working on the land. I can see where the phrase "strong as an ox" comes from...its all that lifting, digging, pulling, etc.

With that said, from my side of the city fence, I have a need for a gym. For reasons beyond my control, I feel enormous amounts of guilt if I leave kids at home to go exercise by myself.  With children ranging down to three years of age, they can't exactly go for a jog with me either.  Now sure, I can ask the older girls to run beside me and load the three younger ones up in some kind of jogging buggy thing but seriously...that sounds more stressful to me than anything else. And don't forget the lovely 120 degree days here in Phoenix that SO lend themselves to exercising outdoors.  Every tried to jog in a haboob?

Our favorite gym.

So, Wifey and I opted to get a gym membership that includes daycare.  My three little ones can play to their hearts' content, complete with little kiddie workout equipment for ages 6 and up and a rock climbing wall.  My older three can workout with us or on their own.  If they have homework, there are tables by the cafe to sit and study. For $99 per month, Wifey and I can workout as much as we want, get two hours of childcare per day (which is worth its weight in gold = two hours of uninterupted adult conversation!), and get healthy.

Being a non-farmer, my job involves a lot of sitting behind a computer or sitting while I perform an ultrasound exam on a patient. My job, like many other's I suspect, lends itself to becoming physically out-of-shape. So, until I move to my own farm and start working my own land, I'll have to frequent a fitness club to take my kids off my hands while I lift weights or climb a stair stepper.

Now, onto the good news.  Wifey and I decided in 2011 that it was time we spent a little extra money on ourselves for self improvement. Having devoted 100% of our time, effort and money to our family has given our kids a solid foundation in many ways but we were setting a horrible example of what healthy people should look like.

Wifey went first with a pesonal trainer for six months. She lost several pounds and dress sizes which, unfortunately, led to the NEED for a new wardrobe. Right. Anywho, good for her. I'm proud of her and all her hard work has paid off. My turn started almost a month ago. I'll be going six months with a trainer as well. One month in and I've already had to start punching new holes into my church belt.  Old shorts with buttons that couldn't reach their respective button holes are now needing a belt to hold them up. Hooray!

My point is this: you can spend years prepping as we have done. We've stored the food, water, bugout bags, medical supplies, etc etc.  But when the time comes to put feet to the asphalt, I would have been grabbing for my inhaler by the time we hit the end of our block. Life is about the survival of the fittest.  You can't wait until you are at your bugout location and start to shovel out your garden/latrine/stock pond to realize you are too out of shape to do what needs to be done.

Get in shape...before it is too late.

(Best Arnold voice): Do it! Do it NOW!

Home Fitness Gear That Supports Real Preparedness

Physical fitness is one of the most overlooked parts of prepping, and a home setup does not need to be complicated. A set of adjustable dumbbells covers strength training without needing a gym membership, a weighted vest is great for building the kind of load-bearing endurance a real bugout would demand, and a simple jump rope is one of the cheapest, most effective cardio tools around. Being fit enough to actually execute a plan matters as much as having the gear itself.

At My BugOut Location, ATM is Empty.

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Wifey and I are on our second trip for the month to our BugOut location three hours North of Phoenix. We've cleaned up the long abondoned family property and have begun repairs taking note of cache space as we begin to relocate supplies from city to country.

JWR's humble essay today on the probable coming bank runs here in the US spurred me to test the local system here in the hinterboonies. Squirming as I hit "Yes" to the $2 fee for withdrawing MY OWN MONEY from a generic ATM (no Bank of Americas up here), I am quickly notified upon my second withdrawal that the machine is out if money.

I withdrew $200 before the well went dry. Now, I don't know how many ATMs are in this sleepy little town but I do know there are a lot more people than ATMs.

Don't wait until the last minute to withdraw some cash folks. Get your 5's, 10's & 20's out now and get whatever silver you can afford while it is at a low ($28/oz last I checked). I receive no remuneration from and gladly endorse GainesvilleCoins.com. They are affordable and ship very discretely. One shipment threw Wifey off when it came addressed from Joe's Plumbing Supply. She asked me "What plumbing supplies did you buy that are SO heavy?" LoL.

Get it before it hits $50/oz and hide some bills away. Hopefully you have some tangibles stored for barter. Don't forget your ammo stockpile too.

Peace Out...from the Hinterboonies (and man is it chilly up here) ;-)

OJD

Keeping Cash Reserves Ready for Situations Like This

An empty ATM at your own bugout location is a good wake-up call about keeping physical cash on hand. A small fireproof safe is worth having to store an emergency cash reserve securely, and a discreet travel money belt keeps some on hand while you are actually on the move. Banking systems and ATMs are convenient right up until the moment they are not.

Use Technology To Start Your Prepping

Use Technology To Start Your Prepping

Anyone paying attention to the news today can decifer the urgency to prepare for a coming crisis. If you think there is no chance of any crisis ever reaching your doorstep, I doubt you would be reading this blog. If you ARE aware of the possiblities of natural disasters, financial meltdowns, and partial societal collapse but you know others who are disbelievers, the best thing to do at this point is prepare to have a little extra on hand for them. If they haven't figured it out by now, odds are...they aren't going to.

Thankfully we aren't in the stoneage and we have some significant technology to use in our aid to acquire what we need to survive a potential life disruption. This post is written based on my first hand knowledge and use of technology to acquire prep items quickly and inexpensively. If any suggestions here seem foreign to you, remember back to the last cell phone upgrade where you had to re-learn how to text, how to save contact information...all that stuff that you had learned so well with your last phone, but eventually re-learned. If you don't have a cell phone, maybe you can relate adapting from your coffee cans tied together with string to your rotary dial phone? But I digress...

The following is a list of ways I have used to acquire a large portion of my prepping supplies.

CraigList. The biggest of the online garage sales. Not only can you search online ads from your computer desktop or laptop. With the invent of smart phones, you can use a specialized application to be notified within MINUTES of the buyer's posting. I use an app called CraigsNotifica. I wanted an inexpensive clay pigeon thrower to practice my target shooting. I created a search for "clay thrower", told it what zip codes to look for the item, input the price range I was willing to spend, I elected to only see posts that have pictures (I want to see it BEFORE I go look at it), and I tell the app to check CraigsList every five minutes.

With all these built in parameters, If someone posts a clay pigeon thrower that meets MY criteria, I am notified within five minutes of that item being posted. That means I am mostly likely to be the first person to call the buyer and my odds of getting to it first are substantial. I have purchased a large portion of my preps with this method and still have several active searches on my Droid right now.

GPS, Mapping & Garage Sales. Garage and estate sales (foreclosure liquidations) are often published online in your local newpaper classified ads, ahead of the sale. Use your smart phone GPS Mapping app or desktop Google Maps to plug in a handful of sales on an upcoming weekend. Use the maps to plot the shortest distance between each location which will also serve to move you quickly from sale to sale and save gas. Start early and take snacks for the ride. You'll be amazed at what you find at these sales. With all the foreclosures these days, folks are desperate to sell off their unwanted items quickly before the banks come take their homes. I came across one gentleman who sold me his backyard shed, large safe, children's bedroom furniture, and a stand up freezer. After a little conversation, he threw in all his firewood, firewood rack and spare propane grill so he wouldn't have to move it himself to a new location.

Online deal sites. There are numerous websites on the internet today that that consist of a community of "deal finders" or people that report items on sale when they find them. Two such sites are SlickDeals and FatWallet. Subscribe for free and become a member. This will allow you to do virtually the same thing as the CraigList app only you will set email alerts to notify you as soon as other people post deals. I wanted to stock up on honey last year. I signed in at SlickDeals and went to the User Control Panel. There you will see a section on the left called Deal Alerts. Click Add Deal Alert and input your info. I assigned the Keyword Phrase to "honey," told it to send alert to "email" and notify me "instantly."

Every time a member of the site posted a deal on honey, I was notified within an hour. There was a smoking deal on honey at Amazon one day and I bought Ambrosia pure honey from a Colorado supplier with free shipping. I bought enough to supply my family for a year and I didn't even have to leave my house. Once you find the item you want, at the price you are happy with, you simply return to the deal site and delete your Deal Alert.

FreeCycle. This is an online free recyling website. Items are only allowed to be posted for free. You may find a used microwave or firewood for your winter stockpile. Since you can post things "offered" or "wanted," you'll want to set your filter to "offers only" to see only the items being given away. Be patient and see what pops up in your neck of the woods.

By using today's technology of instant email alerts and blazingly fast search queries, you can sytematically acquire the items you deem important to you and your family with minimal effort. No more driving to stores and paying retail prices. Put your request out there, at the price your willing to pay, and let the deals come to you.

Happy Deal Hunting

Orange Jeep Dad

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My Article Posted on SurvivalBlog.com Tonight!

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My guest post article has posted on SurvivalBlog this evening. If you are interested in reading The Top Ten Lessons Learned from the DoS Attack on SurvivalBlog, by all means...go ahead.

I've wanted to contribute to SB for a couple of years now but didn't feel I had any substantial knowledge to add for an audience so submerged in preparedness and survival intelligence.

After being somewhat at the forefront of the DoS attack and helping to get the word out, the idea occured to me that I FINALLY had something to write about and submit to SurvivalBlog.

I hope you enjoy reading it. I sure enjoyed writing it. Thanks again to James Rawles, his wife Avalanche Lily and all the advertisers that help keep his website afloat.

~OJD

Sharing Your Own Prepping Knowledge

Getting published on a site like SurvivalBlog is a great way to give back to the community, and a decent setup makes writing and documenting projects a lot easier. A comfortable adjustable laptop stand makes long writing sessions easier on your neck and back, and a good external wireless keyboard speeds up typing up articles like this one. Getting your knowledge out there is worth the extra effort.

I Finally Posted a Contest Submission to Survival Blog.

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Me, after my first guest post on
Rural-Revolution.com

As much as I enjoy writing, I don't put much faith into thinking anyone REALLY wants to read it. For that reason, I've only submitted a few contest entries over the past two years. The first post was at Rural Revolution and was a complete bomb. I'm not sure exactly why but posts there normally gets dozens of comments on articles and I got exactly...wait for it...NONE. The only comment is me, bellyaching about having no comments. Yep, just checked. Almost one year later and I still have NO comments on the article.

The second guest post I had published came out at  the same time and had a little warmer of a reception over at TheSurvivalistBlog.net. This article garnered 41 comments and makes me feel a little better. So, you can see my apprehension in submitting my third guest post to my all-time fav website: SurvivalBlog.com. The Grand-daddy of all survival websites.

IF my article gets accepted, I'll post a link to it here on my blog when it goes live. I will NOT, however, be holding my breath for a great response. Of course, I just realized, SurvivalBlog doesn't have a comment section! Hey, I'm feeling better already :-)

Update 06-05-12:  My guest article is posted! Linked above.

Prizes Worth Entering Prepper Contests For

Contest submissions like this one are a great way to get involved in the community, and a lot of the prize categories are things worth owning regardless. Items like a quality multitool or a tactical backpack show up often as contest prizes on prepper sites, and both are worth buying outright even if you do not win. Either way, submitting articles keeps you engaged with the broader community.

SurvivalBlog.com being DoS attacked and is down

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SurvivalBlog.com being DoS attacked and is down

Update from (Avalanche) Lily Rawles (21:48 MST):

Apparently, there's a racist in Texas that has threatened JWR's livelihood and attacked SurvivalBlog.  The following is a quoted excerpt from the threat as sent to me directly from Lily. She asked that I leave out the cursing and I will happily oblige.

Lily: "It appears to have been a "pinging" DOS attack, most likely instigated by the man in Texas that anonymously sent me this little missive, last week:"

 

Hacker: "You "N" (word removed)  lover you have five days to take all links and any metion for links below off your site. If you dont do it I will post everyone of you crappy books on prirate sites and kiss your "N" (word removed) loving income from them good by. I can and haved posted privated books up screwed up a company before They are almost dead kiss http://www.survivalbooks.com/ good f***ing good by they could not take our hacks after relating to you f***.  We even take their 4000 books off kindle. Don't believe watch their books all go by by after Monday we have people work at amazon we can get their books off watch yours go to to. You must post I hate "N"s on your site or it happen to you to to. Time u feel our power see jewish hate on your site to. we hack good , F*** you them all u http://www.safecastle.com/ http://www.everlastingseeds.com/   http://www.survivalebooks.com/   http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/  http://www.makingthebestofbasics.com/

OJD: I left punctuation "as is". They hope to get the site back up by "Monday afternoon". Please pray for the Rawles in hopes that God will continue to bless their family and deter this miscreant down a different, less harmful path and keep all the loyal advertisers/friends of Survival Blog safe from harm.

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My original post is below:

I noticed SurvivalBlog.com is down. JWR was kind enough to upload an index page explaining that SB is getting hit with a DoS attack (Denial of Service).

When you visit SurvivalBlog, either by URL (typing the words, Www.SurvivalBlog.com) or by IP address (using numbers,  http://95.143.193.148/ ) you come to a temporary blank page. The blank white page states that SB is under a DoS attack and to please NOT refresh or reload the page.

Here's why:

Let's say you own a flower shop and 100% of your customers buy over the phone.  There is an evil competitor down the street that wants to put you out of business, even if only for one day. He has some friends come over to his location and they all bring their cell phones. Everyone begins calling your shop at 8am when you start your business day. They either make up bogus sales orders or just hang up when you answer. They continue to call ALL day until closing time.

You were not able to take any legitimate orders for that day. You're not closed permanently but you were effectively closed for a full day.

This is similar to a DoS attack.  Only, the bad guys can use any computer that they control to "auto dial" your number (visit your site) and they just sit back and watch. Once enough page loads are being requested at the same time,  within a certain time frame, the server hosting said website will shut down due to bandwidth restrictions. It can resume once the massive attacking traffic has stopped.

So DON'T reload or refresh the SurvivalBlog homepage or you'll be adding to the "traffic" which is crushing SB. Take a deep breath and come back tomorrow.

In the meantime, remind yourself that this is a good reason to buy JWR's CD archive of his entire site. It is only $4.97 on Amazon right now and includes 2005 through 2011. Hurry, it might not be there long.  Also, there are a handful of programs out there that allow you to "crawl" his site daily and archive it yourself for free. I like Black Widow myself.

I look forward to the juicy details JWR is sure (I hope)  to relay to us.

Survival Blog's IP (dotted quad) is http://64.92.111.122/dottedquad.html and has remained up during the DoS attack.

Take Care.

Update: SB's low bandwidth offshore site http://www.survivalblog.se/ is also down.

As of 5-27-12 20:37

Our Swedish server is currently under a DoS attack.
Please bookmark both of our servers:
http://64.92.111.122/ [U.S. Server]
http://95.143.193.148/ [Swedish Server]
One or both of them may go down.