Survival Chronicles of Jim - Chapter 27 (Preparing for a Pandemic)

From Urban Man: I continue to receive e-mails asking about Jim and by now you know that Jim is real, just has a different name for the articles that chronicle his journey into the world of prepping as an OPSEC measure. I'm sure you all understand. 

From Jim: Dear Urban Man, I have instituted your vehicle preps - meaning the additional stored water, rifle, cammo netting's and enhanced get home bag in my vehicle.  And actually outfitted my son's vehicle in an alike manner. But I see my traveling for work, or at least the longer trips, to start falling off significantly. I have reduced advertising for my computer services and have even turned down one contract last week. It won't be too long before I stop doing that work altogether, move back to my original city, and rely on my home based business which more than sufficient income for me to live just fine. And I also have my rental properties. Now, I have to stop my routine vacation trips! Went to Cancun a few months ago. But you know that as you called me an idiot for traveling into Mexico. 

One of my rentals is a duplex. I had lived in one of the units until I moved to a larger city to pursue some database contracts. None of my renters knew I owned the properties as I used a friend of mine's husband, who is a handyman, to be my property management. In fact, he is now fully engaged in prepping himself (his wife is still leery) and with his general handyman skills and mechanical knowledge, he is a key part of my survival group - once I move back to that city. 

We talked about medical supplies and material and I can see that I am deficient in that category. I will start purchasing bandages, gauze, medical tape, hydrogen peroxide, Isopropyl alcohol, stethoscopes, blood pressure cuffs, thermometers, face masks, latex and rubber gloves, 3 mil large black trash bags (for contaminated waste) and some vinyl rain suits for protection against infected people, as well as buying some of the military style trauma packs that you sent me links to. Buying cases of the 4 oz Purell Hand Sanitizer and the 2 Liter pump containers is a good idea too. I will ensure all people in my survival team will carry a 4 oz container of Purell as well as a face mask and latex gloves as a matter of standard procedures. 

I will also start thinking about the security procedures you said I must have when encountering "strap hangers" who will inevitably find me and my group once the collapse hits. I will ensure we can engage these people from protective positions both from firearms but also for infection protection. I will be prepared to rig some kind of decontamination station for me and my people after any contact is made.

I know that with all the recent news about Ebola and the recommended 21 day quarantine process (some say 42 day isolation process) that we will need to implement against any late arising symptoms. I will plan on segregating any people we take in and ensure a separation from new people and my team until we can determine they are disease free. And like you said, this added time will give me a chance to assess these people more closely for their value to potential problems they may create. 

I don't want to sound like a bleeding heart that will expose my security willy-nilly to any people needing help. I will be cautious. But until we bug out to our remote site I can't help but think that even though I am off the main refugee routes out of the city, I know I will get approached by people wanting, even demanding help. I will be very selective in accepting strap hangers. Due to their recent Ebola outbreak, and who knows what may crop up in the future, any people that have ANY symptoms of Ebola or other diseases such as nausea and vomiting; diarrhea; red eyes; any rashes; coughing; bleeding; and sores just won't be accepted. Anybody that I have to detain will be detained from a safety zone of at least 10 feet and no one will be handled without basic protective gear. 

I know that people I turn away may/will become enemies and threats. I intend to minimize that through a low profile but ultimately be prepared to defend ourselves.....against all threats.

Survival Chronicles of Jim - Chapter 26 (Practicing The Routine)

From Urban Man: I have received a few e-mails asking about what happened to Jim from the Survival Chronicles of Jim Chapters. Others ask if Jim is real. Oh yeah, Jim is real. Jim is not his real name, but we all have our secrets. Jim was working for friends of mine as a computer tech on contract and as he contract expired he now is working out of his house as a systems developer or some such computer gobbleygook but it requires him to travel 3.5 hours one way a couple days a week with a one or two night stay over in a hotel. I sent Jim the book "Going Home" by A. American, a good read by the way, so he could see some situations for war gaming if he had to make it back home.I asked Jim to send me an e-mail with my intent of publishing it on this site.

Urban Man,

All set up in my routine now. Still have rental houses to manage from afar and my other home based business, but my software and database work for a major company requiring me to travel 3 1/2 hours by car and staying overnight and sometimes several nights during the week. At least my car is a business expense and tax deductible, not to mention a rolling survival platform, or at least I started developing this concept.

I carry the large bag with rollers and backpack straps (Urban Man's note: a FPG deployment bag) that you gave me. This is my Get Home Bag, a la the "Going Home" novel you sent me. I know you told me to think about keeping my SKS in my vehicle with me, and although I keep all my accessories for this rifle in my Get Home bag, I have yet to take the gun on any of my work trips. Maybe it's an idea I have to get used to. At least I have my Walther pistol. In my Get Home bag I have these items:
Load Bearing Molle Vest with Camel-Bak with mag pouches for my SKS ammunition. I have the conversion kit for the SKS to use those banana magazines, with the the metal lip extension so it locks into place, but have not converted it yet.

• Silva Compass 
• Spare Fire Starting Kit 
• Green Fleece 
• Gortex Rain Suit 
• Snugpak Sleeping Bag 
• 8 civilian type versions of military meals 
• Pack of assorted nut snacks and granola bars 
• 6 packets of instant soup and a tube of bullion cubes 
• Trauma Medical Kit 
• 2 camouflage ponchos 
• Hammock net that I can use to thread plants into for a camouflage or an impromptu fishing net 
• Small butane stove with one fuel cartridge with cooking pot 
• 40 feet of green para-cord 
• A Small Fishing Kit* 
• Firearms Cleaning Kit 
• Field cap 
• Aviators gloves 
• Empty five quarter canteen so I have extra water carrying capacity 
• Wire saw 

* The fishing kit was an adventure. Not knowing anything, I went into a Sporting Goods chain store and was looking around, not knowing what to get. One of the sales guys helped me but when he asked what I was looking for, I had to tell him "Basically, an small adventure fishing kit in case I have to survive something like a plane crash in a remote area." He looked at me like I was an idiot, but I ended up buying hooks, lead weight, fishing line, and a couple of small, multi-colored lures. I learned that there is a whole culture behind fishing.

I carry that soft computer case you gave me with the molle webbing attachment as my urban Bug Out Bag. I only really have to carry a laptop, x drives, a couple of software discs, and some cables so I have plenty of room for the three boxes of SKS ammunition and my little Walther .22 pistol. I used the extra ammunition pouches attached to the outside of this case to carry bottled water in. Usually I leave the pistol and the ammunition inside my vehicle when I am in a building. I have my little fire starting kit in a zip lock bag, several bags of nuts and a couple nutrition bars, a folding knife and a "AA" Pelican flashlight and extra batteries. I carry 6 one ounce Silver rounds and a roll of old quarters for their silver melt value. Not to mention I rarely travel without several hundred dollars in cash.

Taking your advice I have driven different routes from my house to my work site. On the route that minimizes the high traffic areas and the interstate segments, it will take me an additional 45- 60 minutes of driving time because of all the slowdowns, speed traps, small communities and single lane roads. Like you said this longer driving route will probably become my primary way to get home in any major collapse event due to the most lower chance of traffic jams and refugees.

I haven't bought a suitable map yet nor have I re-conned the best places to lay up whether I was traveling home by vehicle, bicycle or on foot. I'm dating a woman in my home city. While she has a key to my house, I haven't really briefed her on my preparations. She has seen the water dispenser with ten full 5 gallon bottles of water lined up and she said something to the effect that "Gee, you're not going to run out of water soon!"

Urban Man's Comment: After receiving this from Jim, I advised Jim to ensure he carried water with him, other than his bottled drinking water, during his business trips. A five gallon water jug or the equivalent in one gallon containers can be loaded and unloaded for these weekly trips without too much butt pain to ensure at any point during his transit he has water. If he can stay with his vehicle ad make it home, great. But if he is forced to dump his vehicle, he would have the water to fill his water containers and begin the walk (worst case) home. I also advised Jim to store a camouflage net for his vehicle in case he had to pull off his route and hole up because of traffickability issues of threat.

My last advice for Jim is to take the alternate route a few times and stop in these small communities to get the feeling from the population and perhaps make his face known - may come in handy if that becomes his Going Home route....and Jim, take your rifle with you!

Urban Man

Survival Chronicles of Jim - Chapter 26

From UrbanMan: I have received a few e-mail asking about what happended to Jim from the Survival Chronicles of Jim Chapters. Others ask if Jim is real. Oh yeah, Jim is really. Jim is not his real name, but we all have our secrets. Jim was working for friends of mine as a computer tech on contract and as he contract expired he now is working out of his house as a systems developer or some such computer gobbleygook but it requires him to travel 3.5 hours one way a couple days a week with a one or two night stayover in a hotel. I sent Jim the book "Going Home" by A. American, a good read by the way, so he could see some situations for wargamming if he had to make it back home.I asked Jim to send me an e-mail with my intent of publishing it on this site.

UrbanMan,

All set up in my routine now. Still have rental houses to manage from afar and my other home based business, but my software and database work for a major company requiring me to travel 3 1/2 hours by car and staying overnight and sometimes several nights during the week. At least my car is a business expense and tax deductible!.....not to mention a rolling survival platform, or at least I started developing this concept.

I carry the large bag with rollers and backpack straps (UrbanMan's note: a FPG deployment bag) that you gave me. This is my Get Home Bag, a la the "Going Home" novel you sent me. I know you told me to think about keeping my SKS in my vehicle with me, and although I keep all my accessories for this rifle in my Get Home bag, I have yet to take the gun on any of my work trips. Maybe it's an idea I have to get used to. At least I have my Walther pistol. In my Get Home bag I have these items:

• Load Bearing Molle Vest with Camel-Bak with mag pouches for my SKS ammunition. I have the conversion kit for the SKS to use those banana magazines, with the the metal lip extension so it locks into place, but have not converted it yet.

• Silva Compass

• Spare Fire Starting Kit

• Green Fleece

• Gortex Rain Suit

• Snugpak Sleeping Bag

• 8 civilian type versions of military meals

• Pack of assorted nut snacks and granola bars

• 6 packets of instant soup and a tube of bullion cubes

• Trauma Medical Kit

• 2 camouflage ponchos

• Hammock net that I can use to thread plants into for a camoufalge or an impromtu fishing net

• Small butane stove with one fuel cartridge with cooking pot

• 40 feet of green para-cord

• A Small Fishing Kit*

• Firearms Cleaning Kit

• Field cap

• Aviators gloves

• Empty five quarter canteen so I have extra water carrying capacity

• Wire saw

* The fishing kit was an adventure. Not knowing anything, I went into a Sporting Goods chain store and was looking around, not knowing what to get. One of the sales guys helped me but when he asked what I was looking for, I had to tell him "Basically, an small adventure fishing kit in case I have to survive something like a plane crash in a remote area." He looked at me like I was an idiot, but I ended up buying hooks, lead weight, fishing line, and a couple of small, multi-colored lures. I learned that there is a whole culture behind fishing.

I carry that soft computer case you gave me with the molle webbing attachment as my urban Bug Out Bag. I only really have to carry a laptop, x drives, a couple of software discs, and some cables so I have plenty of room for the three boxes of SKS ammunition and my little Walther .22 pistol. I used the extra ammunition pouches attached to the outside of this case to carry bottled water in. Usually I leave the pistol and the ammunition inside my vehicle when I am in a building. I have my little fire starting kit in a zip lock bag, several bags of nuts and a couple nutrition bars, a folding knife and a "AA" Pelican flashlight and extra batteries. I carry 6 one ounce Silver rounds and a roll of old quarters for their silver melt value. Not to mention I rarely travel without several hundred dollars in cash.

Taking your advice I have driven different routes from my house to my work site. On the route that minimizes the high traffic areas and the interstate segments, it will take me an additional 45- 60 minutes of driving time because of all the slowdowns, speed traps, small communities and single lane roads. Like you said this longer driving route will probably become my primary way to get home in any major collapse event due to the most lower chance of traffic jams and refugees.

I haven't bought a suitable map yet nor have I reconned the best places to lay up whether I was traveling home by vehicle, bicycle or on foot. I'm dating a woman in my home city. While she has a key to my house, I haven't really briefed her on my preparations. She has seen the water dispenser with ten full 5 gallon bottles of water lined up and she said something to the effect that "Gee, you're not going to run out of water soon!"  

UrbanMan's Comment:  After recieving this from Jim, I advised Jim to ensure he carried water with him, other than his bottled drinking water, during his business trips.  A five gallon water jug or the equivilent in one gallon containers can be loaded and un-loaded for these weekly trips without too much butt pain to ensure at any point during his transit he has water.  If he can stay with his vehicle ad make it home, great.  But if he is forced to dump his vehicle, he would have the water to fill his water containers and begin the walk (worst case) home.  I also advised Jim to store a camouflage net for his vehicle in case he had to pull off his route and hole up because of traffickability issues of threat.  

My last advice for Jim is to take the alternate route a few times and stop in these small communities to get the feeling from the population and perhaps make his face known - may come in handy if that becomes his Going Home route....and Jim, take your rifle with you!  

  

Request for More on Bugging In

Jay wrote "Have you thought of an article on people who, due to age, physical disability, or taking care of someone who falls into those categories and can NOT bug out? There may be something on the site that I haven't seen yet but I encountered your blog for the first time tonight. And some of us do have need to stay put. Any ideas?"

UrbanMan replies:  Jay, the primary reason I started this site was for Urban and Suburban dwellers who would, for the most part and for whatever reason, stay put during a collapse.   Having said that, no matter how secure your site is, you ALWAYS plan for a Bug Out. 

Temporary Patrol Bases, semi-permanent operational bases and permanent forward bases all have a planned and hasty evacuation protocol.  This necessarily means packing load lists, individual and group responsibilities, routes, link up or rally points, maybe caches implanted to support a Bug Out, and a destination to a temporary or permanent safe site. 

I fully realized that more many reasons people and families will not be able to Bug Out, but will have to hunker down.  This could be because of caring for infirm or elderly family members, outside situation too dangerous to attempt movement, or simply having no place to go.    I believe a person can mitigate, not eliminate, but reduce these risks and should have a Bug Out plan in case staying in place, even if intended for the duration, is too dangerous. 

I have written many times about common, low cost preps.  About the use and selection of common types of sporting firearms for protection and security as opposed to a unrealistic arming with the latest high dollar, custom semi-automatic copies of military assault weapons.

Staying in place most assuredly requires a survival team. In fact, my plan is to stay in place in my near-Urban environment, relying on my current survival team of eight families, not counting the local neighbors who are in various stages of preparation. I have a phone alert roster system, for some of my neighbors can call me or others if they need assistance, which can be to change a tire to respond to prowlers. I have several neighbors who now garden for vegetables based on me giving them some of my produce and talking to them about the advantages of growing our own crops. Several of them have stocked pantry foods, have a water service deliver so they have water on hand for several weeks, and, I have taken two of my neighbors shooting and helped them pick out guns for self defense.

If you are planning on Bugging In, you cannot do it alone. You have to have an organized effort, maximizing and leveraging people's resources and skills.

Hope this convinces you to come back and visit this site from time to time. Prepare well.

Urban Survival - Bugging In Reader Comment

UrbanSurvivalSkills.com received the following comment on Bugging In from Jonathan: “(Bugging In) That's my plan-A. To dig in. Since I have no secondary property or location in which to bug out. I have the home field advantage in that I know the area and the people. Have established good relations with neighbors. Have the reputation of 'being there' for everyone when they need help fixing something or borrowing a tool. Which could be a good or bad thing. Only time will tell. My Plan-B is head for the woods (public land) for a limited time if we had to leave our
home for a limited time.Civil unrest, natural/man made disaster etc. Maybe not the best plan. However if we HAD to leave the house, that's my current plan.”

UrbanMan comments: Jonathan, you sound like a confident person with a plan. I don’t know how many times I have written that Survival is a Team Sport,…dripping survival prep to your friends and relatives,….developing your team to survive Armageddon,….developing relationships with your neighbors,…..being prepared for strap hangers to show up to your location asking for help, whether you know them or not.

In the worst case of a collapse, people are going to be looking for leadership. The person they hold in high esteem will be able to make a huge difference in keeping a team or community together, leveraging everyone’s contributions and capabilities. The worse the collapse and the situations we find ourselves in, the more difference leadership will make.

In order for the team or community to survive, organization of effort, security and basic sustainment needs to be addressed,…in other words, the best team in the world will turn on each other once the food or water runs out.

You also have a good idea with a Bug Out plan. Can’t stress that enough – to have a Bug Out plan just in case your Bug In location is untenable and if staying there, death would be certain. Hopefully your public land destination has a full time water source and defensible terrain. It gets out living in tents or lean to’s, so a fixed site may be better but it also draws attention. Think about cache some supplies either enroute to, or close to your Bug Out location.