Anonymous has left a new comment on your post Urban Survival Planning – Reconnaissance and Security: "I live in Arizona and will be here another three years. If/when SHTF, I plan to be prepared. Got a decent amount of stuff and will be fairly good soon. However, my buddy has family on the east coast which would be a good getaway, but that distance seems rather daunting in most situations. I guess you never know what the situation at hand will be, but I'm trying to figure out do I invest in the more costly items for survival such as a $1,000 generator, etc., or sort of do what I gotta do for 3-6 month span and then take it from there? Living in the city is the worst part. I think that is what my biggest concern is. Aside from gun and ammo, there's not a whole lot else one can do for safety. Any other ideas for safety? Thought about a camera for outside monitoring."
UrbanMan's reply: Good questions. A long journey from Arizona to the East Coast is possible, but improbable depending upon the collapse situation. Best case is that you see the collapse coming and complete your journey afbefore the worst of it hits. Given that this would be a 4 day trip, minimum at best, the situation - especially the security situation - could deteriorate during the middle of your trip forcing you to stop at a time and place detrimental to your safety. This would, of course, have to be considered before leaving. Everything from mass migration of refugees, to government martial law, and expected travel restrictions could strand you. In a total collapse I would envision bands of armed gangs, or at least desperate individuals, conducting ambushes on likely transit routes. I would expect smaller communities would probably man road blocks for their own security forcing traffic to take different routes.
Fuel would be problematic. Two years ago, while a friend of mine was overseas, I was “on-call” to travel 860 miles (one way) to pickup his family and transport them to my Bug In location....hopefully before the collapse hit hard. I figured I would have to have a full tank of fuel plus eighteen 5 gallon fuel cans to make the trip. If I could get fuel on the way, great,....if not, then I could make it there and back, barring accidents, road blocks, gangs, etc. My point being if you were planning on a long distance trip, I would want to begin that trip with enough on board fuel to make it to where I was heading without relying on luck or someone else’s kindness to sell or barter the fuel to me.
As far as the generator goes, those are great assets when or if you have the fuel to run it. I have a hoard of empty fuel cans which I will fill as indicators start indicating the need. I always maintain a small amount of fuel which I routinely change out. But stored fuel will eventually run out. I personally have solar panels. I use both small, portable solar panels to re-charge 12v vehicle batteries and chargers for AAA and AA re-chargeable batteries for my lanterns, flashlights, weapons lights, and radios. I have a larger solar power generator that can be easily loaded into a vehicle and taken with us when/if we bug out. I am just not going to depend upon being able to find fuel, either at the beginning of the collapse or several months into it. Plus fuel breaks down, so these movies and books where the hero finds a vehicle that was abandoned years before and he siphons the fuel and uses it, it is a little farfetched. Check out the Power Source 1800 Solar Generator.
As far as security, nothing works like physical barriers and active armed (and trained) observers. Technology neeeds to be exploited to make life easier for us and to cover any operational requirements we may have. A game camera or home security camera that detects or senses movement then sends that photo to an e-mail or as picture mail to your cell phone is a fairly cheap and easy solution. Solar powered motion detection flood lights work good as also. Be sure to mount these so you can easily dismount and take with you when/if you have to bug out.
Good luck,..plan and prepare well.
Showing posts with label route planning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label route planning. Show all posts
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Saturday, May 12, 2012
I re-learned a lesson just the other day on the importance of PACE plan planning . PACE, of course, stands for “Primary, Alternative, Contingency and Emergency” or otherwise just an acronym to remember to have contingency plans. The idea is to have an alternate method of plan to immediately (and hopefully seamlessly) transition to when the primary plan cannot be executed. Much like carrying a rifle and a handgun, if the rifle runs dry or has a malfunction, the shooter can transition to the handgun, often times, much quicker than resolving an empty rifle or malfunction.
The lesson I learned was in route planning. I work in an office close to the heart of the city. I have a 26 mile drive (21 miles line of sight) to get from my suburban home to work. Like a lot of people going to and from work each day, I have alternate routes based on any construction or traffic delays, but in my survivalist mindset these are also Bug Out Routes.
I fully understand that a catastrophic event like a nuclear attack or terrorist strike, or industrial accident like a train wreck releasing toxic chemicals, or some crazy government announcement could cause a mass migration effect from the city and block even the highest speeds avenues of approach (the road network).
I have analyzed my routes and the chokepoints be they bridges, four lanes going to two lanes, intersections around Wal-marts, etc., that could be clogged up with panicked people and all sorts of possibilities.
The “E” of my Bug Out Route PACE plan is moving on foot. Twenty One miles carrying my “all the time” Bug Out bag and bits and pieces of kit from my supplemental bag in my trunk. In a perfect world, I could easily make this trek in seven to eight hours. If I have to bypass crowds or identified threats, or hunker down to let threats by-pass me then this journey could take over night. In fact, there would be some situations where using the cover of darkness may be preferable. I carry two cell phones, one from work and the other a personal cell phone, and a FRS radio in my Bug Out Bag so I can keep my people informed of my progress.
So, back to the lesson I learned,.....several days ago I left work to find traffic backed up bumper to bumper for miles. The radio said there was a massive accident involving a tractor-trailer and several cars. As I was mentally planning to access an alternate route I also heard on the radio that were accidents at locations which would have blocked off my access to these routes. I could have just sat in traffic waiting for the accident to clear and later I found out that it would have been a 2 to 2 ½ hour wait, and as it was I thought “jeez, now I have found some holes in my route planning,…who would have thought there was a possibility of accidents blocking all my planned route, but then again these accidents could have just as easily been a mass of people leaving the city.”
Then I thought “what if this was one of those collapse events and I would absolutely need to get home”, what would I do? I briefly thought about parking the car, grabbing my BOB and heading out on foot. There was no threat and it would be good to rehearse this plan, but I really needed to find an alternate route as of yet unknown to me. I remembered an medical office building construction site, adjacent to a park which was adjacent to a golf course.
I ended up taking that route,..was able to navigate over a couple curbs in my vehicle and eventually accessed the gold course parking lot then a suburban street which lead around all the wrecks on the main avenues. I called my wife and had her turn on our FRS base station and tested my FRS hand held at intervals back to my house, until I was about 400 yards from my house when I eventually made commo with her. I have made an intentionally decision not to routinely carry one of our VHF radios, but now may have to re-look that.
An additional benefit from determining a new vehicle route on the fly is that this route now becomes my primary foot route as it provides more cover and concealment, and hole-ups places. Not to mention water sources at both the park and golf course. My lesson learned from all this to practice what I preach,…..develop a PACE plan AND rehearse the damn thing to determine possible holes and necessary changes.
The lesson I learned was in route planning. I work in an office close to the heart of the city. I have a 26 mile drive (21 miles line of sight) to get from my suburban home to work. Like a lot of people going to and from work each day, I have alternate routes based on any construction or traffic delays, but in my survivalist mindset these are also Bug Out Routes.
I fully understand that a catastrophic event like a nuclear attack or terrorist strike, or industrial accident like a train wreck releasing toxic chemicals, or some crazy government announcement could cause a mass migration effect from the city and block even the highest speeds avenues of approach (the road network).
I have analyzed my routes and the chokepoints be they bridges, four lanes going to two lanes, intersections around Wal-marts, etc., that could be clogged up with panicked people and all sorts of possibilities.
The “E” of my Bug Out Route PACE plan is moving on foot. Twenty One miles carrying my “all the time” Bug Out bag and bits and pieces of kit from my supplemental bag in my trunk. In a perfect world, I could easily make this trek in seven to eight hours. If I have to bypass crowds or identified threats, or hunker down to let threats by-pass me then this journey could take over night. In fact, there would be some situations where using the cover of darkness may be preferable. I carry two cell phones, one from work and the other a personal cell phone, and a FRS radio in my Bug Out Bag so I can keep my people informed of my progress.
So, back to the lesson I learned,.....several days ago I left work to find traffic backed up bumper to bumper for miles. The radio said there was a massive accident involving a tractor-trailer and several cars. As I was mentally planning to access an alternate route I also heard on the radio that were accidents at locations which would have blocked off my access to these routes. I could have just sat in traffic waiting for the accident to clear and later I found out that it would have been a 2 to 2 ½ hour wait, and as it was I thought “jeez, now I have found some holes in my route planning,…who would have thought there was a possibility of accidents blocking all my planned route, but then again these accidents could have just as easily been a mass of people leaving the city.”
Then I thought “what if this was one of those collapse events and I would absolutely need to get home”, what would I do? I briefly thought about parking the car, grabbing my BOB and heading out on foot. There was no threat and it would be good to rehearse this plan, but I really needed to find an alternate route as of yet unknown to me. I remembered an medical office building construction site, adjacent to a park which was adjacent to a golf course.
I ended up taking that route,..was able to navigate over a couple curbs in my vehicle and eventually accessed the gold course parking lot then a suburban street which lead around all the wrecks on the main avenues. I called my wife and had her turn on our FRS base station and tested my FRS hand held at intervals back to my house, until I was about 400 yards from my house when I eventually made commo with her. I have made an intentionally decision not to routinely carry one of our VHF radios, but now may have to re-look that.
An additional benefit from determining a new vehicle route on the fly is that this route now becomes my primary foot route as it provides more cover and concealment, and hole-ups places. Not to mention water sources at both the park and golf course. My lesson learned from all this to practice what I preach,…..develop a PACE plan AND rehearse the damn thing to determine possible holes and necessary changes.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Survival Chronicles of Jim – Chapter 7
Boy it seems like I just posted an update on my Urban Survival preparation, but it has actually been 13 days, so I am pretty proud of myself and what I have accomplished since my last post.
Using the US Geological Survey maps I bought at the local Bureau of Land Management Office (BLM) I have planned three routes from my house in the city to my family’s cabin. I am planning a route reconnaissance in the next few days, maybe this weekend, primarily looking at my primary route and the problem areas of my planned Alternate and Contingency routes. That will settle the PAC portion of PACE. My emergency route will overland on foot - this provides the E in PACE.
This reminds me to say that I also bought a Silva magnetic compass and was looking at buying a GPS units. During my route recon I also plan on doing some short routes on foot, plotting an azimuth and using my new compass and skills that I am trying to learn from the previous Urban Surival Skills posts on Map Reading - just to get a taste for land navigating. When TSHTF I may be taking Neomi with me therefore may have use of her GPS unit, I need to buy my own and be proficient at using it.
On this route recon I will also be emplacing a couple of caches around the cabin. I have bought an extra Aqua Mira Bottle Water filter unit, Frontier Pro Water Filter Straw, some extra water purification tabs, a pack of three butane lighters, six of the Three Day Main Stay bars, two small green ponchos on which I used sand and brown vinyl spray paint to sort of camouflage it.
I also bought a small camp hatchet, a 100 foot roll of green parachute line (small diameter rope). I will include a set of long underwear, four pair of extra socks, 25 rounds of 12 gauge buckshot and 450 rounds of .22 LR ammunition. This will fit into two military surplus ammunition cans which I’ll try and bury or otherwise hide above ground like the previously Urban Survival Skills on Caching when they talked about above ground concealment caches.
I am also going to cache two additional ammunition cans containing canned meat, Ramen noodles, beef jerky and some freeze dried items. I think this would give two people about one meal a day for 30 days. I know this is a not a long term storage solution nor a complete Survival Caches for hard times, but it will give me a interim solution until I can prepare some longer storage life food caches and get them emplaced near the cabin.
I have tentatively identified the back side of a small hill about 500 yards SOUTH of the cabin to emplace these caches. Just in case when I get to the cabin it is occupied by people maybe hostile to me, I can still retrieve my caches.
Have not talked to Neomi lately, after her initially expressed interest in a TSHTF Survival Bug Out Plan. If she wants to have a part in this Urban Survival contingency plan she was got to produce,……no, not in the way you are thinking,…… but in Survival Preparation, Survival Equipment and Gear acquisition. Until next time. This is Jim – OUT.
Using the US Geological Survey maps I bought at the local Bureau of Land Management Office (BLM) I have planned three routes from my house in the city to my family’s cabin. I am planning a route reconnaissance in the next few days, maybe this weekend, primarily looking at my primary route and the problem areas of my planned Alternate and Contingency routes. That will settle the PAC portion of PACE. My emergency route will overland on foot - this provides the E in PACE.
This reminds me to say that I also bought a Silva magnetic compass and was looking at buying a GPS units. During my route recon I also plan on doing some short routes on foot, plotting an azimuth and using my new compass and skills that I am trying to learn from the previous Urban Surival Skills posts on Map Reading - just to get a taste for land navigating. When TSHTF I may be taking Neomi with me therefore may have use of her GPS unit, I need to buy my own and be proficient at using it.
On this route recon I will also be emplacing a couple of caches around the cabin. I have bought an extra Aqua Mira Bottle Water filter unit, Frontier Pro Water Filter Straw, some extra water purification tabs, a pack of three butane lighters, six of the Three Day Main Stay bars, two small green ponchos on which I used sand and brown vinyl spray paint to sort of camouflage it.
I also bought a small camp hatchet, a 100 foot roll of green parachute line (small diameter rope). I will include a set of long underwear, four pair of extra socks, 25 rounds of 12 gauge buckshot and 450 rounds of .22 LR ammunition. This will fit into two military surplus ammunition cans which I’ll try and bury or otherwise hide above ground like the previously Urban Survival Skills on Caching when they talked about above ground concealment caches.
I am also going to cache two additional ammunition cans containing canned meat, Ramen noodles, beef jerky and some freeze dried items. I think this would give two people about one meal a day for 30 days. I know this is a not a long term storage solution nor a complete Survival Caches for hard times, but it will give me a interim solution until I can prepare some longer storage life food caches and get them emplaced near the cabin.
I have tentatively identified the back side of a small hill about 500 yards SOUTH of the cabin to emplace these caches. Just in case when I get to the cabin it is occupied by people maybe hostile to me, I can still retrieve my caches.
Have not talked to Neomi lately, after her initially expressed interest in a TSHTF Survival Bug Out Plan. If she wants to have a part in this Urban Survival contingency plan she was got to produce,……no, not in the way you are thinking,…… but in Survival Preparation, Survival Equipment and Gear acquisition. Until next time. This is Jim – OUT.
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