More SHTF Ambush Tips

I received the following from Paco: “The ambush post was great! Can you have more information on ambushes, maybe some advanced ambush techniques?”

UrbanMan replies: I will eventually write a post with additional ambush formations and maybe some case studies, but the thing to remember is the basics which set the foundation for all ambushes. So I offer this:

§ The ambush site should be suitable,.....having a covered and/or concealed approach/withdrawal route for your group; allow for the placement of observation/listening posts (LP/OP’s), for early warning, which also should provide defensible positions with good observation on the approaching threat; and the LP/OP’s need to be within communications distance from the main ambush element.

§ The Patrol leader or ambush team leader should conduct a leader’s reconnaissance of the ambush site to ensure it is suitable and select positions for the ambush team; the Patrol Leader/Ambush Team Leader should actually emplace each member of the ambush element to ensure they have covered/concealed positions and can cover the ambush “kill zone” effectively - think inter locking fields of fire.

§ There should be a designated fall back or rally position in case the ambush turns bad or the ambush element becomes separated. This rally position should be easy to pickout or recognize, even in the dark, and should be defensible in case the ambush goes bad and the team is pursued by the threat. It may not necessary be back on the route to the main survival site. Everyone in your patrol should have some land navigation skills.

§ The Patrol/Ambush Team Leader should have communications (probably radio) with the deployed LP/OP’s and should have a method to alert each ambush team member of the approaching threat – a pull cord can work well. This is a string connecting each ambush position and a simply mode of communication such as one pull meaning threat is approaching and two pulls meaning the member has received that message.

§ It is important that the kill zone and the placement of the ambush team will effectively cover the entire threat. You would be wise not to ambush only half the threat then have the other half maneuver against you. This is true if the ambush is a “harassing ambush” where the purpose may be the just drive the threat away or otherwise make them pick a easier route or target, or if the ambush is a “destruction ambush” where the intent is to completely destroy the threat.

§ If the threat is in vehicles, it may be effective to initial disable the front and last vehicle to fix the threat in the kill zone. Use of spike strips or other obstacles can help keep the threat vehicles from escaping the kill zone. Ensure the placement of obstacles, such as spike strips, T-posts or log buried with 18 inches or so exposed, or anything else, is concealed or otherwise the threat may recognize the ambush before it is initiated.

§ Ambushes are best initiated using a casualty producing device, other than small arms fire. The military uses high explosive direct fire weapons such as anti-tank missiles, anti-personnel/anti-vehicle mines or explosives, or, at least a machine gun. You may not be able to rig field expedient devices if you don’t have the expertise. It may pay off to have some reference material just in case. To be clear, I am not advocating violating any existing laws governing explosives, but in a SHTF scenario, there may not be any law enforcement and the laws or what people are willing to do to protect their groups from threats may become a little “relaxed”.

§ The Ambush should have planned signals, visual and audible, to “lift” or cease fire; maybe a signal to assault the killzone if that what your plan is or intent is; and a signal to withdrawal.  Keep in mind that in a SHTF - total collapse where medical response may be gone and medical treatment relays on what you can do - taking risks such as assaulting a threat may result in an additional risk of wounds or injuries to your people.  Be prepared to treat injuries and wounds, and, maybe have the ability to move non-ambulatory wounded back to your safe site.  

§ If assaulting the kill zone on a destruction ambush, there are a couple things to remember: use two or three person teams with defined duties such as search or cover; do not put you back to any threat body that is presumed dead – last thing you want is to walk pass a body only to shot in the back; have a limit of advance so you don’t have your kill zone assault element all strung out – this would be bad if the threat counter attacked.

The post collapse or SHTF Survival Group should think clearly before committing their limited resources to a definitive action like an ambush. It must be necessary to the survival of the group first and foremost; have clearly established goals; be conducted by responsible members who won't put other team members at risk; and rehearsed,...from a chart talk, to a sand table exercise to a full mission profile rehearsal.

Comment on the Coming European Collapse

Falcon15 sent a comment on the Europe Collapse is Imminent article: "The checks won't "bounce". The value of the dollar will be squat. As long as the Fed can print money, America will not default or run out of cash. What happens is an inflationary spiral, as the money supply increases, thereby decreasing the inherent "value" of each dollar. When the $250.00 welfare check will not buy a loaf of bread because bread is now $350.00, that is when we have problems. However, we will see an infrastructure collapse far before that, under this scenario, because when fuel prices get adjusted, but wages do not, truck drivers will not be able to afford the very fuel they need to move your food the average of 1500 miles from farm to store. A majority of finished and raw goods will stop moving. Those goods that do move and are available will be so expensive as to not be purchasable by the average American, due to pricing adjustments. Even if one could conceivably afford these goods in a massive inflationary market, will there be enough to go around? Got preps? Pray for the best, prepare for the worst."

UrbanMan's reply" Falcon15 you are essentially correct. It's not like the government won't send the checks, it's just that they'll be practically worthless. The "cost of living" raises will not begin to keep pace of the inflation. Some of us older people remember seeing pictures in the history books of people in pre-World War II Germany pushing wheel barrows of cash to the bakery only to find the shelves bare. But regardless of the checks either not coming or being worthless due to hyper inflation, the same basic problem is there. A very large percentage of the population being without any means to live and being really pissed and desperate about it. And I mean without anything.

You are exactly right about surmising that even if one could afford the massive hyper-inflation and reduced availability of goods, will there be any left?

Just imagine 40 million people who have to either rely on government camps or criminal acts to survive. How much different or worse would it be if that number is 80 million? 120 million? And while the majority of firearms in this country are own by people who are responsible, availability of weapons is substantial.  Many in the disenfranchised segment of the population will be armed.  

One of my acquaintances said, only partially tongue in cheek, that if you don't have a weapons, pre-collapse, then just wait as the government will either arm you, a la Fast and Furious, to sell you a gun as they empty out armory's to make money.   Of course, that is not going to happen.

There are not just "Survivalist's" predicting some sort of financial collapse.  Many political entities and financial planners are calling a complete economic financial breakdown being imminent.  This of course will lead to massive civil unrest.  Many think that if this happens prior to the 2012 Presidential election or the actual seating of a new President in January 2013 that the collapse would cause the current Administration to  either suspend 2012 election or the installation of a new administration. 

Solar Storms,......Again

Jairo sent us a heads up: "Hey Urban man, Just thought you'd find this interesting, an article on Solar Storms. Stay safe, stay prepared!"

UrbanMan replies: Thanks Jairo. We would be remiss if we didn't mention it here on UrbanSurvivalSkills.com especially before this coming weekend as we are supposed to see the strongest solar storm since 2005. Although I don't remember that one hampering us much. Apparently some commercial airlines had to re-route some planned flights that were flying to close to the North Pole where the stronger aspects of the solar storms were projecting.

The solar storm according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center should not affect much, other than possibly disrupting some communications. The radiation threat could be a concern for those of us who have abnormally higher levels of radiation due to our jobs or past exposure. I think this will be much ado about nothing. This is what mb.com is saying about the coming solar storm:

The sun is bombarding Earth with radiation from the biggest solar storm in more than six years with more to come from the fast-moving eruption.

The solar flare occurred at about 11 p.m. EST Sunday and will hit Earth with three different effects at three different times. The biggest issue is radiation, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center in Colorado.

The radiation is mostly a concern for satellite disruptions and astronauts in space. It can cause communication problems for polar-traveling airplanes, said space weather center physicist Doug Biesecker.

Radiation from Sunday’s flare arrived at Earth an hour later and will likely continue through Wednesday. Levels are considered strong but other storms have been more severe. There are two higher levels of radiation on NOAA’s storm scale – severe and extreme – Biesecker said. Still, this storm is the strongest for radiation since May, 2005.

The radiation – in the form of protons – came flying out of the sun at 93 million miles per hour.

“The whole volume of space between here and Jupiter is just filled with protons and you just don’t get rid of them like that,” Biesecker said. That’s why the effects will stick around for a couple days.

NASA’s flight surgeons and solar experts examined the solar flare’s expected effects and decided that the six astronauts on the International Space Station do not have to do anything to protect themselves from the radiation, spokesman Rob Navias said.

A solar eruption is followed by a one-two-three punch, said Antti Pulkkinen, a physicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland and Catholic University.

First comes electromagnetic radiation, followed by radiation in the form of protons.

Then, finally the coronal mass ejection – that’s the plasma from the sun itself – hits. Usually that travels at about 1 or 2 million miles per hour, but this storm is particularly speedy and is shooting out at 4 million miles per hour, Biesecker said.

It’s the plasma that causes much of the noticeable problems on Earth, such as electrical grid outages. In 1989, a solar storm caused a massive blackout in Quebec. It can also pull the northern lights further south.

But this coronal mass ejection seems likely to be only moderate, with a chance for becoming strong, Biesecker said. The worst of the storm is likely to go north of Earth.

Europe Collapse is Imminent

From an article on ETF Daily News

The warning signs are all around us. All we have to do is open up our eyes and look at them. Almost every single day there are more prominent voices in the financial world telling us that a massive economic crisis is coming and that we need to prepare for the worst. On Wednesday, it was the World Bank itself that issued a very chilling warning. In an absolutely startling report, the World Bank revised GDP growth estimates for 2012 downward very sharply, warned that Europe could be on the verge of a devastating financial crisis, and declared that the rest of the world better “prepare for the worst.” You would expect to hear this kind of thing on The Economic Collapse Blog, but this is not the kind of language that you would normally expect to hear from the stuffed suits at the World Bank. Obviously things have gotten bad enough that nobody is even really trying to deny it anymore. Andrew Burns, the lead author of the report, said that if the sovereign debt crisis gets even worse we could be looking at an economic crisis that could be even worse than the last one: “An escalation of the crisis would spare no-one. Developed- and developing-country growth rates could fall by as much or more than in 2008/09.” Burns also stated that the “importance of contingency planning cannot be stressed enough.” In other words, Burns is saying that it is time to prepare for the worst. So are you ready?

UrbanMan's comments: If you are reading this then you are probably one of the few who don't need to be told about the importance of preparing for the collapse....you already are preparing to the extent you can. Or are you?

But of course it isn’t just the World Bank that is warning about these things. The chorus of voices that is warning about the next great financial crisis just seems to grow by the day.


Some of these voices were profiled in a Bloomberg article the other day entitled “Apocalypse How? Dire ’12 Forecasts“.


click here to review this Bloomberg article.


The most critical of these voices is Michael Panzner of Financial Armageddon, who said: “The fundamental outlook is even worse now than it was a few weeks ago, given (the lack of positive) developments in Europe and growing evidence that the economies of major countries around the world are deteriorating fast.”

When this crisis is over, all sorts of people are going to be running around claiming that they predicted it. But it does not take a genius to see what is coming. All you have to do is open up your eyes and look at the flashing red warning signs.

So what should we all be looking for next?

March 20th is a key date to keep your eye on. That is the day when Greece will either makes its 14.5 billion euro bond payment or it will default. Greece does not have a prayer of making that payment without help. If Greece can convince the EU and the IMF to release the next scheduled bailout payment and if Greece can reach a satisfactory deal with private bondholders, then the coming Greek default might be “orderly”. But if something goes wrong, the coming Greek default might be quite “disorderly”.

At this point, almost everyone in the financial world is anticipating a Greek default of one form or another. Edward Parker, the managing director for Fitch’s sovereign and supranational group in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, recently declared that a Greek default is inevitable. In Greece, 20 percent of all retail stores have already shut down. The unemployment rate for those under the age of 24 is now at 39 percent. Large numbers of Greeks are trying to get themselves and their money out of the country while they still can.

Greece is not the only declining economy in Europe by a long shot. Italy has a much larger economy, and if Italy totally collapses it will be an absolute nightmare for the entire globe. Right now, the Bank of Italy is forecasting a significant recession for the Italian economy in 2012.

Only this time the U.S. is in a much weaker position. The U.S. debt problem has gotten much worse since the last crisis.

During 2008, our national debt crossed the 10 trillion dollar mark. Less than 4 years later, we have crossed the 15 trillion dollar mark. So what are we going to do the next time large numbers of banks fail and unemployment skyrockets? Where are we going to get the money to bail out all of those banks and to take care of all of those newly unemployed people?

Some people say that socialism is the answer, but the truth is that we are already a socialist welfare state. If you can believe it, nearly half of all Americans live in a household that receives some form of financial benefits from the U.S. government.

During the next great crisis, the number of people that are dependent on the government will go even higher. If you don’t want to end up dependent on the government, you should heed the warning signs and you should use this time to prepare for the hard times that are coming. When even the World Bank tells us to hope for the best but to prepare for the worst, you know that it is late in the game.

UrbanMan's comments: Newt Gingrich took some shots from Liberals when he referred to Predient Obama as the Food Stamp President,......but this is essentially true if you consider people on food stamps has risen by 25% in the past couple of years. What's going to happen when the U.S. Government checks bounce for 150 million people in the U.S?