Armageddon - a Fixed Survival Blade Recommendation

I received a personal e-mail asking me for my recommendation on a good fixed blade, as the requester put it "to accompany someone through Armageddon." I guess that means the primary consideration of a knife that won't break.

Now I own a bunch of large fixed blades knives: a custom, bone handle 8 inch blade Bowie; a parkerized Bowie made by LaRue Tactical when they were still making knifes; a Special Forces Yarborough Knife designed by Bill Harsey; a older SOG Bowie Knife; and even an old Ka-Bar. All that actually have given to me. They sit on a shelf, gathering dust, but are great to un-sheath and handle from time to time, and, as clumsy as I am I'd do better to leave them along. But I know I have some good knives if I need one.

I was also asked this question months ago and I believe I oriented the requester to some cost efficient knives,....this time I'm upping the ante and am going to introduce a company who higher dollar blades I have seen twice in the past year carried by some professional trigger pullers involved on a project with me.

The company is Spartan Blades from Aberdeen, North Carolina just west of Ft Bragg, home of the Army Special Forces and some other unit whose names eludes me.

Curtis Iovito and Mark Carey, Co-Founders of Spartan Blades, LLC, created Spartan blades, in which they say "“Knives with Intent”, designed from their 40 years combined experience in US Army Special Forces.

The knives I saw being carried put me off at first because of their somewhat futuristic design, but when I handled them I was impressed with the balance and workmanship. So if my reader was looking for a blade that would seemingly endure the assumed hardships of Armageddon then Spartan blades are a candidate. Visit their website at http://www.spartanbladesusa.com

Here are a couple of their offerings:

Nyx - the primordial goddess of night and darkness. The “Nyx” is a fully capable combat/utility knife. This sturdy blade, has a thick belly that is perfect for field related tasks such as carving aiming stakes, building hide sites, or simply cutting a piece of 550 cord. The blade geometry lends itself to field dressing game also. The “Nyx” is the perfect companion for the Sniper, Ranger, Scout or any soldier working in a field environment.


Specifications:
Knife Name: Nyx
Designer(s): Iovito/Carey
Overall Length: 10"
Blade Length: 5 1/8"
Blade Thickness: 3/16"
Blade Steel: CPM S30V
Blade Hardness: 58-59 HRC
Blade Style: Hybrid / Recurve—designed as a sturdy field/utility knife.
Coating: SpartaCoat - PVD - DLC (Flat Black) or ZrN (Flat Dark Earth)
Handle Material: CE Canvas Micarta® Black, Green or Natural Tan
Weight: 0.48 LBS

Ares (Arês) - a fitting name for this knife, Ares in Greek mythology was the son of Zeus and Hera, the god of savage war, bloodlust and slaughter personified on the battle field. “Ares” is manufactured for the modern warrior as a military fighting / utility knife with several distinctive features to assist the serious military professional. This knife was specifically engineered for and with the input of U.S. Special Operations Forces and Other Government Agencies.

Specifications:
Knife Name: Ares
Designer(s): Iovito/Carey
Overall Length: 10 1/2"
Blade Length: 5 3/8”
Blade Thickness: 3/16”
Blade Steel: CPM S30V
Blade Hardness: 58-59 HRC
Blade Style: Fixed Drop Point—this design allows for strength of the blades tip by placing it in line with the users hand while keeping the upward curve of the cutting edge.
Coating: SpartaCoat - PVD - DLC (Flat Black) or ZrN (Flat Dark Earth)
Handle Material: CE Canvas Micarta® - Black, Green or Natural Tan
Weight: 0.422 LBS

Urban Survival Planning - Buggin In,....May Be the Best Choice

Received a comment from Anonymous about Bugging In: "I like this idea of bug-in, and think it merits more thought than most survival sites give it. The biggest problem with bugging in as you state is limitations on food/water and concerns with armed gangs. Where I live in NW suburbia, water is not an issue. For a homeowner, there really is no storage limitation on food, meds and bullets
- just how much you want to spend. I live in a neighborhood with folks I know and trust already. Rather than cart the family off to the hills and realistically face a lot of issues with mother nature and the people who got there first, my plan is to bug-in also. We'll arm the neighbors and plan for a 1-yr stored-food scenario. "

UrbanMan replies: As much as I am planning on Bugging In, I also have a Bug Out Plan,...in fact, several plans and locations depending upon the situation and the threat. Of course, you are right in unless you have a lot of resources to stock Bug Out locations, the plan of Bugging In allows for the Survivors to stock a great deal of supplies and equipment,......unless you live in an apartment.

Bugging In, also requires some factors to be in place:

Away from refugees natural travel patterns for obvious reasons, and I would also be concerned about

a close proximity of jails and prisons. One of my clients lives in a sub-division next to a large country jail that houses about 1,200 prisoners. This is not a good thing.

Having knowledge of your neighbors; building rapport with them; and creating a semblance of a team, as survival is a team sport. A neighborhood watch program is a good idea and that program can be used to "drip" survival or disaster prep to these neighbors. Also allows them to build trust in you and for you to develop credibility. People will be looking for leaders during a collapse.

Have access to water and have the resources to grow your own food. And how huge would it be for all of your neighbors to grow vegetables as well? You can grow a few vegetables and give them to your neighbors now, and perhaps interest them in growing food as well. Especially if they are on a fixed income (aren't we all?) where this will pay off starting right now.

Sounds like you have you head on straight and there are more of us who put stock in Bugging In than not. Cheers. UrbanMan

Cell Phone Security

UrbanSurvivalSkills.com was sent the following for our opinion: "I have a question on cell phone jammers and using cell phones to find someone or listen to their conversations. I read on prepared society that the government can listen to our phones when they are off and can download pictures and find out where we are at with GPS coordinates. Someone recommended getting a cell phone jammer. What is the deal on this?"

UrbanMan replies: I am not going to get into depth on this issue, but I'll tell you this,....The government cannot listen to cell phones unless they get a Title III warrant. If you thinking that Law Enforcement agencies routinely violate this, like you see in the movies, then you are ill informed. Not only would an agent or officer lose his job, he/she will go to jail and be open to a Federal Tort Claims in which his/her (former) agency would NOT provide legal resources to fight. However, it is important for Survivalists to understand the adaptation, restrictions and "two edged sword: nature of technology,....just in the rare chance a severe form of a police state being implemented and impacting on us. I don't think this will happen, but I don't think we'll face an EMP attack either, but that does not stop me from thinking about.

Some phones that take pictures will embed a meta file in the photo which provide a geographic coordinate from where the picture was taken. Useful if the government seizes a phone showing suspects sitting on a couch giving gang signs with narcotics on the coffee table. The way these photographs are downloaded is through a Universal Forensics Extraction Device (called a UFED), the most common being a Cellebrite, which you local cellular provider has in order to clone phones when you upgrade. The UFED can also download text messages and phone number lists.

There is nothing to stop the government from finding your phone through identifying your signal and determining where that signal is coming from using direction finding equipment and digital mapping programs working in tandem. This is some of what Signals Intelligence people do in the armed services as well.

There is software that can be loaded onto a phone to turn it into a "hot microphone" without the owners knowledge. Again this is restricted to a Title III warrant.

You can remove battery and usually be safe, however it is fairly easy to install a small battery that will power the phone for several hours, from which it can be "pinged" in order to gain a geographic coordinate or at the very least a line of bearing from an intercept

The web enabled phone are great for convenience, but they present additional problems with the ability to download a program into the phone via a wireless connection. In fact, there is a new market for regular, non-web enabled phones due to their simplicity and lower costs. These are safer.

The cell phone jammer? They'll work if it is on the dash of your car and your front seat passenger is trying to make a call, but outside of a few feet the commercially available to the public cell phone jammers are a waste of money. Hell, just turn the radio up!

Be aware of how technology is used; be aware of identity theft possibilities and you can be measurably safer.

Survival Planning - Food, Labor and Materials,....Not Gold!

UrbanSurvivalSkills.com received this this comment via e-mail: "I really appreciate the practical information on your site, without all the 'kill Bama' crap you get from most sources. I've done my homework and collected my emergency food, learned heirloom gardening, purchased a few firearms with ammo... But I can't wrap my head around the Gold and Silver.....I keep some bug out cash on hand, but after paper money has lost it's value... I'm having trouble picturing anyone trading a box of ammo for a silver coin. I certainly won't be selling any of my ammo for a hunk of metal. A bag of rice on the other hand? I just tend to think of food, tools and labor being the only real currency after TSHTF."

UrbanMan's comments: I rarely get around to other Survival Sites, but I have not seen any real radical written crap about anything including threats to President Obama. It would be unfortunate if Survival Sites became known for that as it would feed one common perception that people who are taking responsibility for their own lives and prepping for bad things to come, aka SHTF, are extremists or even racists. Nothing in my interaction with preppers leads me to believe that most of us are like that. Still you have Homeland Security reports about lumping gun owners, veterans and survivalists with extremists,.....go figure.

I think you are on the right track,...food, firearms, preparing to grow your own food. Keeping some Bug Out cash on hand is also a good idea. I look at Gold and Silver,..primarily Silver,..but the same concept,....as another necessary survival item. The long term value of precious metals is anyone's guess, but I am pretty certain that there will be a time span after the dollar starts to go south (more so than it is now) and before straight barter for food (primarily) and materials (secondarily) where Gold and Silver will be a commonly acceptable (and perferred) commercial exchange method.

Plus these are facts or opinions weigh on the side of having at least some physical silver or gold:

There will certainly be an instance or two of a survivalist bartering with another who does not really need anything, but precious metals may make the deal.

There are just way too many people, among the respected financial advisors and even the unknown that recommend buying physical gold and silver.

If and when QE3 is announced,....QE is Quantitive Easing, where the Government prints more money further reducing the value fo the dollar, .....gold and silver will just go absolutely bonkers. Just way too many people saying you have to own it.

Here's a recent article from Chris Martenson's site: Prepare for Bullion Prices to Go Supernova

I started buying Silver around 1980 or there abouts, when it was $4.50 an ounce. I was lucky enough to inherit a large cigar box of Silver coins as well......I'm holding onto these for their Silver Melt value. I have even bought small amounts of silver rounds at $33 an ounce, just before it went up briefly to $50.

None of this is for investments. This is for straight survival purchasing during or after a collapse. Silver and the small amount of Gold I have hold the same significance to me as does everything else I have collected in preparing for SHTF,....firearms, ammunition, solar power systems, water storage, seeds (both non-hybrid and hybrid), sleeping bags, manual tools, dehydrated foods, cases of MRE's,....as well as all the vacuum packed food and canned or dried pantry food that I stock.

It's just my humble opinion that the complete Survivalist's would hold some Silver (and maybe Gold) just "in case". How much is necessary? I don't know. But say ten ounces in your safe or Bug Out bag is better than not having any at all.