The Survival Weekly Dispatch - Volume 11, Issue 8

Goofy weather continues....

Hey everyone, thanks for checking out this week’s newsletter. I’m writing this Tuesday evening. It’s about 6:30PM and I have the window open next to my desk. Hard to believe that it’s the last week of February and it’s nearly 60F outside right now. The high today was about 72F. Tonight, it’s going to plummet to 18F, with some bad storms in the forecast as it does so. They’re calling for high winds, large hail, and potential tornadic activity. Fun, fun, fun.

My calendar for this year is filling up quickly. Next month, I’m attending a disaster readiness class and then speaking at the Wisconsin Emergency Management Conference. In April, I’m hosting a “meet & greet” sort of event for local prepper-minded folks. Then in May, I’m setting up a first aid, CPR, and Stop the Bleed class. I’m not teaching that one, just arranging it through an instructor I know.

In between all of that, my wife and I are hoping to get away for a short vacation. About four hours north of us is a concentration of about 14 different waterfalls scattered throughout a few different county parks. The plan is to drive up there and spend a couple of days exploring as many as we can. Fingers crossed it all works out.

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Prepper Tip -- If I’m ever in a true survival situation, something that’s life or death or damn close to it, I want to be able to use every cheat code possible.

Here’s one example – a lighter. Specifically, a BIC lighter. They’re fairly cheap, usually around a buck or so depending on where you buy ‘em and how many you’re getting in a pack. I smoked for about 20 years (I quit several years ago). I can tell you from experience that a BIC lasted far longer than any cheap generic. They’re also more durable and less prone to breakage.

Yes, lighters like that can be dodgy when the temperature really plummets. However, I never had a problem getting one lit after carrying it in my front pants pocket, so it was close to my skin, and then gripping it in a tight fist for a few seconds before lighting. Granted, I don’t live in Alaska, but that approach worked fine even when the temps dipped well below zero.

Fire is a primary survival need in many cases. With that in mind, I keep BIC lighters scattered throughout my different survival kits, as well as in my vehicles. I’ll admit, I don’t always have one in my pocket, but I always have one nearby.

Ferrocerium rods are fun. Flint and steel can be neat. The 9V battery and steel wool makes a neat party trick. But if I need to get a fire going, like I’m in a situation there that fire means I survive the night, I want instant flame from a BIC as my primary tool.

Cheating is rarely a great idea. But in this case, I’ll do it every single time.

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If you're a meme kind of person, you really should be checking out Knife Magazine's weekend open thread each week. My friend H. Clay Aalders puts it together each week and some of the ones he finds are just hysterical.

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A big story last week was the AT&T cell service outage. Yes, I’m aware that there were a couple of other companies affected as well, but AT&T got the brunt of it by far. I’m not going to speculate as to what caused it, though I have my suspicions.

In the wake of the outage, I saw a lot of posts and comments on social media from people who seemed pleased with themselves that they had no idea it had happened. That’s not exactly the flex some of those folks seemed to think it was. While having your day-to-day unaffected by the outage is great, having no clue a fairly large event like that was occurring isn’t all that awesome. Part of being prepared is having at least some sense of what’s going on in the world. Consider it part of your situational awareness. While the outage only affected about 70K people which isn’t a big number in the grand scheme of things, it was all over national news most of the day.

I also saw a lot of people screeching about how ridiculous it was that people were that upset of about the loss of cell service. And, I get it as there are a lot of people who probably do spend way too much time with their face in their phone. But consider this – many people have ditched landlines, if only to cut costs, and rely on those cell phones to communicate with family and friends. That’s why it can be a big deal to some.

An interesting side note from outage was seeing how easily bad information can be spread on social media. Not necessarily due to any sort of negative intention, but just faulty communication, ironically enough. I’ve said countless times that miscommunication is an incredibly common, and serious, issue, particularly on social media. Say what you mean and mean what you say, lest others misunderstand. Most of the time, it probably won’t be a big deal. But if you’re talking about a major event that’s happening in real time in front of you, precision is probably wise.

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If you or someone you know is a veteran or a First Responder, here’s a great FREE resource. Craig Caudill from Nature Reliance School has partnered with Camp Hero in Kentucky to offer free training and education in wilderness survival and similar pursuits. It’s called the Nature Immersion Program. All of the information is here.

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It’s a good practice to check for a skimmer any time you’re paying at the pump at a gas station or using an ATM. This is a device that’s affixed to the credit card reader. When done right, it doesn’t look out of place at all. When you slide your card through it, the device captures your credit card information, which a thief can then access.

Before inserting your card, give the reader itself a sharp tug. If it moves, wiggles, or comes off in your hand, that’s a skimmer. Another clue is if the card reader at your pump looks entirely different from the reader on any other pump, such as yours is black and all of the others are silver.

This is from a good friend of mine who works in law enforcement.

IF you find one of these things, I recommend the following course of action: Step into the gas station. Ask to see a manager. Identify yourself and explain what you’ve found. Ask that the manager contact local law enforcement. DO NOT turn the skimmer over to an employee and DO NOT accept in-house security or loss prevention in place of law enforcement. Make the call yourself if you need to.

He also suggests wrapping the device in aluminum foil, if that’s available. Some skimmers operate via Bluetooth and the foil will prevent the signal from transmitting.

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We took a night hike this past weekend, something we’ve not done in a bit. As a result, no hike photo. So instead, I’ll share this one from a hike a couple of years ago.

Survival Tip – Prepping Has No Rules

Far too often, people get hung up on terminology and “rules” when it comes to prepping. For example, in a discussion a while ago about EDC packs, a guy said that all EDC bags or packs should be small. Another person chimed in saying that you shouldn’t need a pack to carry your EDC items, that they should all be carried on your person.

Reality check – nobody is going to write you a ticket or slap your hand because your EDC pack exceeds a certain size, or because you carry one at all.

When it comes to preparedness, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to any of it. You need to find what works for you and your individual situation. And that only comes with experimentation and experience, playing around with your gear and learning new skills. It doesn’t matter what you may have read on social media, saw in a YouTube video, or read in a book. If it works, it works.

To continue with the EDC pack example, I’ve always looked at EDC as being a layered system. There’s the stuff you carry on your person (pockets, belt, on a lanyard around the neck). Then there’s off-body carry, such as in a pack or shoulder bag. A step further is what you might keep in your vehicle.

The last job I had working outside the home was as a full-time private detective. I was in and out of government buildings on a daily basis, so carrying on my person a knife, much less a firearm, or pretty much anything that could be construed as a weapon wasn’t practical. So, while I still had a lighter, pocket flashlight, and a few other things in my pockets, I kept a backpack with me in my car. This wasn’t a bug out bag, it was truly an EDC bag. I’d use it for carrying my laptop and other work stuff back and forth, but it also held my defense weapon, a small fire kit, knife, and a few other essentials. That’s what worked for me, and the contents of that pack evolved over time.

The takeaway here is this – rules are meant to be broken 😉 Anything you read or hear in terms of prepper information, consider to be suggestions rather than set in stone gospel. Take what makes sense to you and see if it’ll work for your situation. If it doesn’t, adapt and tweak it until you find the best solution for you and your family.

Prepper Survival Guide and Backwoods Survival Guide

For those new to my little corner of the Internet, I am the Editor in Chief for both Prepper Survival Guide and Backwoods Survival Guide magazines. Here are the covers for the current issues that are available in stores right now. 

You can find them just about anywhere magazines are sold, including:

• Walmart

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• Tractor Supply

• Fleet Farm

• Barnes & Noble

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Questions, Comments, Complaints, Concerns?

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