The Survival Weekly Dispatch - Volume 11, Issue 37
Hey everyone, thanks for checking out the newsletter this week. Lots to cover, so you might want to grab a cup of your favorite beverage and settle in.
Obviously, the big news right now is what’s been happening in southeastern United States, particularly North Carolina. The stories coming out of there are just heartbreaking. So much damage and devastation, and they’re just scratching the surface so far with regards to rescue efforts.
If you’re in a position to help, please do so.
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Prepper Tip -- “We are terrible at assessing risks.”
That’s a comment I read on a news story about the devastation in North Carolina, and it’s remarkably true. Every single day, there are news stories about people dealing with negative experiences, such as becoming lost in the woods, ending up stranded in a ditch during a winter storm, or dealing with various types of natural disasters.
Quite often, dangerous situations can be avoided, or at least made easier to handle, with some forethought, preparedness, and good risk assessment. The problem is that many of us are seemingly hard-wired to presume that bad things only happen to other people. Don’t fall into that trap. Don’t assume that you’re always going to come out on top simply due to good luck. You have to do your part.
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In case you haven’t heard about it yet, there’s a longshoremen strike going on. It started October 1st. Basically, the ports along the eastern United States are going to be at a standstill in terms of cargo until the strike is resolved. If you have any pressing needs for goods that might be impacted, you might want to get them ordered sooner rather than later, just in case outages start becoming the norm.
Hey, let’s not mince words. There’s a lot of bad stuff going on right now. The hurricane aftermath, the longshoremen strike, continued fireworks in the Middle East, all of the division regarding the coming election, the list goes on and on. I would encourage you to keep your nose to the grindstone with regards to prepping. There’s just too much weirdness going on and it feels like it’s going to get worse before it gets better.
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Episode 7 of our How to Survive 2025 podcast is now available. In this one, we’re talking about evacuation, or bugging out as us preppers like to say.
You’ll find all of the relevant download links here.
We are going to do a special Q&A episode of the podcast very soon. Please let me know if you have any questions you’d like us to address. We’ll do our best to get to all of them.
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I have two 2025 calendars available for purchase.
Real World Prepping has about 130 tips, hints, and suggestions scattered throughout the year to keep you moving forward to being ready for life’s little and not so little curve balls. There’s also a ton of bonus content that can be found through the QR codes that are printed for each month.
Point to Pommel is for my fellow knife nerds. The calendar features knives from:
Bark River
LT Wright
7Forge
Spartan Blades
Buck Knives
Night Watch
White River Knives
TOPS Knives
Kopis Designs
Smith & Sons
Vehement Knives
Dan Tope
If you are interested in a bulk purchase of either calendar, drop me an email [jim@survivalweekly.com] to discuss rates.
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Over and over, I holler about the importance of having cash on hand in case of emergencies.
Over and over, I have people holler back that it’s pointless to keep cash because money won’t be worth anything in a collapse.
It’s maddening to me that so many people are so focused on end of the world scenarios that they overlook that far more likely disasters that happen all the time. Take a look at North Carolina. Between power outages and little to no reliable communication lines, any stores, gas stations, and the like that are managing to stay open are strictly cash and carry. We see this again and again.
Cash has value right up until it doesn’t.
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My wife and I spent a long weekend on a mini vacation in Door County, Wisconsin. It was so gorgeous there and we had a great time. We visited a few different state and county parks there. Our favorite was Cave Point County Park. Listening to the waves crash against the rocks was incredible.
Survival Tip – Hard Targets
In her book BECOMING BULLETPROOF, former Secret Service agent Evy Poumpouras talks about the difference between a hard target and a soft target. To be clear, we’re primarily talking about targets for a terror attack of some sort, whether that’s an explosive device, a mass shooting, or some other similar risk.
A hard target is a location where there is “an inherent risk of vulnerability that comes with attending.” A soft target, on the other hand, is a location that’s not particularly tempting as a target for an attack.
Examples of hard targets would be large events like concerts or sporting events. Soft targets are more like movie theaters and restaurants. It isn’t that soft targets are immune to attacks, just that they are less appealing for those whose motives for attack include attention.
That brings us to what Poumpouras refers to as the 3 P’s. These are risk factor that can help determine vulnerability.
People – the higher the anticipated attendance figures, the greater the chance of an attack.
Place – all of those people need to be packed into a single location, such as a concert hall.
Press – the more popular the event, the more likely there will be lots of cameras present, which will serve to give the attackers the attention they seek.
So, what does all of this mean? The idea here is to know when your situational awareness needs to be on full alert. Any time you venture into a hard target environment, you need to keep your wits about you. Scope out avenues of escape, just in case.
Backwoods Survival Guide Magazine
For those new to my little corner of the Internet, I am the Editor in Chief for Backwoods Survival Guide magazine. Here is the cover for the current issue available in stores right now.
You can find them just about anywhere magazines are sold, including:
Walmart
Sam's Club
Costco
Publix
Walgreens
Rite Aid
CVS
Tractor Supply
Fleet Farm
Barnes & Noble
Subscriptions are available here.
Questions, Comments, Complaints, Concerns?
I am always just an email away - jim@survivalweekly.com.