The Survival Weekly Dispatch - Volume 12, Issue 30

Hey everyone, thanks for checking out the newsletter this week. We had our granddaughter with us all of last week. She’ll be turning three years old very soon. We love her to death, but she can be a handful. Like many children that age, she has very strong opinions about a wide range of topics and she’s not afraid to express those opinions at the drop of a hat. But she balances that with being absolutely, utterly adorable.

The downside to having her with us all week was I didn’t get nearly as much work done as I’d hoped. Friday was the only truly productive day. I managed to get all of the layouts edited for Backwoods Survival Guide 35 and a few articles done for GAT Daily. But I’m still facing a mountain of deadlines that needs to be tackled. Which I’ll be doing as soon as this newsletter is done.

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One of the lines from the musical Hamilton when the title character is receiving advice from Aaron Burr is, “Talk less.” I chuckled when I heard it the first time, as that is actually quite a valuable tool when you’re seeking information from someone.

For those who might not know, I worked in the security and investigation fields for nearly 20 years before I went full-time as a writer, editor, and instructor. I conducted countless interviews with people, including victims, witnesses, suspects, and others. Something I learned early on was that many people hate silence during a conversation. If I asked a question and didn’t respond to their answer, more often than not they’d talk further, sharing more information than perhaps they’d intended.

There were two ways I’d use this. I’d ask a basic question like, “What did you hear outside the window?” They’d answer, usually something simple and short such as, “The dog barked.” If I wasn’t sure whether they had more information than they’d shared, I’d just scribble notes for at least 20-30 seconds while I waited to see what else they’d say.

On the other hand, if I strongly suspected they were holding back, I’d just look them in the face and not say anything at all while maintaining a blank expression. Almost without fail, they’d get defensive, “What?! I told you, all I heard was that stupid dog barking.” If they maintained eye contact, no problem. But if they looked away? I knew to dig further.

Talk less. Listen more. Watch their body language. You may be surprised what they’ll tell you if you give them time and space to do so.

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My friend Wendell Adams has a great video this week on his Prepared Wanderer channel. He put together a neat little 24-hour survival kit. It’s definitely worth a watch.

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My first article with the newly resurrected Tactical Knives magazine went live a few days ago. It’s a round up sort of piece on pocket carry fixed blade knives.

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Another YouTube channel worth checking out is Mike Tango Whiskey. I stumbled on it last week and I’ve been impressed with what I’ve seen thus far. No scare tactics and other nonsense, just good information.

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If I might be allowed to digress from my usual content focus for a moment, my middle son graduated college in June and is having a heck of a time landing a job in his field, so I'm putting out some feelers on his behalf. If you know any of openings for computer programming, software development, web development, game design, or similar areas, please drop me a line. He’s looking for remote work if at all possible unless the position is located in SE Wisconsin (Madison or Milwaukee areas), as he’s not really interested in relocation at the moment.

He’s already using Indeed, LinkedIn, and similar online job search sites. I’m just asking for personal referrals if you hear of something. Thanks!

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We took our granddaughter with us on our hike over the weekend and visited Price Park Conservancy just outside Elkhorn, Wisconsin. It’s a great park with some scenic spots, but there’s a lot of wild parsnip in some sections and we had to keep reminding the little goober not to touch every plant she saw.

Survival Tip – Plans Change

Something I’ve been thinking about lately is my own development as a prepper, survivalist, or whatever term you want to use. I’ve been at this for well over 40 years at this point. Growing up, it was just part of the normal routine to be ready for storms, car breakdowns, and such. There was nothing special or unique about it.

I was always getting library books about wilderness skills and practicing what I learned. We lived pretty rural and there was a lot of forest around me to explore. So, that’s where my focus was, more than anything else. I wanted to know what it took to survive in the wild.

As I got older, I started to realize that living off the land wasn’t a great plan for any sort of lengthy scenario. I remember watching Red Dawn in the theater and thinking to myself that it would suck trying to make it through a rough winter in the mountains living in a tent.

This was right around when I discovered Jerry Ahern’s Survivalist series and started reading about survival retreats. Of course, the fictionalized ones were always massive affairs, equipped with all manner of conveniences. In other words, expensive. But I learned a lot about food and water storage and similar areas of knowledge.

Moving forward a bit more, I started connecting with the survival community online, beginning with Yahoo Groups. I found a lot of people were focused on bugging out for some reason, though most didn’t seem to have a concrete plan as to where they were going to go. But they knew they had to have an expansive bug out bag to get there.

My plans changed throughout my life. And that’s basically the point I’m slowly plodding toward here. Don’t get locked into one specific point of view. Be willing to adapt, change, and modify your plans as new information becomes available. Today, I’m sort of a melting pot of all of those various perspectives and experiences I mentioned, combined with things I’ve learned even more recently. That said, I’m far more focused on sheltering in place than I am on bugging out. We’ll see if that changes as life continues forward.

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 Backwoods Survival Guide just about anywhere magazines are sold, including:

• Walmart

• 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.