Joe Nobody, author of Holding Your Ground, Holding Their Own and TEOTAWKI Tuxedo has another book out – Without Rule of Law: Advanced Skills to Help You Survive. I have a review copy. Check it:

The “formal” book description reads as such:

WARNING: This book contains material that may be offensive to some readers. It is an instructional guide covering tactical actions and capabilities which should only be executed in last-resort survival situations.

This book was written for non-military readers who believe in self-reliance and wish to develop advanced, just-in-case capabilities for themselves and their families. It leads the reader through progressively more complex preparations and activities.

The work covers topics such as camouflage, breaching, hiding, stalking, looting, scavenging, infiltration and disguise. The book includes numerous examples, special equipment, exercises and instructional text on how to plan, equip and execute these actions in a potentially hostile, post-SHTF environment. It takes the reader through various scenarios and provides guidance should TEOTWAWKI occur and extreme measures are required to survive.

I’ll get to the bold WARNING piece in a bit, but let me first describe the books contents a bit more. It begins with covering gear, but its approach is a bit different. It talks about how to think about your gear, what to carry, why and how to train with it. It talks about your primary weapon (Joe Nobody is an AR platform fan). Then, at least for me, it starts getting into the more interesting stuff, things I hadn’t thought of before. How to hide. How to evade. How to infiltrate. How to scavenge.

Now on to the bold WARNING. This book may tick some people off. It’s not “offensive” in the way of foul language or graphic images. What it does is tell you how to do things that some might find immoral. The generally accepted prepper belief is that you prep to be self-reliant, secure. Taken a step further, it’s about adding additional preps, to help your family, friends, neighbors and strangers. It’s not about planning to kill, loot or steal.

Now we’ve had the looting debate before. If you’re of the mindset that looting is ethical under absolute necessity, for example: taking food to live versus a television to watch, than you won’t find Without Rule of Law offensive. If you’re of the mindset that stealing under any and all circumstances, and teaching someone how to steal, is immoral, than you might find Without Rule of Law offensive. Joe Nobody writes the book on the premise that if, for whatever reason, all of your preps have been expended or destroyed, there are skills you can deploy to increase your chances of living. This book describes those skills. It’s the kind of book that you don’t want in the hands of someone that is … evil.

As an example! Check this pic:

The left pic is a sample aerial photograph. The author suggests making a list of potential locations to pillage, and using the internet for photographs. The right pic shows a fictitious pilfering trip where the individual can hit multiple targets in one trip. Joe Nobody writes:

Clearly, the best time to start scavenging is at the end of the social grace period, and prior to complete desperation. Unfortunately, it may be impossible to accurately judge what is happening around you out there in the real world. ….. This is not to say that you should start raiding the local grocery store at the first sign of trouble. … There are so many variables involved, it becomes impractical to develop any realistic guidelines on when to evolve from a “law abiding prepper” to a “survive at any cost scavenger.” There are, however, some recommendations based on common sense and an honest evaluation of the situation …

… and  he goes on with his recommendations. The book talks about breach and entry, systematic looting, hauling off the goods, and so on. You get the idea. The potential controversy here reminds me of the Chad Person post I wrote where he takes note of all his neighbors’ assets for pillaging in a post-collapse environment. Is it immoral? Only you can answer for you.

Without Rule of Law is a close second to Joe’s Holding Your Ground, in my view. Where the latter is about defending your home to survive, Without Rule of Law is about leaving your home to survive. The two seem to go hand-in-hand. I like both.

- Ranger Man

No related posts.

While I was writing my garden plans, I got to thinking about how much work goes into a garden every year.  How much of that would remain if the gardener died/left/whatever?  If you were traveling through an abandoned area or foraging for food, could you find old gardens? Looking for surviving remains of gardens seems a bit more likely to succeed than foraging through prairie grass for a handful of herbs. What would you be likely to find though?

Things to look for – What could conceivably survive after the gardener was no more? Annuals would be spotty, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a wild green bean, or broccoli spreading through volunteers. My lettuce spreads all over the yard though, and depending on the time of year that could be found. Tomatoes also sprout volunteers willingly. Those would likely devolve back to the small cherry tomatoes, but would still be edible for many generations I think. Squashes could carry on, either sprouting new vines where the old fruit rots, or after seeds are scattered by animals.  The squirrels would probably keep corn crops going in some areas.  I know we routinely get ornamental corn that grows where squirrels bury kernels and forget them.  In fact, if you’re really lucky, perhaps you could track a mouse or chipmunk back to a cashe of corn kernels. (Bonus points for snaring the critter to add to the stew.)  Asparagus beds are very distinctive and would probably survive many years without any care.  As would bramble berries. I can spot the drooping canes and silvery sheen of raspberries at quite a distance.  Rhubarb easily survives in the Northern areas.  I’ve even heard that you can guesstimate placements of old homesteads on the east coast by the rhubarb beds that remain to this day.  Fruit trees of course would survive many years.

Where to look – Obviously most will be by a human residence. Stick frame houses won’t be habitable for long after abandonment, but they will still be discernible from a distance.  Looking for fruit trees would be a good strategy, or sunflowers, those are tall enough to be seen easily no matter how tall the grass.   Seeds will be spread by animals, so I would check for volunteers around bushes and fences.  If you’re far enough south, it’s possible you could find root crops that survive winters and propagate, those are harder to spot though, you’ve got to be familiar with a turnip to pick it out from weeds. Garlic could survive, I bet my hardneck garlic would, it handles winters every year, it would expand to make a nice little garlic patch.  Smell would be useful for finding garlic I think.  Watch the birds.  If birds are paying attention to a patch of something, you could find a stand of sunflowers, berries, or corn.  Look for infrastructure, like fencing or raised beds or tomato supports.

Make it a habit – I’ve been looking for food for so long that it’s second nature now.  When I’m out wandering the neighborhood, out for some exercise, or running some errands, I always notice wild and semi-wild food.  I know who doesn’t pick their rhubarb, and who can’t eat all the fruit off their trees. Get in the habit and you’ll start to notice what is able to survive utter neglect.

What do you think? Am I forgetting anything that you’d look for?

- Calamity Jane

No related posts.

National Geographic’s new series, Doomsday Preppers, premiers with back-to-back episodes on Tuesday, February 7, at 9 p.m. ET/PT. National Geographic contacted me last week and said, “We want you to preview the show.” I said, “okay.” Then they overnight this action:

I open it and …

Nifty little “survival pack” marketing idea. I’d touch on the contents, but frankly, it’s more marketing than practical, so let’s skip that and cut to the show, which National Geographic describes as:

Doomsday Preppers explores the lives of otherwise ordinary Americans who are preparing for the end of the world as we know it. Unique in their beliefs, motivations, and strategies, preppers will go to whatever lengths they can to make sure they are prepared for any of life’s uncertainties. And with our expert’s assessment, they will find out their chances of survival if their worst fears become a reality.

That sounds fairly accurate based on the three profiles I saw on the pre-screening DVD they sent. What did I think? Well … it’s made for television. Sounds obvious, but what I mean is, it’s … dramatized. You know the drill, they profile someone or some people, play dramatic music, accentuate dramatic points, and generally try to stir the pot a bit. I wonder what the non-prepper watching the show will think of it, because for me, it was hard to watch it without critiquing the folks and their preps as the show went on. So let’s do that, shall we?

Profile #1: A couple living 35 miles outside San Antonia in an elaborate shipping container … “house.” I watched these folks and I could only think – “Holy crap! Seriously!?” They have it all, little windmills, solar panels, pigs, goats, methane gas system and food – food upon food upon food. Oh, and they have old 2nd hand school buses specially configured to bug out. “Our animals are trained to bug out,” they say. They’re afraid of a polar shift, but let’s not go there.

Case in point on the over-dramatization of the show. The narrator says something like, “They’re concerned about their home’s ability to stop bullets so today they’re testing their home by firing a .22 caliber rifle at it, a common caliber they are likely to encounter in a catastrophe.” The people then spray paint a big black dot on the corner of a shipping container (where the steel looks thickest) and fire a few .22 rounds at it, saying, after inspection, “I feel better.” Ummmm …. seriously? Never mind that any house will stop a .22 or that they their “house” has windows!

Then the guy talks about his methane gas system, touting how the gas is odorless, that wood smoke can be smelled far away and that he doesn’t want to be the person being found by wood smoke WTSHTF. Never mind that they provide ALL kinds of aerial views of their shipping container compound that’s just 35 miles outside San Antonio. Anyone see a disconnect here?

Profile #2: A guy in Los Angeles that is afraid of an earthquake so his idea of preparing is learning foraging techniques and staying mobile with his survival backpack. He said he hasn’t found a survival or bug out pack that he’s liked so he’s made his own, and that each person’s pack should be customized to his/her needs. That makes sense. I mean, this guy’s pack has a bottle of salad dressing. Yes, SALAD DRESSING!

Then he says that he’s prepared for bartering, because people won’t have access to cash. What does he have for bartering? Homemade arrow tips. Yes, HOMEMADE ARROW TIPS! No arrow shafts, no bow – just homemade arrow tips. Buddy! Ever hear of .45 auto!?

One good idea that I got from him, yes, I did get one, is that he rightfully claims that commercially purchased wire saws are crap. He instead made one himself out of a chainsaw blade. I thought that was pretty cool … though I wonder how it’d work.

Profile #3: Some “20-something party girl” living in Houston that is afraid of an oil crisis and everything running out. Her big plan is to load up a heavy backpack and bug out to … Mexico. Yes, MEXICO. Does she have friends or family there? Mmmmm – no! But c’mon, I hear the beaches are nice. She claims to work out 4 hours a day 6 days a week. She does look rugged, but … seriously? She’s cocky. Her SHTF storage supplies include, as she puts it, 120 condoms, which, as she puts it, should last a couple of days. See what I mean? She’s cocky (nyuck nyuck nyuck).

Why, after watching her clip, does National Geographic *bleep* out “sh*t” but not “wh*re” or “a$$”? Does not compute.

Will I watch the entire series? No. I don’t have cable.

All of this being said, the series should be interesting for any prepper. If nothing else it’ll be entertaining. Though the first folks profiled were WAY over the top, it was interesting to see them give away their location and all of the extensive preps on national television. Not something I’d do, but hey, whatever.

- Ranger Man

BTW: I did ask if I could mail the DVD to a random reader, but promptly got my hand e-slapped for even suggesting it. *shrug* I tried.

No related posts.