Keeping Your Prep's Below the Radar is your Greatest Survival Tool - Information Security is the Only Real Security You Have

Keeping your prep's low key and under the radar can be your greatest tool in increasing your chances of survival. You could have the best shelter or survival retreat in the world but if everyone knows where it is, it probably won't make a difference in a real emergency situation. If your entire neighborhood see's you carrying in two dozen cases of big boxes labeled "MRE's" or the Home Depot truck shows up at your house and drops off two skids of concrete blocks and a pile of 50 pound bags of concrete mix, it doesn't take much for everyone and I mean everyone to know what your doing does it?Information security is the only real security you have if you think about it. No matter how prepared you are you can't hold off an army for ever. Imagine the "government" taking your supplies or weapons for the greater good. Has a bit of a socialist/communist bent to it doesn't it? Not that something like that could ever happen here, that's like saying America would elect a socialist as a president.

Don't blow this off, believe me people give away a lot of information and don't even think about it when its happening. Consider the guy who likes to shoot, not just handguns but rifles. When I go to the range which is a regular occurrence, I try to load my vehicle by going out my back door instead of walking off my front porch carrying two or three obvious rifle cases. Why would anyone flash to the world, "hey I have guns"? Yet I see it all the time. It's almost like people can't help themselves or something, it must make them feel good. How many people do you know that buy whatever it is and then they tell people they are ready for "X"? I know them and so do you. Telling people about your latest purchase is accomplishing what exactly? Do you talk about your preps and tell people how you are storing up whatever it is your putting away for that special day? Why would you do that? The point I'm trying to make is simple, if people don't know you have it, they won't try to take it (whatever "it" is ) from you. A good example of what I mean just happened to me this past weekend. I went to the range with an employee of a sister company, we started talking and I found out that the owner of both organizations had been buying weapons like FNH Scar's for some time and had more than just one or two. I commented on it and the other employee replied that it shouldn't surprise me because XXXX always has a plan for everything, he probably has a secret room under his house. OK, so now I want to see the room.

Don't kid yourself, if things get bad and people get hungry they will come to where they know there is food, if they have to get through you to get the food they will. If the electrical grid goes down, do you really think you won't stand out with your lights blazing away and your generator humming like a tractor? If resources get scarce and others know you have whatever they are looking for you will become a target, count on it. For those of you who live in more rural areas of the country you are not going to be immune from this. People aren't stupid, they know food grows on farms hence they will make their way to farmland sooner or later. If you live in a nice suburb your not immune either. If society collapses it won't be limited to just urban areas, don't fool yourself. Keeping your preps and other supplies out of plain sight and out of mind of other people is the only practical way for most people to make it through a crisis. If you are part of a committed group, fine. If you are talking only to your family and they are helping, fine again. Now obviously you will need to share information in order to coordinate everyone's efforts. The same could be said for your neighbors, if they are working with you fine, if they are just going along with you that's something else completely. Don't think that your neighbors or your neighbors neighbors won't steal from you because they will when they get hungry or tired or cold.

I am a firm believer in being prepared. I have weapons, ammunition, water, food and other supplies I think myself and my family would need in a melt down. What I don't do is discuss this in detail or for that matter much at all with anyone. Take the scenario I mentioned above, this person lives in an upper class area and no doubt went to much trouble to build a "safe room" in his house, he has weapons and other stores and it was all just compromised by an employee who talks too much. Obviously telling me won't hurt anything but if the employee told me how many other people did he tell? His family which is the next door neighbor of this man is comprised of former teachers who are very anti gun. I have met his family and believe me if something bad happens they are the definition of clue less. How long would it be before they are knocking on this mans door? If something happened in the area would they tell the police or military about their neighbor with all the guns and a secret underground bunker? Would you really want to find out if it was you?

There are a lot of things you can do to improve your overall security like varying the sources you purchase your items from. Unload some of them at night or out of sight. Keep your stores out of plain view so someone looking in the window or walking in your front door can't see a room full of food stores or a gun safe sitting out in the open. Pay cash as much as possible to cut down on the records of your purchases. Have items shipped to alternate addresses such as a job or a family members house. When buying over the web have the items held at Fed Ex or UPS so you can pick them up and they don't end up on your front porch for hours in the middle of the day in boxes marked "Be Prepared.Com". If you buy rifles don't toss the boxes out in the trash, bag them first so people don't see those nice white rifle boxes that say "Ruger" all over them. Just as a side note, these boxes most times have the serial number of the gun you purchased taped to the outside so they are easy to read. Just saying.

As I started out saying, keeping your preps below the radar is your only and really the best security you can have in an emergency. Lets hope you don't live through one to see if I'm right.

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Could You Survive if the Power Went Off Right Now? Do You Have a Plan to Get Everyone Home Safely When it Does?

What would you do if the power went off, right now? I mean right now without warning? Are you at work or maybe your spouse is, or better yet maybe your kids are at school or at a friends house? Now what? Have you made the type of emergency scenario plans that include everyone knowing where to go should there be an emergency and you can't communicate with each other? Remember you would not have your cell phone or for that matter not even land line phones. Do you and your family have plans that would allow you to all gather at a safe place in a crisis? If an EMP attack took place how would you react and how would your family fare? The odds are there will not be some type of early warning tipping you off to get ready, it will just happen and how you react could well determine your own survival not to mention the very people whose survival you worry most about.

In the military it would be called a rally point. For most people they simply call it home. The issue at hand is could you and your loved ones all get there in a safe and timely manner in an emergency situation? What could be worse than having a terrorist set off a dirty bomb or worse, in an area near you and you are not with your family and you have no way to communicate with them? I don't know of much that could be. The only real answer is to plan in advance for such an occurrence. An EMP attack is a very real concern just ask our own congress. Could you get home without a vehicle? How long would it take and will the people at your home know you are coming and it could take a day or two? Remember after the 9-11 attacks how people were walking around looking for loved ones putting up posters trying to find them? The same thing happened after Hurricane Katrina. Your plans need to include realistic time frames and what actions you would take once those times has elapsed.

When making plans like this you must keep a few important things in mind. First and foremost is that normal rules no longer apply. I simply mean that once something catastrophic occurs the daily norms of society cease. Accept the fact that either the police or military will have road blocks and check points set up to control specific areas that could be affected or traffic flow in and around those areas. Look for those roadblocks to expand in size and distance as time elapses from the original incident. When it comes to children, do you know your child's schools evacuation and relocation plans because they most certainly have one? Where will your children be taken in an emergency? How long do you have before the school can get the buses there to start evacuating? If you plan on seeing your children in the next few days or maybe even longer you had better know the answer to that question and start making plans on getting there before the buses so you can get your child yourself. If you can't beat the buses how long will it be before you can get to the school's selected evacuation location to pick up your child? One good idea for younger children is to have a written emergency contact list in your child's book bag or back pack so in an emergency if the school can't access their computer system for the information you at least know your child has it handy.

You need to consider yours and your spouses own travel concerns in this type of situation, adults may be better able to deal with problems but having a realistic plan doesn't know what age you are. Don't plan on having cell phones and communications come back in a hurry. Develop plans that make provisions for not being able to communicate with your spouse or loved ones. If you travel a great distance to work or you already know that certain areas are to be avoided in this type of scenario perhaps having a safe stop over or hold over point along the way makes sense. If you are like most people they will be trying to get home, if you can't walk that distance in a day or less, finding a safe place to be able to think, rest and reorient yourself along the route is almost mandatory. If you live by your GPS sitting on your dashboard you are in a world of hurt. An EMP would render them useless. Have a backup map in all your vehicles so you can at least navigate your way to your destination. Many maps can be had that not only cover major roads but they have very detailed local streets and in some cases even dirt roads.

Establish ahead of time what your plans would be and then make sure everyone in your group is on the same page, establish a phone number for everyone to call that is not local. This number can serve as a communications center for you and your family when on the move and you can't reach each other. You would be able to set up check in times and thus get information relaid to one another about your condition and location. Many times you would be able to reach people outside of an affected area much faster, even if they are in another state or the other side of the country. A family member or trusted friend located in what you believe is a "safe" area should be picked out ahead of time, two would be better. Set up a phone tree and make sure everyone knows their part. This phone tree works in reverse as well, they may be calling you instead of you calling them. This is one of those numbers you would have in your kids stuff at school.

Now we know that everything went dark and you get stuck, I'm sure you have your car packed with your 72 hour bag and its ready to go, right? That bag should include a way to hydrate yourself, feed yourself, treat yourself should you get injured or sick, keep yourself warm and dry and last but not least, protect yourself. Be realistic in evaluating your ability to get home period. If you know you live in a vulnerable area setting up an alternate location is a must. Again, everyone in your group should know the plan including this alternate location site. When picking a secondary location make sure you can gain access safely and quickly otherwise the best spot in the world won't work. Having a bunker buried under twenty feet of concrete is great, but the idea that it is 150 miles away ain't so great.

How many of us really knew 30 minutes before the planes crashed into the towers in New York it was going to happen? What I'm driving at is you will always be reacting to events out of your control for the most part. No one is going to get a call saying grab your family and head to your bunker 30 minutes before the bomb goes off and even if they did could they actually accomplish it in 30 minutes? The odds are in a crisis you will find yourself trying to get home worrying about your loved ones and not being able to get in touch with them. Having a good solid workable plan in place will do at least two things. One it will greatly increase your chances of survival as you will be prepared to deal with an emergency when it occurs. Second it will greatly increase your chances of survival because you will know what everyone else is doing and it will let you concentrate on YOU surviving.

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Dick Morris asks What Obama is Setting in Motion with His Executive Order on National Defense Resouces Prepardness - Dictatorial Powers?

In this video by Dick Morris he pretty well sums up Obama's move to get in place a law that allows him to enact martial law without going through congress and questions what his true intentions are. As Morris makes clear these are dictatorial powers.

Obama now has the ability to detain American citizens indefinitely without trail as he signed the Defense Authorization bill on January 1st. Also as Morris pointed out no other president ever did such a thing even in war time, this basically suspends your constitutional rights. Morris goes on to ask what purpose Obama's executive order signed on March 16th regarding National Defense Resources Preparedness really has since this order would allow him to take control of transportation and food industries as well and possibly federalizing the oil industry.

Again, for people who prepare for the worst and hope for the best this should be sending a pretty clear message as to where this administration is looking at going if it needs to. One last thing Morris pointed out that makes a ton of sense. Obama may feel he is going to loose come November, in which case he is more dangerous now than he ever was. Talk about a threat to your survival, this is it in spades.

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