Thread: BASIC LIST / SUGGESTED ITEMS FOR LONG TERM SURVIVAL

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SURVIVING IN ARGENTINA
Life in Argentina after the 2001 crisis

Fighting in and Around Vehicles

Wednesday, July 13, 2011



Yesterday I took the last of the two-day class, “Fighting in and Around Vehicles” offered by Jorge Biagorria.

As always the classes are top-notch and I’m glad to take advantage of this excellent opportunity to learn more about defensive shooting. While there are many good instructors around the world, it is a rare opportunity to find one that teaches techniques that are constantly put to test in the real world within that same environment. Every shooting technique is presented with a recent case in which either an instructor present or student of the academy used it himself.

Its hard to argue with an unaimed backward shooting stance when it happened to be used successfully by at least two people within the group of acquaintances that year alone. “When Carlitos was getting pistol-whipped in the back of the head, this is how he drew his weapon, and this is how he shot his attacker. Daniel did this same thing when he was robbed” Another instructor interrupts Jorge. “Daniel actually shot from the left, Carlitos did it to the right”. “Oh right, in any case we’re practicing on both sides”. A student interrupts the explanation with a question “What if you get shot in the back of the head?”. The reply is obvious. “Then you get shot in the head. There’s no guarantee during this sort of attack”.

Later when talking about the parts of your body that are likely to get shot: “You need to be skilled with both hands because your arms are likely to get shot. The natural defensive stance brings your arms up into the line of fire, so your arms and forearms get shot in the fight, see?” He points to a 38 special gun shot wound in his forearm.

Everything you do and learn is done so for a reason. It has worked for enough people enough times that it was decided to include it in the class. For every shooting stance and technique such events of how it happened are described. It’s truly a unique opportunity to lean in such a way. The current crime problem in Argentina is unfortunate, but it’s a field test for defensive shooting and an opportunity for you to learn from other’s experience. It’s not about how it was done in the good old days, but the gunfight that took place that same week a mile away from where you’re training and with the people that were involved. Yesterday I saw a group of Australian cops taking classes as well, and there were a couple French checking out our class too.

After the different drills of shooting in all directions from a seated position, we practiced some kneeling and shooting from the floor. A good amount of time was spend learning to work in pairs, providing covering fire and communicating with our partner so as to keep a constant rate of fire with a one second interval to keep the bad guys at bay (the capacity of your handgun and fast reload if of great importance here) Then we moved to the vehicles, practicing how to carry your firearm, how to get out of the vehicle, how to move for cover, then working in pairs covering each other as we went around the vehicle. Finally we did a force on force exercise where you drive with your partner into an unknown situation. Two where robberies, the other was a fight among two strangers (you were not supposed to get involved “its not your fight”)I got ambushed from both sides as I got out of the vehicle, got shot in the arm with a wax bullet that left a red mark and small bruise as a reminder.

The class was well worth it and its more information to process and keep in mind while driving.

If you have the opportunity to come this way and take a few classes, maybe organize a trip with a couple other like-minded people and get some training organized for your needs, it’s a one of a kind opportunity. The atmosphere is friendly and the camaraderie after the classes is very good. No gun guru egos or Grand Masters in their pedestals like it happens with some American instructors, yet at the same time you won’t find people with more street experience regarding what they preach, just people that train and many times had to use what they teach and learn in these classes, both as police officers and civilians. I have no commercial relationship whatsoever with Jorge’s school but I’d help with the communication if anyone wants to come here for training, simply because I know the kind of opportunity it represents. His contact info can be found here http://www.jorgebaigorria.com.ar

The Importance of Training

Nine of us paid and signed in for the class. Five minutes later the class only had eight people left. Someone had brought a friend of his to the class and clearly overestimated his friend’s skill with a firearm. Problems with his gear, a lack of fluidity in his weapon handling showed he wasn’t ready for advanced training.

It was very politely explained to him that he simply lacked the degree of skill required for an advanced shooting class and he would be putting himself and others at risk when shooting on the move and 360º. He was invited to stay and watch the class, but that he would be much better served with Defensive Pistol Module 1.

As for the rest of us, only once are you warned about a mistake you may have made regarding safety, the second time you are asked to leave. Shooting from a seated position and doing so with people by your side means that you sometimes break the gun safety rules and cover with your muzzle parts of your body or others you don’t want to shoot, so a level of training is required to take this sort of class safely.

The importance of training becomes even more obvious when these things happen for real. Last year a father received a phone call from his son that had problems with his vehicle on the road. Knowing that this can be dangerous in some parts of Argentina, the father picked a gun “just in case” and went to help his son with the car. Sure enough, as he approached his son’s vehicle he saw that he was being mugged. With no training he used the weapon, sending the bad guys away but effectively shooting and killing his own son in the process. I know of a similar case where a son shot his own mother in the hip with a 357 magnum instead of shooting the mental patient that had broken into her house.

If you need experience to even practice and train these things in a safe, controlled environment, then what can you expect when doing it for the first time, for real with your loved ones around you? Its up to each one of us to assume the responsibility of owning a firearm for self-defense and acquiring the skill to use it properly.

http://ferfal.blogspot.com/2011/07/f...-vehicles.html

http://www.shtfplan.com/

Insider Secrets: A Few Things Some Food Storage Companies Dont Want You to Know

TIPS WHEN COMPARING FOOD STORAGE SUPPLIES

Today we’re going to give some tips on how to compare food storage supply kits from one company to another so that you can find the best food storage supply for your family. These tips will be listed in order of importance. We’ll also talk about some comparison points that might be misleading or unhelpful when comparing food storage products.

1. Calories per day is where you start.
Any food storage supply worth it’s salt should have a calorie per day average. If they don’t advertise one it is likely because they don’t have a sufficient amount of food in the kit to meet their supply duration claim.

For example, there is a newer company to the industry that advertises with a popular national radio show. The only data they give you is number of servings. They claim their 1264 entrée kit supplies 2 adults and 3 children for enough food for 6 months but when you do the math you quickly learn that each family member will be eating about 500 calories a day, hardly enough food to survive on. Yet their price is similar to kits giving 2,000 calories per day.

There are other companies that make a supply duration claim but don’t back it up with the calories per day provided. You are better off taking your hard earned money to companies that don’t keep that information secret.

2. Which foods are found in the kit?

Ok after you’ve weeded out the bad offerings that are skimping on food the next question is which type of foods are in the kit. Some good questions to ask are:

- Does the kit come with a wide variety or will you be eating the same things every other day? Check out one of our sample menus here to get an idea of the variety we provide.
- If it’s a Premium kit, is it littered with dehydrated foods? Dehydrated foods take more time to cook, have a shorter shelf life, have less nutrition, and require much more fuel/cooking. If you had to, you can eat freeze-dried food cold which wouldn’t require any fuel or cooking at all.

- Is there a lot of filler calories like high sugar desserts (exp raspberry crumble and blueberry cheesecake) or a small shed’s worth of sugary Kool Aid type drink mix to help bump the calories up? Some competitor’s kits derive over 50% of their calories from these items. If you are not diabetic now you might be after eating some food storage supplies out there.

I might be a tad bit biased but you won’t find better food storage kits than those found at The Ready Store. With a wide variety of entrees, vegetables, snacks, fruits, drinks, and sides, your experience of living off these supplies will more closely mirror that of your daily life than any other out there. You will get a great priced high quality product that you’ll enjoy eating.

3. How is the food packaged?

Some companies are filling small mylar bags with food and putting them in plastic buckets then claiming a 20-30 year shelf life. They say they are using extra thick mylar bags that are as good as a #10 can. They also say that the triple nitrogen flush gives the food a shelf life of 3 decades. These claims are absolutely unfounded. All research over the past 40+ years shows mylar bags will give food about a 7 years shelf life if stored properly and that canning is the only way to go for 20-30 year shelf life. We have contacted these companies asking for data confirming their claims and we get nothing but a run-around and it’s for a reason… the research data doesn’t exist.
1. Number of cans.

The number of cans is not a good indicator of how much food you are getting. Many of our competitors do not fill their cans as high as they can. You really need to see how much product is being put in them to compare apples to apples (pun intended). We recently compared our ValueBucket product line to a competitor’s similar product line after having a customer complain about our price and after a few minutes of research we found out that on average they were now filling their buckets 30% less than we were.

2. Number of servings.

Another poor indicator is number of servings and that is due to some companies abandoning the typical serving size suggestions and choosing their own “serving size”. Needless to say if there are companies (like I mentioned above) selling 6 month survival food storage units that would feed a person 500 calories a day you can guess right that some of them are saying a serving of beef stroganoff is a fraction of what most companies are basing a serving on.

3. Weight of the kit.

Freeze-dried food weighs considerably less than dehydrated foods. A kit with a lot of dehydrated food is going to weigh more. So if you’re looking for dehydrated food kits then you should compare them to dehydrated kits. If you’re looking for freeze-dried kits than make sure both kits in question are 100% freeze-dried products before considering shipping weight as a real indicator of the amount of food you are getting.

In summary, there are many different options for the consumer these days and that is a great thing. Reputable companies work hard at providing the best product and services while demonstrating integrity, sadly not everyone does. It would be wise to use these insider tips to make sure you are getting the best bang for your buck with your next food storage purchase.

http://www.thereadystore.com/food-st...rage-supplies/

[quote="AirborneSapper7"]Prepare To Defend Yourself: Defending Your Life »


Learn to defend yourself. Study judo, wrestling or mixed martial arts -- anything that involves actual physical contact.

July 13, 2011
by John Myers

Sometimes, we are in danger because we are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Knowing what to do to avoid such a situation, or what you must do if you cannot, can be a lifesaver.

As a child, I was bullied, and I took more than my share of beatings in the schoolyard. I grew out of that stage and became a satisfactory football player. But I was never confident that I could defend myself.

At 17, I spent a year taking karate lessons. The conditioning part of it was fine, but part of me knew it was a waste of time. There was never any contact, and our sensei taught us that we had to pull our punches. In football we were taught to tackle through the opponent, so I knew there was something amiss.

Later, I spent a lot of years in the weight room. Even as I got stronger, I never had confidence. I decided to go back to traditional karate classes when I was 30. The kata movements that were taught were more choreographed dance steps.

Each day driving home from work, I would pass Matt David’s kickboxing gym. I finally mustered up the courage to go in.

Matt David was an imposing man. He owned a Spartan Gym in the rough area of town, along East Sprague in Spokane, Wash. Matt had a regulation boxing ring at the center of the gym. Surrounding it were speed bags, heavy bags and a mirrored wall. In the evenings, the Lilac City Boxing Club would train there.

I was not so impressed that Matt David had a 7th dan black belt in traditional kenpo karate, a rank he was awarded from the renowned Ed Parker. What impressed me most was that Matt had been an all-state wrestler in high school and was a former two-time California Golden Gloves heavyweight boxing champion.

When I first sat down with Matt, he asked me if I had any martial arts experience. I told him I had spent a couple of years in karate.

“That’s too bad,â€

Hungary destroys all GMO maize fields

13 Jul 2011

Some 400 hectares of maize found to have been grown with genetically modified seeds have been destroyed throughout Hungary deputy state secretary of the Ministry of Rural Development Lajos Bognar said.

The GMO maize has been ploughed under, said Lajos Bognar, but pollen has not spread from the maize, he added. Unlike several EU members, GMO seeds are banned in Hungary.

Authorities have been checking for GMO crops since the beginning of this year as a new regulation came in force this March which stipulates GMO checks before seeds are introduced to the market.

The checks will continue despite the fact that seed traders are obliged to make sure that their products are GMO free, Bognar said.

Compensation unlikely

Controllers have found Pioneer and Monsanto products among the seeds planted. The free movement of goods within the EU means that authorities will not investigate how the seeds arrived in Hungary but they will check where the goods can be found, Bognar said.

Regional public radio reported that the two biggest international seed producing companies are affected in the matter and GMO seeds could have been sown on up to thousands of hectares in the country.

Local farmers complain that the use of GMO seeds has only been revealed now when it is too late to sow again and the entire year's harvest has been lost.

Another problem is that the company that distributed the seeds in Baranya county is under liquidation, therefore if any compensation is paid by the international seed producers, the money will be paid primarily to that company's creditors, rather than the farmers.

http://www.allaboutfeed.net/news/hun...lds-11994.html

Canned Food Groups for Survival Storage

Original Article http://modernsurvivalblog.com/preps/can ... l-storage/

from Modern Survival Blog - surviving hard times by ken (Modern Survival Blog)



In addition to your consideration of our sponsors who offer excellent food supplies for long term storage, if you are stocking up your food pantry to withstand a period of ‘down time’ just in case you cannot get to the grocery store for awhile, or worse, for a disruption or collapse in the food supply distribution chain, consider adding some basic grocery-store canned foods from the following categories.

Keep in mind that when considering which canned foods to stock up on, you should be considering calories as well as a balance of food types. You should look for canned foods with a decent amount of calories while attempting to balance protein, vegetables, grains, and fruit. Note that some canned foods contain very few calories, which although great for a healthy diet, they may not bring you the best bang for your buck (survival preparedness is not necessarily ‘weight-watchers’…).

Canned Soups

Vegetables, veggies with meat, with grains, look for higher calorie soups.

Canned Meats

I know that Costco sells canned chicken and beef for example… there is quite a variety of canned meat sauces too, plus canned ham, etc…

Canned Tuna and/or Salmon

Even with the Mercury risk, once or twice a week consumption OK according to many reports.

Canned Stews

These usually have lots of calories and quite a variety of mixtures with vegetables.

Canned Beans

Brown rather than green will typically contain more calories.

Canned Pasta

With sauce – meat sauce – Ravioli, etc…

Canned Vegetables

Although somewhat low in calories, corn, carrots, etc… will offer a variety of flavor to add with your other foods.

Canned Fruits

For the sweet tooth, a good desert, and a healthy supplement to your diet.

Also, for optimum food rotation efficiency, it is always best to purchase what you normally eat, so that you will consume through your food storage over time, while replacing it with more of what you normally eat. This way, there would theoretically be no spoilage over time.

If you enjoyed this, or topics of preparedness or current events risk awareness, consider our survival blog RSS feed, new posts by E-mail, or bookmark us at Modern Survival Blog

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How To Make a Fish Spear

June 25, 2011 at 8:50 pm (PT)



You are in survival mode, and are located near a river or lake whose shallow waters are revealing fish lounging or swimming lazily near shore or around the weeds – within reach – if you could just catch them.

If you have a fishing pole and gear, you are all set – all you need to do is to scavenge some bait.

Without fishing gear however, your choices are limited. You could fashion a net if you had the right materials, you could try to catch the fish by hand (good luck with that), or you could try to spear the fish.

I have recently been watching and enjoying a TV show called ‘Dual Survivor’ on Discovery Channel (Dave Canterbury and Cody Lundin), which has provided lots of real-world survival experience (and entertainment), as well as lots of interesting survival ideas. During part of one recent episode, David Canterbury fashioned a fish-spear which he proceeded to use with a make-shift ‘bow’ while harvesting several fish for a delicious meal.

Since he had made the fish-spear from bamboo (a very straight growing hollow-strong wood), and since I have some bamboo growing in the corner of the yard from an expanding growth in the neighbors yard (the stuff spreads like wild fire), I decided to give it a go and make one for myself. After all… practice makes perfect.

The following video illustrates one way to make a fishing spear, which you could use by hand to spear fish, or with a bow for added velocity.



The fish spear could be made of other wood than bamboo, given enough elasticity, strength, and ‘straightness’, and is fairly easy to make.

Find a straight piece of bamboo (or most any wooden branch) that narrows to about the size of a pencil or slightly larger.

Split the end (lengthwise) with a sharp knife into four splinters.

Sharpen each splinter to a point.

Use small wedge pieces to insert between the ‘splits’ in order to spread the tip somewhat.

Use some type of thread or string to wrap around the wedged diameter so to strengthen the spread-out tip section.
That’s it!

Remember, when looking at fish in the water, there is light ‘refraction’. The light bends through the water and the fish will appear slightly further ahead than they really are. Aim slightly behind for a good shot!



http://modernsurvivalblog.com/surviv...-a-fish-spear/

How to make a fishing / hunting spear

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJ4vRzzfE_o&NR=1

A Rain Barrel Could Be a Key Part of Your Prepping Strategy

June 25th, 2011

Clean water is a precious commodity. We would die without it after 3-5 days. Pets and plants need water as well.

One solution for getting clean, free water is making and using a rain barrel as part of your prepping strategy. It may be a key element for successful survival gardening.

For more on this, check out the following article. It’s from Ag Opportunities, Volume 22, Number 6, June 2011, the newsletter from the Missouri Alternative Center.

Making and Using Rain Barrels

By Jennifer Schutter, Regional Horticulture Specialist, Adair County

Just in the past three years I have incorporated three gardening practices into my yard and garden-raised beds, compost bins, and a rain barrel. I absolutely love all three and encourage you to do the same.

People are now encouraged more than ever to use rain barrels as a way to protect our lakes and rivers while saving money on water bills.

So, what is a rain barrel? A rain barrel is a container used to catch rainwater. It is placed at the end of a home’s guttering downspouts to catch and store rainfall from the roof.

Using rain barrels is not a new practice. People have been using containers and barrels for hundreds of years to catch rainwater, only now days they are a little fancier than they were back then.

Instead of letting the water flow down your driveway and into a storm drain, you can collect it. Just a small amount of rain of less than half an inch can easily fill up a 55 gallon rain barrel.

There are several benefits to using rain barrels. You can use the water collected to water your garden or container plants. It is estimated that nearly 40 per-cent of household water is used for lawn and garden maintenance.

Rain barrels can be used in areas where you may not have a convenient spigot. Rain barrels can be a very effective tool against basement water problems, and they can prevent run-off from potentially washing harmful chemicals and pesticides into local streams and rivers.

Clean your barrel before using it. It is best to use a food-grade barrel. Plastic is best because it will not rust. Do not use a barrel that has been used to hold petroleum products or chemicals! They may leach toxins into the water.

Water collected from rain barrels should not be used for drinking, cooking or bathing. The lid should be secure so children or animals do not fall into the barrel. You should disconnect the barrel during the winter and attach it in the early spring to fill it for use.

You will need to elevate your rain barrel slightly to make access to the spigot easier. The screened louver vent will prevent mosquitoes from breeding in your barrel. Consider joining multiple barrels for additional capacity. You can add goldfish to your barrel.

Rain barrels are easy to make and it’s much cheaper than buying one. All you really need is a 55 gallon barrel, a spigot, overflow valve and a drill and bit. If you are from the northeast region of Missouri, you can find 55 gallon barrels at the flea market in Rutledge for $10.

You can get the spigot and over-flow valve at any hardware store. Make sure the valve has pipe threads on one end and hose threads on the other end. You want to be able to attach your water hose to the overflow valve and the spigot.

But, you need pipe threads to insert them into the barrel. You will probably want to drill a hole with a 15/16 inch bit. If you drill your hole this size, you will want to purchase a 3/4 spigot and valve.

You basically drill a hole about 3 inches from the bottom of the barrel and put in your spigot, and drill a hole about 3-4 inches from the top of the barrel for your overflow valve. You can go on the internet to find plans on how to make one.

I love having a rain barrel. It is located about 20 feet away from my garden and since I do not have a spigot on that end of the house, I use the water in the rain barrel to water my garden. I also use the water from the barrel to water my container plants and plants in my raised beds.

If you don’t already have one, try making one this summer. You are sure to love having one too!

If you’d rather buy a ready-made rain barrel, click on the ad banner below. When the page for Eartheasy.com appears, type rain barrel in the search box. You’ll be taken to a page featuring a few rain barrels you can choose from. Add the one you want to your cart to start the order process.

You might also like:

• Have a Rain Barrel for Water Storage and Survival
  
• Your Family’s Survival Could Depend on Water Storage Barrels
  
• A Simple Survival Solution for Monitoring Your Weather

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