Fellow Patriots,
Greetings and welcome to the Patriot Express Newsletter Edition #151. Thanks for stopping by to spend a few minutes with us. Your loyalty and support to HFS is much appreciated. It has been a slow and time-consuming process to reach this point and as we near the 3rd Anniversary for Hope for Survival, we now have weekly readers in nearly 40 states. We appreciate your time and choice to visit HFS weekly. Thanks to everyone for your continued support.
Ms. Lucy and I will be taking a quick trip to Johnson City, TN. Saturday morning to watch our oldest granddaughter (11) play softball with her travel team from Central VA. Two weeks ago, it was the youngest granddaughter visiting Gatlinburg, TN with her traveling gymnastics team. I will continue being a grandfather and keep my mouth shut on the subject of traveling sports teams for kids under the age of 15. Yikes. Next, I will probably hear that our four-year-old grandson is on a traveling team competing in construction and heavy equipment knowledge. His knowledge and retainability in this area is amazing.
This is a very exciting time of year when Carolina Readiness Supply releases the annual schedule for Heritage Life Skills 2022. You will find more information listed below with links and contact information for the event. Hope for Survival will be onsite teaching eight classes over the three-day event covering five topics which includes two new classes: The Psychology of Preparedness and Vetting New Team Members. This is a great event for families to attend and visit the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina in the city of Waynesville. You don't want to miss this event.
HFS will be posting the annual HFS March Madness Donation Drive on March 1, 2022 for the full month to raise funds to keep HFS funded operationally for 2022. Keep your eyes alerted to this post and consider helping HFS pay the bills for year. We have remained operational for nearly three years through your generous support. Thanks in advance.
Okay, let us move along.
Just for fun...
Can you break the code? If so, email me your answer. Do NOT put in the message block. Each week the coded puzzle will get harder.
This week's code is: 5-3--5/1-5-1-3/2-4-1-5/4-1-2-4-4-2/4-5-5-1-4/1-3-5/3-3-5-3-1/2-3-5-1-5-3-4-4-2/4-5-5-1/2-2-5-5-4-4-4-2/5-3-5-1-5/3-5-1-4-4/5-3-5-1-5/4-3-5-3-1/ Good luck!!!
No one broke the code in PENL #150. The correct answer was "The five D's in security are deter, detect, deny, delay, and defend."
Okay, let's move along. First a few business items and promoting HFS.
Thursday Zoom Rallies – No HFS Zoom Rally this week. Next rally will be March 3, 2022, at 7 pm EST. Agenda will be announced next week.
Communications: You can now follow HFS social media on the following outlets:
Facebook – Hope for Survival
YouTube Channel – Hope for Survival
MeWe: - //mewe.com/p/hopeforsurvival2
Odysee - Hope for Survival (odysee.com)
Parler - Preparedness101
Connect and give me a shout. Share with family and friends.
Guest and Newcomers
If you are a guest or newcomer to the HFS journey, please check out this link for additional
information offered through HFS. https://www.hopeforsurvival.com/post/guest-and-newcomers-information-page
Hope for Survival books and HFS Thumb Drive for Emergency Documents -: You can obtain information on the two HFS books at this link: Survival, Preparedness, Disaster Management for individuals or family (hopeforsurvival.com)
Hope for Survival - How Food, Water, Shelter, and Security Could Save Your Life (Book 1)
Hope for Survival - The Mindset (Book 2)
HFS Thumb Drive for Emergency Documents - We just restocked the HFS Thumb drive and have them available now. Follow this link and you will see the add at the top of the page. Blog | Survival (hopeforsurvival.com)
Heritage Life Skills 2022 - Waynesville, NC, May 20-22 - Class schedule and signups are posted for your review and selection. Once again, the price for a full weekend attendance or single day visit can't be beat. This is a very affordable opportunity for loads of preparedness training and information. Not to mention, you will meet some amazing people who become friends for life in many cases. Here is the link to view this year's classes, class schedules, and instructor bios. Upcoming Events | Carolina Readiness | Preparedness & Camping Store If you have questions, please call the Carolina Readiness Supply at 828-456-5310.
We must make this brief public announcement to protect the innocent.
Ding, Ding, Ding....Attention HFS readers..... Opinions shared in this newsletter are just that, opinions, and nothing more. Read at your own risk. The owner and author of this site is not responsible for hurt feelings or thin-skinned readers. I do my best to show restraint and respect to the best extent possible. I take as many precautions as possible and try to remain as nonpolitical as possible, however, there are times when I just can't help but point certain things out. Occasionally I use words only Patriots recognize and understand. It's not personal against any non-Patriot. It's just the truth. Sometimes we must pull up our spenders and suck it up. Just saying. Stay the course, read what you want, and avoid the rest. Avoid fear porn as much as possible and the day will be okay. When all else fails… Keep the faith and always have Hope.
Let’s move along and get to some thoughts...
Thoughts for the week
Presidential Election 2020, Jan 6, 2021, Covid - 19, Canadian Trucker Rally, U.S. Trucker Convoy to Washington D.C. and the new Trump App. What is the important commonality that applies to all of us and how we should avoid same? I am going to bounce around like a square rubber ball to get to the ending point where I bring it all together. So, buckle up and stay with me. I promise what I am saying here applies to you and your family in some way.
I think I should start off this section by saying "here, kitty, kitty, kitty." Why do I hear this noise in my head? Oh my, do we as humans ever learn? Gray man. OPSEC. Left of Bang. Stay outside the box. A person diets for six months and has great success. Then the donut truck drives by and in a single decision during a time of weakness, the six-month effort is over. A dozen glazed donuts destroyed the effort. The person knew better but a split-second decision defeated them. Do we as humans believe anything that we see and talk about? Or do we watch and believe it will never happen to us? We are living in a world where the new system can track every movement, message, and word we utter. Scary huh?
We've had warmer weather here in East TN this week. Yes, it's a tease and it will be cold again soon. It fooled the pear trees because they are showing buds this third week in February. Fooled by temperature and current weather. If a tree responds to rain, droughts, warm and freezing temps, shouldn't the tree have known it was too early to bud? There is nothing I can do but watch the process each year. I can almost hear mother nature whispering "here, kitty, kitty, kitty" to my fruit trees. Come on, have a sense of humor.
I had the chance to talk to my squirrel pal Wilson this week and he was full of himself. Seems every chance he gets he is slighting the human race for being so weak and easy to predict. When Wilson gives me a half smile with a cocked head, I can expect a sarcastic comment or question. Wilson asked me "why humans are so easy to predict?" It had been a while since I last chatted with Wilson. I was watching my American flag blow in the breeze, and I noticed Wilson running and jumping from point to point collecting more food while all the other squirrels went about running and chasing each other from tree to tree and over and under downed logs. You see, Wilson is acting upon the knowledge of more freezing weather coming soon. Wilson will have additional food, while the other squirrels will not. Simple. Right? Learning from the past. It is a lesson in what have we learned from the past to help us prevent the same bad decisions or shortfalls going forward. What is happening around us to educate and reinforce our processes and practices, yet we go off and ignore it. Why? Are we to trusting? Maybe we are historically spoiled being American.
Can we all agree we are living in a very different world today where we recognize and remain alert to new information and how folks are using technology against us. This could be for our political positions, race, military veteran, love for country, support of the Constitution, our faith, non-vaxed, and other unknown factors we learn about often. Are you ever with a family member or neighbor talking about digital technology and the person says "it scares me to death? I was talking to Fred about a sale down at Harbor Freight and then I pick up my phone to check my email and I had sales add from Harbor Freight. Then I get on Facebook to see if my cousin Matilda posted new pictures of her baby pigs. When I opened Facebook the Harbor Freight sales add I had told Fred about was right on my Facebook page." Oh, this is crazy talk.
Now, if you think what I am saying is nonsense, look at the picture below. I typed the words Harbor Freight above as an example to my story and within one hour I get an email sale add from Harbor Freight. Email, social media, voice messages and other digital media is tied to all your accounts filed in your social history folder back to September 2011. Think about that.
Since September 11, 2001, and the passing of the Patriot Act, all electronic media such as emails, phone calls, text messages, voicemail, social media posts, and most likely information collected by Alexa and her cousin, is stored and available to be used at a later date. OOO XXX OOO XXX could be your identity in the world of algorithms. Just like the cameras mounted on the Wal Mart rooftops are for the protection of you, the customer, your digital history is on file to be used against you at a later date. This is the new world and the digital history of each and every individual. So what? This will be part of what is to come and the new social credit scoring system. I digress.
The 2020 Presidential election was possibly the most controversial in our lifetime. Just when we thought the 2000 election Bush vs Gore couldn't be more suspenseful, a short 20 years later we witness Trump vs Biden. Trump had a massive following city to city. Thousands signed up for the Trump Train support wagon across America. Big movement, big bucks, big turnout at every stop. I know many of you traveled to see President Trump at some point before his first election and then his campaigning for reelection. Thousands of digital pictures from website to website, email to text messaging. Smile, you are now in a collected folder in a federal file at some location. You didn't break the law and you are a tax paying law-abiding citizen. Then, the election didn't turn out as planned and psychological psychosis kidnapped many of you. Hours and hours on websites clicking video after video, email after email, XXX OOO XXX OOO your personal marker.
What did we learn from January 6, 2021? We learned thousands of American Patriots signed up to support the January 6 rally, traveled to Washington D.C., and ended up on a government list identifying them as domestic terrorist basically. Genuine, honest, and law-abiding citizens, who made the trip per the call of then President Trump, ended up getting telephone calls and face-to-face visits from federal agents. Before heading to Washington D.C., they felt prideful in their red, white, and blue and then must have wondered "what happened to my country?" Several ended up being jailed and still await trial. All of the collected biometrics, identities collected from hundreds of thousands of face shots across the Patriot websites, stationary cameras, and personal pictures hijacked by the feds, is now stored in a federal database. Yes, many of you left a digital biometric mark or indicator as well as an XXX OOO XXX OOO personal marker. Did you heave watch the old cop show Dragnet when Detective Friday asked Detective Webb "does the suspect have any prior arrest or convictions?" Today, when they run a background check on any person, that person's digital file will be available upon request for review.
As we transitioned through the 2020 election and Jan 6 debacle, we also spent the last 23 months going through the Covid-19 era of history. Vaxed or not is not my point here. It is a personal choice. Did you know it is a crime today to post any negative comments on social media regarding the handling of Covid-19 or disinformation about the vaccine? So many good law-abiding citizens who could read through dotted lines of the fine print questioned anything and everything about Covid-19, the vaccine, the denial of certain treatments and more. It was all within their Constitutional rights and freedom of choice to do so and yet the government has again stated these are crimes and punishable. You are a domestic terrorist disloyal to the government. You left your XXX OOO XXX OOO on many websites and videos deemed illegal by the current government.
Then the governments in North America decided to turn up the heat on the unvaccinated and start to treat them like non-citizens less than peasants. A Canadian Trucker Convoy was planned and launched to key cities around the vast Canadian regions. Popularity for the movement sprung to life and thousands of citizens in Canada, some in America, went out to support the quest to end mandatory mask, quarantine, and vaccinations on truckers and others. They blocked bridges and key roads while supporters donated millions of dollars to support their needs with fuel and food. It was a beautiful site and grew in popularity. Then, like a hot butter knife through butter or a prickling to a Congratulations balloon, it started unravelling before the world's eyes. Frozen bank accounts, arrested truckers, damaged and destroyed trucks, arrested supporters bringing food and warm beverages, and don't forget those who donated millions of dollars to support the cause. Banks turned over names of donors and websites got hacked and thousands of names and addresses got pinned on websites for the world to see. All this information in the hands of government agencies to identify each person acting against the will of the government and passed laws. The Emergency Powers Act XXX OOO XXX OOO
Now we have a US Trucker Convoy just departing California after several weeks of planning. How many citizens signed up on a digital platform to drive a truck, support a trucker, bring food, or donate cash? Guess what? Great cause for the freedom of others and yet another huge digital footprint in the hands of the government who has declared this demonstration to be illegal. XXX OOO XXX OOO Can you hear the whispered words "here, kitty, kitty, kitty" echoing from Washington D.C.? Personally, I believe the American Trucker Convoy has DHS written all over it and would avoid at all costs. The intent may be real as fuzz on a peach; however, infiltration is very possible based on the delay in starting this rally. Think Canada and the Emergency Powers Act except in the US it will be called the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
This week the announcement was made that folks could start signing up for the new social media app owned by former President Donald Trump. Hundreds of thousands rushed to get their name on the list to download and access the new digital platform. He's back. (I have wondered how many of the hundreds of thousands signed up for the app to ask the former President why he never popped out of the black magic hat as promised by several click bait websites) Sadly, he is probably the most hated man in America by the deep state. The man who stepped out to broadcast the frustrations of millions of Americans. And he would do it like no other. He worked for free. He lost millions of his own wealth to lead our nation. Supporting Mr. Trump earned millions the title of a deplorable. Good, hard working, tax paying, Patriotic, Red, White, and Blue, military veterans, Christians and many walks of life. Yes, he often said things to hurt the feelings of others. Seriously, who cared? Take a pick; economic growth, low fuel prices, small businesses thriving, crime down or puff puff and boom boom getting hurt feelings over a digital tweet? Digital. Yes, that's my point here. Some of the same folks whose digital footprint showed up for all the above-mentioned areas are now red flagged again because they thought they signed up on a secure site. XXX OOO XXX OOO (Remember, many brave Patriots are still locked up in solitary confinement without real legal representation and a few of them got caught through digital footprint on social media accounts). Face it, we no longer live in a fair society with a guarantee of constitutional or equal rights during judicial representation.
My point is not to live scared or not support a candidate or movement of your choice. My point is to do so in a smart manner, so everything is not tracked back to you. Be creative. Doesn't your imaginary friend from childhood also want to follow the former leader of the free world? Think smart. I just hope when I hear future stories of the feds yelling "here, kitty, kitty, kitty" it is not associated with our name. The commonality of the above-mentioned historic events is we each continued or developed a digital footprint of X's and O's that the invisible eye is watching. Think first, then act in a safe manner.
Next....
Occasionally I find time to share some of the new websites I pick up and use daily for information and topics unavailable in the lamestream media. Keeping track of so many topics is extremely difficult, especially when the reader then decides to research the topic for multiple sources on the same topic. So, if you have ever asked me what websites I read and I look at you like my head is spinning, this is the reason why. Or someone asks me to share some websites I read daily. Really? So, here's a few websites you can add to your choosing for alternative news. and recommended books.
Alternative News
Books:
- Live not by lies - Rob Dreher (Recommended by our Patriot sister in Central TN.
- Red Handed - How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win - Peter Schweizer
- A Plague Upon Our House - Scott Atlas
- Mini Farming Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre - Brett L. Markham
- The Lost Super Foods - Art Rude, Lex Rooker, Caude Davis, and Fred Dwight
- The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies - Nicole Apelian, Ph.D, and Claude Davis
Next ....
What is a crisis communication hub?
Let me ask you a few questions to get started and before you move along without reading this section of thoughts for the week.
- What if your spouse goes shopping with a friend and never returns home? Would you know where to start looking for her/him to begin your search?
- What if your child heads out for a run and never returns home. Would you know the route run for the day and where to start your search?
- You spouse, with your children, heads out on a full day drive to visit family a few states away. You call and call and never get an answer. Your spouse and children never arrive to their destination. Did you have a plan to know the route being driven, estimated fuel stops, and where would you start looking for them?
- Your family is spread out across town for a typical day of school and work. A major earthquake strikes causing major damage to roads, buildings, utilities, and communications. Of your five family members, you are the closest to home at 5 miles away. It is December, cold, and wet, what is your families plan, how will you communicate with them, and what is your designated rally point?
Why on earth would anyone need to worry about a communication plan? Maybe a P.A.C.E. Plan? Heck, we have state of the art technology with 5 G capabilities and $1,000 phones. Why worry? I don't worry about it, but I have a communication plan for my family. You bet. It won't be important to you until you pick up your phone to text or call your children and can't reach them during an emergency. Then you log on to your email and the net is down. Oh no, I can't reach my loved ones. What is your plan? I have talked about the P.A.C.E. plan in the recent past and the 5-5-5 plan as well. What you do with it is your business, right? So let me ask the previous question again. What is your plan when you can't reach a spouse, parent, child, grandchild, best friend, and anyone else you identify as important? I find it hilarious how many people spend hours building vacation plans and yet they don't have a single emergency plan to their name. Think about it. Where are your priorities?
A crisis communication hub should be included within your Communication Plan to be contacted immediately after a disaster. The hub person will serve as a backup to your attempts to contact family members and obtain information and directions. The goal has everything to do with rallying the troops and to ensure everyone in your immediate family and group is safe and secure. Bottom line - you will have to identify a “trusted agent” outside your family who doesn’t live in your local area. The person should be reliable and familiar with several forms of communication such as texting, email, cell phones, and possibly ham and CB radio. They should be internet savvy with strong search skills from an internet provider. Aunt Rosie may not be a good candidate if she is always calling with internet problems and also claimed her grand prize from the Kenyan lottery. Consider a candidate where a major disaster likely wouldn’t strike.
Previously we discussed the 5-5-5 Plan for evacuating the home. Now let us talk about the 3-3-3 Plan for communicating.
We have heard “one is none and two is one”. You can survive for three minutes without air, three days without water, and three weeks without food. The 3-3-3 plan says to turn on your radio every three hours, tune it to channel 3, and leave it on for three minutes. This can be a bit more complicated than what you see. Timing is critical. The plan would be to turn on the radio every three hours. The key is to achieve a common ground with a schedule. So you would start the table at 12 then every 3 hours: 3 a.m., 6 a.m., 9 a.m., 12 a.m., 3 p.m., 6 p.m., 9 p.m., and again at 12 a.m. The time zones would be local. If you live near a time zone border, consider doubling up your monitoring time to cover both zones. To ensure people know you are online and alive at least send out a small message. Maybe mention your call sign and send a request for contact from anyone listening. Using Channel 3 will work fine for radios with a channel capability. The 3-3-3 plan works great for ham radio operators with options and capabilities for setting up broadcast frequencies. The duration will be to leave your radio on for full three minutes. Consider a fourth or fifth minute because of power, connection, and distance issues. A communication plan must fit into your Emergency, Bugout/In, and SHTF plans. When devising your Bugout Plan, remember to include certain phases to the plan. Once initiated, the plan should be designed to have steps and measures to initiate ongoing or as required. All plans should be “evergreen” or a living document. Review, adjust, brief, and practice, and maintain the plan. These plans should be devised to utilize as a group or independently within the group. No assumptions should be made that another group or family member is doing a task or step.
All tasks and steps should be understood and assigned before actually engaging the plan in a real-world situation. You should understand a phased plan to be a separation or division of events by time, space, or purpose and is important to those using the plan. Each separation supports each phase because ultimately, it’s the overall progression to start and reach a successful conclusion to the plan. So, a plan has separation and a clear understanding of who does what task. A good example would be:
Phase 1 – Make contact with all participants of the plan and identify each person once the emergency event begins or is known
Phase 2 – Everyone heads to the Rally Point
Phase 3 – Consider reaching out to extended family
Triggering Your Plan
Have you given consideration to what will trigger the plan? Civil strife in your community/state? Bank Holiday? Truckers Union Strike? Government Shutdown? Pandemic? How about practicing your plan? Include “triggers” that will initiate plan. Triggers are good for many reasons and one of the reasons is it initiates a call to action by a single individual using the plan.
Example 1 – A family of eight members living in four locations. Would the families initiate the “Bugout” plan if the television signal went down during a thunderstorm?
If you answered yes, return to start and turn in your “get out of jail free” card.
If the television goes down and the power fails, cars won’t start, and the dog is hiding under the bed, you might want to consider something.
In the past exercise, the trigger would possibly be the loss of electricity. You may include in your plan to engage in an initial communications check between the four homes within the first 15 minutes of the event.
Example 2 – A trucker strike is scheduled on a national level and will begin next week. With just in time trucking providing resources as needed, would you alert your family/team to monitor and then consider planned measures?
Yes. Remember, you want to be part of the prepared and ahead of the unprepared sheep. We should place more emphasis on the end result caused by the action. Ask, “How will this impact my family?”
Under the last scenario, if the plan directs three of the homes to proceed to a single location of the four family homes, then maybe consider the host family (Rally Point) conduct the communication checks until all families check in. Remember, the less chatter on the radio(s) will help keep your plan secure. Which communication would have a higher likelihood of being intercepted and understood?
1. John, this is Bob, we are departing our house now with all the food and weapons listed. We will be to your house ASAP but traffic on Highway X is likely to be slowed to a stop.
2. Team 1 this is Team 4, secure and mobile with complete package. Estimated arrival is within estimates of the plan.
Or, consider canned preplanned messages such as:
Team 1 – Team 4 initiating Category “A”. “A” could mean team is secure and mobile and will arrive within established estimates. Category “B” could mean Team 4 delayed 30 minutes because of flat tire and will arrive outside planned estimates, but within the limits established in Category “B” plan. Design your own measures, messages, and estimates.
Consider identifying primary and secondary measures in the event your communication line is down or compromised. Devise a plan to rotate communication channels every fifteen minutes regardless of usage. Team members will know, according to the plan, to rotate signals as designated segments.
Within the plan, you must document what conditions a person would need to contact someone. This is the cement or foundation of the Emergency Communication Plan. One could use a CB, Shortwave, Cell Phone, POTTS Line, Texts, Email (Real or Ghost Account).
In the event a person is cut off or loses a signal, the person must remain in touch and receive ongoing instructions. How can a team “confirm” understanding of a planned phase or changes on the fly if they can’t communicate?
Four Phases of Emergency Communication
1. Personal Communication – when you are communicating with a person that is visible in front of you. This does not include Skype or other types of live chat. If you need to communicate with someone in person, you have to set up a time and place for them to be there.
- One Time Event – You have a time and place set up in advance.
- Periodic Event – Requires same information as “One Time Event” but is set up as recurring.
- Conditional Event – Not time based. Based around circumstances such as birth of a child or next rainstorm. Conditions are based on the specifics of the event.
2. Impersonal Communication – Communicating with someone who is at a different place. Like, leaving a note on your spouse’s pillow. Or, leaving instructions for a second person to come to a place at a given date and time.
3. Telecommunication – Using any form of electromagnetic spectrum such as cell phones, ham radios, CB Radios, and as simple as flashing a flashlight or the head lights of a vehicle.
4. Coded Communication – Using a preset text or symbols understood between the sender and receiver. NOTE: Develop a few code words and have the coded words in your plan from the start. The word ‘movie’ mentioned at any point in the conversation means that the person is speaking about a party coming up. In the sentence, there is mention of a name. The name will tell you what day the party is going to be, such as a name starting with ‘F’ means Friday. A name starting with ‘S’ means Saturday. A name starting with either of those plus a last name means that it won’t be this weekend but next weekend. If the person asks you a question in the sentence, he/she is asking if you can make it to the party. If you can make it, respond with a yes-type answer. If you look, you can see that this plan can get really complicated, really quickly. If you decide to go this route, I recommend keeping things as basic as possible.
Planning Your Plan
Let’s talk about what you should factor into your actual plans. You as the individual must develop your own plan because only YOU will know your OPSEC circumstances. Right?
Consider using the acronym when you are planning. Primary, Alternate, Contingency, and Emergency. PACE.
Primary – This is Plan A of whatever you are trying to do. The primary plan should be the best plan and the one most likely to succeed without unintended consequences.
Alternate – This plan should be as viable as the first or primary plan. The alternate plan is simply another way to do it. Make this plan trustworthy because it may be the plan you have to count on. In one circumstance your primary plan may be the best and in another scenario you may need to consider switching to your alternate plan.
Contingency – This would be plan #3. It’s used when plans 1 and 2 fail. You could have identified the same means of communication in Plans 1 and 2 and your communication device failed and has been compromised. Now to plan #3. Within the Contingency bag, one must take into consideration what is called “Bona Fides”. What is this? If your team were separated for example, or had yet to team up, you or they might encounter other individuals and need or desire to bring them on your team. Or, you might already have a loose group that not everyone knows everyone. In this case, you need some way to know that the person is who they say they are such as a code word, symbol, or thing they carry. Just remember, a bona fides system should go both ways so they know who you are too.
Emergency – This would qualify for the SHTF and you will need to initiate the plan or communicate and not have to follow requirements of your primary, alternate, or contingency plan. This may be not calling on a cell phone and going directly to the office and knocking on the door until it opens. This choice would be case-by-case and driven by circumstances and the individual making the choice.
The “Uh – Oh” Plan
Or, the “If-All-Else-Fails” communication plan. You should set up a plan in case all hell breaks loose, and your other plans completely fall apart, or something happens that your communication plan didn’t consider. You need a fallback plan. Imagine the worst case TEOTWAWKI scenario; cell phone usage goes out, traffic is jammed everywhere, roadblocks are set up, whatever. You need ways to communicate. You need several contingency plans. This should all be covered in your overall emergency, bug-out or SHTF plan, but there should be an emergency communications element to it.
Brainstorm different scenarios where typical communication is gone and you can’t travel to where you wanted to according to your plan, and your family/friends are spread out to unknown locations. What will you do? Set up a system to get hold of everyone. In this case you need to use several methods because you don’t know what the situation is for anyone else until you establish communications.
Suggestions to Get Started
Establish several locations where you could leave some kind of message (like a tree ribbon) that you could visit without being noticed, and no one would give any thought to whatever you leave there. These locations should be established in advance but spread out a bit in a case you can’t reach them all. The message you are sending could be that you’re okay and what location you are headed to, for example.
As previously discussed, set up a periodic radio transmission schedule that covers several frequencies. Cover different frequencies because you don’t know what the others will be able to listen or transmit on, and different frequencies act differently with certain atmospheric conditions.
Set up a couple of frequencies in a few different bands and a schedule, such as starting at noon every day, then transmitting, and listening for five minutes on each of these six frequencies. Then all you have to do is somehow get to a radio and listen in on one of those frequencies. Set up your plan so that you could provide useful information even if only one of you can transmit. Remember your OPSEC (operation security).
Go over different scenarios with your family during and after you’ve made your communication plan. Not only will you fill in some missing pieces of the plan that you didn’t realize, but you’ll also get an idea of how each other thinks, so you can anticipate what they will do.
Practice your plan! Actually, go out and do the stuff that you place in your plan. As you will learn, some things you’ve placed in your plan sounded good around the sofa table while discussing but won’t work at all in the real world. Remember, a plan is just a plan. If you don’t take time to demonstrate what the plan says, it could be the step in your preparedness that gets you killed. Make an emergency contact list for everyone. If they can’t get a hold of you, they need to get in touch with someone else. Make sure every person in your family/team understands every part of the plan and can do each part. You need for everyone to get ham radio certified if that’s going to be part of your plan.
And those are my thoughts for the week.
Preparedness News –
1. From Jason Dunn - American Preppers Online - How To Identify Which Plastic Containers Are Safe For Food Storage - American Preppers Online - Preparing in an uncertain world! -
2. From Urban Survival Site - Survival Balcony Gardening | Urban Survival Site - I am often asked, "How can I do a garden when I live in an apartment, or duplex. Here you go. If you have the determination and desire to do it, you can do it. Think outside the box and be creative.
3. From Laurie Neverman - Common Sense Home - 11 Vertical Garden Advantages You'll Love (commonsensehome.com) - Here's some additional options for gardening. Give them a try and see how it goes.
4. From Old World Garden Farms - The Chinese 5 Color Pepper - How To Grow The Best Hot Pepper Plant! (oldworldgardenfarms.com) - Have you ever spent any time researching how hot peppers actually aid in having a healthy immune system? My point is separate from this article and something you would have to research on your own.
5. From Mavis Butterfield - One Hundred Dollars Per Month - How to Start Seeds in Egg Cartons - One Hundred Dollars a Month - Another great suggestion and opportunity to recycle and repurpose your resources.
Other News -
1. From Mark Moss - The Daily Reckoning - The Mathematical Cycles of History - The Daily Reckoning - Very good article to get a top-down view of the cycles through history. For the Christians, do you have to go through the church to get to heaven? The question is a very small portion of the point being made in the article. (Thanks Festus, for this submission.)
2. From Tyler Durden - Zero Hedge - WEF 'Infiltration': Rogan Redpilled, Canadian MP Cut Off For Asking - Accused Of Spreading "Disinformation" | ZeroHedge - This is outstanding information. Take the time to listen to the clips inserted to the story. There is no doubt in my mind today, or even a year ago, or further back, national governments are infiltrated and/or controlled by the World Economic Forum. Good stuff. (Thanks Festus, for this submission)
3. From Jim Quinn - Burning Platform - This is a four-part article and worth the read. If you are a deep thinker and strategist, this is for you. Great layout of where we are today. (Thanks Festus for this submission) Festus provided this description to me for the summary: Get a cup of coffee (or whatever), take a deep breath, and concentrate on this. Well worth the time. Lots of good quotes. And a lot of the other paragraphs are worthy quotes on their own too. For example: (Do some of these sounds familiar? We have talked about these for years.)
4. The Wolf of Washington - Putin Makes A Major Move | The Wolf of Washington - Excellent article on Putin, Uncle Joe, and Ukraine, from the DC Beltway perspective.
5. From Charles Hugh Smith - Of Two Minds - oftwominds-Charles Hugh Smith: Our Financial System Is Optimized for Sociopaths and Exploitation - When the elite make the rules for the peasants to invest and live by, the elite will laugh with their positive financial earnings while the peasants fail to figure it out. A wise pastor used to tell us "Invest in He and not in The, the long-term interest rate is much better."
Drum roll...........
That's all my Patriot brothers and sisters.
Prayers - Please keep our great nation, our elected leaders, military and first responders in your thoughts and prayers. We pray for good health and wisdom. Please pray for our leadership to find answers and guidance to the problems facing our great nation. May your faith remain strong and answers to the unknown provided. God is good and may our prayers blanket and protect you and your circumstances. I pray for each, and every one of our Patriots.
May we pray for all the blessings and things in life to be thankful about and continued hope for revival around the world. We must continually pray for the unsaved, our family and friends who live each day without the protection for eternal life and salvation.
We pray for the nation of Ukraine, and all involved in the conflict with Russia. We pray for peace and a quick resolution for all involved.
We pray for our Patriot sister in central Alabama who took un unexpected tumble and broke her shoulder. We pray for your pain management and recovery. Get healthy soon.
Please pray for our Patriot sister from Northern Alabama and her family as they deal with multiple personal and health issues at this time. We are thankful for our sister's safety and health endured in a five-car vehicle crash.
Even with all the worldly challenges, struggles, and heartbreaks we must always give thanks for the blessings in our own life and our family each day. Life can be hard and sometimes unfair to us, but we still have many things to be thankful for each day. We must not forget them.
We all must pray strong and often for the citizens of our great nation. Many of our sisters and brothers are struggling daily with things they witness, encounter, and are surprised with out of the norm. Many times, we are in unchartered areas, however, we still must keep our faith and focus on the big picture. Our prayers and faithful strength together will be required often to battle the evils being thrown upon all of us minute by minute.
As Patriots we must stay strong and never give up. Our home, community, and nation need us now more than ever. Stay focused on your local community and things that will impact you around the nation. Don't allow the events around you to create fear in your life. Build your own self-reliance and focus on hope. Remember we are a blessed nation, and we must continue to be great people today and make a better tomorrow. Keep charging.
Blessings,
Bravo Echo Out,
