Greetings and welcome to the Patriot Express Newsletter Edition #198. Thanks for your time and support to HFS. This approach to edition #200 is getting so exciting. It is like watching the ball drop in NY City approaching midnight. Okay, maybe not that exciting. Think of it like this, each PENL creation is about 30,000 characters or 5,000 to 7,500 words. That is weekly. So roughly 30,000 words per month which is roughly six books per year.
It was great to the Cumberland Plateau last weekend to spend time with Festus and Ms. Festus accompanied by some biscuits and gravy, eggs, sausage, bacon, and baked fish. Have you ever had baked fish for breakfast with gravy? Oh, my goodness. You should try it. We then attended a function where I was teaching a class which was an overview to Hope for Survival. The best part was meeting lots of new Patriots and wonderful people. It was also great to see 10 HFS supporters in the group attending. Time is never my friend at these events, and I never get the quality time to have solid conversations with HFS sisters and brothers, as well as new friends. We finished the day off by having dinner with Festus and our HFS Family from Monticello, KY who drove down for the event. Sometimes I believe I'm the luckiest guy on earth to be surrounded by so many Patriots who add so much to my life. Thank you all.
Ms. Lucy and I had a dinner engagement with two dear Patriots in our neighborhood on Monday evening. Great food, great friendship, and blessed sister and brotherhood. Sometimes it is nice to stop and just block everything out and enjoy the moment together. Do you ever do this for yourself? It is always nice to not feel rushed and have discussions back and forth to share and learn on the topic. We certainly appreciate this opportunity and wonderful hospitality.
I don't know if you are noticing how the media focuses on some things while the bigger things are being ignored. Yea, the law was broken in Uncle Joe's mishandling of our nation's secrets. Yep, this is a big deal indeed. Many citizens previously went to jail for less mishandling infractions. Ever notice how those in uniform are punished to the fullest and serve time but government servants and elected officials are cuddled and swaddled like a five-year-old? I know the rules, practices and laws because in my former life I was recognized as the best program manager in the United States Air Force for protecting classified information and systems.
Accountability does not exist. Just like the billions of U.S tax dollars being shipped to Ukraine along with weapon systems and munitions from our national reserves to protect the homeland. When they are gone maybe the U.S. can borrow some supplies from China? We seem to be in bed with them huh. We have been a nation at war for roughly 23 years and now we are spending billions to develop a space force. Are we out of nations to build democracy and keep the military industrial complex afloat so now we must keep it functioning by continuing to build space platforms? Our nations morality and direction has changed for the bad and no one seems to notice or care. When parents rebel and fight back against the public schools for their crazy policies and then hiding or denying the truth of the failures, parents are labeled and harassed. When will we the people decide enough is enough and demand accountability and justice?
This war could quickly escalate throughout Europe and the Middle East. Keep your eyes and ears focused.
Hey, Festus gifted me an exceptional book titled. Hidden Lies of Banking by Richard Proctor, PhD, Provost Institute. Outstanding and a good read. Check it out. Dr. Proctor appeared on HFS Thursday evening zoom several months ago to talk about another fantastic book he authored titled Saving the Constitution. He then taught a special class for us on the same book. If you want an honest dose of truth serum, this is the author and books for you. Thanks, Festus, for turning me on this read. Putin ally: Russia’s defeat in Ukraine could trigger nuclear war | The Hill
Let us move along....
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
HFS Thursday Zoom Session 102 - HFS Zoom Rally #102 was conducted with a special guest discussion digital security and ways to protect our cell phones and home computers. We appreciate our guest time and information very much.
Check out HFS YouTube Hope For Survival - YouTube If you have not, please consider subscribing to the HFS YouTube channel by hitting like and then subscribe.
My apologies for not posting a new YouTube video in the past few weeks. HFS had a couple different guest scheduled to appear with us but cases of illness struck and we had to cancel for the moment.
Connect and give me a shout. Again, hit subscribe and share with family and friends.
Upcoming Training Opportunities -
- Kentucky Gun and Preparedness Expo - $10 per person, Leburn, KY, March 25 & 26, HFS Kentucky family come check out this event. The classes and speakers will be posted later in January. I will be on site teaching three classes at this event. Eastern Kentucky's Largest Sportsman Show – The Gun & Preparedness Sportsman's Expo (gunpreparednessexpos.com)
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)
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 -
Fake, Fickle, or an illusion: Several years ago, Ms. Lucy and I started searching for a church to attend upon arriving to Huntsville, AL. We had not selected the eventual church we would call home for our spiritual wellbeing. One church we visited we found a homeless man resting on the ground against a pole in the church parking lot. We observed several church members walking by the man by steering clear of him and walking wide to his location. He was older with long hair, a scruffy beard, and dirty clothing. He gazed at the church goers passing by as they purposely refused eye contact with the man.
After entering the church and taking a seat we waited on the service to start. After a few songs by the choir, the scruffy homeless undesirable man walked on to the platform at the front of the church. He started to take off a hat, wig, beard, dirty clothing, and his eventual attire was that of the preacher of the church. He kindly shared what he witnessed from his congregation entering the church. It was not pretty to put it mildly.
Why am I sharing this with you?
I have been sharing my thoughts on what I believe to be the coming divide amongst churches. It is already happening now. I know many devout Christians who are leaving churches, have already left churches, and others who are questioning church leadership because they are not talking about what is happening in our nation and/or preparing churches for what appears ahead. More importantly the church leaders are not teaching from the Bible. I'm sure they all have their reasoning and much of it may not be known. But, as the citizens become wiser and start asking questions to church leadership, why aren't leaders then talking to their flock about it? It is not a question of members not being faithful to scripture and keeping allegiance to a church.
Many churches over the past years and today, offer food banks for their community. This is for church goers and community members who do not attend the specific church. Some set up specific drop off and pick up points on a specific day for folks to come get food. Other churches place boxes at the front of the church and individuals can drop food in a box or those in need can take food from the box when needing food.
In the last weeks I was teaching a preparedness class and at a point in the training I shared that I wanted to start working with communities to start stocking food for those in need as times get harder. One of the individuals in the class collected his/her possessions while shaking their head left to right and walked out. It is a personal choice and I get that. We all must make this decision on our own or as a group to how we want to proceed.
On another account I recently received an email on this same topic and was told the leadership of a church stated they did not want to do any kind of food bank to stock food because they did not want undesirables flocking to the church. Aside from this being a bit judgmental, it is also wrong. Last time I checked, we all fell into a category of unsaved sinners at some point and now continue to be sinners even after being saved.
I want to expand upon this to the community. How do we handle the unprepared who are starving when a disaster strikes or their way of life, tanks? I could say, I'm not giving out food to anyone who was too lazy to prepare. I could also ask, how many people around us who didn't prepare also knows we did prepare and knocks on our door? Oh, and they also told other neighbors who outnumber us and then show up at your door in a line? What will you do then?
This is why having a community team is so important. And, knowing who lives around you and if they are preparing or not. I often tell folks now is the time to invest effort to learn these things so you know where problems could arise from before the actual event occurs. Communities that prepare together should also have a food plan of some sort in place for these situations. We all have to make a decision now or later.
Personally, as I have prepared over the years, I have also set aside food that will go to those in need. Yes, as much as I want to say "suck it up buttercup" and tell them to move along, there is another side to it as well. I will not take food away from my family to feed the unprepared. Period. But, I have set aside food for those in need. I will not in any fashion hand food out from my home. Hand out one can, and you will then have five, then ten, then more, knocking at your door wanting food. DO NOT become a food central point or you will be overrun before you know it.
This is where your community and security plan will be important. Knowing and understanding your community or town outside your five-mile (theory) range controlling your neighborhood. My plan is to get the food outside of my community to a safe dropping point undetected and work my way back to my community. This is where understanding intelligence and how to avoid being followed is important. So, if I'm not giving out food to my community (another issue) then why I am I doing it? This is part of my personal spiritual position during these circumstances. Aiding those in need regardless of why they didn't prepare comes in to play. We can what if this to death, but it is my current position on it. The situation may turn out where I can't get to the community or town, and I have to use the food within my five-mile radius. The first plan typically falls to pieces and a backup is critical.
I was once asked by a conservative preparer, "what should I do about the undesirables around me now before the system collapses." They are your neighbors, and they are entitled to live in their home, like it or not. Right? Now is the time to figure out if you can work with the person and find a neutral ground to work from. Start a community garden in the spring and invite them to work in the garden and learn and get some of the food when it is ready. If they refuse, then you will know now, vs when it's too late, they likely aren't going to be easy to work with and you will know to focus on them for potential future problems. Do your homework now to benefit you later. Seems pretty simple to me.
As you can see, we have potential problems across the board. My question to you is are you doing what you need to do now to learn and know these things when it will matter most? Are you in the right church now or do you need to move now? There was a time in our history when the church was the pillar of the community. Community leaders always involved church leadership in community decisions. Many churches are not bought off by the government and the corporate world and find they are now in a position to tow the corporate line.
We will always have a remnant of society that is in need. The cause for it is not the debate. But statistically proven, hungry and starving people will act and react out of starvation in violent ways never witnessed by most humans. Having spent long periods of my life in different parts of Africa and war zones witnessing starvation without aid, humans often act outside of their minds and typical responses for something to eat. Especially when a child is involved. I have also witnessed occasions where food was available, and the holders of the food refused to feed those in need. You will have to come to your own conclusion to how you will handle it. Food is the single greatest weapon a threat can use against each of us. Be smart, be wise and till then....keep on preparing.
Next .....
I'll Be Watching You - Remember the old Police Mega Hit "Every Breath You Take; I'll Be Watching You?" I don't think the intent of the song was the point of this article, but it should certainly make one's heart beat a bit faster. I know, I know, if you aren't doing anything wrong, then what do I care? Or someone will try and convince me this is good because it means if we have an emergency they will know and can rescue us quicker. Sure, and I have a new bag of dumb dumb lollipops for Ya as well.
It is about privacy and the fact we, as a citizen are losing our privacy rights constantly because of out-of-control legislation and soft-hearted weak-kneed basement dwelling souls who disregard everything this nation was founded and built upon. I have read comments by a few senior CEO level voices regarding SMART technology and the youth who are developing all the new features at lightning speed. The voices share how the youth engineers are not security conscious at all and do not build SMART devices with security in mind.
If we knew for certain the technological advancements surrounding us had a 100% assurance of complete human integrity in managing and operating the advancement of said technology, it would be different. But humans are flawed and broken. People who are hired, cleared, and trusted with this technology always fail to obey rules and regulations. It is either a personal decision, a bosses order who then denies it and hangs the worker out to dry, or the technology is sold on the black market and compromised and used against unsuspecting people.
As a parent or grandparent, think about this:
- a drone small enough to fly through a vent and around your house to film and record conversations of family. Then, travel into a bedroom and film a child or children.
- thermal technology that is used from a block away to watch through your walls to identify heat signatures moving throughout a house or when the individual(s) go to bed.
- Little Johnny has a crush on your daughter who just turned 17. Little Johnny already drives and has freedoms most teens do not have before 18. Little Johnny harasses your daughter every chance he can, and it is typically when your daughter is alone. What you don't know is Little Johnny put a vehicle tracker on your family car while parked in the driveway and can track family movement and when your daughter is dropped off and picked up.
- The police knock on your door and present a search warrant to search and confiscate your computers in the house, to include your cell phones. You are horrified at the suggestion you have been visiting child pornographic sites in the evenings after 11 pm. Your wife insists to the officers you are typically in bed by 10 pm nightly. What you don't know is your home internet is not locked down and the neighborhood pedophile searched and found your internet insecure and taps into your IP address. The local law enforcement task force for the protection of children zeroes in on your IP address and you. Now, prove you are innocent and then recover the damage caused to your name and reputation.
Want me to stop now? I can go on and on. Remember I have over 40 years in ,the security world, and I know what is out there to be used as a security enhancement and ends up compromised by humans who constantly look for a way to do evil against other humans and children. This will never happen to me. Oh, I don't live in fear. I live in sleepy hollow, and nothing ever happens. Yes, I have heard it all over many years. It's a personal decision on how much risk one wishes to take. As I told a group of preparers in training recently, I have graduated from a police academy, completed many years in the skill set, hold three degrees in security and emergency management related fields, and a person who graduated from Donut University with one month of experience tells me otherwise, I'm not debating or arguing the point. If you don't want to know, don't ask. Fair enough, right? Just don't call me when you get home, and someone stole your Twinkies. I get it, brilliance is like a light bulb. It comes with many powers, watts, and colors. And it eventually burns out.
Here is a great article showing one specific area of tracking around the world. That being your cell phone. Remember back when Covid-19 first surfaced, and lock downs started? Remember how a lot of college kids blew off the lock down and 6-foot distancing? How did authorities know this information and how did they know the kids on the gulf coast of Florida arrived from California and traveled back to California after spring break?
Check this out. - Opinion | Twelve Million Phones, One Dataset, Zero Privacy - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Thoughts?
Next .....
What is a P.A.C.E. Plan?
It seems the more I talk preparedness, the more I discover individuals, families, and communities with no communication plan and no thoughts of building one had occurred. Wow! This is critical in day-to-day life and during disasters of any type impacting the individual(s). I have covered this previously and will include it again in this week's PENL. We have a lot of new readers who are expediting their preparedness planning and hopefully they will start working on their communication plans. I will include this portion of the plan in this week's PENL and place part 2 in next week's edition.
The main purposes for Emergency Communications are first and foremost, to ensure safety of each person in your family or group. You want to determine the next plan of action and acknowledge or communicate a phase has begun or changed. The plan could be meeting at a rally location or secondary location. Pass on information to one’s (individual) status or requirements. Some may refer to this as a Situation Report (SITREP). Information gathering is obtaining information about the situation. The better the information, the more effectively you will be able to keep your family safe and plan the next course of action.
So let us talk the basic plan. Here are several steps you will need to figure out before you start or as you go, but knowing in advance will help speed your plan along.
What will you use to communicate with them? Use tools which you have had regular practice with such as a phone, text, email, CB radio, and even landmarks when systems fail.
When will you communicate with them? How often? Set up a schedule for those who are mobile to attempt to contact with those who are at home, or the rally point once every hour. Determine in advance when the attempts are to take place, such as at half past every hour. If you have multiple team's mobile, consider a different time within the hour for each team.
Who will you communicate with? Your immediate family and those in your group.
There are five objectives to achieve in the communication plan:
1. Be clear and understandable.
2. Ensure completeness in your instructions and explanations.
3. Be unambiguous.
4. Be concise. Straight to the point with specifics.
5. Confirmed. All users understand the plan. Practice the plan.
So when I say be clear, what do I mean? How you communicate your plan must get through to every user and they must clearly get the point. No room here for misunderstanding. This is not simply about hearing the plan, but what is the intent of the message. Is it clear and direct? Keep in mind, communicating with a second party could mean attempting to pass instructions via cell phone or a means where eye contact is not possible. Often, words mean different things to different people, and communicating can become more difficult if communicating with a person of foreign descent. Decisions are based on information. When communicating or relaying information, make sure you provide the clearest available picture to the receiver of the information. Provide complete information and save the side chatter for another time and day.
Your Family Communication Plan must be thorough yet specific to work. If you identify a Rally Point at x location on X street at x hour, make sure X street has one x location. It could be a disaster if you waited at x location on a family member to arrive at x hour and they never arrived. Then you find out the family member did go to x location on X street, however X street offered three different x locations on X street. The family member complied with the plan that wasn’t practiced and went to the x location in a “high threat” location. Don’t make the assumption that they know “who” you are talking about and “where” you are talking about. Use photographs in hard copy plans. If you are building a phased or tiered plan and you consider alternatives to communicating after cell, text, and email services are down, then you should consider landmarks and specific locations along the route or destination to be achieved.
A Communication Plan is developed to fit directly into all scenario(s). Remember, flexibility is key. Imagine, you are at work and a situation occurs that requires immediate emergency plan engagement. You initiate the “Bug In” plan. The plan calls for family member A to mobilize to the “Bug In” location to meet family member B at the “Bug In” location. The receiver of the text either doesn’t understand the plan or misunderstands the instructions, initiates the “Bugout” plan and proceeds to a neutral site halfway between each member. You now have a “Houston, we have a problem” moment. If the emergency condition were such that time was critical and only allowed a brief text message stating you departed work because of emergency conditions, refer to Family Communication Plan for actions under “Emergency Conditions.” The family member either doesn’t remember the plan or can’t find a copy of the plan and can’t communicate back to you. What would you do? Plan concepts should be step-by-step moving forward. A plan allows for retracing steps.
P.A.C.E. – Primary, Alternate, Contingency, Emergency – This process and plan is the most utilized that I’m aware of for building a family communication plan. It is easy and can be used as is or altered to fit your circumstances better.
P = Primary – Represents the first communication plan to use. Should be the method that is most likely to succeed on the first attempt as well as the easiest for all to use.
A = Alternate – If the primary means of communication isn’t working, this is your backup plan. Ideally, it will be almost as good as your primary method in terms of both ease of use and likelihood of success.
C = Contingency – If both the primary and alternate methods aren’t working, this is where you will go to your contingency plan. Remember earlier I mentioned having a Plan A, B, C, and D?
E = Emergency – If all else fails, this is what you’ll do. This is the last resort when all bets are off, and you are desperately trying to get in touch with someone.
Go through the P.A.C.E process for each family or group member and determine the means of communication available under your circumstance. Bottom line is to determine who is in charge and how you will reach out to each person.
Okay, now is the simple part once you understand it and translate it to your life and plan. It is up to you decide how many people will be in your communication plan and how you will communicate with each one. As you can see on the example, each person has a different primary and alternate means of communication. Work this out with your family or team.
Example – A family of four, dad, mom, daughter, and son build a communication plan using the PACE format. Here is how it would look:
Contact – Dad (Age 55)
P = Text Message
A = Phone Call
C = Email to Gmail Account
E = Depending on the circumstances, either drive to work place for face-to-face or leave a note at his car to communicate. Remember, this is the emergency component in your plan.
Contact – Mom (Age 53)
P = Phone Call
A = Email
C = Text
E = Depending on circumstances, either drive to work place for face to face or leave a note at her car to communicate. Remember, this is the emergency component in your plan.
Contact – Daughter (Age 17)
P = Text
A = Phone Call
C = Email
E = Identified neighbor (Pre-identified neighbor who family has entrusted in their plan or pre-identified location in home or property to direct person to find hidden instruction on what to do.)
Contact – Son (Age 15)
P = Text
A = Email
C = Phone Call
E = Identified neighbor (Pre-identified neighbor who family has entrusted in their plan or a pre-identified location in home or property to direct person to find hidden instructions on what to do.)
I'm telling you from past experience, assuming anything in a plan is a setup for failure.
I hope this helps you get started on your communication plan.
Let us move along....
Preparedness News -
1. From Tom Marlowe - Survival Sullivan - How to Stockpile Food for a Year Step by Step - Survival Sullivan - We all have our own way of doing things. Some prefer researching and writing a check for a single bulk purchase of one-year times the number of family members. Ouch. Others, like me, mixed and matched different store bought, long term, garden and meat canned, and other types of food. A big difference is the single purchase types never try the food most likely and will later find out the extremely high sodium levels in the food. Ever hear the saying "don't buy what your family won't eat?"
2. From Bob Rodgers - Preppers Will - Medical Procedure - IV Basics For The Prepper Medic (prepperswill.com) - Good article. What is your family or community medical plan?
3. From Kyle B. - Ask a Prepper - How Long Does Vacuum Sealed Food Last? - Ask a Prepper - Good information for those using a vacuum sealer for preserving resources.
4. From Michael Snyder - The Economic Collapse - Will The Implosion Of The Tech Industry Bring Down The Entire U.S. Economy? (theeconomiccollapseblog.com) Interesting perspective and points made. When the government has access to a 24 x 7 printing press, how could anything bring down the US Economy? Hmmm
5. From Morgan - Rogue Preparedness - 10 Shelf-Stable Protein Sources Preppers Should Store (roguepreparedness.com) - We should always checkout any list or suggestion on things to consider securing and putting back in our preparedness resources.
Other News -
1. From Alexandra Garfinkle - Yahoo Finance - 90% of online content could be ‘generated by AI by 2025,’ expert says (yahoo.com) - Welcome to the upcoming new world. It's already here. How will you know what you read is true? You won't.
2. From Collin Anderson - Conservative Review - In Mexico Relationship, Biden Prioritizes 'Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion' Over Immigration and National Security - Conservative Review - The wheels on the bus go round and round. Yes, they have our back no matter what the reality shows us to be true. We can take the phrase "bend over" however we think it should mean.
3. From Larry Elder - Front Page Magazine - Reining in Government Spending? | Frontpage Mag - It is long past the old term "spending like drunken sailors." We should also exclude the often used conservative title of politicians when they tell us they are a fiscal conservative. Just watch the running debt clock to get your own free high. It' is more like a fan to dry paint with. No one and I mean no one is watching the debt clock grow.
4. From Just the News - Retired FBI executive decries 'seismic shift' toward politics inside bureau | Just The News - This is like the media telling a story about the asteroid that hit the earth ten years ago. A bit past the point that everyone has been screaming about don't you think?
5. From John Zmirak - The Stream - How to Spot the Religion of Antichrist When 'Christians' Start Preaching It - The Stream - Hmmm. Interesting perspective of the author.
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.
HFS currently has several sisters and brothers in great need for prayer and uplifting. From MD to NC to AL, TN, and KY. Please always pray for one another. We also pray for a Patriot families pastor in NC.
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.
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 faith and 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,
