Monthly Archives: May 2012

Book Review: Holding Their Own

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Holding Their Own, by ‘Joe Nobody’ was a fun survivalist/prepper, post-SHTF book to read. Written in 2011, and set in 2015, it is very timely. There are many situations, in the book, that aren’t far from things that could happen in our own very near future.

The book begins as the nation is entering it’s second Great Depression. Iran, seeing the weakness and, finally, an opportunity to crush the “infidel beast”, activates sleeper agents in the United States. They unleash a series of murderous terrorist attacks against the population and the nation’s infrastructure. The U.S. government responds by closing down highways and bridges, declaring martial law and inadvertently pushing the nation toward collapse.

Our protagonist, Bishop (named by his chess loving father), is a former Army peace-time administrative officer. After his discharge he was unable to find work as a chemical engineer and is recruited by an old friend to work for a civilian security corporation (think Blackwater). Bishop had been a competitive shooter prior to working for the company; that, and the additional security training, weapons and equipment he was issued from the company, made him exceptionally well prepared when things began to deteriorate.

As the local troubles in the Houston-area worsen Bishop, and his wife Terri, suddenly find life as they knew it seems to be gone, possibly forever. At first the couple assumes (hopes) that it’s just a short-term situation and they band together with the neighbors to keep their homes safe. But soon the severity becomes undeniable and they must make a decision: Should they stay where they are and hope for the best; report to the established military checkpoints for “temporary housing and duties”; or attempt to drive 600 miles to Bishop’s old family ranch where they use to go to get away from it all–and where he’d established his bug-out location (BOL)?

They leave, after struggling between loyalty to their neighbors and their own self-preservation instincts. They know they don’t have enough fuel, any longer, to make the trip and are planning to be able to barter or scavenge resources along the way. The book describes their trip west across Texas; doing their best to keep their heads down and keep moving; occasionally being forced to stop and do what they believe is the right thing and helping others when they are able. Early on, the book establishes that Bishop doesn’t tolerate ”personal injustice . . .[it] started in elementary school with playground bullies, and I just have always been that way. It gets me into, um, well, uncomfortable situations now and then.” Those “uncomfortable situations” almost always turn out worse for the “bullies”.

The story moves along well and is very readable. Some of the dialogue was corny, and the few attempts at sexual innuendos were almost painful. The characters were mostly cardboardish, either good guys or bad. As a former medical professional I found the medical treatments, and recovery, inaccurate. Bishop–though not invincible because he gets hurt several times–recovers way too quickly; he is always ready, despite serious injuries, to charge forward. And while I think there’s a lot to be learned from the author about equipment and tactics, very little advice should be taken from the first aid described.

But I really enjoyed it overall. Because of it I have added night vision equipment and ballistic body armor to my ‘security wants list’. It also has provided me with my favorite new quote, “I will personally tie your body into knots, dip it in salt, and eat it like a pretzel while enjoying a beer.”

It is definitely as good or better than any of the post-apocalyptic books that I’ve read. I plan to give copies to a couple of my prepper friends, and as soon as I finished reading it I ordered the sequel, Holding Their Own II: The Independents.

(Wednesday: Sarah’s View)

What We Did This Week To Prep 5/4/12

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Our greenhouse is up and running. All of the seedlings are out there enjoying the available sunshine while being shielded from the wind, elements, and most of the cold. The plants seem to be doing well. Sarah went out and transplanted the sprouts from the small starter containers into larger ones to allow them to have their own space and grow larger and stronger. It’ll be interesting to see how big the seedlings get before we put them into the ground mid-June. When it comes to gardening–including maximizing our greenhouse–we’re still learning so much; someday this will all become routine, but we’re still a long way from there.

Recently, on The Survival Podcast (TSP), Jack interviewed ‘Joe Nobody’ (TSP episode 881). Joe is a former military man with extensive security expertise. I was skeptical when I first heard about the interview thinking him to be “one of those guys”. But I was impressed with his logical reasoning and common sense approach to security, both personal and property. I bought two of his books after hearing the interview: a how-to book, Holding Your Ground – Total Defense and his first novel, Holding Their Own – A Story of Survival. I’m almost done with the novel and I’ve looked through Holding Your Ground and I’ve enjoyed and am impressed with both. While we discuss security as one of our basic needs, Joe takes it to a whole new level. Will a collapse/SHTF event happen on a level that these types of security skill-sets will be necessary? I don’t know, probably not in the way they are portrayed by Hollywood or even in Joe’s novel. But could we have a couple of weeks of chaos and local anarchy? Yes we could, and that is far more likely. While we know we need to eat, drink, have energy and be sheltered on a daily basis (and those should be our top priorities), security needs to be part of any plan you develop for your family or group. Personally I am expanding our family’s security plan, and adding equipment, based on his advice.

Sarah recently bought us Storey’s Guide to Raising Rabbits – Breeds, Care, Facilities. It will provide us with information on all things rabbits. It also has some good plans/ideas for hutches, I already have most of the needed materials in the back and now that the greenhouse is done that’s the next project. We have also found Rise and Shine Rabbitry (the link can also be found on my blogroll) to be a great resource; Rick Worden has put together extensive, usable information there and he also puts out a lot of good information on his facebook page.

What did you do?

 

 

We Still Want Coffee

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Planning Ahead To Have The Things We Want
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Each morning we get up and make a pot of coffee. We enjoy the morning ritual of drinking a cup of coffee, together or alone, to get the day started. And in the future if the world, as we know it, has ‘collapsed’ that doesn’t mean we still don’t want that morning cup.

We’ve discussed storing enough coffee to last us through most hard times. But what if the electricity is out, short or long-term, and the electric coffee grinder and the electric coffee maker don’t work? What’s the backup plan?

We have a hand coffee grinder, just like our grandparents would have had (if they had a hand coffee grinder…). With very little effort you turn the knob and grind the coffee into the attached jar. Or, of course, you could instead just store coffee that’s already ground.

Then what? We have two options to make our coffee: 1) a percolator, and 2) a french press. Both are easy and work well. With the percolator, you fill it with water, and put the ground coffee in the bin at the top. Then heat it, over your preferred heat source, until you see it “percolating” through the clear top portion. With the french press you put the ground coffee into the press, add water that you’ve previously boiled, then put the lid on and let it steep. After about five minutes, press the handle to the bottom of the pot and the coffee is ready to serve.

This backup plan, including redundancies, is just an example of ‘making a plan’ that allows you to still function–on a semi-normal level–even when the SHTF. This concept should be applied to everything you’d like to continue to be able to do: cooking meals, drinking clean water, having a warm/cool house, having available power, keeping your family safe, etc.

The key is to make a plan, put the pieces into place to be able to execute it, then PRACTICE it. Remember, we don’t get to choose our disaster, when it will be, or where we will be when it happens. But for now, we still have time to plan and prepare.

(Friday: What We Did This Week To Prep)