by
Brandon
Smith
Alt-Market.com

Recently
by Brandon Smith: Americans
Will Need ‘Black Markets’ To Survive

One of the
fantastic advantages of living in what James Wesley, Rawles often
refers to as the American Redoubt is the ample opportunity for full-spectrum
training in some of the roughest terrain in the United States. In
the Flathead Valley of Montana in particular, preppers and survivalists
abound, with the organizational help of Stewart Rhodes and Oath
Keepers, Chuck Baldwin and Liberty Fellowship, and my own Montana
Safe Haven Project, liberty minded residents here are surrounded
by an atmosphere of independence and self reliance. If you want
to completely immerse yourself in the survivalist dynamic, this
is one of the best places to do it.

Spring is now
breaking through the winter snows, and soon even more training will
be possible, but during the icy months I did get an opportunity
to engage in some hands-on practice with a team of people in what
I feel is probably the WORST possible scenario for the prepper;
the cold weather bug-out.

The bug-out
strategy in general is for all intents and purposes a last ditch
effort at survival. It is used only when a collapse is at its apex,
your homestead is under siege or at risk of being overrun, or when
your secondary retreat location is compromised and unsafe. During
wintertime, the danger is increased tenfold by multiple factors,
including:

Limited
Mobility: There are ways around it, but usually snow and ice
make bugging out, especially on foot, a real headache.

Limited
Food Sources: Is wild food still available? Yes. But nowhere
near as easy to gather than in warmer seasons. Without intense preparation
for a winter bug out, you will starve.

Warmth Dominates
Time: In a rushed escape into back country during winter, the
desire to stay warm will rule over almost every decision you make,
and can eat up precious hours of the day better spent gathering
food and planning a defense. It is a distraction you cannot afford.

Fire Building
Frustrations: In the event that you are lucky enough to not
have to worry about light discipline, snow covered forests can still
make fire building an exhaustive affair. With wet or buried tinder,
rock solid frozen ground, and difficult mobility, just putting together
an adequate blaze could be maddening. After your fire is started,
keeping it fed through the night can lead to limited rest and eventual
sleep deprivation.

Condensation:
This is the arch nemesis of the survivalist in the middle of a winter
bug-out. Forget wolves, bears, and hungry hordes of the unprepared
roaming the hills; the incessant collection of water condensation
on clothing, gear, and stocked tinder, is a heat depriving force
to be reckoned with.

At bottom,
the methods for bug-out training we use often in the spring, summer,
and fall, just donÂ’t cut it during the winter. In places like
the Redoubt, they can be shockingly ineffective. Remember, if you
find yourself in the middle of a winter bug-out, you have likely
hit absolute rock bottom, but the pain can be eased or even nullified
with heavy planning over the course of the next six months. I recommend
every prepper take advantage of the planting season not only to
build their gardens but to also set aside the following provisions,
just in caseÂ…

Bug-Out-Bag
Upgrade

The following
is a list of items that made our lives easier (or would have made
our lives easier) in the rugged backwoods of snow laden Montana.
If you donÂ’t have these tools in your BOB, get them!

Best Tinder:
Searching tree wells for dead wood and tinder is all fine and good,
but even then, much of what you collect will have soaked up at least
some condensation. You need to pack tinder that burns extra hot,
or extra long, to compensate for this. The most effective tinder
we used included cotton balls soaked in petroleum jelly, small firestarter
bricks (pieces can be shaved off as needed), strike-a-fire tinder
(tinder sticks that light like matches), and magnesium shavings
(collect shavings into rolling paper and add a chunk of firestarter).
Water proof matches and flint are a must, obviously.

Hand Axe:
A good hatchet with a steel handle that is melded perfectly
into the blade is a timesaver, and a life saver. Hand saws and wire
saws are mostly a waste of energy.

High Grade
Camp Knife: A fixed blade camp knife with a full tang along
with a small knife sharpener is an absolute necessity. You will
use it constantly, especially in the cold when making tinder is
an uphill battle.

Waterproof
Tarp: In rain or snow, your makeshift shelter will eventually
start springing leaks unless you have a heavy duty trash bag or
tarp overhead. Folded up, this item does not take up very much weight
or space in your pack, and makes life in the woods so much more
bearable.

Snow Gaiters:
Even with the best waterproof boots, trudging through the snow tends
to draw moisture into your pants and socks, and there is nothing
worse than being stuck with wet socks in the middle of a cold bug-out.
Snow Gaiters wrap around the top of your boots and bottom of your
pants, providing extra protection against moisture.

Extra Socks:
Most preppers have at least a couple pairs of wool socks in
their pack. I recommend a minimum three pairs just to be sure.

Snow Shoes:
Before heading out into the mountains for our cold weather survival
training, we held an indoor class on essential items and strategies
attended by a large number of people within the Liberty Movement
community here in the valley. One of our primary focuses was winter
mobility. Depending on the amount of snow and how compact it was,
skis could be a fantastic tool for a cold weather bug out. Most
of us, though, used snow shoes, which work adequately even when
snow is iced over and compacted. Without snow shoes, we would have
gone nowhere fast, and they are a must for any survivalist who may
have to traverse icy terrain.

Biomass
Stove: A “biomass stove” is just a fancy name for
a portable camp stove that burns wood. For those taking a jaunt
into the woods for the weekend, a Jetboil with its limited fuel
canisters is fine. But for those facing a bug-out situation, a Bushbuddy
or similar stove which uses fuel readily available everywhere is
the correct choice. Biomass stoves also greatly reduce light and
heat signatures over the use of an open fire, in case this is a
concern (which it might be).

Thermal
Blanket: A thermal blankets adds mere ounces to your pack and
if used correctly, can help to maintain warmth consistency within
your shelter. I recommend wrapping it around the inner roof of your
lean-to, A-frame, or even your 4 season tent, allowing it to bounce
your body heat and campfire heat back at you.

High Grade
Sleeping Bag: This is perhaps the single most important item
you could possibly have in your bug-out bag. More important than
your knife, your compass, or even your gun. Without a sleep system
rated for at least ten degrees below zero, your life after bug-out
will be unmitigated hell. Even where light discipline is not an
issue, keeping a fire going all night long is not fun, and destroys
healthy sleep patterns. Where light discipline IS an issue, a winter
bug-out is impossible without a solid sleeping bag. The primary
trouble with sleep systems is the weight they tend to add to oneÂ’s
pack. Spend the extra money. Get a higher end synthetic sleeping
bag with lighter weight technology (some weigh only a few pounds),
and a compression pack which will strap onto your BOB. Seriously
folks, find the cash, and make it happen.

Plan Ahead

Bugging out
without a destination (or several destinations) set up in advance
is rubber-room crazy. During the warmer months this year, make it
your mission to have your bug-out retreat locations squared away.
Find multiple sites and take the extra time to set up each with
care, while simultaneously maintaining camouflage and concealment
techniques. Here are just a few suggestions that can helpÂ…

Set Up Shelter
Before Hand: Make-shift shelters can do the job in a pinch,
but setting up more permanent dwellings, from a lean-to or hut with
all the fixensÂ’, to a low profile cabin, is really the ideal.
Survival sleep pits can be dug out while the ground is unfrozen
and then covered for later use. At the very least, you can find
and memorize the locations of the largest and best tree wells that
can be used for expedient shelter.

Find A Water
Source: Our training class chose a location that had a natural
spring nearby, which was an excellent source of water. Find a stream,
a spring, a well, a pond, anything, but find it well in advance
of any threat of a bug-out. Set up your shelters nearby, but not
too close, for better security. Make sure to bring a filtration
system with you so that you can collect water on the way to your
destination.

You Must
Cache: The bug-out survivalist slogan should be “Cache
Or Die!” Caching is truly that important, in winter even more
so. Wild edibles are scarce during winter. And, snaring, trapping,
and hunting are a gamble at best, at least in the first couple weeks
as the prepper gets situated at his new retreat. Without several
caches of food, tools, tinder, ammo, and even an extra sleeping
bag, your bug-out may be short lived (and not in a good way). Imagine
all the items that would ease your survival that are impossible
to take with you on a bug out trek. How about a full sized ax? An
extra .22 caliber rifle? Large quantities of ammo? A weekÂ’s
worth of freeze dried foods? All of this and more could be waiting
for you at caching sites surrounding your pre-chosen retreat if
you make the extra effort now.

Build A
Team: At Alt-Market,
we push for people in the Liberty Movement to build communities
first. The ultimate survival strategy is one that involves back-up
economies, back-up trade skills, and a large number of participants
working together to insulate their town, county, or state, from
financial and social collapse. However, within these communities,
there should be teams formed to deal with the possibility of the
very worst such a disaster has to offer. Going it alone, especially
during a bug-out, is a nightmare proposition.

Train A
Guard Dog: During our excursions into the Montana wilderness,
a great source of comfort was a large guard dog which a member of
our team brought for protection. In Montana, wolves and bears are
not a rarity; they are commonplace, and having the dog walking the
perimeter of the camp allowed us to sleep without worry. This made
me realize the incredible protection that these animals provide,
even against would-be human intruders.

The common
argument against guard dogs is that they can make noise and draw
attention. But, with the right training, they will only make noise
when you need them to make noise; to alert you to danger, or to
ward off those who were hoping to use the element of surprise against
you. Train your dog now for watch duty, and bring him with you if
disaster rains down in your neighborhood. YouÂ’ll be glad you
didÂ…

There Is
No Calamity, Only Lack Of Preparation

There is no
such thing as a national or local catastrophe that cannot be survived
as long as the intelligent prepper makes the right choices ahead
of time. Cold weather training allowed those within our community
here in the Montana Safe Haven to get a taste of the worst case
scenario, make some mistakes, and learn from them quickly. The result
is a stronger and more informed knowledge base to draw from, and
a sense that the man next to you knows exactly what he is doing.
I look at such training and preparation as a surefire investment.
The advantages and dividends will undoubtedly outweigh the costs.
For those who see the above suggestions as “paranoia”,
all I can say is, they have missed the point.

Survivalists
learn so that they do not have to fear. True preppers live in a
state of tangible and sustainable calm. The ignorant live in a similar
state as well, but only as long as the system they blindly believe
in and embrace continues to give the appearance of functionality.
Under the thin veneer of the skeptic and his happy-go-lucky lifestyle
there exists the unconscious echo of dread and dead panic, ready
to be unleashed at the first sign of abnormality. In crisis, they
will fold and wimper, while the prepper goes on with his day as
alwaysÂ…

Reprinted
with permission from Alt-Market.com,
a barter networking and informational website.

April
4, 2012

Brandon
Smith [send him mail]
is founder of the Alternative Market Project (www.alt-market.com)
as well as the head writer and co-founder of Neithercorp Press.
He specializes in macroeconomic analysis as well as studies in mainstream
media disinformation, and is now focusing on the creation of a national
network of barter markets designed to insulate and protect local
economies from the inevitable collapse of the current unsustainable
fiat system.

Copyright
© 2012 Alt-Market.com