Basic Prepping – OPSEC and Counter Measures

 

You’re sitting in a bar having a few “adult beverages” and your buddy asks: “Say, aren’t you one of those “preppers”??

You: “Yep, sure am! Got a couple months of food, couple thousand rounds of .223 and 9mm, two 250 gal tanks full of fuel . . . . I’m ready for the end of the world . . .!!”

In an earlier time, when our parents or grandparents were taking on a voracious 3^rd Reich, there was much more of an understanding that some things are best kept to yourself. As liberty ships and troop carriers ferried supplies between England and the east coast, German Wolf Packs hunted the North Sea freely. Many times the departure dates and times were revealed to covert operatives that frequented the taverns on both sides of the pond. An ad campaign evolved to stress the importance of Operational Security – OPSEC.

There are a lot of ears available each and every day to listen to our words. In some cases the act of communication is purposeful – as with a friend in the story above. And, many times, that same conversation is unintentionally shared with another set of ears or two that are close enough to hear your words as well.

The process of guarding your communications – be they verbal, written or electronic – is being aware of Operational Security – OPSEC.

OPSEC: A process of identifying critical information and subsequently analyzing friendly actions attendant to military operations and other activities to:

a. identify those actions that can be observed by adversary intelligence systems;

b. determine indicators that hostile intelligence systems might obtain that could be interpreted or pieced together to derive critical information in time to be useful to adversaries;

c. select and execute measures that eliminate or reduce to an acceptable level the vulnerabilities of friendly actions to adversary exploitation.

Information that is critical to the survival of your family simply does not need to be known by anyone else outside your family or your core group of friends that have chosen to “prepare” together. The families involved, what your sheltering plans are, your quantity of food, where it’s stored, your armament, munitions, communications equipment, bug-out points . . . . and the dozens of other pieces of information pertaining to your preparations and your plans are simply no one else’s business – period.

Should a large storm happen and make resupply of your area difficult or impossible – you can decide – at that time – whether you can share your resources without endangering your family. If everyone within a 10 mile radius knows you have supplies – and they are hungry enough – some may well decide to come pay you a visit and simply help themselves.

In the event things go sideways in a truly large fashion – I want you to think about the millions of folks that live in large urban areas that typically have 3 days of food on the shelves. Let the images of stores being swamped with business prior to approaching hurricanes in recent years play through your mind. Now – multiply this a thousand fold . . . . desperate people take desperate action. If your location is well known, if the fact that you have stockpiled large stores for your family is widely known . . . . you will have visitors. It’s as simple as that.

To add just another layer to the mix here – much of what I have just stated is frowned upon by our current administration and it’s iteration of our federal government. The federal government cautions us about groups of people preparing for natural ( or un-natural) disasters, people taking steps to properly provide for, care for and defend their families. They are being view with distain by some government officials and as domestic terrorists by more zealous officials. More and more we are seeing no-warrant, no-knock raids of families because of “rumors” and “fears” and “concerns” of activities that our government disapproves of.

The following headline raised some eyebrows in times recent to this writing: Palm Beach County sheriff gets $1 million for violence prevention unit amid questions about civil liberties. It seems that if you hear a neighbor spouting off about how much you hate our government – he’d like to pay you’re a visit. Think of that - $1 MILLION of your tax dollars to have your neighbor spy on you. Just to save the good sheriff a couple of bucks – I HATE THE WAY OUR CURRENT GOVERNMENT IS DOING BUSINESS!!!!!!! I expect a knock any day now . . . . sadly I say that only partially in jest.

So, how do you avoid unexpected visits from the government, local law enforcement, criminals or refugees from large communities?? Let’s start with the simplest of measures . . . . KEEP YOUR DAMN MOUTH SHUT!!!!! No one – and I mean NO ONE – outside of your family and your core group (should you decide to work with other like minded folks) need to know a darn thing about your preparations – food, fuel, power generation, bug-out plans, remote living locations, weapons, munitions, communications gear – NO ONE ELSE NEEDS TO KNOW!!!

Loose lips are your single largest challenge. We are a talking, tweeting, facebooking, blogging, emailing, photo-taking society. We have lowered way too many walls and it is all too simple to take a photo of you in your war belt on the range driving your tricked out Jeep with your bug out bag in it and then post in on your facebook page. Or show it off in your blog (and yes . . . I am fully aware of what I am doing on this blog, you DO NOT have to and SHOULD NOT follow my example). There is a nation’s worth of eyes watching you – some friendly, and some not.

Beyond keeping your trap shut, there will be times when you do need to communicate with family and friends about joint preparations. Securing these discussions falls broadly under the category of “Counter Measures”.

Counter Measures: That form of military science that, by the employment of devices and/or techniques, has as its objective the impairment of the operational effectiveness of enemy activity.

Obviously a military definition, however it’s useful. Anyone looking to do your family harm can rightly be called an enemy – it’s best you consider them that way.

Again, the simplest Counter Measure is to remain silent about your plans, particularly in your communications. That said – there will be times that you will simply need to communicate. For planning purposes – communicate with each other with the sure knowledge in your mind’s eye that everything you say and write will be read by your worst enemy . . . . and then plan accordingly.

Personally, I would discourage any type of cell phone/land line communications with you core group. Should you ever rise to the level of suspicion – you can be assured your chats will be monitored.

Any communications of importance should be done in written format and should be fully encrypted. There is any number of tools available on the net that will provide good “tactical” encryption (meant to survive 8 hours or less a determined effort to break your security). There are additional tools out there that can expand this window as well.

There are also tools available for “drops” where these communications can be left and then shared with others – DropBox comes to mind as well as public storage areas at Google, Amazon and a host of other storage sites.

Gmail also provides a good alternative for anonymous emailing using virtually any handle you wish. There is real value is conducting your communications in as secure a fashion as possible.

From a cell phone/texting point of view, there are a number of apps available that will encrypt your text messages. However, remember that information exchanged over your cell phone is tied directly to you.

Paranoid yet?? There is an excellent military document that addresses OPSEC as the military, and military families view it. It’s AR-530-1. It is out in the universe as a PDF file, however it seems to be marked “Official Use Only”. It’s not difficult to find via a Google search. Find it. Read it. It provides a serious glimpse into the world of operational security for our troops and their family. And, there are many good pieces of information that you would do well to incorporate into your daily life as a “prepper”.

Remember . . . . “Loose Lips Sinks Ships” . . .

. . . . keep your mouth shut!!

Just the Basics – Magazines

 

Today’s modern semi-automatic pistols are typically equipped with replaceable magazines. The obvious advantage is that the weapon can be quickly reloaded or a defective magazine can be easily replaced. They are typically inserted into a Mag Well that is contained within the grip. A locking mechanism locks them into place and a Magazine Release allows them to fall free for easy replacement.

They typically come in two different configurations – a Single Stack Magazine and a Dual Stack Magazine.

A good example of a Single Stack Magazine is the magazine for a standard 1911.

Magazines are typically made out of hardened steel. There are Holes along the side to show the number or cartridges that remain in the magazine. A Magazine Spring is inserted into the inside of the magazine and pushes against the Follower which is held in place by two restraining ridges at the top of the magazine. These are also used to hold the cartridges in the magazine until they are stripped out of the magazine and loaded into the chamber by the slide going forward.

The Glock 17 magazine is a good example of a Dual-Stack Magazine.

There are a couple differences in assembly. There is a Floor Plate Lock that is held in place at the bottom by the Magazine Spring. There is a small locking button that extends through the Floor Plate that locks the Floor Plate to the bottom of the Polymer Coated Steel Tube. A Follower is again used to push the cartridges against the top of the Magazine. When the weapon is fired, a new round is stripped from the magazine and loaded into the chamber readying the weapon to fire again.

Another difference is that this is a Dual-Stack Magazine. That means that there are two columns of cartridges in the magazine allowing for a higher capacity. This particular magazine will hold a maximum of 17 rounds compared to 7 rounds for the 1911 shown above.

Care and Feeding of Magazines

As with most things, Magazines like to be clean. You need to disassemble your magazines periodically to remove dirt, lint and any other crap that may get trapped inside the magazine during their use on the range. The absolute last thing you want is for a cartridge to fail to feed because of a small rock, chunk of lint or sand just when you are depending on that round to save your life.

These Magazines are your ammunition supply. Your life depends on them working well. Take care of them. Clean them and replace them if they continually fail during your range work.

Basic Prepping - What Is “Prepping”?

 

I was watching a cable show the other day – “Doomsday Preppers” – in fact I confess that I have watched it more than a few times. The format usually consists of three different “preppers” who are preparing to survive some perceived disaster – a massive EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse) that destroys all things electronic along with the electrical grid; a complete financial meltdown a-la Greece with its accompanying social unrest; or some TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It) event from a super-volcano eruption to a massive meteor strike.

While some take a simple approach – load up a backpack and get out of Dodge . . . . others have built a remote redoubt stocked with enough supplies, firearms and ammunition to provide for their survival for a year or more. Honestly, I have no problem with preppers – or prepping. It’s the “tone” of the shows that seems to show these folks as slightly “off their rockers” that I take issue with. I may well differ with their approach – I think it is only common sense that individuals and families “prepare” to withstand and survive an unexpected event – be it a severe storm or a mega-volcano.

I believe all tasks begin with a “foundation”. A skill set, a bank of knowledge that is needed to accomplish whatever task is before a person. “Prepping” is no different. There is a foundational set of knowledge that a person needs to acquire to “survive” an event – whether storm or catastrophe.

On the other end of the scale – “prepping” could easily take a person years to complete; building a remote, secure and self-reliant redoubt for example. Costs alone would prohibit most folks from completing a project of this size. I want to focus on shorter time periods; The “Laws of Three”, The 72-Hour Bag, The One-Week Prepper and The One-Month Prepper. They are the building blocks of your prepping efforts.

The “Laws of Three”: There are four distinct time periods that a person MUST survive or they will simply cease to exist.

· Three Minutes without air: If you cannot breathe for three minutes, your chances of breathing for a fourth diminish greatly. This is the minimal component of survival – air.

· Three Hours without shelter: If individual is exposed to an extremely harsh environment – be it -20F or +120F – for three hours or more, your possibility for seeing the next day dramatically decreases.

· Three Days without water: Water is the fluid of life. It lets everything “work”. Withhold this life giving liquid and it’s entirely possible you will return to the dust that gave you life.

· Three Weeks without food: Our bodies consume thousands of calories a day. It allows us to move, grow, work . . . . survive. Withhold this fuel – and we die. It’s that simple.

These timeframes are a prepper’s “starting point”. Breathing, securing water, securing shelter and securing food.

The 72-Hour Bag: This has been a niche that has developed over the past number of years. The idea is that this is your “get home bag”. You are away, an incident happens and you need a basic set of items to survive to return home in one piece. My resistance to this bag is two-fold. From a “must have” level – this is really just a comfort bag. You can easily survive 3-days with little or no food. Water, that’s another matter – food, not so much.

My second level of resistance is that a lot of folks are lulled into a sense of security by the fact that they “have their 72-hour bag” – they’re set!! Again, not so much. A simple review of storm related news stories of the past few years can easily show that survival environments can last well over the 72-hour time frame. A prudent man/woman, a prudent mother/father, a prudent family “prepares for the worst and hopes for the best”.

All that said – there is value in a well stocked 72-hour bag. I’ve had one packed in my Jeep Wrangler for years, I regularly rotate the stock and will use the stock for short weekend training trips to refine my skill set.

The One-Week Prepper: A “One-Week Module” is a great starting point for long-term survival. The primary components of these modules are food and water – that simple. The development of the “One-Week Module” revolves around three meals a day, some comfort food (hard candy, hard chocolate, drink mixes) and enough water to prepare each day’s meals and to provide each person in the module a minimum of a gallon of water per day – much more if the climate is exceptionally hot.

Preparation in advance allows each “One-Week Module” to be thought out, a complete meal plan prepared, all items accounted for and everyone in the group completely familiar with proper preparation and storage.

This is your building block – one of your foundation’s building blocks. It can easily be expanded and grown to a longer-term prepper time period.

The One-Month Prepper: The “One-Month Module” teeters on the edge of long-term prepping. Preparing the basics of this module is as simple of creating four One-Week Modules. This will assure you of food and water to keep body and soul together. But, we are on the edge of other considerations; long-term physical security, replacement of consumables – batteries, fuel, clothing, food past one month. It is at this point that a civilized society, deprived of the “basics” – electricity, potable water, food deliveries – things begin to go off the rails.

Other decisions need to be made at this point as well. What is your physical security? Do you need to leave? Do you have a firm destination in mind? Can you get there? Do you have enough fuel? Can you defend yourself, your friends, and your family? These are big decisions – not to be considered or decided lightly.

Yet, even at this point, there are elements to your “foundation” that span the entire range of levels – from the “Rules of Three” through “The One-Month Prepper”. These are basic skills everyone should learn. We’re going to talk about them one at a time. They aren’t difficult, they aren’t tricky. They were part of daily life for my parents and grandparents – they have simply been forgotten. We are going to re-learn a core. Enough to insure that you have a starting point to prepping.

It is not the purpose of these blog entries to turn you into a professional prepper. It’s not to imply that once you have learned the skill set that I believe is important that there’s nothing else to learn – far from it. Still, you have to start somewhere. You need to learn “Just the Basics”. It’s not difficult. You just need to get started. So . . . .

. . . . I’m going to be incorporating “Prepper” posts to this firearms blog. There will be an added heading to the right under “Prepping” and the title will have a tag – “Basic Prepping” to help separate out the posts. Let me know what you think - feedback is always welcome.

Prepping – Something New . . . .

 

For the past year and a half my blog has been focused on the “new and inexperienced shooter”.  And, I have every intention of continuing that process – there’s lots to talk about – still.

But . . . I also have an interest in “Prepping”.  Honestly, I see “prepping” as an extension of the process I go through for a trek or a paddle.  There are many similarities, but the primary difference is duration.  A trek or paddle typically runs 7-10 days.  Yet, it has all the elements a “pepper” needs.  Prepping typically covers a longer term event.  Still there are common elements to both processes.

Many of the students I have taught over the past couple years see firearms training as part of a defensive tool set – one of the elements of a pepper's foundation.  There is a general sense of “unease” that things are not going well and may well go off the rails.  They want the ability to defend themselves should the need arise.  They want to learn to shoot.

So, I’m going to attempt to mix the two – “Just the Basics” of firearms training and “Basic Prepping”.  Both the post title and a new category for the posts to the right will be used to catalogue the new posts.

Any thoughts on the posts will be welcome!  Just jump in!!

Review - Next Level Training’s SIRT Pistols

 

It’s no secret I’m a big fan of dry fire training. And, it’s also no secret I’m a big fan of the LaserLyte round to provide a laser indicator for the impact of that first round hit. For around $90, the LaserLyte round is simply a tremendous deal to elevate your dry fire training.

That said, the LaserLyte round has drawbacks. For those using SAO or Safe-AO semiautomatic pistols, you must either incorporate a “slap, rack, shoot” drill at the end of each trigger press for multiple shots, or you must be satisfied with a draw/single shot only drill. There is value in practicing both the clearing drill and a single hit drill . . . . yet you do need to press forward with multiple round engagement drills as well. There is value in taking your training to the “next level”. And, there is a company that provides just such a tool . . . that has a unique name – “NLT – Next Level Training”.

They provide a couple of unique tools to advance your dry fire training: The “Shot Indicating Resetting Trigger” Pistol – “SIRT” for short, and the “SIRT” Carrier Bolt for your favorite AR. This review will focus strictly on the SIRT Pistol; I’ll do a separate review of the SIRT Carrier Bolt down the road.

As an NRA instructor – NLT provides a training package consisting of 3 SIRT pistols. One is their SIRT PRO Training Pistol and the remaining two are their SIRT PERFORMER RR (red/red lasers). For an instructor looking to provide solid training to new shooters on a dry fire range – it’s a great package.

There is also an instruction package and a DVD with copies of the instruction sheets, an installation video for the SIRT Carrier Bolt and a number of beginning instructional videos.

The touch and feel of both pistols emulates the Glock 17/22. It is weighted to simulate a fully loaded pistol. It includes a magazine that ejects when the magazine release is pressed allowing for a full range of speed reload and tactical reload training. Each magazine’s weight can be adjusted to simulate empty/full magazines. The slide does not blowback between each trigger press but honestly that has no effect on the value of the training this pistol provides.

The SIRT PRO pistol provides two laser indicators. The first is a red “take-up” laser and the second is a green “indicating” laser that is 20 times brighter than the red “take-up” laser.

The purpose of the “take-up” laser is to provide you a visible indicating tool as soon as your finger applies pressure to the trigger – and for as long as that pressure is applied. This is a great tool for the new student that desperately wants to put their finger on the trigger before they are fully on target.

Once up on target, you will see the indicating laser at some distance below your point-of-aim (this distance is adjustable). When you press the trigger, you will reach the trigger break and the green “indicating” laser fires. It will remain on until trigger reset occurs and the “take-up” laser will remain on until the trigger is fully released. This combination is a great tool for advanced shooters who want to work on their trigger control and the trigger reset point for faster follow-on shots.

Another diagnostic tool is simply the laser spot itself. That’s exactly what you want to see – a spot – NOT a dash. You can visibly see how your trigger press is affecting your impact point. For those shooters who say things like: “I always hit low/left”, “Why do I always miss to the right?” Now, you have an instant diagnostic tool to see how your trigger press and trigger control are affecting your point of aim.

The SIRT PERFORMER RR provides all these features as well – but the “indicating” laser is red rather that green. There is a significant difference in cost between the green and red lasers and this shows up in a lower cost for the PERFORMER RR pistol. That said, I have not noticed on my indoor range that this affects my training. Outdoors, at distances of 30 feet or more, the green laser of the PRO is definitely easier to see.  You also have the option to turn the “take-up” laser off so that you only see the “indicating” laser.

Does training with a SIRT pistol help??

The SIRT pistols provide you a platform you can use to work on your stance, draw, grip, engagement, trigger press, trigger control, multi-round hits . . . . yep, it helps – a bunch.

I have been working on a training program for new shooters, with the SIRT pistol for about two months. Lots of trigger time, lots of work on IDPA and the LE targets. At the first IDPA shoot I was only 12 points down for the entire 8-stage course of fire. There were shooters with better times and fewer “procedurals” – but out of 30 shooters, there were only two with few points down due to missed shots. The SIRT pistol training helped me quite a bit.

If you are looking for a training tool that will take your dry fire training efforts to the next level . . . . it’s hard to beat NLT – Next Level Training’s SIRT Pro and SIRT PERFORMER training pistols!

Personal - Thanks Doc . . . .

 

August 2002 . . . . The “plumbing” just isn’t working right . . . . and it’s becoming one of those nagging feelings that’s the beginnings of an alarm bell. My personal Doc suggests we do some blood work  -  just in case.  The results confirm that something is off, my PSA is pushing 5 . . . not one of the better results. 

November 2002 . . . . A second test . . . . PSA still right at 5 . . . . . my personal Doc is officially concerned.  I play the “Christmas” card . . . . an appointment is set with a Urologist for February 2003 . . . .

March 2003 . . . . Dr. Richardson looks thing over . . . . schedules yet another PSA test . . . . slightly over 5 . . . . shit!!!  A prostate biopsy is scheduled for 3 weeks later . . . . shit!!!

Mrs. B is workin’ . . . . I go to the clinic to meet Dr. Richardson . . . . straight shooter, direct, honest, confident . . . . looks me in the eye . . . “You have prostate cancer Bill . . . here’s your options.”  Shit!!  We chat, I listen . . . a follow-up is set for a few weeks . . . .  I research . . . . and choose.  Let’s just take the damn thing out!!!

April 2003 . . . . I look at Dr. Richardson as he has me count backwards from 100 . . . I get to 90 . . . . and I’m waking up in the recovery room . . . . the Doc looks at me . . . “it went well Bill, it was contained . . “

And so began 10 years of visits, waiting, “hoping” . . . . those 10 years ended today.

April 2013 . . . . today . . . . 10 years . . . .  I graduated . . . . I’m officially a survivor.

For those of you looking at this particular monster . . . . take heart . . . .

. . . . . you can beat it, you can be a survivor as well.

Thanks Doc . . . . for a new start, a clean bill of health, the ability to hold 3 great granddaughters, see a  son get married and for these past 10 years with my  wife. 

And knowing that there’s more years to come . . . .

Just the Basics - Your Dominant Eye

 

Dominant: commanding, controlling, or prevailing over all others

Our bodies work out a lot of the mechanics of everyday living as we grow. Balance, movement, reaching, the incorporation of vision and touch . . . . it’s an amazingly complex machine. It takes years to train.

One of the “decisions” our bodies usually make is whether an individual is right handed or left handed. It’s not that one hand or the other is useless . . . . just which one is “dominant”, which hand do we prefer to use. There are some folks who are truly ambidextrous – they are fully comfortably using either hand interchangeably. Rare, but they are out there.

Typically, our eyes follow our hand preference. If we are right hand dominant, our body prefers to use our right eye first to focus on an object that we may be reaching for. In the shooting sports – eye dominance plays an important part is “sighted fire”. Those instances when we take full advantage of sight alignment and sight picture prior to pressing the trigger. So what is an easy way to determine which of our eyes is the “dominant” one?

Start by extending your arms out in front of you and forming a triangle . . . it looks something like this:

Pick a point in the distance and put it at the center of the triangle. I have chosen the face of a 1900s Waterbury Clock that sits on our mantel. KEEP BOTH EYES OPEN.

Then, slowly move your hands towards your face, keeping both eyes open and slowly making the triangle smaller and smaller until your hands touch your face and you can still see the clock face.

With your hands touching your face, the triangle intact, both eyes open and the clock face clearly visible . . . . close one eye at a time. DO NOT MOVE YOUR HANDS! The eye you close, that makes the clock face disappear, is your dominant eye. Try this exercise a couple of time, you’ll get the hang of it.

Could you be right handed BUT left-eye dominant?? Sure, and just the opposite as well . . . left handed BUT right-eye dominant. This is called “cross-eye” dominant. For pistol shooting, a small adjustment in your head position can compensate for sighted fire. For defensive fire – “metal on meat” - eye dominance has little effect.

However, for long-gun shooting using iron sights or a scope, you may well find it easier to switch shooting hands. Again, cross-eye dominant shooters are not all that common – in the 20% range. And, if you are cross-eye dominant, you can certainly training your body to adapt to either switching shooting hands, or using your non-dominant eye.

Do this little exercise, figure out which is your dominant eye and then adapt as necessary.