News & Reviews

Tactical Wisdom Volume 3 – Defensive Operations is live and available on Amazon. I don’t have author copies on hand to sell as signed here yet, but I will update when I do. If you want to get the book before Christmas, Amazon (as much as I hate to say it) is your best bet.

The entire basis of the book is Luke 11:21, from the Ultimate Tactical Handbook:

When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe.

Luke 11:21

Defensive Operations discusses ways in which to secure your property, neighborhood, campsite, or compound in a “Without Rule of Law” situation. This Volume of the Tactical Wisdom Series covers the skills and knowledge to conduct local security operations either for an individual location or for a community. The book focuses on protecting your people, supplies, and properties in an environment where help may not be coming.

This Volume builds on the gear and organization developed in Volume 1, Baseline Training Manual, and the individual & team skills learned in Volume 2, Fieldcraft, to begin true defensive operations to maintain our self-sufficiency.

Work will begin immediately on Volume 4, Scouting and Patrolling. This was the title of a book written by Colonel Rex Applegate during WW2, which became a US Army manual on the skills of conducting patrols in a hostile environment, to improve fieldcraft skills, and to improve small-unit operations. These are directly applicable to our goals.

The USMC puts out their own version, updated every few years, and the Army puts out the Ranger Handbook and Long-Range Surveillance Unit manuals, but I’ve decided to take these, plus some materials from our Commonwealth partners (I may have to toss the Australian SAS aside now), and a few private military company materials and distill it all down into an Advanced Fieldcraft book that applies to our goals, rather than strict military operations.

As preparedness people, we don’t need the complex organization and reporting structures that militaries do, and we also can’t use the same battle drills. You and I, with our 9-man team, can’t hold in place and wait for air or artillery support, nor can we wait for a company-sized QRF, we are it. We have to be able to either resolve the contact or break contact. There will not be a cavalry coming to the rescue just in time.

The purpose of the whole series is to return us to the Minuteman Concept of a Free People, able to respond to violence at a moment’s notice with actual combat and preparedness skills, including when & how to break or avoid contact entirely.

You are not Free unless you possess the capability to remain Free of your own choosing, and to resist the restriction of your freedoms. Take from that what you will, Feds.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Galatians 5:1

Recently, I spent some time in the field with some new gear. Northern Michigan can get cold in November, but not cold enough for my full USMC issue Gore-Tex Parka and liner. The parka is restrictive anyway and too warm for use while moving.

I found and bought a Tru-Spec 1/4 Zip Winter Combat Shirt, and it was available in USMC Woodland digital camouflage, so it was a perfect fit to my other gear. It’s grid fleece, and insulated, but not too thick for movement.

It was 26-32 degrees Fahrenheit outside, and I wore this, along with just silk-weight long underwear. I was not cold when just sitting in the woods stationary, even for a few hours. While moving, I was sweating. The insulation on this shirt is solid.

The shirt is also sturdy and built to military standards, so it can take rough treatment. I was incredibly happy with it.

The other new piece of gear is a new handheld CB Radio made by QYT, the QYT CB-58. Before the Hams and the purists jump in the comments, yes, it’s Chinese and yes, it’s a CB. Cool?

I know that CB has fallen out of favor with a lot of groups, but remember what we are talking about, a Without Rule of Law situation. In all honesty, here in Detroit, there is activity on maybe 5 of the 40 CB channels and that’s all on AM only. The FCC has just opened CB to FM, which will cut down on a lot of background noise issues. If I decide to even block off 10 channels as not usable locally, that still leaves 30 license free usable channels. In a WROL situation, those businesses and truckers won’t be using the other 10, either.

No, CB isn’t great in an urban area, but neither is anything else, especially in a grid-down WROL situation. As I discussed in all 3 of my books, CB, because of its properties and widespread availability, makes for a great medium for vehicle communications in open terrain, such as convoying out of the city to your bug out location. In the books, I recommended finding a good handheld unit as well, because occasionally, you will want to send a dismounted team to check out a danger area, and a handheld lets them communicate with the vehicles.

The QYT CB-58 is well-suited for this role. The radio is more solidly built than most of the currently available hand-held CBs from Midland and Uniden. It has a more substantial antenna and has features that the other units don’t.

First, it has a particularly good scan function that allows you, from the unit, to add or delete channels from the scan list. By itself, that feature is worth buying the radio. Second, you can program up to eight memory channels using their easy-to-use software and the included programming cable. You can then switch from normal operation to operating only on your memory channels. You can also, using the software, change the two channels that are on the Emergency button. The radio comes with them programmed as Channel 9 and Channel 19, but I switched mine to Channel 3 (Amrron Ch-3 Project) and 4 (Alternate).

The CB-58 has a rechargeable battery pack, instead of the usual 39 AA batteries that die in 4 hours in most handheld CB units. I’ve bought an extra, but the battery lasts several days with the radio on. The radio and battery pack are also smaller than most handheld CB units.

Overall, it’s a solid radio with the feel of a serious professional radio, rather than the cheap plastic-housing feel of most handheld CB units and it has great transmit and receive. While I didn’t specifically do measured tests, inside the house it’s pulling in truck-yard operations from 3-4 miles away clearly.

Another great point to this radio is that, unlike every other handheld CB unit on the market, uses a standard Kenwood K-1 connection for accessories. In other words, every Baofeng accessory works with this radio. I tested several shoulder speaker-mic combos and my Surveillance Kit and they work flawlessly. Standardization is a win.

I like the fact that I can switch between AM and FM with a button, along with the other functions like editing the scan list, editing memories, etc. It’s a worthwhile investment.

Next week, we’ll test and review a new trench periscope for urban scouting and survivability.

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