Author Archives: JD

It’s a shame, really. When the Continental Pipeline attack happened, many of us warned people to up their preparedness for a serious cyber-attack. Sure, the people directly affected by the gas shortages took heed, but the average American did not. But, LORD, let Facebook and InstaGram go down for a day and watch chaos ensueContinue reading “Immediate Steps – Cyberattacks”

As the situation here continues to deteriorate, one important thing to consider is how you will recognize members of your group or family during a chaotic event. It’s important in the initial chaos, but later, in a full collapse of society, it will become vital. For example, imagine that you are on post at yourContinue reading “Recognizing Friends”

On March 23rd, 1775, Patrick Henry gave a speech at St John’s Church in Richmond Virginia. He concluded that speech with a phrase that has echoed throughout history as a battle cry and a guiding principle, “Give me Liberty, or give me Death!”. He wasn’t just saying empty words, either. He would go on toContinue reading “Give me Liberty, or give me Netflix”

Whatever your reason is for preparing, a second or third order effect is going to lead to the unavailability of gasoline. If you’re preparing for an EMP, then vehicles are already off the table. I know, everyone likes to say “But I’ve got a 1984 Chevy”. Cool story. How will you get gasoline without electricity?Continue reading “Training Task: Urban Scouting”

I can’t imagine my life without my dogs, one of which is Miss Lucy above. In that photo, I think she was waiting not-very-patiently for me to put the laptop down. Also, I have a cat, and he’s the ultimate “Chad Cat” of all Chad-Cats. He stages items along the very edge of the kitchenContinue reading “Pet Preparedness”

We’ve all got a tent, and a sleeping bag, and the supplies we think we need to live in the field, should we need to. Some people plan on living a permanent mobile existence in a WROL situation, which isn’t actually realistic, and some are planning on bugging in. No matter what you envision, areContinue reading “Are you ready to live in the field?”

Whether it’s Max Rockatansky, former police officer of the Main Force Patrol, or Eli, former K-Mart staffer, the movies always feature a man traveling the wasteland alone, righting wrongs and accomplishing amazing feats all by himself in a world gone mad. That’s called FICTION for a reason. The truth of the matter is that alone,Continue reading “Finding Your Tribe”

My preparedness philosophy revolves around the idea that at any given point in time, you are no more than 72 hours from a complete and total collapse. This may seem extreme, but let me give a historical context. The most recent example is Afghanistan. We spent years training their new military and they fell withinContinue reading “72 Hours”

I have long said that the government views people into preparedness (“preppers”) as a threat. Many people point at the FEMA website http://www.ready.gov and say “See, you’re wrong. They want you prepared.” Have you really looked at their guidance? Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of great information on that site. However, thatContinue reading “The Government View on Prepping”

In these days of government over-reach and open militia groups on both the left and the right, it’s time to discuss a sensitive topic. Counter-Surveillance is a key tool in preparedness. Every time I start talking about stuff like this, people say, “If you aren’t doing anything wrong, why worry?”. Don’t fall into that trap;Continue reading “Counter-Surveillance”

A little while ago, I met with a guy for the first time. Before meeting him, I arrived early and conducted a counter-surveillance sweep, as I often do, to make sure that ANTIFA isn’t setting me up. While I watched the area, I saw another vehicle make the same sweep I did, and I canContinue reading “Different Rule of Law”

Remember the 70s? Ok, me neither. But, I do remember that my Dad used to have a CB radio. So did all of my uncles and all of their friends. Back then, everyone had to have a license. CB was so wildly popular that movies were made about it and an entire Pop Culture roseContinue reading “Can We Use CB?”

The Defense Production Act is something that the preparedness community overlooks, and it can come back to bite us in this age of social media surveillance and Big Brother. Passed in 1950, the original intent of the Defense Production Act was to ensure that in the event of another all-out war (most likely at thatContinue reading “The Defense Production Act”

The current situation in South Africa should be a learning tool for anyone interested in preparedness. The state of KwaZulu Natal is in a true Without-Rule-Of-Law situation. But first, here’s the Tactical Wisdom that applies here:  “then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not heed the warning and the sword comes and takes their life,Continue reading “Wake Up Call: South Africa”

A couple of weeks ago, I posed the question “how ready are you at any given moment”. Since then, things have gotten progressively worse in this country and we’re now seeing armed groups openly preparing for conflict and having armed confrontations with police. They’ve been resolved peacefully so far, but that won’t last. Regardless ofContinue reading “But, Are You Ready?”

Overnight, a group calling itself the Moorish American Arms was stopped while refueling vehicles on the freeway in Massachusetts. This led to a standoff in which 11 men were arrested. Because it was a black supremacist Muslim group, many applauded the MA State Police. I hold a different position, because until this group breaks theContinue reading “Make A Decision”

There is no doubt that we are in a pre-conflict stage in the US at this point. No one wants a conflict (except apparently the far left extremists and maybe some extreme far-right ones). But, what can we in the center do to prepare ourselves for civil unrest, intentional damage to the power grid, orContinue reading “Urban Recon Pre Event”

This is an epic battle story and a classic study of tactics that directly applies to us as people interested in preparedness. It highlights some pieces of Tactical Wisdom that are vital to our plans for a WROL situation, and happens to be a pretty cool story. If anyone wants to follow along, the fullContinue reading “Tactical History – Ziklag”

We prepare for all sorts of situations, and presently most of us are worried about a potential hack taking down the electrical grid or some type of mass civil disorder, right up to a potential second civil war. You know I frequently talk about second and third order effects, and the potential for a fireContinue reading “Fire Preparedness”

Last night, I had a conversation with a long-time corrections officer and he mentioned training to shoot in Nitrile or Latex gloves, due to the current pandemic and other scenarios. Anyone who has ever tried to accomplish anything in nitrile/latex gloves instantly knows what the issues will be. For context, the source I spoke toContinue reading “Latex/Nitrile Glove Training”

Earlier this week, I mentioned that you need to take yourself from Condition Yellow to Condition Orange. I had an incident occur this morning where that condition kept a workplace violence threat from expanding into actual violence. I want to share the story, not for accolades, I get paid to do this, but to pointContinue reading “My Morning – A Preparedness Tale”

If you read my book or have followed this blog for any appreciable amount of time, you know I talk about Cooper’s Color Codes and remaining in Condition Yellow as much as possible. Today, I’m saying that if you aren’t in Condition Orange when interacting with others outside your household, you aren’t safe. Monday night,Continue reading “Condition Orange”

The other day, I shared an article of mine that appeared over at http://www.survivalblog.com (great website by James Wesley Rawles, BTW). In that article, I discussed some training exercises that are listed in my Base Line Training Manual, available at the Amazon affiliate link below. The exercises involved conducting safe movement, avoiding others, and settingContinue reading “Misconceptions are Dangerous”

Everyone has a different opinion of what a collapse will look like, and that spurs a lot of conversations. Hollywood has given us a false sense of what a societal collapse looks like. In the movies, it’s a sudden event where we go from order to chaos in less than a day. What if, inContinue reading “Our Collapse”

In their training manual on Fieldcraft, the Canadian Forces define Fieldcraft like this: “Fieldcraft is made up of the individual skills and techniques used by soldiers in the field, which include movement, use of ground and camouflage in conditions of reduced visibility.  These skills and techniques enable soldiers to maintain their own security while gainingContinue reading “Fieldcraft”

And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. Matthew 24:6 As I sit here watching the situation unfold in Israel, I can’t help but wonder if it’s a preview of things to come here. Now, I’mContinue reading “Is Israel a Preview?”

As we approach Mid-May, the weather is getting warmer. On Monday, I decided to do a seasonal changeover on all of my bags. As I was finishing, I thought it would be a good idea to share with you all my thinking and methodology. By now, you should all have ordered a copy of theContinue reading “Seasonal Changeover”

Whenever existing prepper groups train as a group, one of two things happen. They either spend the entire weekend shooting and doing unrealistic tactics like practicing urban combat, or it just becomes a family camping trip, where a good time is had, but no actual training occurs. As the law & order situation in theContinue reading “Team Training Ideas”

I watch a lot of the “Prepper” movies, to see how realistic they are, and to see how the principles I discuss would have helped the heroes in the movie.  SPOILER ALERT…if you haven’t seen “The Road”, with Vigo Mortensen, there are a few spoilers in here, but I’ll try to limit them. Before weContinue reading “Lessons from “The Road””

Just when you thought this place couldn’t get any crazier, the last 2 weeks have thrown us for an even bigger loop.  Today, we’re going to talk about the declining self-defense situation, the revelation of the lie that this was all about George Floyd, I’ll offer some practical tips, and throw out a few itemsContinue reading “Let’s Talk Self Defense”

As civil disturbances are increasing and we approach the deliberations phase of the Derek Chauvin trial, I thought it would be a good time to discuss civil disturbance planning.  There are things you can do to reduce the impact of civil disturbances on your life. First, let’s come to an agreement that politics plays NOContinue reading “Skill: Civil Disturbance Planning”

I know, I talk about this a lot.  You want to know why?  Because people still have a normalcy bias. But first, an update.  The first book in our Training Manual Series, The Base Line Training Manual is being edited and will be wrapped up in the next few days.  If you’d like to helpContinue reading “Normalcy Bias – Again”