Author Archives: JD

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”

A great opportunity for preparedness is the ability to gather and analyze information, so that you can make informed decisions based upon that information.  In the military realm, that’s called gathering intelligence.  When the information is gathered from information freely available, it’s called “Open Source” intelligence or “OSINT”. In the beginning, OSINT wasn’t considered asContinue reading “Gathering OSINT”

As the weather warms up, protest season is on us once more. We can expect more frequent protests, and potentially even worse ones than last year. In this article, we’re going to cover some lessons learned, discuss some events from this weekend, and talk about how to prepare for protests. First, we need to understandContinue reading “Protest Season – Again”

In the world of preparedness, we gather camping gear, and prepare for “bugging out” with all our cool-guy gear, food, and supplies, but have we considered that camping in a Without Rule of Law situation will be DANGEROUS?  Security will become crucial. Military forces the world over have been camping in dangerous situations for thousandsContinue reading “Skill – Overnight Positions”

Boy, has it been a rough ten days, or what? We’ve had two mass shootings, a murder on video in Washington DC, and several violent protests.  We’re going to discuss what that means for us, as people into preparedness, and what we can do to further prepare for the situation we are in. First, we,Continue reading “Are We Already in a Collapse?”

I’ve already repeatedly explained the need for first aid training and gear, but the yesterday, I had a discussion about the need to prepare as far as medications. It’s an area that is often overlooked. It’s such an issue, that I’ve included the topic in the first volume of the Tactical Wisdom Training Manual Series,Continue reading “Medicinal Preparation”

As we head further into what appears to be a decline, communications will be even more vital.  We have become so reliant on our modern ability to immediately communicate with everyone else instantaneously, that the loss of that ability could be devastating. A few issues have come up since my last article on Communications, soContinue reading “More Communications Issues”

Cell phones and the internet were supposed to make our lives easier, less complicated, and more efficient.  It was supposed to usher in an era where our effectiveness was going to give us more free time and less stress. Do you feel like that’s what happened? With the prevalence of cell phones, “free” search services,Continue reading “Personal Security in the Digital Age”

What is the reason that we prepare?  What is our ultimate justification for what we’re doing? If you watch “Doomsday Preppers” or some other show on TV, the answer would seem to be that it’s because we’re crazy.  They selected people and edited the clips to make them look crazy, which led to years ofContinue reading “Why We Prepare”

I originally wrote this for Survival Blog, and the skills are critical in analyzing your routes and options for getting away from your immediate area in a Without Rule of Law situation. But first, let’s see what the Ultimate Tactical Handbook has to say about this: Give careful thought to the paths for your feetContinue reading “Skill – Route Planning”