Mountain Adventures.

Two days ago my wife and I decided to go look at a a piece of mountain property tucked away in the edge of the Smokey Mountains. I put the coordinates in the GPS and headed about 50 miles from our present location. The country was beautiful however when we got within 2 miles of the site we were stopped due to a bridge being closed across the river. The map showed no alternate route without going 100 miles around the mountain so we decided to scratch the idea.

View from mountain top.

After heading back about 5 miles I saw another bridge across the river so we crossed it to see if the GPS would recalculate another route, it did and about 3 or 4 miles later we turned onto a small dirt trail. I decided to follow it to see where it would lead and the GPS now said we were within 4 miles of the destination. The road wound back and forth and up the side of the mountain, about the time we decided it was not worth it it was too narrow to turn around. The road had turned into a pig trail with 2 wheel ruts and was almost an impossible slope for my 2 wheel drive Dodge truck. The road was so narrow I was parting the trees with the truck and on the drivers side was a straight drop off. My wheels were inches from the edge. The slope had gotten so steep I could not stop because I knew I would have no traction to move again. I don't think the brakes would hold on that steep slope anyway. At one point I looked down and saw the trail we had just traveled a few hundred feet below us. I was starting to worry I might have to attempt to back down the mountain. The trail was almost impossible, in the curves I could not see more than 20 feet, I risked taking my eyes off the road for a second to glance at the GPS and it had totally lost track of the road.
When I though it could not get worse I had to slam on brakes to avoid hitting a rock climbing jeep head on. My heart sank. We looked at each other and he started to back up. He backed up for over half a mile till we came to a curve near the top of the mountain where I could squeeze by. I asked him if the road came out anywhere and to my surprise he said there was a paved road a mile or so further. 
We came out on the hard top and never did find the property we were looking for, I had to drive a little out of the way to avoid going back the same way. I think I will wait till the bridge is repaired if I decide to go back.

In The Mountains

I am in the mountains this weekend and will be visiting friends and family over the next few days.

Hope you all have a good weekend and keep the greasy side down.

Welcome

I want to welcome two new followers, Rick and Dean Glad to have you along. I always try and answer all comments and questions,
Be sure and check out Dean's blog, Midwest Rebel
Thanks, Duke.

Where We Are Headed Part III

 This is a combination of 2 posts I wrote a while back and bears revisiting and is something to think about when considering armed revolt and possible martial law..................
There were some very basic differences between 1776 and now , first of all it was not one family or a small group of 'like minded individuals' fighting them off, it was a fairly organized militia with leadership to keep them together. Second of all, the civilian soldiers had weapons which were identical (for the most part) to the British army.  Today we (the general population) do not have near the weapons and technology our modern armies do, However if  you have a few thousand troops and a stash in your garage of automatic squad weapons, tanks, shoulder fired rockets, Apache helicopters, GPS guided rockets and bombs, grenades etc and the ability to arm all the troops with almost unlimited ammo you might have a 20% chance of staying alive 24 hours. If you want to draw an analogy it would be like Mel Gibson in the movie 'Patriots'  fighting the Brits with a sling shot and a pocket knife.
I am not going to saying "give up" but you do need to be smart  there may come a time to take a stand but it will come at a very high cost.....very very high indeed.

We all read about the KIA's in Iraq and Afghanistan and how the insurgents (guerrilla  fighters) are giving us so much trouble, well I can tell you as someone who has been there the ratio of their KIA to ours is about 5:1 ...... not very good odds and they actually have some advanced weapons.
If you study military history, tactics have changed drastically over the last few centuries. Even WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq etc were all very different so you can expect it will still change a lot in the future so stay flexible and learn as much as possible. One thing that does not change is 'timing' and 'surprise' both are your allies. You have to have both to have your best odds of survival. 'Surprise' is easy, 'timing' is not.
I can assure you I am not one to give up without a fight but you have to pick your fights and you don't show up to a gun fight with only a pocket knife because they sure would be surprised but it would not be good timing. My intent was not to tell you how to operate but to get you to maybe think of different options which maybe you had not considered. In a survival situation the most common threat I think will be looters, thugs, zombies etc who did not prepare and wish to take your stuff anyway they can, defending against them is something you need to consider and take proper steps to ensure survival.

Another  issue is trained, well armed troops.  These troops will very likely be used if martial law is enforced. I should also point out most of them will no doubt be doing so reluctantly and this is even more reason not to cross them because if you appear to comply they most likely will move on.
 I have heard comments about how some want to  take on all threats regardless of what they are, if that's a hill you want to die on be my guest I'm just here to tell you if you tangle with a squad of Marines or Army troops etc you will loose. That group of soldiers at your door is backed up by more troops and one well armed Humvee can level your home in seconds. This is why most people who have been trained by the military in these weapons understand what they can do and don't want to be on the receiving end of them.

 I know somebody will say "what about guerrilla tactics" , well let me tell you the difference. You can't use them when you are face to face with someone. When I was in Iraq it was somebody shooting from a building a long ways off and guess what, they still lost....almost every time, this is why they resorted to road side bombs. Bottom line is if they know where you are, you will loose, sure you may take some of them  with you but is that really a good plan? You have to understand there in nothing in a city block that will stop a 50 BMG. It will go through 10 houses and kill anyone in it's path...and it's fully auto, also a Mk 19 is a machine gun which shoots grenades which upon impact have a 5 meter kill radius (over 15 feet) not to mention the AT4, all these are squad weapons. We have not even touched on helicopter mounted weapons.
It goes without saying the VERY best plan is being a long ways away when these events go down, bug out before hand. If you have no option but to stay home, be smart. Play it safe the best you can IF you really want to survive, defense may be the best option. 
I am not trying to defend the government and actions they may take, just pointing out the probable outcome if you act without thinking.

TEOTWAWKI, can you handle it.
Where are we headed part I
Where are we headed part II

Where Are We headed (IMHO) Part II

Yesterday I gave some background for my thinking, I am not a genie with a crystal ball and I can't tell the future and I am not a insider who is privy to information, I don't even play one on TV but I do read and understand history to an extent and try to read into it our present situation.
I have seen ideas kicked around about things which may trigger an uprising much like 1776 where the patriots fought off the British, in a nutshell, it ain't gonna happen, at least not the way I see it.
There are many differences between then and now. Back then there were only 2% or 3% willing to fight but the majority of the population was more behind them. Today you may still have 2% or 3% willing to do their part but most of the population would be against you so it would be a loosing battle physically and intellectually.  the 2% would be viewed like the Waco group. Also back then the patriots had weapons and 'technology' equal to the British, today that is not even close to being true. Sure you could fight but it would be like a gunfight between a single shot 22 and a 50 BMG, anyone with extensive military training understands this.
Thirdly, back then we had our leaders in 'government' to follow, who is leading the charge today? I have an idea, lets put out an internet message for all patriots to show up for a meeting to lay out a strategy, let me know how it turns out............... I am not trying to be  sarcastic just observe reality.
 I do see the Patriot movement having a key role but not like in the past, wars and battle strategy evolve over the years so today things will look different.
I hope Romney wins because if not 0bama will make things much harder to overcome if at all and our second amendment rights will be either gone or heavily restricted.  There are two main things we have to worry about, our gun rights (key to freedom) and our economic freedom, they are both important. 0bama will attack both. In regard to gun rights he will probably start out wanting to register weapons, the general population will agree because they can still keep them (for now) next will come a ban and they will have to be surrendered.
Here is where the patriot movement will split away from the sheeple and things will get harder, you see right now about 30% to 40% of households have guns after confiscation it will only be about 5% (I guess). This will be acceptable odds for total government takeover be it martial law or whatever. Anyone who wants things to come to this is  foolish, pure and simple. You will loose a lot, most will die and without a doubt everyone will loose many friends and family and your life will never recover.
 Most of us are concerned about our second amendment rights and they are key but if you don't have a country or home to protect it is little comfort.
Personally I think the best option is to get Romney elected I understand he may not be the most gun friendly person but first and foremost we need to get strong economically and I really don't think Romney will go after gun control only because he will focus on the economy and gun control will have to pass the house as well, it won't be an issue for him. Even the Democrats don't dare push for gun control right now, it would be suicide for them.
So where do I see the patriot movement coming into play? I see it mainly in a defense mode (if you need more explanation read the links in the text above) At some point the entitlement benefits have to be sliced, it is a huge portion of our budget. They wont be cut for people in real need but we have entire families on government assistance who have kids just to get money to live and they feel they are entitled.  It could be caused by TEOTWAWKI disaster or economic collapse or reform. There is a number of ways this could come about and that that is not as critical as the result. When it happens government will try and solve the problem or deter it by offering food programs much like in past years, if things get really bad you may see FEMA camps to house people. Any of this will cause riots and mass looting on a  large scale  and it will force people to protect them selves with deadly force, many will die. Right now we have over 50% of the population relying on government for assistance in one form or another this will by default decrease greatly after a huge reset and maybe we will be equipped to elect a better government.
0bama being reelected greatly complicates the process  in a number of ways one of which is gun control, he needs it for his plan to try and succeed. Bottom line is NEVER succumb to any attempt to register weapons, it will lead to confiscation at some point and the more people you resist it will be harder to enforce.   
All of this is speculation and if we have a huge nuclear disaster things may be vastly different.

Where Are We Headed (IMHO)

This post turned out to be longer than intended so here is part one. I (like everyone else) don't know what the future has in store but his is just some 'gut felt' observations.

I was reading over on Matt's Blog the other day and it got me to thinking especially considering I have had this discussion with my friend Stephen as well.
 Matt was talking about conspiracy theories and such and I also try not to get too wrapped around the axle over them but having said that I do think we are over due for a major reset in the country. I basically see two things happening (besides a huge natural or nuclear disaster)
Short answer either Romney wins or 0bama does. 
If 0bama wins I believe he will continue push us over the cliff into collapse. Clinton when backed by a Republican Senate and Congress went along with them to make things work. 0bama will not do so, he is arrogant enough to do whatever to drive us to ruin. He hates America with a passion or at least our system of laws and economy. 0bama is driven by power and has no love for our values as a nation.
Romney on the other hand is a rich capitalist. First let me back up. I am not rich, never have been and probably never will be but I am smart enough to know money is king when it comes to power. (like it or not) I do believe big money wins elections for a reason, you see if America collapses I stand to loose my  home and property and  retirement account but the mega rich have a lot more to loose. I don't believe the ultra wealthy want to loose their money either. Some of them may have been fooled into backing 0bama for whatever reason but in the long run they like their money more.
0bama has a African chief mentality (IMHO) he doesn't mind you living in the mud hut as long as he has the big house and all the power but I can assure you all the big money celebrities and power brokers of this country don't want to live in the mud hut any more than I do. You see in the end all the big companies and corporations like, Delta, IBM, Dell, Apple, Microsoft, GM, Ford.........(the list is endless) can't function without us, the middle class, poor people don't buy the bulk of new cars etc. The rich know they are not an island if we are destroyed so are they.  If you doubt my thinking tell me how many 'Bill Gates' you think live in Cuba or Kenya or any other third world country. Other countries may have 'a Walmart' but do they also have a Target, and Kmart and Home Depot and Lowes and Ace Hardware and hundreds of other retail choices for everything from BB's to bulldozers. I can tell you I have been to many other countries and none have the choices we do for goods and services, I would include Canada with the US because we are adjoining have a similar form of government and travel is common across borders, anyway the  reason for this is our free enterprise system.
 Bottom line is the 'big power money brokers' don't want to loose that and 0bama is not on board with the plan. The 'big evil corporations' don't want us turned into Cuba or China or Russia etc.
(BTW I doubt China wants the US to fail either, who do you think they would sell all their stuff to, do you think Kenya or Iran or Haiti or Mexico will take up the slack in sales?)
 What I am trying to say is I do believe there are big money and big power brokers who have a lot at stake, don't get me wrong I am not saying 0bama can't win, he can however both parties have been kicking the can down the road a long time because neither party wants to be the bad guy and do the 'tough love' thing which is inevitable. As a side note I marvel at why the media is so gullible to follow 0bama do they really think their life will be good if we end up like Greece? does Greece have a CNN, CBS, MSNBC, FOX, ABC, CBS etc. These networks only exist due to free enterprise advertising on their stations.
Anyway what do I think is likely to happen? I think Romney is likely to win, (at this point anyway) but I don't see it preventing a meltdown of some sort only because we are at a point where drastic reform has to take place and the entitlement crowd will protest, loot and riot but I do see it as something we can recover from.
On the other hand if 0bama wins he will drive us to ruin sooner (or try to) but I don't think the 'power machine' will allow it and you will see all the stops come out to neutralize him. This may be in the form of impeachment due to his lack caring for the rule of law or being forced out of office because of his ineligibility to be president or he may go the way of JFK. The reason it has not happened sooner is two fold I think, first 'they' hope to hang in till November and let the voters straighten it out (isn't this in effect what Roberts of the SCOTUS said in the 0bama tax ruling) second, they don't want to cause an unnecessary rift in the population,  if they don't have to (and do they really want Biden to be president)
Who are these rich power brokers?, I don't know but going back to the days of the mega wealthy pulling the strings and creating the federal reserve from within the Jekyll Island Club till now money is king when it comes to power and judges, politicians and all kinds of powerful people can be paid off......it has always been thus. 
The only unknown factor in this is 0bama, he could trigger a disaster to bring about martial law but I tend to think his leash would be jerked at some point if things went too far South.
I have an idea as to what it might look like for us.
More to come.................................
 

Colorado Shooting, More Thoughts.

I have been thinking about it and we need to stop this senseless violence and especially mass shootings. So after careful soul searching I have some Ideas.
First off we need to ban movie theaters. They are ripe for this kind of violence, they are dark and the exits can be blocked and really what useful purpose do they really serve. The side benefit would be all the liberal Hollywood types would be out of a job.
Second we need to not allow people (adults)  to gather in public unless they are armed. This is not unreasonable. The government has seen fit to not allow you to drive around without insurance (for protection) so pass a law you cant leave the house without a gun (for protection). Some may say random shootings would occur, I say not. A car can be much more deadly than a gun and how many times has someone tried to purposely tried to run you over? A gun in your pocket does not transform you into a raging madman any more than a car does.
I can argue very effectively that the Colorado shooting would not have occurred if the shooter thought someone might shoot back, this is extremely obvious due to the massive amount of body armor he had.  If it turns out 'legal' concealed carry was not allowed in the movie theater then I would love to see a massive lawsuit against the theater that put these people in harms way especially seeing as it was illegal to do so according to the Constitution.
These 'mass killer cowards' prey on people who are unarmed, this is why they attack in areas where it is 'illegal' to carry  for example, malls, theaters, sporting events, schools, colleges etc. another reason I either avoid them or ignore the ban. I don't hang around in back alleys in the bad part of town because I don't want to run a high risk of being shot same goes for these other locations I mentioned.
If I ran a business like a restaurant, theater or any other business a crowd could gather I would offer a discount to anyone with a CC weapon.
Anyone who refuses to protect themselves has no reason to complain if they are a victim.

Welcome Friends.

I want to say welcome to two new friends, Leslie and Deniersaurus-Rex. 
Hope you visit often, If either of you have blogs let me know. I always try and answer comments and questions. 




I saw this T-Shirt at the gun show this weekend and it followed me home.

Colorado Shooting

It's Sunday Morning and I was having some coffee and thinking...................................

Notice 'Spanish' on police tape. Is this America????????

What if one person had a concealed carry gun in the theater and had taken out the shooter. Would the news have been different?
 I am certain that a few people in there had a permit but thought "it's not worth carrying it tonight" I wonder if the wish they had now. Or maybe it was against the 'law' to conceal carry in a movie theater?
Note: good reason to not worry about what the 'law' always says......just saying. (I was going to say more about that but changed my mind)
The news said the shooter was totally decked out with body armor so authorities were  baffled as to why he gave up when confronted by police. I think he was a total coward and worried somebody with a concealed carry gun would try and take him out, another good reason why you should train and be able to shoot where needed. I also wonder why when the shooting lulled (supposedly when he was reloading) that someone didn't rush him.
I am not trying to second guess because I wasn't there and I know there was tear gas and it was dark however it does give you lots of information to mull over.

BTW, did you see the guys picture? does that look like someone you would sell a gun to?

Not Good # 38

Hope you Weekend  is better than this.

Basic Rules to Remember

  1, Guns have only two enemies rust and politicians.

  2, Its always better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6.

  3, Cops carry guns to protect themselves, not you.

  4, Never let someone or something that threatens you get inside arms length.
 
5, Never say "I've got a gun." If you need to use it, the first sound they hear should be the safety clicking off followed quickly by a muzzle blast.

6, The average response time of a 911 call is 23 minutes, average the response time of a bullet is over 1000 feet per second.

  7, The most important rule in a gunfight is: Always win, cheat if necessary. (there is no such thing as a 'fair' gunfight)

  8, Make your attacker advance through a wall of bullets . . . You may get killed with your own gun, but he'll have to beat you to death with it, cause it'll be empty.

If you're in a gun fight:
1. If you're not shooting, you should be reloading.
2. If you're not reloading, you should be moving
3. If you're not moving you're dead.



Also good to remember......................................
 
In a life and death situation, do something . . . It may be wrong, but do something!

  If you carry a gun, people call you paranoid. Nonsense! If you have a gun, what do you have to be paranoid about?

  You can say 'stop' or 'alto' or any other word, but a large bore muzzle pointed at someone's head is pretty much a universal language.

  You cannot save the planet, but you may be able to save yourself and your family.

 

Please Just Once !

During the health care tax debate Phil Hare a Democrat from Illinois said  "I don't care about the Constitution" when asked about the constitutionality of it. Others have said the same thing including a Florida Congressman when asked  if he thought the law was constitutional. This is from people who take an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States.
Just once I would like to see one of them arrested for violation of their oath and being severely beaten by police during the arrest. If they screamed about their rights I would just once like to hear a judge tell him "I wish I could help you but you said you didn't care about the Constitution"



 

Welcome

I want to welcome two new followers, Tworr and Huey148 
Welcome to my blog please stop by and visit often. I try and respond to all comments and questions.

Junk Mail Solutions.

We all complain about the economy but what do we do to help it out?  I like to solve problems so here is one of my solutions. 
  I get lots of junk mail (like a lot of you I am sure) and I have read many ways stop it or slow it down but this is what's partially wrong with our economy, I mean business has it's hands full fighting all the regulations and taxes that 0bama lumps on them and so to drum up business they send out junk mail to advertise their products and services and what do we do?.....we throw it away, no wonder they are having such a hard time. 
Here is my solution, I take all my junk mail for the week and open it on the kitchen table and put it in little piles, they all have those postage paid return envelopes which is perfect. I survey all the different products I see before me and think...........
 I decide that AARP might like to have information on new window blinds for their office so I put all that information in their little 'postage paid' envelope. Maybe the AARP information I will forward to Progressive Insurance, I mean everyone likes to see what the competition is doing. I might send information on swimming pool products to Disney Vacations, they must have tons of pools so just think of the boom in business the pool company might get. I send the Disney Vacation information to the phone company (they need a break) and I send Burger King coupons to any elected officials (we need to save tax money somehow) anyway you see how it works, I then put all those postage paid envelopes back in my mail box the next day, stuffed with lots of good information for people who might need it. now here is the beautiful part, just look at all the ways you are helping the economy and environment.
1. Keep funding for the postal service, you see all those postage paid envelopes are money makers for the postal service. If they are thrown away the post office gets no money from them so by using them you help the post office stay solvent.
2. Help keep postal employees employed, this helps keep people working and off food stamps and welfare, how cool is that?
3, Help tree farmers sell more trees for paper, This is a huge boom for the tree farmers. They need to sell their products and it keeps loggers, truckers, fuel company's, tractor dealers, repair people, fertilizer manufacturing, pulp wood mills and a host of other business solvent and hiring people which also keeps them off food stamps as well.
4, Share info with those who need it and keep those business fluid by helping them make sales, If you cant use a service don't waste the information just forward it to someone who might need it, give a struggling company a boost.
5, Save landfill space, This one is for my 'green' friends. Just think of all the landfill space that will be saved by not throwing all the junk mail away.
6, Save money on trash bags, By doing this over the course of a year you save a lot of money on trash bags which is money in your pocket.
  I am sure there are other benefits I have not thought of  but you clearly see the good it can do, sure it is a little time consuming but what is wrong with us if we can't spare a little time to help our fellow citizens so do it for our country, do it for the children.
 Don't be a slacker, be a problem solver and do your part to help our economy. I promise you will sleep good at night knowing you have done so.

782 Gear

Gear can be arranged to suit you, or removed if needed.

A lot has been said about bug-out gear and different types of equipment, there is tons of new and expensive equipment to be had but in my opinion you don't have to spend a fortune to have the best.
Those of us who have served in the military and had combat training are familiar with 782  gear it is also called Deuce gear, Web gear and Battle rattle.
To the left you see the basic setup which includes web belt, canteens, suspenders, ammo pouches, first aid kit etc. It's design makes it easy to attach extra gear and the suspenders distribute the weight to your shoulders so the belt can be worn loose, it is easy to take on and off even if you stop for a little rest in the field. Standard military pistol holsters are designed to be attached to it along with a host of other gear designed for the US military from WWII till today which means M1 carbine ammo pouches are made to attach along with M16 ammo pouches or 45 or 9MM etc.

M9 holster with 1911 pistol

 The M12 holster designed for the standard issue Beretta works for other pistols as well.
To the right is the M12 holster I use to carry my 1911, of course the US Army made 45 ACP ammo pouches designed for the web belt. The M12 holsters can be found cheaper than the old issue leather 45 holsters but they can be used also.

M9 holster with Browning Hi Power

This holster also holds the Browning H- Power very well.

I wont go into the whole break down of the 782 gear and all it's functions but wanted to point out it is a viable option for bug out gear, in fact the US military has used this basic setup for over 70 years and it is still being used. There are many aftermarket pouches and such designed to attach easily to the web gear.




Interesting note, the Navy SEAL's have a budget which enables them to have the latest and best gear available but notice this SEAL pictured left with standard issue 782 gear and ALICE pack.
The All-purpose Load Individual Carry Equipment (ALICE) pack is another valuable piece of equipment. It has many compartments which are easily accessible while on the move and even has a large water proof compartment for stuff which needs to remain dry.
It makes no difference if it is OD green, woodland camouflage or the new digital pattern gear it is all interchangeable.
You can personalize it to carry as much or as little as you need depending on the situation, the K-bar knife is a worthy addition as well.
It may not be the most high tech but it is extremely rugged, can be bought new and used through Army Navy stores and on line and flea markets. It is made in the USA and it works very well.