ASAP Drink Mix

From the Southwest Shooting Authority Podcast...

It's a chocolate drink mix that would be used as a food supplement in hard times. Cole really loves the stuff.

What's for dinner?

I had a few links lying around for MRE's and I thought that it was time that I pull them together for future reference.

Aside from keeping a few extra packages of random food-stuffs, I hardly have a well thought out supply of food and water for emergencies.

I suppose I should start with water, being one can live only 3 miserable days without water before dying of dehydration. Past one day and you'll be irritable at best and feeling pretty sick when you're not intensely busy with keeping breathing, securing shelter, and looking for water. I've been dehydrated before and it must have been relatively severe because I though that death would have been an acceptable alternative (in a purely sardonic way).

So, the two issues I see with water are finding a supply of it and keeping it clean and handy. Maybe that's three... but as for finding it, it would be best to go to your two week storage of water and smile that you have it, then go look for a source where you can get more. Walmart might not be there to bail us out, so I'll plan on getting two 55-gallon barrels to store an initial amount of water. In addition, I'll be saving almost any jug I can to keep about another 55 gallons in smaller amounts. I have two water filters, one for the car and another for the house to keep the water clear of sediment and biological nasties. I'm not too worried about viruses given that we live in North America. That should do for an extended emergency.

As for food, well, I'm pretty short there. I have some freeze-dried camping meals and a few Datrex bars, but we'll need something much more extensive for that. I'm not thinking of the 1-year minimum required by the Church of Latter Day Saints, but somethings sensible. There's food that you need immediately in an emergency, stuff that you can eat without preparation, and things for long term storage. I'll be focussing on a combination of Datrex bars, MRE's and probably freeze-dried items.

The Datrex blue bars are Coast Guard certified and are good for 3600 calories that could be extended to about three days of light activity per person. I haven't tried any yet, but some damn mice found my stash in the basement and somehow smelt the goodies within and chowed down on a couple packets. Little bastards... but it was my fault. I'll keep these bars in my car, at work, at home for those emergencies where I might not be able to get at the rest of my stash immediately. They'll probably be good to barter with later as well.

I'm still researching MRE's, but there looks like there are a few good choices available. According to one article I've read, I'll have to choose carefully since there is a big difference between the civilian rations available. Looks like there are a number of good sources for MRE's like The Epicenter and aPack. For myself, I'll probably look into getting something to cover my wife and I for about two weeks: 84 meals or 7 cases. That's like almost $500 not including shipping and handling. I'll have to do that a case at a time.

(work in progress)

Another Zombie Movie...

WARNING - Spoiler:
I just came back from watching Legend in IMAX. It was a few more bucks, but definitely worth it.

Well to cut to the chase, for about a third of the movie, you'll see Will carrying around a pretty common (for the military) M4 with an ACOG and a rail-mounted light. From this still shot of the trailer, it looks like a laser-light combination, but he never uses the laser in the movie. He never did find night vision which doesn't seem too likely given that he was military. You'll also see him with a Beretta M9A1, what looks like an H&K USP and another semi-auto with a SS slide that he fishes out of a drawer in his apartment (sorry too quick for me to ID). Aside from using his M4 to hunt deer (which is plausible) there aren't any utterly unrealistic firearms depictions in the movie aside from the classic: no hearing damage from discharging a firearm within an enclosed area.

As for the story. I liked it. My wife thought there were too many "what a stupid move that was" or "what the hell was he thinking then" scenes to really enjoy the movie, but my wife always over thinks plots. Aside from using his dog to hunt deer with by chasing them, I didn't see too many things that I thought made the plot unbearable.

I recently read a great article on the Alpha Rubicon site that totally does away with the effectiveness of backpack survival. The author argues that the only stable survival situation in many cases is a small self-sufficient, relatively-isolated community. The movie depicts just this as the final sanctuary of civilization.

Go check it out (correct my mistakes above) and enjoy it. If you're living in NYC if something like this happens, I doubt you'd be as lucky.


Visit the Official I Am Legend Website

How to suture up wounds if SHTF

An interesting thread from Glock Talk

Try to get the wound cleaned and closed as soon as possible after the bleeding has stopped. Apply direct pressure until the bleeding has stopped. This may take some time depending on how bad an injury it was.

Flush the wounds with sterile (boiled if possible) water until all visible dirt is out of the wound.

After the wound appears clean, disinfect it with either povidine iodine (betadine) or chlorhexadine gluconate (4%). You can get this from a veterinarian supply for pretty cheap. I prefer the chlorhexadine because it has less caustic effect on the tissues. To disinfect it, first put on sterile gloves if they are available. If not, scrub your hands (especially under the nails) with the betadine or chlorhexadine. If you don't have either of these available you can use hydrogen peroxide or rubbing alcohol as a last resort. Remember, after you have your gloves on, anything you touch must be sterile or you will contaminate yourself. That means you have to make a sterile field and lay out all of your equipment on it. If you do contaminate yourself, change gloves.

If you have some lidocaine 1% or 2% now would be a great time to use it otherwise this will HURT. If you have it available, Fill a 10 cc syringe with a ~21 to 23 gauge needle and inject it about 1 cc at a time into the wound margins and the deep tissue. Wait about 3-4 minutes and check to see if you have achieved local anesthesia by poking the area with the needle. If you don't have any lidocaine, you can use a benzocaine spray but this will BURN for a few minutes after you put it on before the tissue gets numb. The lidocaine syringe will most likely NOT be sterile, so be sure and change gloves after you administer it.

Then, pour a generous amount of your chosen disinfectant into the wound. Scrub the wound with the disinfectant and some sterile 4x4's. If it is deep, make sure that the disinfectant gets deep into the wound cavity. Now make a sterile field around the wound using sterile OR towels if you have them or you can use sterile 4x4 gauze. If you don't have anything available you can boil some towels (but let them cool off before you put them on the skin!) Let the disinfectant sit for about 3-4 minutes for betadine or at least a minute for chlorhexadine. Mop up any extra solution with some sterile 4x4 gauze until the tissue is reasonably dry (e.g. not sopping wet).

Now your wound is sterile and ready to be closed. (continued)

Collecting Calibers?

I now have firearms in a few different calibers:

• .22 LR
• 9mm
• .40 SW
• .45 ACP
• 5.56 x 45 mm
• 7.62 x 51mm

And I'm feeling like the list is rapidly growing, especially since I'll probably soon be adding:

• 12 ga.
• .22 mag

In addition, I'd love to add a .357 mag revolver at some point. I don't think I can go wrong with any of the above mentioned, except with the .40 SW and .22 mag when times get tough.

I'm having difficulting choosing a weapon that my wife can handle, and yet will be something I can confidently carry. I'm well aware that the both of us will need more training and that's something I'm personally looking foward to. I have a feeling that the .22 LR, 9mm, and 5.56mm will be the greatest investments since I'm confident that my wife can handle weapons in those calibers. Who knows, maybe we'll get lucky and find that she loves the 7.62mm and .45 ACP!

Ammo to Grab
1st Connect: Survial Rifles and Calibers
Survival Bill: Survival Guns
Outdoor Life: Survival Guns

Flu crazy

It seems that the media cooks up some kind of disaster waiting to happen whenever the previous one subsides. Hurricanes, tornados, floods, riots, epidemics... etc. I'm only going to put as much energy into preparation as is likely that calamity will strike. I figure that depending upon where you live, it might only be about 3% max. So, I'll only put 3% of my money and energy into preparedness. On that note, here's a good link to a flu portal.

American Handgunner's Bugout Bag

Here's a great article from American Handgunner about what to pack for an emergency. I like the wheeled tote, but it would be better if it could be carried (relatively) comfortably on the back as well.