Our weekly review of the show along with the Good that we can learn from, the Bad and the downright Ugly parts of these shows!
7/24/2014 Show Episode 53

First up we have Jimi Falcon who is preparing for World War 3 and the invasion of the United States.

Located in Frenchtown Montana about an hour from any town, he has property and a cabin in the woods and lives alone with his two cats Bubba and Kiki. His opinion is that all invaders destroy infrastructure immediately and completely in order to control the population and he is ready for it. He smokes a lot of meat to preserve it in a smokehouse that also serves heat for bathwater. He has generators but his main fuel is wood for heat. According to Jimi, Montana has the coldest winter on record in the US.

He showed food in bins kept under his house, this was both boxes and canned food and that he says was a years worth stored. His other source of food is hunting deer and elk on his property. Multiple sources of water on or near the property are his source; I did not see a well. With his family being he and the cats, he has been training them to hunt and bring him food. Good luck with that.

He also maintains caches of food and gear in buckets around the property. This follows his thought that if WW3 goes nuclear, he has caves nearby that he can walk to and they have supplies as well. Looking at the caves, he has canned and boxes food in buckets and he did mention rotating the food by date on them.

The GOOD and the BAD:

The GOOD:

• He has a year of food stored.
• Cabin in great and looks very comfortable
• Multiple water sources
• Hunting game for food
• Remote location makes him last on the list
• He can pan for gold in the creeks

The BAD:

• Water stored. It’s great to have the water nearby but when it’s 40 below zero, how easy is it to get. Even in Alaska the always STORE water.
• The way in which the food is stored leaves me to think that it will freeze under the house and rotation is questionable
• No garden at all. When the food runs out? He should be doing something
• He really expects his cats to hunt and bring him food…..really?
• No real security to speak of, not even a dog. One man on a remote property is called victim.
• I hope he has a mining claim on the creeks or he may find himself in hot water.
• The opinion that with invaders here, gold will become the most valuable metal in the world in not justified. Right now we have a debt based economy using dollars as our accepted trade item. Why would it suddenly become gold? People will find a value on everything and the problem with gold is that if it IS that valuable, how to you buy a piece of bread with it? Cut it into micro pieces? I think you would find first aid, firewood, ammunition, blankets and such the standard everyday accepted items, gold, not so much.

LESSONS LEARNED:

• Living away from the Burbs or the City will enable you to survive an event longer, maybe. If you are trying to stay away from the invaders, yes it will. But if you are caught in an earthquake or flood or other such natural disaster, the remote location could spell the end. Would I like where he does, you bet I would. But I think being a loner may not work best if you need help from your community.

• The opinion that we would be invaded is so remote I don’t count it as possible at all. We are more inclined to be taken over by illegal border crossing skirting normal immigration. And the opinion that invaders take out infrastructure first to control the population is misguided. Might they damage infrastructure, yep but they want to use the power and water just like everybody else. They want to control it intact, which is real control of a population. Be good and you get power.

The SCORE:
I cannot for the life of me figure out how they score anything, it’s just ridiculous.

• Water 19 Really? With nothing stored he gets a 19 for having a stream. My score would be
• Security 10 For what security? Location alone is not security, you have to secure a perimeter or have
some early warning of some type. A 10 is stretching it so I would go and 8 tops.
• Food 16 Even though you can’t quantify what it is and account for how it’s stored. Not this boy,
12 at the most
• Shelter 18 That’s right on the money
• Energy Wood is certainly his energy source. From the look of the cupboard, there is plenty there,
ya just gotta keep cutting and splitting.
• X Factor. Hmmmmm. I don’t count this at all, it’s just their warm fuzzy feeling. Cover the Base 5
and your good to go!

Next up we have Cindy Stewart and husband Randy.

They are preparing for a Foreign Invasion by Nuclear bombs and then the ground invasion. Upon seeing the aftermath of 9/11, Cindy vowed to get the family to a safer place and she has done that. She and husband Randy and son left Atlanta and moved 100 miles to rural Georgia and have set up a Taxidermy shop that allows them income and can work at home, great combination. Randy is teaching him to hunt and trap. Randy also teaches cooking in a pit to conceal smoke, according to Randy, this is used in the military.

Now their house is small be design and has incorporated features such as heavy locking doors to create safe areas or time to leave before a breach. They compare it to a military block house that can both provide defensive positions as well as safe areas. There are spots to hide from view if needed as well.

Now we move onto what they called their perimeter defense. Using hides and heads from various animals, they sew an explosive inside them (probably Tannerite). They put them in realistic spots and poses in areas where the invaders will come from so they look natural. Then they run a drill where they defend the house, then using the military tactic of “moving by leaps and bounds”, they get from the house to the ATV where they take off toward the woods and the bad guys. Once in position, they shoot and detonate the animals and thereby kill the bad guys.

Their food supply looked like canned goods in buckets. They had about 6 months stored. Their water supply was in question and I saw no water storage. As for perimeter defense, the ATV ambush seemed to be all there was.

The GOOD and the BAD:

The GOOD:

• Their remote location in a rural area helps them go unnoticed for the moment
• Learning to hunt and trap for food
• Food stored
• Great business to work at home where your dangers are reduced
• Teaching kids reasonable things is important these days. They need to know “How To”.

The BAD:

• Water Storage was unseen at all. Not even sure of a water source
• Food rotation seemed impossible in buckets
• No garden nothing growing that I could see
• Defense. Their perimeter is wide open
• Being terrified. If you feel this way, you are not making good decisions.
• House seemed fine for shelter

LESSONS LEARNED:

• In seeing the first few minutes of the show, I could tell (like most) that she was absolutely terrified, not scared but actually terrified about the future. When we act on feelings this strong, we make decisions that are not the best for all. The probability of a nuclear attack followed by a ground attack is in my book, not even a possibility. No invader would nuc it, they want the assets and dropping the big one gets none of that.
• The blowed up critters won’t really do much or actually work very well. First you have to know someone is coming, place the critters in the right place, get to a concealed spot before they do to intercept them and then have them walk very near it.
• Leaps and Bounds. Looked more like a kindergarten exercise. A movement like this is precise and done exactly the same by all team members.
• Security. Well if you have no perimeter security, then the bad guys can work their way up to the house or first available concealment or cover. The fact is, most of us are just like this.

The SCORE:

Water 13. Water storage may have accounted for a better number but I didn’t see any. I thought slightly less at 12.
Shelter 14.Probably an accurate number. House seemed fine.
Food 16. So I don’t get the food at 16. Didn’t look there was enough stored and nothing being produced to warrant this. 12 for food is my call.
Security 14 Security at the house, yes they had a defense but nothing at the perimeter. I thought 10 might be the right score.
Energy They don’t include this but I consider it one of the BASE 5 needs. I did not see anything special so I assume they are tied to the grid and dependent on that source. Maybe not the best idea.
Xfactor 16 Their location, high attention to an event would give them extra points, they were very focused but 16? I don’t count this at all, it’s just their warm fuzzy feeling. Cover the Base 5 and your good to go!

Last up is Ron Godfrey, W8RKG in Grantsville West Virginia.

He is preparing for disasters in general that are a byproduct of Global Climate Change. So Ron is ex-military communications specialist ( yea just look at the gear). He has 6 months of food stored, 2 vehicles with full radio gear and a comm shack that is very well equipped. For energy, there is a natural gas well on the property that has been there for a very long time. He mentioned he has the ability to change the generators over to natural gas instead of gas fuel to provide power.

With his background in Communications, he has set up a county command post in his house that is staffed by neighbors and townspeople in the event of an emergency. His location to buy was on a hill at 1,200 ft elevation to help with line of sight communications along with being out of the flood area. He also has a call tree to activate if needed to mobilize the town. From the looks of the ham shack, he is a member of MARS which is a military style emergency network and Skywarn which has weather spotters and reporter all over the country.

He is worried about his dad so he gives him a simple solution, CB radio. He puts a base unit and antenna in the Ol man’s house and he can contact him anytime and when the phones go out. With his shack having over 20 different radios, power supplies and testing equipment along with 2-50’ Antenna masts, he is pretty well set. It appears in the show that there is a lot of rain and flooding and he and the network jump into action. Folks come to his house and help man the control center. They eventually have to go get Dad when communications go down.

The GOOD and the BAD:

The GOOD:

• As with most ex Military, Ron is completely squared away in many respects.
• Food stored will last him awhile
• Communications will never be an issue
• Energy with Natural gas well is outstanding
• House meets all the shelter needs

The BAD:

• I would like to see more food. Since he has folks manning the comm center, who feeds them?
• Stored water. Did not see any
• Another food source, garden or animals. Did not see anything
• Security. I did see someone in the yard with a rifle, we he a guard.
• Better generator utilizing the natural gas NOW

LESSONS LEARNED:

• The emphasis of this show as the radio gear, and that was great to see and should be. But we also have to do things like eat and drink. An all-around prepper would have more on several fronts. Now don’t get me wrong, would I love to have that ham shack, you damn skippy I would. But let’s get all the preps in as good a shape at that shack!
• I cannot say enough about preppers giving back to the community. We are constantly shown and hoarders and crazies but here is one that is a giver. He wants to help his community and that may lead to his downfall but ya know what, he has no line in the sand where he won’t try and help.

The SCORE:

Water 13 I did not see enough water stored so I think a 10 at the most
Shelter 16 I think maybe a little better than that 18. Where was it deficient?
Food 16 More food. At least a year thinking about the folks at your ham shack helping
Security 18 Not sure if there is or was enough. One armed guard in the yard with a rifle does not give em 18 points. What was the basis for this?
Energy We map Base 5 items, they don’t. A natural gas well is incredible and that takes care of that. The only issue I have is the smaller generator utilizing it. Smaller portable generators are not designed for long use. They are only designed to last x# of hours run time. A full time generator will last much longer. My suggestion is to install a large, full time, natural gas generator and connect it to the well, NOW. Don’t wait until you generator fails, do the infrastructure work now.
Xfactor 20 I don’t count this at all, it’s just their warm fuzzy feeling. Cover the Base 5 and your good to go!