Our weekly review of the show along with the Good, Bad and the downright Ugly parts of these shows!

First up we have Robert, wife Wendy and son Riley, the are preparing for Marshall Law. Located just outside Dallas TX, they live on 10 acres in a rural area and enjoy horseback riding, fishing and outdoor activities. All the while, Robert is always asking himself: “what would I do right now if something happened”.  They prepare for a variety of events that would trigger Marshall Law, not just one single event which is why there can be so many scenarios. Being in the USAF for 4 years as a Firefighter/Paramedic gives Robert a great skill-set that would come in handy in turbulent times.

We can see a connex with a full battery system connected to a solar array, keeping the batteries charged and the system ready to handle an emergency. His calculations makes the batteries able to handle one week of load for the entire house without a charge. Also on hand for food is 2 years of what appeared to be Wise Food buckets on racks. With a substantial stockpile of weapons, he also makes his own ammo so he will not run out. So with power and food handled he turns his thoughts to perimeter protection, with the help of his next door neighbor, they put together booby traps that will not be a good day for an unsuspecting foe.

First on the list was the trip alarms. First using shotgun shells and then finally flares, he gets them to work. Using a Rat Trap style trigger he found online, he builds one working model and it does the job. Next up are “Fall Traps”. These are boxes with the large spikes in the bottom with trap door floors. The boxes are laid into the ground, flush with the ground and covered with the usual ground cover. Once the enemy steps on them, they fall through and become impaled on the spikes. Using a pigs head, they demonstrate how it works. He then gets a window product that stops pistol bullets one way but allows you to shoot through from the other side. He shows that this works, it’s pretty impressive. His plan is to put that all around the outside of the house. And last but not least are the Tannerite bombs that will blow up the invaders and save the princess.

During filming, they get an actual tornado alert. Their daughter is at school and the mother drives to get her. They end up out of touch completely as the tornado gets close. They return just in time to jump into their below grade shelter and wait out the storm. Robert is an emotional mess during this entire time.

The GOOD and the BAD:

The GOOD:

• Freeze Dried food supply is good
• Firearms and ammo is fine, seems to have that dept covered.
• Tornado shelter is great!
• Solar power system

The BAD:

• Water supply, did not see one
• Single track food, ie: freeze dried gets old. Need variety and fresh food as well.
• No garden at all. Fresh food will be everything the longer things go.
• Communications with neighbor. If your going to have an ally, make sure you have radios to talk to each other
• Trip wires are good but Texas has lots of deer, I see lots of deer alarms in the future

LESSONS LEARNED:

• To keep the family safe, they need to find a solution to the daughters situation at school. It was not wise to try and get her, if they had been caught by the tornado, this would have been tragic. They need to see where the shelters are at school and set up their own SOP for situations for the daughter so they can relax a little that she has a plan.
• One of the booby traps would have warned them of perps inside their perimeter. The others would have caused injuries and created wounded for the invaders to deal with but early warning was lacking. The use of passive sensors around the property, would give them the edge, not the invaders. More should be done with the perimeter such as sensors and radios like the Dakota systems or video cameras.
• Passive cooler would be nice. If you want to add to diet with fresh meat, you have to keep it cool. An underground meat cellar might also work for fresh food that will keep at lower temps. We eat everyday, we don’t shoot bad guys everyday. We need to spend more time on food and water in my opinion with every DDP or our own situations as well.
• I wish the narrators would get more accurate in what they say, they just sound stupid. He does not make BULLETS, he reloads his own ammo. There is a difference, a very big difference.
• I don’t think that Marshall Law will necessarily mean that the bad guys will be attacking rural properties. Possible but not probable in my view
• Robert mentioned that prepping is so addicting. I will propose a clinic for those who want to kick the habit will soon be formed by someone. We do need to temper our prepping so that it does not consume us, everything in moderation.

Next up we have Greg, wife Marsha, son Mike and daughter Mellisa, they are preparing for the Coming Economic Collapse and Invaders that will follow. Living in central Tennessee, south of Nashville, Greg is sure that all of the money would be worthless overnight. Their house has a small garden of 95 sq ft and they have a rain catchment system to store water. They have been canning and have about 8 months of food, all in glass canning jars. They raise rabbits for food and have 12 thousand rounds of ammo stored up.

One of his thoughts are that because of the downgraded credit rating for the government, this puts the food supply in jeopardy. He feels that soon we will not be able to afford food. So he bought a remote property of 30 acres. He has decided that this area is his last ditch choice to live on. Putting up a tent with a tarp over a sink outside in a wooded area, he calls this the base camp. If this property is invaded his plan is to move the family into the invisible treehouse and then take a position in his spyderhole and ambush the invaders.

The Treehouse was built by a local contractor on wooden legs about 10 ft off the ground. It has one small door and one small window. They use an emergency ladder to get up and down. The exterior is then coated with a mirror film that reflects the surrounding foliage. The lumber is not painted and is at the end of a trail from their makeshift camp. Greg waits until the villans walk by him on their way to the treehouse and he jumps out and “has em cold”. His wife is not a prepper but supports the things he does, she is also scared of heights. This creates on large problem when they do a mock attack. He has to put more lumber and anchor down the ladder in order for his wife to climb up.

Greg is really happy that nobody knows about the invisible treehouse…..

The GOOD and the BAD:

The GOOD:

• Garden and water catchment at the house
• Nice piece of property for bugoue
• Large ammo stockpile at the house
• 8 months food supply
• Raising animals for food
• Family working together to store food and garden

The BAD:

• Garden and water catchment is not at the bug out location
• No power at the bugout location, how bout some infrastructure
• Food supply is at the house, no storage at camp
• Raising animals is at the house, not at camp.
• The “Invisible Bunker” is the shiniest thing in the forest. It’s awful
• One man fighting off the invaders solo is a bad idea, you will not live long. Did anyone see the family in American Blackout? nuff said

LESSONS LEARNED:

• None of their long term supplies are at the tent camp. Appeared to be no place built to store things. Why spend something you sit in while they walk up and shoot the damn thing up?
• The “Treehouse” is a joke. Completely visible even to Stevie Wonder from his house in LA. Supports from the ground unpainted and clearly visible even if painted.
• Spyder hole. How could anyone not walk by that and not see it?
• What makes you think that the Zombies are going to walk up some remote rural road, knowing you have food? That is not probable at all.
• Gregs last message to the audience…Wake Up America.