Defending your castle

From here on out I will be changing the format slightly so you get more information on specific areas of Survival skills.

I think today we will discuss ways to start a survivalist group, things that every group should know as well as how to best structure the group, how to make the group self sufficient,  choosing of a survival retreat location, as well  fortifications of a Survival retreat.

Things to remember when starting a Survivalist group is that the people who join your group become extended family. You will  have to depend on one another unlike any other time in your life, these people you group  up with, will mean the difference between life and death.

Your group should take an oath to one another, to always provide assistance no matter the circumstance,  to always be vigilant as well as look out for one another.

Starting a group is a struggle, I would first mention you should get with family and friends who feel the same way you do. You can put an ad out on craigslist, but I do not think that will turn out quite the way you would want. Be careful of who you choose to join your group as we all know there are some sick people out there. Attempting to start a group is a challenge but if you succeed you will all be better off together than you would be alone.

Every group should know that you have the potential to be a target, security should always be at the forefront of any decision your group makes. Time and time again groups fall apart for one reason or another, it is vital that everyone in your group works together to keep this from happening. Trust one another and be loyal because that’s all you will have. Get a dog. I prefer Karelian Bear Dogs and the reason for this is simple, these dogs are loyal beyond belief if they perceive someone as a threat they will attack anyone meaning to do harm to their pack. A simple rule for having a dog at your retreat should be this, the dog is a member and has a job to do so don’t treat as a pet , pat it on the head every now and again but leave your dog alone to do its job. Give your canine a place of its own outside. I will post more on dog training tips at another time or I will ask one of my readers who has skills to post a training tutorial.    

A good rounded group could consist of up to 20 people and vary in skills. Look for people that have skills in medicine even if it’s as simple as a nurse or a combat medic, you will need people who can provide care for sick and or wounded. Look for people who have mechanical skills these people are a great asset to have around and usually can figure out how to rig something and make it work, such as a wind generator using an alternator from a car. People who know canning is also important and can really help the group with storing of food, also it is important to learn how to brew beer, see wheat and barley are crops that don’t hold up well to storage and beer is liquid bread. Find yourself someone who is security savvy, someone preferably with a military background or Law enforcement.  Just as importantly you should seek out people with electrical skills, you just might want to keep your refrigerator running and you will need the skills of a good electrician to fall back on. Do not discount children these guys are a great resource for a group once they are trained to understand the risks involved, and children have a better time at adapting to situations and can help with chores. Learn to grow food as well as hunt.

Structuring your survival group will help to keep things in order. Choose a leader for the group pick someone who can make fast decisions in difficult situations but shows the aptitude to make correct ones, every leader needs a second in command. The second in command should also have the same ability as the elected leader, put people in charge of all the happenings at your retreat  someone will need to be able to take inventory of consumables and brief the group on the situations of stock, another for making sure that planting and gardening is done (Note: gardening can be tricky especially for women, touching the leafs of a plant when a woman is menstruating can kill the plant, this does not happen with all women.)  Set up a watch commander usually this person would be the second in command, his scope of responsibility should be scheduling watches, setting up tactical exorcises / drills, picking positions for Observation Posts (OP),  setting up and manning the Command Center (C&C). put someone in charge of  morale, keeping spirits high in bad situations can mean the difference to the physical and emotional health of your group. Put someone in charge of physical training, exorcise not  only helps keep the body healthy but it also helps with emotional health. Give everyone in your group a voice, listen to them  put things to a vote it is important that people in your group feel they have a say.    

Pooling resources is a great way to increase your chances of survival in a bad time. Your group should think seriously about chipping in to buy land or groupings of land all located in the same area with property lines backing up to one another. Small 5 acre plots grouped together is helpful, but chipping in to buy one 20 acre plot is better usually you can get raw land cheaper than buying 4, 5 acre plots with homes already built on them.           

The initial choice for a survival retreat should be made with security in mind, higher ground will offer the best security but could cost more in useful land as well as the cost for a well. Try to keep your property away from communities as this is an easy way to be targeted by looters and such.  Smaller towns will eventually start to form similar structure to your Survivalist group, and become an ally. Attempt to buy land this has trees for cover and concealment, fence off your land as well as put out early warning alarms in the form of cans and such.

To continue on with setting up your land I will start at the retreat building itself,  I like brick or stone buildings they are stout and offer a castle like defense, after all this will be your castle. I suggest you make black out curtains, as well as going to the scrap yard to buy enough ¾ inch thick steel plates a couple big enough to reinforce your doors, doing this will mean you will need to buy heavy duty hinges to take the weight. You can custom cut a good hardwood to disguise you’re up armored doors, doing the same thing for the windows you can make them look like shutters, I suggest if you do this that you cut a cross section out of them to make it easier to shoot from, hang them the same way you would have hung the door. Do not forget to make re-enforcement bars for the doors that to keep them from being bashed in by Looters ect. You can just put in cross bars for the windows as a way to secure them. Invest in a tin roof this will help to keep the risk of fire down from people who think they can just burn you out.

Your castle defend it, dig a moat. This will keep vehicles from being able to ram straight through. As far as the inside of your fortification goes you will want enough space to comfortably house all of the people in your group, store some of your supply’s as well as have access to get out of your fortification if the need arises.  If your group can afford to make tunnels with concrete, shipping containers, or just a simple dug tunnel. Make more than one and disguise the entrances, if you build side rooms off of the tunnels you can store more supplies in them. Make sure if you have a dirt tunnel you build it so that water washes away from your retreat as well as lay pallets down to protect anything you may store in there.