Quarantine, swine flu, bird flu, biological attack, etc.

Another archived article. Talked about this on shortwave radio back in the 90's and wrote numerous articles about this on the blog, the newsletter, etc.

The idea of going about your "normal life" with a thin piece of paper on your face and trusting that to keep you from getting sick is one of the most ridiculous ideas around. A biological attack or an outbreak of serious proportions is a real threat. This isn't about "catching a cold" as it seems to be treated by the majority of today's "preppers."

Essentially you are going to need to quarantine yourself and your family. Yep your gonna miss work- that's why you get out of debt and have some cash, that's why you keep a good relationship with your boss and are an asset to your work. Yep your kids are going to miss soccer practice and school. No your not going to be able to make a "last minute run" for more poptarts and pizzas because doing so will likely expose you to the illness.

What does this mean, it means you have to be somewhat serious about your preps. It means you need to be able to stay inside your house for a couple weeks, maybe more. That means no trips to the C store because little Billy just "has to have" a snickers bar. This is the culmination of all of the preps you should be doing- staying healthy, physical preparations, getting your family in order, getting away from the cities, etc.

If your chained to your job cause your in debt to your eyeballs, your going to feel like you "can't" miss work so you'll go to work with that little stupid piece of paper on your face that some libtard convinced you will save your life. You'll end up bringing it home to your family. Sorry wife and kids, I killed you because we just had to have a 90" plasma TV, that's just stupid.

If you have to run out at the last minute to buy preps you should have been gathering all along, chances are your going to bring the illness home to your family. Sorry wife and kids, I killed you because I just pay LIP SERVICE to preparedness and I never really believed we might need this stuff one day.

Alright, enough of the sermon, hopefully I've made the point clear :)

Here's how to do it-
QUARANTINE

It is IMPERATIVE that you read and understand the following information. "I didn't know" is NOT an excuse when we are dealing with LIFE THREATENING ISSUES!


Policy and Procedures

For use in case of a Biological event, including but not limited to terrorist attack using biological weapons, Bird Flu, Smallpox or Rabid Chicken Accountants (RCA's) infected with AIDS....

The purpose of this is to limit the spread of a biological agent- virus, bacteria, etc. Since their is NO way to guarantee that anyone is not already a carrier of the agent, we MUST Quarantine . This is for the protection of EVERYONE! Their is no other way around it.

In very short order after a biological incident, you should go into full "lockdown" mode. What this means is that ANYONE attempting to cross into your land will be met with Lethal Force.

It is important to have a PLAN in place for your timely BUGOUT of populous areas and be ready to implement that plan with short notice. This means-
1. You have your bulk supplies already pre-positioned at your retreat. This will cut down the amount of time you will have to spend "loading up" and will make sure you have SAFE and UNCONTAMINATED supplies when you arrive.
2. You leave early enough to avoid the TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS the government has already said they would put in place when an outbreak occurs.
3. You will have to avoid ANY contact while in route, that means you CANNOT stop at Walmart for a last minute stockup, you cannot stop and get gas at a gas station, etc. YOUR FAMILY'S SURVIVAL IS AT STAKE! Use your STORED gas and fill up in an out of the way place. Keep your windows up and RE-CIRCULATE the air in your car. If the situation is bad, you may want to travel in MOPP gear. Be prepared to use LETHAL FORCE against any persons who would come near your family. AVOIDANCE is our main protection against this threat.

When your retreat is in LOCKDOWN mode, no one, including family members and their families will be allowed in until they have had a 2 week quarantine period. LETHAL FORCE will be used against any and all intruders, including late arriving family members. PLEASE UNDERSTAND THIS, IT IS NO JOKE AND WILL BE ABSOLUTELY ENFORCED 110%

If you arrive late, follow these procedures-
1. Use the "normal" entrance procedures, and do NOT have any contact with locals.
2. Look for the "sign" that the retreat is already in Lockdown, the gates will also be locked and chained. Use your radio to call in and ask instructions. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES COME CLOSER THAN 30 FEET FROM THE WIRE OF THE RETREAT.
3. You will be instructed as to where you are to camp for the 2 week Quarantine period and your time will start then. "We quarantine'd at home" doesn't cut it. You will HAVE to do a 2 week Quarantine period if you arrive late to the retreat, period.
4. There will likely be others out camping not far from where you are instructed to camp at. You will be informed of the others and their approximate locations. DO NOT HAVE ANY CONTACT WITH OTHER QUARANTINED family MEMBERS OR ANY MEMBER OF THE LOCAL POPULATION. You will be expected to radio in to the retreat once a day to report your medical condition. You will be required to maintain your own security, noise and light discipline.
5. If you should "run out" of supplies or are in dire need of any materials, someone from the family will bring them to a dead drop location and leave them for you. You will need to RADIO in with your request, then wait no less than 1 hour after you've WATCHED the material being put out before you go and retrieve it. This cannot be done for you every day (we will run out of spots), so it is important that you plan ahead.

You will need to keep some basic camping gear for your family (tent, sleep bags, etc.) with your bug out gear, as well as TWO WEEKS food supply, water filtration device, radio with plenty of extra batteries, MEDICAL KIT, weapons, etc. You will be completely on your own for two weeks if you arrive late, plan ahead.

Family members are advised to pack a "bio box"- a tote or box of materials such as listed above that can be pre-positioned at the retreat NOW, that can later be put out as a dead drop for you if it's needed. Don't risk it, plan ahead.

When the two week period is over, you will have to abandon most of your supplies, their would be NO way for us to guarantee they are not CONTAMINATED (which is why it's important to PRE-POSITION the bulk of your gear at the retreat). You will then come into the retreat with minimal gear- weapons, etc. A thorough DECON will be necessary and the people at the retreat will have an area set aside for that ahead of time. You will have to decon and have a medical exam prior to entering the retreat after your Quarantine period.

THIS POLICY should go for ANYONE LATE ARRIVING TO your RETREAT, ANYONE. YOU HAVE NOW BEEN INFORMED ABOUT IT. SHOULD YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS NOW IS THE TIME TO ASK IT. IT WILL BE ENFORCED WITH LETHAL FORCE.


End original post.

One of the comments that was given when I first posted this was that it was "heavy on authority" or some crap like that. Well guess what folks? It's a life and death situation, you better be ready to enforce and ensure your family's survival. Wishy washey, half hearted methods will not cut it. One of the other comments was that it was "stupid" to make quarantined people wait an hour and watch the spot where the dead drop was. That poster thought he was so smart and had it all together, until I mentioned that the hour wait was simply a SECURITY ISSUE to make sure no one observed the drop and came down to steal the stuff.

One of the other comments was-

"Ouch. In response to Lowdown3's policies and procedures, I would definitely be at that retreat early.

I would say that most likely though, depending on the biological element, that eventualy the equipment could be decontaminated and re-used. Because if not, under those procedures, woudn't the vehicles be equipment and have to be discarded too?"

Yes, things could be decontaminated and possibly re-used. But even the military has realized that decontamination is not something the average soldier/person will do to the degree they need to- hence disposable protective suits, SOP of MOPP gear exchange, etc.

IF you have good survey meters, "frisker" type units, etc. you could double check decon for fallout. IF you had good chem detection kits you could check for decon from SOME chemical agents. Not the case with bio.

BTW, I was asked to write up a blog article regarding to this, they are not per se "my" policies, procedures, etc. The idea was for a family meeting up together.

As to the conveyed message, it's supposed to sound harsh. People you've known for years, family etc. tend to take LIBERTIES sometimes with you. Do you really want to have to shoot Aunt Mable cause she thought her "little nephew poopseykins" wouldn't actually shoot her? More so than this, if your family and possibly other people's families are already there or have already done there quarantine, are you going to risk there lives for the one joker that stayed at work a week after birdflu/Anthrax/Super Aids/infectious bio monkeys came to town just to try to make a few extra bucks?

Physical barriers we have discussed before and these are muiy importante when it comes to stuff like this. A clearly defined "line" both for defense considerations and for legal issues. Bird flu may not cause TEOTWAWKI and who wants to be sitting in jail for 30 years because you had to shoot some dumbbutt that didn't heed your warnings? If he has to pass your warning signs, avoids your vocal calls to get out and then has to climb over fences, barbed wire possibly, etc. guess what? You'll have a LOT better chance convincing a jury it was in defense of your family.

I know it doesn't go with the romantic fantasy of killing all comers and S.S. and shut up, but having a video camera going would help also.

You can find old quarantine signs on Ebay A decent sign shop could duplicate these- tell them it's for a college project or your making a video for Youtube. Don't skimp, pay more for something that looks official. Course this is all speculation, for information purposes only, etc.


"How do you know other members of the group aren't lying and they stopped at walmart, etc.?"

YOU DON'T KNOW, hence the reasons for the quarantine. The part about not stopping and avoiding contact was for THERE protection. The quarantine is for the protection of the ones already at the BOL.

"I would definitely be there early"

That's the other point of it- incentive.

4/26/09

Not sure where this "swine flu" thing is going folks, but wanted to re-post some of this old material from the 90's and early 00's regarding this. Please think it over with a rationale mind and then make preps to act on it. It would be a stupid thing to lose your family over cutting corners. May the Lord bless us.
RH

Archived Article- City versus Country

Archived article from www.survivalreport.net

As previously stated we are going to use this venue to archive old blog posts from the main site listed above. RH



City versus Country- copyright April 2007 Robert Henry

For years it was commonly accepted that a survivor living in the country had a much better chance of making it than his citybound counterpart. A lot has changed in the way of demographics, social climate and independence in the last 20 years that may have changed some of this thinking.

For the most part, gone are the days of the notion that all country people are good. Per capita the crime rates are probably fairly similar to what they are in the city. The big plus simply being that less people around= less chances for major problems. The lack of decent employment, lesser living conditions and drug use can be directly linked to this increase. Overall, the general downturn of moral values in this country is to blame.

The country was once looked upon where boys would develop into men via hard farm work. Not much hand labor is done on farms any more, especially on the larger farms. Much of the country attributes adherent to the "old school" of moral values has went the way of the dinosaur. Even here in the "Bible belt" this is true.

The lack of character, selfishness and poor moral value once thought mainly to reside with easy living city folk is now broadcast via satellite TV into most every rural house in the country. Yes, TV plays a major part in it.

When we left Florida 8 years old we left behind any TV service. When I think of the time I wasted over the years mindlessly flipping channels looking for something to drain my brain, honestly, I feel ashamed. And you should too. So often you find people with there TV sets on constantly, even when no one is watching. WTH is the point in that? Is it that we have become so morally bankcrupt and alone that we must at least "sense" that others are near us even when they are not?

I love to see people on the message boards whining and moaning that they don't have enough money to prep. Ask those same types what happened on TV last night and they will have plenty of answers for you then. There family will starve one day but at least they can be "programmed" now.

Years ago I had a friend that was absolutely mesmerized by the TV. I was actually quite funny to watch him when it was on- for all practical purposes he was no longer even in the room.

A lot of would be survivalists think that they are going to get some type of firsthand information on when to bug out from the TV and therefore justify watching it for that reason. Fox news or some other channel "may" offer some breaking news to an event before it's censored but the real question is will you ACT on it? What if the information is there but cannot be "verified?" Are you willing to put your plans into affect then? If not, you might be waiting too late, especially if you are one of those that must bug out in a disaster.

OK back to city and country....

So basically what I'm saying is that for the most part, you are not going to find the Sheriff Taylor and Aunt Bee type morals in the country anymore.

A short ride through a rural area will also show you that not everyone that resides in the country is self sufficient or has the land necessary for such. In most cases, neither will the skills for that type of living be found in the country any more also.

So why then bother with getting out of the cities?

Population density

In my view, it's a simple question of numbers. In the country you may have 100 people living within a 5 mile radius, 90% of which are not able to go 2 weeks without outside assistance.

In the city, you may have 100,000 living within a 5 mile radius, 99% of which are not able to go 2 weeks without assistance.

What do you suppose those 100,000 folks are going to do? Sit quietly and die? Ain't gonna happen.

You hear this non-sense bantied around sometimes about subdivisions (we've covered some of why this won't work before), how some survivalists have these grand plans of "organizing" there subdivisions and blocking roads in and surviving a disaster that way. MIGHT WORK for the short term disaster, I.e, Hurricane. Will NOT work for the long term. You cannot be the only well fed person in a community of two or three hundred and expect it to go unnoticed.

So if not the city, and the country isn't what it's cracked up to be, then what?

I think the best option long term (again, no "2 week" prep BS here) is going to be living in the country but being by yourself, i.e, not a part of a small town. Yes this goes against what Tappan and others wrote 30 years ago. However a LOT has changed with small cities in the last 30 years. However, your also going to have to bring some friends with you (i.e, survivalists) or invite them there, you won't be able to do it all on your own.

You are absolutely going to have to have a minimal amount of land in order to produce enough food to live long term. You cannot raise enough food to live on in an apartment or even in a backyard in suburbia. Sorry, ain't gonna happen, I don't care what Square foot gardening books you've read or how pretty your raised beds are. Remember when your growing food for survival, you have to grow enough to eat fresh now AND enough to get you through to the next harvest (next year). Did I mention you'll have to save enough seed for next year also? Did I mention you won't be making a trip to the nursery for seedlings, or the feed store for new stock? Did I mention your going to have to grow grains for yourself and your livestock also?

Everyone has there "pet" scenarios and situations that they feel will cause TSHTF. I try not to concentrate on the scenario but rather how it will affect me and those around me. One thing that will likely happen as a result of most scenarios is a famine. It follows war like a shadow (so does epidemics). Most every scenario we envision includes a disruption of shipping and trucking- a possible trigger for food shortages. Various NBC scenarios will bring about famine situations. An invasion or takeover by hostile forces (foreign or domestic) would see a small scale famine (never forget, FOOD IS POWER).

So I've put a lot into having the resources both in land, equipment, supplies and most importantly experience to be able to raise our own food over and above the necessary level of food in storage. It's a learning curve to be sure, but luckily we are mid way through our curve.

What about less than a total collapse?

I still cannot see why a city location would fare better than a well prepared country location. Only in situations involving a serious scarcity of fuel would this be a problem. Only a problem if work had to be obtained a great distance away.

This is one of the main reasons keeping many survivalists from moving to the country now- work and money concerns.

5 years ago, when the housing bubble wasn't leaking air... I advocated that folks in high priced areas who had lived there for a while (and therefore had adequate equity built up) who had seen some of the dramatic appreciation (can you still call it that now?) in there homes should sell out and move to the country. A chipboard McMansion bought for $90,000. in the late 90's that could be sold for $250,000. in 03 or 04 could have set the seller up very nicely in the country. The seller could have cleared out the debt he had (the $90K sans any equity) and could have put $160K in his pocket to buy a house and land in the country. In essence entirely reversing his course in life. Going from paying out $800.00 or more a month in mortgage to being debt free AND owning a modest home.

In addition, this lack of mortgage would give the seller the ability to WORK FOR LESS MONEY in the country. There would not be the "need" to make the extra money offered for a similiar city job due to the fact that $800.00 or more (with higher property taxes and insurance) would NOT be needed for the family budget. This in turn would increase the TRUE "quality of life" for the person. Unfortunately when most people talk about "quality of life" it means having more junk, better junk, a house much bigger than is actually needed, etc. By "true quality of life" I mean being able to spend time with your family, a house that's truly a home for the family, etc.

I know quite a few that were not scared and did this. Most of the worldly city bound wanna-be's chickened out, not willing to give up there psuedo-lives in the city. I'd be willing to bet quite a few of them are regretting it and more than a few will be as we hit hard economic times very soon. (Editor's note- this was written in early 2007)

"So if we live by ourselves in the country, will that work?"

Probably not.

Why? Numbers. I've shown before here on the blog and in the "long long ago" on the shortwave radio show how it takes teamwork to survive. The single family approach probably won't work for a number of reasons-

1. Unless it's a family the size Jacob had (12 sons) there will likely not be enough manpower to mount an effective guard duty. I would say at a bare minimum it takes 4 people to maintain a 24 hour guard duty for 1 position. Also, those 4 people aren't going to be able to do much else besides guard duty. This leaves the women folk (that might not be used as guards) to handle the majority of the day to day work at the retreat- gardening, animal husbandry, preserving food, cooking food, washing clothes, taking care of the children, teaching children, etc. We will have an upcoming article soon relating to this.

2. The single family will usually lack the essential mix of skills necessary for long term survival. My family could build, fix or maintain just about any structure, dwelling or piece of equipment you could imagine. However none of them outside of myself know squat about anything medical. None of them know anything about growing food or preserving it. If you attempt to go the single family route, you MUST know the weaknesses in your family structure, both in skillsets and on the personal level.

3. Nine times out of ten there is really only one family member "into" preparedness. The rest for all practical purposes are baggage. Consider this carefully when you get into a group situation. Some people by there very nature are lazy, others are troublemakers, quite a few excel at both . Don't kid yourself, if you are inviting family members that are not prepared and they make no efforts to be that way now, you must prepare for them! No two ways about it, they will be a burden to your supplies, plan accordingly. This goes doubly for the "friends" that have told you the dreaded "I know where I'm coming when I get hungry" non-sense. Unless you can honestly and truthfully say that you could do them harm (which has serious consequences both here and later), you will need to stock food for them also. The whole idea of "butter knife" weapons to hand out to people you barely know (neighbors, acquantances, etc.) is ridiculous. Better to stock food for them than expecting them to be your unpaid and unfed mercenary. Sometimes it helps to take the rose colored survival fantasy glasses off and consider realistically the scenarios you plan for.

Back to an earlier blog post where I stated that after much thought and consideration I came to the conclusion long ago that you absolutely had to be a part of a functioning, established (not thrown together at the last minute, "kabobble" group) group to make it long term.

I realize this is a lot for people to swallow. A lot of people now a days aren't willing to take drastic steps on there own. Few and far between are the truly independent types of yester year. However if you truly want to survive, your going to have to learn to be a leader, to be the one that steps up to the plate and gets things done.

After all, isn't that what being a survivor is all about?

Hope this helps
RH