Securing the Homestead.

Securing the homestead. I am going to start of with one thing. If the fight has entered your home you have lost a HUGE amount of the advantage you had while they were outside. Have you lost the battle? No. But you have to take greater care in defending yourself and . It does little good to survive the battle but lose the home. Yes being alive is better than the alternative. But it would be better to have your stuff intact.
Entry to the property.
Lets start with the road into your property. Most of us have a gate to keep honest folks and critters out. Your standard Ranch gate is not going to do that. Also how is the driveway? Long and straight or curves here and there? Is it open on each side? What do you have to stop a car. Not slow it down but stop it. Right now. Do not pass go. Do not collect a preppers supplies.

http://www.miframsecurity.com/solutions/products/mvb/

Mifram security

There is a device called the MVB. Modular Vehicle Barrier. It is fairly light weight and it looks fairly simple to build for the average prepper. This YouTube video shows it in action. MVB. They use them on the Air Force base I work at. They can be constructed out of square tube steel and put across fairly easily by one or two people.
Still looking at the driveway it needs be a choke point. A place where all traffic must use. Foot and vehicle. A friend of mine has a drive about a half mile long. She has barbed wire fencing with cactus. To stop vehicle traffic from driving through the fence she has 3 inch steel pipe set less then the width of a small pickup. And drilled about 3 feet deep. About 18 inches sticks above ground and it should stop most any wheeled civilian vehicle. This is a lot of work but she is forcing intruders to stay on the road with little cover and zero concealment. So we have the drive setup. In my prior newsletter, I talked how we had rocks scattered about with the rnage to that point on them. So l you have 2 items complete. Some preppers go for the scorched earth mindset about their homes. Me, I like flower beds, a little water feature and roses. Roses Osage Orange, Devils club, raspberry, thorny unforgiving plants like that make it very unpleasant to be near.  There is an article on a gardening website called Defensive Shrubs for landscaping. These plants can deter people from leaving the path YOU want them on. Add in interesting walls a little pond you are what used to be called “Fortress Scaping”. Holly and Barberry are VERY nasty customers and will keep people on a path when used as a hedge

Using creative landscaping to turn you homestead from a small house, to a protected enclave. Lighting is important. Yes it may be shot out in those first few seconds. But those first few seconds YOU are the one in control. You triggered the lights remotely and where ready and waiting. In a SHTF situation electricity is NOT going to be readily available. My boys and I did this on a paint ball contest. We bought some of those .99 cent battery powered outdoor light. We charged them all day and pulled the “safety” tab. It is a piece of plastic that separates the batteries from led bulb. E attached a trip wire to the tab. We almost pulled it all the way out. When someone tripped it the light turned on and marked the location. I could spend hours on FM 21-75 Combat skills of the Solider. Or FM 3.21.8 The Infantry Platoon Squad. And it is good for the prepper to know those books. I am going to have a n Infantry friend of mine do a piece on this to get the straight dope on the subject. The one thing that I will say. I truly hate the new found combat vests that stack a poop ton of M4 magazines on the front. I was attached to light infantry. Those new vest make it very difficult to “Become one with the Earth” when taking fire. Laying on all that gear. Consider making some prepared fighting positions and cover and camouflage them.

Night fighting.

The vast majority of raids on a homesteads post SHTF will be at night. Night vision is important. The cost of night vision has dropped dramatically over the years. From10s of thousands of dollars to the hundreds of dollars. Amazon now carries night vision binoculars for as low as $130.00. And hands free for $200.00. Compare this to the AN PVS2 Gen 1 scopes I used in my day of playing Army. We were were told they cost 30k if us dumb a$$ grunts dropped one. Our grand kids would be paying for it. A word of note here. These are NOT MILITARY GRADE,light amplification night vision. These are Gen1 IR iluminated night vision. They do have limited light amplification. The IR light will show up as a flashlight in a dark room to other night vision. But for the prepper on a budget they are very very useful.
Your attackers are going to have night vision. You need it also Now go back a couple of paragraphs. Yeah to the little battery lights. Trip one of them wearing night vision. Modern night vision does not cause the screaming pain seen in the movies. But they have an automatic shut off that disables the amplification circuit. But it buys you time to engage effectively. Take and use every advantage you can.
What about training? What type of training? Where to get the training?
The type of training you need is handgun, rifle and shotgun. And no not your basic CCW (Concealed Carry Course) does NOT provide the training you need.
You can’t just go and take an advanced course and expect to gain good useful knowledge. It takes a step by step building of knowledge to lay the foundation to be able to excel at weaponry.

My friend Cope Reynolds at Southwest Shooting Authority teaches these classes. Here is a little bit about him and what he teaches

Even the most unaware and disconnected of individuals should recognize that today’s society is a far cry from what most of us grew up in. Aside from the rampant, violent crime that has spread to every corner of our Nation, there is a multitude of other issues that have manifested themselves over the last few years that are getting worse by the day. Social and economic collapse are two of the most concerning but racial tension, the flood of illegal immigrants, the corruption of our justice system, the constant possibility of a large-scale terrorist attack and the ever present threat of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack are also quite possible. Add to all this the plethora of natural disasters that seem to be increasing in numbers and intensity. Volcanic eruptions, wildfires, earthquakes, tsunamis, heavy snow and rain storms and a possible CME (coronal mass ejection, a natural phenomenon that can have the same effect as an EMP) and we have the very real possibility of being forced into a medium to long-term survival scenario. At risk are our homes, businesses and families not to mention peace and liberty. In fact, our very existence could be in jeopardy.

So what is one to do? The effects of some of these events will be unavoidable. Crime, disease, war, revolution, fire, flood, social or financial collapse and famine are all results of either nature or the nature of man and unfortunately are not within the power of any earthly being to prevent. We all know that each day will end in darkness and that the summer will eventually give way to cold winters and that we can do nothing to prevent either. But, we prepare for both.

Preparation, that is the key. Physical, mental and spiritual. Just having weapons and ammo is not enough. Being willing to use them is not enough. Having communications equipment and a truckload of medical supplies is not enough. Folks, if you are not somewhat proficient in the proper use of these items, you can likely expect to have them taken from you and probably used against you. I can tell you from personal experience that competent, professional training is an ongoing endeavor and its usually not cheap. Personally, my training has taken place over more than half a century. I have made it my goal to try to and stay current and proficient in a number of different skills. Defensive weapons, camouflage techniques, cover and concealment, woodscraft/wilderness survival, field medicine, communications, food storage, etc. So many different abilities that may save your bacon in a true SHTF world.

To start so late in the game is a little overwhelming but is still quite doable. However, the longer you wait the harder its going to be. What should you do first? Well, it is difficult to place a priority on any one skillset. All of the aforementioned skills are nearly equally important for different reasons. Defensive weapons use probably takes a slight edge followed very closely by communications and field medicine. But consider this… yes, being able to protect yourself is vital but does that always have to include using lethal force? The effective use of camouflage may preclude the use of weapons at all. Being able to communicate with members of your group that are further up the road may give you the advanced notice that you need not to have to use concealment OR weapons. All of these things work together to keep you and your loved ones safe.

Let me leave you with one final thought… many of you have paid professional trainers large sums of money over a period of time for such things as tennis, body-building, horseback riding, golf and so on and so on. Most of these activities require a deal of money to purchase the proper equipment, keep it maintained and replace it when it becomes unserviceable. There is also no small expenditure of time involved in learning, training, practicing and putting these skills to practical use in competitions or recreation. Please tell me and help me to understand… why is that people can find the time and money to do something that is fun but, for all practical purposes pretty useless, but refuse to spend the time and money to learn and become proficient in potentially life saving skills?

Southwest Shooting Authority has a philosophy about firearms and preparedness training that is rather unique in our industry. Our trainers and staff are passionate about making sure that every student receives the necessary instruction and supervision to help achieve the knowledge, skills and ability to protect themselves and their loved ones and take charge of their surroundings through the use of defensive weapons and survival techniques.
In our industry, many facilities and instructors have an unfair expectation of their students.

They expect each student to conform to a standard of experience, age and physical ability that may be difficult for some to achieve. The students that come to Southwest Shooting Authority represent a cross-section of responsible Americans. They are young, old, slim, heavy, inexperienced or accomplished shooters of various racial and cultural backgrounds. We are vehemently opposed to those with physical challenges being taken advantage of by the “wolves” of our society and not having the ability to protect themselves!

 

When dealing with such a variety of skill levels and physical abilities, our trainers take the time and action necessary to address the individual needs of each student. We believe that EVERYONE is afforded the right to self-preservation, not just the rich and the fit.
Come and experience the difference, train with Southwest Shooting Authority of Arizona!

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