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Guest post by Dean in Michigan
It seems that everyone knows, that when things start to get a little sticky around town, the looting is going to be one of the first things that shows itself. Being prepped to these idiots probably means having enough booze and smokes to get through a weekend.
Many of them won’t even be looking to steal survival related stuff. It is not the “golden hoard” that will pose the most danger. Most of them will pick out the easy targets, and avoid the situations that could get them killed. It’s the individual; possibly ex-military, of average intelligence, who has the motivation of a hungry family. This is the one who keeps me thinking.
I thought I would take a few minutes to share some of the things that I have decided to employ if ever need be. These defensive tactics are focused around an average house in American suburbia.
Those who are lucky enough to live out in the country, I envy you. The topography of your individual locations will change your defensive posture. However, this is stuff that maybe you could use in the immediate area of your home.
First, deception is key, make your property look like it’s already been looted. Spread some stuff around the front lawn, ransack the front room and kitchen. IF someone gets in(and they shouldn’t but we’ll get in to that), they may think that the place has already been picked clean and move on. Also, if you have a basement, this is where most will feel safe.
Use some black plastic sheeting, doubled up, to cover over the basement windows. This should allow you to use your lanterns without giving you away, just keep ventilation in mind. However, a basement will do you no good if you need to get out and can’t.
Personally, I plan on breaking through my foundation, and tunneling over to the neighbors vast shrub planting. Yes, a daunting task, but it’s only about 100 ft, and I could use the dirt.
One thing I buy a little at a time is sand bags. These will probably be near impossible to find when it’s to late, so maybe a good thing to add to the shelves. So, the dirt from the tunnel, to the sand bags, and stacked in front of the doors and windows. Stacked two rows deep, making sure the seems don’t match, they will stop any store bought ammo.
Early warning devices will also be needed. Beer can alarms are easy, and will be scattered about. We all know about the motion sensor spotlights many have on their patios. You can make an easy, covert version, with a car battery, some copper wire, a relay switch, a simple light with receptacle, and some high tension fishing line.
Set up a trip wire(s) system around your house. Hide the battery and run the copper wire to the relay switch. You might be able to find a switch that is spring loaded, if not, you can weigh down the top arm. Then run the wire back into your home. Just use a small twig to insert between your relay points, tied off to the fishing line. When the relay is tripped, the light is on, and the trespasser doesn’t see it. Advantage…YOU. Just make sure to hide all components as best as possible.
This is not a complete plan, obviously, but since I am getting long winded I will save the gory stuff for Part 2.
In the mean time, feel free to pick apart my ideas, or add some of your own. This is supposed to be a learning experience for all.
P.S. Sorry the art sucks
M.D. adds: A lot of the triggers and devices illustrated in the Army field manual Boobytraps Fm5-31 can be converted to less lethal usage as triggers for alarms and lights.
{ 36 comments }
Nicely written. Robert Heinlein’s book Friday had the best escape route described in detail, including a nicely designed obliette.
That’s a good idea with the sand bags.I was thinking of bulletproof drywall.Last year the prices weren’t too bad,but it’s not cheap as dirt.LOL.
I don’t know if I agree with the ‘making the place look pilfered already idea.’ Some might come in just because it LOOKS that way. To be nosy,and see if the vandals left anything behind.Could be baiting them.I want people to know that in no uncertain terms, they will have RESISTANCE here, so don’t come on my property.Signs might be a good idea, I don’t know.Trespass and be shot.
I am not going to hide out in my basement and wait for someone to come and kill me.Not if there is any other choice.
Some may think this is crazy, but I read the Bible, and it says that there will be famines, and pestilence,(would include diseases and also bugs that eat crops..), earthquakes, and I found a strange one..BEASTS.The Bible says people will be dying from BEASTS.Well, I thought about this a long time to figure out what the heck that meant, and I’m still not sure.God could do something to animals to turn them against us.? Maybe. But the most common idea,I think, would be DOGS. People will not be able to afford to feed THEMSELVES.They will turn out their dogs thinking the dogs will fend for themselves.The dogs will group in packs and rather than starve, they will eat people. Maybe I’m wrong, but it makes sense. So. I am prepped for dogs. Traps.Fishing line and cans, etc..
Just some ideas on things to consider.Scary to think about it,I know. But I could see this happening, and the Bible does say BEASTS.
Dogs with rabies, maybe? Rabies is endemic in wildlife and some farm animals (cows for example), in the U.S.A.. A dog needs a rabies shot yearly to avoid becoming infected. Only one human being has survived a rabies infection, and required months in an intensive care unit – which will all be gone (or taken up by the rich politicians/elite) WTSHTF.
Wow. I never thought of that. Rabies IS prevalent. Last year we had a major rabid coon infestatation here.And yes, packs of dogs would carry that like wildfire.Glad I’ve got lots of fencing stored. Maybe we should get rabie shots for humans.? Is there such a thing? If so, could some be stored?Hmmm..
Rabies shots are an intramuscular injection – a multiple shot treatment system with either 3 or 5 shots (5 is better). It has a shelf life of 3 years and must be stored in a climate controlled (+2C to +8C) refrigerated setting. Given the likelyhood of being able to safely handle the vaccine, this would not be a good thing to be needing.
I’m going to ask my doc. Wouldn’t hurt to ask.My husband nearly got bit last year by one of those coons.Working under a trailer and it was sneaking up on him in broad daylight. Thank God we saw it in time.
Anyone ever think about plywood for broken windows, for WTSHTF? If staying home is the only option, and protecting you and your loved ones from the so called looters, I would think having pre-cut pieces of plywood for the broken windows from even rock throwing would be a great idea. Having a fully charged cordless drill with pre-drilled holes in the plywood for a quick installation, would seem like a great way to go. Any other ideas?
greetings. you could use Lexan, which is a plastic that is glass like that was developed for the bubble canopy of the jets in early Korean war. it is used in security sensitive buildings. you take a rock to it and the rock bounces. you hit it with a sledge hammer and the hammer will simply bounce. not bullet proof in flat sheets. but near unbreakable by any method like rocks or hammers. costs a little more then glass, but you only put it in once. many homes in the intercities of the larger cities use it for windows to make break ins a hell of a lot tougher. plywood works but you can’t see out of it and it doesn’t let any light in.
Brian, here in Florida we use pre-cut plywood during hurricane season to protect all the doors and windows. You can also use metal roofing sheets if it’s easier/cheaper, and they are also non-flammable. Also, put gun ports in your plywood window coverings high enough up so people can’t look through them, but you can look/shoot out. Use temporary plywood covers over the gun ports on the inside for light discipline. Sandbag the windows so that if you’re shooting out, they can’t just shoot through the plywood to get you. If you’ve got a two story building, the best scenario might be to totally seal off the ground floor and use the second floor windows for entry/exit/defense especially if the building is brick or masonry with limited fire danger. If the building is just wood frame, I’d find a better location with more ballistic and fire protection.
I thought about plywood for awhile, but kept coming back to the fact that
it’s not bullet proof. It would definitely be easier and faster to install, but
the protection value made me change my mind. Also, when an incoming round
hits the plywood it will mushroom. If anyone is unfortunate enough to get hit
after that, they get hit with a projectile with the diameter of a penny
or a dime, which hasn’t lost enough velocity. I do like your idea of the gun
ports, I will make sure to modify my construction to accommodate these.
You are also right about the idea of an elevated defensive position. It will
definitely give you the upper hand in a fire fight. The only thing I don’t like
about them is your retreat options are just about zero.
And to Brian, this modern day society has managed to arm itself pretty
well. Stone throwers should be the least of your worries.
Good luck to you all…….
When I was in Bosnia we were guarding the HQ’s compound and the officer’s had designed and had local contractors build concrete bunkers on the perimeter of the compound. The bunkers were slightly elevated with about 24 inch think concrete walls with gun ports so we could look out and shoot our weapons if necessary. However, the over-educated fools designed the gun ports backwards with the large two foot wide opening on the outside and the small 6 inch wide opening on the inside. So if anyone outside shot at us they would just have to hit a 2×3 foot opening and the bullet would ricochet into the bunker through the 6 inch opening and then bounce around inside the little 6×6 foot concrete room until it hit you. I told the officer’s in charge, but hey it was too expensive to rebuild, there wasn’t much shooting going on anyway, we were leaving soon, whatever… So, if you build gun ports, make sure you pay attention to the orientation of your design. :)
elevated shooting platform is good if your enemy is not armed with rifles. if they are then they simply shoot you. being high up you are a easy target to aim at. and they will know right where you are at. agree there would be no getting out of it when times got tough. one thing I noted in histories of house to house fighting by the Russians were firing ports put not up high but as close to the ground as you can get. when someone fires at a house they are taking fire from they usually shoot about 3 feet higher then the floors in the building. which is where most people firing at them would be. if you are firing lying on the floor the bullets just pass over your head.
Richard – I’d still take the high ground in just about any fight vs. the low ground. However, shooting out of the windows of the basement, while having snipers shooting out of the high ground is also a great idea. I also agree that the middle ground (3-10 ft) is where most of the bullets will go.
greetings. that would work well if the snipers are not where you are but rather a distance away, like 500 yards or so off at a tangent. get the enemy coming and going that way. try to attack either the high or the house and the other one gets them.
JACK…Thanks for the idea of the sandbags and metal roofing. I was just trying to figure out a way to deal with this within my finances. Your ideas are well thought out. Thanks. And to Dean in Michigan…..So what are your constructive ideas instead of just plywood ? And I do understand about the results of the rock throwing. OR Firearms. And 100% prepared for that situation also. So….what do you have for an idea for the broken windows from rocks or bullets?
Another idea for cheap passive defense that would work is tanglefeet all around your perimeter. Take typical 6 foot metal fence posts and cut some of them down to 2-3 foot. Put the fence posts at least a foot deep with 1-5 feet of the posts above the ground. Then string wire from post to post in a maze so that anyone who tries to assault your building will either trip, be clothes-lined, or be impaled on a fence post when they fall (you can also scatter some punji sticks holes just past a wire, so when they step over the wire they step onto the punji sticks). You could also use a grinder or cutter to sharpen the tops of the posts if you have the time. If you don’t have fence posts, then re-bar or even wood posts could work. You can get wire by going to an abandoned house, opening their fuse box and quickly yank every wire in the house out from there (that’s how copper thieves do it). To stop vehicles from crashing through, the military encircles their air fields with heavy duty cable that is stretched across heavy steel posts at about tire height and the ends of the cable are wrapped around 6 foot pieces of heavy steel posts and buried about 6 feet deep. Look for some videos on YouTube and you’ll see the cable will not only stop vehicles, but sometimes actually rip the vehicle’s front axle off. A field expedient method would be to wrap and anchor the ends of the cable around big trees.
Brian….
Just gonna use the sandbags on the interior of the doors and windows for protection. I suppose I will just have to accept the fact that the windows will end up broken. When we see times that suburban looting becomes rampant, I won’t be as worried about the cosmetic aspects of my home. As long as it is enough intact to keep me warm and dry, it will suffice. Sorry if I offended you. I’m sure anyone on this site has the ability to defend their property.
if you use the sandbags on the inside of the doors and windows you won’t be able to upen the doors and the load on your floor will be heavy. sand is heavy and very few floors are designed to carry any amount of filled sand bags.
Richard…….
You are right, I must leave one or two options for an exit. I can’t surround myself with sand bags. What if TSHTF and my tunnel isn’t complete? I had thought about using 4×4′s as support posts underneath the flooring to support the weight of sandbags. Your insight insured that I will have to take this action.
To all……….
What if, what if , what if………… it seems like any plan any of us come up with is able to be picked apart. But that’s cool, I can take it. Actually, I think it is essential. The whole point of the posts and replies is to learn. Getting different points of view from real people is better than research.
Thanks to M.D. for letting it happen, and thanks to all for keeping the learning curve growing.
Good luck to us all………………
greetings. in the Marines they tell you to make a plan before you go into battle. and to have a fall back plan for when you discover the first plan won’t work. can never have too many plans. you might get lucky with one.
I also think dogs are going to be a humongous problem, especially in the iner city and suburbs. Dog attacks will be prevalent. But I also think that due to their numbers (here comes a ‘tasteless topic’) and the lack of available food, dogs and cats will become a primary food source for many. I know- I turn up my nose at the thought as well. There are many people in this country who came from areas where eating dog is normal, so don’t count them out- so long as it isn’t your pet.
Another aspect of the “beasts” that I interpret from my reading is the wild animals, as well. And then there are the ‘beasts’ we don’t see often today: worms such as flukes from contaminated water, improperly cooked foods, and just plain old dirt.
If we’re looking at a Biblical scenario, there are beasts we haven’t even imagined that God is fully aware of. Perhaps He even has some planned for a come-back from the prehistoric days? I wonder.
But I know God is in control, so I don’t have to worry about it. He’s given me enough to just worry about the next few months. :)
Shy III
Special thanks to Dean in Michigan and M.D. for a posting that gets the people thinking. The beasts could be wild dogs which will be swiftly dealt with here by lead poisoning. We deal with wild dogs currently in this manor. Or they could be drug addicts suffering from withdrawal which will also be dealt with in the same manor. Either way the beasts are going to have a bad day. I have also read in hunting magazines that immediate washing of the wound with soap and water greatly cuts the chance of rabies. Buy more ammo people,we’re going to need it to control the beasts.
We bought a thing called a Weza.It’s a foot-pump generator for small uses.I think it was about three hundred bucks, or close to it, from Kansas Wind Power. It would be ideal for charging cordless drills, or other small rechargable items. I like the idea of having it for my nebulizer (sp) for breathing treatments if someone gets bronchitus. Could save a life.Also gotta have those cordless tools.Weza’s portable,too.Got a mini-converter that fits into it’s cigarette lighter space. Works great, but it’s a lot of work pumping back the charge.
greetings. i subscribe to farm show and they always have new ideas in there. one that i tried out and worked was to take one of the cordless tools like drills and open it up. remove the battery pack and hard wire the tool into a extension cord, connecting the wires where the batteries connected. on the other end put a couple of battery clamps. to use you simply connect the battery clamps to the proper terminal and your tool works like about normal. depending on the voltage it is designed for, it may run a little slower or faster but will run. i have mine with a motorcycle battery in a plastic milk crate. carry the crate to the job and i am set to go. you can also use a car battery and that would last a really long time. and they have solar panels that are made for vehicles, you simply stick it in a window and connect it and it charges your 12 volt battery for cheap. and no pumping involved nor need to convert anything. and cordless drills are cheap at yard sales and flea markets because the replacement batteries for them are so high. i picked up several Mikita cordless and all of them worked with this system.
Hi Richard, I like the ideas, but I wanted something that didn’t rely on gasoline or any other ‘man-made’ source. If gasoline is unavailable, the batteries are worthless.Solar panels would be a good option, but I think in hard times, people could destroy them, or steal them. I don’t think it would be wise to have those out where others could see them.Just a thought.
Greetings. gasoline? you use the battery from, not necessary to run the unit. solar panels? you must mean the big ones that one would mount on the roof. what i am talking about are much smaller and you simply put them near the window, on the inside not outside of the house. they are designed to charge the batteries in vehicles that are not being used and keep the battery fully charged. no gasoline involved and no putting it out where anyone can see it. You would not get a huge amount of power out of them. but for running small corverted drills and such and with a cigarette ligher connected also to charge your cell phone or whatever. they would be sufficent. with solar the bigger you get the more power you get and the more visible it is. Harbor Freight has them for not much money. a 5 watt solar battery charger only runs $59.99 they also have a smaller one at 1.5 watt that runs $19.99. many ways to skin a cat. this is from their current catalog. best of luck.
The best part of beer can alarms is that the beer cans have to be empty. I might need a lot of alarms.
a bag of spring loaded clothes pins (wood or plastic) will supply all the triggers you’re likely to need. make your own contacts with thumb tacks or small screws. (relays are expensive)
if your intruder somehow finds your trigger and re-sets it, your warning light goes out. (whether you saw it or not) a few simple parts from radio shack could be soldered together to make an indicator that will stay on until you re-set it yourself. (it’s been a long time since i’ve played with alarm circuits so i can’t design one for you, but the information is out there)
JimShyWolf, There will probably be lots of people who would eat the dogs and cats, but if they have rabies, that would pass on to the people, I think. I always heard you were never even to touch one if it’s dead. They are to be burned, if I recall. I’m stocking more meat!
Worms and parasites would be included in the term “pestilence.”A lot of people already have those in great numbers, but U.S. doctors aren’t trained to diagnose or treat them properly.But there could be more new varieties coming?
Theotherryan,,,,,,(sp)you are too funny!
Greetings. on the exit tunnel idea. that is reasonable. when the original position is going to be lost it is a great idea to get the hell out of it. snipers are trained to shoot from a position and then take off out of sight of the targets, to a new position already planned from which they can shoot back at where they were. keep going until either the sniper is dead or the targets get tired of hauling back bodies of the eager ones. on the tunnel. if is not something that has to be done immediately it would save you a lot of work if you used a trencher or a front loader with a bucket to dig a trench from your place to where you want to go. go down about 6 feet and put in culverts of a size to fit your needs. then bury them and replant the surface. if it is to be needed and hidden quickly dig up a big patch over the buried culverts and plant a garden there so the disturbed soil would not be noticeable. the culverts are strong and will not collapse as a dug tunnel near the surface is very liable to do. plus it won’t collapse if you have a hard rain storm. actually be cheaper then a dug tunnel in time and materials. culverts aren’t expensive and the plastic ones they have now will last near forever.
I thought about backhoes and culverts a while ago. I’m a construction foreman and have access to these things. However, I was concerned about how much attention it would draw. Also, I would not be able to complete the tunnel, because the area I plan to surface is in my neighbors yard.
What I really want to do is to tunnel out to a point in the yard where there is a submerged bunker. If I was going to bring in a backhoe, I would probably just dig a large hole and pour foundation walls. A second, hidden basement, would be ideal. But it would be costly, and everyone around me would see what I’m up to.
Probably gonna stick to the covert version. Just gotta figure out the best way to build a support system, and just keep shoring it up as I go.
Greetings. guess it would all depend on how much room you have and how much room you need. and on the ground you are going to dig through. if you have a lot of room and equipment then something they came up with during world war cold came to mind. get a used gasoline tank, one of the 10,000 gallon jobs, clean it out and simply bury it. run your tunnel to it and cut a entrence hole in the tank there. ready made underground bunker. no concrete, no shoring, no chance of it caving in on you and you could build inside it whatever you wanted at no cost since you are in construction and there is always scrap at construction sites. one thing though. when you are tunneling if you don’t have a crew with you and there is a cave in near the face you are digging on, you are dead. get buried in a cave in and your lungs can no longer function. Best of luck.
Richard makes a great point. If there is a possibility of collapse and not being able to see the collapse, you could rig a wire that runs from a battery in your basement to an indicator light at your current location. Use small lengths of wire with loose connections along the roof that would break if the tunnel collapsed.
With regards to stealth tunnelling, nothing beats what the POWs at Stalag Luft II did during WWII. While the book, written by fellow POW Peter Brickhill, is good for details – nothing beats watching Steve McQueen and James Garner act it out…
However the point being that they hung bags inside their pants and allowed the dirt to trickle out. Perhaps not comfortable, it might fool the nosey neighbours who are watching you.
greetings. on the tunneling. main problem as i see it is not getting rid of the dirt, but rather cave ins. home made bracing doesn’t always work. I was wondering if one could take a section of the corrigated plastic culvert big enough inside for one to crawl through. take a saw and cut it lengthwise so you could close it up a little like taking a can and cutting it and then squeezing it so one cut side fits over the other. that would make the diameter smaller and it might be able to fit through culvert of the same size because of its reduced diameter. if that is so then simply shove it before you down the tunnel until it is at the end of the last culvert. lap it about a minimum of one corrigation and remove whatever you have on it to shrink it down. let it pop back to original diameter and lock to the other culvert pipe you pushed it through. and the cut you made would also allow water that leaks in to escape. seems to me this would give you the advantage of culvert pipe without disturbing the surface at all. You might still have to add some soil to the surface when the ground subsides a little as it settles on the culvert. shouldn’t be noticeable. if they had it in stalag 13 they wouldn’t have got caught.
Drug growing criminals supposedly use the shotgun shell in a pipe booby trap to protect their crops. I won’t go into the details of construction (you can google it), but at a minimum a spare box of bird shot and some plastic irrigation piping could work. When the attackers step on the booby trap it blows off their toes or destroys the foot, and sprays their personal undercarriage with lead. Probably lethal in a environment of no medical care, and very discouraging to the other attackers. Do not try this at home, it will be illegal as long as there are laws – but criminals are using it so it’s something we should know about.
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